Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Wed, Jul 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 04:32:50 EDT Message-ID: 07-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update July 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network ENTERPRISE ZONES PROPOSED: Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, with a Republican senator from Wisconsin and a Connecticut Democrat, unveiled a plan Tuesday to expand urban and rural "enterprise zones" from a proposed 25 to at least 300. Kemp touted the idea of tax breaks and incentives to draw investment to inner-city areas. The Senate will debate enterprise zone laws the House passed after Los Angeles' riots. BILL CUTS CAPITAL GAINS TAX: The House-passed bill - opposed by Housing Secretary Jack Kemp and Sens. Robert Kasten, R-Wis. and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn. - would give firms setting up in inner cities and rural areas a 50% break on the capital gains tax and reduced labor taxes. It would cost an estimated $2.5 billion over five years. Using Kemp's alternative, capital gains tax would be eliminated in such areas. BUNGEE COMPANY PENALIZED: The Michigan Department of Labor cited Dore's Bungee Blast Inc. with 21 violations of state worker safety laws Monday, after an accident killed one worker and injured another July 9. It also proposed a $154,000 penalty for the Bay City company. The most serious allegation was that untrained workers operated the crane that was used in the bungee-jumping accident. VESSELS CLOG WATERWAYS: An estimated 4,000 abandoned vessels are clogging the nation's waterways and leaking engine oil and other toxic materials as they deteriorate, say congressional investigators. Existing laws provide varying penalties for abandoning many vessels, but no such laws exist for barges. A pending bill would forbid abandoning barges, fine owners and require ownership identification. SEC WANTS PUBLIC INPUT: The Securities and Exchange Commission is giving the public 90 days to comment on proposals that would create three new types of mutual funds. In the interval fund, investors would sell shares at regular intervals. Extended-payment would give funds more than the required seven days to repay those who redeem shares. A closed-end fund would buy back shares based on the fund portfolio's value. OSTRANDER CONVICTED: Despite helpful testimony from Michael Milken, Patricia Ostrander, a former portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments, was convicted Tuesday of taking bribes in exchange for her business from the former head of junk bonds at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Ostrander faces 13 years in prison and fines of $750,000. MILKEN AWAITS REDUCTION: Michael Milken, the former junk bond head at Drexel Burnham Lambert, insisted during the trial of Patricia Ostrander that he never bribed Drexel customers, angering government prosecutors in the case. Milken is waiting to hear if Judge Kimba Wood will reduce his 10-year prison sentence. SENATE ASSISTS FARMERS: The Senate approved spending $46.4 million Tuesday to help farmers in nine states return 50,000 acres of cropland to natural wetlands. The financing came from cutting $54.9 million from the Agriculture Department's computer purchasing fund. Farmers who restore their wetlands agree to a permanent restriction on the land in exchange for a payment that is nearly equal to the land value. NAVISTAR CHANGING BENEFITS: Navistar International Corp. announced Tuesday it filed for federal court clearance to proceed with reductions in health-care benefits for about 40,000 retirees, a plan designed to save about $90 million a year. The company filed a declaratory judgement action in U.S. District Court seeking confirmation of the right to change its benefits. The changes won't break any union agreements. `COP KILLER' PULLED: Time Warner Inc. agreed Tuesday to comply with a request from rapper Ice-T to pull albums containing the controversial song "Cop Killer," which had been denounced by police and politicians. The company, which will replace the "Body Count" album with a new version without the song, had earlier said stopping distribution would damage artists' rights to free expression. TRITON TO PAY EX-EMPLOYEE: Triton Energy Corp. Tuesday agreed to pay former controller Jimmy Janacek $9.5 million. The settlement, for one of the nation's largest wrongful termination cases, means Triton won't have to pay $124 million in damages awarded to Janacek in May by a Dallas jury. Triton spokesman said that "this resolves all claims with regards to the Janacek suit." HEALTH CARE FRAUD UNCOVERED: Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., Tuesday told the Senate Judiciary Committee that every American is losing $300 a year to health-care fraud, and it's likely to get a lot worse before officials can control the looting. The Committee heard that about 10% of the nation's $730 billion in health-care expenditures is being skimmed by unscrupulous doctors and all other aspects of the industry. Business Law Editor: Kate Coughlin. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM