• I spent time along Florida's 30A in three towns: Seaside, Rosemary Beach, and Alys Beach.
• Each beach town was very different, and the one I liked best felt the most "Florida" to me.
• The 30A beach town I'd recommend for a first-time visitor is Seaside for its great food and vibes.

Florida's 30A area is a stretch of white-sand beaches, Gulf of Mexico views, and quaint beach towns that runs for 24 miles along County Road 30A.

The area, which is in the Florida panhandle between Panama City Beach or Destin, has grown in popularity in recent years and has been nicknamed "the Hamptons of the South" by those who visit.

Recently, I spent a few days in 30A and explored three beach towns there: Rosemary Beach, Seaside, and Alys Beach.

All were charming and had lots to do, but as a Florida native who writes about travel for a living, there was one spot I'd recommend if you're looking to get the full 30A experience while still feeling like you had a distinctly "Florida" vacation.

Alys Beach felt too high-end for what I'd like to experience in Florida.

Alys Beach stood out with its architecture and design. White, stone structures and beautiful landscaping were king in this area, and it's easy to see why it's a popular spot for luxury travel.

With bright, linear buildings set against a cerulean sky, the area feels like something out of the Mediterranean region or, at the very least, a spot where celebrities would buy homes or take vacations in Florida.

I had a yummy lunch here on the outdoor patio of a spot called George's at Alys Beach and shopped for a bit in the public area. Still, it wasn't my favorite.

In my opinion, this area felt the least accessible to vacationers and had the vibe of a private community — not so much an inviting beach town.

Rosemary Beach gave off European vibes, but again, didn't feel like Florida.

I enjoyed my time in Rosemary Beach and found the TikToks I'd seen about the area to be accurate: The whole town has a European vibe, from the architecture of its homes to the design of its main shopping and dining area.

The area felt high-end and pricy, something some people vacationing in Florida may not expect.

Despite being cute and within walking distance of the main area of town, I found myself preferring to drive elsewhere in my rental car.

Of all the 30A beach towns I visited, Seaside was my favorite.

During my visit to 30A, I stayed at an Airbnb between Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach.

A perk of this area is that most of the beach towns are within walking or biking distance, and bike-rental shops are plentiful if a bicycle isn't included with your rental property.

Seaside was about a 15-minute drive from my Airbnb, and I found myself making the trip on two separate occasions to spend time there because I liked the area so much.

Seaside feels like an upscale beach town that's still distinctly "Florida."

As someone who's lived in Florida for the last eight years, I've come to appreciate the state's quirkiness and beauty. I love everything Florida's beach towns have to offer, and walking through Seaside felt very "Florida," while also feeling upscale.

There were gorgeous beach houses and breathtaking views of the blue-green Gulf of Mexico, but the area also had beach bars, souvenir shops, and hole-in-the-wall restaurants that reminded me I was still in my state.

Some of the best meals I had in 30A were in Seaside.

The flavors of Seaside were delightful and I'd absolutely return to the town for meals on future trips to 30A.

One night, I had a wonderful steak dinner on the rooftop of Bud and Alley's, a historic restaurant with famous sunset views.

Another day, I visited Seaside bright and early for breakfast at Pickle's Burger and Shakes, a spot on the beach that serves Southern breakfast fare like biscuits and gravy.

Even the latte I grabbed at Amavida Coffee and Tea was excellent.

The sunsets in Seaside can't be beat.

The sunsets along the Gulf of Mexico are stunning, and the prettiest one I saw was while having dinner on the roof of the aforementioned Bud and Alley's.

The restaurant even rings a bell each time the sun sets.

My dream rental property in Seaside would be right on the gulf with a balcony for viewing the sunset on the days I didn't make it to Bud and Alley's roof.

One of the best parts of my trip was a walking tour of Seaside.

The best thing I did while in Seaside was actually a free self-guided walking tour created by the Seaside Institute that I played on my phone as I explored the town.

It featured recorded audio snippets from architects and town planners who founded Seaside explaining everything from the art and design of each beach entrance to how the local historic post office came to be.

Not only was it great to see the town on foot and learn about its history, but also finding a free vacation activity that's fun is always a win in my book.

Overall, I'd describe Seaside as an upscale Florida beach town with a family-friendly vibe.

I love that Seaside doesn't seem to take itself as seriously as towns like Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach.

Instead, it seems to embrace its Florida roots while still maintaining stunning architecture, beautiful art installations, and vibrant public areas.

It's beautiful enough to feel like a vacation — even to someone from another part of Florida — while not feeling as pretentious as other towns in the area.

My perfect 30A trip would include a stay in Seaside and day trips into the other towns.

I cannot wait to return to 30A for another vacation along the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

After exploring the area, I'm definitely a Seaside girl, and would choose a rental property right in the heart of the town for my next trip.

I'd still venture into towns like Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach for a meal or some shopping, but I'd recommend a stay in Seaside to a first-time 30A visitor.

• Cherie Rohn, 79, took up fencing at 75. She also works out and does ballroom dancing.
• She shared some of her secrets to staying so active at almost 80.
• These include finding an exercise you love and not trying to be perfect all the time.

Cherie Rohn, 79, has a very structured week when it comes to workouts.

On Sundays, she does a fencing lesson. On Tuesdays, she works out "strenuously." On Wednesday, she does a three-hour fencing session. She takes Thursday for stretching, and on Friday has a ballroom dancing lesson.

The freelance writer and editor based in Fort Myers, Florida, started fencing when she was 75. She stumbled across online fencing lessons during a lockdown in November 2020, and has been doing it ever since.

Rohn has been active all her life and had done ballroom dancing for a decade before she took up the blade. But fencing is "the most strenuous thing I've ever done," she said. "I have to work out constantly just to be able to do the sport."

Factors including genetics, luck, and our environment are thought to play a role in how long we live, as well as lifestyle choices such as regularly exercising.

Here how Rohn stays fit as she approaches 80.

Find an exercise you love

From whitewater rafting and scuba diving to skydiving and ballroom dancing, Rohn has tried lots of different activities.

"Whatever pulls your chain, do that," she said, because if you're not motivated to do something, you won't do it.

Nathan K. LeBrasseur, a physiologist who researches healthy aging, previously told BI that a mixture of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training is best for protecting our health. But the best exercise is one you can do consistently, so pick an activity you enjoy and will do regularly.

A 2018 study on 70 people over six weeks, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, found that those in their 80s who exercised regularly for most of their lives had similar levels of skeletal muscle and enzyme activity to those around 30 years younger than them.

Don't give up

"Don't quit too soon," Rohn said. Instead, think about what you're getting out of exercise.

For Rohn, fencing gives her "immense physical strength" and the ability to "meet the challenges of the day." Plus, the intense concentration it requires provides an escape from worries, she said.

A 2023 study by researchers at Duke Kunshan University, China, using data on 22,463 people found that physically active people over 80 tended to live longer than their inactive peers, even if they took up exercising later in life.

Don't try to be perfect all the time

"You can't be Wonder Woman all of the time," Rohn said. "Sometimes I eat really crappily. I'm not perfect. I screw up."

Lots of dietitians advocate for the 80/20 diet, where you eat healthily 80% of the time and allow yourself to eat what you want for the other 20%. This is because the healthiest way to eat, like exercise, is one you can maintain in the long term.

Making resting part of your workout routine

She also takes multiple rest days a week to help her body recover.

Working out too much and not taking adequate rest can lead to issues such as tiredness, lack of motivation, and increased risk of injuries, Danielle Gray, a personal trainer, previously told BI.

• Air travel is being disrupted by strong winds and wildfires in Los Angeles.
• Several airlines have waived change fees for flights to Los Angeles and Orange County.
• Some flights to Burbank were diverted, while passengers photographed the fires from the skies.

The wildfires devastating Los Angeles and the strong winds intensifying them are also disrupting air travel in and around the city.

After a lengthy dry spell in the region, the Santa Ana winds produced gusts up to nearly 90 mph.

These strong winds and the fires — which have led to five deaths and over 130,000 people being evacuated — have caused knock-on effects, with significant numbers of flights delayed and airlines issuing waivers to allow passengers to amend their flights.

American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines are among the carriers that have issued waivers for change fees. The affected airports are Los Angeles International, Hollywood Burbank, Ontario International, and Santa Ana's John Wayne Airport.

At LAX, the city's main airport, 153 flights, or 18%, were delayed on Wednesday, per data from FlightAware.

The airport says it is open and operating normally, but passengers should check their flight status with their airline.

Hollywood Burbank Airport is also facing some disruption, with 18% of Wednesday's flights canceled, per FlightAware.

On social media, the airport also told travelers to check their flight status before flying.

BBC reporter Ben Derico said his Wednesday flight to Burbank had to turn around and return to Las Vegas.

