• Walmart is America's grocery king, selling more food than the next two largest companies combined.
• The retailer is leaning heavily into AI to get perishable foods to store shelves even faster.
• Take a look inside one of Walmart's state-of-the-art distribution centers for perishable goods.

Walmart is the biggest grocery store in the US, with more shoppers getting their groceries there than from any other retailer.

To keep the shelves of its 4,600 US stores well-stocked, the retailer relies on a vast network of 42 regional distribution centers that receive and sort pallets of merchandise.

On Wednesday, Walmart pulled back the curtain on one of its state-of-the-art AI-powered refrigerated warehouses designed to handle perishable goods like meat, dairy, and produce.

The company says it has completed two all-new builds, with three more on the way, while five existing perishable distribution centers are being upgraded with the tech.

Take a look to see how it works:

Trucks arrive with pallets that have of one type of merchandise

Arriving goods are inspected by human workers.

Forklift operators put arriving pallets into a machine that separates the boxes

Walmart says automation is allowing workers to transition into higher-skilled roles.

The machine raises the pallet and scans the contents…

"We know what we own, in what quantity and where it is, all in near real time," Dave Guggina, executive vice president of Walmart's supply chain, told CNBC. "And we know that at a level of proficiency that is significantly improved than what we've been able to achieve with manual processes or legacy software."

… and send cases down a conveyer belt to be stored

The automation and tracking allow Walmart to better anticipate customer demand and keep the right amount of inventory on hand, the company says.

What makes this facility special is that everything must be refrigerated – like this cream cheese

Walmart previously revealed its automation technology at what are called "ambient" distribution centers.

The shelves reach as high as 80 feet and are accessed entirely by robots

Walmart says the additional vertical space is allowing the company to expand its fulfillment services for third-party sellers — not unlike Amazon.

Warehouse employees keep an eye on the flow of merchandise

This automated warehouse still requires about 500 workers, with starting pay at $20 to $34 per hour.

As stores report inventory requirements, an AI algorithm determines the most effective way to pack the mix of products they need onto a new pallet

The system also puts more fragile items, like eggs and fruit, toward the top of the stack.

Walmart says the model tries to ensure that pallets are loaded in a way that simplifies the restocking process for store employees

The system knows exactly which aisle in a particular store that a group of cases is headed to.

Robots then pull the items from throughout the warehouse

"You take a distribution center today, one of our associates is walking up to 10 miles a day, lifting thousands of pounds, moving pallets and things like that," Walmart CFO John David Rainey said of the traditional, non-automated system.

Selected merchandise flows to a loading area…

New construction is slated for Wellford, South Carolina; Belvidere, Illinois; and Pilesgrove, New Jersey.

… and is loaded onto a pallet according to the plan, before it is wrapped for shipping

Guggina told CNBC some pallets can be stacked exclusively with items for fulfilling e-commerce orders, rather than being put on shelves.

It's a complex system that still requires human oversight

Of Walmart's 42 distribution centers, CFO John David Rainey said the company has 15 with "some level of automation."

Finished pallets are then loaded onto a truck and sent to a store

The 15 automated distribution centers serve about 1,700 stores.

At the store, workers unload the trucks and restock the shelves

If everything goes according to plan, restocking the shelves moves more quickly.

Walmart says its automated warehouses can process twice as much merchandise as traditional ones

"When we automate one of these DCs, we see roughly twice the throughput with half the head count," CFO John David Rainey said. "And so the math on this is very, very compelling."

• Rising snack prices might have finally peaked, PepsiCo's CEO said Thursday.
• Even high-income customers are feeling the impact from years of food inflation, Ramon Laguarta said.
• It's the latest sign that you could see some relief from high prices at the grocery store.

Snack costs might have finally hit a turning point after years of price increases, the parent company of Doritos and Cheetos said Thursday.

"Do you believe that the prices at Frito are too high given the increases over recent years?" Kaumil Gajrawala, an analyst with Jefferies, asked PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta during a question-and-answer session after earnings on Thursday. Frito-Lay is a division that sells packaged foods like Cheeto's and Lays potato chips.

Laguarta responded that some products might need new price points to get consumers buying them again.

"Yes, there is some value to be given back to consumers after three or four years of a lot of inflation," he said.

