Yum Brands, which also owns Taco Bell and KFC, did not say which stores were being targeted or when the process would begin, but confirmed the closures would happen in the first half of 2026.

The shuttered restaurants would account for roughly 4% of Pizza Hut’s U.S. locations.

According to its latest earnings report, Pizza Hut has 19,974 locations worldwide — nearly 2,000 fewer than Domino’s, the world’s largest pizza chain. About 6,360 locations are in the U.S., with restaurants located throughout Michigan, including about 20 in Metro Detroit. In Rochester Hills, where there’s an express location and another spot inside of a Target store, its sit-down restaurant closed in recent years and reopened in a smaller express spot.

Yum! is reportedly still in the midst of a “formal review of strategic options,” including a possible sale of Pizza Hut, following a lag in domestic sales despite growing popularity due to nostalgia.

“As of now, we intend to complete the review of options this year,” CEO Chris Turner said on Wednesday’s earnings call. “Given the ongoing nature of the process, at this time, we cannot share further details.”

A number of other restaurants have recently announced closures across the U.S.

Caribbean-themed eatery Bahama Breeze announced earlier this week that it would be closing all of its restaurants in April. Several of those locations will likely be converted into other concepts owned by parent company Darden Restaurants.

Wendy’s, Denny’s, Jack in the Box, Red Robin and Starbucks have closed hundreds of stores as well.

The paper’s staff was instructed to “stay home today” and told during a morning virtual meeting about “significant actions,” including shutting down almost the entire Sports section, closing the Books section, canceling its flagship Post Reports political podcast, slashing international reporting, “restructuring” the Metro desk and “significantly [reducing] the number of editors.

According to the Columbia Journalism Review, Caroline O’Donovan, a reporter covering Amazon, was laid off.

Editor-in-chief Matt Murray said the layoffs are part of a “broad strategic reset.”

Roughly 33% of the paper’s staff is being cut, according to reports.

One employee told The Guardian that the newsroom had been on edge for weeks before Wednesday’s mornings announcement.

“It’s an absolute bloodbath,” the employee said.

“The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company,” a Post spokesperson said in a statement.

“These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”

The Washington Post Guild said the paper has cut about 400 jobs in the last three years — between buyouts and layoffs — and slammed owner Jeff Bezos.

If he is “no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations and serve the millions who depend on Post journalism, then The Post deserves a steward that will,” the guild said.

Many staffers blame Bezos for the paper’s supposed financial strain. Hundreds of thousands canceled their subscriptions after Bezos pulled a Kamala Harris endorsement from the opinion section in 2024, according to CJR.

“This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations,” Marty Baron, the former executive editor of the Post, said in a statement. “The Washington Post’s ambitions will be sharply diminished, its talented and brave staff will be further depleted, and the public will be denied the ground-level, fact-based reporting in our communities and around the world that is needed more than ever.”

The company, whose namesake opened its first store in Seattle in 1920, operates more than 200 stores in North America currently — down from more than 600 international locations in the 1990s. Locations outside of North America would not be subject to the bankruptcy proceedings, according to Women’s Wear Daily.

The company’s manufacturing, wholesale, or e-commerce operations would continue, WWD reports.

Catalyst Brands, which owns the rights to operate Eddie Bauer stores, is the entity filing for bankruptcy.

A number of parties are expected to bid for the rights to operate some or all of the Eddie Bauer stores, according to Business Insider. A winning bidder would then be able to license the rights from Authentic Brands Group and potentially keep stores open or bring the Eddie Bauer brand under the umbrella of another retailer.

The outdoor chain has filed for bankruptcy twice in the past, once in 2003 and again in 2009.

Eddie Bauer is credited with having created the quilted goose down jacket, receiving a patent for the durable outerwear development in 1940.

Brick-and-mortar retail has had a rough start to 2026.

Saks Global —which owns luxury department stores Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman — filed for bankruptcy protection last month after running out of cash.

Ripley resident Morgan Leigh Morrow, 39, was taken into custody after she engaged in the “social media recruitment of individuals to pursue and assassinate President Trump,” the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by The Marietta Times, the charges against Morrow stem from threatening TikTok videos, including one in which she allegedly said, “Surely a sniper with terminal illness can’t be a big ask out of 342 million.”

