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The company took a break from securitization during the first quarter but was able to get a deal done shortly after the fiscal period ended. View the full article

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta exceeded its funding commitment by nearly $1 million, while its Dallas counterpart gave out $2 million in 2024. View the full article

A reader writes: I’m a manager at a large organization and am almost always in the midst of a recruitment process for one role or another. Our hiring and interview guides are built to stop as much bias from creeping in as possible. In practice, this means that I usually have a set of questions that I plan to ask all candidates, and then I leave time for candidates’ questions. Unless they ask our recruiter, they don’t generally get given any information on the format ahead of time, nor are they asked to prepare anything. Today, however, I was surprised. A candidate walked into the interview room with his laptop and, after pleasantries, proceeded to tell me he had a presentation he wanted to make that would take 15-20 minutes! This threw me off, and I quickly reacted by saying that I felt that would take up too much time and we would stick to a regular question and answer format — which he actually did quite well at. In a conversation with some other hiring managers, others said they’ve seen this happen lately as well. This makes me wonder: should I have allowed him to present? Is this something that job-seekers are now routinely doing? I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here. The post a job candidate tried to give us a presentation we didn’t want appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Is a side hustle really the only thing separating you from the life you desire? Listening to some influencers on social media could certainly have you thinking so. Side hustles encompass a range of self-directed entrepreneurial activities undertaken while also working a job. For young people with limited access to capital, they’re the most accessible opportunity to engage in entrepreneurship. Yet, we still know very little about who takes them on and why, and what kind of impact they have on working life in economies like Australia. Our new report, Side Hustles: How Young People Are Redefining Work, presents the first wave of findings from an ongoing three-year, mixed-methods study that seeks to answer these questions. In our first year of data collection, we surveyed 1,497 side hustlers ages 18 to 34 and interviewed a further 68. Our findings raise questions about the merits of entrepreneurship as a solution to youth unemployment or a pathway to financial freedom. What makes a side hustle? To be included in our project, a young person had to be employed, but also carrying out some form of entrepreneurship. We defined entrepreneurship as self-directed economic activity, where the side hustler has some measure of control over when they work, who they work for, and what they charge. The most popular side hustle among participants was selling goods (42.9%). Others included: services such as gardening, dog-walking or moving furniture (29.2%) creating media content (16.5%) creative work such as graphic design or photography (11.3%). Side hustling could include some “gig work” through online platforms, but only when these platforms allow workers to negotiate prices with clients and make choices about their work. As such, we excluded ride-share and food delivery drivers from the project. Projects for the privileged While some people may assume that young people start a side hustle out of financial stress, we found side hustlers are actually a relatively privileged cohort. They are a well-educated group. Almost two-thirds of our sample had university degrees and many of the remainder were studying. They also generally report their financial well-being as comfortable. Why is this? Side hustles often don’t make much money, cost money to set up, and carry risk—all of the hallmarks of entrepreneurship. Median hourly earnings from their side hustles are less than what they would make working in retail or hospitality, and on average they are about 50% what they make in their main job. As one e-commerce side-hustler put it: “If I really put my time and energy into the consideration, I would say we’re not making much money at all. … It’s just something I enjoy doing in my free time.” Their side-hustle earnings are also uncertain: 65% say they are unsure what their earnings will look like in three months. In other words, you need to be financially secure already to even contemplate a side hustle. Passion over pay Side hustles don’t make enough to help someone who is really financially struggling, and they are unlikely to be a pathway out of the employment “rat race.” Despite this, our participants are overwhelmingly satisfied with their side hustles and say they have good work-life balance. So what motivates them? The top motivation reported in our study is passion and enjoyment. Side hustlers say they want work that relates to their interests and enjoy the autonomy and flexibility that a side hustle allows. Even though side hustles are often less profitable than a second job, the second-highest motivation was still money. That’s likely because they offer a way of making some supplementary income in a way that is flexible and autonomous. They’re often a source of “play money.” One 33-year-old man with an e-commerce side hustle told us: “If I was to pick up a second job, like … Uber driving at night time, I won’t be happy. I’ll be tired. I’ll be stressed out trying to do that. Whereas, I think because I’ve got the passion for it here, I’m happy to do it because, like I said, I’m doing it at my own pace.” Pressure to be productive Our research suggests that rather than being a pathway out of unemployment, side hustles actually represent a broader social and economic trend: More and more of young people’s lives are being encompassed by work. Interviewees frequently talked about feeling like they needed to make their time outside of work productive in some way. For some, it was as though they could not justify leisure time unless it was financially profitable. One participant told us: “You obviously want to enjoy life and have a bit of a chill time, but some days you just go, like, ‘What am I doing? Just sitting at home and just relaxing watching Netflix or whatever. I should probably be out there making more money.’ ” Blurring work life boundaries? Most participants were also not very concerned about growing their side hustles into businesses. Instead, they aspired for balanced working lives with a side hustle offering passion, flexibility, and autonomous work, and paid employment supporting them financially and offering the option of a traditional career. They also did not necessarily see the time spent on their side hustles as work, being much more personally invested and self-directed in their side hustles than in their paid jobs. But this means that much of their “leisure” time looks very much like work, and more and more of their lives are dedicated to being productive. David Farrugia is an ARC Future Fellow at the School of Education at Deakin University. Brendan Churchill is an ARC senior research fellow and senior lecturer in sociology at The University of Melbourne. Kim Allen is a professor of sociology of youth and culture at the University of Leeds. Stephanie Patouras is a research officer and PhD candidate at Deakin University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

