An aluminum company planning to build a $1.7 billion plant in Appalachia has hired a longtime metals industry executive as its CEO. Don Foster will serve as CEO and acting president of Braidy Industries. His new role comes as Braidy tries to complete financing for the massive mill project in northeastern Kentucky. Foster previously served as an officer at United States Steel Corp. Braidy says its planned mill in northeastern Kentucky is projected to create more than 1,000 constructions jobs and 550 full-time mill jobs.
Business
Posted inArticle, Business
Owner of Eskimo Pie to change its ‘derogatory’ name
The owner of Eskimo Pie is changing its name and marketing of the nearly century-old chocolate-covered ice cream bar. It is the latest brand to reckon with racially charged logos and marketing. The treat was patented by Christian Kent Nelson of Ohio and his business partner Russell C. Stover in 1922, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Eskimo Pie joins a growing list of brands that are rethinking their marketing in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in recent weeks triggered by the death of George Floyd. Quaker Oats announced Wednesday that it will retire the Aunt Jemima brand, saying the company recognizes the character’s origins are “based on a racial stereotype.”
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Civil rights groups challenge loan rules on criminal records
The Trump administration says a recent rule change allows small business owners convicted of felonies to apply for government loans to help them weather the COVID-19 pandemic, but civil rights groups claim the program revision doesn’t go far enough. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued Tuesday to block the U.S. Small Business Administration from denying Paycheck Protection Program loans to small business owners with criminal records. The federal lawsuit, filed in Maryland, says excluding business owners with criminal records from the $669 billion program has disproportionately harmed black and Hispanic business owners.
Posted inArticle, Business, Criminal Justice
Range Resources pleads no contest to environmental crimes
Pennsylvania’s most active shale gas driller has pleaded no contest to environmental crimes over its handling of contamination at a pair of well sites. The state attorney general’s office announced Friday that Range Resources Corp. pleaded no contest in Washington County Court to seven misdemeanor counts. As part of its plea, the Fort Worth, Texas-based company will pay $50,000 in fines and make $100,000 in charitable contributions to a pair of watershed groups. Range has drilled more than 1,500 unconventional gas wells in Pennsylvania. It says it’s taken responsibility for the contamination and has improved its operations.
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California tech CEO charged in coronavirus test fraud case
Federal prosecutors have charged the CEO of a Silicon Valley medical technology company with misleading investors by falsely claiming the company had developed an approved blood test for the coronavirus. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Mark Schena, CEO of Sunnyvale-based Arrayit Corporation, was charged Tuesday with one count of securities fraud. Prosecutors say that in March, as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, Schena began making false claims on social media and emails about his company’s ability to provide accurate and fast coronavirus tests. Schena did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Posted inArticle, Arts And Culture, Business
Bon Appetit’s top editor resigns after offensive photo
The editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit, Adam Rapoport, resigned after a photo of him dressed in a stereotypical Puerto Rican costume surfaced on social media. He says he had blind spots as an editor and the magazine deserves better. Several staffers who star in the magazine’s popular YouTube videos are also calling for equal pay for employees of color. Media companies are facing a moment of reckoning around racism as protests against police brutality against black people spread across the U.S., touching off broader conversations about race. Top editors have resigned from several publications following uproars about insensitive or offensive articles and headlines.
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Survey: Business economists expect worst slump since 1940s
Business economists expect the United States to suffer its worst downturn this year in more than seven decades before growth resumes sometime next year. Overhanging that forecast, though, is the risk that a second wave of the coronavirus could threaten the economy once again. A survey by the National Association for Business Economics predicts that the gross domestic product — the total value of goods and services produced in the United States — will fall 5.9% for 2020 as a result of the recession triggered by the virus. That would be the sharpest annual decline since GDP fell 11.6% in 1946, when the nation was demobilizing after World War II.
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State workers asked to go on furlough to offset RI budget deficit
Rhode Island is asking state workers to volunteer for furloughs to offset a looming budget deficit.
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RI’s to reopen recreational sports and businesses under phase II
The broad-sweeping changes scheduled to begin June 1st will allow opportunities for retail, personal services, restaurants, and summer recreational activities to reopen under state restrictions.
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For seasonal businesses, this summer won’t be a day at the beach
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer, a crucial time for one of Rhode Island’s most important industries: tourism. But the COVID-19 crisis could threaten the peak season in places like South County, where some businesses go dormant in the winter and face a make-it-or-break-it scenario in the summertime.
