Pet-food company to pay $3.1 million

A company that made contaminated pet food that killed dozens of dogs nationwide in 2005 will pay $3.1 million in a settlement with pet owners, an attorney said Friday.

The pet food, which contained a mold called aflatoxin, was produced at Diamond Pet Foods' plant in South Carolina. The company will set up a fund to reimburse pet owners for the loss of their dog, veterinarian bills and the cost of any unreturned contaminated food, said attorney Jim Andrews, who represented a Knoxville, Tenn., family that sued the company.

The 2005 incident is unrelated to the contamination that prompted recalls of more than 100 pet-food brands in early 2007.

Los Angeles

Actors may snub Golden Globes

Golden Globe-nominated actors are expected to snub the awards in support of striking Hollywood writers, the actors union said Friday, jeopardizing one of the entertainment industry's signature showcases.

NBC, however, said it was sticking by its plans to air the Jan. 13 ceremony, despite the uncertainty about how much — if any — star power the Globes could muster.

Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg made the announcement after canvassing nominees during the past several weeks.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the awards, said it was wrestling with the "unfortunate predicament." Jorge Camara, the group's president, said the association hoped to announce a resolution Monday.

San Francisco

Hsu gets 3 years for old fraud case

Norman Hsu, 56, the disgraced political power broker and Democratic donor, was sentenced Friday to a three-year prison term by a California judge in connection with a 1992 plea in a fraud case in which investors lost millions of dollars in an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Hsu, 56, a California businessman and former apparel-industry executive, is expected to soon appear before the U.S. attorney in New York on separate but similar charges of defrauding investors out of $60 million in another Ponzi scheme.

San Francisco

Padilla sues ex-Justice official

Jose Padilla, the U.S. citizen who was held in military detention for more than three years as an enemy combatant, on Friday sued a former Justice Department lawyer whose legal opinions formed the basis for Padilla's detention and the interrogation techniques used against him.

The lawyer, John Yoo, is now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. A lawyer for Yoo, Eric George, called Padilla's suit "a political diatribe" that "belongs, at best, in a journal, not before a federal court."

Padilla, 37, was transferred to the criminal-justice system in 2006; in August, he was convicted of terrorism-related charges in Miami. He awaits sentencing.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, seeks $1 in damages.

Seattle Times news services