Former Boeing president Stamper dies
Seattle Malcolm Stamper, who became president of Boeing Co. after spearheading the development of the 747 jumbo jet, has died at age 80.
A native of Detroit and a U.S. Navy veteran, Stamper died in his sleep in his Seattle home Tuesday after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer, his family said Thursday.
Born in Detroit, Stamper earned an electrical engineering degree at Georgia Tech and started his career at General Motors Corp. before joining Boeing in 1962 as head of the company’s aerospace electronics division.
Three years later, Stamper was named company vice president and general manager of Boeing’s turbine division. Stamper then headed up the 747 program, overseeing production of the world’s largest passenger plane even as the factory was being built around it in Everett, north of Seattle.
“He was a very energetic, very dedicated man,” said his wife of 59 years, Mari Guinan Stamper. “He just couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and go in and produce those planes.”
Idaho insurance firm disciplined
An Idaho health insurance company has been ordered to stop doing business in Washington after an Anacortes woman complained that the insurer refused to pay a hospital bill.
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler issued a cease-and-desist order against the company, Boise-based Employer’s Resource Management Co., also known as American Employer’s Benefit Trust. The insurance commissioner’s office said in a press release that its investigation found the company failed to meet state licensing and certification requirements and misrepresented its products.
“The company maintains it is exempt from state regulation and has appealed similar enforcement actions by state and federal authorities in Idaho and Virginia,” the insurance commissioner’s office said.
Congress looks at ID theft protection
Washington
It takes only a few seconds for your financial identity to be stolen, but months to get it back and clean up the credit mess. Aware of consumers’ frustration and fear, the government wants Congress to consider more protections.
Lawmakers should look at strengthening laws that govern the way companies store and use sensitive consumer data, the Federal Trade Commission recommended at a Senate hearing Thursday.
The agency’s chairwoman, Deborah Platt Majoras, also endorsed the idea of a law requiring companies to tell consumers about a security breach when there is significant risk of identity theft.
California has a law that requires such notification; many other states are considering following suit.
One in five prefer online newspaper content
New York
One in five Web users who rely on newspapers for news primarily go to their online editions rather than read articles in print, a new study finds.
The majority, 72 percent, still primarily use the print editions, while 7 percent split their time evenly, according to a survey released Thursday by Nielsen/NetRatings.
Men are more likely to read news primarily online.
The survey excluded people who got their news from other sources such as broadcast and people without Internet access.
The random survey of 9,000 individuals was conducted from January through March. It has a margin of sampling error of 1 percentage point.