• Many low-income Americans can't afford groceries despite working full-time jobs.
• Some families rely on food pantries and alternate income sources to get by.
• SNAP benefits are based on the federal poverty threshold, leaving ALICE households without help. 

The discounted employee meal that Cherie Tobias gets at Applebee's is usually the only time she can eat every day.

A resident of Hastings, Michigan, the 48-year-old does her best to make ends meet on her full-time server salary of $25,064 a year. She's the main household income earner for her 19-year-old and her fiancé.

Tobias previously told Business Insider that she hasn't been grocery shopping in over a year because she can't afford it. Typically, she has to rely on Applebee's or the few stand-alone ingredients she occasionally gets at the store to eat. Even then, Tobias said she often is limited to one meal a day.

"I don't want to be rich," she said. "I just want to be able to get by comfortably without the stress. That would be my wish: being able to open the cupboard and know that there's food there for the day."

Tobias is one of over 40 million Americans who are food insecure. She's also what economists call ALICE — asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. At least 29% of US households live paycheck to paycheck but have an income that is too high for most government assistance, per Census Bureau data and cost-of-living estimates analyzed by the nonprofit United Way. This compares to 13% of Americans who live at or below the federal poverty line, which is $31,200 for a family of four.

Many ALICEs, like Tobias, are also out of reach of America's financial safety nets. SNAP benefits or food stamps, for example, base criteria on the federal poverty threshold, which is not adjusted based on location or cost of living. A family of four must make less than $39,000 to qualify and then would receive a maximum allotment of $973 a month for food.

However, this criteria leaves low-income households who don't qualify relying on thinly stretched grocery budgets, food pantries, or employer meal discounts. Many ALICEs worry their family will go hungry, but they're running out of options to put food on the table.

Tobias said she's tried applying for SNAP — she just needs "a little bit of help with food." But her fiancé receives disability checks and her son is no longer a minor, so she might only receive $18 a month worth of assistance.

"That's not helpful," she said.

Many ALICE families face a 'scary' level of food security

Melinda Binkley, 56, shared a similar experience. The Stillwater, Minnesota, resident previously told BI her household income is usually less than $100 too high to qualify for programs like SNAP. She is sometimes able to buy basic and perishable goods like bread, milk, and fruit from the grocery store but often relies on her local food pantry.

Still, Binkley said she had more food pantry options during the pandemic when "everybody was having issues." Lately, she said there are more limits on how often she can visit pantries and how many canned goods she can take, even if she needs the food. She has even considered traveling to multiple pantries to ensure she can feed herself and her husband.

Right now, she describes her level of food security as "scary."

"It'll be interesting to see our food situation here in the near future," Binkley said.

Food banks and pantries across the US saw a major rise in demand as millions of Americans experienced financial hardship during the pandemic. And, when emergency SNAP ended in February 2023, millions of families were left without benefits or had their allotments drastically cut. Some local banks and pantries have also reported budget challenges and a decline in donations in recent years.

With limited options, ALICEs have sold plasma and filed for unemployment to afford food

Some ALICEs told BI that they've had to scrape together additional incomes to eat.

With a tight budget and no SNAP support, Cincinnati resident Lisa Kelley, 47, told BI she has started selling her plasma in order to afford food, rent, and utilities for herself and her mother. It takes a toll on her body, but Kelley said she can earn between $65 and $125 each time she donates.

Kelley also said she doesn't live near many food pantries and has to drive long distances to reach a grocery store or Walmart. Her budget is limited when she can shop, even with her extra plasma income.

"It's been rough," she said. "We have to make that stretch as much as possible, and the quality of the food is not the same. We have to get cheaper things and less meat and vegetables."

Melissa Hedden, a 41-year-old living in Wilmington, North Carolina, said she made the decision to quit her job during COVID because her children needed care and support with online school. At the time, she realized she could earn a higher income through filing for pandemic reemployment assistance. Documents reviewed by BI show she took home $15,901 in 2020.

The reemployment money — which she received from summer 2020 to summer 2021 — gave her whole family the extra funds they needed to afford expenses and buy nutritious food. Hedden herself said she felt physically and mentally healthier, was able to better support her family, and she even went back to school.

"I lost over 80 pounds, I went from a pre-diabetic to completely healthy because I was able to change my eating habits," she said. "I didn't have to buy so many processed foods."

But, since Hedden stopped receiving the checks, she said it's become difficult for her to maintain her health in the same way. In addition to facing housing insecurity, she worries about affording groceries again.

She has tried to qualify for SNAP in the past, but isn't currently enrolled. Her household income is now considered too high because her teenage son works a part-time job.

