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Space tourism dream flounders as millionaire demand dries up

Business / Business News /

Ron Rosano is one of the world’s most dedicated space tourists.

A 65-year-old property manager from San Francisco, he completed a short trip aboard a Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. spaceplane in 2023 and until recently was expecting to fly more than 60 miles above the Earth on one of Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin LLC’s New Shepard rockets. ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Sorry your house burned down. Here's a $23,000 HOA bill -- due next month

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — All things considered, La Vina’s fire recovery is going fairly well.

The luxury community on the northwest tip of Altadena lost 52 of its 272 homes in the Eaton fire last year, but more than 70% are currently being rebuilt, and repairs to communal spaces are well underway.

But behind closed gates, a battle has been brewing ...Read more

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5 ways to use your brokerage like a savings account

Business / Business News /

The line between brokerage accounts and savings accounts is blurring as financial companies compete for your deposits. You don’t have to move money between different institutions to get competitive returns on your cash. Your brokerage account can act as both an investment platform and a high-yield savings alternative.

As brokerage accounts ...Read more

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Warning: If someone says the government wants you to buy gold, it's a scam

Business / Business News /

SAN DIEGO — Do not trust anybody who says your money is not safe in the bank and it needs to be converted to cash or gold bars and moved to another location.

These instructions might seem simple to heed, but San Diego County crime victims are falling prey to a trending crime where people hand their life savings to criminals in the form of ...Read more

Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Job losses, falling ratings, consolidation: What's behind the decline in local TV news

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — Ellina Abovian, a veteran correspondent for KTLA-TV, was recently on assignment covering a story about Los Angeles International Airport when she received a message that every media business professional dreads.

She was asked to see her boss at the station when she was done. At the meeting, she was told she would be losing her ...Read more

LA social media addiction verdict set to unleash more lawsuits -- and force changes

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — Two of America's largest tech companies suffered stunning defeats in court this week, sustaining early jolts in what could prove to be a seismic shift in how social media operates amid a new landscape of legal risk.

Meta and Google both vowed to appeal verdicts that were handed down by civil juries in Los Angeles County and ...Read more

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As oil prices rise, airfares are surging and some airlines might not survive

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — Summer travel will be more expensive and some airlines could go out of business as the war in Iran continues to drive oil prices up.

Airlines across the world have been grappling with higher jet fuel prices since the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran late last month. Customers are already facing higher fares.

United Airlines ...Read more

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How the landmark verdict against Meta and YouTube could hit their businesses

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles jury dealt a blow to social media giants Meta and YouTube this week when it found that the platforms were negligent for designing addictive features that harmed the mental health of a California woman.

Both companies plan to appeal, but the ruling has ignited uncertainty around the tech companies' future and ...Read more

Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

As oil prices rise, airfares are surging and some airlines might not survive

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — Summer travel will be more expensive and some airlines could go out of business as the war in Iran continues to drive oil prices up.

Airlines across the world have been grappling with higher jet fuel prices since the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran late last month. Customers are already facing higher fares.

United Airlines ...Read more

Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Gautam Mukunda: AI Is hitting the sweet part of the S-curve

Business / Business News /

One of the most compelling theories about the future of artificial intelligence comes, oddly enough, from a 161-year-old paper about the coal industry. In 1865, the English economist William Stanley Jevons observed that improvements to the coal-fired steam engine had not reduced Britain’s coal consumption. Instead, they had massively increased...Read more

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Justin Vineyards pays $1.49 million to settle sex harassment case

Business / Business News /

Justin Vineyards & Winery has agreed to workplace reforms and to pay $1.49 million to settle a federal lawsuit accusing it of allowing female employees to be sexually harassed and then retaliating against them for reporting it.

The Paso Robles business reached the settlement with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It was was ...Read more

Stocks fall, oil rises on fears war is escalating: markets wrap

Business / Business News /

Wall Street traders drove stocks to their longest weekly slide since 2022 on concern that a protracted war in Iran will keep oil prices elevated, fueling an increase in inflation and a slowdown in growth.

Equity losses accelerated into the close, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.7%. The Nasdaq 100 fell into a correction, sliding over 10% from its ...Read more

Nick Wagner/The Seattle Times/TNS

Kalshi 'prediction market' violates WA antigambling laws, AG says

Business / Business News /

SEATTLE -- Washington Attorney General Nick Brown sued Kalshi on Friday, calling the company’s claims to be a “prediction market” little more than a front for an illegal gambling operation.

The lawsuit, filed in King County Superior Court, accuses Kalshi of violating Washington’s relatively strict antigambling laws and using the company...Read more

WKRP in Raleigh? Yes, but probably not for long, as call sign goes up for sale

Business / Business News /

RALEIGH, N.C. -- If you’re of a certain age, the call letters WKRP may bring to mind the heyday of Top 40 radio, DJs Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap or perhaps Thanksgiving turkeys falling from the sky.

What you probably don’t think of is Raleigh, North Carolina.

And yet since 2015, radio station WKRP-LP has broadcast from a tower in ...Read more

Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Acorns giving away thousands in cash from a Chicago vending machine during three-day investment promotion

Business / Business News /

CHICAGO – As banking giveaways go, fintech company Acorns is offering Chicagoans something a little more valuable than the traditional pens and calendars.

Acorns is handing out cold, hard cash.

On Thursday, Acorns debuted its compounding vending machine at Big Star Wrigleyville, an out-of-the-box promotion that replaces potato chips with ...Read more

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Backlash builds against AI-powered digital price tags in stores

Business / Business News /

MINNEAPOLIS — As more retailers bring AI-powered technologies into stores — including charging different customers different prices for the same item — union leaders and lawmakers are starting to push back.

Retail chains have long varied prices from store to store. But with AI, companies are experimenting with more data-driven pricing, ...Read more

Henry Payne, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

Why Honda put the brakes on its all-EV future

Business / Business News /

Honda Motor Co. is having second thoughts about its Second Founding.

Along with General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG, the Japanese automaker has been the most committed major legacy automaker to an all-electric vehicle future. Internally called the “Second Founding,” Honda’s electric vehicle transition was rooted in the company’s moral ...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

As carmakers shift to digital dashboard, lawmakers push to keep AM radio

Business / Business News /

Randy Brooks will never forget the day he had to break the news — live on the air — to a woman that her husband had perished in a tornado.

The KIXQ country music radio host had been tapped to help with 24-hour news coverage in the wake of a massive tornado that decimated Joplin, Missouri, in 2011. With electricity and communication grids ...Read more

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Unsheathed: The Corvette Grand Sport is back, badder than ever

Business / Business News /

The mid-engine Corvette didn’t forget about the Grand Sport.

Chevrolet’s eighth-generation supercar has broken the mold since the sheets were taken off the 2020 model year Stingray. First ‘Vette with the engine amidships. First electrified Corvette. First with all-wheel-drive. First 8,000-RPM, screaming, overhead-cam V-8 derived from the ...Read more

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Stephen L. Carter: Meta and Alphabet's courtroom losses may not last

Business / Business News /

Social media biggies have taken it on the chin from juries this week. And although, for reasons I’ll get to, I’m skeptical that the verdicts will hold up on appeal, I do think there are some important lessons here.

The cases themselves are, by now, well known. On Tuesday, a jury in New Mexico awarded $375 million against Meta Platforms Inc....Read more