By AJ Dellinger Published May 23, 2025 | Comments (0) | President Trump speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference © Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg Last night, Donald Trump hosted 220 of the biggest suckers you know for dinner. As part of a promotion for his cryptocurrency memecoin $TRUMP, the President of the United States let the top bag holders of his coin come hang out, including offering a private VIP reception with the 25 biggest “investors.” According to the Wall Street Journal, the 220 who received invites spent a cumulative $148 million buying up $TRUMP before the event. The event, which was held at the Trump National Golf Club Washington DC in Potomac Falls, Virginia, was a real who’s who of people who make you go “I think I’ve heard of that person.” Perhaps the most famous person in the room was former NBA player Lamar Odom, who is now promoting his own memecoin. Others at the dinner included Brendan McCafferty, a guy CNN rather savagely called a “self-described media executive,” and Jeffrey Zirlin of the failed Axie Infinity game that got hacked for $600 million. The Wall Street Journal noted that many of the attendees were foreigners, many of whom are big players in the crypto space. Others were looking to influence American policy—like Javier Selgas, the CEO of shipping company Freight Technologies, who made headlines by announcing plans to buy up $TRUMP to get a seat next to the president and try to advocate for easing tariffs. The biggest mark of the night, though, was Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto mogul who has made himself a bit of a central figure in the Trump crypto cinematic universe. Sun faced charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly manipulating the price of his cryptocurrency $TRON. Earlier this year, Sun purchased $75 million worth of tokens from World Liberty Financial, the “decentralized finance protocol” run by Trump’s kids, and found his charges dropped. Sun was identified as the top holder of $TRUMP at the dinner event, holding about $18 million worth of the memecoin, and was awarded a “Trump Golden Tourbillion” watch, according to CNN. By all accounts, the attendees did not get their money’s worth out of the event. YouTuber CoffeeZilla, an investigative journalist in the crypto space, said he was told by attendees that the event was disappointing and “wack.” Christoph Heuermann, a “serial entrepreneur” who attended the event, said in an Instagram post that Trump gave a 20-minute speech and “didn’t interact with the crowd other than enjoying being celebrated. Even VIP token holders (I know some) couldn’t speak or even shake hands with the president.” Don’t worry, though: If you thought that was meant as a criticism of the whole charade, it wasn’t. “It was still well worth it to experience the president live and watch his mightily secured arrival and departure,” Heuermann wrote. Trump’s short speech—which he made in front of the official presidential seal despite the White House claiming it was a “private” event—seemed to be a classic rambling “weave” of an address, recounting his 2024 presidential election victory and bragging about closing the southern border in between the occasion bit of red meat tossed to the crypto crowd, according to CNN. “The Biden administration persecuted crypto innovators, and we’re bringing them back into the USA where they belong,” he told the audience, per Fox News. As Trump welcomed the folks who are actively lining his pockets, protesters stood outside the gates of the Trump National Golf Club, denouncing the event as evidence of corruption and demanding the full guest list be released, according to the New York Times. Democrats have launched several efforts to force the President (and other politicians) to divest from cryptocurrency so they cannot use their office to profit through promotions like this. But until one of those bills actually goes somewhere, it seems like there are still plenty of people out there willing to give Trump money in exchange for little more than clout (and maybe a pardon down the line, if needed). Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By Vanessa Taylor Published May 23, 2025 By Lucas Ropek Published May 23, 2025 By Matt Novak Published May 22, 2025 By AJ Dellinger Published May 22, 2025 By Matt Novak Published May 22, 2025 By Ellyn Lapointe Published May 21, 2025

