• A German political party proposed a government cap on doner kebabs.
• The price of the popular dish has more than doubled due to inflation, The Guardian reported.
• Chancellor Scholz previously dismissed the possibility of price caps.

A German political party is calling for the government to cap the soaring price of doner kebabs, which has more than doubled in the past two years due to inflation.

The food has been a staple in Germany since it was introduced by Turkish immigrants in the 1970s.

Around €7 billion, or around $7.5 billion, worth of doner kebabs are sold every year in Germany, according to The Guardian and The Independent.

The Left Party said some kebab businesses had increased prices from €4 (around $4.30) to €10 (around $10.80) in two years, The Guardian reported.

Kathi Gebel, the youth policy spokesperson on the board of the Left Party, told Business Insider that kebabs cost at least €7 ($7.55) across the country.

She said the government "must intervene to prevent food from becoming a luxury item."

The party plans to propose a government price cap of €4.90 (around $5.30) or €2.90 (around $3.10) for young people, The Guardian reported.

It reportedly envisages using billions of euros of state funds to cap the price. It would then use subsidised vouchers to make up the difference for distributors.

In an Instagram post, the German government said in February that prices of the doner kebab are rising because of rising wages and energy costs.

"High rent, energy, and food are the main costs for kebab shops. If those decrease, then kebab prices also decrease," Gebel told BI.

"The kebab price will remain high if the government does not change anything," she said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke about the issue in the past, saying that he is asked by young people "everywhere I go" if there should be a price reduction for doner kebabs, according to the outlet.

In 2023, Scholz was heckled by a member of the public who said: "Speak with Putin … I'm paying eight euro for a doner."

Scholz previously ruled out implementing price caps, instead highlighting the "good work of the European Central Bank" in handling inflation, according to The Guardian.

The Federal Statistical Office said overall consumer prices in Germany rose by 5.9% in 2023. It added that energy prices in the country rose by 5.3% in 2023, compared to a staggering 29.7% increase in 2022.

The organization said the increase in prices could be attributed to the "impact of war and multiple crises."

The German government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Ukraine used exploding drone boats to attack Russian naval assets on Monday.
• Footage and imagery from the attack appeared to show drones with an unusual adaptation.
• The unmanned systems could be seen armed with what were identified as heat-seeking missiles. 

Ukraine appears to be arming its naval drones with heat-seeking missiles to defend against air attacks, an unusual innovation for Kyiv's growing arsenal of explosive unmanned systems.

The newly upgraded drone boats were first observed in combat on Monday during a Ukrainian attack that resulted in a hit on a Russian military speedboat in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Russia's defense ministry published footage of a helicopter defending against one of the Ukrainian drones during the attack. In the video, the unmanned boat can be seen evading heavy fire slightly above the waterline while carrying a white object that appears to resemble a missile. Eventually, there's an explosion. Moscow claims it destroyed five drones during the engagement.

After the attack, various open-source intelligence accounts, Russian military bloggers, and other observers began to point out on social media that the Ukrainian drone boats had been outfitted with R-73 short-range air-to-air missiles.

Photos circulating online showed at least one drone with two launching rails and a single missile, and additional video footage that surfaced online appeared to capture the engagement from inside a Russian helicopter.

Business Insider was unable to immediately verify the footage and images published from the attack, nor could it independently confirm that the Ukrainian drones were outfitted with R-73 missiles.

Called the AA-11 Archer by NATO, the Soviet-era R-73 missile is equipped with infrared homing technology and is typically carried by fighter aircraft like the MiG-29 or Su-35. Equipping the Ukrainian drones with this kind of air-combat munition could help them defend against aerial attacks, war watchers suspect.

"Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces had adapted the drones to defend against Russian strikes, particularly from helicopters, with heat-seeking missiles and to break through containment booms," conflict analysts at the Institute for the Study of War think tank wrote in a Monday assessment.

They added that "several prominent Russian milbloggers expressed anger that the Russian military bureaucracy is causing Russian forces to respond too slowly to Ukrainian maritime drone adaptations."

One milblogger affiliated with Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper noted on Telegram that the Ukrainian missile innovation for sea drones came in response to increased Russian helicopter patrols around the Black Sea.

