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The credibility concern

When questions began swirling about new (and now former) White House press secretary Katie Zacharia's legal credentials, a colleague asked the obvious question: Why should anyone care?

She was hired to be President Donald Trump's spokesperson, not his lawyer. Does it really matter if she overstated her qualifications?

It does.

She was let go on Friday, five days after starting the job. That's half the time Anthony Scaramucci infamously lasted as White House communications director during Trump's first term.

Zacharia was widely panned for her performance during her first (and final) press briefing on Monday, as well as for misrepresenting herself as a lawyer.

In workplaces, it turns out, bending the truth about one's background is not only problematic, but more common than you might think. And it can carry real consequences. BI's Sarah Needleman spoke with recruiters and found research suggesting that résumé inflation is very much a thing.

A recent survey found 37% of respondents had included inaccurate information on a résumé, according to Novorésumé, an online résumé-building service. Nearly 7% said they claimed a degree, certification, or credential they didn't actually have.

The trouble, of course, is that a small embellishment can raise much bigger questions.

Brian Fink, a managing partner at tech recruiting firm The ReWork Group, told Sarah he rescinded an offer to someone after a background check couldn't verify certain information on the candidate's résumé and LinkedIn profile.

"If you're willing to lie about your education," Fink said, "what else are you willing to lie about?"

Corporate America is full of cautionary tales. Over the years, executives at Samsonite, Walmart, and Yahoo, among others, misrepresented their backgrounds and ultimately lost their jobs as a result.

Credentials matter. They are a promise of basic trust. Once that trust is called into question, it's really hard to win it back.

The NFL continues its overseas run with a third game in London. We've rounded up all the details on how to watch the Texans vs. Jaguars, featuring free and global live streaming options.

If you don't want to keep reading, we've got you covered. You can live stream the game on the NFL Network via a live TV service such as YouTube TV in the US, for free on Channel 5 in the UK, on DAZN in Canada, and through DAZN's NFL Game Pass pretty much everywhere else. You can access streaming services from abroad with a VPN, such as NordVPN.

What channel is the Texans vs. Jaguars game on?

The Texans vs. Jaguars game will be nationally broadcast on the NFL Network in the US. The game is scheduled to kick off on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET.

How to watch Texans vs. Jaguars in the US

If you don't have cable, don't sweat. Several different streaming services can help you watch the NFL Network.

YouTube TV is a popular live TV platform that carries the NFL Network in multiple plans, including the Main plan. This tier typically costs $83 a month, but new users can get $15 a month off their first five months after a free trial. ESPN Unlimited live streams are also included in the service.

Fubo is one of the best live TV streaming services we've tested. The NFL Network is available in several plans, including Fubo Pro, which costs $89 a month. First-time customers can get $25 off their first month of service after a free trial. As a bonus, Fubo also unlocks access to ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost.

If you're looking for a more budget-friendly option, the NFL Plus streaming service is the way to go. NFL Network live streams are available in the base tier, which costs $7 a month or $50 a year. There's also a special NFL Plus Premium and ESPN Unlimited bundle that costs $42 a month and offers savings compared to paying for both services separately each month.

How to watch Texans vs. Jaguars in the UK

As usual, British football fans can live stream games through DAZN's NFL Game Pass. However, today's game will also be available on Sky Sports, which is a paid option, and on Channel 5, which is free-to-air and available to live stream for free.

How to watch Texans vs. Jaguars everywhere else

The DAZN NFL Game Pass offers live NFL streams around the globe in nearly every region outside the US and China. In Canada, NFL games are available through a standard DAZN subscription. Subscription prices vary by country and contract details.

How to watch Eagles vs. Jaguars from anywhere

If you're away from the location where your desired streaming service works, you can still access your go-to viewing methods (including the free ones) with the help of a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are handy tech tools that help people temporarily alter their virtual locations. They're especially popular among those looking to boost their cybersecurity or keep up with their usual websites and apps while traveling abroad.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs we've tested. It's user-friendly, offers a large selection of global servers, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not what you're looking for.

Where is the Texans vs. Jaguars game being played?

The Texans vs. Jaguars game will take place in the UK. The match-up will be held at Wembley Stadium in London.

Who is favored to win the Texans vs. Jaguars game?

The Jaguars are the favorites to win today's game. According to DraftKings (at the time of writing), the Jaguars are -148 on the moneyline, while the Texans are +124.

When did the Texans and Jaguars last play each other?

The Texans and Jaguars most recently faced each other last year. In a November 2025 game, the Texans won 36-29 after a dominant fourth quarter, wherein Houston scored 26 points and shut out Jacksonville.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• Hersheypark's "haunt sliders" — scare actors who slide on knee pads — have gained a fanbase on TikTok.
• "The makeup stays ON" commented one thirsty fan.
• The attention has translated to good business for the park, who has seen growing ticket sales for its Dark Nights event.

Imagine you're walking around an amusement park in October while it's Halloween themed. The air is crisp, you've got a giant pretzel, you're strolling with friends to get in line for the roller coaster. Out of the corner of your eye, you see tall man dressed in all black with skeletal face paint walking towards you.

Suddenly, he leaps to the ground on all fours, and against everything you've known in your life about how human beings ambulate, he slides across the pavement on his hands and knees, coasting right up beside you at an incredible speed.

Depending on who you are and your level of awareness of the "haunt sliders" of Hersheypark, this fast encounter leaves you either terrified or terrifyingly horny.

Since 2021, Hershey's amusement park has employed a group of haunt sliders from a crew that calls itself the "Decayed Brigade" for its Dark Nights Halloween event that runs in September and October.

Videos of Fryboy and his lookalike Archer, and others have racked up millions of views and created a dedicated fan base who travel from around the world just to see the creepy, sexy, slidey guys they saw on TikTok.

And their online popularity is good for Hershey's bottom line.

"The comment section [on TikTok] is a treasure trove of insight into their popularity. I mean, we have seen people saying, 'I am coming from Europe. I'm coming from Australia. I had no idea Hersheypark existed, but now, because this was served to me on TikTok, I'm aware,'" said Quinn Bryner, a spokesperson for Hersheypark.

"We have people who have bought our season passes because of it," she added. "So anecdotally, for sure, it has had a significant social commentary, which we think has also led to tickets."

Bryner cautioned they can't say that the haunt sliders popularity is the sole driver of the growth of the Halloween event, but that the Dark Nights has become a success and grown year over year in attendance and ticket sales. "We can confirm that the event's popularity in the past few years has allowed us to expand operating days throughout the fall, resulting in total Halloween attendance doubling the numbers achieved prior to 2021," she said.

For the last three years, Fryboy and some of the sliders do a meet-and-greet for the diehard fans after the performance on weekend nights. Fans wait up to an hour in line to meet them and take photos with the sliders (or purchase keychains or other photo prints from the professional photography service the park provides, which has taken over 4,000 photos for fans this fall so far).

The three sliders I interviewed — who asked not to publicize their full legal names because they are concerned about overzealous fans — have breached containment from something that happens inside the park gates to a full-blown social media phenomenon.

The sliders have anecdotally noticed the effects of TikTok on the crowds in the park. "This year especially, it feels like every other person's coming up saying they drove eight-plus hours to come see us or they just came for us," Fryboy said.

"We see them sit in our zone the whole night and it's pretty obvious that they just want to watch us," Valkyrie noticed.

Hersheypark is well aware of the Decayed Brigade's social media success, which is clear even on its own social channels. The most viewed videos on park's official TikTok channel were all of the sliders — even during the off-season.

Haunt sliding dates back decades

Haunt sliding has been a part of Knott's Scary Farm, the Halloween event at amusement park in southern California, for decades. A few of the performers working there figured out they could modify knee pads and gloves with metal pieces to allow them to slide up on guests as a novel way to scare them.

Sliding became a staple of Knott's Scary Farm, and the trend spread out around the country to various haunted theme parks and cornfields. It evolved into something more than just a scare tactic, with increasingly athletic stunts, choreography, and showcases during the off-season.

Although haunt sliding has become a haunted house mainstay, there is no group of performers who have attracted as much attention from people who never set foot in Hersheypark as the Decayed Brigade crew. This year, there are eight sliders, but Fryboy and Archer — both well over six feet tall, lanky, and with poufy dark hair — seem to have garnered the biggest online fandom.

When I spoke over a video call with Fryboy, Archer, and Valkerie, the current sole female performer in this year's crew, it was the hour before the park opened on a Friday night at 6 p.m., and they were in their full faces of makeup (they have a makeup artist on staff who does it for them), but not their performance clothes.

Fryboy, whose real first name is Carter, is not technically the leader or founder of Decayed Brigade, although he has become the most visible online and has been working at Hersheypark since Dark Nights started in 2021. He first saw sliders at Knott's Scary Farm when he was 13, and was inspired to start trying it out on his own at home. By 16, he got hired at a local haunted house in Florida, and eventually landed a job at Knott's in 2018.

"When sliding first started, it was mainly just a scare tactic and it wasn't really anything crazy, but once people started doing it more and more, a lot of the guys that started sliding at Knott's were stunt performers, so they would do little pre-shows before their stunt show was sliding," Fryboy explained. "They'd go out there and they'd do little rolls, and then they'd start jumping bodies, and then now they're jumping two, three, four bodies. So then tricks started getting added into it, and over time, a group was formed."

"I really think in this case, Carter took it upon himself to create his own iconic character in the social space and then share it amongst an audience that loves scare, but didn't have a way to maybe communicate and build on that," said Brewer Lister, managing director of immersive experiences at Hersheypark.

"He's built a following, and then he and his team have added to it by becoming more of a team in a group, especially Archer, the two of them," he added. "I think they tapped into a growth factor of what's taken place over the many years in social media in a particular realm, and it's worked."

Their fans are…thirsty

It is crucial to explain here that the internet viral around the Hersheypark haunt sliders is not just an appreciation of a good scare. It is extremely horny. The TikToks from fans are often set to suggestive music clips, and the comment sections are bawdy.

In one video from last fall of Fryboy and Archer standing together, set to the chorus of "Same Damn Time" by Future, comments say things like "Fryboy looks like he talks you thru it. Archer looks like he know how to do that thing your ex couldn't do." (18.3k likes) and "the makeup stays ON" (160.8k likes). In another video from this month of the two men, one commenter says, "Ok maybe my ex was right and i'm actually ill."

The allure of scare actors in face paint might not seem obvious. But hear these women out: They're tall, athletic, and mysterious. That's enough.

The thirst isn't limited just to the male sliders. On one video of Valkyrie walking through the park in slow motion, comments from women pour in: "Me and my husband aren't that serious." "I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS AN OPTION," and "i was already hooked but when she smiled i lost all control."

I asked Fryboy about getting that kind of attention.

"I think at the end of the day, we're just trying to perform and have a good time, and it's Halloween, we're dressing up as characters, so there's always going to be something along those lines, I think," he said. "But it's definitely not the end goal in any sort of way."

The sex appeal of the sliders seems to be an accidental collision with a current trend of "dark romance" and romantasy that's popular on Booktok. However, threading the needle of adding sex appeal into a haunted house seems fraught. SeaWorld Orlando's attempted a dark romance themed scare zone, but videos of bare-chested scare actors in masks (including at least one slider) awkwardly gesturing at guests went viral for being high on cringe and low on actual eroticism.

The difference with the Decayed Brigade is they claim they're not intending to be sexy.

"Halloween has always been the holiday for the weirdos, and we're the weirdos," said Fryboy. "We embrace it just as much as I'm sure everyone else wants to embrace it."

• I used to push myself at work, outearning myself year after year.
• When my dad died, and I heard how people talked about him, I reevaluated my approach.
• Now, I still make enough to cover what I need, but I'm living a fuller life.

I'm a reformed workaholic. I'd love to say I slowly came to realize that my value isn't monetary or based on how high I can climb a ladder, but that epiphany wasn't achieved in a growth-centric way. Instead, it was a surprising side effect of losing my dad suddenly in September 2024. He was there, and just like that, he was gone. And my willingness to burn myself out died that day, too.

In the flurry of administrative chaos and world-wrecking grief that follows sudden death, it took a while for me to notice the change. It was normal to work less while grieving. Except it's now almost two years later — and yes, I'm still very much grieving — but I am back in the flow of working. And it looks completely different.

I had been working hard for years

When I was balancing full-time teaching with a writing side hustle, I regularly pulled ridiculous hours, working from 7 am until late at night. Not only that, but I was also frequently working both weekend days and throughout school vacation. I even had an accident in May 2024 that put me out of work while my arm was in a sling to help the broken bones heal, but once I was back, I hit my highest earning month of all time. But then my dad died, and I just don't care the way I used to.

There wasn't an inheritance that suddenly made working optional. And it's not all-consuming depression either — the months that followed were immensely dark, but I'm doing really well from a mental health perspective now. Instead, there's been a reshuffling of priorities. My identity fundamentally shifted in 2024. I came entirely too close to dying in an accident while riding horses, where doctors couldn't fathom how I survived without paraplegia, and then, mere months later, my dad had a heart attack at 65.

The way people spoke about my dad made me want to live a fuller life

The eulogies poured in for my dad, who was a beloved doctor. Hundreds of people messaged us, telling stories of my dad's generosity, his kindness, adventurous spirit, talent, sense of humor, and utter chaos.

The sheer number of anecdotes was almost mythical, as it seemed impossible that someone could do so much with their time. My dad even started kitesurfing in his 50s because he thought it would be cool, and regularly drove hours out of town to reach the nearest dam to do it. His last kiting session was the week before he died. He was an astronomer, a chess player, an artist, a rugby fanatic, a dear friend, a dedicated husband, and the best dad anyone could wish for.

It made me look at my own life. I was out-earning myself, year after year. But I lived in a city that gave me little joy, and my hobbies were…well, just reading. And often, I was only reading self-help books to help me earn more or be more productive.

It's not that I took a step back from work. I just didn't step forward again. I have ongoing luxury travel copywriting clients. I still do a fair bit of journalism and a little bit of coaching essay writers. I ensure I earn enough to make ends meet — pay my mortgage, set aside money for my retirement, health insurance, and so on, but that's it. Once that goal is met each month, my foot comes off the accelerator, and I focus on life instead.

I moved to the coast and qualified as an advanced open water scuba diver. I knock off early on Fridays to hit the beach if it's a nice day, and I'm dabbling in surfing. I've started lifting weights. I have more friends than I've ever had before. I've started painting, and my guitar has been dusted off and tuned again.

I don't have it all worked out. I'm still trying to figure out what life without my dad can possibly look like. I just know how much life he crammed into the years he had, and the best way I can honor him is to try to do the same.

• Berkshire Hathaway is set to invest $330 million in Bending Spoons, adding to its previous $600 million.
• Warren Buffett's storied conglomerate is poised to hold a 4% stake in the owner of AOL and Vimeo.
• Berkshire's wager is a surprise, but there's some DNA in common with Bending Spoons.

Berkshire Hathaway's latest bet isn't a no-brainer or a head-scratcher; it's somewhere in between.

What's the deal?

Berkshire — which has seen Warren Buffett retire as CEO and chairman since the turn of the year — has agreed to invest $330 million in Bending Spoons, on top of a $600 million injection when the Italian tech conglomerate went public in July, giving the Nebraska behemoth a 4% stake.

Bending Spoons disclosed Berkshire's backing in a press release on Wednesday, catapulting its stock up nearly 50% over two days, a phenomenon known as the "Buffett effect." The stock fell on Friday, but still ended the week more than 20% above Monday's opening price.

Berkshire has agreed to buy 10 million shares for $33 each, around a 13% discount to Bending Spoons' closing price of $38 on Tuesday, the day before the deal was announced.

CEO and cofounder Luca Ferrari described Berkshire in the press release as "among the finest and most respected capital allocators in the world," and a "longstanding inspiration" for Bending Spoons.

Neither company responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.

What is Bending Spoons?

Bending Spoons acquires digital businesses, transforms and optimizes them to increase profits, then reinvests those earnings in further acquisitions.

It has been pursuing that strategy for more than a decade and has never sold a material business. Its acquisitions to date include AOL, Evernote, Vimeo, Eventbrite, and WeTransfer.

Ferrari's company said in the press release that it "strives to envision the most successful version of an acquired business," then works to close the gap between that vision and reality "as quickly and completely as possible."

Bending Spoons said that typically involves "deep" transformation such as "reorganizing teams, overhauling technology, redesigning user interfaces, accelerating product development, and enhancing marketing and monetization," often with a good dose of AI.

Ferrari gave the example of Evernote on a recent episode of the "Joys of Compounding" podcast.

He said the business had around 350 employees when Bending Spoons acquired it at the start of 2023. That shrank to roughly 60 within 12 to 18 months, and now it's being run by around 20 people.

Yet Ferrari said Evernote "launched by far the biggest update to the product in maybe a decade" this spring.

Why is Berkshire's investment a surprise?

First and foremost, Bending Spoons is a tech conglomerate, and Berkshire has eschewed tech for most of its history with a few big exceptions, namely Apple and Alphabet.

That's because Buffett is a bargain hunter who likes to invest with a "margin of safety" in case something goes wrong, and tries to stay within his "circle of competence," only buying into what he deeply understands.

Tech companies have rarely been a good fit for his approach, as they typically have lofty valuations, unpredictable outlooks, and complex products and services.

Indeed, Bending Spoons generated 32 cents in earnings per share last year. Berkshire is paying more than 100 times that per share in the coming private placement.

It's true that Bending Spoons is growing fast, with revenue surging 126% year-on-year to $704 million in the second quarter and adjusted operating income jumping 150% to $381 million. Few, however, would consider the stock a bargain from a fundamental perspective.

Berkshire is also famously a hands-off acquirer, offering founders the opportunity to cash out while continuing to run their businesses as they see fit. In contrast, a core aspect of Bending Spoons' strategy is revamping its acquisitions.

How does the deal make sense?

Berkshire and Bending Spoons have similarities as well as differences.

Both are decentralized conglomerates that buy businesses not to flip them, but to own them for the long term. Berkshire is a web of largely autonomous companies, including GEICO, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, Pilot Travel Centers, and BNSF Railway. It has long offered a permanent home to the businesses it buys.

Bending Spoons has positioned itself as a forever owner, too, emulating Berkshire's approach of taking the cash generated by a subsidiary like See's Candies and using it to acquire more businesses.

Ferrari said in his recent podcast interview that Bending Spoons has fostered a culture of caring deeply about the company, and doesn't centralize decision-making in part because that "deprives people of that precious sense of ownership."

Buffett famously wrote "An Owner's Manual" for Berkshire shareholders. He's championed that mindset by keeping more than 99% of his net worth in Berkshire stock, and encouraging the company's other executives and directors to have skin in the game too.

Ferrari also said on the podcast that he has a "pathological love of learning" across different domains. That echoes Buffett's boundless curiosity and the late Charlie Munger's insatiable appetite for knowledge. Buffett's longtime business partner studied architecture, physics, history, meteorology, psychology, law, and, of course, investing, among other subjects.

Beyond their similar philosophies, it's worth noting that investing less than $1 billion into Bending Spoons isn't a huge deal for Berkshire. It has a $1.1 trillion market capitalization, had a $365 billion cash pile at the end of June, and its biggest stock position was worth about $66 billion at that time.

What's the takeaway?

The Bending Spoons deal could mark an evolution in Berkshire's investing style following Buffett's departure as CEO and chairman.

Berkshire hasn't commented on the purchase or on whether Buffett was involved. Its relatively small size could mean his remaining investment manager, Ted Weschler, was behind it.

Or it might be new CEO Greg Abel, who piled an additional $10 billion into Alphabet in a private placement this summer after consulting with Buffett.

Whoever was responsible, and whatever their reasons for investing, this will be an intriguing wager to watch for Berkshire followers.

• A witness who testified against Andrew Left has himself become involved in an insider trading probe.
• Left's lawyers asked a judge to toss the jury verdict that found him guilty of securities fraud.
• Prosecutors said they didn't learn about the investigation until after the trial was over.

A witness who testified against Andrew Left has himself become involved in an insider trading probe, bringing a new twist to the bombastic short-seller's fraud conviction.

Left's lawyers this month asked the judge who oversaw his trial to toss the jury's verdict convicting him of 13 counts of securities fraud. The trial was irredeemably unfair, they said, because they never had the chance to ask the witness about the investigation and attack his credibility.

"A new trial would probably produce an acquittal," Left's lawyers wrote.

In June, a federal jury in Los Angeles found Left guilty of 13 counts of securities fraud. Prosecutors said he deceived investors by using social media and research reports to set target prices for stocks — including Tesla, Nvidia, and Palantir — while quietly trading them at different prices with his own money.

The founder of Citron Research, Left is something of a short-seller celebrity. He placed bets against GameStop at the same time it became a meme stock, which pitted him against some retail traders on social media. For years, he was a fixture on CNBC and Bloomberg, where he shared his views on stock prices.

Left hasn't been sentenced. In addition to the criminal case, he faces a parallel civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission that remains unresolved.

Left's criminal conviction shook certain corners of Wall Street, which viewed the trial as a referendum on free speech and the legality of activist short-seller tactics. Left, testifying in his own defense at the trial, said that the views he shared about public companies were sincere.

One of the trial's prosecution witnesses was Daniel Bachus, the CFO of Grand Canyon Education, a publicly traded technology company that provides services to universities. Left's lawyers say that Bachus was the only witness who testified that Left used his Citron Research reports to lie about a company, not merely omit information.

On August 21 — weeks after the trial ended — Grand Canyon Education placed Bachus on paid administrative leave "in connection with an ongoing governmental investigation" involving a non-employee's trades of the company's stock, the company said in an SEC disclosure. The prosecutors in Left's case referred to it in their own filings as an "insider trading investigation."

No government agency has publicly accused Bachus or Grand Canyon Education of any misconduct in connection with the investigation. In the SEC disclosure, the company said it wasn't the focus of the investigation. Representatives for the SEC and for Grand Canyon Education declined to comment. Bachus didn't respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

Left's lawyers say they should have been informed about the investigation at the time of the trial so that they could cross-examine Bachus and try to convince the jury that he wasn't a credible witness.

"This evidence would have destroyed the credibility of the government's only false-statements witness," they wrote in a filing.

The prosecution team told Left's lawyers it didn't learn about the investigation until after the trial was over. It's not clear which government agency opened the investigation, nor when Bachus or Grand Canyon Education became aware of it. Many of the filings about the issue remained sealed or redacted on the court docket for Left's case.

In court filings, Justice Department prosecutors said Left's lawyers overstated Bachus' role in the short-selling case, which alleged securities fraud involving more than a dozen different public companies. They said Left wanted to conduct "his own shadow investigation into Bachus" to try to discredit him as a witness.

"The law does not permit fishing expeditions in search of a claim," prosecutors said.

Left declined to comment. Left's attorney Eric S. Rosen said he could not comment because many relevant documents remained under seal.

A spokesperson for the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles declined to comment.

• Peter Csathy is a studio exec, startup CEO, media and tech advisor, music dealmaker, and podcaster.
• He calls leaving a Hollywood studio job for a startup the 'stupidest' decision of his career.
• In the long run, it led him to achieve higher heights of personal and professional satisfaction.

The following is adapted from a book excerpt.

I began my career as an entertainment lawyer in a major firm. It was a lucrative, predictable professional path that likely would have generated more money over time than my far more circuitous one —studio executive, startup CEO, media/tech advisor, music dealmaker, author, podcaster — has.

But early on, I chose a different path to pursue my bigger dream of playing a part in a major Hollywood studio. And after seemingly endless rejection, and through sheer tenacity and will, I scored the lottery when I found my way "in" — jumping the industry's velvet rope and landing in the senior executive ranks at Universal Studios.

And then, just a few years later, I left. I left to enter the great unknown of entrepreneurialism — into the world of internet 1.0 in the late 1990s where dreams were big, but salaries small. Never mind that; I was going to score big and fast in my inevitable IPO.

Only I didn't, and my decision to leave Universal in favor of an overblown internet startup (a digital greeting card company, for God's sake!) became my stupidest decision in my professional career.

My wife, Luisa, was pregnant with our first child, Hunter. It's not as if we had built a substantial nest egg up to that point. And I had been making a nice salary in Hollywood, with plenty of upward room to grow. When I announced I was leaving Universal, in fact, the big boss at the time offered me an important, prestigious new job with significantly more money. But I left anyway.

