Mass. pulls lead regulations for children's jewelry

August 27, 2008

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has withdrawn regulations that would have severely limited lead in children's jewelry following federal action that will create nationwide standards restricting lead in all children's products. The Retailers Association of Massachusetts and the Fashion Jewelry Trade Association opposed the state rules, saying they were impossible to meet, more stringent than federal recommendations, and would force retailers to pull millions of pieces of jewelry from shelves. (Jenn Abelson)

Southwest Airlines says it will trim three flights each at Manchester Boston Airport in New Hampshire and Bradley International outside Hartford, plus two at T.F. Green in Warwick, R.I. The carrier says the cuts are part of a plan to trim its schedule by 190 flights, or 6 percent of its 3,400 daily total, starting Jan. 11. (Paul S. Makishima)

Passenger traffic at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, R.I., was down 9 percent last month, the sharpest drop in nine straight months of decline. The Rhode Island Airport Corp. reported that 430,725 people used the airport last month, compared to 475,454 during the same period last year. Airport president Kevin Dillon said he attributed the drop to increased fuel prices and a soft economy that is squeezing potential leisure travelers. (AP)

State Street Corp. said assets under administration serviced by its private equity fund team surpassed $100 billion as of June 30. State Street of Boston provides financial services to institutional investors, and its private equity fund services team provides fund administration to more than 100 private equity and venture capital investment sponsors and fund of fund managers. During 2008, State Street said, it has added $14 billion in private equity assets, representing 27 new funds and eight new client relationships. (Chris Reidy)

Citigroup Inc. will pay nearly $18 million in refunds and settlement charges to settle claims by California Attorney General Jerry Brown that it siphoned funds from customers' credit-card accounts from 1992 to 2003. The company's Citibank division used a computer program to automatically remove positive balances from accounts without telling customers, Brown said in a statement. It targeted customers who died, needed bankruptcy protection, or faced collection actions by Citibank, Brown said. Nationwide, $14 million was removed, including $1.6 million in California, he said. Citigroup, the biggest US credit-card lender, stopped using the program in 2003 voluntarily, and also voluntarily began refunding before the settlement. (AP)

Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported four new deaths in patients taking Byetta, even as the companies tried to shore up the safety profile of their diabetes medication. The disclosure comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration said two Byetta patients died of acute pancreatitis, sinking shares of both drug makers. An executive from Lilly said the FDA was aware of the additional deaths but did not reveal them because they involved a milder form of pancreatitis. The condition can cause nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. "They were concentrating on the more severe forms of the condition, but we felt it was important to get this information out there," said Eli Lilly medical director James Malone. Malone emphasized that all four patients had complicating medical conditions, which were probably the primary cause of death. (AP)

Melvyn Weiss, the convicted securities class-action lawyer, won court approval to collect legal fees from his former firm, now called Milberg LLP, for work he did as lead partner. Weiss, 73, cofounder of the firm previously known as Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, filed a request in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan on June 30, saying an agreement with the firm entitled him to unspecified payments for work done before March 19. Weiss was sentenced in June to 2 1/2 years in prison for illegally paying clients to file shareholder suits that prosecutors said earned the firm $251 million. Weiss said in court papers he signed an accord with the firm last year, before his guilty plea, allowing him to collect fees from certain cases. (Bloomberg)