Also. . .

* Air travel to and from the United States on domestic and foreign carriers grew 6.9% to 137 million people in the last half of 1999 and the first half of 2000, according to the Transportation Department.

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* Bank of America Corp.’s feisty leader, Hugh McColl Jr., is expected to turn his job as chairman and chief executive over to President and Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Lewis at the bank’s annual meeting in April, analysts said. The New York Times and the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said McColl will step down in April. The company’s stock rose $1.19 to close at $50.38 on the NYSE.

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* A lawsuit by healthy smokers seeking to compel Philip Morris Cos. and other U.S. tobacco companies to pay for medical monitoring ended in a mistrial. Judge Arthur Recht ruled that plaintiffs in the state court trial in Wheeling, W.Va., improperly introduced testimony about addiction to smoking as a basis for claiming damages. Recht will hear arguments Feb. 19 on a possible retrial.

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* Computer Learning Centers Inc., a chain of 25 vocational schools ordered last month to refund $187 million to the U.S. Department of Education for illegally paying commissions to admissions officers, said it has suspended classes. The company has more than 3,800 students and 1,200 employees at schools in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas and other cities. The decision to shut down classes was conveyed to students on an Internet site and on the company’s automated phone answering system.