Business

(NEW YORK) — Summer air travel is already off to a bumpy start for many travelers experiencing more flight delays than usual and now there’s a new alert for when it’s time to rebook.

With flight delays higher than last summer, stuck travelers are trying to avoid the lines and calling to rebook — and that’s where the trouble can start.

Shmuli Evers told ABC News he was in a jam on Sunday evening at JFK Airport in New York City when his Delta flight to Florida was canceled. While in a line of other stranded passengers at the help desk, Evers said he searched online for a number for Delta customer service. He called the number listed and eventually got an automated prompt.

Evers said he was almost scammed.

“There was like two options — like is this for this airline, that airline,” which he recalled thinking was weird. “‘If this is Delta’s number, this should be just Delta?’ which was, looking back now, already a little bit strange.”

He told ABC News that the call dropped and a different number called him back, asking for his name and flight confirmation number.

Evers claimed they tried several times to get his payment information, but told ABC News he noticed too many red flags.

“I asked him, ‘Where are you located?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m in Rochester, New York.’ [I asked], ‘How far is that from New York City?’ He’s like, ‘It’s about two hours.’ And so I’m like, ‘OK, that’s not the way it is,'” he recalled.

Delta told ABC News in a statement, “Whenever we become aware of an alleged scam targeting our customers, including in this situation, we immediately conduct an investigation. Using the facts gained from an investigation, when able, we can then address each unique situation as appropriate with the necessary legal means at our disposal.”

But this isn’t the first time would-be scammers have attempted to target unsuspecting airline customers.

Another traveler, Kathleen Marcozzi, said she tried to search online for her airline’s phone number to rebook a flight, but the person she eventually spoke to told her it would cost $400 and sent a document to sign from an unrelated company.

“I said, ‘I’m not signing this.’ And he said, ‘You have to sign it or you’re going to lose your flight,'” she said.

The Better Business Bureau says it has received nearly 200 reports of similar airline travel scams, many of which have involved operators posing as airline employees, rebooking or canceling flights without refunds and even using images or logos of valid companies.

Experts say if you suspect you’re being scammed, contact your bank followed by the real travel company.

“Tell them what happened to you,” Theresa Payton, CEO of Borderless Solutions and former White House chief information officer, said. “Report the fraud and see if they can help you and get rebooked.”

“If you find yourself in this situation where you have been scammed, time is of the essence,” she said.

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(LOS ANGELES) — As the Hollywood-paralyzing strike by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went into its fifth day Tuesday, the studios and producers accused the union of mischaracterizing the labor negotiations.

The Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP) released a statement, claiming the actors’ union walked away from a $1 billion deal.

“SAG-AFTRA continues to mischaracterize the negotiations with AMPTP. Not only does its press release deliberately distort the offers made by AMPTP, it also fails to include the proposals offered verbally to SAG-AFTRA leadership on July 12,” the studios and producers said in a statement released on Monday.

The AMPTP statement apparently came in response to one issued by SAG-AFTRA on Monday, in which the union accused the studios and producers of taking advantage of workers.

“Here’s the simple truth: We’re up against a system where those in charge of multibillion-dollar media conglomerates are rewarded for exploiting workers,” the union statement reads.

SAG-AFTRA’s national board voted Thursday to go on strike after it said negotiations that started on June 7 broke down. The union’s 160,000 members formed picket lines Friday morning from Hollywood to New York.

The union’s contract expired at 11:59 p.m. PT Wednesday.

Currently, no negotiations are going on and both sides appear far apart in their demands.

It is the first time since the 1960s that both SAG-AFTRA and the 11,000-member Writers Guild of America are striking at the same time. The writers union has been on strike since May 2.

The biggest roadblock in the negotiations are concerns over streaming residuals, the impact of AI technology and union member earnings.

AMPTP represents such companies as Amazon, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, HBO and The Walt Disney Company, the parent company of ABC News.

In its statement released on Monday, SAG-AFTRA claimed that AMPTP is “committed to prioritizing shareholders and Wall Street.”

The union is asking for a 11% general wage increase in the first year of a new contract, but claimed the AMPTP is only offering a 5% wage hike.

In addition to a pay hike, SAG-AFTRA said it proposed a comprehensive set of provisions to grant informed consent and fair compensation when a “digital replica” is made or an actor’s performance is changed using artificial intelligence. The union also said it proposed a comprehensive plan for actors to participate in streaming revenue, claiming the current business model has eroded our residual income for actors.

The AMPTP claimed it offered the union increases in wages, pension and health contributions and residuals totaling more than $1 billion over a three-year contract. The producers and studios claimed their offer also included protections with respect to the use of AI.

