Catherine Bashiama runs her fingers along the branches of the coffee tree shes raised from a seedling, searching anxiously for its first fruit buds since she planted it three years ago. When she grasps the small cherries, Bashiama beams.The farmer had never grown coffee in her village in western South Sudan, but now hopes a rare, climate-resistant species will help pull her family from poverty. I want to send my children to school so they can be the future generation, said Bashiama, a mother of 12.Discovered more than a century ago in South Sudan, excelsa coffee is exciting cash-strapped locals and drawing interest from the international community amid a global coffee crisis caused mainly by climate change. As leading coffee-producing countries struggle to grow crops in drier, less reliable weather, prices have soared to the highest in decades and the industry is scrambling for solutions.Experts say estimates from drought-stricken Brazil, the worlds top coffee grower, are that this years harvest could be down by some 12%.What history shows us is that sometimes the world doesnt give you a choice, and right now there are many coffee farmers suffering from climate change that are facing this predicament, said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London.Excelsa could play a key role in adapting.Native to South Sudan and a handful of other African countries, including Congo, Central African Republic and Uganda, excelsa is also farmed in India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The trees deep roots, thick leathery leaves and big trunk allow it to thrive in extreme conditions such as drought and heat where other coffees cannot. Its also resistant to many common coffee pests and diseases.Yet it comprises less than 1% of the global market, well behind the arabica and robusta species that are the most consumed coffees in the world. Experts say excelsa will have to be shown to be practical at a much larger scale to bridge the gap in the market caused by climate change.Coffees history in South SudanUnlike neighboring Ethiopia or Uganda, oil-rich South Sudan has never been known as a coffee-producing nation.Its British colonizers grew robusta and arabica, but much of that stopped during decades of conflict that forced people from their homes and made it hard to farm. Coffee trees require regular care such as pruning and weeding and take at least three years to yield fruit.During a visit earlier this month to Nzara County in Western Equatoria state regarded as the countrys breadbasket residents reminisced to Associated Press reporters about their parents and grandparents growing coffee, yet much of the younger generation hadnt done it themselves.Many were familiar with excelsa, but didnt realize how unique it was, or what it was called, referring to it as the big tree, typically taller than the arabica and robusta species that are usually pruned to be bush- or hedge-like. The excelsa trees can reach 15 meters (about 49 feet) in height, but may also be pruned much shorter for ease of harvesting.Coffee made from excelsa tastes sweet unlike robusta with notes of chocolate, dark fruits and hazelnut. Its more similar to arabica, but generally less bitter and may have less body.Theres so little known about this coffee, that we feel at the forefront to trying to unravel it and were learning every day, said Ian Paterson, managing director of Equatoria Teak, a sustainable agro-forestry company thats been operating in the country for more than a decade.The companys been doing trials on excelsa for years. Initial results are promising, with the trees able to withstand heat much better than other species, the company said. Its also working with communities to revive the coffee industry and scale up production. Three years ago it gave seedlings and training to about 1,500 farmers, including Bashiama, to help them grow the coffee. The farmers can sell back to the company for processing and export.Many of the trees started producing for the first time this year, and Paterson said he hopes to export the first batch of some 7 tons to specialty shops in Europe. By 2027, the coffee could inject some $2 million into the economy, with big buyers such as Nespresso expressing interest. But production needs to triple for it to be worthwhile for large buyers to invest, he said.Challenges of growing an industry amid South Sudans instabilityThat could be challenging in South Sudan, where lack of infrastructure and insecurity make it hard to get the coffee out.One truck of 30 tons of coffee has to travel some 1,800 miles (3,000 kilometers) to reach the port in Kenya to be shipped. The cost for the first leg of that trip, through Uganda, is more than $7,500, which is up to five times the cost in neighboring countries.Its also hard to attract investors.Despite a peace deal in 2018 that ended a five-year civil war, pockets of fighting persist. Tensions in Western Equatoria are especially high after the president removed the governor in February, sparking anger among his supporters. When AP reporters visited Nzara, the main road to town was cut off one day because of gunshots and people were fleeing their villages, fearful of further violence.The government says companies can operate safely, but warned them to focus on business.If Im a businessman, dealing with my business, let me not mix with politics. Once you start mixing your business with politics, definitely you will end up in chaos, said Alison Barnaba, the states minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Environment.Barnaba said there are plans to rehabilitate old coffee plantations and build an agriculture school, but details are murky, including where the money will come from. South Sudan hasnt paid its civil servants in more than a year, and a rupture of a crucial oil pipeline through neighboring Sudan has tanked oil revenue.Growing the coffee isnt always easy, either. Farmers have to contend with fires that spread quickly in the dry season and decimate their crops. Hunters use fires to scare and kill animals and residents use it to clear land for cultivation. But the fires can get out of control and there are few measures in place to hold people accountable, say residents.Coffee as a way out of povertyStill, for locals, the coffee represents a chance at a better future.Bashiama said she started planting coffee after her husband was injured and unable to help cultivate enough of the maize and ground nuts that the family had lived on. Since his accident she hasnt been able to send her children to school or buy enough food, she said.Another farmer, 37-year-old Taban John, wants to use his coffee earnings to buy a bicycle so he can more easily sell his other crops, ground nuts and cassava, and other goods in town. He also wants to be able to afford school uniforms for his children.Excelsa is an opportunity for the community to become more financially independent, say community leaders. People rely on the government or foreign aid, but when that doesnt come through theyre not able to take care of their families, they say.But for coffee to thrive in South Sudan, locals say there needs to be a long-term mentality, and that requires stability.Elia Box lost half of his coffee crop to fire in early February. He plans to replace it, but was dispirited at the work it will require and the lack of law and order to hold people accountable.People arent thinking long-term like coffee crops, during war, he said. Coffee needs peace.The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. It receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.Sam Mednick, Associated Press

Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has launched a sale of its Hong Kong shares to raise up to $5.2 billion via an accelerated book-building, according to a deal term sheet seen by Reuters on Monday.The company has set a price range of HK$333-HK$345 per share for the offering, representing an up to 8.4% discount compared to the stocks market closing price of HK$363.60 on Monday.The offering is expected to be priced on Monday, the term sheet said.BYD did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.The company plans to use the proceeds to invest in research and development, expand overseas businesses, supplement working capital, and for general purposes.The deal adds to a sharp pickup this year in share offering momentum in Hong Kong, the preferred destination for Chinese companies looking to raise offshore capital, as investors bet on a possible recovery in Chinas economic growth.Shares of Chinas largest bubble tea and drinks chain, Mixue Group, jumped more than 47% in their debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, with new listings in the city recording their strongest start to a year since 2021.The stellar start reinforces hopes for a strong year in new equity issuances by Chinese companies in Hong Kong, as Beijing steps up support for its private enterprises to revive a slowing economy amid heightened geopolitical tensions.The fundraising comes amid a hectic pace of hiring and expanding to other markets for BYD.BYD plans to hire 20,000 employees in Zhengzhou in the first quarter as it boosts production capacity, government-run Henan Daily reported last month.The company also aims to complete its $1 billion plant in Indonesia at the end of 2025, the head of its local unit said in January.BYD, which overshot its global sales target to more than 4 million units sold last year, opened its first EV plant in Southeast Asia in Thailand in 2024, worth $490 million and which has a production capacity of 150,000 units per year.Scott Murdoch, Reuters

Crews battled wildfires in North and South Carolina on Sunday amid dry conditions and gusty winds as residents were forced to evacuate in some areas.The National Weather Service warned of increased fire danger in the region due to a combination of critically dry fuels and very low relative humidity.In South Carolina, where more than 175 fires burned 6.6 square miles (17 square kilometers), Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency on Sunday to support the wildfire response effort, and a statewide burning ban remained in effect.Crews made progress containing a fire in the Carolina Forest area west of the coastal resort city of Myrtle Beach, where residents had been ordered to evacuate several neighborhoods, according to Horry County Fire Rescue. Video showed some people running down the street as smoke filled the sky. But by late Sunday afternoon, the fire department announced that Carolina Forest evacuees could return home.The South Carolina Forestry Commission estimated Sunday evening that the blaze had burned 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) with 30 percent of it contained. No structures had succumbed to the blaze and no injuries had been reported as of Sunday morning, officials said.In North Carolina, the U.S. Forest Service said fire crews were working to contain multiple wildfires burning in four forests across the state on Sunday. The largest, about 400 acres (162 hectares), was at Uwharrie National Forest, about 50 miles (80.47 kilometers) east of Charlotte. The Forest Service said Sunday afternoon that it had made progress on the fire, reaching about one-third containment.The small southwestern town of Tryon in Polk County, North Carolina, urged some residents to evacuate Saturday as a fire spread rapidly there. The evacuations remained in effect Sunday. A decision on whether to lift them was expected to be made Monday after intentional burns are set to try to stop the fire from spreading.That fire has burned about 500 acres (202 hectares) as of late Sunday, with zero percent containment, according to the Polk County Emergency Management/Fire Marshals office. The North Carolina Forest Service was conducting water drops and back-burning operations on the ground, and area residents should expect a lot of smoke during those operations, officials said.Officials have not said what caused any of the fires.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers is looking to close up to 70 underperforming locations, representing about 14% of the 498restaurants that were operating as of the end of last year. The company has already closed one restaurant upon lease expiration, it said in an earnings release last week, and it plans to close three additional locations within the first quarter of 2025. Most of the 70 locations are likely to close at some point in the next five years once their leases expire, Restaurant Dive reported, with as many as 15 closing this year.This decision follows a review of the companys operations, which revealed that these sites are not meeting performance expectations.Red Robin reported a net loss of $39.7 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, a sharp decline compared to the $13.7 million loss reported in the same period of 2023. Despite this, the company reported a 19% increase in adjusted EBITDA, reflecting the success of its cost-saving measures.Highlights for Q4 and full-year 2024Total revenues of $1.25 billion for the year, down from $1.3 billion in 2023. Q4 revenues were $285.2 million, down $23.8 million due to one fewer operating week.Comparable restaurant revenue decreased 1.2% for the year, but increased 3.4% in Q4 (1.8% including deferred loyalty revenue impact).Net loss of $77.5 million for the year, compared to a net loss of $21.2 million in 2023. Q4 net loss was $39.7 million, impacted by $32.4 million in impairment and closure costs.Adjusted EBITDA of $38.8 million for the year, down 43.7%, with a 19% increase in Q4 to $12.7 million.Lingering optimismWhile the closures mark a difficult chapter for the company, Red Robins leadership believes the actions taken will better position it for future growth and profitability. CEO G.J. Hart highlighted the significant improvements in customer traffic, with a 600-basis-point improvement from the first to the fourth quarter. The company is focusing on bringing guests back into restaurants with its North Star plan, which aims to boost guest experience and operational efficiency.Red Robin has restaurants in 39 U.S. states and one Canadian province, with its largest presence in California, Washington State, and Colorado. In closing underperforming locations, it would join a growing list of dining chains including Dennys, Wendys, TGI Fridays, and several others that have moved to reduce their footprint in recent months. Shares of Red Robin stock (Nasdaq: RRGB) are down almost 24% in the last 12 months.

In todays high-stakes business environment, stress isnt just an individual challengeits a force that shapes careers and organizations. The U.S. Department of Labor finds that 83% of workers suffer from work-related stress, and 54% say that work stress affects their home lives.In my coaching work with hundreds of professionals annually, Ive witnessed firsthand how impossible it is to separate stress from career trajectories; they are intertwined, each influencing and shaping the other. Stress can derail even the most carefully planned career paths, yet we often treat career decisions as purely rational, despite the fact that our psychological state profoundly influences the choices we make. Ive practically tested these insights with individuals and leadership teams.Here are five key theories that can help us make better decisions at workand how leaders can set up their teams for success:1. Cognitive Load TheoryIts well known that when stress increases, it causes our mental bandwidth to shrink dramatically, and its harder to weigh risks and rewards objectively. According to the American Psychological Associations 2024 Work in America survey, 77% of U.S. workers experience work-related stress, with 36% reporting cognitive fatigue. Ive seen that cognitive overload can be a recurrent theme in high-stakes professions like healthcare, finance, and emergency services.Muscle memory cant necessarily be depended on, as each case demands fresh analysis rather than routine responses. That results in errors with vast consequences, including profound ones like death. It can also be a trend with early-career professionals who must juggle skill acquisition with performance expectations and show higher rates of burnout and worsened mental health.Example: A high-performing individual contributor, overwhelmed by multiple deadlines and an unexpected project, starts working longer hours, missing crucial meetings, and making uncharacteristic errors in financial reports, as their mental resources are depleted.What leaders can do: Think of managing cognitive load like tending a garden by creating space for growth, pruning unnecessary meetings, and protecting blocks of time for deep work. Task prioritization tools can also reduce decision fatigue and encourage breaks, allowing minds to refresh and ideas to flourish. Remember, a well-rested team will outperform an exhausted one every time.2. Dual-Process TheoryCognitive psychologists Peter Wason and Jonathan St. B. T. Evans suggested the dual-process theory in 1974. The theory identifies two distinct thinking systems: fast, intuitive reactions and slower, analytical reasoning. Under stress, we are more likely to default to the quick-response system, bypassing careful analysis and consideration. Being mindful of stress levels helps prevent impulsive career decisions that may not align with long-term goals.Example: After receiving tough feedback during a performance review, a team leader immediately volunteers for three high-visibility projects and begins working weekends, making reactive decisions that further compound their stress.What leaders can do: If you work in a fast-growing startup with demanding client relationships or a company in volatile markets, your cultural environment may be problematic for dual-process thinking. When characterized by rapid decision cycles and high-stakes outcomes, these environments can push professionals into reactive thinking patterns.In our rush to make decisions, we often forget the power of pause. Take a look at the past quarters major decisions to see if you can spot patterns of reactive thinking. It can also be a good idea to help foster mentor relationships that offer fresh perspectives and openly share your journey from reactive to responsive decision-making. If teams see thoughtful choices modeled, it helps them trust their analytical minds over their impulses.3. Affect HeuristicThis psychological principle demonstrates how emotional states act as mental shortcuts in decision-making. Under stress, our emotional filters become increasingly dominant, often distorting our professional judgment.I frequently observe how bias impacts how we make decisions when fatigued and how it manifests in the daily activities of leaders. For instance, one tech leader admitted to me that they had recently realized they had been hiring people who reminded them of themselves. Tired brains naturally gravitate toward what is familiar and comfortable, yet stress-induced emotional decisions often amplify biases, leading to overlooked talent and missed opportunities.Example: A product manager, experiencing pressure from stakeholders, makes sweeping product changes based on a single negative customer review, disrupting the product roadmap and team morale.What leaders can do: Start each week with a gentle emotional temperature check of your team. Ask each person to share one word that captures their current mindset. When doing so, watch for red flags like short, clipped responses, unusual irritability, or typically vocal team members falling silent.You can also use open-ended simple questions that reveal hidden work-related stress, such as Whats taking up the most space in your mind right now? or Is there anywhere that you feel stuck? When team members default to fine or okay, go beyond surface-level responses and gently probe deeper with questions like What does fine look like for you today?If you notice patterns of responses hinting at exhaustion or hear words like overwhelmed or drained from multiple team members, be mindful of making major decisions. This quick emotional weather report allows you to read your teams emotional state, meaning you get better at spotting when someone is frustrated, overwhelmed, or excitedeven when its not explicitly stated, preventing teams from making unsound choices.4. Self-Determination TheoryThe self-determination theory includes three fundamental psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When stress compromises these core needs, decision-making becomes reactive and short-sighted. Ive witnessed this being especially critical in modern hybrid and remote work environments, where traditional support structures take on virtual forms.Example: Feeling isolated and disconnected, a remote worker begins to disengage from team projects, miss key deadlines, and secretly apply to competitors without making an attempt to resolve their frustrations about their current job.What leaders can do: While building a rewarding career requires self-motivation on behalf of the employee, as a leader, picture yourself as an architect of autonomy, designing spaces where people shape their work while staying connected to the larger mission. If youre not already creating opportunities for meaningful connection in both virtual and physical realms, now is the time to do so. When people feel genuinely supported, they thrive.5. Career Construction TheoryAn employees professional identity is the story they tell about themselves at work, whether theyre the Excel wizard or the one who always gets things done. When organizations undergo significant changes, like switching to entirely new software systems, reorganizations, or new management, these identities can suddenly feel shaky or irrelevant to your team members.Stress can also fragment these personal narratives, making maintaining a coherent career vision challenging. When youre stressed, its harder to articulate your thoughts and sell yourself, a product, or an idea. Couple that with productivity anxiety, and you can see why theres an organizational need to support the skill of building a personal brand.Example: During organizational restructuring, an early-career professional becomes fixated on worst-case scenarios, exhibits less diverse thinking, and finds it hard to articulate the impact of their work.What leaders can do: Research from Deloitte indicates that 40% of Gen Z employees report feeling stressed most of the time, which impacts decision-making, confidence in their career narratives, and the time and energy to upskill in their career. Yet, every career tells a story, and helping shape the narratives of those at high risk of burnout is perhaps leaderships most subtle art.Suppose your team isnt surpassing its potential, engagement is dipping, and you cant name two to three of your employees non-work-related strengths. Bring in support to holistically bolster employee brands (and the companies, too).By understanding these frameworks and taking action, you can help create environments that support rational decision-making and emotional well-being. The future belongs to organizations that recognize stress management isnt just about individual coping mechanismsits about building systems that help people think clearly and choose wisely.

