Wire stories category, Page 111
Sephora closes U.S. stores for diversity training
NEW YORK — Sephora is closing its U.S. stores for an hour Wednesday morning to host “inclusion workshops” for its 16,000 employees, just over a month after R&B star SZA said she had security called on her while shopping at a store in California. The beauty retailer said the training...
Apple previews new software as it diversifies beyond iPhones
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple will preview upcoming changes to its phone and computer software Monday as it diversifies to offset eroding sales of its bedrock product, the iPhone. Many of the software updates are expected to be tailored for digital services such as video streaming that Apple is rolling out...
Trump’s tariffs: What are they? How do they work?Video
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has once again turned to tariffs to try to get his way with a U.S. trading partner. This time, the target is Mexico: Trump plans to impose 5% tariffs on Mexican imports starting June 10 and to ratchet them up to 25% by Oct. 1...
Is it ‘molecules of freedom’ or just natural gas?
It’s hard to generate interest in a news release about liquefied natural gas exports, but a high-ranking Trump administration official succeeded by calling the stuff “molecules of U.S. freedom.” Words matter after all. Earlier this week, the Energy Department announced it was approving more exports of liquefied natural gas from...
China dangles a potentially harmful new threat in trade warVideo
WASHINGTON — Facing new trade sanctions and a U.S. clampdown on its top telecommunications company, China issued a pointed reminder Wednesday that it has yet to unleash all its weapons in its trade war with the Trump administration. Chinese state media warned that Beijing could cut America off from exotic...
Women want the office to be warmer. Science now backs them up
What’s the perfect office temperature? Everyone you ask will have a different answer. For some people, an office climate bordering on frosty is ideal; for others, anything below subtropical necessitates a blanket, fingerless gloves and an illicit space heater. There’s no one thermostat setting that will make everyone happy. But...
New auto giant? Fiat Chrysler wants to merge with Renault
PARIS — Fiat Chrysler proposed on Monday to merge with France’s Renault to create the world’s third-biggest automaker, worth $40 billion, and combine forces in the race to make electric and autonomous vehicles. The merged company would reshape the global industry: it would produce some 8.7 million vehicles a year,...
Young homebuyers scramble as prices rise faster than incomes
For millennials looking to buy their first home, the hunt feels like a race against the clock. In the seven years since the housing crash ended, home values in more than three-quarters of U.S. metro areas have climbed faster than incomes, according to an Associated Press analysis of real estate...
Arkansas newspaper gambles on free iPads as the future
HOPE, Ark. — Over a lunch of hamburger steaks, mashed potatoes and green beans, Walter Hussman delivered his pitch to the dozen or so attendees of the Hope, Arkansas, Rotary Club meeting. He promised that if they keep paying their current rate of $36 a month for subscription to the...
The highest-paid CEOs by state
Here are the top paid CEOs by state for 2018, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. The survey considered only publicly traded companies with more than $1 billion in revenue that filed their proxy statements with federal regulators between Jan. 1 and April 30....
Theme park attendance crosses half-billion mark for 1st timeVideo
ORLANDO, Fla. — Worldwide attendance at the 10 biggest operators of amusement parks increased 4% last year and crossed the half-billion-visitors mark for the first time, according to an industry report released this week. The report by the Themed Entertainment Association and the Economics Practice at AECOM said global attendance...
House passes bill to help workers with retirement savings
WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to promote retirement security by making it easier for small businesses and other companies to offer retirement plans. The bipartisan bill, approved 417-3, also makes it easier for workers to transfer retirement plans when they change jobs and allows part-time workers...
Mnuchin says Harriet Tubman $20 bill design delayed past 2020Video
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday the redesign of the $20 bill to feature 19th century abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman has been delayed. The decision to replace Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, with Tubman on the $20 bill had been made by Mnuchin’s predecessor, former Treasury Secretary...