The producers and studios claimed the proposal it offered the union is “the most lucrative deal we have ever negotiated.”

“The AMPTP’s goal from day one has been to come to a mutually beneficial agreement with SAG-AFTRA,” the AMPTP statement on Monday said. “A strike is not the outcome we wanted. For SAG-AFTRA to assert that we have not been responsive to the needs of its membership is disingenuous at best.”

Actor Kenrick Sampson of the HBO series “Insecure,” was among the union members walking a picket line in Los Angeles on Monday. He accused the AMPTP of “being greedy and inhuman.”

Traditionally, actors have been paid a residual every time a TV show or movie they appeared in is aired in syndication or anywhere in the world. With streaming, shows don’t go into reruns, but live perpetually on platforms and can be played by viewers anytime. Sampson and other actors said residual payments for streaming programs have been reduced to meager amounts.

For example, Sampson told ABC News’ “Nightline” that he received an envelope last week with more than 50 residual checks for streaming programs he appeared in.

“And out of 50 of them, I wouldn’t even venture to say 10 of them equaled a dollar,” Sampson said.

A video that actress Kimiko Glenn, who starred in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” posted on TikTok of her foreign royalty statement from streaming residuals recently resurfaced, showing that out of nearly 60 recurring appearances on the show, she received $27.30.

“The sad reality is that for the past 10 years my residual checks have looked like this,” Glenn told “Nightline.” “At this point, you have to get a side hustle, you have to sort of have several different income streams to make this life work. And it didn’t use to be that way.”

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(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot has ballooned to $1 billion after Monday night’s drawing produced no winners, the third-largest purse in Powerball history.

The winner numbers in Monday’s drawing were 5, 8, 9, 17 and 41, and the Powerball was 21.

The estimated cash payout would for the next draw is $516.8 million.

There was no Powerball jackpot winner in Saturday night’s $875 million drawing either, Powerball said Sunday.

There have been 37 consecutive drawings without a jackpot, Powerball officials said in a press release. The most recent jackpot winner was in the April 19, 2023, drawing, which had a grand prize worth $252.6 million, the lottery said.

The $900 million jackpot trails only two previous drawings, the lottery said. A ticket in California won a $2.04 billion jackpot in November 2022 and tickets in California, Florida and Tennessee hit a $1.586 billion jackpot in January 2016.

Saturday’s winning numbers were 2, 9, 43, 55 and 57, and the red Powerball was 18.

Two tickets in Texas and one in Colorado matched all five white balls, winning the $1 million prize on Saturday.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.

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(NEW YORK) — An estimated $1 billion jackpot is up for grabs in the next Powerball drawing.

It’s the third-largest purse in the game’s history and the seventh-largest U.S. lottery jackpot, according to a press release from Powerball.

The grand prize has an estimated cash value of $516.8 million, Powerball said.

Here’s everything you need to know:

What days are the Powerball drawings and when is the next one?

Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. The drawings are also livestreamed online at Powerball.com.

The next drawing is on Wednesday, July 19.

Where are Powerball tickets sold and how much do they cost?

Powerball tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Idaho and Montana, Powerball is bundled with Power Play — a feature that allows a winner to multiply the original amount of non-jackpot prizes — for a minimum purchase price of $3 per ticket.

More than half of all proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was purchased.

Can Powerball tickets be purchased online?

Players can buy Powerball tickets in person from retailers in authorized participating U.S. states. In certain U.S. states, Powerball tickets can be purchased online through the state lottery agency.

Players can also take part through online lottery ticket company Jackpot.com by going to the website or downloading the mobile app.

What are the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot?

The Powerball jackpot grows based on game sales and interest, but the odds of winning the big prize stays the same — 1 in 292.2 million.

Jackpot winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years. Both advertised prize options do not include federal and jurisdictional taxes.

All winning tickets must be redeemed in the jurisdiction in which they are sold.

How to play Powerball

Select five numbers between 1 and 69 for the white balls, then select one number between 1 and 26 for the red Powerball. Choose the numbers on a play slip or let the lottery terminal randomly pick them.

Add the Power Play feature for an additional $1 to multiply non-jackpot prizes by two, three, four, five or 10 times. The multiplier number is randomly selected before each drawing.

The 10-times multiplier is only in play when the advertised jackpot annuity is $150 million or less, while the Match 5 prize with Power Play is always $2 million.

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(NEW YORK) — A better-than-expected inflation report last week bolstered hopes that a prolonged bout of severe price hikes is near its end — but the costs of some staple items continue to soar.

