• Jayne Ashton, 63, is a native Californian with conservative politics.
• She moved to Arizona around 2017 to flee California's liberal politics.
• But she only stayed three months before realizing there's no place like home. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jayne Ashton, a 63-year-old retired police dispatcher who moved from Homeland, California, to Benson, Arizona, in 2017 to escape California's liberal politics and be closer to family. She only stayed in Arizona for three months before realizing she wanted to return home to California.

Jayne: I'm a born and raised Californian, originally from Bloomington in San Bernadino County. I stayed there until I was in my 20s.

I eventually settled in Homeland, California, where I lived for about 25 years. I reared my daughter there with my ex-husband and commuted 87 miles one way each day. I owned a home and lived on an acre and a half. I took my daughter to school with a pony and cart every day.

You see, California isn't what people think it is. When you say you're from California, they think of LA, San Francisco, and San Diego. But California is so vast. You can live out rural and live just as good as if you lived in Tennessee.

I'm a conservative and I'm always trying to hold down the red in this crazy state. I'm a retired police dispatcher and believe crime needs to be punished, and I don't think it is here in California.

It was politics and crime that initially got me thinking about leaving California around 2016 and 2017. The increase in high-density housing and traffic throughout the state played a part too.

Everybody was telling me California was going downhill and I needed to move. I was concerned the state was going to tax my retirement, which didn't end up happening. But I had a family member in Benson, Arizona, about an hour east of Tuscon.

So, I sold my house and I moved. It seemed like a mass exit at the time, so I felt the need to do it too. It was almost like fleeing sheep.

I chose Arizona because it was only a six-hour drive from California. But even as I was leaving, I was thinking it was a big mistake.

Benson, Arizona is in the middle of nowhere.

There's nothing out there but a Walmart, an Ace Hardware, and a Safeway. And there's only so much you can buy at Walmart.

I'm a vegetarian. I haven't eaten meat since 1969 and I was starving in Arizona. I would have to drive an hour to Tuscon to go to Whole Foods to get any food I was used to. People would say: "You're a weirdo. You've got to eat meat." In California, you can find vegetarian places all day long.

I had money from selling my house and I initially wanted to buy a place in Arizona. But the houses I looked at fell through on inspection and I thankfully never did.

The state was good for me politically. A lot of people had the same beliefs as I do. But I don't live politics every day, and they did. I have it in the back of my mind but it's not a driving force for me.

People would always say to me: "Oh, you're a Californian? Well, I hope you don't bring your beliefs here." There was always some derogatory comment. They wanted to bitch about California. They don't want us there.

I'm also religious and I missed my church. I just wasn't happy. It was a dark cloud over me. I missed California every day. I only lasted three months in Arizona before moving back home.

When you're born and raised in California, you need to be in California.

It's like the Beach Boy's song, California Girls. It's an instilled trait. Californians don't always love other Californians, but we love California.

I ended up buying a house in Hemet, in Riverside County. It was all boarded up. It didn't have any electricity. It was horrible. But I was glad to be home. I'd rather live in a shitty part of California than live out of the state ever again.

I ended up living there for five years. I fixed up the house to some extent, sold it, and made a profit. Then I got the heck out of there and came to Tehachapi, where I've wanted to live since 1999.

Tehachapi is a lost treasure. It's one of the last conservative strongholds in Southern California. We have elk and deer and fox and everything. It's beautiful.

California has a reputation for being very liberal. But if you were born in a place like Tehachapi or Clovis, you're so far from someone who was raised in LA. It's a very different mindset. We're more of a country-western-cowboy-cattle-type of people.

It doesn't necessarily bother me that everyone else in the country thinks of California as being only Los Angeles or San Francisco. I know what I believe and what I stand for. People shouldn't judge California by its big cities.

I love the beauty of the state and the stable weather. You can go to the beach in an hour, you can go to the mountains in an hour, you can go to the desert in an hour. You can't beat the topography.

I don't ever want to leave California again.

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• At a Pennsylvania rally, Donald Trump appeared to endorse his supporters, chanting, "Genocide Joe."
• "Genocide Joe" was coined by Pro-Palestine supporters to protest US support for Israel's Gaza siege.
• Trump also said: "God bless the people of Israel."

At a rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Donald Trump appeared to endorse some of his supporters who were chant "genocide Joe," in reference to President Joe Biden's handling of the Middle East conflict.

"They're not wrong," Trump said, "He's done everything wrong."

The "genocide Joe" moniker was coined by Pro-Palestinian supporters protesting against Israel's attack on Gaza and the perceived unstinting support Biden has shown toward the Israel Defense Forces siege of the enclave that has left over 33,000 dead, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

However, at the rally, Trump also expressed his support for the Jewish state. "God bless the people of Israel. They are under attack right now," he said.

The GOP frontrunner went on to say that the overnight drone and missile attacks on Israel by Iran were the result of the Biden administration's "weakness" on the world stage.

The attack would not have happened if he were still in office, he said.

On Saturday night, in retaliation for a deadly attack on an Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier this month, Tehran launched a barrage of over 300 missile and drone strikes against Israel.

The US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has said the US military had intercepted dozens of missiles and drones. The UK, France, and Jordan have also said they came to Israel's aid.

Trump repeated well-worn attack lines against Biden at the rally, calling him "crooked Joe" and a "demented tyrant," going as far as to say that "everything he touches turns to shit."

Biden has cut short his weekend trip to his Delaware beach home, returning to the White House Saturday to meet with his national security team on events in the Middle East.

Trump also criticized the president for the price of gas and the "border bloodbath," with immigrants coming "from prisons, from mental institutions, they're coming from all over the world."

Trump concluded, "If we don't win this election, this country is finished."

On Monday, Trump's hush money trial is due to begin jury selection. The former president faces allegations he falsified 34 business records to cover up a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.

