Microsoft Goes Social

Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BIAmerica's credit card debt has surged, and distress could peak this year. Banks could write off the largest share of credit card loans since 2011, finance experts predict. Debt distress will be driven by weaker consumer finances, thanks to elevated inflation and interest rates. Benton McClintock, 27, had been running away from his credit card bill for nearly a decade before deciding to pay it off.

Mauricio and Rebeca Ramos spent nearly a year searching for their dream home in Denver before buying in early January. They bought the 6,500-square-foot home in Belcaro and Bonnie Brae from former Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan and his wife Peggy, for $250,000 under the $4.9 million list price. The couple, who moved to Denver for Ramos’ job as an executive with a commercial construction company, wanted a home near their children’s school and were drawn by the curb appeal of the curving street with mature trees. Ramos said the family also liked the modern farmhouse design and the size of the lot, which includes a backyard and a three-car garage. “We love the large window in the front that lets in a lot of natural light,” Ramos said.

SAN FRANCISCO — When he was still a boy making long, tedious trips between his school and his woodsy home in the mountains during the 1980s, JoeBen Bevirt began fantasizing about flying cars that could whisk him to his destination in a matter of minutes. As CEO of Joby Aviation, Bevirt is getting closer to turning his boyhood flights of fancy into a dream come true as he and latter-day versions of the Wright Brothers launch a new class of electric-powered aircraft vying to become taxis in the sky. The aircraft — known as “electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle, or eVTOL — lift off the ground like a helicopter before flying at speeds up to 200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour) with a range of about 100 miles (161 kilometers).

WASHINGTON — On a recent Tuesday morning outside Union Station’s train hall in Washington, a stream of taxicabs, Ubers and Lyfts pulled to the curb to pick up passengers. In the mix, too, was another type of vehicle. “Right there,” said Jonathan Rogers, the head of the city’s Department of For-Hire Vehicles, pointing to an unmarked sedan dropping off a passenger.

An oil and gas company that has been battling the state for several years over what regulators say is a pattern of violations is suing to overturn an order imposing a $2.3 million penalty and restrictions on its ability to sell its oil and gas. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Denver-based K.

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — TikTok said it will have to “go dark” this weekend unless the outgoing Biden administration assures the company it won’t enforce a shutdown of the popular app after the Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning the app unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company. The Supreme Court in its ruling held that the risk to national security posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States. The decision came against the backdrop of unusual political agitation by President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed that he could negotiate a solution, and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has signaled it won’t enforce the law — which was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — beginning Sunday, his final full day in office. “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, noting that actions to implement the law will fall to the new administration. TikTok released a statement late Friday saying “statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans.” “Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” the statement said. A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect, new users won’t be able to download it and updates won’t be available.