>>Airlines File Lawsuit Against Biden Administration

(Washington, DC)  --  Airlines are suing the Biden administration over a new rule requiring upfront disclosure of airline fees.  American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Transportation over rules requiring airlines and ticket agents to disclose service fees alongside the airfare.  The airlines argue they already disclose all fees associated with air travel and the new rules would greatly confuse consumers.  The rules are part of the Biden administration's push to eliminate junk fees.  

>>NY Fed Survey Shows Inflation Outlook Increased In April

(New York, NY)  --  Many Americans don't expect inflation to come down anytime soon.  A survey by the New York Federal Reserve shows a rise in consumer expectations for both short and long term price increases.  Higher prices for homes, fuel and energy were cited as key factors for the uptick in April's inflation outlook.  The survey results come just ahead of Wednesday's release of the closely watched consumer price index.

>>NHTSA Investigates Zoox Robotaxis After Crash

(Foster City, CA)  --  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Robotaxis operated by Zoox.  The probe comes after two motorcycles slammed into the rear-end of one of the company's autonomous Toyota Highlanders.  The Amazon-backed start-up operates about 500 vehicles in Las Vegas, Nevada, and near its headquarters in Foster City, California.  

>>OpenAI Launches New AI Model And Desktop ChatGPT

(San Francisco, CA)  --  OpenAI is launching a new AI model of ChatGPT. The company's technology chief said at a livestreamed event that the update brings GPT-4 to everyone, including OpenAI's free users. The new model, GPT-4o is reportedly "much faster," with better text, video and audio capabilities. It also improved ChatGPT's speed and quality for 50 different languages.

>>Melinda French Gates Steps Away From Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation

(New York, NY)  --  Melinda Gates is resigning as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates said she would receive an additional 12-and-a-half billion dollars for her charitable work as part of her separation agreement from her ex-husband and Microsoft co-founder.  The pair divorced in 2021, after 27 years of marriage.  She posted that she's "immensely proud" of the foundation.
 

>>Apple Apologies For Ad Showing Musical Instruments Crushed By Hydraulic Press

(Cupertino, CA)  --  Apple is apologizing for its new iPad ad after a lot of blowback from artists.  The company says the ad was meant to show how much the iPad can do, despite being so thin and small.  It showed a record player, a piano, a camera, a drawing board, and other tools used by artists getting crushed by a hydraulic press and turning into the shape of the iPad Pro.  An Apple marketing executive told Ad Age  "We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry." 

>>Consumer Sentiment Drops On Inflation Concerns

(Ann Arbor, MI)  --  Consumer sentiment hit its lowest level in six months.  The University of Michigan's early reading for May fell 13 percent thanks largely to a jump in inflation expectations.  The survey's chief economist called the drop in sentiment "statistically significant."  The survey noted consumers expressed fears that inflation, unemployment and interest rates may all be moving in an unfavoravle direction in the year ahead. 

>>Report: McDonald's Working To Roll Out $5 Value Meal

(Chicago, IL)  --  McDonald's is reportedly working on a new five-dollar value meal as consumers pull back on fast-food spending.  According to CNBC, the proposed meal could feature a McChicken or McDouble, four-piece chicken nuggets, fries and a drink.  The move comes after company CEO Chris Kempczinski recently said McDonald's has to be "laser-focused" on affordability to attract diners.  

>>Some Apple Store Workers Vote To Authorize Strike

(Towson, MD)  --  Union officials say Apple Store workers in Towson, Maryland are "overwhelmingly in favor" of authorizing a strike.  The announcement was made on Saturday by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who represents the workers at the Towson Town Center store.  Workers at the store are seeking improvements in wages and scheduling, as well as other concerns.  The vote allows the union members who are negotiating with Apple to schedule a strike if a resolution isn't reached through talks and negotiations.

>>Nearly Half Of Master's Degrees Have Negative ROI

(Undated)  --  A new study is finding that a master's degree might not be a worthwhile investment.  New analysis by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity says that over 40-percent of master's degrees aren't financially worth getting.  The study looks at career earnings at graduation and a decade later, while adjusting for factors such as drop-out rate.  The study found that over 75-percent of four-year bachelor degrees have a positive ROI.

