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Is “skim milk” just the same as “whole milk” with the cream skimmed off? Not according to the state of Florida, where producers of skim milk must either add vitamins to their product or be forced to carry the stigma of it being categorized as an “imitation milk product.”

This disagreement is at the heart of a lawsuit [PDF] filed last year in federal court by Ocheesee Creamery against the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs.

The dispute actually goes back to 2012, when the state notified the creamery, whose pasteurized skim milk included no additional ingredients, that if it didn’t start putting vitamins into the final product that it would have to be labeled as “Non-Grade ‘A’ Milk Product, Natural Milk Vitamins Removed.”

In the complaint, which alleges violation of the business’s First Amendment rights, the creamery says it “refuses to inject its skim milk with any additives, and it likewise refuses to confuse and mislead its customers by mislabeling its safe, all-natural, pure skim milk.”

According to Florida state law, “imitation milk products” are those foods that have the “physical characteristics, such as taste, flavor, body, texture, or appearance, of milk,” but do not fall within the state’s definition of “milk products” because they are “nutritionally inferior to the product imitated.”

The state contends that some vitamins and nutrients are removed when the cream is skimmed off of whole milk, and so skim milk must re-introduce those items to be nutritionally equal to milk.

The AP reports that, in court this week for motions on summary judgment, a lawyer for the state argued that consumers expect whole milk and skim milk to have the same nutritional value.

“Ocheessee’s product is imitating — literally imitating — skim milk,” the attorney explained.

But the judge seemed to question the logic of this way of thinking, pointing out that — by its very nature — skim milk is expected to be different than whole milk.

“You know something’s been removed in order to make it skim milk,” noted the judge, who also appeared to take issue with the state’s application of the “imitation” label.

“It’s hard to call this imitation milk. It came right out of the cow,” said the judge. “Anyone who reads imitation skim milk would think it didn’t come out of a cow.”

The creamery’s attorney pointed out that when the creamery’s current owners purchased the business six years ago, they were told this product had to be labeled as “skim milk” because of its fat content, which makes sense.

“The creamery sold its skim milk for three years without anyone being confused or harmed,” said the lawyer.

It’s in the judge’s hands to decide on whether to grant summary judgment now on this case or move forward toward a planned November trial.

We could only find this relevant Simpson clip dubbed into Spanish, but you get the idea:

Target is trying to compete with Walmart on prices, and with Amazon on both price and delivery times. In all that confusion of fighting battles on different fronts, the retailer has had trouble doing one really important thing: keep its stores’ shelves stocked. And that, says Target CEO Brian Cornell, is not cool.

During Target’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday, Cornell talked about the retailer’s “incredibly complex supply chain” that was developed for the pre-Internet business model that had products going from manufacturers to warehouses to store shelves.

But the CEO acknowledged that this linear way of thinking about the supply chain is now “outdated” with the intrusion of e-commerce. Target is now having to ship things directly from warehouses to Target.com shoppers, meaning some items never make their way to retail store shelves.

“Frankly, as a result, some retail fundamentals have started to suffer,” explained Cornell. “Specifically, in-stocks in our stores have been unacceptable so far this year. Our guests deserve better.”

Target’s John Mulligan, who is already the retailer’s Chief Financial Officer (and who acted as interim CEO before Cornell’s hiring), is being tasked with sorting out the supply chain issues under his new gig as Chief Operating Officer.

Mulligan told analysts that he’s investigating short- and longterm solutions to the issue so that Target.com can continue to grow without leaving Target’s retail shoppers from staring at bare shelves and wondering when their favorite store turned into Walmart.

Target CEO says store’s stocking problems are “unacceptable” [Star Tribune]

DC Animal Watch Washington Post These cases were handled by the Washington Humane Society, which operates its shelter at 7319 Georgia Ave. NW, and the District's, at 1201 New York Ave. NE. For information or assistance, call 202-723-5730 or go to www.washhumane.org.