In a Friday press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters he plans to testify in the trial, which he called a "scam" and "witch hunt."

"I'm testifying. I tell the truth. All I can do is tell the truth; the truth is they have no case," he said.

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• I split my year between Los Angeles and Athens, and the cities are quite different. 
• Beach culture and public recreational spaces tend to be more lax in Greece than in the US. 
• I hardly ever run into traffic in Athens, but it's normal to sit on the clogged freeway in LA. 

I spent the first few years of my life in Greece and then moved to the US.

But just like the influx of travelers helping to set record-breaking tourism numbers on the islands, I couldn't stay away from my beautiful birth country for long.

I currently split my time between Los Angeles and Athens for work — six months in the US and the other half of the year in Greece.

Now that I've been going back and forth between the countries for a few years, I've noticed a lot of stark differences.

I find Greek people much blunter than Americans.

I know that Greek people can come across as rude, especially to tourists. But being overly polite or smiley with strangers isn't part of the nation's social culture.

I actually appreciate knowing where I stand with people when I'm in Greece. I get much more constructive criticism and real talk from friends.

On the other hand, people in the US tend to smile and offer some degree of friendliness and politeness — whether they're interacting with customer-service workers, strangers, or friends.

I can party all night (and into the morning) in Athens.

Angelenos already knew LA shuts down relatively early for a major city. Most places close by 2 a.m. largely due to the time regulations on serving alcohol.

In Athens, I can easily stay out until 4 a.m. And if I'm willing to head out to the club district or one of the many bouzoukias (clubs with live music), I can stretch the night out even longer.

Beach life is handled very differently.

Both Athens and LA have absolutely stunning beaches.

But Greeks tend to build cafés and bars very close to the shoreline, so there are always refreshments close by — even if I question the environmental effects of having infrastructure so close to the water.

In LA, if I go to the beach with friends, I pack coolers like I'm camping because we usually can't get any food or drink service on the sand.

It makes going to the beach in LA more of a full-day plan if you don't live super close.

LA has more regulations for recreation and public space.

In LA, it feels like everything involving recreation — including going to the beach — is regulated.

You usually can't have glass containers, alcohol, animals, or loud music in recreational areas. And if you stay too late, it might be considered loitering.

In Athens, I pass young people drinking beers in a city square, skateboarding around public parks, and hanging out until 2 or 3 a.m. That's pretty much impossible to do in LA without getting some sort of side-eye or written warning.

LA's streets are much wider.

Geographical differences aside, LA streets, businesses, and even parking spaces feel massive compared to Greek standards. I frequently park in Greece with barely an inch to spare between my bumper and my neighbor's.

Many of the bigger cars I see in LA wouldn't fit on some of Athens' central streets.

What Greek people consider bad traffic is amusing to me now.

Athens has a few central thoroughfares that can get pretty clogged during rush hour. But most of the time I drive on the city's highways, I don't have to slow down even once for traffic.

In LA, it's hard to find a time when the freeways aren't clogged — unless it's 1 a.m.

Athens has a lot more foot traffic.

Athens' city center is very walkable, as are many of its more suburban neighborhoods. It's not uncommon to come across pedestrian-only streets and central squares lined with lively bars, restaurants, shops, and cafés.

I love seeing more people out and about on the streets. Most of the sidewalks lining LA boulevards (when they exist at all) seem deserted because of the city's deep car culture.

Restaurant service works very differently.

Getting the check at restaurants in Greece can frustratingly take forever. Plus, restaurants frequently serve free dessert or fruit at the end of a meal, extending my time there.

Although service in the US is much faster and generally friendlier, it can also feel hurried toward the end of a meal. Servers will continuously remind me that they've left the bill on the table.

That said, I kind of understand the difference. US servers generally rely on tips (which requires more turnover), but Greek servers tend to care more about their hourly wage.

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• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back! Pro tip for aspiring founders: Don't use the word "delve" in your emails to venture capitalists. Some say it's a dead giveaway that ChatGPT wrote your pitch.

On the agenda:

• Saving for retirement has never felt scarier — or more confusing.

• Landlords have a secret weapon that's helping them keep rent high.

• Wall Street is hiring AI talent for roles that pay up to $2 million.

• Spotify hosted a lavish, pricey party. Then it laid off 1,500 employees.

But first: The trial of O.J. Simpson, who died last week, left a mark on America.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

O.J.'s impact

O.J. Simpson died this week — a couple months before the 30th anniversary of his famous police chase. That chase, and Simpson's subsequent murder trial, changed media forever.

Simpson had been a star athlete at the University of Southern California, a running back in the NFL, and a Hollywood star. But it was his arrest for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, that would change American culture forever.

Simpson was ordered to turn himself in to the police, and was then spotted on an interstate in a white Ford Bronco. An estimated 95 million watched the ensuing chase.

A year later, 150 million would watch the jury declare a shocking not guilty verdict. Robert Kardashian helped defend Simpson, putting the family in the spotlight for the first time.

Simpson was later found liable for the wrongful deaths of Simpson and Goldman by a civil jury. He was sent to prison in 2008 for armed robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy.

The car chase and trial presaged the media culture to come. It cemented the role of rolling cable news channels packed with talking heads. Michael Socolow, a professor, told CNN that the trial convinced Rupert Murdoch to launch Fox News in 1996.

The trial put camera crews inside the courtroom. It was the original true crime show. It was infotainment. It was America's first reality TV obsession.

Retirement dread

Instead of looking forward to life without work, the thought of retirement has become anxiety-inducing for many people.

Whereas it used to be that workers would receive money from plans like pensions after they retire, the onus is now on them to pay into funds like IRAs and 401(k)s. With more responsibility resting on workers, many feel unprepared to retire comfortably.

How retirement became a nightmare.

