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Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Econometer: Could a 50-year mortgage work?

Business / Business News /

President Donald Trump proposed 50-year mortgages recently as a solution to persistent affordability issues in the real estate market.

Critics of the plan said it would do little to resolve core problems in the housing market, such as lack of supply, and mean most borrowers would pay significantly more in interest over the life of the loan.

...Read more

Christina House/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LA's famous 'Hobbit Houses' have a new owner. He calls himself the 'King of Storybook'

Business / Business News /

In the architectural age of minimalism and millennial gray, a wild and whimsical antidote made of old clinker bricks and jumbled shingles sits on a quiet street at the edge of L.A. and Culver City.

Formally, the spellbinding property is named the Lawrence and Martha Joseph Residence and Apartments, named after the Disney artist and his wife who...Read more

Phil Speck/National Guard/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

Boeing MD-11 plane that crashed had 'fatigue cracks,' NTSB says

Business / Business News /

The Boeing MD-11 cargo plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, earlier this month showed signs of “fatigue cracks” and “overstress failure” in a piece of the McDonnell Douglas-built plane that connects the engine to the wing, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Thursday.

The NTSB’s report does not...Read more

Karen Ducey/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle job market is past its 'golden age' for tech workers

Business / Business News /

Rhonda Gilligan didn’t want to retire.

Over decades, she built a formidable reputation in the tech industry bringing well-known brands online. Gilligan served in senior roles at big companies like IBM, Expedia and Microsoft. She worked at Disney, where she presented projects directly to Bob Iger, and at Amazon, where she presented to Jeff ...Read more

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

Auto review: Charger unplugged! Dodge Sixpack muscle car is large and in charge

Business / Business News /

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — In the early morning light, I rotated my gorgeous red 2026 Dodge Charger Sixpack Scat Pack onto empty Huron River Drive. I floored the throttle and awakened the beast. WAAUUUUUGHH! All four paws translated 531 pounds of torque to the asphalt and I exploded toward the twisties — my fingers rifling through the gears with ...Read more

Marc Grasso/Boston Herald/TNS

Auto review: 2025 Subaru Ascent moves people and stuff

Business / Business News /

In 2025, the options are endless for seven-passenger people movers, as a lot of manufacturers have gotten smart by adding two extra seats in the trunk section to accommodate additional passengers. In Grasso’s Garage today, we consider the Subaru Ascent, another model taking advantage of the usable space and accommodating those who need to move...Read more

Stellantis/TNS/TNS

Auto review: Affordable Italian glamour: the 2026 Alfa Romeo Tonale

Business / Business News /

In a building at Alfa Romeo’s test track in Balocco, Italy, there’s a hallway lined with photographs of impossibly glamorous people driving impossibly glamorous cars. They’re the sort of images that make you want to light a cigarette and say something dramatic in Italian, even if you don’t speak a word of it. It’s from a time when ...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

Ford aluminum supplier's plant catches fire again

Business / Business News /

Another fire broke out Thursday morning at a major aluminum plant supplying Ford Motor Co.'s full-size pickup trucks, sending down shares of the automaker.

Aluminum makes up the bodies of the F-Series trucks, the country's best-selling vehicles that drive the company's earnings. Atlanta-based Novelis Inc.'s Oswego, New York, plant accounts for ...Read more

Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump deepens tariff cut on Brazilian foods as prices mount

Business / Business News /

President Donald Trump is expanding tariff breaks for Brazilian food products, widening the scope of relief from import taxes amid growing U.S. voter dissatisfaction over the cost of living.

An executive order Trump signed on Thursday would exempt dozens of popular food items from a 40% levy he imposed on goods from Brazil earlier this year. ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Meta settles Cambridge Analytica-related claims for $190 million

Business / Business News /

Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc. directors agreed to a $190 million settlement of claims they failed to rectify repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy and improperly engineered an accord to shield the billionaire chief executive officer from personal liability, court filings show.

The amount of the settlement, disclosed ...Read more

Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

US accuses four of smuggling advanced Nvidia chips to China

Business / Business News /

Federal prosecutors charged two Chinese nationals and two U.S. citizens with a scheme to ship millions of dollars worth of sophisticated chips made by Nvidia Corp. to China in violation of national security export restrictions.

