Q&A: AI is Big Business... Can Small Businesses Compete?

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— Oct. 1, 1924: James Earl Carter Jr. is born in Plains, Georgia, son of James Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter. — June 1946: Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy. — July 1946: Carter marries Rosalynn Smith, in Plains. They have four children, John William (“Jack”), born 1947; James Earl 3rd (“Chip”), 1950; Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), 1952; and Amy Lynn, 1967. — 1946-1953: Carter serves in a Navy nuclear submarine program, attaining rank of lieutenant commander. — Summer 1953: Carter resigns from the Navy, returns to Plains after father’s death. — 1953-1971: Carter helps run the family peanut farm and warehouse business. — 1963-1966: Carter serves in the Georgia state Senate. — 1966: Carter tries unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. — November 1970: Carter is elected governor of Georgia. Serves 1971-75. — Dec. 12, 1974: Carter announces a presidential bid. Atlanta newspaper answers with headline: “Jimmy Who?” — January 1976: Carter leads the Democratic field in Iowa, a huge campaign boost that also helps to establish Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus. — July 1976: Carter accepts the Democratic nomination and announces Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota as running mate. — November 1976: Carter defeats President Gerald R. Ford, winning 51% of the vote and 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240. — January 1977: Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States. On his first full day in office, he pardons most Vietnam-era draft evaders. —September 1977: U.S. and Panama sign treaties to return the Panama Canal back to Panama in 1999. Senate narrowly ratifies them in 1978. — September 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Carter sign Camp David accords, which lead to a peace deal between Egypt and Israel the following year. — June 15-18, 1979: Carter attends a summit with Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna that leads to the signing of the SALT II treaty. — November 1979: Iranian militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages. All survive and are freed minutes after Carter leaves office in January 1981. — April 1980: The Mariel boatlift begins, sending tens of thousands of Cubans to the U.S. Many are criminals and psychiatric patients set free by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, creating a major foreign policy crisis. — April 1980: An attempt by the U.S. to free hostages fails when a helicopter crashes into a transport plane in Iran, killing eight servicemen. — Nov. 4, 1980: Carter is denied a second term by Ronald Reagan, who wins 51.6% of the popular vote to 41.7% for Carter and 6.7% to independent John Anderson. — 1982: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter co-found The Carter Center in Atlanta, whose mission is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights and prevent disease around the world. — September 1984: The Carters spend a week building Habitat for Humanity houses, launching what becomes the annual Carter Work Project. — October 1986: A dedication is held for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. The center includes the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and Carter Center offices. — 1989: Carter leads the Carter Center’s first election monitoring mission, declaring Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega’s election fraudulent. — May 1992: Carter meets with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at the Carter Center to discuss forming the Gorbachev Foundation. — June 1994: Carter plays a key role in North Korea nuclear disarmament talks. — September 1994: Carter leads a delegation to Haiti, arranging terms to avoid a U.S. invasion and return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. — December 1994: Carter negotiates tentative cease-fire in Bosnia. — March 1995: Carter mediates cease-fire in Sudan’s war with southern rebels. — September 1995: Carter travels to Africa to advance the peace process in more troubled areas. — December 1998: Carter receives U.N. Human Rights Prize on 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. — August 1999: President Bill Clinton awards Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom. — September 2001: Carter joins former Presidents Ford, Bush and Clinton at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington after Sept. 11 attacks. — April 2002: Carter’s book “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” chosen as finalist for Pulitzer Prize in biography. — May 2002: Carter visits Cuba and addresses the communist nation on television. He is the highest-ranking American to visit in decades. — Dec. 10, 2002: Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” — July 2007: Carter joins The Elders, a group of international leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela to focus on global issues. — Spring 2008: Carter remains officially neutral as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton battle each other for the Democratic presidential nomination. — April 2008: Carter stirs controversy by meeting with the Islamic militant group Hamas. — August 2010: Carter travels to North Korea as the Carter Center negotiates the release of an imprisoned American teacher. — August 2013: Carter joins President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton at the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington. — Oct. 1, 2014: Carter celebrates his 90th birthday. — December 2014: Carter is nominated for a Grammy in the best spoken word album category, for his book “A Call To Action.” — May 2015: Carter returns early from an election observation visit in Guyana — the Carter Center’s 100th — after feeling unwell. — August 2015: Carter has a small cancerous mass removed from his liver. He plans to receive treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. — August 2015: Carter announces that his grandson Jason Carter will chair the Carter Center governing board. — March 6, 2016: Carter says an experimental drug has eliminated any sign of his cancer, and that he needs no further treatment. — May 25, 2016: Carter steps back from a “front-line” role with The Elders to become an emeritus member. — July 2016: Carter is treated for dehydration during a Habitat for Humanity build in Canada. — Spring 2018: Carter publishes “Faith: A Journey for All,” the last of 32 books. — March 22, 2019: Carter becomes the longest-lived U.S. president, surpassing President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018. — September 18, 2019: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter deliver their final in-person annual report at the Carter Center. — October 2019: At 95, still recovering from a fall, Carter joins the Work Project with Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s the last time he works personally on the annual project. — Fall 2019-early 2020: Democratic presidential hopefuls visit, publicly embracing Carter as a party elder, a first for his post-presidency. — November 2020:The Carter Center monitors an audit of presidential election results in the state of Georgia, marking a new era of democracy advocacy within the U.S. — Jan. 20, 2021: The Carters miss President Joe Biden’s swearing-in, the first presidential inauguration they don’t attend since Carter’s own ceremony in 1977. The Bidens later visit the Carters in Plains on April 29. — Feb. 19, 2023: Carter enters home hospice care after a series of short hospital stays. — July 7, 2023: The Carters celebrate their 77th and final wedding anniversary. — Nov. 