Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 50

Spam fromIE pecfl privacy boil innate okays re wainm Associated PrM attempts to amend the bill. "I think time will show that this was the wrong vote, and I have no doubt that this issue will resurface as consumers learn more about the misuse of their most sensitive personal information," Feinstein said. Most lawmakers seemed happy with the final version of the legislation. The Bush administration has announced its support. would stop states from setting separate rules on how businesses use, share and report data on consumers.

That ban comes amid much consternation in states such as California, which just passed a tougher consumer privacy law. The state's Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara. Boxer, voted against reauthorization after the Senate rejected their careful balance between ensuring the efficient operation of our markets and protecting the rights of consumers," said Sen. Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Congressional negotiators must reconcile differences between the two versions.

That gives critics the chance to get lawmakers to change a provision that tomers' financial information with other companies. The Senate, by a 95-2 vote, approved the reauthorization of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which created a national credit reporting standard to make it easier for people to get credit cards, loans and mortgages. House passage came by a 392-30 margin last month. "The end product strikes a WASHINGTON Consumers moved a step closer to new identity theft protections, including e-mailed annual credit reports and blacked-out credit card numbers on receipts, under legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate. But opponents still can derail a bill that also pre-empts tougher state privacy laws that prevent businesses from sharing their cus oweirs eamiiicfls forecast ctive Intern Corps By MARK ALBRIGHT Tim Staff Writer on junk e-mail, better known as spam.

Internet service providers are getting increasingly aggressive in trying to stop the flow of junk e-mail, which makes up about half of the messages sent Sometimes legitimate messages and e-mail accounts are accidentally caught in the net. In April, for example, America Online blocked the city of St. Petersburg from sending messages to AOL members because it had misidentified the city as a spammer. Verizon and Bright House, which handles Road Runner access in the bay area, expected the problem to be fixed by sometime today. Verizon offers dial-up phone connections to the Internet as well as high-speed DSL service over phone wires.

It competes with Bright House, the bay area's dominant cable television provider, which offers high-speed Internet service over its cable lines. The Internet service providers danced around the issue of blame. A Bright House memo said Verizon had "some technical issues" in the process, while Elek said simply that the company was working to get it fixed. "We're trying to do something that's basically good for consumers," Elek said. "We have had no problems with other ISPs." Whoever is responsible, Ger-da Miller of Largo, a Verizon -subscriber, wants to receive e-mail from a friend on Road Runner in Tampa.

"I couldn't, figure out why I wasn't getting mail," Miller said. She says she told a Verizon customer support rep: "I'm paying full price. If I can't get my e-mail, I'll just have to switch." Dave Gussow can be reached at gussowsptimes.com or (727) 771-4328. from A star performer was Diller's Home Shopping Network, the TV shopping operation based in St Petersburg. Network revenues rose 17 percent to $526-million, up from $450-million.

Operating income was $34-million, up from a loss of $20-million in the year-ago quarter when HSN was writing down investments after pulling out of several ill-fated ventures in Europe. This marked the third consecutive quarter that HSN has taken market share from its biggest rival, QVC, domestically, Diller said. He said the network will invest "heavi Other unexpected problems were the cost of terminating a satellite contract at IAC's TV travel shopping channel in the United Kingdom, which was recently reorganized under the control of executives from Expedia. IAC also paid a premium in buying back $59-mil-lion in unsecured debt IAC also spent $717-million buying back 20-million of its own shares in a stock repurchase plan. The IAC board has authorized repurchasing and retiring up to 50-million more shares.

Mark Albright can be reached at albrightsptimes.com or (727) 893-8252. all model is completely sound." Analysts were expecting IAC to generate operating income of 77 cents a share for the full 2003 fiscal year. Instead, the company, which is now midway through the fourth quarter, said it will be more like 72 to 75 cents. Shares plummeted 14 percent Wednesday before closing at $34.19, down 8 percent or $2.81. IAC exceeded analyst forecasts for the quarter that ended Sept 30, the company reported Wednesday.

Net income was or 2 cents a share, compared with a loss in the year-ago quarter of or 8 cents a share. Revenues were up ly" next year enhancing customer service. It still lags behind QVC in measures such as average delivery time and average wait time for calls to be answered. Unexpected charges and expenses totaled about in IAC's other far-flung businesses during the third quarter. One of the biggest was heightened advertising expenses at Diller's Hotels.com, which shifted from appearing on the Travelocity Web site to Diller's own Expedia Web site.

