(NEW YORK) — Foot Locker plans to close 400 stores in North America by 2026 as it rebrands part of its business, the company announced Monday.
The company plans to close many underperforming stores in shopping malls while focusing on strengthening its standalone stores with new concepts, Foot Locker said during its Investor Day presentation.
“We are entering 2023 with a focus on resetting the business — simplifying our operations and investing in our core banners and capabilities to position the company for growth in 2024 and beyond,” Foot Locker president and CEO Mary Dillon said in a news release on the company’s website.
One of its announced plans is called “Lace Up,” which aims to target consumers and focus on “all things sneakers,” the company announced in its presentation.
“We are incredibly excited to introduce our ‘Lace Up’ plan with a new set of strategic imperatives and financial objectives that are designed to set us up for success for the next 50 years,” Dillon said.
Next year Foot Locker celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Despite the plan to close hundreds of stores in North America within the next three years, the company plans to expand its footprint by opening 280 stores that focus on its community, power store and house of play concepts.
The sports apparel company also announced the closing of 125 of its Champ Sports stores in 2023 and resetting the brand to focus heavily on people who are more active in sports and fitness.
As of January, the company operates over 2,700 stores in 29 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Sales decreased by 0.3% during the company’s fourth quarter compared to the same quarter in 2021.
According to the company, Foot Locker plans to decrease its overall real estate footprint by 10% in 2026, leaving it with 2,400 stores.
(NEW YORK) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis likened former President Donald Trump’s jabs against him to so much “background noise,” according to excerpts from an upcoming interview with Piers Morgan.
“To me, it’s just background noise,” DeSantis is quoted saying in an account of the sit-down Morgan wrote for The New York Post. “It’s not important for me to be fighting with people on social media.”
DeSantis, a hugely popular and controversial GOP governor considered to be Trump’s closest competitor if he enters the race for president, also took an apparent swipe at Trump’s character.
Speaking with Morgan, DeSantis said politicians should aspire to fewer moral failings.
“You really want to look to people like our Founding Fathers, like what type of character. It’s not saying that you don’t ever make a mistake in your personal life, but I think what type of character are you bringing?” DeSantis said to Morgan, according to the excerpts in the Post.
“Somebody who really set the standard is George Washington because he always put the republic over his own personal interest. When we won the American Revolution, Washington surrendered his sword. [King] George III said, ‘He’s the greatest man in the world if he gives up power.’ I think the person is more about how you handle your public duties and the kind of character you bring to that endeavor,” DeSantis added.
Quotes from the interview, which will air Thursday night on Fox Nation, were published in the Post and via several clips from Fox News.
As polls place DeSantis as Trump’s biggest challenger for the Republican nomination, should DeSantis announce a 2024 campaign as expected, the former president has grown increasingly critical of DeSantis and DeSantis’ record.
And while DeSantis had largely been ignoring the attacks — saying last month that “I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans” — he’s become more vocal in directly responding as Trump’s criticisms ramp up.
On Monday, the Florida governor distanced himself from Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels when asked at a press conference about Trump potentially being indicted in New York City.
“Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just can’t speak to that,” DeSantis told reporters.
Trump is being investigated there over money he paid to Daniels before the 2016 election to stop her from discussing an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump denies wrongdoing and Daniels’ claim of an affair; his attorney has called the money extortion.
At Monday’s press conference, DeSantis went on to criticize the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who is leading the probe. DeSantis accused Bragg of “pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office.” (A spokeswoman for Bragg said in response to DeSantis that “we will not be intimidated by attempts to undermine the justice process, nor will we let baseless accusations deter us from fairly applying the law.”)
DeSantis echoed his view of the investigation when talking with Morgan but said of Trump’s alleged conduct: “The reality is that’s just outside my wheelhouse. I mean, that’s just not something that I can speak to.”