One major reason: Sales volumes for many of PepsiCo's food and snack products within its Frito-Lay and Quaker Foods North America business have fallen during its last few fiscal quarters.

As food inflation rose over the last few years, companies like PepsiCo have been able to push through price increases to retailers and consumers — and then some. Last year, for example, the company's revenue rose 9% on an organic basis. The volume of "convenient foods" sold fell 2%.

But those days might finally be over, PepsiCo's top executive's comments indicated.

That'll be a relief for consumers battling overall inflation. Indeed, when Instacart user Crisman White tried to reorder a batch of groceries from five years ago, two of the biggest price jumps were from a 12-pack of Pepsi and a bag of pedigree dog food.

And it's not just customers on a budget who are feeling the pinch of high prices, Laguarta said later in the call. Even high-income consumers are looking to save money on food.

"This need for value or more value consciousness, I think, is impacting every household in the US," he added.

Food inflation has increased at a steady pace over the last few months. The food index of the Consumer Prices Index rose 2.2% year-on-year in June, according to the latest inflation figures released Thursday.

While PepsiCo is one of the largest food manufacturers in the world, it's far from alone in hiking prices.

At a time when the White House is sharply criticizing grocery stores for picking American households' pockets, top retail execs have been quick to point out the role of national brands in pushing prices of the products on their shelves.

"They're just making flat out more profit, so we think they actually have room to even further invest," said Rodney McMullen, CEO of Kroger, the largest grocery-only retailer in the US, of big food brands.

McMullen told investors last month he expects more discounts coming from national brands this year.

That might have already started. At Walmart, America's top grocery seller, CFO John David Rainey has said the company's discounts are "primarily vendor funded," meaning that the price cuts shoppers are seeing are being passed along from suppliers rather than Walmart bearing the cost itself.

And Target Chief Growth Officer Christina Hennington said when national brands see the Bullseye cut prices on its private label offerings, "they help us do that with their brand portfolio."

Of course, national brands have been bragging about strong profits in recent years, which would suggest they're now in a position to offer discounts and promotions without breaking the bank.

• Ilhan Omar has criticized the Biden administration for allowing what she calls a "genocide" in Gaza.
• Yet she and other Squad members are sticking with the president in his moment of weakness.
• "There is not going to be a situation where the President is being removed," she told BI.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, along with other members of the progressive "Squad," has been a staunch critic of President Joe Biden's policies on Israel.

Like other progressives, the Minnesota congresswoman has used the term "genocide" to describe Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in the nine months since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Omar's been pretty direct about that criticism, too, accusing the Biden administration of "greenlighting the massacre of Palestinians" at a February press conference.

Yet with Biden in his weakest political position ever, struggling to retain the support of Democrats on Capitol Hill, Omar has remained firmly behind the president, declining to join the growing number of her colleagues who have publicly called on him to step aside. She's unhesitant in defending that approach, arguing that former President Donald Trump would be worse.

"Obviously, I would like the administration to cut funding to Israel. We will continue to push for that," Omar told Business Insider on Wednesday. "I think for the genocide in Gaza, with Trump, it will be worse."

"Domestically and internationally, we will be devastated by a Trump presidency, and at this point, it is important that we do everything that we can to help we re-elect Biden," Omar continued. "So what's the conflict?"

Other progressives who have been critical of Biden on Israel, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have also remained behind Biden after his disastrous debate performance.

A large part of their argument is simply that Biden will be the nominee, and that there's no way to change that. "The matter is closed," Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Monday.

That's a significant contrast to progressives outside of Congress, many of whom have rallied around Vice President Kamala Harris as an alternative.

"He's the nominee. I'm fully behind him," Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who recently lost his primary to a moderate Democrat in large part due to his criticism of Israel, told BI this week. "The debate performance wasn't the best, but what are we going to do now? We can't have Trump and Project 2025."

Some have even suggested that Harris would handle the issue of Israel in a way that's more in line with progressive preferences, pointing to differences from Biden in her rhetoric on the topic.

But Omar wouldn't entertain the idea of a Harris candidacy.

"There is not going to be a situation where the President is being removed from being the nominee," said Omar. "It is done, case closed. I work in reality, not in fantasy."

