Industry Groups Urge Congress to Modernize Consumer Protection Laws

INFORM Consumers Act Critical to Fighting Counterfeits, Retail Crime

Washington, DC - Today five diverse industry groups - the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the Business Roundtable (BRT), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), National Retail Federation (NRF), and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - jointly sent a letter to Congressional leadership expressing support for the inclusion of the Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act (INFORM Consumers Act) in the final version of the Bipartisan Innovation Act.

The INFORM Consumers Act is bipartisan legislation critical to fighting both dangerous counterfeit products and tackling organized criminal networks. The letter notes counterfeit goods - 90% of which flow into the U.S. from China - and organized retail crime through sophisticated criminal networks puts consumers, employees, and communities at risk. The economic harm is equally alarming, with the latest study showing a loss of $69 billion in sales and over 658,000 jobs from organized retail crime and a loss of nearly $131 billion and 325,000 jobs from fake and counterfeit goods. Most alarming, Homeland Security Investigations has connected this illicit activity to human trafficking, narcotics, gun smuggling and other serious criminal activity.

"The impact of counterfeit goods and organized retail crime on the U.S. economy and on businesses and consumers is now too harmful to ignore. The INFORM Consumers Act is a commonsense, bipartisan solution that would ensure criminals no longer have a free pass to conduct their illicit business anonymously online," said RILA Senior Executive Vice President, Public Affairs Michael Hanson. "We urge lawmakers to seize this opportunity to protect American families, communities, employees, and consumers and include INFORM in the final version of the Bipartisan Innovation Act."

"The rise in organized retail crime, along with the increase in violence associated with these crimes, threatens the safety of retail employees, customers and the communities they serve," NRF Senior Vice President of Government Relations David French said. "It is time for Congress to pass the INFORM Consumers Act, which has strong bipartisan support, and is a critical part of the solution to prevent the sale of stolen goods online."  rila.org

The full letter can be viewed here.


Progressive DAs Being Held Accountable
Tough-On-Crime DA's Answering The Voters' Call

WSJ: Progressive Prosecutor Movement Tested by Rising Crime and Angry Voters

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin and other prosecutors advancing progressive measures around the U.S. face electoral challenges

A successful recall of Mr. Boudin would mark a significant setback in what has been called the progressive prosecutor movement. Progressive prosecutors include the district attorneys of Los Angeles County; New York County, which encompasses Manhattan; Chicago's Cook County; and Philadelphia-all places where homicides went up during the pandemic and lockdowns. Homicides in the U.S. jumped nearly 30% in 2020 from 2019, the largest single-year increase ever recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Worry about crime among Americans is at its highest since 2016, according to a national Gallup Poll in April. Many criminologists say there is little evidence that prosecutors' policies are to blame for increased crime, but voter concerns are resonating in local politics during this midterm year, including a backlash against the "defund the police" movement.

In just the past three weeks, candidates for district attorney with tough-on-crime messages in smaller counties have defeated progressive rivals in at least five elections in North Carolina, Oregon and Arkansas.

In Pennsylvania, legislation that would effectively bar a third term for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who has declined to file charges against people arrested for drug possession, cleared the Republican-led state House of Representatives in April with votes from several Democrats.

Groups allied with police unions and largely funded by business leaders have gathered tens of thousands of signatures in Los Angeles, Northern Virginia and Colorado to unseat prosecutors changing longstanding practices.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is one recall target.

In April last year, the former chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party launched a recall campaign casting Mr. Boudin as soft on crime, a theme that resonated with residents fed up with petty theft, drug use and homelessness. wsj.com

San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin's Recall - Tuesday, June 7th, 2022
Virtually All the Major News Outlets Calling Out SF DA Boudin

Update on Progressive SF DA Recall - It Could Signal the Experiment's End
NY Times: In San Francisco, Democrats Are at War With Themselves Over Crime

Fueled by concerns about burglaries and hate crimes, San Francisco's liberal district attorney, Chesa Boudin, faces a divisive recall in a famously progressive city.

A Democratic civil war in one of America's most liberal cities: an effort to recall San Francisco's district attorney, Chesa Boudin, that has echoes of the party's larger split over how to handle matters of crime and punishment. In an overwhelmingly Democratic city, liberals and independents will decide a recall that is receiving major funding from conservative donors in addition to backing from moderate Democrats.

But his message of leniency for perpetrators has rankled residents of the city, many of whom feel unsafe and violated by property crimes. Like a president facing election during a bad economy, Mr. Boudin finds himself a vessel for residents' pandemic angst and their frustrations over a wave of burglaries and other property crimes in well-to-do areas.

