Walmart, Archer Aviation Announce New Georgia Investments to Create 1,400 Jobs

Walmart and Archer Aviation both announced plans to invest in Georgia on Wednesday, and the companies’ plans will ultimately create more than 1,400 new jobs throughout the state.

A new milk processing facility was announced in the south Georgia city of Valdosta, and Walmart said the $350 million location will employ nearly 400 Georgians. Products bottled at the facility will include gallon and half gallon varieties of whole, 2 percent, 1 percent, skim, and 1 percent chocolate milk for the Great Value and Sam’s Club Member’s Mark brands, and they will be sold to 750 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in Georgia and across the region.

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Attorney General Yost Secures $679.6 Million From Settlement to Help Fund Opioid Recovery in Ohio

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that he along with 21 other attorneys general have secured final approval of a combined $17.3 billion settlement to hold two drug makers and two pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid-addiction crisis and help fund opioid recovery efforts.

Under the settlement, Ohio expects to receive a total of $679.6 million from drug makers Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens over the next 15 years.

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Georgia Joins Walmart Opioid Settlement

The state of Georgia has signed on to a $3.1 billion national agreement with Walmart amid allegations that the retailer didn’t properly monitor opioids dispensing at its pharmacies; Georgia is expected to get $28 million in the deal, according to an announcement from Attorney General Chris Carr.

“The opioid epidemic has destroyed lives, families, and communities all across our state and nation,” Carr said in the release.

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Walmart’s Walton Family Funds LGBT Events for Kids in Arkansas

Second- and third-generation heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton’s fortune have funneled millions of dollars into LGBTQ-related causes in their home state of Arkansas.

Among other things, these Walton-funded groups and the Walmart Foundation have sponsored local drag shows and story hours for kids; “teens only” events for LGBTQ-identifying youth; and other progressive causes such as diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public schools and the state university in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

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2A Groups Caution Against Gun Control Measures in Virginia after Shootings

After three football players were killed in a shooting at the University of Virginia and six people were killed in a shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, gun groups are cautioning against efforts to impose stricter gun control measures.

On November 13, three UVA football players were killed after a man allegedly opened fire in a bus after returning to the university from a class trip. A little more than a week later, six people were killed in a Walmart in Chesapeake after a man allegedly opened fire because of grievances against some Walmart employees.

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Walmart Shooter Who Killed Seven, Including Himself, Was An Employee, Police Say

A Chesapeake, Virginia, Walmart store employee shot seven people fatally, including himself, and injured several others Tuesday night, according to authorities.

Six victims died and four were hospitalized, with the suspect dying of what police believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky explained at a Wednesday morning press conference streamed by ABC News. The shooter was a Walmart employee and used a pistol, Solesky said.

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Virginia Expects $60 Million in Tentative Opioid Crisis Settlement with Walmart

Virginia is expected to receive $60 million as part of a tentative $3.1 billion settlement agreement with Walmart after allegations of insufficient oversight of opioid dispensing at the chain’s pharmacies.

“Companies who facilitated the dispensing of opioids contributed to the opioid epidemic that has devastated millions of lives. This significant settlement will help us fight back against the epidemic and provide abatement and rehabilitation resources to suffering Virginians,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release.

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Ohio Attorney General Announces Preliminary Agreement with Walmart on Opioid Addiction Liability

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) announced on Tuesday that he and 15 other state attorneys general have negotiated a preliminary deal with the multinational retailer Walmart, from which Ohio would get $114 million for opioid recovery programs.

The $3.1 billion national agreement comes after Yost and other prosecutors sought accountability for what they characterize as the superstore’s failure to safely and securely dispense high-strength prescription pain relievers through its more than 5,100 pharmacies across America. Other state prosecutor’s offices who worked alongside him include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Texas.
The agreement comes after Yost and other prosecutors sought accountability for what they characterize as the superstore’s failure to safely and securely dispense high-strength prescription pain relievers through its more than 5,100 pharmacies across America. Other state prosecutor’s offices who worked alongside him include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Texas.

