Apple announced a suite of updates for Global Disability Awareness Day.
Eye Tracking will let users control their iPhones and iPads by noticing where they look.
There's also a new music experience for deaf and hard of hearing users.
Apple will soon let iPad and iPhone users control their devices with a glance of their eyes.
A new AI-powered feature called Eye Tracking, unveiled Wednesday, is designed for people with physical disabilities. Apple said it's coming later this year.
The feature uses the front-facing camera to set up and calibrate, though Apple notes it doesn't access or share any data.
Users can navigate with Dwell Control, which works by monitoring how long the eyes stay trained on various controls. Users can access physical buttons and complete swipes and other gestures with their eyes.
"For nearly 40 years, Apple has championed inclusive design by embedding accessibility at the core of our hardware and software," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.
Eye Tracking will be included in iOS and iPadOS, with no additional hardware required, Apple said.
The tech giant rolled out a suite of changes ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday.
Other updates include Music Haptics, a new music experience for deaf or hard-of-hearing users in which taps and other vibrations are played along with music audio.
And two new features are designed for people with speech conditions: Vocal Shortcuts enables iPhone and iPad users to launch Siri shortcuts using custom phrases, while a Listen for Atypical Speech option can recognize a wider range of speech patterns.
Another cool feature may help motion sickness-plagued travelers.
Vehicle Motion Cues places moving black dots on the edge of device screens to denote which way a vehicle is moving. This helps motion sickness by assuaging the "sensory conflict between what a person sees and what they feel," Apple said.
JPMorgan Chase & Company Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon testifies at a Senate Banking Committee annual Wall Street oversight hearing, Sept. 22, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dimon must undergo up to two days of questioning by lawyers handling lawsuits over whether the bank can be held liable in financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of teenage girls and women, a federal judge said Tuesday, April 18, 2023.
AP Images/Jacquelyn Martin
The US should embrace full engagement with China, but expect a hard time along the way, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told Sky News.
This will remain difficult as long as China is close to Russia, he noted.
But Dimons says the US should treat Beijing as a competitor instead of an enemy.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon considers full US engagement as the right approach to China, but says obstacles will make it a difficult course to follow, he told Sky News.
Chief among issues is Beijing's strengthening relationship with Moscow, Dimon told the outlet on Wednesday: "As long as China is kind of on the side of Russia, we're going to have a hard time."
In many ways, the two countries have aligned themselves as the up-and-coming alternative to the Western order, and China has become a major counterpoint to the numerous sanctions burdening the Russian economy since its invasion of Ukraine.
Geopolitically, both nations are also pursuing a "no-limits" partnership, and have recently engaged in a joint military exercise near Taiwan. The straight — a point of contention between US and China — will also remain a barrier to productive talks, Dimon cited.
But aside from these headwinds, Dimon said that the US and its allies are in a good state to take on Beijing, and should approach it as a serious competitor, but not necessarily an enemy
"We have competition with China. I think the American government is doing the right thing to fully engage. That doesn't mean that China's going to like everything we do, just like we don't like everything they do, but it doesn't have to be war," he said. "It can be tough competition, and we should be prepared for that."
In this mindset, Dimon cited that the US shouldn't shy away from trade, despite some downsides that receive too much emphasis, he said.
"There are some downsides to trade. We focus too much on that," he said. "We should count our blessings, be strategic, be very thoughtful, fully engage with China. They're not an enemy — but they're competing."
His comments followed after President Biden issued a slew of tariffs against Chinese imports, which included quadrupling the tax rate on electric vehicle products.
I booked a consultation with Crate & Barrel's Design Desk to revamp my living room.
Crate & Barrel's CEO credits the Design Desk with driving more business to the brand.
I got personalized design help, product recommendations, and a 3D model of my space for free.
When I visited a Crate & Barrel store for the first time in March, I found the retailer excels at elevated home basics like whiteware dishes and furniture in polished neutrals.
I also learned about the Design Desk service offering free interior design consultations, which Crate & Barrel's CEO, Janet Hayes, has credited with driving more business to the brand.
I decided to give the Design Desk a try to see why it's been such a success for the company — and to help revamp my living space. I booked a virtual consultation with a designer on Crate & Barrel's website.
