Business category, Page 79
Sluggish start for spring homebuying season as home sales fall in March with mortgage rates rising
LOS ANGELES — The spring homebuying season is off to a sluggish start as home shoppers contend with elevated mortgage rates and rising prices. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell 4.3% in March from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million, the National Association...
Starbucks introducing cold drink cup made with less plastic
Booming sales of cold drinks at Starbucks have created a problem: growing amounts of plastic waste from the single-use cups that Frappuccinos, Refreshers, cold brews and other iced drinks are served in. The coffee giant said Thursday it plans to alleviate some of that waste with new disposable cups that...
Number of Americans applying for jobless benefits holds steady as labor market remains strong
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits didn’t change last week as the labor market continues to defy efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool hiring. The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims for the week ending April 13 were unchanged from the previous week’s 212,000. The four-week...
Boeing put under Senate scrutiny during back-to-back hearings on aircraft maker’s safety culture
An engineer at Boeing said Wednesday that the aircraft company, in rushing to produce as many planes as possible, is taking manufacturing shortcuts that could lead to jetliners breaking apart. “They are putting out defective airplanes,” the engineer, Sam Salehpour, told members of a Senate subcommittee. Salehpour was testifying about...
Ford recalls over 456,000 Bronco Sport and Maverick cars due to loss of drive power risk
NEW YORK — Ford is recalling more than 456,000 Bronco Sport and Maverick vehicles due to a battery detection issue that can result in loss of drive power, increasing crash risks. According to documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the body and power train control modules for...
Biden administration recruits 15 states to help enforce airline consumer laws
The Biden administration is enlisting the help of officials in 15 states to enforce consumer-protection laws covering airline travelers, a power that by law is limited to the federal government. The Department of Transportation said Tuesday that the states, which include California, New York and Illinois, will help ensure that...
John Dorfman: 5 candidates for a small-stock comeback
Waiting for small stocks to stage a comeback is like: (a) Watching grass grow (b) Watching paint dry (c) Watching snails race (d) All of the above The answer of course is (d). This year through April 12, large-capitalization stocks (as represented by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Total Return...
Cheap mortgages deter workers from relocating for $250,000 jobs
Manager recruits in the industrial Midwest are shunning offers to move to the American South — in part because they’re locked into super-low 30-year mortgages. A tight labor market that’s allowing workers to stay closer to home, rising housing costs and a post-pandemic shift toward remote or hybrid-work arrangements are...
Tesla plans to lay off 10% of workforce after dismal quarterly sales, multiple news outlets report
DETROIT — After reporting dismal first-quarter sales, Tesla is planning to lay off about a tenth of its workforce as it tries to cut costs, multiple media outlets reported Monday. CEO Elon Musk detailed the plans in a memo sent to employees. The layoffs could affect about 14,000 of the...
Retail sales up a strong 0.7% in March from February, underscoring the resiliency of the U.S. consumer
NEW YORK — Americans increased their spending pace in March at a better-than-expected pace the previous month, , underscoring how shoppers remain resilient despite inflationary pressures and other economic challenges. Retail sales rose 0.7% last month after being up a revised 0.9% in February, according to the Commerce Department’s report...
Biden administration agrees to provide $6.4 billion to Samsung for making computer chips in Texas
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has reached an agreement to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding for Samsung Electronics to develop a computer chip manufacturing and research cluster in Texas. The funding announced Monday by the Commerce Department is part of a total investment in the cluster that,...
The IRS is quicker to answer the phone on this Tax Day
WASHINGTON — On this Tax Day, the IRS is promoting the customer service improvements the agency rolled out since receiving tens of billions in new funding dollars through Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. From cutting phone wait times to digitizing more documents and improving the “Where’s My Refund” tool to show...
Bob Casey, Sherrod Brown press Biden to stop U.S. Steel-Nippon deal
WASHINGTON — Two steel-state Democrats in tough reelection fights are urging President Joe Biden to do more to stop the proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel Corp. “We’re pushing the White House on national security grounds and on trade enforcement,” Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio told Bloomberg...