A U.S. lawmaker plans to introduce legislation in coming weeks to verify the location of artificial-intelligence chips like those made by Nvidia after they are sold. The effort to keep tabs on the chips, which drew bipartisan support from U.S. lawmakers, aims to address reports of widespread smuggling of Nvidia’s chips into China in violation of U.S. export control laws. Nvidia’s chips are a critical ingredient for creating AI systems such as chatbots, image generators and more specialized ones that can help craft biological weapons. Both President Donald The President and his predecessor, Joe Biden, have implemented progressively tighter export controls of Nvidia’s chips to China. But Reuters and other news organizations have documented how some of those chips have continued to flow into China, and Nvidia has publicly claimed it cannot track its products after they are sold. U.S. Representative Bill Foster, a Democrat from Illinois who once worked as a particle physicist, said the technology to track chips after they are sold is readily available, with much of it already built in to Nvidia’s chips. Independent technical experts interviewed by Reuters agreed. Foster, who successfully designed multiple computer chips during his scientific career, plans to introduce in coming weeks a bill that would direct U.S. regulators to come up with rules in two key areas: Tracking chips to ensure they are where they are authorized to be under export control licenses, and preventing those chips from booting up if they are not properly licensed under export controls. Foster told Reuters that there are already credible reports – some of which have not been publicly disclosed – of chip smuggling occurring on a large scale. “This is not an imaginary future problem,” Foster told Reuters. “It is a problem now, and at some point we’re going to discover that the Chinese Communist Party, or their military, is busy designing weapons using large arrays of chips, or even just working on (artificial general intelligence), which is as immediate as nuclear technology.” Nvidia declined to comment for this story. Chip smuggling has taken on new urgency after the emergency of China’s DeepSeek, whose AI systems posed a strong challenge to U.S. systems and were built with Nvidia chips that were prohibited for sale to China, according analyst firm SemiAnalysis. Prosecutors in Singapore have charged three Chinese nationals with fraud in a case that involved servers that may have contained Nvidia chips. Though it has not been put into broad use, the technology to verify the location of chips already exists. Alphabet’s Google already tracks the location of its in-house AI chips and others in its vast network of data centers for security purposes, according to two sources with direct knowledge of its operations. Google did not respond to a request for comment. Foster’s legislation would give the U.S. Department of Commerce six months to come up with regulations to require the technology. Bipartisan support Foster’s bill has support from fellow Democrats such as Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking member on the House Select Committee on China. “On-chip location verification is one creative solution we should explore to stop this smuggling,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement. Republicans are also supportive, with Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the committee, telling Reuters that “the Select Committee has strong bipartisan support for requiring companies like Nvidia to build location-tracking into their high-powered AI chips — and the technology to do it already exists. The technology for verifying the location of chips would rely on the chips communicating with a secured computer server that would use the length of time it takes for the signal to reach the server to verify where chips are, a concept that relies on knowing that computer signals move at the speed of light. Tim Fist, a former engineer and director of emerging technology policy at Washington think tank Institute for Progress, said such tracking would provide a general, country-level location for chips. But that is far more information than the Bureau of Industry and Security, the arm of the U.S. Commerce Department responsible for enforcement of export controls, currently has. “BIS has no idea which chips they should be targeting as a potential high priority to investigate once they’ve gone overseas,” Fist said. With location verification, “they now at least have bucketed the set of chips that are out there in the world into ones that are very likely to not have been smuggled and ones that warrant further investigation.” Foster’s second legislative goal of preventing AI chips from booting up if they are not properly licensed under U.S. export controls would be more technologically complex to implement than location verification, but he said the time has come to begin discussions for both efforts. “We’ve gotten enough input that I think now we can have more detailed discussions with the actual chip and module providers to say, ‘How would you actually implement this?'” Foster told Reuters. —Stephen Nellis and Max A. Cherney, Reuters View the full article

About to jump in with technology? Hold on. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

About to jump in with technology? Hold on. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

