• Meta previously announced it will cut 10% of its staff next month.
• Meta's HR chief told staff in a meeting that she can't promise further layoffs won't happen.
• She added that the business is strong and acknowledged that morale has been affected at Meta.

Meta plans to lay off around 10% of its staff next month, and it told staff it's not ruling out deeper cuts.

That's what Janelle Gale, Meta's chief people officer, told employees in an internal meeting on Thursday, according to three sources on the call.

"Will there be more layoffs? The question always comes up. I'd love to say that there are no more layoffs, but I can't say something we can't deliver," Gale said during the meeting. "While the business is strong, priorities change, competition is fierce, and we will continue to manage our costs responsibly."

She said this means that Meta will "continue to evolve teams as needed" and "try to redeploy talent." She pointed to how Meta is investing in its Applied AI organization.

Gale added that some organizations would be more affected by layoffs than others, though she did not specify which.

Meta leaders also said during the meeting that AI token usage would not be considered as a factor for the layoffs.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also addressed the layoffs at the meeting, saying that AI automation is not the driving factor behind them. He said that AI has made small teams far more efficient.

During the call, Zuckerberg also addressed Meta's plan to monitor employees' keystrokes and mouse movements to improve its AI models. He said humans are not actually watching what the staff are doing and that this data is abstracted and used to improve AI.

Meta AI Chief Alexandr Wang also appeared at the meeting, sporting a camouflage-pattern T-shirt featuring multiple deer, according to a photo seen by Business Insider. During the Q&A, he praised Meta's latest AI prowess, notably the recent release of its Spark model.

Meta declined to comment for this article.

Reuters reported in March that Meta plans to cut about 20% of its total staff this year.

Given the looming layoffs, Gale said at the meeting that they hit morale at Meta, and the company tries to make tough situations like that "the best version possible." She added that Meta has tripled COBRA healthcare coverage to 18 months.

Meta CFO Susan Li previously said during its first quarter earnings call on Wednesday that she "doesn't really know" the ideal size of the company's head count, which runs at above 77,000. Meta announced that its infrastructure spend, largely for AI, is doubling this year, to a range of $125 billion to $145 billion.

Have a tip? Contact Charles Rollet via email at crollet@businessinsider.com or on Signal and WhatsApp at 628-282-2811. Contact Hugh Langley via email at hlangley@businessinsider.com or Signal at 628-228-1836. Use a personal email address and a non-work device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

The Cheesecake Factory has one of the largest menus in American dining, with over 250 items as varied as pasta, tacos, sushi, and of course, dozens of cheesecakes. And it makes nearly everything fresh daily. It's a big undertaking during a time when many restaurant chains are cutting dishes from their menus as ingredient prices soar. But the Cheesecake Factory makes it work. It cashes in more money per restaurant than most of its casual chain competitors like Chili's and Applebee's. We went behind the scenes to see how the Cheesecake Factory consistently executes such a massive menu and makes it profitable.

• A personal injury lawyer apologized for filing court documents with fabricated quotations.
• The lawyer told the judge that he had begun using software from a venture-backed startup called Eve.
• The episode highlights a growing risk for the startups selling artificial intelligence to lawyers.

Lawyers keep getting burned by artificial intelligence that invents cases and makes up quotes. Now, some attorneys are naming the software they used.

Last month, a Louisiana personal injury lawyer apologized after submitting briefs that cited a real court decision but quoted passages that didn't exist. The mistakes appeared in two filings in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge and were flagged by opposing counsel.

"I'm trying to understand how I made this mistake," Ross LeBlanc, a partner at Dudley DeBosier, wrote in a private letter to Judge William Jorden on March 27. Earlier this year, he said, he began using an artificial intelligence program called Eve to draft pleadings. At first, he checked the citations often. "They were always correct when I checked them," he wrote.

That consistency gave him confidence, and eventually, he stopped checking, he said.

"I never thought this could happen to me," LeBlanc wrote, adding that he could not be sure whether the mistake involved Eve's software or if he copied and pasted something too hastily.

Jay Madheswaranm, Eve's chief executive, told Business Insider on Thursday that after a close audit of the case with Dudley DeBosier, the company confirmed Eve "did not hallucinate any case citations in this matter," including any fabricated quotations.

Courts have slapped sanctions on attorneys for filing briefs with errors created by artificial intelligence — often called "hallucinations." Last week, Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the country's oldest and most elite law firms, apologized to a federal judge over a similar slip-up.

What's new here is the blame game. When an attorney names the tools involved, the companies behind the software are put in the spotlight and could face reputational repercussions.

Legal software companies like Harvey, Legora, and Eve have raised billions of dollars on the promise that they can make lawyers faster — and offer firms a level of reliability that general-purpose tools can't match. If their software starts to embarrass customers in court, that trust erodes.

Damien Charlotin, a French researcher who tracks hallucinations in court filings, estimates that fewer than 10% of cases identify the software used. Many lawyers, he suspects, keep that part private because they're relying on free chatbots like ChatGPT or other off-the-shelf tools that may not be authorized for client work.

Last year, a Latham & Watkins lawyer defending Anthropic in a copyright lawsuit made headlines after citing an article that does not exist. The lawyer said the mistake stemmed from using Anthropic's own chatbot, Claude, which fabricated an article title and authors.

Eve builds software for plaintiff-side lawyers using large language models, helping them draft documents, map out medical histories, and send and respond to discovery requests. The company was valued at $1 billion after it raised a $103 million funding round about a year ago. Madheswaranm said Eve now processes more than 200,000 documents and other results a month — up around 100-fold from a year ago.

LeBlanc told the judge that he had been wary of the technology generally because of the "horror stories" about hallucinated case law. He said he was persuaded after Eve pitched the tool to his firm and assured attorneys it had safeguards to reduce errors. He believed the risk was limited as long as he conducted his own legal research and directed the software to rely only on approved sources.

Then, opposing counsel in the personal injury case pointed out his mistakes.

LeBlanc's apology surfaced this month in a separate case involving a trip-and-fall at a Lowe's store. The opposing counsel found hallucinations in a brief filed by Dudley DeBosier and included LeBlanc's letter in a request urging the court to expand its inquiry into possible sanctions.

Dudley DeBosier has filed a motion to strike opposing counsel's request because it says the cases are unrelated. The firm also indicated that a lawyer used Claude to help draft the brief in the Lowe's case.

It's a view widely shared across software companies and law firms that artificial intelligence can assist in research and drafting, but responsibility for the final product remains with the human who signs the filing.

Madheswaran said Eve makes that explicit in its contracts and onboarding with new customers. The software also includes features designed to catch errors before they reach a courtroom, though they don't always work. Some errors are harder to spot than others, he said. Confirming a case exists is easier than verifying a quote is exact.

As the legal profession races to adopt artificial intelligence, mistakes are more likely to be caught. Courts are getting wiser to the technology, and opposing counsel are adjusting their tactics. Instead of only attacking legal arguments, lawyers are scanning filings for errors that could undermine the other side's credibility.

Chad Dudley, a founding partner of Dudley DeBosier, a firm with about 40 attorneys, said it trains its lawyers to carefully review generated results and requires them to agree to use the technology responsibly.

For his part, LeBlanc said he hopes other lawyers learn from his mistake. He told Business Insider on Thursday that Eve helped him move faster under time pressure, but after the errors surfaced, he felt "sick to my stomach" and couldn't sleep.

"I'm responsible for checking everything, no matter what technology comes along," he said.

He doesn't blame Eve for the blunder. Still, he's setting the tool down for now.

"I feel like, given what happened," he said, "it's fair to have a cooling off period, you know, touch grass."

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• Senators and their staff are now banned from trading on prediction markets.
• The change came via a unanimous addition to Senate rules on Thursday.
• The resolution also urged the House, executive branch, and judicial branch to do the same.

As of Thursday afternoon, senators and their staff can't trade on prediction markets like Kalshi or Polymarket.

The Senate passed a resolution amending Senate rules to forbid members and Senate employees from making prediction market trades via a "voice vote" — meaning no senator objected, and a formal roll call vote was not taken.

The resolution was introduced by Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio last week.

"Serving in Congress is an honor, not a side hustle," Moreno wrote on X after the resolution passed. "Americans deserve to know that their leaders are here for the right reason!"

The resolution also urged the House, the executive branch, and the judiciary to enact similar rules.

Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour applauded the move, noting that his platform already bans members of Congress from trading.

Polymarket also wrote on X that it's in "full support" of the resolution. Americans are currently forbidden from trading on the company's main international exchange, though many are known to use VPNs to do so anyway.

The resolution's passage comes amid broad public concerns about the risk of insider trading on prediction markets.

Lawmakers have introduced a variety of bills to regulate the industry, including some that also would've banned members of Congress from trading on the platforms.

Some lawmakers in both the House and Senate had also contemplated banning their own staff from prediction market trading without a broader change to Senate rules. Several governors have also signed executive orders banning state employees from trading on prediction markets as well.

Last week, the Department of Justice indicted a US Army soldier for using classified information about the raid to capture Venezuelan Leader Nicolás Maduro to make a lucrative trade on Polymarket.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this week in federal court, and a judge agreed to a $250,000 bail package that included travel restrictions.

• Silvio Pfeufer uses Saltz to save time on food procurement at his Michelin-starred restaurant, Matthias.
• Saltz uses agentic AI to modernize a typically complicated process between food buyers and sellers.
• For independent eateries, the streamlined process can reduce costs and increase access to high-quality ingredients.

When Silvio Pfeufer first got into cheffing, he was surprised by the amount of administrative work involved.

"It's not only the evening, sending nice plates to guests. There's a lot of stuff to do to make that happen," Pfeufer told Business Insider. He took long phone calls from food suppliers and producers that kept him away from the kitchen.

Sourcing and buying food is a process riddled with disorganization, since farmers, wholesalers, logistics providers, and restaurants communicate in different ways — by phone, email, text message, and PDF blast — starting as early as 4 a.m. The cost and availability of products are constantly in flux, so sellers issue frequent updates: The price of wild-caught fish could change three times a day, for example.

When Pfeufer opened his own restaurant in 2024, he wanted to streamline his food procurement process. At Matthias, which pays homage to his late grandfather, Pfeufer uses an AI-assisted platform for food business owners called Saltz to speed up food procurement and reduce phone calls.

The time savings are critical, said Pfeufer, a co-owner and head chef at the Berlin-based eatery. Using AI agents, Saltz connects restaurants directly to suppliers via a marketplace that brings together disparate catalogs, transactions, and logistics so restaurants can compare and buy fresh, high-quality, and specialty products more quickly than with traditional food procurement processes.

The platform's standardized, real-time food data can be a game-changer for independently owned and operated restaurants like Pfeufer's, given their limited purchasing power. Saltz said that thousands of buyers and hundreds of suppliers use its technology, though it didn't share exact numbers. It said around 80% to 90% of its buyers are independent restaurants.

Connecting with high-quality and specialty suppliers

Pfeufer said he chose Saltz because he liked how the platform modernized old processes. In the two years he's used it, it's allowed him to discover new suppliers, order outside business hours, and gain better oversight on pricing, he said.

Founded in 2022, the startup uses AI agents to ingest PDFs, emails, and text messages that food sellers send to Saltz, standardize and enrich all the data, and consolidate it into a single platform. Its AI agents automatically update each seller's listings on the platform, eliminating the need for manual updates.

Buyers, meanwhile, see once-disparate product options, information, and up-to-date prices in one place. They can also order food at a time that's convenient for them and track their deliveries. "On a Sunday, at night, or in the morning, I can do it by myself, and don't have to have all these calls," Pfeufer said.

At Matthias, which was awarded its first Michelin star in 2025 after 10 months of service, meals must meet a high standard every day, and products have to be of the freshest quality. Pfeufer orders vegetables, milk, and other items from Saltz every week, plus fresh fish twice a week. Before using Saltz, the quality of his products wasn't necessarily worse, he said, but access to new or specialist suppliers was more limited and supply chains were longer.

"The fish is now often sourced directly from the trader or farmer, without the need for intermediate storage. This allows us to avoid additional storage times that could negatively affect freshness," Pfeufer said, adding that more oversight into the supply chain — and it being shorter — means his food is more consistently high quality.

"We've definitely been able to connect with better suppliers," he told Business Insider. The chef added that he still works directly with certain local farmers, as he is often on the hunt for rare items that aren't on the platform.

For Pfeufer, using Saltz also allows him to see more costs upfront, so he can better plan how much to charge for new dishes. "It makes all the calculations much easier, which is very important for us," he said.

Agentic AI acts as a foundational tool

Saltz was founded by brothers Andrius and Thomas Šlimas, who previously built the Shopify-acquired dropshipping platform Oberlo. After spending four years inside Shopify's supply chain machine, the brothers teamed up with industry veteran Reinis Štrodahs. Their goal: modernize the $9.8 trillion food procurement industry.

"It's impossible to make sense or structure that chaos of information which lives in different places and has no common structure," Andrius said.

The Šlimas brothers said that previous unsuccessful attempts to modernize food procurement took two approaches: either trying to force suppliers and buyers onto a single platform, which required them to change how they work, or taking on the time-consuming task of manually inputting every PDF, email, and text message.

With Saltz, AI agents upload and update product listings for sellers, so individual stakeholder workflows don't have to change. Making agentic AI foundational to the process, Tomas said, gives their platform an edge.

"That gives us a speed advantage, and in this market, speed compounds into market share."

• Two internet relics are rising from the dead this week: Friendster and Vine.
• DiVine, backed by Jack Dorsey, launched a decentralized version of the short-form video app, Vine.
• Friendster, an early social network, is back with a new founder and a different experience.

It's time to welcome back two social networks we once loved: Friendster and Vine.

After shutting down in the 2010s, the two social media platforms are rising from the dead this week.

Both of the apps, however, are Frankenstein versions of their predecessors. Neither is being resurrected by its original founders, and the app design and experiences differ from the original platforms.

Nostalgia for a simpler internet, especially for those who remember the early days with rose-colored glasses, is partially fueling this resurgence.

Evan Henshaw-Plath — who goes by Rabble — is the early Twitter employee behind the Vine reboot, DiVine.

He said that "people look back" at the era of social media before everything got so darn big. People not only miss the features and feel of these old apps, but also that time period.

"It's very telling that in the beginning of the year, people were looking back to 2016," he said, referring to a social media trend of people romanticizing that year.

Vine officially shut down in 2017 after being acquired by Twitter in 2012, paving the way for the rise of TikTok and other short-form feeds.

Its remake, DiVine, revived hundreds of thousands of old Vine videos from digital archives. Users can post new Vine-style six-second videos. The content must be filmed directly within the app, and DiVine has a firm anti-AI-slop stance. The project is also decentralized and built on Nostr, an open-source protocol not owned by a single company.

DiVine is funded by And Other Stuff, a nonprofit that received a $10 million grant from Jack Dorsey.

Meanwhile, Friendster, a social network that predated Myspace and Facebook, was rebuilt by startup founder Mike Carson as a no-frills mobile social app for your real-life friends. For example, users can only add new friends by tapping their iPhones in person. (So far, I have a grand total of one friend: Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos, who told me she was an OG Friendster fan.)

Carson told Business Insider that he paid about $30,000 for the Friendster domain and trademark.

After being overtaken by the rise of Myspace and then later Facebook, Friendster rebranded as a gaming company in 2011. By 2015, it shut down its website.

The new app — which doesn't resemble the former version much other than its shared name — quickly jumped to No. 12 in Apple's App Store social networking category on Thursday.

Unlike DiVine, the new Friendster doesn't have access to any of the prior version's data or content.

What's old is new again on the internet

I'm not old enough to be on the original Friendster, but I remember the Vine days well. I'm also not alone in feeling nostalgic for the earlier days of the internet (or particularly, the 2010s).

Carson wrote in a Medium post this week that while today's social networks "foster a lot of negativity," he remembers the original days of Friendster as "a positive and enjoyable experience."

DiVine and Friendster aren't the only internet relics that have been resurrected recently.

Last year, Digg, once a rival to Reddit, was revived by its original cofounder, Kevin Rose, and Alexis Ohanian (a cofounder of Reddit). In March, however, the company said it was downsizing its team and rethinking its strategy.

Building any new social platform is an uphill battle, even if you have a recognizable name from a previous era.

People are loyal to the platforms they've already dug their heels into, and getting them to migrate can be challenging, Digg's CEO Justin Mezzell wrote in a letter shared to the platform's website.

Friendster and DiVine could face similar challenges.

What's abundantly clear is that there's an appetite among founders to build alternative social platforms — especially those that strike a nostalgic chord. Newer startups, like Perfectly Imperfect or Cosmos, are leveraging nostalgia to build platforms that feel reminiscent of Tumblr.

The big question: Can they actually build a community?

Tech founders can build new spaces, or reimagine old ones, but getting users to stay, return, and create a culture is what gives an app life (or breathes life back into one).

"It is not the software, it is not the founder, it is not the team," Henshaw-Plath said. "It is the community of users that makes these things work."

• Senators advanced a bill that would give prosecutors more time to bring pandemic fraud cases.
• They cited Business Insider's reporting on potential misuse of Shuttered Venue Operators Grant funds.
• The Small Business Administration says 69% of the $14.6 billion SVOG program may have been misspent.

Lawmakers just came closer to giving US prosecutors more time to pursue billions of dollars in suspected pandemic-aid fraud tied to restaurants and live entertainment — and cited Business Insider's investigation into how those funds were used by celebrities.

Senators passed a long-delayed bill on Wednesday night that would extend the statute of limitations for fraud tied to two relief programs: the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the $14.6 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.

The bill would put the programs on the same legal footing as bigger, better-known pandemic aid packages that lost as much as $200 billion to fraud, like the Paycheck Protection Program. If it becomes law, prosecutors will have 10 years to bring charges of defrauding the programs, instead of the usual five.

Earlier this week, the Government Accountability Office reported that as much as $10 billion from SVOG funds may have been improperly paid out, which is more than 200 times larger than a fraud estimate the Small Business Administration published three years ago.

Business Insider previously reported that hundreds of millions of dollars were paid out to successful artists like Lil Wayne, Post Malone, metal legends Alice in Chains, and DJs including Steve Aoki and Marshmello. They used the money on private jets, luxury clothes, and payments to themselves, according to the investigation.

Sen. Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican who has been the bill's main advocate, invoked that reporting in remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

"For fraudsters, time flies when you're having fun," she said. "Look no further than rapper Chris Brown, who exploited the SVOG program to pay for his lavish $80,000 birthday party and paid himself $5 million in the process."

Lawyers and representatives for Brown didn't respond to requests for comment. Previously, in response to Business Insider's late 2024 investigation, an attorney for the accounting and wealth management firm that helped Brown's company get a federal grant, NKSFB, called Business Insider's questions "uninformed" and didn't answer them.

COVID fraud cases get more time

The bill passed with an amendment that would require enforcement to be "carried out in a nonpartisan manner," said Sen. Ed Markey, the top Democrat on the small-business committee that Ernst chairs.

The SBA has said that 70% of the restaurant support funds paid out by the RRF program were proper, but that it's "unknown" whether the remaining $8.7 billion was legally paid to eligible recipients. The agency's inspector general previously said more than $6 billion was paid out without doing enough to verify that recipients qualified for the money.

The agency has previously defended cutting checks under the shuttered venues program to "loan-out companies" used by big-name artists to ink performance deals.

Recipients included Broadway shows, arts companies, and cultural institutions that asked Congress for help paying bills they'd run up during the year-plus when public gatherings were limited because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The law also allowed payments to lesser-known groups, like talent agents.

There was no requirement that recipients be on the brink of bankruptcy. One Texas concert promoter received a $10 million grant in July 2021. About four months later, he bought a home for $2.1 million in cash.

The law creating SVOG allowed grant recipients to use the money for a broad range of purposes, including expenses deemed "ordinary and necessary" as well as compensation to the owners of for-profit businesses that received the money.

The new estimate of $10 billion in payment errors amounts to about two-thirds of the program's entire budget. SBA officials said that $4.5 billion of that was overpayments to businesses that "did not align with the established statutory guidelines" for payment. They also found errors with the monitoring of recipients' spending.

In 2023, the Biden administration said that one-third of 1% of the entertainment grants were "likely fraudulent." Government watchdogs say only some "improper payments" amount to fraud, so the new number isn't an apples-to-apples comparison with the 2023 figure.

More than 2,000 people have been sentenced for defrauding pandemic aid programs. The SBA inspector general has said many more cases are pending.

Joni Ernst invoked Business Insider reporting about singer Chris Brown's use of a $10 million federal grant to urge passage of a bill that would give fraud investigators more time.

• Pinterest's VP of product management said mixing open-source and closed-source AI models helped cut costs.
• The social platform's recent AI-enabled features combine OpenAI, Alibaba, and its own AI models.
• To support this approach, Pinterest invested in cloud infrastructure and an updated hiring strategy.

In its pursuit of creating AI-supported tools for its users and advertisers, Pinterest leaders said it is actually shrinking part of its AI budget.

As companies continue to spend on AI, they face pressure from investors to show returns on investment from this fast-evolving technology. One way to do that: Stretch investments by shrinking the budget needed for the systems that power AI features.

Pinterest, the visual-first social media platform where users can save images to curate their ideas, is taking what it calls a "model-agnostic" approach to generative AI, said Vicky Gkiza, the company's vice president of product management. The strategy started in 2023 and involves combining Pinterest's proprietary AI models, developed by the company's software engineers, its closed-source models from Anthropic and OpenAI, and open-source models from Alibaba, said Gkiza.

While closed-source AI models can quickly process large amounts of data, require little maintenance, and integrate instantly into a company's existing systems due to their pre-built nature, they're typically more expensive. Open-source models, meanwhile, are typically free to download, use publicly available data, and can be modified more deeply than closed-source offerings. However, they also require the expertise of software engineers who can build, maintain, and debug these highly customizable models.

Lan Guan, the chief AI and data officer at Accenture, said companies are increasingly seeing value in a multimodal AI approach that balances performance and the cost of tokens, or the units of text AI models process. "This token cost is going to slow you down if you don't start managing them proactively," Guan told Business Insider. "Open-source will be a really good option."

Gkiza walked Business Insider through how Pinterest bolstered its blended approach to generative AI through beta testing, an updated hiring strategy focused on software development expertise, and infrastructure investments.

The tech

Pinterest uses OpenAI's closed-source large language models to support some of its product features and relies on Anthropic's Claude, another closed-source AI, for internal use cases like coding, a company spokesperson told Business Insider. Alibaba's Qwen, an open-source LLM, is used for visual and content understanding, data labeling, and assistant tasks.

With this approach, the company rolled out several new AI features in 2025, each blending open-source and closed-source generative AI, said Gkiza.

Auto-collages, a feature where advertisers can convert their product catalogs into pins that populate on shopping feeds for categories like skincare, home decor, and fashion. Pinterest began testing auto-collages at the beginning of 2024, when software engineers fine-tuned a mix of internally developed, open-source, and third-party AI models. By June 2025, auto-collages was ready for a pilot, which included a small group of retailer-advertisers like Macy's.

Then, Pinterest's voice-enabled AI feature, which uses both open-source and third-party AI to generate responses to users' queries, underwent beta testing in October 2025. Early results showed that users tended to pose more shopping-specific questions when they could ask aloud rather than typing their searches, said a Pinterest spokesperson.

"Search has been evolving so fast. It was imperative for us to use AI to improve," Gkiza told Business Insider.

The talent

To advance its new AI-enabled features and execute its blended-model approach, Pinterest also hired employees with AI and machine learning expertise to steward the customization of its large language models, said Gkiza. Former Google engineer Matthias Zenger joined the company as its vice president of engineering in April 2025. Three months later, in August, Pinterest announced it had hired software engineer Mirjam Wattenhofer to focus on e-commerce and user experiences, and that it would open an Engineering Excellence Hub in Zurich.

Both Zenger and Wattenhofer work at the Zurich office, where a team focuses on improving user experiences with AI and machine-learning technologies. In February, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready said the company would hire additional research and development workers to support the company's AI efforts.

"We are investing more in hiring the right talent — evolving the team, whether it is engineering or product management — to be much more familiar with AI," Gkiza said.

The outcome

Gkiza said the company's blended approach to AI-driven experiences costs an estimated 90% less than when Pinterest relied solely on its proprietary models, a milestone the company touted during its February 2026 fourth-quarter earnings presentation.

With its growing use of open-source AI models, the company plans to invest more in cloud-computing infrastructure, like graphics processing units, which are needed to power the cost-saving technology, Gkiza said.

Pinterest said it will continue to experiment with various AI models, prioritizing its own models for personalization, open-source models for cost-effectiveness and multimodal machine learning, and closed-source models when they still offer the best performance.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sends a lot of messages.
• Altman said that he messages "a few hundred" OpenAI employees a day.
• Overall, he said that he's "definitely not a hands-on manager."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has a very direct way to get his message across.

In a conversation with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, Altman said that he messages "a few hundred" OpenAI employees a day between texts, Slack, and other media.

"Very quick, like one, two messages, whatever, not done by an agent," Altman said during an appearance at Stripe Sessions. "I actually do it. And the context I get from that sometimes is very helpful in these diffuse ways."

Asked about Altman's habits, ChatGPT said, "That's a lot—but not implausible for someone in his position." Rough napkin math suggests that Altman is sending somewhere around 39,000 messages a year, and that's limited to a five-day workweek. (Forbes reported earlier this year that Altman likes to spend his time at the Napa Valley ranch, which is out of cell service range.)

Altman has said repeatedly that he loathes Slack. He told Collison that it's hard to imagine a world without such instant messaging.

"Like many other people, I hate Slack, but I can't imagine having to still communicate via email or whatever we used to do," he said.

As for his overall management style, Altman said that he's "definitely not a hands-on manager."

"I'm very much of this style that you get great people, kind of give them a very high-level thing to point at and try to let stuff just happen," he said.

Altman said OpenAI is about to enter its third era, after going from a research lab chasing AGI to also developing consumer products.

"Now we have to, in addition to both of those two things, figure out how to build this like mega, mega scale token factory for the world," he said.

This new, massive undertaking will require a different skill set.

"The thing that I didn't really appreciate between the phase one, phase two shift was how much my management style had to change," he said. "Running a research lab and running a product company are two extremely different things. And I suspect this third phase is going to be very different yet again."

Altman said he'll ultimately have to change or surround himself with more people — perhaps, AI could bridge the gap.

"I think it's not going to be like a natural fit for my management style," he said. "So I either have to find someone or a few people great to hire, or I have to figure out how to do things in a different way, or I have to build an AI that can manage this new thing."

• At 50, I retired from my job as a pharmacist in the US and moved to Ajijic, Mexico.
• To make this work, I did a lot of strategic planning and adjusting before and after the move.
• It has already paid off: I'm doing well, and I've planned for a sustainable early retirement abroad.

After turning 50, I retired from my job as a pharmacist and moved from San Francisco to Ajijic, Mexico.

On paper, I had done everything right: I did a ton of research, picked a beautiful lakeside town, and ran the numbers. I was confident I could make this new life work.

However, building a sustainable, enjoyable early retirement abroad takes more than just moving to a place with a lower cost of living.

After three years here, I believe I've finally done it.

First, I had to figure out what 'sustainable' actually means in practice

For me, a sustainable early retirement abroad means feeling at ease and living comfortably while staying prepared for the unexpected.

Since I chose to retire at 50, I wanted to make sure I could support myself for at least another 17 years, which is when I'll be eligible to receive full Social Security benefits.

When building a sustainable financial system, I kept in mind my desired lifestyle, second-career goals, fixed-income investments, and long-term legacy.

For example, I wanted to be able to visit my family back in San Francisco regularly and finally pursue writing as a career — something I'd wanted since grade school — without an immediate need for income.

So, I prioritized growing my high-yield savings accounts and investing in CDs, short-term bond funds, and money market funds to cover living expenses.

I also hired a financial advisor to diversify the rest of my portfolio for growth and stability, so I could focus on creative work rather than market swings after I moved.

I knew I needed to create a budget to help keep my yearly spending steady, so I began tracking how much I would need for essentials while still having extra money for travel, enrichment, and emergencies.

The first year of my move consisted of a lot of preparing, testing, and exploring

After the initial culture shock, I spent my first year in Ajijic learning my way around the town, getting accustomed to Mexican culture, and gradually falling into step with the local rhythm.

I explored different ways to manage cash flow between my US and Mexican bank accounts and learned I liked using the service Wise for low-fee currency conversions.

Through online searches and conversations with locals and expats, I curated a "money‑smart" list of the best-priced grocery stores, reliable handymen, and trusted doctors, so future surprise expenses could be less likely to blow up my budget.

I tracked all my spending in a spreadsheet, breaking it down by category so I knew exactly where my money was going. This helped me plan for the next year.

After a few months of renting, I also bought a house that's become both a comfortable home and a long‑term investment. Owning a home helped anchor me in the community and turn my housing expenses into an asset.

In my second and third years abroad, I did more strategic planning and refining

In year two, I worked closely with my financial advisor to better reshape my portfolio around my early retirement needs and set up an accessible emergency fund.

I got in the habit of using Wise to track the dollar-to-peso exchange rate and batch-converting money whenever it was favorable.

Plus, I took a closer look at my healthcare plans. Because of my good health, I chose to pay out of pocket for doctor's visits rather than buy health insurance in Mexico. This lowered my expenses and also made it easy to put off routine checkups.

Even though I felt fine, I knew I needed to stay on top of preventive care to protect my long-term health, so I also scheduled an annual lab panel, vision exam, and routine teeth cleaning. They all cost me less than what I'd spend on similar services in the US. I made plans to repeat this annually so small problems wouldn't snowball.

In year three, I set up many unsexy but critical documents, including wills, beneficiary designations, and a cross-border estate plan.

I also created an emergency plan in case of a health crisis, which included which hospital I'd like to use, how I would pay, and who to call if something went wrong.

And, after two years of collecting my Ajijic spending data, I finally had the experience and confidence to lock in my budget and begin living by it.

All in all, I've found that sustainability is a gateway to opportunities

I feel I've made the right choice by retiring early in Mexico and giving myself the chance to lead a new life on my own terms.

In three years, though, all my planning, saving, investing, and strategizing have begun to pay off: I've had more mental space for writing and other creative work that energizes me.

My writing career is already taking shape. I recently won ThrillerFest's 2026 Undiscovered New Voices scholarship and will soon pitch my latest psychological thriller to industry professionals.

Sure, this is a simplified overview — building a retirement abroad also involves navigating visas and so many other logistics.

It takes time to build a system that can hold up for decades, but I already feel confident I can maintain my current lifestyle for many years to come.

• Google and Amazon have ambitions to sell AI chips to customers.
• That could make things awkward with Nvidia, which the two tech giants also rely on.
• Taking on Nvidia won't be easy, but one analyst said the process is now "irreversible."

Two of Nvidia's biggest customers might be turning into its biggest threat.

For three years, Nvidia's stock has defied gravity on the premise that the AI industry needs its chips. On Wednesday, when Google and Amazon reported their Q1 earnings, both signaled ambitions to sell their own custom AI chips directly to customers.

So far, Google's TPUs and Amazon's Trainium chips have only been available through Google and Amazon's cloud services. Customers can pay to use them, but they don't own them.

Nvidia is the undisputed leader in AI chips right now. While that shows no sign of stopping anytime soon, recent remarks from Google and Amazon suggest they are ready to challenge Nvidia's throne.

Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, laid down the gauntlet to Nvidia in his annual letter to shareholders earlier this month.

"Virtually all AI thus far has been done on Nvidia chips, but a new shift has started," Jassy wrote, adding that it's "quite possible" that Amazon could start selling its chips directly to customers.

He put a timeline on this plan on the company's Wednesday earnings call, saying "there's a good chance" Amazon will start offering full racks of Trainium chips beyond its own cloud "over the next couple of years."

Google gave an even stronger commitment — and a nearer timeline.

On Wednesday, Google CEO Sundar Pichai publicly said for the first time that the company plans to deliver TPU chips to a "select group of customers" in their own data centers this year, but said the "vast majority" of revenues from those sales won't be realized until 2027.

Pichai said there was a big opportunity for Google's semiconductor business, which would also help fund the next generation of chips. That flywheel could create a mammoth business for Google. Morgan Stanley said in a December research note that selling 500,000 TPU chips could add roughly $13 billion in revenue to Google's balance sheet in 2027.

The company said in its 10-Q filing that it had so far signed a "limited number of agreements" to supply TPUs to customers.

It's also where things could get awkward. Google and Amazon are also big customers of Nvidia. They purchase Nvidia's chips to lease to their customers in their own data centers. Amazon and Google have both said that they will continue to work with Nvidia.

Nvidia shares were down more thean 4% on Thursday. The company didn't immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.

'Concerned but not worried'

Breaking into Nvidia's chip dominance will not be easy, analysts told Business Insider.

"Nvidia should be concerned but not worried," said Alvin Nguyen, a senior analyst at Forrester. Nvidia has built a strong ecosystem of hardware, software, and support that has made it easy for customers to choose them, he said.

"Selling products is very different than access to them," he said, adding that Amazon and Google would need to provide services like education and support to enterprises looking to buy their chips.

Google and Amazon's chip racks are also "very bespoke and proprietary" and customized for their own respective data centers, said Patrick Moorhead, CEO and chief analyst of Moor Insights & Strategy. That poses a challenge for reaching mass adoption, he said.

Plus, the chip market isn't a zero-sum game. AI companies are increasingly diversifying and using chips from multiple suppliers simultaneously. OpenAI, for example, has chip deals with Nvidia, AMD, and Broadcom, among others.

However, custom silicon is becoming an "increasingly important part of the AI story" for Google and Amazon, Bernstein analyst Mark Shmulik wrote in a note on Thursday. Both companies are pitching their chips as being more cost-effective than Nvidia's.

That opportunity is also opening up as the needs of the AI industry shifts. Earlier this month, Google announced a new TPU chip specifically for inference — the process of running the models once they're trained — which is becoming more critical as more companies bring AI agents online.

Beatriz Valle, a senior analyst for enterprise technology & services at GlobalData, called the decision by Google and Amazon an "extraordinary move" that will diversify the chip sector — and reduce cloud providers' dependence on Nvidia chips.

"This process will take years but it is irreversible now," she said.

Inside Meta, employees are facing 28 days of uncertainty before layoffs hit.

• I love taking a quick Amtrak ride to Oceanside, California, a low-key beach city.
• It costs around $30 to get there from Los Angeles, and I've found affordable places to stay, too.
• The gorgeous beaches are relatively quiet, and there are great restaurants within walking distance.

There's nothing I love more than skipping town for a beachy weekend getaway.

As much as I like living in Los Angeles, sometimes I need a break from the city's traffic, crowds, and hustle culture. One of my favorite places to explore is Oceanside, a coastal military city in San Diego County.

I first discovered this spot in 2022, after looking up Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner route. On my first trip there, I fell in love with Oceanside's surfer vibes, vibrant food and culture, and surprising affordability.

Even getting there is easy — you can take a two-hour train for around $30 from LA, or an hourlong, $18 ride from San Diego.

Since my initial trip, I've been to O'side three times on the train, and I'm always discovering new things to love. Here's what makes a train ride down to Oceanside the perfect weekend reset.

Taking the train helps me immediately ease into vacation mode

For me, the trip really begins the moment I board the train. Without the stress of driving, I can relax with some of my favorite hobbies like reading, watching Netflix, or writing in my journal.

Although it takes almost an hour longer to get there by train than by car, the free time makes it worth it.

When my husband comes along, we like to talk and have a glass of wine or a snack from the onboard café. It's nice to just enjoy each other's company and watch the sparkling ocean views rush by.

Spending time by the water is always at the top of my list

When I arrive, I usually head straight to the beach. Depending on my mood, I'll either lie in the sand or walk the boardwalk (called The Strand) with a cold drink in hand.

Without fail, there are always surfers out on the water making good use of the prime wave real estate. On one of my last visits, I even stumbled across a surf competition right by the pier. I loved watching the surfers expertly maneuver through the ocean.

Although I'm not a surfer myself, watching them does inspire me to get out on the water, too. I usually head over to Harbor Village to rent a kayak — it's such a thrill to paddle out and watch sea lions sunning themselves underneath the iconic Oceanside sign.

The walkable food and drink scene keeps me coming back

I'm a big foodie, so trying local restaurants is always on my agenda when traveling. For a laid-back beach town, the food and drink scene in Oceanside is impressive, with everything from casual cafés and gastropubs to Michelin-starred fine dining.

I can fill up on banana lattes and avocado toast at Banana Dang in the morning, grab some fresh ceviche overlooking the harbor at Lighthouse Oyster Bar & Grill, and relax in the evening with drinks and apps at the Cococabana rooftop bar.

Best of all, most of my favorite places are all within walking distance of each other, making it convenient to get around without a car.

Art and culture are easy to find here

Although I could easily spend all my time at the beach, O'side also has an arts scene that I've really come to enjoy.

