Amazon is discontinuing a service that let Prime members try on clothes, shoes and accessories, and only pay for the items they want to keep.

Meta on Friday announced to employees its plans to end a number of internal programs designed to increase the company's hiring of diverse candidates.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday said she will push for new laws to make it harder for hedge funds to purchase large numbers of single-family homes in the state.In a statement, Hochul said she would propose legislation this year that would require a 75 day waiting period before large investment firms could place bids on new homes hitting the market and limit certain tax benefits when the firms purchase homes.The plan comes as lawmakerselsewherehave also sought to address public concerns that hedge funds or other big investors are buying up single-family homes and shrinking the housing supply for individual buyers and families.Expertshave blamed housing scarcity on several factors, including high mortgage rates and years of underbuilding of new homes.Hochul, in her statement, said shadowy private equity giants are buying up the housing supply in communities across New York, leaving everyday homebuyers with fewer and fewer affordable options.Private equity firms own more than 500,000 homes nationwide, according to the governors news release, with some estimates expecting the firms to own up to 40% of the single-family rental market by 2030. There were more than 145 million housing units in the country in 2023, according to U.S. Census data.A report from Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies found that non-individual investors which includes landlords who form limited liability corporations owned a quarter of single-family rentals in 2021. Larger investors tended to buy newer and bigger homes in places with population growth and rapid rent increases, according to the report.A different report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the countrys five largest institutional investors owned nearly 2% of all single-family rental homes nationally in 2022, with the issue most pronounced in Sunbelt states.Seumalu Elora Lee Raymond, an associate professor at Georgia Tech, said the average home buyer cant compete with hedge funds that are willing to spend more on homes and put money down at a moments notice.These guys are competition for buying new homes so if youre trying to buy a starter home that can be challenging, Raymond said.Hochul, a Democrat, has rolled out a series of economic proposals for the states legislative session that are geared toward addressing the states high cost of living. On Thursday, she also announced proposals to incentivize the construction of starter homes and help first-time homeowners with down payments.Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press

Environmental issues were conspicuously absent from the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, but moves by President-elect Donald Trumps first administration and his leadership picks for his next administration offer clues to what may be ahead.They point to a second Trump administration likely loosening regulations on industries, particularly oil, gas and petrochemicals, giving them wider permission to pollute.Some actions will be overt. But history suggests this administration may also try to use the language of science terms such as transparency, citizen science and uncertainty to weaken environmental and health protections and write regulations more favorable to industry.Those ideas surfaced during the first Trump administration and in conservative agendas such as Project 2025. Project 2025 was written by former Trump administration officials, including several people Trump has tapped for his next administration. Trump distanced himself from the project during the campaign but now says he agrees with many parts of it.I followed the first Trump administration closely as a researcher involved in the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative, or EDGI. The group was founded in 2016 to document Trumps efforts to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency. During Trumps first administration, we archived climate and environment datasets used by scientists, advocates and policymakers who were worried these might be hidden by the administration. We also tracked how the Trump administration changed climate language on agency websites.EDGI also interviewed agency staffers facing political pressure and explained the potential impact of policy shifts and rule changes.Here are three ways the second Trump administration could try to use the language of science to write policies that sound beneficial but could have profound effects on environmental health.1. Strengthening transparency to block use of health dataWhen you hear words such as transparency or open source, they probably sound positive the idea is that all of the parts can be seen and checked.But would you want your health records open for anyone to see? The privacy of health care records was at the heart of a debate over a policy the first Trump administration created called Strengthening Transparency in Pivotal Science Underlying Significant Regulation Actions, or the secret science rule.The rule could have prevented the government from considering important health research in setting pollution limits.Decades of health data gathered from people across the United States have shown how air pollution from power plants and other sources can contribute to cancer and other illnesses. That data has provided the evidence for regulations that have cleaned up the nations air and water for a healthier environment.But the raw