>>NLRB Claims Tesla Keeping Buffalo Employees Out Of Union

(Buffalo, NY)  --  The National Labor Relations Board is accusing Tesla of preventing its Buffalo, New York employees from forming a union.  A complaint filed by the NLRB this week claims a Tesla workplace policy was designed to "discourage its employees from forming, joining, or assisting the Union."  This is not the first time the NLRB has claimed Tesla and CEO Elon Musk tried to keep employees from unionizing.  A court ordered Musk to delete a 2018 Twitter post discouraging workers from joining a union.  Musk has since bought Twitter, changed its name to X, and returned the post on his account.

>>Target Reportedly Cutting LGBTQ-Related Merchandise From Some Stores During Pride Month

(Minneapolis, MN)  --  Retailer Target says it's "committed" to supporting the LGBTQ community during Pride Month, but will reportedly remove LGBTQ-related products from some of its stores.  Bloomberg News is reporting that Target will carry such merchandise in only around half of its two-thousand or so U.S. stores.  The report says Target will make all of its LGBTQ-themed merchandise available online.  Last year during Pride Month, Target experienced clashes between customers and employees products such as transgender swimsuits.  The month of June is recognized as Pride Month.

>>OpenAI Reportedly Developing Search Tool

(San Francisco, CA)  --  Artificial intelligence company OpenAI is reportedly planning a search product to compete with Google.  The announcement could come Monday, according to reports.  The Microsoft-backed company's search would be an extension of its ChatGPT program that can pull information from the internet.  The company has previously had issues with giving customers accurate real-time information from the web.

>>Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery To Offer Bundle 

(Burbank, CA)  --  Two streaming rivals are teaming up.  Disney and Warner Brothers Discovery announced Wednesday that they'll joining forces to offer a bundle of Disney-plus, Hulu and Max. It's not yet known how much the package will be but it's expected to be available this summer. This comes as both companies along with Fox Corp., revealed a sports streaming service set to debut in the fall. 

>>Hyundai Elantras Top List Of Most Frequently Stolen Cars

(Washington, DC)  --  Hyundai Elantras are at the top of the list of most often stolen cars. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, full-size pickup trucks used to top the list. But as of 2023, Elantras had more than 48-thousand thefts reported across the nation. Hyundai and Kia combined make up six of the 10 most frequently stolen vehicles. Thefts of those have surged since 2020 by as much as a thousand percent. That's around the time that videos of how to steal the cars spread on TikTok.

>>Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin: Still Interested In Buying TikTok

(New York, NY)  --  Steven Mnuchin says he's still interested in buying TikTok. The former Treasury Secretary under Donald Trump told Bloomberg Television he's spoken to several tech companies about how to rebuild the app.  President Biden recently signed a law requiring the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok or have the app banned in the U.S. Mnuchin said if he were to purchase the social media platform, it would be to "rebuild the technology under U.S. leadership. "

>>Biden Announces $3.3B For Microsoft AI Facility In WI 

(Racine, WI)  --  President Biden, campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin Wednesday, highlighted what he portrayed as his role in jump-starting a three-point-three billion dollar investment by Microsoft to build a new artificial intelligence data center in Racine.  The project is expected to create more than four-thousand jobs.  The data center will be built on the same land where electronics manufacturer Foxconn had planned to build a ten-billion dollar factory during the Trump administration, which ultimately never materialized.  Biden took a shot at the former president over the failure, claiming that "Foxconn turned out to be just that: A con."  

>> FTX: Most Creditors Can Be Paid Back In Full

(New York, NY)  --  FTX says it has enough to pay most of its creditors back in full after its collapse. The failed cryptocurrency exchange said in a statement that its plan would resolve disputes with private and governmental stakeholders "without costly and protracted litigation." The Sam Bankman-Fried led exchange collapsed in 2022, leaving the CEO to later be found guilty of fraud and conspiracy, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. FTX said it recovered assets associated with the crypto exchange at the time of its collapse, estimated between 14-point-five and 16-point-three billion dollars.

>>GM Ends Production Of Malibu Sedan Later This Year

(Detroit, MI)  --  General Motors will end production of the Chevrolet Malibu sedan in November.  The vehicle is built at the company's Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas City, Kansas along with the Cadillac XT4 compact SUV.  The automaker will move production of the Chevrolet Bolt to the plant and will continue to make the XT4 on the same assembly line.  The current Malibu is the ninth generation of the model since it was brought back in 1997 and GM has sold ten-million Malibu's globally. 

