Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen has resigned after an internal investigation into his personal conduct.
Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, said Monday that the investigation into McMullen’s personal conduct was unrelated to the business, but was found to be inconsistent with its business ethics policy.
Board member Ronald Sargent will serve as chairman and interim CEO, effective immediately.
Sargent has been on Kroger’s board since 2006 and has served as the lead director of the company since 2017. He’s worked in several roles at the grocery chain across stores, sales, marketing, manufacturing and strategy. Sargent is also the former chairman and CEO of Staples.
McMullen, 64, began his career with Kroger in 1978 as a part-time stock clerk and bagger at a store in Lexington, Kentucky. He worked his way up through the company, becoming chief financial officer in 1995 and chief operating officer in 2009. McMullen was named Kroger’s CEO in 2014 and became the company’s chairman the following year.
Cincinnati-based Kroger said its board was made aware of the situation on Feb. 21 and immediately hired an outside independent counsel to conduct an investigation, overseen by a special board committee.
The company said that McMullen’s conduct is not related to its financial performance, operations or reporting, and did not involve any Kroger associates.
Kroger will conduct a search for its next CEO, with Sargent agreeing to remain as interim CEO until someone is appointed to the role permanently.
Kroger shares fell more than 3.5% ahead of the opening bell Monday.
McMullen’s departure comes as Kroger is regrouping from its failed effort to merger with Albertsons. The two companies proposed what would have been the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in 2022, saying they needed to combine forces to better compete with rivals like Walmart.
But two judges halted the $24.6 billion deal in December, saying it was likely to lessen competition and raise prices. Albertsons later sued Kroger, saying it had failed to make every effort to ensure that the merger would win regulatory approval.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced it will not enforce a Biden-era small business rule intended to curb money laundering and shell company formation.
In a Sunday evening announcement, Treasury said in a news release that it will not impose penalties now or in the future if companies fail to register for the agency’s beneficial ownership information database that was created during the Biden administration.
Despite efforts by small businesses to undo the rule in the courts, it remains in effect.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump on his Truth Social media site praised the suspension of enforcement of the rule and said the database is “outrageous and invasive.”
“This Biden rule has been an absolute disaster for Small Businesses Nationwide,” he said. “The economic menace of BOI reporting will soon be no more.”
In September 2022, the Treasury Department started rulemaking to create a database that would contain personal information on the owners of at least 32 million U.S. businesses as part of an effort to combat shell company formations and illicit finance.
The rule required most American businesses with fewer than 20 employees to register their business owners with the government as of Jan. 1, 2024. Small businesses are targeted because shell companies, often used to hide illegally obtained assets, tend to have few employees.
Treasury officials, including former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, said the regulatory burden would be small, costing about $85 per business, but would offer benefits to law enforcement officials seeking to track down money launderers and other criminals. She said in January 2024 that more than 100,000 businesses had filed beneficial ownership information with Treasury.
The rule and its legislative authority — the Corporate Transparency Act, an anti-money laundering statue passed in 2021 — have been mired in litigation. In 2022, a small business lobbying group sued to block the Treasury Department’s requirement that tens of millions of small businesses register with the government. On Feb. 27, Treasury’s Financial Crimes and Enforcement Network said it would not take enforcement actions against companies that do not file beneficial ownership data with the agency.
Business leaders cite privacy and security concerns about the database and say it is duplicitous to other government agencies that maintain corporate databases.
“This is a victory for common sense,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Sunday. “Today’s action is part of President Trump’s bold agenda to unleash American prosperity by reining in burdensome regulations, in particular for small businesses that are the backbone of the American economy.”
When the Los Angeles wildfires swept through Southern California in January, Barbara Shay lost much more than the building housing the cafe she owned.
Gone were the ingredients for menu items like grits or pancakes. Gone were the photos of icons ranging from former President Barack Obama to actor Richard Pryor that had lined the walls. Gone, too, were the decades of labor from Shay’s family.
“I am still in shock,” Shay said in an interview with CNBC. “It’s an emotional roller coaster — not just for me, but just for everyone.”
Shay is part of the diverse fabric of small business owners in Altadena, a town about 15 miles outside downtown L.A that was hard hit by last month’s blaze. As the community starts the yearslong rebuilding process, entrepreneurs like Shay are starting to chart their paths forward.
She plans to rebuild the 70-year-old Little Red Hen Coffee Shop and is evaluating the finances for opening up a temporary storefront or popups. The business spans generations: After following in the footsteps of her mother and brother in owning the business, she now works alongside her daughter and grandson.
But while many in Altadena’s entrepreneurial community remain optimistic about a recovery, multiple business owners described lengthy and difficult roads ahead.
Some businesses were burned entirely to the ground like Shay’s, while others face long-term displacement due to damage or smoke. For those fortunate enough to have brick-and-mortar properties still standing, they’re surrounded by what some have described in interviews as “ground zero.”
“It’s kind of unfathomable,” said Henri Wood, who owned a cannabis business called The Flourish Group that was burned down. “What was once just a vibrant, lively community is just completely gone.”
