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Amex to pay $230 million over misleading sales practices
American Express Co. will pay about $230 million to resolve a long-running investigation into some of the firm’s prior sales practices which regulators said misled small-business owners.
Amex reached agreements with federal prosecutors and the Federal Reserve to settle the allegations, according to statements from the parties involved.
The ...Read more
TikTok poised for reprieve as Trump team pledges extension
A U.S. ban on ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok is poised to be delayed with a deadline for the sale of the app falling on a holiday weekend and President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration pledging an extension.
President Joe Biden’s administration is not planning to intervene before a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok’s U.S. arm to find a ...Read more
California Gov. Gavin Newsom extends rental price gouging protections until early March
California Gov. Gavin Newsom extended price gouging protections on rental housing Thursday amid calls for authorities to prosecute landlords jacking up rent in the wake of Los Angeles County's devastating fires.
Under California law, price gouging protections kick in during a state of emergency and generally bar landlords, hotel and motels from...Read more
Real estate Q&A: Who should replace aging fence?
Q: I live in a zero-lot-line community. The side of our house, a patio wall, and a wood fence extension on the end of our patio wall form the property line with our neighbor. The builder installed the wood fence extension to meet city code and enclose the neighbor’s yard since it has an open, non-enclosed pool. We do not have a pool. The fence...Read more
UnitedHealth Group shares fall amid worry over medical costs
UnitedHealth Group beat estimates for fourth quarter profit as the Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based health care giant released its first earnings report since the fatal ambush last month of top executive Brian Thompson in New York City.
Despite the earnings result, the company’s stock price fell in early trading Thursday as its massive ...Read more
Santas shopped the sales at Target, resulting in a better-than-expected holiday bump
Heavy promotion and sales drew people into Target stores over the holidays, boosting comparable sales by 2% as people bought apparel and toys to put under the tree, the retailer said Thursday.
While not robust compared with past holiday seasons, it beat the Minneapolis-based retailer’s guidance of flat sales and is a much better performance ...Read more
China is facing longest deflation streak since Mao era in 1960s
China has failed to break a deflationary cycle and is now on track for the longest streak of economy-wide price declines since the 1960s, analysts say, exposing a key vulnerability likely masked by a growth upswing at the end of last year.
Deflation persisted for the second straight year in 2024, official data due Friday is set to show, ...Read more
Uber sues Colorado over new laws, saying pricing transparency for drivers violates its free speech rights
Uber alleges in a new lawsuit that two Colorado laws aiming to improve transparency for delivery and ride-hailing app drivers will violate its right to free speech.
Senate Bill 75 and House Bill 1129, both passed and signed into law last year, mandate that ride-hailing and delivery companies like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash show their drivers how ...Read more
Hollywood production rose at the end of a brutal 2024. But wildfires add new uncertainty
Although Hollywood production rallied in the last three months of 2024, it was not enough to turn around last year's industry-wide slump, according to a new report.
Overall production from October to December increased 6.2% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report released by the nonprofit organization FilmLA, which ...Read more
The new app that is an essential tool for tracking California wildfires
An app built on an off-the-grid ranch in rural Sonoma County, California, supported by solar panels, satellite internet service and a small nonprofit team, is serving as a critical tech hub for free, fast and reliable information to help victims of the catastrophic Los Angeles fires — and future disasters.
The fire-tracking app Watch Duty, ...Read more
Maryland's emissions reduction requirements for large buildings challenged in federal court
Trade organizations representing builders, developers and building owners joined Washington Gas & Light in filing a lawsuit Monday challenging Maryland’s emissions reduction requirements for large buildings.
The suit alleges that Maryland’s regulation requiring buildings of at least 35,000 square feet to reduce their globe-warming emissions...Read more
Fires burned up their restaurant jobs. 'From one day to another, we have no work'
LOS ANGELES — Felipe Ortega has spent 38 years — more than half of his life — working at Gladstones in Pacific Palisades. He started as a busboy and worked his way to bartender and maintenance worker. But for the foreseeable future, the 64-year-old is out of a job.
A week after flames damaged the restaurant and destroyed huge swaths of ...Read more
FTC, state AGs sue John Deere, say farmers aren't allowed to fix their own tractors
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is suing iconic tractor manufacturer John Deere over farmers’ rights to repair their own machines.
Citing the frustration of farmers who are forced to rely on authorized dealers to fix broken-down tractors, Ellison joined the Federal Trade Commission and the Illinois attorney general in charging Deere ...Read more
GM signs supply agreement with Norwegian synthetic graphite manufacturer
General Motors Co. has signed an agreement with a Norwegian synthetic graphite manufacturer for large-scale production for electric vehicle batteries, the companies said Wednesday.
The "multibillion"-dollar deal, according to a news release, covers supply of synthetic anode graphite toward 2033. Ultium Cells LLC, GM's battery joint venture with...Read more
State Farm to offer renewals to policyholders affected by LA County fires
State Farm said Wednesday that it will offer renewals to residential policyholders affected by the Los Angeles County fires that it had previously planned to drop.
The decision applies to policies held by homeowners, owners of rental dwellings and residential community associations, which include condominium associations.
The figure includes ...Read more
H-1B visa: South Bay executives must be re-charged with visa fraud, judges rule
Two South Bay executives who temporarily escaped prosecution over alleged H-1B visa fraud are back in the hot seat again, after an appeals court reversed a lower-court ruling that tossed out their indictment.
The criminal charges against Namrata Patnaik of Saratoga and Kartiki Parekh of Santa Clara must be reinstated, a three-judge panel in the...Read more
Crisis-hit Boeing delivered less than half as many jets as Airbus in 2024
Year-end jet orders and deliveries figures released Tuesday by Boeing reveal how much Airbus dominated its crisis-ridden U.S. rival in 2024.
In the smaller narrowbody jet sector that services domestic and intermediate-range flights, Airbus delivered 602 of its A320neo jet family aircraft while Boeing delivered just 260 of the 737 Maxes that ...Read more
Bill meant to help stabilize California insurance market has support. When could it pass?
SACRAMENTO, California — A bill meant to help stabilize California’s troubled insurance market has key early support as wildfires continue to cause devastation in and around Los Angeles.
The measure, introduced by Democratic Assembly members Lisa Calderon and David Alvarez, provides a financial backup plan for the state’s insurer of last ...Read more
Stanford AI expert's credibility shattered by fake, AI-created sources: judge
A federal court judge has thrown out expert testimony from a Stanford University artificial intelligence and misinformation professor, saying his submission of fake information made up by an AI chatbot “shatters” his credibility.
In her written decision Friday, Minnesota district court Judge Laura Provinzino cited “the irony” of ...Read more
Disneyland hotels housing 100 Disney employees displaced by wildfires
The Walt Disney Company is helping hundreds of employees impacted by the deadly and devastating wildfires that destroyed swaths of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, California, with temporary housing, clothing and monetary relief.
At least 64 Disney employees lost their homes in the Palisades and Eaton fires and hundreds more remain evacuated ...Read more
Popular Stories
- China is facing longest deflation streak since Mao era in 1960s
- Two years after reforms, Florida lawmakers share insurance horror stories
- FTC, state AGs sue John Deere, say farmers aren't allowed to fix their own tractors
- LA-based Farmers tops survey of big California home insurers that decline the most claims
- Uber sues Colorado over new laws, saying pricing transparency for drivers violates its free speech rights