And then internet 1.0 crashed and burned — and my digital greeting card company with it. All while Luisa watched and wondered, "What the hell was he thinking?"

'Young, dumb, and done'

She was absolutely right, of course. She always has the better judgment and pulse on things. And so, at the time, we both felt that I had cratered both my career and our financial security. Young, dumb, and done.

But you know what? My worst professional mistake ultimately became my biggest professional and personal break — the best thing that ever could have happened to us (although we certainly didn't see it that way at the time, and for several years thereafter).

Here's the thing. My impulsive decision to leave Hollywood led me onto a completely different, non-linear entrepreneurial path. A path that led us down to San Diego for my next gig, pioneering online music company Musicmatch (which was acquired by Yahoo!). That's where we had our second child, Luca and settled in the beautiful hamlet of Rancho Santa Fe.

I didn't play it safe, and that decision to "go for it" opened up a whole new career path for me that I couldn't see at the time, one where I could have significantly more impact and be significantly more creative. It enabled me to take more risks, pursue more dreams, and achieve higher heights of personal and professional satisfaction (even as those risks also certainly led to more heartburn).

Now, we can't even imagine a life without Luca and his big sister Hunter anywhere else. Their lives — all of our lives — have been idyllic here in Rancho Santa Fe. Could I have been equally happy in a Hollywood studio and living in LA? Maybe. But we certainly wouldn't have had the wonderful life we've had in the same way. I'm grateful for that.

Pursuing dreams — putting yourself out there — is a far riskier way to live. But it all led to the personal and professional life I'm living today. For me, the trade-off was worth it.

Not all dreams work out — and that's okay

More recently, Luisa dreamt big and leveraged her deep spirituality to build a youth empowerment and community organizing business — something she was born to do. She's a quiet force of nature; people just gravitate toward her, effortlessly. And her business was beautiful — meaningful, impactful.

But ultimately it was all-consuming and didn't give her the satisfaction she was hoping for, because not all dreams do.

But Luisa acted. She tried it. No regrets. Who knows where that experience leads her next? It certainly expanded her network of people she respects, and those new relationships can lead to other new opportunities. It also gives us more priceless time to explore this country's great open roads together in our Sprinter van — which has always been another dream of hers. The Sprinter is her happy place when she takes the dogs to the beach, opens the back doors, and takes in the sunsets over the ocean. Now she can do all of it with no regrets of wondering, "What would have happened if I tried?" "No regrets" is a great way to live, even if there's some heartache along the way.

Our two children Hunter (now 26) and Luca (24), not surprisingly, are pursuing their own dreams too — Hunter as a creative in the entertainment business, making it entirely on her own, and Luca as a filmmaker, with no roadmap of getting from point A to point B. Both have chosen what many would caution as being an alternative, or even impractical, path.

But because we're all dreamers, Luisa and I believe they will be better and more fulfilled because of it, no matter what happens. It will add to their lore and expose them to entirely new things — all of which can add to their long-term happiness.

Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project, is widely known as being a leading expert on the subject. One of her famous mantras is, "Enjoy the fun of failure." She teaches that you simply aren't aiming high enough if you're not experiencing some level of failure or intense stress. I certainly did when my digital greeting card company flopped. Rubin's research shows that true satisfaction doesn't come from static comfort and financial security. It comes more from taking action and stretching your capabilities.

Meanwhile, research by renowned relationship psychologist Dr. Eli Finkel concludes that one of the single biggest predictors of marital success is when spouses support and champion each other's dreams. He calls this the "Michelangelo phenomenon" — a spouse's support sculpts away excess stone to help reveal the core essence of their partner's dreams. Those spouses who prioritize money over dreams, on the other hand, risk creating dangerous fault lines of toxic resentment and contempt.

How to dream big in your own life

Here are some ways to begin to "dream big" in your own life — whatever "big" means to you, because it certainly doesn't mean you need to make a career change).

1. Ask the question. This week, ask your spouse or partner, "What's a dream you've never pursued?" Then listen. Just listen, without arguing how practical it is. The "asking" is a small act of love by itself.

2. Name the cost. Every dream worth chasing costs someone something — time, money, stability, sleep. Be honest about what your dreams cost. Pretending there are none is how resentment grows. But resentment grows even stronger if you don't pursue them.

3. Create space for dreams. Don't wait until "things calm down," because they never do. Open up a specific block of time, money, or attention for one or both of you to pursue a dream in the next 12 months.

4. Cheer them on! Tell your spouse and kids that you believe in their dreams. They should never need to wonder. Silence smacks of indifference.

5. Separate the dream from the outcome. Luisa's business didn't go as planned. But the "win" was in the trying. Measure dreams by whether you acted on them, not by whether they paid off. Because many times the pay-off isn't the obvious one.

Adapted from 'Hiding in Plain Sight: 10 Secrets to a Happy Marriage & Family' by Peter Csathy.

• Higher- and lower-income Americans are more likely than those in the middle to say they're living paycheck to paycheck.
• The top and bottom also struggled with making credit card payments and are delaying financial goals.
• Lifestyle creep is one reason high earners are feeling anxious.

Low and high earners have at least one thing in common: they're more likely than those somewhere in the middle to say they're living paycheck to paycheck.

A July survey of over Americans by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and behavioral economics firm Escalent showed about 61% of working respondents with less than $50,000 said they're primarily living paycheck to paycheck, meaning they struggle to save or make progress toward long-term goals. The share dropped to 22% for those with $100,000 to $200,000 but rose to about 37% for those with more than $500,000.

"Financial security as reported does not rise in a straight line with income; it follows a u-shaped pattern," a recent report said.

However, those at the top and bottom are facing different challenges.

Lower earners are struggling to keep up with the basics. A Pew Research Center survey found 42% of lower-income US adults struggled to afford daily transportation costs, and 39% of lower-income adults said the same about paying their rent or mortgage.

High gas prices don't help; they're rising at a faster clip than before the Iran war. Food-at-home prices, which include groceries, are rising more slowly, but they are still increasing. And the gap between what you need to earn to afford a house and the actual median household income has worsened, according to a tracker from the Atlanta Fed.

Meanwhile, high earners with more than $300,000 are facing "more complex financial lives, higher lifestyle expectations, larger fixed commitments, and a wider gap between the retirement they envision and what they believe they have secured," the report said. Lifestyle creep could also be a factor, said Chris Ceder, senior retirement strategist at Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

U-shapes everywhere

The report also showed there were U-shapes by income level in how often financial concerns make it tough to focus at work, how many people are struggling with credit card payments, and how many said they're delaying financial goals.

Those at the highest end of the income spectrum also had the highest share saying they've had to delay retirement despite being employed, at 45%.

When asked about what stands most in the way of saving up for retirement, 31% of Americans overall said housing costs, 31% said day-to-day living expenses, and 27% said debt payments.

"These expenses arrive every month, cannot be deferred, and they are paid first," the report said. "Retirement is often paid last."

Ceder said housing costs, family care, and healthcare are top concerns for the upper end of the income spectrum, while debt management is among the top three for the lower end.

Taking on more work

Ceder said that the highest-income workers were the most likely to take on multiple jobs. A likely reason could be saving up for unexpected costs.

"You would think again that mostly people who are at the lower-income spectrum may be working a second job or doing gig or freelance, but it's actually flipped," Ceder said.

A ZipRecruiter survey from earlier this year found workers earning over $150,000 were most likely to have supplemental work — with about 45% saying so compared to 31% of those making between $25,000 and $50,000.

Ceder said this hustling from the higher earners could suggest they're aware of their long-term financial goals and want to get ahead of that.

"They actually are pretty confident that they're going to be able to reach retirement, but some of that supplemental work is going towards retirement," he said.

Are you living paycheck to paycheck? We're looking to hear about how people are doing in today's economy and any changes they've had to make. Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

Donald Knierim planned his retirement around student-loan forgiveness.

He spent most of his career designing financial data systems for major companies. At the age of 60, he took a pay cut and moved to the public sector, working for Metra, Chicago's commuter railway. His primary draw to the job was lower stress, and an added bonus was that it qualified for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which erases student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years.

Knierim had a $62,000 balance remaining on the student loans he took out to send his kids to college. If all went according to plan, a decade at Metra would wipe that clean.

In November 2025, the now-71-year-old logged on to his Federal Student Aid dashboard. It read "Congratulations! You've satisfied your obligation, and no additional payments are required for this loan." That tracked — Knierim said he had never missed a payment, always verifying that his payments were counting toward his forgiveness progress. So he put in his notice and retired.

Months later, he received an update: 15 payments that had previously counted toward forgiveness were changed to "non-qualifying." The notice said his payments were below the amount required under his income-driven repayment plan, but did not specify the proper amount. That means he has at least another year and a half of payments — about $470 monthly — to achieve PSLF.

"If I have to restore that payment, it's going to put my wife and me in a bad situation," Knierim said. "We're too tight in retirement to be shelling out money for stuff that we can't afford."

Since 2023, Business Insider has heard from student-loan borrowers whose loan forgiveness was rescinded. Over the past few months, issues with PSLF have become more widespread, with borrowers reporting challenges in receiving accurate payment counts. Some had their payments toward forgiveness removed after the Department of Education said it was correcting accounts following Biden-era coding errors.

An Education Department spokesperson said that the agency "remains committed to ensuring that every qualifying payment is properly credited to a borrower's account."

Knierim said that even if he could land a new public service job, he wouldn't be able to take it. Caring for his wife, who is facing serious health issues, is a full-time job. He has reached out to his servicer and filed multiple complaints with Federal Student Aid, requesting his payments to be returned to a qualifying status. Meanwhile, he has not made the new payments his servicer said were due, which has lowered his credit score by more than 200 points. He recently received a notice that his account is delinquent and at risk of default, putting him at risk of seizure of federal benefits, like the Social Security he relies on to stay afloat.

Now, he's asking for the initial communication he received from his student-loan servicer to be honored.

"I thought I was done, they gave me that notification that I was done, and then they clawed it back," Knierim said. "I didn't know where that came from, or what to do."

An error-riddled student-loan forgiveness program

There are a few reasons a borrower might get their PSLF notices rescinded. An internal Education Department memo from 2023, reviewed by Business Insider, said that servicer MOHELA erroneously discharged loans for 64 student-loan borrowers "due to inadequate staff training." The memo recommended that MOHELA send notices to affected borrowers explaining what had happened.

In 2023, one borrower received a notice that his loans had been discharged under PSLF. Nine months later, he received a notice that the forgiveness was a mistake, and his payments were restarted. Between those two notices, the borrower said he had bought a home and paid for his son's preschool. The reversal required him to reconfigure his family's budget.

More recently, the Trump administration removed some PSLF borrowers' qualifying payments, with the Education Department citing Biden-era code errors that "resulted in inaccurate payment counts for some borrowers."

Bonnie Latrielle, an official in the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office under former President Joe Biden, said PSLF errors often arise during communication between the Education Department and servicers; servicers report qualifying PSLF payments to the department, and the department matches that information with a borrower's employment records to determine if the borrower is PSLF eligible.

"Those are all things that are outside of the borrower's control," Latrielle said.

Knierim said his servicer told him that some of the payments he made toward the Temporary Expanded PSLF program — a Biden-era program that allowed payments previously deemed ineligible to count toward forgiveness — did not qualify because they were below the required amount. He said he did not receive any further explanation as to why his payment amounts did not qualify, despite following his servicer's guidance on reaching forgiveness.

"I have a flawless payment history," Knierim said. "I have never missed a payment, and I paid what they told me to pay."

From relief to repayment

The Education Department has a "stated policy of holding borrowers harmless," Latrielle said, and borrowers have the right to submit complaints to the department's ombudsman if they have been harmed by their servicer.

However, amid staffing cuts in the department as part of the Trump administration's plan to dismantle the agency, it has stopped monitoring servicer performance and routine borrower complaints. Latrielle said a growing number of states have student-loan ombudsmen and a borrower bill of rights, offering resources and protections for borrowers within the state. Borrowers can also file lawsuits against their servicer if it violates state law, Latreille said.

Knierim, with the help of his daughter, an attorney, sent a letter to his servicer offering to pay the shortfall in his monthly payments. He said the letter was never acknowledged. He does not want to resume payments or switch repayment plans if doing so could further complicate his progress toward forgiveness. Still, his account is also inching toward default, and finding a resolution is becoming more urgent.

In September, eight state student-loan ombudsman offices, including those from Massachusetts, California, and Illinois, where Knierim lives, sent a letter to the Education Department and congressional leaders calling for stronger oversight of PSLF. They cited an example of a public service worker who had more than the required number of payments for forgiveness, but his progress tracker was reset to zero.

"Borrowers have received no clear explanations for individual reductions, making it difficult to verify the accuracy of the new totals, even though these retroactive adjustments can delay forgiveness by years," the letter said.

Knierim is still searching for clarity on where his student-loan forgiveness stands. He said he recently spoke with a Federal Student Aid representative who told him that a "reconsideration request" for the payment denial is in progress. That process could take up to two months, Knierim said he was told, and in the meantime, he's seeking to put his loans on forbearance until he gets a final answer.

"I kept getting different answers," Knierim said. "I can't go back and work. I have no recourse here."

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

• A Sotheby's auction drew $2.8 million for a bottle of Macallan whiskey this month.
• It's a staggering sum, bolstered by its origins from a prized 1928 cask.
• Luxury market experts unpacked the economics of the market for high-priced alcohol.

The market for high-end booze is giving new meaning to the term "liquid assets."

Niche investments like fine art, whiskey, and wine have always enjoyed a modicum of popularity among investors as alternative assets. But a Sotheby's auction this month that saw a bottle of Macallan whiskey go for $2.8 million begs the question: what can possibly drive such a high price for a bottle of booze?

Whiskey is a different animal than wine, largely because the liquor ages in a barrel, while wine ages in the bottle. This is an important distinction in this case, as the enormous sum paid for the bottle at auction comes from a coveted cask filled in 1926 and not bottled until 1986.

But apart from rare casks and astoundingly old liquor, there are other economic drivers that influence prices collectors are willing to pay.

"The factor that determines the value of an investment Scotch bottle is of course supply and demand," Jeremy Kasler, the CEO of whiskey cask investment firm CaskX, told Business Insider. "But it's different from a normal supply and demand situation, where you can produce something and then you produce more if you need to, and less if there's too much around."

The bottle Sotheby's sold is a Scotch whiskey, but Marlon Tulaszewski, a former Sotheby's whiskey specialist turned private client manager at Campari Group, says buyers are demonstrating a surging interest in American whiskey investments as well.

"The category offers accessible entry points across a wide range of prices, opening collecting to a broad and incredibly passionate audience," he stated. "Its appeal encompasses the liquid, the history of the distilleries and the people behind them."

Kasler, who has worked in both wine and luxury art, described whiskey as an "alternative alternative" market. It's a niche but increasingly popular investment theme in recent years, as more people seek out alternatives to traditional markets like stocks and bonds. That's been evidenced by the growing number of app-based platforms that offer everyday investors exposure to portfolios of everything from art to wine to watches and handbags.

Some investors are not just buying bottles, but the casks themselves.

Though most who purchase valuable casks are primarily whiskey lovers, Kasler noted that they recognize barrels as a highly tangible asset. He compared whiskey casks to gold bars in terms of how investors often think of them as a store of value.

"It's one of the few assets that, if market conditions stay exactly the same, will increase in value, because there's a there's a world of difference between one year old bourbon and eight year old bourbon," he said of whiskey. "Every day, every night, it is increasing a little bit in value."

Geoff Kirk, global prestige lead at The Macallan distillery cited the story behind a whiskey as key investment factor to consider, along with quality and provenance.

Jonny Fowle, global head of whisky and spirits at Sotheby's, took it a step further, highlighting the importance of focusing on truly appreciating the product, whether it's an entire whiskey cask or simply a bottle, maintaining that it has helped yield results for investors.

"The greatest investment one can make in whisky is investing one's time into understanding and appreciating the product first and the market second," he said. "Those who have done best from whisky's value increases have largely done so by accident, buying initially for the love of the product and exiting once the offers become too good to turn down."

• Melanie Dulbecco has been CEO of the syrup company Torani for 35 years.
• Dulbecco said layoffs are a choice, and that Torani's decision not to do them has helped with retention.
• She said that the company is hiring fewer people than it would be if Torani didn't use automation.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Melanie Dulbecco, the CEO of syrup brand Torani. She's based in San Leandro, California, where the company is headquartered. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I may sound different than most CEOs.

I grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood, and my parents divorced when I was really young. When I was little, I saw my mom struggle so much, and I noticed that some kids around me didn't have the same opportunities.

I felt this sense of inequity, and that became a motivating and driving force for me. I tried working in politics, then nonprofits, and eventually went into business. I wanted to build an opportunity company. When I met the family from Torani, they liked that idea.

I was the ninth hire at Torani in 1991 and became the first CEO in 1995. We now have over 500 employees.

When I started, we made $700,000 a year in annual revenue. We've grown 20% a year on average, and this year, we plan to hit over $800 million in revenue.

But to us, growth is not a financial endeavor. The trailing indicator of success may be the financials, but we think our work together creates the momentum and value in the marketplace that drives our growth.

It's very easy for us to say layoffs are not our approach. I think layoffs are a choice. I get it if a company is going through bankruptcy and has to make extremely challenging choices. Otherwise, I think it's a financial exercise that doesn't consider how you're going to be resilient or regain momentum — because you do that with a team.

Our workers aren't concerned about being replaced by AI

Torani is currently hiring fewer people than it would be if the company didn't use automation. We use automation to deprioritize manual, rote jobs with limited career mobility. We also use AI for consumer and market research, sales forecasting, and demand planning.

However, our team doesn't get worried about things like AI because they trust that we will both automate and elevate the work, that we will never do anything that squashes opportunities for people, and that we are looking out for everybody's success.

We're often in hyper-growth mode, which means we need people to know how to work together. The ability to work together, to collaborate, to address challenges, to be resilient in tough times, is critical. This strategy has also helped with retention.

We were faced with a choice during the pandemic

We had been planning a move to our new location in San Leandro in March 2020. That happened to coincide with the stay-at-home order. It was one of those moments where, as a leader, you feel like you have to breathe into a paper bag.

We had borrowed a lot of money from the bank to build our new flavor factory. The loans were going to start coming due in April, so the executive team came together to look at what we needed to do to be OK.

Before we did that, though, we asked: What will make us proud when we get to the other side of this? We had a long discussion about it and decided that making it as one team — without any layoffs or furloughs — would make us proud.

So we we scaled back marketing and advertising expenses and paused all company travel. All departments had to review their budgets. They got scrappy to identify and eliminate non-essential costs.

During the early months of the pandemic, Torani prepared for a 50% decline in sales. Thankfully, there was only a 20% decline in April of 2020, and revenue was back up in May. We quickly pivoted to online retail and grocery to fill the gaps left by cafés and drink shops closing their doors. Torani ended 2020 with a 15% year-over-year revenue increase.

We moved to our new location in six months instead of six weeks, but we got there. We couldn't have done that if we laid off our team. We needed to come together at that moment.

• Business Insider has been tracking 45 items at Costco to see how energy costs affect retail prices.
• President Trump's conflict with Iran has disrupted oil and transportation markets around the world.
• Most products have had minimal price changes, but some like motor oil and whey protein are way up.

Like the proverbial pot that's been watched but won't boil, the Costco prices I've tracked this year have remained remarkably calm amid an economy full of heat.

A basket of 45 items I'm following rose 3% since July, but that change is largely attributable to the recent surge in motor oil prices.

Overall, the numbers I see on my local warehouse shelves tell a very different story than what I would expect after following the tumultuous news from around the world. Costco prides itself on keeping shelf prices in its warehouses close to wholesale prices for its members, which makes it a useful early read on supply-cost pressures.

It's hardly a national price index, but it does reveal how global economic forces are showing up in an ordinary US community like Madison, Wisconsin.

My data show that grocery and merchandise prices remain steady, with small hikes and discounts mostly balancing out in the total basket. Meanwhile, some items like motor oil, protein powder, and aluminum foil are starting to show signs of pressure from their respective commodity markets. Costco did not respond to a request to comment for this story.

On a conference call last month, CEO Ron Vachris said the company works with vendors to deal with commodity price increases and keep prices in check. "It's a continual focus for all of our buyers in looking at how to reduce pricing," he said.

But first, it's worth taking a step back.

I've been keeping a close eye on prices over the past year and a half out of concern for the impact that President Donald Trump's trade war would have on everyday items that US households buy.

In January, I developed a list of commonly purchased items that highlight the value of shopping from a wholesale club. After the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran in February, I decided to keep going back to see how conflict in the Middle East would affect grocery bills in the Midwest.

So far, the effects have been surprisingly muted. The full basket rose 2.3% from $864.60 in January to $884.60 on October 13.

The basket rose slightly from January to April, largely because a two-pound bag of Starbucks coffee beans increased by $3.20. In May, the four-pound packs of organic ground beef were replaced with similar-sized packs of conventional beef for about the same price: $24.99. The move helped Costco manage the widely reported rise in beef prices, which has even had hamburger purveyors touting their chicken offerings to customers.

By June, the basket was about $10 below its April peak, as modest reductions across much of the list offset a $10 jump in whey protein, where shortages have continued to squeeze supply.

Bacon and berries got cheaper in July, while Kirkland motor oil rose by $4. Charmin cut 60 square feet of toilet paper from its 30-roll pack but also lowered the sticker price by $3, leaving shoppers with a slightly better unit value.

More recently, refining bottlenecks and attacks on oil infrastructure have sent diesel prices soaring, which is ramping up transportation costs.

In the warehouse, the most visible example of the oil supply problem is the Kirkland Signature motor oil, which shot up to $57.99 — a 60% increase over the price in June.

Meanwhile, blueberries more than doubled in price, from $3.99 in July to $8.99 in October. All fresh berry prices fluctuated by a few dollars throughout the year, so it isn't clear if that change is driven by seasonal availability, transportation costs, or a combination of factors.

Other commodities are facing supply and tariff pressure too: the price of aluminum foil increased from $29.99 in July to $32.69 in October— a 9% increase. It was $26.99 in May.

As tariff refunds near their completion and energy prices continue to climb, a number of food suppliers and grocers have warned that costs are rising. It could be about time for this watched pot to start boiling.

• AI-related stocks have faced a downturn thanks in part to rising borrowing costs.
• Experts like James Russo and Ross Mayfield suggest taking steps to protect portfolios.
• Travis Prentice recommends pivoting to AI adopters like Visa and MetLife.

It was a brutal start to October for the AI trade.

Here's a rundown of how some pockets of the high-flying tech sector have fared this month:

• Neocloud firms, which are at the heart of the data center buildout, have tanked, with the Roundhill Neocloud ETF (NCLD) down 31%. CoreWeave shares plunged this week on fears about its debt.
• Chip stocks have been hammered. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) has fallen 13%.
• The Defiance AI and Power Infrastructure ETF (AIPO), which holds power and energy stocks crucial for data centers, is down 14%.

A main driver of the recent sell-off is rising borrowing costs, as investors have grown wary of the leverage that neocloud companies have amassed. Meanwhile, a pair of hot inflation readings this week have added to macro fears as bond yields continue to hover near the highest levels in two decades.

Higher interest rates make borrowing more expensive for companies building AI infrastructure, and higher debt costs are recalibrating the risk-reward profile at a moment when investors are already on edge about returns on capex spending.

Fears of overbuilding and a glut of compute are also weighing on sentiment, and a major slowdown in AI spending would change the entire ecosystem that the AI trade has thrived in since the start of the boom in 2022.

So where should investors go from here? We asked three market pros last week how they're viewing the volatility, and where they'd be putting their money now.

Ross Mayfield, a strategist and VP, Baird

Mayfield said he's overweighting three sectors that act as a hedge against the AI trade amid high concentration in AI-related stocks. They include healthcare, financials, and energy.

Healthcare is defensive, he said, while financials are tied to the health of the overall economy, behaving cyclically. Both industries, however, stand to see their profit margins grow thanks to AI technology, allowing investors to play both sides of the trade, Mayfield said.

