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Dollar General sued for deceptive store pricing

Business / Business News /

The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states have filed a federal lawsuit alleging deceptive pricing practices against a convenience store chain that serves rural and impoverished pockets of America.

The 29-count civil lawsuit was filed Oct. 26 in the U.S. Middle District Court of Tennessee, claiming that Dollar General had engaged in a practice ...Read more

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Baltimore County approves $210M tax credit for Anduril shipyard. What will taxpayers get?

Business / Business News /

The Baltimore County Council on Monday unanimously approved a 30-year property tax credit that aims to incentivize the development of Anduril Industries’ proposed submarine manufacturing shipyard in Sparrows Point.

But while county officials say the project could bring more than 3,100 permanent jobs to the region, the legislation does not ...Read more

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As local post-production dwindles, Burbank studio plans to lay off 81

Business / Business News /

Burbank-based post-production studio Roundabout Entertainment plans to lay off 81 employees, the latest sign of contraction in L.A.'s struggling film and TV industry.

The job cuts are set to take effect Dec. 29, according to a filing with the state's Employment Development Department.

The reductions are part of a restructuring plan initiated ...Read more

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New Best Buy CEO takes over as retail shifts 'faster than at any point in our history'

Business / Business News /

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy has a new CEO leading it through the crucial holiday season.

But Jason Bonfig, who took over the helm on Sunday, will have more than the holiday shopping season to contend with as Best Buy’s sixth CEO. He will have to fend off competing electronics retailers, adapt the business model to boost alternative...Read more

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Why General Mills is reinventing the stale cereal bag

Business / Business News /

Tired of stale cereal? General Mills is trying to zip up the issue.

The Golden Valley, Minnesota-based company launched boxes of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios on Walmart.com equipped with bags featuring Ziploc seals.

As of Oct. 30, the 14.4-ounce resealable Honey Nut product costs the same as an 18.8-ounce box with a traditional bag. The new...Read more

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Las Vegas Strip casino now accepts cryptocurrency for gaming

Business / Business News /

Sahara hotel-casino has begun accepting cryptocurrency to fund gaming transactions, becoming the first Strip property to announce the option, according to payment provider BurraPay.

The platform allows customers to deposit Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin at the casino cage in exchange for chips, tickets and other gaming funds. The cryptocurrency...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Waymo expands driverless taxi service in Los Angeles County

Business / Business News /

Waymo expanded its Los Angeles service area on Tuesday, adding three South Bay neighborhoods to the 210-square-mile region where the robotaxis roam.

Riders can now travel to Torrance, El Segundo, and Manhattan Beach in a Waymo driverless taxi, but they still won't be able to call a ride to or from Los Angeles International Airport.

The ...Read more

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Tesla Cybercabs join Waymo in Detroit robotaxi testing

Business / Business News /

SOUTHFIELD, Michigan — The autonomous rideshare wars are heating up just in time for the cold Michigan winter.

A fleet of gold, butterfly-door Tesla Cybercabs has joined Waymo driverless vehicles in Detroit, expanding the competitive playing field from Austin, Texas, to Michigan's more complicated, multi-season environment. Two dozen ...Read more

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Anheuser-Busch CEO leaving position for luxury gym chain

Business / Business News /

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth is leaving his position at the end of this month for a new job leading a luxury gym chain, AB InBev announced Monday.

His departure for Equinox, a New York City-based gym chain, comes after a tumultuous five years at the helm of A-B marked by declining beer sales and political backlash following a 2023 ...Read more

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Utilities lobby for shield from wildfire costs

Business / Business News /

As a criminal investigation into Southern California Edison's actions before last year's deadly Eaton fire continues, the state's for-profit utilities are lobbying for legislation that would protect their shareholders from paying for future catastrophic fires they cause.

According to slides recently presented by a Pacific Gas & Electric ...Read more

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Michael Hiltzik: Can AI bots become conscious? Why Microsoft's AI boss says that's the wrong question

Business / Business News /

Mustafa Suleyman has some thoughts about whether artificial intelligence bots can become conscious. The answer, he says, is no. What's more, he says that AI developers should stop even speculating about it.

What's important about Suleyman's take is that he is the chief executive of Microsoft AI, which makes him one of the top three or four ...Read more

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Frantic Binance hackers created windfall for crypto traders

Business / Business News /

For most crypto investors, the theft of $6.3 billion from Binance was a reminder of the risks that still surround digital assets. For a small group of fast-moving trading firms and skilled investors, it was a chance to make a quick buck.

As apparent North Korean hackers rushed to convert funds stolen from the world’s biggest crypto exchange, ...Read more

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Apple's tightening margins overshadow upbeat holiday forecast

Business / Business News /

Apple Inc. delivered a mixed outlook to investors in its first quarterly report under Chief Executive Officer John Ternus, with narrower profit margins overshadowing an upbeat sales forecast.

Though Apple predicted revenue growth of 7% to 10% during the holiday season — beating the 6.1% estimated by Wall Street — the company warned that ...Read more

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Newsom proposes $1 billion cap for film and TV tax incentive

Business / Business News /

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to expand California's current Film and Television Tax Credit Program from $750 million to at least $1 billion annually.

The proposal would include credits for above-the-line talent and extend the tax credit through 2040, according to a news release Monday. If passed, the credit would be the country's largest capped film...Read more

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Many Pennsylvania communities are wary of data centers -- and some concerns are existential

Business / Business News /

Even the really big, existential questions start with a zoning permit.

The question currently roiling municipalities across Pennsylvania is data centers — large buildings filled with computers. What all of those computers are calculating is not subject to municipal oversight, but it’s the current that runs through the long township meetings...Read more

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Microsoft AI CEO warns industry against trying to build conscious machines

Business / Business News /

Should artificial intelligence systems be given rights? One of the leading thinkers on the fast-evolving technology weighed in over the weekend.

Microsoft AI Chief Executive Mustafa Suleyman, in an X post published on Sunday, repeated his stance that current AI systems are not conscious, do not have subjective experiences and cannot suffer. He ...Read more

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Tech company Brave plundered Daily News' content and resold it to AI giants: copyright lawsuit

Business / Business News /

The Daily News, the New York Times, and affiliated newspapers filed federal lawsuits in Manhattan Monday accusing the technology company Brave Software of using high-tech scraping tools to illegally plunder their websites for exclusive news stories to resell to A.I. giants, including Anthropic and Perplexity.

A Manhattan Federal Court complaint...Read more

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The Cheesecake Factory is a punchline. But it's also the California dream

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — On the night Erik and Lyle Menendez killed their parents, they offered an elaborate, twisted and ultimately unbelievable explanation of those crucial hours in 1989.

They said they screened Tim Burton's "Batman" at a movie theater in Century City, cruised over to Santa Monica for a food festival, then stopped by the house for a ...Read more

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Microsoft AI CEO warns industry against trying to build conscious machines

Business / Business News /

Should artificial intelligence systems be given rights? One of the leading thinkers on the fast-evolving technology weighed in over the weekend.

Microsoft AI Chief Executive Mustafa Suleyman, in an X post published on Sunday, r repeated his stance that current AI systems are not conscious, do not have subjective experiences and cannot suffer. ...Read more

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Starbucks adapting to GLP-1 era with protein drinks, new snacks, CEO says

Business / Business News /

If you're trying to lose weight, Starbucks isn’t exactly the first place you’d think to eat. But CEO Brian Niccol wants to change that.

In an interview on Friday with CNBC, Niccol said the company is well aware" of the GLP-1 trend.

The number of Americans using GLP-1 medications for weight loss has nearly quadrupled since Niccol took over ...Read more