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NATION

Immigrants increasingly without health coverage

NEW YORK » The number of immigrants without health insurance has soared, accounting for most of the growth in the nation's uninsured population, a new study finds.

Immigrants are much more likely than native-born Americans not to have health coverage, accounting for 86 percent of the increase in the uninsured population in the five years ended in 2003, according to research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The report, released yesterday, finds that the increase is partly due to a 1996 federal law banning legal immigrants' participation in public insurance programs for five years after arrival in the U.S. Those restrictions have since been loosened.

But the number of immigrants without insurance continues to grow rapidly, mostly because they are often clustered in jobs and industries that either do not offer insurance or pay low wages that make coverage unaffordable, concludes EBRI, a nonpartisan research group.

High court won't impose FCC rules

WASHINGTON » Broadcast and newspaper groups suffered a setback yesterday when the Supreme Court declined to hear their appeals to restore federal rules easing local media ownership limits.

Without comment, the justices let stand a lower court ruling that threw out the new Federal Communications Commission rules as unjustified. The agency will now take a new look at the subject, though no timetable was given.

The commission opted in January not to pursue its own appeal of the June 2004 decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The FCC also urged the justices to turn away media groups' appeals.

The proposed changes would have allowed a single company to own TV stations and a newspaper in the same area, and to own more TV and radio stations in a single market.

Firms help workers fund 401(k)s

NEW YORK » American companies are trying to make it easier for their workers to save retirement funds. A study released today by Hewitt Associates Inc. found that a growing number of companies are automatically enrolling workers in their 401(k) retirement plans. They're also adopting systems to increase employee contributions as their salaries grow.

Court rules patents cannot bar research

The Supreme Court gave pharmaceutical companies broad latitude yesterday to study and experiment with drugs covered by other companies' patents, a decision that may help speed the development of medical treatments.

The decision means drug companies can do much of the laboratory, animal and human testing needed to win approval of a drug even if the drug would infringe on the patent on another product. The new drug could not be sold until the other drug's patent expired.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for a unanimous court, said that an existing exemption from patent infringement "provides a wide berth for the use of patented drugs" in developing other pharmaceuticals. The decision reversed a federal appeals court ruling that the exemption should be interpreted narrowly.

Yen drops to 8-month low against the dollar

The yen fell to an eight-month low against the dollar and dropped versus the euro after Japan cut its first-quarter economic growth estimate as sluggish overseas demand prompted manufacturers to keep inventories in check.

The world's second-biggest economy grew at an annual 4.9 percent pace, compared with a May 17 estimate of a 5.3 percent expansion, the Cabinet Office said in a report released in Tokyo yesterday. The fastest pace of growth in a year followed a revised 0.2 percent expansion in the fourth quarter.

"The Japanese economic number was not as good as some people had expected; that put the yen under pressure," said Marios Maratheftis, a currency strategist.

HAWAII

Analyst rates A&B 'outperform'

Analyst James F. Wilson of JMP Securities rated Honolulu-based Alexander & Baldwin "market outperform" in new coverage yesterday, with a target price of $60 a share.

The company's stock rose 56 cents yesterday to $44.36, near its 52-week high of $47.14 on Jan. 27.