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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 marked deterioration in Royal Dutch Shell’s refining operations contributed to a modest fall in fourth quarter profits at Europe’s biggest oil company.

Over the previous year, Shell said its net profit fell 4.3 percent to $6.50 billion.

Though the company’s production arm was helped by higher oil prices, its refining operations swung to a loss.

Production profits rose 29 percent to $6.57 billion despite a fall in production. Shell’s “downstream” operations, which include its refining arm, lost $244 million, compared to profit of $411 million a year ago free instant credit score.

Chief executive Peter Voser said overall he was “satisfied” with the company’s performance.

Shell will increase its quarterly dividend a cent to $0.43 in 2012.

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Soaring oil prices helped Exxon Mobil post a slightly higher fourth-quarter profit. But a slowdown in production and lower natural gas prices are worrying investors.

Exxon’s oil and natural gas production fell 9 percent during the quarter. The drop came even after the company spent a record $36.8 billion last year to explore for more energy. Exxon’s stock price fell $1.74, or 2 percent, to $83.75 a share in midday trade.

Exploration can take years to yield more oil and gas. Some of Exxon’s biggest investments recently have been in U.S. natural gas fields, which so far haven’t paid off because prices are at the lowest level in a decade.

Its $29 billion acquisition of XTO Energy two years ago has been a disappointment, Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said.

The deal, which overnight made Exxon America’s biggest natural gas producer, hasn’t generated the kind of profits that investors expected.

Gheit said the company needs to consider cutting production. “They don’t want to have dead wood dragging them down,” he said.

The business Exxon is best known for, oil, drove results during the quarter. In the final three months of the year, the company sold crude for 27 percent more than a year earlier.

That boosted net income to $9.4 billion, or $1.97 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with $9.25 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose nearly 16 percent to $121.6 billion.

Exxon produced an average of 4.5 million barrels of oil and natural gas a day. That’s nearly twice as much as Chevron Corp., America’s second-largest petroleum company.

But the output is less than what Exxon’s wells produced the year before. That’s partly because some of fields matured and produced less. Also, many contracts in foreign countries limit the amount of oil that Exxon can keep and sell as prices rise.

Earnings in Exxon’s exploration and production business rose 18 percent thanks to higher prices.

But those same prices hurt its refining business, where income dropped 63 percent. The refineries have struggled to pass along to customers the higher cost of oil used for gasoline, diesel and other fuels. That’s because demand is slowing in many parts of the world.

Stricter rules on car and truck fuel economy are expected to keep demand low for years in the U.S. and Europe.

As result, large oil and gas companies have been shedding refining operations, especially in developed markets.

Exxon announced Sunday that it is selling its Japanese refining and marketing business to partner TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K. for $3.9 billion following an extended slide in Japanese fuel demand. The deal is expected to close mid-year.

Exxon’s chemicals business saw profits decline 49 percent.

For the full year, Exxon’s net income rose 34.8 percent while revenue rose 26.9 percent.

Last week, Chevron Corp. said profits slipped 3.2 percent. ConocoPhillips reported a 66-percent increase in quarterly earnings, though much of that came from the sale of a pipeline and other assets. Royal Dutch Shell expects to report its financial results later this week.

Shares of Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 91 cents to $84.58 in early trading.

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Herbert Greszuk was at the bar on the fifth deck of the Costa Concordia when the ill-fated luxury liner hit a reef.

Unable to get back to his second-deck cabin after the emergency signal came, he made it to a lifeboat with only the clothes on his back _ leaving behind everything he had with him for the cruise, including his tuxedo, camera, jewelry, euro400 ($520) in cash, credit cards, identity papers and even his dentures.

The 62-year-old, who runs a small flower shop and cafe in the western German town of Recklinghausen, counts himself lucky to have escaped the ship after it capsized Jan. 13, leaving at least 16 dead and 16 still missing.