We may earn a commission from links on this page.If you have a workshop in your house or enjoy doing DIY projects, you probably know that tools were already expensive way before tariffs entered the picture. Anyone who works with tools on a regular basis is generally happy to pay a bit more for something that doesn’t fall apart after a few uses, so defaulting to a major brand that’s still in the low- to mid-budget range like Black and Decker (Stanley Black and Decker also owns the Craftsman and DeWalt brands) always made sense.As predicted, the company just announced higher prices in response to the tariff situation, which means buying tools from Stanley Black and Decker may now be beyond a lot of people’s budgets. If that’s you, it’s time to investigate some of the more affordable tool brands that can still get the job done for you. It’s important to note that almost all the major tool brands manufacture most, if not all, of their tools overseas, and so will be subject to some amount of tariffs—but if you’re starting at a lower price point to begin with, an additional tax in the form of a tariff may not price you out. Here are your best affordable alternatives to Black and Decker tools.BauerIf you buy tools regularly, you know that Harbor Freight is a company known for tools that are often suspiciously cheap. The mystery of Harbor Freight is that sometimes its tools seem to turn into their component atoms right before your eyes the moment you use them, but sometimes its tools are surprisingly robust. Bauer is one of Harbor Freight’s in-house tool brands that gets decent reviews for longevity and usefulness, but Bauer tools are almost always much cheaper than Black and Decker tools and other competing brands. For example, as of this writing I found this 6-amp B&D Hammer Drill for $85, whereas a slightly more powerful one from Bauer is just $45.RidgidRidgid tools are exclusively sold at physical Home Depot stores, though you can buy them online from a variety of places. It’s long been considered a solid mid-tier brand—you’re not passing a Ridgid tool down to your children, maybe, but you’re probably going to get a lot of use out of them, and they’re generally good enough for most jobs. Plus, they’re significantly cheaper than most Stanley Black and Decker brands. Ridgid and Black and Decker tools have generally been in the same price category, but with Stanley Black and Decker raising prices, Ridgid might be a cheaper buy—for now.SkilSkill is the budget-friendly offshoot of the more professional-oriented Skilsaw brand. Most of its tools have solid reputations for quality, but are typically cheaper than Black & Decker tools. A 15-amp, 7-1/4 inch circular saw like this one, for example, goes for about $70, whereas a comparable Black and Decker version was listed for about $80. That’s not a huge difference, but with tariff price increases, you can expect that gap to widen a bit.HartHart is Walmart’s exclusive power tool brand—and as you might imagine, anything sold in Walmart is going to be relatively affordable. You can pick up this cordless 4.5-inch angle grinder for just $50, for example—about half the price of this DeWalt version. One thing to consider when buying Hart power tools is that most of its tools don’t come with batteries, so that’s an added cost—and they aren’t compatible with any other brand’s batteries, so you’re not going to be able to use them interchangeably. But Hart’s quality and performance are pretty decent for the price, making them a great alternative to Black and Decker.WENThis brand always comes up in conversations about affordable tools (it’s normal to have those conversations frequently, yes?). If you’re finding Black and Decker tools to no longer be the budget win they once were, WEN is a solid alternative. Its tools are considered well-built, with acceptable performance for the price—and they tend to be cheaper than comparable B&D products. For example, this variable speed jigsaw from WEN will get the job done for less money than this Black and Decker offering.If your main consideration when buying tools is price, tariffs are going to cause some chaos—but if Black and Decker is pricing you out, you have a few options to look into.

From a struggling family tea estate to an innovative climate venture, Alt Carbon has raised $12 million in a seed round as it plans to scale its carbon dioxide removal work in the South Asian nation. The climate tech startup, which locks away carbon for thousands of years through enhanced rock weathering on farmlands, attracted investment led by Lachy Groom, the co-founder of the robotics AI company Physical Intelligence. The journey began in May 2020 with a bittersweet homecoming. Siblings Shrey and Sparsh Agarwal drove 16 hours from the eastern state of Kolkata to Darjeeling — a city known for tea farming in the leafy foothills of the Himalayas — expecting to bid farewell to their family’s tea estate, Salem Hill, which was facing