Minneapolis: Dozens of protesters arrested during faceoff with law enforcement after ex-cop Derek Chauvin posts $1 million bond
Nearly three dozen people were arrested when protesters and law enforcement faced off late Wednesday in south Minneapolis after an earlier march to protest the release from state prison of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer charged with killing George Floyd on May 25.

The fired police officer left Oak Park Heights prison Wednesday after posting $1 million bail. In anticipation of unrest, Gov. Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard and mobilized 100 State Patrol troopers and 75 Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officers to help local law enforcement in case of trouble.

Chauvin was initially booked into the Ramsey County jail after he was charged in Floyd’s death and then moved to the state prison for security reasons. He is charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

It’s unclear how Chauvin afforded the noncash bail, which was backed by a New Jersey-based bail insurer. Financial information tied to bond and bail postings isn’t public. startribune.com

Wauwatosa, WI: Protests erupt after DA's decision not to charge police officer who fatally shot teen outside suburban Milwaukee mall
A Black Wisconsin police officer who fatally shot a Black teenager outside a suburban Milwaukee mall in February won't be charged because he had reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Wauwatosa Officer Joseph Mensah shot 17-year-old Alvin Cole outside Mayfair Mall on Feb. 2 after police responded to a reported disturbance at the shopping center. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, in a 14-page letter laying out his rationale, said evidence showed Cole fled from police carrying a stolen 9 mm handgun. He cited squad car audio evidence, along with testimony from Mensah and two fellow officers, that he said showed Cole had fired a shot while fleeing and refused commands to drop the gun.

Cole was the third person Mensah has fatally shot since becoming an officer, and his death has sparked periodic protests in Wauwatosa and the Milwaukee area.

Gov. Tony Evers announced earlier Wednesday that he had activated National Guard members as a precaution, though he didn't say how many or how they were being used. Guard spokesman Maj. Joe Trovato later said "hundreds" of troops were at the ready.

The city of Wauwatosa issued a nightly 7 p.m. curfew after Chisholm's decision was announced, to run until next Monday. Many people ignored the curfew, marching peacefully in the city. Late Wednesday evening and well past the curfew, a group of a few hundred protesters confronted a police line. Police said some in the group were throwing rocks at law enforcement and buildings and that they used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

WISN-TV reported windows broken at several businesses on the city's north side, including a pharmacy, coffee shop, wall coverings store, cleaners and fitness center. fox6now.com

Businesses damaged, looted hours after peaceful protests in Wauwatosa

BLM mobs smash windows in residential homes during Wisconsin protests

Chicago: Walgreens spends $35 million to reopen looted Chicago stores
Walgreens said Wednesday it is spending $35 million to reopen Chicago stores hit by looting and vandalism in recent months. The pharmacy chain said 70 of its 118 city locations sustained damage in recent weeks amid unrest connected to national anger over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. All but six of the stores have reopened and the rest will be completed “as quickly as possible,” a Walgreens spokeswoman said. She later added that another store at 4000 W. 59th St. must be completely rebuilt. It was gutted by a suspected arson fire following a looting incident. suntimes.com

Chicago: Parolee accused of looting 7 Gold Coast, North Side stores in two hours. ‘Wow,’ judge says. ‘He put in a lot of work that night.’

Portland, OR: Multnomah County DA declines to prosecute 70% of Portland protest cases

Missouri governor says he'll pardon St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters after indictment

Kansas City, MO: Footage of a police officer kneeling on the back of a pregnant woman sparks ongoing protest

Brooklyn, NYC: Protests Over COVID-19 Restrictions Heat Up for 2nd Night After Alleged Attacks
 

COVID Update

US: Over 7.7M Cases - 217K Dead - 5M Recovered
Worldwide: Over 36.6M Cases - 1M Dead - 27.5M Recovered

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 190   Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 118
*Red indicates change in total deaths

Grocery LP Execs Share Insights on Managing Store Operations During a Crisis
The teams that manage grocery store operations during hurricanes and snowstorms — more localized events that take place over several days — have recently had to figure out how to activate emergency plans and operate during a crisis that impacts the entire fleet — and that so far has gone on for several months.

