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Many things are considered distinctly millennial: a man bun, avocado toast, axe-throwing bars. Now you can apparently add millennial burger joints to that list. On February 11, TikToker fairylights2007 shared a clip using Kyle Gordon’s “2011 Millennial” parody song, along with a caption that read: “This song is so truffle fries overpriced burger brick walls metal tin of ketchup.” You know the type. As the video points out, the burgers are typically overpriced—$19 to be exact—always with a brioche bun. Fries are extra and come served in a fryer basket with a special “house sauce” (i.e., ketchup mixed with mayo). Somewhere in the restaurant, a chalkboard lists “local” IPA beers. The menu includes sections like “handhelds” and “sweet treats.” The decor? Exposed piping, string lights, and Edison bulbs. Commenters on the video were quick to point out other telltale signs of millennial burger joints. “A pbj burger on the menu,” one wrote. “Games no one has ever played but every bar has,” suggested another. Chances are, you’ve frequented one of these places at least once—whether you wanted to or not. Gordon’s song has since become the soundtrack to a number of TikTok videos jumping on the trend. “YES we’re a millennial burger joint; YES we overprice everything; YES our truffle fries are mediocre at best; YES we’re two guys with a crazy idea; NO we don’t offer comfortable seating; YES we serve water in mason jars,” one post read. “It was about time all these burger places with the same aesthetic get called out,” another creator added. These burger joints became popular in the mid-to-late 2010s, right around the time millennials were launching their first businesses. But now they’ve become prime targets for the online generation, who love to poke fun at millennials for everything from their “cringe” humor to their love of Harry Potter. And yet, for all the mockery, these places aren’t going anywhere. The “millennial burger joint” may now be shorthand for a style-over-substance hipster eatery, but I, for one, will be enjoying my basket of mediocre truffle fries with garlic aioli. So sue me. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My mom answered my phone and told off my boss I was very sick with Covid and my mom had to come take care of me. She already knew issues that I’d been having with my boss; he’s a jerk. I learned later that he called to ask a question that he could have easily found the answer himself. My mother answered the phone and yelled at him because he does a lot of abusive things and keeps us working on days off, even vacation, not to mention when people are very sick. He is the type who can dish out the punishment or rude comments but cant handle it when you do it back even the slightest. Anyway, she told me what she had done. Once I returned to work, I was written up and told my mother is not to answer my phone when anyone from the company calls because they chip in $50 a month for the phone. This is not their phone. Does this warrant a write-up? Do they have the right to say my mother cannot answer my phone? No, this doesn’t warrant a write-up. If you call someone’s personal phone, you risk someone else answering it and conducting themselves differently than an employee would. But there’s no official arbiter of what you can and can’t be written up for; there’s only common sense, and your boss clearly doesn’t have it. The question about whether they can say your mom can’t answer company calls on your phone when they pay part of the bill … eh, probably. If they consider that your work phone, then sure, they can say you’re the only one who can answer it (hell, in a lot of states they could say that without paying any of the bill). It’s a dumb response from them, though. Also, though, your mom should stay out of your work life and not tell your boss off on your behalf! I get the impulse, but she doesn’t have the standing to do that and she ended up causing problems for you at work. But I kind of love her for defending her sick kid. Is she up for telling off other people’s bosses too? She’d probably be in demand. 2. Staff is grumbling about sales team’s “perks” I manage a team of salesmen who call on very large customers. Typically we are responsible for signing 5-10 contracts that generate a lot of meaningful revenue for the company. Because of the size of these contracts and the nature of our customers, we attend a lot of off-hours events to host our customers — things like dinners, concerts, and professional sporting events. As a manager, I try to be flexible with people’s schedules to accommodate all the hours they end up working outside of the normal 9-5. However, I’m running into problems with other departments complaining about my team’s availability or implying that we are more focused on partying than working. This typically happens when they want to connect with someone on my team but that person is using comp time; for example, they had a 7pm dinner the day before so I don’t have them come into work till 10 am but production wants to meet right at 9 am. I understand why there might be a perception issue to say, “Oh, John is coming in late on Monday because he has to spend all Sunday at the suite of an NFL game,” but these events truly are a work day for us. Attending with a customer and trying to have a meaningful business conversation can be a pretty high pressure and stressful thing! We might have a beer at the game but it’s much more about making sure the customer has a great time then it is about actually enjoying the venue. Typically my team has to provide a recap of any conversations that they had and how contract negotiations are advancing. It’s