bankruptcy. Instead, that farewell visit planted the seeds for Alt Carbon, which they officially launched in late 2023. Initially, they explored carbon markets as a way to revive their family business and support other tea estates in the region by generating supplementary income. But during their exploration, they discovered enhanced rock weathering as an approach that could transform Darjeeling’s legacy from being at risk of climate change impact to a frontier of climate action. “Within carbon markets, our realization was that a lot of the projects in India, which are more avoidance-based, are of very low quality, and they produce junk credits,” Sparsh said in an exclusive interview. Last year, Alt Carbon started its pilot around the Agarwals’ family tea estate on about 500 acres of land, which they later scaled up in North Bengal, expanding their scope from tea farms to those of rice and bamboo. The startup aims to expand to 500,000 hectares of land. By 2030, the startup aims to remove 5 million tons of carbon from the region, Sparsh told TechCrunch. Alt Carbon co-founders Shrey Agarwal (Left) and Sparsh Agarwal (Right).Image Credits:Alt Carbon Alt Carbon deploys enhanced rock weathering using waste basalt rock dust from mines and quarries in the volcanic igneous province of Rajmahal Traps, located in eastern India. The rock dust, a waste product from the construction industry, is spread on farm fields, where it reacts naturally with rainwater to remove carbon dioxide and add micronutrients to the soil to improve its fertility and health and enhance crop yields. When rainwater containing carbon dioxide interacts with basalt dust, it forms stable bicarbonate ions. These are stored in the soil and eventually flow through rivers to the ocean, where they settle as calcium carbonate, locking away carbon for over 10,000 years. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW For transporting the specialized dust from source locations to farm fields, the startup relies on rails and diesel trucks and pays for one-way fares as these sources are part of the tea industry’s freight transportation system. The startup also avoids emissions from dedicated rock processing by relying on the waste basalt from existing mining and crushing operations. Instead of using the basalt dust alone, the startup has developed a proprietary combination of basalt and other organic ingredients, which it calls Hari Maati (green soil in Hindi), to convince farmers to spread it on their farmlands. Alt Carbon estimates its carbon credits at $270 per metric ton, which Sparsh said is significantly cheaper than direct air capture credits that, he believes, cost roughly $800 a ton. However, he expects the startup to reduce costs within 36 to 48 months. The startup relies on three layers of measurements to understand how much rock is getting weathered and how much carbon is being removed, Shrey told TechCrunch. It begins with measurements to track weathering progress and then moves to measuring water within the soil, groundwater sampling, and river monitoring. The third layer uses proprietary reactive transport models that help track ions transported from the soil to water bodies. The startup also uses machine learning-driven modeling to get carbon-removal numbers. Alt Carbon says its models adhere closely to methodologies set by carbon removal registries, including Isometric and Puro.earth. They have also received approvals from intergovernmental organizations, including SBTi, ICVCM, and CORSIA. The startup has its labs in Darjeeling and Bengaluru and employs 8 to 10 PhDs, with an overall headcount of 25 employees. It aims to scale these labs and expand its work by doing more soil sample analysis and even setting up a hardware studio for better, high-quality data collection on the ground, using remote sensing. The startup also plans to deploy sensors on the ground to get more insights at a lower cost and in a faster time. All this will come through that seed round led by Groom. Last year, the startup secured a $500,000 pre-purchase by Frontier and a $1 billion advanced market commitment led by Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, Shopify, and McKinsey. It also recently signed a strategic partnership with a buyer coalition, NextGen, started by South Pole and Mitsubishi Corporation, to scale its enhanced rock weathering. The group also included BCG Group, Swiss RE, LGT, and UBS among its members. Last month, the startup signed an offtake agreement with Japan’s shipping company, MOL Group, to purchase 10,000 tons of carbon removal credits. Alt Carbon will deliver its first carbon credits in less than a month through Isometric, Sparsh said.

