Checklist

Regional

U An Illinois appellate court upheld a lower court’s decision that Sprint Nextel Corp. must stop selling Nextel-branded products in parts of the Midwest. IPCS Inc., a Sprint-branded affiliate, sued Sprint Nextel after the larger company acquired Nextel Communications in 2005, saying that it was violating IPCS’ exclusivity agreement by selling Nextel products in its territory.

U A bankruptcy judge barred New Jersey environmental regulators from imposing an $800 million fine against Columbia chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co. for purportedly lying about asbestos contamination in the state. The lawsuit claimed Grace lied to the state about asbestos dangers at a since-closed plant where it processed vermiculite for more than 40 years.

U Bethesda-based uranium enrichment company USEC Inc. said it has purchased the former Boeing site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where workers have been manufacturing, balancing and testing a limited number of components for USEC’s American Centrifuge uranium enrichment program. The 74-acre site will be known as the American Centrifuge Technology and Manufacturing Center.

U Media General Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marshall Morton told an investor gathering that dissident shareholder Harbinger Capital Partners’ three director nominees don’t “hold a candle to the current board.” The Richmond newspaper publisher and TV broadcaster is appropriately focused on local markets, Mr. Morton said at a meeting organized by Mario Gabelli, the company’s largest shareholder.

U ManTech International Corp. said it won $750 million in contracts during the first quarter, with 25 percent coming from new business or expansions to existing contracts.

U Baltimore ranks as the fifth most cost competitive place to do business among 27 large metropolitan areas, primarily because of low property taxes, according to a study by consulting firm KPMG. Northern Virginia ranked eighth. Low labor costs and taxes earned San Juan, Puerto Rico, the top spot, followed by Atlanta.

National

U The Federal Reserve is taking on mortgage-backed securities as part of its $29 billion rescue of Bear Stearns, a government official confirmed in a letter to Congress. A Fed loan to JPMorgan Chase to help it buy Bear Stearns is secured by a “pool of assets consisting primarily of mortgage-backed securities and related hedge investments,” the Treasury Department said.

U A pet food maker whose contaminated product may have led to the deaths of thousands of dogs and cats in North America has agreed to settle lawsuits with pet owners in the United States and Canada. Streetsville, Ontario-based Menu Foods Income Fund announced what it called “comprehensive” tentative settlements.

U The American College of Cardiology denied a contention by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, that $11 million in donations from Schering-Plough Corp. and Merck & Co. may have influenced the group’s position on the cholesterol pill Vytorin, the effectiveness of which was questioned in a recent study.

U Federal Aviation Administration efforts to discipline and increase surveillance of Southwest Airlines Co. were “repeatedly either undermined or not acted upon” by government managers, a House committee said. A whistleblower scheduled to testify at a hearing said regional FAA management was unresponsive to his concerns, according to a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee memo.

U American Airlines flight attendants’ union said they want the company’s executives to defer their bonuses. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said if the company’s five senior executives don’t agree by April 15 to defer their next round of bonuses, the attendants will wear tags demanding their resignations.

U Aloha Airlines has landed its last flight in Honolulu. About 100 out-of-work employees cheered and wept as they jammed the Aloha side of Honolulu’s interisland terminal late Monday to greet the final landing. More than half the 80 people aboard were Aloha employees taking their last ride on the airline that had been around for 61 years.

U Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is dropping its effort to collect more than $400,000 in health care reimbursement from a former employee who suffered brain damage in a traffic accident. The world’s largest retailer said in a letter to the family of Deborah Shank it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit.

U Caterpillar Inc. said it is raising prices as much as 5 percent worldwide, seeking to cope with rising costs for steel and other raw materials used by the largest maker of bulldozers and excavators. The rates go into effect in July. Terex Corp., the third-largest maker of construction equipment, also said it has plans to boost prices.

U Microsoft Corp. introduced programs to help companies manage their mobile phones, aiming to win more corporate customers from Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry. Microsoft also said it is in talks with wireless carriers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless about offering a Microsoft service plan for businesses.

U Apple Inc.’s retail stores are running out of iPhones, a sign the company may soon introduce a new version of the Web-surfing handset, Piper Jaffray & Co. said. At least 20 of Apple’s 180 stores in the U.S. are out of iPhones and Apple is telling online shoppers it may take as long as seven days to fill their orders, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster of Minneapolis said.

U The Federal Communications Commission should reject an application by eBay Inc.’s Skype division to require wireless operators to allow any device on their networks, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told an audience at the CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas. He said that the industry’s recent push toward openness makes such a rule unnecessary.

International

U Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Latin America’s biggest economy isn’t immune to a global turmoil should the U.S. economy face a deep crisis. Mr. Lula, in an address at the Presidential Palace, said the country in the next two weeks will announce a new industrial policy to encourage exports.

U The International Monetary Fund will next week forecast that the U.S. economy will go into recession this year, a German newspaper reported, citing an upcoming report. The IMF thinks the U.S. will experience at least two successive quarters of negative growth — the technical definition of a recession — and will grow only half a percent over the whole of 2008, weekly Die Zeit reported.

U French regulators said they had found evidence of insider trading at European aerospace giant EADS before it revealed delays to its A380 superjumbo airliner that caused the stock price to plunge. The Financial Markets Authority said it would send its findings “immediately” to the Paris prosecution service.

From wire dispatches and staff reports