The The President administration says the sweeping tariffs it unveiled April 2, then postponed for 90 days, have a simple goal: Force other countries to drop their trade barriers to U.S. goods. Yet President Donald The President’s definition of trade barriers includes a slew of issues well beyond the tariffs other countries impose on the U.S., including some areas not normally associated with trade disputes. Those include agricultural safety requirements, tax systems, currency exchange rates, product standards, legal requirements, and red tape at the border. He’s given countries three months to come up with concessions before tariffs ranging from 10% to more than 50% go into effect. Tariffs on China are already in effect. On many issues it will be difficult, or in some cases impossible, for many countries to make a deal and lower their tariff rates. In addition, many trade officials from targeted countries say privately that it isn’t always clear what the The President administration wants from them in the negotiations. Vice President JD Vance announced that India has agreed to the terms of trade talks with the United States, but other countries are still trying to set the contours for any negotiations. The White House has highlighted conflicting goals for its import taxes: It’s seeking to raise revenues and bring manufacturing back to the U.S., but it also wants greater access to foreign markets and massive changes to other nations’ tax and regulatory policies. Here are several non-tariff areas the administration is targeting: CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATES The President has accused Germany, China and Japan of “global freeloading” by — in his view — devaluing their currencies to make their exports cheaper. The European Central bank has been cutting interest rates to support growth. That could also weaken the euro, which has strengthened sharply against the dollar since The President took office. The ECB says it doesn’t target the exchange rate. In Japan’s case, the Bank of Japan has been gradually raising rates anyway after keeping them at zero or in negative territory for years, which should drive the yen up against the dollar. The U.S. dollar has fallen recently to 140-yen levels, down from about 160 yen last summer. Shrikant Kale, a strategist at Jefferies, believes the dollar will fall to 120 yen over the next 18 months. FARM PRODUCTS Agricultural safeguards against importing pests or health hazards have been a sticking point with U.S. trade partners for years. They include Japan’s restrictions on rice and potato imports, the EU’s ban on hormone-treated beef or chlorine-disinfected chickens and Korea’s ban on beef from cows more than 30 months old. Yet changes face stiff political resistance from voters and farm lobbies in those countries. For years, U.S. potato growers have sought access to Japan’s potential $150 million market for table potatoes. Japan has engaged in talks but taken years simply to supply a list of concerns to U.S. negotiators. The delay is “pure politics,” intended to protect domestic growers, says National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles. If Japanese politicians perceive the pain from The President’s tariffs might be worse than from their own potato growers, “that makes it more likely to make a deal,” Quarles said. But “if they perceive the pain domestically will be worse than the The President administration can bring to them … we’re going to be stuck where we are.” Korea’s beef restrictions started as a measure to keep out bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. The 30-month rule has been maintained in the wake of mass protests in 2008, even as the U.S. has become the largest beef exporter to Korea. “It’s still politically controversial because of the scar at the time in 2008. I think the government will be very cautious,” said Jaemin Lee, professor of law at Seoul National University and an expert on trade issues. TAXATION The President has railed against value-added tax as a burden to U.S. companies, although economists say this kind of tax is trade-neutral because it applies equally to imports and exports. Value-added tax, or VAT, is paid by the end purchaser at the cash register but differs from sales taxes in that it is calculated at each stage of the production process. The President’s view could mean higher tariffs for Europe, where individual countries levy VAT of 20% or more depending on the type of good, and for the more than 170 countries that use this kind of tax system. The U.S. is an outlier in that it doesn’t use VAT; instead, individual states levy sales taxes. There’s little chance countries will change their tax systems for The President. The EU for one has said VAT is off the table. “The domestic taxation system has not been a conventional topic in trade negotiation because domestic taxation is directly related to national sovereignty or the domestic economic regime,” trade expert Lee said. “It’s very hard to understand why VAT has become an important topic in the trade discussion.” PRODUCT STANDARDS U.S. officials have complained about Japan’s non-recognition of U.S vehicle safety standards and its different testing procedures for car equipment. Japan also provides subsidies for the Japanese-designed ChaDeMo plug standard for electric cars, requiring foreign makers to use an outdated technology if they want the subsidy. BUREAUCRACY Concerns about excessive or baffling bureaucratic procedures to get goods into a country are mentioned repeatedly in the administration’s latest trade assessment. The U.S. has complained about expensive delays getting permission to export seafood to Japan. Meanwhile, Japan requires wheat imports to be sold to a government entity and has “highly regulated and intransparent” quota system that keeps rice imports from the U.S. to a minimum. Most of these issues are years old, raising questions about whether 90 days is enough to make a deal over them. U.S. pharmaceutical companies have complained about Korea’s system for drug imports, while automakers say environmental equipment standards are unclear and expose only importers to criminal penalties in case of violations. BUY AMERICAN Analysts say that despite the long list of non-tariff issues, the administration’s main focus may lie elsewhere: on The President’s desire to reduce trade deficits, cases where a country sells more to the U.S. than it buys. And the solution may be other countries buying more U.S. products, from energy to soybeans, and builingd more plants in the U.S. U.S. energy is already a major export to Europe. The President has mentioned a figure of $350 billion for potential EU gas imports. The EU does need imported gas. But The President’s figure would be a stretch given that last year’s exports of liquefied natural gas to the EU were around $13 billon, and that Europe is seeking to reduce its use of fossil fuels over the longer term. THE HEART OF THE MATTER? Discussions about non-tariff issues may simply be leverage to underpin The President’s stiff tariff levels. “It’s just a thing that’s there to justify my tariffs,” said Tobias Gehrke, senior policy fellow at the European Council of Foreign Relations. While lower level trade officials and industry representatives are acutely aware of non-tariff issues like agricultural safety, “The President and his cabinet… don’t really care about chlorinated chicken regulations in Europe and food standards,” Gehrke said. “They have much bigger thinking.” “They want to have European companies significantly move production to America… and to export from America to Europe. That would change the trade balance.” “And if that’s the main logic, then there’s no real deal to be had on non-tariff barriers.” Rugaber contributed from Washington DC and Kageyama from Tokyo. —David McHugh, Christopher Rugaber and Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writers View the full article

Plan to be announced by European Commission aimed at forcing member states to end imports of Russian gas View the full article