data from those studies cant be made public because it involves peoples personal health records. The rule the EPA finalized during the last weeks of the first Trump administration required the agency to give less consideration to studies if the underlying data wasnt publicly available. A court vacated the rule on Feb. 1, 2021.I expect Trumps EPA will try again to require that the agencys rules have a basis in published raw data. The Project 2025 agenda calls for true transparency to be a defining characteristic of the EPA, including the establishment of open source science. That would limit the use of private health data or data whose use is licensed by companies. This would make it harder to develop rules protecting public health.2. Boosting public scrutiny of the EPAThe author of Project 2025s chapter on the EPA was Mandy Gunasekara, who served as chief of staff to Trumps EPA administrator in the first administration. Apart from transparency, Gunasekara has also pitched citizen science as a way to deputize the public to subject the agencys science to greater scrutiny.At its best, citizen science is an important way for the public to ensure research reflects their interests and experiences. At its worst, citizen science is used to delay meaningful actions.Who benefits from deputizing the public to scrutinize EPA science depends on who has access to information and the resources to engage. Wealthy industries and private interests may gain a greater voice, while the communities most affected by pollution remain sidelined, particularly if government makes the EPAs science difficult to find.Project 2025 also calls for resetting the composition of the EPAs advisory boards and even suspending some of them. These boards consider feedback from industry, academia and communities. Similar actions during Trumps first administration reduced the number of academics and representatives of nongovernmental organizations on these boards, while increasing the number of industry consultants.3. Using uncertainty to avoid regulationUncertainty is another important scientific term that the first Trump administration used to promote deregulation, particularly for chemicals.When the EPA studies chemicals, there are uncertainties around the health effects at different levels and types of exposure. A precautionary approach assumes that chemicals have adverse effects at low doses and that those effects grow as exposures increase or accumulate. Many scientists consider precaution a safer bet when not enough is known about the chemicals effects.Yet some chemicals may not actually cause harm until they reach a certain threshold. In the view of the chemical industry, that means a better safe than sorry approach can be wrong. Instead, the industry says, chemical regulation should be based on the best available science. However, the best available science on chemicals is often inconclusive. In the absence of a precautionary approach, the industrys argument for the best available science could actually mean less justification for regulation.Project 2025 proposes that, on his first day in office, Trump should issue an order to reject precautionary default models and uncertainty factors that drive flawed and opaque decisions.The consequences could include EPA analyses that understate the risks of toxic chemicals when research is still emerging, such as with PFAS.Whats next?Our team at EDGI is working with partners to again identify federal web pages and datasets vulnerable to removal, modification or attrition. That allows us to sound the alarm if these resources for tracking and addressing climate and environmental change go missing. We believe watchdog strategies made political appointees hesitant to order more changes during the first Trump administration.I dont think Trumps next EPA will be straightforwardly anti-science. I believe, however, that it will use language that appears to boost research openness and citizen participation but that is aimed at undermining policies that protect human health and the environment.Eric Nost is an associate professor of geography at the University of Guelph.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This story was originally published byCalMatters.Sign upfor their newsletters.As wildfires erupted in Southern California, so did a years-long feud between incoming presidentDonald Trumpand GovernorGavin Newsom.On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly threatened to cut offdisaster funding for California.He stopped short of that on Wednesday, but in a social media post, he called Newsom Newscum and blamed his water policies for the fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes, killed at least five people and displaced tens of thousands of Californians. Due to environmental regulations, he said, not enough water has reached Southern California and fire hydrants went dry as a result.Now the ultimate price is being paid, he said. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA. He is to blame for this.The Newsom administration called Trumps post pure fiction. Climate and wildfire specialists say eight months of droughtand blowing embers driven by Santa Ana windsgusting as high as 75 mphare to blame.Youll never have enough water to put out a Santa Ana fire, said Zeke Lunder,a California wildfire expertwhos been tracking and mapping the fires progress.The bigger question looming over California is whether Trumps feud with Newsom will cause him to act on his promise to cut federal disaster aid to the state when he takes office on Jan. 20.On thecampaign trail last year, Trump vowed that we wont give [Newsom] money to put out all his fires unless the Democratic governor agreed to divert more water to California farmers. Two former Trump administration officials later told Politico that Trumpinitially withheld approvalfor disaster aid for Californias deadly 2018 wildfires, until aides showed him that many of the residents of the affected areas had voted for him.A president can slow down the process of approving aid, or not declare a disaster, a decision critical to a state receiving federal relief funding. A 2021 federal report found that the Trump administration delayed $20 billion in disaster aid to Puerto Ricoafter Hurricane Maria in 2017.Federal funding typically pays for around 75% of the costs of rebuilding public infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water systems, parks, and fire stations, officials say. That means California would have to come up with billions of dollars in additional money after major disasters if Trump follows through on his campaign rhetoric.Federal disaster funds also help those whove lost their homes find temporary living quarters. Federal programs can help with home-rebuilding costs not covered by private insurance.Newsom preparing for uncertain disaster fundingNewsom has taken Trumps threats seriously enough that, in the fall, his administration began developingplans to establish a backup emergency response fundthat the state could draw from if Trump refused to make federal aid available. Its unclear if Newsom will follow through with the idea in his formal budget proposal, which is expected Friday.What you see with the president-elect is, you know, fire and fury often signifying something. You see fire and fury often signifying nothing, Newsom said at a press conference Monday, where he cautioned that Californias fiscal stability is uncertain under the incoming Trump administration. And you have to sort of work through all of that.On Wednesday, the outgoing Biden administration pledged federal help and is already sending disaster aid to the state, thanks to the $100 billionCongress approved in December.President Joe Biden, who was already in California to designate a new national monument and for the birth of his great-grandson, made a brief public appearance at a Santa Monica fire station on Wednesday morning to pledge his support for the response.Were prepared to do anything and everything, as long as it takes, to tame these fires and help reconstruct and make sure we get back to normal, Biden said. Its going to be a hell of a long way. Its going to take time.Newsom, who joined Biden, said the presidents quick declaration of a major disaster means the world to us.Its impossible for me to express the level of appreciation and cooperation we received from the White House and this administration, Newsom said. So on behalf of all of us, Mr. President, thank you for being here. And not just being here today. Thank you for being here since the minute of this incident.Most of Californias congressional delegationincluding U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and 47 House members, both Democrats and Republicanssigned onto a letterurging Biden to approve the declaration Wednesday.The severity of these wildfires requires additional coordination and a wider range of long-term federal recovery programs, the lawmakers wrote.When asked Wednesday about Trumps past threats to withhold disaster aid to California, Padilla warned that our response to these disasters cannot become a partisan issue, and I will continue fighting to secure the necessary resources for our states recovery.How federal money rebuilt Paradise, Santa RosaIn communities such as Paradise and Santa Rosa that suffered through similar catastrophic fires within the past decade, officials there said their communities wouldnt have been able to rebuild without federal help.If we hadnt had those types of funds to do the basic infrastructure that weve already done and are currently doing, I dont think we would have recovered at all. It is such a significant piece of recovery, said Collette Curtis, the recovery and economic development director for the town of Paradise. An early morning fire on Nov. 8, 2018, pushed by powerful winds destroyed most of the town in a matter of hours. Eighty-five people died; 18,000 buildings were destroyed.Curstis estimates that Paradise has received at least $375 million in federal aid since the fire.A year before the Paradise fire, thousands of homes in the city of Santa Rosa and surrounding communities burned in the Tubbs Fireanother wind-driven inferno that killed 22 people.The federal government provided at least $366 million in direct aid to communities affected by the Tubbs Fire and other fires that year, according to estimates from the office of U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat who represents the region. Santa Rosa alone received $218 million, said Assistant City Manager Jason Nutt.Without that much federal help, Santa Rosa wouldnt have recovered, said the citys former mayor,Chris Rogers, who was just sworn in as the regions Democratic Assemblymember.Without the help of the federal government, not only would we potentially not have been able to rebuild, but we certainly wouldnt have been able to rebuild as quickly, Rogers said.Rogers called Trumps threat to cut disaster funding for California communities inhuman.This is a time when people need the most support, when theyve lost everything, Rogers said. Thats the time when they need government to function for them. And so, to me, its completely unconscionable that you would choose that as not just to make a statement, but as a leverage point to try to get other things that you want. Its wildly inappropriate.CalMatters reportersStella Yu and Alastair Bland contributed to this story.

