Altria Group, Inc.

This much we know: A Broward civil jury has decided Stuart Hess???s 1997 lung cancer death was caused by his addiction to nicotine. Now for the $130 million question: Who is to blame and how much, if anything, do his......

Shareholders chastised Sears, Roebuck and Co. officials Thursday at the company's annual meeting, taking issue with what they called hefty executive bonuses in a year in which the struggling retailer's stock lost nearly half of its value. "You are...

Anti-smoking advocates predicted it would be the ruling that would open a new front in the war against tobacco. But a year after an Illinois judge issued a $10.1 billion verdict against tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, concluding that the company...

Turning up the pressure on aircraft lessors, United Airlines on Thursday obtained a court order allowing it more time to obtain better deals on many of its jets. The company also told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Eugene Wedoff that it is temporarily accepting...

In his early years as an assemblyman from Fresno, Democrat Cruz Bustamante seemed to fit his farm belt district like a beloved slipper: He did all he could for agriculture, made environmentalists nervous and sidestepped votes on controversial issues --...

Scott Walter Cahill James Cahill was two blocks from ground zero on Sept. 11, close enough that when he ran out of his office building he could see the hole the first jet tore into the World Trade Center. Two things came to mind: One was a sense of...

Several Baltimore City Council members reported in disclosure forms filed this week that they have returned or destroyed certain gifts of complimentary passes that ethics officials questioned last month. The annual reports also showed that council...

Kraft Foods Inc., which was acquired 16 years ago in a hostile takeover by cigarette giant Philip Morris Cos., soon may be an independent company again. The chief executive of Altria Group Inc., as the combined companies are now known, said Thursday that...

Flanked by top advisers, accountants and local businessmen, Rev. Jesse Jackson stepped forward Thursday in an effort to end mounting criticism about his organizations' finances, although even 90 minutes of explanation at a packed news conference left many...

On the eve of a crucial meeting of the board of directors of UAL Corp., the union representing United Airlines' pilots accused the carrier's management of plotting a breakup of the 77-year-old airline. The accusation came only hours before UAL's board is...

Harley Bates is steaming. He pushes past the off-duty cop standing in front of his ranch and charges the reporter and photographer. "Get the hell off my land!" he says. "Sir, I'm a reporter … " "You're scaring people taking their pictures as they drive...

Since John G. Rowland became governor last year, businesses have donated more than $600,000 for improvements and furnishings at the state-owned residence in Hartford where he lives. In addition, corporate supporters raised enough money in two weeks in...