SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " people " 7,694 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Redistricting shuffle: Leela Gray doubles down on CD 13 bid
'No matter how they draw the district lines, the people of Florida will get their say in November.'
Public Health Alert Issued for Ravioli Products Sold at Costco in 2 States
A public health alert was issued by the FSIS for 32-oz. plastic bag packages containing Giovanni Rana RANA Rustic Beef Sauce & Creamy Burrata Cheese Ravioli found at Costco locations in Maryland and New Jersey after the affected bags were found to contain shrimp ravioli in lobster sauce.
BioShock, game prices, GTA, the disappearing NFL deal and more: An interview with Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick
In 20 years of covering the video game beat, I’d probably not spoken more than 20 words with Take Two chairman Strauss Zelnick, who’s been running the company behind NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto, BioShock and Red Dead Redemption for, you guessed it, nearly 20 years. Last week, though, ahead of a panel I was hosting at the iicon event in Las Vegas, I had about 20 minutes to interview Zelnick. I could ask one question for each year, I joked, as we settled into our seats on opposite sides of a conference table. Take Two’s longtime head of corporate communications, Alan Lewis, was seated at Zelnick’s side. I didn’t quite conduct our chat that way, but we wound up going through a lot, including… The state of BioShock The ramifications of the rising costs of game development The fate of Take Two’s recent multi-game deal with the NFL Some hints about Take Two’s mobile plans Whether Zelnick’s answer to me about Civ VII was a good one The do’s and don’t’s of NBA 2K microtransactions Take Two’s take on the Switch 2 Oh, and GTA VI (Spoiler: if Zelnick had spilled the beans on the price of the game or a release date for a PC version or whether there will be a polka radio station, that would have been this article’s headline). Before all of that, I would learn what it’s like to interview Strauss Zelnick, who is confident, calm and focused on delivering precise answers. To wit, I thought I’d start our chat with something fun, a bit insidery but maybe safe for him to share. The team at Take Two’s Rockstar label delays their games a lot, I noted. Of course, those delays, however painful, tend to be worth it. So, I was wondering how Zelnick finds out about them. Take the most recent postponement back in November 2025, when Rockstar said that GTA VI would not hit its May 26, 2026 release date (just 20 days from now!) and would instead come out on November 19, 2026. Was that news delivered via a call? An email? How does it work? “I work super closely with my team,” Zelnick said. “It's a very thin team at Take Two. The entire senior management team is six executives who sit in one hallway and share two assistants. And then, basically, there are two people who head up each of our labels.” They meet weekly to discuss their business, he said. So no one emails him about a delay? Nothing like that? Zelnick craned his neck to look at my left hand. He asked if I was married. I am, I said. “Does your partner email you to give you information?” he asked. Fair enough. I didn’t get the sense Zelnick was going to read me the minutes of the management meeting where the GTA VI delay was discussed. Slight pivot, maybe I could get some personality insights about one of the most successful gaming execs of the last 20 years, before getting to my big list of questions about specific Take Two games, franchises and policies. I asked: How do you deal with delay news like that? Go for a run? Meditate? “I tend to default to being very calm,” he said. “I’m not a person who freaks out easily.” He noted that he has a daughter with special needs due to an illness, and he shared that that situation had gotten him worked up. It was a personal, family emergency. “But, you know, business is not that,” he said. “I have no trouble distinguishing between, like, a business challenge and an emergency.” He turned to his left to ask Lewis, his colleague of 17 years, a question. “Have you ever seen me freak out?” “Never,” Lewis replied. “You’ve seen me upset,” Zelnick told Lewis. “Have you seen me raise my voice? Maybe how many times? Be honest, because we might as well be.”
Office of Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas Raided by F.B.I. Agents
Two people familiar with the case said the search of a Democratic lawmaker’s office was related to a Biden-era investigation of possible corruption and bribery related to marijuana businesses.
One of America’s oldest weather observatories shows people the science behind our climate
The observatory helps connect visitors to science and tracking weather.
Solo cruises: What to know before booking a cruise alone
I cruised solo on Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas and thought the activities and excursions made it easy to meet people.
2026 COMMENCEMENT SERIES | Recipe for success: Marquette Business senior’s food ventures rooted in Jesuit values
Whether he's selling sandwiches on campus or providing free meals to those in need, senior and entrepreneur Elliot Russell brings people together with food.
Burlington therapist's jiu-jitsu gym helps people grapple with life
Jason Amerosa, owner of Grind BJJ in Burlington, found confidence through jiu-jitsu, leading him to social work and opening a mental health practice.
1 in 10 LGBTQ+ youth attempted suicide in past year, survey finds
Young LGBTQ+ people are struggling with their mental health, according to a national survey − and an organization says discriminatory politics aren't helping.
Here's the age when we're most unhappy according to science - Futura-Sciences
Over the course of a lifetime, people move through brighter periods and darker ones. These shifts can happen early in life and return again later on. But when do people truly hit their lowest point? That is the question a British economist set out to answer. His analysis draws on...
Thousands in WA drop health insurance coverage. Here’s why
For nearly a year, policymakers have warned that ACA enrollment could fall off a cliff. Now we know exactly how many people in Washington dropped out.
Study Shows LGBTQ+ Youth in the U.S. Face High Rates of Suicidality and Victimization, Worsened by Anti-LGBTQ+ Politics
Your Support Saves LGBTQ+Youth's Lives Every DayDonate LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at […]
Nuturing a Future in Animal Science
Driven by a love for animals and people, animal science major Alexia Alexander has stayed focused on reaching her goals at NC State while building momentum for a career in veterinary medicine.
Canary Islands refuses to allow MV Hondius with hantavirus to dock
Three people have died from the disease so far but the WHO says the risk to the public is still 'low'.
A 1,500-foot tsunami took scientists by surprise. Now we know why it happened
By chance a tour boat avoided a deadly tsunami set off by the retreat of Alaska's coast glaciers. Scientists are working to spot landslides like the one that caused the massive to warn people in harm's way
AI May be Driving a Renaissance of That “Gut Feeling” in Business
As AI takes on mundane work tasks, and AI slop floods leaders’ input signals, people may be trying more human approaches.
Usher launches paid entertainment internship program ahead of Detroit tour stops
As he prepares for multiple shows in Detroit this summer, Usher is launching a new paid internship program to help young people break into the entertainment industry.
2 dead, 3 injured after business dispute turns violent, police say
Police say a man shot five people, killing two, in back-to-back shootings because he was angry over business dealings with the victims.
Usher launches paid entertainment internship program ahead of Detroit tour stops
As he prepares for multiple shows in Detroit this summer, Usher is launching a new paid internship program to help young people break into the entertainment industry.