Consumer prices rose 3% last month compared to a year ago, marking a significant slowdown from a peak last summer of more than 9%, government data showed.

The aftereffects of pandemic-induced supply chain blockages and the Russia-Ukraine war, however, have kept price hikes elevated for some crucial goods, such as bread and frozen vegetables, experts told ABC News.

Here’s what to know about which prices are still rising and what’s causing the surge.

Bread and beer

The price of bread jumped 11.5% in June compared to a year prior, marking a cost increase nearly four times higher than overall inflation. The cost of cookies jumped 8.8% over that period, while the price of beer leapt 5.4%, according to government data.

Taken together, these sharp price hikes stem in large part from grain supply shortages imposed by the Russia invasion of Ukraine, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat, said Mark Hamrick, a Washington bureau chief and senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com.

“It begins with the war in Ukraine,” Hamrick told ABC News. “And there have been ripple effects from that.”

On Monday, Russia paused its participation in a key deal allowing for the export of Ukrainian grain, potentially exacerbating the global supply shortage, said David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University.

And even as global supply chains have tried to adapt to the grain shortage, elevated fuel prices have added transport costs, Ortega said.

“There’s a reality of higher energy costs compared to pre-COVID,” he said.

Processed fruits and vegetables

Some of the most eye-popping price increases have struck packaged fruits and vegetables.

Frozen vegetable prices soared more than 17% in June compared to a year prior, which makes for an inflation rate nearly six times higher than the overall pace. The cost of canned fruits jumped more than 8% over that period, meanwhile, and the price of canned vegetables rose more than 5%, government data showed.

Such foods have resisted a cooldown in prices because they require a “long supply chain” that calls for packaging and processing, which in turn exposes them to elevated supply costs as the global economy works out remaining kinks from the pandemic disruption, Ortega said.

By comparison, Ortega noted, price increases for fresh produce have slowed significantly. The prices of fresh fruits and vegetables climbed just 1.1% in June compared to a year prior.

“In the perimeter of stores, we’re seeing food prices abating,” Ortega said, highlighting the presence of fresh food in that area. “In the center of the store, that’s where we’re seeing food-price inflation persist.”

Underwear and jewelry

Price hikes also remain sky high for some apparel goods. The prices for women’s underwear and swimwear jumped more than 7% in June compared to a year ago; the price of men’s underwear climbed over 4% during that period.

“I did purchase underwear myself recently and literally made a comment to the store clerk saying it’s getting expensive to wear underwear these days but there’s no alternative,” said Hamrick, of Bankrate.com.

In general, such price spikes result from a “mismatch between supply and demand,” Hamrick added, noting that he did not know the exact cause of the rise in underwear prices.

Similarly, the price of jewelry jumped more than 7% in June compared to a year ago, far outpacing the inflation rate for overall apparel costs during that period, which stands at 3.1%.

Other notably high price increases over the past year include a roughly 12% leap in pet food costs and a nearly 9% rise for tools and outdoor equipment, government data showed.

The price of eggs, which spiked last summer due to an avian flu outbreak, has fallen nearly 8% over the past year.

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(LOS ANGELES) — A union representing roughly 160,000 actors launched a strike overnight, bringing Hollywood to a standstill just two months after TV and movie writers walked off the job.

Prominent actors have voiced support for the strike.

Jaime Lee Curtis posted on Instagram an image of theater masks alongside a message: “It looks like it’s time to take down the masks and pick up the signs.”

Bob Odenkirk, of “Better Call Saul,” tweeted, “Holy Cow.”

Here’s what to know about the actor’s strike:

Why are actors going on strike?

The actors’ strike centers on a dispute over compensation, especially in light of an industry-wide shift toward streaming that has changed the way performers receive residuals, or royalty payments.

Previously, a popular show meant sizable and consistent residual payments over the ensuing years. In streaming, however, those checks are far smaller, according to the actors’ union Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the national executive director and chief negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, said at a press conference on Thursday that the streaming model has “undercut performers’ residual income and high inflation has further reduced our members’ ability to make ends meet.”

In addition, actors have expressed significant concerns with the potential use of artificial intelligence as a substitute for use of a performer’s authentic appearance. AI poses an “existential threat” to actors’ livelihoods, Crabtree-Ireland said.

What are actors unable to do during the strike?

During the strike, members of the union cannot perform or take part in promotional tasks tied to the release of an already completed show or movie, according to a memo released by SAG-AFTRA.