also not fair to expect them to spend a weekend day or a weeknight working and then go back to a regular schedule. My boss understands this but when I’ve tried explaining it to other departments (typically run by people at my level but without sales experience) I’ve had varying degrees of success. I’ve also set up a couple times a week like Monday afternoons, where I can guarantee that my whole team is working at the same time so these departments can schedule meetings. That has helped manage the scheduling issue that we are having, but it’s made the grumbling worse because they feel like we are being unreasonable. Is there a good way that I can explain to my peers outside of sales that we aren’t being divas, we just have a weird work schedule? Can you stop describing the specifics of what they were doing when they were working off-hours and instead just say “he had to work all day Sunday” or “he worked until very late last night”? If you mention dinners and games, people are going to focus on that to the exclusion of the “work” part. You might also try talking with the other managers one-on-one about the pattern and ask for their help in figuring out how to resolve it; sometimes when people are enlisted in solving a problem that they themselves are part of it, they start to get it more. And you could say, “While the events can seem like fun ones, that’s still time that my team has to be ‘on’; they can’t relax, they need to be focused on the client, and that’s time that they can’t be with their family or friends or handling household responsibilities. Since we can’t ask people to spend all their waking hours furthering the company’s business interests and they need to have time off as well, what would you suggest?” But some of this is just a perpetual issue between sales and non-sales people, so your measure of success shouldn’t be “there is zero grumbling about this.” 3. Can I use Discord messages to confirm that my unreliable coworker told me she ignores my emails? Right now, I am building an argument to my boss to change the workflow of a specific task to address a problem I have with a coworker (Clara). Clara’s supposed to be doing this task on my behalf. (For internal policy reasons, I’m not allowed to do it myself.) However, Clara is not reliable at doing this task. Over the years, I’ve made a thousand tiny adjustments to my work to make it as easy as possible for her, and she often still makes errors, which only affect me and are for some reason my sole responsibility to identify and (tell her to) fix. I’ve been stewing silently about this for years, because I thought I was just being a hater, frankly. But at my next review, I’m going to urge our boss to see if I can be given the authority to just handle this task myself. Since all of the measures I take to help Clara and make up for her errors are individually very small, I’m compiling documentation to explain everything I’m doing and confirm that, collectively, they consume a lot of my time and energy — much more than just doing it myself. One item I wanted to include was an email from several months ago, where Clara asked me to indicate importance in the subject line of emails to her; I send out a lot of notices to the whole building, so she mostly just ignores messages from me and sometimes misses important ones. However, when I received this email, it made me so blindingly angry — considering everything else I’m already doing — that I trashed it immediately without responding. Now that I’ve decided to talk to our boss about it, it’s gone from the face of the earth. But I have the annoyed Discord messages I sent to my partner the day-of that confirm that this email once existed. They don’t say anything spicy — essentially, “Clara just straight-up admitted to me that she doesn’t read my emails” with an air of frustration — and nothing rude, hostile, or profane. Do you think it would help or hurt my case to include these? If including them is a bad idea, do you have any alternate suggestions? Even if I had the original email, would it have been too petty to include, anyway? Clara’s otherwise very nice and definitely isn’t acting maliciously, so I still feel insane for actually complaining about this. Don’t include the message you sent to your partner about it. It’ll come across as petty, and it puts the focus on your frustration more than on Clara’s behavior. It will also seem odd that you’re trying to come up with “evidence” that the email existed, when no one has asked for any and in any reasonably healthy work environment, simply telling your manager about what was said will be enough. Just tell your manager what Clara told you and assume you’ll be believed. (If your word isn’t enough, there are bigger problems that would dwarf this anyway.) 4. Manager said we can’t talk to HR without telling him first Is it legal/ethical for a supervisor to tell their team they cannot go to HR without telling him and letting him set the appointment with HR? This comes after a coworker went to HR for two reasons (supervisor issues the entire team is having and a request to move departments). Today the team came in and was told that they cannot go to HR about anything without telling him first what it is about and then he will set an appointment with HR if he deems worthy/necessary. I am thinking it is not illegal, but not exactly ethical and definitely not in the favor of the team as the supervisor will not set up appointments if he wants to hide things and there would retaliation. While it’s not illegal on its face, it creates legal liability for your company. What if someone wants to report harassment or discrimination from your boss? They have to go through him first and he’ll decide if they get to talk to HR about it or not? What if he decides they can’t? It’s very unlikely that HR would be okay with this rule if they knew about it (in part because companies need clear and accessible reporting procedures for harassment and discrimination to effectively defend themselves against lawsuits in those areas), so someone should break the rule to tell HR (and when doing that, should point out that they’re doing exactly what they were told they couldn’t and will need HR’s assistance in ensuring they’re not penalized for it). View the full article