"From the air they are easier to detect and quickly destroy," they said of the drones, noting that the Ukrainian uncrewed vessel managed to fire a missile at the helicopter but missed. They said these drones might be used to provide cover for other uncrewed vessels.

A general in the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, previously told BI that Russia constantly has planes and combat helicopters patrolling around the western Black Sea as it struggles to protect its naval assets from Kyiv's fleet of exploding drone boats.

Ukraine doesn't have a proper navy, so it has relied heavily on exploding drone boats and long-range cruise missiles to wreak havoc on Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Kyiv has damaged and destroyed scores of warships and forced Moscow to relocate many of its vulnerable capabilities away from the fleet headquarters in Crimea to positions across the Black Sea to the Russian port city of Novorossiysk.

Monday's naval drone attack marked the latest strike on a Russian naval asset. A Ukrainian Magura V5 drone boat struck a smaller, $3 million Russian combat vessel.

Kyiv's military intelligence agency said after the attack that "since the fear of Ukrainian attacks forces the occupiers to hide large ships of the Black Sea Fleet away from the peninsula, combat work continues against the high-speed maneuverable military vessels of the Russians."

• General Motors is seeking to recruit students impacted by Tesla's recent internship rescindments.
• Tesla has been laying off workers and revoking internships as part of recent cutbacks.
• GM has a history of hiring former Tesla employees, including high-ranking executives.

General Motors is ready to capitalize on Tesla layoffs — at least according to one recruiter.

Laura del Amo, a talent sourcing strategist for GM, took to LinkedIn on Monday to call on students who'd been hit by Tesla's recent decision to rescind internship offers to reach out for opportunities at the Detroit-based automaker.

"In light of recent industry news, GM is extending an invite to software students who may have been impacted from the changes in Tesla's upcoming summer internship cohort," the recruiter wrote. "We believe in the strength of our automotive community and are keen to integrate diverse talents into our team. If you are now looking for a new internship opportunity, let's connect."

Del Amo and a spokesperson for GM did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider ahead of publication.

Last week, several students who'd been offered internships at Tesla said the company had canceled their offers just a few weeks before their programs were set to start. The internship program is just one of several areas where Tesla has made cutbacks over the past month. On April 15, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told staff the company planned to eliminate more than 10% of its workforce. Since, it has has continued to layoff workers in waves. On Monday, Tesla workers entered their fourth week of layoff notices.

It's not the first time GM has scooped up a former Tesla employee. In February, the automaker hired Kurt Kelty, a former executive at Tesla, to serve as VP of Battery. And in March GM brought in JP Clausen, the former VP of Tesla's Austin Gigafactory.

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com

• Stormy Daniels took the stand at Trump's hush-money trial Tuesday.
• The adult-film actress stood 20 feet from Trump in court and swore to tell the truth.
• Trump allegedly falsified records to hide an election-influencing, $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels.

He calls her "horseface." She calls him "Tiny."

On Tuesday, these two arch-enemies — with a potential felony conviction at stake — faced each other for the first time in a decade at former President Donald Trump's criminal hush-money trial.

"My name is Stormy Daniels," the porn star at the center of the historic trial said as she swore to tell the truth while at the witness stand of a Manhattan courtroom, just 20 feet from Trump.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, wore black-rimmed glasses and an all-black loose-fitting shirt and sweater as she took the witness said.

Trump sat at the defense table, his posture slightly slumped. He looked down at the defense table, not at Daniels, as she began her testimony.

Daniels began her testimony by answering biographical information for the jury.

She told the court she moved out of her family home in high school because she had trouble living with her mother.

"Have you supported yourself ever since?" Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger asked.

"Yes," she responded.

Daniels told the jury she directed her first adult film at age 23

"I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, adult feature directors," she said.

Daniels — and the $130,000 hush money payment that purchased her silence just 11 days before the 2016 election — is the reason Trump has been on trial in Manhattan since mid-April.

Prosecutors for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg say that Trump falsified 34 Trump Organization business documents throughout 2017, his first week in office, when he reimbursed then-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen for paying Daniels the hush money.

The business records — shown to jurors for the first time on Monday — disguised Cohen's reimbursement checks as "legal fees," hiding what was actually an illegal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, prosecutors say.

