Corporate Responsibility

New York -- Dick's Sporting Goods said it has removed all guns from its store nearest to Newtown, Conn., and is suspending the sale of certain kinds of semi-automatic rifles from its chains nationwide.

In a statement, the retailer said the move was made out of respect for the victims and families of last week's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores’ ongoing investigation into bribery allegations was thrust into the spotlight again on Monday after the New York Times ran a lengthy piece detailing how an elaborate series of payments accelerated construction of a controversial store in Mexico City.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Target is teaming up with the United Way for the 22nd consecutive year to bring families in need some holiday cheer.

Target stores across the country will donate more than $200,000 worth of holiday trees to the charitable organization, as part of the Target Share-a-Tree Program. The United Way and its volunteers will distribute the trees to families in need, shelters, community centers and childcare programs.

LOS ANGELES — Blake Mycoskie, founder of the Toms shoe brand, has donated 100% of the proceeds from his bestselling book “Start Something That Matters.”

Mycoskie has established the Start Something That Matters Foundation with the book’s proceeds, approximately $300,000, to benefit social entrepreneurs and students around the world. The first three recipient organizations of the new fund are the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, Echoing Green and GOOD.is.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke appeared earlier this week at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations where he shed light on a range of topics that weren’t fully captured by headlines and soundbites from the event.

Duke was a participant in the organization’s CEO speaker series where for an hour he was politely grilled by Bloomberg president and CEO Dan Doctoroff and took questions on a broad range of topics.

Never ones to let a good disaster go to waste, anti-Walmart forces have alerted the media to an event being held outside Walmart’s Washington, DC office.

Walmart has taken a lot of heat since last month when it was learned that a factory in Bangladesh where 112 people died in fire was being used by a Walmart supplier. Even though the facility was not on Walmart’s list of approved facilities, the incident renewed sentiment that Walmart’s quest for low prices causes its suppliers to cut corners.

WASHINGTON — An issue related to drawstrings has resulted in Bon-Ton agreeing to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $450,000.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission alleges that the fashion retailer knowingly failed to report to the commission that its children's hooded jackets and sweatshirts were sold with drawstrings through the hood. The penalty agreement has been provisionally accepted by the commission in a 3-0 vote.

PLANO, Texas — Tostitos surprised 28 U.S. military veterans who have previously served overseas with a special homecoming celebration.

NEW YORK — Chobani Greek Yogurt is the recipient of the 2012 North America Innovation in Leadership award for its groundbreaking contribution to the U.S. yogurt sector, presented by Rabobank.

Grace Simmons, VP of strategic initiatives for Chobani, accepted the award at the global bank’s recent Commodity, Corporate, and Trade Finance Forum.

New York -- The Jones Group Inc. announced Wednesday it has promoted Aida Tejero-DeColli to the newly created position of chief people officer, effective immediately.

Tejero-DeColli will continue to lead all efforts supporting human resources activities at Jones, including talent acquisition and management, training and development, and associate compensation, benefit and recognition programs.

Tejero-DeColli began her career with Jones Group in 1994 as director of human resources and most recently served as EVP human resources.