• Modern robotics technology is providing innovative ways to restore forests.
• Companies are using drones and special software to plant trees and overcome reforestation pain points.
• This article is part of "Build IT," a series about digital tech trends disrupting industries.

A quiet revolution is taking root. As the world grapples with deforestation and environmental decay — Earth lost almost 70,000 acres of forestland in 2023 alone, according to Global Forest Watch — modern robotics technology provides innovative ways to restore forests.

Technology and land-management companies, in particular, are harnessing tech such as drones and seed-tracking software to plant seeds and seedlings — an approach that excels over the time-consuming method of manual planting.

Robotics making reforestation more efficient

The tech-driven company Mast Reforestation uses drones and biotechnology to help landowners restore forestland after wildfires. Matthew Aghai, the company's vice president of research and development, said that as wildfires and other disturbances hit more areas, conventional reforestation methods, such as planting nursery-grown seedlings, face setbacks, including poor germination and low survival rates once seedlings are transferred to reforestation sites.

Wildfires' immense heat, Aghai added, limits the forests' natural abilities and compromises the growing environment. "That is why we need innovative solutions to intervene and ensure regeneration," he said.

To ensure seedlings survive and grow in nurseries — and in a forest, once replanted — Mast Reforestation plants its FirePlug seedlings, a biological and logistical solution for growing plant stock from native tree seed in a more controlled environment.

These seedlings are optimized for growth before they're transferred to a site that needs reforestation. Mast Reforestation leverages maneuverable, battery-powered drones to survey those sites, taking high-quality aerial images to assess areas and landscape conditions before planting. This helps the team identify the best spots to plant the seedlings.

Another company using robotics to plant trees is Flash Forest, which employs automated drones to restore burn sites and other damaged forest areas. Chris Ireland, its senior vice president of product, said Flash Forest uses heavy-lift drones with advanced features such as terrain following, obstacle avoidance, and ground control.

One pilot can navigate four drones, which can fly far, even in treacherous terrain, with a payload of up to 150 pounds. How far they fly depends on factors such as regional aviation regulations, obstacles, and operational requirements. Ireland told Business Insider the Flash Forest team stayed within 2 kilometers of a planting site in Canada based on payload, battery depletion, and safe-operation requirements.

According to Flash Forest's website, its drones can plant an average of 1,000 to 2,000 trees per hectare, or 405 to 809 trees per acre. Ireland added that 22,000 trees could be planted a day per pilot, as opposed to traditional methods of 2,000 to 4,500 trees planted a day per person.

The company's reforestation projects also provide communities with employment opportunities such as seed acquisition and harvesting, as seed banks don't always have the inventory required for specific areas. "It's seen as a spinoff benefit," Ireland said.

Flash Forest has a partnership with the Indigenous-owned natural-goods company Boreal Heartland, an initiative of the Keewatin Community Development Association in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

Ireland said Flash Forest offered opportunities for Indigenous-community engagement, including seed harvesting and planting operations. Rather than purchase seeds from seed banks, Flash Forest extends these opportunities to the community to help meet the demand.

"The Indigenous people of boreal regions are concerned with the impacts of increased wildfires," Randy Johns, Boreal Heartland's manager, told BI.

Ireland said Flash Forest hopes to scale to larger Indigenous-land reforestation projects and provide more jobs and STEM opportunities. "We also have purchased Indigenous products like teas and spices, which these communities have harvested and produced," he added. "We give these products to our commercial partners to increase appreciation and awareness of our reforestation efforts."

Using tech to bolster seed supply and growth

Even with efficient, tech-driven methods of mass tree planting, there's still a major issue: a shortage of seed supply.

To combat this issue, Mast Reforestation uses its custom-built software as a seed-inventory and seed-collection logistics platform. It lets the team view real-time conditions of its seed-bank inventory and a map that shows information such as seed zones and soil-related conditions.

Aghai told BI the proprietary system also provides data and insights to help Mast Reforestation capture seeds at the right time, such as during periods of mast seeding, a large and synchronized production of seeds from plant populations.

