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• I'm a registered dietitian and my husband is a personal trainer, and we love Trader Joe's.
• The store has great, quick meal options, from burritos and stir-fries to burgers. 
• I like to stock up on sparkling water and blue-corn tortilla chips in the summer. 

Trader Joe's may feel like a kitschy neighborhood grocery store, but it's actually a multibillion-dollar chain with well over 500 locations across the US.

Luckily, despite its business successes, it's still an affordable place to pick up organic, nutrient-rich staples.

As a dietitian who married a personal trainer, here are some of our favorite things to get at Trader Joe's in the summer.

I love the Asian-style vegetable stir-fry.

Trader Joe's stir-fry kit is unique because it contains fresh vegetables, not frozen ones.

We often use preprepared packs when we run out of ideas for the evening. We also use them on days when we want to put together a 20-minute stir-fry with tofu, chicken, or shrimp on a bed of white or brown rice.

Chicken meatballs can do it all.

Trader Joe's chicken meatballs, which can be found in the refrigerated section, are more than just a nice addition to pasta.

They're low in sodium and high in protein, so my husband and I love using them to make lean meatball subs.

You can also create sweet and sour meatballs to vary the flavor profile of your meal.

Organic, firm tofu is a great plant-based protein.

Air-fried tofu is a favorite in our house.

Tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you add it to, so we can prepare it so many different ways. Plus, the plant-based protein has been known to improve heart health.

Sometimes, I'll season or marinate the tofu before tossing it in the Asian-style stir-fry to round out the meal.

I always pick up some sparkling water.

Trader Joe's has several different flavors of sparkling water, so hydration is the least of my worries this summer.

My husband and I occasionally jazz up our sparkling water by mixing in lemons, limes, or other fruits for an infused flavor. You can also blend watermelon, drain the liquid, and add it to the water for a refreshing treat.

Trader Joe's PB&J bars are a nice bedtime snack.

My husband is always looking for a late-night snack that's light but also not too sweet. I like that the store's PB&J bars are smaller than your typical granola bar, so they fit the bill for us.

The chewy snack would also be great alongside nuts or seeds for added protein.

I throw the Green Goddess Seasoning Blend on all sorts of dishes.

Trader Joe's seasoning blends are great toppers for streamed vegetables, pasta dishes, or a morning bagel.

There are so many varieties to choose from, but I like that the Green Goddess Seasoning Blend is a bit lower in sodium.

It's nice to have burritos in the freezer on busy nights.

Both of us have busy schedules, especially during the weekend, so frozen burritos help us eat regular meals on a daily basis.

As an added bonus, the beans offer fiber to assist digestion and keep your bowel movements regular.

The spicy shrimp fried rice is another quick meal.

Shrimp fried rice is a great meal starter.

Adding vegetables like mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, and spinach will increase the fiber content of your meal.

I use the multigrain blend with vegetables to bulk up dinners.

Trader Joe's frozen grain and vegetable blend has plenty of fiber, so it pairs perfectly with lean protein such as salmon, shrimp, chicken, or eggs.

I particularly like to pair this with the shrimp stir-fry to bulk and balance out the meal.

Seafood burgers are a fun twist on the classic dish.

We love seafood, so when I first saw Trader Joe's shrimp seafood burgers, I immediately checked the sodium content. Each patty has less than 300 milligrams of sodium and packs some heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which is a win in my book.

My husband likes to grill but gets tired of eating the usual chicken, turkey burgers, and beef. These patties are great for switching things up in the summer.

I add chopped greens to everything.

Chopped greens are great for soups and stews in the winter and smoothies when the weather warms up.

I like to eat at least two to three servings of vegetables a day, and frozen spinach helps me achieve that goal.

The store's sweet-potato fries are great right out of the oven.

Regular sweet potatoes are excellent, so sweet-potato fries are fantastic.

I like to bake them in the oven with a drizzle of oil and serve them as a side for burgers and other meals.

I love sprinkling low-fat shredded cheese on things for a protein kick.

Cheese is one of our favorite, convenient protein sources, so finding a shredded version that's low in fat is a win for us.

Blue-corn tortilla chips are one of my favorite sources of fiber.

When people think of fiber, chips might not come to mind. But Trader Joe's blue-corn tortilla chips pack 3 grams a serving. That's almost as much as a serving of brown rice.

Grab a bag for your next barbecue and serve them alongside some tasty salsa.

Click to keep reading Trader Joe's diaries like this one.

• Diet culture effected me from a young age, and I always tried the latest fad diets.
• For my wedding day, I finally decided to stop dieting because I wanted to feel my best.
• I looked amazing in my wedding photos.

Diet culture doesn't first come to you when you look in the mirror at 18. It starts much younger.

For me, it began when I was a child, catching glimmers of what I thought bodies should look like. Music videos showed girls with hourglass figures, and it felt like every man's celebrity crush was Beyoncé.

