DealBook: Buffett in $23 Billion Deal for Heinz, as Big Mergers Revive

10:12 a.m. | Updated Warren E. Buffett has found another American icon worth buying: H. J. Heinz.Berkshire Hathaway, the giant conglomerate that Mr. Buffett runs, said on Thursday that it would buy the food giant for about $23 billion, adding Heinz ketchup to its stable of prominent brands.The proposed acquisition, coming fast on the heels of a planned $24 billion buyout of the computer maker Dell...

Read More..

'Melrose' actress gets 3 years for deadly NJ crash

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) — A former "Melrose Place" actress who was drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison, infuriating the victim's relatives, who had hoped for the 10-year maximum."What a travesty!" the victim's husband, Fred Seeman, yelled after the sentence was read."This is not justice," the victim's 26-year-old son, Ford Seeman, told...

Read More..

Doctor and Patient: Afraid to Speak Up to Medical Power

The slender, weather-beaten, elderly Polish immigrant had been diagnosed with lung cancer nearly a year earlier and was receiving chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial. I was a surgical consultant, called in to help control the fluid that kept accumulating in his lungs.During one visit, he motioned for me to come closer. His voice was hoarse from a tumor that spread, and the constant hissing from...

Read More..

DealBook: Blackstone Keeps Most of Its Money With SAC

The Blackstone Group, the largest outside investor in the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, said it would keep most of its $550 million with the hedge fund for three more months while it monitors developments in the government’s insider trading investigation.The move by Blackstone comes as SAC’s clients faced a regularly scheduled quarterly deadline on Thursday to decide whether to continue investing...

Read More..

Media Decoder Blog: Time Warner in Talks to Spin Off Majority of Magazines

3:53 p.m. | Updated Time Warner is in early talks to shed much of Time Inc., the country’s largest magazine publisher and the foundation on which the $49 billion media conglomerate was founded, according to people involved in the negotiations.The company is currently in talks with the Meredith Corporation to put most of its magazines, including People, InStyle and Real Simple into a separate, publicly-traded...

Read More..

Miss America pageant returns to Atlantic City, NJ

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — There she is, Miss America, headed back to Atlantic City, N.J.The Miss America pageant was an Atlantic City staple for decades before it was moved to Las Vegas in 2006.Gov. Chris Christie's spokesman Michael Drewniak confirmed the news of the pageant's return to Atlantic City on Wednesday night. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (gwah-DAHN'-oh) is scheduled make a formal announcement Thursday...

Read More..

Phys Ed: Getting the Right Dose of Exercise

Phys EdGretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.Fitness TrackerMarathon, half-marathon, 10k and 5K training plans to get you race ready.A common concern about exercise is that if you don’t do it almost every day, you won’t achieve much health benefit. But a commendable new study suggests otherwise, showing that a fairly leisurely approach to scheduling workouts may actually be more beneficial than...

Read More..

Hearings Begin on Treasury Nominee

Doug Mills/The New York TimesRepublicans have promised to grill Jacob J. Lew, center, President Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, over the government’s trillion-dollar deficits. WASHINGTON — Jacob J. Lew, President Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, faced some fierce questioning on Wednesday from the Senate Finance Committee on his tenure at the bailed-out Citigroup and on an...

Read More..

Ex-Officer Locked in Mountain Standoff With Police

LOS ANGELES — Law enforcement officials were locked in a standoff after a shootout outside a forest cabin on Tuesday afternoon with Christopher J. Dorner, the former Los Angeles police officer who is the target of the largest manhunt in Los Angeles Police Department history, officials said. Stan Lim/The Press-Enterprise, via Associated PressPolice officers manned a road block near Big...

Read More..

Alec Baldwin, wife expecting a baby this summer

NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Baldwin and his wife are expecting their first child together.Publicist Matthew Hiltzik confirmed Tuesday that Hilaria Baldwin is due late this summer.Alec Baldwin already is the father of a 17-year-old daughter, Ireland, from his previous marriage to actress Kim Basinger (BAY'-sing-ur). Hilaria Baldwin is a special correspondent for the TV show "Extra." The couple wed last June...

Read More..