By MATT OTT

Nathan’s Famous, which opened as a 5-cent hot dog stand in Coney Island more than a century ago, has been sold to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods in a $450 million all-cash deal, the companies announced Wednesday.

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Smithfield, which has held rights to produce and sell Nathan’s products in the U.S., Canada and at Sam’s Clubs in Mexico since 2014, will acquire all of Nathan’s outstanding shares for $102 each. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Smithfield jumped nearly 9% higher in midday trading, to $100.81 a share.

Smithfield said it expects to achieve annual savings of about $9 million within two years of closing the deal.

“As a long-time partner, Smithfield has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to investing in and growing our brand while maintaining the utmost quality and customer service standards,” said Nathan’s CEO Eric Gatoff.

Nathan’s board of directors, which own or control nearly 30% of the outstanding shares of Nathan’s Famous common stock, approved the buyout and agreed to recommend to its shareholders to vote in favor of the deal.

Smithfield, which also owns the Gwaltney bacon and Armour frozen meat brands, rang up more than a billion dollars in operating profit in 2024 on sales of $14.1 billion. It’s on track to eclipse both those figures when it reports its fourth-quarter results.

Smithfield shares were unchanged in midday trading Wednesday at $23.39.

In fiscal 2025, Nathan’s reported profit of $24 million on revenue approaching $150 million.

Entrepreneur and local small business advocate Sheletta Brundidge is teaming up with a state agency to connect food businesses to support during an immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

Sheletta Brundidge (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Hosted by Brundidge’s nonprofit and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the free lunch-and-learn event, called, “Growing Food & Agriculture Businesses,” will connect food producers, vendors and entrepreneurs with support, resources and funding opportunities that are available through the agriculture department.

The Feb. 2 event comes at a time when some local businesses are afraid to open their doors due to “Operation Metro Surge,” which has sent thousands of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

“The immigration crackdown is destroying the infrastructure that entrepreneurs and small business owners have been working to build up for years,” Brundidge told the Pioneer Press on Wednesday.

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“ICE is terrorizing our citizens and people are afraid to leave the house,” she said. “If they are afraid to leave the house, they aren’t coming to your pop-up, they aren’t buying your products and you are going out of business.”

The upcoming event will include information on starting a food business in Minnesota, accessing commercial kitchens, ingredient sourcing, wholesale markets and grant programs.

Assistant Commissioner Patrice Bailey and other MDA staff will also be available to help food entrepreneurs navigate licensing, marketing and whether to sell under cottage food versus wholesale, Brundidge said.

Catered by Afro Deli, the event kicks off at 11 a.m. at 625 N. Robert Street. To register, go to http://pipr.es/BvY45zT.

Local shops speak out

Some local businesses are speaking out about ICE actions and decrying the death of Minneapolis mother Renee Good, who was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7.

Mischief Toy Store, located on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue, is being vocal about its feelings toward ICE by handing out whistles and posting signs on social media that read “No Ice: Resist Fascism.” The toy store caught the attention of ICE this week after ABC News ran a story about its activism. “Three hours later, two plainclothes ICE agents came into our store and served us with a Notice of Inspection,” said owner Dan Marshall.

The Black Hart of St. Paul, Makwa Coffee in Roseville and 620 Club in St. Paul are among the businesses making their stances known. Wes Burdine, owner of Black Hart, said he has gotten some blowback over his vocal opposition to the president and ICE. He recently received an email from someone telling him he’s alienating half of his customers, which he disputes.

Upcoming strike

Thousands of union members, religious faithful and ordinary citizens are expected to participate in a massive statewide economic strike on Friday that organizers are hoping will bring an end to ICE activity in Minnesota.

The event, called “A Day of Truth and Freedom,” is being organized by union representatives, faith leaders and community members who are urging Minnesotans not to go to work, school or go shopping in response to the ongoing federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.

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Businesses, stores and restaurants across the metro area have announced plans to be closed on Friday. Among them is Mississippi Market Co-op, which has three stores in St. Paul, Claddagh Coffee, J. Selby’s, Wet Paint, River Market Co-op in Stillwater, Marc Heu Patisserie and others.

Some businesses are modifying their approach: Catzen Coffee, on Grand Avenue in St. Paul, plans to pause its regular business model to open for the day as a community space with free drip coffee.

