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Business category, Page 17

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Shapiro says this ‘broken process’ could lead to higher electricity costs
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians could face higher electricity bills if federal regulators don’t force the state’s grid operator to fix a “broken process” that artificially affects...
Biden administration delays deadline for U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel to kill merger
The Biden administration has given U.S. Steel and Japan’s Nippon Steel an extra six months to ditch their merger, keeping the deal alive as litigation unfolds over whether a national security panel’s review of it was tainted by political considerations. Under the watch of the Committee on Foreign Investment in...
Kohl’s to close 27 stores by April as struggling department stores works to improve sales
NEW YORK — Kohl’s said Friday it was closing 27 underperforming locations in 15 states by April — a fraction of its 1,150 store base — as the struggling department store chain aims to boost profitability and improve sagging sales. The announcement comes as the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based chain has...
Latest NFL season highlights financial risks for sports betting companies when so many favorites win
NEW YORK — It’s been a tough football season for sports books. FanDuel and its key rival DraftKings have both showed investors that the house can indeed lose, or at least lose more than anticipated. Flutter Entertainment, which operates FanDuel and dominates the sports betting industry with a market value...
JCPenney merging with Aeropostale, Nautica operator to form a new company based in Texas
DALLAS — JCPenney is merging with a retail company with household names to form a new one based in Plano, Texas. The longtime local retailer and Sparc Group announced they have combined to form Catalyst Brands and will cover several brands: Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand and Nautica...
Honda Civic hybrid, Ford Ranger and Volkswagen ID. Buzz win 2025 North American vehicle awards
DETROIT — The Honda Civic hybrid won the 2025 North American Car of the Year award, while the Ford Ranger took the crown for the truck honors, and Volkswagen ID. Buzz won the utility award. The honors, announced Friday morning during an Automotive Press Association event kicking off the North...
U.S. added a strong 256,000 jobs in December as unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%
U.S. hiring picked up unexpectedly in December as employers added a strong 256,000 jobs, another sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of high interest rates. The Labor Department reported Friday that job growth was up last month from 212,000 in November. For all of 2024, the economy added...
Constellation buying Calpine in $26.6 billion deal that would join 2 huge U.S. power companies
Constellation is buying power natural gas and geothermal power provider Calpine for $16.4 billion, joining together two of the country’s biggest power companies. The transaction includes 50 million shares of Constellation stock, $4.5 billion in cash and the assumption of approximately $12.7 billion of Calpine debt. When accounting for cash...
Striking ski patrollers at the biggest U.S. resort return to work claiming victory
Two hundred Utah ski patrollers returned to work Thursday after voting to accept a new labor contract and end a nearly two-week strike that closed many trails and caused long lift lines at the ones that remained open during a busy time of year at the country’s biggest ski resort....
No more fact-checking for Meta. How will this change media — and the pursuit of truth?
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts,” the late New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan memorably wrote four decades ago. That seems like a simpler time — especially when you consider Meta’s decision to end a fact-checking program on social media apps Facebook, Instagram and...
Working Well: Saying no is hard, but setting boundaries can improve your health
NEW YORK — When Justin Stewart started his career, he juggled several jobs to make ends meet. He poured himself into his full-time role as a news show production assistant from 3 a.m. until noon. Then he rushed to the airport where he rented cars or to the big box...
Trump might still have sway in U.S. Steel-Nippon deal
President-elect Donald Trump’s comments Tuesday, touting a United Arab Emirates company’s planned $20 billion investment in U.S. data centers, could spark hope for the proposed takeover of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel. Though Trump previously said he was not in favor of a foreign company assuming ownership of the...
Service workers union rejoins AFL-CIO after 20 years just ahead of Trump’s inauguration
WASHINGTON — The Service Employees International Union is returning to the AFL-CIO after 20 years, betting that a united labor movement will do more to help workers overcome legal challenges to organize and join unions. The union groups’ executive boards each unanimously approved the combination on Wednesday, with plans to...
Longshoremen reach tentative agreement with ports, shippers, averting potential strike
U.S. longshoremen reached a contract agreement with ports and shippers Wednesday, averting a potential strike that could have damaged the American economy. The International Longshoremen’s Association union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance of ports and shipping companies said they had reached a tentative agreement for a six-year contract, a week...
Oil, gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge again receives no bids
JUNEAU, Alaska — The U.S. Interior Department on Wednesday said no bids were submitted for this week’s oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — a sale the state has challenged as too restrictive and at odds with a 2017 law aimed at opening the refuge’s...
U.S. applications for jobless claims fall to 201,000, lowest level in nearly a year
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in nearly a year last week, pointing to a still healthy labor market with historically low layoffs. The Labor Department on Wednesday said that applications for jobless benefits fell to 201,000 for the week ending Jan. 4, down from the...
Girl Scouts announce retirement of 2 fan-favorite cookie flavors
The Girl Scouts have gone cookie cutter. In a bittersweet statement issued Tuesday, the Girl Scouts of the USA revealed two fan-favorite treats, the S’mores and Toast-Yay!, will be discontinued at the end of 2025. That means cookie-lovers have just one year left to stock up before the sweet snacks...
Exxon Mobil Corp. sues California attorney general for defamation over plastic recycling claims
SAN FRANCISCO — Exxon Mobil Corp. filed a federal defamation lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmental groups, months after Bonta sued the oil and gas giant alleging that it deceived the public for half a century by promising the plastics it produced would be recycled. The...
How removing unpaid medical bills from credit reports could help consumers
NEW YORK — Lenders will no longer be able to consider unpaid medical bills as a credit history factor when they evaluate potential borrowers in the U.S. for mortgages, car loans or business loans, according to a rule the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized Tuesday. Removing medical debts from consumer...
LGBTQ+ rights group reports progress at U.S. companies despite conservative backlash
NEW YORK — A national rights group said Tuesday that more U.S. companies are providing strong benefits and protections to LGBTQ+ employees despite an ongoing effort by conservative activists to get high-profile brands to stop participating in the organization’s annual workplace report card. The education arm of the Human Rights...
New labels will help people pick devices less at risk of hacking
WASHINGTON — The federal government is rolling out a consumer labeling system designed to help Americans pick smart devices that are less vulnerable to hacking. Under the voluntary program, called the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark Initiative, manufacturers can affix the label on their products if they meet federal cybersecurity standards....
U.S. opens another Tesla probe, latest focused on tech that remotely returns car to driver
NEW YORK — U.S. regulators have opened an investigation into 2.6 million Tesla after reports of crashes involving the use of company technology that allows drivers to remotely command their vehicle to return to them, or move to another location, using a phone app. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration...
U.S. job openings rise unexpectedly to 8.1 million in November, a sign the labor market is resilient
WASHINGTON — U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in November, showing companies are still looking for workers even as the labor market has cooled overall. Openings rose to 8.1 million in November from 7.8 million in October, the Labor Department reported Tuesday. They were down from 8.9 million a year earlier...
U.S. rejection of Nippon Steel’s bid for U.S. Steel rankles Washington’s key ally in Asia
BANGKOK — U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to reject a bid by Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel on national security grounds isn’t the first time friction over trade and investment has irked Washington’s closest ally in Asia. There have been plenty of scraps over trade in the past few...
Meta replaces fact-checking with X-style community notes
Bending to the political headwinds of the incoming Trump administration, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is scrapping its third-party fact-checking program and replacing it with “community notes” written by users similar to the model used by Elon Musk’s social platform X. Announcing the policy shift Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said...


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