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New Balance Announces New Distribution Center Coming to Lebanon

New Balance Athletics and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced on Tuesday that it will be investing $68.5 million to establish a new distribution center in Lebanon.

New Balance Chief Operating Officer Dave Wheeler said, “We are excited to open our new distribution center in Lebanon, Tennessee, that will drive increased agility, capacity, and collaboration across our North American distribution network. This new state-of-the-art facility will ensure we can continue to provide world-class customer service and achieve our strategic growth goals. We greatly appreciate the tremendous support we’ve received at the local and state level and look forward to joining the Wilson County business community.”

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Indoor Vertical Farm Company to Build Campus in Chesterfield

Plenty Unlimited, Inc., announced plans to invest $300 million to construct the world’s largest indoor vertical farming campus, which will be located in Chesterfield and is expected to have a strawberry farm completed in late 2023 or early 2024.

“At Plenty, we’re on a mission to sustainably grow fresh food for everyone, everywhere,” Plenty CEO Arama Kukutai said in a press release from the governor’s office. “This campus will raise the bar on what indoor vertical farming can deliver. The scale and sophistication of what we’re building here in Virginia will make it possible to economically grow a variety of produce with superior quality and flavor. We look forward to continuing to work in close partnership with the government of Virginia as we endeavor to rewrite the rules of agriculture.”

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Commentary: Woke Retailers Seek Congressional Smash-and-Grab on Your Credit Card

Woke retailers like Home Depot, Kroger, and Walmart are asking Congress to pass their own special smash and grab worth billions of dollars by mandating changes to how credit cards are processed.

Joining forces with far-left Democratic Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, retailers are seeking changes in federal law threatening rewards programs that many consumers use to take some of the sting off of the high cost of everything from food and gas to furniture and travel.

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DroneUp Expands Virginia Beach Headquarters, Expects to Deliver Packages for Walmart by End of Year

RICHMOND, Virginia — A drone delivered a small package to Virginia’s Executive Mansion on Wednesday morning as part of an announcement that Walmart partner DroneUp is expanding with 655 new jobs plus a drone pilot training facility at Richard Bland College. In May, DroneUp announced that it would deliver to 34 sites across the U.S. by the end of 2022. Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said that would include customers near three Walmart drone delivery hubs in Chesapeake, Chesterfield County, and Chester.

“Our delivery capacity will be four million homes by the end of this year. Our goal is 30 million by the end of next year,” DroneUp CEO Tom Walker told the media. “Our partnership with Walmart is unique because there’s 4,700 Walmarts. 92 percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart. So as we work with the FAA and negotiate that broader range, we’re starting to go three, four, five, ten miles. It’s not long before 92 percent of the U.S. population can be receiving products.”

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Youngkin Presents Virginia Values Veterans Certification to Walmart

Governor Glenn Youngkin presented a Virginia Values Veterans (V3) certification to Walmart on Monday, commemorating national Hire a Veteran Day.

“The fabric of the Commonwealth I often refer to as the spirit of Virginia. And the spirit of Virginia is so much stronger with our veterans being so woven into that fabric,” Youngkin said. “So I want to thank our veterans first for loving our nation and for serving selflessly. I want to thank our veterans’ families, because when you serve, they serve. And finally, I want to thank Walmart.”

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Conservative Investors Launch Campaign to Take On America’s ‘Wokest’ Corporations

A group of conservative investors plan to take on four of the “wokest” corporations at upcoming shareholder meetings over allegedly discriminatory policies in an effort to defend shareholders, according to a press release.

The Free Enterprise Project of the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Boardroom Initiative (BI) coalition member, will make proposals at Walmart, Twitter, Facebook and Comcast shareholder meetings held over the next two weeks to hire outside firms to investigate whether or not the companies are placing merit behind “equity” considerations, according to the release.

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Corporations Stay Quiet on Abortion After Disney’s Disastrous Tangle with DeSantis

Ron DeSantis

Corporations previously outspoken about hot-button social issues have stayed quiet on the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade after a dramatic fight between Disney and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over the company’s political activism.

