Boscov Filing Affects Virginia

Boscov’s Department Store LLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. The Reading, Pa.-based department store chain said it also will close 10 of its 49 stores. The retailer is closing its only Virginia store – in the Piedmont Mall in Danville, which opened in November 2005. It also is closing five stores in Pennsylvania, three stores in Maryland and one in New Jersey. A top executive with Boscov’s said a year ago that the retailer was looking to put as many as three stores in the Richmond market and elsewhere in Virginia. In its bankruptcy filing, the chain blamed credit issues and sluggish consumer spending. The retailer is America’s largest family-owned independent department store. (photo cutline) VIRGINIA

Sauer recalls sauce mix over package labeling

Richmond-based C. F. Sauer Co. has recalled its Gold Medal spaghetti sauce mix from stores in Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama.

The company says the product contains a milk ingredient, Romano cheese, that could cause an allergic reaction.

Because of a packaging error, the cheese was not listed among sauce’s ingredients, according to Jerry Jzajaczek, a Sauer executive.

Sauer discovered the mistake and voluntarily alerted the Food and Drug Administration, Jzajaczek said. No cases of allergy related to the product have been reported, he said.

Gold Medal is a secondary label of the Sauer company.

The company said 234 cases, each containing 24 pouches, have been distributed since April 28.

Jzajaczek said Sauer expects to have most of the recalled sauce packets back in hand by the end of the week.

Anheuser laptop theft affects 2,000+ in Va.

Virginia has confirmed that about 2,250 residents were affected when laptops containing personal information were stolen from an office of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.

J. Tucker Martin, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said the state was notified by the company late last month.

About 150,000 people in six states have been affected by the theft of laptops with personal information about current and former employees of Anheuser-Busch.

Anheuser-Busch said Friday that personal information was missing after the theft of several laptops from one of its office buildings in the St. Louis area, where it has its headquarters.

Elsewhere

– JetBlue Airways Corp. is now charging customers for pillows and blankets. The carrier has done away with the recycled blankets and pillows used on its flights and has started offering an “eco- friendly” travel blanket and pillow that can be purchased for $7 on flights longer than two hours. The pair come in a kit with a $5 coupon to home-furnishings retailer Bed Bath & Beyond.

– Anti-tobacco lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has reported to a federal prison in Kentucky. He is beginning a five-year sentence for conspiring to bribe a judge with $50,000.

ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO

MEMO: EXCERPTED FROM BUSINESS BRIEFS

Originally published by Staff and Wire Reports.

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