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Apple has announced the launch of the latest MacBook Air, featuring the powerful M4 chip, up to 18 hours of battery life, and a new 12MP Center Stage camera. The new MacBook Air models now start at $999, $100 less than the previous version, with an education pricing option of $899. Available in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, the laptops can be pre-ordered today and will be available in stores starting March 12. The new MacBook Air models are powered by Apple’s latest M4 chip, which features a 10-core CPU and an up to 10-core GPU. According to Apple, the M4 model is “up to 2x faster than the M1 model” and offers “up to 23x faster performance” when compared to Intel-based MacBook Air models. The chip’s Neural Engine, which enhances AI-based tasks, is “up to 3x faster than on MacBook Air with M1.” Apple states that the M4 chip improves efficiency in everyday tasks such as web browsing, spreadsheet calculations, and video editing. Battery life remains a key feature, with Apple claiming “up to 18 hours” of use on a single charge. Apple has introduced an all-new sky blue color option, which joins the existing lineup of midnight, starlight, and silver. The new MacBook Air continues to feature its signature thin and light design, making it portable and suitable for work, study, and entertainment. The updated MacBook Air includes a 12MP Center Stage camera that automatically adjusts to keep users in the frame during video calls. It also now supports “up to two external 6K displays” when the laptop lid is closed, expanding its use for professionals and students who need a multi-screen setup. The new MacBook Air is designed to take advantage of Apple Intelligence, enabling features such as Image Playground for creative visuals, Genmoji for personalized emoji creation, and advanced writing tools. The integration of ChatGPT into Siri and Writing Tools allows users to access AI-powered assistance with built-in privacy protections. The macOS Sequoia operating system enhances the user experience with features such as iPhone Mirroring, improved Safari browsing, and better gaming support. Apple highlights its environmental commitment with the MacBook Air, which features “over 55 percent recycled content,” including a 100 percent recycled aluminum enclosure. The company continues its transition to renewable electricity for manufacturing as part of its Apple 2030 initiative. Customers can pre-order the new MacBook Air models now, with availability beginning on March 12. The 13-inch model starts at $999, while the 15-inch model starts at $1,199, with education pricing available for both. Additional details and configurations are available on Apple’s website. Image: Apple This article, "Apple Unveils New MacBook Air with M4 Chip and Lower Starting Price" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Apple has announced the launch of the latest MacBook Air, featuring the powerful M4 chip, up to 18 hours of battery life, and a new 12MP Center Stage camera. The new MacBook Air models now start at $999, $100 less than the previous version, with an education pricing option of $899. Available in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, the laptops can be pre-ordered today and will be available in stores starting March 12. The new MacBook Air models are powered by Apple’s latest M4 chip, which features a 10-core CPU and an up to 10-core GPU. According to Apple, the M4 model is “up to 2x faster than the M1 model” and offers “up to 23x faster performance” when compared to Intel-based MacBook Air models. The chip’s Neural Engine, which enhances AI-based tasks, is “up to 3x faster than on MacBook Air with M1.” Apple states that the M4 chip improves efficiency in everyday tasks such as web browsing, spreadsheet calculations, and video editing. Battery life remains a key feature, with Apple claiming “up to 18 hours” of use on a single charge. Apple has introduced an all-new sky blue color option, which joins the existing lineup of midnight, starlight, and silver. The new MacBook Air continues to feature its signature thin and light design, making it portable and suitable for work, study, and entertainment. The updated MacBook Air includes a 12MP Center Stage camera that automatically adjusts to keep users in the frame during video calls. It also now supports “up to two external 6K displays” when the laptop lid is closed, expanding its use for professionals and students who need a multi-screen setup. The new MacBook Air is designed to take advantage of Apple Intelligence, enabling features such as Image Playground for creative visuals, Genmoji for personalized emoji creation, and advanced writing tools. The integration of ChatGPT into Siri and Writing Tools allows users to access AI-powered assistance with built-in privacy protections. The macOS Sequoia operating system enhances the user experience with features such as iPhone Mirroring, improved Safari browsing, and better gaming support. Apple highlights its environmental commitment with the MacBook Air, which features “over 55 percent recycled content,” including a 100 percent recycled aluminum enclosure. The company continues its transition to renewable electricity for manufacturing as part of its Apple 2030 initiative. Customers can pre-order the new MacBook Air models now, with availability beginning on March 12. The 13-inch model starts at $999, while the 15-inch model starts at $1,199, with education pricing available for both. Additional details and configurations are available on Apple’s website. Image: Apple This article, "Apple Unveils New MacBook Air with M4 Chip and Lower Starting Price" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Featuring Paul Feig, Founder, FeigCo; and Director and Producer, Another Simple Favor. Moderated by Kc Ifeanyi, Executive Director of Editorial Programming, Fast Company. Producer and director Paul Feig is looking to strike gold twice with the follow-up to his 2018 hit film A Simple Favor starring Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick, and Henry Golding. Beyond the plot twists and intrigue, Feig’s sequel further exemplifies his commitment to telling women-led stories including Jackpot!, Ghostbusters, Spy, The Heat, and Bridesmaids. Join Feig for a one-on-one conversation on his unique approach to comedic storytelling with complex female lead characters at the center. View the full article