Daniels is an adult entertainment entrepreneur who has capitalized on her connection to Trump, writing a book, participating in a controversial documentary, and embarking on a "Make America Horny Again" tour of strip clubs.

She and Trump, the then-Apprentice star, had sex one night in 2006, she insists, in Trump's hotel suite during a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe — an allegation Trump vehemently denies.

In a now-deleted early Tuesday morning post on Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, the former president fumed after he apparently found out Daniels would take the witness stand on Tuesday.

"I have just recently been told who the witness is today. This is unprecedented, no time for lawyers to prepare," Trump's 7:30 a.m. post read, adding, "No judge has ever run a trial in such a biased and partisan way."

When asked by a reporter in the courtroom hallway why he deleted the post, Trump ignored the question and instead denounced the protests taking place on college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war.

Additionally, Trump again maintained that the payments to Cohen were for a "legal expense."

"They marked it down in the books, the check was signed," Trump told reporters before he headed into the courtroom. "And the other thing, this was approved by all agencies, everybody saw this, there was nothing being hidden at all."

Before the jury was called in Tuesday, attorneys for Trump objected to Daniels "testifying about any sexual act."

"We're informed the witness today, the second witness, will be Stormy Daniels," Trump defense attorney Susan Necheles told New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, adding that testimony about any sexual act would be "unduly prejudicial."

Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger explained that there will be details in Daniels' testimony about how the porn star "ended up having a sexual encounter" with Trump.

"In terms of the sexual act, it's going to be very basic," she added. "It's not going to be descriptions of genitalia or anything of that nature."

Still, Necheles said, "There's just no need for any of those details here."

"There's real questions about the credibility of this woman," Necheles said of Daniels. "This is a case about books and records."

Merchan said Daniels has "credibility issues," but that he was "satisfied with the representations that Ms. Hoffinger has made."

This is a breaking story; please check back for developments.

• Prices in the US could keep going up if the US doesn't "reindustrialize" its economy, Richard Bernstein said.
• The US has a "massive" trade deficit at a time when world trade is becoming fragmented, he noted.
• Deglobalization could disrupt supply chains and push up costs, market experts have warned.

Inflation will climb higher if the US economy doesn't reindustrialize its economy, according to investment manager Richard Bernstein.

The Richard Bernstein Advisors CEO pointed to the US's "massive" trade deficit, with the difference between imports and exports clocking in at $773.4 billion last year, according to the Commerce Department. 

That trade imbalance could lead to trouble for the economy, considering the ongoing trend of deglobalization. World trade has become more fragmented since the pandemic, and rising geopolitical tensions are a sign that the trend is continuing, he said.

That suggests the US needs to reindustrialize its economy or face higher prices as a long-term consequence, he warned.

"It has to happen. If it doesn't … we're going to have tremendous inflation here in the United States," Bernstein said to CNBC on Monday. "We're dependent on the world for everything at a time when globalization is starting to contract. Not a good combination. It changes the story from secular disinflation to secular inflation."

Market commentators have warned that deglobalization could be a major factor keeping inflation elevated for years to come. Billionaire investor Ken Griffin predicted last year that high prices could stick around for decades as fragmented world trade will disrupt supply chains and push up costs for consumers.

Reindustrialization efforts in the US are already underway, with the government offering billions in aid for companies to build new infrastructure and produce key goods, like semiconductors, EVs, and solar panels. More firms are already choosing to manufacture their goods in America, a JPMorgan paper found. 

Bernstein has been calling for a reindustrialization of the US economy over the past decade. In 2012, he published a whitepaper calling for an "industrial renaissance," which would take US manufacturing back to levels recorded in the 50s and 60s. That renaissance will be the predominant theme in the market over the next 10 years, he said in a note earlier this year. 

• This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Hello! This Sunday is Mother's Day, which I'm sure you already know. But just in case it slipped your mind, here are some last-minute gift ideas.

In today's big story, we're looking at the new tech Apple's set to unveil at its event.

What's on deck:

• Markets: Blackstone's high-profile real-estate fund could be in trouble.

• Tech: ChatGPT who? Microsoft is reportedly building its own AI model.

• Business: Meet nuclear power's newest fans: data centers.

But first, Apple is showing off some new toys.