Added advertising has yet to offset the business lost by the switch, a problem expected to linger until 2005. Stock in Barry Diller's e-com-merce conglomerate took a hit Wednesday after he lowered the earnings forecast for his InterActi-veCorp. Diller blamed several unexpected charges and expenses across many of the company's recently acquired businesses in online travel and mortgage lending that are still being remolded to fit InterActiveCorp. "We're near the end stage of integrating all these businesses, so this will settle itself down relatively quickly," said Diller. "But our over uit: Clear Channel's sexism purge incomplete Lot Angli Tlm and sources say Clear Channel's corporate management began to view his style as a liability.

The Mays family ousted Michaels in an abrupt shakeup last year, but industry experts say much of Jacor's ethos still runs thick. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. sexual harassment. In an interview on ABC's 2020, Richards said male co-workers at WFLA frequently directed unwanted sexual comments at her, and that Michaels sometimes displayed sex toys as he walked the halls of the station. Richards and Jacor settled the case and terms were not disclosed.

At Clear Channel, Michaels installed a management team drawn from Jacor's ranks and presided over the company's emergence as the most dominant force on the airwaves. But he clashed frequently with record label executives, iMJJInABR LOSS? fllP fl I I Grow Your Own Hair Back with I FOLLICULAR UNIT HAIR TRANSPLANTATION II ff fl JL 4 PROPECIA LASER HAIR COMB I Month Financing Same At Cash rmarkou.com 727-446-0 176 sion's chief executive, promoted women who slept with other male executives, including his predecessor, Randy Michaels. The lawsuit said Childress also complained that male executives solicited prostitutes while purportedly on company business. An attorney for Childress said she has "firsthand" knowledge of such incidents. Clear Channel said the executives would not comment The most recent allegations come as the company has tried to bolster profits and pay down debt following the multibillion-dollar acquisition spree that transformed the family-run San Antonio company into a broadcasting and live entertainment empire.

(Clear Channel's earnings tripled in the third quarter this year, mostly because the company sold shares in the Spanish-language media company, Univision Communications. The company said it earned $636-million, or $1.03 per share, for the three months ended Sept 30, compared with a profit of or 34 cents, for the same period in 2002. Clear Channel reported revenue of in the quarter, up 9 percent from a year earlier.) In particular, industry veterans say, the Texas giant's ranks are still flavored with the free-wheeling culture of Jacor Communications, the Cincinnati company that had risen from near-bankruptcy to become a national power by the time Clear Channel purchased it in 1998 for Tapped to run the combined radio division was Jacor chief and industry veteran Michaels, a one-time shock jock with a taste for flamboyant public appearances and station stunts. Jacor came under national fire in the early 1990s after Tampa Bay area disc jockey liz Richards sued her station, WFLA-AM 970, the company and Michaels, alleging pany paid a settlement to Brian Rublein, a veteran radio news director who said he was fired from a Clear Channel station in Louisville, partly in retaliation for reporting alleged harassment of a male employee by a senior male manager. In another case, the company paid to settle a complaint filed by former Salt Lake City morning show personality Dawn College, who said she was frequently subjected to pornographic e-mails sent by senior executives.

Terms of the settlements were not disclosed. Clear Channel spokeswoman Lisa Dollinger declined to discuss details of the cases, citing employee confidentiality. But she did say "neither of these situations proved to have any legitimate sexual harassment elements." The lawsuit filed last week seeks more than $10-million in damages. It alleges that Clear Channel's Premiere unit, which syndicates such on-air talent as Rush Limbaugh and Jim Rome, and Premiere chief Kraig Kitchin violated state laws prohibiting retaliation against employees who oppose illegal conduct Childress contends that last October she received an e-mail depicting nude breasts and the message: "Good luck to you! You have been tagged by the Great Jugs!" According to the lawsuit the e-mail had been sent by a senior Clear Channel executive to his direct subordinates through a group e-mail. Childress said she complained to Kitchin about the e-mail but said the company took no action.

Instead, she alleges, she was fired three weeks later. She contends the incident followed numerous other times during her six-year tenure at the company when she objected to "offensive" acts. In the lawsuit Childress said she had voiced complaints that John Hogan, the radio divi The staid Texas family that runs radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. has tried to send a clear signal that it won't put up with raunchy antics. Last year, the company ordered its rock programmers to pull pictures of skimpily dressed women from station Web sites that target young male listeners.

Before that, the Mays family forced aside the chief of Clear Channel's radio division, a one-time shock jock known for sexually explicit broadcasts and stunts. But a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that the company hasn't reined in some male executives' off-air behavior. The complaint accuses Clear Channel Communications' radio syndication unit of violating antidiscrimination and whistleblower protection laws by terminating a senior executive who objected to alleged "hostile treatment" toward women, including the spread of a sexually explicit e-mail. The lawsuit contends that mer Premiere Radio Networks senior vice president Karen Childress repeatedly complained about sexual harassment at the company, including misconduct by top programmers. She alleges she was fired last year shortly after objecting to an offensive e-mail.

