Macy’s Employee Retires After 73 Years, When Rose Syracuse Richardone, 92, started in the NYC store, wool sweaters cost only $2.14. After 73 years, Macy’s longest-serving employee retires, When Rose Syracuse Richardone started working at Macy’s, women’s wool cardigans cost $2.14 each. Cotton gabardine raincoats for girls were $2.98, old ads show; twin-size sheets were $1.11 and stainless steel flatware was just 16 cents per piece, on sale.

A lot has changed since then, and Richardone — who retired on Wednesday at the age of 92, after a record-breaking 73 years of service in the N.Y. flagship store — has seen it all.

“Rose is an hourly worker. She clocked in every day,” Robin Hall, Senior VP of the Macy’s Parade and Entertainment Group, told Yahoo! Shine in an interview. “It’s just a passion of hers to be here. She’s not a person who seeks attention. She just loves to work.”

Born in Pennsylvania, Rose Syracuse and her family moved to New York when she was just a child, so that her brothers wouldn’t have to end up working in the coal mines. The family settled down in Brooklyn, where they watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade every year.

She started working for Macy’s in 1939, as an authorizer in the Deposit of Accounts department of the flagship store on 34th Street in New York City. She was a 17-year-old girl fresh out of high school, and had never worked anywhere else before.

“There was actually a bank on the fourth floor of the store,” she told the New York Daily News in 2008. “At that time, there were no credit cards. People set aside money with us to use in the store. They would send up the sales receipt in the pneumatic tubes, which would suck them up and we would authorize purchases.”

In 1939, Macy’s was “a one-stop store,” Richardone said. “You could get meat, straight pins, really anything,” she said in 2008. “We had an apothecary, liquor store, and even a butcher shop. We have obviously evolved since then.”

She didn’t shop at Macy’s before she started working there (“I couldn’t afford Macy’s at that time!” she exclaimed), though when she married Carmine Richardone in 1944 they bought their furniture there. And in 1947, she and other employees watched as “Miracle on 34th Street” was filmed inside the store.

Coca-Cola Flavor Drops, Coca-Cola’s newest drink won’t come in a bottle or a can. And people will only need a squirt or two to quench their thirst.

The world’s largest beverage company is introducing its Dasani Drops in coming weeks, which can be squeezed into water for some on-the-spot fruity flavor. And Coca-Cola is betting that there’s big potential for growth.

“I think there’s an opportunity beyond just flavored waters,” said John Roddey, vice president of Coca-Cola’s water, tea and coffee business in North America.

Although there are no set plans yet, Roddey says the next logical category for liquid drops would be tea. That’s because drinks with higher sugar content are harder to turn into a liquid concentrate.

The Coca-Cola Co. isn’t the first to come out with flavor drops. The category was pioneered by Kraft Food Inc.’s MiO, which was introduced in March of last year and has quickly spawned copycats, including by supermarkets that sell store-brand versions.

The drops are popular because they come in small, portable containers that can be easily tucked into a purse or even back pocket. And unlike powdered drink packets, people can decide how much or little they want to squirt into their water. A small bottle can also have more than two dozen servings, meaning people save money they’d spend on bottled teas or enhanced waters.

Live Coverage Of Supreme Court, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday morning to uphold President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement so far – healthcare reform. The decision comes in middle of a heated presidential campaign, and America’s political class and millions of ordinary people were looking to the Supreme Court to see which way it rules on the law.

The legal challenge was centred around the constitutionality of the so-called individual mandate, which compels Americans to purchase health insurance by 2014 or face a tax penalty. The Democrats’ aim was to extend health coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans and control costs. Opponents have cast the mandate as an overreach of governmental authority.

JThe Globe’s Affan Chowdhry and Chris Hannay will be joined by Melissa Haussman, a Carleton University political scientist who studies U.S. politics and health care. (Globe and Mail)

4th Of July Fireworks, Fourth of July is just not complete without fireworks. Whether you’re looking to celebrate Independence Day all day long or just catch a glimpse of those beautiful lights in the sky, we’ve got you covered.

Queen Mary
The Queen Mary will host a day of fun, food, and fireworks this Fourth of July. DJs, bands, and strolling performers will provide entertainment throughout the ship, and attendees can feast on barbeque for an additional charge. Fireworks start at 9pm, and entertainment starts at 11am. Tickets: $39.95 ($34.95 for seniors and non-active military, $19.95 for children, free for active military).

