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The head of memory chip maker Micron long known for taking risks in stunt piloting died Friday when a small experimental plane he was piloting steeply banked, stalled and crashed near an Idaho runway.

Steve Appleton, who survived a similar crash eight years ago and had a reputation as a hard-driving daredevil, was the only person aboard the plane when witnesses said it crashed shortly after its second take-off attempt in Boise, according to safety investigators.

Appleton’s death was confirmed by Micron, and the company’s board planned to meet over the weekend to discuss its next steps. Corporate governance experts raised questions in the past about whether Appleton, as CEO, should be engaging in a hobby as risky as stunt piloting. The company’s shares have traded between $3.97 and $11.95 over the past year, and shares were up 23 cents at $7.95 Friday before trading was halted for the announcement.

“Steve’s passion and energy left an indelible mark on Micron, the Idaho community and the technology industry at large,” Micron’s board of directors said in a prepared statement.

Micron is one of many companies that make semiconductor chips for various devices, including computers, mobile devices, cameras, cars and industrial systems. It makes products under the Lexar and Crucial brands, and is one of Idaho’s largest and most influential employers

In its latest fiscal year, which ended Sept. 1, Micron earned $167 million, or 17 cents per share, and had revenue of $8.8 billion.

The 51-year-old Appleton hadn’t filed a flight plan and by all indications planned to stay in the area for a recreational flight, investigators said.

Keliher, of the NTSB, said the crash happened during Appleton’s second attempt to fly that morning. She said Appleton’s first take-off ended abruptly _ witnesses said the plane only got about 5 feet off the ground _ when he re-landed and returned to a hangar for about five minutes.

Keliher said witnesses reported that the plane then returned to the runway to take off again, but Appleton almost immediately told the tower he needed to turn around and re-land. His plane was about 100 or 200 feet in the air before witnesses say it crashed and caught fire. Appleton’s body was thrown from the wreckage.

Keliher said the remains of the pilot weren’t immediately identifiable, but Appleton’s wallet and other belongings were among the debris. She said the body was being fingerprinted by authorities.

The weather was clear and the runway was dry, Keliher said, and investigators planned to look for any evidence of equipment failure or other problems.

Airport spokeswoman Patti Miller said the aircraft was a fixed-wing prop plane Lancair, which is built from kits.

Federal Aviation Administration’s records show the tail number of the wrecked plane was registered to Raleighwood Aviation LLC out of North Carolina.

It was manufactured in 2007 and filed in the “amateur built” category.

Planes like the Lancair have caught the attention of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is in the midst of a study of their safety. Last year, the agency investigated 222 experimental and amateur-built plane accidents in which 67 people were killed. More than half involved planes that were bought used rather than having been built by the current owner.

Doug Meyer, the company’s marketing and sales manager, declined to comment about the crash, saying the company knew very little about it.

“Lancair aircraft are quite safe,” he said,

On July 8, 2004, Appleton sustained a punctured lung, head injuries, ruptured disk and broken bones after his stunt plane crashed in the desert east of Boise.

After that crash, Appleton didn’t immediately reveal the severity of injuries he sustained in that crash, and at the time a Micron spokesman described Appleton as only sustaining some “bumps and bruises.” But in 2006 a corporate governance expert began questioning disclosures about the crash.

Appleton’s death came one week after the company’s president and chief operating officer, D. Mark Durcan, announced plans to retire in August. Mark W. Adams, Micron’s vice president of worldwide sales, was named to succeed Durcan.

Micron spokesman Dan Francisco said Durcan is assuming the responsibilities of CEO until the company’s board appoints Appleton’s successor.

News of Appleton’s death sparked an outpouring of homage from Idaho leaders, with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter lauding him as a champion and visionary businessman who “understood the value as well as the cost of excellence.”

Appleton was the face of Micron for most Idahoans. The company was instrumental in the Idaho’s tech boom and is known for charitable giving, recently donating $13 million for a new building at Boise State University.

Appleton started on the factory floor of Micron in 1983 and worked his way up. In 1991, he was appointed president and chief operating officer of Micron and in 1994, he was appointed to the position of chairman, chief executive officer and president. He assumed his position as CEO and chairman in 2007.

Appleton owned several different types of aircraft, piloted in air shows and frequently flew the planes in the skies over Idaho. He had a penchant for other adventures too: In 2006, he won the 20-car Baja Challenge Class of the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000, completing the 1,047-mile run from Enseneda to La Paz late Friday in 25 hours and 25 minutes, 30 minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.

At the time, Appleton said he wasn’t worried about putting himself and his executive team behind the wheels for the pounding, often brutal race over rough and remote terrain.

