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Officials: Paper mill worker dead from fungal infection

ESCANABA, Mich. (AP) — A contract worker at a northern Michigan paper mill has died from a fungal infection that has forced the business to temporarily close for deep cleaning. The death was announced Friday in a release by public health officials in Delta and Menominee counties which said the worker died as a result of blastomycosis infection. The person’s name and a date of the death were not released. Company officials on Thursday said the Billerud Paper Mill in Escanaba, which employs more than 800 people, will close for up to three weeks for scrubbing after authorities ...

Zelenskyy calls for confiscating Russian Central Bank funds

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an appeal to the heads of the IMF and World Bank, Ukraine’s president on Wednesday renewed his call to confiscate Russian Central Bank assets held around the world and use them to help rebuild Ukraine. “To charge the aggressor with compensation for damages,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said by video link. “Russia must feel the full price of its aggression.” The U.S. announced at the start of Russia’s invasion that America and its allies had blocked access to more than $600 billion that Russia held outside its borders. The U.S and its ...

Small business owners feel the credit crunch

NEW YORK (AP) — When Nat West, owner of cider-making company Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider, decided to supplement his wholesale business by opening a taproom in a bustling neighborhood in Portland, Oregon, he thought getting financing would be a breeze. After all, he was only seeking $50,000, has been in business for 11 years, and takes in more than $1 million in annual revenue. In February and March, West reached out to three lenders he had previously gotten financing from, including one where he has an existing line of credit. To his surprise, he was rejected. “I feel like ...

Juul Labs agrees to pay $462M settlement to 6 states

NEW YORK (AP) — Electronic cigarette-maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, marking the largest settlement the company has reached so far for its role in the youth vaping surge, the attorneys general in several states announced Wednesday. The agreement with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C. is the latest in a string of recent legal agreements Juul has reached to settle lawsuits related to the way it marketed addictive nicotine products. Critics said Juul was trying to lure children ...

Stocks end mixed on Wall Street amid rate hike expectations

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed Monday in their first trading after a report heightened speculation the Federal Reserve may tap the brakes a little harder on financial markets and the economy. The S&P 500 rose 4.09 points, or 0.1%, to 4,109.11. It did not trade on Friday, when data showing a resilient U.S. jobs market heightened expectations the Fed would hike interest rates again at its next meeting. Big Tech stocks fell more than the rest of the market, which helped drag the Nasdaq composite down 3.60, or less than 0.1%, to 12,084.36. It was down as much as 1.4% earlier in the ...

U.S. adds a healthy 236,000 jobs despite Fed’s rate hikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just ...