Murals are everywhere, especially along Artist Alley, a strip of funky shops that regularly hosts artisan markets. I've also come across tai chi classes on the beach, street fairs like the weekly Sunset Market, and an art walk and drum circle in front of the public library.

For a more traditional art experience, I also love checking out the Oceanside Museum of Art to view their rotating exhibits or attend an event.

Later in the day, I love catching some live music at The Jazzy Wishbone or Sound by the Sea, a local listening bar.

It's an easy, affordable beachside escape from LA or San Diego

There are a lot of beach towns in SoCal, but staying right by the water is usually pretty expensive. Oceanside, however, is surprisingly affordable, making it easy to plan a weekend close to the beach.

Every time I've gone, I've found overnight accommodations — even two-bedroom rentals — for under $200 a night.

Between how easy it is to arrive by train, navigate the area, and stick to a budget while seeing and eating everything Oceanside has to offer, this is the rare kind of beach escape that actually feels relaxing from start to finish.

• My 12-year-old is pushing for more independence, and I'm learning to adjust.
• We've set clear rules and boundaries to balance freedom with safety.
• I'm letting go gradually, even when it feels uncomfortable.

Over the last couple of years, my 12-year-old has started pushing for greater independence. In the past couple of months, he's pushed harder than ever.

I expected it. He's entering adolescence, and, developmentally, it's normal for him to want to explore without his mom always around.

Even though it was expected, it still came as a shock to my system. How have I got a child who is old enough to do anything without me?

With his push for independence, have come a myriad of sit-down conversations about what he wants, what we are comfortable with, and what we deem safe and age-appropriate.

It's early days, but together with my husband, who very helpfully has always worked with young people, we've developed a plan that works for right now — a mix of guidelines, rules, and boundaries.

Walking home from school

For the last two years, our son has walked home from school. This was his first taste of independence. Before this started, I walked the route behind him, watching how he moved on the sidewalks and studying to make sure he safely crossed a couple of busy streets.

He did this for two years without a phone. I knew if he wasn't home by 3:55 p.m., then I'd go out looking for him.

This 10-minute walk was the springboard to further independence. If we could trust that he was road-safe and responsible, we could give him more independence later on.

Walking to the convenience store

Having built our trust by walking home from school, we then allowed him to walk to the convenience store down the road to either buy us things like milk and bread or to use his own money to get himself a treat.

This gave him yet another taste of freedom. When friends came over, we'd ask their parents for permission to walk to the shop. This gave them something to do together and got them off screens.

Wandering around the park

There is a lovely park a 10 minutes' walk down the road from our house. He used to walk through this park on his way home from school, so I knew he felt comfortable in it and knew his way around.

He often asks if he and his friends can go cycling, walking, or scootering around the park, and we've said a resounding yes.

In a world where technology dominates, I love that he wants to explore outside with his friends.

There are risks, as with any location, but I am willing to let him take them. We mitigate these risks by ensuring he has his phone and by downloading an app that lets us track his location in case of an emergency.

If he does get injured, he knows how to call me and how to ring emergency services.

There are things we can't do and places he can't go

While we have allowed him more freedom recently, I limit what he can do based on what I know about a particular area and the risks it presents.

At times, I can sense he feels resentment when his friends are allowed to do things he isn't. We remind him that all families are different.

Instead of just saying a blanket "no," we once again reconvene and explain why we, as his parents, have made this decision.

There are plenty of freedoms he'll be allowed in the coming years, but these will come with his maturity and our increased trust in his ability to make wise, safe decisions.

I feel like we're walking into a minefield that every other parent of a teenager who has gone before us has already walked in. And yet it feels like we are the first ones. We're just doing the best we know how, one conversation at a time.

• The US has diverse architecture across its 50 states.
• History, art, and local aesthetics are all reflected in some of America's coolest buildings.
• From prehistoric dwellings to kitschy designs, these buildings make for unique attractions.

Throughout its nearly 250-year history, the United States has produced some striking and unique architecture.

From preserving local history to showcasing each region's unique cultural quirks, these 51 buildings across the US are worthy destinations for your next travel list.

Defining what we consider to be the "coolest" is hard. We evaluated every state on its own terms and found that the architecture across all 50 states and Washington, DC, can be as diverse as the country's population.

In states like California and Massachusetts, it meant picking buildings that look futuristic and elegant, like something out of a science-fiction movie.

In other states, like Maine and the Carolinas, we found that the coolest buildings are distinctive because of their place in history or the state's culture.

Whether you're looking for a piece of history or a glimpse into the future, these buildings can show you what different worlds look like.

James Grebey and Jacob Shamsian contributed to an earlier version of this story.

ALABAMA: Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio Passenger Terminal

The Gulf, Mobile, and Ohio Passenger Terminal in Mobile, Alabama, which has Spanish influences with its cream walls and red clay tiles, was designed by P. Thornton Marye. It was completed in 1907 and has undergone restoration since passenger train service ceased in the 1950s.

ALASKA: The University of Alaska's Museum of the North

The University of Alaska Museum of the North is home to numerous exhibits showcasing the native cultures, natural wonders, and wildlife of our nation's largest state. It's also a stylish refuge from the cold.

ARIZONA: Chapel of the Holy Cross

The Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona was completed in 1956, and it juts majestically from a red stone butte, some 200 feet above the ground.

ARKANSAS: Thorncrown Chapel

The beautiful Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs looks like an open-air structure, but it's actually a serene, glass-enclosed architectural marvel.

CALIFORNIA: The Chemosphere

It was designed in 1960, but the Chemosphere still looks futuristic. It's a house with 2,200 square feet of space, perched atop a 30-foot concrete pole. And it's survived every major Californian earthquake in the San Fernando Valley since it was built.

COLORADO: Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, features some of the best-preserved prehistoric landscapes of the Ancestral Puebloan people. These ancient dwellings, where the Ancestral Puebloans once lived, were constructed on the sides of natural cliffs.

While most dwellings had only one to five rooms, the Cliff Palace, the largest known cliff dwelling in North America, had 150 rooms, 23 sacred meeting spaces, and housed about 100 people, according to the National Park Service.

CONNECTICUT: Grace Farms

The main feature of Grace Farms in New Canaan is a serpentine wooden pavilion that links glass-walled rooms, including a library, stage, tea room, and a gym with a full basketball court. Completed in 2015, it's open to the public for free.

DELAWARE: Wilmington's Grand Opera House

The country's oldest state has some classic buildings that stand the test of time. Wilmington's Grand Opera House, built in 1871, is as classic as it gets.

FLORIDA: The Salvador Dalí Museum

The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg is a fittingly unique tribute to the beloved master of surrealism. The museum boasts the largest collection of Dalí's work outside Europe.

GEORGIA: The Earth Lodge on Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park

This might not look much like other buildings in this list, but the Ocmulgee Mounds National Park's Earth Lodge dates back to the year 1015, per the National Park Service.

The lodge is a reconstructed council chamber of the native Mississippian culture. While the walls and ceiling were reconstructed in the late 1930s, the clay floor remains the same as the original, dating back over a thousand years.

HAWAII: ʻIolani Palace

ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu is the only royal palace on United States soil. David Kalākaua, the last reigning king of Hawaii and the first monarch to travel around the world, was inspired by the European palaces he saw during his 1881 voyage.

IDAHO: The Dog Bark Park Inn

The Dog Bark Park Inn in Cottonwood is a delightful piece of American kitsch. The bed and breakfast is shaped like two charming beagles.

ILLINOIS: Bahá'í House of Worship

Although there are between 5 and 6 million adherents to the Bahá'í Faith, there are only eight continental houses of worship worldwide. The one in Wilmette, Illinois, is the oldest still standing, and the only one in the United States.

INDIANA: West Baden Springs Hotel

When the West Baden Springs Hotel opened in 1902, it was billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World. While enjoying the view from inside the massive domed atrium — at one point the largest in the world — it's easy to see why.

IOWA: Grotto of the Redemption

Father Paul Dobberstein promised to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary as she helped cure his grave case of pneumonia. His resulting Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend is made of rocks, shells, fossils, and gems pressed into concrete. It's the size of a football field.

KANSAS: Big Well in Greensburg

The Big Well in Greensburg is a museum that rests atop its titular main attraction: the largest hand-dug well in the world, spanning 32 feet in diameter and reaching a depth of 109 feet.

KENTUCKY: Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs, most famously the host of the Kentucky Derby, can hold 120,000 excited, sometimes rowdy, racing fans at max capacity.

LOUISIANA: The Pontalba Buildings

The Pontalba Buildings, which make up two sides of New Orleans' Jackson Square, are emblematic of the French Quarter. Some of the residences on the upper floors are believed to be the oldest continuously rented apartments in the country.

MAINE: The Portland Head Light

The Portland Head Light — one of the state's many lighthouses — has been around since 1791. It was built under the directive of George Washington himself.

MARYLAND: The American Visionary Art Museum

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore showcases outsider art. All the works within its wonky exterior were made by inspired, self-taught creators.

MASSACHUSETTS: Simmons Hall at MIT

Simmons Hall at MIT is the coolest dorm building in the US. It looks like a monstrous Tetris piece combined with underground caverns.

MICHIGAN: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

The museum, one of the oldest and largest dedicated to African American history, is a three-story building designed with influences of African and local Detroit architecture. The building features a stunning 55-foot-tall glass dome ceiling.

MINNESOTA: The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory

The Marjorie McNeely Conservatory at Saint Paul's Como Park was opened to the public in 1915 and features Japanese, Bonsai, and butterfly gardens, among others.

MISSISSIPPI: Gehry's Pods at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art

Designed by Frank Gehry — whose striking work also includes the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain — the curved metal pods, which house pottery at Biloxi's Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, are meant to look as if they were "dancing with the trees," per the museum's website.

MISSOURI: The Community Bookshelf

The parking garage at the Kansas City Library is called the Community Bookshelf. It displays the giant spines of 22 classic books that were suggested by Kansas City readers.

MONTANA: Montana State Capitol building

Construction started on the Montana State Capitol in 1896. The inside of the rotunda salutes four types of people central to the state's early history: a native American, an explorer, a gold miner, and a cowboy.

NEBRASKA: Nebraska State Capitol Building

The Nebraska Capitol in Lincoln is one of the greatest state capitol buildings in the US. Built between 1922 and 1932, the building features artworks representing the development of law and the state of Nebraska.

NEVADA: Ward Charcoal Ovens

The distinctive beehive-shaped Ward Charcoal Ovens in Ely were built for silver mining back in the 1870s, and they still look like nothing else on the landscape.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Mount Washington Hotel

Built in 1902, the Mount Washington Hotel — today operating as the Omni Mount Washington Resort — is one of the last remaining grand hotels in the state, and is rumored to be haunted.

NEW JERSEY: Nassau Hall at Princeton University

Nassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton University, dating back to the 1750s. While it now houses the school's administrative offices, during the Revolutionary War it was occupied by both British and American forces and suffered damage during the battles.

NEW MEXICO: Taos Pueblo

Hundreds of years old, the Taos Pueblo is a multi-story complex built by Native Americans from the region. It looks like one big, molded piece, and it's still used as a residence.

NEW YORK: The Chrysler Building

The Empire State Building gets all the hype, but it's the Chrysler Building that's really the most magnificent skyscraper in New York City. The Art Deco-style building was the tallest in the world when it was built, but it was beaten out by — you guessed it — the Empire State Building just 11 months later.

NORTH CAROLINA: The Executive Mansion

Give it to North Carolina for having its most beautiful building designated as a civil landmark. The state's Executive Mansion in Raleigh is the home of the governor and a high-profile event venue that's open to public tours.

NORTH DAKOTA: The North Dakota Heritage Center

At the center of the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck is a great glass cube flanked by two copper-colored wings. It's the home of the state's greatest treasures, including Native American historical artifacts and lots of dinosaur fossils.

OHIO: The Longaberger Company building

The Longaberger Company, which makes baskets, made a building in Newark that perfectly matches its brand. The building was closed in 2016, and it has largely sat idle since.

Plans for the property have included a hotel, a coworking space, and, most recently, a mixed-use development, but it still has an unclear path for the future.

OKLAHOMA: First Americans Museum

The First Americans Museum's 175,000-square-foot building in Oklahoma pays homage to the state's indigenous populations and their history. The design is inspired by the importance placed on the rising and setting sun by Native populations, with the Remembrance Walls being aligned with the sunrise.

The central half-dome is supported by 10 pillars of various stones, each representing a 10-mile stretch traveled by Native people during forced removal from their original homelands, according to the museum's website.

OREGON: The Portland Building

In 2009, Travel + Leisure famously called The Portland Building "one of the most hated buildings in America," and its reputation is split among architecture critics. But its shapes, strange geometric clashes of glass and stone, make it the weird building that Portland most deserves.

PENNSYLVANIA: Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater

Frank Lloyd Wright's 1935 masterpiece Fallingwater remains Pennsylvania's greatest work of architecture. Water falls from each level of the building into the one below, perfectly integrating with the landscape.

RHODE ISLAND: The Breakers

Built as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, The Breakers mansion in Newport has 70 rooms across 138,300 square feet, making it one of the largest houses in the US and an icon of Gilded Age architecture.

SOUTH CAROLINA: The International African American Museum

In South Carolina, the International African American Museum stands on top of 18 13-foot pillars that keep the museum from touching the sacred ground on which it was built.

The museum is situated on the historic site of Gadsden's Wharf in Charleston's Cooper River, which was the last and most significant disembarkation point in North America for enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade, per the US Civil Rights Trail website.

SOUTH DAKOTA: The Corn Palace

The walls of the Corn Palace in Mitchell are adorned with complex murals and art that's all been made out of, you guessed it, corn. The design changes every year.

TENNESSEE: Parthenon in Centennial Park

Built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition — and then reconstructed between 1921 and 1930 — the Parthenon in Centennial Park is a full-sized replica of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Today, it's open to the public as an art museum.

TEXAS: James Turrell's Twilight Epiphany skyspace

Designed by renowned artist James Turrell, the "Twilight Epiphany" Skyspace in Houston is a performance space that makes you feel as though you've entered another dimension.

UTAH: Natural History Museum of Utah

The Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City looks like it could have been carved out of the landscape. It was designed by Todd Schliemann of Ennead Architects.

VERMONT: The Old Round Church

The Old Round Church in Richmond is technically a 16-sided polygon, but it's still enough of a circle to lend credence to a rumor that it was built in that shape so that the Devil had no corners to hide in.

VIRGINIA: Dulles International Airport

If they're done wrong, airports can be the most insufferable place to spend a few hours. But we have to admire Virginia's Dulles International Airport, which almost looks like a futuristic aircraft itself.

WASHINGTON: Seattle Central Library

Forget the idea of a dusty old home for books nobody reads. The Seattle Central Library is a miracle of modern architecture.

WASHINGTON, DC: The United States Capitol

Construction on the Capitol started in 1793.

The United States Capitol is such a mainstay of nightly news and political pop culture that it's easy to take for granted. It's nice to step back once in a while and take in the grandeur and historical significance of this government building that reflects on America's complicated past.

Construction on the Capitol began in September 1793, and much of the structure was built by enslaved workers working alongside free Black and white laborers, per the White House Historical Association. In 2012, a marker was added to the Capitol Visitor Center commemorating the unpaid labor of enslaved people who built the nation's Capitol.

WEST VIRGINIA: The Palace of Gold

The Palace of Gold is a majestic memorial shrine located in the Hare Krishna community of New Vrindaban.

WISCONSIN: The Burke Brise Soleil

The most striking feature of the Milwaukee Art Museum is the Burke Brise Soleil, a towering sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan. It folds and unfolds twice a day.

WYOMING: Smith Mansion

This wacky-looking building is in the middle of the remote Wapiti Valley. In 1971, architect Francis Lee Smith started building the structure by hand as his and his family's home. After completing the first floor in 1973, he could not stop building. He died after falling from one of the balconies in 1992.

• OpenAI included a line in Codex's instructions restricting references to goblins, gremlins, trolls, and ogres.
• The company explained in a blog post that mythical creatures have crept into answers since GPT-5.1.
• The goblin references were incentivized while building ChatGPT's "Nerdy" personality, OpenAI wrote.

OpenAI has been in "goblin mode" for months.

On Monday, one X user pointed out an unusual line in Codex's personality guide. The instructions tell Codex to have a "vivid inner life," a "good ear" — and to get out of fairytale land.

"Never talk about goblins, gremlins, raccoons, trolls, ogres, pigeons, or other animals or creatures unless it is absolutely and unambiguously relevant to the user's query," the source code reads.

The sentence appears four times in the code.

Two days later, OpenAI posted a blog post titled: "Where the goblins came from." The mythical creatures had been growing in prominence since the November launch of GPT 5.1, the company wrote.

The culprit seems to be the "Nerdy" personality option for ChatGPT. The personality's training incentivized references to mythical creatures, OpenAI wrote.

OpenAI retired the "Nerdy" personality in March, but GPT-5.5 was trained before it noticed the issue. The company noticed it especially in its AI coding agent. "Codex is, after all, quite nerdy," it wrote.

The goblin moment is a "powerful example of how reward signals can shape model behavior in unexpected ways," it wrote.

How OpenAI's goblin code turned into a meme

In the prior days before the line of code was spotted, some users posted screenshots of their conversations with GPT 5.5, including references to these mythical creatures.

"Why is gpt5.5 so obsessed with goblins," asked one user on X, who posted screenshots showing the AI recommending a particular type of camera equipment "if you want filthy neon sparkle goblin mode." Another example showed the AI referencing "goblin bandwidth" or giving "an even shorter goblin version" of its answer.

Repo Prompt founder Eric Provencher posted on X that GPT 5.5 said, "I'll keep babysitting it rather than leave a little perf gremlin running unattended." An OpenAI engineer responded: "I thought we fixed this sorry."

The AI evaluation website Arena.ai also found an increase in GPT 5.5's usage of the words goblin, gremlin, and troll. The increase was especially noticeable when not using high-thinking mode, Arena found.

Since the line was spotted, OpenAI's goblin instruction has spun out into a meme. X users posted screenshots of their conversations, prompting about goblins and gremlins.

Many users online referenced the term "goblin mode." Defined as "a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy," the term was Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year in 2022.

OpenAI also got in on the jokes. ChatGPT included the line in its bio on X. Codex engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux posted the line with the shortening "If you know, you know."

Citrini Research shook the market in February with a Substack post about the future of the economy with AI. The research outfit had a more negative outlook on the goblin saga, calling OpenAI's response "insane."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman chimed in, first with a meme about asking for "extra goblins" in GPT-6. Then he wrote that Codex was having a ChatGPT moment, before correcting himself.

"I meant a goblin moment, sorry," Altman wrote.

• My family of four tried the "family pack" meal deal at Texas Roadhouse.
• For $55, we got four steaks, two sides, a dozen rolls, and a salad. It was all tasty.
• It felt like a great value, and I loved not having to eat inside a Texas Roadhouse to enjoy it.

As much as I love a good steakhouse chain like Outback and LongHorn, Texas Roadhouse has never really impressed me much.

I've always associated the chain with shell-your-own peanuts, loud music, and mediocre steak — and the few sit-down meals I've had there were just OK.

Recently, though, Texas Roadhouse's "family pack" menu caught my eye after I saw several Instagram reels from moms swearing by it. Several described the packs as a great dinnertime hack for feeding your family affordably and fast at home.

So, on a rare weekend night when my husband and two teenagers were all at home together, we picked up Texas Roadhouse's $55 sirloin-steak family pack.

Texas Roadhouse offers several different family packs for pickup or curbside orders.

There are several family packs on offer at the chain restaurant, from chicken-tender dinners to pulled-pork meals, all of which come with a salad, two shareable side dishes, and rolls with cinnamon butter.

Each is priced between $40 and $55, which seemed like a deal to me, considering the last time my party of four visited a Texas Roadhouse, a similar meal cost three times as much.

To place our order, I visited the Texas Roadhouse website on my phone, selected the meal I wanted, chose a pickup time, and paid.

Immediately after ordering, I started receiving text-message updates about the status of my order, including how to pick it up.

Later that evening, my husband got our food from Texas Roadhouse's curbside pickup. He texted his parking-space number to the restaurant and waited for our order to be brought out to his car.

The whole process was incredibly easy.

Our $55 meal came with four steaks, two sides, a salad, and rolls.

We chose the sirloin family pack for $55, which came with two 8-ounce and two 6-ounce steaks.

When I placed the order, the default cooking temperature was medium, with no option to change it. Luckily, that's how we prefer our steaks cooked anyway.

We also had to choose between a house or Caesar salad, then pick two sides from a list of mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, green beans, and seasoned rice.

Additionally, we could've paid extra to add drinks like a gallon of sweet tea or lemonade to our meal, but we stuck with the basics.

The sirloin steaks were moist and perfectly cooked.

Our four steaks were cooked perfectly with light-pink centers in line with a medium cook.

Out of curiosity, my husband checked each steak's temperature with an internal thermometer and found that each fell between the range that's considered medium, about 140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

The steaks had beautiful grill marks and a perfect char-grilled flavor on the outside, while remaining moist and tender on the inside.

We all agreed these were the best steaks we've had from Texas Roadhouse.

There were plenty of side dishes to choose from.

As the mom of one picky eater and one kid who will try anything, I appreciated the number of side dishes there were to choose from, from green beans to seasoned rice.

I gladly let my kids pick since everything sounded good to me. Their choices were mashed potatoes with brown gravy and buttered corn, each was served in a huge 16-ounce portion.

Both sides were really delicious and simple. They made perfect accompaniments to our tasty steak, and we had plenty of leftovers afterward that my kids snacked on throughout the week.

My teens were thrilled by the rolls and cinnamon butter.

My kids fondly remember visits to Texas Roadhouse because of the chain's iconic cinnamon butter and golden-brown rolls.

With our family meal, we received a dozen warm rolls and a tub of cinnamon butter so large that we eventually threw half away.

My kids downed most of the rolls during our meal and loved having a few left over to warm in the microwave and slather with cinnamon butter later in the week.

The meal came with so much food that we saved the salad for the next night.

For our order, we chose the Caesar instead of the house salad since it's among my daughter's favorite foods.

It came in a 9-by-11-inch aluminum pan along with several containers of Caesar dressing. As I unpacked the meal, I suggested we use the salad for dinner the next day, since we had so much food to eat — my family agreed.

The following night, we paired it with grilled chicken I quickly whipped up to make it into a full dinner. It was a delicious meal, and I'm glad the salad kept well in the lidded aluminum tray.

The lettuce was still nice and crunchy, and the croutons were, too.

Overall, the tasty dinner fed us twice and seemed like a really great value.

When it comes to this Texas Roadhouse meal deal, I truly have no notes.

For the price, we received 32 ounces of well-cooked, sirloin steak, two pounds of side dishes, a dozen rolls, and a gigantic pan-full of salad.

The $55 price tag ($58 after tax) seemed well worth it to me. Plus, some of the other meals available, like pulled pork or pork chops, only cost $45.

I honestly enjoyed Texas Roadhouse's food way more in the privacy of my own home, away from its loud music and bustling bar scene.

I'd absolutely order this deal again to feed my family, and I'll also keep it in mind the next time I get a meal train sign-up email for someone in need.

It would be perfect for dropping off at a friend's or neighbor's house, especially since everything was packaged up so well with coordinating, air-tight lids.

The pack contained so much food that a small family could easily stretch it for a few days.

This story was originally published on September 1, 2025, and most recently updated on April 29, 2026.

• The Department of Education announced its final rule for its student-loan repayment overhaul.
• The rule includes new repayment plans and borrowing caps for advanced degrees.
• The changes will be implemented beginning July 1.

It's official: millions of student-loan borrowers will face sweeping repayment changes this summer.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump's Department of Education announced its final rule for its student-loan repayment overhaul, which includes new borrowing caps and repayment plans that will go into effect on July 1.

Nicholas Kent, the department's undersecretary, told reporters on a press call that the final rule includes four key provisions: the elimination of the Grad PLUS program, new loan limits for graduate and professional students, allowing schools to establish their own loan caps "that match the true value" of the programs they offer, and the creation of two new repayment plans.

"Collectively, our changes will ensure students continue to have the access that they need for federal student loans, while helping prevent borrowers from taking on unmanageable debt levels that they may never be able to repay," Kent said.

The changes stem from Trump's "big beautiful" spending legislation, and were negotiated with stakeholders, including industry representatives and borrower advocates, at the end of 2025.

The new borrowing caps are among the most discussed changes in the overhaul. The Department of Education is setting a $100,000 lifetime cap for graduate students and a $200,000 cap for professional students, and it narrowed the definition of "professional" to 11 programs, including law, medicine, and dentistry. That means previously eligible programs, like postgraduate nursing, are no longer eligible.

Some students and advocates have raised concerns that the caps could push students to seek additional financing in the private lending market or forgo their programs altogether.

Additionally, the department is capping Parent PLUS loans for the first time, which allows parents to borrow the full cost of attendance for their kids' programs. The new cap for parent borrowers will stand at $20,000 annually.

The department will also be rolling out a new Repayment Assistance Plan, replacing existing income-driven repayment plans, including the SAVE plan, which the administration is eliminating. RAP would waive unpaid interest and set monthly payments at a minimum of $10, which is less generous than the terms of existing plans. This will increase borrowers' monthly payments, according to Federal Student Aid projections, sometimes by hundreds of dollars.

Have a story to share about student loans? Contact this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• For the first time, Warren Buffett won't be hosting Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting.
• New CEO Greg Abel will take center stage this weekend and field hours of questions instead.
• Attendees predicted a more sober Q&A and a smaller gathering, but still expected a good time.

Berkshire Hathaway is about to hold its iconic shareholder meeting — without Warren Buffett as host.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to descend upon Buffett's hometown of Omaha this weekend for a gathering dubbed "Woodstock for Capitalists."

As usual, they can shop for Squishmallows plushies and Fruit of the Loom sweatshirts, picnic at Nebraska Furniture Mart, hunt for deals on jewelry at Borsheims, take part in the Brooks Running 5K, and watch a live Q&A with Berkshire's top brass.

However, Buffett won't be sitting on stage, taking questions while munching See's Candies and drinking Coca-Cola. He doesn't want to steal the spotlight from Greg Abel, who succeeded him as Berkshire's CEO at the start of this year.

Business Insider will be on the ground reporting from the conference, and before jumping on a flight to Omaha, we asked Berkshire experts making the trip what they're expecting this weekend.

The Abel effect

Buffett is renowned for his wit, folksy wisdom, and willingness to hold forth on virtually any topic, from marriage and nuclear weapons to politics and corporate malfeasance.

In stark contrast, Abel isn't a household name and hasn't shared much about himself or his views on non-Berkshire subjects. That could make for a more sober and restrained Q&A.

"Greg will be responding to questions in a businesslike manner but without Warren Buffett's humor and personal stories," David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland, told Business Insider.

Brian Gongol, a Buffett superfan and Berkshire shareholder for nearly 20 years, praised Abel for upholding Buffett's core principles. But he said the new boss "can't help but sound more like an accountant than like a founder."

The Q&A is "likely to feel a lot like when one very capable artist performs a cover version of someone else's song," Gongol said. "The lyrics and the melody will stay the same, but the interpretation will give the audience something new."

Eric Schleien, who said he's attended every Berkshire bash since 2006, told Business Insider that Buffett's absence won't feel "like the headliner canceled."

"It's more like the band is still playing, and now the lead guitarist is finally getting to step forward," said the founder and CEO of Granite State Capital Management and host of "The Intelligent Investing Podcast."

A more hardcore gathering

The Berkshire meeting simply won't have the same appeal with neither Buffett nor his late business partner, Charlie Munger, in the hot seat this year.

Gongol predicted that locals and devotees will still make the pilgrimage to Omaha, but there will be fewer international travelers and "people we used to be able to talk into coming along for the ride on the basis of Buffett's star power."

Yet he said that Berkshire recognizes the value of its unique shareholder culture and how it directly influences Berkshire's prospects, and may well lean on "clever marketing work" to draw in crowds.

His fellow Buffett fans might also attend "just for the chance of capturing a glimpse of the legend from across the room," Gongol added.

"The people who show up this year are going to be the real ones," Schleien said. "You have to actually care about Berkshire's business and culture to come out for Greg Abel. I'd expect fewer people but a higher quality crowd."

Bigger than Buffett

Kass, the finance professor, and Larry Cunningham, the director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center and the author of several books about Berkshire, said they expected around 25,000 to 30,000 people to show up — down from the peak figure of around 40,000.

But Cunningham was still optimistic about the city's vibe this weekend.

"So much subculture has grown around Berkshire wholly apart from Warren, Omaha will still be abuzz," he said.

He quoted a line from his 2014 book, Berkshire Beyond Buffett: "Warren's greatest achievement was creating an organization larger than himself."

• The annual press dinner was canceled after a shooting on Saturday night.
• It was initially unclear what happened to the 2,600 unserved meals of lobster and steak.
• The host said Monday that the hotel donated them to two shelters for abused women.

The lobster and steak dinners that went uneaten after a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this week did not go to waste.

The Washington Hilton, the site of the annual gala, donated the 2,600 meals to two shelters for abused women and their children.

That's according to Weijia Jiang, the CBS News correspondent and president of the journalists' association that throws the so-called "nerd prom."

"They freeze dried the steak and lobster for longer shelf life," Jiang said in a post on X on Monday. "HUGE thank you to the staff that worked through the night under terrible circumstances."

A Hilton spokesperson said in a statement that "the hotel regularly donates unused food from events to support local organizations."

"Food from this weekend is being donated to our local community partners, and remaining produce items were composted and will be sent to farms for agricultural use," the spokesperson said.

After the shooting, social media was abuzz with people wondering what would happen to the sumptuous suppers slated to be served to the media and political elite.

A member of TMZ's new Washington bureau went to the hotel on Monday in search of the leftovers, going so far as to inspect some dumpsters for signs of them.

The $350-a-seat dinner was halted Saturday night after shots rang out during the salad course while President Donald Trump was onstage for his first appearance at the event while in office.

Prosecutors say Cole Allen, 31, traveled from his home in California to the nation's capital and checked into the Hilton with two guns and three knives before trying to crash the party and kill Trump.

A Secret Service agent was shot but saved by his protective vest, and Allen was arrested at the scene.

• Elon Musk boosted a New Yorker profile questioning OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's trustworthiness on X.
• The article appeared on X feeds on Monday, the same day Musk and Altman's trial kicked off in Oakland.
• Musk's lawsuit claims Altman deceived him on OpenAI's mission as a nonprofit.

A New Yorker magazine investigation detailing concerns about Sam Altman's leadership resurfaced on X feeds on Monday, at the behest of the social media platform's billionaire owner.

A post from Ronan Farrow, an investigative reporter, linking to his New Yorker profile of the OpenAI CEO titled "Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?" showed up on the X "For You" page for some users on Monday, three weeks after it was initially posted on April 6.

The post was labeled as "Boosted" and said, "This organic post was boosted by @elonmusk."

It's unclear how many people were served the post on Monday, but several Business Insider reporters saw it in their feeds.

The profile was boosted as a high-stakes trial between Musk and Altman kicked off in Oakland, California, on Monday. Altman made an unexpected appearance in court as jury selection began. Musk was not in attendance.

Musk sued Altman and OpenAI in 2024, alleging he was deceived when he cofounded the company in 2015 and invested tens of millions of dollars, only for it to abandon its mission as a public benefit nonprofit. The case could cost billions for OpenAI, which is preparing for an IPO.

Musk went after Altman directly on Monday in a critical post on X.

"Scam Altman and Greg Stockman stole a charity. Full stop," he wrote, referring to Altman and OpenAI's president, who is also named in the lawsuit.

OpenAI said Monday the lawsuit was "a baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor."

X did not respond to a request for comment or questions about the "boosted" feature, including how it works and how it compares to an advertising post, which is typically labeled "Ad."

The New Yorker declined to comment.

• The 2020 US Census determined the largest city in every state.
• New York City is the biggest US city, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago.
• Some states' most populous cities only have tens of thousands of residents.

Conducted every 10 years, the United States census counts every person living in the US and collects statistics such as age, sex, and household makeup.

A city's population, along with other demographic data, is a key factor in determining its allocations for federal and state funding.

According to 2020 census data, some states' most populous cities only have tens of thousands of residents, while others, like New York City, have more than 8 million.

Take a look at the largest city in every state.

ALABAMA: Birmingham

Population: 200,733

ALASKA: Anchorage

Population: 291,247

ARIZONA: Phoenix

Population: 1,608,139

ARKANSAS: Little Rock

Population: 202,591

CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles

Population: 3,898,747

COLORADO: Denver

Population: 715,522

CONNECTICUT: Bridgeport

Population: 148,654

DELAWARE: Wilmington

Population: 70,898

FLORIDA: Jacksonville

Population: 949,611

GEORGIA: Atlanta

Population: 498,715

HAWAII: Honolulu

Population: 350,964

IDAHO: Boise

Population: 235,684

ILLINOIS: Chicago

Population: 2,746,388

INDIANA: Indianapolis

Population: 887,642

IOWA: Des Moines

Population: 214,133

KANSAS: Wichita

Population: 397,532

KENTUCKY: Louisville

Population: 246,161

LOUISIANA: New Orleans

Population: 383,997

MAINE: Portland

Population: 68,408

MARYLAND: Baltimore

Population: 585,708

MASSACHUSETTS: Boston

Population: 675,647

MICHIGAN: Detroit

Population: 639,111

MINNESOTA: Minneapolis

Population: 429,954

MISSISSIPPI: Jackson

Population: 153,701

MISSOURI: Kansas City

Population: 508,090

MONTANA: Billings

Population: 117,116

NEBRASKA: Omaha

Population: 486,051

NEVADA: Las Vegas

Population: 641,903

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Manchester

Population: 115,644

NEW JERSEY: Newark

Population: 311,549

NEW MEXICO: Albuquerque

Population: 564,559

NEW YORK: New York City

Population: 8,804,190

NORTH CAROLINA: Charlotte

Population: 874,579

NORTH DAKOTA: Fargo

Population: 125,990

OHIO: Columbus

Population: 905,748

OKLAHOMA: Oklahoma City

Population: 681,054

OREGON: Portland

Population: 652,503

PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia

Population: 1,603,797

RHODE ISLAND: Providence

Population: 190,934

SOUTH CAROLINA: Charleston

Population: 150,227

SOUTH DAKOTA: Sioux Falls

Population: 192,517

TENNESSEE: Nashville

Population: 689,447

TEXAS: Houston

Population: 2,304,580

UTAH: Salt Lake City

Population: 199,723

VERMONT: Burlington

Population: 44,743

VIRGINIA: Virginia Beach

Population: 459,470

WASHINGTON: Seattle

Population: 737,015

WEST VIRGINIA: Charleston

Population: 48,864

WISCONSIN: Milwaukee

Population: 577,222

WYOMING: Cheyenne

Population: 65,132

• Every US state has a capitol that houses its state legislature.
• Many state capitols are domed buildings similar to the US Capitol, but others are more unique.
• Maryland's State House is the oldest capitol in continuous legislative use in the US.

A state's capitol can tell you a lot about its history.

State capitols house each state's legislative branch of government, executive offices, and other administrative and ceremonial spaces. While their function may be the same across all 50 states, their architectural designs vary.

Many state capitols feature references to their locations, like the Kansas State Capitol is topped by Ad Astra, a statue representing a Kansa (Kaw) warrior, while the New Hampshire State House, built largely from locally quarried granite, nods to the state's "Granite State" identity.

Some buildings date back to the founding of the United States. Maryland's State House in Annapolis, completed in 1779, is the oldest one in continuous use as a legislative center.

Every capitol has a unique look and distinct origin. Here's what the capitol looks like in every state.

Montgomery, Alabama

Alabama's capitol served as the first capital of the Confederacy, and there's a brass star on one of the porticos marking the spot where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as its president, according to the Alabama Historical Commission.

The building that stands today was constructed in 1851, after a fire burned down the original building in 1849, according to the Alabama Historical Commission.

One of the more famous parts of the capitol grounds is the Avenue of Flags. It has the flag of every state, plus a native rock from each state at the base of its flag. It was dedicated in 1968, according to Exploring Montgomery.

Juneau, Alaska

The Alaska State Capitol, completed in 1931, doesn't look much different from any other office building in Juneau, save for the marble columns. According to Alaska's official website, it is one of the few state capitols that do not feature a dome.

As The New York Times reported in 1981, neither the building nor the location was popular with locals — both were chosen because of cost concerns shaping both construction and relocations. Voters approved a measure in the 1970s to move the capitol, but the effort ultimately failed.

As recently as 2022, Alaskan senators sponsored a bill to move the capital, this time to Willow, reported Alaska Public Media, but for now, Juneau remains the Last Frontier's capital city.

Phoenix, Arizona

Arizona's capitol was dedicated in 1901. It stopped being the home of the legislative branches of government in 1960, and by 1978, all government officials had been moved to other buildings nearby in an area called the Capitol Complex.

The original building was then officially converted into a museum open to the public.