Take a look at how the Design Desk reimagined my New York City apartment.
The Design Desk offers in-store, in-home, and virtual appointments with interior designers.
Crate & Barrel in New York City.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
Crate & Barrel's 23,000-square-foot flagship store in New York City opened in November. Crate & Barrel CEO Janet Hayes credited the store's team of 30 designers, as well as Design Desk workstations on both floors, with the new location's success.
Hayes told Business of Home in February that the flagship store books three times more design appointments and does 20% more business than the old SoHo location, which was 40% larger.
I booked a meeting with an interior designer to see how they could help me improve my living space.
The Design Desk at Crate & Barrel.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I recently moved into a new apartment with more space than my old one. I chose to have the interior designer help me with my foyer and living room since I've found them the most puzzling to furnish.
While I have basic pieces of living-room furniture — an entryway table, sectional couch, dining table, and bookshelves — parts of the room still feel blank. I hoped that an interior designer could advise me on how to lay out the floor plan, enhance the room with more decor, and perhaps add some more pieces of furniture.
The online booking form asked me questions about which rooms I wanted help with, as well as my color and design preferences.
A question on Crate & Barrel's Design Desk booking form.
Crate & Barrel
The form consisted of seven questions and only took a few minutes to fill out.
It also provided a space to share inspiration photos or link to a Pinterest board of images to help the designer get a sense of my taste.
Once a form is submitted, a Design Desk team interior designer reaches out to coordinate further.
Abbey Walker, the Crate & Barrel designer I was paired with, asked for lots of photos of my apartment from various angles.
The author's foyer.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
The entryway of my apartment features a console table, a bench that functions as a shoe rack, and a colorful rug that has seen better days.
The large foyer leads right into the sunken living room, a layout I've never been quite sure how to furnish.
The author's living room viewed from the foyer.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I've seen some people with similar layouts use the foyer as a dining room, but that always seemed a bit too cramped for the dinner parties I like to host. I was eager for Walker's professional opinion about how best to use the long space.
The living room features bookshelves, a TV, a sectional couch, an expandable dining table, and lots of empty space on the walls and floor.
The author's living room.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I have a gallery wall of artwork from friends and family on the right side of the room, but the rest of the walls feel empty. With beige walls, a beige rug, and a beige couch, the room needs some more color, too.
Walker also requested measurements in order to create a three-dimensional model of the space and fill it with items from Crate & Barrel.
The measurements of the south wall of the living room.
Coren Feldman
I sent her a floor plan of my apartment that included the sizes of the foyer and living room, and measured out the placement of windows and doors on the walls so that she could create the 3D model.
For me, this was the most time-consuming part of the process — it took around two hours to put it all together. Measuring every corner of my apartment required balancing on a stepladder, wrangling a tape measure across large distances, and a good amount of math. I'd recommend having an extra set of hands to help you with this if you can.
After I sent everything in, Walker and I met for our virtual consultation.
Crate and Barrel interior designer Abbey Walker (left) in a consultation with the author.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
She asked me to describe my design style and share more about how I use the space.
"I think it's really important to view design not just as checking off things that you think you need within your space, but tuning in to how the client lives," she said.
I told her that I like minimalistic designs with pops of color and quirky details, and that I wanted to optimize my entryway-living room combination for hosting to make it feel cozy and inviting.
She also asked about my favorite colors and if there were any colors I definitely didn't want to see in the room. I'm not too picky about that — I actually prefer multicolored accent pieces instead of just picking one color to sprinkle throughout.
A few days later, the 3D rendering of my apartment appeared in my inbox. I couldn't believe how amazing it looked and that I hadn't paid a cent for it.
The new-and-improved living room design.
Crate & Barrel
Walker kept my current sectional couch and TV, but replaced everything else with items from Crate & Barrel. She added a new wool and viscose area rug that retails for $5,299 and replaced my dark wood TV stand with a lighter burl wood media console that retails for $1,999.
She also added a Henning leather accent chair for $1,599 for more color and seating options, as well as new coffee tables, a faux fig leaf tree, multicolored throw pillows, curtains, and additional art on the walls to fill the empty space I'd highlighted to her.
She recommended swapping the positions of the bookshelves and dining table to open up the room.
