Latest Business Wires

Republicans are seizing on this week's recommendations for fewer Pap smears and mammograms to fuel concern about government-rationed medical care — and to try to chip away support by women for President Barack Obama's proposed health care overhaul.

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday said it will again hear arguments in the nearly 15-year legal battle over accusations that Exxon Mobil Corp. loaded abandoned wells with junk, sludge and even explosives to keep other companies from drilling there.

The collapse of a Bend real estate development company has resulted in charges against 13 people in what prosecutors say is the largest Oregon fraud case to emerge from the national real estate boom and bust.

State Treasurer Janet Cowell unveiled new rules Friday banning employees from taking gifts from companies that do substantial business with the agency and setting a limit on charitable solicitations.

University of Connecticut officials say a plan to merge the UConn Health Center in Farmington with Hartford Hospital is unlikely to win official approval.

Monsanto Co. is installing a water management system at an Idaho phosphate mine the company depends on to make its Roundup weedkiller to stop the leakage of selenium and heavy metals into a tributary of the Blackfoot River.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved top-selling Abilify as a treatment for autism-related irritability in children from the ages of 6 to 17, drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Friday.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded ratings for Liberty Media Corp. subsidiary Liberty Media LLC on Friday. The changes come shortly after shareholders approved the formation of a new company out of DirecTV Group Inc. and some of Liberty's entertainment businesses.

The investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC said Friday it has formed a joint venture with Goff Capital Inc. to acquire Crescent Real Estate Equities Limited Partnership, a Texas-based office building owner.

Southwest Airlines Co. said Friday it will require uncontested candidates for its board of directors to win a majority among shareholder votes cast to be elected, instead of just a plurality.

Major League Baseball has the perfect gift to bust a budget in a recession.

West Virginia's Public Service Commission has approved a 5 percent rate increase for Hope Gas Inc.

A Louisiana businessman was charged Friday with engaging in a Ponzi scheme to defraud about 160 investors — mostly elderly people — out of roughly $19.5 million and using some of the money to pay for cars, cruises, sports tickets and a house.

Overstock.com Inc. said Friday that it received a listing rule violation letter Thursday from the Nasdaq Stock Market related to the recent filing of its third-quarter report.

A billboard showing President Barack Obama wearing a turban has sparked a lot of attention at the suburban Denver used car dealership that put it up.

More than 15,000 mobile home owners insured by state-backed Citizens Property insurance Corp. will see an 11 percent increase on their insurance policies in 2010.

Online retail brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. said Friday that it will sell $1.25 billion in senior unsecured notes in a public offering and use proceeds to retire debt and stagger the maturity of its long-term bonds.

Among the stock activity stories for Friday, Nov. 20, from AP Financial News:

The New Hampshire attorney general's office wants to force a mortgage company that closed suddenly into bankruptcy.

Huntington Bancshares Inc., parent company of Huntington National Bank, said Friday that it will pay $338.9 million for subordinated bank notes tendered for an offer that expired Thursday.