AP National Business

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and MIKE STOBBE Associated Press U.S. health officials say most Americans should get the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead of the Johnson & Johnson shot. Thursday’s decision came after government advisers reviewed new safety data about rare but potentially life-threatening blood clots linked to J&J’s shot. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines don’t

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A major California utility has agreed to more than half a billion dollars in fines and penalties related to five wildfires in its territory in 2017 and 2018. The California Public Utilities Commission approved the settlement agreement with Southern California Edison on Thursday. It relates to the major Thomas and Woolsey

By LORNE COOK and RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are pressing Russia to enter peace talks with Ukraine. At the same time, they are renewing a threat to impose unprecedented sanctions should Moscow send its troops over the border. Ukraine’s president is pleading for more sanctions to be imposed before

By ALAN FRAM and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has all but acknowledged negotiations over his sweeping domestic policy package will have to be pushed into the new year. It was a setback Thursday as Senate Democrats rushed to try to send the roughly $2 trillion bill to his desk

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Jurors in the case of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes on Thursday heard starkly different interpretations of her motives and actions as her long-running criminal trial nears the finish line. A federal prosecutor cast Holmes as a desperate con artist who brazenly lied to

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — New Year’s Eve fireworks that were called off last year on the Las Vegas Strip due to the coronavirus pandemic are returning with hopes for big crowds — even as the emerging omicron variant spreads in more states. Tourism and elected officials stood Thursday on an

By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press Educators have announced plans to increase security in response to TikTok posts warning of shooting and bomb threats at schools around the country Friday as officials assured parents the viral posts were not considered credible. The posts circulating online warned that multiple schools would receive shooting and bomb threats. The

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Officials say an electrical fault from an improperly disconnected battery in a used vehicle led to the fire aboard a cargo ship docked in Florida that resulted in $40 million worth of damage. The National Transportation Safety Board released a report of its findings Thursday, along with eight safety recommendations to

By KEN RITTER Associated Press LAS VEGAS (AP) — New Year’s Eve fireworks that were called off last year on the Las Vegas Strip due to the coronavirus pandemic are returning this year with hopes for big crowds — even as the emerging omicron variant spreads in more states. Tourism and elected officials stood Thursday

DETROIT (AP) — Electric vehicle upstart Rivian Automotive posted a $1.23 billion net loss in the third quarter due to expenses from starting production of its pickup truck. The company said in its first public earnings report since its initial stock offering that it lost $12.21 per share for the quarter. Revenue was $1 million

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s workplace regulators are extending the state’s coronavirus pandemic regulations into next year with some revisions that employers say could worsen the labor shortage. The move Thursday was criticized by business groups and hailed by labor advocates. The revised rules require that vaccinated but asymptomatic workers

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A section of a major interstate highway in Northern California has reopened after a nearly 24-hour closure caused by blizzard conditions as the latest of back-to-back storms pushed through. The California Department of Transportation says traffic resumed moving around 1 p.m. Thursday on a stretch of Interstate 5 north of the

By LORNE COOK and RAF CASERT Associated Press BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are pressing Russia to enter peace talks with Ukraine. At the same time, they are renewing a threat to impose unprecedented sanctions should Moscow send its troops over the border. Ukraine’s president is pleading for more sanctions to be imposed before

By BRIAN MELLEY and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors are blaming a Texas oil company’s negligence for a crude spill that fouled Southern California’s coastline. A criminal indictment from a federal grand jury released Wednesday says fatigued workers failed to properly act when repeated alarms signaled an offshore pipeline rupture.

DETROIT (AP) — The CEO of General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicles subsidiary is leaving the company. In a statement Thursday, GM gave no reason for Dan Ammann’s departure. But the company said that Cruise President and Chief Technical Officer Kyle Vogt would be interim CEO. The leadership change comes just as Cruise is about to

By FRANK BAJAK AP Technology Writer BOSTON (AP) — Security researchers say they discovered two different types of commercial spyware on the phone of a leading exiled Egyptian dissident, documenting for the first time a hack by a little-known competitor of Israel’s notorious NSO Group. They say it’s the latest evidence that the hacker-for-hire industry

By DANICA KIRKA and MIKE CORDER Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Soaring infections in Britain driven in part by the omicron variant of the coronavirus are rattling Europe. The renewed spread prompted new restrictions on the Continent and fueled a familiar dread on both sides of the Atlantic about entering a new phase of the

By MATT O’BRIEN AP Technology Writer Google parent company Alphabet is folding one of its subsidiaries back into Google as the startup’s founder steps down to confront a neurological disease. Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff said Thursday he’s leaving the company focused on urban planning technology because he “very likely” has ALS, also known as