Connect with us

Published

on

Walmart’s quarterly sales and profits smashed expectations on Thursday — one day after Target said its revenue dropped for the first time in six years as a result of customers negative reaction to its Pride Month collection.

Walmart’s earnings release showed that e-commerce increased a whopping 24% in the 13-week period ended July 28, buoyed mostly by pickup and delivery orders placed online.

Sales at stores and digital channels open for at least a year were up 6.4% — well above the 4% Bloomberg analysts expected — and international net sales increased 11%, to $27 billion.

Foot traffic was also up 2.8% across the Arkansas-based discount retailer’s portfolio of 10,500-plus locations.

The gains prompted Walmart to raise its annual profit forecast for the second straight quarter.

“We like our position for the back half of the year,” Walmart’s longtime chief executive, Doug McMillon, said in the earnings report.

Strong revenue was attributed to increased grocery sales, though McMillon pointed out that there were also encouraging results across general merchandise, especially at Sam’s Club, where membership income climbed 7%.

The Post has sought comment from Walmart.

Retail rival Target, meanwhile, lowered its profit goal for the full year after a dismal quarter where sales, foot traffic and inventory dipped.

The losses were attributed to consumers’ “negative reaction” to its Pride collection, which included tuck-friendly women’s swimwear and LGBTQ-friendly gear for infants and children that particularly outraged many shoppers.

Targets CFO Michael Fiddelke addressed the Minneapolis-based retailer’s disastrous rainbow-clad collection in an earnings call on Wednesday, saying: Traffic and top line trends were affected by the reaction to our Pride assortment.

Sales at stores and digital channels open for at least a year were off 5.4% from a year earlier, according to Targets Q2 earnings report released Wednesday, while digital sales slipped 10.5%.

Fiddelke said on the call that the retailer couldnt quantify the impact the Pride collection alone had on comparable sales.

Targets revenue for the three-month period ended July 29 was $24.8 billion 4.9% lower than this time last year and worse than the companys predictions.

The figure was slightly under the $25.2 billion economists expected, though the dip isnt surprising considering Targets stock lost nearly $14 billion as the Pride Month controversy grabbed headlines.

Though Walmart also offered items in celebration of Pride — part of its “Pride & Joy” collection — it seemed to fly under the radar of conservative pundits who, at the time, were accusing Target of grooming children with its merchandise, which included a childrens book titled Twas the Night Before Pride, and a handful of T-shirts donning LGBTQ-friendly slogans, like live laugh lesbian.”

Target responded to the backlash by yanking some of its Pride items off shelves and relocating its celebratory displays father back in stores.

The move then caused Pride supporters to condemn the company for falling victim to extremists, leading to a boycott from customers on both sides of the political aisle.

Walmart, meanwhile, refused to make any changes to its LGBTQ+-friendly merchandise despite the fierce criticism Target was experiencing.

We have merchandise that we sell all year that supports different groups, Walmart chief merchandising officer Latriece Watkins said at the start of Pride Month in June. In this particular case, we havent changed anything in our assortment.

Continue Reading

Sports

Rose Bowl agrees to earlier kick for CFP quarters

Published

on

By

Rose Bowl agrees to earlier kick for CFP quarters

LAS COLINAS, Texas — The Rose Bowl Game will start an hour earlier than its traditional window and kick off at 4 p.m. ET as part of a New Year’s Day tripleheader of College Football Playoff quarterfinals on ESPN, the CFP and ESPN announced on Tuesday.

The rest of the New Year’s Day quarterfinals on ESPN include the Capital One Orange Bowl (noon ET) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8 p.m.), which will also start earlier than usual.

“The Pasadena Tournament of Roses is confident that the one-hour time shift to the traditional kickoff time of the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential will help to improve the overall timing for all playoff games on January 1,” said David Eads, Chief Executive Office of the Tournament of Roses. “A mid-afternoon game has always been important to the tradition of The Grandaddy of Them All, but this small timing adjustment will not impact the Rose Bowl Game experience for our participants or attendees.

“Over the past five years, the Rose Bowl Game has run long on several occasions, resulting in a delayed start for the following bowl game,” Eads said, “and ultimately it was important for us to be good partners with ESPN and the College Football Playoff and remain flexible for the betterment of college football and its postseason.”

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, a CFP quarterfinal this year, will be played at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on New Year’s Eve. The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, a CFP semifinal, will be at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Thursday, Jan. 8, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host the other CFP semifinal at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Jan. 9.

ESPN is in the second year of its current expanded package, which also includes all four games of the CFP first round and a sublicense of two games to TNT Sports/WBD. The network, which has been the sole rights holder of the playoff since its inception in 2015, will present each of the four playoff quarterfinals, the two playoff semifinals and the 2026 CFP National Championship at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Jan. 19, at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

The CFP national championship will return to Miami for the first time since 2021, marking the second straight season the game will return to a city for a second time. Atlanta hosted the title games in 2018 and 2025.

Last season’s quarterfinals had multiyear viewership highs with the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (17.3 million viewers) becoming the most-watched pre-3 p.m. ET bowl game ever. The CFP semifinals produced the most-watched Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (20.6 million viewers) and the second-most-watched Capital One Orange Bowl in nearly 20 years (17.8 million viewers).

The 2025 CFP national championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame had 22.1 million viewers, the most-watched non-NFL sporting event over the past year. The showdown peaked with 26.1 million viewers.

Further scheduling details, including playoff first round dates, times and networks, as well as full MegaCast information, will be announced later this year.

Continue Reading

Sports

Mike Patrick, longtime ESPN broadcaster, dies

Published

on

By

Mike Patrick, longtime ESPN broadcaster, dies

Mike Patrick, who spent 36 years as a play-by-play commentator for ESPN and was the network’s NFL voice for “Sunday Night Football” for 18 seasons, has died at the age of 80.

