Compiled from staff and wire reports

Delta, Comair planes get reinforced doors

Delta Air Lines Tuesday said it finished installation of reinforced cockpit doors on 798 aircraft operated by the company and its subsidiaries.

The Atlanta-based carrier spent 10 months on the project, designed to provide greater cockpit security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The airline operates its second-largest hub locally at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. The project included 573 Delta planes, as well as 132 regional jets operated by Erlanger-based subsidiary Comair.

Energy Dept. predicts lower gasoline prices

WASHINGTON - After falling nearly a dime in three weeks, gasoline prices are expected to keep sliding to a national average of $1.56 a gallon this summer thanks to lower oil prices and optimism about the war in Iraq, the government says.

The Energy Department's statistical agency revised its price forecast sharply downward Tuesday to reflect the recent fall in crude oil prices.

The price of crude, which hit a high of nearly $40 a barrel on Feb. 27, was around $28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday. It has dropped by about 20 percent since the war began in Iraq.

Third HealthSouth executive pleads guilty

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A third former chief financial officer at HealthSouth Corp. agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to charges arising from a widening accounting scandal as the health care giant released new corporate governance rules.

Michael Martin, who worked as CFO from October 1997 to February 2000, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, and with falsifying financial information.

Martin, 42, of Birmingham, struck a plea deal and is cooperating with investigators, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said.

United, union reach tentative agreement

CHICAGO - United Airlines notched another important labor victory Tuesday when the union representing baggage handlers and public contact employees tentatively agreed to contracts saving the bankrupt carrier $2.6 billion over six years.

The agreement, which must be approved by the union's executive board and 23,000 employees, leaves mechanics as the only union group not to have settled on contract terms as the company's May 1 deadline for voiding its contracts in bankruptcy court nears.

Lower Nautilus sales lower profit forecast

VANCOUVER - Shares of Nautilus Group Inc., which makes Stairmaster and Nautilus exercise machines, fell 25 percent after the company reduced its 2003 profit forecast because of lower sales.

Nautilus shares fell $3.71 to $11.19 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had fallen 60 percent in the past year.