Even as a child, I understood the benefits of being thinner and lighter; it was the pathway to admiration.

I followed diet culture for most of my childhood and teenage years. It wasn't until I got married in college that I decided to try something different.

I always struggled with diet culture

As a teen, I learned that dieting was not only about admiration; it was also about health…supposedly. Everywhere I looked, people described their health journeys using before-and-after photos. Some even described intense eating restrictions. The association between body image and health felt more appropriate than selfishly wanting admiration. Nonetheless, I wanted both.

Shows like "The Biggest Loser" reminded me that other people had the same goal of health and admiration. It further intensified my desire for a body I later learned I would never be able to attain.

By the time I was in college, I knew the cycle well. Starting a diet felt hopeful, and ending one felt like a failure. Every diet pushed me further from my ideal weight. It felt like I was losing my health and closing my dating prospects all in one.

But the reality was that I walked at least two miles every day between classes, and as far as dating goes, I was engaged by my senior year. It sounds silly now that I didn't realize any of this at the time, but dieting has a way of distorting your self-image.

I explored the concept of intuitive eating before my wedding day, but I saw it as admitting defeat in my dieting journey. I told myself that a bride's wedding day is when she is supposed to look her best. That meant I was supposed to be at the peak of my youth, beauty, and health.

I decided to take a different approach to my wedding

Before the wedding, I talked with my now-husband about the stress of finding the perfect hairstyle to match my face shape and the perfect dress to match my body type post-diet. That's when I learned this man had done no such planning. He was going to get a haircut and a suit. The worst part was that I knew he would look great with so little effort.

I thought: Maybe I would be fine with minimal changes, too? But it was hard to shake the feeling that everyone would be critiquing me, the bride.

However, I knew that if I did a crash diet and lost 30 pounds, I wouldn't feel good physically or mentally on a day that mattered a lot to me.

Ultimately, I needed to change my mind about dieting because I realized I had planned my dream fall wedding, and I wanted the pictures to authentically show my face, my smile, and my body. I wanted to be able to recognize myself.

So, I decided to be brave and make choices counter to the bridal industry. I chose to do what made me feel good. I chose a lipstick color that would make my smile stand out. I chose a fitted dress that matched the fall theme. I wanted sleeves, not to hide my arms, but to match the season. I chose to be bold and stay true to myself.

It's all still a work in progress

Honestly, though, I thought the photos were going to look awful. We got the photos back online first. I was too nervous to look, so I decided to wait until we received the physical photo book. I still didn't look. It wasn't until after I was deeper into my intuitive eating journey — about six months later — that I finally looked through the photo book. I took a deep breath and started to flip through the pages.

I looked beautiful. I mean, these pictures were stunning. All the brave little choices I made came together in peak allure. I had found beauty in just being me.

Now, when people come to our home, I'm proud to point them to the wedding book sitting on the coffee table and the wedding photos on the wall.

• Ukraine says Russian forces were fooled into striking dummy models of military targets. 
• Air force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said that Russia attacked the models with Iskander-M missiles.
• The Iskander-M is a short-range ballistic missile with a range of up to 500 km (around 310 miles).

Ukrainian forces say they duped Russia into striking dummy models of aircraft and air defense systems with Iskander-M missiles.

Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of the Ukrainian air force, posted about the savvy tactic on Telegram.

He shared footage that he claimed showed recent enemy strikes with Iskander-Ms on the mock-ups, which he said were placed at an airfield close to the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine and the Yuzhne area, near the Black Sea port of Odesa.

He said the footage was captured by Russian reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles.

"The Air Force personnel successfully conducted passive defense measures!" Oleshchuk wrote in the post.

"Thank you to everyone who helps with high-quality models of aircraft and air defense systems. The enemy has fewer 'Iskanders,' and more models will be delivered," he added.

It would not be the first time that Ukraine has used "fake" military targets since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Photos and videos circulating on social media in February showed what appeared to be highly realistic decoy versions of radar and air defense systems.

Russia has also employed such tactics in the war, painting silhouettes of naval vessels on land to try to fool Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said in an update on the conflict in March.

Business Insider contacted the Ukrainian Air Force for comment.

The Iskander-M missile

The Iskander-M is a Russian "road-mobile short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) with a range of up to 500 km" (around 310 miles), according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies Missile Defense Project.

The missile has a launch weight of up to almost 8,900 pounds, and it was first used in combat by Russian forces against Georgia in 2008, per the Missile Defense Project.

Moscow has claimed that the missile will not be rivaled by Western rivals until 2025.

"According to designers, foreign states will be able to create its counterpart no earlier than in 2025," Russian Ground Forces Commander-in-Chief Col. Gen. Oleg Salyukov said.

