Business

Wachovia Corp. lost a staggering $8.9 billion in the second quarter of this year, leading the nation’s fourth-largest bank to cut its dividend and slash 6,350 jobs in response to mortgage-related losses.

The payments to the government will also settle claims that the Springfield-based health care system billed Medicare for costs not allowed under federal laws. CoxHealth is not admitting any wrongdoing in the settlement.

A group seeking to build a memorial nearly 30 years after two walkways collapsed at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center is receiving support from the hotel.

The June unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent, down from a three-year high of 6 percent a month earlier. Missouri also lost 1,900 jobs.

The St. Louis Business Journal says preliminary work for the $650 million development is expected to begin later this summer. Construction will not be completed by next year’s All-Star game in St. Louis.

Missouri officials said they conducted what they called a “special inspection,” part of a broad probe into questionable practices involving auction rate securities.

The Kansas City domestic-craft brewer would be the largest beer maker based in Missouri.

A spokeswoman for the mall said she does not know why or for how long the stores postponed the expansion.

The Kansas City Star reports on its Web site that a development agency voted unanimously Friday to support replacing the current weapons plant at the Bannister Federal Complex with a 1.4-million-square-foot complex across from the former Richard-Gebaur Memorial Airport.

The Wall Street Journal said InBev has raised its bid to $70 a share — an offer the Anheuser-Busch board is likely to accept this weekend. News of the deal hit hard in St. Louis.

The case, which stemmed from an accident on Interstate 70, attracted national attention when the

Monsanto is raising the stakes against so-called seed piracy with an unprecedented lawsuit against Pilot Grove Cooperative Elevator.

The bill signed by Blunt is scheduled to run from April 19 through April 25 each year.

Anheuser-Busch filed a consent solicitation on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that outlines why shareholders should turn down InBev’s proposal to fire all of the St. Louis brewer's board of directors and replace them with a slate chosen by InBev.

The opportunity to have a second chance to win the contract would be welcome news to thousands of Boeing workers in Missouri, Kansas and Washington state.

It was a 70 percent increase over 2006.

The voluntary recall of some ground beef products extended to more than 20 states on Wednesday, and Kroger's urged customers to check the ground beef in their refrigerators.

Attorneys for Anheuser-Busch argued Wednesday that two shareholder lawsuits in St. Louis should be suspended while a Delaware judge considers nearly a dozen similar lawsuits related to the possible takeover by rival brewer InBev.

The number of closures next year is up from 100 previously planned, a sign the coffee shop operator is hurt by the faltering U.S. economy.

The Belgian brewer encourged Anheuser-Busch shareholders to challenge the U.S. beer company's rejection of its $65-a-share offer, saying it would give them immediate certainty as stock markets plunge.