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By DEE-ANN DURBIN

The debate over whether Coca-Cola should use high-fructose corn syrup or cane sugar in its signature soda obscures an important fact: Consumers are increasingly looking for Coke with no sugar at all.

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Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which was introduced in 2017, uses both the artificial sweetener aspartame and the natural sweetener stevia in its recipe. It’s one of Coke’s fastest-growing products, with global case volumes up 14% in the first quarter of the year. By comparison, the company’s total case volumes were up 2%.

PepsiCo also noted Thursday that 60% of its sales volumes in major markets in the second quarter came from low- or no-sugar drinks. read more

By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Anyone firing up the grill this summer already knows hamburger patties and steaks are expensive, but the latest numbers show prices have climbed increasingly fast.

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  Recent Central Florida bankruptcies

And experts say consumers shouldn’t expect much relief soon either.

The average price of a pound of ground beef rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound.

But this is not a recent phenomenon. Beef prices have been steadily rising over the past 20 years because the supply of cattle remains tight while beef remains popular. read more

The bankruptcy estates of defunct regional airline Silver Airways and its Caribbean affiliate Seaborne Virgin Islands are now down to this: With their assets auctioned off, the trustee overseeing both has asked a Fort Lauderdale judge to green-light the conversion of the companies’ Chapter 11 reorganization cases to Chapter 7 liquidations.

“Each of the Debtors’ estates are administratively insolvent,’ wrote Soneet Kapila, the trustee appointed last month by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter Russin, in a motion to the court.

Kapila wrote that “the cost of the chapter 11 cases increases each day” as more requests for repayments arrive from creditors who say they are owed money since Silver and Seaborne filed for protection from creditors at the end of last year.

“As such there has been a substantial and continuing loss or diminution to the estates,”Kapila said.

“There is no likelihood of rehabilitation,” Kapila added. “The sale of substantially all the assets of the Debtors has been approved by this Court and each of the sale transactions has closed.” read more

Blue Origin’s first launch of its New Glenn rocket was supposed to send up a pair of Mars-bound satellites for NASA, but uncertain readiness plans last year forced NASA to yank back its payload. Now things are lining up for the mission to finally take flight.

The company announced Thursday the second launch of its heavy-lift rocket would be for the ESCAPE mission, although it did not announce a target launch date.

“This will be an exciting mission for New Glenn and Mars exploration,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp posted on X. “ESCAPADE is not only New Glenn’s first interplanetary mission, it’s also the first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to study the Martian magnetosphere. And, we hope to land and recover our booster for the first time. Mars, here we come.”

Dubbed NG-2, the mission will also fly a technology demonstration for commercial satellite company Viasat in support of NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate’s Communications Services Project.

When it does lift off, the mission will fly again from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36. The debut launch came in January, thrilling crowds that were gathered only 5 miles south of the site. read more

By MINGSON LAU, Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A settlement was announced Thursday in court in a class action investors’ lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and current and former company leaders over claims stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.

The suit had sought billions of dollars in reimbursement for fines and legal costs. No details on the settlement were shared when it was announced in Delaware’s Court of Chancery at the start of what would have been the second day of trial, at which point nothing related to the settlement had been filed with the court.

The attorneys involved left court without commenting. A communications representative from Meta said the company had no comment.

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