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Background music is no longer an afterthought at many airports. Some are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help lighten travelers' moods.

Albertsons is giving up on its merger with Kroger a day after it was rejected in two courts and it is suing the grocery chain, saying it didn't do enough to secure regulatory approval of the $24.6 billion agreement.

A federal judge has temporarily halted a proposed merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons, an action that could scuttle the deal. U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson issued the ruling Tuesday after holding a three-week hearing in Portland, Oregon.

Kroger and Albertsons have made their final argument in federal court in support of their proposed merger. Lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission and for the supermarket chains gave closing arguments on Tuesday at the end of a three-week hearing on the commission's request for a temporary injunction to block the $24.6 billion deal.

Kroger and Albertsons will defend their plan to merge in a hearing scheduled to begin Monday in federal court in Oregon. In October 2022, the chains proposed what would be the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history. They say joining together would help them compete with big rivals like Walmart and Costco.