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been placed on paid desk duty. He had been assigned to a unit that provides a motor escort for the White House and other dignitaries.
• Lanier said the officer is accused of making a threat about the first lady -- a comment overheard by another officer and then reported to a superior. The department's internal affairs division and the U.S. Secret Service are investigating the remarks and taking statements from officers who heard them.
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• NEW YORK (AP) -- Visa, MasterCard and major banks agreed to pay retailers at least $6 billion to settle a long-running lawsuit that alleged the card issuers conspired to fix the fees that stores pay to accept credit cards. As part of the settlement,

announced late Friday, stores from Rite Aid to Kroger will be allowed to charge customers more if they pay using a credit card.
• The pact, which is being called by lawyers involved in the case the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history, is seen as a major victory for merchants that have long complained about the billions of dollars in so-called "swipe" or "interchange" fees that they pay to banks for purchases made using plastic. But at a time when shoppers increasingly are using credit and debit cards, merchants will face a dilemma: Whether to charge shoppers extra for using plastic, and if so, how to do so without angering them.
• Marilyn Landis, who was last year's chairman of the National Small Business Association, said that the settlement is a victory for small businesses across the country because it could ultimately lead to banks lowering the fees they charge stores for customers' credit card purchases.
• Landis, who owns Pittsburgh-based financial services firm Basic Business Concepts, said that would be a big relief. She's now paying 3.75 percent each time a customer pays with a credit card. If bank card companies reduce the fees they charge her to 2.75 percent, she would save a dollar on every $100 in sales.
• "That's huge," she said.
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