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DALLAS (AP) -- In what could be its last annual earnings report as a publicly traded company, utility TXU Corp. is expected to post a 2006 profit of about $2.5 billion when it discloses financial results Tuesday. TXU, which announced Monday it has agreed to be acquired for about $32 billion in the largest private buyout ever, has been helped by high electricity rates in Texas. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $1.20 per share in the fourth quar...

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DALLAS - Texans weary of high electric bills and environmentalists who fought TXU Corp.'s plans for more coal-fired power plants offered only muted criticism Monday of the proposed takeover of the state's largest electric utility.

If federal regulators and TXU shareholders approve the $32 billion bid, the investor group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group will pull off the largest private buyout in history.

The buyers promised to cut electric rates by 10 percent, saving residential customers $300 million per year, and freeze those prices until September 2008. They also extended an olive branch to environmentalists by agreeing to drop plans for eight of 11 proposed new coal-burning power plants and make other green concessions.

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Oil prices settled at their highest level in more than two months on Monday as snowy weather in the United States spurred expectations for strong heating oil demand.

A winter storm dumped as much as two feet of snow in the Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major highways. The National Weather Service also reported that more than a foot of snow blanketed parts of the Northeast, the country's largest heating oil market.

Several analysts are forecasting a decline in stockpiles of heating oil when the government issues its weekly inventory report on Wednesday, said Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Corp. However, Schenker said he expects the drop to be much smaller compared with the prior week.

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DALLAS - In what could be its last annual earnings report as a publicly traded company, utility TXU Corp. is expected to post a 2006 profit of about $2.5 billion when it discloses financial results Tuesday.

TXU, which announced Monday it has agreed to be acquired for about $32 billion in the largest private buyout ever, has been helped by high electricity rates in Texas.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $1.20 per share in the fourth quarter and $5.54 per share for all of 2006.

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SINGAPORE - Oil prices were steady in Asian trading Tuesday amid forecasts that data due the following day will show a decline in U.S. gasoline and distillate stockpiles.

Prices were also supported by worries over tensions between Western powers and Iran, OPEC's No. 2 supplier, and snowy weather in the U.S. Northeast, the country's largest heating oil market.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery gained a cent to $61.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midmorning in Singapore. The contract rose by 0.4 percent to close at a 2-month high of $61.39 a barrel Tuesday.

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A day after a film about his efforts to combat global warming won an Oscar, former Vice President Al Gore was called a hypocrite by a Tennessee group that said his Belle Meade home is consuming too much energy.The home's average monthly electric bill last year was just under $1,200, according to bills that The Tennessean acquired from Nashville Electric Service.

"As the spokesman of choice for the global warming movement, Al Gore has to be willing to walk (the) walk, not just talk the talk, when it comes to home energy use," said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, identified as a free-market think tank.Gore's power bill shows, however, that the former vice president may be doing just that.Gore purchased 108 blocks of "green power" for each of the past three months, according to a summary of the bills.That's a total of $...

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SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesian engineers successfully dropped several large concrete balls into a fissure Monday to try to stem a gushing mud eruption that has engulfed hundreds of homes and displaced 11,000 people.

Over the next few weeks, authorities plan to drop nearly 1,500 balls, each weighing up to 88 pounds, into the crater that started spewing mud at a gas drilling field on Java island nine months ago. The team hopes the balls will gradually reduce the mud flow, which is surging out at a rate equivalent to about 1 million oil drums per day.

Sixteen balls were dropped into the fissure on Monday. Authorities will monitor the effects of the balls before dropping more on Tuesday.

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DALLAS - Texans weary of high electric bills and environmentalists who fought TXU Corp.'s plans for more coal- fired power plants offered only muted criticism Monday of the proposed takeover of the state's largest electric utility.

If federal regulators and TXU shareholders approve the $32billion bid, the investor group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group will pull off the largest private buyout in history.

