• Secretary of Education Linda McMahon referred to AI as "A1" during a panel this week.
• A.1.'s marketing team jumped in to savor the moment.
• The brand created an image of a bottle with a new label: "For education purposes only."

Linda McMahon may have meant artificial intelligence — but steak sauce brand A.1. heard opportunity.

After the Secretary of Education repeatedly referred to artificial intelligence as "A1" on a panel this week, the brand jumped in to savor the moment.

"You heard her. Every school should have access to A.1.," the brand wrote in a Friday Instagram post, alongside an image of their iconic bottle slapped with a new label: "For education purposes only."

The big slogan across the graphic read: "Agree. Best to start them early."

McMahon made the slip while speaking at the ASU+GSV Summit, a conference on the future of education and work. She was on a panel discussing the role of AI in the workforce — but things took a saucy turn.

"You know, AI development — I mean, how can we educate at the speed of light if we don't have the best technology around to do that?" she said. The former CEO of WWE used the correct abbreviation for artificial intelligence, before pivoting into the world of condiments.

McMahon said she heard about "a school system that's going to start making sure that first graders, or even pre-Ks, have A1 teaching in every year." McMahon continued: "That's a wonderful thing!"

"Kids are sponges. They just absorb everything," she added. "It wasn't all that long ago that it was, 'We're going to have internet in our schools!' Now let's see A1 and how can that be helpful."

McMahon and A.1. did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

It's the latest example of a brand seizing a quick moment of fame on social media.

Coffee Mate's marketing team sprang into action after the season finale of "The White Lotus," creating a semi-viral post that played off a key moment from the show.

The coffee creamer brand worked with the hit HBO series on two limited-edition flavors ahead of the latest season: piña colada and Thai iced coffee. An executive said his team had no idea that piña coladas would be featured on the hit show's finale on Sunday night.

• President Donald Trump says he doesn't need Elon Musk in his administration.
• Trump said the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is still around because he likes Musk.
• Trump previously said he expects Musk to leave government "in a few months."

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he doesn't really need to have Elon Musk in his administration.

"Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he's sitting here, and I don't care. I don't need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

Trump said on Thursday that he had recently purchased a Tesla vehicle as a "show of support" for Musk.

"I don't need his car. I actually bought one, and they said, 'Oh, did you get a bargain?' No. I said, 'Give me the top price.' I paid a lot of money for that car," Trump said.

Trump's purchase took place during a White House event last month, where he was seen trying out a red Tesla Model S with Musk.

"He's done a fantastic job but he hasn't been treated properly," Trump said of Musk on Thursday.

Musk, who was at the meeting, was seen smiling and nodding to Trump's remarks.

Musk has been spearheading cost-cutting efforts at the White House DOGE office. In an attempt to slash spending, DOGE has laid off thousands of government workers and shuttered foreign aid programs. These rapid cuts have sparked fear and chaos across the government.

Musk said at the Thursday Cabinet meeting that DOGE will cut nearly $150 billion in spending for the 2026 fiscal year.

But these broad cuts at DOGE and the turmoil that comes with them have also hit Musk's business interests. Tesla showrooms nationwide have been the target of protests, and Tesla owners have said their vehicles have been defaced.

"If you read the news, it feels like armageddon. I can't walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire. What's going on?" Musk told Tesla employees during an all-hands meeting last month.

"Listen, I understand if you don't want to buy our product, but you don't have to burn it down. That's a bit unreasonable," Musk added.

Musk has been one of Trump's biggest supporters. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO spent at least $277 million supporting Trump and other GOP candidates in last year's elections.

But Musk appeared to break with the administration after Trump announced sweeping tariffs on over 180 countries last week.

Musk called for a "free trade zone" between Europe and the US during a meeting with Italy's League Party on Saturday. Musk also criticized Trump's top advisor, Peter Navarro, saying he was "dumber than a sack of bricks" after he called Musk a "car assembler."

Last week, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News in an interview that Musk would stay on as an advisor even after he completes his work with DOGE.

Trump said on April 3 that he expects Musk to leave his administration "in a few months" but said he wants Musk to stay on for "as long as possible."

Musk is now working for the administration as a special government employee. Per federal law, such employees cannot work for more than 130 days in a 365-day period.

"Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete," the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, wrote in an X post on April 2.

Musk and the White House did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

President Trump's diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia and is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin on Friday, according to a source familiar with the trip and FlightRadar data.

Why it matters: This will be the third meeting between Witkoff and Putin as Trump pushes for a ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

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Friction point: Trump has become frustrated that negotiations haven't made much progress in recent weeks, and said at one point that he was "pissed off" about comments Putin had made on Ukraine.

• If no ceasefire is reached by the end of the month, Trump could move forward with additional sanctions on Russia either through executive power or by asking Congress to pass new sanctions legislation, a source familiar with the issue told Axios.
• "We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope they are," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels.

Driving the news: Last week, Witkoff hosted Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington in an effort to break the logjam.

• While Ukraine agreed to Trump's proposal for an unconditional ceasefire, and subsequently agreed to plans for a smaller-scale maritime ceasefire, Russia made a series of new demands, including the lifting of some U.S. sanctions.
• "We are making progress. We hope that we are getting relatively close to getting a deal between Russia and Ukraine to stop the fighting," Trump said on Thursday during a Cabinet meeting.

State of play: The U.S. and Russia implemented a prisoner exchange deal on Thursday that included the release of dual U.S.-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina.

• The negotiations on the deal were a result of a previous meeting between Witkoff and Putin in March.
• Trump said he appreciated Putin's decision to release Karelina. He mentioned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White told him she is the girlfriend of a UFC fighter and asked him to help in releasing her.
• U.S. and Russian diplomats met again on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the normalization of relations between the countries.
• A State Department spokesperson did not immediatel respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening about Witkoff's trip.

• "The Last of Us" season two picks up five years after the events of the first.
• It sees Ellie embark on a mission of revenge after a tragedy.
• Viewers are encouraged to consider whether trauma defines the characters.

"The Last of Us" season two picks up five years after the first: Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) have a strained relationship after he lied to her about saving her from the Firefly hospital, and Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a Firefly soldier, seeks revenge against Joel for murdering her father.

This sets the scene for some of the most emotionally devastating TV in recent memory. The show masterfully explores how trauma, violence, grief, and love shape each character, bringing viewers closer to Joel and Ellie in particular.

It's done with astounding elegance, allowing the shock and horror to bleed into intimate moments.

That being said, viewers hungry for jaw-dropping set pieces won't be disappointed. One assault from an army of the infected, which can be seen in the trailers, is a pulse-pounding fight for survival for Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and the other residents of Jackson, Wyoming. It easily rivals battles in "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon."

The characters also spend plenty of time skulking around shadowy corridors, fearing they will be hunted by the infected, which brings delicious tension. But much like the first season, the threat of the infected just sets the scene: The real meat of the story comes in the character dynamics and how they have each been changed by their post-apocalyptic world.

Let's address the elephant in the room: Fans of the beloved video games that the show is based on may think they know what's coming in season two.

Regardless of what does or doesn't happen, fans should know that the adaptation by showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann is uncompromising.

Bella Ramsey delivers one of the most powerfully raw performances of the last few years, as Ellie edges closer to becoming something truly dangerous on her rage-fueled quest to Seattle.

But Ellie is too skillfully developed as a character to only be vengeful. The show spends time carefully crafting a beautiful connection between her and Dina, played by "Alien: Romulus" star Isabela Merced, who has difficulties of her own. When this dynamic takes a backseat, it's used as a clever tool to challenge Ellie's lust for blood.

Although Ramsey is the driving force of the season, Merced, Pedro Pascal, and Gabriel Luna are there to provide a balance between the trauma, revenge, and those pesky plant zombies.

Pascal, in particular, shows that he's capable of being more than the grizzled badass he has played in "The Mandalorian," "Gladiator II," and "Narcos."

Joel's character is expanded through soft, quiet moments, which will no doubt make audiences emotional. If these are the types of performances that Pascal can deliver, then his career is only going to become more interesting.

Ultimately, trauma is used in the season to lead the audience to question whether its main characters are defined by the horrors they've experienced. While some are able to process it and move on, others are completely consumed by it.

Either way, the audience gets one of the most beautifully written seasons of TV of the year, and it's only April.

