Barclay House of Aiken, a senior living community which was recently acquired by QSL Management, is hosting its first event under new management: Havana Nights, a social gathering which will be held at 530 Benton House Way location. 

A group of lawmakers from six states have worked on the first major proposals to reign in AI discrimination. But those bills face blistering headwinds from every direction. Lawmakers in Colorado, Texas and Connecticut, among others, have come together Thursday to argue the case for their proposals. The press conference follows a tug of war between civil rights-oriented groups and the industry over core components of the legislation. Organizations including labor unions and consumer advocacy groups are pulling for more transparency from companies. The industry is offering tentative support but digging in its heels over those accountability measures.

Prospective homebuyers are facing higher costs to finance a home with the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate moving above 7% this week to its highest level in nearly five months. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose to 7.1% from 6.88% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.39%. When mortgage rates rise, they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting how much they can afford. Rates have been mostly drifting higher in recent weeks as stronger-than-expected reports on employment and inflation.

The spring homebuying season is off to a sluggish start as home shoppers contend with elevated mortgage rates and rising prices. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell 4.3% in March from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That’s the first monthly decline in sales since December and follows a nearly 10% monthly sales jump in February. Existing home sales also fell 3.7% compared with March last year. The latest sales still came in slightly higher than the 4.16 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet. Home prices climbed compared with a year earlier for the ninth month in a row.

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits didn’t change last week as the labor market continues to defy efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool it off. The Labor Department reported Thursday that unemployment claims for the week ending April 13 were unchanged from the previous week’s 212,000. Weekly unemployment claims are considered a proxy for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week and a sign of where the job market is headed. In total, 1.81 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended April 6, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week.

Boeing is in the spotlight as members of Congress examine allegations of major safety failures at the embattled aircraft manufacturer. The Senate held back-to-back hearings on Wednesday to hear from aviation experts and people who have worked at Boeing. The witnesses included two whistleblowers, a former Boeing manager and a current engineer at the company who has made serious safety allegations about two of Boeing's biggest planes, the 787 Dreamliner and the 777. No Boeing representatives attended either hearing but the company has disputed the engineer's claims. Boeing has been in crisis mode since a door-plug panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

Regulators are approving Georgia Power's plan to build and buy more electrical generation ahead of schedule. The Georgia Public Service Commission voted Tuesday o approve an agreement negotiated between the utility and commission staff. The company says that if nothing else changes, the deal could result in a small rate reduction for existing customers. However, the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. isn't guaranteeing that rates will drop. Environmentalists warn the plan would let the utility buy power and build new plants without going through a competitive process. Using those sources would mean Georgia Power emits more climate-altering carbon dioxide.

The Biden administration is enlisting officials in 15 states to help enforce consumer-protection laws covering air travel. The U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday that it will give the states power to investigate complaints about airlines and ticket sellers, and then refer cases to the federal government for enforcement. Under U.S. law, only the federal government can regulate consumer-protection laws covering airlines. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says the agreement is legal. He's touting it as a way to increase protection for airline customers. Buttigieg pointed to travelers whose flights are canceled and then must wait days for another flight or pay more to fly home on another airline.

Boeing is defending the integrity of the fuselages on two of its largest planes. Boeing engineering executives explained Monday the process for assembling fuselage panels on the 787 Dreamliner. The panels are made of carbon composites, which Boeing says is very resistant to the kind of fatigue that can lead to microscopic cracks over time in convention aluminum fuselages. Boeing is defending its manufacturing ahead of congressional testimony on Wednesday by a whistleblower who says panels on the outside of Boeing 787s could eventually break apart during flight. The whistleblower says factory workers apply too much force to fit panels together on the factory floor, raising the risk of damage.

NASA is seeking a faster, cheaper way to bring rock samples from Mars to Earth. In the meantime, the space agency says the effort is on hold. Reviews put the total cost of the project at $11 billion, with an arrival date of 2040. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson says that's too much and too late. So he's asking private industry and each NASA center to come up with other options. The goal is to get at least some of the samples to Earth sometime in the 2030s for around $7 billion. A NASA rover on Mars has already collected some of the soil and rock samples.

After reporting dismal first-quarter sales, Tesla is planning to lay off about a tenth of its workforce as it tries to cut costs, multiple media outlets reported Monday. CEO Elon Musk detailed the plans in a memo sent to employees. The layoffs could affect about 14,000 of the 140,473 workers employed by the Austin, Texas, company at the end of last year. Musk’s memo said that as Tesla prepares for its next phase of growth, it needs to look at every aspect of the company for cost cuts and increased productivity, The New York Times and CNBC reported. News of the layoffs was first reported by electric vehicle website Electrek. Shares of Tesla fell nearly 3% in Monday morning trading after the news broke.

The global market has exploded for drinks that promise to do more than just taste good. So much so that grocery store beverage aisles are starting to look more like pharmacies. There are sodas made with mushrooms that supposedly improve mental clarity and juices packed with bacteria that claim to enhance digestive health. Water infused with collagen carries the promise of better skin, and energy drinks offer to help burn body fat. Welcome to the frenzy of functional beverages. What started in the late 1980s with caffeine- and vitamin-laced energy drinks like Red Bull has grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Hundreds of brands are vying for consumers’ attention with increasingly exotic ingredients and wellness-focused marketing.