Camden County homeowners and business owners oppose plans for a new data center
Hundreds of people in Camden County publicly rejected a proposal to build a new data center near their communities. Opponents of the proposed data center said t
Mental Health Awareness Month highlights rising needs across western North Carolina
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Nearly 30 million people across the U.S lack access to affordable, comprehensive mental health and substance treatment.
Opinion: Speaking the truth about the Pope and politics
In 1938, Monsignor Fulton Sheen wrote, “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the […]
Apple Reaches $250 Million Settlement Over Claims It Misled People on A.I.
Some iPhone owners will be eligible to receive $25 to $95 over claims that the tech giant oversold its artificial intelligence system, Apple Intelligence.
Defiant border czar brushes away MAGA critics, says ‘mass deportations are coming’
White House border czar Tom Homan on Tuesday brushed off critics within President Donald Trump’s base who say the administration is not deporting enough people, while vowing to “flood the zone” with immigration officers in jurisdictions which pass legislation limiting cooperation with federal enforcement.
650 NASA Volunteers Have Co-Authored Scientific Papers
After a recent count, NASA Citizen Science is proud to report that more than 650 people who have volunteered to participate in NASA citizen science projects
Cary business broken into; $45,000 worth of trading cards stolen
Triangle Area Trading Cards was broken into on Tuesday morning, leading to a rough wake-up call for store co-owner Adam Reynolds. Reynolds said two people were involved in the burglary.
World Health Organization says 3 people died in a suspected hantavirus outbreak aboard cruise ship
March hiring surge indicates a job market firming up
Employers hired 5.55 million people in March, a stunning rise of 655,000 from February.
Charlotte nonprofit to lay off over 100 people, citing lack of new contracts
The nonprofit was poised to make a splash with upgrades to Charlotte’s rail trail this month.
New NASA HEAT Coloring Book Blends Art, Science, and Cultural Perspectives
A new Sun-centered and science-focused coloring book produced by NASA in partnership with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) is now available for people to learn while showing their artistic side.
Police charge 2 for deadly shooting outside Albuquerque entertainment center
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Two people have been charged for a deadly shooting outside the Main Event entertainment center in northeast Albuquerque on April 19. Albuquerque Police Department detecti…
The year in review: Influential people who have died in 2026
She was a beloved Bollywood singer whose voice resonated across a film-obsessed India for nearly eight decades. Asha Bhosle, who died in April, was recorded on about 12,000 songs, becoming
Caltech Students Host Science Olympiad State Tournament
Caltech students' years of leadership and service with Science Olympiad inspire younger people to explore science and engineering
The dark side of weight loss drugs: Ozempic's surprising hidden cost
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are often celebrated as game-changing solutions—but new research reveals a surprising social twist. People who lose weight using these medications may actually face more judgment than those who lose weight through diet and exercise—or even those who don’t lose weight at all. The stigma seems rooted in a perception that these drugs are an “easy way out,” creating a double bind where individuals are judged both for their weight and for how they choose to manage it.
In the six-way race to be California’s treasurer, it likely comes down to two Democrats
California's treasurer manages bonds, pensions, and billions in cash. These are the six people vying for the job in 2026.
Two hantavirus cases confirmed, five more suspected on stranded cruise ship
Among the seven cases, three people have died, one is critically ill and three have mild symptoms, the WHO says.
What is the Orange Card? Inside Guilford County’s health care safety net for the uninsured
Officials with the county's "Orange Card" program expect more people will need help next year once Medicaid work requirements kick in.
NJ adds 250 home aides as care shortage strains families
NJ has certified 250 home health aides older residents and people with disabilities to complete the basic tasks of daily life.
What smart people are saying about Trump weighing AI oversight
Tech analysts said they worry oversight could slow innovation, especially as the US tries to keep pace with China.
Real and durable wins for pro-choice? Maybe not so much
My regular reader (Hi, Jeff!) knows I don’t go out seeking to offend or bother my kindly readers. I don’t always try to upset people, even though I propose our president should be removed from office via the 25th Amendment, if his cabinet were not bootlicking sycophants and vaccine denying minions who regularly fail to […]
New ballot world record for 2027 London Marathon
More than 1.3 million people have applied for next year's event which takes place on 25 April.
Microsoft quietly scrubbed its 32GB RAM gaming recommendation after gamers called it out
People weren't a fan.
Mysterious green rocks in Pyrenees cave hint that prehistoric people were working copper there for 4,000 years
Dozens of pieces of bright-green rock discovered in a cave in the Pyrenees may be evidence of copper smelting 7,000 years ago.
Cruise ship outbreaks hit 23 in 2025, with norovirus the most common virus
While taking a cruise is generally safe, having a high concentration of people in a semienclosed space makes it easy for viruses to spread among passengers.
IAC Revenue Slides as People’s Print Business Weighs on Results, 2026 Outlook Cut
The New York City-based media holding company said revenue from People, which makes up the bulk of the company’s top line, fell 2%.
Activists against Jeff Bezos hide 'urine' bottles at the Met Gala
Activists claim to have hidden bottles filled with 'urine' at the Met Gala, protesting Jeff Bezos' role as host and Amazon's practices.
How BMO uses AI to get more of business clients' business
The Canadian bank is using machine learning to analyze customers' payments and provide recommendations to salespeople.
Caleb Downs Is the Cowboys’ Best Pick in Years
Caleb Downs very clearly has “it.” It’s extremely premature to make a claim as bold as “best in a decade” before a draft pick touches the field in training camp, let alone at game speed. However, some people have “it”—an aura people can see on film and in real game time. Every draft has a […] The post Caleb Downs Is the Cowboys’ Best Pick in Years appeared first on The Lead.
AI Is Great at “Normal Science,” but Breakthroughs Still Belong to People
In a recent capstone presentation, Darden professor Keith McCormick offered a grounded perspective on what AI can and cannot do today. According to McCormick, AI excels at what science philosopher Thomas Kuhn calls “normal science,” but may fall short of reaching artificial general intelligence (AGI) without some new scientific breakthrough that changes the current paradigm.
From Taylor Swift to Bad Bunny, the Science Behind How Music Transports Us (Exclusive)
Author and Director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University Elizabeth Margulis breaks down how music can take us somewhere else entirely in an exclusive piece for PEOPLE in advance of her new book 'Transported.'
Opinion: Young people make nonprofit boards better. Here’s how.
Research suggests that young people have greater optimism, creativity, and motivation to drive social change than other age groups.
DOJ: Eight indicted for illegal gambling business at Fort Wayne charity casino
Last month, a federal grand jury approved an indictment charging eight people in connection with an illegal gambling business in Fort Wayne.
GameStop targets eBay in $56B takeover bid, sees path to rival Amazon
GameStop launches a $56 billion bid for eBay, with CEO Ryan Cohen outlining plans to cut costs and position the platform as a rival to Amazon.