Featuring Tom Basden, Executive Producer, Writer, and Actor; James Griffiths, Director, Executive Producer, Tim Key, Writer, Executive Producer, Actor and Carey Mulligan, Executive Producer, Actress. Moderated by Brendan Vaughan, Editor-in-Chief, Fast Company View the full article

Domestic political opposition to $1.5bn deal for secure communications has mounted amid transatlantic diplomatic tensions View the full article

Democrats should spend less time on gimmicks and more on communicating what they actually stand for View the full article

Highest-paid mandarins at top of organisation will face stricter performance monitoringView the full article

Moscow’s troops gain territory around the Russian town of Sudzha ahead of crucial talks between Kyiv and Washington this weekView the full article

Donald Trump’s policy agenda is sapping American animal spiritsView the full article

Reforms rather than quick fixes will save more money in the long term View the full article

President Ahmed al-Sharaa calls for calm after attempted pro-Assad uprising escalated into sectarian violenceView the full article

I love hostels. Even after over nineteen years traveling the world, I still stay in hostels because they’re the best way to meet people and the cheapest accommodation option in much of the world. But what makes a good hostel? And how do you avoid a bad hostel? After staying in over a thousand hostels since I first started traveling the world, I’ve become adept at figuring out very quickly if the hostel owners know what they are doing or if they just randomly woke up one day and said, “Let’s open a hostel. It sounds like fun.” While hostels are all about the people, management can do a few things to make their hostel the perfect framework for making your experience better. Certain features make a hostel memorable (common rooms, group activities, kitchens) while others can make them forgettable — or worse (push-button showers, general filth, unknowledgeable staff). All of my favorite hostels share common traits that make them some of the best in the world. Here’s a breakdown of what I would look for in a hostel to help you pick the best one for your next trip: 1. Is There a Common Room? I love meeting new people when I travel. Since I usually travel solo, I need to go out of my way to meet people if I want to be social. Common rooms in hostels make that easy. They help me find people to chat with, get tips from, do activities with, or even travel with. Plus, they’re good for just having fun. They usually have pool tables or video game consoles, TVs/movies (perfect for rainy days), foosball, ping pong, and comfy couches (comfy couches are a must!). If you want to be social, make sure you stay somewhere that has a decent common room (or several). It’s the best place to easily connect with other travelers. In warmer destinations, a common area outside is also a big plus. Rooftop bars, patios, BBQ areas, a pool — any social outdoor space is a must. 2. Is It Centrally Located? Location, location, location. Whenever I’m looking for a new hostel I make sure that it’s near the things I want to see. I don’t want to spend all my time commuting when I get somewhere new. For that reason, I always make sure my hostels are in a central location and that they’re close to public transportation. That way, I can get around easily and don’t need to worry about having to waste money on taxis. This is especially important in large cities where things are spread out and when you’re on a shorter trip and time is of the essence. Yes, they might cost more money, but you’ll save money on transportation. Plus, the more centrally-located hostels are usually the more popular ones, making them better places to meet people. Don’t waste your vacation in transit; book somewhere central! 3. Is It Clean? Sure, budget travelers like things cheap — but that doesn’t mean we like things dirty. While hostels have come a long way in recent years, there are still many that are poorly maintained and in need of a thorough scrubbing. Since it’s easy to get sick on the road, avoid dirty hostels. Gross bathrooms and showers (as well as the increased risk of bed bugs) aren’t worth the risk — even if the hostel is cheap. Invest in yourself. You deserve a clean room! Since the photos hostels post on their website and social media can be misleading, make sure to specifically read reviews on sites like Hostelworld for hints on cleanliness. If just one person complains, maybe it’s not a big deal. But if numerous reviews mention the lack of cleanliness, take that as a cue. 4. Did You Read Reviews? Always read reviews before you book. Is the hostel quiet or noisy? Is it a party hostel or more laid back? Are the mattresses comfy? Are the bunk beds squeaky? You can usually answer all of these questions (and many more) by reading reviews. Websites like Hostelworld and Booking.com have tons of reviews to help you find the hostel that best suits your needs and budget. While you’ll want to take them with a grain of salt (people love to complain), they are definitely helpful when it comes to picking the best hostel. Make sure you leave reviews too — good reviews help hostels grow and bad reviews can warn your fellow travelers so they don’t make the same mistake. Additionally, make sure you only stay at hotels with lots of reviews. A hostel might have a high rating on Hostelworld but if it only has 10 or 20 reviews then I’ll likely stay away from it (it’s easy to fake ratings like that). However, if a hostel has hundreds (or thousands) of reviews and still has a rating of 8 or 9 out of 10 then that’s a good sign it’s a solid place to stay. Generally, I try to only book hostels with a rating of 8 or higher on Hostelworld. 5. Do they Organize Group Activities? If you plan on staying at a social hostel and want to meet people, choose a hostel that offers group activities. These could be walking tours (my personal favorite activity), pub crawls, trivia nights, cooking classes, or BBQs. These events are a great way to meet other travelers and learn about your destination. My favorite hostels are always social hostels that organize events. It just makes your stay much more fun and lively! 6. Is There Late Checkout? Never stay at a hostel with a checkout time before 10am. The best hostels have 11am checkout times, and the really good ones let you check out at noon. Sleep is valuable on the road because you’ll rarely get enough of it. Hostels with late checkout times understand this and are often more relaxed environments. There’s just something wrong about a hostel asking you to be packed and out so early in the morning. 7. Is There a Bar? Bars are not deal breakers and there are a lot of wonderful hostels without them, but they make for a great place to socialize with other hostel guests. Usually if a hostel has a bar, they put a strong emphasis on making sure the people staying there are having fun, interacting, and being festive. If you’re looking to be social and meet people, you’ll want to stay somewhere with a bar. 8. Do They Have Lockers? It’s surprising, but I’ve actually been in hostels that don’t provide lockers or will charge you for them. In this day and age, lockers should be standard. You should never pay for security. This is a deal-breaker for me (especially since I travel with electronics). Always bring a lock with you as well, so you can use the lockers when they are provided. 9. Is There a Kitchen? Try to look for hostels with kitchens since you can then prepare your own food, lower your food budget, and share a meal with your new friends. Nothing binds people closer together than a shared meal (and a few glasses of wine). 10. Do They Offer Breakfast? Look for a place with a decent breakfast (i.e., more than bread and cheese) or at least one that begins and ends when people are actually awake (breakfasts that start around 8:30am usually go late). Breakfast is also a great way to load up on snacks for the day, cutting down your food budget. 11. Do They Have Pod-style Beds? Gone are the days of sleeping on creaky, metal bunks. Whenever possible, look for a hostel with pod-style beds. These beds provide much better privacy and dampen the noise around you so you can sleep better. They usually have curtains too, which are always a big plus in my book. 12. Are There Individual Lights & Outlets? Before you book, find out if the dorm bunks have their own outlet and light. Not only will this ensure you can charge your devices without having to fight for space, but it means your fellow travelers can turn on their own small lamp instead of the room’s main light. (I hate it when people turn the lights on in the middle of the night. Use your bed’s lamp or a flashlight!) *** I don’t need a hostel to have all these things, but a truly wonderful hostel that understands what travelers are looking for has the majority of the things listed above. Additionally, as more and more people shift to remote work, hostels have started to accommodate long-term travelers who work on their laptops. If you’re a remote worker, these hostels are great places to stay as they have fast Wi-Fi and make it easy to connect and network with other digital nomads. However, if you’re not working online while traveling, avoid these hostels since most people will just be on their laptops working and that’s kind of boring if you’re not doing it too. Instead, stay at a hostel that caters to backpackers. It will be much more enjoyable and you’ll have an easier time meeting people. In the end, what really makes a good hostel are the people and even the worst hostels will be great if you meet good people. But removing the people from the equation, I look for hostels that have some of the above qualities in them. Hostels that know what you want as a traveler are there to enhance your travel experience, not simply take money from you in exchange for a bed. I would rather stay at a place that is looking to make sure I have a good time. How to Travel the World on $75 a DayMy New York Times best-selling book to travel will teach you how to master the art of travel so that you’ll get off save money, always find deals, and have a deeper travel experience. It’s your A to Z planning guide that the BBC called the “bible for budget travelers.” Click here to learn more and start reading it today! Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks Book Your Flight Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner. It’s my favorite search engine because it searches websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is being left unturned. Book Your Accommodation You can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. Don’t Forget Travel Insurance Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are: SafetyWing (best for budget travelers) World Nomads (best for mid-range travelers) InsureMyTrip (for those 70 and over) Medjet (for additional evacuation coverage) Want to Travel for Free? Travel credit cards allow you to earn points that can be redeemed for free flights and accommodation — all without any extra spending. Check out my guide to picking the right card and my current favorites to get started and see the latest best deals. Need a Rental Car? Discover Cars is a budget-friendly international car rental website. No matter where you’re headed, they’ll be able to find the best — and cheapest — rental for your trip! Need Help Finding Activities for Your Trip? Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace where you can find cool walking tours, fun excursions, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more. Ready to Book Your Trip? Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel. I list all the ones I use when I travel. They are the best in class and you can’t go wrong using them on your trip. The post 12 Ways to Avoid Staying in a Bad Hostel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site. View the full article