Energy, meanwhile, is a direct way to benefit from oil price spikes, which have become more common amid rising geopolitical tensions, he said. Rising oil prices have fueled inflation worries and helped to push up interest rates, weighing on growth stocks.

While Mayfield is overweight AI hedges, he also remains bullish on the broader AI trade, and said he would be adding to hyperscalers and power infrastructure firms.

Travis Prentice, CEO of the Infomed Momentum Company

Prentice said the AI sell-off signals it's time to become much more selective on which stocks within the trade to stay exposed to.

A theme to lean into right now is agentic AI, he said, as the technology becomes more usable and helpful for consumers.

One part of that is cybersecurity, as AI agents gain access to customers' personal data. Examples of stocks prentice likes in this space includes CrowdStrike, Okta, and Palo Alto Networks.

With the AI buildout trade becoming more risky, he also said it's a good time to move into AI adopters — companies employing the technology to grow profits — Prentice said.

A couple of stocks he pointed to include insurance firm MetLife, which he says is using it to improve efficiency in "every aspect of the business," from risk modeling to customer service; and Visa, which is using AI to boost security and detect fraud.

James Russo, portfolio manager of the US Strategic Core Equity strategy, AllianceBernstein

Russo said he's pivoting aggressively into quality-factor stocks, particularly companies that don't rely on external borrowing.

Larger hyperscalers are stocks that would fit that bill, he said. Within the chip stock space, he said he's looking to stick with firms who haven't just benefited from price inflation, and rather those that have durable competitive advantages that can sustain the high prices for their products.

The AI Quality Growth ETF (AQGX) and Defiance AI Hyperscale Leaders ETF (AIHY) are examples of funds offering exposure to the trades Russo mentioned.

• Matthew Guerrero says gas costs eat up much of his pay as an Uber driver in Southern California.
• He prioritizes giving rides to weekend barhoppers who tend to tip well, he said.
• Uber says that one driver's experience isn't representative of the broader platform.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Matthew Guerrero, a 41-year-old Uber driver in Southern California. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I worked as a firefighter for about four years before I got injured on the job.

I've been seeking a workers' comp settlement that should be settled soon. In the meantime, my lawyer said that I could start working again. I needed a job really quickly, especially with three kids, so I started driving with Uber.

I've been driving with Uber for about five weeks. So far, it hasn't been very successful. For example, one week, I made $600 working 30 hours. To make that, I spent about $300 in gas driving my SUV.

Then, I have to put between 20% and 30% of what's left aside for taxes. That comes out to about $210 for 30 hours of work. That doesn't even include wear and tear on my car. I don't understand how anybody can do this long-term. It's not sustainable.

The pay is better if you drive in Los Angeles or San Diego. But I'm in Riverside County, and the pay seems to be lower here.

To get better-paying rides, you have to be strategic. Sometimes, I try to get a ride with a passenger who's headed to an airport in one of the big cities. Then, I stay there all day and take rides. That's not always feasible, though.

When I started with Uber, I realized that there were a lot of rides that involved taking people to morning doctor's appointments. Most of those people didn't tip well, though, and tips are key to making money.

Instead, I like to work Friday and Saturday nights around bars in Temecula. I usually log on around 4 pm and head home around 3 am. The pay is good, and the tips are a lot better than other rides in my area. Sometimes you have to deal with drunk people throwing up, but it's worth it.

I've given some rides to veteran Uber drivers — people who were working on the app back in 2015 and 2016. They said that they used to make better money than I do, and that they quit after they saw pay fall.

That was eye-opening for me. I don't understand how a company like Uber can pay as little as they do.

An Uber spokesperson said drivers in Riverside County, California make "at least $20.28 per engaged hour, plus $0.37 per engaged mile for vehicle expenses, with tips on top of that."

"While this guarantee doesn't cover time spent waiting for trips, it's important context when discussing driver compensation," the spokesperson said. Driver earnings can vary based on when drivers decide to work, where they drive, and rider demand.

"One driver's experience isn't representative of the broader platform," the spokesperson said.

Do you have a story idea about Uber? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Meta is building its largest-ever data center in northeast Louisiana.
• A local community college is training data center technicians to work there.
• Data center jobs are in high demand and can pay handsomely.

Thousands of construction workers are arriving in a small Louisiana community to build Meta's largest-ever data center.

Less than an hour away, at the Louisiana Delta Community College's West Monroe campus, the next generation of data center professionals is hoping to join their ranks.

"I see AI is really the future. We're going to need data centers to house all the data," Eric Crowe Jr., 27, told Business Insider. "I feel like it will become a very lucrative job to have, and we're going to need more of them. Why not get in now before it gets oversaturated?"

Crowe Jr. is among the students who signed up for the community college's Data Center Technician program. The four-week, nearly $3,700 training course prepares students to enter the data center industry, which is rapidly expanding to support the age of AI.

Construction for Meta's nearly 10-million-square-foot data center, Hyperion, is underway in rural Richland Parish, where business is now thriving as workers flood the region.

Meta says the project will include over 7,500 trade workers on-site at peak construction and support 1,000 operational jobs once completed. For residents living in the region, where there's no state minimum wage law and agriculture is a major industry, the new opportunity to make good money in a growing sector is too enticing to ignore.

"This is a stepping stone into the real world," Dan McCarty, director of Workforce Trades at Louisiana Delta Community College, said. "We prepare you with a résumé. We work on every aspect of employability, safety, and technical skills."

The inaugural class graduated in March, and all 11 students received job offers from IES Communications, which employs people working on Meta's project. McCarty said the program, which is available at the Winnsboro campus, now produces about 24 graduates a month.

In the past, a lot of people, including myself, had to leave here to find the good jobs," McCarty said. "Now they're 30 minutes down the road."

'It's a no-brainer'

The Data Center Technician program teaches students everything from operating equipment to workplace safety. They'll also have the opportunity to earn several certificates. During a class this September, nine students huddled around Fletch Batchelor, an instructor specializing in broadband, as he explained how to splice fiber optic cables.

"Do you know why squirrels chew through cable? They like a high fiber diet," Batchelor said, earning some chuckles.

The program encourages students to take a hands-on approach, which Trey Wadley, 30, said he appreciates. During the class, he participated in a live cable splicing demonstration. Wadley, who's interested in cybersecurity and has a background in the automotive industry, learned about the program while scrolling on Facebook, which, incidentally, is owned by Meta.

"As I learned more about Meta and data centers, they piqued my interest," he said. "I said, 'Okay, this might be something that fits me and that I'm into. I decided to give it a try."

Wadley, who recently welcomed a baby girl, wants to find work with Meta's project so he can work locally. Without Meta's project, Wadley said he'd likely have gone looking for job opportunities in Texas.

The push from tech companies and the US government to build out the nation's AI infrastructure has made data center jobs a valuable new path to lucrative employment. Business Insider reported in August that the median pay for data-center facility managers was $134,000, which is 64% higher than that of other facilities managers. The median pay for project managers at data center facilities was $115,000, a 12% increase over similar roles at other facilities.

Wadley said he's hoping to secure a position paying between $25 and $30 an hour. So is Crowe Jr., who previously handled packages and drove for FedEx, where he was averaging $14 an hour.

"Here, I could make about $25 to $30 per hour. It's a no-brainer for lots of people to pivot," Crowe Jr., who has an interest in cybersecurity, said.

McCarty said entry-level positions could earn as much as $24 an hour, but students who've graduated told him they reached $27 to $28 an hour within six months.

Booked and busy

Residents in Richland Parish, like other communities in the United States, have mixed feelings about the data center. While some say it will bring new jobs and boost the local economy, others are concerned about environmental impacts and disruptions to their daily lives.

It's a reality not lost on Crowe Jr. and Wadley, but they said it's unlikely that AI will simply go away.

"I think we should focus more on solutions to how we can coexist with it," Wadley said.

Students attending the technician class in September also spent time in a mock data center on campus, where they could apply skills they'd learned in class in a real-world setting.

While they tinkered with the equipment, John Bradley, a broadband workforce development instructor, said having access to a similar program as a teen would have been invaluable.

"I chose an alternative route, which was in construction and oil fields, but if I'd have had something like this that would've guaranteed me a good job, good money from the get go, and I could travel if I wanted to, I would've loved that," he said.

Bradley said the program prepares its graduates to be hired by contractors specifically working with Meta.

"We have a special email that we give to different contractors we spoke with that are waiting for them to graduate our class," Bradley said.

However, working at Meta isn't a requirement of participating in the program. Bradley said the skills students learn during the course are transferable, especially as data centers and similar construction jobs become more popular.

"It doesn't have to be a Meta data center. You may decide, 'Hey, I don't want to work in data centers anymore.' You still got banks, you still got IT departments," Bradley said. "You can literally go to work anywhere you want and use the same trades you learned here."

McCarty said the program has a backlog of students trying to get into the course, so they're hoping to expand their offerings.

"We've got some that are fresh outta high school, but we've had students up to 60 years old," he said. "It doesn't really matter what age you decide to get into this trade. Anyone is welcome to come in and learn it."

• Taryn White is a freelance travel writer and the founder of travel and lifestyle brand The Trip Wish List.
• She's used points to book trips to places like Puerto Rico, Bali, Sydney, Prague, and Johannesburg.
• She shares her strategies for booking with points, including positioning flights and comparing options.

I've been collecting airline miles and credit card points for more than two decades, long before the influx of social media posts promising things like a "free" business-class seat to Europe.

Over the years, I've redeemed points for everything from weekend getaways to Puerto Rico to long-haul international flights to Bali that would have otherwise cost thousands of dollars.

Looking back, I realized that earning points is actually the easy part. The real challenge is knowing how to use them well, and I haven't always been strategic about it.

Here are the three key strategies I've learned that I use to travel the world for less.

1. Build a flexible points ecosystem

Don't put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to miles and points. One of the most important strategies in maximizing travel rewards is to build a flexible "points ecosystem" rather than relying on a single airline, hotel program, or credit card.

My current points ecosystem includes two American Express cards, one Chase card, and one Capital One credit card; co-branded airline and hotel cards for United, Delta, and Marriott; and memberships in dozens of airline, hotel, and rental-car loyalty programs.

Most of my travel credit cards have annual fees, ranging from $150 for my Delta SkyMiles Gold card to $895 for my American Express Business Platinum card. When the value I receive from the benefits — annual travel or hotel credits, free-night certificates, airport lounge access, checked-bag benefits, elite-status perks, and travel protections — exceeds the annual fee, the card earns a place in my points ecosystem.

2. Learn airline and alliance sweet spots

One of the biggest misconceptions about airline miles is that you should use the airline's own miles to book its flights. That's often not true; the exact same seat could actually cost fewer points through another loyalty program.

Many airlines belong to the three major airline alliances — Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam — or have individual partnerships that let members redeem miles for flights operated by partner carriers. The number of miles and taxes or fees required can vary significantly from one loyalty program to another. It's worth checking multiple partners before transferring points or booking an award.

Similarly, I rarely book flights using points directly through credit card travel portals, because they usually operate at a value of one cent per point, and I can often get more value from my points elsewhere.

When searching for award flights, I almost always start with Roame Travel, a platform that compares redemption prices across multiple airline programs. I use a free account, which is more limited in search functions than their paid subscriptions, but it works for my needs.

For example, for Star Alliance flights, I check programs like Air Canada Aeroplan, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and All Nippon Airways Mileage Club. I also keep an eye on Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club because both frequently offer excellent partner award opportunities as well as awards on their own flights.

That strategy paid off while planning a trip to Africa in January this year. I transferred Amex points to Virgin Atlantic to book a one-way flight from Washington Dulles to Johannesburg for only 13,500 points, plus $229.40 in taxes and fees. It was the lowest cost long-haul redemption I've ever booked.

It also required far fewer points than a credit card travel portal would have charged; the same one-way flight would've likely cost around $1,000, or 100,000 points if booked through a credit card travel portal such as American Express Travel.

3. Don't be afraid of positioning flights

Many travelers search only for flights flying out of their home airport or exact departure city. Sometimes, though, booking a flight to a different airport — positioning to another city — means a better fare or cheaper award redemption. From there, you can use a budget carrier, train, or car to reach your final destination.

I've built entire vacations around positioning flights. Rather than a hassle, I see them as an opportunity to experience multiple destinations on a single trip.

On a family trip to Europe three years ago, I wanted to visit Croatia and Montenegro, but there wasn't any award availability for our preferred range of dates. Instead, I booked four one-way tickets on Lufthansa Airlines to Prague using 122,000 Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer miles and $1,148.00 in taxes and fees. We spent three days in Prague before road-tripping through Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Montenegro.

For the return journey, I booked our flights home from Heathrow because I found four economy tickets for only 98,000 Flying Blue miles and $804 in taxes and fees. We flew from Dubrovnik to London on a separate low-cost carrier the day before our flight home, turning the connection into a mini getaway in London, where I redeemed hotel points for a one-night stay.

Positioning flights require extra planning. Because the flights are booked separately, I always leave a generous buffer between them in case of delays or cancellations.

It's important to approach travel rewards wisely

Travel rewards credit cards can be incredibly valuable, but only when used responsibly. Always pay the balance in full every month — otherwise, the interest racked up on credit card debt can quickly outweigh the value of any points or miles you've earned. I've never viewed points as a reason to spend more. If I can't pay for a purchase immediately, I don't make it. The rewards are an added benefit, not the goal.

I've also learned not to chase every welcome bonus by churning credit cards, which is the practice of opening and closing credit cards for the purpose of getting lucrative sign-up bonuses given to new accounts. Sign-up offers can be valuable, but they work best when they align naturally with purchases you were already planning to make.

Today, my philosophy is simple: Earn points strategically, redeem them when they help me take a trip I really want to take, and don't obsess over squeezing every last fraction of a cent out of every redemption. The best use of miles isn't necessarily the one that produces the highest spreadsheet value; it's the one that gets you on the plane, lets you experience another part of the world, and leaves more money in your bank account for the next adventure.

Zohran Mamdani has places to be.

At 35, the mayor of New York City knows how to catch — and keep — people's attention. It's tempting to think the key to Mamdani's success is Instagram, but the secret sauce of his leadership isn't just a social media machine. It's a man criss-crossing the five boroughs with a portable podium and the occasional sugar-free Red Bull.

To better understand how his in-person ubiquity shapes public perception, Business Insider spent the summer tracking the mayor's daily schedule. From May 1 to August 31, Mamdani had 249 listed appointments, 170 of which were held in public. Eighty-one of these were in community spaces such as classrooms, libraries, parks, apartment buildings, tennis courts, places of worship, and restaurants.

Another 50 were government events at emergency preparedness centers and police precincts. With the exception of Staten Island — which Mamdani visited three times — his appearances dotted the city. He spent the most time in Manhattan with 85 events, followed by Brooklyn (35), the Bronx (26), and Queens (21). He made few appearances in City Council chambers and other traditional political arenas. At the mayor's home, Gracie Mansion, there were no press conferences. Instead, Mamdani hosted 10 cultural receptions, pickup soccer games, and religious celebrations.

At a time when C-suite bigwigs are delivering bad news via canned memo, and politicians are mediating their message through glossy election mailers, dozens of political analysts, media strategists, historians, and people in the mayor's orbit say that Mamdani's man-about-town style stands out.

What makes Mamdani a lesson in charisma is his ability to combine four important factors: physical presence, personal authenticity, political messaging, and active participation, a review of his nearly first year shows.

He's able to be in on the joke — poking fun at his omnipresent suit by jumping into a pool, tie and all — while still getting his message across. They're a regular part of his schedule, rather than a surprise one-off that feels like it was cooked up by a communications staffer. It's not an easy balance to strike, but the mayor's in-person events lay out a road map for other leaders.

Showing up doesn't solve all problems, and nine months into his tenure, the mayor has met his fair share of critics. Glad-handing with a few CEOs and small business owners doesn't replace the need to attract investment from blue-chip companies and buzzy startups. Despite his push for affordability, he has yet to substantially lower residents' household bills.

But his supporters and critics agree that the mayor has a natural talent for connection, turning mundane events into meaningful moments with constituents. He fuses human connection and mass media to turn heads in the cutthroat attention economy. Whether it's cheering on the Knicks in the nosebleeds of Madison Square Garden or ordering an egg and cheese with jalapeño at a Queens bodega, Mamdani knows how to see and be seen.

Between a crammed row of treadmills and elliptical machines, Mamdani straightened his blazer and stepped up to the microphone. The East Village recreation center smelled like sweat, dust, and takeout coffee. Events like this one in early July, which touted new rules to make it easier for people to cancel subscriptions, are a signature way to promote his agenda. As the images circulated online, New Yorkers could imagine Mamdani on the rowing machine next to them, complaining about how hard it was to get out of a pesky membership.

All mayors go to ribbon-cutting ceremonies and attend parades. Mamdani's retail politics events also include everyday New Yorkers in everyday settings. He gave only a few keynote speeches this summer, but he found time to visit three senior centers, seven schools, and a soccer watch party at Rikers Island. A sentiment expressed by dozens of residents is that, regardless of their personal politics, they respect Mamdani for coming to their neighborhoods. One Central Park halal vendor says he feels like the mayor understands how pricey food can be these days. A Staten Islander who has met Mamdani — and filmed a video with him — was shocked that he could rattle off deep-cut Sri Lankan cricket trivia.

Debbie Saslaw runs the video production company Melted Solids alongside Anthony DiMieri. The pair are the brains — and lenses — behind some of Mamdani's viral videos. While much has been said about the mayor's knack for social media, Saslaw says his penchant for physical presence is crucial to making his short-form videos effective. Saslaw recalls a day early in the mayoral campaign when they visited a park to chat with picnickers. She figured no one would want to speak with an underdog candidate on what turned out to be a very rainy afternoon.

"People were honking out from their cars, and one guy waved from his apartment window," she tells me. "People were stopping their bikes — there was a bike pileup."

Moments like that become social media content: More than 80 in-person events this summer earned posts on the NYCMayor Instagram — largely photos and videos of Mamdani with regular people. Only a handful of posts were policy announcement graphics or highly produced mini-documentaries.

Some critics say the energy the mayor puts into engagement is a distracting gimmick that diverts attention from controversial policies or a lack of meaningful accomplishments. With hundreds of events over the summer, Mamdani's time to negotiate and pass policies within City Hall is limited. At least on the books, his schedule shows he met with local political leaders a handful of times between May and August. On the other hand, for all but 25 of 122 days, he attended at least one public event.

The city's business leaders, in particular, say Mamdani hasn't spent enough time learning from corporate advisors, economists, or local shop owners. Of Mamdani's 249 listed events, six were with CEOs or Wall Street execs, and only a few were with small business owners. By comparison, he met childcare and day care workers more than a dozen times. While former communications leaders for Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams say past mayors have also limited their time in boardrooms and offices ("their job is to be out there," one tells me), some small-business owners feel they're getting short shrift from Mamdani as well. A vendor near one of his planned city-owned grocery stores says she feels left out of the conversation, "You're going to spend all this money on building this new infrastructure, and the basic things that we have been asking for don't get done."

Those less convinced by Mamdani's tactics say the resources the Mayor's Office pours into communications are a smokescreen. Mark Jaffe, a founder of NYC's Multicultural Business Coalition who is suing the administration over its city-run grocery store initiative, says that while Mamdani "gets people's attention," the substance is coming up short.

"He knows the issues," Jaffe says. "He just doesn't come up with good plans that can actually solve them through jobs and capitalism."

Mamdani's propensity for kissing babies and waltzing into bars has both practical and historical grounding. As people spend more of their lives conversing with AI customer service bots, half-engaged with corporate Zoom meetings, and watching political attack ads between TV episodes, they're starving for more intimate, authentic connections. When C-suite leaders and politicians try to connect with people, it can yield limited success. Whether it's a fast-food CEO taking tiny bites out of a burger and calling it a "product," tech execs looking unconvincing as they sip beer, or politicians filming stilted selfie videos, attempts to add a personal touch through a mediated platform can leave people cold.

"We are, at our core, social creatures who need to connect, and we did not evolve to connect only digitally," Amy Edmondson, a professor of leadership and management at Harvard Business School, tells me.

Mamdani is trying to resurrect a bygone era for New York City politicians — with his own new-school sheen. Mayoral calendars aren't publicly posted, and changes in record keeping, news coverage, and technology make comparisons imperfect. But historians and communications directors under previous administrations say that recent mayors struggled with the perception of being distant from their constituents.

A longtime New Jersey homeowner, Eric Adams drew criticism for his international travel and trips to exclusive nightclubs. Michael Bloomberg's billionaire status made him less relatable to regular people, NYC historian Kevin Draper tells me, even when he made an effort to meet residents around town. Bill de Blasio had a Mamdani-esque focus on affordability but, based on his dismal approval ratings throughout his mayoralty, failed to connect on a personal level. Former communications directors for de Blasio and Adams say they both had their go-to outer-borough neighborhoods, but neither had Mamdani's widespread reach.

Timing was a factor: Those two leaders tended to work later into the night, whereas the current mayor makes stops around the city much earlier. Draper says youth is also a leg up that Mamdani has over his predecessors. My analysis shows that Mamdani attended at least one event on 97 of his 122 days this summer, averaging more than two per day, and a third of these were out in the community. On busy days, he made up to seven stops.

"He has had a longer honeymoon than any other mayor," José Bayona, who worked under the Adams and de Blasio administrations, says with a laugh. "I can tell you that."

Mamdani has said he emulates Depression-era Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who launched an early version of city-owned stores and primarily focused messaging toward the working class with his "Talk with the People" radio program. He also evokes Ed Koch, the relatively moderate mayor who dominated the 1980s, who was known for strolling the streets and riding the train, asking residents, "How'm I doin'?" The style's lineage stretches back to the 19th century, when candidates and elected officials would drum up support by giving speeches and meeting the public in their saloons and town squares. Members of Tammany Hall, a highly corrupt but popular New York City political machine, focused on in-person interactions with the working class.

There are, of course, challenges to the mayor's attempts at everyman charisma. On a practical level, it's much harder for Mamdani to show up at a sports bar these days without serious planning and a security detail. And even with sharp messaging and the reputation for popping up in unexpected places, the complexities of policy rollout and city politics have slowed his attempts to transform New York.

Mamdani is early enough in his term that he can get away with having big plans that haven't been realized, riding high on a banner sports summer and pothole politics. But as he approaches his second year in office, his constant presence outside City Hall and prolific digital footprint could become more of a liability than an asset. As Edmondson puts it: "There's always a risk of disappointment when people believe that, in your back pocket, you have a magic wand."

Interactive graphic by Randy Yeip.

• Ultra-processed foods are everywhere, but some additives are worse than others.
• Elizabeth Dunford is a nutrition epidemiologist who studies additives and health issues.
• She avoids two types of additives when she sees them on a food label.

Elizabeth Dunford isn't trying to make grocery shopping an impossible task.

Dunford is a nutrition epidemiologist who studies additives in ultra-processed foods and their impact on health.

It's not realistic to avoid packaged foods altogether, Dunford, who is based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Business Insider. They make up around 70% of the US food supply.

So, she focuses on buying foods for her family that have a low "additive load" overall.

"I try and avoid things in general that have a lot of additives, but you can't avoid everything," said Dunford, who is a mom of two. "If you pick it up, you turn it over, and you don't recognize half the ingredients, it's probably not a good choice," she said.

She has taught her kids that eating enough vegetables, protein, and calcium will "keep their brains and bodies healthy," and that there's a time and a place for treats, but it's not good to have too many. "It is the everyday food and drink choices that really matter to me," Dunford said.

Ultra-processed foods contain ingredients you wouldn't find in a regular kitchen, like emulsifiers and thickening agents. They tend to be ultrapalatable, meaning they contain an irresistible combination of sugar, salt, and fat, and have long shelf lives. They can be anything from potato chips and soda to packaged bread and yogurt.

A diet high in this type of food has been linked to a higher risk of chronic diseases, including type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and depression.

While she finds it unrealistic to cut out all additives, Dunford shared the two additives that she won't buy.

Synthetic dyes

Dunford avoids buying products that contain synthetic dyes for herself and her family. "I will allow it at a birthday party. That's about it. Day-to-day, they're not allowed in our house," she said.

