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Melania Trump announces NFT venture
Former first lady Melania Trump launched a venture this week selling non-fungible tokens that must be paid for with Solan cryptocurrency, currently valued around $180 each. Trump said she will release NFTs in regular intervals on her website, with a portion of the proceeds going to foster children. The press release announcing the venture did not say what percentage of the revenue or pr will be donated. Aaron Dorfman, president and CEO of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, said when a company fails to disclose how much they are donating from a product or venture, Its a huge red flag.
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Fearing omicron variant, holiday revelers curb celebrations
Christmas revelers across Europe are lying low, and U.S. officials are intensifying calls for unvaccinated Americans to get inoculated in the face of the new omicron variant, which threatens to wipe out a second holiday season that many hoped would bail out pandemic-battered industries. Scotland and Wales on Friday pledged millions of pounds for businesses hurt in Britains latest infection surge, a move that heaped pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government to do the same in England. In the United States, President Joe Bidens administration resisted tightening any restrictions, but also sketched out dire scenarios for the unvaccinated in a plea for hesitant Americans to get the shot. For the unvaccinated, youre looking at a winter of severe illness and death, for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said Friday.
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Union objects to results of two Starbucks unionization votes
The union vying to represent Starbucks employees is objecting to the results of elections at two Buffalo-area stores. The union says the coffee retailer waged a shock and awe campaign meant to dissuade workers from voting to unionize. The claims are made in objections filed with the National Labor Relations Board late Thursday. Starbucks denies the accusations. Employees at a Buffalo Starbucks voted in favor of a union last week, becoming the first in the U.S. to do so. But Workers United says the companys intimidation tactics affected the other stores where votes either failed or werent immediately determined. The NLRB will decide whether to schedule a new election.
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New England shrimp fishery to stay shuttered as waters warm
New Englands commercial shrimp fishery will remain shuttered because of concerns about the health of the crustaceans population amid warming ocean temperatures. The cold-water shrimp were once a winter delicacy in Maine and beyond, but the fishing industry has been shut down since 2013. A board of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted on Friday to keep the fishery shut down for at least three more years. The shrimp prefer cold water and their population health is imperiled by the warming of the ocean off New England. The Gulf of Maine, in particular, is warming faster than most of the worlds ocean.
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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home snags eye-popping $50M in previews
For the first time since the pandemic began, the box office is booming. Spider-Man: No Way Home grossed $50 million in Thursday previews alone, a stunning start for a movie set to break pandemic records. Sony Pictures No Way Home scored the third-largest preview total ever, trailing only those for Avengers: Endgame and The Force Awakens. Previews once featured only late-night screenings, but they have steadily moved earlier in the day. No Way Home began playing around 3 p.m. in 3,767 locations. But there was no exaggerating the eye-popping total for the Marvel release. No Way Home is on pace to be the first release of the pandemic to surpass $100 million. It could go as high as $150 million.
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McDonalds to pay Black store owner $33.5M to end bias suit
McDonalds will pay $33.5 million to a former baseball player who owns multiple franchises to end a lawsuit he brought against the company accusing it of racial discrimination. Herb Washington, whos Black, owned more than a dozen restaurants in Ohio and Pennsylvania when he filed a lawsuit in February saying the company has treated white owners more favorably and denied him the opportunity to buy stores in more affluent communities. Cleveland.com reports McDonalds said in a statement Thursday that the amount it was paying Washington was no more than the fair value of the franchises he owned.
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Regulators: threats to US financial system remain elevated
The nations top financial regulators told Congress Friday that threats to financial stability remain elevated even though the country has recovered from the worst economic shocks stemming from the COVID pandemic. In its annual report on financial system threats, the Financial Stability Oversight Council listed climate change as an emerging risk because of such factors as potential loan losses from floods and forest fires. It was the first time the councils annual report has highlighted climate change as a risk to the financial system. This years report was the first issued by the Biden administration, which has made fighting climate change a top priority including refersing the decision by the Trump administration to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.
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Sears to sell its suburban Chicago corporate headquarters
Sears plans to sell the sprawling suburban Chicago corporate headquarters that has been the struggling retailers home for three decades. Sears parent company, Transformco, confirmed this week that in early 2022 it plans to market the 273-acre corporate headquarters in the northwest suburb of Hoffman Estates. Transformco has been downsizing Sears operations and corporate staff for several years. Sears was once the nations largest retailer, but it has struggled in recent years, seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2018 with billions of dollars in debt. Transformco purchased the retailer and 425 stores in a 2019 bankruptcy auction.
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The S&P 500 fell 48.03 points, or 1%, to 4,620.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 532.20 points, or 1.5%, to 35,365.44 The Nasdaq fell 10.75 points, or 0.1%, to 15,169.68. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 21.48 points, or 1%, to 2,173.93.
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