Staff/Wire reports

BlueStar Inc. will add another 35 employees for a 20,000-square-foot expansion of its Florence warehouse.

BlueStar, which distributes point-of-sale and bar-code systems, will invest more than $1 million on its Spiral Drive facility. The expansion brings BlueStar's U.S. headquarters up to 45,000 square feet. The company employs 75 in Florence and more than 65 in Montreal and Miami.

Reece on lookout for conventioneers

Cincinnati Vice Mayor Alicia Reece and other local leaders will attend this week's National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners convention in St. Louis as part of an effort to bring more African-American conventions to the Queen City. Reece and other Cincinnati leaders will promote Cincinnati's convention center expansion and efforts to improve race relations during the convention Thursday through Saturday. The group is the nation's largest contingent of African-American meeting planners.

Erpenbeck asks for legal aid

Bank swindler Bill Erpenbeck is asking taxpayers to foot the bill for an appeal of his 30-year prison sentence.

In a filing in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, the former Greater Cincinnati home builder says he can't afford to pay his lawyers to represent him in appeals court. He is asking the government to pay for his continued representation by Glenn Whitaker, Eric Richardson and Michael Bronson.

Erpenbeck, now at a Bureau of Prisons processing center in Oklahoma City, says he has exhausted his assets. He says his wife, a real estate broker in Fort Myers, Fla., is the sole provider for their three children. Erpenbeck pleaded guilty last year to a $33.9 million check-diversion fraud that left more than 200 of his home buyers with unpaid construction mortgages. He was sentenced April 1 to two concurrent 30-year prison terms.

Citigroup to pay WorldCom investors

NEW YORK - Financial services giant Citigroup agreed to pay $2.65 billion to settle class-action suits brought by investors who bought WorldCom Inc. securities before the telecommunications company's bankruptcy filing.

Citigroup's brokerage division was a key backer of WorldCom securities before WorldCom filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

Out of bankruptcy, MCI reports loss

MCLEAN, Va. - MCI, the scandal-ridden company once known as WorldCom, reported a quarterly loss of $388 million Monday and will eliminate 7,500 jobs this year, about 15 percent of its work force. The earnings report was the first for MCI since it emerged from bankruptcy last month. The $388 million loss compared to a profit of $52 million in the year-ago quarter.

Google makes it easier to blog for free

SAN FRANCISCO - Internet search engine leader Google Inc. on Monday introduced a simpler way to publish the online personal journals known as "blogs."The revisions to Blogger.com are designed to make it easier for computer neophytes to create their own personal journals for free.

Monsanto abandons biotech spring wheat

ST. LOUIS - Monsanto Co. said Monday it has halted development of genetically engineered spring wheat. Monsanto cited economic factors, including a 25 percent decrease in U.S. and Canadian spring wheat acreage since 1997.

Goodyear Tire sues chemical suppliers

AKRON, Ohio - Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is suing 12 chemical companies in the United States and Europe, claiming they illegally fixed the price of a chemical used in rubber products.

Goodyear's lawsuit said it buys a substantial quantity of the chemical known as ethylene propylene diene monomer.

Waiter! There's a mouse in my soup!

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Carla Patterson was eating vegetable soup at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurant on Mother's Day when she scooped up a small, black mouse.

Patterson, who already had eaten several scoops of the red tomato vegetable soup, screamed.

Cracker Barrel has ordered all 497 restaurants to stop serving the vendor-supplied soup while the matter is investigated.

Dr. Bill Berg of the Hampton Health District said as long as the mouse is well cooked, it would be safe to eat.