Trump seemingly reacted to DeSantis’ remark on Monday referencing the Daniels controversy with a post on his Truth Social platform, writing that “Ron DeSanctimonious will probably find out about FALSE ACCUSATIONS & FAKE STORIES sometime in the future, as he gets older, wiser, and better known.”
During his sit-down interview with Morgan at the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee, when asked about Trump’s escalating criticism of him, someone Trump previously endorsed, DeSantis “chuckled,” Morgan wrote in the Post.
“Things have changed a little bit, I guess. It is what it is,” DeSantis said, noting the shift came after his double-digit reelection last year.
He sought to draw sharp distinctions between him and Trump as leaders, particularly on what he called his “drama-free” executive style.
“The way we run the government, I think, is no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board,” he said. “And I think that’s something that’s very important.”
He also brushed off the nicknames from Trump, who favors insulting his rivals.
“I don’t know how to spell the sanctimonious one,” DeSantis said. “I don’t really know what it means, but I kinda like it. It’s long, it’s got a lot of vowels.”
“I mean you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner because that’s what we’ve been able to do in Florida, is put a lot of points on the board and really take this state to the next level,” he said.
The response to COVID-19 was another thing that separated him and Trump, DeSantis said: “I would have fired somebody like [Dr. Anthony] Fauci. I think that he got way too big for his britches.”
In another excerpt, DeSantis projected confidence that he could take on President Joe Biden in a general matchup next year, though neither of them is officially in the race yet.
“If I were to run,” DeSantis said, “I’m running against Biden. Like we [him and Trump] are competing for the Republican, potentially, I get that, but ultimately, you know, the guy I’m gonna focus on is Biden because I think he’s failed the country. I think the country wants a change. I think they want a fresh start and a new direction, and so we’ll be very vocal about that.”
On Wednesday, Trump responded to DeSantis’ interview with Morgan with a post on Truth Social, claiming that he is an “average” governor and “is not working for the people of Florida as he should be, he is too busy chatting with a Ratings Challenged TV Host.”
Despite recent tours of pivotal early-voting states like Iowa and Nevada, DeSantis maintained to Morgan that he’s not made a “final decision” on whether he’ll run in 2024.
However, he has privately indicated to allies that he expects to jump in the race around May or June, sources familiar with the matter previously told ABC News.
“I’ve told people that I’ve got a lot to do over the next few months in Florida,” DeSantis told Morgan. “We’re gonna put a lot of points on the board. And then we’ll see how the dust settles after that, but I can tell you a lot of people realize the country is not going in the right direction and believe that what we’ve been able to do in Florida, if we can apply that nationally, we can get America back on track and back on our foundations.”
DeSantis is scheduled to headline a fundraiser in New Hampshire next month.
ABC News’ Katherine Faulders, Isabella Murray and Will Steakin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Some East Palestine, Ohio, residents are still grappling with the aftershock of last month’s train derailment, with one mother offering compelling testimony about how the incident traumatized her young child.
The night of the incident, a “huge fireball” was visible from East Palestine resident Misti Allison’s driveway, she testified to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, vowing, “We will never forget the night the train derailed.”
“My seven-year-old has asked me if he is going to die from living in his own home. What do I tell him?” she asked lawmakers Wednesday.
Allison said the accident “put a scarlet letter on our town” that has resulted in tumbling home values and financial strain for the village.
“I’m here to put a face on this disaster,” said Misti Allison, a mother of two who lives in East Palestine. “This isn’t just a political issue. It is a people issue.”
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw has repeatedly refused to commit to certain points on rail and worker safety and commitments to the East Palestine community. During the same hearing at which Allison spoke, Shaw refused to commit fully to backing the RAIL Act, proposed by Reps. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, and Emilia Strong-Sykes, D-Ohio, and the Railway Safety Act, proposed by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, — saying the bills contained “potential for meaningful improvement,” going just slightly further than prior remarks in which he refused to commit to backing the bipartisan Railway Safety Act amid intense political fallout.
