Thursday, July 23, 2020

Walmart to close stores on Thanksgiving Day

Walmart stores nationwide will be closed on Thanksgiving Day this year, company officials said in a news release. Walmart President and CEO said the decision was made to allow employees to spend the holiday with their families. Company officials said Sam’s Clubs stores would also be closed for the holiday. “We know this has been a trying year, and our associates have stepped up. We hope they will enjoy a special Thanksgiving Day at home with their loved ones,” he said. “We are certainly thankful to our people for all of their efforts.” (Walmart)

Dollar Tree, Family Dollar reconsider coronavirus pandemic face mask policy

The wearing of masks is now a request, instead of a rule at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. The discount stores have reversed the decision to require shoppers to wear a mask while inside the business. Instead, they are requesting customers to wear them where there are no state or local ordinance to do so. The policy is the opposite of many retailers that have issued rules over the past few weeks requiring shoppers to wear a mask. Those stores include Walmart, Target, Home Depot and PetSmart among others. In areas where mask wearing is required by state or local mandates, shoppers will have to wear them inside Dollar Tree or Family Dollar stores. (USA Today)

Chinese hackers charged by Justice Department with trying to steal US coronavirus research

The Department of Justice announced it has charged two Chinese hackers with trying to steal U.S. COVID-19 research as well as other sensitive information from businesses and government agencies. The 11-count indictment against a 34 year-old man and a 31-year-old man alleges the Chinese nationals hacked into the computer systems of hundreds of companies, government organizations as well as individual dissidents and clergy. They also allegedly broke into the accounts of democratic and human rights activists in the United States, Hong Kong and mainland China. The Justice Department alleges their con, which for a decade had allegedly been stealing sensitive information, was not only for personal financial gain but also to benefit the Chinese government. (Fox News)

‘Golden Girls’ home for sale and it can be yours for about $3M

The house from the iconic tv show “The Golden Girls” is on the market. The four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath house, which is in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, California is listed at $2,999,000. “Architecture, location, and a slice of Hollywood history,” the listing says. The home, which was built in 1955, is being remodeled on the inside for the first time in 65 years, according to the listing. “The Golden Girls” was a sitcom television series on the air from 1985 to 1992. The show starred Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty as four older women who share friendship and a home in Miami, Florida. (WPEC)

Michigan judge denies release of teenage girl who was jailed after not doing homework

A 15-year-old Black girl who has been incarcerated in Michigan since mid-May after she failed to do her online schoolwork won’t be returning home, a Judge decided earlier this week, in a case that has stoked outrage that it is emblematic of systemic racism and the criminalization of black children. The Oakland County Judge determined that the girl has been benefiting from a residential treatment program at a juvenile detention center, but is not yet ready to be with her mother. During a three-hour proceeding, the Judge told the girl that it was in her best interest to stay in the program after all of the progress she had been making. “Give yourself a chance to follow through and finish something,” the Judge said. “The right thing is for you and your mom to be separated for right now.” The girl told the Judge that she wanted to go home, adding that she misses her mom and can control herself. After the hearing, an attorney for the family confirmed that the little girl had been making strides, but the “fight for her release” is ongoing. The presiding Judge of the court’s Family Division has scheduled another hearing for September. (NBC News)

A 72-year-old woman was gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park when she tried to take a picture

A 72-year-old California woman was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park, a news release from the park said. The woman approached the bison to take a picture and got within 10 feet of it multiple times before it gored her on June 25, according to the release. The woman approached the bison several times near her campsite at Bridge Bay Campground in northwest Wyoming before the bison charged. She sustained multiple goring wounds and was treated by rangers before being flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for further treatment. “The series of events that led to the goring suggest the bison was threatened by being repeatedly approached to within 10 feet,” Yellowstone’s senior bison biologist said in the release. “Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail. If that doesn’t make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge,” the spokesperson added. The attack serves as a reminder that “wildlife in Yellowstone National Park are wild,” the release said. Park visitors must stay 25 yards away from all large animals in the park including bison, elk, bighorn sheep, deer, moose and coyotes, the release said. If people encounter bears and wolves they should stay 100 yards away. (Fox 2 Now)

Rich Americans spew more carbon pollution at home than poor

Rich Americans produce nearly 25% more heat-trapping gases than poorer people at home, according to a comprehensive study of U.S. residential carbon footprints. Scientists studied 93 million housing units in the nation to analyze how much greenhouse gases are being spewed in different locations and by income, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Residential carbon emissions comprise close to one-fifth of global warming gases emitted by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Using federal definitions of income level, the study found that energy use by the average higher income person’s home puts out 6,482 pounds of greenhouse gases a year. For a person in the lower income level, the amount is 5,225 pounds, the study calculated. (AP News)

