TECHNOLOGY
Google is injecting its search engine with more artificial intelligence that will enable people to voice questions about images and occasionally organize an entire page of results, despite the technology’s past misadventures with misleading information. The latest changes announced Thursday herald the next step in an AI-driven makeover that Google launched in mid-May when it began responding to some queries with summaries written by the technology at the top of its influential results page. Those summaries, dubbed “AI Overviews,” raised fears among publishers that fewer people would click on search links to their websites and undercut the traffic needed to sell digital ads that help finance their operations. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
RETAIL
Amazon.com Inc. will bring on about 250,000 people in the United States for the holiday shopping rush, unchanged from last year and an indication that the company expects steady demand in its biggest market. The online retailer, which typically announces its fall hiring binge to attract new recruits, recently said it was raising hourly pay by at least $1.50 to more than $22 an hour for its 800,000 US transportation and warehousing workers. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
TECHNOLOGY
Starbucks Corp. is buying two new research farms that will test everything from drones to microbes as it seeks to make coffee more resilient to climate change, which has already constricted availability and driven up prices. A farm in Costa Rica will look at solutions including how technology can help growers. In Guatemala — a key supply region — Starbucks will replicate the challenges facing the small farms that make up 97 percent of its supply chain. Both locations will also study new coffee varieties as climate change shifts where the crop can thrive. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
DEALS
Two prominent Democratic senators are criticizing United States Steel Corp. chief executive David Burritt over his potential $72 million “golden parachute” if the sale to a Japanese company goes through — while President Biden’s decision on the takeover hangs in the air. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, whose race for reelection is one of the closest in the chamber this year, wrote to Burritt Wednesday regarding financial incentives offered to him and other US Steel executives if Nippon Steel Corp. acquires the company in a $14.1 billion deal. The executives would be eligible for the incentives if they’re terminated following a takeover, according to a March filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
DRUGS
Eli Lilly & Co.’s blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs are no longer considered to be in shortage in the United States, threatening to upend the many knockoffs that became popular when patients couldn’t find the brand-name medicines. The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that the shortage of Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro is resolved. The agency added that there are “legal restrictions on making copies of FDA-approved drugs” when there isn’t a shortage. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
WALL STREET
Crude prices jumped Thursday on worries that worsening tensions in the Middle East could disrupt the global flow of oil, while US stocks pulled back further from their records. The S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent amid a shaky week that’s knocked the index off its all-time high set on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 184 points, or 0.4 percent, and the Nasdaq composite edged down by less than 0.1 percent. Stocks sank as oil prices kept rising amid the world’s wait to see how Israel will respond to Iran’s missile attack from Tuesday. A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, leaped 5 percent to settle at $77.62 after starting the week below $72. It’s potentially on track for its biggest weekly percentage gain in nearly two years. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FINANCE
Fidelity Investments is looking to convert two of its municipal-bond mutual funds into exchange-traded funds, a move that underscores the popularity of the $10 trillion US arena. The two funds impacted are the $170 million Fidelity Municipal Bond Index Fund and the Fidelity Municipal Core Plus Bond Fund, which has less than $70 million in assets. Both are expected to be converted next year, according to two separate regulatory filings. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
BIOSCIENCE
Film director Peter Jackson and his partner, producer Fran Walsh, are the latest wealthy celebrities to throw support behind de-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences Inc. The couple invested $10 million in the company known for trying to bring back animals from the dodo to the woolly mammoth. The filmmaker, famed for making the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, is backing the biotechnology company as he seeks to prevent species from extinction in his native New Zealand, according to his publicist. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
CORPORATE CULTURE
Toyota Motor Corp., will refocus DEI programs and halt sponsorship of LGBTQ events, citing “a highly politicized discussion” around corporate commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. The Japanese carmaker told employees it will also end participation in notable rankings by LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign and other corporate culture surveys. The company will “narrow our community activities to align with STEM education and workforce readiness,” it said in a memo Thursday to its 50,000 US employees and 1,500 dealers. The note comes a week after anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck started a social media campaign against the company, calling for customer boycotts because of its support for LGBTQ events and other initiatives. Toyota said at the time that the LGBTQ programs targeted were led by employee groups, not the company directly. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
Defensemen Max Wanner was re-assigned to the Maine Mariners from the Providence Bruins on Thursday. Defenseman Michael Underwood was also re-assigned to Maine.
Wanner, 22, was acquired by the Boston Bruins when they traded Trent Federic to Edmonton last March. He played in 15 games for the AHL Providence Bruins at the end of last season, and seven this season.
Underwood returns for his second stint with the Mariners. He appeared in 67 games with Maine last season.
Some hot new titles have been arriving late at Maine libraries in recent months, after the closing of one the country’s major library book distributors.
Baker & Taylor, based in North Carolina, began winding down its operations in the fall and expects to close entirely this month. The company’s demise has left many Maine libraries scrambling to buy books through other sources, including local book stores, and to endure deliveries taking twice as long.
That means patrons expecting to get new books on or near publication dates are waiting longer to start turning pages.
At the Portland Public Library, “Heart The Lover” by Maine author Lily King wasn’t available to patrons until nearly a month after its Sept. 30 publication date, even though it was ordered in July. At the Libby Memorial Library in Old Orchard Beach, John Grisham’s Oct. 21 release “The Widow” took six weeks to arrive. Staff at the Kennbunk Free Library weren’t sure how long they’d have to wait for “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans, so they bought two copies at a local store, Octopus Bookshop. As of this week, there were 28 holds on the book.
