National News Briefs; Boston Globe Fills Vacant Columnist Jobs
Date: 23 October 1998
Boston Globe fills two metropolitan columnists' jobs left vacant this summer when editors discovered that one columnist, Patricia Smith, had fabricated characters and quotes and that another, Mike Barnicle, had recycled stories he heard from others and publishing them without checking; Globe editor Matthew Storin says that Brian McGrory and Adrian Walker will be new columnists (S)
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Wrestling Insults Fuel Free Speech Case
Date: 24 October 1998
By William Glaberson
William Glaberson
Federal judges in Pennsylvania are poring over observations of Mark Madden, irrepressible pro-wrestling radio commentator in Pittsburgh who acknowledges that essays he writes for callers to his 900-number are often sarcastic or even fictitious; he calls his musings 'outrageous trash talk,' for which callers pay $1.69 a minute; question is: is outrageous trash talk journalism in the eyes of the law? for two years, Federal courts have been considering question in case that puts Madden at center of landmark case over First Amendment rights; issue arose when Madden, in lawsuit involving two biggest wrestling promotion companies in United States, refused to name people who had given him information for insults he delivers on his toll line; Madden is paid $350 a week by World Championship Wrestling, which owns and operates line; Madden contends that WCW's archrival, World Wrestling Federation, is failing financially; photo (M)
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PUBLIC LIVES
Date: 23 October 1998
By James Barron With Gerry Mullany
James With
Public Lives column discusses museum directors making silly bets on World Series; business manager Kenneth Starr, not independent counsel, attends International Press Freedom Awards dinner; Brooklyn Museum of Art hosts party for Farah Pahlevi, widow of Shah of Iran, on occasion of opening of exhibition of Persian paintings (M)
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ECLIPSE SURGICAL PLANNING TO ACQUIRE CARDIOGENESIS
Date: 23 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Eclipse Surgical Technologies Inc to acquire Cardiogenesis Corp for about $86.1 million in stock (S)
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KROLL-O'GARA TO PURCHASE LABORATORY SPECIALISTS
Date: 23 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Kroll-O'Gara Co to acquire Laboratory Specialists of America Inc for $29 million in stock (S)
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DREYER'S TO CUT JOBS AND SELL SOME OPERATIONS
Date: 24 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc will cut jobs and sell some operations, taking pretax charges of $60 million to $65 million, to cut costs and return to profitability (S)
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STRYKER TRIMS PAYMENT FOR PFIZER'S ORTHOPEDIC UNIT
Date: 23 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Stryker Corp trims its purchase price for Pfizer Inc's Howmedica orthopedics business by about $250 million, or 13 percent, to $1.65 billion in cash; Stryker says it reduced price from $1.9 billion announced in August because of 'changes in the financial markets' (S)
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CENTENNIAL HEALTH CARE TO BE ACQUIRED BY WELSH CARSON
Date: 23 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Centennial Health Care Corp to be acquired by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe LP for $190.4 million in stock, plus $100 million in debt (S)
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MGM SAYS IT WILL BUY POLYGRAM'S MOVIE LIBRARY
Date: 23 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc will pay $250 million in cash to Seagram Co for most of Polygram NV's library of movies; struggling studio's Orion Pictures unit will pay $235 million of its own cash and $15 million from cash flow of Polygram Filmed Entertainment's movies; purchase will increase MGM's library by more than 1,300 films to about 5,200, including more than half of all Hollywood films produced since 1948 (S)
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APPLIED MATERIALS PLANS $285 MILLION EARNINGS CHARGE
Date: 24 October 1998
By Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News
Applied Materials Inc will take charges of $285 million as part of previously disclosed plan to reorganize operations (S)
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