Architecture firms Field Operations and Studio Cadena have completed a plaza hemmed by angular concrete enclosures at the Domino Sugar development in Brooklyn, New York.With a central rink area covered by a shade structure, Domino Square sits between Selldorf Architects' porcelain-clad skyscrapers and PAU's office in the shell of the historic Domino Sugar Factory.Field Operations and Studio Cadena have completed a plaza at the Domino Sugar development. Photo by Daniel LevinThe team oriented the park to maximize views of the Manhattan skyline with the Statue of Liberty visible from the top of the tiered seating that lines the east side.The design of the park utilises the change in grade from the waterfront to Kent Street, allowing for a series of concrete enclosures designed by Studio Cardena to be at ground level facing the street. The tops of these blocks were landscaped and stepped down to the park.It is one of the final steps of the development, which was masterplanned by SHoP Architects and Field Operations. Photo by Daniel LevinBetween the artificial berm created by the landscaped enclosures is an entryway lined with weathering-steel retaining walls, which provides access to the park and the greater development.According to Field Operations partner Lisa Switkin, this acts as a gateway to the plaza."Its design is carefully orientated to respond to movement flows and sightlines, creating a sense of openness with multiple entry points, as well as moments of compression and expansion," she told Dezeen.Studio Cadena designed an enclosure that lines one side of the parkThe plaza is one of the last elements of the Domino Sugar development, driven by New York developer Two Trees Management, and masterplanned by SHoP Architects and Field Operations. Skyscrapers by SHoP Arhchitects and by CookFox have also been completed at the site in the last decade.Studio Cadena was responsible for the structures that line the street. Fronted by glass, the structures have fanned forms that rise from the concrete.The enclosure mitigates the slope from the waterfrontAccording to studio founder Benjamin Cadena, the structures responded to the site's gradient while orienting the landscaping above.While the enclosures were designed to provide space for four different retail operations, the spaces have been combined, and soon a restaurant will fill the structure on each side of the entryway.Though part of the overall development, Cadena said that he wanted to differentiate the park and create a sense of "enclosure" while relating the materials to the infrastructure. The walls of the enclosure were designed to extend from the concrete from below, yet the aggregate was slightly changed to make it distinct.Concrete aggregate was chosen for the enclosures that merges it with the street while keeping the park distinct"We wanted to create a sense of enclosure in the bowl-like shape of the square and on the street side to create a very distinct figure, so it could be recognizable and also would be flexible to start to accommodate different things," Cadena told Dezeen."Essentially, it's like a loggia that can be occupied in different ways."Elevated seating steps down from the lip of the enclosureBecause of the dense urban environment and the size of infrastructure adjacent and below, the project had to integrate a variety of technical elements, including a series of ventilation and intake ducts for a water treatment facility below.Studio Cadena worked with Field Operations to conceive of bronze-coloured pipes that poke out through the landscape.Read: Six-acre park opens at Williamsburg's Domino Sugar Factory site"The idea was to express these, rather to hide them, because it is kind of part of the ethos of the site," said Cadena, noting the industrial history of the site."I wanted these aspects to be integrated and expressed in the context of a city, because I think it's a project that really integrates things that operate at multiple levels."A shading structure covers the rink seating in the middleA final skyscraper is still underway as part of the development.Field Operations (formerly called James Corner Field Operations) has executed some of the most high-profile landscape projects in the city in the last decade, including the iconic High Line project.Studio Cadena operates out of New York and Bogotand earned attention in 2018 for asculptural pavilion in Flat Iron Plaza.The photography is by Michael Vahrenwald unless otherwise stated.The post Angular concrete buildings surround Domino Square plaza appeared first on Dezeen.

