BOSTON JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Friday it is dropping a clause from its credit card contracts that required disputes with customers to be handled through binding arbitration, a move that could lead to consumers filing class-action and other lawsuits.

WASHINGTON The fleet of new cars and trucks sold to U.S. consumers averaged 21 miles per gallon in the 2008 model year, a modest increase over the previous year, the Environmental Protection Agency reported Friday.

PHOENIX Arizona legislators are still struggling to conclude their special session on the state's budget troubles but already are working on ideas for another one that could be held in December to do more to close the $2 billion shortfall.

WASHINGTON A new development related to the government's investigation of possible insider trading at a major hedge fund has raised questions in the case and caught the attention of two key senators.

COLUMBIA, S.C. Three South Carolina men have been found guilty of bilking thousands of investors out of more than $80 million.

AUGUSTA, Maine Gov. John Baldacci ordered Maine state departments Friday to curtail spending by $63 million to make sure the budget is balanced.

NEW YORK The Associated Press has named six news editors to oversee expanded multistate territories and has assigned four interim regional photo editors as part of a restructuring of U.S. news management to ensure the continuing strength of the news cooperative's state reports.

WICHITA, Kan. The president of a Florida consulting firm convicted in a massive fax blast scam blinked back tears Friday as he was sentenced to 68 months in prison for his role in defrauding thousands of small business owners across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

BALTIMORE Maryland officials have entered into a 50-year contract with Ports America to operate Baltimore's Seagirt Marine Terminal.

WASHINGTON Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's nomination to a second term will be the subject of a Senate Banking Committee hearing next month, the panel's chairman said Friday.

GENEVA The World Health Organization said Friday it is investigating samples of variant swine flu linked to two deaths and one severe case in Norway, but that so far the significance of the mutation is unclear.

Canadian investor Arthur Wong is buying condos in Las Vegas and Phoenix like a shopper at Costco: In bulk, with slashed prices.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. A Kentucky appeals court upheld a $6.1 million award to a former fast food worker who was forced to strip in a McDonald's restaurant office after someone called posing as a police officer.

NEW YORK Medidata Solutions Inc., a maker of software and services for clinical development of drugs and medical devices, said Friday it plans a public offering of 4.5 million shares of its common stock.

THOMASVILLE, Ga. Bakery goods company Flowers Foods Inc. on Friday said its board elected David V. Singer, president and chief executive officer of Lance Inc., to the board.

WAYNE, N.J. Toys R Us said Friday that one of its subsidiaries has completed an offering of $725 million in senior secured 8.5 percent notes due in 2017.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. Work has officially started on building Boeing's $750 million aircraft assembly plant in South Carolina - the largest industrial investment in state history.

THOMASVILLE, Ga. Bakery goods company Flowers Foods Inc. on Friday said its board elected Allen L. Shiver president, effective Jan. 1.

RICHMOND, Va. James River Coal Co. on Friday said it closed its $172.5 million convertible senior note offering.

AKRON, Ohio Goodyear said Friday the 2010 Toyota Prius now includes its fuel-efficient tire, Assurance Fuel Max, as standard equipment.

NEW YORK Treasury prices mostly fell Friday, pushing their yields higher. Yields on short-term bills hovered near their lows of the year.

MADISON, Wis. Choppers and cheese may soon become official Wisconsin symbols.

OMAHA, Neb. The owners of a Lexington ethanol plant and their insurer are suing a subsidiary of a Houston-based natural gas provider they say is responsible for an explosion and fire that shut down the plant for weeks.

CLEVELAND A New York hedge fund wants to increase its ownership stake in Agilysys Inc. but is not seeking to control the company.

SAN FRANCISCO Shares of Dress Barn Inc. climbed Friday, a day after the company raised its yearly profit estimate above analysts' forecasts.

TULSA, Okla. Cintas Corp. and the widow of a former employee who is suing the company will have another chance to settle her 2007 wrongful death lawsuit against the nation's largest uniform supplier.

CINCINNATI Procter & Gamble Co. is still interested in buying, and says size doesn't matter.

LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed into law $334 million in budget reductions on Friday, after lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the cuts during an emergency session in which there was little disagreement over how to close the largest budget gap in recent memory.

OMAHA, Neb. Business appears to be slowly improving in rural areas of 11 Midwest and Plains states, but the economy there remains weak, according to a new survey of bankers.

NEW YORK Former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier told a jury Friday he made mistakes in his troubled bid to turn the French water company into a global media giant, but he never misled shareholders about the risks.