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ASUS has introduced the ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605), a lightweight business laptop powered by AI-enhanced Intel Core Ultra processors, enterprise-grade security, and customizable configurations designed for professional use. The AI-powered business laptop features ASUS AI ExpertMeet, an on-device AI assistant, and ASUS ExpertGuardian, a security suite providing multi-factor authentication and firmware protection. AI-Powered Performance and Productivity The ExpertBook B5 integrates AI-driven computing, offering up to 99 total-platform TOPS for enhanced multitasking. ASUS’s AI ExpertMeet provides real-time transcription, noise cancellation, and live-translated captions, ensuring seamless collaboration. The laptop’s Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel Arc graphics enable faster content creation and business analytics. Durable, High-Performance Design Encased in a lightweight 1.36kg aluminum frame, the ExpertBook B5 features a 2.5K 144Hz display for crisp visuals. The ASUS ExpertCool thermal solution enhances cooling performance by 26%, maintaining efficiency during extended usage. Built to MIL-STD-810H standards, the device ensures durability in extreme conditions. Enterprise-Grade Security with ASUS ExpertGuardian To safeguard sensitive data, ASUS ExpertGuardian offers multi-layered protection, including Windows 11 Secured-core PC technology, TPM 2.0 encryption, biometric authentication, and USB access locks. The laptop supports certificate-based authentication and self-recovering BIOS protection, providing long-term security updates. Customizable Configurations for IT Management The ExpertBook B5 supports pre-configured BIOS settings, asset labeling, and software imaging for streamlined IT deployments. Its modular design allows for easy maintenance, with a tool-free battery latch reducing downtime. Driving Sustainability with a Digital Product Passport ASUS is introducing a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enhance lifecycle tracking and sustainability compliance. The QR code-based tracking system provides businesses with real-time data on material sourcing, manufacturing, and recycling, supporting eco-conscious product design. Availability The ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605) is now available for enterprise customers. ASUS continues to innovate in AI-driven business computing, delivering high-performance, secure, and sustainable solutions for modern professionals. This article, "ASUS Unveils AI-Powered ExpertBook B5 with Enhanced Security and Customization" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

ASUS has introduced the ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605), a lightweight business laptop powered by AI-enhanced Intel Core Ultra processors, enterprise-grade security, and customizable configurations designed for professional use. The AI-powered business laptop features ASUS AI ExpertMeet, an on-device AI assistant, and ASUS ExpertGuardian, a security suite providing multi-factor authentication and firmware protection. AI-Powered Performance and Productivity The ExpertBook B5 integrates AI-driven computing, offering up to 99 total-platform TOPS for enhanced multitasking. ASUS’s AI ExpertMeet provides real-time transcription, noise cancellation, and live-translated captions, ensuring seamless collaboration. The laptop’s Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel Arc graphics enable faster content creation and business analytics. Durable, High-Performance Design Encased in a lightweight 1.36kg aluminum frame, the ExpertBook B5 features a 2.5K 144Hz display for crisp visuals. The ASUS ExpertCool thermal solution enhances cooling performance by 26%, maintaining efficiency during extended usage. Built to MIL-STD-810H standards, the device ensures durability in extreme conditions. Enterprise-Grade Security with ASUS ExpertGuardian To safeguard sensitive data, ASUS ExpertGuardian offers multi-layered protection, including Windows 11 Secured-core PC technology, TPM 2.0 encryption, biometric authentication, and USB access locks. The laptop supports certificate-based authentication and self-recovering BIOS protection, providing long-term security updates. Customizable Configurations for IT Management The ExpertBook B5 supports pre-configured BIOS settings, asset labeling, and software imaging for streamlined IT deployments. Its modular design allows for easy maintenance, with a tool-free battery latch reducing downtime. Driving Sustainability with a Digital Product Passport ASUS is introducing a Digital Product Passport (DPP) to enhance lifecycle tracking and sustainability compliance. The QR code-based tracking system provides businesses with real-time data on material sourcing, manufacturing, and recycling, supporting eco-conscious product design. Availability The ExpertBook B5 (B5405/B5605) is now available for enterprise customers. ASUS continues to innovate in AI-driven business computing, delivering high-performance, secure, and sustainable solutions for modern professionals. This article, "ASUS Unveils AI-Powered ExpertBook B5 with Enhanced Security and Customization" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Apple has announced a $500 billion investment in the United States over the next four years, marking its largest-ever financial commitment. The company’s plan includes a new manufacturing facility in Texas, doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, expanding research and development, and accelerating investments in AI and silicon engineering. Apple’s investment will support new facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington, reinforcing its focus on advanced manufacturing and innovation. A 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility will open in Houston in 2026, creating thousands of jobs and producing servers that support Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute. Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s commitment to U.S. innovation, stating, “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future. From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.” Apple is doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion, supporting high-tech manufacturing and skills development. The expansion includes a multibillion-dollar commitment to produce advanced silicon at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona, where Apple remains the largest customer. Apple’s suppliers manufacture silicon in 24 factories across 12 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah. This investment is expected to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and create high-paying jobs. The company is expanding research and development (R&D) operations, nearly doubling U.S.-based R&D spending over the past five years. Apple plans to hire 20,000 employees over the next four years, focusing on AI, silicon engineering, and software development. Apple’s recent launch of the A18 chip and Apple C1 cellular modem highlights its long-term strategy in custom silicon development. The Apple C1 modem, the most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone, represents a major milestone in the company’s R&D investment. As part of its focus on workforce development, Apple is opening the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit. The facility will train workers and assist small- and medium-sized businesses in adopting AI and smart manufacturing techniques. Partnering with universities like Michigan State, the academy will offer free courses on project management, supply chain efficiency, and manufacturing process optimization. This article, "Apple to Invest Over $500 Billion in U.S. Expansion, Manufacturing, and AI Development" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Apple has announced a $500 billion investment in the United States over the next four years, marking its largest-ever financial commitment. The company’s plan includes a new manufacturing facility in Texas, doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund, expanding research and development, and accelerating investments in AI and silicon engineering. Apple’s investment will support new facilities in Michigan, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina, and Washington, reinforcing its focus on advanced manufacturing and innovation. A 250,000-square-foot server manufacturing facility will open in Houston in 2026, creating thousands of jobs and producing servers that support Apple Intelligence and Private Cloud Compute. Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s commitment to U.S. innovation, stating, “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future. From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.” Apple is doubling its U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Fund from $5 billion to $10 billion, supporting high-tech manufacturing and skills development. The expansion includes a multibillion-dollar commitment to produce advanced silicon at TSMC’s Fab 21 facility in Arizona, where Apple remains the largest customer. Apple’s suppliers manufacture silicon in 24 factories across 12 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah. This investment is expected to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing and create high-paying jobs. The company is expanding research and development (R&D) operations, nearly doubling U.S.-based R&D spending over the past five years. Apple plans to hire 20,000 employees over the next four years, focusing on AI, silicon engineering, and software development. Apple’s recent launch of the A18 chip and Apple C1 cellular modem highlights its long-term strategy in custom silicon development. The Apple C1 modem, the most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone, represents a major milestone in the company’s R&D investment. As part of its focus on workforce development, Apple is opening the Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit. The facility will train workers and assist small- and medium-sized businesses in adopting AI and smart manufacturing techniques. Partnering with universities like Michigan State, the academy will offer free courses on project management, supply chain efficiency, and manufacturing process optimization. This article, "Apple to Invest Over $500 Billion in U.S. Expansion, Manufacturing, and AI Development" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Company executives touted the immediate returns from its rebranding and Super Bowl advertising campaign, with February activity exceeding expectations. View the full article

Ryan Donovan, the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks' CEO, foresees affordable housing mandates becoming more focused on home supply than demand. View the full article