The buyers promised to cut electric rates by 10 percent, saving residential customers $300million per year, and freeze those prices until September 2008. They also extended an olive branch to environmentalists by agreeing to drop plans for eight of 11 proposed new coal-burning power plants and make other green concessions.

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Dalton Utilities customers in 2008 will face ?a significant water rate increase? and a 10 to 12 percent electricity rate increase, a utility official said Monday.

Utility president Don Cope made the comments during a joint meeting between the utility?s governing board and members of the Dalton City Council.

After 2008, the utility?s rate increases will follow inflation for the next four years, Cope said.

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NEW YORK — Oil prices settled at their highest level in more than two months on Monday as snowy weather in the United States spurred expectations for strong heating oil demand.

A winter storm dumped as much as two feet of snow in the Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major highways. The National Weather Service also reported that more than a foot of snow blanketed parts of the Northeast, the country's largest heating oil market.

Several analysts are forecasting a decline in stockpiles of heating oil when the government issues its weekly inventory report on Wednesday, said Jason Schenker, an economist with Wachovia Corp. However, Schenker said he expects the drop to be much smaller compared with the prior week.

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DALLAS ? In what could be its last annual earnings report as a publicly traded company, utility TXU Corp. is expected to post a 2006 profit of about $2.5 billion when it discloses financial results Tuesday.

TXU, which announced Monday it has agreed to be acquired for about $32 billion in the largest private buyout ever, has been helped by high electricity rates in Texas.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $1.20 per share in the fourth quarter and $5.54 per share for all of 2006.

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SINGAPORE ? Oil prices were steady in Asian trading Tuesday amid forecasts that data due the following day will show a decline in U.S. gasoline and distillate stockpiles.

Prices were also supported by worries over tensions between Western powers and Iran, OPEC's No. 2 supplier, and snowy weather in the U.S. Northeast, the country's largest heating oil market.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery gained a cent to $61.40 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange midmorning in Singapore. The contract rose by 0.4 percent to close at a 2-month high of $61.39 a barrel Tuesday.

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WASHINGTON - Scientists who are hunting for life on Mars - past or present - are expanding their search to include possible sources of food and energy, as well as water, that could nourish microorganisms on the Red Planet.

For years, "Follow the Water" has been the mantra guiding the quest for evidence of extraterrestrial life. The theory was that liquid water was the most essential requirement for any living organism, so the hunt should start with that.

That concept now is considered too narrow. The search for water goes on, but it's not the only target.

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Commitments by the buyers of TXU Corp. to operate in a more environmentally conscious way and to cut retail prices didn't silence the utility's critics Monday.

Observers say regulators and lawmakers were already poised to force TXU to do just about everything the buyers agreed to do voluntarily. Skeptical lawmakers said Monday that they aren't ready to step back from legislation aimed at cutting the utility's market share to push power prices lower. Also Online

TXU sale won't end coal plant controversy

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DALLAS — Texans weary of high electric bills and environmentalists who fought TXU Corp.'s plans for more coal-fired power plants offered only muted criticism Monday of the proposed takeover of the state's largest electric utility.

If federal regulators and TXU shareholders approve the $32 billion bid, the investor group led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group will pull off the largest private buyout in history.

The buyers promised to cut electric rates by 10 percent, saving residential customers $300 million per year, and freeze those prices until September 2008. They also extended an olive branch to environmentalists by agreeing to drop plans for eight of 11 proposed new coal-burning power plants and make other green concessions.

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Mary Lenhart (right) was honored Saturday as the 2006 citizen of the year by the Clarion Area Chamber of Business & Industry. Lenhart is the owner of the County Seat restaurant in downtown Clarion and is active in a variety of charitable causes throughout the year. Paula Cupples (left) contributed countless hours to the chamber staff in preparation for last year's annual Autumn Leaf Festival. She received the annual Douglas L. Sharrar Memorial volunteer of the year award.

CLARION - Mary Lenhart's continued dedication to her extended family and community earned her the honor Saturday night as Clarion area's 2006 citizen of the year.

