Wireless Guide News

Supervalu stunned no one Wednesday with the announcement that it’s looking to sell all or parts of the company as efforts to right the grocery giant have stumbled. The question now is what a sale could mean for Chicago’sJewel-Osco, and what form a deal might take.

The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company also said that first-quarter earnings plunged 45 percent. A day after that disclosure, shares plunged 49 percent, closing Thursday at $ 2.69. In addition to Jewel-Osco, Supervalu owns a number of retail chains, including Albertsons, Acme, Cub, Shaw’s, Save-a-Lot and Shop ‘N Save.

“Our review of strategic alternatives will be broad-based and include looking at the sale or other disposition of all or part of the company,” CEO Craig Herkert said in a memo to employees Wednesday. “There can be no assurance that this review will result in any transaction or any change in the company’s overall structure or business model.”

Analysts attribute some of Supervalu’s troubles to its $ 11.3 billion acquisition ofAlbertson’s Inc.in 2006, which included the Jewel-Osco chain. They say the company’s debt has crimped its ability keep prices low. Supervalu has posted declining sales for each of its past three fiscal years.

Janney analyst Jonathan Feeney wrote in a research note Thursday that “it is unclear what the strategic options are,” as Su…………… continues on Chicago Tribune

SAND HARBOR, Nev. — Just after dawn on Sunday, with a white moon still visible over mountain-ringed Lake Tahoe, Fred Jackson maneuvered his small boat into clear water about 35 feet deep.

“Hard right — back up,” said his nephew, Justin Pulliam, standing on the edge of the boat and peering at a shadow at the bottom of the lake.

“You got it?” Mr. Jackson asked.

Soon his nephew was pulling up a trap containing a couple of dozen crayfish, the day’s first harvest. But more significant, it was the first act of commercial fishing in Lake Tahoe since the overexploitation and extinction of the Lahontan cutthroat trout led the authorities to ban all but recreational fishing here in the 1930s.

Last week, Nevada authorized the commercial trapping of crayfish after Mr. Jackson and a local scientist persuaded state authorities that it would be good business. And not only that, it would improve the famed, though vulnerable, water clarity of one of America’s greatest natural treasures.

Introduced to Lake Tahoe more than a century ago, the crayfish population has swelled to 280 million, up from 200 million just six years ago. Th…………… continues on New York Times