Egg prices rose to a record high of $6.23 per dozen in March, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Thursday.

The big picture: President Trump claimed credit last month for a drop in wholesale egg prices as bird flu outbreaks that forced producers to cull millions of chickens and led to shortages waned and his administration moved to tackle higher prices by boosting egg imports.

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• However, consumers don't typically immediately see wholesale price drops reflected at the grocery store, per Axios' Kelly Tyko and Nathan Bomey.
• And eggs are in high demand over the Jewish holiday of Passover, which starts Saturday, and Easter, held on April 20 this year. This can drive prices higher.

By the numbers: The price for a dozen grade A large eggs increased from $5.90 in February to $6.23, per the BLS. In January, it was $4.95 a dozen.

• Wholesale egg prices have fallen from an average of $6.55 per dozen on Jan. 24 to $3.26 last Friday, per Agriculture Department data.

Between the lines: "In the same way that just because the barrel price of oil goes down does not mean that gas prices immediately go down, there's a delay here," said University of Arkansas agricultural economist Jada Thompson in a blog post this week.

• "Retailers get to choose their own price, and they took a lot of losses when prices were exceptionally high," Thompson added.
• "They may be saying, 'I've lost money over here, so I'm going to let what I have in stock go out at the price it currently is before I lower the price, to compensate for that earlier loss.'"

Go deeper: Why food prices are still high, five years after COVID

President Trump threatened Mexico with more tariffs and sanctions on Thursday over a water dispute at the southern border.

What he's saying: "Mexico OWES Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, but Mexico is unfortunately violating their Treaty obligation," Trump said in a Truth Social post, referring to a 1944 agreement that requires Mexico to deliver to U.S. 1.75 million acre-feet of water over a five-year cycle.

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• "This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly. Last year, the only Sugar Mill in Texas CLOSED, because Mexico has been stealing the water from Texas Farmers," Trump said..
• "I will make sure Mexico doesn't violate our Treaties, and doesn't hurt our Texas Farmers. ... we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!" he added.

Context: By the end of last year, Mexico had only delivered 488,634 AF of water since Oct. 2020, per U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission data.

• The State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs last month said on X Mexico's "continued shortfalls in its water deliveries" were "decimating American agriculture," particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley.
• "As a result ... for the first time, the U.S. will deny Mexico's non-treaty request for a special delivery channel for Colorado River water to be delivered to Tijuana," it added.
• Mexican officials say extreme drought fueled by climate change was contributing to water shortages.

The other side: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cited the three-year drought in a post to X addressing Trump's complaints and said "to the extent water is available, Mexico has been complying" with the treaty.

• She said she had instructed government officals "to immediately contact" the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State Department and she's "confident that, as on other issues, an agreement will be reached."

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it would begin phasing out animal testing requirements for antibody therapies and other drugs and move toward AI-based models and other tools it deems "human-relevant."

Why it matters: The agency is trying to reaffirm its role as a leader in modern regulatory science amid DOGE-directed cuts that have rattled drug developers and investors and stoked concerns about timely product reviews.

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Driving the news: The FDA said it would launch a pilot program over the next year allowing select developers of monoclonal antibodies to use a primarily non-animal-based testing strategy.

• Commissioner Marty Makary in a statement said the shift would improve drug safety, lower research and development costs and address ethical concerns about animal experimentation.
• "This initiative marks a paradigm shift in drug evaluation and holds promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans while reducing animal use," Makary said.

Zoom in: FDA said its roadmap envisions using computer modeling and AI to predict a drug's behavior and possible side effects, through software simulations of how a monoclonal antibody distributes through the human body.

• It also will promote the use of lab-grown human "organoids" and "organ-on-a-chip" technology that mimic the liver, heart, and immune organs to test drug safety and reveal possible toxic effects that can go undetected in animals.
• Officials said companies that submit strong safety data from non-animal tests may receive streamlined product reviews. And the FDA will begin using safety data from other countries with comparable regulatory standards to help determine a drug's efficacy.

What they're saying: "The initiative combines deregulatory themes and cutting-edge technology — all in service of the broadly popular goal of reducing animal testing," TD Cowen analyst Rick Weissenstein wrote in a note.