The software helped Mast Reforestation collect enough seeds last year to reforest about 2,100 acres on Sheep Creek Ranch in Montana. The seeds were collected on and near the project site, making them more resilient and adaptable to the climate. "Without this software, it would have been very difficult to collect seed for Sheep Creek, Montana, delaying the reforestation efforts significantly, if not forever," Aghai said.

Meanwhile, Flash Forest uses technology to produce high-quality seedpods, which are carried by drones to target sites and planted with precision. Each eight- to 12-minute flight plants about 10,000 seedpods, with drones reloaded, recharged, and rechecked in under 90 seconds for seamless operations.

The pods are made of "water-retention polymers that improve resistance to drought conditions in the early stages of germination," Ireland said. The self-sustaining seedpods are also formulated and field-validated to give seedlings a jump-start during the critical phase of the early growth cycle. "This type of tech allows for small footprints, extreme output, and minimal operators," he added.

Time is of the essence

Jeff Renton, Flash Forest's silviculture director, told BI tech integration means improved reforestation timelines. Traditional planting projects take eight to 26 months, while Flash Forest can complete projects, including planning and execution, in less than six months, he said.

Recent research underscores the critical need for effective and timely reforestation. Understocked forests inhibit valuable ecological processes such as timber production and carbon sequestration. But using technology to accelerate reforestation shows promise of revitalizing land for a healthier, more vibrant planet.

"We can save our planet faster," Ireland said.

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• Amazon Prime members can now get unlimited grocery deliveries for $9.99 per month.
• Shoppers can get free delivery on orders over $35 from Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, and more.
• The cost is still higher than comparable offerings from Walmart and Target.

Summer is approaching, and the competition for same-day grocery delivery is heating up.

Amazon is now the latest major retailer to enter the fray with a new subscription option for Prime members to get unlimited delivery on orders over $35 from stores, including Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and other local shops.

Starting Tuesday, Prime members can sign up for a free 30-day trial of the $9.99 a month service, and customers with a registered EBT card can use the service without a Prime membership for $4.99.

"We have many different customers with many different needs, and we want to save them time and money every time they shop for groceries," Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide grocery stores, Tony Hoggett, said in a statement.

The news out of Seattle follows a similar offering from Target, which launched its Circle360 membership earlier in April for an introductory price of $49 a year.

And the highlight of the Bullseye's first-ever paid membership option? Unlimited free delivery of groceries (and other stuff) via the company's Shipt service on orders over $35.

Of course, both are following the course set by grocery juggernaut Walmart, whose $98-per-year Walmart+ membership includes grocery delivery among its perks. Walmart, like Target and Amazon, requires a minimum purchase of $35 for the free delivery option. Walmart also offers a half-price option for qualifying recipients of government aid.

The company will even have a blue-vested associate put your produce and perishables right into your fridge for an extra $7 a month.

At $259 a year — between the $139 annual Prime membership and the $120 total delivery membership — Amazon's offering is by far the most expensive of the three companies.

Even so, considering the fact that 75% of shoppers already have a Prime membership, that all-in number might not make much of a difference.

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• I've sailed on Royal Caribbean's newest and largest cruise ships, Wonder of the Seas and Icon of the Seas.
• Both mega-ships are jam-packed with amenities, dining options, and people.
• They might not be for you if you want a quiet cruise to unique destinations.  

Before booking a vacation at sea, travelers should always research the best cruise line and ship for their needs.

If you're looking for an ultra-cheap and fast trip, try Margaritaville at Sea. Craving something more upscale? Consider Oceania Cruises.

And if you're looking for high-end sailing to unique destinations, I'd suggest avoiding Royal Caribbean's mega-ships.

Royal Caribbean has become synonymous with giant, family-friendly cruise ships

According to its current expansion plan, by 2028, about a third of Royal Caribbean's fleet will consist of mega-ships.

