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Carline Jean/TNS

Are mortgage rates heading back up to 7%? Here's what buyers and sellers should know

Business / Business News /

Mortgage rates reached 6.9% this week, the highest level seen since last November, according to a weekly survey done by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Some lenders were also quoting rates for 30-year loans with rates above 7% last week, the association added.

In response to rising rates, purchase applications for a home on a national level ...Read more

Marc Grasso/Boston Herald/TNS

Auto review: Silverado ZR2 is in a league of its own

Business / Business News /

Chevrolet enters Grasso’s Garage this week with its 1500 Silverado, but not just your typical half-ton work truck, the Silverado ZR2.

With a base price just under $70K, the ZR2 boasts a ton of standard features for off-road needs. General Motors, Chevrolet’s parent company, had no choice but to build a monster similar to competing ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Amazon is in talks to offer free mobile service to US Prime members

Business / Business News /

Amazon.com Inc. has been talking with wireless carriers about offering low-cost or possibly free nationwide mobile phone service to Prime subscribers, according to people familiar with the situation.

The company is negotiating with Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile U.S. Inc. and Dish Network Corp. to get the lowest possible wholesale prices...Read more

Jose A. Iglesias/El Nuevo Herald/TNS

'Cerrado': Miami-area Hispanic businesses close to protest Florida's immigration law

Business / Business News /

A Homestead open-air strip mall of mostly family-owned Hispanic businesses is usually packed in the afternoon with people eating at restaurants, buying medication at a pharmacy or transferring money to their loved ones in Latin America.

These South Florida businesses are credited with keeping retail in downtown Homestead alive as more and more ...Read more

Genesis/TNS

Auto review: Genesis GV60: High-tech gadgets with an extra boost

Business / Business News /

Genesis has installed an amazing array of cutting-edge technology into its 2023 GV60 Performance crossover, and it should be at the top of this review. But when a carmaker puts a yellow BOOST button on the steering wheel for an acceleration jolt ... well, that’s impossible to resist.

Push the button and prepare for a 10-second throttle thrill...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

US labor market sends mixed signals, giving Fed reason to pause

Business / Business News /

The U.S. labor market sent conflicting signals in May as payrolls surged along with joblessness, giving Federal Reserve officials more reason to pause interest-rate hikes.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 339,000 last month after an upwardly revised 294,000 advance in April, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed Friday. The unemployment rate ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Tesla price war padded by $1.8 billion windfall from Biden's IRA

Business / Business News /

Elon Musk is getting more firepower for his electric-vehicle price war thanks to President Joe Biden’s signature climate legislation.

Tesla Inc. and its battery partner are poised to receive about $1.8 billion in production tax credits this year under the Inflation Reduction Act, according to forecasts from researcher Benchmark Mineral ...Read more

Brian Merchant: Two Uber drivers read the fine print -- and won millions for California gig workers

Business / Business News /

Pablo Gomez has been a full-time Uber driver since 2019. He takes pride in knowing how to maximize his earnings on each trip he takes. That means knowing the right times to drive, which rides to accept and which to pass up — and it also means knowing the letter of the law that governs his trade. In particular, it means knowing Proposition 22, ...Read more

Marc Martin/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Grazing goats prevent California wildfires. New salary rules may jeopardize the industry

Business / Business News /

Increasingly in recent years, Californians have put goats' voracious and almost indiscriminate diets to work, minimizing fuel for wildfires across the state — a method that has been heralded as sustainable, economical and effective at reducing underbrush that can become dangerous in the hot summer months.

But goat ranchers worry a recent ...Read more

Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS

Self-driving delivery trucks are already on North Texas highways. How safe are they?

Business / Business News /

For anyone who likes to complain about North Texas drivers, it might sound alarming to know that soon they will be sharing the highways with transport trucks that don’t have a driver at all.

The Metroplex has quietly become the new frontier for the development of autonomous trucking, with several companies from around the world setting up ...Read more

Piero Cruciatti/Dreamstime/TNS

Apple's retail plans will push company deeper into China, overhaul US stores

Business / Business News /

Apple Inc. is working on plans to expand and revitalize its retail chain, aiming to push deeper into China and other parts of Asia while overhauling established locations in the U.S. and Europe.

