MoneyWatch

U.S. homes sales slowed for the fifth consecutive month in June as higher mortgage rates and rising prices kept many home hunters on the sidelines. Existing home sales fell 5.4% last month from May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.12 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. …

Starbucks said it is closing 16 stores, most of them in major cities, due to safety concerns for workers and customers. The decision comes after company executives read through incident reports filed by employees, according to a company memo.  Employees are “seeing firsthand the challenges facing our communities — personal …

Singer Kate Bush has garnered legions of new fans thanks to Netflix’s “Stranger Things” tapping her 1985 hit “Running Up That Hill” as a talismanic song for the character Max Mayfield.  It’s also brought her a financial windfall, delivering about $2.3 million in streaming royalties in the month since the …

Amazon Prime customers in Lockeford, California, will start receiving package deliveries by drone later this year, Amazon announced Monday. That would make the community of 3,500 among the first U.S. locations to enjoy free drone delivery within 30 minutes — a promise that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first made nearly …

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing tax returns for the highest-earning taxpayers much more aggressively than it has in the past decade, the agency said in a recent report.  For years, the rate at which the IRS audits the highest earners has fallen as the agency’s funding dwindled. However, that …

The largest tax-evasion case in the U.S. can proceed to trial, a judge ruled this week. Billionaire Robert Brockman, who faces multiple charges of tax evasion, wire fraud and money laundering, is mentally competent to stand trial, according to a decision issued Monday by Judge George Hanks, Jr., in the …

About 5 million honeybees bound for Alaska last weekend got waylaid when Delta Air Lines routed them through Atlanta, where most of the bees died after being left for hours in crates on the ground during hot weather. The bees were the first of two shipments ordered by Alaska beekeeper …

Italian confectionery giant Ferrero said Thursday it had recalled certain varieties of its Kinder chocolates from retailers in the United States due to possible salmonella contamination. The move follows recalls earlier this week in the United Kingdom and several European countries over concerns around products from Ferrero’s factory in the …

Rents are increasing by double-digits across the nation, but there’s still a yawning gap between how far a dollar will get you in New York City versus Nebraska.  The best deal in the nation is Wichita, Kansas, where $1,500 will get you nearly 1,600 square feet, according to an analysis …

MacKenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, announced she has donated $3.8 billion to 465 charities since June, picking organizations that she said “support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds.” The gifts include a record $275 million donation to Planned Parenthood, which the …