Bridgestone/Firestone pays to avert lawsuits

WASHINGTON -- Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. will pay $41.5 million in a settlement to head off lawsuits by states over defective tires the company recalled more than a year ago.

Each of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands will get $500,000, according to a copy of the settlement obtained by The Associated Press.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone/Firestone also will spend $5 million on a consumer education campaign and $10 million to reimburse attorneys' fees for the states.

Bridgestone/Firestone announced a recall of 6.5 million ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires on Aug. 9, 2000, after receiving reports that some tires suddenly failed. Since then, federal investigators have documented 271 deaths from thousands of accidents involving the tires.

Bloomberg begins planning for New York

NEW YORK -- Michael Bloomberg's upset victory in New York's mayoral race will test the central premise of his campaign -- that a man who built a major media company from the ground up can now rebuild a city with a devastated downtown and a fragile economy.

The 59-year-old billionaire Republican -- who touted his complete lack of political experience as one of his greatest strengths -- will assume control of the nation's largest city during one of the most difficult periods in its history.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg was frank about the challenges, including the likelihood of getting a lot less sleep.

Concorde passenger flights return to U.S.

NEW YORK -- Two supersonic Concordes returned to New York on Wednesday, more than 15 months after another of the airliners spewed a trail of flames during takeoff. The first passenger flights since the crash marked a long-awaited comeback in one of the worst slumps in aviation history.

A British Airways Concorde, whose 91 passengers included rock star Sting, touched down at Kennedy International Airport at about 9:10 a.m., said airline spokeswoman Jemma Moore.

An Air France Concorde with 92 passengers landed at JFK shortly before 8:30 a.m. after a three-hour, 55-minute flight from Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris.

"Welcome to the capital of the world," Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told the arriving passengers. He was at the airport to greet both flights.

Montana town shocked by beauty salon murders

FLORENCE, Mont. -- Three women were found dead in a beauty salon with their throats slashed, and investigators said Wednesday they have only one clue: a sighting of a man in a dark suit and top hat.

The bodies of The Hair Gallery's owner, a manicurist and a customer were discovered Tuesday in this town of about 900.

"Why this occurred, we simply don't know," Sheriff Perry Johnson said Wednesday. "What I fear is this could be somebody that, for whatever reason, decided this was a good day to do some evil work."

The salon was not robbed, there was no money missing from the women's purses, and there was no indication the victims had been sexually assaulted, the sheriff said.

Harvard's European patent on mouse upheld

MUNICH, Germany -- European officials upheld Harvard University's patent on a mouse genetically altered so that it predictably develops cancer, throwing out a complaint by Greenpeace and other groups.

The pan-European patent, granted in 1992, protects the "method of producing transgenic animals." Following a two-day hearing, Bernd Isert, head of the European Patent Office's appeals department, upheld the patent Wednesday but said the wording should limit it to rodents.

Environmental and animal rights groups, along with church organizations, sought to have the patent reversed, arguing that it violated the dignity of living beings.

--From wire reports