For: April 8, 2025
>>Watching Wall Street
(New York, NY) -- The opening bell rings this morning as the White House's announcement of tariffs last week is still causing volatility on Wall Street. Stocks finished mostly lower to start the week. The major averages swung between gains and losses in wild trading as investors tried to gauge when the tariff turmoil will end. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 349 points to 37-965. The S&P 500 lost 11 points to 50-62. The Nasdaq rose 15 points to 15-603.
>>Trump Threatens To Raise Tariffs On China
(Washington, DC) -- President Trump says he will raise tariffs on China by another 50-percent if the country doesn't get rid of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. In a post on Truth Social, Trump set a deadline of today for China to undo its 34-percent duties that were put in place to the reciprocal tariffs announced last week by the White House. Trump said he will cancel any planned talks with China if they don't comply. The President notes talks with other countries are staring immediately.
>>Federal Judge Holds Off Approval Of NCAA Anti-Trust Settlement
(Oakland, CA) -- A federal judge is holding off approval of a settlement from three athlete-compensation antitrust cases with the NCAA and the Power Five conferences until changes are made to the agreement. The agreement would pay some two-point-eight billion dollars to current and former athletes and their lawyers and Division One schools would be able to start paying athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness. The judge, during a day-long hearing Monday in Oakland, California, raised concerns over parts of the deal, including how it would affect roster limits with the end of the current team-by-team scholarship limits. The judge was also concerned with how future athletes would be bound by the terms of the ten-year agreement. The lawyers agreed to return with changes to the deal within a week.
>>"Stay In L.A." Aims To Keep Productions In Hollywood
(Los Angeles, CA) -- Film and television workers are calling for more investment to keep productions in Los Angeles. Hundreds of people rallied Sunday for the "Stay in L.A." campaign, an effort to expand film and TV tax credits to make filming there affordable. The industry has been hit by setbacks in L.A., including COVID, labor strikes and destructive wildfires. Organizers say production workers are suffering with higher prices and note there's often not enough work in Hollywood. State lawmakers so far are recommending bumping the tax credit up to 35 percent from the current 20 to 25 percent.
>>Elizabeth Diana Departs Deel Amid Spying Lawsuit
(San Francisco, CA) -- The communications chief for human resources and payroll firm Deel is resigning. TechCruch reports Elizabeth Diana's departure comes amid a lawsuit accusing Deel of planting a spy inside rival Rippling. Among the charges alleged by Rippling is misappropriation of trade secrets.
>>End Of Skype Nears
(Seattle, WA) -- Just a reminder: Skype is shutting down soon. Microsoft is officially retiring the video calling and messaging platform. It will shut down on May 5th as Microsoft redirects users to Teams. Skype users can move their accounts to the Teams app, where the tech giant notes they can use many of the same features.