Prince William County community calendar, Aug. 20-26, 2015 Washington Post Old Town Manassas walking tour Costumed interpreters share stories about the city during and after the Civil War. Thursday-Friday at noon. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. www.manassasmuseum.org. $5. and more »

WJLA

Mom arrested for allegedly locking child in car seat at home alone for 6 hours WJLA MANASSAS, Va. (WJLA) — Prince William County Police arrested 24-year-old Sarra Quali on charges of felony child neglect Tuesday. On Aug. 18 at approximately 7:47 a.m., police responded to the 13900 block of Dumfries Road in Manassas for a report of ... and more »

Late yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug flibanserin, which will hit the market under the brand name Addyi. You’ll see a lot of headlines and smirking news anchors using the phrase “Viagra for women” when talking about the drug, but that’s only correct in one sense. This drug wouldn’t be for sale to patients at all if it weren’t for the success of Viagra as a drug marketed directly to consumers.

Addyi works on the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin in the brain and not on blood flow to the genitals. It has to be taken daily, and works in a similar manner to popular antidepressants. That’s because it is one, or it was supposed to be. The first published animal studies on the drug appeared twenty years ago, but it apparently wasn’t all that promising as an antidepressant.

What it did have was a minor effect on the libido of female test subjects. Someone could sell that. It’s taken three attempts here in the U.S. and the better part of a decade, but after FDA approval, Addyi will go on sale in October. Medical providers will have to undergo training (an online video) before they can prescribe it.

One of the factors that helped the drug gain approval was the work of an alleged grassroots group. Even the Score accused the FDA of sex drug sexism for failing to approve any medications that treat Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder, an actual diagnosis defined as a recurring lack of sexual fantasies and desire in women who haven’t yet reached menopause, which causes the patient distress and problems in her relationship with her partner. Problems caused by a known medical condition or the side effects of a different medication do not count.

“There are 26 FDA approved drugs to treat various sexual dysfunctions for men (41 if you count generics!),” declares the website of Addyi booster Even the Score, “but still not a single one for women’s most common sexual complaint.” What none of those drugs do is treat day-to-day low sexual desire in men, and critics of Even the Score say that there are really only eight drugs on the market for erectile dysfunction. It’s pointless to “keep score” when the new drug treats a different problem and works on a different area of the body.

Drugs have side effects, though, and Addyi has some potentially dangerous ones: it can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure, fainting, and severe sleepiness, all of which can be worse when women take the drug along with alcohol or oral contraceptives. The drug performed better than placebo, but not by very much, and patients and their health care providers will have to decide whether the possible benefits are worth the possible risks. Addyi will cost $300 to $400 per month before insurance coverage.

FDA approves first treatment for sexual desire disorder [FDA]
Evening the score on sex drugs: feminist movement or marketing masquerade? [BMJ]
Women’s sex drug gets political hard sell [Politico]
Flibanserin: The Female Viagra is a Failed Me-too Antidepressant [Mad in America]
Even the Score: Women’s Sexual Health Equity [Official Site]

PREVIOUSLY:
FDA Closer To Approving Twice-Rejected Female Libido Drug

Retailers’ goal is to sell to us all “omnichannel,” selling to customers across platforms. When Walmart’s profits fell this quarter, the company promised shareholders a money-saving change that makes them seem cool and omnichannel: they’re keeping more of certain merchandise in distribution and less in stores, saving the expense of shipping and stocking items, and selling them online instead.

These items are still available to Walmart customers: they just have to order them online for delivery either to a nearby store or to their doorstep. If they have their purchases shipped to the store, maybe while they’re in the building, they’ll pick up some orange juice, a pack of socks, and an armful of frozen dinners. Only one of those items could have been ordered online from the distribution center.

Nobody asked us, but maybe if Walmart had less shelf space taken up with video games from 2007 and digital cameras old enough to attend middle school, they would have plenty of space in every store to stock everything. It’s not just about shelf space, of course: the Wall Street Journal reminds sad customers that keeping items in distribution centers instead of stocking them in every Wally World saves staff time, when merchandise doesn’t move until it’s actually purchased.

While store employees do fetch and ship items from Walmart store shelves, it’s more efficient to do so from a dedicated distribution center.

Wal-Mart Reins Back Inventory in a Revamped Supply Chain [Wall Street Journal]

Sure, you can go to Arby’s and order the off-menu Meat Mountain, which comes in at an estimated 1,275 calories and will probably attract some attention wherever you eat it. Or you could sample the meats available from Arby’s in a more modest way: by trying the chain’s new selection of petite “sliders,” or mini sandwiches that max out at 290 calories.

