Year: 2024

Edward E. Crutchfield, 82, Dies; Banker’s Deals Reshaped the Industry

Edward E. Crutchfield, 82, Dies; Banker’s Deals Reshaped the Industry

Edward E. Crutchfield, a banker who grew a small North Carolina bank into one of the nation’s largest through a deal-making spree that earned him the nickname “Fast Eddie” and helped establish Charlotte, N.C., as a national financial hub, died on Jan. 2 at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 82.His death was confirmed by his son, Elliott, who said his father had dementia.When Mr. Crutchfield graduated from business school in 1965, he took a job as a credit analyst at First Union bank in Charlotte. It was the lowest-paying job he was offered, but he thought he…
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Proposal to Reduce Royal Mail Deliveries in U.K. Draws Ire

Proposal to Reduce Royal Mail Deliveries in U.K. Draws Ire

Britain’s postal service could consider cutting deliveries to five days a week, or even three, from six, the country’s regulator said on Wednesday, drawing resistance from lawmakers and businesses.The Royal Mail, like the U.S. Postal Service, has been increasingly plagued by service issues and financial pressures. Given rising costs, the organization risks becoming “financially and operationally unsustainable in the long term,” according to a report by Ofcom, Britain’s communications regulator.Reducing delivery to just three days a week would save the Royal Mail up to 650 million pounds ($830 million) a year, the report found. Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium have…
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Europe Faces a Measles Outbreak

Europe Faces a Measles Outbreak

Back Story: The pandemic and rising hesitancy slowed immunizations.A false claim in the 1990s that said the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine causes autism led to a drop in immunization rates. Public health campaigns later recouped much of that deficit, but the rates again fell during the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in low-income countries.The measles virus is particularly adept at finding pockets of vulnerability, but outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases may follow, said Dr. Saad Omer, the dean of the O’Donnell School of Public Health at U.T. Southwestern in Dallas.“Measles is usually the canary in the coal mine,” Dr. Omer…
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Where are all the January transfers in the Premier League?

Where are all the January transfers in the Premier League?

The rumour mill is still. The gossip columns are sparse. The Sky Sports News totaliser sits dormant. Fabrizio Romano seems to be tweeting more about deals that aren’t happening than ones that are. The Athletic has given David Ornstein the month off (just kidding: we would never let him have any time off).This has been a quiet January transfer window.There are nine days to go until the February 1 deadline and between the 20 clubs of the Premier League, there have been only six permanent purchases for actual money, for a total of around £44million ($56m).Five of those won’t be…
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Tesla Profit From Car Sales Falls as Price Cuts Hurt

Tesla Profit From Car Sales Falls as Price Cuts Hurt

Tesla’s profit from sales of electric cars slumped in the last three months of last year because of price cuts intended to thwart increasingly intense competition, the company said on Wednesday as it warned of a tough year ahead.Profit in the fourth quarter nearly doubled to $7.9 billion, up from $3.7 billion a year earlier. But $5.9 billion of that profit came from a tax benefit. Without that one-time accounting effect, profit would have fallen.Tesla has slashed prices for the two cars that make up the bulk of its sales — the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y sport…
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Climate Change Takes Center Stage in Economics

Climate Change Takes Center Stage in Economics

In early January in San Antonio, dozens of Ph.D. economists packed into a small windowless room in the recesses of a Grand Hyatt to hear brand-new research on the hottest topic of their annual conference: how climate change is affecting everything.The papers in this session focused on the impact of natural disasters on mortgage risk, railway safety and even payday loans. Some attendees had to stand in the back, as the seats had already been filled. It wasn’t an anomaly.Nearly every block of time at the Allied Social Science Associations conference — a gathering of dozens of economics-adjacent academic organizations…
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