Little Rock, Arkansas

Arkansas' capitol took 16 years to complete. Construction lasted from 1899 to 1915, and the building was originally designed by architect George R. Mann, with later revisions by Cass Gilbert, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.

This building replaced the State House, which is now the Old State House Museum, according to Arkansas Heritage.

Sacramento, California

The building was constructed between 1860 and 1874, and designed by Reuben S. Clark. It has been listed as a California Historical Landmark since 1974, according to the Historic State Capitol Commission.

Its design was based on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, among other well-known American buildings, according to the State of California Capitol Museum.

The California State Capitol is located inside the 40-acre Capitol Park, which contains trees from around the world, a World Peace Rose Garden, and the Civil War Memorial Grove.

Denver, Colorado

The Colorado Capitol, which was completed in 1901, was also designed to look like the US Capitol, but with a Colorado twist: The dome is covered in real gold leaf donated by gold miners to reference the Colorado Gold Rush from 1858 to 1861, according to the Colorado General Assembly.

Hartford, Connecticut

The current Connecticut State Capitol is actually the third capitol the state has had since the American Revolution. This one, designed by Richard M. Upjohn, opened in 1879, according to Connecticut's official state website.

The golden dome is surrounded by six pairs of statues representing agriculture, commerce, education and law, force and war, science and justice, and music, according to the State Capitol Preservation & Restoration Commission.

Dover, Delaware

The Delaware Legislative Hall was dedicated in 1933 and replaced the Old State House, which is opposite the Hall on the capitol mall. It was designed in the Colonial Revival style by E. William Martin, according to Delaware's official state website.

Washington, DC

The United States Capitol is located on Capitol Hill in DC. It was in construction for decades, partially destroyed in 1814, and then finally finished in 1829, according to Architect of the Capitol. The famous, gigantic dome was later added during an expansive addition in 1855, designed by Thomas U. Walter.

Atop the dome sits the "Statue of Freedom," a 19-foot statue of a woman wearing a battle helmet, holding a sheathed sword in one hand, and a laurel wreath and shield in the other. She's been there since 1863, according to Architect of the Capitol.

Tallahassee, Florida

The current capitol, also called the New Capitol, is located directly in front of the original — together, they form the Capitol Complex. The New Capitol was built in 1977 by architect Edward Durell Stone and the firm of Reynolds, Smith, and Hills, according to the Florida Capitol website.

The website reports the building was designed in an "international style to reflect a modern Florida," and includes a 22-story central tower.

The Old Capitol still stands, and it was restored to its original 1902 glory in the '80s. Currently, the building is the Florida Historic Capitol Museum.

Atlanta, Georgia

Georgia's capitol was finished in 1889 and designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke and Franklin P. Burnham, according to the city of Atlanta's website. It sits on the site of the former Atlanta City Hall/Fulton County Courthouse, which was there from 1854 to 1994.

According to the city, it's one of 43 National Historic Landmarks in the state.

Honolulu, Hawaii

At the dedication of the Hawaiian capitol in 1969, then-Governor John A. Burns explained the design of the building, the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported.

"In this great State Capitol there are no doors at the grand entrances which open toward the mountains and toward the sea," he said. "There is no roof or dome to separate its vast inner court from the heavens and from the same eternal stars which guided the first voyagers to the primeval beauty of these shores."

The building is also surrounded by a reflecting pool meant to symbolize the Pacific Ocean, which surrounds the chain of 137 recognized islands that make up Hawaii, according to the State of Hawaii.

Boise, Idaho

Idaho's capitol was designed by architects J.E. Tourtellotte and Charles Hummel, and was constructed between 1905 and 1920. According to Idaho's Capitol Commission, it's the only capitol in the US that is heated by geothermal water. It comes from a spring 3,000 feet underground.

Springfield, Illinois

According to a pamphlet by the Illinois Secretary of State's office, the current capitol (the state's sixth) was completed in 1888, 20 years after crews broke ground. At the time of its construction, the limestone dome was illuminated by 144 gas jets. However, the carbon emitted by those jets eventually turned the dome black.

It took 100 years, but it was finally cleaned in 1986.

Indianapolis, Indiana

According to the Indiana Department of Administration, Indiana's capitol was completed in 1888, and is home to all executive offices, the Indiana State Senate, the Indiana House of Representatives, and the Indiana State Supreme Court, among others. It was constructed with Indiana limestone.

Des Moines, Iowa

The large golden dome is 23 carats, and the entire building is 275 feet tall, according to a visitor's guide. It's been re-gilded four times since its construction in 1886.

Overall, Iowa's capitol has a total of five domes, making it the only capitol in the US with five.

Topeka, Kansas

Kansas' capitol dome is topped with a statue called "Ad astra" (Latin for "to the stars"), which is part of the state's motto, "ad astra per aspera" ("to the stars through difficulties"), according to the Kansas Historical Society.

The statue itself is a bronze depiction of a warrior from the Kansa tribe (also known as the Kaw Nation or Kanza), who call Kansas home and gave the state its name.

The entire building took 37 years to construct, also according to the Kansas Historical Society, from 1866 to 1903. 

Frankfort, Kentucky

Kentucky's capitol was designed by Frank Mills Andrews, according to Kentucky's official state website. There are also statues lining the front portico that represent Kentucky, the central figure, with Progress, History, Plenty, Law, Art, and Labor as her "attendants," according to the state website.

The current building is the fourth capitol in the state, and it was completed in 1910.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Louisiana Capitol is just one of nine capitols in the US that doesn't feature a dome — and at 450 feet tall (or 34 floors), it's also the tallest capitol in the country, according to Louisiana's House of Representatives.

It was dedicated in 1932, without the person who had spearheaded the effort to build it, Senator Huey P. Long, a controversial figure in Louisiana's history, as reported by Encyclopedia Britannica.

Augusta, Maine

The capital of Maine was originally Portland when the state broke away from Massachusetts in 1820. But when Mainers asked for a more centrally located capital city, Augusta was chosen in 1827, according to the Maine State Legislature. The building was completed by 1832.

The State House's dome is topped with a female figure of Wisdom, which was designed by sculptor W. Clark Noble of Gardiner, a town 6 miles from Augusta.

Annapolis, Maryland

Maryland's State House is the oldest capitol in continuous legislative use in the US, built in 1779, according to its official website. It's also the only state capitol to have once served as the US capitol when the Continental Congress met there from 1783 to 1784, according to the website.

Boston, Massachusetts

The Massachusetts State House, built in 1789, originally had a wooden dome, but Paul Revere's own company was responsible for covering it in copper in 1802, CBS News reported.

And the land it was built on? It used to be owned by none other than John Hancock, who was Massachusetts' first elected governor.

Lansing, Michigan

The floors of Michigan's capitol, which was dedicated in 1879, are made of limestone and have visible fossils in them, as you can see on the capitol's official website.

St. Paul, Minnesota

According to Explore Minnesota, the state's capitol is the second-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world, only behind St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Architect Cass Gilbert insisted on using Georgia marble for the dome, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. Some were critical of using out-of-state materials, so as a compromise, the contractor leased the quarry in Georgia and imported the rough marble so Minnesotans could do the work in-state.

It took nine years, but was completed in 1905.

Jackson, Mississippi

Designed by architect Theodore Link and constructed between 1901 and 1903, Mississippi's state capitol was built on the site of an old state penitentiary, according to the state capitol's official website. The building spans 171,000 square feet and features 4,750 original electric light fixtures, as well as an 8-foot statue of an eagle on the top of its dome.

Jefferson City, Missouri

Missouri's state capitol was completed in 1917, according to its official website. Ceres, the goddess of grain, sits at the top of its dome.

In addition to Missouri's state legislature, the 500,000-square-foot building houses the Missouri State Museum with exhibits about the state's history and natural resources.

Helena, Montana

The main building of Montana's state capitol was completed in 1902, and its two wings were added in 1911 and 1912, according to the Montana Historical Society. Inside, the building features works of art such as the mural "Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross' Hole," painted by Charles M. Russell in 1912.

Lincoln, Nebraska

Nebraska's state capitol was designed by architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and completed in 1932, according to its official website. The 400-foot tower is topped with a 19-foot bronze statue called "The Sower."

It is the only state legislature to be unicameral, meaning it only has one chamber.

Carson City, Nevada

Nevada's state capitol was built from 1870 to 1871 out of sandstone sourced from a quarry belonging to Abe Curry, the founder of Carson City, according to Travel Nevada. It features a silver-colored dome, a nod to Nevada's nickname as "the silver state."

Concord, New Hampshire

The New Hampshire State House was constructed between 1816 and 1819 with locally sourced granite from Rattlesnake Hill in Concord, according to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.

In 1818, a wooden sculpture of an eagle painted with gold was installed on top of the capitol dome. It was replaced with a copper replica in 1957, but the original sculpture can be viewed on display inside the capitol, according to EverGreene, the architecture firm that restored the State House's gold-plated dome.

Trenton, New Jersey

After Maryland, New Jersey State House is the second-oldest capitol still in use, completed in 1792, according to the state of New Jersey's official website. Much of the original building, designed by architect Jonathan Doane, was destroyed in a fire in 1885.

Architect Lewis Broome restored the capitol and added a cast-iron dome plated with copper and gold and featuring the Latin phrase "Fiat Justitia Ruat Coelum," meaning  "There must be justice even though the heavens fall."

Santa Fe, New Mexico

New Mexico's capitol, known as the Roundhouse, is the only round capitol in the US, according to Santa Fe's official tourist website. Architect Willard C. Kruger modeled the design after the Zia sun symbol, which he also incorporated into the capitol rotunda skylight. The symbol is also part of New Mexico's state flag.

Albany, New York

When New York's state capitol in Albany was finally finished after 32 years in 1899, it was at a cost of $25 million, making it one of the most expensive government projects in the US. In 2013, The New York Times reported the figure was equivalent to more than half a billion dollars today.

Inside the granite building, visitors can find 25 murals by William deLeftwich Dodge in the Governor's Reception Room.

Raleigh, North Carolina

Completed in 1840, North Carolina's 3-story capitol includes a copper dome, according to the National Park Service.

Bismarck, North Dakota

North Dakota's state capitol is the tallest building in the state at 241 feet and 8 inches tall, according to the official government website. The Art-Deco structure is nicknamed the "Skyscraper on the Prairie," according to the Society of Architecture Historians.

Columbus, Ohio

Construction of the Ohio Statehouse took over 20 years, from 1839 to 1861, according to its official website. Much of the work was done by prisoners at Ohio Penitentiary, some of whom left graffiti on the walls that was uncovered during restoration work, the website says. Built in the Greek-Revival architecture style out of Columbus limestone, the Statehouse is a designated National Historic Landmark.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Built in 1917, the dome on Oklahoma's capitol was added more recently, in 2002, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society — it was left out of the original construction due to costs. The grounds of Oklahoma's capitol also had active oil rigs until 1986. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Salem, Oregon

Oregon's Art Deco capitol is made of white Vermont marble with a gold statue of an "Oregon Pioneer" atop the dome, according to the capitol's official website. In-person guided tours are paused due to construction.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's capitol, designed by architect Joseph Huston, cost $13 million to build when it was completed in 1906, which would be over $403 million today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The building's 272-foot dome is decorated with green glazed terra cotta tile, according to the capitol's official website.

Providence, Rhode Island

The Rhode Island State House, built between 1895 and 1904, features the fourth-largest freestanding marble dome in the world, according to the Rhode Island Restoration Committee's official website. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970.

Columbia, South Carolina

The construction of the South Carolina State House began in 1854, but halted due to the Civil War. The building still features cannonball marks from when the Union army captured Columbia in 1865, according to Discover South Carolina. The State House was finally completed in 1903, and it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976, according to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

A portrait of state senator Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in the 2015 shooting at Charleston's Mother Emanuel AME Church, hangs in the Senate Gallery.

Pierre, South Dakota

South Dakota's state capitol was constructed between 1905 and 1910, not long after South Dakota became a US state in 1889, according to the South Dakota Bureau of Administration. An annex was added in 1932. The Neoclassical building features scagliola plaster columns, war memorials, and stained-glass windows, according to Travel South Dakota.

Nashville, Tennessee

The Tennessee State Capitol opened in 1859. The architect, William Strickland, died during its construction in 1854 and was buried on the capitol grounds along with President James K. Polk and first lady Sarah Childress Polk, according to the Tennessee State Museum.

Austin, Texas

Completed in 1888, the Texas State Capitol dome is topped with a statue of Libertas, the goddess of liberty, according to the official website for the Texas House of Representatives. It stands 14 feet taller than the US Capitol.

Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah's State Capitol was designed by architect Richard K.A. Kletting and was completed in 1916, according to its official website. The rotunda features bronze and marble statues of Native American leaders, LDS pioneers, and US presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, according to its website.

Montpelier, Vermont

The Vermont State House, designed in the Greek Revival architecture style, dates back to 1857, according to the National Park Service. A statue of Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, adorns the top of the dome.

Richmond, Virginia

Thomas Jefferson designed Virginia's state capitol to look like the ancient Roman temple of Maison Carée, according to the Virginia General Assembly's official website. The building also features a bronze statue of Jefferson, who is depicted holding the capitol's architectural blueprints.

Olympia, Washington

The Washington State Legislative Building features the tallest freestanding masonry dome in North America at 287 feet, according to the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services. Designed by Walter Wilder and Harry White, it was completed in 1928.

Charleston, West Virginia

West Virginia's capitol, designed by Cass Gilbert, took eight years and almost $10 million to construct before its completion in 1932, according to its official website. The dome stands at 293 feet tall — 5 feet higher than the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

Madison, Wisconsin

Wisconsin's state capitol features the only granite dome in the US, according to Travel Wisconsin. On top of the dome, a gilded bronze statue by Daniel Chester French is aptly named "Wisconsin."

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Wyoming's state capitol, constructed between 1886 and 1890, was built in the Renaissance Revival architecture style, according to the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information. It is one of 20 state capitols designated as a National Historic Landmark, according to the National Park Service.

The Navy's new refueling drone completed its first test flight over the weekend. The MQ-25A Stingray is the Navy's first carrier-based unmanned aircraft. Right now, there are no unmanned refueling aircraft in service, but the Navy said the Stingray is expected to enter service in 2027.

Built by Boeing, the Stingray costs about $209 million per unit. The Navy invested about $16 billion in the system. After years of delays in the Stingray's development, this test flight gets the Navy closer to using it in military operations.

The Navy says the drone will be a valuable tool to extend the reach of crewed fighters and aircraft.

• The Navy and Boeing conducted the first test flight of the MQ-25A Stingray over the weekend.
• The Stingray is a drone designed for air-to-air refueling.
• The drone will eventually extend the range of crewed aircraft and free up aircraft for combat.

A new US Navy carrier-based drone for refueling aircraft has begun flight testing with the first flight of a production-representative aircraft, the service announced, marking a key step toward bringing uncrewed systems into the refueling role.

The Navy says that the MQ-25A Stingray is the first operational carrier-based uncrewed aircraft system. Made by Boeing, the Stingray's first test flight moves it closer to aircraft carrier operations and the refueling mission expected to extend the reach of crewed aircraft. The Stingray's timeline to service has been repeatedly delayed.

The Navy and Boeing announced the first test flight on Monday. The April 25 test was not the first-ever flight of the MQ-25 concept, but it was the first test of a production-representative aircraft as the Navy starts up formal flight testing ahead of eventual service.

Over the weekend, the MQ-25A flew for approximately two hours at Boeing's facility in Illinois and was controlled by Navy and Boeing air vehicle pilots via a ground control system. During the flight, the Stingray conducted several maneuvers and tests and demonstrated flight controls and navigation.

"Today's successful flight builds on years of learning from our MQ-25A T1 prototype and represents a major maturation of the program," Dan Gillian, vice president and general manager of Boeing Air Dominance, said, per a press release.

The sea service's Stingray is a planned uncrewed replacement for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet's air-to-air refueling role within carrier air wings. The Navy has said the drone's job will help extend the operational range of aircraft and free them up to focus on combat and surveillance roles.

The MQ-25 can carry up to 15,000 pounds of fuel and could help the Navy rethink the ranges of its aircraft carriers and fighters as China's growing arsenal of anti-ship missiles threatens US naval forces.

"The MQ-25A is not just an aircraft," Rear Adm. Tony Rossi, head of the program executive office for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, said, per the Navy's press release.

He said that "it's the first step in integrating unmanned aerial refueling onto the carrier deck, directly enabling our manned fighters to fly further and faster. This capability is vital to the future of naval aviation."

The Navy began work on the MQ-25 in 2016, selected Boeing for production in 2018, and the Navy and Boeing flew a test asset for the first time the following year. The most recent flight test is the first for the MQ-25A, a production-design aircraft different from the earlier MQ-25 T1 test asset.

The MQ-25 T1 test drone previously showed off its refueling capabilities in 2021, flying in front of an F/A-18 and getting as close as 20 feet to the aircraft before extending the hose and drogue to plug into the fighter to transfer the fuel.

The service has navigated several delays and cost increases to the Stingray, which was originally supposed to be operational in 2024 but is now set to enter into service later this decade.

• The government filed charges on Monday against Cole Allen, the WHCD shooting suspect.
• He was charged with attempted assassination of the president, which could land him life in prison.
• Prosecutors included an email Allen sent before the alleged shooting explaining his actions.

Federal prosecutors on Monday charged 31-year-old Cole Allen, the suspected White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter, with attempting to assassinate the President of the United States.

That rarely used charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The seven-page criminal complaint also includes two gun charges: transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.

The complaint said that at the time of his arrest, Allen possessed a 12-gauge pump action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38 caliber pistol. He purchased the shotgun in 2025 and the pistol in 2023, according to prosecutors.

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said at a press conference on Monday that there "will be additional charges as this investigation continues to unfold."

Allen's lawyer, public defender Tezira Abe, didn't return a request for comment. In court on Monday, Abe said Allen has no prior arrests or convictions and "is presumed innocent at this time," NBC reported.

The dinner, an annual toast to the First Amendment attended by journalists, politicians, and the occasional celebrity, was disrupted on Saturday after shots rang out in the lobby of the Washington Hilton, the hotel where the event was held.

The president and senior administration officials are typically at the dinner as well, though this was the first time Trump attended as president. Saturday night's incident was the third known assassination attempt that Trump has faced.

Since the incident, Trump and some of his allies in Congress have said that the shooting makes it all the more important that the new White House ballroom in the East Wing be built, given the higher security.

Tim Röhn, the senior editor of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, wrote that the security protocols at the event was "surprisingly lax," entailing simply flashing a screenshot of an invitation and passing through a metal detector before entering the ballroom.

Prosecutors say in the criminal complaint that Allen sent an email, likely pre-scheduled, shortly before 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, when he approached the security checkpoint at the Hilton.

That email included a message in a .txt file called "Apology and Explanation," along with his "sincerest apologies for all the trouble I've caused."

He signed off on the email "Cole 'coldForce' 'Friendly Federal Assassin' Allen," according to the complaint.

Here's the full text of the message Allen sent to family:

Hello everybody!

So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today. Let me start off by apologizing to everyone whose trust I abused. I apologize to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for "Most Wanted."

I apologize to my colleagues and students for saying I had a personal emergency (by the time anyone reads this, I probably most certainly DO need to go to the ER, but can hardly call that not a self-inflicted status.)

I apologize to all of the people I traveled next to, all the workers who handled my luggage, and all the other non-targeted people at the hotel who I put in danger simply by being near.

I apologize to everyone who was abused and/or murdered before this, to all those who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure. I don't expect forgiveness, but if I could have seen any other way to get this close, I would have taken it. Again, my sincere apologies.

On to why I did any of this:

I am a citizen of the United States of America.

What my representatives do reflects on me.

And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.

(Well, to be completely honest, I was no longer willing a long time ago, but this is the first real opportunity I've had to do something about it.)

While I'm discussing this, I'll also go over my expected rules of engagement (probably in a terrible format, but I'm not military so too bad.)

Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest

Secret Service: they are targets only if necessary, and to be incapacitated nonlethally if possible (aka, I hope they're wearing body armor because center mass with shotguns messes up people who *aren't*

Hotel Security: not targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me)

Capitol Police: same as Hotel Security

National Guard: same as Hotel Security

Hotel Employees: not targets at all

Guests: not targets at all

In order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls)

I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people chose to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn't come to that.

• Twelve defense companies have been picked for initial work on space-based interceptors for the US' Golden Dome.
• These interceptors are the costliest and most complex parts of Golden Dome.
• Officials and analysts are questioning whether interceptors are feasible at scale.

The Department of Defense has picked a dozen companies to develop space-based interceptors for Golden Dome, moving forward amid concerns the technology might be too expensive to field.

Golden Dome is the Trump administration's proposed missile defense system to counter threats from foes like Russia and China. The design includes space-based missile interceptors, but military leaders and analysts have raised concerns about the cost.

Last week, Space Force's Space Systems Command said 12 defense companies had been selected in late 2025 and earlier this year for Other Transaction Authority agreements, early-stage research and prototype work with fewer regulatory constraints.

The combined award value is up to $3.2 billion, and the industry partners selected include big names like Anduril, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman, along with firms such as Booz Allen Hamilton and Turion Space Corp.

These companies will work on prototypes for Golden Dome's space-based missile interceptors, armed low-Earth orbit satellites designed to counter ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles across multiple phases of flight, the Space Force said.

Col. Bryon McClain, the Space Force program executive officer for space combat power, said in a release on the selection that "adversary capabilities are advancing rapidly, and our acquisition strategies must move even faster to counter the growing speed and maneuverability of modern missile threats."

"With the commitment and collaboration of these industry partners, the Space Force will demonstrate an initial capability in 2028."

But other officials have questioned whether these capabilities will be affordable. Earlier this month, Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, director for the Golden Dome program, acknowledged that satellites built to shoot down enemy missiles might never be feasible.

"What we do not know today is: 'Can I do it at scale and can I do it affordably? That's going to be the huge challenge for boost-phase intercept," Guetlein told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces committee.

"I will tell you because we are so focused on affordability. If we cannot do it affordably, we will not go into production," the head of Space Force added.

Space-based interceptors aren't necessarily the only game in town though, he indicated, telling Congress that "if boost-phase intercept from space is not affordable and scalable, we will not produce it because we have other options to get after it."

Golden Dome's current estimated price tag sits at $185 billion, about $10 billion more than President Donald Trump first estimated when discussing Golden Dome's total cost last May.

The Congressional Budget Office has put the projected total at anywhere between $161 billion and half a trillion dollars for launching and operating a full constellation of space-based interceptors for 20 years.

The cost projections vary depending on the number of interceptors the US deploys. Analysts have suggested that space-based interceptors may not fit within the program's cost and requirements given the mission. When Trump issued an executive order to build Golden Dome in January 2025, the order said it must counter "ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries."

Per an American Enterprise Institute paper from September 2025 by senior fellow Todd Harrison, a simulated Golden Dome architecture that best fits those requirements is estimated to cost $3.6 trillion over 20 years. In contrast, AEI's simulated designs that better fit the Trump administration's budget don't provide the defensive capabilities being promised, "creating a multi-trillion-dollar gap between rhetoric and reality," the paper said.

"The more threats Golden Dome is designed to counter, and the broader its coverage, capacity, and resilience, the higher the cost. Even small shifts in objectives can produce outsized changes in cost, and the largest cost driver by far is space-based interceptors," Harrison wrote.

Golden Dome also presents a shift toward further weaponizing space. Experts say that while the US sees Golden Dome as necessary, it could accelerate an arms race. That could include systems designed to target the interceptors, missiles that evade defenses, or larger missile arsenals to overwhelm the system.

Some US officials have pointed to China and Russia's existing counterspace capabilities as evidence that space is already contested. China and Russia have both criticized the Golden Dome plan as a potential catalyst for a space arms race while simultaneously advancing their respective missile and anti-space programs.

• Sam Altman showed up in court as jury selection began in a civil trial between him and Elon Musk.
• Some potential jurors offered unfavorable views about AI — and Musk.
• Musk sued OpenAI, Altman, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman two years ago.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made an unexpected appearance in a California courtroom Monday as jury selection in his high-stakes legal feud with Elon Musk kicked off.

Altman, who wore a dark-colored suit and white shirt, was spotted inside the Oakland courtroom, where some potential jurors in the federal civil trial shared unfavorable views about artificial intelligence — and Musk, the world's richest man.

"Elon doesn't care about people, just like our president," one prospective juror told US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

The man, who works in construction and described himself as a "meme junky" and a "dying breed" who still gets print newspaper subscriptions, added that he thinks Musk only cares about money.

Another prospective juror who works for the city of Oakland said he has a strong opinion about Musk. He said that he would do his "best" to approach the case without bias, even though he called Musk a "jerk" in a pre-trial jury questionnaire.

Musk was not in attendance for day one of the trial between two of the tech industry's most powerful billionaires. Since it is a civil trial, the parties are not required to appear unless they are testifying. Up until now, Musk and Altman have largely left the matter to their lawyers, aside from the occasional online jab.

The Tesla CEO sued OpenAI, Altman, and OpenAI president Greg Brockman two years ago, alleging that they intentionally "deceived" him into cofounding the company with them in 2015.

Musk alleges in his lawsuit that he poured tens of millions into OpenAI to support its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for the public's benefit, only for that mission to later be abandoned, in part, through the company's partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft is also named as a defendant in Musk's lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks more than $100 billion in damages, along with sweeping changes to the structure of the $850 billion company behind ChatGPT. The case comes as OpenAI is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering.

Earlier Monday, Musk and OpenAI traded barbs on Musk's X platform about the case, with Musk referring to Altman as "Scam Altman" and OpenAI ripping Musk's lawsuit as a "baseless and jealous bid to derail a competitor."

Musk is expected to testify in the weeks-long trial, along with Altman and other tech execs like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Some potential jurors questioned on Monday told the court that they had reservations surrounding AI.

A registered nurse said she doesn't trust AI and isn't a fan of how the rapidly advancing technology is being used in the workplace.

"It's just giving me more work to do," said the woman who explained that her employer uses AI tools to process patient records that she still has to review for errors.

One woman who works in the psychiatric patient care unit at Stanford University said she had some concerns about AI but could approach the case with an open mind.

"I personally don't use it much because I do find that I have to double check everything, and at this point, I might as well do it myself," said the woman, who was ultimately chosen to sit on the jury.

A different juror prospect, a PhD student in genetics, said she has a ChatGPT subscription and uses it, along with Anthropic's Claude, to write code and emails.

Concerns of the juror prospects were also reflected outside the courthouse, where protesters gathered to demonstrate against AI. A person in a robot suit wore a sign that said, "Altman's AI enslaver." A giant inflatable tube figure read: "Elon sucks."

By the end of Monday, nine jurors were selected for the trial. Opening arguments are set to begin Tuesday.

At one point, Musk's attorney, Steven Molo, asked the judge to dismiss a juror prospect who called Musk a "greedy, racist, homophobic piece of garbage" in her questionnaire and another who wrote that Musk is a "world-class jerk."

"Look, the reality is that people don't like him," the judge told Musk's legal team about their client. "But that doesn't mean that Americans, nevertheless, can't have integrity for the judicial process."

• Donald Trump owns his own social media company.
• But Truth Social isn't where to go if you want a lot of people to see you attack Jimmy Kimmel.
• So Melania Trump made sure her demand that ABC do something about Kimmel appeared on Elon Musk's X, too.

Melania Trump says ABC should "take a stand" over Jimmy Kimmel, because she doesn't like a joke the talk show host made last week.

First things first: The first lady calling on a media company to do something about its employee because she doesn't like what that employee said is a bad thing. It's an attempt to use the power of the White House to silence speech that the White House doesn't like.

And it's just as worrisome as it was last September, when Brendan Carr, Trump's pick to head the Federal Communications Commission, told ABC owner Disney to "take action, frankly, on Kimmel" because Kimmel had made a joke about Trump supporters and Charlie Kirk. Disney suspended Kimmel for a few days and then reinstated him after public outcry.

There is a difference between Carr's demand and Melania Trump's demand on Monday, since Carr is a regulator with direct oversight over parts of Disney's business, and Melania Trump doesn't have any formal power over … anything. But she's still using the power of the White House to try to control speech, and that should alarm anyone with any common sense. (I've asked her office for comment.)

Let's see how new Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro responds to this one.

Much less important, but still interesting to me: The first lady's choice of platform to make her demand/threat. Melania Trump used Elon Musk's X, the site formally known as Twitter, to post her thoughts on Monday, using both her official First Lady of the United States account and her own personal account.

Trump also posted the same statement on Truth Social, the social media site owned by her husband. But that one seemed obligatory. Not in the way it's literally obligatory for Donald Trump to post at least some of his thoughts on his own social platform before he puts them anywhere else. But in the way you're supposed to tell your significant other you think they make the best pasta, when what you really crave is Olive Garden.

The numbers make it clear why Melania Trump chose to use X to make a splash: Her post on that platform has 230,000 likes, and that number is skyrocketing. Her Truth Social post has 6,500 likes and is traveling at a much more leisurely pace.

All of which is a reminder that while Truth Social is the Trump-owned Twitter alternative Donald Trump uses, it remains a minor-at-best platform. One that won't tell you how many users it has, and one that managed to lose more than $700 million on revenue of $3.7 million in 2025.

None of that is news, nor does it seem to matter to Trump, who still owns a company worth nearly $3 billion, even after a stock plunge and the departure of its CEO — perhaps because the company's current plan is to merge with a nuclear fusion company.

It also doesn't matter where Donald Trump truths or posts or spouts off — he's the president of the United States, so just about anything he says that's noteworthy gets instantly transmitted through the global media ecosystem. Like what happened on Monday afternoon, where he piggybacked on his wife's post and explicitly called on Disney and ABC to fire Kimmel.

But for the rest of us — including the first lady of the United States — where you post a message matters. Which is why she's using the one that helped her husband get into the White House in the first place.

• President Donald Trump called for comedian Jimmy Kimmel to be "immediately fired."
• Trump and first lady Melania Trump took issue with a sketch Kimmel aired on Thursday night.
• Kimmel joked at the time that Melania Trump had "the glow of an expectant widow."

President Donald Trump is reigniting his long-simmering feud with Jimmy Kimmel — and his pressure campaign on ABC and parent company Disney to part ways with the late night host.

"Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social Post on Monday afternoon.

Trump's call puts a potentially fraught issue on Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro's plate after the executive took over for Bob Iger just months ago.

Hours before Trump's post, first lady Melania Trump similarly expressed outrage over Kimmel's Thursday night monologue, in which the comedian gave a faux-White House Correspondents' Dinner speech to lament the decision to not have a comedian deliver a routine during the dinner, as is usually tradition. The correspondents association, an organization for reporters who cover the White House, elected to have a mentalist provide the evening's entertainment instead.

During the sketch, Kimmel said, "And, of course, our first lady Melania is here. Look at Mel — so beautiful, you have the glow of an expectant widow."

"Kimmel's hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country," Melania Trump wrote on X on Monday morning in a rare public statement. "His monologue about my family isn't comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America."

Trump, for his part, wrote that he appreciated that "so many people are incensed by Kimmel's despicable call to violence, and normally would not be responsive to anything that he said but, this is something far beyond the pale."

In his post, the president said that Kimmel, "who is in no way funny as attested to by his terrible Television Ratings, made a statement on his Show that is really shocking."

"He showed a fake video of the First Lady, Melania, and our son, Barron, like they were actually sitting in his studio, listening to him speak, which they weren't, and never would be," Trump wrote.

As part of Kimmel's sketch, the comedian showed clips of Trump and other well-known figures reacting to his jokes. The footage appeared to be from previously recorded events, including Trump's State of the Union. Among the celebrities depicted was wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, who died in July.

On Saturday evening, just as the annual dinner was about to begin, a gunman tried to rush through security. Authorities have said the suspect, Cole Allen, shot a Secret Service officer in their protective gear before being arrested. Allen is expected to appear in federal court on Monday.

Trump, the first lady, Vice President JD Vance, and other members of the Cabinet were rushed out of the ballroom where the dinner was occurring. Trump later told reporters at the White House that he wanted the dinner to resume but was told that for security reasons that it needed to be canceled.

ABC suspended Kimmel last fall for comments he made following the assassination of conservative podcaster and organizer Charlie Kirk. Democratic and even some Republican lawmakers criticized FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for jawboning local ABC affiliates to stop broadcasting Kimmel as criticism spread over the comedian's remarks.

Ultimately, Kimmel was reinstated days later and experienced a brief surge in ratings as fellow late night hosts railed around him.

In December, Kimmel signed a one-year contract extension with ABC to continue "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" through May 2027.

• Business bankruptcies have been on the rise in recent years, and the retail sector hasn't been immune.
• Storied brands like Saks and Eddie Bauer are using the protections to look for a new path forward.
• Here are some notable cases so far in 2026.

Some legendary retail brands have filed for bankruptcy in the early months of 2026.

US business bankruptcies have been on the rise in recent years, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis. First-quarter filings in 2026 marked the second-highest level since 2010, trailing only the same period last year. Among the 180 bankruptcies tracked in the first three months of the year, about two dozen were consumer discretionary and staples companies.

Uncertainty around consumer spending, inflation, and US tariff policy is likely to lead to higher restructuring levels throughout the year, S&P Global Market Intelligence said in April.

Bankruptcy isn't necessarily the end of the line for a company. Several companies, such as Saks Global and Eddie Bauer, are using the protections to reshape their businesses and focus on areas of potential growth this year.

Here are some notable retail bankruptcy cases that are unfolding in 2026, listed in order of initial filing.

Saks Global — filed in January, financing deal reached in April

Saks Global has been one of the higher-profile retail bankruptcy cases this year. After weeks of public speculation, the luxury store voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

The owner of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus has since said it would close some US stores, focusing more on luxury and less on off-price retail, such as its Saks Off Fifth and Neiman Marcus Last Call locations.

In April, Saks Global said it resolved a dispute with key landlord Simon Property Group and also received court approval to raise up to $500 million from a group of investors.

Saks Global aims to exit bankruptcy this summer.

Pat McGrath Labs — filed in January, exited in April

Cosmetics brand Pat McGrath Labs — sold in stores like Sephora, Ulta Beauty, and Nordstrom — said in April that it had completed a Chapter 11 process that it began in January. Founder Pat McGrath, known for styling top models, is staying on as chief creative officer.

The company said it received $65 million of financing and support that would allow it to pursue a new chapter of growth.

Fat Brands — filed in January, case proceeding

Fat Brands, the parent company of burger joints like Fatburger and Johnny Rockets, filed for Chapter 11 in January to restructure about $1 billion in debt.

The company cited a "challenging operating environment over the last few years" and said its 18 brands and 2,200 restaurants would remain operating as usual during the bankruptcy process.

A sale of the business could come as early as May.

Francesca's — filed in February, liquidation in March

Women's fashion retailer Francesca's once again filed for Chapter 11 in February, a few years after it was acquired out of an earlier bankruptcy.

With about $30 million in secured debt, as much as $100 million in liabilities, and no buyer, the company said in March that it would liquidate all inventory and close all 457 stores.

Eddie Bauer — filed in February, case proceeding

Outdoor retailer Eddie Bauer filed for Chapter 11 in February. Catalyst Brands, which owned Eddie Bauer's US and Canadian retail operations, said it needed to wind down the brand's nearly 200 stores after failing to find a buyer.

The bankruptcy does not affect Eddie Bauer's manufacturing, wholesale, or e-commerce operations, nor its retail business outside the US and Canada. Japan is home to several Eddie Bauer stores.

QVC — filed in April, expected exit in July

Home-shopping company QVC Group said in April that it was entering Chapter 11 to restructure its finances for QVC, HSN, and Cornerstone Brands.

The company said it plans to continue operating as usual with no planned layoffs or furloughs. The move is expected to last about 90 days and leave the company with $1.3 billion in debt, down from $6.6 billion.

QVC and HSN popularized TV-based shopping, but the company has faced stiff competition as audiences shift toward social-shopping platforms like TikTok Shop.

• Anthropic has posted an "events lead, brand" role on its careers page.
• The role offers up to $400,000 a year — more than similar events roles at the company.
• Silicon Valley figures, including Marc Andreessen, posted about the role on X.

As artificial intelligence floods the internet, Anthropic will pay up to $400,000 for something decidedly human: in-person events.

The AI company behind Claude and Claude Code has an open listing for a brand events lead role based in San Francisco or New York, with a salary range of $320,000 to $400,000.

It's a notably human layer in an industry that's defined by automation.

The role caught the attention of some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.

The hire would be responsible for producing anything from small, invite-only gatherings to large-scale conferences. The posting emphasizes live demos, technical deep dives, and face-to-face conversations with policymakers and academic audiences.

Anthropic also says the hired human must be "comfortable with significant travel," and says that 30% to 40% of the job will be on the road.

Applicants still need to provide a cover letter. They also need to write a 200- to 400-word essay explaining why they want to work at Anthropic.

The position pays more than similar events roles at the company, including an enterprise-focused position that pays up to $320,000 and a Europe, Middle East, and Africa events role that tops out at £200,000.

