Another big hurricane slams the Caribbean; Amazon's next target: booze

Hurricane Maria strengthens to Category 5 before making landfall, and Amazon enters its newest venture. Read on and join the conversation.

Maria, now a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane, made landfall in Dominica in the Caribbean on Monday. With winds of 160 mph, Maria is expected to approach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — both still reeling from Irma — late Tuesday and Wednesday. Alerts have been issued for Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis. Hurricane Maria is the fourth major hurricane to reach Category 3 or higher in the Atlantic this year. ? Share your thoughts: #HurricaneMaria

Amazon wants you to drink up: What began as an under-the-radar entrance into online alcohol sales in select cities through Prime Now has become a larger expansion into Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, the San Francisco Bay Area, and more. And now that the retailer can tap into 450 Whole Foods stores — more than half of which sell wine and beer — Amazon has the potential to add a pick-up option for drinkers on-the-go. Online alcohol sales are tricky because of regulatory and delivery restrictions, but with Amazon now on the scene, smaller startups delivering alcohol like Blue Apron and Postmates have even more to fear. ? Share your thoughts: #AmazonAlcohol

Toys ‘R’ Us filed for bankruptcy as it seeks to restructure $400 million in debt — the result of a $6.6 billion buyout from more than a decade ago that has slowed physical and online growth. Adding to the chain’s woes are five years of declining sales, even as Amazon's $4 billion in toy sales last year far outpaced its own. The retailer hopes the bankruptcy filing will help it improve its online presence and tackle the holiday season, its biggest sales driver. America’s largest toy chain joins a larger trend of retail bankruptcies and declining sales among toymakers. ? Share your thoughts: #ToysRUsBankruptcy

Equifax just landed in more hot water. The US Justice Department is investigating whether executives at the credit rating company broke insider trading laws by selling nearly $2 million in shares just before Equifax revealed its massive cyberattack, Bloomberg reported. Equifax said the executives, including CFO John Gamble, were not aware of the breach when they sold their stock. The Equifax breach compromised information for up to 143 million customers, and is considered one of the largest data hacks of all time. ? Share your thoughts: #Equifax

Wealthier workers are increasingly likely to commute using public transit, according to a Census Bureau survey. While a majority of Americans earning at least $75,000 a year still choose to get behind the wheel, that number is dropping faster than it is for those earning less — and the decline since 2005 has been “significant” as high-paying jobs increasingly cluster in cities with developed transport systems. And, according to the data, some of those high-income earners aren’t commuting at all; they’re choosing to work from home, a trend that (contrary to some reports) is actually accelerating, particularly among the highly-educated. ? Share your thoughts: #WorkCommute

Idea of the Day: To be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, you don’t need to start off with a vision. What’s important is taking action, says serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk.

“You can always execute and figure things out later. I think so many of you are crippled by ‘I don’t have the right idea’ or ‘I don’t know where I want to end up’ but the truth is, it doesn’t really matter. Vision always builds by taking action.”

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories: #HurricaneMaria | #AmazonAlcohol | #ToysRUsBankruptcy | #Equifax | #WorkCommute

— Lorraine K. Lee / Share this using #DailyRundown