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Alaska Airlines grounds flights amid IT outage

Business / Business News /

Alaska Airlines has grounded all flights amid an IT outage.

The airline said Thursday afternoon it is “experiencing an IT outage affecting operations,” and that “a temporary ground stop is in place.”

Alaska advised any travelers with flights booked Thursday to check flight status before heading to the airport.

In July, the airline ...Read more

Marek Uliasz/Dreamstime/TNS

Tariffs have unsettled Colorado's ag industry; a Trump plan adds to uncertainty

Business / Business News /

Colorado’s agricultural industry could face a multimillion-dollar hit because of tariffs, and now the state’s ranchers are concerned that a move to import more beef from Argentina could heighten the economic threats.

A state report released in September said the initial impact of tariffs on the beef industry could result in a drop of nearly...Read more

Ford's Q3 beats expectations, but Novelis aluminum plant fire lowers guidance

Business / Business News /

Ford Motor Co. is lowering its annual earnings guidance for 2025 following a fire at a major aluminum supplier, but it plans to ramp up F-Series production in Michigan and Kentucky in 2026.

The Sept. 16 blaze at Novelis Inc.'s Oswego, New York, plant will cost Ford as much as $1 billion between this year and 2026, the automaker said. Although ...Read more

UAW plans strike authorization vote at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee

Business / Business News /

United Auto Workers-represented employees at Volkswagen AG's plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, plan to vote on strike authorization next week following months of contract bargaining that's failed to yield an agreement, the union said.

The Detroit-based union won the right to represent more than 4,000 hourly workers at the plant in a historic ...Read more

Renée Jones Schneider/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Bipartisan backlash, led by Midwest politicians, rises against Trump's comments on beef industry

Business / Business News /

SLEEPY EYE, Minnesota — At the Sleepy Eye Auction Market on Wednesday, between sales of fattened steers and a shaggy Highland bull, chatter drifted to farm country’s latest beef with the White House: President Donald Trump’s plan to buy more beef from Argentina.

Few at the southwestern Minnesota cattle auction barn thought it would make a...Read more

Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

After gate reallocation at O'Hare, United to add new routes next year

Business / Business News /

United will add flights to 10 new domestic destinations from O’Hare International Airport next year, routes the airline says were made possible by the additional gate space it won through the city’s airport gate reallocation process this fall.

United’s new destinations next year will include Santa Barbara, California; Eugene, Oregon; ...Read more

Jerry Holt/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Personal security benefits for CEOs increase after killing of UnitedHealth executive

Business / Business News /

The murder of UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson has prompted companies nationwide to increase personal security benefits for their CEOs.

ISS Services, an advisory company, does an annual analysis of public firm proxies.

This year shows that CEO pay as a whole across U.S. public companies increased 11% to record levels.

That’s ...Read more

Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Rivian to reportedly lay off more than 600 workers

Business / Business News /

Electric vehicle maker Rivian, which plans a corporate hub and a $5 billion EV factory in Georgia, reportedly plans to lay off more than 600 workers as it looks to trim costs.

The Wall Street Journal reported Rivian plans to cut about 4% of its total workforce, which at the end of last year was nearly 15,000 people. The company is looking to ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

US mortgage rates drop to lowest level in more than a year

Business / Business News /

Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in more than a year, easing affordability concerns for homebuyers.

The average for 30-year, fixed loans was 6.19%, down from 6.27% last week and the lowest since early October 2024, data from Freddie Mac show.

Falling rates have given house hunters more buying power, but demand has been constrained by ...Read more

Real estate Q&A: Do I have to pay for damage neighbor says is caused by palm tree root?

