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

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

St. Louis-Based Bank Will Make $118 Million Acquisition.
May 2, 2001... May 2--Allegiant Bank plans to buy the parent of South Side National Bank for the equivalent of $118 million, the banks said Tuesday. Shareholders in the parent company, Southside Bancshares, will reap a 19 percent profit over the share...

East St. Louis, Ill., Hospital, Employees Union Meet with Mediator.
May 2, 2001... Byline: Judith Vandewater May 2--Negotiators for the Service Employees International Union and St. Mary's Hospital in East St. Louis today will meet with a federal mediator in St. Louis for the first time. To make progress in their...

St. Louis Firm Secures Status as World's Largest Purveyor of Public Relations.
May 2, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 2--Fleishman-Hillard Inc. spent its first few decades honing a reputation as counselor to St. Louis' rich and powerful. Now, 55 years after its founding, the hometown company can rightly claim the title of spin...

American Airlines, Flight Attendants Resume Contract Negotiations.
May 3, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson May 3--After a seven-week respite, American Airlines will resume negotiations today with its flight attendants on a new labor contract. Federal mediators adjourned the negotiations in mid-March after both sides...

Monsanto Herbicide Could Eventually Lose Effectiveness against Weeds.
May 3, 2001... Byline: Tina Hesman May 3--A new report by a biotechnology consultant suggests that Monsanto Co.'s premier product could soon become a victim of its own success. Roundup, a herbicide produced by Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, has been...

Developer Eyes St. Louis Building for Renovation into Hotel.
May 3, 2001... Byline: Charlene Prost May 3--Charles Drury, who has already renovated six older downtown buildings into four hotels, wants to do it again at the 110-year-old Merchants'-Laclede building at 408 Olive Street. Drury confirmed Wednesday...

Missouri Companies, Universities Join Biotechnology Trade Organization.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Virginia Baldwin Gilbert May 4--Although St. Louis boosters have been thinking of the region as a center for biotechnology for some time, the rest of the state is just catching up. Companies and universities interested in...

Missouri, Illinois Carpenter Unions Merge.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Shera Dalin May 4--Councils for union carpenters in Southern Illinois and Eastern Missouri merged Thursday, a move that gives builders more flexibility on staffing and will eventually raise the wages of Illinois laborers. The...

Missouri Attorney General Sues Maker of Genetically Engineered Corn.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Tina Hesman May 4--Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is suing the maker of StarLink corn -- the genetically engineered crop that led to disruption of farming and foreign trade last year. The suit alleges that Aventis...

Reuters Gains Approval to Buy Parts of Information Services Firm.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle May 4--Reuters Group PLC won approval from a federal bankruptcy judge Thursday to buy parts of Bridge Information Systems Inc. for $275 million and to finance the struggling Savvis Communications Corp. The ruling...

Worknet Communications' Wireless Internet Service to Halt in St, Louis in May.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud May 4--NuVox Communications Inc. of Chesterfield will keep Worknet Communications Inc.'s wireless Internet service up and running until the end of the month in a deal that gives NuVox a chance to take over Worknet's...

Ohio-Based Web Commerce Firm Hopes to Change Way People Buy Furniture.
May 4, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Freeman May 4--Using a fusion of online shopping and portable showrooms, OneWorld2U.com. hopes to change the way consumers shop for and purchase furniture. Starting today and continuing through June 17, the Ohio-based...

Slow Economy Incites Airlines to Offer Sales.
May 5, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson May 5--Have the economic slowdown, rising fuel prices and a volatile stock market got you thinking twice about booking airline tickets for summer travel? Well, flying may be cheaper than you think. Summer is...

Energizer to Relaunch Core Brand Under New Name.
May 5, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee May 5--Energizer Holdings, Inc., the St. Louis-based battery maker, said Friday it will relaunch its core Energizer brand under a new name and spend more than $100 million to do so. Energizer will now be Energizer...

Cookie Company to Close St. Louis Operations.
May 5, 2001... May 5--Mrs. Alison's Cookie Co., a St. Louis name in sweets for 62 years, will cease baking here July 6, putting 100 hourly and salaried employees out of work, Parmalat Bakery Group said Friday. The bakery, at 1780 Burns Avenue in Overland,...

Forbes Criticizes Greenspan in Speech to Stockbrokers in St. Louis.
May 5, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 5--Steve Forbes has long been giving speeches critical of the International Monetary Fund, educational bureaucrats and tax-and-spend members of Congress. Lately, he's added a few barbs aimed at Federal Reserve...