"I went from being approved for $600 a month on food stamps, to 'Oh wait, your son is 17, he makes money, so we're counting that against you,"' she said. "And I'm not taking his money from him."

Do you live paycheck to paycheck? Are you open to sharing how you afford food, housing, and other expenses? If so, reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.

• Once exclusive to Gboard on Android, Google's Emoji Kitchen can now be used on different devices.
• You can access the Emoji Kitchen via Google search. All you need is a browser.
• In its new form, the list of available emoji combinations is limited. But that will likely change.

Google is best known for its search function and suite of productivity applications like Google Docs or Google Sheets. But if you're active on Twitter, you've probably seen its popular emoji mashup bots, which combine multiple emojis into one.

Only recently, Emoji Kitchen was native to Android users on Gboard. Now Google's Keyboard app has expanded, allowing users on just about any device — iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS, and other devices or computers — access to fun and out-of-the-ordinary emoji combinations. 

Like Google Doodles, the temporary and often interactive logos on Google's homepages, Emoji Kitchen can add some whimsy to your day.

Here's how to activate and use Emoji Kitchen on your iPhone and Android devices: 

How do I access Emoji kitchen on my iPhone?

1. On your device, open your browser and head to Google.com.
2. Search for "Emoji Kitchen." A widget box full of emojis will appear.
3. Hit "Get cooking" button 

4. Tap on the emoji of your choice. Stickers with possible emoji combinations will appear in the space above the keyboard.
5. Once you have chosen your two combinations, you should see a new emoji appear on the right beyond the "=" symbol. 

6. Click the copy button to copy a .png file of the image. From there paste it wherever you wish, whether that's in a messaging app, on your next school paper, or in a slideshow created on Google Slides

Note: Your emoji mash-up will be pasted as a .png file and not an emoji.

How do I use Emoji Kitchen on Android?

On an Android phone, the Gboard app offers a larger database of Emoji Kitchen combinations. You can use Emoji Kitchen through Gboard on Android by tapping on the magic wand emoji and selecting any other emoji to combine.

Here's how to get started with the latest version on your Android: 

1. Open any messaging app of choice, including Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger.
2. Tap on the user to whom you want to send an emoji to open a conversation with them, and then tap the text bar to start typing.
3. Tap on the icon that resembles a smiley face to pull up your emojis

4. Tap on the emoji of your choice. Stickers with possible emoji combinations will appear in the space above the keyboard. 

4. Swipe through the stickers in the Emoji Kitchen and tap on the one you want to send. The sticker that you tap will be sent as soon as you tap on it. 

Does Emoji Kitchen use AI?

Unlike Google's Gemini, Google Emoji Kitchen does not heavily rely on AI, such as machine learning or deep learning algorithms. It primarily uses predefined combinations and creative pairings of existing emojis in its database created manually by emoji designers at Google.

• Tiny-home builder Escape Homes runs a popular neighborhood of its units near Tampa, Florida.
• Escape is expanding its tiny home community with six fully furnished rentals, each for $1,350 a month. 
• Its previous batch of apartments were all claimed within 36 hours of listing.

If you can't imagine living in a tiny home, Escape Homes could point you to about two dozen other people who would disagree.

Along with manufacturing tiny houses, Escape operates a community of its own teeny dwellings near Tampa Bay, Florida. Almost all of the units are cozily under 400 square feet — and they've been a hit, with most being spoken for in less than two months, if not immediately, upon release.

If you haven't been able to claim one, now's your chance.

Escape is adding six rentals to the neighborhood as party of a gradual expansion plan of its now more than 30-unit community.

The 'multimillion-dollar' expansion, known as the Grove, includes 3 duplexes for a total of 6 rentals.

All are based on Escape's eBoho model, a 16-foot-long, 152-square-foot studio that can otherwise be purchased for $37,556.

The ones in its Florida community will be almost twice as large at 320 square feet. But there's a catch: The porch accounts for about half of the square footage.

Hey, at least it's covered by a screen.

The Grove’s apartments could be a deal for folks who prefer renting.

The rentals, including utilities, are priced at $1,350 a month — much cheaper than buying an almost $37,600 unit. And they're furnished, a first for Escape Tampa Bay.

The tiny homes are also incrementally cheaper than the average rent for a studio apartment in Tampa, which falls at $1,485 a month for an average 507-square-foot unit, according to Apartments.com.

However, when broken down, the new Escape apartments are about $ 1.30-per-square-foot more expensive than Tampa's average.

Escape Tampa Bay's apartments have always been a hit.

Dan Dobrowolski, the founder and CEO of Escape Homes, told Business Insider in late 2023 that the last time the company launched a new batch of tiny home rentals, all were claimed within 36 hours, some before they were listed.

