The OPM reminds news each year that, when a federal holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the holiday will recognized the next Monday. Such is the case for the Post Office today on an New Years, officials tell news. The federal holiday is recognized Monday prompting a closure of all branches and no mail delivery. The next time the Post Office will be closed is Monday, January 2, 2012 New Year’s Day.

Postal Officials tell news this week that branches will be open on December 31. But the Post Office will be closed on Monday January 2, 2012 as well. In a news statement, USPS indicates that in “observance of the holidays, Post Offices will be closed Monday, Dec. 26, and Monday Jan. 2. Only Express Mail will be delivered on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day in most major metro areas. Post Offices will resume regular business hours on Tuesday, Dec. 27 and Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Some branches will also have special hours for commercial accounts, USPS tells news. “Commercial customers should check with their Business Mail Entry Units for Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 hours of operation.”

For shoppers, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and all the nation’s top retailers will be open today for After-Christmas sales. Walmart tells news this week that it, socially, has launched a new VUDU entertainment service. “VUDU on Xbox 360 brings more fun into finding, watching and buying your favorite movies and TV shows,” said Edward Lichty, general manager, VUDU, in a news statement this month. “With the new, interactive features on Xbox 360 to browse VUDU’s library, along with special savings like 99-cent VUDU rentals, we hope to make the holidays even more entertaining and affordable for families.”

In January 2012, the OPM will release to news next year’s list of holidays. Today, many banks will be closed as well. Federal agencies will be dark, along with most state and local government offices as well.

Sgt. Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department has yet to release to news the name of the shooter. Grapevine is located twenty miles from Dallas. “This is tragic. It’s something our department hasn’t seen before, especially in a city like Grapevine,” Eberling tells news. “It’s something we’re used to reading about. We’re shocked.”

The shooting began around 11:30 am local time. “It appears they had just celebrated Christmas. They had opened their gifts,” Eberling indicates to news. The victims’ ages ranged from teens to early 60s.

In 2008, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo’s Christmas massacre took the lives of nearly a dozen people. Jeffery Pardo entered a house filled with Christmas people enjoying holiday celebrations.  After Pardo began shooting, the house caught on fire. Pardo had entered the party dressed as Santa and thereafter killed himself by a gunshot to the head.

The above photo is from the early 1990s. In 2001, Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison (in a laundry cart no less) just before extradition to the U.S. El Chapo today is the alleged biggest provider of cocaine to the United States.

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Previous news reports on LALATE detailed that El Chapo could be making twenty percent annually on Mexican and Colombian trafficking. In 2008, valuations estimated the industry at between $18 billion and $39 billion in U.S. sales annually.

In 2009, El Chapo made news being named to Forbes’ Rich List at number 701. Today, El Chapo’s whereabouts are still unknown.

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In January, El Chapo dominated news for threats to Mexican tourists. El Chapo then took credit for the Acapulco decapitations (decapitaciones). Posters around Acapulco read El Chapo’s warning to law enforcement. “To all citizens, extortion will no longer occur. Sincerely, Shorty Guzman. This will happen to anyone who tries to come into this turf”.

In July, his wife came to Lancaster, California, gave birth to twins, and returned to Mexico thereafter. Her movement was legal since she is not a wanted person and has dual citizenships.

In fact, Mitch Kupchak made it perfectly clear to Los Angeles basketball fans today. According to Kupchak, it was all Lamar Odom’s doing, with Lamar coming to the Lakers and demanding to be swiftly traded out of Los Angeles before this season.

But was that consistent with Odom’s own words? In days before the trade to the Mavericks, Odom gave a peculiar quote to local news. Lamar said “You know, the energy and all. I don’t know how it’s going to go right now. It’s a little weird. I don’t know if (a trade is) going to happen overnight or it’s going to be a drawn-out process. Right now, I’ll be a fan of the game from the distance.”

Kupchak, however, said that Odom, not the Lakers, put the trade in motion, that Odom was not watching from the distance but demanding the trade promptly. In fact, the revelation by Kupchak was so shocking that ABC held cutting back into the Sunday telecast to continue the Kupchak interview about Odom.

Kobe Bryant was furious about the Odom trade. While news reporters did not ask Kobe if he thought the Lakers came up with the idea or Lamar, Bryant said “Especially to them. We were supposed to come back and get them back. It’s tough. … Do I think we got too little? Who did we get? I don’t think Mark Cuban is protesting this trade.”

And what was Odom’s thoughts? Odom had told news at the time of the trade “You don’t want to go to no place you’re not wanted”. But according to Kupchak today, Odom didn’t want to be a Los Angeles Lakers, anymore.

Both Walmart and Target will be closed today on Christmas Day along with competing retailers like JCPenney and Best Buy. But among fast food establishments, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks tells news that most of the locations will be at least partially open today December 2.

As reported here since 2009, most retailers tell news annually that Christmas Day serves as a time for employees to spend time with their families while relaxing before the rush of the after-Christmas sales. In contrast, other retailers in comparable genres – Walgreens and Rite-Aid – are traditionally open partially on Christmas Day.

For Walmart, however, this year has culminated a season of giving to others. In a news statement on Thursday, Walmart confirmed the conclusion of its 12 Days of Giving. Walmart told news “Over the last twelve consecutive days, Walmart awarded a total of $1.5 million to 145 organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.”

Julie Gehrki, senior director at the Walmart Foundation, tells news “Every community needs a hero—someone who is willing to take extraordinary and selfless action to help those in need”. She added “We are honored to give these inspirational community heroes the recognition they deserve and do a small part to help them achieve their mission.”

Target also confirms to news its spirit of helping others this holiday season. On December 6, Target gave $25,000 in monetary support to assist with Thailand flooding relief efforts. “When disaster strikes, Target listens and acts to support those in need,” said Gregg Steinhafel, Chairman, President and CEO, Target. “Our thoughts are with those affected and we hope our donation will aid in recovery efforts.”

Target tells news that the donation culminated an entire year of helping relief efforts worldwide. “This year, Target has given more than $1.2 million in disaster relief aid to nonprofits that distribute funds where support is most urgently needed.”