Wire stories category, Page 107
Trump administration pushes plan to privatize Fannie, Freddie
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has proposed its plan for ending government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage finance companies that nearly collapsed in the financial crisis 11 years ago and were bailed out at a total cost to taxpayers of $187 billion. The administration’s...
MGM Resorts, Buffalo Wild Wings launch mobile football game
LAS VEGAS — A casino company and a nationwide sports bar are launching a mobile football game designed to let customers pick favorite NFL teams, choose weekly fantasy performers and make proposition picks. MGM Resorts International and Buffalo Wild Wings said their partnership, called Roar Digital, will offer a sports...
YouTube to pay $170M fine after violating kids’ privacy lawVideo
WASHINGTON — Google will pay $170 million to settle allegations its YouTube video service collected personal data on children without their parents’ consent. The company agreed to work with video creators to label material aimed at kids and said it will limit data collection when users view such videos, regardless...
Judge orders Anheuser-Busch to halt ‘corn syrup’ labels
MILWAUKEE — A federal judge has ordered Anheuser-Busch to stop using packaging that implies MillerCoors’ light beers contain corn syrup. U.S. District Judge William Conley granted a preliminary injunction sought by MillerCoors. Bud Light’s packaging says “No Corn Syrup” in bold letters. Conley says Anheuser-Busch can use the packaging it...
In escalating trade war, U.S. consumers may see higher prices
WASHINGTON — The United States and China on Sunday put in place their latest tariff increases on each other’s goods, potentially raising prices Americans pay for some clothes, shoes, sporting goods and other consumer items before the holiday shopping season. President Donald Trump said U.S.-China trade talks were still on...
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey hacked; account sent racist tweets
SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has found his official account hacked and sending racist and vulgar tweets to his 4.2 million followers. The person tweeting from Dorsey’s account on Friday sent tweets such as “Hitler is innocent” and, using a vulgarity, asked “bald skeleton head,” referring to Dorsey,...
TVs to shoes: This time consumers face pain of Trump tariffs
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, until now mainly an abstraction for American consumers, is about to hit home. Beginning Sunday, the U.S. government will begin collecting 15% tariffs on $112 billion in Chinese imports — items ranging from smartwatches and TVs to shoes, diapers, sporting goods...
No. 1 reason patients don’t fill their prescriptions: sticker shock
WASHINGTON — It’s the No. 1 reason patients don’t fill their prescriptions: sticker shock. While the price of almost any good or service can be found online, most Americans don’t know what they’ll owe for a prescription medication until they get it. Unexpected costs contribute to the estimated 20 to...
Facebook tightens political ad rules, but leaves loopholes
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook is tightening its rules around political advertising ahead of the 2020 presidential election, acknowledging previous misuse. But it’s not clear if it will be enough to stop bad actors from abusing its system. The changes include a tightened verification process that will require anyone wanting to...
Ex-Google engineer Anthony Levandowski charged in Uber self-driving theft case
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A former Google engineer was charged Tuesday with stealing self-driving car technology from the company shortly before he joined Uber’s efforts to catch up in the high-stakes race to build robotic vehicles. The indictment filed by the U.S. attorney’s office in San Jose, Calif., is an...
KFC partners with Beyond Meat for first plant-based ‘chicken’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s finger lickin’ fake chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken plans to test plant-based chicken nuggets and boneless wings Tuesday at one of its restaurants in Atlanta. Depending on customer feedback, the chain could expand the test to other markets. California-based startup Beyond Meat said it developed the new...
Target teams up with Disney to open shops
NEW YORK — Target is hoping to bring the magic of such characters as Mickey Mouse and Elsa to its own customers by opening permanent Disney shops at a cluster of stores starting this fall. As part of the collaboration with The Walt Disney Co., the Minneapolis-based discounter says it...
