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Tesla axes most of Supercharger team in blow to other automakers

Business / Business News /

Tesla Inc. eliminated almost its entire Supercharger organization, which has built a vast network of public charging stations that virtually every major automaker is in the process of tapping into in the US.

The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by Chief Executive Officer Elon ...Read more

US union members see record pay raises, outpacing nonunion workers

Business / Business News /

Unionized workers in the U.S. saw record raises, while nonunion workers’ pay barely beat inflation over the past 12 months, the latest government data show.

Wages of private sector union workers rose 6.3% in the year ended in March, the largest increase in data back to 2001, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics employment cost figures ...Read more

Tea Kvetenadze/New York Daily News/TNS

Millions of New Yorkers facing rent hikes of up to 4% for 1-year lease

Business / Business News /

Around 2 million New Yorkers living in stabilized apartments will likely see their rents climb for the third year in a row, after the board tasked with setting rates okayed a range of possible hikes at a raucous preliminary vote on Tuesday — as tenants and their board representatives walked out in protest.

The rest of the Rent Guidelines ...Read more

Lionel Bonaventure/Getty Images North America/TNS

Eight newspapers sue Microsoft, OpenAI over the new artificial intelligence

Business / Business News /

Eight newspapers sued Microsoft and OpenAI on Tuesday, claiming the technology giants illegally harvested millions of copyrighted articles to create their cutting-edge “generative” artificial intelligence products including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot.

While the newspapers’ publishers have spent billions of dollars to ...Read more

Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times/TNS

Amazon reports $10.4 billion profit in first quarter of 2024

Business / Business News /

Amazon reported $10.4 billion in profit for the first three months of the year, marking another quarter of growth that surpassed the start of 2023.

In its first-quarter financial results, released Tuesday afternoon, Amazon reported $143 billion in revenue, $10.4 billion in profit and 98 cents earnings per diluted share. In the same time period ...Read more

Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune/TNS

Ecolab sells surgical business for nearly $1 billion

Business / Business News /

Ecolab is offloading its global medical solutions business, selling its surgical unit to Medline Industries for just under $1 billion.

The St. Paul based provider of water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services earned announced the $950 million deal with the Illinois-based private company Tuesday morning. Medline is one of the...Read more

Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Judge in Seattle sentences Changpeng Zhao, crypto mogul, to 4 months in prison

Business / Business News /

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, was sentenced in Seattle on Tuesday to four months in prison for failing to prevent money laundering on the exchange.

Both Zhao, who is known as CZ, and Binance pleaded guilty last year to failing to implement anti-money-laundering ...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

Michigan EV fast-charging infrastructure increased 52% in 2023

Business / Business News /

Michigan’s electric-vehicle fast-charging infrastructure grew slightly faster than the nation overall last year, according to a new report by East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group.

In 2023, the state's number of public DC fast-charging stations increased about 52%. Nationwide, the number of public DC fast charging stations increased by ...Read more

NewsNation/TNS

Former Fox News executive is named president of news and politics for NewsNation

Business / Business News /

Cherie Grzech, a longtime Washington executive for Fox News, has been named president and managing editor of news and politics for Nexstar's cable channel NewsNation.

The Chicago-based channel announced Tuesday that Grzech will oversee its news coverage and political programming, which now includes a Washington-based Sunday roundtable show. She...Read more

Max Ortiz/The Detroit News/TNS

Stellantis first-quarter revenues, shipments fall amid transition to new vehicles

Business / Business News /

Stellantis NV on Tuesday said its first-quarter revenue fell 12% to $44.7 billion (41.7 billion euro) compared to last year as the company transitions to a number of next-generation vehicles that will be built on new platforms.

Vehicle shipments worldwide were down 10%, to 1.3 million, compared to the same three-month period a year ago.

For ...Read more

David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS

Ameren in hot seat after new EPA rules target coal plant emissions

Business / Business News /

ST. LOUIS — Regional electric monopoly Ameren could be hit harder than many U.S. utilities by new federal rules requiring carbon pollution controls on coal-fired power plants.

