Boeing sends layoff notices

Boeing officials said they handed out another 1,766 layoff notices Friday, while 80,000 workers were receiving bonuses.

The job cuts are part of the aerospace giant’s already announced plan to reduce its work force by as many as 30,000 workers, mostly by the middle of this year.

Including Friday’s notices, Boeing has cut about 20,719 jobs since October. Because of the 60-day layoff warning requirement, only about 16,600 of those layoffs have taken effect. The layoffs announced Friday will take effect April 19.

The bonuses, nine days’ extra pay and an average of $1,875 per worker, were announced last month as a reward to 80,000 nonunion, nonexecutive workers for helping Boeing come close to meeting last year’s performance targets.

In the above photo, a Boeing worker prepares the bonus checks for insertion into envelopes.

Trading: Markets closed Monday

Financial and commodity markets are scheduled to be closed Monday in observance of Presidents Day. They are scheduled to reopen Tuesday.

Leadership: Chamber sponsors seminar about international trade

The Lawrence Chamber of Commerce is spearheading the first “Kansas Trade Leadership Seminar” from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the SpringHill Suites in Lawrence.

The purpose of the event is to take the mystery out of international trade.

Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer and U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., will be the keynote speakers. The topics will give participants a comprehensive overview of the trade process and provide information on tapping into federal and state resources and financing.

The cost is $50 which includes lunch. Reservations can be made by calling the chamber at (785) 865-4411.

Economy: Report suggests that slump in manufacturing is ending

Industrial production edged down by just 0.1 percent in January, the best showing in six months, a sign that the nation’s battered manufacturing sector may be pulling out of a long slump.

The tiny decline reported Friday by the Federal Reserve came after output at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities dropped by 0.3 percent in December. The 0.1 percent decrease was slightly smaller than many analysts expected and marked the best performance in industrial production since July, when output rose by 0.1 percent.

Antitrust case: Justice releases comments in Microsoft settlement

Only five of the 47 public comments on the Microsoft antitrust case released by the Justice Department on Friday are in support of the government’s settlement with the software giant.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is due to preside at a trial next month to decide whether to approve the settlement, said she planned to read the comments before passing judgment.

The Justice Department only released those comments on the settlement that it described as “major” on the department’s Web site. The department has said it received about 30,000 comments, mostly via e-mail. The rest of the letters will be published on the Internet and on CD-ROMs.