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Anthony Souffle/Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Amazon suspends Minnesota data center as lawmakers plan to reduce Big Tech tax breaks

Business / Business News /

Amazon says it has suspended plans for a massive data center in Becker, Minnesota, an announcement that comes after state lawmakers and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said they will reduce tax breaks for these projects.

The Seattle-based tech giant said in a statement that it moved ahead with the project initially based on how quickly it thought it ...Read more

K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Wynn Resorts fined $5.5M for illegal scheme to recruit high-rollers

Business / Business News /

The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday fined Wynn Resorts Ltd. $5.5 million to settle a complaint, the third major fine against a Strip property for failed oversight of illegal gambling this year.

Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a stipulation of settlement. Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey cast the lone vote against approval, believing the ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Another 'Hot Coffee Case'? Nevada resident sues after being burned by coffee at McDonald's drive-thru

Business / Business News /

A woman is suing McDonald’s after an employee spilled “scalding hot” coffee into her lap at a drive-thru of a Henderson restaurant, reminiscent of the 1992 landmark “Hot Coffee Case.”

Nevada resident Ranisha Asberry is suing McDonald’s Corp. after an employee did not properly seal the lid of her hot coffee, causing the liquids to ...Read more

Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Nevada one step closer to getting a dedicated business court

Business / Business News /

The Nevada Supreme Court has created a business court commission in the latest move to curb Delaware’s dominance in the corporate filings market.

Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Douglas Herndon announced plans on Thursday to create a commission to develop rules and regulations for a Nevada business court. A petition from Herndon will be ...Read more

Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Tariffs, high building costs, stingy lending make for curious revival of split-levels

Business / Business News /

With six kids, a housekeeper named Alice and Tiger the dog, the fictitious “Brady Bunch” of the 1970s sitcom filmed in a real-life mid-century California house, a perfectly groovy set for all the shenanigans that made the show so popular.

More than 50 years later, that split-level trend is resurfacing, but it’s not because of a newfound ...Read more

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Meta promised $1 billion for affordable housing. Then it quietly walked away

Business / Business News /

In 2019, Meta unveiled an ambitious pledge to spend $1 billion to help ease California’s affordable housing crisis that critics say the company, with its thousands of highly paid employees, played a role in exacerbating.

Yet not even halfway through its 10-year commitment, Facebook’s parent company has largely abandoned its work on the ...Read more

Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS

US existing-home sales decline, marking worst April since 2009

Business / Business News /

U.S. sales of previously owned homes unexpectedly dropped in April to the slowest pace in seven months, restrained by ongoing affordability constraints and highlighting a lackluster start to the key spring selling season.

Contract closings decreased 0.5% to an annualized rate of 4 million, according to National Association of Realtors data ...Read more

Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group/TNS

New report reveals at least a quarter of all office space still vacant in downtown San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco

Business / Business News /

SAN JOSE, California — Sky-high downtown office vacancy rates continue to haunt San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco as at least one-fourth of those spaces remain empty in all three urban cores, according to a new report from commercial real estate firm Colliers.

The Colliers report provided to this news organization covers the latest ...Read more

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Airbnb to crack down on 'unauthorized and disruptive' parties on summer bookings

Business / Business News /

Parties at vacation rentals sometimes raise the ire of neighbors when holiday revelry gets out of hand.

Airbnb announced this week it is rolling out “anti-party technology” across the U.S. this summer. The system will be in effect for two upcoming holiday weekends: Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

The goal of the system, which is being...Read more

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images North America/TNS

Michael Hiltzik: AI 'hallucinations' are a growing problem for the legal profession

Business / Business News /

You've probably heard the one about the product that blows up in its creators' faces when they're trying to demonstrate how great it is.

Here's a ripped-from-the-headlines yarn about what happened when a big law firm used an AI bot product developed by Anthropic, its client, to help write an expert's testimony defending the client.

It didn't ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: How can we stop our neighbor's constantly barking dogs?

Business / Business News /

Q: Our next-door neighbor lets her three dogs live in the fenced-in backyard, and they bark constantly, even late into the night. They are good neighbors, other than that, so we have tried to be patient, but we need a good night’s sleep. What can we do about this? —Graciela

A: Pet owners bear legal responsibility for their pets’ behavior,...Read more

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OpenAI teams up with former Apple design chief Jony Ive as AI race heats up

Business / Business News /

Jony Ive, a former Apple executive known for designing the iPhone, is joining forces with OpenAI, the San Francisco startup behind popular chatbot ChatGPT.

On Wednesday, OpenAI said it's buying io, an AI devices startup that Ive founded a year ago, for nearly $6.5 billion in an all-stock deal, the largest acquisition in OpenAI's history.

"We ...Read more

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Surge AI is latest San Francisco startup accused of misclassifying its workers

Business / Business News /

Artificial intelligence training company Surge AI has been hit with a lawsuit alleging it has misclassified contractors hired to improve chat responses from AI software for some of the world's leading tech companies.

The proposed class action lawsuit alleges that "data annotators" — hired by Surge AI to ensure that powerful AI systems run by ...Read more

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Boeing sticks to safety strategy, with new audits, officers and data

Business / Business News /

As Boeing attempts to rebuild its reputation among safety regulators and the flying public, the company’s safety office is sticking to a strategy put in place after two 737 Max crashes six years ago.

In its fourth annual safety report since the deadly Max crashes, Boeing laid out a multipronged safety plan focused on strengthening safety ...Read more

Bryan R. Smith/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Disney tells Venezuelans on TPS: Find a new legal way to work or you're out of a job

Business / Business News /

The Walt Disney Company has notified dozens of Venezuelan employees they might lose their jobs after the Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration could end their deportation protections and work permits under temporary protected status.

The corporation, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary, placed approximately 45 “cast ...Read more

Mandel Ngan/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

DOJ probes Live Nation, AEG for COVID-era refund collusion

Business / Business News /

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting a criminal antitrust probe into how companies responded to mass concert cancellations at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The investigation is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and AEG Presents illegally colluded on refund policies for...Read more

Dave Newman/Dreamstime/TNS

FTC rests at Meta monopoly trial, shifting focus to defense

Business / Business News /

The Federal Trade Commission wrapped up its case for breaking up Meta Platforms Inc. as an illegal social-media monopoly, with the company now set to lay out its defense in the ongoing antitrust trial.

Meta will take the next several weeks to make its case before U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington. The company also said Thursday ...Read more

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Coinbase hack rocks the company that led crypto into mainstream

Business / Business News /

On the long list of crypto companies that have been hacked, there are plenty of examples of financial losses that are much more painful than what Coinbase Global Inc. appears to be facing from the attack it disclosed on Thursday.

Yet this one stands out for significance far beyond the $400 million the company expects it will cost: This time, ...Read more

Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS

Amazon claims warehouses are getting safer. Critics say progress is too slow

Business / Business News /

Injury rates in Amazon warehouses fell in 2024 for the third year in a row, but a coalition of labor unions that tracks the data said Amazon isn’t making improvements fast enough.

In 2020, founder and then-CEO Jeff Bezos said the company was committed to become “Earth’s safest place to work.” Injury rates had spiked in 2019, reaching as...Read more

Real estate Q&A: What happens to our mother's house after she died without a will?

Business / Business News /

Q: Our mother recently passed away in Florida. I live in another state, so the last year before she died, my brother moved in with her to be able to help. The house was owned for decades by both our parents, and our father passed away some time ago. My sister and I want to sell the house, but our brother wants to keep living there. We get along ...Read more