Category: Business Insider

• Netflix continues to rewrite the playbook for global entertainment.
• It's solidified its position as the dominant streamer.
• It now faces new challenges as it enters the advertising and gaming markets.

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• At its height, Donald Trump's stake in Trump Media was worth a staggering $5.11 billion.
• But since March, Trump Media's stock has plummeted.
• As of Tuesday, the former president's shares have lost roughly $3.33 billion in value.

As Trump Media & Technology's stock has tumbled, so has Donald Trump's wealth.

At its height in late March just after going public, the Truth Social company had a market capitalization of $8.97 billion.

That meant the former president, who owns a roughly 57% stake in the media startup, had shares worth a whopping $5.11 billion.

But since then, the stock has been in a free fall. On Tuesday, Trump Media closed with a market capitalization of about $3.12 billion — a 65% drop from its peak.

In other words, Trump's value has dropped more than $3.33 billion in about three weeks.

Shares of Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, plummeted Monday after a filing showed it was moving to allow company insiders — including Trump — to sell their shares early.

Shares have been on a six-month lock-up period, preventing the former President from cashing out right away.

Shares declined even more on Tuesday after the company announced it would launch a streaming platform.

Trump Media initially arrived on the market to great fanfare, landing him on a list of the world's wealthiest people and fueling speculation from power users and meme-stock buyers.

But the Trump bump was short-lived.

Many saw a bust coming, and a damning filing revealed the company lost $58 million last year against $4.1 million in revenue.

Still, the stock has been a windfall for Trump, even if it's worth much less now. Any boost could be helpful for the presumptive GOP nominee in 2024. Trump has mounting legal bills from his various criminal cases to pay, as well as judgments in two civil cases.

Trump's first criminal trial — on charges of hiding hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels — kicked off Monday with the start of jury selection. Trump will need to stay in court for the coming weeks.

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• Mark Cuban paid $275,900,000 in federal taxes this year, he said on X.
• The billionaire also took a jab at former President Donald Trump while disclosing the figure.
• Here's what Cuban's millions could do for the US government. 

Billionaire Mark Cuban disclosed the hefty chunk of change he paid in 2023 taxes this year, publishing the nine-figure number in a post on X this week while simultaneously taking a shot at former President Donald Trump.

"I pay what I owe. Tomorrow I will wire transfer to the IRS $288,000,000.00," Cuban wrote on the social media site on Sunday before amending the actual figure to $275,900,000 in a follow-up post.

"This country has done so much for me, I'm proud to pay my taxes every single year. Tag a former president that you know doesn't," Cuban added, in a seeming dig at Trump, who declined to share his tax returns while running for office and during his four-year term, breaking with recent tradition.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden shared their tax returns on Monday, revealing they earned nearly $620,000 in 2023.

The average federal income tax payment among the more than 164 million Americans who filed returns in 2020 was $16,615, Business Insider reported last year — much less than the $275.9 million in taxes Cuban just paid. Though, his net worth is much, much higher.

Here's how the US Government could put Cuban's millions to use. And yes, we know Cuban's tax bill won't go directly to paying for these programs, but for the sake of context, here's what his taxes could have funded.

Fund the NTSB in its entirety

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is an independent US government agency that oversees civil transportation accident investigations, secured $145 million in funding for Fiscal Year 2024 in the president's budget, the agency announced in a March 2023 press release. That figure represents a $15.7 million increase from the previous budget year.

An explanatory statement on the Transportation Department's funding in the 2024 Appropriations Act said the agency ultimately got $140,000,000 for salaries and expenses in the final bill.

Earlier this year, the agency requested $150 million for FY 2025 to fund its 455-full time equivalent employees.

Cuban's $275.9 million contribution to the US government could fully back the department with nearly half still left over.

Pay a bunch of lawmakers' salaries

Representatives and senators, on average, make $174,000 each year. Multiply that figure by all 535 members of Congress, and you get $93 million.

Cuban's million could easily cover congressional paychecks and even account for President Joe Biden's $400,000 salary and Vice President Kamala Harris' $235,100 salary.

Fund the DOD (for a couple of hours)

The Department of Defense has requested a whopping $850 billion budget for the 2025 Fiscal Year. It's too soon to say whether the spending bill will pass, but the department managed to score $841.4 billion in Fiscal Year 2024.

If you divide $850 billion by 365 days in the year, you get a $2,328,767,123.29 department cost per day. Divide that number by 24 hours, and you get $97,031,963.47 per hour.

