IN HAWAII

Electrical workers lose bid to dismiss lawsuit

U.S. federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Labor last year against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1357.

The union represents about 1,500 Verizon Hawaii employees throughout the state.

The suit dates back to a complaint made to the DOL by former Local 1357 Business Manager George Waialeale regarding matters related to a union election in which he lost to competitor Harold Dias Jr.

The suit asks that election results for the job of business manager financial secretary be voided and a new election held.

Meanwhile, the union reached an agreement on a five-year work contract last month with Verizon. The new contract will go into effect Aug. 25.

ON THE MAINLAND

Qwest denies report of Justice Dept. probe

DENVER >> Qwest Communications International is hotly denying that it is under investigation by the Justice Department, a report that an analyst says is further evidence investors should steer clear of the telecommunications company.

"We have no reason to believe that we are the subject of any investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice," said Drake S. Tempest, Qwest executive vice president and general counsel, following a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. "It's outrageous that we would learn about such an investigation through the media. We have disclosed everything asked of us and have cooperated fully with the Securities Exchange Commission and Congress," he said.

Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Denver, declined to comment.

Analyst Drake Johnstone of Davenport & Co., said "there is a potential risk of bankruptcy."

He said top executives and shareholders of Qwest, including departed CEO Joe Nacchio, had sold hundreds of millions of dollars of company stock while touting the company as the fastest-growing telecom.

Nasdaq warns Infospace over low stock price

SEATTLE >> InfoSpace Inc., an Internet company whose founder once claimed it would be bigger than Microsoft, may get kicked off the Nasdaq Stock Market for not meeting minimum listing requirements.

InfoSpace, based in Bellevue, Wash., received notification on Wednesday that its stock did not meet the national market's minimum bid price of $1. The stock, which during the Internet euphoria of 1999 and early 2000 traded for more than $100, first closed below a buck on May 21. It closed yesterday at 51 cents, up a nickel.

InfoSpace has three months to try to boost the share price above $1, something the company's board of directors is now trying to achieve. Among the options the company is considering is a reverse split and a stock buyback program.

Last month, Kona biotech firm Cyanotech Corp. received a similar delisting notice from Nasdaq.

A&P Tea restates earnings -- upward

MONTVALE, N.J. >> After repeated delays and two missed deadlines, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. filed its 2001 annual report yesterday. The report was late, the company said, because it had uncovered accounting irregularities and correcting them meant A&P had to adjust its earnings statement for 2001 and restate results for the two previous years.

Upward.

In relief that the company had actually erred low instead of high, investors bid up shares of the company, which owns grocery chains like A&P, Waldbaum's, Farmer Jack and Food Emporium, by 10 percent to $18.05. The restatement improved the firm's reported results for 1999, 2000 and 2001, in the latest year narrowing its loss to $71.9 million from the $83.5 million it had reported earlier.