St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO) articles from August 2001

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO) archives from August 2001

Automobile Mechanic Union Members to Vote on Second St. Louis Deals Contract.
August 1, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 1--Members of the union that represents automobile mechanics will vote today on a second proposed contract, after the union reached an agreement Tuesday with the St. Louis Auto Dealers Association. The...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch David Nicklaus Column.
August 1, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 1--The building at Forest Park Avenue and Sarah Street used to be a gritty factory; it's now a technology hub, wired with the latest in fiber-optic connections. But the parallels across nearly a century are...

High-Profile St. Louis Commercial Property Placed on Sale.
August 1, 2001... Byline: John Curley Aug. 1--West Port Plaza, one of St. Louis' oldest, largest and most visible commercial real estate properties, is up for sale. The Archon Group of Dallas said it expects to complete in a week or two a sale...

Reuters Awaits Approval to Acquire Creve Coeur, Mo., Information Company.
August 1, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 1--Reuters America Inc., confident that it will win approval to acquire much of Bridge Information Systems Inc., has made job offers to 1,302 Bridge employees, including 593 in Creve Coeur, Reuters officials said...

Many More Warehouses Could Appear in St. Louis Area, Experts Say.
August 1, 2001... Byline: Shera Dalin Aug. 1--Clusters of warehouses are increasingly likely to crop up in farm fields around St. Louis if a national trend plays out as expected, a distribution expert said. About 50 local warehousing, transportation and...

Legal Battle Pitting Family against Anheuser-Busch to Close to a Close.
August 2, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 2--GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The legal battle that pits the family of the late Roger Maris against Anheuser-Busch Cos. will enter its final stage today, when the long-running civil trial is expected to go to the...

Information Companies Settle Dispute over Hiring Practices.
August 2, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 2--Reuters, Bridge Information Systems Inc. and SunGard Data Systems Inc. said Wednesday that they have resolved their legal dispute over SunGard's hiring of Bridge employees. Bridge filed a suit July 18 in...

Pleasanton, Calif.-Based Internet Company Files for Bankruptcy Protection.
August 2, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 2--Intira Corp., a company founded by Internet entrepreneur Tim Roberts, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The company, which has operations in Chesterfield but is based in Pleasanton, Calif., said it had...

St. Louis, Mo.-Based Cable Company Makes Bid for Internet Access Market.
August 2, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud Aug. 2--Charter Communications Inc. wants to take over management of high-speed Internet access provided to about one-third of its customers by High Speed Access Corp., a company based in Littleton, Colo. Charter...

St. Louis-Based Textile Company Denies Underpaying Foreign Workers.
August 2, 2001... Byline: Virginia Baldwin Gilbert Aug. 2--Popular, tropical-themed shirts worn by toll collectors in Florida are made by Costa Rican workers whom Angelica Corp. pays as little as $1.20 an hour, a newspaper in Florida reported Wednesday. ...

Car Rental Company Gives Urban League Grant to Study Workplace Diversity.
August 2, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 2--The National Urban League got a $2 million grant Wednesday from Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. to produce a best-practices study on diversity in the workplace. The Urban League, a non-profit group that...

Experts Debate Value of Beer Distributorship in Wake of Court Ruling.
August 4, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 4--Friday's Florida civil court ruling in the dispute between Maris Distributing Co. and Anheuser-Busch Cos. boils down to one main point: the valuation of a beer distributorship. The jury decided to award a...

St. Louis Medical-Device Firm Moves into More Office Space.
August 4, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 4--Stereotaxis Inc. couldn't wait much longer for more space. The medical-device company has about 60 people in a small office and lab at the Center for Emerging Technologies, and it will occupy the entire third...

Muslim Workers in St. Louis Seek Religious Tolerance on Job.
August 4, 2001... Byline: Repps Hudson Aug. 4--After a little help from the federal government and an advocacy group in Washington, Abdu Raqeeb White is back to driving to Friday prayers, just like he did for eight years. A Muslim who attends jummah,...

Troubled Technology Firms Share Unwise Practice of Vendor Financing.
August 4, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 4--Layoffs, bankruptcies and gloomy financial reports have swept through the technology industry. Now, as analysts sift through the debris, a pattern is emerging: Many of the troubled companies are linked by a...

