Workers' compensation rises 0.9% in quarter

WASHINGTON - Employment compensation for American workers rose 0.9 percent in the April-June quarter as restrained wage growth helped offset another sharp increase in benefit costs, the government reported Thursday.

The slowdown came entirely from a modest rise in benefit costs, which climbed 1.8 percent in the second quarter compared with a 2.4 percent jump in the first quarter.

Wages and salaries, stymied the past three years by a weak economy and lackluster job growth, climbed 0.6 percent in the second quarter, the same increase as the first quarter of this year.

Oil prices slide down, but over $42 a barrel

NEW YORK - Oil prices eased Thursday but remained above $42 a barrel, a day after hitting a 21-year high in U.S. trading because of a threat by Russian authorities to shut down most of the production from their largest oil company.

Russia's Justice Ministry said Thursday it had lifted a freeze affecting three subsidiaries of the Yukos oil company. Yukos, which produces 2 percent of the world's oil, had said those orders could shut off the production flow within days.

Scripps shareholders get 2-for-1 stock split

Shareholders of the E.W. Scripps Co. will get one additional share of stock for each share they own at the close of business on Aug. 31 under a program the company's board of directors approved Thursday.

The 2-for-1 stock split will not change the proportionate interest a shareholder has in the company.

Energy Department to issue efficiency rules

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department took a long-awaited first step Thursday to require improved energy efficiency for residential furnaces, electric transformers and commercial air conditioners and heat pumps.

The department said it will soon issue new proposed standards for the devices. Energy efficiency advocates welcomed the move, but said the department should have begun the process years ago.

International Steel earns $94M in Q2

RICHFIELD, Ohio - International Steel Group Inc. earned $94 million in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $27.5 million in the same period a year ago

The increase reported Thursday reflects ISG's May 2003 acquisition of Bethlehem Steel in Pennsylvania, which more than doubled the size of the company.

Earnings per share rose to 92 cents on sales of $2.1 billion, compared with a loss of 37 cents a share on sales of about $1 billion in the year-ago period.

Viacom co-president reorganizes divisions

Viacom Inc., the third-largest U.S. media company, said co-president Tom Freston reorganized the company's divisions under his control, including theme parks, movie theaters and book publishing.

Herb Scannell, MTV Networks Group president, will take on management of Paramount theme parks -including Kings Island in Mason - and Viacom's consumer products operations, which include licensing of Paramount characters.

NKU hires Mycom to filter e-mail

Mycom Group Inc., a Cincinnati-based developer of technology products, managed services and software, announced Thursday that it has won a contract to provide e-mail and virus filtering for Northern Kentucky University. Terms were not disclosed. Since introducing the new technology in February, Mycom has added more than 150 corporations, institutions and community organizations to its client list.

Joseph-Beth closes one Cleveland area store

Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which recently announced that it would be opening its eighth store in the fall of 2004 in Pittsburgh, has closed one of its two Cleveland-area locations.

The bookstore was an anchor store for the struggling Shaker Square shopping center in Cleveland, which has seen a rapid turnover in tenants in the past two years.

Joseph-Beth opened in Shaker Square in the fall of 2000. A second Cleveland-area Joseph-Beth bookstore, at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, opened in October.

Wire/staff reports