Wire stories category, Page 101
On the Money: Tips to make the best of post-holiday shopping
NEW YORK — Holiday shopping doesn’t end with Christmas. Shoppers can take advantage of fatter discounts on clothing, home decor and other items well into January. In fact, a National Retail Federation survey of nearly 8,000 adults conducted Nov. 27 through Dec. 5 found that 68% of holiday consumers will...
San Francisco cafes are banishing disposable coffee cups
SAN FRANCISCO — A new cafe culture is brewing in the San Francisco area, where a growing number of coffee houses are banishing paper to-go cups and replacing them with everything from glass jars to rental mugs and BYO cup policies. What started as a small trend among neighborhood cafes...
Former Uber CEO Kalanick severs ties with ride-hailing giant
NEW YORK — Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is resigning from the board of directors, severing ties with the ride-hailing company that he co-founded a decade ago and ran until a series of scandals led to his downfall. The departure, announced Tuesday, did not come as a surprise. Kalanick recently...
Twitter fights interference, deletes 5,929 Saudi accounts
NEW YORK — Twitter has identified and removed nearly 6,000 accounts that it said were part of a coordinated effort by Saudi government agencies and individuals to advance the country’s geopolitical interests. Separately, Facebook said it removed hundreds of Facebook accounts, groups and pages linked to inauthentic behavior from two...
Wawa says data breach affected thousands over 10 monthsVideo
WAWA — The Wawa convenience store chain says a data breach may have collected debit and credit card information from thousands of customers. Pennsylvania-based Wawa Inc. said Thursday that its information security team discovered malware on its payment processing servers on Dec. 10 and stopped the breach on Dec 12....
Erie coke plant shuts down amid mounting pollution concernsVideo
ERIE — A coke plant abruptly shut down Thursday morning amid mounting regulatory pressure over its environmental record. Erie Coke Corp. employed more than 130 people at the plant, which uses coal to produce foundry coke, a key ingredient in the steelmaking process. Workers who showed up at the plant...
Ford to add 3,000 jobs in the Detroit area, invest $1.45B
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is adding 3,000 jobs at two factories in the Detroit area and investing $1.45 billion to build new pickup trucks, SUVs, and electric and autonomous vehicles. The company said Tuesday that about $750 million will go the Michigan Assembly Plant in the Detroit suburb of...
Firms to pay $386 million to settle price-fixing allegations
Thirteen large financial firms are agreeing to pay $337 million to settle claims by Pennsylvania’s treasury department and about a dozen other government agencies and pension funds accusing them of inflating the price of bonds issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to proposed agreements filed in federal court....
Amazon bans sellers from using FedEx for some deliveries
NEW YORK — Amazon is banning its third-party merchants from using FedEx’s ground service to deliver to Prime members, suggesting that it thinks the service is too slow to get packages to their destinations in time for Christmas. The temporary ban will block those companies from using FedEx Ground service,...
Boeing to halt production of 737 Max airliner in JanuaryVideo
Boeing Co. said Monday that it will temporarily stop producing its grounded 737 Max jet starting in January as it struggles to get approval from regulators to put the plane back in the air. The Chicago-based company said production would halt at its plant with 12,000 employees in Renton, Wash.,...
Hallmark to reinstate same-sex marriage commercial it pulledVideo
NEW YORK — The Hallmark Channel will reinstate same-sex marriage commercials that it pulled from the network, according to a company statement sent Sunday. An ad for wedding planning site Zola featuring two brides kissing at the altar was pulled following a complaint from the conservative group One Million Moms....
Are extended warranties worth it? Not so much, experts say
Consumers generally don’t need extended warranties. “They are cash cows for retailers,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Consumer Action. “Salespeople get commissions, which is why they push them so hard.” But that doesn’t mean you want to dismiss the idea of purchasing extra protection in all...
