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The headquarters for Axon Enterprise Inc, formerly Taser International, is seen in Scottsdale, Aizona, U.S., May 17, 2017. Picture taken May 17, 2017. To match Special Report USA-TASER/EXPERTS REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

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June 6 (Reuters) – Taser-maker Axon Enterprise Inc (AXON.O) said it was halting a project to equip drones with stun guns to combat mass shootings, a reversal that did not stop most of its ethics advisory board members from announcing their resignation on Monday in protest over the original plans.

The May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two teachers, prompted Axon to announce last week it was working on a drone that first responders could operate remotely to fire a Taser at a target about 40 feet (12 m) away.

Nine of 12 members of the company’s AI Ethics Board quit over concerns the drones would harm over-policed communities and that Axon publicized its ambitions without consulting the group. The resignations and Axon’s scuttled plans were first reported by Reuters.

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“In light of feedback, we are pausing work on this project and refocusing to further engage with key constituencies to fully explore the best path forward,” Chief Executive Rick Smith said in a statement.

The action by ethics board members marked a rare public rebuke for one of the watchdog groups some companies have set up to gather feedback on emerging technologies, such as drones and artificial intelligence (AI) software.

Smith said it was unfortunate that members withdrew before Axon could address their technical questions, but the company “will continue to seek diverse perspectives to challenge our thinking.”

Axon, which also sells body-worn cameras and policing software, has said its clients include about 17,000 out of the roughly 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States.

It explored the idea of a Taser-equipped drone for police since at least 2016, and Smith depicted how one could stop an active shooter in a graphic novel he wrote. The novel shows a daycare center with what looks like an enlarged smoke alarm, which first recognizes the sound of gunfire and then ejects a drone, identifying and tasing the shooter in two seconds.

Axon first approached its ethics board more than a year ago about Taser-equipped drones, and the panel last month voted eight to four against running a limited police pilot of the technology.

The company announced the drone idea anyway, as it said it wanted to get past “fruitless debates” on guns after the Uvalde shooting, sending shares up nearly 6%. They were down 0.5% on Monday.

Ethics board members worried the drones could exacerbate racial injustice, undermine privacy through surveillance and become more lethal if other weapons were added, member Wael Abd-Almageed said in an interview.

“What we have right now is just dangerous and irresponsible,” said Abd-Almageed, an engineering research associate professor at University of Southern California.

The board likewise had not evaluated use of the drones by first responders outside police, it said. And members questioned how a drone could navigate closed doors to stop a shooting.

The drone is “distracting society from real solutions to a tragic problem,” resigning board members said in a Monday statement.

CEO Smith has said drones could be stationed in hallways and move into rooms through special vents. A drone system would cost a school about $1,000 annually, he said.

Formed in 2018, the ethics panel has guided Axon productively on sensitive technologies such as facial recognition in the past.

Giles Herdale, one of the remaining ethics board members, told Reuters he chose not to resign because he could have more influence “if I am in the tent than outside it.”

For others, the company’s drone announcement prior to a formal report by the board broke with practice, said member Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor.

“I’m not going to stay on an advisory board for a company that departs so far from expectation and protocol or, frankly, who believes ubiquitous surveillance coupled with remote non-lethal weapons is a viable response to school shootings,” he said.

Barry Friedman, the board chairman, resigned as well.

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Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif., and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel and Tomasz Janowski

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Redfin Reports Historic Housing Shortage Shows Signs of Letting Up as Sales Decline

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–(NASDAQ: RDFN) —The housing market turned a corner in April as the inventory crunch showed signs of easing, according to a new report from Redfin (redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The 9% year-over-year decline in homes for sale was the smallest since March 2020 and the first single-digit drop since the start of the pandemic.

While inventory remained at a record low, it fell at a relatively slow pace because soaring mortgage rates tempered homebuyer demand. Home sales slid 8%, the biggest drop since June 2020, which allowed white-hot home-price growth to cool slightly. The median home-sale price rose 16% to $424,000, a slowdown from March’s 17% gain.

