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☆ Melinda French Gates to Resign From Gates Foundation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Melinda French Gates, one of the world’s most influential philanthropists and the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, announced Monday that she was resigning from the foundation that she and her husband founded. In a post on X, Ms. Gates said she was “immensely proud” of the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she and Bill Gates started in 2000. As one of the biggest donors at the World Health Organization, it exerts a considerable level of influence over the policies in developing countries, especially in health and education. Mr. and Ms. Gates announced their plans to divorce in May 2021, after 27 years of marriage. The foundation at the time said they would remain co-chairs of the organization.

Persons: Melinda French Gates, Bill Gates, Gates, Melinda Gates Organizations: Microsoft, Melinda Gates Foundation, World Health Organization

Brown’s agreement will let students make their case and then have the Brown Corporation, the university’s governing body, vote on the matter in October. But Dr. Paxson’s initial offer did not include bringing a divestment proposal to a vote. That came after two university negotiators and six students involved with the Brown Divest Coalition, one of the groups behind the movement, reached a deal on Tuesday, the university and several students said. The agreement immediately gave the university control of its facilities in time to allow students to finish classes and hold in-person graduation ceremonies and an alumni reunion this month. One donor, an investor who has made sizable contributions to the university and describes himself as a supporter of Israel, said members of the administration had assured him that Brown wouldn’t ultimately divest from Israel.

Persons: William A, Marc Rowan, Christina H, Paxson, Brown, Brown wouldn’t Organizations: Wall Street titans, Democratic Party, Republican, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Brown Corporation, Coalition Locations: Israel, Gaza

Those quiet times, less than three years ago, soon became a whirlwind. The flurry of activity reflects new investments in a region of North Carolina that has lagged behind: the Triad. The average income in Randolph County, which includes Liberty, is $47,000, and some jobs at Toyota will offer an hourly wage comfortably above that. More people moving into the area could breathe life into Liberty’s downtown. Mr. Kidd worried that many local workers lacked the education and skills to work at the plant.

Persons: Scott Kidd didn’t, Kidd Organizations: Liberty, Toyota Locations: N.C, North Carolina, Randolph County, Liberty, Liberty’s, Greensboro, Winston, Salem

The first time Columbia University tried to shut down the pro-Palestinian encampment on its campus, two weeks ago, it called in the New York Police Department. The second time the university attempted to shut down the encampment, on Monday, it tried something different. It offered students who left by a deadline partial amnesty from punishment; if they refused, Columbia would suspend them. Instead, a subgroup of protesters took over a campus building, Hamilton Hall, in the middle of the night. Finally, on Tuesday evening, the university brought in the police again, to rout protesters from the building and encampment.

Organizations: Columbia University, New York Police Department, Columbia, Hamilton Hall

Three years ago, journalists at Sports Illustrated were worried that the venerable magazine’s new owners and operators were drastically lowering its standards. On Monday, the science and technology publication Futurism reported that Sports Illustrated had published product reviews under fake author names with fake author biographies. “If true, these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism,” the union representing Sports Illustrated journalists said in a statement after the report was published. “We deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers.”The Arena Group, which publishes Sports Illustrated under a complicated management structure, blamed a vendor, AdVon Commerce, for the situation. Sports Illustrated licenses product reviews from AdVon, and AdVon assured the Arena Group that “all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans,” said Rachael Fink, an Arena Group spokeswoman.

Persons: AdVon, ”, Rachael Fink, “ Organizations: Sports Illustrated, Sports, Group, AdVon Commerce, Arena Group

☆ Turkey Raises Interest Rates to 40 Percent to Tame Runaway Inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Turkey’s central bank has raised interest rates to 40 percent, its highest level in nearly two decades, in a significant move to tame the country’s runaway inflation after the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had previously defied economic convention by cutting rates to slow price increases. The increase of 5 percentage points on Thursday, which was larger than expected and the sixth consecutive increase by the bank, came as inflation in Turkey is running at 61.36 percent. That has sent the cost of basic household necessities soaring and sharply devalued the country’s currency, the lira. Under Mr. Erdogan, Turkey has struggled with persistently high inflation in recent years. As a result, Turkey’s gross domestic product, the primary measure of economic output, boomed to nearly more than $1 trillion, making it the world’s 19th-largest economy.