They are probably not meant to be served as they are in the picture, on a tray as a sort of meat tasting for only one person. In the real world outside of fast food menus, one sandwich would probably make a fine meal. Maybe with a small side of fries.

All of the sandwiches are on mini soft buns, and all of the sliders feature melted Swiss cheese slices, unless you aren’t into that. The varieties include:

• Chicken ‘n Cheese Slider (the “chicken” here is a breaded chicken tender)
• Corned Beef ‘n Cheese Slider
• Jalapeño Roast Beef Slider
• Roast Beef ‘n Cheese Slider
• Ham ‘n Cheese Slider

Also, we learned something important when looking up these sandwich varieties: Arby’s calls their side items “friends of meat.”

Why is there not a promotional comic book for kids called Captain Arby and the Friends of Meat yet?

FAST FOOD NEWS: Arby’s Sliders [The Impulsive Buy]
Sliders [Arby’s]

A cat was rescued from a high ledge in Ballston this morning.

The rescue took place around 9 a.m., several stories high at the Avalon Ballston Square Apartments (850 N. Randolph Street), after the cat had walked down a ledge from an apartment balcony and its owner was unable to reach it, according to Arlington County Fire Department spokesman Lt. Brian Edwards.

Firefighters used a ladder tower to pluck the cat from the ledge without incident, Edwards said.

Edwards couldn’t recall the fire department’s last cat rescue. He noted that “we don’t get a whole lot [of cat rescues] but there are a few throughout the year.”

Photo courtesy @B_Flipn

The post Firefighters Rescue Cat from Ballston High Rise appeared first on WTOP.

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Lynchburg College is considering changing its name to a university.

President Kenneth Garren tells The News & Advance (http://bit.ly/1JmJFyW ) that possible options include University of Lynchburg and Lynchburg University. Another option could be a name referring to the Central Virginia area as a whole.

Consultants began holding focus groups about the proposal last week.

Garren says the college’s strategic planning committee recommended a name change. Faculty members also favor the idea.

Enrollment in the private college’s 17 graduate degree programs has increased from about 390 to more than 600 since 2010. The programs include two doctoral programs.

Junior Matt Lamplugh says he’s concerned that changing the school’s name to university would deter prospective students looking for a small-college experience.

___

Information from: The News & Advance, http://www.newsadvance.com/

The post Lynchburg College considers changing name to university appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — Neil Diamond’s classic 1969 tune wasn’t written about this American bulldog mix, but it might as well have been.

Sweet Caroline arrived at the Washington Animal Rescue League from an overcrowded partner shelter along with her puppy, who was recently adopted. At just a year old, she’s a friendly goofball of a girl, who loves people and gets along with other dogs, although her exuberant play style may not endear her to all other canines (and may be too much for small children).

A wonderful, nurturing mother, Sweet Caroline is now looking for a loving adult home where she can be pampered and enjoy years of good times with her human companion.

Stop by the Washington Animal Rescue League to meet her soon.

The post Pet of the Week: Sweet Caroline appeared first on WTOP.

PotomacLocal.com

Manassas Park schools get an early start PotomacLocal.com Going back much earlier than surrounding localities, the Manassas Park Public School system is implementing a 'balanced calendar' with a school year that runs from August 17 to June 20. “Today was our first day, and we had a great opening – just a very ...

CBS Local

'Route 29 Batman' Dies in Western Md. Highway Crash CBS Local Batman was made famous when he was stopped by Montgomery County Police on March 21 at Route 29 and Prelude Drive. (Credit: MCPD). Related Tags: Baltimore Batman, batman. Latest News. Hot Female Athletes Our Top 20 List: Hottest Women ... and more »

A special week for a 105-year-old war hero Washington Post At 5-foot-1 and 110 pounds, she seems like an unlikely war hero. But seven decades ago, that's exactly what Laura Mallory was: welding, building and helping win World War II as one of the few black female workers at a Norfolk shipyard. And to hear ...

Are you thinking of putting a solar panel on your home, but not sure if the investment would be worthwhile? Google’s latest unusual online tool aims to take the guesswork out of the alternative energy investment.

Google today unveiled Project Sunroof, a tool that allows users to look up an address and find out just how useful those solar panels can be to both your wallet and your energy consumption.

