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☆ Janet Yellen: Strong job growth shows recession probability is low
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Betsy Klein | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Washington CNN —Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Monday that the probability of a US recession this year is low as she touted job growth and low unemployment on the eve of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. “You don’t have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years,” Yellen said during an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America. Friday’s jobs report showed that the US economy added an whopping 517,000 jobs in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate ticked down a tenth of a percentage point to 3.4% — the lowest jobless rate since May 1969. “What I see is a path in which inflation is declining significantly, and the economy is remaining strong,” Yellen said on GMA.

☆ Offices are more than 50% filled for the first time since the pandemic started
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Nearly three years after the pandemic began, American offices are finally more than halfway filled again as workers have gradually returned to the office. Office occupancy across 10 major US cities crossed 50.4% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since early 2020, according to security swipe tracker Kastle Systems. That marks the first time occupancy has crossed the 50% mark since March 2020, when many offices sent workers home because of Covid. Disney is ordering corporate employees to return to offices four days a week beginning March 1. The protest involves more than 40 contractors for YouTube Music, according to the Alphabet Workers Union, which is backing the strike.

☆ Bill Gates says he shouldn’t have had dinners with Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he “shouldn’t have had dinners” with Jeffrey Epstein during an interview with Australia’s ABC 7 .30. But Gates had told CNN he only had dinners with him for potential philanthropic opportunities. Presenter Sarah Ferguson grilled Gates, asking if he “regrets the relationship he maintained” with Epstein, going against his ex-wife Melinda Gates’ advice. “You’re going way back in time,” Gates said, adding he’s said this “over the hundredth time.”“I shouldn’t have had dinners with him,” Gates responded. “It’s a time of reflection, and at this point, I need to go forward,” Gates told CNN in 2021.

☆ Southwest Airlines is testing a software fix it developed after the Christmas travel meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Gregory Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Southwest Airlines said it is testing software fixes that the company developed after its Christmas travel meltdown, as the airline faces multiple federal investigations. The software fixes are an “upgrade,” rather than a replacement of the crew scheduling system, Southwest executives said on a conference call with reporters Thursday. The company decided to keep the underlying software system because it “generally worked as designed” even during the meltdown, CEO Bob Jordan said. “We haven’t even talked cost, so I don’t know if it’s going to cost us anything or not,” said Southwest Chief Operations Officer Andrew Watterson. That external report should be delivered in the coming weeks and “we will attack it with a sense of urgency,” Jordan said.

☆ Too many companies botch mass layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

When it comes to mass layoffs, there seems to be no end to the worst, most bungled ways in which some employees first learn they are being let go. “People have to feel they’re being treated with respect,” said Sarah Rodehorst, CEO of Onwards HR, an offboarding technology platform for human resources, legal and finance teams. (Google declined to comment, pointing instead to a blog post from the CEO on the day of the layoffs.) Employees should receive a communication from the CEO or from division leadership that informs them layoffs will occur and offers them the business reasons for the decision. By “small,” Lee means no more than 5 to 10 people, including a leader or manager they know who delivers the news.

CNN —The US Transportation Department said it is in the early stages of an investigation into the Southwest Airlines holiday travel meltdown in December. The probe includes an examination of whether Southwest is scheduling more flights than it can handle. “DOT is in the initial phase of a rigorous and comprehensive investigation into Southwest Airlines’ holiday debacle that stranded millions,” a spokesperson for the department said. Various Southwest employees will also receive additional “gratitude” pay for working through the meltdown. DOT is also probing whether Southwest executives engaged in unrealistic scheduling of flights which under federal law is considered an unfair and deceptive practice.

☆ Ticketmaster under fire: 6 takeaways from hearing over Taylor Swift concert fiasco
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The venues controlled by Live Nation set fees that are “consistent with the other venues in the marketplace,” he said. Entertainment industry pushes back at Ticketmaster’s dominanceMembers of the entertainment industry and one rival spoke out against Ticketmaster’s dominance in the industry. Andrew Harnik/APClyde Lawrence, a singer-songwriter on the witness panel, explained how the company acts as a promoter, a venue and the ticketing company, which eats into performing artists’ revenues. Artists, he said, have no leverage over Live Nation. Lawmaker says Ticketmaster merger should ‘be on the table’Lawmakers repeatedly questioned the US government’s past handling of the Live Nation merger with Ticketmaster.

☆ Live Nation exec will face lawmakers about Taylor Swift concert tickets fiasco
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,” Swift wrote on Instagram in November. The mergerCriticism of Ticketmaster’s dominance dates back decades, but the Swift ticketing incident has once again turned that issue into a dinner table discussion at many households. Concert promoter Live Nation and ticketing company Ticketmaster, two of the largest companies in the concert business, announced their merger in 2009. ‘Customers are the ones that pay the price’While irate fans were left scrambling to wade through the Swift ticket confusion, their collective anger caught lawmakers’ attention. To me, what happened with the Swift concert tickets was not necessarily the result of Ticketmaster being the dominant player in the industry,” he said.

