Business briefs

Shades recalled due to hazard

Smith and Noble is recalling 1.3 million Roman shades and roller shades after a 5-year-old Washington state boy was nearly strangled in a roller shade in May 2009. In June, the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned window blind and shade manufacturers that their products - responsible for one child strangling each month - must be safer or they will face new regulations. The Smith and Noble blinds were sold on the company's website and through its catalog between 1998 and April 2010. For a free repair kit, call 800-506-4636.

Dell settles with SEC for $100M

Computer maker Dell Inc. is paying $100 million to settle federal regulators' charges of using fraudulent accounting to meet Wall Street earnings targets. Under the settlement announced Thursday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, company chairman and chief executive Michael Dell agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty. The SEC said the company also failed to disclose to investors large payments it received from Intel Corp. in exchange for not using equipment made by an Intel rival.

$22.4M bid for most assets of publisher of Dan's Papers

A group of company insiders has bid $22.4 million for most of the assets of Ohio-based newspaper chain Brown Publishing Co. But the bidders will have to wait a week to learn if the sale will be approved. A newly formed Brown Media Corp., led by Roy Brown - the current president and chief executive - made the bid for the newspaper chain's assets during an auction that ended Tuesday. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Dorothy Eisenberg heard about three hours of testimony at a hearing in Central Islip. She postponed the hearing a week to review paperwork submitted Thursday. The sale involves company assets in Ohio, New York, Texas, South Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming. Among the publications is Dan's Papers, a popular Hamptons-based weekly.

Bailed-out firms to be cited

Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration's special master on executive compensation, will cite 17 bailed-out companies for making more than $1 billion in unwarranted or ill-advised payments to executives during the financial crisis, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Almost all the firms Feinberg plans to disclose Friday are banks, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the findings haven't been released. Executives won't be identified by name, though companies will be, one of the people said. From wire reports