Business category, Page 2
The Tea app was intended to help women date safely. Then it got hacked
Tea, a provocative dating app designed to let women anonymously ask or warn each other about men they’d encountered, rocketed to the top spot on the U.S. Apple App Store this week. On Friday, the company behind the app confirmed it had been hacked: Thousands of images, including selfies, were...
McCormick and HUD secretary tour U.S. Steel’s Braddock facility, hint at housing plans
Federal officials hinted Friday morning at plans to build more housing near U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works as the firm’s new owner, Nippon Steel, prepares to spend big on upgrades. “When you create jobs, there’s a housing need,” said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner at a news conference...
Federal regulators approve Paramount’s $8 billion deal with Skydance, capping months of turmoil
NEW YORK — Federal regulators on Thursday approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, clearing the way to close a deal that combined Hollywood glitz with political intrigue. The stamp of approval from the Federal Communications Commission comes after months of turmoil revolving around President Donald Trump’s legal battle with...
Philly cheesesteak maker challenged by the ever-rising cost of beef
PHILADELPHIA — Ken Silver knows beef because he knows Philly cheesesteak. He hopes that a summer spike in how much he pays for his restaurant’s main product doesn’t cause heartburn for him or his customers. Silver, president of Jim’s South St. in Philadelphia, said he might have to raise prices...
New mobile app could help save honeybee hives, protect $20 billion in agriculture
Honeybee colonies in the United States are projected to decline by up to 70% this year, entomologists say. And that could spell economic disaster. According to the American Beekeeping Federation, honeybees contribute about $20 billion to the value of crop production in the country. But master beekeeper Joe Zgurzynski of...
Pa. electric bills to rise after grid manager ups payments to power plants
Electric bills in Pennsylvania could climb as much as 5% as rising rates paid to power plants trickle down the system. That’s according to PJM Interconnection, a regional body that ensures utilities have enough power to supply their customers during peak demand times, like a heat wave or cold snap....
Judge refuses to end lawsuit by U.S. Steel, Nippon against Cleveland-Cliffs
Despite the successful $14.9 billion merger of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, attorneys for both companies said Wednesday they plan to proceed with a lawsuit against steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs and the head of the United Steelworkers union for allegedly conspiring against them to try to block the deal. Cleveland-Cliffs had been...
Turner Dairy Farms receives $750,000 to expand distribution center and automation
From dairy products to iced tea, Turner Dairy Farms in Penn Hills has been a Pittsburgh staple since the 1930s. The company and its reach has expanded. Today, it partners with 35 family-owned dairy farms within a 70-mile radius. With that wide range, the company was in need of an...
U.S. home sales fall in June as prices soar to new heights
LOS ANGELES — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slid in June to the slowest pace since last September as mortgage rates remained elevated and national median sales prices hit unprecedented levels. Existing home sales fell 2.7% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.93 million...
Trump announces trade deal with Japan that lowers threatened tariff to 15%
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. “This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it,” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States...
Hershey raising candy prices by double digits on high cocoa costs
Hershey Co. is raising prices on its candy because of historically high cocoa costs. The Pennsylvania-based maker of Hershey’s chocolates and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups told its retailers last week that it would be implementing a roughly double-digit price increase, company officials said Tuesday. That increase reflects a higher list...
Americans are paying for Trump’s tariffs, not foreign companies
Who’s paying for Donald Trump’s tariffs? So far, American businesses and consumers. General Motors Co. was the latest U.S. company to disclose how the levies are raising costs, with the automaker saying Tuesday that the duties dented profits by more than $1 billion as it chose to absorb the blow....
Investors breathe life into new batch of meme stocks as Kohl’s, Opendoor Technologies surge
As the stock market pushes into record territory and bargains become harder to find, investors are once again turning to some of Wall Street’s beaten down companies in hopes of a quick score. The latest so-called meme stocks are the department store Kohl’s, which has surged this week, and the...
UN says booming solar, wind and other green energy hits global tipping point for even lower costs
NEW YORK — The global switch to renewable energy has passed a “positive tipping point” where solar and wind power will become even cheaper and more widespread, according to two United Nations reports released Tuesday, describing a bright spot amid otherwise gloomy progress to curb climate change. Last year, 74%...
Coca-Cola confirms cane-sugar version of its trademark cola is coming to U.S.
Coca-Cola said Tuesday it will add a cane-sugar version of its trademark cola to its U.S. lineup this fall, confirming a recent announcement by President Donald Trump. Trump said in a social media post last week that Coca-Cola had agreed to use real cane sugar in its flagship product in...
The Monteverde Group, Jacobson Associates’ merger provides specialized financial services
A recent merger between two of Pittsburgh’s most established financial services firms — The Monteverde Group and Jacobson Associates — offers comprehensive financial services and employee benefits advising, as well as management for families and businesses. The two firms combine more than 50 years of collaborative professionalism between longtime friends...
Trump’s Labor Department proposes more than 60 rule changes in a push to deregulate workplaces
NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Labor is aiming to rewrite or repeal more than 60 “obsolete” workplace regulations, ranging from minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and people with disabilities to standards governing exposure to harmful substances. If approved, the wide-ranging changes unveiled this month also...
Wall Street rises toward records as Verizon begins big week for profit reports with a beat
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are rising toward more records on Monday ahead of a week full of profit updates from big U.S. companies, which Wall Street expects to keep growing despite pressure from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in morning trading and above its...
Less selection, higher prices: How tariffs are shaping the holiday shopping season
NEW YORK — With summer in full swing in the United States, retail executives are sweating a different season. It’s less than 22 weeks before Christmas, a time when businesses that make and sell consumer goods usually nail down their holiday orders and prices. But President Donald Trump’s vacillating trade...
Is the labor, funding there to see through $90B in energy, tech projects in Pa.?
Announcements are easy. Following through could be the hard part for companies that pledged more than $90 billion in investments across the state Tuesday during the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University, organized by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh. At least a quarter of that money is...
An inside look at Plum’s controversial fracking wastewater injection well
The wastewater injection site in Plum run by Penneco Environmental Solutions has been the subject of nearly a decade of legal battles and community backlash as the company has sought to expand its operations along Old Leechburg Road. Since 2017, the borough and Penneco have been at odds, as the...
New report lauds Pittsburgh region for AI talent, innovation
A new report appears to support what many political and business leaders asserted at Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit: The state is well-positioned to be a key player in the growing artificial intelligence economy. The Brookings Institution report, released Wednesday, rated Pittsburgh as one of 14 “emerging centers” in...
Distillery Complex — with rooftop bar, cigar lounge — set to open on Pittsburgh’s South Shore
Back in 1794, Western Pennsylvania farmers picked up their pitchforks and muskets over a tax on whiskey. These days, Pittsburghers are more likely to wig out after a bad call at a Pirates game, but history seems to be repeating itself one barrel at a time. The location of the...
Beef prices have soared in the U.S. — and not just during grilling season
OMAHA, Neb. — Anyone firing up the grill this summer already knows hamburger patties and steaks are expensive, but the latest numbers show prices have climbed increasingly fast. And experts say consumers shouldn’t expect much relief soon either. The average price of a pound of ground beef rose to $6.12...
Supermarket squabble: Richland Shop ‘N Save sues neighboring Walmart over grocery sales
When Walmart was planning its Richland location in 1998, the company agreed it would not operate a full-service grocery store there — at least in part to try to protect the Shop ‘N Save store adjacent to it in Richland Mall. But in 2008, Walmart sent a letter offering to...