“When market conditions are changing it becomes more difficult for homebuyers and sellers to see eye-to-eye on pricing,” said Redfin deputy chief economist Taylor Marr. “Many sellers are still seeking sky-high prices for their homes even though rising mortgage rates have limited homebuyer budgets. As a result, buyers are backing off, which is causing home sales to fall and the housing shortage to ease. As demand continues to soften, more sellers will likely be forced to drop their prices in order to get offers. The good news is that this should finally bring more balance to the market.”

Market Summary	April 2022	Month-Over-Month	Year-Over-Year
Median sale price	$424,400	3.1%	15.5%
Homes sold, seasonally-adjusted	570,700	-1.8%	-8%
Pending sales, seasonally-adjusted	514,900	-2.1%	-7.2%
New listings, seasonally-adjusted	593,500	0.1%	-7.4%
All homes for sale, seasonally-adjusted	1,351,900	-1.3%	-9.3%
Median days on market	18	-3	-2
Months of supply	1.3	0.1	0
Share of homes sold above list	58.8%	4.6 pts^†	9.9 pts^†
Median off-market Redfin Estimate	$415,000	1.4%	22.1%
Average sale-to-list ratio	103.2%	0.7 pts^†	1.6 pts^†
Average 30-year fixed mortgage rate	4.98%	+0.81 pts^†	+1.92 pts^†

† – “pts” = percentage-point change

Median sale prices increased from a year earlier in all of the 88 largest metro areas Redfin tracks. The largest price increases were in Las Vegas (+29%), West Palm Beach, FL (+29%) and Fort Worth, TX (+28%).

Home sales fell from the prior year in 87 of the 88 largest metro areas Redfin tracks. The biggest declines were in West Palm Beach, FL (-30%), Anaheim, CA (-26%) and Bridgeport, CT (-25%). The only metro where sales increased was Allentown, PA (+1%).

78 of the 88 largest metros tracked by Redfin posted year-over-year decreases in the number of seasonally adjusted active listings of homes for sale. The biggest declines were in Allentown, PA (-50%), Greensboro, NC (-40%) and Bridgeport, CT (-35%). The metro areas with the largest increases were Elgin, IL (+33%), Chicago (+15%) and Detroit (+10%).

New listings fell from a year ago in 78 of the 88 largest metro areas. The largest declines were in Allentown, PA (-58%), Greensboro, NC (-45%) and Lake County, IL (-29%). New listings rose the most in McAllen, TX (+13%), Oklahoma City (+6%) and Detroit (+4%).

Home sales that closed in April (which mostly went under contract in March) spent less time on the market and sold for further above list price than a year ago.

The typical home that sold in April went under contract in 18 days—six days faster than a year earlier—and the shortest time on market ever for April.

Fifty-nine percent of homes sold above list price, up 10 percentage points from a year earlier, and the highest level on record in Redfin’s data, which goes back through 2013.

The average sale-to-list price ratio, which measures how close homes are selling to their asking prices, rose to a record 103.2% in April, up from 101.5% a year earlier. In other words, the average home sold for 3.2% above its asking price.

Other April Highlights

Competition

Denver and Indianapolis were the fastest markets, with half of all homes pending sale in just four days. Next came Omaha, Oklahoma City and Portland, OR each with five days on market.
The most competitive market in April was San Jose, CA where 88.5% of homes sold above list price, followed by 87.7% in Oakland, CA, 78.7% in Denver, 77.8% in San Francisco, and 75.6% in Oxnard, CA.
Prices
Las Vegas had the nation’s highest price growth, rising 29% since last year to $445,000. West Palm Beach, FL had the second highest growth at 28.6% year-over-year price growth, followed by Fort Worth, TX (28.3%), Tampa, FL (27.6%), and Nashville, TN (26.9%).
No metros saw price declines in April.

Sales

Allentown, PA led the nation in year-over-year sales growth, up 1.2%, followed by Greensboro, NC, up -0.2%. Omaha, NE rounded out the top three with sales up -0.5% from a year ago.
West Palm Beach, FL saw the largest decline in sales since last year, falling 29.8%. Home sales in Anaheim, CA and Bridgeport, CT declined by 25.7% and 24.9%, respectively.

