REGION

REGION
Conference to focus on workers' comp
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation will sponsor an educational conference for employers from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday at Youngstown State University. Registration is available at the bureau's Web site at www.ohiobwc.com.
Seminars at the fourth annual Workers' Compensation University include workplace safety and reducing workers' compensation costs.
NATION
MCI near to settlingdebt with creditors
NEW YORK -- MCI was close to settling Monday with two groups of creditors that opposed a deal to repay just a fraction of the company's $41 billion debt, prompting a surprise adjournment as hearings began on a plan to emerge from bankruptcy.
A settlement could remove the last major obstacle that the company formerly known as WorldCom faces in persuading a bankruptcy court to approve the long-distance carrier's financial reorganization after a ruinous accounting scandal.
Bank to pay shareholdersover improper trading
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bank of America Corp. is prepared to make "appropriate restitution" to shareholders who might have lost money because of improper trading of mutual fund shares at its Nations Funds business, the bank said Monday.
The Charlotte-based bank also said it was hiring an outside firm to review mutual fund trades involving Canary Capital Partners LLC, a multimillion-dollar hedge fund. Janus Capital Group issued a similar statement Friday in response to an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
From Vindicator staff and wire reports