It was one of several individual and business awards handed out during the Clarion Area Chamber of Business & Industry's annual dinner and ceremony held at Clarion University's Gemmell Student Complex.

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SINGAPORE ? Oil prices rose Monday in Asian trading as a winter storm plowed across the United States, spurring expectations of strong demand for heating oil.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 27 cents to $61.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. The contract added 19 cents Friday to settle at $61.14, its highest closing price since Dec. 22.

The winter storm moved toward the U.S. East Coast after dumping as much as 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow in the Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major highways. By midday Sunday in the United States, snow was dwindling but still falling from the Dakotas to Washington D.C.

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Originally published 06:40 a.m., February 26, 2007

Updated 07:10 a.m., February 26, 2007

TXU Corp., Texas' largest electricity producer, said Monday it has agreed to be sold to a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion in what would be the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history if shareholders go along.

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TXU Corp., Texas' largest electricity producer, said Monday it has agreed to be sold to a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion in what would be the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history if shareholders go along.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group led a group that included Goldman Sachs & Co. and three other Wall Street firms that will pay $69.25 per share for TXU. They will also assume about $13 billion in debt.

The firms won support for the buyout from some environmentalists who have criticized TXU by agreeing to sharply scale back TXU's controversial $10 billion plan to build 11 new coal-fired power plants that would produce tons of new greenhouse gas emissions.

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To do so — and also harvest profits along the way — San Ramon-based Chevron Corp. has undertaken a potpourri of eco-friendly ventures.

Microbes munch on grease, a process that produces methane and then electricity. A fuel cell powers part of an East Bay jail. A solar array and other alternative-energy gear supply big postal complexes.

Sure, these bear the look and feel of pet causes that an environmental group might trumpet. Yet they are the work of a company unit, Chevron Energy Solutions.

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HAVANA - Cuba has opened an experimental wind farm, hoping alternative energy sources can one day ease occasional power shortages while reducing the island's dependence on oil, state news media reported Sunday.

The $3.4 million park, featuring six 180-foot windmills, was established on Isla de la Juventud, an island south of Havana, according to the Communist Party youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde.

Exactly when the park was inaugurated was unclear, but officials estimate that during its first year of operation it could produce 1,800 megawatts of electricity. That would save Cuba about $136,000 in oil costs on international market, the newspaper said.

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DALLAS- Directors of TXU Corp., the largest electric producer in Texas, gave tentative approval Sunday to sell the electric company to two private-equity firms and abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants, according to a person close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in TXU debt, which would make it the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history.

Final details were still being worked out late Sunday, and TXU was expected to announce a deal early Monday, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies had not officially announced the deal.

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DALLAS (AP) -- TXU Corp., Texas' largest electricity producer, said Monday it has agreed to be sold to a group of private-equity firms for about $32 billion in what would be the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history if shareholders go along. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group led a group that included Goldman Sachs & Co. and three other Wall Street firms that will pay $69.25 per share for TXU. They will also assume about $13 billion in debt. The firms won suppor...

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DALLAS -- Directors of TXU Corp., the largest electric producer in Texas, gave tentative approval Sunday to sell the electric company to two private-equity firms that would abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants, according to people close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in TXU debt, which would make it the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history.

Final details were still being worked out late Sunday, and TXU was expected to announce a deal early Monday, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the companies had not officially announced the deal.

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DALLAS ? TXU Corp., Texas' largest electricity producer, is expected to announce Monday that it has agreed to be sold to a pair of private-equity firms in the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history, according to people close to the deal.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group sought support for the buyout by agreeing to deep cuts in TXU's controversial $10 billion plan to build 11 new coal-fired power plants. Environmentalists and some Texas civic leaders oppose the plants, which would produce tons of new greenhouse gas emissions.

The two firms were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in debt for TXU. Such a deal would eclipse the previous record private buyout, the $25.1 billion purchase of RJR Nabisco Inc. by KKR in 1988.

