Business news in brief

Tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will increase 5 percent in 2015, effective Jan. 4. The decision by the Turnpike Commission on Tuesday to hike tolls for the seventh year in a row means the cash toll to drive from the Ohio border to the New Jersey border will be $46.05 for passenger cars, up from the current $43.85. Drivers using E-ZPass will get a discount of at least 35 percent, the commission said. About 73 percent of turnpike customers use E-ZPass. Tolls have been rising annually since 2009 to help pay for statewide highway and transit projects, as well as upkeep of the turnpike. - Paul Nussbaum

Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co. won a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling vacating a $28 million judgment against the company over drug pricing. Pennsylvania sued Bristol-Myers and 13 other drugmakers in 2004 over average wholesale prices for drugs. The state's high court said Pennsylvania failed to account for rebates on drugs in its calculations. - Bloomberg News

Discovery Laboratories Inc., of Warrington, said it was awarded the final $1.9 million of a $2.4 million Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. The money will support a continuing clinical trial for Aerosurf, a treatment for respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants. - Reid Kanaley

American Airlines will significantly reduce flights between the United States and Venezuela after July 1, due to a currency crisis in Venezuela and shortage of U.S. dollars. American said it was owed $750 million on tickets sold in the country as of March 31, but has "been unable to reach resolution" with the government of Venezuela on the debt. As a result, American, which merged with US Airways, Philadelphia's dominant airline, will operate 10 weekly flights, down from 48. American will operate one daily flight, effective July 2, from Miami to Caracas and an additional flight on Saturdays and two weekly flights from Miami to Maracaibo. Flights will be discontinued between Caracas and New York City; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Dallas-Fort Worth. - Linda Loyd

Amazon.com Inc. appears to be venturing into yet another market: smartphones. The corporate juggernaut that started out with books and soon moved into music, video, cloud computing, and e-readers is hosting a launch event Wednesday in Seattle, and reports indicate the product will be a phone. Amazon declined to comment. Analysts said the goal was almost certainly a device designed to get customers to buy more things from Amazon. It might include an Amazon shopping app or other features tied tightly to the products the company sells. - AP

The Business Roundtable said its CEO outlook index rose to 95.4 in the second quarter, up from 92.1 in the first quarter. That is the highest level since the second quarter of 2012. The positive sentiment among CEOs of some of the largest U.S. companies could bode well for hiring and growth. The proportion of CEOs expecting to hire in the next six months rose to 43 percent, up from 37 percent in the first quarter. - AP

SunTrust has agreed to pay nearly $1 billion to resolve allegations that it underwrote and provided faulty mortgage loans, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The $968 million settlement, reached with the department and other government agencies, will include money for homeowner relief and a requirement that the company improve its handling of mortgage loans and foreclosures. In announcing the agreement, authorities said SunTrust Mortgage, a Richmond, Va., mortgage lender and subsidiary of SunTrust Banks Inc., originated and underwrote bad loans between 2006 and 2012, gave borrowers false and misleading information, and charged unauthorized fees. - AP

Bernard Madoff's former accountant Paul Konigsberg will plead guilty next week to aiding in the con man's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, the government said. Konigsberg was part of the conspiracy from 1992 until Madoff's Ponzi scheme fell apart with his December 2008 confession and arrest, according to prosecutors. Konigsberg allegedly fabricated records to cover up fraudulent transactions by Madoff. Madoff is serving a 150-year sentence. His fraud cost investors more than $17 billion, according to the government. - Bloomberg News