Also read:

• 'Assuming that I'm just a little old lady was your first mistake': Retired boomers are rejecting the idea they're lonely or sad

Landlords' secret weapon

Big-time apartment owners have a secret weapon: RealPage, a company that sells software to property managers to help them set rents and juice their profits.

Its algorithm tells landlords exactly how much rent they should charge for units in their buildings. It claims it can help clients "outpace the market" — but a new lawsuit accuses the company of price fixing.

Inside the lawsuit against RealPage.

AI fever hits the Street

Banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms are searching for more tech talent, particularly in artificial intelligence. Some AI-focused gigs can pull in $2 million compensation packages.

BI spoke with five recruiters, each of whom shared the hottest jobs Wall Street firms are hiring for.

See their top picks.

Also read:

• Inside Elon Musk's latest efforts to raise billions for his AI startup

Spotify spending backlash

In November, Spotify celebrated its annual Wrapped campaign by splashing out on a glitzy party in London. Sam Smith and Charli XCX performed at the event, which was attended by staff and celebrities alike.

Four days later, the company laid off 1,500 employees. Some Spotify staff told BI the company is spending too much on lavish events, especially as it looks to cut even more costs.

Everything employees told us.

This week's quote:

"As a personality hire, you can get away with not being as competent and doing half of your job."

Daniel Bennett, a startup founder who said he once got a job as the "personality hire."

More of this week's top reads:

• Adam Neumann shares his billion-dollar plan to transform apartment living.

• Some Amazon employees are complaining about projected pay cuts, internal messages show.

• Hiring managers are tired of seeing these résumé clichés.

• Meet 33 of adtech's rising stars.

• Bon Appétit employees worry layoffs will undermine years of its progress.

• Will David Ellison's dad help him save Paramount?

• Your Google Docs are (probably) safe from AI training.

• We've been thinking about loneliness all wrong.

  ---

  The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

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• Kai Cowan uses FrontHouz, a staffing platform, to balance gig work with family responsibilities.
• The flexible scheduling allows Cowan to waitress and bartend while pursuing her passion for dance.
• Cowan's earnings from using FrontHouz regularly average more than $5,500 monthly.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kai Cowan, a 24-year-old gig worker in Atlanta. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a waitress, hostess, and bartender in Atlanta. I pursued a degree in dance for one year but dropped out to gain experience. I then spent a few years working in retail and hospitality until the restaurant I worked at shut down due to COVID-19.

In September 2020, my dance career picked up, and I'm now balancing my work with caring for my aunt, who recently became disabled. To manage my responsibilities, I pick up shifts through FrontHouz, a staffing platform for hospitality workers that allows for flexible scheduling.

This balance has been crucial for me to continue working while being there for my family.

I first discovered FrontHouz when I met the founder

I met the CEO of FrontHouz, Starr Douglas, in February 2023. I worked at a restaurant that often had slow days and was unhappy with my schedule. This meeting was a turning point for me.

I ordered at a bar downtown and couldn't resist telling the bartender to take his time and that I also bartended up the street. Starr overheard me ordering and told me about FrontHouz. I took her card and kept in communication with her.

I decided to sign up for FrontHouz and applied online, which was a straightforward process. After submitting my application, there was a waiting period while my account was reviewed and approved. There was no fee to apply, which made the decision to join even easier.

On an average week, I put in between 20 and 30 hours

FrontHouz allows me to work for employers who may have never had the time to look through my résumé. When a restaurant has a call-off or just needs extra help, they put it in a request on FrontHouz. I'm often requested due to my high rating on the platform, but gigs are listed for workers to pick up on a first-come, first-served basis.

The "pre-shift training" feature teaches me the specifics of each establishment before I start a shift. It provides a 360-degree view of each establishment and its menus, cocktails, seating charts, weekly specials, and more.

My shifts mainly involve serving or bartending, though I occasionally take on busser or hostess roles. The variety is one of the things I love about this platform — I get to work in different settings like upscale event centers, bars, and fine dining restaurants. I also appreciate having control of my own schedule and being able to develop a network with the people I meet on the shifts.

One challenge is that shifts can sometimes be scarce as local restaurants continue to join the platform, and the platform isn't available nationwide yet.

I average more than $5,500 a month

It's been rewarding financially as well. FrontHouz doesn't take a cut from my pay and instead charges restaurants to use the app.

Since I've been using the app more regularly for the past six months, my earnings break down to an average of more than $5,500 a month. I work around 22 shifts a month.

The flexible schedule has allowed me to care for my aunt while simultaneously pursuing dancing, acting, modeling, and social media management.

Here's my best advice for making the most money

It's essential to have a professional profile that details all your previous experience to attract higher-end venues. If you can travel, expanding your job search radius by X miles or more could also significantly increase the number of available gigs.

Checking the FrontHouz app at specific times, like each morning or before a dinner rush, is a strategic move. This is often when new shifts are posted, giving you the advantage of being among the first to apply.

Promptness in picking up shifts is crucial; if you find a suitable shift, it's wise to secure it quickly to avoid missing out on the opportunity. Restaurant shifts are usually posted a week in advance, but it's not uncommon for a last-minute shift to pop up for the same night.

Consider dedicating specific days or nights to FrontHouz shifts, particularly when restaurants are busier, like special event nights or popular weekly specials (think: Taco Tuesday or Sunday brunch). This approach not only increases your chances of consistent work but also aligns your availability with potentially higher-earning shifts.

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• Jury selection begins Monday in Manhattan for Donald Trump's first criminal trial.
• Things won't really heat up, though, until Stormy Daniels takes the stand in the next few weeks.
• Legal experts predict prosecutors will ask her about that night in Tahoe with Trump.

Yes, Stormy Daniels will go there.

And when she does, as legal experts believe she must, it will be the most dramatic and surreal moment in a historic event that's already dramatic and surreal: the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.