Similarly, four of the six new apartments have already been called for "weeks to months before completion," a spokesperson for Escape Tampa Bay told Business Insider in late May.

The final two units, set to be completed in about two weeks, have yet to be claimed. Besides that, every home in the neighborhood is now off the market.

Despite their humble square footage, the new homes don't skimp on basic amenities.

Renters get a kitchen, queen bed, and living room with a couch and table — all in one room.

Thankfully, the bathroom is located behind closed doors.

The tiny homes have storage options like exposed shelves and drawers beside the living “room” table.

The unit also includes a separate three-foot by five-foot storage unit and access to the community pool and workspaces.

Escape’s neighborhood is yet another sign that America’s love for tiny homes has yet to dwindle.

Last year, the community's first batch of about two dozen tiny homes, starting at $95,000, were all sold within two months.

Outside Florida and across the US, legislation in states like California has recently shifted in favor of using backyard tiny homes, also known as accessory dwelling units, to alleviate the ongoing housing crisis.

Several startups have since popped up in hopes of cashing in on the little living boom, from California-based Samara, founded by Airbnb's cofounder Joe Gebbia, to Singapore-based Nestron, which is looking to expand its North American dealership network amid demand from buyers in the US.

• A receptionist who was said to have been unable to say her firm's name lost an employment tribunal.
• The claimant said she had lost her job due to a disability, not due to performance issues.
• The panel found that she did not meet the statutory definition of a disability.

A receptionist in the UK who could not say the name of her law firm has lost an employment tribunal claim.

The claimant, named in the case documents as Miss J Earle, briefly worked as a temporary receptionist administrator for the law firm Wykeham Hurford Sheppard & Son Ltd in 2022.

Her contract was terminated at the southern England law firm just over a week into the role, with the firm saying she "could not perform the role to the required standard," citing reasons including an "inability to say the firm's name when answering the phone to clients" and repeatedly putting calls through to "fee earners directly, thereby interrupting them from their work."

According to Lucy Walker Recruitment, a British company specialising in permanent and temporary office-based staff, a receptionist must communicate well.

"The ability to communicate information accurately, clearly, and as intended is a vital skill for a receptionist. The ability to speak appropriately with a wide variety of people, whilst maintaining good eye contact and having a good vocabulary, are the sought-after skills of today's modern receptionist," said its website.

Earle claimed that she had been dismissed due to a disability that causes her "back, shoulder and neck pain."

She subsequently brought claims of direct disability discrimination, discrimination arising out of disability, and harassment related to disability, as well as claiming that the law firm failed to make reasonable adjustments for a disability.

However, the tribunal panel found that she did not meet the statutory definition of a disability, meaning that her claims failed.

On the name issue, the judgement said: "The name Wykeham-Hurford Sheppard & Son is certainly something of a mouthful, but the panel did not agree that it was a difficult or unreasonable task for a receptionist to perform."

It added that "it was the manner in which Miss Earle refused to accept her own obvious shortcomings which further undermined her credibility."

• A former McKinsey consultant says the firm pushes employees out with contrived performance ratings.
• He says the stigma of a low rating impacted his job search after leaving the firm.
• He also said his mental health took a hit, and it was tough to project confidence.

This is an as-told-to conversation with a former associate at McKinsey & Company. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to privacy concerns. Business Insider has verified their identity and employment at McKinsey. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was an associate at McKinsey & Company for almost two years. During that time, it became clear to me that McKinsey hired too many consultants by overestimating the market. It was tough to get on projects, but I managed to get on four during my tenure.

I performed well in my first year and never received any negative feedback. I was told my performance was above the bar at my first review. My higher-ups supported my presence at the firm, and my clients were happy with the outcome of my work.

At my next review, six months later, things completely changed. I was put on "concerns," a rating McKinsey gives to consultants whose performance it deems unsatisfactory. I was told I'd have six months to improve or be put on track to leave.

The firm gave me vague reasons for my rating. I was told I wasn't taking "end-to-end ownership" of projects and implementing "top-down communication," which are hard to develop within a year of joining the firm.

I found it hard to keep up with the job. In previous years, if you had been put on "concerns," they'd try to find work to help you improve, but the firm explicitly said they would not help me. It was clear they just wanted people to leave. Just two months after I received the rating, I left and started looking for another job.

McKinsey's shadow followed me on my job search

My performance rating impacted my job search, too.

Third-party recruiting agencies asked me for my rating. I also contacted the McKinsey alumni network to find a job, and some asked me for my rating up front. The minute my interviewers found out I'd been a "low-performer," the dynamic of the interview process completely changed. They'd low-ball salary offers because they knew people like me needed a job, and we weren't just looking to upgrade from our current position.

