Business category, Page 80
Tennessee’s GOP governor says Volkswagen plant workers made a mistake in union vote
GALLATIN, Tenn. — Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee said Monday that he thinks workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga made a mistake by voting to unionize under the United Auto Workers in a landslide election but acknowledged the choice was ultimately up to them. Ahead of the vote, Lee...
Express files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, announces store closures
NEW YORK — Express Inc — once a trendsetter of casual office attire that has struggled to compete with the likes of Zara and H&M — has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The retailer based in Columbus, Ohio, and founded in 1980 also said Monday it is seeking to...
Russia convicts the spokesperson for Facebook owner Meta in a swift trial in absentia
A court in Russia on Monday convicted the spokesperson of U.S. technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison in a swift trial in absentia, Russia’s independent news site Mediazona reported. According to the outlet, the charges against Meta...
Tesla cuts the price of its Full Self Driving system by a third to $8,000
NEW YORK — Tesla knocked roughly a third off the price of its Full Self Driving system — which can’t drive itself and so drivers must remain alert and be ready to intervene — to $8,000 from $12,000, according to the company website. Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk promised...
Tesla cuts U.S. prices for 3 of its electric vehicle models after a difficult week
Tesla knocked $2,000 off the prices of three of its five models in the United States late Friday, another sign of the challenges facing the electric vehicle maker led by billionaire Elon Musk. The company cut the prices of the Model Y, a small SUV which is Tesla’s most popular...
Injunction sought against Post-Gazette for alleged labor violations
The National Labor Relations Board authorized a request this week to seek a temporary court injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for allegedly violating its workers labor rights. Union representatives said the move could put an end to the 19-month strike carried out by journalists and production workers at the paper....
Apple pulls WhatsApp and Threads from App Store on Beijing’s orders
HONG KONG — Apple said it had removed Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app and its Threads social media app from the App Store in China to comply with orders from Chinese authorities. The apps were removed from the store on Friday after Chinese officials cited unspecified national security concerns. Their removal...
Bitcoin’s latest ‘halving’ has arrived. Here’s what you need to know
NEW YORK — The “miners” who chisel bitcoins out of complex mathematics are taking a 50% pay cut — effectively reducing new production of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, again. Bitcoin’s latest “halving” appeared to occur Friday night. Soon after the highly anticipated event, the price of bitcoin held steady at...
Tesla recalling more than 3,000 of its 2024 Cybertrucks due to faulty pedal
Tesla is recalling more than 3,000 of its newly launched 2024 Cybertrucks because of the possibility that a pedal can get stuck and cause the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, increasing the risk of a crash. Tesla said that the accelerator pedal pad may dislodge and become trapped by the interior...
Tours of Hempfield manufacturer can lead to jobs for area high school students
Seven of 11 area high school students who toured Hempfield’s General Carbide complex Wednesday are looking to come back to work there. “To see these kids coming in and getting excited about manufacturing is pretty amazing,” said Mona Pappafava-Ray, CEO of the maker of finished tooling, wear parts and components....
Netflix now has nearly 270 million subscribers after another strong showing to begin 2024
Netflix gained another 9.3 million subscribers to start the year while its profit soared with the help of a still-emerging expansion into advertising, but caught investors off guard with a change that will make it more difficult to track the video streaming service’s future growth. The performance announced Thursday demonstrated...
Seafood chain Red Lobster considering bankruptcy
Red Lobster is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a report. The seafood chain is considering a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing as it looks to restructure its debt, according to a Bloomberg News report citing people with knowledge of the matter. The chain is looking to rid itself...
Sheetz hit with discrimination lawsuit
The Sheetz convenience store chain has been hit with a lawsuit by federal officials who allege the company discriminated against minority job applicants. Sheetz Inc., which operates more than 700 stores in six states, discriminated against Black, Native American and multiracial job seekers by automatically weeding out applicants whom the...
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...