• Japanese airline All Nippon Airways operates two colorful Pokémon-themed jets.
• During my flight on the Pikachu Jet NH, I found themed music, cups, and crew uniforms.
• The special onboard touches and free souvenirs made it a unique and memorable flight.

Despite seeing record-breaking travel, many airlines are struggling to turn a profit right now.

But amid Boeing delivery delays and high operating costs, some airlines may just have a leg up because of fun collaborations and unique flights.

After all, why book a boring flight when you could have a fun one?

By partnering with Pokémon Air Adventures, major Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) offers themed flights only a few airlines have. Recently, I boarded one for my three-hour flight from Taipei to Tokyo.

Since the planes fly throughout the airline's network just like any other aircraft, there's no price premium, and the fares are like those of any other flight. I paid around $500 to $700 for my round-trip ticket.

Here's what my themed flying experience was like.

There was no indication of anything special during check-in.

Although I had looked ahead online and learned that our flight would be operated by a Pokémon aircraft, I suspected a lot of passengers had no idea what they were in for when they were checking in.

As I walked toward the gate, I caught my first glimpse of the colorful aircraft with Pokémon on both sides.

ANA has two different Pokémon aircraft that operate regional flights within Asia and some long-haul flights from Japan to North America and Australia.

Our aircraft was a 246-seat Boeing 787-9 named the Pikachu Jet NH. ANA's other Pokémon-themed plane is a 212-seat Boeing 777-300ER called the Evee Jet NH.

I noticed the Pokémon theming as soon as I stepped onto the plane.

The first sign of the Pokémon theme was the music from the franchise playing on the plane during boarding.

The headrest covers featured Pikachu.

It was hard to miss the adorable headrest covers with Pikachu on them, even though they were done in a subtle blue to match the airline's colors and seat upholstery.

There was also a subtle reminder of the Pokémon theme outside the window.

Looking outside, I noticed that there was a balloon design painted on an inner part of the plane.

Given its location, it seemed like it was especially meant for passengers to see.

I was surprised that the flight attendants had themed uniform pieces.

As the cabin crew came around to start the in-flight service, I noticed that they were wearing Pokémon-themed aprons.

Drinks were served in special cups that, once again, featured Pikachu.

There were different designs for the hot and cold drink cups.

As is the norm on many full-service Asian airlines, a meal was served even though the flight was only three hours.

The tray came with a hot entrée, two side dishes, a container of fruit, and a bag of snack mix. I found the meal to be quite tasty.

Toward the end of the flight, the crew handed out envelopes with souvenirs inside.

Perhaps to avoid waste, I noticed the flight attendants asked each passenger if they wanted a souvenir packet.

Inside my envelope was a sticker, a "boarding certificate" with information about the aircraft, and a wooden luggage tag.

Looking around at my fellow passengers, it appeared that the sticker and luggage tag came in a few different designs.

The crew had a large stuffed Pikachu that they brought around to children on the flight.

Despite not being a child, I managed to snag a quick photo of the plushie after a flight attendant noticed that I was taking pictures of the souvenir items.

Our flight arrived at a remote stand, which allowed everyone to see the plane from the ground.

Airport staff tried to encourage people to get straight onto the buses that would take us to the terminal, but many people stopped to take pictures of the plane.

Overall, the themed service items, free souvenirs, and colorful paint job made for a fun and unique flight.

I'm always on the hunt for unique flying experiences, so I was impressed with the extensive thought that was put into each step of the journey.

The outside of the aircraft was nicely adorned with characters from the franchise, and the airline offered a nicely themed onboard experience.

I wouldn't actively seek out this flight experience after having done it once already, but I would definitely be excited if I saw a Pokémon plane at my gate again.

• Samantha Bosley, a single mom in Arizona, needed an extra job to support herself and her kids.
• In 2022, she started renting out her backyard as a private dog park through the app Sniffspot.
• The money she's making is helping her pay bills and do more activities with her kids. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Samantha Bosley, a 42-year-old account manager from Scottsdale, Arizona, who has been renting out her backyard on Sniffspot since 2022. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm from Scottsdale, Arizona. Over the past couple of years, the cost of living has gone up so much.

I've been managing bills and taking care of my kids all on my own. I didn't want to keep scraping by or have my finances tight — I wanted to have the room to take my kids on vacation or do fun stuff.

Taking on a second job that required me to be physically somewhere other than my home wasn't really an option. I'm a single mom with a full-time job and two little kids that I can't really leave them alone for more time than I spend at work.

I was researching ways to earn additional income or have a side hustle when I saw an ad for Sniffspot on Instagram. It's an app that helps homeowners rent out their backyards to people whose dogs may not get along with humans or other dogs, providing them with a private and safe space.

I thought it was a good option, so I tried it.

