PENSACOLA Wal-Mart will allow the Pensacola News Journal to be sold at area stores, rescinding a ban imposed because of a newspaper column that a local manager considered derogatory to the retailer.
Columnist Mark O'Brien wrote in June 19 editions that Pensacola should "be more than the Wal-Mart kind of town we're becoming -- cheap and comfy on the surface, lots of unhappiness and hidden costs underneath."
O'Brien then cited a New York Times report that Georgia's health-care program included more than 10,000 children of Wal-Mart workers, costing taxpayers nearly $10 million a year. He noted the Times report was cited in "The World is Flat," a new book by Thomas Friedman about the global economy.
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AND: "Hammer said that in a conversation with Hart, the Wal-Mart manager had said he'd be willing to talk about lifting the ban if the newspaper fired O'Brien."
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