A trade group that represents TikTok and other major tech companies sued Utah on Monday over its first-in-the-nation laws requiring children and teens to obtain parental consent to use social media apps. Two laws signed in March by Republican Gov. Spencer Cox will prohibit minors from using social media between… Read More

Southwest Airlines will pay a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million agreement to settle a federal investigation into a debacle in December 2022 when the airline canceled thousands of flights and stranded more than 2 million travelers over the holidays. Most of the settlement will go toward… Read More

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate dropped below 7% to its lowest level since early August, another boost for prospective homebuyers who have largely been held back by sharply higher borrowing costs and heightened competition for relatively few homes for sale. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped to… Read More

Country singer Luke Combs is making amends to a disabled Florida woman who sells tumblers online after she was ordered to pay him $250,000 when she got snared in a crackdown his lawyers launched against companies that sell unauthorized merchandise with his image or name on it. Combs in an… Read More

The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday for a third straight time, a sign that it is likely done raising rates after having imposed the fastest string of increases in four decades to fight painfully high inflation. The Fed’s policymakers also signaled that they expect to make… Read More

Six hundred employees at independent bookstores — from Chapter One in Victoria, Minnesota, to The Cloak & Dagger in Princeton, New Jersey — will be receiving $500 holiday bonuses from author James Patterson. Employees were able to nominate themselves, or be recommended by store owners, managers, peers, community members and… Read More

Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis are asking a federal judge on Tuesday to dismiss a free speech lawsuit filed by Disney after the Florida governor took over Walt Disney World’s governing district in retaliation for the company opposing a state law that banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender… Read More

A federal court jury has decided that Google’s Android app store has been protected by anticompetitive barriers that have damaged smartphone consumers and software developers, dealing a blow to a major pillar of a technology empire. The unanimous verdict reached Monday came after just three hours of deliberation following a… Read More