So, Cuban's $275.9 million wouldn't quite be able to cover the potential three-hour DOD cost at $291,095,890.41. But his tax payment could fund the US war machine for a little over two hours.

Take a (tiny) chunk out of US debt

The US government's debt load is increasing by almost $1 trillion nearly every 100 days, CNBC reported earlier this year. 

The current national debt sits at $34 trillion as of April 2023. While $275.9 million might not seem like it would make a dent in that astronomical number, every little bit helps! Right?

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• Three men stranded on a Pacific island were rescued after creating a "HELP" sign with palm leaves.
• A survival expert said lighting three fires is an effective way to send a distress signal.
• She also praised the men and said the key thing is to be creative and find any way to send a signal.

Three mariners stranded on an island in the Pacific Ocean were rescued earlier this month after they made a large "HELP" signal by laying out palm leaves on the beach — a scene right out of a movie.

The men, all in their 40s, left Polowat Atoll, a tiny coral island that's part of the Federated States of Micronesia, on March 31, traveling in a small, 20-foot skiff. Nearly a week later on April 6, a relative reported them missing.

On April 9, US military forces rescued the group from Pikelot Atoll, another tiny island in Micronesia about 1,000 miles north of Papa New Guinea and around 100 nautical miles from where the men set out.

"In a remarkable testament to their will to be found, the mariners spelled out 'HELP' on the beach using palm leaves, a crucial factor in their discovery. This act of ingenuity was pivotal in guiding rescue efforts directly to their location" Lt. Chelsea Garcia, the search and rescue mission coordinator at the time the men were found, said in a statement from the Coast Guard.

A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft discovered the mariners. They dropped survival packages, while the Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Henry was rerouted to Pikelot to rescue the men, whose boat had been damaged.

A survival expert told Business Insider the men were smart to create a signal, but that there may be even more effective ways of doing so to indicate to others you're in distress.

The universal rule of three

Cat Bigney, a survival consultant and instructor at the Boulder Outdoor Survival School, said that often the best way to get spotted by a rescue team is to start a fire, as a big smoke stack can be spotted from miles away.

And not just one fire, but ideally three. Three of anything is considered the universal signal of distress: three fires, three blows in a whistle, three gunshots. Think of the original SOS call, the morse code distress signal which consists of three dots, three dashes, and three dots.

Bigney said it's most effective to build the three fires in a row, as the succession of smoke fumes will signal to anyone who can see them that you need help.

"You want to use anything that's going to cause a lot of smoke" to build the fire, she said, such as green vegetation or damp wood —which produce more smoke because it burns at a lower temperature and results in incomplete combustion.

Depending on the circumstances, it may be best to wait to light the fires until a plane or boat is visible to ensure you are ready when a rescue team is nearby, and so they do not miss you.

Beyond fires, Bigney said it's ideal to create signals with contrast. So in the case of the men stranded on Pikelot Atoll, palm leaves against bright white sand may've created enough contrast to be seen easily from afar.

It's also generally recommended to spell out SOS, rather than a message like "HELP," in part because the letters in SOS can also be read upside down.

"Now what they did, worked," Bigney said of the rescued men. "So I think the take-home message is be creative and do something."

The Coast Guard said the men had access to food and water while stranded with their damaged boat. Bigney said it was not necessarily the most dire survival situation but that other factors, like incessant sand fleas or nearby predators, could make it hard for some people to think clearly.

"They did a good job. They thought to signal for help," she said, adding, "Oftentimes it is just a psychological game, in any situation."

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• Lynsi Snyder is In-N-Out Burger's billionaire owner and president.
• She inherited control in 2017 and it remains a private, family-owned business.
• The reclusive heiress has a $6.7 billion net worth. Here's what we know about her life and empire.

Lynsi Snyder became one of the youngest billionaires in the US when she inherited complete control of iconic Southern California burger chain In-N-Out in 2017.

Snyder is the only granddaughter and heir of Harry and Esther Snyder, who founded the first tiny burger stand Baldwin Park, California, in 1948.  At age 23, she became the primary beneficiary of the burger dynasty; her rise to the top of the chain at such a young age was largely the result of the deaths of her family members and internal legal drama at the company.

Since becoming president of In-N-Out in 2010, she has expanded the chain to Texas, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado.  The chain is also planning stores in Tennessee.

