Bethesda

Bethesda, Md. -- IBM on Monday released its Benchmark projection for online sales for the month of December, showing that online sales are expected to grow by 9.5% to 10% year-over-year. For the week of Dec. 11, the report showed that online sales rose 10.8% over the same week in 2010. Mobile traffic increased to 12.1% of all online retailing sessions, compared with 5% over the same week last year and reflecting a 143.9% increase. Holiday sales from mobile devices grew in total, reaching 8.9% versus 3.8% on this week last year -- a 134.4% increase.

A Montgomery County jury ordered Nordstrom to pay nearly $1.6 million to two women stabbed inside its Bethesda, Md. store six years ago, concluding that the retailer didn't adequately warn shoppers that a woman armed with four butcher knives was on the loose, attorneys said.

The White House honored the U.S. Postal Service today for environmental stewardship with a 2009 Closing the Circle Award for its national Green Purchasing Program. This award brings to 40 the number of White House Closing the Circle Awards the Postal Service has won since the program’s inception in 1995.