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Retailers hoping for economic boost this Black Friday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

SHAUMBURG, Ill. -- Thursday may have been a day for giving thanks but for thousands, the day after is when shoppers dedicate to their holiday spending. Retailers are hoping for a holiday surprise in consumer spending this season, with economic forecasters wondering where sales will end up this year.Black Friday is usually the center piece of holiday shopping but not so much as more stores advertise deals earlier."Historically we think of Black Friday as a start, but most experts say it's the first of November. In the last few shopping years, it’s beginning earlier and earlier. However, Black Friday day after Thanksgiving is still the largest shopping day of the year," John Talbott from Indiana University Kelley School of Business said. Migrants celebrate first Thanksgiving in Chicago The National Retail Federation which tracks shopping trends, says consumers will spend more than $960 billion dollars in November and December -- more than 3 to 4 percent from 2022.It will also be the...

Small Business Saturday: Why and where to support local shops in St. Paul

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

Thanksgiving leftovers are in the fridge and extended family members are headed home, which means holiday shopping is about to kick into high gear this weekend with Small Business Saturday.Across the country small businesses are hosting events and offering up holiday savings to get community members to support local versus lining up outside big box stores, and St. Paul is no exception.Zsamé Morgan, owner of mobile bookstore Babycake’s Book Stack, said when you shop locally, you’re not only supporting the person and the family behind the store, you’re also supporting the community as a whole.“Small businesses often support other small and local businesses, so it creates an entire ecosystem,” Morgan said. “The money stays in the community longer when we support community businesses, which benefits everybody.”For those who prefer to do their shopping from the couch, Morgan assures, “Buying online isn’t bad.”Small businesses also benefit from online sales, Morgan said, adding that onlin...

AAA predicts busiest period in two decades, 4.7 million flyers expected

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- AAA predicts this Thanksgiving travel period will go down as the busiest in nearly two decades, with 4.7 million people flying this holiday weekend alone. But with so many flights canceled last holiday season, some people in our area said they're just fine with staying home.Kyle Newman brought his 6-year-old daughter Brooke to the Steinberg Ice Skating Rink in Forest Park Thursday after their Thanksgiving Day meal in Chesterfield. They opted not to travel this year.“Having to travel and sit in an airport on Thanksgiving just sounds terrible,” Newman said.Newman said they were more than happy to avoid the holiday travel rush.“We just wanted to stay warm at home and have a very low-key Thanksgiving—not too much effort, not too much going on—to keep it relaxing,” Newman said. “We just wanted to relax and not have to travel.”The Newman’s aren’t alone. Puskar Bhattarai and his family also opted to stay home for the holidays this year after their flights were canceled last Ch...

Black Friday buzz at Bass Pro Shops draws enthusiastic crowds

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- In St. Louis, MO, major stores geared up to welcome throngs of eager shoppers as Black Friday unfolded. At Bass Pro Shops in St. Louis, a surge of people kicked off the day, lining up eagerly to take advantage of the deals.Significant discounts and special deals define Black Friday. Shoppers are attracted to the prospect of saving money on high-ticket items, electronics, clothing, and other goods. The allure of substantial discounts motivates people to shop for items they may have been eyeing but are waiting for the opportune moment to purchase.Bass Pro Shop experienced a flood of shoppers streaming through the doors, each with their sights set on big-ticket items. From four-wheelers to scopes and firearms, the store buzzed with excitement. Among the crowd, conversations ensued about various products, including recommendations for durable dog toys that purportedly "last forever."In the midst of the shopping frenzy, one individual, who had endured the chilly wait, contem...

Thanksgiving weekend brings cooler temperatures and a glimpse of snow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- It was a beautiful Thanksgiving, but a cold front has now passed through the area. Friday will be cooler, a bit breezy, and a bit cloudier. Highs in the mid-40s. Skies will clear into Saturday morning, with a cold start in the upper 20s. Saturday will start sunny, then we will see increasing clouds. Highs again in the mid 40s.  We are expecting to see the first snowflakes of the season late Saturday night into early Sunday morning. A mix of rain and snow is expected to fall as temperatures fall into the lower 30s. The chance for the light precipitation to fall as snow is higher along and north of I-70 in Missouri and Illinois. There could be dust on some grassy surfaces or cold windshields north of the Hermann-Hartin-Litchfield line as we wake up Sunday morning.  Showers and any snow end around midday Sunday. Clear skies and breezy in the afternoon, with highs only in the low 40s. Monday through Wednesday look dry and chilly. Out the door morning temperatures are in the...

