Lucky Friday owners change management

Hecla Mining Co. has made management changes at the troubled Lucky Friday Mine.

Ed Sutich has been named vice president and general manager of the underground silver mine in Mullan, Idaho. He replaces Jeff Jordan, who has moved to Hecla’s corporate office as vice president of technical services.

The Lucky Friday Mine is closed while the company completes about $30 million worth of work on the main shaft. Federal inspectors ordered the shaft closure in January after a special-emphasis safety inspection that was triggered by two fatalities at the mine in 2011.

Sutich has 30 years of mining experience. He previously was Freeport Indonesia’s manager of underground development.

Jordan will be responsible for mining and geotechnical engineering and metallurgy in his new position.

Michael Wegleitner has been appointed as Hecla’s safety and health director. He has spent 25 years working on those issues in the mining, construction and energy industries.

Becky Kramer

J.C. Penney reduces headquarters staff

NEW YORK – J.C. Penney Co. said it has laid off 600 associates, or 13 percent of the staff at its headquarters in Plano, Texas, as the department store chain looks to streamline its operations amid a major reinvention of the business.

The department store chain also will eliminate 300 additional associates at the Customer Call Center when it closes the center July 1.

The moves come as its new CEO, former Apple Inc. executive Ron Johnson, is transforming every aspect of its business, from pricing to the brands it carries.

The company had hinted that cuts would come when it told investors in January that it planned to reduce layers of management at its headquarters. Before the layoffs, the company had 4,400 employees at its headquarters.

Associated Press

Judge dismisses Happy Meal lawsuit

Children in California will still be able to get toys with their Happy Meals.

A San Francisco judge has dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit that sought to stop McDonald’s Corp. from using toys to market its meals to children in the Golden State. The suit had been filed in late 2010 by Monet Parham, a California mother of two, and The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

The suit had claimed that the world’s biggest hamburger chain was violating consumer protection laws and exploiting children’s vulnerability by using toys to lure them to eat nutritionally unbalanced meals that can lead to obesity. The lawsuit did not seek damages.

Associated Press