Free Republic

Federal regulators on Tuesday enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from changing jobs within their industries. The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable. The FTC heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their...

he sight of Bill Boeing was a familiar one on the factory floor. His office was in the building next to the converted boatyard where workers lathed the wood, sewed the fabric wings, and fixed the control wires of the Boeing Model C airplane. there is no authority except facts. facts are obtained by accurate observation read a plaque affixed outside the door. And what could need closer observation than the process of his aircraft being built? One day in 1916, Boeing spotted an imperfectly cut wing rib, dropped it to the floor, and slowly stomped it to bits. “I,...

San Francisco has long been feared to be falling into a doom loop, a situation where taxpayers leaving the crime-ridden city results in lower tax revenues leading to cuts in services and rising taxes, making it even less desirable to live in. It can be especially devastating when a community's essential businesses, such as grocery stores, decide to leave. San Francisco experienced this last year when Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN)-owned Whole Foods Market Inc. shut down its flagship store in the city after being open for just over a year, citing employee safety concerns. Nearly 570 emergency calls were reported from...

Business activity continued to decline in New York State, according to firms responding to the April 2024 Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The headline general business conditions index rose seven points but remained below zero at -14.3. New orders and shipments both declined significantly, and unfilled orders continued to shrink. Delivery times shortened, and inventories edged higher. Labor market conditions remained weak, with employment and hours worked moving lower. The pace of input price increases picked up somewhat, while the pace of selling price increases held steady. Though firms expect conditions to improve over the next six months, optimism remained subdued.

Layoffs continue across the freight and logistics industry, with companies in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan and Texas announcing job reductions and facility closures over the past two weeks. Universal Logistics Warren, Michigian-based Universal Logistics is permanently shuttering two of its subsidiaries and laying off a total of 677 employees, according to notices recently filed with the state. The layoffs are related to Universal-operated entities Logistics Insights Corp. and Universal Dedicated of Detroit, an auto parts warehousing and logistics facility. Both operations were in Detroit. Universal Dedicated of Detroit’s closure will affect 230 truck drivers who worked from the facility. Logistics...

Founder and CEO Mike Grondahl detailed a history of rampant abuse at the company and alleged it misrepresented its financials during a recent interview with controversial right-wing X user Libs of TikTok. This comes after weeks of calls for boycotts of the brand after the company canceled the membership of a Planet Fitness gym goer after speaking out about a biological male in the women's locker room. Planet Fitness's policy allows gym members to use the locker room associated with their gender identity. But this policy has led to a few high-profile cases of women feeling uncomfortable in Planet Fitness...

Another California small business and its workers have seemingly suffered at the hands of the state’s newly enacted $20 minimum wage. ... When making their way to work Monday morning, Navarro and her team learned upon arrival that the restaurant owner had made the decision to close its doors for good. The owner, Loren Wright, told local Fox affiliate KMPH that this was the “last thing” they wanted to do, but knew by Friday night the business likely wouldn’t be able to absorb the wage hike and didn’t “want to ruin their Easter Sunday.” The new California statewide legislation went...

WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – As millions of Americans head to their local gas station or store to purchase a new pack of Marlboro’s or Newport’s, they may soon see that their favorite type of cigarettes are no longer available for purchase. According to an announcement made by the Food & Drug Administration back in 2022, the agency had begun planning to “propose product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars,” due to “menthol being a flavor additive with a minty taste and aroma that reduces the irritation...

“Go woke, go broke.”This catchphrase has become more than a clever play on words. Like all clichés that make their way into common social expression, it’s a cliché because it’s generally true, at least in its sentiment.It was just a few years ago that the corporate giants of America took it upon themselves to champion the woke environmental, social, and governance (ESG) “standards” of politically correct attitudes and behaviors, and apply them to their business models.What could possibly go wrong?Well, as we’re now seeing, quite a lot can and will.Companies Take on the Woke YokeMany companies that took the ESG...

Tax documents for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and for a major foundation funded by leftist billionaire George Soros show the organization that purports to represent the U.S. business community has turned hard left in recent years.The Tides Foundation’s public filings from 2018 to 2022 show the Soros-funded organization has given more than $12 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation over that five-year span. In 2018, the Tides Foundation gave the Chamber’s foundation $450,000. In 2019, Tides gave the Chamber group $1,450,000. It gave another $100,000 in 2020, followed by $10 million in 2021 and another $175,885...