Finance Professor Discusses Market's Near Future at St. Louis Conference.
May 5, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 5--Jeremy Siegel is best known for his views on the long run, but he has plenty of opinions about the short run, too. Siegel, a finance professor who wrote the 1994 book "Stocks for the Long Run," was in town...

Steel Firm Sells St. Louis Headquarters, Announces Arkansas Plant Closure.
May 5, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee May 5--Huntco Inc. sold its Town and Country headquarters earlier this week to a prominent St. Louis real estate developer on the same day the troubled steel processor said it would close a plant in Arkansas and lay off...

TWA Announces Changes to Puerto Rico Flight Schedule.
May 5, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson May 5--TWA Airlines LLC announced Friday several adjustments to its San Juan, Puerto Rico, schedule, including the end of its San Juan service to Miami, Aruba and Santo Domingo. The changes reflect an upcoming...

Chesterfield, Mo., Company Gets Chance at Worknet Communications Customers.
May 5, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud May 5--NuVox Communications Inc. of Chesterfield will keep Worknet Communications Inc.'s wireless Internet service up and running until the end of the month in a deal that gives NuVox a chance to take over Worknet's...

St. Peters, Mo., City Officials Push Through Development for Costco Store.
May 8, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 8--They had to divert a creek and add a roadway, pump water out of a lake and fill it in with dirt. City officials in St. Peters wanted a retail development east of the Westfield Shoppingtown Mid Rivers mall,...

St. Louis-Area Market Research Firm Cuts 240 Jobs.
May 8, 2001... Byline: Repps Hudson May 8--Maritz Inc., of Fenton, is cutting 240 jobs in the St. Louis area and 60 elsewhere in reaction to a significant drop in earnings at the privately held firm, which specializes in marketing research, performance...

Theater Company Wehrenberg to Reopen Cinema in St. Louis Market.
May 8, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 8--Wehrenberg Inc. is reopening its nine-screen movie theater at Westfield Shoppingtown's Northwest Plaza later this month, after successfully renegotiating the lease. The movie theater had closed in January. ...

St. Louis-Based Airline to End Jet Service for TWA in Three Markets.
May 9, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson May 9--St. Louis-based Trans States Airlines is discontinuing regional jet service it provides for TWA Airlines LLC in three markets to comply with restrictions in American Airlines' labor agreement with its pilots...

St. Louis Supermarket Closes Again over Electricity Dispute.
May 10, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee May 10--Sterling's Marketplace, the troubled supermarket in the Baden neighborhood, is closed again -- this time for not paying its electricity bill. A dispute between the store's owner, Sterling Moody, and AmerenUE...

Missouri's World Wide Technology Again Named Largest U.S. Black-Owned Firm.
May 11, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 11--World Wide Technology Inc. of Maryland Heights is the nation's biggest black-owned business for the second consecutive year, according to the upcoming June issue of Black Enterprise magazine. World Wide,...

Attendance at St. Louis-Area Casinos Declines, but Revenues Rise.
May 11, 2001... Byline: Virginia Young May 11--The number of people visiting the St. Louis region's riverboat casinos is dropping. But the amount of money they're leaving behind is rising. That's one conclusion that can be drawn from a look at last...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Business Briefs Column.
May 12, 2001... May 12--QWEST CEO PROMISES LONG-DISTANCE SERVICE: Qwest Communications International Inc. will be selling long- distance service in Utah and the other 13 former US West Inc. states "by this time next year," said Joe Nacchio, chairman and chief...

Utah Recovers from Hacker Virus.
May 12, 2001... Byline: Greg Burton May 12--A box of digital worms hatched around the world by computer hackers -- stopping this week in Utah -- has mostly been swept away by system administrators at the state and various businesses in Utah. And,...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch David Nicklaus Column.
May 12, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 12--MANY PEOPLE THINK BANKS BENEFIT when the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates. After all, they don't have to pay you or me as much interest on our money-market accounts and certificates of deposit. But...

Economist Says Recession May Ease Nursing Shortage.
May 12, 2001... Byline: Judith VandeWater May 12--An economic recession might be just the right prescription for today's nursing shortage. Previous downturns in the economy have brought retired nurses back into the job market and eased staffing...

Provo, Utah-Based Software Maker Wins Monopoly Lawsuit.
May 12, 2001... Byline: Paul Beebe May 12--A judge has ruled against a Brazilian company that sued Novell Inc., alleging it was forced out of business because Novell monopolized the market for software programs that supported its NetWare operating system....

Business Center Rents Workstations to Travelers at St. Louis Airport.
May 15, 2001... Byline: Ken Leiser May 15--With two hours on her hands before her flight to Madison, Wis., was scheduled to leave, Mary Allard ducked into an office-like cubicle at Lambert Field to punch up her e-mail and call her husband. "You get...