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DALLAS - TXU Corp., Texas' largest electricity producer, is expected to announce Monday that it has agreed to be sold to a pair of private-equity firms in the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history, according to people close to the deal.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group sought support for the buyout by agreeing to deep cuts in TXU's controversial $10 billion plan to build 11 new coal-fired power plants. Environmentalists and some Texas civic leaders oppose the plants, which would produce tons of new greenhouse gas emissions.

The two firms were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in debt for TXU. Such a deal would eclipse the previous record private buyout, the $25.1 billion purchase of RJR Nabisco Inc. by KKR in 1988.

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SINGAPORE - Oil prices rose Monday in Asian trading as a winter storm plowed across the United States, spurring expectations of strong demand for heating oil.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery rose 27 cents to $61.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore. The contract added 19 cents Friday to settle at $61.14, its highest closing price since Dec. 22.

The winter storm moved toward the U.S. East Coast after dumping as much as 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow in the Midwest, grounding hundreds of airline flights and closing major highways. By midday Sunday in the United States, snow was dwindling but still falling from the Dakotas to Washington D.C.

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DALLAS — TXU Corp. will announce Monday that it has agreed to be sold to a pair of private-equity firms who hope to complete the largest private buyout in U.S. corporate history partly by scaling back TXU's controversial plan to build new coal-fired power plants, according to people close to the situation.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were offering about $32 billion plus the assumption of more than $12 billion in debt for TXU, the largest electricity producer in Texas.

In an unusual twist, the buyers agreed to abandon plans to build eight new coal-fired power plants if they take over the company. Environmentalists and civic leaders in Texas oppose the plants, which would produce tons of new greenhouse gas emissions.

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ST. JOHNS St. Johns Public Schools superintendent Bob Kudwa gave board members a preview of what to expect when the mid-year budget report is given in March. Several areas show a savings as a result of a freeze implemented earlier this school year to reduce expenditures while administrators and union representatives were in contract negotiations.

Kudwa told the board Feb. 12 the freeze on staff and building expenditures has saved the district about $100,000 so far this year.

"Our staff, and I have to give them a lot of kudos, they are doing a tremendous job of recognizing that, as a district, we are in hard times," Kudwa said.

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DALLAS — Private-equity firms trying to buy TXU Corp. have agreed to drop plans for most of the utility's proposed new coal-fired power plants in Texas if the deal goes through, according to people familiar with the situation.

The new buyers would also support a mandatory national program to cap emissions of greenhouse gases and pledge not to build coal-fired plants outside Texas, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the sale was not final.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were in advanced talks Sunday to buy TXU for about $32 billion, or about $70 per share, plus the assumption of TXU debt. It would be the largest private-equity acquisition ever.

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By now you have received your most recent power bill and if you are in the Ameren service area, that bill reflects the effects of deregulated electricity prices. After a ten-year freeze on utility rates, utility companies such as Ameren Illinois and ComEd have moved to a market driven system for selling electricity and consumers are suffering rate shock as a result.First, let me summarize some background information about this very complicated subject. In the mid 1990s, many energy consumers beg...

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From 1996 to 2006, Jackson County received 27 awards for its environmental programs. In 2006, the county placed second in the nation among counties and cities reporting in the federal WasteWise reporting program. In 2002, the county placed first.

Some of the county's 151 programs include:

- Adopt-A-Highway trash removal program in Lee's Summit.

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. said that production has resumed in some parts of its Elk Hills oil and natural-gas field, less than a week after a fire shut down nearly 95 percent of the facility.

The Los Angeles-based oil company didn?t specify how much gas or oil the field was generating. It is the largest natural gas producer in the state.

The facility produced 70,000 barrels of oil and natural-gas liquids and 280 million cubic feet of gas annually before a pipeline leak caused a fire on Feb. 6. Occidental owns a 78 percent stake in the field.

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The field of those vying to build the first liquefied natural gas import facility on the Southern California coastline has been slimmed by one contender, intensifying the competition to make it to market first.

