MoneyWatch

Minor leaguers ratified their first collective bargaining agreement with Major League Baseball ahead of the season’s start on Friday. Players and league officials Wednesday agreed to a five-year deal. MLB owners are expected to vote on the agreement next week. The Major League Baseball Players Association, which in September began …

Oreos are a big business, with sales of more than $2 billion annually for parent company Mondelēz International. But the creme-filled treats have also sparked some big questions, such as if it’s possible to open the cookie so the creme is evenly split between the two sides. A team of …

When you’re carrying around a smartphone that’s worth up to $1,000 or more in your pocket, you’re going to want to protect it. But the device isn’t necessarily the most valuable property to thieves — it’s the personal data you have stored on it. A recent Wall Street Journal report …

Soy, oat, almond and other drinks that bill themselves as “milk” can keep using the name, according to draft federal rules released Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration.  FDA officials issued guidance that said plant-based beverages don’t pretend to be from dairy animals — and that U.S. consumers aren’t confused by …

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled an advanced version of its search engine Bing, complete with ChatGPT-like technology that can answer complex questions and help users make decisions. The push is part of Microsoft’s effort to transform an internet service that now trails far behind Google into a new way of communicating. …

Kyla Wright’s original plan was to complete her master’s degree, move out of her parents’ home and rent an apartment somewhere in Detroit. But once she started looking for rental units, her mother — a landlord — suggested buying instead.  Wright took the advice and, in December 2021, she bought …

Spotify said Monday it will lay off 6% of the music streaming company’s workforce, making it the latest big technology company to announce a sizable reduction in payrolls as the U.S. economy slows. Tech giants including Google-parent Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft have moved to slash jobs in recent months …

Food delivery business DoorDash has launched a new service that has nothing to do with meals. For a $5 fee, a “Dasher” will pick up any package a customer wants to mail and deliver it to a UPS, FedEx or USPS location.  DoorDash expects high demand for the service this …

The winter storm that disrupted travel plans over the weekend and created an epic pile-on of flight cancellations for Southwest Airlines left the carrier’s passengers “beyond frustrated,” as one put it to CBS DFW. Thousands of families were stranded, with some waiting days to board planes. Now, two Democratic senators …

Significantly more than half of 17.5 million users who responded to a poll that asked whether billionaire Elon Musk should step down as head of Twitter voted yes by the time the poll closed Monday morning. There was no immediate announcement from Twitter, or Musk, about whether that would happen, …