Business category, Page 271
Facebook: Fake account removal doubles in 6 months to 3B
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook removed more than 3 billion fake accounts from October to March, twice as many as the previous six months, the company said Thursday. Nearly all of them were caught before they had a chance to become “active” users of the social network. In a new report,...
Trump admin sending another $16 billion to ailing farmers
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is delivering another $16 billion in aid to farmers hurt by his trade policies, an effort to relieve the economic pain among his supporters in rural America. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the first of three payments is likely to be made in July...
Mnuchin says Harriet Tubman $20 bill design delayed past 2020Video
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday the redesign of the $20 bill to feature 19th century abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman has been delayed. The decision to replace Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, with Tubman on the $20 bill had been made by Mnuchin’s predecessor, former Treasury Secretary...
Kroger, largest grocery chain in U.S., to eliminate plastic bags
The nation’s largest grocery chain has vowed to stop using plastic bags. Cincinnati-based Kroger says it will phase out the plastic bags by 2025. The chain goes through 6 billion bags annually. Six years to eliminate plastic bags, Kroger?? Disappointing. ♻️ Nancy Dinell (@Nancy_Advocate) May 22, 2019 The project...
Borgata casino unveils $12M sports bet, nightspot project
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City’s Borgata casino is investing $12 million in a new sports betting and entertainment project. Casino officials tell The Associated Press it will open a sports bar and sports betting facility named Moneyline Bar & Book on June 29. The name is a reference to the...
U.S., China appear to brace for long haul in trade disputeVideo
WASHINGTON — With negotiations on hold and tariffs piling up, the United States and China appear to be bracing for a prolonged standoff over trade. Beijing is airing Korean War movies (antagonist: America) to arouse patriotic feelings in the Chinese public and offering tax cuts to software and chip companies...
Bankruptcy judge to approve sale of Reading Eagle
READING — A federal bankruptcy judge said Wednesday he intends to approve the sale of the Reading Eagle to a large newspaper chain known for taking over struggling papers and then making deep newsroom cuts. MediaNews Group, better known as Digital First Media, offered $5 million for the assets of...
Qualcomm violated antitrust law, judge rules
Qualcomm violated antitrust law by brandishing its market dominance to squeeze excessive licensing fees from phone manufacturers, a federal judge in California ruled, delivering a major jolt to the critical components market for next-generation smartphones. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s ruling late Tuesday night sided with the Federal Trade Commission,...
Anti-groping smartphone app highly popular in Japan
TOKYO — A smartphone app developed by Japanese police is being widely downloaded by women trying to protect themselves from gropers on packed rush-hour trains. The “Digi Police” app was originally issued by Tokyo police three years ago, but a function to scare off molesters was only added a few...
Tech rebound powers U.S. stocks higher, snaps 2-day S&P slump
Technology companies helped power stocks broadly higher on Wall Street Tuesday, snapping the market’s two-day losing streak. The rally followed the U.S. government’s decision to temporarily ease off proposed restrictions on technology sales to Chinese companies. The news gave a boost to technology sector stocks, which took steep losses a...
Department stores troubles increase for Kohl’s, Penney’s
NEW YORK — The outlook for department stores got murkier Tuesday after J.C. Penney and Kohl’s reported fiscal first quarter results that showed they struggled at the start of the year. Penney, which has been trying to turn around its business for several years after a disastrous reinvention plan, reported...
Women’s clothing chain Dressbarn to close all its 650 stores
NEW YORK — Dressbarn, the women’s clothing chain that’s been around for nearly 60 years, is closing all 650 of its stores. The company’s chief financial officer, Steven Taylor, said Dressbarn has not been operating at an “acceptable level of profitability in today’s retail environment.” Its owner, Ascena Retail Group...
