FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) — Staples Inc. says nearly 1.2 million customer payment cards may have been exposed during a security breach earlier this year.
The office supply retailer said in October that it was looking into a potential credit card breach, adding to a long list of retailers recently hit by cyberattacks.
Staples said Friday that an investigation shows that the criminals used malware that may have allowed access to information for transactions at 115 of its U.S. stores. That includes cardholder names, payment card numbers, expiration dates and card verification codes.
The Framingham, Massachusetts-based company is offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring, to customers who might be at risk.
The security breach affected different stores at different times between July and September.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama downplayed the benefits of building the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. He said it would not lower gasoline prices and argued more jobs would be created by repairing America’s infrastructure.
He said the pipeline would mainly benefit Canadian oil companies that need to get Canadian oil to the Gulf of Mexico.
He said the pipeline is “not even a nominal benefit for U.S. consumers.”
Obama spoke Friday during his year-end news conference, shortly before he was leaving the White House for a Hawaii vacation.
Obama has resisted efforts by Republicans to authorize the pipeline’s construction. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said it would be the first bill taken up in the new GOP-controlled Senate.
Environmentalists have made opposition to its approval a priority.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Several Kansas City leaders are working to bring a national school mentoring program to the struggling Kansas City district.
Organizations such as the Kauffman Foundation, the Kansas City Public Schools and the mayor’s office said at a rally this week that the City Year AmeriCorps could help the district’s struggling students.
The Kansas City Star reports the program, which started in the Boston public schools in 1988, trains people 17 to 24 years old to serve as tutors and mentors. In return, they earn about $12,500 a year and a chance for college tuition vouchers and scholarships.
Several Kansas City leaders visited Orlando, Florida, in November to see the program in action. Superintendent Steven Green says everyone was impressed.
Prosecutor Bob McCulloch as he announced the Grand Jury decision
JIM SALTER, Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis County prosecutor who convened the grand jury that investigated the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown says some witnesses before the panel obviously lied under oath.
Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch spoke Friday to KTRS radio (http://bit.ly/1v16wTk ). It was his first interview since his Nov. 24 announcement that the grand jury would not indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson.
McCulloch referred to one woman who backed up Wilson’s account with details clearly pulled from a newspaper account.
The Aug. 9 shooting of the black and unarmed Brown by a white officer spurred significant unrest, as did the grand jury announcement.
State Rep. Karla May is urging a legislative committee investigating why Gov. Jay Nixon did not use National Guard troops in Ferguson to investigate McCulloch for prosecutorial misconduct.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the U.S. will respond “proportionally” to North Korea’s punishing hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment at a place, time and manner “that we choose.”
Obama says the attack “caused a lot of damage.”
Says Obama: “We will respond proportionally and we will respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.”
The FBI announced earlier Friday that North Korea was responsible.
The attack escalated to terrorist threats that prompted Sony to cancel its Christmas release of “The Interview.” Obama says canceling the comedic film about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (kim jawng oon) was “a mistake.”
He commented during a year-end news conference Friday at the White House.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A state lawmaker from St. Louis has asked a legislative committee to investigate St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, saying Friday that she was concerned he “manipulated” the grand jury in the Michael Brown case.
A joint House and Senate committee is investigating why Gov. Jay Nixon did not use National Guard troops to prevent burning and looting in Ferguson on Nov. 24, the night McCulloch announced that the grand jury would not indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Rep. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, sent a letter Thursday to committee chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer, asking that the investigation expand to look at whether McCulloch committed prosecutorial misconduct.
“Many St. Louis-area residents believe — and there is at least some evidence to suggest — that Mr. McCulloch manipulated the grand jury process from the beginning to ensure that Officer Wilson would not be indicted,” May wrote.
She said in an interview that McCulloch should have removed himself from the case at the outset.
“I don’t believe he followed proper procedures when he presented evidence to the grand jury,” May said. “To me, he was working for the defendant in this case and not the victim.”
Messages left Friday with Schaefer were not immediately returned.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri will get more than $280,000 from T-Mobile following claims that the company was unfairly charging customers for third-party text message subscriptions.
