Adelphia

In the Region Corporate Office Properties buys 6 buildings in Va. Corporate Office Properties Trust of Columbia said yesterday that it has bought six buildings for $26.3 million at a business park next to the Dahlgren Naval Surface Warfare Center in King George County, Va. The move further increases the real estate investment trust's concentration in offices used by government and defense contractors. The buildings, totaling about 205,000 square feet, are within the Dahlgren Technology Center and are fully leased.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Rite Aid Corp.'s former chief executive Martin L. Grass pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of conspiracy - to defraud shareholders and to obstruct justice - in one of the nation's biggest corporate accounting scandals in recent history. Grass, the son of Rite Aid's founder, agreed in a deal with federal prosecutors to serve up to eight years in prison and pay the government $3.5 million in fines and forfeitures. If approved by U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo, the sentence would be the stiffest punishment handed a former CEO for accounting fraud since corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia began undermining investors' confidence, prosecutors said.

NEW YORK - Adelphia Communications Corp., the fifth-largest cable operator, agreed yesterday to pay prospective buyers Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. a breakup fee equal to 2.5 percent of the purchase price should it sell to another bidder. Time Warner and Comcast have offered to buy Adelphia for $17.6 billion to $18 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Those purchase prices would yield a break up fee of $440 million to $450 million. Both the breakup fee and sale require court approval.

NEW YORK - A federal bankruptcy judge blocked yesterday a plan to compensate the Rigas family in return for its surrendering control of a bankrupt former unit of Adelphia Communications Corp., saying the arrangement is unfair to creditors. Creditors of Adelphia Business Solutions Inc. had argued that the Rigas family's ties to the telephone service provider jeopardize its reorganization. Two family members have resigned from Adelphia Communications, the former parent, amid a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of alleged self- dealing.

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. - Adelphia Communications Corp., the U.S. cable-television operator in bankruptcy proceedings, said yesterday that it will begin arranging a sale of the company after the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 6 and complete the auction by year-end. The company's bankers, UBS Securities LLC and Allen & Co., will solicit bids for the entire company and for individual cable systems, Adelphia said. The bankers have held "informal discussions" with potential bidders, the company said.

WASHINGTON - Adelphia Communications Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. cable-television operator, has offered to pay $725 million to settle federal fraud investigations and clear an obstacle to the company's efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. Settlement talks are continuing. The offer covers Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department proceedings, the Greenwood Village, Colo. company said yesterday in a regulatory filing. A settlement would bring Chief Executive Officer William T. Schleyer a step closer to reshaping the company after the ninth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

COUDERSPORT, Pa. - There's no corporate sign - in fact, there's no sign at all - outside the boxy brown-brick building at 1 N. Main St. in this isolated borough near the New York state border. There's really no need. "We all know it's Adelphia," explained Sallie Hershey, who can see the cable giant's three-story headquarters from the front window of her furniture store. Signs or no, the tie is unmistakable between Adelphia Communications - a Fortune 500 company that is the country's sixth-largest cable operator - and the town of 3,000 that is its improbable home.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Ravens will wage a territorial battle against the Tennessee Titans today. The stage is raucous Adelphia Coliseum, but the real territory at stake is control of the AFC Central Division. The first-place Titans have it; the second-place Ravens don't. Week 11 brings another opportunity for the 6-4 Ravens to show they're playoff caliber this season. At 8-1, the Titans are tied with the Oakland Raiders for best record in the AFC. What's more, the Titans have yet to lose at 2-year-old Adelphia - a span of 12 games - and have won 21 of their past 23 AFC Central games.