The money I'm making is helping me cover my bills

I started in September 2022. I created a profile, wrote a bit about myself, described my home and what to expect, and included pictures. I posted my profile, and dog owners on the site were able to book my backyard and select a time slot that worked for them.

As a homeowner, there are different rates you can charge guests to use your yard, but I typically earn $15 an hour for one dog.

So far, I've made about $7,400.

It's been very beneficial.

Although I still live paycheck to paycheck, the money I've earned is helping me cover my bills, including offsetting my car payment.

I can also afford fun experiences with my children now. Before, I couldn't just say, "Hey kids, want to go do something fun today?" But now, if we want to do something fun or eat out spontaneously, we can.

I don't have to do much as a Sniffspot host

My home was already well-prepared for hosting on Sniffspot.

I have a ranch-style farmhouse home with a pool and a backyard that sits on half an acre of land.

I have two securely closed fences in my front yard that can be accessed from either side of the house, although I don't keep them locked. People can come and go as they please, and thanks to the fences, their dogs can't roam outside the yard unless they choose to open them.

Hosting on Sniffspot has as low overhead as you can get on a side business. But there are some things that I've needed to spend money on.

For example, I had an issue with my pool filter — it blew up, and the pool cleaner said it was because of all the dogs swimming in the pool, which I don't believe. I had to spend $800 on that. But that could have happened regardless.

The guests respect my space

I have about six regular clients spanning different age ranges. The common thread among them is that they typically live in condos or apartments.

They are sometimes visitors from out of town.

Almost always, they don't have access to a backyard — and even if they do have one, it might not include a pool. They just really want their dogs to be able to run around and swim.

When the weather isn't ungodly hot in Scottsdale, I could have a full day of visitors on a weekend. During peak times, I could have back-to-back visitors on both Saturday and Sunday.

I never feel weird about people being in my backyard because everyone kind of wants to be alone. I've never had anyone I felt could be potentially dangerous or made my kids and me feel uncomfortable.

Sometimes my kids and I catch glimpses of the animals, and they'll say, "Oh, look, so cute!" But we always try to give guests their space. I remind them not to interact or make eye contact with anyone, and they understand not to go outside and play with the dogs.

It's a win-win situation for everyone

I'm a huge animal lover, which is a big reason I do this.

Many people send me messages saying, "Thank you so much for opening up your space and letting us do this. We don't have anywhere else to go." It feels really good to provide that space for them.

Plus, it's pretty much hands-off — the only downside is if you accidentally forget to block time when you want to be in your own yard. But I usually block off plenty of time on the calendar for personal yard time with my kids.

Overall, being a Sniffspot host has been great for me because I don't have to go to another job and be away from my kids. It's self-sufficient, and I don't have to do much.

I make extra money and get to help dogs. So, for the most part, it's a win-win.

As long as I don't have any issues, I don't plan on stopping.

• Jeronimo Noriega, a student from San Antonio, moved to Spain and never plans to return to the US.
• Noriega appreciates Spain's work culture, public transportation, and affordable dining experiences.
• Though he misses friends and US customer service, Noriega doesn't plan to move back.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeronimo Noriega, a 27-year-old student who lives in Spain. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I moved to Oviedo, Asturias in Northwest Spain after growing up in San Antonio and I don't think I'll ever move back to the United States.

If that shocks you, it surprised me too. I never thought I'd live in Europe — I'd never even been there before my siblings and I agreed to move to Spain with my parents. Although I was born in Mexico, I spent most of my life living in the US so moving to Spain was a big difference.

When my family decided we needed a change, we chose Spain because it felt like a natural fit — my grandparents spent their lives living between Spain and Mexico. Although I'm Mexican-American and fluent in Spanish, settling in Spain was initially difficult because my Spanish-speaking skills were rusty after living in America.

Once I started getting more comfortable in the local dialect, I felt more comfortable living in Spain. I've lived here for 14 months and I have a much better quality of life in Spain than I had in the US.

I feel anxious when I get in a car now because I'm so used to walking and taking public transportation in Spain

When I lived in the US, I constantly felt like I was sitting in traffic or relying on my car to get places, but in Spain I just walk everywhere. I'm never stuck in a car. It's not only better for the environment, it's healthier for me too.

The sense of community is so strong here. When I walk around my neighborhood, people say hi to each other and it's so lovely. You don't have that part of the day when you're in your car in America. I love being out in the world while I'm getting from one place to the next and not just siloed in my car.

Living in Spain has shown me there's a different way to exist

I love the work culture in Spain. In America, I felt like my only options were to rise and grind and get beat down by the machine, but everything is different here. In Spain, they seem to value their lives over their work — it's not even a work-life balance.

People take three-hour lunches and drink a bottle of wine before going back to the office or they stop in the middle of the afternoon for a leisure espresso break. It was kind of difficult to transition into that lifestyle because I was so used to the American way of life where work is everything. Even through college, I was constantly working and grinding my life away.