Snyder, who recently penned a book about the chain's history, has a $6.7 billion net worth. Here's what we know about her life and empire.

Lynsi Snyder, 41, is the billionaire owner and president of In-N-Out Burger.

Her net worth is $6.7 billion as of April, according to Forbes.

Snyder became one of the youngest billionaires in the US when she inherited full control of In-N-Out in 2017. Despite outside pressures to go public or grow through franchising over the years, In-N-Out has remained a privately run family business since it was founded in Southern California by her grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, in 1948.

Snyder is a reclusive heiress. She has experienced several family tragedies that led to her gaining control of the chain at an early age. She makes public appearances on behalf of charities, but keeps a low profile with the media. Here's what we know about her life and the In-N-Out empire.

Snyder's grandparents Harry and Esther Snyder opened the first In-N-Out restaurant in 1948. A burger cost 25 cents.

The Snyders opened the first In-N-Out in Baldwin Park, California, located East of Los Angeles, according to the company's corporate history.

The original Baldwin Park, California, burger stand was demolished decades ago to make room for a freeway.

The restaurant's two-way speaker drive-thru system was considered groundbreaking at the time, the Orange County Register reported in 2014.

Under Lynsi Snyder's leadership, In-N-Out unveiled a replica burger stand in 2014 near the original location.

Though you can't order a double-double or other food there, the stand does sell souvenirs.

"This is a really special spot for me," Snyder said at the time, according to the Register.

In 1976, cofounder Harry Snyder died.

Lynsi Snyder's uncle, Rich Snyder, took over the company after Harry's death, CBS This Morning reported in 2015.

Rich Snyder ran the company until 1993, when he and another In-N-Out executive died in a plane crash.

The day before the crash on approach to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, Rich Snyder had watched 10-year-old Lynsi perform in a pageant, KCET reported in 2016.

Rich Snyder's legacy continues, including on In-N-Out drink cups.

Today, if you look at the bottom of an In-N-Out soft-drink cup, you'll find a Bible verse.

"JOHN 3:16" is printed on the inside lip of every cold beverage cup.

"Back in the late '80s, Rich Snyder put that on the bottom of the cup," Mark Taylor, the former president of In-N-Out, said in the 2010 interview with California's Gold. "He started it, and we're going to keep it on there."

Lynsi Snyder has also added references to the Bible to In-N-Out's fast food packaging.

A devout Christian, Lynsi has added three more Bible verses to different restaurant products. She added Proverbs 24:16 to French fry containers, for example.

She also added Luke 6:35 to coffee cups.

Around the holidays, patrons can also find Isaiah 9:6 printed on In-N-Out holiday cups.

Rich added the Bible references to the cups after his own religious conversion, Lynsi has said.

"He had just accepted the Lord and wanted to put that little touch of his faith on our brand. It's a family business and will always be, and that's a family touch," Lynsi said about her uncle adding the Bible reference to In-N-Out's cups in a 2019 interview with the Christian Post.

During his tenure, Rich established In-N-Out University to train entry-level managers from all In-N-Out locations.

The "university" operated out of store No. 1 in Baldwin Park for years until it got its own building in 1984.

Lynsi's father, Guy Snyder, ran the company after Rich's death.

Guy ran the business between 1994 and 1999.

Lynsi began working as an associate at In-N-Out in 1999.

Her father remained in charge of the company until 1999, when he died of a prescription-drug overdose. Lynsi was 17 at the time.

Guy had struggled with addiction for years, Lynsi has said.

In a 2017 video interview, Lynsi said her father had a drug addiction and had been in and out of rehab facilities since she was 5 years old.

Her parents had divorced when she was 12 years old, she said.

The divorce came after her father had had an affair, Lynsi said in the same interview.

Lynsi has talked about how the death of her father affected her decision-making as an adult.

"My world shattered," she said in the interview with non-profit multimedia company I Am Second. "After my dad died, there was no way I was going to be alone." She said she would jump from one man's arms right into the next. She has been divorced three times.

After her father's death, Snyder married her first husband.

She was 18 years old at the time.

The marriage didn't last long.

"It wasn't right," she said. "I paid the price with a divorce and jumped right into the arms of someone else." Then, she said, she started smoking pot and abusing alcohol.

Lynsi turned to drugs and alcohol.

She said substance use was something she had wanted to stay away from because of her father's addiction, but she found herself using them as an adult.

