Business category, Page 92
AI’s future could be ‘open-source’ or closed; tech giants divided as they lobby regulators
Tech leaders have been vocal proponents of the need to regulate artificial intelligence, but they’re also lobbying hard to make sure the new rules work in their favor. That’s not to say they all want the same thing. Facebook parent Meta and IBM on Tuesday launched a new group called...
Whistleblower allegation: Harvard muzzled disinfo team after $500 million Zuckerberg donation
A prominent disinformation scholar who left Harvard University in August has accused the school of muzzling her speech and stifling — then dismantling — her research team as it launched a deep dive in late 2021 into a trove of Facebook files she considers the most important documents in internet...
Spotify axes 17% of workforce in 3rd round of layoffs this year
LONDON — Spotify says it’s axing 17% of its global workforce, the music streaming service’s third round of layoffs this year as it moves to slash costs while focusing on becoming profitable. In a message to employees posted on the company’s blog Monday, CEO Daniel Ek said the jobs were...
Alaska Air to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal that may attract regulator scrutiny
SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines said Sunday it agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal, including debt, putting it on track for a potential clash with a Biden administration that has shown wariness about higher fares in the industry. The combined company would keep both airlines’ brands, rooted...
U.S. targets oil and natural gas industry’s role in global warming with new rule on methane emissions
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Saturday issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, targeting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry for its role in global warming as President Joe Biden seeks to advance his climate legacy. The Environmental Protection Agency said the rule will sharply reduce...
Wall Street takes a breather after best trading month of the year
Wall Street is mixed early Friday after closing out the best month of the year. Futures for the S&P 500 edged 0.2% lower before the bell while the Dow Jones Industrial Average were essentially flat. Markets marched steadily higher through much of November as investors grew hopeful that the Federal...
Assistant to Bell Acres businessman gets probation in multimillion fraud case
The long-time administrative assistant to a wealthy Bell Acres businessman convicted of concealing more than $60 million in income from the federal government will serve two years of probation for her role in the crime. Ann E. Harris, 62, of Washington County, appeared before Senior U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers...
Record 200.4 million people shopped between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday
With many retailers closed on Thanksgiving, Black Friday sales events have been repeating how they started — with caffeine-fueled customers lining up in the early hours to snag doorbuster deals, rather than leaving the turkey and stuffing early to start their holiday shopping. At Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, not opening...
Outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald gets new job
Outgoing Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has found a new job that will keep him in the Pittsburgh region and have a similar role in guiding investment and economic policy. Fitzgerald will be named the new executive director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, the federally designated metropolitan planning organization in...
Stores, police work to combat retail theft as holidays approach
Holiday shopping in some local stores will look a little different this year. With reports of retail theft on the rise, some retailers are placing some inventory under lock and key, requiring customers to contact a store employee to access certain merchandise. The measures are aimed at reining in what...
Elon Musk uses expletive to tell audience he doesn’t care about advertisers that fled X over hate speech
NEW YORK — Billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that advertisers who have halted spending on his social media platform X in response to antisemitic and other hateful material are engaging in “blackmail” and, using a profanity, essentially told them to go away. “Don’t advertise,” Musk said. He appeared to specifically...
Coal-producing West Virginia is converting an entire school system to solar power
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An entire county school system in coal-producing West Virginia is going solar, representing what a developer and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s office touted on Wednesday as the biggest-ever single demonstration of sun-powered renewable electricity in Appalachian public schools. The agreement between Wayne County Schools and West Virginian...
Highmark reports profit as post-covid health care system steadies
A growing insurance business and rising patient volumes at Allegheny Health Network helped boost Highmark Health’s first nine months. Highmark Health, the parent company of the 14-hospital Allegheny Health Network, reported a profit of $431 million on $20.3 billion in revenue. That’s an increase over the same period last year,...
U.S. sanctions financial network tied to Iranian oil sales
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Wednesday said it imposed a new round of sanctions on a group of 20 people and firms allegedly involved in a financial facilitation network for the benefit of the Iranian military. The Treasury Department sanctions impact firms and people spanning Hong Kong to the United...
Consumer Reports: Electric vehicles less reliable, on average, than conventional cars and trucks
DETROIT — Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80% more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines. Consumer...
U.S. economic growth for last quarter is revised up to a 5.2% annual rate
WASHINGTON — Shrugging off higher interest rates, America’s consumers spent enough to help drive the economy to a brisk 5.2% annual pace from July through September, the government reported Wednesday in an upgrade from its previous estimate. The government had previously estimated that the economy grew at a 4.9% annual...
Big video screen in plaza near PNC Park would boost entertainment on North Shore, developer says
Plans are moving ahead for a proposed video screen in a new plaza near PNC Park where people could watch Pirates games without going into the stadium. The concept was first introduced to the Planning Commission last month. Commissioners said then that they were concerned the large LED screen would...
John Dorfman: Foot Locker, Albemarle may bounce back strong
Today’s smash-ups are tomorrow’s comeback candidates. In November and December, investors often sell their losers to reduce their capital-gains taxes. In this late-year selloff, some stocks get pushed below their fair values, which creates a buying opportunity. Here are a few stocks that have been pummeled in 2023 and that...
Mark Cuban in process of selling majority interest of Mavericks to Miriam Adelson
DALLAS — Mavericks governor Mark Cuban is in the process of selling majority interest of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, the widow of Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a person familiar with negotiations confirmed to The Dallas Morning News. Cuban, 65, would maintain operational control, even though the...
Vandergrift-area, Pittsburgh companies get millions in federal funding for clean energy expansion
Two companies in Southwestern Pennsylvania will get millions of dollars in federal funding to expand the manufacturing of clean energy technologies in the region. In Parks Township, Colorado- based Alpen High Performance will partner with Kensington HPP to retrofit KHPP’s facility on Industrial Park Road to make high-performance, energy-efficient glass for...
Southwestern Pennsylvania jobless rate remains at record low
The unemployment rate in Southwestern Pennsylvania held steady at a nearly 50-year record low in October, according to state data. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh region was unchanged last month at 3.5%, the lowest since records dating back to January 1976, according to the state Department...
Cranberry Township McDonald’s franchise owner fined over child labor violations
The Cranberry Township-based company that operates five McDonald’s restaurants in the region has been fined for violating federal child labor regulations. The U.S. Department of Labor said it found that Endor Inc. employed 34 children to work later and longer than permitted by law. The department’s Wage and Hour Division...
Google will start deleting ‘inactive’ accounts in December. Here’s what you need to know
NEW YORK — Have a Google account you haven’t used in a while? If you want to keep it from disappearing, you should sign in before the end of the week. Under Google’s updated inactive-account policy, which the tech giant announced back in May, accounts that haven’t been used in...
Tensions simmer as newcomers and immigrants with deeper U.S. roots strive for work permits
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In New York, migrants at a city-run shelter grumble that relatives who settled before them refuse to offer a bed. In Chicago, a provider of mental health services to people in the country illegally pivoted to new arrivals sleeping at a police station across the street. In...
New incentives could boost satisfaction with in-person work, but few employers are making changes
NEW YORK — Justin Ryan Horton has two jobs. When he’s not putting in 24-hour shifts as a firefighter, the 22-year-old is working as an administrative assistant for a local community college from his home in Colorado Springs. Firefighting is, of course, not a work-from-home kind of job. So when...
