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☆ News publishers group urges government to investigate Google for blocking some California news outlets
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The move from Google, which drew swift backlash, came over a proposed law that would require tech companies to pay for news content. On Friday, Google announced it had begun removing links to California news websites for some users in response to the bill that would force Google, Meta and others to pay news outlets for their content. “No one company should be permitted to control information so singularly that it can make decisions to the detriment of society, as Google has done in California,” Coffey said. “This is a breach of public trust and we call on Google Executives to answer for this stunt.”Charles F. Champion, the president and CEO of the California News Publishers Association, said the move by Google was suppressing California news. “Google is not above the law, and they should not be allowed to act as if they are.”

Persons: California’s Unruh, Danielle Coffey, ” Coffey, “, Tempore Mike McGuire, ”, Charles F Organizations: CNN, Google, Media Alliance, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, California, Law, UCL, Pro, Tempore, California Journalism, California News Publishers Association Locations: California, America

☆ Black Couple Who Said an Appraisal of Their Home Was Biased Settle Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Debra Kamin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Black couple who claimed an appraisal company undervalued their Baltimore home based on their race have settled their lawsuit against their mortgage lender, loanDepot, which has agreed to a number of sweeping policy changes that could offer significant relief to homeowners who allege racially biased appraisals in the future. Dr. Connolly and Dr. Mott, both faculty members at Johns Hopkins University, sued loanDepot, a mortgage lender, as well as Shane Lanham, an appraiser hired by a contractor for the company, in August 2022. A year earlier, the couple had opened their home to Mr. Lanham, who is white, for an appraisal, and he put the value of their four-bedroom house in Baltimore’s Homeland neighborhood at $472,000. After the couple stripped their home of family photographs and had a white colleague pose as the homeowner, an action known as “whitewashing,” a second appraiser offered a value of $750,000. The couple said that the difference in value — nearly $300,000 higher — came because the second appraiser believed that the home’s owners were white.

Persons: Nathan Connolly, Shani Mott, . Connolly, Mott, loanDepot, Shane Lanham, Lanham, ” Organizations: Johns Hopkins University Locations: Baltimore

☆ Here's how ed-tech company 2U spiraled from $5 billion to 'going concern'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Chip Paucek, co-founder and former CEO of 2U, appears at the company's headquarters in Lanham, Maryland on Nov. 17, 2021. When 2U went public a decade ago, the company was out to prove it could make a splash in the notoriously difficult $550 billion U.S. higher education market. The stock price ballooned from $13 at 2U's 2014 IPO to a high of $98.58 four years later as demand increased for the company's online education offerings. 2U's stock price has been trading below $1 for much of 2024 following a problematic forecast in November and indications that some universities were terminating their contracts. In a statement to CNBC, a 2U spokesperson said the company won't "speculate on potential outcomes."

Persons: Chip Paucek, Paul Lalljie, Needham, Cash Organizations: Revenue, CNBC Locations: Lanham , Maryland

☆ Why America hates its children
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-07 | by ( Lydia Kiesling | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Time and again, I was struck by a public attitude toward children I seldom encountered in America: unequivocal support. In America, we socialize our children to see strangers not as helpers but as threats. Virtually every other industrialized nation provides more government aid for their children than America does. Children who are neglected — a loose term inextricably tied to poverty — are thrown into a foster-care system known for its propensity to harm children. From the tumult of the pandemic, the calls for America to care more for its children are getting louder.

Persons: George Washington, Jesse Zhang, Charlie Shepherd, Shepherd, Richard Nixon, Nixon, Franklin Roosevelt, leery, unironically, Sen, Joe Manchin, Serabi Medina, Serabi, Sandy, —, Lydia Kiesling Organizations: United Nations, hasn't, UN, Senate, National Government, Social Security, Jet, Centers for Disease Control, Business, Child Protective Services, Pediatrics, Black Panthers, National Domestic Workers Alliance, State, Mobility, New York Times Magazine, New Yorker Locations: Greece, America, Sweden, Oregon, Idaho, Athens, Chicago, Sandy Hook , Connecticut, Uvalde , Texas, Portland , Oregon, New Mexico

☆ Supreme Court to consider whether ‘Trump Too Small’ can be trademarked without ex-president’s permission
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Devan Cole | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A political activist’s desire to register a suggestive phrase targeting Donald Trump’s anatomy and policies is at the center of a Supreme Court case being heard Wednesday that will test the limits of the First Amendment. Elster appealed to the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which ultimately refused registration. A federal appeals court, however, later held that the refusal violated Elster’s First Amendment rights. Trump did not weigh in on the case in a friend-of-the-court brief. In two recent cases, the court bolstered First Amendment protections when it declined to back decisions by the USPTO to deny trademark registrations based on other parts of the Lanham Act.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, “, ’, Steve Elster, –, pare, ”, Maya Tarr, Florida GOP Sen, Marco Rubio, ” Trump, “ Donald Trump, Elster, “ Trump, Elizabeth Prelogar, Vidal, ., Simon Tam Organizations: CNN, “ Trump, Florida GOP, Republican, America, USPTO, Justice Department, Department, “, DOJ Locations: United States, Elster’s, New York, Trump, Elster, “, American

☆ The ‘Barbie’ movie has people buying ‘emotional support’ dolls. Psychologists say that’s a good thing
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The “Barbie” movie is a bona fide cultural moment. Some videos show people carefully roaming toy aisles to pick out dolls that speak to their careers, identities or just their sense of whimsy. In one popular TikTok, a daughter surprises her mom with a Dia De Muertos Barbie, and no one comes away dry-eyed. Greene thought the idea of an emotional support Barbie was a little silly at first, but she found herself in a Target one weekend and caved. When Flora saw the “Barbie” movie with her daughter, she says nearly the whole audience was decked out in pink, sparkles and sunglasses, bubbling over with excitement.

