WBZ-TV begins laying off, 10% reduction expected

Local CBS station WBZ-TV (Channel 4) began making staff cuts, according to a station spokeswoman. The cuts are expected to be about 10 percent of the overall workforce of 220. "There have been staff reductions stationwide as a result of our restructuring for efficiencies and streamlining our operations while maintaining quality programming and service to the community," said Ro Dooley Webster, spokeswoman for Brighton-based WBZ-TV. TV stations have faced increasing pressure to cut costs in the wake of declining ad revenues and viewership. (Jenn Abelson)

BoltBus, a division of Greyhound Lines Inc., will launch service from Boston's South Station to near New York's Penn Station on April 24. Tickets go on sale April 7 at boltbus.com. At least one seat on every bus will cost just $1 one way, plus a booking fee, and the remainder will be priced according to demand. Fares will rise closer to the travel date. BoltBus, which will have 12 daily departures on this route weekdays and more on the weekends, will be the first low-cost carrier on this route to offer free wireless Internet access, and is celebrating by offering every seat between April 24 and April 27 for $1. MegaBus, another entrant to this competitive market, will also offer $1 seats and free Wi-Fi when service starts May 30, and will offer every seat for free in its first week of service. (Nicole C. Wong)

Northland Investment Corp. of Newton is joining with Tarragon Corp. of New York to form a company that will own and manage 83 multifamily properties in 12 states. Northland, a real estate firm, will hold a 77.5 percent interest in the new company, Northland Properties LLC, which it said will be worth about $2 billion and will be among the top 50 multifamily companies in the United States. Tarragon, a mixed-use property developer focusing on apartments and condominium residences, will contribute 7,433 units to the portfolio of the new company, bringing the total held to more than 21,000. Northland Investment Corp. was founded in 1970. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont has been the target of a security breach that may have compromised tens of thousands of credit cards. Okemo said hackers broke into its computer network and potentially gained access to credit card data from 28,168 transactions between Feb. 7 and Feb. 22 and 18,401 credit cards between January and March 2006. The number of affected cardholders is unknown but Okemo said it expects it to be lower than the number of transactions. The resort has alerted credit card companies, which are notifying affected cardholders. (AP)

AT&T Inc., the biggest US phone carrier, will begin charging customers less to cancel wireless service depending on how much time remains on their contracts. Rather than charging a flat $175 to disconnect users, AT&T will reduce that by $5 after each month of service for customers who sign one- and two-year contracts, the company said. The new plan begins May 25. US lawmakers have proposed legislation to limit termination fees. (Bloomberg)

Pfizer Inc.'s painkiller Celebrex, prescribed 11 million times last year, poses a danger to the hearts of people taking high doses or who have heart disease, according to a study. Patients taking the biggest Celebrex dose of 400 milligrams twice a day tripled their chance of a heart attack or stroke, compared with people taking a placebo, according to a study presented yesterday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago. Pfizer is trying to revive sales of Celebrex, which fell almost 50 percent after a similar pill, Merck & Co.'s Vioxx, was pulled from the market in 2004 for increasing the risk of heart attacks and stroke. (Bloomberg)

VMware Inc. shares declined $1.71, or 3.8 percent, to $42.82 after an analyst lowered her price target and estimate for the virtualization software maker, citing economic concerns and its exposure to enterprise license agreements. In a client note, Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert lowered her share price target to $55 from $74 and cut her first-quarter, full-year, and 2009 estimates. She rates VMware at "hold." Egbert cited rising economic uncertainty and the likelihood that companies will turn toward VMware's enterprise license agreements to reconcile increased use of its software with declining budgets. (AP)