SEATTLE — A push to temporarily roll back Seattle’s defining housing policy of the late 2010s is gaining traction in City Hall as both developers and lawmakers look to plummeting permit applications with growing fear and search for ways to inject new supply into the city’s housing stock.

The Mandatory Housing Affordability program was the...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twin Cities office market is a paradox: There’s a glut of empty space but rents keep rising.

“It’s opposite of what you’d think,” said Tom DeSautel, a commercial broker with Cushman & Wakefield. “No one is in the office. … How could my rent possibly be going up?”

New data shows that during February, the ...Read more

Gas prices are climbing again across the United States — with little clarity on where prices are headed next — spurring proposals for state gas tax holidays in the hopes of offering drivers some relief.

The national average hit $3.96 per gallon Monday, up from $3.72 the week before, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A...Read more

Meta said its road to the metaverse ran through Seattle. Recent layoffs point to a dead end.

Meta laid off hundreds of employees Wednesday, about two months after a sweeping workforce reduction at the company.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed media reports that the Menlo Park, Calif.-based tech giant's latest cuts hit several divisions, including...Read more

CHICAGO — Candy giant Mars Snacking is investing $100 million to expand its Chicago headquarters, adding two new offices and more than 600 jobs, the company announced Wednesday.

Incentivized by state tax credits, Mars Snacking is opening a new regional office in Fulton Market and taking over the former Kellanova headquarters in River North as...Read more

SEATTLE — In the latest sign of Starbucks' shifting strategy, the Seattle-based coffee giant is leasing a 250,000-square-foot office big enough for 2,000 people in Nashville, Tennessee, according to a copy of the lease viewed by The Seattle Times.

The lease, which starts June 2027 and runs for up to 23 years, was signed by Starbucks on March ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — CarMax has agreed to pay $1.1 million and change its practices to settle litigation from multiple California county prosecutors alleging the national auto dealer was slow-footing title transfers to customers in violation of state law.

The settlement with CarMax follows similar litigation resolved a year ago against ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After a grueling seven weeks of court proceedings and more than 40 hours of tense deliberations across nine days in one of the country’s most closely watched civil trials, jurors handed down a landmark decision in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, finding Instagram and YouTube responsible for the suffering of a Chico ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After a grueling seven weeks of court proceedings and more than 40 hours of tense deliberations across nine days, jurors handed down a landmark decision in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, finding Instagram and YouTube responsible for the suffering of a Chico woman who charged the platform was built to addict young users ...Read more

GEORGETOWN, Ky. — The second-best-selling automaker in the United States is finally making its move on electric vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp., at a moment when its Detroit competitors are bringing back Hemi engines and taking massive write-downs on EV efforts, showed off its first-ever American-made battery-electric vehicle Monday during an ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Mass deportations could jolt the Bay Area economy, erode the region’s already shaky job market, undermine federal, state and property tax revenue, and dampen retail and restaurant spending, according to a new economic report.

Deportations of undocumented immigrants could erase up to 5.8% of the nine-county region’s ...Read more

Give credit where it’s due. Despite all the setbacks, Donald Trump is right that the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran war hasn’t triggered the oil price super-spike many feared — at least not yet. “I thought it would be worse, much worse,” the American president said last week, and it’s hard to disagree. Trump, wearing his social media ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott compared the state’s economy to a master planned community during a stop Tuesday at the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Abbott participated in a fireside chat with Hillwood Chairman Ross Perot Jr. to cap off the fifth annual Forward Fort Worth summit.

Years of design, planning and execution have resulted ...Read more

DETROIT — Robert Bollinger, the founder and one-time CEO of one of Michigan's best-known electric vehicle startups, is buying back major assets of his old company for a bargain price: just under $250,000.

It's the latest twist for a firm that just a few years ago sold a majority stake for $150 million during the height of the EV investment ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The drab Chevron at the edge of Chinatown always makes the news. It's one of those Los Angeles gas stations that garners gasps, even shrieks, from Angelenos shocked by the cost per gallon, which is perpetually priced above other pumps across the city.

The price of gasoline has surged since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- Kelly Cook got married in a $19 dress from a Macy’s clearance rack.

She and her husband, Damon, had $100 in their checking account at the time, she said. There was no theme, website, or videographer, just 50 people gathered in a scorching-hot Houston backyard.

To Cook, she said, “it was the most perfect wedding ever.”

...Read more

MIAMI — The possibility that Cubans in South Florida and elsewhere outside the island might soon be able to invest in and own businesses in Cuba may amount to little more than an invitation and a fantasy.

Standing in the way of any investments and businesses that Cuban exiles may want to start on the island, experts say, are U.S. government ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As big malls and department stores close, bargain chains like Ross Dress for Less are rolling out new stores.

Economic anxiety and inflation are leading shoppers to spend less and search for savings. In this bombed-out retail landscape, some chains are thriving and opening new outlets.

At a new Ross in Alhambra, Liz Lopez was ...Read more