U.S. households ramped up their spending in July, providing reassurance that the economy’s decadelong expansion continued to roll despite slowing factory activity and global growth. Personal-consumption expenditures, a measure of household spending, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in July from June, a pickup from the previous two months, the Commerce Department said Friday, continuing a […]
Command Center, Inc. a national provider of on-demand and temporary staffing solutions, today announced that it has agreed to sell its four California locations to Resolute Enterprises, LLC for $1.8 million. Command Center is providing seller financing for the transaction, receiving a four-year promissory note at 10% interest. “After careful review, we determined that California […]
Uber Opens a New Window. , Lyft and DoorDash threatened Thursday to spend $90 million to fight a proposed California law that would require the companies to treat their gig workers as employees, rather than contractors. “We remain focused on reaching a deal, and are confident about bringing this issue to the voters if necessary,” […]
President Trump said U.S. companies were “hereby ordered” to start looking for alternatives to doing business in China after Beijing said it would impose tariffs on $75 billion worth of additional U.S. products. “Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years,” Mr. Trump wrote in a series of tweets. “They […]
Trolling off the California coast, Sarah Bates leans over the side of her boat and pulls out a long, silvery fish prized by anglers and seafood lovers: wild king salmon. Reeling in a fish “feels good every time,” but this year has been surprisingly good, said Bates, a commercial troller based in San Francisco. She […]
Pacific Gas and Electric’s customers were warned about the cost of massive wildfires that it may have sparked. Even before California’s largest utility filed bankruptcy proceedings at the start of the year, lawyers, policymakers and consumer advocates all cautioned that the company’s liabilities in those fires would, one way or another, hit the pocketbooks of […]
Public pension plans fell short of their projected returns this year, adding to the burden on governments struggling to fund promised benefits to retired workers. Public plans with more than $1 billion in assets earned a median return of 6.79% for the year ended June 30, the lowest since 2016, according to Wilshire Trust Universe […]
State governments can benefit Opens a New Window. greatly from an influx of movers – enjoying everything from increased tax Opens a New Window. revenues to new business activity. Recently, changes to the U.S. tax code have encouraged an increasing number of people to move – taking their cash to lower-tax states like Florida. As […]
President Trump raised the possibility that trade talks with China could break off again, sending stocks lower. In comments to reporters Friday, Mr. Trump indicated the U.S. was prepared for Beijing to back out of talks, which were tentatively set to take place in Washington next month. “We’ll see whether or not we keep our […]
California lawmakers are considering whether to place an $8 billion general obligation bond measure on the March 2020 ballot. If approved by voters, the measure would let the University of California and the California State University system improve the seismic safety of their buildings and expand their physical capacity to serve thousands more California students. […]
Airbnb, long a flash point for controversy in its hometown, has achieved detente with San Francisco at the cost of slower growth — while pursuing other expansions that could stir new issues. San Francisco is not alone in reining in Airbnb. Cities from South Lake Tahoe to New York to Paris are cracking down on […]
The House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. The bill, which passed by a 231-199 margin, was sponsored by Rep. Bobby Scott (D., Va.) and was a compromise that progressive Democrats struck with more centrist members of the party. It is unlikely […]
The price of oil rose on Friday after the U.S. said it had destroyed an Iranian drone near the Persian Gulf, where a lot of the world’s oil is shipped through. Stock markets were largely stable as investors monitor earnings and the ongoing trade talks between China and the U.S. Energy prices were ratcheted higher […]
When Michele Beserra looks at her 3-year-old granddaughter, she sees a warm, loving girl with light brown curls and a nurturing instinct—the kind of person she hopes will become a nurse or a community advocate. But the 56-year-old Beserra becomes emotional when she thinks about her granddaughter’s new home: a tent on a plot of […]
San Francisco would restrict future office development if the city fails to meet its affordable housing goals under a proposed ballot measure. The measure would reduce the amount of office space allowed by a percentage equal to the city’s shortfall in approving affordable housing, based on state-mandated goals. The advocacy arm of South of Market […]