Goofy sued for negligence, inflicting trauma, in Disneyland collision
LOS ANGELES — Oh, Goofy, what have you done now? Katrina Amian Redfern Griffin was bent over, tying her daughter’s shoes during a trip to Disneyland in April 2022, when a park employee dressed as Goofy — the klutzy but lovable cartoon canine — barreled straight into her, according to...
It’s almost April 15. Here’s how to reduce stress and get your taxes done
NEW YORK — For many people, tax season isn’t only about gathering W-2 forms or calling an accountant. It can also bring intense feelings of stress or anxiety about dealing with finances. Financial stress during tax season can manifest in different ways, whether that’s procrastinating on your tax return until...
Job demand, good pay spur growth in nursing programs
Chelsey Strickland grew up watching her single mom work long shifts as a nurse at UPMC St. Margaret hospital to provide for her family. That’s what led the Tarentum resident to enroll in nursing school at 25, despite, two years earlier, having earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the...
Fewer Americans file for jobless claims as labor market continues to shrug off higher interest rates
WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans applied for jobless benefits last week as the labor market continues to thrive despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool it. The Labor Department reported Thursday that filings for unemployment claims for the week ending April 6 fell by 11,000 to 211,000 from the previous week’s...
Internet providers must now be more transparent about fees, pricing, FCC says
NEW YORK — Much like nutritional labels on food products, “broadband labels” for internet packages will soon tell you just what is going into the pricing of your service, thanks to new rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission this week. “If you’ve ever shopped for home or mobile internet,...
Post-Gazette settles strike with Teamsters
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said Wednesday night it has settled its long 18-month strike by Teamsters Local 211/205, a newspaper executive confirmed. Tracey DeAngelo, Post-Gazette president and general manager, confirmed the settlement through a spokesperson as she was returning from Toledo, Ohio, where Block Communications Inc., owner of the Pittsburgh newspaper,...
Penn State New Kensington students show off skills, network with future employers
Bryce Eddy knew the New Kensington cat rescue Frankie’s Friends often takes in lots of cats rescued from poor conditions. So, to take some pressure off Frankie’s team of volunteers, the Harrison native and his Penn State New Kensington classmates James Matus and Heather Shultz decided to put their skills...
Pa. Supreme Court hears debate on gun-industry immunity in lawsuit over Mt. Pleasant boy’s death
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday heard argument on whether a federal law that protects gun manufacturers from civil liability prohibits a Westmoreland County family from suing the company whose gun killed their teenage son. The case turns on the court’s interpretation of the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in...
Tesla settles lawsuit over man’s death in a crash involving its semi-autonomous driving software
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Tesla has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a Silicon Valley engineer who died in a crash while relying on the company’s semi-autonomous driving software. The amount Tesla paid to settle the case was not disclosed in court documents filed Monday, just a day...
2 years after its historic win, a divided Amazon Labor Union lurches toward a leadership election
Two years after clinching a historic victory at a warehouse in New York City, the first labor union for Amazon workers in the United States is divided, running out of money and fighting over an election that could determine who will lead the group in the near future. Despite campaigns...
Will China flood the globe with EVs, green tech? What’s behind latest US-China trade fight
WASHINGTON — China’s burgeoning production of electric cars and other green technologies has become a flashpoint in a new U.S.-China trade fight, highlighted by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during her five-day visit to China and seized on by former President Donald Trump in incendiary remarks on the campaign trail. China...
P&G recalls 8.2 million bags of Tide, Gain and other laundry detergents over packaging defect
NEW YORK — Procter & Gamble is recalling more than 8 million bags of Tide, Gain, Ace and Ariel laundry detergent packets sold in the U.S. and Canada due to a defect in the products’ child-resistant packaging. According to Friday notices from both P&G and product-safety regulators in the U.S....