When I first moved to Spain, I felt like I was really lazy. I wondered, what am I doing? I should be working myself to the bone. But then I started to see how Spaniards live and I wanted that level of freedom and joy. Now, I attend a community college and spend my days studying, going to class, and drinking espresso and wine at cafés.

It's normal to go to a wonderful dinner that costs $11 per person, in Spain

I love the restaurant scene. It's not even strange to linger at a table for four or five hours — it's normal. I remember eating dinner in the US and feeling like the waitress was judging me if I didn't leave right after I finished eating. Everything is slower in Spain and it's lovely.

I can buy a coffee for the equivalent of a few dollars and not feel bad about lingering in the coffee shop for a few hours to hang out.

I don't see moving back to the US in my future

My parents asked me the other day if I'd ever consider moving back to the US and I was so struck by the question that I made a TikTok about it. The short answer is: never say never, but I don't see it in my future.

I definitely miss my friends, but I wouldn't let that keep me from life in Spain. I also miss the American customer service — it's so friendly and personable, but maybe that's because of the tipping culture. In Spain, I've noticed that customer service doesn't reflect the level of that in the States unless you're at a high-end restaurant.

Now that I've had a taste of what life is like outside the rat race, I'm not eager to get back on the wheel. Life is long, and you never know what will happen, but I'm staying here for the foreseeable future. All I have to do is take a walk to the coffee shop, have a delicious dinner for $11, or take a break in the middle of a weekday to remind myself why I'm staying.

Correction: January 9, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the person who moved to Spain. His name is Jeronimo Noriega , not Geronimo.

• Trump has intensified his verbal attacks on Biden's "vile" student loan forgiveness policies.
• The Supreme Court ruling striking down the Chevron doctrine weakened the Department of Education.
• If re-elected, Trump could slash forgiveness, close the Ed Dept, and send student loans to the private sector.

Donald Trump has long regarded the student loan forgiveness measures rolled out under the Biden administration as a stunt to garner "publicity for the election." Still, if he's elected again, Trump is poised to do more than just roll the measures back.

At a campaign event in late June, Trump called Biden-era student debt relief measures "vile," suggesting that student loan borrowers shouldn't count on forgiveness under a second Trump administration. He has also repeatedly praised the Supreme Court's June 2023 decision to strike down Biden's "unfair" effort to cancel up to $400 billion in student loans — which would have forgiven up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients and as much as $10,000 for borrowers who make under $125,000 a year.

Though he doesn't have much in the way of an official policy plan for a second term, one specific pledge Trump makes on his campaign website is to "close the Department of Education in Washington, DC and to send all education work and needs back to the States."

The move is straight out of the Project 2025 playbook, a road map for the next presidency created by conservative activists to "bring quick relief to Americans suffering from the Left's devastating policies."

In particular, Project 2025 — which Trump has publicly distanced himself from in recent remarks, indicating "some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal," though he continues to echo their policy suggestions — takes aim at some Title IX protections and seeks to roll back some equity-focused policies based on preventing discrimination based on race and gender identity.

Eliminating the Department of Education and its "woke-dominated system of public schools" is high on the list of Project 2025's priorities for the first 180 days of the next conservative administration — meaning Trump, if he's elected.

"That type of deconstruction of the US Department of Education entirely would create quite a bit of chaos," Jan Miller, a student loan consultant with more than 25 years of experience in the financial industry, told Business Insider.

Defunding the Education Department

The Department of Education runs the federal Pell Grant system for low-income students and the federal work-study program. It also facilitates the service of federal education grants and loans and their repayment and forgiveness programs.

While it would require Republican control of both the House and Senate for Trump to close the Education Department completely, doing so would mean access to educational funding and resources would be limited depending on what state a student resides in, student financial aid expert Mark Kantrowitz told BI.

Even if Trump doesn't manage to close the Education Department, he could still restrict its resources and slow hiring, causing delays in processing loans and grant applications. He could also cut back programs like federal work study, which provides part-time jobs for students who demonstrate financial need to help them pay for school.

"It would clearly be chaos if they actually succeed in doing it, and it wouldn't necessarily save the government money unless they cut out things wholesale," Kantrowitz said.

A recent Supreme Court ruling striking down the Chevron doctrine has already weakened the Education Department. The ruling struck down 40 years of precedent that required courts to defer to agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes.

Betsy Mayotte, the president and founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, told BI that the ruling could mean the Education Department becomes involved in legal challenges to its regulatory language, forcing it to devote more resources to those battles.

"Depending on who is elected or reelected in this upcoming election, the whole Chevron case could add more complexity to the outcomes we see for both people attending school now, people that are about to attend school, and people that already have student loans," Mayotte said.

