Growers’ co-op fails

A cooperative for vegetable farmers that was more than a decade in the making has gone out of business after just one season of production.

Valley Vegetables Cooperative was formed by 42 investors in north-central Kansas and south-central Nebraska. The cooperative built a sweet corn processing plant off U.S. Highway 36 just east of Scandia and eventually hoped to produce more vegetables.

With $1.96 million in assets and $5.7 million in debts, the co-op filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation March 27 in federal court in Wichita. The first meeting of creditors is April 28.

A number of factors contributed to the demise, founder Loren Swenson said, including last year’s drought and problems with equipment.

Boeing: Aviation layoffs continue

The airline industry’s worst-ever slump, compounded by the war in Iraq, resulted in more layoffs at Boeing’s aircraft factories and cuts at struggling US Airways, which planned to eliminate nearly 900 flight attendant jobs.

Boeing Co. issued layoff notices Friday to 1,060 people as part of continuing labor cuts because of the long slump since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

About 1,030 notices will be issued to workers in the Puget Sound, Wash. region where Boeing has two commercial jet factories.

Meanwhile, US Airways will reduce its flight schedule and lay off 890 flight attendants during the next two months as a result of cost-cutting efforts and the war in Iraq, the airline said.

Tobacco: Activists target corporate licensing

Activists who say state officials don’t consider public safety when certifying new businesses have incorporated a sham company in Virginia with the stated purpose of making and selling tobacco products to kill people.

Licensed to Kill Inc., linked to the Ralph Nader-founded activist group Essential Action, received its corporate certification from the Virginia State Corporation Commission on March 19.

Anna White, a spokeswoman for Essential Action, said the group chose Virginia because the state is generally viewed as tobacco-friendly.