• Wedbush analysts note a Trump presidency may hurt the EV sector but benefit Tesla.
• Higher Chinese tariffs could limit competition, giving Tesla an edge in the US EV Market.
• Overall, Wedbush writes that Trump's presidency would be an overall negative for the industry.

As Tesla's stock surges and the EV giant gears up for its (reportedly delayed) robotaxi unveiling, questions are swirling about how the impending US presidential election will impact Elon Musk's car company.

According to a note to investors from Wedbush analysts, Trump's possible return to the White House could be a good thing for Tesla.

"Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched in the EV industry and this dynamic could give Elon Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment," Wedbush analysts wrote in the note.

Additionally, the Wedbush analysts wrote that a likely increase in tariffs on Chinese goods would "continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players (BYD, Nio, etc.) from flooding the US market over the coming years."

Chinese tariffs have remained a large talking point in Trump's campaign. The Republican candidate has discussed implementing a 60% tariff on Chinese imports, largely exceeding his former tariff policy on China during his presidency.

Some of Tesla's biggest competitors include BYD and Nio, which are currently not available in the US. But Musk has previously said China is "by far" Tesla's biggest competitor. He said a lot of people think the top 10 car companies will be Tesla, followed by nine Chinese car brands, and "they might not be wrong."

Most recently, Tesla's biggest competitor BYD just made a deal to build a $1 billion factory in Turkey, which could provide the automaker with a way around EU tariffs and make it a larger threat in the global EV market.

Even though a Trump presidency could benefit Tesla, Wedbush analysts said in the note it "would be an overall negative for the EV industry" because the EV tax incentives would likely be removed.

EV tax incentives allow buyers to save up to $7,500 when they purchase a new EV, although there's some caveats to the tax break, like a limited number of eligible vehicles.

Musk hasn't announced who he's voting for in the 2024 Presidential election, but has said it's unlikely he'll vote for Biden.

Musk has met with the former President on multiple occasions and said at Tesla's annual meeting that Trump calls him "out of the blue for no reason." He also mentioned in the meeting that Trump's "a huge fan of the Cybertruck" and his friends that have Teslas "love it."

Microplastics have infiltrated our bodies, including the brain, blood, organs, and even penises. What are the health risks, and how can we avoid them?

• Ukraine is set to receive its first F-16 fighter jets from its Western partners this summer.
• But the exact number of planes is unclear, and Zelenskyy said it likely won't be enough.
• He compared the problem to Ukraine's Abrams tanks, which it only got 31 of and hasn't used much.

Western-provided F-16 fighter jets are on their way to Ukraine and set to start flying missions later this summer.

But they may not yet be enough to make a difference on the battlefield, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated in a discussion this week on what Ukraine needs, comparing the jets to the US-made Abrams tanks that Ukraine got last fall.

Asked by Fox News' host Bret Baier at the Reagan Institute if the 31 Abrams Ukraine received as its counteroffensive was already stumbling made a difference, Zelenskyy said: "I'm not sure that such number of tanks can change the situation on the battlefield."

Speaking in Washington, DC, Wednesday as the NATO summit was underway, he said "it's like the dialogue about F-16." Usefulness comes down, in some ways, to numbers and timing.

"We always wait, like my mother waited me after school," Zelenskyy said. "This is the same but much more serious."

"The problem with F-16," the Ukrainian president said, "is the number and the dates."

The Ukrainian President said that because Russia is operating so many combat aircraft "on the territory of Ukraine," small numbers of F-16s won't make a difference.

"Even if we will have 50, it's nothing. They have 300. Because we are defending, we need 128," he said, adding that unless Ukraine has that amount of F-16s, they won't "compare with them in the sky." He said "it will be difficult."

As Zelenskky noted, his concerns about the number of F-16s coming and the timing of those deliveries mirror conversations surrounding the US-provided Abrams tanks, which arrived in Ukraine last fall. The US sent only 31 M1A1 Abrams in total, and they were delivered to Ukraine months after British and German tanks.

The Abrams is recognized as a "tank killer" and celebrated for its lethality and heavy armor. It has a fearsome reputation, particularly given its exploits in the Gulf War in the early 1990s. Experts and former tank operators have praised the Abrams' capabilities, noting that it is far superior to any Russian tank.

