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Steve Jobs wrote a check in 1976 to Radio Shack. Now it's up for auction

Business / Business News /

It’s a pristine piece of Silicon Valley history — and it comes with a famous autograph.

A check that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs made out to Radio Shack on July 23, 1976, just months after the pioneering computer company was founded, has gone up for auction.

The latest bid tops $30,000, with less than a day remaining in the sale by RR ...Read more

Robert Willett/The News & Observer/TNS

'We're hitting new limits.' North Carolina quantum computing bullish on a coveted breakthrough

Business / Business News /

When Jungsang Kim came to Duke University in 2004, he wasn’t sure he’d live long enough to witness quantum advantage: the elusive moment when a quantum computer outperforms a classical computer to solve a real-world problem.

Back then, the emerging field was more theoretical. The experimental building blocks existed; scientists had already ...Read more

Anduril/TNS/TNS

This new AI-powered drone is both a bomb and a boomerang

Business / Business News /

What if a missile could jet toward a moving target — and then fly back home to try again if it missed?

That's the idea behind the Roadrunner, a novel combination of AI-powered drone, bomb and boomerang designed by the defense tech company Anduril Industries and announced on Thursday.

The company unveiled the product at its Costa Mesa ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oil hits five-month low as US exports add to oversupply concerns

Business / Business News /

Oil stretched declines into a fifth session — touching the lowest since early July — as a flood of US exports and doubts over whether OPEC+ will be able to deliver on its planned production cuts raised concerns about oversupply.

Global benchmark Brent dipped to trade below $77 a barrel after slumping by more than 7% over the previous four ...Read more

SAG-AFTRA members easily ratify new contract after actors' strike

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — Members of performers union SAG-AFTRA have voted in favor of the contract that ended the actors' strike, following a weeks-long ratification period that saw a number of actors voice concerns about the new deal.

The ratification vote, which was expected, marks the end of Hollywood's extraordinary season of labor discontent that ...Read more

Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Salesforce Tower opens at Chicago's Wolf Point

Business / Business News /

Five years in the works, Salesforce celebrated the grand opening of its 57-story, 1.2 million-square-foot Chicago tower Tuesday, a bold new addition to the city’s skyline rising up amid a slumping office market.

Located along the Chicago River at the Wolf Point site near the Merchandise Mart, Salesforce Tower features a shimmering glass ...Read more

Grimshaw Architects/Brightline West/TNS

Vegas-to-LA rail project lands $3B in federal funds

Business / Business News /

Brightline West has been awarded $3 billion in federal funds to go toward its planned $12 billion Las Vegas-to-Los Angeles high-speed rail system.

It is expected that President Joe Biden will make an official announcement about the grant award Friday in Las Vegas. Congress has been notified of the grant award, a source told the Las Vegas Review...Read more

Alex Edelman/Zuma Press/TNS

Former Wells Fargo CEO sues bank for $34 million, says he was a sales scandal scapegoat

Business / Business News /

Tim Sloan, a former Wells Fargo CEO, is suing the bank for more than $34 million for allegedly withholding pay after he retired in 2019, according to a lawsuit filed last Friday in California state court.

The San Francisco-based institution, which has its largest employment hub in Charlotte, North Carolina, saw Sloan retire following a major ...Read more

Stellantis NV/Stellantis NV/TNS

Back to the future: Fiat revives the 500e with a new version to be sold across the US

Business / Business News /

Stellantis NV's first battery-electric vehicle available for retail customers across North America goes on sale in the first quarter of 2024 with a starting price of $32,500 plus a $1,595 destination fee.

It's the Fiat 500e, a previous version of which was sold in California and Oregon last decade, and this time the company actually wants ...Read more

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer directs state government vehicle fleet to go electric

Business / Business News /

LANSING, Michigan — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive directive Tuesday requiring the state government to convert its fleet of cars and trucks to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.

