Southaven, MS: Shooting at a Mississippi Walmart leaves 2 employees dead and an officer wounded; Shooter was terminated employee after 25 years
Four people have been shot, including a police officer at Walmart in Southaven. Two store employees were shot and killed early Tuesday morning, one outside the store, the other inside.

According to Baptist DeSoto, the police officer who was shot, was hit in his bulletproof vest and was not injured. The suspect was shot by an officer and is hospitalized in unknown condition.

A Walmart employee said that the shooter is a former employee who worked at the store for 25 years before recently being fired. The shooting happened around 6:30 or 6:45 a.m. at the Walmart store. kark.com

Portland, OR: Husband of Shaw's stabbing victim appeals civil case, says retailer at fault for 'failing to protect'
The husband of a Saco woman who died in a stabbing at the Saco Shaw's grocery store is appealing a federal court's dismissal of a civil case. Wendy Boudreau, 59, died on Aug. 19, 2015, after being attacked by Connor MacCalister, who stabbed her in the throat in the ice cream aisle at the Shaw's at Saco Valley Shopping Center. MacCalister pleaded guilty to murdering Boudreau and now 35, is serving a life sentence at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. According to police affidavits, MacCalister told police she was angry with life and had been planning for a month to kill several random people at the Saco grocery store. MacCalister also told police she planned on targeting a small elderly woman who she knew wouldn't resist.

Wendy Boudreau's husband, Jeffrey, filed a civil suit in July 2017, against the Massachusetts-based Shaw's Supermarkets chain, asking for damages for "the conscious pain and suffering" of Wendy between the time she was stabbed at the grocery store Aug. 19, 2015, and her death at Southern Maine Health Care later that day.

White argued that MacCalister frequented Shaw's and "Shaw's acted with reckless disregard and/or indifference to the safety of its customers such as Wendy Boudreau in its failure to properly monitor and secure the store." Shaw's responded in August 2017 through attorney Elizabeth Strouder, that Wendy's death was caused by a third party, not Shaw's, and Jeffrey Boudreau failed to state a claim through which relief could be granted.

Judge D. Brock Hornby dismissed the case earlier this month. In a July 19 ruling, Hornby stated that Shaw's personnel could not have known or anticipated MacCalister's attack. journaltribune.com

Wauwatosa, WI: Man says he was racially profiled at Home Depot store, falsely accused of making a fraudulent return, then banned from the store
After buying blinds for his house, Terrance Westmoreland noticed they were a different shade than he had wanted, so he headed back to The Home Depot on July 24 to exchange them. Westmoreland, who is black, put the boxes in a cart and walked through the store to the blinds section. With his receipt in his hand, he compared the blinds to find the right shade. Westmoreland then walked to the customer service desk, where he tried to return two boxes and purchase three others.

"Before I could even finish, this Caucasian security guard kind of grabbed my arm," he said. He went with the loss prevention officer, expecting an apology once they realized what was going on. Instead, the officer accused him of trying to do an illegal return.

Westmoreland suggested they check surveillance video, which would prove his story, but was told they couldn't access the video footage. That's when Westmoreland decided to call Wauwatosa police. Police found no wrongdoing by Westmoreland, but The Home Depot asked him to leave and banned him from the store for stealing.

A district manager from The Home Depot called Westmoreland on July 26 to apologize and rescind the ban. Despite the apology, the ordeal has left Westmoreland feeling insulted and embarrassed. Westmoreland wasn't satisfied with just an apology. He said the loss prevention officer should be fired.

Westmoreland, who owns a business and is a member of Pro Xtra, a loyalty program at Home Depot for business customers, said he is looking for reimbursement of the money he lost on jobs since being accused of theft as well as the embarrassment the incident has caused him. jsonline.com

Securing the Cannabis Industry: Inside the LP Operation Behind MadMen
'The Starbucks of Pot' Growing Like... a Weed
The staggering growth of the cannabis industry has outpaced its often-non-existent approach to security and compliance. Chris Rodriquez, head of loss prevention for MedMen, the nation's largest boutique cannabis dispensary chain, with 19 licensed facilities nation-wide and more than 1,000 employees, has 26 years in corporate security and has been with MedMen for a year. He has been taken aback by the exponential growth of the industry which is reflected in his own company's expansion. With that growth has come a more sophisticated security profile.

"I think as more states come on board, people and businesses are encouraged. They understand the value of the cannabis industry and where it's going, which is really what got me into it. I think people see what that looks like down the road," says Rodriquez. "Our founder had never even tried cannabis before, but he saw it as a business opportunity 10 years ago and jumped in with both feet. But with that he demanded that everything be done right and by the book. Security became a huge issue for us as our business has grown across the country. We want to be the model of security proficiency in the industry."