Borgata casino unveils $12M sports bet, nightspot project
ATLANTIC CITY — Atlantic City’s Borgata casino is investing $12 million in a new sports betting and entertainment project. Casino officials tell The Associated Press it will open a sports bar and sports betting facility named Moneyline Bar & Book on June 29. The name is a reference to the...
U.S., China appear to brace for long haul in trade disputeVideo
WASHINGTON — With negotiations on hold and tariffs piling up, the United States and China appear to be bracing for a prolonged standoff over trade. Beijing is airing Korean War movies (antagonist: America) to arouse patriotic feelings in the Chinese public and offering tax cuts to software and chip companies...
Tech rebound powers U.S. stocks higher, snaps 2-day S&P slump
Technology companies helped power stocks broadly higher on Wall Street Tuesday, snapping the market’s two-day losing streak. The rally followed the U.S. government’s decision to temporarily ease off proposed restrictions on technology sales to Chinese companies. The news gave a boost to technology sector stocks, which took steep losses a...
Department stores troubles increase for Kohl’s, Penney’s
NEW YORK — The outlook for department stores got murkier Tuesday after J.C. Penney and Kohl’s reported fiscal first quarter results that showed they struggled at the start of the year. Penney, which has been trying to turn around its business for several years after a disastrous reinvention plan, reported...
Women’s clothing chain Dressbarn to close all its 650 stores
NEW YORK — Dressbarn, the women’s clothing chain that’s been around for nearly 60 years, is closing all 650 of its stores. The company’s chief financial officer, Steven Taylor, said Dressbarn has not been operating at an “acceptable level of profitability in today’s retail environment.” Its owner, Ascena Retail Group...
Blue Apron latest to suffer in tough meal kit market
Meal kit companies face an ultimatum: Adapt or die. The business is still in its infancy, with the biggest players — Blue Apron and HelloFresh — less than a decade old. But they’re facing serious challenges from restaurant and grocery delivery services, smaller niche players and even home chefs. The...
Seeing a twisting road ahead, Ford cuts 7,000 white-collar jobsVideo
DETROIT — Ford is cutting about 7,000 white-collar jobs, which would make up 10% of its global workforce. The company has said it was undertaking a major restructuring, and on Monday said that it will have trimmed thousands of jobs by August. The company said that the plan will save...
China’s ban on scrap imports a boon to U.S. recycling plants
ALBANY, N.Y. — The halt on China’s imports of wastepaper and plastic that has disrupted U.S. recycling programs has also spurred investment in American plants that process recyclables. U.S. paper mills are expanding capacity to take advantage of a glut of cheap scrap. Some facilities that previously exported plastic or...
Fastest-growing nuclear business is tearing down U.S. plants
The fastest growing part of the nuclear industry in the U.S. involves a small but expanding group of companies that specialize in tearing reactors down faster and cheaper than ever before. After Entergy Corp. shut its Vermont nuclear plant in 2014, the utility planned to wait until 2068 to dismantle...
The highest paying entry level jobs, according to Glassdoor
A decade after the Great Recession, when new college grads walked into an abysmal job market with long-lasting effects, the Class of 2019 is joining the workforce during an economic upswing, complete with historically low unemployment and rising wages. For technically minded graduates, the prospects are even brighter, according to...
Pirates owner Bob Nutting visits bankrupt Reading Eagle newspaper
Word swept through the Reading Eagle last Friday that newspaper baron and Pittsburgh Pirates owner Robert Nutting was touring the presses and offices, triggering speculation that his Ogden Newspapers could bid on the distressed 230-employee Pennsylvania newspaper. Nutting could not be reached in several attempts to contact him at Ogden...
Judge: No site permit needed for refinery near national park
BISMARCK, N.D. — A North Dakota judge has ruled that regulators properly refrained from getting involved in a dispute over the location of an $800 million oil refinery planned near Theodore Roosevelt National Park, sparing developers from a potentially lengthy delay in construction. The Public Service Commission last year declined...
