NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. regulators on Wednesday announced a settlement with the company that runs Dollar Tree and Family Dollar aimed at improving worker safety at thousands of the bargain stores across the country.

Labor Department officials cited hazards at the stores including blocked exits, unsafe storage of materials, and improper access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels.

Under the agreement, the chains operated by Dollar Tree Inc. are required to find the “root causes” of violations that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has repeatedly cited at multiple stores and fix them within two years, the department said.

Assistant Labor Secretary Doug Parker noted that OSHA has issued 403 violations at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores since 2017, resulting in more than $13.1 million in fines to date. The company “made some significant improvement” in worker safety following a 2015 settlement that expired in 2018 but continued violations show more work needs to be done, Parker said.

“These are entirely preventable violations and hazards. And it’s the employer’s … responsibility, to keep these workers safe,” Parker told reporters. “These improvements will not happen overnight, but this agreement will create a pathway for significant investment by the company to put in place controls that we believe will make workers safer.”

The agreement, which was entered into last week, covers all Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores in OSHA’s federal jurisdiction — totaling 10,000 locations nationwide, according to Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda. It also calls for the company to maintain a 24-hour hotline for safety complaints and anti-retaliation protections for workers, Nanda added.

Dollar Tree and Family Dollar also face hefty fines for future violations. If hazards are not adequately corrected within 48 hours of an OSHA notification, the company can face $100,000 fine per day of violation, up to $500,000 for each store, as well as further inspection and enforcement from OSHA.

Beyond these fines, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar is paying $1.4 million in penalties to settle existing contested and open inspections of similar alleged violations, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

“We are implementing substantial safety policies, procedures, and training, all intended to safeguard the wellbeing of our associates,” Mike Creedon, chief operating officer of Dollar Tree, said in a Wednesday statement. “We appreciate the opportunity to engage with OSHA on our safety initiatives as we move forward, seeking to establish our position as a leading retailer in workplace safety.”

Dollar Tree Inc., based in Chesapeake, Virginia, acquired Family Dollar in 2015 for almost $9 billion. The company operates more than 16,000 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores in 48 states and Canada, employing more than 193,000 people, according to the Labor Department.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — It’s almost time for the first debate among Republicans competing for their party’s 2024 presidential nomination.

Here’s all of the information on how to watch:

TUNING IN

The two-hour debate will start at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday. It’s being moderated by Fox News Channel hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Unlike some previous presidential debates, which have been simulcast across a number of major networks and cable channels, the first forum is airing exclusively on Fox News and the Fox Business Network as well as on Fox’s website and other streaming and digital platforms.

In lieu of the network’s YouTube channel, the Republican National Committee has partnered with Rumble — a video sharing platform popular with some conservatives — to livestream the debate. Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said earlier this year this was a decision aimed toward “getting away from Big Tech.”

Another debate partner is the Young America’s Foundation, a Wisconsin-based outfit headed up by former Gov. Scott Walker that bills itself as “the principal outreach organization of the Conservative Movement.”

WHERE IS IT?

Candidates will be on stage at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the biggest city in Wisconsin, a battleground state that will also play host to the Republican National Convention next year.

Wisconsin has proven its mettle as a swing state in recent balloting. Four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by less than a percentage point there, with Donald Trump winning narrowly in 2016 before losing by a similar margin in 2020.

WHO WILL BE THERE?

The RNC confirmed late Monday which candidates will be on the Milwaukee debate stage. The party set a number of markers that candidates needed to meet to qualify, including achieving benchmarks in polling and donor numbers, as well as signing a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.

Those expected to be on the stage are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Former President Donald Trump, the early GOP front-runner, long ago satisfied the polling and donor requirements but has said for months that he saw little upside in joining his rivals on stage, given his commanding lead in the race.

Trump, who has also said that he would not sign the pledge, said over the weekend on his social media platform that he’d be skipping the Milwaukee debate, and he has floated counterprogramming alternatives, including possibly showing up at the last minute, attending but sitting in the audience and offering live commentary on his Truth Social site, calling into different networks to draw viewers from the debate, or holding a rally instead.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ron Cephas Jones, a veteran stage actor who won two Emmy Awards for his role as a long-lost father who finds redemption on the NBC television drama series “This Is Us,” has died at age 66, a representative said Saturday.

Jones’ manager, Dan Spilo, said in an emailed statement the actor died “due to a long-standing pulmonary issue.”

“Throughout the course of his career, his warmth, beauty, generosity, kindness and heart were felt by anyone who had the good fortune of knowing him,” Spilo said.

Jones had a double lung transplant in 2020 because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and spent nearly two months in a Los Angeles hospital.

On “This Is Us,” Jones played William “Shakespeare” Hill, a biological father whose life is renewed through his relationship with the family of his son Randall Pearson, played by Sterling K. Brown.

“One of the most wonderful people the world has ever seen is no longer with us,” Brown said in an Instagram post after Jones’ death. “The world is a little less bright. Brother, you are loved. And you will be missed.”

Jones played a more central role in the series’ early seasons, but appeared in some form in all six seasons of the show, which included time-jumping narratives offering recurring opportunities for its actors even after their characters’ deaths.

Jones won Emmys for best guest actor in a drama series in 2018 and 2020 and was nominated for two more.

“Ron was the best of the best — on screen, on stage, and in real life,” “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman said on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “My God: what an actor. I don’t think I ever changed a single take of his in a cut because everything he did was perfect.”

Jones spent most of his career in the theater before and after “This Is Us,” returning to Broadway even after his transplant forced him to learn to breathe and walk again.

“My whole life has been the stage,” Jones said in a late 2021 interview with the The New York Times, in which he revealed he had quietly been suffering from respiratory problems since about the time he began on “This Is Us.”

“The idea of not performing again seemed worse to me than death,” Jones said.

He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a 2022 Drama Desk Award for the Broadway role as a truck-stop cook in playwright Lynn Nottage’s “Clyde’s.”

A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Jones graduated from nearby Ramapo College, where he had intended to study jazz but switched to theater during his sophomore year. He spent the late 1970s and early 1980s traveling the country, working as a bus driver in Southern California for several years.

In the mid 1980s he moved to New York, where his career got a jumpstart when he began hanging out and collaborating at the Nuyorican Poets Café, a vital creative hub for poetry, hip-hop and the performing arts.

A breakout role came in 1994, when he landed the lead in playwright Cheryl West’s drama, “Holiday Heart.”

He would spend the ensuing decades constantly in the theater, often in Off Broadway plays in New York, including a title turn as Shakespeare’s “Richard III” at The Public Theater, and in roles with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Jones also had TV guest stints on “Mr. Robot,” “Luke Cage” and “Lisey’s Story.”

His film appearances included 2006’s “Half Nelson” with Ryan Gosling and 2019’s “Dolemite Is My Name” with Eddie Murphy.

He is survived by his daughter, Jasmine Cephas Jones.