---

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

---

The big story

Apple's other new tech

Apple's unveiling new products today, but they're not the ones you might be thinking of.

The tech giant's event will reportedly showcase a new family of… iPads and iPad accessories.

The crowd goes mild!

You're forgiven if you weren't aware iPads were still a thing, let alone getting updated. Apple's tablet didn't upend industries like the iPod or iPhone.

But Apple's event, which kicks off at 10 a.m. EST, is looking to give the iPad a boost. Business Insider's Antonio Villas-Boas has a rundown of what to expect.

The tablet's main issue has been its existence in a no-man's land. Less powerful than a computer but not much better than a mobile phone, the iPad has a limited set of specific use cases. The new iPads will reportedly feature better displays, a thinner design, and a MacBook processor.

(Personally, my iPad primarily serves as a second TV when my wife gets sick of me watching sports in the living room.)

The update comes not a moment too soon for Apple. iPhone sales have noticeably dipped, which is why you're hearing Apple tout its "services" business, writes BI's Peter Kafka.

But even that's a bit of a misnomer. A good chunk of that growing "services" business is the billions of dollars it receives from Google for giving the search engine prime real estate, Peter writes.

And the new product Apple wants you to be excited about — the Vision Pro — hasn't lived up to the hype. One of the biggest issues, writes BI's Katie Notopoulos, is that it's unclear what the headset should be used for.

It's not all bad news. Apple reported strong earnings last week, and, more importantly, pulled Wall Street's favorite lever: buybacks.

Apple still has some exciting things in the pipeline.

AI, naturally, is a big one. All eyes are on how the tech will be integrated into the iPhone. Apple has remained tight-lipped, with CEO Tim Cook only teasing a big AI announcement in the "coming weeks."

I decided to ask Katie what she'd like to see out of the Apple event today:

"New iPads aren't really too exciting unless you're already planning to buy a new iPad. (I'm not planning on it, and if I was, I'd probably get an iPad Mini, which isn't expected to get an update at this event.)

But I am curious to see if the new iPad Pros will have the latest M4 chip, which isn't even in MacBooks and Macs yet. If it is, we'll get a peek at what it's capable of when it comes to regular computers later on.

I'm also looking forward to watching the livestream, because even if the Apple Pencil is kind of boring (to me), these Apple events are always fascinating: a huge marketing spectacle that always has some subtle clues about how Apple wants to position itself."

---

3 things in markets

1. Blackstone's $114 billion real-estate fund has veteran analysts worried. The private-equity giant found success pitching ordinary investors on BREIT, a commercial real-estate fund. But some veteran analysts, accountants, and investors believe Blackstone's estimates of BREIT's assets are wildly inflated, making it essentially a house of cards.

2. You thought your interest payments were bad… The US government is shelling out $2 million a minute for interest payments on its debt. The first three months of the year saw the US Treasury foot a $234 billion bill in interest expenses.

3. Recession watch. Official data from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows a promising trend — that economic slumps are becoming less common. But some analysts, including veteran forecaster Danielle DiMartino Booth, are warning that the recession might already be here as job cuts accelerate.

---

3 things in tech

1. Jack Dorsey's in his "I love Elon" era. Dorsey has loved and hated Elon Musk over the years. Now it looks like he's fawning over the Tesla CEO. Most recently, Dorsey announced he was no longer on the board of Bluesky, a prominent rival of Musk's X.

2. Satya Nadella could prove Microsoft doesn't need OpenAI. The company is reportedly working on its own in-house AI model called MAI-1. Its successful development could prove Microsoft doesn't need ChatGPT maker OpenAI to get ahead in the AI wars.

3. Tech titans have weird management habits. From Jeff Bezos' "two-pizza rule" to Mark Zuckerberg wearing the same outfit every day, here's a round-up of the unconventional practices employed by some of the world's best-known CEOs.

---

3 things in business

1. Nuclear power + data centers = "perfect marriage." Data-center operators like Amazon have sought out nuclear power to fuel soaring growth. Nuclear execs see it as a boon, but energy experts worry about the implications for the power grid.

2. How much Warren Buffett lost on Paramount. The Berkshire Hathaway investor says he lost "quite a bit of money" betting on the media company. He didn't disclose how much money he lost, but we tried doing the math. It could be around $1.5 billion.

