Financial Markets

Shareholders to Sue KFC Parent After Recent China Chicken Scare and Stock-Price Tumble

We hear a lot in this country about food recalls, and over the past few years we've heard enough from overseas to become wary of the food supply that makes its way to our shores from China. But how much do we hear about food raised in China that stays in China? And how often does it occur to us tha ... More >>

Country Club Sopranos: American banks are on a massive crime spree. Obama and Romney hope you won't notice.

Cosmopolis limos through the mind of a master of the universe

Warren Buffett Now Owns More Lee Enterprises Stock

Berkshire Hathaway, billionaire Warren Buffett's conglomerate, revealed in SEC filings Tuesday that the company has increased its stake in Lee Enterprises to the tune of 3.23 million shares. That just about doubles the amount of Lee stock Berkshire Hathaway owns, which it first acquired when Buffett ... More >>

Pi Pizzeria Retiring Its Food Truck from Regular Duty

In 2010, Pi Pizzeria launched St. Louis' food-truck boom with its Pi on the Spot truck. This afternoon, the restaurant announced that its truck will end its regular operations on Tuesday, July 31. We've enjoyed bringing our Pi to guests who couldn't otherwise enjoy Pi in our full-service restaurant ... More >>

America's Petro-Terrorists: Wall Street and Washington conspire to destabilize the U.S. economy, one barrel of oil at a time

Buildings=Energy Architecture Exhibit Highlights Sustainable Construction

It's only fitting that what was once the ground floor of St. Louis Centre -- and is today being transformed into the sleek and hip MX (that's short for Mercantile Exchange, btw) -- would be the site for an architecture display on the future of urban design. Kicking off tonight (5-8 p.m. at 635 Locus ... More >>

Coin-Roll Scam That Rocked Maplewood Has Medieval Roots

Shut up and listen because you're about to learn history -- usable history. As reported Monday by KTVI Fox2Now, a band of ne'er-do-wells paid visits to Kakao Chocolate in Maplewood and other area businesses a couple of weeks ago. They posed as delivery people and claimed they needed to give yonder c ... More >>

County Health Department Releases Open Letter Ahead of Farmers' Market Meeting

Last month, the St. Louis County Council began considering changes to the regulations governing farmers' markets. Clayton Farmers' Market master Deb Henderson has been an outspoken critic of the proposed new rules, telling Gut Check "if [the county] rewrites a definition of of a farmers' market and ... More >>

Northside Appeal Preview: Juicy Excerpts from a Boisterous Legal Back-and-Forth

​In just a few hours, lawyers of Paul McKee will be trying to convince a state appeals panel to let the developer move forward with his $8.1 billion-dollar plan to rejuvenate North St. Louis. (Click here for a primer on the situation). The stakes are high, and the issues are rather technical, what ... More >>

We Buy Gold Highlights This Weekend's Art Openings

Tate FoleyWe Buy Gold​ We Buy Gold: An exhibition of painted works by Tate Foley that explore the advertising phenomenon of the ubiquitous "We Buy Gold" signs. Opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, December 9. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Continues through Jan. 28, free. Webster University-Cecille ... More >>

Ten Musicians Who Support Occupy Wall Street

Adbusters​"Occupy Wall Street" started out as a 1,000-person mid-September protest in a New York City park against, among other things, financial disparity and corporate influence. Since that time that protest has grown into a nationwide movement, spurring on the creation of "Occupy" spinoffs ... More >>

Lee Enterprises Refinancing Plan Fails to Rally Stock

Late yesterday afternoon, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, parent company of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other newspapers, announced some potentially pretty good news: The company had gotten an agreement to push back the due date on some $864 million in debt.That deal is dependent on the company refi ... More >>

Claire McCaskill Asks FTC Chair to Watch for Gas Gouging

Claire McCaskill: Not too pumped about gas prices.​With Memorial Day around the corner and gas prices flirting with the $4-a-gallon mark, Sen. Claire McCaskill and three colleagues yesterday sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, calling on him to investigate potenti ... More >>

Report: Wall Street Speculators Drive Up Oil Prices

The view from Wall Street these days.​Tired of paying nearly $4 per gallon to fuel up your car? Wondering who's making a fat profit off your daily commute? A new investigative report puts the blame on Wall Street, specifically hedge funds and investment banks that today are involved in the lion's ... More >>

Pi to Open New Location at Mercantile Exchange Downtown

Courtesy: StandPoint Public AffairsA rendering of the new Mercantile Exchange project downtown​The ever-expanding Pi pizza empire -- I think it's safe to call it an empire at this point, no? -- will open its fifth location at the new Mercantile Exchange development downtown, the restaurant and the ... More >>

Post-Dispatch Parent Company to Avoid Bankruptcy

A miracle indeed: The P-D will escape bankruptcy.​Lee Enterprises Inc., the Iowa-based company that purchased the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the thirteen other papers in the Pulitzer chain in 2005, appears likely to avoid bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reports today.The company's sudden solv ... More >>

Glenn Beck Talks About - and to - Cupcakes

Rumors of the death of the cupcake fad have swirled for months. With five minutes of video, Glenn Beck kills them dead. In an attempt to explain inflation and treasury bonds on his Fox News show last night, Beck substituted flag-studded cupcakes for gold so that us simple folk might understand. ... More >>