St. Louis-Based Technology Firm Sells 2.95 Million Shares.
August 4, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 4--Moving to capitalize, literally, on the high price for its stock, Talx Corp. and its chairman sold 2.95 million shares Friday for $94.4 million. The move by the Internet company comes at a time when many...

Practice of Vendor Financing by Telecom Companies Less Lucrative.
August 4, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 4--A decade ago, telecommunications-equipment makers like AT&T Corp. sold products primarily to stalwarts: the nation's regional Bell telephone companies, which had vast customer bases and were unlikely to...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch At-Work Column.
August 4, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Freeman Aug. 4--TECHNICIAN HELPS DOCTORS TO MAKE THEIR AUTOPSY DECISIONS: NAME: James Rowe. AGE: 56. JOB: Rowe is an autopsy technician with the City of St. Louis medical examiner's office. He has worked in...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Your Money Column.
August 5, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 5--IT'S TIME TO DIG INTO the mailbag for a question-and-answer session: QUESTION: My father is 78 years old and in a nursing home. He's on the Medicaid spend-down. He owns an older but nice home. It has been...

St. Louis-Based Waste Management Company Engineers `Bugs' to Clean Up Grease.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Virginia Baldwin Gilbert Aug. 7--BioLogix Systems Corp.'s "bugs" clean up everything, from restaurant grease to byproducts from manufacturing ice cream novelties to municipal sewage. The 13-year-old company is expanding its...

St. Louis Picketers Protest Arrest of Alleged Russian Hacker.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 7--A handful of picketers marched in St. Louis on Monday, denouncing the arrest of a Russian programmer accused of hacking copyright protections in Adobe Systems Inc. software. The FBI arrested Dmitri...

Sara Lee's Purchase of Earthgrains Clears Last Regulatory Hurdle.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 7--The European Commission approved Sara Lee Corp.'s purchase of The Earthgrains Co. Monday. The move clears the last regulatory hurdle for the acquisition. The EC's clearance wasn't unexpected. While...

Unemployment Rate Rises in St. Louis in June to 4.7 Percent.
August 7, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 7--The unemployment rate in St. Louis shot up 0.9 percent to 4.7 percent in June, the state of Missouri reported Monday. Normal seasonal changes combined with job losses in manufacturing to create the...

St. Louis Auto Dealer Officials, Striking Workers to Meet with Mediator.
August 8, 2001... Byline: Christopher Carey Aug. 8--Representatives of the St. Louis Auto Dealers Association and representatives of the nearly 1,700 striking mechanics and body workers planned to meet today with a federal mediator to discuss a week-old...

Farmington, Mo., Bank-Safe Manufacturer Files for Bankruptcy.
August 9, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 9--Farmington, Mo., has lost another manufacturer with the bankruptcy of Mosler Inc., which made bank safes and other security products. Mosler, of Hamilton, Ohio, filed for bankruptcy Tuesday after firing...

Group to Try to Organize Boeing Engineers, Technical Workers in St. Louis.
August 9, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson Aug. 9--Efforts to organize engineers and technical workers officially begin today at Boeing Co.'s Military Aircraft and Missile Systems business in St. Louis. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in...

Striking Mechanics, Car Dealers from St. Louis Area to Meet Again Friday.
August 9, 2001... Aug. 9--Representatives for nearly 1,700 striking auto mechanics and 69 St. Louis-area auto dealerships had a long meeting with a federal mediator Wednesday and have agreed to meet again Friday. Although the meeting Wednesday ran about four...

O'Fallon, Mo.-Based Silicon-Wafer Manufacturer May File for Bankruptcy.
August 9, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 9--The German utility that controls MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. is considering a bankruptcy for the struggling maker of silicon wafers, a German newspaper reported Wednesday. The utility, E.ON, has hired...

Boeing Workers in St. Louis Meet to Learn What Union Could Offer Them.
August 10, 2001... Byline: Christopher Carey Aug. 10--Concerned about job security, benefits and retiree health care, white-collar workers at Boeing Co.'s Military Aircraft and Missile Systems business gathered Thursday afternoon to learn more about what a...