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter dies at home, two days after the family announced that she had joined the former president in receiving hospice care. — Oct. 1, 2024 — Carter becomes the first former U.S. president to reach 100 years of age , celebrating at home with extended family and close friends. — Oct. 16, 2024 — Carter casts a Georgia mail ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, having told his family he wanted to live long enough to vote for her. It marks his 21st presidential election as a voter. — Dec. 29, 2024: Carter dies at home.A NEW pilot program is being launched at Walmart to help a specific group of shoppers. It will be offered through a mobile application , but it's being rolled out slowly, so it's not available everywhere just yet. The retail giant recently confirmed a partnership with Aira , a visual interpreting app that helps blind or low-vision users, per a December 3 press release . Professional interpreters in the Aira app read text and navigation cues through a phone camera or other wearable gadgets to help those who use it get "secure access to visual information, anytime, anywhere," per the company's website. Aira is offered at no cost, and Walmart seeks to keep it free while bringing the service to shoppers. That way, blind or low-vision customers at any of its 4,606 locations nationwide or shopping online at Walmart.com receive seamless assistance getting whatever they need. Read More on Walmart Everette Bacon, chief of blindness initiatives at Aira, noted that the company and Walmart were passionate about the expansion of the pilot program. "Walmart and Aira are committed to ensuring that blind and low vision customers have the tools they need to shop confidently," Bacon noted in the release. He added that Aira and Walmart want to show consumers across the United States that the companies truly "think about the needs of the people they serve." "That's a testament to the kind of service Walmart has provided for years and wants to continue to lead on." Most read in Money INDEPENDENT EXPERIENCE Interpreters with Aira offer "objective feedback" to customers while they shop at Walmart, a crucial aspect of the process that keeps those who are shopping in control. There's also no time limit using the app, letting them move about the store or surf the web at their own pace and easily determine details about items they may have otherwise been unable to discern. Everette emphasized that it would be a "freeing" feeling for visually impaired shoppers to not have to rely on employees, family , or friends for assistance and be able to shop completely on their "own terms." Gayatri Agnew, head of the Accessibility Center of Excellence at Walmart, emphasized that the goal for the brand was to ensure its shoppers with disabilities have the experience they're looking for. "The reality is, we have tons of shoppers with disabilities who we want to make sure are having as good, if not better, of a shopping experience with us as someone who doesn't have a disability," Agnew noted in the release. It wouldn't be the first time Walmart has taken steps to improve accessibility for customers, as Agnew's role is solely dedicated to the task. Aira is a mobile application that helps blind or low-vision users easily get access to information. It uses a camera on any phone or wearable gadget to show professional interpreters the environment around the user and assists them in making decisions through objective description. In its partnership with Walmart, shoppers will take their cameras around the store while they shop so the Aira app can help them purchase merchandise independently without assistance. Interpreters offer more details about certain products seamlessly. The service is free, and there's no time limit when using it. SHOPPING FOR ALL In recent years, Walmart has introduced sensory-friendly shopping hours and adaptive product lines . There are also Caroline's Carts, specialized shopping carts to specifically assist caregivers of those with injuries, disabilities, or limited mobility, per Progressive Grocer . Caroline Carts are expected to be available at all of Walmart's stores by the beginning of 2025. It's unclear the exact date Walmart customers will see Aira, but tests began at a store in Allen, Texas , about 26 miles north of downtown Dallas, with shopper Paula Margeson. "The more technology allows me to be independent, then the better my life works," Margeson said of Walmart's partnership with Aira. "That's a big part of what Aira does; it gives me an ever higher level of independence." "It was just so exciting," she added. Walmart said it hopes to empower and enable Margeson and all of those with disabilities who shop at its stores. Read More on The US Sun A popular service at the retail giant was also recently discounted by 50% for a limited time. One service it offers was also blasted by a shopper as "worthless," but Walmart advised them to look at the fine print.Women and LGBTQ+ people take up guns after Trump’s win: ‘We need to protect ourselves’

Duluth ( DLTH -8.33% ) Q3 2024 Earnings Call Dec 05, 2024 , 9:30 a.m. ET Contents: Prepared Remarks Questions and Answers Call Participants Prepared Remarks: Operator Good morning, and welcome to Duluth Trading's third quarter financial results conference call. [Operator instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nitza McKee, senior associate, IR; ICR. Please go ahead. Nitza McKee -- Investor Relations Thank you, and welcome to today's call to discuss Duluth Trading's third quarter financial results. Our earnings release, which was issued this morning, is available on our investor relations website at ir.duluthtrading.com under Press Releases. I'm here today with Sam Sato, president and chief executive officer; and Heena Agrawal, senior vice president and chief financial officer. On today's call, management will provide prepared remarks, and then we will open the call to your questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that the comments on today's call will include forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of words such as estimate, anticipate, expect, and similar phrases. Forward-looking statements, by their nature, involve estimates, projections, goals, forecasts, and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those that are described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other SEC filings, as applicable. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this conference call and should not be relied upon as predictions of future events. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Sam Sato, president and chief executive officer. Sam? Sam Sato -- President and Chief Executive Officer Thank you, Nitza, and thank you all for joining today's call. Our third quarter performance did not meet our expectations. We felt the impact of a highly promotional environment and unseasonably warm weather, resulting in a net sales decline for the quarter of 8.1% with our direct and retail channel delivering similar year-over-year top-line results. Despite the macro and weather-related impacts, we are pleased to see growth in our average order value and a double-digit increase in digital tactics. That said, these were not enough to offset the year-over-year contraction in transactions. We ended the quarter with inventory levels higher than planned, driven by a combination of early planned receive for products to ensure we are in stock for the holiday selling season and cold weather goods in which sales were impacted by warmer weather. As a result, we began taking the necessary actions to increase our unit selling velocity beginning in late October, and I'm pleased to report that our top-line trends have meaningfully improved, leading into the all-important Black Friday week and continuing through Cyber Monday. As we enter the final peak selling weeks of the holiday season, we are committed to prudently managing our inventory and ending the fiscal year in a clean, high-quality position. In what remains a highly competitive market, we have an unwavering commitment to delivering value to our customers while also positioning our business for continued success in the future. Looking past fiscal 2024, leveraging our advanced sourcing and product innovation functions and in partnership with our new chief merchant, Eli Getson, we are significantly enhancing our go-forward assortment and inventory management. As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we are building upon the success of our strategic initiatives, making meaningful progress on structural improvements, and embarking on Enterprise Planning, an end-to-end cross-functional initiative to significantly enhance our operational effectiveness and strategic planning processes. There is much work ahead of us, and we are laser-focused on improving our financial performance while driving operational excellence over both the near and long term. I'd like to provide you with an update on the key initiatives tied to our Big Dam Blueprint, the foundation of our omnichannel consumer strategy, which are on track with expected benefits materializing. First, an update on our sourcing and product innovation efforts, which remain a critical strategic unlock for the business. As a direct result of this initiative, we registered another quarter of gross margin expansion with over 200 basis points of improvement over Q3 last year. We continue to have line of sight to multiple years of significant product cost benefits. In addition to reducing product costs, this initiative enables us to bring to market high-quality, innovative products more frequently with increased speed to market. Regarding our fulfillment center network optimization plan to maximize service, capacity, and cost, we continue