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Briefcase: Sharp drops in Big Tech pull indexes lower

Local Business

Pullbacks in big technology companies sent indexes lower on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 1.4% Tuesday. The selling was concentrated in AI-related companies that have had huge run-ups in recent months and sent the market to record after record, most recently in early June. Investors are becoming worried that the growing likelihood of interest rate hikes this year to fight inflation will weigh on economic growth. The Nasdaq fell 2.2%. The Dow, which has less weighting in tech, held up better with a drop of just 0.1%. Chip companies, which have soared in recent weeks, sank. Micron ...

House approves bipartisan housing bill

Local Business

WASHINGTON — The House gave final approval Tuesday to a broad bipartisan bill aimed at lowering the cost of housing, with lawmakers in both parties eager to show progress on affordability issues ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The 358-32 vote sends the bill to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law Wednesday at the Capitol. The Senate passed the legislation 85-5 on Monday. The legislation would reduce federal regulations, streamline environmental reviews, speed up the construction process and curb the influence of corporate landlords by limiting their ...

AI slump raises concerns for investors’ spending

Local Business

Technology companies are spending big to incorporate artificial intelligence into their businesses and to build huge data centers. Investors who had jumped on the bandwagon appear to be having second thoughts. Proponents of artificial intelligence see it as the next great revolution for the global economy. The revolution won’t come cheap. Just four companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft — plan to spend up to $720 billion this year, primarily on AI data centers. This week, investors are looking at the huge sums being spent and questioning whether AI can produce ...

Extreme pogo a blend of artistry, ‘mystical zest’

National News

PITTSBURGH — The greatest day of Michael Mena’s life as a professional athlete ended with a pair of world championships that the 33-year-old had spent the better part of two decades chasing. Asked how becoming the best in his chosen sport — for a day anyway — was going to go over ...

US and Iran dispute whether Tehran agreed to nuclear inspections

International News

ISLAMABAD — The U.S. and Iran were in dispute Tuesday over whether Tehran had agreed to allow U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites. As officials negotiated over how to permanently end the war in Iran, a separate plan emerged to break the shipping bottleneck through the Strait of Hormuz. The disagreement over nuclear inspections came as Iran’s president met with Pakistani mediators and technical teams from the U.S. and Iran continued talks in Switzerland. A United Nations agency said Tuesday that a plan was underway to move stranded ships and their thousands of crew members ...

Reflecting Pool freshly scrutinized

National News

WASHINGTON — The saga over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool took a turn as President Donald Trump said Tuesday that six people have been arrested over recent damage. The president’s troubled $14-million-plus rehabilitation project has become a visceral flashpoint over law enforcement, ...