Attorney general settling case against Bath Fitter

Maine Attorney General Janet Mills says the state is settling its case against Bath Fitter, a Portland company she says engaged in unlicensed plumbing activities.

Mills says Bath Fitter used non-conforming construction contracts and installed plumbing before permits were issued, among other violations. The settlement also requires that Bath Fitter provide a free inspection of its work by an independent, licensed plumber for any homeowner with a Bath Fitter installation.

Consumers may request inspections until Sept. 1. Corrections must be made at no cost to the consumer if plumbing does not comply with codes.

Mills says Bath Fitter also misrepresented employees’ license status and engaged in plumbing installations that may have violated state code.

Markets take slight losses for fourth straight drop

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A see-saw day for U.S. stocks ended with slight losses, giving the market its fourth drop in a row.

Edgy investors continue to monitor violence in the Middle East and the rapid ascent of the U.S. dollar, which is causing companies to pull back their profit forecasts for the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 40.31 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,678.23. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 4.90 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,056.15 and the Nasdaq composite fell 13.16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,863.36.

Microsoft pushes suppliers to give employee benefits

Microsoft said Thursday that it will push its U.S. suppliers to give their employees paid time off – but that only applies for the staffers that do work for Microsoft. Microsoft said it has about 2,000 U.S. suppliers, who provide services such as maintenance and security. The technology company does not know how many of its suppliers don’t provide paid time off. It has heard from workers and media reports that some companies don’t provide the benefit.

The company said suppliers with 50 or more employees will be asked to provide at least 15 days of paid time off for employees that mainly work with the Redmond, Washington, company.

Number of passengers on airlines in U.S. hits new height

Airlines flew a record number of passengers in the U.S. last year, and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was the busiest airport in the nation with 47 million passengers.

The number of passengers in the U.S. soared 2.5 percent to a record high of 848.1 million in 2014, the U.S. Department of Transportation said. Domestic passenger numbers rose 2.6 percent and passengers on international flights rose 2.3 percent.


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