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Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Inside Google's plan to have Hollywood make AI look less doomsday

Business / Business News /

For decades, Hollywood directors including Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron and Alex Garland have cast artificial intelligence as a villain that can turn into a killing machine.

Even Steven Spielberg's relatively hopeful "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" had a pessimistic edge to its vision of the future.

Now Google — a leading developer in AI ...Read more

Ren Junchuan/Xinhua/ZUMA Press/TNS

Trade war with China highlights auto sector's need for rare-earth mineral supply

Business / Business News /

President Donald Trump's trade war with China underscores the importance of a reliable supply chain for the automotive industry of rare-earth minerals and magnets made from them that are necessary for parts from electric vehicle motors to windshield wipers and anti-lock braking systems.

Rare earths describe 17 metallic elements with properties ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

AI is changing shopping. Will consumers buy in?

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Carolyn Bennett remembers flipping through a yellow telephone book in the 1980s to find carpet stores and workers who refinished wood to help renovate her home.

Today, the 67-year-old uses a chatbot to help her shop. Bennett has turned to ChatGPT, which she refers to as "Chat," to find vendors for a kitchen renovation project, compare heat ...Read more

Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Meta's future lies with judge as FTC antitrust trial ends

Business / Business News /

Meta Platforms Inc. has done all it can in court to fight back at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s claims that it’s a monopoly. Now it’s up to a federal judge to decide whether the company should be broken up.

The seven-week trial wrapped up Tuesday, and now each side has four months to make its case in writing. Then U.S. District ...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

GM invests $888 million to make engines at New York plant

Business / Business News /

General Motors Co. is pouring $888 million into a plant near Buffalo, New York, to make V-8 engines used in full-size SUVs and trucks, the company said Tuesday.

The capital infusion into Tonawanda Propulsion will pay for new machinery, equipment, tools and renovations as the plant gears up to start making the next generation of V-8 engines in ...Read more

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Information of 38,000 UChicago medical group patients potentially exposed in cybersecurity breach

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The personal information of about 38,000 patients of a UChicago Medicine medical group may have been exposed in a cybersecurity incident involving one of the group’s vendors.

UCM Medical Group said in a news release that one of its vendors — debt collection agency Nationwide Recovery Service — notified the group that in July an ...Read more

Jonathan Weiss/Dreamstime/TNS

Walmart fined for shipping illegal realistic toy guns to New York State

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Walmart has agreed to pay a $16,000 fine for shipping realistic toy guns to New York in violation of state law, Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday.

The 2015 ban on realistic toy guns came about after Cleveland police killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice when he was holding a pellet gun in November 2014. A number of retailers, including ...Read more

JOHN WALKER/The Fresno Bee/TNS

As land and almond prices fall, more San Joaquin Valley farmers face bankruptcy

Business / Business News /

Farmer Jim Maxwell has weathered more than a few rough patches in his long agricultural career. As an adviser, he’s now helping farmers and lenders navigate through what some are calling a perfect storm of financial trouble.

Low commodity prices, declining land values, and a tightening credit market have all contributed to increased anxiety ...Read more

Hyundai/Hyundai/TNS

GOP tax bill could make EVs more expensive, hit auto sector

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A Republican-backed tax and spending bill passed by the U.S. House on Thursday aims to roll back federal clean energy incentives — a move critics warn could raise costs for consumers and derail investments in Georgia’s burgeoning electric vehicle and battery industry.

The GOP bill, backed by President Donald Trump, targets provisions in ...Read more

Aaron Flaum/Hartford Courant/TNS

Pratt & Whitney union votes to approve new contract, end strike

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Pratt & Whitney workers with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union voted Tuesday to approve a new agreement on a revised contract offer, ending the strike that has had workers out in sun and cold rain for three weeks outside the manufacturing giant.

The union representing about 3,000 workers at Pratt & Whitney ...Read more

Dreamstime/TNS/TNS

NYC's Rent Guidelines Board, in unusual move, lowers proposed increases as mayoral election heats up

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New York City's Rent Guidelines Board lowered the range of potential rent increases for some 2 million New Yorkers in an unusual redo vote on Tuesday — a move that comes as the issue of freezing rents has taken center stage in the contentious mayoral race.

The board reduced the proposed range of increases for rent-stabilized tenants with two-...Read more

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

This Michigan border town is missing Canadian shoppers amid Trump's tariffs

Business / Business News /

PORT HURON, Michigan — Not long ago, Canadian shoppers were a familiar sight in shops and restaurants just across the U.S. border in Port Huron. In recent weeks, they’re showing up less often, a shift many attribute to tensions with the Trump administration.

Tariffs and political remarks, including President Donald Trump’s repeated ...Read more

Richie Lomba/Dreamstime/TNS

IRS Direct File will be cancelled if Republican tax bill becomes law

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The $3.8 trillion Republican tax bill that just passed the House includes a provision to kill off the popular IRS Direct File program, which lets people file their federal income tax returns for free online.

The bill still needs to pass the Senate to become law, but if the bill is enacted as currently written, the Direct File program is slated...Read more

Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Transit cuts would pose an 'existential threat' to Philadelphia's Center City, business owners say

Business / Business News /

PHILADELPHIA — At Reading Terminal Market, CEO Annie Allman says, there’s a common refrain among merchants during bad weather: “If SEPTA is running, the market is open.”

Now, Allman said, the phrase seems foreboding. What will happen if SEPTA reduces service, eliminating dozens of bus and Regional Rail lines?

She is “horrified” by ...Read more

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

US consumer confidence jumps most in four years on trade truce

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U.S. consumer confidence rebounded sharply in May from a near five-year low as the outlook for the economy and labor market improved amid a truce on tariffs.

The Conference Board’s gauge of confidence increased by 12.3 points to 98, marking the biggest monthly gain in four years. The figure exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Motormouth: Rent a car or drive our own?

Business / Business News /

Q: We have a 2022 Lincoln Corsair that we purchased last May. We will be driving from Virginia to Cape Cod on a 10- or 12-day venture soon. My wife thinks it would be a good idea to rent a car for the trip rather than putting the wear and tear on our own vehicle. It is an opportunity to try other cars, maybe a hybrid, but it seems that the ...Read more

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump backing for Nippon Steel deal comes with big questions

Business / Business News /

After more than 17 months of lobbying and close-fought negotiations to secure control of United States Steel Corp., Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. appeared on Friday to have received a presidential blessing.

Days later, however, investors, executives and diplomats are still unsure of what exactly the U.S. president endorsed.

Donald Trump ...Read more

Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump approves 'planned partnership' between US Steel and Japan's Nippon Steel

Business / Business News /

President Donald Trump said Friday that he has approved a “planned partnership” between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, appearing to greenlight a proposed merger first announced in December 2023.

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump heralded the deal that would keep U.S. Steel in America and its headquarters in Pittsburgh —...Read more

Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Louis Vuitton bets big on Rodeo Drive with new Frank Gehry-designed store

Business / Business News /

LOS ANGELES — Louis Vuitton is gearing up to go over the top again in Beverly Hills.

With plans for an ultra-opulent hotel on Rodeo Drive stymied by voters two years ago, the Paris fashion house's owners are back with a proposal for a theatrical flagship store designed by architect Frank Gehry that would anchor the north end of the famous ...Read more