>>UAW President Announces Expansion Of Strike
(Detroit, MI) -- The United Auto Workers are expanding their strike. This comes after UAW President Shawn Fain announced earlier this week he would send more workers to the picket lines if substantial progress wasn't made with the Big Three automakers on a new contract. Fain said the strike will now expand to 20 states after GM and Stellantis rejected their proposals. He added Ford has agreed to some of the proposals but there's still work to be done. Union workers say they want a 40 percent pay increase, cost of living adjustments, and pensions for all workers.
>> Maui Economy Report
(Maui, HI) -- The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization has released its first assessment of how the devastating wildfires will affect Maui's economy. The report calls the fires a "heavy blow," to both the island and state economy. Forecasters believe, for the next several years, Maui's economy will deal with sharp and persistent losses that will somewhat spill over from the county into the overall state economy. UHERO is also now expecting the state's GDP to fall about half a percentage point from its previous forecast. Maui attracts about 30-percent of Hawaii's visitors annually and makes up about ten-percent of the state's overall economy.
>>Biden Administration Seeks To Remove Medical Bills From Credit Reports
(Washington, DC) -- Unpaid medical bills may soon be removed from your credit reports. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday it expects to issue a proposed rule next year that would bar consumer credit companies from including medical debts on credit reports. The bureau said under the new rule, debt collectors would no longer be able to use medical debt as leverage to pressure consumers into paying questionable bills. The head of the bureau said, "When someone gets sick they should be able to focus on getting better, rather than fighting debt collectors trying to extort them into paying bills they may not even owe."
>>Hollywood Writers, Studios Continue Negotiations
(Los Angeles, CA) -- Negotiators for striking Hollywood writers and the major TV and film studios will meet again later today. The Writers Guild of America says talks to end the strike ended Thursday with no agreement. The two sides negotiated for over ten hours Thursday but failed to agree on a pay raise for union writers or on the use of artificial intelligence. Studio heads from Disney, Netflix, NBCUniversal and Warner Brothers were reportedly at the negotiations. Thousands of WGA members have been on strike since May.
>>One In Five Jobs Are "Highly Exposed" To Generative AI
(Austin, TX) -- Close to one in five jobs are "highly exposed" to generative artificial intelligence. That's according to a new report from the job search website Indeed. Nearly 20-percent of jobs listed on the website are categorized as requiring skills that can mostly be performed by generative AI. But the majority of jobs face at least some exposure, with 80-percent either minimally or moderately exposed.
>>Anheuser-Busch Stops Cutting Budweiser Clydesdales' Tails Under PETA Pressure
(St. Louis, MO) -- Anheuser-Busch [[ ann-hye-zer bush ]] says it's stopped cutting the tails of the Budweiser Clydesdales. The brewing giant announced on Wednesday that it stopped cutting the tails of the huge horses used in publicity for Budweiser beer earlier this year. Anheuser-Busch said it stopped bobbing the horses' tails after animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, started a campaign against the practice.
>>Negligence Lawsuit Targets Google Maps After Man Drives Off Collapsed Bridge
(Raleigh, NC) -- A North Carolina woman is suing Google because her husband died after driving off a collapsed bridge when following directions using Google Maps. The lawsuit filed in Raleigh this week accuses the tech giant of negligence. It argues that Philip Paxton was following Google Maps directions through an unfamiliar neighborhood last September. The suit claims the Maps app directed the father of two to cross a bridge that had collapsed in 2013. He drowned when his Jeep plunged into a creek.