The dyes, which are typically made from petroleum, are used to give food products colorful appearances. If you're looking out for them on a label, scan for a color and a number.

Dunford said that although the dyes are common in candy and junk foods, they can be used in anything from blueberry bagels to spinach wraps. Instead of avoiding any particular food, she checks labels to find a version without synthetic dyes.

"There are definitely enough alternatives out there that there is no need to buy products for my kids that contain synthetic dyes," she said.

Synthetic dyes are not proven to harm everyone who consumes them, but evidence suggests they can worsen hyperactivity or attention-related behavior in children who are sensitive to them. Dunford said her son is on the ADHD spectrum, and that she would notice a difference in his behavior when he had brightly colored foods.

"My son, like many kids his age on the ADHD spectrum, and I noticed he became horrible when he would have brightly colored foods," Dunford said.

In January 2025, the FDA banned Red Dye 3, a dye that gives foods like candy, frosting, and bacon a cherry red color, because it was linked to cancer in an animal study. It has not been found to cause cancer in humans, but has also been associated with behavioral issues in some children.

In April 2025, the FDA announced that it would be phasing out a number of other synthetic dyes, including Red 40, Green 3, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, and Blue 2.

Phosphate additives

Dunford tries to avoid buying products with phosphate additives such as phosphoric acid, dicalcium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, disodium phosphate, sodium phosphate, and lecithin.

Studies suggest that phosphate-based additives are present in up to 56% of packaged foods in the US and that they raise blood phosphate levels more than the phosphate that naturally occurs in foods such as meat, seafood, and dairy. Soda, processed meats, and fast food all commonly contain phosphate additives, but they can also be used in everyday staples like yogurt and bread.

Dunford won't buy major culprits like soda at all, but for other products like yogurt, she makes sure to find versions without them.

"Children are getting really highly exposed to these additives and they can really cause a lot of problems with bone health, with kidney health," Dunford said.

The body needs phosphate, which is a mineral, for healthy bones, teeth, cells, and energy production. But too much phosphate in the blood can be harmful, especially for people with chronic kidney disease, whose kidneys are less able to remove excess phosphate.

Calcium and phosphate are both used to build bones, and the kidneys help keep their levels balanced in the bloodstream. When phosphate builds up, it can disrupt this balance and trigger hormonal changes, including higher levels of parathyroid hormone, a hormone that regulates calcium in the blood. Over time, this can cause calcium to be released from bones, weakening them.

Although studies suggest that phosphate additives can temporarily affect the phosphate-calcium balance in healthy people, more research is needed to understand if these ingredients can cause health issues over time. Regardless, Dunford prefers to err on the side of caution.

"You're not going to get it perfect. It's okay, but just take that extra step, look at the label," Dunford said.

• Smashed shop windows and cars on fire — that's what happened when protests unraveled in Paris on Saturday.
• Saturday's chaos was an escalation in violence after weeks of demonstrations in the country.
• Students and workers alike have been taking to the streets to protest the cost of living.

A series of protests over the cost of living devolved into chaos and violence across France on Saturday.

Students had been taking to the streets in more than 40 French cities for a month, protesting what they say is underfunding in the education system. They were joined this weekend by yellow vest activists and workers angry about the cost of fuel, groceries, and other necessities.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said during a media briefing on Saturday that 110,000 protesters took to the streets in Paris and that 550,000 had turned out across France.

The Confédération Générale du Travail, France's largest trade union and a supporter of the mass demonstrations, said those numbers were even higher, estimating nearly 800,000 nationwide.

What began as peaceful protests turned violent in central Paris and other parts of the country, devolving into looting and chaos across the city.

Mobile phones, luxury goods looted as French protests turn violent

Looting kicked off around the Place de la République in the French capital, where young people smashed their way through shop windows and made off with merchandise, the AFP reported.

The mob hit an SFR mobile phone store and other outlets that sold luxury goods and clothing.

Grocery chain outlets were looted, too

Franprix, Monoprix, Picard, and Carrefour City were among the grocery retailers looted in Paris, the AFP reported. In the 11th arrondissement, looters were seen leaving a Franprix filled with bags of juice, alcohol, and cakes, according to the AFP.

'The apocalypse'

The shopkeeper of a store near Place de la République named Cédric told RTL, a radio network in France, that he had barricaded himself inside his business in a bid to protect his goods.

"They're smashing everything around us," he told RTL, adding that he'd been a storekeeper in the area for 30 years. "They've destroyed my business. They've smashed my shop windows. They're taking pieces of glass to throw at the riot police. They're giving us the finger. They're telling us they're going to slit our throats. It's just the apocalypse."

Other French cities also saw looting and damage to businesses

The AFP reported that looting took place in several French cities, including Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Limoges, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg, where supermarkets, pharmacies, luxury boutiques, and electronics stores were raided and vandalized.

Luxury goods looted

Photos also showed luxury goods outlets — including the Galeries Lafayette — being looted.

Thierry Guibert, CEO of Lacoste, posted a statement on Instagram on Saturday about the "images of violence and destruction" he had seen from the protests.

"When our Lacoste and Aigle stores are looted, like so many other businesses across France, it's not just shop windows that are smashed. It's jobs, years of work, expertise, and the commitment of thousands of women and men that are jeopardized," Guibert wrote.

"As a leader, I cannot bear to see what we have collectively built destroyed in this way. And I know that this concern is shared by many entrepreneurs and business owners throughout France," he added.

Building set aflame

This is the moment a town hall collapsed as protests sweep across France.

The 140-year-old town hall in the French city of Limoges caught fire during protests in the city

Read the latest on the Sky News website and app: https://t.co/oaLTf7aDbP pic.twitter.com/3OC3eU3Hf7

— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 17, 2026

Dramatic videos on social media also showed buildings on fire.

Videos showed the bell tower of the city hall building in Limoges collapsing after protesters broke in and set fire to the ground floor.

Mass arrests across France as police attempt to bring riots under control

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said late Saturday that authorities had arrested 1,200 people across the country following the day’s protests.

Lecornu also said that at least 150 police officers had been injured.

"Peaceful demonstrations have their rightful place in our Republic. Arson, looting, and attacks have no place whatsoever," Lecornu wrote in a post on X on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Saturday that "those who have broken, attacked the prefectures, as well as businesses, looted even our town halls, will be prosecuted and punished."

• There was only one thing on the minds of the founders at this reality-show-style startup incubator.
• It wasn't sex.
• Founder teams had two weeks to become profitable, and potent social media was paramount.

At 9 p.m. on a recent Friday night, Max Harding had just returned from a barefoot run in the woods.

The eccentric 20-year-old Californian was back in a large barn in rural Pennsylvania — still barefoot — alternatively working on his startup and asking me about the point of life.

Though not an especially adept programmer, Harding possesses a more adroit, perhaps unteachable skill that has never been more valuable in the current landscape of founder culture.

"Max captures the attention of the camera, keeps us center stage," said his cofounder, Skyler Ji, who added that Harding's role includes "spreading our philosophy" while he runs the operation behind the scenes.

"Max brings some of the grander things," Ji told me. The pair's startup, Hivemind Research, aims to build "digital brains" in the form of social media.

Harding and Ji were among 66 mostly young, mostly imaginative startup founders taking part in a two-week "incubator" workshop called Launchpad.

The novel event was hosted by Stan, the company behind a moderately successful platform for independent creators to advertise and sell their services. At the last meetup Stan organized, startup founders jet-skied the East River at golden hour.

At the incubator event, the entirety of which was filmed for use in a reality show that Stan plans to release sometime soon (though it is uploading Instagram clips daily), magnetic personalities were among the most valuable commodities.

Stan cofounder Vitalii Dodonov told me that the 30 participating teams were chosen from a pool of 700 applicants, primarily for their existing social media followings and their ability to grow them.

"It's not the building that gets you to revenue, it's the distribution," he said of today's startup culture.

Of the many metrics competing teams were required to meet daily (10 sales calls, for example), social media videos were among the most heavily weighted.

Everywhere I looked, people were talking about their companies into phones attached to tripods. Their products ran the gamut of usefulness — ranging from an AI facial scanner that tracks acne to an AI app that connects parents with babysitters.

Dodonov and John Hu, Stan's other cofounder, were trailed at all times by multi-person film crews, who glared should you emit an ill-timed sound while the cameras rolled. (The Velcro rip of my messenger bag earned me some leers.)

Even outfits were choreographed. On the advice of the camera crews, Hu wore a "cream" colored getup while Dodonov donned a "charcoal" number to emphasize what was described to me as the "yin and yang" paradigm between the two.

I spent about 16 cumulative hours at the event over two days earlier this month, at Stan's invitation. I ate meals with the founders, did a 7:30 a.m. cold plunge in the on-site lake alongside a Danish guy selling an AI to-do list, and commiserated with the startup founders who routinely pulled all-nighters to hit their metrics.

Here's what I learned from the experience.

Reality TV meets hackathon

The event was billed as a sort of reality-TV-style game show-slash-incubator in the vein of hits like "Love Island" and "Squid Game."

As in those shows, founder teams at Launchpad were subject to firepit eliminations, discreet alliances, and competitive drama under the ever-watchful lenses of dozens of expensive cameras.

Except instead of a bunch of promiscuous co-eds doing risque challenges on a tropical island somewhere, contestants at Launchpad were mostly tech geeks with an unhealthy number of hours notched building software on their MacBooks.

"There's no sex," laughed Jacob Snarr, a 24-year-old from Philadelphia. "Nobody here is thinking about that."

Snarr and his cofounder, RJ McLaughlin, built a web browser game that lets friends debate their tastes and preferences, from their favorite foods to other everyday questions. The pair enlisted me as a product tester one morning, and we debated the merits of empanadas in the chilly barn.

McLaughlin and Snarr were in second place on the leaderboard when I talked to them on Saturday morning — saving them from elimination.

Rey Mendoza, who at 41 was one of the oldest founders in the competition, had already been eliminated. When I spoke with him, he was fighting for a chance at redemption. He showed me his sleep tracker for the six days. He hadn't slept more than six hours a night.

"Here, you're just fucking building, like 24/7," Mendoza, fatigued, said reverently.

Event organizers added a number of less-intense, more fun-oriented events to the schedule, which were largely ignored by teams scrambling to upload more videos to social media.

A "Mario Kart" meetup in a room adjoining the cafeteria was attended by precisely nobody. Two TVs showed the game's start screen, while maybe a dozen people sat at tables squinting at laptops.

It's hard to imagine binge-watching some 60 sweatshirt-clad nerds drearily prompting chatbots to refine source code for yet another quirky AI startup. After all, everyone and their cousin is vibe coding their way into progressively nicher business models these days.

In 2025, a record number of business applications — about 5.7 million — were submitted by Americans, according to census data. However, the number of businesses the government estimates will be successful enough to require employees actually declined.

Those kinds of numbers mean it takes more to stand out. In our interview, Hu pointed at my phone and said I could use AI tools to start three or four businesses today — but, of course, they likely wouldn't be profitable.

That, Hu said, is where the founders' personalities are supposed to come in, together with a bit of manufactured drama and endless streams of social media content.

In the first challenge of the event, held on the first day, for example, teams were required to submit one social media video for public review around the firepit. Then, in front of everyone, Hu tore into them.

"I was very honest," he said of one particular "roast" that produced tears from the submitters. "I was like, 'Guys, would anyone ever watch this? No. The answer is no, because of the quality — you never have a shot."

The moment would certainly make for good television. It also, Hu told me, mimicked the real-life struggle inherent in starting a company in a saturated market.

"They're going through the true ups and downs of a true cofounder relationship and a startup experience," he said of the team that was subjected to his roast, who were initially so dejected they discussed "breaking up."

Overall, most of the teams I talked to said they enjoyed the ramshackle experience of trying to make a company profitable in two weeks. At the very least, it was all happening in a picturesque setting.

A $3 million investment

Stan spared no expense to pull off the event.

It was held at a luxury, 400-acre villa two hours north of New York City that has in the past hosted retreats for high-flying companies like J.P. Morgan, whose executives, according to one staff member at the retreat at least, are keen for employees to embrace buzzwords like "team-building" and "company culture" among the illusion of rustic calm far from Manhattan.

We were in the sticks of eastern Pennsylvania — so deep in the woods, in fact, that cell service was nonexistent. There was fiber-optic internet, however, and the setting, though far-flung, could hardly be called rustic.

A squadron of golf carts staffed by the venue's seasonal workforce, many of whom were from Ireland or Australia, patrolled the grounds.

I was personally given the cellphone number of one such seasonal worker and encouraged to notify her anytime I wanted to go anywhere, at which point she would materialize with the golf cart.

Dodonov told me that Stan spent a combined $3 million renting the place for two weeks, booking camera crews, and making other necessary arrangements to host the founders, some of whom had traveled from as far away as Spain and Denmark.

For a company whose cofounder told Business Insider this year that it has an annual recurring revenue of "nearly $41 million," that's a significant sum.

"It's a very expensive experiment," Dodonov said. He said that, in his view, the return on investment is to see if "the playbook works" — the playbook being his and Hu's belief that building a successful company requires, perhaps above all, promoting yourself on social media.

"Anyone can systematically establish and build support through the power of content," Dodonov said.

• Jeonghan and Joshua from the boy band Seventeen are debuting as a duo.
• To promote their much-hyped album, they've launched a visual diary on Pinterest.
• The duo told Business Insider about their chemistry, their music — and their joint mood board.

Jeonghan and Joshua from the mega K-pop boy band Seventeen are offering fans a dream to lose themselves in and a mood board for shopping.

The two vocalists are debuting as a much-hyped unit, a spinoff of the 13-member band's activities. As of Monday, they'll be working under the name JxJ — releasing their album, "DREAMSCAPE," and hitting the road together for a concert tour in six Asian cities.

In the meantime, they've been populating not only their Instagrams, but also a sprawling visual diary on their joint Pinterest account.

It's an interesting choice, as far as K-pop goes — usually, teasers are limited to platforms like YouTube or the K-pop-centric social network, Weverse.

In a written interview with Business Insider, the duo described their interest in Pinterest as a means of introducing the "visual world," concept, and vibe of "DREAMSCAPE."

The mood boards and the buffet of photos they've posted for fans to feast on are also a "little gift" to their audience.

"JxJ Diary is a space we created to share the concept and vibe of the album more directly with fans before its release. We spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of content they would enjoy, and decided to launch our first-ever Pinterest channel featuring different sides of ourselves," the duo said.

The singers said they wanted to explore the concept of "dreams" with the posts on their joint account. They've curated a collection of photographs and behind-the-scenes moments, including everything from candid shots to sneak peeks of their album photoshoots.

"We hope fans will take inspiration from the album's imagery and vibe, and express it in their own ways," they added. "It would be really fun to see them create their own version of 'DREAMSCAPE' on Pinterest by collecting photos, experimenting with styling, and curating images that reflect their personal tastes."

The business around the boys

That invitation for fans taps into a K-pop fan economy in which an album is not only heard or watched but also worn, collected, decorated, and remade.

The two Seventeen members belong to a group whose fan base collects their photo cards, travels to their concerts, and goes all in on albums and merchandise. Seventeen's 2023 album, "FML," still holds the record for first-day sales for a K-pop album, with more than 6.4 million copies sold. The band's "NEW" tour from 2025 to 2026 saw them play 31 shows in stadiums across Asia and four US cities, drawing close to a million fans, in person and online.

JxJ now gives Seventeen's fandom something else to get invested in: Jeonghan and Joshua together, and the similarities in their personal style.

Ayumi Nakajima, Pinterest's APAC head of content partnerships, told Business Insider the platform had seen a surge in interest in K-pop, making it prime territory for JxJ to establish a foothold.

Nakajima said that the collaboration with the duo's agency stemmed from the idea that K-pop fans connect with more than just the music. Pinterest gives fans a space to "explore the visual inspiration behind the artist's stories" and "save what resonates with them."

Pinterest has seen a strong surge in interest for all things Korea on the platform. Searches for "K-pop style" rose 19% globally year over year, while "K-beauty" searches rose 114%. In Japan, searches for "K-pop fan art" climbed 368%, while "trading card decoration" rose 77%.

"What visual experiences like the JxJ diary do is bring fans into an artist's creative world earlier, giving them more time to engage with the aesthetics, ideas and storytelling behind a release," Nakajima said.

"That early engagement can really shape fandom-led commerce, because fans aren't just showing up at the point of purchase," Nakajima added. "A look, a mood or a visual reference can spark interest weeks before someone decides what to wear to a concert, what beauty look to try, or what pieces they want to buy."

Chemistry

As for the boys behind the Pinterest board, they're prepped to serve up seven tracks spanning genres they're "exploring for the first time" on the new album. The duet songs, from early teasers of the music, involve experiments with house, synthpop, and dance rock. There are also two solo tracks — Joshua's punk rock offering, "Not Personal," and Jeonghan's dreamy bop, "Coloring."

"Seventeen has a certain energy when all 13 members are together, but we think the two of us have a different kind of chemistry when we are together," they told Business Insider. "Rather than trying to showcase something entirely new, we wanted to bring out our natural sides and individual charms as much as possible."

The album is also the product of "a lot of conversations" about the kind of art they each wanted to create.

"By sharing our ideas and the images we each had in mind, we were able to understand each other's tastes on a deeper level," the duo said.

They took a couple of trips together, too, which helped them "get to know each other better and shape a direction that felt uniquely ours."

"We also experimented with our vocals to show a new side of ourselves, so we hope fans will enjoy and support this album," they added.

"DREAMSCAPE" launches on October 19 at 6 p.m. Korea time.

• The No Kings coalition held a nationwide day of action to encourage early voting.
• Its Instagram account was suspended in the middle of the event.
• Meta says the suspension was a mistake made by an automated system.

Meta said Saturday that an automatic trigger is to blame for the No Kings movement's Instagram account being suspended in the midst of a nationwide effort to mobilize early voting in the midterms.

The network, which bills itself as nonpartisan but arose last year in response to President Donald Trump's actions, said its account went dark for "several hours" at the peak of its event.

"Even after visibility was restored, we had no access to the account for hours," the group posted on its account.

In a statement on X, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said that accounts posting, sharing, or commenting at "very high frequencies" can prompt an automated response.

"That's what happened with the No Kings IG account in the lead up to today's day of action. Unfortunately, that automated action was clearly taken in error," he said in an X post.

"Everything is now working as it should and we sincerely apologize."

No Kings said it wants a deeper explanation from Meta. "Restricting communications about voting in the middle of an election is unacceptable," it said in its post.

"Meta must answer for this suspension and take immediate steps to ensure it never happens again — to any account, but especially those working to inform voters and encourage participation in our democracy."

The group said it held nearly 3,000 rallies across the country to encourage voters to cast their ballots early as a hedge against any effort to undermine turnout in an election that will determine the balance of power in Congress.

Cats are naturally meticulous groomers, spending up to half their day cleaning themselves. Still, both short- and long-haired cats can benefit from regular grooming with one of the best cat brushes or combs. Routine grooming with a brush or comb removes loose hair and distributes natural skin oils throughout a cat's coat, says Dr. Aimee Simpson, veterinarian and medical director of VCA Cat Hospital of Philadelphia.

To find the best cat grooming tools, we tested 35 different brushes and combs with four cats. Our favorite is the Frisco Mini Combo Brush, a versatile brush that's gentle enough for daily use on both short- and long-haired coats. One side features metal pins for working out small tangles and lifting loose fur, while the other has soft bristles for smoothing the coat, including the more delicate hair around the face.

Read more about how Business Insider Reviews researches and tests pet products here.

Our top picks for the best cat brushes

Best overall: Frisco Mini Combo Brush - $6 at Chewy

Best deshedding tool: Andis Deshedding Tool - $28 at Chewy

Best slicker brush: Safari Self-Cleaning Slicker Brush - $19 at Chewy

Best dematting tool: Well & Good Prostyle Dual-Sided Shedding Rake - $24 at Petco

Best comb: Chris Christensen Cat/Carding Buttercomb #013 - $64 at Amazon

Best grooming gloves: HandsOn All-In-One Bathing and Grooming Gloves - $25 at Chewy

How to choose the best brush for your cat

Best overall

Best for: Daily grooming of long- and short-haired cats, removing small tangles and lifting loose fur, gentle grooming of the face, and reaching tight spots

Skip this if: You need to remove large mats or thin out an undercoat.

A gentle, effective combo brush is our go-to for daily use. Over two months of testing, our cats purred and drooled through all five dual-sided brushes we tested, but the Frisco Mini Combo Brush stood out. It's smaller and lighter in the hand than the others, and its small head made it significantly easier to navigate the tight, sensitive nooks where tangles routinely hide on our long-haired cat, like her armpits and chest. It's also sized perfectly to reach her favorite spots, like under her chin.

One side has metal pins that gently worked out small tangles and lifted loose fur from both our long- and short-haired cats, leaving us with a small handful of fur from each after a typical weekly brushing session. The other side has soft bristles that smoothed their coats, picked up any stray hairs left behind, and were gentle enough to use around their faces.

Daniel Lioyryan, a cat groomer at Cats in the City, recommends pin brushes with soft rubber tips. This brush doesn't have those, but its pins have rounded metal tips that didn't hurt when we pressed them into our palms and didn't pierce the skin of a soft plum. Based on our cats' reactions, we think the gentle pressure felt good to them, too.

Loose pins are a common problem we see with pin brushes, whether they catch on a knot and pull out or loosen over time. When we tugged this brush's pins with pliers using medium force, they stayed firmly in place, which gives us confidence it will hold up to plenty of brushing sessions.

Best deshedding tool

Best for: Thinning out a dense undercoat on long- and short-haired cats

Skip this if: You want to remove mats or tangles, or you're looking for a gentle brush for daily or weekly grooming.

Lioyryan recommends using a deshedding tool once a month or every other month to remove excess and compacted fur and thin out dense coats. Of all the tools we tested with short- and long-haired cats, the Andis Pet Deshedding Tool is the most effective for both. With just a few strokes, it removes as much, or more, fur than other tools do in an entire brushing session.

The effectiveness of the Andis deshedder lies in its curved metal teeth, which reach beneath the topcoat to pull hair from the undercoat. The teeth gently catch and remove hair without causing discomfort or skin irritation. One of our cats loved being brushed with this tool, and the teeth's hooked design prevented us from accidentally nicking or over-raking their skin. The tool itself is lightweight, and its handle is easy to grip. The head is about 4.5 inches wide, an ideal size for getting the job done quickly yet small enough to fit into hard-to-reach nooks and crannies.

The only drawback is that the deshedder leaves behind a thin layer of loose fur on the topcoat. Lioyryan recommends using a comb or slicker brush after deshedding to remove leftover loose fur.

Best slicker

Best for: Daily grooming of short- and long-haired cats, lifting loose fur from short-haired undercoats.

Skip this if: Your cat has mats or a very dense, plush coat.

"Slicker brushes are often a cat's favorite," Lioyryan says. He adds that they are particularly useful for removing loose fur from the coat's outer layer and gripping the short strands of a short-haired cat's undercoat. For long-haired cats, a slicker brush is ideal for light daily brushing and catching pin knots, small mats, and loose clumps of fur. The Safari Self-Cleaning Slicker Brush accomplishes all this but stands out for its brush head size and retractable pins.

Safari's lightweight slicker brush has an ergonomic handle with rubber grips. Its 3-by-2-inch paddle with 288 stainless steel pins is agile enough to get into hard-to-reach places. When the pins are full of hair, simply press a button on the back to push the front plate forward and dislodge the hair.

While the brush couldn't remove every mat on a long-haired cat, it did a great job helping us combat those on the chest and under the arms. You'll need to remove tougher tangles with a comb or dematting tool. If your cat's coat is severely matted, it's important to take your cat to a veterinarian who can safely remove the mats. "Never try to cut mats out of your cat's hair with scissors," Simpson says. "This can lead to accidental laceration of the skin."

Best dematting tool

Best for: Removing stubborn mats and deshedding long- and short-haired cats with one tool.

Skip this if: The mat is too large to work out yourself, as severely matted coats require help from a veterinarian.

While you can use a comb to remove mats from your long-haired cat, you may find a rake is easier to maneuver. Lioyryan says the best dematting rakes have sharp, curved tines that dislodge mats with minimal pulling. Our top pick, the Well & Good Prostyle Dual-Sided Shedding Rake, stands out for its superior ability to grip and remove pesky mats. Keep in mind, however, that this type of tool is not appropriate for large, tight mats and is likely to cause pain if used to remove them.