The latest addition, the 1,196-foot-long and 248,663-gross-ton Icon of the Seas, set sail in January, unseating its less than two-year-old predecessor, Wonder of the Seas, as the world's largest cruise liner.

Together, the two vessels can accommodate a whopping 19,238 people — 4,554 crew and 14,684 guests.

At almost all times of the year, these throngs of travelers can be seen running around the ships' eight neighborhoods, lining up for waterslides, and indulging at a combined 29 bars and 48 eateries.

I've attended complimentary sailings on Wonder and Icon, the longest being three nights on the latter. From their colorful pool decks to their inescapable crowds, as a solo adult traveler, I was equal parts entertained, overwhelmed, and overstimulated the entire time.

But admittedly, I had fun. I do love a good waterslide — and Wonder has three of them, while Icon has six.

If you plan on cruising with your children — and if they, like me, love activities like rock climbing and mini-golfing — Royal Caribbean's mega-ships could be your best option.

Its two largest and newest vessels are jam-packed with things to do. They each have more than 20 dining options and dozens of unique activities, a shortlist of which includes ice-skating rinks, ziplines, and shopping mall-like walkways.

But don't expect a peaceful retreat. The rowdy bar-hopping adults and screaming children at the water playground aren't exactly conducive to a relaxing vacation.

Mega-vessels might not be for you if you want a quiet, itinerary-focused cruise

If you want a relaxing and upscale vacation — maybe one that doesn't involve crowds of children — Royal Caribbean's behemoth vessels shouldn't be your top choice.

There are many ways to have a luxury vacation on Icon of the Seas. But unless you want to pay for upcharged amenities at every turn, you might be better off spending more upfront to reserve a more premium cruise line — especially if you're interested in cruising for the destinations, and not the ships.

After all, like most of Royal Caribbean's largest vessels, both Icon and Wonder are exclusively sailing in the Caribbeans.

Many desirable destinations like French Polynesia have set restrictions on cruises, including limits on ship size, amid concerns of pollution and overcrowding.

If stopping at these ports — or really anywhere outside the Caribbean — is at the top of your vacation wish list, you'll have to prioritize a smaller Royal Caribbean ship or go with higher-end companies like Oceania, Silversea, and Regent Seven Seas.

You might not get a waterpark, but at least you'll get a quieter vacation to destinations no mega-ship will likely ever be allowed to visit.

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• California hit a record last week as battery storage became the biggest power provider in the state.
• Batteries beat out renewables, nuclear, natural gas, and other sources two evenings in the past week.
• It's the latest example of growing battery capacity in US power grids.

Batteries briefly became the biggest source of power in California twice in the past week.

The first time — Tuesday last week around 8:10 p.m. PT, according to GridStatus.io — batteries reached a record peak output of 6,177 megawatts. For about two hours, that made electricity generated earlier and stored in batteries the single largest source of power in the Golden state, eclipsing real-time production from natural gas, nuclear, renewable sources like wind and solar, and all other sources of energy.

The news was reported earlier by Renew Economy.

It happened again on Sunday evening, this time for a few hours around 7:10 p.m. PT, per data from GridStatus.io. In that instance, which broke Tuesday's record, batteries reached a peak output of 6,458 megawatts.

Battery storage has become a key part of the push to produce more electricity using renewable sources. By connecting huge, rechargeable batteries to power grids, power utilities can store energy generated during the day by solar panels and wind turbines.

Then, they can distribute the energy during later periods of high demand — think evenings, when people fire up appliances to make dinner, flip on the TV, or turn on lights as it gets dark.

California had about 6.6 gigawatts of battery storage last October, the state's energy commission said. By 2045, state officials want all of California's power to come from carbon-free sources, a goal that will require about 52 gigawatts of battery storage, Renew Economy reported.

California isn't the only state where battery storage is growing quickly. Oil-rich Texas is challenging California for battery capacity and is expected to have 30 gigawatts of storage by the end of this decade, Business Insider reported last year.