Following the leak of a draft opinion indicating the Supreme Court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrats are trying to ram through a bill legalizing third trimester abortions; however, corporations are largely staying out of the fray, following Disney’s disastrous battle with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that ended with the company losing its special tax privileges.

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Walmart to Hire Tens of Thousands of Workers

The nation’s largest private employer announced plans to hire tens of thousands of workers before the end of the quarter to help expand its business amid a tightening labor market.

Walmart announced Wednesday a plan to hire more than 50,000 workers in the U.S. by the end of April, the time of year when many companies decrease hiring following the busy holiday shopping season, The Wall Street Journal first reported. The new hires will reportedly fill positions in stores but also add staff in areas such as health, wellness and advertising.

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Walmart, Kroger Raise Prices of Rapid COVID-19 Tests After Agreement with Biden Admin Expires

Covid19 Antigen Rapid Test Diagnostic

Retail giants Walmart and Kroger have each raised the price of BinaxNOW rapid COVID-19 tests after a deal made with President Joe Biden expired in mid-December, FOX Business reported.

The September deal had the companies sell the antigen self-test kits made by Abbott Laboratories for $14 for 100 days, FOX Business reported. The cost of the tests will now be $19.98.

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Costco Raises Minimum Wage to $16, But Won’t Advocate for All Businesses to Follow

Costco will raise its company-wide minimum wage to $16 per hour, a one-dollar increase that raises its wages higher than its fellow big-box retailers, the company’s CEO said during a congressional hearing Thursday.

Costco plans to raise its minimum wage from $15 to $16 because it is committed to paying workers “very competitive retail wages,” CEO Craig Jelinek said during a Senate Budget Committee hearing Thursday. Jelinek stopped short of advocating in favor of a federal minimum wage overhaul, instead saying he was solely focused on Costco.

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Walmart to Raise Wages for 425,000 Workers After Massive 2020 Sales Performance

Walmart announced it will raise wages for 425,000 store associates serving in “frontline” roles after the company reported record fourth-quarter revenue.

Walmart will increase starting wages to between $13 and $19 per hour depending on store location and market, according to a letter Walmart President and CEO John Furner sent to employees nationwide Thursday morning. The pay raises will begin on March 13 and apply to the company’s 425,000 store associates.

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Walmart Fueled Opioid Epidemic by Filling Illegitimate Prescriptions Regularly, DOJ Lawsuit Alleges

The Department of Justice sued Walmart Tuesday alleging that the big-box retailer fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic by knowingly filling illegitimate prescriptions and with price-cutting techniques.

Walmart transformed its 5,000 in-store pharmacies into a leading network of opioid suppliers, the Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit alleged, according to a press release. In addition, Walmart allegedly didn’t heed warnings from its pharmacists that there was an insufficient screening process for questionable prescriptions.

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Trump Approves TikTok Deal with Oracle and Walmart, Wants the App to Support Pro-US Education Program

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he approved a transaction between Oracle and TikTok that allows the Chinese application to stay in the United States.

Part of the arrangement requires the newly U.S.-based TikTok company to direct $5 billion toward teaching American children “the real history of our country,” Trump told reporters at the White House, Bloomberg reported Saturday. The president later told rally attendees in North Carolina Saturday that he is establishing a “large fund for the education of American youth.”

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Two Dead, Four Wounded After Shooting at California WalMart Distribution Center

A man drove into a Northern California distribution center and started shooting at people Saturday afternoon, killing an employee and wounding four others before he was killed by police, authorities said.

The shooting by a 31-year-old man with a semi-automatic rifle started about 3:30 p.m. at the Walmart distribution center south of Red Bluff, a city of about 14,000 people about 131 miles (210 kilometers) north of Sacramento, California.

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Jeff Hartline of the TFA Says ‘A Policy Should Not be Crafted on the Basis of the Morning Headlines’

In a specific discussion Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy welcomed in-studio guest Development Director of the Tennessee Firearms Association Jeff Hartline to the show to speak on the Second Amendment and Walmart’s decision to stop selling certain rifles and ammunition in their retail outlets.