The hiring push comes as AI companies race to reshape their own narratives.

OpenAI acquired TBPN in April, in part to work on its product communications. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's xAI has leaned heavily on its ownership of X (formerly Twitter) to control distribution and narrative.

Those efforts come as tech leaders, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have acknowledged that public sentiment around AI has cratered amid warnings that their technologies could gradually reshape the job market and drive up energy demand.

Anthropic has built its identity around a far more cautious approach to deploying powerful AI systems. Now, instead of just broadcasting that message, it's looking to hire a well-paid human to take that message on the road.

"We believe that the highest-impact AI research will be big science," the company wrote in the posting. "We view AI research as an empirical science, which has as much in common with physics and biology as with traditional efforts in computer science."

This is part of a new series on jobs in emerging fields. Are you hiring for a cool job? Did you see an unusual job listing? Email bshimkus@businessinsider.com, or reach out via the secure messaging app Signal at bshimkus.41

• John Ternus, Apple's new CEO, has a background in hardware engineering.
• Oculus inventor Palmer Luckey unearthed a VR headset from Ternus's time at Virtual Research in the '90s.
• Ternus left the small VR company in 2001 before joining Apple the same year.

Apple's John Ternus is a 25-year veteran of the tech giant, but one of his first engineering gigs was at a lesser-known company building virtual reality headsets.

Defense startup founder and Oculus headset creator Palmer Luckey reminisced on X about a product that Ternus, who is set to become Apple's CEO in September, might've had a hand in during his early engineering days.

Luckey posted a photo of an old V8 head mount display from Virtual Research.

"From what I can tell, he was the lead mechanical engineer on the V8 I obtained when I was 16!," Luckey wrote, referring to Ternus.

"It was an incredible headset for the time," Luckey told Business Insider.

He described the headset as well-balanced and relatively lightweight, with a field of vision that was ahead of that of other consumer products at the time. It mainly sold to military flight simulators for around $50,000, Luckey said.

Ternus and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A user guide for the V8 published online suggests the model was released in 1998, when Ternus would've been working at the company. He was an engineer at Virtual Research from 1997 to 2001, and joined Apple later that year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A patent filed in 1995 and issued in 1998, during Ternus's time at Virtual Research, describes a similar-looking product, a virtual display apparatus for use in a virtual reality system. It supported the attachment of video displays.

Ternus is best known today as Apple's hardware boss, notably for working on AirPods and the iPad among other products, and as the incoming CEO.

His appointment marks the return to a product-minded chief like Steve Jobs. Current CEO Tim Cook's background is in operations.

The tech giant made its debut in the high-tech headset market in 2024 with the Vision Pro, which received a lukewarm response from the public. Its $3,500 price tag and lack of a killer app didn't wow consumers. At that point, Ternus had been in the senior vice president of hardware engineering role for three years.

Despite an underwhelming response to the Vision Pro, execs like Cook and Ternus remain optimistic about the product and the future of VR.

"Vision Pro is an extraordinary product," Ternus said in a Tom's Guide interview earlier this month. "It's like we reached into the future and pulled it into the present."

• Around 600 Google employees urged CEO Sundar Pichai to reject classified Pentagon AI deals.
• They said they want to see AI benefit humanity, not be used for autonomous weapons or surveillance.
• Google and the Pentagon are in talks to use Gemini in classified settings, per a recent report.

Around 600 Google employees sent a letter to CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday, urging him not to let the company's AI technology be used by the US military for classified operations.

The letter, signed by employees in Google's DeepMind and Cloud divisions, cited a recent Information report that Google and the Pentagon were negotiating the use of Google's Gemini AI in classified settings.

"As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes," the employees wrote in the letter. "We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses."

"Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads," employees continued in the letter. "Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them."

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Google has not yet responded to the letter, said Jane Chung, the founder of Justice Speaks, a communications firm representing the workers. Bloomberg first reported on the letter.

Google has long faced internal pushback to its efforts to work with the US military. In 2018, it decided not to renew Project Maven, a Department of Defense contract to integrate AI into military operations, following pressure from hundreds of employees. Palantir later picked up the deal.

The same year, Google established a set of AI principles, including a pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance. Last year, it updated those AI principles to remove wording around weapons and surveillance.

The company also secured new contracts with the Pentagon last year to use its AI and cloud products. In March, the company said it would provide the Pentagon with AI agents in a non-classified setting. It also told Google DeepMind employees during a January meeting that they should expect more of these types of deals.

In the letter, Google employees raised concerns that classified work would lead to a lack of oversight into how the company's technology is used.

"We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways," the employees wrote. "This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond."

Read the full letter below:

Dear Sundar,

We are Google employees who are deeply concerned about ongoing negotiations between Google and the US Department of Defense. As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes. We feel that our proximity to this technology creates a responsibility to highlight and prevent its most unethical and dangerous uses.

Therefore, we ask you to refuse to make our AI systems available for classified workloads.

We want to see AI benefit humanity; not to see it being used in inhumane or extremely harmful ways. This includes lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance but extends beyond. Currently, the only way to guarantee that Google does not become associated with such harms is to reject any classified workloads. Otherwise, such uses may occur without our knowledge or the power to stop them.

Making the wrong call right now would cause irreparable damage to Google's reputation, business, and role in the world. At this very moment, the safety of our own workforce and critical infrastructure are under active threat. Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we're playing a key role in building.

We know from our own history that our leaders can make the right choices, for ourselves and for the world, when the stakes are high.

Today, we call on you, Sundar, to act according to the values on which this company was built, and refuse classified workloads.

• ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has provoked another political controversy.
• Kimmel joked that Melania Trump "had a glow like an expectant widow."
• The first lady said on social media that Kimmel "shouldn't have the opportunity" to "spread hate."

Jimmy Kimmel is back in the middle of a political firestorm.

The ABC host drew the ire of Melania Trump after joking Thursday on his late-night show that the first lady "had a glow like an expectant widow." Kimmel told the joke days before a gunman entered the building hosting the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night.

"Kimmel's hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country," Melania Trump wrote on X on Monday morning. "His monologue about my family isn't comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America."

The first lady added that "people like Kimmel shouldn't have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate."

"Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC's leadership enable Kimmel's atrocious behavior at the expense of our community," Melania Trump's post continued.

President Donald Trump seconded his wife's anti-Kimmel sentiment by encouraging Disney to cut ties with the comedian.

"Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday afternoon.

ABC suspended Kimmel's show last fall for comments he made about Charlie Kirk's killer, which drew the condemnation of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Kimmel was reinstated by ABC days later following an outcry from free-speech advocates.

Nexstar and Sinclair, which each own hundreds of local TV stations, initially refused to air "Jimmy Kimmel Live," though they eventually agreed to let their ABC affiliates show it.

Leaders at ABC and Disney, its parent company, now must decide whether to take any action against Kimmel and risk another boycott, or stand behind the comic.

It's the latest challenge for new Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro, who's already dealt with his company's OpenAI deal falling apart and the shelving of a controversy-plagued season of "The Bachelorette."

• A Ukrainian robot maker says long wars may favor cheap, scalable ground systems, not top-of-the-line armor.
• Expensive tanks and armor are limited and slow to replace, while robots can scale fast.
• Using attritable ground robots for some missions could reduce the strain on traditional vehicle stocks.

Ukraine's experience shows Western militaries how major yearslong conflicts can deplete tanks and armored vehicles and why warfighting robots might matter more in the long run, a Ukrainian ground robot maker told Business Insider.

In a long, high-cost conflict, the number of vehicles needed for tasks ranging from combat to logistics could make relying on expensive armored vehicles like tanks unsustainable, Oleg Fedoryshyn, the director of R&D at Ukrainian robotic systems maker DevDroid, said.

These systems are expensive and slower to produce, making it difficult to replace heavy losses, Fedoryshyn said. However, robots, he said, are "quite cheap" and significantly easier to produce and replace if they're destroyed.

Officials in the US and allied militaries have raised concerns that in a prolonged war — particularly against a near-peer adversary like Russia or China — stockpiles of key munitions, including air defense and precision weapons, could be strained. Likewise, vehicle inventories, especially in the age of cheap drone strikes, could suffer heavy attrition in a protracted conflict.

Fedoryshyn's comments align with broader warnings from Western officials that Ukraine's war has highlighted the need for large volumes of cheaper, attritable systems, essentially inexpensive and expendable mass that militaries can fall back on when more traditional assets are damaged or destroyed.

Ukraine has underscored how a war like its fight against Russia's invasion can demand both sophisticated systems and large numbers of expendable ones.

Ukraine fields masses of cheap weaponry. Many of its low-cost drones fail to reach their targets or have a significant impact, but they are deployed at such a scale that they can still eliminate far more expensive systems. High losses are expected — and generally acceptable — because they are cheap and quick to replace.

Ukraine has a growing fleet of ground robots that are used to evacuate injured soldiers, carry weaponry and heavy goods, lay and remove mines, and attack Russian positions with weaponry. These are also expendable. As Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said this month, the focus is on making cheap and effective systems that Ukraine can scale quickly.

Some Western military leaders have also argued the need to manage costs. US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said last year, as the service reevaluated the Robotic Combat Vehicle program, that "we can't sustain a couple-million-dollar piece of equipment that can be taken out with an $800 drone and munition."

The war has highlighted how vulnerable tanks and armored vehicles can be to artillery and cheap drones. Drones costing hundreds of dollars destroyed tanks worth millions. Tanks have adapted with new armor and tactics but remain at risk.

Ground robots are not a perfect replacement for tanks and armored vehicles, and Western militaries likely wouldn't want to entirely replace those traditional assets. Those vehicles have more power to get over tough terrain, provide far more protection for important assets that need to be brought across the battlefield, and can conduct far larger and more impactful attacks.

But ground robots can take over some roles and keep humans safer in the process. They can attack positions with explosives or mounted weapons such as machine guns and grenade launchers. They can also deliver to the front lines.

The latter use is one in which Ukraine is investing heavily. Fedorov said recently that Ukraine's goal is to use ground robots for 100% of front-line logistics missions.

Tanks have seen mixed performance in Ukraine and reduced use after heavy losses. Ukraine is still making and getting some armored vehicles from partner countries and has requested more tanks, but it is increasingly placing far more emphasis on other types of weaponry.

Constant drone surveillance, limited air cover, and limited numbers of tanks have made Ukraine's armored operations more difficult. The more advanced Western militaries might struggle less, but these factors could still pose a challenge, especially if they find themselves in a protracted slog.

Ukraine is betting big on its robots. Fedorov announced last week that Ukraine will contract 25,000 new robots in the first half of this year, which is double what it contracted for all of last year.

Fedoryshyn said that his company is able to quickly make updates and repairs to its robots, including by having teams that stay near the front lines to quickly fix damaged systems or make rapid upgrades to them. That allows for same-day repairs and even recovery of damaged robots from the battlefield.

• Bought a Tesla before 2023? Bad news: your car won't be able to drive itself.
• Elon Musk said last week that vehicles with previous-gen tech can't support full autonomy.
• Longtime Tesla owners told Business Insider they felt let down by the company's announcement.

For years, Tesla sold its EVs with the promise of an autonomous future. Now, some owners face being left behind.

On Tesla's earnings call last Wednesday, Elon Musk said that Tesla vehicles shipped before 2023 — which are equipped with a previous-gen Hardware 3 computer — would not be able to achieve fully unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).

"I wish it were otherwise, but Hardware 3 simply does not have the capability to achieve unsupervised FSD," said Musk.

The billionaire said that Tesla would offer Hardware 3 owners the choice of a "discounted trade-in" or a physical replacement of their car's computer and cameras at "micro factories" in major cities.

The announcement is a major blow for longtime Tesla owners, who paid thousands of dollars and have been waiting for years under the impression that their vehicles have the tech necessary to achieve fully autonomous driving.

As far back as 2016, Tesla stated in marketing materials that all its vehicles had the necessary hardware for "full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver."

In a 2019 tweet, Musk said that all Tesla vehicles produced since 2016 had the right hardware for FSD or were "trivially upgradeable."

"It feels like a bait and switch at this point," Andrew Apperley, who bought a used 2018 Model 3 with FSD for $53,000 in 2023, told Business Insider.

"They kind of shot themselves in the foot by saying that this is going to come, and then it never does," Apperley said, adding that he felt like Hardware 3 customers would find it hard to trust Tesla and Musk's promises in the future after waiting in vain for unsupervised FSD.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Autonomy angst

Rick Flashman, who paid $10,000 for FSD when he bought his Model 3 in 2022, told Business Insider that, despite receiving increasingly generous trade-in offers from Tesla, he was not interested in swapping out his EV for a vehicle with up-to-date hardware.

"My car's in great shape. It's got 73,000 miles, it's driving perfectly, so I have no reason to upgrade it," Flashman said.

The Florida resident said that FSD was one of the main reasons he bought a Tesla, adding that he uses it for "over 90%" of his driving.

Hardware 3 vehicles in the US run a more limited version of FSD, with Tesla planning to release a "lite" variant of FSD version 14 for older vehicles in June.

Despite his car's limited capabilities, Flashman said he was well satisfied with the tech and is happy to wait for the overhaul Musk promised on Wednesday.

"It might take another year, but I'm one of the ones who's just waiting it out," he said.

"I wish it were sooner, obviously. But I don't feel like I was ripped off," Flashman added.

Matt Simmons, a Tesla owner who bought his Model 3 Performance in 2019, told Business Insider he added FSD for an extra $6,000 because he was curious about the hype. Seven years later, he says he rarely uses the feature.

"It kind of sucks, if I'm being honest," said Simmons, who said he doesn't use FSD on highway trips because of issues with the software's speed control.

Simmons said that he was not surprised by Musk's comments, pointing to the Tesla CEO's track record of making ambitious predictions for self-driving cars have often failed to fully pan out.

"We realize we're being strung along at this point," Simmons said.

The Pittsburgh resident described his Tesla as "long paid for" and said he had no intention of trading it in for a more advanced model.

"That would mean I'd have to buy another Tesla," said Simmons, who said he was hoping that rival EV maker Rivian would offer a similar deal for disenfranchised FSD owners.

Backlash goes global

Some Hardware 3 owners are done waiting for the software they paid thousands of dollars for years ago.

Tesla is already facing several lawsuits in the US from owners who say they were misled by the company's FSD marketing, and the backlash is starting to go global.

Earlier this month, Tesla finally received the green light to launch FSD in the Netherlands, marking the tech's debut in Europe after a yearlong campaign to woo regulators.

However, the rollout in the Netherlands excluded Hardware 3 owners, prompting Mischa Sigtermans, an executive at Amsterdam-based Ryde Ventures, to start a website to gather European Tesla owners for potential legal action.

Nearly 4,000 verified Tesla owners have now signed up to Sigtermans' website.

The Model 3 owner, who paid 6,400 euros ($7,530) for FSD in 2019, told Business Insider that Musk's comments confirmed many owners' worst fears, and said that the proposed solution of a discounted trade-in would simply make owners "pay for the same broken promise twice."

"Musk said out loud what many of us have been saying for months, if not years," said Sigtermans. "The admission is there, the solution isn't."

• Jain Global is pivoting to manage money exclusively for Millennium, its founder's former employer.
• Jain Global will return about $6 billion to investors.
• The deal gives Jain Global access to Millennium's resources to accelerate its growth.

In a surprise move, one of the largest hedge fund launches in recent memory is returning money to its investors and striking a deal to invest exclusively for industry titan Millennium Management.

Nearly two years after launching with $5.3 billion in commitments from high-profile investors, including the sovereign wealth funds Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and GIC, Bobby Jain's multistrategy firm, Jain Global, is making a major pivot. The firm will now only manage money for a single client — Jain's former employer, Millennium — according to an internal memo seen by Business Insider and sources with direct knowledge of the deal.

Jain Global, which has six offices and over 400 employees — half of whom are investment professionals — will retain its independence while gaining access to Millennium's platform and resources in a deal that's expected to close in the coming months, according to the memo.

"Under the proposed agreement, Millennium will have exclusive access to the full investment capacity of Jain Global's multi-strategy business," the memo from president and chief operating officer Ajay Nagpal reads. "Jain Global will remain an independent firm, retaining its own investment processes, operating model and talent base."

The deal, which was first reported by Bloomberg, is expected to close in the third quarter, one of the sources said. Representatives for Millennium and Jain declined to comment.

A buzzy hedge fund launch hit by big costs

Jain Global launched in 2024 with enormous ambitions, creating a multistrategy giant from scratch. It manages $6 billion across seven business lines and trades a sweeping array of strategies and asset classes. It has struggled to deliver returns for investors almost from the get-go, under the weight of hefty startup costs.

Jain Global has gained $1.3 billion in gross revenue since inception, according to an investor familiar with the figures. But investors, including bank wealth management platforms and university endowments like UTIMCO, have seen only a fraction of that amount.

Jain gained just 0.5% in six months of trading in 2024. In 2025, its first full year of trading, it produced a net return of 3.7%, trailing its peers as pass-through expenses ate into gross returns in the mid-teens, Business Insider first reported. Multistrat peers delivered double-digit gains each of the last two years on average, according to a benchmark from industry research firm PivotalPath.

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC requested to redeem $250 million earlier this year.

Why its swapping investors for Millennium

Part of the deal rationale is accelerating Jain's growth while helping mitigate some of its costs, unlocking what both parties believe is a promising investment foundation. Jain plans to hire 15 additional portfolio managers by year's end, a person familiar with the matter said.

"The way we have structured our business, our processes, our risk — it all rhymes with Millennium's. That makes this as smooth a transition as possible," Jain, who was co-CIO of Millennium from 2016 to 2022, told staff on an internal call Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

"For Jain Global, this partnership unlocks the full platform advantages of Millennium, including our infrastructure, resources and stable longer-term capital structure," the Millennium memo says. "We collectively believe this partnership will materially accelerate Jain Global's growth while reinforcing the attributes which have contributed to its early success."

Millennium, one of the world's largest hedge funds at $84 billion in assets under management, has in recent becomes one of the most significant backers of external hedge fund talent, seeding experienced investors with capital, often through separately managed accounts.

A deal with the size and structure proposed with Jain is more rare, echoing its arrangement with WorldQuant, Igor Tulchinsky's systematic spin-out.

Jain was down 2.7% this year through March, but had clawed back in April to a 0.6% gain, Business Insider has learned. A Jain spokesman declined to comment on company performance.

• After going on over 20 cruises in the last 10 years, I've picked up some unconventional tips.
• A roll of duct tape is easy enough to pack and comes in handy for small emergencies.
• I also like to book spa appointments on port days because they tend to be cheaper.

I've been on over 20 cruises in the last decade, and always have another one on the horizon.

Throughout the years, I've accumulated an array of helpful travel tips, but my favorite hacks go beyond the usual advice like downloading the cruise line's app and packing a lanyard.

Here are five unconventional cruise tips I swear by that make life on board easier, more comfortable, and more cost-effective. 

I always pack a roll of duct tape, which can fix almost everything.

I always add duct tape to my list of things to pack because it's easy to bring and comes in handy for small emergencies.

For example, I've used it to repair a broken suitcase in a pinch or to bind flip-flops back together long enough to limp to the gift shop to buy a replacement pair.

On one recent cruise, I even used it to cover the motion sensor on the light in our room, which turned on automatically whenever someone walked between the bed and the bathroom.

Though a motion-sensor hall light was convenient in theory, we didn't want to wake each other up if we got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. We just made sure to remove the tape before we left.

For an elevated shower experience, I like to visit the gym.

In my experience, cruise ship bathrooms are designed to be efficient, not spacious. The small shower gets the job done, but it's definitely cramped, especially if you're a bigger person.

I've found that the showers in the gym are almost always larger and sometimes have additional bathroom amenities, such as mouthwash and elevated bath towels.

Doing laundry on board makes packing for longer cruises much easier.

There's usually a laundry or ironing room tucked away on deck for guests. I always make use of these rooms, as washing clothes mid-trip is a great way to minimize how much I need to pack.

Cruise cabins are small, and storage space is limited, so doing laundry on board is the perfect solution.

Plus, I've found these rooms are a surprisingly good place to meet interesting people.

I like to book spa appointments on port days.

Port days are often quieter on the ship because most passengers are ashore exploring.

If I'm not excited about a particular stop or I've visited it before, I consider staying on board and going to the spa instead.

On sea days, it can be tough to book a facial or massage, but on port days, I've found the schedule tends to be much more open. There are often money-saving specials, too, and the relaxation rooms feel so much more peaceful.

I rarely book a room with a balcony.

In my opinion, a room with a balcony isn't essential unless you're on an Alaskan cruise, where being able to take in the scenery is important.

On my first cruise, a travel agent told me I "had" to book a room with a balcony, and that once I did, I'd never be able to cruise in an interior cabin again. However, I don't think that's true.

I love a luxe stateroom as much as the next person, but I've had just as much fun on cruises where we've booked the cheapest cabin without any windows.

This story was originally published on November 21, 2025, and most recently updated on April 27, 2026.

• The Sunday print edition of the Times made no mention of the White House Correspondents' dinner shooting.
• Some critics online called the omission intentional.
• The Times said it sent its Sunday edition to press at 8 p.m. on Saturday night, before the shooting took place.

At 8:36 p.m. on Saturday night, shots were fired outside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents' Dinner was well underway. It marked the third time in three years that President Donald Trump faced the threat of assassination.

That news, however, did not make The New York Times' Sunday paper.

The Times covered the shooting extensively on its website. For its Sunday print edition, however, the next day's news had already been set when the shooting occurred, setting it up for a backlash from its critics, who believed it was intentional.

"This seemed so outrageous (even for the NYT) that I wanted to verify it," Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire wrote on X alongside a photo of the Times' Sunday paper. "I went and got a physical copy and took this photo. The shooting was at 8:34pm ET on Saturday night. Is this not enough time to get the story in print?"

While some news outlets can make changes to their print editions until late at night, or even the early morning, the Times said in an X post responding to the backlash that its Sunday print edition "goes to press at 8pm Saturday."

A spokesperson told Business Insider that there are no more Sunday print editions and that the shooting will be featured on the front page of Monday's print edition.

"The print edition is an anachronism for old fogies like me who still like newsprint," one X user responded to Maguire. "If you want the latest news, you know where to go."

• At first, in-game purchases felt like such a waste of money to me.
• Letting my son spend his money was an effective and safe way to help him make financial decisions.
• Open conversation, rather than control, is helping us encourage his independence.

When we first stepped into the world of kid-oriented apps and online gaming, my husband and I saw in-game purchases as nothing more than buying nothing.

Our 11-year-old son has always been careful with his money, perhaps to a fault. As he grew increasingly willing to spend more and more of his allowance on Robux, V-bucks, and Minecoins, we were alarmed.

The whole thing irks me. I really struggle with virtual "cosmetic" purchases. Buying Skins, special emotes (expressions and dance moves, I think?), and expensive Nikes for your avatar?

I can't wrap my frugal mind around it.

At first, we tried to steer our son away from gaming purchases. We talked about the lure of instant gratification and impulse buying. But we also listened to his side of the story. And we realized this was simply a world we did not understand.

In the end, our son's logic about his gaming purchases helped us hand him the reins to make his own spending decisions.

Gaming purchases encouraged our son's financial responsibility

We give our two kids an allowance of $5 a week. Their only other source of money comes from relatives' gifts. Our main purpose with allowance is to let them practice spending their own money, make their own mistakes, and learn how they want to interact with money in adulthood.

While our son is tirelessly methodical, our younger daughter lives for a blind box. As with everything else, our parental approach to their spending varies between them.

With a few years of making his own spending decisions under his belt, our son has grown skeptical of gimmicky offers that require urgency and any deal that sounds too good to be true. He is getting a taste of the real world in the digital age.

He's become more strategic with his money, too. Fortnite recently increased the price of V-bucks — its in-game currency — so our son asked for my advice on his plan to stock up before the price jump. I told him that is exactly what I would do if I knew the price of something I love was about to go up. He decided to spend a little more than he normally would, reasoning it was better to buy now to save later.

Since we don't pay for any gaming-related purchases outside Christmas or birthday presents, our son also budgets for an annual $80 PlayStation Plus subscription, which he researched as the cheapest option. It's a cost he has to cover to do what matters to him.

I believe these in-game decisions now will pay off in adulthood.

When we stopped policing our son's gaming purchases, it made it easier to have open conversations about money. He is proud to tell us about his purchases and sees them as savvy decisions. When he makes a mistake, we strive to meet him with respect and support, without fixing it for him.

It's in these conversations that I've realized that gaming is an essential part of our son's social life. Most of his purchasing decisions revolve around gaming with friends — from the PS5 subscription to buying the latest game his friends are playing, and even gifting skins or Roblox items to friends so they can have more fun together.

Thinking about it this way, it makes sense that he would rather spend money on gaming than on the toy aisle. And really, is one any more gimmicky than the other?

When I asked him what he would advise other parents to do for their kids, he said, "Remember that it's not just silly little outfits or superficial things. Sometimes it can buy fun experiences. So if they're spending their own money, let them go nuts. They'll find consequences sooner or later."

Much to our surprise, in-game purchases are teaching our son that spending money on experiences with others — even virtual ones — is often more worthwhile than spending money on stuff. That's a value my husband and I have built our lives on, and one I'm glad our son is learning on his own.

• Trump and other officials were safely evacuated from the annual press dinner.
• Business leaders, including UFC CEO Dana White, were in the room.
• Here's what execs are saying about the incident.

Chaos broke out at Saturday night's annual White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, DC, after multiple gunshots were heard in the ballroom.

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and a host of protectees, including the vice president and multiple Cabinet members, were ushered to safety, the Secret Service said.

Trump said in a press conference following the incident that a Secret Service agent was shot in his bulletproof vest.

The suspect is in custody, and investigations are ongoing.

Here's what people in the big leagues of business are saying about the incident.

Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO

Musk reposted an X post from the White House, which included a statement from Trump.

"'In light of this evening's events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully.' - President Donald J. Trump," the tweet read.

Musk became a particularly vocal Trump backer after the July 2024 assassination attempt at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In 2025, the two hit a relationship rough patch and traded some barbs, but they have been cordial at public events since.

Dana White, UFC CEO

White was a guest at the dinner and was in the room when chaos broke out.

"It was fucking awesome. I literally took every minute of it in. It was a pretty crazy, unique experience," White was seen saying in a video posted on X by MMAJunkie, part of USA Today's sports desk.

Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide

Thompson sent a memo to all CNN staffers after the incident, according to screenshots of the memo posted to X by Brian Stelter, the network's chief media analyst.

Thompson highlighted the CNN team's real-time response and on-the-ground reporting as the shooting unfolded.

"We know this was a frightening and disruptive situation for those in the room, and for your colleagues and loved ones watching live on CNN. Moments like this can stay with you in ways that aren't necessarily immediate or obvious," Thompson wrote.

"Please take care of yourselves and one another," he added.

Luther Lowe, head of public policy at Y Combinator

Lowe is married to Weijia Jiang, the CBS journalist who chairs the White House Correspondents' Association. Jiang got her share of accolades from media peers and viewers alike for her poise under pressure — she was onstage next to Trump during the shooting, and took a front-row seat in the briefing room after.

"So proud of @weijia. She was on the stage less than an hour ago presiding over the abrupt end of the dinner and now she's in the front row of the White House briefing room waiting to for the President to speak," Lowe wrote.

Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, cofounders of Kalshi

The cofounders of the popular predictions market attended the event together.

"This was Luana and I's first White House Correspondents Dinner. The moment was scary, but the dinner until then was a great gathering of people from all sides," Mansour wrote on X.

"Grateful for law enforcement and that the President and everyone is safe," Mansour said, giving a shoutout to CBS's Jiang, too.

Lara thanked Mansour on X for pulling her under the table to keep her safe.

"If your co-founder isn't protecting you in a shooting situation, find another one," she wrote.

Bilal Zuberi, founder of VC firm Red Glass Ventures

"Pretty scary that our most important leaders of the government were at risk today. President Trump, Vice President Pence, and House Speaker Johnson were all in that room," Zuberi wrote on X.

"From multiple attacks against our president to attacks against politicians around the country, to attacks on politicians and leadership around the world - these are abhorrent, and people everywhere should vehemently oppose and condemn them!" the tech investor added.

Gary Tan, president and CEO of Y Combinator

"I mean… I was definitely under the table. In a shooter situation, you want to be as low as possible," Y Combinator president and CEO, Garry Tan, wrote on X on Sunday.

"As I was under the table with other attendees, Marco Rubio pushed my chair out of the way making a fast exit with Secret Service. I now know we were in no serious danger but in that moment I wondered how many shooters there were and what would mean for 2,000 people in that room."

• A suspect in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting is in custody.
• Photos of the suspect posted by Trump appear to match those on the LinkedIn profile for Cole Allen.
• Allen is a Caltech graduate, an indie video game developer, and a teacher, according to the profile.

Photos of the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter posted online by President Donald Trump on Saturday night appear to match the LinkedIn profile of Cole Allen.

Multiple outlets, including the Associated Press, have reported that Allen is the suspect now in custody. Business Insider was not able to independently confirm the suspect's identity. Authorities have not yet publicly identified the suspect by name.

Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the suspect left a "manifesto" that called for the targeting of Trump administration officials.

Here's what we know so far.

Allen, 31, is a resident of Torrance, California. Police conducted a raid on a home in Torrance overnight. Allen describes himself on his LinkedIn as a "mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth."

His current job is listed as part-time teacher at C2 Education, which provides "personalized support designed to improve test scores, strengthen academic skills, and help students reach their full potential."

Allen has been in the role for six years, according to his LinkedIn profile, while also independently designing and building video games, including one he calls "Bohrdom." Allen described the game online as "a skill-based, non-violent asymmetrical fighting game loosely derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality."

He graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He then earned his master's in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also held a summer student fellowship at NASA in 2014, where he worked at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Jeffrey Carroll, the interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, said during a press conference after the shooting on Saturday night that Allen was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives when he tried to bypass a security checkpoint at the event.

In a video Trump posted to his TruthSocial account, the shooter can be seen running at full speed past security officers.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Margaret Brennan on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday morning that the shooter traveled from Los Angeles to Chicago to DC by train. Blanche also said that the shooter was not cooperating with law enforcement.

Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, said the defendant has been charged with two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of assault on a law enforcement officer using a dangerous weapon. He will be arraigned on Monday.

• My husband and I remodeled our 600-square-foot kitchen into an open-concept space.
• We took down walls, added windows, and replaced the cabinets to make the room feel lighter.
• After the three-month renovation, I filled the room with bright, coastal-inspired decor.

Shortly after my husband and I returned from our honeymoon, we moved from a New York City apartment to a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house we bought in Greenwich, Connecticut.

It wasn't a turnkey property — the white picket fence and bountiful rose garden I'd always envisioned were nowhere to be found — but it had potential.

The kitchen, in particular, needed extensive work.

Rather than writing off its harvest-gold linoleum floors, Formica countertops, and brown cabinets that looked straight out of the '80s, we viewed the dated interior as an opportunity for improvement.

So my husband and I rolled up our sleeves and renovated the kitchen, ultimately transforming it into a bright, coastal-inspired room at the center of our home.

We designed the room and completed the demolition, insulation, drywall, and trim ourselves (with some help from my dad) and hired a kitchen designer to install new cabinets and a countertop.

It was our first renovation project, so we felt extremely excited and accomplished when we finished and admired the results.

Our goal was to turn the dated kitchen into an open-concept, multipurpose room.

As we designed the space, we knew we didn't want it to have a traditional kitchen feel.

Our goal was to put together a warm, inviting room with an open floor plan where we could seamlessly cook, eat, relax, and entertain.

Because the front door opens directly into the room, it sets the tone for the home as soon as we walk in. Every detail mattered, and we had to carefully balance both aesthetics and functionality.

Before starting the renovation, we decided on our priorities.

To get an idea of how much we'd spend during the renovation, we listed all of our desired changes, from our must-have appliances to our wish list of finishing touches.

Our sights were set on a white cast-iron farmhouse sink, a high-end refrigerator, a custom farm table, and the quietest dishwasher we could find.

Of course, the project required more than just filling up our shopping cart. To create the open floor plan we designed, we had to take down several walls, including one that was load-bearing. We also added new windows and glass farmhouse doors to bring more natural sunlight into the space.

Other major expenses to plan for included electrical work, plumbing, insulation, drywall, flooring, kitchen cabinetry, hardware, countertops, a stove, and eventually new furniture.

Making so many decisions at once felt overwhelming, but we were determined to keep our three-month timeline on track and stick to our budget.

The cabinets were the centerpiece of the room.

We removed the dated brown cabinets from the studs and swapped them out for bright white, Shaker-style ones with honey-bronze hardware.

Before we even made it to this step, I'd already planned to showcase my favorite Anthropologie plates and glasses inside a few glass cabinets.

When it came time to furnish and decorate, we chose multifunctional pieces with a coastal-cottage aesthetic.

Although construction took three months, we needed a bit more time to get the space ready for guests.

The room is only about 600 square feet, so we had to be intentional with the space if we wanted it to look clean and uncluttered.

On the wall opposite the cabinets, we installed an arched glass buffet. It provides plenty of storage and doubles as a surface for serving guests.

The furniture we selected is all light in color and extremely practical.

Instead of a traditional island, we opted for a custom farm table in a natural beachy wood finish that could serve as a dining surface and prep area. On top of it sits an oversized charcuterie board, a practical and aesthetically pleasing piece.

We removed the wood-burning fireplace and opted for a modern gas unit, complete with driftwood logs. We styled the area in front with shiplap and white marble tiles.

For seating, we decided on a cozy sectional, statement chair, and plush ottoman that doubles as a coffee table.

The finishing touches really brought our vision to life.

The wide farmhouse-style trim throughout the space and around the windows ties the aesthetic together.

I also always have fresh flowers from my garden in a vase and beach-themed candles on my arched cabinet buffet.

Once one of our least favorite rooms in the house, the kitchen is now the space of our dreams.

Our charming, quaint main room is everything I hoped it would be. I spend every day in our open-concept kitchen and wouldn't have it any other way.

It serves as both my workspace and a calming oasis. I now have a space where I can be productive, experiment with new recipes, entertain family and friends, or simply relax in front of the fireplace.

Whether I'm coming home from a trip or a day of errands, I breathe a sigh of relief the moment I step inside the front door. Enjoying my morning espresso in the sunlight pouring through the windows gives me pure joy.

The results are worth every penny we spent and each hour of our hard work.

• Texas has become one of the top destinations for movers in the US.
• Its business-friendly climate and lower cost of living attract people from all walks of life.
• Supermodel Bella Hadid and actor James Marsden are among the celebrities who have moved to Texas.

Texas is popular for many reasons.

The second-largest US state is the birthplace of the iconic musician Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter as well as NFL star Michael Strahan and actresses Selena Gomez and Reneé Zellweger.

It's also home to a beloved football team, the Dallas Cowboys, and internationally famous festivals including South by Southwest (SXSW).

Beyond its cultural significance, Texas has a reputation for its affordability, largely due to its relatively lower cost of living and absence of state income tax. This personal finance appeal, combined with a business-friendly environment, has attracted entrepreneurs and their companies over the years.

Word has gotten out — and cities in the Lone Star State often lead lists of top places Americans are moving to.

According to a Business Insider analysis of individual-level data from the Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey, over 668,300 people moved to Texas between 2021 and 2022, the most recent time period for which data is available. This makes Texas the second-most popular destination in the US for movers, just behind Florida, which had about 739,000 inbound movers during the same period.

Several celebrities are among the hordes of movers to Texas. This reflects a broader trend of wealth realignment in the United States, where even the proverbial Joneses are moving to areas where their money goes further and the weather is more favorable.

Consider supermodel Bella Hadid, who moved to Fort Worth, Texas, this year to live with her professional horseman boyfriend, Adan Banuelos. Roseanne Barr and comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan have decamped from LA to Austin in recent years.

Many other stars have also relocated to Texas.

Business Insider has compiled a list of 16 notable celebrities and businesspeople who have moved themselves — and in some cases, their businesses — to the Lone Star State.

The list is presented in alphabetical order by last name.

Roseanne Barr traded the Hollywood Hills for 30 acres in Texas Hill Country.

Roseanne Barr's son, Jake Pentland, told Us Weekly in June 2025 that his famous mother had traded the Hollywood Hills for Texas Hill Country, a region in central Texas that includes cities like Austin and New Braunfels.

"My mom lives with me, my wife, and my two daughters — she's the best grandma," Pentland told the magazine.

In a separate June interview with Fox News Digital, Barr said living in Texas is a "dream come true" and described what her new life looks like.

"I'm doing a lot of mowing. I've got a really fantastic tractor out here, and I'm mowing," Barr said. "The only problem is I don't clear the trees quite as good as I should, and I'm always hitting a tree and knocking it over, and it always hits me in the head."

Haylie Duff admitted it took a while to realize she could still have an acting career without living in LA.

A native of Texas, Duff decided with her fiancé Matt Rosenberg to pack up the kids and leave California once the pandemic hit.