My mental health also took a huge hit, and that was reflected in my interviews. McKinsey hires overachievers, so it's tough to project confidence when you're told you're a low performer. I couldn't leave my house for months and I kept agonizing over how to land my next job.

And since I wasn't able to get on many projects, I wasn't able to build my skill set. It was hard to justify to potential employers why I should be hired into a better position. At times, I worried that I'd have to take a step back and accept a lower title.

It took me almost five months to land another job. I'm happy with my new role even though I had to take a 20% pay cut. But my advice to McKinsey: Just do layoffs so your former employees don't need to explain themselves so much in interviews.

McKinsey & Company declined a request for comment from Business Insider.

Are you a consultant who's being haunted by a bad performance review? We would like to hear from you. Contact reporter Lakshmi Varanasi at lvaranasi@businessinsider.com.

• A handful of mansions on the market across the US are vacant —  and have been for years.
• Some of these properties are unfinished and lack basic amenities, like water or electricity.
• Take a look at four large abandoned homes for sale and see why they're still empty.

There are mansions that nobody wants.

It might seem far-fetched that a coveted piece of real-estate would be unsellable, but a few abandoned or unfinished mansions across the US have lingered on the market for years — even decades.

From Kanye West's incomplete spread in Malibu to a house on a private island in a remote Montana lake, these four houses — with at least 4,000 square feet of interior space — have had a hard time luring a buyer for various reasons.

Learn more about four abandoned mansions for sale across the US — why they're still empty.

This seven-bedroom 'zombie mansion' near Portland, Oregon, is listed for $1.3 million.

In Tigard, Oregon, about 10 miles outside Portland sits a 9,052-square-foot, seven-bedroom house that's never been lived in.

According to the Zillow listing, construction started in 2006 but was never finished.

It's been abandoned since 2008, after the builder had complications with his building loan during the recession, the Oregonian reported in December 2023.

The bones are there, but the house lacks electricity, water, and heating, the Oregonian said. The windows are boarded up, and the walls are filled with graffiti as squatters have made themselves at home in the empty mansion, according to The Oregonian.

For the state of disrepair, the list price of $1.3 million may just be too much.

Lising agent Eric Squire told The Oregonian that the asking price is "gutsy."

Squire added that the property is worthwhile not for the building itself, which will probably be torn down by any eventual buyer, but for the land. The 1.5-acre lot can be split into seven buildable lots.

"There is truly value here," he said. "The bones are good, and when it's built out, it will be a $3 to $6 million property."

Michael Jordan's Chicago mansion, empty since 2012, is listed for $14.9 million.

Jordan, the basketball legend, has been trying to sell his 56,000-square-foot compound outside Chicago for more than 10 years.

The nine-bedroom home was first listed for $29 million in 2012 and is now almost half off.

Part of the reason Jordan's seven-acre property hasn't yet sold is because of how he customized it. It starts with the "23" — his jersey number for most of his career — emblazoned on the front gates. The house is littered with other custom features like a basketball court with his logo in the middle of the floor.

"It's clearly his home," Bruce Bowers of Bowers Realty Group told BI in 2019. "It's a tough sell. There's a lot of work that would have to be done to make it your own."

Jordan has even tried offering the buyer a complete set of his famous Air Jordan sneakers, but that didn't work.

Today Jordan owns real estate in his home state of North Carolina, as well as in Florida.

Kanye West’s concrete mansion on the Pacific Ocean is unfinished but still listed for $39 million.

West's all-concrete house, designed by famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando, is perched on the Pacific Ocean in celebrity hot spot Malibu.

Kanye spent about $57 million on the 4,000-square-foot property in 2021. He started gutting the home soon after, but never finished his renovations.

In December 2023, he listed the home for $53 million but has since dropped the price to $39 million.

This might be the problem: The house comes without plumbing or electricity — and it's missing doors and windows, too, the Wall Street Journal reported in December 2023.

"It will take several million dollars for the house to be finished," real-estate agent Jason Oppenheim, of "Selling Sunset" fame who is representing West , told the Journal.

A private island in Montana with a half-built mansion is on sale for $72 million.

Cromwell Island — located in Flathead Lake in Missoula — is about 350 acres and has almost three miles of shoreline.

On the island is a 45,000-square-foot mansion that was started in the late 1990s and never finished.

On Cromwell Island sits an unfinished 45,000-square-foot mansion.

According to the listing, the previous owner, Robert M. Lee, the founder of gear company Hunting World, bought the property in the 1980s and started building a home for himself and his wife but died in 2016 before its completion.

Lee's widow, Anne Brockinton Lee, told the Wall Street Journal that they bought a house in Lake Tahoe in 1999 and moved there full-time. Once Mr. Lee passed, she thought finishing the Cromwell Island home would be too much of a pain for one person.

