OHIO

OHIO
Credit-card data stolen
COLUMBUS -- Credit-card information from customers of more than 100 DSW Shoe Warehouse stores was stolen from a company computer's database over the last three months, a lawyer for the national chain said Tuesday. The company discovered the theft of credit card and personal shopping information Friday and reported it to federal authorities, said Julie Davis, general counsel for the chain's parent, Retail Ventures Inc. The Secret Service is investigating, she said. DSW was alerted by a credit-card company that noticed suspicious activity, she said. Customers should check their credit-card statements and report any irregularities, Davis said. She did not know how many customers might be affected. The information was stolen from a database for 103 of the chain's 175 stores. However, Internet sales from the chain's Web site were not affected, Davis said.
NATION
Deliberations continue
NEW YORK -- Jurors reviewed testimony from former WorldCom chief Bernard Ebbers for the first time Tuesday but failed to reach a verdict in their third day of deliberations at his fraud trial. The jury of seven women and five men asked in an afternoon note to see transcripts of testimony from Ebbers, 63, who is accused of engineering the $11 billion fraud at WorldCom. On the stand last week, Ebbers said he was never made aware that accountants were falsifying books at the company. The defense alleges former chief financial officer Scott Sullivan masterminded the fraud. The jury also requested a transcript of Ebbers' cross-examination, during which the ex-CEO said he simply did not notice irregularities in company financial papers that reflected the fraud. The jury asked for Ebbers' testimony as part of a seven-part request. Among the other requests were testimony from Betty Vinson and Troy Normand, two accounting executives who pleaded guilty to taking part in the fraud.
Extended workday sought
WASHINGTON -- Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roads more dangerous for all drivers. Rep. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican whose district includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s headquarters in Fayetteville, is sponsoring a bill that would allow a 16-hour workday as long as the trucker took an unpaid two-hour break. The proposal is expected to be offered as an amendment during debate over the highway spending bill on Wednesday. "Truckers are pushing harder than ever to make their runs within the mandated time frame," Boozman said. Current rules limit drivers' workdays to 14 hours, with only 11 consecutive hours of driving allowed, union leaders and safety advocates say. That gives truckers three hours to eat, rest or load and unload their trucks. Critics of the proposal accuse Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, of trying to fatten its profits by forcing truckers to spend more time waiting at the loading dock without getting paid.
From Vindicator wire reports