Kick for the Spectrum tournament blends sports with support for special needs
Dozens of people participated in the Kick for the Spectrum futsal tournament on a breezy, sunny Chicago Saturday. Most of the day was filled with friendly commotion. But when it came down to the championship game, intensity rose as players fought over whether a team’s goal should count. DePaul sophomore Ante Radocaj organized Kick for...
Fast 15: Javier Hernandez - Talk Business & Politics
Javier Hernandez, a Rogers native, is building a career centered on connecting people and strengthening communities in the rapidly growing region he loves. Hernandez works with businesses, nonprofits and local...
WHO says risk to public is low after suspected hantavirus outbreak hits ship
The World Health Organization said on Monday there was no need for panic and the risk to the public was low after three people died and three fell ill following a suspected outbreak of the rodent-borne hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic.
The Healthiest People Don't Follow Trendy Eating Schedules. Nutrition Science Says They Eat Whenever They Want
Where health, nutrition, weight loss, and even personal productivity are concerned, the best eating schedule is the one you can stick with.
Apparent hantavirus outbreak kills 3, sickens at least 3 more on cruise ship, health officials say
A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic off Africa killed three people and sickened at least three others, health officials say.
Trump Backed Forced Treatment for Homeless People. Utah Shows the Challenges.
State lawmakers declined to back a Trump-inspired plan to move 1,300 homeless people to a campus on the edge of Salt Lake City, but supporters are trying to keep the plan’s spirit alive.
A 22,000-Home Community Is Being Built in a 5,000-Person Town
Chatham Park, a master-planned community in Pittsboro, N.C., is expected to expand the town to 60,000 people when completed.
Hurricane Helene shattered lives — and the systems that keep people sober
Recovery from substance use disorder requires community. What happens when a disaster tears that apart?
Helene frayed the safety net for people who use drugs. This community wove it back together.
Harm reduction groups and health care workers helped avert the worst. But what about the next emergency?
Caring for mental health together
In a church that proclaims God’s care for people’s bodies, minds and spirits, tending to mental health is not separate from faith.
Global Health & WASH: May 2026 Funding Opportunities (14 new opportunities!)
The May update for Global Health & WASH brings new calls that cluster around three distinct shifts: LMIC research leadership moving from funder encouragement into a hard eligibility constraint, pharmaceutical and corporate-linked funders running structurally independent education and use-inspired research portfolios at substantial scale, and AI adoption shifting decisively from speculative tool to operational capability across health and WASH systems alike. In LMIC Research Leadership as Eligibility, Not Encouragement, Wellcome anchors the dominant signal of the month with three separate major calls that all require or strongly center LMIC leadership in their basic eligibility architecture. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs (£1.5-£1.9M per hub over 3-5 years) explicitly requires an LMIC-based lead applicant, treating Global South leadership as a design constraint rather than a participation goal. Wellcome’s Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award funds transdisciplinary teams whose lead must be a mid-career or established researcher based at an organization in Africa, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. Wellcome’s larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1M-£8M for optimizing licensed interventions) requires the administering organization to be in eligible LMIC regions and at least 50% of applicants based there. Around Wellcome, the same pattern shows up at smaller scale and across funders: CHINNOVA channels $1M into West and Central African research institutions for climate-health work; IBRO’s Neuroscience Training Grants explicitly tier ceilings by region of residence with Africa receiving the highest amount ($5,000); IHME’s GBD Emerging Researcher Award reserves at least one of its two annual awards for an LMIC researcher; Sidaction’s HIV Cure call funds research teams across France, the Netherlands, and eligible African countries with a minimum two-country collaboration requirement. Taken together, these calls signal a meaningful shift in how research equity is being operationalized — not as encouragement language at the bottom of a call, but as a structural feature of who can lead, where the work must be administered, and what proportion of the team must be regionally rooted. In Pharma-Funded Independent Medical Education and Use-Inspired Research, the lineup this month is unusually deep. Pfizer alone runs four parallel calls under independent education and quality improvement frameworks: a Migraine and Women’s Health RFP (200K x 2-year, $500K pool), Migraine IME ($200K, $1M pool), JAK Inhibitor evidence-based education ($100K), and Maternal Vaccination HCP Education in Saudi Arabia ($75K), plus a separate Pediatric Pneumococcal Surveillance research call in Saudi Arabia ($400K per project). Novo Nordisk Foundation runs four parallel calls of its own at substantial scale: Infectious Diseases Catalyst Grants (DKK 60M pool, up to DKK 7M collaborative), Non-Diabetic Endocrinology Collaborative Grants (DKK 53M pool, DKK 5-10M per project), Pioneer Innovator Grant Health (DKK 1.1M), and Distinguished Innovator Grant Health (DKK 6.8M). LEO Foundation deploys DKK 2-4M per project for dermatology research excellence. Pfizer’s framing across calls deliberately separates the funding from product promotion, emphasizing measurable practice-relevant change and structural distance between scientific outputs and commercial activity. Novo Nordisk’s “use-inspired” hard filter pushes researchers toward a credible translation pathway from mechanism to deployable tool. The pattern: industry-aligned funders are running structurally independent portfolios at meaningful $ that fund implementation evidence, not promotion. In AI as Operational Capability, Not Speculation, several calls this month explicitly treat AI adoption as a near-term operational question with real evidence and governance requirements, rather than a speculative trend to be watched. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs frames AI as “the accelerator” for evidence synthesis, asking hubs to translate technical innovation into adoption-ready workflows that can match real-world policy timelines. UNICEF Venture Fund’s new Climate Tech for Children’s Health call funds for-profit startups deploying AI, machine learning, and blockchain in low-resource environments, with a strict requirement that solutions must already have a working prototype with promising pilot results. The Water Research Foundation has launched two simultaneous AI calls treating reproducibility, cybersecurity guardrails, and human-in-the-loop deployments as core design constraints rather than nice-to-haves: one on GenAI and Agentic AI in water utilities ($200K), one on alternatives to water shutoffs that explicitly screens for implementation economics evidence. Nordic Innovation’s quantum technology call (NOK 4.5M) extends the same logic into life science and healthcare, demanding consortium-stage projects mature enough to test with real users. TEF-Health offers €300K in subsidized testing infrastructure for European healthcare AI and robotics SMEs. The pattern: funders are converting AI pilots into playbooks, requiring transfer evidence and risk controls before AI can move from experimentation to