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Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Beverly Hills voters appear to reject world's richest man's Rodeo Drive hotel project

Business / Business News /

The people of Beverly Hills have spoken, and they appear to have scuttled the world’s richest man’s plan to build an ultra-luxury hotel on Rodeo Drive.

In Tuesday’s special election, voters were deciding whether to rescind the City Council’s approval of a billion-dollar hotel project helmed by French multibillionaire Bernard Arnault and...Read more

Cadillac/Cadillac/TNS

Auto review: 2023 Escalade V is loud and proud

Business / Business News /

Car buyers today face a multiplicity of choices, beginning with the fuel source that powers the vehicles. Gasoline-powered hybrids have been around for a while, and now more electric vehicles plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are coming onto the market. And, of course, there are still a lot of car buyers who want to stick with gas-powered...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Huge Tesla data leak reportedly reveals thousands of safety complaints. 4 things to know

Business / Business News /

How bad is Tesla Autopilot's safety problem? According to thousands of alleged Tesla customers in the U.S. and around the world, pretty bad.

A huge data dump based on a whistleblower's leak of internal Tesla documents shows that problems with Tesla's automated driving technology may be far more common than media reports and regulators have let ...Read more

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images North America/TNS

Musk's brain implant firm says US approves human tests

Business / Business News /

Neuralink Corp., Elon Musk’s brain-implant company, said it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct human clinical trials.

“This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many...Read more

James Lipman/Kia/TNS/TNS

Auto review: 2024 Kia Seltos is a feisty, affordable compact SUV

Business / Business News /

If you’re looking for an affordable subcompact SUV, there are a number of choices, including the Buick Encore GX, Chevrolet Trax and Trailblazer, Honda HR-V, Nissan Kicks, Subaru Crosstrek, Toyota Corolla Cross, not to mention the Hyundai Kona, an identical cousin to this week’s test subject, the Kia Seltos, which, like the Kona, gets a ...Read more

California hospitals seek a broad bailout, but they don't all need it

Business / Business News /

SACRAMENTO, California — One of the country’s richest hospitals, which caters to Hollywood elites, accepted nearly $28 million last year from an unusual source: a charity that siphons money from other California hospitals, many of which serve the state’s poorest residents.

Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles secured the grant under ...Read more

Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Walgreens laying off 10% of corporate workforce

Business / Business News /

Walgreens is eliminating 504 corporate jobs, representing about 10% of the retail pharmacy giant’s corporate workforce, the company confirmed late Thursday.

The affected jobs are mostly at Walgreens’ Deerfield, Illinois, and Chicago offices. The roles represent about 1% of its overall U.S. workforce.

“As we continue to transform our ...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

Auto review: VinFast VF 8 is an affordable Tesla knock-off

Business / Business News /

CARLSBAD, California — Henry Ford wasn’t the only one who saw the potential of affordable transportation for the American masses. For the last half-century waves of affordable foreign vehicles have washed up on U.S. shores. Volkswagen Beetles. Toyota Corollas. Honda Civics. Hyundai Elantras. Millions of them, built to last and cheaper than ...Read more

Guillem Hernandez/VinFast/TNS/TNS

Good morning, USA: How Vietnamese startup automaker VinFast came to America

Business / Business News /

ENCINITAS, California — The electric age has brought a flood of startups to the auto industry not seen for a century. Buoyed by the success of Tesla and the promise of government subsidies, small American companies like Rivian, Lucid, Lordstown, Fisker and others are vying to be the next big thing.

VinFast is a different sort of startup.

