Attenex raises $5 million for expansion

Attenex plans to announce today that it has raised $5 million in venture capital from Seattle-based Voyager Capital and its investors.

The Seattle company develops software that helps law firms and other corporations sift through large amounts of data.

Its second round of capital will go toward expanding sales, marketing and customer support.

Voyager's managing director Enrique Godreau will join the board.

Founded in 2001, Attenex has 33 employees. Its clients include law firms, such as Lovells and Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro.

Gasoline

Prices at pump slide 6 cents nationwide

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The average gas price nationwide for all grades tumbled 6 cents in the two weeks ending Friday, continuing a slide that began last month, industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said yesterday.

The most popular grade, self-serve regular, was priced at $2.15 a gallon, while customers paid $2.25 for midgrade. Premium averaged $2.35, said Lundberg, whose semimonthly survey looks at 7,000 gas stations around the country.

The highest average gas price in the nation for regular unleaded among the stations surveyed was $2.51 a gallon in San Francisco. The lowest was $1.94 in Jackson, Miss.

U.S. economy

Forecast lowered for growth in 2005

The yawning U.S. trade deficit probably will weigh down economic growth this year, business economists say.

The economy, as measured by gross domestic product, is projected to expand by 3.4 percent in 2005, compared with an earlier estimate of 3.6 percent, according to the latest outlook from the National Association for Business Economics.

If the projections being released today prove accurate, they would mark a slowing in growth from the 4.4 percent increase in 2004, the strongest showing in five years.

Still, growth should be strong enough to help the job market. Forecasters anticipate the national unemployment rate, which averaged 5.5 percent last year, will dip to 5.2 percent this year.

Boeing

Settlement reached with veteran pilot

A Boeing engineer who serves in the Kansas Legislature has settled his age-discrimination lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

The settlement was confirmed Friday by Jeff Spahn, attorney for Rep. Mario Goico, R-Wichita.

Spahn said the agreement called for terms to remain confidential.

A federal jury in November awarded more than $2.5 million to Goico, 59. Both sides had appealed portions of that decision.

Goico, a veteran pilot who has worked at Boeing's Wichita plant for more than 20 years, claimed he was wrongly denied assignment as a test pilot three years ago.

He had been a part-time test pilot for the company, and a full-time position would have meant a substantial raise.

The native of Cuba had also argued that bias against his heritage contributed to his being passed over for the higher-paying job.

Goico remains on leave, and his Boeing career will end this summer.

Air France

Agreement to convert 3 747s into freighters

Boeing and Air France have announced an agreement to transform three 747-400 airplanes into freighters as part of the Boeing 747-400 Special Freighter program.

The value of the deal was not revealed.

The first modified planes are expected to be delivered in June 2007, Boeing said.

The company has announced 33 firm orders and 29 options in the program, which was launched in January 2004.

Compiled from Seattle Times business news staf and The Associated Press.