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Proterra, which President Joe Biden once said was "making me look good," sold hundreds of electric buses to municipalities across North America. Every transit district Just The News spoke with, except one, has inoperable buses awaiting repairs. Across the country, towns and cities of various sizes envisioned an electrified public transit system that could shuttle residents with vehicles that produced no carbon-filled exhaust. Many of those communities purchased buses from Silicon Valley-based Proterra, which was able to produce 550 buses over its 19-year existence before it went bankrupt in August. The company announced last month it had concluded auctions as...

- Li-Cycle Holdings Corp., which is set to receive significant backing from the Biden administration, saw its share price slashed nearly in half after announcing it would pause construction on a first-of-its-kind lithium-ion-battery recycling plant. The Toronto company said it would halt work on its Rochester Hub pending completion of a strategic review, including scope and budget. Li-Cycle said it is facing escalating construction costs that exceed prior guidance and is working closely with the US Energy Department concerning its offer of a $375 million loan commitment. Li-Cycle is one of the many companies vying to help the US meet...

A Food and Drug Administration panel today unanimously ruled that a medicine used by millions for a stuffy nose does not work. Phenylephrine is the most common active compound in over-the-counter drugs like Benadryl Allergy Plus Congestion, Sudafed PE, and Tylenol Cold and Flu Severe Day & Night. But an FDA panel said after a two-day review that the oral decongestant ‘is not effective’ at standard or even high doses. Their ruling is not binding but it strongly suggests that the agency could soon heed their advice and pull its approval, which would force companies to pull or reformulate their...

Ron DeSantis has signed a law banning automakers from selling cars direct to consumers in Florida – but it contains a carve-out that will benefit his political backer Elon Musk and his Tesla company.House Bill 637 requires most automakers to sell to Floridians through third-party car dealers, who sometimes add exorbitant markups to vehicles’ sales tags.Drafted by lobbyists for dealers, who have made substantial donations to DeSantis, the law could have been a big blow to Tesla owner Elon Musk, who hosted his glitchy presidential campaign launch on Twitter.Tesla cuts out the middleman by operating its own dealerships. Forcing it...

Tesla got a carve-out. It’s a good day for auto dealers in the Sunshine State, and not so great for motorists who’d prefer a more direct route for buying a new coupe, sedan or SUV. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure (HB 637) banning most direct-to-consumer vehicle sales, solidifying the future viability of car-selling operations across the Sunshine State. The measure, championed and authored by lobbyists representing the Florida Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), prohibits automakers from selling vehicles directly to buyers.That restriction, which goes into effect July 1, was considered a direct threat to the business model of Tesla, an...

How to best ensure substantial long-run economic growth should be a question on everyone's mind. Its benefits can't be overstated, and it's undeniable that the lack of growth is a root contributor to many seemingly disconnected economic and social problems. That's the central theme of a recent podcast discussion between The New York Times' Ezra Klein and George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen. They both expressed support for reforms to make government less bureaucratic and more agile. For example, Cowen cited the Food and Drug Administration's recent failure to approve COVID-19 treatments quickly enough, while also getting in the way...

This week’s theme is plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose…the more things change, the more they stay the same. That surely covers the Afghanistan situation, which I need to take a break from. It also sums up rather concisely this story, which literally made me laugh out loud when I read it: Amazon Plans to Open Large Retail Locations Akin to Department Stores. What a concept: bricks and mortar stores, the very thing Amazon set out to killSears, reimaginedAmazon started 27 years ago as an online bookseller but from the start founder Jeff Bezos intended it to become...

Conservatism’s Overdue Divorce From Corporatism & Its Sleaziest Characters[Buck Throckmorton]Why is Target’s CEO becoming such a prominent advocate for woke, left wing politics?Target CEO Brian Cornell says George Floyd “could have been one of my Target team members”Target CEO Brian Cornell says George Floyd’s murder pushed him to do more about racial equity, diversityPerhaps it’s because he is looting the company, and his becoming a prominent social justice warrior is an attempt to distract and seek protection from the redistributionists on the left.Target CEO Brian Cornell's total compensation rises to $77.5MOne of the great things about the political realignment going...

Once upon a time, stock trading served as a way for businesses to raise capital and for traders to make investments. If companies flourished, stocks rose and investors made money; if not, stocks fell and investors lost money. This was the way the stock market was intended to function. Over time, however, more and more rules and regulations were added, each to address something that at the time was thought necessary to prevent cheating and manipulation. Just like the proverbial “Road to Hell,” Wall Street became paved with regulatory good intentions. Instead of eradicating cheating, manipulation, and fraud every new...