to leverage Adairsville's fully operational and highly automated fulfillment center capabilities. It's enabled structural improvements like exiting the Dubuque facility successfully on time and with a smooth transition of the volume into the remaining network. As we enter the peak holiday selling season, we are on track for Adairsville to process the majority of online orders and replenishment volume. In fact, over the Thanksgiving weekend through Tuesday, Adairsville processed 64% more units compared to last year with a significant reduction in our click-to-delivery time. Importantly, in Q3, we registered another quarter of cost per-unit fulfillment benefits with the variable CPU in Adairsville, 73% lower than the legacy facility. With the elimination of fixed costs from the exit of the Dubuque fulfillment center, we continue to anticipate annualized run-rate savings of approximately $5 million with expected benefits starting in the fourth quarter of this year, and we're evaluating further network optimization opportunities. Shifting to our channel strategy to serve a predominantly and growing omnichannel consumer. The mobile device is our No. 1 and most important digital customer touch point and represents a gateway to the brand. We continue to build on our success with our mobile-first strategy, fueling mobile penetration growth as a percentage of total across both visits and sales on our website. In the quarter, 71% of visits and 57% of sales came through a mobile device. We saw 15% growth in visits on mobile, and our conversion remains significantly higher than the industry average. Retail stores play a critical component of our omnichannel strategy. Two-thirds of new consumers prefer shopping in-store. In addition, our omnichannel consumers spend more on average per order and shop at more than twice the frequency of our single-channel consumers. Stores also offer services like returns; buy online, pick up in store; and fulfilling online orders, creating a seamless consumer experience. Combining a digital strategy with a relevant and productive store portfolio is critical to winning in an omnichannel ecosystem. And as part of our structural improvements, we are making great progress to revitalize our store portfolio. We're on track to open two new stores in priority markets in the second half of 2025. We've identified a handful of stores which no longer meet our higher hurdle rate requirements and our potential targets for closure or relocation. And additionally, we've launched local marketing campaigns in priority markets to drive retail traffic. With respect to our go-to-market brand and marketing strategy, we've switched our media marketing partner, and we're thrilled with the new enhancements to our next generation of consumer-centric capabilities they are bringing. We remain focused on upper funnel brand building and driving more traffic and conversion with target consumers. The underpinnings of our brands and sub-brands remain strong, and our level of newness in the quarter increased by 60 basis points over last year. Despite the challenging third quarter results, we registered several merchandising and product innovation wins. While our women's business declined this quarter, we continue to see strength across the first air category up 22% and in AKHG with growth of 6%. Our Heirloom Garden collection continues to perform well. Growth in first layer was driven by our Buck Naked and Amadeo collections, as well as newness offered in our pajama and loungewear business. We expanded our plus-size assortment, including our successful Adjustabust, a bonded zip-front bra with a sleek silhouette and crisscrossed back, offering extra support and security. Coupled with continued popularity of our TeeLUXE bra, our bra business grew by 20% this quarter. Within the women's AKHG business, customers continue to respond well to our signature mid-tops and bottoms, which drove overall AKHG quarter growth of 6%. Growth was driven by strength in several key collections, including Renew Bamboo, Roadless, and Trail Tech. These collections support our ongoing focus on outdoor recreation through performance attributes. Our Heirloom Garden collection continues to be a favorite for her as evidenced by growth over last year of nearly 70%. Bolstered by a variety of new prints, Heirloom Garden was the No. 1 women's apparel collection for every week in Q3. Our strategy of refreshing core colors with the introduction of multiple exciting prints continue to prove successful. Our men's business was more heavily impacted by unseasonably warm weather. However, we did see continued strength in our Dry on the Fly technology as recent expansions into tees and unders continue to resonate. Further, we intentionally extended the summer season with a focus on Dry on the Fly shorts, showcasing one of our key cooling technologies that resonated with warmer temperatures throughout the quarter. We launched our new Souped-Up Sweats collection early in Q3, Duluth's version of your basic sweats set with unbeatable comfort and durability, allowing for easier movement of working and even better for lounging. This fabrication made for both him and her is resonating well with our customers, and fleece will continue to be a major focus for us moving forward. Our new T-shirt flannel, which is the perfect blend of your favorite flannel's warmth and your most comfortable T-shirt's softness performed well this quarter. We saw further positive response in men's woven tops, driven by additional newness with our men's indigo twill and Oxford shirts, both of which are lighter-weight casual offerings in the standard fit. As we move into Q4, we're focused on driving volume with our largest seasonal categories, including flannels, shirt jacks, and line bottoms. We're excited about introducing new innovation in the outerwear category with our men's insulator jackets, which contain revolutionary solar ball insulation that transforms the sun's infrared energy into instantaneous warmth, no battery pack needed. And as the gift-giving season approaches, we will focus on cart builders with unders, socks, and hard goods and lean into cozy loungewear and pajama sets which are performing well, especially for her. As mentioned earlier, we onboarded our new advertising agency this quarter and increased our media spend with an enhanced focus on our target customer. The result was a double-digit increase in website traffic, driven by first-time visitors. We were pleased to see the significant increase and have shifted our focus on optimizing our lower funnel conversion tactics and retargeting efforts to capitalize on this traffic. We're excited about several key branding moments, including a feature gift guide segment that aired last week on Good Morning America, a strong presence in this year's college football playoff gains, and continuing our partnership with Yellowstone. As many of you have likely seen, Duluth Trading returned for a third year in partnership with Yellowstone to accelerate its highly anticipated fifth season, which premiered on November 11. Fan favorite stories from the Bunkhouse offers a behind-the-scenes look at Jefferson White's journey as Jimmy. Jefferson White embraces our belief in taking on life with your own two hands in some of our most innovative Duluth products while sharing candid behind-the-scene stories from life on set. He embodies the authenticity and resilience that define both the brand and Yellowstone iconic characters. Reflecting the hardworking spirit of the American frontier, the Loop products are designed for the can-doer lifestyle, capturing the grit, endurance, and timeless style that resonates with fans everywhere. The partnership spans all Duluth channels, website, paid social, and more, amplifying the shared values of quality and authenticity. In summary, we're realizing benefits from our long-term strategic initiatives, including product development and sourcing, logistics and supply chain, our mobile-first efforts, and go-to-market initiatives. We're delivering a high level of product newness and innovation, which is resonating with both existing and new customers. We are taking swift action on structural initiatives like completing Phase 2 of our fulfillment center network optimization plan and have made great progress on our retail store portfolio strategy. And we're embarking on a significantly enhanced end-to-end cross-functional enterprise planning process to drive operational excellence. Importantly, we remain in a strong financial position with quarter-end liquidity of $165 million. Finally, we're making great strides in our long-term strategic initiatives that will help us unlock the full profit potential of the enterprise, setting us up for future success. I look forward to sharing more on