Award-winning Technics EAH-AZ80 were on the top list of most reliable audio gear reviewers, ever since their launch in 2023. They were on top of my bucket list as well, but CES 2025 has other plans. The successor to the AZ80s was released at the mega event and they are already the buzzword in the audio expert community.The Technics EAH-AZ100 is being mentioned as the Reference Class Hi-Fi True Wireless Earbuds, and there is complete substance to the claim. These premium earbuds will make the likes of Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, and Bower & Wilkins sweat hot since they have a feature no one else in the industry has explored for commercial audio equipment.Designer: TechnicsThe Panasonic-owned brand has piqued the interest of passionate music lovers who want a pair of earbuds that goes with an active lifestyle and is good at doing everything, sans any compromises. EAH-A80 set the bar high with its excellent performance, virtually topping the rankings of seasoned earbuds reviewers, and now EAH-AZ100 earbuds are better than by a long margin. They come with Panasonics proprietary ferrofluid magnetic drivers to improve the sonic signature for crystal-clear sound delivery. The oily liquid sits between the magnetic driver and the coil bay to keep distortion to a minimum. This is the same tech thats used in the EAH-TZ700 wired in-ear monitors used by audio engineers and artists. They are priced at a jaw-dropping $1,200 and now the tech adaption in the AZ100s means there is going to be a beefy improvement on the already amazing AZ80s.Magnetic Fluid Drivers and Superior ANC PerformanceThe result is good punchy audio in all the frequency ranges, speaking of which, the AZ100s have an audible ultra-low frequency response of 3Hz for a richer bass. The aluminum diaphragm takes care of the high-resolution frequencies for excellent sound separation and depth. Some reviewers nit-picked how the ANC performance, ambient mode, or calling capability of the AZ80 could have been better, and that input has been taken well by Technics. The ANC optimization is another feature in the mix as the buds detect the ear shape for more personalized tweaks.So, are we talking about dethroning the Bose QuietComfort UltraEarbuds or the Sony WF-1000XM5? It could very well be as Technics dont want to leave anything to chance for Panasonics 60th anniversary this year. The supported audio codecs include LDAC, SBC, AAC, and the new LC3 codec for Low Energy audio and Auracast support.Premium Comfort and Enhanced Battery LifeIPX4-rated AZ100s are 10% smaller and 16% lighter than the predecessor making them more comfortable for long hours of listening. Noticeably Technics has included a fifth medium-sized tip in the package so that every kind of user finds their best-suited fit. The battery also got an upgrade, as these last for 10 hours with ANC on at a moderate volume level. The multipoint connectivity for up to three devices simultaneously is also retained which is good for people who love their gadgets.For $300 the same price as the AZ80 these flagship buds are going to be the hot new favorite of TWS reviewers. They are available for purchase in black or silver color right away in the US. We cant wait to get our hands on one, and at time, well have a detailed review of these promising TWS earbuds.The post Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds with Magnetic Fluid drivers promise crisp audio, ANC, and premium comfort first appeared on Yanko Design.

TikTok transformed everyday users into influencers and made entrepreneurs rich via its Shop feature. With the US ban looming, they could lose everythingand many dont know where to go next.

The justices, who asked tough questions of both sides, showed skepticism toward arguments by lawyers for TikTok and its users.

After visiting President-elect Donald J. Trump in November, Mr. Zuckerberg decided to relax Metas speech policies. He asked a small team to carry out his goals within weeks. The repercussions are just beginning.