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Western NC Residents Can Apply for Help Buying Food Following Hurricane Helene
October 16, 2024
AP-Newswatch
October 16, 2024
Western NC Residents Can Apply for Help Buying Food Following Hurricane Helene
October 16, 2024
AP-Newswatch
October 16, 2024
Business News

AP-Summary Brief-Business

October 16, 2024

Amazon, Google make dueling nuclear investments to power data centers with clean energy

Tech giants Amazon and Google are investing in the next generation of nuclear reactors. Both companies are seeking new sources of carbon-free electricity to meet increasing demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. Just last month, the owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear power plant said it plans to restart the reactor so tech giant Microsoft can buy the power to supply its data centers. All three companies have been investing in solar and wind. Now they say they need a broad range of technologies to meet their carbon-free goals. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said she’s thrilled Amazon is the latest to “BYOP” or “bring your own power” to the buildout of data centers.

What’s behind the widening gender wage gap in the US?

NEW YORK (AP) — The first widening of the gender wage in 20 years is the latest indication that many women have paid a price for leaving the workforce at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, either because they lost their jobs or because they quit because of caretaking responsibilities. But the finding in a recent Census Bureau report captures a complicated moment for women in the post-pandemic recovery, and not all the news is bad. Wages are growing for all workers, just much faster for men. And the widening of the wage gap is due in large part because of a surge in Latina women joining the full-time workforce.

Unions face a moment of truth in Michigan in this year’s presidential race

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are appealing to middle-class workers in very different ways. How their messages land could have a big impact in battleground states with strong union ties such as Michigan. Harris, the Democratic nominee, is relying on United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain to help spread her message, as her campaign worries about her support among working-class men. That issue worsened when two unions that backed Joe Biden in 2020 decided not to endorse either candidate this year. Trump, the Republican nominee, has jumped on these non-endorsements and claims they show that rank-and-file workers support his vision. He has criticized union leaders and urged workers to trust him over the unions.

Trump uses interview on economics to promote tariffs and riff on his favorite themes

CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump has seized on an opening to sound his frequent argument that imposing huge tariffs on foreign goods would amount to an economic elixir — one he claims would raise enormous sums for the government, protect U.S. firms from overseas competition and prod foreign companies to open factories in the United States. Appearing Tuesday before a friendly audience at the Economic Club of Chicago, Trump asserted that tariffs are misunderstood as an economic tool. “To me,” Trump said, “the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff. It’s my favorite word. It needs a public relations firm.” If tariffs need an image makeover, it’s probably because mainstream economists say they actually amount to a tax on American consumers.

Stock market today: Wall Street holds steadier a day after sliding from its record

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are holding steadier following better-than-expected profit reports from Morgan Stanley, United Airlines and other big companies. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% in midday trading Wednesday, a day after sliding from its all-time high because of tumbling energy and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 190 points, and the Nasdaq composite was flat. Exxon Mobil and other energy producers stabilized a day after tumbling with the price of crude oil. Stocks in the chip industry also held up better a day after a market-shaking warning from Dutch supplier ASML. Treasury yields eased in the bond market.

Bloomberg Philanthropies launches its largest Mayors Challenge ever to inspire city leaders globally

To support more innovative ideas from cities around the world, Michael R. Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Wednesday announced the largest Mayors Challenge ever. The expanded initiative will provide 50 cities with $50,000 and an invitation to Ideas Camp so the city leaders can hone and test their ideas. The 25 cities with the best ideas will then receive $1 million and the technical support needed to enact them. The most successful of those ideas may go into the new Bloomberg Cities Ideas Exchange program, where municipal leaders share what has worked and what hasn’t, so other cities can replicate those ideas.

UK inflation falls to lowest level in over 3 years, cementing expectations for another rate cut

LONDON (AP) — Inflation in the U.K. has fallen to its lowest level in more than three years, a drop that has cemented market expectations that the Bank of England will lower interest rates at its next policy meeting. The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that consumer prices rose by 1.7% in September, down from 2.2% the previous month, largely as a result of lower air fares and petrol prices. The decline was bigger than anticipated and means that inflation is below the central bank’s target rate of 2% for the first time since 2021. As a result, the bank is expected to further reduce its main interest rate when it meets again in early November to 4.75% from 5%.

California health care workers get a pay bump under a new minimum wage law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Some of the lowest-paid health care workers in California are getting a pay bump under a state law. Workers’ pay will increase to $25 an hour over the next decade under the law starting Wednesday. Some workers will begin getting paid that rate sooner than others. Critics of the law say it could pose a financial burden on health care providers. The law was originally set to raise worker wages in June. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers agreed to delay the legislation to help balance the budget. Many hospitals have already started to boost worker pay according to the law’s original timeline.

The world will be fueled by electricity but even more clean energy is needed, report says

The world is set to make abundant energy by the second half of the decade as the production of batteries and solar panels surges but there’ll also be an excess of planet-warming fossil fuels, a report released Wednesday by the International Energy Agency said. It estimates that energy worldwide will increasingly rely on clean sources of electricity. But the report also notes that the world’s pace away from fossil fuels is still way off what’s needed to cap warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial times — the limit set in the Paris Agreement — because emissions would decline too slowly.