Apple Daily Report for January 7, 2017

The AWT News Update is on a one-day hiatus while my compadre, Steve, takes care of some personal business. In its place, I’ll offer a text-only (no podcast) summary of breaking stories with a tip o’ my hat to my former website, Apple Daily Report.

Apple stock rose nearly $3 in Wednesday trading following the midday announcement of plans to invigorate the U.S. economy, including repatriating billions of dollars in foreign cash reserves.

What’s more, Bloomberg reports that Apple will be giving most of its global employees an extra bonus as the company plans on repatriating almost $250 billion of its overseas cash after new U.S. tax laws were passed.

Apple CEO Tim Cook joined Gov. Brian Sandoval and Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve today to celebrate the groundbreaking of its new Reno, Nevada, warehouse. Cook described its Reno data center as a key component of an ecosystem that delivers billions of iMessages, more than a billion photos and tens of millions of Facetime video calls around the world each day.

Apple supplier Catcher Technology says its plant in eastern China is fit for workers, denying allegations made by a New York-based rights group that says the company forces its workers to operate in loud, polluted conditions during their 10-hour shifts. Apple said it maintains a monitoring team at the site and that the factory has made “significant progress” in addressing working-standards concerns.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that Apple is shelling out upward of $1.25 million per episode to both Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon for their upcoming show.