>>U.S. Offers $10M Reward For Russian Ransomware Hacker

(Washington, DC)  --  U.S. officials are offering a ten-million-dollar reward for a Russian hacker who ran the world's largest ransomware scheme.  The Department of State said this week that a manhunt is underway for 31-year-old Dmitry Khoroshev, whose whereabouts are unknown.  A federal indictment says Khoroshev was the leader of a mercenary ransomware group called Lockbit, that tried to extort millions from major targets including Boeing and the British Royal Mail.  The indictment says Khoroshev developed ransomware that allowed criminals to steal a victim's data and hold it under threat of publishing if the victim didn't pay.

>>Warner Brothers Discovery Making Job Cuts

(New York, NY)  --  Warner Brothers Discovery is looking to make job cuts.  According to Bloomberg, WBD is considering cutting its budgets on streaming by hundreds of millions of dollars.  The company owns a number of media properties including CNN, Max, and TNT. 

>>More Millionaires In NYC Than Anywhere Else On Earth   

(New York, NY)  --  New York is home to more millionaires than any other city in the world.  A global ranking from Henley & Partners finds 350-thousand New Yorkers have a net worth of one million dollars or more.  That's up 48-percent from a similar report done in 2013.  Northern California's Bay Area came in second.  Los Angeles was the only other U.S. city to make the top ten, coming in 6th.
 

>>More Earnings Reports Due

(Undated)  --  Disney's highly anticipated second-quarter earnings report beat analyst estimates on Tuesday.  And yet stock prices sank, sliding around ten percent after it missed revenue estimates for the fourth consecutive quarter and the entertainment company issued guidance about what it believes will be a softer third quarter.  Meanwhile, noteworthy earnings coming up ahead today include Airbnb and Uber.

>>TikTok Sues U.S. Government Over Possible Ban

(Washington, DC)  --  TikTok is suing the U.S. government over efforts to have the popular app banned in the country.  The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit by the social media app and its parent company ByteDance.  It argues the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act violates the First Amendment.  The bill aims to force ByteDance to sell TikTok or have it banned in the U.S.  In the lawsuit, TikTok said, "For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban."

>>Poll: Confidence In Biden And Economy Lowest Since George W. Bush

(Washington, DC)  --  When it comes to the economy, Americans don't have much confidence in anybody, President Biden in particular.  A Gallup poll shows that only 38-percent of U.S. adults have "a great deal" or "a fair amount" of confidence in Biden to make the right decisions about the economy.  The poll also measured confidence in former President Trump, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.  Trump had the most support at 46-percent, while Powell and both parties in Congress were all under 40-percent.  Biden's rating on the economy is the lowest since the final year of George W. Bush's second term when only 34-percent had confidence in his handling of the economy.

>>Apple Announces New iPad Models

(Cupertino, CA)  --  Apple is coming out with a new iPad Pro and iPad Air tablets.  CEO Tim Cook said it's "the biggest day for iPad since its introduction." Apple calls the iPad Pro its thinnest ever, at just over five-millimeters thick, and it has new M4 chip, which it calls "outrageously powerful" for A-I.  The smaller version Pro starts at thousand-bucks, the larger, at 13-hundred. The iPad Air has a less powerful M2 chip, with the larger version starting at 800-bucks, the smaller at 600.

>>Coming Up Today  

(Undated)  --  Coming up today, we'll get a look at the latest data on consumer credit.  All eyes will also be on earnings results from the likes of Walt Disney, Reddit, Lyft and Virgin Galactic.  Earnings from Airbnb and Uber follow on Wednesday.  Weekly jobless are due Thursday with most analysts expecting a slight uptick in the number of first-time requests for unemployment benefits.  The week winds up with preliminary data on consumer sentiment.

>>FAA Opens New Probe Into Boeing 787 Jets

(Washington, DC)  --  The FAA is opening a new probe into Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jets.  The agency said Boeing informed it last month that employees may not have completed required inspections on the planes.  The investigation will look to determine if the inspections happened "and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records."  Boeing will conduct inspections on 787 jets that are still in the production process while also coming up with a plan for planes already in service.  Boeing has faced increasing scrutiny for a number of incidents involving its planes this year.