The Design Desk's rendering of the author's living room.
Crate & Barrel
"Moving your bookcases will create a separate living area space that is elevated and balanced," she wrote in her Design Desk notes. "It will also open up the whole room to have the table pulled out when needed."
She also recommended adding floating shelves near the table and a small gallery wall to the left of the TV. The shelves retail for $150 each, and the set of four picture frames for the gallery wall costs $239.80.
At $399 each, the white Petrie dining chairs she chose looked much nicer than my current ones, which I got for free from a neighborhood Facebook group.
In the virtual entryway, she replaced my small storage bench with a much larger one that also included hooks.
The reimagined entryway.
Crate & Barrel
I'd been unsure about whether to use the foyer for dining or simply as an entryway. Walker helped settle the debate by saying I shouldn't crowd the area too much.
"Keeping the entryway open and minimal will make it feel inviting," she wrote.
The Batten brown oak storage bench and panel set, which offered hidden storage to conceal clutter, costs $1,711 from Crate & Barrel.
She also reimagined the entryway table as a canvas for pieces of decor and floral displays.
The entryway as envisioned by Crate & Barrel's Design Desk.
Crate & Barrel
Walker's choice of a dark-blue rug for the high-traffic foyer area seemed more practical than my current one, which has turned gray over the years. The rug she included in the 3D floor plan retails for $1,599.
Altogether, the Crate & Barrel products chosen by the Design Desk for my apartment totaled $21,802.44.
The Crate & Barrel product list.
Crate & Barrel
I'm not able to spend that much on redecorating my apartment at the moment, but I appreciated learning some of the design principles that informed my interior designer's thought process. I was also grateful to finally get some answers to my design quandaries.
If I had wanted to buy anything from this list, I would have been able to work with an in-store Design Desk designer to look at the items in person and coordinate deliveries.
I can see why the Design Desk drives so much business for Crate & Barrel. On average, hiring an interior designer costs $100 per hour, with some charging up to $500 per hour, Forbes reported. While the price of the suggested product list was steep, getting personalized advice from the Design Desk was completely free.
One simple change I did make, inspired by the 3D model, was adding more art to the wall where my TV is.
The author's living room with additional art.
Talia Lakritz/Business Insider
I initially hadn't put artwork next to the TV because I thought it would be too distracting, but I loved how the gallery wall frames in Walker's design filled the blank space.
I hung two paintings by my grandmother, a prolific artist, and am thrilled with the way they look there.
Isla Moon is an OnlyFans creator who runs two profiles where she posts adult content.
Isla Moon
OnlyFans is a subscription-focused online platform with messaging features.
Creators can post content behind a paywall, and users pay to access it.
The platform has become popular among adult-content creators, with some making millions of dollars.
OnlyFans is an online platform where creators can publish paywalled content and chat with subscribers.
A creator's followers can access the content by subscribing to their account. Most subscriptions cost a few dollars a month, but some accounts are free.
Subscriptions, however, are not the only way creators can make money on OnlyFans. The platform offers a variety of monetization options, like direct messaging, tips, pay-per-view content, livestreaming, and more. Some OnlyFans models make millions of dollars a year selling pictures and videos to their subscribers.
OnlyFans has become a popular way for adult-content creators to make money.
The platform has grown exponentially since it was founded in 2016 — and there's a lot of opportunity for creators. OnlyFans exploded during the pandemic, reporting a 75% increase in sign-ups between March and April 2020. The company's most recent tax filings show that OnlyFans users spent over $5.6 billion on the platform in 2022, and there were over 3 million registered creators for almost 250 million fans.
Bryce Adams has amassed almost 1 million subscribers on Onlyfans.
Courtesy of Bryce Adams
Why OnlyFans is controversial
Adult content has been the main source of controversy for OnlyFans.
Celebrities like Bella Thorne, Blac Chyna, and Bhad Bhabie have taken advantage of the popularity of the platform and begun sharing content there, sometimes sparking backlash. When Bella Thorne made $1 million in a day, sex workers accused her of "gentrifying" the platform and failing to acknowledge their work.
OnlyFans also stoked the ire of sex workers when it tried to ban explicit content in the summer of 2021. It reversed the decision almost immediately.
