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Boeing Machinists approve new contract, ending strike

Business / Business News /

SEATTLE — Striking Machinists voted Monday to approve the company’s most recent contract offer, ending a strike and enabling Boeing to begin restarting work at assembly plants in Everett and Renton that have been stopped for eight weeks.

Results announced late Monday showed the offer, which needed a simple majority to gain approval, was ...Read more

November Fed meeting preview: The Fed eyes another rate cut as elections, hurricane uncertainties loom

Business / Business News /

Imagine driving a car with a windshield so muddy that your only choice is to look through the rearview mirror. It’s challenging to discern where you’re going solely based on where you’ve been. When judging what to do with interest rates, however, the Federal Reserve has no other choice.

The U.S. economy is looking a little bit brighter ...Read more

Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Labor board accuses Apple of suppressing employee discussions

Business / Business News /

Apple has been accused by the National Labor Relations Board of trying to prevent employees from discussing pay equity and pressuring an engineer who attempted to circulate an online survey about wages to quit.

In a complaint issued last week by the NLRB’s regional office in Oakland, federal labor regulators alleged Apple has unlawfully ...Read more

Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Vitamin Shoppe owner files for bankruptcy protection

Business / Business News /

Franchise Group, the company at the heart of a troubled management buyout that has devastated the stock of B. Riley Financial, has filed for bankruptcy — but plans to keep open most of its retail brands, including Vitamin Shoppe.

The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, announcing it already had a deal with about 80%...Read more

MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

TikTok sued by French families over harmful content linked to teen suicides

Business / Business News /

Seven families in France are suing TikTok over harmful content that is linked to two teenagers’ suicides.

Laure Boutron-Marmion, a lawyer for the families, said the app’s algorithm exposed the children — all girls — to self-harm, eating disorders and suicide content.

Two of the children, both 15 years old, died by suicide. Four of the ...Read more

Build-A-Bear Workshop/Build-A-Bear Workshop/TNS

Missouri judge dismisses Build-A-Bear's case against Squishmallows

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A Missouri judge has dismissed Build-A-Bear’s lawsuit against Squishmallows parent company, California-based Kelly Toys Holdings.

Earlier this year, Kelly Toys Holdings and its affiliate companies sued Build-A-Bear Workshop over alleged infringement of trade dress rights. Kelly Toys Holdings’ lawsuit, which was filed in California, states ...Read more

Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Boeing Machinists head to the polls in decisive vote that could end strike

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Striking Boeing Machinists union members are voting today on the company’s latest bid to end their strike, now in its ninth week.

The Machinists went on strike Sept. 13, idling Boeing’s assembly plants in Renton and Everett as the plane-maker’s cash reserves dwindle. Union members rejected two prior offers, believing they could win ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Las Vegas' housing crisis taking center stage this presidential election

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The Las Vegas Valley’s affordability and housing crisis is taking center stage this presidential election, a UNLV political scientist, said.

One demographic, in particular, should be paid close attention to as the election nears: Latinos, said John Tuman, executive associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of political ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

China files WTO complaint over the EU's electric car tariffs

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China has lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the European Union’s final tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, escalating a dispute that’s straining an already fraught relationship.

Beijing brought the case to the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism on Monday to “safeguard the development interests” of the...Read more

TYGER WILLIAMS/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Gopuff now accepts SNAP payments

Business / Business News /

There's a new place to shop with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Gopuff, the Philadelphia-founded on-demand delivery service, is now accepting SNAP payments, the company announced Friday.

"We are honored to now allow SNAP-eligible families access to the groceries they need in the fastest and most affordable way," said ...Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Hundreds of lawsuits allege Abbott Laboratories' formula for premature infants made babies sick. But is the formula to blame?

Business / Business News /

To Dioselina Salto, the first two weeks of motherhood were amazing, even though she spent much of it in the hospital after her daughter was born prematurely.

She visited her daughter Janelle twice a day, held her close to her own skin and pumped breast milk for her, which doctors supplemented with specialized formula.

But a midnight call from ...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Decades-long uptick in attacks on Chicago transit workers carries implications for employees and riders

Business / Business News /

CHICAGO — The Orange Line operator was directed to take the train out of service because of an issue elsewhere in the system, and was emptying the railcars of passengers. But that Friday morning in mid-October, one customer refused to get off.

With fists raised, the customer got in the operator’s face, the operator’s union President ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Motormouth: When should I get an oil change?

Business / Business News /

Q: ​I drive a 1998 Toyota that has 62,000 miles on it. I have read your column faithfully for years and have learned so much from you. As you can tell from the mileage on my car, I barely put 2,000 miles on it in a year. The most I might drive in a day is 3-5 miles and sometimes I go days without driving at all. Also, I never do expressway ...Read more

Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Microsoft buys North Carolina megasite near the Research Triangle, but won't say why

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One of the world’s most valuable companies took a North Carolina megasite off the market this week as Microsoft notified local officials on Thursday it had completed a $27 million purchase of the Person County Mega Park.

The 1,350-acre site sits below the Virginia border, about an hour’s drive north of Durham. Person officials said they ...Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Jury sides with Abbott Laboratories in ongoing fight over preterm infant formulas

Business / Business News /

A St. Louis jury handed Abbott Laboratories a win Thursday, deciding that Abbott, another company and a hospital were not liable after a boy consumed the companies’ cow’s milk-based products for premature infants and became severely ill.

The decision marked the first victory for north suburban-based Abbott Laboratories and Indiana-based ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Michael Hiltzik: These Apple researchers just showed that AI bots can't think, and possibly never will

Business / Business News /

See if you can solve this arithmetic problem:

Oliver picks 44 kiwis on Friday. Then he picks 58 kiwis on Saturday. On Sunday, he picks double the number of kiwis he did on Friday, but five of them were a bit smaller than average. How many kiwis does Oliver have?

If you answered "190," congratulations: You did as well as the average grade ...Read more

Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune/TNS

At a Chicago Trader Joe's, a union remains in limbo as the grocery chain challenges the validity of just one vote

Business / Business News /

Six months ago, grocery staff at a North Center Trader Joe’s filed for a union election. The move came amid a swell of union organizing that swept the service industry over the last several years, hitting big names such as Starbucks and Apple and REI. At Trader Joe’s, grocery staff said they saw a union as a way to secure better pay, ...Read more

Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts via ZUMA Press/TNS

US payrolls increase by just 12,000, hit by storms and strikes

Business / Business News /

U.S. hiring advanced at the slowest pace since 2020 while the unemployment rate remained low in October, a month distorted by severe hurricanes and a major strike at Boeing Co.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 12,000 last month, and hiring over the previous two months was weaker than previously thought, suggesting the underlying labor market ...Read more

John Moore/Getty Images North America/TNS

Potato-packing workers trafficked from Mexico to Colorado in forced-labor scheme, lawsuit alleges

Business / Business News /

At least three potato-packing workers in Colorado’s San Luis Valley were trafficked from Mexico into a forced-labor scheme, compelled to work for less than minimum wage, given little food and water, and housed in substandard conditions, the laborers allege in a federal lawsuit filed this month.

Armando Rubio Flores, Alfonso Angeles Hernandez ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

A-B InBev revenue finally stabilizing 19 months after Bud Light controversy

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Anheuser-Busch InBev may have turned a corner more than a year after its sales tanked from a boycott sparked by the brewer tapping transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a Bud Light marketing campaign in spring 2023.

The Belgium-based brewer on Thursday posted revenues of $15.57 billion, up from $15.04 billion in the same quarter last year ...Read more