In surprise decision, U.S. approves muscular dystrophy drug
WASHINGTON — U.S. health regulators approved a second drug for a debilitating form of muscular dystrophy, a surprise decision after the medication was rejected for safety concerns just four months ago. The ruling marks the second time the Food and Drug Administration has granted preliminary approval for the disease based...
Happy holidays from Comcast. Your cable bill is going up again.
Comcast is giving the gift of higher cable bills this holiday season. Tens of millions of Xfinity customers will see their bills rise 3.6% nationwide, on average, the company said Thursday, as it boosts prices for broadband plans and hikes TV fees starting next week. Customers in the Philadelphia region...
General Motors to invest $1.5 billion in Missouri plant
WENTZVILLE, Mo. — General Motors plans to invest $1.5 billion in a suburban St. Louis plant that makes trucks and vans, officials announced Friday. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said in a statement that GM is pledging to keep 4,000 jobs at the Wentzville Assembly and Stamping Plant. Close to 4,300...
Trump says U.S., China have reached deal; Sunday tariffs offVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. has canceled plans to impose new tariffs on $160 billion worth of Chinese imports Sunday as part of a modest interim agreement that de-escalates a 17-month trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. The United States is also reducing...
Reports: FTC may try to block Facebook from integrating apps
Facebook’s stock dropped almost 3% in regular trading after news reports suggested that the FTC may take antitrust action to prevent Facebook from integrating its disparate messaging apps. The reports said the Federal Trade Commission may seek a court injunction that would block Facebook’s “interoperability” plans for Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp...
Trump says US, China have reached deal; Sunday tariffs offVideo
President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. and China have reached a Phase 1 trade deal, de-escalating a 17-month dispute between the economic powers. The U.S. is dropping plans to impose tariffs Sunday on $160 billion in Chinese imports and is reducing some existing tariffs on Chinese goods. In...
Pound and stocks jump on U.K. election, talk of U.S.-China deal
BANGKOK — Stock markets and the British pound rose Friday after Britain’s Conservative Party claimed a big win in the country’s general election, easing uncertainty over Brexit, and amid talk of a China-U.S. trade deal. The British pound jumped to $1.3470 from $1.3150 late Thursday but then eased back to...
Indoor lettuce growers find a wedge to market amid another E. coli outbreak
MINNEAPOLIS — The latest outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce has sickened more than 100 people nationwide and left others wondering if raw salad is safe. As food-safety investigators clear the vegetable aisle of contaminated lettuce, authorities provided more guidance on how to shop for safer product. Consumers should...
U.S., China near deal that would suspend planned tariffsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration and China are close to finalizing a modest trade agreement that would suspend tariffs that are set to kick in Sunday, de-escalating their 17-month trade war. “We’re close to a deal,” said Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, who has...
Cheerios changes shape for new marketing campaign
MINNEAPOLIS — Out with the “O” and in with the heart. General Mills is replacing the most recognizable shape in the cereal kingdom, the Cheerios’ “O”, with heart-shaped pieces. It’s all a part of the food maker’s ongoing marketing campaign that claims its whole-grain cereals can be good for heart...
Facebook, Google drop out of top 10 ‘best places to work’ list
SAN FRANCISCO — Big tech companies such as Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, long seen as some of the world’s most desirable workplaces offering countless perks and employee benefits, are losing some of their shine. The Silicon Valley companies dropped out of the Top 10 “best places to work”...
Ex-Fed Chair Volcker dies, tamed inflation with recession
Paul Volcker, who as Federal Reserve chairman in the early 1980s elevated interest rates to historic highs and triggered a recession as the price of quashing double-digit inflation, has died, according to his office. He was 92. Volcker took charge of the Fed in August 1979, when the U.S. economy...
Jury: Elon Musk did not defame British caver in tweet
LOS ANGELES — Elon Musk defeated defamation allegations Friday from a British cave explorer who claimed he was branded a pedophile when the Tesla CEO called him “pedo guy” in an angry tweet. Vernon Unsworth, who participated in the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for weeks...