☆ Chase closes some New York ATMs early because of ‘rising crime’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Citing “rising crime and vagrancy,” Chase Bank has shuttered 24-hour access to some of its New York ATMs. A JPMorgan Chase (JPM) spokesperson said some other ATMs are closing at 10 pm. New York City mayor Eric Adams addressed the ATM early closures at a press conference Monday. “And that is what I’m saying I need to stop because I don’t want my ATMs closing down. Major retailers have been vocal about surges in theft and “organized retail crime” since the pandemic began.

☆ Here are the companies that have laid off employees this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Tech firms went on a hiring spree. “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees. The crypto brokerage announced in early January that it’s cutting 950 people – almost one in five employees in its workforce. Departments from human resources to the company’s Amazon (AMZN) Stores will be affected. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year,” CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to employees.

☆ Trump campaign has asked Meta to unblock the former president’s Facebook account
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Kristen Holmes | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Former President Trump’s campaign sent a letter to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, Tuesday petitioning them to unblock his Facebook account, a source familiar with the letter tells CNN. Trump’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were blocked following the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Facebook initially said its ban of Trump would be indefinite. A Trump adviser said that reinstating the former president’s Facebook account would make it easier for the campaign to do outreach. Still, this person said, the Trump campaign would leap at the opportunity to resume using his likeness in its Facebook advertisements.

☆ Health care is in crisis. New York’s nurses strike is just the latest sign
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It is just the latest in a series of job actions across the nation by nurses’ unions and other health care workers who say they had to strike in order to provide patients with quality health care. Of the 20 major strikes tracked by the Labor Department over the first 11 months of 2022, seven of them, or 35%, were in health care. The surge in health care related strikes comes despite the fact that only 3% of union members nationwide work at private sector health care jobs. “Labor is the main expense in health care, so how do you make money? If someone is tired, overworked, sleep deprived, they’re going to make more mistakes.”A nurse’s strike won’t help patients in the short term, he said.

☆ Nurses strike: Mount Sinai NICU mom stays by her son's side in hospital after his primary nurses leave to strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Celina Tebor | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Her one-year-old baby, Logan, has been in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) since he was born. For the past three and a half months, he’s been under the care of Mount Sinai Hospital where thousands of nurses are currently striking. But since Mount Sinai’s nurses began picketing Monday, new travel nurses have replaced Logan’s primary care nurses – nurses who don’t fully understand her son’s needs, she said. Lora Ribas' son Logan, seen at Mount Sinai with Shernette, a primary care nurse caring for the one-year-old neonatal intensive care unit patient. Transporting infantsIn preparation for the strike, Mount Sinai announced Friday it would transport newborns in its intensive care unit to other area hospitals.

There were new twists on foldable devices, cars that changed colors and smart ovens that live streamed dinners. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty ImagesBMW unveiled a wild color-changing concept car with 260 e-panels that can change up to 32 colors. During a demo, different parts of the car, including the wheel covers, flashed in varying hues and swirls of colors. A new look for foldable phonesSamsung's Flex Hybrid Display concept folds and slides SamsungSome companies offered a new twist on the foldable phone concept. The lock, which will cost $300, will be available for purchase late this spring, according to a company press release.

☆ New York nurses strike: Key takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The 7,000 nurses who went on strike in New York Monday say the 19% pay hike that hospital management offered them was never the main issue. And so thousands of nurses went on strike with no end in sight. The overall effect on the New York hospital system appear to be minor so far, according to a city official. While the union and Montefiore are due back at the bargaining table Monday afternoon, no new talks are scheduled as of midday for Mount Sinai. The union says Mount Sinai and Montefiore have severe staffing problems and need to do more than the others to improve patient care and work conditions.

☆ A US federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —A federal agency is considering a ban on gas stoves as concerns about indoor pollution linked to childhood asthma rise, Bloomberg first reported. A US Consumer Product Safety commissioner told Bloomberg gas stove usage is a “hidden hazard.”“Any option is on the table. The CPSC has been considering action on gas stoves for months.Trumka recommended in October that the CPSC seek public comment on the hazards associated with gas stoves. The study found that almost 13% of current childhood asthma in the US is attributable to gas stove use. Trumka told Bloomberg the agency plans to open public comment on gas stove hazards.

☆ Southwest meltdown may cost the airline up to $825 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —The cost of the service meltdown at Southwest Airlines over the year-end holidays cost the airline nearly $1 billion and will cause the company to report a loss rather than a profit in the fourth quarter, the airline said in a filing on Friday. The airline, the nation’s largest domestic carrier, said the cost of canceling more than 16,700 flights between December 21 and 29 will be somewhere between $725 million and $825 miilion. A bit more than half the cost - between $400 million and $425 million - will come from lost ticket revenue that will be refunded to customers. While bad weather started the service problems, Southwest suffered far worse service problems, according to its employee unions, because the antiquated scheduling system left it without the crew members it needed to staff flights. This is not the first time the airline has suffered a costly service meltdown.