• Target posted its fourth consecutive quarter of comparable sales declines on Wednesday.
• The retailer increasingly appears to be losing market share to Walmart.
• To fight back, Target is cutting prices on thousands of items and leaning into budget-minded brands.

America's top two big-box retailers have borrowed quite a few strategies from one another over the past year, with different degrees of success.

Walmart has augmented its reputation for low prices with a number of Target-coded improvements such as refreshed stores, upscale product assortment, and smoother e-commerce options to see strong gains among higher-income shoppers.

Target's imitation game isn't faring so well.

The Bullseye retailer posted its fourth consecutive quarter of comparable sales declines on Wednesday, a stark contrast to Walmart's year of strong comp gains.

The numbers indicate Walmart (among others) may be picking Target's pocket in terms of market share as inflation-weary consumers hunt for the best value for their dollar.

Clearly something more urgent needs to be done if Target CEO Brian Cornell is going to fulfill his promise to return to comparable sales growth in the current quarter.

The most recent move came Monday when Target announced a batch of markdowns on thousands of commonly purchased items ranging from butter to baby wipes. Cornell said on the earnings call that the first round of 5%-30% reductions will collectively save shoppers "millions of dollars" this summer, with more to come.

In addition, Target's app and website now feature a Walmart-ian detail intended to convey savings: strikethrough prices that show item discounts.

"We believe that pricing and value transparency will only become more important with time and that we can continue to grow awareness of the great value we offer across our assortment," Target's chief growth officer Christina Hennington told investors.

Of course, those strikethroughs appear most frequently for members of the brand's free-to-join Circle membership program, which was revamped last quarter to include a paid tier for unlimited delivery that looks eerily similar to Walmart+. (Incidentally, Target+ refers to the company's third-party e-commerce marketplace offering.)

Confused yet? Wait until you hear about the company's competing private-label strategies.

Earlier this year, Target went after budget-minded buyers with a new line of essentials under the Dealworthy brand. Then late last month, Walmart took a shot at Target's Good & Gather-owned brand with an all-new upscale private label called Bettergoods.

While Walmart's Bettergoods appears to be winning over more customers, Hennington said Dealworthy is filling a critical spot in Target's range of products, and it's only just getting started.

"Where we've made surgical investment in supporting price points that were missing from our assortment, the guest is responding right away," she said. "When we introduced the right price points in Dealworthy, the guests noticed immediately and that drove unit and traffic acceleration in those categories."

Hennington also said the company is taking the opportunity to upgrade some of the offerings in its more established Up and Up brand.

"We've reformulated 40% of the products to add quality," she said. "Our star ratings and our reviews on Target.com have accelerated meaningfully as the guests have taken notice."

While the Targetification of Walmart is well underway and yielding good results for the retail juggernaut, the Walmartification of Target looks like it's still in early stages.

This summer will be a significant test of whether Target can win back some of the shoppers who have shifted over the past year toward Walmart — plus attract a few new ones.

• The public comment period on Biden's new student-loan forgiveness plan is over.
• This means borrowers are now one step closer to the relief, which is planned for the fall.
• Still, opponents of the plan have threatened legal challenges, jeopardizing the relief's timeline. 

Rachel, a Pennsylvania student-loan borrower, wants President Joe Biden's new debt cancellation plan to be implemented — and she wants the relief to be as broad as possible.

In a comment to the administration publicly available on the Federal Register, Rachel wrote that "the more student loan debt that can be forgiven the better."

She said her mom's student loans were forgiven last month, and during the over three-year student-loan payment pause, she was able to buy a home because she didn't have to pay her monthly student-loan bills.

"My loans are currently in repayment, and if that burden could be lifted it would be life-changing for me," she wrote.

Rachel is among the millions of federal student-loan borrowers contending with monthly bills again amid an uncertain time for relief. Biden's Education Department is working to implement a new debt relief plan after the Supreme Court struck down its first plan last summer.

The new plan — expected to benefit over 30 million borrowers — is focused on distinct categories for relief, including:

• cancellation of unpaid interest of up to $20,000;
• debt cancellation for borrowers who are eligible for — but have not yet enrolled in — relief under plans like Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment;
• relief for borrowers who entered repayment at least 20 years ago;
• and relief for borrowers who attended programs that left them with too much debt compared to post-grad earnings.

While a separate proposal for relief for borrowers experiencing financial hardship is expected to be unveiled in the coming months, the Education Department just concluded the public comment period for the other categories — meaning it is now one step closer to implementing the relief this fall.

But the road ahead isn't smooth. The department's proposal received a flood of negative comments, including a letter from 20 Republican state attorneys general who claimed the relief is unconstitutional.