Cops were made aware of the posts on Sunday night and responded to Morrow’s residence, then took her to the sheriff’s office for further investigation. She was subsequently charged with one count of terroristic threats after admitting to posting the content.

“Some of the posts were pretty graphic,” said Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger. “She was rather proud of her work.”

Morrow was arraigned on Monday and held on $75,000 bond. She remains behind bars at the South Central Regional Jail, according on online records. It’s not clear when she’ll next appear in court.

The Jackson County Public Library, where Morrow worked as a librarian, released a statement on Facebook saying that “the comments recently made by an employee” do not reflect their mission and values.

“The views expressed are made in an individual capacity and do not represent the position of the organization,” the library wrote. “We are addressing the matter internally in accordance to our established policies and procedures.”

Meriden police say Dovone Still, 21, called 911 around noon on Jan. 19 and told dispatchers that her child’s father had been shot, the CTPost reported Tuesday, citing an arrest warrant.

Officers arrived to find 22-year-old Deron Johnson suffering from a gunshot wound in the area of Cook Avenue and Summer Street. He was transported to MidState Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.

Family members told CT Insider that Johnson was a surgical technician working at a local hospital and was the father of a 2-year-old son.

In the wake of his death, investigators learned that Still’s boyfriend, 28-year-old Aren Scott, had been feuding over a birthday party that he’d planned for Johnson and Still’s son. Family told police that Johnson believed Scott had overstepped and that their issues only intensified in recent days.

The three got into a confrontation on the street outside Johnson’s home, at which point Scott allegedly shot Johnson in the torso, according to the warrant. Johnson attempted to run from the scene but collapsed on a nearby bridge.

Following an extensive investigation, Scott and Still were arrested on Saturday in Milford.

Scott has been charged with murder and is being held on $2 million bond. Still has been charged with hindering prosecution for allegedly giving Scott new clothes and a train ticket after the shooting. She remains in custody after her bond was raised to $25,000 on Tuesday.

Neither have any previous convictions or pending cases.

“This investigation was brought to a quick resolution with the assistance of the New Haven State’s Attorney office, Milford Police Department and the Hartford Police Department,” Meriden Police Department Sgt. Michael Boothroyd said in a news release.

The Grammy winner has apologized for his statements in the past, but the letter is his most thorough yet.

In the letter — addressed to “Those I’ve Hurt” — the artist said he is receiving treatment following “a four-month-long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life” in 2025.

Ye writes that he “hit rock bottom…as the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here anymore.”

He adds that he “lost touch with reality,” leading to a string of antisemitic and pro-Hitler rants and embrace of Nazi symbols, like the swastika.

“I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people,” Ye said.

The rapper traces his behavior back to a frontal lobe injury he sustained in a car accident in the 2000s, which wasn’t properly diagnosed until 2023.

“At the time, the focus was on the visible damage — the [jaw] fracture, the swelling, and the immediate physical trauma. The deeper injury, the one inside my skull, went unnoticed.”

The brain injury was purportedly the cause of his bipolar disorder, which he has accepted and rejected in the past, even previously going so far as to claim he had autism.

“You feel like you’re seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you’re losing your grip entirely…the scariest thing about [bipolar] disorder is how persuasive it is when it tells you: You don’t need help,” he writes in the ad. “It makes you blind, but convinced you have insight. You feel powerful, certain, unstoppable. I lost touch with reality.

“[It’s a] notable state of constant mental illness. When you go into a manic episode, you are ill at that point. When you are not in an episode, you are completely ‘normal.’ And that’s when the wreckage from the illness hits the hardest. Hitting rock bottom a few months ago, my wife encouraged me to finally get help.”

The apology comes a week after a Miami Beach club received backlash for playing Ye’s “Heil Hitler” antisemitic anthem during a visit from several white nationalist internet personalities, including Nick Fuentes and the Tate brothers.

Ye’s latest album, “Bully,” is purportedly being released Friday.

Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, sought to “divert law enforcement resources” by making false reports about attacks at two other churches and a Jewish temple on Sept. 28 before his attack on the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles northwest of Detroit.