Three years ago, as the pandemic caused chaos for companies big and small, Colgate-Palmolive’s chief supply chain officer Luciano Sieber orchestrated a “logistics blitz.”  The result gave Sieber a better understanding of how Colgate-Palmolive moves its products around the world. But it stuck Sieber with another problem: too much data.  About a year ago, Sieber says he found a solution to that problem with Uber Freight. The ride-hailing service’s long-running logistics and analytics arm has been developing new ways to wrangle large amounts of data by using artificial intelligence. Colgate-Palmolive became one of the first companies to use one of its newest products, a a logistics-focused LLM Uber Freight calls Inisights AI.  Now, Uber Freight is more formally launching a suite of AI features to shippers around the world as part of its existing supply chain software. That includes an expansion of Insights AI, which Uber Freight quietly launched in 2023, as well as more than 30 AI agents built to “execute key logistics tasks throughout the freight lifecycle.”  Uber Freight is not alone in trying to tame unruly supply chains with modern artificial intelligence tools. Flexport announced its own suite of AI tools in February, and there are myriad startups trying to help companies wrangle data, reduce inventory stockpiles, and better predict supply and demand. But Uber Freight is betting its AI solutions can make an immediate impact on the bottom line of both its blue-chip customers and the nearly 10,000 other shippers it works with. That’s largely because of the knowledge base and relationships it has established in the eight years since it was created to match long-haul truckers with shippers. “Supply chain is inherently a data-rich problem. It’s complex, it’s nuanced, and AI can serve a fundamental role in shaping it and accelerating it,” Uber Freight founder Lior Ron said in an interview with TechCrunch.  Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW ‘We’ve been building towards this moment’ Uber Freight began as a more straightforward brokerage business model when it launched in 2017. But the Uber subsidiary has steadily evolved over the years into more of a service provider to companies that ship goods around the world.  Many modern companies are trying to find ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (often to mixed results); it should come as no surprise that Uber Freight is putting the technology front and center. After all, both Ron’s undergraduate work and his master thesis were centered around AI – way back “in the dark ages when it was called ‘neural networks,’” he joked. Ron continued to work with machine learning technology when he was running Google Maps from 2007 until 2016. It was there, he said, that he saw “the potential of digitizing the physical universe.”  “That sort of led me to the foundational belief, nine years ago, that supply chain is fundamentally a data-first, technology-first challenge that could be accelerated with data connectivity, and over time, AI,” he said. “We’ve been building towards this moment, I think, since I started Uber Freight.” Ron said Uber Freight has used machine learning in its work since the beginning. But it was around two years ago that the team started trying to work with more advanced generative AI capabilities.  That “hasn’t been an easy road,” Ron said. Uber Freight’s initial attempts at building a sort of “co-pilot for logistics” were riddled with hallucinations and returned accurate answers only around 60% to 70% of the time. Now that technology has been “battle tested” and is “driving real business outcomes,” with an accuracy rate of 98%, according to Ron. The company says the Insights AI model has been trained on internal and external data related to the $20 billion worth of freight that it helps move every year. It also leverages multiple undisclosed AI models “providing optimal combinations of price, precision and performance,” according to Uber Freight. Ron said this AI push creates new ways for customers to work with the data related to their supply chain. They can ask Insights AI to quickly pull up, say, the worst-performing origin points for particular shipments. Or they can ask to be shown “all shipments to CVS in 2023.” Ron stressed that the queries can be far more complex than this, too, and the model always keeps up.  Insights AI is presented to customers much like other popular LLM interfaces; it will also show its work and make clear where all the data is coming from, just like other reasoning models. All of this lets a customer “gain insights on your network much faster, at close to 100% accuracy instantly, versus formulating what you want to know, sending it to some analysts, and waiting for two weeks for the PowerPoint presentation to come back to have a discussion,” Ron said. ‘What do you want to know?‘ Uber Freight works with a lot of Fortune 500 companies, but it found a particularly willing partner in Colgate-Palmolive to trial Insights AI and its other new tools. The conglomerate already makes a suite of AI models available to all of its employees, according to Sieber. It also makes those workers take a mandatory training on AI ethics that was developed in-house. “I think it’s great, because it turns the conversation from fear into, ‘how that makes me more efficient, and how [do] I become a better professional and deliver more by having access and using those new technologies,’” Sieber said.  For instance, Sieber said his company has used Insights AI to easily identify carriers who are accepting fewer shipments than they’re contractually obligated to to move. From there, they can work out why those levels are low, and either come up with a solution to get the carrier back in compliance or drop them in favor of another. This was previously a challenge to solve in real time, Sieber said, because companies like Colgate-Palmolive work with thousands of carriers. Each of those might work with different systems and workflows, and all of that resulting information was never really centrally managed.  The next step with AI, both Sieber and Ron said, has been finding ways to create more proactive solutions. Ron said this is another place Uber Freight can flex its data strengths. “We know the facilities, we know the lanes, we know the prices,” he said. “What do you want to know?” These more proactive integrations come in the form of alerts that tell a customer like Colgate-Palmolive they’re overpaying on certain routes, or that there are faster options available for a particular shipment.  Any single suggestion like that may only save a few hundred, or perhaps a few thousand dollars. But aggregated over an entire network, it could make a big difference. That’s why, when asked, Sieber was quick to answer that Colgate-Palmolive’s chief financial officer is the executive who’s most pleased with what Uber Freight’s enabled. “He loves to see logistics costs coming down,” Sieber laughed.

