CNN BUSINESS | Dollar Tree will open 600 stores this year

New York (CNN Business) – Dollar Tree said Wednesday that it will open 600 new stores this year, continuing dollar store chains’ torrid growth across the United States.

The announcement comes as the pandemic has taken a toll on many retailers and forced thousands of stores to close. But dollar stores have surged as economically-strapped customers seek out bargains on food, household essentials and other items. Dollar Tree (DLTR) said Wednesday that sales at stores open for at least one year increased 4.9% during the 13 weeks ending Jan. 30, compared with the same stretch a year ago.

The company, which also owns the Family Dollar chain, will open 400 Dollar Tree stores and 200 Family Dollar stores this year. The two chains combined have nearly 15,700 US locations and last year opened around 400 stores.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | ‘Biggest trial of my life’: Landlord says eviction moratorium has drained her savings

CNN’s Natasha Chen looks at how the Covid-19 eviction moratorium has affected small-scale investors and landlords who have unpaid mortgages to face as tenants are unable to pay their rent.  –watch— 

CNN SPACE + SCIENCE | High-definition video offers the clearest look yet at the perspective of an astronaut outside of the space station

(CNN) – It was a nice day for a spacewalk.

Astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover Jr. began their spacewalk outside of the International Space Station at 6:12 a.m. ET and ended at 1:16 p.m. on Sunday.

The spacewalk assisted with a continuation of upgrades for the space station orbiting Earth. The activity lasted for seven hours and four minutes.

High definition video streamed live from Rubins’ helmet camera for the first time, providing the clearest look yet at the perspective of an astronaut as they work outside of the space station. Previously, the helmet camera only provided standard definition video.  —read more— 

CNN BUSINESS |Manufacturing CEO: Before Biden, it felt like we were fighting the pandemic alone

New York (CNN Business) – A former Republican operative who now leads one of the nation’s most powerful business groups is praising President Joe Biden’s efforts to defeat the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is fantastic to have a partner in the White House,” Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, told CNN Business. “We felt like we were fighting this fight, frankly, all alone for the last year.”

NAM, which represents more than 130,000 manufacturers, announced Friday it is planning to partner with the Biden administration to help fight the pandemic.  –read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Warren Buffett admits to a rare ‘mistake’

New York (CNN Business) – The Oracle of Omaha said he made a mistake.

In his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB), investing guru Warren Buffett disclosed that the company took an $11 billion writedown last year on its 2016 purchase of Precision Castparts, describing it as “a mistake.”

The 90-year-old billionaire, Berkshire’s chairman since 1970, said in the company’s annual letter to shareholders that the “ugly” writedown had a simple explanation.

“I paid too much for the company,” he said. “My miscalculation was laid bare by adverse developments throughout the aerospace industry.”  —read more— 

CNN | She was the Jackie Robinson of tennis

Long before Venus and Serena Williams, another tall, young Black woman shook up the staid world of tennis with her powerful serve and brilliant play.

She was Althea Gibson, and tennis had long been a segregated sport when her skill and strength broke the color barrier in the 1950s.  –read more— 

CNN BUSINESS | Hyundai’s recall of 82,000 electric cars is one of the most expensive in history

New York (CNN Business) – Hyundai will recall 82,000 electric cars globally to replace their batteries after 15 reports of fires involving the vehicles. Despite the relatively small number of cars involved, Hyundai’s recall is one of the most expensive in history, signaling how electric car defects could create hefty costs for automakers — at least in the near future.

The recall will cost Hyundai 1 trillion Korean won, or $900 million. On a per-vehicle basis, the average cost is $11,000 — an astronomically high number for a recall.

Replacing an entire battery is an extreme measure, requiring a similar amount of work and expense as replacing an entire engine of a traditional internal combustion-powered car. Very few recalls of gasoline powered cars require an entire engine to be replaced. One of the few exceptions was a 2014 recall of 785 of the Porsche 911 GT3 sports cars. Porsche did not release the cost of that recall, but it was certainly more expensive on a per-vehicle basis than this Hyundai recall.  —read more— 

CNN underscored | The best smart plugs of 2021

(CNN) — For those who want to enter the smart home realm without actually investing in smart devices, a smart plug — which adds a touch of automation to lamps, coffee machines and other everyday devices — is the way to go.

Essentially, a smart plug is a moveable outlet paired with connectivity to a smart home ecosystem — be it Amazon’s Alexa, the Google Assistant or Apple’s HomeKit. If you have multiple appliances you want to get online, there’s also smart outlet strips, which turn one regular outlet into many with smart control.

We researched hundreds of smart plug options — combing editorial and user reviews — to pull together the 11 most highly rated options. After weeks of testing, three options rose to the top:  —read more— 

CNN | Owner plunges into frozen pool to save dog

A dog owner in Tennessee wasted no time jumping into a frozen pool to save her dog, Sid, who was stuck under a sheet of ice.   —watch—