Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 19

fnday Inside Section Dow June 12001 to spend $300 million over next year for ads on Viacom TV stations Page B8 3930 1091U94 Market Day Page B9 Commodities B10 Foreign Exchange B9 Mutual Funds Bll Online: wwwkentuckycoin Business Editor: Jacalyn Carfagno Plume: (859)231-1468 To report a news tip: Call 231-3200 or toll-free at (800) 9506397 hlbusines8herakl-leadercoin Lexington Herald-Leader Shorttakes MfUamoift tails accoiurafts faigeted Creditors seek records of institutions that did business with ex-governor tions to hire the firms is scheduled for 1030 am Monday The bank records are being sought by unsecured creditors so they can be reviewed by the firm of Jay Alix Associates All but one Lexington-based Whitaker Bank are asked to turn over records on June 15 of accounts as well as loans made to Wilkinson his family and his businesses since 1992 Whitaker which has the largest number of Wilkinson accounts is also asked to provide copies of the front and back of all canceled checks written on all of its accounts Elmer Whitaker the chairman and chief executive is one of Wilkinson's largest unsecured creditors having personally lent the former governor $15 million in September According to the motion See WILKINSON B8 handle which may arise from federal and state regulatory authorities or from representatives of the UB Department of Justice regarding the the motion says Andersen's work would include helping Wilkinson fight charges that he mismanaged his businesses before he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February declaring $4184 million in debts A hearing on mo By Jim Jordan HERALDLEAOER BUSINESS WRITER Creditors are seeking records of loans and accounts from 16 banks that have done business with former Gov Wallace Wilkinson since 1992 Meanwhile Wilkinson is asking US Bankruptcy Court in Lexington to approve the hiring of the law firm of Neal Harwell PLC and the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen LLP Neal Harwell a Nashville firm headed by James Neal who was chief trial counsel in the Watergate scandal would help Wilkinson fight lawsuits and Computer systems under attack MEDIA Danville parent acquires Jessamine weekly Schurz Communications Inc the parent company of The Advocate-Messenger in Danville announced yesterday it has acquired The Jessamine Journal a weekly newspaper in Nkholasville The newspaper was acquired from Republic Newspapers Inc of Knoxville which also publishes newspapers in Tennessee Noth Carolina and Florida Schurz is a family-owned multi-media company with newspapers radio and television stations cable television systems and Internet companies in 10 states NATURAL GAS price drops: The price of natural gas will decrease slightly today for customers of Columbia Gas of Kentucky The cost of 1000 cubic feet of gas will fall by about 1 cent to $8929 from $894 The price decrease means customers will pay an average of $2814 for gas this June 37 percent higher than last $2057 The Kentucky Public Service Commission requires Columbia and other natural gas suppliers to file rate adjustments every month Rate increases and decreases should not affect the bottom line since Columbia is obligated to sell natural gas to customers at the same price it pays wholesalers US ECONOMY Jobless claims rise again: New claims for state unemployment benefits jumped 8000 to a seasonally adjusted 419000 for the work week ending May 26 the Labor Department said yesterday The increase was the third in a row keeping claims at their highest level since April 28 when they shot up to 425000 Analysts had anticipated a smaller increase Mortgage rates up: The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages climbed to 724 percent up from 720 percent last week according to Freddie Mac tiw mortgage company Fifteen-year mortgages went up to 678 percent this week compared with 676 percent the previous week On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5J89 percent up from 582 percent the week before HEALTH CARE Liquid bandage out soon: A liquid bandage for treating minor cuts could be in supermarkets next year Closure Medical has agreed to give worldwide distribution and development rights to Johnson Johnson for the liquid adhesive Closure plans to start shipping the product called Liquiderm later this year COMPENSATION raises cut: Credit Suisse First Boston has told about 5400 top executives they receive midyear raises because of market conditions Lower-level employees will get cost-of-living and merit raises where applicable COMPILED FROM STAFF WIRE REPORTS 6th Circuit sides with Vencor plaintiffs Securities-fraud case sent back for a new hearing By Karla Dooley HERAUHEADER BUSINESS WRITER Plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Vencor Inc and Ventas Inc gained a victory yesterday when the Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals reversed an earlier decision That means their securities fraud case will be heard again In an opinion handed down yesterday the court sent the case which alleges trading fraudulent omissions and stock prices punctured by bad news in the health care industry bade to the US District Court in Louisville a victory for the plaintiffs" said Kenneth Vianale an attorney for the plaintiffs The suit alleges that Vencor officials knew the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 would cut federal reimbursements to Vencor hurting the bottom line The plaintiffs claim that company insiders began selling Vencor stock at the same time they told the public they were comfortable with earnings estimates never varied from that Vianale said knew internally what was The plaintiffs are people who bought Vencor stock between February and October 1997 Vencor officials and an attorney for the defendants could not be reached for comment late yesterday Among the individual defendants are Bruce Lunsford and Michael Barr who co-founded the company