sector-wide operational practice. For LMIC-based researchers in infectious disease or evidence synthesis, the three Wellcome calls together represent the deepest concentration of LMIC-led research capital in recent memory — pair the Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award (£200K, deadline May 19) as a strategic pipeline feeder into the larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1-£8M, deadline June 2), since the development award functions explicitly as a track into the larger trial scheme. For Nordic researchers, the four Novo Nordisk Foundation calls plus LEO Foundation and Nordic Innovation Quantum represent ~$30M in regional research capital this cycle, all with deadlines clustered in May-August. For WASH practitioners, the three Water Research Foundation calls together (each up to $200K) are a cluster worth reading across — one on AI deployment, one on shutoff alternatives, one rewarding applied innovation — and the strongest applicants will articulate how their work bridges utility operations to policy-relevant evidence. For US-based clinical researchers and educators, the four Pfizer calls plus the APF Portfolio’s 80+ programs form an unusually accessible recurring pipeline; APF’s prohibition on indirect costs is a meaningful structural feature for early-career applicants whose institutions might otherwise absorb significant overhead. Snapshot of New Opportunities Total Estimated Funding Pool: $100 Million+ USD The grants are organized into three categories: Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date. 39 open opportunities- 14 new! Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible). 14 rolling opportunities- 1 new opportunity! Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows. 4 long term opportunities! A quick tip for returning readers: if you want to jump straight to the newest additions, use CTRL F to search for “New!” and navigate quickly to the latest funding opportunities This post is for paid subscribers. This helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. Subscribe To keep this accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer pay what you can rates. You can find more details here. Open Calls: Migraine Competitive Grant Program: Migraine and Women’s Health (Quality Improvement and/or Research RFP), Pfizer.*Closing soon!* Pfizer, in collaboration with the American Headache Society, is seeking independent quality improvement and research projects that close persistent gaps in migraine care for women across the United States. The funding logic centers on measurable, practice-relevant change: proposals should generate actionable evidence, tools, or system improvements that can be shared and used widely, not just within a single site. Priority areas span menstrual migraine and screening in women’s health settings, the role of hormonal fluctuations across the lifespan, sex-specific risk factors, comorbidities and quality-of-life burden, and disparities in outcomes by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The call is structured as a two-step competitive process with an initial Letter of Intent, with the strongest concepts expected to translate scientific insight into implementable improvements in diagnosis, management, and equity. Geographies: United States. Who can apply: U.S.-based organizations (not individuals), including professional schools, healthcare institutions, professional organizations, and other entities focused on healthcare improvement. Funding amount: Up to USD $200,000 total over 2 years; total pool USD $500,000. Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: migraine, women’s health, quality improvement, clinical research, menstrual migraine, health disparities. Deadline: LOI: May 5, 2026; Full proposal (by invitation): August 28, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This RFP rewards “shareable impact”: the most competitive submissions will pair rigorous methods with a clear plan for system uptake and dissemination beyond the originating institution. ReSSARC: Strengthening the Health Sector and Food Security in the Central African Republic (AID 013381/01/0) Call for Proposals, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). *Closing soon!* AICS is seeking a limited set of high-capacity humanitarian partners to deliver an integrated package that stabilizes essential health services while reducing acute malnutrition and strengthening food security resilience in priority areas of the Central African Republic. The funder’s logic is explicitly nexus-based: proposals should meet urgent, life-saving needs while reinforcing local systems, coordination mechanisms, and community-level capacity so results persist beyond the emergency window. AICS emphasizes inclusion and protection outcomes, expecting gender-sensitive design and explicit measures for groups facing compounded vulnerability, including women, children under five, internally displaced people, and people with disabilities. The call also signals a localization pathway, encouraging stronger collaboration with national NGOs and balanced partnerships, alongside clear coordination with existing cluster and humanitarian actors to minimize duplication and improve coverage. Geographies: Central African Republic (Bangui, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, Lim-Pende, Lobaye). Who can apply: Non-profit organizations registered with AICS, plus eligible non-profits without an office in Italy that have a pre-existing collaboration agreement with an AICS-listed organization. Funding amount: Total pool EUR €1,800,000; max EUR €800,000 (single applicant) or EUR €1,000,000 (ATS). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: malnutrition prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, community health services, food security and resilience, localization partnerships Deadline: May 5, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This call is structured to reward partners who can link frontline service delivery to system durability and localization, not just short-term coverage gains. Contracts for Innovation in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare, Innovate UK. *Closing soon!* Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences Addiction Healthcare Goals program, is procuring R&D to accelerate innovations that can improve treatment outcomes, strengthen recovery, and reduce harm and deaths linked to drug and alcohol addiction. The competition is positioned as a market-facing readiness push: selected projects are expected to advance solutions toward later-stage validation, generate evidence of user acceptability and UK market fit, and map credible routes through regulatory and certification requirements. Innovate UK signals a preference for innovations that can be field-tested in relevant UK settings and progressed to TRL 6 or 7, with practical plans for commercialization after contract completion. This structure favors applicants that can execute most work in-house, co-develop with service providers and people with lived experience, and translate technical progress into deployable tools for addiction healthcare delivery. Geographies: United Kingdom. Who can apply: Single organizations of any size (including EU, EEA, or international) leading delivery, with most work and key deliverables carried out in the UK; subcontractors for specialist skills only. Funding amount: GBP £200,000–1.5 million per project (inclusive of VAT); Total pool: GBP £20 million (across two strands). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: Mental Health, Health Systems Strengthening, Research & Development, Technology Access. Deadline: May 6, 2026 (11:00am). Learn more and apply here. This call uses procurement to pull near-market addiction innovations toward operational proof and adoption pathways in UK services.
