And the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season came to a close on Sunday, and according to the National Climatic Data Center, the season was one of the costliest ever, estimated at 54-billion-dollars.  It fell just behind the 05 season, with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, costing roughly 128-billion-dollars. This year, 16 named storms made up the hurricane season and 5 of them were recorded as major Category-3 or higher storms. According to figures released Sunday, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year had increased sales as compared to last year. The National Retail Federation said that shoppers spent about 410-billion-dollars over the holiday weekend, an amount up 7.2-percent from 2007. However, reports are also saying that holiday shopping will continue to suffer during the next month. Some noted signs include that 54.7-percent of shoppers this weekend went to discount stores and that almost 25-percent started the buying-trip before 5-am when sales were the greatest. And a retail workers union made a statement that the worker who was trampled to death at a Long Island Walmart on Black Friday was avoidable. The statement questioned if the store had safety barriers or security, and it also suggested lack of judgment regarding the crowd numbers by management. Walmart reps did not comment on the union statement, but referred to a letter it released on Friday, saying that it had internal security, additional outside security and barricades in preparation for Black Friday. The 34-year-old temporary employee was crushed when he and other workers unlocked the store doors at 5-am on the busy shopping day. We’ll see you tomorrow for more news updates, right here on GetTheDaily.com.