Target will limit which stores sell LGBTQ-themed products following last year’s firestorm over its decision to sell products designed for transgender people.

The retailer said Thursday that it would be selling its Pride merchandise in a select number of its nearly 2,000 stores and on its website this year, citing “historical sales performance.” It added that in addition to selling LGBTQ-themed home and food and beverage items, apparel from its Pride collection this year will be tailored to adults. No Pride apparel for children will be sold.

The latest decision, first reported by Bloomberg News, represents a change from offering the products in all Target stores, as the company has done in previous years.

‘Target is committed to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and year-round,’ a spokesperson for the company said in an email on Friday. ‘Most importantly, we want to create a welcoming and supportive environment for our LGBTQIA+ team members, which reflects our culture of care for the over 400,000 people who work at Target.’

‘We have long offered benefits and resources for the community, and we will have internal programs to celebrate Pride 2024,’ the spokesperson added.

Last year, Target was the focus of a social media-fueled boycott by some shoppers who disagreed with the retailer’s decision to sell swimsuits for trans people, with many individuals falsely accusing the retailer of selling them to children. The retailer’s Pride-themed clothing for children included apparel with supportive slogans such as “Just be you” and “Trans people will always exist!”

Target has spent the better part of a decade publicly supporting the LGBTQ movement following a controversy involving its CEO’s donation in 2010 to a group that supported a gubernatorial candidate who opposed gay marriage.

But last year’s backlash resulted in the company pulling trans-oriented products from its shelves amid scenes of store employees being harassed by customers.

Target was also falsely accused of selling ‘satanic’ children’s clothes, further alienating some conservative shoppers.

Some conservatives celebrated the company’s announcement to dial back this year’s collection.

“Target won’t be pumping every store with pride crap this year and that’s a win,” conservative media personality and political commentator Tomi Lahren wrote on X on Friday. “Why do we ALL need to celebrate who you sleep with?!!!”

Target is far from the only company that has come under pressure to pare down its support for the LGBTQ community in recent years. 

In 2022, Florida lawmakers passed legislation to strip Disney of control over Walt Disney World’s self-governing district after the company voiced opposition to Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law. In response, Disney sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies, arguing that the state violated the company’s free speech rights. The two parties reached a settlement over the self-governing district earlier this year.

Bud Light faced a social media firestorm last year after transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney appeared in an online ad for the company. Sales of the popular American beer brand dipped and calls for boycotts surged after the spot.

Several weeks ago, NBC News was first to report that Best Buy offered to screen LGBTQ nonprofit donations earlier this year following pressure from a conservative nonprofit.

“Nothing has changed in the ways we give to LGBTQIA+ organizations,” Carly Charlson, a spokesperson for Best Buy, said in statement earlier this month. “At Best Buy, we strongly believe in an inclusive work environment with a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and has the opportunity to thrive.”

Target said in its statement Thursday that it will continue to support LGBTQ organizations, including the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, and to spotlight LGBTQ-owned brands throughout the year.

Kelley Robinson, the HRC’s president, said in a statement on Friday that ‘companies need to understand that community members and allies want businesses that express full-hearted support for the community.’

“Target’s decision is disappointing and alienates LGBTQ+ individuals and allies at the risk of not only their bottom line but also their values,’ she said.

Workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Alabama began voting Monday on whether to join the United Auto Workers union, a significant test of whether the labor group can maintain momentum in the historically anti-union American South.

A union victory at the plant, weeks after a resounding win at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee, would be a watershed moment for the UAW as it seeks to organize more than a dozen automakers across the nation and add to its dwindling ranks.

The campaign at Mercedes has been much more contentious. The company has urged workers to vote no, according to fliers and signage viewed by Reuters. Mercedes also hired anti-union firms to speak with workers, plant employees said.

Mercedes has rejected claims it prevented union organizing efforts in Alabama. A spokeswoman said the company respects employee unionizing efforts and is ensuring every worker has a chance to vote by secret ballot while having the information needed to make an informed choice.