OpenAI released a new base model on Thursday called GPT-4.5, which the company said is its best and smartest model for chat yet. It’s not a reasoning model like OpenAI’s o1 and o3 models, but it can be used to train other models to be reasoning models. Notably, GPT-4.5 was trained using 10 times the computing power (scores of GPUs in data centers) than its predecessor, GPT-4o. The result is a model whose outputs feel more natural and human, OpenAI said in its press release, and demonstrate a better general understanding of the world. Its writing and programming skills are better, and it hallucinates less. It also displays a higher level of emotional intelligence about the user and what they’re trying to do. For example, when prompted with “I’m going through a tough time after failing a test,” the model responded: “Aw, I’m really sorry to hear that. Failing a test can feel pretty tough and discouraging, but remember, it’s just one moment—not a reflection of who you are or your capabilities.” OpenAI cofounder and former researcher Andrej Karpathy, who got early access to the model, posted on X that the improvements are subtle but meaningful. “Everything is a little bit better and it’s awesome, but also not exactly in ways that are trivial to point to,” Karpathy continued; also, the model appears to have improved by 20% in everything it does rather than improving by several times over in certain domains or skills. OpenAI said GPT-4.5’s performance proves that supersizing models, training data, and computing power can still produce significant performance gains. However, a debate has been raging over this assertion on X. Karpathy saw evidence of this in his tests: “[I]t is incredibly interesting and exciting as another qualitative measurement of a certain slope of capability that comes ‘for free’ from just pretraining a bigger model.” Of course, “free” is stretching it: Training costs for a model as big as GPT-4.5 could approach $1 billion. OpenAI is releasing GPT-4.5 as a research preview to ChatGPT Pro users and to developers who pay to access OpenAI models through an API. It will become available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users next week, the company says. View the full article

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. Ageism in Hollywood is a tale as old as time. It’s well-documented that older women have been less represented in mainstream media and female actors over 40 are less likely to get work compared to their male counterparts. The stigma surrounding aging women in entertainment has been so pervasive that many actresses have felt forced to hide the natural realities of aging. Actress Naomi Watts recently revealed, “I was told I would never work again if I admitted to being menopausal.” Her experience is not unique—many women in the industry have echoed similar sentiments, facing a shrinking pool of opportunities as they age. This year’s award show season has shown that the tides are turning. We’ve started to see a shift with actresses in Hollywood experiencing success later in life. One of the most discussed films of the past year, The Substance, tackles ageism head-on. And in a historic moment, Demi Moore—44 years into her career—won her first Golden Globe at 62 and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. During the Golden Globes, we saw seven of the Best Actress nominations go to women over the age of 40. These nominations signal a growing recognition that talent doesn’t have to have an expiration date. For decades Hollywood has created the perception that women in their 40s and beyond, often when they are perimenopausal or menopausal, are past their primes and reaching the end of their careers. Moore previously shared that she almost quit acting because of ageism and how difficult it can be, particularly for women over 50. However, this cultural shift in Hollywood’s acceptance and celebration of aging women could change how this demographic is represented. Now the question is, will we see other industries shift their perceptions of midlife women? Here’s why they should. Outdated research has failed menopausal women Before looking ahead, we have to understand how we got here. The societal stigma around aging has often overlapped with menopause, and unfortunately, that’s led to a negative perception of this transitional period of a woman’s life. Menopause has been widely understudied. For example, a study in Nature Aging has shown that researchers haven’t properly considered menopause in 99% of studies of the biology of aging. Furthering the stigma, outdated research has led to a lack of treatment options for women experiencing menopause symptoms. The use of hormone therapy to treat menopause symptoms stopped nearly overnight due to a study showing that hormone therapy increased the risks of cancer. However, recent studies have debunked that theory and shown the benefits of hormone therapy outweigh the risks. The lack of research and controversial history around hormone therapy has hurt menopause care and prevented aging women from getting the adequate support they need. That all is changing. What the entertainment industry can teach Companies can take a page from Hollywood’s playbook by supporting and empowering its female senior talent. Women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are some of the most experienced managers, leaders, and mentors in the workplace. As they age, they are also often at the height of their careers. McKinsey and Lean In found that female leaders contribute more to employee engagement—including creating an inclusive workplace and mentorship—than their male counterparts, and another McKinsey report found