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• Trump's hush money trial is in its second week in Manhattan.
• AttorneyTodd Blanche struggled Tuesday to defend Trump's online attacks on witnesses and the jury.
• "You're losing all credibility," the judge railed when Blanche insisted Trump was "careful" online.

A judge verbally excoriated a defense attorney for Donald Trump during the Manhattan hush-money trial on Tuesday, questioning the lawyer's ethics and calling his arguments unsupported and "irrelevant."

"You're losing all credibility," New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan angrily told the lawyer, Todd Blanche.

"You're losing all credibility with the court," Merchan repeated, his voice frustrated.

The remarkable tongue-lashing came during a hearing on whether the GOP frontrunner was in contempt of court for violating his gag order more than ten times in the past three weeks.

The judge said Tuesday morning that he would issue a decision later — he didn't say when — on prosecutors' request that Trump be fined $10,000. Prosecutors also want Trump warned of possible jail should his attacks on jurors and witnesses continue.

"We are not yet seeking an incarceratory penalty, though the defendant seems to be angling that," prosecutor Christopher Conroy said in a hearing held before testimony began for the day.

In addition to the hush money trial, now in its second week, Blanche represents Trump in his Florida classified-documents case and his Washington, DC, 2021 election-interference case.

His credibility came under fire Tuesday as he struggled to argue that Trump had not violated his gag order, as prosecutors claimed — and that, in fact, his client is being "careful."

"We are trying to comply with it," Blanche told the judge, referring to the gag.

"President Trump is being very careful," the lawyer added.

It was at this point that the judge accused Blanche of "losing all credibility."

"We don't read the order that way," Blanche was left to stammer, calling the gag order "ambiguous."

"We'll take down the posts, of course we will," the lawyer added.

Merchan's April 1 order bars Trump from making statements against witnesses and jurors, among other categories of people, if those attacks could interfere with the trial.

The alleged gag violations argued about on Tuesday included Trump's April 10 Truth Social post attacking key witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels as "sleaze bags," and another "truth" that claimed "undercover liberal activists" were infiltrating the jury.

Blanche's arguments at Tuesday's hearing, in defense of Trump's posts, fell roughly into three categories.

None of the arguments were supported, the judge soon noted.

"I've asked you eight or nine times, show me," the judge said, referring to the times he asked Blanche for supporting case law. "And you were not able to do that — even once."

Blanche's first argument was that Trump is allowed to make purely political attacks on political opponents.

His second was that Trump is somehow protected because prosecutors waited three weeks to start complaining.

"There is a history here of posting and reposting that has gone unchecked," the lawyer fumbled.

But the fact that prosecutors "did not come running in here" after the first few posts "is not probative of anything," the judge snapped back.

Blanche's third argument was that reposting attacks on trial witnesses that were originally made by others was somehow exempt.

It was here that Merchan really hit the proverbial roof.

Where is the caselaw exempting repeated or "reposted" speech from gag orders? the judge demanded.

"I've asked you eight or nine times, show me, and you were not able to do that even once," the judge said.

"You're not giving me anything to hang my hat on," he added.

Brushing some of the 10 posts off as reposts "somehow washes his hands?" the judge asked.

What if someone was walking around with a placard saying "terrible things" about jurors, Merchan asked Blanche, as a hypothetical.

"Is it your position that if your client was to grab that placard and walk around with it, and it says terrible things about the jury, that he did nothing wrong?" the judge asked the lawyer.

"Is that what you're saying to me?" the judge repeated, his voice impatient.

"Are you testifying under oath that this is your position?" the judge demanded at another point.

"Is it your client's position that when he reposted something, he did not believe that he was violating the gag order?"

Prosecutors are demanding a $10,000 fine — the maximum allowed — for three weeks of Truth Social and campaign website posts attacking two trial witnesses, Daniels and Cohen.

A Truth Social post from April 10 called both the porn star and Trump's former fixer "sleaze bags."

A Truth Social post from April 17, the second day of jury selection, was "very troubling," prosecutor Christopher Conroy told the judge.

It cited Fox News commentator Jesse Watters and claimed that "undercover liberal activists are lying to the judge in order to get on the Trump jury."