The 5,200 employees at the assembly plant and nearby battery factory will cast ballots this week, with final results expected Friday.

UAW President Shawn Fain has spent more than a year strategizing his path to win over non-union auto workers, and it all began with new labor contracts in Detroit.

Fain became UAW president in March 2023 and led the union through its first simultaneous strike against the Detroit Three automakers: General Motors, Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis. The six-week walkout resulted in record agreements, including a 25% wage increase and the return of cost-of-living adjustments.

Making a strong showing in the Motor City was critical for wooing workers in the South, Fain has said.

In the halls of the Mercedes plant, where workers produce electric and gas-engine SUVs, the Detroit contracts became a pro-UAW talking point.

“That is the biggest thing that we’re using to push because we can show how much the union can win now,” Mercedes worker Jacob Ryan said. He supports the union because he feels the company has not addressed worker concerns around pay, hours and benefits.

Ryan, who has been a full-time worker at the plant for about five years, has been encouraging unionization since before Fain was elected.

Less than two years ago, he and fellow organizers struggled to get 20% of workers to sign cards supporting the UAW. Now, the plant has a supermajority of those cards, according to the UAW, which typically files for an NLRB election once a facility has reached a threshold of 70% of workers in favor of joining.

However, the factory sits deep in the American South, which has historically been more resistant to unions. In one of its last efforts there in August 2017, the UAW lost a vote at Nissan’s Canton, Mississippi, plant by a 2-to-1 margin.

“The challenge is very significant to win at the Mercedes plant and in states like Alabama … where there really has been so little union activity,” said Kate Andrias, a professor at Columbia Law School who specializes in labor law.

Mercedes has mounted a more aggressive campaign against the union than VW did, labor professors and workers said. It has held meetings led by company executives as well as outside labor firms emphasizing the risks of joining the UAW, according to workers and meeting audio reviewed by Reuters. Signage posted around the plant, which company leaders pointed to in meetings, urged workers to “vote no,” according to employees and photos reviewed by Reuters.

This is also the first election at the plant, whereas the UAW had two attempts at VW before winning.

“I don’t know that they have spent the same amount of time and investment in Vance, Alabama, as they did over the years in Chattanooga,” Art Wheaton, labor professor at Cornell University, said, comparing the Mercedes and VW efforts.

The UAW just reached an agreement on a new labor contract for Daimler Truck employees at several facilities in the South. Daimler Truck was once part of the same company as Mercedes.

State governments in the South have waged strong resistance to unionizing. Six governors, including Alabama’s Kay Ivey, signed a letter urging workers to reject the UAW. They said unionization would stunt the auto industry’s growth across the South.

In meetings with workers, company leaders and outside firms have suggested that workers wait and see what happens in the VW contract talks, pointing to some negotiations at other companies that have taken 400 days.

Others feel Mercedes is finally taking workers’ concerns seriously. The automaker recently replaced the president of its U.S. business, and some workers said they are encouraged by the actions of the newly appointed Federico Kochlowski.

Melissa Howell, an 18-year employee at the plant, fears bringing in a union could interrupt this momentum.

“We as team members, without a union in there right now, we really have a great advantage,” Howell said. “They clearly understand that we are not happy and they are listening.”

U.S. safety regulators have opened a probe into Amazon-owned robotaxi venture Zoox after two of its autonomous SUVs braked suddenly and were rear-ended by motorcyclists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it initiated an investigation after two Toyota Highlanders equipped with Zoox’s automated self-driving braked unexpectedly. In both cases, motorcyclists collided into the Zoox vehicles, which led to minor injuries.

NHTSA said it confirmed each of the Zoox cars were operating in autonomous mode when the incidents occurred. Both of the collisions took place during the daytime and within the operational design limits of Zoox’s autonomous system.

The agency’s probe covers about 500 vehicles and focuses on the performance of Zoox’s automated driving system, specifically how it behaves near crosswalks and “in other similar rear-end collision scenarios.”