This versatile two-sided tool has an ergonomic handle with rubber grips and a 3-inch wide head. On one side of the head is a seven-toothed dematting tool, and on the other, there is a deshedder with 13 teeth. In one fell swoop, you can turn the tool over in your hand to go from dematting to deshedding, removing excess fur and preventing new mats from forming.

Although our long-haired cat had no stubborn mats during testing, the tool performed well in our simulated dematting tests. We also found it incredibly easy to use the dematting side along our cat's tummy to eliminate tangles, then quickly flip to the deshedding side to thin her fur. While this rake may not remove as much hair as the Andis Deshedding Tool, it effectively clears away loose fur on long- and short-haired cats.

The only downsides are the rake's price and the lack of metal hardware connecting the teeth to the tool. Lioyryans says all-metal hardware will prove the most durable. For a more budget-friendly two-in-one tool, the Maxpower Planet Pet 2-in-1 Rake is a good option, though it's slightly heavier and has a larger head that may prove challenging when removing mats from tight underarm spots.

Best comb

Best for: Working out small mats and tangles in long-haired cats' fur, and picking up loose hair after deshedding

Skip this if: You'd rather have a comb with a handle, or your cat has large or severe mats that require help from a groomer or veterinarian

Long-haired cats are prone to developing tangled mats in their undercoat, causing discomfort and, in some cases, leading to illness. "Matting causes the hair to pull at the skin, which is painful," Simpson says. At the hind end, urine and feces may also stick to mats, increasing the risk of skin and urinary tract infections.

The best comb to smooth out matted fur is Chris Christensen's Cat/Carding Buttercomb #013, says Loel Miller, owner of Mobile Grooming by Loel. We found she was right. It excelled at digging into mats and untangling the fur caught within them. We also like using it as a finishing tool after deshedding, running it through the coat to pick up any loose hair the rake leaves behind.

The lightweight comb has stainless steel teeth embedded in a solid 6-inch spine. The teeth alternate in a pattern of long and short tines. The comb has no real handle, just about a quarter-inch-wide ridge that runs its length. It turns out that the lack of a handle makes this comb more versatile and easier to use — it can be held comfortably at any angle to work out tangles.

Best grooming gloves

Best for: Cats who are sensitive to brushing, removing fur, dirt, and dander from the top coat

Skip this if: You need to work out tangles or remove fur from the undercoat

Cats who refuse to be groomed with a brush or a comb may tolerate grooming gloves, which fit closely to the natural shape of your palm. "Using a grooming glove or a soft rubber grooming brush can acclimate your cat to the feeling of being brushed in a gentle way," Simpson says.

Compared with all of the other brushes and combs we tested, gloves are the worst at removing hair from a cat's coat. However, if your cat is sensitive to brushing, gloves will help remove some fur, dirt, and dander. The well-constructed HandsOn Grooming Gloves are the best of the brands we tested. The rubber palms are covered with rounded nubs, three clumps on each finger and two on the thumb. The other side of the glove is made of strong nylon fabric with a velcro wrist closure that keeps it secure.

The gloves come in five sizes, from junior to extra large. As an average-sized woman, the medium pair fits me comfortably. Unlike the other gloves we tested, these didn't feel overly bulky. The gloves can be used dry or wet, and so far, they have not cracked, torn, or grown mildew.

What to look for in a cat brush

We spoke to three professional groomers and two veterinarians to narrow down the best cat brushes for every coat type and budget. They recommend keeping the following features in mind when shopping for cat grooming tools:

Shape and length: The shape of the brush directly impacts how well the brush removes fur and mats, especially from hard-to-reach places. Dematting and shedding brushes with small heads, like Andis Pet Deshedding Tool and Well & Good Prostyle Dual-Sided Shedding Rake, are great for reaching problematic areas such as under the limbs. The moderate length of the Chris Christensen Buttercomb's teeth angles along the body, effectively tackling tough knots and mats.

Function: Not all brushes serve the same purpose, and you'll need more than one in your arsenal to address all of your cat's grooming needs.

• Pin brushes: These brushes are gentle enough for daily use. The metal tines effectively tackle minor tangles, while the rubber tips provide a gentle, massaging sensation without poking your cat.
• Bristle brushes: The nylon bristles remove loose hair from the topcoat and ensure the rest of the coat is smooth and lying in the same direction, which will help prevent future mats and tangles. A combo pin and bristle brush is particularly suitable for multi-cat households with both short- and long-haired cats.
• Slicker brushes: These are effective for light daily brushing, removing loose fur, and managing small tangles. The metal tines are numerous and slightly bent at the ends, making them especially useful for grabbing loose hairs from the undercoat of short-haired cats.
• Skip tooth combs: This type of comb has a single row of steel tines with alternating lengths, designed to penetrate the undercoat of long-haired cats. If a comb has teeth that are all the same length and closely spaced, you might push the undercoat down instead of effectively brushing through it, says Lioyran. Combs are the ideal weekly or as-needed tool for small mats and grooming following a deshedding.
• Deshedding tools or rakes: These tools have curved times to grip and remove excess fur. The number of tines varies, and Lioyryan says you might need to experiment with several deshedding rakes before finding the one that best suits your cat. He recommends using deshedding rakes monthly or every other month to eliminate loose fur and thin out thick coats. Even short-haired cats require deshedding, given their higher hair follicle count than long-haired cats, according to Lioyryan.
• Dematting rakes: If a stubborn mat pops up, a dematting rake is the best tool. Our experts strongly advise against using scissors on your cat's fur. Lioyryan recommends dematting tools with curved tines rather than straight ones because they tend to have a better grip.
• Grooming gloves: These are gentle enough to acclimate cats to grooming and are less likely to overstimulate cats who are sensitive to touch.
• Curry brushes: These versatile brushes with rubber nubs effectively remove loose hair, massage your pet, remove hair from clothing and upholstery, and lather shampoo during baths.

Comfort: The tines of a brush shouldn't poke and prod at your cat, and a tool should never excessively tug at the fur. To ensure your cat's comfort, opt for a pin brush with rubber-tipped tines and slickers with a soft brush pad that allows the tines to move with the curvature of your cat's bones. The best cat brushes also have ergonomic and rubber handles for the groomer's comfort.

Some cats may still dislike their grooming tools even if they check all the right boxes for comfort. "Just like people, some cats love being brushed, and they tolerate tension on their fur very well. Other cats do not," Lioyryan says. "If a cat doesn't like a particular tool, it doesn't necessarily mean that the tool is wrong." He suggests holding the skin taut to reduce pulling when using a deshedding rake and being mindful when brushing over bones.

Introducing your cat to grooming tools early increases the likelihood that they will tolerate and even enjoy the grooming process. For cats sensitive to grooming, grooming gloves such as HandsOn All-In-One Gloves may be the best option.

How we tested the best cat brushes

To identify the most effective cat brushes and combs for this guide, we conducted the following tests with 35 brushes and combs.

Hair removal test: To objectively compare the brushes in the deshedding tool and slicker brush categories, we used a different grooming tool for one to three days to give our tester cats — two short-haired cats and two long-haired cats — a complete brushing. The removed hair was placed in labeled plastic bags that were laid side by side to reveal which tool removed the most.

Ease of use test: While using each grooming tool, we evaluated the following characteristics:

• How easy the tool was to use overall
• The weight of the tool
• The size of the tool and how well it fit in our hands
• How well the tool accessed hard-to-reach places
• How easy the tool was to clean after use
• The durability of the tool

Dematting test: This test was devised for the products in the dematting comb category. For each comb, we began by rolling, mashing, and entangling a large pile of undercoat fur removed from a long-haired cat using a deshedding tool. We then attempted to restore the fur to its smooth, unmatted state with the comb. The top three tools went on to tackle the small mats on one of our tester cat's chest and under his forelegs, where he has trouble reaching during grooming. The comb that dematted the hair most easily and efficiently was declared the winner.

Cat brush FAQs

What is the best type of brush to use on a cat?

The right brush for your cat depends on their coat type, specific grooming needs, and individual preferences for touch. For most cats, a combination pin-and-bristle brush is the best choice for everyday grooming, whether they have short or long hair. The pins remove loose hair and small tangles while the bristles smooth the top coat. However, a single brush can't meet every grooming need. Long-haired cats require monthly or every-other-month grooming with a deshedding rake, comb, or pin brush to remove loose fur and handle small tangles. To handle bigger knots and mats, you'll need a dematting tool. If you have a short-haired cat, you can skip the comb but should use a slicker or pin brush to tackle small tangles and remove loose hair from the undercoat. You may also need a deshedding rake and a dematting tool. Some cats may prefer the gentle touch of a soft rubber curry comb rather than a pin or slicker brush. A grooming glove is another good option for short-haired cats, particularly if they are sensitive to handling.

Are cat brushes good for cats?

Yes. Brushing removes loose hair and dead skin cells that would otherwise be swallowed during self-grooming or shed around your home. Reducing the amount of hair a cat consumes can help minimize hairballs. Brushing also distributes natural oils throughout the coat to keep it shiny, stimulates blood circulation, and helps strengthen the bond between a cat and their caregiver if the cat enjoys the experience.

How often should you brush your cat's fur?

Opinions differ even among professionals regarding how often a cat should be brushed. The ASPCA recommends brushing your cat once or twice a week to keep your cat's coat healthy. VCA Animal Hospitals recommends daily brushing, particularly for cats with long hair or a thick coat. Pet groomer Melissa Tillman's rule of thumb is to brush your cat as often as they will let you. Harper doesn't have a universal rule but recommends running your hands, if not a brush or comb, over your cat's body at least once daily. Older cats that cannot groom themselves may need more regular sessions than younger cats.

How often should I use a deshedding tool on my long-haired or thick-coated cat?

Lioyryan recommends using a deshedding tool on long and short-haired cats once a month to every other month. Afterward, brush them with a skip tooth comb, slicker brush, or pin brush.

How long should I brush my cat?

Rather than brushing for a set amount of time, pay close attention to your cat's body language. If they become agitated or try to move away from the brush or comb, stop the session and pick it up again later.

How do you brush an unwilling cat?

The earlier you start introducing your cat to brushing, the better. "Kittens that are regularly groomed and have their nails trimmed become used to being handled," Simpson says. To help set your cat up for success, she recommends positioning them in a comfortable, quiet area and pairing gentle brush strokes or combing with delicious treats. Lickable treats, such as Inaba Churu, are especially high-value for many cats. You can spread food on a Lickimat or scatter treats in front of your cat to keep your hands free. Simpson says cats are less likely to be anxious if you work alone without restraining them. When it comes to all home care routines for cats, using a positive, cooperative care approach supports the human-cat bond.

Should cats go to groomers?

If you have a cat who dislikes being brushed, don't hesitate to hire a groomer to do the basics. "It's best not to push the limits of a cat where you are in danger of being injured," Miller says. Cats who are easily stressed during trips to the groomer may benefit from a mobile grooming service that will come to your home. Anytime a cat is heavily matted, it's best to consult your veterinarian.

• I spent years preparing my kids for college, but I overlooked some essential life skills.
• I never properly taught them to clean toilets, repay debts, or recognize health problems.
• Now I'm trying to fill those gaps and accept that parenting doesn't end when kids leave home.

Last week, a friend asked if I knew of any jobs for her recent graduate. Between his rigorous academic load, sports, and club activities that landed him in a prestigious university, he'd never held a job.

"My fail," she confessed.

My kids have had jobs, but I have parenting fails of my own. I'm concerned that, in the grand scheme of middle-class privileges, we forgot to teach our children some basic life skills: scrubbing bathrooms, repaying debts, and self-attunement.

I crammed as much as I could into the first 18 years of their lives, but juggling my small business while parenting didn't leave time for everything. I found myself tossing last-minute advice like grapes while driving each to their respective dorms: Carry your drinks with you at all times — even to the bathroom. Know where Student Health is located. Sit in the front rows; meet your professors. Skip the jugs of BORG.

We didn't teach them everything they need to survive, let alone thrive, but I'm hoping it's not too late to offer some guidance.

Cleaning their toilet

The bathroom might be the most inhospitable location in either of my sons' living quarters. The filth lurking below the interior rim is as confronting as the overspray of urine where the lid hinges.

To protect them from chemical toxins, I reflect that I never handed my kids a cleaning wand. They'd wiped down sinks, vacuumed, and washed clothes, but the toilet was off limits. Instead, I'd taken the plastic brush into my own hand or, worse, hired a housekeeper. It should have transitioned at some age, but between my own squeamishness about cleanliness and their protests at reaching inside the bowl, I failed.

I'm consoled that it appears statistically unlikely that anyone would catch a disease from their lack of sanitization, but in the interest of raising functional adults within accepted cultural parameters, I'm impressing upon them the virtues of hygiene and housekeeping as attractive to a future partner, while clamoring to provide motivation.

My kids had no fiscal responsibility

To teach financial awareness, my husband and I set up checking accounts and outlined budgets with our kids in their last year of high school. What we failed to do was teach them the importance of paying bills or repaying debt — imperative when adulting to secure credit, rent your own accommodations, and eventually live a fiscally independent life.

We felt like we were on the right path when our kid bought his first (used) Toyota Tacoma, and we helped by providing a partial private loan to make it possible. The idea was for him to pay us back in monthly installments, no matter how small, but that quickly fell by the wayside when he felt $20 too nominal a transaction to matter.

He eventually paid off the entire debt in a lump sum, and we blew off his breach of our contract, but when a second kid dismissed our financial agreement, I knew we'd made a mistake. It's a lesson worth reworking in the interest of said kids' futures — perhaps we should've enforced stricter consequences for non-payment or suggested a bank loan that has natural repercussions for non-compliance? Idk, but that's my hot tip.

I told them to 'read the room,' but also, they should read themselves

This broad term refers to an individual's ability to assess themself in their environment, mentally and physically. I'd always advised my kids to "read the room," but now I implore them to read themselves — better.

By the end of high school, I'd encouraged my kids to schedule their own doctor appointments but still played caregiver when advising them to stay home from school (with a fever) or insisting on their attendance (to avoid truancy). Collectively considered, I might have disabled their agency given that one of our kids landed in the emergency room after ignoring cold symptoms that manifested as chest pains in the middle of the night, his freshman year of college. Diagnosed with an acute case of pericarditis, his heart was stressed. He spent three harrowing nights in the hospital and continued with six months of follow-up as an outpatient; it was scary. I couldn't conceive how quickly an active young person's health had plummeted so drastically. "This must be super rare?" I asked the attending physician.

"Not really, it's a textbook response to strep throat," the doctor replied. Then, turning toward my kid, he asked, "Didn't your throat feel sore?"

"Not really."

Dropping our youngest child to start her college career on the opposite coast this fall, we kissed and hugged. "Have fun — these years are the best!" Then I added, "but it's normal to feel lonely at times. It's OK to be uncomfortable." I reminded her exactly what I probably needed to hear: "Discomfort breeds growth." And maybe that's how I'd reframe my embarrassing "fails" — as an opportunity for growth, because isn't that why we all went to college in the first place?

• My daughter and I took the scenic route from Oregon to her college in Missouri.
• We camped near Yellowstone, explored Wyoming, and visited South Dakota landmarks.
• The trip gave us precious time together before she started her independent life.

After buying a car for my daughter to take to college, the problem was getting the little Mazda from Portland, Oregon, to Fulton, Missouri. Maria and I are fun in the car, but awful at driving long distances.

We checked the miles, over 2,000, and groaned.

"Are we doing this?" I asked. "Remember Eugene?"

We laughed, thinking about the time after an exhausting day, we couldn't manage the usual three hours from Eugene, Oregon, to Portland without stopping every 10 to 15 minutes. We took turns saying, "Your turn," as we blasted cold air and chomped Good 'n' Plenty licorice to stay awake. Eventually, we napped at a rest stop. I finished the drive and let Maria sleep.

We took the scenic route to college

"Let's make it an adventure," Maria said when we were debating whether to take the scenic route. She knows I love sleeping in a tent and waking up outdoors. Being in nature would ease my aching heart, already missing her. I savored our time before we even started.

We mapped our route, picking the long way. In Yellowstone, we tented next to a motorhome complete with a satellite and TV. We cracked up as we popped up our two-person tent in the RV's shadow. In the morning, it was a quick coffee and on to gawking our way through the park, pointing at bison, moose, elk, deer, wolves, and more. At a geyser view spot, a tourist tried to touch a bull moose with a huge rack of horns while onlookers poised their phones.

We made so many memories together

We drove across Wyoming with its wide-open spaces and the prettiest blue skies. Then camped at Custer State Park, our tent site flanking a river. In the morning, we plopped on a log and sipped cowboy (unfiltered) coffee. "So much better than flying," I said, surprising myself.

Our awe was mild at Mt. Rushmore, where we snapped bad tourist pictures, pretending to squish the presidents' heads between thumb and index finger as a curly-haired woman in white pointy Keds glared at us.

Then, onto Crazy Horse: a massive monument of Crazy Horse, the Lakota leader, still being carved out of the mountain. I cried at its mass, its beauty, its story. For scale, Mt. Rushmore could fit in the finger that points to his people's land.

Next was the iconic Wall Drug, where we stretched our bodies, then drove on to the Corn Palace. "All corn?" I asked. Yes, beautiful, detailed murals crafted of corn and other grains covered the Moorish building.

The road trip made me less sad to see her go

Endless signs in Kansas enticed us with the World's Largest Prairie Dog, a live five-legged cow, plus rattlesnakes. Even though the prairie dog turned out to be a 15-foot-tall, four-ton concrete statue, it topped our list for fun roadside attractions and included a bonus rattlesnake "pit" in a gift shop where rattlers slept in terrariums. The cashier's nametag said Suzy. She hit the tops of the cages with a cane, startling the snakes to shake their rattling tails. We jumped too.

"It's OK," I told Suzy, my hand up in the universal sign for stop. "Let them rest." "You paid to see 'em," she rasped, whapping another terrarium as Maria gave her the side-eye.

We held our belly laughs in until we reached the car.

We stopped at rest stops and gas stations. Drank sparkling water (me) and soda (her). Snacked on chips and Wheat Thins. Took rinse showers at campsites. The only time we drove semi-sleepily was through Kansas with the obligatory, "Are we there yet?" And "Can you drive?" It wasn't as bad as that haul from Eugene home, but the straight flat is hypnotizing.

"My turn. I got you," Maria said, tightening her ponytail and her resolve. I saw her on the cusp of her grown life as she drove the last leg, singing full tilt, our playlist a mix of Garth Brooks, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Chicks, and more.

Willie Nelson sang us across the country. We played "On the Road Again" every morning, every time we restarted, every time we crossed a state line. Whenever I hear "Making music with my friends" it's my daughter I think of.

Once we reached Fulton, Missouri, I knew I could fly home without my girl. We were both ready. While it was bittersweet to drop my dream-chasing kids — first my son, then my daughter — at college, that year my excitement for her overshadowed my sadness.

We'll always have the rattlesnakes. We've laughed about them ever since.

• Our friendship formed over questionable decisions, break-ups, hangovers, and, eventually, the messy business of becoming adults.
• Then, three baby girls born in three cities over three weeks started a completely new chapter.
• Our connection became our parenting lifeline, proving that the best friendships grow with you.

"What a night!" "I barely slept." "I don't even know what time I went to bed."

The same statements can have very different meanings in different stages of life. My friends and I used to worry about where everyone was at 2 a.m. Now, we worry about whether everyone's baby has pooped that day.

Laura-Kate (Lauks), Kirsten (Kirst), and I met 25 years ago at an all-girls boarding school in South Africa, then partied our way through university and early adulthood. For years, our biggest problems were nursing sore heads with painkillers and junk food, who was dating whom, where we were going that weekend, and whether anyone had taken a particularly unflattering photo.

Then, the three of us had babies all within three weeks of one another, reaffirming our bond and allowing us to evolve together in new and exciting ways I never imagined.

Real adulthood happened

Lauks got pregnant unexpectedly, bravely navigating the challenges of being a semi-single mom with a husband who works abroad for up to three months at a time. In the same period, Kirst and her American husband settled in the US, and I was undergoing IVF treatment. We all had our own challenges.

Fast forward a bit, and Lauks told us she was expecting another unplanned surprise. It was a contrast to my own fertility journey, which had been a roller coaster of disappointments, including a failed embryo transfer. I was about to undergo a second transfer when she gave us the news over group text.

Lauks lives in a town about an hour from me. It happens to be on the way to my fertility doctor. On one drive home, soon after sharing her good news, I stopped to see Lauks to congratulate her. I was also six weeks pregnant at the time. I remember sitting there in the cafe trying to get the words out: "I'm pregnant." Cue the ugly crying.

Of course, my next phone call was to Kirst in the US. Little did I know that she had some news she was itching to tell me too. All three of us were pregnant at the same time.

The tone of our WhatsApp group changed immediately

After comparing and complaining about our pregnancy symptoms for months, one baby arrived, then another, then another.

We all arrived at motherhood differently, but we each welcomed a baby girl into the world within three weeks across three different cities (and two continents), and our friendship acquired an entirely new vocabulary.

We had once bonded over crushes, kisses, and hangovers. Now, we talked about latching, snot-sucking, and the intricate details of every strange rash. The conversations may have been less titillating, but somehow, they were even more intimate.

Our WhatsApp group became a kind of 24-hour maternal helpline. "Does this look normal?" Reply at 3 am: "Yes, unfortunately." We sent memes when we were too exhausted to form sentences. We celebrated first smiles and first rolls. We talked about periods, pimples, sex, husbands, and everything else that apparently becomes acceptable conversation once you've been friends for 25 years.

Then, the group chat blew up with more surprises

Earlier this year, Kirsten let us know that baby number two was on the way. This time, it was me bubbling over inside, dying to tell them that I had gotten pregnant naturally. In August, Kirst gave birth to a baby boy, and my baby girl arrived in September.

Although we haven't been in the same room since Kirst moved to the US three years ago, we remain as close as ever, if not closer. My girls are my cheerleaders, doulas, online health advisors, and a massive reason why I've stayed sane (enough) as a mother. They've shown me the power of long-term friendship and the ways women can lift each other up.

In another 25 years, we'll be in our 60s

I can't help but imagine what another 25 years will do to our friendship. We'll be in our 60s, and the kids will (hopefully) be fending for themselves out in the world.

Along with the gray hairs and wrinkles, our priorities will have probably changed once again. After the first 25 years, I've learned that the best friendships don't stay the same, they grow with you. So I know my besties will still be there for me, just with entirely new things to commiserate over, cry over, and kill ourselves laughing about.

• Jen Podany raised her three children in a busy Los Angeles neighborhood where traffic limited their independence.
• After moving to a small Arizona town, her kids can ride bikes and play with neighborhood friends.
• She says their new lifestyle reminds her of the freedom children had growing up in the 1980s.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jen Podany, founder of Bluestone Sunshields. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Near the end of 2024, my family of five had once again escaped Los Angeles for the quiet we found 10 hours south in Snowflake, Arizona.

We'd been doing it for years, renting an Airbnb in Snowflake, a town of 6,000 in the middle of nowhere, switching off amid the miles of empty land.

It had started as a stopover on our way to visit my husband's family in New Mexico. We fell in love with the town, and from then on, we'd visit whenever we needed to get away from the busyness of LA.

In Snowflake, we felt like we could catch our breath. Our souls calmed each time we arrived and ached to stay each time we left.

We put an offer on a house

Back in LA, specifically Burbank, the five of us — my husband and our three children, whom we homeschooled — lived in a duplex made up of two connected apartments. We lived in one of them, which had two bedrooms and one bathroom. From the other apartment, my husband and I ran our two separate businesses.

The duplex was in a neighborhood near a busy street, and we had to be cautious about letting the kids go outside to play because of the cars. I was always holding someone's little hand when we were out, just in case. You could hear planes flying back and forth into Burbank Airport. As our kids and businesses grew, we felt increasingly confined.

Then we saw a house on the market in Snowflake, and I felt in my bones that we should put in an offer.

