Also . . .

Joseph Hardin Jr., president and chief executive of Sam’s Club division of Wal-Mart Stores, has been named president and CEO of Ventura-based Kinko’s Inc. .. . . Black & Decker Corp. said first-quarter earnings fell 24% to $26.3 million, or 27 cents a share, from $34.6 million, or 35 cents, before a gain and a charge in the year-earlier period. . . . The president and other top executives of Sunnyvale-based Avant Corp. pleaded innocent to charges alleging they helped steal technology from rival software company Cadence Design Systems Inc. . . . Walt Disney Co. said it bought for undisclosed terms Bellevue, Wash.-based Starwave Corp.’s Family Planet Web site and will combine it with Disney Online’s Family.com Internet service. . . . Qwest Communications International Inc., a telecommunications firm led by former AT&T; Corp. executive Joseph Nacchio, plans to sell stock in a first-time offering that could raise as much as $287.5 million. . . . 3Com Corp. and U.S. Robotics Corp. said their planned $6.6-billion merger passed Federal Trade Commission scrutiny.