Business category, Page 67
Spirit Airlines is going upscale. In a break from its history, it will offer fares with extra perks
Spirit Airlines is moving farther away from its history as a fee-happy budget airline and will start selling tickets that include some of its most popular extras in bundles. The Florida-based airline said Tuesday the top ticket will be a “Go Big” package that includes priority check-in, a roomier seat,...
U.S. job openings fall slightly to 8.2 million, sign that high rates continue to cool labor market
WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings fell slightly last month, a sign that the American labor market continues to cool in the face of high interest rates. There were 8.18 million job vacancies in June, down from 8.23 million in May, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. The U.S. economy and job...
U.S. Steel marketing blitz puts pressure on government to OK sale to Nippon Steel
U.S. Steel is banking on public pressure to push through a $14.9 billion acquisition by Nippon Steel as lawmakers and regulators balk at putting the domestic icon in foreign hands. An advertising campaign launched this year touts promises by Japan’s largest steelmaker to preserve jobs, upgrade plants and sustain American...
Justice Department says TikTok collected U.S. user views on issues like abortion and gun control
WASHINGTON — In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department is accusing TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion. Government lawyers wrote in documents filed...
6,300 University of Pittsburgh staffers gain chance to join Steelworkers union
For University of Pittsburgh staff who watched as 3,400 faculty colleagues gained collective bargaining rights a few years back, what’s coming in the mail soon represents their own moment of choice. The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board will oversee another union election at Pitt. This time, it’s for 6,300 staff. Ballots...
California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 22, ending legal saga over status of gig drivers
The California Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 22, the voter initiative that allows Uber, Lyft and other gig economy companies to classify drivers for their ride-hailing and delivery services as independent contractors rather than as employees. In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning, the state’s top court rejected claims...
Economic growth increased last quarter to a healthy 2.8% annual rateVideo
WASHINGTON — The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services —...
Workers go on strike at 5-star Paris hotel where IOC members are staying for Olympics
Workers went on strike Thursday at the five-star hotel in Paris where members of the International Olympic Committee are staying, walking out just a day before the opening ceremony of the Games. According to the major French union CGT, the IOC paid the hotel where staffers were striking, Hôtel du...
Average rate on a 30-year mortgage inches up to 6.78%, first uptick in 3 weeks
LOS ANGELES — Mortgage rates inched higher this week, keeping the average rate on a 30-year mortgage essentially flat and near the 7% range it’s been in most of this year. The rate rose to 6.78% from 6.77% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the...
Southwest Airlines plans to start assigning seats, breaking with a 50-year tradition
DALLAS — Goodbye, cattle call. Southwest Airlines said Thursday that it plans to drop the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years and will start assigning passengers to seats, just like all the other big airlines. The airline said it has been studying seating options, running tests...
Ford’s Q2 net income falls 4.7% as pretax profits drop at combustion engine unit
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.’s second-quarter net income fell 4.7% from a year ago as the company’s combustion engine unit posted a pretax loss due to higher warranty costs. The Dearborn, Mich., automaker said Wednesday it made $1.83 billion from April through June, compared with $1.92 billion a year ago....
NBA says it has entered deal with Amazon, not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s offer
The NBA said Wednesday that it is not accepting Warner Bros. Discovery’s $1.8 billion per year offer to continue its longtime relationship with the league and therefore has entered into a deal with Amazon Prime Video, a move that would mean this coming season would end a nearly four-decade run...
Wall Street wipeout: S&P 500 falls 2% as Big Tech skids
NEW YORK — A wipeout on Wednesday sent U.S. stock indexes to their worst losses since 2022 after profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet helped suck momentum from Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. The S&P 500 tumbled 2.3% for its fifth drop in the past six days. The Dow...
Disney reaches tentative agreement with California theme park workers
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Disney has reached a tentative agreement with four unions representing thousands of workers at its California theme parks, including ride operators, candy makers and parking attendants. The coalition of unions said early Wednesday that its 14,000 workers will get to vote on the deal on Monday. No...
Strike at plant that makes truck seats forces production stoppage for Missouri General Motors
Production has halted at a Missouri General Motors plant that manufactures trucks and vans, the result of a strike at the company that supplies seats for the vehicles. About 480 workers at Lear Corp. in Wentzville walked out at midnight Sunday. The strike brought production to a standstill Monday at...
Crowdstrike blames update for letting bad data slip through causing global tech outage
Crowdstrike is blaming a bug in an update that allowed its cybersecurity systems to push bad data out to millions of customer computers, setting off last week’s global tech outage that grounded flights, took TV broadcasts off air and disrupted banks, hospitals and retailers. Crowdstrike also said it would take...
How college sports video games became the entry point to dismantle the NCAA’s amateurism rules
Sonny Vaccaro knew nothing about the law. He did know a lot about college sports and was sure the athletes who were driving millions of dollars in revenue to their schools should be paid. Michael Hausfeld knew nothing about college sports, but it didn’t take long for the attorney who...
Google makes abrupt U-turn by dropping plan to remove ad-tracking cookies on Chrome browser
LONDON — Google is dropping plans to eliminate cookies from its Chrome web browser, making a sudden U-turn on four years of work to phase out a technology that helps businesses tracks users online. The company had been working on retiring third-party cookies, which are snippets of code that log...
With U.S. vehicle prices averaging near $50K, General Motors sees 2nd-quarter profits rise 15%
DETROIT — U.S. customers who bought a new General Motors vehicle last quarter paid an average of just under $49,900, a price that helped push the company’s net income 15% above a year ago. And GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said he doesn’t see his company cutting prices very...
Judge orders Comprehensive Healthcare to pay nearly $36M for labor violations
A federal judge on Monday ordered an embattled nursing home corporation to pay nearly $36 million in back wages and penalties after finding that Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services violated U.S. labor laws. U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV ordered the company, which operated 15 nursing homes in Western Pennsylvania, to...
Warner Bros. Discovery informs NBA it will match Amazon Prime Video’s offer to carry games
Turner Sports intends to continue its longtime relationship with the NBA. Warner Bros. Discovery informed the league Monday that it will match the $1.8 billion per year offer by Amazon Prime Video. Turner has had an NBA package since 1984 and games have been on TNT since the network launched...
Cleveland-Cliffs will make electrical transformers at shuttered West Virginia tin plant
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Cleveland-Cliffs announced Monday it will produce electrical transformers in a $150 million investment at a West Virginia facility that closed earlier this year. The company hopes to reopen the Weirton facility in early 2026 and “address the critical shortage of distribution transformers that is stifling economic growth...
CrowdStrike CEO called to testify to Congress over cybersecurity’s firm role in global tech outage
AUSTIN, Tex. — U.S. House leaders are calling on CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify to Congress about the cybersecurity company’s role in sparking the widespread tech outage that grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and affected services around the world. CrowdStrike said this week a “significant number”...
U.S. investigates some Jeep and Ram vehicles after getting complaints of abrupt engine stalling
DETROIT — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints that some Ram pickup trucks and Jeep Wagoneer SUVs can lose power, shift into park and apply the emergency brake. The probe announced Monday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration covers about 150,000 vehicles made by Stellantis from the 2022...
Delta Air Lines says cancellations continue as it tries to restore operations after tech outage
NEW YORK — Airlines, including Delta Air Lines, continued to struggle to restore operations two days after a faulty software update caused technological havoc worldwide and resulted in several carriers grounding flights. According to the latest data from FlightAware, there were 1,461 total cancellations within, into, or out of the...
