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Shares in Next Plc were up 6.5% this morning (3 January) as the UK fashion retailer bumped up its FY2017/18 sales and profit expectations on the back of a better than expected Christmas sales performance, buoyed by a cold snap in the run-up to the holiday season.

Danish apparel company Bestseller has outlined a series of actions on post-consumer textile waste as part of its role as a strategic partner in the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), a group working to set a common direction for industry efforts on sustainability in fashion.

Value clothing retailer Primark has confirmed to just-style former Zara product boss, Paula Dumont López,is to join the company as head of its womenswear division.

Three more garment manufacturers in Southern California have been named for violating labour standards, as part of a wider investigation by the US Department of Labor that has found $1.6m in back wages and liquidated damages due to 1,377 garment industry workers since January.

Applications are being accepted for the Justin M. Sanchez Memorial for Higher Education scholarship through April 30.

The scholarship is for Yorba Linda High School seniors planning to attend two-year institutions or students planning to transfer from Santiago Community College.

Sanchez, a YLHS alum, died at age 22 in April. Information: jmsforhigheredu.com or 714-397-0059.

The La Habra City School District has posted on its website, lahabraschools.org, information on special programs and magnets planned at campuses for the 2018-19 school year. The district is reorganizing its school – gone will be the K-2 and 3-5 divisions – to be up through fifth or sixth grade and to have specialties.

Heather McRea, 714-796-7932

hmcrea@scng.com

SANTA ANA – A Huntington Beach police officer was legally justified in shooting and killing a man last year outside a 7-Eleven across the street from Marina High School, Orange County District Attorney’s Office officials announced Wednesday.

Officer Eric Esparza’s actions “were reasonable and justified under the circumstances” when he shot 27-year-old Dylan Tabares during a struggle on Sept. 22, Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh wrote in a letter released Wednesday outlining a legal review of the shooting.

Cell-phone video taken by witnesses to the shooting spread quickly across social media, bringing widespread attention to Tabares’ death. A month after he was killed, law-enforcement officials announced that Tabares was tied to the Sept. 19 beating death of 80-year-old Richard Darland, a Huntington Beach resident who had tried to help Tabares get back on his feet.

Baytieh, in a Wednesday news conference, described Tabares as a transient with a history of mental issues, methamphetamine abuse and combative encounters with police.

He served nearly four years in the U.S. Navy, according to the federal government, leaving in 2012. His brother has said Tabares left with a “less than an honorable discharge,” and Tabares blamed himself in a Facebook post without getting specific.

Unlike other Orange County police departments where officer-involved shootings are investigated from the beginning by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, police shootings in Huntington Beach are investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which turns its findings over to the DA’s Office for legal review.

Officer Esparza declined to provide a voluntary statement to sheriff’s investigators, Baytieh said, so the investigation into the shooting failed to uncover why the officer initially contacted Tabares outside of the 7-Eleven.

The investigators did speak to several witnesses, including a registered nurse who said Tabares “looked out of it” and appeared to be under the influence of a drug. According to Baytieh, Tabares was “shouting and arguing” with the officer and ignoring his commands to stop walking toward him. The officer used a Taser on Tabares, Baytieh said, to no apparent effect.

WARNING: The video below contains graphic content

Cell-phone video shows Tabares outside the 7-11 quickly walking toward the retreating officer, who appears to have his weapon drawn. Tabares punches the officer in the face. The officer grabs Tabares and wrestles with him onto the ground.

The officer, still standing, tries to control Tabares.

The video shows Tabares grabbing an item off of the officer’s belt, which prosecutors have identified as a black flashlight. The officer then gets clear and backs up a few feet, draws his gun, fires six shots at Tabares, pauses for a few seconds, and fires a seventh shot.

Baytieh said one witness described Tabares as seeming to have “super strength,” because the officer couldn’t overpower him. A toxicology test taken after Tabares’ death found methamphetamine in his system. DNA from Tabares was also found on several items in the officer’s belt, including the grip of his pistol.

In body-camera footage from officers who responded to the shooting, Esparza can be heard telling a fellow officer that Tabares was “trying to take my gun.”

“(Tabares) physically charged at an officer and engaged in a struggle, resulting in his death,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said at the news conference.

In statements to investigators, Tabares’ family members said he appeared to suffer from paranoid delusions. His brother said Tabares was “truly resentful” toward a police officer who arrested him for assaulting a Del Taco employee, an incident that led to his serving a two-year sentence for battery causing serious bodily injury.

