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Wal-Mart issued a statement Monday to TPM dismissing "rumors" that tunnels were being built by the U.S. military beneath closed stores in an attempt to launch a takeover of Texas. "There’s no truth to the rumors," Wal-Mart spokesperson Lorenzo Lopez told TPM via email. The tunnels are part of a series of conspiracy theories surrounding "Jade Helm 15," a military training operation set to take place later this year in seven Western states. The conspiracy theorists have said the operation may be part of a covert attempt to takeover Texas and other states. In response to the theories, Texas Gov....

Prosecutors said a 24-year-old police woman was stabbed a total of 14 times by a man who allegedly told investigators he was out to kill the police officer because "cops are oppressive." Houston homicide investigators said Jeremiah M. Matthews, 23, tried to kill an off-duty Houston Community College Officer Aprils Pikes early Tuesday morning while she was working as a security guard at a Meyerland Walmart store. During a magistrate's hearing Tuesday night, prosecutors said, "The defendant gave a statement admitting he had the intent to attack a police officer and his desire to kill a police officer.” Investigators at...

From crime to labor issues to an intricate military coup of the entire United States, conspiracy theories are flying around the closed Wal-Mart supercenters in Tulsa and elsewhere. The official reason for the sudden closure of the store at Admiral Place and Memorial Drive last week was two years of plumbing issues that would take six months to fix. That was the same reason given for each of the four other Wal-Mart locations, which all closed at the same time with just a few hours’ notice. The other stores are in Brandon, Florida; Pico Rivera, California; Midland, Texas; and Livingston,...

Though Wal-Mart remains fixed in the American conscience as Sam Walton's business, it is less and less that. Walton was folksy and relatable to the Americans who shopped at Wal-Mart. Everyone could imagine Sam Walton shopping there, too. But over the years, Wal-Mart's management has passed out of the direct hands of Walton's family. A few of the Walton clan remain on the Wal-Mart board of directors, but now its board also includes Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo!, and Kevin Systrom, the CEO of Instagram. One would be hard pressed to imagine either as regular shoppers at Wal-Mart. For...

Thousands of Wal-Mart employees are fighting to get their jobs back after Wal-Mart suddenly closed five stores last week without warning.  The retailer said it closed the stores in California, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida due to persistent plumbing issues that could take as long as six months to fix. More than 2,200 workers were laid off as a result and given two months of severance pay.  But some critics are skeptical that Wal-Mart closed the stores because of plumbing issues. Officials in the five cities where Wal-Mart closed stores claim the company hasn't sought permits for plumbing work, according to ABC...

Shoplifting at a store like Walmart isn't unusual, but the details surrounding two cases at a Houston location on Tuesday still have people shaking their heads. "I just think that it was wrong and it should never happen again," says shopper Wayne Miller. Mary Helen Brown, 20, and Bianca Nicole Murrell, 21, are both charged with shoplifting and abandoning their children. Investigators say the pair walked into a Walmart on South Post Oak Boulevard near the 610 Loop -- each with a 5-year-old child.  They are accused of taking food off the shelves, feeding it to their kids, then stuffing...

Wal-Mart faces a potential labor injunction from a union group asking the company to rehire all 2,200 employees affected by the abrupt temporary closing of five stores a week ago. One affected store, in Pico Rivera, California, has been a hotbed for worker protests against Wal-Mart. A union is asking labor regulators to go to court to force Wal-Mart to rehire all 2,200 employees affected by the abrupt temporary closing of five stores a week ago. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union filed the charge on behalf of OUR Walmart with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday,...

Wal-Mart closures have citizens concerned. Jade Helm 15 is set to kick off in seven states this summer, sending Special Operations forces from all four main branches of the military onto civilian soil to conduct hostile take-over training – and civil-rights advocates are sounding the alarms. ... The looming Jade Helm exercise, set for July 15 through Sept. 15, labels Texas and Utah as hostile areas. Global Research also reported the military says New Mexico “isn’t much friendlier.” Other states participating: California, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada. Some of the social media commentary so far: “The Pentagon’s ‘Operations Jade Helm 15′:...

The budding “revolutionary guards” among WalMart employees may be learning a lesson about economics in the real world; a course they were never offered during their substandard public educations. The pressure from militant employees and union thugs has brought about a series of raises for WalMart workers, which is supposed to be good news. But is it? Some of these raises will start immediately and others will follow until all REMAINING workers will see remarkable increases in their salaries; some will be getting $80 per week raises. Nevertheless, WalMart has not become the largest retailer in the world by voluntarily...

