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Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Would a Kroger and Albertsons merger drive grocery prices up or down? The answer is complicated

Business / Business News /

As grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons push to carry out the largest proposed supermarket merger in U.S. history, the companies’ executives have made a contentious claim.

Joining forces, they say, will push food prices down, not drive them up as U.S. regulators argue will happen if the deal is allowed to go through.

“The day that we merge...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Business, auto groups urge officials not to let politics interfere with US Steel deal

Business / Business News /

WASHINGTON — A collection of major business groups urged top Biden administration officials Wednesday not to let "political pressure" influence decisions on a proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japanese company Nippon Steel.

They did so in a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other members of the Committee on Foreign ...Read more

Stellantis/Stellantis/TNS

Stellantis spending $406 million for EVs, hybrids across 3 Michigan plants

Business / Business News /

Stellantis NV said Wednesday it's investing $406 million across three Michigan plants as it gears up to add more electric vehicles and hybrids to its lineups.

The maker of Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and Ram said the investments are happening at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, and the Dundee Engine Plant, and ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Core US inflation picks up, damping odds of outsize Fed cut

Business / Business News /

Underlying U.S. inflation unexpectedly picked up in August on higher prices for housing and travel, undercutting the chances of an outsize Federal Reserve interest-rate cut next week.

The so-called core consumer price index — which excludes food and energy costs — increased 0.3% from July, the most in four months, and 3.2% from a year ago, ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Meta's home county backs call for warning labels on social media posts

Business / Business News /

San Mateo County, California, home to tech giant Meta, urged Congress to pass legislation requiring social media companies to add labels to their platforms warning people about their potential to harm users’ mental health.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday, the same day 42 state attorneys general, including ...Read more

Aaron Lavinsky/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Trying to expand a cannabis business, surrounded by moratoriums

Business / Business News /

CROOKSTON, Minnesota — In a former cellphone store at the Canna Corners operation on Main Street, customers came in and out on a summer afternoon — a young man in sandals and backpack, a retiree in a veteran’s cap.

“My wife takes half a gummy every day before bedtime. It helps her sleep,” said Mike Lafrance, noting his wife suffers ...Read more

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Amid Boeing's Starliner troubles, WA space industry thrives

Business / Business News /

It’d be reasonable to think Washington’s space economy has a lot riding on Boeing’s Starliner, the spacecraft that left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station and headed back to Earth with an empty cabin Friday.

The astronauts were scheduled to return on Starliner in June after a week on the ISS, but thruster failures ...Read more

Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

How Ford is using AI, augmented-reality and 3D printing to improve quality

Business / Business News /

Artificial intelligence-powered photographic inspections, 3D-printed tools and augmented-reality training headsets are part of Ford Motor Co.'s strategy to improve vehicle quality, something that has continued to plague its financial results.

The Dearborn automaker in the second quarter was slammed with a more than 5% decline year-over-year in ...Read more

Young climate voters were tired of Biden. They've embraced Harris -- mostly

Business / Business News /

Wei Zhou moved to the United States from Cambodia at age 13, leaving behind a Southeast Asian nation ravaged by worsening droughts and floods. By 14, Zhou had started volunteering for the Sunrise Movement, their climate activism informed by a keen sense that the world’s great injustices — among them global warming, poverty and genocide — ...Read more

Dreamstime/TNS/TNS

Do this right now if your Social Security number was snared by hackers

Business / Business News /

In 2020, there were 1,108 data compromises. By 2023, the number of compromises reached 3,205, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit based in El Cajon, California.

The most recent high-profile breach: An estimated 2.9 billion Social Security records, or 272 million unique Social Security numbers, were stolen from a Florida...Read more

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Disney's request to restore ABC for Trump-Harris debate touches off more squabbling

Business / Business News /

The Walt Disney Co.'s proposal for a partial, temporary detente as the blackout of its channels on DirecTV and U-Verse stretches into its 10th day has devolved into another round of bickering.

Early Tuesday, Disney offered to restore the ABC network to DirecTV, U-Verse and DirecTV Stream customers for tonight's highly anticipated debate between...Read more

Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Philanthropists invest $15 million in LA County local news

Business / Business News /

With local news struggling to survive, a collective of Los Angeles media executives and philanthropists launched an ambitious nonprofit group Tuesday to bolster L.A. County's local news ecosystem, support small independent media and build public trust in media.

The new organization, Los Angeles Local News Initiative, has raised almost $15 ...Read more

Stephen Dunn/Hartford Courant/TNS

CT nuclear power plant offers plan for storing hazardous waste. What to know

Business / Business News /

After operating for decades, the Millstone nuclear power plant is seeking “final closure” of three hazardous waste storage and management units in Waterford, Connecticut.

Dominion Energy, which owns Millstone, needs approval from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for the plan that covers three separate buildings at...Read more

Kevin Clark/The Seattle Times/TNS

Boeing Machinists union chief expects members will reject deal, strike

Business / Business News /

After an overwhelmingly negative reaction to a deal struck by Boeing and Machinists union leaders, union leader Jon Holden said Monday he expects rank-and-file members will reject the contract and strike late this week.

“The response from people is it’s not good enough,” Machinist union district 751 president Holden said in an exclusive ...Read more

Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Los Angeles should hike hotel and airport workers' pay, report says

Business / Business News /

A proposal by City Council members to raise the minimum wages of workers at large hotels and Los Angeles International Airport in the run-up to the 2028 Summer Olympics has received a boost from a new city report.

The report, released Thursday by the city's chief legislative analyst, Sharon Tso, concludes that the proposed gradual pay increase ...Read more

Photoblink/Dreamstime/TNS

Motormouth: Trouble codes

Business / Business News /

Q: My Jeep was in my garage for 8 months without being started. Of course, the battery died. I am due for a state inspection sticker soon. A mechanic said there is nothing to test because the dead battery erased all info. I was told I need to drive it for 100 miles to get new data for testing. What should I do before I bring it into the station?...Read more

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Art Institute announces $75 million gift to create new gallery building on Michigan Avenue campus

Business / Business News /

The Art Institute announced a transformative $75 million gift Tuesday to construct a new gallery building and begin an ambitious reshaping of its sprawling campus in the heart of downtown Chicago’s lakefront.

The lions will remain at their post in front of the historic 131-year-old main building along South Michigan Avenue, but their ...Read more

Opolja/Dreamstime/TNS

What's going to get employees back to the office? A golf simulator alone won't cut it

Business / Business News /

Are sports simulators, pickleball courts and kombucha on tap enough to lure employees back to their cubicles?

Nope. Not according to Megan Mackinson, anyhow. And she should know. She’s the Chicago-based national lead for workplace strategy for global real estate services firm JLL. It’s her job to help building owners fill their spaces and ...Read more

David Ryder/Getty Images North America/TNS

Michael Hiltzik: Boeing's landmark union contract seeks to reverse its horrible executive decisions since the turn of this century

Business / Business News /

Reporting on the announcement Sunday that Boeing Co. had reached a landmark contract agreement with its largest union tended to focus on its economic components, such as wage increases of 25% to 33% over four years, a reduction in employee costs for healthcare and improvements in retirement benefits.

Rather less attention was paid to the ...Read more

Denis Charlet/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Apple, Google lose multibillion dollar court fights with EU

Business / Business News /

Apple Inc. lost its court fight over a €13 billion ($14.4 billion) Irish tax bill and Google lost its challenge over a €2.4 billion fine for abusing its market power, in a double boost to the European Union’s crackdown on Big Tech.

The EU’s Court of Justice in Luxembourg backed a landmark 2016 decision that Ireland broke state-aid law ...Read more