"After a bumpy attempt at touching down the landing was abandoned," he wrote. "The captain told us the winds were just too strong."

Tai Wright, from North Hollywood, told Newsweek her flight from Dallas to Burbank diverted to LAX.

"The heat inside the aircraft started to rise, and the smoke smell filled the cabin," she said.

"The entire landing was rocky, with the aircraft swaying and turning in all directions right up until touchdown, and everyone on board applauded with good reason after we touched ground."

Santa Monica Airport is the closest to the wildfires, about 3 miles south of an evacuation order resulting from the Palisades fire. It is a general aviation airport, which means commercial flights don't typically operate there.

Aviation is also playing a key role in fighting the wildfires. The Los Angeles Fire Department said 12 helicopters and six fixed-wing aircraft are in operation.

• A woman in Germany was sentenced to life for murdering her doppelgänger in 2022.
• The victim's family in Algeria found out about the verdict three weeks later.
• They say they were kept in the dark through the ordeal.

A woman and her male accomplice were sentenced to life in prison following an 11-month murder trial in Germany that sparked headlines across the world.

The case ended with their convictions for the August 2022 murder of the victim, described as her killer's doppelgänger.

But the family of Khadidja O., the victim, say they were kept in the dark while they were hundreds of miles away in Algeria.

"We didn't know anything," Khadidja's younger sister, Ahlem Boudjemaâ, told Business Insider of the trial.

She learned about the verdict only from BI's reporter getting in touch three weeks after the sentencing.

A language barrier and complex family dynamics contributed to German authorities falling short of their aim to communicate with the murder victim's relatives overseas.

The 'doppelgänger murder'

Khadidja, a 23-year-old beauty influencer who was living in Heilbronn, Germany, was killed two-and-a-half years ago.

While her father was part of the prosecution of her murder, the family she kept in touch with in Algeria found themselves shut out of the case.

Prosecutors said Khadidja was tracked down on Instagram by a woman who looked like her in a plot to fake her own death.

They said a 25-year-old Iraqi-German woman, identified only as Shahraban K., orchestrated the murder.

(In Germany, it is customary to refer to victims and defendants only by their first names and an initial.)

Prosecutors said that, along with an accomplice identified as Sheqir K., she lured Khadidja into a trap by pretending to offer her a free cosmetic treatment.

For a time, authorities indeed believed Shahraban was the one who died.

In August 2022, police discovered a bloodied body with dozens of stab wounds and initially identified it as hers.

However, an autopsy later revealed the body to be that of Khadidja, who police said bore a "striking resemblance" to Shahraban.

This discovery led to Shahraban and, later, Sheqir being named as suspects in the murder. The killing gripped the media, becoming widely known as the "doppelgänger murder."

Mid-way through the trial, prosecutors alleged that Shahraban previously tried to hire someone to murder a relative.

Both defendants were ultimately found guilty of murder, with Shahraban also facing an additional conviction of attempted incitement to murder her brother-in-law.

Thomas Schlappa, a press officer for Ingolstadt's regional court, confirmed that the two defendants were sentenced to life behind bars on December 19.

He said that Shahraban's case was deemed so severe that probation is "not an option."

Left in the dark

The victim's father, who lives in Germany and has had no contact with the Algerian family since a contentious divorce, was represented in court.

The rest of Khadidja's family in Oran, Algeria, had no legal representation and received little information throughout the trial.

They said they only learned about the verdict on January 8, 2025, nearly three weeks later, after Business Insider messaged them.

"I don't know why they did this to us," Boudjemaâ, the younger sister, told BI of the German authorities, who had earlier said the relatives deserved access to that information.

Nonetheless, Khadidja's Algerian family felt consistently left in the dark through the trial.

"I waited every day for news, but nothing was new," Boudjemaâ said.

From the offset, they had felt sidelined — they say even the news of Khadidja's death took 10 days to reach them.

Boudjemaâ says she was contacted by Khadidja's friends on social media, and had to relay the news to her mother.

(Ingolstadt state prosecutor's office disputes this, saying files show that the family in Algeria was informed of the murder.)

The mother, Bouch, told BI last July that she felt German authorities had done little to help her. She said they gave an email address which turned out to be incorrect.

Frustrated by the lack of information, Bouch, who is disabled after a brain hemorrhage several years ago, went on a fact-finding mission to Germany herself but learned little.

Veronika Grieser of the Ingolstadt state prosecutor's office characterized the lack of communication as a misunderstanding in statements to BI at the time.

She said the state prosecutor's office generally seeks to provide information on significant developments in a trial when relatives inquire.

"We very much regret that the victim's mother feels inadequately informed by the authorities," she said. "Of course, the victim's relatives have a right to information about the status of the proceedings and, of course, about the dates of the main hearing."

This week, the state prosecutor's office said that nobody from the Algerian family had contacted their office.

Schlappa of Ingolstadt's regional court told BI in an email that the outcome of the proceedings had been shared in a press release and appeared to suggest that the Algerian family was excluded due to their lack of legal representation.

"The victim's father was a co-plaintiff in the main hearing and was represented by a lawyer appointed by the court," he said. "To what extent the father has or had contact with any relatives in Algeria is not known here."

Once news of the sentencing reached Algeria, Boudjemaâ's reaction to the sentencing was conflicted.

"I don't know if there is justice," she said. "My sister is dead, she is gone, and she will not return."

• North Korea is learning combat lessons fighting Ukraine, a US official said.
• It means the authoritarian state is more of a threat to its neighbors.
• North Korea has dispatched around 12,000 troops to fight for Russia.

North Korea is learning valuable lessons from fighting against Ukraine, making it an increased threat to its neighbors, a US official said.

In recent months, North Korea has sent around 12,000 troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine as part of a new security pact between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The fighting has been concentrated in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukraine has seized and held swaths of territory.

In exchange, North Korea is receiving economic and diplomatic backing from Russia, as well as valuable military technology.

Dorothy Camille Shea, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, discussed the arrangement at the UN Security Council, Reuters reported.

North Korea "is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbors," she said.

"In turn, the DPRK will likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally," she said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

After brokering its alliance with Russia, North Korea has taken a defiant posture and on Monday tested a ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead.

The test came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea. The timing seemed intended to showcase North Korea's capacity to overcome the defenses of the US and its regional allies.

South Korea has watched North Korea's involvement in the Ukraine war with growing concern. It said last year it could provide Ukraine with intensified support in response to the alliance with Russia.

The UN has long sought to constrain North Korea's military program, specifically its ability to deploy nuclear weapons, by imposing severe sanctions.

But Russia has used its place on the UN Security Council to stymie a committee formed to enforce them.

On Wednesday, Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, argued that North Korea's new missile tests were a defensive measure in response to military exercises by the US and its regional allies.

Under President Joe Biden, the US reaffirmed its commitment to help defend east Asian regional allies, including South Korea and Japan.

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested he may take a more transactional approach to broker a deal with Kim, a path he pursued in his first term.

• The Panama Canal Authority chief said giving preferential treatment to one country's ships would lead to "chaos."
• Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told The Wall Street Journal: "Rules are rules — and there are no exceptions."
• Trump has accused the canal authority of charging "exorbitant" fees to US ships.

Giving US ships preferential rates to navigate the Panama Canal would "lead to chaos," the head of the canal authority said.

"Rules are rules — and there are no exceptions," Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"We cannot discriminate for the Chinese, or the Americans, or anyone else. This will violate the neutrality treaty, international law and it will lead to chaos."

In a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump demanded that US vessels be given preferential treatment.

He also accused the authority of overcharging US ships and of separately seeking funding from the US to repair the waterway. Vásquez Morales denied both those claims, telling the Journal that the authority funds maintenance from the fees it charges and that Panama hadn't requested funding from the US for improvements.

Ships are charged between $300,000 and $1 million depending on their size and type to pass through the canal.

Those charges "apply to all ships from around the world and there are no exceptions," Vásquez Morales told the Journal.

Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of retaking control of the canal, calling the fees "exorbitant" and a "rip-off."

"The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the US," he said on Truth Social in December.

At Tuesday's news conference, Trump also downplayed Panama's control of the canal and refused to rule out using military force to retake control of the trade route, expanding on a threat he made last month.

"China's basically taken it over. China's at both ends of the Panama Canal. China's running the Panama Canal," the president-elect said.

Vásquez Morales told the Journal: "China has no involvement whatsoever in our operations."

In response to Trump's comments, Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha said on Tuesday that only Panamanians operated the canal, adding: "Our canal's sovereignty is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest."

Trump has also refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland, which he said the US needed for "national security purposes."

The 51-mile Panama Canal was officially opened in 1914, creating a new trade route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The US transferred control to the state-owned Panama Canal Authority in 1999 in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, initiated in 1977 by the Carter administration.