At first, she was nervous that the move would hurt her career.

"I think so much of my fear of moving out of Los Angeles was that my career was there and that I would never work again or something like that," she told Fox News Digital in 2022. "And, you know, I think this has all taught us that Zoom certainly can be a very powerful tool. And we can, you know, very luckily for me, get to continue to work from here, and I get to live near my dad. I haven't lived, here, near my dad in a really long time."

Scott Eastwood loves living in Texas because it "slows life down."

The son of Clint Eastwood, Scott has been methodically building his own career, showing up in the "Fast and Furious" franchise and Guy Ritchie movies.

During his downtime in Texas, he does everything from fishing to hunting.

"I think that's why people who come to Texas really can fall in love with it," he told Flaunt in 2021 from his home in Austin. "There's more community, people are more neighborly, people are nice. It slows life down a little bit. It's not this fast-paced living in a big city like New York or Los Angeles."

Adrian Grenier's acting career is thriving in Texas.

In 2020, "Entourage" and "The Devil Wears Prada" star Adrian Grenier left the Hollywood Hills for a 46-acre sustainable ranch in Bastrop, Texas, a city about a 40-minute drive southeast of Austin.

While in Texas, Grenier has continued acting and most recently appeared in the short film "Self Custody," about a struggling father who loses a cryptocurrency fortune. The film was shot in Austin, near his home.

In an interview with Page Six in March, Grenier said Texas' burgeoning film and television industry will keep him in the state.

"There's $2.5 billion that the Texas state government just put into film and television projects in Texas," Grenier said. "They're building three movie studios not too far from me. I don't see any reason why we wouldn't just continue to film in Texas."

Bella Hadid said she moved to Texas for her health.

After spending most of her life jet-setting around the world trying to conquer the modeling industry, Hadid decided recently to take some time away from the spotlight.

In early 2024, she spoke to Allure about moving to Texas to focus on her mental and physical health (she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease in 2013), and be with her cowboy boyfriend Adan Banuelos.

"Just as I have styled myself for years now — which I still do — I love being able to do my own hair and makeup, be happy with how I look, and get ready with my girlfriends here in Texas," Hadid told Allure. "We have the best time, and I never feel like I need to do too much."

"For the first time now, I'm not putting on a fake face. If I don't feel good, I won't go. If I don't feel good, I take time for myself. And I've never had the opportunity to do that or say that before," Hadid added. "Now when anybody sees me in pictures and they say I look happy, I genuinely am. I am feeling better; my bad days now were my old good days."

Woody Harrelson is lobbying to make Texas a production hub for film and television.

Harrelson lived in Hawaii for many years before moving back to his home state of Texas in 2023.

Now in the Lone Star State and living just outside Austin, the actor has lobbied alongside longtime friend Matthew McConaughey to make Texas a hub for film and television production.

In 2025, the Texas House approved Senate Bill 22, which provides $300 million every two years through 2035 to support the local film industry.

50 Cent is a New Yorker, but his primary residence is in Texas.

In 2021, the rapper-turned-television producer and entrepreneur announced on X that he was living in Houston.

Since James Marsden moved to Texas, he lives closer to his mother.

The star has enjoyed visiting Austin for decades but finally decided to live there in 2020.

"I love it. I've been coming here for 20 years," he told "Live with Kelly and Ryan" in 2020. "I'm much closer to my mom and everybody. I love it. It's great."

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick traded California for Texas.

The former Uber CEO announced on the daily live video and audio podcast TBPN in March that he had moved to Texas in December 2025.

Kalanick joins a slew of tech billionaires, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who have left California for greener pastures.

Keith Lee fell in love with Dallas' restaurants.

The former mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter turned TikTok food critic has set up shop in Texas.

After living in Las Vegas, Lee relocated to Texas in November 2024. In a December video reviewing the downtown Dallas restaurant The Wicked Butcher, he revealed that he now lives in Dallas.

"One thing I do love about the Dallas food scene — we've been here a month, a month and a half — they do have some nice fine dining restaurants," Lee said.

Matthew McConaughey wanted to be closer to family.

Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey and wife Camila Alves settled in Austin in 2012 after buying a 10,800-square-foot mansion.

According to a 2024 profile in Southern Living, the move to Texas was initially because of a "family crisis," when he needed to help his mother and two brothers. The couple decided to stay put and raise their three children there.

"Ritual came back," McConaughey said of being back in Texas. "Whether that was Sunday church, sports, dinner together as a family every night, or staying up after that telling stories in the kitchen, sitting at the island pouring drinks and nibbling while retelling them all in different ways than we told them before."

Elon Musk moved to Texas and brought his companies with him.

In July, Elon Musk vowed to move two of his companies, X and SpaceX, out of California and into Texas. He already moved Telsa to Texas in 2021.

In 2020, Musk announced that he had already moved to Texas himself at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council summit.

Musk has claimed to own a tiny home in Texas, and records show he bought a house in Austin in 2022.

Shaquille O'Neal has been buying up properties in North Texas.

In 2022, O'Neal bought a 5,269-square-foot home in Carrollton listed at $1,224,000 and sold it in 2024 for an undisclosed amount, though it was listed for $1.7 million, according to Realtor.com.

That year, Chexy Trust, tied to the Carrollton purchase, bought a 4,670-square-foot home in Rockwall County. In 2024, O'Neal opened a branch of his Big Chicken chain restaurant in Fort Worth.

As his footprint in the region grows, he told WFAA he plans to make the area his home base.

"I'm 75% going to move here full time," O'Neal said in June. "I have to see what's going on with TNT next year, but based on that, you'll probably be seeing a lot more of me."

Glen Powell got tired of the lack of freedom living in Los Angeles.

The "Twisters" star, who is also a native Texan, moved back to Austin from Los Angeles recently to be close to his family and for his own mental health.

"When all you do is consume movies and entertainment, you could become a little self-aware and maybe derivative of yourself," Powell told USA Today. "Your personal life, there's no sort of freedom there, there's storytelling around that, and I feel like that's just not good for you on the long term."

Jared Padalecki has a soft spot for Austin.

Padalecki ditched Hollywood for Texas before it was a trend. The "Supernatural" star, a San Antonio native, relocated from Los Angeles to Austin with his wife, Genevieve, in 2012.

In an Instagram video taken on Austin's 24th Street in 2020, he explained why he loves the city so much.

"Austin brings me a warmth and a happiness and a peace that I have been unable to find anywhere else in my travels," Padalecki said. "I love being here."

Christine Quinn's return to her home state has brought her closer to her family.

In 2025, former "Selling Sunset" star Christine Quinn relocated to her home state of Texas after splitting from her ex-husband, tech entrepreneur Christian Dumontet.

Quinn now lives in a suburb outside Dallas with her young son, Christian.

"I am really, really grateful to be living here," Quinn told People in January, adding that she's happy to be closer to family. "I have a sister who lives really close to me, and my son has a cousin. So it's really something that I needed as opposed to the chaos when I was in Los Angeles."

Joe Rogan ended up in Texas once the pandemic hit.

Like many other celebs, Rogan left Los Angeles once the pandemic hit.

In a 2023 episode of his popular podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," he explained why he ended up in Texas.

"Then we went to the lake, and people are playing music and jumping in the water," said Rogan, adding that his kids "were like, 'We want to live here!'"

"That was it. Two months later, I lived here," he said in the podcast episode.

Jamie Lynn Sigler has felt more connected to her craft since moving to Texas.

"The Sopranos" star moved to Austin in 2021 with her family, husband Cutter Dykstra, and sons Beau and Jack.

"I almost feel more connected to my craft and why I love acting," Sigler told The New York Times in 2021. "When the calls come in, it's a beautiful surprise. I'm still on things and I'm still a businesswoman and it's still my career, but I don't feel the pressure around it because we took a stand for ourselves and we made decisions for our families."

• My 70-year-old grandmother has been one of my biggest fashion inspirations.
• At 23, I still draw on her lessons as I get dressed, whether I'm wearing something casual or formal.
• She's taught me that clothes should be comfortable, practical, and confidence-boosting.

In many ways, my grandmother raised me.

We spent countless days together, and her face is at the center of some of my fondest childhood memories. She's one of the greatest influences in my life, shaping everything from how I see the world to how I dress.

Even as a 23-year-old, I admire her sense of style. Throughout her life, she's built an elegant wardrobe that draws from trends without necessarily following them.

At 70 years old, she continues to inspire me. Whenever I open my wardrobe to choose an outfit, I carry one of her invaluable lessons with me.

One of her core beliefs is that accessories should add to an outfit, not overwhelm it

I love accessories, often throwing on chunky jewelry, layering bold pieces, and stacking belts on my hips. Although my grandmother appreciates outfit embellishments, she's taught me to approach them with intention. They should add to an outfit, not overpower it.

For example, she isn't afraid to incorporate a pop of color — as long as it matches her accessories, from her bag to her shoes to her belt.

She's also strategic about her jewelry, choosing pieces based on her neckline and hairstyle that day. Her go-to earrings? Versatile medium-sized hoops, which are big enough to be visible under a range of hairstyles without dominating a look.

Now, my favorite everyday earrings are silver hoops. Every time I put them on, I feel like they brighten me up.

Although I play around with maximalist, trend-forward pieces, I stick to my grandmother's rules when I want to look elegant and timeless.

She taught me that walking with confidence can upgrade an outfit

My grandmother has always told me that picking out beautiful pieces is just the first step in putting together a great outfit. The way I carry myself when I'm wearing it can make or break a look.

I have vivid memories of her instructing me to walk in a straight line with my shoulders back, stepping with one leg in front of the other. I felt like I was balancing books on my head.

Over the years, walking with confidence has become second nature, whether I'm wearing a dress and heels or a sweatsuit and sneakers. She was right: It does make my clothes look better.

Even when my grandmother has dealt with health issues that affect her movements, she's always followed her own advice, walking straight with her head held high and shoulders back.

Her wardrobe is built on staple pieces that are practical and make her feel good

My grandmother has never been one to experiment much with clothes. I'm hard-pressed to remember a time when she wasn't wearing simple garments like straight pants, sweaters, tight long-sleeve T-shirts, or loose short-sleeve T-shirts.

She found her practical, elegant style when she was in high school and stayed true to it through every stage of life.

She gravitates toward easy-to-wear pieces that move with her and fit her body well. To her, clothes are meant to be worn, so they have to look and make her feel good in order to secure a spot in her closet.

For the past five years, I've focused on emulating her wardrobe. Every item I buy has to look good, feel nice on my body, and be practical.

When she layers, she makes sure the pieces complement each other

My grandmother has taught me that layering well requires more than throwing on multiple garments and calling it a day. The pieces have to be harmonious.

She has a way of looking elegant even as she combines unlikely pieces. When she's cold, I see her drape a long wool coat over her shoulders, throw on a pair of leather gloves, and tie a silk scarf around her neck.

Her base is always simple and cohesive, creating the perfect foundation for a layered outfit.

I've never been a big fan of layering clothes, but I use the same approach when choosing accessories. I start with a plain base layer before adding small, complementary pieces. I put thought into each one and consider how it works with the overall look.

My grandmother knows that wrinkles can ruin even the most stylish outfit

Growing up, my mom often insisted that I iron my clothes — later, I learned that the advice stemmed from my grandmother, who often shared it with her when she was young.

After all, even the best outfit can look messy if it's wrinkled.

In my family, crisp lines and smooth sleeves symbolize self-respect and elegance. Now, I follow their advice and never leave the house without ironing my clothes.

• The suspect traveled from Los Angeles to Washington by train with two guns, an official said.
• President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were evacuated and are safe.
• The accused man will be formally charged in federal court on Monday.

The suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner traveled from Los Angeles to Washington by train and checked into the hotel where the event was held — with two guns and a plan to target Trump administration officials, the nation's top prosecutor said on Sunday.

"We know that there were some writings, and we've already spoken with several witnesses who knew him," Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general, said on NBC News' "Meet the Press."

Blanche stressed several times during the interview that the information about the suspect, widely identified by media citing law enforcement officials as Cole Allen, was "very preliminary."

Blanche said the suspect will be formally charged in federal court on Monday morning and faces at least two felonies — assault on a federal officer and discharging a firearm during that assault — that relate to a Secret Service agent who was shot at but protected by his armored vest.

No one else was injured during the chaotic incident at the Washington Hilton, where hundreds of journalists and government officials — including Trump, the first lady, Vice President JD Vance, and House Speaker Mike Johnson — were gathered for the annual celebration of a free press.

The shooting has raised questions about the level of security at the event, which Trump boycotted in his first term and last year. He was quickly hustled off stage and evacuated to the White House after the shots rang out.

A security video posted by Trump on Truth Social hours after the shooting showed an individual running past security officers outside the main doors of the event. Officers in the video could be seen trying to grab the man, then drawing their weapons and pointing their guns at him.

In a press conference following the incident, Trump said a Secret Service agent was shot in his bulletproof vest and said that "he's in great shape."

What we know about the suspect

Photos of the shooter posted online by Trump on Saturday night appear to match the LinkedIn profile and other photos of Allen. Authorities have not publicly named him, and Business Insider has not independently confirmed his identity.

Allen, 31, of Torrance, describes himself on his LinkedIn as a "mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth."

His current job is listed as part-time tutor at C2 Education, which provides "personalized support designed to improve test scores, strengthen academic skills, and help students reach their full potential." He graduated from CalTech in 2017 and earned his master's in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025.

Jeffrey Carroll, the interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said in a press conference following the president's remarks that the suspect was armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives when he tried to bypass a security checkpoint at the event.

The suspect was not struck by gunfire and was transported to a hospital for evaluation, Carroll said.

In remarks after the incident, Trump described the suspect as a "sick person" who had been "totally subdued and under control."

Inside the room when the shooting occurred

The incident occurred after 8:30 p.m. Friday night, shortly after Trump took his seat.

There was suddenly shouting in front of the stage, according to Tim Röhn, the senior editor of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, who attended the event. Business Insider is part of the network.

Röhn reported that pushing and chaos broke out, people started running, guests threw themselves to the floor, and hid under tables. From behind the curtains onstage, heavily armed officers emerged and pointed their rifles at the crowd.

Guests needed a screenshot of an invitation to gain access to the premises and the building, Röhn reported. Photo ID wasn't required. Inside, Secret Service agents patrolled in some areas with dogs, and there was an airport-style security checkpoint in front of the ballroom. Jackets did not need to be removed for security checks.

CBS senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said law enforcement had requested that everyone leave the premises "consistent with protocol," and that Trump "insists" the event be rescheduled within 30 days.

Röhn reported that, following Jiang's remarks, attendees started leaving the venue.

Suspect to be arraigned on Monday

Blanche said law enforcement had worked through the night to piece together information about the suspect and had obtained warrants to examine his devices in their search for a motive.

"We believe he was targeting administration officials in this attack," Blanche told "Meet the Press," adding, "Obviously, President Trump is a member of the administration."

He added, "It does appear he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president, but I want to wait and not get ahead of us on that."

Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, who was at the dinner, said at a press conference that her office would consider terrorism charges if the investigation revealed evidence sufficient to sustain them.

Responding to reporters' questions during his press conference, Trump advocated for the man to be sentenced to life in prison.

'Praying for our country tonight'

Until the start of the event, it was unclear when Trump would appear and how long he would stay.

Though Trump appeared as a private citizen and media personality in 2011 and 2015, he boycotted the White House Correspondents' Dinner during his first term.

The Washington Hilton hotel, long the site of the annual dinner, is where President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in a 1981 assassination attempt, just steps outside the hotel after addressing a labor gathering.

Trump was the target of two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign, including a shooting at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left him injured, and a separate incident at one of his Florida golf courses in which a suspect was apprehended and later sentenced to life in prison.

• Zachary Biss moved from the Tampa Bay area to Lisbon seeking a new lifestyle.
• Biss chose to take a cruise instead of flying and was able to bring more items with him.
• Biss appreciates the slower pace of life in Portugal and anticipates saving more money on bills.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Zachary Biss, 29, a musician from St. Petersburg, Florida, who moved with his girlfriend, Marina, to Portugal by boat. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a full-time musician. Back in the States, I played gigs at bars and restaurants with my guitar, singing and playing covers for a living.

I've always had the same job in music, and over time, I was able to play all my gigs and have enough money at the end of the month to put away in savings and invest in stocks.

That allowed me to buy a house in Florida in 2019. I was really proud that I was able to make that happen.

Ever since I moved into the house, I've kept a budget down to the penny, and the expenses got absolutely insane.

My electric bill roughly doubled over the course of five years. My utilities, which covered water and garbage disposal, doubled as well.

You have all these people telling you homeownership is the goal — that's the dream — but the bills kept going up. I'm like, "This seems backward. I feel like I should be paying something off to where eventually I'll be paying less."

Over the course of half a decade, everything has crept up to where I'm working harder than I've ever worked, and making as much money as I've ever made, but I have nothing to show for it here.

We knew we wanted to move to Lisbon

I thought, maybe it's time to go somewhere else and try something different, because otherwise I'm just going to float here and not really thrive.

I haven't sold my home yet. It's still on the market.

My girlfriend and I already knew we wanted to move to Portugal for a while. So by the time we were able to finally move, I was like, "I don't care. We just have to go."

It was a little bit emotional, but not really because we'd been planning it for so long. I had gotten to the point where I didn't want to wait anymore.

We decided to move by taking a cruise

We found a cruise that was actually going directly one way, because they do the transatlantic sailings to move the boats. After the season's over in the Caribbean, they move to Europe, so we found one that was going from Tampa and ending in Lisbon. It was a match made in heaven.

We did pay a little bit more than flying, but you're getting a two-week cruise: all the food, all the lodging, and a couple of stops along the way.

We stopped in the Bahamas, and then after the Bahamas were six days at sea, and that was pretty wild. I've never spent that much time at sea.

After that was the Azores, and then it was another sea day because they're pretty far off from the mainland. Then we did Porto, which was really cool, and then we ended in Lisbon.

All in, we paid $2,500 total, so definitely more than two flights, but I would say it was worth the cost. The transatlantics are usually a bargain because they're not that full and they're just trying to sell tickets to make the voyage worth it — we actually got a balcony room and everything.

But the biggest perk was that there was no hard luggage limit. I brought my guitar, I brought my suitcases, Marina brought a bunch of her suitcases — as much as we could fit — and we got to the port and the porter's like, "How many luggage tags do you need?" And we said, "However many."

Flying would have been a lot more restrictive.

We also thought that sailing would ease us into moving a little more than flying would, because there's really nothing worse than landing at Lisbon Airport after an overnight flight, not sleeping on the plane, and dealing with that brutal jet lag.

On the cruise, there were six days at sea in a row, and they would roll forward the clock one hour at a time; they did that five times over the course of the trip to get us five hours ahead to where we are now.

I would totally recommend moving by boat for the luggage benefit alone, but especially if you're a cruiser or you just like relaxing, it's like being at the spa.

It's fun, and at the end of the day, I don't think many people get to say they've sailed across the ocean.

We like the pace of life in Portugal

The first night, we were sitting at the dinner table, and we looked at each other, and we both started crying, like, "What are we doing?" But I think that's 100% normal for anyone moving, even just moving to another state. It's scary. This is the first time I've moved.

There were things pushing us out of the US and things bringing us to Portugal. Honestly, the biggest one was health insurance.

As a self-employed person in the States, I often feel punished for being self-employed when it comes to health insurance. The cheapest plan offered to me on the marketplace for this year was about $360 a month.

When I talk to my friends who live here or have moved here, and I tell them what I paid in a month, they're like, "Well, that's about what I pay in a year."

Affordability wasn't the only reason we moved. If we were going for affordability, there are definitely cheaper places in Portugal, and even more affordable places in Europe. It's all relative; what's affordable to me might be different than what's affordable to a local here.

The people, in broad strokes, are in a little bit less of a rush here. I made a joke that even the people trying to sell you something off the street, once they realize you're not going to buy what they're selling, they'll just have a conversation with you, which is nice.

The pace of life is not so much work, work, work all the time, rush, rush, rush. People here really will take a moment — it's built into the day to have a coffee, have your pastry in the morning, and you're not just grabbing your big iced coffee and getting in your car and rushing to work.

It's a breath of fresh air.

• Senior Editor Tim Röhn was among the attendees at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
• He described the fear and panic in the room after hearing someone shout, "Shots fired."
• He was struck by how "lax" security was at the event throughout the evening.

Just after 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday night, chaos erupts in the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Washington, and a wave of fear sweeps through the room. I am seated at one of roughly 200 tables when I suddenly hear dull, thudding sounds cutting through the loud music.

Barely a second later, people begin throwing themselves to the floor — first in the center of the room, near the stage, then everywhere. I hear someone shout something like "Shooting" or "Shots fired."

I drop down as well, crouching, my eyes fixed on the stage. President Donald Trump, who had arrived only minutes earlier, is rushed away. From behind the curtain, heavily armed officers emerge, pointing their weapons toward the crowd. Secret Service agents sprint through the ballroom, vaulting over tables and chairs. Glass shatters. High-ranking politicians are pulled to safety and ushered out of the room.

It feels like a movie — but this is not Hollywood. This is reality: the storied White House Correspondents' Dinner, with Trump attending as president for the first time, suddenly transformed into the scene of a crime.

Was Trump the target? It wouldn't be the first time. The thought flashes through my mind in those seconds. I think about gun violence in the United States (I moved here only 8 months ago). Shootings happen constantly, everywhere — so why not here, at the Trump dinner? I am shaken, but not surprised.

No all-clear is given, yet after a few minutes, people slowly get back on their feet. Somehow, things must go on. Phones come out; people film, text, try to make sense of what just happened. It remains completely unclear what occurred — only one thing is certain: no one is allowed to leave the ballroom.

When word spreads that a "shooter" has been apprehended in the lobby, I feel a sense of relief. Twice, an announcement follows that the event will resume shortly. But it never does. Trump himself invites the press to the White House for a briefing; the dinner is over. Guests are asked to leave the hotel.

On my way out, I think about the security precautions — or lack thereof — that had struck me as surprisingly lax throughout the evening, given the presence of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several cabinet members.

A few hours before, traffic outside the Hilton had ground to a halt, and I had jumped out of my taxi about 500 meters away and walked the rest.

Right outside the hotel, there are shouting Trump opponents, some of whom harassed and insulted dinner guests. All it took to gain access to the premises — and the hotel — was flashing a screenshot of an invitation while passing by. Only those heading into the ballroom on a lower level had to pass through a metal detector. No need to remove a jacket. No request for a passport or ID. Once, even activists managed to slip onto the red carpet to protest Trump.

Is that adequate security for such a high-profile event? I wouldn't presume to deliver a final judgment — but I am certain of one thing: it will be debated.

A spokesperson for the Washington Hilton directed Business Insider to the US Secret Service, which it said "served as the lead security organization for this event." Business Insider has also contacted the US Secret Service for comment.

Tim Röhn is the senior editor of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network. Business Insider is part of the network.

• I left behind my plans in Poland and moved to the US after falling in love with my American husband.
• It took a while to adjust, but I eventually built a career and a life that I loved.
• Now, my husband wants to move to Poland — so we compromised and decided to eventually retire there.

When I first moved from Poland to Austin, Texas, for a short-term internship in my mid-20s, I never intended to stay.

As a new graduate, my goal was to get some hands-on experience in international business practices before returning home to work with my dad and teach fitness classes on the side.

Then I met the man who would become my husband. We crossed paths in downtown Austin, both waiting for a taxi after a night out. We started talking, felt an instant connection, and from that night on, kept finding reasons to see each other.

When the internship ended, I returned to Poland as planned. A long-distance relationship wasn't easy, but we made it work. One month after I left, he flew to Poland, proposed, and suddenly, the life I thought I was building there no longer felt possible.

I left behind a clear-cut path and rebuilt my life

When I moved back to the US and we got married, I left behind more than my country. I walked away from a defined career path, my family business, and the comfort of knowing exactly where I belonged.

Starting over as an immigrant was harder than I expected. As soon as I got my work permit, I took the first job offer I got. I felt pressure to prove — to my family, my friends, and myself — that I was succeeding in America.

Getting a job quickly felt like validation. In hindsight, it was a mistake. The role wasn't right, but I stayed longer than I should have. As a new immigrant, I didn't think I could afford to be selective.

When I became pregnant with my first child, I quit my job and made a difficult but necessary decision: I went back to college. I earned a degree in computer information technology and eventually started a new career in tech.

For the first time since moving to the US, I felt stable again. I had rebuilt my confidence and proven to myself that starting over didn't mean starting from nothing.

Still, something was missing. In Poland, I had always envisioned myself running a business. That dream never disappeared.

Alongside my tech career, I started my own fitness coaching business. Through it, I met inspiring women in the US — entrepreneurs, mothers, immigrants — who helped me rediscover my ambition and sense of purpose.

It took nearly 10 years, but slowly, the US started feeling like home.

While I was building a home in Austin, my husband was falling in love with Poland — but we've found a compromise

Just as I felt rooted, my husband started dreaming of the life I once left behind.

Throughout our marriage, we traveled back to Poland often. Over time, my husband fell for the things I once took for granted: the slower pace of life, the food, the walkable cities, the mountain views near my hometown, and the old architecture layered with history.

Eventually, his curiosity turned more serious. He began talking about what daily life there might look like, bringing up how it would feel to enjoy slower mornings and spend more time with my family. After one memorable visit last year, he asked if I'd be open to planning a future in Poland.

The idea no longer felt abstract. I agreed to start looking at property — maybe a piece of land, or even a small house — sometime in the next year or two.

We had a lot of conversations. We discussed our careers, finances, children, and what we wanted our future to look like.

In the end, we compromised: We'll stay in the US for the time being, but buy property in Poland within the next year or two. We'll visit as much as we can and plan to eventually retire there, about three decades from now.

Moving countries for love taught me that rebuilding takes time, and clarity doesn't come all at once. It also taught me that home isn't just about geography, but choosing each other, no matter where you are.

• Before I had kids, I didn't put much thought or prep into my travel plans.
• A few encounters while abroad have made me change my ways now that I often have kids with me.
• I now travel with apostilled copies of their birth certificates and a letter from their father.

Before kids, I traveled the world alone with nothing more than a backpack and a worn guidebook. I rarely made plans in advance and enjoyed the spontaneity and surprises that were a part of globetrotting without much advance planning.

Once I started traveling with my children, that approach seemed irresponsible and, at times, downright dangerous. Now, I put a lot more care and thought into my trips before leaving home.

As someone who has taken my kids to 30 countries on six continents, I've found that a little advanced planning goes a long way. Here are the four steps I always take before traveling with my kids to help ensure that our trips go smoothly and that we all stay safe.

I always look up the emergency number for wherever we are.

Once, while driving in Canada with my kids, I got lost in a dark, industrial neighborhood at night. No one was around, and I started to feel uneasy, unsure if anyone was lurking in the shadows.

At home, I knew I could call 9-1-1 for assistance in an emergency. However, as my panic level started to rise, I realized I didn't know who to call for help in Canada. (I've since learned the number to dial is actually 9-1-1, but that's not the case for most other countries.)

Eventually, I found my way back to civilization, no worse for wear. However, now I always look up the emergency number to call when I land.

On a subsequent trip to Paris, an Uber began veering wildly off course. It turned out the driver had detoured due to construction, but I was glad I knew to dial 1-1-2 instead of 9-1-1 if I thought my kids were in danger.

I double-check that my health insurance covers us wherever we are going

When I was young and reckless, I assumed I would never get sick or injured, especially on a trip. In hindsight, I was remarkably lucky that I never caught more than a mild case of Montezuma's Revenge abroad.

After a health scare on a trip to Jamaica, I no longer take any chances. Midway through what was supposed to be a relaxing trip, my son developed a fever and started vomiting. The resort where we were staying called a doctor who suspected appendicitis. I panicked, wondering if our insurance would cover a pricey operation or medical evacuation.

Fortunately, my son recovered quickly with an antibiotic, but now I always double-check that our health insurance will cover us abroad, including to far-flung destinations like Antarctica. If not, I will look into buying travel insurance that will cover medical care and evacuation. Before travel, I also check that my children have all the recommended vaccines for our trip.

I always pack my children's birth certificates

My first trip abroad after becoming a mother was to a destination wedding in the Caribbean. I was allowed in easily with my infant son strapped to my chest. However, leaving was not so easy. When trying to return home, a border guard questioned me extensively, asking for proof that I was the baby's mother. I managed to convince the agent that I was indeed my son's mother, but the situation rattled me.

To avoid a similar issue, I now carry official copies of my children's birth certificates when we travel abroad. For good measure, I had the documents apostilled by the Secretary of State for Washington, DC, where they were born. An apostille is a type of verification similar to notarization, but it is recognized in more than 125 countries worldwide, making it a better choice for international travel.

Although this may seem like overkill, I have been asked for proof that my children are mine twice, once when entering the United States and once when entering the U.K. Although I likely could have proven my children are mine without these documents, I don't want to take any chances, and having them on hand made the process much easier and faster.

I get a notarized letter from my children's father stating that I have permission to travel with them

Although my husband and I are happily married, his demanding work schedule often leaves me traveling solo with our kids. On several occasions, immigration officials have asked me for proof that I had my husband's permission to take my children abroad.

Once, I was asked for the same documentation when returning to the United States. Now, I always carry a notarized letter of consent signed by my husband. I use a free template I found online and update it with the specific dates and location for every trip, then I take it to my bank to have it notarized for free before we go.

Although carrying additional documents can be a pain, I remind myself that additional paperwork is for my children's protection because it helps combat child trafficking and kidnapping.

Video shows a man believed to be the shooter at the White House Correspondents Association dinner being detained by security on Saturday, April 25. FBI officials told Reuters the man fired at a Secret Service agent.

• When I was a kid, I thought adults follow the same path: fall in love, buy a house, and have kids.
• By the time I was 30, I hadn't reached any of those milestones.
• I've slowly realized the life plan never worked for me, and I'm OK with where I'm at now.

I have been a hopeless romantic for as long as I can remember. Not just in relationships, but in how I imagined my life would unfold.

Growing up in Mexico, I had a very specific idea of where I would be at 30. I thought I would be married with three kids, living in a big house in my hometown, surrounded by family and a stable routine.

Sometime in my 30s, I realized I had built a life completely different from the one I had planned. And that's OK.

I built my expectations based on what I saw growing up

As a kid and teenager, adulthood felt structured and predictable. The path was clear. You studied, built a career, found a partner, and settled down. Most of the adults around me followed or aimed for the same sequence. It created a sense of certainty.

My family reinforced those ideas in practical ways. Stability and staying close to home were important. Building a life that looked familiar to previous generations was seen as success. There was no formal pressure, but the expectations were always present in conversations, decisions, and examples.

Pop culture added another layer. Movies and television consistently showed people reaching major life milestones by their early 30s. Marriage, children, and home ownership were presented as the natural progression of adulthood. It made it feel universal.

For years, I made decisions assuming I was moving toward that outcome. I focused on education and career choices that would give me stability. I saw my 20s as preparation for the life I expected to have in my 30s. I did not question the plan because it felt like the only one available. But something started to feel off.

The further I went, the less the plan made sense

The shift did not happen all at once. It came through a series of decisions and realizations over time. Looking back, a lot of it came from following a playbook that was not written for me. It was shaped by a different generation, in a different economic and social context.

The more I tried to apply that model to my own life, the less it worked. The markers of success I had grown up with did not feel as accessible or even as relevant. Still, I kept moving forward, thinking that if I did enough of the right things, I would eventually arrive at the life I had imagined.

That belief shaped major decisions. I traveled around the world, moving from Mexico City to New York and later to London, partly driven by ambition and partly by the idea that progress meant getting closer to that version of adulthood.

But each move did the opposite. It created more distance from the life I had originally planned, while also exposing me to entirely different ways of thinking about work, relationships, and success.

By the time I reached my 30s, the gap was clear. I was not married. I did not have children. I did not own a house in my hometown (or anywhere else). At first, that difference was difficult to ignore. I compared myself to the timeline I had in mind and felt behind. Letting go of that comparison took time, especially because it was tied to how I had learned to define success growing up.

The differences forced me to define success on my own terms

Over time, I realized that the life I had planned was not actually built for me. It was assumed that my priorities would stay the same and that the world around me would not change. In reality, both had shifted.

Those decisions changed me. I am not the same person who dreamed of that plan. I no longer rely on inherited playbooks to guide my choices. I became more intentional about how I spend my free time and who I spend it with. Relationships became less about proximity and more about effort. Career decisions became less about following a linear path and more about building something sustainable and meaningful.

I also started to measure success differently. Instead of focusing on specific milestones by a certain age, I began to look at whether my daily life reflected what I valued. That included the type of work I was doing, the relationship I was building, and the environment I was living in.

My life is less predictable than I expected it to be at 30. I do not have the fixed structure I once associated with adulthood. However, I have more control over my decisions and a clearer understanding of what works for me. I know who I am. And I have peace. That's the best thing that could ever happen to me.

• Every spring break, I travel with five of my friends and our kids for a quick getaway.
• This year, we rented a huge cabin in Branson, Missouri, and had a great time.
• The kids don't always get along, but we solve issues quickly, and split costs and chores.

Every spring break, I travel with my two sons, five college friends, and all their kids for a short getaway. This year, we rented a cabin near Branson, Missouri, for three days and nights of sleepovers, swimming, and hitting the parks. In total, six moms and 16 kids, ranging from 3 months to 11 years, attended.

The kids enjoy their time together, and so do the moms

It's such a special experience. The age gaps among the kids foster special friendships and mentor-like relationships. And because we're all together for an extended amount of time, the moms also get to know each child better. It's sort of an all-moms-on-deck situation, and kids simply look to the nearest mom to ask for something. It's a situation of instant closeness and confidence, and it creates incredible bonds with kids I don't get to see often enough.

Then, once the kids go to bed, the moms stay up talking, having a few beers or glasses of wine, and playing cards. One night, we hooked an old drive to the TV and swiped through 15-year-old pictures while laughing hysterically.

We all live between 20 minutes and 3 hours apart, but Kansas, where we live, has a statewide spring break, so despite covering six school districts, we're all off the same dates.

We started doing it to make it easier to see each other

It started four years ago, when one of my friends began planning to spend spring break visiting all our homes. She was scheduling play dates and sleepovers at multiple stops. However, it turned out to be a challenge, and there were too many changes to the itinerary to make it all run smoothly. She ended up cutting the trip short after two stops. The next year, she thought we should all go someplace neutral. We'd all book a place together.

This year, we found a cabin with seven king-sized beds, a bunk room, and 6.5 bathrooms. It also came with a huge kitchen, two large dining tables (one was used strictly for crafts), a movie theater, and a game room.

We split costs, as well as tasks like cooking and cleaning

We all work in middle management and midlevel careers, so we're also in a midlevel budget. This was our most expensive trip, at around $150 per night per family for the accommodations. For food, we order in groceries — pizza, chicken nuggets, tons of snacks — nothing gourmet, we know the audience. We plan the menu together, then split six ways and Venmo. This year, we spent around $500 on food, with plenty to take home after all was said and done. In total, each mom spent just over $530, plus gas.

While we were there, we had plenty of fun by swimming or heading to the park. We also brought games from home and did activities like crafts, bracelet-making, and coloring. Some kids are allotted screen time, and others aren't, though we did have a movie night with popcorn.

As for cooking and cleaning, it's a house full of working moms: things are done in almost no time because everyone chips in. It's actually easier than at home because there are way more hands doing the job. One evening, my husband called, and after a 10-minute phone call, I returned to find dinner put away with a spotless kitchen and living area.

The kids get along — for the most part

Logistically, it works like this: the mom closest by is in charge. Though we vary slightly in parenting styles, our similarities make this possible in the first place. We spoke in advance about how we get along and what we allow. (A real text exchange outlined rules for fart jokes.)

The kids absolutely fight — it's three days in a shared space. They didn't want to take turns playing games, couldn't agree on a movie, and there may have been a joke or two made that someone else took personally. Normal kid stuff. However, there are enough activities and enough kids to play with that they were easily redirected. Besides, learning to get along is a life skill.

Meanwhile, it's fun to see which ages and personalities flock together, and not always the ones you expect. They find shared hobbies and interests while creating close-knit friendships with kids they otherwise rarely get to see. All while I get quality time with my friends. It's an experience I can't praise enough, and I'm thankful it's one we get to continue.

This 'as-told-to' essay is based on a conversation with Juli Ford, a 57-year-old real estate agent and certified senior advisor based in Massachusetts. It has been edited for length and clarity.

When my children were young, we saw my parents all the time.

We lived very close to each other in South Plymouth, Massachusetts, and my parents always helped with the kids. From the time they were born, Wednesdays were Grammy and Grampy Day.

My dad got sick in 2005. When we learned in the summer of 2011 that he probably didn't have much time left, we talked about what life would be like after he was gone, including where my mom would live.

When he passed in December 2011, my mom was not ready to live with us. At 68, she had never lived on her own. She'd been with my dad since she was 15.

