• Protein smoothies that are both beautiful and functional are popping up everywhere.
• They're a sign of how fitness has had a luxury rebrand.
• I enjoyed Soho House's protein smoothies, which cost $12 each and contain protein powder, fruit, and supplements.

I was perched at the gym bar of a Soho House branch in London, looking at a perfect row of plastic cups full to the brim with a pastel-colored, silky liquid, when it struck me how much protein shakes have changed in recent years.

Long gone are the days of gulping down a lumpy, makeshift concoction of water and protein powder in an ugly plastic shaker after a workout. Today, there's a new class of glossy protein shakes that are infinitely tastier and chicer: reflecting fitness' luxury rebrand in recent years.

With wispy swirls and a cloud-like texture, the designer protein smoothies at Soho House looked like zoomed-in snippets of an Impressionist painter's take on a Mediterranean sunset. Whether they would taste as good remained to be seen.

Served in a sleek Soho-House branded cup and each named after a branch of the members club (The Berlin, Warehouse, Shoreditch), they're part of a menu that launched in February. It includes five protein smoothies and one electrolyte drink intended to help gym-goers prepare for or recover from training.

They're $12 (£9) a pop and available in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Miami.

The smoothies feature different blends of either whey or plant-based protein powder with fruits, plant milk, supplements like creatine, and buzzy "superfoods" including chia seeds and matcha.

Expensive smoothies with functional add-ons are not new. Jamba Juice sells plenty of $9 smoothies, and Joe and The Juice's protein shakes, which launched in June 2024, go for $14.50. Although not a fitness drink, the viral $20 Hailey Bieber Strawberry Skin Glaze smoothie, a collaboration between the cult LA organic grocery store Erewhon and the Rhode skincare founder, mainstreamed the idea of the exorbitantly expensive smoothie.

Soho House is just the latest luxury brand to launch a range of elite protein smoothies for its wellness-crazed clientele. Both Barry's Bootcamp and Equinox have similar offerings. They all prove just how fashionable fitness has become, while their stylish appearance helps them double up as a gold star for participation in the world of luxury wellness.

Just holding one made me feel like an LA influencer.

Here's how I ranked Soho House's protein smoothies, from most to least favorite.

The Shoreditch

Ingredients: Cherries, strawberries, goji, chia seeds, whey or plant-based vanilla protein, kefir, coconut milk

Nutrition: 26g protein, 64g carbs, 3g fiber, 42 miligrams salt, 356 calories

The Shoreditch was hands down the most beautiful of the smoothies, and certainly looked like its designer took cues from Hailey Bieber's Erewhon collab.

It tasted very sweet and creamy, but the kefir (a fermented yogurt drink that contains gut-friendly microbes) gave it an added layer of tang, which I enjoyed. The protein powder was virtually undetectable too. I might have got a little sick of the sweetness by the end if I had drunk the whole thing, but it was definitely one of my favorites.

I personally wouldn't want to drink this every day because it's quite intense, but if I did a heavy workout or a long run, I would happily tuck into one of these.

The Warehouse

Ingredients: Pineapple, mango, goji, turmeric, ginger, vanilla protein, cayenne pepper, chia seeds, kefir, and coconut milk

Nutrients: 26g protein, 28g carbs, 3g fiber, 43mg salt, 375 calories

The Warehouse tasted like the protein shake equivalent of a spicy Margherita. It had a tropical fruit base from pineapple and mango and a layer of spice from turmeric and cayenne pepper, which mellowed it out.

The kick took me by surprise and elevated the overall flavor. I would definitely order this again.

The Berlin

Ingredients: Cacao, banana, dates, sunflower seed butter, cacao nibs, vanilla protein, and oat milk. A coffee shot for £1 extra.

Nutrition: 30g protein, 18.6g carbs, 11g fiber, 136mg salt, 401 calories

Berlin tasted like a thick chocolate milkshake. I hate the taste of protein powder, so I was pleasantly surprised that I could barely notice it. I'm also not a fan of bananas (sorry), which can make smoothies a bit of a minefield for me. But all the flavors in this blended nicely into an overwhelmingly chocolatey flavor.

Again, I wouldn't be buying this every time I went to the gym, but it was a delicious treat that I might enjoy after achieving a fitness goal.

The Beach House

Ingredients: Berries, banana, sunflower seed butter, blue spirulina, chia seeds, dates, vanilla protein, kefir, coconut milk

Nutrients: 26g protein, 77g carbs, 5g fiber, 34mg salt, 444 calories

I was told that The Beach House is the No. 1 best seller of all the smoothies, so I had high expectations. It was tasty, but definitely not my favorite.

For me, there was nothing distinguishing about The Beach House. There were no ingredients in it that any of the other smoothies didn't have, so I feel it lacked identity.

It tasted like a slightly muted version of the Shoreditch, which is no bad thing if you're looking for something more low-key.

The Farmhouse

Ingredients: Mango, banana, celery, vanilla protein, goji, green spirulina, matcha, and pea milk

Nutrients: 30g protein, 26g carbs, 7g fiber, 167mg salt, 299 calories

The Farmhouse, as the name suggests, had an earthy flavor. It tasted less exciting than the others, kind of like a green juice, but still pleasant.

For me, a big part of the appeal of a fancy protein smoothie is that drinking it should be fun, so I'd be more inclined to go for one of the fruitier options.But this would be a good choice if you were having these regularly, as it's high in protein and has less sugar and fewer calories than the other shakes.

House Water

Ingredients: Coconut water, creatine, cucumber, lemon, ginger

Nutrition: 0g protein, 1g carbs, 0g fiber, 0g salt, 128 calories

The House Water is an electrolyte drink, not a protein shake. It's cheaper than the shakes, costing £5 ($6.80). It's a nice option if you want something lighter to give you a little boost before a workout class or after a training session, and a tasty way to take your creatine, a workout supplement that research links to muscle gains and weight loss.

If you like coconut water, you'll love it, but I personally don't.

Overall, the smoothies were tasty and cheaper than other similar products on the market.

Is $12 a lot for a drink that comes in a plastic cup? Certainly. But given it can help you achieve nutrition goals so conveniently while looking and tasting good, I say they're worth it if you have the money.

• Zohran Mamdani has pledged to freeze rent for some apartments in New York City if elected mayor.
• The move aims to aid low-income New Yorkers amid rising housing costs.
• But critics argue it may hinder building maintenance and new housing construction.

If one slogan defined Zohran Mamdani's successful campaign to be New York City's Democratic nominee for mayor, it might be his call to freeze the rent.

The pledge — plastered across T-shirts, tote bags, and campaign mailers across the city — has drawn some of the most energetic support and opposition to Mamdani's campaign.

It's not unusual for a New York City mayor to support temporarily pausing rent increases on the city's nearly one million rent-stabilized units, which make up about half of all rental apartments and house more than 2 million people. But Mamdani has gone a step further, promising to replace the members of the Rent Guidelines Board with individuals committed to freezing rents every year of his term.

Tenant advocates say that a rent freeze would provide crucial relief to low-income New Yorkers — especially families of color, seniors, and Gen Z renters — in one of the most expensive cities in the country. But landlords say rent freezes would starve many buildings of crucial income needed to maintain and repair stabilized apartments, while some housing economists say depressing rents could discourage much-needed housing construction.

Here's what's really going on with Mamdani's rent freeze, and what it would mean for the city.

How New York renters are actually doing

Mamdani's rent freeze pledge comes as the city's renters are struggling. About a quarter of all city households that don't live in public housing or use a housing voucher are severely rent-burdened, meaning they spend at least half of their income on housing. The typical tenant household earns about $70,000 a year, but citywide median rent hit almost $3,700 a month — or over $44,000 a year — in late 2024.

Rent-stabilized apartments make up the biggest share of the city's affordable housing. The median rent in a stabilized apartment was is about $1,500 in 2023 according to the city's latest data — about $141 less than the total median of $1,614 for all rental units.

Black, Latino and low-income residents are overrepresented as tenants in rent-stabilized apartments and thus could especially benefit from a freeze.

The rising cost of living is making it hard for New Yorkers to stay in the city. "The median income for a rent-stabilized household is $60,000 a year. Any rent hike could push them out of the city," Mamdani said in a campaign video.

For now, rents will keep rising. Less than a week after Mamdani's primary win, the nine-member Rent Guidelines Board voted on Monday to raise rents for one-year leases in stabilized units by 3%, and by 4.5% on two-year leases.

The board raised rents by a total of 9% during the first three years of Mayor Eric Adams' term. That's up from Adams' predecessor, Mayor Bill De Blasio, who oversaw three rent freezes during his eight years in office and a 6% increase in stabilized rents overall.

One of the Rent Guidelines Board members who voted in favor of the rent increase, Alex Armlovich, called it "a nuanced compromise" between competing testimonies from landlords and tenants.

The pros and cons of a rent freeze

Critics of rent freezes point to a few major issues. They argue that rent increases are needed to allow landlords to keep up with their costs, including building repairs and maintenance.

Proponents of freezing rents argue landlords can tap other resources to fill the gap in revenue. Sam Stein, a housing policy analyst with the Community Service Society — a nonprofit focused on aiding low-income New Yorkers, said that city-run targeted programs designed to aid landlords who can't cover the costs are better-suited to address the problem rather than raising rents for all stabilized units.

Mamdani and other rent freeze advocates argue that many landlords of stabilized units are doing fine. Indeed, a report by the Rent Guidelines Board found that these landlords' average income, after subtracting expenses and adjusting for inflation, was up 8% between 2022 and 2023.