Persons: Barbie, it’s, ”, “ Barbie, ” “, Muertos, “, Kristin Flora, she’s, ” Flora, Cameron Greene, Greene, Justin Sullivan, Flora, Pat Cafaro, tutu, ” Cafaro Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros, Pictures, Warner Bros ., Dia, Franklin College in, “, Retailers, rec Locations: Franklin College in Indiana, Lanham , Maryland, Corte Madera , California, Sarasota , Florida

☆ 44-year-old's laundry side hustle helped her buy a laundromat—now it brings in $24,000 a month
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Called the Laundry Room, it's profitable, run by four employees and brings in up to $24,000 in revenue per month. Today, she still fulfills 12 hours of laundry requests per day, with her husband and Laundry Room employees filling in the gaps while she's at work. Using the money to buy a laundromatLast year, the laundromat Sanya and her husband tried to buy eight years prior was back on the market. The Laundry Room opened in September 2022 after Sanya and her husband spent an additional $10,000 redoing the floors and freshening its paint. Sanya opened the Laundry Room, which has 40 machines, in September 2022.

☆ Walmart is rolling out a new perk to its $98 annual Walmart+ membership — early access to a new Oreo flavor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Oreo unveiled a new flavor, the Blackout Cake cookie, this week that will hit shelves on April 3. Walmart+ members will get to try the cookie starting today, per a Walmart merchandising director. Oreo unveiled Tuesday the Oreo Blackout Cake cookie, a new limited-edition flavor that will hit shelves nationwide next week. "We've teamed up with Mondelez to give you exclusive early access to the new Oreo flavor, Blackout Cake! Walmart does not publicly disclose how many members Walmart+ has.

Jack Daniel's Properties Inc is owned by Louisville, Kentucky-based Brown-Forman Corp (BFb.N). "I'm concerned about the First Amendment implications of your position," conservative Justice Samuel Alito told an attorney for Jack Daniel's, referring to the constitutional provision enshrining free-speech protections. "Could any reasonable person think that Jack Daniel's had approved this use of the mark?" Jack Daniel's also contested a finding by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. "This is a standard commercial product," Kagan told a lawyer for VIP Products, Bennett Cooper.

☆ Supreme Court to hear trademark dispute case over Jack Daniel's whiskey and poop-themed dog toy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case over a dog toy modeled after a Jack Daniel's bottle. Lower courts have differed on whether the toy harms Jack Daniel's brand or is protected expression. "But VIP's profit-motivated 'joke' confuses consumers by taking advantage of Jack Daniel's hard-earned goodwill." "The Bad Spaniels dog toy, although surely not the equivalent of the Mona Lisa, is an expressive work," Judge Andrew Hurwitz wrote in the ruling. Jack Daniel's did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Biden, 80, to have closely watched physical exam
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Steve Holland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the IBEW Local 26 in Lanham, Maryland, U.S., February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden, 80, will undergo a closely watched physical examination on Thursday, ahead of an expected announcement that he is seeking a second four-year term. His last physical and colonoscopy, in November 2021, showed the president to be a "healthy, vigorous, 78-year-old male," his doctors said. At his last exam, Biden's White House physician, Kevin O'Connor, declared him fit for duty and able to execute his responsibilities. Biden told Judy Woodruff in a PBS interview last week that any Americans concerned about his age should "watch me" perform the duties of the presidency.

☆ Biden takes aim at Republican spending cuts plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At issue is Republicans' refusal to raise the statutory $31.4 trillion U.S. debt limit unless Biden agrees to spending cuts. The White House has said such measures will only be discussed after the debt ceiling is lifted. In a speech at a union hall in suburban Maryland, Biden accused Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives, of pushing him to agree to spending cuts, while their own plans would add $3 trillion to the debt. Republicans argue that federal spending is too high and will fuel inflation while raising the U.S. debt level. They also plan a separate news conference on Wednesday aimed at highlighting House Republicans' planned budget cuts.

☆ Watch live: Biden outlines plans to cut U.S. deficit by $2 trillion over the next decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Please refresh the page if you do not see a video above at that time.) Biden has made a point of speaking to union workers and highlighting jobs being created by his policies, like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, that don't require four-year college degrees. The president visited a LIUNA Laborers' Apprenticeship and Training Center in Wisconsin last week and a steamfitters hall in Virginia in late January. Biden, in excerpts from his speech, will argue that his budget won't include taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year and will ultimately cut the deficit by $2 trillion over the next decade. The president has yet to release his budget plan but has promised to by March 9.

☆ Biden to blast Republican agenda as 'massive giveaway' to big companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At issue is Republicans' refusal to raise the statutory $31.4 trillion U.S. debt limit unless Biden agrees to spending cuts, while the White House has said such measures will only be discussed after the debt ceiling is lifted. With his own approval ratings now at 36%, despite 53-year low unemployment and rising consumer sentiment, Biden will seek to flip the script and point the finger at a Republican agenda that he says will amount to "a massive giveaway to the super-rich, big corporations and Big Pharma," the White House said. By contrast, Biden says his administration's plans will cut U.S. debt by another $2 trillion on top of $1.7 trillion in reductions already made. Republicans argue that U.S. federal spending is too high and will fuel inflation while raising the U.S. debt level. Republican have discussed repealing the stock buyback tax entirely, which the White House says would add $74 billion to the federal debt.

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