A man mourns the loss of his dead celebrity mom, who unexpectedly appears before him as a hologram in his childhood home, singing and strumming a guitar.

The touching scene is from a new short film called “Sweetwater” that has an unlikely backer: Google.

Amid all the hand-wringing over artificial intelligence and the potential threat it ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — First, Netflix upended Hollywood. Now, the streaming giant is buying a historic piece of it.

Netflix prevailed in a contentious bidding war to buy Warner Bros., agreeing to pay $72 billion for the storied Burbank film and television studios, its spacious lot, HBO and the HBO Max streaming service.

The two companies announced ...Read more

Are artificial intelligence companies keeping humanity safe from AI's potential harms? Don't bet on it, a new report card says.

As AI plays an increasingly larger role in the way humans interact with technology, the potential harms are becoming more clear — people using AI-powered chatbots for counseling and then dying by suicide, or using AI...Read more

Opposition to self-driving taxi company Waymo in San Diego could halt its implementation before starting.

The Alphabet (Google)-owned Waymo is a major feature in San Francisco, where the white Jaguars are seemingly everywhere. It also operates in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin.

San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who chairs...Read more

Once upon a time, Detroit built cars that carried astronauts in ticker-tape parades and made teenage boys spray Aqua Net on their mullets. Sporting raucous and raw big-block V-8s, they were chrome-trimmed testaments to optimism. Meanwhile, Italy gave us Ferraris, red midlife crises that sounded like 12-cylinder angels. Germany engineered the ...Read more

Expanding its focus to larger vehicles such as the Grand Cherokee L and now flagship Wagoneer, Jeep offers more options but has lost some focus on the off-road aura so cherished by its consumer base.

Our tester this week is a 2025 Jeep Wagoneer Series II Overland 4×4 wrapped in Velvet Red Pearlcoat. Despite the allure of this extraordinary red...Read more

GAYLORD, Michigan — The midsize Cadillac Lyriq SUV and compact Tesla Model 3 sedan are brand icons. The Lyriq redefined Caddy as an EV maker, the Model 3 made Tesla a best-seller.

Their performance trims — the 2026, $80K Lyriq-V and 2025, $56K Model 3 Performance — represent the state-of-the-art of two U.S. brands that are on the industry...Read more

The Linnea pulled off her dock on the north side of the Chicago River.

Sailing underneath burgundy bridges, the vessel glided east toward the lake. On that October afternoon, Trump Tower receded in the distance.

Ten minutes later, the Linnea — a commercial tour boat operated by Wendella Tours & Cruises — arrived at the Chicago Harbor Lock...Read more

Once upon a time in America, Schwinn and bicycles were synonymous, and Chicago was the center of the two-wheeled, pedal-powered universe.

Baby boomers grew up riding or aspiring to ride a Schwinn — sturdy, sleek and sexy bikes such as the incomparable Sting-Ray chopper — built by the family-owned, Chicago-based company for nearly a century ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Netflix has prevailed in its bid to buy Warner Bros., agreeing to pay $72 billion for the Burbank-based Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.

The two companies announced the blockbuster deal early Friday morning. The takeover would give Netflix such beloved characters as Batman, Harry Potter and Fred ...Read more

Stellantis NV CEO Antonio Filosa indicated Thursday that Ram will play a major role in the struggling automaker's turnaround effort, thanks to the brand's profit margins, brand equity and global footprint — plus high-profile product plans that include its first full-size SUV and a midsize pickup.

"Ram has many superpowers," Filosa said during...Read more

One of the units at the Comanche coal-fired plant operated by Xcel Energy near Pueblo can stay open a year longer than planned to fill the gap while the site’s largest facility, the chronically troubled Comanche 3, remains out of commission.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission agreed Wednesday to extend the life of Comanche 2, which was ...Read more

Job cuts across the country are the highest they have been in five years, led by layoffs in California and cutbacks in Washington.

California employers announced 173,022 job cuts from January to November, up nearly 14% from the same period last year, according to the latest monthly report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

...Read more

The Chicago Tribune filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday in New York federal court against Perplexity AI, alleging the California-based startup has been unlawfully profiting off the newspaper’s content in building its AI-driven search engine.

The complaint challenges the unauthorized use of often fully reproduced Tribune reporting ...Read more

As the high-stakes auction for Warner Bros. Discovery nears its end, Paramount is crying foul, alleging the process was tipped in favor of a competing bidder: Netflix.

In a scorching letter sent to Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav late Wednesday, Paramount's lawyers accused Zaslav's company of not playing fair.

"WBD appears ...Read more

The families of two of the victims killed in the Nov. 4 crash of UPS Flight 2976 near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport have filed the first wrongful death lawsuits against the Atlanta-based company for the incident.

The plane was full of jet fuel and bound for Honolulu as it failed to successfully take off that evening.

The left ...Read more

More out-of-towners and fewer locals are searching for rental homes in the Philadelphia region, with New Yorkers leading the way. No word on whether they plan to become Eagles fans.

In an analysis of the country’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, Philadelphia had the second-largest drop in local rental demand since before the pandemic, as ...Read more

A Las Vegas developer has built a project in the Arts District area that is designed to look like converted shipping containers filled with food-and-beverage outlets.

KLA Capital owner Adam Foulad finished construction earlier this year on The Distrikt. The project, near the northeast corner of Commerce Street and Wyoming Avenue, has eight ...Read more

CLAYTON, Missouri — Bayer is suing insurance giant AIG, alleging decades-old insurance policies should have helped cover billions of dollars in legal costs from Roundup and PCB cases now being shouldered by the German company.

In the suit, Bayer alleges that AIG and subsidiaries have refused “to honor their contractual obligations to ...Read more

Detroit Three automakers again struggled compared to their Asian competition in Consumer Reports' annual brand reliability rankings.

Toyota, Subaru, Lexus and Honda took the top four spots in this year's new car rankings released Thursday. BMW slotted in fifth as the top European automaker.

At the bottom were Chrysler, GMC, Jeep and Ram, with ...Read more