“As the price of installing solar has gotten less expensive, more homeowners are turning to it as a possible option for decreasing their energy bill,” the company said on its website. “We want to make installing solar panels easy and understandable for anyone.”

Project Sunroof works by inputting your address in Google Maps and combining that information with other databases to create a personalized roof analysis.

The tool then computes how much sunlight hits your roof each year. Next, Google Sunroof will recommend an installation size to generate close to 100% of your electrical use based on your roof size, the amount of sun hitting the area and your electricity bill.

Finally, the tool generates your possible savings after considering current solar industry pricing data to run the numbers on leasing, taking a loan, or buying solar panels for your house. The equation also factors in federal and state tax credits, utility rebates and renewable energy credits in your area.

Of course, if you find that solar panel installation is something you’d like to pursue, Google will gladly send your information to local solar providers.

While Google’s latest tool may seem like it might only appeal to a smaller group of consumers, the use of solar panels has continuously grown over the last several years thanks in part to falling prices for the devices.

As we previously reported, during the last decade, industry and the Chinese government realized that solar power would be important in the future, which it is.

They responded to this prediction by building a huge number of solar panel factories and cranking out the panels in 2009, leading to a massive oversupply. That cut prices worldwide, making it a lot cheaper to cover your roof with solar panels.

[via VentureBeat]

Oftentimes, children of successful, well-known parents struggle to get out from their elder’s shadow. Such is the case for warehouse retailer Sam’s Club, which announced its desire this week to break away from its parent company Walmart.

The company announced a new strategy over the weekend that aims to differentiate the shopping experience at Sam’s Club from that of Walmart, the Wall Street Journal reports.

“We want to be less of a Walmart,” Sam’s Club chief executive Rosalind Brewer said before unveiling the updated strategy that includes increasing online sales and adding ancillary services like tax preparations.

Under the new plan, Sam’s Club stores will begin catering to households that make more than $45,000 per year, by carrying more organic food, brand-name clothing and higher-end household products like 1,000-count Egyptian sheets.

The changes come after the membership club has struggled in recent years to capture more affluent shoppers, while big box stores have encroached on the company’s former sweet-spot of selling discounted bulk-sized products.

Some analysts say that Walmart itself is responsible for Sam’s Club’s faltering sales and popularity, as the big box retailer is the warehouse store’s largest competitor.

Walmart founder Sam Walton launched Sam’s Club in 1983 as a place for small businesses to stock up on discounted bulk items, the WSJ points out.

However, over the years the two retailer have become more alike, with analysts saying nearly 81% of Sam’s Club shoppers also shop at Walmart.

Brewer doesn’t agree that Walmart is Sam’s biggest rival, but she does believe that the two companies should stick to their own lanes: Sam’s selling bulk items and Walmart selling more single items.

The WSJ reports that Sam’s is already spreading its wings by testing higher-end stores in two regions. Those locations, which aim to attract shoppers from stores like Whole Foods, focus more on individual prepared meals, pricey furniture, apparel and food alongside rows of bulk items typical of the warehouse stores.

This isn’t the first time Sam’s Club has tried to sidestep its parent company. Over the years, the retailer has dabbled in higher-priced products, but turnover in the executive offices has largely hampered those efforts.

Sam’s Club Aims to Be Less Like Wal-Mart [The Wall Street Journal]

Though the bird flu crisis might be over now, the toll it’s taken on egg and poultry producers in the U.S. will continue for quite some time. Industry experts say egg prices will climb higher than previously predicted, and stay high through 2016. Meanwhile, frozen wholesale turkeys will also cost more this Thanksgiving than last year.

After 48 million chickens and turkeys were destroyed this year during the avian flu outbreak, limited supplies of baby poultry and not enough space to house them could make it tough for farmers to rebuild their poultry populations, reports Reuters.

Egg prices are going to tick up higher than experts thought, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and could stay high into 2016, while frozen turkeys will likely cost 19% more than they did last year for Thanksgiving.

It’s been two months since the last case of flu was reported, but poultry producers say it could take two years or so of rebuilding to get their flocks back to where they used to be.

Many Iowa chicken sites have yet to get approval from the USDA to bring in new replacement birds, further slowing rebuilding efforts until farms can bring in egg-laying chickens this fall. Many poultry sites will probably remain closed until the end of this year, because of the time it takes to fully and properly clean farms to make sure the virus has been eradicated.