Altadena’s diversity cannot be understated. Census data shows that more than half of the population is people of color, with Latinos making up 27% of residents and Black people accounting for 18%.
Altadena has historically been known as a hub for Black families and businesses after being one of the only Los Angeles County areas exempt from redlining during the Civil Rights movement. The Associated Press found that the home ownership rate for Black people in Altadena now sits above 80%, which is nearly double the national average.
People stop to take in the scene of burned down businesses along Lake Avenue in Altadena on Thursday, January 9, 2025. Christina House / Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
But Altadena’s business owners — many of whom also grew up and now raise families there — are worried the fires will leave that diversity in the rubble. Emeka Chukwurah, founder of community culture center Rhythms of the Village, said he’s concerned that the fires will expedite gentrification that was already taking place in the neighborhood.Black residents accounted for more than 40% of the town’s population in 1980, according to Altadena Heritage. That proportion has been more than halved since then. Chukwurah has sold Altadena-branded merchandise to keep the community and its diversity from being forgotten by broader society.
“I’m hoping that we can keep the developers and those kind of people at bay so that we can hold on to what’s been built over generations,” Chukwurah said. “I’m hoping that this one will be in the history books as a resilient community, and that a large amount of us — or, if not, all of us — can stay to tell the story.”
Insurance agent Maricela Viramontes has seen how homeowners in the town at the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains are responding firsthand. Many are accustomed to fires due to its geographic location, she said, but they did not expect the destruction seen in January. The deadly fires caused more than $250 billion in damage and economic loss, according to an AccuWeather estimate.
Viramontes, who has lived in Altadena for nearly 25 years, woke up the morning after the fires in a shelter, as it was the only place her family could find to evacuate to. By early that morning, she began receiving calls while still at the shelter from clients looking for guidance on filing claims for lost property.
It’s the same paperwork that she, too, is filling out. Shortly after that day taking calls in the shelter, Viramontes learned that her home and car were both destroyed. Her office needs months of repairs for smoke damage.
“Everyone asks, ’What can I do?, ‘How can I help you?,‘” said Viramontes, who now lives and works out of her parents’ home nearby. “It’s so hard to answer that question when you don’t know.”
As businesses begin draft plans to clear their land and build new structures, they’re making plans for how to make ends meet in the short term.
Wood’s cannabis shop, for instance, has been connecting customers directly with providers while it figures out a long-term strategy. He called donations and mutual aid a “lifeline” for the business, which he said is excluded from several government aid programs because marijuana is not legalized federally.
Multiple entrepreneurs interviewed by CNBC said they are considering short-term rentals. They’re also considering business loans, though there’s concern about owing money with the financial outlook for their ventures so uncertain.
Through it all, these owners haven’t forgotten they are part of a community that’s stepping up to meet the moment.
Steve Salinas, who’s owned a namesake bike shop in Altadena for nearly four decades, has been repairing donated bicycles and re-homing them with community members. He’s gotten parts donated from other shops and monetary support through GoFundMe.
“Everybody sort of pitches in to help where they can,” said Salinas, who is looking for a short-term rental space after his store burned down. “People that have lost everything are donating their time and their resources and, most importantly, their connections to help other people in the community heal.”
In the same vein, Rhythms of the Village’s Chukwurah opened a free boutique with clothing and other necessities at his family home. It’s the temporary headquarters for the business, which has previously offered drum lessons and classes on Nigerian language and African history, after their storefront burned down.
Chukwurah said he’s committed to keeping the business in the Altadena area. As he scouts out a new location for the center, he’s planning to purchase this time around instead of rent.
“The structures are down,” he said, “but the community spirit is up.”
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Sunday announced it won’t enforce the penalties or fines associated with the Biden-era “beneficial ownership information,” or BOI, reporting requirements for millions of domestic businesses.
Enacted via the Corporate Transparency Act in 2021 to fight illicit finance and shell company formation, BOI reporting requires small businesses to identify who directly or indirectly owns or controls the company to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, known as FinCEN.
After previous court delays, the Treasury in late February set a March 21 deadline to comply or risk civil penalties of up to $591 a day, adjusted for inflation, or criminal fines of up to $10,000 and up to two years in prison. The reporting requirements could apply to roughly 32.6 million businesses, according to federal estimates.
The rule was enacted to “make it harder for bad actors to hide or benefit from their ill-gotten gains through shell companies or other opaque ownership structures,” according to FinCEN.
In addition to not enforcing BOI penalties and fines, the Treasury said it would issue a proposed regulation to apply the rule to foreign reporting companies only.
President Donald Trump praised the news in a Truth Social post on Sunday night, describing the reporting rule as “outrageous and invasive” and “an absolute disaster” for small businesses.
Other experts say the Treasury’s decision could have ramifications for national security.
“This decision threatens to make the United States a magnet for foreign criminals, from drug cartels to fraudsters to terrorist organizations,” Scott Greytak, director of advocacy for the anticorruption organization Transparency International U.S., said in a statement.
MADISON, Wis. — Early voting kicked off in this battleground state this week with computer delays and long lines.
