Tesla claims 1st Amendment right to call cars ‘Full Self-Driving’
Seven years after Tesla released the automated driving feature it calls Full Self-Driving, the California Department of Motor Vehicles is…
Category: Business
A California ER charged wildly different prices for the same care on the same day
The Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported that the annual cost of family health insurance jumped to nearly $24,000 this year,…
Merchant: The worst tech products of 2023
It’s the holidays, and you know what that means: an endless stream of wishlists, gift guides, and splashy sales of…
How to spot if your neighborhood is about to be gentrified
A shift in demographics. Affordable apartments transformed into luxury condos. A coffee shop called something like “Brew Slut.” The signs…
Hiltzik: Banks, airlines still charge too much in ‘junk fees’
“I talk to a lot of banks,” Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) told Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection…
L.A. hotel strike: Beverly Hilton, union reach tentative deal
Unite Here Local 11, the union representing hotel workers in Southern California who have been striking on and off for…
Elon Musk’s SpaceX valued at $175 billion or more in tender offer
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has initiated discussions about selling insider shares at a price that values the closely held company at…
Months later, publishers still sorting out plagiarism mess
This week, Simon & Schuster finally published “The Book of Animal Secrets: Nature’s Lessons for a Long and Happy Life,”…
The Importance of a Ganesha Statue
Ganesha Statue Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of luck and good fortune, is an icon revered around the world. His image…
Sam Altman on his ouster, the dangers of AI and Taylor Swift
When Sam Altman was abruptly fired last month as CEO of artificial intelligence powerhouse OpenAI, the rupture left him with…
Santa Cruz’s plans for high-rise living meet opposition
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — You can sense it in the ubiquitous “Help Wanted” posters in artsy shops and restaurants, in the…
Opinion: Is the $6-billion payout enough punishment for the Sackers who brought us the opioid crisis?
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the complex bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma, whose owners, the Sackler family,…
Workers at the Go Get Em Tiger coffee chain want to unionize
The unionization wave has come to Los Angeles’ homegrown coffee franchise Go Get Em Tiger. More than 70% of the…
Federal lawmakers urge Labor Department to investigate L.A. hotels’ treatment of migrant workers
A group of federal lawmakers is urging the U.S. Department of Labor and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to investigate…
Hiltzik: Republicans hate Obamacare because they hate healthcare
Here’s a pair of handy rules of thumb to know we’re heading into a major election cycle: (1) Republican candidates…
L.A. poultry supplier fined $3.8 million for endangering kids
A Southern California poultry processor illegally employed children as young as 14 to debone meat with sharp knives and move…
It’s been the year of the worker. West Hollywood employers are so over it
Across the country, many American workers have enjoyed pay hikes unlike anything seen in decades. And for many American businesses,…
Elon Musk delivers first Tesla Cybertrucks
Four years after Elon Musk unveiled it with billowing clouds of smoke, balls of fire and a botched demonstration of…
Why TikTok is dangerously good at making you spend money
As I was scrolling through TikTok the other day, I received a text from a friend. “I take back everything…
Anduril unveils reusable Roadrunner drone
What if a missile could jet toward a moving target — and then fly back home to try again if…
Café Tropical closure comes amid lawsuit pitting mother against son
The closure this week of Café Tropical — a nearly 50-year-old Cuban restaurant in Silver Lake — had less to…
Cyberattack hits members of Blue Shield of California
An unknown number of Blue Shield of California members may have had their personal data, including Social Security numbers, birth…
Merchant: Sports Illustrated reveals the real tragedy of AI
Quick, name five classic American magazines. Did you say Sports Illustrated? I did. And I’m not even a sports guy.…
Hiltzik: The myth of generational warfare
Whether it’s because the current partisan environment has us fixated on age in America, or because everyone is seeking an…
Elon Musk tells off Disney’s Iger, other fleeing advertisers in Dealbook interview
Stung by an advertiser boycott and accusations of antisemitism, Elon Musk didn’t hide his hurt feelings in an onstage interview…
Paste Magazine buys Jezebel, seeks ‘Gen Z voices’ in revamp
Weeks after it was shuttered, Jezebel is back. Atlanta-based pop culture publication Paste Magazine has acquired the feminist news and…
Mark Cuban will exit ‘Shark Tank’ in 2025. Here’s why
Mark Cuban, a longtime “Shark Tank” business guru, says he is ready to invest less time on-air and more of…
Charles Munger, who helped build one of the greatest fortunes in U.S. history, has died
Charles Munger helped build one of the greatest fortunes in U.S. history, but he often explained his success in terms…
Hiltzik: Kill the zombie Sites Reservoir already
Noah Cross, the sinister plutocrat of the movie “Chinatown,” remarked that “politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if…
Citibank denied account to those with Armenian names: lawsuit
When Mary Smbatian started hearing rumors a few years ago that Citibank was closing the accounts of Armenian Americans in…
With OpenAI in chaos, tech recruiters are targeting talent
For OpenAI, which has become the face of the booming AI industry thanks to popular consumer products such as ChatGPT…
Medieval Times Buena Park workers end strike
Show performers and stable hands at Medieval Times’ Buena Park castle are ending their nine-month strike and will return to…
Hiltzik: Nonunion autoworkers seek to undermine UAW’s deal
A funny thing happened in the wake of the United Auto Workers’ recent contract settlements with major auto companies .…
Sam Altman is back at OpenAI. What just happened?
Nearly as quickly as he left, Sam Altman is back. Following his abrupt and still largely unexplained firing from the…
Black Friday shows U.S. consumers pressured by inflation
Months of punishing inflation have pushed East Hollywood resident Diane Roque to economize by canceling her family’s cable subscription and…
Hiltzik: Debunking every myth about Social Security
Myths and canards about Social Security and its supposed fiscal troubles have steadily proliferated over the years. But it’s rare…