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Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh to step down in January, handing over leadership to former CEO of Kohl’s

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Levi Strauss & Co. said Thursday that its CEO will step down in January and hand over the reins of the jeans maker to his appointed successor.Chip Bergh, 66, will cede the CEO job to Michelle Gass, 55, who left her CEO role at Kohl’s to become president of Levi’s in January of this year.Bergh, who took over at the San Francisco company in September 2011, will stay on as executive vice chair until he retires in late April, Levi Strauss said. He will remain on as an advisor through the end of the fiscal year.Gass will take on the CEO position on Jan. 29. The move completes the succession plan that was announced just over a year ago, when Levi Strauss had said Gass was joining the company to succeed Bergh within 18 months.Over the course of his tenure, Bergh moved the brand from a predominantly men’s U.S. wholesale pants business to a global, direct-to-consumer company. He also reinvigorated the women’s business. Under his leadership, Levi Strauss returned to the pu...

Greek policeman severely injured in attack by fans during Athens volleyball match

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek policeman was severely injured late Thursday when a mob of volleyball fans poured out of an Athens arena and attacked riot police outside.State ERT television said a flare shot by a rioter severed a thigh artery in the 30-year-old officer, who was reported in critical condition at a hospital.The violence occurred during a volleyball match between crosstown rivals Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. The game was abandoned when the fighting erupted outside the arena.ERT said about 150 people left the arena during the game to attack riot police stationed outside with flares, gasoline bombs and stones, and then returned to the venue. Police made heavy use of tear gas, much of which wafted into the indoor sports ground. Officers also prevented spectators from leaving the arena amid efforts to identify the person who fired the flare.Security had been high for the game as the two clubs’ supporters have a history of intense rivalry. Greek soccer is plagued by e...

Maternal mortality rate is much higher for Black women than white women in Mississippi, study says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Black people make up about 38% of Mississippi’s population, but a new study shows that Black women were four times more likely to die of causes directly related to pregnancy than white women in the state in 2020.“It is imperative that this racial inequity is not only recognized, but that concerted efforts are made at the institutional, community, and state levels to reduce these disparate outcomes,” wrote Dr. Michelle Owens and Dr. Courtney Mitchell, leaders of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee that conducted the study.The Mississippi State Department of Health published the findings Wednesday.The committee said 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in Mississippi between 2016 and 2020 were considered preventable, and cardiovascular disease and hypertension remain top contributors to maternal mortality.Women need comprehensive primary care before, during and after pregnancy, but many people live in areas where health care services are scarce, Owens ...

Some Californians released from prison will receive $2,400 under new state re-entry program

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hundreds of Californians released from prisons could receive direct cash payments of $2,400 — along with counseling, job search assistance and other support — under a first-in-the-nation program aimed at easing the transition out of incarceration and reducing recidivism. Recipients will get the money over a series of payments after meeting certain milestones such as showing progress in finding places to live and work, according to the Center for Employment Opportunities, which runs the program announced this week. The goal is to give people a chance “to cover their most essential needs” like bus fare and food during the crucial early days after exiting incarceration, said Samuel Schaeffer, CEO of the national nonprofit that helps those leaving lockups find jobs and achieve financial security.“The first three to six months are the riskiest, when many people end up back in prison,” Schaeffer said Thursday. “We want to take advantage of this moment to immediately con...

Marking start of Hanukkah, Emhoff condemns antisemitism, says Biden and Harris ‘have your back’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaking at the lighting ceremony of a massive menorah in front of the White House to mark the first night of Hanukkah, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, said Thursday that American Jews are “feeling alone” and “in pain” as he denounced rising antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad, particularly amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.Emhoff, the first Jewish person to be the spouse of one of the country’s nationally elected leaders, highlighted fear in the Jewish community, moments before the menorah was lit on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.Emhoff said he’s held conversations with representatives from across the Jewish community to see how they’re holding up amid the war, as the conflict in Israel and Gaza enters its third month, ’The common denominator of these conversations is that we’re feeling alone, we feel hated, we’re in pain,” he said. “Even as we face darkness today, I am hopeful,” Emhoff said. “The story of Hanukkah and ...

