TECHNOLOGY
Former congressman joins board of enVerid Systems
Westwood-based clean-tech firm enVerid Systems has tapped former congressman Joe Kennedy III to join its five-member board of directors. Kennedy takes over for Ron Stern, who represented one of enVerid’s investors on the board, venture capital firm OurCrowd. EnVerid makes air scrubbers that remove carbon dioxide and other contaminants in buildings, saving landlords on HVAC costs and curbing carbon emissions by reducing the need to pump fresh air into rooms from the outside. (EnVerid also installs ceiling-mounted HEPA filters to curb the spread of viruses.) Chief executive Christian Weeks, a former EnerNOC executive who joined enVerid in 2019, said Kennedy will help the company with its business development strategy, particularly as it tries to get its equipment into public buildings amid an anticipated wave of infrastructure spending. “Joe has been great in terms of helping us understand how to engage [policymakers] and what the strategy should be,” Weeks said. “Joe’s not going to directly lobby, but help us build a public affairs strategy for the federal state, and local levels.” — JON CHESTO
MEDIA
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Reuters names first woman editor-in-chief
The Reuters news service has promoted Alessandra Galloni to be its new editor-in-chief, making her the first woman to take that role in the company’s 170-year history. The London-based Galloni will replace Stephen Adler, who has been the newsroom’s leader for the past decade and announced that he will be retiring at the end of the month. Galloni has been Reuters’ global managing editor since 2015, coming to the company two years before that after working for 13 years at the Wall Street Journal. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ECONOMY
Prices rose in March, biggest gain since 2012
US consumer prices increased a sharp 0.6 percent in March, the biggest increase since 2012, while inflation over the past year rose a sizable 2.6 percent. The big gains were expected to be a temporary blip and not a sign that long dormant inflation pressures were emerging. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has repeatedly stressed that the central bank has been expecting a spring spike in inflation measures but views the increases as temporary and not a worrisome development that will prompt the central bank to begin raising interest rates. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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SELF-STORAGE
Public Storage buys ezStorage for $1.8 billion
Public Storage, which owns, develops, and operates self-storage properties, agreed to buy competitor ezStorage for $1.8 billion. Under the deal, Glendale, Calif.-based Public Storage will acquire 48 properties spanning 4.2 million square feet across Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Public Storage plans to take over one property currently under construction and expand eight others, which would lead to a 10 percent growth in square footage through 2023. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook oversight panel to look at posts that were allowed to remain up
Facebook’s content Oversight Board, an independent group created to review some of the company’s controversial content decisions, is expanding its mandate to allow users to appeal posts that the company allows to remain on the social network, not just those that were removed. The board, which was announced in 2018 and started operating late last year, is meant to provide a check on Facebook’s power by reviewing the company’s content decisions against its policies. One of the cases that the Oversight Board is currently reviewing is whether Facebook overstepped its decision to ban then-President Donald Trump from the service in January. Trump was blocked on Jan. 6 after sharing posts that encouraged his followers to march on the US Capitol to protest the election results, which led to a riot. Facebook deemed that Trump was inciting violence and has suspended him indefinitely until the board concludes its assessment. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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ATHLETIC SHOES
Nike to sell refurbished sneakers
Sneaker giant Nike is trying to keep more of its used shoes out landfills — and earn a little extra income to boot. The sportswear company announced Monday it’s rolling out a program at 15 US stores to clean and resell shoes that have been returned by customers within their first two months. Dubbed Nike Refurbished, the offering intended to curb waste will be expanded to more US locations later this year, it said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
CAR INSURANCE
Allstate has a winner with policies based on miles driven
The COVID-19 shutdowns that swept the United States have been a boon for a newer auto-insurance product: pay-per-mile coverage. During the pandemic, Allstate has seen interest surge in its Milewise offering, which lets customers pay auto-insurance premiums for just the amount of driving they actually complete, said Glenn Shapiro, president of Allstate’s personal property-liability operations. The number of cars insured through Milewise was about six times higher last year than in 2019, and there were roughly four times more policies, with some covering multiple vehicles. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
FAST FOOD
First digital-only Taco Bell to open in New York
New Yorkers looking to grab a burrito without speaking to anyone have a new option. Taco Bell is opening its first digital-only restaurant in Times Square on Wednesday. The location will replace traditional menus with self-serve kiosks and feature order-ahead pick up cubbies, allowing customers to walk in, grab their food, and go. The restaurant will employ about 70 staff, double the number in the average Taco Bell, a spokesperson told Bloomberg News. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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SHIPPING
Egyptian court allows seizure of ship that blocked the Suez Canal
An Egyptian court allowed the ship that blocked the Suez Canal last month to be seized after a request from the waterway’s operator, which is demanding $900 million in compensation, according to local media. A court in the city of Ismailia granted the request regarding the Ever Given vessel at the behest of the Suez Canal Authority, state-run Ahram Gate reported on its website. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INVESTMENTS
Charles Schwab accidentally deposits $1.2 million in woman’s account, instead of $82.56
It’s not quite the nearly $1 billion blunder that Citigroup made last summer, but Charles Schwab said it accidentally sent more than $1 million to the Fidelity Brokerage Services account of a woman in Louisiana. Schwab blamed an “issue created by a software enhancement” for erroneously transferring $1.2 million in February to the Fidelity account of Kelyn Spadoni, rather than the $82.56 she had requested, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in New Orleans last month. When the company realized the mistake and attempted to take the money back, it was gone and Spadoni wasn’t answering her phone, the bank said. Spadoni, 33, of Harvey, La., was arrested last week and fired from her job as a 911 dispatcher, nola.com and WVUE-TV reported, citing the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. Spadoni had used some of the money to buy a house and a 2021 Hyundai Genesis sport-utility vehicle, according to the reports. Most of the rest was recovered. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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