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. In the past few years, the housing market has experienced a “lock-in effect,” in which many homeowners with lower monthly payments and mortgage rates (some even below 3%) are unwilling to sell and purchase another home with a significantly higher monthly payment and mortgage rate. Last year, researchers from the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated that the lock-in effect had resulted in more than a million “lost” home sales. But what mortgage rate would it take for homeowners to consider moving? ResiClub aimed to find out with the ResiClub Housing Sentiment Survey. In total, 650 U.S. adults participated in the survey between February 21 and March 4, 2025. We asked U.S. homeowners—excluding those who said they “plan to never sell” or “would pay all cash” for their next home—what the highest mortgage rate is that they would accept on their next home purchase. Only 16% of homeowners said they’d accept a mortgage rate up to 7% on their next purchase. Just over half of homeowners (54%) said they’d accept a mortgage rate up to 5.5% on their next purchase. Our biggest regret with this survey question is that we didn’t start conducting it quarterly or semiannually back in 2022. Our hypothesis is that, over time, as mortgage rates have remained higher for longer than consumers expected, the mortgage rate that potential homeowners—who are selling to buy—are willing to accept has been rising. Some homeowners are realizing that sub-4% mortgage rates aren’t coming back anytime soon. And as they experience more lifestyle changes (like having more kids) and see increases in their incomes, their personal “switching costs” are shifting. Some are beginning to recognize that they’ll need to make a move at some point. That said, homeowners aren’t going to sell and buy something new if they can’t qualify for or afford their next mortgage at current rates. And many homeowners who have the itch to move have come to realize they fall into that camp. That raises the question: Where do U.S. consumers think the average 30-year fixed-mortgage rate will be at the end of 2025? The majority believe it will stay at 6% or above: 4% of U.S. adults said 7.5% 9% of U.S. adults said 7.0% to 7.5% 34% of U.S. adults said 6.5% to 7.0% 39% of U.S. adults said 6.0% to 6.5% 10% of U.S. adults said 5.5% to 6.0% 3% of U.S. adults said 5.0% to 5.5% 2% of U.S. adults said under 5.0% View the full article