But the Abrams hasn't been able to fight the battles it was made for in Ukraine where massed armored assaults haven't been an option and tank-on-tank combat is uncommon, it faces threats from drones, anti-tank weapons, and mines, and it is a high-profile target available in only limited numbers.

For comparison, Ukraine received about 300 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, nearly ten times more than the number of Abrams sent.

Zelenskyy's comments follow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's announcement earlier Wednesday that the first transfer of F-16 fighters to Ukraine — coming from Denmark and the Netherlands — is underway.

"Those jets will be flying in the skies of Ukraine this summer to make sure that Ukraine can continue to effectively defend itself against Russian aggression," he said at the NATO public forum.

The arrival of the fourth-generation aircraft will be important for Ukraine and an upgrade over Kyiv's Soviet-era air power and another marker of closer relations with the West. But there have been questions surrounding how useful the fighters will be on the battlefield and if there will be enough jets and trained pilots to make a difference. There have also been concerns they may be coming significantly later than when Ukraine needed them most.

The West has attributed the long road to getting F-16s to Ukraine to complicated logistics.

"The trouble is that for F-16s, it's not as simple as just getting the planes and handing them over. The planes have to be reconfigured from the different air forces that they come from to make them suitable and usable for the Ukrainian Air Force," a NATO official said to reporters at a briefing on the sidelines of the summit Thursday.

The official also noted the training, logistics, and capabilities that are required to operate and defend airfields and said the yearlong process of procuring and delivering the fighters was "actually pretty good."

"If you look at a program like this, generally, even [when an] allied country in peacetime conditions takes on a new airframe like this, it could take much, much longer to get everything into place," the official said.

In a call with press on Thursday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged that the "ramp-up period" to get F-16s operational in Ukraine has been significant but added that the jets are expected to have an impact in the short-term and give Ukraine the capability to take back territory currently occupied by Russia.

• Even some White House advisors are reportedly doubting that Joe Biden can win.
• According to The New York Times, some White House officials are trying devise ways to convince Biden to drop out.
• The White House strongly denied the report.

President Joe Biden may have to convince some of his own White House officials that he's still their best hope of defeating former President Donald Trump.

According to The New York Times, some unnamed longtime aides and advisors to Biden have become convinced that the president will drop out of the 2024 race. The Times also reported that some advisors are trying to devise ways to convince the president that he should step aside.

The White House strongly denied the report.

"Unequivocally, this is not true," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told The Times, a statement he reiterated to Business Insider. "President Biden's team is strongly behind him."

Biden has repeatedly said that he is staying in the race.

The president has tried to face down an uproar within the Democratic Party since his disastrous debate performance. Earlier this week, it looked like the White House had successfully frozen most of Capitol Hill not to pressure the president.

But on Wednesday, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that Biden had not made a final decision to stay in the race despite days of repeated statements to the contrary. Since then, more House Democrats have called on Biden to drop out. On Wednesday evening, Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont became the first Democrat in the chamber to join the chorus, saying Biden should step aside.

Not long before The Times published its story, NBC News reported that three unnamed campaign officials told the outlet that Biden has no chance of beating Trump.

"He needs to drop out," one Biden campaign official told NBC. "He will never recover from this."

Biden is set to speak to White House reporters at length Thursday night in his first extensive news conference in months. Multiple Democrats have encouraged the president to hold more unscripted events and to campaign more extensively to help convince them that he's up to the task of slogging through a reelection battle.

The president's reelection campaign sought to tamp down on the outcry, arguing that while Biden's support had slipped since the debate, the race is still very much winnable.

"There is a long way to go between now and Election Day with considerable uncertainty and polls in July should not be overestimated, but the data shows we have a clear path to win," Biden's campaign campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo on Thursday to staffers. "As we've always said, in today's fragmented media environment, it will take time for our message to break through with trusted messengers and a strong ground game. That remains the case."

The campaign memo, first reported by The Associated Press and later obtained by BI, said that Biden still had "multiple" paths to 270 Electoral Votes while emphasizing that Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan "remain critical to victory."

If Biden loses Nevada, Georgia, and Arizona, which polls show he might, he would need to run the table in the old so-called "Blue Wall" states and hold onto the Omaha-area Nebraska 2nd Congressional District to win.