What a second Trump term could mean for students

In Trump's previous administration, a backlog of applications to the Education Department's Public Service Loan Forgiveness program piled up, and he worked to weaken forgiveness protections for students who'd been defrauded by higher education institutions, BI previously reported. The former president also proposed massive cuts to the Education Department's budget and supported plans to cap the amount of loans parents can take out to fund their child's education.

Biden-era student loan forgiveness measures, as well as his new income-driven SAVE repayment plan, are making their way through court challenges led by conservative groups, which are not likely to be resolved before 2025. If Trump wins in November, he could end the legal battles — thereby ending students' chances at forgiveness and reduced payment amounts — by casting Biden's efforts aside, BI previously reported.

"Overall, I think a Biden administration is going to be more favorable for college affordability than a Trump administration," Kantrowitz said. "You just look at what happened during the Trump's presidency, and you can expect a lot of that to occur again — and then maybe some new things."

Representatives for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Big Tech firms such as Google and Microsoft are competing for top AI talent.
• But workers may be the real winners of the battle as they're securing bigger compensation packages.
• Recent data from Levels.fyi and PwC shows AI-skilled jobs are offering higher salaries. 

Tech companies are embroiled in an intense war for top AI talent.

The likes of Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Meta are fiercely competing to woo workers with AI skills.

But the true victors of the contest may be the workers who are winning big compensation packages.

Ram Srinivasan, a future of work expert and managing director of consulting firm JLL, told Business Insider that the AI talent race is "creating a promising landscape for tech professionals."

"AI talent is in high demand, with companies offering impressive compensation. Some AI experts have received offers topping $1 million in total compensation, including substantial equity. This competitive market is pushing up salaries and providing attractive financial incentives for tech workers," Srinivasan said.

PwC analyzed more than half a billion job ads in 15 countries for its 2024 Global AI Jobs Barometer. It concludes that workers who learn to harness AI are likely to have bright futures despite the likely impact on employment in some sectors.

The talent war appears to be going in workers' favor, as employers are willing to pay more to entice those with AI skills. The PwC report says US-based job postings seeking AI expertise are associated with a 25% wage premium.

A May report from Levels.fyi, a platform that lets tech workers submit their compensation information, revealed that total pay for AI engineers has recently been on an upward trend.

Salary trends data obtained by Levels.fyi showed starting salaries for AI engineers in the US rose to $300,600 by March, up from $231,000 in August 2022.

Its report on AI engineer compensation trends for the first quarter found that entry-level AI engineers earn 8.6% more than non-AI engineers this year. At a more senior level, AI engineers earn almost 11% more than their non-AI counterparts.

Workers might also have more leverage to negotiate even better compensation and benefits as their expertise is highly sought after.

Those with experience in machine learning, engineering, and deep learning are securing impressive salaries. The median total compensation for a machine learning or AI software engineer is $140,823, according to Levels.fyi.

Big tech players must continue to be competitive to successfully recruit AI-skilled workers, as many AI experts are attracted to startups, according to Srinivasan.

In his view, workers might find startups more appealing as they can "have more creative input and potentially reap significant financial rewards if the company succeeds."

• Trump wants his hush-money verdict nixed in the wake of the Supreme Court immunity opinion. 
• But Trump's new immunity superpowers won't derail his September sentencing, experts predict.
• That's because any official-act evidence used in his trial only amounts to "harmless error."

"No harm, no foul" isn't just for streetball. It could help former President Donald Trump's hush-money conviction survive the US Supreme Court immunity opinion.

Thanks to a legal doctrine called "harmless error," Trump's September 18 sentencing is virtually guaranteed to proceed as planned, former New York judges and prosecutors predicted in conversations with Business Insider.

And no amount of jumping up and down and screaming "SCOTUS" can stop it, they said.

That's because even if Trump's trial judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, finds that presidential immunity retroactively invalidates some evidence used at trial, he'll likely also find that this amounts to "harmless error."

No harm, no foul — meaning that even if you removed the challenged evidence, there would still be overwhelming proof of Trump's guilt.

"Saying it's harmless means you're saying that removing this evidence from the trial wouldn't change the verdict," explained John Moscow, a former Manhattan financial crimes prosecutor.

"And yes, I believe the judge will find that he would have been convicted regardless," added Mocow, now senior counsel at Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss in New York.

"And yes, I believe that the judge will find that this was harmless."

What are Trump's lawyers trying to do?

Trump's lawyers are about to file what's known as a 330.30 motion to set aside the verdict. Their deadline for filing is Wednesday.

It's a pre-sentencing motion. And it's based on a state statute that tells New York criminal trial judges that they must toss out a verdict if the defense proves that something happened in the trial that was so grievously wrong, it would never survive an appeal.

And here's where SCOTUS comes in

Trump's lawyers have already given Merchan and prosecutors the broad outlines of what they believe those grievous 330.30 grounds for an appellate reversal are.