Bad tax advice is not a new phenomenon. Years ago, I can remember hearing a small business owner explaining that making a single comment about his business before dessert allowed him to deduct a dinner out with his wife. According to his logic, his one-sentence remark about work made the meal a business expense. But this kind of spurious tax advice used to only come from your divorced uncle or sweaty strangers at parties. Then along came social media, offering a vast platform to people who have no idea what they’re talking about. Reasonable-sounding tax tips can go viral, leaving taxpayers who follow them vulnerable to some serious consequences. No matter where you’re getting your tax guidance, it’s important to know how to recognize bad advice. Here’s how to identify crappy advice before you follow it all the way to an audit. Go straight to the source You probably don’t feel superconfident about your understanding of taxes because they are so complex. The U.S. federal tax code is 6,871 pages long (single-spaced, 11-point font, and mostly likely printed in Comic Sans because irritating is as irritating does). There are probably a significant number of tax attorneys who don’t know everything in the legislation, which is a great reason why you should be leery of any random TikToker giving tax advice. Since you’re not going to be taking the tax code on your next vacation for some light reading, you need to know where to go for credible information about your taxes. Believe it or not, the IRS.gov website is an excellent resource for regular taxpayers. Not only does the IRS website provide an annual list of the Dirty Dozen most common tax scams to be aware of, it also offers a list of trusted partners for tax preparation and filing, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to file your taxes. You can also use the IRS.gov search tool to look up any dodgy tax advice to see if it passes the sniff test. Uncle Sam has provided us with a valuable tool in creating and maintaining the IRS website. We should make use of it—while we still can. Beware of conspiratorial thinking A lot of bad tax advice starts by suggesting that the adviser will be letting you in on a secret that only the smartest and richest people know. The implication is that the vast majority of sheep-like taxpayers don’t know about these tips and pay the IRS far too much of their hard-earned money every April. But you, random person scrolling TikTok on the toilet, are much too smart to fall victim to that! While it is certainly true that rich people successfully avoid paying income tax, that’s because they’re rich and not because they know something you don’t. A billionaire can afford to have a team of CPAs and attorneys working year-round to identify and exploit inconsistencies in the tax code. There’s a reason this kind of appeal is so seductive: we love feeling like we’re part of an exclusive group of intelligent people, especially when we feel helpless against larger forces (like the U.S. tax code). This is the same reason why conspiracy theories feel so satisfying. They allow us to feel superior to those who aren’t in the know. But there are no secret hacks that normal people can use to avoid paying taxes. Any tax advice that implies otherwise is basically a conspiracy theory. Reject urgency While some bad advice is just evidence of the adviser’s ignorance, there’s also a thriving cottage industry of tax scammers who use the stress of tax season to line their pockets. The 2024 tax season saw an estimated $5.5 billion in tax fraud, usually through phishing, among other identity theft tools. One of the best ways to avoid falling victim to tax scams (or any other type of scam) is to slow down. Most scams use a sense of urgency to get their victims to abandon their skepticism. We’re all a little nervous about getting our taxes done accurately and on time, so we’re vulnerable to a demanding email, text, or phone call from someone purporting to be from the IRS. We feel time pressure, so we hand over our personal information. Similarly, an offer to do your taxes for you—but only if you ACT NOW!!!—can activate our financial FOMO. It’s easy to comply without thinking because the ticking clock makes you feel like you have no choice but to act quickly. If you find yourself hurrying to do something tax-related because of an unknown third party, force yourself to stop and take 24 hours before you act. That gives you time to research the adviser, phone call, or other contact who set off your all-fired rush—and it gives your prefrontal cortex the time to override your lizard brain. Don’t make taxes any harder for yourself Filing your taxes is difficult enough without adding audits, fraud, and scams. You can avoid bad tax advice by familiarizing yourself with the IRS.gov website, recognizing when advice sounds conspiratorial, and just saying no to someone insisting that you have to hurry. Doing that may not make tax season any more pleasant—but at least it will protect you from even bigger problems down the road. View the full article