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Tennessee Firearms Association Says Walmart Is No Friend to Gun Owners

  The executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association wants all gun owners in the state to know about what he calls “Walmart’s increasing anti-gun stance.” In a column posted on the TFT website Tuesday, Executive Director John Harris said Walmart is no longer “a truly ‘American’ store. “Even worse – if that is possible – all gun owners should know that Walmart has openly stated that it is now in ‘partnership’ on gun control issues with Everytown for Gun Safety which appears to be one of Michael Bloomberg’s ‘shell’ gun control entities that pushes for sweeping gun bans and Red Flag laws!” Harris wrote. “So, what is Walmart telling Americans? It is saying it is now in partnership with the gun control fanatic – Michael Bloomberg – and the various corporate shells that he apparently creates to hide his participation in the gun control and gun abatement movement from the public.” As ABC News reported Tuesday, Walmart officials announced they will limit the sales of guns and ammunition at their stores. The store will also discontinue sales of certain types of rifle ammunition. People on the left side of the police aisle were elated with Walmart’s choice. On his…

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Sears Staves Off Liquidation, Stores to Remain Open

Sears will live on— at least for now. The company’s chairman and largest shareholder, Eddie Lampert, won a bankruptcy auction for Sears in New York, averting liquidation of the iconic chain, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The person agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiation publicly. Lampert was the only one to put forth a proposal to rescue the floundering company in its entirety. He had sweetened his bid multiple times to more than $5 billion over the last few days through an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL. Details of the final terms couldn’t be learned. Lampert, who steered the company into bankruptcy protection, may be able to keep the roughly 400 remaining Sears stores open, which would mean tens of thousands of jobs are saved, at least for now. Whether Sears, founded 132 years ago as a mail order watch business, can survive in the era of Amazon remains questionable. Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. At that time, it had 687 stores and 68,000 workers. At its peak in 2012, its stores numbered 4,000. Lampert says there’s still potential for the company…

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Drug Pricing War That Led CVS and Walmart to Part Ways Will Disproportionately Impact Rural Communities

by Evie Fordham   Walmart and CVS Health’s pharmacy benefit management (PBM) division announced they’re parting ways Tuesday, and it’s a split that could disproportionately impact rural patients, health care entrepreneur Dave Chase told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The split was brought on by a pricing dispute and means that many people who have CVS Health drug plans will no longer be able to pick up their prescriptions at Walmart locations. “Walmart is in a lot of rural areas where there aren’t a lot of choices … I think it’s definitely troublesome for patients,” Chase, a health care author and co-founder of Health Rosetta, told TheDCNF in a telephone interview Tuesday. But Chase also emphasized Walmart’s “unassailable” reputation for making drugs affordable, including its $4 generic prescription drug program. Walmart maintained that CVS was trying to control where customers filled their prescriptions, according to Bloomberg. “We are committed to providing value to our customers across our business, including our pharmacy, but we don’t want to give that value to the middle man,” Walmart said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. “This issue underscores the problems that can arise when a PBM can exert their unregulated…

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Commentary: Millions of Americans Would Be Hurt By Bernie Sanders’ War on Walmart

by Amanda Snell   Sen. Bernie Sanders is back again, with yet another attempt to indirectly mandate the $15 an hour minimum wage. It’s called the Stop WALMART Act, or Stop Welfare for Any Large Monopoly Amassing Revenue from Taxpayers Act. It would affect large (500-plus employees) companies, and among other things would prohibit them from buying back stock unless they pay employees at least $15 an hour. [For a discussion of why big companies sometimes buy back their own stock click here] Taking to Twitter, Sanders, I-Vt., attacked the Walton family specifically. [The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution.] I say to the Walton family of Walmart: The American people are sick and tired of subsidizing your greed. Get off of welfare and pay your workers a living wage. pic.twitter.com/VxgIxQEON8 — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 16, 2018 Walmart is an obvious target for the democratic socialist: The company’s total revenue in 2018 was a cool $500 billion, and it employs more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. alone. Socialists like Sanders are eager to portray big corporations as the epitome of capitalism’s evil, but in…

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