Her second marriage dissolved within six years, she said.

Snyder said had she worried she would "meet an early death" like her father. She eventually married for the second time, had two children, and later had an affair.

When the relationship broke down, "I couldn't feel like a bigger failure at that point," she said.

She wed a third time and had another child with a man she said married her for money and cheated on her.

 "The first time he cheated on me I thought, 'Well, I deserve it,'" she said. "It was terrible." She said he'd been unfaithful for four years before they divorced.

In 2014, Lynsi married Sean Ellingson.

She told an audience at Azusa Pacific University that she met her soon-to-be fourth husband on the dating app Tinder.

She said the first conversation they had was about their mutual experience with addiction, politics, their spiritual lives, and what their goals were in 2014.

They both say they have finally found peace through religion, she said at the time.

Lynsi credits turning her life around to her faith.

She she told I Am Second that she ultimately decided to spend time with God and Jesus and that faith still guides her today.

Now she and her husband run a ministry called Army of Love.

Their mission is to "enlist, train, and equip an army of love" to help anyone in need of support.

Lynsi and Ellingson founded Slave 2 Nothing Foundation in 2016.

Slave 2 Nothing has the mission to free people from being enslaved to any person or substance. In 2022, Slave 2 Nothing granted a total of 101 awards totaling $2 million to nonprofits working in the states in which In-N-Out Burger operates.

In 2012, she bought a 4-acre Los Angeles County estate for $17.21 million.

She bought it from former Dodgers star Adrián Beltré, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The main house has 11 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, an indoor batting cage, a movie theater, a game room, a chef's kitchen, and a gym.

The grounds feature an infinity pool, a guest house, a tennis court, a basketball court, and two-hole golf course, the Times reported.

She moved out of the house in 2020.

In 2021, she sold the estate at a loss for $16.25 million, per the Times.

Snyder describes herself as an "organized, careful leader."

At the same time, she says she's also a thrill-seeker, BI previously reported.

She's also a fan of an "adrenaline rush."

"I'm a lot like my dad, a little bit of a daredevil," she told Orange Coast Magazine in 2014. "I like an adrenaline rush. My dad took me to the racetrack for the first time when I was two or three … Anything with a motor, that was in my blood."

In her free time, Snyder enjoys drag racing, a hobby she started when she was 18 years old.

"I just love muscle cars," she told the National Hot Rod Association. "I love the whole sport. I think that it was kind of an escape and a hobby that was a lot of fun and a connection to my dad."

Snyder named her racing car the "Flying Dutch Fox."

The name is a tribute to her father, who had a car named the "Flying Dutchman," she told the National Hot Rod Association.

She also collects vintage cars.

Lynsi's collection includes a unique 1941 Willys Coupe, with about 1,000 horsepower, which used to belong to her dad, according to Jay Leno's Garage. A car like this can cost upward of $130,000.

Besides cars, Snyder also loves rock 'n roll.

She and her husband, Sean, play in the In-N-Out band, .48 Special, whose members are all company employees.

Lynsi performs vocals and plays bass and occasionally rhythm guitar.

Her husband, meanwhile, does some vocals and plays lead guitar and harmonica.

Around the time she started racing, Snyder was the target of two attempted kidnappings, she said.

The first was when she was 17 and still in high school. The second time she was 24 and working as a manager at In-N-Out, per Orange Coast Magazine.

Lynsi was able to spot her would-be kidnappers the first time.

"I ran across the highway," she told Orange Coast Magazine, adding that she was suspicious of her would-be kidnappers because "they had a van with boarded-up windows.

When asked about her plans for In-N-Out, Snyder told CBS she would never take the company public or franchise its restaurants.

"The only reason we would do that is for the money, and I wouldn't do it," she said an interview with CBS This Morning.

Since becoming In-N-Out's president in 2010, Snyder has expanded In-N-Out's footprint to new states.

Under her leadership, In-N-Out has opened stores in Texas, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado.

In-N-Out has plans to bring the chain's famed Double-Double to Tennessee.

The company said in January 2023 that it would expand into Tennessee. It's still working on opening the stores.

The first restaurant in Tennessee is slated to open in 2025.

The store, near a planned office for the chain in Franklin, Tennessee, will open next year, the Tennessean reported. They will be In-N-Out's closest locations to the East Coast.

There was another unidentified state where In-N-Out considered opening up shop.

