Business
/ArcaMax

US asks judge to dismiss criminal charge over Boeing 737 Max crashes
The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal judge in Texas to dismiss its criminal case against Boeing Co. over two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jets more than six years ago, despite objections of family members of some crash victims.
The request, disclosed Thursday in a court filing, is part of a proposed settlement prosecutors reached with ...Read more

Northrop Grumman doubles down on new rocket investment with Firefly
Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace have given a name to the future medium-lift rocket they plan to build: Eclipse.
The two companies are already partnered to help shepherd a new version of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, which has not flown since 2023 when the company used the last of its supply of Russian-made engines for the rocket�...Read more

Businesses whipsawed by tariff court rulings
ATLANTA — Business owners who have been caught in the crossfire of the Trump administration’s trade war welcomed a court ruling this week to block many of the president’s new tariffs.
Their relief lasted about 24 hours. On Thursday, a federal appeals court reinstated them, at least temporarily, leaving many business leaders uncertain ...Read more

Michael Hiltzik: Explaining the newest Wall Street craze -- the 'TACO' trade
Stock market investors don't have much to cheer about in the second Trump term, except perhaps for a new and almost flawless trading strategy — the TACO trade.
The acronym, coined by Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong, stands for "Trump Always Chickens Out." ("Acronyms are very powerful, especially when they remind people of ...Read more

FCC commissioner sounds alarms about free speech 'chilling effect' under Trump
Federal Communications Commissioner Anna M. Gomez traveled to Los Angeles this week to sound an alarm that attacks on the media by President Trump and his lieutenants could fray the fabric of the 1st Amendment.
Gomez's appearance Wednesday at Cal State L.A. was designed to take feedback from community members about the changed media atmosphere ...Read more
Real estate Q&A: Should HOA pay for off-site parking during structural repairs?
Q: We live in a 20-story condominium where every unit has one assigned spot in the garage, and we all share a large upper parking deck. Last year, the upper parking deck was deemed unsafe, resulting in the installation of shoring poles in the garage below, which blocked some assigned parking spots. The people whose spots were blocked, along with...Read more

Las Vegas jobless rate higher than US as business confidence plunges
Las Vegas’ jobless rate has improved over the past several months but remains one of the highest in the nation among big metro areas, new data shows.
The Las Vegas area’s unemployment rate was 5.2 percent last month, compared with 3.9 percent nationally, according to figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The ...Read more

As Google retreats from real estate, will it still build the 15,000 homes it promised?
When Google made its $1 billion pledge to address the Bay Area’s housing shortage in 2019, the plan hinged on the company expanding its office presence in Silicon Valley.
The majority of the housing pledge wasn’t cash — though there was some of that — but land. Specifically, $750 million worth of suburban office parks the company ...Read more

Did insurers collude to force homeowners onto state insurance plan? What to know from two blockbuster lawsuits
The firestorms that swept through Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other communities Jan. 7 not only devastated thousands of homeowners but highlighted a giant problem: the growth of the state's insurer of last resort. The California FAIR Plan Assn. offers policies that cover less, but typically are expensive.
Now, California home insurers are ...Read more

Microsoft wants to radically change the way you surf the web
Microsoft sees artificial intelligence transforming the internet as fundamentally as mobile phones have over the past two decades. But the technology's limitations could curb Microsoft's grand vision.
Generative AI — which creates content based on a user's request — burst into the zeitgeist in late 2022 when Microsoft-backed OpenAI launched...Read more

Victoria's Secret website down for third day amid mysterious 'security incident'
Victoria’s Secret & Co. kept mum on Wednesday as a prolonged “security incident” kept its website dark for a third straight day, flummoxing customers and investors alike and pushing the stock price down 7%.
The retailer also ceased some office operations and told employees to steer clear of company technology as some email passwords ...Read more

Virtual reality has transformed design process for robotic floor-cleaners at Tennant
After Tennant figured out how to keep its plants open during the pandemic, it had a second problem to solve.
The company’s designers aren’t all in the same place. Neither are its customers, and sharing pen-and-paper designs isn’t easy on a video call.
Video game technology gave the company a way to move forward over Zoom, and it worked ...Read more

Target profits boosted by $593M payout in antitrust credit card settlements
Target’s latest quarterly profits would have been much worse if it had not received $593 million in settlements from an antitrust lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard that was filed a dozen years ago.
“When you look at the numbers, the profits don’t look too bad,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “If you take...Read more

Netflix chairman Reed Hastings joins board of AI giant Anthropic
Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings is joining the board of San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company Anthropic.
Anthropic, valued at $61.5 billion after its most recent funding round in March, is known for its AI chatbot model Claude.
"Anthropic is very optimistic about the AI benefits for humanity, but is also very aware of the economic...Read more

Tech review: Powerbeats Pro 2 are ready for your sweaty workout
I’ve turned into one of those people who wear earbuds all day at work.
We don’t have traditional phones at my office. We use Microsoft Teams as our voice phones, so when the phone rings, I usually answer it on my computer.
And because I work with three other people in one big room, we all use headphones.
I have been wearing Apple’s ...Read more

EV advocates warn of Chinese dominance, political fallout from House GOP bill
WASHINGTON — The pullback on Biden-era tax credits in the budget passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. House could stunt the growth of the nation's still-fledgling electric vehicle industry and create ripple effects throughout the global autos market, clean energy advocates warn.
"Anybody who claims to be concerned about Chinese dominance ...Read more

Stellantis picks Antonio Filosa as its next CEO: 'This place is in my blood'
Stellantis NV said Wednesday that Antonio Filosa, who currently oversees the Americas for the automaker, will serve as the company's next chief executive officer.
The internal hire of Filosa, a 25-year veteran of the company, was announced early Wednesday morning and ends a six-month-long search for a new CEO after Carlos Tavares resigned ...Read more

Michael Hiltzik: Target learns that bowing to anti-DEI backers can be costly, a lesson for those bowing to Trump
Has any American company run away from a public commitment faster than Target?
In an Aug. 19, 2020, conference call, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell forthrightly put his company in the forefront of the quest for racial and ethnic justice. George Floyd had been murdered by Police Officer Derek Chauvin, abetted by several other officers in ...Read more

Inside Google's plan to have Hollywood make AI look less doomsday
For decades, Hollywood directors including Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron and Alex Garland have cast artificial intelligence as a villain that can turn into a killing machine.
Even Steven Spielberg's relatively hopeful "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" had a pessimistic edge to its vision of the future.
Now Google — a leading developer in AI ...Read more

Trade war with China highlights auto sector's need for rare-earth mineral supply
President Donald Trump's trade war with China underscores the importance of a reliable supply chain for the automotive industry of rare-earth minerals and magnets made from them that are necessary for parts from electric vehicle motors to windshield wipers and anti-lock braking systems.
Rare earths describe 17 metallic elements with properties ...Read more
Popular Stories
- Motormouth: Rent a car or drive our own?
- As Google retreats from real estate, will it still build the 15,000 homes it promised?
- Did insurers collude to force homeowners onto state insurance plan? What to know from two blockbuster lawsuits
- Las Vegas jobless rate higher than US as business confidence plunges
- Victoria's Secret website down for third day amid mysterious 'security incident'