Companies yank cord on residential phone books

RICHMOND, Va. -- What's black and white and read all over? Not the white pages, which is why regulators have begun granting telecommunications companies the go-ahead to stop mass-printing residential phone books, a musty fixture of Americans' kitchen counters, refrigerator tops and junk drawers. Telephone companies argue that most consumers now check the Internet rather than flip through pages when they want to reach out and touch someone.