Empowering Veterans: The 2026 Fayetteville Veterans Business Expo aims to close the opportunity gap
This is the first year of the Veteran Business Expo, and it grew out of Fayetteville PWC’s Economic Impact Program, which focuses on expanding access and opportunity in public-sector contracting while strengthening the local economy. It builds off the success of previous events held by PWC, like the 2024 Industry Day (pictured above). Photo provided by PWC. The Fayetteville Public Works Commission (PWC) will host the inaugural 2026 Veterans Business Expo on May 14 at the PWC Main Operations Complex at 955 Old Wilmington Road, seeking to connect former U.S. Military members with vital business opportunities in their community. The event, which will take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., is part of a partnership between PWC and the Veterans Business Outreach Center at Fayetteville State University (VBOC) and Fayetteville-Cumberland Regional Entrepreneur and Business HUB (FSU HUB).Aaron Harris, PWC’s manager of economic inclusion programs, said the event is designed to connect Veteran-owned businesses with partners and decision-makers who can help move opportunities forward.“This event brings together Veteran entrepreneurs alongside government agencies, public entities, contractors and resource partners in one place, creating a purposeful space to build relationships, exploring procurement and contracting possibilities and strengthening our region’s Veteran-owned business community,” Harris said. The Veterans Business Expo was devised to feature, highlight and facilitate direct connections and commerce. “We want to get our Veterans a platform for their businesses,” said Camille Little, the supplier diversity analyst at PWC. “Here at PWC, we have 20 departments, and we procure… I can’t tell you all the goods and services. This is our first expo. We’re looking for general contractors, electricians, landscapers, janitorial, construction suppliers, architecture, farms and engineering firms.” Little said, much like businesses in every industry, Veterans are often in need of assistance getting their foot in the door.“When Veterans are starting up, they have to know what resources are [available],” Little noted. “They have this ample amount of resources, but they need to know how to get started.” Identifying those resources and connecting Veteran business owners with opportunities and business development programs are made possible by the partnership between PWC and VBOC, Little said. The partnership has allowed the expo to flourish, she added.“There are opportunities, there are consultant workshops and different things that we partner with them for all the time,” Little said. “It’s about easing that transition because starting a business is hard. Having the dedication to continue after that first year is even harder right now.” That is why, Little said, the partnership with resources from Fayetteville State University brings decision makers to the table. “If you are a Veteran business owner, you may not know how to do business with PWC or the City of Fayetteville or FSU, or partners,” Little said. “‘Where do I get started?’ ‘How do I get contracts?’ Bringing people to an understanding and then having an opportunity like this, where you’re talking to that person who’s making the decision… that is our goal.”Those meetings between Veteran-owned businesses and other decision-makers will present a chance to showcase products and services directly to organizations seeking qualified vendors and capable partners, Harris said. Agencies and contractors, he added, can meet and engage businesses ready to support upcoming needs. Little said PWC and all of its departments, as well as the City of Fayetteville, and FSU will be on hand. Additionally, there will be procurement officers from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. “Resource partners who support small business development will also be on hand, helping make introductions and reinforcing pathways that support growth for Veteran entrepreneurs,” Harris said.For Veteran entrepreneurs, Little said she recommends two things: an answer to “why?” and a business plan.“I would ask them, what problem are they solving with their business?” she noted. “Then I would also tell them to start making a business plan. I run into a lot of firms, and it’s like, ‘What is your plan?’ So just knowing where you want to go with your business is important.”Little said it is important to differentiate between a business that helps transition servicemembers away from the U.S. Military versus a business that Veterans consider the next chapter of their lives.“How much dedication are you going to give to this business to make it successful?” Little noted. “So I would always start with what’s your business plan.”For Harris, the event will be able to cover the needs of all types of Veteran-owned businesses.“Another important lesson is the need to meet businesses where they are,” he said. “Veteran-owned businesses are at different stages of development, so offering multiple entry points, networking, education and referrals has proven essential.”Registration information can be found at: www.eventbrite. com/e/2026-veterans-business-expo-connecting-heroes-to-opportunity-tickets-1984308563329?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
How Entertainment and Gambling Have Changed in Rockaway Beach and NYC in Recent Years
Rockaway has always known how to keep people busy. The boardwalk drew crowds long before most of the city looked the way it does now, and a day out here meant noise, movement, and something happening just down the stretch. That same pull now runs through New York’s gaming scene, from casino floors in Queens
Weight loss drug Ozempic linked to lower depression and anxiety risk
GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide—best known for treating diabetes and driving weight loss under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy—may also deliver a surprising mental health boost. In a massive study tracking nearly 100,000 people over more than a decade, researchers found that these medications were linked to significantly fewer psychiatric hospital visits and sick days.
Rates of Stroke in Younger Adults are Rising
A growing body of research shows a clear and concerning shift: more people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are experiencing strokes.
How Perimenopause Became America's New Health Scare
If you’re a woman who speaks English, it sometimes feels like you can’t spend time on the internet without being bombarded with all the ways in which your body or your mind could be just a little broken. A few years ago, Instagram was full of women talking about attention deficit disorder, and lo and behold: From 2020 to 2022, the percentage of women (between the ages of 23 and 49) newly diagnosed with it nearly doubled. Not long ago, premenstrual syndrome was all the rage, with the algorithm pushing videos that explained why it’s okay to fly off the handle once a month. These days, the word perimenopause is everywhere. Perhaps you’ve seen the headlines. “Perimenopause is having a millennial moment. Here are 7 ways to cope,” says The Washington Post. Or perhaps you’ve seen Apple TV’s glossy drama Your Friends & Neighbors, which is back for its second season; the female protagonist Mel is explicitly perimenopausal, and in the first season, she keyed a car for no apparent reason. She’s played by Amanda Peet, who talks about being perimenopausal in real life (“God knows I’ve wanted to key a lot of cars in the last three years,” she’s said.) In fact, it sometimes feels like every celebrity interview with a forty- or fiftysomething woman requires her to open up about what’s going on with her hormones. Drew Barrymore joked on CBS Mornings that when she found out how long perimenopause can last, she thought she’d “never make it 10 years like this.” Katherine Heigl told Business Insider that “whoever designed it so that women would be going through perimenopause while raising teenagers should be sent a strongly worded letter.” At the same time, influencers who talk about perimenopause seem to have cropped up out of nowhere with something to sell you, causing people online to wonder where this all came from. It’s trickled down from Instagram to tchotchke shops, which sell fridge magnets that say “Perimenopause Is Hot.” You can buy a T-shirt that proclaims “Perimenopause Made Me Do It!” My mom, who is 48, started uncontrollably shaking her leg at night a few years ago. “It’s perimenopause,” she told me when I complained about how annoying it was. But what exactly is perimenopause—and why are we all talking about it all of a sudden?
Sports Roundup: Weekend Scores & Latest Power Rankings
Nantucket Current is the island's leading online news source. We deliver the news, stories, and people of Nantucket, unbiased and unfiltered.
Three dead in suspected hantavirus outbreak aboard cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, WHO says
A suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has killed three people and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
A New Atlas Reveals Hidden Details of The Human Body Like Never Before
A new gold standard in medical imaging?
Two injured, one killed in shooting at Valdosta business, sheriff’s office says
Three people were shot at a Valdosta business on Sunday, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.
LSU expert talks about mental health among student-athletes and available resources
A spotlight is being placed on mental health and the resources available for people in need of support, including student-athletes.
The party where nobody looks down on anyone
An Oakland same-height party used custom foam platforms to level guests, leaving people looking at each other eye to eye.
Michigan senate candidate defends her deleted posts after CNN report: ‘People are desperate for authenticity’
Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a candidate in the state’s competitive Democratic senate primary, made the case for her “authenticity” while responding to criticism she’s facing after an investigation by CNN’s KFile revealed she deleted old social media posts criticizing the rural Midwest and praising California.
The weird rise of people who are their own twin | BBC Science Focus Magazine
A condition that leaves people with two sets of DNA may be on the rise – and it’s posing thorny questions for families and forensic science.
Names in the News: People shaping the future of Lake Area business
Leithead receives Humanitarian Award Dr. James A. Leithead Jr., received the Humanitarian Service Award during the 145th House of Delegates of the Louisiana Dental Association on April 11. The LDA […]
Key U.S. science panels are being axed—and others are becoming less open
President Donald Trump and his administration downsized US science by historic margins last year as it reduced the workforce at federal research agencies by tens of thousands of people and terminated ...
