Federal commodities regulators settle hedge-fund supervision case with MF Global

Futures and options broker MF Global Ltd. agreed Wednesday to pay more than $77 million (euro53.5 million) to settle federal charges that it failed to watch over a hedge fund charged with fraud more than two years ago.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission settled the charges with MF Global, formerly known as Man Financial.

The government said the company did not adequately supervise accounts used by Philadelphia Alternative Asset Management Co., a hedge fund that regulators charged with fraud in summer 2005.

The CFTC, which pursued the case with the receiver in charge of the hedge fund's assets, said it settled the charges with both MF Global …

Pena figures out Cubs’

ST. LOUIS — A few days ago, Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano said he wanted changes made to his struggling team, refusing to specify. A day later, teammate Aramis Ramirez said he expected personnel changes.

And Sunday — after he survived the non-waiver trade deadline still in a Cubs uniform — Carlos Pena said the bigger changes needed were ''intangibles,'' including improved ''chemistry.''

''I'm talking about our culture, our way of being, our way of thinking, our energy,'' Pena said before the Cubs snapped a five-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. ''It takes a little bit of time, but with . . . the talent we have, there's no doubt about it. …

Commonwealth success comes in many packages

At Commonwealth Packaging Co. in Harrisburg, packaging is not just the family business: it's an intergenerational affair.

Jay Maisel started the company 38 years ago in his basement. At that time, the housewares salesman decided it was time to venture out on his own.

In the company's humble early years, Maisel made ends meet by selling brown paper bags to "mom and pop" businesses. Later, the current chairman of the board managed to hire employees and moved up to more expensive matching packaging.

"The business didn't really start to take off until the mid 1970s," he explains. And take off it did. He moved the company to its current home at 5490 Linglestown Road in …

Signs good for Celtics' Allen to play in Game 6

The Celtics expect Ray Allen to play when they try for a second time to win the NBA championship. Kendrick Perkins? Now that's a different story.

Allen rushed from Staples Center after the Los Angeles Lakers' 103-98 win Sunday night that forced a sixth game Tuesday night in Boston. The reason: "health issues" involving one of his three children.

Perkins watched Game 5 from the bench with a shoulder injury. His availability for Game 6 will be a game-time decision.

As the Celtics waited at LA International Airport on Monday afternoon for their delayed flight to leave, team spokesman Jeff Twiss said he expected Allen to take a later airplane …

Garrido victim in prior case: 'Don't let him out'

A Nevada woman who was abducted and raped in 1976 by California kidnapping suspect Phillip Garrido says he deserves the death penalty.

Katherine Callaway Hall said in a telephone interview Thursday from New York City that federal and state prison terms Garrido served for attacking her in Reno only made him a smarter criminal.

She says, "Don't let …

Colleges Learn a Lesson in Economics // Competition Forces Many to Limit Tuition Hikes

WASHINGTON For parents of high school seniors waiting for thickenvelopes with college postmarks, first the bad news: A year at youroffspring's top choice still could set you back more than $25,000.

The good news, though, is that college tuition - which surged asmuch as 17 percent a year in the 1980s - isn't accelerating quite somuch these days. In fact, the rate of increase has been slowingsteadily since the early 1990s, to 6 percent in the last two years.

That's still more than twice the pace of consumer inflation,which averaged 2.5 percent last year. Even so, the decline in thepace of price increases hints at the efforts colleges are taking tosurvive in a …

Savannah River seals up 2 nuclear weapons reactors

AIKEN, S.C. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy has sealed off access to two reactors at a former nuclear weapons plant near the South Carolina-Georgia border.

Energy officials say the P and R reactors at the Savannah River Site were sealed off Wednesday with about 260,000 cubic yards of concrete grout.

The reactors have been shut down for more than …