"The least the American people should be able to expect is that people receiving debt cancelation actually apply for it and that the Department makes a determination on an individual basis," they wrote. "Instead, the Department is twisting the law to forgive as many loans as possible. This is wrong."

Some of those attorneys general have already filed lawsuits to block some of Biden's more targeted relief efforts, like relief through the new SAVE income-driven repayment plan, and it's highly likely lawsuits will arise once the administration gets closer to finalizing this new rule.

The administration has maintained confidence in the legality of its relief, vowing to move as quickly as possible so borrowers can start reaping the benefits this year.

"From day one of my Administration, I promised to fight to ensure higher education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity," Biden said in a recent statement. "I will never stop working to cancel student debt — no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us."

Where the challenges stand

The administration is required to adhere to the negotiated rulemaking process to implement this new student-loan forgiveness plan. That means it will now take into account all the comments it received on the plan, and it will decide whether to adjust its proposal or move toward implementation.

For now, the administration plans to begin implementing the relief this fall, coinciding with the presidential election. Should Biden win, relief efforts would continue, but former President Donald Trump would likely cease those efforts if he wins another term.

A host of Republican lawmakers have also called on the administration to rescind its proposed rule. Before the public comment period concluded, 130 of them signed onto a letter saying that "the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that there is zero authority to write-off federal student loans en masse last June when the Department's 'Plan A' was ruled unconstitutional."

In addition, experts previously told Business Insider that Biden is likely to face similar legal challenges to the ones he did the first time around when he attempted to cancel student debt using the HEROES Act of 2003. The HEROES Act allowed the education secretary to cancel student debt in connection to a national emergency, like the pandemic, which the Supreme Court ultimately ruled was unconstitutional.

Biden's administration is using the Higher Education Act this time, which does not require a national emergency. Still, Cary Coglianese, an administrative law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, previously told BI that Biden "is certainly still facing a very skeptical Supreme Court."

"Even though it's a different statute, it's still a skeptical Supreme Court," he said. "It's still a pretty big program even though it's a smaller one."

For now, all borrowers can do is continue to make their payments as they wait for debt relief — either through one of the administration's targeted efforts or the broader version set for the fall.

Have you gotten student-debt relief? Do you have loans and don't believe they should be forgiven? Reach out to this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• Trump's hush-money trial pauses Wednesdays for Manhattan mental health court cases.
• It's a completely different world once Trump and journalists decamp.
• Merchan remains his same commanding self but acts more like a kindly uncle than a strict headmaster.

For the past six weeks, the person in the chair has been the former president of the United States.

It is padded and made from weathered leather. The former president, who is also the presumptive Republican nominee in the next presidential election, makes himself comfortable.

He sits there for hours, leaning back, his eyes narrowed to slits, listening to his enemies testify against him.

He is flanked by a team of lawyers. Behind him are politicians from Washington, DC, paying fealty. Behind them, rows and rows of journalists sit for hours in hard, weathered wooden benches, shifting in their seats for a better look.

But on this day, a Wednesday, the chair was filled with a succession of anxious New Yorkers who had admitted to their crimes. They were there to get help.

The jury in Donald Trump's hush-money trial, over a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, is known not to sit on Wednesday. While the judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, is currently presiding over arguably the highest-profile criminal case in American history, he keeps the middle of his week clear for Manhattan's mental health court.

It is a completely different world. For Trump's trial, journalists and members of the public spend hours lining up outside the court, hoping to snag a seat in the courtroom or in a spillover room where they watch the proceedings on large TV screens. Hundreds are turned away.

On the two recent Wednesdays at the mental health court, in the same linoleum-tiled 15th-floor courtroom during the trial's off days, a Business Insider reporter was the only journalist there.

But for these Wednesday defendants, the stakes are no less high. They have effectively won the lottery to be offered another chance and avoid time in prison. It is hard.

In some respects, Merchan is his same old self in these sessions. He moves briskly and is on high alert for lawyerly evasiveness.

But in other ways, Merchan carries a different attitude.

Merchan plays the role of a strict headmaster in Trump's trial, holding high standards and keeping all the lawyers and witnesses on track. After a month of testimony, jurors will begin deliberating this week.

Merchan has held Trump in contempt 10 times for violating his gag order and threatened jail time, remaining vigilant after the former president's lawyers tried numerous attempts to delay the trial (and succeeding once).

In his mental health court, though, Merchan, who has presided over felony criminal trials since 2009, is more like a kindly uncle. He appears to genuinely want everyone to succeed. When a defendant shares a promising update, he cheers them on. When he chides, he does it gently.

