U.S. ran deficit just under $1 trillion in 2019, CBO estimates

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government ran a budget deficit of just under $1 trillion in the just-closed fiscal year.

That’s according to the latest, almost official estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

Last year’s deficit ran $779 billion, but this year’s came in at $984 billion, more than $200 billion higher despite very low unemployment and continuing economic growth.

Many mainstream economists have long taken the position that deficits and the nation’s $22 trillion national debt are unsustainable. CBO notes that deficits have been growing faster than the size of the economy for four years in a row, ending 2019 at 4.7% of gross domestic product.

But there’s no appetite in Washington to try politically painful medicine to deal with the deficit.

The Treasury Department will release final deficit figures mid-month.

Facebook nears $40 million settlement in video-metrics lawsuit

Facebook Inc. could pay $40 million to settle a lawsuit from advertisers over miscalculated video metrics.

The legal battle began in 2016 after Facebook FB, -0.43%  disclosed it had incorrectly calculated the average viewing time for video ads on its platform. For two years, the tech giant had only counted video views that lasted at least three seconds, ignoring those of shorter durations and artificially pushing the average length of a view higher. Facebook said it discovered the problem only a month before going public with it.

A group of small advertisers sued in California federal court, alleging that Facebook engaged in unfair competitive practices by providing inaccurate information. The plaintiffs later added claims that Facebook knew about the incorrect metrics long before it ultimately fixed them and that the error was larger than what Facebook told some advertisers.

The legal battle centered on how much the inflated metrics impacted advertisers’ businesses and the claim that Facebook knew about the inaccuracy of the information sooner than it had admitted. Facebook argued that the impact was minimal because the company doesn’t bill advertisers based on video watch time.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

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Kroger, Walgreens will stop selling e-cigarettes in U.S.

NEW YORK — Two major retailers say they will no longer sell e-cigarettes in the U.S. amid mounting health questions surrounding vaping.

Supermarket chain Kroger KR, +0.20%  and drugstore chain Walgreen WBA, -0.40%  announced Monday they would discontinue sales of e-cigarettes at their stores nationwide, citing an uncertain regulatory environment.

The vaping industry has come under scrutiny after hundreds of people have fallen ill and at least eight have died after using vaping devices.

Walmart WMT, -0.79%  announced last month that it would stop selling e-cigarettes at its stores nationwide.

Kroger said it would stop selling e-cigarettes as soon at its current inventory runs out at its more than 2,700 stores and 1,500 fuel centers. The Cincinnati-based company operates the Ralphs, Harris Teeter and other stores.

Walgreens, based in Deerfield, Illinois, operates more than 9,500 stores in the U.S.

Southwest pilots’ union sues Boeing, claims 737 Max unsafe

DALLAS — The union representing Southwest Airlines pilots is suing Boeing and calling the grounded 737 Max unsafe.

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said in the lawsuit filed Monday that Boeing rushed the plane into service and misled pilots by saying it was little different than previous versions of the 737. The union says those claims turned out to be false.

The lawsuit filed in a Texas state court in Dallas is a blow to Boeing’s plan to restore public confidence in the plane, which remains grounded after two crashes that killed 346 people.

Boeing BA, +0.22%  hopes to use pilots in a campaign to reassure travelers to fly on the plane once regulators approve changes that the company is making to a key flight-control system. Southwest LUV, +0.47%  in the biggest operator of Boeing 737s.

Turkey 'as of now' has not begun offensive in Syria: Senior U.S. official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Turkey does not appear “as of now” to have begun its expected incursion into northern Syria, a senior Trump administration official said on Monday.

The official, briefing reporters on a conference call, said 50 American troops in the region that Turkey has targeted would be redeployed elsewhere in Syria.

The official said President Donald Trump’s decision to redeploy the troops does not constitute a U.S. withdrawal from Syria.

Turkish Defense Ministry says preparations complete for Syria offensive

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – All preparations for a possible military operation into northeastern Syria are completed, the Turkish Defense Ministry said in a Twitter post late on Monday.

Establishment of a safe zone is essential to contribute to stability and peace of the region and for Syrians to live in safety, the Defense Ministry also said.

National vaping death total hits 19 after 1st case in Massachusetts

Vape shop suing Michigan after ban

Owner of 906 Vapor Mark Slis talks about his shop’s lawsuit against the state of Michigan.

Just 13 days after Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, of Massachusetts, enacted a ban on e-cigarettes and vaping products, the state Department of Public Health announced Monday the state’s first death from a vaping-associated lung injury.

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The victim was identified as a woman in her 60s from Hampshire County. The woman was among the 121 suspected cases that have been reported in the Bay State since Sept. 11, when it began mandating that clinicians immediately report any unexplained vaping-associated lung injury to the department.

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This marks the second death in New England in four days as Connecticut reported its first death on Thursday. The death in Massachusetts brings the national total to 19 reported in 16 states. As of last week, a total of 1,080 lung injury cases associated with using e-cigarette or vaping products have been reported to the CDC from 48 states and 1 U.S. territory.

No single product has been linked to all cases of vaping-related lung injury.

This past Friday, Massachusetts' ban was upheld by a U.S. District Court judge after the Vapor Technology Association filed for a temporary restraining order to lift the ban.

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