Things could get bad again if wild ducks spread the flu during their seasonal migrations as well.

The USDA hiked its estimate for wholesale frozen turkeys in the second quarter to $1.28 to $1.36 per pound, up from an average of about $1.14 a year earlier. Though turkeys often go for a discount to drive holiday sales, you might not get as much of a deal as previous years.

“Some chains might not discount them quite as heavily,” USDA agricultural economist Dave Harvey told Reuters.

And as we reported previously egg prices are at a record high, with wholesale shell egg prices in the Midwest hitting $2.88 a dozen in the first week of August — almost twice the price a year earlier. These prices have restaurants and stores cutting back on eggs: in June, Texas-based Whataburger trimmed its breakfast hours to cut down on the number of eggs it went through, McDonald’s could end up putting the kibosh on its all-day breakfast menu expansion, while Dunkin’ Donuts has already canceled a major promotion it had planned because of tight supplies.

Bird flu aftershocks to drive U.S. turkey, egg prices higher [Reuters]

You want to be with your animal. You can't always be. In the wild, your animal would understand this. In the wild, your animal would hide in a little hidey-hole and sit patiently while you went out hunting. You'd bring back food, your animal would yip with delight, then you'd all eat. After, you'd howl at the moon, play Monopoly and call it a night. That's the law of the wild at work.

But in this world, your animal is distracted by unnatural things. Things like chewable socks and scratchable sofas and your upstairs neighbor who seems to like tap dancing while he holds a jackhammer. How can an animal survive in a scary scary apartment when its alpha is away?

Crates. Seriously. They're like tiny habitats where the animal is in charge. They're a place of love and safety. And, best of all, you don't come home to a leather chair that's your sweet little pet has turned into a hidey-hole.

Dimensions
Small:	24"L  x 18 "W  x 19"H
Medium:	30"L  x 19 "W  x 21"H
Intermediate:	36"L  x 23 "W  x 25"H
Large:	42"L  x 28 "W  x 30"H
Extra Large:	48"L  x 30 "W  x 33"H

 

In the box:

• (1)Carlson Heavy-Duty Two Door Wire Crate

 

NBC4 Washington

More than 1000 Animals Adopted on Clear The Shelters Day in DC, Md. and Va. NBC4 Washington A look at Saturday's Clear The Shelters adoption effort, which resulted in more than 1,000 pet adoptions from animal shelters around the region. "NBC News Fur's" Wendy Rieger has the story. (Published Saturday, Aug. 15, 2015). Updated at 11:14 PM EDT ... and more »

Inside NoVA

Two indecent exposures reported in two days at Manassas Walmart Inside NoVA Keith Anar Williams, 42, of the 200 block of Mosby Street in Manassas Park, is charged with obscene sexual display and indecent exposure. Jobs1 300x250 12-1-14. Posted: Friday, August 14, 2015 9:21 am | Updated: 10:17 am, Fri Aug 14, 2015. and more »

(Updated at 5:00 p.m.) Arlington County and VDOT are considering building a bus maintenance facility on the east end of Columbia Pike, according to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

The powerful Arizona Senator sent a letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh on Wednesday urging him to oppose a planned realignment of Columbia Pike that’s being sought by the county. McCain said the alignment would allow construction of the bus facility but would reduce the number of potential interment spaces available to Arlington National Cemetery as it expands to include the former Navy Annex site.

“We should instead pursue an alignment that maximizes the number of interment sites and places restrictions on the remaining property that ensure whatever is built reflects the solemnity of this national cemetery,” McCain wrote. “It would be shameful to have to tell the family of a fallen American hero that there is no space available at Arlington National Cemetery, because rather than expand its grounds, Arlington County and the Virginia Department of Transportation decided to build a bus maintenance facility.”

The expansion of the cemetery to the Navy Annex grounds, however, requires the federal government and Arlington County to agree to a land swap.

Brian Stout, the county’s federal government liaison, said late Friday afternoon that a bus facility is just one use that’s being considered for the land along a realigned Columbia Pike. There are no concrete plans for such a facility, and a formal planning process will not begin until the land swap takes place, he said.

