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An Illinois trucking company with 183 trucks and 171 drivers recently filed for chapter 11 protection, Freight Waves reported. Founded in June 2010, Nationwide Cargo Inc. of East Dundee, Illinois, hauls general freight, fresh produce and meat, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website. The petition, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Wednesday, lists Hristo Angelov as the president of Nationwide Cargo. No reason was given as to why the carrier filed for bankruptcy protection, but it seeks to reorganize, according to the petition. Nationwide Cargo lists its assets as between $1 million and $10 million and its liabilities as between $10 million and $50 million. The petition lists the number of creditors as up to 49 but states that funds will not be available for unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

Rite Aid, the drugstore chain that filed for bankruptcy late last year to seek relief from mass opioid-related lawsuits, is delaying severance payments to employees who were laid off, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The email sent on Thursday said that Rite Aid has made “difficult decisions” over the course of its restructuring, including store closures and reductions in force, and that the company “must now take another difficult action to further preserve cash in the short-term.” The Philadelphia-based company said in a statement Friday that “we have resolved the matter and are resuming severance payments.” “Those who were impacted are being notified and can expect to receive their payments by the middle of next week,” the company said.

The Body Shop announced this month that it has closed all its stores in the United States as it filed for bankruptcy, The Hill reported. The Body Shop Canada Limited, the Canadian subsidiary of the UK-based cosmetics company, said it was working on ways to restructure and that its 105 store locations were currently open for business, according to the company announcement. But 33 store locations were starting liquidation sales, as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. Online sales in Canada also stopped. The Body Shop describes itself as “a once pioneering beauty brand known for its cruelty free heritage and ethical beauty products,” according to the announcement. It was founded by human rights activist Anita Roddick and was one of the first cosmetic companies to prohibit animal testing on products.

Vice Media, a one-time digital journalism sensation, will no longer publish stories and other content on its website, according to a memo sent to staff yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. The company, which emerged from bankruptcy court protection last year, is restructuring its business once again. Vice will transition to a studio model, distributing its content, including news, on other media platforms, with an emphasis on social media. “It is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously,” Chief Executive Officer Bruce Dixon said in the memo. The company is continuing with plans to sell its female-focused website Refinery 29. Additional layoffs will occur, with employees notified in coming weeks. The business, which began as an alternative music and culture magazine in Montreal in the 1990s, raised capital from high-profile investors such as Walt Disney Co. and Fox Corp. before running into a slowdown in digital advertising spending. At its peak it was valued at $5.7 billion.

Cruise operator Hornblower has filed for bankruptcy, saying its overnight cruise business hasn’t rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Private-equity firm Strategic Value Partners, an existing Hornblower creditor, has agreed to acquire majority ownership of the business in a proposed debt-for-equity swap that is part of a larger restructuring agreement that requires approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. SVP will also “provide a significant equity investment in the business,” Hornblower said in a statement. Private-equity firm Crestview Partners, which has been majority owner of the company, will keep a minority interest. SVP and Crestview also will provide $121 million in new-money financing. SVP will get four seats on a new five-person board, with Crestview getting the remaining one. Hornblower said the chapter 11 is expected to help cut the company’s debt load by $720 million. The company enters bankruptcy with assets of up to $1 billion, and liabilities of roughly $1.2 billion. Its debt load rose from $630 million in 2019 as the business tried to maintain liquidity during the pandemic.

Jobs growth far outstripped economists’ expectations in January, the latest surprise delivered by a labor market that has repeatedly defied predictions of a significant slowdown, the Wall Street Journal reported. Employers added a seasonally adjusted 353,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, the strongest in a year. December’s payroll gains were revised upward to 333,000 from 216,000, suggesting that higher interest rates haven’t cooled hiring as much as economists had previously thought. The unemployment rate in January held steady at 3.7%. Wages also outpaced expectations, jumping 4.5% last month from a year earlier, though hours worked dropped — a possible result of bad winter weather, some analysts said. Before Friday, recent data had shown the labor market cooling in a gradual manner, with wage growth easing and the pace of hiring moderating. A large share of hiring last year came from three sectors: government, healthcare, and restaurants and hotels. Other sectors have returned to a slower pace of growth.