As rising mortgage rates continue to cool the housing market across the U.S., the Bay Area in July saw the largest monthly drop in home values of anywhere in the country, according to a new report from home listing site Zillow.

The average value of a single-family home in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro area fell 4.5% from June to July...Read more

Q: I see you recommend waxing your car twice a year. I have owned more than 30 cars in my life and have never waxed one of them. When my car comes out of the car wash, it looks has good as any of my neighbors' cars. Have you sold out to the wax companies or should I have my eyes tested?

T.C., Chicago

A: Sold out? That’s impossible. I am ...Read more

Chicago-based Cameo, which built a business out of selling recorded celebrity video greetings, is adding live video chats across its talent roster of actors, athletes and offbeat stars.

Starting Thursday, fans can schedule a 10-minute video call with the likes of former pro wrestler Mick Foley, Sean Astin, who played Sam the hobbit in “Lord ...Read more

The Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden this week aims to shift America toward a greener future by lowering the cost of electric vehicles, energy-efficient appliances and rooftop solar panels.

Many consumers will benefit. But it’s complicated — because limitations apply. You will get breaks, but most will come at tax time.

...Read more

The Securities and Exchange Commission needs to simplify proposed rules to require more disclosure from funds touting their environmental, social and governance factors, or else the agency will fail to eradicate so-called greenwashing, investment and advocacy groups are warning.

Investors of all sizes, including ESG-focused ones, as well as ...Read more

Starbucks Corp. has to offer reinstatement to seven fired pro-union employees in Memphis, Tennessee, and must not retaliate against employees who support union organizing, a federal judge ruled.

The firings appear to be illegal in light of evidence the company acted in a discriminatory manner, U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman said in an order ...Read more

When Lee-Sean Huang and his husband David Colby Reed decided to decarbonize their 120-year-old Providence, Rhode Island, home, they soon discovered it wasn’t even ready for a high-efficiency electric induction stove.

“We had to update the electrical, paying an electrician to run 240 volts for the induction range,” says Huang, who runs a ...Read more

Streaming TV viewership topped cable for the first time in July, according to measurement firm Nielsen, marking a symbolic milestone in the entertainment industry's migration from traditional pay-television bundles to direct-to-consumer services.

Streaming notched a record 34.8% of total television consumption last month, while cable accounted ...Read more

In announcing its newest foray into the healthcare field last month — the $3.9-billion acquisition of the primary care firm One Medical — Amazon explained its interest in the industry this way:

"We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention."

There are two ways to think about that statement. For one thing, ...Read more

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes fell for a sixth straight month in July in the latest indication of how high borrowing costs and waning demand are propelling the housing market’s rapid decline.

Contract closings fell 5.9% in July to an annualized 4.81 million, the weakest since May 2020, figures from the National Association of Realtors ...Read more

Applications for U.S. unemployment insurance fell for the first time in three weeks, suggesting demand for labor remains healthy.

Initial unemployment claims decreased by 2,000 to 250,000 in the week ended Aug. 13, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The date is particularly scrutinized because it corresponds with the reference period for ...Read more

On Saturday nights, the strip clubs fill up. But at Star Garden, a dingy dive bar in North Hollywood advertising topless girls, the real action is outside.

For nearly five months a group of former Star Garden dancers have positioned themselves on the sidewalk on busy nights with picket signs and costumes. They make it hard to enter the bar ...Read more

WEST ALTON, Missouri — On the rocky banks of the Mississippi River two dozen miles north of St. Louis, there's a clash brewing between clean energy and wildlife conservation, with both sides aiming to repair damage wrought by humans.

On one hand, an Alabama company is working to turn the locks and dam here into a hydropower plant, which could...Read more

Tenants in 69 units at the University City Townhomes in Philadelphia are being forced to relocate after the building owner ended its federal contract to provide affordable housing on site. The company, IBID Associates, plans to sell the land.

The two-year fight to save the Townhomes has now landed in federal court, after the owners sued the ...Read more

In the parlance of climate change, the phenomenon is known as “leakage.”

Last month, Northview Dairy in Ontario, California, sold nearly 3,000 cows to a farmer with properties in Kansas and Colorado. During a recent lunch break — after tearing down the rows of cow sheds that have paralleled a stretch of Haven Avenue for three decades — ...Read more

A proposed solar-energy farm in western Colorado that will provide local power was approved after an initial rejection and is attracting attention from solar advocates who say it could set a statewide precedent.

In a meeting Tuesday, the Delta County Commissioners approved a plan by Denver-based Guzman Energy for an 80-megawatt solar ...Read more