our fourth quarter call and will now turn it over to Heena to provide more details on our third quarter results. Heena? Heena Agrawal -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Thanks, Sam, and good morning. In the third quarter, we expanded our gross margin by 210 basis points. However, top-line sales declined 8.1%. Unusually warm weather impacted fall/winter seasonal sales. And as a result, our inventory levels increased at the end of the quarter. As Sam mentioned, we are taking swift actions to end the year clean on inventories. And as trends have improved, our second half-to-date top line is now tracking at minus 3%. We are pleased with the progress of our strategic initiatives as we saw a second consecutive quarter of gross margin expansion from our sourcing initiatives and reduction in fulfillment and transportation costs from the logistics network. Our structural improvements are on track. In Q3, we successfully completed Phase 2 of our fulfillment network optimization and exited one of our legacy fulfillment centers announced last quarter. As stated on the last two calls, our primary focus is to unlock the full profit potential of the enterprise and to strategically deploy capital to unlock growth opportunities. Realizing savings from Phase 2 of the fulfillment network, revitalizing the store portfolio to increase productivity and profitability, and allocating capital to omnichannel growth are key steps toward making structural changes to drive sustainable, profitable growth. In addition to our strategic initiatives and structural improvements, as Sam mentioned, we have launched Enterprise Planning, an end-to-end cross-functional initiative to significantly enhance our operational and planning processes. Providing a date to Phase 2 of our fulfillment center network, we completed the closure of our Dubuque, Iowa facility at the end of October. This incurred restructuring expenses of $7.7 million, which was spread between two quarters with $1.6 million recognized in Q2 and $6.2 million in Q3. We have begun to realize savings in Q4 for a full-year annualized run-rate savings of $5 million in 2025. Leveraging our most efficient and cost-effective Adairsville fulfillment center, we are now evaluating the next phase to continue to maximize network capacity and cost. We are pleased to share the progress on our retail store portfolio strategy. We have identified priority markets and are on track to open two new sites in the back half of 2025. As it relates to our existing fleet, we have established higher hurdle rate requirements due to new leases to enhance the productivity and profitability of our portfolio. As mentioned previously, almost 25% of our current store portfolio is coming up for renewal by 2026. We have also renewed our store marketing efforts in priority markets, launching local advertising, experiential events, and targeted digital marketing to drive traffic brand awareness and store awareness. Providing more color on the enterprise initiatives Sam mentioned, there are four key areas of focus to impact outcomes on a go-forward basis: first, streamline end-to-end cross-functional processes to drive operational excellence; second, assortments driven by target customer insights with a focus on the largest category opportunities; third, inventory management will be optimized through improved in-stock and productivity metrics that are directly tied to our financial goals; and lastly, activating a holistic go-to-market strategy to launch key product stories. Now speaking to our Q3 results. Today, we reported third quarter 2024 net sales of $127.1 million, down 8.1%, with gross margin expansion of 210 basis points versus last year to 52.3%. Our reported EPS loss is $0.85, and adjusted EPS loss is $0.41. Adjustments to EPS include $6.2 million in restructuring charges related to the exit of one of our legacy fulfillment centers as announced previously and a $10.1 million valuation allowance on our deferred tax asset. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter was $6.8 million. Starting with the top line. Our Q3 2024 net sales declined to $127.1 million as fewer transactions were partially offset by higher order value fueled by higher units per transaction. Sales in the first half of the quarter were flat to last year. In the second half, unusually warmer weather impacted sales of our fall/winter goods. Direct channel sales declined 8.3% in the quarter. Mobile penetration of site visits and sales continued to increase over last year. Retail store sales declined 7.8%, driven by traffic decline, partially offset by increased conversion rates. Our women's business declined 4%, impacted by fall/winter seasonal goods. However, we continue to see strength in women's first layer, up 22%, AKHG up 6%, and her all-time favorite Garden Heirloom collection up nearly 70%. The men's business declined 10%, primarily driven by colder weather categories, including flannels, outerwear, and sweaters. However, our Dry on the Fly technology and our new Souped-Up sweats collection resonated well. Moving to gross margin. For the third quarter, our gross margin expanded 210 basis points to 52.3%, driven by improved product cost from our direct-to-factory sourcing initiative. Having sourced through the older, higher-cost inventory, our gross margin year to date is 90 basis points higher than last year. Partially offsetting the improvement in product costs was a lower AUR. Moving to third quarter SG&A expenses. SG&A expenses increased 1.2% to $82.9 million as a percentage of sales at 65.2%. It deleveraged by 600 basis points to last year, driven by a decline in sales. The continued efficiencies across logistics and fulfillment center network were offset by higher fixed costs and depreciation from foundational investments. For the quarter, advertising expenses increased to 15.3% of sales, deleveraging by 240 basis points, driven by lower sales. Variable or selling expenses, which include outbound shipping costs, as well as labor across our customer contact center, fulfillment centers, and store fleet, continued to improve leveraging by 100 basis points. The favorable leverage was driven by optimizing our outbound shipment network, new parcel agreements, and efficiencies across the fulfillment center network, particularly at Adairsville. Fixed expenses or general and administrative expenses increased 6.7%, deleveraging by 460 basis points, primarily from annualizing depreciation and fixed costs from strategic initiatives like the Adairsville investment initiated in Q3 of 2023, partially offset by cost savings initiatives. As mentioned earlier, we recognized $6.2 million in restructuring expenses from the exit of one of our legacy fulfillment centers and a $10.1 million valuation allowance on our deferred tax asset. Our Q3 adjusted net loss was $13.8 million or $0.41 per diluted share, compared to net loss of $10.5 million or $0.32 per diluted share last year. Importantly, adjusted EBITDA year to date is positive $5.7 million. Our inventory balance was up 33% or approximately $57 million. 97% of the inventory is in current products, and clearance inventory improved to 3% versus 4% last year. There were three main drivers of the increase year on year. The first was in transit inventory, which accounted for a third of the increase as we moved from agents to buying directly from factories. Another third of the increase was driven by higher inventory receipts on core year-round products to mitigate low-in-stock post-Black Friday week, a key learning from last year. The final third relates to fall/winter inventory, where sales were impacted due to unusually warmer weather, resulting in higher seasonal inventory levels at the end of the quarter. To reiterate, we are taking necessary and prudent actions to end the year clean on inventories. Our capital expenditures for the quarter were $5 million versus $9.9 million in the prior year, primarily used to invest in strategic digital capabilities as per our technology roadmap. We ended the quarter with $44 million of outstanding debt on our line of credit. We had $9.3 million of cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter. Our balance sheet remains strong with liquidity of $165 million. Now turning to our outlook for fiscal year 2024. We are reconfirming our full-year top-line sales guidance of $640 million which includes 60 basis points from the COSCO order and approximately 150 basis points of growth from the 53rd week. We expect to continue to benefit from lower year-over-year product costs. However, driven by higher promotional activity and our commitment to end the year clean on seasonal inventory levels, we are now projecting full-year gross margin reduction of approximately 125 basis points versus prior year. Our