Business briefing: Schnucks to lay off 190 amid distribution shuffle

Schnucks Markets confirmed it will begin laying off 190 union warehouse workers as soon as July as the grocery chain moves from current distribution operations in Bridgeton, Mo. to a newer site in Kinloch, Mo.

A third party company will operate the modern distribution center in the small north St. Louis County town sandwiched between Ferguson and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The union workers affected by the layoff — members of Teamsters Local 688 — have filed a grievance against Schnucks.

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The second largest railway in Canada — Canadian Pacific — has ended talks with Norfolk Southern aimed at the eventual purchase of the American railroad.

Hunter Harrison, Canadian Pacific’s CEO, said railway mergers in North America are critical to meeting “the demands of a growing economy.” But, because Harrison cited “no clear path to a friendly merger at this time,” the deal was scuttled.

It’s the second time Canadian Pacific has tried to purchase an American railroad. They tried to merge with CSX last year but that deal fell through.

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That’s right, the price of stamps went down over the weekend.

It wasn’t a big cut — just 2 cents, down to 47 cents from 49 cents — but the move by the Postal Regulatory Commission means the U.S. Postal Service could lose up to $2 billion each year.

The price for a first-class stamp was bumped to 49 cents in 2014 as a temporary cash infusion. The PRC rolled back the surcharge over the Postal Service’s protests.

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Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is headed to prison to serve a one-year term in connection with a 2010 coal mine explosion that killed 29 miners in West Virginia.

Prosecutors could not nail Blankenship with serious felonies in direct connection with the fatal blast that occurred at the Upper Big Branch shaft near Charleston, W. Va., but the one-year sentence and $250,000 fine he must pay is the maximum allowable punishment for the misdemeanor charge of violating mine safety rules he faced.

Prosecutors called the misdemeanor conviction “woefully insufficient.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Business briefing: Schnucks to lay off 190 amid distribution shuffle."