🐤 Up in the air

Markets: A busy week of earnings reports ended on a mixed note. The Nasdaq Composite registered gains on the strength of positive tech-sector news but the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 finished lower for the day, ending six straight weeks of gains for both.

Investors will be keeping an eye on a number of Big Tech giants, including Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta, which will all be releasing earnings reports next week.

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Home at last: Four astronauts — three Americans and one Russian — are back on Earth after spending months on the International Space Station. They were supposed to return earlier but issues involving the Boeing Starliner capsule and recent weather led to delays. SpaceX provided the spacecraft that brought the four back home, leaving the ISS with its standard seven-person occupancy. After splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico just before dawn on Friday, one of the astronauts experienced a medical issue and was hospitalized in stable condition.

Blackcat attack: A group of hackers known collectively as Blackcat have claimed responsibility for a ransomware cyberattack on UnitedHealth Group in February that impacted the personal data of more than 100 million individuals. Those impacted have reportedly already been notified. The compromised data could include health files, insurance details, payment methods, and identifying information such as Social Security or driver’s license numbers. The Department of Health and Human Services says it’s the biggest healthcare breach on record.

Hand signals: Just one day into his new contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, guard Dejounte Murray sustained a serious injury. He was fouled during the season opener against the Chicago Bulls and fractured his left hand, which should keep him sidelined for between four and six weeks. Murray has already undergone surgery and the Pelicans are surely anxious to see him back in the game. New Orleans acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks during the offseason and Jose Alvarado is expected to replace him during his recovery.

Waymo money: We could soon start seeing driverless taxis roaming the streets of more cities around the United States. Waymo and Cruise already have autonomous vehicles accepting fares in select communities and Tesla has been teasing its Robotaxi for a while. But an influx of about $5.6 billion as part of its latest round of fundraising could be the boost Waymo needs to emerge as the industry leader. The Alphabet-owned company hopes to expand operations via the Uber app in cities including Austin, Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Vaping in general has been met with criticism in recent years on matters ranging from addiction to health effects to underage use. But a particularly objectionable variant is the disposable vape.

In addition to the aforementioned concerns of traditional products, the single-use version has a greater potential negative environmental impact.

The hammer comes down

With the latest move by officials in England and Wales, most of the United Kingdom is united in prohibiting the sale of disposable vapes. In these two countries, the ban will take effect in June.

A previous decision in Scotland had mandated that the devices be outlawed there as of April, but that order has been amended with a delay to coincide with the implementation of bans in England and Wales.

Analyzing the statistics

According to the U.K.’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, vaping has become a significant problem on several fronts. It released a trove of information on the topic in support of the new rules.

Some of the highlights include:

• A 400% increase in vape use between 2012 and 2023
• About 9% of Brits currently buy and use vapes
• Hundreds of fires start each year from discarded vape batteries
• Almost 4 times more were thrown away in 2024 than in 2023

Banning single-use vapes, Public Health Minister Andrew Gwynne claimed, would “reduce the appeal of vapes to children and keep them out of the hands of vulnerable young people.”

The industry strikes back

As part of its opposition to the new rule, vaping industry representatives say it’s unwarranted and would increase demand for black market vapes.

But U.K. leaders insist the lower price, wider accessibility, and brightly colored packages of disposable vapes is a clear danger to young people and the benefits of banning them outweigh the potential risks.

From Harvey Weinstein to Jeffrey Epstein, the past decade has certainly seen its share of disturbing news stories about rich and powerful sex criminals. Now, with Diddy behind bars and facing charges of sex trafficking, there’s an even brighter spotlight on this particularly vile behavior.

More common or just more visible?

The entire #MeToo era seemed to provide an endless list of famous individuals accused of some of the most heinous acts. And with the conviction of household names like Bill Cosby and R. Kelly, it was impossible to ignore the trend.

So why have all of these cases come to light? It might seem as if the rate of sex crimes among the elite class has increased, but in reality it might be that we’re getting better as a society at exposing it.

Here are a few reasons experts say we’ve been seeing more reports lately:

• Victims feel more empowered to file reports
• Some prosecutors are treating cases more seriously
• New laws make it easier to report crimes

But many cases still go unreported, often because victims don’t think it will do any good.

“Rape is one of the most underreported crimes, and a very small percentage of perpetrators are brought to justice because they’re hard cases,” said former prosecutor Neama Rahmani. “They happen behind closed doors. It’s an issue of consent and ‘he said, she said.’”

The case of Mike, Matt, and James

In addition to the Diddy drama, there’s been another sex-trafficking related case in the headlines. Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, was arrested (along with his partner Matthew Smith and associate James Jacobsen) on charges that include an array of alarming accusations.

The trio allegedly made empty promises of modeling opportunities to young men in order to sexually exploit them.

Teachers, parents, and administrators have spent a lot of time thinking about what restrictions schools should place on cell phone use among students. But from the students’ perspective, there might be another device that contributes to their school-related anxiety.

A blessing…

Along with various other aspects of our smartphone-dominated society, many traditional forms of communication between parents and teachers have been replaced by an app. Platforms like ClassDojo and Blackboard have become ubiquitous in school districts across the country and around the world.

And it’s easy to see why parents and teachers alike have embraced these apps. It’s a convenient way to share information and provides an opportunity for transparency that quarterly conferences or occasional phone calls never could.

There are also features available on some popular platforms that allow teachers to automatically translate messages into a family’s home language.

…or a curse

But is it too much transparency? Consistent updates about grades and behavior can take their toll on even the most obedient and studious of kids.

Some experts on children’s mental health say this parental monitoring — or even the perception thereof — can stunt the development of certain social skills. On the flip side, all of this immediate access has led some parents to react in ways that contribute to that stress.

According to therapist Lynn Lyons: “We’ve got this idea right now that the closer we keep our kids, the more information we have, the more we direct, the more we control, the better off our kids will be. And the research is showing the opposite.”

Times have changed, and these apps don’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. But as long as parents and teachers understand the risks, there are some pretty compelling benefits.

Who is Dracula's favorite actress?

Neck-hole Kidman!