The cast of the forthcoming film “Oppenheimer,” including Emily Blunt and Matt Damon, walked off the red carpet in solidarity on Thursday at a U.K. premiere of the film. Emmy nominees, which were announced on Wednesday, will be unable to take part in the typical awards campaign.

How have the movie and television studios responded to the strike?

The strike elicited an immediate response from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the organization that represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros Discovery.

In a statement on Thursday, the AMPTP faulted SAG-AFTRA for the industry’s failure to avert a strike.

“A strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring out TV shows and films to life,” the AMPTP statement said.

“The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” the statement added.

Moreover, AMPTP shared a list of terms included in its latest offer, such as a “groundbreaking AI proposal which protects performers’ digital likenesses” and “substantial increases in pension and health contribution caps.”

A spokesperson for AMPTP did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

What will happen to TV shows and movies?

The actors’ strike, which compounds a work stoppage imposed by Hollywood writers in May, is expected to disrupt the production schedule. The delay may not affect the film releases for the remainder of 2023, since many of those movies have been completed, The New York Times reported.

The writers’ strike has already taken late-night shows off the air and halted production of some major scripted TV shows and the actors’ strike is expected to deepen the disarray.

FilmLA, which tracks production activity in Los Angeles, said last month that it identified an “overall decline in permit volume and on-location filming” set for the beginning of July.

Starting this fall, television lineups will be made up of a larger share of game shows and reality TV shows, the NYT said. Film releases, meanwhile, could undergo delays beginning with those planned for early 2024.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk launched an artificial intelligence company called xAI on Wednesday, vowing to develop a generative AI program that competes with established offerings like ChatGPT.

The company employs some engineers who formerly worked for major companies in the field like Google and OpenAI, the xAI website said.

Musk, who has previously criticized the pace and ambitions of recent developments in AI, said in a Twitter Spaces on Wednesday that he entered the industry reluctantly.

“If I could press pause on advanced AI digital super-intelligence, I would. But it doesn’t seem like that is realistic,” Musk said, adding that he expects xAI to be safer than its competitors because it will be “maximally curious, maximally truth-seeking.”

XAI, according to its website, aims to “understand the true nature of the universe.”

In April, Musk announced plans to create an AI-driven conversation tool called “TruthGPT” after criticizing the popular AI text bot ChatGPT for being “politically correct.”

“There’s certainly a path to AI dystopia, which is to train AI to be deceptive,” Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of Twitter, cautioned in an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but left the organization in 2018, accused OpenAI of “training AI to be woke” in a tweet in December.

ChatGPT, as well as similar programs like Google’s Bard, are AI-driven programs that speak back and forth with human users on a wide range of subjects.

Deploying a machine-learning algorithm, the chatbot scans text across the internet and develops a statistical model that allows it to string words together in response to a given prompt.

The technology has stoked controversy over its potential to spread misinformation and hate speech, as well as efforts taken by some designers to moderate responses in order to limit such outcomes.

In March, Musk signed onto an open letter with some other industry leaders raising concerns about the potential negative impact of AI and calling for a six-month pause in development of the technology.

XAI adds a new company to Musk’s portfolio roughly one month after he officially stepped down as Twitter CEO. He retained a prominent role in the company as its executive chairman and chief technology officer.

The AI startup will “work closely” with Tesla and Twitter but remain separate, according to the new company’s website.

Musk acknowledged that the new company remains in its infancy.

“XAI is just starting out here,” he said, adding that he expects it “to be a while” before the company’s offering reaches a scale on par with products from OpenAI or Google.

AI, he added, poses significant questions and dangers for humanity.

“It’s something that’s sort of hard for us to even comprehend,” he said.

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(NEW YORK) — The founder of cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network was arrested Thursday on federal charges.

Alexander Mashinsky founded Celsius in 2018 and positioned it as a stable, safe alternative to traditional financial institutions that would provide investors who held crypto assets financial freedom and economic opportunity.

Instead, federal prosecutors alleged he was misrepresenting the company’s financial health before it collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission filed companion lawsuits Thursday that said Mashinsky and Celsius “falsely promised investors a safe investment with high returns” but misled investors about the financial success of Celsius’ business and the price of Celsius’ own crypto asset security was fraudulently manipulated.

“Defendants also falsely claimed that Celsius had 1 million active users on Celsius’s platform. It did not. Celsius’s own internal data—which was regularly shared with Mashinsky — showed that the company only had approximately 500,000 users who had ever deposited crypto assets on the company’s platform and that many were no longer active users,” the SEC lawsuit said.

The alleged scheme unraveled in June 2022, leaving investors unable to withdraw billions of dollars in crypto assets from Celsius’ online platform. Celsius filed for bankruptcy a month later.