The men used a fake real estate business in Tampa, Florida, as a front to move the shipments of hundreds of chips ...Read more

Charly Triballeau/Getty Images North America/TNS

Driverless ride-sharing company Waymo expanding to Minneapolis

Business / Business News /

Waymo, the driverless ride-hailing company, is bringing its fleet of autonomous electric vehicles to Minneapolis.

Testing of the signature white Jaguar I-Pace SUVs and Zeekr RT vehicles is set to begin Thursday, but it will likely be several months before passenger service will begin.

“We are here and telling you what we are doing,” said ...Read more

Charly Triballeau/Getty Images North America/TNS

Driverless ride-sharing company Waymo expanding to Minneapolis

Business / Business News /

Waymo, the driverless ride-hailing company, is bringing its fleet of autonomous electric vehicles to Minneapolis.

Testing of the signature white Jaguar I-Pace SUVs and Zeekr RT vehicles is set to begin Thursday, but it will likely be several months before passenger service will begin.

“We are here and telling you what we are doing,” said ...Read more

Courtesy Eli Lilly and Company/TNS/TNS

Eli Lilly & Co. is opening a Lilly Gateway Labs biotech incubator in Philadelphia

Business / Business News /

Philadelphia is the newest destination for Lilly Gateway Labs, an incubator for early-stage biotech companies backed by pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co., the company announced Wednesday.

The Center City incubator will be Lilly’s fifth in the United States. Biotech hotbeds Boston, South San Francisco, and San Diego already have them. (...Read more

Karen Ducey/The Seattle Times/TNS

Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen hands reins to son Ryan Blethen

Business / Business News /

Ryan Blethen will serve as the next publisher of The Seattle Times, the daily newspaper his great-great-grandfather founded in 1896, the company announced Wednesday.

Blethen, 52, succeeds his father, Frank Blethen, 80, who will step down Dec. 31 after four decades in the role.

Ryan Blethen started working full time with The Seattle Times ...Read more

Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Abbott Laboratories announces $21 billion deal to buy Cologuard-maker Exact Sciences

Business / Business News /

Abbott Laboratories announced a $21 billion deal Thursday morning to acquire Exact Sciences, the maker of Cologuard — its largest acquisition in a decade.

The deal will allow Abbott — which makes medical tests, baby formula and continuous glucose monitors, among other products — to enter the cancer testing space. Exact Sciences focuses on...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

How Home Depot's newest AI tool could give it an edge with pro contractors

Business / Business News /

Home Depot is leveraging artificial intelligence to help professional contractors with a complex task — measuring and quantifying all the materials needed for residential projects.

The Vinings-based home improvement retailer said Wednesday it has launched a new tool called “Blueprint Takeoffs.” The AI-powered service creates a complete ...Read more

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS

In 'freedom-loving' Idaho, investors look to gold as government distrust grows

Business / Business News /

Dylan Tinklenberg readily admits that some would consider him to be a “prepper” for the end times. Like many of his customers at Idaho Pawn and Gold in Meridian, Montana, he doesn’t trust the banks — and he invests in gold as a “backup asset” in case “something were to happen.”

“I’m not, like, zombie apocalypse, full-out,”...Read more

Arvin Temkar/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

How Atlanta claimed world's busiest airport crown -- and whether it can keep it

Business / Business News /

“I don’t know where I’m going when I die, … but one thing is sure: I’ll change planes at Atlanta.”

The adage rings as true today as it did when published in a July 1978 article in The New York Times.

At that time, Atlanta boasted the world’s second-busiest airport, behind longtime nemesis Chicago O’Hare International, with ...Read more

ERIC PAUL ZAMORA/Fresno Bee/TNS

1 in 3 Californians have cut back on food to save money, survey finds

Business / Business News /

As grocery prices continue to rise and millions of Californians saw their food benefits disrupted this month, nearly one in three residents statewide says they or someone in their home has spent less on food to save money over the past year, according to a new survey by the Public Policy Institute of California.

“Lower-income Californians are...Read more