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Lord & Taylor selling flagship Fifth Avenue store to WeWork
NEW YORK (AP) - Lord & Taylor’s flagship store in Manhattan, known for its holiday displays along Fifth Avenue, is being sold to the office space sharing company WeWork. The nearly 100-year-old building will be converted to WeWork headquarters, with room remaining for a Lord & Taylor store. WeWork attracts millennials who are looking to share office space, a consumer segment that Hudson’s Bay and other department stores want to attract. So store executives expect the stores to benefit from WeWork members.
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McDiscount: $1 soda, 2 for $5 deals lure more to McDonald’s
NEW YORK (AP) - Cheap soda and burgers helped bring more people into McDonald’s. The fast-food company says that sales in the U.S. rose 4.1 percent at existing locations during the third quarter, thanks to $1 drinks and its two for $5 promotion called McPick 2. McDonald’s also said pricier burgers, which are stuffed with crispy onions, kale or guacamole, helped boost sales, too.
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Interior to offer largest oil and gas lease sale in US
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Interior Department says it will propose the largest oil and gas lease sale ever held in the United States - nearly 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The sale is scheduled for next March and includes all available unleased areas on the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf, surpassing a lease sale conducted last year by about a million acres.
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O’Reilly scandal creates more headaches for Fox bid in UK
LONDON (AP) - Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment scandal is causing more headaches for 21st Century Fox’s bid to take full control of UK cable network Sky Plc. Revelations that U.S.-based Fox News renewed O’Reilly’s contract after he settled a sexual harassment lawsuit for $32 million came just a month after Britain’s culture secretary ordered that competition regulators review the takeover.
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GAO: Climate change already costing US billions in losses
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal watchdog says climate change is already costing U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year, with those costs expected to rise as devastating storms, floods, fires and droughts become more frequent in the coming decades. A Government Accountability Office report released Monday says the federal government has spent about $350 billion over the last decade on disaster response programs and losses from flood and crop insurance.
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Remarkable public row between Trump, GOP Sen. Corker
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump is meeting with Republican senators at the Capitol after a remarkable morning of exchanging insults with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker. The president was met in the Capitol by a protester tossing Russian flags in his direction and yelling about treason. Earlier, Corker said Trump is “utterly untruthful” and debases the nation.
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Sears-Whirlpool curtail relationship after 100 years
NEW YORK (AP) - Sears will no longer sell Whirlpool-branded appliances, curtailing a business relationship that dates back more than 100 years. In a note sent to its stores last week, Sears said that Whirlpool was making demands that would’ve made it difficult to sell those appliances at a competitive price. But Whirlpool says it will still supply Sears with products it makes for the Kenmore brand.
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Puerto Rico tourism craters in wake of Hurricane Maria
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Hotels are closed. Restaurants have no power. Old San Juan is deserted. Tourism is practically nonexistent in Puerto Rico right now. The high season begins in December, and tourism officials are hoping to lure some visitors to the island, but it depends on when power is fully restored and how quickly hotels and attractions can repair the catastrophic damage. Tourism has been one of the rare thriving sectors on the island in a deep economic slump.
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VA touts private health care for vets but cost issues linger
WASHINGTON (AP) - Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is touting an overhaul plan to give veterans even wider access to outside doctors than under its troubled Veterans Choice health care program. He is stressing stronger ties with the private sector, even while acknowledging key questions of cost and sharing of medical records were still unresolved. Shulkin on Tuesday acknowledged the program would run out of money sooner than expected and urged Congress to provide new stopgap funding by year’s end.
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GOP lawmakers propose new conditions on health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - Two top Republicans are proposing a bill for restoring federal payments to insurers that includes tough conditions sought by the White House and congressional conservatives. It has no chance of passing the Senate, where Democrats have enough votes to kill it. It’s a more stringent version of a bipartisan Senate bill that has stalled due to President Donald Trump’s opaque position on the measure and objections by conservatives.
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The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 4.15 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,569.13. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 167.80 points, or 0.7 percent, to 23,441.76. The Nasdaq composite climbed 11.60 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,598.43. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 2.93 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,500.42.
Benchmark U.S. crude gained 57 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $52.47 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, climbed 96 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $58.33 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 4 cents to $1.72 a gallon. Heating oil added 3 cents to $1.82 a gallon. Natural gas slipped 2 cents to $2.97 per 1,000 cubic feet.
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