Tag: Business

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to reverse some Obama-era Cuba policies landed with a thud among many congressional Republicans who say the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed into law a public records bill that could possibly result in the sealing of millions of criminal history records.

A diminished supply of available homes is swelling prices in large U.S. metro areas from Tampa to New York to Miami to Los Angeles, squeezing out would-be buyers and pushing up rents as more people are forced to remain tenants. The trend is pressuring Americans’ budgets, with about one-third of households spending more than 30 percent of their gross income on housing as of 2015, according to a report being released Friday by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Amazon is buying Whole Foods in a deal valued at about $13.7 billion, a stunning move into brick-and-mortar retail that sets the stage for more radical store experimentation and intensified competition with grocery rivals. The deal unites the online juggernaut with the grocery store chain that fell behind as the organic and natural foods it helped popularize expanded to more locations and shoppers found “good enough” alternatives.

President Donald Trump declared Friday he was restoring some travel and economic restrictions on Cuba that were lifted as part of the Obama administration’s historic easing. He challenged the communist government of Raul Castro to negotiate a better deal for Cubans and Cuban-Americans.

February 6, 1962, then President John F. Kennedy, gave his friend, White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, some cash, then told him to go out and buy, '1,000 Petit Upmanns' cigars. Salinger, returned to the White House the next morning with 1200 cigars and at 8 a.m. President Kennedy, signed the trade Embargo Against Cuba, stopping the importing as well exporting of goods and travel between the two countries. Today in Miami President Donald Trump will keep a campaign promise to the South Florida Cuban community when he will announce increased restrictions toward the island nation. The actions by the White House to roll back the relaxing of trade and travel Embargo Against Cuba, taken by former President Barack Obama.

The new AP-NORC survey, conducted in May, said 43 percent of Americans won’t be taking a summer vacation. The top reason for skipping a trip was the cost, cited by 49 percent of non-vacationers. Another 11 percent said they can’t take the time off from work, while 3 percent said they don’t like to be away from work. About half of Americans living in households making less than $50,000 a year don’t plan to take any summer vacation this year, and they’re especially likely to cite costs as a reason.

The Federal Reserve has raised its key interest rate for the third time in six months, providing its latest vote of confidence in a slow-growing but durable economy. The Fed also announced plans to start gradually paring its bond holdings later this year, which could cause long-term rates to rise. The increase in the short-term rate by a quarter-point to a still-low range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent could lead to higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses and slightly better returns for savers. The Fed foresees one additional rate hike this year, unchanged from its previous forecast. It gave no hint of when that might occur.

It sounds futuristic: drones carrying heart defibrillators swooping in to help bystanders revive people stricken by cardiac arrest. Researchers tested the idea and found drones arrived at the scene of 18 cardiac arrests within about 5 minutes of launch. That was almost 17 minutes faster on average than ambulances — a big deal for a condition where minutes mean life or death. Drone-delivered devices weren’t used on patients in the preliminary study, but the results are “pretty remarkable” and proof that the idea is worth exploring, said Dr. Clyde Yancy, a former American Heart Association president who was not involved in the study.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- The Tampa Police Department has launched a partnership with local businesses, schools and community groups to provide a sanctuary for victims of hate crimes and bullying.