Business in brief: Land swap could hurt tax rolls
Officials in North Idaho say they are concerned that a proposed land swap between two federal agencies and a timber company could remove 40,000 acres of private property from Idaho County tax rolls.
The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service are considering trading land with TWJ Holdings, LLC. Those three entities and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently signed a memorandum of understanding to work toward trading land in the upper Lochsa watershed.
Officials with the Clearwater National Forest said they are studying whether an exchange is in the public’s best interest. The study is expected to be finished sometime this spring.
Of the county’s 8,484 square miles, about 85 percent is managed by the federal or state government. The county gets some money from those lands based on timber sales, but officials said that money has been declining.
Associated Press
Sunnyvale, Calif.
Yahoo sued over Microsoft bid
Yahoo Inc. is facing seven shareholder lawsuits alleging the slumping Internet pioneer bungled its response to Microsoft Corp.’s unsolicited takeover bid.
The Sunnyvale-based company provided a breakdown of the suits in an annual report filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange. The documents didn’t provide any new information about Yahoo’s attempts to shoo away Microsoft, which is threatening to pursue a hostile takeover unless a friendly deal can be negotiated.
Yahoo’s board believes Microsoft’s offer, originally valued at $44.6 billion, is insufficient. Microsoft, though, has stood firm and is now preparing to overthrow Yahoo’s 10-member board, which includes the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Yang. Microsoft faces a March 14 deadline to nominate an alternate slate of directors.
The impasse has triggered four shareholder suits in California’s Santa Clara County Superior Court. Three other complaints have been filed in Delaware by pension funds that own Yahoo’s stock.
Associated Press
Washington
Ruling lets age suit proceed
The Supreme Court decided Wednesday that employees who claim job discrimination should not suffer because of mistakes made by the federal agency charged with investigating their allegations.
The 7-2 ruling allows an age discrimination lawsuit to proceed against FedEx Corp.
The majority opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy is critical of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which failed to notify FedEx that 14 employees had filed a complaint. Companies must be told about complaints before discrimination lawsuits can be filed.
As a result of the EEOC’s failure to notify, the two sides lost the chance to engage in an informal dispute resolution process.
The lower court that will now hear the case “can attempt to remedy this deficiency,” Kennedy wrote.
Associated Press