Business briefs: Boeing hands out layoff notices
Published 8:57 pm Saturday, February 20, 2010
Boeing layoffs
The Boeing Co. handed out more than 1,000 layoff notices late last week. About half of the 60-day notices will go to workers in Washington state. The last day of work for Boeing employees who receive notices is April 23. The bulk of the employees receiving notices report to Boeing’s Engineering, Operations and Technology division and perform information technology work, said Tim Healy, a spokesman for Boeing. Last year, Boeing announced plans to cut its work force by 10,000 positions but did not reach its goal in 2009.
Huge tower in Federal Way: Developers announced plans to build a 45-story building in Federal Way that will eclipse all the other buildings in the suburban community between Seattle and Tacoma. The tallest building today doesn’t reach 10 stories. The building on 1.8 acres would cost $235 million. It would have 400 condominiums, 120 hotel rooms, 20,000 square feet of retail and 16,000 square feet of offices.
Newspaper closes: The Whitehorse Community News, a monthly newspaper in the Darrington area with about 2,000 readers, is closing its doors. The owner, Joe Day, said the paper paid its expenses, but didn’t provide much revenue for himself. It was a lot of work, he noted. Day said he hates to see the paper shut down, but that nobody has stepped forward to continue producing it.
Seattle’s Best: Burger King has upgraded its coffee, adding Seattle’s Best brew to all of its U.S. restaurants in a phased rollout to begin this summer. Burger King, the No. 2 burger chain, follows rival McDonald’s lead with a better coffee. McDonald’s is challenging Starbucks with its McCafe line of drinks. Starbucks is now fighting back because it owns Seattle’s Best.
