Category: Business

Record Store Day celebrates indie retail music sellers as they ride vinyl’s popularity wave

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Jeff Maimon, of Chicago, checks out some vinyl at Tracks In Wax record shop, Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Phoenix. Special LP releases, live performances and at least one giant block party are scheduled around the U.S. Saturday as hundreds of shops celebrate Record Store Day amid a surge of interest in vinyl and the day after the release of Taylor Swift’s latest album. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

By ANITA SNOW Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — Special LP releases, live performances and at least one giant block party are scheduled around the U.S. Saturday as hundreds of shops celebrate Record Store Day during a surge of interest in vinyl and the day after the release of Taylor Swift’s latest album.

There were no announced Record Store Day specials for the arrival of Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” on Friday, but her fans always anxiously look forward to the new albums and accompanying collectible LPs.

In suburban strip malls and big city downtowns, indie record stores are often the first to recognize and promote emerging artists. Years before Swift was setting Grammy records and selling out concerts in Japan, Bull Moose Music in Portland, Maine, was giving away one of her autographed guitars in an enter-to-win contest.

“We were carrying her music before all the big stores. We always knew she would be a star,” said Chris Brown of employee-owned Bull Moose and a co-founder of Record Store Day. Continue reading

Olympic gold is great, but athletes say some cash to go with it is even better

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FILE – Lamont Marcell Jacobs, of Italy poses with his gold medal following the men’s 100-meters final at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Monday, Aug. 2, 2021, in Tokyo. Track and field is set to become the first sport to introduce prize money at the Olympics, with World Athletics saying Wednesday, April 10, 2024, it would pay $50,000 to gold medalists in Paris. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

By HOWARD FENDRICH and EDDIE PELLS AP National Writers

NEW YORK (AP) — They compete for a trophy, a ring, the chance to be called a champion and, sometimes, a place in history. Most of the world’s best athletes in all sorts of sports compete for cold, hard cash, too.

After more than 100 years of striving to earn Olympic gold — but nothing else from the folks organizing the event — track and field athletes at the Paris Games will join that money-making club thanks to the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.

In a first-of-its-kind development, the runners, throwers and jumpers lining up at the Stade de France in August will be trying to win a $50,000 check to go with the gold. It’s a novel — some might say overdue — concept that has athletes in other sports wondering if they can get a piece of that action. Continue reading

Who wouldn’t like prices to start falling? Careful what you wish for, economists say

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FILE – Plastic bottles of Pepsi are displayed at a grocery store in New York on Nov. 15, 2023. Before inflation began heating up, a 2-liter bottle of soda it cost an average of $1.67 in supermarkets across America. Three years later it is going for $2.25 – a 35% increase.(AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans are in a sour mood about the economy for one main reason: Prices feel too high.

Maybe they’re not rising as fast as they had been, but average prices are still painfully above where they were three years ago. And they’re mostly heading higher still.

Consider a 2-liter bottle of soda: In February 2021, before inflation began heating up, it cost an average of $1.67 in supermarkets across America. Three years later? That bottle is going for $2.25 — a 35% increase.

Or egg prices. They soared in 2022, then fell back down. Yet they’re still 43% higher than they were three years ago.

Likewise, the average used-car price: It rocketed from roughly $23,000 in February 2021 to $31,000 in April 2022. By last month, the average was down to $26,752. But that’s still up 16% from February 2021. Continue reading

Baltimore bridge collapse: Who will pay for the destroyed bridge, harmed businesses and lost lives?

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A crane is seen near the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Friday, March 29, 2024 in Baltimore. A cargo ship rammed into the major bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday, causing it to collapse in a matter of seconds. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

By REBECCA BOONE and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press

The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland is a multi-layered tragedy: For the families and friends of those killed or presumed dead, it’s a profound and personal loss. For businesses that rely on the Port of Baltimore, it’s an economic nightmare.

And for the federal courts, it will soon become a balance of dollars and facts, with a network of insurance companies expected to foot at least some of the bill.

The disaster happened early Tuesday when a cargo ship lost power and rammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge. Eight people were on the highway bridge when it collapsed. Two were rescued. The bodies of two more were recovered, and four remain missing and are presumed dead.

The wreckage closed the Port of Baltimore, a major shipping port, potentially costing the area’s economy hundreds millions of dollars in lost labor income alone over the next month, according to the economic analysis company Implan. Continue reading

Tired of AI doomsday tropes, Cohere CEO says his goal is technology that’s ‘additive to humanity’

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(AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer

Aidan Gomez can take some credit for the ‘T’ at the end of ChatGPT. He was part of a group of Google engineers who first introduced a new artificial intelligence model called a transformer.