Sometime in the next few weeks, Daniels — an exotic dancer, porn star, and adult entertainment entrepreneur — will be called to the witness stand in a Manhattan courtroom.

Experts predict that under oath, and with Donald Trump watching from the defense table, she will testify that she had sex with the then-Apprentice star in 2006, in his Lake Tahoe hotel suite.

The daytime drama-worthy tawdriness won't end there.

Trump — who has steadfastly denied a sexual encounter, and who calls Daniels a "horseface" and a liar —is promising to testify, and may well attempt to attack her himself if he thinks his lawyers fail to do an adequate job.

"The defense is going to do their best to discredit every part of the prosecution story," predicted Ron Kuby, a veteran Manhattan defense lawyer.

"Starting with that foundation. And the foundation of the case is that they had sex."

What's sex got to do with it?

The Trump hush money trial, from a strictly penal-code standpoint, is a dry disagreement over purportedly cooked books.

The indictment alleges 34 Trump Organization business records were falsified to hide other crimes, including campaign finance and tax offenses.

"There's nothing more boring than testimony about business ledger entries," Kuby noted.

But prosecutors say Trump's books were cooked for the least boring of reasons: to hide a $130,000 payment that kept 2016 voters in the dark about what Daniels says happened in that Tahoe hotel.

Daniels will have no choice but talk just a little dirty. Prosecutors will steer her toward the topic, during her direct examination, as a matter of strategy.

"I would say PG-13," Kuby predicted of the testimony.

"The money is called 'hush money' for a reason," said former Manhattan financial crimes prosecutor Diana Florence.

"Jurors will want to hear about what was being hushed. If you don't, they'll be in the deliberations room, and they'll wonder why no one is saying what happened. It would be a distraction," she added.

"You need to tell the story," she said.

Telling a story is especially important in a case alleging that the hush money took a circuitous route from Trump to Daniels.

There were shell companies, a year's worth of phony invoices, a non-disclosure agreement, and secret side letters locked away in safes, prosecutors say.

"You have to answer the question for jurors of why Trump — why the then-president of the United States — would go to such lengths to cover this up," Florence said.

How would the testimony go?

"I imagine the prosecution is going to take her through it in the least salacious way possible," Kuby said.

"It's in their interest to not make this a spectacle," he added. "I think we're going to have references to sex having happened, which is less salacious than descriptions of sex happening."

Florence prosecuted scores of cases involving falsified business records before going into private practice. She expects prosecutors will start by walking Daniels through the basics of her biography.

Daniels, given name Stephanie Clifford, would be asked to describe growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and starting a career in adult entertainment with exotic dancing gigs at local nightclubs.

"I am now directing your attention to 2006," the prosecutor might then say.

"It'll be discreet and tailored, just to complete the narrative, which is what we called it," Florence predicted.

"Did you have a relationship with him?" she said the prosecutor might ask.

"Then she'll say 'No, It was just one night.' And then you fast forward to 2015, or whatever," Florence predicted.

"You have to put it all out there," said the former prosecutor. "She has to explain why she had an agent, why she was trying to sell her story. You have to explain the whole background."

Just not all of the whole background.

Daniels' testimony won't be as graphic as her 60 Minutes interview, when she told 22 million viewers that Trump didn't use a condom.

And it won't be anywhere as descriptive as in her book, Full Disclosure, where she mentions both "Yeti pubes" and Toad — otherwise known as "the mushroom character in Mario Kart"

"None of that's coming in," Florence said, with a laugh, of Daniels' hush money testimony.

"Nobody wants to go there."

And then Trump goes bonkers?

Trump has a difficult time remaining quiet while watching a woman testify unpleasantly against him.

This has happened just one time before, and it didn't go well.

In January, a Manhattan federal judge threatened to kick Trump out of the courtroom when he was overheard at the defense table, complaining that his rape and defamation accuser, E. Jean Carroll, was telling tales on the witness stand.

"Mr. Trump has been loudly saying things, including that the witness is lying and noting that she has suddenly got her memory back," Carroll attorney Shawn Crowley told Judge Lewis Kaplan.

"It's loud enough that some of us here are hearing it."

This time, too, Trump will be warned, by both the judge and his lawyers, against any outbursts, particularly when Daniels is on the stand.

He could face a contempt-of-court finding, fines, and even a little time in jail if he ignores the judge's orders to not disrupt the trial.

"He has very seasoned lawyers who I expect, at least behind closed doors, are going to tell him that any 'performance' is going to hinder your interests here," said Florence.

"He might think he knows better," she added.

Trump will very likely demand that his lawyers aggressively cross-examine Daniels, at least for show.

Daniels be up to the task, Kuby predicted.

"I think Stormy Daniels has shown she can handle herself," he said. "She can also handle other people," he joked.

"Game on, Tiny"

Daniels boasts no fear of Trump. When he called her "Horseface" and a "total con job" in tweets from 2018, she one-upped him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present your president," she tweeted in response.

"In addition to his…umm…shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality," she tweeted, in a callback to Trump's "horseface" slurs.

"Game on, Tiny," she taunted.

"From all appearances, she's going to be a witness who is extraordinarily difficult to control on cross," Kuby said.

The defense would be wise to walk her through the times, back in 2018, when she stuck to her hush money agreement, and publicly denied having sex with Trump, including in at least one signed statement.

"They should take her specifically through each time, 'This is what you said here? Now you're saying that's a lie? Is this what you said there? Now you're saying that was a lie?' One by one," Kuby said.

"And then just let it go. Which I'm sure Trump is not going to just let that go," he said.

The defense could also ask Daniels about "all the pejorative things she's said about Trump" since that first "Tiny," in 2018, including in her podcast, on social media, and in last month's Peacock documentary, Stormy.

"But then you get a longer redirect examination," Kuby said.

