Think youve got game? Time to put it to the test with Tinders latest launch in collaboration with OpenAI.On Tuesday, Tinder rolled out The Game Gamea new experience designed to help users practice their flirting skills by chatting with an AI voice, powered by OpenAIs GPT-4o model. Players are dealt a stack of virtual cards, each introducing a different AI persona and a hilariously exaggerated rom-com scenario (think: a luggage mix-up at the airport or accidentally crushing someones sunglasses on the beach). Your challenge? Charm your way through it.The bot makes the first move, and users respond in real timeearning feedback on their game as they go. Nail the convo, land a date, and you win. But dont get too cozy with your digital crush: Each session is capped at three minutes, and users are limited to five plays per dayjust in case you forget Tinder is still about connecting with real people.While The Game Games April 1 launch date might raise eyebrows, its no prankits just not that serious. Using speech-to-speech AI, the game delivers absurdly funny scenarios designed to make you laugh more than sweat.Our Future of Dating report found that 64% of young singles are totally fine with a little cringe if it leads to a real connection, Hillary Paine, Tinders VP of product, growth, and revenue, tells Fast Company. We didnt want it to feel overly polished or intense. Instead, we leaned into humor, awkwardness, and low-pressure moments to help users practice flirting in a fun, playful, and judgment-free way.Tinder has built in safeguards to ensure that conversations stay appropriate and follow community guidelines. And no, theyre not trying to create an AI companion (this isnt Her). The goal is to blur the line between the digital and the real worldsomething Tinder has been exploring with events like the Single Summer Series, Chaotic Singles Party, and Swipe Off.According to a Forbes Health survey, 79% of Gen Z reported feeling dating-app burnout in 2023. Tinder is betting that a little fun might just reignite the spark. Our mission has always been to spark real connections by making dating feel less like a chore and more like something to look forward to, Paine says.At a launch event hosted at OpenAIs New York City office, I got to try The Game Game myself. Lets just say my gym meet-cute didnt exactly end in a rom-com-style kiss in the rain. Humbling, to say the least.The Game Game is now live for U.S. Tinder users on iOS for a limited time.

A Jesuit priestsays he prefers going to prison than paying a 500-euro ($541) fine for participating in a climate activists street blockade in the southern German city of Nuremberg.The Rev. Jrg Alt started serving his nearly month-long prison sentence on Tuesday in Nuremberg.Today, I am starting my 25-day alternative custodial sentence in Nuremberg prison, he said before entering the prison. I dont like doing this, especially as my health is no longer the best at the age of 63. But I see no alternative, because its the last form of protest I have left in this specific case to draw attention to important issues such asclimate change.In November, Alt said that as a priest, I have no income and no bank account due to my vow of poverty and that I do not want to harm the order and my fellow brothers by paying my fine, German news agency dpa reported.His remarks came after a Bavarian Higher Regional Court rejected his appeal to a lower courts decision and confirmed Alts conviction for coercion for participating in a sit-in blockade.After the courts decision, authorities repeatedly asked Alt to pay the 500 euros, before the fine was eventually commuted to the 25-day prison sentence.The court ruling in November was in connection with a street blockade in August 2022, when the Jesuit priest and about 40 other activists blocked traffic in Nuremberg bygluing their hands to a streetin front of the citys train station to draw attention to climate change.Numerous similar protests have taken place across Germany and other countries in recent years, as activists try to draw attention to the urgency of tackling climate change. The public and political response to such road blockades has been mixed.While some Germans have said they support the protesters cause, if not their means,activists have also faced violencefrom enraged motorists and calls for tough punishment from conservative politicians.German Chancellor Olaf Scholzhas sharply criticized climate activists as nutty for drastic protestssuch as blocking streets or gluing themselves to famous paintings in museums.Last year, activists belonging to one of the main protest groups, the Last Generation, announced that they wouldabandon the tacticand move on to holding what they call disobedient assemblies.Alt has said that he had also decided to serve the prison sentence instead of paying the fine in solidarity with those climate activists who are treated similarly by the administration and the judiciary it may all be lawful, but it is unjust.Its not the first time, that Alt was convicted for his activism. In May 2023, a court alsoconvicted him of coercionafter he participated in a road blockade in Munich and ordered him to pay a small fine.Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press

On Tuesday, investment banking company Jefferies downgraded its rankings on Delta, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Air Canada. That caused airline stocks to drop. American Airlines (NasdaqGS: AAL) finished the day down 2.4%, Delta (NYSE: DAL) dropped 2.7%, and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) fell 5.9%. Even United Airlines (NASDAQ: UAL), which remains the only U.S. airline Jefferies still considers a buy, is down 1.2%.Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu wrote that corporate and consumer sentiment [are expected] to remain soft on swelling macro uncertainty. Indeed, the global business think tank the Conference Board recently announced the latest reading for its U.S. Consumer Expectations Index, which measures consumer expectations for business, income, and job prospects. It reached its lowest level in 12 years to 65.2 points amid Americans concerns over inflation and Trumps tariffs. Thats well below the threshold of 80, which the organization says typically signals a recession ahead.In the Conference Boards report last week, senior economist Stephanie Guichard said consumers optimism about future income . . . [has] largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers assessments of their personal situations.One of the ways that Americans seem to be addressing these fears is by pulling back on travel expenses. Over the month of February, Bank of America reported a reduction of 7.2% in users credit and debit card spending.Airlines are not only seeing reductions in consumer travel. At a conference last month, Uniteds chief financial officer Mike Leskinen, said that government travel has fallen off here post-inauguration, in part due to mass government-worker layoffs by the Trump administration. With government air travel making up about 2% of Uniteds revenue, and travel from consultants and contractors making up another 2% to 3%, the airline has reportedly seen a sharp decline in revenue from these cuts.

Reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood said on Monday the Trump administration would cut federal family planning funding as of Tuesday, affecting birth control, cancer screenings and other services for low-income people.Planned Parenthood said that nine of its affiliates received notice that funding would be withheld under a program known as Title X, which has supported healthcare services for the poor since 1970. The Wall Street Journal reported last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) planned an immediate freeze of $27.5 million in family planning grants for groups including Planned Parenthood.Planned Parenthood says more than 300 health centers are in the Title X network and Title X-funded centers received more than 1.5 million visits in 2023. It did not say how much funding would be halted by the Trump administration.HHS said in a statement it was withholding Title X payments to 16 organizations while it evaluates possible violations of their grant terms, including possibly of federal civil rights law and an executive order issued by President Donald Trump entitled, Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders.HHS is conducting this evaluation to ensure these entities are in full compliance with Federal law and applicable grant terms, and to ensure responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars, the statement said.Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, predicted that cancers would go undetected, access to birth control would be severely reduced, and sexually-transmitted infections would increase as a result.President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause, McGill Johnson said in a statement.Trump has named billionaire Musk, who helped the president get elected, to head up an initiative to target government agencies for spending cuts.Conservatives have long sought to defund Planned Parenthood because it also provides abortions. However, U.S. government funding for nearly all abortions has been banned since 1977.Daniel Trotta, Reuters

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at ending price gouging for live-entertainment tickets, with musician Kid Rock at his side in the Oval Office wearing a bright red, white, and blue bejeweled suit.Anyone whos bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 yearsno matter what your politics areknows that its a conundrum, Kid Rock told reporters. Trump said while he didnt know much about price gouging, I checked it out, and it is a big problem.For decades, musicians have been feuding with ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster over the high fees they pass on to fans, going back to 1995 when Pearl Jam canceled their tour after a dispute with Ticketmaster, over what they said were excessive and unfair fees.Heres what to know about the new executive order.What does the executive order do?The executive order is designed to stop price-gouging by middlemen and orders the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process and work with Attorney General Pam Bondi to better enforce the 2016 Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act against companies and individuals demonstrating unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct, like using bots to buy concert tickets in bulk and then resell them.It comes after the Justice Departmentfiled an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment last May, arguing their monopoly over live events in the U.S. has eliminated competition and driven up ticket prices.Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Golden State Warriors fans also experienced price gougingAnother notable price-gouging case occurred in 2015 when ticket seller StubHubsued rival Ticketmaster and the Golden State Warriors basketball team, arguing they unfairly required fans to resell game tickets on Ticketmasters platform, which increased ticket prices.However, the most publicized example is when Ticketmaster fumbled pre-ticket sales for Taylor Swifts Eras tour in 2022, after the site crashed, leaving users logged out or frozen and causing Swifties hours of frustration as they attempted and failed to buy tickets. (In 2023,those tickets eventually reached between $11,000 to $22,500.)On Monday, Lady Gaga fans experienced something similar as they attempted to buy tickets for herhighly anticipatedThe Mayhem Ball tour, when dynamic pricing, which raises prices in real time, drove tickets sky high with the help of bots and resellers. Now, many angry little monsters (the name given to Lady Gaga fans) are weighing whether to shell out thousands of dollars to see their favorite artist.Angry fans took to social media, where one X user complained that tickets for Lady Gagas New York show were already $1,770 for good lower-level tickets. . . . Just disgusting. Meanwhile, another X user recalled Ticketmasters most infamous fiasco: Like be for real . . . 1066 to be front row . . . like what in the Taylor Swift are these prices!?

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.Regardless of whether your company has a strict in-office policy or supports a flexible schedule, the reality is that office attendance is at its highest levels in five years, according to Bisnow.Nobody would argue the need for a healthy office, especially one with more people in it. And if you ask what makes a healthy office, most would say it is one that supports physical health and safety, well-being, collaboration, productivity, and social connection.This is why so many businesses focus on factors such as air quality, ventilation, security, and employee wellness programs, for example. While these environmental and social indicators of health are important, they overlook one critical element: the ways that humans interact in a space and use the office.Dont make assumptions about in-office productivityEmployers make a lot of assumptions about how productive employees are in the office. Anecdotally, many employees say they look forward to spending time in the office to collaborate with colleagues. Yet top organizations want more than opinions and anecdotes. They want data showing the frequency of casual, impromptu brainstorming in the office and aligning that with productivity and efficiency.Data on how teams collaborate is crucial in improving organizational productivity, as Ive seen through numerous conversations with workplace leaders at Fortune 1000 companies. With the opportunity for more in-person collaboration, decision makers want to measure and understand the frequency of casual, impromptu discussions and brainstorming and how to foster more of it by creating the right office environment.Not long ago, meeting and huddle data was based on how much time employees spent using online collaboration tools and video platforms. Today, with employees spending more time in physical spaces, understanding how and where employees collaborate is critical to improving the experience and eliminating silos.For example, compare the needs of an ad agency with a research think tank. We assume the agency needs more space for collaboration and client meetings, setting up the office layout to feature open desks, soft seating, and large, impressive conference rooms with high-end audio-visual capabilities.At the think tank, we assume their employees need dedicated areas for individual, focused work. As a result, the office layout consists of rows of gray cubicles and a handful of different sized conference rooms.Over time, an interesting shift happens at both companies. The ad agency employees come into the office in the morning, meet with their teams or participate in a larger company meeting, eat lunch in the break room, and then leave for the day.The think tank employees squat in a conference room by themselves or in small clusters, participating in video conferences with colleagues and clients, spending little time at their desks. After a while, fewer employees come into the office, citing the ability to be more productive working remotely.Business as usual, right? Yes, except for the long-term issues of these work arrangements. Along with having to heat and cool unoccupied spaces, negatively impacting the buildings carbon footprint, there is also the cost of cleaning areas based on scheduling, not usage. Safety also plays a factor should an emergency occur in the office, and nobody is available to respond. Add to this the expense of office leasing and the potential of squandered investments in an office redesign. Not to mention the critical, yet less measurable, missed opportunities of face-to-face interactions.Healthy buildings should encompass the entire human experienceWhen we think of healthy buildings, we should consider the entire human experience in them. Instead of making assumptions of how employees want to work, employers are starting to look more closely at how the office plays a role in the health, well-being, and productivity of employees.Consider the idea that every business is a system unto itself, designed to produce outcomes. In that system, the office can be viewed as a product, one that is continuously refined to meet the needs of its customers.In this instance, customers are the people using the office. Today, that product is improved by using AI in the digital space; the next era is improving it in the physical space by combining infrastructure data and intelligence on real-world spaces. Through a combination of AI and body heat sensing technology that ensures privacy, you can get a better sense of how the workforce uses the office. It is like having a touchscreen interface on a digital app, except in this instance, the office is the product.For example, a sensor that understands movement in a space can lead to insight about one-on-one and group interactions, frequency of impromptu meetings, and if large spaces are being used by an individual. This can show the subsequent impact on energy efficiency.This isnt about tracking attendance or keystrokes. Instead, by ensuring privacy and understanding how the workforce naturally moves throughout the office, employers can make better decisions about how to make the most of an employees time in the office.They may learn that the best open desks are quickly taken, forcing most employees to work in darker spaces, and that the volume of chatter makes it difficult to be productive. This is why conference rooms are being squatted, and employees are working remotely.These insights can lead to better management decisions about in-office work policies, layouts, leases, and even cleaning contracts. Employers that have amassed insights about office usage are feeding the data into GPTs to come up with office layouts and designs that more closely reflect their corporate cultures.Instead of having employees conform to the office, there is a way to have the office conform to the needs of employees. As a result, the office can become a place, or product, employees look forward to going to, providing a healthy work environment.Honghao Deng is CEO and cofounder of Butlr.

