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Luxury chocolatier Godiva is getting out of the brick and mortar business. The company is closing or selling all 128 of its brick-and-mortar stores in North America, it announced in a statement. It plans to complete the closures and sales by the end of March. Godiva will keep its stores open across Europe, Middle East and Greater China. The company did not disclose information on how many employees would be let go because of the closures. Less than two years ago, Godiva was planning a massive expansion by getting into the cafe business. The chocolatier opened its first cafe in...

As we drove through Warrenton, Virginia (population 9,913), it struck me and my husband, Scott, at the same time. In a quarter mile stretch of road, there was every major chain that has come to define the American fast-food landscape. We were hungry. We didn’t want to get COVID-19. I had forgotten the frozen pizzas in our rush to get out the door. And neither of us had tried the famous Popeyes’ Chicken Sandwich that had sold out across the country in 2019. We set our minds to our new mission. First, we devised rules: At every venue, we would...

I believe the time has come to realize or at least consider; whatever reaction one may or may not have; that the people in power are going to keep some variation of CV-19 going for a long, long time. Today, Newsom (CA) stated that 50% of the new cases in Los Angeles are of the new, UK, more contagious variety. It's isn't a matter of whom you are gonna vote for, or whom you wish to blame. It's a matter of the swamp et al realizing that they can now control the masses with a word: "Hey, there's a new...

NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time since 1983, when Anheuser-Busch used all of its ad time to introduce a beer called Bud Light, the beer giant isn’t advertising its iconic Budweiser brand during the Super Bowl. Instead, it’s donating the money it would have spent on the ad to coronavirus vaccination awareness efforts. Anheuser-Busch still has four minutes of advertising during the game for its other brands including Bud Light, Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade, Michelob Ultra and Michelob Ultra Organic Seltzer. Those are some of its hottest sellers, particularly among younger viewers. But the decision to not do...

Mahomes was learning how to read and write while Brady was winning his first Super Bowl Patrick Mahomes represents the future of the NFL as the Kansas City Chiefs star won his second AFC Championship in his third attempt Sunday with victory over the Buffalo Bills. Mahomes will be going up against the old guard in Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. The six-time Super Bowl champion was just getting started when Mahomes was getting his feet wet in school. Brady won his first Super Bowl during the 2001 season. The New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams in...

At least 19 charred corpses have been discovered in Mexico near the US border in an area where drug cartels often clash, the Tamaulipas state prosecutor's office said. Police on Saturday found two burnt-out vehicles containing human remains on a country road near the town of Carmago. Preliminary investigations suggested the victims had been shot, then their bodies set alight. Because no bullet casings were found at the scene, police said it was possible the victims were killed in a different location. Autopsies are underway, but identification of the corpses will be complicated due to their condition, a source from...

... If both the House and Senate are able to approve the new stimulus checks early next month — which is indeed possible — you could receive yours by late February. But if there are any snags — and those are also possible — you might have to wait until March or even April.

Several Republican senators on Sunday discouraged suggestions that the chamber could convict former President Donald Trump in his upcoming impeachment trial. "Well first of all, I think the trial is stupid," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told "Fox News Sunday." "I think it's counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and [impeachment is] taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire." Rubio added he believes Trump "bears responsibility for some of what happened" during the deadly riots at the Capitol earlier this month but that he does not believe impeachment is the right...

The revelation that the Capitol mob - covered in emblems of extremist groups - included off-duty law enforcement officers possibly assisted by working police is escalating pressure on sheriffs and police chiefs nationwide to root out staff with ties to white supremacist and far-right armed groups. Law enforcement leaders have faced criticism in the past for failing to police their own officers’ involvement with extremist groups. However, the selfie photos that off-duty officers took inside the Capitol during the violent siege, which left one police officer dead and dozens of others injured, were a wake-up call for many who have...

A year after a global coalition of more than 11,000 scientists declared a climate emergency, Oregon State University (OSU) researchers who initiated the declaration have released an update that points to a handful of hopeful signs, but shares continued alarm regarding an overall lack of progress in addressing climate risks. “Young people in more than 3,500 locations around the world have organized to push for urgent action,” said Oregon State University’s William Ripple, who co-authored “The Climate Emergency: 2020 in Review,” published in Scientific American. “And the Black Lives Matter movement has elevated social injustice and equality to the top...