“By 2022, Celsius’ business was unsustainable, and it became clear internally that the company would fail. One employee called Celsius a ‘sinking ship,’ while another wrote that ‘there is no hope … there is no plan’ and that Celsius’s business model ‘is fundamentally broken.’ On May 21, 2022, a Celsius executive candidly acknowledged in an internal message: ‘We don’t have any profitable services,'” the lawsuit said.

According to the regulators, Celsius told the public a different story: “That [a]ll user funds are safe, and that it continue[s] to be open for business as usual.”

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(LOS ANGELES) — The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) negotiating committee has voted unanimously to recommend a strike in a move that could incapacitate Hollywood productions.

The major unions in Hollywood issued a joint statement Wednesday on their “unwavering support and solidarity” of SAG-AFTRA, including the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike for more than two months with no sign of progress.

“Hollywood must be a place where every worker, on-screen and off, is treated according to the value their skills and talents command,” International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Teamsters, Hollywood Basic Crafts, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West said in their statement.

The group added, “While the studios have collective worth of trillions of dollars, billions of viewers globally, and sky-high profits, this fight is not about actors against the studios, but rather about workers across all crafts and departments in the industry standing together to prevent mega-corporations from eroding the conditions we fought decades to achieve.”

The current SAG-AFTRA contract is expired at 11:59 p.m. PT Wednesday. The contract was originally going to expire on June 30 but was extended after SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached an agreement.

Union leaders and the AMPTP agreed on Tuesday to meet with federal mediators to possibly hammer out a deal before the current contract expires, according to SAG-AFTRA.

“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however, we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement.”

Since a deal was not reached between the groups, a strike is now increasingly likely. In June, 98% of members agreed to authorize a strike if an agreement isn’t reached, SAG-AFTRA said.

“From the time negotiations began on June 7, the members of our Negotiating Committee and our staff team have spent many long days, weekends and holidays working to achieve a deal that protects you, the working actors and performers on whom this industry relies,” said SAG-AFTRA president and chief negotiator, Fran Drescher, in a statement issued early Thursday. “As you know, over the past decade, your compensation has been severely eroded by the rise of the streaming ecosystem. Furthermore, artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions, and all actors and performers deserve contract language that protects them from having their identity and talent exploited without consent and pay. Despite our team’s dedication to advocating on your behalf, the AMPTP has refused to acknowledge that enormous shifts in the industry and economy have had a detrimental impact on those who perform labor for the studios.”

A separate statement was issued early Thursday by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers following the failed negotiations.

“We are deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to walk away from negotiations. This is the Union’s choice, not ours. In doing so, it has dismissed our offer of historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses, and more.,” said the AMPTP. “Rather than continuing to negotiate, SAG-AFTRA has put us on a course that will deepen the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods. There are 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA and over 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America.”

The unending writers’ strike, which began in May, is costing California’s economy $30 million a day, according to Deadline.

Writers are demanding that studios pay them accordingly as shifting into streaming has changed the way shows are made and monetized.

In a pre-strike protest in front of Netflix offices on Wednesday, actors told ABC News they are trying to get by financially and contracts have not kept pace with inflation.

Their biggest concerns are streaming residuals, the impact of AI technology and making more money.

“I think most people don’t understand that most actors don’t make millions of dollars. A lot of us are struggling to eat and pay rent,” John Jared, a SAG-AFTRA member for three years, told ABC News.

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(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot is now an estimated $875 million for Saturday’s drawing, after no winners took home the big payday on Wednesday night.

The jackpot for Wednesday night’s drawing was $750 million — the game’s sixth-largest prize ever. The winning numbers were 23, 35, 45, 66 and 67, and the Powerball was 20.

Now, the jackpot has a cash value of $441.9 million.

The Powerball jackpot was last hit on April 19. There have been three dozen consecutive drawings without a win since someone in Ohio claimed that $252.6 million prize.

“Whether it’s your first time buying a ticket or you frequently play, if you win the jackpot remember to first, sign your ticket and reach out to your local lottery with any questions,” said Drew Svitko, Powerball product group chair and Pennsylvania Lottery executive director. “Your local lottery is the best resource for information on ticket sale cut-off times and how to claim a prize.”

The winner would have the choice between annual payments over 30 years, which increase by 5% each year, or a lump-sum payment.

The drawing on Saturday will be held just before 11 p.m. ET.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.

The largest jackpot ever was won in November 2022, when Edwin Castro took home $2.04 billion on a single winning ticket out of California.

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