But, he estimates that he lost at least euro10,000 ($13,000) in goods alone. He’s only one of the 4,200 passengers and crew who were on board and will likely want compensation, and material loss just scratches the surface. There’s the ruined holiday, physical and mental trauma, and payments to families of the dead, among other things, in an incident many believe was preventable.

“It’s about accountability, ” Greszuk told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his cafe. “Something like this must not be allowed to happen again. So many people died; it’s simply inexcusable.”

In Rome on Thursday, representatives of ship operator Costa Crociere SpA met with consumer activists to discuss a blanket compensation deal for some 3,206 people from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the ship hit the reef.

The offer would consider the price of the ticket, costs incurred in getting home after the disaster, the cost of items lost aboard the ship as well as damages for the ruined vacation and trauma resulting from the accident, said Furio Truzzi of the consumer group Assoutenti.

It would not apply to the hundreds of crew on the ship, the roughly 100 cases of people injured or the families who lost loved ones.

“We are working for a collective transaction to come up with a value for damages,” Truzzi said. “Each passenger can decide if this proposal is satisfactory. If it is not, they are free to react through a lawyer.”

Truzzi said it was premature to discuss exact amounts of compensation. He said it would be an average and that any passenger who deemed his or her losses greater than the offer was free to counter the proposal.

He said Assoutenti would work separately on a proposal for those who lost loved ones in the disaster and was open to working with crew members.

The ship ran aground off the Tuscan island of Giglio after the captain, Francesco Schettino, veered from his approved course. Costa Crociere’s chief executive, Pier Luigi Foschi, has said Schettino didn’t have approval to change the course and was going too fast _ 16 knots _ to be so close to shore.

Schettino is under house arrest, facing accusations of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning a ship before all passengers were evacuated.

Although it is still early and talk of compensation is ongoing, lawsuits are expected to be filed in Germany, Italy, the United States and elsewhere. In France, the Justice Ministry said that complaints filed by French people have been brought together by the Paris prosecutors’ office. It said 462 French passengers were aboard _ four were killed and two remain missing.

Attorney Hans Reinhardt, who represents Greszuk and a dozen other German survivors, said passengers did sign liability wavers _ a common requirement for cruises _ but that he considers them void under the circumstances quick payday loans.

“You do not sign off on a disaster situation, what you sign there is for normal daily situations like if there is a little storm or high water or something like that,” he said. “This was such a large failure by the captain and by Costa that you can sign whatever you want but you will still get your money.”

Depending upon their individual situations, he said he is seeking between euro10,000 ($13,000) and euro50,000 ($65,700) for his clients and would wait for three months to see if Costa would settle before taking the matter to court.

Though the cruise company is Italian, Costa’s parent company is Miami-based Carnival Corp. and Reinhardt said he was trying to determine which could be held responsible for the incident. If it’s Carnival, he said he would pursue his case in the U.S., where damages awarded tend to be higher than in Germany.

The company also faces the question of compensation for crew members who have lost their jobs because of the accident, not to mention the costs of salvaging the ship and of a possible environmental disaster if the unused fuel cannot be safely removed.

Salvage experts worked Thursday so they could begin pumping tons of fuel off the ship starting Saturday to avert an environmental catastrophe. The stricken ship lies in pristine waters that are prime fishing grounds and part of a protected area for dolphins and whales.

German reinsurers Hannover Re AG and Munich Re AG, two of the world’s largest, both said this week that liability claims from the fatal capsizing could run in the triple-digit millions of euros. Swiss Re, the other reinsurance powerhouse, said Thursday it was still too early to even guess what it might cost.

Reinsurers offer backup policies to companies writing primary insurance policies, which helps spread the risk around so the system can handle large losses from disasters.

Carnival has said it has liability insurance, though with a $10 million deductible. Of the so-called “hull insurance,” which covers damage to the ship, Carnival is responsible for the first $30 million in damage, while the rest is covered by a network of insurers led by XL Group.

