Baker to honor leaders

A downtown retailer, a tourism leader and a former Kansas University athletic director will be honored by Baker University later this month.

Joe Flannery, president of Weaver’s Department Store, will be named the Lawrence Business Person of the Year by Baker University at its Partners-In-Progress breakfast at 7:30 a.m. March 23 at the Lawrence Holidome.

Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau, will receive the Outstanding Leadership and Achievement in Business Award. Monte Johnson, a business consultant and former KU athletic director, will receive the Civic Award.

Courts

Judge dismisses charge against Tyco executives

A New York judge, after sitting through five months of testimony, threw out one of the most serious charges against the former chief executive and chief financial officers of Tyco International.

Former CEO L. Dennis Kozlowski, 57, and former CFO Mark Swartz, 43, remain on trial in state Supreme Court for allegedly looting $600 million from Tyco by hiding unapproved pay and bonuses, abusing loan programs and making money on sales of falsely inflated Tyco stock.

The two are still charged with grand larceny, falsifying business records and violating state business laws. State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus dismissed the enterprise corruption charge against the pair.

Closing arguments were scheduled for Monday.

Restaurant

Arches golden again at McDonald’s Corp.

McDonald’s Corp.’s sales jumped a whopping 22.6 percent in February over last year’s numbers, the fast-food chain said Friday, extending a recovery that began last spring and sending its stock to a nearly two-year high.

Comparable sales from McDonald’s-brand restaurants worldwide, reflecting results from outlets open more than a year, were a better-than-expected 13.9 percent in a key measure of the strength of McDonald’s comeback.

The hamburger giant’s 13,000-plus U.S. restaurants had the best showing, with comparable sales up 20 percent.

Telecommunications

Sprint to increase K.C. charity donations

Sprint Corp. plans to increase its community service activities in the Kansas City area, including committing $20 million toward charitable contributions during the next three years, the head of the company said Friday in a speech to community leaders.

Gary Forsee, chairman and chief executive officer of Sprint, said the company would focus its community service efforts on Kansas City, spending 75 percent of its 2004 charitable contributions in the area. The $20 million in monetary, technology and in-kind contributions Sprint will make in the next three years represents an 80 percent incremental increase, Forsee said Friday in a speech to the Greater Kansas City Area Chamber of Commerce at Sprint’s headquarters in Overland Park.

Forsee said Sprint, the area’s top private employer, would spend $6 million in the next three years to support education. He also said Sprint would support the area’s arts institutions.