It was a four-bedroom house surrounded by land, chickens, cows, and a crazy turkey. We could buy it and have our own place to stay when visiting, rather than always renting an Airbnb.

We bought the house for about $500,000, and on our first visit to stay in it in January 2025, none of us wanted to go back to Burbank.

We knew then that we'd make Snowflake our home. And so we did.

We moved from Los Angeles to a town of 6,000 people

In so many ways, our life looks exactly like life in LA. Our routines have remained the same. Every morning, just like in LA, we start our day at a coffee shop. Except in Snowflake, there's only one place to go instead of 20 choices. We work, we homeschool, we eat our meals, and we go to sleep — just like we did in LA.

But by transplanting our lives to a quiet town, we all feel calmer and more peaceful.

Personally, my nervous system has regulated. In LA, I felt like the world was constantly coming at me, like I was being bombarded and reacting to everything around me. Here, I feel like I'm in the driver's seat, with a clear head.

Not only has it been good for my well-being, but it's also been good for my business. The move has given me the mental space to think bigger. It's led to greater creativity, paving the way for business growth.

My kids have an 80s childhood

My kids love Snowflake, too. I didn't have to convince them about the move.

They have the freedom to be out of the house without worrying about cars and crime. Just a bike ride away are other kids with whom they are often found playing.

I think kids grow up quickly in cities, and living here, I feel like my kids get to just be kids. It's like going back to being a kid in the '80s, and I love that for them.

The house is bigger, so we aren't living on top of each other, but they've also got endless outdoor space to explore.

Even though I lived in LA for 20 years, we never experienced friendship and community as we have in just over a year in Snowflake.

We can't leave the house without seeing someone who wants to stop and talk. Everyone here is on "mountain time" — slowing down. No one is rushing around, head down, looking at their phones, too hurried to have a conversation.

Everyone is present and friendly.

My husband and I still occasionally have to go to LA for work, and each time we come back home to Snowflake, I take a deep breath and know we made the right decision to relocate our family.

• MapQuest is pulling the curtain back on automatic license plate readers.
• Users can now locate Flock Safety and other surveillance cameras on MapQuest's app.
• Critics of the tech have raised privacy concerns and potential misuse.

MapQuest, the OG software to find your way from point A to point B, is taking on the surveillance state.

The free mapping service unveiled a new feature for its mobile app on Thursday that allows users to turn on a "surveillance layer" on a map to locate known automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, along their route.

MapQuest says the app can identify cameras developed by Flock Safety, Axon Enterprise, Motorola Solutions, and PlateSmart, among others.

"The Roads Have Eyes!" the company said in its BlueSky post announcing the new feature.

MapQuest's General Manager Doug Berger said drivers using the service inspired the company to add the feature.

"We build around what drivers ask for, and showing surveillance camera locations is one of our users' top three requests," Berger told Business Insider in a statement."

License plate readers capture images of vehicles and then use machine learning to turn details such as license plate numbers, car make, color, and model into searchable data. They're commonly found at intersections, parking lots, roadways, highways, and neighborhood entrances, businesses, and private properties.

Law enforcement agencies initially embraced license plate readers to help them locate vehicles and identify suspects. Retail outlets have also used Flock cameras as part of their security efforts.

A major backlash against the cameras, however, has led stores, police, and towns to dial back their use.

Critics say the cameras raise privacy concerns and that the data they collect can be misused or shared with federal immigration officials. Some people who've opposed the cameras have staged protests, launched petitions, and even forcibly removed them.

The city of Tempe in Arizona said in August it shut down its Flock Safety camera network and planned to terminate its contract. Other towns followed suit.

"These cameras have helped our police officers do their jobs, and we don't discount that," Tempe Mayor Corey Woods said in a public statement at the time. "But the risk of misuse is too great. We have to be able to provide public safety in a way that maintains the trust of our community. For Tempe, that means taking these cameras down."

Flock says its license plate readers do not use facial recognition and that customers — meaning the ones putting up the cameras — can control access to and sharing of the data collected. Amid growing backlash, the company has tightened its privacy safeguards, including reducing the time data is retained from 30 days to 7 days.

"They are built to focus on the vehicle involved in an incident and the details that can help distinguish it from other vehicles on the road," Flock told Business Insider in August.

MapQuest first launched in the late 1990s, allowing users to map out a route and print directions. The release of Google Maps eventually obliterated the service. As it tries to stay relevant, it has jumped at opportunities to leverage prevailing public discourse.

In August, MapQuest briefly topped app stores after it — unlike Google — rebuffed President Donald Trump's executive order to rename "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America."

• Elon Musk is giving reams of cash to Republicans.
• Most of that dough is ending up in Texas, according to financial disclosure forms.
• In Texas, Ken Paxton is running a tight race against James Talarico.

Elon Musk is forking over generational wealth to Republicans facing tough midterm elections this cycle.

Over two donations in September, Musk gave a combined $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republicans, which has, in turn, given reams of cash to funds supporting the Republican candidate in Texas.

The money, shown in new federal disclosure forms, cements Musk as a major player in Republican politics over a year after he publicly split with President Donald Trump over the latter's handling of the Epstein files (though the two have since reconciled).

Republicans are facing serious headwinds over the Iran war, rising inflation, and sky-high gas prices. Polls show that American voters are largely dissatisfied with Trump's leadership and handling of the economy.

All told, Musk has given about $276 million since July. Much of Musk's political donations have ended up in Texas, according to federal disclosure forms, where embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton is engaged in a mudslinging battle for the Senate with state representative James Talarico.

One day after Musk notched a $75 million donation to the Senate Leadership Fund, the Super PAC gave a $75 million donation to the Texas PAC, a group aligned with Paxton.

Then, also in September, another $83 million donation by Musk was matched the next day by an identical donation to the Texas PAC, according to federal disclosure forms.

Talarico's campaign, meanwhile, has raised about $129 million.

Musk's companies are already investing billions in the Lone Star State, as the business magnate builds SpaceX's terafab semiconductor facility outside Houston.

In 2024, Musk announced that he was moving SpaceX's headquarters from California to Texas in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom's policies on gender identity.

Representatives for Paxton and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, said last year that he had probably "done enough" political spending, though he left the door open.

"Well, if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I'll do it. I don't currently see a reason," he told Bloomberg at the time.

The WNBA Finals have arrived, and a new champion will be crowned. We've rounded up everything you need to know about where to watch the Dream vs. Valkyries, including budget-friendly live streaming options for those without cable.

If you don't want to read any further, we've got you covered. You can live stream the Atlanta Dream vs. Golden State Valkyries series on Peacock in the US. You can access your usual streaming options from anywhere with a VPN, such as NordVPN.

What channels are the WNBA Finals on?

The WNBA Finals will air on NBC and the USA Network. Games 1 and 4 will air on NBC, while Games 2 and 3 will be broadcast on USA. Games 5-7, if necessary, will air on USA.

Where to watch the Dream vs. Valkyries in the US

WNBA fans can live stream the entire series on Peacock in the US. Sports-friendly subscriptions start at $13 a month for Peacock Premium, but viewers can unlock ad-free on-demand content and a full NBC live stream by upgrading to Peacock Premium Plus for $20 a month.

If you'd prefer a service with channels beyond NBC and USA, or you're simply seeking a service with a free trial, YouTube TV is one of our top live TV recommendations. The streaming platform carries NBC, USA, and 100+ other channels in its Main plan, which costs $83 a month. However, a limited-time deal will knock your first five months down to $68 a month after a free trial. NBC and USA are also available in the cheaper Sports plan, which carries 30+ channels.

For the WNBA Finals, we recommend YouTube TV over live TV services like Sling and Fubo because they lack some necessary channels. Fubo doesn't carry USA, and NBC is only available in select markets on Sling.

How to watch the Dream vs. Valkyries from anywhere

WNBA fans traveling abroad can still access their usual streaming options with the help of a VPN, or virtual private network. VPNs are handy cybersecurity tools that let people temporarily alter the virtual location on their electronic devices. This way, their favorite websites and apps work from anywhere the same way they would back home. Since the services we've highlighted above require US payment methods, this option will work best for Americans who are currently traveling away from home.

If you're not sure where to start with VPNs, NordVPN is a great place to begin. It's one of the best VPN services we've tested, thanks to its impressive speeds and massive selection of global servers. Plus, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee if you find that it's not what you're looking for.

• See also: How to watch MLB games | Where to watch Kansas City Chiefs games | How to watch college football

When did the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries last play?

The Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries played each other three times during the 2026 regular season, and the Valkyries won all three games. The most recent match-up between the two teams, which was hosted in Atlanta on July 4, saw the Valkyries pull off an 88-83 victory.

Who is favored to win the 2026 WNBA Finals?

Ahead of the start of the 2026 WNBA Finals, the Valkyries are the narrow favorites to win the championship. On DraftKings (at the time of writing before Game 1), the Valkyries are the -115 favorites, while the Dream are -105.

WNBA Finals schedule

The WNBA Finals will run from October 17 until at least October 24. The series will run until Halloween night, October 31, at the absolute latest. You can find a full schedule for all seven potential games below. An asterisk (*) denotes games that will only be held if necessary.

• Game 1: Atlanta Dream at Golden State Valkyries on Saturday, October 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET (NBC/Peacock)
• Game 2: Atlanta Dream at Golden State Valkyries on Monday, October 19 at 8 p.m. ET (USA/Peacock)
• Game 3: Golden State Valkyries at Atlanta Dream on Thursday, October 22 at 8 p.m. ET (USA/Peacock)
• Game 4: Golden State Valkyries at Atlanta Dream on Saturday, October 24 at 3:30 p.m. ET (NBC/Peacock)
• Game 5: Atlanta Dream at Golden State Valkyries on Monday, October 26 at 8 p.m. ET (USA/Peacock)*
• Game 6: Golden State Valkyries at Atlanta Dream on Thursday, October 29 at 8 p.m. ET (USA/Peacock)*
• Game 7: Atlanta Dream at Golden State Valkyries on Saturday, October 31 at 8 p.m. ET (USA/Peacock)*

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries, and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• As a Colorado local, I love bringing first-time visitors to the state to Golden instead of Denver.
• It's a short drive from downtown Denver with beautiful mountain views and a walkable downtown.
• There are great places to eat alongside mountain views, hike, and enjoy the scenery in Golden.

I've lived in Colorado for over a decade. If I had just a single day to show someone what I love about the state, I wouldn't take them to our capital city, Denver.

Instead, I'd bring them to the much smaller city of Golden.

Golden gives has a little bit of everything for visitors: mountains and hiking trails, a creek running through town, a historic downtown made for wandering on foot, and plenty of places to eat and drink.

It's located just about 15 miles west of downtown Denver, or about a 25-minute drive, and typically less than an hour's drive from the Denver International Airport.

Here's why I love bringing out-of-towners to Golden — and where I'd take them when they visited.

I'd start the morning with coffee at a family-owned shop.

Golden has several coffee shops, but I'd start my perfect day here at Sogo Beans and Boards.

The family-owned coffee and skate shop is just minutes from downtown. I love that Sogo air-roasts its fair-trade coffee and makes its own syrups and pastries.

Its plant-filled room, free Wi-Fi, and garden patio make it easy to linger over a latte, and it's the kind of independent shop that makes a morning feel unhurried.

We'd spend lots of time outside, which is easy to do in Golden

The city makes it easy to go from a coffee shop to a trail without a long drive.

For a leisurely morning, I'd rent an e-bike and follow the paved Clear Creek Trail, which winds alongside the water through parks and greenery.

For more of a workout, I'd hike North Table Mountain, where the initial climb stings but rewards you with sweeping views of the city and surrounding mesas.

In warmer months, tubing on Clear Creek is another way to take in the town's outdoor culture and scenic views.

If I had more time, I'd take the short drive from town to visit Golden Gate Canyon State Park, a beautiful place to enjoy aspen groves and mountain scenery. Come winter, the same park is a serene place to snowshoe through snow-covered trails.

The Golden Mill is my go-to for lunch

After working up an appetite, I'd head to The Golden Mill, a food hall and community gathering space along Clear Creek.

It offers several food concepts — from sushi and tacos to fried chicken, barbecue, and New Zealand-style ice cream — which means a group with different tastes can all leave happy. More than 50 self-pour taps offer beer, wine, cider, and more.

The best part is the setting. Large creekside and rooftop patios have mountain views, which makes it an ideal spot to settle in after a morning outside.

My sister and I recently spent a morning there for rooftop yoga led by a local teacher, then walked around town afterward before returning for lunch.

It was peaceful, and it reinforced what makes the place work: It feels less like a traditional restaurant and more like somewhere you can spend a few hours eating, drinking, and watching Golden go by.

The yoga is a summer series that typically returns in May, and the event lineup rotates with the seasons. Past offerings have included rooftop barre and Keg Conditioning, a workout that uses empty kegs as equipment.

Downtown is made for wandering

Washington Avenue is lined with locally owned boutiques, galleries, and Western outfitters, and a seasonal Saturday farmers market adds to the scene.

Kayakers can play at Clear Creek Whitewater Park and beer fans can tour the Coors Brewery. Coors began brewing beside the creek in 1873.

One year later, the Colorado School of Mines was established nearby. It's part of an industrial past you can still sense as you walk.

I'd leave some of the afternoon unscheduled, too. Part of Golden's appeal is simply walking along the creek, looking up at the foothills, and stopping wherever something catches your attention.

Golden is proof that the best trips aren't always the flashiest

All of the above is ultimately why I'd choose Golden for someone's first taste of Colorado.

Denver has plenty to offer, but Golden gives you a concentrated version of the state I'd want to share with a first-time visitor: mountain views without a long mountainous drive; outdoor adventure alongside a walkable downtown; and enough food, beer, and local character to fill the day.

Sometimes it's not the most extravagant destinations that create the most meaningful memories. Some of my favorites in Golden have been the simplest, like that quiet morning with my sister.

After more than a decade here, that combination of ease and charm still feels like Colorado to me.

• Anthropic examined what might happen when AI and robots are combined.
• That could put more hands-on jobs, including gardening, in the path of automation, Anthropic warned.
• I'm skeptical that robots can handle the messy reality of pulling weeds.

Remember when Anthropic's AI jobs report suggested gardeners were among the safest workers because AI couldn't pull weeds or tell a rose from a dandelion? I joked about that in AI Insider earlier this year.

Well, Anthropic updated the research to freak us all out a bit more.

This time it asks a bigger question: What happens when you combine AI with robots? That change pushes many hands-on jobs much higher on the disruption scale. On paper, it makes sense. In practice, I'm skeptical.

For instance, anyone who's spent time working in a garden knows how hard it is to identify the right plant, kneel in awkward spots, and pull a weed out properly by the roots without damaging everything around it.

Robots are improving. But if you've ever watched one tackle a messy real-world task, you'll know there's a long road between a research chart and reality.

The chart below illustrates how adding robots could change job-task exposure across selected job categories. Cleaning & maintenance includes gardeners along with janitors and similar roles.

• When it comes to money, I'm a big budgeter, and my husband prefers taking risks.
• Now that we're building a house together, our differences are causing some disagreements.
• We've learned to stay flexible and balance each other's approaches.

My husband and I have very different ideas about financial responsibility.

When we're feeling stressed about money, my instinct is to run the numbers and account for every financial what-if. He's a big-picture dreamer who sees what something could become and is more willing to say, "We'll figure it out."

His attitude has paid off before. He had the vision for our first home, which we bought for under $100,000 and recently sold for a decent profit after 13 years of renovations.

I know some of the best things we've done together wouldn't have happened without my husband's willingness to take a chance, but our differences have still caused some friction over the years.

Now that we're building a new home together, we're trying to balance my need to plan for the unknown with his belief that we'll find a way forward.

After 13 years, we took a risk and sold our home

For 13 years, we'd lived in the same place. My husband had moved frequently as a child, and he wanted his two daughters to have a consistent place to call home.

Leaving this house behind was bittersweet, but my oldest stepdaughter had just bought her own house, and my younger one was heading off to college. We were ready for what came next.

We could have bought an existing house needing renovations. Instead, we found land in southern Maine that felt worth taking a risk on.

We've always loved the area. My family has an annual reunion there, where we spend a week at the beach. Our new property will hopefully give us that lifestyle without the summer crowds: It's more than 2 ½ acres with hiking trails next door, a nearby kayak and paddleboard launch, and the ocean just a short drive away.

We decided to go for it, and by the end of August, our old house was nearly empty. My younger stepdaughter left for college on a Wednesday, we moved the rest of our things to a rental on a Thursday, and officially sold the house that Friday.

Every estimate comes with an 'unless'

In September, we began building our 1,500-square-foot house.

We're now paying $3,000 a month for a rental home — with a construction loan on top of that — and keeping track of a lot of numbers, from lumber and labor to excavation, plumbing, electrical, permits, and finishes.

My husband is doing most of the construction himself, which is what makes this project possible. If we had to pay for all of the labor, we probably couldn't afford to build right now.

However, that's not to say this hasn't been a very stressful time. We think we've accounted for everything, but every estimate has an asterisk: Unless lumber prices go up. Unless a contractor's price changes.

Unless we hit ledge — that is, solid bedrock beneath the soil that can be expensive to excavate. We might have to rethink the foundation or adjust the entire plan once we see what's underground.

I find that uncomfortable, but my husband doesn't.

We're leaving room to adjust

My husband can picture what this property could become over time, and has big dreams for it.

He wanted a garage, a small cottage where our family could stay when they visit, a little more space, and nicer finishes in some areas. I kept bringing us back to what we could afford right now, and how much we wanted to keep in savings rather than put everything into the house.

After a lot of discussion, we decided to start small. We're building for the life we have today, while — at his request — leaving room for the one we might want tomorrow. The garage and cottage can wait. For now, we're focusing on getting the house right without stretching our budget too far.

That means staying flexible. For instance, my husband wants a finished basement, and I agreed, knowing this would give us the option to add a third bedroom down the road.

Though the cost difference between a basement and an unfinished crawl space isn't huge upfront, hitting ledge could put us thousands — or even tens of thousands — over budget.

We're willing to give the basement a shot, but if excavation costs start climbing, we may have to scale back to a crawl space and save the extra bedroom for another day.

We have a plan, but we know it might change once we get further into the build. I'll keep making the spreadsheets and asking for the numbers. He'll keep looking at the big picture and reminding me why we decided to do this.

This project, and my husband, have taught me that financial responsibility isn't necessarily about eliminating every risk, but knowing which risks are worth taking and staying open to changing course.

One of the biggest Big Ten matchups of the season has arrived as the Buckeyes take on the Hoosiers in a rematch of the 2025 conference championship. We've highlighted everything you need to know about how to watch Ohio State vs. Indiana, no matter where you are in the world.

If you don't want to scroll any further, you can live stream the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 5 Indiana Hoosiers on FOX via a live TV service like YouTube TV in the US and with a DAZN NCAA College Sports subscription in the UK and other international markets. You can access your usual streaming options from anywhere with a VPN.

What channel is Ohio State vs. Indiana on?

The Ohio State vs. Indiana game will be nationally broadcast on FOX in the US. The game officially kicks off at 12 p.m. ET, but the network will air Big Noon Kickoff coverage beginning at 10 a.m.

How to watch Ohio State vs. Indiana in the US

Those without cable or an antenna have a few options for live streaming the Ohio State vs. Indiana game. A live TV streaming service is an easy way to stream FOX and several other popular sports networks.

YouTube TV is one of the most popular live TV platforms. FOX is available in both the Main plan and the Sports plan. The Main plan offers 100+ channels (along with ESPN Unlimited live streams) for $83 a month. For a limited time, first-time customers can get $15 a month off their first five months of service after a free trial.

Fubo is one of the best live TV streaming services we've tested. FOX is available in several tiers, including Fubo Pro, which offers over 200 channels (in addition to ESPN Unlimited access). Fubo Pro subscriptions cost $89 a month, but new users can get $25 off their first month after a free trial.

If you're only interested in watching games that appear on FOX, you can also live stream the network directly through FOX One for $20 a month. You can save on sports streaming by getting the FOX One and ESPN Unlimited bundle for $40 a month.

How to watch Ohio State vs. Indiana in the UK and other regions

DAZN live streams loads of college football games every week in the UK and other international markets. Not every game is guaranteed coverage, so it's always a good idea to double-check that the matchup you want to watch is available. Ohio State vs. Indiana will definitely be shown in the UK this weekend, so fans are in luck. DAZN NCAA College Sports subscription prices vary from region to region.

How to watch Ohio State vs. Indiana from anywhere

College football fans traveling away from home can still access their usual streaming services from anywhere with the help of a VPN, or virtual private network. VPNs are handy cybersecurity tools that let people temporarily alter their virtual locations. This way, their favorite websites and apps work from anywhere in the world without interruption. The services we've recommended require US payment methods, so this option will work best for those who are simply traveling abroad at the moment.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs we've tested. It's fast, user-friendly, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Where will the Ohio State vs. Indiana game take place?

Indiana will host Ohio State for today's game, which will take place at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.

Who is favored to win Ohio State vs. Indiana?

Ohio State is the favorite to win today's game. On DraftKings (at the time of writing), the Buckeyes are -162 on the moneyline, while the Hoosiers are +136.

Who won the 2025 Big Ten Championship game?

The Indiana Hoosiers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes 13-10 during the 2025 Big Ten Championship. It was an upset, as Indiana was ranked No. 2 and Ohio State was No. 1. Indiana went on to win the national championship, defeating the Miami Hurricanes.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• Oxford Economics' 2026 Global Cities Index ranked cities around the world on their quality of life.
• US cities ranked highly for economics, but fell short in the quality of life category.
• European cities dominated the quality of life list, while only one US city made the top 20.

Cities in the US rank high globally in terms of economics, but they have some ground to cover in quality of life, according to a new report.

For its 2026 Global Cities Index, economic advisory firm Oxford Economics ranked 1,000 cities across the globe based on five categories: economics, human capital, environment, and quality of life.

Every category is viewed from an economic lens, even quality of life, where indicators include income equality and housing expenditure, among others.

"The Global Cities Index records the progress cities are making across a comprehensive range of metrics," Mark Britton, managing director of city services at Oxford Economics, said in the report. "Sitting alongside our forecasts and scenario models, its ability to highlight how paths change under different conditions and its capacity for comparability shows you not just where cities stand today, but also where they are heading."

The overall list features several US cities in the top 20 — eight, to be exact, with New York taking the No. 1 spot. However, when highlighting quality of life specifically, only one US city made the cut.

Quality of life, which accounts for 25% of a city's overall score, wasn't a bright spot for the US, but plenty of other cities excelled in that category. See which cities ranked highest in quality of life, according to Oxford Economics.

20. Venice, Italy

Overall score: 51.2

Quality of life score: 86.3

19. Stuttgart, Germany

Overall score: 70.7

Quality of life score: 86.5

18. Prague

Overall score: 78.1

Quality of life score: 86.9

17. Sydney

Overall score: 88.3

Quality of life score: 87.2

16. Munich

Overall score: 85

Quality of life score: 87.3

15. Berlin

Overall score: 84.6

Quality of life score: 87.7

14. Zurich

Overall score: 89.1

Quality of life score: 87.7

13. San Jose, United States

Overall score: 89.6

Quality of life score: 87.9

12. Linz, Austria

Overall score: 70.6

Quality of life score: 88

11. Basel, Switzerland

Overall score: 79.6

Quality of life score: 88

10. Paris

Overall score: 93.4

Quality of life score: 88.1

9. Ghent, Belgium

Overall score: 74.9

Quality of life score: 88.4

8. Dresden, Germany

Overall score: 59.4

Quality of life score: 88.5

7. Luxembourg

Overall score: 82.5

Quality of life score: 89

6. Oslo, Norway

Overall score: 89.1

Quality of life score: 89.3

5. Bern, Switzerland

Overall score: 78.2

Quality of life score: 89.8

4. Grenoble, France

Overall score: 67.7

Quality of life score: 90.8

3. Singapore

Overall score: 82.1

Quality of life score: 91.6

2. Bergen, Norway

Overall score: 80

Quality of life score: 94.3

1. Canberra, Australia

Overall score: 79.4

Quality of life score: 100

We went aboard a cruise ship navigating some of the world's most dangerous waters. In the Arctic, drifting icebergs, sea ice, sudden storms and fierce winds make sailing unpredictable. Yet every year, around 100,000 cruise passengers travel to Greenland to explore its remote coastline and experience one of the world's last great wildernesses.

