A number of businesses are cutting ties with the National Rifle Association in the days following the Parkland school shooting. The First National Bank of Omaha announced that it will no longer offer an NRA-branded Visa card to customers. After customer feedback, the bank decided to cut ties. In another blow to the NRA, Enterprises Holdings, the parent company of Enterprise, Alamo, and National car rental brands, said it will no longer work with the organization. That change is expected to take place at the end of next month.
Cheddar speaks with David Hogg, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, about the tragic shooting in Parkland and the #NeverAgain movement. Hogg says he is disappointed with President Trump's reaction to the shooting and does not believe in arming teachers. Hogg believes in the second amendment but says it needs to be limited. In the aftermath of the shooting, a number of conspiracy theorists called students, including Hogg, "crisis actors." Since he was attacked online, Hogg says his Twitter following has quadrupled and it's only helped him push the #NeverAgain movement forward.
In other news, General Mills is buying natural pet food maker Blue Buffalo for $8 billion in cash. Shares of Blue Buffalo surged more than 15% on the news. This marks the first time General Mills has broken into the pet food industry. The deal is expected to be finalized at the end of this year.
And Chris Tung, Chief Marketing Officer at Alibaba, discusses the company's first official partnership with the International Olympic Committee. This year, Alibaba is the exclusive worldwide partner of the Olympic Games for cloud computing and e-commerce. Tung says it's been a "fantastic" first experience for Alibaba at the Olympics. The Chinese tech giant has been able to showcase its cloud computing power at the games.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
Climate change doesn’t just mean more extreme weather – it also leads to billions of dollars in lost productivity, tourism, and stresses infrastructure.
