Also

* Cadence Design Systems Inc., a San Jose-based maker of semiconductor-design software, didn’t steal technology used in machines that cost as much as $1 million from rival Mentor Graphics Corp., a jury decided in federal court in San Francisco.

* A San Diego County poultry farm became the 13th commercial operation hit by exotic Newcastle disease, the Agriculture Department said.

* The possibility of war in Iraq and continuing concerns about the economy have prompted a hiring freeze at Walt Disney Co.’s Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

* Conseco Inc. is asking a bankruptcy judge to release its finance unit from servicing $23 billion in mobile-home loans, saying uncertainty about the money-losing agreements threatens the unit’s sale.