Tabares was released from prison eight days before his death. He had failed to check in with a parole officer, leading a judge to sign an arrest warrant for him.

Still missing: One black duffel bag stuffed with $360,540 in cash.

Zulmai Nazarzai was ordered to turn that money over to a court receiver more than seven years ago to satisfy part of a $4 million judgment against him and his loan-modification company, which stood accused of ripping off desperate and elderly people on the verge of losing their homes.

Nazarzai said he took the cash from his closet and gave it to his then-girlfriend, who packed it in a black duffel bag and headed to Los Angeles to deliver it. But she blacked out on the way, she testified, and the money was gone when she awoke.

The judge called it the least believable story he had ever heard — “and I’ve heard some whoppers” — and sent Nazarzai to jail on charges of civil contempt for defying his turn-over order. Nazarzai remained behind bars for nearly six years, from Dec. 7, 2010 to Nov. 4, 2016, when Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew Banks decided continued incarceration wouldn’t make the money re-appear and released him.

Now, Nazarzai is suing the County of Orange and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens in federal court for at least $25 million, accusing them of violating his civil rights.

The county denies the allegations, saying the federal court has no jurisdiction to hear such a case and urging the judge to sanction Nazarzai’s lawyers for, essentially, lying.

In Dickensian detail, Nazarzai’s suit describes life in “administrative segregation,” where he was isolated from the jail’s other inmates. He was confined in “the hole” — “a minuscule cell
that restricts a prisoner’s ability to move about, exercise or communicate” — for extended periods; was denied the right to attend weekly religious services and meet with a religious advisor; had his prayer rug confiscated; was harassed because he’s Muslim; and was denied access to exercise yards or other facilities over the entire course of his incarceration, the suit says.

When Nazarzai threatened to air his grievances, the Sheriff’s Department threatened to change his prisoner status from “white band” — minimum security — to “blue band,” a classification reserved for alleged pedophiles, sex offenders, ex-gang members and jail snitches, the suit says.

“Persons so classified are reviled by the general inmate population and at times are subjected to violent inmate abuse,” the suit says. “As a result of said threats, (Nazarzai) was deterred from and did cease to lawfully complain as to his living conditions all in violation of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.”

All this amounted to punishment, the suit says, even though Nazarzai was a civil detainee who had not been charged with, or convicted of, a crime. He is seeking $25 million from the county, plus medical expenses and attorney’s fees, for being denied his freedom.

Lawyers for the county deny the allegations in Nazarzai’s suit, saying he was housed away from the general inmate population for his own protection. They also argue that the federal courts have no jurisdiction to hear the suit.

A legal principle, the Rooker-Feldman Doctrine, holds that no federal court except the U.S. Supreme Court can sit in direct review of state court decisions unless Congress has specifically authorized such a review.

“In short, federal courts below the Supreme Court must not become a court of appeals for state court decisions,” county lawyers wrote. Nazarzai “has to find a state court remedy, or obtain relief from the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The county notes that Nazarzai’s lawyers tried numerous times to have higher state and federal courts review his incarceration, with no success.

“The complaint, as framed, includes inaccurate, incomplete and/or deceptive allegations,” the county said, asking the court to sanction Nazarzai’s lawyers.

Nazarzai’s confinement resulted solely from his voluntary decision not to comply with the court’s orders, the county argues.

Nazarzai and his cohorts ran a “boiler-room telemarketing operation” that lied to distressed and elderly people on the verge of losing their homes as the economy imploded back in 2008 and 2009, according to the civil lawsuit filed against them by the state Attorney General.

The Attorney General said they bilked homeowners in a fraudulent loan modification scheme. The state won that civil suit; no one, however, was charged with a crime.

During his incarceration, legal scholars likened Nazarzai’s continued confinement to debtors’ prison.

Contempt is a tool judges use in an effort to compel testimony from reluctant witnesses or child support from deadbeat parents or even the names of news sources from recalcitrant journalists. The law gives judges sweeping authority to use this tool, legal scholars said: One can be held in civil contempt as long as a judge thinks it’s possible for the person to comply, and there’s a chance of compliance.

Former lawyer H. Beatty Chadwick set the American record for jail time for civil contempt — 14 years behind bars after a Pennsylvania judge ordered him to place $2.5 million into a court-controlled account during divorce proceedings. Chadwick said he had lost the money in bad investments. Chadwick noted that if he had been convicted of third-degree murder, he would have been out in half the time.

