Hostess Strike update: Judge orders Hostess to mediate with union

Twinkies won't die that easily after all.

   Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union will go into mediation to try and resolve their differences, meaning the Irving, Texas-based company won't go out of business just yet. The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court citing a crippling strike last week.

   The bankruptcy judge hearing the case says that the parties haven't gone through the critical step of mediation and asked the lawyer for the bakery's union to ask his client, who wasn't present, if he would agree to participate.

   The case is being heard by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York in White Plains, N.Y.