“Baker & Taylor closing has totally rocked the library world nationwide. It has long been the preferred vendor among many Maine libraries, and their closure is certainly having an impact on us,” said Sarah Skawinski, associate director of the Portland Public Library and president of the Maine Library Association. “I think we’re over the hump now, though.”
Skawinski and other librarians say Baker & Taylor had been having problems getting books from publishers and had been slow with some deliveries, a problem that began during the COVID pandemic. Last year when it became apparent Baker & Taylor was likely going out of business, many libraries switched to the nation’s other major distributor, Ingram Content Group, as well as another company called Brodart Library Supplies. But with increased demand, both those companies have been slow in filling some orders in the last couple months, too.
Industry publications reported that Baker & Taylor’s problems were mostly financial, beginning in the pandemic and included the failed acquisition of another company. An email to Baker & Taylor asking for more information on its closure was not answered Wednesday.
Not every Maine library bought the majority of its books from Baker & Taylor; some used other distibutors instead. Staff at the Waterville Public Library, for instance, say they rarely used the company and weren’t impacted. The Lithgow Public Library in Augusta was only getting about four books a month from Baker & Taylor, said Director Sarah Curra Schultz-Nielsen. Those included children’s books, reference books and travel guides. Finding other distributors for those books, including Brodart and Bookshop, a company that sells mainly to independent bookstores, has been “mildly inconvenient” for staff and has not impacted patrons, Schultz-Nielsen said.
But other libraries used Baker & Taylor for most of its new releases, including fiction and non-fiction, as well to replacements for worn-out books. Stephen King’s books, for instance, have to be replaced pretty regularly, some librarians said.
The Portland Public Library had been ordering about 1,000 items a month from Baker & Taylor, mostly printed books. The library has about 359,000 physical items in its collection. Now, new books are coming to the library from Ingram, but will take maybe four weeks to arrive, compared to one to two weeks when Baker & Taylor was running smoothly.
And there is added work for librarians: While Baker & Taylor sent books that had already been catalogued and ready to be shelved, with bar codes and spine labels, Ingram is not yet offering that service, said Nicole Harkins, cataloging librarian at the Portland library.
“Patrons are aware it’s taking longer and they’re being patient,” Harkins said.
” data-image-caption=”<p>Rosanne Barnes, an adult services reader’s advisor, shelves new fiction books at Portland Public Library on Wednesday. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
” data-medium-file=”https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?w=780″ height=”683″ width=”1024″ fifu-data-src=”https://i3.wp.com/www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1″ alt=”” class=”wp-image-7559441″ srcset=”https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg 3000w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=1536,1025 1536w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=1200,800 1200w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=2000,1334 2000w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=780,520 780w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_Libraries_03.jpg?resize=400,267 400w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”/><figcaption class=)
Rosanne Barnes, an adult services reader’s advisor, shelves new fiction books at Portland Public Library on Wednesday, (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)Kennebunk Free Library also switched to Ingram, and staff are spending more time prepping books, including putting protective plastic covers on them, said Allison Atkins, assistant director and head of adult services. Atkins said library staff wrote about their “book ordering troubles” in a library newsletter and on social media, so patrons would understand why new books were slow to arrive. The library used to get about 100 books a month from Baker & Taylor and despite still being “way behind” on new books, patrons have been patient, Atkins said.
For smaller libraries with smaller staffs, finding a new supplier is not always easy. Baker & Taylor was the major books supplier for Davis Memorial Library in Limington. The staff there is so small that they didn’t have time to research or compare new suppliers, so they waited until early this month, said Heidi Libby, the library’s director. As a result, the library has very few new arrivals on its shelves right now and has been filling the “new book” shelves with donated books as well as ordering from Amazon.
” data-image-caption=”<p>Volunteer Jim Perry covers books with protective covering at the Kennebunk Free Library on Wednesday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
” data-medium-file=”https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?w=780″ height=”710″ width=”1024″ fifu-data-src=”https://i2.wp.com/www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?w=1024&ssl=1″ alt=”” class=”wp-image-7559442″ srcset=”https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg 3000w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=300,208 300w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=768,533 768w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=1024,710 1024w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=1536,1065 1536w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=2048,1421 2048w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=1200,832 1200w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=2000,1387 2000w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=780,541 780w, https://www.pressherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2026/01/43353876_20260107_kennebunk-library_1.jpg?resize=400,277 400w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px”/><figcaption class=)
Volunteer Jim Perry covers books with protective covering at the Kennebunk Free Library on Wednesday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
Several librarians said this week that local book stores have been a big help during this period, getting books quickly and pricing them affordably. Sherman’s Maine Coast Bookshops, which has 10 stores across the state, saw its sales to local libraries increase from $50,000 in 2024 to nearly $100,000 in 2025, said Jeff Curtis, owner and CEO of Sherman’s.
The Auburn Public Library would sometimes get more than 300 books a month from Baker & Taylor, including books for adults, teens, and children, as well as fiction and nonfiction as well as some large print books and CDs, said Nancy O’Toole, collections manager at the library.
When Baker & Taylor started having problems, the library bought books from Amazon and the local Bull Moose music and book store chain. Now, with Baker & Taylor closing, the library has switched to Ingram, but has seen delivery delays as that company has been inundated with new customers. This week the library got an order of books that were released in November, including “Exit Strategy” by Lee Child and Andrew Child, “The Seven Rings” by Nora Roberts and “Return of the Spider” by James Patterson.
“The hope is that now that the holidays are over, shipping from Ingram will expedite. But just to be safe, we are choosing to buy certain books elsewhere, including titles by big-name authors, popular series, or anything tied to a fast-approaching holiday,” said O’Toole. “Patrons want to see those titles on the shelf in a timely manner, and we want to make sure we fulfill those expectations.”
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