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U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co. said Friday that it has received letters from the federal government seeking information about its activities in foreign countries, in connection with a U.S. anti-foreign bribery law.
Merck disclosed in a regulatory filing it has received letters from the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it is cooperating with the requests. Get the full story »
The Food and Drug Administration has asked Dendreon Corp. to stop using some promotional materials for Provenge, saying they are “false or misleading” because they omit or minimize the prostate-cancer drug’s risks and overstate its effectiveness.
Provenge, which was approved by the agency in late April, is seen as the first in a new class of cancer-fighting drugs that use a patient’s cells to stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer. Get the full story »
The Federal Housing Administration plans on Sept. 7 to raise the cost of loans backed by the agency in an effort to strengthen its cash-strapped balance sheet.
The move follows Senate approval this week of a bill to allow the FHA to nearly triple the annual fees it charges borrowers, though the FHA plans more modest increases at first. The House had approved its version and President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill this month. Get the full story »
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes lawmakers have multiple options when it comes to replacing troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“There are a variety of organizational forms that might replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could likely provide mortgage credit without the systemic risks associated with these institutions in the past,” Bernanke said in a set of written responses to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) released Friday. Get the full story »
The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that it will end its policy of releasing information about back taxes and other debts taxpayers owe in the coming tax season.
The information, called debt indicators, has been included on acknowledgments the IRS sends tax preparers when it receives returns filed electronically. Get the full story »
AT&T Inc. is in talks to settle a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that charges the largest U.S. phone company of discriminating nationwide against workers older than 40.
According to a joint filing by AT&T and the EEOC in Manhattan federal court, the EEOC has proposed a settlement of the nearly year-old lawsuit, and both sides held “substantive settlement discussions” in a June 30 mediation session. Another session is set for Aug. 10. Get the full story »
Back-to-school bargain hunters will want to get their shopping lists ready.
Illinois’ sales-tax holiday starts Friday and continues through Aug. 15 for shoppers who are buying select items. Some Chicago-area retailers plan to open as early as 6 a.m. Friday in honor of the tax holiday.
Shoppers should remember that the sales-tax holiday means they won’t have to pay the 5 percent state sales tax on qualifying school supplies, clothing and shoes. County and city sales taxes remain in effect, and items such as computers and most sports equipment aren’t included.
The Obama administration, in an effort to shore up the Federal Housing Administration’s finances, is set to increase the annual premium the agency charges borrowers for mortgage insurance.
Under a measure that cleared Congress this week, the FHA would get authority to raise the annual premium it charges borrowers to 1.55 percent from the current 0.55 percent. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. Get the full story »
Career Education Corp.’s second-quarter profit soared as the for-profit college’s student population rose 23 percent and margins improved, though revenue fell short of analysts expectations.
College operators have benefited during the recession as out-of-work adults look to re-train, but their rapid growth has garnered the attention of the Department of Education and Congress. Get the full story »
The government’s criteria for testing vehicles’ crash safety ratings are a-changin’.
For the past 30 years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been using its 5-star testing program to test how well vehicles sustain potential crashes. That rating system will soon expand to testing how well vehicles avoid accidents in the first place.
In other words, under these new guidelines, it’s going to become much more difficult for a vehicle to earn a 5-star safety rating, meaning it’s about to get easier for consumers to identify safe cars.
Last year Ben Bernanke was able to make up for the losses suffered in 2008 thanks, in part, to the stock market recovery he helped bring about.
The U.S. Federal Reserve chairman’s wealth rose last year, according to financial disclosure forms released Friday by the central bank. As of the end of 2009, Bernanke’s asset holdings were $1.2 million to $2.5 million, the same as in 2007. That compares with $850,000 to $1.9 million in 2008, when stocks were walloped by the worst financial crisis since the 1929 Wall Street Crash. Get the full story »
Employers who try to skip out on paying wages to their workers will face new fines and possible jail time under a measure Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Friday.
The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, establishes a new small claims division in the Illinois Department of Labor where workers could try to recoup wages of $3,000 or less.
Northwest Airlines, which was bought by Delta Air Lines Inc. in 2008, has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $38 million criminal fine for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices on air cargo shipments, the U.S. Justice Department said Friday.
Under the plea agreement, it said Northwest has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing antitrust investigation.
The U.S. economic recession was more severe than previously estimated, the government said Friday in a series of data revisions that also showed growth at the end of last year was weaker than previously thought.
Benchmark revisions issued by the Commerce Department showed gross domestic product contracted 2.6 percent last year and the economy did not grow at all in 2008. It had previously estimated output fell 2.4 percent in 2009 after expanding 0.4 percent the prior year. Get the full story »
