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Elon Musk knew SolarCity was going broke before merger with Tesla, lawsuit alleges
LOS ANGELES -- When Tesla bought SolarCity in November 2016, Elon Musk billed the deal as a match made in green energy heaven: combine a hot electric car company with the nation's then-largest provider of solar rooftop panels to create a one-stop shop for clean energy customers.
What Musk did not discuss at the time was that SolarCity was in ...Read more
Individual countries will decide on flying 737 Max, FAA says
WASHINGTON -- Individual countries will decide whether to end the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max jet, the FAA said in a statement on Monday, over six months after the aircraft was grounded following a pair of deadly crashes.
The FAA said "each government will make its own decision to return the aircraft to service, based on a thorough safety ...Read more
Trump asks Mnuchin why US canceled Chinese farm visits
WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday to explain why the administration requested that a Chinese trade delegation cancel its plans to visit U.S. farms and indicated that he disagreed with the decision.
The visits to farms in Montana and Nebraska were abruptly canceled Friday after Chinese officials met ...Read more
Delta ends ban on emotional support animals on long flights — but keeps pit bull ban
To comply with new federal guidance, Delta Air Lines is discontinuing a ban on emotional support animals on flights longer than eight hours.
However, the airline is not changing its ban on pit bulls as service animals -- even though the U.S. Department of Transportation issued guidance saying such a ban on a breed is not allowed.
Delta put in ...Read more
Disney World workers endure tourists who scream, punch and even grope them
Disney World employees are easy targets.
Tourists scream at them, sexually harass them and in the most serious cases, physically attack them, according to law enforcement reports.
"There are so many situations, so many things that happen every single day to cast members," said Disney employee Tommy Fontenot, adding that he has seen co-workers ...Read more
Storm-damaged Bahamas properties hot as investors chase bargains
It didn't take long. Shortly after Hurricane Dorian damaged countless homes and businesses in the northern Bahamas, real estate investors started calling local agents in search of bargains.
"We've surprisingly had several calls," said Colin Lightbourn, who manages real estate company Engel & Volkers' Bahamas office in Nassau. "People are asking...Read more
General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening's bold first-year bets are paying off big
Jeff Harmening said he knows his first year as chief executive of General Mills was rocky. His second was more like a rocket.
During the first, Harmening and the company made a bold bet with the $8 billion purchase of Blue Buffalo pet foods.
Some investors thought General Mills spent too much, and its stock sank. A short time after that, ...Read more
Changes at Whole Foods — and lack of communications — prompt concerns among some employees
SEATTLE -- A new interactive touch screen at Whole Foods Market checkout stands asks shoppers to rate their experience on a scale of one to five stars -- just like they do in product reviews on Amazon's online shopping site.
The ratings are not meant to evaluate individual employees, but their arrival caused anxiety for at least one Whole Foods...Read more
GM striker: 'This is not just about what we do but who we are'
FLINT, Mich. -- Erik Bond is making more bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches in his kitchen at home in Grand Blanc, Mich., these days because, well, he just doesn't know what's going to happen and every single dollar matters.
"We don't ever eat fancy," he said. "But we need to make things simpler. Our stress level has gone up. We're tossing ...Read more
In the heart of Silicon Valley, a debate about banning RVs, home to many working poor
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- After returning home from a long day of work on a recent evening, Edgar Lopez set up his folding chair outside his RV on Mountain View's Crisanto Avenue and caught up with his wife and daughter making dinner in their new home.
Lopez, 57, who works construction in Palo Alto, Calif., and has lived in Mountain View for ...Read more
Susan Tompor: How saver's can make the best of falling interest rates
No one has been getting rich stuffing their money into a savings account, and it's bound to get even tougher, as the Federal Reserve shifts further into a rate-cutting mode.
The Federal Reserve announced another rate cut after its two-day policy meeting last week. A divided Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate by another quarter percentage ...Read more
'Downton Abbey' dominates 'Ad Astra' and 'Rambo: Last Blood' at box office
LOS ANGELES -- Three new wide releases offered an auspicious start to the fall box office season after a lackluster summer failed to recoup the deficit.
In first place, Focus Features' "Downton Abbey" film adaptation opened with an impressive $31 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore. Analysts projected the film would ...Read more
Twitter suspends more than 10,000 accounts for promoting political discord
Twitter on Friday continued its crackdown on what it considers improper content by removing more than 10,000 accounts for spreading political misinformation and unrest.
Twitter said the accounts included more than 4,000 found to be operating out of the United Arab Emirates, and 4,000 others from China. More than 1,000 accounts came from Ecuador...Read more
Judiciary chairman demands answers from Trump on Ford, California investigation
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee wants to know whether President Donald Trump played any role in what has been described as a federal antitrust investigation of Ford and three other auto companies that have made a deal with the state of California on fuel mileage standards.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., on Thursday ...Read more
California job growth was healthy in August, but the labor force is shrinking
California's record job expansion accelerated in August across broad sectors of the economy and unemployment remained low as the state weathered the challenges of slowing global growth.
Employers added 34,000 positions last month -- the 114th month that payrolls grew and the longest expansion in state record-keeping, state officials reported. ...Read more
'End of an era:' After 45 years, Three Mile Island nuclear power plant is closed
Exelon Generation on Friday pulled the plug on Three Mile Island Unit 1, which generated prodigious amounts of electricity for 45 years, but failed in the end to generate enough political support for its financial plight or its contribution as a carbon-free power source.
The 837-megawatt reactor, the elder sibling of the infamous reactor that ...Read more
Hospital strike: 2,200 University of Chicago Medical Center nurses walk off the job
CHICAGO -- Nurses at University of Chicago Medical Center -- 2,200 of them -- went on strike at 7 a.m. Friday, the first strike in the history of the 618-bed hospital, one of Chicago's largest and most prestigious.
Hundreds of nurses wearing red shirts marched at the intersection of 58th Street and Maryland Avenue, holding signs that said, "On ...Read more
Global Climate Strike: How Amazon workers forced Jeff Bezos' hand
Unlike some of its rival technology giants, Amazon.com Inc. has never claimed a loftier purpose than selling its shoppers what they want, quickly and cheaply. Its mission statement: to be "Earth's most customer-centric company."
As political storms have overtaken Facebook and Alphabet's Google in the last few years, Amazon's pursuit of commerce...Read more
Under the Hood: Troubleshooting shift to 4WD in F-150
Q: I have a 2013 F-150 4x4 (bought new) with less than 19,000 miles. When I shift into 4-wheel drive under load, such as going up a steep incline, there is a loud bang under the truck. Is this a concern? If I anticipate the shift and make it on the flat preceding a hill, no problem. The nearby dealer's mechanic who checked it out couldn't get it...Read more
California, 13 other states sue Trump over revoking authority to set car emissions standards
WASHINGTON -- A coalition of states led by California filed a lawsuit Friday against the Trump administration, challenging its decision to revoke a rule that empowers the state to set tougher car emissions standards than those required by the federal government.
The lawsuit seeks to defend California and the 13 other states that follow its car ...Read more
Popular Stories
- Storm-damaged Bahamas properties hot as investors chase bargains
- Disney World workers endure tourists who scream, punch and even grope them
- In the heart of Silicon Valley, a debate about banning RVs, home to many working poor
- Susan Tompor: How saver's can make the best of falling interest rates
- Delta ends ban on emotional support animals on long flights — but keeps pit bull ban
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