“We never thought we’d go as deep as we have into the plan,” James Cosseboom said during a recent panel discussion at NRF PROTECT ALL ACCESS. Cosseboom, director of asset protection for Retail Business Services, an Ahold Delhaize USA Company, said a constant he’s seeing in daily reports amid the pandemic is a controversy around face coverings.

“Customers not wanting to wear a mask or other customers having different views on masks [is] boiling over into our stores,” Cosseboom said. “We’ve taken the approach with our stores that we are recommending that we are trying to keep our personnel out of conflicts.”

Southeastern Grocers Vice President of Store Support Jennifer Short said masks were one of the earliest issues her company dealt with but noted “the flow of personal protective equipment has gotten much more stable.”

Customers are also required to wear masks at Southeastern Grocers stores, even in places it’s not required by law or mandate. If customers willfully refuse, it’s about “dealing with it in a respectful way.”

“We don’t want our associates having to navigate these difficult and often emotional issues with customers,” Short said. “We have set up some very good talking points to handle these issues with our customers.” nrf.com

New Store Safety Measures in the Age of COVID
Survey: Retailers create COVID-19 store protocols for holidays
According to a new survey of about 300 retail executives from UKG, “Evolving Retail Trends for the 2020 Holiday Season,” 91% of respondents are confident, and 54% are “extremely” confident, that stores will be open and fully operational on Black Friday (Nov. 27).

However, 83% of respondents say closing a store during the busy holiday season due to COVID-19 is not unthinkable, and 53% say they would voluntarily shut down store operations and tell employees to stay home if their region were experiencing rising cases of COVID-19. If stores are forced to close for an extended period during the holiday season, 59% have a contingency plan to keep store associates employed.

Two-thirds of respondents (67%) reported that store employees tested positive for COVID-19 in 2020, and 76% say they “realistically” expect some associates will test positive during the holiday season. Almost all respondents (95%) believe they have an obligation to notify employees who may have been in contact with a co-worker who tests positive for COVID-19.

However, while 90% of respondents think it’s important that their stores implement a COVID-19 contact tracing program before the holiday season begins, only about half say it’s very (28%) or extremely (26%) likely this will be rolled out to all stores in time.

To protect people in stores, 55% of respondents will conduct employee health screenings before each shift, and 28% will cover the cost of testing for employees experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of health coverage.

Respondents are placing new responsibilities on store managers to help mitigate possible effects of COVID-19, including overseeing and enforcing heightened safety mandates (72%) establishing cleaning protocols for their location (66%), intervening with disruptive customers on behalf of employees (66%) and being far more visible on the floor this holiday season (47%).

In-store safety is trending, as 83% of respondents will require employees (83%) and customers (82%) to wear masks and will increase cleaning frequency (80%), as many others will enforce social distancing (73%); provide PPE (personal protective equipment) for staff (67%); use transparent shields/barriers (60%); and manually monitor and limit store occupancy (50%). chainstoreage.com

Mitigating the risks of business travel during the pandemic

What security & risk management issues do you need to consider before business travel resumes?

Travel has been limited to prevent the spread of COVID-19; however, as restrictions relax and organizations start to return to operations, we’re beginning to see an increase in business travel. Prior to sending employees on travel for business, there are several factors to consider to protect employees and the business, while ensuring business continuity. During this process, organizations need to take a moment to evaluate challenges and potential changes while employees are traveling, as well as the threats that these potential challenges and changes can impose on business and business travelers. Companies also need to have a clear plan that identifies what useful actions can be taken in the short term to protect the workforce.

International SOS has developed a strategic framework for return to travel, which includes six pillars that address safe business travel during the pandemic: securitymagazine.com

Who's Paying & Not Paying Rent
COVID-curbed theaters, restaurants held rent collections under 90% in Sept.
Paid rents at retail centers ticked up from 81% in August to 83% in September, still far below the 93% collected last year at this time. The reason? Restaurants and theaters whose businesses remain severely hampered by social distancing regulations.

Though cinemas were able to open in most states last month, seating requirements forcing them to seat less than half full houses cost them profits. As a result, only 10% paid their September rents, a huge decline from last month’s 43%, according to the Datex Tenant Track of more than 1,000 shopping centers.