St. Louis Department Store Sports New Look after Renovations.
August 10, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 10--Walk into the new Famous-Barr store at Westfield Shoppingtown West County, and you'll see the familiar clothing racks, accessories and housewares. But the subtle differences tell a bigger story. On the...

More Wholesaler Suits Possible against Anheuser-Busch.
August 11, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee Aug. 11--GAINESVILLE, Fla.--For an industry giant like Anheuser-Busch Cos., whose sales topped $12 billion last year, the $50 million a Florida jury recently ordered it to pay the family of the late Roger Maris is a drop...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Your Money Column.
August 11, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 11--Here's a number that shows what stock-analyst recommendations are worth. A year ago, only 0.8 percent of analyst recommendations called for clients to sell a stock, and 74 percent called for buying,...

Bass Pro Shops Prepares to Open First Store in St. Louis Area.
August 11, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 11--Bass Pro Shops is about to save many longtime fans a 200-mile drive down Interstate 44, but it also hopes to convince new shoppers to make the same trek. When the legendary outdoor-goods retailer opens...

Missouri Casinos Increasing Revenues More Quickly Than Illinois Counterparts.
August 14, 2001... Byline: Virginia Young Aug. 14--The casino industry in Missouri often says that the state's $500 loss limit drives customers to Illinois. But recent financial reports show that Missouri operators may be gaining the upper hand in the...

Biotech Firm to Launch Gene Database for Drug Researchers.
August 14, 2001... Byline: Tina Hesman Aug. 14--Designing drugs might get a little bit easier next month. Incyte Genomics Inc. will launch a new database that aims to provide drug researchers with everything they always wanted to know about genes but...

St. Louis-Based Laser Eye Clinic to Buy Colorado Vision Centers.
August 14, 2001... Byline: Judith Vandewater Aug. 14--LaserVision Centers Inc. of St. Louis said that it will use restricted stock to buy certain assets and liabilities of ClearVision Laser Centers Inc., a privately held company based in Lakewood, Colo. ...

Boeing Marks Milestone for Longest-Running Line of Cruise Missiles.
August 15, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson Aug. 15--William Haverly still chuckles about the briefing he and other design engineers got 30 years ago as Boeing Co. predecessor McDonnell Douglas Corp. was preparing to launch its Harpoon cruise-missile program....

St. Louis Post-Dispatch David Nicklaus Column.
August 15, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 15--The new tax law is full of incentives to save, but tjg incentives might do little to move the nation's savings rate from its rock-bottom level. If you're trying to save for retirement, the maximum annual...

St. Louis Realty Firm Buys Lease on City's Old Woolworth Building.
August 15, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 15--Barket Realty & Investment Co. has purchased the lease on the old Woolworth Building downtown from Haywood Whichard, the real estate investor from North Carolina who also owns the St. Louis Centre. Both...

Sara Lee Buys St. Louis-Based Baking Firm.
August 15, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee Aug. 15--It's official. Another major St. Louis company is no more. Sara Lee Corp. of Chicago said Tuesday that it had completed a $2.8 billion acquisition of Clayton-based Earthgrains Co. after buying more than 93...

Retirees of Monsanto, Spinoff Say Executives Hid Plans to Eliminate Coverage.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Virginia Baldwin Gilbert Aug. 16--Despite assurances to the contrary, senior executives planned to eliminate unfunded retiree medical costs even before Monsanto Co. spun off Solutia Inc., retirees of the two companies say. The...

Insider-Trading Investigation Clouds Land O'Lakes, Purina Mills Deal.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee Aug. 16--The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining whether traders illegally profited from Land O' Lakes Inc.'s proposed $360 million acquisition of St. Louis-based Purina Mills Inc., according to a document...

Both Sides Request Delay in Disability-Access Case against Lord & Taylor.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 16--May Department Stores Co. and a disability-rights group from Florida are asking a federal district court to delay a hearing on a proposed agreement involving disability access in May's stores. More than 20...