Marina del Rey
The fireworks spectacular has returned to Marina del Rey this year. The fireworks can be viewed throughout the marina, but popular locations include Burton Chance Park, Fisherman’s Village, Marina Beach, and the Marina del Rey WaterBus stop locations. Visit the city’s website for more information on where to view the show, parking, and street closures. Fireworks start at 9pm. Free.

L.A. Coliseum
The 10th Annual Fourth of July Fireworks Extravaganza will take place at Exposition Park. The show is set to music and can be seen from throughout the park, but the best sites are Christmas Tree Lane and the South Lawn, next to the Natural History Museum. Christmas Tree Lane will also have live entertainment presented by 102.3 KJLH, food, and activities for kids, starting at noon. Fireworks start at 9pm. Free. Parking is free after 5pm, otherwise $10.

Pacific Palisades
Pacific Palisades will celebrate the holiday with its 64th annual all-day Independence Day celebration, beginning at 1:50pm with skydivers and a parade at 2pm. The parade will march along Sunset Boulevard between Via de la Paz and Drummond. Palisades High School’s Stadium by the Sea will hold a concert and fireworks celebration in the evening, beginning at 6:30pm. Live bands and comedians will entertain attendees before the fireworks display at 9pm. Visitors are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time to guarantee their seating for the show. $5 online, $6 at the door, free for kids, $10 for guaranteed parking. (LAist)

Colorado Theater Shooting, The suspect in the Colorado shooting Friday was described as a shy but polite, highly intelligent young man with a gift for science. He grew up in an affluent suburb of San Diego, played soccer and ran cross-country in high school, and graduated with honors at UC Riverside with a degree in neuroscience.

Few details in the emerging sketch of James E. Holmes — the 24-year-old alleged to have killed at least 12 people and injured 58 others at a movie theater — offer any answer to the question Americans find themselves once again asking after a gun rampage: Why?

Friends and neighbors were baffled, and Holmes left no clues online as to his potential motives or mental state. Authorities say he bo**y-trapped his apartment in Aurora, Colo., with explosives and chemical devices, and they were still working to disable them late Friday before they could collect evidence that might yield insight into his thinking.

The suspect had been pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora for a year, but had begun the process of withdrawing from the program last month, officials said. It is not clear what triggered his decision to drop out, although some reports suggested he was having troubles with his studies.

The attack appears to have been carefully planned. Carrying an AR-15 assault-style rifle, a shotgun and two Glock pistols, the killer walked into a multiplex theater screening the new Batman movie,”The Dark Knight Rises,”with dyed red hair and saying he was the Joker, according to law enforcement. He wore a gas mask, a ballistics helmet and vest, and groin, throat and leg protectors. He released two smoke- or gas-emitting devices, and then opened fire, shooting at anyone who tried to escape. He was arrested without incident near a white Hyundai in a parking lot nearby. (Los Angeles Times)

Chief Justice John Roberts, Chief Justice John Roberts turned out today to be not quite the person then-Senator Barack Obama voted against for the Supreme Court in 2005.The conservative who President George W. Bush tapped not just to serve on but lead the nation’s highest court delivered the crucial vote – and wrote the opinion for – the decision upholding the constitutionality of the key provision of now-President Obama’s health care law.

In upholding the law’s individual mandate, Roberts handed the incumbent Democrat a political victory as Obama tries to fend off a reelection challenge from Republican Mitt Romney.

It’s a long way from their rocky start, when Roberts botched Obama’s 35-word presidential oath of office, forcing the nation’s newly minted leader to ask the chief justice to come to the White House for a do-over after some conservatives claimed he technically was not president.

It also was not the result some liberals and Democrats expected before the decision was unveiled this morning.

Little more than 12 hours earlier, the Senate candidate for whom Obama campaigned in Boston on Monday – fellow Democrat Elizabeth Warren – was on MSNBC saying the ruling would be a telling gauge for assessing the politicization of the Supreme Court.

“We need to use this moment to reflect on the importance of the Supreme Court and who sits on the Supreme Court,” Warren told liberal talk show host Rachel Maddow.

Noting the justices ruled earlier this week to uphold their 2010 Citizens United decision that has unleashed unprecedented spending on this year’s presidential election, the Harvard Law School professor issued a warning and made a pitch for her election to the upper chamber of Congress. (Boston Globe)

Obamacare Healthcare Bill, In a decision that marks the end of months-long legal debate, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of most of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including its controversial individual mandate.

