>>Baltimore Bridge Collapse Financial Fallout
(New York, NY) -- Following the collapse Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge Tuesday, it's unknown when the port of Baltimore will be reopening, but the economic impacts of the shutdown are beginning to come to light. Logistics experts say a broader economic impact would likely be limited because of the large number of alternate highways and seaports along the east coast. For the city of Baltimore, the economic impacts of the bridge collapse will hit harder and last longer. The Baltimore port directly employs over 15-thousand workers - many, of whom will be temporarily furloughed -- and indirectly supports nearly 140-thousand jobs. According to economist, overall, any economic disruption from Tuesday's bridge collapse will likely cycle through the economy in the next few weeks, and be unnoticeable by late April.
>>FTX Co-Founder Sentenced To 25 Years In Crypto Fraud
(New York, NY) -- FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried [[ freed ]] has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars in his company's cryptocurrency collapse. The sentence was handed down on Thursday in the same Manhattan courtroom where the so-called "Crypto King" was convicted of fraud and conspiracy just four months ago. Federal prosecutors were seeking up to 50 years in prison for Bankman-Fried while his lawyers sought six-and-half-years in a ten-billion-dollar fraud scheme. The 32-year-old apologized the court, saying the collapse of FTX haunts him every day. The one-time crypto mogul was convicted of illegally using client and lenders' money to pay for private planes, land in the Caribbean and bribes to Chinese officials.
>>Workers Accuse Boeing of Retaliation For Safety Claims
(San Antonio, TX) -- Some Texas-based Boeing plant workers are accusing the company of firing staff who brought up safety concerns. The company recently announced its president will leave at the end of the year and other top administrative changes following repercussions when a door plug panel came off an Alaska Airlines flight in early January. Employees at Boeing's Port of San Antonio plant filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. The complaint says firings came after safety complaints were given to plant managers. A spokesperson for Boeing denies the allegations.
>>Wealth Of 1% Hits Record $44 Trillion
(Washington, DC) -- The wealthiest one percent just got richer. The Federal Reserve reported the top one percent reached a record 44 trillion dollars in combined wealth at the end of last year. The most recent gains came from stock value increases which netted over two trillion dollars in the fourth quarter. The one percent own around half of individually held stocks. Since 2020, their wealth has increased by almost 15 trillion dollars.
>>Corporate Profits Boom In Fourth Quarter Of 2023
(Washington, DC) -- A lot of U.S. companies are doing well as the economy boomed in 2023's fourth quarter. Gross domestic product and corporate profits exceeded expectations, with economists pointing to the lingering effects of pandemic stimulus. GDP increased nearly three-and-a-half percent, above the forecasted three-point-two, according to data from the Commerce Department. And adjusted profits after taxes for corporations hit a record high of two-point-eight trillion dollars.
>>Brother Of Jared Kushner Buys Life Magazine
(New York, NY) -- Jared Kushner's brother is purchasing Life Magazine. Josh Kushner and his super-model wife Karlie Kloss bought the publication rights to the magazine for an undisclosed sum. Life was owned by media-mogul Barry Diller, who will still retain the rights to the magazine's content archive. The magazine went online in 2008, but Kloss reportedly plans to resume print publication. Jared Kushner is the son-in-law and former advisor of Donald Trump.
>>Amazon Adds $2.75B To Its Investment in AI Startup Anthropic
(Seattle, WA) -- Amazon is throwing more money at its investment in AI startup Anthropic. The online retail giant announced Wednesday it added two-point-75 billion dollars to its one-point-25 billion investment, making the San Francisco startup Amazon's most important partner. Amazon says the partnership will further improve customers' experience. Anthropic competes with companies like OpenAI and Google to build artificial intelligence systems.
>>Godzilla And Kong To Dominate Box Office
(Los Angeles, CA) -- Godzilla is crushing it at the box office. "Godzilla and Kong: The New Empire" has already made eight-million dollars on its opening weekend, just from Thursday previews alone. "Deadline" says that's the second-best previews ever for a Warner Brothers monster movie. "Godzilla and Kong" is expected to make 50-million dollars in U.S. theaters this weekend, and 135-million worldwide. It's the latest in a string of successful franchise movies, including "Dune: Part Two," "Kung Fu Panda 4" and "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire."