A teenager who admitted being “addicted to speed” behind the wheel had totaled two other cars in the year before he slammed into a minivan at 112 mph (180 kph) in a Seattle suburb, killing the driver and three of the five children she was transporting for a homeschool co-op. After sentencing Chase Daniel Jones last month to more than 17 years in prison, the judge tacked on a novel condition should he drive again: His vehicle must be equipped with a device that prevents accelerating far beyond the speed limit. Virginia this year became the first state to give its judges such a tool to deal with the most dangerous drivers on the road. Washington, D.C., already is using it and similar measures await governors’ signatures in Washington state and Georgia. New York and California also could soon tap the GPS-based technology to help combat a recent national spike in traffic deaths. “It’s a horror no one should have to experience,” said Amy Cohen, who founded the victims’ advocacy group Families for Safe Streets after her 12-year-old son, Sammy Cohen Eckstein, was killed by a speeding driver in front of their New York home more than a decade ago. Turning tragedy into activism Andrea Hudson, 38, the minivan driver who was killed when Jones ran a red light, was building a backyard greenhouse with her husband to help educate several kids who shuttle between homes during the school day, her father, Ted Smith, said. Also killed in the March 2024 crash near Hudson’s home in Renton, Washington, were Boyd “Buster” Brown and Eloise Wilcoxson, both 12, and Matilda Wilcoxson, 13. Hudson’s two children were sitting on the passenger side and survived, but they spent weeks in a hospital. “You always hear of these horrific accidents, and it’s always far away, you don’t know anybody. But all of a sudden, that’s my daughter,” Smith said. “This guy did not swerve or brake. And it was just a missile.” Smith knew Washington state Rep. Mari Leavitt, who reached out to offer condolences and tell him she was sponsoring legislation to mandate intelligent speed assistance devices as a condition for habitual speeders to get back their suspended licenses. Leavitt predicts it will have an even more powerful impact than revoking driving privileges, citing studies showing around three-quarters of people who lose their licenses get behind a wheel anyway. Between 2019 and 2024, the state saw a 200% increase in drivers cited for going at least 50 mph (80 kph) over the speed limit, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. “I guess I don’t understand why someone is compelled to want to drive that fast,” Leavitt said. “But if they choose to drive that fast with the speed limiter, they can’t. It’s going to stop them in their tracks.” The measure, which Washington legislators passed last month and Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson is expected to soon sign, is called the BEAM Act, using the first letters of the names of the four victims: Buster, Eloise, Andrea and Matilda. Because Jones, 19, didn’t receive a speeding ticket in his two previous crashes, he likely wouldn’t have been required to use the speed-limiter ahead of the fatal one. And because it could be 2029 before the law takes effect, the judge’s requirement at sentencing only applies to his time on probation after being released from prison, Smith said. Evolution of a safety tool Competing tech companies that joined forces to lobby for ignition interlock requirements for drunken drivers have been working in unison again the last few years to pitch intelligent speed assistance. Brandy Nannini, chief government affairs officer at one manufacturer, Grapevine, Texas-based Smart Start, said fleet vehicles including school buses in the nation’s capital have been trying it out for years. But it took a lot of refinement before the GPS technology could instantly recognize speed limit changes and compel vehicles with the devices installed to adjust accordingly. “We’ve got a lot more satellites in the sky now,” said Ken Denton, a retired police officer who is the chief compliance officer at Cincinnati-based LifeSafer, part of the coalition of companies. When court-mandated, the devices would prevent cars from exceeding speed limits or whatever threshold regulators set. An override button allows speeding in emergencies, but states can decide whether to activate it and authorities would be alerted any time the button is pushed. A more passive version, which beeps to alert drivers when they are going too fast, is required for new cars in the European Union. California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar proposal last year, explaining vehicle safety requirements are set by the federal government and he was concerned a patchwork of state laws could stir confusion. Parents take up the cause Before Del. Patrick Hope agreed to sponsor the proposal in the Virginia Legislature, he tried out the device in Nannini’s car, which was calibrated to not go more than 9 mph (14 kph) over the speed limit. “That was my first question: Is it safe?” Hope said. Not only did he come away convinced it was safe, Hope is now pondering whether to install it on the cars of his three children, all of whom are new drivers. For those mandated by a court, the price could be hefty: $4 per day and a $100 installation fee. The fee would be reduced for low-income offenders. Cohen with Families for Safe Streets, which provides support services to the loved ones of crash victims, knows firsthand the kind of impact slowing down speeders can make. A year after her son was struck and killed in front of their New York apartment, another boy was injured in the same spot. By then, the road’s speed limit had been lowered. “That boy lived when he was hit, and mine did not,” she said. “When you are going a few miles slower, there’s more time to stop. And when you hit somebody, it’s much less likely to be deadly.” —Jeff McMurray, Associated Press View the full article

Apple has been under fire for several years after it was discovered that Siri violated user privacy, and the company earlier this year agreed to a $95 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit, which includes compensation for affected users. Eligible individuals can now apply for their share of the total. The dispute centered on Siri-enabled devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac, HomePod, iPod touch, and Apple TV, which may have activated and recorded and shared private conversations without user knowledge. If you qualify for the settlement class, you'll receive $20 for each device claimed—up to five devices per individual for a total of $100—though it could be less if too many class members come forward. Am I eligible for a Siri settlement payout? The settlement covers Siri-enabled Apple devices purchased or owned between Sept. 17, 2014 and Dec. 31, 2024. If you can attest that your device accidentally triggered Siri during a private or confidential conversation, you're eligible for a payout. Individuals can submit claims for up to five Siri devices. The deadline to submit a claim is July 2, 2025, though it could take awhile to actually see any settlement cash. The court is scheduled to hold a final approval hearing on the case on August 1, and appeals after that meeting could delay payouts. How to submit a Siri settlement claimTo claim your piece of the Siri settlement pie, you'll need to submit a claim form online. If you received a personalized postcard or email about the suit containing a claim identification number (Notice ID) and confirmation code, you'll use those to log into the site and begin the claims process. If you didn't get a notice but believe you are eligible, select New Claim. You'll need to fill out some personal information—name, address, phone number, and email—as well as the email address attached to your Siri device(s). You'll also need to either upload proof of purchase for each device you are claiming or provide the serial and model numbers. To finalize the form, select a payment option, complete the attestation statement, and hit Submit. Alternatively, you can do nothing—or you can opt out of the settlement. You won't receive any money in either situation, but with the latter, you retain your right to sue Apple in the future on claims related to this case. Instructions for requesting exclusion (also with a July 2 deadline) are detailed on the settlement page FAQ. View the full article