But that number doesn't give a full financial picture, as landlords could have mortgages and other debts, and it's an average across a very diverse array of buildings.

Buildings with rent-stabilized apartments range from brand-new, high-end complexes with sky-high market rents and a small number of stabilized units, to 100% rent-stabilized buildings that have had controlled rents for 70 years. That diversity makes it especially tricky to fit a citywide rent increase to all those units.

"We have both the newest, healthiest, most expensive rental buildings in the city and the most distressed, low-rent buildings in the city all under one system, and we're supposed to pick one number," Armlovich said.

Addressing the housing shortage

Fundamentally, New York's affordability problem is caused by a shortage of homes. Recently, apartment vacancy rates hit a more than 50-year low of 1.4%.

Some housing economists worry that freezing rents on stabilized units could discourage housing construction, further depressing the supply of homes and hurting affordability. They point to real estate developers who accept tax incentives on new and converted buildings that include a certain amount of rent-stabilized units. Some argue builders would be less likely to take advantage of these programs if the stabilized units brought in less revenue under a rent freeze.

Armlovich said that several rent freezes under a future administration would likely only have a modest impact on housing construction broadly. But he worries that an environment of frozen rents could scare off some developers and financiers.

"It's just like old conservative, middle-aged bankers being like, 'Oh my god, you want to underwrite a construction loan under socialism?'" Armlovich said.

Mamdani has also floated other pro-building housing policies. The candidate has proposed building 200,000 subsidized affordable homes and doubling the city Housing Authority's funding for preserving existing affordable housing, while he's expressed some interest in loosening land-use regulations to spur new construction.

What renters and landlords think about a rent freeze

While Mamdani's win was something of an upset, lifelong New Yorker John Leyva said it was a reflection of renters' desire to see a mayoral candidate promising to tackle affordability issues head-on. Leyva has been organizing tenants in Brooklyn who he said have been squeezed with rents for the past decade.

"I was paying $400 a month for a two-bedroom when I first got here," said the 54 year-old, who's lived in his rent-stabilized apartment for the past 30 years. At the time, he was able to afford college, a car, and rent on a minimum-wage job. "Tenants now have two and three jobs just to try to pay what they can now."

Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, said that renters' and landlords' interests don't need to be opposed in solving New York City's affordability crisis, but that a rent freeze isn't the solution.

"When it comes to affordability, the only proven way to reduce the rent is increase the supply," Burgos said. With the volume of new housing that New York desperately needs, Burgos said Mamdani will have to work with developers and the private sector to meet that demand if he wins this fall.

Property taxes in New York City are the "single largest expense in operating their housing," Burgos said. Without raising rents, landlords are facing a "dire" situation.

But Leyva said it's not as simple as supply and demand. It takes time to build new, permanently subsidized housing, and the private sector isn't sufficiently incentivized to do so, he argued, adding that renters need immediate relief.

"Lobby for less taxes if that's what's the problem," Leyva said of landlords who feel squeezed by operating costs. "But the tenants can't give more."

• Julie Wilburn moved from Maryland to Morocco for a better quality of life.
• She has lived there for 13 years and now runs a small school.
• Similar to the US microschool movement, Wilburn found a need for more personalized learning in the region.

Julie Wilburn, 53, never anticipated that, over a decade after moving from Maryland to Morocco, she would be running her own school.

That's now her reality.

"I started with four kids out of my own house, and then I just started building a little school, and now it's been 13 years and I have this school that now has 60 to 65 students," Wilburn told Business Insider.

Wilburn said she worked at small religious schools in Maryland, and when she met her husband, who is from Morocco, she decided she wanted a change.

They moved to Morocco, and Wilburn found a teaching job. When the school shut down, she decided to start her own microschool, a model that typically has fewer than 20 students and focuses on personalized learning.

American Group International, Wilburn's school in Agadir, teaches students from kindergarten through 12th grade, and they come from diverse backgrounds, including the United Kingdom, Spain, and France.

"A lot of people are moving out of the first-world countries, and actually, the quality of life is better here," Wilburn said, adding that one thing she likes about Morocco is the availability of fresh food.

Plus, the couple thought the US was getting too expensive. She referred to her electric bill: she said that in America, she was paying around $400 a month for electricity, and her bill in Morocco is just $25.

Wilburn is one of many Americans who have left the US in search of a cheaper and better life. Her current role as a school leader is also representative of a growing movement in the US in which parents are seeking out alternative forms of education, like microschools, to best suit their children's needs.

While her school is now larger than the typical microschool, Wilburn said the structure has been instrumental to helping students in the region succeed.

"Our school's like family. They go home with their classmates, they have birthday parties together," Wilburn said. "It makes our school different than the bigger schools."

'Born out of a need'

BI previously spoke to microschool leaders and advocates in the US who vouched for the alternative learning style. Critics, on the other hand, worry that minimal regulation over microschools could diminish their accountability.

Mary Jo Fairhead, who runs a microschool in South Dakota, said that after working in a traditional public school for years, she saw a growing shift among parents who wanted more personalized educations for their kids, especially coming out of the pandemic.

"If a child's struggling and they need something more personalized, we find it for them," Fairhead said. "Or if they're excelling and they need something that's going to challenge them more, we find that for them."

Wilburn saw that same need for a different style of education in Morocco.

"Our school was born out of a need: a need for inclusive education, small class sizes, and alternative pathways for students with diverse learning profiles, special needs, or families seeking a more holistic, flexible, and international approach to learning," she said.

Wilburn obtained accreditation certificates for her school from two US-based agencies, and she said she is working to get regional accreditation to help expand her learning initiatives to other cities. She also partners with programs in the UK to provide English examinations and teacher training exams.

While educational standards and regulations differ by region, some education analysts have expressed concerns with minimal oversight over microschooling in the US. Paige Shoemaker DeMio, a senior analyst for K-12 education policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, previously told BI that most states do not have legal definitions for what constitutes a microschool, paving the way for potential misuse of funds and inability to track students' progress.

Ensuring success after students graduate is a priority, Wilburn said. Her school's curriculum includes bilingual English and Arabic instruction, and if her students want to go to college, she helps find them scholarships and placements.

"I had one boy, he came back here from Saudi Arabia. I took whatever he could give me to help him get through school," Wilburn said. "And now this year he graduated with a British diploma with his BA, and he's going to go back to Saudi Arabia and work with his friend to help them run a school there."

Have you moved from the US to a location abroad? How have you found the different education systems? Share your thoughts with this reporter at [email protected].

• One of the best ways to enjoy a cruise is to stay on the ship while it's docked at least once.
• Ships are often pretty empty on port days, so spas offer deals, and lounge chairs are easy to snag.
• On port days, I love enjoying the ship's amenities at a slow, laid-back pace without crowds.

One of the most exciting parts of a cruise is when the ship docks at its next destination. As passengers rush off the boat to explore the stop, though, I sometimes prefer to stay put.

This may sound odd, but many experienced cruisers like myself know one of the best ways to make the most of this type of vacation is to stay back on the ship during at least one port day.

Skipping a stop may not be for everyone, but it's an especially great option if you're visiting a place you've already seen or one you're not very eager to explore.

In most cases, the shops and casinos will be closed while in port, but there are several benefits to staying on the ship while it's docked.

Skipping port allows me to sleep in and enjoy the day at a relaxed pace

Itineraries with several ports often require travelers to wake up early if they want to make a timed excursion or have enough hours to enjoy the port before the ship leaves.

However, when I skip the port, I don't need to set an alarm or rush to the buffet to grab an early breakfast.

Instead, I like to enjoy a slow morning with my husband, ordering room service to our cabin or visiting a sit-down breakfast venue instead of the buffet.

Snagging reservations to sit-down spots is much easier, and even if we stop at the buffet, we rarely have to wait in line since most cruisers are already on land by then.

In addition to having a slow start to the day, I've also found that port days are the best time to relax by the pool in peace.

On our last cruise, did my husband and I take turns running to the pool deck at 7 a.m. to reserve lounge chairs (even though you're not supposed to)?

Did we often plan to relax in an onboard hot tub only to change our minds when we realized it was too crowded? And have I attempted to read my book poolside only to be bothered by crowds of loud children? Yes, yes, and yes.

These things don't happen on port days. Now, we know that staying on the ship while thousands of people disembark can be the surefire way to reach these sundeck goals, on our own schedule.

A port day is a good time to seek out onboard deals and book hard-to-snag reservations

If you're not getting off the ship, head to the spa.

It can be tricky to snag appointments on sea days because everyone has the same idea to book a massage or a facial while the ship is sailing and there's nowhere to go.

On port days, you have a better shot at getting your desire time slot and, even better, you might get a discount. Many cruise lines offer port-day spa specials.

I've had great experiences enjoying discounted massages, pedicures, and facials on port days at a discount on both Celebrity and Norwegian ships

Be sure to check your ship's daily program or call the spa directly — the staff is usually happy to answer questions.

By staying on the ship, I have more time to enjoy its many amenities

My husband and I use port days as a chance to enjoy the ship's amenities and the upgrades we paid for even more.

For example, many ships have great gyms that can be very popular on sea days. They're often less crowded on port days, which are the perfect time to exercise on your own schedule and not have to wait to use your preferred equipment.

On a recent sailing, I paid extra to access the Norwegian Cruise Line Vibe Beach Club — a private pool deck with hot tubs, a dedicated bar, upgraded loungers, and comfy sunbeds.

I went almost every day of my cruise, but it was especially exclusive-feeling on a port day because there were fewer people. I took a nap, read my book, and sipped frozen cocktails in total peace.