• I've been to all of Canada's provinces. Ontario is great, but there are less-visited spots I love.
• I loved seeing the Earth's mantle in Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Cycle Prince Edward Island has beautiful scenery, and Vancouver Island has a lovely coastline.

Canada is pretty massive. The country spans almost 4,700 miles from east to west, touches three oceans, and hosts six different time zones.

Fortunately, I've been able to visit all 10 of its provinces. But with so many options, I know it can seem overwhelming to choose where to explore next.

Although I enjoyed learning and experiencing what makes each province unique, a few places stand out — and they aren't in Ontario, Canada's most visited province.

Here are the three Canadian provinces I loved visiting, plus highlights I experienced there that'll make you want to plan a trip to each.

Explore the Earth's mantle and freshwater fjords in Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Humans tread on the Earth's crust, but it's not every day that you experience the second component below it, the mantle. But in the Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park, parts of the Earth's mantle are exposed — and visitors get a rare chance to admire this distinct structure without any digging.

When I explored the south end of this UNESCO World Heritage site, the rust-colored terrain made me feel like I was on Mars. I loved learning about the local carnivorous pitcher plants and feeling the texture of the rusty rocks.

There, I opted to take a guided group walk along the Tablelands Trail that's just under 5 miles out and back.

After walking on the mantle, I headed north of the park to visit Western Brook Pond. This freshwater fjord was carved thousands of years ago by retreating glaciers, and it's nothing less than breathtaking.

I took a guided boat tour through the fjord and learned all about it. If you want a panoramic view of it, take the day to hike to the top of the Western Brook Pond Trail.

British Columbia is Canada's second-most-visited province for a reason.

British Columbia is an adventurer's playground with impressive natural beauty. It's hard to get bored of the beautiful Pacific coastline and legendary old-growth forests.

Johnstone Strait, a glacier-carved channel between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island, is especially beautiful — and you might even see a humpback whale in the water if you visit at the right time.

One of my favorite experiences on the province's Vancouver Island is kayaking around the shores in the morning. I watched Steller sea lions glide through the water, and a river otter play on a nearby dock.

Once you're done with the water, venture along to visit some of the nearby picturesque communities like Telegraph Cove and Hanson Islands. Or perhaps find your footing and try the Haddington Beach Trail (just under 2 miles out and back) or the Salmon River Estuary Trail (under a mile out and back).

While there, I suggest learning about the area's diverse ecosystem — and there's perhaps no one else better to teach you than members of the Tlowitsis Nation, a group acknowledged as being among the first to originally live on this stretch of land.

Taking time to learn about Indigenous cultures in the area and booking experiences through Indigenous tour guides can also enrich your trip, allowing you to learn the history of the land you're visiting and why it's so important to protect it.

Take in the scenery while cycling along Prince Edward Island's numerous trails.

Prince Edward Island is famous for its potatoes, red-sand beaches, and picturesque countryside.

There are just over 20 supervised beaches on the island, and the red sand is due to the soil's rich iron content, which gets oxidized (turns reddish) as it touches the air.

Instead of admiring the area by car or on foot, my family and I have enjoyed exploring it by bicycle. Biking allowed us to slow down, be present with where we were, and get a taste of the laid-back island lifestyle.

We chose to peddle along the Confederation Trail, which stretches tip-to-tip of the island and covers about 278 miles. It helped us connect to special towns like Cardigan, where we visited Canada's smallest library.

The Confederation Trail has labeled stretches that range from easy to hard, so you can choose your own cycling adventure. If you're looking for a strenuous trail, I recommend gearing up on the Gairloch or O'Leary Mountain Bike Trail.

But if you're not confident in your cycling skills, consider taking a guided ride or renting an e-bike to help you go the distance.

• Celina, Texas is the fastest-growing city over 20,000 people in the US.
• Mayor Ryan Tubbs said two things set Celina apart. The first is its tight-knit community.
• The city is also more affordable than parts of California and Texas many people are moving from.

America's fastest-growing city isn't what you might expect.

It's not a big metropolis where movies are set like New York or San Franciso. Instead, it's a small town in the South that only welcomed its first Starbucks in 2022: Celina, Texas.

