New CEO takes reins at Walmart ADVERTISING New CEO takes reins at Walmart BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Walmart Stores Inc. is ushering in a changing of the guard as the world’s largest retailer confronts slower growth and challenges to its
New CEO takes reins at Walmart
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Walmart Stores Inc. is ushering in a changing of the guard as the world’s largest retailer confronts slower growth and challenges to its reputation.
Doug McMillon, head of Walmart’s international division, will succeed CEO and President Mike Duke, 63, when he steps down on Feb. 1 after five years in those roles. McMillon, a 23-year company veteran, will become the fifth CEO since Walmart’s founder Sam Walton.
The change at the top is indicative of a recent shift in strategy at the company best known for its cutthroat pricing and big box stores. McMillon, 47, is expected to infuse a youthful spirit into Walmart’s culture at a time when the company is trying to reinvent itself to attract a generation of shoppers who gravitate toward tablets and mobile devices.
The move also is a testament to the company’s continued focus on its international division. McMillon, who started at the company in 1984 as a summer intern, left and came back in 1990 to work at a Walmart store before holding several jobs, including a three-year stint as president and CEO of the Sam’s Club division.
But in February 2009, he succeeded Duke to head the international division, which accounted for 29 percent of its $466.1 billion in annual net sales in Walmart’s latest fiscal year. In that role, McMillon has been expanding Walmart’s everyday low prices to Brazil and China, while trying to boost profitability by closing some stores in those countries.
N.Y. takes aim
at texting drivers
MOUNT PLEASANT, N.Y. (AP) — Even for a state trooper, it’s not easy to spot drivers who are texting. Their smartphones are down on their laps, not at their ears. And they’re probably not moving their lips.
That’s why New York has given state police 32 tall, unmarked SUVs to better peer down at drivers’ hands, part of one of the nation’s most aggressive attacks on texting while driving that also includes steeper penalties and dozens of highway “Texting Zones,” where motorists can pull over to use their devices.
“Look at that,” Trooper Clayton Howell says, pulling alongside a black BMW while patrolling the highways north of New York City. “This guy’s looking down. I can see his thumb on the phone. I think we got him.”
After a quick wail of the siren and a flash of the tucked-away flashers, an accountant from the suburbs is pulled over and politely given a ticket.
New York is among 41 states that ban text messaging for all drivers and is among only 12 that prohibit using hand-held cellphones. The state this year stiffened penalties for motorists caught using hand-held devices to talk or text, increasing penalty points on the driving record from three to five, along with tickets that carry fines of up to $200.
With the tough new penalties came tougher enforcement. In a two-month crackdown this summer, troopers handed out 5,553 tickets for texting while driving, compared to 924 in the same period last year.
In New York’s recent push, 91 existing rest areas and turnoffs on the state Thruway and other highways have been rebranded “Texting Zones.”
FBI: Hate crimes are down slightly
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is reporting that hate crime incidents were slightly down last year.
Numbers released by the FBI Monday showed there were 5,796 such incidents in 2012, compared to 6,222 in 2011.
All but six of the incidents were motivated by a single bias. Of those, just under half were motivated by racial bias; about one in five were motivated by sexual orientation bias; just below one in five were motivated by religious bias; and just over one in 10 were motivated by ethnicity/national origin bias. Bias against people with disabilities accounted for 1.6 percent of the incidents.
The statistics were published by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program in Hate Crime Statistics.
Alicia Keys visits typhoon refugees
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys visited a Philippine air force base Monday to bring cheer to hundreds of evacuees from eastern provinces wracked by Typhoon Haiyan.
The American singer distributed crayons and coloring books to children at the Villamor Air Base grandstand, where evacuees from eastern Leyte and Samar provinces arrive via C-130 planes.
Social Welfare Department officer Jane Abello says Keys stayed for about half an hour to chat with evacuees.
The R&B star was in Manila for a concert Monday at the seaside MOA Arena.
The Philippine Star earlier quoted her as saying that “music has a way of lifting your spirit and that’s what I hope to do for the Filipino people.”
Keys tweeted three days after the Nov. 8 typhoon: “To the people of the Philippines my heart is with you.”
She also encouraged fans around the world to donate to the typhoon victims.