Constrained natural gas supplies in California and high prices have created a market for new LNG terminals. The terminals would convert the liquid into gas and then deliver it through pipes to homes and businesses, where it would be used for winter heating, among other uses.

Last week, a plan to build a natural gas terminal in the Port of Long Beach was scrapped when the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners killed off the Sound Energy Solutions Inc. project because of an inadequate environmental impact report.

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Occidental Petroleum Corp. was forced to shut down most of its Elk Hills gas field in Kern County after a natural gas explosion Tuesday afternoon, officials said.

The fire, which started at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, was still burning Wednesday morning, Kern County Fire Department spokesman Capt. Benny Wofford told Bloomberg News.

Latest reports say about 95 percent of the wells at the facility, which is California's largest, were shut down. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles-based oil company said she didn't know how much of the field's production of the equivalent of 120,000 barrels of oil per day would be halted or what affect the shutdown will have on the state?s natural gas market, Bloomberg said.

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For years the colonial city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast has remained relatively immune from the violence that has plagued the rest of the country, but two recent incidents have authorities worried that the city's peaceful reputation may be eroding. A French businessman was shot and killed when he left a fish shop Feb. 16, and an Italian tourist was killed during a botched mugging by motorcycle assail-ants Feb. 11. Street crime is no stranger to the city, but killings are unusual.

COSTA RICA

A new tourist police force completed training Dec. 20 and is now deployed to assist with directions and information and to increase security in cities and towns frequented by tourists.

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LAGA, East Timor (Reuters) - Jose Ramos-Horta, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over as East Timor's prime minister last year, formally announced on Sunday he would run for the presidency in April's election.

The announcement in front of about 2,000 supporters came after he had told Al Jazeera English earlier this week he intended to be a candidate.

"Today in Laga subdistrict of Baucau district, I am telling all people of East Timor and the world that I am running for presidential candidate of East Timor," Horta said.

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Republic City Administrator Dean P. Thompson will resign March 24 and head to City Utilities, where hell take over for retiring manager Karl Plumpe.

Thompson will begin at CU on March 26 as director of economic development. The position is similar to but more refined than Plumpes post as associate general manager of economic development, which has involved additional tasks such as natural gas hedging and financial analysis, Plumpe said. Thompson will focus solely on economic development.

Plumpes last day is March 2. He plans to use his background in finance as a registered investment adviser and will do some private land development on the side.

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Israeli wines aren't just for Shabbat and Passover anymore, and they have evolved far beyond the traditional super-sweetness of the kosher wines used in religious ceremonies. The American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, the Israeli Consulate General to the Southeast and the Jewish National Fund will show people how far Israeli wines have come at their first Israeli Fine Wine Event on Thursday, March 1.

Israeli wine expert Tal Gal-Cohen, author of The Israel Wine Route, will guide the crowd through dozens of fine Israel wines from at least 18 of the more than 200 wineries in Israel. Many of the wines will be breathing the air of the Southeast for the first time.

The Golan Heights and the Galilee may be the best-known winemaking regions in Israel, but the country's 20,000 acres of vineyards also include the Judaean Hills and the Negev.

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DALLAS - Private-equity firms trying to buy TXU Corp. have agreed to drop plans for most of the utility's proposed new coal-fired power plants in Texas if the deal goes through, according to people familiar with the situation.

The new buyers would also support a mandatory national program to cap emissions of greenhouse gases and pledge not to build coal-fired plants outside Texas, the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the sale was not final.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group were in advanced talks Sunday to buy TXU for about $32 billion, or about $70 per share, plus the assumption of TXU debt. It would be the largest private-equity acquisition ever.

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Prospective TXU buyers would build fewer coal plants

Group promises only 3 new coal plants, is likely to cut prices

02:00 AM CST on Sunday, February 25, 2007

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The companies that want to buy TXU Corp. would build only three of the 11 coal-fired power plants TXU has proposed, and would cut retail electricity prices, addressing two issues that fueled public outcry against the power company.

