Arnold Worldwide plans to lay off fewer than 50

Ad agency Arnold Worldwide will cut 8 percent of its Boston workforce, or less than 50 people, to reduce costs and increase efficiency, a spokesman said. The Boston agency, which has 700 employees worldwide and 525 in Boston, told employees about the cutbacks yesterday. Affected employees will leave this week, according to the spokesman. Arnold, which bills itself as "99 percent people and 1 percent other advertising-related substances," reports about $1.6 billion in billings and has clients that include Amtrak, RadioShack, Fidelity Investments, and McDonald's. (Jenifer B. McKim)

The state's Winter Energy Costs Task Force recommended that federal fuel assistance eligibility be expanded to help an additional 55,000 Massachusetts families this winter. After state officials lobbied on behalf of homeowners who are worried about high energy bills, the state's federal home heating assistance allocation was nearly doubled, to $212 million. To qualify for such assistance, a family of four can't have annual income that exceeds $42,400. Expanded eligibility would raise that to $53,600.Under the program, families would receive $445, or enough for one month's oil heat. (Erin Ailworth)

Wachovia Corp.'s Evergreen Investments unit is being investigated by federal and state regulators over investor losses on one of its short-term bond mutual funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Massachusetts have launched separate investigations over "alleged issues" related to the drop in the value of Evergreen Ultra Short Opportunities fund, the bank said. Wachovia shuttered the fund and guaranteed investors would suffer no additional losses after an 18 percent decline in early June. Three class-action lawsuits allege that Evergreen made misleading statements about the fund's risks and failed to accurately price its holdings, "at different points in time," according to the filing with the SEC. An Evergreen spokeswoman in Boston declined to comment. (Bloomberg)

A former medical director for Serono Laboratories Inc., Dr. Norma Muurahainen, was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $150,000 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges related to allegations she helped distribute medical software to diagnose AIDS wasting without approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Though other employees were involved, the US Justice Department alleged Muurahainen, 56, of Hull had the power to stop the shipments, but did not. Serono previously agreed to pay $704 million to resolve criminal charges that it was involved in several illegal schemes to promote Serostim, a drug used to treat AIDS wasting. The company is now known as EMD Serono Inc., based in Rockland. (Todd Wallack)

Biopure Corp. has sued a US government scientist whose April paper said the company's artificial blood increased the risks of death and heart attack. The Cambridge drug maker is seeking unspecified damages against Charles Natanson of the National Institutes of Health, alleging defamation, libel, and "intentional interference" with the company's business, Biopure said in a suit filed in US District Court in Washington, D.C. In a July report in The Wall Street Journal, Biopure also complained that Natanson hadn't revealed in the paper that he's a co-inventor of a technology that may make the products safer. Natanson told the Journal he'd forgotten his name was listed as a co-inventor and regretted the error in judgment. He didn't immediately respond to a phone call and e-mail seeking comment. (Bloomberg)

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.46 percent this week, up from 6.04 percent last week. The increase pushed those rates to their highest since the week of Oct. 16. Analysts attributed the increase to the impact the financial crisis is having on bond markets, which last month drove investors to the safety of Treasury securities. Now, the panic is easing, and investors are moving out of Treasury bonds. That means less demand for Treasuries, pushing their yields higher driving up rates for mortgages linked to those investments. Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, which are popular in refinancings, rose to 6.19 percent from 5.72 percent last week. Five-year adjustables rose to 6.36 percent, up from 6.06 percent last week. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 5.38 percent, up from 5.23 percent last week. (AP)