Security concerns have also been raised about OnlyFans. For instance, a 2021 BBC investigation found that underage people had published explicit content there after finding ways to bypass the platform's age-verification system.
Another major issue for OnlyFans is revenge porn. A 2024 Reuters investigation found that over 120 people had filed complaints with the US police because they were included in explicit content published on OnlyFans without their consent.
Creators on the platform who publish content that is not safe for work also say that content leaks are frequent. OnlyFans has put measures in place to prevent screenshotting and downloading pictures and videos to try to limit this practice.
OnlyFans did not respond to a request for comment on the issues outlined above.
Another source of controversy, particularly among subscribers of adult-content creators, has been ghostwriting. Some creators have outsourced chatting to assistants or outside agencies to keep up with the high volume of interactions with their subscribers.
Recently, some creators have turned to using different forms of artificial intelligence for their content, including chatbots that can interact with subscribers. Some in the industry worry this may erode the trust their audiences have in them.
An AI-generated picture of adult-content creator Jessica Moore, made using the platform My.Club.
Jessica Moore/My.Club
How much does OnlyFans cost?
The price of an OnlyFans subscription can vary widely depending on the creator. Many creators set their price at a few dollars a month, but some also charge up to $25 or $30, while others keep their pages free of charge. Some models maintain multiple profiles at different price points to cater to different audiences.
OnlyFans takes a 20% cut of each page's earnings, while the remaining 80% goes to creators.
"I was absolutely in the dark," said creator Morgan Edwards, who uses the pseudonym "Kitty K" online, about establishing the price of her page on the platform. "One of the things that I did was really just sit back, observe, and sort of do what others did."
On top of subscriptions, there are a variety of other services creators can offer for additional charges, like personalized videos or texting sessions. Some create "tip menus" listing the types of content they provide for subscribers and how much they cost.
The amount of money OnlyFans creators make can vary — it usually starts small, but many creators are able to build up their incomes. Business Insider spoke with eight creators about their yearly earnings, and their answers ranged from $143,000 to $5.4 million.
The relationships OnlyFans creators build with their subscribers rely heavily on a monetary exchange. Some models, like Swedish Amber Sweetheart, have been able to earn millions of dollars by selling "connections" with their fans.
Amber Sweetheart has made millions of dollars on OnlyFans by selling "a connection" to her subscribers.
Amber Sweetheart
How to make $10,000 on OnlyFans
There's a lot of opportunity on OnlyFans, and many creators have been able to build their income to $10,000 a month.
The key to growing a subscriber base on the platform is ensuring traffic from outside sources, like other social-media platforms, because OnlyFans does not have a discovery algorithm.
Creators often use platforms like Twitter or Reddit to find potential new subscribers because those services tend to be friendly to adult content.
Despite its serious limitations on explicit content, some models have found TikTok helpful in bringing new audiences to their pages, thanks to its powerful algorithm.
For some of the more popular creators, another lucrative income stream is offering promotional "shoutouts" to smaller accounts in exchange for a fee. Creators collectively spend millions of dollars each month on this marketing practice.
It's not uncommon for OnlyFans creators to publish adult content without showing their faces.
Farrah, a former healthcare worker turned adult entertainer, has been able to make over $1 million in revenue without revealing her identity. One of the key ways she uses to promote her account is by posting regularly on Reddit.
Mrs Robinson is another creator who began posting on the platform without showing her face. She relies on the "hot teacher" persona she's built online and charges extra to reveal her face to subscribers in pay-per-view messages.
Renaissance Technologies bought 1 million GameStop shares last quarter.
Reuters
A top hedge fund built a GameStop stake from scratch last quarter ahead of the meme stock's surge.
Renaissance Technologies' 1 million shares were briefly worth $65 million at Tuesday's high.
RenTech, founded by the late Jim Simons, also boosted its AMC bet and pared Tesla and Nvidia.
A world-beating hedge fund revealed it built a GameStop stake from scratch last quarter, making it a potential winner from the meme stock's explosive leap this week.
Renaissance Technologies owned 1 million shares of the video-game retailer at the end of March, a position worth $13 million at the time, its first-quarter portfolio update shows.