Ask Amy: Household chores become a high-stakes game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

Dear Amy: My husband and I have a bright, high-functioning 16-year-old daughter.I have been teaching her how to perform basic household chores (I do the same with our 12-year-old son), and some basic cooking and cleaning skills in order to have some help at home, but mainly so that our kids will understand that everyone in the family pitches in, and that it’s important to have some life-skills. I am a stay-at-home parent and a busy volunteer at their school.At first I thought our daughter didn’t understand some of these basic instructions, which I had shown her and then written down. She just couldn’t seem to get things right. She used floor cleaner on the stove, left wet paper towels on the wooden dining room table, damaging it, and a few other mess-ups like “forgetting” to put wet laundry in the dryer, but leaving it on the floor, instead.Then I overheard her bragging to her cousin that she was purposely messing up in order to get me to back off.I am furious. My husband thinks she...

Natural population decrease in most EU regions in 2021

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

Between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU’s population decreased by 265 257 people. This reduction could be attributed to natural population changes (more deaths than births), as net migration plus adjustment remained positive (more people entered the EU rather than left it). In addition, the pandemic played a role.In 2021, the EU’s crude rate of natural population change was -2.7 per 1,000 people. At the NUTS 3 level, 980 regions out of 1,164, for which data are available, had a negative rate of natural population change (represented by the gold tones in the map), 173 regions registered a positive rate and 11 regions saw no change (same number of births as deaths), both represented in green-blue tones on the map.In 2021, every NUTS 3 region of Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal and Romania registered a negative crude rate of natural population change. In Czechia, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia’s cases, almost...

EU and international community, including media, urged to 'wake up' to 'genocide' in Sudan

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

The conflict in Sudan has been branded as "genocide" but is something that the West remains "indifferent" too, a conference in Brussels was told.The event, at the city's press club on 23 November, heard that "hundreds" of innocent people are being killed on a daily basis but the international community has remained relatively "silent" in its condemnation of the atrocities. The EU and Europe may yet regret such alleged "indifference" if the fighting spills over into neighbouring states and sparks another wave of migration to the EU, the debate heard.Sudan is in north-east Africa and is one of the largest countries on the continent, covering 1.9 million square kilometres and recent fighting has swiftly escalated in different parts of the country with more than 400 civilians dying, according to the World Health Organization. Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, RSF, a Sudanese-Arab militia, is blamed for more than 50 days of attacks on the city’s majority ethnic Afric...

Review: ‘Maestro’ leaves Bernstein’s greatest notes unplayed

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

By Jake Coyle | Associated PressBradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” a high-wire act of a biopic, leaps constantly between on stage and off, flying through Leonard Bernstein’s very public life as a conductor while diving into his more private marriage to Felicia Montealegre. How each side of Bernstein’s existence interacts with the other is the tension and harmony of “Maestro.” Which is authentic? Which a performance?Resolving those dichotomies is, thankfully, not the aim of Cooper’s admirably ambitious if performative drama about the musical conscience of 20th century America. Bernstein’s polymorphous life was spread between his family life and a string of male lovers, just as it was between conducting and the solitary toil of composing. “Maestro” resists neat conclusions about any facet of an expansively contradictory life.“If you carry around both personalities, I suppose that means you become a schizophrenic and that...

Horoscopes Nov. 24, 2023: Sarah Hyland, tune in to what’s trending

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:26 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Sarah Hyland, 33; Katherine Heigl, 45; Colin Hanks, 46; Pete Best, 82.Happy Birthday: Push forward, compensate for lost time and refuse to let anyone slow you down. Take the initiative to do things your way this year. An aggressive, hands-on attitude will help you reach your target. Strive to make professional and personal improvements. Pick up more skills, tune in to what’s trending and control the dialogue to ensure you receive and pass along information based on facts. Express your feelings. Your numbers are 4, 12, 18, 25, 31, 38, 47.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Invest in yourself and the things you enjoy doing most. Refuse to let anyone railroad you into heading in a direction that benefits them more than you. Learn from the experience and recognize that doing your own thing is OK. Share your feelings. 3 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): A change you encounter will lead to an unexpected opportunity. Go the distance, and you’ll discover someth...