News In Brief

SEC sues alleged tipster over Wall Street column

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit Thursday charging that a former Wall Street Journal reporter received $31,000 for inside tips about forthcoming columns that allegedly resulted in illegal stock profits totaling $ 900,000.

Defendants include R. Foster Winans, who had been one of the writers of the newspaper's ''Heard on the Street'' investment column, and Peter N. Brant, a former broker for Kidder, Peabody & Co.

Also charged in the suit, filed in US District Court, were David J. Carpenter , who the SEC said lived with Mr. Winans, and two investors, Kenneth P. Felis and David W.C. Clark.