Business / Business News /

Q: I live in a senior community HOA. My neighbor says the roots of my royal palm are lifting her pavers around her pool. The tree, planted by the developer on my property four years ago, is 10 feet from the property line. Since the tree was already mature, I find it unlikely its roots grew fast enough to cause the damage. The neighbor wants me ...Read more

Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS

Boeing makes new offer to striking St. Louis workers. Union won't vote on it

Business / Business News /

ST. LOUIS — The Boeing Co. extended a new contract offer to its striking St. Louis machinists on Wednesday. But the union leaders representing the workers swiftly rejected the new plan.

The revised offer from Boeing came on Day 80 of the strike at the company’s St. Louis defense manufacturing facilities, following two days of involvement by...Read more

Saul Loeb/Getty Images North America/TNS

Musk hijacks Tesla earnings call to vouch for $1 trillion pay plan

Business / Business News /

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, spent the end of Tesla Inc.’s earnings call pleading with investors to approve his $1 trillion pay package and blasting the shareholder advisory firms that have come out against the proposal.

“There needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not not so much that I can’t be ...Read more

Massive Pennsylvania data center spurs call to protect consumers from getting hit with power grid costs

Business / Business News /

An independent monitor has asked federal officials to ensure consumers don’t get stuck with the bill if the electric grid can’t handle power needs of a massive data center planned for Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The monitor, Joseph Bowring, filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week, asking that a Sept. 23...Read more

Minnesota clashes with North Dakota over power lines

Business / Business News /

North Dakota, Montana and three Southern states want to block a $22 billion plan for power lines across the Midwest that Minnesota says it needs to transition to carbon-free energy.

The states argue that the federal government should stop the grid upgrade because otherwise their customers will be paying higher rates to subsidize clean energy ...Read more

L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

How the federal government came to control the majority of land in Nevada

Business / Business News /

The federal government controlling the vast majority of land in Nevada dates all the way back to the 1800s when the territory was first admitted to the United States, according to a former longtime employee.

When Nevada became a state in October 1864, state representatives and stakeholders were only eyeing the northern part of Nevada due to its...Read more

Meri Simon/Bay Area News Group/TNS

H-1B visa: Many foreign workers, and students, exempted from $100,000 fee

Business / Business News /

Foreign citizens already in the U.S., including students, will be exempted from the Trump administration’s controversial new $100,000 fee for the H-1B visa, federal authorities said this week.

The fee was imposed via a proclamation from President Donald Trump and took effect Sept. 21, with certain details initially unclear.

This week, U.S. ...Read more

Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Amazon planning to replace 600K workers with robots: report

Business / Business News /

Amazon reportedly has a plan to replace more than half a million U.S. workers with “cobots,” and avoid hiring at least 160,000 human workers by 2027.

Despite hoping to double the number of products Amazon sells by 2033, executives are said to believe robotic automation could save them the trouble of hiring 600,000 people in the long run, ...Read more

Joe Sohm/Dreamstime/TNS

Trump demands cattle ranchers lower prices, deepening feud

Business / Business News /

President Donald Trump attacked U.S. cattle ranchers over their criticism of his plan to slash record beef prices by importing significantly more tariff-free meat from Argentina, deepening a quarrel with a group of reliable supporters and raising concerns among ranch-state Republican lawmakers.

Trump on Wednesday said that cattlemen should be ...Read more

Summer Ballentine/The Detroit News/TNS

GM's high-tech pitch: Eyes-off self-driving cars, new battery chemistry

Business / Business News /

NEW YORK — General Motors Co. unveiled plans Wednesday to offer eyes-off autonomous driving in the battery-powered Cadillac Escalade IQ SUV beginning in 2028 as the Detroit automaker seeks to recast itself for the 21st century.

The announcement at a swanky, invite-only event in midtown Manhattan is part of a broader pitch that GM is a tech ...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Carney plots 'talent attraction' plan as US upends H-1B

Business / Business News /

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government’s upcoming budget will introduce an immigration plan that includes a talent attraction strategy.

Carney made the announcement in a speech Wednesday night, confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg News. The live prime-time address was unusual for a Canadian prime minister and aimed to ...Read more