Business category, Page 117
Bud Light parent says U.S. market share stabilizing after transgender promotion cost sales
Bud Light’s parent company expressed confidence Thursday that its U.S. market share has stabilized after a promotion with a transgender influencer cost it sales. Anheuser-Busch Inbev said Thursday that its U.S. revenue fell 10.5% in the second quarter. Bud Light sales plunged amid a conservative backlash after the brand sent...
IRS aims to go paperless by 2025 as part of its campaign to conquer mountains of paperwork
Most taxpayers will be able to digitally submit a slew of tax documents and other communications to the IRS next filing season as the agency aims to go completely paperless by 2025. The effort to reduce the exorbitant load of paperwork that has plagued the agency — dubbed the “paperless...
X marks the lawsuit: Elon Musk’s social media company sues nonprofit highlighting site’s hate speech
WASHINGTON — X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has sued a group of researchers — alleging their work highlighting an increase in hate speech on the platform cost the company millions of dollars of advertising revenue. The suit, filed late Monday night in U.S. District Court in...
Fitch downgrades U.S. credit rating, citing mounting debt and political divisions
WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings has downgraded the United States government’s credit rating, citing rising debt at the federal, state, and local levels and a “steady deterioration in standards of governance” over the past two decades. The rating was cut Tuesday one notch to AA+ from AAA, the highest possible rating....
Unemployment rate in Pittsburgh region dips to new record low
The unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh area inched down to 3.9% during the month of June, a new record low. The drop of two-tenths of a percentage brings the rate to the lowest point since 1976, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry. David...
Job openings fall to lowest level in 2 years as demand for workers cools
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted fewer jobs in June, a sign that the red-hot demand for workers that has been a key feature of the post-pandemic economy is cooling a bit. Job openings dropped to 9.6 million in June, the Labor Department said Tuesday, down slightly from the previous month...
GM recalls nearly 900 vehicles with Takata air bag inflators, blames manufacturing problem
DETROIT — General Motors is recalling nearly 900 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada with Takata air bag inflators that could explode and hurl shrapnel in a crash. The recall covers certain Chevrolet Camaro, Sonic and Volt vehicles as well as the Buick Verano, all from the 2013 model year....
Millennial Money: Mystery travel lets you focus on the fun, not the details
Travel planning can be a real chore. Booking flights, deciding on the right hotel and building an itinerary might be fun for some, but others dread it. That’s why some travelers are opting for an unorthodox travel strategy that eliminates the planning stage altogether. It’s called “mystery” or “suprise” travel,...
Bed Bath & Beyond is back, this time as an online retailer
NEW YORK — Overstock has officially relaunched the Bed Bath & Beyond domain online Tuesday in the U.S., after acquiring the bankrupt retail chain’s intellectual property assets for $21.5 million last month. The online retailer Overstock.com said in late June that it was dumping its name online and it will...
Chatbots sometimes make things up. Not everyone thinks AI’s hallucination problem is fixable
Spend enough time with ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots and it doesn’t take long for them to spout falsehoods. Described as hallucination, confabulation or just plain making things up, it’s now a problem for every business, organization and high school student trying to get a generative AI system to...
U.S. opens safety probe into complaints from Tesla drivers that they can lose steering control
DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators have opened yet another investigation into safety problems with Tesla vehicles. This time the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into a dozen complaints about loss of steering control or loss of power steering in the 2023 Models 3 and Y electric vehicles....
Shapiro signs executive order in Pittsburgh to create statewide workforce development program
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Monday in Pittsburgh’s Esplen neighborhood, creating a statewide workforce training program. The move comes after Pittsburgh was designated a “workforce development hub” by the White House, with the first lady visiting the region to sing the praises of the region’s workforce development efforts....
Brightly flashing ‘X’ sign removed from the former Twitter’s San Francisco headquartersVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — A brightly flashing “X” sign has been removed from the San Francisco headquarters of the company formerly known as Twitter just days after it was installed. The San Francisco Department of Building Inspection said Monday it received 24 complaints about the unpermitted structure over the weekend. Complaints...
