Cincinnati Bell CEO receives 36% raise

Jack Cassidy, named Cincinnati Bell Inc.'s president and CEO in July, got a 36 percent pay hike last year, according to the company's annual proxy statement. Cassidy's salary and bonus last year totaled $1.27 million, compared with $929,154 the year prior, when he served as chief operating officer. Kevin Mooney, Cassidy's predecessor as CEO, received $5.1 million last year, under terms of his severance agreement. In December, Cassidy also was awarded options to purchase 801,000 Cincinnati Bell shares. The options have an exercise price of $5.65 each and expire Dec. 4, 2013.

Bad Peoples checks popping up

At least six counterfeit cashier's checks drawn on the defunct Peoples Bank of Northern Kentucky have popped up in Texas, Missouri, Georgia, Maryland and Arkansas, but none has cleared because of banking regulators' security alerts. The Bank of Kentucky Inc., which bought most of the assets and deposits of Peoples in 2002, reported the checks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. this week.

Staff reports