Business category, Page 147
Westmoreland Mall seeing strong holiday turnout
It seems as if — at least this holiday season — what was old is new again at Westmoreland Mall. On a December afternoon, the mall is buzzing with happy shoppers, hungry food court patrons and cheerful Christmas tunes. Children wave to their parents from the Christmas train, a kiosk...
Twitter suspends journalists who wrote about owner Elon Musk
Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists who cover the social media platform, the latest battle over what can and cannot be said on the site since billionaire Elon Musk took control of it. Accounts of reporters with The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Voice of America and other...
Medical marijuana company to lay off workers at McKeesport growing facility
Trulieve, a medical marijuana company with locations throughout Pennsylvania, is laying off an unspecified number of people at its growing facility in McKeesport. The company said in a statement the cuts are the “result of greater efficiencies throughout our supply chain and retail operations in the state.” “Where possible, we...
New York bans pet stores from selling cats, dogs, rabbits
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York on Thursday became the latest state to ban the sale of cats, dogs and rabbits in pet stores in an attempt to target commercial breeding operations decried by critics as “puppy mills.” The new law, which was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul and takes effect...
Tesla stock rises despite Musk selling $3.58B of its shares
Shares of Tesla rose slightly in midday trading Thursday despite news that CEO Elon Musk sold another $3.58 billion worth of the electric vehicle maker’s stock this week. The stock traded at $157.06 at midday, near its two-year lows, but it was faring better than the broader markets. Musk, the...
Group casts doubt on Amazon’s claims of reducing plastic
NEW YORK — A report by environmental group Oceana has found that plastic waste from Amazon packages went up by 18% last year, but Amazon says it has reduced its use of single-use plastic across its network. According to the Oceana’s estimates, released Thursday, Amazon’s plastic waste jumped from 599...
Organic livestock farmers, hit by rising prices, seek help
WHITINGHAM, Vt. — Organic dairy and other livestock farmers are seeking emergency federal aid as they grapple with skyrocketing organic feed costs, steep fuel and utility expenses as well as the consequences of drought in many parts of the country. Two dozen U.S. senators and representatives wrote to U.S. Agriculture...
How Fed’s series of rate hikes could affect your finances
NEW YORK — The Federal Reserve’s move Wednesday to raise its key rate by a half-point brought it to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest level in 14 years. The Fed’s latest increase — its seventh rate hike this year — will make it even costlier for consumers...
Report: TikTok boosts posts about eating disorders, suicide
TikTok’s algorithms are promoting videos about self-harm and eating disorders to vulnerable teens, according to a report published Wednesday that highlights concerns about social media and its impact on youth mental health. Researchers at the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate created TikTok accounts for fictional teen personas in the...
Stocks stumble after Fed hikes rates, signals more to comeVideo
A bumpy day of trading on Wall Street ended with stocks broadly lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate in its fight against inflation and signaled that more hikes lay ahead. As expected, the central bank raised its key short-term rate by 0.50 percentage points, marking its...
Gaming Control Board gives green light to proposed State College mini-casino license hearings
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the licensing hearing process for a proposed $123 million mini-casino in State College to move forward as normal, despite the objections of a Philadelphia-based competitor. Bally’s Corp., in partnership with SC Gaming LLC, led by former Penn State trustee Ira...
Senate crypto hearing yields big claims, possible regulation
Whether increased regulation would have prevented the spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX was fiercely debated at a hearing of the Senate’s banking committee Wednesday. However, new legislation is potentially on the way. Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced at the hearing bipartisan legislation aimed at cracking down on cryptocurrencies being used...
Fed raises key rate by half-point and signals more to come
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve reinforced its inflation fight Wednesday by raising its key interest rate for the seventh time this year and signaling more hikes to come. But the Fed announced a smaller hike than it had in its past four meetings at a time when inflation is showing...
Twitter changes rules over account tracking Elon Musk’s jet
Twitter on Wednesday suspended an account that used publicly available flight data to track Elon Musk’s private jet, despite a pledge by the social media platform’s new owner to keep it up because of his free speech principles. Then, hours later, Musk brought back the jet-tracking account after imposing new...
Company holiday parties are back — but with some restraint
NEW YORK — Say goodbye to virtual wine tastings, and bust out the karaoke. Love them or hate them, company holiday parties back — in a toned-down kind of way. After more than two years of working in pajama bottoms and clinking glasses over Zoom, many office workers seem to...
The problems with using buy now, pay later to fund travel
Book a flight or hotel room now, and pay it off later? It’s an increasingly common trend in travel spending. Companies like American Airlines , United Airlines and vacation rental website Vacasa now offer the option to make reservations now and pay it back incrementally over time with “buy now,...
3 West Virginia reporters who condemned interview of ex-coal CEO fired
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Three reporters from a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper in West Virginia say they have been fired after publicly criticizing an interview conducted by their company president with a former coal executive who was convicted of a safety violation in connection with the worst U.S. mine disaster in decades....
Wawa goes west: Convenience chain is eyeing locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana
Wawa is scouting new store sites in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, with the first gas-and-sandwich convenience stores under the flying-goose signs to be announced next year and opened after 2025, the company said recently. It also plans to move into Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia by 2024. The company...
ByHeart recalls baby formula because of potential bacterial contamination risk
A company that makes baby formula has voluntarily issued a recall of five batches “out of an abundance of caution” after a third-party packaging facility sample tested positive for the bacteria, cronobacter sakazakii. ByHeart said none of its product has tested positive for bacteria and the recall is not related...
FTX’s Bankman-Fried charged by U.S. for scheme to defraud
NEW YORK — U.S. prosecutors charged Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with a host of financial crimes and campaign finance violations on Tuesday, alleging he played a central role in the rapid collapse of FTX and hid its problems from the public and investors....
Wall Street closes higher after inflation cooled in November
NEW YORK — Stocks on Wall Street finished higher Tuesday after a report showed inflation cooled more than expected last month, cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve is about to dial down the size of its interest rate hikes. The encouraging inflation data raised hopes for easing pressure on the...
U.S. inflation slowed sharply to 7.1% over past 12 months
WASHINGTON — Inflation in the United States slowed again last month in the latest sign that price increases are cooling despite the pressures they continue to inflict on American households. Consumer prices rose 7.1% in November from a year ago, the government said Tuesday. That was down sharply from 7.7%...
Musk’s Twitter disbands its Trust and Safety advisory group
Elon Musk’s Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of around 100 independent civil, human rights and other organizations that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform. The council had been scheduled to meet...
John Dorfman: Bunny Portfolio has averaged 13.6% per year
What do you call a stock that has a great earnings-growth history yet sells for modest price? You might call it a paradox. I call it a candidate for the Bunny Portfolio. I invented the Bunny Portfolio in 1999 and have written about it almost every year since. It’s named...
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas
NEW YORK — The former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by the two countries following the collapse last month of FTX. The firm filed...
