PIER 1

A Fernandina Beach woman who coughed on and then threatened another shopper inside a Jacksonville Pier 1 Imports was sentenced to 30 days in jail Thursday, followed by six months of probation.

Debra Jo Hunter of Fernandina Beach was booked into the Duval County jail last year and charged with misdemeanor assault, according to jail records. Hunter agreed to plead guilty on two previous hearings, but the judge rejected them because it didn’t involve jail time. Witnesses identified Hunter as a woman seen in a viral video berating store staff and coughing on another woman who filmed the incident. While watching Hunter, Sprague took out her phone and began recording. “How’s that?”Hunter can then be seen coughing on Sprague before walking out of the store with her children in tow.

Until the pandemic upended the operations of American companies, from factories to family diners, weekly jobless aid applications had never exceeded 700,000 in the U.S. They’ve topped 700,000 for 26 consecutive weeks. An extra $600 in weekly unemployment benefits ran out July 31, squeezing households that had depended on the beefed-up payments. President Donald Trump issued an executive order Aug. 8 providing a scaled-back version of the expanded jobless aid. Most states signed up for federal grants that let them increase weekly benefits by $300 or $400. The extra $600 in weekly jobless benefits didn’t replace all her lost income but helped.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Nassau County woman faces a criminal charge after she was accused of deliberately coughing on and then threatening another shopper inside a Jacksonville store. Witnesses identified Hunter as a woman seen in a viral video berating store staff and coughing on another woman who filmed the incident. While watching the woman, Sprague took out her phone and began recording. “How’s that?”The woman can then be seen coughing on Sprague before walking out of the store with her children in tow. She filed a police report four days after the incident, saying she had not been feeling well since it happened.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville mother of 10 could press misdemeanor battery charges against the woman who was seen coughing on her last week while she was inside a store at the St. Johns Town Center. Heather Sprague filed a police incident report Monday with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, four days after the confrontation that was seen in a now-viral video. According to the incident report, Sprague told JSO she was inside Pier 1 shortly before 2 p.m. June 25 when she noticed a woman berating staff members in the store over an item she wanted to return but didn’t have in her possession. Sprague also saw two young children wandering around the store, whom she said accompanied the woman. While watching from a distance, Sprague took out her phone and began recording video.

After going bankrupt in February, home furnishings company that launched in 1962 cites "profound impact of COVID-19."

Pier 1 said it plans to sell its remaining inventory, website and intellectual property. Its lenders have agreed to let Pier 1 overdraw its lending facility by $40 million to help it fund the liquidation process. Once a mall staple, Pier 1 sales have slumped in recent years because of growing online competition and shifting consumer habits. It announced in February that it was closing around 450 stores, including all its locations in Canada. The company currently has more than 500 stores down from 1,000 last year.

Pier 1 operates five stores in the Jacksonville and St. Augustine area and one in Brunswick. Its lenders have agreed to let Pier 1 overdraw its lending facility by $40 million to help it fund the liquidation process. Once a mall staple, Pier 1 sales have slumped in recent years because of growing online competition and shifting consumer habits. It announced in February that it was closing around 450 stores, including all its locations in Canada. The company currently has more than 500 stores down from 1,000 last year.