Wal-Mart Stores says it will keep its stores open 24 hours and take new crowd-control measures Thanksgiving weekend after a temporary employee was trampled to death in a Black Friday rush last year.

A federal agency has cited Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management in the death of a worker at a New York store. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citation Tuesday. It says Wal-Mart should have recognized the need for effective crowd management during its sales blitz the day after Thanksgiving.

A federal agency has cited Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management in the death of a worker at a New York store. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citation Tuesday. It says Wal-Mart should have recognized the need for effective crowd management during its sales blitz the day after Thanksgiving.

Black Friday numbers are in…and for the most part, they’re up. The National Retail Federation reports that overall spending was up 7% over last year. But we wondered how all those local, small businesses did. Count on Joy Howe to find out.

Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a suburban store and knocked him down. Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday’s video may prove difficult, said Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman.

The shooting occurred in a crowded toy store on the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, but authorities say it wasn’t related to the bargain-hunting frenzy. Instead, two men pulled guns and killed each other after the women with them erupted into a bloody brawl, witnesses said. Authorities released few details about the mayhem that broke out at the Toys “R” Us store around 11:30 a.m. Friday, sending scared shoppers fleeing. Riverside County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the fight was not over a toy and that handguns were found by the men’s bodies. He refused to say whether the shooting was gang-related.

The holiday shopping season got off to its traditional start Friday, with stores slashing prices to lure customers, who were expected to be especially bargain conscious this year due to the shaky economy.

Despite economy woes, it was a busy Black Friday for lots of retailers in the CSRA. Lines started forming in the early hours of the morning, as shoppers stood waiting for advertised deals. So who gets up….or never even goes to bed? Joy Howe takes a look at what it takes to be a ‘Black Friday Shopper.‘

Thanksgiving, Black Friday weekend closure restrictions imposed through Sunday night