Business news in brief
By The Associated Press
Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer has died
ATLANTA | Walt Ehmer, the president and CEO of Waffle House and a member of the board of trustees for the Atlanta Police Foundation, has died at age 58. The police foundation announced his death Sunday. The board of directors for Waffle House said Ehmer died after a long illness.
According to his alma mater, Georgia Tech, Ehmer joined Waffle House in 1992 and quickly rose to senior leadership. He became president of the restaurant chain in 2002 and later added the titles of CEO and chairman.
The Waffle House chain of around-the-clock diners opened in 1955 and now has more than 1,900 locations in 25 states.
Norfolk Southern says CEO is under investigation
Norfolk Southern’s board has confirmed that the railroad’s CEO Alan Shaw is under investigation for potential ethical lapses. A spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based railroad declined to offer any additional details Monday about the nature of the allegations against Shaw, who has been CEO since May 2022.
Shaw has been under tremendous pressure. First, he had to deal with the worst railroad disaster in the past decade after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in February 2023. Then this year, he had to fight to keep his job after activist investor Ancora Holdings tried to take control of the railroad and reform its operations, starting with firing Shaw.
Apple pivots to AI with new iPhone lineup
CUPERTINO, Calif. | Apple’s ubiquitous iPhone is about to break new ground with a shift into artificial intelligence that will do everything from smartening up its frequently dim-witted assistant Siri to creating customized emojis on the fly.
The new era will dawn Monday with the unveiling of the hotly anticipated iPhone 16 in a Cupertino, California, auditorium named after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who pulled out the first iPhone in 2007 and waved it like a magic wand while predicting it would reshape society.
Apple’s AI package will run mostly on the device instead of remote data centers. That distinction requires a special processor that is expected to drive huge demand for the iPhone 16.
—From AP reports
