LOS ANGELES -- Although "It Chapter Two" topped the box office for a second consecutive weekend, STX Entertainment's "Hustlers" was the big winner, posting a career-best opening for stars Jennifer Lopez and "Crazy Rich Asians" actress Constance Wu.

Warner Bros.' "It" sequel added $40.7 million in its second weekend of release for a cumulative $...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott has filed a lawsuit against grocery delivery company Instacart, alleging the tech giant has misclassified its employees as independent contractors.

The suit comes three days after new legislation, called Assembly Bill 5, cleared the California Legislature, spurring panic among gig economy giants...Read more

MoviePass, the long-beleaguered cinema subscription service that rewrote the rules for going to the movies, will shut down Saturday.

Its New York-based parent company Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. on Friday said that it would be "interrupting" MoviePass' service for all its subscribers, citing failed efforts to raise capital for the money-...Read more

SEATTLE -- Amazon is cutting health care benefits for employees working less than 30 hours a week at its Whole Foods Market subsidiary beginning next year, a move that union organizers highlighted to bolster their claims that conditions at the company are deteriorating.

Less than 2% of employees -- about 1,900 people -- who currently buy ...Read more

GROTON, Conn. -- Electric Boat on Friday celebrated its biggest expansion at its Groton shipyard in more than 45 years, using a ceremonial groundbreaking to launch construction of a massive assembly building in Groton for its next-generation Columbia-class nuclear submarine.

Global military strategy is having a local impact as the subsidiary of...Read more

CHICAGO -- Former Illinois and Florida nursing home mogul Philip Esformes wept and pleaded for mercy Thursday before being sentenced to 20 years in prison for what the U.S. Justice Department called the largest single health care bribery and kickback scheme in American history.

A separate hearing will be held in November to determine the amount...Read more

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is quietly shipping thousands of 2020 Ford Explorers and Lincoln Aviators by truck from its Chicago factory to its Flat Rock plant south of Detroit as workers desperately attempt to identify and fix a series of complicated problems in the much-awaited SUVs.

Dealers in different parts of the country confirm they've been...Read more

DETROIT -- The U.S 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday declined to approve a class-action settlement involving Ford Motor Co. and nearly 2 million owners and former owners of Focus and Fiesta vehicles with defective dual-clutch transmissions known as DPS6.

The judges vacated "final settlement approval" after Public Citizen, a nonprofit ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphians watching the Eagles' season opener on TV had a reason other than Carson Wentz to rejoice on Sunday: A McDonald's commercial announced that Shamrock Shakes -- the chain's mint-flavored St. Patrick's Day milkshake -- would be available in Philly for a limited time.

"It's a Philly original that's ready to rock the ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Uber announced on Thursday that it's pulling nearly all of its Jump branded e-bikes and scooters out of San Diego, based largely on frustrations over the city's new regulations governing dockless mobility devices.

The company said in a statement that it will maintain operations at naval bases San Diego and Point Loma, adding "We ...Read more

ATLANTA -- Business.org is looking for Starbucks addicts, and will pay you to kick the habit.

But there's more to it. You can still drink coffee, it just has to be local instead of corporate. Oh, and they'll pay you $1,000.

The ideal candidate, its website says, "seriously loves their coffee." If selected, you have to give up Starbucks and ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Adam & Eve, the adult sex toy retail giant, is facing a federal lawsuit in North Carolina after a job applicant said he was denied a sales job at the Raleigh and Clayton stores because he is a man.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the suit in U.S. District Court Thursday on behalf of Christopher Kilby, ...Read more

SEATTLE -- Two U.S. House leaders urged Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg on Thursday to make company employees available to answer questions about the development of the 737 MAX, ratcheting up congressional scrutiny into two fatal crashes of the jetliner.

In a letter to Muilenburg, Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, chair of the ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Last week, as Adam Hergenreder huddled under a blanket in his hospital bed, recovering from a lung illness brought on by vaping, he offered a warning for his peers: Vaping "will mess up your lungs."

Today, in the offices of a downtown Chicago law firm, Hergenreder and his family are announcing that they've taken their message one ...Read more

StemGenex, the operator of a La Jolla clinic that drew a warning from the Food and Drug Administration that its purported stem cell treatments were illegal, has filed for bankruptcy.

The clinic also is facing a class-action lawsuit in San Diego federal court brought by several former customers who say they were misled by its advertising and ...Read more

I thought I'd do something a little different today. Retirement from my automotive technology teaching job was short-lived, as I missed playing with kids and Monterey Peninsula College had an opening to staff an afternoon introduction to automotive technology class. It's a bit of a drive from the Santa Cruz Mountains, but a pleasant one, and ...Read more

The investment markets expect the Federal Reserve to cut its target short-term interest rate in the week ahead.

President Donald Trump is demanding it.

When the Fed's interest rate policymakers meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, they will consider whether or not to cut the rate the Fed pays banks on money those banks keep at the Fed. The idea is ...Read more