After movie theaters, the most delinquent rent-paying categories in retail were fitness centers (65%), salons (71%), specialty restaurants (72%), and apparel (77%), according to the monthly report from Datex Property Solutions, a supply chain software and management solutions provider that derives the rental data from its client base. chainstoreage.com

Six U.S. states report record COVID hospitalizations, new restrictions in place

NYC launches map tracking COVID-19 outbreaks
 

RFID Journal Announces Winners of Its 14th Annual RFID Journal Awards

At last week's RFID Journal Virtually LIVE! 2020 conference and exhibition, RFID Journal announced the winners of its 14th annual RFID Journal Awards. The awards, sponsored by the RFID Professional Institute, recognize companies that have distinguished themselves by their successful use of radio frequency identification (RFID) or Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, or by their introduction of a valuable new RFID or IoT product or service.

Each year, RFID Journal selects an independent panel of judges to evaluate entries and choose the winners. The goal is to recognize the leaders in the RFID and IoT field, and to foster the adoption of such technologies by highlighting the best deployments and product offerings. The finalists for this year's awards were announced in March (see Finalists Unveiled for 14th Annual RFID Journal Awards), and the winners were selected in six different end-user categories:

Best Retail RFID Implementation
Grupo Boticário, which deployed an RFID solution to boost traceability and address other challenges in its supply chain (see Grupo Boticário Plans RFID Deployment).

See the rest of the winners here: rfidjournal.com
 

Survey says Software as a Service model opens up risks
The 2020 State of SaaSOps report released by BetterCloud found that a rise in Software as a Service (SaaS) adoption is prompting concerns over operational complexity and risk.

Since 2015, the number of IT-sanctioned SaaS apps has increased tenfold, and it’s expected that by 2025, 85% of business apps will be SaaS-based. With SaaS on the rise, nearly half (49%) of respondents are confident in their ability to identify and monitor unsanctioned SaaS usage on company networks - yet 76% see unsanctioned apps as a security risk.

And when asked what SaaS applications are likely to hold the most sensitive data across an organization, respondents believe it’s all apps including cloud storage, email, devices, chat apps, password managers, etc. securitymagazine.com

New Research Finds Bugs in Every Anti-Malware Product Tested
A majority of security tools that organizations use to defend against malware attacks are themselves vulnerable to exploits that allow attackers to escalate privileges on a compromised system, a study found.

CyberArk tested products from multiple major security vendors, including Kaspersky, Symantec, Trend Micro, McAfee, and Check Point Software Technologies, and says it found vulnerabilities in every single one.

The bugs CyberArk reported to the vendors, which have since patched them, include three in Kaspersky's malware detection and removal products; two in McAfee's portfolio; one each in products from Symantec, Fortinet, and CheckPoint; and five in products from Trend Micro. CyberArk also uncovered vulnerabilities in products from Microsoft, Avast, and Avira, among others. darkreading.com

Are employees or execs holding back data-driven cultures?
According to a survey from Exasol, nearly two-thirds of data teams (65 percent) have experienced employee resistance to the adoption of data-driven methods at their organizations, despite an overwhelming 73 percent believing that most employees are open to a data-driven approach.

Of those respondents who have experienced some resistance, 42 percent of decision-makers attribute a lack of understanding of the organization’s data strategy, followed by a widespread (40 percent) lack of education about the positive impact data brings.

The survey of over 2,000 data strategy decision-makers from the U.K., Germany, the U.S. and China was taken just before the emergence of the coronavirus. Past studies have found companies struggling to embrace data-driven and data-first approaches. The shortfalls have since been amplified as COVID-19 has forced companies to unlock the value of data faster.

Randy Bean, CEO of NewVantage Partners, a consulting firm, however, believes a lack of executive commitment is often the major impediment to a data culture. He wrote in a column for MIT Sloan Management Review, “Most pay lip service to the criticality of data in their annual reports and company mission statements, but far fewer companies embody it in their DNA or in their day-to-day business practices.” retailwire.com

CISA releases FY2019 Risk Vulnerability Assessment Infographic

3 Ways Companies are Working on Security by Design