PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Feb 10

Reuters

Feb 10 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Since certain states declined to expand Medicaid, 4.8 million people had fallen into a coverage gap -- they earn too little to qualify for health-law subsidies to buy private insurance and yet aren't eligible for benefits under existing state programs. ()

* PG&E Corp said it will build opaque fences around critical transmission substations, including at the Metcalf subsidiary that was heavily damaged by gunmen firing from outside a chain-link fence last year. ()

* University of Missouri defensive lineman Michael Sam, the Southeastern Conference's reigning defensive player of the year, revealed he is gay to multiple media outlets Sunday and could be the first openly homosexual NFL player if he is drafted in May.

* Influential proxy-advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Inc recommended that Apple Inc shareholders reject activist investor Carl Icahn's proposal that the iPhone maker buy back $50 billion of its stock. ()

* Federal and state officials are pushing emergency measures to get propane to people who need the gas to heat their homes beset by persistent frigid temperatures. The measures, which include extending working hours for truckers and ordering a pipeline company to prioritize shipments to areas with tight supplies, are meant to alleviate a propane crunch that has sent prices of the fuel to record highs. ()

* A Food and Drug Administration panel could soon help determine the fate of billions of dollars in pain drugs such as Advil and Aleve over the question of which ones pose a greater cardiac risk. ()

* Barclays Plc and the UK banking regulator have launched investigations into allegations that information about thousands of the bank's customers was stolen and sold to brokers. ()

* AOL Inc Chief Executive Tim Armstrong said on Saturday that the company would reverse a recent change to its 401(k) retirement plan and apologized for remarks used to explain the initial change. ()

* DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc is diversifying into children's books, creating a publishing unit that this year will issue titles based on such DreamWorks movies as "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar." ()

* Sprint Corp officials are regrouping to decide whether trying to acquire smaller rival T-Mobile US Inc makes sense after antitrust officials expressed strong sentiments against a deal publicly, people familiar with the matter said. ()

* Canadian base-metal producer HudBay Minerals Inc Sunday announced a hostile bid to acquire the 84 percent stake of Augusta Resource Corp it doesn't already own, for about $325.6 million in stock to gain access to additional copper reserves. ()

* Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will need 12,820 new airplanes valued at $1.9 trillion over the next 20 years, a forecast by Boeing Co showed. The region will account for 36 percent of global aircraft deliveries over the next two decades, with three-fourths of the new planes aimed at boosting capacity, said Randy Tinseth, Boeing's vice president for marketing. ()

* Canada's International Forest Products Ltd agreed Sunday to acquire Tolleson Ilim Lumber Co from Russia's Ilim Timber Continental SA for $180 million, in a deal that would make it one of the five largest lumber producers in North America based on production capacity. ()

* As Argentina struggles to stave off a second debt default in 13 years, two U.S. hedge funds, Gramercy Funds Management LLC and Elliott Management Corp, are playing central but opposing roles in the country's efforts to untangle itself from the previous crisis. ()

* Most private-equity firms are having to raise funds by sending executives around the world to drum up interest from investors after the Volcker rule forced private-equity firms out from under the wing of banks that once provided them with funding. ()

* Hybrid Tech Holdings LLC, one of the bidders for control of failed luxury car maker Fisker Automotive Inc, has hired a former top Ford Motor Co executive to orchestrate the restart of operations if it wins. The Chinese company said it retained Martin Leach to bring Fisker out of mothballed status.