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Oil giant BP ousts new chairman over ‘conduct’ and shares slide

BP has ousted its chairman over what it called serious concerns related to “important governance standards, oversight and conduct.” The departure was abrupt and unexpected, with Albert Manifold having been appointed to the position late last year. “Albert has helped bring a welcome focus and pace to BP’s transformation,” Amanda Blanc, senior independent director, said in a statement Tuesday. “However, the board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action.” BP’s board was ...

Trouble on the farm

MONTEZUMA, Kan. — Orville Williams has had a healthy wheat crop on his 2,600-acre farm in Montezuma, Kansas, every year since he was a teenager. It hasn’t always been easy. For instance, there were challenging economic times through the 1980s and various degrees of drought affecting his ...

New business unlocks vault of treasures and trinkets

WARREN — Stepping into the Vault of Vendors LLC feels like wandering into a storybook brought to life. Inside, 26 unique vendors showcase their treasures from small individual kiosks. The grand opening celebration of the store at 1555 Woodland St. NE took place the first weekend in May, ...

6 tax tips you should consider

Now that tax season is over, you’re probably tempted to not think about taxes again until next year. That could be a costly mistake. Asking the right questions throughout the year could help you financially come next tax season. In the long run, this could have a substantial impact on your wealth. Here are six common ways taxpayers get off track and the questions they should ask themselves during the tax year. DON’T ASSUME THE ANSWER IS THE SAME AS LAST YEAR Taxpayers often default to “same as last year” thinking. But tax outcomes depend on variables that shift constantly, ...

Affordable Care Act enrollment projected to plunge

NEW YORK — Nationwide enrollment in the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace could plummet by nearly 5 million people this year, shrinking the number of participants in the program by more than 20%, according to a new analysis from the healthcare research nonprofit KFF. Those ...

Google announces slew of AI advances, including a personal AI assistant

Google will soon unleash a wealth of new artificial intelligence-powered tools and systems, including an AI assistant that will help users by proactively performing tasks on their behalf. “Agentic” AI, the recent buzzword of choice for tech firms, was a central focus of Google’s annual developers conference, Google I/O. The upcoming AI agent, Gemini Spark, was one of many of the company’s announcements from the conference Tuesday. “We are firmly in our agentic Gemini era,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Tuesday before a packed amphitheater near the company’s Mountain ...