STATEWIDE

WEGMANS GROCERY CHAIN TOPS FORTUNE’S BEST-EMPLOYER LIST

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Wegmans Food Markets, a grocery chain whose motto is “employees first, customers second,” topped Fortune’s eighth annual list of the best 100 companies to work for in America, the magazine said Monday. The 89-year-old,family-owned business credited with helping pioneer “one-stop shopping,” scored high marks on employee surveys of job satisfaction and communication with management, among the biggest factors in determining the list. Runner-up was Gore-Tex fabric maker W.L. Gore of Newark, Del., followed by Republic Bancorp, a mortgage banker in Ann Arbor, Mich.; biotechnology giant Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco, Calif.; and Xilinx Inc., a chip-maker in San Jose, Calif. At Wegmans’ 67 emporiums, 32,800 workers are paid hourly wages at the high end of the market and offered a $3 per week health insurance premium, resulting in a 6% annual turnover rate among full-time employees, compared with a 19% rate among competitors.

– Associated Press

NATIONAL

PFIZER TO SPEND $2 MILLION TO REPLACE ADS THAT COUNTERED FLOSS

The maker of Listerine mouthwash will spend $2 million to replace what a judge called misleading advertising suggesting the product is as effective as flossing at fighting plaque and gingivitis. About 4,000 workers will be deployed around the country to place stickers over the claim on Listerine bottles and to remove similar advertisements that hang on bottlenecks, a lawyer for Pfizer told a federal judge yesterday. Television, print and medical-journal ads using the campaign are also being pulled, and the as-effective-as-floss campaign has also been removed from the Listerine Web site, lawyer Tom Smart said. District Judge Denny Chin ruled Friday that the advertising poses a public health risk and could undermine the message of dental professionals. The lawsuit was filed by a Johnson & Johnson company that makes dental floss. Mr. Chin said dentists have been urging patients to floss for decades because the benefits “are real – they are not a myth.” McNeil-PPC Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, sued Pfizer over the campaign, which began in June, saying it posed an unfair threat to its sales of dental floss. A Pfizer spokesman, Tom Sanford, said the company was considering an appeal of Chin’s injunction. Mr. Sanford said it was not immediately clear how many bottles would be affected by the ruling, characterizing it only as “a lot.”

– Associated Press

TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO BUILD LUXURY TAMPA, FLA., CONDO HIGH-RISE

Donald Trump announced plans yesterday to add his name to the Tampa skyline with a $220-million high-rise that will be the tallest residential building on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The ritzy 52-story Trump Tower Tampa will be built on a now vacant lot in down town Tampa. Residences will range from $700,000 to $5.5 million, and the building will include restaurants and retail shops.

Construction will begin in April, and the building could be ready for occupancy near the end of 2007.

“Frankly, having the Trump name in Tampa is going to be great,” said Mr. Trump, whose buildings often feature his name in prominent gold letters.

In a video news release, the real estate mogul said he became interested in Tampa after visiting his friend, Yankees owner and longtime Tampa resident George Steinbrenner.

Trump Tower Tampa will feature 190 dwellings, ranging in size from nearly 2,000 square feet to just over 6,100-square feet. Local leaders – and Trump – say the property will help efforts to encourage people to live downtown.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

FORMER AOL, PURCHASEPRO EMPLOYEES CHARGED IN PROBE

Prosecutors charged two ex-officials of Time Warner’s America Online unit and four former PurchasePro.com executives with fraud and conspiracy, accusing them of improperly booking ad sales to inflate reported revenue.

The six men boosted PurchasePro’s reported sales by forging and back-dating contracts and providing false documents to company auditor Arthur Andersen, said U.S. attorney Paul McNulty in Alexandra, Va. yesterday. As a result, false filings were made to federal securities regulators, he said.

The 31-count indictment by a federal grand jury follows Time Warner’s agreement last month to pay $510 million to settle American government investigations into whether AOL improperly booked advertising sales. Under the accord, Time Warner would escape criminal charges if AOL doesn’t engage in fraud for two years.

Yesterday’s indictments cover transactions that occurred at about the same time America Online was about to complete its purchase of Time Warner, when a drop in revenue may have turned off investors.

As a result of PurchasePro’s false reporting, America Online was able to report about $20 million in additional revenue from PurchasePro in the fourth quarter of 2000 and $15 million more in the first quarter of 2001, according to court papers made public December 15. The Time Warner merger closed in January 2001.

– Bloomberg News