Briefly

Kansas

Boeing engineers OK contract

Engineers at The Boeing Co.’s Wichita plant overwhelmingly approved the company’s contract offer Wednesday, joining colleagues in Seattle who two days earlier cast a strong vote for a similar proposal.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace approved the company’s “best and final” offer, with 92 percent voting to accept the three-year contract. It needed a simple majority to pass.

Under the proposal, Boeing would provide guaranteed raises and merit raises for employees of 4 percent in each year of the three-year contract.

For the average engineer making $70,000 annually, the total increases over the life of the contract would amount to nearly $10,000, negotiator Joe Newberry told members at a union meeting held before the voting.

Colorado

Columbine teacher dies of cancer found after attack

Theresa Miller, a Columbine High School teacher who ran through the hallways warning people during the 1999 massacre there, has died of colon cancer. She was 44.

Miller, who died Monday, taught for 20 years in the Jefferson County School District. She was head of Columbine’s science department for the last two years and was its Teacher of the Year in 2001.

“She was a true hero and an inspiration to all of us,” Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis said. “She wasn’t sure if she would live or die on April 20, and her life was spared only to find out she had cancer.”

The diagnosis came a few months after two students attacked the school on April 20, 1999, setting off explosives and killing 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves.

Washington, D.C.

Senator’s aide steps down

Sen. Pat Roberts is losing his top aide, Leroy Towns, to the private sector after 22 years of service.

The Kansas Republican announced Wednesday his “alter ego, trusted adviser and friend” is resigning to pursue jobs in higher education and political consulting.

“He will be missed by his fellow staff and by the many Kansans who have worked closely with us over the years,” Roberts said. “I want to thank him for his service to me and to the state.”

Towns will continue to raise campaign money and serve as a political consultant to Roberts.

Chicago

United mechanics cancel vote after loan guarantee fails

United Airlines mechanics called off a vote planned for today on wage cuts after a government panel rejected the financially troubled carrier’s request for a $1.8 billion federal loan guarantee.

The nation’s No. 2 airline had said the pay cuts were necessary to keep it out of bankruptcy. But the panel’s decision rendered the vote moot, and made a Chapter 11 filing highly likely.

The mechanics’ support was the last missing link in a $5.2 billion package of targeted labor cutbacks that was the key to United’s application for the $1.8 billion loan guarantee. Without it, cost-cutting agreements with the other employee groups expire Dec. 31.