Inventory

Elgin, IL had the highest increase in the number of homes for sale, up 32.6% year over year, followed by Chicago (15.3%) and Detroit (9.9%).
Allentown, PA had the largest decrease in overall active listings, falling 49.9% since last April. Greensboro, NC (-39.9%), Bridgeport, CT (-35.2%), and Fort Lauderdale, FL (-32.4%) also saw far fewer homes available on the market than a year ago.

Redfin Estimate

Miami (39.3%) had the largest share of homes predicted to sell for below list price, according to Redfin Estimate data, followed by Baton Rouge, LA (32.5%) and Tulsa, OK (29.7%).
Oakland, CA (94.8%) had the largest share of homes predicted to sell at or above list price, followed by Seattle (94.4%) and San Jose, CA (93.5%).

To view the full report, including charts and methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/news/housing-market-turned-corner-in-april/

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate company. We help people find a place to live with brokerage, instant home-buying (iBuying), rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovations services. We sell homes for more money and charge half the fee. We also run the country’s #1 real-estate brokerage site. Our home-buying customers see homes first with on-demand tours, and our lending and title services help them close quickly. Customers selling a home can take an instant cash offer from Redfin or have our renovations crew fix up their home to sell for top dollar. Our rentals business empowers millions nationwide to find apartments and houses for rent. Since launching in 2006, we’ve saved customers more than $1 billion in commissions. We serve more than 100 markets across the U.S. and Canada and employ over 6,000 people.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin’s press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin’s press center, click here.

Wall St rises on gains in banks, strong retail sales data

Summary
Companies

Walmart slides after cutting earnings forecast
April retail sales rise in line with estimates
S&P 500 +2.02%, Nasdaq +2.76%, Dow +1.34%

May 17 (Reuters) – Wall Street finished sharply higher on Tuesday, lifted by Apple, Tesla and other megacap growth stocks after strong retail sales in April eased worries about slowing economic growth.

Ten of the 11 major S&P sector indexes advanced, with financials (.SPSY), materials (.SPLRCM), consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) and technology (.SPLRCT) all gaining more than 2%.

Investors were cheered by data showing U.S. retail sales increased 0.9% in April as consumers bought motor vehicles amid an improvement in supply and frequented restaurants. read more

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Recently punished shares of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) and Amazon (AMZN.O) gained between 2% and 5.1%, driving the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq higher.

Tuesday’s broad rally followed weeks of selling on the U.S. stock market that last week saw the S&P 500 sink to its lowest level since March 2021.

“The largest pockets of stocks that investors tend to buy have been essentially beaten up. They’re either in correction or bear market territory,” said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer of Defiance ETF. “I think investors are looking at these opportunities to buy on the dip, and I suspect that today is a good day to do that.”

The S&P 500 Banks index (.SPXBK) jumped 3.8%, with Citigroup (C.N) climbing almost 8% after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N) disclosed a nearly $3 billion investment in the U.S. lender.

Another set of economic data showed industrial production accelerated 1.1% last month, higher than estimates of 0.5%, and faster than a 0.9% advance in March. read more

“This is consistent with continued economic growth in the second quarter and not a recession underway,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas.

The U.S. Federal Reserve will “keep pushing” to tighten U.S. monetary policy until it is clear inflation is declining, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at an event on Tuesday. read more

Traders are pricing in an 85% chance of a 50-basis point rate hike in June.

The S&P 500 climbed 2.02% to end the session at 4,088.85 points.

Apple logo is seen in this illustration taken March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

The Nasdaq gained 2.76% to 11,984.52 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.34% to 32,654.59 points.

S&P 500’s busiest trades

Underscoring Wall Street’s recent volatility, the S&P 500 has gained or lost 2% or more in a session some 39 times so far in 2022, compared to 24 times in all of 2021.