Trump could be thrown in jail for a maximum of 30 days jail for each gag violation, but Conroy said Tuesday that a warning that jail is possible if Trump does not stop would suffice — for now.

Other witnesses, beyond Cohen and Daniels, see these posts and are also intimidated, the prosecutor said, calling it "sort of the undertow effect."

"The defendant is having his day in court," Conroy said in successfully arguing for the fines and warning levied by Merchan.

"Unfortunately," the prosecutor added, "he is doing everything he can to undermine this process."

Catch and kill

After the morning hearing, jurors were called into the courtroom to hear the continued testimony from the trial's first witness, former National Enquirer executive David Pecker.

"I met him in the '80s at Mar-a-Lago," Pecker told the five-woman, seven-man jury.

Pecker described the "beneficial relationship" he enjoyed with Trump since taking control of the tabloid in March of 1999.

Stories attacking Trump's enemies — in particular stories about Hillary Clinton "enabling" her philandering husband — were good for both of them, Pecker said.

The two spoke daily during Trump's 2016 run for president, he said, when the tabloid's headlines included "Ted Cruz sex scandal five different mistresses." 

In describing the origin of the tabloid's "catch-and-kill' campaign on Trump's behalf, Pecker offered jurors an important narrative to the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case.

Prosecutors say that just 11 days before the 2016 election, Trump paid $130,000 in hush money to bury Daniels' story of a 2006 extramarital affair with the then-Apprentice star in 2006.

It was a story that Pecker "caught" when Daniels tried to sell it to the Enquirer and then "killed" by alerting Cohen, prosecutors said.

Cohen, then a Trump Organization vice president, acted as bag man, taking out a home equity loan to pay Daniels' lawyer the $130,000.

Prosecutors say that in reimbursing Cohen in monthly installments throughout 2017, Trump falsified 34 Trump Organization business documents.

Each of the falsified invoices, checks, and business ledger entries claimed the reimbursements were "legal fees," rather than what they were, prosecutors allege: illegal campaign expenditures meant to influence the 2016 election.

Pecker's testimony is expected to continue when court resumes Wednesday.

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• The US debt is pushing the country toward a financial crisis, Leon Cooperman said. 
• He criticized the Fed for its abrupt monetary policy shift after keeping rates low for over a decade. 
• He's said that markets are overvalued and investors should expect a steep decline. 

Mounting national debt is pushing the US toward a financial crisis, billionaire investor Leon Cooperman said this week. 

The Omega Family Office CEO said that too little has been done since the 2010 Simpson-Bowles Commission, which was formed under President Barack Obama and proposed a series of long-term strategies to slash the national debt. 

"I think we have a system of leadership in this country that's evolved to a leadership crisis," he told CNBC on Tuesday. "Deficits matter, and I think we're headed into a financial crisis in this country."

Cooperman said he gave the Federal Reserve a "low grade" in terms of how abruptly it shifted its monetary policy approach from holding rates at near zero for over a decade to raising rates by over 500 basis points in about a year. 

"Now they're talking about cutting rates, and the Fed is too restrictive. There's no sign that I could tell from the economy and the market that the Fed is restrictive," he said, adding that there's a lot of speculation going on that has sent the stock market to record highs.

The billionaire investor has been consistently bearish. He said in February that the stock market seemed too richly valued and would eventually go down this year. 

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• Tesla employees say they've been left in limbo after a week of layoffs.
• Elon Musk announced a more than 10% cut in staff numbers at Tesla last week.
• After mass jobcuts on Monday, some layoff notices continued to trickle in.

In the wake of Tesla's mass layoffs last week, some workers who are still at the carmaker say they feel as if they've been left in limbo.

"I keep waiting for Elon to send another email and tell us they're finally done firing people," one current Tesla worker, who requested anonymity to speak on the conditions of their employment, said. "We need some level of closure or a sign that we can stop worrying about losing our jobs."

