AP National Business

By AMY BETH HANSON and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana has become the first state to enact a complete ban on TikTok. Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation Wednesday and it is scheduled to take effect next January. The measure is more sweeping than bans put in place in nearly

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Dancers at a Los Angeles bar could soon become the only unionized group of strippers in the U.S. The Actors’ Equity Association labor union says owners of the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood have withdrawn their opposition and agreed to recognize the

By HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed into law a first-of-its kind bill that makes it illegal for TikTok to operate in the state, setting up a potential legal fight with the company amid a litany of questions over whether the state can even enforce the

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — College programs that leave graduates underpaid or buried in loans would be cut off from federal money under a proposal issued Wednesday by the Biden administration, but the rules would apply only to for-profit colleges and a tiny fraction of programs at traditional universities. The Education

By AMY BETH HANSON and HALELUYA HADERO Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana became the first state in the U.S. to completely ban TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that’s more sweeping than any other state’s attempts to curtail the social media app. The measure is expected to be

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG Associated Press/Report for America JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for the federal government, Mississippi and the state’s capital city have agreed to request to delay litigation from a complaint filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that says the city hasn’t been meeting standards for providing reliable drinking water. In a Wednesday

NEW YORK — Take-Two: Fiscal Q4 Earnings Snapshot

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota says it settled its lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul Labs and tobacco giant Altria for $60.5 million. Attorney General Keith Ellison said Wednesday that it works out to two to four times more per-capita than any other state that sued Juul over youth vaping

By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposal Wednesday would require safe management of coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills, “legacy” ponds and other inactive sites that currently are unregulated at

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer An animal rights group says a Virginia farm that raised chickens for Tyson Foods mistreated the animals. But Tyson says it cut ties with the farm in January after it uncovered animal welfare issues there on its own. The Animal Outlook group says it had an investigator working undercover

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The president of Ecuador dismissed the legislature Wednesday in a move that promised more turmoil around a conservative leader who has been unable to enact a business-friendly agenda as the South American country experiences an alarming rise in crime. In disbanding the

NEW YORK (AP) — A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible that is one of the world’s oldest surviving biblical manuscripts has sold for $38 million in New York. The auction house Sotheby’s says the Codex Sassoon was purchased by former U.S. Ambassador to Romania Alfred H. Moses and donated to ANU Museum of the Jewish People in

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will remain free through the Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on May 30 to begin her more than 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors in a blood-testing scam. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila set Holmes’ revised prison-reporting date

By MALAK HARB Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates’ highest court has ordered a British hedge fund trader convicted of orchestrating a $1.7 billion tax fraud to pay that amount to Denmark’s tax authority. Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in a lower court of masterminding a scheme that ran

By STAN CHOE AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is rallying Wednesday on rising hopes the U.S. government can avoid a potentially catastrophic default on its debt. The S&P 500 was 1.2% higher in afternoon trading, with much of the gain coming after President Joe Biden said he’s confident “America will not

By REGINA GARCIA CANO and GONZALO SOLANO Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The president of Ecuador dismissed the legislature Wednesday in a move that promised more turmoil around a conservative leader unable to enact his agenda aimed at widening business opportunities and attracting more investment. Heavily armed soldiers surrounded the National Assembly in the

By SEUNG MIN KIM and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — An optimistic President Joe Biden declared Wednesday he is confident the U.S. will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default, saying talks with congressional Republicans have been productive. He left for a G-7 summit in Japan but planned to return by the

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A senior South African government minister denied Wednesday there was extensive corruption within the ruling African Nations Congress party in relation to the country’s financially-crippled power utility. But Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gorhan did concede a “few” in the ANC might have engaged in “naughty activity.” Gordhan

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has asked a federal judge to allow her to remain free through the Memorial Day weekend before surrendering to authorities on May 30 to begin her more than 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors in a blood-testing scam. Holmes’ lawyers

By CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Many patients in Nigeria are left without health care as the association of doctors in government hospitals began a five-day strike to demand better conditions for their members. The president of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the strike