If successful, the recall would overturn one of the nation's boldest efforts in criminal justice reform: an experiment to install a former public defender as the protector of public safety with promises to reduce mass incarceration, hold the police accountable and tackle racial disparities in the justice system.

A vote to push Mr. Boudin from office would signal to Democrats that talking tough on crime could be a winning message in the midterm elections, and deal a blow to a national movement that has elected progressive prosecutors in cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Boudin is facing stiff headwinds. Several polls showed him down at least 10 points.

Mr. Boudin added that the recall campaign had exploited individual tragedies like the increase in media coverage of crime, and especially high-profile videos on social media of shoplifting cases - like one showing a man on a bike stealing from a Walgreens.

"And then people read the story, they see the video, and they perceive crime as being out of control," Mr. Boudin said. "When in fact things like shoplifting are down dramatically. It doesn't mean we don't have a real problem with auto burglaries, but the notion that it's out of control today and it wasn't in 2019 is just demonstrably false."

Another problem is that Mr. Boudin and the Police Department, whose rate of arrests for reported crimes is among the lowest of major cities, have a toxic relationship. In the 2019 campaign, the San Francisco Police Officers Association attacked Mr. Boudin by calling him the "#1 choice of criminals and gang members." nytimes.com

San Fran DA Says Crime Surge Beyond His Control
Chesa Boudin says recall is 'scapegoating' in Chronicle interview

The embattled district attorney says he's as frustrated as anyone about crime in San Francisco, but that much of what ails the city is beyond the control of his office

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is trying to fight off an effort to recall him from office in next Tuesday's election.

"I'm working as hard as I can every day to make the city safer for all of us," Boudin says, "and I can't blame people ... for being frustrated. The last two years have presented us individually and collectively with challenges and changes we never could have anticipated."

But, he says, "What's unfortunate is that the anxiety and the fear around those changes has been directed at me, and my office has been scapegoated."

"The recall has done an effective job for some folks of making them think that I am responsible for all of the ills in the city: homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, auto burglaries, you name it. Problems that, if we're honest and if we take a moment to reflect, we know predated my tenure and will probably still be here no matter who the next district attorney is five or 10 years from now." sfchronicle.com

NY Post: Pray that San Francisco recalls DA Chesa Boudin
Homicides are up 36% from 2019 (the year Boudin was elected). Motor vehicle theft is up 36%, arson 40% and larceny up 20%. This, after he moved to end cash bail and greatly restrict all pretrial detention; his passion project is releasing as much as 40% of the city's jail population.

Residents are fleeing in droves, for a population drop of 6.7% from April 2020 to July 2021. A fourth of those leaving cite crime as the chief reason. nypost.com

   LA Times: SF's bitter D.A. recall could set back national justice reform movement

   WSJ: Chesa Boudin's Lawless City - Recalling SF's DA would do a lot to restore order.


Another Bloody Weekend Highlights America's Mass Shooting Epidemic

Mass Shootings Break Out Across the Country This Past Weekend
At least 12 killed, 54 injured in 7 separate mass shootings this weekend
The U.S. continues to grapple with mass shootings as at least seven have occurred over the weekend, resulting in the deaths of 12 people and injuries to 54 others. The spate of recent shootings has pushed guns to the forefront of a national conversation as leaders reckon with how to curb the alarming rate of violence.

An outdoor high school graduation party in Summerton, South Carolina, ended in bloodshed after two cars pulled up to a house and before shots were fired. Eight people were hit, according to a statement from the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office.

A shooting near a bar in Chattanooga, Tennessee, left 14 people struck while three others were hit by cars, Chattanooga Police Chief Celeste Murphy said during a press conference Sunday. Three people died - two of them from gunshots while the third was run over by a vehicle that was trying to flee the scene, per local media.

A bustling street in Philadelphia saw multiple shooters open fire on Saturday night, killing three people and injuring at least 11 others. Police officers on the scene engaged one of the shooters, who dropped their weapon and fled the area. No arrests have been made.

A shooting at a strip mall in Phoenix left one person dead and eight others injured, AP reported. Police confirmed during a press conference that about 100 people were at a party at the strip mall about 1am when an altercation led to the shooting, CBS News reported.

Five teenagers were shot and hospitalized after gunfire broke out at a West Texas high school graduation party at 1am Saturday, AP reported. A shooting in Macon, Georgia, shortly before 7pm on Saturday left one dead and three others injured, according to a press release from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office.

A shooting outside a bar in Mesa, Arizona, early Sunday killed two people and left two others injured, an Arizona ABC affiliate reported.