Under the treaty, the US has the right to defend the canal from any change to its neutrality.

• Hundreds of prisoners are helping to battle the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
• Incarcerated firefighters earn $26.90 to $34 for each 24-hour shift.
• It's far below California's minimum wage of $16.50 an hour.

Hundreds of Californian prisoners have been deployed to help battle the fires raging across the Los Angeles area, with some working 24-hour shifts for as little as $26.90, or just over $1 an hour.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told The Guardian that it had deployed 395 incarcerated individuals to help battle the blazes.

The firefighters, who have "minimum custody" status, have been embedded with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which has deployed thousands of firefighters to the area.

The CDCR, jointly with Cal Fire and the Los Angeles County Fire Department, runs 35 "fire camps" across 25 California counties. Participation is voluntary, with inmates using hand tools to aid in fire suppression and other emergency responses.

The camps are considered minimum-security facilities.

California, which is grappling with longer and more destructive fire seasons amid the climate crisis, has long relied on incarcerated people for its response. In fact, the CDCR crews have, at times, accounted for as much as 30% of the state's wildfire force.

According to the CDCR, fire crew members earn between $5.80 and $10.24 a day, depending on their skill level, with an additional $1 per hour for active emergency assignments.

Crews can work 24-hour shifts during emergencies, followed by 24 hours of rest, it said, with the lowest-skilled firefighters earning $26.90 and the highest-skilled maxing out at about $34.

For context, California's minimum wage is $16.50 per hour, with some areas, such as West Hollywood, offering higher minimum wages.

In California, inmates are not guaranteed the state's minimum wage, and some earn as little as 16 cents per hour.

The $10.24 basic rate for the highest-skilled incarcerated firefighters ranks among the best daily rate for incarcerated people in the state.

In addition to pay, fire crews helping out during emergencies like this receive "time credits" on a two-for-one basis, meaning that for each day they serve on the crew, they receive two additional days off their sentence.

Participation can also lead to criminal record expungement and the ability to seek professional emergency response certifications.

The CDCR did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• American Airlines flight attendants were sent a union memo about leaving passengers on empty planes.
• The AFPA said cabin crew members should check lavatories and under seats for sleeping passengers.
• A union spokesperson said it "routinely" issued such reminders to members.

The union for American Airlines flight attendants has issued a memo reminding cabin crew not to leave sleeping passengers on board after flights land.

Aviation news site Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported that the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) recently warned members there had been an increase in such incidents.

"This communication serves as a reminder for flight attendants to complete required post-flight security checks to ensure all passengers have deplaned upon arrival," a spokesperson for APFA, which represents more than 28,000 American Airlines cabin crew members, told Business Insider.

They added that the union "routinely releases communications reminding flight attendants of the importance of conducting these checks."

Leaving a passenger on an empty plane is not only a security concern but can also violate safety rules that mandate a minimum number of flight attendants per passenger.

APFA's recent memo reminded cabin crew to "check lavatories, and make sure no passengers are sleeping in or under seats," Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported.

"These procedures are required to ensure that no passenger is ever left onboard," the memo continued. "This is a critical final check to confirm that no one has been overlooked, and this ensures that you and your crew aren't at risk of violating a [federal aviation regulation]."

The lead flight attendant is also supposed to perform a walk-through of the cabin as a final check, the memo reportedly said.

"Leaving passengers on the aircraft unattended is a significant safety and security concern and we appreciate everyone's shared efforts in ensuring this doesn't happen."

In 2019, an Air Canada passenger woke up alone on a cold and dark plane.

Tiffani O'Brien said she fell asleep on the 90-minute flight from Quebec City to Toronto and woke up hours later after the plane had been parked.

• McDonald's is facing fresh scrutiny over sexual harassment claims in its UK restaurants.
• Hundreds of workers are taking legal action against the chain, a law firm said this week.
• McDonald's says ensuring staff are safe at work is its "most important responsibility."

Hundreds of McDonald's workers in the UK are taking legal action over claims of workplace bullying and harassment.

Law firm Leigh Day said this week that over 700 people who work at or have previously worked at 450 different McDonald's locations across the UK have joined the proceedings.

All the workers were 19 or under when working at McDonald's, Leigh Day says.

News of the legal action comes as the BBC published fresh claims of workplace harassment at the fast-food giant, around 18 months after a major investigation into the working culture at the Golden Arches.

The BBC investigation, published in July 2023, revealed that over 100 workers at a number of the Golden Arches locations had spoken of experiencing sexual assault, harassment, racism, or bullying. Since that investigation, 160 more people have approached the BBC with allegations, it reported on Tuesday.

The BBC's latest report on harassment and abuse at the fast-food behemoth comes over a year after its UK boss pledged to take action to improve working conditions.

Starting in February 2023, after the fast food chain signed an agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) promising to protect its staff from sexual harassment, the BBC spoke to staff about the working environment at McDonald's.

Of the over 100 allegations the BBC heard prior to publishing its initial 2023 investigation, 31 involved sexual assault, 78 involved sexual harassment, 18 were related to racism, and 6 were related to homophobia.

Alistair Macrow, the CEO of McDonald's UK and Ireland, told Members of Parliament in November 2023 that the company had received 407 complaints from employees since that July. He said it was taking steps to better protect staff.

Since the BBC's initial investigation in July 2023, 300 reports alleging harassment at the chain have been made to the EHRC.

"Ensuring the 168,000 people that work in McDonald's restaurants are safe is the most important responsibility for both us and our franchisees," McDonald's said in a statement sent to Business Insider.

"We have undertaken extensive work over the last year to ensure we have industry leading practices in place to support this priority. Any incident of misconduct and harassment is unacceptable and subject to rapid and thorough investigation and action."

Macrow, the UK McDonald's boss, said that 29 people have been fired over incidents involving sexual harassment in the past year.

The BBC heard that one woman said her shift manager, who was in his 30s, asked for sex in exchange for extra shifts when she was a 17-year-old employee. Another female staff member, who was 20 at the time, said her male manager sent her topless photos. A 19-year-old employee alleged he was bullied for having a learning disability and an eye condition, per the BBC.

McDonald's rolls back some DEI efforts

News of fresh claims of staff harassment in the UK comes in the same week that McDonald's announced plans to scale back its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

McDonald's said in a statement on Monday that it will stop "setting aspirational representation goals," pause participating in external surveys, no longer require its supply chain to commit to its DEI pledge and change the name of its diversity team to the Global Inclusion Team.

A growing backlash against DEI strategies has seen companies such as Nissan, Walmart, and Harley-Davidson scale back or cut programs altogether.

Much of the criticism has come from high-profile figures like Elon Musk and conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who have labeled such initiatives as "woke."

• Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) have become a popular alternative to traditional homes and apartments.
• Three people who built and moved into ADUs shared with BI how they improved their lives.
• One person said moving into an ADU "was the best decision we ever made."

For newlyweds Aislyn and Ali Benjamin, purchasing a traditional home in Danville, California — a small city just over an hour's drive east of San Francisco — wasn't financially feasible.

It's easy to see why. Data from Realtor.com shows that the area's median home sale price is about $1.9 million as of December.

The Benjamins weren't keen on moving too far from Danville in search of a more affordable home, nor were they interested in renting long-term. So, they opted for another solution: building an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in their parent's backyard.

Today, they live in a 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom ADU in San Ramon, a city neighboring Danville. The home cost $500,000 to build, which the couple paid with their parents' help.

"This was the best decision we ever made," Ali Benjamin told Business Insider. "It allowed us to save so much money and live where we wanted."

ADUs are an affordable entry to homeownership

ADUs are compact housing units, typically 150 to 1,200 square feet, depending on location. On average, they cost between $100,000 and $300,000 to design and build, though additional expenses — such as site preparation, inspections, utility hookups, and permits — can drive up the total cost.

Thanks to their affordability and minimal land requirements, ADUs have become a popular alternative to traditional homes and apartments, particularly for first-time homeowners like the Benjamins, who navigated high home prices, mortgage rates, and a shortage of available homes.

To boost the supply of affordable housing, several states, including California, New York, and Vermont, have supported ADU construction by offering grant programs to help homeowners finance the building process.

In California, where most backyard homes are built, the state's Accessory Dwelling Unit Grant Program has provided grants of up to $40,000 to qualified homeowners — it's been instrumental in driving the growth of ADUs across the Golden State.

According to an April report from the Urban Institute, ADUs accounted for just 8% of permits and 5% of completions in California in 2018. By 2022, however, they represented 18% of total permits and production.

A couple built an ADU to give their adult son more independence

People build ADUs for various reasons, including generating income by renting out the ADU or their main home. Others build ADUs to create comfortable, semi-independent living spaces for aging parents or adult children who may need assistance or support.