Gallup recently released newdataon employee engagement, and the results are dismal. Just 3 out of every 10 employees are actively engagedwhich is the lowest percentage in a decade. But despite decades of effort and investment in tackling disengagement, this persistent issue endures.If you conduct an Amazon search for books on employee engagement, youll get thousands of results. There are also dozens of apps and platforms that promise to unleash human potential and help people transform, not to mention countless, self-described coaches offering services related to re-engaging the workforce. Weve seen the rise and fall of perks culture, added opportunities forhybridandflexible work, and wage increases averaging 39% over the last 10 yearsall in an attempt to fix this seemingly systemic issue.And yet, nothings moved the needle on engagement. Why?Despite all these efforts, weve missed something fundamental: Engagement doesnt come from where or when we work or what we get for doing it. It comes from what weexperiencewhile working.Work is relationshipsWe construct our work experience through our interpersonal relationships. The psychologist David Blustein captured this reality when hewrotethe following in theJournal Of Vocational Behavior, . . . each decision, experience, and interaction with the working world is understood, influenced, and shaped by relationships.Gallups latest data reveals that only 39% of employees think someone cares about them as people at work. Less than half say that their bosses and colleagues treat them with respect, and just 30% say their place of work encourages potential and development. Other studies from the last five years show that 30% of people feel invisible at work, 65% feel underappreciated, and close to 82% of workers say theyve feltlonely, as reported by SHRM.This paints a clear picture: Were not facing a disengagement crisiswere facing amattering deficit, and more apps, surveys, perks, or pay increases wont fix this. Only people can.People wont care if they dont feel cared forMatteringis the experience of feeling significant that comes from being seen, heard, and valued.Its also a prerequisite for engagement. And engagement is when employees care about what theyre doing, how theyre doing it, and who theyre doing it with. Itis the experience of feeling significant that comes from being seen, heard, and valued.But we cant expect people to care if they dont first feel cared for. According to theJournal of Organizational Psychology,there are three psychological states thatpredictengagement: psychological meaningfulness (I and what I do matter), psychological safety (I can show my true self without fear of consequences), and psychological availability (I have the physical and psychological resources I need to do my work).You can cultivate relationships to make people feel seen, supported, and valued. This is why organizations need to shift their focus from merely measuring engagement to equipping leaders with the skills to cultivate its leading indicator: mattering.Re-skill leaders so that they careBuilding on almost a half-decade of research on what creates a sense ofmattering, psychologistIsaac Prilleltenskydistinguished two ingredients necessary to feel significant. When we feel that others value us and we know how we add value to their lives. Feeling valued and adding value have a reinforcing relationship. The more we feel valued, the more we add value.When leaders value the people they lead, those people can contribute, create, and innovate, because they know someone sees them, hears them, and has their back. Relationships in which we feel cared for reinforce our worth and ability, forging our confidence to add value.When people feel like they matter to someone, they act like they matter, they engage. A mistake many leaders subconsciously make is to assume that people only deserve value once they add value, but the opposite is true: People need to feel valued to add value.Money, perks, programs, awards, and platforms cant value someone. Theyre inanimate objects. They can be symbols of value, but only people can value people. Thats why re-engagement begins with re-skilling leaders to care, truly see and hear others, and help them understand the difference they make every day.The essential skills to create a culture of significanceSo, where do we start? In research for my new book, The Power of Mattering, my team and I uncovered three critical skill sets of leaders that cultivate a sense of mattering:Noticing:This is the skill of truly seeing and hearing others.Seeingothers requires you to acknowledge them and paying attention to the details, ebbs, and flows of their lives and work while offering actions to show them youre paying attention.Hearingsomeone means demonstrating a real interest in the meaning and feeling behind someones words and inviting out their experiences and perspectives within a climate of psychological safety.Affirming:The skills of knowing, naming, and nurturing peoples gifts, showing how they and their work make a difference, giving meaningful gratitude, and providing affirming critical feedback.Needing:The skills of showing people how they and their work are indispensable and non-disposable.The good news is that mattering happens in small interactions, not grand initiatives. Addressing disengagement requires a commitment to re-learning and scaling these essential human skills.Leaders can start by making sure that they take the time to make the next person they interact with feel noticed, affirmed, and needed.

This article is republished with permission fromWonder Tools,a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.Subscribe here.Typing isnt always the best way to get your thoughts down. Sometimes talking through an idea leads to better clarity. New AI tools can reliably transform those spoken thoughts into clean, organized text.Ive spent months experimenting with voice AI toolsfirst on my phone, and now on my laptop. Theyve been helping me pull ideas from my brain onto paper. The tools below have become crucial to my workflow.Why voice AI beats traditional transcriptionTraditional transcription simply converts speech to text. Modern voice AI does much more:Instant transformation:Speak naturally and get a polished draft, outline, or summarySmart cleanup:AI removes filler words and adds proper punctuationFormat flexibility:Convert speech into various formats like bullet lists or structured documentsContext awareness:AI understands context and organizes your thoughts logically. Because its grounded in your own words, it doesnt hallucinate.5 ways I like using voice AIHere are some scenarios where voice AI is particularly valuable:1. Journal entriesInstead of staring at a blank page, I speak my thoughts at days end. The AI transforms my stream of consciousness into organized reflections.2. Meeting follow-upsAfter an in-person meeting, I open my voice AI app, hit record, and talk through key points while theyre still fresh. I dont worry about the structure of my sentences or about pausing as I think. The AI waits for me and summarizes my rambling.3. Presentation planningSpeaking through presentation ideas helps me figure out my narrative flow. The AI helps me organize my thoughts into a structured outline. I can talk through multiple potential versions, then compare them on screen later.4. Book notesTo preserve insights from something Im reading, I turn on a voice AI app and flip through the pages or scroll through the text to remind myself out loud about intriguing passages or ideas. I then save the structured note the AI creates.I like being able to look back at the text while dictating the note. And the editing part of my brain interferes less when Im talking than when Im typing.5. Daily planningStarting my day by verbally mapping out my priorities helps me think through whats ahead more effectively than typing out a list.Voice AI apps to tryLetterlyEasy to use:Just press the apps big button. Up to 15 minutes per recording.Cross-platform:Record or access your past text-from-voice across automatically synchronized desktop, web, and mobile apps.Smart format detection:The magic transform option can automatically reformat your words, turning lists into bullets or structuring email drafts for quick copy-and-pasting into other apps.Customizable outputs:Transform recordings into LinkedIn posts, podcast or video scripts, structured documents, or your own custom formats.Iterative refinement:Try different transformations of the same recording until you get exactly what you need.Multiple languages:Record in any of 90 languages, or record in one language and have the app translate your text into another.Offline and screen-off options:Record anywhere, even without Internet access. Try using background mode without your screen on. I often record with my AirPods while walking with my phone in my pocket.Founders tip:Dont confuse it with dictation, says Letterlys founder and CEO Anton Lebedev. You dont need to pronounce the perfect text you want to write. Instead, think out loud, speak slowly, quickly, or even chaotically. AI will understand you. Think of it like a writing assistant youre telling what to write. The assistant can understand you and figure out how to rewrite the text.LetterlyPricing:$80/year after a free trialOasisMulti-purpose output:Get your recording transformed simultaneously into various formatsfrom a memo or outline to a blog post or TED talk.Make custom templates:Create and name short prompts that reflect your preferred styles or formats. Those become part of your personalized prompt library for transforming future recordings. I made one for my journal entries.Web accessibility:Like Letterly and Audiopen, you can access your recordings and transformed text through a browser on any device.Oasispricing:$5/month or $50/year for enough credits for hundreds of monthly uses.AudioPenCustomize rewrite length:Customize the length setting if youd prefer summaries of your transcribed recordings to be shorter or longer. Create and access them on your phone or on any device through your browser.Shareable audio notes:Send individual audio note links to colleagues or collaborators. Or send then to other apps with aZapierintegration.Flexible organization:Combine multiple audio notes or their summaries into larger collections. You can search for old notes or arrange them in folders.Rich template selection:Choose from various transformation templates.AudioPenpricing: $99/year or $159/two years after a free trial.Bottom LineStart withLetterlyif you want simplicity and reliability. ConsiderOasisif you want a slightly cheaper option or need to simultaneously access multiple format variations of the same content.AudioPenis useful if you want to customize the length of your voice summaries or if sharing or combining audio notes is important to your workflow.Where to use voice AIVoice AI shines when typing isnt practical or when you want to think freely without your hands on a keyboard. Here are situations where you can try it:At homeComfy chair: Capture book notes without interrupting your reading rhythm.Kitchen: Document recipe adjustments or cooking notes while your hands are busy with ingredients.Bedside: Record late-night musings without disrupting your wind-down routine with a bright screen.Garden: Log landscaping ideas or random thoughts while your hands are dirty.On the moveWalking: Capture project ideas and inspiration during your daily stroll.Commute: Draft emails and plan your day while on the subway or bus.Car: Record thoughts safely after parking but before you forget an important idea.At workQuiet space: Create reflective journal entries while looking out the window.Conference: Capture insights between sessions to avoid being overwhelmed when you get home.Doctors office: Record appointment details and follow-up steps while the info is fresh.Active timeOutdoors:Draft journal entries or creative ideas while surrounded by natureExercise: Outline presentations or brainstorm on the treadmillShopping: Create lists or remind yourself about productsVoice AI on your laptopI used to rely exclusively on mobile voice AI apps, but lately Ive been relying on laptop voice AI apps. These are less focused on transforming text and more on putting your spoken text on your clipboard so you can paste into any tool youre using. It works with Google Docs, Word, email, or whatever else youre using. I use these on my laptop because its quicker and easier for me to talk than to type. Here are three worth trying:FlowQuick to start:Once youve installed the software, just hold down the function key to start recording in any of 100+ languages. Your recording gets instantly transcribed and the cleaned-up text is copied to your clipboard.Works anywhere on your computer:Paste transcribed text directly into any applicationemail, documents, or messaging apps.Reduces screen and hand fatigue:Record while looking away from your screen to reduce eye strain and give your hands a break.Flowpricing: Free for up to 2,000 words/week; $12/month billed annually for unlimited words and extra features. $8/month forstudents and educators.TalkTasticSimple transcription:Made by the team that created the Oasis mobile app, TalkTastic is designed to be simpler. Instead of transforming your speech into various text types, it just puts a cleaned-up version of what you say onto your clipboard to paste into any app.Smart text transformation:You can optionally set it to analyze your screen context to offer transformed versions of your text.Free:While in beta, theres no cost for TalkTastic.MacWhisperAdvanced transcription:Use this free software to transcribe online meetings, podcasts, or live dictation. You can even upload files to transcribe.Pay once for pro features:Enable YouTube transcriptions, batch uploads, translation, and top AI model usage with a one-time purchase.MacWhisperpricing: Free for basic usage; about $60 for pro upgrade; 20% discount withthis link.Journalists, students, or non-profits can emailsupport@macwhisper.comfor 50% off.Other ways to use your voice to benefit from AIChatGPThas a powerful voice mode in its mobile and desktop apps. Rather than typing out AI queries, you can have a conversation with an AI bot. Hereswhy thats so useful.Perplexitys mobile app voice AI mode is terrific. I ask it a series of questions, like an oracle. It beats Google on many of my queries. The AI understands what Im asking, then gathers and summarizes a helpful response. Citations in the app ensure I can check on its info sources.GooglesGeminiand MicrosoftsCopilothave recently-upgraded mobile voice modes. Converse with human-sounding AI bots without thumb typing.Open-source optionsabound.This article is republished with permission fromWonder Tools,a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps.Subscribe here.