that organizations with gender diversity of executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability compared to those who didn’t. Senior female leaders are an essential part of the workforce. Yet according to our 2022 Menopause in the Workplace report, 46% of working women experiencing menopause said their 50s have been the most difficult time in their careers. Our latest data also showed that 50% of Gen X women have experienced ageism at work. Now is a critical time for companies to step up and support. Organizations must invest in meeting the evolving needs of their midlife female workforce. Investing in menopause support for senior women leaders—such as access to specialized providers, educational resources, and coverage for hormone therapy—enables these women to manage their symptoms effectively, remain at peak productivity, and pave the way for the next generation of female leaders. What happens in Hollywood strongly influences culture, including workplaces. On March 2, Moore is up for her first Oscar for her critically acclaimed role. No matter who wins, it’s a victory for Moore and all aging women at work. Asima Ahmad, MD, MPH, FACOG is cofounder and Chief Medical Officer of Carrot Fertility. View the full article

UK leader hails ‘very productive discussion’ but president declines to back plan for Ukrainian peacekeepers View the full article

Executives have met with investors this week to test waters on an offering that could value the company at $35bn View the full article

From the rising cost of eggs and the staggering cost of housing, the constant chaos from mass government firings to the tariff threats against Canada and Mexico, Americans are struggling to cope with rampant economic uncertainty the best way they can: doom spending. One in 5 Americans say they are buying more than usual, “purchasing items excessively or impulsively in response to fears or anxiety about future events,” according to a recent report by CreditCards.com. The act of buying things as a way to self-soothe and cope with discomfort can be particularly problematic, especially when you’re worried about your personal finances and the economy at large in the first place. The survey, published in February 2025, examines consumer spending habits since President Donald Trump took office and focuses on the role economic factors and uncertainty play. Here are some key findings. Americans are buying more, driven by Trump tariffs President Trump’s proposed tariffs are weighing heavily on many people’s minds. In fact, more than one in 4, or 29%, of respondents say fear of Trump’s tariffs greatly impacts their desire to make additional purchases. Trump has said, starting March 4 (next week!), he will slap a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and may in the future even broaden the scope of goods to include automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors—all of which means higher prices for American consumers already dealing with cost of living concerns and inflation. Digging a little further, the report shows 19% of respondents say they are buying significantly (5%) or slightly more (14%) items than usual, and of this group, 29% say fear of Trump’s tariffs greatly impacts their desire to make additional purchases, while 37% say it’s having some impact. Another pandemic also prompts spending The report found that 3 in 10 respondents are purchasing items to prepare for another pandemic. Meanwhile, 42% say they are, or will start, stockpiling items, mainly food and toilet paper. Also, since November 2024, 28% of respondents say they have made one large purchase (over $500) and 21% say they soon plan to. The most common of those large purchases were electronics (39%), home appliances (31%), and home improvement materials (25%). People also bought furniture (22%) and cars (17%). Finally, and perhaps the most worrisome finding of the report, is that 34% of respondents say they are likely to worsen or go into credit card debt this year to secure purchases. View the full article

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled Congress has voted to repeal a federal fee on oil and gas producers who release high levels of methane, undoing a major piece of former President Joe Biden’s climate policy aimed at controlling the planet-warming “super pollutant.” The fee, which had not gone into effect, was expected to bring in billions of dollars. The Senate on Thursday voted along party lines 52-47 to repeal the fee, following a similar House vote on Wednesday. The measure now goes to President Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it. Methane is a much stronger global warming gas than carbon dioxide, especially in the short term, and is to blame for about one-third of the world’s warming so far. Oil and gas producers are among the biggest U.S. methane emitters and controlling it is critical to address climate change. Most major oil and gas companies do not release enough methane to trigger the fee, which is $900 per ton, an amount that would increase to $1,500 by 2026. The measure was part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, but the Environmental Protection Agency didn’t formally set rules until late last year. That timing made it vulnerable to the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to pass a resolution to undo rules that are finalized toward the end of a president’s term. If those resolutions pass and the president signs them, the rule is terminated and agencies can’t issue a similar one again. “It’s a sorry testament to the influence of Big Oil on Capitol Hill that one of the top priorities of Congress is a blatant handout to the worst actors in the fossil fuel industry,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program. The American Petroleum Institute, the largest lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, applauded the move, calling the fee a “duplicative, punitive tax on American energy production that stifles innovation.” “Thanks to industry action, methane emissions continue to decline as production increases, and we support building on this progress through smart and effective regulation,” said Amanda Eversole, the executive vice president and chief advocacy officer at API. Globally, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have been steadily climbing. Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who chairs the Senate’s Environment and Public Works committee, spoke in favor of repeal on the Senate floor. “We should be expanding natural gas production, not restricting it. Instead, the natural gas tax will constrain American natural gas production, leading to increased energy prices and providing a boost to the production of natural gas in Russia,” she said. Repeal of the methane fee is the latest of several pro-oil and gas moves Republicans have taken since the start of Trump’s term. On his first day, he declared a national energy emergency, calling for more oil and gas production, and fewer environmental reviews. Democrats failed to overturn that declaration yesterday. Trump has also lifted a pause on new applications for liquified natural gas export terminals, removed the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, and moved to open up more areas of public lands and waters for oil and gas drilling. The fee on methane releases was aimed at pushing companies to adopt better practices to curb emissions and make their operations more efficient. Technology exists to prevent leaks and to fix them. The EPA had said the fee was expected to reduce 1.2 million metric tons of methane emissions by 2035—that’s about the same as removing 8 million cars from the road for a year. The Biden administration had also implemented methane regulations on existing oil and gas wells, after addressing methane escaping from new wells. The EPA at the time meant for the fee to complement that rule and focus on the worst polluters. About half of all methane emissions from wells are from just 6% that are smaller producers, according to a recent study. — Michael Phillis and Matthew Daly, Associated Press View the full article

Donald Trump says America is looking to forge pact as ‘quickly as it can be done’View the full article

In a livestream today, OpenAI finally announced the launch of its GPT-4.5 model, but with a twist: For now, using it requires a $200 per month ChatGPT Pro subscription. That’s because the new large language model, or LLM, is still technically in a “research preview” state. This is all apparently shorthand for “please pay us for the privilege of being a beta tester.” Jokes aside, the company is promising GPT-4.5 provides more “natural conversation,” and performs better when it comes to programming, pattern recognition, writing, and “solving practical problems.” Note that GPT-4.5 isn’t intended as a reasoning model, meaning it won’t have the self-correcting or deep research capabilities of OpenAI o1, o3-mini, or the upcoming full version of o3. In a leaked document, the company said it’s not considering GPT-4.5 a “frontier” model, but it is OpenAI’s largest LLM yet, which should make it ideal for everyday queries, as the large database of training material should make for quicker answers. Credit: OpenAI In internal tests, OpenAI says the new model hallucinated about 24.7% less frequently than GPT-4.0, and was about 34.3% more accurate. Around 57% of internal human testers reportedly preferred GPT-4.5 to 4.0. Credit: OpenAI In other words, GPT-4.5 isn’t exactly at the cutting edge of AI, but it should be an improvement on other non-reasoning models, providing a nice middle ground between cheaper, more traditional LLMs and their frequently paywalled successors. The only major omissions seem to be multimodal features like AI Voice Mode and video input, although OpenAI says its working on updating its user experience, which seems to hint some version of these capabilities might come to the model in the future. That makes sense, given that, once again, this is technically an early release, with OpenAI saying it’s “still exploring” GPT-4.5’s limits and how people can use it. To that end, the LLM is set to expand to all paid ChatGPT plans over the next two weeks, before presumably reaching free users as a replacement for GPT-4.0 once it leaves its preview state. View the full article

A grassroots organization is encouraging U.S. residents not to spend any money Friday as an act of “economic resistance” to protest what the group’s founder sees as the malign influence of billionaires, big corporations and both major political parties on the lives of working Americans. The People’s Union USA calls the 24 hours of spending abstinence set to start at midnight an “economic blackout,” a term that has since been shared and debated on social media. The activist movement said it also plans to promote weeklong consumer boycotts of particular companies, including Walmart and Amazon. Other activists, faith-based leaders and consumers already are organizing boycotts to protest companies that have scaled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and to oppose President Donald Trump’s moves to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Some faith leaders are encouraging their congregations to refrain from shopping at Target, one of the companies backing off DEI efforts, during the 40 days of Lent that begin Wednesday. Here are some details about the various