She told The Tennessean: "We came here years ago, actually East of the Smokies, but came back out to Pigeon Forge and Nashville and fell in love. There was one other state definitely interested and wanting us there, but we chose Nashville."

Don't expect an In-N-Out restaurant on the East Coast, though.

The California chain will "probably never" expand to the East Coast while Lynsi is running the company, she told NBC's "Today" in April 2024.

Over the last decade, In-N-Out has added 102 restaurants. Of those, 64 opened after Snyder took control of the company.

When the Tennessee location opens, In-N-Out will have a presence in more than twice as many states as it did when Snyder became president in 2010.

Lynsi did make one nostalgic menu tweak in 2018 when she added hot cocoa.

It was previously on the menu in the 1950s.

"I'm not sure how it fell off the menu but it's part of our culture and something special for kids, and I'm happy that we're bringing it back," Snyder told the Orange County Register.

Before that, the chain's last significant menu change had been more than 15 years earlier.

That was when restaurants added lemonade, the Register reported.

Lynsi approved two new beverages for In-N-Out in December 2023.

Pink Lemonade and Cherry Coca-Cola joined the In-N-Out menu in the change, Lynsi announced on Instagram.

Patties, buns, potatoes, vegetables, and everything else you can order from the restaurant are delivered to each location via trucks from In-N-Out distribution centers.

The company says nothing is ever frozen or microwaved, according to CBS This Morning.

Lynsi's memories of her family inform how she runs the business, she has said.

"My heart is totally connected to this company because of my family, and the fact that they are not here — I have a strong tie to keep this the way they would want it," she told CBS.

The company's mission is "about the quality, the friendliness, and the cleanliness," she said.

"We keep it simple," she told CBS.

In 2018, Snyder was the face of the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list.

She was also the youngest woman in the group that year.

But Lynsi otherwise rarely appears on magazine covers or gives media interviews.

Her January 2023 trip to announce the Tennessee expansion marked a rare public appearance for Lynsi.

Snyder said that she shies away from interviews intentionally.

"We want to do what we do best, and that's serve some good burgers to our customers. It's not about us here — it's about this," she told CBS in 2015, pointing to the restaurant behind her.

Still, Lynsi is active on Instagram, where she has nearly 68,000 followers.

She posts updates about her charities, her In-N-Out family, her friends, her favorite foods, and brand swag.

Snyder released a book in October 2023 about the chain's 75-year history.

"The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger" reveals "the true In-N-Out Story," from her grandparents' founding of the first store until today.

"I have waited so long to tell the true In-N-Out Story," Snyder wrote on her Instagram page ahead of the book's release.

The average manager at In-N-Out makes $180,000 a year, Snyder reveals in the book.

Snyder says in her new book that one secret to In-N-Out's success is its tradition of paying above-industry-standard wages.

"Yes, we pay well," she wrote.

Lynsi has said In-N-Out has limited menu price hikes even as employee wages have gone up.

"I was sitting in VP meetings going toe-to-toe, saying 'We can't raise the prices that much, we can't,'" she told NBC's "Today" in April 2024. "When everyone else was taking jumps, we weren't."

In-N-Out Burger celebrated its 75th anniversary with a festival in October at the newly named In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.

The company took over the naming rights of the legendary Southern California drag strip in time to host its anniversary celebration there. The 12-hour event attracted 23,000 people, the Daily Bulletin reported.

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• GMC increased the range for its upcoming Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 to 440 miles.
• That's one of the best numbers among electric pickups, including the Tesla Cybertruck.
• Demand for pricey electric trucks is slowing.

The latest electric pickup on the market may go a lot farther than Tesla's Cybertruck — literally.

GMC announced the final specs for its new Sierra EV Denali Edition 1, including a range of about 440 miles — a 10% increase from the initial 400-mile estimate.

That's also 100 miles more than the Cybertruck, its most high-profile competitor, which has an advertised range of 340 miles for its beefiest version.

It would also beat out many other electric pickups on the market, including the Rivian R1T, the Ford Lightning, and GMC's own Hummer EV, which all cap out at under 330 miles. The only true competition would be the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV, which has a maximum range of 450 miles.

The Cybertruck's range has been the subject of controversy, as some buyers were dismayed that it wouldn't have the 500-mile range that Elon Musk originally promised. What's more, a few customers claimed that its actual battery life is significantly shorter than the 340 miles officially advertised.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment before publication.