In the business world, advertisers are the stunt performers. Our fragmented media and pop cultural landscape has forced brands to really push stunts into the weird and wonderful. Whether its Snoop threatening to give up smoking, Ben Affleck working a Dunkin drive-thru, or a devil baby terrorizing the streets of New York. Meanwhile in Hollywood, the stunt performers are the ones who actually pull off the death-defying action that can make us gasp. Theyre a breath of IRL fresh air in a world blanketed by visual-effects technology.Now, for the biggest night in entertainment, these two worlds converge for a pretty epic stunt by both worlds definition. Disney Advertising, Jimmy Kimmels Kimmelot, and Ryan Reynoldss Maximum Effort, have enlisted five different brands to create six commercials that will air during the Oscars ceremony, tonight at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET, featuring more than 75 stunt performers executing classic Hollywood stunts like skydiving, high falls, and dynamic fight scenes.John Campbell, Disney Advertisings senior vice president of entertainment and streaming solutions, says that a lot of their conversations with CMOs have revolved around looking to create quality content that can maximize a given cultural moment, in particular to live audiences. The Oscars ticked all of those boxes.For the participating brandsCarnival Cruise Line, Kiehls, LOral Paris, MNTN, and SamsungCampbell says they saw the advantage of teaming up on a unique concept.We had this concept to shine a light on the stunt community and the tremendous impact that they have on film for all of us as fans, says Campbell. We see them as Hollywoods hidden heroes, so we put the hypothesis out there: What if we invited them to step into the spotlight on entertainments biggest night? And honestly, what came about is kind of wild. We had 75 real-life stunt performers, 150 crew members, and we did this in a little over a week of filming and producing.The result may well be the biggest advertising stunt ever done for the Oscars.Brands playing niceMarketers typically do not like sharing the spotlight. But here, with Carnival Cruise Line, Kiehls, LOral Paris, MNTN, and Samsung, theres a balance among brands across product categories so that they can creatively all row in the same direction.Campbell says that the company has brands it works with on a consistent basis and had a sense of who might want to test the waters of a new concept like this. The question is, are brands really going to play together? So weve had to find the right brands who are going to trust Disney advertisers, going to trust the Academy in order to say, You know what, we are going to play together, and something really special is going to come about.Kiehls general manager John Reed says this is the brands national TV-commercial debut, and it wanted to showcase authenticity, craftsmanship, and innovation. With this being a multibrand project, it was important to us that the Kiehls spot felt endemic to the brand while fitting into the larger storytelling, says Reed. That we can stand out while fitting in.LOreal Paris USA president Laura Branik says this idea was a natural fit to showcase the performance of the brands Infallible 3-Second Setting Mist in a breakthrough way. The collaborative process was really rooted in a shared vision and creativity, says Branik. We worked closely with Disney Advertising from the very startfrom brainstorming concepts to shaping the final execution.We have all been working toward the same goal of elevating stunt performers who are so deserving of this spotlight, which has made the process truly collaborative and fun.The Carnival Cruises ad features stuntwoman Hannah Betts jumping from a helicopter at 11,000 feet right into the pool of a Carnival Cruise ship. The clip in the ad was Betts first take. The Oscars delivers the right audience of prospective Carnival cruisers who love the fun of travel and live events, says Carnival CMO Amy Martin Ziegenfuss. This collaboration provided an opportunity to be more contextually relevant within the program, alongside other great brands and partners.The only nonconsumer brand of the lineup is ad tech firm MNTN, the parent company for Reynoldss creative shop Maximum Effort. CEO Mark Douglas says that the company aims to showcase the power of storytelling during commercial time, and thisstunt aligns perfectly with that mission. Its the ultimate way to show how advertising can be as thrilling and impactful as the content it complements, says Douglas.Stunt Advertising EvolvedIts a novel concept getting five brands to collaborate on a six-ad extravaganza during the Oscars to celebrate stunt performers. But this isnt Disney Advertisings first crack at experimental ads.Back in 2022, it worked with Kimmelot and Maximum Effort for the series finale of The Walking Dead. They created a series of ads for Autodesk, Deloitte, DoorDash, MNTN, and Ring, featuring four characters who died over the course of the shows 11-season run. All five commercials were shot in two days.Last year, the companies collaborated again, this time for a Groundhog Day-like campaign for Lays. That was a series of eight ads starring Stephen Tobolowsky, who played Ned in the 1993 comedy-film classic Groundhog Day, just trying to buy a bag of chips. The spots ran 75 times on the calendars Groundhog Day, taking up a third of ABCs commercial inventory for the day, appearing during Good Morning America, General Hospital, Shark Tank, 20/20, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!.Campbell says that the goal was to evolve the approach, this time with multiple brands, and on perhaps the biggest night of live-event TV outside of the Super Bowl. It was really asking, how do we continue to push ourselves, to push the boundaries, and use the full platform of Disney in order to keep pushing these creative boundaries? he says.The StuntsChris Denison directed the Carnival spot and coordinated the stunts and cast every stunt performer across all six commercials. Hes performed stunts in films for Zac Efron, Jared Leto, and Ewan McGregor, as well as being Sam Worthingtons stunt double in James Camerons Avatar sequels.Denison says that his first thought when he heard about this overall idea was, Dude, dont mess this up!All kidding aside, when I first heard of the concept of a series of stunts-centric commercials geared toward paying homage to our profession, I was struck by a tremendous sense of responsibility, both to my peers and the legends of the business who came before us, says Denison. I knew instinctively that if the commercials that we produced were anything less than amazing, they would fall far short of the mission of honoring the overall stunt community. As a result, my team and I poured absolutely everything we had into this process.The biggest challenge from a stunt perspective was using the action to tell a meaningful story inside the boundaries of a 30-second spot.Im a firm believer that action should be a storytelling device; that is, all stunts should be used to drive a story forward, else you risk losing your connection with the audience, says Denison. The creative team and our fantastic directors did us so many favors in this regard, but we as a department had to be absolutely ruthless about distilling the action down to its core.He points to the Samsung Fight commercial. Our first iteration of the fight was over a minute long, says Denison. With the help of our fearless fight coordinator, Steve Brown, we literally workshopped that thing for weeks, stripping out the proverbial shoe leather while highlighting the individual storytelling elements. I believe that the finished product is as compelling as a 30-second fight can get. This challenge persisted across each of the spots, and in every instance we put a hard focus on hyperefficient storytelling through cool action to create what we felt was the best result possible.What stands out to Denison about this advertising stunt is the sheer variety in the spots. From a massive drop off a 12-story office building and a practical skydive out of a helicopter over an ocean to precision-driving in a trophy truck out in the desert.Each spot is wildly different, and yet they all tell a broader story of what kind of content the stunt community is capable of producing, says Denison. It was incredibly fun getting to switch gears so rapidly and complete so many different action sequences in a short amount of time. As under the radar as stunt performers are used to flying, there are individuals within the stunt community whose names are even less well-known, and yet their work is absolutely everywhere on screen.Denison goes on to point out a few of the less-than-famous folks Oscars viewers will see. Whether or not the audience recognizes this, I think its a very fun Easter egg that the boom operator in the Fight commercial is a UFC Hall-of-Famer, the first assistant director in the Kiehls spot is an accomplished supercross racer, and the dude in the floatie in the Carnival Cruise ship pool is Hugh Jackmans stunt double.

ForgetSpongeBob SquarePants,Sesame Street,and thesourdough starter craze: a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of achildrens television programthat accidentally became equally popular with adults.A cult classic in Germany, Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) is a puppet renowned for his deep, gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signature expression, Mist! (Think crap! in English.)Played and voiced by puppeteer Jrg Teichgraeber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants nothing to do with TV and cant wait to go home to stare at the wallpaper.This year, his friendsa sheep and a flower bushare urging him to become a bread influencer.Bernds beginningsBorn as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, Bernds infamous grimace was drawn by Tommy Krappweis who modeled it after co-creator Norman Csters face. The duo had been asked to come up with mascots for KiKA, a German childrens public television channel.Comic artist Georg Graf von Westphalen designed Bernd asa pullman loafwhite bread typically sliced for sandwicheswith short arms and a permanent scowl. Bernd channels German stereotypes with his grumpy disposition, penchant for complaining and dry sense of humor and irony.Bernds first episode aired on KiKA in 2000 alongside his more-optimistic pals, Chili the Sheep and Briegel the Bush.A reluctant popularityBecause KiKA is a childrens channel, there was typically dead air from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. On January 1, 2003, the network put Bernds short episodes into the night loop for the first time.The move brought an adult audience into Bernds world, often those sitting at home and smoking pot, or returning after a long night of partying. The night loop cemented his popularity as a German cult classic.In 2004, Bernd won theAdolf Grimme Prize, the German television equivalent ofan Emmy. The jury said he represents the right to be in a bad mood.Bernd shows you that you are less vulnerable with humor and self-irony. And perhaps the most important point is: Its totally okay if you dont feel well sometimes. Thats completely fine, Krappweis, Bernds creator,said in a KiKA Q&A about Bernds anniversary.Bernds broken heartBernd is depressed for a multitude of reasons, including his failed attempt to be the mascot for a bakerys advertising campaign (thats how he ended up as a TV presenter, as a last resort).But its in Episode 85 that we finally learn about Bernds broken heart.A long, long time ago I fell in love with a beautiful, slim baguette. She was so incredibly charming and funny, Bernd tells Chili and Briegel. But unfortunately it was in vain.She only had eyes for this run-of-the-mill multigrain bread with its 10 types of grain. It was so depressing.The kidnappingDespite Bernds best effortsone of his catchphrases is I would like to leave this showthe episodes have never become stale. He sings, he dances, hes been to space. Hes the star of merchandise, a video game, and headlines like Give Us Our Daily Bernd.He was even kidnapped! In 2009, his 2-meter-tall (6.56 feet) statue was stolen from his traditional place outside the town hall inErfurt, where KiKA is based.A claim of responsibility surfaced on YouTube, by sympathizers of a group of demonstrators who were protesting a company that had produced cremation ovens for theNazi extermination camp Auschwitz. The demonstrators, however, denied involvement in Bernds kidnapping and the video was removed from the internet.Bernd was held hostage for nearly two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks.The anniversary yearKiKA is honoring Bernds 25th anniversary, despite his complaints. New episodes, an update to his hit song, and online activities for kids and adults alike will be featured. The celebrations begin now, asBernds birthday is February 29.The latest series will premiere in September as Bernd, Chili, and Briegel launch the social media channel Better With Bernd in their efforts to make him into a bread influencer.The trio will present inventions to make school, and life, easier for viewers, but naturally their concoctions backfire. Bernd instead becomes a defluencerand an involuntary trendsetter.By Stefanie Dazio, Associated PressAP journalist Kirsten Grieshaber contributed to this report.

Gen Z workers have been branded as demanding, unmotivated, and even entitleda word that was used not too long ago to describe millennials. In an Intelligent.com survey last fall, 60% of employers said they had fired Gen Z workers not long after hiring them, and one in six managers said they were hesitant to hire recent college graduates.Its no surprise that Gen Z continues to be misunderstood, or that older employees might rely on lazy tropes as they try to make sense of a new generation. While its true that Gen Z employees may have higher expectations for the workplace, that isnt necessarily a bad thingin fact, it may just be a necessary corrective in the face of questionable leadership.What many have labeled [quiet] quitting is actually a rational response to workplaces that lack fairness, structure, and alignment with employee values, leadership strategist Jeff LeBlanc wrote recently. Instead of writing off an entiregeneration, leaders should be asking:What are we doing wrong?As baby boomers age out of the workforce, its imperative that employers find a way to better understandand courtGen Z employees, who will be a key part of the next generation of workers. So what can employers do to not just attract Gen Z workers, but make sure they stick around?Understand how Gen Z employees are differentRather than typically dismissing the concerns of Gen Z or painting them as difficult to work with, companies and managers should consider why younger employees might differ from their older counterparts when it comes to their expectations of the workplace. GenZgrew up amid economic uncertainty, social justice movements, and anincreasing focus on mental health, LeBlanc wrote. They dont just want jobs; they want workplaces that prioritize psychological safety, transparency, and fairness.Research indicates that Gen Z is far more socially conscious than previous generations, and that these employees prize diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and employee wellness. What older employees may perceive as being demanding is actually about advocating for themselves.This is also a generation of workers who grew up on the internet. Gen Z is used to putting every thought out for others to like, dislike, and amplify, wrote Amelia Dunlop, chief experience officer for Deloitte Digital. When they show up at work, they expect their voice and opinions to be heard and taken into consideration.Consider the impact of the pandemicGen Z has also come of age during a period of intense upheaval, changing their experiencesand perhaps expectationsof the workplace. Many of these young workers finished college or started working at the height of the pandemic, which meant they had to acclimate to professional life while working from home.While there are benefits to young workers being in an office setting, many of them are also seeking more flexibility and want the option of working remotely. Flexibility in the workplace is not just a perk for Gen Z, it is a necessity, wrote leadership expert Cheryl Fields Tyler. Despite this, many organizations operate with the assumption that Gen Z employees need to work in traditional office settings to earn the right to have flexibility.Think about what they want out of a jobGen Z employees do tend to have higher expectations of their colleagues and managers. That can be a shift for older employees who might expect them to pay their dues or show more deference. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z may not be as satisfied with an inspirational leader. Instead, they prize qualities like psychological safety and fairnesswhich includes equitable pay and access to professional opportunitiesas well as a high degree of transparency, according to LeBlanc.Gen Z also wants to find meaning in the work they do. That shouldnt come as a surprise to managers who have already worked alongside millennials. Thats also why younger workers may expect their employers to not just engage with social issues, but also align with their own personal values. In fact, research shows that Gen Z employees are three times more likely to stay at a job if they believe in the mission.And while work-life balance is important to other generations as well, its a major priority for Gen Z. As Andrew Roth, who runs the Gen Z consulting firm dcdx, explained: Quiet quitting or stronger pushes for work-life balance are not threats or insults to tradition, but merely calls for respect, protection of our health, and the desire for a more fulfilling life for a generation growing up in this always-online world.In many ways, Gen Z is simply looking for qualities that all employees should hope to find in their workplace, including transparency, clear expectations, and equitable treatment. Companies that take their concerns seriously are likely to cultivate more loyal, committed employeesof any age.

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClubin your inbox?Subscribeto theResiClubnewsletter.Speaking before the U.S. Senate this month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that a decade or more down the road, homeowners in some parts of the country wont be able to find home insurance.Both banks and insurance companies are pulling out of coastal areas or areas where there are a lot of fires. So what that is going to mean is that if you fast-forward 10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you cant get a mortgage, Powell told Congress. There wont be [mortgage] ATMs, there wont be banks [lending mortgages], so itll fall on homeowners and residents. But itll also fall on state and local governments. Which is what you see happening now, where theyre stepping in, in states where insurance is going away. Youre seeing states step in because they want those areas to remain prosperous.Hearing that comment made by a professor or analyst is one thing. But hearing it come from the Fed Chair is a bit unnerving for the housing sector. It raises the question: Is there any data out there to suggest which housing markets could be at the highest risk of bank and home insurer pullbacks?ResiClub did some digging and found a new proprietary analysis made by First Street, which forecastsbased on models estimating property-specific risk and expected climate riskhow much county-level home insurance premiums could shift between 2025 and 2055.To see where homeowners and investors could be impacted the most, ResiClub visualized First Streets county-level home insurance forecasts. (Please note that forecasting in general isnt ever guaranteedlet alone when a firm is trying to project three whole decades into the future. If you went back and found 30-year forecasts for anything finance-related made in 1995, theyd likely be pretty far off from how things transpired by 2025.)We asked First Street if their analysis accounted for future inflation as well. These [insurance] values are based on todays dollars with the only adjustment being related to the increase in climate exposure over time, but not to any expectations around inflation or market adjustments. . . . These values are not inflation adjusted in any way, First Street tells ResiClub.Among the 500 most populous counties, these are the 20 where First Street expects the highest 30-year growth in home insurance premiums:Orleans Parish, Louisiana: +634%Miami-Dade County, Florida: +590%Pinellas County, Florida: +451%St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana: +351%Duval County, Florida: +333%El Dorado County, California: +291%St. Johns County, Florida: +290%Placer County, California: +256%Galveston County, Texas: +251%Manatee County, Florida: +242%Volusia County, Florida: +242%Clay County, Florida: +240%Palm Beach County, Florida: +195%Brevard County, Florida: +189%Broward County, Florida: +182%Coconino County, Arizona: +173%Hillsborough County, Florida: +162%Nueces County, Texas: +158%Hernando County, Florida: +152%Lafayette Parish, Louisiana: +149%The heightened risk of flooding, hurricanes, and tropical storms is ultimately why the First Street model projects the greatest insurance hikes around the Gulf. In fact, 12 of the 20 major U.S. counties expected to see the biggest increase are in Florida.As ResiClub has previously reported, homeowners in these areas are already experiencing elevated insurance hikes. While the median annual U.S. home insurance premium increased by 33% between the end of 2020 and the end of 2023, it surged more than 80% in many Florida counties.