After all, there's nothing like avoiding crowds.

• My husband and I have been together for 13 years, but we never stopped taking solo trips.
• I travel alone at least two or three times a year, and it makes our relationship even stronger.
• Solo travel lets us explore our own interests, and also helps me appreciate my husband even more.

Earlier this year, I took a train to Oceanside, one of my favorite places in Southern California — but I did so without my husband.

This was one of the many solo trips I've taken since we got married six years ago. These days, I typically travel alone at least two or three times a year.

Don't get me wrong: I love being around my husband, and I always prefer to take trips with him whenever possible. However, solo travel has become an integral part of staying connected to myself.

For us, taking solo trips while married isn't about escaping each other. It's about investing in our individual growth — and, by extension, our relationship.

Here are a few ways it's made us stronger as a couple.

Time away gives us some much-needed space

Both my husband and I have worked from home for the majority of our marriage, meaning we're almost constantly together. We also live in a two-bedroom apartment, so there's limited space to retreat.

Going on regular solo trips allows us to break out of the familiarity (and occasional annoyances) of constant proximity.

As someone who has struggled with codependency in the past, creating space in our togetherness reinforces my sense of autonomy — which, ironically, makes me feel more present in our relationship, not less.

We have more to talk about once I'm back

Although my husband and I have been married for over six years, we've been together for 13 years, or a third of our lives.

We know practically everything about each other, and our conversations can often start to feel mundane as a result.

It's not that I don't enjoy those everyday chats about how cute our cat is (very cute), what to have for dinner (often chili), or what we want to watch on Netflix — but solo travel gives us new stories, perspectives, and sometimes even new interests to discuss.

Solo travel helps us enjoy our individual hobbies

My husband and I have a lot of shared interests, but we have individual passions, too. While I took up "grandma" hobbies like cross-stitching and gardening during the pandemic, he became obsessed with baseball.

A couple of years ago, my husband planned a solo trip where he went to a baseball game every day. Although we've gone to plenty of games together, going to that many would have been too much for me.

By taking his own trip, he didn't need to worry about whether I was getting antsy or not having a good time — he could fully immerse himself in the experience.

These types of trips let us both lean into what excites us individually, which makes talking about it later even more fun.

Recharging helps the way I show up in our relationship

As introverts, my husband and I both need alone time to feel refreshed.

Although we find ways to snag bits of quiet peace at home — a nap here, a meditation there — oftentimes, a change of scenery can give us both that much-needed sense of feeling recharged.

Traveling alone, especially when nature is involved, lets me take a breather and move at my own pace. I always find that I come back more present, patient, and open — all the things that help me show up as a better partner.

It makes me appreciate my partner and our marriage even more

Maybe it's my love of Jane Austen novels talking, but there is something to that classic idea that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

By the end of a solo trip, I always miss my husband intensely and can't wait to be back in his arms.

On a recent trip I took to Florida, we made sure to talk every day, sharing funny stories or just how we were feeling. Sometimes those conversations even veered off into flirty or sexy territory, which definitely helped build anticipation for when we were reunited.

Even more meaningful, though, is that the distance often helps me appreciate him in a deeper way. When I get back, all the little things I love — the way he makes me laugh, the comfort of his presence, even how he loads the dishwasher — are highlighted in a new way.

Ultimately, although it seems counterintuitive, traveling alone reminds me how lucky I am to have someone I can't wait to come home to.

• Din Tai Fung is keeping machines out of the kitchen for now.
• The chain's chiefs say making their iconic pork dumplings, with their precise 18 folds, is delicate work.
• A machine making them would mean "sacrificing heavily on the quality," CEO Aaron Yang told BI.

Din Tai Fung thinks robots aren't good enough to make their iconic pork soup dumplings.

The Taiwanese chain's North America CEO, Aaron Yang, said Din Tai Fung's xiao long baos, which are known for being pleated at the top with exactly 18 folds, are "very, very delicate." Yang, 33, leads the company alongside his brother, Albert Yang, 32.

And they make a lot of them — Din Tai Fung sells an average of 10,000 handmade xiao long baos every day at each of its North American outlets, the chain told BI. It has over 173 outlets in 13 countries, including the US, Canada, and the UK.

"The way we make the skins, they're paper thin yet strong enough to hold the soup inside," said Yang.

"We are just very uncompromising about quality," he said. "We've seen machines make soup dumplings, and you're definitely sacrificing heavily on the quality."

Yang said their compromise with automation in the kitchen was to deploy it in areas where "it doesn't affect quality," like having a little robot helping the staff run to deliver orders.

"In New York, our kitchen is pretty far away from the takeout area. So we actually have a little robot that runs back and forth delivering the finished takeout bags from the kitchen to the front," he said.

Before the robot was deployed, one person walked back and forth in the restaurant throughout the day.

The human touch

Din Tai Fung's take on automation is in line with that of other chains like Chipotle and Shake Shack, which have both largely kept machines out of the kitchen for the time being.

"We still believe the best way to Chipotle is down the line with a team member, highly customized, great variety, big, beautiful burritos and bowls down the line," Chipotle's CEO, Scott Boatwright, said on an episode of Yahoo Finance's "Opening Bid" podcast that aired in December.

Boatwright added that human interaction is "a core equity of the Chipotle brand."

Chipotle di, tap a robot called"Autocado" in July 2023 to cut, core, and peel avocados, reducing the amount of time needed for the task by half.

Shake Shack's CEO, Danny Meyer, said in a December episode of "Opening Bid" that he did not plan to increase automation in his chain.

"I think when it comes to making the product, there's something about the human touch, smashing that burger, seasoning the burger, flipping the burger, knowing exactly when it is time to come off, where not any two burgers at Shake Shack taste exactly the same," Meyer said.

Starbucks is taking a similar approach, leaving the crafting of drinks to their baristas but rolling out an AI tool that helps baristas remember drink recipes.

• Extreme flooding in Central Texas leaves at least 24 dead, and girls missing from a camp.
• The flooding hit Kerr County, Texas, causing widespread damage and multiple fatalities.
• Authorities urge residents to shelter in place and avoid travel near water bodies.

On what should have been a festive Fourth of July, disaster struck in Central Texas.

Extreme flooding left at least 24 dead in Kerr County, and between 23 to 25 children missing from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' camp along the Guadalupe River.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said at a press conference on Friday night that there were 24 confirmed fatalities in Kerr County resulting from the torrential rains that hit in the morning. One person was confirmed dead in Kendall County, but Sheriff Leitha said it was unclear if it was related.

As many as 12 inches of rain have fallen in the county over the course of the day, with additional rainfall anticipated this evening, local station ABC 7 reported Friday afternoon.

Kerr County and neighboring Kendall County remain under a Flash Flood Warning until Saturday.

As rain continues to fall, a desperate search is underway for those who may have been swept away by the floodwaters.

"There's still several people unaccounted for," Leitha added.

Camp Mystic, located in Hunt, Texas, has around 750 campers; at least 20 girls were unaccounted for on Friday afternoon, according to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

"That does not mean they've been lost," Patrick said on Friday afternoon at a press conference. "They could be in a tree. They could be out of communication. We're praying for all those missing to be found alive."

Patrick said during the afternoon press conference that the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes.

During the Friday night news conference, which was live-streamed on Facebook, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called upon God and the community.

"It needs God, but also needs a robust response by the state and local governments, and by people who live in these communities impacted," he said. "We had a meeting with officials at the state and local level, and there is extraordinary collaboration to make sure that we are going to address everybody's concern as quickly as we possibly can."

Camp Mystic welcomes girls once they've completed second grade. In the Guadalupe River camp group, girls can enroll in one of three sessions, each lasting either two or four weeks. The sessions run from May 30 to August 10, with dates divided across the summer.

On Facebook, parents and community members have circulated flyers with contact numbers, urging the public to help locate the missing children.

An 8-year-old from Dallas is among the missing. Her mother told WFAA News on Friday evening that she was traveling to reach the camp.

Kerr County has an estimated population of 53,900 in 2024, according to the US Census Bureau. The county sits in the Hill Country region of Central Texas, including cities like San Antonio and Austin. Beyond the Guadalupe River, the region is home to several others, including the Colorado, Concho, and Blanco Rivers.

The Kerr County Sheriff's Department said on Facebook that it was responding to a "catastrophic flooding event."

"Our Office is working with a wide variety of local and state agencies to respond to calls and rescues," the department wrote on Facebook.

"The entire county is an extremely active scene. Residents are encouraged to shelter in place and not attempt travel. Those near creeks, streams, and the Guadalupe River should immediately move to higher ground."

With the county focused on locating the missing, several local cities have canceled Independence Day events.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

• Lance Koster was ready for a career change and believed Texas was the best place to make it happen.
• In 2024, he and his family left Salt Lake City for a small Texas town, where he found nearby work.
• While the Kosters admit they miss living in Utah, they say they're happier than ever in Texas.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lance Koster, a 61-year-old Pilot instructor, and his wife, Michelle, who moved to Justin, Texas, in 2024.

Justin is a small town about 40 minutes north of Fort Worth. According to recent Census data, its population is 6,197.

The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

Lance: In my career as a pilot, my family and I moved around the country a lot. In 2010, we ended up in Salt Lake City and lived there for 14 years.

We loved Salt Lake City. Its landscape was amazing, especially the mountains. We were always skiing, biking, or camping. And while we didn't have much family there, we made a lot of friends.

However, we needed to make a change. The job was getting a little difficult, and my traveling was starting to increase. I was spending a lot of time away from home.