• I've made dozens of Ina Garten's recipes, and some of her dishes are perfect for fall.
• Garten's chicken chili is quicker and lighter than your traditional chili recipe.
• And her weeknight Bolognese and rigatoni with sausage will keep you cozy as temperatures dip.

This year's descent into fall has been more of a crawl, but I think we're all ready for some cozy weather.

And what better accompaniment to a classic rom-com and your favorite sweater than a dish by Ina Garten?

The "Barefoot Contessa" star has built a whole career on recipes that are easy and comforting. I've made dozens of Garten's dishes, so I decided to look back and find a few that I think are perfect for this busy season.

From a Bolognese that's ready in 30 minutes to a cake packed with the flavors of autumn, these are Garten's best fall dishes.

Ina Garten's breakfast sandwiches will energize you for chaotic fall mornings.

The start of fall is so hectic. Work ramps back up, school is back in session, and the prep and stress of the holidays begin to creep in.

Travel-friendly and loaded with protein, a breakfast sandwich is just what you need. And Garten's version only requires five ingredients: English muffins, whole milk, avocado, bacon, cheddar cheese, and eggs that you can cook in the microwave.

The microwave eggs are surprisingly creamy, and the sandwich is deliciously filling.

Everything in Garten's breakfast sandwich works so well together. She recommends using thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon, which provides a crispy contrast to the soft eggs. Spreading the avocado on the bottom adds both flavor and nutrients, and I love the tanginess of the sharp white cheddar.

If you're making this sandwich for more than two people, I recommend cooking the eggs on the stove rather than in the microwave to save time. But this is a great recipe to teach your kids so they can make breakfast on their own. And if you're a college student, you could easily whip this up in a dorm.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's bacon, egg, and cheddar sandwich here.

Making a huge batch of Garten's homemade chicken stock has been my fall tradition for years.

I began testing Garten's soup recipes in 2023 and knew something was missing after I kept using boxed stock. "Store-bought is fine!" might be Garten's most famous catchphrase, but she believes homemade chicken stock is akin to "liquid gold."

"Nothing available on the market has the depth of flavor or richness of stock you've made yourself," she wrote in "Go-To Dinners," her October 2022 cookbook. "It contributes such great body and aroma to so many dishes. Plus, having a big pot of chicken stock simmering away on my stove just makes me feel good."

Garten's stock is packed with flavor because it involves simmering three roasting chickens for hours alongside carrots, onions, celery, parsnips, garlic, and plenty of herbs.

There's no flavor left in the chicken once the stock is ready. If you'd rather save the meat for meals, you can always take the chicken out once it's cooked through and continue to simmer the aromatics. I also recommend freezing chicken bones so you always have some on hand for more stock.

The recipe makes enough stock to last through the winter, and it provides the base for so many delicious soups.

Garten's recipe provides nearly nine quarts of stock, and you can store it in the freezer for up to six months.

My absolute favorite Barefoot Contessa soup to make with the stock is Garten's chicken pot pie soup, which I whip up anytime my fiancé and I are craving a bowl of comfort. Her ravioli en brodo is a delicious twist on chicken noodle, while her Italian wedding soup is light and bright.

If you want to switch things up from soup, you can also use the stock to make Garten's one-pot chicken and orzo — another delicious meal for chilly nights.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's homemade chicken stock here.

Garten's chicken chili is a lighter twist on the traditionally hearty dish.

Garten served traditional chili for two decades at the specialty food store she ran in the Hamptons before becoming a cookbook author and Food Network star.

When Garten decided to switch up the chili and use chicken instead of beef, it became even more popular than the original recipe.

The dish also features red and yellow bell peppers, fresh basil, and a variety of seasonings, including chili powder, ground cumin, and red pepper flakes.

Garten serves the chili topped with green onions, cheddar cheese, corn chips, and sour cream.

When I first made Garten's chicken chili for some friends, they said it made them feel "so warm and cozy."

The tomatoes and spices build a rich broth, and each bite of chicken is so tender and juicy.

It's also a great dish for hosting because you can lay out the toppings in individual dishes, allowing everyone to personalize their bowl to their own preference.

Plus, who doesn't love a bowl of chili on football Sunday?

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's chicken chili here.

Garten's weeknight Bolognese is ready in 30 minutes.

My pasta cravings always hit when temperatures start to dip. And during this busy season, Garten's weeknight Bolognese is a perfect fit.

The recipe includes ground sirloin, crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and fresh basil, but it's designed to be adaptable and pantry-friendly.

Garten says you could easily swap the sirloin for any ground meat and skip the cream and basil if you need. And while she recommends using orecchiette, any dried pasta will work with this recipe.

My family couldn't get enough of Garten's speedy Bolognese.

It's pretty incredible how much flavor Garten manages to create in a dish that traditionally simmers for hours on end. The rich sauce bursts through every bite of the small pasta shells, which I personally loved for this dish, and the freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top makes it feel extra comforting and indulgent.

"It's a very meaty, very hearty pasta," my dad said before declaring that the dish was "perfect."

We loved the dish so much that it earned the second spot in my ongoing ranking of Barefoot Contessa pasta dishes.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's weeknight Bolognese here.

If you're searching for a cheesy pasta with little clean-up, Garten's one-pot dish is the perfect fit.

The rigatoni pasta is paired with sausage and fennel, plus some onion, garlic, heavy cream, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and a few additional ingredients.

It all comes together in a big pot or Dutch oven, and you'll have dinner on the table in an hour.

Garten says this pasta is one of her "all-time go-to dinners."

"You can make the whole thing in one big pot, bring it to the table, and everyone loves it," Garten told her viewers in a 2017 episode of "Barefoot Contessa."

With its beautiful golden hue and rich, meaty sauce, Garten's one-pot pasta is the kind of dish that lifts your spirits. There's also lovely depth to the flavor, thanks to the sweet sausage, salty Parm, and the bite from the fennel.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's rigatoni with sausage and fennel here.

As with her chicken chili, Garten developed the recipe for her apple spice cake at the Barefoot Contessa store.

"We used to have all kinds of cakes like this out on the bakery counter, and you could come buy a whole cake, but you could also buy a piece," Garten said in an early episode of her Food Network show. "It's not fancy, just really delicious and earthy, and you always want to come back for more."

The recipe includes Granny Smith apples, rum, raisins, pecans, and plenty of sugar and spice.

The cake is packed with autumn flavors.

Soaking the golden raisins in rum gave them a flavor that almost reminded me of caramel, and their sweetness helped temper the Granny Smith apples' sourness. All the spices infused the moist cake with a warm nuttiness, while the pecans added some delicious crunch.

I followed Garten's advice and tried the cake with some ice cream and caramel, which were delicious additions. But the cake isn't super sweet, so you could also enjoy it on its own with some tea or coffee for breakfast.

Now it's really starting to feel like fall.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's apple spice cake here.

Is there a dish you love making in the fall season? Share it with us in the comments. And check out more easy recipes here.

• My fiancé and I have been together for four years and have never had a joint bank account.
• We're transparent about our incomes, savings, and spending, and we've never had a fight about money.
• We plan to pay for our wedding together, but we won't combine our finances after we get married.

My parents have a shared bank account and kept all their large purchases in both their names, so I thought sharing an account would be my financial destiny, too, if I ever got married. I didn't question it until recently. Now, my partner and I are getting married in just a few months, and we don't plan to combine our finances.

After four years together, we've never had any accounts or cards in both of our names. The closest we ever got to that was me using his credit card on a payment app when we were in Vietnam because mine didn't work. We both contribute to rent and household expenses. We pay back the other person our half of large purchases like flights and hotels, but we don't keep a tab of who owes who what (a nice change from my previous romantic relationships).

We've always been open about money

We were upfront about our income, debt (or lack thereof), and our mutual desire to live below our means from day one. After about three years of dating, we told each other how much we have in savings. We continue to be transparent about money and agree on the vast majority of each other's purchases — it helps that we're both very frugal.

We've built up trust over the years, and we'll continue to offer up personal financial information when we want to, knowing we have privacy. Neither of us has the login information for the other's bank, but we know we can always ask how much the other is earning or spending.

I thought the next step was a shared bank account with two credit cards — I assumed that's what love and commitment meant in an economic way. We kept asking ourselves how having both our names on one account would improve our lives, and we kept coming up blank. I also didn't want to waste time filling out paperwork or calling my bank for something I wasn't even interested in.

Our system works for us

We've lived together for almost four years and never had a fight about money. I have some financial anxiety, and I think having a shared account might actually make that worse. Since my fiancée makes more and pays for more, I regularly check in to see if he's still OK with that.

We approached our wedding, our first big purchase together, the same way we plan travel — with Excel, conversations, and making sure we stay under budget to cover unexpected costs. My fiancée bought our rings, and I bought our flights (we're getting married in Denmark). We both agreed to contribute the same amount of money to the wedding. Every payment we make for the big day goes into a spreadsheet, and at the end of all our purchases, if one of us has spent significantly more, the other will make the next large purchase.

Keeping our financial stressors low is also made easier by the fact that we won't plan to have kids or pets, or make any large purchases like a house or a car. Taking care of our parents is the only thing that might one day impact how we view our financial setup.

Another thing we agreed on from the start was that we wanted a pre-nup. Not sharing a bank account and having a pre-nup might not sound romantic (or like we can't share) to some, but if anyone were to look at our purchases, they'd immediately see we do spend our money on each other—just with separate accounts intact.

We haven't fought about money, and I'd like to keep it that way

I know I'm going into a marriage with dignity and respect. My future husband won't get a notification if I spend over $100, he won't be able to review a bank statement at the end of the month to see how many ice creams I've treated myself to, and we won't know how much the other person spent on a Christmas present. We'll never have to ask the other person if we can spend money or fear that our separate emergency funds will be depleted by the other.

My parents shared a bank account, and they often fought over money — one thing I promised myself I'd never do with my future spouse. Keeping our finances separate has worked so far, and I believe it'll continue to after we're married. We're both open to changing our minds one day, but until we have a good reason, we're very happy having separate accounts, together.

• Laura Massetti spent 15 years leading teams and saw Gen Z workers struggle with unwritten rules.
• Massetti said Gen Z workers need training on communication, judgment, and follow-through.
• As AI levels technical skills, Massetti said human skills can help early-career workers stand out.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Laura Massetti, founder of Real Work Ready, which helps early-career professionals develop workplace skills. Massetti has more than a decade of experience in the corporate world, leading sales and marketing teams. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I spent 15 years in the corporate world, leading sales and marketing teams. I loved mentoring early professionals, but I often found myself thinking: My goodness, I wish I could make this process go quicker.

I never only look at whether someone could do the work. It is more about whether they could communicate clearly, exercise good judgment, and follow through.

As a career coach for young workers, I know there are things that you, as an employee, get judged on that no one actually puts inside the rubric. We expect people to figure them out over time, but in reality, someone has to teach them.

Gen Z needs feedback in a workplace that expects people to figure things out

I don’t think that Gen Z is unready for work. I think no one has taught them what to do.

This generation grew up with a cellphone in their hands. They’d post something on Instagram and get 10 likes. They’re used to instant feedback: Tell me what I need to grow.

That’s not how the workplace is built. We have annual reviews. You learn through experience; you learn the hard way.

Young workers are digitally fluent, which makes this generation incredible for so many reasons. But growing up digitally, compounded by the pandemic, left gaps in opportunities to practice face-to-face interaction.

Now they’re entering workplaces with other generations, and those generations set the rules.

Meanwhile, AI is taking on tasks that used to help people develop. We learned shoulder to shoulder with someone. How are new hires supposed to learn if we’re outsourcing those opportunities?

You’re being judged on things no one puts in the rubric

There are areas you’re being judged on that no one actually puts inside the rubric, including communication and clarity, prioritization and judgment, your ability to follow through, professional presence and credibility, ownership and reliability, and organizational awareness.

It’s not just about how you communicate. When you enter the workplace, do you know how to get stuff done? How aware are you of the organization you operate in?

You need to understand when to use email, when to use Slack, and when to stop by someone’s office. You can’t walk in and assume you know the rules.

In one new-hire program at a company with about 100,000 employees, a manager told me that someone had pinged the CEO on Slack to request a skip-level meeting. Mind you, that would’ve been probably 10 skip levels.

Poor thing, he had no idea. No one had told him that wasn’t how you reached out to the CEO in that organization.

I’ve also seen people show up to meetings unprepared, without what they needed or knowing how to follow up.

Dressing appropriately is something I had to learn on my own. About six months into my job, I wore a full black business suit to a meeting in Miami. It absolutely did not match the environment. I was way too formal.

Match the client’s environment and match how they dress. The other day, I saw someone meeting their manager in a suit jacket over a basketball jersey and shorts, but wearing loafers. Your job is to show your manager that they can trust you to be professionally present and to deliver.

Managers have a responsibility here, too. When we say, “They’ve been here for two years, and they’re just not getting it,” we need to ask ourselves: What aren’t they getting? What am I judging them on that I haven’t clearly explained?

Practice the human skills that will set you apart

My company now offers a six-month program that combines online training with weekly role-playing of workplace scenarios.

We practice things like how to react when you receive feedback. The goal is to give people experiences they might otherwise wait years to encounter.

My advice to every fresh graduate and those entering the workforce is that, at a time when AI is making skill sets equalizers, you will need to define how you’ll be different.

Technical skills are still incredibly important. But how do you communicate, exercise judgment, execute an idea, and get people’s buy-in?

I’ve never made a hiring decision based on technical capability alone. It’s mostly about whether I can trust that person.

Knowing the ins and outs of coding is one thing. Being able to speak to a boardroom and convince people of an idea is another ability you can bring to an employer.

Those are the skills I believe will make all the difference.

• When my husband and I got married, we had to decide where to live.
• My son and I ended up moving into his 2-bedroom home.
• There are a few pros, but we didn't consider how much we'd miss having a guest room.

When my husband and I got married, we each had our own homes. I had a one-story, 3-bedroom home, while my husband had a 2-story, two-bedroom townhome. At first, we compared the pros and cons of each house. For instance, my house had a large yard, which can be a perk size-wise, but lawn maintenance was a chore.

While my husband was willing to move, we ultimately chose his house, mainly because it was so close to his job. I knew from experience what a blessing an easy commute is, and I didn't want him to have to give it up, so we decided to consolidate. My son and I moved from our 3-bedroom home to my husband's 2-bedroom townhouse.

I was giddy when we got married, and thinking more about moving in together and planning our wedding than the long-term realities of living in a smaller home.

The lack of an extra bedroom was an issue we didn't foresee

My son and I still occasionally miss our old home, but I don't regret selling my home and moving in with my husband. The worst part of downsizing has been no longer having a guest room.

I mainly used the third room in my house as an office, but the bedrooms at my husband's house were large enough that there would be room for an office in ours. And my son would still have his own bedroom, so we didn't realize how much we'd miss the extra bedroom until it was too late.

It's nearly impossible for us to have anyone spend the night or a weekend with us

I'd mostly thought of the extra room as my office, and didn't consider that we also used it as a guest room. Now, without it, it's difficult to have anyone over for the night. We have a few options, but none of them are appealing to anyone, including our potential guests.

When I had my own home, it was so easy to have friends visit for the weekend, because I could offer them a room. Having space for guests is a privilege I didn't realize I'd miss. I can still offer the chance to stay, but when someone takes us up on it, my husband and I feel kind of awful the whole time.

We've had guests overnight and offered them the couch pullout or the air mattress. But despite our best efforts, everyone feels a little awkward because our guests have no privacy without an actual room of their own.

Sometimes, we've thought of offering our bedrooms — or at least one of them — while my son would get displaced to the living room on an air mattress. He honestly loves doing that anyway, because he thinks it's like a sleepover, but the problem comes in the morning.

Our downstairs space is pretty much just the living room and kitchen, so when someone comes downstairs in the morning, whoever's sleeping on the giant air mattress — whether our guests or my son — will inevitably be woken up.

In our next home, having an extra bedroom will be a requirement

My husband and I both miss having guests, as he could also have more guests over before my son and I moved in. We don't like that we don't feel we can offer loved ones a place to stay, or that when we do, the best we can offer them is an air mattress or my 12-year-old's bedroom.

In addition to wanting to have more company over, my husband and I have aging parents. We don't want to find ourselves in a situation where one of them needs living assistance, and we don't have the space.

There are a few things we want in a forever home, like a more spacious kitchen, of course, and a giant garden in the back, but having a guest room again is at the top of our list.

• A year after my breast cancer diagnosis, I'm rejecting the "fighter" and "warrior" labels others put on me.
• I'm tired of the pinkwashing that feels like it's turning a terrifying disease into a cheerful marketing campaign.
• I'm grateful for my care and the people who supported me, but I don't need to find a silver lining or turn my experience into an inspirational story.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago, and with Breast Cancer Awareness Month underway, I have a confession that feels almost sacrilegious: I hate breast cancer culture. I hate the "fighter" and "warrior" labels I didn't ask for, and I especially hate the over-the-top pink branding that I see so much.

I didn't ask to join this club. I didn't want to lose my hair to chemo or have my breasts amputated. I didn't choose to worry about whether my kids and relatives might also develop this horrible disease. And I hate pink; I always have. I'm grateful for my treatment and that I've weathered it all relatively well. I just feel pissed that this was my lot in life.

As I reach the anniversary of the day my "before" split into the "after," I don't know what I'm supposed to call myself now. "Fighter" doesn't feel right. "Warrior" definitely doesn't, and "survivor" is complicated.

I didn't choose to fight cancer

I understand that people mean well when they call someone a fighter. They want to acknowledge what she's enduring and remind her she's strong. Pink ribbons and awareness campaigns can raise money and encourage screenings, and those are all wonderful things. But in the rush to turn cancer into a story about courage and hope, there's little room for the less inspirational feelings: anger, resentment, exhaustion, and fear.

I didn't fight cancer in the way people seem to imagine. I showed up for appointments, followed my doctors' recommendations, and endured treatment because I wanted to live. I didn't have some extraordinary reserve of bravery. I didn't get to opt out. What was the alternative?

I didn't earn a special title by going through chemotherapy. I was a person with a disease who wanted to get better. Sometimes I was scared. Many days, I was exhausted. Sometimes I was just trying to get through the day.

I'm over the pinkwashing of breast cancer

And the pink. Everywhere, pink. Pink products, pink merchandise, pink marketing campaigns. Sometimes the branding feels like a cheerful coat of paint over a genuinely terrifying experience.

Cancer isn't cute. Losing your breasts isn't a lifestyle rebrand or a "free boob-job." Buying a pink water bottle doesn't necessarily make anyone feel less alone in a hospital room.

I don't begrudge anyone who finds comfort in a pink ribbon or a community of fellow patients. My problem is with the expectation that breast cancer should come packaged with a neat, uplifting message. What if I don't want to embrace this experience? What if I don't feel grateful for the lessons it taught me?

I'd happily trade every bit of perspective I've gained for the life I had before my diagnosis.

Finishing treatment doesn't mean everything's over

There's no clear finish line. Treatment ends, and everyone wants to celebrate that you've made it through. You want to celebrate, too. But you're also left processing what happened to your body, what you've lost, and what the future might hold.

As much as I try to go back to my "before" life, I'm constantly holding my breath, waiting for the other shoe to potentially drop.

Before cancer, I didn't spend much time thinking about my identity. I was busy being a mom, wife, sister, daughter, and working woman. Now, I'm still figuring out how much space cancer deserves in my life. I don't want every conversation to be about my health. I don't want people to expect me to inspire them simply because something terrible happened to me.

I'm grateful to be here, but I'm still angry

I'm grateful for my doctors, the people who showed up for me, and the advances in medicine that gave me treatment options. I'm grateful that I've come through this in relatively good shape. But I can appreciate the care I've received and still be furious that I needed it.

As I reach this anniversary, I don't need a label to make my experience meaningful. I don't need to turn cancer into a lesson or find a silver lining in every awful moment. I don't need to be inspirational.

If you want to support someone with breast cancer, you don't have to call her a fighter. Acknowledge that what she's going through is hard. Offer an ear or, better yet, a DoorDash gift card. Let her feel however she feels.

As for me, I'll mark this anniversary with gratitude, anger, uncertainty, and the knowledge that I'm still here. That's enough.

• The US Army is expanding its ranks of soldiers specialized in space warfare.
• Army space personnel are already deployed to the Middle East, where the US has been fighting Iran.
• More than 600 enlisted soldiers joined the new specialty this year, with more growth planned.

The US Army is expanding its ranks of soldiers trained for space warfare, a growing military specialty that is already supporting American combat operations in the Middle East.

The service established a new enlisted space operations branch in June, creating a dedicated career field for soldiers whose work involves satellites, communications, and the ability to disrupt an adversary's use of space.

While the Space Force and its Guardians oversee a broad range of military space operations in support of the entire US military, the Army has its own dedicated specialists focused on supporting its ground forces with satellite communications, navigation, and other capabilities.

Some space soldiers are already deployed in the Middle East, where American forces have been fighting Iran.

Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, the commander of US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said at the Association of the United States Army conference in Washington, DC, this week that roughly 2,500 soldiers from his command are deployed to US Central Command's area of operations. That figure includes both air-defense formations and space specialists.

"Space is really embedded in every single echelon there," Rafferty said, speaking of the job's growing prevalence throughout all levels of military decision-making.

Those space soldiers' responsibilities can range from helping ground forces access satellite communications and navigation systems to disrupting adversary space capabilities, known as "space interdiction." Officials did not provide specific examples or further details on the work being done.

For soldiers on the battlefield, such help is essential for communicating with nearby units and gathering intelligence on enemy movements.

The growing importance of space as a domain of warfare, alongside land, sea, air, and cyberspace, prompted the Army to expand its specialized workforce.

Command Sgt. Maj. Rickey Jackson said at AUSA that the service reviewed several thousand personnel files for its new enlisted space operations branch. The 600 soldiers ultimately selected for the new job came mostly from intelligence, communications, and air-defense specialties, though the career field is open to troops from other backgrounds.

The service plans to continue growing its formalized space community, with around 1,700 space soldiers by the end of next fiscal year.

"When we talk about the branch and the targets, having a couple thousand dedicated folks within the branch between the enlisted and the officer side is a significant contribution across the service," Col. Joseph Mroszczyk, who oversees the integration of emerging space capabilities into Army operations, said during the event.

• Shalini Bonjour is building a 1,100-square-foot ADU in her backyard so her mother can age in place.
• The project is taking longer than she expected and is going over budget.
• Bonjour shared the five biggest lessons she's learned during the process with Business Insider.

After her father died in 2024, real estate agent Shalini Karnani Bonjour moved her mother from Michigan to California to be closer to her and her family.

"My husband and I didn't feel comfortable having her so far away, especially when it came to her day-to-day needs," Bonjour, 50, told Business Insider.

Later that year, the family bought a home with a backyard large enough to build an accessory dwelling unit for her mother. In 2025, they broke ground on a 1,100-square-foot ADU. But what was expected to be a six-week project has dragged on for months and cost the family thousands more than expected.

"The whole process has been difficult because there are so many things to manage," Bonjour said. "You're trying to keep the project affordable, keep your neighbors happy, and stay on track. I can only imagine how overwhelming this would feel for someone without any insight into the process, because it is a huge undertaking."

Here are five hard lessons Bonjour has learned from the project, from choosing the right contractor to budgeting enough money for unexpected challenges.

A bad contractor can make or break a project

At first, Bonjour thought she had found the right architect for the project. They designed the ADU and even promised to guide her through the permitting and construction process. But they didn't follow through.

Bonjour said hiring the wrong person was one of the "biggest mistakes" she's made during the project.

Although she found someone to take over the project after interviewing about 10 builders, mistakes made by the original architect have made construction more difficult.

"Watching my builder try to translate that original designer's plans is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole," she said. "It's basically like he was working off somebody else's recipe."

Understanding local permitting and construction rules is essential

Every city has its own rules for building ADUs, and some are more complicated than others.

In her part of the Coachella Valley, Bonjour had to secure permits for the roof, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, and solar panel installation.