Though Shaw offered his “full-throated endorsement” for “many provisions” in the Railway Safety Act, which was proposed by Ohio’s two senators in the wake of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last month, he still dodged when asked whether he’d support the legislation and did not offer a specific long-term safety plan. Shaw testified earlier this month he’d commit to “the legislative intent to make rail safer” without citing specific elements of the legislation he would support.
“We are committed to getting better,” Shaw said Wednesday when asked by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., whether he supported the bill, citing Norfolk Southern’s support for the acceleration of the phase-in of the DT-117s, funding first responder hazmat training, and expanding advanced notification.
Asked by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., whether he would support legislation requiring at least a two-person crew on all freight trains — which will become a requirement if the RSA is enacted — Shaw sidestepped, saying he was “not aware” of data supporting the notion that having more than a one-person crew aboard all trains would improve safety.
“Mr. Shaw, will you commit to supporting legislation requiring at least two-person crews on all freight trains?” Markey asked.
“Senator, we’ll commit to using research and technology to ensure the railroad operates safely,” Shaw said.
When Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., pressed Shaw on who was responsible for preventing the derailment, which Shaw said in prior testimony was preventable, the CEO responded, “We are responsible for safety on our network and working within the entire industry to enhance safety.”
“Okay, let me understand this. You’ve just reluctantly acknowledged A) it’s preventable, and B) it was your responsibility to prevent it. Am I incorrect?” Welch asked.
“Senator, I’m taking responsibility to enhance safety throughout the entire industry,” Shaw said — a reply Welch said “sounds like a lobbyist response.”
“Small communities have something that’s really very, very special,” Welch said of the derailment. “It’s trust. You trust one another. And there’s been a breach of trust here.”
Josh Grobanrevealed he met with “past and present Sweeneys to discuss the role” for an NPR special on the late Stephen Sondheim‘s birthday. Sondheim created Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which Groban is currently starring in on Broadway. The discussion will air on NPR on a future, unannounced date.
Ava Max will perform at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in Los Angeles Saturday, March 25. She said in a statement, “HRC’s important work to help create an inclusive and safe world for the LGBTQ+ community is inspiring, and I am honored to support this organization.” HRC is the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization.
Meghan Trainor might already be thinking of remixing her new song “Mother” after rapper King Kitty contributed a new verse that had Meghan shook. The singer duetted Kitty’s take and wrote in all capital letters, “I wanna listen to this everyday.” It’s unknown if this will result in a new collab.
Katy Perry is under fire for a joke she made on American Idol. Contestant Sarah Beth, who is 25, revealed herself to be a mother of three and joked, “If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out.” Katy quipped, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.” Sarah Beth later took to TikTok and said Katy’s comment “wasn’t super kind.”
Doja Cat underwent breast reduction surgery and tweeted she is now a size 32C. She also said she’s spent at least four days recovering from surgery. She also revealed she had liposuction on her thighs, but assured fans she’s “healing really fast.”
That said, fans think Doja also confirmed the title of her next album. She tweeted “#hellmouth” shortly after deleting a tweet claiming “DC4 has a title now.” She’s since changed her Twitter name to “Hellmouth.”
Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff are teaming up to write and produce new music for the movie Mother Mary. Deadline reports The Green Knight‘s Daniel Hart will produce the film’s score. Mother Mary is being billed as an “epic pop melodrama” that follows star Anne Hathaway as a musician and her relationship with a fashion designer played by Michaela Coel.
Katy Perry is under fire for a joke she made on American Idol. Contestant Sarah Beth, who is 25, revealed herself to be a mother of three and joked, “If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out.” Katy quipped, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.” Sarah Beth later took to TikTok and said Katy’s comment “wasn’t super kind.”
Meghan Trainor might already be thinking of remixing her new song “Mother” after rapper King Kitty contributed a new verse that had Meghan shook. The singer duetted Kitty’s take and wrote in all capital letters, “I wanna listen to this everyday.” It’s unknown if this will result in a new collab.
