Yesterday, a tipster sent us this photo that a friend had taken at a Manhattan Baby Gap store near Union Square. If we didn't know better, we'd say that Baby Gap is now in the lynching business.

Porn 'n t-shirt purveyor American Apparel has been in serious financial trouble for months now. Its clearest path to rescue was to find an outside investor—but conventional wisdom said that that would only happen if crazy CEO Dov Charney gave up some control. Dov objected to that idea! But now he's apparently seen the light.

Box-shaped trinket warehouse Wal-Mart announced its fourth quarter sales figures yesterday, and the news was dark: although profit was up, sales at its U.S. stores fell for the seventh straight quarter. Why don't we love our Wal-Marts, any more?

Do you know how sometimes you go to buy a pack of gum or some spoons or a pack of washcloths and the person at the register demands that you tell them your ZIP code, in order to be granted the right to hand over money for your purchase? And you're like "Buh? That is so exploitative. Well whatever, I really need these spoons." Yes, well, last week that practice was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court of California. And already, "More than a dozen new lawsuits have been filed against major chains that do business in California, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Crate & Barrel and Victoria's Secret" over their ZIP Code-asking ways.

An Ecuadorean judge yesterday ordered Chevron to pay—wait for it—$8.6 billion, for polluting the Amazon region. It's one of the biggest environmental judgments ever, if not the biggest. It comes after the case had dragged on for 17 years.

Harry & David, the company that makes expensive fruit baskets to send to people you don't know that well, admitted yesterday that it's in danger of going bankrupt if it doesn't find some new financing, fast. What's the problem?

Crapola purveyor Wal-Mart is locked in a contentious battle over its efforts to infiltrate NYC. But the company's representatives couldn't be bothered to attend a City Council hearing about Wal-Mart yesterday. Probably because Wal-Mart's already supported by literally everyone.

Happy Black History Month! You know Black History Month started today, right? Sure, sure. It's a special time of year when businesses across America honor diversity with watermelon lunches and sales on ham hocks. How is your workplace celebrating?

There was a time when Wal-Mart thought it could compete with Target. Ha. What a mistake that was. It's not the faux-yuppie Target shoppers Wal-Mart wants now; it's the dollar store shoppers. Welcome to America the Poor.

Wal-Mart today announced a five-year plan to modestly reduce sodium, sugar, and trans fats in all the food it sells. For this, they got a press conference with Michelle Obama in a sleeveless dress. Totally worth it. [NYT]

Yesterday, for the first time, Starbucks gave employees holiday pay on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

When we last checked in with second-place book chain Borders, the company was teetering on the edge of financial doom. And now? Borders is gazing into the abyss, preparing to jump.

Yesterday we told you that a revolt may be brewing at National Enquirer publisher AMI, where employees are upset about furloughs, layoffs, and perceived management screw-ups following its recent bankruptcy. Did we get some feedback from AMI execs? Did we!

Just last month, the book chain Borders was being touted as a possible buyer of Barnes & Noble. Today, Borders itself is struggling to survive. How bad is it? Let's roll the most recent low-lights.

Speculation is heating up again that Facebook might go public next year. Or what if Groupon AND Facebook IPO'd at the same time? Would all the money in the universe be sucked into the resulting black hole?

Just to be perfectly clear: yes, Save The Children has suddenly stopped its work in support of a tax on soda; but no, that's not connected to the huge monetary grant the group's seeking from the Coca-Cola corporation. Okay. [NYT]

Yes, Wal-Mart is once again trying to build one of its nefarious "stores" here in New York City. We're not going to debate whether this is a good thing. We're going to jump right to "How do we stop it?"

Trick question: What's poorer than an American city? Answer: the American state in which that city is located! Haha. But seriously, are you interested in paying to plaster your name on any public property, anywhere? You totally can.

It is time to check in on American Apparel, our most favorite near-bankrupt beauty-positive spandex-based fashion retailer. Employees are stealing! Employees are emailing us funny stories! And AA is trying to class up its porn!

This is fun: Greenpeace is suing Dow Chemical and two of its PR firms, claiming that they hired private investigators "who stole documents, tapped phones and hacked into computer networks between 1998 and 2000." They have lots of documents!