>>Company Fined For Child Labor

(Somerville, TN)  --  A Tennessee-based cleaning company will pay almost 650-thousand-dollars in penalties after employing at least two dozen children at slaughtering and meat-packing facilities.  The Labor Department announced the deal Monday with Fayette Janitorial Service.  An investigation earlier this year found that the children, some as young as 13, were put on overnight sanitation shifts at meat plants in Iowa and Virginia.  

>>American Food Brands Lose Market Share

(New York, NY)  --  Some of America's best-known food brands are losing market share as consumers use their wallets to rebel against rising food costs.  Fast-food prices in March were 33-percent higher than 2019 levels, according to the Labor Department, while grocery prices were up 26-percent.  The pushback from consumers is prompting some food companies to shift their strategies.  McDonald's and Starbucks plan to launch more promotions, while snack company Mondelez said it would offer pricing specials and smaller package size.  Food manufacturer Kellanova said they're promoting large pack sizes at the beginning of the month, when consumers have the most cash on hand, and smaller ones toward the end of the month.  U.S. fast-food traffic declined three-point-five percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year.

>>American University To Offer Economics Course Centered On Taylor Swift

(Washington, DC)  --  A new American University course aims to put a new spin on the impact of music superstar Taylor Swift.  A one-credit class called "Swiftonomics" will be offered this fall after a contest to create a new student-designed course.  The class will examine Swift's career through concepts such as supply and demand, market power and gender-based economics.  It will look at her music releases, her recent "Eras" tour and her success as a woman in a male-dominated industry.  The course has already generated enough interest to raise interest in offering it again in future semesters.
 

>>Burgerville Coporate

(Vancouver, WA) -- A popular Pacific Northwest burger chain is making changes in its head office, ahead of a planned expansion. Former Dutch Bros CEO Joth Ricci will join Burgerville as Executive Chairman, as a group of local investors takes an ownership stake. The Mears family, which founded Burgerville, remain as shareholders. Burgerville’s 40th location is expected to open in Wilsonville later this year … and there are plans to open as many as 10 more over the next year. In February, the chain announced it’s looking at Bend for its first restaurant east of the Cascades.

>>A Look Ahead At The Week In Business

(Undated) -- Coming up in the business week ahead, we'll get the latest look at consumer credit to get things rolling on Tuesday. The same day brings earnings results from the likes of Walt Disney, Reddit, Lyft and Virgin Galactic. Earnings from Airbnb and Uber follow on Wednesday. Weekly jobless are due Thursday with most analysts expecting a slight uptick in the number of first-time requests for unemployment benefits. The week winds up with preliminary data on consumer sentiment.

>>Boeing Starliner Test Flight Scheduled

(Cape Canaveral, FL) -- Boeing is set to launch its first ever Starliner astronaut mission for NASA. The highly-anticipated test flight for the commercial space capsule could happen before the end of the day from Cape Canaveral on a week-long mission to the International Space Station. The Starliner is designed to take crews to and from the ISS.

>>Tesla Accused Of 100+ Air Pollution Violations

(Fremont, CA) -- Air quality managers in the San Francisco Bay Area are sounding the alarm about Tesla's impact on the region. The local air district accuses the electric vehicle maker's Fremont, California plant of potentially emitting thousands of tons of illegal pollutants in recent years. After more than 100 notices of violations since 2019, the air district is handing the matter to its enforcement arm, its hearing board to issue an abatement order. The Fremont plant's paint shop is the target of the abatement order. It has been the source of many of the violations. The air district is asking the hearing board to compel the company to take action.

>>"The Fall Guy" Looks To Claim Top Spot At The Box Office

(Los Angeles, CA) -- It looks like "The Fall Guy" is landing at the top of the weekend box office. The film made ten-point-four-million dollars opening day, which includes just over three-million dollars from preview screenings. The love-triangle tennis drama "Challengers" will come in second after earning over two-million dollars on Friday. And in honor of Star Wars Day, Disney's 25th anniversary re-release of "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace" will take third.