U.S. tech industry becomes hotbed for employee activism
SAN FRANCISCO — When Liz O’Sullivan was hired at the New York City-based artificial intelligence company Clarifai in 2017, she felt lucky to find work at the intersection of two of her main interests: technology and ethics. Two years later, she found herself facing a moral dilemma. Clarifai was developing...
AARP chief: How living to 100 changes our ideas about aging
Jo Ann Jenkins is the CEO of AARP, the world’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization. AARP is focused on helping people “improve their quality of life” as they age; it has more than 38 million members. Jenkins joined AARP in 2010 and became CEO in 2014. Previously she was chief...
Return of the king: Salmon rebounds after California drought
SAN FRANCISCO — Trolling off the California coast, Sarah Bates leans over the side of her boat and pulls out a long, silvery fish prized by anglers and seafood lovers: wild king salmon. Reeling in a fish “feels good every time,” but this year has been surprisingly good, said Bates,...
Trump flip-flops on tax cuts, saying U.S. has ‘strong economy’
WASHINGTON — A day after considering cutting taxes to promote economic growth, President Donald Trump changed course and said he would abandon the idea because the nation already had “a strong economy.” Trump’s flip-flop on Wednesday came after recent market volatility and economic uncertainty, and amid a debate about whether...
Report shows U.S. deficit to exceed $1 trillion next yearVideo
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit is expected to balloon to more than $1 trillion in the next fiscal year under the first projections taking into account the big budget deal that President Trump and Congress reached this summer, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday. The return of $1 trillion...
U.S. home sales rose 2.5% in July, aided by low mortgage rates
WASHINGTON — U.S. home sales increased 2.5% in July, a sign that lower mortgage rates have produced a spurt of home-buying. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday homes sold last month at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5.42 million units, up from 5.29 million in June. Average interest...
Is online shoe-buying bad for kids’ feet?
CHICAGO — It’s a back-to-school tradition: a visit to the neighborhood shoe store, where employees pull out a well-worn metal foot measuring tool from under a seat to measure children’s feet, fit them with the right shoes, and send them out the door, frequently wearing the new kicks. Generations of...
Long-sought Volcker Rule revisions land on a changed Wall Street
NEW YORK — Wall Street spent the better part of a decade battling for regulators to reshape the reviled Volcker Rule. When the changes finally landed Tuesday, the win felt more symbolic. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other regulators rolled out tweaks that clarify which trades are prohibited and...
U.S. airlines expect record crowds over Labor Day weekend
DALLAS — Airlines expect record crowds over the week-long Labor Day period, continuing a rise in travel that has boosted the airlines’ profits all year. The trade group Airlines for America forecast Tuesday that 17.5 million passengers will fly on U.S. carriers between Aug. 28 and Sept. 3. That would...
U.S. extends limited reprieve on tech sales to China’s Huawei
The Trump administration has extended a limited reprieve on U.S. technology sales to Huawei, even as questions remain over how much of an effect broader sanctions are having on the Chinese technology giant. Huawei has become enmeshed in the trade war between Washington and Beijing, with President Trump showing a...
Brand-name drug prices rising at slower pace, lower amounts
TRENTON, N.J. — Drug companies are still raising prices for brand-name prescription medicines, just not as often or by as much as they used to, according to an Associated Press analysis. After years of frequent list price hikes, many drugmakers are showing some restraint, according to the analysis of drug...
U.S. gives Huawei a 90-day reprieve on technology trade ban
NEW YORK — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the U.S. will extend by 90 days the ability of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to buy supplies from U.S. companies. It’s the second extension for Huawei, a company that the U.S. sees as a national security risk. The comments Monday from Ross...
Beer named for Pacific island nuke test site draws criticismVideo
HAGATNA, Guam — A Texas-based company is facing criticism for naming a beer after the location of nuclear tests that resulted in the contamination of a Pacific island chain, a report said. Manhattan Project Beer Company is under scrutiny by Marshall Islanders who were exposed to high levels of radiation...