"The city was pretty tough on solar," Bonjour said. "The first two electrical inspections were fine, and then on the third inspection, they determined we needed solar panels. Getting solar here in the desert is its own job. Researching the proper solar companies and their packages was another."

Building a home can test relationships

While the family waits for the ADU to be finished, Bonjour, her husband, their son, and her mother are all living in the main house. It's been difficult sharing space, especially the kitchen.

"My mom loves to cook, so having her own kitchen will be really important to her," she said. "She was making a recipe and said, "It'll be different when I have my own stuff." I think the whole thing is bittersweet, but once she sees her finished kitchen, she'll feel different."

Construction has caused headaches for the cul-de-sac, too. Because the neighborhood's electrical transformer is outdated and overloaded, the local utility needs to upgrade it before the ADU can be connected. The work has involved digging up Bonjour's driveway and those of two neighbors.

"Our neighbors had to deal with the inconvenience of their driveways being out for a week and a half," she said. "My contractor and I are trying to be as considerate as we can and get the best people to do the work as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the neighbors have been gracious and nice along the way."

You have to be careful with your budget

Bonjour's family budgeted $480,000 for the construction of the ADU. Of that total, they set aside $100,000 as a contingency fund.

"As a realtor, and as someone who's always telling people to ask all the questions, I also hate to be caught by surprise," Bonjour said. "With the contingency budget, you build in extra money that you hope you won't need. It's something everyone should consider, whether they're building a million-dollar home or a small casita in the backyard."

Unfortunately, unexpected costs, like hiring replacement contractors and installing a new electrical panel and solar panels, have exhausted the reserve. Bonjour said the extra expenses have trickled into the family's day-to-day life, making it harder to justify things like family trips and upgrading the main home.

"I wish I had allocated it differently, but again, I think that planning with the right people at the onset would have saved so much headache and time," she said. "We'll have to wait on upgrading the home. That's kind of annoying, but that's where we're at. Lesson learned on that one."

Give yourself grace; it's all a learning process

If she had to do it all over again, Bonjour says she would make different decisions.

"I'm a professional, so I hold myself to a higher standard of asking questions and being informed," she said. "I like to have good relationships with the builders, contractors, and vendors. In some ways, I feel like I should have known or seen what was going wrong, and that becomes really hard to kind of wrestle with."

She still tries to give herself grace. For all its challenges, she believes building the ADU has been the right decision.

"We know that having Mom in proximity is right for our family," she added. "We've learned some lessons along the way as homeowners, as a realtor, as a child, as a mom who's growing old herself."

• The US Army will detonate 68 barrels of unstable explosive material at an ammunition production plant.
• Officials determined the lead azide couldn't be relocated and are in contact with residents on environmental concerns.
• The facility is also home to the Army's new 155mm artillery production line, which began construction earlier this year.

The US Army will detonate dozens of barrels of unstable explosives at its ammunition plant in Iowa after determining the material couldn't be safely moved, according to a public affairs official.

The lead azide the service needs to get rid of has been stored at the site for almost 20 years and is no longer needed for ammunition production. The detonation will occur near the service's new 155mm artillery production line, construction of which began in July.

The Army informed residents of nearby Middletown, Iowa, this week that it would detonate 68 barrels of lead azide sometime in November. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams will execute the detonation.

"There are 68 barrels of lead azide in two earth-covered magazines, and that material was on site for potential production," Justine Barati, deputy director of public affairs for the US Sustainment Command, told Business Insider. "When we realized that we would no longer need that material or use that material, then it becomes hazardous waste."

A team of experts recommended a controlled explosion to destroy the lead azide, and that decision was elevated to former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll for approval.

Barati said the 155mm facility is on the other side of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. The Army anticipates a four-hour delay to construction at the facility on the day of the detonation.

The Army asked Middletown residents near the plant to temporarily leave their homes and is offering the Army Reserve Center as a place to stay during the detonation.

About 55 homes are expected to be affected by the detonation decision, Barati said. Local residents can assess any property damage afterward and file claims with the Army. The Iowa newspaper The Hawk Eye first reported on the detonation and town hall with residents.

Lead azide is a highly sensitive and toxic material used as a primary explosive component in some weapons that can pose environmental and health risks. Barati said that prior to and after the detonation, the Army will test air, water, and soil in the area. Residents agreed to give the service access to their properties for the checks.

The Iowa Army Ammunition Plant is a critical production facility for medium- and large-caliber munitions. Earlier this year, the Army began construction of a new production line for 155mm ammunition, replacing the plant's World War II-era M795 artillery production line.

The new facility was designed by the Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command's Armament Center and MSM North America to produce different types of 155mm ammunition with the capacity to surge manufacturing for wartime demands.

155mm artillery shells have become a high-demand munition amid recent conflicts. The US has ramped up production after providing millions of rounds to Ukraine. Concerns about the state of US ammo stocks have risen as the military assesses its readiness for future wars.

• When my husband and I became empty nesters, he retired, too.
• We used to have busy, individual lives, but now we are always together.
• It took a lot of adjustment and honest conversations, but we're learning to navigate our new normal.

My husband and I have been married for 26 years, together for 32. That's more than half my life. I thought we'd experienced just about every version of our life together.

Then we became empty nesters. And then my husband retired.

We're now together 24/7 with nowhere else we need to be, and I realized that all these years, I'd never spent this much time with him.

Since the day he brought home his office belongings, I've caught myself thinking more than once, "Oh, you're still here?

Our home feels different now

Without school schedules or workdays organizing our lives, we have more unstructured time than we know what to do with. We navigate quiet hallways lined with unoccupied bedrooms.

We now split the responsibility for coddling our cat, who suffers from separation anxiety. We announce, "We're back," to the furniture and the cat, forgetting we left the house otherwise empty.

Our aching hearts inspired us to collaborate on a shared list of silver linings. We drafted wish lists, imagining what we could do now that we no longer had to accommodate five personalities with varying interests.

While we shared many ideas and dream list to-dos — things like traveling to Tuscany for cooking and painting retreats — we hadn't anticipated that our day-to-day would also require attention and planning.

The trouble with together-time all the time

Throughout our marriage, my husband and I had always noted how similar his parents and mine were. Connected at the hip, one parent was seldom without the other.

We, on the other hand, prided ourselves on allowing each other space. We'd spent decades insisting we weren't like them — valuing independence, traveling separately, and encouraging each other to pursue our interests.

Then, when my husband retired, we instantly became our parents. With freedom to do whatever we wanted, we fell into the rhythm our parents had modeled: together all day, every day.

Sometimes you really can have too much of a good thing.

I'm an introverted writer who loves spending time in my rich inner world. He's an extroverted adventurer always on the go — kayaking, swimming, walking on the beach, sometimes all three in the same day.

One day, the realization that we had to structure our time hit hard. I'd been sitting at my writing desk when my husband opened the door to ask what we were having for lunch.

Not wanting to be rude, I talked with him for a moment, then asked for a few minutes to finish my thought. He left. I stared at my screen, hands still on the keyboard. My thought was gone.

While we enjoy being together, we're learning the importance of agreeing on when to be together and when to allow each other space.

We're creating a new rhythm

Mornings offer the perfect opportunity to plan our day over coffee, breakfast, and a card game — usually rummy. Between playful attempts to end each other's winning streaks, we check the weather, compare plans, and decide what we'd like to do. Our morning ritual helps shape our lives now that external demands no longer impose structure on our time.

Unless we have plans with friends, mealtimes serve as natural meeting points. An unexpected result: his cooking is improving. I'm now enjoying gourmet meals in the middle of the day, and again at dinner. He gets to run around outdoors, while I get to lock myself in my attic feminine sanctuary and write.

In the evenings, we wind down together. After sharing a home-cooked meal, we enjoy a movie or simply each other's company.

We're embracing new opportunities to grow together

Now that we're home together most of the time, honest communication, negotiation, and compromise have become essential tools. After decades of countless demands on our time, we're now free to choose how we spend it.

We're not always perfect. Some days, I join him outdoors when I'd rather stay home. Sometimes he interrupts when I'm in the flow.

I'm learning to ask for space when I need it. He's learning that he can pursue his desire to travel — even without me.

After 32 years, I never imagined we'd have to learn how to spend time apart. Having all the time in the world together doesn't mean we have to spend every minute of it that way.

These days, staying happily married sometimes means knowing when to leave each other alone.

• Kiley Pulley became Walmart's youngest US store manager at 21, starting as a cashier at 16.
• Her former store manager helped her through her succession plan and interviews.
• Pulley emphasizes learning daily and adapting for career growth.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kiley Pulley, a 23-year-old Walmart store manager in Buckeye, Arizona. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2019, when I was 16 years old, I started working at Walmart as a part-time cashier. I wanted my own money, and figured, why not just get a job?

My sister and my mom were already working there, and it was also right down the street from my high school. It was easy for me to get out of school and walk to work.

Over the next few years, I moved through different roles, from cashier to stocker to online fulfillment. Then, when I turned 18, I became an academy trainer, and six months later, a digital team lead.

When I became a team lead in mid 2021, it hit me that I wanted to stay at Walmart full time and make it my actual career. At 19, I became an operations manager, and right before I turned 22, I became the youngest store manager at Walmart in the US.

People ask me, "How did you do it?" My answer is to show up and learn something new every day. Here are six things I've learned along the way.

I realized I could help people by hiring them

Originally, I wanted to start either my own nonprofit or my own business and help out the homeless population; then I realized that I could do all that through Walmart.

I could make a difference through the people that I hire and the impact that I have on my associates at the store.

When I became a team lead, I was making good money, and I also really liked it. I started actively working toward becoming a store manager. I got on succession plans and was on monthly calls with our market manager. When I became an operations manager, I led multiple projects in our market to get myself ready to become a store manager.

I'd also ask to cover for store managers when they'd take off work; that way I could gain additional experience that was needed to be promoted. I remember thinking, I'm going to be a store manager at 21. I'll be the youngest in the company.

I had to learn that my words carried more weight

As an associate, I was friends with everybody. I could joke around with everyone. When I became salaried, everything changed.

One of the biggest learning points for me has been the way I talk and how to engage with people from different cultures. Changing my tone and limiting the joking and playful attitude felt necessary as a leader in the building.

At the time, setting new boundaries for myself made me feel more confident in my new role and even now in my current role.

I was a little nervous when I first went into a salaried position. People said I might have issues managing those older than me, but I've never had problems with my team not respecting or listening to me.

I also made my social media profiles private. I think connecting on social media can make it harder to separate between being someone's manager and being their friend.

I had to learn how to delegate

Getting out of the "if I want it done the right way, I'll do it myself" mindset was a big learning. I realized not everyone's going to know everything that I know, and if I really want to delegate and get tasks done, I'm going to have to teach and train.

A big part of being an academy trainer and team lead is training your associates. Once you get to operations manager, you kind of have to step back and expect your team leads and academy trainers to do that same thing.

I had to learn that if I delegated, things could get done faster or more efficiently.

I had to learn to be a servant leader

When it comes to my associates, if they need something, whether that's ordering the supplies or putting in tickets for them, I want to do that. I want to advocate for them.

I know it makes them more productive, but they'll probably be happier coming to work, too.

Also, everyone likes the appreciation of, "Hey, thank you for doing this today," or "Thank you for going above and beyond on this."

I had to learn to have work-life balance

When I first became salaried, I was always on the clock. I stopped going to the gym, and I sacrificed some time with my fiancé and family. I'd stay at work and say, "They need me."

It was my fault; the team didn't need me that badly. Now, I'm doing better. When I get home, I'm not spending the whole day looking at metrics or constantly texting my team. I've gone back to the gym.

I learned to take a step back and trust my leaders to do what they need to do. I trust that they know what they're doing.

I think there's always going to be some event you could miss out on. That can be hard to juggle sometimes, but I'm lucky enough to have a fiancé who's also career-focused and driven, so we kind of use each other as motivation.

I realized I could build a career without giving up on school

I went to college for business and ended up dropping out when I got my salaried position. I told myself that I'd get back into college when I got my first store.

My old store manager was the one who promoted me through all of the hourly supervisor roles. She even prepped me for my first salaried role. She sat in the office reading interview questions with me. Every time I'd say the word, 'um,' she'd say, "Nope, restart."

She was constantly there for me, and even still having her as someone to go to has been great. My market manager has also known me since before I started promoting. Every time I think I'm too young to be in this room, he's always in my corner.

I'm now enrolled in Live Better U, a program where Walmart pays for certain bachelor's degrees. I'm getting some of my foundational courses, and then I plan to get my college degree.

Keep pushing to learn more

For teenagers starting out, I encourage them to do a good job and learn as much as they can.

Companies are constantly changing, especially with technology. It's important to adapt and not be comfortable with what you already know.

When I look at my future at Walmart, I told myself I'd get to market manager at 27 or 28 — that's my short-term goal. Then, long-term, my goal would be regional EVP.

One thing I always remind myself is that I worked hard to get to this life, so I can't be upset now that I have it. Maybe we don't have time to do all the fun things right now, but if we work hard through our 20s, thinking about where we might end up when we're 30 or 40 keeps me motivated.

• Riyadh airport, one of the busiest in the Middle East, has been closed for a week after missile attacks.
• The US State Department has told Americans to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia.
• Delta has also suspended the launch of a new route to Saudi. Here's what to do if you're affected.

Travel to Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East is looking increasingly unpredictable this fall after a series of Houthi attacks on airports, including in the capital, Riyadh.

The latest attacks killed 13 people and wounded hundreds last Saturday. Another strike the following day killed one person and injured about a dozen more.

Flights to and from Riyadh have been suspended all week, and while the airport is set to reopen on Sunday, this has yet to be confirmed.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed Yemeni militant group, control territory around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

They have been attacking Saudi infrastructure amid an escalating regional conflict. Saudi Arabia has supported Yemen's internationally recognized government in the country's civil war, which began in 2014.

Many airplanes continue to fly over eastern Saudi Arabia, including on routes to hubs in Qatar and Dubai and onward to East Asia.

The US State Department told Americans to reconsider travel to Saudi Arabia because of the risk of missile and drone attacks, armed conflict, and terrorism. It also warned of "potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions."

The UK's Foreign Office similarly says there is a heightened threat to airports and other infrastructure across Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh, Jeddah, and Abha.

On Monday, Delta Air Lines postponed the launch of its new Atlanta-to-Riyadh route, which had been due to begin on October 23, until March 2027.

"Saudi Arabia remains an important market for Delta, and we are committed to serving the Kingdom for the long term," the airline said.

It came after the Federal Aviation Administration warned US airlines on Sunday that the threats could pose risks during overflights, takeoffs, and landings in Saudi Arabia.

Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation-risk company, said that unannounced missile launches through civilian airspace can pose a "latent hazard to flight operations at all altitudes," including from a malfunctioning missile, debris, and sudden route diversions.

It also said further attacks on Saudi aviation and energy infrastructure are likely in the short term.

What should you do if your flight is canceled?

First, check your airline's app or website before going to the airport. The flight may have been canceled or automatically rebooked.

Delta has issued a waiver for customers traveling to, from, or through Riyadh between October 23 and March 26. Eligible passengers can change their flight without paying a change fee, or cancel for a refund or credit. The rebooked trip must begin by May 31, 2027.

Other airlines may offer their own waivers, but the terms can differ.

It would be sensible to keep anything you would need for an unexpected overnight stay in your carry-on, including medication, a phone charger and power bank, toiletries, and a change of clothes.

You should also avoid tight self-booked connections.

• Walmart is bracing for billions of dollars in additional fuel costs due to higher diesel prices.
• The company previously said it would put much of its $2.9 billion tariff refund toward lower prices.
• Now, higher fuel costs are likely to erase that benefit, and other retailers are likely to follow.

Just when US shoppers might have thought they dodged the tariff jab, energy costs are coming in with the right hook.

Deutsche Bank says Walmart executives are now expecting the added cost of higher diesel prices to wipe out their total expected benefit from tariff refunds and push prices back up, according to a Thursday analyst note following a meeting with Walmart CFO John David Rainey.

"Elevated diesel is pressuring WMT directly through transportation costs and indirectly as suppliers pass through higher costs, including on petroleum-linked products," the analysts wrote. "Elevated diesel costs are beginning to flow through to consumer prices"

The company is now expecting an additional half to one percentage point of inflation in 2027, the note said. At that rate, additional fuel costs this year and next year will completely erase Walmart's $2.9 billion tariff refund.

Walmart said in August that it had been putting the bulk of that tariff refund money toward lower prices for shoppers.

"Like other retailers, we are not immune to sustained increases in fuel and transportation costs, but we work to minimize their impact," a spokesperson told Business Insider.

The spokesperson also said that many of Walmart's current discounts and holiday deals are time-bound, after which some prices may return to regular levels.

"That should not be characterized as a broad-based price increase," the spokesperson said.

Beyond Walmart, which runs one of the most efficient supply chains in all of retail, the energy impact could be even more pronounced.

The Deutsche Bank analysts noted that competing retailers are also hiking prices in similar categories, leaving Walmart with the relative low-price advantage. The bank also upgraded its rating of Walmart's stock.

• Record-high margin debt is fuelling fears of forced selling in stocks.
• Margin calls could hit more investors if tech stocks take a hit.
• The scenario could trigger a risk-off move that tanks the broader market.

It may not be long before the whole US stock market has a Situational Awareness moment.

At least, that's the worst-case scenario being mulled by some analysts on Wall Street, who have increasingly turned their attention to one eye-popping statistic in the market: Margin debt held by investors has swelled to records and grown at a pace recently that's only been seen leading up to major corrections.

The fear is that a steep tech sell-off could be the spark that causes the record amount of borrowed cash to combust, triggering margin calls and resulting in a wave of forced selling that derails the bull market.

It may sound like an unlikely scenario, but it's a growing risk investors need to contend with, especially considering how concentrated the market is in tech and how exposed US households are to a sudden drop in equity prices, investing pros told Business Insider.

Investors who trade on margin can buy stocks or purchase investment products by borrowing funds from a broker. But if the value of their positions falls below a certain threshold, investors get hit with a margin call, demanding they deposit more money into their margin accounts. If they can't, brokers can sell their positions, sometimes at a loss to the investor.

It's what caused South Korea's stock market to tank this summer. Retail investors in the nation were highly levered and hit with a wave of margin calls when chip and memory stocks began to drop this summer, triggering a spiral of forced selling.

The same dynamic also led to the implosion of Situational Awareness, the highly levered hedge fund run by AI wizkid Leopold Aschenbrenner that bet heavily on chip stocks before being hit with margin calls this summer.

Debit balances in customers' securities margin accounts hit a record $1.5 trillion in June, according to FINRA data.

Levels have fallen slightly since the summer, but remain elevated. Margin debt clocked in at $1.4 trillion in August, up around 27% over the last year.

Margin debt falling from elevated levels has historically been a warning sign for markets, Peter Berezin, the chief economist at BCA Research, told Business Insider. When margin debt starts to fall, it generally signals low future returns for stocks, he said, adding that he would be worried about a deleveraging wave if margin debt were drop significantly from its summer peak.

"Once that starts, it tends to feed on itself. Because as investors de-lever, that means they have to reduce their exposure to stocks; that pushes down stock prices, which leads to another wave of selling," he said.

Berezin said investors may be uniquely vulnerable to such a sell-off in ways they haven't been in the past. He pointed to a few coexisting vulnerabilities that have the potential to make the scenario more dangerous:

• The market is heavily concentrated in tech, meaning a deleveraging wave could be triggered within the tech sector and have an outsize impact on the broader market. The information technology sector now accounts for around 40% of the S&P 500.
• Americans are more exposed to a sudden drop in stocks than they have been in the past, in large part due to how invested households are. US households sat on a record $64.6 trillion in corporate equities and mutual fund shares in the second quarter, accounting for more than a third of all household wealth in the nation, according to Fed data.
• More investors are exposed to leverage, thanks to a wave of levered investment products that have become available in recent years. A Yahoo Finance-Harris survey in September found that 43% of US investors were trading with leverage, such as by trading options or buying stocks on margin. Leveraged ETF assets also hit a peak at around $200 billion this summer, Bloomberg data shows.

"From that perspective, this is a more risky stock market than it was even in 2000," Berezin said.

Ross Mayfield, an investment strategist and vice president at Baird Private Wealth Management, told Business Insider he believed record levels of margin debt suggested that the rapid selling that tanked South Korean stocks this summer was also possible in the US.

"I do think that there's maybe more fragility in the market structure just because of all of the different ways we've introduced leverage into the market," he said, though he noted that it wasn't an existential risk to markets.

There are different ways to measure margin debt that suggest current levels of leverage are extreme from a historical perspective. As a percentage of the US's total market cap, margin debt remains near its historical 2% average, but as a ratio to M2 money supply, margin debt has reached levels comparable to those seen in 2008 and prior to the burst of the dot-com bubble, according to a March analysis from the financial services firm CGS International.

Since 1997, there have only been three years when margin debt has grown as rapidly on a year-over-year basis: 2000, 2007, and 2021, which all preceded major market corrections, an analysis from Ameriprise Financial found.

Anthony Saglimbene, Ameriprise's chief market strategist, outlined one scenario in which record concentration in tech stocks collides with record leverage, resulting in a "self-reinforcing" sell-off that hits the market's most concentrated names.

"When leveraged participants all hold the same names, a factor that is growing, stress up or down can produce larger market swings that may seem out of step with headline developments," Saglimbene wrote in a note.

There's no obvious place for investors to hide if forced-selling takes hold, Berezin said. He noted that the deleveraging that came as the dot-com bubble burst came in two distinct waves: The first, which came in early 2000, was a rotation away from tech stocks, in which investors were able to find safety by heading into other sectors of the market.

The second was a broad-based market sell-off that began in 2001, where all areas of the market were badly hit.

Markets look like they're moving toward the "rotation" phase today, Berezin said, pointing to the recent sell-off in the chips and memory space. He speculated that a broader market sell-off similar to 2001 might not happen for at least several more years.

"It's probably too early to sound the alarm, but it's not too early to be worried about what happens once things begin to deteriorate. Because once they do, I think it will feed on itself," he said.

• Google Labs leaders use ominous meeting invites to surprise and thank top staff.
• It's a "secret society" ritual for the most valuable employees, Google Labs chief Josh Woodward said.
• Woodward called the meetings "pretty fun" during an appearance on "Lenny's Podcast."

An unexpected meeting invite with the boss is often the kind of thing that sends employees spiraling. For Google Labs staffers, though, it could mean top brass are about to tell you how great you are.

Speaking on a recent episode of "Lenny's Podcast," Josh Woodward, the vice president of Google Labs, the Gemini app, and AI Studio, described the surprise appreciation meetings as a kind of "secret society" ritual for the team's most valuable employees.

"We'll basically like put an invite on someone's calendar, and we'll just, you know, it looks kind of scary because there's like four or five leaders on the team," Woodward told podcast host Lenny Rachitsky, adding that there's no agenda given.

"And then they show up, and we take turns. We go around the circle, and we just tell them why we appreciate them so much for being on the team," Woodward said.

Woodward called the sessions "pretty fun" and said employees are regularly surprised to learn what the meetings are about.

"I always start the meeting with like, 'This is not a bad meeting. This is a good meeting,'" he said. "Your mind may assume the worst, but we're actually doing the opposite. These are some of the most valuable people."

The surprise recognition meetings are one of the ways Google Labs celebrates the often unflashy work behind its AI products, according to Woodward.

He said the team also has a tradition of handing out quirky awards to employees.

There's the "TPU harvester" award, which consists of a "little miniature rake" from Etsy as well as a cash reward, for staffers who optimize Google's AI chips, known as Tensor Processing Units, Woodward said.

"A few of us wanted to figure out a way to reward people who do the grungy work of efficiency and reclaiming TPUs, harvesting TPUs, so we can build the next features and fuel our growth," he said, adding, "we kind of turned it into this big celebration."

Employees who fix small product flaws or "paper cuts" receive a golden Band-Aid, Woodward said. And those who find surprising ways to push AI models toward new capabilities can become an "LLM whisperer," earning them a giant set of ears and a "really nice" mechanical keyboard.

"We're trying to find like ways to kind of like I don't know encode the value in these like dorky symbols, but that means something," he said, explaining, "We're always coming up with weird stuff like this."