The line its an honor to just be nominated is a cliche, but its certainly true that landing an Oscar nomination comes with prestige, attention, and lots of award-season press coverage on the stories behind every film. But for Union, a documentary film that follows the historic efforts of a group of Amazon warehouse workers as they launchand winthe first-ever union campaign at the retail giant, theres a story in the fact that they werent nominated.When the creative team behind Union first embedded with Amazon Staten Island warehouse workers in 2020, they werent looking to make a buzzy, commercial film. They raised their full budget before the Amazon Labor Union even won its election. They were committed, producer Samantha Curley says, to documenting this particular labor struggle, and asking questions about the modern workforce and how people are politicized through work, long before it was clear just how big the story would become.But then they were there to capture that win, and they were ready with years of footage of Chris Smalls, the campaigns intrepid leader, before he became an overnight labor celebrityheading to the White House and onto the Daily Show and as the subject of major media coverage.And it seemed like their documentary could actually be marketableand big. They premiered at Sundance 2024, and won the festivals U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for the Art of Change. We really felt like there wasnt a reason that it wouldnt get picked up or distributed, Curley says. They knew Amazons streaming service wouldnt buy the film, of course, but they figured other places might.[Photo: Martin DiCicco]Distributors didnt clamor to pick it up, though. In fact, the filmmakers got pass after pass. Not even were waiting to see or its a soft pass or just not hearing back, but hard nos, relatively quickly, Curley says. So they pivoted to an independent self release, partnering with 250 labor organizations and affinity groups to screen the film for one night or limited runs in more than 20 cities. Those screenings often sold out, meaning Union was the highest-grossing film for the theaters on those nights. They held showings followed by Q&As with Amazon Labor Union workers, and screened the film near Amazon warehouses. They did an online rental release where viewers could donate so that an Amazon worker could watch the film for free.In this way, Unions distribution became a story in itself, mirroring the one the film toldabout the power of organizing, how a small group of people can make a big impact, and who institutional systems really work for. Curley says none of the big distributions actually even said anything about Amazon. What we gathered, that was never explicitly stated, was that it was really about labor, she says.[Photo: Martin DiCicco]The Amazon Labor Union was just one part of a bigger wave of organizing taking place. Around the same time, Apple retail workers began organizing (and got their first contract in 2024), as did Disney park characters (who voted to unionize in 2024). Major actions from the United AutoWorkers, Hollywood actors and writers, and more dominated the news cycle of the past few years. This idea of the labor movement and worker power is so relevant and threatening that, I thinkand again, this wasnt ever explicitly statedbut what we took from those conversations [with distributors] was like, these distributors dont want people pointing the finger at them any moreso than they already are, Curley says.Generally, some were also shying away from political contentthough Curley doesnt think that Union, or the experience of watching it, is overtly political. If youre reading the film that way, its definitely present, but I think the film is about group projects, and about the audacious belief that we can make anything better, or we can change anything about our circumstances, she says.Even though the film itself focuses on Amazon, it offers a broad perspective of the labor movement at large. It is pretty insular to this group of Amazon organizers in Staten Island, Curley says, but we worked really hard to remind viewers this is just one small part of this huge machine. The timing of the film speaks to this as well: its not a 10-year retrospective of a historic moment, but came out amid an ongoing labor resurgence. We wanted the film to become part of the conversation about the future of work and labor organizing.After all that effort, Union did manage to get shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar nominations. We were really fortunate to have such strong support and guidance within the awards campaign, and belief that the film could really be in the conversation, Curley says. Being shortlisted did increase the films visibility, boost its independent distribution path, and give the participants some validation, she adds, for all the time they committed to the project.[Photo: Martin DiCicco]It would have been cool and a different journey to have been nominated, she adds, but not being nominated allows us to continue to balance the kind of prestige of the film with the real collective effort and struggle to get the film out there.(The films creative team, along with Curley, includes producer Mars Verrone, cinematographer and producer Martin Dicicco, directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story, editors Blair McClendon and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, and composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe.)Its also an opportunity for the film to keep paving its own way. An Oscars appearance can seem like an ending: a grand culmination of effort. But Unions story isnt over. The team is already thinking about its next phase of distribution, and has plans tied to May Day and Labor Day. Its outside of the awards circuit, and so can tell its story beyond awards season. Now we just get to be a film thats trying to reach audiences, Curley says. Amazon workers fight isnt over either; more than two years after unionizing, they still dont have a contract. (Workers authorized a strike at the end of 2024 as part of its efforts to get the retail giant to negotiate.) And the larger conversation about labor isnt ending either; though the Trump administration is taking steps to dismantle the labor movement and erase worker power, those threats are also bolstering conversations about the importance of workers rights, and the power of collective organizing. The film might focus on Amazon, but really it highlights this dichotomy, she notes, of how organizing is essential and also impossible.The film shows the Staten Island warehouse win, yes, but also how the Amazon Labor Union lost its next two elections, and how infighting and burnout start to appear among the organizers. It ends by showing the very beginnings of yet another campaign at a warehouse in California. Its this idea of, we just spend time with this small group of workers, and [this is] going to be happening with workers at every company and every part of the world, Curley says, and that being inspiring and daunting.

Sometimes, authenticity can be a films most special effect.It took months for Best Actress front-runner Mikey Madison to learn how to pole dance like the titular exotic dancer in Anora and for her fellow nominee Timothe Chalamet to passably play guitar as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. The naturalism of both performances helped keep audiences under the spell cast by their surrounding films. So, it should probably come as no surprise that a backlash has emerged in response to several of this years Oscar-nominated films using AI, paradoxically, to achieve authenticity.The reaction began on January 11, when editor Dvid Jancs revealed in an interview that he and director Brady Corbet had used AI voice technology to make Oscar favorite The Brutalist. The film stars Adrien Brody as Hungarian-Jewish architect Lszl Tth, who, after surviving the Holocaust, emigrated to the U.S. where he is joined years later by his wife, Erzsbet, played by Felicity Jones. Although both actors, each of whom are nominated for Oscars, underwent vocal coaching to make the Hungarian dialogue roll off their tongues, according to Jancs it just didnt work. The creators ended up using Respeecher, a Ukraine-based AI voice-cloning tool, to enhance Brody and Joness accents.This revelation provoked an online uproar so intense that Corbet issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter days later, downplaying AIs significance in the making of the film.The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicitys performances in another language, not to replace or alter them, and done with the utmost respect for the craft, the director said in his statement.In the weeks since The Brutalist came under the microscope, similar revelations have tumbled out regarding other Oscar-nominated films. In a recently surfaced French-language interview from last years Cannes festival, for instance, rerecording mixer Cyril Holtz disclosed that trans musical Emilia Prez, the most-nominated film in this years Oscar crop, also used Respeecher to enhance star Karla Sofa Gascns singing voice. (Emilia Prez has far bigger fish to fry in terms of backlash, however, given Gascns shocking history of inflammatory tweets.)Leaning on AI to zhuzh up an actors performance has proven controversial this year, due to the technologys rapid encroachment into traditionally human-created art. Some worry that AI will deprive film workers at various levels of jobs in the name of cost-cutting, while others fear it will usher in an era of cinematic soullessness. (Those folks have apparently never seen any of the ostensibly AI-free blockbusters shot entirely on green screen.) Indeed, part of the reason the writers and actors strikes of 2023 went on for so long was because of the difficulty in securing protections against AI. Ultimately, the strikes succeeded in placing guardrails around the techs use in generating scripts and requiring consent and compensation for using an actors likeness.Visual artists and animators have won no such protections yet, though. Considering all the looming fears about an unemployment crisis in film and TV art departments, its no wonder the use of AI in visual effects has proven especially unpopular recently. The acclaimed 2024 horror film Late Night with the Devil came under fire last spring for using AI to quickly create three briefly shown images; around the same time, the A24 thriller Civil War generated controversy for using AI just in its poster art.Now, the debate about the ethics of movie imagery that uses AI has reached the Oscars too.Since the brouhaha began over The Brutalists AI vocal enhancement, revelations have spilled out about other films using AI for visual effects. (Brutalist editor Jancs also claimed in his infamous interview that some blueprints and finished buildings depicted in the film were partially AI-generated, though director Corbet disputes this.) When Australia-based Rising Sun Pictures submitted its work on Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga for an award at the 2025 Visual Effects Society Awards, the company boasted about using its Revize machine learning toolset to create effects for A Complete Unknown, adding a new dimension to the Oscars AI conversation. (As an individual familiar with the film told Indiewire, The technology was used to assist in three brief wide shots on a motorcycle, not involving performance or creative enhancements. This technology is commonplace for making stunt people resemble their actor in films.) On a similar note, another film nominated for multiple Oscars and starring Chalamet, Dune: Part Two, also used machine learning to create the striking ice-blue eye color of its Fremen characters.How much should any of this matter? Perhaps not that much.Its not as if whole chunks of any of these films were created using OpenAIs text-to-video tool Sora or Googles Veo 2. Instead, the AI-infused visual effects are minimal and seem in line with the kind of VFX work thats been rocking multiplexes for decades. Furthermore, the vocal tune-up in The Brutalist is limited to the few scenes where Brody and Jones actually speak in Hungarian. (For the bulk of the film, they talk in heavily accented English.) And as for Gascns juiced singing in Emilia Prez, Rami Malek won an Oscar in 2019 for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, and only a stunt vocalist contributed any real singing to that film.But at least the stunt vocalist was human.As the use of AI seems increasingly inevitable in film and TVs future, despite the pronounced ongoing backlash, purists might decide to draw a line in the sandboycotting any and all projects that utilize it. As if to accommodate them, the Motion Picture Academy is reportedly weighing a rule that would require filmmakers to disclose when their films use AI.In the meantime, some arent waiting around for such rules to be implemented and are instead taking the opposite tact. When the A24 horror movie Heretic came out last fall, it bore the following caption in its end credits: No generative AI was used in the making of this film.

Despite a traumatic beginning of the year from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires, Los Angeles is ready to celebrate one of its largest exports: movies.Hollywoods biggest bash, the 97th Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will air tonight, March 2, at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET. The action is taking place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Lets get up to speed so you can watch like an A-lister:How the L.A. fires impacted the 2025 OscarsThe fires delayed the Oscar nominations announcement twice and extended the nominations voting period. And though the actual awards ceremony date was not affected, the annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon was canceled out of sensitivity to the Southern California community, and the Scientific and Technical Awards ceremony had to be rescheduled from February 18 to April 29. Notable 2025 Oscar nomineesEmilia Prez dominates the Oscars with 13 nominations, making it the most nominated non-English movie in Oscar history. Jacques Audiards crime musical was once considered a tight contender for best picture, but controversy surrounding its star Karla Sofa Gascns raft of offensive tweets is expected to impact its chances (although it just won best film and best director at the Cesar Awards, Frances equivalent to the Oscars, on Friday in Paris). Gascn is the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an Oscar.Tied for second place with 10 nominations is Brady Corbets immigrant story The Brutalist and Jon M. Chus musical Wicked, both nominated for best picture. This is the first time two musicals have been in the best picture category since 1969 with Oliver! and Funny Girl. (Oliver! won.) With eight nominations each, A Complete Unknown and Conclave are also up for best picture.You can find a complete list of the 2025 Oscar nominees on the Academys website.Who is hosting the 2025 Oscars?Comedian, former late-night host, and podcaster Conan OBrien is taking on hosting duties this year for the first time. The two-time Emmy Awards host revealed that hes never even attended the Academy Awards before. I only agreed to host so that I could get invited, OBrien said (jokingly?) during a news conference Wednesday. He will get backup from presenters including Oprah Winfrey, Ben Stiller, Sterling K. Brown, Willem Dafoe, John Lithgow, and Amy Poehler. Keeping with tradition, last years top acting winners, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy, DaVine Joy Randolph, and Emma Stone will also present.Who are the musical performers?Historically, the best original song nominees were performed during the ceremony. This year, the Academy is shaking things up and having songwriters share their personal reflections instead. That doesnt mean the music stops. Wickeds Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will open up the night with a musical performance. Lisa of Blackpink, Queen Latifah, Doja Cat, and Raye are also cooking up something special.Who are some favorites to win this year?There have been lots of twists and turns leading up to the big night. Some categories, such as best supporting actor and actress, feel almost inevitable. Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaa will almost certainly walk away with Oscars in these categories.Best picture, actor, and actress are more unpredictable. In the actor race, Oscar-winner Adrien Brody seemed the front-runner until last weekends SAG Awards upset when Timothe Chalamet took home the honor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan. Traditionally, the Oscars dont like to honor younger artists, but the times could be a-changin.In the actress category, Demi Moore of The Substance and Mikey Madison of Anora have split the precursor awards. Moores heartfelt speeches at SAG, Critics Choice, and the Golden Globes ceremonies charmed audiences. But dont count Madison out; she took home the BAFTA and Independent Spirit Awards trophies for best actress.Further complicating the issue, some critics are predicting a surprise third choice, Im Still Heres Fernanda Torres. This is truly anyones race.Best picture is also uncertain. Sean Bakers Anora seemed to be a safe bet because of its PGA, DGA, and WGA wins, but Conclaves SAG and BAFTA wins might make a case for Edward Bergers papal thriller.How can I watch or stream the 2025 Oscars?There are many ways to see what film comes out on top. The most straightforward for those with traditional cable TV subscriptions is to tune into ABC at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m ET. You can also watch it for free on ABC with an over-the-air antenna. For the first time ever, cord-cutters can also stream the Oscars live directly on Hulu, which is offering a free trial for new subscribers. Or catch the show on one of the live-TV streaming services that offer ABC as part of a bundle:Sling TV (in some markets)Fubo TVYouTube TVHulu + Live TV

The Oscars dont have a Best Poster category. (Or even a Best Title Sequence category, which they did sort of have for the very first Academy Awards in 1929 beforefor shamedropping it in 1930.) So this year, as in the past, we asked some of our favorite poster designers which Best Picture nominee should win Best Poster. Like book cover designers, key art creators are tasked with the unwieldy ask of distilling an entire universe of story into a single visual. Its another standard of excellence in cinemaand wed argue that theres indeed correlation between great posters and great films. Consider: In our (admittedly wildly unscientific!) 2023 best poster poll, all participants nearly unanimously selected the off-the-wall treatments for the off-the-wall Everything Everywhere All At Oncewhich took home Best Picture. Last year, Vasilis Marmatakiss unsurprisingly inventive posters for the unsurprisingly inventive Poor Things dominatedand the film subsequently nabbed Best Actress, Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design.Beneath our water-cooler correlation lies another truth: When a designer utterly nails the brief and creates a poster that rises to a films artistic heights, its transcendentand it often yields the singular image were left with in our minds long after leaving the theater.Below, a panel of prosJay Bennett, who has worked with Netflix and others; Marie Bergeron, who has worked with Sony, Marvel, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.; Tori Huynh, who has worked with the Criterion Collection, A24, HBO and more; and Eric Garza and Mitch Putnam, creative directors of pop culture and poster powerhouse Mutantsound off on their picks for this years best Best Picture poster.[Photo: A24]The most effective movie posters make you want to see the movie. A24s one-sheet for The Brutalist delivers fully in this regard. Director Brady Corbets film epic is a bold and uncompromising work that celebrates minimalism and maximalism in equal measure. The poster supports that minimalist/maximalist approach with a design-forward layout that follows principles of Bauhaus and Brutalist design. The art challenges our expectations of traditional movie posters with its bold typography and asymmetrical layout, and is punctuated by an equally impactful visual of Lady Liberty turned on her headsignaling some of the films main themes. Its not just an advert for the film, it feels like an extension of its worldview. Eric Garza[Photo: MUBI]This one got my attention because of its simplicity, boldness, and because it says what it needs to say with very few elements. Its [difficult to encapsulate a] story with only one image, and I always think that the best posters nail this part. Also, Ive seen the film and its one of my favorites this year, so maybe [thats why I chose it, too]. Marie Bergeron[Photo: MUBI]One of my favorite films of 2024 was The Substance. I love when horror films center the unimaginable dread of being a woman. Strange, sterile, and a pastel gore nightmare, I feel like the posters capture the bizarre icons within the film really well. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Or was the chicken modified, processed and fried beyond our comprehension [so] it is no longer recognizable from its original form? Summarizing all of these elements, and without showing Demi Moores face, no less, is such a bold choice. I also love the condensed typeface they used for the title and kept within the entirety of the film. From the look of the key art into the picture, I appreciate the commitment to consistency within the branding. Tori Huynh[Photo: Focus Features]I have landed on the U.K. one-sheet for Conclave. I think its a bold approach for what is essentially a religious drama to lead with such a vibrant, thriller-esque palette, with the character arrangement creating a hint towards the split of the vote. The highlighted eye as Cardinal Lawrences main weapon in this conflict is a nice touch. Jay Bennett[Photo: NEON]Many times, independent studios will try to push posters that feature big, loud graphic design or illustrative work to help their films stand out. That can be effective, but sometimes a simple piece of set photography is so perfect, it has to be used. Anora had my favorite poster of the year for exactly this reason. The photo screams youth, energy, love and euphoria, which is a hell of a lot to convey in one shot. The type perfectly complements the image and communicates everything necessary while also stepping back just enough so as to not compete for focal dominance. Uncomplicated in its design, this is one of those I couldve done that posters. But you probably couldnt have. Mitch Putnam

