Economic News
Pace of foreclosures slowed further in April
Posted 2 years 1 week ago by Greg Boyce
Source: The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) Fewer Americans had their homes repossessed by banks or were put on notice for being behind on their mortgage payments in April compared to a year ago.
That would ordinarily suggest improving fortunes for U.S. homeowners, but the decline had less to do with any turnaround in the housing market than with foreclosure processing delays that appear to be getting worse. That is threatening to drag out a housing recovery, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Th… Click to Read More
Connecticut continues work to prepare for electric car
Posted 2 years 1 week ago by Greg Boyce
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) As gas prices near the $5 a gallon mark, state and electrical utility officials are working to develop the infrastructure to accommodate more alternative-fuel vehicles.
"We're starting to see these cars getting sold in the state, and we're one of the early markets for them," said Watson Collins, business development director for Northeast Utilities, which is taking part in a state-sponsored initiative to prepare Connecticut for more electric-gasoline hybrids. … Click to Read More
AP analysis: Economic stress drops to 3-month low
Posted 2 years 2 weeks ago
Source: The Associated Press
An Associated Press monthly analysis finds that lower unemployment, bankruptcies and foreclosures in March reduced the nation's economic stress to its lowest point this year.
More than 85 percent of the nation's 3,141 counties and every state but two Louisiana and South Dakota fared better than in February.
Manufacturing activity has helped ease hardship in the Great Lake states and Indiana over the past 12 months more than in any other region.
Louisiana, I… Click to Read More
Google replants its garage roots in tech workshops
Posted 2 years 3 weeks ago
Source: The Associated Press
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) Amid all the free food and other goodies that come with a job at Google Inc., there's one benefit a lot of employees don't even know about: a cluster of high-tech workshops that have become a tinkerer's paradise.
Workers escape from their computer screens and office chairs to weld, drill and saw on expensive machinery they won't find at Home Depot.
Besides building contraptions with a clear business purpose, Google employees use the shops for fun… Click to Read More
FAA suspends sleeping controllers, adds more staff
Posted 2 years 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. (AP) Federal officials are adding a second overnight air traffic controller at more than two dozen airports around the country, reacting swiftly after a sleeping controller in Reno forced a medical flight to land unaided.
The arrival at 2 a.m. Wednesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport followed several other recent incidents of controllers dozing on their shifts.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the controller was out of communication for about 16 min… Click to Read More
Unemployment falls in three-quarters of US cities
Posted 2 years 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) Unemployment rates are falling in most metro areas across the country, suggesting that hiring is widespread and not limited to a few healthy regions.
The Labor Department says more than three-quarters of the nation's 372 largest metro areas reported lower unemployment rates in February than the previous month. That's the most to report a decline since September.
More than 300 cities have seen their unemployment rates decline in the past year, the best showi… Click to Read More
Libyan rebels complain about NATO airstrikes
Posted 2 years 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
AJDABIYA, Libya (AP) Libyan rebel complaints that NATO has been slow to launch airstrikes are mounting as they try to fight their way back into the eastern oil port of Brega.
But French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday that the situation has become increasingly complicated because Moammar Gadhafi's forces are positioning themselves in heavily populated civilian areas to make targeting difficult.
Juppe also says airstrikes have destroyed most of Gadhafi's aircraf… Click to Read More
United, Continental cutting capacity to Japan
Posted 2 years 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
DALLAS (AP) United and Continental airlines are reducing flights between the U.S. and Japan because of a drop in demand since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Spokeswoman Julie King said Thursday the airlines will drop a few flights a week between four U.S. cities and Tokyo, and will delay plans to add a second daily flight between San Francisco and Tokyo.
King says there has been a measurable decline in demand but wouldn't put a percentage figure on it.
The fl… Click to Read More
Japan disaster sparks social media innovation
Posted 2 years 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) As Japan grapples with an unprecedented triple disaster earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis the Web has spawned creativity and innovation online amid a collective desire to ease suffering.
Once the magnitude of the March 11 disaster became clear, the online world began asking, "How can we help?"
And for that, social media offered the ideal platform for good ideas to spread quickly, supplementing and even rivaling efforts launched by giants like Google an… Click to Read More
US economy outpaces rivals even as job growth lags
Posted 2 years 1 month ago by Bea Karnes
Source: The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) The United States is out of step with the rest of the world's richest industrialized nations: Its economy is growing faster than theirs but creating far fewer jobs.
The reason is U.S. workers have become so productive that it's harder for anyone without a job to get one.
Companies are producing and profiting more than when the recession began, despite fewer workers. They're hiring again, but not fast enough to replace most of the 7.5 million jobs lost since… Click to Read More