KFC partners with 3D-bioprinting firm to make chicken nuggets from plant matter and poultry cells

Kentucky Fried Chicken has partnered with Moscow-based company 3D Bioprinting Solutions to create an artificial chicken nugget in the laboratory. The new bioprinting technology under development will print meat using a mixture of “chicken cells and plant material.” The move is an effort to create a more environmentally friendly and healthy alternative to real chicken meat. It is part of the company’s “restaurant of the future concept.” KCF says that the end product will have the taste and texture of chicken meat with very little involvement for the animals. The nuggets will supposedly be “cleaner” than its contemporary counterpart. (Tech Spot)

Man walks into gas station holding ax then steals a bag of chips in Rochester Hills

A 24-year-old man was arrested after walking into a Rochester Hills, Michigan gas station with an ax and confronting the store clerk. Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies arrested the ax-wielding man after he walked into a 7-Eleven. The 7-Eleven clerk told deputies the man then dropped the ax, walked behind the counter and confronted him, according to a release from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. The man then took the clerk’s glasses off, threw them and got very close to his face before walking out from behind the counter and began eating a bag of chips from the store. The clerk was then able to kick the axe underneath a shelf and out of reach, according deputies. Deputies took the man into custody for his own safety, according to the release. He was transported to Troy Beaumont hospital for committal and a medical evaluation. The man’s mother later told deputies that he has paranoid schizophrenia and has not taken medication for several months. No injuries were reported from the incident and it is still under investigation. (Detroit Free Press)

Man arrested for printing porn at Walmart for ‘the homies who were locked up’

An Ogden, Utah man is facing a felony distribution charge after police say he was spotted printing pornography at a Walmart photo center. According to the probable cause statement, on May 28, witnesses complained to Walmart Loss Prevention, saying a 22-year-old man was printing off pornographic images at the Walmart photo center. Those who complained said the images appeared to show underage females, something the man denies. Police used surveillance video to identify the man because of his “notable tattoos.” He was arrested Sunday, July 19. That’s when police say he admitted to printing off the pornography so he could “send it to the homies who were locked up,” the probable cause statement says. He denied the images were of underage females. He is facing one third-degree felony charge — distribution of pornographic material. He was on probation for other crimes at the time of his arrest. (KUTV)

Dancing robots replace fans at Japanese baseball game

With their stadium devoid of fans due to coronavirus restrictions, Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have come up with an imaginative replacement: dancing robots. Before their most recent Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) game against Rakuten Eagles recently, over 20 robots danced to the team’s fight song on a podium in the otherwise empty stand. Two different robots, including SoftBank’s humaniod robot ‘Pepper’ and others on four legs like a dog, stamped and shimmied in a choreographed dance that is usually performed by the Hawks’ fans before games in the 40,000 capacity Fukuoka Dome. Some of the robots wore Hawks caps and waved flags supporting the team. (Reuters)

Climate change on track to wipe out polar bears by 2100

Climate change is starving polar bears into extinction, according to research that predicts the apex carnivores could all but disappear within the span of a human lifetime. In some regions they are already caught in a vicious downward spiral, with shrinking sea ice cutting short the time bears have for hunting seals, scientists say. Their dwindling body weight undermines their chances of surviving Arctic winters without food, the scientists added. On current trends, the study concluded, polar bears in 12 of 13 subpopulations analysed will have been decimated within 80 years by the galloping pace of change in the Arctic, which is warming twice as fast as the planet as a whole. There is not enough data for six others to make a determination as to their fate. (Phys.org)

FDA calls for removal of fruity, disposable e-cigarettes

United States health officials are cracking down on fruity disposable electronic cigarettes popular with teenagers, saying the companies never received permission to sell them in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration sent a letter recently telling the company behind Puff Bar e-cigarettes to remove them from the market within 15 business days, including flavors like mango, pink lemonade and strawberry. An undated notice on the company’s website says online sales and distribution have ceased “until further notice.” The agency also sent warning letters to nine other companies either selling similarly unauthorized e-cigarettes or nicotine solutions that illegally appeal to children. Some of those mimic packaging of sweets and cereals like Twinkies and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (ABC News)

Thursday Splashes Us With:

• Gorgeous Grandma Day
• Hot Enough For Ya Day
• Intern Day
• Refreshment Day
• Vanilla Ice Cream Day