The Nazarzai suit is before U.S. Judge Andrew J. Guilford.  A scheduling conference is set for Jan. 22.

Sean McVay dined with an NFL legend, got inadvertently feted by a celebrity chef and rubbed elbows with two Hollywood A-listers, then returned to his hotel room and hoped for the phone call of a lifetime.

January 2017. What a month for McVay. He started it as a well-regarded but relatively unknown assistant coach and, within two weeks, he became the youngest head coach in NFL history.

One dinner, last Jan. 10, changed McVay’s life, and as the Rams prepare for their first playoff game in 13 years, Saturday night against Atlanta at the Coliseum, it’s fair to think that night might have changed the course of the franchise. It’s the night McVay aced the test be needed to pass in order to coach the Rams.

“It was such a whirlwind,” McVay recalled this week, almost one full year after his league-rattling hiring.

First came the appetizers, so to speak.

The Rams fired Jeff Fisher on Dec. 12, 2016 and compiled a list of potential replacements, most of whom were young NFL assistants with no head-coaching experience. McVay appeared to be a footnote on that list.

He had developed a good reputation in two years as Washington’s offensive play-caller, both for his football acumen and his personality. McVay also had a pedigree because his grandfather, John McVay, was a longtime executive with the San Francisco 49ers.

Still, he was 30 years old. He would get a couple interviews, league pundits figured, then be a more serious candidate after the 2017 or 2018 season. The Rams had heard good things, though, so after Washington ended its season on Jan. 1, McVay flew to Los Angeles to meet with Rams executives.

An initial dinner in Santa Monica on Jan. 4, with McVay, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Demoff, General Manager Les Snead and Senior Assistant Tony Pastoors went well. A more formal interview the following day made the Rams believe they might be onto something with McVay.

“The best part about it was, it never felt, formally, like an interview,” McVay said. “It felt more like a conversation the whole time, and that’s a credit to them. Even the next day, when it was a little more formalized, it still felt like you were just kind of talking about ball and talking about things that you enjoy.”

The Rams were so impressed that they brought in quarterback Jared Goff to meet with McVay and watch game film. Snead told Demoff: “I’m buying stock in Sean McVay.” Further, as part of his due diligence during the coaching search, Snead collected comments from players who worked with McVay.

“Very good players with strong personalities, on both sides of the ball, were very quick to give him a thumbs-up,” Snead said recently. “Like, ‘Oh yeah, home run.’”

The Rams were intrigued, but not totally sold. They did more interviews, with Carolina’s Steve Wilks, Arizona’s Harold Goodwin, New England’s Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia, Jacksonville’s Doug Marrone and Buffalo’s Anthony Lynn.

Meanwhile, McVay interviewed with San Francisco on Jan. 9. That night, Demoff called McVay and invited him back to Los Angeles the next day. McVay would be the first (and only) candidate to receive a second interview, and Demoff wanted to take him to dinner again.

Except this time, on Jan. 10, McVay would dine with team owner Stan Kroenke, at Spago, the famous Beverly Hills bistro. All around, lumps grew in throats.

The Rams’ football folks felt confident in McVay and decided that his age shouldn’t be a hindrance. They weren’t totally convinced Kroenke would share in their optimism, especially given that McVay could pass for a high school student if he shaved his ever-present light beard.

“But the nice thing with Stan is,” Snead said, “Stan is very innovative. He appreciates the young entrepreneurs, people like that in the business world who are bright and making a mark on the planet. So I don’t think it felt like an uphill battle.”

Still, the Rams had a contingency plan. Demoff, after consultation with Snead, decided to invite former Rams running back Marshall Faulk, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, to the dinner.

Faulk served a purpose. Kroenke already had heard Demoff praise McVay, but the front-office folks wanted Kroenke to believe on his own. So, Faulk was a conversation conduit. Demoff and Snead hoped Kroenke would hear McVay and Faulk talk football on a high level, and be impressed.

“They could have hated each other,” Snead said, “but we had an intuition. Marshall is very smart and Sean is very smart. We thought, ‘They’re going to hit it off.’”

It turned out to be a high-risk decision. In an interview with the Rams’ website last January, Faulk said he talked to Snead before the dinner and expressed his concerns. First, McVay would have to sell Faulk.

“I said, ‘Les, I just think it’s hard, when you have a young quarterback, to put a young play-caller or a young head coach in with him. I think that’s a dynamic that could be a disaster,’” Faulk said.

