Local

Know: Dexter Fowler, former Chicago Cubs player, officially signed a five-year, $82 million dollar deal with the St. Louis Cardinals, Dec. 9. His position will be starting center field (CF) for the Cardinals this season.

Inform: Fowler signed with the Cardinals after just coming off a World Series win with the rival Cubs. The Toronto Blue Jays offered Fowler a four-year deal worth $60 million, but in the end he was sold on the Cardinals. In an interview with Frank Cusumano, KSDK sportscaster, Fowler revealed on the day he signed that, “..it’s always good that a winning team wants you,” even though he just came from the team who won the 2016 World Series. Having an impact player such as Fowler will hopefully help the Cardinals get a step closer to getting to the 2017 World Series.

Care: Baseball fans all across the community will be interested to see if Fowler will perform better with the Cardinals than he did with the Cubs. This year the Cardinals play the Cubs on Opening Day at Busch Stadium, April 2. 

National

Know: Macy’s, Sears, Kohls and JCPenney have all been accused by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office of “fraudulent business practice” on different products by creating fake sales, since 2013. For three years, these four stores have been scamming customers with these fake sales.

Inform: Certain items that have been sold at “sale” price with an original pricing on the ticket have never been on the sales floor at that original price. These stores have skipped the original price stage and immediately marketed the items as sale items. For example on Dec. 21 of 2015 Kohls listed the price of a strapless maxi dress as $50 and sold it as a clearance item worth $15, but a lawsuit said the dress was never actually sold for $50. The “sale” was false. JCPenney and Kohls have paid back more than $50 million to customers since 2013 through class action lawsuits for false sales, while “NBC Nightly News” reported that Macy’s and Sears have refused to comment. Retailers are to blame for this action, so consumers can check pricing with the manufacturers’ websites.

Care: Those shopping this holiday season need to be aware of what they are actually buying. People think they are getting a sale when in reality they are spending more by thinking the item is on sale. They need to make sure the sale racks are honest and that they aren’t getting scammed for their money. If people are unsure about an item, they can go straight to the manufacturer’s website and see what the price originally is before buying it. This way, customers will know if they are saving money or spending it in the right way.

International

Know: The CIA suspects that Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed computer hackers from the Russian government to intervene in the election to make sure that President-elect Donald Trump would win.

Inform: President-elect Donald Trump believes that Democrats are saying this because they are upset about the political loss in the election. The CIA and Congress have both launched investigations into the matter.

Care: Free and fair elections are at the heart of democracy. If Russia interfered with the American election process, then the election was not free and fair.