UMass nurses union sets an Oct. 26 strike deadline

THE REGION

The Massachusetts Nurses Union set an Oct. 26 strike deadline at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester. The union said management's latest contract proposal shows it's unwilling to negotiate. Nurses, without a contract since April, voted Sept. 27 to give union leaders power to call a strike. They say the hospital wants to decrease pension benefits, holidays and sick time, and raise health insurance premiums. Hospital officials said they told the union they will negotiate and offered a date of Oct. 18, but the union rejected it. (Christopher Rowland)

Massachusetts exports remained on a record pace in August as foreigners snapped up the state's technology products, the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research at Holyoke Community College reported. Bay State firms exported $15.7 billion in merchandise through August, up 9 percent from the same period in 2005. Overseas sales of equipment for semiconductor manufacturing and testing nearly doubled in the first eight months of 2006, compared to a year earlier. Also showing strong growth: medical devices and instruments, up nearly 20 percent, and golf balls, up more than 40 percent. Exports to China, now the state's sixth-largest foreign market, were up 60 percent. (Robert Gavin)

Boston Scientific Corp. said a US Appeals Court affirmed its patent in a case against Medtronic Inc. The Natick company said the court upheld a key cardiac resynchronization patent which Guidant, now part of Boston Scientific, exclusively licensed from Mirowski Family Ventures LLC. Medtronic, which makes defibrillators and pacemakers, said it disagrees with the decision and ``will pursue appropriate legal recourse." (AP)

Medical products company Abiomed Inc., of Danvers, said it expects fiscal second-quarter revenue of about $11 million. Wall Street had been expecting $13.1 million, according to an analyst poll by Thomson Financial. The company will release earnings Nov. 8. Abiomed, which makes medical products designed to assist failing hearts, saw its shares fall $1, or 6.7 percent, to $14 in aftermarket trading. (AP)

John S. Ziemba, 37, who stepped down last month as director of the state Department of Labor, has joined the 65-lawyer Worcester law firm Bowditch & Dewey to help launch a government relations practice. The firm also has offices in Boston and Framingham. Ziemba had worked for the state since 1990, also serving as undersecretary of transportation, acting secretary of transportation, deputy chief of staff to Governor Jane Swift, and director of policy and planning for the Executive Office of Communities and Development, among other things. His new job includes recruiting public agencies as clients. (Sacha Pfeiffer)

Renewed speculation that The New York Times Co. could be a takeover candidate fueled heavy buying of its bullish options as traders hoped to profit from a share rally, analysts said. Times Co., which also owns The Boston Globe and more than a dozen local newspapers, has been cited periodically as a potential acquisition target. A company spokeswoman declined to comment. Times shares, down almost 11 percent since the beginning of the year, rose 4.19 percent to $23.86 on the takeover rumors. One of the company's largest shareholders, Morgan Stanley, raised its Times Co. stake to 7.6 percent from 6.6 percent, according to a filing with federal regulators. (Reuters)

THE NATION

Crude oil prices rose as US heating oil inventories fell, but they remain below $58 a barrel amid doubt OPEC can persuade Saudi Arabia to cut output. Crude prices are hovering around their lowest levels of the year. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest producer, has yet to confirm anything after OPEC's president said members were nearing consensus on cutting output. Light sweet crude for November delivery edged up 27 cents to $57.86 a barrel in New York after falling as low as $57.22. Heating oil futures rose 1.57 cents to settle at $1.6877 a gallon; gasoline prices edged up less than a cent to $1.4509 a gallon. Brent crude on London's ICE futures exchange rose 11 cents to settle at $58.76 a barrel. Since July, the cost of crude has dropped by more than 25 percent. (AP)