“A Day of Truth and Freedom” will culminate in a 2 p.m. rally and march through downtown Minneapolis. The rally will start at the Commons, at 425 Portland Ave. S., organizers say.

By TERESA MEDRANO

MADRID (AP) — Blanket draped over her shoulders and a bandage on her cheek, Ana García issued a desperate plea: she needed help finding her dog, Boro.

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Hours earlier, 26-year-old García and her pregnant sister had been traveling with Boro by high-speed train from Malaga, their hometown in southern Spain, to capital Madrid. The tail of their train car jumped the rails for reasons that remain unclear, then was smashed into by a train coming in the opposite direction and that tumbled down an adjacent slope.

At least 43 people died in the crash and more than 150 were injured, including some right in front of García. Rescue crews helped her and her sister out of the tilted train car.

García saw Boro briefly, then he bolted.

After receiving medical treatment, a limping García told reporters she was going back to find him.

“Please, if you can help, look for the animals,” she said, choked up and holding back tears. “We were coming back from a family weekend with the little dog, who’s family, too.”

In the aftermath of one of Spain’s worst railway disasters, Spaniards on social media rallied to find Boro and major Spanish media outlets have reported on the search for the missing mutt.

Thousands amplified García’s call, sharing video of her interview. Photos of Boro, a medium-sized black dog with white eyebrows and a tuft of white fur on his chest, went viral alongside phone numbers for García and her family. The Associated Press was not able to reach anyone through these numbers.

Television broadcaster TVE’s filming of the crash site Monday afternoon brought a jolt of hope: for a few short seconds, a dog resembling Boro could be seen running through a nearby field — an area fenced off while investigators and rescuers continue their search for victims and evidence. But no one managed to locate the elusive pup.

The search intensified on Wednesday when an animal rescue patrol coordinated by an animal rights political party was authorized to enter the accident perimeter. An environmental agent from the Civil Guard spotted Boro — alive and well — and then tried to catch him, but the dog fled into the woods, according to a statement to the AP.

Social media was already anticipating a much-desired happy ending, with dozens of posts declaring: “Boro has been located!”

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge overseeing Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal case said Wednesday that two members of Congress lacked the legal right to intervene and press their demand for a court-appointed observer to ensure the government complies with a new law ordering release of its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

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But the lawmakers are free to bring a civil lawsuit or work through the tools they have in Congress to improve oversight, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled.

U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., had co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act that was signed into law by President Donald Trump in November. It required the public disclosure of files related to the sex trafficking investigations into Epstein, the late financier, and Maxwell, his longtime confidant.

Engelmayer largely agreed with the Justice Department’s insistence that he had no authority to grant the congressmen’s request to speed the release of that material. They had urged Engelmayer to name an independent monitor to ensure that the government immediately released the more than 2 million documents it has identified as investigative materials. Khanna and Massie said the slow disclosure of the documents violated the law and had caused “serious trauma to survivors.”

A month after the deadline had passed for the materials to be made public, only about 12,000 documents have been made public. The department has said the release of the files was delayed by redactions required to protect the identities of those who were abused.

Engelmayer said the questions raised by Khanna and Massie raised about whether the department was complying with the law were “undeniably important and timely.” But, he said, the way in which the members of Congress were trying to intervene was not permitted.

The judge, who inherited Maxwell’s case after the trial judge was appointed to an appeals court, ruled that has no authority to supervise the department’s compliance with the new law, and that Massie and Khanna have no standing, or legal right, to insinuate themselves into Maxwell’s case.

Engelmayer said he has received letters and emails from Epstein abuse survivors in support of the lawmakers’ request for appointment of a neutral overseer.

“These express concern that DOJ otherwise will not comply with the Act,” wrote the judge, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama.

The department has been “paying ‘lip service’ to the victims” and “failing to treat us ‘with the solicitude’ we deserve,” survivors wrote, according to Engelmayer.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 sex trafficking conviction. She recently petitioned the federal court for her release, maintaining that new information has emerged that warrants her release. A jury found that she had helped to recruit girls for Epstein to abuse over the past quarter-century and had also participated in some of the abuse.

Epstein died in a federal jail in New York in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.