Author: James Martin

Comment on this storyCommentInsufficient coronavirus testing of nursing home staff was a driver of waves of coronavirus infections and deaths of elderly residents in 2020, the most vulnerable time before vaccines became available, according to a study published Wednesday.The study, in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 1.1 million more staff tests per week nationwide would have saved 427 lives each week during the worst time of nursing home outbreaks, from November 2020 to mid-January 2021.Nursing homes that tested staff most often experienced 26 percent fewer resident deaths than nursing homes that tested less frequently, according to the…

Comment on this storyCommentGeneral Motors says it will retire the Chevrolet Camaro next year, leaving an uncertain future for the classic muscle car as the automaker continues a broader transition away from gas-powered vehicles.The Camaro is among a cadre of automobiles, including Dodge’s Challenger and Charger and Ford’s Mustang, known for powerful, rumbling engines and muscular stylings. Chevy, which is owned by General Motors, sold its first Camaro in 1966 and introduced the latest, sixth-generation models in 2016.The last Camaros will roll off the line in January, Chevy said Wednesday, though it teased the possibility of a new version being…

This column originally ran June 1, 2022, and has been updated.The Federal Reserve has signaled that more interest rate hikes are coming. That’s worrisome if you’re borrowing money. But if you’re a saver, it’s welcome news, because it means earning more on the money you have parked at a bank.Since the Great Recession, stockpiling money at a bank or credit union has almost felt like depositing your money in your mattress, given the minuscule interest rates financial institutions pay on checking and savings accounts.Then high inflation hit. This led the Fed to increase interest rates in an effort to dampen…

Comment on this storyCommentFirst Republic Bank shares wavered amid reports that industry leaders and U.S. officials discussing an intervention for the California lender are exploring the possibility of government backing to encourage a deal.The bank’s shares fell 1.4 percent Wednesday, after tumbling more than 10 percent in premarket trading and ending Tuesday’s regular session with a nearly 30-percent bounce. Its stock price has shed 87 percent from a month ago despite sweeping efforts, coordinated by the Biden administration and backed by the nation’s biggest banks, that have attempted to restore investor confidence.First Republic is among a cadre of regional financial…

Comment on this storyCommentThe Federal Reserve faces a pivotal decision Wednesday — whether to push ahead with its urgent fight against inflation or ease up in the aftermath of bank failures that forced a sweeping government intervention earlier this month.Financial markets expect an increase of a quarter of a percentage point, which would bring the Fed’s base policy rate to between 4.75 and 5 percent. But nothing is guaranteed, and some Fed experts are urging policymakers to hit pause. Their argument is that it is too soon to know if the banking fiasco is over, and that the financial system…

Comment on this storyCommentMillions of people seized on lower mortgage rates and stagnant prices to buy homes last month, breathing new life into a U.S. residential housing market that has seen steady declines for the past year.Sales of previously owned homes spiked to about 4.58 million in February, up 14.5 percent from the previous month, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, exceeding analysts’ expectations and breaking a 12-month streak of steady declines. It’s the biggest monthly percentage increase since July 2020, although sales are still down 22.6 percent from a year ago.Home prices, meanwhile, logged their first…

Comment on this storyCommentBrooke Macumber planned to have her fourth child in the same small hospital where two of her older children were born — the same place her husband had been delivered decades earlier.But at 23 weeks pregnant, she found out that the facility, Bonner General Health in rural Sandpoint, Idaho, was shuttering its obstetrics unit after almost 75 years. Now, the closest hospital able to deliver her baby is more than an hour’s drive from her home.“I’ve just had nightmares of making my husband pull off and delivering in the front seat of our car,” said Macumber, 25,…

This week, Amazon announced it was cutting 9,000 jobs. Last week, Meta started to deliver 10,000 pink slips. Both companies had announced previous rounds of mass layoffs, and they are not alone. All told, 500 tech companies have laid off a collective 148,000 workers in the past few months amid slowing growth and fears of a recession.While the circumstances of each layoff decision may differ, there is one constant during these gloomy moments in Silicon Valley: the awkward all-staff memo.Story continues below advertisementStory continues below advertisementWe took a look at 48 such missives issued by companies ranging from massive Microsoft…

Vladimir Putin today vowed to ‘respond’ to Britain’s plans to send ammunition to Ukraine that contains depleted uranium as Moscow warned there are ‘fewer and fewer steps’ to a nuclear collision.The Russian despot said some of the ammunition for the Challenger 2 battle tanks that Britain is sending to Ukraine includes armour piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium.Speaking after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin said the move heralds the West switching to supplying Kyiv with weapons containing nuclear components, adding that Moscow will be ‘forced to react’ if the UK goes ahead with its delivery of 14 next-generation…

Comment on this storyCommentSen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday called on Congress to lift the federal insurance levels for bank deposits above $250,000, a week after the Biden administration announced it would protect all depositors at Silicon Valley Bank, regardless of how much money they had in the failing institution.Currently, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, insures only up to $250,000 in deposits at banks. On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee and a commercial and bankruptcy law expert, suggested raising that figure to anywhere from $2 million to $10 million.“Small businesses need…