Sen. Corzine to testify on role leading trading firm

A Senate panel has voted to subpoena former Sen. Jon Corzine to testify about his role leading MF Global.

The trading firm filed for bankruptcy this fall after a disastrous bet on European debt. Nearly $1.2 billion is estimated to be missing from customer accounts.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said Corzine’s testimony at the Dec. 13 hearing is essential to learn what happened. The vote comes just days after the House Agriculture Committee took similar action to force Corzine to appear at a hearing Thursday.

Corzine, a Democrat, represented New Jersey in the Senate from 2001 to 2005. He later served as the state’s governor. It marks the first time a member of Congress has been forced to testify before his former peers since 1908.

Louisiana retirement fund sues Green Mountain Coffee

Vermont’s Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, maker of the Keurig brewing system, is being sued in Montpelier, Vt., by a Louisiana retirement fund after the company’s share price sank following a critical report about its business and the company recorded lower-than-expected revenue.

Green Mountain is a leader in the emerging single-serve coffee market. The company markets and sells traditional coffee, but the bulk of its business is now in single-serve K-cups and the Keurig brewing system.

In its lawsuit, the Louisiana Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System says Green Mountain overstated its successes.

“The company was portrayed to the investing public as a healthy and growing business, with rapidly increasing revenues … one of the hottest stories on the NASDAQ Global Market,” the lawsuit claims.

Data breach at supermarket chain affects 80 people

Scores of employees and customers of a supermarket chain have had their account information compromised after thieves tampered with debit and credit card readers in self-checkout lines in Northern California.

Lucky Supermarkets, which disclosed the breach on Monday, said 80 people were affected at 23 of its San Francisco Bay area stores, some of whom had money stolen from their accounts. But there were indications that number could be even higher.

Police in Petaluma said at least 57 people reported money being stolen from their bank accounts after using a self-checkout line.

Despite fires, Chevy Volt is safe to drive, LaHood says

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the Chevy Volt is safe to drive even though the government is investigating fires caused by damage to the electric car’s battery.

LaHood told reporters Tuesday that his department isn’t trying to protect the maker of the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors, from possible repercussions from the government’s safety investigation.

Transportation officials launched a formal safety investigation after a Volt damaged in government crash-testing and two similarly damaged Volt battery packs set off fires.

Unemployment rate falls in majority of big U.S. cities

Unemployment rates fell in three-quarters of large U.S. cities in October, a sign that the job market is picking up broadly across the country.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that unemployment rates fell in 281 metro areas. They rose in 57 and were unchanged in 34. That’s slightly better than September’s showing and is the largest number of cities to report a drop since April.

The metro area unemployment data aren’t adjusted for seasonal variations, so they can be volatile.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate was unchanged in October at 9 percent. Last week, the government said the nationwide rate fell to 8.6 percent in November, the lowest level in 2  years.

Employers added about 120,000 net jobs. Still, a big reason the unemployment rate fell was because more people said they have given up on their job searches and dropped out of the work force.

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