"The prosecution is allowed to ask, then, why she made those statements and then the whole Trump campaign to discredit her comes into play," he said. 

"With somebody like Ms. Clifford, less is more. Even if Trump is somebody who always wants more and more and more," Kuby said.

"The thing is, he's not the only performer who's going to be in that courtroom. And between his act and her act, frankly I prefer hers — as will the jury."

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• Tesla is on trial over a negligence lawsuit brought by a mom whose toddler hit her with her Model X. 
• The California mom alleges in the lawsuit that the 2018 Model X was "defective" in its design.
• Tesla has argued the mother is to blame and that the Model X's design likely saved her life.

Is Tesla to blame for a toddler crashing his family's Model X SUV into his pregnant mother, injuring her?

That's what a California jury will soon weigh in a civil trial that could raise questions about the vehicle's safety features and force Elon Musk's electric car company to pay out hefty monetary damages.

Opening statements in the trial, taking place in a Santa Clara County courtroom, are expected to begin this week.

California mom alleges that the Tesla Model X was 'defective'

In 2019, California mother Mallory Harcourt filed a lawsuit against Tesla over the incident, accusing it of negligence, consumer fraud, and product liability. Harcourt alleges in the suit that her brand-new 2018 Model X SUV was "defective" in its design because her 2-year-old son managed to start the vehicle and hit her with it outside of the family's Santa Barbara home on December 27, 2018.

The mother, who was eight months pregnant with her second child at the time, was left pinned to a wall in her garage when the vehicle accelerated, according to the lawsuit. Harcourt suffered broken bones and gave birth to her daughter prematurely through a broken pelvis about a week later, court documents say.

"Mallory's injuries healed over time, but her pain is permanent," Harcourt's attorneys wrote in an April 8 legal brief.

"No one could reasonably expect a two-year-old who climbs into the floorboard of a vehicle that is in Park with its parking brake on to be able to cause the vehicle to start, shift out of Park and into Drive and move," the lawyers added. "Such a vehicle is defective."

Jurors at the trial will hear from Harcourt's attorneys how the mother and her husband purchased a Model X as their family vehicle after seeing advertisements about it being the "safest, quickest, most capable SUV ever," according to the brief.

The incident occurred just four days after the parents bought the Model X, and shortly after Harcourt pulled into their driveway with their son in tow.

"The vehicle automatically shifted into Park and set the parking brake," the brief says.

Harcourt removed her son, identified as B.H., from his car seat and left the driver's door open, it says.

"Mallory realized she had forgotten her house keys at the office and was not able to enter the home," the brief says. "B.H. had a dirty diaper so she decided to change him in the garage."

At some point, the boy "escaped" from his mother and climbed into the vehicle's footwell through the open door, according to the brief.

"He then contacted the brake pedal, which started the car and automatically closed the driver's door. Seconds later, B.H. reached up and touched the gear shift lever on the stalk of the steering wheel, which shifted the car out of Park and into Drive," the brief says.

"B.H. then contacted the accelerator pedal, which caused the car to begin moving forward. From the time B.H. entered the Tesla until it began moving was mere seconds," it continues.

Harcourt saw the Tesla as it was entering the garage, and had "virtually no time to react," the court filing says.

"She moved towards the front of the Tesla hoping the vehicle would recognize her and stop since the Tesla was equipped with technology that she understood would recognize if the vehicle was going to hit something and stop," the brief says.

The Model X then accelerated to over 8 miles-per-hour and struck Harcourt, it says.

"The Tesla picked her up just below her waist and lifted her off the ground, then crushed her against bicycles and various clutter at the back of the garage," the court filing says, adding, that the impact fractured Mallory's pelvis in multiple places, fractured her fibula, and caused a deep puncture wound to her thigh.

Neighbors ultimately helped free Harcourt from the vehicle.

Tesla has placed the blame squarely on the mother

Tesla has argued in court documents that Harcourt is only to blame for the incident and that the Model X's design likely saved her life.

"The evidence will prove that Ms. Harcourt was the sole cause of her injuries and that sophisticated driver assistance features in the Model X saved her and her children from far more serious injuries," Tesla's attorneys wrote in a trial brief filed on April 8 that details how the carmaker will defend itself.

"Ms. Harcourt negligently left her two-year old son unattended in her driveway with access to a vehicle that had two doors open and the keys inside, and for long enough to allow him to get into the vehicle, step on the pedals, and put it into gear," Tesla's attorneys wrote.

Tesla's lawyers said in the court filing that Harcourt then "made the highly extraordinary decision to jump in front of the Model X as it was moving. This entire incident could have been avoided by either keeping watch over the toddler, or, failing that, using the PIN-to-Drive option."

Tesla's PIN-to-drive option is a safety measure that requires the owner to put in a four-digit password in order to drive the vehicle, according to Tesla's website.

"In no uncertain terms, Ms. Harcourt's own actions caused her injuries, and not any defect in Model X's design," Tesla's attorneys wrote.

It was Harcourt's own "poor decisions," Tesla's attorneys wrote, "that put herself, her son and her unborn child at significant risk."

The carmaker's lawyers explained in their brief that the Model X is an all-electric vehicle, and pressing the brake powers it on like turning the key would in a gasoline-powered car.

Harcourt's son "pressed the accelerator pedal, and the Model X moved forward slowly," the lawyers said.

"Ms. Harcourt admits she did not know where her son was at this time, but when she saw the Model X moving into the garage, she — at 8 months' pregnant — nonetheless stepped in front of the vehicle, now claiming she believed that would make it stop."

Tesla's attorneys say that vehicle data shows that the Model X's "Brake Override" and "Obstacle-Aware Acceleration" advanced driver assistance features were activated at the time of the incident, limiting the speed of the SUV, "despite B.H. pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%."

The Model X, the lawyers wrote in the brief, "functioned exactly as designed and very likely saved Ms. Harcourt's life."

