A team of about a dozen AT&T wireless employees is operating like a start-up inside the telecom behemoth with the express goal of expanding the way that people use its wireless network, Roger O. Crockett reports. Assembled in the corporate campus outside Atlanta, they are looking at all manner of electronics to change the way people live and work. Figuring out how to take advantage of mobile access to the Internet is critical to AT&T's growth, says AT&T CEO Randall L. Stephenson. "It supports everything we're going to be doing over the next five to 10 years." In …

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth apologized to readers yesterday for a derailed plan to host a series of off-the-record, sponsored dinners at her home to which Obama administration officials, lawmakers, lobbyists, business leaders, and Post editors and reporters would be invited. The plan "exploded in controversy," Paul Farhi reports, after a promotional flier described selling sponsorships of $25,000 for each dinner -- or as much as $250,000 for a series of 11 dinners -- surfaced and was featured in a Politico.com story. Weymouth took responsibility for the mess but said that a recently hired marketing executive had sent out …

Michael Jackson's assets outweigh his debt by at least $200 million, according to people knowledgeable about his business holdings, and that somewhat elastic calculation does not include his posthumous earning power, which seems immense based on the public demand for his music and memorabilia, Harriet Ryan and Chris Lee report. Jackson's most valuable asset is his 50% share in the Sony-ATV Music Publishing catalog. Who will control the estate and the massive fortune that licensing Jackson's name, recordings and likeness may bring is at the heart of a hearing today in Los Angeles. While his face is …

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gerber late Sunday approved General Motors' plan to sell off its good assets to create a new GM, Tim Higgins reports. The ruling came after a three-day hearing in New York City, where the plan came under attack from opponents, who said it was unfair to creditors. Appeals are expected. "As nobody can seriously dispute, the only alternative to an immediate sale is liquidation -- a disastrous result for GM's creditors, its employees, the suppliers who depend on GM for their own existence, and the communities in which GM operates," Gerber wrote. …

Jeans with tapered legs and narrow-peg ankles for men seemed destined to be a season's fashion when they first appeared in stores a few years ago but sales of men's skinny jeans are going strong, and mass brands Gap and Levi Strauss are getting in on the action, Ray A. Smith reports. "Over the past several months, our men's skinny jeans styles have been among our most requested and top-selling jeans," says a Levi spokeswoman. Denim brands, retailers and men's fashion magazines have relentlessly promoted skinny jeans, but they admittedly present challenges in terms of comfort and practicality. …