March 10, 2018

Kroger partners with hospital to offer employees joint and spine surgeries

Hmmmm….. I can see benefits and pitfalls to this.

http://www.supermarketnews.com/health-wellness/kroger-partners-hospital-offer-employees-joint-and-spine-surgeries

The Kroger Co. has teamed with The Christ Hospital Health Network’s Center of Excellence (COE) program for its employees’ total hip and total knee replacement and spine surgery benefits. The COE program allows employers to contract directly with the Cincinnati-based hospital for specific procedures at a fixed price.

“Kroger is excited to partner with The Christ Hospital to provide the best care for our associates at affordable prices,” said Theresa Monti, vice president of Total Rewards for Cincinnati-based Kroger. “We know healthcare can be complicated and our goal is to make the process easy for our associates. By establishing this partnership, we can ensure the highest-quality providers are available when associates are making decisions about their health.”

According to a report in the Cincinnati Business Courier, Kroger is the largest employer in the Greater Cincinnati Region, with a local workforce of more than 21,000. The chain has more than 440,000 employees nationwide, and about 90,000 of those who are eligible for the retailer’s health plan could be offered the option of having the surgery done in Cincinnati.

According to The Christ Hospital officials, Kroger employees on the company-sponsored healthcare plan will be guided through the joint and spine care process by a nurse navigator who will help them choose a physician; coordinate medical care from diagnosis to recovery; provide information about the procedure; and provide education on everything from the day of surgery to discharge and beyond.

March 7, 2018

Greitens accused of using Missouri Boys State emails to benefit his campaign

In 2011, Tom Dwyer was one of the “best and brightest.”

After finishing his junior year at Vianney High School, the University City teen headed to the University of Central Missouri for eight days of learning about leadership and government at Missouri Boys State. Sponsored by the American Legion, the program since 1938 has produced governors, senators and business leaders.

People like Eric Greitens. In 1991, after his junior year at Parkway North High School, Greitens was a Boys Stater. Twenty years later, after graduating from Duke University with a degree in ethics, becoming a Rhodes Scholar and Navy SEAL and founding the nonprofit The Mission Continues, Greitens was a keynote speaker at Boys State.

That’s when Dwyer met the man who would become the first sitting governor in the state of Missouri to be indicted on a felony charge.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/tony-messenger/messenger-greitens-accused-of-using-missouri-boys-state-emails-to/article_fa67b6e0-8e95-52cd-9f86-dff25a332f51.html

March 7, 2018

Public weighs in on West Lake proposal, overwhelmingly wants more thorough cleanup

BRIDGETON • Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a long-awaited proposal to partially remove the radioactive contamination at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site here, while placing a protective cap over material left behind.

At the time, many in the community regarded the move as a welcome sign of progress after decades of inaction toward remediating the site, and some even expressed tepid support for the proposal to remove about 67 percent of the site’s radioactivity by excavating to a depth of 16 feet.

But at a packed and emotionally charged meeting in Bridgeton on Tuesday night, scores of speakers provided vocal, and largely critical, feedback to high-ranking EPA officials in attendance, overwhelmingly pushing for full removal of the site’s World War II-era nuclear waste.

That more extensive cleanup option, identified as “Alternative 7” among the eight strategies under consideration by the EPA, is also the most expensive on the table, with an estimated cost of $455 million, compared to $236 million for the current proposal. The costs will be covered by a handful of public and private entities deemed liable for the cleanup.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/public-weighs-in-on-west-lake-proposal-overwhelmingly-wants-more/article_33bdc971-b073-5028-b824-daa5c5ac1f3d.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-siderail-latest

March 7, 2018

Target's remake is accelerating, at a cost

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/target-raising-minimum-wage-to-an-hour-plans-to-raise/article_67a8084d-763d-5c95-9ea5-4d8bd24a8c81.html

Target is increasing the minimum hourly pay to $12 starting this spring, the second increase in a matter of months, while accelerating its reinvention plan to make the discounter more competitive in the age of Amazon.

The discounter’s moves, announced at its annual investor meeting in Minneapolis where the company is based, come as its ambitious plan to make itself over is driving more people to its stores and its website. But the cost of such a massive overhaul, along with its pay increases, squeezed its fourth-quarter profits, and it took some shine off overall strong quarterly sales. The company also offered a muted profit outlook.

Last fall, Target increased its hourly wage to $11 from $10. Brian Cornell, CEO of Target, told analysts Tuesday the company saw a better applicant pool and a 60 percent spike in the number of applicants in the days after the announcement. Cornell reiterated Tuesday its promise to increase the minimum pay to $15 by the end of 2020.

Target also announced other initiatives to help it speed up deliveries and make shopping in its stores easier. The company is rolling out free, two-day shipping for hundreds of thousands of items on Target.com. Except for holders of its branded credit card, shoppers previously needed to spend at least $35 to get free shipping. And its same-day delivery service, which was tested in New York City, is being rolled out to key cities in the U.S. such as Boston and Chicago. Target, which was testing curbside pickup at 50 stores, said it also plans to expand to 1,000 locations nationwide.

