Telecom settlement includes Colorado
Colorado is one of 20 states and the District of Columbia that reached a $15.2 million settlement Thursday with US Bancorp and Wells Fargo in connection with a nationwide telecommunications fraud.
Roughly $500,000 of the money will go to small Colorado companies that had contracts with NorVergence, a New Jersey company that went bankrupt last year and is being investigated by federal authorities for fraud.
The small companies, however, still must pay a total of about $93,000 to be released from their leases for telecommunications equipment provided by NorVergence.
The New Jersey company sold the leases to the banks, which have been trying to collect from the companies even though the equipment did not work properly.
Cornetta takes top post at KUSA-Ch. 9
Mark Cornetta was named president and general manager of KUSA-Channel 9 on Thursday.
Cornetta, who has been vice president broadcast/general sales manager, has been at the station since 1987. He was named general sales manager in 1992 and also became vice president/broadcast in 2003.
Cornetta replaces Roger Ogden, elevated on Wednesday to president and chief executive officer of the broadcast division of parent Gannett Co. Inc., effective July 15.
Newmont bows to protests on Andes site
Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, withdrew from an exploration area in the northern Andes on Wednesday after protesters threatened to storm installations at Newmont’s Yanacocha gold mine, Peru’s largest, a company official said.
Newmont moved drilling equipment out of the Yanancanchilla area in the face of anti-exploration protests by the community of San Chirilo, 350 miles northwest of Lima.
Scrushy jurors move on to other charges
Birmingham, Ala. – Confused and deadlocked on a key count in their sixth day of deliberations, jurors in the trial of former HealthSouth Corp. chief Richard Scrushy got a judge’s OK on Thursday to move on to other charges.
U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre also encouraged the jury – which has been deliberating from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily, lunch included – to consider working longer days as members try to reach a decision in a trial that began Jan. 25.
Frontier attendants to vote on joining union
Frontier Airlines flight attendants will vote next month on whether to join a union, the fourth such election for the Denver-based group in recent years.
Nearly 800 flight attendants will have the chance to decide whether to join the Association of Flight Attendants, a group trying to form an independent union, or another organization.
$3.9 billion aircraft order goes to Boeing
Boeing Co., the world’s No. 2 commercial-jet maker, won an order for 60 aircraft valued at $3.9 billion from Indonesia’s PT Lion Mentari Airlines, extending its lead over rival Airbus SAS for new business this year.
Lion Air, Indonesia’s biggest budget carrier, will buy the 737-800 and 737-900 models, with deliveries starting in May 2007, airline president Rusdi Kirana said Thursday in an interview.
Northrop won’t bid for Los Alamos work
Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. on Thursday said it has decided not to pursue the contract to run the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico.
The University of California has run the lab – the birthplace of the atomic bomb – since it was created in 1943. Following a series of financial and security lapses, the government said it would put the contract up for bid for the first time.
Treasury auction to set student loan rates
The Treasury Department said Thursday it will auction $32 billion worth of 13-week and 26-week Treasury bills Tuesday. Results from that auction will be used to set interest rates on student loans effective July 1.
Had the Treasury not scheduled the auction, the Department of Education would have relied on the results of the May 23 auction to set those rates.
Frontier adds nonstop flights to Ohio, Calif.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines will begin new nonstop service between Denver International Airport and both Dayton International Airport in Ohio and Fresno Yosemite International Airport in California beginning Aug. 31.
Each market will feature two daily round trips.
PEOPLE: Swift & Co., Rock Bottom Restaurants
Greeley meatpacker Swift & Co. promoted Dennis Henley to chief operating officer. … Louisville-based Rock Bottom Restaurants appointed John Hyduke as vice president of franchise development for Old Chicago Franchising Corp.