Ava Max will perform at the Human Rights Campaign dinner in Los Angeles Saturday, March 25. She said in a statement, “HRC’s important work to help create an inclusive and safe world for the LGBTQ+ community is inspiring, and I am honored to support this organization.”
Justin Roiland, the co-creator and voice star of the hit animated series Rick and Morty, has been cleared of domestic violence charges.
Orange County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Kimberly Edds noted in a statement picked up by outlets, including Variety, “We dismissed the charges today as a result of having insufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Roiland’s career took a major hit after he was charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit in an incident with a woman he was with back in January 2020.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges, but Adult Swim, which airs Rick and Morty;Hulu, which runs his show Solar Opposites; and 20th Animation, which produces his series Koala Man, all severed ties with him.
The 42-year-old made mention of that in a lengthy social media post he captioned “Justice.”
Roiland said in part he was thankful the charges were dismissed, adding, “I’m still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process.”
He expressed, “Most of all, I’m disappointed that so many people were so quick to judge without knowing the facts, based solely on the word of an embittered ex trying to bypass due process and have me ‘canceled.'”
He concluded, “That it may have succeeded, even partially, is shameful. However, now that the legal case has ended, I’m determined to move forward and focus both on my creative projects and restoring my good name.”
Adam Sandler recently reunited with close friend and on-screen partner Jennifer Aniston ahead of the premiere of their third movie together, the action-packed Murder Mystery sequel Murder Mystery 2.
The comedic duo joined Good Morning America on Wednesday to chat about the movie, fresh off the heels of Sandler’s latest achievement, winning the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
“We got emotional, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Sandler said of the celebration at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., earlier this month. “It was all great friends of mine there making speeches, family members … everybody got us teared up, but it was a lot of funniness, and a lot of people made fun of me and the way I look. I loved it.”
Aniston was in attendance at that event alongside a slew of entertainment royalty, including fellow longtime Sandler co-star and close friend Drew Barrymore. So the two decided to do a bit about being Sandler’s love interests.
“We thought we’d be funny cause there was a Twitter thing a couple years ago and they’re always sort of comparing us, who’s the better movie wife or movie love, so we just thought we’d do a little bit on that,” Aniston explained on Wednesday, to which Sandler confirmed, “You guys were funny, everybody loved it.”
The pair, who play husband and wife in the Murder Mystery films, confirmed on GMA that they’ve actually “been pitching the idea” for a film alongside Barrymore.
“We want to do all three of us together and just put an end to this competition,” Aniston said with a laugh.
“There’s no competition,” Sandler added. “Just two great ladies.” Adam also called Aniston “one of the funniest people I know.”
Nabbing tickets to see Bruce Springsteenand The E Street Band certainly wasn’t easy. For those who missed out, The Boss is now giving his fans a chance to win a trip to see him in his home state of New Jersey.
Springsteen has teamed up with Propeller for a new sweepstakes that helps raise money and awareness for The Ally Coalition, which works to better the lives of LGBTQ+ youth.
And the lucky winner and a guest will nab quite a grand prize: two tickets to The Boss’ April 14 show at the Prudential Center in Newark, along with airfare, hotel accommodations and ride-share credit. The winner will also take home a signed Fender American Original ’50s Telecaster guitar.
Wherever you hung out back in high school, it might not be as cool as the place where Jennifer Aniston used to kick up her feet.
On Wednesday’s episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan, the actress revealed she would often hang out at Cher‘s house. Why? She was high school classmates with the singer’s son, Chaz Bono, back in the ’70s.
“Well I went to high school with Chaz and amongst our group of our gaggle, we would always go to [Cher’s] house because it was nice,” Aniston explained. “It was Cher!”
For those dying to know what it’s like inside the legendary singer’s home, Aniston recalled the beautiful chiffon curtains, saying the house “was just wild and wonderful.”
The Morning Show star also said Keith Richards was Cher’s neighbor at the time. She noted Cher has since changed residences.