Then, in April 2015, a house in Pembroke, Massachusetts, about 30 minutes from South Plymouth, came on the market. The second I saw it online, I thought, "Oh, this is perfect."

The house had a beautiful in-law apartment

The house is 4,300 square feet, and the basement is about 800 square feet. Upstairs, there are three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.

My mom fell in love with the home's basement apartment. It's full of beautiful natural light. It's one bedroom with a den, a full kitchen, a fireplace, its own laundry, 1.5 baths, its own outdoor patio, and two entrances.

We made an offer within two days. We bought the house in April 2015 for $630,000.

My mom had no interest in ownership. Instead, she made a financial contribution toward the down payment equal to what she would have paid in rent for the next five years.

She also gave us money every year for utilities. Last year, she started making a bigger monthly contribution to help cover household expenses. She essentially has not had to pay rent for 10 years, and as the house gets older, the cost of maintaining it grows.

It was a dream when we first moved in

My mom helped me a lot with my kids, especially with their schooling. My kids were 10 and 11 when she moved in, and they were homeschooled. We drove around a lot because we were going to museums and other activities in Boston. She sometimes helped with driving, and she became their English teacher because her first career was teaching English.

Grammy Wednesdays continued when we moved into the house, and my kids, who are 20 and 22 now, would go down and visit her on their own.

My mom has exceptionally good boundaries. I'm sure we did things differently than she would have done with our kids, but she's always been very good at keeping her opinions to herself.

My mom is still independent, but needs our help now

At 82, she's a bit less independent than she was 10 years ago because of health issues. Still, she has privacy: I don't know everything that she does all the time, and we can go days without seeing each other. Other times, we see each other a lot more often.

We have had a few medical emergencies with my mom, so I got in the habit of keeping my phone next to my bed. There have been a few times that she's had to call me.

I cannot imagine how much harder it would be to be a daughter of an aging mom if we weren't in the same house. I would be so much more concerned about her being alone and getting lonelier. It would be more time-consuming for me if I had to go somewhere else to support her.

The house gave us other financial benefits

In the beginning, the only financial benefit I really thought about of combining households was that we could get a nicer house than my husband and I could afford on our own.

Around the time we got this house, my brother's family went through a foreclosure after his wife had been hit by a drunken driver and had a traumatic brain injury. They had a lot of housing instability during that time because she was unable to work and had massive medical bills. They were not sure where they were going to live.

Because we combined households with my mom, we were able to tap into the equity in this house to help them. We took out a home equity loan and bought a small, lovely house, and rented it to them. We weren't really making any money on it, but the rent was paying the bills.

Within two years, they recovered their credit enough that they purchased the house from us. They were able to rebuild their financial well-being in that house.

We used the proceeds from the sale to buy a vacation property in Vermont, which we turned into an Airbnb for four years. When we sold it, we paid off our kids' student loans.

We were all able to build wealth because we combined households with my mom. We feel so proud and grateful. It's not something I saw coming 11 years ago.

I see multigenerational living as one of the most compelling solutions to our elder care and affordable housing crises. Bringing families together around this is really an underutilized solution.

• I'm a registered dietitian who relies on Trader Joe's for easy and nutritious meal options.
• Some of my favorite breakfast items include the store's Greek yogurt, bread, and frozen fruit.
• Trader Joe's frozen rice medley and steamed lentils help me make quick and easy meals.

As a registered dietitian, my happy place is wandering the aisles of a grocery store — especially Trader Joe's.

It's been one of my favorite stores since I was a child, and it's still one of the first places I go when I want to pick up items that make nutritious eating feel more realistic.

Here are some of the many items I always add to my cart.

Trader Joe's roasted-garlic hummus is satisfying on its own or when paired with veggies.

Hummus is one of my favorite foods for rounding out snacks and meals.

Since it's made primarily from chickpeas, it adds fiber, plant-based protein, and iron in a form that's easy to eat.

I use the roasted-garlic version as a dip, sandwich spread, salad dressing, or addition to a snack plate, and I especially love pairing it with Trader Joe's mini cucumbers for the perfect no-prep snack.

Plain, nonfat Greek yogurt is one of the most versatile items in my fridge.

The combination of protein and live probiotic cultures makes Trader Joe's Greek yogurt one of my most-used staples.

I use it as a breakfast base with fruit and chia seeds, as a smoothie thickener, or in savory meals as a sour-cream substitute.

I usually buy the plain version with no added sugar, so I can add my own fruit or chia jam, and control the sweetness myself.

Strawberry kefir is easy to drink on my way out the door.

As a fermented dairy product, kefir contains a wider variety of probiotic strains than yogurt and can help support healthy digestion.

The strawberry version from Trader Joe's is drinkable and lightly sweet, without the pronounced tartness plain kefir can have.

On mornings when I don't have time to put breakfast together, I'll pour a glass alongside a piece of seeded toast or fruit for a quick, gut-health-boosting breakfast.

One thing to note: Trader Joe's flavored kefirs contain added sugars, so if you're looking to avoid that, I suggest going for the plain version.

Trader Joe's frozen rice medley is a major time-saver.

I love having Trader Joe's rice medley in my freezer because it provides a more interesting base for dinner.

The mix of whole grains adds more fiber than white rice alone and pairs well with curries, stir-fries, and roasted vegetables. I just microwave it in the pouch for three minutes.

Garbanzo beans provide protein, fiber, and so many options.

Each half-cup serving of Trader Joe's garbanzo beans contains both fiber and plant-based protein, making this a must-have item in my pantry.

There are so many ways to prepare these beans. I air fry them for a crunchy snack, toss them into salads and grain bowls, stir them into soups, add them to dense bean salads, or blend them into sauces.

Since they're shelf-stable, I always have a can (or three) on hand to make a filling meal with minimal prep.

The sesame-crunch salad kit is a low-effort meal that's ready in under 5 minutes.

I love salad kits that taste good because they make me far more likely to prepare lunch instead of defaulting to takeout.

Trader Joe's sesame-crunch chopped salad kit has pre-shredded vegetables, a flavorful sesame dressing, and crunchy toppings that make it feel like a real meal instead of a side salad.

To make it more substantial, I like to add grilled chicken and edamame.

Trader Joe's steamed lentils make it easy to add fiber and protein to my diet.

Lentils are one of my favorite foods for adding plant-based protein and fiber to a meal. I especially like Trader Joe's precooked version because it saves me a lot of time.

I use them in a shortcut for lentil soup, as the base of bowls, and even in tacos when I want a plant-forward meal. They're also a good source of iron, which is another reason they're a staple in my fridge.

Frozen turkey burgers are a lean protein source that can be served with or without a bun.

Trader Joe's turkey burgers are one of the freezer staples I rely on most when I need dinner ready quickly.

Turkey is a complete protein and provides a good source of B vitamins like B6 and B12, which support energy production, mood, and cognitive function.

These burgers cook quickly in the air fryer or on the stove, and I use them in burger bowls, on salads, or with a whole-grain bun and sweet-potato fries for a quick weeknight meal.

The frozen fire-roasted bell peppers and onions make taco night easy.

Bell peppers are a great source of vitamin C, and the fire-roasting process gives them a depth of flavor you wouldn't expect from a frozen vegetable.

I add these to tacos, fajitas, and grain bowls when I want a vegetable that's already chopped, cooked, and ready to eat. This product saves me time, adds color and flavor, and makes it easier to eat my servings of vegetables.

Edamame is a great source of fiber.

Edamame is one of the few plant-based foods that contains all nine essential amino acids — AKA the ones the body can't make on its own and, therefore, has to get from food.

The legume is also an excellent source of fiber, which supports digestion, helps stabilize blood sugar, and sustains fullness.

I keep a bag in the freezer at all times, and like to steam a bowl for a mid-afternoon snack.

Frozen fruit is just as nutritious as fresh, and this berry blend never goes to waste.

Frozen fruit is one of the easiest ways to keep a healthy option on hand without worrying about it going bad.

Plus, since frozen fruit is picked and processed at peak ripeness, its vitamin and antioxidant content is comparable to that of fresh versions.

I especially like picking up Trader Joe's Very Cherry Berry blend, which provides a nice variety of cherries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. It's perfect for smoothies or as an oatmeal topping.

I always grab a loaf of Trader Joe's organic seeded bread.

Trader Joe's organic seeded bread makes toast or a sandwich feel more substantial. The seeds are a great source of healthy fats, magnesium, and fiber.

I especially like using this bread for turkey and avocado sandwiches at lunch, and I'll have it with peanut butter and banana before a workout.

Keep reading our Trader Joe's diaries here.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

A bummer for benefits

It's no secret that the era of generous employee perks is fading. Free food, on-site laundry, and gym subsidies are all becoming less common. Even full-time remote work is becoming increasingly rare.

Amid all the cutting, I really thought certain benefits like paid time off and parental leave would be untouchable.

I was wrong.

Earlier this month, my colleague Polly Thompson reported a bombshell scoop that Deloitte plans to pare back or cut several core benefits for some of its employees. Internal documents and a meeting recording revealed the consulting firm is planning cuts to parental leave, PTO, pensions, and IVF funding for workers in internal support roles such as admin, IT support, and finance.

And it's not just Deloitte.

Zoom is also scaling back its parental leave. Birthing parents now get 18 weeks of paid parental leave, down from 22—24. Non-birthing parents get 10 weeks, down from 16.

Here's the thing: Once a few big companies put the most prized benefits on the chopping block, others may follow suit.

These moves aren't happening in a vacuum. Companies are prioritizing measurable output over loyalty. They are raising performance expectations and tracking AI usage, all with eyes on improving the bottom line.

To be sure, some employees might prefer having their benefits cut rather than losing their jobs altogether.

Just this past week, Meta said it plans to cut 10% of its staff next month and eliminate 6,000 open roles in an effort to "run the company more efficiently."

Employees didn't hold back in their reactions. "Welcome to 28 days of hell," one Meta employee posted on an internal forum, referring to May 20 (the date the cuts are expected to happen).

Also on Thursday, Microsoft said it was offering one-time buyouts to long-serving US employees. The package is aimed at workers who want to retire.

With companies squarely in efficiency mode, they are sending a clear message: Job cuts are en vogue, loyalty is dead, and no benefit is off-limits anymore.

• Livestreamer N3on pays an army of "clippers" to post snippets of his content on social media.
• Clipping is one of his top expenses: He paid out over $1.4 million in a recent five-week period.
• The clipping economy can expand a streamer's audience and also incentivize inflammatory content.

You may have never tuned into N3on's livestream. Thanks to "clipping," he might have popped up in your social feeds anyway.

The top-10 Kick streamer, 21, belongs to a group of livestreamers who have gained mainstream attention in recent months thanks to clipping, where people are paid to post grabby moments from longer videos or podcasts on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

An hourslong stream might only get 40,000 live viewers, but a successful clip can fetch millions of views, helping a streamer land partnerships with brands and celebrities.

Streamers like N3on have helped create an elite class of professional clippers who command high prices. Clipping is one of N3on's largest expenses. In a recent five-week period, he paid out over $1.4 million to 303 clippers, according to a document his team shared. In any given month, he estimated that he's paying at least one clipper upward of $100,000.

"I feel like my life is clipping now," he said.

N3on, whose real name is Mikyle Rafiq, said he has a network of around 1,000 clippers. About half belong to a group he and fellow streamer Adin Ross built. The rest are paid by Kick.

Other top creators also have clippers who post on their behalf. YouTuber MrBeast has his own clipping platform, Vyro, that helps promote his content.

Rates for clippers can vary depending on factors such as a streamer's level of fame. Rafiq pays clippers on the higher end of the market for a big Kick streamer — $40 per 100,000 views, or $50 if he especially wants to incentivize them.

Clipping has its defenders and critics

Clipping can help a creator reach a wider audience that might not be watching their livestream or podcast — and get them into the center of internet discourse.

On the other hand, the clipping economy can incentivize creators to create inflammatory moments and stretch the truth.

"A lot of it is staged," said Mustafa Aijaz, VP at SoaR Gaming, a digital entertainment company and creative agency. "Audiences will call it out as clip farming. But people will still watch it."

Rafiq, who's been trying to reform his negative public image, said he used to do "crazy stuff" and even paid clippers to post bad PR about him to keep his name relevant.

He said sometimes eye-catching clips can come from subpar streams.

One of his most-viewed clips came from a stream he and former rapper Iggy Azalea did from a yacht that ran into technical problems and was barely seen.

"The clippers made it seem like it was this insane, crazy stream," Rafiq said. "No one actually watched the stream. They just saw the clips, and they're like, 'Wow, N3on and Iggy had a great time on this yacht.'"

• Tokenmaxxing is all the rage in Big Tech. For startups, the trend is opening up debate.
• Some founders told Business Insider that they spent big on tokens; others used capped subscription plans.
• One founder called tokenmaxxing "extremely stupid." Another said: "You've got to spend money to make money."

Kavitta Ghai wants her startup's engineers to spend more tokens.

The 29-year-old cofounder of Nectir started setting minimum quotas for Claude Code use. First it was at least $100 in tokens a week, then $200. Now, the expectation is that her engineers each spend a couple thousand in AI tokens a month.

The strategy has been successful, Ghai said. Some of Nectir's senior engineers were previously skeptical of AI coding tools; now, they call it their "army of coders," she said.

But she doesn't think Nectir is "tokenmaxxing," the buzzword du jour for techies racing to spend as much as they can. "We don't really play into the Silicon Valley trends," Ghai said. "We live in our own world, and we're competing against ourselves."

Across Big Tech, engineers are racing to spend as many tokens as possible. A token is a measure of AI compute. The more tokens burned, the more the engineer employs AI tools. Employees at Meta reportedly competed on a token leaderboard before it was taken down.

What of the little guy? Startups are an edge case: relatively tiny teams that want to be on the cutting edge of tech but might not have the same money to spend. Some startup leaders told Business Insider that big token bills helped them succeed. Others scoffed at the idea, preferring to stick to the lower-cost subscriptions.

The startups spending big on tokens

Aron Solberg doesn't want the competition of a token leaderboard — but he does want the mindset behind it.

The 44-year-old cofounder of Risotto sees token spending as a "force multiplier" for a small team. The company uses OpenAI and Anthropic's models, and said it spends $4,000-5,000 per month on tokens. Six months ago, Risotto says he spent one-tenth of that sum.

"It's trending up a lot," Solberg said.

"There's an old adage that rings true," he said, whether it was for hiring new employees or spending liberally on tokens: "You've got to spend money to make money."

Quang Hoang is similarly spending big. He wrote in an email that his startup, Vybe, has an "unlimited credit policy" and was thinking about minimum quotas.

Investors are also incentivizing spending — and might foot the bill.

Hoang tells founders he invests in to allocate "at least their salary amount to tokens." (Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made headlines last month for saying he would be "deeply alarmed" if one of his $500,000 engineers did not consume at least $250,000 of tokens.)

Accelerators like Y Combinator offer free token credits to their participants. "At YC, we let our engineers let it rip," CEO Garry Tan wrote on X. Those credits help some founders to spend big. These founders aren't tokenmaxxers, but do believe that there are productivity benefits.

Traverse cofounder Lance Yan believed in Tan's message: "We usually just let it rip." The 19-year-old said he uses the best models with the maximum effort, not worrying about the costs. Between his Claude Max subscription and the credits that offered by YC, he can spend big without hitting a limit.

He's not a fan of rationing tokens. "That's stupid," he said. "You're just harming your own startup."

26-year-old Boris Skurikhin said that the YC credits helped his startup Docket get off the ground. He's mostly run through them now, except for the models he uses less frequently.

Skurikhin said he noticed a 10x increase in productivity in his own work when he used the tools. "It is expensive to build with tokens," he said, but "not as expensive as having another engineer."

Many of these startups are in the AI game, after all. Nectir's Ghai said that token spending instilled "AI literacy" — something that's especially important, given their product.

"The team itself needs to be the best versed at it first, before we try to go sell it to anyone else," she said.

The startups saying no to tokenmaxxing

Rishabh Sambare wishes he could spend more on tokens.

The 23-year-old cofounder of Gale prefers to build with Zed, an AI IDE similar to Cursor, but can't stomach the company's usage-based pricing. The subscription deals from OpenAI and Anthropic are so deeply subsidized that he uses them instead.

"It sucks, because I hate their products," he said, calling Zed "more polished and less buggy between releases."

Sambare is Gale's only engineer, though the company often has 2-3 interns. He hasn't hit a rate limit, but one of his interns has. They got him a second subscription, he said; it was still far cheaper.

These subscriptions — sending $100 to $200 to Anthropic for its "Max" tiers or $100 to OpenAI for its "Pro" plan in exchange for a stable of discounted tokens — were popular among the founders I spoke to. Hassan Ismail, the 24-year-old founder of Argos Research, said the Claude Max subscription was a "no-brainer," and that all five team members have a $200 a month subscription.

Others were more philosophically opposed to the trend. Weave's Brennan Lupyrypa didn't mince his words: "It's extremely stupid for any company to be tokenmaxxing."

Weave is still spending big on tokens because it doesn't want to "kneecap" its engineers, its 25-year-old founding engineer said. The company set up a notification for when an engineer hit $500 in token spending a month; Lupyrypa said most hit it within two weeks.

But Weave doesn't incentivize the spending itself, which Lupyrypa said was the wrong proxy. He predicted the downfall of tokenmaxxing within the next three months. "CFOs won't be happy," he said.

Still, some tokenmaxxers hold strong. I asked Risotto's Solberg about these token-hesitant founders. He said that they likely hadn't found their product-market fit yet.

"It makes complete sense to spend a lot of money on tokens, because you know that the growth is coming soon after," Solberg said. "If you're a venture-backed business, that's what you signed up for."

• I caught myself criticizing my body in front of my 18-month-old daughter.
• Seeing her watch me made me rethink how I speak to myself
• I now try to model self-acceptance, so she learns to do the same

A spring doesn't go by that I don't think about a pivotal moment I had in a Macy's dressing room.

I'd ventured to the mall with my then 18-month-old daughter, desperate for a new swimsuit before pool season began. I maneuvered the stroller, piled high with promise, into the family dressing stall, my daughter's little head peeking out from a sea of nylon and hangers.

The fluorescents were predictably stark as I began to disrobe and jimmy myself into the first option. Looking up at my reflection, I visibly shuddered at what I saw staring back — an involuntary reflex, followed by an audible groan.

Then the negative self-talk started.

My daughter was watching me

Oh. My. God. Look at that cellulite! Are you kidding me?? I do CrossFit, for God's sake. That is just not OK.

Shock, then disgust, gave way to a cacophony of muttered insults and curses. I'd transformed into a lunchroom mean girl, hurling insults at that horrible excuse for a human being in the mirror.

You should not be wearing a bathing suit AT ALL. Those legs. How can you show those legs?

Just then, my eye drifted beyond the horror show unfolding in front of me. I caught my little girl's eye in the mirror and realized she was watching me. Taking me in. Taking all of this in.

Oh, no, I thought. I'm saying these things out loud.

It was under my breath, yes, but loud enough to be heard. And even if I wasn't, I knew my body language was speaking volumes. Self-loathing. Shame. And there's my beautiful, blank-slate angel, drinking in every moment.

I wasn't being kind to myself

I suddenly surged with anger. This was not what I wanted to model for my daughter.

As a feminist, I'd always believed I had a responsibility to be kind, generous, and encouraging to other women. Yet there I was, treating myself worse than I'd treat any stranger on the street.

I wouldn't perpetuate this. If my child hadn't been there in the room with me, I might have missed the moment entirely — because until then, I hadn't even been aware of this toxic inner dialogue.

I wanted so much more for my baby girl, who would one day stand in front of a mirror as she shopped. I wanted her to feel proud of what she saw, not become her own worst enemy, measuring herself against an impossible beauty standard that doesn't even exist in real life. She did not deserve to learn this kind of shame.

At that moment, I decided to consciously press "pause" on my thoughts and think this through. I began coaching myself up.

I changed the tone

I imagined someone else, someone stronger and bolder and more evolved than me, standing there. I imagined this woman's self-acceptance, self-approval, self-love, as she gazed back at herself with pride.

"Damn, I look good!" I said to myself. The voice was quiet. I wasn't quite sure I believed it, but I continued. "I'm burning up the place!" I whispered, this time with more conviction.

Right there, standing in that small, windowless room in a leopard-print bathing suit, I practiced seeing myself with new eyes. I intentionally reprogrammed my negative self-talk. I befriended myself.

A smile started to curve at the edges of my lips as I continued gazing in the mirror, if not in full belief, then at least with amusement. This was kind of fun. I could do this.

And then something strange happened. Suddenly, I wasn't totally hating what I saw in the mirror. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't too bad either.

I imagined I was a good friend trying on this bathing suit. How would I react to her? I wouldn't focus on any one aspect of her body, I'd take in the whole package. I'd admire her sense of style. I'd notice if the color was eye-catching. I'd make sure it was a good fit.

I actually liked what I saw

So, I stopped zeroing in on the jiggly skin and dimples, and finally saw the full me: shiny dark hair, wise golden eyes, a sturdy frame housed in a spunky, modestly sexy one-piece. I stopped obsessing over all the things I disliked and allowed myself to see the big picture.

Just then, I caught my daughter's eye in the mirror again. She was still watching me. She beamed at me proudly.

From that day forward, I pledged never again to bully myself in front of my daughter.

I don't always get it right on the first try. I could have a wonderful time out with my family, only to later scroll through the photos on my phone and feel that familiar gut-punch when I spot an unflattering shot. The difference is, I notice it now. And as soon as I do, I deliberately choose to redirect it. I challenge myself to find three nice things to say. Kind things. True things. Things I would say to a friend.

Because the way I speak to myself will one day become the voice my daughter hears in her own head. And I want that voice to be as strong and empowered as the woman I see in the mirror now.

• Nicholas Sparks is, without a doubt, the king of romance novels.
• Sparks has released 24 books, and 11 have been adapted into movies.
• "The Notebook," "Dear John," and "A Walk To Remember" are among his best.

Any romance reader knows Nicholas Sparks isn't just an author — he's practically a genre of his own: the kind that promises sweeping love stories, emotional gut-punches, and at least one moment that will have you staring at the page in disbelief.

The American writer has spent decades dominating bestseller lists with stories that blend heartfelt devotion with inevitable heartbreak.

From "The Notebook" to "A Walk to Remember," his books have become cultural staples, many of which have made the jump from page to screen with massive success.

But are they all unforgettable masterpieces? Not exactly.

Here are five of the best Nicholas Sparks novels and five you can skip. First: his must-read books.

5. 'The Longest Ride'

A Nicholas Sparks must-read is "The Longest Ride," which follows two interconnected love stories: Ira Levinson, an elderly man reflecting on his lifelong love for his late wife, Ruth, and Sophia Danko, a college student who falls for Luke Collins, a professional bull rider. As Sophia and Luke navigate their own relationship and the obstacles in their path, Ira's memories unfold alongside theirs, revealing parallels between the two couples.

The New York Times bestseller, released in 2013, deftly weaves these two love stories together, creating a feeling that is deeply personal. The contrast between Ira and Ruth's enduring, decadeslong relationship and Sophia and Luke's more immediate, uncertain romance adds emotional depth and complexity.

The book shows how love can evolve over time through loss and amid difficult choices. There's also something moving about how art, memory, and sacrifice tie everything together, giving the novel a more reflective, lasting impact.

If you love the book as I do, the movie — released in 2015 and starring Clint Eastwood and Britt Robertson — is equally good.

"The Longest Ride" had a modest box-office performance, grossing about $63 million worldwide against a $34 million budget, making it a mild financial success but not a major hit, according to Box Office Mojo.

Plus, who doesn't want to stare at Scott Eastwood in a cowboy hat?

4. 'The Last Song'

"The Last Song" is another Nicholas Sparks classic that balances romance with a deeper, more emotional story about family, forgiveness, and growing up.

The New York Times bestseller, released in 2009, follows Ronnie Miller, a rebellious teenager sent to spend the summer with her estranged father in a small beach town. Initially resistant, Ronnie slowly begins to reconnect with him through their shared love of music while also forming a relationship with a local boy, Will. As the summer unfolds, secrets are revealed, and relationships deepen, leading Ronnie to confront difficult truths about love, family, and loss.

Ronnie's journey feels especially real — she's not instantly likable, but watching her slowly open up, reconnect with her father, and find love makes the story more meaningful. It's not just about the relationship; it's about healing and second chances, giving it a different kind of emotional weight than a typical romance. The mix of love, music, and loss made it a story that really stayed with me.

The movie, released in 2010, stands out because it brings the story's emotion to life, with Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. Their on-screen chemistry feels genuine, especially given their real-life relationship that followed (but eventually ended).

"The Last Song" was a box-office success, earning about $89 million worldwide against a $20 million budget, driven largely by strong domestic performance, per Box Office Mojo data.

3. 'Dear John'

"Dear John" is another of my favorites by Sparks because it captures that specific kind of love that feels intense, real, and a little bit out of reach. The New York Times bestseller was released in 2006.

The story follows John Tyree, a soldier on leave, who falls in love with Savannah Curtis, a college student, during a brief summer together. As John returns to the Army, the two maintain their relationship through letters, navigating the challenges of distance and changing life circumstances.

Over time, their love is tested by duty, personal growth, and unexpected choices, turning their story into a bittersweet exploration of what it means to love someone even when life pulls you in different directions.

This feels like a realistic story: John and Savannah's relationship is affected by distance, timing, and real-life responsibilities.

There's something especially emotional about the way their connection unfolds through letters, giving their love story a sense of intimacy and longing. It's not a perfect or easy romance, and that's part of why it resonates — it shows how love can be powerful even when it doesn't work out the way you hope.

The "Dear John" movie keeps the book's emotional heart, while making the romance feel more like Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried brought the characters to life. Seeing their story play out in the 2010 film adds another layer to the longing and heartbreak, making the film hit just as hard as the novel.

The "Dear John" movie earned about $115 million worldwide against a $25 million budget, per Box Office Mojo, driven by a strong opening weekend despite mixed reviews.

2. 'A Walk To Remember'

"A Walk to Remember" is another Sparks staple, released in 1999. It tells a simple, heartfelt story that somehow hits incredibly hard.

The New York Times bestseller follows Landon Carter, a popular but aimless high school senior, whose life takes an unexpected turn when he's forced to participate in a school play and ends up spending time with Jamie Sullivan, the quiet, deeply religious daughter of the town's minister.

As their relationship grows, Landon begins to see the world and himself differently through Jamie's kindness, faith, and unwavering sense of purpose.

What starts as an unlikely connection develops into a profound love story, ultimately revealing deeper truths about compassion, sacrifice, and the lasting impact one person can have on another.

It doesn't rely on grand twists — it's the emotional buildup and inevitability of the ending that really stayed with me. It's one of those books that feels tender and honest, and it lingers long after you finish.

Not only is the book one to remember, but so is the film, which was released in 2002.

Mandy Moore and Shane West bring Jamie and Landon to life in a way that highlights their growth and chemistry, making their relationship feel authentic. These roles couldn't have been cast better.

According to Box Office Mojo, "A Walk to Remember" earned about $47.5 million worldwide against a $11.8 million budget.

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, I'd highly recommend it. Don't forget the tissues.

1. 'The Notebook'

"The Notebook" is, hands down, my favorite Nicholas Sparks book. Who doesn't love Noah and Allie's love story?

"The Notebook" was released in 1996. The two young lovers from very different backgrounds fall deeply in love one summer in North Carolina. When life pulls them apart, years pass, and they build separate lives, but their connection never fully fades.

The New York Times bestseller is framed by an older Noah reading their story to Allie in a nursing home, a level of devotion hard to top, turning the novel into something not just about falling in love, but about choosing it again and again.

The love between Noah and Allie feels both idealized and grounded, spanning years, obstacles, and, ultimately, memory loss, making it more powerful than a typical love story. I really admired Noah's strength and patience.

The movie adaptation of "The Notebook" is one of those rare cases where the film is just as good as the book.

It captures the same sweeping romance and emotional depth, while adding a layer of intensity through Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams' unforgettable chemistry.

Iconic moments like the rain-soaked reunion bring the story to life in a way that feels just as powerful as it does on the page.

The movie, which earned about $118 million worldwide against a $29 million budget, doesn't just complement the novel — it stands right alongside it.

Here's the first book you can skip: 'Nights in Rodanthe.'

In my opinion, "Nights in Rodanthe" is worth skipping because it feels less emotionally developed than Sparks's stronger novels.

I know some Sparks fans love this one, but "Nights in Rodanthe" didn't fully hold my attention. The New York Times bestseller felt a bit thin, with a romance that unfolds too quickly to feel deeply immersive or memorable.

The book "Nights in Rodanthe " was published in 2002, and a film adaptation was released in 2008, starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane.

Adrienne and Paul's relationship never quite reaches the emotional depth of Sparks' more layered love stories, which made it harder for me to fully invest in their connection. While the novel includes his signature themes of longing and heartbreak, I think it ultimately lacks the lasting impact that defines his best work.

'Dreamland'

"Dreamland," one of Sparks' more recent novels and a New York Times bestseller released in 2022, follows two intertwining storylines — a man navigating a complicated relationship and a single father trying to protect his young son — as it explores themes of love, risk, and second chances.

To me, "Dreamland" felt more scattered than cohesive, juggling multiple storylines without fully developing any of them. While it touches on heavier themes, the emotional payoff didn't land as well for me as in Sparks' best novels, which made it hard for me to stay invested.

Compared to his more focused, deeply romantic stories, this one feels less memorable and a bit uneven overall.

'The Wish'

"The Wish," which came out in 2021, follows Maggie Dawes, a successful photographer, as she reflects on a life-changing teenage romance and the choices that shaped her future, moving between her past and present to explore love, loss, and second chances.

Yes, the New York Times bestseller has the elements of romance and reflection you'd expect, but the story can feel predictable, and the emotional moments didn't hit me as hard as in his stronger novels.

In my opinion, compared to his best work, it lacks that lasting impact that really stays with you.

'Counting Miracles'

The next Nicholas Sparks book I'd skip is one of his newer books that came out in 2024, "Counting Miracles."

The New York Times bestseller follows a group of characters whose lives intersect as they grapple with love, loss, and the idea of fate, ultimately exploring how small, unexpected moments can shape a life.

I felt like "Counting Miracles" tried a little too hard to be emotional, without the depth that makes Sparks' best books stand out. Rather than being moving and uplifting, the story and characters felt pretty predictable, which made it harder for me to stay interested or really connect with it.

It just wasn't my favorite, to be honest.

'The Return'

My final skip goes to "The Return," released in 2020. The book follows Trevor Benson, a wounded Army doctor who returns home to North Carolina after his grandfather's death.

While adjusting to a quieter life, he becomes involved with a local sheriff's deputy, Natalie, and forms an unexpected bond with a young girl named Callie, who may hold answers about his grandfather's past. As Trevor navigates love and unanswered questions, the story explores themes of healing, trust, and second chances.

The New York Times bestseller feels less emotionally gripping and more predictable than Nicholas Sparks' strongest novels. While it has all the familiar elements — romance, mystery, and personal growth — it doesn't quite come together in a way that feels fresh or especially memorable, which made it hard for me to stay fully invested.

Ultimately, this story didn't give me the chills like "The Notebook" or "A Walk To Remember" did.

• Every December, I travel with my mother-in-law and wife. This year, we took a trip to Charleston.
• Encouraging my mother-in-law to help plan led us to experiences we wouldn't have found on our own.
• We built the days around what she could handle and took turns picking activities and restaurants.

My wife, Cece, moved from Texas to Australia 12 years ago, but we still head back to the US every Christmas.

While we're home, the two of us take a trip with her mother, Liz. Liz's partner, Pete, doesn't like to travel, so this annual December trip is her primary holiday.

In the past, we've headed to Nashville, Seattle, and Washington DC. At the end of last year, we spent four days in Charleston and had a wonderful trip.

We picked activities at Liz's pace and took turns choosing experiences

Over the years, we've learned that Liz enjoys a trip more when she can help shape it rather than just show up for it. So before heading to Charleston, I had a visitor's brochure mailed to her in Texas.

The day it arrived, she called with a list of things she had already researched and wanted to try, including a Gullah Geechee tour to learn about the history and culture of the descendants of enslaved Africans who settled along the Carolina coast.

Bus and walking tours were available, and we chose the bus even though I would've preferred the latter.

It was important for us to consider what would be most sustainable for my 75-year-old mother-in-law when booking activities. Riding the bus meant Liz could arrive at lunch with energy instead of blisters.

Throughout the trip, we also took turns selecting activities so no one felt left out. My choice was a cocktail-making class, which is also indoors and offers plenty of seating.

Liz drinks a little but would never have thought to book a class like this herself, which is another perk of taking turns: You get to try things you never thought you would.

The class ended up being just the three of us at a bar with a 25-year-old instructor. We learned how the Old Fashioned got its name, what makes a good bartender, and that Liz pours generously. Her first attempt overflowed.

By the third round, Liz was jiggling the shaker like a professional and informing us she was keeping up with "the young kids."

The instructor even invited her behind the bar. She posed for the camera, and we sent the video straight to Pete. He replied: "Oh boy. She's really loving this."

Liz also chose for us to visit the Charleston City Market, a stretch of local vendors and artists that has been running for centuries.

We'd planned to stop for an hour and stayed for over two as Liz watched sweetgrass baskets being woven, bought Christmas ornaments, and talked to every artisan who'd stand still long enough.

I walked ahead and checked my watch several times, but tried to stay patient. Liz had taken a whole cocktail-making class she'd never have picked herself, so two hours at the market felt fair.

Each of us got to choose a meal, too

Over our four days, we each picked a meal to share. Liz chose Lewis BBQ, partly because it's run by a fellow Texan, which she felt was a good sign.

She takes barbecue seriously, and the brisket was the real test. Her wide post-bite smile told me the barbecue had passed.

I took us to Southern restaurant Poogan's Porch one night so we could order shrimp and grits, something I'd never tried.

Cece chose to get breakfast on our last morning at Callie's Hot Little Biscuits. We ordered a range of sweet and savory bites, and Cece and I managed to take down one biscuit each.

Liz had two and a half and immediately bought a box to take home.

In the end, a few things made the trip work

Encouraging my mother-in-law to plan from Texas meant she arrived at our destination already invested with ideas we'd never have found on our own.

Picking activities at a pace that suited everyone, like the Gullah Geechee bus tour and the cocktail-making class, meant no one was worn out by dinner — and taking turns meant nobody got dragged through someone else's idea of fun for too long.

At the end of the trip, Liz flew home to San Antonio with biscuits, cocktail recipes, and Christmas ornaments. Her partner said she looked like she was having the time of her life in the photos and videos we sent, though the cocktails are still a work in progress.

We've already begun planning this December's trip, so I should probably send a new brochure to Liz soon.

• My husband and I spent nearly three years traveling the country in a camper van.
• I got pregnant earlier than expected, forcing us to make a decision quickly.
• Letting go of vanlife helped us realize what we actually wanted in our next chapter.

I sat in the bathroom staring at the blue cross sign on the pregnancy test, as expletives leaked out of my mouth in a whisper. Disbelief sat around me like the 4 a.m. dew outside our window.

We always wanted kids. Traveling in a camper van was our "last hurrah" before pivoting toward parenthood. But that wasn't supposed to happen yet.

The shock bubbled away, and excitement found home in my body. I smiled and covered my hand over my mouth.

We don't always get to choose our own timelines. I rushed to my husband, John, to wake him up.

This was our one last adventure before having kids

My husband and I were both busy with the 9-5-and-working-odd-jobs hustle. We lived in a large house that we would someday fill with kids. There was a whole world we wanted to see before we tied ourselves down with the responsibility of child rearing. We chose to say goodbye to the life we were told to settle for in pursuit of a life we wanted to celebrate.

Partially on a whim, mostly on adrenaline, we sold most of our belongings and built a 1996 Chevy Express conversion van into a tiny house.

We wanted to explore the country coast to coast before we took on the role of parents. We also wanted to see what our options were for where we would settle down. Do we want to raise kids in a city? In the middle of nowhere? East coast? West coast? Mountain town? Rural Midwest?

We buckled ourselves into our van with our pups and hit the road to rediscover ourselves without the chains of our previous life and to find where we'd like to replace our anchor.

From April 2017 to April 2019, we discovered the magnificent, hidden corners of almost every state. We camped in humid Florida, snowy Vermont, busy California, and sleepy Wyoming.

Every pocket we investigated had something remarkable that ignited our excitement and something tricky that made us second-guess a home there. Each area brought us one step closer to our end goal.

Everything shifted overnight

In March 2019, we were back in St. Louis to visit our family. My period had been irregular ever since I had experimented with hormonal birth control, so we could never quite pin down my cycle.

We were planning our next departure, and I took a pregnancy test to prove I was not pregnant, for our own peace of mind.

This wasn't the timeline we had planned, but one thing living in a van had taught us was to find comfort in the unexpected. Flexibility is one of your greatest tools when you travel full-time. You never know what obstacles are going to throw you off course.

