180-plus marijuana workers unionize in Illinois and California

More than 100 employees at Illinois marijuana stores and 80 at a California cannabis delivery service are joining unions. Teamsters Local 777 reached a tentative agreement with workers at five different marijuana stores owned by Verilife, a subsidiary of PharmaCann, in the Chicagoland area. The collective bargaining agreement covers more than 100 workers at Verilife stores in…

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Attacks on Delivery Drivers Raise Safety Concerns Among Gig Workers

  A homeowner fired shots at a couple’s car when they mistakenly turned onto his property while making an Instacart delivery. A Florida man was charged with killing and dismembering an Uber Eats delivery driver who brought food to his home. A woman was kidnapped and sexually assaulted while making a DoorDash delivery to a…

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California Approves Rule Phasing out Big Diesel Trucks

  New big rigs and buses that run on diesel would not be sold in California starting in 2036, according to new rules approved by state regulators last week to wean the state off fossil fuels and combat climate change. The rule would tackle pollution from heavy trucks used to transport goods through ports and…

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Auto Insurance Shopping Rises as Consumers Seek Better Rate

    Auto insurers have been forthcoming in their desire to achieve rate to match increases in claims costs and, so far in 2023, consumers are not standing by. According to a quarterly report from J.D. Power, in collaboration with TransUnion, the quote rate for auto insurance in the first quarter 2023 was 12.4% and…

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Lyft Investors Call for More Safety Protections for Drivers

  A group of Lyft Inc. shareholders is calling on the company to establish stronger safety protections for drivers, change its shareholder voting structure and subject directors to annual elections. SOC Investment Group — which represents pension funds that hold shares in the ride-hailing company — urged the company to publish an annual report on…

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YouTube Videos of Intentional Collisions Led to Arrests of California Couple

A California couple was arrested on multiple felony counts of insurance fraud over allegedly staged collisions that were posted on YouTube. Christopher Phelps, 40, of Yucaipa, and his wife, Kimberly Phelps, 40, were arrested on multiple felony counts of insurance fraud, assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment after the couple allegedly caused collisions…

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Tesla, Insurers Address Expensive Repairs in Sharply Different Ways

  Tesla Inc.’s electric vehicles are expensive to repair – so much so that the automaker and insurers are addressing the issue in sharply different ways. Chief Executive Elon Musk says Tesla is making design and software changes to its vehicles to lower repair costs and insurance premiums. Insurance carriers, meanwhile, are writing off low-mileage Tesla…

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Auto Insurance Shopping – and Switching – Increases

  Drivers are not only shopping around for auto insurance more than ever, they are switching carriers. According to a quarterly report from J.D. Power, in collaboration with TransUnion, the quote rate for auto insurance in the fourth quarter 2022 was 12.1% and the switch rate was 4.1% – both are highs in the more…

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Studies Find Automatic Braking Can Cut Crashes Over 40%

  Two new U.S. studies show that automatic emergency braking can cut the number of rear-end automobile crashes in half, and reduce pickup truck crashes by more than 40%. The studies released Tuesday, one by a government-auto industry partnership and the other by the insurance industry, each used crash data to make the calculations. Automatic…

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