Tesla has faced its fair share of safety-related lawsuits

It's far from the first time Tesla's lawyers have appeared in court over safety concerns. Like many automakers, Tesla has faced multiple lawsuits over accidents and the company's potential role in the crashes. Tesla owners have sued the carmaker over anything from battery fires and phantom braking incidents to its driver assist software.

Last year, a woman sued Tesla after her husband's Model 3 allegedly exploded on impact, ultimately causing his death. In 2022 — in what was Tesla's first trial involving a fatal crash —a Florida jury awarded the families of two teens who were killed in an accident involving a Model S $10.5 million.

The jury found Tesla 1% to blame for the crash and the driver and his family 99% to blame. The lawsuit alleged Tesla played a role in the accident by allowing the driver, Barrett Riley, to remove a speed limiter that the family had previously installed on the vehicle. Riley and his passenger had died after the car crashed into a concrete barrier going 116 miles per hour and caught fire.

On April 8, Tesla settled a lawsuit related to its Autopilot software after the family of a man who died in a crash in which the software was activated had alleged the car was "defective in design."

Over the past few years, Tesla has come under increased scrutiny from regulators regarding driver-assist technology.

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• Four Seasons says it will begin sailing an ultra-luxury yacht cruise in January 2026.
• The 222-guest vessel would have 95 spacious suites and 11 dining options — but food wouldn't be free.
• The largest suite would have four floors and bedrooms, a spa, and a price of $350,000 per sailing.

Four Seasons plans to expand its high-end hotels and resorts portfolio with a luxury 222-guest cruise ship.

The company says the 95-suite vessel will debut in January 2026 and cost a minimum of $20,000 per weeklong sailing.

For that price, the luxury hospitality giant says travelers would enjoy a one-to-one guest-to-staff ratio and massive suites spanning as many as four floors. If all goes as planned, the 679-foot-long Four Seasons I could become one of the most expensive and opulent options in the cruise industry.

The ultra-plush 14-deck Four Seasons I is scheduled for 19 voyages in 2026 to more than 130 Caribbean and Mediterranean ports.

Reservations opened two weeks ago. Those interested can register to join a waitlist or book through a travel agent.

So far, "sales have been very encouraging, and the demand is exciting to see," Thatcher Brown, chief commercial officer and head of joint operations for Marc-Henry Cruise Holdings, told Business Insider in a statement. The company is a joint owner and operator of Four Seasons Yachts.

Renderings make the Four Seasons I look as opulent as the brand's land-based properties.

Four Seasons says its vessel will have 95 suites ranging from 537 to 9,975 square feet, some with three bedrooms.

The smallest suite starts at $19,700 for a five-night roundtrip voyage to Athens, Greece.

No windowless interior cabins here: Like other ultra-luxe cruises, the suites would all have terraces and floor-to-ceiling windows.

Customers could expect upscale amenities like a walk-in closet, down-filled duvets and pillows, and marble dual vanity bathrooms, per Four Seasons.

The most premium suites would also feature additional accommodations for "personal assistants," such as au pairs or security personnel.

Some options, like the 7,952-square-foot Loft Suite, could be adjoined with seven other cabins to accommodate up to 20 people.

Without connecting cabins, the Loft Suite would already have three bedrooms and bathrooms, a powder room, and a sauna.

Others, like the largest Funnel Suite, would have its own spa and kitchen.

Four Seasons says the 9,975-square-foot mansion, partially perched in the ship's glass-lined funnel, will span four floors, four bathrooms, three bedrooms, and three powder rooms.

Not to mention the private elevator, pool, and $350,000-a-voyage price tag.

Accommodations of this price and size are generally unheard of in the cruise industry.

Luxury operator Silversea says the largest suite on its upcoming 728-guest Silver Ray will be 1,324 square feet. Competitor Regent Seven Seas' new Seven Seas Grandeur debuted in 2023 with a more expansive six-guest 4,443-square-foot option.

Both suites' sizes and prices — Regent's starts at $42,000 per person for a total of $252,000 at maximum occupancy — would be stunted by Four Seasons' promise of a 9,975-square-foot, $350,000 floating mansion.

But cabins with six-digit prices aren't unheard of.

While not a luxury cruise line, Royal Caribbean's popular three-floor townhouse on the new Icon of the Seas is being booked at an average of $100,000 a week — although it's about four times smaller than Four Seasons' largest.

Royal Caribbean and other mass-market cruise lines are beloved, in part, for their unlimited complimentary food options.

Regent Seven Seas' all-inclusive fare also covers caviar, foie gras, and Champagne.

But don't expect any of these to be free on the Four Seasons I.

Breakfast would be complimentary. Lunch, dinner, and booze would not.

The vessel's 11 restaurants and lounges would be priced similarly to Four Seasons' on-land properties. (A dinner entrée at its resort on the Caribbean island of Nevis — also one of the ship's destinations — ranges from $34 to $163.)

The pricing structure may sound odd to most cruise traditionalists. (Hey, at least WiFi would be "free.")

But some of the ship's amenities could look familiar: Like most cruise liners, the Four Seasons I would have a pool, spa, and clubs for children and teens.

The company also promises a lounge and marina that will open onto the water, giving guests direct access to activities like snorkeling or windsurfing.

Four Seasons Yachts plans to take delivery of its $399 million vessel, now being built by famed Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, in late 2025.

A second Fincantieri-built ship would join the hospitality company's fleet the following year. The next vessel would cost more than 400 million euros, about $429.2 million, Four Seasons says.

This isn’t Four Seasons' first foray into itinerary-based vacations.

The company has also found "tremendous success" in its private jet-based "cruises," Alejandro Reynal, the president and CEO of Four Seasons, told BI in a statement.