Giddy with excitement, John chose to scrap our plans we had laid out for the rest of the year. We now needed to make our most important decision. Where do we want to have this baby?

Life made us decide which path we wanted to take next

Throughout our travels, we found ourselves returning to New Mexico. The warm sun, the dry air, the beautiful winters, and the towering mountains all took our breath away. It was diverse, eclectic, artistic, and inspiring. We joked it was like Colorado, but without any of the people. We both felt the call and picked up the phone.

Shortly after the positive pregnancy test, we lost the baby. Grief filled the van as we stared at the fork in the road.

We had to decide what we wanted now. Do we want to keep traveling? Or do we want to stay on this new path? The contemplation was minimal. The excitement and the loss had shown us what we wanted. We were ready to grow our family.

Trading in four wheels for four walls

We spent that summer exploring various properties. There was an unexpected grief in the search for a new residence. The van was our home. The road, our driveway. The wild, our backyard. Our identity was tied to the title "vanlifers", which meant we were constantly moving and on the go.

But now we were settling down and growing roots.

We outgrew our lifestyle quicker than we had planned, but we unlocked a new and exciting chapter when we bought an off-grid home on 40 acres. We weren't pumping the brakes on an adventurous life. We were just shifting gears.

• Americans aren't flocking to Florida like they used to.
• BI spoke with three former Floridians about why they say the state has lost some of its appeal.
• Affordability is a common issue among relocaters, particularly with the state's higher home prices.

Kimberly Jones was born and raised in Florida and expected to live in South Florida for the rest of her life.

But after COVID, Florida no longer felt the same. An influx of out-of-staters strained the infrastructure in Jones' area of South Florida, where new construction, crowded grocery stores, and traffic-jammed commutes became the norm. The flood of newcomers also drove up housing costs, making it harder for longtime residents to afford the place they've always called home.

In 2021, Jones and her husband packed their bags and moved to North Carolina. They're not the only ones who have fallen out of love with Florida. While people are still moving to the state, net domestic migration — or the number of people moving into the state from elsewhere in the country minus those moving out to other parts of the US — has steadily cooled in recent years.

There are a few reasons behind Florida's slowing numbers and waning appeal. For some, the state's tax benefits may no longer outweigh its rising cost of living. That was certainly the case for Jones.

"Our reasons for moving were multifaceted," Jones, 60, told Business Insider. "A major factor was affordability — the cost of living in Florida had gotten out of control. Prices increased for everything — homeowners' and auto insurance, and even for everyday expenses like groceries and eating out. Those costs felt particularly high in South Florida compared with other parts of the state."

The Joneses found a more affordable, more relaxing life in North Carolina

Jones and her husband settled in a small rural town about an hour from Charlotte. They now live in a custom-built lakefront home on 1.5 acres — the kind of property Jones said she couldn't have afforded in Florida.

Indeed, Florida's home prices have continued to climb in recent years. Data from Redfin shows that the median home sale price in Florida increased by 19% between March 2021 and March 2026, reaching $417,000.

With the state's overall cost of living rising, many people — especially young adults, like Jones' son — are finding it difficult to become homeowners.

"My daughter managed to buy a condo a few years ago, when prices were lower, and interest rates were still low," Jones said. "But my son has little chance of buying anytime soon; he'll be renting for the near future, like most of his friends — most of my friends talk about the same thing with their kids."

Besides more affordable housing, Jones and her husband are also enjoying lower home insurance costs, as well as cheaper groceries and restaurant prices in North Carolina. But perhaps the biggest benefit of all is that the lower cost of living has allowed Jones to cut back on work.

"My husband retired a few years ago, and I was able to transition to remote work," Jones said. "We love [North Carolina's] slower pace of life and the fact that people are very nice up here. My quality of life — my stress level, everything — has improved tremendously just from being out of what felt like a rat race."

Natalie Alatriste left Florida in search of a more like-minded community

Natalie Alatriste is also a native Floridian. She remembers a time when her hometown of Miami felt sleepier, and neighborhoods like Little Havana were still under the radar. Today, she said, the city feels transformed.

"There's a pre-COVID Miami and a post-COVID Miami, and the post-COVID version is completely different," Alatriste, 35, told Business Insider. "The cost of living has gone up, and so many people have moved in that traffic is always heavy."

But it was not just Miami's growth that pushed her to reconsider her future in the state. Alatriste said Florida's shifting political landscape was also a factor in her decision.

"In 2024, I seriously started thinking about leaving not just Miami, but Florida entirely," she said. "The state's politics became a turning point for me. During the presidential election, everything I voted for — the amendments, the candidates, all of it — went in the opposite direction."

In 2025, Alatriste moved to Shirlington, a neighborhood in Arlington, Virginia, that's roughly a 20-minute drive from Washington, D.C. She and her partner rent a three-bedroom, three-story townhouse that's about 2,500 square feet, and pay roughly $4,350 a month. It's still expensive, but Alatriste said sharing the cost with a partner makes it easier to handle, and overall, Virginia feels more affordable.

"My quality of life feels much better in Virginia. I don't feel like I'm wasting so much time or spending so much money just to live," she said. "I also have greater peace of mind and can breathe easier because I'm part of a community that feels more aligned with my values."

Karen Meadows wanted a more active retirement

Florida is one of the most popular retirement destinations in the country. It offers plenty of obvious draws, including no state income tax, warm weather, and an abundance of retirement communities. But for some retirees, like Karen Meadows, life spent at the beach or by the pool isn't enough.

"Many people move to Florida to retire because it's quiet and has a slower pace of life," Meadows, 62, told Business Insider. "But for me, I wanted to move somewhere with more energy."

In 2024, Meadows and her husband moved to New York City.

"It's funny because the first thing everybody says about our move is, 'Oh my God, you did the opposite,'" Meadows added, "and they're right."

Meadows sold her home in Panama City Beach and now lives in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in Brooklyn. Though New York still feels intimidating at times, being closer to her kids and living in a vibrant city has made the move worth it.

Beyond training for marathons — including the New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon, both of which she has run several times — she volunteers with North Brooklyn Angels and the food rescue organization City Harvest. She has also joined the North Brooklyn Runners Club and started a book club.

"I know I probably could have moved somewhere more laid-back, warmer, and with lower taxes, but I love New York," Meadows said. "I'm almost 63, and I feel better and more alive than ever. Life feels freer, I'm more engaged, and there's still so much to explore."

Are you a former Floridian? We want to hear from you. Email the reporter, Alcynna Lloyd, at alloyd@businessinsider.com to share your story.

"H

ow long have you been living in Singapore?"

It's a question taxi drivers have been asking me since I arrived from New York nearly 20 years ago.

In the beginning, the answer was small, just a year, then two.

My husband and I had come with a two-year plan. Freshly married, we told ourselves it was an exciting chapter in our new life together. We left boxes in the basement of my sister's Brooklyn apartment, assuming we'd be back for them soon.

But as the number crept past that deadline — five years, then 10 — those boxes slowly made their way over.

These days, it's not just taxi drivers asking how long we plan to stay.

My mom comments on how far away we live, now that it includes her two grandchildren. My in-laws gently remind us of the advantages of being closer. Everyone seems to assume there's a logical next stop, a final destination that will eventually make sense of everything.

But somewhere along the way, Singapore stopped feeling like a chapter and started feeling like muscle memory. I've lost my tolerance for cold weather after years in the tropics. Back in New York, walking into someone's apartment without taking off my shoes feels strange.

Still, there are reminders that my life is split across borders. As an American, I file US taxes every year — the US is one of the few countries that require it of citizens abroad — a constant reminder that I'm living between places.

My two kids look genuinely confused when someone asks them, "Where are you from?"

As more families build lives abroad, we're not the only ones being asked that question.

In 2024, about 3.3 million Americans were living overseas — a 15% increase since 2010 — according to a Federal Voting Assistance Program estimate that pieces together tax records, Social Security data, and foreign census figures. Because Americans don't have to register when they move abroad, there's no official count.

In this series, you'll hear from others who have made homes overseas, at different ages, for different reasons, and at different stages of staying, all answering the same question in their own way: Where is home, really?

• I've been searching for my first full-time role since I graduated last May to no luck.
• I've had to rely on my parents to stay in New York City, which has made me feel guilty.
• Despite the countless rejections, I'm not letting it stop me from enjoying life.

Last May, I graduated with my bachelor's degree from The New School, a relatively large private institution in New York City.

I knew competition postgrad would be competitive, but I did not anticipate a grim job market and AI takeovers.

As a Dean's List student with a 3.9 GPA and multiple extracurriculars under my belt, I figured I'd be a top candidate for my first entry-level job.

Boy, was I wrong.

Moving to New York City was my dream for as long as I can remember

I figured graduating would mean freedom from the confines of a classroom. But when I followed my dream to New York City, that freedom was paralyzing. I quickly learned that I still had a ways to go before I could start living my life.

I found myself stuck behind a counter working my part-time job as a barista and questioning everything from why I went to college to why I feel so passionate about staying in one of the most expensive places on earth. Additionally, I felt guilty for relying on my parents to pay my rent and help keep me here away from my home state of North Carolina.

I felt like an idiot for leaving my family, even though I always knew I was meant for more than what my hometown could offer, and yet the city remains financially challenging for someone like me with student loans and only a part-time job. Thankfully, I have a cushion should I need it, but I expected to be financially independent by now.

Navigating a competitive market

Since graduation, I have applied to roughly 200 positions, ranging from internships to entry-level to contract and temp roles. And while that number doesn't seem like much compared to the other grads who've sent out 500+ applications, I like to think I'm playing the market strategically by applying to roles where I'm a decent fit. I'm also attempting to set up informational interviews.

However, regardless of my strategy, I keep getting ghosted and rejected by automated no-reply emails months after applying.

When I discovered that I wasn't the only one struggling, it began to make sense. However, after dealing with COVID interruptions in high school, worker strikes in college, and mental health struggles surrounding personal issues, I was burned out.

As a result, I had forgotten why I went to school in the first place. As I began applying, I found myself flexible to take just about anything and started to lose myself in the process.

Seven months into underemployment, I got laid off from the café, but thankfully found another part-time job with a friend's help.

A month later, in January, I got my first interview for a job in my field. Followed up three weeks later, only to be told they were still in the first round and haven't heard back since.

A month after that, I hired a career coach to help me navigate the market. She rewrote my résumé, reviewed my LinkedIn profile and portfolio, provided industry insights, and redefined my career path.

I then got another interview, this time for an internship. I haven't heard back from that either.

What frustrates me the most is the silence. Anxiously waiting to know whether or not I got the job, or at least an interview, is soul-sucking. It makes me doubt myself and my skills. It makes me feel like a failure.

Learning to overcome what you can't control

New York is already an incredibly lonely place, and lately it's been a lot lonelier when I've been confined to a room applying to jobs away from home.

At only 23, I feel like I failed despite working my ass off in high school and in college, only to get "Unfortunately, we have decided not to proceed with your candidacy at this time, but we appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to the application process."

I have no idea what's next for me or when I'll get a full-time job, but one thing I've learned about being underemployed is you've got to make the most out of it because life is unpredictable, and you shouldn't let it slip away because things are uncertain or stagnant.

And if you need help from your parents, whether it's a roof over your head or an allowance, there's no shame in that. This is an extremely unprecedented and scary time for everyone. Even if you're not job hunting, we could all use a little support.

• Gap launched a collaboration clothing line with Victoria Beckham on Friday.
• The line includes basic T-shirts, a trench coat, denim jeans, a bomber jacket, and more.
• The pieces are chic and high-quality, but there were some sizing issues.

I arrived early at my local Gap expecting a crowd for the Victoria Beckham collaboration. Instead, I found mall walkers — and later, clothes that were as cute as they were hard to wear.

It wasn't until nearly 10 a.m. at my New Jersey mall that five shoppers (myself included) formed a makeshift line and gazed through the store's windows for an early look.

"They don't have everything in stock," I heard a few say.

Still, these fashion fans were ready. T-shirts, trench coats, and denim jeans were quickly pulled off racks once we got inside.

After snagging a few to try on myself, I was left feeling equally impressed and disappointed. Everything was cute, but nothing fit on me.

Victoria Beckham makes her mark on Gap

The former Spice Girl might be known for her high-fashion style and namesake designer brand, but she still embraces casual apparel brands.

Speaking with Vogue, she said Gap felt "distinctly American, fresh, and unlike anything else available at the time" after discovering it in the early 90s.

So a collaboration with Gap — a brand that's recently partnered with trendy designers like Dôen and Sandy Liang — made sense.

Beckham's line features jackets, branded sweatshirts, cargo pants, dresses, and more, with prices ranging from $34 to $328 per item.

The store I visited had about a third of the collection in stock. Among the missing items were the capris, pleated shorts, a denim shirt, and a tan minidress.

High quality, chic designs, and frustrating sizing

There wasn't time to be choosy. Customers were calm, but grabbed multiple sizes of the same garments so they could try different fits.

I wear a medium in most things, but that size seemed to disappear the fastest. I was mostly left to choose between extra small and extra large clothes by the time I got through the crowd.

The $38 branded T-shirts, available in gray and white, were among the most popular items at the store I visited. Initially, there was only an extra large left, which had too much fabric at the sleeves and back for me.

An employee later handed me a medium that another shopper had put back. Unfortunately, that one was too tight for my liking.

I've been on the hunt for the perfect white T-shirt, so this was disappointing. I loved the boxy cut and its thick fabric. I probably would have bought one if the store had my size.

I had similar issues with the $158 bomber jacket and $98 maxi dress. I loved the fresh styles of both pieces, but I couldn't make either work in the available sizes.

I also tried three pairs of pants: $128 cargo pants, $118 denim jeans, and $118 white jeans.

Though they all fit my waist nicely, they were far too long for my 5'2 frame. I was upset, but not surprised. I usually have to buy short-cut jeans online. Still, shorter options aren't available with this line.

Then I heard other shoppers struggling with sizing in the dressing room next to mine. "This is hideous," one woman said about a dress. "I'm 5'10 and I'm drowning in it."

Others seemed torn on which size coats and T-shirts they should choose.

Again, this was unfortunate. I would have loved to buy the blue jeans I tried on. They were the ideal wash and cut I'm looking for, and they felt expensive — not overly stretchy or tight.

Now, I don't know how to feel about the Victoria Beckham x Gap collection.

On one hand, I'm impressed. Every piece I tried felt heavy and high quality. They truly looked and felt like elevated Gap pieces, embellished with Beckham's stylish flair.

I just can't look past the sizing. I couldn't justify a $34 T-shirt that didn't fit perfectly, and I wouldn't want to spend extra money to get any of the pants tailored.

So while I applaud her designs, I'm not sure I'm the target body type for this line. Beckham seems to have designed her Gap collection with taller people in mind.

As I prepared to leave the store empty-handed, I saw excited customers checking out at the registers with arms full of Victoria Beckham pieces. Many seemed particularly excited about buying the $168 parka, which is sold out online.

Business Insider reached out to Gap on the line's sizing, but didn't hear back.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

What I learned from Take Your Kids to Work Day

The fourth Thursday of April means two things: You'll see a lot more kids during your work commute, and the office may be a bit more chaotic with the sound of young laughter, and yes, even some cries.

Take Your Kid to Work Day was an eventful one at Business Insider. Dozens of our colleagues' children descended into our newsroom's auditorium for bingo, a scavenger hunt, an animation demonstration to see how cartoons are made — courtesy of our amazing video team — and of course, pizza.

As a first-time mom of two boys (smile), it also taught me three lessons:

1. My workday is optimized for efficiency, but on TYKTWD, it was replaced with a slower pace that children naturally bring. It allowed me to be more present and engaged with my coworkers.
2. It also reminded me of the value of flexibility. My daily caramel macchiato run turned into grabbing hot chocolate for my boys. After one promptly spilled (a small tragedy indeed), the day was still amazing. It's proof that drinks can spill, meetings can get canceled, but nothing broke.
3. The day also made me grateful, again, for the work I get to do — telling meaningful stories for our readers. My boys marveled at FiDi's skyscrapers, a dinosaur-shaped building, and even my office's elevators that I typically ignore.

In the end, presence did what productivity couldn't.

• I'm a freelancer, and being self-employed makes family planning difficult.
• I don't have parental leave, and I often wonder how other freelancers do it.
• My husband and I also don't have family nearby, which makes it even more difficult.

When I worked a typical, corporate 9-5 job, I dreamed of the day I could freelance. I so badly wanted to be my own boss and feel a sense of autonomy and ownership around something I had built from the ground up.

Now that I'm living the freelance life, while I don't take a second of it for granted, like any job, it's not perfect. Besides the constant struggle of figuring things out on my own — like the daunting task of taxes, which are much more complex as a freelancer — there's also the constant mental gymnastics of what time off work really looks like.

And it's not just vacations or sick days — the idea of family planning is something that's constantly swimming around in my mind.

I don't know what family planning looks like for us

This kind of planning is certainly not the kind of advice that shows up in articles about how to be a freelancer, or the 500-word LinkedIn think-pieces about the freedom of self-employment. It does, however, show up for me at 1 am when I'm lying awake, wondering about what the future holds.

Personally, of course, but also professionally.

My husband and I are both at the point in our careers where taking extended time off isn't something either of us wants for ourselves. He's a medical resident, so his schedule is its own beast, and certainly not his own. He gets two weeks of parental leave until the pager goes back on and doesn't stop. And I get exactly as much parental leave as I negotiate with myself. Which, in a perfect world, is as much as I'd need, but in reality, is probably closer to not much at all.

There are a lot of perks to freelancing, but it's hard to plan for our future

The freelance world offers so much that traditional employment doesn't: flexibility, autonomy, the ability to work in my pajamas from the couch without anyone judging me. So when I'm up at night stressed about the future, I feel a sense of guilt. I shouldn't have anything to complain about. I work from home, I can choose my own hours, and the list of perks goes on.

But there's also no HR department to walk me through a leave policy, there's no short-term disability coverage that kicks in, and there's no one to absorb my workload while in the newborn fog.

Not having family nearby complicates things even more

What makes planning for a family even more difficult is that we don't have any relatives in the same town. There are no grandparents 20 minutes away. No sister who can pop over. The village that everyone says it takes is something we have to build ourselves.

I find myself wondering how other freelancers navigate this. Do they save money aggressively for a year first? Take on more retainer clients to create a steadier income? Just take the leap and figure it out after? None of these options is wrong, none is easier than the others, and I don't know which is right for my family.

What I've come to sit with is something I've heard over and over again when it comes to starting a family: there's no perfect time, and there's no perfect plan.

As a freelancer without a safety net of parental leave or family proximity, I can only control what I can control, which is being more intentional about clients, savings, community-building, and having honest conversations with myself and my husband about what we can actually sustain.

The freedom of freelancing is real. I do love it. But the complexity is also real. Somewhere in the middle of those two truths, a lot of us are just figuring it out as we go.

• Last year, Goldman named Kunal Shah co-CEO of its international business and global co-head of FICC.
• Shah made partner at just 31, having climbed to the top after about a decade with the bank.
• He spoke with Business Insider about the EMEA tech scene, global volatility, and the bank's future.

Not many people can say they've made partner at Goldman Sachs. Even fewer can say they did it at the age of 31.

Kunal Shah can say both.

Shah joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in the firm's trading business in 2004 and rose to partner in about a decade. Last January, he was promoted to two new roles: co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International and global co-head of fixed income, currencies, and commodities. Based in London, he also holds a seat on the bank's overarching management committee.

As part of a new series of Q&As we're kicking off with some of Goldman Sachs' top executives, Business Insider had the chance to sit down with Shah to discuss Europe's tech sector, Goldman's presence in the Middle East, and what the financial industry's embrace of AI means for newcomers' careers.

Here's our conversation with Shah, edited for length and clarity.

What do you recall from those early years, and how did senior bankers mentor you during your ascent?

After graduation, what struck me when I hit the trading floor as a full-time analyst was that I had access to the then-partners, even when I was just a new kid on the trading desk. When I became a partner, I found the interconnectedness — your ability to make a call to any partner anywhere in the world, offering a clear baseline of trust — amazing.

I would call out Ashok Varadhan, who I have worked with since day one, and who is now the firm's co-head of global banking and markets. I first met him when he agreed to meet for a coffee when I was a fresh analyst and visited New York for my training in 2004. He was already a partner, but he took the time to connect, and we stayed in touch when I hit the trading floor in London. He would listen to my views and he welcomed debates around risks or initiatives.

From him, I learned to have a laser focus on risk management, but also a willingness to take and scale risk where there is opportunity in the business.

As new analysts hit the desk this summer, how do you see AI affecting the long-term outlook for bankers and traders?

Junior talent are inherently tech-savvy, and they don't have the legacy of why we do things in a certain way. They can see how to disrupt us.

Even when I was an intern, people were telling me, "Don't rotate into fixed income trading desks — it's all going to get automated." A lot of the administrative tasks that junior people used to do were no longer needed because we were able to leverage technology and tools to achieve scale.

For me, AI is just another natural extension of that. More of the mundane work — whether that's making presentations, building Excel models, or booking trades — doesn't need to be done in the same way.

The bottom-up experimentation I see across the whole organization is powered by the tools we've released. Once you equip your people with these tools, they can experiment and find things that could be game-changing.

If young people come in with the mindset of actually helping us to disrupt things, and to embrace the change, I think the experience they can have in this industry can be phenomenal.

You're at the helm of Goldman Sachs International as co-CEO of GSI and global co-head of FICC. What's the most interesting facet of being in those seats right now?

The common thread across both roles — and the thing I love most about them — is that no day is the same.

Working in FICC means you're right at the intersection of politics, macroeconomics, geopolitics, and how each of these interact at the micro level with different sectors and markets. Part of the job is balancing long-term strategic views with the constant flow of markets. Even now, if you look at this moment in time, there is uncertainty around commodity markets and you need to watch how that feeds into the monetary policy decisions of central banks, asset allocation shifts and more. There is almost consistency in the uncertainty, and that is inherently exciting to work amidst.

As co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International, I have been exposed to a much broader range of clients across the firm. Across the region, we've got around 29 offices — which means we have people, we have clients, and we have interactions with key policymakers, regulators, finance officials, and central bankers.

The US appears to be leading in AI investment and infrastructure. What's your outlook for the EMEA tech landscape, and how is that changing?

Over the last decade, the number of unicorns in the broader European context has tripled. The tech space in EMEA is much broader than people realize.

In terms of capital markets being US-centric — there is definitely an element there when you're talking about the hyperscalers, and this huge amount of AI-related debt issuance we're seeing. Many of those large tech platforms are quite US-centric. But I wouldn't say exclusively.

You can remember companies like DeepMind and others very much coming out of the tech ecosystem in Europe.

We are witnessing what is arguably the largest investment cycle in history, with our research teams estimating that hyperscaler capex could reach between $700 billion and $725 billion in 2026 alone.

While the US and China lead the LLM race, we also see a distinct competitive edge for the EMEA region at the AI application layer. European entrepreneurs are taking core models and building specialized, high-value software to solve industry-specific problems in robotics, autonomous drones, and smart factories.

As the conflict in Iran continues, how do you view the potential impacts of the Middle East conflict for Goldman's international businesses?

We have five offices in the region — in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Riyadh, and Kuwait — and over 100 people. In the past 12 months alone, we announced our office opening in Kuwait, a new office in Riyadh, and the onshoring of our private wealth business there. We are active across advisory, financing, markets and as an asset manager and investor.

The countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council have managed the situation very well so far, both from maintaining a safe environment but also ensuring that the countries continue to operate with a good sense of as much normality as possible given the situation.

Once we move beyond the current conflict, the renewed focus on infrastructure and resilience will bring other opportunities for us to help our clients, and our presence there enables our ability to do so.

• AI has become a hiring buzzword, and four employees explained how they added it to their job titles.
• An AI engineer said showcasing side projects was pivotal to transitioning from software engineering.
• Two non-technical Microsoft employees said having a humanities background was a strength.

AI is the buzziest word on the job market — and many workers want to know how to pivot into it.

As many technical workers upskill to stay on the cutting edge, others are moving into AI-focused roles from entirely different industries.

Many companies are pouring an eye-watering amount of money into AI, cutting some roles while adding new positions tied to the technology.

Against that backdrop, moving into AI could be a way for workers to future-proof their careers as the employment market reshuffles. AI engineers, consultants, strategists, and researchers rank among the top five fastest-growing roles in the US, according to LinkedIn's Jobs On the Rise 2026 report.

There's no single path into AI, and Business Insider spoke with four workers who took very different ones. Read on to learn how they pivoted their careers.

Natasha Crampton, Microsoft chief responsible AI officer

Natasha Crampton got her start as an attorney and is now Microsoft's first chief responsible AI officer.

Her job includes working side-by-side with engineering, sales, and research teams to ensure they uphold principles as they build AI systems. It also includes external work, such as helping establish new laws and standards in the space,

Crampton studied information systems in addition to law, and said she always had an interest in the intersection of technology, law, and society. During the strictly legal phase of her career, she said she always worked on technological issues, such as helping Microsoft draft contracts.

She said people looking to move into tech from other fields should start by using the technology themselves. She added that many technical skills are learnable, so coming from a different background shouldn't limit someone's ability to help shape it. She said, "a huge amount of the value" lies at the intersection of technical knowledge and insights from the social sciences.

Georgian Tutuianu, Hubspot AI engineer

Georgian Tutuianu has had several transitions in engineering, from structural to traditional to software to AI at HubSpot.

Tutuianu said that his ability to get technically in the weeds was an asset during the interview process, and showed he had experience with AI.

He also highlighted that his résumé has a section dedicated to personal projects. Tutuianu said he included one AI project, but it was enough. He said it came up naturally in the interview because he was asked about a time he used or built an AI agent.

"It was a juicy project where I could talk about it, and that was good enough," Tutuianu said.

Tutuianu said he also had to do a take-home coding assignment and review it with the hiring manager afterward, but there was no algorithmic component to the interview.

"Instead of the typical software engineering way that these interviews go, which is 'go solve this algorithm in front of me,'" Tutuianu said. "It's more of 'can you build the things that we care about? Show me."

Jai Raj Choudhary, StackAI engineer

Jai Raj Choudhary transitioned from a data-focused role to an AI engineer at AI agent startup StackAI.

The 24-year-old said he got his job by reaching out to StackAI's cofounder multiple times on LinkedIn. Choudhary said he had used the company's platform as a student, so he messaged the cofounder and started posting about StackAI, offering advice to the company.

He said he thinks he got offers from StackAI was because he understood data quality, the edge cases for the clients, the matrix, and the failure modes of the AI model or any LLM systems that were being used.

He said moving to San Francisco, where 9-9-6 culture existed, helped open his opportunities in the space.

"It's not like a 9-to-5 cushy job," Choudhary said. "We work 9-to-9, six days a week. You wake up, you think about the problem that a client had, and you sleep thinking about what is not fixed yet."

Also, taking a job at a startup that helped him grow and devoting himself to continuous learning made a big difference. Choudhary said he spent hours studying every day.

Brit Morenus, Microsoft senior AI gamification program manager

Brit Morenus, a 37-year-old senior AI gamification program manager, studied English, communications, and marketing in college. She started at Microsoft about 13 years ago as an executive assistant, and for the first five and a half years at the company, she was a contract worker.

She later moved into a role focused on gamification — using game mechanics to teach and market Microsoft's products.

She spent about a year getting certifications that taught her about game mechanics, and in that position, she became a full-time employee. Six years later, she had the opportunity to start gamifying learning about AI, and spent three months learning about it.

Her advice to others who want to transition is to resist letting fear keep you from stepping outside your comfort zone. She also said that with AI roles, you need to learn how it works, not just use it. Morenus added that she doesn't regret her English degree because it's now more important than ever to understand how to apply the English language to AI.

"A lot of it is more English language than it even is AI," Morenus said.

Did you pivot into an AI role? We want to hear from you. Contact the reporter via email at aaltchek@insider.com, or via secure-messaging platform Signal at aalt.19.

• Apple's outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, expanded the iPhone's size during his tenure, delighting some fans.
• The standard iPhone grew from 3.5 inches to over 6 inches, and Cook introduced larger-format models.
• Cofounder Steve Jobs initially dismissed the larger phones, calling them impractical.

Apple's outgoing CEO, Tim Cook, proved his predecessor, Steve Jobs, wrong: some people love a large iPhone.

Jobs, the cofounder and driving force behind the iPhone, once knocked smartphones larger than 4 inches. "You can't get your hand around it," he said in a 2010 press conference. "No one's going to buy that."

When Cook took the reins in 2011, he began expanding the iPhone's size. In 2012, the release of the iPhone 5 increased the phone's screen size from 3.5 inches to 4 inches. Later base models reached up to 5.8 inches before landing at around 6.3 inches in the latest iteration, the iPhone 17.

Cook also introduced larger-format iPhones, starting with the Plus series in 2014, which had a display size of 5.5 inches that year.

Cook deftly leaned into larger models as the world turned to video streaming and on-the-go viewing. Netflix, for example, shifted its business around 2011 to focus more on streaming, and YouTube was growing rapidly around that time.

In 2025, Apple introduced its largest iPhone model yet, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which topped out at 6.9 inches.

The shift to larger sizes has been working out for Apple. Cook said in January that iPhone demand was "staggering" and "unprecedented" in the holiday quarter. Apple posted $85 billion in iPhone revenue for the period.

Early data also showed that demand for the 17 Pro Max was stronger in the first two weeks of availability than other models in the 17 lineup, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.

Apple's larger-format phones are an example of how the tech giant prioritizes putting its own spin on technology rather than being first-to-market with an idea.

"We could have done a larger iPhone years ago," Cook told PBS News' Charlie Rose in 2014. "It's never been about just making a larger phone. It's been about making a better phone in every single way."

Thanks, Tim.

Bernie Sinclaire calls herself a "mommunist."

For nearly two years, the 38-year-old has raised kids with her best friend in their shared Manhattan apartment — and she couldn't recommend the setup more. She and Anabelle Gonzalez, 39, have a household rhythm: they trade off chores, cooking, and doing crafts with their elementary-age children. Better yet, the pair splits bills in one of America's most expensive cities.

"We'll be laughing on the couch, playing with our kids, and dinner is made, and the kitchen is cleaned," Sinclaire told Business Insider. "It's been mind-blowing to be able to just sit and talk. That was not something that I experienced when I was in a relationship, and it was not something I was able to enjoy as much when I was a single mother."

In a city where paychecks are stretched thin and monthly daycare costs rival rent expenses, New Yorkers are pinching pennies. A recent report from the Mayor's Office found that it costs the average family $159,000 to live and raise children in the five boroughs, and that's just for basics like housing and healthcare. Sixty-two percent of all residents — and the vast majority of single-parent households — don't earn enough to meet their cost-of-living threshold. It's hardest for mothers, who are often paid less than men and shoulder more childcare responsibilities.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office with a mandate to make the city more affordable. He has announced a plan for universal childcare for toddlers and preschoolers, which builds on the existing NYC Public School free 3-K program. Other proposals aim to lower the cost of apartments, buses, and food. It's a big task, especially as the city's housing demand continues to outpace supply.

To make ends meet, Sinclaire and Gonzalez became a dual-income household with a combined $200,000 — and really fun wallpaper.

"This is not the Mojo Dojo Casa House," Sinclaire said, referring to Ken's bachelor pad in the "Barbie" movie. "This is the Barbie Dream House."

'A utopia'

The concept of a "mommune," or commune of moms, has always made sense to Sinclaire. She was raised in Italy by a single parent, and said she watched her mother have to "choose between poverty and partnership." She wanted to avoid being financially dependent on a man.

"That was a dream and a wish from early on: to create a family not centered on male partnership and not centered on romance," she said. "Friendships are way more long-lasting, and it didn't make sense to me to have my children's welfare and financial security hinge on something that data shows over and over again is not really working for most women."

Sinclaire and Gonzalez met at an NYC graduate school in 2013 and stayed in touch when they became mothers. Sinclaire has two sons, ages 4 and 9, and Gonzalez has a 7-year-old daughter. Gonzalez had divorced when Sinclaire pitched moving in together.

"It took me time to process because you don't really hear about that type of alternative family," said Gonzalez, who grew up in Brooklyn. She didn't agree right away. "At first I was like, 'Okay, girlie, I love you, but what are you talking about? Then I cried at the end of the conversation because it sounded like a utopia."

The pair initially settled into Sinclaire's existing two-bedroom apartment, then upgraded to a three-bedroom, two-bathroom Harlem unit costing $4,550 a month. Their monthly rent is roughly $600 higher in the new place, but they say the space is essential as their kids grow. Their two incomes allow them to stay local. In upper Manhattan, about 52% of renter households spend 30% or more of their income on housing, the threshold housing economists typically define as unaffordable.

Both women teach at the same public high school, and said their finances have become more stable since they began sharing costs. Last year, Sinclaire earned $94,278 after deductions and Gonzalez earned $106,952, tax documents reviewed by Business Insider show. They split the $600 monthly grocery bill 50/50, then Gonzalez covers WiFi, and Sinclaire pays the electricity bill.

Childcare is divided, too. Sinclaire's youngest son is now old enough for free 3-K (which saves over $1,000 each month), and the others are in public school. The two moms trade drop-offs, pick-ups, and watching the kids. When there's a gap, they call their part-time caregiver. "She's been with us forever," Sinclaire said. "And we don't have as many hours for her as we did before, but she's our lifeline." Their monthly childcare costs average $600, with Sinclaire paying a larger share because she has two kids.

Since starting the "mommune," Sinclaire said she saves about $1,200 more each month, which goes to her emergency fund, retirement, and kids' college accounts. Gonzalez said they also spend less on takeout and impulse purchases because they can split household responsibilities and avoid burnout — something that wasn't the case in either of their previous relationships. That time and energy savings can't be overstated, she said.

"You want to be honest about your soul and boundaries and your lifestyle up front," Gonzales said. "Talking about money is uncomfortable — and it has been uncomfortable for me and for Bernie because it was the first time we, as friends, were talking about it — but it's important to talk and be honest about money."

'A New Yorker forever'

Gonzalez is the first to wake each morning to start breakfast. "I don't do measurements," she said, but each plate turns out delicious anyway. Sinclaire — a recipe loyalist — prefers cooking dinner.

Their children act like siblings and enjoy playing together, with occasional squabbles. The moms are each other's support system, and treat all three kids like their own.

"I think that if you're blessed to have a big community, you might not see this as something very different," Sinclaire said. "But if you are, like many mothers, 'default parenting,' and you're overwhelmed and you've lost your sense of self, friendship is lifesaving."'

Sharing a life has given the two more space for their creativity. Gonzalez co-owns a clothing brand. Sinclaire has been able to spend more time on art and is turning years of handwritten journals into a book. Saving money has also given the family more resources to travel. They took the kids to Mexico recently and plan to take their "first solo mommy trip" to Turks and Caicos this summer.

The pair hasn't sworn off romance, but they wouldn't trade it for the "mommune."

"A lot of times people are like, 'This is crazy, that you're going to move in with another woman,'" Sinclaire laughed. "And I said, 'How is that more crazy than moving in with a man that you met online and having children with him?'"

"Yes, we do date," Gonzalez added. "But anybody who dates people will understand that you live in your house and I live in mine."

Even when the kids get older and move away, the moms don't think they'll part ways. There are simply too many Jon Hamm TV shows, Cardi B albums, and nightlife spots for them to appreciate together. They see the "mommune" lasting long past their child-rearing years.

Plus, rent isn't getting any cheaper, and neither of them wants to leave NYC.

"I'm a New Yorker forever," Gonzalez said. "I love my city."

A man with a mysterious case of full-body hives in Abu Dhabi. A Californian rushed to the hospital with a life-threatening allergic reaction. A fit, gym-going man in Texas with soaring blood sugar — inexplicably headed for pre-diabetes.

Doctors working on the bleeding edge of longevity care in high-end clinics around the globe — from concierge practices in wealthy enclaves of California to premier longevity centers in the Middle East — say they're seeing an uptick in both interest in, and injuries from, injectable peptides.

A peptide is simply a short chain of amino acids, too short to be called a protein. We have thousands of them in our bodies. Some are hormones like insulin, some help our muscles grow, some aid in healing. Injectable peptides promise people a boost on top of what nature delivers, such as deeper tanning, better fat burning, greater muscle growth, and improved wound healing. Still, rigorous human studies on these claims are often lacking.

As more people attend peptide "parties" and inject unknown substances sourced from friends or online dealers, doctors are sharing horror stories about some of the worst-case DIY peptide scenarios they've seen.

Many say they are putting out "fires" and dealing with bizarre, unexplained health issues that, after some medical investigation, end up being tied to unauthorized, grey-market peptide use. Injuries they've seen range from simple to serious, including minor injection site reactions and major hormonal disturbances.

Recently, at Dr. Nicole Sirotin's Institute for Healthier Living longevity clinic in Abu Dhabi, practitioners linked a case of full-body hives to an at-home peptide injection.

"These kinds of immune reactions," Sirotin said, "people might not be associating with the peptides."

