IN BRIEF

NV Energy agrees to buy power from proposed Ely wind farm

Local power utility NV Energy has agreed to a 20-year deal to buy electricity from a wind farm planned near Ely.

Pattern Energy Group of San Francisco will build the 150-megawatt Spring Valley Wind Project, which would be Nevada's first major utility-scale wind plant.

NV Energy already has announced plans to co-develop with RES Americas the 200-megawatt China Mountain Wind Project near the Idaho border, but that project is still in the environmental-impact statement permitting process.

The Spring Valley project is scheduled for completion by late 2011. Neither company disclosed the terms of the agreement.

The wind farm would create more than 150 jobs during construction and 10 permanent positions.

State law requires that NV Energy obtain 25 percent of its power portfolio from renewable sources by 2025. In 2008, the last year with available statistics, the company obtained 9 percent of its power from renewables.

Ex-MGM Mirage executive named to Shuffle Master board

Former MGM Mirage executive Dan Wade has been appointed to the board of directors of Las Vegas-based gambling equipment provider Shuffle Master Gaming.

Wade spent 37 years in the gaming industry and held various executive positions with MGM Mirage for 16 years, including a stint as the vice chairman of the company's board from 2003 to 2006.

Most recently, Wade was involved with the Elad Group in trying to build a $5 billion hotel-casino version of New York City's Plaza Hotel on the site of the since-imploded Frontier on the Strip.

NEW YORK

International sales boost Coca-Cola's quarterly profits

International sales again added fizz to Coca-Cola's fourth quarter, while sales in North America softened, to lift profit 55 percent in the last three months of the year.

Coca-Cola's net income rose to $1.54 billion, or 66 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, in line with the expectations of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. These estimates typically remove one-time items.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $7.51 billion from $7.13 billion, beating Wall Street's $7.21 billion estimate. The company said its results were affected by six fewer selling days in the period.

Denny's slammed as eaters converge for freebie breakfasts

If you saw a lot of traffic heading toward Denny's on Tuesday, it was probably people heading for free Grand Slam breakfasts.

Denny's offered the meal from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. nationwide Tuesday at its more than 1,500 restaurants. It was the second straight year with the free breakfast promotion for Denny's, which lists 24 Southern Nevada restaurants on its Web site.

Grand Slam breakfasts, which include two pancakes, two eggs, two sausage links, and two bacon strips usually cost about $6, the Huffington Post reported. Denny's whetted America's appetite for the meals with ads during Sunday's Super Bowl. In the spots, a man warns hens that they should brace for big-time egg laying. The fowl scream with fear at the thought.

In a statement Tuesday, Denny's said it served about 2 million free breakfasts nationwide, turning tables every 15 minutes. Some restaurants, the statement said, served up to 200 breakfasts an hour.

The microblog site Twitter was awash in Grand Slam tweets on Tuesday.

At about 1:30 p.m. PST, a California-based Tweeter called StacyFever posted: "Yayyy! Getting my free Grand Slam at Denny's! It is freakin' packed here!!!"

Shares of Spartanburg, S.C.-based Denny's Corp. rose 3 cents, or 1.19 percent, Tuesday to close at $2.55 on the Nasdaq National Market.

NEW YORK

New indictment issued in hedge-fund trading case

Federal prosecutors boosted their insider trading charges case Tuesday against the man they say was behind history's largest hedge fund insider trading case.

The rewritten indictment accuses Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam of making up to $45 million from trades based on secrets. A prosecutor has said in court that the total of his illicit gains may top $50 million.

The indictment adds two securities fraud charges against Rajaratnam. It also expands the time for some of the alleged crimes from months to years.

The fresh indictment resulted from what prosecutors say they learned from defendants who have pleaded guilty in a case that has resulted in charges against 21 people, many formerly high-level executives with major corporations.