BUSINESS BRIEFS
Honda, Acura odometers faulty
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Honda is notifying 6 million owners of Hondas and Acuras that they are entitled to warranty extensions and, in some cases, payments because odometers in their vehicles rolled up miles too quickly.
That made warranties expire too soon and hit some lease customers with excess-mileage penalties. Vehicles covered in the deal: 2002 to 2006 Hondas and Acuras bought from April 13, 2002, to Nov. 7, 2006.
A lawyer in the lawsuit now is aiming at Nissan, alleging that its Altima sedans back to 2002 roll up miles 2.5 percent to 3 percent too quickly.
OSCAR MEYER CHICKEN RECALLED
ATLANTA — Carolina Culinary Food is recalling packages of Oscar Mayer ready-to-eat chicken breast strips with rib meat because they may be contaminated, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
Officials said Georgia Department of Agriculture food scientists found Listeria monocytogenes in a sample. That type of contamination can cause listeriosis, which is uncommon but potentially fatal.
No illnesses have been reported, officials said.
The nationwide recall affects all 6-ounce packages of "Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast strips with rib meat, grilled, fully cooked, ready to eat" that bear the establishment number "P-19676" inside the USDA mark of inspection on the front of the package. On the back of each package is a "Use by" date of "19 Apr 2007."
JETBLUE HALTS 139 FLIGHTS FOR TODAY
NEW YORK — JetBlue called off almost a quarter of its flights for today but hoped that would be the last round of cancellations as it struggles to recover from the snowstorm that saw some travelers sitting on grounded planes for hours. The news sent passengers scrambling to deal with the disruption to their plans.
The airline had scheduled 600 flights for Presidents Day, more than the 550 to 575 flights it has on a normal Monday, but 139 of them were canceled, JetBlue announced late Saturday.
The latest cancellations were needed to make sure all flight crews had gotten the legally mandated amount of rest before returning to service, a JetBlue Airways Corp. spokesman said yesterday.
IBM SUED IN CHAT-ROOM CASE
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A man who was fired by IBM for visiting an adult chat room while at work is suing the company for $5 million, claiming he is an Internet addict who deserves treatment and sympathy, not dismissal.
James Pacenza, 58, of Montgomery, says he visits chat rooms to ease traumatic stress incurred in 1969 when he saw his best friend killed during an Army patrol in Vietnam.
His lawyer, Michael Diederich, says Pacenza never visited pornographic sites at work, violated no written IBM rule and did not surf the Internet any more than or differently from other employees.