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.Heres a question for business leaders: When was the last time you or someone on your team had a frustrating experience as a customer? Perhaps you were shuffled between departments, asked to repeat information multiple times, left feeling like no one grasped your specific needs, or that the information changed depending on who you talked to.Now flip the scenario. How many of your customers might be experiencing that same frustration with your company right now?Most well-intended, talented teams can have blind spots with their own customer service. Its like sleeping in the guest room at your house to truly understand what your visitors experience. Even the most gracious hosts might not realize just how lumpy that mattress is, or how loud the dining room chairs are overhead.The truth is that delivering a seamless customer experience is one of the most significant challenges for B2B companies. Despite our obsession with customer satisfaction metrics, most organizations still prioritize internal structures over customer needs. I see it constantlythe customer lifecycle journey fractured across marketing, sales, customer success, and renewals, with each department guarding its own territory and creating an inconsistent customer experience.The hidden cost of fragmentationThis fragmentation is more than a customer annoyance. Its also a business liability. When departments operate in isolation, several things happennone of them good:Decision making becomes slower and more reactiveCustomers waste countless hours repeating themselves to different teamsValuable context gets lost in departmental handoffsInconsistent messaging and experiences create confusion and erode trustOpportunities to anticipate customer needs vanish into the gaps between teamsWhen departments operate in silos, the silos have a real and substantial impact on customer trust and loyalty. By flipping the traditional marketing structure on its head, youll gain a new and valuable perspective. You and your team will have the advantage of seeing things from the outside-in, and reap the benefit of turning customers into partners and champions. Lets discuss how to do it.Build bridges, not silosThe shift toward a unified customer lifecycle cant be done at a surface, optics-only level. A cross-department meeting or two to share ideas isnt going to cut it here. True unification means ripping off the Band-Aid and totally rethinking how we structure, measure, and reward our organizations.It sounds intimidating, but its possible. Ive lived this shift. Ive spearheaded this shift. And it is so, so worth it.Here are three key practices that make the biggest difference:1. Establish cross-functional ownershipBreaking down silos starts with shared accountability. Consider experimenting with creating cross-functional teams responsible for specific segments of the customer base. These teams might include representatives from marketing, sales, customer success, and technical support who each own a specific part of the customer experience.This approach ensures no customer falls through the cracks during handoffs between departments. It also creates natural collaboration points where team members develop a deeper understanding of the entire customer journey and can identify common pain points more quickly.2. Align metrics that matterDisconnected metrics breed disconnected experiences. Marketing teams traditionally focus on lead volume and pipeline contribution, while customer success teams track retention rates and satisfaction scores. These separate scorecards create invisible walls.The shift requires developing shared, customer-centric metrics that every department contributes to. Net retention rates, customer satisfaction scores, and customer lifetime value provide more holistic views of success than departmental vanity metrics.This enhances accuracy and reduces overlap and rework, while eliminating dangerous knowledge gaps.3. Leverage integrated technologyMetrics are critical, but you also have to inform those metrics with the right data. This might sound like the same thing as number two, but metrics are about asking the right questions, and data is about getting the right answers. A unified customer experience requires unified data. Without a single source of truth about customer interactions, teams operate with incomplete information and fail to make data-driven decisions.This doesnt have to be done manually, and probably shouldnt be. Integrated technology with a high-powered platform is critical to making this unification streamlined and accurate.If you continue using individual, specialized tools, they must share data seamlessly. When marketing automation, CRM, support ticketing, and product usage analytics feed into a comprehensive customer database, everyone gains visibility into the complete customer picture.Make the change realI know the kinds of results that can happen when an organization commits to unifying the customer experience:Reduced time-to-resolution for customer issuesIncreased customer retention rates and enhance customer trustHigher expansion revenue from existing accountsMore accurate prediction of renewal outcomesImproved employee satisfaction across customer-facing teamsBy breaking down silos and ensuring smooth handoffs between departments, unification can eliminate friction points that often lead to customer frustration and attrition. Who doesnt want to see positive results in key performance indicators like these?Lead the changeThis wont happen on its own. As executives, we must champion this approach from the top. The process starts with:Modeling collaborative behaviors across your leadership teamCreating clear customer journey maps that span departmental boundariesRedesigning incentive structures to reward collaborationInvesting in technologies that enable seamless information sharingMeasuring success through the customers eyes, not internal metricsThe first step is often the hardestacknowledging that our existing structures may be optimized for our convenience rather than our customers success.The competitive advantageReady to figure this out? Ready to spot opportunities earlier, solve problems faster, and build deeper customer relationships that competitors struggle to displace?One of the biggest reasons for making this shift is creating an environment where employees can focus on delivering value rather than navigating internal complexity. Teams become energized when they see the direct impact of their work on customer success. And happy employees = happy customers. The trust and loyalty you cultivate with your teams has a direct impact on the trust and loyalty your organization benefits from with your customers. When customers trust their vendors, they become more aligned, viewing you as a partner, not an adversary.I believe the business landscape is quickly moving toward prioritizing unified customer experiences. Clinging to fragmented approaches will put organizations at a disadvantage as customer expectations continue to rise.Why not start now?Melissa Puls is chief marketing officer and SVP of customer success at Ivanti.

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.What do David Beckham, Shaquille ONeal, and Serena Williams have in commonaside from their standout sports careers? Theyve all built thriving businesses.Sure, having capital and global name recognition helps. But reducing their business success to just fame only tells half the story. The other half is that top athletes spend years honing discipline, resilience, and the ability to think strategically under pressure. Those same qualities happen to make great entrepreneurs.Sports have been a big part of my life for over a decade, and my favorite workout is the one I havent tried before. The more I move, the more I see how it shapes the way I work and think in business.What entrepreneurs can learn from elite athletesHere are six things you, as an entrepreneur or business leader, can take from top athletes.1. Break down goals like a training planNo Olympic athlete trains at full intensity and on the same goal every single day. Instead, they follow a long-term training cyclepreparation, pre-competition, performance, and recovery.Applying this structured approach to business helps ramp up to peak performance gradually and sustainably. Try this:Break down big goals into smaller, doable milestones.Track what works and what doesnt: The strategy that got your startup off the ground wont be enough when its time to scale.Show up every day with small actions.2. Design a pre-game routine for peak performanceEvery athlete follows a routine to get in the right headspace and physical shape before game day. I like to treat each workday like a game day. A morning routine gives me a sense of control and sets the tone for a productive day ahead. Rather than rolling out of bed and headfirst into work mode, I make time for things that fill my energy tank. That might be:A glass of water and a nutrient-rich breakfastA quick mindfulness practice, like mantra chanting or Pranayama breathworkWriting down 13 priorities for the day to stay intentional1-hour workoutA walk outdoors with an audiobook3. Dont be afraid to fallAthletes fall. A lot. And then they get back up.When I tried skiing for the first time, I quickly realized that falling is part of learning. The more I feared making mistakes, the worse my performance became.Navigating life as an entrepreneur is not like riding down a well-groomed, Aspen-style slope. Its more like skiing at your local city parkice and grass patches, hidden stones, and annoyed pedestrians getting in the way. Falls are inevitable. Instead of hesitating to take risks or avoiding failure, focus on learning to recover quickly.4. Develop a growth-oriented mindsetThis quote often pops up in motivational posts attributed to everyone from the Italian football player and manager Gianluca Vialli to Nelson Mandela: You win or you learnyou never lose. Cheesy, but true.Top athletes treat losses as data. Every game teaches them something new about their strengths and weaknesses. Entrepreneurs can benefit from the same mentality.See setbacks as learning experiencesanalyze what went wrong, make adjustments, and move forward.Compete with yourself first, your rivals second. The point of analyzing your performance is to make sure youre better than you were in the last game.5. Stand on the shoulders of your support networkEntrepreneurs often try to do everything solo, inspired by self-made success stories from books and podcasts. But very few things in life are a one-person endeavor. Even in individual Olympic events, there is a team behind every gold medalcoaches, nutritionists, mentors, and teammates.I started BetterMe in 2017 with a handful of people, and most of them are still with me today in C-level positions. From the very beginning, I focused on surrounding myself with people who guided and challenged me, held me accountable, and pushed me to grow.The strongest players in the boardroom and on the field are the ones who know how to buildand lean ona great team.6. The biggest lesson: prioritize recoveryLeBron James never confirmed the rumor that he spends $1.5 million a year on recovery. But the fact that such numbers even circulate shows that rest goes hand in hand with peak performance.Yet, in business, we glorify constant hustle. We wear our bloodshot eyes from late nights at the screen like a badge of honor and exhaustion as a testament to success.Our bodies are excellent communicators and usually find a way to let us know when its time to slow down. Instead of dismissing sore muscles or sluggish thoughts as a sign of weakness, listen and integrate sustainable rest into your routine.Schedule recovery like work, blocking time in your calendar for exercise, meditation, or simply relaxing with a book.Fill the time between high-priority tasks with active breaks like short walks, quick workouts, or any movement to reset your brain.Protect your sleep. I stick to a 10 p.m. bedtime and aim for 78 hours of sleep because I know a well-rested mind is a high-performing one.The final thought: Move your body to fuel your mindIf you shoot for big goals, thinking like a pro athlete can help open the right doors. But theres more to take from their playbook: a love for sports. And unlike athletes, who dedicate their lives to one discipline, we have the luxury of exploring.In Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, David Epstein talks about how some of the most groundbreaking leaders pulled ideas from different fields, experimented, and innovated because of their broad experiences. Broad exposure makes you more creative, agile, and able to make connections others miss.So grab a tennis racket or skiing poles. Step onto a Reformer or sign up for a 5K.Be adventurous. Try new things. The more you explore, the more skills, insights, and connections youll gain.Victoria Repa is the founder and CEO of BetterMe.

Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal Tuesday inan overhaulultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people.The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues.Atthe National Institutes of Health, the worlds leading health and medical agency, the layoffs occurred as its new director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, began his first day of work.The revolution begins today! Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote on social media as he celebrated the swearing-in of his latest hires: Bhattacharya and Martin Makary, the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner. Kennedys post came just hours after employees began receiving emailed layoff notices.Kennedy announced a plan last week to remake the department, which, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, and monitoring the safety of food and medicine, as well as for administering health insurance programs for nearly half the country.The plan would consolidate agencies that oversee billions of dollars foraddiction servicesand community health centers under a new office called the Administration for a Healthy America.The layoffs are expected to shrink HHS to 62,000 positions, lopping off nearly a quarter of its staff 10,000 jobs through layoffs and another 10,000 workers who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers. Many of the jobs are based in the Washington area, but also in Atlanta, where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is based, and in smaller offices throughout the country.HHS said the layoffs are expected to save $1.8 billion annually from the departments $1.7 trillion budget, most of which is spent on Medicare and Medicaid health insurance coverage for millions of Americans.Some staffers began getting lay off notices in their work inboxes at 5 a.m., while others found out their job had been eliminated after standing in long lines outside offices in Washington, Maryland and Atlanta to see if their badges still worked. Some gathered at local coffee shops and lunch spots after being turned away, finding out they had been eliminated after decades of service.One wondered aloud if it was a cruel April Fools Day joke.At the NIH, the cuts included at least four directors of the NIHs 27 institutes and centers who were put on administrative leave, and nearly entire communications staffs were terminated, according to an agency senior leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution.An email viewed by The Associated Press shows some senior-level employees of the Bethesda, Maryland, campus who were placed on leave were offered a possible transfer to the Indian Health Service in locations including Alaska and given until the end of Wednesday to respond.At the FDA, dozens of staffers who regulate drugs, food, medical devices and tobacco products received notices, including the entire office responsible for drafting new regulations for electronic cigarettes and other tobacco products. The notices came asthe FDAs tobacco chief was removed from his position. Elsewhere at the agency, more than a dozen press officers and communications supervisors were notified that their jobs would be eliminated.The FDA as weve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed, said former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf in an online post. Califf stepped down at the end of the Biden administration.The layoff notices came just days after President Donald Trump moved to strip workers of theircollective bargaining rightsat HHS and other agencies throughout the government.Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington predicted the cuts will have ramifications when natural disasters strike or infectious diseases, like theongoing measles outbreak, spread.They may as well be renaming it the Department of Disease because their plan is putting lives in serious jeopardy, Murray said Friday.The CDC has not provided a breakdown of cuts, but employees in different parts of the organization described to the AP extensive layoffs in programs that track asthma, air pollution, smoking, gun violence, reproductive health, climate change and other health threats.The intent seems to be to create a much smaller, infectious disease agency, but it is destroying a wide array of work and collaborations that have enabled local and national governments to be able to prevent deaths and respond to emergencies, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDCs director during President Barack Obamas administration, said he is particularly concerned about cuts to the CDCs Office on Smoking and Health and the agencys Global Health Center.Weakening tobacco prevention is a gift to Big Tobacco that would guarantee more addiction, disease, and death, Frieden said, while cuts to the CDCs global disease detection work will cost lives.Among the hardest-hit centers was the CDCs National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, with more than 1,000 employees. NIOSH is based in Cincinnati but also has people in Pittsburgh; Spokane, Washington; and Morgantown, West Virginia.Cuts were less drastic at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where Trumps Republican administration wants to avoid the appearance of debilitating the health insurance programs that cover roughly half of Americans, many of them poor, disabled and elderly.But the impact will still be felt, with the department slashing much of the workforce at the Office of Minority Health, which no longer has a functioning webpage.Jeffrey Grant, a former CMS deputy director, said the office is not part of a diversity, equity and inclusion program, the kind Trumps Republican administrationhas sought to end.This is not a DEI initiative. This is meeting people where they are and meeting their specific health needs, said Grant, who resigned last month and now helps place laid-off CMS employees into new jobs.The Office of Program Operations & Local Engagement, which does local outreach for CMS operations, was also gutted, Grant said.Beyond layoffs at federal health agencies, cuts are beginning at state and local health departments as a result of an HHS move last week to pull back more than $11 billion in COVID-19-related money. Some health departments have identified hundreds of jobs that stand to be eliminated, some of them overnight, some of them are already gone, said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.A coalition of state attorneys generalsued the Trump administrationon Tuesday, arguing the cuts are illegal, would reverse progress on the opioid crisis and would throw mental health systems into chaos.HHS has not provided additional details or comments about Tuesdays mass firings, but on Thursday it provided a breakdown of some of the cuts.__ 3,500 jobs atthe FDA, which inspects and sets safety standards for medications, medical devices and foods.__ 2,400 jobs at the CDC, which monitors for infectious disease outbreaks and works with public health agencies nationwide.__ 1,200 jobs at the NIH.__ 300 jobs at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the Affordable Care Act marketplace, Medicare and Medicaid.Carla K. Johnson, AP medical writerAssociated Press writers Lauran Neergaard, Amanda Seitz and Matthew Perrone, and Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Groups insurance division, in New York last year.In a statement, Mangiones lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo called the decision to seek the death penalty barbaric.While claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the pre-meditated, state-sponsored murder of Luigi, Friedman Agnifilo said.Mangione, 26, has pleaded not guilty to New York state charges of murder as an act of terrorism and weapons offenses. He could face life in prison without parole if convicted in that case. New York does not have the death penalty for state charges.Mangione faces a parallel federal indictment in Manhattan federal court over Thompsons killing, which is where Bondi said prosecutors will aim for the death penalty. He has not yet been asked to enter a plea to the federal charges.If Mangione is convicted in the federal case, the jury would determine in a separate phase of the trial whether to recommend the death penalty. Any such recommendation must be unanimous, and the judge would be required to impose it.Thompson was shot dead on December 4 outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel, where the company was gathering for an investor conference.Luigi Mangiones murder of Brian Thompson an innocent man and father of two young children was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America, Bondi said in a statement.After careful consideration, I have directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty in this case as we carry out President Trumps agenda to stop violent crime and Make America Safe Again, Bondi said.The brazen killing of Thompson and ensuing five-day manhunt captivated Americans.Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, found Mangione on December 9 with a 9-millimeter pistol and silencer, clothing that matched the apparel worn by Thompsons shooter in surveillance footage, and a notebook describing an intent to wack an insurance company CEO, according to a court filing.While public officials condemned the killing, some Americans have cheered Mangione, saying he drew attention to steep U.S. healthcare costs and the power of health insurers to refuse payment for some treatments. He is currently being held in federal lockup in Brooklyn.Bondi lifted a moratorium on February 5 on federal executions imposed in 2021 by her predecessor Merrick Garland, the attorney general under Democratic President Joe Biden.Doina Chiacu and Luc Cohen, Reuters