Higher Gas Prices Sweeping Across St. Louis.
May 16, 2001... Byline: Repps Hudson May 16--Like a slowly moving summer thunderstorm, some of the highest gasoline prices at the pump since the horseless carriage replaced the buggy are sweeping the St. Louis area, sometimes station by station, block by...

Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. Lowers Sales, Earning Estimates.
May 16, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 16--Rawlings Sporting Goods Co. has lowered its sales and earnings estimates for this year, as a slowing economy and extended winter weather in the northern states resulted in consumers buying less sporting...

Kansas Forum Organizers Say Venture Capitalists Are Alive, Well.
May 16, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 16--Dot-coms have given way to furniture stores, car repair and genetic research, and money isn't flowing as freely as it was a year ago, but the venture capital industry is alive and well in Missouri. ...

Survey Indicates St. Louis-Area Gas Prices Dropped 2 Cents.
May 17, 2001... Byline: Repps Hudson May 17--A survey of local gasoline stations early Wednesday morning showed that prices remain unstable while the average dropped about 2 cents. In his latest windshield survey of 30 local stations in Missouri,...

Rare $10,000 Bills Found in Creve Coeur, Mo., Arrive in Florida.
May 17, 2001... Byline: Jeff Herman May 17--The last of a cache of rare $10,000 bills found in a bank vault made its way from Creve Coeur to its new owner in Florida Wednesday. Scotsman Coin and Currency sold the collection of 401 large-denomination...

Missouri-Backed Seed Capital Fund Begins Operating.
May 17, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 17--KANSAS CITY, Mo.--A state-backed seed capital fund has begun operating after raising $21 million from investors, Missouri's top economic development official said Wednesday. Joe Driskill, director of the...

Economy's Pinch Shows in Entrepreneurs' Pitches at Venture Capital Forum.
May 17, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 17--KANSAS CITY--The hockey sticks aren't as steep as they were last year, and profits are no longer an afterthought. Those are a couple of ways in which entrepreneurs have changed their PowerPoint pitches to...

Nintendo, Microsoft Launch Video Game Consoles.
May 17, 2001... Byline: Chris Snider May 17--Let the video game wars begin. Nintendo and Microsoft detailed the launch of their next-generation game consoles on Wednesday, a day before the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) begins in Los Angeles. ...

St. Louis Advertising Firm Agrees To Buyout To Boost Services.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee May 18--Ted Simmons and Bill Durham know a thing or two about loyalty. The two have been friends since the age of five, served together in the Army Reserve, worked as a writer and account manager, respectively, at...

Southwestern Bell Asks FCC to Overrule Antitrust Concerns in Missouri.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud May 18--Southwestern Bell asked the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to overrule U.S. Justice Department concerns about telephone competition in Missouri. The FCC is considering a re4quest for...

Former Mayor, Investor Square Off over Vacant St. Louis Building.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Charlene Prost May 18--Twenty years ago, just as the Grand Center arts and entertainment district was getting off the ground, Los Angeles businessman and music lover Eugene Golden got his first glimpse of a for-sale sign on the old...

Computer Services Company in Huntsville, Ala., to Acquire Competitor.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle May 18--Data Research Associates Inc., an Olivette-based company that provides computer services to libraries, said Thursday it will be acquired by an Alabama competitor for $51.5 million. SIRSI Holdings Corp. of...

Alabama-Based Firm Acquires Olivette, Mo.-Based Library Tech Company.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle May 18--Data Research Associates Inc., an Olivette-based company that provides computer services to libraries, said Thursday it will be acquired by an Alabama competitor for $51.5 million. SIRSI Holdings Corp. of...

Reuters Reaches Agreement with Herndon, Va.-Based Communications Firm.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Virginia Baldwin Gilbert May 18--Reuters Group PLC has reached a financing agreement to keep Savvis Communications Corp. afloat while Reuters seeks to complete its purchase of the assets of bankrupt Bridge Information Systems Inc....

Rochester, N.Y.-Based Firm To Stop Offering Internet Service in St. Louis.
May 18, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle May 18--Mpower Communications Corp. is expected to announce as soon as today that it will stop offering Internet service in the St. Louis area and will transfer customers to other Internet service providers, according...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Executive Focus Column.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Elizabeth Freeman May 19--Name: Denise Lieberman. Age: 32. Job: Legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri. Duties: Lieberman is responsible for managing the ACLU's legal docket, which...