Feeling burned out? It could be costing your company millions of dollars each year in lost productivity and employee turnover. A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimates that employee burnout in the U.S. costs somewhere between $4,000 and $21,000 per worker per year. Do the numbers, and that adds up to about $5 million per year for a company with 1,000 employees. (Another way to look at it: Employee disengagement, or burnout, can cost 0.2 to 2.9 times the average cost of health insurance, and 3.3 to 17.1 times the cost of training per employee.) The research is based on a computational simulation model developed by the Public Health Informatics, Computational, and Operations Research team based at ​​the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, working with researchers from Baruch College, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of San Diego Knauss School of Business. The model works by simulating how an employee fares at different stages over time—from active engagement to disengagement and burnout—based on stressors the employee encounters both in the workplace (workload, community, control, rewards, fairness, and value) and outside work (family, cultural and psychological environment, finances, and health). It even looks at how a freelance or hourly employee would do versus a salaried one. The team then ran the model to estimate the resulting cost of employee productivity losses to employers. It found a nonmanagerial hourly worker going through burnout would cost an employer on average $3,999. That average cost rose to $4,257 for a nonmanagerial salaried worker, $10,824 for a manager, and $20,683 for an executive. According to the Mayo Clinic, job burnout is defined as a type of stress linked to work. It includes being worn out physically or emotionally, and may involve “feeling useless, powerless, and empty.” While burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis, it can raise the risk of depression and has been tied to anxiety. A lot has been written about the health consequences of employee burnout, but less has been written about the financial effects. “Our model quantifies how much employee burnout is hitting the bottom line of companies and organizations,” Bruce Y. Lee, CUNY SPH professor and senior author of the study, said in a statement. “Therefore, it can give companies and organizations a better idea of how focusing more on employee well-being could help decrease costs and increase profits.” View the full article