St. Louis University-Owned Medical Group Gets New Administrator.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Judith VandeWater Aug. 16--The University Medical Group, also known as SLUCare, has a new top administrator. Daniel G. Zabel, 47, began work Wednesday in the newly established position of executive director of the 350-member...

St. Louis, Mo.-Based Monsanto Spinoff Leans toward Settlement in Benefits Case.
August 16, 2001... Byline: Virginia Baldwin Gilbert Aug. 16--Solutia Inc. is close to settling a legal dispute over retiree medical benefits. At issue: whether the company can change -- or drop -- coverage once promised for life. Three years ago, Solutia...

American Airlines to Close TWA's Maintenance Hub in New York.
August 17, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson Aug. 17--More than 100 mechanics at the TWA Airlines LLC heavy-maintenance hub at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York have been notified that TWA's new owner, American Airlines, is closing the facility....

Boeing Works on Minibomb to Be Carried by Jet Fighters.
August 17, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson Aug. 17--Boeing Co. is among three companies competing to develop a new minibomb the Defense Department wants to carry aboard many of its fighter jets. The Small-Diameter Bomb, as it has been dubbed, must be...

Cable Industry Benefits from New Products, Upgrades.
August 18, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 18--Sometimes a high-profile, unsolicited takeover offer is a big neon arrow pointing to undiscovered value. In the case of Comcast Corp.'s $40 billion bid for AT&T's cable-TV business, analysts say, that...

Signs of A Slowing Economy Finally Show Up in St. Louis.
August 20, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 20--Here's a statistic that says loads about the St. Louis economy. Business Persons Between Jobs was down to 22 members in November. The group, which helps laid-off managers to find jobs, was nearly out of...

Hazelwood, Mo., Ford Union Members Await SUV-Plant Announcement.
August 21, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 21--Union members at the Ford Motor Co. plant in Hazelwood expect Ford to build its new Lincoln sport utility vehicle at the plant. Two union sources said Ford has chosen the plant to make the new mid-sized...

San Diego-Based High-Tech Firm Relocates St. Louis, Mo., Offices.
August 21, 2001... Byline: Charlene Prost Aug. 21--Computer programmers, systems engineers and other high-technology workers are turning out products such as digital maps inside what was once a grain-drying area for the city's largest brewery. ...

Union Intensifies Campaign to Reach Contract with St. Louis-Area Hospital.
August 21, 2001... Byline: Judith Vandewater Aug. 21--Registered nurses at St. John's Mercy Medical Center are intensifying their public campaign to pressure the hospital to reach a contract agreement after 21 months of negotiations, said Nick Torpea,...

Earthgrains Co. Finds Strong Partner in Acquisition by Sara Lee.
August 21, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee Aug. 21--The official record says Sara Lee Corp. purchased Earthgrains Co. in a $2.8 billion deal completed a week ago. But for C. Steven McMillan, Sara Lee's president and chief executive, it's more like the other way...

Anheuser-Busch Considers Buying Stake in India's Largest Brewery.
August 22, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee Aug. 22--Goodbye, Germany. Hello, India? Anheuser-Busch Cos. reportedly is interested in purchasing a 26 percent stake in United Breweries, the largest in India. The deal could solidify further the St....

Former Exide Chief Wants Company to Pay for His Defense in Wire Fraud Case.
August 22, 2001... Byline: Michael Shaw Aug. 22--The fired chief executive of Exide Technologies wants his former employer to pay for his legal defense. Arthur Hawkins is accused of ordering defective batteries to be sold and is facing a federal charge...

Washington University in St. Louis Offers Posh Ride for Executive MBA Students.
August 22, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 22--Thousands of area students are going back to school this fall. But only a couple hundred can say they're going to classes in a building with 66 luxury hotel rooms, a bar, a restaurant and $5 million worth of...

Striking St. Louis Auto Mechanics Continue Talks to End Walkout.
August 23, 2001... Byline: Christopher Carey Aug. 23--Negotiators for nearly 1,700 striking auto mechanics and 69 St. Louis area dealerships met for a full day Wednesday and will continue their talks today in an effort to end a three-week-old strike. ...