March 5, 2018

UK supermarkets ban sales of energy drinks to under-16s

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/05/uk-supermarkets-ban-sales-energy-drinks-under-16s

Sales of energy drinks to children under 16 will be banned by most major UK supermarkets from Monday, following concerns about their high levels of sugar and caffeine and impact on health and behaviour.

Customers buying drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per litre in branches of Asda, Aldi, the Co-op, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose will be asked to prove they are over 16.

The high street chemist Boots is the latest retailer – and the only non-supermarket – to announce a ban, following the lead of a voluntary restriction taken by Waitrose in January.

Drinks such as Red Bull, Relentless, Monster Energy and Rockstar have become increasingly popular. Children and teenagers consume them more than adults, even though industry labelling guidelines statew that any soft drink with more than 150mg of caffeine per litre must carry a warning about its high caffeine content and state it is not recommended for children.

March 2, 2018

Missouri AG opens inquiry into Greitens charity

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMOV/AP) — Missouri's Attorney General opened an inquiry Thursday into The Mission Continues, a charity Governor Greitens founded eleven years ago.

In a statement Thursday, Josh Hawley's Deputy Chief of Staff said "The Attorney General’s Office has an open inquiry into the charitable activities of The Mission Continues, pursuant to the AGO’s enforcement responsibilities under the consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws.”

The details of the inquiry remain unclear. Earlier in the day, the Associated Press reported Greitens used an email address for the charity he founded to arrange political meetings as he prepared to launch his first bid for public office, despite a federal ban on nonprofits participating in political campaigns, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/37626328/greitens-sent-political-invite-on-charity-email?utm_content=buffer0c414&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

March 1, 2018

UFCW Local 655 continues historic organizing campaign at Dollar General with second union election f

655 is filing for union election at a second store after becoming the first union in history to win an election at Dollar General just months ago
St. Louis, MO – Dollar General employees will decide if the store at 10060 Halls Ferry Road, 63136, in St. Louis will become the second store in the company’s history to vote for unionization after employees at an Auxvasse, MO store became the first ever to vote to join a union late last year.

The Auxvasse store voted for representation from United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655 in December of 2017. After the historic win, Local 655 — the state’s largest private sector local union — began working with employees at other Dollar General stores that were interested in union representation. Local 655 organizers filed for an election today at the Halls Ferry after 100 percent of the employees signed union authorization cards approving an election.

“I’m excited that the employees of Dollar General will have an opportunity to choose to join our union family,” said UFCW Local 655 President David Cook. “Working Missourians deserve a chance for a better life, and that’s exactly what a union can offer them.”



https://labortribune.com/ufcw-local-655-continues-historic-organizing-campaign-at-dollar-general-with-second-union-election-filing/

February 22, 2018

St. Louis area residents sue over radioactive material storage sites

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/st-louis-area-residents-sue-over-radioactive-material-storage-sites/article_a09fa073-d19d-503f-9cf0-cf9fa60986a3.html

A business owner in Bridgeton and a homeowner in St. Ann have filed lawsuits seeking compensation for damages they say were caused by the negligent handling of radioactive waste at West Lake Landfill and at storage sites along Coldwater Creek in north St. Louis County.

The two lawsuits, which both seek class action status, were filed Tuesday in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

Among defendants named in the lawsuits are Republic Services, Exelon Corp., Cotter Corp. and the St. Louis Airport Authority.

"Defendants treated these hazardous, toxic, carcinogenic, radioactive wastes with about the same level of care that a reasonable person might give to common household garbage, dumping it without authority from the State of Missouri and in violation of law," the lawsuits contend.

February 16, 2018

Table top with miniatures

There was a discussion yesterday in GD regarding scale models and that included some talk of miniature gaming. I thought I would post something here today to allow that discussion to branch out a bit and see if any other table top miniature gamers are about, what they are playing and where else they are finding resources and ideas.

February 14, 2018

Dollar General manager fired after sharing post about unionizing

https://labortribune.com/dollar-general-manager-fired-after-sharing-post-about-unionizing/

Glasgow, MO – A former Dollar General manager is speaking out after she said she was fired for sharing a post about employees unionizing.

Workers at a Dollar General store in Auxvasse, MO, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655, in December, becoming the first Dollar General store in the country where employees have successfully voted to unionize.

Margeorie Nation shared a post by a page called Dollar General Mayhem, which linked to an article by KOMU 8 News about the unionization vote by employees at the Auxvasse location.

The copy that accompanied the page’s post included the language: “Finally, it’s a start! I hope this becomes a trend in the rest of the company. S**** your anti-union mission statement, Dollar General.”