Michaels data breach included 2 local stores

Michaels data breach included 2 local stores

boardman

The data breach at Michaels Stores Inc. included the Boardman and Niles locations, according to the company’s website.

The company confirmed last week that up to 2.6 million debit and credit cards used at its arts and crafts stores may have been affected in a security breach. The Boardman Plaza store’s dates of exposure run from May 8 to Aug. 10, from Aug. 30 to Oct. 7, from Oct. 17 to Nov. 24, all 2013, and from Dec. 12, 2013, to Jan. 19 of this year.

The Niles store’s dates of exposure are from May 8 to July 29, 2013.

A letter on the company’s website from the chief executive officer says the company’s systems were “attacked by criminals using highly sophisticated malware that had not been encountered previously by either of the security firms.”

Study: Corn biofuels aren’t better than gas

WASHINGTON

Biofuels made from the leftovers of harvested corn plants are worse than gasoline for global warming in the short term, a study shows, challenging the Obama administration’s conclusions that they are a much cleaner oil alternative and will help combat climate change.

A $500,000 study paid for by the federal government and released Sunday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change concludes that biofuels made with corn residue release 7 percent more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline.

While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won’t meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel.

Insurgents kill 11 Algerian soldiers

algiers, algeria

Islamist insurgents ambushed an Algerian military convoy in a mountainous region, killing 11 soldiers and wounding five others, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.

But five other deaths from injuries reported by a hospital official could raise the toll to 16 in the attack that came two days after Algeria’s presidential election.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suspicion falls on al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, whose fighters are holed up in the Kabylie region, some 60 miles from the capital.

Easter delivery for space station

cape canaveral, fla.

Space station astronauts got a special Easter treat: a cargo ship full of supplies.

The shipment arrived Sunday morning via a Dragon, versus a bunny.

“Gentlemen, the Easter Dragon is knocking at the door,” NASA’s Mission Control said as the capsule was bolted into place.

The SpaceX company’s cargo ship, Dragon, spent two days chasing the International Space Station after its launch from Cape Canaveral. Astronauts used a robot arm to capture the capsule 260 miles above Egypt. More than 2 tons of food, spacewalking gear and experiments fill the Dragon, including mating fruit flies, a veggie hothouse and legs for the resident robot. NASA also packed family care packages for the six spacemen.

Oscar Mayer recall

NEW YORK

Kraft Foods is recalling 96,000 pounds of its Oscar Mayer wieners because they may mistakenly contain cheese.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Sunday that Kraft’s “Oscar Mayer Classic Wieners” may instead contain the company’s “Classic Cheese Dogs.”

The agency said the product labels are incorrect and do not reflect the ingredients associated with the pasteurized cheese in the cheese dogs.

Vindicator staff/wire reports