It's 7-Eleven Day!

AP Leader Mark Stinde Joins Fox & Friends to celebrate 7-Eleven Day & Discuss 'Operation Chill'

7-Eleven VP of AP Mark Stinde stopped by Fox & Friends on Wednesday to discuss 'Operation Chill' and celebrate 7-Eleven's 91st birthday with free Slurpees.

Operation Chill, started over 20 years ago in Philadelphia, brings law enforcement together with the communities they serve by rewarding children for good behavior. When a kid commits a good deed, police officers give them a "ticket" for a free Slurpee. Stinde says they've given out millions over the span of the past two-plus decades.

"So far, since '95, we've given out 21 million coupons," he told Fox News. "1.4 million coupons this year with over 1,100 police agencies engaged."

"In any way we can engage the law enforcement community in our stores, and really working with them as a partner - this is a great program for us to do that," Stinde added.

Behind the Scenes with Mark Stinde!

Free Slurpees all day, great deals all week!

To mark 7-Eleven's 91st birthday, the convenience chain will be giving out free Slurpees on Wednesday from 11 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. They are also featuring a week-long "7 Deals in 7 Days," which includes all 7Rewards members receiving additional exclusive coupons as well as selects deals for a week.

Click here for more of our coverage on 7-Eleven Day and Operation Chill.

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The Loss Prevention Research Council's IMPACT 2018 Agenda Is Now Available
The Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC) has released the agenda for their annual conference, taking place at the University of Florida, October 1 - 3. IMPACT was developed to help retailers and their solutions partners better employ research tools to assess the real-world effect their LP efforts have on sales, crime, and loss levels.

This year's theme is "Science. Practice. Results." The goal of IMPACT 2018 is to deliver practical research, rooted in rigorous scientific research methods, to aid organizations in selling more and losing less.

Event highlights include the Innovation Lab 5.0 unveiling and reception, 10 Learning Labs, live internal offender engagement, and much more.

Register for IMPACT 2018 to see the culmination of the LPRC's 60+ research projects for the year. View agenda    Register for IMPACT 2018

Appriss Retail Surpasses Milestone of 3 Billion Real-Time Transactions Processed
Appriss Retail, the industry leader in retail performance improvement solutions, today announced it has processed more than 3 billion real-time requests for analytics-driven decisions. The achievement underscores the company's continued growth as the top provider of artificial intelligence solutions for major retailers. The company has return authorization solutions deployed in more than 34,000 stores in North America. 

The data gathered through the 3 billion transactions provides Appriss Retail with an unmatched understanding of shopping trends and patterns to help retailers improve customer service at the return counter, identify consumer behavior, optimize return rates, reduce fraud and shrink, and increase sales.

"The amount of transaction history our data scientists analyze every minute of every day is substantial. It allows us to build better analytical models to protect our clients and their customers, which is highly valuable for the retail industry," said Krishnan Sastry, president of Appriss Retail. "With billions of retail purchase and return transactions processed by Appriss Retail, our company has unsurpassed knowledge of shopping tendencies and associated patterns of fraud and risk." globenewswire.com

Arecont Vision LLC Asset Sale to Costar Technologies, Inc. Approved
Forms New Company - Arecont Vision Costar
Company Becomes Latest Component of Video Surveillance and Machine Vision Manufacturer
Arecont Vision®, the industry leader in IP-based megapixel camera and video surveillance solutions, announced today that the acquisition by Costar Technologies, Inc. (OTC markets Group: CSTI) of its assets has been approved by the bankruptcy court ("Court"). It is anticipated that the sale will close on July 13, 2018.

As previously announced, Arecont Vision initiated proceedings under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the District of Delaware in May, 2018 and has achieved its goal of moving through this process quickly.

After the closing of the sale, upon emergence the assets formerly operated by Arecont Vision will begin operating as Arecont Vision Costar, LLC and be part of Costar, a US corporation that designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes a full range of proven products for the video surveillance and machine vision markets.

"Costar's family of companies, composed of CohuHD Costar, Costar Video Systems, Innotech, and IVS Imaging, is a great strategic fit for Arecont Vision providing synergies that can be leveraged to grow our business in new market verticals and product areas. Costar provides resources that will enable Arecont Vision to continue to innovate and lead the market," said Raul Calderon, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager, Arecont Vision. arecontvision.com

Lawmakers target Chinese security companies over spy fears
Hikvision Claims "Knee-Jerk Response to Anti-Chinese Red Scare"
Congress is weighing a ban on federal agencies using video surveillance equipment from two large Chinese companies, the latest sign of concerns about foreign espionage among lawmakers.

It's part of a broader trend. Across the government, the U.S. is moving away from foreign state-owned tech companies to prevent cyber spying.

But one of the companies named in the proposed ban is pushing back. Hikvision argues that the legislation - written into the House version of the annual defense authorization bill - is a knee-jerk response to an anti-Chinese "Red Scare."