Austin has been on a building boom since it started becoming a tech hub. The Texas city has seen its skyline shift and its fortunes grow. Major tech firms like Apple and Amazon have established key offices, and in the 2010s alone, the city grew 21%, adding 171,000 residents. It now has more than 974,000, the 10th largest in the country. Builders have raced to erect housing for these new arrivals; Austin has seen a boom in market rate apartments in recent years—so much that it led rents to decrease after years of big jumps. And in recent years, according to a new report, part of that building boom has included affordable housing, including permanent housing for the formerly unhoused, low-cost studio units, and even housing for teachers. Austin’s affordable housing construction pipeline outpaces all other U.S. cities, according to research from Yardi Matrix, a real estate data source. In 2024, the city delivered 4,605 affordable units—defined as properties that agree to limit rents as a condition of a tax credit or subsidy. That’s double the rate in 2023. The research shows Austin will also deliver the most affordable units this year, 3,452—more than LA’s 2,752, despite the California city having more than four times as many people. And Austin will continue to lead, with the forecast of units in the pipeline through 2027 showing Austin with 9,528, compared to Seattle’s 6,289. Yardi Matrix “We want to ensure that the population that made Austin what Austin is can stay in Austin,” said James May, Housing and Community Development Officer for the City of Austin Housing Department. It’s also worth mentioning that Austin’s changing demographics are playing a large role in the housing market. As the city continues to morph from a capital and college town to a tech and healthcare nexus, wealth and median income have risen. A recent city memo noted that the city’s housing market had dramatically changed since it laid out its housing plan in the mid 2010s—median home sale price has risen by 58%, and rents went from an average of $1,350 in 2017 to a peak of $1,709 in 2022—so Austin needs to recalibrate its strategy and focus more on deeply affordable units. “Austin used to be a city of musicians and artists, and now income and rent are far higher than what it was 10 years ago,” said Heather Way, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who specializes in housing law. Yardi Matrix May credited the growth in affordable housing in Austin to three factors. First, was community: Multiple providers including the city, county, housing authority, and private builders have been looking to invest in new housing, with private developers investing in significant new construction using the city’s density-bonus program. The second was money. A series of local bonds for affordable housing raised significant funds for new construction, including a 2022 bond for $350 million, which helped fund new affordable units. In addition, the construction of new transit lines included $300 million in anti-displacement funds that also helped pay for new buildings. May said the city recently purchased a 100-acre property formerly owned by the Top Deal electronic company that it plans to use for mixed-income development, which will include affordable housing. And finally, the third pillar was regulatory reform. The city council has passed many initiatives in recent years to increase density and make it easier to build: transit-oriented development rules allowed for higher buildings near bus and train lines, Affordability Unlocked allowed housing development on land zoned for commercial projects, and the HOME Initiative shrunk the required lot size for homes and made it legal to build multiple units on lots zoned for single-family homes. But even with that surge, it’s still not enough. Despite Austin’s recent lead, the construction rate still lags well behind what’s actually needed to provide sufficient access to affordable housing: tens of thousands of new units would be needed to adequately meet the demand. A record-breaking number of evictions in the surrounding county last year attest to the pressure renters feel making ends meet. And while new supply is definitely a step in the right direction, what isn’t being built is deeply affordable housing. Defined as housing that can support those making around 30% of the median income; in 2023, just 63 such units were built, even though this group makes up 17% of the city’s population. Creating enough affordable units, and building more for those with extremely low incomes, will be even more challenging due to the changing landscape for construction. Stubbornly high interest rates will make getting financing more difficult. Tariffs will make materials more expensive. And the The President administration’s actions against HUD, including threats to withhold funding from sanctuary cities like Austin, might end vital federal support. “It’s going to be a tough market, we won’t see the entire pipeline go all the way through,” May said. Austin’s boost in housing production is a start. But it’s sadly far from finished. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Beats headphones are well known for their style and better compatibility with Apple devices. Both of these hold true with their flagship headphones, the Beats Studio Pro, currently $169.95 (originally $349.99), the second-lowest price it has been after a 51% discount, according to price-tracking tools. While it is compatible with Android users, Apple users will get the most out of these premium headphones. Beats Studio Pro $169.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $349.99 Save $180.04 Get Deal Get Deal $169.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg $349.99 Save $180.04 The Beats Studio Pro came out in 2023 with a "good" review from PCMag, praising its sculpted sound (but warning sound-sticklers against it), comfort, premium accessories, and spatial audio with head tracking. They also said you can get much better headphones for less than their $349.99 price (which is very true) that have adjustable EQ and better active noise cancelling (ANC). However, at $169.95, these headphones are a great deal, especially if you're an Apple user. These headphones have hands-free Siri access, one-touch pairing on iOS and Android devices (through Google Fast Pair), which gives simultaneous connections with up to two devices, and a transparency mode that lets you hear your surroundings. Apple users will be able to take advantage of the AAC codecs, which work seamlessly with Apple to give much better audio quality, but have limitations with Android devices. You get a quick-access menu to control the ANC and Transparency modes, and you can also use the Find My app if you misplace your headphones. The biggest miss with the Beats Studio Pro that you would expect any premium headphones to have is an adjustable EQ. However, they have plenty of EQ presets for you to choose from. The ANC is slightly above average, which is good for its current price. You can get about 40 hours of playtime at full charge with ANC and Transparency modes off, and a 10-minute charge gives you about four hours of juice. View the full article

