President Donald Trump said recently on social media he would ask Congress to stop large investors and private equity firms from buying single-family homes.

His plan did not have many details but echoed a common refrain across the U.S. that investors should not own homes and that they drive up prices.

Critics have argued the issue is ...Read more

Sweetgreen's salad business isn't as fresh as it used to be.

Not long ago, the Los-Angeles-based company's fresh bowls of fancy salads were all the rage, and its shares soared on hopes that salad-slinging robots could make it more profitable.

Last year was tough, though, as enthusiasm for the brand waned and cash-strapped diners abandoned fast...Read more

Small brick-and-mortar businesses in the Seattle area say they're under more financial stress today than they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey.

Squeezed between high operating costs and low revenue, businesses are taking on debt, putting off bill payments and laying off staff as they cast about for ways...Read more

One more reason things cost more today: cybercrime.

A survey by the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego-based education and victim resource nonprofit, found that 38% of small businesses hit by a cyberscam or breach in the previous 12 months passed those losses to customers by raising prices.

Another key finding: Cybercrime against ...Read more

When it comes to the current state of automotive evolution, we live in an era when SUVs reproduce like rabbits with financing. Into this overcrowded habitat steps the 2026 Mazda CX-30, showing up like a car that was raised to write thank-you notes. It makes a sincere effort to be interesting, mildly mischievous, and never the reason you stare ...Read more

MEMPHIS, Michigan — You think minivans are uncool?

I emerged from a game of Padel into a black Michigan night. With my arms full of a tennis bag and water bottle, I walked up to my red 2026 Chrysler Pacifica minivan tester and swung my foot under the rear door.

Open sesame!

The door automatically slid sideways, exposing the cavernous ...Read more

Grasso’s Garage has reviewed more than 375 vehicles and driven more brands and models than could park on most city blocks. And by now, regular readers will know that a few brands and models have emerged as favorites. This week, I'd like to indulge my long-lasting love for the station wagon. Recently we reviewed the 2025 Volvo V60 PHEV, which ...Read more

Trump administration officials vowed to keep U.S. coal power plants operating, casting it as an imperative to meet surging electricity demand and drive a revival of the nation’s industrial base.

“The goal is 100% open,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “That’s the standard we’re operating against.”

Burgum’s comment came ...Read more

Microsoft is recommending several policies to local lawmakers in an effort to help speed up housing development in Washington state.

In a playbook the company released Thursday are four proposals that Microsoft says are “concrete, evidence-based actions that state and local leaders” can take to close the housing gap.

—Unlock land: ...Read more

Bally’s Chicago may not be opening its new permanent casino this year after all.

With its already extended temporary license to operate at Medinah Temple set to expire in September and construction of the new casino complex racing the clock, state Rep. Kam Buckner introduced a bill Thursday to add up to another 12 months to the temporary ...Read more

A U.S. judge ruled Equinor ASA can resume building its multibillion-dollar wind project near New York, marking the second time this week a federal court has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a halt on offshore developments.

Equinor’s Empire Wind project would likely suffer “imminent irreparable harm” from further delays ...Read more

A Seattle-based law firm is accusing Starbucks of having an unethical supply chain and alleging that its decaffeinated coffee contains harmful chemicals.

Hagens Berman filed the proposed class-action lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on behalf of plaintiffs Jennifer Williams, of Washington, and ...Read more

Q: Can my neighbor point cameras into my courtyard that capture all my comings and goings? —Rachel

A: Privacy concerns can arise no matter where someone lives. Sometimes it is a nosy neighbor; other times it involves a business with security cameras or drones flying overhead.

While laws vary depending on where you live, the general ...Read more

Paramount suffered a blow in a Delaware courtroom Thursday as a judge refused to expedite its lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery seeking information about internal deliberations and a financial analysis.

Reuters reported that Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn of the Delaware Chancery Court said during a hearing that Paramount had failed to ...Read more

A video circulating on social media shows federal immigration officers putting a worker into a gray pickup truck in a parking lot behind General Mills’ Chanhassen manufacturing facility in the second week of January.

The 27-second clip with no audio demonstrates Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s growing presence at Minnesota’s ...Read more

Donald Trump’s return to the White House unleashed a market rally, dealmaking went into overdrive, and bankers embraced all things Trump to rake in the big money.

The new year is offering Wall Street enough reason to worry that the party could be cut short.

The top U.S. banks are trotting out results this week that back up the big run-up in...Read more

More than a decade before a deadly crash last year, Boeing warned MD-11 operators that a part securing the cargo plane’s engines to their wings had failed four times, while insisting it did not pose a safety risk.

Now that piece is the focus of an investigation into the UPS Flight 2976 disaster in Kentucky.

In a memo Wednesday, the National ...Read more

NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani is directing his city agencies to work toward cutting down fees and fines for small businesses.

Small businesses in New York are required to fork up cash for, among many other things, the ability to serve ice cream and install fridges.

The executive order, signed by Mamdani on Wednesday, calls on the Deputy ...Read more

Social media giant Meta said it's cutting more than 1,000 workers and closing several content studios as it focuses its efforts on artificial intelligence-powered wearables such as smart glasses.

The reductions are within Meta's Reality Labs division where employees work on the metaverse, digital spaces where people socialize, work, learn and ...Read more