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Master Amitis Pourarian started offering family taekwondo classes at The Studio Martial Arts and Fitness around two years prior. She considered it to be a path for families to spend time together while remaining active.

“You’re getting fit, you’re getting your black belt and you’re learning self-defense,” Pourarian said. “You’re spending quality time with your family and you’re building camaraderie. It’s just a win-win across the board.”

The class is available to all ages and skill levels.

The Valencia family started practicing taekwondo around four years back. Presently, everybody in the family has earned their black belt.

“It has been an amazing journey to do it as a family,” mother Michelle Valencia said. “Seeing my children grow, their confidence, and just seeing them from white belts, not knowing how to kick or punch, and now I’m confident they can protect themselves if need be.”

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Business

Whole Foods Market is going to discontinue its littler, value-based 365-brand store idea, as per an interior notice from CEO John Mackey gotten by the American-Statesman Friday.

In the update, Mackey said the grocery chain will keep on working its 12 existing 365 stores however won’t open any new areas, and that employees of those stores will see no change.

“As we have been consistently lowering prices in our Whole Foods Market stores over the past year, the price distinction between the two brands has become less relevant,” Mackey said. “We believe that the price gap will further diminish.”

The choice implies that Whole Foods, which is situated in Austin and has been possessed by online retailer Amazon since Aug. 2017, is backing away from an initiative it began only three years ago, when it unveiled the 365 store idea as a less expensive, littler option in contrast to its regular stores.

Whole Foods said then that costs would be more cost-friendly at the stores in light of the fact that numerous items sold would be under its private name 365 by Whole Foods. At the time, Whole Foods was amid a downturn in business and consistently feeling pressure from its “Whole Paycheck” image.

The Austin area is home to one of two 365 stores in Texas, with the other store in the Houston zone. A year ago, the American-Statesman detailed that Whole Foods planned to open a 365 store at Interstate 35 and East Fifth Street by the second half of this current year, however it’s unclear now if those plans will go ahead.

Since Amazon took over Whole Foods less than two years ago, the Austin grocer has seen a few changes.

While value checks by the American-Statesman and other research firms have appeared generally speaking expenses have for the most part continued as before, Whole Foods has associated its Amazon Prime rewards system to the chain and furthermore brought down costs on a few things. It’s additionally begun a curbside and grocery delivery service and integrated both companies’ websites and operations. Since the merger, the grocer has also promoted more of its 365 brand at regular stores.

Altogether, Whole Foods has in excess of 490 stores over the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and employs around 89,000 individuals.

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Entertainment

Starting yesterday, we’re two months from the much-anticipated theatrical release of Captain Marvel. Also, judging by the results of advance ticket sales which got under way this week, the film is no doubt going to break records and draw in massive crowds.

Monday denoted the main day of presales for the film, which by a few records is set out toward a more than $100 million opening and will introduce fans with the story of Carol Danvers as the 21st addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Also, talking about the MCU, as per online ticket site Fandango, the advance ticket sales for Captain Marvel are as of now beating the comparable first 24-hour sales of movies like Captain America: Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Truth be told, Captain Marvel is currently among the best three MCU films when positioned by first-day advance ticket deals, per Fandango. Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther take the top two spots, with Captain Marvel — which opens March eighth — coming in at number three.

That implies the film is additionally improving the situation than other Marvel flicks like Ant-Man and the Wasp, Thor: Ragnarok and Doctor Strange, as far as the initial 24 hours of presales.

“We’re seeing fantastic advance ticket sales for Captain Marvel because it’s a historic film for Marvel Studios, one that fans have been waiting to see for a decade,” said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis. “As the studio’s first female-driven superhero film, Captain Marvel is a benchmark moment for the genre, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for star Brie Larson, who will play the most powerful Marvel superhero to date.”

It’s not simply Fandango, either. Atom Tickets disclosed Wednesday afternoon that Captain Marvel is in like manner shattering ticket sales on its own platform. What’s more, that, as well as the organization included that “it’s looking like Captain Marvel could outpace (Avengers: Infinity War) in terms of overall pre-sales on Atom Tickets.”

As an update, Captain Marvel is an important installment in the MCU for a host of reasons, not the slightest of which is that the most recent trailer appears to show that Captain Marvel herself inspired former SHIELD chief Nick Fury to make the Avengers team. The film could likewise set up future Avengers movies beyond Avengers 4. As we let you know in this prior post, Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame are the initial two Marvel movies we’ll see Larson in, however she really has an agreement with Marvel to complete seven movies. Which implies the likelihood that Captain Marvel sets her up to show up in possible Captain Marvel sequels, as well as other Avengers episodes.

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Healthcare

Apple will launch more healthcare-related services this year, Tim Cook has revealed in an interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer. The CEO didn’t quite elaborate on the exact nature of those upcoming services, just that Apple has “been working on [them] for multiple years.” During the interview, Cook stressed Apple’s deepening commitment to health and wellness products. He said that in the future, if anybody asks what Apple’s greatest contribution to humankind is, “health” will be the answer.

ResearchKit, a stage for clinical studies hosted by universities and medical researchers, and CareKit, which enables patients to deal with their illnesses, are a huge deal, Cook said. “We are democratizing [healthcare]. We are taking what has been with the institutions and empowering the individual to manage their health,” he added.

Apple has definitely been ramping up its health and wellness efforts in recent years. In addition to releasing ResearchKit and CareKit, it additionally planned the Apple Watch Series 4 with an inherent electrocardiogram, enabling it to potentially save lives by recognizing heart issues, for example, irregular heartbeats.

Beside discussing Apple’s healthcare-related ambitions, Cook likewise slammed Qualcomm in the interview. He said the chipmaker charges exorbitant costs for its licenses instead of offering its portfolio “on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis.” If you’ll recall, the two tech giants have been fighting it out in court for some time, with the chipmaker blaming Cupertino for encroaching on its licenses. Most as of late, Qualcomm paid $1.5 billion for security bonds to guarantee Apple can’t sell its older iPhones in Germany.

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