Like most Americans, I took Social Security for granted for most of my life. Until about 10 years ago, I carried a vague idea that the program had been promised to Moses on Mount Sinai (whaddya mean Grandpa didnt have a Social Security number until he was 27?). Combined with that assumption was my hazy belief that its benefits would dry up by the time I reached my sixties.My eyes were opened when I was asked to literally write the book on Social Security in 2015. (Forgive the shameless plug.)In researching and writing that book, I learned that Social Security represents the best of American federal policyand that the widespread misunderstanding of this program puts itand usin peril.Since then, I have become a dedicated Social Security fangirl who believes its important for all Americans to better understand and appreciate this program. Heres why.The gritty origin storyThe Social Security Act was signed into law on August 14, 1935, a date that dedicated students of history will recognize as smack-dab in the middle of the Great Depression. Thats not a coincidence. America faced a staggering 25% unemployment rate during the 1930s, and more than half the elderly population lived in poverty. This was not the economic reality Americans wanted for their grandparentsor themselves.In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Labor Secretary Frances Perkins (the first woman appointed to a presidential cabinet and a stone-cold badass) to be chair of a newly formed committee on economic security. Perkins created a report that included a legislative proposal for what would become the Social Security Act.An elegant designA common misconception about Social Security is that you are contributing money to your future benefits. You might assume there is an account with your name on it where your contributions go to wait until you retire. Its an understandable mistake since thats how your 401(k) and other retirement accounts work.But Social Security was designed as a direct handover from current workers to current beneficiaries. By setting up the program so that people currently working made contributions to people currently retired, the government does not have to hold or invest money for the future.This design means that Social Security can never run out of money. The money is consistently transferred from current workers to current beneficiaries, which means there will be money for benefits when you retire.Yes, you.A history of tinkeringSince Social Security is federal legislation, its subject to change as the economy and society change. For example, the original Social Security Act excluded coverage for many jobs, including agriculture, domestic work, teachers, librarians, and nurses. The program was expanded to include these in 1950.Some other major changes included the 1962 legislation that allowed dependent husbandsnot just wivesto receive benefits after becoming widowed, and the 1972 introduction of cost of living adjustments (COLA) to benefits. One of the biggest changes occurred in 1983, in anticipation of the future mass retirement of baby boomers.Between 2011 and 2029, approximately 10,000 boomers turn 65 every single day, which is a rate of retirement that Social Security was not originally designed to handle. The 1983 legislative changes to Social Security gradually raised the age of full retirement for boomers and subsequent generations, lowering the cost of their benefits.Future planningThe 1983 legislation, like every change to Social Security, increased the programs complexity, which is a common source of frustration about the program.While changes to the program have sometimes led to unintended consequences, every single legislative decision reflects good faith, good intentions, and long-term planning.Consider the fact that in 1983, the oldest boomers were in their thirties, but Congress was already looking ahead to their retirement. Thats because the United States is the only country in the world that uses 75-year projections for its social insurance program. Most other countries use a shorter timeline. Only Japan, with a 95-year projection, uses a longer one.This kind of forethought and projection means were (theoretically) able to avert oncoming problems decades before they arrive.The greatly exaggerated reports of Social Securitys demiseWhen I tell a contemporary that they can count on Social Security in the future, they often struggle to believe meand for good reason. You dont have to go far to find headlines describing the programs imminent insolvency.Heres the reality: The Social Security Trust Fund will run out of money in 2035. At that point, the Social Security program will only be able to pay out approximately 83% of promised benefits. Most people focus on the run out of money half of that sentence, glossing right over the youll get 83% of your promised benefits part.While a 17% reduction in your promised benefits is crappy, its a hell of a lot better than no benefits at all. Thats why I encourage Americans to remember that Social Security is facing an imminent shortfall, not an imminent bankruptcy.To avert the shortfall, Congress just needs to make some adjustments to the legislation. (Yeah, Im not holding my breath, either). But this is a fixable problem, if we as a country are willing to do the work.The real threat to Social SecurityI like to tell people that if Social Security benefits are not there for us when we retire, it means we have bigger problems than retirement income.Because I have a waggish sense of humor, Ill often name the kinds of fantastical and unlikely threats that would truly dismantle Social Securitya meteor heading straight for Earth, a robot apocalypse, or a fascist takeover of the American government.In other words, Social Security is about as close to a financial guarantee as we can have, but that doesnt mean its immune to threatsespecially the outlandish threats that are a lot less funny than they used to be.As a federal program, Social Security can be fundamentally changed or even rescinded with the stroke of a pen. And its more likely this will happen if the American citizens who are the beneficiaries of this amazing, flawed, and life-saving program believe the lies about it.This is why Ill spend Social Securitys 90th year touting its merits to everyone who will listen. The better we understand and claim Social Security as our own, the more secure it will beeven in the unlikely event of a zombie apocalypse.

The tops of dried, bent cornstalks crunch underfoot. Jill Holtzs gaze is fixed on the ground ahead.She wanders into the nearby woods and weaves between twisted branches. Then, Holtz spots something and starts to riffle through the withered twigs. To the untrained eye, its easy to overlook. But for Holtz, its instantaneous recognition.Scraggly, white lines give the appearance of shattered glass, but a name can still be made out at the top. It is a sonogram stripcrinkled, abused by the elements, but intact.In early February, Holtz combed through parts of a flattened cornfield in Swannanoa, North Carolinaa rural area razed by fierce floodwaters fromHurricane Helenea few months earlier. The deluge swept away entire homes, and with it,peoples beloved photos,keepsakes and family heirlooms. Many have accepted that they are gone forever.But lost items remain scattered across the regiontangled in gnarled trees, washed up in deep ravines and buried under mud. Thats why Holtz is on a mission: find and reunite those cherished possessions with storm victims who dont have the time or energy to look themselves.Its not just trash, and its not just trees and pieces of metal, Holtz says. Its their lives. This is their hearts, their homes, the generations of history.Searching the cornfieldOver the past few months, Holtz has spent much of her free time making the nearly four-hour drive from Raleigh to Swannanoa to search for lost items. She balances her job as a North Carolina National Guard captain and being a mom to two sonsa 10-year-old and a 24-year-old. Its difficult being away, Holtz says, but her kids support her efforts.Holtz first visited western North Carolina after the storm on duty delivering aid. Then, while helping retrieve lost objects in Swannanoa for Violet Vardimana woman Holtz fondly calls Miss VioletHoltz realized how many other missing belongings were out there. So she kept coming back. Holtz posts her finds to Facebook in hopes of finding their owners.At first, searching for lost belongings was overwhelming because of the sheer volume of objects strewn about, Holtz says. Now, she looks a few feet ahead of her at a time to stay focused.Shes learned othertips and trickstoo. Use larger pieces of debris to store missing keepsakes while walking. Put on a hat or your hair will get caught in tree branches. Wear gloves and sturdy boots. And if you see a Dallas Cowboys mat, stomp on it first before picking it upHoltz, after all, is a Buffalo Bills fan.After exploring the cornfield and adjacent woods for about 20 minutes, Holtz already has a handful to bring backan 8-track tape, a teddy bear with golden wings and plenty of photos. Despite some scratches and their sun-bleached tone, the photos are in decent shape for what theyve been through.As Holtz walks back to her truck, she squints and scours the cornstalks for anything she missed. Holtz views each valuable she finds as an opportunity for joy, and if its left behind, theres no guarantee it will be there next time.Holding onto belongings until the time is rightWhat Holtz found in the cornfield will join the collection of other lost possessions in her trailer as she tries to find their owners. The spread inside resembles a garage sale.Photos make up a large chunk of Holtzs collection. Pictures captured from weddings, school and simple slices of life. Just from collecting photos, Holtz says she feels like she knows some peoples entire life story without ever meeting them.To restore photos, shes developed her own cleaning routine: Use cool water and rubbing alcohol, then carefully scrub with a soft toothbrush. Its time-consuming, yet therapeutic.Holtz sets down a large mud-spattered canvasa piece that will require the toothbrush treatmentand slowly pours water over it. The gentle stream crackles against the crisp canvas. Faces emerge from the splotchy, brown haze. Its a family portrait, Holtz says.I hope I find the owner of that, she says softly.Since Holtz started posting pictures of the lost possessions on Facebook, shes consistently in contact with about 15 families. She has returned belongings to some and is waiting to connect in-person with others. Some of the families have evacuated the state and havent returnedbut Holtz doesnt mind holding onto their things.Im in no hurry, and I dont expect them to be in a hurry, she says. Theyre still getting their lives back together.Getting back historyThe next day, Holtz sets up her trailer by the cornfield. She had posted her location to social media and patiently waits to see if anyone comes. About a half hour later, a silver SUV pulls over. A woman from Swannanoa, Angie McGee, steps out.McGee is looking for lost photos. The 42-year-old searched for her familys belongings after Helene washed away her home, but she wasnt successful. Wearing black latex gloves, she rubs caked dirt from the photos and notices familiar faces: her brother, her father, and her son.She even spots her ultrasound photosthe same scroll that Jill had picked up the day before.She is stunned. McGee cant believe the photos traveled nearly 2 miles downriver from her homemuch less that Holtz had somehow found them. After months of anguish over what she had lost, McGee says she is finally getting history back.She done brought back a smile to me, she done brought back life to me. Not just me, my family, McGee says. Because, you know, there were things we lost that we thought maybe we never get back.At one point, McGees gaze settles on football shoulder pads with silver marker writing. The sight brings her to tears. They belong to her 12-year-old son, Link.Holtz tries to not to cry. Later, the two women embrace before McGee leaves with her things. Giving people back their lost hope is why Holtz says she continues this work. But in these reunifying moments, it gives Holtz a little of her own hope, too.By Makiya Seminera, Associated PressAP National Writer Allen G. Breed contributed to this report

Most of us are used to using internet chatbots like ChatGPT and DeepSeek in one of two ways: via a web browser or via their dedicated smartphone apps. There are two drawbacks to this. First, their use requires an internet connection. Second, everything you type into the chatbot is sent to the companies servers, where it is analyzed and retained. In other words: the more you use the chatbot the more the company knows about you. This is a particular worry surrounding DeepSeek that American lawmakers have expressed.But thanks to a few innovative and easy-to-use desktop apps, LM Studio and GPT4All, you can bypass both these drawbacks. With the apps, you can run various LLM models on your computer directly. Ive spent the last week playing around with these apps and thanks to each, I can now use DeepSeek without the privacy concerns. Heres how you can, too.Run DeepSeek locally on your computer without an internet connectionTo get started, simply download LM Studio or GPT4All on your Mac, Windows PC, or Linux machine. Once the app is installed, youll download the LLM of your choice into it from an in-app menu. I chose to run DeepSeeks R1 model, but the apps support myriad open-source LLMs.LM Studio can run DeepSeeks reasoning model privately on your computer.Once youve done the above youve essentially turned your personal computer into an AI server capable of running numerous open-source LLMs, including ones from DeepSeek and Meta. Next, simply open a new chat window and type away just as you would when using an AI chatbot on the web.The best thing about both these apps is that they are free for general consumer use, you can run several open-source LLMs in them (you get to choose which and can swap between LLMs at will), and, if you already know how to use an AI chatbot in a web browser, youll know how to use the chatbot in these apps.But there are additional benefits to running LLMs locally on your computer, too.The benefits of using an LLM locallyIve been running DeepSeeks reasoning model on my MacBook for the past week without so much as a hiccup in both LM Studio or GPT4All. One of the coolest things about interacting with DeepSeek in this way is that no internet is required. Since the LLM is hosted directly on your computer, you dont need any kind of data connection to the outside world to use it.Running LLMs like DeepSeek in apps like GPT4All can help keep your data secure.Or as GPT4Alls lead developer, Adam Treat, puts it, You can use it on an airplane or at the top of Mount Everest. This is a major boon to business travelers stuck on long flights and those working in remote, rural areas.But if Treat had to sum up the biggest benefit of running DeepSeek locally on your computer, he would do it in one word: Privacy.Every online LLM is hosted by a company that has access to whatever you input into the LLM. For personal, legal, and regulatory reasons this can be less than optimal or simply not possible, Treat explains.While for individuals, this can present privacy risks, those who upload business or legal documents into an LLM to summarize could be putting their company and its data in jeopardy.Uploading that [kind of data] to an online server risks your data in a way that using it with an offline LLM will not, Treat notes. The reason an offline LLM running locally on your own computer doesnt put your data at risk is because Your data simply never leaves your machine, says Treat.This means, for example, if you want to use DeepSeek to help you summarize that report you wrote, you can upload it into the DeepSeek model stored locally on your computer via GPT4All or LM Studio and rest assured the information in that report isnt being sent to the LLM makers servers.The drawbacks of using an LLM locallyHowever, there are drawbacks to running an LLM locally. The first is that youre limited to using only the open-source models that are available, which may be less recent than the model that is available through the chatbots official website. And because only open-source models can be installed, that means you cant use apps like GPT4All or LM Studio to run OpenAIs ChatGPT locally on your computer.Another disadvantage is speed.Because you are using your own hardware (your laptop or desktop) to power the AI, the speed of responses will be generally slower than an online server, Treat says. And since AI models rely heavily on RAM to perform their computations, the amount of RAM you have in your computer can limit which models you can install in apps like GPT4All and LM Studio.As online servers are usually powered by very high-end hardware they are generally going to be faster and have more memory allowing for very fast responses by very large models, explains Treat.Still, in my testing of both LM Studio and GPT4All over the past week, I dont think the reduced speediness of DeepSeeks replies is a dealbreaker. When using DeepSeeks R1 reasoning model on the web, the DeepSeek hosted on servers in China took 32 seconds to return an answer to the prompt Can you teach me how to make a birthday cake? When asking the local DeepSeek R1 model stored in LM Studio and GPT4All, the response time was 84 seconds and 82 seconds, respectively.Ive found that the benefits of running DeepSeek locally on my device using LM Studio and GPT4All far outweigh the extra waiting time required to get a response. Without a doubt, being able to access a powerful AI model like DeepSeeks R1 locally on my computer anywhere at any time without an internet connectionand knowing the data I enter into it remains privateis a trade-off worth making.