Carnival also said it expects to lose $85 million to $95 million in bookings on the ship that have had to be canceled.

Meantime, Greszuk said he has been trying to piece together his life _ getting a new driver’s license, credit cards, passport and other identity documents _ but is feeling abandoned by those responsible for his plight.

“I feel so lost and alone,” he said. “Nobody is helping us out. Neither Costa nor the travel agency have contacted me _ do you know how that feels? I called the travel agency and they said it’s not our problem any more, call Costa. I called Costa and they said they’d get back to me, but as of today, I haven’t heard a word.”

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Colleen Barry reported from Milan, Italy. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.

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Italian Coast Guard divers have found a woman’s body in a corridor of a submerged section of the capsized Costa Concordia, raising to at least 12 the number of dead in the cruise liner accident.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro told The Associated Press that the body, wearing a life jacket, was found in a narrow corridor near an evacuation staging point at the ship’s rear Saturday.

The body was brought to Giglio, the Tuscan island where the cruise liner hit a reef and ran aground on Jan. 14. Twenty people are missing.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

ROME (AP) _ Italian Coast Guard divers have found a woman’s body in a corridor of a submerged section of the capsized Costa Concordia, raising to at least 12 the number of dead in the cruise liner accident.

Coast Guard Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro told The Associated Press that the body, wearing a life jacket, was found in a narrow corridor near an evacuation staging point at the ship’s rear.

The body was brought to Giglio, the Tuscan island where the cruise liner hit a reef and ran aground on Jan. 14. Twenty persons are missing.

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European Central Bank President Mario Draghi

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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 owner of the recently renamed Fontainebleau Apartments for Seniors in University City are trying to take it back to the future. Brentmoor Retirement Communities restored the complex’s original name this month, and it is renovating its older apartments and offering residents more economical rental plans.

“You’ll pay only for what you want,” said Denise Niemann, Fontainebleau’s executive director. “We came up with this concept in response to our seniors’ financial woes.”

Until this year, residents of the apartments at 1001 North Mc-Knight Road, known as Brentmoor Place before the switch, were required to buy a full independent living package that included some meals and activities fees. Monthly rental fees were at least $2,000.

Options still include transportation, housekeeping and parking, for those residents who drive. But the recession has had several residents worried that they wouldn’t be able to make their payments and might have to move, Niemann said.

The new a la carte pricing allows residents to skip the meals and other extras if they desire. Apartments at Fontainebleau now are available for as low as $1,390 a month.

When the Fontainebleau complex was built nearly 50 years ago, it was marketed as an upscale apartment building for everyone. But by the mid-1990s, nearly 90 percent of its residents were over age 70, and it was being advertised as a senior living complex for independent older people.

The property, acquired in 1996 by Brentmoor Retirement Communities, was renamed Brentmoor Place and converted to a seniors-only, limited-service retirement community business card.

By 2007, Brentmoor Place had become an all-inclusive, full-service community, providing meals, transportation and housekeeping for its residents.

Now, the a la carte pricing allows options while maintaining a social environment for residents, who are required to be at least 62 years old.

Niemann said Fontainebleau’s age gives it one distinctive advantage over many newer buildings. “This is a concrete building, so you hear almost no noise from other apartments,” she said. “It’s built like Fort Knox.”

She said that the apartment complex had been known over the years for its social programs and activities and that those would continue. “It’s brain-stimulating; it’s computer classes and trivia events, for example,” she said.

A group of men who live there organized the MOB group, short for Men of Brentmoor, several years ago. “They get out at least once a month and go to places like Crown Candy Kitchen and other St. Louis landmarks,” Niemann said.

A longtime MOB member, Mark Margolies, is a resident coordinator for group activities and helps other residents resolve any concerns. “It gives me something to do,” said Margolies, 75.

He said he has enjoyed living there. “I have no complaints,” he said. “I like the convenience of the apartments, the location and the staff.”

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