President Donald Trump’s sudden move to lower tariffs on goods from China to 30% from 145% has thrown a lifeline to America’s small businesses who were running low on inventory — and cash.

But owners warn the reprieve will be limited.

Their caution goes like this: tariff rates remain sky high by historical levels and will keep pressuring...Read more

Stephen Hemsley hasn’t been CEO at UnitedHealth Group in nearly a decade yet he’s never really left.

Hemsley, 72, has remained chairman and a major shareholder in the health care behemoth — and now is back in the CEO suite and is expected to reinstate his brand of operational and financial discipline that turbocharged the company’s ...Read more

As the box office improves, will a steep discount on tickets bring more people to the multiplex this summer?

That's what AMC Theatres is betting.

The Leawood, Kan.-based chain said this week that members of its AMC Stubs loyalty program, which has a free tier, will get 50% off adult evening-priced movie tickets all day long Wednesdays, ...Read more

San Jose State University has shot past Stanford and UC Berkeley to a top-10 spot in a ranking of U.S. universities based on a standardized computer coding test.

The school leapt to the No. 9 spot this year in rankings by CodeSignal, a San Francisco company whose General Coding Assessment is widely used by major technology companies to evaluate...Read more

UnitedHealth Group Inc. is under criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

The Justice Department has had a probe into the company’s Medicare Advantage business since at least last summer, according to the people.

The nature of the potential ...Read more

An electric boat company with roots in Torrance is taking steps to bring battery-powered workboats and charging infrastructure to the Port of Los Angeles, where diesel-burning vessels emit tons of carbon dioxide.

Arc Boat Co., a Southern California startup that sells electric boats for recreational use, said it will open a research and ...Read more

Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing company that launched its services in Los Angeles late last year, is recalling more than 1,200 vehicles due to a software defect, the National Highway Traffic Safety Assn. said Wednesday.

The recall comes after a series of minor crashes with gates, chains and other obstacles in the road that did not result in ...Read more

Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro brought his mouse ears to Wall Street Wednesday, in what is seen as part of a high-profile tryout to determine which of the Burbank entertainment giant's executives has the mettle and finesse to succeed Chief Executive Bob Iger.

Speaking before investors at the MoffettNathanson Media, Internet & ...Read more

Missouri workers will lose new sick leave protections approved by voters last fall, after Republican lawmakers on Wednesday repealed a ballot measure that garnered widespread public support.

The Senate voted 22-11 to roll back Proposition A, which nearly 58% of voters supported in November. GOP senators employed an extraordinary procedural ...Read more

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to approve a sweeping package of minimum wage increases for workers in the tourism industry, despite objections from business leaders who warned that the region is already facing a slowdown in international travel.

The proposal, billed by labor leaders as the highest minimum wage in the country, ...Read more

Chicago-based internet radio pioneer AccuRadio, which launched its free music streaming service in 2000, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday amid an ongoing legal dispute over artist royalty payments.

AccuRadio, a leading independent streaming service offering nearly 1,400 music channels, owes SoundExchange, the organization ...Read more

Microsoft is laying off more than 6,000 employees in an effort to streamline its corporate ranks.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant said Tuesday that the layoffs, which will affect almost 2,000 workers in Washington state, are meant in part to strip away layers of management and create more nimble teams.

Sound familiar?

Microsoft ...Read more

North America had the largest sales increase globally for Robert Bosch GmbH in 2024, growing 5% year-over-year, the German auto supplier said Wednesday.

The privately owned manufacturer posted in North America consolidated sales of $17.3 billion (16 billion euros) and net sales of $18.6 billion, which included sales of non-consolidated ...Read more

A data center builder and a battery startup have agreed to deploy a novel type of energy storage for the first time at a U.S. data center. It’s the latest example of tech companies’ search for ways to manage the soaring energy needs of artificial intelligence.

Prometheus Hyperscale and XL Batteries will install what’s known as an organic...Read more

A clean energy developer is temporarily halting its proposed wind farm in southwest Minnesota, saying the Trump administration’s tariffs are partly to blame.

The decision has alarmed some clean energy advocates, who say President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war is making the already difficult process of connecting renewable energy projects...Read more

Imagine walking into a Pennsylvania State Store — not for wine, but for weed.

That’s the vision behind a newly passed bill in the state House, which proposes legalizing recreational marijuana and selling it exclusively through state-run cannabis shops. Modeled after the Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, the proposal would make Pennsylvania ...Read more

AUBURN HILLS, Michigan — Deep inside the sprawling Chrysler Technology Center is a metal structure equipped with sensors that Stellantis NV engineers call their "virtual reality arena."

Stepping into this VR laboratory, the engineers don headsets, pick up controllers, and are virtually transported to an assembly line inside any one of the ...Read more

Jamie Lee Curtis didn't expect to be at the forefront of the artificial intelligence debate in Hollywood. But she didn't have a choice.

The Oscar-winning actor recently called out Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on social media, saying the company ignored her requests to take down a fake AI-generated advertisement on Instagram that had ...Read more

The U.S. needs global trade. However, the country needs to be smart about the policies around it, including tariffs, one local expert says.

Scott Martens — who cut his supply-chain chops in the military, worked for Twin Cities companies and now is a University of St. Thomas professor — says the discussion around supply chains and tariffs ...Read more

Where I work, I get to choose if I have a desktop or a laptop.

We buy Dell computers and our preferred configurations for desktops and laptops are very close in cost.

Because I work on my computer all day, and we have more than one office, I chose a laptop so I can pick it up and take it with me when I’m working at one of our other buildings...Read more