Also

* Wells Fargo & Co. boosted Chief Executive Richard Kovacevich’s pay 9.4% to $8.97 million last year as its earnings and stock climbed.

* A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge halted payments to KPMG after a group of states argued that consultants to WorldCom had a conflict of interest because they devised a tax dodge that let the telecom firm shield $24 billion of income from state taxes.

* The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a preliminary investigation of the 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser after receiving complaints of engine compartment fires.

* EBay Inc. named former Los Angeles Times Publisher Richard T. Schlosberg III to its board.

* Chiron Corp., maker of the Proleukin drug for skin and kidney cancers, said that it halted development of an experimental medicine after studies showed the treatment didn’t work against tumors in the stomach and esophagus. The company last year halted work on the drug, tezacitabine, in colon cancer patients.

* At least six major brokerage houses may have exposed investors to unnecessary state taxes by selling them so-called 529 college savings funds from states where they were not residents, according to the National Assn. of Securities Dealers. An investigation found that 90% of the dollars going into 529 plans at those firms went to out-of-state plans.