Sustainability

COLTON, Calif. - Stater Bros. Markets will award $185,000 to 37 charities in San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa - Hy-Vee is looking at banning returned cans and bottles from at least some of its stores.

SAN FRANCISCO - Officials here are thinking about charging supermarkets 17 cents for each grocery bag -- paper or plastic -- as a way to keep down the use of plastic bags specifically and cut down on overall waste.

COLTON, Calif. - Stater Bros. Markets said yesterday that it would open a full-service supermarket at Oak Valley Towne Center in Beaumont, Calif. on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

WASHINGTON - Ann Veneman, the United States' first female Agriculture Secretary, resigned after four years on a job during which she earned high marks for the handling of the first reported case of mad cow disease on American soil last winter.

SAN ANTONIO - H-E-B Grocery Co. and Southwest Airlines joined forces yesterday to celebrate H-E-B's 100th anniversary by delivering the largest food bank donation ever made in a single day.

Austin, Texas - Whole Foods Market Inc. reported a 27 percent rise in quarterly profit in its fourth-quarter ended Sept. 26, while on the sales side, the retailer produced a 24 percent increase, 1.2 percent ahead of expectations.

COLTON, Calif. - As part of its "We Believe in America" new-store expansion program, Stater Bros. Markets will break ground at the site of what will be its newest and most modern full-service supermarket on Tues., Oct. 26.