Privacy worries prompt Qwest to shelve data plan
Qwest Communications International Inc. has withdrawn plans to share customer information among its divisions after receiving some complaints.
Chairman and CEO Joseph P. Nacchio said Monday that the Denver-based company would wait until the Federal Communications Commission issues new rules on customer records later this year before developing another plan.
Nacchio said Qwest would notify its 12 million local telephone customers that it would not be sharing account information, such as phone numbers called and received. Qwest does not provide local service in Kansas, but is authorized to sell long-distance service in the state.
Compensation: Tyco boosts boss's take
The chairman of Tyco International Ltd. shares of which have tumbled 29 percent this month received $5.65 million in salary and bonus last year, up from $4.15 million, as Tyco used acquisitions and job cuts to boost profits.
Tyco Chairman Dennis Kozlowski's pay package was awarded, in part, on the strength of an aggressive acquisition strategy that the conglomerate abruptly abandoned last week, when Kozlowski announced that Tyco would split into four independent, publicly traded companies.
On Monday, Tyco shares tumbled $3, or 6.7 percent, to a close of $42 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Tyco shares rose 11 percent in 2001, beating the 13 percent decline on the Standard & Poor's 500. Among Bermuda-based Tyco's holdings is the Davol Inc. plant in Lawrence, which makes medical supplies.
Aviation: Raytheon Aircraft cuts another 300 jobs in Wichita
Raytheon Aircraft plans to lay off 300 more workers by the end of this week, the company said Monday.
Most of the cuts will affect hourly workers and are consistent with previously announced production rate decreases, spokesman Jim Gregory said.
Last year, Raytheon delivered 411 airplanes and anticipates delivering just 371 planes this year, he said.
"Less labor is needed to build fewer number of airplanes," Gregory said.
The latest round of layoffs comes on top of 1,700 job losses at the company last year.
"We are continuing to watch the marketplace and match the marketplace to production," Gregory said.
Affected employees were notified Monday. The company plans to set up an assistance center to help workers file for unemployment compensation.
Fruit: Citrus canker threatens Florida's $9 billion industry
After a battle by the state to wipe out citrus canker in South Florida, the crop-destroying disease has spread to the Indian River grove country, which provides most of the bagged and boxed oranges sold to tourists and mailed around the country as gifts.
Federal inspectors went door to door Monday in search of the disease after canker blemishes were discovered last week on grapefruit trees in two adjacent homeowners' yards in Brevard County.
It marked the northernmost penetration of the disease, which previously had been confined to nine counties in southwestern and southern Florida. At risk is the state's $9 billion citrus industry.
Canker bacteria cause unsightly brown blemishes on fruit and can cause it to drop prematurely from trees. The disease does not harm humans.
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