☆ Stitch Fix lays off 20% of workforce and its CEO steps down
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Stitch Fix, facing economic turbulence, announced a double whammy on Thursday: CEO Elizabeth Spaulding is stepping down and the company planned to lay off 20% of its salaried staff. “We will be losing many talented team members from across the company and I am truly sorry,” Stitch Fix (SFIX)founder and former CEO Katrina Lake wrote in a blog post. Shares of Stitch Fix rose 6% on the news. Elizabeth Spaulding, CEO of Stitch Fix, announced she was stepping down on Thursday. But Stitch Fix has struggled as more shoppers return to in-person buying at stores and pull back on their online spending.

New York CNN —New York City public schools will ban students and teachers from using ChatGPT, a powerful new AI chatbot tool, on the district’s networks and devices, an official confirmed to CNN on Thursday. “Due to concerns about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content, access to ChatGPT is restricted on New York City Public Schools’ networks and devices,” Jenna Lyle, the deputy press secretary for the New York public schools, said in a statement. New York City appears to be the first major school district to crack down on ChatGPT, barely a month after the tool first launched. While there are genuine concerns about how ChatGPT could be used, it’s unclear how widely adopted it is among students. But many educators fear students will use the tool to cheat on assignments.

☆ Tech’s biggest show is set to kick off in Las Vegas. Here’s what to expect
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The Consumer Electronics Show, now in its 56th year, kicks off this week in Las Vegas with a familiar mix of cutting edge technology and oddball gadgets. And this year’s event, in particular, could show how companies are thinking about products as pandemic concerns recede for some consumers but recession concerns remain. This year, featured speakers will include executives from traditional tech companies such as Samsung, Sony and Amazon, as well as other brands like John Deere, Delta and BMW. Still, the topic of virtual reality products will remain a focus for some companies. HTC is expected to launch the Vive Focus 3 this week at the show, with an emphasis on the metaverse.

☆ Tesla’s shares plunge further on weaker than expected sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Tesla shares plunged more about 13% in early trading Tuesday, as weaker than expected global sales caused the company’s massive slide in its share price that began last year to continue. While it had already warned it would miss that aggressive full-year target, its fourth quarter sales of 405,278 cars was far weaker than feared. The 13% drop in Tesla (TSLA) shares, if it holds, would be the worst day for Tesla (TSLA) shares in more than two years. The company’s shares ended 2022 down 65% for the year, greatly cutting into Musk’s net worth and knocking him out of his position as the world’s richest person. It was the worst year ever for Tesla (TSLA) shares, which gained 743% in 2020 and another 50% in 2021.

☆ Why Southwest is still melting down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Still, Southwest canceled another 2,300 flights today, long after its rivals had resumed normal service. Here’s why is Southwest taking so long to get its operations back on track: Southwest got unlucky with the location of the storm and its timing. And outdated scheduling technology left Southwest scrambling to match crew with planes. Bad luckThe storm hit Chicago and Denver hard, where Southwest has two of its biggest hubs – Chicago Midway airport and Denver International airport. Although Southwest says it was fully staffed for the holiday weekend, illness makes adjusting to increased system stress difficult.

☆ Analysis: Southwest got billions of dollars in taxpayer aid. Why is its service still a mess?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Southwest Airlines received more than $7 billion from that program. However, analysts say, Southwest’s service meltdown is unrelated to the taxpayer assistance the airline received in 2020. Cancelled Southwest Airlines flights are seen on the flight schedules at LaGuardia Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022, in New York. In April 2020, airline passenger traffic plummeted 96% and stayed 60% below 2019 levels in 2020, according to the US Government Accountability Office. “The problems at Southwest Airlines over the last several days go beyond weather,” she said in a statement.

☆ American Airlines places price caps on some cities to help Southwest customers get home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Many Southwest customers have been desperately trying something – anything – that will get them back home. American Airlines says it has a solution: It will place price caps on travel to and from select cities, the company told CNN in a statement. Although it didn’t specifically mention Southwest in its message, and the company didn’t name the cities, American implied the price caps were designed to help the melted-down airline’s customers get home. The price caps vary by location in areas affected by cancellations, an American Airlines spokesperson told CNN. American Airlines notified customers about the price caps in a series of tweets directed at people who posted screenshots of thousand-dollar flights.

☆ Why Southwest is melting down
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By Monday, air travel was more or less back to normal – unless you booked your holiday travel with Southwest Airlines. More than 90% of Tuesday’s US flight cancellations are Southwest, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest warned that it would continue canceling flights until it could get its operations back on track. Similar to this month’s service mayhem, Southwest fared far worse than its competitors last October. While Southwest canceled hundreds of flights in the days following the peak of October’s disruption, competitors quickly returned to normal service.

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