A reader writes: I work for a woman who is very highly respected. She is very smart and has accomplished a lot in her life. She also has had a few missteps in her past like anyone has and, although I do not know the extent of some of her previous failures, I feel I can partly link them to her business partner. She runs the day-to-day operations of the company I work at, and her business partner is mainly the financial backing to her current and her previous companies. My boss does speaking engagements and is very women-empowering, especially to women of a certain age and women of color. Her business partner, however, is very crude; he speaks down to me and all of my peers. He gets into “moods” and threatens our jobs. He uses ableist and homophobic language constantly, and my boss, for the most part, laughs it off. He inappropriately “brushes up” against me and other women at work and my boss won’t approach him about his behavior unless one of us lets her know it’s an issue. She has in the past berated him about certain issues and lets us know she is on our side, but it’s hard to feel that way when she cozies up to him right after the incident is “over.” Most of us just ignore him because that’s “just how he is.” Also, because my boss is so open and honest about her life, a lot of people feel they can confide in her, and yet she is also a big gossip and will 100% of the time tell her business partner anything confidential a coworker talks to her about, and he will repeat things to you that you thought were private. I respect my boss and her accomplishments, but I respect her less because of this person she has decided to run her business with, and it makes me not want to work for her anymore. Do I quit and let them continue their circle of misery without me in it? You quit. That could be the entirety of the answer, but I’ll say more anyway. The people we choose to be in business with says something about who we are too. That doesn’t mean that your boss is an ableist, homophobic, crude sexual harasser … but it does mean she’s not that bothered by the fact that he is. Sure, she addresses it with him when people ask her to. She clearly knows on some level that it’s not okay. But it’s okay enough with her that she doesn’t really do anything about it — not enough to actually put a stop to the issues or to stop working with him. I’m sure it’s complicated for her if he provides the financial backing! Maybe in her heart she’s deeply conflicted by accepting his help and feels trapped. But it sounds like he’s been her financial backing through multiple companies; she has had repeated opportunities to separate from him and, yet, here they still are together. And look, a lot of women end up in leadership positions working for or around abusers, and it can be hard to know the right way to navigate it — but this point she’s responsible for who she chooses to do business with, and who she chooses to subject her staff to. Maybe she didn’t know he was like this when they started their first company together. She definitely knew by the second or third. She definitely knows now. At the end of the day, she just doesn’t object to his behavior that much, and she doesn’t take it as seriously as she should. And all that’s before we get into her sharing confidential info with him, knowing he’s a gossip. Your boss may be accomplished, but that doesn’t mean she’s a good person to work for. The post my boss is great, but her business partner is a nightmare appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Levies on overseas movies going into the US would damage production hubs in countries including UK, Canada and AustraliaView the full article

Financier assumes effective control of Howard Hughes and will shift its strategy to hunt for acquisitionsView the full article

This week’s reads are all about alignment between what we do and what matters to us. Remote work gives us more options. But the real challenge? Choosing what fits. We're diving into purpose, values, freedom, and the kinds of roles that support the way you want to work. Vic Our Favorite Articles 💯Remote Real Talk: Andrew Gobran (Doist) on Career Values and Remote Job Search Strategy (Remotive)Andrew shares what it means to work with intention, not just flexibility, and how job seekers can shift their mindset to stand out. ​Read it here​. Remote Work Wasn't The Goal. Freedom Was (Reddit)A quiet reminder from the digital nomad community that it's not the laptop life we're chasing, it's what it allows. ​Check out the thread here​. Workers Say Ideal Roles Are Hybrid or Fully Remote (SIA)A new survey shows the demand for flexibility is still strong. It's not just about location: it's about having more say in how you work. ​Learn more​. Carlos Barria | ReutersGoogle Forcing Some Remote Workers To Come Back 3 Days a Week or Lose Their Jobs (CNBC)A sharp contrast to worker preferences: this headline from Google reveals the tension between flexibility and control. ​Keep reading​. This Week's Sponsor 🙌Too many emails? Declutter your inbox with Meco, your home for reading newsletters. Try it for free Remotive Jobs 💼Let's get you hired! These teams are hiring now: 💻 Engineering 👉 ​Software Engineer - Infrastructure Team at Discourse​ (Worldwide) 👉 ​Senior Backend Engineer at Volatus Health​ (Worldwide) 👉 ​Senior Front End Developer at Missive​ (Americas, Europe, Israel) 👉 ​Senior Ruby on Rails Developer at Proxify​ (CET -/+3 hours) 🎨 Design 👉 ​Web Designer (Framer) at Contra​ (Worldwide) 👉 ​3D Logo Designer at Contra​ (Worldwide) 📈 Marketing 👉 ​Content Creator/Influencer Content Creator/Influencer at JLS Trading Co​ (Worldwide) Free Guides & Tools​Public Job Board​We curate 2,000 remote jobs so you don't have to! ​Find your remote job →​ ​Exclusive Webinar​3 Mistakes to Avoid When Looking For A Remote Startup Job (And What To Do Instead) ​Register for free →​ ​Job Search Tips​Looking for a remote job? Here are our tips to help you work remotely ​Check it out → Join the Remotive newsletter Subscribe to get our latest content by email. Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription. There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. Email address Subscribe Powered by ConvertKit View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re thinking about upgrading your home security without dealing with tangled wires or tricky installations, this refurbished Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Camera—currently priced at $114.95 on Amazon with free shipping—might be worth a look. It’s a wire-free setup that mounts easily with just a few screws and connects over 2.4GHz wifi. No electrical know-how required. PCMag gave it an Editor’s Choice award, mostly thanks to its 2K HDR video, wide 160-degree field of view, and a super bright (up to) 3,000-lumen floodlight. You can dim the light if needed (it’s set at a cooler 4,000K color temp), and either turn it on manually through the Arlo Secure app or have it trigger automatically with motion. Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight Wireless Camera, Color Night Vision, Motion Sensor, 2-Way Audio, White, 1-Pack (Renewed) $114.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg Get Deal Get Deal $114.95 at Amazon /images/amazon-prime.svg What’s nice here is the smart detection system—it doesn’t just ping your phone every time a leaf blows past. Instead, it uses object detection to tell you if it saw a person, animal, or vehicle. It also has a 12x digital zoom with auto tracking, which helps the camera stay locked on moving objects in the frame. The image/video quality holds up well, especially during the day—crisp, colorful, and clear. At night, it still performs nicely with decent clarity up to about 25 feet, but the colors don't pop as much, especially in low lighting. Just a heads up, though: If you want to store footage in the cloud, you’ll need a subscription to the Arlo Secure plans. Those start at $7.99 per month for a single camera or $17.99 per month for unlimited cameras. On the smart home side, it plays well with Alexa, Google Assistant, and IFTTT, so it fits right into most setups, according to this PCMag review. As for battery life, the built-in battery lasts a few months between charges, but if that sounds like a hassle, you can pair it with a $59.99 solar panel or plug it in via Arlo’s $49.99 outdoor magnetic cable. View the full article