FEMA and the American people deserve better than Trump’s political lackeys
The Official Website of the House Committee on Homeland Security
The creepy feeling in old buildings might have a surprising cause
A hidden force may be quietly shaping how you feel—and you’d never even know it. Infrasound, an ultra-low-frequency vibration below the range of human hearing, is everywhere from traffic to old buildings. In a small experiment, people exposed to it became more irritable, less engaged, and even showed higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol—despite having no idea it was present. The findings suggest our bodies can “sense” these vibrations without conscious awareness, potentially explaining eerie sensations in places like basements or supposedly haunted buildings.
Sahil Bloom on meeting Warren Buffett, why Berkshire bash is unique
Berkshire Hathaway is "in many ways a media company," and its annual meeting boasts a "high density of really smart people," Sahil Bloom said.
We the people are no longer the government of Colorado
We the people of Colorado no longer control our own state constitution. I found this out the hard way. In Colorado, a government for, by, and of the people is a fib. We lowly citizens no longer have much of a say in altering our own state constitution. Even though that seems to violate the […]
Curing U.S. Health Care, Part II
On March 23, 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — usually referred to either as the Affordable Care Act or as Obamacare — into law. Joe Biden, then the vice president, could be overheard whispering “This is a big fucking deal.” And it was. The ACA, which went into full effect in 2014, created a system of subsidies and regulations designed to make health insurance available to many Americans who had previously been left out. It worked: In 2010 there were 47 million uninsured people in America, but by 2016 this number had dropped to 27 million. This still fell short of the universal health insurance that every other advanced nation has, but it was real progress. In 2017, during his first term, Donald Trump tried to destroy the ACA, replacing it with the American Health Care Act — legislation that would have eliminated most of the provisions that expanded health insurance under Obama. At the time the Congressional Budget Office projected that the G.O.P.’s replacement bill would nearly double the number of Americans without health insurance, increasing the total uninsured population by 23 million and undoing all of the progress achieved under the ACA. However, the attack on Obamacare failed by one vote in the Senate, and the ensuing public backlash against the G.O.P. delivered a large victory in the 2018 midterms to the Democrats. After these developments many observers assumed that the ACA had become a more or less permanent feature of American life. Such assessments, however, failed to take into account the deep hostility of the U.S. right toward policies that expand access to healthcare. As we’ll see, this hostility goes back generations. And the second Trump administration has taken actions that the CBO projects will add 16 million people to the rolls of the uninsured by 2034. How did we get here? And now what? Today’s primer will analyze the political economy of U.S. healthcare since the 1940s and the combination of danger and opportunity created by the current crisis. Beyond the paywall I will discuss the following: US health care on the eve of Trump II 80 years of US health politics The Obamacare story The new assault on healthcare
Plaques unveiled across Torbay to encourage mental health chats
Torbay Council says the plaques are designed to signpost people to available support services.
Business People
CEI Engineering Associates Inc. announced the expansion of its Local Development Department with the appointment of David Carroll as department manager.
Even a little alcohol here and there damages brain health, study shows
Even people who never exceed the recommended limits for alcohol consumption are likely to experience brain health problems as they age, a new study suggests.
Rally kicks off Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Twin Falls residents wanted to remind people that help is available.
Fargo physicist says Bluetooth headphones pose no health risk
Whether hitting the gym, walking the dog, or hopping on a bike, many people are wearing headphones. But with Bluetooth technology more popular than ever, some are asking if wireless headphones are actually safe.
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field ‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field A field that once seemed like a direct path to stable, lucrative work is becoming less certain under AI, students and faculty told Spectator. By Ria Vasishtha and Arjun Menon May 3, 2026 Shanying Liu / Deputy Illustrations Editor Asia Genawi, SEAS ’29, first encountered artificial intelligence during her sophomore year at her high school in Indiana. Back in 2023, policies on AI varied widely—even within the same district—and some schools had no guidance at all. As Genawi began to see the effects of AI trickle into her classroom, she turned to guidance from her home state’s Department of Education, which she said she found “outdated and inaccessible.” Genawi spent the rest of her high school career dedicated to the issue, including writing a 15-page memo exploring varying AI policies across Indiana schools, which she sent to every Indiana state senator and representative whose contact information she was able to find. She later helped draft a bill that would have required public high schools to establish and share their own AI policies with students in an accessible format. But with so many other bills already awaiting referral, hers never made it to committee. When Genawi arrived at Columbia to study computer science, she found that the gaps she had spent years trying to address in Indiana had followed her there. Many students and professors were also grappling with what AI meant for the field. Across Columbia’s undergraduate schools, computer science has become the most popular major—accounting for around 11 percent of degrees awarded in Columbia College, 32 percent in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 12 percent in the School of General Studies in 2024. While the number of computer science majors in SEAS grew from 166 to 173 during the 2024-25 academic year, the total number across the three schools fell around 4.5 percent from 393 to 375, driven by declines at Columbia College and General Studies. At Barnard, it has grown to become the second most popular major as of 2025, up from third the year prior. The number of degrees awarded have grown fivefold since 2016. Faculty members and students in the department told Spectator that the surge in the major’s popularity has been driven in large part by its apparent promise of a secure, well-paid career path. However, they noted that the recent rise of generative AI has compromised the sense of stability that once defined the field, even as interest in technical skills among students persists. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2024, out of 74 majors tracked, computer science had the fifth highest unemployment rate among majors at 7 percent, while computer engineering had the second highest at 7.8 percent. “Anecdotally, people are moving away from CS as a major,” Daniel Bauer, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, said. “They’re still taking some of our classes, right, because they think they need that, but they’re instead majoring in other things.” Bauer described a field that had shifted from what he called a “nerdy outlier discipline” to one that “everyone needs,” a sign that technical skills have become a baseline expectation across industries with the emergence of AI. “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a guaranteed path to a stable income. You get a six-figure job right out of your undergrad,’” Bauer said. Now, companies may see AI as a way to reduce demand for entry-level programmers, especially in what he calls “code monkey jobs,” roles where a large number of employees are “just writing out code nine-to-five.” Chris Murphy, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, described the current moment as the convergence of two forces: the downturn of the job market and generative AI coming onto the scene. “Things kind of started to really pick up in 2014, 16,” he said, recalling the years after the weaker 2010 market. Murphy added that this was also a period where “students were getting more experience outside of class than they were inside of class” through internships, jobs, and side projects. Murphy suggested that the earlier momentum helped make computer science feel like both an academic program and a reliable pathway into work. That feeling is harder to sustain now as the industry reconfigures, which is a shift that students are seeing firsthand. Rebecca Yu, SEAS ’27, said that during a recent internship in Big Tech, she saw that “every single tech company was racing to integrate” large language models. She added that her manager said her intern class was the first to complete their assigned projects, which she attributed to the increased efficiency that comes with AI. Frank Liu, SEAS ’29, said that with AI lowering the barrier to coding, companies now expect everyone to write code. “A lot of companies outright say if you’re not using coding in your job, you might get fired for not being productive enough,” Liu said. Yu