They're the same grounds they raised pre-trial in March, in arguing without success that the trial should be delayed until SCOTUS addressed presidential immunity.

Monday's immunity opinion protects former presidents from having to defend themselves against evidence involving their "official acts."

Trump's lawyers now say there were at least four times that the judge improperly let Manhattan prosecutors show official-act evidence to the jury.

All four instances involved evidence from 2017 and early 2018. (It was just 11 days before the 2016 election when then-Trump attorney Michael Cohen fronted $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels. But Trump was in the White House when he falsified Trump Organization records throughout 2017 to hide paying Cohen back.)

Trump says his 2017-18 phone logs were official-act evidence

The defense is poised to argue that the hush-money jury should never have seen phone logs showing when and for how long Cohen's phone connected with phones used by Trump.

But the logs are neither "acts" nor vital to a verdict, former prosecutors said.

"A phone record is not the president doing something," said Diana Florence, another former financial crimes prosecutor now in private practice.

"The logs only show that this instrument connected to that instrument," Moscow agreed.

"And if that's an official act, then that's a real problem," he added, meaning that any such interpretation of presidential immunity would be incredibly broad.

Still, "the conversation is what was important, and the fact of a conversation was confirmed by the person on the other end," meaning Cohen, who the verdict shows the jurors believed, Moscow said.

"So if you knock out the phone logs, that doesn't warrant a new trial."

Trump says his 2018 tweets were official-act evidence

The hush-money jury should never have seen certain incriminating 2018 tweets, the defense is also ready to argue in seeking that 330.30 reversal.

In the tweets, Trump described his payments to Cohen as hush-money reimbursement, contrary to his business records, in which the payments were falsely — and 34 times — called "legal fees."

But the tweets were from Trump's personal Twitter account. They described payments from Trump's personal checkbook. And they concerned the most personal of allegations — a one-night-stand with a porn actor.

"And that's why it wasn't on the White House stationery," Florence joked. "President Donald J. Trump here, and I didn't pay that porn star."

"If tweets or 'truths' are all official acts, then the libel and defamation laws all go," added Moscow. "Privacy laws all go. He can say whatever he wants whenever he wants to."

Trump says an Oval Office conversation with Hope Hicks was official-act evidence, too

The defense is also poised to argue that the jury should never have heard former White House communications director Hope Hicks testify about a 2018 Oval Office conversation, in which she said Trump told her he was relieved the hush-money story broke after the election, rather than before.

The testimony was "devastating" and showed Trump considered the hush-money payment to be vital to his campaign, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury in closing statements.

Florence thought this conversation might arguably be official under the SCOTUS opinion "because she worked for the administration."

The opinion says that in the DC insurrection case, Trump's discussions with his acting attorney general "are readily categorized in light of the nature of the President's official relationship to the office held by that individual" and are therefore immune from prosecution and cannot be used against him.

"But even then, he's talking with Hicks about something relating to his personal life," Florence added.

Either way — whether it was properly or improperly shared with the jury — the Hicks conversation is more corroborative than substantive, and the verdict would survive without it, Florence and Moscow agreed.

Finally, Trump says a 2018 government ethics form was also official-act evidence

The last piece of purportedly official-act evidence Trump is challenging is a government ethics form he signed in 2018.

The form details Trump's assets and liabilities and is mandatory for all presidents and high-level administration officials.

Prosecutors showed it to jurors because it includes Trump's claim that "Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017." By calling it reimbursement, Trump contradicts his business records, which disguised the reimbursement as legal fees.

"The Supreme Court could not mean that the president is immune from filling out forms," Moscow said. "If that is an official act, then Trump has no liability for signing and approving any documents."

Said Florence, "If he was being prosecuted for that form — for that being a false filing — then maybe, maybe, in the new world we're living in then that could cause the verdict to be overturned.

"That's if the judge deemed it an official act, which it could be," she said. "But the thing is, it's only more corroboration."

No reversal necessary

Even without the phone logs, the tweets, the Hicks testimony, and the ethics form, there is more than enough non-official-act evidence to convict Trump, said Charles Solomon, who, before retiring, was a state Supreme Court justice in Manhattan for more than 30 years.

"Even if he had immunity from all of this evidence, that doesn't mean you throw out the whole verdict," said Solomon, who after leaving the bench worked as an advisor to the DA's office.

"I don't think there's anything appearing in the record requiring a reversal or modification of the verdict as a matter of law," he said.

"The question every judge is going to ask, and the then the appellate courts will ask too, is was the error of such significance that had it not been made, the verdict could well have been different," said attorney Thomas Franczyk.

"The judge will ask, 'even if we set that evidence aside, was there sufficient evidence left to still say 'no harm, no foul, there would have been a conviction anyway?'" said Franczyk, a retired state Supreme Court justice from Buffalo who has written about 330.30 motions for the Assigned Counsel Program of Erie County.