Patrick died of natural causes on Sunday in Fairfax, Virginia. Patrick’s doctor and the City of Clarksburg, West Virginia, where Patrick originally was from, confirmed the death Tuesday.

Patrick began his play-by-play role with ESPN in 1982. He called his last event — the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 30, 2017.

Patrick was the voice of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” from 1987 to 2005 and played a major role in broadcasts of college football and basketball. He called more than 30 ACC basketball championships and was the voice of ESPN’s Women’s Final Four coverage from 1996 to 2009.

He called ESPN’s first-ever regular-season NFL game in 1987, and he was joined in the booth by former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann and later Paul Maguire.

For college football, Patrick was the play-by-play voice for ESPN’s “Thursday Night Football” and also “Saturday Night Football.” He also served as play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s coverage of the College World Series.

“It’s wonderful to reflect on how I’ve done exactly what I wanted to do with my life,” Patrick said when he left ESPN in 2018. “At the same time, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with some of the very best people I’ve ever known, both on the air and behind the scenes.”

Patrick began his broadcasting career in 1966 at WVSC-Radio in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he was named sports director at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, where he provided play-by-play for Jacksonville Sharks’ World Football League telecasts (1973-74). He also called Jacksonville University basketball games on both radio and television and is a member of their Hall of Fame.

In 1975, Patrick moved to WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., as sports reporter and weekend anchor. In addition to those duties, Patrick called play-by-play for Maryland football and basketball (1975-78) and NFL preseason games for Washington from 1975 to 1982.

Patrick graduated from George Washington University where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

Continue Reading

UK

Family of man killed by psychiatric patient say they’ve been ‘treated like dirt’ after learning attacker can leave hospital

Published

on

By

Family of man killed by psychiatric patient say they've been 'treated like dirt' after learning attacker can leave hospital

The family of a dog walker killed by a psychiatric patient say they have been ‘treated like dirt’ by the NHS after learning his attacker has been granted permission to leave hospital.

Lewis Stone was stabbed to death by David Fleet in a random attack in Borth, Wales, in 2019, shortly after Mr Fleet had been released into the community.

Mr Stone’s family were informed of the update to his care just hours after Sky News aired their first TV interview calling for an internal NHS Trust report into its handling of Fleet’s case to be released.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

From 10 April: Victim’s family demand answers over killer’s NHS care

Mr Stone’s stepdaughter, Vicki Lindsay, told Sky News: “As victims, we have been treated disgracefully.

“We still do not know why the killer was released 10 days before he attacked Lewis, who made that decision and why, and who is going to be held accountable for it.

“But as if all that were not bad enough, only six years on, we now get to live knowing that the killer is now allowed out at night time.”

Ms Lindsay also told Sky’s Sarah-Jane Mee that “my biggest fear is that it’s going to happen again – I can’t sleep at night thinking about other families going through what we’ve gone through”.

More on Wales

Mr Fleet was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter with diminished responsibility.

He was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the attack and told psychiatrists that if he had not stabbed Mr Stone, the voices in his head “were going to kill him”.

Lewis Stone and his wife Elizabeth (Liz)
Lewis Stone was fatally stabbed on 28 February 2019 by David Fleet, has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter with diminished responsibility. Lewis' family are demanding Hywel Dda health board reveals details of internal NHS Trust report into Fleet's mental health treatment. Pics sourced from family via mark.thompson@sky.uk
Image:
Lewis Stone was fatally stabbed in February 2019

Patients who have committed a mental health-related homicide can be granted permission to leave their hospital under Section 17 of the Mental Health Act.

It is considered part of the patient’s rehabilitation and preparation for eventual discharge.

What has the MoJ said?

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We understand this decision will be difficult for the Stone family, and our thoughts are with them.

“Any decision to approve access to the community is only made after a thorough risk assessment and with strict safeguards in place.”

Lewis Stone and Sammy (Granddaughter) , 
Lewis Stone was fatally stabbed on 28 February 2019 by David Fleet, has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after admitting manslaughter with diminished responsibility. Lewis' family are demanding Hywel Dda health board reveals details of internal NHS Trust report into Fleet's mental health treatment. Pics sourced from family via mark.thompson@sky.uk
Image:
Lewis Stone with his granddaughter Sammy

The Hywel Dda health board says it does not intend to release an internal report into Fleet’s care.

Sharon Daniel, the interim executive director for nursing, quality and patient experience, said: “The duty of candour for patients came into force in Wales in April 2023.

“At the time of this incident and concern, we fulfilled our duties to be open.”

A senior NHS official has called the decision not to release the internal report “callous and uncaring”. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said: “On the face of it, this family has been failed multiple times over.

“Of course, there is a balance to be struck between the rights of the family and the rights of the person detained, but the basic lack of transparency and consideration here undermines the duty of candour.”

Freedom of Information requests made by the victim’s support organisation Hundred Families have found that nearly 400 people were killed by former mental health patients between 2018 and 2023.

However, this number is expected to be a significant underestimate as a quarter of NHS Mental Health Trusts refused to say how many of their patients went on to kill, as they don’t want to risk identifying offenders.

Read more from Sky News:
Van driver ‘took 20 lines of coke’ before killing toddler in crash
Open water events without regulation ‘risk future deaths’, warns coroner

Julian Hendy, who founded Hundred Families, said: “Unfortunately the family of Lewis Stone is not alone. There is a terrible lack of openness and transparency and that needs to change.

“The public needs to know that mental health services are keeping people safe and learning effectively when things go wrong.

“At the moment, by failing to share information the public cannot be reassured.”

Continue Reading

Trending