Clear Channel, the biggest U.S. radio conglomerate with control of about 1,200 stations, including eight in the Tampa Bay area, said: "We have not had an opportunity to review the lawsuit However, we take all claims of this nature very seriously." The case represents at least the third time in 22 months that former employees have filed court papers alleging sexual harassment at Clear Channel's radio operations. In one case last year, the com yr -ji-A L- ''''aEsa, Ogti CH RYSLER CROSSFIRE DREAMED IN AMERICA, CRAFTED IN GERMANY Exceptionally well-qualified lessees can lease for mo for mos. Busch fromIE Due at Signing Tax, title, and license extra. No security deposit required.

costumed characters, licensed by Sesame Workshop, the New York producers of the PBS-TV kid's show, came from Sesame Place theme park near Philadelphia, another Busch property, which is closed this time of year. The stage show arriving next spring replaces a four-year-old ice show. Called Katonga, the new $5-million-plus stage production will feature an 18-mem-ber cast of acrobats, dancers and singers acting out a 35-minute play with original music about animal fables. The five principals will earn $15 an hour, the rest of the cast $11.25 an hour, according to the casting call. The star performers will be giant animal puppets, an idea similar to the Lion King show.

It all sounds familiar Character breakfasts. Short 30-minute versions of highly stylized Broadway shows for theme park audiences. Hiring producers who helped stage the Lion King for a short musical based on animal stories. Is Busch getting a bit too "Disney?" "Not at all," replied Gerard Hoeppner, spokesman for Busch Gardens. 'We were an African-themed park based on animals, rides and shows long before Disney came out with the Lion King or Disney's Animal Kingdom." Busch last week broke ground on a new parking lot It's part of a major overhaul of its highway access that includes the widening of 40th StreetMcKinley Drive and construction of two new tunnels that will keep motorists and park trams from interrupting traffic flow on what will eventually be a four-line highway linking the University of South Florida and Interstate 4.

Work on the parking lots is not expected to be completed until early 2005. Mark Albright can be reached at albrightsptimee.com or (727) 89342SZ POWERTRAIN LIMITED WARRANTY Get our Powertrain Limited Warranty on the hardest-workinq parts of your Last year chairman August Busch III, who owns a winter home in Lakeland, told Anheuser-Busch Co. shareholders he was taking a more active role in beefing up the profitability of his company's theme parks. As Universal Orlando and Disney return to their big-spending ways of the past Busch is stepping up to remain competitive and recover financially from a tough two years since the terrorist attacks of 2001. Park officials say attendance has perked up, but they won't know until December if they can report an annual increase in visitors.

With Florida tourism on the mend, Busch needs some new draws to stimulate return visits. The park also must enhance the value of its offering as it tries to wean locals off discounts that became rampant during tough economic times. Park officials, for example, are now studying changes to their popular Florida Fun Pass that at its height offered unlimited visits to the park all year for the price of a single day's admission. The Sesame Street show, Big Bird's Beach Party, which runs Nov. 28 through Jan.

3 in the Stanleyville Theater, is one example of the park'9 new revenue strategy. Busch will let parents take photos of their kids with Big Bird and Cookie Monster. But it will be selling photos taken by its own roving cameras as well. For the first time, the park also will stage character breakfasts, lunches and dinners a la Walt Disney World, at prices ranging from $12.95 to $19.95 a person. The Sesame Street show is part of another new Busch strategy of maximizing popular attractions from the other Busch Entertainment Corp.

parks. The fffWm vehicle, the engine and transmission, Something Ford, Chevy, and Toyota don't give you. Wv WMMm 111 HPtA For exceptionally well-qualified lessees based on MSRP example with 21A pkg. Total due at lease signing is $1999, which includes Ire down payment of $1 ,600 and first month's payment of $399, Offer requires dealer contribution of $1810. Security deposit is waived for qualified lessees.

Tax title and license extra. Pay for excess wear and mileage of 20mile for each mile over 12,000 miles per year plus a $300 lease turn-in fee, if vehicle is returned at end of term. Option to buy at lease end at pre-negotiated price plus a $150 purchase option fee Each participating dealer's actual terms may vary Lease oer through Chsler Financial Residency restrictions apply. Must take re'ail delrve7 by 12103. 7-year or 70.000-mile Powetram United Waty on all Ouster vehicles.

See dealer for a copy of this limited waranty, T'ans'erable to second owner with fee. A deductible applies..