Monday night, at 7 p.m. ET, Senator Cory Booker took to the Senate floor to speak out against the policies of the Trump administration. As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, he had not stopped talking.Vowing to continue his speech for as long as Im physically able, Booker has captured national attention as he has railed against Trump on a number of topics, ranging from Social Security to healthcare to immigration.Theres no telling how long Booker will gohes already entered the record books for one of the longest speeches given on the floor. But hes capturing peoples attention as Congressional Democrats (and corporate America) have come under fire for not standing up to Trump.Heres what you need to know about the speechand why it doesnt qualify as a filibuster.Why is Cory Booker doing this?Monday evening, Booker posted on X that he had taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as Im physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis.Since beginning his floor speech, Booker has discussed Trumps plans for immigration, healthcare, Social Security, education, and more, accusing the White House (among other things) of planning to cut Medicaid and speaking out against a Trump-backed spending bill, which was passed in March.These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such, Booker said.He also took Trump to task for some non-policy actions since taking over the Oval Office.When is it enough? Booker asked. When the president of the United States starts a memecoin on his first day, violating the emoluments clause immediately and enriching himself?Why doesnt Cory Bookers speech qualify as a filibuster?According to Congressional rules, a filibuster can only take place when the Senate is attempting to pass a bill or confirm a nominee. Thats not the case now, making this just an incredibly long speech. Its far from the longest the Senate has seen, however.Ive been hearing from people all over my state, and indeed all over the nation, calling upon folks in Congress to do more, to do things that recognize the urgency, the crisis of the moment, he said before beginning his speech. And so we all have a responsibility, I believe, to do something different, to cause, as John Lewis said, good troubleand that includes me.What are the longest filibusters in history?Strom Thurmond holds the single-person record for filibustering, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes to oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1957. (Thurmond had some help, too, as other Senators opposing that bill chained their filibusters, tying up the Senate floor for a grand total of 57 days.)Senator Alfonse DAmato of New York holds the silver medal for filibustering, after talking for 23 hours and 30 minutes in 1986 to hold up debate on a military spending bill. Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon talked for 22 hours and 26 minutes in 1953. And Senator Ted Cruz of Texas held the floor for 21 hours and 19 minutes in 2013 as he spoke out against the Affordable Care Act.Bookers speech, were it a filibuster, would now hold the fifth-place spot, topping a 1908 filibuster by Wisconsin Senator Robert La Follette, who spoke out for 18 hours and 23 minutes against a bill allowing the Treasury Department to lend currency to banks during a fiscal crisis.Booker still has a ways to go before he matches the fictional filibuster length of Jefferson Smiths 25-hour speech in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.How can I watch Cory Bookers marathon speech?There are plenty of places to watch: CSPAN-2 is carrying the speech live on cable and satellite, as well as streaming it online. Booker is streaming the speech on his social media sites, including X and TikTok. The speech is also being streamed on YouTube by a number of news outlets, including USA Today, Fox, PBS, and CBS.How has Cory Booker filled that much time?Booker has spent a lot of time criticizing the Trump administration and Elon Musks role in it, but he has thrown in a bit of filler now and then, reading letters from citizens and quoting speeches and news articles.He has also gotten a fair bit of support from fellow Democrats, who ask him to yield for a question, without yielding the floor, giving Booker a bit of a rest. And before accepting those questions, Booker has been having some fun, sometimes joking or telling stories about the Senator whos asking the question.And, from time to time, Booker has reminded himself (and people just tuning in) about the reasons for his speech.Twelve hours now Im standing, and Im still going strong because this president is wrong, and hes violating principles we hold dear and principles in this document that are so clear and plain, he said.Has Cory Booker taken any bathroom breaks?No. Booker has also not been seen eating anything during his speech and has only had two small cups of water within reach, neither of which has been emptied.U.S. Senate rules dont set time limits on debate. A Senator who has been recognized by the chair can speak for as long as they want, providing special limits on debate are not in effect.Senators who hold the floor cannot be forced to stop talking (or even interrupted) without their consent. They do, however, have to remain standing and speaking consistently. (Booker had a Senate page remove his chair so he wouldnt be tempted to sit down at any point.)Senators can yield for a question without yielding control of the Senate floor, which Booker has been doing.What will Cory Bookers marathon speech accomplish?Bookers main goal in this long address seems primarily to energize the Democratic base and show that their complaints to party leadership arent being ignored. In terms of real-world impact on Senate business, there hasnt been a lot so far. Depending on how long he talks, though, it could delay the vote on Matthew Whitakers nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to NATO.And the speech does raise Bookers visibility in a big way, which could be useful should he decide to run for president again in 2028. (Booker ran briefly in 2020, but dropped out before the Iowa caucus.)

NFL games are slow. Theyre 11 minutes of actual action, spread across a 3 hour and 12 minute broadcast. You can blame that pace of the game on penalties, injuries, and, of course, commercials. But now, the NFL is teaming up with Sony to fix one of the games biggest time sinks: measurements.Beginning in the 2025 NFL season, all 32 teams will switch from human measurements to computer automation. Each stadium will be equipped with six, 8K Sony Hawk-Eye cameras that track the position of the ball on the field. Its a significant upgrade to century-old technology.Chains have been used to measure the position of the football since they were first introduced in 1898, when rules mandated the ideal tool for measuring progress down the field was two light poles about six feet in length and connected at the lower ends by a stout cord or chain exactly five yards long. By 1906, the five-yard standard in football switched to its current ten-yard mandate, and the chain has gone relatively changed since.[Photo: Sony]Now, Sony cameras will replace the chain operatorswhat can frankly feel like an antiquated tool in the days of slow-motion replays and 3D recreations of the field. While the cameras are installed at stadiums locally, all of the footage will be sent to New York, where digital calls are coordinated by the NFLs Art McNally GameDay Central Officiating Center.Whereas it took as long as 70 seconds for chains to measure the position of the ball, Sonys cameras do the job in 30. When that 40 seconds of savings is multiplayed across the 153 average plays in a football game, thats a wild 102 minutes in savings. The game length appears to be cut in half.[Photo: Sony]Of course, all sorts of other things happen during those lengthy chain measurements. Every NFL broadcast is a masterclass in managing these logistics, juggling elements of the games narrative (wait, what penalty just happened?) and commercial cutaways (billionaire owners dont do this for charity). And so its unclear how much time these new automated measurements might actually save you on a Sunday afternoon this year.While weve reached out to the NFL to clarify this point, is it too soon to bring up another sore point of fandom? Because in the face of so much amazing automation technology, the MLB is facing its own reckoning with the home plate umpire. This evolution certainly makes sense: I can see those strikes and balls better from my couch than they can from behind the batter! But at the same time, professional sports imbued with automated visual processing will face a tricky balance. While automation may improve the flow and accuracy of calls on the field, robots offer little in terms of suspenseful drama.

The climate activist group Just Stop Oil (JSO) has announced the end of its campaign of direct action. Many will read the groups legacy through the lens of public hostility: the frustration caused, the angry headlines, the outrage at its tactics. Not only have JSO activists been spat at, physically assaulted and run over by angry car drivers, but 15 members are also currently serving jail sentences following arrests and charges.But the intense backlash directed at JSO is not evidence that its campaign faltered. It is a sign that these activists succeeded in emotionally charging the public debate about climate change. They gave the public something to argue about, react to, even mockand in doing so, made the climate crisis impossible to ignore.The alternative, an apathetic consensus, would entail passively accepting the dominant approach to address the climate crisis. That means market-based solutions, a faith in technological innovation, and incremental policy reforms within existing political and economic systems. These have arguably to date failed, as global temperatures continue to skyrocket.Just Stop Oil climate activists glue themselves to a Van Gogh painting at the Courtauld Gallery on the 30th June 2022 in London, Unted Kingdom. [Photo: Kristian Buus/In Pictures/Getty Images]Through my own research on climate activism, I have studied how environmental protest influences policy, corporate behaviour and financial markets. Activists can stimulate change, but not through rational arguments alone.Change happens by making an emotional splash. It creates antagonism, dissent and tension, which are all needed to enliven public debate. Emotions including anger, fear and guilt play a key role in the ability of activists to create moral urgency and force issues into the spotlight.JSO harnessed this emotional logic not only from supporters, but from critics. Those who dragged protesters off roads, raged in comment sections and professed their hate towards the group were reacting because the group had emotionally triggered them. Like a person who gets under your skin, JSO became very hard to ignore.As business scholars Thomas Davenport and John Beck argue in their book The Attention Economy, in a saturated information landscape, being memorableeven disruptivelyis a strategic advantage. In this sense, JSO hacked this logic by demanding emotional and cognitive attention, whether through support or outrage.Disruptive protests may be unpopular, but they are effective at attracting media attention and public awareness. As many studies suggest, the more illogical or disruptive a protest, the more media coverage it receivesdespite coverage not necessarily translating into more donations and support.Of course, disruption risks alienating some peoplebut that can actually strengthen a movements overall influence. The radical flank effect shows that when radical activists push boundaries, they often make moderate voices in the same movement appear more reasonable. Recent research on JSO found that even when the group provoked public anger, support for moderate organisations such as Friends of the Earth increased.This dynamic reflects what sociologist Thomas Roulet calls The Power of Being Divisive. Being controversial can actually benefit a cause by amplifying its message and deepening support from those already aligned. Polarisation, in this view, is not always harmfulit can be strategically useful. In the case of JSO activists, controversy did not dilute their message. Rather, it intensified its resonance with those already primed to act.Turning emotion into actionJSO has also uniquely been able to provide direction for many struggling to navigate climate changes volatile emotional context. As philosopher Glenn A. Albrecht describes in his book Earth Emotions, events such as climate change, mass species extinction and environmental degradation are creating a global emotional crisis, marked by a mix of grief, anxiety and powerlessness.JSO has effectively tapped into this emotional turbulence, turning despair into urgency and action. Its actions can be seen as emotional interventions for a society struggling to process ecological loss.Left undirected, emotions related to conditions such as climate change-related eco-anxiety can lead to paralysisa state of emotional overwhelm that prevents people from taking meaningful action or engaging with the climate problem. But research shows that when movements channel emotionsespecially by transforming fear into shared actionthey build momentum. One study of climate organisers found that protest participation gave people a way to manage despair by reclaiming a sense of purpose and solidarity.A frequent refrain is that the objectives are valid, but the strategies are too extreme. But history shows that disruptive tactics have long played a role in forcing attention to urgent issues. From the suffragettes chaining themselves to railings, to civil rights sit-ins, to ACT UPs dramatic interventions during the Aids crisis disruption has often preceded progress. Movements that are easy to ignore tend to be forgotten. JSO made itself, and its cause, impossible to ignore.JSOs campaign may be over, but the emotional legacy it leaves behindfrustration, urgency and debatewill outlast its tactics. The group exposed a society uneasy with the scale of change climate action demands, and showed that public anger is not a threat to activism, but a measure of its impact. If you were angry at them, thats understandabledisruption is inconvenient. But the real question now is where we direct that energy: towards those resisting climate action, or those demanding we seriously do something about it.George Ferns is a senior lecturer in business and society at the University of Bath.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The old Tesla cant come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause shes dead.Over the past few days, a new trend has emerged on TikTok: people are posting their Tesla trade-ins accompanied by the hashtag ByeTesla and soundtracked to Taylor Swifts Look What You Made Me Do.In the videos, the Tesla driver backs out of a driveway as the lyrics play: Im sorry, the old Taylor cant come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause shes dead. Cut to a brand-new Rivian R1S, Porsche Macan Electric, or even a GMC Hummer EV SUV as the songs chorus plays: Look what you made me do. @vanessawade_ Bye bye Tesla #tesla #byetesla #cadillacescaladeiq @Cadillac #lookwhatyoumademedo Original Sound Unknown The best upgrade Ive seen in this trend, one person commented on the video posted by the proud owner of a new Porsche Macan Electric, which retails for $75,300. Talking about an upgrade!!! To go from that cheap built plastic toy car to German engineering is quite the change!! Enjoy! Another user wrote: Never skip a Tesla trade-in video.The new GMC Hummer EV SUV driverwhich starts at about $98,845, compared to the Cybertrucks starting price of about $99,990wrote in the caption of their trade-in: Change is GOODwhen your principles/morals are important. While some called out the cars depreciating value (the driver confirmed in the comments that its a lease), others cheered on his commitment to his morals.I never thought Id be cheering for a Hummer purchase, but I have to say ethics make it look great! one person wrote. Ive been saying this whole time imagine having cybertruck money and buying a cybertruck instead of the electric hummer. Approved, another commented.Those participating in the #ByeTesla trend are part of a growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk took over the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and are now looking to sell or trade them in. Others have resorted to anti-Musk bumper stickers to distance themselves from the billionaire.Thousands of anti-Tesla protesters took to the streets on Saturday, March 29, as part of the broader peaceful protest movement, Tesla Takedown, targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles in opposition to Musks role as the head of DOGE. Hoping to hit him where it hurtshis estimated $340 billion fortunethe biggest portion of Musks wealth consists of his stock in the electric vehicle company.Musk, however, did not appear concerned about an extended slump in new sales during a recent meeting. Instead, he reassured workers that the companys Model Y would remain the best-selling car on Earth again this year. He also predicted that Tesla will have sold more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, up from the seven million currently sold.Clearly, he is not taking cues from TikTok.