Boeing's Military Aircraft, Missile Systems Reaches Deal with Union.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Cynthia Wilson May 19--After nearly a month of intense negotiations, Boeing's Military Aircraft and Missile Systems business reached a tentative agreement with its largest union Friday on a contract that will give workers here more...

St. Louis-Based Company Finds Continued Success with Bakery-Cafe Format.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 19--Just across the street from Panera Bread Co.'s headquarters is the St. Louis Bread Co. store where Ron Shaich was struck with the idea to expand on the bakery-cafe concept. In 1995, when Au Bon Pain Co....

Telecommunications Firms Spar over St. Louis Home-Entertainment Customers.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud May 19--Cable and satellite companies are turning up the volume in their already noisy battle to attract home-entertainment customers. Charter Communications Inc. is paying satellite customers up to $250 to replace...

Minnesota Agricultural Giant Invests in St. Louis-Based Feed Company.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee May 19--Cargill Inc., a large Minnesota agriculture company, has purchased a 5.3 percent stake in Purina Mills Inc., according to a document the company filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange commission. The...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Your Money Column.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher May 19--QUESTION: I want to leave my estate of $2.5 million to Southeast Missouri State University. I am 58 years old, single, no mistresses. I graduated from there in 1965. I learned the term "charitable trust"...

St. Louis-Based Firm Frustrated with Failed H.J. Heinz Merger.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Thomas Lee May 19--These are humbling, if not puzzling, days for Scott Meader, president and chief executive officer of The Milnot Co. For more than a year, Milnot's $185 million merger with H.J. Heinz Co. had been tied up in...

St. Louis-Based Natural Gas Company Seeks a Rate Increase.
May 19, 2001... May 19--Laclede Gas Co. on Friday asked for a rate increase that the company said would add $4.90 to a typical customer's monthly bill. The rate increase needs approval from the Missouri Public Service Commission before it can take effect....

Dividend-Paying Firms Might Be a Good Bet in Current Market.
May 19, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 19--Dividends were easy to ignore during the great bull market of the 1990s. When stock portfolios were returning more than 25 percent a year, as the Standard & Poor's 500 index did from 1995 to 1999, a dividend...

Video-On-Demand Digital Cable Service Coming to St. Louis Area.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud May 19--Video-on-demand is perhaps the most alluring service evolving from digital cable. The service allows customers to pick a movie from approximately 300 available at any one time, view the movie immediately or...

St. Louis Businessman to Leave Wal-Mart Board of Directors.
May 19, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 19--E. Stanley Kroenke, a co-owner of the St. Louis Rams and a principal of Overland-based developer THF Realty, is ending a six-year tenure on Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s board of directors on May 31. Kroenke,...

St. Louis-Based Audio, Video Web Firm Files for Bankruptcy.
May 19, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 19--StreamSearch.com Inc., once one of St. Louis' most promising Internet companies, said Friday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Founder and Chief Executive Robert Shambro said the...

Analysts Say Richmond, Mo., Bread Company Could Be Nice Buy for Wendy's.
May 19, 2001... May 19--As a relatively young company with strong growth potential, some analysts have been speculating that the company could make a prime takeover target. And among the potential suitors for Panera: Wendy's International Inc., based in...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Business Briefs Column.
May 21, 2001... May 21--VOLKSWAGEN AS A LENDER: Volkswagen wants to join high-profile companies such as General Electric, Merrill Lynch and luxury automaker BMW in operating a financial services company in Utah. The German car manufacturer is seeking...

St. Louis-Area Lumber Company to Close its Doors.
May 21, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 21--Hill-Behan Lumber Co., a locally owned lumber and building products retailer, is going out of business, closing all of its 11 stores in the St. Louis area. In a statement, the company said the closures are...

Ameristar Casinos Shows Off Entertainment Complex in St. Charles, Mo.
May 22, 2001... Byline: Tommy Robertson May 22--Executives with Ameristar Casinos Inc. Monday gave visitors guided tours of its unfinished entertainment complex at its St. Charles property, explaining company plans to spend $110 million to complete the...

Registered Nurses at Belleville, Mo., Hospital Seek Union Representation.
May 22, 2001... Byline: Judith Vandewater May 22--Registered nurses at Memorial Hospital in Belleville on Monday became the latest hospital health-care workers to seek union representation. Nurses at the hospital asked the National Labor Relations...

Boeing Makes Little Progress in Labor Dispute with St. Louis Employees.
May 23, 2001... Byline: Philip Dine May 23--WASHINGTON--No progress was reported Tuesday in the labor-management dispute involving Boeing's aerospace workers in St. Louis, who voted down a contract proposal last weekend and agreed to strike starting at...

