cash online game
Lukaku scores against his former club and Napoli beats Roma 1-0 to reclaim Serie A leadWASHINGTON — Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal with the industry being squeezed by discount chains and other competition. Public companies are under a lot more scrutiny and if private, the Nordstrom may have more leeway in reviving a department store chain that has been attempting to reinvigorate sales for years. Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, or about $4 billion in all, representing a 42% premium on the company's stock as of March 18, when reports of a potential transaction was reported by the media. The acquiring group will also pick up more than $2 billion in Nordstrom debt. The traditional department stores have suffered in the face of withering competition from giants like Walmart and Target, as well as a host of fast-fashion bands and Amazon.com. Nordstrom rivals Macy's and Kohl's have been pressured by major investors to make huge changes in order to return more profit to shareholders. Sales at Nordstrom have essentially flatlined over the past decade or so and it announced last year that it was closing all of its Canadian stores and cutting 2,500 jobs as it winds down operations in the country. Nordstrom first announced plans to expand to Canada in 2012 and opened its first store in Calgary at CF Chinook Centre in September 2014. The offer announced Monday tops the previous $23-per-share bid that the Nordstrom family and Mexican retail group, El Puerto de Liverpool, made in September. The board also plans to authorize a special dividend of up to 25 cents per share, based on Nordstrom’s cash on hand immediately prior to and contingent on the close of the transaction. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, at which time the company's shares will no longer trade publicly. “While a change in ownership does not automatically remedy all of the problems with the department store operation, it will allow the family and their backers to take a long-term view of the business and make necessary investments and changes away from the short-term scrutiny of public markets,” wrote Neil Saunders, Managing Director of GlobalData, in a note to clients. Nordstrom’s board of directors unanimously approved the the proposed transaction, with members Erik and Pete Nordstrom, part of the Nordstrom family taking over the company — recusing themselves from that vote. Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom family will have a majority ownership stake in the company. Erik and Pete Nordstrom are the fourth-generation leadership at the Seattle retailer, which was founded in 1901 as a shoe store. Erik is the company’s chief executive and Peter is president. After opening 23 new stores so far this year, the company now operates a combined 381 Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores in the U.S. Nordstrom shares fell about 1.5% Monday, but they are up 34% this year on rumors of a family takeover. The company's stock is still down considerably from post-pandemic highs above $40 per share. In May of this year, Bruce Nordstrom, a retail executive who helped expand his family’s Pacific Northwest department store chain into an upscale national brand, died at age 90 . He was one of several Nordstrom family members who in 2017 made a push to take the company private, proposing to buy out the 70% of the department store’s stock they didn’t already own. Those talks failed in 2018 but earlier this year, his sons started another series of buyout negotiations , leading to Monday's announcement.
NYC committees back modified CoY plan
Tony Munguia and his daughter Bivianne were heading to a job fair at Cypress College when they saw smoke curling from a nearby roof. They stopped. Flames were dancing inside the home on Via Jacara in Stanton. Bivianne dialed 911 as her father rushed inside. “Is anyone here?” he bellowed into smoke so thick it stung his eyes. “Yes,” a weak voice answered – a senior who had recent surgery and couldn’t walk. Munguia couldn’t see. He told her to keep talking and followed her voice to a far bedroom. He scooped her up and headed back toward the door as best he could. A landscaper saw the commotion and rushed inside to help, and together they brought her out to safety. That’s when folks noticed Munguia’s pants legs were smoldering. Tony and Bivianne Munguia’s April adventure earned them the Fourth District Kindness Award for Stanton. The uplifting fall ritual from Orange County Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Doug Chaffee helps restore one’s faith in humanity, recognizing one person from each city in his district for doing something nice without any expectation of payback. Reading through the nomination papers has become a soothing launch to the holiday season for this grizzled scribe. “It is especially important for us to acknowledge kindness wherever we can find it and inspire others to perform their own acts of kindness in the community,” Chaffee said in a statement. “Our Kindness Award honorees have risen to the challenge and have gone beyond that to ensure the needs of our communities are met.” The winners are impressive, but many of the nominees are just as inspiring. There’s Janet Proctor and Bill Lawrence, who’ve helped families from Afghanistan and Ukraine settle into a strange new world. Erica Norgaard, a special education teacher for Access high schools, who has become a rock for her students. There’s Fullerton school nurse Susan Cravello, who transformed the garden at Woodcrest Elementary into a blooming oasis, and Paulette Holm, who didn’t crack under the stress of shepherding more than a thousand volunteers during the Orange County Point in Time Count of people experiencing homelessness, and Sunbie Harrell, who walks dogs at the Orange County Animal Care shelter. Then there’s Aaron and Allys Malais. On Aug. 3, a ’99 Toyota Camry heading north on Highland in Fullerton conked out in traffic. The driver was stuck, unable to find the emergency flashers. The young couple hopped out to direct traffic. Two more young couples saw the trouble and came to help as well. They all pushed the car across Chapman and into a parking lot, restarted it with jumper cables, and Aarona and Allys followed the owners home to ensure there was no further trouble. “They stayed with us the whole time offering full support both technically and emotionally,” the nomination said. “This was truly an exceptional act of kindness, and for all three couples that voluntarily pitched in, an affirmation of the goodness, caring, and high values, of our younger generation in our currently challenging society.” Wang is a senior at Troy High School who had a simple goal: to help