Tesla workers have been put through the wringer ever since layoffs started on Sunday, April 14. Even before the cuts started, some staff said they were nervous about potential downsizing because of a post on the anonymous site Blind that warned layoffs were coming. The post, which can only be viewed by verified Tesla employees, said that the EV company had asked some managers to identify workers for a cut that could impact as much as 20% of the company's workforce. Some of the workers said they spent much of the weekend before layoffs refreshing their email, waiting to see if the rumors were true.

Then the hammer fell on Sunday night when Tesla CEO Elon Musk told staff in an internal email that the company planned to axe more than 10% of its workforce. Within a few hours, some workers learned they'd been laid off when they received a generic email that led with "Dear Employee," others learned they'd been terminated when their access was cut off to Tesla's internal systems or when they showed up at work, only to find out their badge didn't work.

One worker compared the abrupt layoffs to a "Thanos snap."

"It was like all at once, people you'd seen every day were just erased from the company," the worker said.

The layoff notices kept trickling in

While many workers were notified they'd been impacted by the layoffs on that Sunday night or early Monday morning, the layoffs continued throughout last week, five workers told Business Insider. Last Tuesday, the layoffs hit some workers in China. On Friday, Tesla's layoffs impacted its recruiting staff in the US. And on Monday, Bloomberg reported that Tesla's new marketing team in the US had also been laid off.

Some teams that had been impacted during the round of layoff notices last Monday, were hit again later in the week when a few additional staff were cut, three workers from separate parts of the company told BI.

"On Monday were were all waiting to see if we'd been hit and then by Tuesday we thought we were in a good position and the worst was over. By the time I got the email Wednesday night, it came as more of a shock," a worker, who was laid off last Wednesday, said.

One worker, who is in charge of a handful of direct reports, said that after the layoffs last Monday, they were told by their manager that upper-level management was unhappy with the number of people that had been laid off and wanted to make deeper cuts.

Several workers said the multiple days of layoffs created a level of uncertainty for workers and pushed some surviving staff to begin looking for work elsewhere.

"I wake up every morning and I check my email because I know if I can't it means I've gotten the boot," one worker said.

Another worker said they feel Musk and Tesla haven't treated the issue with the proper respect, especially when it comes to the company's decision to ask shareholders to vote on a $55 billion pay package for the Tesla CEO only a few days after laying off thousands of staff.

"The timing on Tesla asking voters to reinstate Elon's pay package stings," the worker said.

While some workers say the layoffs have created a major distraction at the company, at least two other current workers told BI they see it as a normal part of doing business.

"Layoffs are nothing new at Tesla. There was a purge in 2022 and this is probably just part of that natural cycle," one current worker said.

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

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• Kreskin J. Torres, a Lyft driver, has traveled across all 50 states, documenting his dining experiences.
• Torres is working on a book, an app called Rideshare Foodies, and is organizing a national potluck.
• He said gig driving is just temporary and has helped him achieve his larger goals.

Kreskin J. Torres, 35, has eaten his way through all 50 states — including Alaska and Hawaii. His ticket to doing so? Driving for Uber and Lyft.

The Army veteran and Baltimore native has documented his dining on his blog Rideshare Foodie. After seven years, he's learned the most profitable times of day to drive, the best locations to find riders in each city and the optimal strategies for maximizing tips.

"You just got to work smarter, not harder," Torres said. "From my experience, I've been in every state, so I know how every city works now."

At the same time, he's been able to pursue his foodie passions. Torres is now working on a book called "Taste of the States," his recommendations app called Rideshare Foodies, and planning a series of events to honor dishes from various states and their history.

While driving for ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft can be a flexible way to earn money for people like Torres who have more than one hustle, it can also be a recipe for burnout. Among the dozens of drivers Business Insider has spoken with over the past few months, many are already dreaming of what's next — starting a business or finding new modes of employment.

And that's Torres' main career advice for those considering it. After all, he's not planning to do the job forever, as he hopes to transition away, though it helped him jump-start new paths for his future.