Police said GPS data determined that Sanford was about a mile away from his real target when he called in bomb threats at the other locations.

“The caller was a male who made bomb threats towards several local area churches and specifically described Mormon churches as being important,” an incident report from the Grand Blanc Township Police reads.

“In the background audio of the 911 call, the possible sound of the exhaust of a vehicle can be heard while the male is speaking, as if the male was traveling in a vehicle while making the 911 bomb threat call.”

The fake reports were all made minutes before Sanford crashed his pickup truck into the church around 10:25 a.m., then started shooting congregants in the middle of a service and set the building on fire. Two were killed in the gunfire and another two died in the fire. Sanford was shot and killed by responding police.

Another eight people were injured in the attack.

One survivor described the shooter as “walking like a monkey” while firing an AR-style rifle while “wearing a mask and dressed in camo fatigues.”

Sanford, a former Marine, was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs against the Mormon religious community,” according to the FBI.

People who knew Sanford said he became vocally anti-Mormon after living in Utah and dating a Mormon woman before the relationship ended. He also told friends he became addicted to methamphetamines after leaving the military.

The trademark is part of an overall trademark protecting his image and voice.

McConaughey, 56, has had eight separate applications approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” he said in a statement. “We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.”

McConaughey’s legal team said the trademark was pre-emptive, but gave the actor standing to sue if need be.

“In a world where we’re watching everybody scramble to figure out what to do about AI misuse, we have a tool now to stop someone in their tracks or take them to federal court,” attorney Jonathan Pollack said in a statement.

McConaughey, and his “Interstellar co-star Michael Caine,” signed exclusive AI deals with ElevenLabs in November.

California Department of Public Health officials said it could be the largest such outbreak in the history of the state, which typically sees five mushroom poisonings a year.

Heavy rain has caused death cap mushrooms, including the Western destroying angel mushroom — one of the deadliest fungi — to bloom.

The first illnesses were reported in November, with a total of 35 people reporting getting sick by the first week of January, officials said Wednesday.

Three, including a child, were poisoned to the point of needing liver transplants. The ages of the sick individuals ranged between 19 months and 67 years. All three deceased people were adults.

One person remains hospitalized with “significant” liver injury, according to the California Poison Control System.

The reports were all made in Northern California in Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma counties. However, death cap mushrooms can be found throughout California.

Symptoms — like diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain — kick in between six and 24 hours after consuming toxic mushrooms.

Officials are discouraging people from foraging and being cautious when buying mushrooms from vendors or farmer’s markets since the toxin cannot be cooked or frozen off.

“Eating wild mushrooms gathered without expert identification can be unsafe,” Dr. Michael Stacey, the interim health officer for Sonoma County, said in a statement. “Some harmful varieties closely resemble edible mushrooms, even to experienced foragers.”

More than 180,000 unconfirmed reports were made to Downdetector, peaking in the early afternoon. The hotspot map showed most of the reports coming from New York City, Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

The network status section of the Verizon website appeared to have crashed, as well.

The outage affected voice, text, and data service, but users reported retaining WiFi connections to use apps. Hundreds of Verizon Fios reports were made as well, according to DownDetector.

Many users reported seeing “SOS” in the area of their cellphone screen typically reserved for service bars and 5G icons. Disconnecting and reconnecting via “airplane mode” or restarting devices did not appear to solve the problem.

911 calls should still go through via other networks or satellites.

Customers with an iPhone 14 or newer device can try the Messages via Satellite feature until the outage ends.

“We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” the company wrote on social media. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Verizon engineering teams are continuing to address today’s service interruptions,” the company said in an update later Wednesday afternoon. “Our teams remain fully deployed and are focused on the issue. We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible.”

An estimated time for service to be fully restored was not provided.

T-Mobile, AT&T and US Cellular customers also reported outages, but in much smaller numbers.

“NYC Emergency Management is aware of the situation involving cellphone network outages,” the agency said in a statement. “We are working closely with our partners at OTI & various utility providers to assess any potential effects on city agencies & essential services.

“We are also gathering information and updates from the affected network providers. The cause and scope of the outage are still being investigated. We will provide updates if the situation changes in a way that impacts the City of New York.”