Take Todd Kuchta, a 58-year-old engineer who built an ADU in his Napa, California, backyard for his 26-year-old son, Jacob, who has autism.

As Kuchta's son grew older, he desired more independence from his parents but still needed their help with daily tasks like cleaning, taking medication, and preparing meals.

Unable to afford a larger home or an assisted living facility for their son, Kuchta and his wife hired Bay Area-based ADU builder Villa to construct a 480-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bathroom tiny home on their property.

The ADU cost over $248,000 to build. The Kuchtas received financing through Napa County's Affordable ADU program, which provided a $63,000 forgivable loan. They also secured a $160,000 loan from a credit union as a second mortgage.

The new living arrangement has mutually benefited the Kucthas and their son.

"Jacob really enjoys living on his own — he's thriving," Kuchta told BI.

He added that he and his wife's "stress has significantly decreased, and they have peace of mind knowing they can still provide the emotional support he needs."

A woman built an ADU in her backyard to age in place

The growing trend of multiple generations living together, either under the same roof or on the same property, has fueled the rise of "granny pods" — small outbuildings designed to provide support while allowing older adults to age in place and maintain their independence.

Struggling with the stairs in her two-story home, 72-year-old Wilder-Abrams moved into a 560-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bathroom granny pod in her backyard in 2022.

Meanwhile, her 34-year-old daughter moved into the home she had lived in for 35 years — a 2,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home — with her 3-year-old daughter.

"I was ready to downsize and have a smaller place to live and take care of," Wilder-Abrams told BI. "The home is in an urban area, so there are a lot of possibilities for my daughter, too."

The ADU cost $350,000 to build. Wilder-Abrams secured a second mortgage on her home to finance the construction, as the original mortgage had been paid off years ago. Her daughter now pays $1,500 monthly rent, covering the new mortgage payment.

Beyond the financial benefits, home swapping has provided Wilder-Abrams with valuable physical and emotional support. She said having her daughter nearby was crucial to her recovery after knee surgery last year.

"The first few days, she stayed with me to change the ice packs regularly," Wilder-Abrams said. "It was so convenient for both of us."

• Elon Musk said SpaceX will donate free Starlink terminals to areas of LA hit by massive wildfires.
• The city is battling a series of huge fires which have forced over 100,000 residents to evacuate.
• Starlink has previously been used after natural disasters like Hurricane Helene, and in conflict zones.

Elon Musk says he will donate free Starlink terminals to Los Angeles as the city fights a series of devastating wildfires.

The SpaceX founder said on Wednesday night that the rocket company would provide the terminals to areas hit by the huge wildfires, which have forced 100,000 people to evacuate and plunged the region into chaos over the past few days.

"SpaceX will provide free Starlink terminals to affected areas in LA tomorrow morning," the billionaire wrote in a post on X.

SpaceX's Starlink service provides internet using a network of thousands of low-orbit satellites.

The technology is designed to offer connectivity in rural areas and regions without consistent internet access, and has been regularly deployed at natural disaster scenes in recent years.

Musk has also offered free Starlink services to areas hit by extreme weather events in the past.

In October, SpaceX waived costs to use the internet satellite service for those hit by hurricanes Milton and Helene, which battered the east coast of the US in late 2024 — although some users found that they still had to pay as much as $400 to purchase a Starlink terminal.

SpaceX has also deployed Starlink to war-torn regions such as Gaza and Ukraine, although not without political controversy.

Musk's announcement that SpaceX would supply Starlink to "internationally recognized aid organizations" in Gaza prompted fierce backlash from Israel, which had largely blocked communications from the territory since it launched a destructive invasion in the aftermath of attacks by Hamas in October 2023.

The company eventually received permission to set up the service in a hospital in Gaza, Musk confirmed in July last year.

Starlink's presence in Ukraine, where it has served as a key military communications tool for the Ukrainian army since 2022, has also dragged Musk into geopolitical minefields.

In 2023, the billionaire was heavily criticized for refusing a request from Ukrainian forces to enable Starlink over Crimea, foiling an attack on the Russian navy.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside normal working hours.

• Shayla Smith is the COO of a Hollywood law firm, where curt corporate speak is normal.
• She realized she needed to take a more nuanced approach to communication at home.
• Her experience in retail helped her refine her communication techniques, she says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shayla Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Lichter Grossman Nichols Feldman Rogal Shikora & Clark, Inc. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've always had a firm but fair communication style. I don't tone myself down: I am who I am because everyone else is taken. That's served me well professionally. While I started my career in retail at Target, I quickly stepped into C-suite operational roles, first in wealth management and later in law firms.

At work, I'm goal-oriented. Whether I'm recruiting new talent, helping a customer have the best experience possible, or working with one of the many managing partners at my firm, I operate with confidence and command. That's helped me get far in my career.

And yet, recently, I realized it was holding me back at home. It took a comment from my husband to help me realize that I needed to establish a clear separation between the role of a leader in the workplace and a leader at home. I was accustomed to providing directives all day at work, so I found it natural to adopt the same approach at home. Unfortunately, that often struck my husband and sons, who are 9 and 7, the wrong way.

Now, I focus on delivery, not just content

Professionally, I'm focused on the outcome. I can be curt, and I say something once and expect the team to act on it. After my husband pointed out that I was using corporate speak and delivery with him, I adjusted my communication at home. I started considering not only what I wanted to convey but how I wanted to convey it.

I stay true to myself but tone it down

I'm always going to have a strong communication style. Luckily, my husband is super even-keeled and well-balanced. I've started to think about toning down my sharp communication. I imagine it like a light switch: at work, I can let my bulb shine with full power, but at home, on relaxed evenings, sometimes it's nice to hit that dimmer switch and lower the intensity just a bit.

I'm intentional with my words

My husband is a first responder with a hectic overnight schedule, while I have an equally busy schedule in the corporate world. Sometimes, our communication has to be clipped and to the point because we're so busy.

Even at those times, I'm careful with the words that I use. Saying "I would like it if…" or "It would be nice if…" helps my husband know I come from a place of care and understanding, even when I'm being direct. In turn, that helps him better receive what I need to say, so we both win.

We create a relaxing environment at home

Since we both have such demanding jobs, we intentionally create a calm, relaxing environment at home that's markedly different from the chaos of the world outside. Physically, we create a very different environment, working together to pick soothing wall colors and decor. We might talk about work in the car, but we try not to discuss it at home because we want to protect our space.

There are some corporate communication lessons I want the boys to know

While I've changed my communication style with my family, there are aspects of corporate communication I want my sons to know. I'm always reminding them to speak loudly and clearly, looking the person they're speaking with in the eye and speaking with conviction. They know I'll only say things once, and I expect them to pay attention.

Ultimately, I hope they understand that people might not remember what you said, but they'll remember how you made them feel. I learned that working Black Fridays at Target when I was juggling angry guests, overwhelmed workers, and lots of small crises. Although a Hollywood law firm might seem different from that, customer service and great communication are critical across the board — whether with family, colleagues, or clients.

• First-time homebuyers have had a hard time finding affordable homes.
• A ranking from Realtor.com shows the best cities in the US for first-time buyers.
• Smaller and suburban cities lead the list, and one region is nowhere to be found.

The current state of the housing market has made it challenging for first-time homebuyers, but a few cities around the US have easier markets than others.

The look of the first-time buyer has changed over the years, with the median age of the first-time buyer jumping to 38 in 2024 from 35 in 2023.

"When we think about first-time homebuyers, a lot of times we think young families and young professionals looking to get into the housing market for the first time," Realtor.com senior economist Joel Berner told Business Insider. "And that's still true. But the other thing that is true — and becoming more true — is it's folks who have been in that position for several years now are just finally able to get into it."

With sticky listing prices and mortgage rates predicted to remain unchanged in 2025, first-time homebuyers face additional challenges.

A newly released report from Realtor.com ranked the best markets for first-time homebuyers in 2025. Three Florida cities made the list and two cities in New York did as well, but no cities on the west coast made the list.

This wasn't all that surprising, as plenty of movers have vacated the west looking for more affordable parts of the country, and Berner noted affordability made up 25% of the weighted score.

"Affordability is the main story we talk about, and it's a big struggle with mortgage rates just hovering right under 7% right now — not really going to get a lot of relief on that front," Berner told Business Insider.

Small towns and suburban cities dominated the list, offering a good mix of relief in listing prices as well as high location scores — a metric used by Realtor.com that factors in nearby amenities like daycares, nightlife, and restaurants.

While most of the cities on the list have populations under 200,000 residents, Baltimore is an outlier, with affordable home prices and a population of 585,708, according to census data.

"I think if that median listing price were just a little bit higher, it wouldn't have been here," Berner said. "But because it's a very affordable market, it can compete with some of these smaller towns."