For many people, pets provide unconditional love, companionship, and a sense of security. But not all human-pet relationships are beneficial, and some may contribute to stress and anxiety rather than relief.Psychologists have been studying attachment theory for decades. This framework explains how people form emotional bonds, seek closeness, and manage separation. People with secure attachment tend to feel safe in relationships, while those with attachment anxiety may crave closeness but frequently worry about rejection or loss.Just like with human relationships, people form attachment bonds with pets. Some form secure attachments, finding comfort in their pet and viewing them as a reliable source of companionship. Others experience anxious attachment, feeling excessive worry, distress, and a heightened need for reassurance when separated from their pet.In our recently published research, my research team and I found that attachment anxiety is strongly linked to depression symptoms among owners. This suggests that well-being isnt just about having a pet, but about the quality of your bond.Strong bonds arent always healthy bondsMy team and I set out to explore whether the way people bond with their pets has a measurable effect on their mental well-being.We surveyed more than 1,000 pet owners in the U.S. about their closeness to their pets; how often they engaged in activities like playing, cuddling, or spending time together; and whether they felt secure or anxious in the relationship. We also measured symptoms of depression to examine how different characteristics of pet bonds might influence mental well-being.Our results revealed a clear pattern: Higher pet attachment anxiety was the strongest predictor of depression symptoms. In other words, people who felt overly dependent on their pets, constantly worrying about being apart from them, or whether their pet loved them back, were more likely to experience depression symptoms.Surprisingly, simply feeling emotionally close to a pet was not enough to predict better mental health. While some may assume that a stronger bond with a pet automatically leads to greater well-being, our findings suggest that the quality of the attachment matters more than its intensity. People with secure pet relationships reported better well-being, while those with higher attachment anxiety experienced greater distress.We also found that while frequent pet interactions were linked to stronger and more secure human-pet bonds, interaction frequency did not significantly predict mental health outcomes. This reinforces the idea that emotional security in the relationship, rather than just the frequency of interaction, is what truly matters for mental health.Interestingly, people who owned both a cat and a dog reported more depression symptoms than those with only one type of pet. While our study did not determine the cause, one possibility is that managing multiple pets can add stress or increase the burden of caregiving.How pet relationships shape your mental healthOur findings highlight that pet ownership is not a one-size-fits-all solution for mental health. The way people bond with their petswhether they feel emotionally secure or experience anxiety in the relationshipmay be just as important as pet ownership itself in shaping well-being.This research also raises important questions about the role of emotional support animals and animal-assisted interventions. If pet ownership is going to be integrated into mental health care, it may not be enough to simply encourage pet companionship. Instead, the quality of the human-animal bond could be a key factor in whether pets provide comfort or contribute to emotional distress.This study does not suggest that people should stop seeking emotional support from pets. Instead, it highlights how the way people bond with their pets can influence well-being in ways they may not always realize.For those who rely on their pets for emotional support, recognizing these patterns may help foster a bond that feels reassuring rather than stressful. Pets can provide deep comfort, but caregiving comes with challenges, too. Reflecting on both the joys and responsibilities of pet ownership can help strengthen the human-animal bond, supporting the well-being of both pets and owners.Brian N. Chin is an assistant professor of psychology at Trinity College.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

An accepted fact of childhood: Monopoly is a slow game that requires consecutive snow days to successfully finish. And, by god, no matter what you do, do not end up as the banker, the most tedious and thankless of jobs.[Photo: Hasbro]Though they wouldnt put it in those terms, the folks at Hasbro likely know thats how a lot of players feel. So today the company is announcing a new set that bridges the gap between Monopoly Junior and the classic version for ages 8 and olderspeeding things up by ditching the banker and paper currency entirely in favor of an app.Kids dont carry cash these days . . . [but] they probably do have a mobile device, says Brian Baker, SVP of board games at Hasbro, who adds that children are also observing a lot of tap-to-pay in the world. That led the team to consider how they could combine modern technology with intuitive behavior to completely reinvent the experience, Baker says.[Photo: Hasbro]Banking on App BankingMonopoly turns 90 this year, and Monopoly App Banking officially hits stores in August. Though Hasbro has released a cashless version of the game before (the Monopoly Electronic Banking edition, which utilizes a calculator-looking device to help automate finances), this is the first time an app has been brought into the ecosystem.Heres how it works: After downloading the app, players put a smartphone or tablet into a standdubbed the phone throne in-house at Hasbroand it stays there all game. Baker says the idea was to keep the focus on the board, rather than having to pass the phone around. Whereas board games like Monopoly usually involve combing through a dense list of instructions before playing (and eventually arguing over them), this box contains just some quick-reference cards.The app kicks everything into gear quickly, directing players to select a token and its associated credit card, and snaps a photo of each player to indicate whose turn it is. Players roll physical dice, and then scan a QR code representing the space theyve landed on. The app handles the property auctions and transactions and does all the basic accounting, speeding things up immenselyand provides a real-time leaderboard in a game whose player standings are often nebulous, lest everyone sit around and count money for five minutes.Is Monopoly App Banking reductive to kids learning basic accounting skills the way many of us no doubt did via the classic game? Maybe. But to Bakers earlier point, its hands-down more reflective of the online banking ecosystem were all accustomed to today, which runs on apps.Another thing youll find in this version: an infusion of new life into old hubs like free parking, jail, and the railroads, thanks to built-in interactive mini games.There are some spaces where, if you land on them, nothing really happens, Baker says. And if youre an 8-year-old kid, you can get bored really, really quickly.Take the railroads. When you land on one now, the app turns it into a high-speed train that brings the player on board; you tap your card to stop the train, and wherever it lands, thats where you move.[Photo: Hasbro]Marvin Gardens vs. a Chocolate FactoryTo young players, the new elements will likely feel organic; theyre not just gimmicks for gimmicks sake. Baker says thats thanks to FunLab, Habsros in-house testing center in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The lab gives the company an opportunity to converse with players and their parents, as well as to observe how they interact with various concepts at the earliest stages of product development.To wit: I remember watching a mother struggling to put together Hungry Hungry Hippos out of the boxit comes in nine partswhile her child was screaming, Baker says. And the painful part of it was, after she finally got it together and they got to play, she had to take it apart to put it back in the box. It doesnt fit back in. So Im happy to report that the new Hungry Hungry Hippos requires no assembly out of the box, and when youre done playing, it fits back in.In the case of Monopoly App Banking, Baker says the team needed to test and understand the role of the mobile device at the tableparticularly because of the notion many people have that when a family is doing an activity together like playing a board game, smartphones should be put away.We really wanted to make sure that we used FunLab as a way to kind of validate the idea that we can use technology for good and not evil, and there is a place for a mobile device at the table if thoughtfully integrated, he says.Another place you can see FunLabs work: the properties on the board.If you asked a kid, Hey, what property would you dream of owning? I guarantee you theyre not going to say Marvin Gardens, right? Theyre going to be like, I want a chocolate factory or I want to buy a time machine, Baker says. It was really fun to just kind of take the guardrails off and let the kids guide us in the creation of this product.On the board youll find soccer fields and water parks, an infinite-pizza generator, and more. What you wont find is anything an 8-year-old kid would deem too complicated, oversimplified, or unnecessary.Those kids, Baker says, dont pull any punches. Theyll tell you exactly what they think.[Photo: Hasbro]The Sand Timer TestAre apps the future of Monopoly, if not board games at large?Baker says Hasbro has been trying to honor the boundary between tech that is intrusive and tech that is complementary. Take the standard board game sand timer. How many times have you nearly come to fisticuffs over someone cheating the clock with it?There are easier ways to do that, and the best technology sometimes is in your pocket, Baker says. A part of our innovation road map at Hasbro when it comes to board games is exploring new technology and then thoughtfully applying it to the experience.As for what the rest of this 90th-anniversary year holds for Monopoly, in January Hasbro announced expansion packs. And, according to Baker, the company plans to continue developing intellectual property partnerships, such as those that brought about the recent hit Pokmon and Harry Potter editions of the game. Monopoly is, after all, big businessand you wouldnt want anyone getting bored with it. Especially younger kids.The Monopoly game is the biggest product that Hasbro sells, Baker confirms. I can say confidently that this is by far the most innovative version of Monopoly weve ever created. . . . Were super proud of that.

A typical RV has to plug in at a campground to run the power inside. But Airstreams newest Basecamp 20Xe trailer is designed to power itself in remote locations: If you want to spend a week in the wilderness, you can theoretically use an induction stove, keep your laptop charged, turn on the air-conditioning, and have hot water for the showereven if youre nowhere near any utilities.[Photo: Airstream]Over the past several years, weve seen a growing demand from our customers for what we call energy independence, says Bob Wheeler, Airstream president and CEO. The flexibility to not have to go to a campground with established power and energy supplies, to give them the freedom to camp anywhere they want. The phenomenon was really exposed during the pandemica significant shortage of campground and campsite availability.A different electric Airstream model, the Trade Wind, has a smaller battery and works well for a weekend of use, but the company got feedback from customers who wanted to be able to stay off-grid longer. The new Basecamp has four times more power, with a 10.3-kilowatt lithium battery, 600 watts of rooftop solar, and the option to plug in an additional portable 300-watt solar panel if youre parked under a tree and want to stretch the attachment into the sun. (The Basecamp will start at $76,900.) The flat solar panels on the roof, custom-made for Airstream, are also designed to work efficiently even in partial shade.[Photo: Airstream]All the plugs inside run directly off the battery, including the optional AC (in a small size, so it runs efficiently) and microwave. The heat and hot water also use the battery, though if someone wants to camp in cold winter weather, they might want to add an optional propane tank.How long the power lasts depends, of course, on how much power someone uses and how sunny it is outside. But theoretically, if youre using those larger capacities very infrequently, you could be out there indefinitely, says Bryan Melton, vice president at Airstream. The bigger limiting factor is access to water, though the trailer is designed to use water efficiently. The shower recirculates water until its heated up, and the unit also has an option for a composting toilet. [Photo: Airstream]One thing the battery cant do: help the vehicle in front of it tow the trailer when it moves (which would save gas, or conserve battery power if an EV is doing the towing). Although the company released a conceptual design in 2022 for a solar-and-battery-powered trailer that could propel itself, that version isnt there yet. Its likely to come later. Were watching for the right opportunity to do something that has at least some of those features, Wheeler says. Lightship, a startup competitor with a luxury electric travel trailer, does offer that option.

Inside a cavernous production plant in Spain, people from 62 nationalities work side by side to keep a food company humming as millions of legs of ham travel on hooks along conveyor belts.Foreign workers have helped to make Spains economy the envy of the industrialized world, even as anti-immigration sentiments grow elsewhere in Europe and in the United States.Bonrea would not be possible if it werent for the people from other countries who have come here to work. We should be eternally grateful to them, the companys head of human resources, Xavier Moreno, told the Associated Press during a recent visit.Tapping into foreign labor helped Spains economy grow by about 3% last year, smashing the eurozone average of 0.8%, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.That also beat the U.S. growth rate of 2.8%, according to OECD projected figures, where President Donald Trump has pledged to close borders anddeport immigrantswho are in the country illegally.Spains ministry for social security and migration says 45% of all jobs created since 2022 have been filled by around half a million new foreign-born workers. Nearly 3 million foreigners now represent 13% of the countrys workforce.We had two ways to deal with the challenge, the minister, Elma Saiz, told the AP. That Spain be a closed and poor country or an open and prosperous one.Pedro Aznar, professor of economics with the Esade Business School in Barcelona, said the influx of foreign workers has helped Spain fare far better than Germany, the traditional motor of Europes economy, whosemanufacturing industry is in crisis.Spain is driven by services, in particular itsbuoyant tourism sector. Foreigners do typically lower-wage jobs that many Spaniards dont want. And while Spain takes in fewer asylum-seekers than other European countries, its in the rare position to attract millions of economic migrants from Latin America who swiftly incorporate into Spains job market and social fabric thanks to the common language.Practically all of Spains population growth since the COVID-19 pandemic is due to immigration, with 1.1 million people arriving in 2022, according to the Bank of Spain. It credits the newcomers with sustaining the aging countrys social security systema challenge common in other European nations.The bank said 85% of the 433,000 people who found a job last year between January and September were foreign-born.Bucking the anti-migration trendAcross Europe, the rise of anti-migrant sentiment has spurred far-right political parties. Spain also has seen the rise of anti-migration political forces that focus on unauthorized migration from Africa and Islamic countries, but they havent been able to impose their narrative as deeply.Mohamed Es-Saile, 38, arrived from Morocco illegally when he was 16, crossing into Spains north African exclave of Ceuta. He now works legally as an electrician and repairman at bonrea.I dont feel any hate toward migrants here, Es-Saile said. From my point of view, a person (from abroad) can adapt to situations in a new country, even sometimes better than people from that country.Latin Americans have made up the bulk of immigrants who arrived legally. According to the most recent census, more than 4 million Latin American immigrants were living in Spain legally in 2023.Vctor Razuri was brought over by bonrea from Peru last year as a mechanic and electrician. The 41-year-old said he has had little problem adapting.In Peru, you dont see many people from other parts of the world. When I got here, I was working with people from Ukraine, from Morocco, and with a few other people from Latin America, he said. It was a little tough at first, but I think I have adapted.To help integrate newcomers, bonrea offers classes in Spanish and Catalan, help with work permits, and finding homes and schools. Representatives of workers from different countries meet regularly to discuss issues related to cultural differences.Our future prosperitySocialistPrime Minister Pedro Snchezhas defended legal migration, drawing attention to its economic benefits. Spain added an estimated 458,000 authorized immigrants last year, according to the National Statistics Institute.While 31% come from other EU countries, leading countries of origin also include Morocco, Colombia, Venezuela, China, Peru, and Ukraine.New arrivals often take service jobs, construction, farming, fishing, and home care and cleaning.Welcoming those who come here looking for a better life is not just an obligation, it is also an essential step to guaranteeing our future prosperity, Snchez told Parliament in October.An aging Spain requires workersSocial changes in Spain have opened the job market for newcomers without creating dramatic social tensions, despite chronic high unemployment at 10.6%.The Bank of Spain estimates that an aging Spain will need 30 million working-age immigrants over the next 30 years to sustain the balance between workers and retirees-plus-children.In Barcelona, caf owner Jordi Ortiz said there is no way he could keep his business going without his staff of mostly Latin Americans.It is basically 80% of people from abroad, 20% from here, Ortiz said. Spaniards just dont want to work in the service sector.Emily Soto, originally from the Dominican Republic, serves tables at the cafe. She and her family emigrated in 1998. Since then, things have changed.When I got here there was nobody else from my country, I mean we could count them on our fingers, Soto said. But now they just keep coming.Contractor Vctor Lisbona in Barcelona said fellow Spaniards no longer follow in their parents footsteps, and estimates that around 80% of the carpenters, electricians, and construction professionals he has worked with are foreigners.Young Spaniards dont want to do the hard jobs, the construction work, driving trucks, carpentry. They want to study to be lawyers, doctors, Lisbona said.New work permits for migrantsSpain has struggled with unauthorized migration across the Mediterranean Sea and has backedEuropean Union deals with Moroccoto try to stem flows. Meanwhile, the stream of migrant boats journeying from Africas west coast to Spains Canary Islands has created a humanitarian crisis. Countless die in the attempt.Sncheztoured Mauritania, Senegal, and Gambialast year to promote a temporary work scheme whereby African workers could get legal and safe passage to Spain. Results have yet to be seen.The government also aims to bring unauthorized migrants already in Spain into the system.In November, Snchezs left-wing coalition announcedit would provide work permits and papersto some 900,000 foreigners already in the country illegally over the coming three years, with hopes they will work and pay taxes.Bonrea will be waiting to give them jobs, Moreno with human resources said, with some 700 posts likely available.By Joseph Wilson and Suman Naishadham, Associated Press

Want more housing market stories from Lance LambertsResiClubin your inbox?Subscribeto theResiClubnewsletter.Since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out, the number of unsold completed U.S. new single-family homes has been rising. Heres a look at the recent historical numbers for January: January 2018: 63,000January 2019: 76,000January 2020: 76,000January 2021: 40,000January 2022: 32,000January 2023: 68,000January 2024: 83,000January 2025: 115,000The January figure (115,000 unsold completed new homes) that recently published is the highest level since July 2009 (126,000). Lets take a closer look at the data to better understand what this could mean.To put the number of unsold completed new single-family homes into historic context, ResiClub created a new index: ResiClubs Finished Homes Supply Index.The index is one simple calculation: The number of unsold completed U.S. new single-family homes divided by the annualized rate of U.S. single-family housing starts.A higher index score indicates a softer national new construction market with greater supply slack, while a lower index score signifies a tighter new construction market with less supply slack.Big picture: The index shows that theres more new construction slack in the 2025 housing market as compared to the 2023 and 2024 markets; however, its still far less slack than the 2008 housing bust.In housing markets and builder communities where unsold completed inventory gets too high, local homebuilders could (and some already have) turn to get bigger affordability adjustments (i.e., bigger incentives or even outright price cuts).That raises the question: Where is this unsold new home inventory located? Where can buyers find deals?While the U.S. Census Bureau doesnt specify the locations of unsold completed single-family new construction, its safe to assume that most of it is in the South, based on where total active housing inventory for sale is increasing and where homebuilders are completing the most homes (see chart below).As ResiClub has documented, both active resale and new homes for sale remain the most limited across huge swaths of the Midwest, Northeast, and Southern California. Thats likely where youll find the least unsold completed new constructionand where builders have greater pricing power.In contrast, active housing inventory for sale has grown the most in the Gulf region, including housing markets like Tampa, Punta Gorda, and San Antonio. These areas saw major price surges during the pandemic housing boom, with home price growth outpacing local income levels. As pandemic-driven migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Tampa and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices.This softening trend is further compounded by an abundance of new home supply in the Sun Belt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives to maintain sales, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market. Some buyers, who would have previously considered existing homes, are now opting for new homes with more favorable deals.The number of builders unsold inventory homes remains above the seasonal norm, wrote Dillan Krieg, a research analyst at John Burns Research and Consulting on LinkedIn. Weve been tracking this trend for a while as builders rely on speculative starts to capture buyers. However, some builders are facing pricing pressureespecially in key Florida and Texas markets, where resale supply is also well above pre-COVID norms.