GameStop stock was up more than 400% at its Tuesday high, briefly valuing RenTech's stake at $65 million if still intact. The stock has retreated from that peak of nearly $65 to about $33 on Wednesday, which still leaves the company worth more than $10 billion.
The breathless rally in GameStop shares had been fueled by Keith "Roaring Kitty" Gill's return to social media this week. The retail investor was one of the biggest winners from the social-media frenzy that caused GameStop to skyrocket in early 2021.
RenTech trusts algorithms to decide many of its trades, resulting in sweeping changes to its stock portfolio each quarter. It was founded by Jim Simons, the noted MIT math professor and Cold War codebreaker who died on Friday.
The quant fund made other striking changes to its holdings last quarter.
It slashed its Nvidia stake by nearly two-thirds from about 1.5 million shares to 551,000 shares, cutting the position's value from about $767 million to around $498 million.
Rentech also pared its Tesla stake from 2.6 million shares worth $635 million to 1.8 million shares worth $316 million. Moreover, it piled into another meme stock: AMC Entertainment. It boosted its bet on the theater chain from 4.9 million shares worth about $30 million in December to 8.7 million shares in March, valued at $60 million at Tuesday's close.
The total value of the firm's stock portfolio was almost flat at about $64 billion. Its top three holdings were Novo-Nordisk, Palantir, and Meta at the end of March. Uber and Nvidia were its second- and third-largest positions three months earlier.
It's worth emphasizing that quarterly portfolio updates only provide a snapshot of a firm's holdings on a particular date, and exclude shares sold short, private investments, and overseas bets.
They don't always paint a full picture of the investing strategy behind the picks, especially when algorithms are dictating trades.
Some big media companies are trying to package streaming services together in an old-fashioned bundle. You don't really want that to happen.
Coprid/Getty, MirageC/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
Big media companies are bundling TV services. Again.
This makes some people happy, in theory: For some reason, they have fond memories of TV's olden days.
But the new bundles aren't the same as the old bundle — and that's a good thing. The old bundle was a terrible way to watch, and pay for, TV.
I'm continually baffled when I hear people — oftentimes, smart people! — pine for the good ol' days of the TV bundle.
You have heard it, too. Maybe you say it yourself. Something like "There are too many shows on too many streamers and I just wish we could go back to the time when we paid one company and got all the TV we wanted in one thing. Like cable TV."
And now I hear some of you cheering for it, as Big Media companies announce that they're "bringing back the bundle."
These aren't the old-timey bundles you're thinking of, and I can explain why in a minute.
But more important: Unless you work at a Big TV company, you don't want the bundle to come back! It was a terrible way to pay for and watch TV, and when it was around, most of you complained about it.
For those of you who weren't around and/or don't remember: The old-timey TV bundle was a take-it-or-leave-it package, sold to you by your local cable monopoly (which you likelyhated). Never watched sports? Didn't matter, you were paying for ESPN, anyway. Never watched old movies? You still paid for TCM. Not into Rupert Murdoch's politics? You paid up for Fox News, regardless.
But it was worse than that. The old-timey bundle was also a prerequisite for some things you might want, like HBO or Showtime. Your local cable monopoly would only sell you those channels once you'd already subscribed to the basic bundle. And good luck unsubscribing to any of this stuff whenever you decided you were done with it — like you can with a single click for a streamer — the cable industry was infamous for making it hard to leave.
In short, think of all the things you like about the internet-enabled on-demand economy, where you order and consume what you want, when you want, ideally with multiple companies competing for your time and money. That's the opposite of the old-timey bundle.
And now, let's talk about the new-fangled bundle, which isn't the bundle you're thinking of.
Start with this: The Big TV guys are not "bringing back the bundle" because they want to give you what they want. They're trying to solve a problem that besets almost all of them: They're losing money running their streaming services.
And they think these bundles will help them save money on marketing (or "extend their marketing reach," if you like that framing better). And, crucially, they think the bundles will make you less likely to cancel their streaming service — a huge problem for the industry — if your subscription is also tied to other streaming services.
That's it. That's the whole thing.
Yes, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts promises that the bundle he's going to sell (exclusively to Comcast customers) will "come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today," but we've all seen how pricing works for this stuff — you start low, and then start ratcheting up. Which is why Disney+ launched without ads for $7 a month in 2019, and why the ad-free version of that service now costs $14 a month in 2024.