Walmart Inc (WMT.N) tumbled 11.4% after the retail giant cut its annual profit forecast, signaling a hit to its margins. That marked the biggest one-day percentage drop for Walmart’s stock since 1987. read more

Retailers Costco (COST.O), Target (TGT.N) and Dollar Tree (DLTR.O) fell between 0.8% and 3.2%.

United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL.O) gained 7.9% after the carrier lifted its current-quarter revenue forecast, boosting shares of Delta Air (DAL.N), American Airlines (AAL.O) and Spirit Airlines (SAVE.N). read more

A positive first-quarter earnings season has been overshadowed by worries about the conflict in Ukraine, soaring inflation, COVID-19 lockdowns in China and aggressive policy tightening by central banks.

The S&P 500 is down about 14% so far in 2022, and the Nasdaq is off around 23%, hit by tumbling growth stocks.

U.S.-listed Chinese stocks jumped on hopes that China will ease its crackdown on the technology sector. read more

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.92-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.19-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and 30 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 24 new highs and 126 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.0 billion shares, compared with a 13.3 billion average over the last 20 trading days.

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Reporting by Amruta Khandekar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru, and Noel Randewich in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Western businesses cut some Russia ties over Ukraine invasion, article with image

The logo of Russia’s flagship airline Aeroflot is seen on an Airbus A320-200 in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

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Feb 25 (Reuters) – Some Western companies severed their ties with Russia on Friday, and others studied whether and how to do so, as President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine triggered sanctions and pressure to abandon some business dealings. read more

European sports and entertainment businesses were among the first to announce such moves.

Premier League club Manchester United (MANU.N) withdrew the sponsorship rights of Russian airline Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), Formula One canceled the 2022 Russian Grand Prix, and organizers of the Eurovision song contest said Russia would not be allowed to participate in this year’s final. read more

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The “inclusion of a Russian entry in this year’s (Eurovision) contest would bring the competition into disrepute,” the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement.

Gadget maker Dell Technologies Inc (DELL.N) said it suspended sales in Ukraine and Russia and would closely monitor the situation to determine next steps. New U.S. rules on exports to Russia announced on Thursday covered computers, and Dell accounted for about 6% of computer shipments to Russia last quarter, according to researcher IDC.

U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) said, without providing a reason, that it had suspended its codesharing service with Aeroflot.

Alexandria, Virginia, marketing consultant Dan Sondhelm said companies were trying to balance the reputational risk of continuing to deal with Moscow with their economic interests and concerns about upsetting some of their investors.

“It will take some time for companies to make their decisions to act or do nothing,” Sondhelm said. “It doesn’t happen overnight.”

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on Russia that targeted five major Russian banks, including state-backed Sberbank and VTB, the country’s two largest lenders, as well as wealthy individuals, and announced new export control measures. read more

On Friday, European Union member states agreed to freeze European assets of Putin and his foreign minister, among other measures. read more

Some experts and attorneys said Western executives would seek to end commercial arrangements, even if they were not obliged to do so, to avoid public relations problems or the bureaucracy of trying to navigate sanctions in areas such as technology exports. read more

“What a lot of them will do is just drop any Russian customers. They will just say ‘we’re not going to deal with that,'” said William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former U.S. Commerce Department export official.

David Smith, partner at insurance broker McGill and Partners in London, said that even before the invasion and sanctions, two underwriters had told him they did not want to insure a shipping company operating in Russian waters on the grounds they did not want to facilitate business with Russia.

“People should be thinking more and more about the moral issue, it’s not just a box-ticking exercise,” Smith said.

Western consumer brands operating in the region could face backlash. For instance, several posters on Facebook responded with outrage after a verified account for McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) posted that it closed restaurants in Ukraine, but did not address its Russia locations.

“The Russian occupiers, the military, and their children will continue to enjoy a variety of burgers. And my child is sitting in a bomb shelter with tears in his eyes,” one of the posters, identifying himself as Vitaliy Skalsky, told Reuters in Ukrainian in a Facebook message.

McDonald’s representatives in the United States and Ukraine did not respond to requests for comment.