That helped set a foundation for today’s generative AI boom that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and others built upon. Gomez, one of eight co-authors of Google’s 2017 paper, was a 20-year-old intern at the time.

He’s now the CEO and co-founder of Cohere, a Toronto-based startup competing with other leading AI companies in supplying large language models and the chatbots they power to big businesses and organizations.

Gomez spoke about the future of generative AI with The Associated Press. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Continue reading

The average bonus on Wall Street last year was $176,500. That’s down slightly from 2022

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FILE — People pass the front of the New York Stock Exchange, March 22, 2023. The average Wall Street bonus fell slightly last year to $176,500 as firms took a “more cautious approach” to compensation, New York state’s comptroller reported Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

By MICHAEL HILL Associated Press

The average Wall Street bonus fell slightly last year to $176,500, as the industry added employees and took a “more cautious approach” to compensation, New York state’s comptroller reported Tuesday.

The average bonus for employees in New York City’s securities industry was down 2% from $180,000 in 2022. The slight dip came even as Wall Street profits were up 1.8% last year, according to the annual estimate from Thomas DiNapoli, the state’s comptroller. Continue reading

Bernie Sanders wants the US to adopt a 32-hour workweek. Could workers and companies benefit?

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FILE – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., talks to the media as he walks to the House chamber before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol, March 7, 2024, in Washington. Sanders, the far-left independent from Vermont, introduced a bill Thursday, March 14, that would shorten to 32 hours the amount of time many Americans can work each week before they’re owed overtime. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

By RUSS BYNUM Associated Press

The 40-hour workweek has been standard in the U.S. for more than eight decades. Now some members of Congress want to give hourly workers an extra day off.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the far-left independent from Vermont, this week introduced a bill that would shorten to 32 hours the amount of time many Americans can work each week before they’re owed overtime.

Given advances in automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, Sanders says U.S. companies can afford to give employees more time off without cutting their pay and benefits.

Critics say a mandated shorter week would force many companies to hire additional workers or lose productivity. Continue reading

Consumers are increasingly pushing back against price increases — and winning

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Stuart Dryden reaches for an item at a grocery store on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, in Arlington, Va. Dryden is aware of big price disparities between branded products and their store-label competitors, which he now favors. (AP Photo/Chris Rugaber)

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation has changed the way many Americans shop. Now, those changes in consumer habits are helping bring down inflation.

Fed up with prices that remain about 19%, on average, above where they were before the pandemic, consumers are fighting back. In grocery stores, they’re shifting away from name brands to store-brand items, switching to discount stores or simply buying fewer items like snacks or gourmet foods.

More Americans are buying used cars, too, rather than new, forcing some dealers to provide discounts on new cars again. But the growing consumer pushback to what critics condemn as price-gouging has been most evident with food as well as with consumer goods like paper towels and napkins. Continue reading

Beyond Tourist Taxes: How Popular European Cities Tackle Overtourism With New Strategies in 2024

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By Emese Maczko | Wealth of Geeks undefined

A new requirement for American travelers bound for Europe — an online travel authorization via the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) — has been delayed until 2025.

The requirement restricts travelers from non-EU countries like the United States to 30 European nations, including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Applications would have brought in €7 apiece, adding up to considerable money.

As popular European cities continue to confront the challenges of overtourism in 2024, they choose to move beyond the financial solutions provided by tourist taxes.

These destinations are now deploying unprecedented innovative strategies aimed not only at managing crowds, but also at preserving their cultural heritage, protecting the environment, and maintaining the quality of life for their residents. Continue reading

Some Americans have become saddled with credit card debt as rent and everyday prices remain high

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File – A card reader is used at a drive-thru restaurant in Mount Prospect, Ill., March 13, 2021. Noticeable pockets of Americans are quickly running up their credit card balances and increasing numbers are now falling behind on their debts. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

By KEN SWEET AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — While the U.S. economy is broadly healthy, pockets of Americans have run through their savings and run up their credit card balances after battling inflation for more than two years.

Experts worry that members of these groups — mostly lower- and middle-income Americans, who tend to be renters — are falling behind on their debts and could face further deterioration of their financial health in the year ahead, particularly those who have recently resumed paying off student loans.

“The U.S. economy is currently performing better than most forecasters expected a year ago, thanks in large part to a resilient consumer,” wrote Shernette McLoud, an economist with TD Economics, in a report issued Wednesday. “However, more recently that spending is increasingly being financed by credit cards.” Continue reading