S.C. Johnson Wins Award In Kickback Scheme

A jury awarded consumer products giant S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. $147 million in damages Tuesday to compensate it for losses suffered in a trucking kickback scheme.

The Racine-based maker of products like Ziploc and Glade sued its former transportation director, Milton Morris, and a dozen other people and companies alleging a widespread scheme to bilk it out of millions of dollars. The company had asked for more than $100 million in damages.

The company claimed Morris, trucking company owner Thomas Buske, and others inflated rates and pocketed the excess. They paid each other with trips to places such as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, rounds of golf and cash transferred through poker games.

Former Officials Press Cabinet To Quit

More than 50 former Philippine officials called for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Cabinet to resign, stoking political turbulence yesterday in the face of corruption charges that have battered her presidency.

The officials from previous administrations, including former Arroyo Cabinet members, made the public appeal after attending a Mass led by Roman Catholic groups and ex-President Corazon Aquino to show support for a star witness in a new corruption scandal. At least 3,000 protesters attended the Mass at a Catholic university in suburban Manila.