OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The costs associated with Norfolk Southern's fiery February derailment in Ohio have more than doubled to $803 million as the railroad works to clean up the mess and moves forward with all the related lawsuits. Norfolk Southern recorded another $416 million charge related to the East Palestine derailment on Thursday as part of its second-quarter earnings after previously announcing a $387 million charge earlier this year.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits slid last week to its lowest level in five months, further evidence that the U.S. labor market continues to defy the Federal Reserve's attempts to cool it off.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy accelerated unexpectedly to a 2.4% annual growth rate from April through June, showing continued resilience in the face of steadily higher interest rates resulting from the Federal Reserve’s 16-month-long fight against inflation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate Wednesday for the 11th time in 17 months, a streak of hikes that are intended to curb inflation but that also carry the risk of going too far and triggering a recession. The move lifted the Fed’s benchmark short-term rate from roughly 5.1% to 5.3% — its highest level since 2001.

DETROIT (AP) — Seven major automakers say they're joining forces to build a North American electric vehicle charging network that would rival Tesla's and nearly double the number of fast-charging plugs in the U.S. and Canada. General Motors, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes and Stellantis said Wednesday that they will share in a multibillion-dollar investment to build “high power” charging stations with 30,000 plugs in urban areas and along travel corridors.

Months after the last newspaper closed in a declining coal community in West Virginia, residents say they are already experiencing challenges getting and sharing information. In March, The Welch News …

NEW YORK (AP) — UPS has reached a tentative contract agreement with its 340,000-person strong union, potentially averting a strike that threatened to disrupt logistics nationwide for businesses and households alike.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence shot to the highest level in two years this month as inflationary pressures eased and the American economy continued to show resilience in the face of dramatically higher interest rates. The Conference Board, a business research group, said its consumer confidence index rose to 117 in July from a revised 110.1 in June. The gauge beat the 110.5 that economists had expected and was the highest since July 2021.

LIMA, Peru – Javier Chavez, senior pastor of Amistad Cristiana International in Gainesville, Ga., and a missions team from Fort Worth, Texas’s Birchman Baptist Church accepted an invitation from the National Congress of Peru for a private audience with the Third Vice President Alejandro Muñante.

NEW YORK (AP) — The clock is ticking. As the deadline to reach a new contract nears, a potential UPS strike feels closer than ever. Negotiations broke down earlier this month and unionized workers have been holding rallies and practice pickets across the country. The Teamsters, which represent more than half of the company's workforce, will resume talks with UPS on Tuesday.

Goodbye, Twitter. Hello, X. Elon Musk has unveiled a new “X” logo to replace Twitter's famous blue bird as he follows through with a major rebranding of the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last year.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in June to the slowest pace since January, as a near-historic low number of homes for sale and rising mortgage rates kept many would-be homebuyers on the sidelines. The national median sales price fell on an annual basis for the fifth month in a row, though fierce competition led to about one-third of homes selling for more than their list price.

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Braves executives say business will continue as usual under a new ownership structure following a spinoff from Liberty Media. Perhaps most notable is fans will be able to purchase stock in the newly created Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc. and become owners of the team. Plans for the spinoff were announced last year and made final in a vote by Liberty stockholders, led by chairman John Malone, on Monday.

HONG KONG (AP) — China's economic growth missed forecasts in the second quarter of the year, adding to worries over surging youth unemployment and a weak property sector and raising the likelihood the government will double down on support for the faltering post-COVID-19 recovery.

NEW YORK (AP) — It's not just you. Sriracha is hard to come by these days — at least for one popular brand. The shortage of Huy Fong Foods' Sriracha, the beloved red hot sauce packaged in those green-capped bottles, isn't new — with the company pointing to a scarcity of chile pepper supply for several years now. And as frustrated fans continue to face store shelves missing the Huy Fong name, third-party resellers are punching up prices.

Delta Air Lines executives say they’re not seeing the drop in average airfares that federal officials believe are contributing to lower inflation. The Labor Department's latest consumer price index this week showed average airfares falling 8% from May to June on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Delta Air Lines reported unprecedented quarterly profit and revenue Thursday and raised its expectations for a year after travelers took to the skies in huge numbers, defying some forecasts of a pullback in spending. Revenue soared almost 13% to $15.58 billion, a surprising jump even for a carrier that has outperformed consistently.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of congressional Democrats reported Wednesday that three large tax preparation firms sent “extraordinarily sensitive” information on tens of millions of taxpayers to Facebook parent company Meta over the course of at least two years. Their report urges federal agencies to investigate and potentially go to court over the wealth of information that H&R Block, TaxAct and Tax Slayer shared with the social media giant.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States has reached its lowest point in more than two years — 3% in June compared with 12 months earlier — a sign that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have steadily slowed price increases across the economy. The inflation figure the government reported Wednesday was down sharply from a 4% annual rate in May, though still above the Fed’s 2% target rate.

A federal judge has handed Microsoft a major victory by declining to block its looming $69 billion takeover of video game company Activision Blizzard. Regulators sought to ax the deal saying it will hurt competition.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bank of America will reimburse customers more than $100 million and pay $150 million in fines for “double-dipping” on overdraft fees, withholding reward bonuses on credit cards and opening accounts without customer consent.

NEW YORK (AP) — An influencer-backed energy drink that has earned viral popularity among children is facing scrutiny from lawmakers and health experts over its potentially dangerous levels of caffeine.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Would-be homebuyers are taking on sharply higher mortgage payments, even as home prices have begun to pull back this year. The median monthly payment listed on applications for home purchase loans jumped 14.1% in May from a year earlier to an all-time high $2,165, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The May figure also represents a 2.5% increase from April.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers pulled back on hiring but still delivered another month of solid gains in June, adding 209,000 jobs, a sign that the economy’s resilience is confounding the Federal Reserve’s drive to slow growth and inflation. The latest evidence of economic strength makes it all but certain that the Fed will resume its interest rate hikes later this month after having ended a streak of 10 rate increases intended to slow inflation.

NEW YORK (AP) — Threads, a text-based app built by Meta to rival Twitter, is live. The app, billed as the text version of Meta's photo-sharing platform Instagram, became available Wednesday night to users in more than 100 countries — including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada and Japan. Despite some early glitches, 30 million people had signed up before noon on Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Threads.