Amazon extends Prime Day discounts to 4 days as retailers weigh tariffs and price increases
For the first time, Seattle-based Amazon is holding the now-misnamed Prime Day over four days. The e-commerce giant's promised blitz of summer deals for Prime members started at 3:01 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday and ends early Friday.
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Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
DOGE sprouts in red states, as governors embrace the cost-cutter brand and make it their own
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump 's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk, spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs. 'I like to say we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing,' Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in announcing her own task force in January. Critics agree that some of these initiatives are nothing new and suggest they are wasteful, essentially duplicating built-in processes that are normally the domain of legislative committees or independent state auditors. At the same time, some governors are using their DOGE vehicles to take aim at GOP targets of the moment, such as welfare programs or diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And some governors who might be eyeing a White House run in 2028 are rebranding their cost-cutting initiatives as DOGE, perhaps eager to claim the mantle of the most DOGE of them all. No chainsaws in the states At least 26 states have initiated DOGE-style efforts of varying kinds, according to the Economic Policy Institute based in Washington, D.C. Most DOGE efforts were carried out through a governor's order — including by governors in Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma — or by lawmakers introducing legislation or creating a legislative committee. The state initiatives have a markedly different character than Trump's slash-and-burn approach, symbolized by Musk's chainsaw-brandishing appearance at a Conservative Political Action Committee appearance in February. Governors are tending to entrust their DOGE bureaus to loyalists, rather than independent auditors, and are often employing what could be yearslong processes to consolidate procurement, modernize information technology systems, introduce AI tools, repeal regulations or reduce car fleets, office leases or worker headcounts through attrition. Steve Slivinski, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who researches state government regulatory structures, said that a lot of what he has seen from state-level DOGE initiatives are the 'same stuff you do on a pretty regular basis anyway' in state governments. States typically have routine auditing procedures and the ways states have of saving money are 'relatively unsexy,' Slivinski said. And while the state-level DOGE vehicles might be useful over time in finding marginal improvements, 'branding it DOGE is more of a press op rather than anything new or substantially different than what they usually do,' Slivinski said. Analysts at the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute say that governors and lawmakers, primarily in the South and Midwest, are using DOGE to breathe new life into long-term agendas to consolidate power away from state agencies and civil servants, dismantle public services and benefit insiders and privatization advocates. 'It's not actually about cutting costs because of some fiscal responsibility,' EPI analyst Nina Mast said. Governors promoting spending cuts Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry rebranded his 'Fiscal Responsibility Program' as Louisiana DOGE, and promoted it as the first to team up with the federal government to scrub illegitimate enrollees from welfare programs. It has already netted $70 million in savings in the Medicaid program in an 'unprecedented' coordination, Landry said in June. In Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt — who says in a blurb on the Oklahoma DOGE website that 'I've been DOGE-ing in Oklahoma since before it was cool' — made a DOGE splash with the first report by his Division of Government Efficiency by declaring that the state would refuse some $157 million in federal public health grants. The biggest chunk of that was $132 million intended to support epidemiology and laboratory capacity to control infectious disease outbreaks. The Stitt administration said that funding — about one-third of the total over an eight-year period — exceeded the amount needed. The left-leaning Oklahoma Policy Institute questioned the wisdom of that, pointing to rising numbers of measles and whooping cough cases and the rocky transition under Stitt of the state's public health lab from Oklahoma City to Stillwater. Oklahoma Democrats issued rebukes, citing Oklahoma's lousy public health rankings. 'This isn't leadership,' state Sen. Carri Hicks said. 'It's negligence.' Stitt's Oklahoma DOGE has otherwise recommended changes in federal law to save money, opened up the suggestion box to state employees and members of the general public and posted a spreadsheet online with cost savings initiatives in his administration. Those include things as mundane as agencies going paperless, refinancing bonds, buying automated lawn mowers for the Capitol grounds or eliminating a fax machine line in the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order in February creating a task force of DOGE teams in each state agency. In the order, DeSantis recited 10 points on what he described as his and Florida's 'history of prudent fiscal management' even before DOGE. Among other things, DeSantis vowed to scrutinize spending by state universities and municipal and county governments — including on DEI initiatives — at a time when DeSantis is pushing to abolish the property taxes that predominantly fund local governments. His administration has since issued letters to universities and governments requesting reams of information and received a blessing from lawmakers, who passed legislation authorizing the inquiry and imposing fines for entities that don't respond. After the June 30 signing ceremony, DeSantis declared on social media: 'We now have full authority to DOGE local governments.' Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. In Arkansas, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders launched her cost-cutting Arkansas Forward last year, before DOGE, and later said the state had done the 'same thing' as DOGE. Her administration spent much of 2024 compiling a 97-page report that listed hundreds of ways to possibly save $300 million inside a $6.5 billion budget. Achieving that savings — largely by standardizing information technology and purchasing — would sometimes require up-front spending and take years to realize savings. ___ Follow Marc Levy on X at:
Winnipeg Free Press
8 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Lore and A-Rod detail some of their plans for the Timberwolves
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Alex Rodriguez remembers a very specific lesson that longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner taught him over the years. In a way, it'll shape his approach when it comes to running the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rodriguez and Marc Lore — the new, finally finalized, co-owners of the Timberwolves and winners in a four-year battle for control of that team and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx — spoke at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Friday. And when asked about how his ownership style might emulate Steinbrenner's, Rodriguez drew a quick parallel. 'He had his line that the only thing more important than winning is breathing,' said Rodriguez, the former baseball slugger who hit 696 home runs over 22 seasons with the Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. 'I'm kind of sick like that.' Rodriguez and Lore will make changes, as all new owners do. They unveiled one Friday: a new ticketing platform called Jump — which, among other things, will allow fans to bid on tickets when fans with better seats vacate early. Want courtside seats if they're vacated early? Click, bid and they could be yours for a sliver of face value. There's talk about a new arena, as well as mending fences with former Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett — who has been largely estranged from the franchise in recent years, much to the dismay of longtime Minnesota fans. Rodriguez and Lore said they want to fix that. 'As a startup founder, it's all about innovation,' Lore said. 'It's about being disruptive, not doing things the conventional way. You know, we've got a clean slate here to rethink how things are done, not just accept where they are.' It was more than four years ago that now-former Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked about selling by Lore, the former e-commerce chief for Walmart, and Rodriguez, whose playing days ended in 2016 after a career that was tainted by performance-enhancing drug use he later admitted to — and is likely the biggest reason why he remains well short of the votes needed for enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 'As you guys know, I've made some incredible mistakes and I hurt myself more than anything,' Rodriguez said. 'That's on me. But I'm very thankful that I was able to course-correct and make some radical changes in my life to put me in a position to be lucky enough to be Marc's partner in this endeavor.' Taylor and the Lore-Rodriguez group quickly agreed on a $1.5 billion deal, and NBA prices have skyrocketed ever since. They could flip the team immediately for a massive profit if so inclined — which, evidently, they are not. 'If you know Mark and I, we just never give up and we come from the bottom,' Rodriguez said. 'We fought hard for this, we did it the right way.' Private equity mogul Bill Chisholm agreed earlier this year to acquire the Boston Celtics for a record initial valuation of $6.1 billion — a number that may go even higher before that deal closes. And last month, businessman Mark Walter, who has the Los Angeles Dodgers among the many franchises in his sports empire, agreed to purchase the controlling stake of the Los Angeles Lakers in a deal that set the value of that franchise at $10 billion. Given those prices, Rodriguez and Lore found quite a bargain. 'This is not a hobby,' Rodriguez said. 'This is the most important thing in my life, outside of my family, my close ones. There's nothing that even comes close to it.' Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Steinbrenner spent and spent big with hopes of making the Yankees a perennial contender. The NBA salary rules are a bit different than baseball, but Rodriguez believes he and Lore have a plan to be a contender and a sustainable one. It's not a far-fetched notion, given that the Timberwolves have one of the game's biggest young stars in Anthony Edwards and are coming off back-to-back runs to the Western Conference finals. 'George gave himself as many possibilities as possible,' Rodriguez said. 'The passion for winning, the passion of our players, the passion to our fan base … we want to make our fan base proud.' ___ AP NBA:
Toronto Star
9 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Snow removal contracts and lack of proper planning leave Toronto at risk in future winter storms, says report
It's going to cost Toronto a lot more money to properly clear snow after major storms like the ones in February because of shortcomings in the city's current winter maintenance contracts — and its lack of effective in-house plans, according to a new report. 'When we get those smaller amounts of snow, we do a pretty strong job,' said city manager Paul Johnson on Friday, presenting the results of an independent review done by Oakville-based Municipal VU Consulting Inc. for the city.