Job Title: Procurement ManagerLocation: Edmonton, ABDepartment: PurchasingReports To: CEOJob Summary:We are looking for an experienced Procurement Manager to lead our purchasing department in a manufacturing environment. This role is responsible for supplier negotiations, cost optimization, procurement strategy, and logistics coordination to ensure a smooth supply chain process. The Procurement Manager will generate and analyze reports from NetSuite to monitor purchasing trends, identify discrepancies, and drive efficiency. They will also oversee returns and ensure compliance with procurement policies.This is a remote job which requires the applicant to work in the Mountain Standard Timezone. Timings are 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM from Monday to Friday. Salary range is $10,000 to $12,000 USD annually. Key Responsibilities:Supplier & Vendor ManagementSource, evaluate, and negotiate contracts with suppliers and vendors to secure optimal pricing and quality.Establish and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers and shipping companies.Review and analyze supplier quotes to make cost-effective purchasing decisions.Monitor supplier performance, ensuring compliance with quality and delivery standards.Procurement & Purchasing OperationsOversee end-to-end procurement processes, from purchase requisition to payment.Work closely with production, finance, and logistics teams to align purchasing with operational needs.Ensure timely procurement and inventory availability to support manufacturing schedules.Manage the process of product returns, claims, and replacements with suppliers.Data Analysis & ReportingUtilize NetSuite to generate procurement reports, analyze trends, and monitor discrepancies.Identify cost-saving opportunities and recommend procurement strategy improvements.Prepare regular reports on supplier performance, cost analysis, and procurement KPIs for the CEO.Logistics & Shipping CoordinationCollaborate with shipping companies and freight forwarders for cost-effective and timely delivery.Monitor import/export logistics, ensuring compliance with customs regulations and trade policies.Address and resolve shipping delays or issues with vendors and logistics providers.Compliance & Continuous ImprovementEnsure procurement processes adhere to company policies and industry best practices.Drive process improvements to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and mitigate risks.Stay updated on market trends, industry developments, and supplier innovations.Qualifications & Requirements:Master’s degree (preferred) in Supply Chain Management, Business Administration, or a related field.Minimum 5 years of experience in procurement, purchasing, or supply chain management.Proven expertise in vendor negotiation, cost management, and purchasing strategy.Experience working with NetSuite or other ERP systems for procurement and reporting.Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to identify trends and optimize purchasing decisions.Excellent communication and leadership skills to manage vendor relationships and lead the purchasing team.Knowledge of manufacturing industry procurement, logistics, and supply chain regulations.Preferred Skills:Procurement certifications (e.g., CIPS, CPSM) are an asset.Experience in import/export compliance and supply chain risk management.Why Join Us?Lead the procurement function in a growing manufacturing company.Competitive salary and growth opportunities.Work directly with the CEO to shape procurement strategies.If you are a results-driven procurement professional with a strong background in manufacturing procurement, we encourage you to apply!Apply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now Meet JobCopilot: Your Personal AI Job HunterAutomatically Apply to Remote Management and Finance JobsJust set your preferences and Job Copilot will do the rest-finding, filtering, and applying while you focus on what matters. Activate JobCopilot

Commuters in the New York City and New Jersey area are in for what is likely to be a weekend of increased congestion and more limited transit options after the engineers who run the New Jersey Transit rail system voted to go on strike. That strike is now in effect and could continue throughout the weekend—and potentially even longer. Here’s what you need to know about the NJ Transit strike. What’s happened? On Thursday, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced that its members who run the trains in the New Jersey Transit Corporation, better known as NJ Transit, were officially on strike. The strike came after the BLET and NJ Transit failed to reach a deal on a new contract for the approximately 450 engineers and trainees who run the railway and are represented by the union. The main issue centers around a disagreement on wage increases for the workers. News of the strike is no doubt a disappointment to the 100,000 NYC and NJ commuters who use the line daily, especially after both sides were reportedly “close” to a deal. Talks between both sides went on for 15 hours on Thursday and ended shortly before 10 p.m., reports CNN. The strike then officially began at 12:01 a.m., today, Friday, May 16. It is the first time union members working for New Jersey Transit have gone on strike in 