"Keep it up," he tells defendants who give updates showing their lives are on track.

"You definitely turned it around since the last time I saw you, and I'm very glad to see that," he recently told one defendant after their lawyer said their client was improving after a rocky start to the program.

Not everyone has such good news to share.

The weather outdoors during two recent sessions was warm, but Merchan blasted the air conditioning, keeping the courtroom, which Trump derisively calls "the icebox," chilly.

On one day, a court employee wore a heavy black parka that reached past her knees. The hangers on the courtroom's coat rack remained untouched.

One defendant living in a treatment facility was caught with a contraband nicotine vape pen under her pillow. She was unable to get her usual prescription medications because her therapist had a "computer issue," she said. Merchan appeared let down, but remained sympathetic rather than skeptical, as some other judges might be.

In turn, the woman opened up to him about her depressive struggles to get out of bed, to go to group treatment sessions, or do much of anything. She was frozen with anxiety when she thought about the future, she said.

"I'm going to be honest with you, your honor," she said. "I'm not doing too great."

Sitting high above her at the bench, Merchan expressed his own frustrations about the world's unfairness and told her she didn't need to apologize for anything. The pressure of the future she was feeling, he said, was really the pressure of the responsibility she'll have for her own life once she graduates from the program.

"The future is going to be there," he said. "And you're going to be ready for it."

But he was still firm, reminding her that nicotine's addictive nature could put her back on the wrong path.

"You shouldn't be doing that," he said. "And we need to move past that."

"She is strong, and she can do this," her lawyer said.

"I agree," Merchan responded, beaming, before moving on to the next defendant.

Getting accepted is just the start

The Manhattan mental health court is one path available to those who plead guilty to felonies.

Few are able to take advantage of it.

Merchan is the sole judge of the mental health court in all of Manhattan, and has presided over it since its founding in 2011.

He is also the only judge overseeing another specialized court in Manhattan, which caters to veterans and has historically had a smaller caseload. Other specialized courts focus on defendants dealing with substance abuse issues and human trafficking. An Alternatives to Incarceration program, the largest diversion program in the borough, is also available as something of a catch-all, offering a holistic approach to criminal justice.

"No one's ever come out of prison better than they went in," Eliza Orlins, a New York City public defender who has represented several defendants in the mental health court, told Business Insider. "And so if there are things that we can do to help people rather than just punish them, obviously it's much, much better for everyone."

The mental health court has 56 ongoing cases in various stages, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office told Business Insider. The figure represents a small percentage of the thousands of felony cases it brings each year. Defendants need to demonstrate they have a history of mental illness and might need to speak to the district attorney's office about their past traumas. If the office allows it, a mental health court treatment plan can become part of their plea agreement, which includes different consequences for failures. And once that's hammered out, Merchan needs to accept the plea.

"It's really hard, a huge burden to even get so far as to be accepted into mental health court," said Orlins. "And that's just the start of it."

For those who Merchan approves to enter the program, he refers defendants to a psychiatrist, who then comes up with an individualized plan to address mental health and potential substance abuse issues. Often, it involves living in a mental healthcare treatment facility.

The defendants check in every few weeks, and if they complete the program to the Merchan's satisfaction, the indictment is dismissed.

But if they commit new infractions or don't successfully complete the program, they can be hit with the recommended sentence in their plea agreement, which can mean time in state prison.

Between 2014 and 2021, 300 individuals were referred to the Manhattan mental health court, according to a report from the district attorney's office. In that time, 190 were accepted into the program. Of them, 100 participants graduated, a process that typically takes between 12 and 24 months.

Recovering from mental health episodes, Orlins said, is simply hard. Not everyone can do it.

"In theory, they're good. And if people are successful, sure, great. But it's hard," she said,

Merchan declined an interview request for this story, telling Business Insider he couldn't set aside any time during the ongoing Trump trial. In an interview with the Associated Press, before the trial began, he said the mental health court let him "see people through a different lens" than he did while presiding over only ordinary criminal cases.

'If you are ever struggling and having a hard time, just speak up'

Merchan might have a dozen cases each morning, spending as little as a few minutes on each defendant. The appearances look different than a normal criminal case.

In addition to the prosecutors and defense attorneys, there are case managers, standing at the lectern where lawyers normally question witnesses, who give updates about how each defendant is progressing in their mental health treatment program.

Each defendant has a story. Merchan listens carefully, looking directly at them and giving his full attention. When their lawyers make a request, he covers his hand with his mouth, as he often does during the Trump trial, a tic for when he is thinking about how to rule.

On a recent Wednesday, Merchan accepted one man's plea and inducted them into the mental health court.

"You're now in Manhattan mental health court," he said. "Welcome."