Americans across all political stripes were understandably concerned when news broke that Elon Musk, the unelected head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had gained access to the U.S. Treasury Departments payment systems. These payment systems are responsible for trillions of dollars in federal payments, including things like Social Security benefits and tax refunds.DOGE has felt fishy from the start, a blatant branding stunt that blurs the line between private investment and public interest by advertising Musks investment in Dogecoin. Knowing that Musk and his crew of DOGEbags are pursuing deep access to the Treasury Department and its troves of data has led to a number of questions (some, perhaps, a tad paranoid):What exactly do they plan to do with my private information?What personal data is stored in these systems and is any of it from my incognito browsing?Couldnt the worlds richest man find better things to do with his time?Musks ability to access personally identifiable information (PII) from the Treasury Department and other federal agencies is in flux, with the courts weighing in on the legality of that access. That doesnt mean your personal and financial information is necessarily safeeither from this current threat or from any data breaches in the future.Heres what you can do to protect yourself and your finances from the prying eyes of DOGE.Know what information is vulnerableThe U.S. Treasurys payment system handles the outlay of federal funds, including federal grants, Social Security and Medicare payments, tax information, and payments to federal contractors. Anyone who has received any of these types of federal dollars (which is pretty much everyone) has their personal information stored on the database.Specifically, the database holds Social Security numbers, tax information, and bank account numbers (for direct deposit of tax refunds, Social Security payments, and other payments).To be clear, the U.S. Treasury Departments payment system is not the only place where this kind of personal information is storedso its prudent to protect yourself even if no classified material was accessed without proper security clearances, as the DOGE claimed on February 2, 2025.How to DOGE-proof your dataThere are several actions that will help keep you safe, even if any of your personal information falls into the wrong hands.Open a my Social Security accountMost policy and financial experts are not worried about the possibility of a Social Security payment breach. If you are currently receiving Social Security benefits, there is no reason to believe your payments are in jeopardy due to DOGE access to the U.S. Treasury.However, a stolen Social Security number could allow an identity thief to open a my Social Security web account in your name and potentially steal your benefits. The my Social Security web portal allows you to check your earnings history, estimate future benefits, and manage current benefits (which includes setting up direct deposit).Its not exactly easy for hackers to access your Social Security benefits, even if they have your Social Security number. The my Social Security web portal takes data safety seriously and uses various tools to verify your identity, including information from your credit reports. So an identity thief would need to have that information, in addition to your SSN, to open an account in your name. But it is still prudent (and helpful) to establish your account now, as it will ensure that no one else opens an account in your name.One important note: If you have already frozen your credit (more on that below), you will need to temporarily unfreeze it to establish your account.Set up an IRS.gov accountScammers with your personal information may also attempt to file a fraudulent tax return in your name to claim a refund. The IRS has identified this as a growing problem over the past few years, with over one million tax returns flagged as potentially fraudulent during the 2023 tax season.Setting up an online individual account with IRS.gov can help ensure that you are the only person filing taxes in your name. This kind of account can also allow you to access your tax records, manage payments, and get virtual assistance.For further security, you can also request an identity protection PIN (IP PIN) from the IRS. This is a six-digit number assigned to you at the beginning of the tax season that you may use to file your taxes instead of your Social Security number. The IP PIN is only shared with you, and you will need to provide it when filing your tax return to verify your identity. The IP PIN is also only valid for one calendar year, so you must request a new one each tax season.If you have your IRS.gov online individual account set up, there is a link to request an IP PIN through that portal.Freeze your creditFreezing your credit means that no one, not even you, can open new credit in your name.(The fact that youre included in the freeze comes in handy when youre tempted by impulse credit. Youll actually be relieved when the cashier denies your Kohls credit card application, 20% discount be damned. Ask me how I know this.)With frozen credit, even if identity thieves have your personal information, they cant open an account in your name. Credit freezes last indefinitely, which means you dont have to worry about renewing the chill. However, you do need to unfreeze your credit anytime you want to open a new line of credit. The credit bureaus allow you to thaw your credit for a specific time frame, after which point the freeze goes back into effect. These time frames can be as short as a day.To freeze your credit, go to each of the three nationwide credit bureau websites and follow their prompts:EquifaxExperianTransunionPractice good password hygieneIf youve been using Bandit1993 as your password for everything, its time to change itwhether or not the U.S. Treasury Department has access to your bank account. Passwords that use pet names, important dates, your mothers maiden name, or the name of your favorite Toad the Wet Sprocket album (Dulcinea, of course!) are just too easy to guess. And though reusing passwords may feel like a timesaver, it leaves all your accounts vulnerable to any sketchy characters lurking among real TtWS enthusiasts.Good password hygiene requires a unique, strong password for every account. Passwords made up of a random string of 16 or more characters are the most secure, but it would be literally impossible to remember such passwords for every account.Cybersecurity experts suggest creating passphrasesa memorable phrase made up of several unrelated wordsto use as passwords. These can be especially secure if you replace some letters with numbers or symbols. For example, you might choose the words watch, mirror, eclair, and limb, and create the following passphrase: W@tchMirr0rEcl@irL!mb.If you want to hit the easy button on password security, you can ensure unique and strong passwords with a password manager. Just dont use Bandit1993 as your master password for the manager.Death, taxes, and security breachesThe particular security threat posed by DOGE may be novel, but its a good idea to remember that our information is always vulnerable in one way or another. Some proactive strategies can protect your Social Security number, tax information, and bank account from a variety of threats.Specifically, opening accounts with my Social Security and IRS.gov can prevent fraudsters from accessing benefits and tax refunds in your name, while requesting an identity protection PIN (IP PIN) from the IRS every tax season offers further protection from identity thieves.Freezing your credit prevents anyoneincluding youfrom opening new credit in your name. The credit bureaus make it easy to freeze and unfreeze your credit on their websites.And using strong, unique passwords on all your accounts is the best way to keep your information secure. Since remembering random strings of characters is impossible, use a password manager to handle the recall for you.The fact that, via DOGE, an unelected billionaire has access to our sensitive data is rage-inducing, but we do have the power to protect ourselves.

When Leonard Foglia was invited to directan operabased on Herman Melvilles masterpiece about a white whale, his first reaction was: Moby-Dick. Thats great!Then I ran to a used bookstore and got the book, he recalled, and I thought: Oh my God, what am I in for here? Its so daunting. I didnt panic, but I thought, How do we do this?How he and his collaborators did it will be on display at theMetropolitan Operabeginning March 3. The opera is composed by Jake Heggie to a libretto crafted by Gene Scheer.To begin with, Scheer had to whittlea novel of more than 600 pagesdown to a 64-page libretto. He kept as much of Melvilles language as possible, and estimates that 40% to 50% of his libretto can be found in the original text, though he often tweaked the phrasing to make it more singable.Heggie and his initial partner,Terrence McNally(who withdrew for health reasons), had already decided to lop off the opening chapters, which take place on land. They set the entire opera aboard the whale-hunting ship Pequod.Another crucial change was renaming the narrator, calling him Greenhorn to reflect his status as a novice aboard the ship. Now the books famous opening line, Call me Ishmael, is transposed to the very end of the opera when the character has matured.In the novel, Ishmael is telling a story that happened many years ago, Scheer said. But in the theater, you want to see it happen in real time. . . . Were watching him take in all the experiences so that when he says Call me Ishmael, hes ready to write the book. In essence, this opera is the education of Ishmael.Tenor Stephen Costello, who is performing the role for the fifth time and is the lone cast holdover from the Dallas premiere in 2010, sees his character as the only one who really has an arc.He goes on the Pequod because there was nothing for him on land, Costello said. So hes either going to die at sea or figure out who he is.In addition to Costello, the Met cast includes tenor Brandon Jovanovich as the vengeance-obsessed Captain Ahab. Pip, his cabin boy, is written as a trousers role (a male character portrayed by a woman) and will be sung by soprano Janai Brugger. Starbuck, the first mate, will be baritone Peter Mattei, and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green will sing the part of Queequeg. Karen Kamensek conducts the eight performances through March 29.The opera, commissioned to celebrate the opening of a new opera house in Dallas, has been a success from the beginning, drawing praise from audiences and criticsand even scholars.Bob Wallace, a professor at Northern Kentucky University and past president of the Melville Society, admired the opera so much that he wrote a book about its creation.Scheer and Heggie did a brilliant job of shrinking the novel to make it fit the stage and yet preserve so much of the essence of it, he said in an interview.As much as critics admired Scheers adaptation and Heggies tuneful, atmospheric, and at times gripping score, they lavished special praise on the physical production, with sets by Robert Brill and projections by Elaine J. McCarthy.The action, Steve Smithwrote in The New York Times,played out against a multimedia-enriched staging that ranged from striking to near-miraculous.Perhaps the most stunning effect is the way animated projections superimposed on a climbing wall that is curved a bit like a skateboard ramp create the illusion of the crew leaving the Pequod to board three whaling boats.A lot of the excitement and thrill of watching this is due to the work of the production team, Scheer said. Lenny kept saying to me, You imagine it the way you want it, and let me figure out how to do it.That often involved imposing unusual physical demands on the singers. For instance, when Pip gets lost at sea, his character sings the equivalent of an operatic mad scene dangling high above the stage, with projections making it appear hes treading water.I said to Janai when we first rehearsed it, Foglia recalled, Okay, you can just get mad at me now, because you have to sing your hardest aria hanging from not even a full harness, just a single wire.In addition, Queequeg and Greenhorn climb up and down ladders to sing at the top of the mastheads. Ahab, who has lost a leg in a prior encounter with Moby-Dick, has to hobble on a wooden prosthesis. And Greenhornfinally named Ishmaelends the opera grabbing onto a whale hook from a passing ship that lifts him to safety.I joke with them that everything opera singers count on in lifehaving both feet planted on the groundIve taken away from them, Foglia said.By Mike Silverman, Associated PressThis story was first published February 26, 2025. It was updated on February 28, 2025, to correct the name of Northern Kentucky University.