An Arlington County heritage center and parking for the Air Force Memorial are among the other potential uses for the land, said Stout.

Stout said Arlington County, VDOT and the U.S. Army reached a “verbal agreement” on July 16, outlining a swap that would give the Army 38 acres of interment space for Arlington National Cemetery north of a realigned Columbia Pike.

According to Stout, that that represents a 250 percent increase in burial space provided to the cemetery compared to space that would be available without a land swap. The swap would reduce the footprint of the road network from 23 to 9 acres, and would provide Arlington County with 7.5 acres of land south of the Pike for county use, Stout said.

Stout said it’s incorrect to say that the county is “planning” to build a bus facility on the land, though it is a potential use. He denied that discussion of a bus facility has “stalled” talks with the Army, as McCain claims.

Earlier this year the Arlington County Board approved a $14.2 million project to expand and enhance its Arlington Transit bus facility along S. Eads Street and Route 1. Construction on the project is expected to begin this month and last 18 months.

Despite the large investment, the county notes on the project page that an additional ART facility is needed, especially in order to enhance bus service on Columbia Pike in the wake of the cancellation of the Pike streetcar project.

“The new bus facility will not be large enough to fully house the existing ART fleet, or current plans for fleet expansion, nor will it accommodate additional buses that may be necessary to enhance bus service along Columbia Pike and Crystal City-Pentagon City,” the county says. “Where to add bus maintenance and parking space is one of many County needs being examined by the Community Facilities Study, a broad-based, year-long planning effort launched in January 2015 by the Arlington County Board and the Arlington School Board.”

The full letter from Sen. McCain, after the jump.

Flickr pool photo (bottom) by Jeff Reardon

Dear Secretary McHugh:

Arlington National Cemetery is our Nation’s most revered and hallowed ground where those who gave the last full measure of devotion have been laid to rest since the Civil War. Unfortunately, space at the cemetery is limited, which makes it imperative that we seek all available opportunities to maximize what space remains in and around the cemetery. With the demolition of the Navy Annex, additional land is now available for the expansion of the cemetery once Columbia Pike is realigned through the Defense Access Road program.

It has recently come to my attention that efforts to work with Arlington County and the Virginia Department of Transportation have stalled because of their insistence on an alignment that would reduce the number of interment sites and allow the county to construct a bus maintenance facility. I am sure you would agree that we should instead pursue an alignment that maximizes the number of interment sites and places restrictions on the remaining property that ensure whatever is built reflects the solemnity of this national cemetery.

It would be shameful to have to tell the family of a fallen American hero that there is no space available at Arlington National Cemetery, because rather than expand its grounds, Arlington County and the Virginia Department of Transportation decided to build a bus maintenance facility. As things stand today, it is estimated that the cemetery will run out of interment sites in less than 10 years. However, including the adjacent properties would extend the life of the cemetery and allow another 7,600 interment sites to be added.

As you proceed with discussions on this matter, as well as the transfer of property at Fort Monroe, I encourage you to pursue a solution that maximizes property for the cemetery and restricts incompatible use, and to use whatever tools available to you to ensure this outcome.

Sincerely,

John McCain
Chairman
Senate Armed Services Committee

The post UPDATED: McCain Claims Expansion of Cemetery Stalled Due to Possible Bus Facility appeared first on WTOP.

Washington Times

John McCain fights to expand Arlington National Cemetery Washington Times The 624-acre Arlington National Cemetery has been active since the Civil War but will run out of grave sites by 2025. (Associated Press) more >. By Anjali Shastry - The Washington Times - Thursday, August 13, 2015. Sen. John McCain has asked the Army ... McCain Says Arlington Expansion Threatened by Bus FacilityCBS Local McCain: Arlington National Cemetery expansion threatened by bus facilityStars and Stripes National Mall Monuments Swept After Suspicious Package Found at Arlington ...NBC4 Washington Roll Call (blog) -Patch.com -Military.com all 27 news articles »

NBC4 Washington

Man Tried to Touch Women in Manassas Walmart, Police Say NBC4 Washington A man roamed through a Walmart store in Manassas, Va. this week, tried to touch several women and then exposed himself, police said. An employee told police he saw Keith Anare Williams, 42, approach several women in the store at 9401 Liberia Ave. on ... Police: Two Flashers in Two Days at Local Wal-MartPatch.com all 4 news articles »

Do you enjoy shopping at Target, but dislike getting out of your car? What if you could visit Target without the temptation to pick up random items and end up with a cart full of merchandise when you were only there to pick up one thing? Your salvation may be at hand: Target is expanding curbside pickup.

