DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ California floods strike at planners’ blind spots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - If California’s budget speaks to lawmakers’ prognostications, flooding wasn’t supposed to be such a big issue. But a current deluge of rainfall makes it clear that planning for disasters needs to be broader and more proactive. Flooding along the state’s coast is expected to cost California more than $1 billion, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. While the California Senate called for extra flood protection in May, the budget only set aside $246 million for risk prevention. Municipal spending was painfully low with state and local authorities spending $48 million annually.

☆ Résumé of George Santos
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

• 3X on sales growth within first 6 months from 450k to 1.4M. Goldman Sachs, GSAM Project Manager New York, NY • Private Real Estate institutional sales strategy development. Investors Relations Client development. Developed and managed new sales strategy for the department. • Developing sales strategies Evaluating risk on clients.

Regan, who has spent the past year visiting communities struggling with water infrastructure crises — including in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia — acknowledged that the need is much greater. Engineers also had the forethought to build separate waste and drinking water infrastructure in Baltimore. Weather events routinely overwhelm the system, causing sinkholes that can lead to water main breaks and sewer backups in homes. Blue Water Baltimore filed a federal lawsuit against Baltimore in late 2021 over the issue. Two separate sinkholes, caused by the collapse of a stormwater tunnel and a leaking water main, led chlorination levels in the water system to drop.

☆ A teen endured taunts after reporting a sex assault, but her school didn’t help, complaint says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Kate Martin | Kate Martin Is An Enterprise Reporter For Nbc News | Based In North Carolina. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“I think this situation is a perfect example of why schools have Title IX obligations,” said Chloe Neely, the lawyer representing Riley in her Title IX complaint. Riley’s Title IX complaint accuses Cherokee County Schools, which has about 2,900 students, of not properly training school staff on how to respond to a complaint of harassment. “There usually aren’t any accountability measures in place to ensure compliance with Title IX,” said Meyer, who was not referring specifically to Cherokee County. The proposed Title IX changes are currently going through a federal review process and could be finalized later this year. Cherokee County Schools only opened its own investigation in early 2022, after Marcella filed the Title IX complaint and more than three months after the alleged assault.

☆ Amazon workers press company on climate change response after Pakistan floods
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Eli M. Rosenberg | Eli Rosenberg Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The employees say the aid is a way for Amazon to take greater responsibility for its role in producing the greenhouse emissions that cause climate change. Scientists have said the flooding that killed more than 1,700 people and displaced millions in Pakistan was much more likely to occur because of climate change. And it is attracting some Amazon workers not previously involved in workplace activism. One letter received 8,700 signatures from Amazon employees. “It definitely had an effect on people,” said Eliza Pan, a former program manager at the company who left in 2019 to go work on climate change issues, but is still involved with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice.

☆ Ohio and New Jersey ban Tiktok on government devices over Chinese surveillance fears, joining over 20 other states
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

New Jersey and Ohio are the latest states to ban TikTok on government-owned devices. New Jersey's governor Phil Murphy announced a cybersecurity order on Monday, to "prohibit the use of high-risk software and services," on government owned devices. "The proactive and preventative measures that we are implementing today will ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and safety of information assets managed by New Jersey State government. A growing number of states have banned TikTok from government devices since December including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and more. An analysis by website Government Technology, published before the New Jersey and Ohio bans were announced, shows more than 20 states have banned TikTok on government devices.

☆ China’s reopening has gotten Wall Street excited. Here’s how the pros are playing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Over the past week, a host of Wall Street banks have turned increasingly bullish on the world's second-largest economy and have upgraded their outlook on Chinese stocks. Morgan Stanley expects China's GDP to grow by an "above-consensus" 5.4% in 2023, on the back of a "fast-tracked" reopening and more proactive policy easing. Meanwhile, UBS says Chinese stocks look increasingly attractive. How to play the reopening Against this backdrop, analysts have named a slew of both Chinese and global stocks they think will benefit most from China's reopening. Bank of America's domestic reopening beneficiaries include consumer stocks such as alcoholic beverage makers Kweichow Moutai and Tsingtao Brew , airline stocks including China Southern Airlines , as well as online travel platform Trip.com .

☆ Why Paid Sabbaticals Are Good for Business: Better Employees, Less Burnout
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Crissie Hoskins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

And through it all, I didn't get fired, there was no formal reprimand, and I got paid the entire time. Sabbaticals provide a proactive hedge against employee burnout, an antidote for attrition, and a protection from career wanderlust. Some employers argue that offering paid time off won't help keep employees around, but my sabbatical made me more passionate about my work — and my workplace — than ever. I love my job and want to be sure my team and clients get the best of me. Sabbaticals are good for businessMy sabbatical wasn't an anomaly — research shows that sabbaticals help employees fight burnout and improve their well-being.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's not-guilty plea keeps his options open, says a former federal prosecutor who explains what the criminal case means for investors-turned creditors of FTX
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-08 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's lawsuit had alleged that both Ellison and Wang knowingly deceived the public under Bankman-Fried's direction. O'Brien, a former assistant US Attorney for the Department of Justice, specializes in white-collar criminal defense and commercial and securities litigation. "When you get indicted, your first appearance in court, you don't know what the charges are. You're presented with a piece of paper, an indictment, but you don't know what the evidence is." But Bankman-Fried's plea doesn't have much to do with what the outcome will be for investors who lost funds on the exchange, O'Brien noted.

