A family in Michigan kept their dog safe in their own front lawn, hanging out behind an invisible fence. The problem with invisible fences, though, is that people wandering through the neighborhood don’t know that they’re present. Like the man who was reportedly performing surveying work for an AT&T contractor, and fatally shot the family’s dog, which he thought was attacking him. [More]
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State Fair Ride Breaks In Pieces, Killing One Person And Injuring Seven More
By 7.27.17
Thrill-seekers flocked to the Ohio State Fair for its opening on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, the evening turned tragic as one “aggressive thrill” ride broke to pieces with passengers still on it, killing one rider and critically injuring several others. [More]
Sears’ Empty Sales Floors May Be Turning Customers Off
By 2.24.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
It should be pretty easy to tell a fully operational department store from one that it is closing down, but some Sears shoppers have found that their local store is not doing much to alleviate concerns about the company’s death spiral. [More]
Volkswagen’s “Dirty Diesels” Wait For A Fix In Purgatory’s Parking Lot
By 1.25.17
While Volkswagen tries to figure out a solution to make its cheating diesel engines pollute less, the automaker is still buying back cars from individual owners who chose that option and has to put those cars somewhere. It turns out that “somewhere” is actually several places, including the parking lot of the long-abandoned Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the Detroit Lions and Pistons. [More]
Here’s Why The Reddi-Wip Shortage Is Extra Sad
By 12.20.16
If you’ve been looking for canned whipped cream from Reddi-wip or other brands for your holiday celebrations, you may have come home empty-handed. Canned whipped cream is in short supply right now, and it’s for a reason that is much sadder than the mere lack of whipped cream. [More]
Couple Claims PetSmart Groomers Fatally Injured Their Dog
By 11.23.16
What happened, exactly, when a couple in California brought their 1-year-old dachshund to a grooming appointment that led to his death? They claim that the pup came out of the grooming department with bloody foam coming out of his mouth, and he died from injuries suffered at the groomers’ hands. Now the couple has filed a lawsuit, seeking answers about how their pup — who they refer to as their “son” — could have died from a routine nail clipping. [More]
One Woman Dead In Hawaii Scallops Hepatitis A Outbreak
By 10.28.16
The likely 50-day incubation period is over, and there have been no new cases of hepatitis A linked to contaminated scallops served at sushi restaurants in Hawaii since Oct. 9. The state reports that two people who were infected with the linked strain of hepatitis have died, though only one patient’s death was due to the infection. [More]
At Least 24 More Kmart Stores To Close By End Of 2016
By 9.19.16
At the end of last week, employees at Kmart stores across the country received bad but not entirely unexpected news: their stores are closing by the end of 2016, and they will lose their jobs. We can confirm that dozens of locations in 11 states plan to close on or before Dec. 11, and will most likely add more locations to this list later today or later this week. [More]
Famous Flamingo Dead After Busch Gardens Visitor Attacks Birds
By 8.3.16
A longtime animal resident of Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL died yesterday. Pinky the flamingo was 19 years old, and if you noticed her while visiting the theme park, it was because she would sometimes perform her own special dance, stomping her webbed feet and spinning in a circle. The tourist attacked two flamingoes, injuring Pinky badly enough that she was euthanized. [More]
Walmart Employees Charged With Manslaughter In February Death Of Shoplifting Suspect
By 8.3.16
How seriously should retailers take loss prevention? Back in February, a Florida man in his 60s filled a cart with DVDs in the wee hours of the morning, What was different from most incidents was that store employees chased him and pinned him to the ground until police arrived. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, and police are done investigating the incident, charging the three employees who chased and restrained him with manslaughter. [More]
Sports Authority Is Selling Its Headquarters’ iMacs And Foosball Table On Craigslist
By 7.8.16
If you live near Denver and are looking for a computer monitor, an ice machine, or a 24-foot conference table, the closing of Sports Authority presents you with a unique opportunity. The retailer isn’t just selling off all of its merchandise, store leases, and even its brand name and mailing lists. After closing its headquarters, the company is also selling furniture and computers. On Craigslist. [More]
NHTSA Is Looking Into Fatal Crash Of Tesla Model S In Autopilot Mode
By 6.30.16
Last fall, Tesla released a beta version of Autopilot, a software upgrade that would let the car take over some driving functions, including steering, cruise control, and lane changes. Today, the company announced some sad news: the first fatal crash in of one of the company’s vehicles while in autopilot mode happened in northern Florida in May. [More]
Old Country Buffet Heads Back For Another Helping Of Abrupt Restaurant Closures
By 6.15.16
While former employees of buffet restaurants owned by Ovation Brands, including the brands Old Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet, Fire Mountain, and Ryan’s, are suing the company in federal court for eliminating their jobs with no advance notice, the company went ahead and closed another round of restaurants with no advance notice. [More]
Sports Authority Store Closing Sales Will Start Around May 25, End Around August 31
By 5.18.16
If you’re looking for a great deal on some athletic clothing or sports gear, get ready to head over to Sports Authority… maybe sometime in July. Deep in debt and unable to reorganize itself to keep going, the company declared bankruptcy in March. Liquidators outbid competitors for the remaining stores, and Dick’s and Modell’s only wanted a few dozen stores combined anyway. [More]
Police Investigating Death During Walmart Shoplifting Incident
By 2.11.16
Early on Sunday morning, a 62-year-old man piled DVDs worth $380.74 in a shopping cart at a Florida Walmart and headed for the door. When he couldn’t produce a receipt for the greeter, he ran out the door, and employees followed him. He collapsed and was resuscitated, but died in the hospital 12 hours later. [More]
If Kmart And Sears Stores Close Without A National Press Release, Does Anyone Notice?
By 1.13.16
Last week, department store chain Macy’s announced its holiday season results and its plans to close 40 stores in the coming months. Shoe retailer Finish Line announced plans to close 150 stores by the year 2020. Yet what you never hear about in the national news anymore is how many stores Sears Holdings, corporate parent of Sears and Kmart, is planning to close, even as they continue to shut down underperforming stores. [More]
Amazon Lays Off Engineers Behind Fire Phone, Reorganizes Hardware Division
By 8.27.15
You’ve probably never heard of Lab126, but you’ve definitely heard of their parent company and their products. They’re a division of Amazon, started in Silicon Valley eleven years ago to create the e-reader that we now know as the Kindle. They also created some projects that haven’t caught on quite as well, like the Fire Phone, and engineers who worked on that projects have reportedly been sent on their way. [More]
Suspected Shoplifter Runs From Security, Dies After Jumping Off Ledge
By 7.17.15
A woman at a mall in Providence, RI was suspected of shoplifting, and she ran away from security guards who were pursuing her. She might have thought she was escaping through the parking garage, jumping over a railing to escape the building. What she didn’t know is that the first level of the parking garage isn’t on the ground. [More]