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 May, and the Orionids in October, creating what we know as shooting stars. (Halley’s comet was last seen in 1986, and won’t come around again until 2061.) When comets pass by the sun, the dust they emit eventually creates a “dusty trail” around their orbits. Then, when Earth passes through these trails, they interact with our atmosphere, creating those dazzling shows of light in the sky. The Eta Aquarids peak early in the month of May, and are known for their speed; they travel at about 40.7 miles per second into Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA. That’s important, because fast meteors can leave glowing incandescent “trains” of debris, which last for several seconds to minutes. During the peak of the Eta Aquarids, viewers can see up to 50 meteors each hour, depending on visibility. What’s the best time to see the Eta Aquarids meteor shower in 2025? Peak viewing is this Monday night, May 5 into Tuesday morning, May 6 in the predawn hours, according to NASA’s Bill Cooke, who told the AP that visibility will likely be affected by the moon, which will be two-thirds full. The good news: viewing opportunities will last through the month until May 28. You can view the Eta Aquarids in both the northern and southern hemispheres, but the southern hemisphere is preferable. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, viewers can expect to see about 10 meteors an hour, depending on your latitude and conditions that night. Expect to see “Earthgrazers,” which are long meteors “that appear to skim the surface of the Earth at the horizon,” per NASA. NASA viewing tips for the Eta Aquarids meteor shower Our friends at NASA offer these tips: Find a viewing spot away from city or street lights. Lie flat on your back with your feet facing east. You may want to bring a blanket or a lounge chair. Look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible. After about 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt and you will begin to see meteors. Be patient. The show will last until dawn, so you have plenty of time to catch a glimpse. View the full article

Most F1 cars can reach speeds of well over 200 mph, but the newest automobiles in the F1 stable go much much slow. Built from 400,000 Lego pieces, the life-size Lego cars can drive 12 mph—not bad for a bunch of plastic bricks. To mark the start of a multiyear partnership, the Danish toy maker created 10 drivable, full-scale Formula 1 cars that debuted at the Miami Grand Prix. The racing series’ 20 competitors, including speed demons Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, drove the Lego cars at Sunday’s prerace Drivers’ Parade for millions of fans watching from the grandstands and on television. The “big build” cars took Lego builders a collective 22,000 hours over eight months to assemble the four million pieces. It’s Lego’s most challenging project by size and scale, according to Chief Marketing Officer Julia Goldin. The cars showcase each team’s distinctive livery but share the cockpit, chassis, and components necessary to cover the circuit’s three-mile inaugural lap. “We each want to push the art of impossible, to push the boundaries,” Goldin told Fast Company in an interview on Friday at the trackside Lego Garage. Drivable, life-size Legos Lego has made a mark with life-size, or larger-than-life, public art installations at institutions from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to the Volvo Museum in Sweden. But the Formula 1 cars boast a novel distinction, says Marcel Šťastný, the project’s lead engineer: They’re ready for the race track. The nearly 1:1 scale models reach about 12 mph using automotive parts contained within the structure and authentic Pirelli tires. They herald Lego’s new Speed Champions product line based on race cars from Ferrari, McLaren, and other teams, with accessories from driver minifigures in full racing gear to replacement hub caps. Of course, they differ from actual Formula 1 cars in two key ways: performance and design. A modern F1 car uses a 1.6-liter V6 turbo engine and two electric motors to produce around 1,000 horsepower and travel upwards of 200 mph. And unlike the official single-seat race cars, Lego’s design fits two people. Lego created the dual cockpit specifically in order to accommodate each team’s driver pairs during the parade. “The beginning of the concept was really fitting two people inside, and then we built the rest of the car around the cockpit,” says Jonathan Jurion, the project’s senior designer. But making room for two people inside the car wasn’t the project’s only challenge. Since the competitors didn’t get a test run ahead of the public debut, Lego also had to create adjustable seats and pedals within the cockpit to accommodate the drivers’ heights. The project’s engineering manager specialist Martin Šmida says his team used animation runs and personal measurements to ensure a fit on race day. And then there was the compressed timeline, with the project kicking off last August. “We did 10 cars in the amount of time it would normally take to do one car,” Jurion says. “We didn’t want to cut any corners, so we had to think out of the box how to streamline the process while creating a custom design for each one.” From CAD to hand-built Despite a frenetic start off the line, the project began with the same computer-aided design exercise used by the 400-plus Lego products launched each year. “We model the cars first in the computer because it’s a huge amount of bricks,” Jurion says. “We have specialists who work on the shapes and forms, and others who work on the design of the detailing and logos.” The design then shuffles through the pipeline, to technical engineers and manufacturing engineers “who make sure that we can build these, because it’s not really an easy task,” he adds. Designers and engineers used foam mockups to collaborate on a layout that hid the drivetrain, which includes a motor and a 105 amp-hour battery. (Lego cut its teeth last year on a full-scale McLaren P1 that Lando Norris took for a spin on England’s Silverstone Circuit. But instead of traditional Lego bricks, that car used bolts, gears and pins from Lego’s advanced Technic system.) “We have special builders who really know how to build these huge builds, and they take the building instructions from the manufacturing engineers and then build them, kind of layer by layer, like we would build a house,” Jurion adds. The cars were assembled by hand at Lego’s factory in the Czech Republic but glued together for their Formula 1 debut. “All the bricks you can see are off-the-shelf bricks,” Jurion says. “Potentially, if anyone has enough bricks, they could build them at home.” “Gluing the bricks together is obviously something that we don’t want our fans to do in real life, but we had to do it so that we keep the cars together,” he added. “We don’t want to lose any bricks on track.” Multiyear growth Lego and Formula 1 alike have long had loyal fans willing to shell out top dollar for the experience, but both brands have surged in popularity—especially among women, children and families, according to Goldin—since the COVID-19 pandemic. A new audience turned, or returned, to Lego sets during lockdown, boosted by the LegoMasters reality television series, while Netflix’s Drive to Survive, now filming its eighth season, has brought millions of new fans to motorsports. Data show that F1 has seen a particular surge in growth among children between ages 8 and 12. Lego continues to grow, as well, slated to begin construction on its first U.S. factory, a $1 billion factory outside Richmond, Virginia, in mid-2027. Goldin declined to provide the total investment figure for the Formula 1 partnership but says there’s more to come. “This sets the bar high, but we definitely don’t think of this as a one-off.” View the full article

