Geoff Bennett:
Union organizers said the walk-offs happened at about 10 stores in the Los Angeles, Seattle, and Chicago areas, and the strike could expand to hundreds of cafes by Christmas Eve. The coffee giant said in a statement that there would be no significant impact to its operations.
The Biden administration announced today that it would forgive another $4 billion in student loan debt for roughly 55,000 borrowers who work in public service. The relief is a result of fixes the Education Department made to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The president has forgiven more student debt than any other president, waiving $180 billion for nearly five million people with student debt.
But Republican-led legal challenges have hindered the president’s efforts at delivering wide-scale relief.
Party City, the once-popular party supply store, is closing its doors after nearly 40 years in business, according to CNN. The store’s corporate employees were told today would be their last day as the company winds down operations. It comes as the discount store Big Lots also prepares to shut its doors amid its own bankruptcy. Both chains have struggled against online competitors like Amazon.
And, on Wall Street, stocks turned around what’s been a dismal week of losses to end on a somewhat high note. The Dow Jones industrial average gained nearly 500 points on the day. The Nasdaq notched its own big gain of nearly 200 points, and the S&P also finished up by more than a percentage point.
