Coffee shop helping first responders
Wake Up Call is providing free coffee to health care workers and first responders in the region.
Health care workers and first responders can receive free drip coffee and buy one, get one free Mad Hatter energy drinks at Wake Up Call through Jan. 31 by showing proof of employment at any health care facility, emergency service or first response agency, according to a company release.
“We wanted to recognize our healthcare workers and those community members stretched especially thin during this difficult time,” Jaymi Dunbar, Wake Up Call Coffee’s development director, said in a statement.
“They’ve all given so much over the last couple of years and we just wanted to say thank you and show our appreciation.”
The promotion is valid at Wake Up Call’s 12 locations in the Spokane area and Coeur d’Alene.
Regulators to focus on illegal mergers
WASHINGTON – U.S. competition regulators have mounted an effort to tighten enforcement against illegal mergers, in line with President Joe Biden’s mandate for greater scrutiny to big business combinations.
The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission announced Tuesday they are seeking public comment on how current merger guidelines can be updated to better detect and prevent illegal and anticompetitive deals in an increasingly consolidating corporate marketplace.
The agencies are stressing the importance of robust competition to the economy, workers, consumers and small businesses.
“Our country depends on competition to drive progress, innovation, and prosperity,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who heads the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
“We need to understand why so many industries have too few competitors, and to think carefully about how to ensure our merger enforcement tools are fit for purpose in the modern economy.”
In their request for public views on mergers, the regulators are stretching toward a broader definition of anticompetitive conduct.
They said they’re interested in aspects of competition that the current merger guidelines may overlook, .
The regulators also are looking for specific examples of mergers that have hurt competition.
“Today the DOJ and FTC should begin to orient the U.S. government once again towards liberty and equitable democracy. The government’s antimonopoly guidelines provide a critical statement of how regulators view the nature of power,” Barry Lynn, executive director of the Open Markets Institute, said in a statement.
Ford, ADT venture to target theft
DETROIT – Ford and security company ADT have formed a joint venture that will help businesses protect vehicles and expensive equipment they carry from theft.
The first product from the venture called Canopy is a system that uses cameras, radar, global positioning and artificial intelligence to spot a potential thief and notify ADT, which will monitor the feeds and notify the customer or authorities if needed.
The system will be offered as an accessory on Ford and other top-selling vehicles starting next year.
The company expects to integrate it in factory vehicles and offer it to other manufacturers over time.
The first cameras will be available in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, including Ford pickups and commercial vans.
The companies said in a statement Tuesday that they can be installed easily by customers.
The systems also can send smartphone alerts to customers of criminal activity including breaking glass, metal cutting sounds or suspicious motion near vehicles.
From staff and wire reports