product sourcing and innovation efforts are expected to continue to reduce product cost and expand margins for the next several years as we increase the percentage of product sourced direct from factory. This, combined with the enterprise planning initiative, will significantly enhance our assortment and inventory management to not just fully capture the cost benefits of the sourcing initiative but also enable gross margin expansion. We expect SG&A, excluding the sales tax contingency, to deleverage by approximately 80 basis points versus prior year as we partially offset the increase in expenses from strategic investments with additional savings from efficiencies in fixed expenses like services and contracts and benefits from our fulfillment center network optimization initiative beginning in Q4. Advertising expenses are planned to be at approximately 10% of sales as we realize savings from our move to the new ad agency and refocus spend to drive shopper conversion. Variable or selling expenses will continue to leverage by approximately 50 basis points, driven by transportation savings from diversification of outbound carriers and continuing additional efficiencies. Fixed expenses or general and administrative expenses are expected to deleverage by approximately 170 basis points versus last year as higher depreciation and fixed costs associated with strategic initiatives are partially offset with cost savings efforts. With that, to summarize our full-year outlook, net sales of approximately $640 million; full-year gross margin reduction of approximately 125 basis points versus prior year; SG&A expenses, excluding the sales tax contingency, to deleverage by approximately 80 basis points versus prior year. Our capital expenditures are on track to be reduced by more than half to approximately $23 million. Our liquidity remains strong. We expect to end the year with no debt and liquidity of over $200 million. In closing, we are committed to taking actions to end the year clean on inventories, maximizing return from our strategic investments, delivering on structural initiatives to improve our business model, and implementing significantly enhanced enterprise planning processes to unlock growth and profitability. With that, we will open the call for questions. Questions & Answers: Operator [Operator instructions] The first question comes from Dylan Carden with William Blair. Please go ahead. Dylan Carden -- Analyst Thanks. Sorry if I missed this. You mentioned 25% of the fleet comes due by '26. Do you have a sense of what falls under your new threshold as far as sort of the -- even if it's a range, the magnitude of closures from here? Sam Sato -- President and Chief Executive Officer Hey, Dylan. Yes. So as we said, we've got about 25% that come due. We have, through our process that Heena has been working on, recalibrated our hurdle rates for profitability, and we're really assessing those store by store as we get into the time frame to renew or renegotiate. So we continue to have our eyes on those 25%. And as we get closer to renewal dates, we're vetting those much deeper in anticipation of either renewing, closing, or relocating. Dylan Carden -- Analyst Got it. And if I'm looking at the model -- as far -- I appreciate everything you've done on production and distribution efficiencies from a gross margin standpoint. What's sort of the primary driver to get you back above the line from an SG&A perspective? Sam Sato -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yes. I think -- well, a couple of things I'll say. One is I'm really pleased with the progress and traction our teams are making on those key initiatives tied to our Big Dam Blueprint. And as you know, some of it is timing in terms of when we start to realize those benefits clearly around our product development and sourcing initiative. We're starting to see that -- the logistics strategy with Adairsville. I'll take a moment just to celebrate. We're now lapping on about a year since Adairsville came online. It has processed something like 64% more units than a year ago at this time over the Black Friday weekend. And at CPU -- variable CPU costs are actually exceeding what we initially targeted. It's 73% lower than the legacy fulfillment center, so a lot of those things we're starting to see come into play now. It's enabled us to rationalize our fulfillment center network, and we were able to close Dubuque, and that on an annual run rate is about $5 million in savings. So I think over the next -- candidly, over the next handful of years, you'll continue to see the benefits of that work, in addition to some of the other structural things that Heena has been charged with. And over the next handful of years, I think you'll see our SG&A come closer into line where we expect it to be, and importantly, allow the benefits of these other initiatives like the product development and sourcing initiatives to really flow through to the bottom line. Heena Agrawal -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer And I would add, in addition to the structural changes, which is around fulfillment center optimization, as well as improving overall store portfolio profitability. We are -- our capex this year was half of what -- less than half of what was last year, and that's kind of the growing run rate you are looking at, which will also improve the depreciation cost that flow into SG&A. So in addition to the structural, the equilibrium of capex to depreciation will help with the overall SG&A costs. Dylan Carden -- Analyst Got it. And also, it also feels like it's a store productivity issue. I think you kind of just blessed that there in your comments. I mean, where productivity is if you start closing stores, presumably, you get some of the productivity overall fleet productivity to improve, and I would think that should help a not a significant amount, given where kind of sales per square foot are at present. Heena Agrawal -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Yes. Like we said, we've established higher hurdle rates for when we renew, which gives us leverage and negotiating for lease renewals with options to either relocate or close as the case might be. And as we do that, it improves the overall health of the portfolio with the new sites, meeting much higher hurdle rates, the older sites that are being renewed also being held to those same standards improves our overall productivity, and our focus on omnichannel marketing for those priority markets to improve traffic to those stores. Sam Sato -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yes. And Dylan, I'll add to that because I want to be clear that you all understand. Strategically, retail stores, as we've always said, are an important part of our omnichannel ecosystem, and I think that's really important to understand. Our stores -- since at the end of 2023, all stores were four-wall profitable. This is really about, to your point, exactly as productivity is within our fleet of stores. And as we begin to open new stores, we're holding them to a higher productivity hurdle rate so that we're ensuring that we're getting the returns that we need and that those investments are aligned with our longer-term strategy. So I think in that regard, we're in a really good position because we've got 65 stores today. It's not as though we've got 500 that we've got to rationalize. And we think that we'll make good progress on that front, combined with some of the things I mentioned in my prepared remarks around our go-to-market strategy and localizing some of that. I think that we'll continue to see improvements in our retail store portfolio, both as we kind of renew and/or rationalize some locations, in addition to then adding some new locations with higher hurdle rates. Dylan Carden -- Analyst Great. Last one for me. The cool weather gear that you couldn't sell in September, October, is any of that -- can you pack any of that away? Or do you have to kind of clearance it by year end? Sam Sato -- President and Chief Executive Officer Yeah. So part of our strategy is exactly that. And again, I want to make sure that we're clear about what led to the current inventory scenario. And as Heena said, it's really three buckets. There's a timing issue relative to the in-transit bucket that we recognize ownership. That's about a third. There's a third that is tied directly to a planned early receipt of core goods because, as you know, we're writing these things further out. And last year, we went into Q4 a little lean and came out essentially out of stock, and that led to depressed inventory levels throughout Q4. And then the third is really based on our receipt of fall and winter goods. We didn't sell it in third quarter. largely because of some weather issues. And so as we