Northeast Health System's board meets on CEO's fate

Trustees of Beverly Hospital's parent organization were meeting last night to determine the future of chief executive Stephen R. Laverty, whose management style has come under fire from doctors and nurses. The board of Northeast Health System Inc. was spurred to action when nurses last month took a vote of no confidence in Laverty. The board is believed to be looking for an interim CEO to run Beverly Hospital, Addison Gilbert Hospital in Gloucester, BayRidge Hospital in Lynn, and three outpatient facilities during a search for a permanent replacement. The leading candidate yesterday was Dr. Henry "Hank" Ramini, a longtime obstetrician at Beverly Hospital who retired in January after serving as the system's chairman, said several sources close to the hospital. A spokeswoman for Northeast said she had no information about the meeting. (Jeffrey Krasner)

Johnson & Johnson-Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co. said it was recalling about 12,000 units of one-ounce plastic bottles of infant gas relief drops because some may include metal fragments. The "potential for serious medical events is low" from the Mylicon Gas Relief Dye Free nonstaining drops, said the company, which is a joint venture of J&J and Merck & Co. to develop and market nonprescription medicines. (Bloomberg)

American Express Co. won Federal Reserve approval to convert to a commercial bank. The Fed waived the normal 30-day waiting period on the application "in light of the unusual and exigent circumstances affecting the financial markets," the central bank said. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues unanimously voted for the action. Sales of credit card asset-backed bonds have plummeted, hindering the company's ability to raise cash to fund new loans. The Fed lets banks post consumer debt, such as credit card receivables, as collateral for loans from its discount window, which carry a 1.25 percent interest rate. (Bloomberg)

Google Inc.'s YouTube, the video-sharing website, will create channels to play film clips and TV shows from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. The Impact channel will carry clips from action movies, including Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky," MGM said. Another channel will air highlights and full episodes of the original "American Gladiators" TV show, the closely held studio said. Google, the most popular Internet search engine, is adding films and TV shows from Hollywood studios to increase YouTube's audience and to discourage users from uploading unauthorized material. (Bloomberg)

Citigroup is the latest major US lender to try to help borrowers stay in their homes, launching a program it said may result in $20 billion of mortgage refinancings. The second-largest US bank by assets expects in the next six months to reach out to 500,000 borrowers it said may need help to stay current on payments. It is focusing particularly on areas "likely to face extreme economic distress." Citigroup also agreed to halt foreclosures for struggling borrowers who live in their homes, have sufficient income to afford lower payments, and are making an effort to work out their problems with the bank. The changes cover borrowers whose mortgages Citigroup owns, rather than those it has sold to investors. Citigroup said it also streamlined procedures to rework delinquent home loans, modeling it on a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. plan to ease terms for many IndyMac Bancorp Inc. borrowers. (Reuters)

Midway Games Inc., the video game publisher controlled by Sumner Redstone, reported a wider third-quarter loss because of higher costs to develop titles and predicted it would stay unprofitable in the current period. The net loss expanded to $75.9 million, or 83 cents a share, from $33.5 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier, missing the preliminary 70 cent loss the company forecast last month. It blamed additional amortization and write-downs of product development costs. Revenue rose 40 percent, to $51.4 million. Midway, maker of the Mortal Kombat games, has not had a profit in more than three years. Redstone's National Amusements Inc. agreed in September to provide as much as $40 million in financing. Midway also cut jobs and canceled an unidentified title to focus on games with the best chances of success. (Bloomberg)