Wire stories category, Page 111
Spirit Airlines’ new strategy: A pleasant flight
When low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines begins new service from Hollywood Burbank Airport to Las Vegas later this month, passengers may be surprised to find the carrier do something it hasn’t been known for: Arrive on time. And when the Florida-based carrier lands in Sin City, the chances that Spirit fliers...
Concerns over Persian Gulf escalation weigh on markets
TOKYO — Global shares mostly fell Friday as investors fretted over the mounting crisis in the Persian Gulf and lingering worries about trade conflict between the U.S. and China. The U.S. has blamed the suspected attacks Thursday on two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Iran and...
Tyson enters plant-based meat market
The fast-growing market for meat alternatives has a surprising new player: Tyson Foods. Tyson, one of the world’s largest meat producers, will begin selling nuggets made from pea protein at grocery stores this summer. A blended burger made from beef and pea protein will follow this fall. Both will be...
Amazon’s HQ2 is already making Virginia county’s housing prices skyrocket
The flood of prosperity Amazon’s HQ2 was supposed to bring to Arlington, Va., is already causing housing prices to spike and inventory to contract, according to new research from local real estate analysts. When the controversial HQ2 decision was announced, critics warned of the havoc it could wreak on the...
Retirees worldwide may run out of money 10 years before they die, report shows
One of the toughest problems retirees face is making sure their money lasts as long as they do. From the U.S. to Europe, Australia and Japan, retirement account balances aren’t increasing fast enough to cover rising life expectancy, the World Economic Forum warns in a report published Thursday. The result...
Ford recalls 1.3M vehicles for suspension, transmission woes
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford is recalling over 1.3 million vehicles mainly in North America to fix rear suspension and transmission control software problems. The largest recall covers over 1.2 million Explorer SUVs from 2011 through 2017. Ford says a rear suspension toe link can break if the suspension moves a...
Uber tests drone food delivery, launches new autonomous SUV
Uber is testing restaurant food deliveries by drone. The company’s Uber Eats unit began the tests in San Diego with McDonald’s and plans to expand to other restaurants later this year. Uber says the service should decrease food delivery times. It works this way: Workers at a restaurant load the...
State attorneys general sue to block merger between Sprint and T-Mobile
Nine states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, believing that the combination of the country’s third- and fourth-largest wireless carriers would threaten competition and harm consumers. The lawsuit, led by the attorneys general of New York and California,...
New Jersey mandates panic buttons for hotel room cleaners
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed a law requiring most of the state’s hotels to provide their workers with wearable panic buttons they can press to quickly summon help in an emergency. The Democratic governor signed the bill Tuesday. He and several nationwide unions say...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice slams Michael Bloomberg’s clean energy plan
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s $500 million effort to close the nation’s coal plants isn’t sitting well in West Virginia. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice criticized the clean energy plan at a news conference Monday, saying it will destroy the economy of his coal-producing state....
Seniors more likely to work longer in big metropolitan areas
CHICAGO — Seniors in major metropolitan areas, especially in the Northeast and around Washington, D.C., are more likely to continue working past age 65 than those in other areas around the country, according to an analysis of Census data by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. “Those are...
Strong job market hampers FEMA hiring in flood-hit states
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is facing an unexpected challenge in meeting the needs of the many people affected by this spring’s widespread flooding and violent storms: a strong economy. Tasked with responding to natural disasters that seem ever more frequent and destructive, the agency finds itself...
Trump’s trade wars may be pressuring both economy and Fed
WASHINGTON — A sharp slowdown in U.S. hiring for May intensified fears that the economy has weakened and that many employers have grown nervous, in part from President Trump’s escalating trade wars. Yet the stock market soared and bond yields fell because investors found a reason to cheer: The tepid...
FDA: ‘Influencers’ promoted vaping without suitable warnings
WASHINGTON — U.S. regulators moved to discipline vaping companies for inappropriately promoting their flavored nicotine formulas through so-called influencers on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. The Food and Drug Administration sent warning letters Friday to four companies that used paid social media influencers to pitch nicotine solutions to...
Tariffs have already wiped out tax bill savings for average Americans
President Trump’s trade wars have already wiped out all but $100 of the average American household’s windfall from Trump’s 2017 tax law. And that’s just the beginning. That last $100 in tax-cut gains also could soon disappear — and then some — because of additional tariffs Trump has announced or...
LAX flights grounded, canceled because of power outage
LOS ANGELES — A power outage at Los Angeles International Airport diverted, delayed or cancelled dozens of flights Wednesday night, and hundreds of passengers were briefly stuck on grounded aircraft. A 2-second power “bump” shortly after 6 p.m. caused the entire airport to go dark but electrical generators kicked in...
U.S. added 27,000 private-sector jobs in May, lowest number since 2010
Private employers added fewer workers in May than any month in the past nine years, falling far short of analyst estimates and sending a troubling signal about the state of the U.S. labor market. Stock markets gave up some gains in premarket trading Wednesday in response to the report from...
Sephora closes U.S. stores for diversity training
NEW YORK — Sephora is closing its U.S. stores for an hour Wednesday morning to host “inclusion workshops” for its 16,000 employees, just over a month after R&B star SZA said she had security called on her while shopping at a store in California. The beauty retailer said the training...
Apple previews new software as it diversifies beyond iPhones
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple will preview upcoming changes to its phone and computer software Monday as it diversifies to offset eroding sales of its bedrock product, the iPhone. Many of the software updates are expected to be tailored for digital services such as video streaming that Apple is rolling out...
Trump’s tariffs: What are they? How do they work?Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has once again turned to tariffs to try to get his way with a U.S. trading partner. This time, the target is Mexico: Trump plans to impose 5% tariffs on Mexican imports starting June 10 and to ratchet them up to 25% by Oct. 1...
Is it ‘molecules of freedom’ or just natural gas?
It’s hard to generate interest in a news release about liquefied natural gas exports, but a high-ranking Trump administration official succeeded by calling the stuff “molecules of U.S. freedom.” Words matter after all. Earlier this week, the Energy Department announced it was approving more exports of liquefied natural gas from...
China dangles a potentially harmful new threat in trade warVideo
WASHINGTON — Facing new trade sanctions and a U.S. clampdown on its top telecommunications company, China issued a pointed reminder Wednesday that it has yet to unleash all its weapons in its trade war with the Trump administration. Chinese state media warned that Beijing could cut America off from exotic...
Women want the office to be warmer. Science now backs them up
What’s the perfect office temperature? Everyone you ask will have a different answer. For some people, an office climate bordering on frosty is ideal; for others, anything below subtropical necessitates a blanket, fingerless gloves and an illicit space heater. There’s no one thermostat setting that will make everyone happy. But...
New auto giant? Fiat Chrysler wants to merge with Renault
PARIS — Fiat Chrysler proposed on Monday to merge with France’s Renault to create the world’s third-biggest automaker, worth $40 billion, and combine forces in the race to make electric and autonomous vehicles. The merged company would reshape the global industry: it would produce some 8.7 million vehicles a year,...
Young homebuyers scramble as prices rise faster than incomes
For millennials looking to buy their first home, the hunt feels like a race against the clock. In the seven years since the housing crash ended, home values in more than three-quarters of U.S. metro areas have climbed faster than incomes, according to an Associated Press analysis of real estate...
