When former Amazon worker Chris Small recounted his experience leading the first successful union campaign at the online retailer earlier this year, the government’s top labor lawyer was listening — and dismayed by what she heard. “I was frustrated to hear that one of the greatest obstacles he faced was …
Read More »Black farmers say Inflation Reduction Act reneges on promises for debt relief
Lester Bonner, a tobacco farmer in Virginia, opened his mailbox one morning last June to find a letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The five-page missive said the remaining balance on a $50,000 federal loan he’d received to help him buy his farm would soon be wiped clean. “It was going …
Read More »Smith & Wesson CEO blames politicians and news media for gun violence
Smith & Wesson’s CEO is faulting “politicians and their lobbying partners in the media” for increased gun violence across the U.S., saying weapons manufacturers are being unfairly blamed. The written comments by Mark Smith, posted Monday in a statement on the company’s website, came weeks after the executive refused to testify before …
Read More »Investors cheered by another sign U.S. inflation is easing
Investors are taking encouragement from another economic signal showing that inflation is cooling. An index that measures the price sellers get for their goods and services fell 0.5% in July, the Labor Department said Thursday. That marks the first decline in the Producer Price Index since April 2020, as COVID-19 …
Read More »Feds target U.S. companies caught in lucrative shark fin trade
It’s one of the seafood industry’s most gruesome hunts. Every year, the fins of as many as 73 million sharks are sliced from the backs of the majestic sea predators, their bleeding bodies sometimes dumped back into the ocean where they are left to suffocate or die of blood loss. …
Read More »Mobile home rents spike as wealthy investors buy trailer parks
For as long as anyone can remember, rent increases rarely happened at Ridgeview Homes, a family-owned mobile home park in upstate New York. That changed in 2018 when corporate owners took over the 65-year-old park located amid farmland and down the road from a fast-food joint and grocery store about …
Read More »Amazon sues 10,000 Facebook group administrators over fake reviews
Amazon on Tuesday said it is suing the administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups that incentivize people to write fraudulent reviews about products sold on its stores in the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan. The lawsuits are aimed at identifying “bad actors” and removing the fake …
Read More »Millions in refunds await those who used Western Union to pay scammers
People tricked into wiring money to fraudsters through Western Union have until the end of August to file for a full refund as part of a $586 million settlement reached by the company and the government. The Department of Justice has already distributed more than $366 million to more than …
Read More »Stocks fall Thursday as high inflation weakens consumer spending
Stocks fell Thursday as new consumer spending data reveals Americans are paring back spending in the face of painfully high inflation. The government’s report revealed that consumer spending rose at a sluggish 0.2% rate from April to May, weakening in the face of high inflation. The fastest price increases in …
Read More »Freshpet recalls dog food over potential salmonella contamination
Freshpet is recalling bags of dog food sold by retailers in a dozen states and Puerto Rico due to potential salmonella contamination. The dog food being recalled was part of a lot earmarked for destruction, but instead was “inadvertently shipped to retailers in limited geographic markets in the last two …
Read More »