as well as former chief financial officer Earl Reed HL The district court had dismissed the suit which was filed in 1997 and an appeals court panel upheld that decision But the plaintiffs asked that the full panel of 13 circuit judges hear the case and they agreed which See VENCOR B8 QEORBE NIKITIN ASSOCIATED PRESS Special agents Peter Trahon left and Greg Walton are part of the FBI's computer intrusion squad in Hayward Calif Walton says companies need to better protect their systems from assaul Fired unhappy workers are the latest hackers TECHNEWS a On the Internet Computer Security Institute: wwwgocsicom It's a significant phenomenon since the squad usually works on 50 to 60 cases at a timeThe jury that convicted Middleton found he caused more than $40000 in damage to Slipnet which spent days repairing its systems Slipnet was sold the next year Sometimes the cost is not as problematic as the embarrassment a former worker can create Take the case of Joseph Dumal a former contract employee for Peak Technologies in Columbia Md Dumal hacked its computer system and sent e-mails purportedly from management with a pornographic attachment telling workers the company was going out of business Dumal pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay in restitution in December Computer crimes of all kinds by insiders and outsiders are increasing and getting more costly according See HACK B8 By Brian Bergsteln ASSOCIATED PRESS HAYWARD Calif When someone cracked computer system altered customer accounts mid deleted important databases the Internet service provider need to lode for to find the attacker It a criminal outfit seeking credit card numbers and it a whiz kid hacking away for a challenge in his dark bedroom It was Nicholas Middleton a former computer administrator for Slipnet who had been unhappy at the San Francisco company and recently quit Middleton got three years' probation As layoffs become more common at technology companies an increasing number of disgruntled or fired employees are hacking their companies in revenge whole nature of computer crimes has said Agent Greg Walton of the FBI's San Francisco-area computer intrusion squad problem at big companies is the network administrator is probably the last guy who finds out you got fired and cut off your access Or the network administrator who gets fired mid he has Walton and the nine other members of his squad most of whom work out of a small nondescript suite in Hayward have about 10 active investigations involving allegations of hacking by disgruntled or laid-off workers Hearing set on German bid to buy parent of 2 Kentucky utilities Tech centers get infusion of funding $33 million goes to regional hubs By Rita Brim HERAUHEADER BUSINESS WRITER Kentucky further cemented its commitment to the new economy yesterday with the approval of $33 million for infrastructure The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority made grants yesterday for regional offices for technology start-up incubators and support services The group approved: $13 million for the new Kentucky Innovation and Commercialization centers to be housed with the Kentucky Science and Technology Coip in Lexington The offices will be the headquarters for the regional centers $15 million for a Western Region Innovation and Commercialization Cento' at Murray State University with satellite offices in Hopkinsville Henderson Madisonville and Paducah $500000 for a Northern Kentucky Tri-County Regional Innovation and Commercialization Center known as the Madison E-Zone The center on Madison Avenue in Covington will select entrepreneurs researchers and scientists for the E-Zone business accelerator program It will also provide marketing accounting legal See GRANTS B8 On the Net Visit wwwpscstatekyus to read EOn's entire request tor approval to purchase Powergen or to get directions to the Kentucky Public Service Commission your money doing? If you subscribe to the -Herald-Leader live days or more a week call now to order a free copy of Investment Quarterly The next IQ published during the first week of July will show how your stocks and mutual funds fared during the second quarter and will look ahead to trends in the third quarter Order IQ today by calling (800) 9998881 would likely produce savings and synergies that could be passed along to ratepayers as was the case when Energy merged with KU EOn also reiterated Powergen's promise to keep the headquarters of Energy in Louisville and the headquarters of KU in Lexington for 10 years The deal is also subject to approval by Virginia regulators the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission The combined company would have more than 25 million customers making it the worlds largest investor-owned utility By John Stamper HERAUHEADER BUSINESS WRITER A German conglomerate that wants to buy the parent of Kentucky Utilities will get a decision on the acquisition from state regulators by Aug 6 Before ruling the Kentucky Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed deal at 9 am July 5 in the PSC's Frankfort offiep Germany's EOn AG said it is willing to spend about $138 billion to purchase Britain's Powergen pic which last year bought Energy the parent of Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas and Electric EOn must convince the three-person commission that the acquisition is in the best interest of KU and iiluisville Gas and Electric's 1 million Kentucky customers In its May 14 application with the PSC EOn said it plans to help Kentucky's economy by using Energy as its home base while expanding in the Midwest will provide a platform on which to build profitable future growth in the attractive US utility the filing said of tiiese strategic goals will enhance economic development in EOn said it has $45 billion to $50 billion to spend on acquisitions The companies suggested that buying other Midwestern utilities Reach John Stamper at (859) or jstampcr(a herald-leaderxotn.