The death of Joann fabrics is turning out to be a big gain for at least one other retailer. Following the beloved craft chain’s bankruptcy and subsequent plan to wind down its operations, discount retailer Burlington Stores—formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory—is moving to scoop up dozens of leases from former Joann locations across more than 20 states, court documents reveal. The 45 locations, some of which have been home to Joann’s stores for decades, were listed as being taken over by various Burlington subsidiaries on a bankruptcy court filing last week, with the company expected to assume control of most of the leases on June 1. In January, Joann filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time in less than a year, having succumbed to inflationary pressures and shifting habits among consumers who had embraced at-home crafts during the early years of the pandemic. The company has since said it would close every location, with a sizable chunk of those stores closing for good last week. All of Joann’s almost 800 stores are expected to be closed by the end of May. The relatively quick wind-down creates an opportunity for other retailers that are looking for space, with leases available for low cure amounts or no cure price at all, court records show. The transfer of leases to Burlington is not a done deal, as interested parties still have time to object. Fast Company reached out to Burlington for comment and additional details. ‘2,000-store target’ Headquartered in Burlington, New Jersey, Burlington Stores offers merchandise at so-called off prices, specializing in apparel, footwear, and of course coats. The company formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory earned $504 million in profit on revenue of $10.6 billion in fiscal 2024. Last week’s filing shows Texas as the state with the most Joann stores that will be transferred to Burlington, with nine locations in the Lone Star state, followed by California with five. The filing also offers a window into the growth plans of a brick-and-mortar brand with ambitions to significantly increase its store count. While many chain retailers have reduced their physical footprint or shuttered entirely over the past few years, Burlington has been growing at a healthy clip. The company opened more than 100 net new stores in 2024, CEO Michael O’Sullivan said in an earnings release in March, and it plans to open another 100 locations this year. Burlington has also been relocating dozens of locations that O’Sullivan described as “oversized,” part of a national trend in which retailers are trying to do more with smaller-format stores. As of the end of its last fiscal year, Burlington operated 1,108 stores in 46 states, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. It has said it has a long-term target of 2,000 stores. In addition to Burlington, the filing also listed other retailers that were taking over a handful of Joann locations, including Hobby Lobby, Boot Barn, and furniture retailer Massa Gallery. Below you can find the full list of locations that Burlington is seeking to take over. The oldest lease on the list, in Flagstaff, Arizona, dates back to April 1979. Arizona 1717 N Dysart Road in Avondale, AZ 1514 S Riordan Ranch St in Flagstaff, AZ Arkansas 3835 North Mall Ave in Fayetteville, AR California 5885 Lincoln Avenue in Buena Park, CA 26583 Carl Boyer Drive in Santa Clarita, CA 2210 Daniels St in Manteca, CA 3010 Ming Ave in Bakersfield, CA 12779 Main Street in Hesperia, CA Colorado 2580 South Colorado Blvd in Denver, CO 7360 South Gartrell Road in Aurora, CO Florida 10261 River Marsh Drive Ste 149 in Jacksonville, FL 540 N us Hwy 441 in Lady Lake, FL 1131 S Federal Hwy in Pompano Beach, FL Georgia 2655 N. Decatur Road, Decatur, GA 1074 Bullsboro Drive Unit #6 in Newnan, GA Illinois 7511 Lemont Rd Ste 101 in Darien, IL 2056 N. State Route 50, Bourbonnais, IL Kentucky 4600 Shelbyville Rd Ste 280 in Louisville, KY Massachusetts 96 Providence Highway in East Walpole, MA Michigan 9052 Highland Road in White Lake, MI Mississippi 3875 North Gloster Street in Tupelo, MS Nebraska 10521 S. 15Th Street in Bellevue, NE New Mexico 558 E. Main St., Farmington, NM New York 3225 State Route 364 in Canandaigua, NY 1530 County Route 64 in Horseheads, NY North Carolina 80 South Tunnel Road Suite 30 in Asheville, NC Ohio 4600 W Broad Street in Columbus, OH 3872 Paxton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH Boardman Poland Road, Youngstown, OH Oregon ​​783 Lancaster Dr. Ne. Suite #133 in Salem, OR South Carolina 1120 Seaboard Street, Myrtle Beach, SC 1215-B North Main Street in Summerville, SC Texas 1219 North Fry Road in Katy, TX 10515 N Mo Pac Expy Bldg 1 in Austin, TX 9500 S I-35 Frontage Rd. Building K, Austin, TX 4127 N Hwy 75 in Sherman, TX 2640 West University Dr in Denton, TX 2050 West University Dr Suite 250 in Mc Kinney, TX 19105 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy., Mesquite, TX 10501 Gateway Blvd W Bld 9 in El Paso, TX 201 University Oaks Blvd in Round Rock, TX Utah 720 W. Telegraph in Washington, UT Washington 700 Ocean Beach Hwy Ste 100 in Longview, WA Wisconsin 1226 Koeller St in Oshkosh, WI 4045 Commonwealth Ave in Eau Claire, WI View the full article

What once was seen as a tax loophole is now becoming a mainstream strategy for business continuity—if done right. The Concierge CPA With Jackie Meyer For CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more Jackie Meyer. View the full article

What once was seen as a tax loophole is now becoming a mainstream strategy for business continuity—if done right. The Concierge CPA With Jackie Meyer For CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more Jackie Meyer. View the full article