NEW YORK
Planning a wedding is stressful. Couples and vendors now have to factor in tariffs
Wedding cakes, decor, attire, flowers, party favors, and Champagne. There isn’t much in the wedding industry that isn’t affected by new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. How much gets passed down to consumers is up to the vendors and the many middlemen often involved. Some wedding couples and their vendors are already feeling the sting. Wedding professionals say some sectors of the industry in the U.S. are underdeveloped and incapable of absorbing the load from tariff-heavy nations. This includes China and Latin American countries that provide the U.S. with the bulk of its cut flowers. Some bridal couples will go without.
MINNEAPOLIS
Men face prison for human smuggling after an Indian family of 4 died on the US-Canada border
Two men face sentencing in Minnesota on human smuggling charges more than three years after a family of four from India froze to death while trying to cross into the U.S. along a remote stretch of the Canadian border in a blizzard. Federal prosecutors have recommended nearly 20 years for the alleged ringleader, Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, at his sentencing Wednesday. And they're seeking nearly 11 years for the driver who was supposed to pick them up, Steve Anthony Shand. They'll be sentenced at the federal courthouse in the northwestern Minnesota city of Fergus Falls, where they were tried and convicted on four counts apiece in November.
NEW YORK
Macy's profit and sales slip, and it cuts profit forecast for 2025, but tops Q1 expectations
Macy’s sales and profit slipped in its first quarter, and the department store, citing more cautious customers and the impact that the U.S. trade war will have on the company and its shoppers, trimmed its profit forecast for 2025. However, the New York retailer, which also owns upscale Bloomingdale’s and the Bluemercury cosmetics chain, topped most performance expectations for the first three months of the year and maintained its sales forecast for the year on Wednesday.
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge's order on deportations to South Sudan
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to halt a judge’s order allowing migrants to challenge their deportations to South Sudan. The emergency appeal Tuesday came after a judge found the White House violated a court order with a deportation flight to the chaotic African nation carrying people from other countries who had been convicted of crimes in the U.S. Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston found that the White House had “unquestionably” violated his earlier order that people must be given a chance to raise objections before being sent to another country that would put them in danger, even if they’ve otherwise exhausted their legal appeals.
NEW YORK
What is Manhattanhenge, and when can you see it?
Twice per year, New Yorkers and visitors are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers. The first Manhattanhenge of the year takes place at sunset on Wednesday, with a slight variation happening again on Thursday. It will occur again on July 11 and 12. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article. Tyson has said that he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager. Manhattanhenge happens about three weeks before and after the summer solstice.
HONOLULU
An Oregon man who quit his job to set sail with his cat arrives to cheering fans in Hawaii
An Oregon man who quit his job at a tire company and liquidated his retirement savings to set sail for Hawaii with his cat reached his destination Saturday. His arrival on Oahu ended a weekslong journey that he documented for his mass of followers on social media. Oliver Widger was greeted by a throng of fans, as well as Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, at the Waikiki Yacht Club. He became an online sensation with his story, which followed a diagnosis four years ago with a syndrome that carried a risk of paralysis and made him realize he hated his job. He quit his job to buy a sailboat and sail around the world.
WASHINGTON
Trump set to pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley of fraud and tax evasion convictions
President Donald Trump says he’s planning to pardon TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, famous for “Chrisley Knows Best,” a reality show that followed their tight-knit family and extravagant lifestyle. The Chrisleys were convicted in 2022 of conspiring to defraud banks in the Atlanta area out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans by submitting false documents. They were also found guilty of tax evasion by hiding their earnings while showcasing a luxurious way of living that prosecutors said included luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate, and travel. The move continues a pattern of Trump pardoning some high-profile friends, supporters, donors, and former staffers.
WASHINGTON
Nets and high-tech hijackings: Anti-drone systems offer new ways to counter rising threats
Rising concerns about the misuse of drones have led to the development of new technologies designed to counter unmanned aircraft. These include systems that fire projectiles at drones, capture them with nets, or jam the controller's signals. Other technologies hack into the unmanned aircraft, allowing it to land safely. Cheap and easily modified, drones have been used for purposes from intelligence gathering and surveillance to sabotage and even terrorism. Members of Congress say they want to make it easier for state and local authorities to use counter-drone technology to protect critical infrastructure and public events.
