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Rite Aid is plotting an immediate wind-down of operations at dozens of additional locations as it scrambles this week to sell off its pharmacy assets and retail operations to potential bidders. The drugstore chain, which last week sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time, has marked 68 locations in seven states for closure, meaning it wants to promptly start the process of going-out-of-business sales. The list was disclosed in a filing on Friday with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Interested parties have until May 19 to object to the additional closings, according to the filing. Fast Company has reached out to R…

Humans have long been transfixed by the moon, awed and inspired by its reassuring presence in the night sky and its influence on the tides. In recent decades, though, our fascination with our nearest celestial neighbor has become somewhat more opportunistic: The moon contains valuable resources, and governments and companies are eager to get their hands on them. One such resource is helium-3 (He-3), a gas that some experts say could unlock clean and abundant energy on Earth as a fuel for fusion. It’s this gas that Interlune, a Seattle-based startup, has its sights on. The company wants to be the first to commercialize space resources, starting with He-3, which it pla…

White smoke poured from the Sistine Chapel chimney Thursday at 6:07 p.m. local time, signaling the end of the conclave and the election of a new pope to lead the Catholic Church. Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of the United States is now the 267th pope, taking the name Pope Leo XIV. Just a minute later, the folks behind Pope Crave broke their silence: “We don’t claim him,” they posted to their 93,000 followers, beating even the Vatican News portal to the update. “His views better have changed since 2012 to be more in line with Papa Francis or else . . . apostasy!” they added. If you’re late to the party, Pope Crave is a parody account modeled after celebrity news…

The stock price of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is sinking yet again this morning after reports that the private healthcare company is now under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over possible Medicare fraud. The company says it has not been notified by the DOJ about the alleged investigation, which was reported by the Wall Street Journal. As of the time of this writing, UNH shares are currently down over 6% to $289.20 per share in premarket trading. UNH shares have not seen that low since 2020. Before today’s premarket fall, UNH shares had already been hammered since 2025 began. The stock closed at $308 yesterday, marking a more th…

Shares of Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) were up nearly 10% on Thursday after the company fired CEO Ashley Buchanan after just four months on the job, appointing Chairman Michael Bender as interim chief executive officer effective immediately. Buchanan’s termination comes after an investigation by Kohl’s‘ board found he violated the company’s code of conduct twice, and was involved in undisclosed conflicts of interest stemming from a personal relationship with a vendor, according to the Wall Street Journal. “Buchanan’s termination is unrelated to the Company’s performance, financial reporting, results of operations and did not involve any other Company personnel,”…

When the federal government shutdown on October 1, it started a chain reaction of income problems for federal workers. Roughly 900,000 government employees are now on furlough. Another 700,000 are working without pay because their jobs are too critical for them to stay home. To add insult to entirely preventable injury, the current administration has indicated that it may not provide the legally mandated back pay to these workers once the shutdown is over. Considering the fact that getting another job during the furlough may require the government employee’s agency approval (and wouldn’t help critical employees working without a paycheck), the shutdown could be a pers…

In summer 2019, Bob McDonough took a full stack web development coding bootcamp at the University of Pennsylvania. An English-turned-telecommunications major in college, McDonough had been working at a bar while sending out job applications for positions he barely wanted. Most paid below $50,000 a year, an undesirable salary for a 27-year-old in Philadelphia. McDonough says his “degree really wasn’t doing it” for him. “So, I figured I’d add a certificate to stack my résumé,” he says. What McDonough was doing was upskilling—the practice of learning new skills or sharpening old ones to attain maximum desirability in the job market. While taking this web dev course,…

The average adult spends five hours and 48 minutes each day looking at their phones. Heineken thinks that’s way too much time and has launched a new campaign encouraging people to put their devices down and socialize more in person. Ideally, with a beer of course. With consumers spending 88 days per year scrolling on their phones, the Dutch brewer this week is kicking off a “Social Off Socials” marketing blitz that’s built around the premise that adults acknowledge they spend too much time online, but also feel trapped in a vicious cycle of social media addiction. Heineken commissioned a study of 17,000 adults of legal drinking in the U.S., U.K., and seven ot…

Skywatchers, you’re in for a treat. You’re going to want to look up into the night late Monday, May 5 into the early hours of Tuesday, May 6, to see the debris of Halley’s comet as it lights up the sky with a meteor shower called the Eta Aquarids. Here’s everything you need to know about the Eta Aquarids and the chance to see debris from Halley’s comet in 2025. What are Halley’s comet and the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, anyway? While Halley’s comet itself only travels around the sun every 75 or so years, each time it returns to the inner solar system, it sprays debris (ice and rock) into space, which results in two meteor showers each year: the Eta Aquarids in …

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. CEOs and other business leaders are scrambling to understand how customers might respond to financial uncertainty brought on by tariffs and other factors roiling the markets. Early signs are not great: the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index in April fell for the fourth straight…

Haliey Welch, better known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” is ready for a rebrand. After being thrust into the spotlight in 2024, thanks to her now-iconic “hawk tuah” catchphrase—featured in a video interview uploaded by the Tim & Dee TV YouTube channel—Welch experienced a crash course in the highs and lows of viral fame. In early December, she announced the launch of her own cryptocurrency meme coin, $HAWK. The coin quickly tanked, leaving fans upset and prompting an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “Anyhoo, I’m gonna go bed,” Welch said as she ended a livestream on X on December 4. She wasn’t heard from again until three month…