Layoffs last week at NOAA’s Office of Aircraft Operations, home of the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, threaten to reduce the quality of data critical for hurricane monitoring, prediction, and warning. On February 28, NOAA terminated two flight directors and one electronic engineer. Hurricane Hunters fly into active storms to collect data used for weather forecasts. One might think that the firing of just three crew members in an organization that employs nearly 100 of them wouldn’t be a big deal. But it so happened that two of the probationary employees who had been on the job for less than two years were flight directors, the job I held from 1986 to 1990. This is particularly problematic since every Hurricane Hunter mission is required to carry a flight director—a meteorologist who’s charged with ensuring the safety of the mission from a meteorological perspective. Ride through the eyewall of Hurricane #Helene aboard @NOAA WP-3D Orion #NOAA42 "Kermit" during our evening mission on Sept. 26, 2024. This mission gathered crucial data of a large hurricane intensifying before landfall. Find NOAA resources on continuing impacts and post storm… pic.twitter.com/qv0QxLzjp2 — NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (@NOAA_HurrHunter) September 27, 2024 In order to keep all three NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft operating 24/7 during a significant hurricane, NOAA has in the past had eight crews, and thus eight flight directors. With the loss of two flight directors, NOAA is down to just six of these key crew members. This will barely be enough to keep the planes in the air for the twice-daily flights that occur during a significant hurricane threat. And as explained in an interview with NBC by Kerri Englert, one of the fired flight directors, NOAA had aimed to have 10 flight director positions filled. But after she and another flight director were terminated, that left just six. Now, she said, if one flight director is sick, there will be fewer Hurricane Hunter flights. And we shouldn’t be surprised if further staff depletions occur before hurricane season. I know that if I still had my old job as a flight director for NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters, worries about my job security would have me looking hard for new employment. “Indiscriminately firing skilled workers is bad in private business. Add the threat to public safety caused by haphazard and indiscriminate layoffs, and the government actions are impossible to justify by any rational, performance-based standard,” hurricane expert Bryan Norcross wrote this week. MY OPINION: There was a plan to dismember and partially privatize NOAA and the National Weather Service in 1995. It was a bad idea then, and weakening those critical public-safety agencies is a worse idea now. More at bit.ly/4ioxHqu — Bryan Norcross (@bnorcross.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T14:22:43.775Z The value of the NOAA Hurricane Hunters The Air Force, which maintains a fleet of 10 Hurricane Hunter aircraft, has not been affected by budget cuts. Thus, the loss of a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft because of short staffing will not greatly reduce the overall quantity of flights undertaken. However, it will significantly reduce the quality of the data collected, potentially negatively impacting hurricane forecasts. The NOAA aircraft include two heavy-duty P-3 Orions that penetrate into the eye of a hurricane and one high-altitude Gulfstream IV jet that collects data around the periphery. All of the Hurricane Hunter aircraft—both Air Force and NOAA—feed data into the computer models used to forecast hurricanes. This includes data from instruments mounted on the aircraft as well as “dropsonde” data from probes launched from the aircraft that fall on parachutes through the storm. But only NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft carry Doppler radars, which capture a detailed 3D picture of the entire storm every few seconds. Figure 1. Summary of operations by the NOAA Hurricane Hunters and NOAA Hurricane Research Division in 2024 (Image credit: NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory ) Data from these Doppler radars are fed into three of our top hurricane models: the newer HAFS-A and HAFS-B and the older HWRF. The two newer models made the best intensity forecasts of any of the models for two of the most damaging hurricanes of 2024, Milton and Beryl, and also did very well for Helene. In many cases, the HAFS-A and HAFS-B forecasts were far superior to the official intensity forecasts from the National Hurricane Center. Without data from the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, it is dubious that these models would have performed as well—and the National Hurricane Center official forecasts would likely have been less accurate. A 2024 study found that assimilation of the data from the NOAA Hurricane Hunters from 2007 to 2022 into one of the top hurricane intensity models, the HWRF, helped reduce its intensity forecast errors by 45%–50%. Bumpy ride into Hurricane #Milton on @NOAA WP-3D Orion #NOAA43 "Miss Piggy" to collect data to help improve the forecast and support hurricane research. Visit https://t.co/3phpgKNx0q for the latest forecasts and advisories Visit https://t.co/UoRa967zK0 for information that you… pic.twitter.com/ezmXu2Zqta — NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (@NOAA_HurrHunter) October 8, 2024 National Hurricane Center losing two staff members According to conversations I’ve had with knowledgeable people, the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, did not have any probationary employees fired in last week’s purge. However, NHC is losing one tropical analysis and forecasting branch forecaster and one technology and science branch IT person to the “fork in the road” offer. With a staff of just 76, staffing will be a bit tight at NHC for the immediate future, I was told. It appears that NHC will have a full complement of the hurricane specialists that write the hurricane advisories this year (though NOAA is being threatened with further mass layoffs—see end of article). Excellent NEW analysis from my colleague Noah Fritzhand on the national security benefits of NOAA:councilonstrategicrisks.org/2025/03/05/n… — Erin Sikorsky (@erinsikorsky.bsky.social) 2025-03-05T16:06:28.110Z NOAA Hurricane Hunters are key to advancements in hurricane research The three NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft are world-class flying laboratories that carry research scientists from NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division into storms. Research performed by these aircraft has been critical in the huge advancements that have been credited with astonishing increases in forecasting that have generated billions in savings in recent years. The National Hurricane Center set an all-time record for forecast accuracy in 2024. A 2024 study by the nonprofit, nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research, “The Social Value of Hurricane Forecasts,” found that recent advancements in hurricane forecasting for 18 continental U.S. landfalling hurricanes from 2005 to 2020 (including all 9 major landfalls and 9 of the 20 additional Cat 1 and Cat 2 landfalls) led to a 19% reduction in total hurricane-related costs—an average cost reduction of $5 billion per hurricane. The benefits came either by decreasing deaths and damages or by inspiring confidence in decisions not to spend money on pre-storm adaptation measures. The average benefit of $5 billion per major hurricane is on par with the entire 2024 NOAA budget of $6.8 billion and far in excess of the cumulative $250 million spent over the period of 2009 to 2019 on hurricane research. And these benefits were likely considerably underestimated, the researchers said, since they only looked at the value of improved wind speed forecasts and did not study improved rainfall and storm surge forecasts. Banger of a quote from Chris Bretherton…"… No amount of clever technology can cover the gap that is forming. “Artificial intelligence,” he says, “cannot compensate for a lack of human intelligence.”…"www.science.org/content/arti… — Tim Andrews (@tim-andrews.bsky.social) 2025-03-05T09:39:45.432Z Significant cuts to hurricane research Significant cuts to NOAA’s hurricane research efforts have also occurred, though the full scope is unclear. NPR reports that six hurricane researchers were fired at NOAA’s hurricane research lab in Miami, including Andy Hazelton, one of the key developers of NOAA’s top hurricane forecasting models. In an interview with local10.com, which has a copy of his termination letter, Hazelton said, “I got a performance review recently that said I was doing a good job. I won NOAA awards for team member of the year. Our big mission is to protect lives and property. All the weather data that you use, whether it is an app on your phone or what you see on TV, a lot of that comes from the National Weather Service and NOAA — the satellites, the radars, the modeling. When you see the spaghetti lines on TV, that is what I do. I am the brains behind the computer that makes that spaghetti line.” In an interview with The Washington Post, Rick Spinrad, a former administrator of NOAA, said that NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center had suffered a 25% staff cut. This group is responsible for the computer forecast models that form the bedrock of U.S. weather forecasting, including hurricane prediction. In an interview with NPR, James Franklin, a retired head of NHC’s Hurricane Forecast Unit, said staffing cuts have gutted the modeling center to the point where he wonders if work there to improve the hurricane models will come to a halt. The National Weather Service has a higher favorability rating than Taylor Swift.The NWS as a whole lost about 10% of its staff last week, but those cuts weren’t made with regard to geography or the population each office serves.My latest for @fastcompany.com:www.fastcompany.com/91291167/ins… — Eric Holthaus (@ericholthaus.com) 2025-03-05T19:28:20.510Z NOAA threatened with further cuts NOAA has already laid off between 5% and 10% of its staff and has plans to lay off around 50% of its total staff and lose 30% of its funding, according to Andrew Rosenberg, a former deputy director at NOAA and co-editor of the SciLight newsletter. Should they materialize, such cuts would significantly increase the current and future risks from hurricanes. That could prove dangerous in an era of accelerating climate change impacts from stronger hurricanes with higher winds, more destructive storm surges from sea level rise, and heavier rains from a warmer ocean and atmosphere. The administration’s Project 2025 plan calls for NOAA to be broken up, most of its climate change research ended, and the National Weather Service to be commercialized. What people are doing Contacting elected officials. This website makes it easy to learn who your representatives are and how to contact them. Attending “Stand up for science” protests being held nationwide. SPEAKER LINEUP FOR STAND UP FOR SCIENCE ☀️Here's our list of current speakers—and it's still growing! Come tomorrow to hear some amazing speakers talk about science, their experiences, and the future. #standupforscience2025 — Stand Up for Science 2025 – DC and Nationwide! (@standupforscience.bsky.social) 2025-03-06T13:07:17.078Z As surely as if bombs are being dropped on our cities, we are trashing our economy by trashing science: "Estimates of the value of weather and climate information to the U.S. economy exceed $100 billion annually, roughly 10x the investment made by U.S. taxpayers." www.ametsoc.org/ams/about-am… — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2025-03-03T16:33:53.953Z —By Jeff Masters Bob Henson contributed to this post. This article first appeared on Yale Climate Connections and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. View the full article