The Denali Edition 1, the premium grade of the Sierra EV, will also feature increases in max payload and towing power from GMC's initial estimates.

Even with the impressive new range, it's not clear how strong demand will be for the new Denali, given a slowdown in demand for costly EVs (and especially for electric pickups). Automakers have responded by slowing EV production (including GM, which said last year it would delay some of its electric pickups).

Denali Edition 1 deliveries are expected to begin this summer, starting at $99,495, GMC said, followed by other trim levels like the Sierra EV Elevation and the Sierra EV AT4.

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• Sen. John Fetterman says "uncommitted" voters are "wearing a MAGA hat."
• But he's also become a critic of Biden on Israel himself — just from the other direction.
• On Tuesday, he insisted that wasn't the case: "That's not critical. It's just I disagree."

In February, Sen. John Fetterman had a strong message for President Joe Biden's critics on the left.

"If you're not willing to just support the president now, and say these kinds of things, you might as well just get your MAGA hat because you now are helping Trump with this," the Pennsylvania Democrat said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" at the time.

In an interview with Business Insider at the Capitol on Tuesday, he indicated that he was specifically referring to the Uncommitted movement, which has driven voters in several states to cast "uncommitted" ballots in protest of Biden's support for Israel's war in Gaza.

Some of those voters continue to withhold their support for Biden until he changes course.

"What is damaging is if you're talking about 'abandon Biden' or 'I'm uncommitted for voting,'" Fetterman said on Tuesday. "Then, you know, you're wearing a MAGA hat."

Since Fetterman first made his "MAGA hat" comments in February, he has criticized the Biden administration multiple times on Israel, suggesting that the president is "pandering to the fringe" as he's sought to implement a temporary cease-fire in Gaza and discourage Israel from retaliating against a recent Iranian missile and drone attack.

On Tuesday, Fetterman insisted he wasn't being critical — just disagreeing. And he argued that doing so wasn't damaging to Biden in the same way that he says the president's left-wing critics are.

"No, I haven't been critical. That's not critical. It's just I disagree on certain aspects of it. That's reasonable," said Fetterman. "[I'm] 10,000% all about Biden, I love that guy, I'm proud to call him my president. It's really just very different than the fringe that's talking about uncommitted, or to abandon Biden, or anything like that."

But Fetterman's contention that he hasn't criticized Biden doesn't hold water.

The Pennsylvania senator said it was "appalling" that the Biden administration allowed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza to pass at the UN Security Council. He has repeatedly criticized the administration for discouraging Israel from invading Rafah, which the US fears could lead to even more civilian deaths. He has also forcefully argued against conditions on Israel aid as Biden suggested they may be on the table.

And on CNN on Sunday, Fetterman said he did not agree with Biden telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would not participate in any offensive against Iran.

"I think we should follow and have Israel's back in this situation. I don't agree with the president," said Fetterman, before adding that he believes Biden is "fantastic."

Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, Fetterman has emerged as a staunchly pro-Israel voice, alienating many of his old progressive allies in the process.

At times, the Pennsylvania senator has found himself to the right of most Democrats on the issue. He was one of just two Democrats — the other being Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia — who refused to cosponsor in December a resolution supporting a two-state solution in Israel.

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• Trump's hush-money judge warned against the ex-president intimidating potential jurors in his trial.
• Trump was "muttering" and "audible" while one juror was being questioned, the judge said.
• "I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom," the judge said.

The judge presiding over Donald Trump's criminal hush-money trial angrily chastised the former president on Tuesday afternoon, telling his lawyer to keep him quiet during the jury selection and warning against intimidating potential jurors.

"He was gesturing and muttering something. He was audible. He was speaking in the direction of the juror. I will not tolerate that," New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, raising his voice.

"I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear," the judge added.

The warning came Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the questioning of a prospective juror over what Blanche called her "hostile" social media posts.

Blanche suggested that the prospective juror had earlier Tuesday portrayed herself as able to be impartial. The defense pointed out videos posted to Facebook in which she referred to celebrations in the streets of New York City following now-President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.

Merchan complained that the juror was "maybe 12 feet" from the defense table when Trump became "audible."

Merchan instructed Blanche to speak with Trump, sitting next to him, about "his behavior."

"My client is aware," Blanche told the judge after whispering into Trump's ear briefly.

This isn't the first time Trump's gabbing has interrupted his courtroom proceedings. In E. Jean Carroll's second trial against him, over defamation damages, the judge in that case warned against Trump heckling Carroll while she was on the witness stand.