My wife and I are getting a little older, and I was ready to slow down — I wanted to be home at night and not on the road. I thought it was best to take a position training up-and-coming pilots, which would give me a more stable schedule.

Throughout my career, when I was training, my family and I spent some time in Texas. There are a couple of large jet training facilities in the state, so I knew there would be opportunities for me to become a pilot instructor.

My family and I have also always been intrigued by Texas. Every time we've visited, it's been a pleasant experience. When it was finally time for us to make a change, it was the most logical destination.

We moved to a small North Texas town

Lance: In June 2024, I got a job as a pilot instructor at a company located at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. In September, we bought a home in Justin, just north of Fort Worth.

It's a small town, but it's growing quickly.

A lot of the people who live in Justin have lived and worked here their whole lives, so it's actually a little uncomfortable for them that it's growing at such a rapid pace. Still, we've had nothing but pleasant experiences.

Our home in Justin is 3,500 square feet and has five bedrooms and three bathrooms — enough space for my wife, me, and our two teenage sons. We live in a new neighborhood developed by homebuilder KB Homes.

We really like our neighborhood. It has both larger and smaller homes, which was perfect for us.

My wife's mother was living with us in Salt Lake City, and when we moved to Texas, we wanted to find a home with a mother-in-law suite, but we weren't having much luck.

So, we decided to buy a larger home that would fit the four of us, and a smaller home for my mother-in-law, also in the same neighborhood. She now lives about a quarter mile from us and is fully independent.

There are pros and cons to living in Texas

Lance: Salt Lake Valley, where Salt Lake City sits, has a population of almost 2 million people, so even though we lived in a suburban area, it still felt pretty busy. Life is a lot slower in Justin.

The town has a little downtown, with a small grocery store and a couple of restaurants. We have to drive about 15 or 20 minutes toward Fort Worth to do most of our shopping at places like Costco or Walmart.

Our younger son likes living in Justin. He works at the grocery store, which is about half a mile from our house. However, it's taken our older son a little more time to adjust.

The biggest change we've noticed since moving is the culture — it's a lot different. Justin is a lot more diverse. Utah has a large Mormon population, and when you're not part of that, it doesn't always feel like you're included.

The weather is a lot different in Texas, too. Salt Lake City was a lot cooler, and while it does get warm in the Summer, it's nowhere close to how hot it gets in Justin.

We started building a pool in December and finished it a couple of months ago, so we have our own little oasis in the backyard to beat the heat.

Michelle: Another big difference in Texas is that you do not have to pay income tax. But the property taxes are high. Our house in Salt Lake City was 1,000 square feet larger than our home in Justin, but our property taxes here are three times the amount.

Everything here is also so spread out compared to what we were used to. We lived at the south end of the Salt Lake Valley and it would take us 25 minutes to get downtown. If we go to Dallas from Justin — almost 40 miles away — it can take us anywhere from an hour to two.

We're happier than ever

Michelle: We do miss our friends in Salt Lake City — we made some very good, lifelong friends — but we don't plan on moving back. They all come out to visit us, and we see them when we go back.

Our son misses the mountains in Utah, especially in the south. We had really nice views everywhere, and based on the mountains, you could always tell if you were facing north, south, east, or west. Everything about it was beautiful.

That said, we've accepted our new home, and the locals have accepted us, too. We've already started making friends. We've even hosted parties at our house on cool nights, and it's been great.

It's hard for us to quantify, but we all agree, we enjoy it here more.

• I stick to a $200 weekly grocery budget to feed a family of five.
• I use store apps to clip digital coupons, watch for sales, and plan our meals.
• By keeping a list and buying in bulk when it makes sense, I waste less and save more.

For me, grocery shopping is more of a game of strategy than a chore.

With a family of four, plus one more when my oldest daughter comes home on weekends, I stick to a weekly food budget of $200. There's a little wiggle room, but definitely nothing over $250. If something doesn't fit into this week's budget, it simply gets bumped to next week's list.

That kind of discipline helps me stay in control and avoid unnecessary stress. These days, prices are high, so I've had to get smarter about how and where I spend my money.

I always monitor weekly sales, clip digital coupons, and plan meals ahead of time. I've started treating grocery shopping like some follow the stock market: I look for patterns in sales, plan my moves, and try not to let emotion lead the way.

Tracking coupons for different stores helps

I have memberships at both BJ's and Sam's Club, but my mom and I split the cost to make it more affordable. They each have their place in my routine.

BJ's is great for finding digital coupons. Their app tracks what you buy most often and offers coupons on those items. That saves time and money. Before each trip, I go through the app and load the deals I need right into my account.

Sam's Club is where I grab all my paper goods like toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissue. Their store brand has become a staple in our household. I've tried switching it up for cheaper options before, but the quality is solid and worth the price.

Aldi will always be my spot for produce. I don't need bulk amounts of fruits and veggies, so I shop there for just what we need: celery, lettuce, tomatoes, and fruits. Their prices are reasonable, the quality is consistent, and because I'm buying smaller quantities, I don't end up tossing spoiled food later in the week.

Planning meals ahead of time helps me avoid waste

Every week, I ask my family what they want to eat. That keeps everyone happy and gives me a clear direction when I sit down to plan meals. I always cook enough to have leftovers, which helps for the next day's dinner and cuts down on extra cooking.

I also buy extra of things we use a lot, especially when they're marked down. If chicken thighs are on sale, I'll grab a few packs and freeze them.

But I don't believe in hoarding. I've learned that if you buy too much of something just because it's cheap, you can end up tossing it later. Plus, I can't stand clutter. I aim for a healthy middle ground: enough stored to be prepared but not so much that it turns into waste. There's real value in being stocked, not stuffed.

Lists keep me focused and help me avoid spending extra

I never shop without a list. Before each trip, I go through what we have, check what's on sale, and write down exactly what we need. That list is what keeps me from grabbing extras that weren't in the plan.

And I don't play about being in a store too long. I actually map out my route in the grocery store in advance based on what's on my list. If I don't need paper goods, I'm not walking through that aisle. There's no point in wandering just to "see what's there." That's how people blow their budget.

I move through the store with intention and purpose. Aimlessly browsing aisles might work for people with no budget, but I've got a household to feed, and every dollar matters.

This routine helps our budget and meals go further

This shopping method has helped me stretch our budget without sacrificing the kinds of meals we enjoy. I'm not just saving money, but I'm also being more intentional about how I feed my family.

The best part is, we all have a say. Asking my family what they want to eat takes some of the stress off me and helps avoid wasting food no one asked for. It's also easier on the budget when I'm not guessing.

We keep a shared shopping list so everyone can add what we're running low on. It turns grocery planning into more of a team effort, and it's made us more intentional about where our food budget goes.

• Archrivals Elon Musk and Sam Altman may have found something to bond over.
• The two tech billionaires are both disenchanted with US politics.
• Both posted about their political frustrations on X this Fourth of July.

Forget fireworks and cookouts: Elon Musk and Sam Altman are spending their Fourth of July sharing their frustrations about US politics.

The rival tech billionaires each celebrated Independence Day with social-media posts in which they vented about the state of the 50 states.

Musk rekindled his idea of starting a new political party called the "America Party" in an X post. This comes after a falling out between the Tesla CEO and his former ally, President Donald Trump.

"Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!" Musk wrote on X.

Musk's musings may have been prompted by Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill," which the billionaire slammed as being full of bloat.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also expressed dissatisfaction with politics, specifically with the Democratic Party. Once a Democratic mega-donor, Altman wrote on X that he's now "politically homeless."

Altman's missive started as a love letter to the US. "I'm not big on identities, but I am extremely proud to be American," he wrote. "This is true every day, but especially today — I firmly believe this is the greatest country ever on Earth."

But don't expect Altman to host fundraisers for Democrats anytime soon. The tech mogul said he's a believer in "techno-capitalism," where wealth flows from innovation, entrepreneurship, and education. In his view, the Democratic Party is now out of step with that mission.

"The Democratic party seemed reasonably aligned with it when I was 20, losing the plot when I was 30, and completely to have moved [sic] somewhere else at this point," Altman wrote. The billionaire added that "I care much, much more about being American than any political party."

Altman's shift may come as anti-billionaire sentiment among Democrats, including New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, is on the rise.

"I'd rather hear from candidates about how they are going to make everyone have the stuff billionaires have instead of how they are going to eliminate billionaires," Altman wrote.

Musk is also a former self-identifying Democrat who became alienated from the party and eventually threw his support behind Republicans, culminating in his former leadership role in Trump's DOGE project.

Despite his frustrations, Altman might not join Musk's America Party, given their squabbles.

But if Altman and Musk do squash their beef, it could be because of this Fourth of July — and it won't be because they're grilling.

• The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is held annually on July Fourth.
• Every year, people tune in to see competitive eating stars, like Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo.
• However, it's the underdogs toward the end of the table that we prefer to keep an eye on.

When you picture the 4th of July, most people think of fireworks.

That's "the big show," right?

For some, sure. But for others, it's all about Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, held every year on the Coney Island Boardwalk in Brooklyn, New York.

It's a truly American spectacle, watching people eat for sport — shoving as many hot dogs down their throats as they can, not due to hunger or for taste, but simply out of pure competition.

And while it's impressive to watch men like 17-time winner Joey Chestnut (who ate 70 ½ hot dogs this year), and women like 11-time winner Miki Sudo (who scarfed down 33) eat more in 10 minutes than should be humanly possible, what's more impressive is the competitors near the end of the table. That's right, we're talking about those who are just there for the love of the game.