Its 2024 vacation-by-air itineraries started at $135,000 for a 16-day Asia tour. Demand has been growing, he said, "signaling that luxury travelers are looking for immersive, exclusive, end-to-end travel journeys that allow them to explore the world with their favorite brands."

But its new ultra-luxe cruise arm would be entering an increasingly crowded luxury market, soon to be dominated by like-minded hospitality giants.

High-end Aman Resorts and Orient Express plan to launch their own luxury cruises in 2027 and 2026, respectively.

Staying ahead of the competition, Ritz-Carlton debuted its first 149-suite Evrima yacht cruise in 2021, with a second 224-cabin ship scheduled to begin sailing later this year. Its least expensive itinerary is currently $5,100 per person for a six-night voyage from Barbados to Puerto Rico in early 2025.

Interested in a hotelier-owned vacation at sea but don't want to pay the luxury price tag? Margaritaville's cruise is an affordable $75 for two nights.

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• Biden released new details for his second attempt at student-loan forgiveness.
• While it likely won't go into effect until the fall, an earlier Supreme Court decision could put the relief at risk.
• The ruling would address whether agencies have the authority to interpret a law's scope, like debt relief.

New details for President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan are out — and it's already shaping up to be a rocky road to implementation.

The same day the Supreme Court struck down Biden's first attempt at broad debt relief at the end of June 2023, the Education Department announced its plan B: relief for borrowers using an authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

In contrast to the HEROES Act — the law Biden used for his first attempt at relief — the HEA requires the administration to undergo a process known as negotiated rulemaking. The process requires a series of negotiations with stakeholders before drafting the regulatory text for the rule, which then enters a period of public comment before the relief can be implemented.

The Education Department completed negotiations on the relief in February. It released new details of the rule on April 8 — but senior administration officials previously said the actual draft text would be published in the coming months, with the implementation of the relief set to begin in the fall, at the earliest.

Not only does this timeline coincide with the presidential election, which could imperil any relief should Biden lose — it also puts the relief under the shadow of Supreme Court rulings set to arrive by June.

How a Supreme Court ruling on fisheries could affect student-debt relief

Cary Coglianese, an administrative law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Business Insider that "there's a larger context within which this plan would be evaluated if it eventually goes to court, which I would expect it will."

And that larger context, Coglianese said, is "possibly the rolling back of deference to agencies altogether in their interpretation of statutes."

Coglianese is referring to a rule known as the Chevron doctrine, the fate of which is currently awaiting a Supreme Court ruling. In a case known as Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a group of fisheries challenged the National Marine Fisheries Service's interpretation of a law requiring some fisheries to pay or subsidize the salaries of some federal agents who come on fishing expeditions to collect data.

The fisheries argued against that interpretation, calling into question the Chevron doctrine, which allows federal agencies to interpret a law how they see fit as long as it doesn't interfere with Congress' language.

So, if the Supreme Court strikes down Chevron, federal agencies would no longer have the authority to decide on laws related to their responsibilities — meaning the Education Department would not be able to interpret its student-debt relief authority under the Higher Education Act.

"That would, it seems to me, just provide another sort of quiver in the arsenal, if you will, to send the Biden debt-relief plan packing again," Coglianese said.

"In other words, we have a Supreme Court in which, in general, they're skeptical of agency action, at least of a certain kind of agency action, and with one student-debt relief case they've already sent a signal that they thought that was going out farther than Congress specifically authorized," Coglianese said. "And if they eliminate Chevron deference, it suggests that they're very serious about not giving agencies much leeway."

Lawsuits to likely target the law's broadness

While the regulatory text for Biden's new student-debt relief plan has not yet been published, its newly released details targeted different categories of borrowers the Education Department plans to make eligible for relief. It includes up to $20,000 in relief for borrowers with unpaid interest, along with loan forgiveness for those who have been in repayment for at least 20 years.

The Education Department has maintained it has the authority to enact this relief under the HEA's compromise and settlement authority, which states that the department can "enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand" related to federal student debt."

However, Luke Herrine — an assistant law professor at the University of Alabama — told BI that any legal challenge will likely take issue with the department's interpretation of the HEA's authority for debt relief and argue that Biden's plan is too broad.

"The fight is primarily going to be, I assume, over whether a clause that on its face looks very broad is actually as broad as it looks, which is partly a matter of, who gets to resolve the ambiguity with that clause? Do you defer to an agency to make that determination for the agency? And increasingly, it's the case that the conservative judiciary does not believe in any sort of deference to administrative agencies," Herrine said.

Herrine said he expects the same groups who brought the cases against Biden's first debt relief plan to challenge this second one. Some of them have already filed lawsuits challenging Biden's new SAVE income-driven repayment plan — including Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who wrote on X that he would see Biden in court after the release of new details for the debt relief.

Ultimately, it comes down to how courts interpret the Education Department's authority, and should legal challenges arise, Coglianese said it's likely the arguments will be very similar to the cases that ended up striking down the first student-loan forgiveness plan.

"The administration is certainly still facing a very skeptical Supreme Court," Coglianese said. "Even though it's a different statute, it's still a skeptical Supreme Court. It's still a pretty big program even though it's a smaller one."

"So it's a risk that the court will, in the end, not allow the administration to go forward with this for the same reasons it didn't allow it to go forward the first go around," he continued. "Clearly, though, it's a risk the administration wants to take on behalf of the American public and the large segment of the American public that's been burdened with a lot of student loans."

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Boston has a bit of a budget problem. The rise in remote work has caused a slow and steady decline in commercial real-estate prices, and, as a result, property-tax revenue is falling, leaving the city facing a $1 billion tax deficit over the next five years. The same issue, coupled with a persistent decline in tourism, is weighing on San Francisco's finances. Across the country, from Denver and Seattle to Washington, DC, and New York, cities are deciphering whether to slash their budgets. Even some states, including California, Maryland, and Arizona, are facing financial woes.