But maybe what you're really pining for is a better way to find the stuff you're already paying for. Maybe what you really want is a single screen where you can see everything your subscriptions will let you watch. That sounds pretty good, right?
Alas. You're definitely not getting that anytime soon because whoever controlled that single screen would be very powerful indeed. And no one with any power in the TV business wants to give more power to someone else unless they're desperate. (That's why Netflix didn't cooperate with Apple TV's guide when it launched in 2017 and still doesn't today.)
Because when companies consolidate, they … consolidate. They're going to find ways to cut costs wherever they can, and that most certainly includes programming. (For a refresher, consult the recent history of Warner Bros. Discovery, which fused the company that used to be called Time Warner with the Discovery networks and has been sheddingcontenteversince.)
And even without that consolidation, the TV guys are cutting back on new programming, after a decade-long "peak TV" boom while they spent wildly — in order to get you to subscribe to their channels. So the too-much-stuff-to-watch problem is going to be less of a problem, no matter what. Careful what you wish for.
The clerical worker in Minnesota has struggled to rise up the ranks throughout her career. She said she's earning a salary similar to some entry-level positions despite nearly three decades in her current role. She's nervous that even though she's eligible for a pension in a few years, it won't supplement Social Security payments nearly enough to live comfortably.
"I can't afford life while working. How can I even think of retiring?" the St. Paul, Minnesota resident said.
Cathy is among the 30 million "peak boomers" born between 1959 and 1964 who will reach the traditional retirement age of 65 in the next few years. However, many are struggling to make ends meet, let alone have enough saved for retirement. Over half of peak boomers have just $250,000 or below in assets, according to the Alliance for Lifetime Income's Retirement Income Institute.
Many peak boomers also fall into the growing category of ALICE, which stands for asset-limited, income-constrained, and employed. Many ALICE Americans fall above the federal poverty level and typically earn too much to qualify for government assistance, though most can't afford their daily expenses.
"People are educated, and they're trying to make a better living, but there are a lot of us who are barely making it because our wages are not livable," Cathy said. "We've been working our whole lives and working hard."
Living as an ALICE
Cathy grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, after which she enrolled in law school. She worked full-time as a legal secretary at the Attorney General's office while in school part-time at night.
She said the job didn't work out, as her supervisor disapproved of her leaving an hour early each day to attend classes. Law school didn't pan out after two years, and she was laid off from her government position. She still had loads of student loan debt, and she took jobs in Minneapolis as a legal secretary at different law firms.
After a decade, she hadn't climbed the corporate ladder at any firm, so she returned to working for the state government to attempt to make more money and not lose benefits. She worked at the Department of Revenue in the mailroom, then got a job as an administrative assistant for the state's college system, which she kept for about 25 years.
Because she worked for the college system, she received free tuition for a degree, so she obtained a master's in public administration shortly before the pandemic. She believed this would help her propel her career and get her out of a cycle of financial instability.
However, even with a master's, she said she couldn't find anything higher-paying than clerical work, as she was constantly told she didn't have enough experience. She makes about $20 an hour and has good health insurance and vacation and sick leave, though she works part-time jobs as a tax consultant to supplement her income, which she said is common among many she knows.
She's frustrated that even with decades of experience and years of networking, she feels trapped in a position that doesn't pay her enough to fully get by. She said she's seen entry-level positions offering a similar salary to what she makes now after 25 years.
"I was told, you can't get a professional position because you don't supervise. You can't get a professional position because you don't deal with budget," Cathy said. "How are you supposed to get that experience when all you do is give me clerical work?"
She added that even finding flexible part-time work has been a struggle — she's applied to many part-time positions that would require late hours or long weekends.
"The competition for part-time jobs is huge, everybody's applying, but employers are not flexible for people who work full-time," she said. "The way things keep going up? When is it going to stop? People are barely making it. A lot of couples, one is retired, the other is still working."
'Barely making it'
For over three decades, she lived in an apartment complex in St. Paul with affordable rent that rarely increased. Recently, she said her building owners changed and forced residents to reapply for their apartments due to remodeling, and many left for more affordable apartments.