Blue Apron latest to suffer in tough meal kit market
Meal kit companies face an ultimatum: Adapt or die. The business is still in its infancy, with the biggest players — Blue Apron and HelloFresh — less than a decade old. But they’re facing serious challenges from restaurant and grocery delivery services, smaller niche players and even home chefs. The...
Seeing a twisting road ahead, Ford cuts 7,000 white-collar jobsVideo
DETROIT — Ford is cutting about 7,000 white-collar jobs, which would make up 10% of its global workforce. The company has said it was undertaking a major restructuring, and on Monday said that it will have trimmed thousands of jobs by August. The company said that the plan will save...
China’s ban on scrap imports a boon to U.S. recycling plants
ALBANY, N.Y. — The halt on China’s imports of wastepaper and plastic that has disrupted U.S. recycling programs has also spurred investment in American plants that process recyclables. U.S. paper mills are expanding capacity to take advantage of a glut of cheap scrap. Some facilities that previously exported plastic or...
Heinz Mayochup has an unfortunate translation in Cree
The Kraft Heinz company must have been selling a decent amount of their mayonnaise-ketchup mashup in the United States so they expanded sales into Canada. What could go wrong? Mayochup tastes exactly the same on both sides of the border but Canada’s Cree speakers think the condiment sounds a little...
Fastest-growing nuclear business is tearing down U.S. plants
The fastest growing part of the nuclear industry in the U.S. involves a small but expanding group of companies that specialize in tearing reactors down faster and cheaper than ever before. After Entergy Corp. shut its Vermont nuclear plant in 2014, the utility planned to wait until 2068 to dismantle...
Tesla Model 3 Autopilot was active before deadly collision, federal investigators say
Tesla’s Autopilot system was active in a Model 3 that collided with a tractor-trailer during a fatal crash in March, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday. The crash in Delray Beach, Fla., that killed the Tesla driver is at least the third deadly collision in the United States involving...
United Airlines to lay off 100 in Houston, outsource jobs
HOUSTON — United Airlines says it will cut about 100 accounting jobs in Houston in July and shift the work to a contractor. The airline reported the layoffs in a letter this week to the Texas Workforce Commission. It did not identify the contractor that will handle accounting of revenue...
Massachusetts set to test ‘cannabis cafes’
BOSTON — Massachusetts marijuana regulators have approved of a plan to slowly roll out “cannabis cafes” where adults could use pot in a social setting. The 3-2 vote by the Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday calls for an initial test program in as many as a dozen communities where licenses...
The highest paying entry level jobs, according to Glassdoor
A decade after the Great Recession, when new college grads walked into an abysmal job market with long-lasting effects, the Class of 2019 is joining the workforce during an economic upswing, complete with historically low unemployment and rising wages. For technically minded graduates, the prospects are even brighter, according to...
Pirates owner Bob Nutting visits bankrupt Reading Eagle newspaper
Word swept through the Reading Eagle last Friday that newspaper baron and Pittsburgh Pirates owner Robert Nutting was touring the presses and offices, triggering speculation that his Ogden Newspapers could bid on the distressed 230-employee Pennsylvania newspaper. Nutting could not be reached in several attempts to contact him at Ogden...
U.S. home construction climbed 5.7% in April
WASHINGTON — U.S. home construction rose in April, led by an uptick in single-family homes. The Commerce Department said Thursday that homebuilding rose 5.7% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million. But housing starts fell 2.5% from a year earlier, suggesting that would-be home buyers are...
Judge: No site permit needed for refinery near national park
BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota judge has ruled that regulators properly refrained from getting involved in a dispute over the location of an $800 million oil refinery planned near Theodore Roosevelt National Park, sparing developers from a potentially lengthy delay in construction. The Public Service Commission last year declined...
Co-working spaces: Not just for start-up bros anymore
LOS ANGELES — Co-working is often more pleasant these days than putting in eight hours at a traditional office. If you’d prefer a workspace that looks like a chic hotel lobby with waiters at your service, that can be arranged. Want to be around other women in a cabana on...