"I'm going to ask Mr. Trump to take special care to keep his voice down in conferring with his attorneys," US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said during the January trial.

Jurors handed Trump a loss in that case, ordering him to pay Carroll more than $80 million in damages.

Merchan has been keenly aware of the courtroom dynamics while interviewing prospective jurors, a process that is expected to last about two weeks.

The 12 jurors and six alternates will have to hear about four weeks of testimony over allegations that Trump falsified business documents to cover up hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

On Monday, the first day of jury selection, Merchan said he would change the proceedings so that prospective jurors would be in the main courtroom while answering questions, rather than being squeezed into his much-smaller robing room with lawyers and Trump himself.

"I am concerned that going into the jury room with an individual juror surrounded by all of these people is just going to be overly intimidating to that juror," he said Monday.

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• US naval forces in the Middle East have been involved in shooting down malign threats for months.
• The cost of munition expenditure during this time is approaching $1 billion, the Navy secretary said.
• He said it's urgent that Congress passes additional funding to help replenish munition stocks.

The US Navy has fired nearly $1 billion in missiles to counter threats from Iran and its proxy forces over the past six months, the sea service's top civilian official revealed on Tuesday.

The disclosure underscores the depth — and the growing financial cost — of US naval involvement in the Middle East.

Since October, American warships and aircraft operating in the Red Sea have shot down scores of Houthi missiles and drones, and carried out preemptive strikes against the militants directly in Yemen.

More recently, over the weekend, American warships operating in the eastern Mediterranean Sea intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles during Tehran's unprecedented attack on Israel.

"We have actually countered over 130 direct attacks on US Navy ships and merchant ships," Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense budget hearing for the upcoming fiscal year.

Del Toro told lawmakers that "the munitions that are critical to these counterstrikes are extremely important" to the Navy and said the service is nearing $1 billion worth of munitions that need to be replenished. It was not immediately clear if the presented figure included the weekend interceptions.

The various munitions that the Navy has used to intercept threats in the air and also conduct preemptive strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen are not cheap, and because these engagements have occurred regularly over the past six months, the costs add up. A Standard Missile-2 interceptor, for instance, is estimated to cost around $2 million.

The massive national security supplemental package which has been at the center of months of concerns over the future of US military aid to Ukraine includes $2.4 billion in funding to address the Navy's fight in the Red Sea, including the depletion of munitions.

The big supplemental package has already been passed by the Senate but it continues to be blocked by House Republicans, despite significant pressure from the Biden administration — and even from US partners overseas, including Ukraine — to push it through.

Del Toro said "it's critical for Congress to pass the supplemental this week so that we can actually get the additional resources to be able to supplement those munitions that will be critical moving forward."

Navy warships and fighter jets have been tasked for months with defending key international shipping routes off the coast of Yemen, in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, from relentless Houthi attacks. Beyond intercepting missiles and drones in the air, American forces have often hammered the militant forces in Yemen before they're able to get their weapons in the air.

The Pentagon's Red Sea operations, however, have raised questions about sustainability, as the Houthis show no sign of letting up their attacks. Even over the weekend, amid Iran's attack on Israel, US forces continued to engage the militants.

Iran's attack, meanwhile, raises new concerns about sustainability, as US forces — including the Navy — were tasked with defeating dozens of threats in the air. The massive aerial barrage has prompted Israel to promise its own retaliation, sparking fears that the Middle East could spiral into even more violence.

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• Evy Rivera and Jacob Evans bought a Victorian home in Earlville, New York, in July 2023.
• The house cost $150,000, but it needs a lot of updating.
• The couple is living in the house as they renovate it, which they say could take years. 

Evy Rivera and Jacob Evans were looking to put down roots when they found their dream fixer-upper.

After living in Denver for eight years, Rivera, 34, and Evans, 35, decided to spend a few years living on the road in a camper van, taking advantage of their remote jobs. Rivera sells vintage clothes online, while Evans works as a sales manager for a car company remotely.

But in 2023, they decided they wanted to buy property, so they relocated to Rivera's parents' home in Florida while they hunted for the perfect home. They knew their search might take a while, as Rivera had a specific vision for their home.

"I was a little obsessed with 'Cheap Old Houses' for a while," she said, an Instagram account turned HGTV series focused on acquiring and renovating — you guessed it — cheap old houses.