3. a16z joins the Big Tech "fake work" debate. In an interview published Monday with Emily Sundberg for her Substack newsletter "Feed Me," Andreessen Horowitz general partner David Ulevitch called Google "an amazing example" of a corporation employing people in "BS jobs." Around half the tech giant's white-collar staff probably do "no real work," he added.

---

In other news

• Columbia University just canceled its commencement.

• Trump hit with 10th gag violation and warning: next time, jail.

• Howard Schultz tells Starbucks to fix its stores and mobile app to reverse 'fall from grace.'

• A financial analyst who quit to study tai chi shares the simple morning exercise she uses to prevent burnout.

• Tesla sends out another wave of layoff notices as employees enter 4th week of job cuts.

• Condé Nast has reached a deal with its union, and some call it bittersweet.

• Fisker is closing its Manhattan Beach headquarters, employees say.

• All the looks celebrities wore to the 2024 Met Gala.

---

What's happening today

• Today's earnings: The Walt Disney Company, Reddit, and other companies are reporting.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin will be inaugurated today after winning elections in March.

---

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

• Apple revealed a new iPad Air at its "Let Loose" event on Tuesday.
• Apple announced new iPad Air models with two size options.
• The iPad lineup has been getting a bit stale, seeing its last major overhaul in 2022.

Apple unveiled the new iPad Air, the first of its newly overhauled iPad lineup, on Tuesday during its "Let Loose" event in California.

The iPad Air will now come in two sizes —a 13-inch display or the smaller 11-inch option.

The front-facing camera is now located on the side of the bezel for the first time.

Apple is looking to boost iPad revenue as the lineup grew stale. The last major iPad release was in 2022. In Apple's fiscal Q2, iPad sales missed analysts' estimates with a revenue of $5.56 billion — down 17% from last year.

This story is developing…

• An ultra-rare Magic: The Gathering card just sold for a record $3 million.
• The "Black Lotus" card from 1993 is considered one of the game's most powerful and sought-after cards.
• The new record exceeds Post Malone's $2 million purchase of a one-of-a-kind Magic: The Gathering card last year.

An ultra-rare Magic: The Gathering card just shattered records and sold for $3 million, according to CGC Cards.

The "Black Lotus" card sold is considered to be one of the most powerful and sought-after cards in the game, so much so that the card is banned from most competitive Magic: The Gathering game formats. 

CGC Cards, a grading and certification company for trading cards and other collectibles, said last week the sale occurred via a private exchange between Adam Cai of Pristine Collectibles and "a mystery buyer."

"This particular Alpha Black Lotus is not only rare but also in impeccable condition, graded CGC Pristine 10. Its sky-high price demonstrates the high value collectors place on CGC Cards' Pristine 10 grade," CGC Cards said in an announcement of the sale last week.

The previous record sale for a Magic: The Gathering card took place last year when rapper Post Malone acquired the one-of-a-kind "One Ring" card for $2 million. That card was issued as part of Magic: The Gathering's crossover with JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings universe. 

Malone also acquired his own Black Lotus card in 2022 for $800,000. That card was "an artist proof" and signed by the original artist of the card, Christopher Rush.

The buyer of the $3 million Black Lotus card remains unknown. 

• I've been a college professor for 20 years, and I'm seeing more Gen X and Baby Boomer students.
• The older students have a ton of life experience that they bring to the classroom. 
• I no longer lecture to the class and instead let the older students take the lead.

I've been a college professor for over 20 years in the field of medical sociology, and lately, I've noticed something different about the students in my classroom. An increasing number of college students aren't kids anymore; they're older — many of whom are my generational peers.

In recent years, there's been an increase in older adults, including Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, heading back to classrooms. This means many people in their 50s, 60s, and even 70s who, for various reasons, feel like the time is right to head back to school.

So, how does this impact my college classroom? It's changed the way students learn and the way I teach.

Older people are in the classroom for different reasons

Today's learners represent greater diversity than ever before, and they all come to class for different resons. The older students I've chatted with in my classes cited demographic and economic factors, such as increased longevity, delayed retirement, career reboots, and a genuine interest in the pursuit of knowledge. Some simply want to keep up with the times, which helps them create a generational bridge between themselves and their grandchildren.