"To my knowledge, and to my understanding, I've got a gut feeling that if we are not a Chinese company, this wouldn't be an issue at all," said Jeffrey He, president of Hikvision's independent U.S. subsidiary, in an interview with The Hill.

"It's very difficult to prove ourselves not guilty of providing back doors to Chinese government or any source."

Its cameras have been purchased through middlemen for use on a U.S. military base, the American Embassy in Afghanistan and in a police department in Memphis, Tenn. Chris Nickelson, a Missouri-based contractor, touted Hikvision's products as top-quality cameras with "world-class" support.

Nickelson argues that a ban on Hikvision products would actually harm small American businesses like his.

But Hikvision's parent company's close ties to the Chinese government - a state-run enterprise owns a controlling 42 percent share - and its participation in an extensive state surveillance program in China have raised questions about whether its U.S. arm can be trusted. thehill.com Read full article on second page

Papa John's controversial founder reportedly used the N-word on a conference call about the chain's response to the NFL's national anthem protests
Papa John's founder and ex-CEO John Schnatter allegedly used the N-word during a conference call, causing a marketing agency to start severing ties with the pizza chain, Forbes reports. businessinsider.com

Ex-QVC exec gets 30 months in prison for $1M fraud scheme
Two Vendors Sending Fake & Altered Invoices
A former executive at the West Chester-based online shopping giant QVC Tuesday was sentenced to 30 months in jail for his role in an elaborate scheme to rip off the shopping network to the tune of more than $1 million. James D. Falkowski, 42, of Buffalo, New York, whose job it was to improve the network's brand in the entertainment and fashion industries, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

Falkowski - a director from 2008 until his termination in 2013 used his position at QVC to embezzle and fraudulently obtain from the network more than $1 million worth of money, goods, and services, all without QVC's knowledge or approval. These luxuries included hundreds of thousands of dollars of first-class travel, hotel and resort stays, spa treatments, dining at upscale restaurants, luxury clothing and accessories, and personal medical treatments, such as Botox treatment.

To hide his actions from QVC, Falkowski created fake invoices purporting to be from The Four Seasons Hotels, luxury car service companies, and other vendors in order to deceive QVC into paying for Falkowski's fraud. Falkowski also enlisted the assistance of two QVC vendors to help him defraud QVC. Those two vendors - Los Angeles-based public relations agency The Steinberg Group, doing business as "dOMAIN," and a New York City-based production management company - agreed to submit fraudulently altered invoices and bills to QVC in order to hide Falkowski's embezzlement, according to the federal charges. delcotimes.com

Apple Security Stops Corporate Espionage & Busts Chinese Developer
Ex-Apple developer charged with stealing self-driving car trade secrets
U.S. authorities on Monday charged a former Apple Inc employee with theft of trade secrets, alleging that the person downloaded a secret blueprint related to a self-driving car to a personal laptop and later trying to flee the country, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

The complaint said that the former employee, Xiaolang Zhang, disclosed intentions to work for a Chinese self-driving car startup and booked a last-minute flight to China after downloading the plan for a circuit board for the self-driving car. Authorities arrested Zhang on July 7 at the San Jose airport after he passed through a security checkpoint.

"Apple takes confidentiality and the protection of our intellectual property very seriously," Apple said in a statement. "We're working with authorities on this matter and will do everything possible to make sure this individual and any other individuals involved are held accountable for their actions."

The criminal complaint says Zhang was hired to develop software and hardware for Apple's autonomous vehicle project, where he designed and tested circuit boards to analyze sensor data.

When Zhang returned from paternity leave after visiting family in China, near the end of April he told his supervisor he planned to resign, move back to China and work for Xiaopeng Motors, an intelligent electric vehicle company headquartered there with offices in Silicon Valley, the complaint says.

Zhang's supervisor called in Apple security officials, who discovered that Zhang had run extensive searches of secret databases and had come on to Apple's campus on April 28, when he was supposed to be on paternity leave, the complaint alleges.

While on campus, the complaint alleges, Zhang took circuit boards and a computer server from a self-driving car hardware lab, and his Apple co-workers showed him a "proprietary chip."

Zhang also allegedly downloaded data to a personally owned computer, including a 25-page secret blueprint for circuit board for a self-driving car, which investigators described as "the single file" that "serves as the basis for the instant criminal charge." msn.com

Employers that lack a sexual harassment policy risk losing candidates
Nearly half (48%) of job seekers said hearing about a sexual harassment incident at a potential employer would discourage them from applying for a job and 63% said it's important to know about a company's sexual harassment policy before submitting an application, according to a new Jobvite study. The study, "Harassment and Bullying at Work," found that the majority of job seekers polled in the survey said they would at least consider leaving a company where the workplace felt threatening. 

Most jobseekers and workers find harassment and bullying intolerable, but nearly more workers are bullied than sexually harassed in the workplace, the report said. The survey found that 14% of employees were bullied at work, compared with 9% who were sexually harassed.