• PETA said the new policies were "a significant step" towards replacing the use of animals, including vaccine and other testing on monkeys at federally-funded primate centers.
• Some health tech stocks rose on the news, including Certara Inc., a maker of biosimulation software. Animal testing firms Inotiv and Charles River Laboratories fell in after-hours trading.
• PhRMA, the drug industry trade group, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

UAW workers are poised to stomach thousands of dollars in reduced payments because of President Trump's auto tariffs, according to new estimates.

Why it matters: The left-leaning union is supporting the Republican's auto tariffs, saying free trade hurts American manufacturing and arguing that the automakers can afford to absorb the financial blow.

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Between the lines: The average hourly UAW-represented worker for General Motors, Ford and Stellantis will get a profit-sharing check reduction of anywhere from $1,000 to more than $5,000, according to Anderson Economic Group.

• "For some automakers, with Stellantis being the most vulnerable at the current time, the effects of a prolonged tariff war could lead to operating losses that cause payouts to go to zero," the Michigan-based firm estimates in a new report.

How it works: UAW autoworkers get annual profit-sharing checks based on the North American profits of their employers.

• That's particularly problematic for union members because Trump's tariffs are expected to hit North American profits hard.
• Trump this week paused his reciprocal tariffs, except on China, but maintained his 25% tariffs on imported vehicles and auto parts.

Zoom in: Anderson Economic Group based its estimate on a projection of lower sales and higher costs for the automakers, collectively leading to a reduction of more than $5 billion in adjusted earnings in 2025.

• The economists projected a 1-million unit decline in annual new vehicle sales in the U.S. — a figure that includes non-UAW-represented automakers.
• The group conducted the analysis at the request of the Detroit Free Press, spokesperson Lisa Wootton Booth said.
• "Some Wall Street analysts who reviewed Anderson's math also agreed with it, with some saying it's likely conservative," the Free Press reported.

The other side: The UAW — which did not immediately respond to a request for comment — has argued that its workers and the union movement will win in the long run from increased tariffs.

• "These tariffs are a major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities across the country, and it is now on the automakers, from the Big Three to Volkswagen and beyond, to bring back good union jobs to the U.S," UAW president Shawn Fain said in a recent statement.

By the numbers: This year's profit-sharing checks for UAW-represented workers, based on 2024 earnings, were:

• $14,500 at GM.
• $10,208 at Ford.
• $3,780 at Stellantis.

More than half a dozen members of Congress from the New York metro area were ushered off a flight Thursday after another plane clipped its wing while taxiing at Washington Reagan National Airport.

Why it matters: Several Democratic lawmakers were quick to cast the incident as a consequence of DOGE cuts to the Federal Aviation Administration.

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• "When planes are taking off and landing every minute of the day, FAA funding is cut, air traffic controllers are fired and current staff is spread thinner ... that is when mistakes happen," said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.).
• Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), who was on the flight, said the incident "underscores the urgent need for more FAA funding—people's lives are at stake. Cuts and firing FAA employees are not the answer."
• The FAA confirmed the incident in a statement and said it has launched an investigation. Both were American Airlines flights with one headed to JFK in New York and the other going to Charleston, South Carolina.

By the numbers: Seven House members, along with "dozens of other concerned passengers," were on the flight, Meeks said.

• A lawmaker who was on the flight told Axios the passengers included Meeks and Reps. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.).
• The lawmakers and other passengers were removed from the flight shortly after the incident.

What happened: LaLota said in a post on X that "another plane just bumped into our wing," and that the plane headed back to the gate afterward.

• "While waiting on the runway to fly out of DC today, another plane clipped the wing of the plane my colleagues and I were on," Meng said on X.

Top Senate Democrats plan to unveil legislation that would provide an emergency $200 monthly increase in Social Security benefits through the end of the year, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: It's the party's latest effort to highlight the Trump administration's tariff policies and now-scrapped DOGE-driven plans for service reductions to the popular benefits program.

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• Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will introduce the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act, according to a source familiar with the plans.
• It's a brainchild of the caucus's Social Security War Room.

Driving the news: The Democrats argue that the $200-a-month increase is necessary to shield beneficiaries from price increases stemming from Trump's tariff policies.

