Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa at the Golden Globes in 2003.
Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Gene Hackman has died, a Santa Fe Sheriff confirmed on Thursday morning.
Betsy Arakawa, his wife, was also found dead at their home alongside the couple's dog.
The authorities say they do not suspect foul play.
Gene Hackman has died aged 95.
Santa Fe Sherrif Adan Mendoza told the Santa Fe New Mexican that the Oscar-winning actor died on Thursday, February 27 at midnight at his New Mexico home alongside his wife, Betsy Arakawa, and their dog.
He said there was no indication of foul play.
Mendoza told the publication: "All I can say is that we're in the middle of a preliminary death investigation, waiting on approval of a search warrant. I want to assure the community and neighborhood that there's no immediate danger to anyone."
The Santa Fe Sheriff's Department did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as more details emerge.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has argued that the budget plan doesn't explicitly call for Medicaid cuts.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
House Republicans passed a budget plan that could include big cuts to Medicaid.
Medicaid covers over 72 million Americans, with significant reliance in states like California.
Mike Johnson said Republicans are focused on "rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse" within Medicaid.
Congressional Republicans are hotly debating their budget plans, and Medicaid cuts may be on the table. It could affect Americans across the country.
The committee that oversees Medicaid's budget aims to cut $880 billion over a decade as part of the House's narrowly passed budget outline. The math points to those cuts including Medicaid, since it and Medicare —which the Trump administration said it would not cut — make up the overwhelming majority of that committee's budget.
In states such as New Mexico, California, and New York, over a third of residents receive Medicaid, per a Business Insider analysis of Medicaid enrollment data from October 2024 and Census Bureau population estimates from July 2024. The analysis found that about 23.3% of all Americans receive Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, which is for children in families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid.
This map shows the percentage of each state's residents who received coverage for Medicaid or CHIP.
Areas with higher percentages of Medicaid recipients included the West, Southwest, and Northeast, while parts of the Midwest and South relied less on Medicaid. Utah was least reliant at 9.7%, followed by Wyoming at 10.8%.
As of October, Medicaid provides health and long-term care coverage to over 72 million Americans of all ages, predominantly those with low incomes and few other resources. Another 7.2 million children under age 18 receive payments from CHIP. Medicaid is financed by federal and state governments.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has argued that the budget plan doesn't explicitly call for Medicaid cuts.
Over the last few months, some Republican leaders have proposed per-capita caps on Medicaid, which would fix federal funding amounts per enrollee. A House Budget Committee proposal estimated this move could save up to $900 billion. Others have backed a proposal to install a Medicaid work requirement.
Tuesday's House vote is only the first step in a long process. Senate Republicans have competing plans, which, unlike the House's proposal, do not include an extension of Trump's 2017 tax law or new proposals like ending taxes on tips. Both sides will need to reconcile their blueprints before they can move forward.
Most states have expanded their Medicaid coverage for those making under a given income threshold — for individuals, about $21,600 a year — an expansion included in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Before the vote, Johnson said Republicans are focused on "rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse" within Medicaid. On Tuesday, he declined to tell reporters that House Republicans would not cut the program, arguing that making sure "illegal aliens" are not receiving Medicaid and eliminating other unspecified fraud will help the GOP save money.
"Medicaid is hugely problematic because it has a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse," Johnson told reporters at the Capitol.
People in the US illegally are not eligible for Medicaid. Hospitals can be reimbursed for emergency care if a patient, regardless of their immigration status, is otherwise eligible for Medicaid. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, $27 billion total was spent on emergency Medicaid for non-citizens from fiscal year 2017 through 2023.
Kevin Hartz, angel investor and founder of A Star Capital, said he was disappointed when Uber discontinued its in-house autonomous vehicle program.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Kevin Hartz, an early Uber angel investor, directed his VC firm A Star Capital to take Waymos only.
Hartz told BI that he believes Waymo is the "least expensive option."
A former investor at A Star roughly estimated spending about $10K on Waymos in the past year.
Kevin Hartz, an early Uber angel investor and cofounder of Eventbrite, directed his San Francisco-based venture capital firm, A Star Capital, to only take Waymo robotaxis in the city because he believes they provide the best value.
"Waymo is now required in SF as it is always substantially lower price and often faster," Hartz wrote in an email to his firm of 10 employees on January 16, which was shared on X.
The VC head wrote that a ride in an Uber "Green," the sustainable ride option offered on the platform, was $50 to his destination in San Francisco, whereas a ride back with a Waymo, which only operates Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles, was $19.
Hartz told Business Insider over the phone that his email was indeed a serious mandate given that employees get their rideshare costs comped by the firm.
"Waymo is simply a better value," he said, adding that he believes "it's the safest and the fastest when you think about its ability to calculate the most efficient route."
Employees can substitute Waymo with another rideshare platform if wait times are too long and would make firm employees late to the office, Hartz wrote in the email.
Since Waymo began offering rides to the SF public in June, the Alphabet-owned company has chipped away at the rideshare market in the city that was once solely dominated by Uber and Lyft.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said during the third-quarter earnings call in October that the company puts Waymo's market share within its limited operating areas of SF at "high single-digits or low double digits." He did not state an exact figure.
Waymo said in a press release that it averages 150,000 rides per week throughout its operating cities. The robotaxi company does not offer rides on San Francisco's highways or to the airport.