Celina, located about 40 miles north of downtown Dallas, has been attracting movers with its relatively lower cost of living and its close-knit community.

Celina's population surged 26.6% from July 2022 to July 2023, far exceeding the 0.5% growth rate of the nation as a whole, according to the latest figures from the US Census Bureau.

In 2010, the city had only 6,028 residents. By 2020, its population had increased to 16,739, and by 2023, it was 43,317, according to the census.

Most new residents in Collin County, where Celina sits, come from Texas ZIP codes, as well as ones in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Missouri, according to BI's analysis of census migration data. A significant number of people are also coming from Africa, Asia, Central America, and Europe.

The city said Celina welcomes an average of 830 newcomers each month.

Celina mayor Ryan Tubbs told Business Insider that he believes people are drawn to two main things about Celina: its relative affordability and its tight-knit community.

"It's just astronomical growth when you think about the influx of residents," Tubbs said. "Even so, our vision is to maintain that small-town feel, no matter how big we get."

Many movers to Celina come for affordability

Celina's proximity to Dallas makes it an attractive option for those who work in the city or visit for entertainment but prefer to steer clear of its hustle, bustle, and high costs.

According to data company Payscale, Celina's cost of living is 18% lower than the national average, while Dallas' is 3% higher. In total, Celina's cost of living is 19.9% less than Dallas'.

"The cost of living in Celina is a significant factor for many families and individuals who choose to live here," Tubbs said.

Over the past few years, thousands of movers who have relocated to Celina are also drawn by its many newly built homes from companies including Taylor Morrison, Toll Brothers, and Highland Homes, which sit in numerous master-planned communities.

According to the city, from 2010 until June 2024, 15,062 single-family permits have been issued for Celina.

Combined with the rise of remote work and improved accessibility via the expansion of the North Texas Tollway, the area has become increasingly appealing to both Texans and out-of-staters looking to rent or buy homes.

Money can go farther in Celina than in other parts of the US.

California native Michelle Clifford is moving to Celina in July after renting in its neighboring town, Prosper, Texas, since February.

Clifford, along with her husband and their two children, will be settling into a 2,400-square-foot home in Celina on an acre of land they purchased for around $600,000.

She said they "absolutely could not afford" that caliber of property in a Dallas neighborhood or in and around San Diego, where they previously lived.

"I have really good friends who live in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, and those home prices are right up there with San Diego," Clifford said.

In Preston Hollow, an area about eight miles north of downtown Dallas, the median home price was $2.1 million in May, according to Redfin.

The median home in Celina sold for $632,030 in May. While it's more expensive than some parts of Dallas, it's significantly cheaper than San Diego, where the median home price was $980,000, according to Redfin.

"I feel like a lot of the city's natives will roll their eyes at me calling Celina affordable," she added. "It's a double-edged sword with Californians coming in and raising prices. But for me, it made our dream come true to be able to buy a home."

Celina's intimate, friendly feel is also a draw

Celina's growth reflects a broader trend of Americans seeking out smaller, community- and family-focused towns that offer some relief from the fast pace and density of big cities.

Census population totals from 2020 to mid-2022 show that while smaller cities in Texas like Celina — as well as Josephine, northwest of Dallas, and New Braunfels, between Austin and San Antonio — are experiencing population surges, the state's biggest cities have seen minimal growth or, in some cases, even outright declines.

Until recently, Celina was a sleepy town dotted with homes in between farms, cornfields, and cotton fields.

"We have people who were born and raised in Celina and remember it when it was just a small farming community," Tubbs said.

While the city's relative affordability may initially attract newcomers, they are staying for its "close-knit relationships" and strong sense of community, Tubbs said.

To preserve Celina's friendly vibe, the city puts on events, especially in its downtown square.

The city regularly hosts movie screenings on its lawn, and a night market six times a year with up to 70 local vendors and small businesses.

Several holiday events are on the horizon, including "Christmas on the Square," which features Santa in costume, a petting zoo, live performances, and local vendors.

"These events connect us to our past and to one another in an incomparable way," Tubbs said.

• Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, 31, is the grandson of John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy.
• Schlossberg is on track to follow the family tradition of becoming a lawyer.
• He's also shown that he has a sense of humor and is an avid paddleboarder. 

There's a new Kennedy in town.

