Google’s YouTube and Snap Inc. reached agreements to settle the first lawsuit headed to trial over claims that addiction to top social media platforms has disrupted learning and pushed public schools to spend massive sums fighting a mental health crisis, according to court filings.

TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc. were also sued by the rural ...Read more

The main building at Chicago’s Ford City Mall will shut down permanently in about five weeks due to what city attorneys have described as unsafe conditions, ending its more than 60-year run as a top retail destination for the Southwest Side.

“The main mall will be shuttered June 22 at noon,” Assistant Corporation Counsel Greg Janes said ...Read more

The leader of Microsoft's Israel subsidiary is stepping down at the end of May amid a probe into the company's relationship with the Israeli government.

Alon Haimovich, general manager of Microsoft Israel, will leave the company after four years in the role and seven years at Microsoft, the company said in a news release earlier this month.

...Read more

The frustratingly unforgettable Kars4kids jingle, which has been worming its way into listeners' brains for decades, is officially banned from the airwaves in California.

While the 1-877-KARS4KIDS song has been called one of the most memorable jingles in history, a court has ruled it is misleading.

A California man took the group behind it to ...Read more

UnitedHealth Group Inc. is tracking how often some employees use artificial intelligence tools as part of a push to embed the technology throughout its operations, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company is monitoring whether some workers in its Optum services division perform at least one query a day with programs such as ...Read more

The crypto hacks came a little over two weeks apart in April, netting the attackers almost $600 million in total while triggering an investor exodus from one major platform and causing another to fail.

But for all the damage the two exploits wrought, what most alarmed cybersecurity experts was how the hackers pulled them off. The attackers —...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday released an updated budget plan that shows California has erased its projected deficit for the next two years, thanks to billions of dollars in additional tax revenue tied to Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence boom.

But the windfall is unlikely to offset tens of billions of dollars in health care cuts ...Read more

Artificial intelligence has been a big hit on Wall Street, with the five largest spenders shelling out $800 billion this year in capital spending, but some worry it is distorting the economy.

Morgan Stanley estimates AI spending at $1.1 trillion next year, which would be 3.3% of gross domestic product — that’s more than what’s spent on ...Read more

For some time we've felt the midsize Volkswagen Tiguan needed a refresh, and we're happy to report that it finally arrived in Grasso's Garage. What a pleasure it was to drive and ride.

Volkswagen kept the 2026 Tiguan SEL R-Line Turbo simple, priced it right and didn’t go over the top, earning top marks. Similar to the Honda CR-V in size and ...Read more

Mercedes-Benz is reaching for an increasingly familiar playbook in the luxury auto market: evolve aggressively without starting over. The automaker recently unveiled a new round of updates to its midsize GLE and flagship GLS sport-utility vehicles at its sprawling plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, underscoring a strategy increasingly common ...Read more

My mother-in-law took quite a journey to find her latest ride. She considered the Toyota Prius, impressed by its sleek style, utility and hybrid fuel economy. She liked the much larger Toyota Crown hybrid even more. But what she really wanted was legit luxury, and she found her vibe with the Lexus RX 350 crossover.

It was an excellent choice, ...Read more

Nancy Lipps and her son John Lipps, in Dinuba, are one of more than 200,000 households in California signed up for a statewide program that pays them to help the grid when it’s very hot outside and electricity is at peak demand. They have a battery hooked up to their solar panels, and they share power from it in times of need. It was an easy ...Read more

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan — Rarely do I attack a 180-degree cloverleaf with an SUV. Exiting I-75 in the all-new 2026 Mazda CX-5, I activated SPORT mode, stabbed the brakes, then rotated the 3,856-pound ute into the looooong turn, hugging the apex until the all-season tires screamed in protest. The CX-5 stayed true.

Yep, the CX-5’s poised ...Read more

China has reportedly placed an order for 200 Boeing aircraft, marking Boeing’s first order in nearly a decade from one of the fastest growing aviation markets.

President Donald Trump said on a Fox News interview Thursday that China’s President Xi Jinping agreed to place an order for 200 Boeing planes, part of trade negotiations taking place...Read more

Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have essentially traded places since plans to combine the two companies collapsed dramatically last year.

Back then, Nissan’s financial position was deteriorating rapidly and Honda was seen as a white knight. But a prospective tie-up fell apart over Nissan’s resistance to demands from Honda, including ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that California has launched a $1 billion rebate program to boost the sales of electric medium‑ and heavy‑duty trucks, using money from the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard program.

The rebates run $7,500 to $120,000 and can be applied toward the purchase of new electric medium‑ and heavy‑duty ...Read more

Detroit-based home lender Rocket Mortgage filed a lawsuit Thursday against local archrival United Wholesale Mortgage for alleged breach of contract.

The suit marks the latest escalation in a bitter personal and business feud between Rocket Companies Chairman Dan Gilbert and UWM CEO Mat Ishbia.

The filing from Rocket to the New York state ...Read more

A jury will soon cast a vote and a judge will ultimately decide the outcome of a high-stakes showdown between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over OpenAI, the artificial intelligence startup they founded together more than a decade ago.

Lawyers made final arguments Thursday in federal court in Oakland, California, following about two weeks of ...Read more

Job cuts are hammering the tech industry as companies ramp up investments in artificial intelligence.

This week, San José-based tech company Cisco said it was cutting fewer than 4,000 jobs or less than 5% of its workforce. Cisco announced the layoffs the same day that the company reported that it grew its revenue to $15.8 billion and net ...Read more