Alana Semuels

Shoddily made lithium-ion batteries can cause serious injury and even death. How do they keep ending up in consumers’ hands?

In 1966, a group of Boston-area parents and administrators created a busing program called METCO to help desegregate schools. They thought of it as a quick fix to a passing problem. But the problem hasn’t passed, and METCO isn’t enough to fix it.

The surprisingly short life of new electronic devices

Americans are consuming more and more stuff. Now that other countries won’t take our papers and plastics, they’re ending up in the trash.  

With help from the federal government, institutional investors became major players in the rental market. They promised to return profits to their investors and convenience to their tenants. Investors are happy. Tenants are not.

The Amazon founder is at war with a tabloid.

We shop online for almost everything. Why not food?

How renewed interest in downtown living is threatening neighborhoods that long provided a first stop for new immigrants

Parents know that football comes with a risk of brain damage. But many black families feel that the sport is still the best option for their kids.

A growing number of self-proclaimed experts promise they can teach anyone how to make a passive income selling cheap Chinese goods in the internet's largest store. Not everyone’s getting rich quick.

“Mystery” toys that kids peel open and cast aside speak volumes about consumer culture.

The billionaire is drilling for futuristic transit under Los Angeles. He didn’t have to ask the neighbors first.

In today’s economy, well-off people live in big cities, while everyone else gets pushed out. Bringing new Amazon offices to Virginia and New York could hasten the process.

As wildfires burn out of control, they are impacting the state’s other crisis—the growing number of people living on the streets.

Despite reports that Amazon is locating its new headquarters in New York and Virginia, the company may still open offices somewhere else, taking advantage of big incentives.

California voters are being asked to tax big corporations to solve local problems. But is that the companies’ responsibility?

The e-commerce company has so much information about us that it’s become expert at shilling us things we didn’t even know we needed. No wonder its advertising business is booming.

The White House wants to put an end to low-cost shipping from overseas, a move widely supported among U.S. e-commerce sellers.

The Microsoft co-founder was one of the most prolific philanthropists in the world—but he still died with $20 billion.

Drivers for cannabis companies in California now have to be classified as employees, rather than independent contractors. But has that been a good thing?

When the whole world is fighting for the same jobs, what happens to workers?

How online shopping and cheap prices are turning Americans into hoarders

The cash-strapped city of Stockton is hoping so, courting millions of dollars from private investors to solve a whole host of social problems.

Local nonprofits are having trouble attracting money from tech donors. The solution? Talk like a start-up.

The e-commerce giant has finally made self-publishing lucrative. But does its dominance come at a cost?

The company’s website continually crashed during its much-touted Prime Day event, but sales were still higher than ever.

Despite a crippling decision by the Supreme Court, unions say they have a plan forward.

Amazon Flex allows drivers to get paid to deliver packages from their own vehicles. But is it a good deal for workers?

The Court just ruled that a state can collect taxes from a retailer that doesn’t have a physical presence in the state. Here’s what that means.

A levy on big companies to fund affordable housing awakened the ire of corporations.

A pastor who resigned after tweeting scathing criticisms of liberals in Silicon Valley proved too leftist even for California.

More black people from the Northeast and Midwest are moving to Atlanta. That could help elect the nation’s first black female governor.

Sites like Wish.com are taking out the middleman in retail. Will customers like this new dynamic?

A fast-growing type of charitable account gets big tax breaks but little oversight.

Sending packages is expensive. But the retailer isn’t afraid to spend.

The company is facing multiple lawsuits from brands who say it does not do enough to prevent fakes from being listed on its website.

African Americans in the same neighborhoods decimated by subprime lending are now being targeted with new predatory loan offerings, a lawsuit argues.

The fraught history of government-subsidized package delivery

Americans are flocking to big cities to find good jobs—opportunities that remain disproportionately out of reach for the poorest residents already living there.

How can local businesses compete with a company so local it lets people shop from their couches?