While every thinking person is rightly worried about the prospect of a third U.S. wave of COVID-19 cases and deaths, one should take a moment to contemplate a pandemic-related disaster in which the first wave is just beginning.

That's the meltdown of state and local government budgets produced by the higher costs of dealing with the crisis ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order banning sales of new combustion-engine motor vehicles in California starting in 2035 will mark a radical change in transportation infrastructure. It also will prompt many questions from consumers. Here are answers to some:

_Is this a real ban on combustion vehicles?

The order calls it a goal but gives the ...Read more

Volkswagen made its mark in the U.S. market with practical, affordable icons like the Beetle and Golf GTI. It hopes its first battery-powered vehicle, the ID.4, will do the same for electrics.

The German brand took the wraps off the compact SUV on Wednesday. The ID.4 will be the first EV from a foreign carmaker to be built in the U.S. as it ...Read more

LOS ANGELES - Gregory Malin remembers the night he realized a breath of fresh air could help sell a mansion.

The year was 2009. Some 2.8 million foreclosures were underway across the nation. Malin was hosting a party in San Francisco's tony Pacific Heights, where his real estate development and investment firm, Troon Pacific, had bought a house...Read more

For weeks, smoke has blanketed the west coast. The Bay Area has seen a vast improvement in the past few days, but terrible air lingers in Portland and Seattle. Millions of people have been furiously checking the air quality ratings in their neighborhood regularly. On the worst days, in some places the Air Quality Index (AQI) measured 600. ...Read more

As the insurance industry increasingly relies on artificial intelligence, its state-based regulators are thinking about how to ensure that the technology treats policyholders fairly.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners last month unanimously adopted guiding principles that AI be fair, ethical, accountable and safe. But these are...Read more

Some readers are reluctant to upgrade or replace vulnerable Windows 7 PCs, even though Microsoft no longer provides security updates for them.

Instead, the readers are searching for technical tricks that would allow them to keep using the Windows 7 PCs while isolating them from other computers on a network. While that sounds good, it's not ...Read more

SAN DIEGO - Test tubes and beakers don't care what laws politicians pass, but biotech execs sure do.

The life sciences have always been shaped by policy. Biotech companies from San Diego to San Francisco to Boston look to local, state and federal lawmakers to ensure that they have space to expand and funding to buoy their research.

It's why ...Read more

SAN DIEGO - Alex Rogers says he likes stress. As head of Qualcomm's maligned patent licensing division, he has seen plenty of it over the past few years.

Starting in 2014, government regulators from China to South Korea to the U.S. attacked the San Diego mobile technology firm's lucrative business model for licensing its intellectual property, ...Read more

Walt Disney Co. officials added their voices to a chorus of politicians, business owners and tourism industry leaders Tuesday to press California's governor to let Disneyland and Disney California Adventure reopen, vowing to adopt specific health precautions to help protect guests from the COVID-19 pandemic.

If allowed to reopen, Disney ...Read more

Ford Motor Co. reached a tentative labor contract deal with its Canadian autoworkers Tuesday based in no small part on critical support from the Canadian government, announced Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

Having pushed past a midnight deadline Monday, union members earlier had voted to strike the Dearborn automaker if necessary. They ...Read more

Things are looking up for farmers as harvest gets underway - at least for those outside the areas hit by a severe storm called a derecho in early August - thanks to a mix of increased demand from China and the misfortune of farmers in other states.

Corn and soybean prices are both up by about a fifth since early August and the hog rally has ...Read more

Bad news for America's press-the-flesh salespeople: Most big-business conventions are on hold until late summer or fall of next year.

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research on Tuesday gave a somber forecast for trade-show promoters, vendors and attendees, many of whom have had to switch to digital events for the time being. But the trade ...Read more

Walmart Inc. will test using drones to drop COVID-19 diagnostic kits at customers' homes, the retailer's latest move in the pandemic-fueled arena of contactless deliveries.

The company is piloting drone delivery of at-home coronavirus self-collection kits in North Las Vegas and Cheektowaga, New York, it said in a blog post Tuesday. It's ...Read more

Millions of employees now commute from their bed to a desk at home. After the initial euphoria of skipping smog-filled traffic jams and cramped train compartments, a new reality has dawned in which the work day blends into the rest of life, like a never-ending video conference call. Microsoft Corp. has a solution for this.

The company's Teams ...Read more

CHICAGO - Three weeks after launching to tepid ratings, WGN America's "News Nation" said it has landed an interview with President Donald Trump that could raise the profile of the nascent cable newscast.

It may also test whether the network can live up to its motto of unbiased reporting.

"News Nation" co-anchor Joe Donlon is set to do the one-...Read more

It would be nice, considering everything else going on, if I didn't have to issue periodic reminders to watch out for scammers.

Unfortunately, the pandemic stay-at-home orders make us easy pickings for unscrupulous sorts who equate people's hardship with financial opportunity - which is why officials say scam calls are soaring.

The Federal ...Read more

A union representing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airplane safety engineers who work on certifying new aircraft called Monday for substantial upgrades to the flight crew alerting systems and other changes on Boeing's 737 Max before the plane is allowed to return to the air.

The union's comments came on the final day for public comment ...Read more