his grandmother navigate the internet. Technology, he knew, was a powerful tool to help keep people connected, even if they couldn’t leave home. So he started volunteering at Happy Adult Daycare in Whittier, getting to know the seniors and understanding their needs. He developed an award-winning iPad application that uses augmented reality technology to help translate English into people’s native languages, and also designed a night-time medical monitoring device that allows families to keep a digital eye on loved ones and get timely alerts. “Dylan’s belief that technology should be an empowering tool for seniors, rather than something that alienates them, has driven his efforts,” the nomination said. “His work not only enhances the lives of the elderly but also exemplifies the spirit of kindness and service that this award seeks to honor.” Adults with disabilities can be quite capable and eager to work – but it’s often hard for them to find a job. So in 2021, Yoon stepped in. He started a nonprofit called Seesaw Communities to provide vocational training in areas like baking and coffeemaking and employs graduates as baristas at Seesaw Beans and Coffee. The work helps them grow in confidence and independence, together, just as people rise and fall together on a seesaw. “By focusing on their strengths and interests, he ensures that every participant can develop valuable skills and gain a sense of accomplishment,” the nomination said. “Under his guidance, Seesaw Communities has become a leader in providing integrated employment opportunities, fostering inclusive workplaces where individuals with developmental disabilities can thrive and contribute meaningfully to their communities.” When she was 7, Preston decided that she had enough stuff. For her birthday, she asked her friends to donate toys to needy kids instead of buying her gifts. The next year, she asked them to donate books. The next year, shoes. The year after that, school supplies, then board games, children’s clothing, food. Her most recent birthday resulted in 291 pounds of food for the Hub of Hope food pantry, the nomination said. A freshman at Fullerton Union High School, she volunteers at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fullerton, sings with the Southern California Children’s Chorus and was a soloist with the Pacific Symphony. “Her ongoing efforts exemplify how one young person, driven by empathy, can make a lasting difference in the community,” the nomination said. Wyckoff loves kids. During her career as a teacher’s aide with the La Habra City School District she was a guardian angel to those who needed help, buying them school clothes and Christmas gifts, and tutoring kids who struggled during school breaks, the nomination said. After she retired in 1985, she started volunteering at the Children’s Museum at La Habra . “Over the years she has literally volunteered at every capacity,” the nomination said, from manning the breakfast with Santa event to running the gift shop to creating a wishing well in memory of her late grandson. Those funds are used to help pay for school visits to the museum. Shiozawa has been a Rotary Club of Placentia member since 2015, including two terms as president. She has helped launch everything from neighborhood clean-ups to “stuffing” and distributing school backpacks to preparing hygiene kits and holiday gift packs. “It may be cliché, but Alice firmly believes that often it is the little things that count, that are meaningful to those in need or in pain,” the nomination said. Azaran , an independent living skills and outreach instructor at the Braille Institute, goes above and beyond by organizing free workshops for visually impaired individuals and their families and providing individualized attention to each student. “Her empathetic approach helps foster a supportive and nurturing environment,” the nomination said. Oates , former Fullerton Rotary president, got the Honorary Kindness Award. He has been a volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club and at Crittenton Services for Children and Families. He’s been a coach at Golden Hill Little League and active in Fullerton’s Sister City Association. The honorees were nominated by community members and applications were independently scored by Tom Tait, former Anaheim mayor; Charles Barfield, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association; Rosalina Davis, owner of Tlaquepaque Restaurant; Christian Esteban, Project Manager of Store One; and Lorena Moreno, principal at Western High School. “There’s a lot going on in the world today,” said Oates’ wife, Elizabeth, “but if we can all just do a little bit where we are, we can make this such a better place.” Virginia Wyckoff, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of La Habra. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Sam Yoon, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of Buena Park. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Mike Oates, former Fullerton Rotary President, awarded the Honorary Kindness Award the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Awards. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Dylan Wang, right, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of Fullerton. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Tony and Bivianne Munguia, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of Stanton. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Zelda Makanaaloha Preston, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of Brea. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Alice Shiozawa (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Nicou Azaran, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of Anaheim. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District) Virginia Wyckoff, the 2024 Fourth District Kindness Award Honoree for the City of La Habra. (Courtesy of Orange County Fourth District)