Three people were wounded and one was killed in an incident in Omaha, Nebraska. In Chesterfield, Virginia: one person was killed and another five were wounded. axios.com  nbcnews.com  nytimes.com

8,000 Gun Deaths So Far This Year
As violence marks America, local leaders ask: Where will it hit next?

Gun attacks are 'a sickness our country has to address and remedy,' one mayor said, but he and others are not optimistic about new restrictions

Local leaders say they are pessimistic that a federal - or even state-level - solution to the violence is forthcoming, even as President Biden renews his push for Congress to act on gun restrictions. Instead, armed with little more than fresh outrage, elected officials, police chiefs and school leaders are scrambling to find other ways to keep their own communities from becoming the next to be shattered in the country's unrelenting season of bloodshed.

Besides beefing up response plans and fortifying potential targets, local officials say they hope to revive public service campaigns that encourage even the nation's youngest students to report suspicious behavior. Local governments also hope to scrape together enough funding to expand mental health services to try to reach troubled residents before they lash out in violence.

The nation's recent bout of high-profile gun violence is part of a terrible trend that began in 2020, when a swirl of factors - including pandemic-induced stress, a spike in gun sales and a frayed relationship between police and the people they serve - drove shooting deaths to the highest level in decades. Last year was even deadlier, according to the archive.

Through June 1 this year, more than 8,000 people across the United States have been killed in gun violence, 300 fewer deaths than during the same period in 2021 but over 1,000 more than in 2020, according to a Washington Post analysis of the Gun Violence Archive's data.

With that, 2022 is on track to be among the deadliest years for shootings since the turn of the century, even if it falls short of 2021's devastating toll. washingtonpost.com

Analysis: America's deadly weekend of more mass shootings raises the stakes for Senate gun talks
In South Carolina and Texas, victims were shot at a high school graduation party. In Kentucky, funeral goers were hit outside a church. Multiple shooters sprayed a crowd with bullets in Philadelphia. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, shots rang out at a nightclub.

Just America going about its normal business this weekend under the deadly daily shadow of gun violence, as a staggering 10 mass shootings since Friday deepened trauma from recent massacres at a Buffalo supermarket, a Texas elementary school and a mass shooting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma medical center.

The horrific new trail of death and injury, of broken families and mourning and fear, raised the stakes for the Senate's latest effort to finally do something to stem the shootings and massacres and the costs for yet another political failure.

The effort, led by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy and Texas Sen John Cornyn, a Republican, reaches a critical point this week. It won't be enough to end the violence in a nation awash in firearms.

Murphy told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that despite formidable obstacles to success, he had never been more confident of getting something done.

Murphy said that the most likely areas for progress included "red flag" laws that can be used to confiscate weapons from people who are judged a danger or some tightening of background check rules in addition to more resources for mental health.

Still, there are signs that the momentum towards tighter gun restrictions is growing in the country with polls showing majority support for tighter background checks and assault weapons bans. In one case, a group of 250 people who identified themselves as conservatives and gun owners took out an ad in the Dallas Morning News calling on Cornyn to work to enhance gun control.

A deadly trail of weekend shootings

By early Sunday evening, figures detailing a weekend of violence had reached stunning levels, even given the regular daily toll of gun killings and incidents.

Since Friday alone, there were 10 mass shootings in the country that killed at least 12 people and injured many more. That's not to mention all the other smaller shootings that occurred, as part of the drum beat of death. At times at the weekend, news of more shootings came in at speeds that were difficult to believe. mercurynews.com

   RELATED: U.S. mass shootings leave dozens killed or wounded this weekend

   More young Americans die from gun violence than car crashes

Global Expansion of Face Biometrics in Retail
Face biometrics expanding in retail on three continents
Retail applications of face biometrics for payments at checkouts and vending machines, and related technologies in advertising, appear to be gaining momentum, with a rumoured UK rollout, a Latin American infrastructure deal, and a Hong Kong IPO.

Face biometrics are also part of an age estimation trial with ITL technology, which is being expanded by a UK retail chain. The moves come soon after the announcement of an initiative for face biometrics in retail from Mastercard and Payface.

Tesco is planning to introduce biometric payments through face or palm authentication by early next year, according to rumors reported by Charged Retail. Customers of Tesco can already use native device fingerprint or face biometrics through the Tesco Pay+ app, which also provides membership account benefits and tracks their spending. The next move will reportedly see biometrics introduced at the point of sale.

Vsblty partners on 50k-store rollout infrastructure

Vsblty and Latin American joint venture partner Winkel Media have inked a deal with AustinGIS to ease their path to a 50,000-store media network in the region.