Every year, the competition puts the men and women who are coming into the competition with the best records — the big dogs, so to speak — in the middle of the table, with, well, the underdogs toward the end. Those are the competitors who are there to try their best, but, barring something unthinkable, aren't likely to unseat someone who's won 10 or more times.

Let's hear it for the underdogs

Take competitor Cherish Brown, for example. The Ohio native earned a wild-card spot to compete in her third consecutive 4th of July contest. Ahead of the event, she told WFFT-TV, "I'm really always looking to improve personally, rather than beat anybody at the table."

Brown added, "I can't really control what they're going to do. If they can eat 15-20 hot dogs, that's great for them, but I'm not going to punish myself if I can't eat that many. I'm just there to have a good time, and try to do better than last year."

She finished this year's competition in 12th place, having eaten six hot dogs in 10 minutes, but we hope that didn't dampen her day.

Later, in the men's competition, Indiana native Cameron Meade made his Nathan's debut, eating 20 ¾ hot dogs to finish in 15th place.

Earlier this week, he told NBC Chicago he was inspired to participate in eating competitions after his friends were impressed by how much he ate at his university's dining hall. And though he came in last in his division, he's positioned well for next year — after all, he can only go up from here.

No, these underdogs didn't win in the end, but we appreciate what they're doing all the same. Underdogs like Brown and Meade are not there because they expect to win, they're just there because they love doing what they do: Eating an ungodly number of hot dogs on a hot day, just because they can. In any sport — including competitive eating — not every player on the field can be the MVP, especially when competing against legends like Chestnut and Sudo.

Watching them is a good reminder that perfectionism, like the leftover buns on the boardwalk, is for the birds, and if you have a dream, you should chase it. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to love what you do.

• Soham Parekh confirmed on a podcast that he worked for multiple AI startups simultaneously.
• Multiple founders told BI that they had hired him before realizing he was also working other jobs.
• Parekh told the "TBPN" podcast he worked 140 hours a week and was in "dire financial circumstances."

A seemingly overemployed engineer has sparked a round of memes and self-reflection in tech this week.

Indian software engineer, Soham Parekh, was accused online by a founder this week of working at three to four startups simultaneously. The founder's X post set off a firestorm in the industry, with other founders chiming in to say they, too, hired — and fired — him.

Parekh appeared on the tech podcast "TBPN" on Thursday and confirmed he had juggled multiple jobs.

"I wanna preface by saying that I'm not proud of what I've done. That's not something that I endorse either," Parekh said. "No one really likes to work 140 hours a week, but I had to do this kind of out of necessity. I was in extremely dire financial circumstances."

Parekh spoke to "TBPN" hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays about why he chose to work for multiple startups at the same time and how he got hired.

On the podcast, he referred to himself as a "serial non-sleeper." He said that he did not hire a team of junior engineers to help him accomplish tasks at various jobs or use AI to get the work done. He said on the podcast that he worked for many of the companies prior to the boom in AI-assisted programming.

"This was not a business to me. Every company that I've worked with, I deeply cared about," Parekh added.Parekh did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The brouhaha started when Suhail Doshi, the founder of Playground AI, posted on X on Tuesday about a former software engineer who he said previously worked for his company. He accused Parekh of moonlighting for multiple startups.

Founders of multiple companies confirmed with BI that a man named Soham Parekh had worked for or interviewed with them. Several said they quickly realized he was overemployed and let him go.

Parekh did not discuss being fired on the podcast.

Igor Zalutski, the CEO of Digger, told BI that Parekh passed his interviews "with flying colors" and said the company was "super excited for him to start" before the hiring process was halted on June 30 because of a background check issue. He did not elaborate on the specifics.

"I think he's genuinely a brilliant engineer," Zalutski said, adding, "Soham seemed clearly one of the top 0.1%; anyone can learn to do coding puzzles, but very few can do technical problem solving entirely in their head, while keeping the user and business in mind."

Kevin Wu, the founder and CEO of Leaping AI, told BI that Parekh was employed by the company briefly, but was let go for "his underperformance on the job" and after they found out he was employed by other startups.

A spokesperson for Synthesia also confirmed to BI that Parekh was briefly employed at the company and said that part of the reason he was let go was that it suspected he was working other jobs.

Matt Parkhurst, the CEO of Antimetal, wrote on X that Parekh is "really smart and likable," but he was let go after the company found out about his other jobs. Antimetal did not immediately respond to a request for further information.

Though the timeline of when Parekh worked at which company is not entirely clear, a June 2021 blog post by Meta shows that Parekh was a WebXR contributor working on immersive AR/VR examples through the Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship at that time.

In California, where most of these startups are based, there is no law against working for multiple companies simultaneously, even if they are competitors. It's unclear what Parekh had agreed to in his contracts.

His job-juggling has sparked discussion around the phenomenon of similar overemployment.

"There are 1000s of Soham Parekhs we don't know about," Deedy Das, a principal at Menlo Ventures focused on AI investments, wrote on X. "To be clear, this is a complete non-issue if your employment contract is okay with it."

Overemployment grew in popularity during the pandemic, when some workers took advantage of fully remote opportunities to rake in multiple six-figure salaries.

Tech leaders chimed in to offer thoughts, jokes, and memes about the situation. Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder, mused on X, "What do you think Soham Parekh's LinkedIn header is?"

Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box, said in a post Wednesday, "If soham immediately comes clean and says he was working to train an AI Agent for knowledge work, he raises at $100M pre by the weekend."

The memes keep coming, including one shared by Flo Crivello, founder and CEO of Lindy, a San Francisco-based AI company, with a nod to "The Social Network."

The meme read: "You can't get to 500 million jobs without making a few enemies."

Do you have a story to share about overemployment? Contact these reporters at [email protected] or [email protected].

• Jason Noel is the CTO for EY's Americas Consulting division.
• Noel told BI how the firm is helping companies think through AI adoption this year.
• The firm is focusing on the "convergence of digital and human workforces," he said.

The rhetoric around AI in the workplace can be vague: Automation, algorithms, productivity, efficiency, decision-making, up-skilling, the list goes on.

Between rapid technological progress and the lag of adoption, there's continued uncertainty about how AI will reshape the future of work.

Many employees are anxious about their value, for instance. Executives are at once captivated by the potential for profits and worried about keeping up with their competitors. Investors and company boards are frustrated by the losses they've already incurred from not moving fast enough.

Consulting firms are often at the heart of it all. From the outset, at least, they've positioned themselves as the go-to experts to help corporations understand and navigate this latest wave of technology.

Yet their work can often be as unclear as the technology itself. To demystify it, Business Insider spoke to EY's new chief technology officer for its Americas Consulting division on what AI really means for workers in 2025.

First off, are people losing jobs anytime soon?

There have been comments about cataclysmic unemployment rates that are gonna plunge us into the next Great Depression. I mean, I think it's interesting to think about those alternatives. It's just not what I'm seeing.

Broadly speaking, what can we expect to see from AI integration in the next year?

I think over the next year, you're going to see an increasing uptake in these copilots, these tools like the ChatGPTs and the private and public models, and interjecting some AI capability into existing enterprise applications, and increasing productivity and efficiency.

How is EY specifically helping clients integrate AI this year?

We're thinking a lot about what we're calling the next generation of enterprise applications — interfaces that present people with what they need based on their role, offer key AI insights, and let them act. The AI agents generate suggestions, and the human validates and approves.

We're piloting this now with some major clients, and it's been an incredible success. That's how we're thinking about the convergence of digital and human workforces — not just managing them together, but creating systems where AI augments people in a seamless way.

Can you provide an example of these applications in action?

If I'm a cruise director on a cruise ship, there are lots of things that impact how my guests enjoy the ship.

The makeup of the people on the ship, the weather, what day — if you're on a day at sea, or if you're going to a port — all of that stuff. There's data to be found there on what happens and how the guests behave. I mean like their buying activities, where they like to hang out, those types of things.

So, we can harness that information with AI agents to actually understand and predict what's going to happen. We know, for example, that tomorrow's weather is going to be bad, and it's a day at sea. We know historically how all of that affects the movement of people and the consumption of products, whether that be merchandise, food, or beverages.

So, we recommend that you take half of the people from this venue and move them to this venue. We recommend moving around products so you don't run out, because we know what demand is going to look like. We recommend redeploying people to do different things in anticipation of this. The AI will turn around and list out and build out that process automatically.

The human in the loop says, "Okay, that makes sense," or "I want to change this piece."

This is through a very visual, nice interface. They click go, and then there's a chain of orchestration that happens, in which people are notified, leadership is notified, supply chain changes on the ship.

What's the value of up-skilling here? How much do employees need to learn about AI?

They just know that they have a screen and an application that says, "Here's how much stuff you have now of this," and "Here's how many you have coming inbound," maybe. They don't need to know how the technology works. This idea of up-skilling the entire workforce to use AI — I think it's kind of silly.

How are you helping companies think through questions like this?

You need to look at the functions — rethink that. That also dovetails into the people part, right? You're not only just giving them technology that's AI-enabled, you're allowing them to start to rethink how they do their job, and how they can be more efficient at the job, and also provide more overall value and capability.

• "Love Island USA" is a reality TV series where contestants aim to build connections and find love.
• Last night, the islanders got to see what America thinks of them.
• Amaya Espinal, 25, was a clear fan favorite, highlighted for her trustworthiness and authenticity.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard or seen someone talking about season seven of "Love Island USA."