"Do not make this the end all be all," Torres said, noting how Uber and Lyft have threatened to pull out of Minneapolis. "When it started, it was advertised as a gig, a side hustle."

Traveling the country as a gig driver

As a veteran, he said this job has been relatively stress-free and helpful for not feeling lonely, a similar sentiment he's heard from veterans with PTSD.

"I enjoy meeting and connecting with different people and getting to see different places," Torres said.

He decided to spend his next few years on the road using driving to fund his adventures and to meet locals who could point him to the best restaurants and experiences.

"The great thing is you get to learn about different cities and how everything operates," Torres said.

He moved to San Antonio, though he works mainly around the more-profitable Austin area, and has explored the South and Southeast.

While he doesn't make much money from his blog, he said driving has allowed him to try everything from Navajo tacos in Arizona to biscuits in chocolate gravy in Arkansas to huckleberry swirls in Montana. Driving has led him to some of his favorite restaurants like I693 Red Zone Grill in Jackson, Mississippi; Strawberry's BBQ in Holcomb, Missouri; and Rice & Roll by Xing Xing in Wichita.

Learning the most profitable places and times to drive

Torres noticed he would get more profitable rides driving around suburbs, airports, and sports stadiums, locations coveted by drivers as they get more tips and sometimes elevated fares.

He learned New Year's will always be profitable, though rides slow down around February before picking up in mid-March. It's led him to be more methodical about the types of rides to take, as well as planning when to save more of his earnings and when to splurge a little on food and travel.

"After seven years, I'm a lot more experienced. It depends on the time of the season, so I usually can do a lot more business in college towns," Torres said. "I would visit a city, see what they're known for, a little history behind it."

Torres was making enough to comfortably travel the country, though he's always been careful since he said passengers are sometimes confused by his out-of-state license plate. He also faced a permanent deactivation from Uber last year over a dispute over the color of his car.

He doesn't have a wife or kids, nor does he have an apartment, as he mainly lives out of his car to save money. He acknowledges that growing competition on the road and lower earnings could put a greater dent in savings for people with families or permanent residences.

Torres has transitioned to driving full-time for Lyft, and he typically is online for 12 hours a day but only actively drives five to six hours in between waiting around airports.

He said he's increasingly put himself in his passengers' shoes to determine the best places and times to drive — he likely won't put in the effort to drive during rain, and he's more likely to do later trips around concert venues or bars.

To continue supporting his travels, he said he sometimes does airport rides at 3 or 4 a.m., as well as rides between 6:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. during the morning rush. He also said being online around noon is fruitful for corporate workers, while 3 p.m. is right when schools let out. He usually tries not to drive around evening rush hours but sometimes resumes later at night.

He also devotes more time to driving between Wednesday and Sunday, when rides are more frequent, whether for "whiskey Wednesdays" or Friday afternoon happy hours. This is also when he can best network with passengers and hear their stories, as he said he occasionally gets to drive famous people.

Torres said drivers should consider this a short-term opportunity while working toward long-term goals. As he eases off the app, he has his eyes set on more international travel in the coming months. He's also investing more time in his food app, a local recommendation tool that functions like a Facebook group in which people ask questions about, for example, the best bartender in the area or where to go for particular dishes. It has launched on Android and set to be released on Apple by the summer.

"The most positivity that you can get out of it, do whatever you can and get the most out of it," Torres said. "The next few months will probably be my last time doing this because I'm focusing on other things, so I always had a plan for the things I was going to do."

Are you a ride-hailing driver who's struggling to pay bills or has had recent success? Have you recently pivoted to a new career from driving? Reach out to nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.

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• The US is drafting sanctions on Chinese lenders, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• These could cut China off from accessing the US dollar and Western markets.
• Lawmakers are worried that China's commercial exports to Russia are helping its military industry.

The US is taking sharper aim at Chinese financial institutions, in an effort to stamp out a key source of support for Russia's military production.