"If you are ever struggling and having a hard time, just speak up," the judge offered in a friendly voice.

Another defendant seemed like he would be headed for prison.

He had "absconded," according to his lawyer, after telling his chaperone, "Sorry man, I need to see my wife" and then slipping away. No one could find him.

"As far as we know, he doesn't have a wife," his lawyer said.

The case manager seemed to tear up a little. The backlog of people trying to get into the defendant's treatment facility was long. And so even if he returned, he wouldn't be allowed back in. If you fail the mental health court program in such a dramatic fashion, the next step can be a sentencing hearing.

Merchan allowed law enforcement to go after him.

"Bench warrant entered," he said solemnly.

Another woman appearing before the judge had a more upbeat update. She spends an hour reading every day and recently subscribed to the Wall Street Journal's weekend section, her lawyer said. She befriended a woman named Iris at her local library, who helps her interpret sports statistics, according to the lawyer.

Merchan was encouraged. The future held promise.

"I would like to adjourn the case for graduation," he said, which would be held on June 26. It would be long after Trump had left, to return only for a possible sentencing.

The woman was the last case scheduled to be heard that day. But before everyone gathered their belongings, there was one more matter to address.

A tall, elderly, lanky lawyer had approached the well. He had a client who graduated from the program two years ago, he said, during which the client enrolled in business school. The client was now set to graduate from school and was seeking a job, and was worried that having the case on the books — even though the indictment was dismissed — would hurt his employment prospects.

Could the judge seal the case?

The prosecutors didn't object. "The case is sealed," Merchan said.

"Tell him I said hello and wish him well," Merchan said, smiling warmly.

• Business Insider analyzed U.S. News & World Report's list of the best places to live in America.
• Florida and Colorado dominate the ranking, with multiple cities in the top 50.
• Northeastern and western states, however, are home to fewer of the best cities to live in.

If you're looking for a place to live with relatively affordable homes and a high quality of life, the Southeast may be the best place to look.

The 2024 U.S. News & World Report list of the Best Places to Live in the US, which was released Tuesday, ranks 150 major cities based on their quality of life, education, crime rates, employment opportunities, and housing. Many are concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest.

Business Insider mapped the top 50 best places to live, with the top 15 colored dark blue. These cities have relatively affordable housing, ample job opportunities, and high life satisfaction.

States such as Florida, Colorado, and North Carolina were particularly well-represented, while the Northeast and Southwest were sparse.

Florida and Colorado have many of the best places to live

Florida had six cities in the top 50: Naples and Sarasota in the top 15, followed by Pensacola, Tampa, Fort Myers, and Melbourne.

Naples, Florida, took the top spot this year, beating out Boise, Idaho.

Southeastern Florida cities like Miami and Fort Lauderdale normally get most of the love from movers outside the state — or even the country. But this year, it's the western part of the peninsula that's well-represented on the list of best places to live.

Cities like Tampa, which landed in the 35th spot, have invested in their downtowns with nice office buildings and more lively communities to attract and keep younger movers.

The warm weather and lack of income tax have always been selling points for the Sunshine State, and the number of residents continues to increase.

Colorado had four cities in the top 50: Colorado Springs and Boulder in the top 15, followed by Fort Collins and Denver.

The Southeast is the region with the most top-ranked places to live

The Southeast dominated the list, with five in North Carolina, three in Tennessee, two in South Carolina, two in Kentucky, and one each in Georgia and Alabama.

Meanwhile, the Northeast only had three cities total in the top 50, all ranked in the 30s: Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Portland. There were just a handful in the Great Plains region, such as Davenport, Iowa, and Nebraska's two largest cities, Omaha and Lincoln.

Thousands of Americans are rushing into Texas from states like California and Florida, though only two cities, Austin and McAllen, are in the top 50. Austin is a newcomer this year to the top 15, driven by its growing tech scene.

Austin's tech scene has divided some movers who expected a culture similar to the Bay Area with a cheaper price tag. Even though some residents are jumping ship due to rising prices, Austin still offers job opportunities that other cities don't.

Unlike Austin, McAllen, Texas, likely made the top 50 based on its affordability.

According to the Council for Community and Economic Research, the average home price in McAllen was $265,667 in 2023,

California, many of whose cities have undergone a large exodus over the last few years, has only two cities in the top 50: San Francisco and San Diego. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah all have one each.

Some say the Golden State has been losing some of its shimmer. Between 2021 and 2022, California had a net outflow of nearly 350,000 residents, the census found. Many have been moving to Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Washington, citing factors such as high home prices, the climate crisis, and politics.

Have you recently moved to one of these cities or moved to another state for a better quality of life? Reach out to these reporters at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com and jpandy@businessinsider.com.