Here are the top 10 cities for first-time homebuyers, according to Realtor.com.

1. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Median listing price: $140,000

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 34.8

Price-to-income ratio: 2.6

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 20.6%

2. Rochester, New York

Median listing price: $129,900

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 21.2

Price-to-income ratio: 2.5

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 22.3%

3. Villas, Florida

Median listing price: $236,950

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 85.6

Price-to-income ratio: 3.4

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 14.1%

4. Lauderdale Lakes, Florida

Median listing price: $154,850

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 72.4

Price-to-income ratio: 2.7

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 11.2%

5. Altamonte Springs, Florida

Median listing price: $229,400

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 46.8

Price-to-income ratio: 3.6

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 19.4%

6. Lansing, Michigan

Median listing price: $135,000

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 42.3

Price-to-income ratio: 2.6

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 21.4%

7. North Little Rock, Arkansas

Median listing price: $160,000

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 38.5

Price-to-income ratio: 3.3

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 17.6%

8. Baltimore, Maryland

Median listing price: $210,000

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 51.6

Price-to-income ratio: 3.3

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 19.9%

9. Tonawanda, New York

Median listing price: $229,900

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 30.2

Price-to-income ratio: 2.9

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 14.2%

10. Wilmington, Delaware

Median listing price: $222,000

Home inventory per 1,000 households: 41.3

Price-to-income ratio: 4.1

Expected share of 25- to 34-year-old homeowners: 18.4%

• So many adults pressure kids to choose careers before their brains fully develop.
• As a former college teacher, I've seen how young adults lack the skills needed to make major life decisions.
• With my own kids, I'm encouraging exploration and responsibility. They can decide on a career later.

Ever since my four children were small, adults would predictably ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Plenty of young ones want to be someone they deem heroic, like a firefighter, or something that sounds cool, like a magician. It's all fun and games, until it's not.

As a former college writing teacher, I'm so tired of adults demanding that kids "choose a career path" before their brains are even close to being fully developed. (Science says that's around age 25, in case you didn't know.) Rarely did my 18, 19, and 20-year-old students hone in on their forever future at their ages. They simply didn't have the life experience, self-awareness, and maturity to make such a major decision.

Two of my children are teens, and already, their schools are imploring them to start making some big life choices. I taught at the university level for a decade, and most of those young adults weren't ready to "pick and stick" yet, much less our high school and middle school kids.

Instead of asking kids what they want to be when they grow up and then spending years prodding and pressuring them into a lifetime of anxiety over their academic (and then career) choices and performance, we need to take a step back and try differently — and better. We adults are missing the forest for the trees. Here's what I'm doing with my teens instead.

Support kids in getting and maintaining a job

Many adults my age worked since we were pre-teens, we had jobs such as babysitting and mowing the lawn. These experiences were invaluable. Many kids today are so over-scheduled or catatonic (thanks, COVID), and they don't have the same job opportunities we did.

When your teen wants to work, find ways to help them accomplish this goal, including: applying for a job, learning the skills to perform well, arriving on time, having a strong work ethic, and communicating with their employer. When jobs don't work out, support your child then, too. Failure is a wonderful teacher.

Help children learn to manage their money

With a job comes money. A paycheck can bring about financial freedom or some serious issues. Letting your kids make mistakes with their money now is a gift. Showing your child how to save, how to be a savvy spender, and the importance of generosity will set them up for future success. Remember to also be a good role model with your own money since our kids are always watching.

Stop rescuing them at every turn

One of the worst things I saw parents do for their college students was rescue them at the drop of a hat. I had multiple parents call me to complain that their child was failing my class — and boldly claiming it was my fault. What I couldn't tell the parent, legally, were the real reasons their child was failing; their child was skipping class and not turning in required work.

What parents failed to realize is that they'd never taught their child basic skills: effective communication and age-appropriate responsibility (such as time management. These weren't bad kids. These were kids who lacked skills. Parents, there are times your kids need you to swoop in and help them, but most times, please know and allow that a challenge is an opportunity for the child to try things their way, then live and learn.

Say yes to safe exploration

From what I've seen, many millennial parents have the mindset that their child needs to pick one or two extracurricular activities and excel in them, no matter what, even if it's financially and time-draining, not to mention stressful for the kid.

Parents, it's perfectly fine for your child to want to explore many different types of activities and not be "the best" in any one of them. Trying a sport, for example, not liking it, and then wanting to discontinue participating doesn't make your child "a quitter." In fact, this is how they learn personal boundaries and to appreciate curiosity and courage.

Give responsibilities at home

Yes, I'm talking about (gasp) chores. Having daily, required tasks teaches your child teamwork, cleanliness, and responsibility. If we desire for our kids to become adults who can live on their own or with someone else, let's give them opportunities to practice what that means. Maybe it sounds silly in theory, but knowing how to sweep a floor, run a load of laundry, or take out the trash on the appropriate day is skill-building. I witnessed far too many college students who couldn't run a load of laundry, scramble an egg, or send a respectful, clear e-mail to me.

In time, kids will figure out their path

We push kids to choose what they want to be when they grow up but often fail to teach them how to be a grown up. Parents, now is the time to let kids have new experiences, make mistakes, and practice problem-solving skills — all while they have our support, guidance, and love.

• Wall Street newcomers are often highly successful.
• But Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson says a key to success is learning to accept failures.
• Always being ready to up your game as you get promoted is also crucial, he said.

If you're just getting started in your career on Wall Street, Morgan Stanley chief investment officer Mike Wilson has some tough love to share with you: life's only going to get harder.

In an interview with Business Insider in December, Wilson listed a couple pieces of advice he gives to his new hires, interns, and even his kids.

Number one: you're not going to be as successful as you're used to being. Landing a job at an investment bank or research firm is an achievement, with a stellar academic record often being a prerequisite. So many youngsters entering banking are accustomed to outperforming. But failing is a fact of life in banking, Wilson said.

"A lot of people coming to Wall Street are overachievers," Wilson said. "I say, 'My guess is your historical report card has very few Bs on it. Maybe none. And definitely no Cs. And so what you're going to have to get used to coming to Wall Street is you're going to get a bunch of Fs, and you can't even fathom what that feels like."

How you adjust to that feeling will be one factor in how successful you become, he said.

"You picked the stock, it went to zero, everybody knows you made a mistake. How are you going to deal with that?" Wilson said.

"The best investors generally get 55% of their calls correct," he continued. "There are a lot of dynamics that play into being a good investor, a good analyst, a good strategist. But I think the hardest one is learning how to accept failure, learning how to be wrong, admit it, and move on. Acknowledge your mistakes."

Wilson, who is also Morgan Stanley's chief US equity strategist, has put his advice to use in recent years. He was one of the most accurate market forecasters in 2022 amid a market sell-off, but his ongoing bearishness caught up with him in 2023 when the market turned around. He issued a mea culpa, offering more bullish price targets since then alongside the ongoing stock-market rally.

As for his second piece of advice, Wilson said to be ready to continually up your game as you become more successful.

"I have two sons in their 20s, and I always kid around with them. When they're successful at work, I say, 'Congratulations, you're gonna make it to the next level. Guess what: It's going to be harder,'" Wilson said.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing, he said.

"That's life. Every rung is harder, and that's the thrill of it, too, because you're competing at a higher level," he said. "If you're successful, you just understand that dynamic, and that's something I think young people need to know — what exactly they're signing up for."

In the interview, Wilson also shared more general career advice that can apply to people outside of the financial industry as well: stand up for ideas that you have high conviction in. In his role, that means sometimes issuing calls against consensus. He called this taking personal risk.

"You've got to be willing to go take a stand on stuff, whether it's in a meeting, with people you report to, pointing out things that you don't agree with, kind of making a firm stance," Wilson said.

• After his first two semesters of college, my son is on academic suspension.
• Right now, he's working in a bakery while he decides what he want to do next.
• We're not sure if he'll return to school, but I'll support him in his decision.

My darling son's college career has been on hiatus for a year, and his GPA is at the bottom of a deep well. What's a caring parent to do?

The heavy words "academic suspension" are nothing any parent or student wants to see on their record. But after two disastrous semesters, he was suspended for a semester — and he hasn't shown any inclination to return. Since he's lost his scholarship, probably for good, it will be an expensive return to campus.

Here's what I'm doing to support my son better as he takes charge of his life.

I didn't see there could be another path for him

My generation was taught that going to college is the best way to ensure a secure, well-paying job. I also learned that a college education is a way to become more well-rounded. I thought it was a given that he would go to college and then have a career.

I passed these ideas along to my son. He was enrolled in college preparatory courses, and in middle and high school, the teachers also emphasized how important a college education would be to his future. But there was a discrepancy between what he was being told and what he saw in real life.

My son watched as his parents, both journalists with college degrees, struggled with temporary furloughs, weird hours, beau coups of stress, a relocation, and my recent layoff. Our jobs were neither secure nor particularly well-paying.

The YouTubers whose videogame playthroughs he watched didn't necessarily need a college degree to do what they did, either — though some of them do have them — and they were making a decent living doing something they enjoy.

I wanted my son to be able to live safely, comfortably, and independently in an indifferent, cold world. But now, looking back, I worry I pushed him too hard in the direction I wanted him to go when he hesitated because I didn't see that there was another path for him.

I'm finally listening to my son

He gave lip service during his senior year of high school about wanting to go to college but was noncommittal on many of the details. That should have been my first clue he may not be sure, yet I still dragged him to various college tours, thinking it would get him excited about going. What my son remembered the most about those trips was the heat of southern Georgia in August and being appalled the campus tour guide hadn't tried crepes until college.

When his indifference continued, I told him to sign up for a local community college and suggested a major based on his love of food and nutrition: chemistry. He complied. Naturally, chemistry is one of the courses he failed in his first semester. Basically, I contributed to the situation we now find ourselves in — I'm no "Mother of the Year" candidate.

During the school year, he told me that things were fine, even when they weren't. I took it as truth, because it's what I wanted to hear. But now, I'm really listening. It seems like an obvious step, doesn't it? Our communication had suffered because my son was telling me what he thought I wanted to hear instead of the truth. He'd gone to college because he didn't want to disappoint me.

He's learning by doing what he enjoys

Plenty of well-known people have hit pause on college and gone on trips overseas to "find themselves." My son is having to find his place in the world while working at a bakery.

He seems to be enjoying most of it. In his free time after work, he cooks banana nut bread, muffins, and cookies. Cooking is both an art and a science, something he's enjoyed since taking culinary classes in high school before the pandemic brought those courses to an end.

I suggested he enroll in culinary classes, but he seems content to just work for now. So, I'm staying out of the way as he concocts the recipe of his life while also providing support and encouragement.

I still think college while he is still young is the best option for his future. But what's more important is what he thinks, and it's apparent that despite all the sales pitches, he hasn't been sold on the idea of college.

• Danielle-Ann Kealohilani Rugg moved back to Hawaii to care for her family during the pandemic.
• She balances event work, a tax business, and family life amid Hawaii's high living costs.
• Despite the challenges, she finds beauty in Hawaii but would return to Oregon for lower living costs.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Danielle-Ann Kealohilani Rugg, a 39-year-old entrepreneur and event staff professional who relocated from Oregon to Hawaii. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I have an ever-evolving career. I balance my event work with Aloha HP, running a successful tax practice, and caring for my family on Oahu in Hawaii.

My path has been a mix of culinary aspirations, entrepreneurial ventures, and family-driven decisions. I was born and raised on Oahu. In 2005, when my twin daughters were 1, I moved to California, where I lived for six years before settling in Oregon. Oregon became home for most of my children's lives, spanning the last decade.

I've been back on Oahu since the pandemic, and while it's gorgeous, the high cost of living is challenging.

My professional life began with a passion for food

I moved to Oregon after a divorce to help care for my grandparents, and I fell in love with everything about the state. I had always seen the different seasons in movies and TV shows and longed to experience them, and that dream finally came true. The other amazing thing about the state was the absence of sales tax.

I enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Portland to pursue my passion for baking and pâtisserie. After completing the two-year associate degree program, I worked in various roles, from baker to cashier to server.

Each position taught me invaluable lessons about customer service, multitasking, and time management, especially when catering large events. It wasn't just about bread and coffee cups but about creating memorable client experiences.

My family always came first. Wanting to be closer to my children, I became a lunch lady at their high school. Surprisingly, this was one of the most fulfilling roles I've had.

I continued my side hustle while in Oregon

I shift gears every February and dive into tax season with my mother. We've been running a tax prep business since my early 20s. We realized the hard work we put in for someone else's business could be channeled into something of our own.

The time zone difference was challenging while I was in Oregon, but we made it work. Depending on our clientele for the year, we make $50,000 to $75,000 annually.

My mother and I get along very well. Our relationship is not perfect, but we've found a good balance between our professional and personal lives.

The only downside I experienced in Oregon was the limited places to swim

The ocean was about an hour and a half away, but the water was always freezing. Although it was beautiful, going to a beach and being unable to jump in dampened the experience.

There were lakes, but they were freezing because all the freshwater came from the mountains. We also had a few facilities we could go to, but that would involve getting a membership, and not all of them were indoors.

When the pandemic hit, my family had to make a change

In 2020, as the world was grappling with the onset of COVID-19, my mother suffered an injury, and she needed help. She lived in Honolulu, and despite the comfortable life my children and I had built in Oregon, I needed to return home.

It wasn't an easy decision, especially during my kids' junior year in high school, but sometimes life demands hard choices. The transition was tough, but ultimately, it was the right move for my mother's well-being. We also moved my grandmother back with us, who has dementia.

Back on Oahu, I found a job with Aloha HP, a Hawaiian staffing company. Aloha HP allowed me to keep up with my business while maintaining an open schedule to care for my family, which was a relief.

I'm primarily involved with event staff work

I do anything from setting up for weddings and banquets to serving guests. These gigs can last four to nine hours.

I average about 80 hours of work a month and earn between $1,350 and $1,900. It's a dynamic way to work, and I enjoy its variety and challenges.

I've learned my self-care cannot be an afterthought. I always carve out two days during my hectic workweek just for myself.

Now that I'm back in Hawaii, the downsides are clear

The cost of living is one of Hawaii's biggest downsides. When I lived in Oregon, my rent for my three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage home with a yard was $1,500. Electricity was, on average, $250, and my water bill was around $80. Car registration for both of my cars totaled $275 for two years. Groceries cost us around $500 a month.

Now, my rent, which my family helps with, is $3,550 for a slightly larger home than I had in Oregon. Our electricity is almost three times the amount I paid in Oregon, running on average $660 and up. Water is around $220, and car registration is $445, but only valid for one year.

The grocery stores here also have inflated prices. I may earn more money in Hawaii, but it's offset by the cost of living in Hawaii being much greater than in Oregon.

It's still paradise

Living in paradise is amazing; don't get me wrong. I'm close to my family, the ocean is nearby, the sun almost always shines, and even when it doesn't, the rain is a nice, cool temperature — not freezing cold.

Still, if I had to choose between the two places, I would move back to Oregon, only because the cost of living here is so high.

I've realized, though, that Hawaii is and always will be home. Despite the changes in times and technological advancements, living on an island still offers so much beauty. Just being here is a gift in itself.

Even though I once said I'd never move back, life has a way of leading you where you need to be.

• Michael Burry stayed quiet, bet big on Chinese tech giants, and saw one stock wager pay off in 2024.
• The investor of "The Big Short" fame boosted his Alibaba and JD.com stakes and bought into Baidu.
• The RealReal stock has surged more than sevenfold since Burry invested in early 2023.

Michael Burry kept a low profile, plowed money into three Chinese tech giants, and saw a long-standing stock bet pay off in 2024.

Who is Michael Burry?

Burry is best known for predicting and profiting from the collapse of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s. His contrarian wager was immortalized in the book and film "The Big Short."

He's also famous in financial circles for predicting market crashes and recessions, investing in GameStop long before the video-game retailer became a meme stock. He also bet against Elon Musk's Tesla, Cathie Wood's flagship Ark fund, Apple, a microchip fund containing Nvidia, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes in recent years.

Burry goes by Cassandra B.C. on X — a nod to the priestess in Greek mythology who was cursed to utter true prophecies but never to be believed.

Staying quiet

In years past, Burry frequently shared his thoughts on the markets, economy, and other subjects using X.

For example, he warned of the "greatest speculative bubble of all time in all things" in the summer of 2021, and told buyers of meme stocks and cryptocurrencies that they were careening toward the "mother of all crashes."

Burry even caught Musk's attention with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO calling him a "broken clock" in late 2021. Moreover, the investor set alarm bells ringing on Wall Street in early 2023 with a one-word post: "Sell."

However, Burry didn't post at all last year, and hasn't shared anything with the 1.4 million followers of his primary account since April 2023.

Chinese trio

Burry's Scion Asset Management revealed in a first-quarter portfolio update it had boosted its bets on Alibaba and JD.com, two Chinese e-commerce titans. It also established a small position in Baidu, a search giant that's been dubbed the "Chinese Google."

The Scion chief added to both the Alibaba and Baidu positions in the second quarter while paring his JD.com stake, but then ramped up all three wagers in the third quarter.

In the 12 months to September 2024, Scion quadrupled both its Alibaba and JD.com stakes. It went from owning 50,000 Alibaba shares worth $4.4 million to 200,000 shares worth $21.2 million.

