Business category, Page 262
Target teams up with Disney to open shops
NEW YORK — Target is hoping to bring the magic of such characters as Mickey Mouse and Elsa to its own customers by opening permanent Disney shops at a cluster of stores starting this fall. As part of the collaboration with The Walt Disney Co., the Minneapolis-based discounter says it...
U.S. tech industry becomes hotbed for employee activism
SAN FRANCISCO — When Liz O’Sullivan was hired at the New York City-based artificial intelligence company Clarifai in 2017, she felt lucky to find work at the intersection of two of her main interests: technology and ethics. Two years later, she found herself facing a moral dilemma. Clarifai was developing...
AARP chief: How living to 100 changes our ideas about aging
Jo Ann Jenkins is the CEO of AARP, the world’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization. AARP is focused on helping people “improve their quality of life” as they age; it has more than 38 million members. Jenkins joined AARP in 2010 and became CEO in 2014. Previously she was chief...
Return of the king: Salmon rebounds after California drought
SAN FRANCISCO — Trolling off the California coast, Sarah Bates leans over the side of her boat and pulls out a long, silvery fish prized by anglers and seafood lovers: wild king salmon. Reeling in a fish “feels good every time,” but this year has been surprisingly good, said Bates,...
Major carriers, state AGs will work to combat robocalls
NEW YORK — Major phone companies have pledged to do more to fight robocalls plaguing Americans, the country’s state attorneys general say. It’s the latest step from government and industry to combat the growing problem. Americans get nearly 5 billion automated calls from scammers, telemarketers, debt collectors and others every...
Trump flip-flops on tax cuts, saying U.S. has ‘strong economy’
WASHINGTON — A day after considering cutting taxes to promote economic growth, President Donald Trump changed course and said he would abandon the idea because the nation already had “a strong economy.” Trump’s flip-flop on Wednesday came after recent market volatility and economic uncertainty, and amid a debate about whether...
Report shows U.S. deficit to exceed $1 trillion next yearVideo
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit is expected to balloon to more than $1 trillion in the next fiscal year under the first projections taking into account the big budget deal that President Trump and Congress reached this summer, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. The return of $1 trillion...
U.S. has 501,000 fewer jobs than first reported
WASHINGTON — The U.S. job market isn’t quite as strong as originally believed — with revised figures showing that the economy had 501,000 fewer total jobs this March than initially reported. The Labor Department says that nearly two-thirds of the downward revision came from the retail and leisure and hospitality...
U.S. Steel plans to lay off nearly 200 workers in Michigan
U.S. Steel Corp. is planning to lay off almost 200 workers from its Great Lakes Works facility just outside of Detroit. The Detroit Free Press reports the Pittsburgh company said in a filing with the state of Michigan that “market conditions and recent reductions in customer demand” are the reason...
Is online shoe-buying bad for kids’ feet?
CHICAGO — It’s a back-to-school tradition: a visit to the neighborhood shoe store, where employees pull out a well-worn metal foot measuring tool from under a seat to measure children’s feet, fit them with the right shoes, and send them out the door, frequently wearing the new kicks. Generations of...
Long-sought Volcker Rule revisions land on a changed Wall Street
NEW YORK — Wall Street spent the better part of a decade battling for regulators to reshape the reviled Volcker Rule. When the changes finally landed Tuesday, the win felt more symbolic. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other regulators rolled out tweaks that clarify which trades are prohibited and...
Facebook rolls out tool to block off-Facebook data gathering
SAN FRANCISCO — Soon, you could get fewer familiar ads following you around the internet — or at least on Facebook. Facebook is launching a long-promised tool that lets you block the social network from gathering information about you on outside websites and apps. The company said Tuesday that it...
Eddie Bauer to shut down its Midwest call center, send jobs overseas
In yet another example of a beloved Northwest retailer trying to turn itself around, Eddie Bauer will shutter a call center near Columbus, Ohio, and eliminate 111 jobs there in October. The closure, disclosed last week by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, comes a little over a...
U.S. extends limited reprieve on tech sales to China’s Huawei
The Trump administration has extended a limited reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei, even as questions remain over how much of an effect broader sanctions are having on the Chinese technology giant. Huawei has become enmeshed in the trade war between Washington and Beijing, with President Trump showing a...
Brand-name drug prices rising at slower pace, lower amounts
TRENTON, N.J. — Drug companies are still raising prices for brand-name prescription medicines, just not as often or by as much as they used to, according to an Associated Press analysis. After years of frequent list price hikes, many drugmakers are showing some restraint, according to the analysis of drug...
U.S. gives Huawei a 90-day reprieve on technology trade ban
NEW YORK — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the U.S. will extend by 90 days the ability of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to buy supplies from U.S. companies. It’s the second extension for Huawei, a company that the U.S. sees as a national security risk. The comments Monday from Ross...
Beer named for Pacific island nuke test site draws criticismVideo
HAGATNA, Guam — A Texas-based company is facing criticism for naming a beer after the location of nuclear tests that resulted in the contamination of a Pacific island chain, a report said. Manhattan Project Beer Company is under scrutiny by Marshall Islanders who were exposed to high levels of radiation...
Ohio newspaper to begin publishing Vindicator edition
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — A daily newspaper in Ohio has purchased the name and subscriber list of The Vindicator in Youngstown, which is publishing its final edition Aug. 31. Vindicator owner and general manager Mark Brown said Friday The Tribune Chronicle in Warren also is buying the Vindy.com website and will...
Colorado OKs electric car requirement to fight air pollution
DENVER — Colorado tightened its air quality regulations on Friday, requiring that at least 5% of the vehicles sold in the state by 2023 emit zero pollution. The state Air Quality Control Commission, which passed the rule on an 8-1 vote, said the requirement applies to auto manufacturers, not buyers....
U.S. home construction fell 4% in July
WASHINGTON — U.S. housing starts fell 4.0% in July, driven by a decline in the construction of apartment buildings. The Commerce Department says that housing starts slipped last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.19 million units. So far this year, housing starts have declined 3.1%. While there...
Stock indexes end mostly higher after volatile day
Investors rode out another turbulent day on Wall Street on Thursday that kept stock indexes flipping between gains and losses until a late-day bounce gave the market a modest gain. Worries about a possible recession collided with hopes that the strongest part of the economy — shoppers spending at stores...
Virgin Galactic reveals futuristic outpost for space tourism
UPHAM, N.M. — Spaceport America is no longer just a shiny shell of hope that space tourism would one day launch from this remote spot in the New Mexico desert. The once-empty hangar that anchors the taxpayer-financed launch and landing facility has been transformed into a custom-tailored headquarters where Virgin...
U.S. makes new push for graphic warning labels on cigarettes
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are making a new attempt at adding graphic images to cigarette packets to discourage and Americans from lighting up. If successful, it would be the first change to U.S. cigarette warnings in 35 years. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed 13 new warnings...
U.S. long-term mortgage rates stay near historic lows
WASHINGTON — U.S. long-term mortgage rates remained near historically low levels this week against a backdrop of volatile financial markets around the globe. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average rate on the benchmark 30-year loan was unchanged at 3.60%, its lowest level since November 2016. A year ago the...
U.S. industrial output fell 0.2% in July as factories struggle
WASHINGTON — U.S. industrial production fell 0.2% in July, as factory activity slumped in a worrisome sign for the economy. The Federal Reserve said Thursday that the overall decline was caused primarily by a 0.4% drop last month in manufacturing production. Output decreased for autos, fabricated metals, wood products, textiles...
