Sep 01 Watch 8:06 American households struggle with sky-high energy bills during extreme summer heat By John Yang, Claire Mufson As summer temperatures have soared across the nation, so have electric bills as air conditioners work overtime. Every year, nearly 3 million American households have their electricity shut off because of unpaid bills. We hear from people dealing with this… Continue watching
Sep 01 Hotel housekeepers go on strike, seeking higher wages and better working conditions By Alexandra Olson, Associated Press Thousands of unionized hotel workers walked off the job Sunday at 25 hotels in eight cities, including Honolulu, Boston, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego and Seattle. Continue reading
Aug 31 Watch 4:26 Families paying for school lunches grapple with recurring online transaction fees By John Yang, Andrew Corkery Schools are increasingly turning to online payment systems for school lunches. Those systems are run by payment processing companies, which typically charge transaction fees. According to federal analysis, families qualifying for reduced-price meals may be paying as much as 60… Continue watching
Aug 31 Japan aims to offset labor shortages with prospect of 4-day workweeks By Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press Hoping to produce more takers, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, the government launched a “work style reform” campaign that promotes shorter hours and other flexible arrangements along with overtime limits and paid annual leave. Continue reading
Aug 30 As rate cuts near, Federal Reserve’s inflation gauge shows cooling price increases By Chris Rugaber, Associated Press An inflation measure closely tracked by the Federal Reserve remained low last month, extending a trend of cooling price increases that clears the way for the Fed to start cutting its key interest rate next month for the first time… Continue reading
Aug 29 U.S. economic growth revised up to solid 3 percent annual rate for second quarter of 2024 By Paul Wiseman, Associated Press The U.S. economy grew last quarter at a healthy 3 percent annual pace, fueled by strong consumer spending and business investment, the Department of Commerce said Thursday in an upgrade of its initial assessment. Continue reading
Aug 26 Canada imposes 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, matching the U.S. measure against imports By Rob Gillies, Associated Press The announcement comes after encouragement by U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday. Continue reading
Aug 25 What to know about the effort by federal regulators to block a Kroger and Albertsons merger By Dee-Ann Durbin, Associated Press Supermarket chains Kroger and Albertsons say their planned merger will help them compete against rivals like Costco, while antitrust regulators from the Federal Trade Commission say the merger would eliminate competition and raise grocery prices at a time of high food price inflation. Continue reading
Aug 21 Most Federal Reserve officials favor rate cut in September if inflation cools, minutes reveal By Christopher Rugaber, Associated Press The minutes of the Fed's July 30-31 meeting indicate that the "vast majority" of policymakers "observed that, if the data continued to come in about as expected, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting."… Continue reading
Aug 21 U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs than first reported, sign job market has been slowing By Associated Press The Labor Department estimated that job growth averaged 174,000 a month in the year that ended in March — a drop of 68,000 a month from the 242,000 that were initially reported. The revisions released Wednesday were preliminary, with final… Continue reading