You know, the show where a bunch of 20-somethings occupy a villa in Fiji without contact with the outside world for weeks on end in the hopes of finding love. Oh, and winning the $100,000 cash prize.

Unlike seasons past, where the prize has seemed to be an afterthought for contestants, this year's islanders seem to be "hyper-aware of their role as entertainers and competitors," Business Insider's Callie Ahlgrim assessed, adding that they're "much too preoccupied with how they're being perceived by an invisible audience to be truly honest and vulnerable with each other."

But just because they're aware America is watching doesn't necessarily mean they're truly self-aware, or have a grasp on how the audience will feel about them — at least until some of the viewer votes start rolling in and actually affect their experience.

That was made especially clear in last night's episode as the audience rallied around fan-favorite Amaya Espinal, fondly known as "Amaya Papaya."

Amaya has received criticism from her fellow islanders

Amaya has been critiqued by her fellow islanders throughout her "Love Island" experience for being "too emotional and affectionate," but her peers finally got to see just how much America's been rooting for her in a challenge called "Hate to Burst Your Bubble."

In the game, contestants were asked to assess fellow islanders based on categories like "Most Trustworthy" and "Most Genuine" and rank each other from most to least. Then, they'd see how America answered the same questions.

When asked to rank the women from most to least trustworthy, the men ranked Amaya third to last. America, however, ranked her first, as the most trustworthy, prompting a raised eyebrow from her former connection, Ace Greene, who commented, "That wasn't in my parlay."

Although Ace and Amaya were previously coupled up, their pairing was a contentious one, filled with miscommunications and tension. A particularly notable exchange that's reverberated throughout the season centered around Ace telling Amaya he wasn't comfortable being called "babe" so quickly. When she tried to explain that she "calls everyone babe," she slipped up and called him the pet name in the process.

Her subsequent connections, Austin Shepard and Zak Srakaew, also expressed similar sentiments in the recent "Stand on Business" challenge.

For the next category, the men ranked Amaya as the second-most genuine, and America voted her first again.

This challenge showed the cast what the viewers see

Finally seeming to catch on to Amaya's popularity with viewers, the islanders collectively ranked her and her connection, Zak, as the couple the audience would most like to go on vacation with, and, unsurprisingly, they were right.

As a viewer who voted for Amaya as one of my favorite islanders, I hope this challenge served as a seemingly much-needed confidence boost for her to continue being her authentic self in her search for love, and a reminder to the other islanders that authenticity — not strategy — is the strength of "Love Island."

• The Ukrainian military said it carried out a drone attack on a Russian weapons-making facility.
• The attack on Friday hit a site that produces warheads for Russia's notorious Shahed drones.
• It marks Ukraine's latest deep-strike operation targeting Russia's war machine.

The Ukrainian military said on Friday that it carried out a long-range attack on a Russian factory producing warheads for Moscow's deadly Shahed drones, marking Kyiv's latest deep-strike operation targeting the Kremlin's war machine.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said it targeted the JSC FNPC Research Institute of Applied Chemistry in Sergiev Posad, a city just northeast of Moscow, more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) away from Ukraine's border.

The attack was carried out by units of the Unmanned Systems Forces and other elements of the military. The USF, a first-of-its-kind branch of the armed forces that was established last year and focuses solely on drone combat, said soldiers of the 14th separate drone regiment were involved in the operation.

The USF said at least one drone struck the facility, causing a fire and heavy smoke, and that an electric substation that provided power to the site was damaged. It shared footage purporting to show the moment of the attack and the aftermath.

Business Insider could not independently verify all the details of the operation. Russia's defense ministry did not acknowledge the attack, although it did report shooting down Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Friday.

Ukraine said the JSC FNPC Research Institute of Applied Chemistry, part of Russia's state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec, is under international sanctions because of its involvement in the war. The facility develops and manufactures parts for missile and artillery systems, as well as thermobaric warheads for Shahed drones.

The notorious Shahed-136 is an Iranian-designed drone that Russia now produces at home. Historically, these one-way attack munitions could fly at speeds of over 115 mph with a nearly 90-pound explosive warhead, although the team leader for a Ukrainian mobile air defense unit recently told BI that Moscow had modified the Shaheds to make them faster and deadlier.

Shahed drones are traditionally slower and less lethal than cruise or ballistic missiles, although they are much cheaper, allowing Russia to launch hundreds of them in large-scale attacks. On Thursday night, for instance, Moscow launched at least 330 of them into Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

That attack marked one of the largest Russian bombardments of the war. Ukraine said that Moscow launched 550 munitions, including Shaheds, decoy drones, and cruise and ballistic missiles, mainly targeting the capital city, Kyiv. A majority of the threats were intercepted, although at least 23 people were injured.

The attack came as the Trump administration reportedly halted shipments of crucial weapons, including air defense ammunition, to Ukraine. The move could affect Kyiv's ability to protect itself from the Russian bombardments, which have intensified in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump remains entangled in efforts to secure a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and discussed peace talks in a call with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin, shortly before the huge attack on Thursday.

"Notably, the first air raid alerts in our cities and regions yesterday began to blare almost simultaneously with media reports discussing a phone call between President Trump and Putin," Zelenskyy said.

• EU leaders are pushing for mass drone production in the face of growing threats.
• Europe's slow military mobilization leaves it vulnerable to future conflicts.
• Ukraine's drone success highlights the need for EU collaboration and innovation.

As the prospect of a renewed Russian threat looms over Europe's eastern flank, EU leaders are accepting that the continent is ill-prepared when it comes to the risk of future conflict.

Last week, Andrius Kubilius, the European commissioner for defence and space, called for a sweeping ramp-up of drone production, urging EU nations to produce millions of drones a year by 2030.

Ukraine delivered over 1.3 million drones to its military in 2024, highlighting the gap in Europe's preparedness.

"The fact that European nations need to urgently rearm, and to do so in a way that is relevant to the threat from Russia, is not a new discovery," Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, told Business Insider.

"What's alarming is that it's being presented as news," he said, adding that this suggests the realization that rearmament is vital "still hasn't sunk in evenly across Europe."

The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the transformative nature of drones in modern combat.

From cheap first-person view drones to advanced loitering munitions and AI-guided strike systems, the war has pioneered new forms of drone warfare, with Ukraine often outmatching Russian capabilities in speed and creativity.

Katja Bego, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, said that "Ukraine's remarkable success with drones has shown it is possible to rapidly ramp up production if the urgency is there. Europe is now learning these lessons."

Currently, however, the EU is still far behind. Both Russia and Ukraine reportedly outproduce the entire EU bloc "by orders of magnitude," Bego warned.

But it's clear that there is increasing interest from EU states to work with and import Ukrainian expertise and systems.

"If European countries are serious about acquiring drones at the pace and scale that is being described, they must do so in and with Ukraine," Giles said.

The latest push for mass drone manufacturing in Europe isn't just about meeting current threats. It's about leapfrogging into the technologies that will define future conflict.

"Europe sees an opportunity to leapfrog," Bego said. "Smaller drones are much cheaper than a lot of traditional weapons and can be produced much more quickly."

However, making the most of this moment requires more than just factories.

"Getting to the scale of relevance for deterrence and defense is more than an issue of defense production," Skip Davis, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Business Insider.

"It's about the ability to field prototypes, train operators, revise operational concepts, and integrate drones into logistics and manoeuvre formations," he said. "All of that requires a new mindset."

That would involve deeper collaboration between militaries and agile, often non-traditional tech firms.

Davis said that in the current environment, "many of the companies leading innovation are small startups or commercial companies not used to working with militaries."

For Europe to succeed, he said it must grow more comfortable with experimentation and iteration.

Compounding the urgency is the decreasing estimate of when Russia could be ready to attack a NATO country.

The estimate of five years was what we were hearing this time last year, Giles said. "Since then, the timescale has continued to shrink — and the reduction in US support to Ukraine brings the time closer."

This shortening horizon makes the EU's slow progress all the more dangerous.

"Crash rearmament is feasible, if there is sufficient political will," Giles added.

At the same time, experts warn that ramping up drone output is not a silver bullet.

"Policymakers are at risk of seeing small agile drones as a panacea which will solve both their financial and manpower woes," Bego said. But "there is still a need for large platforms like jet fighters, too," she added.

Meanwhile, Europe's vision of "strategic autonomy" in defense risks being undermined by its reliance on foreign tech.

"A lot of critical components in drone manufacturing are still produced in China," Bego said. "Europe must diversify these supply chains or reproduce them within its own borders."

With the clock ticking and Russian production accelerating, the EU's ambitious drone target looks ever more necessary, and could mark a pivotal moment in European defense.

• The Bulwark, a news website that's fiercely critical of President Donald Trump, has grown rapidly.
• Since the 2024 election, The Bulwark has roughly doubled its paid subscriber base.
• Top editor Jonathan V. Last told Business Insider how they've grown, and what's ahead.

If President Donald Trump didn't exist, the staunchly anti-Trump news website The Bulwark might not either.

But the president isn't solely responsible for The Bulwark's success. Instead, its top editor credits email newsletters, podcasts, and YouTube for its impressive growth in recent years.

"We grew consistently, all the way through the Biden administration," Jonathan V. Last, editor of The Bulwark, said in an interview with Business Insider. "That's something I didn't expect."

To be sure, Trump's resurgence has added fuel to the fire that Last and his colleagues were kindling. The Bulwark surpassed 100,000 paid subscribers on Substack in early July, which the company told BI is more than double its total in late October — just before the 2024 election.

The Bulwark also now has 830,000 total subscribers, most of whom get its emails for free. The company said its total count has tripled in the last year and surpassed 500,000 a day after Trump retook office.