...Read more

Brad Horrigan/Hartford Courant/TNS

Ford EVs to get access to Tesla charging network, CEOs say

Business / Business News /

Two auto industry heavyweights and competitors are teaming up to expand access to electric-vehicle charging in North America.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley and Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk on Thursday announced that, starting next year, Ford's EVs will gain access to Tesla's proprietary Supercharger network. They shared the news during a live event...Read more

Andy Alfaro/Modesto Bee/TNS

California breaks record for renewable electricity

Business / Business News /

California has hit a new milestone in clean energy, as the state continues to move away from fossil fuels in its decades-long effort to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2021, 37% of the state’s electricity was generated by renewable sources like solar and wind — more than double the 16% total in 2012, according to new ...Read more

David Tran/Dreamstime/TNS

Gap discloses massive job cuts in East Bay and San Francisco

Business / Business News /

PLEASANTON, California — Gap has revealed the details of massive layoffs affecting hundreds of workers in the Bay Area, along with employees in the Central Valley, official state government filings show.

The retailer has decided to chop 700 Bay Area jobs, primarily in San Francisco, but also in Pleasanton, according to WARN letters on file ...Read more

Marian Lockhart/Daniel Rahkonen  425-294-0312/TNS

Boeing to build new 'Phantom Works' facility in St. Louis for future military aircraft

Business / Business News /

BERKELEY, Missouri — Boeing is building a secure, 47,500-square-foot "Phantom Works" facility here that will focus on future military aircraft, the company announced today.

Phantom Works is the research, development and prototyping division of Boeing's defense unit. The new building is in addition to the company's existing Phantom Works site ...Read more

Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press/Detroit Free Press/TNS

Ford's Farley: 'We see the Chinese as the main competitor, not GM or Toyota'

Business / Business News /

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley is looking further afield than the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker's traditional rivals as the company charts a future defined by electric, digitally-connected vehicles: namely, to China.

"We see the Chinese as the main competitor, not GM or Toyota," said Farley, speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference Thursday. The ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Anita Chabria: Wells Fargo denied well-off borrowers low-interest loans. Is it because they're Black?

Business / Business News /

Gia Gray seems like a dream client for any bank: a well-off family doctor living in an exclusive Bay Area town, in a 5,000-square-foot mansion with a master bath bigger than my office.

With a credit score topping 800, she expected little drama when she and her husband decided to refinance their Danville home and two other investment properties ...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS

Electronics retailer Best Buy still weathering profit falls and sales dips

Business / Business News /

The recession for electronics continued this spring as Best Buy reported same-store sales dropped a little more than 10% from last year.

Total sales for February, March and April of nearly $9.5 billion were lower than the $10.6 billion the Richfield-based company reported the same time last year and came in just a few million shy or mostly in ...Read more

Dave Newman/Dreamstime/TNS

Accused seller of 'sham' health insurance paid $100 million for consumer refunds before seeking bankruptcy protection

Business / Business News /

A Tampa, Florida-based health insurance distributor accused by the Federal Trade Commission of misleading consumers into buying “sham” health insurance plans has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Benefytt Technologies, which has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise, last year settled a Federal Trade Commission complaint that it ...Read more

Chitose Suzuki/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

'Shoptainment' will save shopping malls, analyst says

Business / Business News /

Before the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, industry analysts across the board were lamenting the death of the shopping mall.

Online shopping had gripped the American consumer, people were ordering dinner online with delivery right to their door, and once longstanding brick and mortar stores including massive chains were ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

This CEO wants to rent your empty desks: Five minutes with Larry Gadea

Business / Business News /

Larry Gadea wants to grab your desk — and rent it out to the highest bidder. That empty boardroom, too. Gadea, the chief executive officer of San Francisco-based Envoy, founded his firm a decade ago to help companies more effectively manage office visitors and deliveries. Then the pandemic hit, and buildings went dark. But Gadea — who landed...Read more

Conor Sen: Walmart is now fighting inflation in a big way

Business / Business News /

Americans’ buying power has been squeezed since the start of 2022 as companies steadily raised prices to restore their profit margins — deflated by higher costs for freight and labor — to pre-pandemic levels. Now Walmart Inc. appears to be saying enough is enough.

Consumer goods companies have been willing to hike prices on core products ...Read more