The buyers, Texas Pacific Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Goldman Sachs, signed an unusual agreement with two environmental groups. They promised to scale back the coal plant building program – as well as to cut pollution and greenhouse gas emissions – if TXU accepts their offer of around $45 billion for the company.

Negotiators say the deal is the first of its kind.

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he biggest leveraged buyout ever is about to be surpassed. Again.A group led by the private equity giants Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company and the Texas Pacific Group is near a deal to acquire the TXU Corporation, a Texas utility, for about $45 billion, according to people involved in the talks.The amount of private money that is being offered is a huge financial endorsement of the company’s energy strategy. TXU has irritated environmental advocates by proposing to build 11 coal-fir...

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KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's main opposition leader, on the eve of a trip to the U.S., warned Saturday that the former Soviet republic is at risk of sliding back under the influence of Russia.

Yulia Tymoshenko said she will reassure U.S. leaders on her visit starting Sunday that the Orange Revolution team which set Ukraine on its pro-Western path has reunited and will provide tough opposition to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Russian-leaning government.

"Our union today is not due to circumstances, it is not a spontaneous decision," Tymoshenko told The Associated Press after signing an agreement Saturday to rejoin forces with President Viktor Yushchenko's party.

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"I never expected to convert all of them to gas," Lieberum says. "I had my trusty ax and I didn't think I would ever give that up."

He changed his mind. Two fireplaces have been converted to gas inserts. The other two now have gas log sets.

The reason for the switch went beyond Lieberum's job as general manager of The Tubmakers, a leading Bay Area fireplace and stove dealer in Berkeley. He was sold on the drastic improvement in efficiency and the reduction in pollutants.

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NEW YORK ? Oil prices reached a new high for the year during a volatile session Friday, driven by tensions with oil-producing Iran and expectations of continued pressure on U.S. petroleum product supplies

Light, sweet crude for April delivery added 19 cents to settle on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $61.14, its highest closing price since Dec. 22.

Earlier in the session, prices had climbed as high as $61.80, setting a new peak for 2007. They also dipped as low as $60.50 during the afternoon, partly because of profit taking, said Ritterbusch & Associates' Jim Ritterbusch.

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Semco Energy Inc. is being sold to a Texas-based utility in a deal valued at $867 million in cash, stock and assumed debt.

The Port Huron-based utility, with 400,000 natural gas customers in Michigan and Alaska, said it agreed to sell all of its outstanding common stock to Cap Rock Holding Corp. for $8.15 a share in cash. In addition, Semco, Michigan's third-largest utility, agreed to sell its 5% Series B preferred stock for $213.07 a share.

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SPRINGFIELD (AP) – The public outcry over soaring electric rates is getting attention at the state Capitol, where lawmakers are renewing calls for a rate freeze and the entire House will discuss the problem next week.House leaders announced Friday that the entire 118-member body meet in a rare “committee of the whole” Tuesday afternoon, starting at 1 p.m.The House will take testimony on the electric rate increases that went into effect last month, although it will not take any ...

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WASHINGTON ? Federal securities regulators are withdrawing a remaining charge against a former chief financial officer of Halliburton Co. whom they had accused of negligence that gave investors an incomplete picture of the oilfield services company's finances.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, in a filing in federal court in Houston, said it was seeking to dismiss its charge against Gary V. Morris "in the interest of justice."

In September 2005, a federal judge dismissed an SEC complaint accusing Morris of aiding and abetting Halliburton in filing financial reports that didn't disclose a 1998 change in accounting procedures until early 2000. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal said the SEC "has alleged no facts showing that the defendant knew, or was severely reckless in not knowing of, his participation in a fraudulent scheme."

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The public outcry over soaring electric rates is getting attention at the state Capitol, where lawmakers are renewing calls for a rate freeze and the entire House will discuss the problem next week.

House leaders announced Friday that the entire 118-member body meet in a rare "committee of the whole" Tuesday afternoon, starting at 1 p.m.

The House will take testimony on the electric rate increases that went into effect last month, although it will not take any official action.

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