Business news in brief

More than 100 anti-drilling organizations from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania called on Gov. Wolf to halt oil and gas drilling in the state and to disband his Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force. "Gov. Wolf, your actions have ramifications far beyond your state's borders," the groups said in a letter delivered Wednesday. They asserted the public will be harmed by his administration's "concerted effort to drive the expansion of more pipelines and increase drilling and fracking in Pennsylvania." Wolf's pipeline task force, which held its first meeting in July, is scheduled to deliver its final report in February. - Andy Maykuth

The federal government plans to lease nearly 344,000 acres of the ocean floor off the coast of New Jersey to companies seeking to build offshore windmills to generate electricity. The Interior Department and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management say that if fully developed, the leases could lead to enough wind-generated electricity to power 1.2 million homes. The leases are to be sold Nov. 9. - Associated Press

The federal Department of Education has declared that there is no evidence Princeton University discriminates against Asian and Asian American applicants. The agency investigated Princeton in response to two claims that the Ivy League school was discriminating on the basis of race and national origin. There have been growing claims that high-achieving Asian and Asian American students have been passed over at elite universities as their numbers there have risen. This year, the agency found no such discrimination at Harvard. Princeton accepts about 1 in 10 undergraduate applicants. It notes that perfect SAT scores and being high school valedictorian don't guarantee admission. - Associated Press

A new study shows that most people who took a free massive open online course, or MOOC, say it helped their careers, by getting them a new job or helping them start a business. The study in the Harvard Business Review was done by researchers at Coursera, an online platform, and included medical ethicist Ezekiel Emanuel of the University of Pennsylvania and others who have taught MOOCs. They surveyed 52,000 people around the world who took these courses: 72 percent said their online class helped them professionally. In that group, a quarter of respondents cited the classes as a reason they found a new job. Nine percent credited their MOOC with aiding them in starting a business. Still, research shows that almost all who enroll in a MOOC never finish it. And most MOOC customers were well-educated and employed, not the poor strivers the firms were theoretically helping. The authors, who admit their bias, offer some hopeful evidence. - Bloomberg News

James T. McDermott Jr., executive director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority since May 1994, wrote Tuesday in a letter to Gov. Wolf that he will retire April 15. McDermott, 59, said: "I was told that to replace me there will be a national search for a new port director. I pledged to stay through April 15, until there is another person in place." McDermott, son of the late Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice James T. McDermott, joined the PRPA as chief counsel in 1991, after 10 years as an assistant Philadelphia district attorney. The PRPA maintains, leases, and promotes state-owned port facilities on the Delaware River, including the Packer Avenue Terminal in South Philadelphia. - Linda Loyd

A judge has ordered a former employee of a mid-Missouri tech firm and his wife to pay $10 million for stealing trade secrets and working with a Chinese firm to sell knockoffs to unsuspecting buyers, including the U.S. Navy. Franklin County Associate Circuit Judge Robert Schollmeyer this month awarded Rolla-based Brewer Science damages to cover the company's lost profits due to the actions of Brewer Science engineer Hai Xuan and his wife, Hong Sheng, along with the firm they formed, Best Tools L.L.C. Brewer makes coatings used for microchips, along with spin coater machines. The judge found that the couple partnered with a Chinese manufacturer to make and distribute spin coater machines that used Brewer technology and was in direct competition with the company. The couple may have left the country. But Brewer said their firm keeps producing and selling items using Brewer technology. - Associated Press

General Electric Co. agreed to sell its private-equity investment group to the French alternative asset manager Ardian for about $500 million, sources said. Ardian won the assets earlier this month in an auction process run by Evercore Partners Inc., said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The team in charge of GE Capital Equity, led by Patrick Kocsi, is expected to continue to manage the assets and may receive additional capital to complete future deals by Ardian, the sources said. Those details haven't been finalized and management may still change, the people said. The group has a portfolio of $1 billion, according to the company's website. The decision largely completes GE's withdrawal from the alternative investment field. - Bloomberg News