Customers want instant gratification; workers say it’s pushing them to the brink
NEW YORK — Six straight days of 12-hour driving. Single digit paychecks. The complaints come from workers in vastly different industries: UPS delivery drivers and Hollywood actors and writers. But they point to an underlying factor driving a surge of labor unrest: The cost to workers whose jobs have changed...
Teamsters say trucking giant Yellow Corp. is ceasing operations, filing for bankruptcy
NEW YORK — Trucking company Yellow Corp. has shut down operations and is headed for a bankruptcy filing, according to the Teamsters Union and multiple media reports. After years of financial struggles, reports of Yellow preparing for bankruptcy emerged last week — as the Nashville, Tennessee-based trucker saw customers leave...
Kimberly Palmer: How to stay safe from financial scams
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to protecting yourself from financial scams is thinking you’re too smart to be duped by one. “We’re all vulnerable — we can all fall for a scam given the right set of circumstances,” says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO...
Automaker Tesla is opening more showrooms on tribal lands to avoid state laws barring direct sales
Tesla is ramping up efforts to open showrooms on tribal lands where it can sell directly to consumers, circumventing laws in states that bar vehicle manufacturers from also being retailers in favor of the dealership model. Mohegan Sun, a casino and entertainment complex in Connecticut owned by the federally recognized...
Carnegie Mellon University gets approval to build new robotics center at Hazelwood Green
Carnegie Mellon University has received approval from Pittsburgh’s Planning Commission to move forward with plans for a new robotics center at the Hazelwood Green site. The university is planning to build a 150,000-square-foot research building with a two-story enclosure for testing robots and drones, according to Bob Reppe, the school’s...
‘The Confluence’ news program on WESA radio to end production
WESA’s flagship daily morning news show “The Confluence” will end next week, according to a statement from the station’s management. Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting President and CEO Terry O’Reilly announced Friday that the show would air for the last time Aug. 4. PCBC owns WESA-FM, the local NPR affiliate, and WYEP....
An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Fed falls to its lowest level in more than 2 years
WASHINGTON — A measure of consumer prices that is closely monitored by the Federal Reserve fell last month to its lowest level since March 2021, the latest sign that inflation in the United States is steadily cooling from its once-painful highs. Prices rose just 3% in June from 12 months...
Ford recalls 870K F-150 pickups in US because parking brakes can turn on unexpectedly
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford is recalling more than 870,000 newer F-150 pickups in the U.S. because the electric parking brakes can turn on unexpectedly. The recall covers certain pickups from the 2021 through 2023 model years with single exhaust systems. Ford’s F-Series pickups are the top-selling vehicles in the U.S....
Car wash planned at old Teddy’s restaurant location in North Huntingdon
The site of the former Teddy’s restaurant along Route 30 in North Huntingdon is to be razed for an automated car wash, making it the fourth place to clean a vehicle in a two-mile stretch of the highway east and west of Irwin. Express Wash Concepts of Etna, Ohio, plans...
Deep dive into Meta’s algorithms shows that America’s political polarization has no easy fix
WASHINGTON — The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram to deliver content to users have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization. But a series of groundbreaking studies published Thursday suggest addressing these challenges is not as simple as tweaking the platforms’ software. The four research papers,...
Federal Reserve keeps raising rates. That means it’s harder to get a car loan.
NEW YORK — The Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to raise its benchmark rate for the 11th time, by a quarter-point, could once again send ripple effects across the economy. Mortgage rates, which have surged since the Fed began lifting rates in March 2022, may now rise further. So could rates...
Bedford Dwellings to receive $62.5M makeover in Hill District redevelopment project
A $62.5 million redevelopment project that will bring new apartments and townhouses to Pittsburgh’s Hill District is moving forward. The Bedford Dwellings project, approved this week by the city’s Planning Commission, is being led by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh-based Trek Development Group. Plans include...