‘FALLEN FOUL’ OF CORPORATE STANDARDS

Western banks and financial firms have been studying the practical implications of new sanctions, said several sources in the heavily regulated industries.

The rules prohibit direct dealings with sanctioned entities and “correspondent” banking relationships that enable Russian banks to make international payments via U.S. banks. But they are less clear on areas such as buying and selling Russian sovereign debt in secondary markets, said a senior source at a large European bank with U.S. operations.

Many details on how the sanctions will work need to be confirmed by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other international regulators, this source said. OFAC did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

The chief investment officer of one European asset manager said on condition of anonymity it was considering whether to sell sovereign and corporate debt it holds in Russia, much as it might sell the bonds of a company that failed to take action on an issue like climate change.

“Russian actions have fallen foul of the standard you would have at the corporate level,” the executive said.

But client interests might argue for a different approach, this person said. “At the other side of the transaction is our client, who might be losing if you’re selling it in a fire sale,” the executive said.

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Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston
Additional reporting by Caroyln Cohn in London; Matt Scuffham, Hilary Russ, Danielle Kaye and David French in New York; Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif., and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.
Eidting by Greg Roumeliotis and Matthew Lewis

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Robinhood says it is in ‘strong position’ to face unlikely market events

The logo of Robinhood Markets, Inc. is seen at a pop-up event on Wall Street after the company’s IPO in New York City, U.S., July 29, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

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Jan 26 (Reuters) – (This January 25 story corrects to read “$2.8 billion, 21 times” rather than “$2.7 billion, more than 25 times” in paragraph 3)

Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) on Tuesday highlighted steps it has taken to avoid imposing trading restrictions and said it was in a “strong position” to support customers through unlikely market events, in a blog post published almost one year after a social-media-fueled rally that rattled markets.

The online trading platform, which helped pioneer commission-free trading, and several other brokerages on Jan. 28, 2021, restricted trading in GameStop (GME.N) and a handful of other “meme” stocks as the regulatory deposit requirements for settling the securities skyrocketed during the rally driven by retail investors. read more

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Robinhood said in Tuesday’s blog post that its net capital position was $2.8 billion, 21 times what is currently required by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those restrictions had infuriated clients trying to buy and sell the “meme” stocks.

Early this year, Robinhood asked a federal judge in Miami to dismiss a lawsuit alleging it engaged in fraud and market manipulation when it restricted trading in the stocks.

Robinhood last year also said it had increased the size of its customer support team and introduced 24-hour customer phone support, seven days a week.

Analysts on average expect Robinhood to report a $355 million loss when it posts its December-quarter results on Thursday after the bell.

Following a slowdown in stock market trading by retail investors, shares of Robinhood, which went public last July, have fallen by about 66% from its IPO price.

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Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Additional reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Editing by Leslie Adler

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The Economic Rebound Is Still Waiting for Workers

Some businesses seem determined to wait them out. Wages have risen, but many employers appear reluctant to make other changes to attract workers, like flexible schedules and better benefits. That may be partly because, for all their complaints about a labor shortage, many companies are finding that they can get by with fewer workers, in some instances by asking customers to accept long waits or reduced service.

“They’re making a lot of profits in part because they’re saving on labor costs, and the question is how long can that go on,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist for the employment site ZipRecruiter. Eventually, she said, customers may get tired of busing their own tables or sitting on hold for hours, and employers may be forced to give into workers’ demands.

Some businesses are already changing how they operate. When Karter Louis opened his latest restaurant this year, he abandoned the industry-standard approach to staffing, with kitchen workers earning low wages and waiters relying on tips. At Soul Slice, his soul-food pizza restaurant in Oakland, Calif., everyone works full time, earns a salary rather than an hourly wage, and receives health insurance, retirement benefits and paid vacation. Hiring still hasn’t been easy, he said, but he isn’t having the staffing problems that other restaurants report.

Restaurant owners wondering why they can’t find workers, Mr. Louis said, need to look at the way they treated workers before the pandemic, and also during it, when the industry laid off millions.