Conspiracy theorists are working overtime to explain why Walmart suddenly closed 5 stores in 3 states this week, laying off 2200 workers. The stores are expected to reopen in 6 months. The company claims the closings are releated to ongoing and pervasive plumbing problems. But the conspiracy theorists believe it has more to do with workers who took part in the Black Friday strike than with faulty sewers. Business Insider: Wal-Mart employees say they were completely blindsided by the news, having been notified only a couple hours before the stores closed at 7 p.m. Monday. "Everybody just panicked and started...

The closures could last up to six months and affect roughly 2,200 workers in Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Florida, CNN Money reports. Wal-Mart employees say they were completely blindsided by the news, having been notified only a couple hours before the stores closed at 7 p.m. Monday. "Everybody just panicked and started crying," Venanzi Luna, a manager at a store in Pico Rivera, California, told CNN Money. All workers will receive paid leave for two months. After that, full-time workers could become eligible for severance, according to CNN Money. But part-time workers will be on their own. Local officials and...

BRANDON, Fla. - Walmart stores across the country suddenly closed Monday, supposedly as a result of plumbing problems. Now a Hillsborough County commissioner who has worked closely with the company for years says he has plenty of questions. In Midland, Texas, which, until Monday, was home to one of the 10 busiest Walmart stores in the country, City Building Official Steve Thorpe told the I-Team his plumbing inspector was sent away when he visited the closed store and offered to help secure permits. While the company claimed to have an average of 100 to 150 plumbing issues a year in...

I live in East Texas and our WalMart closed due to "plumbing" problems. All employees are fired. closed for at least 6 months. Come to find out, several more closed across America due to "plumbing" problems and all employees fired. Googled closed Walmart and got several different theories. One says they need to close some to pay for the huge raise they gave the rest of the workers. One says it's for holding illegals crossing the border. Another says it for American that don't want Obama's 3rd term. Second observation today,.....A military jet fuel truck came into my small East...

BRANDON FL (WFLA) - Walmart customers can't understand what's plaguing the "plumbing problems" of Walmart stores from Brandon to California. "Must be a major plumbing problem is all I can say," would-be customer Dale White said as security guards turned him away from the Supercenter on Brandon Boulevard in Brandon. The retail chain announced Monday that five stores are shutting down - one in Brandon, two in Texas, one in Oklahoma and one in California - due to clogging and drainage problems. ... The shutdown blindsided about 400 Brandon Walmart workers who must now find another store to transfer to...

<p>PHOENIX - The suspects in a fatal brawl with police outside an Arizona Wal-Mart have been identified as a family from Idaho who had apparently been living in a vehicle in the store's parking lot for days before the melee, authorities said on Tuesday.</p>

An appeals court ruled Tuesday that Wal-Mart investors don’t have a right to try to stop the company from selling rifles or any other product those shareholders may think is socially destructive. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the Arkansas-based retailer, reversing a district court ruling in November that would have let the company’s investors influence the store’s policy on high-capacity sporting-rifle sales.

Employees say a Brandon Walmart near Valrico gave them little notice before closing for six months. “When I drove into the parking lot, it was full. I knew something was not right,” said a Walmart employee who asked that News Channel 8 not identify him. “We have had plumbing problems over the last few years.” The store closed Monday at 6 p.m. because of the ongoing plumbing issues. The employee News Channel 8 talked with said a sewage backup is the likely culprit. The issues “require extensive repairs,” Walmart spokesman Amanda Hennenberg said in a statement. The store is located...

Now One Person is Dead After Reaching for a Gun. On Friday, Arizona’s Cottonwood Police Department released dash cam footage of a brawl between a traveling family from Idaho and a group of cops that quickly turned deadly. The incident happened on March 21st, in parking lot of the Cottonwood Walmart. Police were responding to a call about a Walmart employee being assaulted as she entered the restroom. When law enforcement confronted the people who were identified as suspects, now known as the Gaver family, they weren’t being cooperative at all.

Walmart's right to sell firearms and ammunition is being threatened by a lawsuit. Fox Business Network reporter Adam Shapiro reported on "Fox and Friends First" this morning that a court decision could stop the retail giant from selling guns, which could change the way publicly traded companies do business in the United States. Shapiro said that Trinity Wall Street Church in New York City owns stock in Walmart. "The church sued the Walmart when they refused to place a proposal on the shareholder ballot at the annual company meeting," he explained. "That proposal could be interpreted to force Walmart's board...

One of the nation’s largest gun retailers will soon find out if it may continue to sell sporting rifles. Some investors have argued Wal-Mart shouldn’t be in the business of selling high-capacity magazine rifles.