Voters waited as long as three hours Tuesday to cast ballots in West Bend, a city of about 32,000, city clerk Jilline Dobratz said. State computer issues reared up again Wednesday, and by midafternoon, voters had to wait about 90 minutes to vote in the community 40 miles northwest of Milwaukee, she said. Residents were not used to anything like it.
A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin’s most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post.
Sister Stephanie Schmidt had a hunch about what her fellow nuns would discuss over dinner at their Erie, Pennsylvania, monastery on Wednesday night.
The day before, a Republican operative in the battleground state falsely suggested to his nearly 58,000 followers on X that no one lived at the monastery and that mail ballots cast from there would be “illegal votes.” Cliff Maloney, who hired 120 people to go door-to-door across Pennsylvania urging Republican voters to return their mail ballots, wrote on X that one of those workers had “discovered” an Erie address where 53 people were registered to vote but “NO ONE lives there.”
DULUTH, Ga. — Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson warmed up the crowd at Donald Trump’s rally here Wednesday night with a dark metaphor, bashing Vice President Kamala Harris and declaring that “dad” was coming home to mete out discipline.
“He’s pissed!” Carlson said to extended cheers. “Dad is pissed. … And when dad gets home, you know what he says? ‘You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now.’”
Medicaid is quickly emerging as a political lightning rod as House Republicans negotiate on a massive bill to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Some Republican lawmakers are worried about the level of spending cuts being sought by fiscal hawks to offset the cost of Trump’s policies, arguing the current deal could force potentially unworkable cuts on Medicaid and other federal safety net programs.
‘I’m concerned that $880 billion out of [the House Energy & Commerce Committee] is likely very steep cuts to Medicaid – and it’s the very thing President Trump asked us not to do,’ Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
GOP lawmakers are working to pass a broad swath of Trump policies – from investments in defense and border security to extending his 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips – via the budget reconciliation process. The mechanism allows the party in control of both houses of Congress to pass a tax and budget bill without help from the opposing party.
But conservative spending hawks are looking for deep cuts in federal dollars to offset money going toward Trump’s priorities. The current resolution advancing through the House would aim to cut government spending by at least $1.5 trillion, while allocating $4.5 trillion toward Trump’s tax cuts.
An amendment added after conservatives balked at that deal would cut funding going toward Trump’s tax cuts by $500 billion if at least $2 trillion total spending cuts were not reached.
Even before the additional cuts, however, some Republicans like Bacon are concerned that the $880 billion that the Energy & Commerce Committee is tasked with cutting will negatively impact their constituents.
Conservatives have pushed back, arguing that significant cuts could be found in Medicaid work requirements. But skeptics of that argument say that the level of spending cuts being sought go past what work requirements can cover.
‘We want to ensure that it’s not going to hurt… our hospitals, or our organizations that serve the developmentally disabled, and we’re asking for clarity on where the $880 billion in savings come from,’ Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., the only House Republican representing part of New York City, told Fox News Digital.
She did agree with GOP rebels that there was ‘mismanagement’ and waste to root out in those programs.
Malliotakis and other Republicans on the Ways & Means Committee tasked with writing tax policy are also uneasy about the new amendment that could cut funds allocated to their panel.
‘I don’t think that is doable without affecting beneficiaries, and I’ve expressed that concern to leadership and in talking to some of my colleagues,’ Malliotakis said.
Another House Republican who declined to be named told Fox News Digital that ‘there’s a bunch of us’ who think the proposed cuts ‘are too big.’
‘They’re trying to sell us $1.5 trillion, but in reality, there’s another $500 billion attached to it that they’re trying to cut. And it’s not going to pass,’ the GOP lawmaker said.
Meanwhile, Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., who unseated a Democrat in a close race last year, wrote on X over the weekend, ‘I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it.’
The budget reconciliation process allows legislation to advance with only GOP votes by lowering the threshold for Senate passage from two-thirds to a simple 51-seat majority. The House already operates on a simple majority.
But currently, Republicans can lose just one vote in the House to pass anything on party lines – meaning they can afford almost no dissent to get their reconciliation bill over the line.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a conservative on the House Budget Committee who would not have supported the resolution last week without the last-minute amendment, told reporters last week, ‘Medicaid’s got to be in it. You don’t get to the [$1.5 trillion figure], much less two, without it.’
‘And it’s not cuts to Medicaid. Work requirements have an $800 billion savings on it… able-bodied 40-year-old men who can work don’t need to be on Medicaid,’ Norman said.
Democrats are waiting to pounce on the discord.
The House Majority PAC, which is aligned with House Democratic leadership, released a memo on Tuesday accusing Republicans of seeking to make ‘deep cuts’ to Medicaid ‘to fund $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to Elon Musk and other billionaires.’
‘In battleground congressional districts across the country, House Republicans are putting Medicaid on the chopping block – a move that would rip life-saving health care away from tens of thousands of their own constituents – roughly half of whom are children,’ the memo said.
But according to Ways & Means Republicans, the average American household could see taxes raised by over 20% if the Trump tax cuts expired.