It raised its JD.com position from 125,000 shares worth $3.6 million to 500,000 worth $20 million. Starting from scratch, it also amassed 125,000 Baidu shares worth $13.2 million in the nine months to September.

Those three stocks accounted for 65% of the total $83 million value of Scion's portfolio, excluding options, at the end of September. Burry hedged his highly concentrated portfolio by purchasing put options against the three stocks with a notional value of $47 million in the third quarter.

Burry, a value investor who hunts for bargains, may have pounced on the trio because he views them as undervalued. Chinese stocks have been hit by regulatory threats, concerns about the country's slowing economy and real estate crisis, rising geopolitical jitters, and skepticism about the government's stimulus plans.

It's worth pointing out that quarterly portfolio filings only paint a partial picture of an investor's holdings. They exclude shares sold short, private investments, foreign-listed stocks, and non-stock assets like bonds and real estate. They're also only a snapshot of the portfolio on a single day in a three-month period.

Patience pays off

Apart from Alibaba and JD.com, the only stock that Scion held onto for all of 2024 was The RealReal, an online luxury goods marketplace.

The stock has featured in Scion's portfolio since the first quarter of 2023, when the firm owned about 684,000 shares worth about $862,000, or $1.26 each.

Scion still owned 500,000 shares at the end of September, worth nearly $1.6 million at that time. The stock has jumped from a little over $3 then to $8.73 at Wednesday's close.

The upshot is Burry has likely made several times his money on The RealReal, especially if he was still holding the stock when it surged last quarter.

Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI, has prophesied that this may be the year the first "agents" — a set of artificial intelligence tools that can perform tasks on their own — "join the workforce." Investors whose job it is to back new technologies before they become ubiquitous are swooning with the promise of these digital coworkers.

The rise of agents offers a fertile ground for a select group of startups to establish themselves as the front-runners of this shift. In that spirit, Business Insider reviewed viewed press releases, news articles, and PitchBook data for startups exploring the application of agents across various sectors and then filtered for those companies that raised rounds of more than $25 million and less than $75 million in 2024. The result is a list of 20 startups that seem positioned to scale this year on the back of new funding.

"If 2024 was the year of LLMs, we believe 2025 will be the year of agentic AI," said Praveen Akkiraju, a managing director at Insight Partners, whose agentic plays include Writer, Jasper, and Torq.

The last wave of artificial intelligence brought copilots, a type of virtual assistant designed to work side-by-side with a user. Some write code, some recap meetings or emails, and some scribe notes on a physician's behalf. Copilots require some human hand-holding but significantly amplify productivity and efficiency.

Since that breakthrough, a new generation of virtual assistants has emerged. Agents describe an artificial intelligence that can complete tasks without much human supervision. They don't just assist — they take charge. Agents can break down complex tasks into smaller sub-tasks, make decisions, execute plans, and adjust their approach based on outcomes.

Here's a simple way to think about the difference: a copilot can assist with crafting a tailored vacation itinerary, while an agent can go further by booking the flights, reserving the hotel, and organizing activities — all without a user needing to intervene at each step.

With Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI's significant investments in agentic models and the subsequent investor hysteria around this technology, it's clear that agents are the flavor of the season. PitchBook data shows startups exploring the application of agents have alone raised $8.2 billion in 2024.

Jill Chase, a partner at CapitalG, a growth fund under Alphabet, said software infrastructure that makes agents work "will be poised for explosive growth." Aaron Jacobson, a partner at NEA and early investor in Databricks, said enterprises will deploy agents at large to "make a real business impact." Seema Amble, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, suggested that agents will change how professionals use software.

"In the short term, human workers will be the reviewer in the loop," said Amble, an enterprise software investor. "In the future, as trust is established over time, I expect many data-derived actions will shift toward being entirely a set of narrowly defined task-driven agents."

Here's a list of agentic startups who have raised rounds of more than $25 million and less than $75 million in 2024, ranked from the least amount raised to the most amount raised.

Maven AGI

What it is: Maven AGI reimagines enterprise customer support by leveraging agents.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $28 million

Notable deal: Maven AGI launched from stealth with $28 million in Series A funding led by M13 in May of 2024.

Wordware

What it is: Polish-British startup Wordware is building a software platform that can develop and deploy agents using plain English rather than code.

Founded: 2021

Total funding: $30 million

Notable deal: At $30 million, Wordware's November 2024 fundraise is one of the largest seed rounds in Y Combinator's history, the startup. said. Spark Capital led the funding round, with YC and VC firm Felicis participating.

Decagon

What it is: Decagon is developing agents that act as customer support representatives for enterprise customers.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $35 million

Notable deal: Decagon emerged from stealth in June of 2024 and announced both its $30 million Series A and $5 million seed rounds. The startup's investors include Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, and Elad Gil.

Resolve AI

What it is: Resolve AI is building a production-engineer agent that troubleshoots errors and solves production issues, freeing up human engineers' time to create new products and features.

Founded: 2024

Total funding: $35 million

Notable deal: Greylock led Resolve AI's $35 million seed round in November 2024. Unusual Ventures also participated in the round alongside angel investors 'Godmother of AI' Fei-Fei Li, Google DeepMind's Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, and executives from OpenAI, GitHub, AWS, and Notion also participated in the round.

Norm Ai

What it is: Norm Ai enables corporate compliance chiefs to convert regulations, from public laws to company policies, into working computer code.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $38 million

Notable deal: Norm Ai raised a $27 million Series A round led by Coatue in June of 2024, following an $11 million seed round earlier in the year.

7AI

What it is: Founded by two cybersecurity veterans, 7AI is building a "swarm" of agents that monitor for threats and protect enterprise companies from cyberattacks.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $36 million

Notable deal: 7AI launched from stealth in June of 2024 with a $36 million seed funding round led by Greylock. CRV and Spark Capital also participated in the round.

Robin AI

What it is: Buzzy legaltech startup Robin offers a copilot for lawyers to help draft and revise contracts.

Founded: 2019

Total funding: $39 million

Notable deal: Singapore investment company Temasek led Robin's $26 million Series B funding round in January 2024, and VC firms QuantumLight, Plural, and AFG Partners also participated in the round.

Braintrust

What it is: Developers at companies like Airtable, Instacart, and Stripe use Braintrust to build, monitor, and troubleshoot their artificial intelligence applications.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $45 million

Notable deal: Andreessen Horowitz led a $36 million Series A round of funding for Braintrust in August of 2024.

Lawhive

What it is: Lawhive's artificial intelligence-powered legal assistant, Lawrence, automates routine legal tasks, from client onboarding and compliance checks to document drafting.

Founded: 2019

Total funding: $52 million

Notable deal: Lawhive closed two rounds of funding just eight months apart, with a $10 million seed round in April of 2024 and a $40 million Series A round in December.

Qodo

What it is: Formerly known as CodiumAI, Qodo deploys agents into the coding process to take over tasks such as generation, testing, review, and documentation.

Founded: 2022

Total funding: $50 million

Notable deal: Qodo raised a $40 million Series A funding round in September of 2024 led by Susa Ventures and Square Peg. Firestreak Ventures, ICON Continuity Fund, TLV Partners, and Vine Ventures also participated in the round.

Rox

What it is: Rox's agents assist sales teams by monitoring customer activity, identifying risks and opportunities, and recommending action plans for human employees.

Founded: 2024

Total funding: $50 million

Notable deal: Rox completed its seed and Series A rounds in stealth. The deals — totaling $50 million from investors including GV, Sequoia, and General Catalyst — were announced in November of 2024.

Decart

What it is: Decart builds enterprise and consumer products on top of its own infrastructure stack, designed to reduce some of the costs of building or using artificial intelligence models.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $53 million

Notable deal: Decart emerged from stealth with $21 million in seed funding from Sequoia Capital and Zeev Ventures in October of 2024, and raised another $32 million in a Series A round led by Benchmark in December.

HeyGen

What it is: HeyGen, a generative AI video creator for enterprises, launched agents as virtual avatars that can provide around-the-clock customer support.

Founded: 2020

Total funding: $60 million

Notable deal: Benchmark led HeyGen's $60 million Series A in June of 2024. Other investors in the round included Thrive Capital, Bond Capital, Conviction, Dylan Field, Elad Gil, Aviv Nevo, Neil Mehta, and SV Angel.

11x

What it is: 11x builds artificial intelligence-powered sales development reps for handling the workflows of traditional revenue teams.

Founded: 2022

Total funding: $76 million

Notable deal: Andreessen Horowitz led a $50 million Series B round for 11x in November of 2024, just two months after the startup grabbed $24 million in a Series A round led by Benchmark.