“I don’t know what could be worse than being in the memory business for risk-taking,” he said. “If we were in some stable, monopolistic business, I’d probably get objections from my executive staff about doing this, but they’re all dying to go.”

Micron shares were up 23 cents at $7.95 Friday before trading was halted in the early afternoon for the announcement. The company’s shares have traded between $3.97 and $11.95 over the past year.

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Associated Press reporters Nick Jesdanun and Joan Lowy contributed to this report.

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A Michigan factory that made luxury yachts before the recession and diversified to add wind energy products when times got tough was touted by President Barack Obama at his State of the Union Address as an example of an industry creating forward-thinking jobs _ with a little help from the government.

In urging Congress to approve clean energy tax credits, Obama cited Energetx Composites LLC, a wind turbine blade manufacturer in Holland, Mich., that received millions in government assistance. Invited to sit in the first lady’s box during the speech Tuesday night was Bryan Ritterby, 58, who went to work for Energetx after being laid off from his furniture-making jobs three years ago.

“Some technologies don’t pan out; some companies fail,” Obama said. “But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. I will not walk away from workers like Bryan.”

Without mentioning it by name, Obama appeared to be defending his administration’s support of Solyndra LLC, the California solar panel maker that received a $528 million government loan but filed for bankruptcy court protection last year. Energetx is in a somewhat different situation than Solyndra but still must fend off skepticism from critics who contend government-assisted clean energy products often don’t produce enough high-wage jobs to make it worth the money.

“They must have had to look pretty hard to find someone working in alternative energy,” said Donald Grimes, a senior research specialist at University of Michigan. “I think the politics is what’s driving almost this delusion of where the jobs are. If you want to tout the future of where green energy jobs are going, it’s going to be garbage collection.”

Indeed, waste management and treatment is among the categories with the most “clean economy” jobs in the United States, according to a 2011 report by the Metropolitan Policy Program of the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank. The category represented about 385,000 jobs in 2010; the wind industry employed 24,294 the same year, the report said.

In 2009, a state board announced a $27.3 million tax credit over 15 years to encourage Energetx to expand. The money is tied to the creation of about 1,000 jobs at the company, and won’t be awarded in cases where jobs don’t materialize. It also got a $3.5 million state award for “energy excellence” in 2010, which was expected to be matched by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The company is far short of its ultimate job target now _ with fewer than 50 employees currently making the turbine blades and other projects _ but it expects to hire roughly 100 more this year, mostly in composite manufacturing. The company would not release specific wage rages, but human resources director Steven Busch said pay will be competitive with similar manufacturing jobs in the Midwest.

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Republican whose district includes Holland, said he doesn’t “see a Solyndra-type situation” with Energetx or other clean energy companies in southwest Michigan, such as those that produce batteries for alternative-fuel vehicles. Combined, the area around Holland has about 7.5 percent of its workforce employed in the broad category of “clean jobs,” compared with the national average of 2 percent.

“This isn’t our preferred route, but if this is the route that’s presented to us, we’re going to take it and make it as successful as we can make,” Huizenga said. “Ultimately, the business principles have to be sound. Whether it’s wind, solar, nuclear … these industries aren’t going to just be able to depend on government subsidies forever. At some point you’ve got to be able to stand on your own two feet.”

While Michigan remains stung by the decline in the auto industry, some officials see this new technology as an area where it can lead again.

“It’s communicating a message to people: This is a place on the cutting-edge of change and solving problems,” said John C. Austin, a Brookings senior fellow and visiting faculty member at University of Michigan. “That’s been our big problem in Michigan. We fought for years protecting the auto industry from change. Now we can be the leader in increasing the production of electric cars.”

Brookings officials acknowledge the alternative industry is hard to assess since such jobs pervade all parts of the economy, but its study last year aimed to provide a comprehensive, detailed snapshot of what the sector truly represents.

Erik Nordman, an assistant professor of renewable energy and lead investigator of the West Michigan Wind Assessment project, says the Energetx’s transition isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem because the keel of a yacht closely resembles the blade of a turbine.

With wind energy seemingly more marketable in the future, West Michigan economic developers envision a time Energetx will expand and have hundreds of workers.

“This is new product entry,” said Rick Chapla of The Right Place, a western Michigan economic development organization. “This is complex manufacturing. This is not something that has been done or will be done overnight. It won’t be done in one year. It will be done over a period of years.”

It’s fertile political ground for Obama too. Not only is Michigan considered a swing state in the November election, but he has made several trips to the area to tout clean energy projects, and his administration has provided $2.4 billion in federal grants to develop next-generation electric vehicles and batteries.

