Business news in brief

After seven months of trying, the Philadelphia Parking Authority on Wednesday sold the first three medallions for new wheelchair-accessible cabs at a much-discounted price of $80,000 each. The PPA attracted no buyers when it offered the medallions for a starting bid of $475,000 in October, or when it cut the price to $350,000 in January. The price for regular taxi medallions has slipped from about $500,000 to $400,000 in recent months, amid market uncertainty and the arrival of ride-share operators such as Uber and Lyft. There are 1,600 such medallions, which are required to operate a cab in Philadelphia. The PPA wants to sell medallions for 46 new wheelchair-accessible taxis now and an additional 15 starting June 1. The successful bidder Wednesday was Alexandrite Taxi L.L.C., reportedly owned by the wife of Everett Abitol, owner of Freedom Taxi. - Paul Nussbaum

As part of an effort to develop a customized metro export plan led by the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia and the World Trade Center of Greater Philadelphia, an online survey has been developed to learn more about the exporting experiences of local businesses. The confidential survey, designed to take 10 minutes to complete, will be accessible through May 15 at http://ph.ly/exports. A detailed market assessment is expected this summer, with completion of the export plan expected by the end of the year, along with announcement of initial implementation efforts for increasing overseas business opportunities for area companies. - Diane Mastrull

Comcast Corp. will plant a flag in Ultra High Definition TV land this year with the first X1 set-top box cable, Xi4, capable of streaming "4K linear channels" to the Ultra HD TV of your choice. An even better box is on the drawing boards for release next year. Until now, early adopters of the new ultra high resolution video format have had to settle for the slim content pickings provided through apps on their smart TVs (Samsung, LG, Vizio) by streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Live, M-Go, and Vudu. A second generation UHD set top box, dubbed the Xi5, is promised for 2016. It will be able to decode a coming UHD enhancement called HDR - short for high dynamic range - that allows shows to be encoded with a wider gamut of colors and bolder contrast range. - Jonathan Takiff

Two top officers of the failed Wilmington Trust Corp. face federal charges of filing false financial reports with the U.S. government in the months before the bank's collapse. The bank, the largest in the Federal Reserve District of Philadelphia at the time, was forced to sell itself to M&T Bank at a fraction of its previous value. William North, the bank's former chief credit officer, and Kevyn Rakowski, the former controller, each face one count of making false statements to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and three counts of lying to the Federal Reserve. The two cooperated with "known and unknown" others "in concealing from the market and the Federal Reserve the total quantity of past-due loans on the bank's books" in October and November 2009. "It's disappointing that after a four-year investigation, in which Bill North spent the equivalent of three full days" helping federal agencies, "he would be accused of making false statements in documents he didn't prepare, didn't write, didn't sign, and didn't have any control over," his lawyer, David Wilks, said. Rakowski's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. "The investigation is ongoing," said Kimberly Reeves, spokeswoman for Delaware U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III. - Joseph N. DiStefano

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday described stock market valuations as high and said the central bank was carefully monitoring their impact on financial stability. "I would highlight that equity market valuations at this point generally are quite high," Yellen said in conversation with Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, at an economics conference. Coupled with weak economic reports in the morning, her remarks drove stocks broadly lower in Wednesday trading. Yellen added, however, that the overall risks to financial stability are "moderated, not elevated," and that she does not see the hallmarks of any bubbles. She cited one reason stock prices were high: the meager returns on safer investments such as bonds because of low interest rates. - Associated Press

Kale, the leafy vegetable often described as a hipster super food, may soon be on the menu at McDonald's. The ingredient will be used in a trio of revamped salads served at McDonald's Corp. restaurants in Canada, Mark Kalinowski, an analyst at Janney Capital Markets, said in a report Wednesday. The move would create strange bedfellows, uniting a staple of Brooklyn farmers' markets with the world's largest fast-food chain. McDonald's itself has made fun of kale in the past. The ingredient is slated to appear in new Caesar, Greek, and Harvest Garden salads, Kalinowski said. McDonald's, based in Oak Brook, Ill., declined to comment. - Bloomberg News

A former MillerCoors marketing executive and seven others were indicted on charges of embezzling at least $7 million from the Chicago-based beer company, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. The 20-count indictment did not identify MillerCoors, referring to it as a victim company with offices in Chicago and Milwaukee. The former vice president, David Colletti, 58, worked for the company from 1982 to 2013, overseeing the marketing and sale of beer to restaurants and bars. - Chicago Tribune