National business briefs

Dow index adds two, boots two The Dow Jones industrial average will soon include Bank of America Corp. and Chevron Corp., giving the blue-chip index more of an oil and financial flavor. Besides the addition of Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, and oil firm Chevron, Dow Jones Indexes said Monday that cigarette-maker Altria and manufacturing firm Honeywell will be booted out, effective Feb. 19. Honeywell is the smallest company in the index by revenue and earnings.

Law partner jailed in lawsuit scam William Lerach, a former partner at a well-known New York law firm, was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to two years in federal prison and was fined $250,000 for his role in a lucrative kickback scheme involving class-action lawsuits against some of the nation's biggest corporations. Authorities said Lerach's former firm, now known as Milberg Weiss, made an estimated $250 million over two decades by filing legal actions on behalf of professional plaintiffs. The firm paid $11.3 million in kickbacks to people who became plaintiffs in lawsuits targeting companies such as AT&T, Lucent, WorldCom, Microsoft and Prudential Insurance, prosecutors said.

Netflix to offer Blue-ray exclusively Netflix Inc., the world's largest mail-order movie-rental company, said it will start offering high-definition DVDs exclusively in Sony Corporation's Blu-ray format. Netflix will phase out Toshiba Corporation's HD DVD format by the end of the year after a decision by four Hollywood movie studios to opt for the Blu-ray format over Toshiba's for high-definition films and videos, the Los Gatos, Calif.-based company said today.

Starbucks, AT&T join in Wi-Fi deal Starbucks Corp. and AT&T Inc. will start offering a mix of free and paid wireless Internet service in most of the international coffee retailer's U.S. shops, beginning this spring. The move announced Monday ends a six-year partnership with T-Mobile. Starbucks said it will give customers who use a Starbucks card two hours of free wireless access per day. More time than that will cost $3.99 for a two-hour session. Monthly memberships will cost $19.99 and include access to any of AT&T's 70,000 hot spots worldwide. Nearly all of AT&T's broadband Internet customers will automatically have unlimited free Wi-Fi access at Starbucks, the companies said.

Officials probe alleged SUV fires The government is investigating reports of engine fires in General Motors' full-size sport-utility vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a posting on its website that it has received two reports of fires on 2007-model-year Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs. Both reports allege that the vehicles were parked in a home garage with the engine shut off when the fires occurred, causing significant property damage. The investigation, which also includes the 2007 GMC Yukon SUV, involves about 423,000 SUVs.

General Mills soy milk venture sold DuPont Co. and General Mills Inc. said they sold their 8th Continent soy milk joint venture to Stremicks Heritage Foods, a branded specialty foods company. Financial details of the deal weren't disclosed.

Supply fears boost oil futures again Oil futures shot higher for the third straight day Monday as concerns about potential supply disruptions overshadowed worries about the cooling economy. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened Sunday to cut off oil sales to the U.S. as retaliation for court orders freezing assets belonging to Venezuela's state oil company. Exxon Mobil Corp. has gone after Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts, challenging the nationalization by Chavez's government of a multibillion-dollar oil project.

Chocolate, candy makers raided The German Federal Cartel Office raided the offices of seven candy and chocolate makers amid allegations of a conspiracy to fix prices. The companies included the German offices of Mars, Kraft Foods Inc., Nestle SA and Ritter.