The company generates more than half of its power from coal, helping Missouri burn more of the material than any state but Texas. And the utility's biggest power plant,...Read more

UAW warns of strike authorization vote at Stellantis Warren plant over safety concerns

Business / Business News /

United Auto Workers-represented workers at Stellantis NV's Warren (Michigan) Stamping Plant are expected to hold a strike authorization vote Monday over unresolved health and safety concerns at the facility, the union said.

About 1,100 UAW Local 869 members at the Warren facility could take the vote, which would allow union leadership to call ...Read more

Alejandro Tamayo/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Big rigs in California are getting cleaner -- but can long-range targets for trucks be met?

Business / Business News /

California policymakers want to clean up the emissions spewed by the trucking industry — and they've passed mandates and established targets to get there.

The federal government recently followed up, creating its own set of national guidelines that are staggered by year and truck classification.

With California at the forefront, adoption is ...Read more

Antonio Guillem/Dreamstime/TNS

US consumer confidence slumps to lowest level since July 2022

Business / Business News /

U.S. consumer confidence fell in April to the lowest since mid-2022 as Americans’ views of the labor market and their outlook for the economy deteriorated.

The Conference Board’s gauge of sentiment decreased to 97 from a downwardly revised 103.1 in March, data out Tuesday showed. The figure marked the third straight decline and trailed all ...Read more

Bank of America nears settlement in class-action case over unexpected customer fees

Business / Business News /

Bank of America is planning to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the financial giant of charging hidden fees for wire transfers, according to court filings by lawyers involved in the North Carolina federal court case.

Plaintiffs claimed they were unaware of a $15 fee to have money sent to their accounts through the Charlotte-based bank.

...Read more

Stellantis first-quarter revenues, shipments fall amid transition to new vehicles

Business / Business News /

Stellantis NV on Tuesday said its first-quarter revenue decreased 12% to $44.7 billion (41.7 billion euro) compared to last year as the company transitions to making a number of next-generation vehicles to be built on new platforms.

Vehicle shipments reached about 1.3 million vehicles in the first quarter, down 10% compared to the same three-...Read more

A 'leaner' 3M emerges as CEO hands off company to new leader

Business / Business News /

Mike Roman crossed a lot of billion-dollar items off his to-do list in his final few months as CEO of 3M.

The Minnesota-based conglomerate spun off its health care division on Apr. 1. Two major legal settlements cleared their final hurdles. And the company took a tentative first step back to growth following a major restructuring and several ...Read more

Full circle: Why Boeing had to buy back a Missouri supplier it sold off in 2001

Business / Business News /

HAZELWOOD, Missouri — In 2000, just three years after acquiring St. Louis defense contractor McDonnell Douglas, Boeing announced plans to spin off its local fabrication business — and about 1,500 jobs — to a British company called GKN PLC.

Analysts at the time applauded the decision to outsource the work, saying it would free Boeing to ...Read more

Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Childcare staff often make less money than retail workers. That's causing staff shortages and long waitlists at daycares

Business / Business News /

At Bright Little Scholars’ two Philadelphia locations, director and pre-K teacher Mercedes Fleet employed 21 different people throughout 2023. She only has five staff positions.

“It’s a never-ending cycle” of turnover, Fleet said.

Fleet pays $15 per hour to her two aides and $20 to a pre-K teacher with a bachelor’s degree, and ...Read more

Maxim Defense Industries/Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives/TNS/TNS

After an ATF ruling, the bottom falls out for a Minnesota firearms manufacturer

Business / Business News /

A dozen years ago, federal firearms regulators approved a new product aimed at gun owners with physical disabilities, instantly creating a new market — and Maxim Defense Industries jumped in.

Over the next decade, the St. Cloud, Minnesota-based company built a line of pistol braces, which fastened to the forearm give shooters more stability. ...Read more