YouTube is another key part of The Bulwark's growth. It crossed 1 million subscribers on the platform in mid-February, and that count rose 34% between then and early July, thanks to a healthy mix of short-form snippets and long-form videos.

The news site uses YouTube Shorts, the platform's buzzy, TikTok-esque clips, as a foot in the door for newcomers. But long-form content of all kinds is crushing on YouTube, especially on TVs. The Bulwark's producers have taken note by making most of their videos at least 10 minutes long, and some run well over an hour.

"We no longer think of podcast and video as separate," Last said. "We just think of it all as broadcast."

The Bulwark was perfectly positioned for one of the wildest decades for news in the last century, complete with a pandemic, wars, and Trump's rise, fall, and rebound.

"It's been a crazy eight years," Last said. "People have been forced to pay attention to the news in ways which are reasonably unique, at least in our lifetimes."

Not just 'Never Trump'

The Bulwark has gained much of its notoriety for its sharp criticism of Trump. But when asked who he's writing for, Last said he's not necessarily targeting a certain political group.

"The target audience is people who take ideas seriously and aren't looking for confirmation bias and who think that the moment is important," Last said. He added: "I think of, honestly, our target audience as being indistinguishable from The Atlantic's."

While Last said many Bulwark readers are largely on the center left to the center right, he added that the main common thread among his reader base is a distaste for authoritarianism. To Last, that's synonymous with an unease, or outright disgust, with Trump and many of his policies.

"We're on a team, and the team is democracy," Last said.

However, Last said The Bulwark doesn't have a vendetta against Trump. If the president enacts policies that Last and his colleagues like — such as Operation Warp Speed, which accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development during the pandemic — he said they'll gladly tout them.

"We are not reflexively negative," Last said. "It's not like if Trump comes out and says that 'ice cream is good,' we have to say, 'ice cream is bad.'"

Still, Last's readers know that he sees Trump as a serious threat to American democracy.

"If I had described the events of 2020 to somebody in 2016, they would've said, 'You're crazy — that's "Trump Derangement Syndrome,"'" Last said.

Critics may shrug off The Bulwark's warnings as alarmist, but Last insists he's not crying wolf.

"The fact that people aren't freaked out by just the actual real things that have happened in front of our eyes is mostly a function of the pot being turned up while the frogs are in it," Last said.

Straightforward and direct

Authenticity sells in 2025, both in politics and media. Just look at the most popular podcasters, including Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper of "Call Her Daddy" fame.

Audiences also crave honesty, Last said. That honesty and authenticity, combined with strongly held convictions, have become cornerstones of The Bulwark's popularity.

"A lot of times, we'll sit around arguing with each other, and the argument will end with one of us going, 'Yeah, you guys are right. I got that wrong,'" Last said.

Unlike traditional media organizations, The Bulwark is built on Substack. The newsletter hub has been a huge part of the news site's rapid growth, Last said, since readers of other writers can discover The Bulwark and subscribe in a single click.

"Anything you can do to lower the friction just pays enormous dividends," Last said.

By building its business around newsletters, The Bulwark reaches readers directly, without intermediaries like search engines or social media.

Newsletters and podcasts can also build emotional connections. The Bulwark's publisher, Sarah Longwell, told Vanity Fair in May that "people feel like they are friends with us" since they hear their voices and can even reach their inboxes by replying to emails. This access makes The Bulwark feel fresher than newspapers or cable news channels, Last said.

"That's the sort of thing that you often get from independent media operators, if you're a one-man band on Substack," Last said. "But it's, I think, not as common to see that at an institutional level."

Putting MSNBC and CNN on notice

Although The Bulwark has roughly doubled its paid reader base since the election, Last sees much more room to grow.

The news site recently hired reporters to cover policy, immigration, and Congress, Last said. This can help The Bulwark add value through reporting, instead of just its opinions.

But the biggest potential for growth is YouTube, Last said, given that its subscriber base can scale far faster on the world's biggest video platform than on Substack.

The Bulwark could take its video strategy to the next level by producing shows in the style of traditional TV, Last said. He said his site is open to partnering with a streaming service, similar to The Daily Beast's deal with Netflix that was reported by Semafor.

MSNBC and CNN have been a go-to spot for the anti-Trump TV news audience for years. Last suggested that The Bulwark is willing to encroach on their territory and beat them at their own game.

"Cable news is dying," Last said. "All of the minutes of attention, which gets sucked up by CNN or Fox or whoever, those minutes are going to flow elsewhere. And I think that we should be a place where that attention goes."

Legacy networks like MSNBC may be able to coexist with new media outfits like The Bulwark, especially since its writers regularly go on the left-leaning cable network.

But regardless of who's pushing back against Trump, Last's hope is that American democracy is healthy. He doesn't want chaos, even if it can help his business, but he knows that's mostly out of his control.

"Given the choice between having half of our audience, but living in a normal time, I would absolutely take that," Last said.

• Billionaires continue to set records when major league teams are on the market.
• Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter is reportedly buying the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion.
• Here are all the billionaires buying and selling teams in 2025.

Few assets are as exclusive as professional sports teams — just ask President Donald Trump, who tried and failed to buy a National Football League team first in the 1980s and later in 2014.

It's not just the exclusivity that makes ownership attractive.

In the streaming, cord-cutting era we're in, sports remain one of the few events that millions of people still watch live. In turn, top-tier leagues continue to sign lucrative TV rights deals that benefit owners.

It's why when teams do become available, record prices continue to get set.

Here's a look at all the billionaires buying and selling in 2025.

Buyer: Mark Walter

Guggenheim Partners CEO Mark Walter, who is already the primary owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, reportedly bought the Los Angeles Lakers for a record $10 billion in June.

Walter is also a primary owner of an F1 team and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

Forbes estimates Walter is worth $6.2 billion.

Buyer: Bill Chisholm

A Boston-area native, Bill Chisholm made his fortune in Silicon Valley as managing partner of STG Partners. In March, a group led by Chisholm bought the NBA's Boston Celtics for $6.1 billion, a record amount for a North American sports franchise before the Lakers' staggering sale price.

Chisholm and Walker's agreements are still pending approval of the NBA's Board of Governors.

Forbes estimates that Chisholm is worth $3.2 billion.

Buyer: Marc Lore

Wonder CEO Marc Lore and MLB great Alex Rodriguez teamed up to buy the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves for $1.5 billion. The WNBA's Minnesota Lynx were also included in the sale.

The deal dates back to 2021, but talks turned sour after then-owner Glen Taylor tried to nullify it. After four years of back and forth, Taylor decided not to challenge an April arbitration ruling that went in Lore's favor. The NBA approved the sale in June.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are also part of the ownership group.

Lore made his fortune in e-commerce, co-founding Diapers.com parent company and Jet.com, which was later sold to Walmart for $3.3 billion in 2016.

Forbes estimates that Lore is worth $2.9 billion.

Buyer: Woody Johnson

Jets owner Woody Johnson bought a 43% in Crystal Palace, an English Premier League team, for a reported $254 million in June.

Johnson, a GOP megadonor and former US ambassador to the United Kingdom, is an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune.

He bought the stake from John Textor, who is a former executive chairman of FuboTV. The deal is still pending league approval.

Forbes estimates that Johnson is worth $3.4 billion.

Buyer: Tom Gores

Tom Gores, who runs the Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity, is among a handful of billionaires who will own one of the three WNBA expansion franchises.

Each ownership group paid a $250 million expansion fee, a record amount for a new team in a women's league, according to Sportico. The WNBA has exploded in popularity, largely due to the arrival of Caitlin Clark. The WNBA announced the expansion teams in June.

Gores, who is the sole owner of the NBA's Detroit Pistons, will run a team also based in Detroit.

Forbes estimates that Gores is worth $9.4 billion.

Buyer: Josh Harris

Josh Harris, a cofounder of Apollo Global Management, will share in the ownership of a new Philadelphia WNBA team.

Harris is a cofounder of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which he created with Blackstone executive David Blitzer. Their group also owns the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils.

Outside of the group, Harris is also the managing partner of the Washington Commanders. In 2023, Harris led a group that bought the NFL team for a then-record-breaking $6.05 billion.

Forbes estimates that Harris is worth $10.2 billion.

Buyer: Dan Gilbert

Dan Gilbert, cofounder of what is now Quicken Loans, will own the future WNBA team in Cleveland, complementing his existing ownership of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.

Gilbert made headlines in 2010 for writing an open letter that mocked LeBron James after the Ohio native left the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

James and Gilbert later made up and celebrated the 2016 NBA title, which capped James' return to Ohio.

According to Forbes, Gilbert is worth an estimated $25.9 billion. He also founded StockX, a resale platform that reached unicorn status in 2019.

Seller: Jeanie Buss and family

Jeanie Buss, controlling owner of the Lakers, is selling the 17-time NBA champion to Walker for a reported $10 billion.

Jerry Buss, Jeannie's father, purchased the team in 1979 for $67.5 million in a deal that included the Forum Arena and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. Under the Buss family, the Lakers have become one of the world's most valuable sports franchises and won 11 NBA titles.

Last year, Forbes valued the Lakers at $7.1 billion. (Buss herself is not on the billionaires list.) Buss took over the Lakers after her father died in 2013.

In a statement announcing the sale in June, the Lakers said Jeannie Buss will remain the team's governor after the sale is completed.

Seller: Wyc Grousbeck

Wyc Grousbeck, who co-owns the Celtics with his father, Irving, is selling the team to Chisholm for a reported $6.1 billion. The deal was first announced in March.