In addition to its stylish retail outlets, MedMen also operates highly efficient growing facilities that require an integrated and advanced technology footprint. Rodriquez points to his Global Security Operations Center (GSOC), along with intel, physical security, retail loss prevention departments, and a crisis management response team that rounds out MedMen's security and risk management philosophy that is as diverse and multi-faceted as any Fortune 500 company.

While it might be a bit unconventional to some security professionals, this nascent industry is ripe with innovation and opportunities to those who are willing to climb aboard says Rodriquez.

"We're looking at a lot of different things when it comes to physical security, but we made a decision a long time ago that in terms of all our video management for security and all of our access control was to be run through a single platform. We're also looking at tracking plants from seed to sale and using something like an RFID solution, just because there's so much compliance requirements. We need to look at all technology options that allow us to substitute manual labor for an intelligent solution that will help us not only track the plants, but people and other assets as well," states Rodriquez, who is presently using Genetec solutions among others as his primary security systems vendor. securityinfowatch.com

ASIS International Announces Recipients of GSX 2019 Innovative Product Awards
ASIS International, the world's largest membership organization for security management professionals, announces the recipients of its 2019 Innovative Product Awards (IPA) for Global Security Exchange (GSX) 2019, to be held September 8-12 in Chicago.

The ASIS IPA competition, formerly known as Accolades, recognizes the security industry's newest, most innovative products, services, and technology solutions. These peer-distinguished solutions address critical industry trends and reflect the best of the innovation shaping the security industry.

   See the full list of ASIS' 2019 IPA Winners here: asisonline.org

CEO fraud: It's human nature
While this type of attack is often called "CEO Fraud," it could refer to any senior executive who is being impersonated by the attacker in order to get a lower-level staffer to take a specific action. Sometimes the action itself is not sending money; it could be a request to unlock a door that is normally locked (creating a physical breach vulnerability) or perhaps sending employees' personal information, such as W2 tax documents or pay stubs, to a non-company email address in order to steal employees' identities.

"This is not a technology attack; it's a psychological attack," says Lance Spitzner, director of SANS security awareness at the SANS Institute, a security research and education group. The methods for stopping the attacks remain the same as they have since they began, says Spitzner: Start by training employees to view all suspicious emails, especially those with a rushed or emergency tone and unusual requests, as fake emails that are trying to steal money from the company.

Essentially, he says, employees need to be taught about the clues and indicators that point to email fraud attacks and then to always follow established procedures in response, such as verbally check with the CEO or other senior staffer to confirm that they sent the request. scmagazine.com

Walmart and Nordstrom are building stores that don't sell anything
Traditional brick-and-mortar stores alone are not enough to stay ahead in the digital era. America's shoppers want convenient, hassle-free experiences.

So Walmart and Nordstrom are building physical stores that don't actually sell anything. The two retailers are creating small hubs in big cities and dense suburban areas for shoppers to retrieve their online grocery and clothing orders. These new locations give them access to shoppers who want their stuff in a hurry without schlepping out to regular big-box stores or waiting around for home delivery. ksl.com

Where does J.C. Penney's turnaround stand? It's testing new ideas in Texas
J.C. Penney has time, options and skilled new management. But the company's stock and corporate bond prices signal that the odds are stacking up against the 117-year-old, Plano-based chain of 840 department stores.

Can CEO Jill Soltau fashion a turnaround? Since she was hired nine months ago, Soltau hasn't minced words while reporting weaker quarters that she inherited and saying "we need to move faster." She also said Penney "has the capacity to deliver improved results."

Looking around the retail landscape, some say there's an inevitable outcome when debt is an issue. Penney, which always prided itself in having a strong balance sheet, took on more debt after a failed attempt to remake the department store. That episode burned through the chain's cash and then some, and it's still feeling the heat of those heady-turned-scary days of 2011-13. dallasnews.com

Hurricane Erick, Tropical Storm Flossie to bring glancing blows to Hawaiian Islands
Hurricane Erick and Tropical Storm Flossie will pose a dual threat to the Hawaiian Islands beginning during the middle of this week and continuing into early next week.

As Erick continues westward through midweek, it will remain in an environment with very warm water and weak wind shear, two factors conducive for further strengthening.

Fortunately, Erick will encounter much stronger wind shear by the time it passes just south of the Big Island from Friday into Saturday. It is during this time that Erick is expected to lose wind intensity, and Erick is likely to be a tropical storm or tropical depression during its closest pass to the Hawaiian Islands. accuweather.com

Nordstrom Hires Former Macy's Attorney As General Counsel

NY: Gov. Cuomo signs bill to decriminalize marijuana use, expunge convictions

Amazon quietly launches AmazonCommercial, a private label for business customers

Kroger to charge for cash back on debit card purchases