The healthcare bill, more widely known as “Obamacare,” has faced scrutiny since its initial passage in 2009. The individual mandate, which required citizens to either purchase healthcare or face fines, was among the most controversial of the law’s provisions.

Ferdinand Schlapper, director of Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota, said that in keeping the law the federal government now parallels Boynton’s belief in the importance of the healthcare safety net.

The University’s own mandate, which Boynton COO Carl Anderson says has been in effect for 25 years, was not subject to change regardless of the court’s ruling.

He said he feels now that the Supreme Court has come out in favor of Affordable Care, “our rationale feels like it’s being recognized on a much bigger level.” (AP)

Supreme Court Healthcare Ruling, In a landmark ruling with wide-ranging implications, the Supreme Court today upheld the so-called individual mandate requiring Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, the key part of President Obama’s signature health care law.

The court ruled that the mandate is unconstitutional under the Constitution’s commerce clause, but it can stay as part of Congress’s power under a taxing clause. The court said that the government will be allowed to tax people for not having health insurance.

“The Affordable Care Act’s requirement that certain individuals pay a financial penalty for not obtaining health insurance may reasonably be characterized as a tax,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the ruling. “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness.”

In a speech today, Obama said from the White House that he wanted to move on, even as House Republicans vowed to vote symbolically to repeal it, and as his main opponent argued that the best way to ditch the law is to kick Obama out of office.

“The highest court in the land has now spoken,” Obama said. “We will continue to implement this law. And we will continue to improve on it where we can.”

Obama insisted that the debate over the political benefits from the court’s ruling “completely misses the point.”

“It should be pretty clear by now that I didn’t do this because it was good politics,” he said. “I did it because I believed it was good for the country.”

The ruling is a clear victory for the Obama administration and a defeat for Republicans, who had anticipated that at least some of the law would be struck down. But it also means the debate will continue.

“It actually settles nothing. By shifting the debate to the tax arena, and with a four-justice dissent, the decision guarantees only that the broader fight over a suitable national health policy will continue,” said Richard Saltman, a professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. “In effect, the court decided this was too hot to handle. The focus will (has already) shift back to the political arena, where a deeply divided electorate will have to decide which policy path they want the country to pursue.” (ABC News)

TSA Screeners Sleeping, Officials have fired eight screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after they were captured by surveillance cameras sleeping or violating other standards.

The Transportation Security Administration had suspended the employees after they were videotaped in a baggage room in December.

The TSA would not say how many of the firings were for sleeping on duty.

Their union tells The Star-Ledger of Newark all eight would appeal their dismissals.

Meanwhile, the newspaper reports the TSA also is looking into photographs of screening supervisors who appear to be sleeping in front of monitors used for detecting explosives and other threats. (AP)

George H.W. Bush Gets Choked Up On TV, An interview with granddaughter Jenna turns emotional as he shares a letter he wrote to the family.George H.W. Bush turned 88 on Tuesday, and the former president teared up during an interview with his granddaughter, “Today” show contributor Jenna Bush Hager, broadcast on the NBC morning show.

“I never thought I’d get this part in chronology,” the elder Bush said in the interview, taped over the weekend in Kennebunkport, Maine.

“What’s aging like?” Jenna Bush asked her grandfather.

“Aging is all right,” Bush replied. “Better than the alternative, not being here.”

The one-term president said it was a “terrible, awful feeling” to lose to Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election.

“I really wanted to win and worked hard,” Bush said. “Later on, people said, ‘Well, he didn’t really care,’ which is crazy. I worked my heart out.”

The tears came when Bush 41 shared a letter he had written to the family reflecting on his life:

As the summers finish out, and the seas get a little higher, winds a little colder, I’ll be making some notes, writing it down lest I forget so I can add to the report on getting older. Who knows, maybe they will come out with a new drug that makes legs bend easier, joints hurt less, drives go farther, memory come roaring back and all fears about falling off fishing rafts go away. Remember the old song, ‘I’ll be there ready when you are’? Well, I’ll be there, ready when you are, because there’s so much excitement ahead, so many grandkids to watch grow. If you need me, I’m here. Devotedly, Dad.

“I’m trying not to cry,” Jenna Bush said in the “Today” studio after watching the taped interview. “The good news is my grandfather says he’s not done skydiving. Yes, his next goal, jumping out of a plane on his 90th.”

The 41st president famously went skydiving to mark his 85th birthday in 2009.