Green tears were flowing when Lencia Kebede made history this week on Broadway, becoming the first Black actor to assume the role of Elphaba full time in the Broadway company of “Wicked.” “It’s hard to even pinpoint a single emotion because I feel that it changes like every five minutes,” she told The Associated Press, still buzzing a day after her debut. “I woke up and I still sort of felt in the world of Oz.” Kebede, a first-generation Ethiopian American from Los Angeles, spent five years touring with “Hamilton,” most recently in the role of Angelica Schuyler. Stepping into “Wicked” on Tuesday marked her Broadway debut. “Defying Gravity” Kebede had already gone through an emotional wringer by the time the curtain finally came down. She sings the Act 1 showstopper “Defying Gravity,” shooting into the air and the power of the moment ripped through her. “When the lights went off at the end of the song, I started sobbing. Not like just a gentle tear. Viscerally, I had to release,” she says. “I really felt like I was flying, is the simplest way to put it. I felt like I’m doing it myself, though my own power — my vocal power, my emotional power, the power of all of my African ancestors.” “If I’m flying solo/At least I’m flying free/To those who ground me, take a message back from me/Tell them how I am defying gravity,” she sang. “Everyone deserves a chance to fly,” says Kebede. “I’m projecting this message that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, you deserve liberation and you deserve empowerment in the way that the character feels in that moment. It just feels like I’m taking the entire audience in my arms.” Thank goodness it was intermission. “I needed to regroup,” she says, laughing. “My makeup artist was like, ‘Just let it out, just cry, and then we can clean it up.’” Who was watching Kebede’s “Wicked” debut? In the audience were some 60 family and friends — mom and her aunts and uncles, her many cousins, her boyfriend, pals from other shows, her agent and casting directors, even her college choir director. “My whole family was in the audience — just everyone who I’ve ever loved, with everyone who has loved me and supported me through my life is just like under me, lifting me and holding me,” she says. “It was just so important to me to have people there that I could share this moment with, so I could say to their faces, ’I couldn’t be here without a piece of your heart that you gave me.’” A sisterhood of Elphabas The popularity of the Cynthia Erivo-led movie hasn’t dampened the appetite for the Broadway version, which opened in 2003 with songs by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. Over Christmas, it took in a staggering $5 million over nine performances, marking the highest weekly gross in history for any Broadway show. Kebede joins a sisterhood of green-clad Black women who have played Elphaba, a list that includes Saycon Sengbloh and Lilli Cooper, both Broadway standbys; Brandi Chavonne Massey, a Broadway understudy; and Alexia Khadime, a full-time West End Elphaba. Others who have played the role over the years include Shoshana Bean, Stephanie J. Block, Jessica Vosk, Eden Espinosa, Ana Gasteyer and, of course, Idina Menzel, who won a Tony Award in the role in 2004. A career takes a turn Kebede graduated from Occidental College in 2016 with a double major of diplomacy & world affairs and politics, intending on a career in law or public policy. By her senior year, she had an itch she needed to scratch. “I just had this creative craving in terms of storytelling in the theatrical way that I was missing,” she says. “So I sat my mother down and I was like, ‘Look, I think I need just a couple years to explore this creative endeavor.’” Her first professional job was a production of “Memphis” at Musical Theatre West and then a stint at Tokyo Disney and touring in “Rent.” In addition to years on the road with “Hamilton,” Kebede also sang backup for Beyoncé during her Coachella rehearsals. “The rigorous nature of touring, I think, prepared me immensely for this,” she says. “I do feel very equipped — physically, vocally, emotionally. I feel like I know how to take care of my body and my mind, how I need to cool down emotionally after such an intense experience for three hours.” A magical night On debut night, Kebede tried to keep a set of mental screenshots, a reel of faces and feelings. As she turned to get backstage, she was feeling the love. “My grandmother and my father passed when I was in high school and I just took a moment to connect with my angels,” she says. “It was, oh God, it was electric.” Family came backstage after the show for photos and a tour, she was toasted at a nearby bar by friends, she finally ate something and then got home to try to sleep. “My battery was dead. I mean, I couldn’t even move. I couldn’t move my face. I was just drinking my tea, playing calming jazz. I had to just turn it off,” she says. And then she had to do it all over again the next night. —Mark Kennedy, AP entertainment writer View the full article

