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A11 B USINESS THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 p DOW 31,613.02 +90.27 BRIEFING Facebook blocks Australians from accessing news CANBERRA, Australia — Facebook announced Thursday it has blocked Australians from viewing and sharing news on the platform because of pro- posed laws in the country to make digital giants pay for journalism. Australian publishers can continue to publish news content on Face- book, but links and posts can’t be viewed or shared by Australian audiences, the company said in a statement. “The proposed law fundamentally misunder- stands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” Facebook Regional Man- aging Director William Easton said. Communications Min- ister Paul Fletcher said the government would not back down on its legisla- tive agenda. “This announcement from Facebook, if they were to maintain this po- sition, of course would call into question the credibility of the platform in terms of the news on it,” Fletcher told Australian Broadcasting Corp. Copyright 2021 The As- sociated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or re- distributed without per- mission. q NASDAQ 13,965.49 -82.00 bendbulletin.com/business q S&P 500 3,931.33 -1.26 q 30-YR T-BOND 2.07% -.02 p CRUDE OIL $61.14 +1.09 q GOLD $1,771.10 -26.10 q q SILVER $27.31 -.01 EURO $1.2037 -.0078 NEVADA | NEAR THE OREGON LINE Rancher sues to block lithium mine BY SCOTT SONNER The Associated Press RENO, Nev. — A long- time Nevada rancher is su- ing U.S. regulators over the approval of a lithium mine on federal rangeland he says would violate environmental laws and undermine changes he has made in his own live- stock grazing practices to help threatened fish and wildlife. Edward Bartell and Bartell Ranch LLC say the Bureau of Land Management relied “entirely upon flawed and er- ror-laden findings” in environ- mental assessments prepared by the mine’s own contractor. Bartell maintains the review masks the real effects that he says would lower the groundwa- ter table, harm the federally pro- tected Lahontan cutthroat trout and greater sage grouse and “transform much of our private lands into barren desert.” A consultant for Lithium Nevada, a subsidiary of the Canada-based Lithium Amer- icas Corp., prepared “a one- sided, deeply-flawed” analysis of the project, according to the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Reno. “The project consultants relied upon grossly inaccurate, incomplete, and inadequate data for constructing base- lines and models purporting to estimate impacts to water resources” caused by ground- water pumping associated with the mine, it said. See Lithium / A12 End of an empire Former Trump casino where stars played goes out with a bang in Atlantic City U.S. retail sales jump 5.3% Those $600 stimulus checks got Americans shopping again. After three months of declines, retail sales soared a seasonally ad- justed 5.3% in January from the month before, the U.S. Commerce De- partment said Wednes- day. It was the biggest increase since June . The $600 stimulus checks, sent out at the very end of last year, pushed people to buy new furniture, clothing and appliances. How long spending will continue without more stimulus checks re- mains to be seen. Retail sales slumped in the last three months of 2020 as stimulus money dried up, job growth was nonexistent and a surge in virus cases kept people away from stores during the critical holiday shop- ping season. In fact, the Commerce Department said Wednesday that De- cember’s drop was ac- tually larger than it first reported, revised to be down 1% instead of a de- crease of 0.7%. Wholesale prices surge 1.3% U.S. wholesale prices surged by a record 1.3% in January, led by big gains in health care and energy prices. The bigger-than-ex- pected increase in the producer price index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach consumers, was the largest one-month gain on records that go back to 2009, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. It followed much milder inflation readings of 0.3% in De- cember and 0.1% in No- vember. The increase reflected 1.2% jump in health care services and a 5.1% rise in energy prices, the big- gest gain since a 9% rise in June. — Bulletin wire reports Seth Wenig/AP A spot on the Atlantic City Boardwalk Trump Plaza casino was imploded after started to collapse in a wave from back to where movie stars, athletes and rock stars falling into such disrepair that chunks of front until it plunged straight down in a giant used to party — and a future president honed the building began peeling off and crashing cloud of dust that enveloped the beach and his instincts for bravado — was reduced to to the ground. A series of loud explosions Boardwalk. Overall, it took the structure less a pile of rubble on Wednesday. The former around 9 a.m. rocked the building, which than 20 seconds to implode. Intel discriminated against older Reebok struggles workers in 2015 layoffs, EEOC finds to remain relevant as Adidas gives up MIKE ROGOWAY The Oregonian The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has concluded that Intel discrimi- nated against eight older work- ers during mass layoffs in 2015, according to an agency docu- ment obtained by The Orego- nian. The commission’s finding follows a five-year investigation triggered by employee com- plaints, which cited investiga- tions by The Oregonian into Intel’s layoff practices. “There is reasonable cause to believe that eight individuals over the age of forty (40) were laid off or otherwise separated by Respondent (Intel) in 2015 based on their age and in vio- lation of the” Age Discrimina- tion in Employment Act, the federal commission concluded. The EEOC indicates it is work- ing with Intel to resolve the issues on behalf of the laid-off workers. The EEOC declined to com- ment on the case , except to note that it has not formally sued Intel. That’s the next step JEFF MANNING The Oregonian The Oregonian file photo Intel’s Ronler Acres campus is in Hillsboro. in the commission’s enforce- ment process. Intel laid off nearly 1,200 U.S. workers in 2015 and cut as many as 15,000 jobs compa- nywide the following year, the biggest downsizing in the com- pany’s history. In each case, analyses by The Oregonian found the cuts were heavily skewed toward older workers. Intel denied discriminating against older workers in either round of layoffs and reiterated that position Tuesday. “Personnel decisions in our 2015 and 2016 actions were based solely upon business needs. Factors such as age, race, na- tional origin, gender, immigra- tion status, or other personal demographics were not part of the process when we made these decisions,” Intel said in a written statement. “The EEOC has concluded its investigation into our 2015 action,” the company said, “and offered to work with Intel to address its concerns.” See Intel / A12 Reebok, for a brief mo- ment the kingpin of the ath- letic footwear industry, is now being cast off by a rival that couldn’t turn the brand around. Adidas said Tuesday that it will sell Reebok after the hoped-for synergy between the two brands never mate- rialized. “It’s a brand that lost its purpose,” said Steve Wynne, who headed Adidas America from 1995 to 2000. “Reebok produced that beautiful white aerobics shoe that took the market by storm.” The brand spent the next 30 years trying to replicate that magic, without success. “It was kind of like an LA Gear,” Wynne said, referring to the 1990s brand that won over a generation of kids with a heel that lit up. “If you asked people what Reebok stood “It’s a brand that lost its purpose. Reebok produced that beautiful white aerobics shoe that took the market by storm.” — Steve Wynne, who headed Adidas America from 1995 to 2000 for, no one could give you an- swer.” It’s unclear whether the sale will have any impact in Port- land, home of Adidas North America. Company officials could not be reached for comment. The decline of the Reebok brand has been spectacular. Adidas paid $3.8 billion for Reebok in 2006. It may get $1.2 billion for it now, accord- ing to anonymous investment banking sources quoted in in- dustry publications. See Reebok / A12