From the southwestern U.S. to Minnesota, Iowa and even parts of New Jersey, it seemed that winter never materialized.Many communities marked their driest winters on record, snowpack was nearly nonexistent in some spots, and vegetation remains tinder dryall ingredients for elevated wildfire risks.More than 1,000 firefighters and fire managers recently participated in an annual wildfire academy in Arizona, where training covered everything from air operations to cutting back brush with chain saws and building fire lines. Academy officials say theres consensus that crews will be busy as forecasts call for more warm and dry weather, particularly for the Southwest.The lack of moisture and warm temperatures can combine to increase the rate of spread and intensity of fire, said Roy Hall, the prescribed fire officer for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. He says its been dry in his state for months.We would be remiss to not acknowledge that changes how we might see fire behavior come out of the blocks at the beginning and through fire season, he said.How dry has it been?Experts with NOAAs National Centers for Environmental Information reported in early March that total winter precipitation in the U.S. was just shy of 6 inches (15.24 centimeters)or nearly an inch (2.54 centimeters) below average. The period of December through the end of Februarywhat forecasters consider the meteorological winterranked the third driest on record.Flagstaff, nestled in the mountains south of the Grand Canyon, has long been on the list of quick escapes for desert dwellers looking to build snowmen or go sledding. The northern Arizona city finished the winter period with a 50-inch (1.27 meter) snowfall deficit. A major storm hit the area in mid-March, forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and stranding motorists for hours. It wasnt enough to erase the shortfall.In New Mexico, there were at least 17 sites that marked either their driest winters on record or tied previous records. Albuquerque set a new low by logging just 0.12 inches (0.30 centimeters) of precipitation over a three-month period.The tap just turned off and the drought conditions have been proceeding, Andrew Mangham, a senior hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said during a recent call with state and federal drought experts.What does that mean for wildfire conditions?Arizona, New Mexico and parts the Midwest already have had their share this spring of red flag warningswhen low humidity couples with windy, warm weather to heighten wildfire risks. Those threats materialized in mid-March inOklahoma, where fires destroyed hundreds of homes. Crews inNew Jersey and the Carolinasalso battled flames amid dry conditions.In the West, land managers and firefighting forces are concerned that without adequate snowpack in many mountain ranges, theres less moisture to keep fires from ballooning into fast-moving conflagrations.April 1 typically marks the peak of the snowpack, but forecasters say many areas already are melting out. Strong spring winds that deposit dust onto the snowpack help to speed up the process.Even southern Alaska is experiencing a snow drought at lower elevations, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. The Anchorage airport recorded its driest February on record, while large areas in southwest Alaska and low elevations in the south-central part were nearly snow-free as of March 1.Recent stormsbrought some moisture to California, pushing snowpack levels there to just shy of average. But most of the southern region isdealing with moderate to extreme drought.A newwildfire outlookwill be released Tuesday. While California isnt among those areas facing significant potential for wildfires at the moment,deadly fires in Januarytorched more urban area than any other fire in that state since at least the mid-1980s.How are communities dealing with the threat?Seeing flames race through Los Angeles earlier this year prompted municipal leaders throughout the West to host community meetings to raise awareness, including in New Mexicos San Juan County.The Four Corners regionwhere Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah meetis among those on the radar for high fire potential given the unfavorable conditions. Firefighters in San Juan County responded to 25 bushfires in the first 27 days of March and two more were reported on Friday, said county spokesperson Devin Neeley.In Arizona, the Phoenix Fire Department have warned the mayor and city councilors about increasing risks. They have a plan for surging department resources to help contain fires before they escalate, particularly in areas where urban development intersects with wildland environments.In neighboring Scottsdale, Mayor Lisa Borowsky recently floated the idea of creating a volunteer brigade to bolster wildfire prevention, pointing to invasive species and overgrown vegetation within the McDowell Sonoran Preserve that could pose risks. A fire department crew has been clearing and trimming brush along roadways.Christopher Reed, a fire prevention captain with the Arizona forestry department, said some people think of wildfire as a macro problem that involves vast landscapes beyond their suburban borders. He said people should prepare on a micro level, ensuring their own homes are defensible before its too late.We always say Day 1 of firefighting is now, Reed said.Ty ONeil and Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press

President Donald Trumps executive order seeking to overhaul the nations elections faced its first legal challenges Monday as the Democratic National Committee and a pair of nonprofits filed two separate lawsuits calling it unconstitutional.The Campaign Legal Center and the State Democracy Defenders Fund brought the first lawsuit Monday afternoon. The DNC, the Democratic Governors Association, and Senate and House Democratic leaders followed soon after with a complaint of their own.Both lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ask the court to block Trumps order and declare it illegal.The presidents executive order is an unlawful action that threatens to uproot our tried-and-tested election systems and silence potentially millions of Americans, said Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at the D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center. It is simply not within the presidents authority to set election rules by executive decree, especially when they would restrict access to voting in this way.The White House didnt respond to a request for comment.The legal challenges had been expected after election lawyers warned some of Trumps demands in the order, including a proof-of-citizenship requirement for voter registration and new ballot deadline rules, may violate the U.S. Constitution.The order also asserts power that legal experts say the president doesnt have over an independent agency. That agency, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, sets voluntary voting system guidelines and maintains the federal voter registration form.The suits come as Congress is considering codifying a proof-of-citizenship requirement for voter registration into law, and as Trump has promised more actions related to elections in the coming weeks.Both the legal challenges draw attention to the Constitutions Elections Clause, which says states not the president get to decide the times, places and manner of how elections are run. That section of the Constitution also gives Congress the power to make or alter election regulations, at least for federal office, but it doesnt mention any presidential authority over election administration.The Constitution is clear: States set their own rules of the road when it comes to elections, and only Congress has the power to override these laws with respect to federal elections, said Lang, calling the executive order an unconstitutional executive overreach.The lawsuits also argue the presidents order could disenfranchise voters. The nonprofits lawsuit names three voter advocacy organizations as plaintiffs that they allege are harmed by Trumps executive order: the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Secure Families Initiative and the Arizona Students Association.The DNCs lawsuit highlights the role of the governments controversial cost-cutting arm, the Department of Government Efficiency.It alleges the orders data-sharing requirements, including instructing DOGE to cross-reference federal data with state voter lists, violate Democrats privacy rights and increase the risk that they will be harassed based on false suspicions that they are not qualified to vote.This executive order is an unconstitutional power grab from Donald Trump that attacks vote by mail, gives DOGE sensitive personal information and makes it harder for states to run their own free and fair elections, reads a statement from the plaintiffs.Trump, one of the top spreaders of election falsehoods, has argued this executive order will secure the vote against illegal voting by noncitizens. Multiple studies and investigations in individual states have shown that noncitizens casting ballots in federal elections, already a felony, is exceedingly rare.Mondays lawsuits against Trumps elections order could be followed by more challenges. Other voting rights advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have said theyre considering legal action. Several Democratic state attorneys general have said they are looking closely at the order and suspect it is illegal.Meanwhile, Trumps order has received praise from the top election officials in some Republican states who say it could inhibit instances of voter fraud and give them access to federal data to better maintain their voter rolls.If courts determine the order can stand, the changes Trump wants are likely to cause some headaches for both election administrators and voters. State election officials, who already have lost some federal cybersecurity assistance, would have to spend time and money to comply with the order, including potentially buying new voting systems and educating voters of the rules.The proof-of-citizenship requirement also could cause confusion or voter disenfranchisement because millions of eligible voting-age Americans do not have the proper documents readily available. In Kansas, which had a proof-of-citizenship requirement for three years before it was overturned, the states own expert estimated that almost all the roughly 30,000 people who were prevented from registering to vote during the time it was in effect were U.S. citizens who had been eligible.Mondays lawsuits are the latest of numerous efforts to fight the flurry of executive actions Trump has taken during the first months of his second term. Federal judges have partially or fully blocked many of them, including efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, ban transgender people from military service and curb diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives among federal contractors and grant recipients.The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about the APs democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Ali Swenson, Associated Press

Hooters of America, LLC, owner of the Hooters restaurant chain, has announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy filing is aimed at helping the company restructure itself so it can transition from a company-owned restaurant chain to a franchisee-owned chain.Heres what you need to know about Hooters bankruptcy and whether any locations will close.Hooters to transition to franchisee-owned modelMost people think of Hooters as just one company, but the restaurant chain currently operates under a hybrid model. Hooters of America, LLC, owns the restaurants brand intellectual property and currently operates numerous Hooters locations in the United States and across the world. The company says it franchises and operates 410 Hooters restaurants in 38 states and 24 countries.However, Hooters of America, LLC, also licenses out its restaurants to franchisees, allowing individuals and companies to operate Hooters stores. One of the largest Hooters franchisees is Hooters Inc., the company owned by the original Hooters cofounders. Hooters Inc. owns and operates over 20 restaurants in America.Like many restaurant chains, Hooters has been struggling financially in recent years, and now the companys owner, Hooters of America, LLC, has decided that the best way forward for the brand is to restructure its business model. That restructuring will see Hooters move from a primarily company-owned model to an entirely franchisee-owned model.Hooters of America, LLC, says that the restructuring will see a group of current franchisees acquire and operate the current company-owned locations. Among those franchisees is Hooters Inc.It should be noted that the bankruptcy filing and the restructuring of the company only affect Hooters locations in America. Its worldwide locations are unaffected by the changes.Are any Hooters locations closing?If youre a fan of Hooters, then there is some good news. The company says that it currently has no definite plans to close any Hooters locations. In a press release announcing the bankruptcy filing, Hooters of America CEO Sal Melilli said, Our renowned Hooters restaurants are here to stay.However, the announcement went on to leave open the possibility that some locations could close. As part of the Companys broader business transformation and planning, Hooters is evaluating the Companys operational footprint as part of its financial restructuring process to position itself to invest its resources in its strongest assets moving forward, the statement read.What this means is that its possible Hooters could decide to close some locations as the bankruptcy process continues.So, is Hooters going out of business?The company has no plans to. Indeed, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, so it can keep its business going and locations open, albeit under a new franchisee-owned model.In a dedicated website for customers who have questions about Hooters bankruptcy, the company says, Hooters is here to stay, and with a stronger financial foundation and streamlined operations on the other side of this process, we will be well-positioned to continue delivering the guest-obsessed hospitality experience and delicious food our valued customers and communities have come to expect well into the future.How long will Hooters restructuring take?Hooters of America, LLC, says it expects to move through the bankruptcy process swiftly. The company defines this as having the goal of emerging from Chapter 11 in about 90 to 120 days.Restaurant chains have had a rough yearHooters of America, LLC isnt the only restaurant company that has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy lately. In the past year, numerous other popular restaurant chains have as well, including Red Lobster,Tijuana Flats,Buca di Beppo, and Roti.While the specifics of each bankruptcy will vary, many restaurants have faced the same problems in recent years. This includes diminishing foot traffic, higher costs, and diners who are cutting back on discretionary spending due to price rises fueled by inflation.