She said the rent in her new apartment, which is now over $1,500 for a two-bedroom, increases at least $70 each year. She lives alone, meaning she's reliant solely on what she brings in. Buying a home hasn't crossed her mind for years, she said, even with first-time buyer programs.
"My parents said education will get you somewhere. Well, not always," Cathy said. "The joke is that I'm one of the most educated clericals in the state of Minnesota."
Her biggest expenses are various loans that she can't consolidate due to high interest rates. To keep grocery bills down, she often coupons and only shops at the least expensive stores. She's grateful that she can work from home, which saves money on transportation.
"I don't own anything except a car, I always have to rent, but I don't know how seniors on limited income are paying rent," Cathy said.
She recently got her $40,000 in student loans forgiven from law school, though she said paying off much of it for 25 years on a clerical salary was challenging, especially with increased interest.
She thinks she can retire in five to seven years and get a pension that could give her enough to survive, though she's not confident she'll have enough. Per the Rule of 90 in Minnesota, in which a person becomes eligible for retirement benefits when their age plus years worked for the government exceeds 90, she can retire this year, though she would have to pay her health insurance until Medicare kicks in at 65.
"My biggest worry is how are we going to be able to keep affording rent when it keeps going up like that?" Cathy said. "There is only so much income I have. I live off of what I make every two weeks, and it's scary."
Are you a peak boomer or ALICE? Are you worried about retirement? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.
On Wednesday morning, Biden's campaign proposed two presidential debates outside the traditional nonpartisan organization that has scheduled such contests for decades. Their suggestion includes an unprecedented June debate, which would easily be the earliest major presidential debate. Biden quickly accepted CNN's proposed date for a June 27th showdown.
I’ve received and accepted an invitation from @CNN for a debate on June 27th. Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place.
Biden's reelection team is selling a "Free on Wednesdays" shirt to tout their debate proposal, a not-so-subtle reference to Trump's ongoing Manhattan criminal trial. Trump is in court most of the week, and has sometimes fallen asleep throughout the trial. One of the few exceptions is Wednesdays when Justice Juan Merchan has scheduled breaks in the proceedings.
"Trump's acting like he wants to debate the President," the item's description reads. "We hear he's free on Wednesdays. Let's do it!"
The shirt costs $32 and is the latest example of a burgeoning trend where campaigns try to make money from merchandise to meet short-lived trends. Non-traditional merchandise can be lucrative to campaigns; Trump's 2020 reelection famously made more than $450,000 from plastic straw sales alone.
Trump quickly accepted Biden's offer, though he added that the pair should meet up more than twice. Traditionally, presidential candidates square off three times, which includes a town hall-style debate.
"I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That's only because he doesn't get them," Trump wrote on Truth, his social media platform. "Just tell me when, I'll be there. 'Let's get ready to Rumble!!!;'"
The biggest shake-up to presidential debates in decades
Biden's proposed debates would be in June and early September. His camp has also proposed a vice-presidential debate in late July after the Republican National Convention.
In addition, Biden proposed greater restrictions on when a candidate's microphone is live, an almost certain nod to the debacle that ensued during the first 2020 presidential debate when Trump continued to interrupt Biden.
Biden's campaign also moved to effectively block third-party candidates from participating in the debate. Under the commission's rules, candidates must reach a polling threshold to make the stage. Since the imposition of that requirement, no third-party hopeful has made a commission-hosted debate. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, is the closest long shot to meeting that threshold.
Biden campaign chair Jen O'Malley Dillon wants to go a step further.
"The debates should be one-on-one, allowing voters to compare the only two candidates with any statistical chance of prevailing in the Electoral College – and not squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming President," Dillon wrote in her letter outlining the proposal.
Trump and Biden agree on very little, but their respective campaigns have signaled they are ready to move beyond the nonpartisan nonprofit that has scheduled presidential debates since George H.W Bush's reelection campaign in 1988. The organization, the Commission on Presidential Debates, has faced criticism in recent years, especially from Republicans, over its selection of moderators.
In a message to the commission, O'Malley Dillon echoed her Trump counterparts' previous statements that the commission's currently scheduled debates are too late in the calendar. The first debate is scheduled for September 16, with the last set to conclude on October 6, a slate that would end long after millions of Americans have already voted early in the contest. O'Malley Dillon also took issue with the way the commission chooses its venues.