look at going through Q4, there's two components that we're focused on. One is ensuring that the seasonal carryover of those receipts don't hurt us into next year, meaning they don't transition into clearance inventory levels. By the way, our clearance inventory levels currently are at about 3% of total, which is 100 bps less than a year ago and sequentially improved from 11% last quarter. But we want to ensure that as we go into next year, this carryover fall-winter doesn't impact our clearance level, which then continues to put further pressure on our margins. And so the seasonal things that are unique to this season, we will mark down, and we'll sell through that this quarter. There is core kind of seasonal products like black down puffer jackets that whatever we don't sell through, we're going to pack those away because we buy them every season, and it's a small amount of inventory but inventory nonetheless that we really don't need to mark down as we move into next year. So long answer to your question, but I think important articulation is, yes, there is goods within fall/winter that we will not have to mark down, and we'll be able to pack away for a short period of time. Dylan Carden -- Analyst Excellent. Thank you. Operator [Operator signoff] Duration: 0 minutes Call participants: Nitza McKee -- Investor Relations Sam Sato -- President and Chief Executive Officer Heena Agrawal -- Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer Dylan Carden -- Analyst More DLTH analysis All earnings call transcripts

TISDALE – The Tisdale Curling rink is the recipient of $15,000 from Project Cornerstone funding. Greg Little, president of the Tisdale Curling Club, says they have about 100 curlers in the curling club, men’s, ladies’, seniors and 23 junior curlers and they are looking to grow that. Little said this year’s plans for the Tisdale Curling Club are to renovate the kitchen and lounge as well as replace some equipment. Money from the Project Cornerstone fund is going toward a new cooler in their kitchen, brooms and sliders for the junior curling program and a new scraper for the ice surface, says Marc Anderson, general manager. There was a total of $100,000 committed through the Project Cornerstone program in 2024. This year’s funding was provided to a total of four different projects, the Tisdale Curling Club being one of them. The other projects approved were: Wolseley Sportsplex for $25,000; the Broncs Parents Association for $50,000 for a major improvement project at Indian Head High School’s McCall Field and on Friday, Nov. 29 they announced $10,000 awarded to Kemoca Regional Park (Montmartre) towards their new swimming pool project. Lori Walsh, spokesperson for Cornerstone Credit Union said that Project Cornerstone was launched in 2006. Since its inception, this funding has spent over $650,000 on 50 different projects. Cornerstone has branches in Tisdale and Rose Valley. Little said, “The curling rink offers not just a place to play, but also a space to catch up and socialize during the long winter months. But it’s not possible without the hard work of volunteers who dedicate their time for their community and neighbours.”

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Israeli strikes without warning in central Beirut kill at least 15 as diplomats push for cease-fire BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 15 people and injured dozens in central Beirut as the once-rare strikes in the heart of Lebanon’s capital continue without Israeli warning. Diplomats are scrambling to broker a cease-fire but describe the disputed issues that remain. The current proposal calls for a two-month cease-fire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says Israeli bombardment has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon in the months of fighting that have turned into all-out war. Trump raced to pick many Cabinet posts. He took more time to settle on a treasury secretary WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump launched a blitz of picks for his Cabinet, but he took his time settling on billionaire investor Scott Bessent as his choice for treasury secretary. The Republican not only wanted someone who jibes with him, but an official who can execute his economic vision and look straight out of central casting while doing so. With his Yale University education and pedigree trading for Soros Fund Management before establishing his own funds, Bessent will be tasked with a delicate balancing act. Trump expects him to help reset the global trade order, enable trillions of dollars in tax cuts, ensure inflation stays in check, manage a ballooning national debt and still keep the financial markets confident. Voters rejected historic election reforms across the US, despite more than $100M push JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Election reform advocates had hoped for a big year at the ballot box. That's because a historic number of states were considering initiatives for ranked choice voting or to end partisan primaries. Instead, voters dealt them big losses in the November elections. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and South Dakota all rejected proposed changes to their voting systems. In Alaska, a proposal to repeal ranked choice voting appears to have narrowly fallen short. The losses in many states came even though election reform supporters raised more than $100 million, easily outpacing opponents. Supporters say they aren't giving up but plan to retool their efforts. The week that upped the stakes of the Ukraine war KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — This past week has seen the most significant escalation in hostilities Ukraine has witnessed since Russia's full-scale invasion and marks a new chapter in the nearly three-year war. It began with U.S. President Joe Biden reversing a longstanding policy by granting Kyiv permission to deploy American longer-range missiles inside Russian territory and ended with Moscow striking Ukraine with a new experimental ballistic weapon that has alarmed the international community and heightened fears of further escalation. Storm dumps record rain in Northern California, while US Northeast deals with winter storms HEALDSBURG, Calif. (AP) — A major storm continues to drop heavy snow and record rain in California, causing small landslides and flooding some streets. Meanwhile on the opposite coast blizzard or winter storm warnings were in effect Saturday for areas spanning from the Northeast to central Appalachia. The storm on the West Coast arrived in the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, before moving through Northern California. Forecasters predicted that both coasts would begin to see a reprieve from the storms as the system in the northeast moves into eastern Canada and the one in the West heads south. Even with access to blockbuster obesity drugs, some people don't lose weight Most people taking popular drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight have shed significant pounds. But obesity experts say that roughly 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not see robust results with the new medications. The response to the drugs varies from person to person and can depend on genetics, hormones and differences in how the brain regulates energy. Undiagnosed medical conditions and some drugs can prevent weight loss. Experts say it can take experimentation to help so-called nonresponders find results. Fighting between armed sectarian groups in restive northwestern Pakistan kills at least 37 people PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A senior Pakistani police officer says fighting between armed sectarian groups in the country's restive northwest has killed at least 37 people. The overnight violence was the latest to rock Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and comes days after a deadly gun ambush killed 42 people. The officer said Saturday that armed men torched shops, houses and government property overnight. Gunfire is ongoing between rival tribes. Although Sunnis and Shiites generally live together peacefully in Pakistan, tensions remain in some areas, especially Kurram. These Peruvian women left the Amazon, but their homeland still inspires their songs and crafts LIMA, Peru (AP) — Many Shipibo-Konibo craftswomen migrated from their Indigenous communities in the Amazon to Peru's capital, Lima, in the past few decades. Their ancestors' legacy remains present through their songs and techniques, and some of them have managed to make a living out of their crafts. Textiles, jewelry and paintings convey the culture, worldview and beliefs from the lands where they were born. Doctor at the heart of Turkey's newborn baby deaths case says he was a 'trusted' physician ISTANBUL (AP) — The Turkish doctor at the center of an alleged fraud scheme that led to the deaths of 10 babies says he was a “trusted” physician. Dr. Firat Sari is one of 47 people on trial accused of transferring newborn babies to neonatal units of private hospitals, where they were allegedly kept for prolonged and sometimes unnecessary treatments in order to receive social security payments. Sari said patients were referred to him because people trusted him and he did not bribe anyone involved with Turkey’s emergency medical phone line. Sari, said to be the plot’s ringleader, faces up to 583 years in prison. Hydrate. Make lists. Leave yourself time. And other tips for reducing holiday travel stress Travel, especially during the holiday season, can be stressful. But following some tips from the pros as you prepare for a trip can make for a smoother, less anxious experience. One expert traveler suggests making a list a week before you go of things you need to do and pack. Cross off each item as you complete it during the week. Another tip is to carry your comfort zone with you. That could mean noise-canceling headphones, playlists meant to soothe airport travelers, entertainment and snacks from home. Carry a change of clothes and a phone charger in case of delays. Stay hydrated. Leave extra time. And know your airline's rules. Downloading the airline's app can help with that.France's Macron vows to stay on, promises PM in 'coming days'

None— Oct. 1, 1924: James Earl Carter Jr. is born in Plains, Georgia, son of James Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter. — June 1946: Carter graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy. — July 1946: Carter marries Rosalynn Smith, in Plains. They have four children, John William (“Jack”), born 1947; James Earl 3rd (“Chip”), 1950; Donnel Jeffrey (Jeff), 1952; and Amy Lynn, 1967. — 1946-1953: Carter serves in a Navy nuclear submarine program, attaining rank of lieutenant commander. — Summer 1953: Carter resigns from the Navy, returns to Plains after father’s death. — 1953-1971: Carter helps run the family peanut farm and warehouse business. — 1963-1966: Carter serves in the Georgia state Senate. — 1966: Carter tries unsuccessfully for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. — November 1970: Carter is elected governor of Georgia. Serves 1971-75. — Dec. 12, 1974: Carter announces a presidential bid. Atlanta newspaper answers with headline: “Jimmy Who?” — January 1976: Carter leads the Democratic field in Iowa, a huge campaign boost that also helps to establish Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus. — July 1976: Carter accepts the Democratic nomination and announces Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota as running mate. — November 1976: Carter defeats President Gerald R. Ford, winning 51% of the vote and 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240. — January 1977: Carter is sworn in as the 39th president of the United States. On his first full day in office, he pardons most Vietnam-era draft evaders. —September 1977: U.S. and Panama sign treaties to return the Panama Canal back to Panama in 1999. Senate narrowly ratifies them in 1978. — September 1978: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Carter sign Camp David accords, which lead to a peace deal between Egypt and Israel the following year. — June 15-18, 1979: Carter attends a summit with Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev in Vienna that leads to the signing of the SALT II treaty. — November 1979: Iranian militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 hostages. All survive and are freed minutes after Carter leaves office in January 1981. — April 1980: The Mariel boatlift begins, sending tens of thousands of Cubans to the U.S. Many are criminals and psychiatric patients set free by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, creating a major foreign policy crisis. — April 1980: An attempt by the U.S. to free hostages fails when a helicopter crashes into a transport plane in Iran, killing eight servicemen. — Nov. 4, 1980: Carter is denied a second term by Ronald Reagan, who wins 51.6% of the popular vote to 41.7% for Carter and 6.7% to independent John Anderson. — 1982: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter co-found The Carter Center in Atlanta, whose mission is to resolve conflicts, protect human rights and prevent disease around the world. — September 1984: The Carters spend a week building Habitat for Humanity houses, launching what becomes the annual Carter Work Project. — October 1986: A dedication is held for The Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. The center includes the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and Carter Center offices. — 1989: Carter leads the Carter Center’s first election monitoring mission, declaring Panamanian Gen. Manuel Noriega’s election fraudulent. — May 1992: Carter meets with Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at the Carter Center to discuss forming the Gorbachev Foundation. — June 1994: Carter plays a key role in North Korea nuclear disarmament talks. — September 1994: Carter leads a delegation to Haiti, arranging terms to avoid a U.S. invasion and return President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. — December 1994: Carter negotiates tentative cease-fire in Bosnia. — March 1995: Carter mediates cease-fire in Sudan’s war with southern rebels. — September 1995: Carter travels to Africa to advance the peace process in more troubled areas. — December 1998: Carter receives U.N. Human Rights Prize on 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. — August 1999: President Bill Clinton awards Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter the Presidential Medal of Freedom. — September 2001: Carter joins former Presidents Ford, Bush and Clinton at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington after Sept. 11 attacks. — April 2002: Carter’s book “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood” chosen as finalist for Pulitzer Prize in biography. — May 2002: Carter visits Cuba and addresses the communist nation on television. He is the highest-ranking American to visit in decades. — Dec. 10, 2002: Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” — July 2007: Carter joins The Elders, a group of international leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela to focus on global issues. — Spring 2008: Carter remains officially neutral as Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton battle each other for the Democratic presidential nomination. — April 2008: Carter stirs controversy by meeting with the Islamic militant group Hamas. — August 2010: Carter travels to North Korea as the Carter Center negotiates the release of an imprisoned American teacher. — August 2013: Carter joins President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton at the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech and the March on Washington. — Oct. 1, 2014: Carter celebrates his 90th birthday. — December 2014: Carter is nominated for a Grammy in the best spoken word album category, for his book “A Call To Action.” — May 2015: Carter returns early from an election observation visit in Guyana — the Carter Center’s 100th — after feeling unwell. — August 2015: Carter has a small cancerous mass removed from his liver. He plans to receive treatment at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. — August 2015: Carter announces that his grandson Jason Carter will chair the Carter Center governing board. — March 6, 2016: Carter says an experimental drug has eliminated any sign of his cancer, and that he needs no further treatment. — May 25, 2016: Carter steps back from a “front-line” role with The Elders to become an emeritus member. — July 2016: Carter is treated for dehydration during a Habitat for Humanity build in Canada. — Spring 2018: Carter publishes “Faith: A Journey for All,” the last of 32 books. — March 22, 2019: Carter becomes the longest-lived U.S. president, surpassing President George H.W. Bush, who died in 2018. — September 18, 2019: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter deliver their final in-person annual report at the Carter Center. — October 2019: At 95, still recovering from a fall, Carter joins the Work Project with Habitat for Humanity in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s the last time he works personally on the annual project. — Fall 2019-early 2020: Democratic presidential hopefuls visit, publicly embracing Carter as a party elder, a first for his post-presidency. — November 2020:The Carter Center monitors an audit of presidential election results in the state of Georgia, marking a new era of democracy advocacy within the U.S. — Jan. 20, 2021: The Carters miss President Joe Biden’s swearing-in, the first presidential inauguration they don’t attend since Carter’s own ceremony in 1977. The Bidens later visit the Carters in Plains on April 29. — Feb. 19, 2023: Carter enters home hospice care after a series of short hospital stays. — July 7, 2023: The Carters celebrate their 77th and final wedding anniversary. — Nov. 19, 2023: Rosalynn Carter dies at home, two days after the family announced that she had joined the former president in receiving hospice care. — Oct. 1, 2024 — Carter becomes the first former U.S. president to reach 100 years of age , celebrating at home with extended family and close friends. — Oct. 16, 2024 — Carter casts a Georgia mail ballot for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, having told his family he wanted to live long enough to vote for her. It marks his 21st presidential election as a voter. — Dec. 29, 2024: Carter dies at home.Intuit Inc. stock underperforms Friday when compared to competitors