Lawmakers in Washington are actively drafting a round of sanctions against such banks, the aim being to completely cut these lenders off from the global financial system, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

Although this constitutes a more forceful step than seen before, the ballooning trade between Beijing and Moscow is feared to be helping Russia rebuild its war machine. While no weapons are exchanged, China has become the lead supplier of essential industrial components, from circuitry to aircraft parts.

For instance, exports of dual-use goods are estimated to have jumped from a few thousand to almost 30,000 a month in March, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Such volumes amplify concern that Russia could hold out in a war of attrition against Ukraine, especially as Kyiv falls deeper into an ammunition shortage. 

Previously, the threat of US secondary sanctions has already sparked a pullback in Chinese-Russian financial dealings, including restricted yuan payment transactions. But while this has added difficulty in facilitating trade, it hasn't stopped the two economies from drawing closer together. 

New sanctions could go as far as cutting China from accessing the US dollar, the linchpin currency used in global trade. This would essentially shun Beijing from Western markets, a threat US officials are hoping will induce change on China's part.

And for an economy roiled by debt and struggling to rebound, that would only add to issues. But it also means risks for Washington, as it could speed up de-dollarization efforts.

"China can't have it both ways," Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said last week. "It can't purport to want to have positive friendly relations with countries in Europe, and at the same time be fueling the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War."

He is headed for China on Tuesday. 

Beijing responded to the news by calling the US' approach as "hypocritical," Reuters reported. 

"China's right to conduct normal economic and trade exchanges with other countries, including Russia, is inviolable," Wang Webin, a spokesperson from China's foreign ministry responded to the sanctions threat in a Tuesday news briefing.

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• The US has spent $5 billion on a fleet of new helicopters to transport the president.
• But the VH-92 continues to scorch the White House lawn, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
• This years-long problem has sidelined the helicopters from carrying Biden for now. 

The new Marine One helicopters, part of a program that the US spent $5 billion on, still can't carry President Joe Biden because there's still a risk they will scorch the White House lawn, according to a new report.

The rotors and engine exhaust from the Sikorsky-manufactured VH-92 Patriot will occasionally burn the grass when it lands, an issue that was initially identified in 2018, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

Because of this unrelenting problem, the new VH-92 is only carrying White House officials or Secret Service personnel instead of the president himself and is restricted to landing on paved surfaces, the report said. Older VH-3D Sea King helicopters will continue to transport Biden from the iconic, traditional South Lawn takeoff spot.

The executive-transport fleet consists of VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters, which are designated with the "Marine One" callsign when Biden is aboard. The US military sought to replace these aging aircraft with the newer VH-92 systems under the $5 billion program and has already secured 20 of them from Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky's parent company.

The VH-92's lawn-scorching problems were first discovered in 2018 during the Trump administration, kick-starting an effort to resolve the issue.

The Government Accountability Office, a watchdog agency, noted in a June 2020 report on the matter that the military had "yet to demonstrate that it can meet the requirement to land on the White House South Lawn without causing damage."

"Heat from the auxiliary power unit and/or engine exhaust continue to damage the lawn under certain conditions," the GAO wrote at the time.

"The program is studying solutions," the GAO said, noting that those included certain "aircraft design changes, lawn surface treatments, and operational procedural changes to minimize landing zone risks."

In early 2021, the Department of Defense's operational testing and evaluations office determined that "the damage was found to be primarily due to engine exhaust, auxiliary power unit exhaust, and discharge of aircraft fluids onto the grass."

However, in its 2023 annual report, which was released earlier this year, the Pentagon said the VH-92 is "operationally effective for administrative lift missions" after the helicopter's "voice communications" were improved, without specifically mentioning the lawn issue.

Neither Lockheed Martin, nor the White House, immediately responded to Business Insider's queries on the reported continuation of the VH-92 problems.

A spokesperson for the defense contractor, meanwhile, told Bloomberg that the company thinks it has found a way to fix the issue.

"We have been working in close collaboration with our customer and have an agreed upon landing zone solution with testing planned to validate and ensure the aircraft meets that specific operational requirement," Melissa Chadwick told the outlet.

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