Each place is dealing with its own set of circumstances, but at the root of all these woes is the struggle to figure out what the new normal is, budget-wise, and how to deliver the services and investments citizens depend on without breaking the bank.

"I wouldn't say that we are in a budget crisis at the state and local government level at the moment," Justin Marlowe, a research professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the director of its Center for Municipal Finance, told me. "Where we are, I think, is at the very beginning of the probably three-to-five-year what we might call structural adjustment that's going to need to happen to state and local budgets in a post-pandemic, post-AI world."

States and cities struggling financially is a perennial problem. Unlike the federal government, local governments can't run large deficits for long stretches, and many places have balanced-budget amendments. States do have rainy-day funds — according to the Pew Charitable Trusts, a public-policy nonprofit, the funds hit all-time highs in 38 states at the end of fiscal 2023. (Most states' fiscal years run from July 1 to June 30.) But even that cash will only get them so far, in the near term and in the long run.

With expiring federal funds, the fiscal outlook looks really troublesome for many states and localities

The recent financial troubles are a bit of a turnaround from the past four years. When the pandemic hit, there was widespread concern that states and cities would run out of money. Instead, they started to see an increase in revenue. Stimulus from the federal government to individuals via unemployment insurance and stimulus checks kept households afloat, and many people started spending, which boosted sales-tax revenue. People's paychecks increased, along with their income taxes. The federal government also provided financial support to states and cities. Now those sources of cash are starting to dry up.

"With expiring federal funds, the fiscal outlook looks really troublesome for many states and localities," said Lucy Dadayan, a principal research associate with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute.

In some cases, states and cities used the extra federal money to start new programs and make investments they'd long wanted to make; now they need to figure out permanent funding sources. In other cases, funds helped temporarily paper over long-standing budgetary issues, or places took advantage of their surpluses to cut taxes.

"It certainly was the case in New York City that they spent one-time money on ongoing expenditures or even new programs," said Carol O'Cleireacain, an expert on fiscally troubled states and localities who has worked on budget and planning issues in New York, New Jersey, and Detroit. "There was a lot of money that came in from COVID. There was a lot of revenue volatility that happened, so nobody knew exactly how things were going to land, and it's taken a while for people to sort out where it's actually landing."

On the revenue side of the equation, some places have seen dips. Sales-tax revenues have declined, primarily in downtown areas that are still suffering the consequences of remote work. The same goes for lodging taxes and revenue related to the tourism economy, and it's not clear the extent to which the drivers of that — trade shows, conventions — will come back. Places that enacted tax cuts, like Arizona, are now having those policies come back to bite them. It's not clear what will happen with property taxes as office occupancy remains low and commercial real-estate falls in value. The office apocalypse has put cities in a doom loop that's hard to escape as they struggle to reinvent themselves and attract new interest and investment.

There are issues on the spending side, too. Inflation is hitting states and cities as it is people's budgets. Governments, like private businesses, are having to pay more for labor, healthcare, and even construction materials.

"What you had was just rising prices for all of the basic inputs into the things that local government does — into road salt, basic commodities," Marlowe said. "That's increasing costs generally. And so you're also then having to see pay increases as a result of that. And so that's a huge chunk of it."

In big cities, the migrant crisis has also been a financial drain. Places such as Denver and New York are spending millions of dollars to provide housing and social services for immigrants coming across the southern border, and with a border deal on ice in Congress, it's a problem seemingly without a solution on the horizon.

"This does not come cheap, and no one can see the end of it, so you don't know how much management adjustment you have to make programmatically," O'Cleireacain said.

Even if a state kind of feels like it's doing OK right now, the long-term picture is a little bit more concerning

Beyond more-immediate problems in specific places, broad warning signs are flashing. Josh Goodman, a senior officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts who focuses on state fiscal health, said most states that do long-term budget projections show shortfalls. And even states that don't anticipate shortfalls have some fairly pessimistic outlooks.

"Even if a state kind of feels like it's doing OK right now, the long-term picture is a little bit more concerning," he said.

States and cities are facing pressure from societal issues that will weigh on tax revenue and increase costs for years to come. Aging populations mean a smaller percentage of the population that's of working age, putting downward pressure on tax revenue. States and cities also have to contend with paying for those populations — their healthcare, their social services. Changes in how Americans get around could be an issue, too.

"If you look at transportation revenue, the gas tax is a big source of that," Goodman said. "And as vehicles become more fuel efficient or people switch to electric vehicles, that is creating problems for transportation budgets."

Often, costs that can't really be anticipated come up. Take Maryland. The state has been plagued by long-term structural deficits, said Liz Farmer, an officer with the Pew Charitable Trusts who focuses on states. Like many places, it did OK for a couple of years during the pandemic. But as federal funds have petered out, structural problems have resurfaced. In late March the state had another wrench thrown into its fiscal plans when Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after a ship hit it. Though the federal government is promising to step in and help, reconstructing the bridge is likely to cost the state.

"While there's a lot of hope that federal funding will cover most of that, it's one more thing that Maryland is looking at," Farmer said. "They're looking at emergency legislation for economic relief for the workers in Maryland who are affected by this, and it appears as if the state is going to dip into the rainy-day fund."

It's not entirely doom and gloom on the state and local budgetary front. The United States is not in a recession, and the macroeconomy is strong — we're not in a 2008-esque situation where there are mass layoffs and the bottom falls out on tax revenue. States' rainy day funds are in decent shape. But there are clearly some stressors; no one knows how long the migrant crisis will last, and there's no obvious fix for the deterioration of in-office culture. Ultimately, what happens next will be a policy question. Deciding how to address the conflicting priorities that come with budgets is politics as usual — some people in government have one set of priorities, others have another, and there you go.

"Every budget season, people write budget-crisis stories," O'Cleireacain said. "Making a budget is political trouble."

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

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