A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted off Monday night on the first rocket ride to carry people over the North and South poles.Chun Wang, a Chinese-born entrepreneur, hurtled into orbit from NASAs Kennedy Space Center. SpaceXs Falcon rocket steered southward over the Atlantic, putting the space tourists on a path never flown before in 64 years of human spaceflight.Wang wont say how much he paid Elon Musks SpaceX for the 3 -day ultimate polar adventure.The first leg of their flightfrom Florida to the South Poletook barely a half-hour. From the targeted altitude of some 270 miles (440 kilometers), their fully automated capsule will circle the globe in roughly 1 hours including 46 minutes to fly from pole to pole.Enjoy the views of the poles. Send us some pictures, SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the capsule reached orbit.Wang has already visited the polar regions in person and wants to view them from space. The trip is also about pushing boundaries, sharing knowledge, he said ahead of the flight.Now a citizen of Malta, he took along three guests: Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, and Australian polar guide Eric Philips.Mikkelsen, the first Norwegian bound for space, has flown over the poles before, but at a much lower altitude. She was part of the 2019 record-breaking mission that circumnavigated the world via the poles in a Gulfstream jet to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrins moon landing.The crew plans two dozen experimentsincluding taking the first human X-rays in spaceand brought along more cameras than usual to document their journey called Fram2 after the Norwegian polar research ship from more than a century ago.Until now, no space traveler had ventured beyond 65 degrees north and south latitude, just shy of the Arctic and Antarctic circles. The first woman in space, the Soviet Unions Valentina Tereshkova, set that mark in 1963. Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, and other pioneering cosmonauts came almost as close, as did NASA shuttle astronauts in 1990.A polar orbit is ideal for climate and Earth-mapping satellites as well as spy satellites. Thats because a spacecraft can observe the entire world each day, circling Earth from pole to pole as it rotates below.Geir Klover, director of the Fram Museum in Oslo, Norway, where the original polar ship is on display, hopes the trip will draw more attention to climate change and the melting polar caps. He lent the crew a tiny piece of the ships wooden deck that bears the signature of Oscar Wisting, who with Roald Amundsen in the early 1900s became the first to reach both poles.Wang pitched the idea of a polar flight to SpaceX in 2023, two years after U.S. tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman made the first of two chartered flights with Musks company. Isaacman is now in the running for NASAs top job.SpaceXs Kiko Dontchev said late last week that the company is continually refining its training so normal people without traditional aerospace backgrounds can hop in a capsule . . . and be calm about it.Wang and his crew view the polar flight like camping in the wild and embrace the challenge.Spaceflight is becoming increasingly routine and, honestly, Im happy to see that, Wang said via X last week.Wang said hes been counting up his flights since his first one in 2002, flying on planes, helicopters, and hot air balloons in his quest to visit every country. So far, hes visited more than half. He arranged it so that liftoff would mark his 1,000th flight.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Marcia Dunn, AP Aerospace Writer

Over the last year, Gap has been popping up in an unexpected place for a heritage casual wear brand: the red carpet. Last July, Anne Hathaway wore a white shirt dress with matching bralette and Bulgari jewelry. In December, Demi Moore appeared in a black knit jersey dress and moto jacket. And just this past February, Timothe Chalamet showed up in a black satin workwear set. Zac Posen, Gap Inc.s executive vice president and creative director, had designed all of them under the new label, GapStudio. And now, Gap is bringing GapStudio to the masses as it officially launches the new, higher-end Gap sub-brand, designed to elevate Gaps perception, extend its reach to younger consumers, and help regain its cultural cach.Zac Posen [Photo: Mario Sorrenti/GapStudio]GapStudio will launch four seasonal collections a year, along with select standalone drops starting with this Spring capsule, called GapStudioCollection 01. The collection includes a range of elevated basics that play into classic styles Gap is known for, but with contemporary and trend-driven silhouettes, and elevated fabrications and construction. Prices range from $78-$248, and will be available online and in select stores starting this Thursday.Posens role is far-reaching across Gap Inc, but GapStudio seems to be the most direct expression of his crossover from the red carpet gowns of his former high-end designer label to Gap Incs accessible everyday denim. Posen led the collections design processes, creative directed its launch campaign with zeitgeisty photographers, models, and stylists from his network, and onboarded a team hes worked with for decades to bring it to life.[Photo: Mario Sorrenti/GapStudio]The move to revive a brands Americana cool factorGapStudio is launching close to a year after Posen joined Gap Inc, where he oversees the creative direction of its brands, including Gap, Banana Republic, Athleta, and Old Navy, for which he is also chief creative officer. He and his team work out of the GapStudio atelier (thats fashion for workshop), a new space in Gap Incs New York City headquarters thats the epicenter of a new design vision for Gap.After shuttering his namesake brand in 2019 and spending seven years at Brooks Brothers, Gap Inc hired Posen to revive the defunct heritage brand known more for its deep sales than for its fit. According to the companys fourth quarter earnings report, net sales were down 3% in its last quarter compared to the previous year. But the full 2024 fiscal year shows that online sales were up 4% and net sales were up 1%. In-store sales remained flat.Posens first collection for GapStudio offers up a tangible sense of where he wants to take the brand. The collection includes a mix of polished but contemporary everyday pieces, including denim sailor pants, cropped white button downs, and dresses (the Anne Hathaway will be available in a new color), ribbed tanks and dresses, slinky slip dresses, a denim moto and a trench coat with a pleated back. You have to have that range within a very tight collection to be able to do that, says Posen of the mix between casual and elevated styles. He notes that the slip dress could be worn with shoes or heels. Daystomper, night stalker.[Photo: Mario Sorrenti/GapStudio]Brand elevation through construction, silhouette, and associationPosen applied a studied eye to the construction of the pieces. He showed me the collection in the Gap Inc showroom in NYCs Tribeca neighborhood. I noted the curved seaming of the knit dress worn by Demi Moore, which gave the dress a slight bell shape. Those were Posens construction lines, he said, so the piece didnt have side seams. The seams themselves were made to have more dimension than a typical needle stitch, he pointed out. As he made his way through the collection racks, he pointed out more details: the $148 knit day dress, which is a fully fashioned knit, the dry hand of the rib tank, the sit of the shoulder and pick stitch of the khaki blazer.Posen pulls out a white denim corset cincher. Like, why not? he asks. He paired it with a white tank dress, but it appears in a few different looks throughout the campaign, making the case for its versatility. The collection also has sweatshirts for when youre not in the mood to be so cinched. He thumbs to the slip dress, which has seaming he originally designed for a slip dress featured in a ballet his husband choreographed. Pajama glamour, he declared. Everyday street glamour. Red carpet to the street.That sentiment covers the range of the collection pretty well. Thats so cute as a look, and really young, Posen says referring to the sweatshirt look. Theres an explicit play for Gen Z with GapStudio. Its been really fun to be building a collection with that in mind, in terms of expanding our customer base.[Photo: Mario Sorrenti/GapStudio]One way he did that, in addition to leaning into nascent Gen Z trends like bloomers, is through the GapStudio campaign itself. He tapped fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti, stylist Alastair McKimm, and supermodels Alex Consani, Imaan Hammam, and Anok Yai. He described the process of building the images as elevating the iconic. He hopes to tap into contemporary equivalents of the brands past partnerships with renowned photographers like Annie Leibowitz and Steven Miesel.GapStudios elevated essentialsUltimately, Posen wants GapStudio to communicate a sense of elevated essentials, he says. Great items that become staples in a wardrobe. Beloved pieces you always look for. Things that have style and trends without being disposable. To do that, he aims to balance Gaps metrics-driven approach with his own taste. Experimentation at any level is essential, he says.And it does appear that he is deeply involved with the GapStudio design team, including concepting, fitting, and fabrication. As we walked to the atelier down the hall from the showroom, he introduced me to team members hed worked with for 10, 15, and 20 years, who now work in the GapStudio label.Muslin toile draping by Zac Posen for a future piece in the GapStudio atelier. [Photo: Ava Imperio/GapStudio]As we talked and made our way through the atelier, he was distracted by the work of a designer who was draping and pinning a work-in-progress garment on a figure. I keep thinking about lowering the back on it, Posen said to the designer. You have to do a body suitthats what I said at like midnight last nightbut then we can go lower in the back and lower on the side. Hes comfortably in his element. I asked him what the piece was for. Thats a special project, he told me as we moved to the next station, without disclosing particulars.Posen plans to invite other guest designers, a strategy that has worked well for bridge and mass market brands like Uniqlo and H&M. He sees the coalescence of longstanding relationships and skillsets into GapStudio as a starting point for innovation; a new chapter with old collaborators. The play is desirability, absolutely elevation, Posen says of GapStudio. The first collection, he says, is just the beginning.

Countless hours, daysperhaps even weeksof my life have been spent creating Sims characters, building them houses, marrying them off, and making babies. Now, theres a new life-simulation game on the block hoping to expand beyond the American market.inZOI debuted on March 28 at $40 and quickly climbed to the top of Steams most wishlisted and bestseller charts. The games appeal lies in its hyper-detailed character customization, free expansions, and immersive, realism-focused world. Unlike The Sims, which embraces cartoonish characters and lightheartedness, inZOI opts for lifelike graphics and a slower-paced gameplay experience centered on everyday interactions.Designed with a broader audience in mind, inZOI stands out through subtle cultural details. For example, players digital humans are prompted to remove their shoes upon entering a home, and the games cities draw inspiration from Seoul and Santa Monica. The fridge is stocked with tteokbokki, a beloved Korean rice cake snack, and characters often wear trendy Korean streetwear.I felt a lot of cultural barriers playing The Sims, Hyungjun Kjun Kim, chief executive officer of game publisher Kraftons inZOI Studio, told Bloomberg in a recent interview. Kim spent years developing online role-playing games, only to come home and play The Sims with his son. One day, his son asked why there arent other games like The Sims. That question stuck with Kim and eventually led to the creation of inZOI.Once the prototype was ready, Krafton sought input from The Sims large and dedicated fanbase. They sent PCs to Sims YouTubers, encouraging them to livestream the game, while fans joined a Discord channel to request features they felt The Sims was lackingsuch as more inclusive hairstyles.The Sims franchise has been a cash cow for Electronic Arts, generating over $5 billion in revenue and attracting more than 15 million new players in 2024, despite being more than a decade old. But with no Sims 5 in sight, EA has relied on expansion packs to keep players engaged, opening up a gap in the market that inZOI is eager to fill.Still, if inZOI was banking on its competitor fading into obscurity, it may be disappointed. The Sims 4 recently hit its highest-ever average player count on Steam in February 2025, according to The Gamer. The anticipation surrounding inZOI perhaps sparked a wave of players to revisit their old favorite. Either way, The Sims franchise has shown it still has plenty of life in it.

Max just got a new logo. Again. Two years after rebranding from HBO Max to just Max with new a bright blue-and-white logo, the Warner Bros Discovery-owned streaming service is making an update to its logo. This time, its swapping blue for a metallic black and white logo.According to Max, the color change is part of a larger refresh. Max says the standalone logo will be in the black-and-white color scheme, but an updated color palette, chosen to allow for flexibility of the logo in app and in marketing materials, will be unveiled in the coming months.[Images: HBO Max]Why Max updated its logoMax includes content from HBO and other Warner Bros Discovery brands, like Adult Swim, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, CNN Films Discovery, and TNT, but the new logo appears to put HBOwhich is responsible for top shows for the streamer like The White Lotus, The Sopranos, and Successionback at the center. The new logo reflects the black-and-white color palette of HBOs branding and retains the circle inside the counter of the A in Max, a callback to the circle inside the O in the HBO logo.[Images: HBO Max]Throughout the streaming wars, individual brands have updated their visual identities to stand out in a sea of blue logos. Disney+ updated its logo last year from blue to teal, and when Max first rolled out its blue logo, its former global chief marketing officer Patrizio Spagnoletto said the specific shade was chosen because it stood apart from Paramount blue and Prime blue. Together with the logo mark, the color communicated something about how the streamer wanted to be perceived, he said.With our blue and the way that the logo is designed, what we were going for is a combination of premium but accessible, Spagnoletto said in 2023.In black and white, the new Max logo seems to be amping up the premium aspect of its brand and downplaying the accessible. A Nielsen survey of the top 10 most-streamed shows in the U.S. may suggest why, with HBO shows like True Detective and The White Lotus among the few Max shows with enough viewers to make it onto the list dominated by Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu shows. Its a strategy that just might work.

