Browsing: Business

Johnson & Johnson must pay a $2.1 billion award to women who claimed its baby powder was contaminated with cancer-causing asbestos, after the U.S. Supreme Court left intact the verdict in the litigation over the product. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS)

The JBS Australia’s Dinmore meatworks facility is seen May 12, 2020, west of Brisbane, Australia. Thousands of Australian meat workers had no work for a second day on June 1, 2021, after a cyberattack crippled the world’s largest meat processing company. (DAN PELED/AP)

In the decade leading up to the pandemic, American companies spent more than $6 trillion to buy their own shares, roughly tripling their purchases, according to a study by the Bank for International Settlements. Companies in Japan, Britain, France, Canada and China increased their buybacks fourfold, though their purchases were a fraction of their American counterparts.

A prefabricated three-bedroom, 2,341-square-foot midcentury modern home in Michigan City, Ind. that is on the National Register of Historic Places sold on May 14 for $850,000 — $100,000 above its asking price. – Original Credit: @properties (Rudy Conner / HANDOUT)

The former First Midwest Bank branch in Aurora on Jan. 19, 2016. First Midwest and Old National announced a $6.5 billion merger June 1, 2021, that will create a Midwestern bank with $45 billion in combined assets under the Old National banner. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Mercy has a long history in Chicago. The hospital, which opened more than 150 years ago, was the first chartered hospital in the city — starting in an old rooming house near present-day Rush Street and the Chicago River in 1852 before moving to the South Side during the Civil War, according to the hospital.

All of Hollywood was watching those numbers for hints about what is in store for the delayed summer movie season. After largely sitting out the pandemic, or diverting to streaming platforms, blockbusters are again queuing up. On tap are Warner Bros.′ “In the Heights,” Universals’ “F9” and Disney’s “Black Widow.”

Danielle Freed, 35, and Megan Kirby, 29, said getting from the parking lot to their flight when they left Chicago was simple. But now that they had returned from a trip to Key West, Fla., figuring out which shuttle would get them back to the parking lot was confusing.

When there are not enough drivers to meet demand, the companies pay them more, sometimes resorting to so-called surge pricing to lure drivers to areas where demand is high. Some recent surges have made prices jump 50% or more, said Daniel Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities. Surge pricing can be a boon for drivers, but it sometimes provokes outrage from riders, especially during holidays and large events when demand can send prices soaring.

Fiat Chrysler, now owned by Stellantis, said some service and owner’s manuals had the wrong torque specifications for tightening the lug nuts that hold the wheels to the hubs. If the nuts were tightened too much, the wheel studs could be damaged and wheels could come off.