But the dinner went as well. McVay and Faulk connected, as had been hoped, and the night even had something of a comedic, Hollywood feel. Wolfgang Puck, Spago’s owner and executive chef — and a longtime Rams fan — visited the table multiple times during the night and urged Kroenke to hire a new coach, unaware that he was about to get his wish.

“I wanted to say, ‘Hey, man, right here,’” McVay later joked.

Between bites, famous singer Fergie and her husband, equally famous actor Josh Duhamel, visited the Rams’ table and greeted Kroenke.

“You could tell they were fans,” McVay said, “and definitely didn’t know who I was.”

The night ended well, but not as well as McVay had hoped in his most optimistic dreams.

“We had a great dinner,” McVay said. “In my mind, I was thinking, OK, if everything goes great, at the end of the dinner, (Kroenke) is going to shake my hand and say, ‘Hey, do you want to be the head coach?’”

It didn’t happen. The Rams hadn’t booked a flight for McVay out of Los Angeles, so he sat and waited in his hotel room.

“I’d finally let myself get to the point where I was thinking, ‘All right, I think I might get this job,’” McVay said. “Then you don’t hear anything that night. You let your mind wander to a bunch of places. It becomes, ‘Man, you know, if you don’t get it, you’ve got a good job with Washington and it’s not the end of the world.’”

McVay joked that the Rams “kind of kept me there for a couple days and tortured me,” but really, the final machinations were taking place, inside and outside Rams headquarters.

That included another Faulk-Snead phone call, post-dinner, and this time Faulk said he told Snead, “‘I’m a big enough man to tell you when I’m wrong. I think that this could work.’” Faulk also endorsed McVay in a conversation with Kroenke and, if necessary, that probably pushed McVay over the top.

The Rams brought McVay back the day after the dinner, to meet with star defensive player Aaron Donald, head trainer Reggie Scott and Senior Director of Communications Artis Twyman. A few months later, Donald said he’d never been around a coach who could explain both offense and defense like McVay.

Finally, the Rams had no further reason to hesitate. McVay had all the traits they were looking for, and they liked the idea of hiring a young coach who could grow with a young team and “make their names” together.

The Rams even passed on a chance to interview Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who had started the month above McVay on many pundits’ list of head-coaching candidates. Shanahan had an interview scheduled with the Rams on Jan. 6, but it got cancelled because poor weather prevented Rams executives from making their flight to Atlanta. The Rams tentatively rescheduled with Shanahan for Jan. 14, but in the interim, they decided there was no need to look past McVay.

“At the end of the day,” Snead said, “you had a guy really good at what he does, has unbelievable enthusiasm and is a great teacher and a clear communicator. Authentically, you knew that everything he wanted to do would be to make the Rams better. No other motive. That’s a special trait.”

On Thursday, Jan. 12, less than 48 hours after the Kroenke dinner, McVay accepted a five-year contract and, 12 days short of his 31st birthday, became the youngest coach in NFL history.

Now, one year since the initial meeting, McVay has the Rams to an 11-5 record, an NFC West title and their first playoff appearance in 13 years.

McVay said he hasn’t returned to Spago but might during the offseason. Maybe he will sample a Kroenke-owned wine label that is offered at the restaurant.

It would be fitting if Kroenke joined again. A year ago, Rams executives felt they had to sell Kroenke on McVay. This time, they could celebrate a decision that now seems quite wise.

“I’m sure he started off the dinner with, ‘Why?’” Demoff said shortly after the hiring. “By the end, it was, ‘Why not?’”

The “Jean Queen” is going high tech.
Diane Gilman, a champion for Baby Boomer women’s fashion who has built a $150 million denim collection at HSN, has developed a new technology that is intended to solve several issues that typically plague women of a certain age.
Gilman’s new Fit Solution technology, developed in partnership with her longtime manufacturing partner Sunrise Brands, offers inner-support compression in the back panel of a silky four-way stretch knit fabric that is intended to lift the butt while providing maximum stretch across the body.
The Uplifter Virtual Stretch Skinny or Bootcut jean will launch Thursday on HSN and is one of several new models Gilman will be unveiling this winter.
Gilman said the Fit Solution technology is “very effective for a far more youthful and toned side and back view. We give you back what nature and gravity took away.
“I must say, I have worn the Uplifter and really love them,” she added. “They give me a perfectly lifted/rounded bottom and sleek back thigh. The silky knit fabric on the inside is like a gentle but effective girdle.”
In addition to the Uplifter, other models will include a Seamless skinny version designed to provide slimmer thighs and hips, and a

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