About 19 million children under 5 around the world suffer from severe acute malnutrition every year. This life-threatening condition kills 400,000 of themthats one child every 10 seconds.These numbers are staggering, especially because a lifesaving treatment has existed for nearly three decades: ready-to-use therapeutic food.Nutriset, a French company, was founded by Michel Lescanne. He was one of two scientists who invented this product in 1996. A sticky peanut butter paste branded Plumpynut, its enriched with vitamins and minerals and comes in packets that require no refrigeration or preparation.Healthcare professionals were quickly convinced of its promise. What was harder to figure out was how to manufacture as many packets as possible while cutting costs. In 2008, ready-to-use therapeutic food producers like Nutriset charged $60 for a box of 150 packetsthe number needed to treat one severely malnourished child for the six to eight weeks needed for their recovery.In a study we published in the Journal of Management Studies in October 2024, we explained how the international agencies, nongovernmental organizations, activists, and for-profit companies involved in the products distribution managed to resolve a public controversy over the use of Nutrisets patent and its for-profit business model.Contrary to the expectations of activists and many humanitarian NGOs, this for-profit company managed to reduce its prices down to $39 per box of Plumpynut packets by 2019 and keep them consistently lower than any nonprofit or for-profit competitors could, all the while enforcing its patent rights.We interviewed Jan Komrska, a pharmacist then serving as the ready-to-use therapeutic food procurement manager at UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children; Tiddo von Schoen-Angerer, a pediatrician who was leading the access to medicines campaign at Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity; and Thomas Couaillet, a Nutriset executive. We also studied documents issued over the course of a decade to find out why this companys unusual approach to intellectual property protection was so successful.Helping franchisees in low-income countries get startedNutriset and humanitarian organizations disagreed at the start over how to proceed with the production of ready-to-use therapeutic food.Doctors Without Borders at first accused Nutriset of behaving like a big drugmaker, shielding itself from competition by aggressively enforcing its patents to charge excessively high prices. The nongovernmental organization demanded that Nutriset allow any manufacturer to make its patented packets, without any compensation for that intellectual property.By 2012, Nutriset had changed course. It had stopped being almost the sole producer of ready-to-use therapeutic food and instead allowed licensees and franchisee partners, chiefly located in low-income countries, to make the packets without having to pay any royalties. It did, however, make an exception for the United States. It allowed Edesia, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit, to become a Nutriset franchisee.It also provided these smaller producers with seed funding and technical advice.Nutriset is still the worlds largest ready-to-use therapeutic food producer, we have determined through our research. Its responsible for about 30% to 40% of the worlds annual production, down from more than 90% in 2008.There are some other U.S. manufacturers, such as Tabatchnick Fine Foods, but they arent Nutriset partners. Threatening legal actionAt the same time, the company continued to threaten to take legal action against potential rivals located in developed countries that were replicating their recipe without authorization. Usually, cease-and-desist letters were sufficient.Nutriset implemented this strategy to ward off competition from big multinational corporations that might try to establish their brands in new markets, gaining a foothold before flooding them with imported ultraprocessed food. A big risk, had that occurred, would have been less breastfeeding for newborns and the disruption of local diets.Nutrisets strategy of opening access to its patent selectively has enabled UNICEF to double the share of packets it buys from producers located in the Global South.UNICEF, the worlds biggest buyer of ready-to-use therapeutic food, bought less than one-third of its supplies from those nations in 2011. That share climbed to two-thirds in 2022.Nutrisets reliance on local franchisees has helped create over 1,000 jobs in hunger-stricken regions while strengthening the supply chain and reducing the carbon emissions of transportation, according to UNICEF.Nutrisets creative patent strategy also helped its partner producers in low-income countries, which include nonprofit and for-profit ventures, compete with large corporations in developed countries by the time its patent expired in 2018.In this instance, a for-profit company not only managed to keep its prices lower than its competitors, including nonprofits, but used its patent to support economic development in developing countries by shielding startup producers from international competition.As a result of these successes, we found that nongovernmental organizations eventually stopped criticizing the French company and recognized that high prices were actually not due to Nutrisets patent policy but rather to global prices of the packets ingredients.In recognition of its contributions and innovation, Nutriset won the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices Patents for Humanity Award in 2015.Offering a cheap, convenient, and effective treatmentOne of the biggest advantages of ready-to-use therapeutic food is that parents or other caregivers can give it to their kids at home or on the go. Thats more convenient and cheaper than the alternative: several months of hospitalization where children receive a nutrient-dense liquid called therapeutic milk.The at-home treatment works most of the time. More than 80% of the children who get three daily food packets recover within two months.Severe acute malnutrition deaths remain high because historically only 25% to 50% of children suffering from it get treated with ready-to-use therapeutic food, due to insufficient funding. The treatment programs are run by governments, UNICEF and other international agencies, and NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders.USAIDs funding roleThe U.S. government spent about $200 million in 2024 through the U.S. Agency for International Development on ready-to-use therapeutic food, enough packets to treat 3.9 million children. Thats nearly as much as UNICEF, which treats about 5 million children annually.Its unclear whether the Trump administration, which is trying to dismantle USAID, will discontinue its funding of ready-to-use therapeutic food that the U.S. government has purchased exclusively from U.S. manufacturers with U.S.-sourced ingredients.At a time when the flow of development aid from several wealthy countries is declining, the precedent Nutriset set suggests that humanitarian organizations, by teaming up with international agencies, governments, and for-profit companies, can help drive down the costs of saving lives threatened by hunger while increasing the nutritional autonomy of the Global South.But the funding for ready-to-use therapeutic food and its distribution has to come from somewhere, whether it is from governments, foundations or other donors.Nicolas Dahan is a professor of management at Seton Hall University.Bernard Leca is a professor of management sciences at ESSEC.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 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Healthy coastal ecosystems play crucial roles in the U.S. economy, from supporting multibillion-dollar fisheries and tourism industries to protecting coastlines from storms.Theyre also difficult to manage, requiring specialized knowledge and technology.Thats why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationthe federal agency best known for collecting and analyzing the data that make weather forecasts and warnings possibleleads most of the governments work on ocean and coastal health, as well as research into the growing risks posed by climate change.The government estimates that NOAAs projects and services support more than one-third of the nations gross domestic product. Yet, this is one of the agencies that the Trump administration has targeted, with discussions of trying to privatize NOAAs forecasting operations and disband its crucial climate change research.As a marine environmental historian who studies relationships among scientists, fishermen, and environmentalists, I have seen how NOAAs work affects American livelihoods, coastal health, and the U.S. economy.Here are a few examples from just NOAAs coastal work, and what it means to fishing industries and coastal states.Preventing fisheries from collapsingOne of the oldest divisions within NOAA is the National Marine Fisheries Service, known as NOAA Fisheries. It dates to 1871, when Congress created the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. At that time, the first generation of conservationists started to worry that Americas natural resources were finite.By conducting surveys and interviewing fishermen and seafood dealers, the fish commissioners discovered that freshwater and saltwater fisheries across the country were declining. Oil spills and raw sewage were polluting waterways. Fishermen were using high-tech gear, such as pound nets, to catch more and more of the most valuable fish. In some areas, overfishing was putting the future of the fisheries in jeopardy.One solution was to promote aquaculture, also known as fish or shellfish farming. Scientists and entrepreneurs reared baby fish in hatcheries and transferred them to rivers, lakes, or bays. The Fish Commission even used refrigerated railroad cars to ship fish eggs across the country.Today, U.S. aquaculture is a US$1.5 billion industry and the worlds fastest-growing food sector. Much of the salmon you see in grocery stores started as farm-raised hatchlings. NOAA provides training, grants, and regional data to support the industry.NOAA Fisheries also helps to regulate commercial and recreational fishing to keep fish populations healthy and prevent them from crashing.The 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other laws implemented catch limits to prevent overfishing. To develop fair regulations and combat illegal practices, NOAA and its predecessors have worked with fishing organizations through regional fishery management councils for decades.These industries generate $321 billion in sales and support 2.3 million jobs.Restoring coral reefs to help marine life thriveNOAA also benefits U.S. coastal communities by restoring coral reefs.Corals build up reefs over centuries, creating cities of the sea. When theyre healthy, they provide nurseries that protect valuable fish species, like snapper, from predators. Reefs also attract tourism and protect coastlines by breaking up waves that cause storm-driven flooding and erosion.The corals of Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico, and other tropical areas provide over $3 billion a year in benefits from sustaining marine ecosystems to recreation, including sport fishing.However, reefs are vulnerable to pollution, acidification, heat stress, and other damage. Warming water can cause coral bleaching events, as the world saw in 2023 and 2024.NOAA monitors reef health. It also works with innovative restoration strategies, such as breeding strains of coral that resist bleaching, so reefs have a better chance of surviving as the planet warms.Battling invasive species in the Great LakesA third important aspect of NOAAs coastal work involves controlling invasive species in Americas waters, including those that have menaced the Great Lakes.Zebra and quagga mussels, spiny water flea, and dozens of other Eurasian organisms colonized the Great Lakes starting in the late 1900s after arriving in ballast water from transoceanic ships. These invaders have disrupted the Great Lakes food web and clogged cities water intake systems, causing at least $138 million in damage per year.In the Northwest Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, invasive lionfish, native to Asia and Australia, have spread, preying on native fish essential to coral reefs. Lionfish have become one of the worlds most damaging marine fish invasions.NOAA works with the Coast Guard, U.S. Geological Survey, and other organizations to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species. Stronger ballast water regulations developed through the agencys research have helped prevent new invasions in the Great Lakes.Understanding climate changeOne of NOAAs most crucial roles is its leadership in global research into understanding the causes and effects of climate change.The oil industry has known for decades that greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels would raise global temperatures.Evidence and research from around the world have connected greenhouse gas emissions from human activities to climate change. The data have shown how rising temperatures have increased risks for coastal areas, including worsening heat waves and ocean acidification that harm marine life; raising sea levels, which threaten coastal communities with tidal flooding and higher storm surges; and contributing to more extreme storms.NOAA conducts U.S. climate research and coordinates international climate research efforts, as well as producing the data and analysis for weather forecasting that coastal states rely on.Why tear apart an irreplaceable resource?When Republican President Richard Nixon proposed consolidating several different agencies into NOAA in 1970, he told Congress that doing so would promote better protection of life and property from natural hazards, better understanding of the total environment, and exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources.The Trump administration is instead discussing tearing down NOAA. The administration has been erasing mentions of climate change from government research, websites, and policiesdespite the rising risks to communities across the nation. The next federal budget is likely to slash NOAAs funding.Commercial meteorologists argue that much of NOAAs weather data and forecasting, also crucial to coastal areas, couldnt be duplicated by the private sector.As NOAA marks its 55th year, I believe its in the nations and the U.S. economys best interest to strengthen rather than dismantle this vital agency.Christine Keiner is a chair at the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Rochester Institute of Technology.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Throughout February, a measles outbreak has been growing in West Texas. The potentially deadly disease, once eliminated from the United States in terms of its continuous transmission, has been making a comeback in recent years as vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine movements rise. Unfortunately, this outbreak has now had deadly consequences.Earlier this week, it was reported that one unvaccinated Texas child has died as a result of the outbreak. The unfortunate event, along with the continued spread of the disease, has left many asking whether they need a measles vaccine booster shot. Heres what you need to know.About the measles vaccineThe good news is that there is an effective vaccine against measles, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That vaccine is generally packaged with vaccines for other diseases, giving you protection from a variety of illnesses.A measles vaccine is part of an MMR shot, which stands for measles, mumps, and rubella. The measles vaccine is also part of the MMRV shot, which stands for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (chickenpox). The vaccines help protect against all three or four diseases, respectively.To receive maximum protection from measles, youll need two doses of either the MMR shot or the MMRV shot. The dosing schedule depends on the age of the person.In children, the CDC says the recommended schedule for the MMR vaccine is to have the first dose between 1215 months of age and the second dose between 46 years of age.If children are getting the MMRV shot instead, the CDC says the first dose should also be given between 1215 months of age and the second dose between 46 years of age. However, the agency notes that the second dose of MMRV can also be given 3 months after 1st dose.As for older children, adolescents, and adults, the CDC says those who do not have evidence of immunity need 1 or 2 doses of MMR vaccine.Should I get a measles booster shot if Ive already been fully vaccinated?Its important to note that before making any medical decisions, you should always check with a doctor who is familiar with your unique medical history.As noted by CBS, most people who have had two doses of the recommended vaccine will be protected as much as possible throughout their lives. However, one group of people would likely benefit from another course of the vaccine. This group includes those who were first vaccinated against measles before 1968 and do not know which vaccine they received. As the CDC explains, this is because, before 1968, some people received measles vaccines that contained an inactive (killed) strain of the virus, which was ineffective. Modern measles vaccines use a live strain of the virus to produce maximum protection in the body.People who were vaccinated prior to 1968 with either inactivated (killed) measles vaccine or measles vaccine of unknown type should be revaccinated with at least one dose of live attenuated measles vaccine, the CDC states. This recommendation is intended to protect those who may have received killed measles vaccine, which was available in 19631967 and was not effectiveIs the measles vaccine safe and effective?Health authorities including the CDC say the measles vaccine is both safe and effective. When it comes to the efficacy rate of the MMR vaccine, the numbers are very good.The CDC says one dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles. The efficacy increases to 97% after the second shot.Furthermore, the health authorities say the MMR vaccine is safe for those who are breastfeeding and that there is no connection between autism and the vaccine.There is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, the CDC notes. Scientists in the United States and other countries have carefully studied the MMR vaccine. None has found a link between autism and the MMR vaccine.While getting the vaccine does not fully protect you from measles, vaccinated individuals who do contract the disease generally experience milder symptoms and are also less likely to spread measles to others, according to the agency.In a February 27 memo addressing the Texas outbreak that has killed one so far, the CDC says, Vaccination remains the best defense against measles infection.

The Globeville, Elyria-Swansea and Commerce City communities in metro Denver are choked by air pollution from nearby highways, an oil refinery and a Superfund site.While these neighborhoods have long suffered from air pollution, theyre not the only ones in Colorado.Now, Colorado is taking a major step to protect people from air pollutants that cause cancer or other major health problems, called air toxics. For the first time, the state is developing its own state-level air toxic health standards. In January 2025 as priority chemicals: benzene, ethylene oxide, formaldehyde, hexavalent chromium compounds and hydrogen sulfide.The state is in the process of setting health-based standards that will limit the amount of each chemical allowed in the air. Importantly, the standards will be designed to protect people exposed to the chemicals long term, such as those living near emission sources. Exposure to even low amounts of some chemicals, such as benzene, may lead to cancer.As a researcher studying chemical exposure and health, I measure and evaluate the impact of air pollution on peoples well-being.Colorados new regulations will draw on expert knowledge and community input to protect peoples health.Communities know what needs regulationIn your own community, is there a highway that runs near your house or a factory with a bad odor? Maybe a gas station right around the corner? You likely already know many of the places that release air pollution near you.When state or local regulators work with community members to find out what air pollution sources communities are worried about, the partnership can lead to a system that better serves the public and reduces injustice.For example, partnerships between community advocates, scientists and regulators in heavily polluted and marginalized neighborhoods in New York and Boston have had big benefits. These partnerships resulted in both better scientific knowledge about how air pollution is connected to asthma and the placement of air monitors in neighborhoods impacted the most.In Colorado, the process to choose the five priority air toxics included consulting with multiple stakeholders. A technical working group provided input on which five chemicals should be prioritized from the larger list of 477 toxic air contaminants.The working group includes academics, members of nongovernmental organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund local government and regulated industries, such as the American Petroleum Institute.There were also opportunities for community participation during public meetings.At public hearings, community groups like GreenLatinos argued that air toxics because it can cause cancer.Additionally, formaldehyde is emitted in some Colorado communities that are predominantly people of color, according to advocates for those communities. These communities are already disproportionately impacted by high rates of respiratory disease and cancer.Other members of thecommunity also weighed in.One of my patients is a 16-year-old boy who tried to get a summer job working outside, but had to quit because air pollution made his asthma so bad that he could barely breathe, wrote Logan Harper, a Denver-area family physician and advocate for Healthy Air and Water Colorado.How is air quality protected?At the national level, the Clean Air Act requires that six common air pollutants, such as ozone and carbon monoxide, are kept below specific levels. The act also regulates 188 hazardous air pollutants.Individual states are free to develop their own regulations, and several, including California and Minnesota, already have. States can set standards that are more health-protective than those in place nationally.Four of the five chemicals prioritized by Colorado are regulated federally. The fifth chemical, hydrogen sulfide, is not included on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys hazardous air pollutant list, but Colorado has decided to regulate it as an air toxic.State-level regulation is important because states can focus on air toxics specific to their state to make sure that the communities most exposed to air pollution are protected. One way to do this is to place air pollution monitors in the communities experiencing the worst air pollution.For example, Colorado is placing six new air quality monitors in locations around the state to measure concentrations of the five priority air toxics. It will also use an existing monitor in Grand Junction to measure air toxics. Two of the new monitors, located in Commerce City and La Salle, began operating in January 2024. The remainder will start monitoring the air by July 2025.When Colorado chose the sites, it prioritized communities that are overly impacted by social and environmental hazards. To do this, officials used indexes like the Colorado EnviroScreen, which combines information about pollution, health and economic factors to identify communities that are overly burdened by hazards.The Commerce City monitor is located in Adams City, a neighborhood that has some of the worst pollution in the state. The site has air toxics emissions that are worse than 95% of communities in Colorado.Air toxics and healthThe five air toxics that Colorado selected all have negative impacts on health. Four are known to cause cancer.Benzene, perhaps the most well known because of its ability to cause blood cancer, is one. But it also has a number of other health impacts, including dampening the ability of the immune system and impacting the reproductive system by decreasing sperm count. Benzene is in combustion-powered vehicle exhaust and is emitted during oil and gas production and refinement.Ethylene oxide can cause cancer and irritates the nervous and respiratory systems. Symptoms of long-term exposure can include headaches, sore throat, shortness of breath and others. Ethylene oxide is used to sterilize medical equipment, and as of 2024, it was used by four facilities in Colorado.Formaldehyde is also a cancer-causing agent, and exposure is associated with asthma in children. This air toxic is used in the manufacture of a number of products like household cleaners and building materials. It is also emitted by oil and gas sources, including during fracking.Hexavalent chromium compounds can cause several types of cancer, as well as skin and lung diseases such as asthma and rhinitis. A major source of hexavalent chromium is coal-fired power plants, of which Colorado currently has six in operation, though these plants are scheduled to close in the next five years. Other sources of hexavalent chromium include chemical and other manufacturing.Finally, long-term exposure to hydrogen sulfide can cause low blood pressure, headaches and a range of other symptoms, and has been associated with neurological impacts such as psychological disorders. Some sources of hydrogen sulfide include oil refineries and wastewater treatment plants.Jenni Shearston is an assistant professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Do you know how many pens are in the average American household? The answer is 114and Gonzalve Bich, CEO of Bic, the French manufacturing giant for pens, lighters, shaving razors, and more, is likely one of the few people in the world to know that.Thats because its his job. As the 46-year-old chief executive of the company that was originally founded by his grandfather in 1945, Bich also likely has intimate knowledge of how many disposable razors the typical American uses every year, and how many lighters we burn through as well. But hes also ready to hang it all up at a relatively young age. In December, Bich announced that he would step down by September, and make way for a new CEO to assume the companys reins.And while many business or political leaders are seemingly unwilling to retire, even at much more advanced agesPresident Trump is 78, President Biden was 82 when he left the White House, and Warren Buffett is 94, to name a fewBich, a relative spring chicken, is ready to focus his energy in other areas.From sell more pens to a human expression companyBich tells Fast Company that he feels that age 46 sounded better to try something else and reinvent myself, adding, I did a lot, and I think that there are other opportunities Im equally excited about.I joined this business over 20 years ago as a family member and held a lot of different positions, he says. When I became CEO, I wanted to transform the business and needed to. Bich notes that when he assumed control of the company, nearly everything was trending in the wrong direction, and that interestingly enough, Bic never really had an overarching business strategyso, he set about implementing one, allowing that to be his legacy at the company.We never had a strategy. Every year, it was just grow, but there was no concerted plan to take the organization forward in terms of growth, Bich says. And that in terms of overall goals, he says Bic was merely looking to sell more pens, or open another factory. So, he decided to reimagine the companys verticals; and over the past several years, he was able to turn Bic from being a pen company to being a human expression company.That included strategic acquisitions in some surprising areas, such as the acquisition of Tangle Teezer, a hairbrush company, and Tattly, a temporary tattoo brand. Tattoos are an area that Bich is passionate about, and as Bic digs into the temporary tattoo space, it will offer an expanding range of offerings, including temporary tattoos that can last from a few hours to several weeks.Its that type of diversification thats helped put Bic in a better financial position and helped Bich become more comfortable with the idea of allowing the company to find a successor. Today, if I hit pause on the movie, Bic is a dynamic organization with people who are highly capable and a brand that is closer to consumers than ever, he says.Whats nextLooking ahead, Bich says that he has his eye on a number of potential projects, but his immediate attention will turn closer to home.Specifically, Bich is gearing up for the launch of a foundation thats close to his heart; one that will support projects in and around local communities to help families with autistic childrenwith a focus not only on helping parents but siblings of those children too. Bich, a father of four, has an autistic child, and knows firsthand how difficult it can be for the entire family.I want to help families in our communities go through this differently, with support and structure, he says. But thats not all. I intend to also have professional activities beyond that, he says, though he remains mum on what, exactly, those could be for now.Looking back, though, Bich is bowing out at a time when his company is profitable, diverse, and growing. Im proud of our financial results; we get our investors and stakeholders a very healthy return, he says. The numbers speak for themselves: Bics latest earnings report, released February 19, showed sales and profitability increasing company-wide.As for whats next for the company, Bich says he plans to work with his successor for a smooth handoff, which should be completed in the fall. Succession is absolutely a part of business and a part of leadership, he says.As such, Bich says, he will pass the pen.