similarly expressed that students increasingly have to accept AI being a part of industry workflow, adding that many also “make use of it to maximize their productivity.” Richard Li, CC ’28, described a “franticness” among his peers as the pace of change accelerates. He explained how “some new tool” is released regularly, noting that tools rise and fall in prominence within weeks. He has come to believe that he doesn’t need to “match that speed all the time” and keep up with every development. Li has learned that AI tools allow him to “take a breath” and “get back into the loop much easier than before” when he needs to. While some companies specifically target Columbia when hiring, sending representatives to campus career fairs and recruiting large numbers from Columbia, a computer science degree cannot be treated as a static credential, Yu described. “You can’t just get your degree and stop learning after that. You have to always be learning,” Yu said. “That is something you basically have to expect for your job.” AI has not only affected students’ decisions to major in computer science, but also reshaped how the subject is taught. Across departments, faculty members no longer treat work done outside the classroom as a reliable measure of understanding, shifting instead toward in-person exams, quizzes, and attendance checks. While homework once made up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a student’s grade in computer science classes, Murphy said that breakdown has since flipped, with exams and quizzes now accounting for the majority. “The assumption—especially among pessimists—is that they’re using it to do their homework,” Murphy said. “They take the homework assignment. They put it into generative AI. Out comes the solution. Submit solution. The end.” Murphy said that faculty members ranged in their responses from fully prohibiting AI use to actively teaching students how to effectively work with AI. He said he shifted his approach this year after his teaching assistants called his belief that students weren’t using the technology “naïve,” and now permits students to use AI on assignments. His surveys of students in his introductory classes have told a more complicated story than the one so-called pessimists offer: Around 60 to 70 percent of students who reported using AI said they used it to have concepts explained to them, to clarify assignment instructions, to generate test cases, or to create practice questions. “Those are all ways that you might have had a tutor in the past to do that, and now you have this AI essentially as your tutor,” he said. Bauer has taken a different approach, teaching students how to use AI productively without sacrificing the core principles of the discipline. “People who are trained to actually use AI tools productively, while being in charge of designing the overall project, will be very much in demand in the next couple of years,” he said. Over the past year, a working group of computer science faculty has been redesigning the introductory and intermediate programming sequence to integrate generative AI as both a subject and a tool, representatives from SEAS wrote in a statement to Spectator. The effort is “coordinated” across the department, “not course-by-course,” with a systematic assessment of how AI integration is affecting student outcomes underway to shape the next round of changes. The goal, the department explained, is for students to be able to “read, verify, and reason about code, whether they or a model wrote it.” Tony Dear, senior lecturer in the computer science department, is piloting individualized AI feedback in a discrete mathematics course, while a machine learning course is also testing a Socratic AI dialogue system designed to “guide inquiry rather than supply answers,” the statement reads. Beyond individual courses, SEAS funded seven cross-departmental faculty projects in generative AI this past academic year, spanning biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, according to the statement. This phenomenon extends beyond the computer science department. SEAS’ new AI minor, which it announced in November 2025, reflects the University’s attempt to adapt. The minor is specifically designed for noncomputer science majors and aims to provide “essential AI knowledge” while emphasizing practical and responsible use across disciplines, according to the SEAS website. At the center of the minor is AI in Context, a course taught by a team of faculty from the departments of computer science, applied mathematics, philosophy, music, literature, and the Writing Center, the representatives told Spectator. Bauer described it as targeted at students who want to bring AI into fields like economics or biology, rather than as a path into software engineering itself. At the graduate level, SEAS announced a new Master of Science in artificial intelligence in February, with the inaugural cohort starting in the fall. While recognizing how AI has helped them navigate coursework, students also described its rise as isolating, even among members of the Application Development Initiative, one of Columbia’s largest computer science clubs. “As people start to ask AI for questions that they would normally ask students and members, it starts to isolate people” Li said. Alexa Kafka, BC ’27, echoed Li’s sentiment, pointing out that computer science has always been a collaborative discipline with code reviews and pull requests, even as AI makes independent work easier. Despite this, Kafka noted that she hasn’t been to office hours “in at least a year.” Bauer added that faculty are exploring long-term solutions to the assessment problem. “One of the things that we’re trying to do at the department or school level is to maybe move towards computerized testing facilities,” Bauer said, referring to ideas in the department to revitalize computer labs as an alternative to pen-and-paper exams. “We have to accept that this is the reality, for better or worse.” But more exams, students say, does not mean better learning, nor does it reflect how computer science is actually done. “Code is so variable and can be approached in so many directions, there’s never just going to be one correct answer. There can be multiple optimal solutions,” Kafka said. Students also expressed concern that the shift toward exam-heavy grading pulls focus away from the applied, project-based work that better reflects both discipline and industry expectations. ADI has tried to respond more quickly than the curriculum can. Through a vibe coding workshop this past semester, club members said they wanted to help students understand not just that AI exists, but how to use it deliberately. “Vibe coding” refers to the practice of prompting AI to write code for a task or project, and has become widespread enough that ADI felt the gap in formal instruction was worth addressing, according to Sophia Huang, BC ’29. The workshop introduced students to the concept of context engineering, which Shaina Sahu, SEAS ’27, described as not just writing a prompt, but optimizing “the rest of the relevant information that you would feed into the model.” Without that, students said that AI-generated code can fail at scale or introduce difficult-to-detect bugs. Genawi said the shift toward AI has changed what it means to be good at computer science. “I think the shift has kind of gone towards what can you create and what can you do, instead of, what do you know,” she said. Indeed, during ADI DevFest, its annual hackathon, Li said more teams are trying to complete their projects than in years past. While sign-ups have historically outpaced submissions, Li said this is beginning to change because teams “have a tool that completes the vision for them.” While many students see AI as an equalizer that lowers the barrier to entry for coding and technical work, Murphy said it also creates new equity concerns inside the classroom around who can afford stronger tools and who already knows how to use them. “The equity issues I worry about are students who have access to paid versions of things versus free versions of things,” he said. Although popular AI models like ChatGPT and Claude have free versions available, both have paid models that can reach over $100 per month, which output different qualities of code. Murphy also pointed to differences in prior exposure to AI literacy itself. “Students who go to high schools or K-12 education, where they’re taught AI literacy, prompt engineering, context engineering, they understand how to do this, as opposed to students who go to schools who don’t teach that,” he said. “Then they come in, and then they’re somehow expected to know how to use these tools.” For Genawi, those disparities begin long before students arrive on campus. “It’s very interesting to consider how lucky you were geographically,” she said. “To be born where you were is influencing your ability to get access to these spaces.” Students like Yu, though broadly apprehensive about the future of computer science, are not without hope. “I’m optimistic, because I think if you’re truly passionate about CS, there will definitely be a place in the field to do something you want to do,” she said. Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at ria.vasishtha@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Staff Writer Arjun Menon can be contacted at arjun.menon@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Produced with Spectate by Emily Ta
On Nick Foles and No. 9
People outside Philadelphia and this fan base miss the point with Foles.