Gombe: Gov Yahaya signs N369.9bn budgetCOLUMBIA, South Carolina (AP) — Victims' families and others affected by crimes that resulted in federal death row convictions shared a range of emotions on Monday, from relief to anger, after President Joe Biden commuted dozens of the sentences . Biden converted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The inmates include people who were convicted in the slayings of police, military officers and federal prisoners and guards. Others were involved in deadly robberies and drug deals. Three inmates will remain on federal death row: Dylann Roof , convicted of the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; the 2013 Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018 , the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history. Opponents of the death penalty lauded Biden for a decision they'd long sought. Supporters of Donald Trump , a vocal advocate of expanding capital punishment, criticized the move as an assault to common decency just weeks before the president-elect takes office. Donnie Oliverio, a retired Ohio police officer whose partner was killed by one of the men whose death sentence was commuted, said the execution of “the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace.” “The president has done what is right here,” Oliverio said in a statement also issued by the White House, “and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.” Heather Turner, whose mother, Donna Major, was killed in a bank robbery in South Carolina in 2017, called Biden's commutation of the killer's sentence a “clear gross abuse of power” in a Facebook post, adding that the weeks she spent sitting in court with the hope of justice were now “just a waste of time.” “At no point did the president consider the victims,” Turner wrote. “He, and his supporters, have blood on their hands.” There has always been a broad range of opinions on what punishment Roof should face from the families of the nine people killed and the survivors of the massacre at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. Many forgave him, but they can’t forget and their forgiveness doesn’t mean they don’t want to see him put to death for what he did. Felicia Sanders survived the shooting shielding her granddaughter while watching Roof kill her son, Tywanza, and her aunt, Susie Jackson. Sanders brought her bullet-torn bloodstained Bible to his sentencing and said then she can’t even close her eyes to pray because Roof started firing during the closing prayer of Bible study that night. In a text message to her lawyer, Andy Savage, Sanders called Biden’s decision to not spare Roof’s life a wonderful Christmas gift. Michael Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Hurd, was killed, told The Associated Press that Roof’s lack of remorse and simmering white nationalism in the country means he is the kind of dangerous and evil person the death penalty is intended for. “This was a crime against a race of people," Graham said. “It didn’t matter who was there, only that they were Black.” But the Rev. Sharon Richer, who was Tywanza Sanders’ cousin and whose mother, Ethel Lance, was killed, criticized Biden for not sparing Roof and clearing out all of death row. She said every time Roof’s case comes up through numerous appeals it is like reliving the massacre all over again. “I need the President to understand that when you put a killer on death row, you also put their victims' families in limbo with the false promise that we must wait until there is an execution before we can begin to heal,” Richer said in a statement. Richer, a board member of Death Penalty Action, which seeks to abolish capital punishment, was driven to tears by conflicting emotions during a Zoom news conference Monday. “The families are left to be hostages for the years and years of appeals that are to come,” Richer said. “I’ve got to stay away from the news today. I’ve got to turn the TV off — because whose face am I going to see?” Biden is giving more attention to the three inmates he chose not to spare, something they all wanted as a part of what drove them to kill, said Abraham Bonowitz, Death Penalty Action’s executive director. “These three racists and terrorists who have been left on death row came to their crimes from political motivations. When Donald Trump gets to execute them what will really be happening is they will be given a global platform for their agenda of hatred,” Bonowitz said. Two of the men whose sentences were commuted were Norris Holder and Billie Jerome Allen, on death row for opening fire with assault rifles during a 1997 bank robbery in St. Louis, killing a guard, 46-year-old Richard Heflin. Holder’s attorney, Madeline Cohen, said in an email that Holder was sentenced to death by an all-white jury. She said his case “reflects many of the system’s flaws,” and thanked Biden for commuting his sentence. “Norris’ case exemplifies the racial bias and arbitrariness that led the President to commute federal death sentences,” Cohen said. “Norris has always been deeply remorseful for the pain his actions caused, and we hope this decision brings some measure of closure to Richard Heflin’s family.” Swenson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, un-American threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. She said the attacks “ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting'”, adding: “In response, law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire transition team are grateful for their swift action.” Swatting entails generating an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretences. The FBI said in a statement that it is “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners”. It added: “We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.” Among those targeted was Elise Stefanik, Mr Trump’s choice to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations. Her office said that she, her husband, and their three-year-old son were driving home from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence in Saratoga County. “New York state, county law enforcement, and US Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism,” her office said in a statement. “We are incredibly appreciative of the extraordinary dedication of law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe 24/7.” In Florida, meanwhile, the Okaloosa County sheriff’s office said in an advisory posted on Facebook that it “received notification of a bomb threat referencing former congressman Matt Gaetz’s supposed mailbox at a home in the Niceville area around 9am this morning”. While a family member resides at the address, they said “former congressman Gaetz is not a resident”, adding: “The mailbox however was cleared and no devices were located. The immediate area was also searched with negative results.” Mr Gaetz was Mr Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general, but he withdrew from consideration amid allegations that he paid women for sex and slept with underage women. Mr Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him. The threats follow a political campaign marked by unusual violence. In July, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the then-candidate in the ear with a bullet and killing one of his supporters. The US Secret Service later thwarted a subsequent assassination attempt at Mr Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, when an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through a fence while Mr Trump was playing golf.