A Waymo spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a study conducted last year by Evercore ISI, comparing 1,000 trips across the Waymo, Uber, and Lyft platforms, analysts found that Waymo's pricing has become increasingly competitive in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The average cost of a Waymo ride for that quarter was $21.91, compared to $21.34 for an UberX — the basic level of service the rideshare platform offers — and $22.36 for a Lyft. Prices for Uber and Lyft exclude tips to drivers, Evercore analysts wrote in their report.
An Uber spokesperson declined to comment. Lyft did not respond to a request for comment.
Hartz said he was an early believer in Uber, participating in the company's series B funding round in 2011 at a $300-million valuation. He declined to disclose a figure.
His experience in Waymo has made him a convert, pointing to the privacy the robotaxi offers.
"It's a quiet place where you can kind of reflect," he said.
Khushi Suri, an ex-investor at A Star, had already embraced Hartz's Waymo-only directive long before he shared his January mandate.
As of February 20, Suri took 547 rides, traveled 1,680 miles, and spent 10,005 minutes inside a Waymo, she told BI. She roughly estimated spending $10,000 on Waymo rides in the past year.
"I remember the way there, I was enchanted," Suri told BI of her first Waymo ride. "But on the ride back, I forgot. It's just so natural."
Suri said she was a heavy Uber user, but "resented it." She said the privacy of a Waymo allows her to feel comfortable when she and her friends are going out and dressed for clubbing.
"With Waymo, there's no walk of shame," she said. "It's very intimate."
Uber and Lyft had originally pursued an in-house autonomous vehicle program before selling them off in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Both rideshare platforms are pursuing partnerships with other autonomous vehicle companies to offer a robotaxi service, leveraging its existing user base.
Uber plans to deepen its existing partnership with the Alphabet-owned company by managing a Waymo fleet in Austin and Atlanta sometime in 2025. The company already offers Waymos in Phoenix.
"I wasn't very happy that Uber had discontinued their self-driving program," Hartz said. "I'm glad that they're partnering there."
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“Now I’ve gotten to the point where you f—d with my best friend. Now you’re f—ing with my boyfriend [Craig],” Paige, 32, said about Kyle, 42, during the Wednesday, February 26, episode of the Bravo series. “You disrespect me. Think you can text me anything you want. F— you!”
Paige’s comments came after she revealed earlier in the episode that she received a “bit of rage texting” from Kyle that week about her “best friend” Hannah Berner and her then-boyfriend Craig Conover. (Paige and Craig, 36, called it quits in November 2024 after three years.)
Paige told the cameras that the text allegedly attacked Craig because Kyle was “mad because [Craig] signed a deal to do some ad with another drink company.”
According to a screenshot of the exchange, Kyle wrote he was “beyond discouraged” with Craig, claiming that the Southern Charm star’s choice to partner with Spritz Society in spring 2024 didn’t sit well with him. (Kyle owns the alcohol company Loverboy, which he claimed Craig knew had a spritz collection but still invested in the rival company.)
“This wouldn’t be a topic today if it wasn’t for him and about a dozen lies,” Kyle allegedly texted Paige regarding Craig.
Craig Conover.Kate Green/Getty Images
Paige then noted that Kyle’s negative remarks about Hannah, who he feuded with for years before her Summer House exit, were “because she was on a podcast just being Hannah.” (Hannah, 33, claimed on a 2024 podcast that Kyle attributed to her getting fired from the Bravo show.)
Paige was taken aback by the whole ordeal, saying, “I’m just getting yelled at.” She then shared the text thread with pal Ciara Miller and started to fume while reliving it.
“What the f—? You have both of their numbers,” Paige said of Kyle, telling Ciara, 29, that he should “be an adult” and text the person he is actually mad at.
Paige explained that Kyle “trying to put me in the middle of it” is “absolutely insane.” Ciara was firmly team Paige, telling her, “The other thing that’s annoying to me is Kyle’s thinking that everyone has to have this allegiance to him.”
Paige then went off about Kyle, claiming that he has never “supported a single thing” that she’s done, while she has been very loyal to him.
“I’ve drank your drink for seven f—ing years. I’ve come to your dumbass f—ing events,” Paige quipped. “The only reason I came here tonight is so that someone kept his wife company while he pretends to be Diplo, like, please.” (Kyle is married to Amanda Batula.)
When Paige and Ciara reunited in the Hamptons for another weekend, Paige said that Kyle did text her about his rage message. “He just goes, ‘Sorry about all those texts earlier.’ I was just like, ‘Alright,’” Paige alleged.
Paige then confessed that Craig did “not want” to be Kyle’s friend amid his accusations. “He feels uncomfortable even coming to the house,” Paige said of her then-boyfriend.
“You crossed a f—ing line,” she said of Kyle, noting he shouldn’t have called her to “vent” about Amanda, 33, and then “three weeks later think you can text me whatever the f— you want.”
Paige later compared Kyle to a “dad” who was reprimanding his daughter for the sins of her friends.
“[He was] like, ‘If those are your friends and they’re doing bad things then so are you.’ And it’s like, ‘Dad, I don’t smoke weed. I didn’t do it,’” she said in confessional, pointing out, “I didn’t go on a podcast and talk about you. I didn’t join a spritz company and post about it.”
Paige questioned, “Why and I getting yelled at on a Thursday morning at 9:30 [a.m.]? I already don’t want to be awake.”
She told Ciara that Kyle is “lucky he’s married to the woman he’s married to,” adding that her friendship with Amanda is the “only reason I don’t go up one f—ing side of him and down the other.”
Summer House airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
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