Politico on Friday broke the news that our newspaper of record has opted to jettison “freelance columnist” Willie Brown at month’s end, putting a belated conclusion on an inexcusable and, frankly, inconceivable situation. And it only lasted 12 years. Less time than the Central Subway project or Geary BRT - but an embarrassingly long stretch for something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Brown, former mayor and Assembly speaker, and still very much a mover and shaker, high-level information peddler, and registered and unregistered lobbyist in this town, should never have had a column in the San Francisco...

A recent survey has determined that over half of Americans are ready to switch to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service. This was despite only 5% of internet subscribers in the United States being connected via satellite today. The study was conducted by Reviews.org, which asked respondents whether they would consider getting on board with Starlink once the satellite internet service is fully set up. As it turns out, over half of those surveyed stated that they’d be signing up for the Starlink Beta program, despite the $499 cost of the satellite dish and the service’s current $99 per month fee....

Construction on the Keystone XL pipeline has helped keep Emily Lai’s small family restaurant alive during months of COVID-19 lockdowns. The 90′s Restaurant, on Main Street in Oyen, Alta., has stayed afloat by serving takeout to hundreds of tradespeople who temporarily moved to the area to work on the project. But now that the TC Energy Corp. pipeline has been halted, she said she and her husband are more anxious about the future of the Chinese and Western cuisine restaurant they have owned for nearly a decade. “My husband is feeling sad, too, and worried about the business,” Ms. Lai...

WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden and the new Democratic Congress were just sworn in, but the clock has already started on the 2022 midterm elections, when voters will decide if the president gets more than two years to advance his agenda with a friendly Congress. Democrats have to defend a narrow 221-211 majority in the House (218 seats are needed for control) and the 50-50 Senate, where losing even a single seat will cost the party the chamber. History is not on their side. Americans typically put a check on power, and the president's party has lost House seats in...

As COVID-19 continues to spread, researchers are looking for new and creative ways to help detect and manage cases. A team at the University of California San Diego is developing something to help do just that: a color-changing sticker. The sticker is a test strip and blister pack that can be placed on N95, surgical or cloth masks and detect SARS-CoV-2 in the user's breath or saliva, according to a news release from the university. As the person wearing the mask breathes, the test strip aims to detect protein-cleaving molecules produced from a COVID-19 infection. Once the user removes the...

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – It’s not uncommon in California for residents to seek recalls but they rarely get on the ballot - and even fewer succeed. Several launched against Newsom faded but another attempt is drawing greater attention as his fortunes change while he enters a critical stretch in his governorship. Recall organizers say they have collected have reached 1.2 million signatures toward the 1.5 million petition signatures needed to place the recall on the ballot, and they have until mid-March to hit the required threshold. Rescue CA has a goal of getting in enough signatures to help the effort...

People who destroy property in Seattle will be arrested under a tighter policy coordinated between the Seattle Police Department and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, police said. The tighter policy will be enacted Saturday, Seattle Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz announced ahead of a scheduled demonstration in Seattle's Occidental Park. The new policy comes after police reported several buildings were vandalized in downtown Seattle Wednesday night, including the city's federal courthouse. "The events of breaking windows at a variety of different locations with no meaning," Diaz said. "There was no discussion about what they were fighting for, what type of...

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Ore., was once again the target of protesters on Saturday night, according to news reports and posts on social media. "No borders! No nations! Abolish deportations!" the crowd chanted at one point, according to video footage from the scene that was shared online. Law enforcement officers from the Federal Protective Service were heard declaring an "unlawful assembly" around 10 p.m. local time and ordering the crowd to leave the area. The FPS is a unit of the Department of Homeland Security. "If you trespass on federal property with a weapon …...

Amid a rising American atmosphere of political death threats and violence, some are calling for a secret vote to determined Donald Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial to protect senators’ safety. The idea was discussed last time around after Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. Some argued that Republicans were unable to vote their conscience because of pressure from their party and constituents. Secret votes, however, run contrary to a principle of transparency and senators’ accountability. Critics on Twitter complained Republicans would claim they voted one way, while actually voting exactly the opposite. This time around, for Trump’s second impeachment, the risk of...

The Texas Republican senator John Cornyn warned on Saturday that Donald Trump’s second impeachment could lead to the prosecution of former Democratic presidents if Republicans retake Congress in two years’ time. **SNIP** After a brief moment of bipartisan sentiment in which members from both parties condemned the unprecedented attack on Congress as it met to formalize Biden’s victory, a number of Senate Republicans are opposing Trump’s trial, which could lead to a vote blocking him from future office. “If it is a good idea to impeach and try former presidents, what about former Democratic presidents when Republicans get the majority...