>>Airbnb Introduces "Icons" Category

(San Francisco, CA) -- Airbnb has a new category. The online vacation rental company introduced "Icons" last week. Folks have a chance to stay in places themed after movies, television shows and more. Some notable places include a house in New Mexico which resembles the one in Disney/Pixar's "Up," a New York mansion based off Marvel's "X-Men '97," and a Ferrari Museum in Italy. Users can request a stay via the Airbnb app, and will be chosen by a lottery.

>>IRS Planning More Audits

(Washington, DC) -- The IRS is planning to increase audits on large corporations and wealthy individuals. The agency has nearly 80-billion-dollars in new funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Some of that money will be used to crank up the number of audits on corporations with assets of more than 250-million-dollars as well as people with income of more than 10-million-dollars. The agency says there will be no increase in audits for people earning less than 400-thousand-dollars a year.

>>Inflation Squeezing Lower-Income Consumers The Most

(New York, NY) -- The long-predicted consumer pull back is finally here with many brands reporting a decrease in same store sales. McDonald's said it has adopted a "street-fighting mentality" to compete for value-minded diners. Starbucks announced a surprise drop in same-store sales, while Pizza Hut and KFC also reported shrinking same-store sales. For months, economists have been predicting that consumers would cut back on their spending in response to higher prices and interest rates, but it's taken a while to see sales actually shrink. Prices to eat out are up five-percent in March compared to a year-ago, while prices for groceries have increased more slowly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

>>Southwest Required To Offer Travel Vouchers For Cancellations, Delays

(Dallas, TX) -- Southwest Airlines will be required to offer 75-dollar travel vouchers for certain cancellations and delays. This comes after the company suffered what some call a "holiday meltdown" in 2022. The U.S. Transportation Department announced this week the airline will need to give compensation as part of a deal reached after the incident that "stranded millions of passengers across the country." Flyers can get a Southwest LUV voucher if their flight is cancelled or delayed within a week of departure or if they arrive three or more hours later than planned. However, they are not eligible for the voucher if the flight is affected by factors out of the airline's control, like weather.

>>Ford Sales Drop In April

(Dearborn, MI) -- Sales at Ford Motor Company dropped in April overall but hybrid sales set a monthly record. The automaker sold over 179-thousand cars and trucks with sales of the popular F-Series trucks. Broncos and SUV's falling off. Ford says they remain committed to hybrid vehicles and plans to have an entire lineup by the end of the decade. Sales of EV were up by 129-percent over last year but still are not meeting expectations. SUV sales declined by nearly ten-percent in April and Ford said they will be increasing incentives for customers.

>>Peloton's CEO Steps Down As Company Lays Off Staff

(New York, NY) -- Peloton's CEO is stepping down as the company cuts 400 jobs worldwide. The exercise bike giant went through a boom during the pandemic when people were stuck at home, but sales have dropped dramatically since then. It also plans to close retail showrooms and overhaul its international sales plan. A news release says the move is expected to cut annual expenses by more than 200-million by the end of 2025.

>>Fed Holds Interest Rates Steady

(Washington, DC)  --  The Federal Reserve is leaving interest rates unchanged.  Wednesday's announcement came as officials have repeatedly said they want to be more confident inflation is coming down before cutting rates.  The central bank's goal is to get inflation down to two-percent. 

>>Tesla Fires Entire Electric Vehicle Charging Team

(New York, NY)  --  Tesla is firing its entire electric vehicle charging team. Employees confirmed the layoffs in social media posts.  The news raises concerns about the future of one of the largest charging networks in the United States.  Tesla's "Supercharger" network has been a key selling point for its electric vehicles, as a lack of charging ports has been a large barrier to widespread EV adoption.

>>Viking Cruises IPO Is Biggest So Far In '24

(New York, NY)  --  Viking Cruises has the biggest initial public offering of the year so far.  The cruise operator debuted on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday and raised around one-point-five-billion dollars.  Viking's offering price of 24-dollars per share puts the market value at around ten-point-three billion.  Viking offers luxury cruises around the world aimed at wealthy older Americans.  

>>UMG Makes Licensing Deal With TikTok

(Los Angeles, CA)  --  Universal Music Group has made a new licensing agreement with TikTok.  The two companies have been feuding for months over royalties paid to UMG artists on the video platform.  The dispute led UMG to pull the music of Drake, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and other artists from TikTok.  On Wednesday, the companies announced a new licensing agreement that would bring an end to the dispute.  Under the new agreement, UMG says its global family of artists, songwriters and labels will return to TikTok.