Astrix Security

What it is: Astrix Security is creating a security platform to shield an enterprise customer's agents from cyberattacks.

Founded: 2021

Total funding: $85 million

Notable deal: Astrix closed a $45 million Series B round led by Menlo Ventures in December of 2024. Workday Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, CRV, and F2 Venture Capital also participated.

Ema

What it is: Ema is building agents called "personas" that complete complex business tasks for their human employee counterparts.

Founded: 2023

Total funding: $61 million

Notable deal: Ema increased its Series A funding round to $50 million in July of 2024, and counts Accel, Section 32, Prosus Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Wipro Ventures, SCB 10X, Colle Capital, and Frontier Ventures among its investors.

You.com

What it is: You.com's multi-agent system enables knowledge workers to conduct research, create content, and build custom agents on top of any artificial intelligence model for virtually any task.

Founded: 2020

Total funding: $99 million

Notable deal: Georgian led a $50 million Series B round of funding for You.com in September of 2024.

Anysphere

What it is: Anypshere, the startup behind the artificial intelligence-powered code editor, Cursor, allows developers to turn terse directives into working code.

Founded: 2022

Total funding: $171 million

Notable deal: Anysphere raised back-to-back rounds of funding just four months apart, with a $60 million Series A round in August of 2024 and a $100 million Series B round in December. The latest round crowned Anyshere a unicorn with a valuation of $2.6 billion.

Torq

What it is: Torq's multi-agent system enables security professionals to create and deploy sophisticated workflows, triage alerts, and respond to security events.

Founded: 2020

Total funding: $192 million

Notable deal: Torq closed two separate rounds of funding in the last 12 months, including a $42 million Series B round and a $70 million Series C round led by Evolution Equity Partners.

Legion

What it is: Legion, a workforce management platform used by companies like Barry's and Five Below, has developed agents to predict customer demand across locations, create and analyze schedules and timesheets, and reduce human bias.

Founded: 2016

Total funding: $195 million

Notable deal: Legion won $50 million in financing from Silicon Valley Bank in December of 2024, following a $50 million growth round led by Riverwood Capital earlier last year.

• Multiple lawsuits highlight potential risks of AI chatbots for children.
• Character.AI added moderation and parental controls after a backlash.
• Some researchers say the AI chatbot market has not addressed risks for children.

Ever since the death of her 14 year-old son, Megan Garcia has been fighting for more guardrails on generative AI.

Garcia sued Character.AI in October after her son, Sewell Setzer III, committed suicide after chatting with one of the startup's chatbots. Garcia claims he was sexually solicited and abused by the technology and blames the company and its licensor Google for his death.

"When an adult does it, the mental and emotional harm exists. When a chatbot does it, the same mental and emotional harm exists," she told Business Insider from her home in Florida. "So who's responsible for something that we've criminalized human beings doing to other human beings?"

A Character.AI spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation. Google, which recently acqui-hired Character.AI's founding team and licenses some of the startup's technology, has said the two are separate and unrelated companies.

The explosion of AI chatbot technology has added a new source of entertainment for young digital natives. However, it has also raised potential new risks for adolescent users who may more easily be swayed by these powerful online experiences.

"If we don't really know the risks that exist for this field, we cannot really implement good protection or precautions for children," said Yaman Yu, a researcher at the University of Illinois who has studied how teens use generative AI.

"Band-Aid on a gaping wound"

Garcia said she's received outreach from multiple parents who say they discovered their children using Character.AI and getting sexually explicit messages from the startup's chatbots.

"They're not anticipating that their children are pouring out their hearts to these bots and that information is being collected and stored," Garcia said.

A month after her lawsuit, families in Texas filed their own complaint against Character.AI, alleging its chatbots abused their kids and encouraged violence against others.

Matthew Bergman, an attorney representing plaintiffs in the Garcia and Texas cases, said that making chatbots seem like real humans is part of how Character.AI increases its engagement, so it wouldn't be incentivized to reduce that effect.

He believes that unless AI companies such as Character.AI can establish that only adults are using the technology through methods like age verification, these apps should just not exist.

"They know that the appeal is anthropomorphism, and that's been science that's been known for decades," Bergman told BI. Disclaimers at the top of AI chats that remind children that the AI isn't real are just "a small Band-Aid on a gaping wound," he added.

Character.AI's response

Since the legal backlash, Character.AI has increased moderation of its chatbot content and announced new features such as parental controls, time-spent notifications, prominent disclaimers, and an upcoming under-18 product.

A Character.AI spokesperson said the company is taking technical steps toward blocking "inappropriate" outputs and inputs.

"We're working to create a space where creativity and exploration can thrive without compromising safety," the spokesperson added. "Often, when a large language model generates sensitive or inappropriate content, it does so because a user prompts it to try to elicit that kind of response."

The startup now places stricter limits on chatbot responses and offers a narrower selection of searchable Characters for under-18 users, "particularly when it comes to romantic content," the spokesperson said.

"Filters have been applied to this set in order to remove Characters with connections to crime, violence, sensitive or sexual topics," the spokesperson added. "Our policies do not allow non-consensual sexual content, graphic or specific descriptions of sexual acts. We are continually training the large language model that powers the Characters on the platform to adhere to these policies."

Garcia said the changes Character.AI is implementing are "absolutely not enough to protect our kids."

Potential solutions, including age verification

Artem Rodichev, the former head of AI at chatbot startup Replika, said he witnessed users become "deeply connected" with their digital friends.

Given that teens are still developing psychologically, he believes they should not have access to this technology before more research is done on chatbots' impact and user safety.

"The best way for Character.AI to mitigate all these issues is just to lock out all underage users. But in this case, it's a core audience. They will lose their business if they do that," Rodichev said.

While chatbots could become a safe place for teens to explore topics that they're generally curious about, including romance and sexuality, the question is whether AI companies are capable of doing this in a healthy way.

"Is the AI introducing this knowledge in an age-appropriate way, or is it escalating explicit content and trying to build strong bonding and a relationship with teenagers so they can use the AI more?" Yu, the researcher, said.

Pushing for policy changes

Since her son's passing, Garcia has spent time reading research about AI and talking to legislators, including Silicon Valley Representative Ro Khanna, about increased regulation.

Garcia is in contact with ParentsSOS, a group of parents who say they have lost their children to harm caused by social media and are fighting for more tech regulation.

They're primarily pushing for the passage of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would require social media companies to take a "duty of care" toward preventing harm and reducing addiction. Proposed in 2022, the bill passed in the Senate in July but stalled in the House.

Another Senate bill, COPPA 2.0, an updated version of the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, would increase the age for online data collection regulation from 13 to 16.

Garcia said she supports these bills. "They are not perfect but it's a start. Right now, we have nothing, so anything is better than nothing," she added.

She anticipates that the policymaking process could take years, as standing up to tech companies can feel like going up against "Goliath."

Age verification challenges

More than six months ago, Character.AI increased the minimum age participation for its chatbots to 17 and recently implemented more moderation for under-18 users. Still, users can easily circumvent these policies by lying about their age.

Companies such as Microsoft, X, and Snap have supported KOSA. However, some LGBTQ+ and First Amendment rights advocacy groups warned the bill could censor online information about reproductive rights and similar issues.

Tech industry lobbying groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association sued nine states that implemented age-verification rules, alleging this threatens online free speech.

Questions about data

Garcia is also concerned about how data on underage users is collected and used via AI chatbots.

AI models and related services are often improved by collecting feedback from user interactions, which helps developers fine tune chatbots to make them more empathetic.

Rodichev said it's a "valid concern" about what happens with this data in the case of a hack or sale of a chatbot company.

"When people chat with these kinds of chatbots, they provide a lot of information about themselves, about their emotional state, about their interests, about their day, their life, much more information than Google or Facebook or relatives know about you," Rodichev said. "Chatbots never judge you and are 24/7 available. People kind of open up."

BI asked Character.AI about how inputs from underage users are collected, stored, or potentially used to train its large language models. In response, a spokesperson referred BI to Character.AI's privacy policy online.

According to this policy, and the startup's terms and conditions page, users grant the company the right to store the digital characters they create and they conversations they have with them. This information can be used to improve and train AI models. Content that users submit, such as text, images, videos, and other data, can be made available to third parties that Character.AI has contractual relationships with, the policies state.

The spokesperson also noted that the startup does not sell user voice or text data.

The spokesperson also said that to enforce its content policies, the chatbot will use "classifiers" to filter out sensitive content from AI model responses, with additional and more conservative classifiers for those under 18. The startup has a process for suspending teens who repeatedly violate input prompt parameters, the spokesperson added.

If you or someone you know is experiencing depression or has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, get help. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations. Help is also available through the Crisis Text Line — just text "HOME" to 741741. The International Association for Suicide Prevention offers resources for those outside the US.