In 2020, however, there were no positive results of the government’s sale of favors and corporatist policies. Millions are still out of work, not because they were bad employees, but because the government wouldn’t and still won’t let them work. Small businesses, the backbone of the American economy and our middle class, were devastated by government lockdown policies. And when the government did try to “help,” namely through the Covid relief bills, the main result was even more corruption and cronyism. Special interests received billions and average Americans were left with crumbs. And what did we gain from that? Nothing...

IAC/InterActiveCorp stock has rebounded from a March low set when volatility from the coronavirus pandemic roiled the market. The portfolio of internet brands has resumed crushing the S&P 500 index, boosting the value for shareholders including IAC director Chelsea Clinton. IAC stock (ticker: IACI) sports a year-to-date net gain of 17.3% compared with a 3.3% drop in the S&P 500. Shares set a record high of $293.79 on Wednesday before closing at $292.32, more than double the March 23 intraday low of $124.60, a level that IAC... https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/chelsea-clinton-iac-stock-worth-10-million-51592407653

People are becoming outraged upon discovering the types of businesses and organizations that are receiving COVID-19 bailouts through the CARES Act and subsequent legislation. Left-leaning media outlets are receiving millions of dollars. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was given $25 million. Elite universities like Harvard got the bailout money. After public outcry, Harvard, Stanford and a few of the other universities returned the money. Even the Los Angeles Lakers received millions, but they also returned it. Planned Parenthood affiliates improperly received $80 million and now the government wants it back. There’s another category of businesses receiving...

The Export-Import Bank – the poster child for corporate welfare – was due to expire at the end of September. But it has been given a temporary reprieve while congressional leaders plot to renew it on the sly by attaching it to a must-pass spending bill, meaning the bank will never get the scrutiny taxpayers deserve. Ex-Im subsidizes export transactions using sweetheart terms – including below-market-rate loans – that are backed by the American taxpayer. According to the bank’s website, the agency provides financing when “private sector lenders are unable or unwilling to” and “assumes credit and country risks that...

An Indian-run company in Chicago illegally imported Indian graduates — and paid them Indian-level wages — to help snatch jobs from American graduates. The fraud exploited loopholes in the B1 visas, which are reserved for managers and trainees according to a press statement by the Department of Homeland Security. snip The bill, S.386, dangles the huge prize of valuable green-cards to millions of Indian graduates if they take middle-class jobs from college-graduate Americas. snip Lee S.386’s bill would offer up to 140,000 green cards each year — up from roughly 20,000 now — to Indian graduates who accept low wages...

Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) now supports Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-UT) green card giveaway bill, which will allow investors to reward many more Indian graduates for taking middle-class jobs from American college graduates. Perdue’s decision to end his opposition to the bill clears the way for Lee to rush his bill through the Senate on Thursday. If no other senators object, Lee’s bill will move through the Senate, putting it much closer to becoming law.

Fox Business host Lou Dobbs has gone after Utah Sen. Mike Lee for supporting a bill that would lift per-country gaps on permanent residency. The bill was ultimately blocked in the Senate. Dobbs described the bill as an “absolute dream” for outsourcers on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.” The bill's called the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act. “It would remove green card limits on workers from other countries,” said Dobbs, “but what that means is big countries like India and China principally would overwhelm the H1B visa list, and guess what? They would be taking American jobs at lower pay, historically...

Few people who write for the news media — most of whom have only ever studied journalism or "mass communications" — know much about markets or entrepreneurship. Thus, it's not difficult to understand by people who are not entrepreneurs or capitalists get labeled at such in newspapers and on TV... Few people who write for the news media — most of whom have only ever studied journalism or "mass communications" — know much about markets or entrepreneurship. Thus, it's not difficult to understand by people who are not entrepreneurs or capitalists get labeled at such in newspapers and on TV...

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it will take up cases over whether the federal government must pay billions of dollars to health insurers that sold coverage on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The Supreme Court will consider whether the government had an obligation to pay private health insurers under the so-called "risk corridor" program that was meant to offset insurer losses in the early years of the ACA exchanges. That three-year program has ended, but health insurers argue the HHS owes them more than $12 billion in unpaid funds. The Supreme Court will hear three consolidated cases during...

Morgan Stanley’s auto analyst Adam Jonas warned on Wednesday that the “bear case” for Tesla is a stock price of $10.

A spokesman for Yosemite said they are simply trying to meet the demands of visitorsNearly 23,000 people have signed a petition expressing "deep dissatisfaction" with the decision to open a Starbucks at Yosemite National Park. The Starbucks, which is slated to open this spring, would not be a freestanding store but rather part of a food court attached to Yosemite Lodge. Online protesters say they are concerned that the arrival of Starbucks at one of America's oldest and most venerable national parks would open the door to other big chains. A spokesman for Yosemite said they are simply trying to...