Through 2027, the iPhone maker is discussing opening 15 new stores across the Asia-Pacific region, five locations in Europe and the Middle East, and ...Read more

Audi/TNS/TNS

Auto review: A new name highlights notable changes in this revised all-electric Audi

Business / Business News /

It’s been five years since Audi introduced the E-tron, during which it’s been known as the E-tron SUV, even as other E-tron models debuted. It didn’t make much sense. It’s like naming your dog Dog.

Given that Audi expects to offer more than 20 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2026, at which point it plans to no longer market vehicles...Read more

Martin Meiners/Volkswagen AG/TNS

Auto review: Quirkbox quirk-off: Kia Niro vs. VW Golf GTI

Business / Business News /

Amid the sea of SUVs in today's market there are a few rebels. With unusual designs, features, accessible pricing and different personalities, they defy convention.

Call them quirkboxes. Two new entries for the 2023 Quirky Qar Qlub are the plug-in hybrid Kia Niro and manual-transmission Volkswagen Golf GTI.

While aimed at different audiences, ...Read more

Shareholder vote totals in Illumina's proxy fight with activist Carl Icahn show support, frustration

Business / Business News /

Illumina Chief Executive Francis deSouza received 71 percent shareholder support to remain on the DNA sequencing outfit's board of directors — despite being targeted for removal by activist investor Carl Icahn.

Shareholder vote totals were released this week from Illumina's recent annual shareholder meeting, where the San Diego company's ...Read more

Jerry Jackson / Baltimore Sun/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Sinclair reorganizes, drops 'Broadcast' from name

Business / Business News /

Sinclair Broadcast Group completed a restructuring Thursday in which it dropped “broadcast” from its name in a bid to highlight its non-broadcast business.

The Maryland-based television station owner finalized the reorganization through a share exchange in which Sinclair Inc. became a public holding company of Sinclair Broadcast Group and ...Read more

JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

'Pony up:' UAW leadership details priorities for Detroit Three contract talks

Business / Business News /

The United Auto Workers' bargaining strategy for upcoming contract talks with the Detroit automakers came into sharper focus Wednesday as union leaders spelled out their top priorities.

They are: ending tiered wage and benefit structures; reinstating cost-of-living adjustments; and securing stronger job protections. The UAW's top five leaders ...Read more

Greg Gilbert/The Seattle Times/TNS

Supreme Court rules against Seattle truckers union in fight with concrete firm

Business / Business News /

The U.S. Supreme Court has ended a six-year fight between unionized Seattle truck drivers and a major local concrete supplier, ruling against the union in a decision that may impact organized labor across the country.

In an 8-1 decision, the court found that because the union representing the drivers did not take sufficient precautions to ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Former Wells Fargo exec misled investors, SEC said. She'll pay $3M to settle case

Business / Business News /

A former Wells Fargo executive agreed to pay a $3 million penalty to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that she misled investors.

From 2014 to 2016, Carrie Tolstedt publicly endorsed a key Wells Fargo metric that measured the bank’s financial success, according to the SEC. But the metric was inflated by accounts and services ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Bipartisan bill to make Big Tech pay publishers for news advances despite Meta threat

Business / Business News /

A bipartisan California bill that would require big technology companies to pay publishers for using news reports that help drive their profits passed the state Assembly, despite a threat this week from Facebook parent Meta that the law would spur it to remove news articles from its platforms.

The state Assembly voted 46-6 to pass AB 886, the ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

DMV can't be trusted to prevent crashes by driverless trucks, California legislators say

Business / Business News /

When Teslas are in self-driving mode, they've been recorded crossing into oncoming traffic and hitting parked cars. But what would happen if an 80,000-pound, 18-wheel driverless truck suddenly went off the rails?

That's an experiment some California legislators aren't ready to run. They argue that the state Department of Motor Vehicles has so ...Read more