ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996 TAG: 9602050065
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
VIENNA, Va. - America Online Inc. said it is part of a broadening probe by German prosecutors into hate material on the Internet, joining CompuServe Inc. and a European on-line service.
The company said it may face charges in Germany for permitting German citizens to access neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic material on the global computer network. America Online and Bertelsmann AG jointly run AOL Europe.
It is the second time since December that German authorities have pressured on-line services to censor Internet material. The move also comes after Congress on Thursday approved a ban on publishing sexually explicit material on the Internet.
America Online said it is discussing the probe with German officials and hasn't taken any action. - Bloomberg Business News College called leader in research
Two recent national surveys placed Virginia Tech's Pamplin College of Business among the nation's top 20 academic institutions for academic research productivity.
The Journal of Finance ranked the college's department of finance 20th among 661 institutions in terms of the number of scholarly articles published in finance journals over a five-year period. The authors found that 40 institutions accounted for more than half of all the articles published in 16 leading journals.
In a separate study by the Society of Consumer Psychology, the department of marketing was ranked 17th in terms of the number of published articles in three leading journals of consumer behavior. - Staff report Uni-Marts Inc. raises dividend
Uni-Marts Inc. announced this week that it has increased its quarterly cash dividend from 2.75 cents to 3 cents per share on its common stock.
The dividend will be paid April 17 to shareholders of record at the close of business March 27.
Uni-Marts of State College, Pa., operates 414 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. - Staff report 30-year mortgage averages 7.02%
WASHINGTON - Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.02 percent this week, up from 7 percent last week, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.
It was the highest since Jan. 18, when rates also averaged 7.02 percent. Last week's 7 percent average had been the lowest since rates averaged 6.97 percent during the week ended Feb. 3, 1994.
On one-year adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.37 percent, unchanged from last week.
Fifteen-year mortgages, a popular option for those refinancing mortgages, averaged 6.52 percent this week, up from 6.5 percent a week earlier.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. - Associated Press Bankruptcies
Seven bankruptcies with business affiliations have been filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Western Virginia at Roanoke. Three of them are personal bankruptcies that the court listed as businesses because they have commercial connections and could be of interest to business creditors and customers.
JP's Inc., which operates as Olde Salem Furnishings in Salem, filed for reorganization and protection from creditors. The company estimated both assets and liabilities at less than $50,000.
Joel T. Spencer and Patricia M. Spencer of Salem filed for reorganization and protection from creditors with assets estimated at less than $50,000 and liabilities estimated at more than $100,000. They have an interest in JP's Inc.
Macram Coal Co. Inc. of Lebanon filed for liquidation, estimating assets at less than $50,000 and liabilities at more than $50,000.
Joseph R. Crawford and Dreama R. Crawford of Pulaski, who trade as Dawn's Florist, filed for a wage-earner plan for repayments of debts. They listed assets at $79,517 and liabilities at $135,481.
Sherman C. Witcher of Rocky Mount, whose business is farming, filed for liquidation with assets estimated at less than $50,000 and liabilities at more than $50,000.
Dennis B. Light of Roanoke, who trades as Performance Cycle Accessories of Salem, filed for a wage-earner plan for repayment of debts. He had assets of $62,607 and liabilities of $80,090.
Jimmie D. Bays Estep of Pound filed for liquidation, with assets of $47,625 and liabilities of $299,576. He has an interest in T&J Trucking and in Precise Reporting, a court reporting business. - Staff report
LENGTH: Medium: 87 linesby CNB