>>Justice Department Charges "Bitcoin Jesus" With Criminal Tax Fraud

(Washington, DC)  --  The Justice Department is charging the man known as "Bitcoin Jesus" with criminal tax fraud.  Bitcoin investor Roger Ver gained the nickname when he got in early on the digital currency. He allegedly evaded at least 48-million in taxes, according to the indictment. It claims Ver failed to report a portion of the 131-thousand bitcoin he owned in 2014 when he renounced his U.S. citizen after moving to the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and Nevis.  At the time, that was over 114-million dollars.  Now, it's worth more than seven-and-a-half billion.

>>Ford Recalls Over 240-Thousand Maverick Trucks

(Dearborn, MI)  --  Ford is recalling over 240-thousand Maverick pickup trucks over tail lights that fail to light up.  That's according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The recall impacts certain Maverick models that span from 2022 to this year.  The vehicle's Body Control Module may 'inadvertently deactivate one or both rear tail lights."  It does not impact headlights, turn signal or stop lamps.

>>Dave And Buster's To Allow Customers To Place Bets On Games

(New York, NY)  --  Dave and Buster's will allow customers to bet on arcade games.  Adults 18 or older who are loyalty members of the arcade will be able to place a five-dollar wagers on a Hot Shots basketball game, Skee-Ball competition or other arcade games.  The new technology from the gamification software company Lucra should be available in the coming months.  This comes as there's a been a major boom in sports betting across the U.S. 

>>Hotel Workers To Rally Today

(Undated)  --  Thousands of hotel workers are planning May Day rallies in at least 18 cities across the U.S. and Canada, looking for better pay and working conditions.  The unionized workers are in talks with Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide and Hyatt Hotels for new contracts for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.  According to union leaders, hotel staffing is down since 2019 while revenue is up to record levels.  Rallies are planned for cities including Boston, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco and Toronto.  The rallies fall on May Day, a traditional celebration of the working class.

>>Walmart Closes All Healthcare Centers, Stops Virtual Health Services

(New York, NY)  --  Walmart is closing all 51 of its healthcare centers and stopping virtual healthcare services. After making a large push into healthcare in recent years, the company is shutting locations down in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri and Texas. The largest retailer in the U.S. seems to be taking a major turn in strategy that could leave a gap in healthcare access, particularly among lower-income patients without insurance.

>>Americans Worried About Losing Job

(Undated)  --  A quarter of American workers are worried that they may lose their job in the coming year.  A survey by OnePoll found that they're worried about the job market and the stability of their industry.  Others are also worried about falling behind or lacking the skills needed for what they consider success.  

>>Home Prices Soar Despite High Mortgage Rates

(Washington, DC)  --  Home prices are hitting record levels despite high mortgages rates.  According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, prices jumped more than six percent on a year-over-year basis in February.  That's the third straight month of gains for the 20-city composite index.  Prices in San Diego saw the biggest gain, up more than eleven percent from one year ago.  Chicago and Detroit round out the top three cities with annual increases of almost nine percent.

>>Philips Reaches $1.1 Billion Settlement

(Andover, MA)  --  Philips Healthcare is agreeing to a one-point-one-billion-dollar settlement following lawsuits and recalls over its CPAP sleep apnea machines.  The FDA said it had received more than 100-thousand reports on problems with the insulating foam in the devices, including more than 500 reports of death.  Philips and its Philips Respironics brand announced the settlement this week while denying any fault or liability.  The affected devices were sold between 2008 and 2021, according to Philips' summary of the settlement.

>>WeWork Accepts Bankruptcy Deal, Rejects Adam Neumann's Offer

(New York, NY)  --  WeWork is moving ahead with a bankruptcy deal and rejecting a 650-million-dollar buyback offer from the company's co-founder.  The office space company announced on Monday that it reached a 450-million-dollar settlement with its junior creditors and rejected a bid from former owner Adam Neumann.  WeWork says it's new restructuring plan would pay off the company's four-billion-dollar debt load by the end of May, and would hand the company's equity to its senior lenders.  WeWork was once valued at 47-billion dollars and filed for bankruptcy last November after many office employees started working remotely.