Paired with the news that the retailer also is about to try grocery delivery, it looks like maybe they don’t want us in their stores anymore at all. The appeal is obvious, though: it combines online shopping with not having to wait around for two days for your stuff to show up. At the same time, you don’t have to actually go into the store, which is the problem that

Target started this service with some stores near San Francisco, where they’ve been working with a startup called Curbside that provides the special app that lets stores know when you’re nearby, so they can get your package ready. Curbside has been working on a special outdoor pod for stores and malls that use its pickup service: whether these will be a San Francisco oddity or as familiar a sight outside stores as Redboxes have become, we’ll find out in the coming years.

So far, the expansion outside of San Francisco will be to ten Target stores in New York City and northern New Jersey, but prepare to have this become an even more common way to shop in coming years.

The owner of a Chick-Fil-A franchise in Austin, Texas needed to expand his restaurant, which required closing it for a few months. Instead of letting his workers go and wishing them luck finding work elsewhere, he decided to just keep paying them for the four months that the restaurant was under renovation. Wait, really?

Apparently not seeing his employees as disposable cogs in his fried chicken machine, the owner decided that he didn’t want to put his workers’ families through the hardship of being out of work or needing a new job in the interim. Some employees did go work at other local stores during the remodel, and the ones who stayed home had to take some online tests during their paid furlough.

“I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want my group to have to forgo their salaries’,” the franchisee told TV station WMAZ. He also gave employees, whose pay starts at $11 per hour, a $1 per hour raise for sticking with the company.

Now the new, larger store is open: it’s twice as big as the original restaurant, which has been open for 15 years. The store’s grand re-opening required helpers to come over from other stores to handle the crowds.

Texas Chick-fil-A owner paid employees’ salaries during remodeling [WMAZ]

Car shopping is something that you don’t want to do in a hurry. Especially when shopping for a used car. Especially when buying a used car from a stranger on Craigslist. A couple in Texas learned this important life lesson when they bought what they thought was a nice, cheap, low-mileage van. Well… it was cheap, and it’s a van.

The family says that they didn’t pay attention to what normally would have been red flags telling them to run away, because the deal was so good. The seller flashed his license at them, instead of providing a copy of his information. He claimed to be in a hurry to get back to work, yet made an appointment to show them the car anyway. They told their local CBS station that they ignored these warning signs in pursuit of an awesome deal.

That didn’t work out so well for them. They handed over the cash for the van, and lights on the dashboard began lighting up after just ten minutes of driving. The brakes didn’t work, there was a problem with the alternator, and the fuel gauge didn’t move.

As you were probably anticipating, the car was not what it seemed. The car has a forged title, but at least the title was only forged to conceal information from the buyers, not because the vehicle was stolen. What the seller was concealing was that it had about twice as many miles on it than he claimed (odometers can be re-programmed, which may be what happened here) and that number had been adjusted on the title.

Now the van that seemed like a great deal is waiting for a large number of repairs. An honest seller won’t be mad at you for performing due diligence or trying to rush you, and watch out for deals that are too good to be true.

N. Texas Couple Learns Hard Lesson Used Car Shopping On Craigslist [CBS DFW]

If someone steals nearly $200,000 from your business and you were able to track down the location of the thief, you’d hope the local police would be willing to arrest that criminal and help you get your stolen money back. But for one American business owner whose money had been illegally siphoned off by a Chinese company, it took payments of cigarettes and cash for the authorities to care.

KrebsOnSecurity.com has the wild story of an unnamed import/export company — we’ll refer to it as Vandelay Industries — that lost $197,000 after the Vandelay accountant’s computer was hijacked during an online session with their bank.

Though they could tell that the funds had been electronically transferred to a company in the Chinese city of Harbin, Vandelay couldn’t get their bank to care, since the company — and not the bank — had been victimized. Unlike consumers, who are protected by federal regulations that limit liability for fraudulent transactions, businesses don’t have the same safeguards.

