Business category, Page 118
Bank rates are up. How to avoid leaving money on the table
NEW YORK — Moving your savings around by opening a new account and closing an old one can seem like a hassle. But it’s a use of time that can pay off. After years of paying low rates for savers, banks are finally offering better interest on deposits. Though the...
Twitter verification reappears, but some disavow Musk’s mark
SAN FRANCISCO — Celebrities and other high-profile Twitter users are once again being verified by the social media platform and they don’t know why the blue check marks reappeared — nor do they seem too happy about it. Twitter removed the blue marks last week from accounts that don’t pay...
Struggling Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy protectionVideo
NEW YORK — Bed Bath & Beyond — one of the original big box retailers known for its seemingly endless offerings of sheets, towels and kitchen gadgets — filed for bankruptcy protection, following years of dismal sales and losses and numerous failed turnaround plans. The beleaguered home goods chain made...
Confusion as Musk’s Twitter yanks blue checks from agencies
CHICAGO — Twitter has long been a way for people to keep track of tornado watches, train delays, news alerts or the latest crime warnings from their local police department. But when the Elon Musk-owned platform started stripping blue verification check marks this week from accounts that don’t pay a...
Lyft gears up to make ‘significant’ layoffs under new CEO
SAN FRANCISCO — Lyft is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees just days after new CEO David Risher began steering the ride-hailing service with a eye of driving down costs to help bring its fares more in line with its biggest rival, Uber. Risher, a former Amazon executive, informed...
New president named to Allegheny Valley Hospital
A new president has been named to lead Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison. Allegheny Health Network tapped Dr. Mark Rubino to head the campus. Rubino is the president of Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. He will maintain that responsibility as he also leads the 188-bed acute care hospital in the Natrona...
Unions say rails should forgo buybacks, spend on safety
OMAHA, Neb. — Rail unions want railroads to take some of the billions they’re using every year to buy back their stock and spend it to improve safety in the wake of several high-profile derailments and hire more workers. The 12 unions that represent all of the more than 100,000...
Madness: Pa. gambling revenue hit new record in March
The month of March tends to yield higher gambling revenue for Pennsylvania and last month was no exception. In fact, it broke records. Money generated from gambling during March was about $515.3 million, an increase of 11.35% compared to the previous year, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Of...
BuzzFeed to close news division, cut 15% of all staff
Pulitzer Prize-winning digital media company BuzzFeed will shut down its news division as it cuts about 15% of its entire staff. In a memo sent to staff, co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said that cuts would also occur across its business, content, tech and administrative teams, according to multiple media...
U.S. unemployment claims tick up to 245,000, but still low
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but remains low by historic standards. U.S. jobless claims rose by 5,000 to 245,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out week-to-week ups and downs, fell by 500 to 239,750....
Uneasy marijuana industry seeks broader trade amid vast glut
TUMWATER, Wash. — The email went out to legal cannabis growers around Washington state, alerting them that another of their colleagues had gone under. “Liquidation sale,” it said. Attached was a spreadsheet of items up for grabs: LED grow lights for $500 apiece. Rotary evaporators for hash oil, $10,000. Across...
Are you a Facebook user? You could get some settlement cash
Anyone in the U.S. who has had a Facebook account at any time since May 24, 2007, can now apply for their share of a $725 million privacy settlement that parent company Meta has agreed to pay. Meta is paying to settle a lawsuit alleging the world’s largest social media...
These doctors will lead convergence of eye care and rehab at UPMC Mercy Pavilion
A new medical facility at UPMC Mercy Pavilion in Pittsburgh’s Uptown section will marry for the first time the disciplines of ophthalmology and rehabilitation — and top doctors in those fields — when it opens this week. “To my knowledge, this is the first physical space that will be bringing...
Netflix to bring down the curtain on its DVD-by-mail service
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix is poised to shut down the DVD-by-mail rental service that set the stage for its trailblazing video streaming service, ending an era that began a quarter century ago when delivering discs through the mail was considered a revolutionary concept. The DVD service, which still delivers films...
Washington Township man secures patent for device to help propel wheelchairs
When John Britz played with Lego sets as a child, he rarely built what was pictured on the box. “I was always making other things,” said Britz, 76, of Washington Township, who spent a career in manufacturing with the Elliott Group in Jeannette. Britz’s creativity — which also includes having...
Twitter removes policy against deadnaming transgender people
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter has quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalized groups. Twitter enacted the policy against deadnaming, or using a transgender person’s name before they transitioned, as well as...
Former Bella Luna space to reopen as The Coxcomb
As he stood behind what will soon be a finished bar top, Will Patterson of Monroeville heard someone driving past the open door of the former Bella Luna restaurant at the Murrysville/Monroeville border. “Are you open?” the woman asked through her passenger side window. “Early June, hopefully!” Patterson shouted before...
Coal-fired Homer City power plant closing; future dim for 2 other regional facilities
The iconic Homer City coal-fired power plant, with its four tall smokestacks and three cooling towers north of Route 22 in Indiana County, will be shutting down over the next three months. Two other coal-fired power plants in Indiana and Armstrong counties could be following the same closure path in...
Stocks drift higher as earnings season kicks into gear
NEW YORK — Wall Street drifted higher Monday to kick off the first full week of earnings reporting season. The S&P 500 rose 13.68, or 0.3%, to 4,151.32 in its first trading after squeezing out its fourth winning week in the last five. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 100.71,...
TV and film writers authorize strike over pay, other issues
LOS ANGELES — Unionized film and television writers have voted overwhelmingly to give their leaders the authority to call a strike if a new contract agreement is not reached with producers. In an email to members Monday, the negotiating committee of the Writers Guild of America said nearly 98% of...
New U.S. tax credit rules narrow the list of eligible EVs
DETROIT — Ten electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles will be eligible for a $7,500 U.S. tax credit, while another seven could get $3,750 under new federal rules that go into effect on Tuesday. But under the Treasury Department rules and other provisions of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, most of...
New push on U.S.-run free electronic tax-filing system for all
WASHINGTON — It’s that time of year when throngs of taxpayers are buckling down to file their income tax returns before Tuesday’s filing deadline. Many often pay to use software from private companies such as Intuit and H&R Block. Almost one-quarter of Americans wait until the last minute to file...
David’s Bridal could lay off more than 9,000 employees as company explores sale
Pennsylvania-based David’s Bridal, which sells wedding dresses and other clothing and accessories for special occasions, could lay off thousands of people across the country and is exploring a sale of the company. The company filed a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor &...
Profits at big U.S. banks show few signs of industry distress
NEW YORK — The nation’s largest banks appear to be weathering the current turmoil in their industry just fine. Despite a pair of historical failures last month that put the nation’s banking industry into crisis mode, the nation’s biggest banks posted strong profits last quarter, helped by higher interest rates...
U.S. retail sales fall 1% amid high inflation, rising rates
WASHINGTON — Americans cut their spending at retail stores in March for the second straight month, a sign consumers are becoming more cautious after a burst of spending in January. Retail sales dropped 1% in March from February, a sharper decline than the 0.2% fall in the previous month. Sales...
