Burger King removes soda from children’s meal menu

Burger King has dropped soft drinks from its children’s meal menu, the latest change at a fast-food chain as advocacy groups urge restaurants to promote healthier fare, especially for children.

Burger King followed the lead of McDonald’s, which dropped such drinks from its Happy Meal menu list in 2013, and Wendy’s, which made a similar change in late 2014.

The updated menus come as restaurants have come under pressure from critics seeking options with less sugar and fewer calories, especially as obesity rates remain high. Obesity affects about 17 percent of all U.S. kids and adolescents, triple the rate a generation ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We have removed fountain drinks from our kids’ menu boards and they are no longer merchandised as part of kids’ meals,” Burger King said Tuesday. The company said the change was made in mid-February.

Burger King offers apple juice, fat-free milk and low-fat chocolate milk in its kids’ meals.

N.C. fines utility $25 million for fouling groundwater

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – North Carolina environmental officials said Tuesday they are fining Duke Energy $25 million over pollution that has been seeping into groundwater for years from a pair of coal ash pits at a retired power plant.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources called it the state’s largest penalty for environmental damage. It issued the fine over ongoing contamination at the L.V. Sutton Electric Plant outside Wilmington. The site includes a pair of unlined dumps estimated to contain 2.6 million tons of ash.

The state touted the fine as an important development to hold Duke accountable for years of pollution.

But environmental groups said the fine doesn’t force Duke to clean up the pollution – something they’ve been trying to get the $50 billion Charlotte-based company to do for years. Without that, groundwater near Flemington, a largely working-class community, will remain contaminated, said Kemp Burdette, executive director of the nonprofit Cape Fear River Watch.

CEO trumpets iPhone sales as Apple moves to join Dow

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Apple CEO Tim Cook took a figurative victory lap at his company’s annual shareholder meeting, one day after he announced details about the smartwatch Apple plans to start selling next month.

A year ago, some investors were voicing frustration over Apple’s lagging stock and activist Carl Icahn was pressing Cook to return more cash to shareholders. But no complaints were heard Tuesday. Apple shares are up 65 percent from a year ago, the company has a market value of more than $700 billion and it soon will bump AT&T to join the Dow Jones industrial average.

Apple sold a record 200 million iPhones in 2014, which provided the bulk of the company’s $200 billion in revenue. Cook cited those and other milestones in what he called an “unbelievable” year.

Prescription drugs spending increased 13 percent in 2014

Prescription drugs spending jumped 13 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 2003, according to the largest pharmacy benefits manager.

Express Scripts Holding Co. said Tuesday the jump was fueled in part by pricey specialty drugs that accounted for more than 31 cents of every dollar spent on prescriptions even though they represented only 1 percent of all U.S. prescriptions filled.

Specialty drugs are advanced medications that treat complex or chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis or certain forms of cancer.