MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dismissed as "ridiculous" a request on Monday from the leader of absent Senate Democrats to meet and negotiate a compromise in their standoff over Republican plans to limit public sector union powers.

At a news conference in Madison, the new Republican governor who has sparked nationwide protests with his efforts to strip public sector unions of most collective bargaining rights, showed no signs of backing down.

The Wisconsin state Assembly has approved Walker's plan but all 14 Wisconsin Senate Democrats left the state for Illinois on February 17 rather than allow a quorum to vote on the measure. There has been a stalemate ever since.

Walker blasted the leader of Senate Democrats, Mark Miller, as an obstacle to getting a deal for some of the Democrats to return and vote on the proposal.

"We had progress and we thought we had the framework of a pathway home for those 14 Senate Democrats, but again, Senator Miller stood in the way," Walker said.

The proposals have touched off weeks of pro-union rallies at the Capitol Building in Madison and around the country to protest the changes which Walker said are needed to fix a state budget deficit.

Miller's letter had appealed to Walker and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald to sit down and reach a bipartisan solution to the differences.

But the Republicans were defiant, saying again that they would not change the core of the proposal to curtail public sector union powers. Areas of compromise would only be considered on matters to do with the state's budget for fiscal 2012 and 2013, they said.

Walker wants public sector unions to make increased payments for health care and pension benefits. But the most controversial proposal would limit public sector union bargaining to wages, and only up to the rate of inflation. Unions also would have to allow a vote of their membership every year to continue to represent workers.

On Friday, Walker issued notices warning state workers of mass layoffs in early April if Democrats do not approve the measures to curtail public sector union powers.

Most opinion polls show that while most Americans, and Wisconsin voters, believe that government workers should contribute more toward pensions and health care, they support collective bargaining rights for unions.

Wisconsin has become the center of national attention because labor unions fear approval of the restrictions could lead to other state doing so.

Ohio's Senate last week approved restrictions on public sector unions, and similar measures are under consideration in several other states including Tennessee, Indiana, Kansas and Idaho.

(Writing by David Bailey, Editing by Greg McCune).

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court let stand a ruling that drug companies can pay rivals to delay production of generic drugs without violating federal antitrust laws.

The justices refused to review a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the dismissal of a legal challenge to a deal between Bayer AG and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's Barr Laboratories. Bayer paid Barr to prevent it from bringing to market a version of the antibiotic drug Cipro.

The deal, involving Bayer's 1997 settlement of patent litigation with Barr, was challenged by a number of pharmacies, which appealed to the Supreme Court. More than 30 states and various consumer groups supported the appeal.

The Federal Trade Commission has opposed such deals, saying they violate antitrust law and cost consumers an estimated $3.5 billion a year in higher prescription drug prices. It has supported legislation pending in Congress to prohibit such settlements, which it says have increased in recent years.

The New York-based appeals court, in its ruling last year, cited its similar 2005 decision involving the drug Tamoxifen, used to treat breast cancer, infertility and other conditions. The Supreme Court declined to review that case.

In the Cipro case, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by the pharmacies without comment.

The Supreme Court case is Louisiana Wholesale Drug Co v. Bayer AG, No. 10-762.

(Reporting by James Vicini; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co will by mid-May hire more than 1,000 people for its retail banking operations in the mid-Atlantic region, ahead of a planned fall rebranding of its Wachovia locations.

The staff will be hired at Wachovia locations in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C., Wells Fargo said on Monday.

Wells Fargo has hired nearly 600 people for similar positions in the region since its purchase of Wachovia at the end of 2008.

The $12.5 billion acquisition more than doubled the size of Wells Fargo, which has the biggest retail branch network in the United States.

Wells Fargo is the nation's fourth-largest bank by assets, and according to its website employs about 280,000 people.

JPMorgan Chase & Co, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, also plans to expand in retail banking. Last month, it said it plans to add at least 1,000 new branches in the next three years and could add up to 2,000 within five years. It said it would focus the growth in California and Florida.

Wells Fargo has $1.3 trillion in assets. Its shares were down 0.5 percent at $31.74 in early afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Clare Baldwin and Jonathan Stempel; and Andre Grenon)