While Aniston implied her group of friends didn’t really comprehend the magnitude of Cher’s fame, she said, “It was just fun to be able to hang out with [her].”
She also spoke about raiding the hitmaker’s snacks back in the day. “She had food from Belducci’s — as she likes to say — and she seems to think I ate it all,” Aniston remarked. She recalled Cher used to tell her, while mimicking the singer, “You ate me out of house and home.”
“I was not the only one partaking in the cold cuts,” she continued.
Aniston also revealed she and her friends “might have taken a peek” into Cher’s closet.
(NEW YORK) — A “bomb cyclone” is wreaking havoc across an already soaked California, killing at least five people in the San Francisco Bay Area, including four hit by falling trees or limbs, officials said.
A dramatic drop in atmospheric pressure triggered the so-called bomb cyclone that swept in from the Pacific Ocean and clobbered the San Francisco area. The storm packed heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 90 mph that knocked down trees, blocking major roadways and highways, officials said.
Tens of thousands of utility customers lost power, according to officials.
One person was killed and another was injured in the gated community of Rossmoor, about 25 miles east of San Francisco, when a tree fell on a moving car, according to the California Highway Patrol. Another motorist was killed around 1:30 p.m. local time Tuesday when a toppled tree crushed a work van in San Mateo County, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, according to CHP.
A man was killed at Oakland’s Lake Merritt when a tree fell on him, officials said. Two people in San Francisco were killed in storm-related incidents, including a person who was struck by a tree limb, according to San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s office.
The gale-force winds knocked down at least 700 trees and limbs across San Francisco on Tuesday alone, city officials said.
On Wednesday morning, the town of Woodside, about 32 miles south of San Francisco, was under a “highly recommended evacuation” after a mudslide shut down a road, impacting about 30 homes, officials said.
“If you live in this area, please pack your ‘Go Bag,’ with all necessary essentials: insurance policy, pets, medications, a change of clothes, and LEAVE NOW,” San Mateo County officials said in a Twitter post Wednesday. “Once the road gives out completely, residents in that area will not have access to emergency services for the foreseeable future.”
The mudslide unfolded as the National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for Woodside and nearby San Mateo County communities Wednesday morning after about 3 inches of rain fell in the area over a 24-hour period.
The powerful springtime storm is also being blamed for the derailment of an Amtrak train near Martinez, about 35 miles east of San Francisco. The train was carrying 55 passengers when it struck a downed tree on the tracks, according to Amtrak officials. No injuries were reported.
High wind gusts also caused a tractor-trailer rig to overturn on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, blocking the eastbound lanes and snarling traffic during the evening commute, according to CHP.
The winds were so strong in downtown San Francisco Tuesday that it knocked out windows in high-rise buildings, sending shattered glass to the ground, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
San Francisco International Airport recorded wind gusts of 64 mph, while gusty winds reached 74 mph in Oakland. Gusts hit nearly 90 mph between San Francisco and Sacramento.
The “bomb cyclone” developed off the coast of San Francisco Tuesday when the atmospheric pressure dropped 24 millibars in 17 hours, producing the strongest March storm ever recorded in the Bay Area.
The same storm system walloped Southern California Tuesday with wind gusts of up to 100 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles. The town of Lytle Creek in the San Gabriel Mountains recorded more than 6 inches of rain, while nearly an inch-and-a-half of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles.
The weather system is expected to weaken Wednesday, but most of California will remain under a flood watch and high-wind alerts are expected to persist into the afternoon.
The storm, the latest in a series of atmospheric river systems that has nearly eliminated the state’s multi-year drought, is expected to move southeast, bringing severe weather to parts of Texas, Alabama and Oklahoma. Severe weather on Thursday and Friday could produce large hail and damaging winds from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to San Angelo, more than 250 miles southwest of Dallas.
As the storm moves east on Friday, a possible tornado outbreak could form in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, according to the National Weather Service.