St. Louis-Based Energy Company to Raise $420 Million with Stock Offering.
May 23, 2001... Byline: Repps Hudson May 23--Peabody Energy Corp.'s initial public stock offering on Tuesday was expected to raise about $420 million for the St. Louis-based company, the world's-largest coal producer. Sold on the New York Stock...

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Your Money Column.
May 23, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher May 23--Poor Ladue. Yes, that's what we said: Poor Ladue. The town known for mansions and millionaires was left out of this year's list of the nation's richest towns published by Worth Magazine. Three...

Bankruptcy of Clayton, Mo.-Based Internet Search Felt By Big Firms.
May 23, 2001... Byline: Peter Shinkle May 23--The bankruptcy of StreamSearch.com Inc., the Clayton-based Internet search company, has hit some big names in the computer world as well as local and out-of-state real-estate firms. Among StreamSearch's...

St. Louis-Area Venture Capital Fund Restructures.
May 23, 2001... Byline: Shera Dalin May 23--A venture capital fund aimed at businesses in Southern Illinois and Southeastern Missouri is being restructured, eliminating Missouri and increasing the amount it will invest to $150 million. The Cahokia...

Boeing, St. Louis Aerospace Union Still at Odds as Deadline Nears.
May 24, 2001... Byline: Philip Dine May 24--WASHINGTON--Progress remained elusive again Wednesday in the dispute between Boeing's aerospace workers in St. Louis and the company, with no talks taking place or scheduled. Workers overwhelmingly voted...

Pan American Airways Reduces Service to St. Louis-Area Airport.
May 24, 2001... Byline: William Lamb May 24--Pan American Airways Inc. has dropped three of its six weekly nonstop flights from MidAmerica Airport to Sanford, Fla., a move that experts said could complicate efforts to lure a second passenger carrier to...

FBI Gets the Call: Small Virdin, Mo., Bank Is Missing Big Money.
May 25, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher May 25--Up to $2.8 million seems to be missing from the tiny Virden branch of Jacksonville Savings Bank, and the bankers have called in the FBI. Both bank officials and Illinois bank regulators say the loss poses...

Job Losses Expected as EDS Buys and Consolidates Two Design Firms.
May 25, 2001... Byline: Jerri Stroud May 25--Unigraphics Solutions Inc. hasn't determined how many people will lose their jobs in its merger with Structural Dynamics Research Corp. of Milford, Ohio, but a spokesman said the company doesn't expect "a...

Missouri Legislature Fails to Renew Rule on Outpatient Medical Facilities.
May 25, 2001... Byline: Judith Vandewater May 25--The Missouri Legislature has propped open the door to a new round of construction for outpatient medical facilities. The Legislature adjourned last week without renewing a program that requires planned...

Boeing, Machinists Resume Negotiations in Washington, D.C.
May 30, 2001... Byline: Philip Dine May 30--WASHINGTON, D.C.--As Boeing sits down with the Machinists union today in hopes of hammering out a contract that workers will find acceptable, much is at stake for all involved. The workers will learn over...

Supreme Court Decision May Affect Nurses' Membership in Unions.
May 30, 2001... Byline: Judith Vandewater May 30--A U.S. Supreme Court opinion issued Tuesday may make health-care employers fighting union-representation votes more eager to assert that nurses are supervisors and ineligible to be union members. ...

Two St. Louis-Area Steel Pipe Makers Seek Tariffs on Steel Imports.
May 30, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 30--Maverick Tube Co. is getting out of the business of making standard steel pipe, the kind used in plumbing, fences and sprinkler systems. Laclede Steel Co.'s pipe business is so weak that the company is...

St. Louis-Based Electronics Company Sells Valve Division.
May 30, 2001... Byline: Chern Yeh Kwok May 30--Emerson has agreed to sell its Xomox valve business to Crane Co., which makes engineered industrial products, for $145 million in cash. The sale, expected to close by the end of the second quarter, continues...

Bid-Stakes Investors Disclose Holdings of Purina Mills.
May 31, 2001... Byline: David Nicklaus May 31--Irwin Jacobs and Prudential Insurance Co. of America are the latest investors to disclose that they own large stakes in Purina Mills Inc., the nation's largest manufacturer of animal feed. Purina Mills,...

Retirement Package Reduces Profits of St. Louis-Based Photo Studio Operator.
May 31, 2001... Byline: Jim Gallagher May 31--The chief executive's retirement package ate up most of the profits at CPI Corp. in the recent quarter. The photo studio company Wednesday reported earning 1 cent per share for the recent quarter. That's...