On bullying, survey results show that of the 14% of employees who were bullied at work, the abusers were often managers (57%). Bullying is less likely to be reported than sexual harassment, with 58% of job seekers who were bullied in the last two years not reporting the abuse, compared with 33% who didn't report harassment.

Employees leave work environments that are hostile and job seekers routinely rule out working for companies with poor reputations (especially if such issues are talked about online) - giving HR even more impetus to follow up with reported situations of abuse and make public their efforts to combat it. retaildive.com

New York City murders jump 8%, but shootings drop, in first half of year: police
While overall crime was down by 1.8% for the year, there have been 147 murders across the city in the first six months of 2018 - 11 more than the same time last year, which was considered the safest on record for the Big Apple. "The Bronx is driving the murder year to date with 51 homicides," NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said. "We've made arrests in 33 of those cases."

"Roughly 30% of the killings are gang-related," Monahan added.

The number of reported rapes have increased by 33% this year.

"We've been encouraging people to come out and report so when it goes up, that's actually a good thing because more people are coming forward," Monahan said. "Especially in the domestic violence cases. Those are the ones that never come forward." nydailynews.com

The World's Biggest Security & Surveillance Market
Inside China's Dystopian Dreams: A.I., Shame and Lots of Cameras
In some cities, cameras scan train stations for China's most wanted. Billboard-size displays show the faces of jaywalkers and list the names of people who don't pay their debts. Facial recognition scanners guard the entrances to housing complexes. Already, China has an estimated 200 million surveillance cameras - four times as many as the United States.

Such efforts supplement other systems that track internet use and communications, hotel stays, train and plane trips and even car travel in some places.

"This is potentially a totally new way for the government to manage the economy and society," said Martin Chorzempa, a fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.  "The goal is algorithmic governance," he added.

Mr. Xi has launched a major upgrade of the Chinese surveillance state. China has become the world's biggest market for security and surveillance technology, with analysts estimating the country will have almost 300 million cameras installed by 2020. Chinese buyers will snap up more than three-quarters of all servers designed to scan video footage for faces, predicts IHS Markit, a research firm. China's police will spend an additional $30 billion in the coming years on techno-enabled snooping, according to one expert quoted in state media.

Government contracts are fueling research and development into technologies that track faces, clothing and even a person's gait. Experimental gadgets, like facial-recognition glasses, have begun to appear. In China, snooping is becoming big business. As the country spends heavily on surveillance, a new generation of start-ups have risen to meet the demand. nytimes.com

Fairview TN: Lawsuit: Police Officer Falsely Arrested Man For Shoplifting Over Personal Grudge; suing City and Walmart
A man said a police officer with a grudge arrested him for shoplifting even though he didn't steal a thing. According to a complaint, a Hickman County man was wrongfully arrested for shoplifting at the Walmart in Fairview. Staley Forsythe said he was targeted by his adopted son's biological father who happens to be a Fairview Police Officer. Forsythe's attorney claims Dutton falsely identified Forsythe as the man that stole $117.98 worth of stuff from Walmart. Charges against Forsythe were dropped when surveillance video from a local restaurant revealed he couldn't have been at Walmart at the time of the crime. Forsythe is suing Officer Dutton, the City of Fairview, Walmart, and a Walmart loss prevention employee. newschannel5.com

Why You Should Blow Up Your Best Practices
Many common corporate activities and thought processes actually promote mediocrity and inhibit needed business-model transformations, a new book contends.

What if it turned out that best practices were not "best" after all? What if adhering to best practices actually signaled a company's mediocrity?

Those aren't frivolous or absurd musings. They're central tenets of a quite serious new book, "Detonate" (Wiley, May 2018). It aims to help organizations "spot traditional business activities that need to be questioned" during an era when business is increasingly defined by disruption.

"The entire concept of best practices, by definition, means that you're doing the same thing as your competitors," write the authors, Geoff Tuff, a leader in Deloitte's innovation and applied design practices, and Steven Goldbach, the firm's U.S. chief strategy officer. cfo.com

Walmart to open more convenience stores in D-FW - For a Total of 7
The stores are in Supercenter parking lots that didn't already have gasoline pumps. No free-standing locations are planned for now, Hatfield said. Each store has eight fuel pumps and will be open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. dallasnews.com

Lord & Taylor laying off another 83 workers at its major home fashion division

Target Takes Down Website posting for Asset Protection Director

Apple Stores Across the Country Targeted in Brazen 'Flash Mob' Robberies

Rite Aid Sends Letter to Shareholders "Urging" Voting FOR Merger with Albertsons

Fabletics will open 75 new stores in big growth push

Target expands Drive Up to 200 more stores - now in 800

Editor's Note:
Due to "Q2 & Mid Year Data Week" Coming Next Week - Canadian Connections will not be published this week