Grimes remains skeptical. He says it’s appropriate for the government to invest in research, but not in fledgling commercial enterprises. He cites Solyndra as an example but argues even “picking winners” can prove problematic, since “creative destruction” is a common byproduct of successful yet disruptive technologies.

“They don’t do well with innovation because it costs people jobs,” Grimes said.

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Associated Press writer Tim Martin contributed to this report.

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Spain

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi

The Greek government and its creditors return to the negotiating table this week to revive stalled talks on a debt swap as German Chancellor Angela Merkel places pressure on both sides to forge a deal.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said two days ago that talks with the Institute of International Finance will resume on Jan. 18. The Washington-based IIF, which represents banks holding the bonds, said on Jan. 14 there is a

Grocery operator Supervalu Inc. said Wednesday that its fiscal third-quarter net loss widened due to costs related to a turnaround plan, continued high food prices and a cautious consumer.

The company, which operates Kirkwood-based Shop ‘n Save, Earth City-based Save-A-Lot and others, trimmed its yearly sales guidance for the second quarter in a row.

Supervalu, like most grocers, is trying to raise prices to offset high food costs without alienating shoppers that have cut spending due to worry over the economy and high unemployment. Supervalu is also facing costs related to a restructuring plan, begun well over a year ago, which has involved closing stores, selling off some businesses, lowering debt and tailoring its stores to meet local needs payday loan lenders.

Still, the company lowered its yearly sales guidance to $36.1 billion from prior guidance of $36.5 billion. Analysts expect revenue of $36.44 billion, according to Fact Set. It reaffirmed adjusted profit guidance of $1.20 to $1.30 per share. Analysts expect $1.24 per share.

For the quarter, Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu lost $750 million, or $3.54 per share, compared with a loss of $202 million, or 95 cents, last year.

Revenue fell 4 percent to $8.33 billion.

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The Federal Reserve is making the most of its tools to boost the economy, and there is evidence they have worked, a top Fed official said on Tuesday.

Cleveland Federal Reserve President Sandra Pianalto, a voter this year on the central bank’s policy-setting committee, said she “will continue to weigh the costs and benefits of further policy actions.”

Pianalto, considered on the dovish wing of the Fed more concerned with bringing down high unemployment, said she expects the economy to grow around 2.5 percent this year, and about 3 percent in 2013, making for a “moderate” recovery.

Though in the past she forecast 2-percent inflation for the next two years, in her first speech of the year Pianalto said she expects inflation to dip below that level during the first half of 2012.

The Fed late in 2008 slashed interest rates to near zero and has since bought $2 payday loans guaranteed no fax.3 trillion in long-term securities to spur growth and keep the economy afloat, in response to a deep recession and financial crisis.

Recent data from employment to manufacturing to consumer credit suggest the world’s largest economy gained momentum going into 2012, though the high 8.5 percent unemployment rate, a slow housing market recovery and the European debt crisis still pose risks.

“I have supported our policy decisions, and there is evidence that they have been effective,” Pianalto said.

“While it is true that the federal funds rate has been near zero for some time, some economic policy models indicate that monetary policy should be even more accommodative than it is today,” she added.

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Service industries in the U.K. grew at the fastest pace in five months in December and strengthened in the U.S., suggesting their economies are partly withstanding the euro-area debt crisis.

A gauge of U.K. services activity based on the survey of purchasing managers (PMITSUK) rose to 54 from 52.1 in November, Markit Economics and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply said today in London. A U.S. services index rose to 52.6 in December from 52 the previous month.

The data suggest the U.K. economy strengthened in December after surveys earlier this week showed construction and manufacturing improved. Still, the euro-area crisis is clouding the outlook for the global recovery. The Bank of England said today banks may toughen loan terms because of the debt turmoil, hampering growth, while some Federal Reserve officials have said prospective economic conditions may warrant

The Philippines pledged to speed up a proposed offering of infrastructure projects to investors as President Benigno Aquino seeks investments to shield the economy from a global slowdown.

The government may offer eight to 16 of the so-called public-private partnership projects worth as much as 142 billion pesos ($3.2 billion) this year, Cosette Canilao, executive director of the program, said in an interview in her Manila office yesterday. One contract was awarded last year, against an earlier estimate of as many as 10. San Miguel Corp., Ayala Corp. (AC) and Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. are among companies that have expressed interest in some of the projects, she said.

Unionized workers at the Caterpillar Inc. manufacturing plant in London, Ont. have been locked out after negotiations failed between the company and the Canadian Auto Workers.

The CAW said Sunday it had not called a strike, despite earlier threatening one if Caterpillar’s Electro-Motive Canada unit implemented the terms of its latest offer, which included unilaterally implementing lower wage and benefit terms for about 450 workers. The hourly wage, $35, would be cut in half.

The company