The company has been partnering up to deploy its face biometrics and other computer vision capabilities for in-store advertising at convenience stores and other retailers in Latin America, including a deal with Grupo Modelo and Retailigent Media in 2020.

Biometric vending machine-maker plans IPO

Ubox makes smart retail devices featuring facial recognition payments, and had nearly 103,000 vending machines deployed to 288 cities as of 2021, according to the report, which it says is the largest such network in the country. According to the South China Morning Post, Ant Group-backed Ubox lost $204 million in the past two years, but attributed the results to the pandemic.

Age check technology trial expands

UK retailer Bestway is expanding a trial of biometrics-based anonymous age estimation at Bargain Booze shop points-of-sale with Innovative Technology's (ITL's) MyCheckr. A biometrics-based estimation prompts store clerks to ask customers for proof of age for alcohol sales if they are estimated to be below a certain age. biometricupdate.com

Baby Formula Shortage Update
Abbott Nutrition resumes production of baby formula at Michigan facility following contamination

Abbott Nutrition has restarted production at the Michigan baby formula factory that was shut down in February.

Abbott Nutrition has restarted production at a Michigan baby formula factory that was previously shut down due to contamination, contributing to a nationwide shortage of formula.

"We will ramp production as quickly as we can while meeting all requirements," Abbott said in a statement. "We're committed to safety and quality and will do everything we can to re-earn the trust parents, caregivers and health care providers have placed in us for 130 years."

Abbott, the largest infant formula manufacturer in the US, said it will take approximately three weeks for products to hit store shelves.

The Abbott Nutrition plant in Sturgis shut down in February following complaints of illness in infants who consumed formula products manufactured there, two of whom later died. The illnesses were linked to the environmental bacteria, cronobacter sakazakii. businessinsider.com

NRF Remains Confident in Retail's Resilience
NRF Says Economy 'Being Rebalanced' but 'Extreme Cooling Off' Seems Unlikely
The Federal Reserve faces "a tricky job" in addressing inflation but continuing growth in employment, wages and consumer spending make it unlikely the effort will backfire into a major setback for the economy, National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said today.

"With changes underway that focus on taming inflation without splintering the economy, the nation's economic system is in the process of being rebalanced in ways that are testing its resilience," Kleinhenz said. "This is an extraordinary period with unprecedented factors that include inflation at a 40-year high, uncertainty over the war in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions and the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. There's good reason why businesses, consumers and policymakers alike all feel uneasy."

"Though many people fear an extreme cooling off of the economy, there is not an overwhelming amount of evidence to support such predictions," Kleinhenz said. "In general, the data suggests that we remain in an ongoing expansion." nrf.com

Union Retaliation Closure?
Starbucks closed a New York store 'illegally' after its workers unionized

The workers accuse the coffee chain of retaliating against them for unionizing, Bloomberg reported.

Starbucks' decision to permanently close a store in Ithaca, New York, has prompted its workers' union to accuse the company of retaliation for recent union activism, Bloomberg reported.

The union filed the complaint about the "illegal" closure to the National Labor Relations Board on Friday. Reggie Borges, a spokesperson for Starbucks, told Insider that the closure was due to facilities, staffing, and "time and attendance" issues.

Three Ithaca stores have voted to unionize in the past few months, along with more than 50 Starbucks stores nationwide. businessinsider.com

These Two Popular Chains Are Closing Stores, Starting June 15

7-Eleven Opens Next-Gen 'Evolution Store' - Mobile Checkout & Delivery - Skip Checkout Counter

Wilson Sporting Goods opens second New York store

Is Walgreens Sale Of U.K. Boots Pharmacies Finally Near?


Quarterly Results

Lululemon Q1 comp's up 28%, DTC up 32%, net sales up 32%

Joann Q1 comp's down 12.9%, net sales down 13.3% (against comp's down 15% LY)


Last week's #1 article --

Dozens of Sears Closures
71 Sears stores to close permanently nationwide

A once-expansive retailer is preparing to close dozens of its locations.

At least 71 Sears Hometown stores will be shutting their doors for good in the coming weeks, according to a report from Axios. A list of closing locations was posted on a message board, TheLayoff.com, and many stores have taken to Facebook to inform customers of their impending closure.

See the full list of closures here: fox44news.com

ORC Gang of 12 Hit Hundreds of Apple Stores for $6.1M
Sold 10,000+ iPhones & iPads Globally

'Leaders of International Organization that Trafficked in Counterfeit Apple Products Plead Guilty'
SAN DIEGO - Three brothers from San Diego pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday, admitting that for eight years, they led an international conspiracy to traffic counterfeit iPhones and iPads.

