• The Oregonian reports that Walmart will open its first west coast Neighborhood Market in West Linn, Oregon, this Friday. Walmart also reportedly plans to open Neighborhood Markets in Gresham, Lake Oswego, Oak Grove and Oregon City.

Here's an important line from the story that speaks to Walmart's strategic priorities: "The store will offer the popular 'Site-to-Store' service, which allows customers to ship online orders for free from the Wal-Mart website to the market for pick-up."

The first Walmart Neighborhood Market was opened in 1998; there are currently close to 200 in the company's fleet.

• Reuters reports that "U.S. lawmakers investigating Wal-Mart Stores Inc for alleged bribery in Mexico are frustrated by the lack of cooperation they have received from the company, a committee staffer familiar with the investigation said.

"Attorneys for Wal-Mart briefed the committee earlier on Monday about the company's anti-corruption compliance program, the person said ... But Wal-Mart has not committed to briefing the panel on the substantive allegations raised by a New York Times report, a key request of the committee, said the staffer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity."

Walmart has said that it plans to cooperate with any investigation, though the story implies that it could be holding out hope that changes in Washington as a result of the November elections could work in its favor.

KC's View: I hope for Walmart's sake that its executives have learned the lesson that it is always the cover-up that will get you. because if they haven't, there are an awful lot of sharks that will smell blood in the water.