And if a 330.30 fails, it's straight to sentencing

If Merchan rejects the defense 330.30 motion, it's game over, at least on the trial-court level. Trump's sentencing will be the next, inevitable step, the retired judges and former prosecutors who spoke to BI agreed.

As a newly sentenced felon, Trump can immediately appeal — including on the grounds that official-act evidence was improperly admitted and that the 330.30 motion was improperly denied.

Trump's hush-money conviction appeal will take years and could even lead back to the US Supreme Court.

"I can write their opinion: 'It's Donald Trump, so he wins,'" Moscow joked. "With a concurring opinion by Justice Clarence 'My Buddies Won't Continue Funding Me If I Let His Conviction Stand' Thomas."

Any sentence will almost certainly be put on ice in its entirety pending the outcome of Trump's appeals, experts say.

Still, Trump will remain a convicted and sentenced felon for the duration. That's including — if the current September 18 sentencing date holds — as Americans head to the polls in November to choose their next president.

"Obviously, we're all speculating because who in the world ever thought that this is where we would ever be," said Florence.

"But I'm pretty sure there will be a sentencing," she said. "Maybe Judge Cannon would set the verdict aside," she said, referring to US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who presides over his Florida classified documents case.

"But I don't think a Judge Merchan will."

Prosecutors have called the 330.30 effort "without merit." They must file their response by July 24. Merchan has said he will issue a written decision on September 6. A DA spokesperson and a lawyer for Trump declined to comment on this story.

• When my father got lung cancer, I became his caretaker. 
• My brothers didn't have contact with him, and I had a classic case of 'eldest daughter syndrome.'
• Though it was a lot of pressure and I felt isolated at times, I also don't regret it.

As the oldest of three kids and the only girl, I grew up feeling like I had to take care of everyone. I relished being the oldest as a child, but as I matured, the responsibility increased, and I never learned to say no. This classic case of 'eldest daughter syndrome' led to me becoming the father's sole caregiver of my father, who dealt with alcoholism, and the only person in my family to continue a relationship with him long-term.

My father's steadfast refusal to seek help for his alcoholism resulted in my parents' divorce when I was 14. As alcohol took over his life, Dad's desire to see his kids began to fade. My brothers and I were relieved; spending every other weekend in his smoke-filled apartment, listening to him rant about the divorce as he drank himself into a stupor, wasn't our adolescent idea of a good time.

I heard sporadically from my father as I entered adulthood and even reluctantly saw him a few times. I didn't have much desire to connect with him — he still drank heavily, and I resented his lack of support growing up — but the eldest daughter in me worried I might one day regret my choice if I rebuffed his peace offerings.

My brothers didn't want to spend time with our father

My brothers continued to keep their distance, claiming he gave up the right to a relationship when he disappeared from our lives. I rationalized that alcoholism had impacted his ability to be a father, while they saw his actions as a choice he made willingly. I realized it wasn't a matter of wrong vs. right; someone needed to be there for Dad, and as the oldest and only girl, the job fell to me.

When I was a new mom in my early 30s, Dad, a smoker since his teens, called to tell me he had lung cancer. Thus began nearly a decade of single-handedly caring for my father as his health circled the proverbial drain. The saga started with several four-hour round-trip drives to pick him up in the small town where he lived, only to turn around and drive him back to my city to consult a surgeon. I waited alone at the hospital as he underwent the three-hour procedure to remove his left lung and visited him daily until his release.

I took it upon myself to care for Dad

A couple of months later, Dad suddenly couldn't walk. I found myself on another tour of specialists, where a neurosurgeon finally diagnosed hydrocephalus, an excessive buildup of spinal fluid on the brain. I waited, alone again, through a two-hour surgery to insert a shunt that would drain the excess fluid. During Dad's recovery from that operation, it became clear he could no longer care for himself, so it fell to me to set him up in a nursing home and carve out time to visit him so he wouldn't feel abandoned.

To be fair, the few times I asked for help, my siblings came through for me. They made clear, though, that they were helping me, not my father, and I believed, as their older sister, I shouldn't need help. I kept my requests to a minimum.

My father finally succumbed to cirrhosis at 65. There was no funeral, and I felt sorry for myself as I left the funeral home with his ashes — my final solo act as his oldest child. But I broke down in tears at the realization that I was the only person in the world who cared enough to be there for him in the end.

I understood my brothers' reasons for not wanting a relationship with our father. If I'd seen it as an option, I might have even done the same thing. But I accepted their refusal to interact with him and my resulting role as his only caretaker as just another of my eldest daughter responsibilities. That created a lot of pressure, but I'm thankful my role in the family forced that path because I can look back on my relationship with Dad without regret.