After watching the series, Rivera and Evans fell in love with the idea of renovating a dated property while maintaining its integrity. Many millennials are pursuing this dream since fixer-uppers are often cheaper in a US housing market where prices still hover around record highs. They do, however, require additional patience and elbow grease.

Indeed, a 2023 study from the home-improvement show Today's Homeowner surveyed 1,000 Americans and found that 55% renovated some space in their homes in the previous year. The majority of people who said they renovated were Gen X or millennial homeowners.

Old home-owners often turn their renovations into passion projects, with many chronicling their journeys on Instagram or TikTok.

With their dream of a cheap house in mind, Rivera and Jacobs decided to search for an affordable Victorian home in New York and Pennsylvania.

Rivera and Evans found the perfect home in central New York

Months into their search, they stumbled upon the Dwight Reynolds House in Earlville, New York, which they said was originally completed in 1875. The 3,000-square-foot home has five bathrooms and two bedrooms, and it was listed for $150,000.

"We had seen quite a few Victorian homes already in other parts of New York," Rivera said.

"It's probably one of the most unique ones that we'd seen looking through the hundreds of listings across the northeast and US," Evans agreed.

The couple told BI they were immediately drawn to the tower that sits on top of the property, as well as the original woodworking details that could be found throughout the home.

"We loved the facade and that all of those original details were still in place," Rivera said. Although they loved those details, the house wasn't in great shape, but that didn't deter Rivera and Evans.

"We found the home really beautiful even if it was falling into disrepair, like many homes in central New York and upstate," Rivera said. "We still thought it had so much potential."

They took a virtual tour of the property with a real-estate agent, and they decided to put an offer in on the house in the summer of 2023. They were apprehensive about buying the house sight unseen, but they knew they would be able to see the property before they officially closed.

Luckily, they loved the house when they were finally able to set foot inside while they were in contract. They closed on the property in July 2023.

The renovation process started as soon as they closed on the house

When Rivera and Evans moved into their home, they focused on getting the first floor in livable shape, where they plan to live while they renovate the second and third floors.

As soon as they closed, their first order of business was cleaning the house, which was filled with old furniture and trash from the previous owners.

"The house was so dirty," Rivera said. "It took us like a couple of weeks to clean everything."

They also had to fix the siding on the front of the house promptly, as there was a hole in the wall on the front of the home as a result of rotting wood.

Today, the first floor is in decent shape. They've made the front-facing windows shine, their foyer has been updated, and the dining room feels cozy.

But Rivera and Evans say they still have a lot of work to do on the exterior of the home before they can start making headway on the second and third floors, like patching holes in their porch where squirrels and pigeons make nests.

"It's not a glamorous life at all," Rivera said of restoring their home. "If you're buying a historical home that has been neglected for a long time, you are not going to be thinking about the pretty wall colors and curtains you're going to hang up in that beautiful room."

"Yeah," Evans added, "you're gonna start with a really dirty, disgusting, boring projects, like removing the family of pigeons from the hole in your porch."

They hope they're able to get their bedroom and bathroom on the second floor in working order soon, but they have to prioritize structural issues first.

The renovations will take years to complete

The couple told BI they have spent around $9,000 on the renovation to date buying tools — primarily at estate sales — and materials, focusing on ensuring the house is structurally sound.

However, they anticipate they could spend upwards of $125,000 to $150,000 on projects as they continue working. They also expect updating their home will take years to complete because they both work full-time and because they want to maintain as much of the building's historic integrity as possible.

For instance, the home has custom-made moldings, and several sections are missing. To ensure they replace the missing patches with wood that looks similar, the couple will have to have new pieces made, which takes more time than it would to just remove the molding and replace it with something basic.

Likewise, they don't want to replace their historic windows from the 1800s, so they're looking into solutions that will keep them intact while making them more energy-efficient.

"We have to have a realistic expectation and know that this is going to take a few years," Rivera said.

They're also documenting their renovations on social media, originally posting to keep their friends and family abreast of their renovations, but they also want to show other hopeful homeowners that they can revive a rundown home, too.

"I think a lot of people think that it's not an option for them to buy a house that's not in great shape and then just live in it and slowly put some money into it," Rivera said.

"They think they need to buy a house that's 100% you know, everything updated and renovated, but it's really not an option for people," Evans said. "But I don't think a lot of people realize you could just buy a house that's not in great shape and just kind of make it your own."

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