That makes it hard to gauge how widespread peptide injuries are — from simple injection issues, to contamination, or improper dosing. Anecdotally, however, doctors say there's been a huge uptick in peptide use over the past year, fueled by influencers touting their benefits on social media.

Business Insider spoke to seven doctors, including some who use peptides in their practice and some who don't recommend them. They're concerned about growing interest in and willingness to experiment with unauthorized peptides.

Hives, messed-up hormones, and insulin resistance issues

People are drawn to peptides because they promise targeted, almost "shortcut" fixes for weight loss, muscle gain, and antiaging — often with little oversight from doctors.

They act like messengers in the body, influencing or acting as hormones that control growth, metabolism, and other key functions. Because these substances mimic normal hormonal processes in our bodies, they've developed a reputation as safe and "natural," though there are very few rigorous human studies to support that claim.

The effects of "stacking" multiple peptides into a daily or weekly regimen, including ones for fat loss, muscle growth, tanning, better hair and skin, have also not been studied.

Originally, bodybuilders were drawn to peptides for muscle gains and the promised benefits to physique. Then, post-COVID, biohackers were attracted to this style of do-it-yourself medicine, and now doctors told Business Insider that antiaging enthusiasts and affluent patients can't get enough of this stuff.

In Texas, Dr. Farhan Abdullah, the medical director at Magnolia Functional Wellness in suburban Dallas, said that over the past year, he's seen an uptick in moms, housewives, and "white collar people who are kind of approaching middle age" taking an interest in peptides.

"You look at RFK, and you look at what's going on, and you would think it's just a bunch of gym bros that are interested in peptides, and it's really not," he said.

There are dozens of peptides to choose from, and doctors stress that each should be evaluated individually.

Abdullah's patients tell the board-certified physician that they're often skipping the pharmacy, and sourcing their peptides online, or getting them secondhand from friends, like an injectable drug version of a Tupperware party.

In his worst-case scenario to date, one patient, who he described as a young "fit" man, developed early insulin resistance from a growth hormone-stimulating peptide that had him charting a course toward early diabetes. Because growth hormone and insulin counterbalance each other, excess stimulation may lead to insulin resistance, a risk not well studied in peptide use.

"This guy with no family history, he was a fit dude, he was jacked, he was working in the gym, had early insulin resistance," Farhan said.

Dr. Meena Verma, who runs Blue Coast Longevity clinic in Newport Beach, California, said one of her patients had a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction to a peptide shot and landed in the hospital "that night."

"Obviously, we see it all over social media — Instagram influencers — everybody is pitching peptides," she said. "Where the patients are getting their peptides is a big concern."

Dr. Lisa Cassileth, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, said the worst issues she has seen so far have been minor, such as injection-site redness from unsterile pokes or improper storage of peptides. Other issues with peptide injections can stem from contamination issues.

Not all doctors are entirely against peptides, especially when used in controlled settings. Cassileth prescribes some peptides to her patients when they are recovering from surgery, but wouldn't recommend injecting them all the time or obtaining them from online sellers.

"Peptides are just going to be another drug," Cassileth, founder and CEO of The Practice Healthcare, said. "We just have to learn how to use them correctly."

Cassileth uses the very popular "Wolverine" peptide BPC-157, a compound that will be up for debate at a July FDA meeting. It is often sold online "for research purposes only," meaning it's not human-grade.

Cassileth sources hers from state- and federally-regulated compounding pharmacies, licensed as "503A" and "503B," which are held to a higher standard. She said she often uses BPC-157 on her patients after surgery as it's marketed to promote faster wound healing and tissue repair, but said it's not something people should take every day. She called it a "one-week" peptide.

"There's no hormone or enzyme in your body that just hits you nonstop in high doses," she said.

While she believes that the anti-inflammatory and reparative benefits outweigh the risks for short-term use, she wouldn't put someone on it indefinitely. "Don't do excess because you don't know what it does yet," she said.

Cassileth is hopeful that the practice of using peptides will develop into a well-studied approach for various conditions and be marketed by major pharmaceutical companies.

"Pharmaceuticals — go for it," she said. "Please save us from this thing being in some kind of weird space where only functional medicine people prescribe it."

Could peptides solve aging? Maybe someday.

Other longevity-focused doctors take a more measured stance on peptides and said far more research is needed in humans before doctors start prescribing these substances.

Dr. Andrea Maier, a professor of medicine at the National University of Singapore who runs the Chi Longevity Clinic at the Four Seasons there, said that the clinical evidence simply isn't there yet for a lot of these peptides.

"At the moment, we are hearing that peptides could solve the aging trajectory — and I think it might be right," Maier said. "I think we should study it well, to give it in a very well-regulated way."

When she hears of "peptide parties" and "peptide festivals," she worries about the potential for harm, where something is being injected with only "a thought that this might help."

Her concerns aren't just theoretical. Regulators are increasingly scrutinizing the fast-growing peptide market. The FDA has restricted several peptides over safety concerns and warned companies against selling unapproved versions online. In September, the agency announced it was cracking down on imposter versions of the weight loss shots semaglutide, tirzepatide, and retatrutide being imported from abroad.

Canadian authorities recently warned that unauthorized peptides can lead to hormonal imbalances, mood swings, blood sugar issues, organ damage, and tumor growth.

GLP-1 is the darling peptide

There is one all-star peptide that experts across the board said they endorse, use, and would like to study further for its effects on aging and longevity: GLP-1, the hormone-mimicking peptide behind Ozempic and Mounjaro.

"I have like 80% of my patients ask me about GLP-1s and 5% about peptides," Dr. Nima Afshar, a physician at Private Medical San Francisco, told Business Insider. "Even people that are pretty healthy, boy, they're thinking about [GLP-1s] because my patients are rational and they understand this is evidence-based, and it does seem to have some longevity benefit."

He doesn't broadly recommend the entire class of compounds, though. When his patients ask, "Should I be on peptides?" or say, "I've heard peptides can help" for things like an energy boost, improved muscle mass, or better libido, he generally says "no." Though he's open to adjusting that stance in the future as more data comes in.

Dr. Evelyne Bischof, who runs a healthy longevity medicine practice in Shanghai and Tel Aviv, said she is not "radically against" peptide use, but her patients only use FDA-approved peptides like Ozempic, "and only from very reliable providers." She has concerns about unauthorized peptides causing allergic reactions, or including extra substances that aren't listed on the label, like steroids.

"I don't think any scientists would be anti-peptide," Sirotin, the longevity doctor in Abu Dhabi, said. "We're just anti-self-experimentation with random molecules that are research-grade."

"Partly, the reason I think it's so concerning is because these are presumably healthy people who want to be healthier," she said. "The problem is you might be entering a one-way door, and you damage your liver, or you damage your kidneys."

• Andrew Yang says AI could cause considerable inequality.
• He said a basic income policy will be "necessary" to address the issues.
• Yang floated a universal basic income during his 2020 presidential campaign.

AI-related layoffs are already hitting America's job market, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang thinks the fallout could be substantial.

During an interview on The New York Times' "Hard Fork" podcast, Yang said the technology, when compounded with America's current economy, could lead to "inequality on an epic, unprecedented scale."

"We're going to have our first trillionaire. The folks at the top stratum of American life are going to get richer and richer. It's going to compound over itself," Yang said. "Then there are going to be a lot of families wondering what the heck happened. My kids studied hard, there's no job, they have these school loans, they're in my basement, they're getting depressed."

He said a basic income policy will be "necessary" to address these issues. A universal basic income — a program in which a government provides recurring, unconditional checks to all citizens — was a key part of Yang's 2020 presidential campaign. During that time, he introduced the Freedom Dividened, a universal basic income program that would have provided all American adults a $1,000-per-month payment, no strings attached.

Yang received pushback at the time from some lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders, who instead suggested providing guaranteed federal jobs to address workforce automation.

Lawmakers are divided on basic income. While some believe it could boost economic stability, others worry it could discourage Americans from working and be expensive to fund. Many leading Big Tech personalities have, on their end, advocated for basic income programs in response to AI's impact on employment.

Tesla billionaire Elon Musk, a longtime advocate of basic income, recently said that a "universal high income" will be the "best way" to deal with AI-related unemployment.

"AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation," he wrote on X this month.

During the interview, Yang said there should "100%" be a tax on AI, which could help balance the income gap in the US economy.

"It should be going out to people and workers in various ways. We should try and find ways to get off of taxing human labor," Yang said.

He added, "So tax AI. Tax the bots. Don't tax humans."

• Pokémon cards have become valuable assets on the playground and in cafeterias.
• Preteen collectors aren't playing around: They view the cards as investments and a tool to build value.
• I caught up with kids at a recent trading event. Here's what I learned.

My introduction to Pokémon was the cartoon, which premiered in the US when I was five. My brother watched and built a small collection of cards, only for them to be stolen, marking the end of his short-lived hobby.

I hadn't really thought much about the pocket-sized monsters since then, aside from when Pokémon Go became an inescapable phenomenon in 2016.

Then, a few months ago, a couple of my colleagues with elementary school-aged kids said Pokémon was back, but it wasn't the game they remembered.

Thanks to the internet and smartphones, today's kids treat their Pokémon collections like stock portfolios. Kids bragged, some inaccurately, about million-dollar cards, and parents coached their youngsters on how to make the best trades.

I decided to see for myself and headed to the hottest club in New York for the under-16 set: Bleecker Trading.

The financial center

On a Thursday during spring break, the hobby shop on the Upper West Side was welcoming, with boxes of free pizza stacked near the door and a Pikachu balloon signaling that it was open for business.

Business, indeed. During my afternoon at the Bleecker Trading, I watched as dozens of kids wheeled and dealed, spewed financial jargon — like appreciation and interest — that I didn't learn until I was twice their age, and negotiated with adults.

Last year, Pokémon was the world's No. 1 toy product by sales — though perhaps it should be thought of more as a commodity and less as a plaything. Over the past year, Pokémon cards have outperformed both the Dow and the S&P 500, according to Card Ladder's Pokémon index, which tracks market performance on several resale platforms.

Edi, a nine-year-old from Switzerland, was visiting his dad in New York and had begged to visit Bleecker Trading. When I walked in, he was in the middle of shaking hands with the shop owner, Matt Winkelried, to mark a successful deal.

Edi understands how valuable cards can be.

"The best card costs more than a house," he told me.

He's not wrong. In February, a rare Pikachu sold for $16.5 million, setting a record. Edi's own top card cost about $300 or $400, his dad said.

In a back corner, three teenagers were in the middle of a trade. One said he was happy to make a cash deal. Another said, with a bit of jealousy, that the other's grandma always buys him good cards.

They were emphatic about the reason they collect: the money.

They seemed a bit bemused by my amazement. Duh, they understood the basics of investing and how to read stock-like charts that track the values of specific cards.

They prided themselves on trading fairly and following the rules (including sanitizing their hands before engaging, as demonstrated by Bleecker Trading staff). In fact, they seemed downright responsible with their money.

A couple of tables over, RJ and Jasper, who were there with their dads, told me about how they keep some packs and boxes of cards unopened — a strategy Winkelried likened to a low-risk investment like bonds.

It's tempting to rip through them, RJ said, so he keeps them under his bed in a bag. Out of sight, out of mind.

I asked what he was saving for. "A rainy day," Jasper, who keeps track of the interest on various cards, told me.

The kids, it turns out, may be all right.

• Ukraine's battlefield robot fleet is rapidly growing and is being updated quickly.
• One maker told Business Insider it can make remote fixes in minutes and has staff always near the front.
• It said it is always updating capabilities to stay on top, and the West must learn from that speed.

Ukraine is updating its battlefield robots rapidly and remotely like smartphones.

The use of robots is surging on Ukraine's battlefields, replacing troops in roles from logistics to combat. But the war is changing so fast that, without constant upgrades, the robots can lose their effectiveness.

Oleg Fedoryshyn, director of R&D at Ukrainian robotic systems maker DevDroid, told Business Insider that the company designs its products so that they can be updated as easily as possible, "like mobile phones or operating systems.

"We can update it remotely, and we add some new features, we fix some bugs," he said, sharing that the firm updates the software used by its robots every few weeks and can make remote fixes within minutes, critical amid wartime urgency.

Working to stay relevant

It can design a new update, test it with a brigade, and roll it out across all deployed systems within a week, Fedoryshyn said. The company builds a range of combat robots, along with components that let units mount weapons like grenade launchers and machine guns.

There are limits to remote upgrades, just as there are with smartphones. The technological evolution still requires hardware updates from time to time, a bigger ask, but a necessity to keep up with the pace of change in combat.

They typically do a major modification about every six months, delivering new capabilities, such as more than doubling the distance the robot can travel.

To expedite some processes, the company deploys teams near the front line to fix damaged systems or make rapid hardware upgrades. That allows for same-day turnaround, and teams can even help evacuate disabled robots from the battlefield.

Fedoryshyn compared it to " a warranty, like when you buy a new car," and said it allows soldiers to stay focused on operations.

When the company works on a broken system, it analyzes what failed and whether upgrades are needed: "We think how to do it better."

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has been marked by rapid technological change, with battlefield tech constantly evolving. Ukrainian soldiers say equipment can become outdated within weeks or months.

Soldiers often adapt gear in unexpected ways, feeding back into rapid redesigns. DevDroid says it has 24/7 support chats with every unit using its systems. At 3:30 a.m., a unit can ask for help and get a response, Fedoryshyn said.

The idea to arm robots with anti-tank RPGs, now a feature that's being rolled out, first came from soldier feedback, which accelerates the iterative development process.

Lessons in speed

NATO officials have warned that Western industry and militaries need to learn from Ukraine's speed. Adm. Pierre Vandier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, for instance, previously told Business Insider that the alliance needs Ukraine's "adaptation DNA."

The UK's armed forces minister, Luke Pollard, warned last year that Western military processes are "outdated." In Ukraine, drone tech "iterates every two to three weeks on the front line," he said, arguing that NATO must rethink how it procures weapons.

The speed of innovation has pushed defense manufacturers to design systems that are easier to update, including making them more modular and software-driven. Fedoryshyn said that was key because "it's quite easy to update software, but it's hard to update some hardware."

It's something the US Army increasingly views as critical. Leaders at its new drone school previously told Business Insider that they primarily want to work with companies that make plug-and-play gear that can be updated easily.

Maj. Wolf Amacker, who leads the Army's Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Tactics Branch at the Aviation Center of Excellence, said that when it comes to defense manufacturers, "if whatever they're building isn't modular with other industry partners to work together, then I'm going to go with another industry partner that is."

Robots are a growing part of Ukraine's military. Their usage has surged, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying they carried out more than 22,000 frontline missions in three months.

Ukraine has plans to go much further. Its defense minister this week revealed plans to contract 25,000 new robots in the first half of this year, which is double last year's total, and said that the country's goal is to eventually have 100% of front-line logistics carried out by robots.

• Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting is next week, but Warren Buffett won't be hosting.
• New CEO Greg Abel will welcome tens of thousands of shareholders from across the world to Omaha.
• Berkshire gurus want Abel to share his plans for stocks, businesses, cash, and leadership.

What is Berkshire Hathaway without Warren Buffett in charge?

Tens of thousands of shareholders are hoping to find out when they descend on the legendary investor's hometown of Omaha next week.

They're making the pilgrimage to attend Berkshire's annual meeting, dubbed "Woodstock for Capitalists" because it attracts a huge crowd of like-minded investors for a weekend of learning, networking, and celebration.

But for the first time, Buffett won't be hosting the gathering. Instead, it will be Greg Abel, who took over as Berkshire's CEO at the start of this year, marking the end of the business icon's six-decade run.

Business Insider asked five Berkshire gurus what they'd like to hear from Abel next week. They shared questions about his management approach, plans for Berkshire's cash pile and stock portfolio, and even his personal life.

1. Trailing the index

Berkshire stock has declined 14% since Buffett's surprise retirement announcement on May 3 last year, while the S&P 500 has gained 26%.

David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland and a longtime Berkshire blogger, said he would like to hear Abel's "explanation for Berkshire underperforming the S&P 500" by roughly 40 percentage points in under 12 months.

2. Money mountain

Berkshire held a record $373 billion of cash, Treasury bills, and other liquid assets at the end of December. That figure exceeds the market value of Chevron ($371 billion), Palantir ($365 billion), and Cisco ($355 billion).

Buffett, perhaps the world's foremost bargain hunter, struggled in recent years to deploy Berkshire's cash as stock valuations surged, acquisition prices soared, and even buybacks grew unattractive as Berkshire shares climbed.

Now Buffett has stepped aside, it's up to Abel to put that money to work.

"What are his plans to invest $373 billion in cash?" Kass asked.

Brett Gardner, an analyst and the author of "Buffett's Early Investments," raised the prospect that Berkshire might use its dry powder to purchase Buffett's roughly 14% stake in the business, a position worth $138 billion.

"Does Berkshire plan on buying Warren's stake in a negotiated transaction someday?" he asked.

3. Leadership revamp

Abel has made a few changes to Berkshire's top brass since taking over, most notably appointing NetJets CEO Adam Johnson as president.

Johnson and Katie Farmer, the CEO of Berkshire-owned BNSF Railway, will join Abel onstage for the second Q&A session.

Larry Cunningham, the author of several books about Berkshire and the director of the University of Delaware's Weinberg Center, told Business Insider he's looking forward to seeing Abel engage with the two subsidiary CEOs, "a new practice that I hope will add tremendous value to the meeting."

Gardner is also looking for indications of whether Abel intends to appoint other divisional leaders like Johnson. Under Buffett, subsidiary CEOs reported to Abel as the head of the non-insurance businesses, and Berkshire's insurance chief, Ajit Jain.

Chris Ballard, a managing director at Check Capital Management, said he was curious about Ted Weschler's expanded role at Berkshire. Abel touched on that in his first shareholder letter, following the departure of the other investment manager, Todd Combs.

Ballard said he was hoping Abel would share "some details on how often he sees Ted, how often he is in contact with Ted, and what sort of behind-the-scenes responsibilities Greg leans on Ted for."

4. Stocks and subsidiaries

In his first shareholder letter, Abel listed Berkshire's core stock holdings as Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Moody's, leaving out two large positions — Bank of America and Chevron.

Ballard said he was "very interested" to hear Abel's thoughts on Berkshire's stocks and what kinds of businesses he'd consider adding to its core portfolio.

He also highlighted that almost nothing is known about Abel's investing experience.

"We don't know what Greg's past personal or professional investment performance looks like, and we are very interested in him describing some investment successes and failures, so we can get a sense for what we might expect going forward," Ballard said.

Paul Lountzis, a longtime Berkshire shareholder and the president of Lountzis Asset Management, said he was curious whether Abel would look to offload any subsidiaries. Buffett famously offered businesses a permanent home, which distinguished Berkshire from other buyers.

"Does he see Berkshire selling any businesses if they receive offers to buy some of the companies at attractive prices?" Lountzis asked.

5. Hands-on vs. hands-off

Buffett and his late business partner, Charlie Munger, structured Berkshire as a decentralized web of autonomous subsidiaries, which allowed them to focus on allocating capital inside and outside the company instead of running the businesses themselves.

Abel is a more hands-on manager and may demand more of Berkshire's businesses. He wrote in his letter that Pilot had ranked second in a study of travel centers' popularity, and he wouldn't be pleased until it takes the No. 1 spot.

He also noted that Berkshire first invested in Pilot in 2017 but was "contractually delayed" from managing it until 2023, and said, "that mistake will not happen again."

"His comments were uncompromising and could be taken as unwelcoming," Ballard said. "In the past, Buffett wanted Berkshire to be seen as a great home for a long-held family business, and he would remain hands off and allow the current owners to have autonomy. Abel's comments could deter such owners from approaching Berkshire in the future."

Ballard asked whether Abel would promise a permanent home to potential sellers, and whether he would allow the same level of autonomy as Buffett and Munger did or seek to optimize businesses after buying them.

6. Getting personal

Buffett is famous for his investing prowess, his philanthropy, his frugal lifestyle, his junk-food diet, and more. Very little is known about Abel by comparison.

"What does his typical day look like?" Kass asked. "What percentage of his time is spent on travel to Berkshire's companies? How many hours per day does he spend on investment research, such as reading 10-Ks?"

Ballard said he's eager to learn "more about Greg as a person, both personally and professionally." He suggested Abel could talk about his love of ice hockey, his formative life experiences, his philanthropy, and his friends in the business world.

"It'd be nice to hear stories about some interactions that have taken place with other professionals, who he admires — other than Buffett — and what inspires him," Ballard added. "What books does he like? What movies, etc.?"

7. Next generation

Berkshire has already seen its biggest shake-up in decades, and there could be more changes to come.

Gardner said he'd like to know who will succeed Jain, who turns 75 this summer, as insurance chief. Lountzis inquired about how Abel is working with his lieutenants to line up successors for when Jain and other executives step down.

Buffett has headlined Berkshire's big bash for decades. Shareholders are about to find out what it's like when he's not running the show.

• Courtney Clapper started applying for jobs in 2025 after graduating from Cornell Tech.
• She tried video cover letters, portfolios, and more to stand out, but had no luck.
• A hack on Reddit helped her get in contact with hiring managers and land her strategy lead job.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Courtney Clapper, a 32-year-old strategy lead for a major retailer in New York. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I started my job hunt in the fall of 2025, a few months after graduating with my MBA from Cornell Tech. I was applying for a mix of roles, such as product manager or digital strategist, and I knew the competition would be fierce in this tough job market.

From portfolios to video cover letters, I tried all sorts of creative methods to stand out and show off my personality, but they didn't work. A simple, free AI tool that locates hiring managers' emails landed me multiple interviews — and a job.

Video cover letters were a great start for me

My first thought process when entering the job market was to imagine myself as a recruiter, getting slammed with thousands of résumés filled with data and numbers.

I figured it would be in my best interest to give them a sense of what makes me stand out: my personality. So, I recorded myself reading my AI-written cover letters, throwing in a joke or two, and attached the video via a private YouTube link.

The video tells the recruiters I can speak and present well, and it gives them a sense of who I am. This approach helped me land an interview at Microsoft. They specifically called out the video, saying it made them feel like they already knew me, which I thought was pretty good feedback.

I still wanted to try several different creative ideas.

Next, I decided to make something more visual — a portfolio

My portfolio was in the form of a timeline. It included pictures of all professional endeavors I thought could help me land a job, from products I've built and my time at Cornell to pictures of me pitching. My goal was to showcase my skill set and personality while also creating something more visually interesting.

I'd also heard of people getting jobs by putting together a slideshow on how they'd improve the company, so I gave it a shot, and it didn't really get me anywhere. Neither of these strategies was worth the time commitment they required.

Referrals also got me nowhere. I have a solid network, and that wasn't making a difference. Interestingly, I applied for a bunch of roles at Microsoft, and the only one I got an interview for was the one I didn't have a referral for.

I came across a job-finding hack on Reddit

I was reading comments on Reddit from people complaining about their job-hunting struggles, and I saw a few people saying they found success by reaching out to hiring managers directly.

Some people said they cold-called, which made me think, "Okay, that's a little bit too far," but the emphasis was just to reach out. The idea of emailing them seemed low-risk, so I decided to give it a shot.

I started by researching on LinkedIn, trying to guess who the hiring manager or recruiter might be. Sometimes it was listed, but it wasn't the best method. Then I came across a Reddit comment about Apollo AI, a free tool that can locate hiring manager emails. I found it to be pretty accurate, so I started reaching out with my résumé and cover letter. It was a game changer.

The CEO of Sweetgreen responded to my email

My messages showed initiative and, honestly, probably just made things easier for the hiring manager. I reached out to three people directly and got interviewed for two jobs.

I even emailed the CEO of Sweetgreen directly, and he responded by putting me in touch with the hiring manager to schedule an interview.

One of my email reachouts turned into my current job, a strategy lead role for a major retailer. This strategy made things more efficient because I already had a direct line of contact, so it was easy to follow up if there was a delay.

I didn't get any negative feedback about it and would do it again

I was wondering if anyone might be weirded out about me finding their emails, but no one said anything. They could find it creepy, but they could also find it resourceful.

If I were back in the job market, I'd start with the email strategy. The exercise of thinking through creative approaches like portfolios and video cover letters was fun and got me thinking about how to present my personality most effectively, but ultimately, getting in direct contact was the best way to be competitive.

Do you have a story to share about a unique job-finding hack? If so, please reach out to the reporter at tmartinelli@businessinsider.com.

• Target is calling about 150 remote workers back to its Minneapolis headquarters.
• The relocation mandate impacts workers within its merchandising division.
• The retailer, which brought on a new CEO earlier this year, has been working to turn the business around.

Target is calling more remote workers back to its headquarters.

The retailer is requiring about 150 remote workers within two teams in its merchandising group to relocate to Minneapolis, a spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Bloomberg earlier reported the news.

The company is offering relocation assistance to those who decide to move and severance to those who choose not to.

A company spokesperson said in a statement that "increased in-person collaboration across a core part of our merchandising team will help us reinforce our merchandising authority, unlocking greater creativity and enabling us to move faster to deliver on our strategy."

The retailer, which brought on a new CEO earlier this year, is in the midst of a turnaround strategy to revive growth, and improving its merchandise is a pillar of that effort.

The relocation mandate comes as more companies, such as Amazon and AT&T, have been calling workers back into the office in recent years. Target last year ramped up in-office days for employees already based in Minneapolis.

Target does not have a companywide mandate and has left in-office requirements to team leaders.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at dreuter@businessinsider.com or text/call/Signal at 646-768-4750. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill that would have paused new data center projects until late 2027.
• Mills cited her support for an existing project and said she wanted to study data center impacts.
• Lawmakers in at least 12 states have tried and failed to ban data centers as local resistance grows.

Another state-level effort to ban new data center development just failed, this time in Maine.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Friday vetoed a bill that would have put a pause on data centers in the state until late 2027. Mills said she supports a moratorium on data center projects but that the bill, which passed the state House and Senate his month, did not include an exemption for a project already underway.

"A moratorium is appropriate given the impacts of massive data centers in other states on the environment and on electricity rates," Mills said in a letter to the state legislature. "But the final version of this bill fails to allow for a specific project in the Town of Jay that enjoys strong local support from its host community and region."

A statement shared by her office said the $550 million data center redevelopment project was needed in Jay, where a paper mill closure in 2023 "eliminated hundreds of good-paying jobs and dealt a significant blow to the local economy."

The governor said she would have signed the bill had there been a carve-out for the project, which she said is expected to create over 800 construction jobs and at least 100 high-paying permanent jobs in addition to generating property tax revenue.

Mills, a Democrat who is running for US Senate in 2026, said she plans to issue an executive order to create a council to look at the impact of data centers in Maine.

"I believe it necessary and important to examine and plan for the potential impacts of large-scale data centers in Maine, as the use of artificial intelligence becomes more widespread," she said.

Lawmakers in at least 11 other states have also tried and failed to pass legislation that would temporarily ban new data center development, Business Insider previously reported.

The data center boom, fueled by Big Tech's AI ambitions, has sparked pockets of local resistance across the US amid concerns about energy consumption and impact on energy costs as well as the environment.

A Business Insider investigation found Maine had two data centers in the state as of last year.

• The banker says he has received multiple offers from employees since posting the deal this week.
• The 13-acre Mill Valley estate features sweeping views of San Francisco, an infinity-edge pool, and a spa.
• The offer comes as Anthropic's valuation on secondary markets reached $1 trillion, and shares are scarce.

A tech banker really, really wants Anthropic shares.

The hunt for shares in Anthropic has become so frenzied in recent weeks that Storm Duncan is offering up his $4.8 million Marin County estate in exchange for stock.

"If you're going fishing, you've got to put a worm on the hook," said Storm Duncan, the founder and managing partner of Ignatious, a tech boutique investment bank, in an interview with Business Insider. "What's my other option? Not being in it?"

The offer comes as Anthropic's valuation on secondary markets soared to $1 trillion, driven by investors who have been wowed by its torrid revenue growth and momentum around its AI-powered coding assistant, Claude Code, Business Insider reported this week.

Duncan, who lives primarily in Jackson Hole, Wyo., also owns other properties, but he decided to list this one because he thought it would be especially attractive to Anthropic employees.

Duncan's 13-acre, fully furnished Mill Valley estate features sweeping views of San Francisco, an infinity-edge pool, and a spa.

"It's a 20-minute commute to the Anthropic offices in the city," he said. "No one from Anthropic probably wants my Miami or Jackson Hole place."

By offering the property, Duncan hopes to get on the radar of employees who have legitimate shares to sell and own a goldmine of Anthropic stock they can't sell until after the company goes public.

Duncan says he has received multiple offers since posting the deal this week. "Some of them are [Anthropic] employees, and some of them just happen to have invested early," he said. "I believe they're serious, but it's a complex transaction."

"There's probably a decent number of people who are sitting in a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco even though they're earning $400,000 a year and are worth a $100 million," he said. "But they can't access that because their stock is so illiquid, so this gives them an opportunity to diversify."

It's not the first time there's been an unconventional way to secure shares in pre-IPO tech companies. In 2005, artist David Choe chose Facebook stock over $60,000 in cash to paint murals at Facebook's first office. That choice led to an estimated windfall of about $200 million once Facebook went public in 2012. In the dot-com era, some real estate owners asked startups for company stock in exchange for leasing space in San Francisco.

Some on X have dismissed Duncan's offer as a publicity stunt or a sure sign of the top of a bubble. Others have made cracks about the only thing being more precious than Anthropic shares is Bay Area real estate.

Duncan insists the offer is real and he is not seeking attention. As for why he does not simply buy shares in the company, he says a small investor like him would never be able to secure stock directly.

"Anthropic can't spend time with people like me," Duncan said. "They're looking for people who can write $100 million in a single check." (The company did not respond to a request for comment.)

The alternative is to buy shares from early employees or investors on secondary markets, but Duncan says those deals are often increasingly dubious.

He said the scarcity of shares on the secondary market has made sellers offer deals that can be rife with high fees and opaque ownership structures.

Duncan already owns shares in Anthropic that he acquired in its 2024 funding round, when it was much easier to obtain shares. He says he was recently convinced he wanted to double down after being wowed by the results of his firm's implementation of Claude Code.

"It's probably going to triple our throughput and reduce our costs by 50%," he said. "As I started to implement the platform at my own firm, I said I would like to have more exposure to this."

• Prosecutors say Gannon Van Dyke used military secrets to make trades on Polymarket.
• Kalshi says he tried to open an account on its platform but was blocked.
• Van Dyke, a master sergeant at Fort Bragg, was indicted on multiple felonies.

The Army Special Forces soldier indicted on charges that he used military secrets to win over $400,000 in Polymarket trades was blocked from opening an account on rival prediction market platform, Kalshi.

Elisabeth Diana, head of communications for Kalshi, told Business Insider that Gannon Van Dyke did not make it past the verification and know-your-customer process but declined to provide more details. Reuters, citing an unnamed source, had earlier reported that Van Dyke tried but failed to gain access to Kalshi.

Van Dyke, a 38-year-old master sergeant assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, was charged with wire fraud and other felonies for placing more than $33,000 in trades related to US action in Venezuela, prosecutors said.

The career soldier was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and used classified information to make his bets, the indictment alleges.

Van Dyke is being prosecuted in New York, but made his first appearance in federal court in North Carolina on Friday. The court docket states that the government did not seek to detain him, and he was released on $250,000 bond.

He is represented by federal public defenders, who did not respond to a request for comment. He also did not respond to a call from Business Insider.

Polymarket did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the vetting Van Dyke underwent when he signed up for an account. The company said that it tipped off the feds to Van Dyke's trades.

In a statement on X, CEO Shayne Coplan said, "Noise aside, the reality is we work proactively with all relevant authorities on any suspicious activity on our marketplace. We flagged this, referred it, and cooperated throughout the process. This happens constantly behind the scenes, despite what many are led to believe."

Critics have raised alarms about the potential of insider trading on prediction markets and fretted about the possibility that the markets or the current events that fuel them could be manipulated for profit. Kalshi bans insider trading, and Polymarket bans trades based on confidential information.

Kalshi earlier this week said it suspended three political candidates for trading on their own elections as the platform moves to crack down on insider trading.

Asked about the Van Dyke case by reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, President Donald Trump said he wasn't a big fan of prediction markets.

"The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino," Trump, who once owned several casinos, said. "I don't like it, conceptually, but it is what it is."

Michael Selig, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction markets, has defended the businesses, at one point calling them "valuable to society."

The commission filed a civil complaint against Van Dyke in federal court on Thursday.

• MrBeast's next growth act may come from AI-produced videos.
• Jimmy Donaldson's company is looking for someone to lead a production team with AI at the foundation.
• MrBeast has been expanding his company while looking for ways to save.

YouTube's biggest star, MrBeast, is looking for a leader to help his company create "AI-native" productions.

A job posting says that Beast Industries wants to build a new production capability in which AI is "not a tool but the foundation."

It calls for someone who can help define "what AI-native entertainment looks like, develop original formats, and build systems that enable content to be conceived, produced, and scaled with AI at the core."

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, wouldn't be the first creator to delve into AI. Fellow superstar creator Steven Bartlett has been making fully AI-animated shows since last year.

Still, as YouTube's top creator with 479 million subscribers, Donaldson's moves in the space will be closely watched by the entertainment community.

Many production studios are adopting AI across production, marketing, and visual effects, and startups are raising millions on the promise of helping legacy Hollywood transition to the AI era.

So far, entirely AI productions are largely the realm of animation, podcasts, and short-form video.

In the micro drama space, apps including TikTok's Pine Drama and Vigloo have character-driven dramas generated by AI. These AI dramas account for 10% of Vigloo's library, a spokesperson said. The Beijing-based startup StoReel recently raised $34 million to make AI micro dramas.

AI-driven productions would solve some problems for Donaldson.

He is famous for his viral, high-budget challenge and giveaway videos, though the company has been tightening up spending. One of the job's listed expectations is to use automation to make more content, faster.

Making AI-driven videos also directly addresses the risk any creator faces when they build a company that relies on their time and persona. As Donaldson expands his company to consumer products and services, it limits his bandwidth to star in his own videos. He recently hired former NBCU unscripted executive Corie Henson to head his studio division and is looking to broaden the company's video franchises. He said this week his company now has 750 employees.

Donaldson himself has shared concerns about AI's risk to his industry.

After OpenAI released Sora 2 last fall, Donaldson mused on X about what AI's advancement will mean for creators, adding, "Scary times."

He also released — and then removed — a tool that used AI to generate video thumbnails last year, after receiving backlash from creators.

• Harry and Susan Jones own Bridge Avenue Berries, a blueberry farm in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.
• The farm became USDA organic certified in 2021, boosting customer traffic and interest.
• If they had bought the farm 30 years ago, they would have likely grown a more diverse set of crops.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Harry Jones, 63, who owns and runs Bridge Avenue Berries with his wife, Susan, in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Since I was a kid, I'd always wanted to run my own business, but it never quite came together. I tried starting a small tree nursery business, but we couldn't compete with the big nurseries and had to close it.

Then, a blueberry farm that my wife and I had been picking berries at for years went up for sale. When I first mentioned buying it, she said, "Absolutely not."

A few months later, we were there picking blueberries, and the farm still hadn't sold. We started talking with the owner and purchased it in March 2018.

We didn't have much time to figure it out. Blueberry season starts in early July, and we had about four months to get ready.

That first summer, it felt like we were drinking from a fire hose. We were learning everything at once — pests, soil, customers — mostly the hard way.

I wasn't starting from scratch, but owning a farm still surprised me

My background is in horticulture. I have an associate degree in nursery management, and I spent years designing landscapes. So, I've been around plants most of my life.

Still, running a blueberry farm is a different kind of challenge.

We have about 7 acres of blueberries — roughly 3,800 plants — and we harvest around 18,000 pounds a year.

The catch is that it all happens in about a 30-day window in July. That month is intense, but the work doesn't end with the season. The rest of the year is spent on preparing for the next one.

I've kept my full-time job in the lumber industry through all of this. We tend to call the farm my self-supporting hobby, but the truth is, even a small farm like ours struggles to make a dollar.

By the time you pay for inputs, repairs, improvements, and all the other costs that come with a small business, there's not much left.

If I were younger, I'd do it differently

At this stage of life, I think differently about what the farm should be. If I were 25 or 30 years younger, I wouldn't run it the way I do now.

Right now, we're heavily focused on one crop. If I were starting earlier, I'd cut the number of blueberry bushes down — maybe from 3,800 to about 2,000 — and use the rest of the land for other crops. Strawberries, raspberries, pumpkins — something to stretch income across more of the year.

That's the biggest challenge with what we do. When you rely on a single crop and a short season, it's hard to build a stable living.

We've found ways to spread out the income a bit. We freeze blueberries — about 1,900 pounds a year — and sell them through the winter at local markets and to restaurants.

Becoming USDA-certified organic was a game changer

We started farming organically from day one in 2018, but it took time to make it official. To become USDA certified organic, we had to go through a required three-year transition period — documenting everything we did, from fertilizers to pest control, and proving we were following the standards.