U.S.
This runner was bothered by a blizzard of disposable cups at races. She invented something better
Kristina Smithe was running a marathon in California a few years ago when she started thinking about all the waste such events produce, especially the blizzard of disposable paper cups that can pile up at water spots. She came up with a solution, a reusable silicone cup that races can rent to avoid the single-use throwaways. She says her company, Hiccup Earth, has taken the cups to 137 races and spared more than 902,000 disposable ones from hitting a landfill. One expert at the climate nonprofit Project Drawdown says the reusable cups are an example of the many small ideas that need to be successful to make progress.
PORTLAND, Ore.
The Digital Equity Act tried to close the digital divide. Trump calls it racist and acts to end it
One initiative distributes laptops in rural Iowa. Another helped people get back online in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene washed away computers and phones. And there are efforts in Oregon and rural Alabama to teach digital skills to older people, including some who’ve never touched a computer. Those and others are in jeopardy after President Donald Trump said he's cutting a program aimed at filling gaps in the digital divide. The Digital Equity Act was intended to cover unmet needs that surfaced during the country's broadband rollout. Trump has branded the program as racist and illegal, and claims it amounts to “woke handouts based on race.”
NEW YORK
Philanthropy wants to build Gen Z's confidence in institutions. Will youth empowerment foster trust?
Gen Z tends to lack trust in the major institutions that previous generations expected to safeguard their futures. The philanthropic sector is working to reverse that disillusionment by empowering Gen Z to make the structural change they so often seek. Born out of the idea that young people distrust institutions because they don’t feel served by the status quo, several initiatives are underway with hopes that more responsive institutions will be seen as more legitimate. For example, DoSomething has been boosting youth volunteering since 1993, and the nonprofit is now providing opportunities to make more lasting community change. Summer Dean, 27, says: “Young people -- we’re not just victims of these systems. We have agency and we have power.”
NEW YORK
Wall Street holds steady as the countdown ticks toward Nvidia's earnings report
U.S. stocks are holding steadier a day after leaping back within a few good days’ worth of gains from their all-time high. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 60 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Abercrombie & Fitch soared after its profit and revenue beat analysts’ expectations, while Macy's swung from a gain to a loss despite likewise delivering better results than expected. The market's main event will come after trading ends for the day, when tech heavyweight Nvidia will report its latest results. Stocks were also mostly muted across Europe and Asia.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
'Blue Danube' waltz is launching into space to mark his 200th birthday
Strauss' “Blue Danube” waltz is heading into space this month to mark the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. The European Space Agency's big dish antenna in Spain will beam the waltz into the cosmos as it's performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The celestial send-off on May 31 will also celebrate the space agency's founding 50 years ago. The radio signals will hurtle away at the speed of light. Within 23 hours, the signals will be as far from Earth as NASA's Voyager 1, the world's most distant spacecraft, some 15 billion miles away.
U.S.
Publix recalls baby food pouches after testing finds elevated levels of lead
The Publix supermarket chain is recalling fruit and vegetable baby food because testing found elevated levels of lead. Publix recalled Greenwise Pear, Kiwi, Spinach & Pea Baby Food, sold in 4-ounce plastic pouches. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted the recall notice late Thursday. The pouches were sold in more than 1,400 stores. The contamination was flagged by officials in North Carolina, the state that first identified an outbreak of lead in baby food that sickened more than 500 U.S. children in 2023.
SpaceX launches another Starship rocket after back-to-back explosions, but it tumbles out of control
SpaceX has launched its Starship mega rocket again after back-to-back explosions. It made it through the entire test flight Tuesday evening, but fell short of its main objectives when the spacecraft tumbled out of control. SpaceX had hoped to release a series of mock satellites following liftoff from Texas, but that got nixed because the door failed to open. Then the spacecraft began spinning as it skimmed space toward an entry in the Indian Ocean. The first-stage booster ended up in the Gulf of Mexico in pieces. There were no plans to catch the booster this time.
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