Scientists Develop New Antibody For Virus That Infects 95% of People
A crucial milestone.
Scientists Develop New Antibody For Virus That Infects 95% of People
A crucial milestone.
UISD launches Mental Health Fairs in May
One in five young people struggles with a mental health condition, and United ISD is taking action.
3 Medical Routines That Older People May Not Need
Some screenings and treatments no longer make sense for patients as they age. Researchers have just added a few more to the list.
Grand Forks Public Health advises against using kratom products without medical oversight
Kratom is a plant, native to Southeast Asia, that is used in products that people ingest to self-treat pain, anxiety, depression and opioid withdrawal. The products are not FDA approved.
The politics of Trump's ballroom
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — President Trump was about a half-hour into his second speech of the day, musing about the danger he faced last week at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “Saturday night, it was good for one thing. People are loving my ballroom now,” Trump told a crowd last night. “That’s the only thing. They love my ballroom.” Ever since he was hustled off stage at the Washington Hilton last week, after an attempted shooter breached the dinner’s security perimeter and sent guests diving to the floor, the president has argued that the incident is proof for why his White House ballroom is needed. Only his planned $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project, Trump has reasoned, can keep a president truly safe at major events. It’s true that a bunch of GOP lawmakers have jumped on board with new legislation and words of support for Trump’s project. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. Rand Paul and other prominent Republicans went on TV to talk about the need for a ballroom. But as we reported at The Washington Post this week, “people” aren’t really changing their minds on Trump’s ballroom. A new Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found that most Americans still oppose the ballroom project: 56 percent against it versus 28 percent in favor. The numbers are the same as a poll from last year, the Post’s polling whiz Scott Clement found. Other new polls have found similar margins, too. “I’m just not a giant fan, especially of extravagance,” one independent voter told me. “I mean, in the era we’re in right now, given how much people are struggling, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to spend $400 million on a ballroom.” How we got here The Washington Post has followed Trump’s ballroom project very closely. (My colleague Jonathan Edwards may have written the most total words of any reporter about the project; I may be second.) The project exploded as a national issue after Trump tore down the White House’s East Wing after initially promising not to touch it.1 Historic preservationists sued, and about a month ago, a federal judge ordered a halt to ballroom construction.2 The only way the ballroom could proceed, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled, was if Congress explicitly authorized Trump’s plans. (An appeals court has stayed Leon’s order for now.) The judge’s ruling raised an obvious question: would Congress authorize the project? Keep in mind, “authorization” doesn’t mean that Congress needs to necessarily fund the planned $400 million project; they could just sign off on the private donations that Trump has solicited to pay for the ballroom.3 But GOP lawmakers really didn’t want to talk about the ballroom, we reported at The Post just a few weeks ago. One major reason was the ballroom’s bad polling — not a small detail with many of their own midterm elections looming. The White House Correspondents’ Dinner incident, and Trump’s advocacy, may have changed the political conversation around the ballroom. As this week’s polling shows, it doesn’t seem to have affected the fundamental questions surrounding the project. To put it another way, voters still say that cost-of-living concerns are top-of-mind heading into the midterms. Some Republican and independent voters have told me that they see the ballroom as a vanity project that will help Trump but do nothing for their own lives. It might not help Republicans that Trump has dismissed some of the cost-of-living concerns. He’s described “affordability” as a buzzword manufactured by Democrats whose policies helped cause inflation. “They’ve got one good line of bullshit,” Trump said in his first speech yesterday, delivered at a Florida retirement community known as The Villages. Thanks for reading Dan Diamond's newsletter! Subscribe for free to stay up-to-date on my work. Subscribe Speaking of Trump’s speeches… I’m down in Florida because it’s my “duty week” as a White House reporter — basically, I follow the president wherever he goes. (And then hand the baton off to one of my Washington Post colleagues next week.) As part of my duty week, I’ve spent a few days covering the White House’s reaction to Saturday’s attempted shooting, including officials’ review of the security protocols to protect the president. Trump was restrained in the wake of the incident, addressing the nation from the White House briefing room about the need for peaceful dialogue and trying to lower the temperature. But he’s clearly been itching to get back out of the White House, and I was curious to hear how his Florida speeches would go. And — to my ears — it was an unburdened Trump. Not the one we saw Saturday night in the White House briefing room, but the one we witnessed on the campaign trail in 2024. Loose, dropping profanities, mocking everyone, including members of his team. “We have a man here who knows more about Medicaid, Medicare, medical crap than any human being. Where’s Dr. Oz? Where the hell are you, stand up,” Trump said, referring to Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “It’s the most boring trip I’ve ever made. He’s telling me about Medicare, Medicaid. All I want to do is take care of you, I don’t care. I said, ‘You work out the details.’” I wrote up the speech, as Trump headed to West Palm Beach to deliver more remarks a few hours later. The White House didn’t like my story. Their rapid-response team called it the work of a “total loser”4 and “a miserable TDS-ridden moron.” You can be the judge of whether it’s a fair story or the product of someone afflicted with “TDS.” (The White House’s shorthand for “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”) I’ve pasted the story below with a gift link, meaning that you don’t need to be a Washington Post subscriber to read it. It might prompt you for an email address, though. Meanwhile, I’ll be down in Florida for the rest of the weekend, covering the president. It’s TBD whether those stories will be deemed TDS-afflicted, too. 1 Jonathan details the past six months of ballroom fallout, reactions and the implications for executive authority here. I also had a great time talking about Trump’s ballroom and other projects with Australia’s ABC News Daily on a podcast this week. 2 The judge allowed underground construction and national security-related work to continue. But that hasn’t been enough for Trump, who says the ballroom itself is essential for his protection. 3 The ballroom donors include companies like Palantir, Google and Amazon. For transparency, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post, where I work. No one has ever interfered with our team’s coverage of the ballroom or our mentions of Amazon or Bezos, and if that changed, I’d speak out. 4 To be fair, I’ve spent the morning working on stories and writing this Substack post rather than enjoying the beautiful Florida weather. So they may be onto something about who’s winning and who’s losing.
NYC hospitals gearing up for nightmarish World Cup diseases as fans descend on metro
Hospitals in New Jersey and New York, along with millions of their medical personnel, have been undergoing intense training for the past two years to deal with the 1.2 million people from around the...
What's wrong with buying Chicago concert and sports tickets? Here's what you told us
Added fees and secondary market prices are keeping many people away from pricey events. For some of them, that's the only solution.
What Trump’s post as a Jesus‑like figure tells us about political messianism
In a democracy, it’s dangerous for leaders to see themselves as better than or morally superior to the people they serve.