"The Commission's model of building huge spectacles with large audiences at great expense simply isn't necessary or conducive to good debates," she wrote in a letter to the group. "The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home– not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering."
In response to Trump's previous concerns, the commission said it picked its schedule carefully.
"The first debate, scheduled for September 16, will be the earliest televised general election debate ever held," the commission said in a statement earlier this month.
"As it always does, the CPD considered multiple factors in selecting debate dates in order to make them accessible by the American public. These factors include religious and federal holidays, early voting, and the dates on which individual states close their ballots."
A worker collects shopping carts from the parking lot of a Walmart store in Chicago.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Walmart has announced closures for nine locations across five states in 2024 so far.
The company cited financial underperformance as the reason for the decisions.
The company plans to open or begin construction on 14 new locations this year.
Walmart will close Neighborhood Markets in Aurora, Colorado, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as a Bay Area store, bringing the number of confirmed closures so far this year to nine.
Layoff notices filed with the states of Colorado, Wisconsin, and California follow the closures earlier this year of four stores in California, one in Maryland, and one in Ohio. In those cases, the company said the stores were not meeting financial performance expectations.
"We are grateful to the customers who have given us the privilege of serving them at our San Diego and El Cajon stores," Walmart spokesperson Brian Little said in a statement to Business Insider in January. "We look forward to continuing to serve them at any of our many locations across the area, on Walmart.com, and through delivery to their home or business."
In each case, the company said workers are eligible for transfer to another location, and Walmart will continue to operate over a dozen stores and warehouse clubs in each local market.
Walmart had over 4,600 retail locations in the US as of February, a figure that includes 3,560 supercenters, 360 discount stores, and 675 neighborhood markets. It also owns nearly 600 Sam's Club warehouses.
The company said in January it will build or up-size over 150 stores in the next five years, starting with 14 new locations this year. Four of the new locations will be in Texas, with three in the Dallas area and one near Houston, the Dallas Morning News reported.
In addition, some 650 locations will be renovated to the brand's "Store of the Future" concept.
Last year, Business Insider tracked the closures of at least 22 Walmart locations across the US, including four in Chicago. Financial performance was cited in those cases as well.
Here are the latest Walmart closings:
California:
2121 Imperial Ave. in San Diego
605 Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon
2753 E. Eastland Center Dr. in West Covina
4080 Douglas Blvd in Granite Bay (Neighborhood Market)
40580 Albrae St. in Fremont
Colorado
10400 E Colfax Ave. in Aurora
Maryland:
1238 Putty Hill Ave in Towson
Ohio:
3579 S. High St. in Columbus
Wisconsin
7025 W Main St. in Milwaukee (Neighborhood Market)
Here are the confirmed new locations:
Georgia:
Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Atlanta (Neighborhood Market)
Florida:
U.S. Highway 98 East in Santa Rosa Beach (Neighborhood Market)
Texas
Preston Road in Celina (Dallas area)
16600 FM 423 in Frisco (Dallas area)
McKinney Street in Melissa (Dallas area)
8927 Fry Road in Cypress (Houston area)
8 additional locations are planned to be announced this year.
Do you work or shop at one of the Walmart stores above and want to share your thoughts? Contact reporter Dominick Reuter from a non-work email at dreuter@businessinsider.com or call/text/Signal at 646.768.4750.
Employee sentiment toward senior leadership is a big factor in attracting and retaining talent. So which companies are doing the best job of leading their businesses in their employees' eyes?
A new Glassdoor ranking published Wednesday sought to find out. It's based on reviews submitted between March 1, 2023, and Feb 29, 2024, by current employees as well as former employees who left in 2023 or 2024.
To be eligible, companies needed to have at least 100 ratings across each of two leadership attributes — CEO job performance and senior management rating — from US-based employees. They also needed at least 1,000 employees at the end of the eligibility period.
The best-represented industry in the list was tech, followed by finance, consulting, and retail. Glassdoor also analyzed 5-star senior management reviews from the US in that time period and found several keywords repeatedly popped up: collaborative, supportive, flexible, inclusive, passionate, and culture.