Starbucks announced several changes, including its plan to cut some items from the food and drink menu. “We’ve taken steps to refocus the business, our mission and our marketing to better align with our identity as a coffee company,” Starbucks chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said Tuesday. “We’re relying less on discounts to drive customer...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared before senators Wednesday for his first confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next secretary of health and human services, facing a grilling from Democrats on his views on vaccines. Kennedy sought to defend himself in his opening statement from the expected line of questioning in his...
LOS ANGELES — As wildfires raged just miles away, Steven Otero watched ash rain down on every item in his home, which is a tent on Skid Row. Even his food and water weren’t safe from the toxic deluge. “I put out a cup of water, and it was filled with ash in just minutes,”...
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to sign a sweeping executive order Wednesday that would prioritize and free up federal funding to expand school choice programs, according to two sources familiar with his plans. The order is expected to affect several federal departments, including the Department of Education, directing it to prioritize school choice...
Mortgage rates didn’t move last week, but demand for new home loans continued to weaken. Both homebuyers and current homeowners are hampered by today’s higher interest rates. Total mortgage application volume decreased 2% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages...
Tesla’s fourth-quarter earnings report lands just over a week after President Donald Trump began his second term in the White House, with Elon Musk right by his side. Now that the Tesla CEO is firmly planted in Washington, D.C., in a high-profile advisory role, shareholders in the electric vehicle maker have some questions. On the forum Tesla uses to solicit investor inquiries in...
Former Sen. Bob Menendez is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday on bribery and corruption charges in federal court in New York, where prosecutors are recommending he serve 15 years behind bars. Attorneys for the New Jersey Democrat call that recommendation “vindictive and cruel” and “a life and death sentence” for the 71-year-old former chair of...
In a hair-raisingly elaborate scheme, a woman in Britain has been arrested after allegedly using an “array of wigs” to pose as at least 14 people and take their UK citizenship tests for them. The Home Office, the government department that handles crime and immigration, said the unnamed 61-year-old woman had helped the applicants — both...
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Scottie Scheffler felt frustrated sitting at home for two tournaments he normally plays while recovering from glass puncturing the palm of his right hand while making ravioli. A big part of him was thankful the injury wasn’t worse. Scheffler went into detail Tuesday about how he injured his hand making Christmas...
Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned antisemitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives, in an escalation of threats against the Jewish community that authorities called terrorism. The caravan was discovered on Jan. 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of the center of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police...