• Economists have warned that the levies are likely to drive inflation and — unlike in 2022 — that wages may struggle to keep up.
• The Social Security Administration this week backed off plans to drastically cut phone services after weeks of confusion and outcry.
• Democrats argue that their proposal shows a clear contrast with Republicans on entitlements, pointing to the GOP's plans to cut spending — and potentially Medicaid benefits — through budget reconciliation.

What they're saying: In an op-ed in the Financial Times on Wednesday, Warren called on Republicans to "stand ready to expand social security — not gut it — by passing an emergency, temporary adjustment."

• Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday that Republicans "want to gut" Social Security.
• Top congressional Republicans have said they have no plans to reduce Social Security benefits.

Between the lines: The bill has no future in the Senate under Republican leadership. But it could still be a useful messaging tool for Democrats.

• Schumer and his party have used amendment votes to target vulnerable Republican senators who are up for reelection in 2026.
• Democrats could demand that the bill be included as an amendment to any legislation that the GOP wants to move through the Senate over the next year.

• Gwyneth Paltrow is reflecting on the lessons she learned while trying to blend her family.
• "If I look back at my mistakes as a stepmother, I should have just treated them both like my kids way faster," Paltrow said.
• Navigating the stepparent dynamic was difficult and often felt "full of minefields," she said.

Gwyneth Paltrow says she waited too long to fully embrace her stepchildren as her own.

On the April 8 episode of her "Goop" podcast — which featured her husband, Brad Falchuk, as a guest — Paltrow spoke about the work that went into blending their families.

Paltrow has two kids with her ex-husband Chris Martin, whom she divorced in 2016 after 13 years of marriage. In 2018, she married Falchuk, who has two kids from his previous marriage.

"We traversed through some really rough things," Paltrow told Falchuk. "One of the most profound lessons that I've learned from my relationship with your daughter — which is now so fantastic — is there was a testing going on. She was testing me at the time to see at what point I would reject her."

To overcome that initial friction with her stepdaughter and avoid being seen as the "evil stepmother," Paltrow says she decided to embody a maternal essence.

"I was going to be that presence for her, always loving and forgiving in the face of, you know, if she acted up, and show her that ultimately I was so there for her that she would not question my intentions or think that I was there to take you away from her," Paltrow said to her husband.

But it wasn't easy and she often had to remind herself to be the adult if they ran into conflict.

At the same time, Paltrow was worried because she felt like she didn't have "jurisdiction" to tell her stepkids how they should behave.

"I thought that in my case, if I assert my boundaries or my expectations around manners, or anything like that, it will exacerbate the situation," Paltrow said.

It was difficult navigating the stepparent dynamic, which often felt "full of minefields," she said.

"If I look back at my mistakes as a stepmother, I should have just treated them both like my kids way faster," Paltrow said. "Like I was too worried about everyone's feelings, in a way."

During the Visionary Women's International Women's Day Summit in 2024, Paltrow said that being a stepmother was one of her "biggest learnings as a human being."

"And my area of growth personally came from the initial difficult relationship I had with my stepkids, and now they're like my kids," she said, per Us Magazine.

Parenting experts previously told Business Insider about the common mistakes that stepparents make when trying to connect with their stepkids.

One mistake is trying to compete with the stepkids' biological parents.

"Instead, speak directly to the child about their parent and encourage the relationship between the child and parent. This will help make clear that this isn't an either/or situation," Sarah Epstein, a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in family dysfunction, told BI.

Another mistake is trying to discipline stepchildren before building a relationship. Clinical psychologist Dr. Kasi G. Patterson told BI it would be better to let the biological parent handle it first.

Only after a trusting relationship has been developed will the kids learn to view both parents — biological and stepparent — as authority figures and "can accept discipline from each of them," he said.

A representative for Paltrow did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by BI outside regular hours.

• "Yellowjackets" season three ended with a few big reveals.
• Sophie Nélisse, who plays young Shauna, has a pivotal role in the finale ending.
• Nélisse said she's enjoyed playing young Shauna as a villain, but still has empathy for her.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for the "Yellowjackets" season three finale.

Shauna went off the rails in a major way in "Yellowjackets" season three, but at least one person is still rooting for her: Sophie Nélisse, who plays teen Shauna.