events and experts’ thoughts on whether having consumers keep their wallets closed is an effective tool for influencing the positions corporations take. Who’s behind the “24-hour economic blackout?” The People’s Union USA, which takes credit for initiating the no-spend day, was founded by John Schwarz, a meditation teacher who lives near the Chicago area, according to his social media accounts. The organization’s website said it’s not tied to a political party but stands for all people. Requests for comment sent to the group’s email address this week did not receive a reply. The planned blackout is scheduled to run from 12 a.m. EST through 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday. The activist group advised customers to abstain from making any purchases, whether in store or online, but particularly not from big retailers or chains. It wants participants to avoid fast food and filling their car gas tanks, and says shoppers with emergencies or in need of essentials should support a local small business and try not to use a credit or debit card. People’s Union plans another broad-based economic blackout on March 28, but it’s also organizing boycotts targeting specific retailers — Walmart and Amazon — as well as global food giants Nestle and General Mills. For the boycott against Amazon, the organization is encouraging people to refrain from buying anything from Whole Foods, which the e-commerce company owns. What other boycotts are being planned? There are a number of boycotts being planned, particularly aimed at Target. The discounter, which has backed diversity and inclusion efforts aimed at uplifting Black and LGBTQ+ people in the past, announced in January it was rolling back its DEI initiatives. A labor advocacy group called We Are Somebody, led by Nina Turner, launched a boycott of Target on February 1 to coincide with Black History Month. Meanwhile, an Atlanta-area pastor, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, organized a website called targetfast.org to recruit Christians for a a 40-day Target boycott starting March 5, which marks Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Other faith leaders have endorsed the protest. The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization, announced in late January it would identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning their diversity, equity and inclusion pledges. The organization formed a commission to identify potential candidates. “Donald Trump can cut federal DEI programs to the bone, he can claw back federal money to expand diversity, but he cannot tell us what grocery store we shop at,” Sharpton said in a statement posted on the National Action Network’s website. Will the events have any impact? Some retailers may feel a slight pinch from Friday’s broad “blackout,” which is taking place in a tough economic environment, experts said. Renewed inflation worries and Trump’s threat of tariffs on imported goods already have had an effect on consumer sentiment. “The (market share) pie is just so big,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, said. “You can’t afford to have your slices get smaller. Consumers are spending more money on food. And that means there’s more pressure on general merchandise or discretionary products.” Still, Cohen thinks the overall impact may be limited, with any meaningful sales declines more likely to surface in liberal-leaning coastal regions and big cities. Anna Tuchman, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, said she thinks the economic blackout will likely make a dent in daily retail sales but won’t be sustainable. “I think this is an opportunity for consumers to show that they have a voice on a single day,” she said. ”I think it’s unlikely that we would see long-run sustained decreases in economic activity supported by this boycott.” Other boycotts have produced different results. Target saw a drop in sales in the spring and summer quarter of 2023 that the discounter attributed in part to customer backlash over a collection honoring LGBTQ+ communities for Pride Month. As a result, Target didn’t carry Pride merchandise in all of its stores the following year. Tuchman studied the impact of a boycott against Goya Foods during the summer of 2020 after the company’s CEO praised Trump. But her study, based on sales from research firm Numerator, found the brand saw a sales increase driven by first-time Goya buyers who were disproportionately from heavily Republican areas. However, the revenue bump proved temporary; Goya had no detectable sales increase after three weeks, Tuchman said. It was a different story for Bud Light, which spent decades as America’s bestselling beer. Sales plummeted in 2023 after the brand sent a commemorative can to a transgender influencer. Bud Light’s sales still haven’t fully recovered, according to alcohol consulting company Bump Williams. Tuchman thinks a reason is because there were plenty of other beers that the brand’s mostly conservative customer base could buy to replace Bud Light. Afya Evans, a political and image consultant in Atlanta, said she would make a point of shopping on Friday but will focus on small businesses and Black-owned brands. Evans is aware of other boycotts but she said she liked this one because she believes it could have some effect on sales. “It’s a broader thing,” she said. “We want to see what the impact is. Let everybody participate. And plan from there.” —Anne D’innocenzio and Haleluya Hadero, AP business writers AP business writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report. View the full article

Rafael Caro Quintero had been sought since 1985 for the murder of an American agentView the full article