Morning Minutes: Cuba targeted for exports, hospital debt rises
Here are this morning’s top business headlines from across Missouri:
Missouri ag director eyeing Cuba as export market
Gov. Jay Nixon has encouraged the Missouri Department of Agriculture to look for opportunities arising from President Barack Obama’s order for the U.S. to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba, and the state’s director of agriculture says that could mean a trade mission to the country involving agriculture and business leaders.
As charity care declines, Missouri hospitals see rise in bad debt
Missouri hospitals are providing less charity care but winding up with more unpaid patient bills, according to new data from the Missouri Hospital Association.
What KC-area companies caught Wall Street’s eye in 2014?
Liquor, police cameras and auto parts were among the products that helped make Kansas City-area companies Wall Street darlings in 2014, when more than half of the region’s publicly traded firms kept ahead of the market’s torrid pace.
Patriot Coal idles two Kentucky mining operations
Patriot Coal is idling two western Kentucky mines that employ about 670 people as the St. Louis-based company ponders the future of those operations.
Burger chain poised for IPO has St. Louis roots
Shake Shack, a New York-based fast-casual burger chain that on Monday filed for an initial public offering, was founded by restauranteur Danny Meyer, a St. Louis native and John Burroughs High School graduate.