Jack Kennedy Schlossberg is the 31-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy.

He was recently the subject of internet rumors claiming he dated pop singer Selena Gomez, 31, between 2020 and 2021, and he was just named Vogue's first-ever political correspondent.

Despite being known as a member of one of America's most iconic political families, Schlossberg has asserted he has no plans to enter a race of his own. However, he's already making a name for himself with humorous online videos and a passion for his family's political history. 

Here's what you need to know about Jack Schlossberg.

John "Jack" Bouvier Kennedy Schlossberg is the 31-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Caroline Kennedy.

He was named for his maternal grandfather, John F. Kennedy, and his maternal great-grandfather, John Vernou Bouvier III, People reported.

He is the youngest child of Caroline Kennedy and designer Edwin Schlossberg, who have been married since 1986.

Kennedy came from an Irish-Catholic background, while Edwin Schlossberg was raised Jewish. 

Jack Schlossberg was born in New York City on January 19, 1993.

In 2011, he graduated from The Collegiate School, a prestigious all-boys private school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Caroline Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg share two other children besides Jack: Tatiana Schlossberg, 34, and Rose Schlossberg, 36.

Schlossberg is the lone grandson of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy and the eldest surviving male descendant of the former president's immediate family.

Rose and Tatiana Schlossberg are both married, but Jack appears to be single.

When appearing on the "Today" show in 2022, Schlossberg shared that his sister Tatiana had recently welcomed a son named Edwin, after their father. Schlossberg also said he'd moved back to his "childhood bedroom" to be closer to his family after graduating from Harvard.

He bears a striking resemblance to his maternal uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., who died in a plane crash in 1999.

John F. Kennedy Jr. died after an aircraft he was piloting crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on July 16, 1999. His wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette also perished in the accident. 

The couple did not have any children together, so there were no surviving Kennedy heirs through Kennedy Jr.

Schlossberg is on track to follow the family tradition of becoming a lawyer.

After Schlossberg graduated from Yale University in 2015 with a history degree, he entered Harvard Law School in the fall of 2017 and Harvard Business School in the fall of 2018.

"I'm inspired by my family's legacy of public service," Schlossberg said in his first live interview on "Today" in 2017. "It's something that I'm very proud of."

He graduated from the university in 2022, and in April 2023 he shared that he had passed the New York State bar exam.

His mother, Caroline, passed the same bar exam in 1989. According to People, his uncle John F. Kennedy Jr. famously failed the New York bar exam twice before ultimately passing on his third try in 1990.

"I went to law school super liberal, and I came out of the program with the same thinking — just realizing that I was still right but that I had not known what I was talking about before," he told Vogue in July. 

He appears to share his family's interest in politics and civic justice.

"I'm still trying to make my own way, figure things out, so stay tuned. I don't know what I'm going to do," he told "Today" in 2017. He again told Savannah Guthrie in 2022 that he had "no plans" to enter politics at the moment. 

While he hasn't committed to a career in politics just yet, Schlossberg has taken an increasingly public role with the family's Profile in Courage Awards, which honors world leaders, and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

According to People, Schlossberg has also worked as a Senate page and intern for former Secretary of State John Kerry.

Schlossberg spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention as a representative of his family and has appeared with his mother at many public events. In December 2022, the Harvard graduate was pictured alongside his mother and sister Tatiana meeting with Prince William at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Schlossberg has become the face of a new generation of Kennedys.

Schlossberg has nearly 200,000 followers on Instagram, where he often shares photos and videos related to his paddleboarding hobby. 

He's also shown that he has a sense of humor. In July 2023, a series of light-hearted videos Schlossberg posted to Instagram about the downsides of eating at restaurants went viral.

"We have to wait there to eat something that we don't get to choose, really, what it is," Schlossberg said to the camera in one video. "We only get a few choices and you don't know what any of them are gonna taste like or what's good … and we're gonna sit there and wait for some guy to ask us a question. And we're gonna have to talk to some guy about what we wanna eat."

Secretary of State John Kerry once said of him, "A sense of humor is not genetic, but apparently in the Kennedy family, it can be inherited. In President Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, this quality seems to abide."

"I'm a silly goose — a silly goose who's trying, just trying, to get the truth out there," Schlossberg told Vogue.