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Today β€” 17 January 2025Latest News

Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban

17 January 2025 at 07:06
Tiktok CEO Shou Chew testifying before congress
TikTok CEO Shou Chew has testified before Congress.

The Washington Post

  • The Supreme Court ruled against TikTok on its challenge against a divest-or-ban law.
  • TikTok's owner ByteDance has until January 19 to divest from its US app or face a shutdown.
  • President-elect Donald Trump may still try to rescue the app once in office.

The Supreme Court decided not to rescue TikTok from a divest-or-ban law.

The justices said on Friday that the law does not violate the First Amendment rights of TikTok and its creators.

As a result, TikTok is likely to "go dark" in the US on January 19 as app stores and other business partners sever ties with the company to comply with the law.

TikTok may also voluntarily shut down its app in the US on Sunday, The Information and Reuters reported earlier this week. TikTok has declined to comment on its plans.

The company on Tuesday sent a memo to US employees reassuring them that they would still have jobs even if the app gets banned.

The Supreme Court's decision wasΒ expected.Β Legal analysts told Business Insider last week that theΒ court was likely to rule against TikTokΒ in deference to Congress' authority over national-security concerns.

Speaking before Friday's decision, Neama Rahmani, a formal federal prosecutor in California, told BI that he expected the Supreme Court to uphold the law.

He described how, at last week's hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appointed by Republican presidents, were "talking about the national security concerns."

"Even Kagan was skeptical. When you have a conservative majority that's focused on the national security concerns, it does seem like the law will be upheld," Rahmani said.

TikTok's appeal arrived in the Supreme Court after it lost its legal challenge to the divest-or-ban law in the DC Circuit in December.

TikTok was a primary target of The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed in April and sought to curb the influence of social platforms with foreign-adversary owners.

Having worn out its legal options, TikTok may be banking on a different path to survival: the return of President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday. TikTok's CEO Shou Chew plans to attend the inauguration alongside other tech CEOs.

Trump pledged to try to save TikTok once in office, saying during a December 16 press conference that he had "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok." On December 27, he filed anΒ amicus briefΒ to the Supreme Court, asking for a stay on TikTok's divestment deadline so he could work out a political resolution.

"President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office," the brief said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I tried tuna sandwiches from Subway, Jimmy John's, and Jersey Mike's, and there's only one I'd recommend

17 January 2025 at 06:57
three wrapped sub sandwiches from jimmy john's jersey mike's and subway
I ordered tuna sandwiches from Subway, Jimmy John's, and Jersey Mike's to find the best one.

Steven John

  • I tried classic tuna sandwiches at Subway, Jimmy John's, and Jersey Mike's to find the best one.
  • Subway and Jersey Mike's both had OK offerings, but there were problems with both.
  • Jimmy John's sandwich had a great balance of ingredients and spot-on taste and texture.

I think ordering a tuna sub is always going to be a bit of a risk. Will the fish taste fresh enough? Will the mayo be slapped on too heavily? Will the whole sandwich be a mess?

However, I've already found the best club sandwiches and best roast-beef subs to order, so in the name of research, I got tuna at Jimmy John's, Jersey Mike's, and Subway to see which popular chain comes out on top.

I made the sandwiches as similar as possible, starting with each chain's default bread stacked with a tuna blend, mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes. Subway and Jimmy John's sandwiches also had cucumber slices, which weren't available at Jersey Mike's.

Once home, I unwrapped each sandwich, wrote down some first impressions, and got on with the comparison.

I started my taste test at Subway.
subway
I'm a fan of Subway, even if it's basic.

Settawat Udom/Shutterstock

Subway isn't everyone's first choice for a sandwich. However, it's a global chain with tens of thousands of locations, so I find myself there quite a bit β€” especially when I'm traveling.

I ordered a 6-inch tuna sub for $6.49.

Subway tuna was in the press in 2021 when a lawsuit alleged that the product didn't contain any real tuna fish. It was later dismissed, and there's now a page on the Subway website dedicated to talking about its tuna.

Subway's tuna sandwich was inoffensive but unmemorable.
tuna sandwich from subway
I couldn't find anything to complain about, but I also wasn't wowed.

Steven John

The best thing I can say about the tuna sandwich I got from Subway was that it wasn't bad.

I found the sandwich and its main ingredient inoffensive. Sadly, though, none of the flavors really stood out.

I liked the addition of cucumber, but even with those, there wasn't much contrasting texture to speak of, either.

The chain had more toppings and condiments available than the others, but I had to keep the playing field level. So, the six-ingredient sandwich I took home was a decent but hardly laudable concoction.

On the plus side, it was assembled with decent care and wasn't a mess to eat.

Jersey Mike's usually impresses me, so I had high hopes.
The exterior of a Jersey Mike's store in Petaluma, California.
Jersey Mike's started in New Jersey.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Jersey Mike's is a New Jersey-based sandwich chain that opened in the 1950s.

Since then, the shop has made a pretty big name for itself β€” I can't be the only one inundated with its many commercials featuring Danny DeVito. Today, there are more than 2,000 locations across the US and Canada.

My regular (7-inch) No. 10 tuna sandwich cost $9.65

I was glad I was alone when eating this messy sub.
tuna sandwich from jersey mike's
The tuna sandwich was good, but it had so much going on.

Steven John

Pro tip: Don't eat a tuna sandwich from Jersey Mike's on a first date. I mean, no tuna sandwiches from anywhere on early dates, but especially not this one.

If your Jersey Mike's tuna-sub experience is anything like mine, it's going to be an absolute mess. Given that this isn't the first time I got a massively overfilled sandwich at the chain, though, I'm afraid it's the norm.

You may get a lot of bang for your buck, but right from the moment I unwrapped the sandwich, bits of tuna and finely shredded lettuce fell from the sides. The sub was slippery and hard to keep together with each bite.

To be clear, it tasted great. I missed the crunch of the cucumber the other two had, but the fish's flavor profile was the best of the bunch here.

Unfortunately, it's hard to overlook the unpleasant eating experience.

Finally, I swung by Jimmy John's for a sub.
Jimmy John's 2
Jimmy John's is a little hit or miss for me.

Irene Jiang / Business Insider

Like Jersey Mike's, Jimmy John's is a North American sandwich chain with over 2,000 locations across the US and Canada.

It's known for its fresh-baked bread β€” which I'm a huge fan of.

I ordered a No. 3 "totally tuna" sandwich for $9.49. Jimmy John's standard size is 8 inches, making it the longest sub of the bunch.

Jimmy John's tuna sandwich was tasty and tidy.
tuna sandwich from jimmy john's
Jimmy John's really impressed me here.

Steven John

If you've read any of my past sandwich reviews, you've heard me rave about the delicious French bread at Jimmy John's. I won't dwell on it again but just know that it's reliably excellent.

Now, on to the sandwich as a whole.

For one thing, it stayed together. In fact, it was so well-made that I could eat it with one hand without anything falling out.

The flavor of the fish was mild but pleasant, and the veggies were fresh and crisp. Overall, the sandwich had a great taste and texture.

None of the sandwiches were awful, but one tuna sub reigned supreme.
three tuna sandwiches from jimmy johns, jersey mike's and subway
Jimmy John's had the best tuna sandwich, in my opinion.

Steven John

I don't eat tuna sandwiches often enough to risk a negative experience, so the next time I crave one, I'll play it safe and return to Jimmy John's.

My sub there was pretty much perfectly made, and it had all the right flavors going on.

If the tasty sandwich from Jersey Mike's wasn't such a mess, it may have been my favorite. However, as it is, I doubt I'll order it again anytime soon.

Subway's offering wasn't necessarily bad, but the flavor just wasn't there. I wouldn't choose it over either of the other two.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I've worked at Aldi for 3 years — here are 8 things I'd absolutely get at the store right now

17 January 2025 at 06:50
Boxes of Bauhn mini retro speakers in pink, black, and blue in a larger gray display box that says "Bauhn" at Aldi
The Bauhn mini retro Bluetooth speakers are one of the best things to get at Aldi right now.

Dajha Zamot

  • I've worked at Aldi for 3 years, and I love finding new items for my family at the budget grocer.
  • The Crofton ceramic and silicone travel tumbler is perfect for storing hot or cold beverages.
  • My coworkers and customers all seem to love the Bauhn LED Bluetooth speaker.

As an Aldi employee and mom, I'm always excited when I find cool items at the store that are worth grabbing for myself and my family. Recently, I've noticed a lot of great home and self-care products on the shelves.

Here are eight things I recommend picking up at Aldi right now.

Editor's note: Product availability may vary by location.

Keep drinks hot or cold with the Crofton ceramic and silicone travel tumbler.
A display with blue, pink, and black ceramic tumblers with purple labels with white lettering on them
I keep homemade soup in my Crofton ceramic and silicone travel tumbler.

Dajha Zamot

Whether you're on the go every day or busy with adult responsibilities at home, the Crofton ceramic and silicone travel tumbler will keep your beverage hot or cold.

Personally, I love using my tumbler to store my homemade chicken-noodle soup.

This item comes in a variety of colors, including blue, black, and pink.

Relax with the Visage rechargeable massage ball.
Three boxes of Visage massage balls in black, green, and peach colors in a large gray display box with "Visage" on it
I'm a big fan of the Visage rechargeable massage ball.

Dajha Zamot

No matter your career, I believe everyone needs something to help them relax β€” which is where the Visage rechargeable massage ball comes in.

The vibrating massage ball is meant to help loosen tight muscle tissue. I love massages, so this is a product I've gotten a lot of use out of.

I absolutely love the Crofton white-wine glasses.
A black box with "white wine glasses set of 4" text and an image of a wine glass on the front
I think the Crofton white-wine glasses feel high-quality.

Dajha Zamot

At the end of a long day, I like to sit down with a nice glass of wine in one of my Crofton white-wine glasses.

I love how lightweight these glasses are β€” they make me feel like I'm drinking from an expensive set.

Customers also love these glasses, so we're constantly restocking them because they sell out so quickly.

Pamper yourself with the Visage manicure kit.
Three manicure sets in purple, pink, and blue colors in a larger gray display box with "Visage" lettering on it
The Visage manicure kit comes with five useful tools.

Dajha Zamot

The Visage manicure kit has all the necessary tools for nail maintenance. The five-piece set comes with a double-sided tool, tweezers, a nail file, scissors, and clippers.

The nail kit is available in solid-black, pink, and plaid-blue designs.

The Bauhn mini retro Bluetooth speaker could be a cute addition to your home.
Boxes of Bauhn mini retro speakers in pink, black, and blue in a larger gray display box that says "Bauhn" at Aldi
I think the Bauhn mini retro Bluetooth speaker looks adorable.

Dajha Zamot

The adorable Bauhn mini retro speaker is a Bluetooth-compatible device that's both rechargeable and portable.

I think this vintage-inspired speaker would be perfect for tuning into your favorite podcast or listening to music with friends.

The Pantone Bluetooth headphones are perfect for adults and kids.
A purple and blue boxes with images of headphones and "Pantone" text along the bottom
I like that the Pantone Bluetooth headphones are wireless.

Dajha Zamot

If you don't like how earbuds feel and hate wires, I'd recommend checking out the Pantone wireless headphones. They have a 12-hour battery life, can be used for phone calls, and fold up for compact storage.

I've noticed many customers buying these for their children because the headphones' soft material is perfect for those with sensitive ears.

My coworkers can't get enough of the Bauhn LED Bluetooth speaker.
Two white boxes with images of rectangular speakers with a rainbow design on them
The Bauhn LED Bluetooth speaker has color-changing lights.

Dajha Zamot

At the start of each shift, my team blasts music to get in the right headspace. Lately, this Bauhn speaker, which has a long-lasting battery life and FM-radio access, has been our device of choice.

The best part about this speaker is seeing the flashing colors as our favorite songs play. Even better, our customers have given us rave reviews about this Bluetooth speaker.

If you have kids, you might want to check out the Disney character game rugs with cars.
Composite photo of character rugs with pink, red, and blue cars attached to each rolled rug
The Disney character game rugs come with one or two toy cars to play with.

Dajha Zamot

These popular character game rugs are available in a few designs featuring Disney characters like Minnie Mouse and the dogs from "PAW Patrol."

They come with small toy cars for playing on the rug, making quality time with your little ones so much more fun.

Click to keep reading Aldi diaries like this one.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Americans keep swiping: Users scramble onto rival apps before TikTok's sell-or-ban deadline

17 January 2025 at 06:16
A sweatshirt with the TikTok logo.

Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images

Happy Friday! Not a great way to start the weekend, but important nonetheless: A new report detailed the alarming rise in cancer among women under 65. While breast cancer remains the biggest risk, lung cancer cases are on the rise.

In today's big story, time is running out for TikTok as its sell-or-ban deadline is just days away.

What's on deck

Markets: When it comes to your 2025 investing strategy, size shouldn't matter.

Tech: Meta's aggressive approach to underperformers is a nod to Amazon's playbook.

Business: Streamlining. Rightsizing. Reduction of force. Companies are using confusing language to disguise job cuts.

But first, we can't keep swiping.


If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.


The big story

Tick tock for TikTok

Photo illustration of TikTok logo stretched into judge's gavel

Gearstd/iStock, Tyler Le/BI

TikTok's For You Page might soon be for no one.

The social media platform is days away from a shutdown in the US thanks to a divest-or-ban law passed back in April.

Or is it?

To quickly recap: A law requires ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to sell its US operations to a non-Chinese owner by Sunday.

However, anything beyond the above statement is unclear, as Business Insider's Peter Kafka explains.

There is some murkiness and conflicting reports on everything from how the law will be enforced to what will happen to TikTok if it isn't sold and the app's potential workarounds. Peter broke down all the possible scenarios.

Two central figures in the TikTok saga are the Supreme Court and President-elect Donald Trump.

With the former, TikTok argued the law violates the First Amendment. (Give me mindless day-in-the-life videos, or give me death.) However, legal experts told BI the app's argument might not have been good enough to get the highest court in the land to step in.

Then there's Trump. Despite having once backed a TikTok ban, the incoming president has done a 180.

He's now much more supportive of the app, even inviting CEO Shou Chew to attend his inauguration. Some Democratic lawmakers are cheering Trump on regarding his TikTok efforts.

But as Peter points out, there are still questions about what Trump could do, even as president, to prevent the ban.

v

fotograzia/Getty, Richard Drury/Getty, Imgorthand/Getty, Tyler Le/BI

In the meantime, the world keeps swiping. One way or another.

Americans are proving stubborn, resourceful, or a combination of both as they look to scratch their social-media itch.

RedNote, which is basically China's version of Instagram, is surging in popularity in the US. The irony is Americans are essentially thumbing their nose at the US government by jumping to another Chinese-owned app, writes BI's Katie Notopoulos.

RedNote has become so popular that Duolingo told BI it's seen 216% growth in new Mandarin learners in the US.

If TikTok truly is gone for good starting Sunday, there could be more US winners as users continue to look for a new home. And wherever the self-anointed "TikTok refugees" land, the ad dollars could follow.

Some familiar names could just gobble back up more business, according to Wall Street analysts, but emerging platforms like Reddit and Trade Desk might also stand to benefit, writes BI's Kelly Cloonan.

As for content creators who have built businesses on TikTok, it's another lesson in the importance of diversification.


News brief

Top headlines


3 things in markets

An illustration of a globe with a downward graph and stocks behind it.

Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng

1. America's economic exceptionalism isn't going anywhere. If you're wondering whether US market dominance peaked in 2024 β€” when US GDP neared $30 trillion and dwarfed both the Eurozone and China β€” the answer is no. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs both urged investors to bet on the red, white, and blue this year.

2. Dutch Bros, Tempur-Sealy, and Mattel make the cut. UBS made its case for small and mid caps, with analysts pointing out how smaller firms outdid their larger peers by 2% per year in the long term. Interest-rate cuts aren't on the forecast after last month's knockout jobs report, but UBS still had some top picks for smaller stocks to buy.

3. Six shocks that could shake up markets in 2025. It's hard to predict surprises, but that doesn't stop some strategists from trying. From a global internet outage to another year of 20% stock gains, here are the curveballs Bank of America thinks could rattle investors.


3 things in tech

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

John Raoux/AP

1. The Musk-Bezos space race. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully sent its New Glenn rocket into orbit on Thursday. Its competitor SpaceX ran its seventh Starship launch later that day, but the mega-rocket unexpectedly dropped out of communications and exploded after liftoff. Pressure is mounting on both Bezos and Musk, as they prepare for Trump's White House return.

2. Amazon's RTO headaches. The company's five-day return-to-office mandate is off to a bumpy start thanks to a shortage of office space. Some employees told BI the rollout was riddled with issues like a lack of desks and meeting rooms, and workplace theft. Plus, they're still on video chats.

3. The times, they are a-changin' β€” and Big Tech workers pay the price. Meta and Microsoft are embracing Amazon's brutal management style, prioritizing lean, high-performing teams over employee retention. "The overarching trend is that corporations feel they have more power over their employees," one former Googler told BI.


3 things in business

An image of Mark Zuckerberg with jargon words like "backfill."
Meta is among the companies using corporate jargon to describe job cuts.

Alex Wong/Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

1. Nonregrettable attrition (noun): a euphemistic term for layoffs. Many companies go out of their way to avoid calling job cuts what they are. But whether it's "rightsizing," "streamlining," or Meta's recent buzzphrase "nonregrettable attrition," the corporate lingo of job cuts doesn't soften the blow to employees.

2. Justin Baldoni sues Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, claiming $400 million in damages. The "It Ends With Us" director filed a 179-page suit on Thursday, accusing his costar of hijacking the movie and destroying his reputation. Lively previously accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and of trying to smear her in the press, claims that Baldoni has denied.

3. All the lonely (young) people. Gen Z adults are the loneliest and least optimistic generation, a new survey found. It's not just about young Americans having fewer social connections. More time alone and young people getting married later are also factors. Boomers, on the other hand, are on a different wavelength.


In other news

  • IMF World Economic Outlook Update launches.
  • Senate committee hearing on Kristi Noem, Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
  • China releases quarterly GDP data.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I planned a fabulous girls' weekend in Las Vegas. Our perfect 48-hour itinerary checked all the boxes.

17 January 2025 at 06:16
Author Alesandra Dubin and her friends  at sunset cocktails at the cosmopolitan
We got drinks at The Cosmopolitan as part of our perfect Las Vegas weekend.

Alesandra Dubin

  • For a recent girls' trip, I created an itinerary for spending a perfect 48 hours in Las Vegas.
  • We got a great hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, went to an adults-only pool club, and rented cabanas.
  • Other highlights included the Bacchanal Buffet, Liquid Pool Lounge, and Vanderpump a Paris.

I've been planning girls' trips to Las Vegas since I hit the legal gambling age about two decades ago.

These epic getaways have taken many forms, including my own raging bachelorette party 15 years ago.

Recently, though, I planned a girls' trip to celebrate both my birthday and the divorce of one of my best friends (yes, she wore a sash for the occasion).

Our group has been traveling to Sin City for decades, and now that we're in our mid-40s, we have different requirements β€” specifically, more comfort, better food, and a well-balanced schedule.

On this trip, I'd say I nailed the exact right itinerary for our 48 hours in Las Vegas.

On Friday, we checked into our hotel on the Strip

When we arrived in Vegas on Friday, we checked right into MGM Resorts' ARIA. It's one of my favorite places to stay on the Strip because it's centrally located, chic, and stocked with amenities β€” including a massive pool complex.

We wasted no time heading downstairs for a dip and spending the rest of the afternoon in the water with drinks.

As the sun started to dip, we headed upstairs to shower and get dressed before walking over to The Cosmopolitan's Boulevard pool for sunset cocktails and live music.

I love a spot that offers a view of the Strip in the evening as the lights start to pop. (Skyfall Lounge at the Delano is another great option with a view.)

Then, it was time for a spectacular meal to cap off our first night in town. We went to the buzzy French-Mediterranean restaurant CathΓ©drale, which felt perfect for a special occasion with its beautiful dining room and upscale menu.

Afterward, we called it a night to prepare for the busy Saturday ahead.

Our second day of the trip was packed with fun and food

Author Alesandra Dubin and her friends and liquid pool lounge
We had a blast at the Liquid Pool Lounge.

Alesandra Dubin

After a solid first night of sleep, we were ready for a busy Saturday lineup.

The main event for the day was hanging out at the Liquid Pool Lounge, an adults-only pool club. We got a cabana with a bottle of vodka and a spread of munchies for the group.

We had a blast drinking and pool dancing the afternoon away until around 5 p.m. Afterward, some of us took a nap to regroup before we put on our party clothes.

Then, we hopped in an Uber to the first stop on our itinerary for the night: the immersive, interactive art installation Fantasy Lab Las Vegas. The walk-through experience was trippy with lots of fun photo opportunities.

When we left, we were ready to chow down at Lisa Vanderpump's cocktail lounge Vanderpump a Paris.

It offered the kind of indulgent shared dishes we were craving, including a birdcage packed with cheese and a truffle-stuffed baguette. By the time we wrapped up there, it was about 11:30 p.m.

Our group then headed to Encore Beach Club, where Shaquille O'Neal spun a DJ set that began around 1:30 a.m. After that, I sleepily headed back to the hotel, though some of the other girls partied until 5 a.m.

We ended the trip with a big brunch and lots of relaxation

Caesars Palace Garden of the Gods pool, Aerial shot
The Garden of the Gods Pool Oasis looked beautiful.

Alesandra Dubin

The last day's agenda was simple and filled with food β€” just what the doctor ordered.

We headed for an over-the-top Sunday brunch at Caesars Palace's Bacchanal Buffet, the largest buffet in Vegas with hundreds of different dishes. It was truly epic, and we got enough food to last us hours.

After brunch, we were stuffed but made time for one last highlight: We'd reserved a pool cabana at Caesars' Garden of the Gods Pool Oasis, where we could cool off and enjoy the swim-up poker bar on the main level.

Finally, a few hours before our flight, we tossed coverups on top of our swimsuits, retrieved the bags we'd checked with the bellhop, and headed straight to the airport.

Read the original article on Business Insider

A 20-year-old won a $9.2 million lottery jackpot but won't stop working because he needs 'a purpose in life'

17 January 2025 at 06:11
James Clarkson holds a pint of beer in a bar
James Clarkson won just over Β£7.5 million ($9.2 million).

Anthony Devlin/National Lottery

  • James Clarkson won a $9 million lottery jackpot but plans to keep working.
  • The 20-year-old from Carlisle, England, He aims to qualify as a heating engineer and will then go from there.
  • Clarkson said he plans to travel and has bought a few designer items for himself and his girlfriend.

A 20-year-old trainee gas engineer from the north of England says he plans to keep working after winning a Β£7.5 million ($9.2 million) lottery jackpot.

James Clarkson, from Carlisle in Cumbria, near the Scottish border, found out at the start of January that he'd scooped Β£7,533,329 in the UK's National Lottery Christmas Day draw.

Clarkson said he was staying at his girlfriend's house when he woke up early to check the snowfall. It was then he saw a message from the National Lottery app saying that he won the jackpot.

Clarkson saw that his numbers β€” 16, 19, 22, 24, 27, and 35 β€” which were chosen at random, were selected.

When he turned to his girlfriend to show her his winning ticket, she took a "sleepy glance" and said "no, you haven't won" before going back to sleep, the 20-year-old said in a press release.

Clarkson then called his dad who told him to come home to be certain about his win.

At 9 a.m., he called the lottery line with his parents and older brother. Clarkson explained who he was as well as his ticket details, before being told he had indeed won.

"News spread fast and we all ended up celebrating later at my Grandma's and Grandad's with a roast beef dinner and Champagne," he said.

James Clarkson celebrating his lottery win with his family.
James Clarkson celebrates his lottery win with his family.

Anthony Devlin/National Lottery

But by Monday, Clarkson had already returned to work with his dad.

"I was out in the cold fixing blocked drains the day after I found out I had won," he said, adding that it was slightly "grim" although that's "reality."

"I'm not going to stop working, I'm too young," Clarkson said. "I want to qualify as a heating engineer and then go from there."

"I need to have a purpose in life, plus Dad wouldn't let me not work anyway," he said, outlining that his father pointed out that many millionaires continue to work, and it's important to have a reason to get up in the morning.

Clarkson added: "I know people might think I'm mad to still work but I want to and, of course, there'll be some nice holidays in between."

The Manchester City fan has already booked a luxury vacation to Cape Verde, bought some designer jackets β€” and a Gucci handbag for his girlfriend.

Clarkson has also promised to pay off his parents' mortgage. "This win isn't just for me β€”Β I want to make sure we all benefit," he said.

In February 2024 accountant Richard Nuttall and his Debbie won $78 million in the EuroMillions lottery, but said he would keep working until he finished his clients' tax returns. His wife resigned from her job as a civil engineer, however.

Have you kept working after winning big? Get in touch with this reporter at [email protected]

Read the original article on Business Insider

Inside the relationship of JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance, the incoming vice president and second lady

17 January 2025 at 06:05
JD Vance and Usha Vance.
JD Vance will serve as the next vice president of the United States, making his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, second lady.

Alex Brandon/AP

  • JD Vance, who will serve as Donald Trump's vice president, is a former senator from Ohio.
  • Vance met his wife,Β Usha Chilukuri Vance, while they were both students at Yale Law School.
  • They wed in both Christian and Hindu ceremonies in 2014 and have three children.

When Fox News asked Usha Chilukuri Vance in June how she felt about her husband, JD Vance, being considered as Donald Trump's running mate, she told host Lawrence Jones that she was "not raring to change anything about our lives right now."

But it later appeared she came around, standing alongside Vance and Trump at the Republican National Convention as her husband was officially nominated to join the ticket and again at the Trump campaign's victory party in November.

Vance, the junior senator from Ohio and bestselling author of "Hillbilly Elegy," and Chilukuri Vance, a litigator whose rΓ©sumΓ© includes a Supreme Court clerkship, met as students at Yale Law School and wed in 2014.

Here's a look inside the relationship of the newest GOP power couple who will serve as vice president and second lady.

Born in Ohio and raised by his grandparents in Kentucky, JD Vance joined the Marines and graduated from Ohio State University.
JD Vance
JD Vance.

Gaelen Morse/Getty Images

Vance served as a public affairs marine in Iraq, liaising between service members and members of the press. After his military service, he majored in political science and philosophy at Ohio State University.

Usha Chilukuri Vance studied history at Yale and taught American history in Guangzhou as a Yale-China Teaching Fellow.
Usha Vance.
Usha Chilukuri Vance.

Alex Brandon, File/AP

Chilukuri Vance grew up in a suburb of San Diego. Her parents are Indian immigrants.

Chilukuri Vance told Fox News in June that her parents' Hindu faith was "one of the things that made them such good parents, that make them very good people."

She was a registered Democrat until 2014.

The couple met while they were students at Yale Law School.
Usha Vance kisses her husband, JD Vance, on the cheek.
JD Vance and his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance.

Gaelen Morse/Reuters

In law school, Chilukuri Vance served as executive development editor of the Yale Law Journal and managing editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Technology, according to a bio on the website of her former employer, Munger, Tolles & Olson, that has since been removed.

She also worked pro bono with the Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic, the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project.

Chilukuri Vance told NBC News in 2017 that she and Vance took all of their classes together and were friends before they started dating. When they were assigned to work on a brief together, Chilukuri Vance said she was impressed by his diligence.

"I've never seen anybody so starstruck," their law school professor, Amy Chua, said of Vance in an interview with NBC News. "It was love at first sight."

They wed in 2014 and held both Christian and Hindu ceremonies.
JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, embrace.
JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance at an election night event.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, The American Conservative reported. Chilukuri Vance was raised Hindu.

When asked about their interfaith marriage in a June interview with Fox News, Chilukuri Vance replied: "There are a lot of things that we just agree on, I think, especially when it comes to family life, how to raise our kids. So I think the answer really is that we just talk a lot."

In 2016, Vance published his best-selling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," in which he wrote about his relationship with Chilukuri Vance.
Vance signs a copy of "Hillbilly Elegy."
JD Vance's memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," came out in 2016.

Jeff Swensen

Vance's memoir details his working-class upbringing and the lives of poor, white Americans. He also wrote about how Chua, his professor, encouraged him to focus on his relationship with Chilukuri Vance as a Yale law student.

When Vance asked Chua to recommend him for a federal clerkship, she warned him that it's "the type of thing that destroys relationships."

"Amy's advice stopped me from making a life-altering decision. It prevented me from moving a thousand miles away from the person I eventually married," Vance wrote.

"Most important, it allowed me to accept my place at this unfamiliar institution β€” it was okay to chart my own path and okay to put a girl above some shortsighted ambition," he continued. "My professor gave me permission to be me."

After law school, Vance worked at VC firms while Chilukuri Vance landed prestigious clerkships.
JD Vance shakes hands with Tim Cook.
JD Vance with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Vance worked at Mithril Capital, a VC firm backed by Peter Thiel, in 2016. One former coworker previously told Business Insider that Vance was often away from the job promoting his book, "Hillbilly Elegy."

Thiel ended up being instrumental in Vance's rise to power in politics, donating $15 million to his Senate campaign and encouraging Trump to choose Vance as his running mate, The New York Times reported.

Vance went on to work at Revolution, a VC firm in Washington, DC, before founding his own firm, Narya Capital, in 2019.

Meanwhile, Chilukuri Vance worked as a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson before leaving to clerk for Judge Brett Kavanaugh in the US Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts. Following her clerkships, she returned to Munger, Tolles & Olson, according to a bio on the firm's website that has since been removed.

They have three children.
JD Vance and Usha Vance with their children, Vivek and Mirabel.
JD Vance and Usha Vance with their children.

Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Their first child, Ewan, was born a month before Chilukuri Vance began her clerkship with Chief Justice Roberts, NBC News reported. They also have another son, Vivek, and a daughter, Mirabel.

Chilukuri Vance appeared in a political ad and at campaign events when Vance ran for Congress in 2022.
JD Vance celebrates his election victory with his hands in the air as Usha Vance looks on.
JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance at an election night watch party.

Andrew Spear/Getty Images

In the ad, Chilukuri Vance described her husband as "an incredible father" and "my best friend."

In an interview with Newsmax about the ad, Chilukuri Vance also responded to media reports about Vance's dramatic transformation from a "Never Trumper" to a staunch Trump supporter.

"Sometimes people say that he's changed a lot, but the truth is I've known him now for so many years and he's always been so true to himself," she said.

As Trump vetted Vance for the vice presidency, Chilukuri Vance expressed ambivalence about the possibility of him being chosen.
Republican Senate candidate JD Vance and former President Donald Trump speak at a Save America Rally to support Republican candidates running for state and federal offices in the state at the Covelli Centre during on September 17, 2022 in Youngstown, Ohio.
Donald Trump and JD Vance.

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

"I'm not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I really believe in JD and I love him, so we'll see what happens with our lives," she told Fox News in June 2024.

When Trump chose Vance as his 2024 running mate in July, Chilukuri Vance quit her job as a litigator.
JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance arrive at the RNC.
JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance arrive at the Republican National Convention.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

On the first day of the Republican National Convention, when Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential pick, a spokesperson for Munger, Tolles & Olsen told ABC News that Chilukuri Vance had left the firm.

"Usha has been an excellent lawyer and colleague, and we thank her for her years of work and wish her the best in her future career," the spokesperson said.

Chilukuri Vance spoke at the Republican National Convention about meeting and falling in love with Vance.
Usha Vance speaking at the RNC.
Usha Chilukuri Vance at the Republican National Convention.

Brian Snyder/Getty Images

Chilukuri Vance said that when they first met, Vance approached their differences "with curiosity and enthusiasm."

"Although he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother, Indian food," Chilukuri Vance said in her speech. "Before I knew it, he'd become an integral part of my family, a person I could not imagine living without."

Vance acknowledged racist attacks against his wife from white supremacists.
JD Vance and Usha Vance.
JD Vance and Usha Chilukuri Vance at a campaign stop.

Nell Redmond/AP

After white nationalist Nick Fuentes questioned Vance's ability to "support white identity" with an Indian wife, Vance voiced support for Chilukuri Vance.

"Look, I love my wife so much. I love her because she's who she is," he said in an interview with Megyn Kelly in July. "Obviously, she's not a white person, and we've been attacked by some white supremacists over that. But I just, I love Usha."

He also hit back against the attacks on ABC News' "This Week," telling host Jonathan Karl in August, "Look, my attitude to these people attacking my wife is, she's beautiful, she's smart. What kind of man marries Usha? A very smart man and a very lucky man, importantly."

He continued, "Don't attack my wife. She's out of your league."

Vance thanked his "beautiful wife" in a post on X after he and Trump won the election in November.
Usha Vance and JD Vance with members of the Trump family on election night.
Usha Chilukuri Vance and JD Vance with members of the Trump family on election night.

Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images

Chilukuri Vance appeared alongside her husband and members of the Trump family at the campaign's election night event in Palm Beach, Florida.

"THANK YOU!" Vance wrote on X after the election results came in. "To my beautiful wife for making it possible to do this. To President Donald J. Trump, for giving me such an opportunity to serve our country at this level. And to the American people, for their trust. I will never stop fighting for ALL of you."

After the inauguration, the Vance family will move into the official vice presidential residence on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory.

Read the original article on Business Insider

We loved living in a city by Boston for 12 years, but the cons kept adding up. Now, we're happily settled further south.

17 January 2025 at 05:42
Sunset on the water in Quincy
Quincy had some incredible sunsets, and we loved the greater Boston area, but it wasn't our forever home.

Eileen Cotter Wright

  • We lived in Quincy, Massachusetts, for 12 years and enjoyed being in Boston's neighboring city.
  • We didn't love our housing or school options there, so we relocated to Norwell.
  • Now, we're happy to have a more suburban home with access to good schools and more space.

I've had the privilege of living in and around Boston for at least 12 years.

After renting for years, my husband and I bought our first house in Quincy, a city in the greater Boston area, in 2018.

Buying in this city felt tough with just our budget, so we split a two-family home with two 800-square-foot units with a friend for $598,000.

We loved having a house on the subway line and living in a city minutes from Boston. Our front door was steps away from a pretty harborfront restaurant, a small beach, and lots of nearby activities in the historic downtown.

I figured Quincy would be an ideal long-term home base for us. Unfortunately, this feeling didn't last.

We began finding it hard to picture raising a family in this city

View of waterfront street at sunset in Quincy
We loved living in Quincy for many years.

Eileen Cotter Wright

In 2020, we found out we were pregnant.

Although I couldn't get enough of Quincy's foodie scene, cultural events, parks, and waterfront, I began wondering if this would be an affordable and practical place for us to raise a family.

At times, the city felt a little overwhelming and crowded with its tens of thousands of residents.

Our current home seemed like it would be too small for us, our dog, and our newborn β€” and we weren't sure if we could afford a bigger one here on our own. Plus, we weren't thrilled with the ratings of the public schools nearby.

So, we took advantage of the seller-favored housing market at the time and sold our place for $715,000.

We moved an hour south to my parents' house in Plymouth and spent the next few months saving and looking for our next home.

Eventually, we set our sights on a different part of Massachusetts

norris reservation in norwell
I love having access to nature in Norwell, Massachusetts.

Eileen Cotter Wright

After some research, I set my sights on Norwell, which is about 20 minutes south of Quincy. It's a small town next to a coastal enclave of beautiful New England-style communities such as Hingham and Cohasset.

It feels less trendy (and slightly more affordable) than those because it's landlocked and smaller, but it's still minutes from the beaches and harborfronts.

We searched for about a year until settling on a three-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot home with a gorgeous sunroom for $830,000. Being able to save for a year while living with family made this purchase possible.

To be honest, Norwell isn't much cheaper in Quincy. Houses generally sell for more money, although the median price per square footage of listings in Norwell is $87 less than listings in Quincy, according to data from Realtor.com.

Although this home was more expensive than our last place, we felt we were getting more space with our investment. Plus, we feel we get more value for our money here.

Our property taxes are higher, for example, but we now live near some of the best public schools in Massachusetts. We no longer wonder if we should spend thousands sending our kids to private schools.

Norwell is quieter than Quincy, but we have access to everything we need

It's felt pretty nice and peaceful to go from living in one of the biggest cities in Massachusetts to Norwell, which has about 11,000 residents.

Although our town doesn't have much happening, major shopping and dining spots are just a few minutes' drive away.

Several grocery stores and other conveniences are very close by, and we found a wonderful preschool down the road for our oldest daughter, where she gets to be out in nature most of the day.

We're also just 15 to 20 minutes from a beach and five minutes from the highway that can fairly easily get us into Boston.

Although I miss living in Quincy and the buzz of a city sprawl, we're happy in our woodsy town of Norwell and have enjoyed two great years so far as residents.

The best part is that Boston is still less than an hour away by car or ferry whenever we feel like visiting a trendy restaurant or concert.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Tired of political news: Americans are checking out of mainstream and left-wing media as Trump takes office

17 January 2025 at 05:27
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a Fox News Town Hall hosted by Sean Hannity at the New Holland Arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 2024. (Photo by Nathan Morris/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Β 

Nathan Morris/NurPhoto via Getty Images

  • Many Americans seem to be tuning out of mainstream media after the election, a sign of news fatigue.
  • The shift is especially evident on the left after Kamala Harris' defeat.
  • Newsrooms are shifting gears to regain audiences amid declining trust in some corners.

Are people checking out of mainstream media?

After a year of Americans seemingly being transfixed by politics, early signs suggest they're exhausted and tuning out of the news.

A big question in media circles has been whether there would be another "Trump bump." The term refers to the traffic surge many media outlets saw from covering scandals under Donald Trump's first term.

They shouldn't count on it.

The early indications are that the road ahead could be hard, especially for mainstream and left-leaning media.

Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN got big ratings boosts in 2024, with Fox topping the ratings charts. But viewership of the latter two fell off after the election as liberals licked their wounds following Kamala Harris' defeat.

Many news sites showed similar postelection dropoffs. The New York Times, CNN, and Fox News each saw double-digit declines in traffic from October to December, according to data from SimilarWeb.

On social media, where many people are increasingly finding news, news publishers' engagement on Facebook and X generally dropped off sharply after the election, according to NewsWhip data. The data looked at a sample of about a dozen top news publishers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, MSNBC, and Fox News.

And the fatigue may have set in even before the election ended.

Overall, the 2024 general election drew less readership than the previous one. Chartbeat data from nearly 100 publishers showed 2024 election-day traffic among news publishers was about a third of what it was in 2020 whenΒ outlets benefited from COVID-related lockdowns.

Fatigue on the left

With Democrats facing a second Trump administration, news fatigue appears stronger on the left.

About two-thirds of American adults said they recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload, according to a December survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. More Democrats (72%) than Republicans (59%) felt that way.

Howard Polskin, founder of The Righting, an outlet that reports on right-leaning sites with a critical eye, said a significant number of his newsletter readers unsubscribed after November 5. He said readers told him they just wanted to tune out Trump news.

"They also said, 'It's not just you, it's The New York Times, it's The Atlantic,'" he said.

A changing landscape for media

The dropoff comes as some mainstream and left-leaning newsrooms are in flux.

MSNBC faces an uncertain future under a new leader as it prepares to be hived off from NBCUniversal, along with other declining cable networks, into a new company. Mark Thompson's remaking of Warner Bros. Discovery's CNN is still underway. The Washington Post is facing internal discontent and big-name defections.

More broadly, newsrooms are fighting for limited subscribers and digital ad dollars, leading some to lay off staff.

Some newsrooms are making moves to capture the audiences they're missing. The Washington Post just unveiled a new mission statement underscoring a desire to reach "all of America." The Los Angeles Times' owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, recently said he wants to introduce moderate and conservative columnists in an effort to broaden its reach.

One Post staffer said that, with politics in the outlet's DNA, some think the answer is to double down on politics reporting, but others worry the audience is burned out.

"There's a real difference in opinion," said the staffer, who, like some others in the story, asked for anonymity to freely discuss company strategy. Their identity is known to BI.

Is it a blip or something larger?

One key question is whether the decline is temporary or part of a more sustained downturn. It's common for audience numbers to drop off in some fashion after the general election.

Internally, MSNBC sees some early signs of viewership recovering from the post-election dip, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Hannah Poferl, assistant managing editor and director of audience for The New York Times, said the paper takes confidence in its subscriber base that reads consistently, regardless of the news cycle. She pointed to strong readership since November for news about the Los Angeles wildfires, Jimmy Carter, and more.

"Our news audience has been largely stable, despite the studies that suggest news fatigue, and our subscribers are consuming more pieces across the total report than in the past," Poferl said in a statement. "Beyond this, we're also seeing increases in time spent engaging with us, beyond just page visits."

CNN similarly downplayed to BI its reliance on political news, pointing out that its top story of 2024 was an entertainment story on Sean "Diddy" Combs.

That said, established news outlets are also facing competition from influencers, podcasters, and others. Almost half of adults under 30 get their political fix from social media, twice as many as those ages 30 to 49, according to Pew Research. And newsrooms continue to face declining trust in some corners.

"The challenge for the business is explaining why it's different to get news on NBC versus from a creator who's also a bartender but has funny hot takes on TikTok," a news talent agent told BI.

Read the original article on Business Insider

My close friend is now my direct manager. We used to party together, but now she's decides if I deserve a raise.

17 January 2025 at 05:17
two women sitting at a desk at work taking a selfie
The author (not pictured) is close friends with her direct manager.

Ekaterina Goncharova/Getty Images

  • In my early 20s, I landed a job that became more about partying than working.
  • I became close friends with my coworkers, and we all spent weekends together.
  • Now, I work for one of those friends, and our dynamic is difficult to manage.

When I first graduated from college, I landed a sales job in New York City. The friends I met there in the first few months were some of the closest I had ever had in my life.

Nothing brings you together like late-night work sessions and huge commission checks you spend on anything you want because you're 22 and have never heard of a high-yield savings account.

Making work friends in my early 20s gave me the college experience I never had. We often had weekday sleepovers, where we would roll into the office in the same clothes we wore the day before. The idea of professional boundaries never even crossed my mind.

That's until my close friend at that job recently became my direct manager.

I got a new job at a tech startup and learned about professionalism

When I started working at a tech startup, I spent the next seven years forming close relationships with my co-workers, direct reports, and even my boss.

I was introduced to the delicate balance you can create between a boss and a direct report that allows you to be completely yourself while also maintaining mutual respect and a sense of authority.

We could seamlessly jump between presentation prep and sharing personal anecdotes about our struggles, our goals, and everything in between. The dynamics were playful and professional, whereas my first job was all play and no work.

As it usually goes, after seven years at the tech startup, I decided to part ways with the business. Unemployed, I found myself at a wedding next to an old friend and coworker from my first play-only job. She had recently gotten recruited to take over the office and offered me the opportunity to come on board as a contractor for a few months to earn some extra cash while I was in between jobs.

A few months turned into a full-time position

After everything I learned about this delicate balance of coworker and friend, nothing could have prepared me for that reporting line shift. The last time I worked with my now boss, we were 23 years old, night swimming on Fire Island at three in the morning on a Thursday. Now, I'm filling out my end-of-year review, reflecting on how I did so that my friend can decide whether or not to give me a raise.

To put it simply, it felt pretty weird.

I have always thought of her as a wild friend first and a coworker second, but since rejoining the company, we have both had to flip that prioritization. It helps that we're almost 10 years older, but it's still been a hard transition.

We have had to put our friendship on the back burner and be more professional with one another. We use Teams to catch up instead of texting. We share weekend plans during our 1:1 instead of naturally calling each other to check-in. I find myself more hesitant to say things that I wouldn't have given a second thought to before, and I can feel her hesitation as well.

In some ways, it feels like I am mourning the loss of our pure friendship, which is now muddled by salary discussions and time off requests.

As hard as it is, there are also a lot of benefits to reporting to a friend

Maybe it's a loss of a pure friendship, but it also feels like a gain of something pretty incredible.

I have always felt that the most important thing about a work environment is who you work with. I feel safer and more comfortable knowing that I have a friend in my corner, and I think she feels the same way, too.

I never would have even known about this job opportunity without my friend encouraging me to take the role. Even more importantly, she knows me so well that she has faith in my abilities and trusts me completely. I have been given more responsibility and autonomy in a few months than most people get after years because it takes time to build that level of trust with a new manager.

Working for a friend works for me β€” for now

Right now, in my career, I crave autonomy and trust. I believe I have earned that faster by working for a friend.

There may come a time when I'm seeking more mentorship or diverse experience from my manager. When that time comes, I will need to shift away from reporting to a friend and start fresh.

When I consider the times I have worked with friends vs. when I have not, working with them comes out on top every time. But working for them might be something I only do a few times in my career.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I taught preschool for 2 years and absolutely loved it. But I couldn't support myself financially.

17 January 2025 at 05:02
A preschool teacher sits on the floor of her classroom with a small group of students as she reads them a book. The children are each dressed casually and are focused on the story.
The author (not pictured) left her preschool teaching career for an office job that paid better.

FatCamera/Getty Images

  • I taught preschool for two years and loved it.
  • But at the same time, I couldn't support myself financially.
  • I applied for an office job and was reminded of how to interact with other adults.

I taught preschool for two years. Frankly, it was delightful. It was fulfilling, meaningful work that left me feeling full-hearted at the end of every day.

The problem was I couldn't support myself and my son on that salary as a newly single mom. Instead, I dove into the corporate world head-first, but it wasn't without sacrifices.

The job search process was time-consuming

First came the job application process. I spent hours each day sending rΓ©sumΓ©s to whoever might take me, desperate to step into the breadwinner role now that I was on my own.

After three months of crafting bespoke cover letters for every employer I sent an application to, I finally found it: an entry-level marketing role at an online health publisher that had my name all over it.

That's when the culture shock really set in.

As a preschool teacher and the mother of a toddler, I had hardly touched my laptop for the last two years. My son and I had a set routine of attending school together every day: his place of learning and my place of work.

I was home in time to make dinner every night, and our weekends were filled with parks and playgrounds. We were a part of a small, tight-knit community of teachers, administrators, and a few involved parents. It was cozy, comfy, and sweet as can be.

I wondered whether it was worth it

Now, I was suddenly thrust into the fast-paced, competitive environment of San Francisco's startup world β€” and my head was spinning.

My son was the first kid at day care and the last to come home owing to my new 3-hour roundtrip commute. Before, he got to attend the school I taught at for free. Now, half of my paycheck went to childcare.

I started to question whether it had all been worth it, whether I had given up something precious and rare just to make money β€” like so many others β€” and still barely make ends meet. But I told myself to stick it out, trusting that even if I couldn't see where my new career would take us, we'd land where we needed to be.

Once I started adjusting to my new role, there were plenty of perks to enjoy.

There were perks

For the first time in my life, I had quality benefits (full medical, vision, dental, and a 401k), and it was refreshing to be in an office with people my age. It was the first time I had meaningfully interacted with adults outside a kid-focused setting in years. I had sort of forgotten what grown-up me was like. Frankly, I probably came on really strong.

I felt like a fish out of water as a 20-something kid-at-heart hippie in a corporate setting wearing blazers and flats for the first time in my life, but it was exhilarating to try on a new and dynamic persona and see how it all played out.

At the same time, I genuinely missed my role as a teacher and all that after-school time with my son.

Sure, we had cold brew on tap and office-sponsored happy hours every Thursday. I got to lead the Celebrations Committee and organize extravagant parties for special events and birthdays on the company dime.

Still, that didn't compare to watching a whole community of children growing from babies into school-ready kids over the course of a year. It didn't compare to the showers of heartfelt gratitude we teachers received from parents for caring for their children when they were away.

And it certainly didn't compare to storytime snuggles, end-of-day hugs, and the love and trust that we earned from our students for being there for them day after day.

All that said, I wouldn't change a thing. My career had a bumpy, awkward start, but now I get to work from home, homeschool my son, cook dinner every night, and spend zero time commuting. I can contribute to my community, grow a garden, and walk my dog.

I'm even nursing a little fantasy about one day returning to preschool teaching just for the joy of it β€” and supporting myself with a freelance career. We'll see what unfolds, but I don't regret rolling the dice, even though I still miss all the kids.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Walmart's shiny new headquarters is officially open — take a look around

17 January 2025 at 04:27
The welcome center at Walmart's Bentonville headquarters.
The sign on the welcome center at Walmart's Bentonville headquarters is a callback to an earlier era.

Walmart

  • Walmart has a shiny new 350-acre headquarters in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.
  • The sprawling corporate campus features bike trails, a food hall, and childcare facilities.
  • Here's an inside look at the multibillion-dollar project.

Walmart has come a long way since 1962.

The world's largest retailer just officially opened a new 350-acre headquarters in its hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Friday marks the start of a phased opening, with two office buildings open now and 10 more to follow.

Elsewhere on the sprawling campus, employees and visitors can access bike trails, a food hall, childcare facilities, and a massive fitness center.

"Our founder, Sam Walton, knew that when we all work together, ideas flourish," CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement. "This campus will allow us to keep making a positive difference in our customers' lives for generations to come."

Here's an inside look at the multibillion-dollar project.

Sam Walton Hall sits at the heart of campus.
The Sam Walton Hall, named for Walmart's founder.
The Sam Walton Hall, named after Walmart's founder.

Walmart

The building features conference and educational facilities to host gatherings of corporate workers and field employees.

Inside the hall is a two-story, 200,000-square-foot auditorium.
Inside Sam Walton Hall, named for Walmart's founder.
On-stage in the Sam Walton Hall auditorium.

Walmart

The hall hosts the campus' official grand opening on Friday.

Outside Walton Hall is an amphitheater named for Sam's wife, Helen.
An outdoor amphitheater named for Helen Walton.
An outdoor amphitheater named for Helen Walton.

Walmart

Terraced seating and a tree-lined lawn will be available for company and community gatherings, Walmart said. More broadly, there are 750,000 native plants, including 5,000 trees that are indigenous to the Ozarks.

A network of bike paths connects the various buildings.
Bike paths at Walmart's corporate campus.
Bike paths at Walmart's corporate campus.

Walmart

The 350-acre campus has seven miles of paths and more than 1,000 bike spaces.

Employees and visitors can also rent bikes to get around.
A cyclist on the Walmart campus bike paths.
A cyclist on the Walmart campus bike paths.

Walmart

Walmart says green spaces represent half of the total campus.

One of the first office buildings to open is named "Cheer."
A graphic of a cheerleader shouting 'A' at Walmarts corporate offices.
A graphic of a cheerleader shouting 'A' at Walmart's corporate offices.

Walmart

Many stores start the day with a cheer that spells out the letters of the name Walmart.

Walmart has made a big push to get employees back to in-person work.
Walmart employees work in an office common area.
Walmart employees work in an office common area.

Walmart

Last year, the company required many workers to relocate to Bentonville from other areas of the country.

Walmart says its campus represents the largest application of mass timber construction technology in the US.
Mass timber beams used at Walmart's new corporate headquarters.
Mass timber beams at Walmart's new corporate headquarters.

Walmart

The buildings are designed for LEED Platinum environmental certification, and feature a slew of eco-friendly tech, such as dynamic glass and LED lighting.

8th & Plate is a "dynamic food hall" that offers food from around the world.
Walmart employees at the food hall
Walmart employees at the food hall.

Walmart

The food hall features seven coffee shops, spaces for food trucks, grab-and-go options, street-front retail, and a rooftop lounge.

Childcare is provided at the Little Squiggles Enrichment Center.
A playground at the childcare center at Walmart's corporate headquarters.
A playground at the childcare center at Walmart's corporate headquarters.

Walmart

The center opened last May and offers services for children from infancy to pre-K.

Affordable, on-site childcare was one of the most-requested amenities by employees.
A children's learning center at Walmart's corporate headquarters.
A children's learning center at Walmart's corporate headquarters.

Walmart

The 73,000-square-foot facility accommodates 500 children and is the largest childcare center in northwest Arkansas, Walmart says.

Early last year, the company unveiled the Walton Family fitness center.
The Walton Family fitness center training area at Walmart's new headquarters.
The Walton Family fitness center training area at Walmart's new headquarters.

Walmart

The massive 360,000-square-foot center features a yoga studio, pools, a nutrition center, and more, serving more than 31,000 employees and family members.

True-blue Walmart fans can stop by the welcome center to pick up company gear.
The welcome center shop at Walmart's new headquarters.
The welcome center shop at Walmart's new headquarters.

Walmart

Earlier in the week, Walmart unveiled its first brand refresh in 17 years, with tweaks to its colors, font, and logos.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Riyadh Air, Saudi Arabia's ambitious new airline, just suffered a big setback

By: Pete Syme
17 January 2025 at 04:08
A Riyadh Air Boeing 787 Dreamliner in purple livery on the tarmac at the Dubai Air Show 2023.
A Riyadh Air Boeing 787 Dreamliner at the 2023 Dubai Airshow.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

  • Saudi Arabia wants to increase tourism and diversify its economy with the help of Riyadh Air.
  • Its launch has been pushed back due to Boeing delivery delays, Bloomberg reported.
  • Riyadh Air chose Airbus for its second order after months of speculation.

Riyadh Air has postponed its launch because it won't get enough jets due to Boeing's problems, Bloomberg reported.

The new airline is a pivotal part of Saudi Arabia's drive to attract more tourists.

It wants to compete with the likes of Emirates and Qatar Airways that are also based in the Middle East.

In 2023, Riyadh Air announced it had ordered 39 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, with options for 33 more.

The airline had expected to take delivery of eight such aircraft this year, but now expected to get just four, Bloomberg reported.

As a result, Riyadh Air has pushed its planned launch back from early 2025 to the third quarter.

"We have obviously pivoted like everybody else has on a number of occasions to be able to adjust to the latest forecast," CEO Tony Douglas told the outlet.

"I am confident, given the latest forecast, that we'll get deliveries this year," he added. "Is it completely without risk? Obviously no, it's not."

Boeing said in a statement: "We continue to work closely with Riyadh Air on their delivery schedule and look forward to supporting Riyadh's inaugural operations."

Riyadh Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Delivery dips

It is the latest disruption sparked by Boeing's recent woes.

The planemaker delivered 348 aircraft last year β€” its lowest output since the pandemic β€”Β as it grappled with the fallout from an Alaska Airlines 737 Max losing a door plug during a flight.

Regulators capped production of the aircraft, while output was also hit by a seven-week strike in the Seattle area.

The 787 Dreamliner is assembled in South Carolina, but the planemaker has slowed down as overhauls processes to ensure safety and quality.

The delays come as a blow to Saudi Arabia's ambitious plans for Riyadh Air.

It aims to serve at least 100 destinations within five years to bring more tourists to the kingdom and help diversify its oil-dependent economy.

The airline has already announced a partnership with Spanish soccer team AtlΓ©tico Madrid. It also plans to use AI in its systems, to offer a last-minute fast track through security if a passenger is running late, for example.

Riyadh Air has also ordered some single-aisle aircraft for its short-haul operations.

Shortly before the 2023 Dubai Airshow, reports suggested that Riyadh was set to order as many as 100 Boeing 737 Max jets. However, no deal materialized.

In October 2024, the airline announced an order for 60 Airbus A321neo jets.

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DOGE's 'unpaid intern' Marc Andreessen says DC is a ghost town, and bringing government workers back is a top priority

17 January 2025 at 04:03
marc andreessen
Marc Andreessen wondered if President-elect Donald Trump has the authority to order a return to the office.

REUTERS/Mike Segar

  • Marc Andreessen said DOGE will prioritize return-to-office for federal workers in Washington, DC.
  • Andreessen criticized remote work, citing low occupancy rates in federal buildings.
  • DOGE, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to cut government spending and increase efficiency.

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has said pushing a return-to-office policy for government staff in the "ghost town" of Washington, DC, is a top priority for DOGE.

Referring to himself as the "unpaid intern" at the Department of Government Efficiency, the Silicon Valley billionaire and a cofounder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz described the number of federal employees working remotely as a problem in an interview with the Hoover Institution earlier this week.

DOGE is a newly formed unofficial government department that President-elect Donald Trump created to cut federal government spending. Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy were appointed to lead the agency.

While Andreessen has no formal position, he was involved in the early planning of DOGE.

"The Washington, DC federal government complex is basically a ghost town," he said, adding that these buildings have an average 25% occupancy rate. A 2023 report from the Government Accountability Office found that the offices of 17 agencies were at 25% capacity or less.

A September 2024 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget said government agencies should aim for occupancy of 60%

"The security agencies are still full-time, the other agencies are not," Andreessen alleged.

He said that federal workers have unionized in some government agencies, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they struck agreements allowing them not to return to the office.

Andreessen claimed that in "extreme cases," federal agencies allow working in the office for just one day a month, and some of their employees are pairing their workplace days by showing up for two days every two months.

"You ask any CEO in corporate America, like how is this whole thing going, what are your employees doing," he said, "every CEO will tell you: 'What on earth is happening? Are these people working?'"

Andreessen continued by asking if Trump may have the legal authority as president to order people back to the office.

"Does it count to be an employee of the federal government if you're not in the office?" He asked.

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I'm from the US but am raising my child in the Netherlands. It's much easier to be a mom with a career here.

17 January 2025 at 04:03
Alejandra Rojas on the beach holding her baby in a purple onesie
The Netherlands fosters a highly independent form of parenting that I prefer to the US's.

Courtesy of Alejandra Rojas

  • Growing up in the US, I wasn't interested in being a mother.
  • Then, I moved to the Netherlands for work and discovered I was pregnant.
  • I now know why the Netherlands is ranked among the top countries to raise kids.

Before becoming a parent, I thought I had a clear idea of what motherhood should be β€” and I didn't want it.

I saw mothers lose time, ambition, and a sense of self, transforming into someone who primarily existed as a "mom."

That vision left me hesitant to embrace parenthood. Instead, I spent years building my financial education business and podcast, finding fulfillment in my entrepreneurial pursuits.

Everything shifted in 2023 when I moved to the Netherlands for career opportunities and discovered I was pregnant.

The Netherlands ranks among the best countries for raising kids, and β€” being a new mom β€” I can attest to that first-hand.

From the moment I gave birth, I began to experience a completely different approach to parenthood than the one I'd known in the US. It didn't reduce me to a single role.

At first, giving my daughter so much independence felt strange

In the Netherlands, independence begins practically at birth.

One of my first encounters with this philosophy came through the kraamzorg β€” a government-provided maternity nurse who supported us the first week after my daughter was born.

She introduced me to the Dutch parenting mantra: "Let them be, observe, offer support, then let them be again."

This way of living challenged everything I thought I knew about motherhood. Growing up in the US, I was always within arm's reach of my mom.

Rides to school and constant supervision were the norm, and my family insisted I should always keep a close watch on my child.

Conversely, Dutch parenting encouraged me to let my daughter explore and learn on her own.

Initially, it felt strange and counterintuitive to leave the room or focus on work while she played nearby.

I constantly questioned whether I was doing the right thing, but seeing how other families practiced and modeled independence gave me the confidence to stick with it.

At just five months old, my daughter was already engaging in solo play, exploring food at her own pace and self-soothing. As a result, she can easily adapt to new environments and has developed a calm, curious nature.

Seeing those results made it easier for me to let go of the overprotective mindset I grew up with.

I'm able to nurture my daughter and my career without sacrificing either

The Netherlands' parenting approach gave me a freedom I didn't expect. I was able to return to my business just two months after giving birth, a relief that brought a sense of normalcy and balance back into my life sooner than I had anticipated.

Being able to nurture my career while showing up for my daughter felt outrageous compared to what I saw growing up, but it was completely normal here. All the other mothers in my neighborhood were doing it.

It's not just the mothers. The community here actively supports these norms. Many coffee shops, for example, have dedicated kids' corners so when I go out for coffee with friends I can be fully present in the conversation while my daughter plays nearby.

Moreover, libraries host programs that encourage children's autonomy and provide spaces for moms to connect and learn from each other.

Watching 4 and 5-year-olds confidently walk on top of their wheeless bikes to school with little supervision β€” and seeing them navigate completely independently by age 7 β€” showed me how independence is deeply ingrained here.

It's refreshing and a relief to feel supported by a community that celebrates independence, allowing both parents and children to thrive.

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Apple pauses AI summaries of news notifications, acknowledging a big flaw that drew backlash from publishers

17 January 2025 at 03:38
Apple WWDC 2024
Apple has paused AI-enabled summaries of news notifications in its latest software release to developers.

Apple

  • Apple has temporarily disabled AI summaries of news notifications in a new software release.
  • The feature has faced criticism from media outlets over concerns that AI generates factual errors.
  • Apple has been betting big on AI to trigger an iPhone upgrade cycle.

Apple is pausing a feature in its artificial intelligence software designed to summarize news notifications following backlash from media companies that said the technology was making major errors.

The technology giant unveiled the change to its Apple Intelligence platform on Thursday following its latest software release to developers. The iOS 18 beta 3 update shows that generative AI-enabled notification summaries are "temporarily unavailable" for news apps.

In a statement, Apple confirmed to Business Insider that notification summaries for news and entertainment will be temporarily unavailable with its latest beta software releases across iPhones, Macs, and iPads. "We are working on improvements and will make them available in a future software update," the company said.

The decision comes just months after the company introduced its generative AI platform, Apple Intelligence, to users. Apple touted the summarized notifications feature as one that surfaces "what's most important" to users.

However, the feature has prompted criticism from some outlets, who complained that the generative AI powering Apple Intelligence notifications repeatedly made mistakes when summarizing news headlines.

The BBC raised serious complaints with Apple last month after an AI summary of a story on Luigi Mangione β€” the suspect behind the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson β€” falsely told some iPhone users that Mangione had shot himself.

It's the latest sign of the challenges Silicon Valley companies face with the technology that their industry has rallied around since the launch of ChatGPT.

Major tech companies like Google and OpenAI have also seen their AI generate major inaccuracies, raising concerns about the technology's potential to spread false information.

It's also a sign that Apple faces teething problems with a technology that CEO Tim Cook has called a "new chapter in Apple innovation."

Analysts have been examining whether Apple Intelligence can match the performance of generative AI offerings from rival firms and trigger an iPhone upgrade cycle.

Not all have been convinced it will. Apple received a "sell" downgrade this month from Craig Moffett, senior analyst at MoffettNathanson, who told Bloomberg that there are concerns consumers are "unmoved by AI functionality."

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A Southwest pilot was removed from the cockpit by police after a TSA agent noticed he smelled of alcohol

By: Pete Syme
17 January 2025 at 02:48
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft taxis on the runway at San Diego International Airport for a departure for Las Vegas on November 18, 2024 in San Diego, California.
A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737

Kevin Carter/Getty Images

  • A Southwest Airlines pilot was charged with driving under the influence as he prepared to fly.
  • David Paul Allsop was going through pre-flight checks when police entered the cockpit.
  • A TSA agent contacted police after screening him, saying he smelled of alcohol and seemed intoxicated.

A Southwest Airlines pilot was arrested shortly before takeoff on Wednesday.

David Paul Allsop, 52, was charged with driving under the influence after the incident in Savannah, Georgia, according to Chatham County Sherriff's Office records.

He was due to fly from Savannah to Chicago Midway Airport before airport police boarded the plane.

A Transportation Security Administration officer contacted law enforcement after "encountering an individual in the crew screening lane who smelled of alcohol and appeared intoxicated," an agency spokesperson told Business Insider.

"TSA always reminds passengers that if you see something, say something, and that is exactly what our Transportation Security Officer at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport did when they saw something out of the norm," it said.

Allsop was performing pre-flight checks in the cockpit when the police asked him to step out for questioning, per an incident report seen by CNN and the New York Times.

CNN reported that the responding officer said there was a "noticeable odor emanating" from Allsop, who he described as having "bloodshot, watery eyes and a flushed complexion."

He told police he drank a "few light beers" the night before, the Times reported.

Allsop failed a field sobriety test and declined to take a blood test, the arrest report said, per CNN.

Data from Flightradar24 shows the Boeing 737 landed in Chicago nearly five hours later than scheduled.

In a statement shared with the outlets, Southwest said the "employee involved in the situation on Flight 3772 Wednesday morning from Savannah has been removed from duty."

"Customers were accommodated on other flights and we apologize for the disruption to their travel plans," it added.

Allsop was released after posting a $3,500 bond, the sheriff's office records show.

Chatham County Sherriff's Office, the TSA, and Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside US working hours.

This isn't the first time an airline pilot has been arrested after being suspected of being under the influence.

Last March, a Delta Air Lines captain pleaded guilty to reporting for duty as a pilot while being impaired through drink or drugs, after Airport security officers found two bottles of JΓ€germeister in his luggage.

And in 2023, a United Airlines pilot was given a six-month suspended prison sentence after showing up to work more than six times over the legal alcohol limit for pilots.

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A huge fire broke out at one of the world's largest battery storage plants

17 January 2025 at 05:32
Fire erupted at Moss Landing Power Plant on Thursday in Moss Landing of Monterey Bay, California, on January 17, 2025.
A fire erupted at Moss Landing Power Plant in California on January 17, 2025.

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

  • A fire broke out at California's Moss Landing Power Plant on Thursday.
  • The plant, said in 2023 to be the world's largest, stores energy for the California grid.
  • 40% of the battery plant was burned, officials said, terming it a "disaster."

A major fire broke out Thursday at one of the world's largest battery storage plants.

The facility, in Moss Landing, northern California, stores energy for general use as part of the state grid, and is a significant part of California's efforts to use cleaner energy.

It caught fire Thursday afternoon, officials in Monterey County said, prompting evacuation orders for more than 2,000 people.

A Monterey County Sheriff's Office spokesperson told the local news channel KSBW 8 that 40% of the battery plant had burned.

A law enforcement spokesperson told CNN that concerns around chemical spills and hazardous material burning had prompted broad evacuation orders.

Officials had not commented publicly on the cause of the fire as of early Friday.

The facility is operated by Vistra Energy, a Fortune 500 firm based in Irving, Texas, which has some four four million residential and commercial customers across 20 states.

Its stock price was down just over 5% in premarket trading on Friday, but has soared more than 330% in the past 12 months, valuing it at $59 billion.

One of the batteries at Moss Landing, the Elkhorn Battery, was built in partnership with Tesla.

The system uses Tesla Megapack battery units, which contain lithium-ion batteries and power conversion equipment, and has a capacity of 730 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy storage.

Vistra did not immediately respond to Business Insider requests for comments made outside working hours.

Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV that the fire was a "worst-case scenario" and a "very severe" situation. But he said he didn't expect the fire to spread beyond the concrete building it was enclosed in.

Even so, "there's no way to sugarcoat it," he added. "This is a disaster."

Jenny Lyon, a spokesperson for Vistra Energy, told Politico that the cause of the fire has yet to be identified but that an inquiry would begin once it's extinguished.

In a press release announcing the plant's expansion in 2023, Texas-based Vistra Energy said it was one of the world's largest battery storage plants.

The site has experienced problems before. In 2015, a transmission tower at the power plant collapsed, resulting in a significant power outage.

A failing heat detector also caused damage to the battery complex in 2021, and in 2022 a fire broke out at a nearby Pacific Gas & Electric-owned battery plant.

The fire burned as authorities in southern California, some 250 miles away, continued to battle the wildfires in Los Angeles that began early last week.

Read the original article on Business Insider

I'm a smart, capable person and I still got scammed while traveling. Here's how I got tricked.

17 January 2025 at 02:23
A woman stands near a car in a cliff side admiring the mountain view.
The author, not pictured, tried to extend her car rental while on a trip. When she reached out to customer service, she got a frustrating surprise instead.

Riska/Getty Images

  • I am a smart, capable adult. I thought I was too clever to get caught up in a scam. I was wrong.
  • It happened when I turned to social media to seek help with a travel-related issue with my car rental.
  • Next time, I'll remind myself to take a breath and go slow when someone comes to my aid.

I know full well that new internet scams are popping up every day. I'm suspicious to the point of being cynical and I've worked in online media for more than 15 years. I thought I was scam-proof. I was wrong.

Stressful travel made me feel desperate

At the tail end of spending time back East with my family, my son got sick on the day we were supposed to fly home to LA, so I delayed our flight for two days. The plane ticket was easy to switch with no extra charges, but when I went to extend my rental car, the company website said they'd charge me more than $3,000 for a rental car that was supposed to be just $51 per day.

I was panicked. I told myself this must be a mistake and called their customer service number for help. After an hour of getting redirected to automated lines over and over I felt sick. I couldn't pay for this β€” it would cost more than our entire trip. If I could just get in touch with a live person, I had hope that everything could be worked out.


I turned to social media for help

I remembered I had had luck contacting corporations through social media before and found the rental company's official Facebook page. I posted a message about my situation with a plea for help.

I was flooded with relief when I received an immediate reply from a profile with the title "Customer Service". The person on the other end asked for my phone number and email address, and I got a call minutes later. With a shaky voice I explained what was going on and the voice on the other end of the phone β€” someone named Kenneth β€” apologized for the error and said he could help.

And that's when he got me. I was so desperate to connect with a live person, that I was willing to follow every instruction that he gave me to rectify the situation.

Kenneth (who knows if that was even his name) said that not only would I not be charged the exorbitant fee for the extra two days, he would make my extra two days complimentary just for my trouble. All I needed to do was confirm my credit card number.

He said for safety reasons I shouldn't tell him the number over the phone, but instead download an app called Remitly where the number would stay confidential. He said he would send a $100 refund to my card to make up for the extra two days I'd be charged. Looking back, I now realize this doesn't make much sense and it wasn't even the right amount. It should have been $102 if he was crediting me for two days. But, I didn't even hesitate for a second. No warning bells went off in my head or my gut. I was just so glad to finally be getting help. I followed his instructions.

And then, it happened again

Then I got another Facebook message from a different "Customer Service" profile stating they were trying to contact me but I wasn't picking up the phone. "It's OK," I typed. "I'm talking to someone right now."

"Hang up," they wrote. "Hang up the phone."

A chill crept over me from head to toe. "Oh my God," I wrote back. "It's a scam. I just gave this guy my credit card number."

I hung up the immediately and the phone rang again. Now someone allegedly name James was available to help me. Now I was snapped out of my daze and hung up on him as well.

Finally, I heard from a real person

Eventually, the rental car company wrote back on Facebook saying none of the messages or calls had come from them, and that I'd have to work the extra fees out at the rental counter when I returned the car.

I was humiliated and even more panicked now. I called my credit card company and cancelled the card.

I spent the next 36 hours berating myself for being so foolish. When I arrived at the rental car counter, I was able to find a manager who cancelled the $3678.07 charge that caused me to reach out to customer service in the first place, but by then I was a complete wreck.

In the end, the scammers ended up charging me $100 and I don't know if I'll ever get that money back, but realize I'm lucky that's all this annoying lesson cost me.

I'll do things differently next time

The next time I'm up against a stressful customer service issue, I'll remind myself to take a deep breath and go slow. When I feel that sense of relief that someone is coming to my aid, I'll always take a pause and verify that they are who they say they are, especially when I'm reaching out via social media. And the next time someone calls me cynical, I'll tell them "It comes from experience."

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An Alaska Airlines flight attendant who shared a video of herself twerking on a plane says it got her fired

17 January 2025 at 02:05
An Alaska Airlines plane takeoff from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in San Francisco, California, United States on February 21, 2024
Nelle Diala says she posted the video to celebrate the end of her probationary period.

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

  • An Alaska Airlines crew member says she was fired after posting a video of herself twerking in uniform.
  • She said she posted the video on TikTok to celebrate the end of her probation period.
  • Alaska Airlines didn't comment on the incident but said it holds all staff to "high standards for conduct."

An Alaska Airlines flight attendant says she was fired after posting a video on social media of her twerking in an aircraft cabin.

Nelle Diala uploaded the dancing clip to TikTok in late November alongside a caption describing herself as a "ghetto bih."

"Don't let the uniform fool you," she added. It has since garnered more than 90,000 views and thousands of likes.

In the video, she wears an Alaska Airlines uniform while dancing to the song "Ghetto" by musician E.K.E.

@_jvnelle415 Cant even be yourself anymore, without the world being so sensitive. Whats wrong with a little twerk before work, people act like they never did that before. #fyp #flightattendantlife 4evaa #discrimnationisreal ♬ Ghetto - E.K.E.

Since her apparent dismissal, Diala has launched a GoFundMe page, on which she detailed the incident that led to her firing.

Diala explained that she posted the video to her personal social media account to celebrate the end of her six-month probation period. She said she filmed the video at 6 a.m. while waiting for the plane's pilots to arrive.

Diala said the airline told her she had violated its social media policy and that she was terminated without notice or an investigation.

"Although it was a poor decision on my behalf I didn't think it would cost me my dream job," she wrote.

"I explained that the video wasn't intended to harm anyone or the company, but they didn't want to listen."

Diala described losing her job as "devastating." As of Friday, her GoFundMe had raised just over $2,000.

Alaska Airlines told Business Insider it did not comment on personnel matters: "We hold all flight attendants to high standards for conduct and guest care. All new flight attendants are subject to probationary periods, just like all Alaska Airlines employees."

Diala did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

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