Crop report
Moisture returns
Snow and rain last week helped replenish moisture for Kansas fields but also left many too muddy for work, according to the weekly crop report from the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service.
Topsoil moisture was rated 2 percent short, 56 percent adequate and 42 percent surplus, the report said. Subsoil rated 4 percent very short, 21 percent short, 57 percent adequate and 18 percent surplus.
Also included in Monday's report were conditions for winter wheat: 4 percent excellent, 29 percent good, 41 percent fair, 17 percent poor and 9 percent very poor. Winterkill rated 2 percent severe, 10 percent moderate, 17 percent light and 71 percent no damage.
Newspaper
Knight Ridder warns of lower earnings
Knight Ridder, the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher group, lowered its expectations for first-quarter earnings for the second time.
After warning a month ago that first quarter earnings would be down "modestly" from the same period a year ago, Knight Ridder chairman Tony Ridder said Monday that the "revenue environment continues to deteriorate, and we do not see relief in March."
The company now expects first-quarter earnings to fall 15 cents to 20 cents.
Analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial had expected Knight Ridder to earn 71 cents a share in the first quarter, down from 74 cents in the period a year ago.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company, whose newspapers include the Kansas City Star, said advertising revenues fell 2.7 percent in February compared to February 2000.
Japan
Bank trying to push rates to near zero
Amid growing cries of alarm about Japan's economic woes from home and abroad, the central bank decided Monday to guide its key interest rates to near zero and nip the dangers of deflation.
While it stopped short of directly cutting rates, the Bank of Japan decided at a policy board meeting to take other measures, such as increasing the money supply and buying up government bonds, that will end up having the same effect.
The Bank of Japan said that it no longer would target a specific level of interest rates but said the latest policy decision would have the effect of pushing interest rates to zero.
Leadership
Southwest Airlines president to step down
Herb Kelleher, the wisecracking, chain-smoking New Jersey native who co-founded Southwest Airlines nearly 30 years ago and came to personify the company, said Monday he would resign in June as chief executive and president of the nation's largest low-cost carrier.
Kelleher, 70, will remain chairman of the Dallas-based airline's board with a new three-year contract but will hand over much of his daily decision-making power.
James Parker, 54, the airline's vice president and general counsel, will become chief executive and vice chairman of the board. Executive vice president Colleen Barrett, 56, will become president and chief operating officer, the first woman to hold that title at a major U.S. carrier.
Automaker
Daewoo to cut jobs
Ailing Daewoo Motor Co. said Monday it planned to eliminate 6,500 of the 46,000 jobs at its overseas production and sales units within this year.
The move is in line with the restructuring program of Daewoo, Korea's third biggest automaker, which is trying to make itself more attractive for a takeover by U.S. auto giant General Motors Corp. Daewoo has cut its domestic work force by more than 30 percent to 10,000 in the past year.
The reduction came after the company's decision to spin off four Daewoo units in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Myanmar.
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