Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Tue, Apr 14 1992 Date: Tue, 14 Apr 92 05:42:44 EDT Message-ID: 04-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update April 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MOLLICONE HELD WITHOUT BAIL: Joseph Mollicone Jr., was ordered held without bail Monday on charges he embezzled more than $13 million from Heritage Loan and Investment Bank. The collapse of the bank in Providence, R.I., 17 months ago triggered the state's worst banking crisis since the Great Depression. Mollicone, 48, was arraigned in a Cranston jail cell because authorities feared for his safety. FOUR RELEASED ON BOND: In Tampa, Fla., four businessmen were released on bond Monday on federal charges they defrauded Freedom Savings and Loan of $30 million. Indicted: Thomas Twitty, Jr., 48 of Bellaire; John Larrison, 46, of Indian Rocks Beach; G. Richard Leveritt, 49, of Pinellas County and John Watson, 57, of St. Petersburg. REPORT WARNS OF CABLE SCAM: State securities regulators release a report Tuesday that details how telemarketers across the USA are promising big profits for people who invest in so-called wireless cable TV systems. The fast-growing scam could cost consumers $25 million this year, the report says. The telemarketers promise consumers that by investing about $5,000 they will get a return of $1 million a year. BIG MONEY PROMISED IN SCAM: Scam artists are promising big returns to consumers who invest in wirless cable TV system applications, regulators say. The profits are supposed to come from the dollars subscribers would shell out, plus any proceeds if a wireless cable system is sold to a larger company. But the FCC approves very few applications and has stopped taking new applications. LOGGERS FAVORED IN POLL: Oregon voter sentiment has shifted toward logging over owls, according to a poll for The Oregonian. When asked if "forest products must be protected, even if it means the loss of spotted owl habitat," 62% agreed, 33% disagreed. Two years ago, only 46% agreed; 48% disagreed. The shift is attributed to the economic reality that many would lose their jobs if the owl is protected. HELMSLEY TRIES NEW APPROACH: Hotel queen Leona Helmsley, who is scheduled to enter prison Wednesday on charges of tax evasion, is taking a new approach in her attempt to avoid doing time. Her lawyers, in court papers filed Monday, said the multi-millionaire faces harm from inmates because she is a "widely reviled, vastly wealthy New York Jew." She has a federal appeals hearing Tuesday on her four-year sentence. KROGER EMPLOYEES STRIKE: About 7,000 employees of Kroger Co. stores in southeastern Michigan went on strike after rejecting a contract offer Monday, but replacement workers kept stores operating. Negotiations broke off April 3 and no new talks were scheduled. The previous contract, signed in 1987, expired Jan. 3. OFFICALS MEET WITH MEDIATOR: Officials from Caterpillar Inc. and the United Auto Workers union got together with a federal mediator Monday in hopes of ending a five-month-old strike by about 12,600 workers. United Auto Worker and management officials would not comment on whether negotiations had gotten under way or if each side had just talked separately to the mediator. TRANSIT STRIKE ENDS: Pittsburgh's four-week transit strike ended Monday as negotiations resumed under a judge's back-to-work order. The strike by 2,700 drivers and mechanics idled buses and trolleys used by 100,000 commuters daily. UNIONS CHANGING TACTICS: With strikes proving less and less successful as a tool for unions in labor disputes, unions are using regulatory and legal processes to try to gain concessions, analysts say. Often, contract disputes are now being settled by the courts and by paid mediators, rather than by labor and management themselves. REQUEST MADE FOR REGULATION: In Chicago, a request has been made by the Illinois Medical Society for the Illnois Department of Public Health to begin regulating tattoo parlors and businesses offering electrolysis services to cut down on health problems. Catalyst: The only state law regarding the issue only bans tattooing of people under age 21. BOARD TO DECIDE ON PENSION: A state board in Georgia decides Wednesday whether former Aviation Commissioner Ira Jackson will receive a $42,266-per-year pension. Jackson resigned March 8 amid allegations he received $900,000 from a concessionaire at Hartsfield Airport. He had no comment. HOTEL TO BE AUCTIONED: The Boulder Mountain Hotel, 57-room lodge in Ketchum, Idaho, will be auctioned off April 21 to satisfy debts. The lodge will remain open. Cited: Early financial problems and poor snow years since its 1989 opening. Business Law Editor: Jason P. Smith. (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