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun will step down at the end of 2024 in part of a broad management shakeup for the embattled aerospace giant. Chairman of the board Larry Kellner is also stepping down, and Stan Deal, CEO of the commercial airplane unit, is out effective immediately. Boeing executives have faced increasing scrutiny from regulators and customers over quality control problems.

Business Strong Illinois economy has been very good for business Posted March 24, 2024 5:02 am By Frank Manzo IV Don’t tell the naysayers, but Illinois’ economy continues to remain strong. We are America’s sixth-largest state and fifth-largest economy, now generating $1.1 trillion annually — more than 13 other states combined. Indeed, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Illinois’ economy has expanded by $217 billion over the past five years. That’s more than all the goods and services produced every year in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska combined. Put simply, our businesses, workers, residents, and visitors...

President Joe Biden, 81, will be invited “in the coming days” to testify publicly before the House impeachment inquiry, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) said Wednesday. The impeachment inquiry is investigating the Bidens and President Joe Biden’s role in the Biden business. Investigators previously found a massive web of wire transfers, 20 shell companies, and associates who helped the Biden family business rake in at least $24 million from foreign nationals over the course of approximately five years. They also revealed Joe Biden received money from James Biden and Hunter Biden. In addition, they showed that nine additional...

Levi Strauss & Co. is laying off nearly 150 people from its San Francisco headquarters as part of a massive round of cuts it's executing this year. The layoff affects 146 employees at Levi's office at 1155 Battery Street, according to a regulatory filing, and will be effective on April 27. The company first announced impending layoffs in an earnings report in January, when it said that it would reduce its global workforce by 10% to 15% in the first half of 2024 as part of an initiative meant to save the company $100 million. At the time, Levi's didn't...

MORGAN COUNTY, Ga. — Plans for electric vehicle company Rivian to build a $5 billion plant in Georgia have hit a bump in the road. Founder and CEO R.J. Scaringe announced on Thursday two new vehicles, the R2 and R3. The R2 was initially planned to be built at the Georgia plant, but production will now be focused at its existing facility in Normal, Illinois, according to a news release. [snip] They say the timing for resuming construction on the Georgia facility is “expected to be later.” The company says launching production in Illinois will save them an estimated $2.25...

Vice President Kamala Harris visited Madison Wednesday, in another visit by the highest-level politicians to Wisconsin during what is shaping up to be a key battleground for Campaign 2024 and the road to the White House. Harris visited the Metro Transit Satellite Bus Facility, where she and Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su touted Biden administration policies and successes. As part of her visit, Harris met with construction workers to talk about the importance of their work. She also introduced a new federal apprenticeship program. “When we invest in the American people, including the American worker, everyone benefits,” Harris...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Wednesday adopted final rules regarding climate disclosures in a 3 to 2 vote. The final rules left out some of the more burdensome reporting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions that were in the proposed rule, but they still maintain many of the other climate-related reporting requirements that critics say will be costly to comply with. "Today, the SEC announced that it has allowed radical climate activists to hijack our capital markets. Unable to push their unpopular agenda through Congress, these leftists have found a willing partner in SEC Chairman Gary Gensler,” House Majority Leader...

A federal appeals court Monday rejected restrictions that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers placed on addressing race-related issues in workplace training — part of a controversial 2022 law that DeSantis dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act. The workplace-training part of the law listed eight race-related concepts and said that a required training program or other activity that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual (an employee) to believe any of the following concepts As an example of the concepts, the law targeted compelling employees to believe that an “individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or...

For over 20 years, Americans have been questioned by a credit card catchphrase asking, “What’s in your wallet?” The more relevant question today is who is in your wallet, given the activist lawmakers in Washington eager to regulate nearly every aspect of our financial lives. And once again, we open our wallets to find Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) settling in and making himself comfortable. Aside from earning a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of Senate tax raisers over his career, Durbin has gone above and beyond, raiding Americans’ wallets – specifically their debit cards – with vigor in 2010 through...

Hunter Biden claimed Wednesday that his father’s involvement in the Biden business is merely a “MAGA-motivated conspiracy” despite mountains of evidence. The evidence includes but is not limited to photos, texts, an audio recording, and IRS and former business partner whistleblower testimonies: Biden family suspicious activity reports of wire transfers The “Biden brand“ Twenty Joe Biden phone calls on speakerphone Texts Emails WhatsApp messages Photos of Joe with Hunter’s business partners Joe Biden’s voicemail to Hunter Five individuals referencing Joe Biden as the “big guy” Two whistleblower testimonies Video of Joe Biden bragging about firing the Ukrainian prosecutor Hunter’s statements...