Persons: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan Organizations: Mr Locations: Turkey

☆ Starbucks Workers Plan Walkout During Red Cup Giveaway Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The union represents more than 9,000 Starbucks workers at more than 300 stores across the country. Employees at some unionized stores started the walkout on Wednesday with the aim of surprising the company, which was aware of Thursday’s planned walkout. Starbucks says the union is the side that has prevented bargaining sessions by insisting on conducting the meetings online, with rank-and-file members observing, rather than having negotiating teams sit down in person. The union is calling on the company to shut down mobile orders on promotional days, which it says have gotten more frequent. The store was so overwhelmed that some drinks and food went to waste and orders were halted, Ms. Federspiel-Baier said.

Persons: Thursday’s, ” Andrew Trull, Daisy Federspiel, Baier Organizations: Employees, Starbucks Locations: Seattle

☆ New York Attorney General Sues Pepsi Over Plastic Packaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York attorney general sued PepsiCo on Wednesday, accusing the food and beverage giant of endangering the environment and misleading the public about its goals to eliminate single-use plastic in its packaging. The attorney general, Letitia James, said her office had found that much of the plastic waste along the Buffalo River was from the company’s products. Ms. James is seeking unspecified damages and demanding that the company provide a remedy for the contamination in the Buffalo region caused by its products and reduce the quantity of PepsiCo’s plastic packaging entering the river. Ms. James is also demanding that the company stop selling or distributing single-use plastic products in the Buffalo area that do not contain “adequate” warning labels. “All New Yorkers have a basic right to clean water, yet PepsiCo’s irresponsible packaging and marketing endanger Buffalo’s water supply, environment and public health,” Ms. James said in a statement.

Persons: Letitia James, James, Ms Organizations: New, PepsiCo Locations: New York, Buffalo

More Americans are buying heat pumps, an environmentally friendly alternative to furnaces and air-conditioners that can significantly lower monthly energy bills. But the pace of installations has slowed in the past year, posing an obstacle to the Biden administration’s climate plans. Rising interest rates and inflation combined with a slow and confusing rollout of federal government incentives for the purchase of heat pumps are largely responsible for the recent drop in sales, energy analysts said. These headwinds, if they persist, could jeopardize President Biden’s goals of effectively eliminating U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. Those incentives defray only a small portion of the $16,000 an average heat pump installation costs, according to Rewiring America, a nonprofit group that is working to increase the use of cleaner forms of energy.

Persons: Biden’s Organizations: Biden Locations: America

But there was one topic Mr. Gilani was always wary of raising: The treatment of Palestinians. Instead it was attributed to “Muslim, Palestinian and Arab Google employees joined by anti-Zionist Jewish colleagues.” The New York Times discussed the matter with seven Google employees and reviewed messages posted in employee channels for this article. Google said the acrimony described to The Times by both Muslim and Jewish employees was limited to a small group of its many thousands of workers. “The overwhelming majority of those employees are not engaged in internal discussions or debate.”Google isn’t unique in facing this turmoil. Even compared with its Silicon Valley peers, Google has become a hub for employee activism, a legacy of the company’s open and informal founding culture.

Persons: Sarmad Gilani, Gilani, ”, Mr, Israel, —, ” Courtenay Mencini, Donald J, Rachel Westrick, Westrick, Israel’s, Sundar Pichai, Thomas Kurian, Kurian, he’s Organizations: Google, Hamas, New York Times, Times, Hollywood, Democratic Party, Microsoft, Pentagon, Asian, Meta, Washington Post Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, “, United States, Meta, Palestine

☆ Six Flags Merges With Cedar Fair, a Rival Amusement Park
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Six Flags, an amusement park corporation, is merging with its rival Cedar Fair in an $8 billion deal, the two companies announced on Thursday. Together, they will operate 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties in North America. Combining the companies would generate more than $3 billion in revenue, the companies projected in a statement. “The combination of Six Flags and Cedar Fair will redefine our guests’ amusement park experience as we combine the best of both companies,” said Selim Bassoul, the president and chief executive of Six Flags. Cedar Fair operates popular parks such as Carowinds in Charlotte, N.C.; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va.; and Canada’s Wonderland in Ontario.

Persons: ”, Selim Bassoul Organizations: Fair, Six, Dominion, Six Flags Locations: North America, Charlotte, N.C, Doswell, Va, Ontario, China

☆ Is a $500 Marathon Shoe You Can Race In Only Once Worth It?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Ashley Mateo went through a recent track workout, something felt different. She hit her intervals faster than usual, her heart rate was lower, and her feet felt lighter. Ms. Mateo, a journalist and 15-time marathoner who reviews running shoes, believes she may have improved her performance thanks to the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1 by Adidas, a new marathon race shoe with an eye-popping $500 price tag. “I don’t think the shoe is going to work for everyone,” she said. Only 521 pairs have been released to the public so far, targeted at runners who can run a marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes or faster.