In Central Texas, a bitter fight over a $1 billion water project offers a preview of the future for much of the state as decades of rapid growth push past the local limits of its most vital natural resource.On one side: Georgetown, the fastest growing city in America for three years straight, which in 2023 signed a contract with an investor-funded enterprise to quickly begin importing vast volumes of water from the Simsboro Formation of the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer, 80 miles to the east.On the other side: the cities atop the Simsboro that rely on its water. Bryan, College Station, and the Texas A&M University System, a metro area with almost 300,000 people, have sued the developer to stop the project. A trial is set for the first week of May.The site of a water pipeline project by the company Recharge through Lee County into Williamson County is pictured on March 28. [Photo: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News]Were going to fight this thing until the end, said Bobby Gutierrez, the mayor of Bryan. It effectively drains the water source of the cities.The pump and pipeline project to Georgetown, developed by California-based Upwell Water, is the largest of at least a half dozen similar projects recently completed, under construction or proposed to bring rural Carrizo Wilcox aquifer water into the booming urban corridor that follows Interstate 35 through Central Texas.It would eventually pump up to 89 million gallons per day, three times the usage of the city of Bryan, to Georgetown and its neighboring cities.That basically stops all the economic development we have, Gutierrez said. Were talking about our survival.The fight over the Upwell project could well be a prelude for the broader battles to come as cities across Texas outgrow their water supplies. Lawmakers in the state Capitol are pushing to avert a broad scarcity crisis with funding to desalinate seawater, purify salty groundwater, and treatoilfield wastewaterto add to the supply. But all of these solutions remain years from realization. In the near term, only import projects from freshwater aquifers will continue to meet the growing water demands of thirsty Texas cities.Regulation of such projects falls to a patchwork of small, rural agencies called groundwater conservation districts, which might not be fully equipped or empowered to manage plans for competing regional water needs that can affect entire cities for generations to come.Texas law offers limited clarity, generally preferring a landowners right to pump their own groundwater over regulations on private property. Despite fierce denunciations of the Upwell project from nearby city leaders, no one has alleged that its developers have broken any laws.Were following the rules. Why are we being vilified? said David Lynch, a managing partner at Core Capital investment firm in Houston and a partner in the Upwell project. I think they feel uncomfortable about whats coming and their reaction is to make us go away.After all, hes not the only one doing this. Five years ago, San Antonio started pumping up to 49 million gallons per day through a 140-mile pipeline from the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer. Another pipeline was completed last year and will soon begin pumping to the city of Taylor and the new Samsung microchip manufacturing complex there. Another, scheduled for completion this year, will take water into the cities of Buda and Kyle.After the lawsuit delayed the Upwell projects tight timeline, Georgetown commissioned two other pipeline projects from the same aquifer.[Image: Paul Horn/Inside Climate News]People are starting to pay enough for water to make these sorts of projects work, Lynch said, driving his black Ford Super Duty Platinum truck down the dirt roads of Upwells 9,000-acre farm property and well field in Robertson County. Theres no cheap water left in Texas.In the middle of all this is the little Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District, based in the small town of Hearne and also a defendant, alongside Upwell, in the lawsuit.District manager Alan Day feels for the cities of Bryan and College Station. To an extent, he said, theyre right. The more pumping from the aquifer, the sooner everyone will reach conditions of scarcity, though he doesnt think it will happen as quickly as city leaders say.At the same time, he said, Bryan cant claim the water. Groundwater is a private property right in Texas as sacred as any other. Everyone is allowed to pump whatever their land produces.Water is the new oil, said Day, a former ranch manager of 27 years. They have a commodity that can be sold and they have every right to sell it.At this time, he said, he has no authority to stop landowners from pumping as long as they fulfill the requirements of the permitting process, which Upwell did. Even if he could do it, Day chuckled at the notion that state leaders would let his tiny office put the brakes on development along the I-35 corridor, home to manufacturing campuses of Tesla, Samsung, and Apple, and offices of Amazon, Meta, and Google, as well as one of the nations largest clusters of data centers and its fastest growing cities.However, Day said, there will come a day when that changes. The laws for his district, like all others in Texas, specify a threshold at which new rules kick in. Its called the desired future condition, or DFC, a level below which the district is not willing to go. When they get there, everyone will face restrictions on pumping and the days of groundwater abundance will be over for the Simsboro portion of the aquifer. To date, no district in Texas has hit its DFC.Day said hes only following the rules. Hell honor the property rights of landowners who want to pump, and when they hit the DFC, hell implement restrictions district-wide.What does that do to the growth of Bryan and College Station and Texas A&M and anyone else who is depending on Simsboro? Day asked. It stops it.The offices of the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District in the tiny town of Hearne. [Photo: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News]The Texas MiracleThis situation follows a generation of steep growth and development that state leaders have dubbed the Texas Miracle. The population of Williamson County, seated in Georgetown, 28 miles north of Austin, doubled in 17 to 700,000 people while itsmedian household incomeincreased by more than 90%. Neighboring counties share similar stories, where sprawling subdivisions and shimmering tech campuses now cover former ranchlands.Georgetown needs to add millions of gallons per day to its water supply within the next several years. When it signed the pipeline contract in 2023 that stipulated deliveries beginning in 2030, it was acting on a much tighter timeline than decades that are typically considered for large scale water planning.Based on hyper growth that weve seen in our water territory, weve seen the need for higher levels of contracted water sooner than we originally anticipated, said city manager David Morgan.Most of the new water will serve new residential areas, he said, and will be used primarily to irrigate lawns and other neighborhood landscaping. Williamson County is also courtinga cluster of five large data centersthat it expects would bring another 100,000 people to the county.But what if Bryan, and the cities of the Brazos Valley, want data centers, too? The region is currently pursuing ambitious opportunities in semiconductors, nuclear energy, aerospace, defense, and life sciences, said Susan Davenport, president of the Greater Brazos Partnership, an economic development group.These sectors, along with the growing workforce and families who support them, are directly dependent on access to our local water resources, she said.Gold Rush on WaterAlthough many major projects importing groundwater into Central Texas are just now being realized, the plans have been in the works for decades, according to Michelle Gangnes, a retired finance lawyer and co-founder of the Simsboro Aquifer Water Defense Fund.In 1998, Gangnes moved from Austin to rural Lee County. That same year, San Antonio, 140 miles away, announced plans to import 49 million gallons per day from wells in Lee County on the site of an old Alcoa aluminum smelter. A prolonged fight ensued and the project was never realized, but many others would follow.Thats what started the whole gold rush on water, Gangnes said. It resulted in all these groundwater districts being formed, trying to resist the water rush on the Simsboro.The groundwater districts were formed by an act of the Texas legislature in 2001. But, when the time came to make groundwater rules, powerful interests kept them loose, according to Ken Kramer, who previously directed the Texas office of the Sierra Club for 24 years. Chief among them was T. Boone Pickens, the iconic Texas oilman who also wanted to export groundwater from his land holdings in the Panhandle.There was heavy lobbying by groundwater exporters to make sure that groundwater districts could not stop exports, Kramer said. Groundwater then became more of the target for moving water to growing areas and populations.A sign on a water pipeline scar in Lee County on March 28. [Photo: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News]Under a principle in Texas called the right of capture, landowners are allowed to pump from their land whatever they are able to. Changes made to the Texas Water Code in 2001 stipulated that withdrawals are allowed so long as they dont affect other permit holders unreasonably, which lacks a firm legal definition. That leaves lots up to interpretation for the groundwater districts of Texas.They live in a difficult world where its unclear exactly what their power is to tell somebody no, said Robert Mace, executive director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. If you tell somebody no youre almost guaranteed to get sued.In recent years, several major pipeline projects into Central Texas came online. San Antonio eventually got its Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer water through a 6-foot-wide, 140-mile-long Vista Ridge pipeline which began drawing water from Burleson County in 2020, causing levels in neighboring landowners wells to plummet.The old Alcoa wells in Burleson County were also put to use. A developer called Xebec Holdings bought the 50-square-mile property in 2022 and signed deals to pipe almost 18 million gallons per day to the City of Tyler.Theres constantly people out there trying to lease water rights to see if they could do a project to sell water, said Gary Westbrook, general manager of the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District. Were going to have to find a way to regulate. You cant just say no.The Gatehouse Pipeline is currently under construction to Georgetown, with another one called Recharge in development. Morgan, the Georgetown city manager, said those two projects were identified and accelerated after the lawsuit challenged the Upwell project.We believe the lawsuit is going to likely delay getting that fully resolved, he said.The Upwell ProjectUpwell Water, a San Francisco-based financing firm,announcedin 2020 that it had raised $1 billion from investors to monetize water assets.Upwell partnered with CoreCapital investors in Houston, which bought its 9,000-acre Robertson County farm property in 2021. Lynch, the managing partner at CoreCapital, said he expected to sit on the property for 10 years until the economics of water made it attractive to develop a major export project.But as soon as he entered the market, he found eager buyers willing to pay well.We bought it and all of a sudden we had everybody calling saying we need water, Lynch said. Then we said, we have more demand than we can supply, lets talk to the neighbors.Upwell recruited seven neighboring landowners to put company wells on their property and contribute to the export project.These arent regular irrigation wells, which in this area can tap water 40 feet down. These are 1,400 feet deep, cased in 2-foot-wide steel pipe, able to produce large volumes.Mark Hoelscher, a landowner who is selling groundwater from his land to the Upwell project, stands in front of a 1,200-foot-deep Simsboro Well in rural Robertson County on March 20. [Photo: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News]Its a million-dollar hole, said Mark Hoelscher, one of the neighboring landowners involved in the project, as he looked up at one of the diesel-powered well installations. Its big time.In October 2022, Upwellreceived permitsfor 16 wells to pump nearly 45 million gallons per day without any challenges in the hearing process. Four months later it receivedits permitto export the water out-of-district. Then in September 2023, the district issued permits for another 32 wells belonging to the seven adjoining landowners to produce an additional 45 million gallons per day.Until that point, authorities in the Bryan-College Station metro area, some 30 miles south, apparently remained unaware of the project transpiring in Robertson County. Not until September 2024, when the district considered applications for updated permits to export the combined 89 million-gallon-per-day production of all 48 wells, did Texas A&M University enter into the proceedings, filing a request for review by the State Office of Administrative Hearings.Texas A&M University declined to comment for this story.No one has questioned the fact that we own the land and we have rights to the water underneath it, said Hoelscher, a third generation landowner in the Brazos River Valley. The fact of the matter is the water is ours.The LawsuitOne week later, A&M fileda lawsuitin state district court seeking a temporary injunction stopping the groundwater district from recognizing any of the permits associated with the Upwell project until a hearing is held.A&M argued that the previously issued permits should be open for re-examination because some board members of the groundwater district were ineligible for service at the time the permits were originally approved.In November, Bryan and College Stationfiled papersto join the lawsuit. It said their ability to produce groundwater from their Simsboro wells and the economic vitality of the region will be adversely affected if the Contested Applications are granted.College Station Mayor John Nichols, a former professor of agricultural sciences at Texas A&M, said in a statement: The transfer of groundwater from our district to users in other areas is one of the most significant issues facing the College Station/Bryan area. Im a staunch proponent of private property rights, but we are deeply concerned about the long-term impact of excessive extraction on our community.He called on lawmakers to adopt statewide groundwater regulations ensuring the rights of current permit holders over new water users.None of that, however, matters to the trial that will take place in early May. All the judge will decide is whether or not A&M and the cities have rights to challenge the previously issued permits.In court filings, Upwell argued A&Ms petition demands that the Court turn back time and recognize a nonexistent right to administratively contest final groundwater permits that the Brazos Valley Groundwater Conservation District properly noticed and issued to Intervenors months and years priorall without any complaint or contest by any party, including Plaintiff.If the judge denies A&Ms request, the permits will be issued and work will begin on the Upwell project pipeline.If the judge grants A&Ms request, the permits will head into a potentially yearslong process of state administrative hearings that could threaten the viability of the project and its promised returns to investors.Construction on a water tank and tower, part of a Manville Water Supply Corp project through Lee County to Williamson County, on March 28. [Photo: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News]Desired Future ConditionWhether or not the pipeline gets built, other similar projects are likely to follow. The situation is headed in one direction: towards the DFC, the threshold at which restrictions begin.In the Brazos Valley and surrounding districts, that threshold is a 262-foot drop in water wells from levels measured in 2000. In the 25 years since then, pumping has led the wells water to drop by one quarter of that allotted reduction, according to district manager Day, suggesting ample water supplies remain.But, that remains to be seen. In total, Day said his district has issued permits for up to 291 million gallons per day of pumping from the Simsboro Formation, averaged yearly, of which 89 million gallons per day are associated with the Upwell project. However, only a fraction of that permitted volume is actually pumped.If all permitted pumping were to suddenly come online, Day said, computer models showed they would hit the DFC in six years.In reality it wont happen quite that fast. The Upwell project plans to scale up its pumping gradually over years. And many farmers hold irrigation permits to pump much more water than they ever actually will, unless they also encounter the opportunity to join an export project.When the aquifer hits the DFC, the rules say it mustnt fall further. That means all users would face mandatory curtailment. Its unclear how such unprecedented measures would be enforced in Texas.For Gutierrez, the mayor of Bryan, this management method creates a contest for investors to tap the water-wealthy Simsboro Formation and sell off its bounty before time runs out.They want to exploit everything we have for their personal benefit, he said. Its a race of who can take the most amount of water in the least amount of time to deplete a resource for their pocketbooks.Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate NewsThis article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.

