Are shoppers up to this test?
It may be up to Pittsburgh shoppers to determine if consumer electronics retailer Circuit City continues its foray into the eBay drop-off business. The Richmond, Va., chain, which began the test in the spring, closed four sites in Atlanta on Sept. 24. Four Trading Circuit locations, tucked inside the retailer's stores in North Fayette, West Mifflin, Wilkins and Ross, remain open to help people sell their wares on the online store. A spokesman said results in Atlanta were uneven, adding that the test would continue indefinitely at the Pittsburgh sites.

Banner for fired janitors
Protesters led by the Thomas Merton Center yesterday dropped a 50-foot banner from the top of the Centre City Tower at Smithfield and Seventh Street to protest the dismissal last year of nine janitors. The yellow and purple banner, bearing the word Justice and the figure of an arm holding a broom, was dropped from the roof of the 26-story building as about 75 protesters, many of them members of the Service Employees International Union, stood across the street and chanted slogans. The building has been the site of protests since December, when managers switched from a union to nonunion cleaning contractor after the SEIU negotiated family health-care coverage for janitors who work Downtown.

Dell recalling PC adapters
Dell Inc. is recalling about 990,000 AC adapters used with notebook personal computers because they can overheat and cause a fire and electrical shock hazard, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said yesterday. The adapters are used with Dell's Latitude, Precision and Inspiron personal computers. The notebook computers have model numbers listed on Dell's web site: www.delladapterprogram.com. The recalled adapters have the words "DELL" and "P/N 9364U," "P/N 7832D" or "P/N 4983D" printed on the back.

Also in business ...
Members of the United Steelworkers union at Alcoa's idled Wenatchee, Wash., smelter approved a labor agreement, clearing the way for restarting the plant ... Pine-based software developer TrueCommerce said it raised $3 million in venture capital from Edison Venture Fund, a Lawrenceville, N.J.-based private equity and services firm ... AmeriServ Financial Inc., Johnstown, said it closed on a $12.6 million private placement of its common stock with institutional investors and planned a second closing of $13.2 million for December ... Ansoft Corp. said it would repurchase an additional 1 million shares of common stock. Ansoft has bought back about 1.8 million shares since 1998 ... Louis Rukeyser, the host of financial news network CNBC's "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street," said he won't return to the weekly program following his treatment for cancer. Rukeyser asked CNBC to suspend production of his show at the end of its run later this year.