Category: Business

By Noah Matthews, McClatchy-Tribune News Service – “Tired of spending hours updating your PC?” Good question. The answer promised to be a free download of SlimDrivers (http:///www.slimwareutilities.com), which promises to scan your…

By Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune – Do you hate more money? If you have access to a flexible spending account at work and don’t use it, perhaps you’re a more-money hater. FSAs…

By Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — In order to fix the sluggish job market, it’s important to first understand the nature of the problem. The high unemployment rate dogging…

By Becky Yerak, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Audiovox Electronics Corp.’s new consumer product, Car Connection, claims it can tell parents, through online reports, when their teen has driven beyond a certain…

By Jeff Ostrowski, Palm Beach Post – PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Stuart Lawley has made millions in his short stint as an Internet porn impresario, but the mild-mannered Brit seems more…

By Reid Kanaley, The Philadelphia Inquirer – Everybody should plan for retirement, but if you are working, there are good reasons not to actually retire if your health allows — at least…

By Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – ST. LOUIS — Robert Cole helped a friend learn about his diabetes. Cole, of Ferguson, Mo., searched online, printed out some articles from his computer…

By E. Scott Reckard, Andrew Tangel and Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A shadowy but well-organized hacker group in the Middle East has disrupted the electronic banking operations of…

By Rick Montgomery, The Kansas City Star – KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Car rental giant Enterprise Holdings has joined the rest of its industry in backing federal legislation to prohibit companies from…

By Pete Carey, San Jose Mercury News – Furnace dead? Plumbing sprung a leak somewhere? Many homeowners know the dread of a repair they can’t fix, with nowhere to turn. But help…

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMCB) agreed to pay a $600,000 civil monetary penalty to settle CFTC charges that…

By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Rejecting warnings that it could ignite a trade war, the Obama administration on Thursday said it planned to change its tomato-trading rules with Mexico,…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) signed an antitrust memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Government of India Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the Competition Commission…

By Matthew Sturdevant, The Hartford Courant – HARTFORD, Conn. — An additional 12.3 million households in the U.S. would have a potential tax liability if the Bush-era estate tax rates expire as scheduled…

By Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Profits for the nation’s largest airlines are on the rise thanks to lower fuel prices, steady demand and growing revenue from passenger…

By Marie G. McIntyre, McClatchy-Tribune News Service – QUESTION: My manager recently gave me a performance warning for coming to work late. She has started monitoring me very closely, which makes me feel…

By Kristi Swartz, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – ATLANTA — Just as the nuclear industry is starting to build reactors after a 30-year drought, it faces another dry spell. The industry thought it…

By Andrea Ahles, Fort Worth Star-Telegram – FORT WORTH, Texas — Thousands of American Airlines workers have decided it’s time to hang up the tool belt and stop loading bags on to airplanes,…

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Staples Inc. is speeding up store closures, shaking up management and boosting its online business as the office-supply chain implements a multiyear plan…

By Jim Puzzanghera and Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — Home prices in the nation’s biggest cities have risen to their highest level in nearly two years, according to the housing…

By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — Consumer confidence has risen this month as people said they are more optimistic about their situation and the short-term direction of the economy, the…

By Troy Wolverton, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — Research In Motion Ltd. has been struggling lately, but the company’s new BlackBerry software gives it the chance to become the…

By Walter Pacheco, Orlando Sentinel – ORLANDO, Fla. — High school senior Vanessa Pena fell in love with computer science the day her fifth-grade teacher brought a computer to class, dismantled it and…

By Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press – DETROIT — The National Fair Housing Alliance and five affiliated organizations announced on Tuesday the filing of a federal housing discrimination complaint against Bank of…

By Georgina Gustin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – ST. LOUIS — A Russian government watchdog agency has called for the suspension of a Monsanto-developed corn after a controversial French study, published last week, said…

By Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times – SAN FRANCISCO — Can Marissa Mayer save Yahoo Inc.? That’s the question Mayer tried to address in an all-hands employee meeting Tuesday as she laid out…

By Mike Rosenberg San Jose Mercury News (MCT) MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — With Google co-founder Sergey Brin by his side, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed a bill to allow California’s first…

Gregg Hennigan, CR Gazette – A local hotel operator said Monday it plans to put two hotels in one new building near downtown Iowa City. Kinseth Hospitality Companies said a Holiday Inn…

By Jay Price, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) – DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University Medical Center researchers delving into the genetic mysteries of brain cancer stumbled on an intriguing discovery in a…

By Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press – As new models fill dealerships this fall, a handful of new cars and trucks hitting the market over the next year stand out. They’re the most…

By Brad Bergholdt, McClatchy-Tribune News Service – QUESTION: I have a 1998 Chevy S-10 and I am getting the smell of antifreeze coming from the air vents. It seems to be stronger when…

By Sara K. Clarke, Orlando Sentinel – ORLANDO, Fla. — Time-share executives gathered in Orlando this week said that, despite the battering the industry took during the recession and global financial crisis, they…

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Tom Latham of Iowa last week asked the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for details of the federal regulations that are meant to protect consumers…

By Larry Printz, The Virginian-Pilot – So the oppressive heat has subsided. As the sun sets, temperatures fall and no doubt you’ll be throw on a jacket to stay warm. It’s the first…

By Jerry Hirsch, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Don’t get in a traffic accident in a tiny Toyota Yaris. It has the most injuries per crash of any vehicle, according to…

By Randy Lewis and Alex Pham, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Regulators in the U.S. and Europe on Friday approved Universal Music Group’s $1.9 billion acquisition of EMI Group Ltd.’s music…

By Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The nation’s largest retailer has cut out the nation’s largest e-tailer. Wal-Mart has announced it will stop selling Kindles and other Amazon.com-branded products…

By Tom Hudson, The Miami Herald – While technophiles bask in the light of Apple’s newest iPhone 5, the darkness may be growing at the owner of the BlackBerry. It was only four…

By Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — With a wrecked cruise ship still half submerged off the coast of Italy and Europe mired in economic troubles, the world’s cruise line…

By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — After years of on-again, off-again negotiations, Time Warner Cable has finally struck a deal with the National Football League to carry the NFL…