“The restaurant industry didn’t really have the back of its people,” he said.

Still, better pay and benefits alone won’t bring back everyone who has left the job market. The steepest drop in labor force participation came among older workers, who faced the greatest risks from the virus. Some may return to work as the health situation improves, but others have simply retired.

And even some nowhere near retirement have made ends meet outside a traditional job.

When Danielle Miess, 30, lost her job at a Philadelphia-area travel agency at the start of the pandemic, it was in some ways a blessing. Some time away helped her realize how bad the job had been for her mental health, and for her finances — her bank balance was negative on the day she was laid off. With federally supplemented unemployment benefits providing more than she made on the job, she said, she gained a measure of financial stability.

Ms. Miess’s unemployment benefits ran out in September, but she isn’t looking for another office job. Instead, she is cobbling together a living from a variety of gigs. She is trying to build a business as an independent travel agent, while also doing house sitting, dog sitting and selling clothes online. She estimates she is earning somewhat more than the roughly $36,000 a year she made before the pandemic, and although she is working as many hours as ever, she enjoys the flexibility.

California Advances Zoning Measure to Allow Duplexes

“It’s like acting on climate change — you can’t count on everyone to step forward in unison in a way that gives everyone confidence that they are getting a benefit for their cost,” said Michael Andersen, a senior researcher at Sightline Institute, an urban think tank based in Seattle. “Zoning reform has a political cost at every level, but only has political benefit at the collective level.”

In California, where the median home price recently eclipsed $800,000 and more than 100,000 people sleep outside each night, a vision of a single-family home with a yard to enjoy the sun is encoded in residents’ dreams. The move to pass zoning reform has been a yearslong odyssey with the twists and turns of a screenplay.

It began in 2018, when Mr. Wiener introduced a bill, S.B. 827, that would have allowed eight-story buildings near major transit stops, regardless of local zoning rules. After the bill failed, Mr. Wiener introduced a similar measure called S.B. 50, which was voted down in early 2020. Moments after the S.B. 50 vote, Ms. Atkins gave a floor speech in which she said “the status quo cannot stand” and vowed “a housing production bill will succeed this year.”

The next month she convened a Senate housing group that designed a new package of bills that included a duplex bill similar to this year’s S.B. 9. The measure passed the Senate and made it to the Assembly floor on the last day of the legislative session. As the clock crept toward midnight, Buffy Wicks, a Democratic Assembly member from Oakland who was not allowed to vote by proxy, arrived masked and holding her newborn to give an impassioned speech in favor of the bill. The bill passed the Assembly but was unable to clear a Senate concurrence vote before the session ended.

Single-family-only zoning is something of a California creation: In 1916, Berkeley became what was probably the first U.S. city to restrict neighborhoods to one-family homes. A century later it’s become a bedrock value that homeowners across the nation euphemistically describe as maintaining “neighborhood character.”

According to an analysis of the bill by the Terner Center, S.B. 9 would enable the creation of an estimated 700,000 more units in the state’s existing neighborhoods (California permits roughly 100,000 new housing units each year). The bill’s crucial feature, Ms. Atkins said, is that by allowing homeowners to split their lots it would expand homeownership instead of just rental housing.

In a series of speeches before the vote, phrases like “gradual density” were countered with “planning chaos.” Some Assembly members said it would expand generational wealth. Others said it would destroy it.

Target Store Closings Show Limits of Pledge to Black Communities

BALTIMORE — When Target announced that it was opening a store in Mondawmin, a predominantly Black neighborhood in this city struggling with crime and poverty, it seemed like a ticket to a turnaround.

And from the start, it was a practical success and a point of community pride. The store, which opened in 2008, carried groceries, operated a pharmacy and had a Starbucks cafe, the only one in this part of Baltimore’s west side.

People came from across the city to shop there, helping to soften the Mondawmin area’s reputation for crime and the looting that followed protests over the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, who was fatally injured while in city police custody. As an employer, Target seemed to cater to the community’s needs, making a point of hiring Black men and providing an office in the store for a social worker to support the staff. Elijah Cummings, the congressman from Baltimore, was known to shop there.

