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Mike Siegel/The Seattle Times/TNS

Ex-Boeing engineer sidelined after a 787 critique defends troubled plane

Business / Business News /

At a U.S. Senate hearing last month, a Boeing whistleblower claimed that small gaps in Boeing's 787 Dreamliner could cause a catastrophic accident. The following week at the 787 assembly plant in South Carolina, Boeing insisted the gaps pose no risk and the jet is safe.

The dueling narratives, emerging as Boeing's credibility is near an all-...Read more

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images North America/TNS

Melinda French Gates resigns from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Business / Business News /

Melinda French Gates announced Monday she is resigning from her role as co-chair of the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates wrote in a post shared on X.

CEO Mark Suzman, the executive leadership team and the board of trustees will continue to lead the foundation’s ...Read more

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Tesla rehires some Supercharger workers weeks after Musk's cuts

Business / Business News /

Tesla Inc. has begun hiring back some of the almost 500 members of its Supercharging team that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk dismissed late last month.

Chief among the personnel who have returned is Max de Zegher, the director of charging for North America, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Walgreens contacts potential buyers for £7 billion Boots drugstore chain

Business / Business News /

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is reaching out to potential buyers of the £7 billion ($8.8 billion) Boots drugstore chain in the UK, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Deerfield, Illinois-based company is working with advisers to hold early-stage discussions with would-be bidders, said the people, who asked not to be identified ...Read more

Marco Bertorello/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

OpenAI launches faster and cheaper AI model with GPT-4o

Business / Business News /

OpenAI is launching a faster and cheaper version of the artificial intelligence model that underpins its chatbot, ChatGPT, as the startup works to hold on to its lead in an increasingly crowded market.

During a livestreamed event on Monday, OpenAI debuted GPT-4o. It’s an updated version of its GPT-4 model, which is now more than a year old. ...Read more

Shari L. Gross/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

Polar Semiconductor lands up to $120 million from CHIPS program

Business / Business News /

Polar Semiconductor will receive up to $120 million in federal funds to expand and upgrade its Bloomington, Minnesota, facility.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and Polar signed a preliminary agreement for the money, which comes from the CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) and Science Act program. Polar's project will ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Bankers notch win in fight to keep billions in credit-card fees

Business / Business News /

Banks are celebrating an early legal win in their fight to kill new U.S. rules that threaten billions of dollars in revenue from credit-card late fees.

A federal judge’s decision last week to freeze caps on the charges mandated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau gave a last-minute reprieve to lenders before they were scheduled to ...Read more

Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US inflation, home price expectations pick up in NY Fed survey

Business / Business News /

U.S. consumer expectations for inflation and home prices rose in April while perceptions of the labor market weakened, underscoring an uneasy backdrop for household finances and the cost of living.

Consumers expect prices will climb at an annual rate of 3.3% over the next year after hovering around 3% for the past four months, a Federal Reserve...Read more

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Bay Area small businesses struggle with inflation as optimism slides

Business / Business News /

It is definitely not party time at Aimbrell Shanks’ Santa Clara, California, rental company, PartyTime Machines. As at a great many Bay Area small businesses, inflation is not only driving expenses up, it is shrinking her market as consumers cut spending to cope with their own rising household costs.

“I am not optimistic,” said Shanks, ...Read more

Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Why did Huy Fong, the beloved Sriracha brand, halt production again?

Business / Business News /

The Sriracha shortage panic has returned.

In what’s become a dreaded tradition in recent years, fans of the beloved spicy chili sauce just got more bad news: The California company that popularized the condiment known for its distinctive fiery red color has halted production until after Labor Day.

Earlier this month, Huy Fong Foods, which is...Read more

Piecing together the puzzle of college financial aid

Business / Business News /

There's been a lot of drama this spring for families seeking college financial aid.

The trouble stems from a revamp of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), where changes and technology glitches have been an ongoing source of frustration for families.

The federal government, meanwhile, was significantly delayed in relaying data...Read more

Would you rent a room in an apartment with a stranger? This development is betting on it

Business / Business News /

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Many renters in Charlotte pay to have a bathroom, living room and kitchen all to themselves — but for some people, one room is enough.

Now an apartment company is trying something new, where people can rent a bedroom for less than paying for an entire apartment, but share common space with a stranger. It’s kind...Read more

Lane Erickson/Dreamstime/TNS

Study: American workers plan to slow-roll into retirement

Business / Business News /

Often when people aged 50 or older contact her, Pittsburgh financial coach Shay Port said the conversation starts with them declaring that they will never be able to retire.

"They say things like, 'I know I will have to work the rest of my life,'" Port said. "And that's what I try to help them with — actually being able to retire at some ...Read more

Lequint/Dreamstime/TNS

Motormouth: Fob batteries

Business / Business News /

Q: I have a 2014 Honda and I am curious as to the key fob. The batteries must be at least 10 years old, and it doesn’t look like they can be replaced. I’m curious as to how long the batteries are gonna last. I hope it does not die sometime when I’m out somewhere else and trying to get started.

D.B., Cheshire, Connecticut

A: There is ...Read more

Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Can goats save the woods in a tiny Pennsylvania town from invasive vines?

Business / Business News /

Parsley, an 11-year-old goat, ambled over to several children who gathered to watch his first day on the job.

He patiently let them pat him but soon had to get back to work munching on a bush. Parsley chewed away at leaves and branches that made their way to his four-compartment stomach to be fermented as if in a living wine barrel.

“Parsley...Read more

Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Jeff Yass' Susquehanna International Group sold its Trump Media shares after the IPO

Business / Business News /

Susquehanna International Group LLP (SIG), the Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based, multinational trading firm headed by Jeffrey Yass, sold its shares in the company now called Trump Media & Technology Group after the former president's social-media business went public in March, according to data SIG reported May 7 to the Securities and Exchange ...Read more

Use solar power, kill a tortoise? Climate change solution carries environmental costs

Business / Business News /

Turn on your toaster, bulldoze a Joshua tree. Flip a light switch, feed an endangered tortoise to a badger.

Solar power, widely seen as humanity’s best hope for avoiding catastrophic climate change, can carry a heavy environmental cost, depending on where panels and transmission lines are built.

Some of that infrastructure — providing ...Read more

L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Now hear this: Sphere exosphere audio is coming

Business / Business News /

LAS VEGAS — By summer, people looking at the Sphere will be able to hear it as well as see it.

Sphere Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan on Friday told investors on the company’s third-quarter earnings call that an audio component is coming to the Las Vegas venue’s exosphere.

In response to an investor’s question about how the ...Read more

Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Cash assistance available to port workers impacted by Key Bridge collapse

Business / Business News /

Port workers affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge can apply for cash grants from a local nonprofit’s fund starting Friday.

Those who worked at the Port of Baltimore as of March 26, the day the bridge fell into the Patapsco River effectively closing the waterway to shipping traffic, are eligible for one-time payments of $1,...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Maryland Apple store workers will vote Saturday on strike authorization

Business / Business News /

Apple store workers in Towson, Maryland, who became the first of the tech giant’s U.S. employees to unionize nearly two years ago, will decide Saturday whether to prepare to go on strike.

The union representing about 100 of the store’s workers said it scheduled a strike sanction vote after negotiations with management failed to resolve ...Read more