In the past week, I had conversations with two leaders who talked too much. They were good people with interesting stories to share. But they went on for far too long while I just sat and listened. Characteristically, they asked few questions and, when they did, didnt seem to be interested in my responses. These two leaders were engaged but seemingly not curious or fully present.These encounters crystallized something Ive observed repeatedly in my decades of executive coaching: A damaging leadership blind spot is the simple inability to stop talking.I call this a leadership trap because it ensnares otherwise effective executives in a paradox: The same verbal fluency that may have helped them rise through organizational ranks becomes a liability once they arrive in positions of authority. What got them noticed now gets in their way.The drivers of excessive talkingAs I reflected on these two leaders, I realized they reflected a pattern Ive seen many times. Contrary to what many might assume, their excessive talking wasnt rooted in narcissism or self-absorption. Instead, it flowed from more complex motivations they likely didnt even recognize.The first executive, a fast-moving consumer goods leader, seemed driven by an underlying insecurity. Despite his considerable achievements, his need to recount every detail of his companys growth story suggested he was still seeking validation. His monologues were attempts to prove his wortha verbal rsum delivered even when no one had questioned his credentials.The second leader, a newly promoted senior vice president in healthcare, displayed what Ive come to recognize as the silence phobia. Whenever our conversation reached a natural pause, she would quickly fill the gap with another anecdote. This discomfort with silence is not uncommon among leaders, who often experience momentary quiet as a vacuum that must be filled.Why leaders often talk too muchIn my coaching practice, Ive identified several other drivers that cause well-intentioned leaders to monopolize conversations:Some leaders talk excessively due to underdeveloped self-awareness. They genuinely dont realize theyre dominating discussions. Without deliberate attention to their communication patterns, these leaders never notice the subtle signs of disengagement around themthe avoided eye contact, the phones checked under the table, the contributions that gradually diminish.Others feel intense pressure to appear intelligent and in control, especially those promoted based on technical prowess rather than leadership ability. They may dive into excessive detail, not realizing that their desire to impress often achieves the opposite effect, frustrating employees who prefer clear, concise direction.The organizational costWhen leaders dont create space for others voices, organizations pay a steep priceoften without realizing the source of their struggles.Both leaders I met last week lead sizable teams. I couldnt help wondering how their communication styles were affecting their organizations. Were team members experiencing the same one-sided conversations? Were valuable insights going unshared because there was simply no space to offer them?This pattern creates what I think of as conversational quicksand. The more leaders talk, the less others contribute. The less others contribute, the more leaders feel compelled to fill the silence. Each interaction reinforces the dynamic, gradually pulling teams deeper into passivity.The business consequences extend beyond frustrating meetings. When employee engagement diminishes, team members feel their input is neither valued nor necessary. Innovation suffers as people become less inclined to voice their opinions, knowing theyll struggle to find space in the conversation.Perhaps most damaging, leaders who talk too much paradoxically undermine their own influence. When someone speaks at length, their key messages get lost in the verbal deluge important signals drowning in noise. Team members start tuning out, missing crucial information as they struggle to maintain focus through lengthy monologues.In exit interviews, feeling not listened to consistently ranks among the top reasons talented people leave organizations. The efficiency of team operations also suffers, with long-winded explanations making meetings feel like endurance exercises rather than productive gatherings.Breaking the patternOne of the most difficult challenges in helping verbose leaders change their approach is that many dont recognize the problem. The first step toward change is typically a wake-up callobjective feedback that makes the pattern impossible to ignore.A structured 360-degree feedback process often provides this necessary reality check. One leader I worked with was genuinely shocked when his feedback revealed that team members felt steamrolled in meetings.For leaders ready to address this challenge, I recommend a simple but powerful practice: the talk time journal. After each significant meeting, they estimate the percentage of time they spent talking. One executive I coached was stunned to discover he was talking 7080% of the time in meetings explicitly called to get input from his team.The WAIT principleasking oneself Why Am I Talking? before continuing to speakoffers another practical checkpoint. This simple internal question helps leaders assess whether their contribution adds value or merely takes up space.Todays technology offers additional support. AI-driven meeting analytics tools can monitor speaking patterns, providing objective data on who speaks and for how longa communication fitness tracker where numbers tell the truth when perception might not.Many leaders benefit from enlisting a communication buddysomeone they trust to provide honest feedback with subtle real-time cues during meetings when the leader begins to dominate.Perhaps the most powerful technique is practicing strategic silence. By consciously pausing after asking questions and resisting the urge to fill quiet moments, leaders create space for reflection and encourage more thoughtful contributions from others.An increase in influenceAfter my encounters last week, I reflected on a leader Id coached several years ago. He had initially displayed the same pattern of dominating conversations but had committed to changing his approach. After six months of deliberate practice, he had reduced his talking time from approximately 60% to 30% of team meetings.The results were transformativenot just more engaged employees but also better decisions, faster execution, and ultimately stronger business results. I used to think leadership was about having all the answers, he told me. Now I understand its about asking the right questions.This paradoxical resultincreased influence through decreased talkingemerges consistently in my work with leaders. When they create space for others voices, they not only access more diverse thinking but also elevate the significance of their own contributions.The goal isnt to make leaders talk less just for the sake of it. Instead, its about helping them become more effective communicators who create environments where every voice contributes to success. When leaders master this balance, their influence increases even as their word count decreases.As I left my meetings with those two leaders last week, I wished I could offer them this insight: Your greatest impact as a leader often comes not from what you say, but from what you enable others to say. Leadership communication isnt about holding the floorits about creating the conditions for collective intelligence to flourish.The next time you find yourself dominating a discussion, ask yourself: Am I talking because its necessary, or simply because I can? Your leadership effectiveness may depend on your answer.

Things are tough right now, with complexity and uncertainty in the world driving stress and worry. Youre probably trying to stay positive and muscle through. But theres an important difference between keeping appropriately optimistic and acting with toxic positivity.If youre faced with toxic positivity in yourself or others, its probably based on good intentions that have run amok. But it can actually create a negative spiral that can make things worse.Staying positive during trying timesAccording to a survey from MyPerfectResume, people are reporting record levels of exhaustion, anxiety, and stress with 88% who said they were burned out. In addition, 32% of respondents reported they felt anxiety, including 30% who had headaches and 25% who had muscle pain related to their burnout, according to the data.Attempting to stay optimistic is a reasonable response, but toxic positivity is what happens when that goes too far. It involves ignoring reality, suppressing negative emotions, and trying to be overly positive in every situation, regardless of reality. Those with toxic positivity may also try to impose their attitudes on othersto the annoyance of those around them.Toxic positivity has multiple negative effects. First, when people demonstrate toxic positivity, it can result in denying reality, and undermining their ability to respond constructively to negative situations. Second, an unwillingness to express real emotions can result in feeling isolated from others and can cause mental health challenges for the person expressing toxic positivity.Third, when someone is acting with toxic positivity and denying others emotions, it creates barriers to forming a trusting relationship, because others may feel devalued. Fourth, when someone is perceived as inauthentic, others may question their honesty or integrityagain getting in the way of building relationships.So, how can you be positive without embracing toxic behavior? There are some strategies that work.Be aware and be realisticYou can avoid toxic positivity by staying aware of whats going onincluding the bad news or challenges that emerge. Repressing or avoiding difficulties or uncomfortable facts is a classic characteristic of toxic positivity. Avoid burying your head in the sand. Instead, seek information, stay in the know, and be aware. You dont have to overdo negative thinking or marinate in bad news, but you will want to keep your eyes open to real situations and circumstances.Its also important to be realistic. You dont need to overcorrect toxic positivity by catastrophizing or anticipating all the worst outcomes, but its constructive to be clear about whats going on and face up to the need for solutions. Put energy into responding to problems instead of investing energy in sealing them out.As youre working through disappointment or discouragement with yourself or others, also avoid using insincere positive statements or gimmicks. A study published in Psychological Science found that most people believe positive statements can help their mood and their self-esteem. But in the experiment, people who struggled with low self-esteem and who also repeated positive self-statements like, Im a loveable person, felt worse than they did before using the self-statement.The bottom line: Sometimes inauthentic or superficial solutions like hollow self-talk are worse than an honest assessment of whats difficult and an intention to deal with it. Encourage and empower yourself and others, but stop short of using superficial feel-good statements that get in the way of authenticity or action.Be empatheticAt the same time youre aware of situations and realities, youll also need to stay in tune with people and be empathic toward them. Consider what theyre going through, ask questions, and listen to their points of view.By validating what people are going through and by being present with them in tough times, you can both support them and empower them to work through difficulties. This is helpful to them and it also builds the relationship, which is good for both of you.Also avoid imposing your attitudes on others. If youre naturally an optimistic person, thats fine, but avoid attempting to change others. Youll want to support them, but if you try to convince someone that everything is okay despite all theyre going through, youll just irritate them and drive a wedge in the relationship.Its okay to be optimisticWhile youre avoiding a toxic approach to positivity, you can be optimistic. Look to the future and be hopeful about itand take action to find solutions for the issues that are important to you.Optimism can lead to positive outcomes. In a study of over 70,000 people researchers from Boston University surveyed respondents about their optimism and compared it to their health data, over a 10 to 30 year period. They found that those who were more optimistic boosted their longevity by 11% to 15% and increased their chances of living to age 85 by 50%.These effects on longevity were in spite of participants age, education, diseases, or depressionand regardless of habits related to alcohol use, exercise, or diet. Researchers believe that optimism is so powerful because it may help people bounce back from stress and regulate emotions.The difference between toxic positivity and healthy optimism is a matter of degree. If you deny reality, you may be tipping into toxic territory. But if you can be empathetic and avoid imposing your positivity on others, you reach a reasonable balance and connect more deeply with others.

A union that represents 150,000 U.S. government employees filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block President Donald Trump from stripping hundreds of thousands of federal workers of the ability to collectively bargain with government agencies through their unions.The National Treasury Employees Union said in the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. federal court that Trumps executive order last week exempting more than a dozen agencies from collective bargaining obligations violates federal workers labor rights and the U.S. Constitution and threatens the unions very existence.The NTEU said the order applies to more than 100,000 of its 158,000 members and would require agencies to stop deducting union dues from those workers paychecks, a major blow to the unions revenue and bargaining power.The strength and influence of any union correlate directly with the size of its membership, the NTEU said.The NTEU said Trump issued the order to punish unions that have challenged many of his efforts to purge the federal workforce. The union has filed lawsuits over the mass firings of recently-hired federal employees, the shuttering of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and an attempt to make it easier to fire workers in policy-related jobs.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.On the same day Trump issued the executive order, eight federal agencies filed a lawsuit against dozens of local union affiliates seeking to invalidate existing union contracts covering thousands of workers.Eliminating collective bargaining would remove obstacles for agencies to alter working conditions and fire or discipline workers. And it could prevent federal worker unions from challenging Trump administration initiatives in court.Trump in his order said that exempting large swaths of the federal workforce from collective bargaining was necessary to safeguard national security.None of the agencies covered by the order are primarily involved in intelligence or national security work, the NTEU said in the lawsuit.The order was instead based on a policy goal of making federal employees easier to fire and political animus against federal sector unions who have opposed the Trump Administrations initiatives, the union said.The lawsuit seeks a ruling blocking Trumps order and barring federal agencies from complying with it.Trump in the order excluded from collective bargaining obligations agencies that he said have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work.The order applies to the Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services departments, among other agencies. The NTEU on Monday said the order affects 75% of federal workers currently represented by unions.Trumps order significantly expanded an existing exception from collective bargaining for workers with duties affecting national security, such as certain employees of the CIA and FBI.The agencies that sued to invalidate union contracts said the Biden administration had entered into many of the agreements in order to impede Trump from carrying out his agenda, including a drastic downsizing of the federal workforce.The unions that were sued last week by the Trump administration have not yet responded in court, but have said the bargaining agreements are legally binding and that the lawsuit is a meritless attempt to intimidate unions and workers.Daniel Wiessner, Reuters

A French court on Monday convictedMarine Le Penof embezzlement and barred her from seeking public office for five years ahammer blowto the far-right leaders presidential hopes and an earthquake for French politics.Speaking to French TV channel TF1 in her first reaction to the verdict, Le Pen called the ruling a political move aimed at preventing her from running in the 2027 presidential election and said that millions of French people are outraged.She called the verdict a violation of the rule of law, said she would appeal and asked that the court proceedings take place before the 2027 campaign. She would remain ineligible to be a candidate until the appeal is decided.Le Pen also was sentenced to four years imprisonment, with two to be served under house arrest and two suspended.The court ruling was a political as well as a judicial temblor for France, hobbling one of the leading contenders to succeed President Emmanuel Macron at the end of his second and final term. So broad were the political implications that even some of Le Pens opponents said the Paris court had gone too far.But its too early to say how the case will affect voters. The potential elimination of Le Pen could fire up diehard supporters, just as U.S. Presidents Donald Trumps legal problems motivated some of his. But it could also leave her on the sidelines, deflating what had been her upward trajectory.Le Pen herself was not around to hear the chief judge pronounce the sentence that threw her career into a tailspin. By then, she had already strode out of the courtroom after the judge first indicated that the 56-year-old would be barred from office, without saying straight away for how long.Although Le Pen did not immediately comment, her supporters quickly expressed disapproval. Jordan Bardella, her 29-year-old protg who could replace her on the ballot in 2027 if she cannot run, said on X that Le Pen was being unjustly condemned and that French democracy was being executed.Hungarys populist prime minister, Viktor Orbn, quickly took to social media to express his support, posting Je suis Marine! I am Marine on X.Among political opponents of Le Pen who expressed unease was conservative lawmaker Laurent Wauquiez, who said the verdict put a very heavy weight on our democracy.A political death scenarioThe sentence could prevent Le Pen from making what would have been her fourth run for the presidency in 2027, a scenario she has previously described as a political death. The partys most recognized figurehead and a formidable campaigner, Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections, and her partys electoral supporthas grownin recent years.Only an appellate ruling that overturns the ban on public office could restore her hopes of running. But with the election just two years away, time is running out. Theres no guarantee that an appeals court would rule more favorably, and appeals in France can take several years to conclude.The verdict was a resounding defeat for Le Pens National Rally party, formerly the National Front.She and 24 other party officialswere accused of having used moneyintended for European Union parliamentary aides to instead pay staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016, violating the 27-nation blocs regulations.The judge handed down guilty verdicts to eight other current or former members of her party who, like Le Pen, previously served as European Parliament lawmakers. Also convicted were 12 people who served as parliamentary aides and three others. Only one defendant was acquitted. All had denied wrongdoing.The chief judge said Le Pen had been at the heart of a system that her party used to siphon off EU parliament funds, though she said they didnt enrich themselves personally. The ruling described the embezzlement as a democratic bypass that deceived the parliament and voters.From the front row of the court,Le Penshowed no immediate reaction when the judge first declared her guilty. But she grew more agitated as the verdict was delivered in greater detail. She shook her head in disagreement as the judge said Le Pens party illegally used European funds for its own benefit.Incredible, she whispered at one point. She then left without warning, picking up her bag and striding out, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. The abrupt departure left many in the courtroom in disbelief as they turned their heads toward the door.Rodolphe Bosselut, Le Pens lawyer, said he was appalled at the courts decision, which he described as extremely scandalous and said it would be appealed.The electoral ineligibility takes effect immediately, but the house arrest is suspended while she appeals.Le Pen has enjoyed growing supportDuring the nine-week trial that took place in late 2024, Le Pen argued that ineligibility would have the effect of depriving me of being a presidential candidate and disenfranchise her supporters.There are 11 million people who voted for the movement I represent. So tomorrow, potentially, millions and millions of French people would see themselves deprived of their candidate in the election, she told the panel of three judges.Le Pen also serves as a lawmaker in Frances National Assembly, a role not affected by the ineligibility ruling that she can keep for now.But if Macron dissolves parliament again, as he did last year, and calls early legislative elections, she would be barred from running.Sylvie Corbet and John Leicester, Associated PressThomas Adamson and Justin Spike contributed to this report.

