As household budgets tighten, big brands double down in dollar stores

By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK (Reuters) – Makers of brand-name household basics like Dunkin’ coffee and Schick razors are bulking up sales teams and adding specialized and lower-cost products to the shelves of America’s ubiquitous dollar stores in a bid to reach more budget-conscious shoppers. Razor manufacturer Edgewell Personal Care Co and Kraft Heinz Co…

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In a first, women poised to become mayors of Philadelphia and Jacksonville

By Brendan O’Brien (Reuters) – A Philadelphia Democrat who promised to hire more police has won her party’s nomination for mayor, while a former TV news anchor has ousted a Republican from the mayor’s office in Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city in the country in which the party had control. Democrat Donna Deegan pulled off…

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Walgreens reaches $230 million opioid settlement with San Francisco

By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -San Francisco said on Wednesday it reached a $230 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc over its role in the city’s opioid epidemic. The settlement came nine months after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said the drugstore chain could be held liable for having “substantially contributed” to…

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China’s domestic travel recovery marred by anti-spending ‘special forces’

By Casey Hall SHANGHAI (Reuters) – When graduate student Cai Zhishan decided to spend her Labour Day holidays in northern China, she wished she had enough money to hire a car for the more-than 4,000km (2,500 mile) round trip – the equivalent of driving from New York to Los Angeles. Instead, she chose “travelling like…

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New Zealand set to deliver no frills budget as election looms

By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand is set to deliver what it calls a “no frills” budget on Thursday as falling tax revenues squeeze coffers and inflation risks cap cyclone reconstruction efforts, constraining stimulus as the Labour government faces an election this year. Finance minister Grant Robertson has said the budget will focus…

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