The Grousbecks led the purchase of the team in 2002. Since then, the Celtics have won two NBA championships. Their 2024 title was the franchise's 18th overall, the most in league history. Last year, Forbes estimated that the team was worth $6 billion and was the 19th-most valuable sports franchise in the world.

Forbes estimates Irving Grousbeck and his family are worth $2.2 billion.

Seller: Glen Taylor

Glen Taylor, founder of a Minnesota-based printing firm, has agreed to sell the Timberwolves to a group led by fellow billionaire Marc Lore for $1.5 billion.

Taylor's initial 2021 deal called for him to retain a 20% stake in the team. ESPN reported that Lore, Rodriguez, and the rest of their group are poised to buy Taylor out completely.

Taylor bought the Timberwolves in 1994 for roughly $88 million, which also prevented the franchise from moving to New Orleans.

Forbes estimates that Taylor is worth roughly $3 billion.

Seller: Jody Allen and Paul Allen's estate

The estate of Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is selling the Trailblazers. After a lengthy dispute, the NBA confirmed in May that the team was available.

Jody Allen, Paul's sister, has been acting as the team's top executive since Allen's death from cancer in 2018.

The team was official put up for sale in May. In 2018, Forbes estimated that Allen was worth $20.3 billion.

Possible future buyer: Justin Ishbia

Justin Ishbia, the founder of Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm. In June, the Chicago White Sox announced a deal that could lead to Ishbia becoming the future owner of the MLB franchise.

Ishbia, who already owns a minority stake in the team, will make unspecified cash infusions into the club in 2025 and 2026. As early as 2029, Ishbia could take over the team from Jerry Reinsdorf. There is no guarantee that such a transaction will occur.

Ishiba's brother, Mat, owns the NBA's Phoenix Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, which Justin Ishiba also shares in.

Forbes estimates that Justin Ishiba is worth $4.3 billion.

Possible future seller: Jerry Reinsdorf

Jerry Reinsdorf, the longtime owner of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox, has reached an agreement to potentially sell control of the South Side MLB team as soon as 2029.

If they reach an agreement, Reinsdorf could eventually turn over control of the White Sox to Justin Ishbia. Their agreement was first announced in June.

Reinsdorf, who made his initial fortune in real estate, has also overseen a massive increase in the Bulls' value. He and his investment partners bought the NBA team one year after Michael Jordan was drafted.

Forbes estimates that Reinsdorf is worth $2.3 billion.

• My identical twin sons have been fiercely competitive with each other from toddlerhood.
• Their rivalry helped them thrive on the sports field, but brought tension in academics.
• Although they now attend different colleges in the same city, they'll still defend each other.

My identical twins have been competing since they were toddlers. When Thomas took his first steps, Charlie began walking the very next day, determined not to be left behind.

That dynamic never went away. From stopping the use of pacifiers to football goals to final exam scores, each has spent his life measuring himself against the other. Sometimes, this has pushed them to greatness, while other times, it has brought frustration, injuries, and tears.

As their dad, it's been both thrilling and challenging to watch them push each other to their limits.

Their competitive spirit transformed them into fearless athletes

Their competitiveness thrived on the sports field. While they celebrated victories alongside teammates and felt losses deeply, they always maintained their private scoreboard. After every game, one would inevitably tell me, "I scored more goals than my brother today," a sibling rivalry alongside their team spirit.

Although exhausting to witness as a parent who just wanted them to enjoy themselves, this rivalry created an unexpected advantage in Australian football. When other children their age feared being tackled and hesitated to go for the ball, Charlie and Thomas showed remarkable courage, diving for possession with ferocity.

Their talent didn't go unnoticed. At a friend's birthday party, while the kids played casual football in the yard, a local junior coach spotted their skills and their aggressive tackling style.

They had no fear of being tackled, likely because they'd been tackling each other ruthlessly for years. The coach told me that most kids take years to develop that fearlessness. He recruited them on the spot, and they joined his team the very next day.

Intense competition sent us to the emergency room

I tried channeling their competitiveness positively by encouraging them to view themselves as a "twin force" on the field, passing to each other and using their connection as an advantage. I half-jokingly hoped they'd develop some form of twin telepathy to dominate games.

But their rivalry occasionally went too far. After watching the Australian football grand final on television (our equivalent of the Super Bowl), they rushed into the backyard to play a game. Fueled by adrenaline and their unrelenting rivalry, they sprinted straight at each other, like a game of chicken. Neither backed down, and the resulting collision left both boys with gashed foreheads and a trip to the emergency room.

Another incident particularly tested my patience. Both qualified for an athletics tournament — Thomas in the long jump and Charlie in the 100 meters. Charlie checked the schedule and told me the event times so I could drive them the next day.

When we arrived, we discovered the long jump competition had already concluded. Thomas was devastated. Charlie just shrugged and said, "He should've checked the times himself."

Academic competition brought new challenges

As they entered their final years of high school, their rivalry shifted to academics. They focused more on outscoring each other than on their actual grades. Even if one failed an assignment, he'd still celebrate if he outperformed his brother.

This dynamic became particularly challenging during their final year. Thomas took a studious approach, selecting difficult subjects and dedicating countless hours to studying. He skipped parties and social events to prepare for exams. Charlie chose easier subjects and maintained a more laid-back approach.

In Australia, college admission depends entirely on final exam results; there is no formal application process. When the results were released, we were on a flight to Chicago. They opened their phones simultaneously to check their scores, then looked at each other, waiting for the other to speak first.

Despite putting in half the effort, Charlie scored higher than his academically driven brother. Charlie's look of satisfaction contrasted sharply with Thomas's neutral expression. As a parent, I found it challenging to celebrate Charlie's achievement while watching Thomas, slightly disappointed, despite getting a high grade. He'd done everything "right" and still come in second, at least in that moment.

They also protect each other

Parenting competitive twins has meant managing intense rivalry that can be heartbreaking at times. While most siblings compete, few are judged side by side so directly in sports, academics, and nearly every milestone.

I wanted them to strive for excellence, but not at each other's expense. What surprised me most was how quickly they'd transition from fierce competitors to staunch defenders. Despite their everyday battles, they've always protected each other when anyone else threatened either of them.

Fortunately, both got into their first-choice colleges and are now at different campuses. I hope their next phase of life will be shaped more by their own goals and less by their attempts to beat each other.

Though I'm pretty sure they'll still compare grades at the end of each semester. As long as it doesn't send us back to the ER, I'm OK with that.

• Coney Island has been a popular destination for the Fourth of July since the early 20th century.
• Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest has been held on July 4 since the 1970s.
• Vintage photos of the Fourth of July on Coney Island show crowded beaches and the hot-dog contest.

No place does the Fourth of July quite like Coney Island, from its annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest to its iconic boardwalk and firework displays.

Coney Island has been a destination for Fourth of July celebrations for over a century, and the seaside neighborhood is still popular for New Yorkers who want to escape the city for the day.

Since the 1930s, throngs of tourists have gathered at Coney Island to lie on its beach and soak up the summer weather. Today, people still walk along the boardwalk, enjoy some rides, and eat a hot dog or two — or many more. 

These vintage photos show what Coney Island's Fourth of July celebrations have looked like through the years.

Fourth of July marks one of the busiest days of the year in Coney Island.

In a black-and-white aerial photo from 1920, you can see thousands of people gathered on the boardwalk and Coney Island Beach on the Fourth of July.

In the 1930s, Coney Island exploded as a popular destination for beachgoers and families on the Fourth of July.

This photo, taken on July 4, 1938, shows crowds of people gathered on the beach. There are so many people that you can hardly see the sand.

Thirty years later, revelers still visited Coney Island Beach to celebrate Independence Day.

In this photo, a pair of unidentified men in shorts pose for the camera.

The beaches were also popular in the mid-'90s.

In a 1995 photo, children can be seen running and playing in the water while their parents look on.

Coney Island has continued to experience growing visitor numbers in the years since. The reopening of Luna Park, an amusement park on the boardwalk, in 2010 also helped buoy visitor numbers.

People also came to Coney Island to shop on the boardwalk.

In this photo from July 4, 1968, customers shop inside a Coney Island store that sells tobacco-related products, candy, and portable radios.

The first Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was held in the 1970s.

The first official contest was held in 1972, CNN reported.

Nathan's had once claimed the tradition started in 1916, but PR professionals Max Rosey and Mortimer Matz, hired by Nathan's, later told The New York Times they had fabricated the legend about it starting that year.

The first official winner of the contest was a woman named Melody Andorfer.

The Coney Island History Project reported that she ate 12 hot dogs in five minutes and won a paper crown as her prize.

In this photo from 1961, an unidentified man eats a Nathan's Famous hot dog outside the iconic restaurant.

Edward Krachie was the 1995 champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

He's pictured holding up his trophy after winning the 1995 annual contest.

The New York Times reported that he won after eating 19 and a half hot dogs in 12 minutes and beating the defending champion by just half a dog.

The record for the most hot dogs ever eaten at the contest was set more recently, in 2021, when competitive eater Joey Chestnut ate 76 in 10 minutes.

The contest has been successful ever since, drawing thousands of in-person attendees and even more online viewers each year.

Here, three unidentified contestants pose with plates of hot dogs prior to the 1987 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Nathan's was and still is a popular establishment in Coney Island to grab a cheap dog on the Fourth of July or any other summer day.

In this circa 1968 photograph, a couple eats hot dogs in front of Nathan's Famous fast-food restaurant in Coney Island.