But in February 2018, with almost no warning or explanation, Target closed the store.

Residents, especially those without cars, lost a convenient place to shop for quality goods. And a marker of the community’s self-worth was suddenly taken away.

shut two stores in predominantly Black neighborhoods on Chicago’s South Side as the company made plans to build a new store on the wealthier and mostly white North Side.

according to local legend, visited the property in the 19th century and observed the area’s bountiful cornfields. Mondawmin is derived from a Native American phrase for “spirit of corn.”

In the 1950s, the property was sold to a real estate developer, who turned the rural lot into the city’s first shopping mall.

The Mondawmin Mall featured a Sears, a five-and-dime, and eventually an indoor fountain and spiral staircase, advertised as the “seventh wonder of Baltimore,’’ according to Salvatore Amadeo, an amateur historian who makes YouTube documentaries about malls, including a segment on Mondawmin.

When the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 sparked protests across Baltimore and caused “white flight” to the suburbs, the mall struggled. Over time, it ceased to be a big draw for shoppers outside the area.

The stores became more focused on Black fashion and neighborhood services. A large barbershop occupies the mall’s bottom floor, and there is an agency that helps formerly incarcerated people find jobs.

a forceful statement, promising to reopen one of its stores in Minneapolis damaged in the protests against police violence.

“The murder of George Floyd has unleashed the pent-up pain of years, as have the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor,” Mr. Cornell said in the statement. “We say their names and hold a too-long list of others in our hearts. As a Target team, we’ve huddled, we’ve consoled, we’ve witnessed horrific scenes similar to what’s playing out now and wept that not enough is changing.”

One of the names on that “too-long list” is Freddie Gray. Mr. Gray was from Baltimore’s west side and was arrested a few blocks from the Mondawmin Mall in April 2015 for possessing a knife.

But in recent years, that compact has begun to fracture. Democrats, pushed by progressive activists, have shifted further to the left on a wide range of economic policy issues. Under Mr. Trump, Republicans became more hostile to free trade and immigration. After the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, some prominent companies and business groups announced they would cut off donations to Republicans who had joined an effort to challenge in Congress the results of Mr. Trump’s November loss to Mr. Biden, prompting some Republican lawmakers to swear off corporate donations.

Many top executives feel they have little choice. They are being pressured by customers and increasingly by young, progressive employees to speak out publicly on major issues. And in the era of social media, companies can get into just as much trouble by staying silent as by weighing in.

Polling data shows the squeeze. A Gallup poll conducted in January, in the days leading up to and immediately following the Capitol riot, found that just 31 percent of Republicans were satisfied with the “size and influence of major corporations.” That was down from 57 percent a year earlier.

And in a survey conducted last month for The New York Times by the online research platform SurveyMonkey, 81 percent of Republicans who knew enough to form an opinion said it was inappropriate for business leaders to speak out against the Georgia law. And 78 percent of Republicans said large corporations had too much influence over American life in general. (The survey was conducted before two coalitions of business leaders released letters calling for expanded voting rights in Texas.)

Elena Adams, a survey respondent in Northern California, said she began to feel that corporate America was shifting against her a few years ago, when Nike embraced Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who drew widespread attention for kneeling during the national anthem to protest police violence.

“Basically I think we’re celebrating people who are not for the United States and pushing the agenda that we should be ashamed if we’re not people of color,” she said. “This whole narrative of the race thing, it’s reverse racism, is what’s happening.”

Ms. Adams, 66, said she had stopped flying Delta and buying Coca-Cola products. Since Major League Baseball relocated the All-Star Game from Atlanta over the Georgia voting law, she has quit following the Oakland Athletics. She has abandoned social media, believing that companies such as Facebook and Twitter are unfair to conservatives, and told the purchasing managers at the emergency response business where she is a partner to avoid buying from companies that espouse liberal positions, although she said it was too difficult to avoid companies like Amazon and Google altogether.