Persons: Ashley Mateo, Mateo, Mateo isn’t, “, ” Organizations: Adidas

☆ U.S. Job Openings Were Steady in September
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Reserve closely monitors job openings to understand whether the economy is running too hot. The overall trend of slowing job openings is a sign that rate increases have cooled the economy, according to experts. Job openings, which reached a record of more than 12 million in March 2022, have trended down, as has the job-quitting rate, while separations have been flat. As openings rose slightly in September, the number of openings per unemployed worker was flat, at 1.5, the same as August. Job openings remain much higher than they were before the pandemic, and the number of unemployed workers per job opening is much lower.

Persons: Julia Pollak, ”, Sarah House, Stephen Juneau, What’s Organizations: Federal Reserve, Fed, ” Fed, Bank of America, Treasury, Labor Department Locations: Wells Fargo, September’s

☆ What to Know About the Automakers’ Deals With the U.A.W.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The tiered wage system, which allows the companies to pay newer workers much less than seasoned workers, was eliminated at two plants. and Stellantis, but the benefits are expected to mirror those in the Ford agreement. Then the agreements must be ratified by a majority of union members at each of the automakers. Shawn Fain, the president of the U.A.W., announced this month that G.M.’s battery plants, which it owns through a joint venture, would be covered by the national labor contract reached by the two sides. The union also said its agreement with Ford would make it relatively easy for workers at the company’s battery plants to join the U.A.W.

Persons: Shawn Fain Organizations: Ford, G.M Locations: Stellantis

☆ Media Companies Eye Cricket-Loving Diaspora in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He noted the affluence of Indian Americans, who make up a majority of the South Asian population in the United States. According to the latest census estimates, Indian Americans have the highest median household income of any group in the country. “This is what should be a powerful and lucrative and well-served audience,” he said. Before it started streaming cricket, ESPN bought Cricinfo (now known as ESPNcricinfo), a website dedicated to cricket coverage, in 2007. It’s also the media partner of the new domestic professional league, Major League Cricket, which played its inaugural season in July.

Persons: Satyan Gajwani, ”, Willow, —, John Lasker, It’s Organizations: of India Group, DirecTV, Dish, Comcast, South Asian, ESPN, Major League Cricket Locations: United States, India, Indian, ”, American

☆ Why Olive Oil Is So Expensive Right Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Santul Nerkar | More About Santul Nerkar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There is something different lately about the olive oil Michelle Spangler buys, bottles and infuses with flavors like basil and blood orange for her store in Dallas. It’s not the taste but the cost: Global olive oil prices have soared to record levels, more than doubling over the past year. “It’s not a cheap product,” Ms. Spangler said, “and so that will probably price some of my customers out of that product line in my store.”Like the oil that comes from the ground, olive oil is a globally traded commodity, with events in one part of the world reverberating far away. Drought in Spain, the world’s largest olive oil producer, has devastated recent harvests, and bad weather has hit olive crops in other major growers like Italy, Greece and Portugal. The United States imports almost all of the olive oil it consumes, primarily from Spain and Italy.

Persons: Michelle Spangler, It’s, Spangler, “ It’s, Ms Organizations: United Locations: Dallas, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, United States

The companies and the union remain far apart in negotiations, and the U.A.W. could expand its strikes to more locations as soon as Friday. Depending on how long the strikes last, it could exact a heavy toll on autoworkers and the three companies — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Chrysler and Jeep. But the work stoppages could also be painful to drivers, car dealers and auto-parts suppliers. has struck only a small number of plants and warehouses, but the pain could worsen if work stoppages grow to include many more locations and last weeks or months.

Organizations: United Automobile Workers, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Jeep

After a five-month hiatus, most late night shows will return with new episodes next week now that the 148-day screenwriter strike has been resolved, the hosts announced on social media on Wednesday morning. Late night shows hosted by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers will return to the air on Monday, the hosts said. Late night shows were the first casualty of the writers’ strike, and they have been dark since early May. Board members of the Writers Guild approved of the deal on Tuesday, and announced that the strike would end early Wednesday morning. Over the past few weeks, the five late night hosts began a podcast, “Strike Force Five,” donating all proceeds to out-of-work staff members on their shows.

Persons: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver Organizations: HBO, Guild of America, Writers Guild, “, Force

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