42 years. The last time NJ Transit workers took to the picket lines was in 1983. What do the striking rail workers want? The BLET’s union members are striking because no acceptable deal was reached on wage increases for its members. In a notice announcing the strike, BLET says that its NJ Transit members have not received a raise for five years. The union also notes that NJ Transit engineers “make at least $10 less per hour” than the engineers for other passenger railroads that share the same train platforms as the ones used by NJ Transit. “NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters and $53 million for decorating the interior of that unnecessary building,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a prepared statement. “They gave away $20 million in revenue during a fare holiday last year. They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their front-line workers. Enough is enough. We will stay out until our members receive the fair pay that they deserve.” In addition to the strike now in effect, from 4 a.m. this morning BLET members began picketing at multiple locations, including NJ Transit’s Newark headquarters, New York’s Penn Station, and the Atlantic City Rail Terminal in Atlantic City. The union says that “despite the transit agency having the funds for a raise,” NJ Transit managers walked out of talks before 10 p.m. on Thursday. What does NJ Transit say? NJ Transit, for its part, has posted a fact sheet about the strike, which lays out six claims and what the transit agency says are the “facts” about the claims. NJ Transit says that it offered BLET members a “competitive wage and benefits package that all 14 other rail labor unions accepted in 2021.” It also says that under its offer, NJ Transit locomotive engineers would have seen their average total earnings rise from $135,000 per year now to $172,856 as of July 1, 2027.  The transit agency says these wages are “competitive within the region” and higher than the wages Philadelphia’s SEPTA workers receive. It concedes that the wages are lower than those received by MTA (Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road) workers in New York, but it adds, “It isn’t reasonable to live and work in New Jersey, but demand to be paid like you live and work in New York.” How long could the strike last? That is impossible to tell at this point.  In theory, NJ Transit and BLET could agree to return to the negotiating table at any time—although that’s unlikely to happen today. However, on Thursday, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said that both sides are currently scheduled to start negotiating again on Sunday. But just because negotiations are scheduled—or even begin—doesn’t mean the strike will be called off anytime soon. Indeed, if BLET would call off the strike, it may lessen the pressure on NJ Transit to meet their demands. CNN notes that when Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) workers went on strike in the 1980s, the strike lasted for 108 days. A strike of Metro-North workers lasted 42 days, and a strike of Long Island Railroad workers lasted 11 days.  What should I do if I plan to use NJ Transit today? You should rethink your travel plans.  NJ Transit has posted a notice warning of the “complete suspension” of services on its rail lines. The agency says it “strongly encourages all those who can work from home to do so and limit traveling on the NJ TRANSIT system to essential purposes only.” However, if you do need to commute, the agency says that it is “adding very limited capacity” to existing New York commuter routes on its bus services. The agency also says that from May 19, its regional Park & Ride service “will operate on a first come, first served basis.” Commuters who need to use NJ transit during the strike are strongely encouraged to check out the agency’s rail strike information page here. What if I’m seeing the Shakira or Beyoncé concerts? From this weekend, there are also two large music events planned in the area that NJ Transit normally serves. The first is the Shakira concert at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which begins at 7:30 p.m. tonight, May 16. Then, Beyoncé is scheduled to perform at the same stadium for five nights between May 22 and May 29. MetLife Stadium has posted some travel options for concertgoers who are seeing the Shakira show tonight. The stadium points out that there will be no NJ Transit bus or rail service to the stadium tonight. It says that those coming to the concert from New York City may be able to use the Coach USA bus service, which it says will be “limited.” The venue also asks people who plan to arrive by car to please carpool and arrive early to help ease congestion. Will Congress step in? When it comes to transportation strikes, Congress does have the authority to act and compel workers to accept a deal and return to their jobs, notes CNN. The last time Congress did this was in December 2022 when it voted to force workers from the country’s four major freight railroads to accept a deal. However, CNN points out that Congress likely felt more compelled to step in at that time because the strike affected most of the country. The NJ Transit strike is a local affair, which means Congress may be more reluctant to interfere.