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Wire stories category, Page 103

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Restaurants could be 1st to get genetically modified salmon
NEW YORK — Inside an Indiana aquafarming complex, thousands of salmon eggs genetically modified to grow faster than normal are hatching into tiny fish. After growing to roughly 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) in indoor tanks, they could be served in restaurants by late next year. The salmon produced by AquaBounty...
MediaNews plans to cut 81 jobs at Reading Eagle
The new owners of the Reading Eagle plan to lay off more than a third of the staff after they assume control of the 150-year-old newspaper and the company’s other assets later this month. MediaNews Group stepped forward to buy the Reading Eagle Co. for $5 million after the family-owned...
Fed leaves its key rate unchanged but hints of future cuts
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday but signaled that it’s prepared to start cutting rates if needed to protect the U.S. economy from trade conflicts and other threats. The Fed kept its benchmark rate — which influences many consumer and business loans — in...
Survey: Owners having problems with driver-assist systems
As auto companies continue to fix buggy touch-screen infotainment systems, a survey of new-vehicle buyers has found there’s a different technology posing problems: driver assist systems such as automatic emergency braking. The annual survey by J.D. Power found that as the electronic safety systems find their way into more mainstream...
GM seeks to avoid Takata recalls for fourth straight year
DETROIT — General Motors is trying to avoid recalling potentially deadly Takata air bag inflators in thousands of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs for the fourth straight year, leaving owners to wonder if vehicles are safe to drive. The automaker petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to exempt it...
New England newspaper owner fights to save local journalism
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — These days, the news about local news seems relentlessly bad: Newsroom employment, down by nearly half over the past 15 years. Waves of layoffs continuing to hit both traditional newspaper chains and digital news startups. Cities and towns so denuded of coverage that they’re described as “news...
Facebook plans its own currency for 2 billion-plus users
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook already rules daily communication for more than two billion people around the world. Now it wants its own currency, too. The social network unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use, one that could drive more e-commerce...
Trump is about to face his biggest test yet on the economy
WASHINGTON — President Trump faces a number of major decisions on trade and the budget in the coming months just as the U.S. economy faces the biggest head winds of his tenure, forcing him to decide whether to recalibrate as recession fears mount for next year. Trump has threatened to...
Boeing says ‘sorry’ for Max crashes, seeking renewed trust
LE BOURGET, France — Boeing executives apologized Monday to airlines and families of victims of 737 Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, as the U.S. plane maker struggles to regain trust of regulators, pilots and the global traveling public. Kevin McAllister, CEO of Boeing’s commercial aircraft, told reporters at the...
Target stores’ registers are down across the country
Registers at Target stores across the country were down Saturday afternoon, bringing checkout lines to a standstill and sending shoppers to Twitter to vent their frustrations. The company said on Twitter that it was “aware of a systems issue” in its stores and was working to resolve it. It was...
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...


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