The move would mark a significant change for Michigan departments, which have more than 8,000 vehicles. Currently, only three of them are electric ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Nurse shortages are set to get even worse with mass US visa delays

Business / Business News /

Erica DeBoer, the chief nurse at America’s largest rural health network, thought she could finally offer some relief for her overworked staff and thousands of patients. More than 160 reinforcement nurses were supposed to arrive over the coming months across Sanford Health’s Midwest facilities from as far away as Manila and Lagos, Nigeria.

...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Motormouth: Can I use new oil in an old car?

Business / Business News /

Q: I have retained the old family Buick LeSabre that my father bought new in 1973. It's been a garage queen and has only 44,000 miles. I've been told that engines made prior to 1992 require additives that are no longer in today's motor oil and these were taken out because they didn't react well with catalytic converters. Running the old engines ...Read more

Ellen M. Banner/Seattle Times/TNS

Inside Amazon warehouses, workers worry about risk of unsafe chemicals

Business / Business News /

At 4 a.m. in a sprawling Amazon warehouse south of Tacoma, Washington, Ellie Zingg noticed a jug of mold remover was leaking.

While sitting in the warehouse, awaiting Amazon associates who would unpack and send the product back out of the facility, chemicals in the mold remover were eating through a plastic container. Zingg, who had less than ...Read more

Heather Khalifa/The Philadelphia Inquirer/Heather Khalifa

Breastfeeding at work is 'mentally and physically taxing' even in the best conditions

Business / Business News /

PHILADELPHIA — Breastfeeding has been a major part of psychiatrist Johanna Beck’s life for most of the last three years. It’s required careful planning, persistence, and three different kinds of breast pumps so she can express milk while continuing her work tasks and seeing patients.

“There is a big burden of pumping at work,” Beck ...Read more

Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times/TNS

This LA firm hired kids to debone poultry with sharp knives, drive fork lifts, Labor Department says

Business / Business News /

A Southern California poultry processor illegally employed children as young as 14 to debone meat with sharp knives and move pallets with power-driven lifts, the Labor Department said.

The poultry processor, which supplies grocery stores including Ralphs and Aldi, must pay nearly $3.8 million in fines and back wages after an investigation found...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

People are flocking from California to Vegas -- and not just to visit

Business / Business News /

Las Vegas remains a top destination nationwide for people looking to relocate, and Los Angeles is the prime city they are moving from, according to Redfin, an online real estate brokerage.

The Las Vegas Valley ranked second in the nation for people relocating from other states, behind Sacramento, which topped the list with approximately 5,000 ...Read more

Katy Kildee/The Detroit News/TNS

Q&A: UAW's Fain on targeting non-union auto plants, foreign transplants, EV startups after 'record contracts' with Detroit 3

Business / Business News /

DETROIT — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has become one of the nation's highest-profile labor leaders since becoming the Detroit-based union's top official in March. Fain, 55, took office after narrowly defeating incumbent Ray Curry in a runoff election. Fain, who was an international administrative representative in the Stellantis ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Spotify cuts 17% of its global workforce in the latest round of cuts

Business / Business News /

Spotify on Monday said it is laying off 17% of its global workforce, marking the third round of cuts this year for the Swedish audio giant as it tries to reduce costs amid an economic slowdown.

The layoffs will affect about 1,500 people at many of the company's locations, including in Los Angeles, according to a person familiar with the ...Read more

Ford/TNS/TNS

Ford sales down year-over-year in November as EV sales hit record

Business / Business News /

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales fell 0.5% in November, though electric vehicle sales hit a record high.

Ford on Monday reported selling 145,559 vehicles last month, down from 146,364 in November 2022. Sales of EVs were up 43% to almost 9,000 vehicles with Ford No. 2 behind Tesla Inc. Hybrid vehicle sales, meanwhile, rose 75%.

The record high EV ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

EV tax credit rules tighten restrictions on foreign-made batteries

Business / Business News /

The Treasury and Energy departments on Friday proposed rules that would establish which electric vehicles will qualify for tax credits under new thresholds aimed to limit battery ingredients that are made in or sourced from adversaries like China.

The proposal falls short of a strict interpretation of last year’s climate spending law, which ...Read more