Its safe to say that worker happiness and well-being is shaky at best. In 2024, just about half of all American employees reported feeling very satisfied with their jobs, and only about a third were happy with their pay or opportunities for promotion. Younger employees seem particularly frustrated by their working conditions: The latest edition of Gallups State of the Global Workplace report found that just 34% of workers said they were thriving, with a marked drop from 35% to 31% among those under the age of 35.While this sentiment persists across the American workforce, a new report from the Pew Research Center indicates that blue-collar workers are perhaps the most likely to feel dissatisfied and detached from their work. In a survey of more than 5,200 employees, only about 43% of those who identified as blue-collar workers said they were very satisfied with their jobswhile 53% of other workers expressed the same. (Pew defines blue-collar workers as those in such industries as manufacturing, agriculture, retail, hospitality, and transportation.)A key issue for many blue-collar workers who are frustrated by their jobs is pay. Overall, a third of them said they were dissatisfied with their compensation, though that figure was higher (40%) for women who held those jobs when compared to men (30%). The study found that workers had a variety of grievances, with many claiming that their wages did not keep pace with the rising cost of living; others said they were frustrated by pay inequities and that they earned less than colleagues who did comparable work. Beyond pay, blue-collar workers were also more dissatisfied with their health insurance coverage and lack of flexibility in working hours.But the greatest difference in how blue-collar workers feel about their jobs relative to other workers is whether they view it as a real career. More than half of blue-collar workers described what they do as just a job to get you by, rather than a career. (Women were even more likely to say that, with 61% characterizing their work as just a job.)Only a third said they considered their work to be a careerwhile 56% of other workers identified their jobs as careers. There is also a clear generational divide when it comes to happiness among blue-collar workers: Older workers were more likely to be satisfied with their job on all counts. In fact, nearly half of them said they viewed their work as a career.Its possible that blue-collar workers feel less attached to their jobs in part because of how they are perceived. Less than a third of blue-collar workers said they believed other Americans respected their jobs, when compared to nearly half of all other workers feeling like their jobs demanded a certain level of respect. Many of them did, however, report feeling more respected by their colleagues or even by customers.Given their frustrations about compensation and often-limited opportunities for career advancement, it is hardly surprising that so many blue-collar workers feel that their work gets little recognition by the broader American public. But some things could be looking up: While too many blue-collar workers remain underpaid, they have also benefitted from historic wage growth in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Constitutionally, Donald Trump cannot be elected to a third term as president, but thats not stopping him from talking about itand that rhetoric is already on the rise, just 69 days into his second term. Trump, on Sunday, told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that a lot of people wanted him to serve a third term, adding he was not joking about the idea.Saying there were methods to maneuver around the two-term limit spelled out in the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution set off a lot of alarms among Democrats and Republicans who oppose Trump.Trump, who had floated the idea of running a third time before, said he had not been presented with plans that could, conceptually, keep him in office, but acknowledged one possible way would be for JD Vance to be elected and pass the office on to Trump (who would run as vice president).The Constitutional problemTrump is legally prohibited from running for a third term. The 22nd Amendment sets a two-term limit for presidents, clearly stating no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.While the Constitution can be interpreted in many ways, thats an amendment that seems remarkably straightforwardand while it might appear to quickly clear things up, the last few months have deftly illustrated that rules are being changed in 2025.With a Republican-controlled Senate and House, there has been talk of amending the Constitution, but that would be a Herculean feat. The act of proposing an amendment alone would require two-thirds majorities in both Congressional bodies and the Republicans, simply put, dont have the votes. Ratifying it, meanwhile, would require the sign-off of three-quarters of all state legislatures.Thats not stopping some Trump loyalists from making the effort. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee has introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution to read: No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms.The chances of passage for the bill (which appears to be carefully written to bar Democratic president Barack Obama from running again) are considered the longest of long shots.The Vance optionand moreRunning Vance (or any Republican) as a presidential candidate, who resigns upon taking office is something of a leap already. Would Vance (or any politician) be willing to put aside his (or her) own ambitions to hand a presidency to VP Trump after being elected president? Thats questionable.However, the 12th Amendment of the Constitution basically makes that sort of action illegal. It states that, no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice president of the United States.Some allies, including Stephen Bannon, have suggested a Constitutional loophole exists, though havent offered details.One possible way to sidestep the Constitution would be for Trump to declare a state of emergency as the election nears. That could give him executive powers that are virtually unprecedented (should he have the backing of the Supreme Court) and could open the door to an extended term. Franklin Roosevelt, while Democratically elected, cited World War II as the reason he was breaking the traditional two-term cap. (The 22nd Amendment was passed after his presidency was over.)Trump has made several curious comments over the past year with regards to the 2028 election, perhaps the strangest of which was his remarks to a Christian group where he said, In four years, you dont have to vote again. Well have it fixed so good, youre not gonna have to vote.There is, of course, another possibility here. The chatter of a third term could be yet another distraction for Trumps political opponents, diverting their focus while he enacts changes that would normally garner their attention. Trump has pulled a similar play many times before.While Trump has said hes seriously considering attempting to find a way to control the Oval Office for a third time, he also says hes not making it his priority at the moment. Im not joking, Trump told Welker. But, Im not . . . it is far too early to think about it.Should he find a way to run again, Trump would be 82 years old. He is already the oldest person to be elected to the office.

When a couple decided to take their relationship further on the most recent season ofLove Is Blind,the moment was soundtracked with a familiar song:Billie EilishsBirds of a Feather.It wasnt a flash-in-the-pan musical surprise. The season was stacked with familiar needle drops Miley CyrusWrecking Ball,Justin BiebersHoly,Ariana GrandesInto You,Selena GomezsLose You to Love Me a gesture away from the little-known, sometimes generic pop songs that used to meet the shows most emotional moments.Show creator and Kinetic Content CEO Chris Coelen attributed the pivot to the shows anniversary.We decided, in this Season 8, to coincide with our fifth anniversary, to really embrace popular music in a big way, he said. And so, we ended up using throughout the entire season and in every episode we used popular music cues.Love Is Blind isnt the only reality show that walks the line between what viewers have labeled real songs and unfamiliar music.Where does the unfamiliar music come from?Its not artificial intelligence, where nobody controls the copyright, saysThe Bachelormusic supervisor Jody Friedman. Theres too much risk involved with using AI music in these projects.Excluding big-time pop records, the music used on television comes from a number of sources. It can be custom, original music by the shows composers. It can be licensed directly from artists, or from sync agents, production music libraries or a one stop, what supervisors call a company that has the rights to license both the master recording and the composition rights.Music supervisors might also turn to covers of well-known songs. On the most recent season of The Bachelor, Friedman used a cover of Phil Phillips Sea of Love, a classic 50s tune. Its more affordable to pay to license a cover than the original recording and creatively, its a modern take on an old song, he says.Love Island USAmusic supervisor Sara Torres also uses covers.That can bring in other listeners that may not necessarily be into pop, but if they hear the song in a different genre, it might pull them in, to go back and listen to the original version, she says.Music libraries companies that represent music catalogs for licensing purposes are key, too, because if a song is too expensive to license, a supervisor can instead find a song that evokes the feeling ofBTS Butterwithout having to pay for it.The indie libraries, lets say, for TV, could be anywhere from $1,000-1,500 per needle drop use, says Friedman. Generally speaking, bigger commercial songs can range from $20,000 to upward of $100,000 depending on the use, he says.A history of using real songs on dating competition showsThe use of instantly recognizable pop music differs from program to program.Love Is Blindhas used popular music in the past, but sparingly. Coelen points out the use of Lee Ann Womacks I Hope You Dance in Bliss Poureetezadi and Zack Goytowskis story in Season 4. But the frequency of Top 40 hits in the most recent season is new.He says the benefit of using these songs, creatively, is that it elevates the experience, for the viewer: Emotions are so connected to certain pieces of music, and they can conjure up feelings that we relate to.Kinetic Content declined The Associated Press request to speak with the shows music supervisor, Jon Ernst.Love Island USA featured songs likeChappell RoansKaleidoscope andSabrina CarpentersPlease Please Please in its most recent season. Executive producer James Barker points out that the original U.K. show has always used commercial music, and therefore the U.S. version has endeavored to do the same.The show is meant to feel like youre on vacation with your best friends. Of course, when youre on vacation, youre sharing music, he says. I think that translates into how we create the show.Torres agrees. She adds that the show typically uses more commercial music in the beginning of the season, and then again in the finale you want that big impact.Because the show has a quick turnaround time, with six episodes a week whatever happens in Fiji on Monday airs Tuesday in America, as Barker describes it the show team pre-clears over a thousand songs, just in case they work for a particular narrative moment. That means requests are sent out to publishers and labels ahead of time, but theyre not paid for until the tracks are selected.A show with more lead time, The Bachelor has long used commercial songs in its programming. This years season, the shows 29th, had several memorable musical moments, including aCardi B,Bad Bunny and J Balvin needle drop when I Like It played as the cast made their way to Madrid.This is my first season with The Bachelor, but historically theyve used Colbie Caillat, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys, lists Friedman. They used Billie Eilish last season. This season we used a David Guetta track, Dropkick Murphys for the episode in Boston. Theres aKarol Gtrack.He adds The Bachelor does use a lot of recognizable pop songs, typically one or two per episode.Each episode does have a budget. So, while they may splurge on a pop song, the rest of the budget is spent on other music that comes at a lower cost, he says.So, will there be more real song drops in the future?For Love Is Blind, Coelen says simply: The answer is yes.Barker from Love Island USA agrees.Not only are you engaged with the characters, but the songs and artists that you care about listening to at home are being represented on television, he adds. Its just a bridge between us all.Maria Sherman, AP music writer

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more.The economy is something of a rollercoaster and consumer behavior is shifting just as fast. From fluctuating costs to changing shopping habits, todays market represents a real opportunity to support transformation for brands.As trusted marketing partners, our role isnt to predict whats next but to help clients confidently navigate the complexity, adapt with agility, and stay closely attuned to what their customers need right now. The evolving climate requires media and marketing professionals to develop a deeper understanding of how macroeconomic forces directly impact their clients decision-making processes. For example, when tariffs increase for say, a tequila producer targeting the U.S. market, the ripple effects are immediate. Those costs must be accounted for, either through increased pricing, which affects consumer purchasing patterns, or adjusting allocations elsewhere, including ad and marketing budgets.It is imperative to maintain client-centricity. So how can we, as agency leaders, support clients during unpredictable economic times and show up as more strategic business partners?Stay informedEvery business is dealing with unprecedented shifts in how people shop, plus inconsistency in the market and supply chain. Everything is moving faster, and agencies need to move with agility, forecasting marketing plans for clients in real time. Theres HUGE opportunity out there, but also high risks.Clients consistently tell us they value partners who adapt quickly to changing circumstances and who not only keep pace with the changing tides, but anticipate the shifts. Earlier this year, one of our retail clients faced potential sales losses when a major publication was ending print circulation in a key market. We responded with a proposal to shift advertising based on data insights that could potentially exceed the lost sales. The ability to respond to shifts in real time can provide a competitive edge in client service.Instead of resisting this uncertainty, embrace it. Stay informed and stay current in the newsready to adapt, innovate, and lead the conversation. While we cant control market fluctuations, we can control our response.Focus on human, not just machineWhile businesses race towards AI adoption and automation, its easy to get swept up in the speed and scale of technology. Its important to remember that while these tools offer insights and efficiency, they dont provide the creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking that only human connection and emotional intelligence can provide.At Havas, we show up with a mindful understanding of what our clients are going through on a day-to-day basis. The heart of our approach is a commitment to people-centricity. Professionals are seeking environments where they feel genuinely valued, where personal and professional growth are nurtured, and contributions recognized in meaningful ways. Creating a culture where employees feel heard, supported, and empowered is essential in this market.This same value extends to client partnerships; our strategy emphasizes human expertise and technological capabilities working in harmony. Technology and automation are a means to an end (not the end itself!). Clients want more diagnostic data tools and increased media data optimization so their reporting can be more accessible and actionable. However, these tools enhance but dont replace the creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking that forge meaningful connections.Our clients are real humans, looking at data points of real customers. This requires their agency partner to go beyond the numbers, partnering with real people at the helm to interpret customers needs with empathy and humility.As businesses face constant recalibration with every news alert, they need their partners to care about the things they care about. By gaining a deeper understanding of their unique challenges and daily nuances, we can offer better visualizations, data granularity, collaborative insights, and recommendations, ultimately turning numbers into stories, patterns into strategy, and clicks into brand affinity.Act in real timeSpeed is currency in todays market. By staying informed and monitoring the market, youll be able to quickly recognize and respond to organic waves of market conversation.Success lies in agility. For one fashion client, this meant accelerating planning cycles from weeks to days to capitalize on a products viral moment, leading to increased budgets and stronger future campaigns. Because we spent the time building a trusted and collaborative partnership with this client, we understood their audiences, objectives, and goals. We established media and culture monitoring processes to better react in real time which allowed us to swiftly activate because of our shared understanding.Spot the trend and seize the momentum because in a world that moves fast, the brands that act in real time to consumers wants and needs gain consumer share.When wildfires hit Los Angeles earlier this year, the combination of global media attention, celebrity-driven social coverage, and AI-generated images of Hollywood in flames exacerbated the problem and led tourists to believe the cityand maybe even the statewas closed for business, sparking a wave of misinformation.For Visit California, a nonprofit 501(c) corporation with a mission to market the state as a premier travel destination, speed was essential to deliver a powerful message of hope, resilience, and community during the Oscars. We were able to produce a meaningful moment for our client in several weeks. Leveraging agency connections, the campaign coordinated a strategic integration with award season, providing an empowering message that California is open for business, rolling out the red carpet for visitors from around the world.Activating celebrity ambassadors, strategic media buys, and perfectly timed messaging helped negate misinformation and bolster the states tourism and the livelihoods of countless workers who depend on visitors.By staying informed about market conditions, not shying away from client pressures, demonstrating adaptability, and maintaining empathy, you can deliver better, stronger results for your clients. Tomorrows successful media agencies will embrace this and build meaningful partnerships that last longer than any economic turbulence.We only exist because our clients trust us. Understanding their business is our business and agile actions in times that are changing faster than ever before, is how we win together.Greg James is North America CEO of Havas Media Network.