What’s next for Mississauga as mayor moves on to Queen’s Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

In the last half century, the city of Mississauga has only had two mayors, Bonnie Crombie and the beloved Hazel McCallion.McCallion grew the city from the ground up and reigned for nearly 36 years before paving the way for then-city councillor Bonnie Crombie to take over. Crombie has been mayor for nine years, winning with an overwhelming majority in every election that followed.But now, with Crombie becoming Ontario’s Liberal leader, what is next for the sixth-largest city in Canada.A couple of current city councillors have expressed interest in the city’s top job and it seems for the first time in decades, the field is wide open.“We are going to have a Mayor resign, we are going to have a Mayoralty byelection and I’m going into it,” says Ward 5 councillor Carolyn Parrish who is among the first to throw her hat in the ring. She began her career in the House of Commons, first as a Liberal MP and then as an Independent. She’s been a city counc...

Voting rights groups push for answers from Mississippi election officials about ballot shortages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — One month after Mississippi’s November statewide election, voting rights groups say election officials in the state’s largest county have failed to provide enough information about the problems that led to polling precincts running out of ballots.The coalition of statewide and national civil rights organizations has requested meetings and more details about why Hinds County Election Commissioners ordered the wrong ballots, leading to shortages at several polling locations on the day the state was deciding a competitive governor’s race and a full slate of down-ballot races. Those queries have largely been met with silence, the groups said at a joint news conference Thursday.“While we recognize and respect the commissioners have taken responsibility for the ballot shortages, Hinds County voters still have questions,” said Amir Badat, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The five Hinds County Election Commissioners did not immediately respond...

Israel designates safe zone in Gaza. Palestinians and aid groups say it offers little relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

MUWASI, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel has designated a small slice of mostly undeveloped land along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast as a safe zone — a place where waves of people fleeing the war can find protection from airstrikes and receive humanitarian supplies for their families.The reality? The area of Muwasi is a makeshift tent camp where thousands of dazed Palestinians live in squalid conditions in scattered farm fields and waterlogged dirt roads. Their numbers have swelled in recent days as people flee an Israeli military offensive in nearby areas of the southern Gaza Strip.Roughly 20 square kilometers (8 square miles) in southwest Gaza, Muwasi lies at the heart of a heated debate between Israel and international humanitarian organizations over the safety of the territory’s civilians. Israel has offered Muwasi as a solution for protecting people uprooted from their homes and seeking safety from the heavy fighting between its troops and Hamas militants. The United Nations a...

Liquor store, restaurant employees robbed at gunpoint in Cicero

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

CICERO, Ill. — The owner of a Cicero liquor store and restaurant is asking for the public's help after an armed robbery last week.Norma Ochoa, the owner of a liquor store and restaurant located near the 24th Street and Laramie Avenue intersection in Cicero, told WGN-TV that she and her employees were robbed at gunpoint on Friday, Dec. 1.This incident reportedly was not the first time her store was the target of a robbery, but the difference this time, Ochoa says, is that she fears for her safety. Police: Suspect in Romeoville family’s slaying had relationship with one of the victims Surveillance video shows four suspects in dark clothing enter the liquor store, then they knocked Ochoa's daughter to the ground while she was at the counter. The suspects then pulled Ochoa from the back of the store and dragged her with a gun to her face. The group took money from the cash register and then headed over to Ochoa's restaurant next door, where they forced an employee to open a cash regis...

'Flower power': Retirees turn discarded floral remnants into bouquets of beauty to uplift others

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:53 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. — You might assume the group of ladies who gather every Wednesday at Evanston's Levy Senior Center were once professional florists, given the way they can thoughtfully curate a floral arrangement.As hard as it is to believe, though, not one of them has ever worked in a flower shop.Donning green aprons, these dozen retirees have teamed up to make one heck of a "flower power" club, which they call Inspire Through Flowers. Meeting at Levy Senior Center every Wednesday, Inspire Through Flowers artfully turns the discarded "leftovers" from floral shops into tissue-wrapped bundles of beauty.Even though they've never worked in a flower shop, these ladies have turned buckets of trashed flower stems into almost 24,000 bouquets over the last three years.Wearing green aprons, the women of Inspire Through Flowers turn discarded floral remnants into beautiful bouquets.They then gift the flowers to somebody not expecting them."We inspire hope, joy and encouragement through the gift...