Stop Foreclosing on Our Homes! Activist Group Announces "People's Hearing," Tells Banks to Be Ready

The activist group MORE issued a summons to the banks, accusing them of crimes.​It may not be Cairo, but we've had our share of protesting lately, too. Last Friday a throng of activists assembled at the entrance of the downtown branch of Bank of America in support of foreclosure victims and m ... More >>

Oliver Stone's sequel lets the bad guys off easy in Money Never Sleeps

Ask a Mexican! Special Labor Dia Edition

Garden Spot Market in Soulard Closed for Good

Sad news: Garden Spot Market in the Soulard Market, which opened just last year, is closed for good. The Shupp family, which owns Garden Spot and also Rick's Garden Spot Meats in Kell, Illinois, is moving to Maryland. "It's time for a change," says Melissa Shupp, speaking on behalf of the family. " ... More >>

Securities and Exchange Commission Fines Creve Couer Man $20K

File this one under weird math:​The Securities and Exchange Commission took action Friday against the former chief financial officer of Bridgeton, Missouri, manufacturer Zoltek Companies, alleging he circumvented internal accounting controls by making two secret payments to a consultant for hedge ... More >>

Is Goldman Sachs Responsible for World Food Crises? One Group Thinks So.

The World Development Movement has accused Goldman Sachs of distorting the commodities market, leading to a potential worldwide food crises, a claim the Wall Street bank denies. The Daily Telegraph reports that Tim Jones, who wrote the accusatory report for the anti-poverty organization, explained, ... More >>

Cards Sign Reliever Mike MacDougal

commons.wikimedia.org​The Cardinals, in a bid to try and add some depth to a suddenly creaky bullpen, have signed former closer Mike MacDougal to a minor-league contract after he was released earlier this season by the Washington Nationals. He was pitching for the Nationals' Triple A club, and had ... More >>

Video: Sen. Claire McCaskill Talks Shit to Goldman Sachs Execs

There have been many, many headlines devoted to yesterday's "shitty" congressional hearings but, as is often the case, nobody tops the NY Post. Here's what their editors came up with:Image via​If you have no idea what we're talking about, well, Senator Carl Levin from Michigan and the Show-Me Stat ... More >>

County Brownies Announce A Crackdown on Area's Barney Fifes

​Ever been pulled over in the county by a Barney Fife type? Good news. You now have a direct line to the St. Louis County Police Department Intelligence Unit (314-615-4692), who wants to hear all about your experience with a fake cop.Freaked about a proliferation of unlicensed po-pos masquerading ... More >>

Jamey Johnson

7 p.m. Sunday, December 13. Pop's, 401 Monsanto Avenue, Sauget, Illinois.

No Justice: We've bailed out the banks. When do we go after the crooks behind our financial collapse?

Do You Have a Facesquatting Problem?

moar funny picturesThousands of Facebook users made a mad dash to reserve their unique Facebook URL's on Friday night. Did you get yours? Oh wait ... you mean you had better things to do late on a Friday night? This seemingly over-hyped event seemed to go off without a hitch. Facebook didn't crash a ... More >>

Bond Issue For New City Schools Not Imminent; But Not Out of the Question

A rumor floating around has it that the St. Louis Public Schools are planning a bond issue next year to raise money to build news schools. Today I called St. Louis Public Schools executive director of communications, Patrick Wallace, to ask about the bond chatter. Here's the deal, according to Walla ... More >>

Photos: Pillow Fights Around the Country

If you forgot to mark it on your calendar, Saturday was World Pillow Fight Day. St. Louis had its own version, under the Gateway Arch. About 80 kids -- most seemed to be of high school age --  showed up around 2 p.m. and let the smacking commenced. National park rangers asked them to tone it do ... More >>

Bear Market Sandwich Extravaganza: Oscar Mayer Deli Creations Flatbread Sandwich, Steakhouse Beef with Garlic Parmesan Sauce

The Bear Market continues its quest to find cheap, tasty sandwiches. Today, an Oscar Meyer Deli sandwich.

Hard Times: When the going gets tough, some St. Louisans head for pawn shops

Review Preview: Café Ventana

The Morning Brew: Wednesday, 8.13

Companion Mun-cha’i-ya Peking

Vegetarian Roast Duck
$1.29
Jay International Foods
3172 South Grand Boulevard

Oscar Mayer Fast Franks
Beef Frank In A Bun

$2.99
Schnucks
6600 Clayton Road
Richmond Heights

Steely Dan

7:30 p.m. Monday, September 4. UMB Bank Pavilion (14141 Riverport Drive, Maryland Heights).

Best Strip Joint

Roxy's

Best Mexican Market

Carnicería Latino Americana

Best Dollar Store

Deal$ -- Nothing Over a Dollar

Backfire

Former exec's suit could blow Enterprise's files wide open

Numbers Game

Tax exemption for fat cats is the only issue Shrewsbury and Krewson won't talk about

Blood in the Water

The sharks are in a frenzy as Enterprise is wounded by one of its own

Bud Bank Shot

King of Beers plays the angles to put money in Krewson's pocket

Hog Heaven

New Haven's Front Street Grille attracts a clientele ranging from bikers to locals but manages to make them all happy

Fuzzy Math

The RCGA flushed away its credibility in the city earnings-tax debacle

First Strike

Hazelwood schools blocked apartments to protect test scores

Best Sports Bargain

Kurt Warner