☆ A career coach who managed a team of 100 breaks down what women should do monthly, quarterly, and annually to position themselves for a raise
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Sheryl Nance-Nash | Read More | Read Less | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

They should also check their accomplishments monthly, quarterly, and annually to better position themselves. This article is part of Women of Means, a series about women taking charge of their finances. A January survey from Glassdoor found that employed women were 19% less likely to ask for more money in the next year than men. Only 48% of employed women surveyed, compared with 59% of employed men, plan to ask for a pay raise, bonus or cost-of-living increase in the next 12 months. During the pandemic, 73% of employed women polled haven't asked for a pay raise, compared with 58% of employed men.

Financial planner Martin A. Scott writes that a raise is an opportunity to make smart money choices. SmartAsset's free tool can find a financial planner to help you take control of your money »Get the latest tips you need to manage your money — delivered to you biweekly. A pay raise at work can provide someone who has higher-interest debt the option to expedite the process of paying it off completely. It is important for you to consult with a qualified professional on this topic as you get (and continue to) receive pay raises over time. As you continue to move into higher tax brackets, tax planning conversations (and strategies) should be discussed with a financial planner and/or tax professional, which can be of great benefit to your financial situation.

Organizations: ~$

☆ The Equity Talk: Volkswagen North America's CEO plans to roll out dozens of electric vehicle models and boost diversity at the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Volkswagen North America CEO Pablo Di Si wants the company to become the top EV seller in the US. Di Si also plans to raise the number of women in leadership roles at Volkswagen North America from around 16% to more than 20% by 2025. For Di Si, diversity and inclusion are personal. He immigrated to the US from Argentina when he was a teen, and he's also the first Hispanic chief of Volkswagen North America. The Volkswagen North America CEO told Insider he wants to increase the number of women in leadership positions as well as those working in factories.

☆ Homeowners spent up to $6,000 average on repairs, maintenance in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

"For a $400,000 home, the [$4,420] in maintenance and emergency spending in our report is closer to 1%. Maintenance costs may reduce repair expensesWhile it's wise to have money set aside, maintenance can help reduce what you spend on unexpected repairs, Hicks said. "We're seeing an increased focus on maintenance activities, which is good to see," Hicks said. While the specifics of a necessary roof repair determine the cost, the average is $1,000, according to thisoldhouse.com. That compares to an average $3,342 shelled out for water-damage repairs, according to Angi.

If you get a small raise, consider increasing your 401(k) contribution by 1-2%. Instead of falling into bad financial habits, you can direct this additional money towards your financial goals. A larger raise can help you accelerate your financial goals, while a smaller raise (such as a cost-of-living adjustment) may not amount to much per paycheck. A budget is essential, since your ability to manage your cash flow directly impacts your ability to achieve financial goals. Committing to more debt and higher monthly expenses after a large raise is a money mistake that sometimes leads to financial regrets.

☆ How to beat the post-holiday slump at work, according to executives
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Switching back to work mode after a few days of sleeping in, unwrapping gifts and popping champagne can be brutal. But even though the spell of holiday magic might have worn off, you don't have to go back to work in despair. "The first week of the year is like a warm-up period," Laith Masarweh, the CEO and founder of Assistantly, a virtual assistant staffing company, tells CNBC Make It. [Just] do your best to be positive and let yourself get excited for the new year ahead." Masarweh recommends starting your day with a brisk walk or run outside, or a different short exercise, which will "really get your mind working and set you up for success."

Some airlines, including Southwest, no longer have automatic agreements in place that allow for rebooking on another airline free of charge, she said. He and his family spent Christmas in Austin, Texas, and intended to fly home to Raleigh, North Carolina, on Dec. 26 via Southwest. “What are you going to do if the airline can’t save you?” Bangs said. Sallyann Koontz got stuck in Austin after her Southwest Airlines flight home to Charleston, South Carolina, was canceled. "It has served the public with affordable flights and possibly allowed travel for less affluent families for decades," Koontz said of the airline.

