Wire stories category, Page 11
Transgender troops are now being identified for removal under Pentagon orders
WASHINGTON — The military services have 30 days to figure out how they will seek out and identify transgender service members to remove them from the force — a daunting task that may end up relying on troops self-reporting or tattling on their colleagues. A memo sent to Defense Department...
Fabric and craft retailer Joann to go out of business and close all of its stores
NEW YORK — Fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc., which has been a destination for generations of quilters, knitters and lovers of crafts projects for 80 years, is going out of business and shuttering all its stores. The announcement comes after the Hudson, Ohio-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
Apple announces $500 billion investment in U.S. amid tariff threats that could affect iPhoneVideo
NEW YORK — Apple announced Monday that it plans to invest more than $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, including plans to hire 20,000 people and build a new server factory in Texas. The move comes just days after President Donald Trump said Apple CEO...
Starbucks lays off 1,100 corporate employees as coffee chain streamlines
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations. In a letter to employees released Monday, Niccol said the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and...
Slide for Walmart pulls Wall Street from its record, and Dow drops 450Video
NEW YORK — A sharp slide for Walmart on Thursday helped pull Wall Street off of its record. The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% for its first drop after setting all-time highs in each of the last two days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 450 points, or 1%, and the...
Paramount, YouTube TV strike deal, averting CBS outage
LOS ANGELES — Google’s YouTube and Paramount Global have struck a new distribution contract, averting a threatened blackout of CBS and other television channels for nearly 8 million YouTube TV customers. The deal was clinched Saturday night, about 48 hours after the previous pact had expired. The two sides then...
Igloo recalls over a million coolers after handle hazard causes fingertip amputation injuries
NEW YORK — Igloo is recalling more than 1 million of its coolers sold across the U.S., Mexico and Canada due to a handle hazard that has resulted in a handful of fingertip injuries, including some amputations. The now-recalled “Igloo 90 Qt. Flip & Tow Rolling Coolers” have a tow...
Chocolate love has its price on Valentine’s Day as cocoa costs make hearts shudder, not flutter
BRUGES, Belgium — Valentine’s Day chocolates always seek to show how deep your love is. This year, it might just also show how deep your pockets are. With the price of cocoa beans setting unprecedented records on the commodities market, it will certainly turn the gift of love into a...
U.S. egg prices hit a record high of $4.95 and are likely to keep climbing
OMAHA, Neb. — Egg prices hit a record high as the U.S. contends with an ongoing bird flu outbreak, but consumers didn’t need government figures released Wednesday to tell them eggs are terribly expensive and hard to find at times. The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average...
Roses are red, violets are blue, 940 million flowers are traveling (through Miami) to you
MIAMI — If any husbands or boyfriends mess up Valentine’s Day this week, it’s not because of a shortage of flowers. In the run up to Feb. 14, agricultural specialists at Miami International Airport have processed about 940 million stems of cut flowers, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection....
Aliens, sloths and silliness: Super Bowl ads offer laughs, celebs and surprises to win over viewers
NEW YORK — Eugene Levy’s trademark eyebrows fly off for Little Caesars. A tongue dances to Shania Twain to promote Nestle’s Coffee Mate Cold Foam. And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reunite at Katz’s Deli in an ad for Hellmann’s. A frenzied mix of silliness and celebrities is hitting the...
Honeywell, one of the few remaining U.S. industrial conglomerates, will split into 3 companies
Honeywell, one of the last remaining U.S. industrial conglomerates, will split into three independent companies, following in the footsteps of manufacturing giants like General Electric and Alcoa. The company said Thursday that it will separate from its automation and aerospace technologies businesses. Including plans announced earlier to spin off its...
Wall Street falls as a result of Trump’s tariffs, but not as badly as feared in the morning
NEW YORK — The threat of a punishing trade war sent Wall Street on a roller coaster Monday. After initially falling sharply on worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs, U.S. stocks pared their losses after Mexico said it had negotiated a one-month reprieve. The S&P 500 ended up falling 0.8%...
Civil rights activists call for a Target boycott after retailer backs away from diversity programs
MINNEAPOLIS — Civil rights activists gathered outside the headquarters of Target Corp. on Thursday to call for a national boycott of the retailing giant over its decision to phase out its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Target announced last Friday that it would join competitor Walmart and a number of...
Things to know about the Trump administration order on car and pickup fuel economy
DETROIT — Hours after being sworn in as the new U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy took aim at the main way the federal government regulates miles per gallon for cars and pickup trucks — also a principal way that it regulates air pollution and addresses climate change. Duffy ordered...
Frontier makes a second bid for Spirit with budget airlines struggling
NEW YORK — No-frills, budget airlines often lead the industry in customer complaints, according to government data, so if one were to disappear would it be missed by travelers? That is a question U.S. regulators will be asking after Frontier Airlines said Wednesday that it wanted to buy Spirit Airlines,...
Target ending its DEI goals as workplace inclusion gets strong opponent in the White House
NEW YORK — Target said Friday that it would join rival Walmart and a number of other prominent American brands in scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack from conservative activists and, as of this week, the White House. The Minneapolis-based retailer said the changes...
U.S. home sales in 2024 fell to the lowest level in nearly years as prices, mortgages soar
LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in 2024 to a nearly 30-year low for the second time in as many years as elevated mortgage rates, rising home prices and few properties on the market freeze prospective homebuyers out of the market. The National Association of Realtors...
CNN announces layoffs as part of a further shift to digital business
CNN announced a restructuring Thursday that includes some 200 layoffs, an accelerated pivot to digital operations and new TV roles for personalities such as Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper and Audie Cornish. It’s the boldest revamp yet in the 18-month tenure of CEO Mark Thompson, a former chief executive at The...
S&P 500 climbs to a record as bond market stays calmVideo
NEW YORK — Stocks rose to a record Thursday as Wall Street regained some of the momentum that catapulted it to 57 all-time highs last year. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% to surpass its all-time high set early last month after coming close the day before. It was the seventh...
Costco successfully defends its diversity policies as other U.S. companies scale theirs back
NEW YORK — Costco shareholders rejected a proposal urging the wholesale club operator to evaluate any risks posed by its diversity, equity and inclusion practices. According to preliminary results shared by Costco executives at its annual meeting Thursday, more than 98% of shares voted against the proposal. The National Center...
Netflix’s bet on live events helped reel in 19 million more subscribers in holiday-season quarterVideo
SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix added nearly 19 million subscribers during the holiday-season quarter to help propel its earnings beyond analysts’ projections, capping the video streaming service’s best year yet in a sign that its expansion into live programming is paying off. The numbers released Tuesday covered a October-December period highlighted...
Starbucks’ policy change flushes out a debate over public restroom access
Starbucks’ decision to restrict its restrooms to paying customers has flushed out a wider problem: a patchwork of restroom policies that has left Americans confused and divided over who gets to use the bathroom and when. Rules about restroom access in restaurants vary by state, city and county. New York...
U.S. government sues Southwest Airlines and fines Frontier for chronically delayed flights
The Transportation Department is stepping up enforcement of persistent flight delays with a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines and a fine against Frontier Airlines. The agency said the U.S. District Court lawsuit it filed in California on Wednesday alleges that Southwest illegally operated chronically delayed flights and disrupted passengers’ travel plans....
U.S. recovers $31 million in Social Security payments to dead people
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government clawed back more than $31 million in Social Security payments that improperly went to dead people, a recovery that one official said Wednesday was “just the tip of the iceberg.” The money was reclaimed as part of a five-month pilot program after Congress gave the...
