Jerome Powell plans to remain on Fed board, cites legal actions by Trump administration
WASHINGTON — Jerome Powell said Wednesday he plans to remain on the board of the Federal Reserve after his term as chair ends next month “for an undetermined period of time,” saying the “unprecedented” legal attacks by the Trump administration have put the independence of the nation’s central bank at...
U.S. Steel to build $2B advanced ironmaking plant in Arkansas
U.S. Steel’s Big River complex in Arkansas is getting a nearly $2 billion advanced ironmaking facility, the Pittsburgh-based company announced Wednesday. The plant will use the direct reduction method to purify iron ore from U.S. Steel’s Minnesota mines. Iron is traditionally smelted in blast furnaces fueled by coke. This newer...
John Dorfman: Old Faithful picks returned 59% in past year
I’ve never seen the Old Faithful geyser in Wyoming. But I feel like it’s an old friend. I named one of my favorite stock-selection screens after it. To appear on the Old Faithful list, a stock has to: • Post good profits (15% return on equity) • Have debt under...
War and uncertainty in Iran fail to cool a red-hot U.S. stock market
Gas prices are higher. Grocery prices are higher. And the stock market is higher, a combination that, at a glance, wouldn’t seem to make much sense. While the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz roil international commerce, technology stocks have jumped nearly 20% this month...
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma set to dissolve after judge approves its criminal sentence
NEWARK, N.J. — OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the week’s end, as a massive legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect. A federal judge on Tuesday delivered a criminal sentence to the company to...
Sinking AI stocks and rising oil prices weigh on Wall Street
NEW YORK — Sinking AI stocks and another climb in oil prices because of the Iran war helped pull Wall Street off its record heights on Tuesday. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% from its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 25 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq...
All 3 Smokey Bones restaurants in Southwestern Pa. close
Three local locations of Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill abruptly closed Tuesday. Employees from the barbecue chain’s restaurants in Hempfield, Cranberry and Frazer (within the Pittsburgh Mills shopping complex) told TribLive they were informed of the closures without notice Tuesday morning. The chain’s official website also shows the locations...
Most sunscreens harm corals. Here’s what you can do
Every time you go for a swim, some of your sunscreen gets left behind. An estimated 25% of applied sunscreen washes off during recreational water activities, releasing some 5,000 tons annually in reef areas alone, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives. That’s equivalent to the weight of about...
Adopted and locked away: Kids promised ‘forever homes’ instead confined in for-profit institutions
She was 13 years old and scared of the dark when she arrived at a residential treatment center that had promised her adoptive parents it would help her heal — from the pain of not knowing who her mother was or why she’d given her away. Kate plugged in a...
BP’s profit more than doubles in 1Q as Iran war continues and U.S. gas prices rise
BP’s profit more than doubled in the first quarter as the war in Iran continues and the average price for gasoline hit a new high for the year in the U.S. The oil and gas industry has been in upheaval since the start of the Iran war in February. A...
United Arab Emirates says it will leave OPEC effective May 1
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC and its wider OPEC+ group effective May 1, a move rumored for some time as the Emirates chaffed under production restrictions and increasingly had frostier relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia. The...
North Huntingdon therapy collective aims to improve mental health counselors’ working conditions amid rising demands
Jeannette therapist Sarah Ludwig is on a mission to improve mental health counselors’ working environment. Ludwig, 36, has worked for various private therapy practices in her 12 years as a mental health counselor specializing in sexual violence cases. Though she finds the field rewarding, counselors often are burdened with high...
Rising credit card fees prompt businesses to explore new payment methodsVideo
For the decade that Dana Jones has run NailChic in Dormont, she has been happy to let customers pay by credit card. But rising fees over the past two years have pushed her to make changes: She launched a loyalty program rewarding customers who pay via Venmo, Zelle or Cash...
NFL Draft-driven restaurant traffic a tale of haves and have nots
McFadden’s Irish pub boasted a line down North Shore Drive on Thursday afternoon. The bar between PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium usually doesn’t get jam-packed until late at night, but business was booming most of Thursday and Friday. The reason why is hard to miss. McFadden’s is within eyesight of...
Ford denies reported talks with Geely to bring China tech to U.S.
Ford Motor Co. denied a news report that it has held talks with Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. about bringing Chinese car technology to the U.S. market. A Ford spokesperson told Bloomberg News that no such talks have happened or are happening with any Chinese carmaker about technology sharing or platform...
Pittsburgh, state leaders use NFL Draft to woo investors, promote region
A delegation of investors and business leaders got a glimpse of Western Pennsylvania’s development potential ahead of the NFL Draft on Wednesday as local officials used the NFL backdrop to pitch the region’s potential. “We knew we wanted to showcase Pittsburgh to folks who make decisions about where companies expand...
Trump considers a taxpayer takeover of Spirit Airlines and would aim to resell carrier
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was weighing a taxpayer-funded takeover of Spirit Airlines with the intent of reselling the struggling budget carrier after oil prices drop. The president confirmed his continued interest in offering Spirit a financial lifeline after a lawyer told a U.S. Bankruptcy...
Meta slashes 8,000 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, as Microsoft offers buyoutsVideo
Meta is laying off about 8,000 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, the company said Thursday as it continues to ramp up spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure and highly paid AI-expert hires. The company said it was making the cuts for the sake of efficiency and to allow new...
Warner Bros. shareholders approve Paramount’s $81 billion takeover of the Hollywood giant
NEW YORK — An $81 billion Warner-Paramount mega merger has received shareholders’ stamp of approval, propelling a deal that could vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape closer to the finish line. Per a preliminary vote count on Thursday, the overwhelming majority of Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted in...
U.S. jobless claim filings rise modestly to 214,000 last week, remain at historically healthy levels
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits inched up last week but remains within the historically healthy range of recent years. U.S. jobless aid applications for the week ending April 18 rose by 6,000 to 214,000, up from the previous week’s 208,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday....
Cutting-edge Astrobotic rocket engine could fuel more efficient moon missions
Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic has made strides in developing an ultra-efficient rocket engine that could allow more cargo to reach the moon. In a test last month at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Astrobotic’s 5,000-pound rotating detonation engine prototype fired for five minutes straight. Several other companies have...
Stocks rally to records, but Brent oil also tops $100 on worries about the Iran war
NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market rallied to more records Wednesday after GE Vernova, Boston Scientific and other big companies joined the parade reporting fatter profits for the start of the year than analysts expected. But caution still hung over Wall Street, and oil prices rose on uncertainty about...
Authorities seize counterfeit NFL merchandise in Strip District
Law enforcement agents on Tuesday night seized an array of counterfeit NFL merchandise from at least one business in Pittsburgh’s Strip District two days before the 2026 NFL Draft kicks off in the city. The operation, carried out by agents with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office and Pennsylvania State Police,...
Former Steeler Jerome Bettis, NFL commissioner view CMU’s inventions to power sports
The intersection of sports, physical fitness and technology can be found in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood Green. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former Steelers running back Jerome Bettis and local officials toured Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Innovation Center for the university’s “Powering the Future of Sport” showcase. More than 16 CMU-related startups —...
Trump raises prospect of federal support or merger as Spirit Airlines struggles with costs and debt
President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that the federal government could help keep a struggling Spirit Airlines afloat, while also encouraging a buyer to step in and rescue the budget carrier. “Spirit’s in trouble and I’d love somebody to buy Spirit. It’s 14,000 jobs,” Trump said in a CNBC interview....