Representatives from Zoox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Amazon acquired Zoox for a reported $1.2 billion in 2020. Zoox, which has largely continued to operate as a standalone unit within Amazon, has been developing an electric, fully driverless vehicle designed for ride-hailing. Zoox has been testing its robotaxis in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Foster City, California. In March, the company said it was expanding its operating routes in those areas to include a larger area, faster speeds, nighttime driving and light rain conditions.

The company faces a separate probe by NHTSA. Last March, the agency said it would investigate Zoox’s self-certification in 2022 that its robotaxi met federal safety standards.

Fewer homeowners have been taking on remodeling projects, reports show. But don’t mistake it for a slow market.

The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, an outlook measuring home improvement and repair spending on owner-occupied homes, peaked at 17.3% in the third quarter of 2022. The LIRA has been declining since, and slid 1.2% in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the prior quarter.

The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index by the National Association of Home Builders reflects a similar decline. The RMI, which measures remodelers’ sentiment about the market, peaked at 87 points in the third quarter of 2021, and like the LIRA, has been consistently declining since. In the first quarter of 2024, the measure fell to 66 points, down one point from the previous quarter.

However, the RMI is still in territory where more remodelers see the conditions as “good” rather than “poor,” said Robert Dietz, chief economist of NAHB.

In a release for the group’s first quarter report, NAHB Remodelers Chair Mike Pressgrove noted that “demand for remodeling remains solid, especially among customers who don’t need to finance their projects at current interest rates.”

The height of the Covid-19 pandemic brought with it a burst of home renovation activity.

Homeowners were eager to invest in the spaces they were spending so much time in: updating key spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, building out home offices and adding pools.

Some also had savings built up thanks to stimulus checks, and from activities they couldn’t do during early lockdowns — and rerouted that money toward home improvements and remodels, said Abbe H. Will, senior research associate and associate director of Remodeling Futures at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. In 2021, owners used cash from savings to pay for nearly four out of five projects, according to a JCHS report.

“We’re coming off such high levels of spending,” Will said.

As Covid-era savings have dried up, so has that boost in activity.

Homeowners are doing fewer and smaller remodels. Yet they are spending more per project, in part due to broader inflation and higher costs for materials and construction labor.

Homeowners spent an average $9,542 on home improvements in 2023, a 12% increase from a year prior, according to the State of Home Spending by Angi. At the same time, the amount of projects decreased to an average of 2.8 projects in 2023 from 3.2 in 2022. The survey polled 6,400 consumers between Oct. 22 and Oct. 23.

The increase in home improvement spending, along the decrease in projects, suggests inflation corroded household budgets, according to the home services website.

While home improvement activity is expected to further moderate from pandemic highs, remodelers continue to be busy with work.

Contributing to demand: Owners are living in their homes for longer and the existing housing stock in the U.S. is getting older. Both factors are going to require homeowners to invest in the upkeep of their properties, experts say.

As of 2024, the typical homeowner’s tenure in their home is 11.9 years, according to Redfin, a real estate brokerage site. That’s nearly double the average 6.5 years in 2005.

It’s largely driven by baby boomers aging in place; nearly 40% of boomers have lived in their homes for almost 20 years, while 16% have stayed in their home for at least a decade, Redfin found.

“Aging-in-place remodeling” has turned into a big subsector in the remodeling market as baby boomers move into their retirement years, said Dietz. Instead of relocating, some retirees plan to stay in their neighborhoods or close to family.

“But that means they’re investing in their homes, whether it’s energy efficiency items [or] safety items like lighting and railings,” Dietz said.

However, the real driver for remodels is the aging housing market. In 2021, the median age of all owned homes was 41 years old, according to the 2021 American Housing Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. Homes built in the 1980s or earlier make up about 60% of existing stock, according to a U.S. Census data analysis by the NAHB.

“It really speaks to the fact that we haven’t built a lot of new housing over the last decade. That aging housing stock is going to require investment,” Dietz said.