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By DAVID A. LIEB Artificial intelligence. Abortion. Guns. Marijuana. Minimum wages. Name a hot topic, and chances are good there’s a new law about it taking effect in 2025 in one state or another. Many of the laws launching in January are a result of legislation passed this year. Others stem from ballot measures approved by voters. Some face legal challenges. Here’s a look at some of the most notable state laws taking effect: California, home to Hollywood and some of the largest technology companies, is seeking to rein in the artificial intelligence industry and put some parameters around social media stars. New laws seek to prevent the use of digital replicas of Hollywood actors and performers without permission and allow the estates of dead performers to sue over unauthorized AI use. Parents who profit from social media posts featuring their children will be required to set aside some earnings for their young influencers. A new law also allows children to sue their parents for failing to do so. New social media restrictions in several states face court challenges. Related Articles National Politics | Trump has pressed for voting changes. GOP majorities in Congress will try to make that happen National Politics | Exhausted by political news? TV ratings and new poll say you’re not alone National Politics | Trump vows to pursue executions after Biden commutes most of federal death row National Politics | Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams National Politics | Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’ A Florida law bans children under 14 from having social media accounts and requires parental consent for ages 14 and 15. But enforcement is being delayed because of a lawsuit filed by two associations for online companies, with a hearing scheduled for late February. A new Tennessee law also requires parental consent for minors to open accounts on social media. NetChoice, an industry group for online businesses, is challenging the law. Another new state law requires porn websites to verify that visitors are at least 18 years old. But the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry, has filed a challenge. Several new California measures aimed at combating political deepfakes are also being challenged, including one requiring large social media platforms to remove deceptive content related to elections and another allowing any individual to sue for damages over the use of AI to create fabricated images or videos in political ads . In a first nationally, California will start enforcing a law prohibiting school districts from adopting policies that require staff to notify parents if their children change their gender identification . The law was a priority for Democratic lawmakers who wanted to halt such policies passed by several districts. Many states have passed laws limiting or protecting abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nationwide right to the procedure in 2022. One of the latest is the Democratic-led state of Delaware. A law there will require the state employee health plan and Medicaid plans for lower-income residents to cover abortions with no deductible , copayments or other cost-sharing requirements. A new Minnesota law prohibits guns with “binary triggers” that allow for more rapid fire, causing a weapon to fire one round when the trigger is pulled and another when it is released. In Delaware, a law adds colleges and universities to a list of school zones where guns are prohibited, with exceptions for those working in their official capacity such as law officers and commissioned security guards. Kentucky is becoming the latest state to let people use marijuana for medical purposes . To apply for a state medical cannabis card, people must get written certification from a medical provider of a qualifying condition, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea or post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly four-fifths of U.S. states have now legalized medical marijuana. Minimum wage workers in more than 20 states are due to receive raises in January. The highest minimum wages will be in Washington, California and Connecticut, all of which will top $16 an hour after modest increases. The largest increases are scheduled in Delaware, where the minimum wage will rise by $1.75 to $15 an hour, and in Nebraska, where a ballot measure approved by voters in 2022 will add $1.50 to the current minimum of $12 an hour. Twenty other states still follow the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. In Oregon, using drugs on public transit will be considered a misdemeanor crime of interfering with public transportation. While the measure worked its way through the legislature, multiple transportation officials said drug use on buses and trains, and at transit stops and stations, was making passengers and drivers feel less safe. In Missouri, law enforcement officers have spent the past 16 months issuing warnings to motorists that handheld cellphone use is illegal. Starting with the new year, penalties will kick in: a $150 fine for the first violation, progressing to $500 for third and subsequent offenses and up to 15 years imprisonment if a driver using a cellphone cause an injury or death. But police must notice a primary violation, such as speeding or weaving across lanes, to cite motorists for violating the cellphone law. Montana is the only state that hasn’t banned texting while driving , according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tenants in Arizona will no longer have to pay tax on their monthly rent , thanks to the repeal of a law that had allowed cities and towns to impose such taxes. While a victory for renters, the new law is a financial loss for governments. An analysis by Arizona’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimated that $230 million would be lost in municipal tax revenue during the first full fiscal year of implementation. Meanwhile Alabama will offer tax credits to businesses that help employees with child care costs. Kansas is eliminating its 2% sales tax on groceries. It also is cutting individual income taxes by dropping the top tax rate, increasing a credit for child care expenses and exempting all Social Security income from taxes, among other things. Taxpayers are expected to save about $320 million a year going forward. An Oklahoma law expands voting privileges to people who have been convicted of felonies but had their sentences discharged or commuted, including commutations for crimes that have been reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. Former state Sen. George Young, an Oklahoma City Democrat, carried the bill in the Senate. “I think it’s very important that people who have gone through trials and tribulations in their life, that we have a system that brings them back and allows them to participate as contributing citizens,” Young said. Associated Press writers Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed.

1 Unstoppable Growth Stock That Could Join Nvidia, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft in the Trillion-Dollar Club By 2040President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday vowed to name a new prime minister in the coming days to prevent France from sliding deeper into political turmoil, rejecting growing pressure from the opposition to resign. Macron adopted a defiant tone in an address to the nation, seeking to limit an escalating political crisis after Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government was ousted in a historic no-confidence vote. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

Quest Partners LLC Makes New $609,000 Investment in The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO)