"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across New Orleans to find the best seafood boil in the city. They'll be visiting three locations in one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."

A Florida woman was found not guilty of manslaughter in the death of her grandchild, who was left inside a hot car for hours.

The prime minister and the president-elect spoke for 45 minutes by phone.

The president announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday.

American tennis player dedicates his first-ever Grand Slam victory to his home of Altadena, currently ravaged by the Los Angeles wildfires.

The host reached out to her fans to share her appreciation for all the love and well-wishes she's received during her long absence.

The Rangers have a lot of decisions to make after an underachieving start to 2024-25. Is a rebuild in the conversation?

• More than 400 Washington Post staffers are urging Jeff Bezos to meet with the paper's leaders.
• The letter says integrity and transparency issues have caused staff departures.
• The Post has faced subscriber losses and leadership scrutiny under CEO Will Lewis.

More than 400 Washington Post staffers sent a letter to the paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, asking him to intervene after a year of crises.

The letter asked Bezos, who has owned the paper since 2013, to come to the Post and meet with its leaders.

"We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent," the letter says. "This goes far beyond the issue of the presidential endorsement, which we recognize as the owner's prerogative. This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and reestablishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication."

One newsroom insider called it notable for its representation of non-union as well as union signatories.

"It ratchets up the pressure," said this person, who, like some others, spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about internal matters. Their identity is known to Business Insider.

Since Bezos bought the paper, the Amazon executive chairman has had regular meetings with the business side but largely stayed out of the news coverage.

"From the very beginning, he told us he wouldn't be involved in any way in the newsroom, or be a hands-on owner," the Post insider said. "Our Amazon coverage has been aggressive, and he's never pushed back. I think the plea now is to get him involved now to establish some leadership in the newsroom."

The Post has been battered by a string of recent crises under Will Lewis, its publisher and CEO. NPR reported that the outlet lost a significant number of subscribers after announcing — just days before the US presidential election in November — that it wouldn't endorse a candidate. That decision broke with 40 years of tradition and happened after a Kamala Harris endorsement had been planned.

Bezos later explained the decision in an opinion column, saying many people believe the media is biased and presidential endorsements don't help.

A second Post insider, who is familiar with the subscription numbers, said the paper had won back at least 20% of the subscriptions it lost after the endorsement situation. They said nearly three-fourths of those people who canceled are still using the site while their subscriptions remain active.

Since the endorsement controversy, a number of high-profile newsroom figures have defected. They include a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, who quit after the paper declined to publish her cartoon that portrayed Bezos and other media and tech CEOs sucking up to a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

A third Post insider described a nihilistic feeling at the company amid the talent exodus. They said they felt it would be hard for the paper to move forward under Bezos' ownership in a second Trump administration, given credibility issues with some left-leaning readers.

"A lot of really good institutions are going to have a really hard time in the Trump administration, from higher education to journalism," this person said. "And I think the Post, in part because of our own doing, is one of the first to have its walls shook really, really hard."

Lewis earlier faced scrutiny when he replaced the top editor, Sally Buzbee, in 2024, and then his choice of replacement backed out. He also faced questions over his actions during the aftermath of a UK phone-hacking scandal.

Not all Post staffers are in agreement with the petition. Another staffer, sports columnist Sally Jenkins, said the Post's biggest problem is the underlying business challenges facing it and other legacy media.

"I think the Post is in the middle of trying to find solutions, and it takes a lot of time," she said. "Would I love it if Jeff Bezos came to the newsroom? Sure. I just think things are much more complicated than, 'Oh, things will be fine if Jeff Bezos comes in and talks to some editors.'"

Like many other news outlets, the paper has struggled on the revenue side. Last week, it began laying off 4% of staff on the business side, Reuters reported.

Here's the full text of the letter:

To Jeff Bezos:

You recently wrote that ensuring the long-term success and editorial independence of this newspaper is essential. We agree, and we believe you take as much pride in The Washington Post as we do.

We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent. This goes far beyond the issue of the presidential endorsement, which we recognize as the owner's prerogative. This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and reestablishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication.

We urge you to come to our office and meet with Post leaders, as you have in the past, about what has been happening at The Post. We understand the need for change, and we are eager to deliver the news in innovative ways. But we need a clear vision we can believe in.

We are committed to pursuing independent journalism that holds power to account and to reporting the news without fear or favor. That will never change. Nothing will shake our determination to follow the reporting wherever it leads.

As you wrote when you first became The Post's owner in 2013, "The values of The Post do not need changing." We urge you to stand with us in reaffirming those values.

Signed,

Staffers of The Washington Post

• TikTok users are reacting to a potential US ban by creating memes.
• The US government has cited national security concerns, impacting TikTok's future in America.
• Users, sad to lose the platform, are turning to humor to cope with the uncertainty.

It's a week of mourning for TikTok users, and they're using humor to make peace with the looming ban.

A slew of videos and photos have emerged as TikTokers make memes to say goodbye to the short-form video platform. A TikTok ban isn't certain, but users will find out the app's fate on Sunday — the deadline for its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to find a buyer in the US.

In true internet fashion, TikTokers are posting what could be their final jokes on the app. Some of them are hosting fake funerals for TikTok; others are bidding goodbye to their "Chinese spy," a reference to the US's concerns about whether it represents a threat to national security.

Meanwhile, others are blaming the US government, president-elect Donald Trump, and social networking billionaire Mark Zuckerberg for trying to take away TikTok. Zuckerberg could win big if "TikTok refugees," as they call themselves, flocked to Meta's Instagram to watch short-form reels.

Some, like TikToker Santina Rizzi, aren't so sure Zuckerberg is "going to get" the top spot for short videos if a ban goes through. She said that users would go to YouTube instead.

"I'll be touching grass before I return to anything Meta," a top comment said.

Still, users are finding ways to laugh instead of panicking about the potential shutdown.

Some say they're willing to move countries to have access to TikTok, and others say they're willing to learn Chinese to use a rising platform called Xiaohongshu. The China-based app shot to the top of the Apple App Store this week as people sought an alternative to Instagram reels or YouTube shorts.

While some have found substitute apps to fill the void, others have pondered turning a new leaf in their social media usage and trying to regain some of their time and energy.

"I think I'm just going to finally read a book," one commenter said in response to a video from Sierra Boudreaux (@averagesisi).

"I'll probably actually start getting my 10k steps in," another added.

Over the years, TikTok has been the birthplace of iconic memes, phrases that have entered the cultural lexicon, or just a place for people to consume short-form content tailored to their interests.

Without TikTok, the world might know terms like "unalive," "rizz," or "demure" that have become commonplace after becoming popular on the platform.

But many users have also made peace with the potential dissolution of TikTok, and they're trying to enjoy the time they have left with the app — however long that may be.

This isn't the first time a beloved social media app has faced a big change. Twitter users mourned the platform as they knew it before it became X under Elon Musk's ownership. Like TikTok, users laughed and despaired over the fate of their go-to platform.

TikTok's future is yet to be determined, but the jokes are still flying in case this is the last week to do so.

And if all else fails, there's always the library.

• Martha Kilner, from London, was a teacher for 20 years.
• She ended up in hospital after a panic attack due to the increasing stress and workload.
• She became a virtual assistant in early 2024 and was fully booked within three weeks.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Martha Kilner. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I wanted to be a teacher ever since I did my psychology degree. I did my dissertation on dyslexia in children, which involved lots of visits to schools, and I felt really comfortable being in front of a class. So I became a teacher in 2002, at the age of 22.

For years, I gave it my heart and soul. The school felt like a family, and teaching was my purpose and calling. I got married in 2010 and had three children in three and a half years. I took maternity leave and returned to teaching full time in 2018.

I realized that I couldn't have a family and be a teacher, so I became a virtual assistant in 2024.

I had no life-work balance as a teacher

Almost as soon as I went back, I realized that it wasn't working anymore. It became clear that it wasn't family-friendly. I used to think teaching would be great when I had kids because of all the vacations you get. But I was leaving for work at 7 a.m. and not getting home until 6 p.m. a lot of the time, so I hardly saw my children. The workload was also never-ending.

I started having lots of health issues, which I attributed to teaching. I was having hair loss and heart palpitations, and I had a ticking in my ear. After sitting down for six hours straight during a parents' evening, I ended up with deep vein thrombosis. I just felt like I wasn't living my life anymore, and things came to a head in 2019 when, after a session with a student teacher, my heart started racing. My colleagues called an ambulance, and I was taken to the hospital; as it turned out, I'd had a panic attack.

But I didn't quit teaching then. I thought it was me, that it was because I had been out of teaching, that it was a new school, and I needed to get into the swing of things, and it would all be fine.

The school offered me a new job but I knew it was time to leave

Then 2020 came, and the Covid lockdowns happened. On my 40th birthday, the announcement came that schools were closed and teaching would go online. We had the Easter vacation to prepare, and I had never had much to do with Google Classroom. I taught third grade, so they weren't used to using computers regularly and accessing resources online. It was stressful at first, but I actually enjoyed meeting my class online in small groups while being at home and not spending so many hours at school.

During maternity leave, I learned to crochet as I found it relaxing, and it was during the pandemic that I thought I could turn it into a side hustle by creating online crochet tutorials. I couldn't quite make it profitable, but I had already decided I wasn't returning to in person teaching. My school offered me a role as their marketing and communications officer — a role I actually loved, managing the school's social media, PR, and newsletters. But it was a low-paid, entry-level job, which wasn't sustainable financially.

I became a virtual assistant

A friend then suggested becoming a virtual assistant (or VA). I found a website called "The VA Handbook" and a Facebook group called "The VA Handbookers" and learned everything I needed to know about becoming a VA. It was mainly about marketing myself because I already knew how to build websites and organize spreadsheets and calendars. From my crochet business experience, I knew getting clients would be the hardest part.

I posted on my personal social media that I was going to try being a VA. Someone I had previously worked with booked me for 30 hours a month there and then, as she had just set up her own marketing agency. That gave me the confidence to officially set up my VA business. I then put up a LinkedIn post about it. So many people who I'd worked with before vouched for me, and I was fully booked within three weeks.

I now have four VA clients who work from 10 hours a month to 60 hours a month. I do everything from inbox and calendar management to social media and websites, proofreading and editing documents, data entry, and customer support. I'm more of a business assistant, as there are so many different aspects of a business that I help with.

I'm more present for my kids

Life is so different now. I take my kids to school every day, and I go for a 6k walk afterward, either with a friend or listening to a podcast. On a Thursday, a friend comes to my house to work, and on Friday, my husband, who's a lawyer, works from home, so I still have work buddies.

I actually make more money, too, and work fewer hours. I can earn about $58,000 a year as a VA, working about 30 hours a week, while I was making about $54,000 a year in my last teaching role. I don't get company retirement payments anymore — I will have to pay into a retirement fund myself — and of course, I don't get the teacher vacation anymore. But weighing up the pros and cons, I still think I have a better deal now. My cholesterol and blood pressure are now normal.

Without sustained immigration, the U.S. population is projected to start shrinking by 2033.

One former co-host on the talk show shared her candid response to Joy Behar's recent comments.

Riley Keough reveals she was shielded growing up from allegations her stepfather, Michael Jackson, sexually abused minors.

Last Friday, New York county judge Juan Merchan proceeded with official sentencing of Donald J. Trump.

The website hosting company was accused of failing to implement robust enough security measures from at least 2018.

Frost and freezing temperatures could threaten crops and vegetation critical to the state's economy.

Bold predictions for Pete Alonso and Jack Flaherty's landing spots in free agency.

The president elect's daughter recently spoke about the relationships she lost during her father's first term in office.

A powerful Arctic outbreak tied in part to the polar vortex is set to send temperatures by next week tumbling down to as cold as 35°F below average for mid-January, forecasts show.

Why it matters: The hazardous cold could endanger public health, stress electricity grids, damage crops and make for a frigid Inauguration Day.

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• This event is likely to be far colder and more widespread than the Arctic outbreak that occurred earlier this month.

Threat level: Mother Nature's refrigerator door looks to open, with cold air spilling southward out of northern Canada beginning Saturday and lasting for at least a week.

• Through Sunday, about 81 million people are predicted to see temperatures plunge to below-zero Fahrenheit.
• That's a smaller number compared with the polar vortex winter of 2013-2014. But it will increase after Sunday.

Zoom in: The hazardous cold will be especially disruptive in the South and Southeast, where temperature departures from average will be significant.

• The region also may see a snow and ice storm midweek next week.

The Arctic outbreak is likely to result in a blustery and frigid Inauguration Day, with temperatures in the mid-20s°F and wind chills in the teens on the National Mall when President-elect Trump takes the oath of office.

By the numbers: Here's how some cities may be affected early next week:

• Minneapolis: A high of minus-2°F with a low of minus-14°F on Jan. 20.
• Denver: A high of 5°F and a low of minus-5°F on Jan. 20.
• Dallas: A high of 34°F and a low of 20°F on Jan. 20.
• Washington, D.C.: A high of 28°F and a low of 22°F on Jan. 20.

Between the lines: The factors behind this cold outbreak include a strong high pressure area or "ridge" in the jet stream across the eastern Pacific north to Alaska. Meanwhile, there's a dip, or "trough," in the jet stream across central portions of the U.S.