As part of their plea agreements, the Liao brothers - Zhiwei, Zhimin and Zhiting - and their wives - Dao La, Mengmeng Zhang, and Tam Nguyen, who also pleaded guilty yesterday - agreed to forfeit their interests in five residences in San Diego, more than $250,000 in criminal proceeds, and more than 200 Apple iPhones that were counterfeit, fraudulently obtained, or linked to their criminal conspiracy.

The Liaos admitted that, from 2011 through at least August 2019, they managed an organization to traffic in counterfeit Apple products. The Liaos imported counterfeit iPhones and iPads from China that looked genuine and included identification numbers that matched identification numbers on real iPhones and iPads that were under warranty and had been previously sold to customers in the United States and Canada.

At the direction of the Liao brothers, co-conspirators traveled to hundreds of Apple Stores across the United States and Canada and attempted to exchange more than 10,000 counterfeit iPhones and iPads for genuine iPhones and iPads. The Liaos exported fraudulently obtained iPhones and iPads to individuals in foreign countries for profit. The estimated total infringement amount or loss suffered by Apple was approximately $6.1 million.

The Liao brothers and their wives are scheduled to appear for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Cynthia A. Bashant on August 15, 2022.

Federal Charges

Conspiracy to Traffic in Counterfeit Goods: Ten years in prison, $2 million fine, mandatory restitution, and forfeiture.

Wire fraud: Twenty years in prison, the greater of $250,000, or twice the value of the gross gain or twice the gross loss to the victims, mandatory restitution, and forfeiture.

Mail fraud: Twenty years in prison, the greater of $250,000, or twice the value of the gross gain or twice the gross loss to the victims, mandatory restitution, and forfeiture.

"For years, the Liao brothers and their co-conspirators trafficked thousands of counterfeit Apple products in exchange for genuine Apple products totaling millions of dollars," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy. justice.gov

Exton, PA: Brazen Theft at Famous Footwear Caught on Camera
The West Whiteland Township Police Department is investigating an alleged theft from the Famous Footwear store located at 215 W. Lincoln Highway. Authorities state that on June 2, 2022, at 4:15 pm, West Whiteland Police responded to a report of retail theft. Investigators received surveillance images clearly showing the suspects scooping up hundreds of dollars worth of items before fleeing the store. mychesco.com

Altamonte Springs, FL: Police in Florida say hidden GPS tracker helped discover housebreaking suspect
Altamonte Springs Police locations of labor say Zahria Lashawn Keaton stole higher than $17,000 worth of perfume from an Ulta retailer near Crane's Roost Park. Police say retailer surveillance video confirmed an individual and a girl sporting all black, breaking into the Ulta by smashing a window. They are saying the pair loaded higher than 160 bottles of perfume proper right into a discipline after which took off, nonetheless one in all many perfume bins had a GPS tracker inside. Seminole County deputies used a helicopter to chase the suspects' automotive, which in the end drove to Markham Woods Highway in Sanford. That is the place police say the suspects ditched the automotive and the woman jumped a wall into John Lippens' yard. "The particular person came to visit, landed proper about right here, the place I've acquired the signal now, got here by way of that space, and landed proper about right here," Lippens acknowledged. blackchronicle.com

Chicago, IL: Burglary at Card Shop Results in $100K Loss
Another hobby shop has been burglarized and the time, the crooks made off with a major haul. Surveillance video taken at Elite Sports Cards on Chicago's north side shows one man quickly shoving merchandise into a bag last week. Owner Ronnie Holloway says the crook and an accomplice were able to pry open steel bars in the back of the shop, break a window and climb inside the shop. He says the man see on surveillance video knew what he was looking for, taking some higher value items before leaving. sportscollectorsdaily.com

Memphis, TN: Robber admits to stealing nearly a dozen Nike shoes from local store, records show
One of two men is behind bars after a robbery on South Third Street. Jernell Bonds, 21, is charged with criminal attempt first-degree murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault after he and one other man robbed a local store. On June 4 at about 10 a.m., two men entered Piecez of Couture Fashion located in the 5300 block of South Third Street and robbed the business at gunpoint. fox13memphis.com

Newberry County, SC: Sheriff: 3 caught stealing thousand of dollars in gas using 'remote controlled' device

Menomonee Falls, WI: Police seeking 2 Suspects in $600 Home Depot theft

Menomonee Falls, WI: Menomonee Falls Woodman's theft, 2 sought