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[ad_1] Kudos diapers founder Amrita Saigal with her daughter Courtesy: Kudos Throughout modern history, parents have only had one real option when it comes to disposable diapers: plastic. The single-use products are typically made with fossil fuels like petroleum and can take hundreds of years to break down, making them the third-largest consumer item in U.S. landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  Plus, they're not as breathable as other materials, which could make incidents like diaper rashes more common.  Still, plastic diapers from mega brands like Procter & Gamble -owned Pampers and Kimberly-Clark -owned Huggies continue to dominate the market. Amrita Saigal, founder and CEO of Kudos, is looking to change that.  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, mechanical engineer and "Shark Tank" alum developed a sustainable diaper that uses some plastic, but is 100% lined with cotton and incorporates other degradable materials like...

[ad_1] Zaza Cristina Robles worked as a pregnancy coach in her native Peru, so when she arrived in the U.S. at 16 weeks pregnant, the first thing she did after settling in with her in-laws was to seek medical care. "When they showed us the bill, it was so expensive, my husband and I thought, 'If this is just for the doctor's visit, imagine what the delivery will be?' It scared us," she said. Her sister-in-law put her in touch with the Hispanic Health Council, a nonprofit in Hartford, Connecticut. The organization's Comadrona — or midwife — program helps Latina immigrants and low-income pregnant women navigate the complications of the U.S. health-care system. "They really helped clear up a lot of my fears," Robles said. The program helped Robles gain health-care coverage as she and her husband seek asylum in the United States. Her comadrona helped her find a doctor who treats low-income patients and connected her with other services. "One of...

[ad_1] A customer pushes a shopping cart full of groceries outside a Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, left, and a pedestrian passes a Target store in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Getty Images Target and Walmart are both catering to thriftier shoppers, but the two big-box retailers have seen very different outcomes when it comes to winning their dollars. Target missed Wall Street's sales expectations for the fiscal second-quarter. Walmart beat Wall Street's revenue estimates for the three-month period. Target slashed its forecast for the year, while Walmart raised its outlook. The companies' diverging performances illustrate some of the retailers' fundamental differences. Walmart, the nation's largest grocer, makes more than half of its annual revenue from selling groceries — a category that shoppers buy even when times are tight. Target draws only about 20% of its yearly revenue from grocery, making it rely more on sales of items such as cl...

[ad_1] Shoppers may get an early present this holiday season: falling prices in many gift-giving categories. On Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said deflation could be coming as general merchandise and key grocery items, such as eggs, chicken and seafood get cheaper. He said the retailer expects some of the stickier higher prices, such as the ones for pantry staples, to "start to deflate in the coming weeks and months," too. "In the U.S., we may be managing through a period of deflation in the months to come," he said on the company's Thursday earnings call. "And while that would put more unit pressure on us, we welcome it, because it's better for our customers." For more than a year, consumers have coped with inflation that peaked around four-decade highs and drove up the cost of nearly everything, including groceries, rent and utilities. But McMillon's comments echoed what the government and other retailers said earlier this week, o...