Attorney General Chris Koster on Friday announced Missouri was among 49 states that settled with T-Mobile for a total of $90 million in penalties and restitution.
Customers complained that they were being charged for horoscope, trivia and other text subscriptions for which they never signed up.
The practice is called cramming. T-Mobile is refunding customers $67.5 million for the charges. Missourians can receive refunds by submitting claims at t-mobilerefund.com.
The company now must obtain express permission before billing users for third-party charges.
Koster says he’s also been charged for third-party texts from AT&T, which last fall stopped billing customers for the subscriptions.
Koster calls cramming “an insidious practice.”
CAMERON – A Cameron man was injured in an accident just after 9 a.m. on Friday in Clinton County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2006 GMC 3500 pickup driven by Leah B. Baldon, 39, Polo, was exiting Interstate 35 at U.S. 69 three miles south of Cameron.
The driver failed to stop at the stop sign and collided with a 1989 Ford F250 driven by Ronald E. Kincade, 72, Cameron.
Kincade was transported to Cameron Regional Medical Center. Baldon was not injured.
The MSHP reported both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health officials say prepackaged caramel apples are linked to five deaths and more than two dozen illnesses in 10 states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says investigators are trying to determine the specific brands that were involved. But consumers are being warned not to eat prepackaged caramel apples until more is known.
The CDC says it knows of 28 cases in which people were sickened by a form of bacterial food poisoning called listeria, with 26 hospitalized. They got sick between Oct. 17 and Nov. 27. CDC said it’s possible other illnesses have occurred since then.
Two of the deaths were in Minnesota, according to state health officials. The CDC said the illnesses also occurred in Arizona, California, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Ashley Jones-Wisner, state policy manager for KC Healthy Kids.- KC Healthy Kids photo
By Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA — A coalition is forming to make healthy food less expensive in Kansas.
Led by KC Healthy Kids, a nonprofit organization supported in part by the Kansas Health Foundation, a coalition is being formed to guide a legislative effort to exempt food from the state sales tax.
“Cutting the sales tax on food will make it more affordable for Kansans to eat healthier,” said Ashley Jones-Wisner, state policy manager for KC Healthy Kids.
Kansas is one of only 14 states that levies a sales tax on food. And its 6.15 percent per dollar is the second highest in the nation, trailing only Mississippi’s 7 percent rate.
Low-income Kansans can apply for a $125 reduction in their state income tax bill to partially offset the amount of sales tax they’ve paid on food.
Even in good financial times, legislators have rejected attempts to exempt food from the sales tax. So, it’s a given that it will be an even tougher sell in the coming session given the state’s mounting budget problems.
With a steep drop in tax collections due in large part to the income tax cuts championed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, legislators will be faced with the urgent task of cutting $280 million from this year’s already approved budget when they convene in January. They also must deal with a projected deficit in the neighborhood of $600 million as they craft the budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2015.
Exempting food from the sales tax would lower revenue collections by about $390 million a year.
Jones-Wisner sees opportunity where others see almost certain failure. The budget crisis, she said, guarantees that state tax policy will be discussed. That discussion will give the coalition an opportunity to shine a brighter light on a tax that its members believe is both regressive and a contributing factor to Kansas’ steady drop in national health rankings, she said.
In 1991, Kansas was the nation’s eighth healthiest state, according to rankings compiled annually by the United Health Foundation. It now ranks 27th.
“We know that there is going to have to be a really robust conversation this session about tax policy, and we think that this needs to be a part of that conversation,” Jones-Wisner said.
If lawmakers refuse to consider the exemption because of its cost, Jones-Wisner said the coalition may urge a partial exemption for whole fruits and vegetables.
Two members of the Kansas Senate – a Republican and a Democrat – announced in October that they would pursue legislation to eliminate the sales tax on food. Republican Michael O’Donnell and Democrat Oletha Faust-Goudeau, both from Wichita, said their proposal would likely phase out the tax over several years.
In addition to its support of KC Healthy Kids, the Kansas Health Foundation is the main funder of the Kansas Health Institute, the parent organization of the editorially independent KHI News Service.
Jim McLean is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) — Staples Inc. says nearly 1.2 million customer payment cards may have been exposed during a security breach earlier this year.