☆ 'Don't wait' to make this year-end move that could help cut your tax bill, says CPA
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

If you sell an investment at a loss, the IRS allows you to use that loss to offset gains and income. Here's how tax-loss harvesting works. The rules around tax-loss harvestingTo understand tax-loss harvesting, you first need to remember how capital gains taxes work. At first, offsets must be like for like: Use short-term losses to offset short-term gains and long-term losses to offset long-term gains. How to take advantage of tax-loss harvesting

☆ Silicon Valley is coming for your gut biome
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

SAN FRANCISCO — Cryptocurrency hasn’t worked out so well for tech investors. As a consumer product, supplements are associated more with the Kardashians or Joe Rogan than with Silicon Valley. Roelof Botha, the managing partner of Sequoia Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in the world, is among those buying in. He said there’s a “societal reawakening” about the complex biome of the human gut where hundreds of species of bacteria live. She co-wrote a review of the science this year, and said future probiotic supplements have promise compared to supplements that have been available for decades.

Your personal credit card data could be used for customized credit card rewards. What if your credit card started offering you enhanced rewards in personalized spending categories based on your past purchases? The future of personalized credit card rewardsYou're likely no stranger to having your personal data re-targeted to you. Personalized content and products already exist, so it makes sense for credit card programs to move in that direction too. For example, charity donations are becoming a more popular way for Gen Zers to redeem credit card rewards, but not all credit cards offer that as an option.

☆ Informant warned FBI weeks before Jan. 6 that the far-right saw Trump tweet as 'a call to arms'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The email, which has not been previously reported, warned that the Trump tweet was “gaining hold” on social media. The confidential human source has provided information that the FBI has used in Jan. 6 cases before. The FBI confidential source said that they had “put together hundreds of pages of reports over the two weeks proceeding Jan. 6” for the bureau leading up to the attack. Months after the attack, FBI Director Chris Wray created the position of intelligence analyst in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, giving an intelligence analyst a leadership title typically reserved for FBI special agents. They said they were in regular communication with the bureau in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.

☆ I was a member of the Twitter Trust and Safety Council, which is now being dissolved. The platform is no longer the Twitter I signed up for, and I worry it's no longer safe.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Eirliani Abdul Rahman is a former member of Twitter's Trust and Safety Council. Abdul Rahman and two other members resigned earlier this month, and Twitter disbanded the council days later. Abdul Rahman is the co-founder of Youth, Adult Survivors & Kin In Need (YAKIN) and a former member of Twitter's Trust and Safety Council. Earlier this month, she resigned from the council, which Twitter later disbanded via email less than an hour before the group was scheduled to meet. I loved Twitter as a platform because I felt it was so unique, and even today I don't think there's any equivalent.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee found that law enforcement agencies gathered “substantial evidence” of potential violence at the Capitol as Congress met to formalize Joe Biden's election as president, a member of the panel said at its final meeting Monday. But the executive summary of the committee's final report doesn’t address questions of why the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies didn’t do more to increase security that day. The executive summary, released Monday, avoids criticizing or reaching conclusions about law enforcement and intelligence shortfalls in the lead-up to the attack, which many law enforcement experts have called the biggest intelligence failure since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A representative for the committee didn’t respond to a request for comment about the decision not to include more information about the role law enforcement played ahead of the Capitol attack. The committee's executive summary discusses information that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies received in the days before Jan. 6, saying some of the intelligence was shared with partners like the Capitol Police.

☆ China holds benchmark lending rates for 4th consecutive month
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) - China kept benchmark lending interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive month on Tuesday, matching the forecasts of most market watchers who nevertheless expect further monetary easing to prop up a slowing economy. The one-year loan prime rate (LPR) was left at 3.65%, while the five-year LPR was held at 4.30%. Market watchers regard MLF announcements as guides to any LPR changes. Xing Zhaopeng, senior China strategist at ANZ, said with rates unchanged, household spending would continue without any increase in disposable income. Most new and outstanding loans in China are based on the one-year LPR, while the five-year rate influences the pricing of mortgages.

☆ Edgy Campaigns Are Out, TikTok Won’t Stop and Other 2023 Predictions for Marketers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. Most campaigns will focus on discounts to customers or showcase the usefulness of a company’s products, he said. Under this form of marketing, ad firms generally get paid upon completion of a desired end, such as a sale or download. In short, consumers should expect less “vacuous virtue-signaling” from marketers in the coming months, according to Mr. Proulx. But these platforms’ very struggles could result in ad bargains for marketers, said Mr. Solomon of Therabody.

☆ China to maintain ample liquidity in 2023 to implement proactive fiscal policy - state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - China will maintain reasonably ample liquidity in financial markets while better serving needs from the real economy next year, state media quoted a vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) as saying on Saturday. Monetary policy in 2023 will ensure sufficient amount of liquidity and the structure will be accurate to aid key sectors, PBOC Deputy Governor Liu Guoqiang said. "Funding cost will remain reasonably flexible, with little ups and downs," Liu was quoted by state broadcaster CCTV as saying. At the same forum, Vice Finance Minister Xu Hongcai said China will also implement a proactive fiscal policy next year, setting a reasonable deficit ratio and the size of local government special bonds. China will "appropriately expand the areas where special government bond funds can be invested and used as capital," CCTV reported Xu as saying.

Search resuls for: "PROACTIVE"

25 mentions found