The third outing of the Showtime hit survival thriller, which aired its finale Friday, follows a high school girls' soccer team that gets stranded in the wilderness after the plane crash. The show simultaneously tracks the survivors' adult selves 25 years later as their traumatic experiences come back to haunt them.

While each of the survivors has plenty of trauma (because, well, the cannibalism), none have been through the wringer quite as much as Shauna, who was responsible for her best friend Jackie's death in season one and then lost her baby in a stillbirth in the wilderness. These events have led to Shauna going down a dark, violent path in season three.

The episode, fittingly called "Full Circle," takes us back to where it all began: the scene from the pilot where the girls, in makeshift masks, hunt down one of their own, who falls into a pit. Fans have been wondering for three seasons who "Pit Girl" and the group's leader, the "Antler Queen," might be. "Full Circle" gives viewers those two big reveals, establishing that Mari was the girl who was chased and fell into a pit, and Shauna was the Antler Queen pursuing her.

While the "Yellowjackets" cast was heartbroken to lose Mari (Alexa Barajas), they were also excited to finally get answers. The Antler Queen twist wasn't exactly shocking to Nélisse, who said she saw the writing on the wall a few episodes back as young Shauna started wresting leadership away from Natalie (Sophie Thatcher), but she was still happy to finally see it play out.

She also wondered if Shauna's new leadership role will quell the fury and grief she's been driven by all season long. "Is that enough to soothe her need for vengeance and power?" Nélisse told BI.

Given that the others were actively plotting against Shauna after she forbade them all from leaving the wilderness when a pair of scientists and a guide stumbled upon their bloody bacchanal, keeping the group from mutiny will also be a challenge.

"I'm curious to see how long she can hold that power," Nélisse added.

Nélisse thinks Shauna is bisexual, but she's not sure Shauna and Jackie were more than friends

One of the subtler apparent revelations in the finale happens when a drunken Travis confronts Shauna before the girls leave to hunt down Mari. He tells her that "none of this is even real." He suggests that he's experiencing the thoughts of those who have died there, including his younger brother Javi and Shauna's dead best friend Jackie.

Travis tells Shauna that Jackie's thoughts are his favorite: "The slumber party makeouts? The jealousy? The betrayal?"

Whether that was a drug-induced hallucination or not, it certainly seems to suggest that something sexual went down between Shauna and Jackie, further complicating a relationship that was already complicated by Shauna's affair with Jackie's boyfriend Jeff, who ultimately married Shauna and has a daughter, Callie, with her. That, paired with the season three storyline that sees Shauna embark on a toxic relationship with fellow survivor Melissa, is pretty strong evidence that Shauna and Jackie probably hooked up at one point before the crash.

When I brought it up to Nélisse, she seemed surprised by that reading of the moment. She said she didn't take it that way but loved the theory. Though she tries to avoid looking at TikToks of the show, she's well aware that many viewers think there was something more than friendship between Shauna and Jackie, at least on Shauna's side.

"There's not an answer, actually, for that one. A lot of people have been hinting that there was sexuality between Jackie and Shauna," Nélisse said. "But the creators seemed, from our discussion, to say that there wasn't, but that there is just this really complex relationship. It's such a fine line to walk on."

"I think it's up to people's interpretation," she added.

Nélisse has no idea what will happen to Shauna in 'Yellowjackets' season 4, but she has some hopes

According to Nélisse, the cast only gets the scripts for an episode about a week before filming. That means they're not privy to the long game the show is playing in advance of individual revelations, and they don't have the answers to ongoing mysteries like what's going on with Taissa and whether there is actually something supernatural in the wilderness.

"Every season has felt almost like a complete different character to me," Nélisse said of playing Shauna. "I think what's fun is that I get to play somewhat of the villain [in season three], but at the same time, with all of her background and all of her trauma and all of her luggage that she's been carrying."

Nélisse says Shauna's baggage helped her contextualize some of her character's less popular decisions.

"Although everything that she does is maybe not excusable, you understand the why behind it. So I have a lot of empathy for her," she added. "It's been just really fun to be able to tap into something a lot darker. But at the same time, still caring for her and rooting for her, in a way."

So can Shauna go any darker in a not-yet-confirmed season four? Nélisse isn't sure, but she kind of hopes so.