Guardian Savings Bank to Pull out of St. Louis.
August 23, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 23--Guardian Savings Bank, which specialized in higher-rate certificates of deposit, is pulling out of St. Louis. Allegiant Bank said Wednesday that it will buy Guardian's five branches in west St. Louis...

Renovated St. Louis Convention Center Set to Open.
August 24, 2001... Byline: Charlene Prost Aug. 24--The Westport Playhouse, which opened 21 years ago with the likes of Phyllis Diller and Carol Channing packing them in, has opened again. But this time, it's playing to a much different audience. The old...

St. Louis Entrepreneurs Present Black Expo Seminars.
August 24, 2001... Aug. 24--Six local entrepreneurs will present a series of "How to Be a Success in Business" seminars Saturday at the Missouri Black Expo. The seminars will run from noon to 3 p.m. at America's Center, featuring Arnold Donald, president of...

Federal Mediator Offers Proposal to Striking Auto Mechanics in St. Louis.
August 24, 2001... Byline: Christopher Carey Aug. 24--Striking auto mechanics have a new contract proposal to consider. But instead of coming from the St. Louis Auto Dealers Association, this one comes from a federal mediator. "It's my idea of what might...

Federal Court Rules HMOs Are Insurance Companies.
August 25, 2001... Aug. 25--A federal appeals court here said Thursday for the first time that HMOs are insurance compa4nies. Ronald Molteni, assistant Missouri attorney general, said the designation means that regu4lations and laws passed in Mis4souri cannot be...

Canadian Firm to Buy Laser Vision Centers.
August 28, 2001... Byline: Judith VandeWater Aug. 28--Laser Vision Centers Inc., a Town and Country company that was the first in the world to rent corrective-vision lasers to eye surgeons, is being bought by a Canadian competitor in a stock exchange. ...

Shares of St. Louis-Area Internet Service Firm Surge As Deal Reaches Traders.
August 28, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 28--For a dot-com struggling to survive after the Internet bubble burst, what happened Monday to Savvis Communications Corp. might be about as good as it gets. Savvis said it had negotiated a contract to...

St. Louis-Based Shoe Firm's Brand Hits It Big.
August 28, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok Aug. 28--At the twice-yearly shoe show a year ago at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas, Brown Shoe Co. Inc., convinced that it had a hit on its hands, wanted to make a splash. So, the St. Louis...

St. Louis Startup Investors Hope To Invigorate The Spirits of Wealthy Backers.
August 29, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus Aug. 29--Ed Gotway and D'Arcy Fox figure that by sponsoring a Gathering of Angels, they've earned the right to call themselves heavenly hosts. Clever wordplay aside, the two former A.G. Edwards & Sons employees...

Prices Jump at Gasoline Pumps in St. Louis Area.
August 29, 2001... Byline: Jeremy Kohler Aug. 29--Stephanie Smith pulled her Dodge Stratus into a Citgo service station in St. Louis on Tuesday night with her gas needle on "E." Her last $10 bought a paltry 6.33 gallons of regular unleaded, about half a...

St. Louis to Buy Public Housing Site for $1 Million.
August 29, 2001... Byline: Norm Parish Aug. 29--St. Louis is gambling $1 million on a site once considered a symbol of the failure of the nation's public housing policies. The city's Land Clearance For Redevelopment Authority wants to buy the site of the...

Telecom Firm Sues Southwestern Bell over Ads Comparing Internet Access.
August 29, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud Aug. 29--Charter Communications Inc. has filed a lawsuit accusing Southwestern Bell of "false and misleading" advertising in television, radio and print ads that show parents advising children to use a cable modem in...

Steel Company's Bankruptcy May Leave Former St. Louis Workers Uninsured.
August 30, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher Aug. 30--Elizabeth Bell, 62, has diabetes and heart disease. The diabetes is crippling her right leg. She hobbles along slowly and must sit frequently. On Monday, she turned to her husband, Don, and said, "If...

Justice Department Clears Reuters to Buy Assets of Bridge Information Systems.
August 31, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle Aug. 31--The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it has cleared Reuters Group PLC, a global news conglomerate based in London, to acquire the major assets of bankrupt Bridge Information Systems Inc. In May,...