Older students also say they share the same learning objectives as their younger counterparts — like career enhancement or a desire to increase their creativity at work.

Many are rethinking the social trajectory of aging altogether, promising to remain active contributors to the economy and society for as long as possible.

I quickly realized they learn differently

I've noticed that older learners engage in ways that are different from traditional college students. For starters, most of them have completed an entire life cycle in the workforce, raised kids, and balanced a household's financial budget. All of this arms them with practical skills yet to be cultivated among their younger cohorts.

All of this life experience has allowed them to develop what's called crystallized knowledge, or a form of intelligence that draws from deep pools of facts, much like a database. Information rooted in crystallized learning can be transferred to new experiences, situations, and ideas. Essentially, this vast mental library is a "superpower" acquired in our advanced years that these students use in the classroom.

Older cohorts, unlike their younger classmates who have an intuitive relationship with tech, are also more inclined to want to know why and how technology benefits them. Beyond this, they want to understand their education's inherent, lasting meaning. Acknowledging the way academic ideas and theories fit into a worldview paradigm is an essential and critical part of the learning process for them, I found.

It has changed the way I lead my classes

Having older students with a wealth of knowledge and experience in their back pockets has allowed me to move from a traditional "sage on the stage" model of teaching to a more modern role as a "guide on the side." So instead of lecturing at my students, I now act as a facilitator while my students gear the conversation.

Working in a more collaborative environment presents opportunities for older students to sometimes take the lead in discussions, positively influencing younger learners. In this way, my older students have become great contributors as I tap them for insights by engaging in the mutual sharing of knowledge, co-teaching, or harnessing the power of personal storytelling.

In turn, my 20-something students are eager to reciprocate by taking the lead as designated tech mentors.

I'm still learning to bridge the generation gap in the classroom

As the college student body diversifies, I am looking for new ways to break free from traditional college teaching because I need to reach a broader group of people now.

Education can be a lifelong pursuit that challenges each of us to move outside of our respective comfort zones. Unexpected and even unlikely relationships are often forged, encouraging us to find meaning in new endeavors. These transformative experiences make learning worthwhile for all of us — at every stage of life.

• A man said he killed his wife because he couldn't pay her medical bills, per a police statement.
• Ronnie Wiggs said he choked his wife and covered her nose and mouth, the police statement said.
• He faces a second-degree murder charge, punishable by up to life in prison, per Missouri law.

A man charged with strangling and killing his wife at the hospital said he did it because he couldn't pay her medical bills, according to a detective's probable cause statement.

Ronnie Wiggs reportedly told police he choked his wife and covered her nose and mouth to keep her from screaming while she was staying at Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, Missouri.

She was there to get a new port for dialysis, per the statement issued by Detective Todd Winborn.

Winborn said Wiggs made the confession after being read his Miranda rights.

On Friday, medical staff at the hospital were alerted to a "Code Blue" around 8:30 p.m., local time. They found the victim unresponsive and with no pulse, the statement said.

The victim was not pronounced dead at the time but had no brain function, prompting medical staff to stop any life-saving measures, according to the statement.

The statement said that medical workers heard the victim's husband say: "I did it, I killed her, and I choked her."

Wiggs was subsequently arrested by a police officer working off-duty at the hospital, per the statement.

He admitted to killing his wife by choking her and covering her mouth and nose to keep her from screaming, before leaving the hospital, according to the statement.

He later returned with a relative, it said.

According to the statement, Wiggs told a police officer he'd tried to kill the victim on two other occasions while she was hospitalized, adding that he was depressed and killed her because he could not afford the medical bills.

Wiggs faces a second-degree murder charge and is being held on a $250,000 bond, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement on Saturday.

Under Missouri law, a person convicted of second-degree murder faces class A felony charges with penalties of up to 30 years in prison, or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Medical indebtedness is a growing concern for many Americans.

More than 100 million Americans, including 41% of adults, carried medical debt in 2022, according to a joint investigation by NPR and The Kaiser Family Foundation, based on a nationwide poll conducted that year.

Medical debt has surged over the last decade, becoming the largest source of debt in collections, per the National Institutes of Health.

As Business Insider previously reported, about a quarter of Gen Z and millennials are skipping rent and mortgage bills to pay off medical debt.