"Part of me wants her to go even crazier, but I'm like, she needs to calm down."

The "Yellowjackets" season three finale is now streaming on Paramount+.

The deadline for those age 14 and older and in the country illegally is Friday, as the Trump administration lands a legal win.

• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth axed $5.1 billion in IT and consulting contracts.
• This includes contracts with companies like Accenture and Deloitte.
• He said the terminations "represent $5.1 billion in wasteful spending" at the DOD.

The US's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, just ordered the termination of IT and consulting contracts with companies like Accenture and Deloitte, calling it "wasteful spending."

In a Department of Defense memo, Hegseth said he would cut a Defense Health Agency contract "for consulting services from Accenture, Deloitte, Booz Allen, and other firms that can be performed by our civilian workforce."

Also on the chopping block is the Air Force's contract with Accenture to "re-sell third-party Enterprise Cloud IT Services," which Hegseth says the government can "already fulfill directly with existing procurement resources."

In the memo, Hegseth also said he was terminating 11 other contracts for "consulting services" that support "non-essential" activities, like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), climate matters, and the Pentagon's COVID-19 response.

Hegseth said the terminations "represent $5.1 billion in wasteful spending" at the DOD and would result in nearly $4 billion in savings.

The savings would be reallocated, Hegseth said, to serve "critical priorities to Revive the Warrior Ethos, Rebuild the Military, and Reestablish Deterrence."

He did not specify in his memo which Pentagon projects this money would go to.

In response to a request for comment, the DOD directed Business Insider to an X video of Hegseth talking about the terminations.

"By the way, we need this money to spend on better healthcare for our warfighters and their families, instead of $500 an hour business process consultant. That's a lot of consulting," Hegseth said in the video.

Hegseth also expressed his gratitude to Elon Musk's cost-cutting outfit, the Department of Government of Efficiency. DOGE has been slashing federal spending across various agencies, whether it be by laying off thousands of federal workers or shuttering foreign aid programs.

"So we want to thank our friends at DOGE. We want to thank all the folks here that have helped us unpack this, reveal it, and we're excited to make these cuts on behalf of you, the taxpayer and the warfighters at the Department," Hegseth said in his X video.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO referenced the Defense Department's $841 billion budget in an op-ed he wrote with Vivek Ramaswamy for The Wall Street Journal in November. Ramaswamy, who was co-leader of DOGE at the time, left DOGE in January.

"The Pentagon recently failed its seventh consecutive audit, suggesting that the agency's leadership has little idea how its annual budget of more than $800 billion is spent," the pair wrote.

Last month, Hegseth announced that the Defense Department was terminating over $580 million in programs, contracts, and grants that DOGE had identified as wasteful spending.

Representatives for Accenture, Deloitte, and Booz Allen did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.

Democratic Representative Derek Tran was asked by a voter from his own party why he voted for the Laken Riley Act.

The celery was distributed to numerous Walmarts across the United States as the FDA warns the product could be in consumers' freezers.

The Chicago Cubs could look to poach a starting pitcher away from the Miami Marlins in order to make a deep postseason run this season.

The Washington Commanders are coming off a wildly successful 2024 season and have a chance to be even better with the right pick in 2025.

• "The Pitt" is the latest word-of-mouth viral TV series.
• Max has already renewed the show for a second season.
• Here's what to know about the cast, plot, and potential release date.

"The Pitt" has become a surprise hit for Max, inspiring the streamer to renew the series to return next year.

The critically acclaimed medical drama is part of a recent wave of procedural shows from major streamers. These shows are popular on network TV channels and feature the professional lives of medical, emergency service workers, and cops.

"The Pitt" season one had an interesting twist on the usual medical show model, focusing on the medical staff of a fictional Pittsburgh hospital during a single, extended 15-hour shift. Each episode covered one hour of that shift.

Max told the Wrap, a week after "The Pitt" premiered in January, that the series had one of the most-watched premieres for the streamer since it launched in 2020. Word-of-mouth helped build the audience even further, as chatter on social media about the intense drama encouraged more people to watch.

Taking heed of the show's viral success, Max announced in February that it had ordered another season.

Here's what we know so far about season two.

The New York Giants could go in various directions in the 2025 NFL draft.