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President Donald Trump’s declaration of a “national energy emergency” on his first day in office—and which he reiterated during his address to Congress on March 4, 2025—might have seemed to echo other national emergencies, like those presidents declared in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. But there has never before been a national energy emergency. During the energy crises of the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter declared local or regional energy emergencies in a handful of states. These actions suspended some environmental regulations, such as air-pollution limits for coal-fired power plants, for very short periods to make sure those states’ residents had enough electricity. When a president declares a national emergency, he claims significant powers under the National Emergencies Act, which allow him to take steps to solve the emergency. In this situation, Trump might seek to override environmental regulations, order utility companies to buy power from particular power plants, or invoke the Defense Production Act to secure materials needed for power plant construction. Six weeks into his presidency, Trump had not taken any action to address this emergency, though during his speech to Congress he said he wants to increase drilling and build a new natural gas pipeline in Alaska. And Trump’s discussion of energy policy has not directly referred to the consumer price hikes expected as a result of the 10% tariffs he imposed on Canadian oil, gas and electricity starting on March 4, 2025. Critics of the president’s declaration have described it as a “giveaway” to the fossil fuel industry in the form of looser regulations and measures to make it easier to drill for oil on government-owned land. In fact, the executive order’s definition of “energy” excludes energy generated from wind and solar, as well as efforts to conserve energy—all of which were major parts of the Biden administration’s energy strategy. As someone who has studied energy markets for decades, I have seen several events that might qualify as energy-related emergencies, such as meltdowns at nuclear power plants around the world, shortages of electricity and natural gas, and massive power blackouts. But over the past 15 years, the United States has become a global energy superpower even without any emergency declarations. The advent of hydraulic fracturing unleashed a wave of oil and gas production, even as U.S. energy demand barely budged. In a time of such energy abundance, there is no clear emergency on the scale of the energy crises of the 1970s. But there are some causes for concern. Big increases in domestic production One goal Trump’s declaration sets out is to increase what the executive order calls the nation’s “energy security.” Usually that phrase refers to an ability to operate using energy produced within the U.S. rather than overseas—particularly from countries that have long-standing conflicts or disagreements with the U.S. Based on raw numbers, however, the U.S. is already quite energy secure. In 2023, the nation produced nearly 13 million barrels of oil per day, which is more than any country has ever produced in the history of the oil business. Since 2015, when a federal ban on oil exports was lifted, the U.S. has been increasing the amount of oil it exports every year. And for the past several years, the U.S. has been the world’s leading exporter of gasoline, sending 10% of its total annual production to other countries. Since the start of the shale-fracking boom in the mid-2000s, U.S. production of natural gas has also been increasing. The country’s natural gas exports have also risen over the past 10 years, though they have been limited by the number of ports that can handle liquefied natural gas cargo. Still a net importer of oil The U.S. produces plenty of oil to meet its demands, but not the kinds of oil that American refineries are designed to process into useful fuels. Therefore, despite the increases in domestic production, the U.S. is still a net importer of crude oil. In 2023, the U.S. imported almost twice as much oil as it exported. And U.S. refineries’ output of gasoline and heating oil depends on imported oil. Most oil refineries in the U.S. are quite old and were engineered to process heavy crude oil produced in countries such as Canada, which is historically the U.S.’s biggest source of imported oil. Most of the recent increase in U.S. oil production comes from hydraulic fracturing of shale and is so-called light crude oil. Refining light crude would require new refineries or a major reengineering of existing refineries, with new equipment, expanded capacity, or both. Making those changes would be very expensive. So refinery owners are hesitant to make these kinds of investments because there is a risk that the investments won’t pay off. Because U.S. refineries produce so much gasoline and have limited capacity, the U.S. also continues to import some refined petroleum fuels such as jet fuel. A fragile power grid Concern over the nation’s aging electric power grid is another focus of Trump’s energy emergency declaration. Experts have been issuing warnings for years. A 2024 study on the national transmission grid commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy has concluded the U.S. needs to double the size of the grid in the next couple of decades. For the first time in nearly half a century, the U.S. is facing the prospect of rapidly increasing electricity demand. The demand for power has always gone up and down a bit with population and the health of the economy, but this time is different. Growth in electricity demand is now driven by the construction of massive data centers and by electrification of cars and heating and cooling systems. The DOE reports that data center electricity use in particular has tripled in the past 10 years and could easily double in the next few years. At that rate, data centers could account for more than 10% of all electricity demand in the country before 2030. The U.S. supply of power generation in many regions is not ready for this surge in demand. Many power plants—particularly the older ones and those that burn coal—have shut down in the past several years, driven by a combination of economic pressures and environmental regulations. Building new power plants in many parts of the U.S. has become bogged down in regulatory red tape, public opposition, and economic uncertainty. The North American Electric Reliability Corp., which develops standards for grid reliability, has placed over half of U.S. states at some level of risk for not having enough power generation to meet anticipated future demand. Will declaring an emergency help? Under Trump’s energy emergency declaration, the administration seems likely to take actions that will make it easier to drill for more oil and gas. And the federal government may also make it easier to build power plants that run on coal, natural gas, and possibly nuclear fuel. But expanded fracking, in and of itself, will probably not address any energy security issues in the U.S., unless there are major investments in refineries to handle the increased oil production. Reducing the barriers to building power plants addresses a much more pressing problem, but the country would still need to expand the transmission grid itself, which does not get as much attention in the president’s declaration. Time will tell whether the energy emergency declaration will be used to solve real problems in the nation’s energy supplies, or whether it will be used to further bolster oil and gas producers that have already made the U.S. a global energy powerhouse. Seth Blumsack is a professor of energy and environmental economics and international affairs at Penn State. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

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