Luckily, Mr. Vandelay knew a lawyer based in China who was willing to lend a hand. At first, the police demanded an FBI incident report on the crime before they would do anything, but the lawyer was ultimately able to convince them to accept just a local police report.

How? With the help of a gift-wrapped carton of cigarettes and a pledge to pay the officers a portion of the money if they could recover it.

That incentive got things moving, and after only two days, the police have located the company that had received the wire transfer. But in order to actually get to the bottom of things and get that money back, it would require paying for the two officers to fly to Beijing. Vandelay agreed, wiring $1,500 for the tickets while the police froze the account of the company that got the stolen money.

Vandelay then sent a colleague who knows the lawyer in China to meet with the attorney and the officers in Harbin. She opened a new account at a bank in Harbin, then paid the officers the agreed-to percentage for recovering the money.

In the end, Vandelay got back $166,000 of its stolen money, but there was one final roadblock. Since Vandelay didn’t have a business in the region, it couldn’t wire so much money directly back to its account back in the U.S.

But being in the import/export business, Vandelay made a deal with a company they know that does have a business presence in China. That company agreed to receive the recovered funds then pass it on back into the rightful hands of Vandelay Industries, and without taking a piece.

If you think $252-$354/year is a lot to pay for DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket, well… you’re right. But it’s also just a fraction of what even the smallest sports bar will pay to carry the exclusive add-on package.

Last month, a San Francisco bar filed suit against the NFL and DirecTV, alleging that the exclusivity deal between the country’s most popular sports league and its largest pay-TV provider has resulted in a monopoly that can charge exorbitant prices because of consumers’ inability to get the service through other means.

Now a New York bar has filed a similar complaint [PDF] in federal court, seeking class-action status to represent other commercial DirecTV customers who purchased Sunday Ticket.

In making its case, the New York plaintiff points out that the NFL is the only one of the four major U.S. sports leagues who sells its out-of-market pay-TV package on an exclusive basis. Others, like NHL Center Ice, MLB Extra Innings, and NBA League Pass, are made available through multiple cable and satellite providers. Thus, the other three packages don’t cost consumers anywhere near as much money as Sunday Ticket.

To drive home that point, the complaint includes the above chart showing the rates for Sunday Ticket compared to MLB Extra Innings.

The least expensive commercial package, for bars with an occupancy of up to 50 people, costs nearly $1,500/year, nearly three times the cost of the MLB package. At larger occupancies, that ratio is even larger. For example, a bar that can fit up to 150 people will pay $4,630/year for Sunday Ticket, more than four times the cost of Extra Innings for the same size venue. And for mega-size venues with upwards of 5,000 guests, the annual cost for Sunday Ticket ($57,864) is more than 12 times the cost of the baseball package.

The biggest fee, for venues with occupancies larger than 10,000, is $122,895/year for Sunday Ticket. Compare that to the maximum of $8,800/year for Extra Innings, which is about 1/14 the amount of the football package.

There is the argument that Football, with its weekly ritual status, brings in significantly more patrons than baseball games that air every day, and therefore should cost more. But because bar owners have no other legal option for getting these NFL games, they are going to continue to make the claim that they would be paying at least slightly less if they weren’t locked into DirecTV.

AT&T recently acquired DirecTV for $49 billion. Sunday Ticket was so crucial to the deal that AT&T would have been able to walk away from the deal if DirecTV had not been able to secure a new exclusive contract with the NFL.

Amazon recently announced that it will open a new fulfillment center in Dallas, which will employ 1,000 more people. To give the public an idea of what these jobs will be like, the Dallas Morning News sent a reporter, a photographer, and a videographer over to an existing center in the area to watch humans and robots work together in perfect harmony to get a pack of socks to you in 2 days.

The facility they visited, which is in Coppell, a Dallas suburb, has the same design as the planned new facility in South Dallas. You can see a giant robot arm (called a Robo-Stow) moving pallets around, and an army of Kiva robots that move shelves around the facility. Humans are still necessary to pack up orders, but the even the machine that slaps labels on the boxes is also weighing each package to ensure that the right combination of items is inside before it’s dispatched to your doorstep.

Just want to watch the delicate dance of the Kiva robots? Here you go.

Separating man and machine at Amazon’s Dallas fulfillment centers [Dallas Morning News]