• This will allow Arctic air to surge southward, Zack Taylor, a forecaster at NOAA's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md., told Axios.
• There's also a connection to the tropospheric polar vortex, which is distinct from the higher-level, stratospheric polar vortex.
• The latter feature of the Northern Hemisphere winter climate is currently becoming "stretched" from north to south across the North Pole, but it is not breaking into pieces and surging towards the Lower 48 states as it did in 2014.
• Instead, the stretched vortex is expanding southward and helping to promote the flow of air from northern Canada southward toward the continental U.S., said Judah Cohen, a meteorologist at Atmospheric & Environmental Research.

Zoom out: In the troposphere, at about the same height that jet aircraft cruise, a lobe or multiple pieces of ultra-cold air may enter the U.S. while rotating around Hudson Bay, Canada.

• These could result in some of the most extreme cold temperature anomalies of this event.
• In a sign of the magnitude of the cold air on tap for the U.S., computer models are projecting a record strong area of high pressure over Missouri to form early next week, Taylor said.

Context: Studies suggest polar vortex shifts may be more likely due to human-caused climate change, but this is an area of active research.

• Cohen has published research tying rapid, human-induced Arctic warming to a chain of events including disappearing fall sea ice in the Barents and Kara seas.

Friction point: But this area of climate science is hotly contested, with new studies supporting and knocking it down appearing each year.

The intrigue: While a polar vortex event was much-advertised earlier in January, air temperatures turned out to be milder than anticipated.

• That's not likely to be the case this time, however, Taylor said.
• "The weather pattern just looks so much better than it did compared to a week or so ago," he said, referring to the opportunity for extreme cold.
• He noted wind chills could plunge to minus-30°F to minus-40°F in the Upper Midwest and Plains, and even reach below zero in the Southern Plains, Ohio Valley, Gulf Coast and Mid-Atlantic early next week.
• The cold air is likely to be persistent along the Gulf Coast, Taylor said.

It is not expected that this event will break dozens of records, in part because it can be hard to break cold temperature records at this time of year.

• Also, extreme cold is due to become less severe in a climate that is warming over time due to the burning of fossil fuels.

Go deeper: Abnormally cold weather forecast for Trump's inauguration

• JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked on an earnings call who would be likely to replace him.
• Dimon suggested there is a running list but that no final decision has been made.
• The comments follow the latest leadership reshuffle due to a top exec's retirement plans.

One of the biggest Wall Street storylines over the years has been around who will eventually take over as CEO of JPMorgan Chase — a role long held by Jamie Dimon.

Questions resurfaced this week when America's biggest bank by assets announced a series of management changes triggered by the pending retirement of Daniel Pinto, the firm's president and COO and longtime stand-in for Dimon in the case of an emergency.

The leadership reshuffle sparked fresh speculation about who might succeed Dimon, a topic that played out on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

"Jamie, who's your successor?," Wells Fargo's bank research analyst Mike Mayo asked on the call.

Dimon suggested there is a running list (including some people analysts like Mayo may not suspect) but that no final decision has been made. He declined to name names, however, except for Jenn Piepszak, co-CEO of JPMorgan's commercial and investment bank, who was tapped to replace Pinto as COO and who has said she doesn't want the CEO job.

"We have several exceptional people. You guys know most of them. Maybe one or two you don't know," Dimon told Mayo. "The board reviews and meets with them all the time. I think it's wonderful that Jenn Piepszak, who does not want to be the CEO, will be here as
chief operating officer and stay after that."

As Business Insider reported this week, Pinto is set to step down in June from his day-to-day role and fully retire at the end of 2026. Piepszak agreed to take on the role of COO vacated by Pinto but took her name out of the ring for CEO consideration.

"And obviously, we're not going to tell the press, but it's not determined yet," Dimon said. Even if there was a top pick, he said, things could change by the time he steps down as CEO.

"People get sick, they change their mind or family circumstances. So even if you thought you knew today, you couldn't be completely sure," he said.

Dimon made headlines last year when he said his time as JPMorgan's CEO was coming to a close. "The timetable is not five years anymore," he told investors, a reference to a running joke about how, when asked how long he might remain at the helm, he's often said five years.

On Wednesday, Dimon suggested that he still plans to retire as CEO, although not necessarily chairman, in four to five years.

"Now you're talking potentially four, five years or more," he said. "I'll be 69 in March. I think it's the rational thing to do."

"I've had a couple of health problems, you know," he added, referring to cardiac issues he'd undergone in recent years. In 2020, he underwent emergency heart surgery.

"If I'm here for several more years, I may or may not be chairman," he said, adding, "It's going to be up to the board."