LAPD Uncovers $1M Stolen Rail Cargo, TA Services Expands Cross-Border, & Uber Acquires ezCater | The Morning Minute

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We kick things off in Southern California, where law enforcement just uncovered a massive cache of stolen rail freight hiding in plain sight. Los Angeles Police Department Detectives searched a Whittier shoe retailer called Shoes and Shoes last week, and found 59 pallets of branded merchandise connected to stolen BNSF and Union Pacific rail cargo. The recovered property was about $1 million in value, and included Nike, New Balance, Brooks and Sanuk footwear, along with Yeti cups and jugs, JanSport backpacks and shark vacuums. Police arrested a 45-year-old man on site, and booked him at Van Nuys Jail on suspicion of receiving stolen property. The man admitted to purchasing much of the inventory from brokers or middlemen that police characterized as illegitimate distributors. Meanwhile, a major expansion is reshaping the US-Mexico cross-border logistics landscape. TA Services announced Tuesday it has acquired two Texas trucking companies, Carmen Pacheco Transportation and Interload Forwarding. The deal adds 133 trucks, 123 drivers, and a massive 550,000 square feet of warehousing to TA Services' growing cross-border network. The transaction expands TA Services' footprint in El Paso and Laredo, Texas, two critical gateways for freight moving between the US and Mexico, and includes five warehouses plus a truckyard covering about 10 acres. The acquired carriers provide local and long-haul trucking, warehousing, cross-stocking, freight consolidation, brokerage, and customs-related services. TA Services' CEO Scott Shell emphasized that the acquisitions strengthen the company's ability to serve manufacturers moving freight through the US-Mexico corridor as the industrial economy continues to expand in 2026

Finally, Uber is making a colossal bet on high-value business deliveries. Uber Technologies announced Tuesday it has agreed to acquire the catering platform EasyCater in an all-cash transaction valued at $2.3 billion.

The deal combines EasyCater's corporate catering business with Uber Eats and Uber for Business, giving Uber access to a large pool of higher-value scheduled deliveries generated by corporate meetings, employee meal programs, and events. EasyCater generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings during the trailing 12 months, growing in the high teens year over year, with an average order value exceeding $400.

The platform allows businesses to order from more than 140,000 restaurants nationwide and is already profitable on a non-GAAP operating income basis.