Consumer Affairs & Relations

Sophisticated—and highly detailed—master plans are an increasingly important piece of the planning process.   By Roy Higgs   With mixed-use development (and redevelopment) a continued trend, complex multi-stage projects are an increasingly common feature on the civic landscape of towns and cities across the country. Consequently, many planning authorities are asking for (and, in some cases, demanding) much more than just basic sketch plans before signing off on a project.

Kmart said its store payment systems were penetrated by cybercriminals who used a form of malware undetectable by current anti-virus systems.

The retailer said its information technology team on October 9 detected its payment data systems had been breached and immediately launched a full investigation working with a leading IT security firm. It was determined the breach began in early September and upon detection Kmart said it was able to quickly remove the malware.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Kmart is the latest retailer to be hit by a payment data breach. The breach was discovered last Thursday by the chain’s information technology team, and the company immediately launched an investigation with a leading security firm, according to Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings Corp.   

Water conservation is big business for the nation’s largest home improvement retailer who earned accolades from the Environmental Protection Agency for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense devices.

The EPA named Home Depot a 2014 WaterSense Partner of the year for selling nearly 13 million WaterSense labeled products which helped customers save an estimated 42.5 billion gallons of water and more than $358 million in water related utility costs. The retailer said the water saved is enough to supply 291,000 U.S. homes for a full year.

All-Rite Construction delivers on-time and on-budget with quality you can depend on.
 

Edina, Minn. – Payment systems at 395 Dairy Queen stores and one Orange Julius store across the U.S. have been hit by a cyber attack that exposed payment card customer names, numbers and expiration dates. The company has no evidence that other customer personal information, such as Social Security numbers, PINs or email addresses, was compromised as a result of this malware infection.   

Big Lots is preparing for the grand opening celebration of its newest store at 9 a.m. Friday, October 17, and baseball great Mariano Rivera will be in attendance.

Rivera, who spent 17 seasons with the New York Yankees as a relief pitcher, will kick off the store opening with an autograph session from 10 a.m-noon.

"What better way to celebrate our new store in North Bergen than by welcoming New York Yankee great Mariano Rivera to join us on this special day," said CEO and president David Campisi.

More than 362,000 votes were cast online in an innovative approach Walmart used to determine how $3.7 million in donations would be allocated among food banks nationwide.