Phone fee increases to ring in new year
After nearly two decades of cutthroat competition that has forced long-distance phone prices down to pennies a minute, the nation's largest carriers are quietly trying to reverse the trend through higher fees and less aggressive promotions.
Sears settles battery charge
CHICAGO -- Sears, Roebuck and Co. has agreed to pay the government $62.6-million to settle allegations it advertised and sold DieHard auto batteries in 1994-95 as the nation's "longest-lasting" even after it learned some had defects.
Lending aid for Florida
Fast Lane Clothing Co. is nearly 1,200 miles from ground zero. Yet the Tampa manufacturer of Hawaiian-style shorts and shirts qualified for a $168,000 emergency federal loan after Sept. 11.
Surfers get new route to the Web
Internet Junction will soon mix it up with Road Runner and other bay area broadband providers.
Plan puts premium on hospital choice
Health insurers nationwide are beginning to roll out a new benefit plan with lower monthly premiums but higher charges for hospital stays. And those hospital copayments, which could start at $100 per day, would rise depending on which facility the member chooses.
Business digest
DOT-COM SHAKEOUT ROLLS ON: The dot-com death toll more than doubled this year, with at least 537 Internet companies either going out of business or seeking refuge in bankruptcy court. This year's casualties joined 225 dot-coms that perished during 2000, said Webmergers.com, which has tracked the rise and fall of the Internet economy. The site estimates that 7,000 to 10,000 Internet companies remain in operation. That means the financial devastation of the past two years claimed no more than 10 percent of the sector, leaving behind a stronger -- and possibly wiser -- group of survivors.
