INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Here is a look at Wednesday’s business headlines with Jane King, where she discusses McDonald’s E. coli outbreak ending and the pressure to spend hampering the holidays.

CDC: McDonald’s E. coli outbreak is over

The CDC said the deadly E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions served at McDonald’s is over.

One-hundred-and-four people in 14 states were infected in the outbreak but there’s been no reported illnesses since Oct. 21.

While the outbreak is formally over, McDonald’s is still dealing with the sales fallout.
Foot traffic to its U.S. restaurants was down 6.6% on Nov. 18 compared with a year earlier, according to a research note from Gordon Haskett.

Frontier airlines adding premium seating

Frontier Airlines, known for bare-bones cheap flights, is adding premium seating.

First-class seats will begin at Frontier in September 2025.

The carrier will also revamp its loyalty program.

Spirit and Southwest recently added premium seats to attract higher-paying customers.

Survey: Crime causes retail workers to look for new jobs

Theft and crime are driving retail workers to look for new jobs.

According to new research conducted by the Loss Prevention Research Council in partnership with Verkada, safety concerns are widespread, and workers report higher-ups aren’t taking action.

Those fears aren’t unfounded: More than half of retail workers experienced customer aggression or harassment.

Quote questions hang over ChatGPT

ChatGPT has become the answer to many of life’s questions lately, but testing done by Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism has found the search tool still has issues when it comes to correctly identifying quotes from articles, even when they came from publishers with arrangements to share data with it.

According to the Verge, Open AI told the Columbia Journalism Review that the study represents an atypical test of its product and that it will “keep enhancing search results.”

Pressure to spend hampers the holidays

Beyond Finance, a debt consolidation company, and Talker Research found more than half said they feel pressure to spend money during the holidays.

The most common sources of pressure, according to findings, are from family, friends, social media, and pop culture.

The study also learned the most common money wounds are low self-esteem due to financial circumstances and overspending.