President Donald Trump has spent much of his two-week vacation in Florida golfing. But when he gets back to the White House, there’s a military golf course that he’s never played that he’s eyeing for a major construction project.
Long a favored getaway for presidents seeking a few hours solace from the stress of running the free world, the Courses at Andrews inside the secure confines of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the White House are known as the president’s golf course.” Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden have spent time there, and Barack Obama played it more frequently than any president, roughly 110 times in eight years.
Trump has always preferred the golf courses his family owns spending about one of every four days of his second term at one of them. But he’s now enlisted golf champion Jack Nicklaus as the architect to overhaul the Courses at Andrews.
Its amazing that an individual has time to take a couple hours away from the world crises. And theyre people like everybody else, said Michael Thomas, the former general manager of the course, who has golfed with many of the presidents visiting Andrews over the years.
Andrews, better known as the home of Air Force One, has two 18-hole courses and a 9-hole one. Its facilities have undergone renovations in the past, including in 2018, when Congress approved funding to replace aging presidential aircraft and to build a new hangar and support facilities. That project was close enough to the courses that they had to be altered then, too.
Trump toured the base by helicopter before Thanksgiving with Nicklaus, who has designed top courses the world over. The president called Andrews a great place, thats been destroyed over the years, through lack of maintenance.
Other golfers, though, describe Andrews grounds as in good shape, despite some dry patches. Online reviews praise the course’s mature trees, tricky roughs, and ponds and streams that serve as water hazards. The courses are mostly flat, but afford views of the surrounding base.
“They all like to drive the cart”
The first president to golf at Andrews was Ford in 1974. Thomas began working there a couple years later, and was general manager from 1981 until he retired in 2019.
He said the Secret Service over the years used as many as 28 golf carts as well as the president’s usual 30-car motorcade to keep the perimeter secure.
Its a Cecil B. DeMille production every time, said Thomas, who had the opportunity to play rounds with four different presidents, and with Biden when he was vice president.
He said the commanders in chief generally enjoyed their time out on the course in their own unique ways, but they all like to drive the cart because they never get an opportunity to drive.”
Its like getting your drivers license all over again,” Thomas laughed.
Trump golfs most weekends, and as of Friday, has spent an estimated 93 days of his second term doing so, according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedules.
That tally includes days when Trump was playing courses his family owns in Virginia, around 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the White House, and near his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, where he’s spending the winter holidays. It also includes 10 days Trump spent staying at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where his schedule allowed time for rounds of golf.
Trump has visited Andrews in the past, but the White House and base have no record of him playing the courses.
Another of Trump’s construction projects
Andrews military history dates to the Civil War, when Union troops used a church near Camp Springs, Maryland, as sleeping quarters. Its golf course opened in 1960.
The White House said the renovation will be the most significant in the history of Andrews. The courses and clubhouse need improvements due to age and wear, it said, and there are discussions about including a multifunctional event center as part of the project.
President Trump is a champion-level golfer with an extraordinary eye for detail and design,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “His vision to renovate and beautify Joint Base Andrews’ golf courses will bring much-needed improvements that service members and their families will be able to enjoy for generations to come.
Plans are in the very early stages, and the cost of and funding for the project haven’t been determined, the White House said. Trump has said only that it will require very little money.”
The Andrews improvements join a bevy of Trump construction projects, including demolishing the White Houses East Wing for a sprawling ballroom now expected to cost $400 million, redoing the bathroom attached to the Lincoln bedroom and replacing the Rose Gardens lawn with a Mar-a-Lago-like patio area.
Outside the White House, Trump has led building projects at the Kennedy Center and wants to erect a Paris-style arch near the Lincoln Memorial, and has said he wants to rebuild Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Trump administration ended a lease agreement with a nonprofit for three public golf courses in Washington which could allow the president to further shape golfing in the nation’s capital. The White House, however, said that move isn’t related to the plans for Andrews.
Presidential pers of golfing at Andrews
When the president is golfing, Andrews officials block off nine holes at a time so no one plays in front of him, allowing for extra security while also ensuring consistent speed-of-play, Thomas said.
That’s relatively easily done, given that the courses aren’t open to the public. They’re usually reserved for active or retired members of the military and their families, as well as some Defense Department-linked federal employees.
Thomas remembers playing a round with the older President Bush, a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee known for fast play, while first lady Barbara Bush walked with Millie, the first couples English Springer Spaniel. George W. Bush also played fast, Thomas said, and got additional exercise by frequently riding his mountain bike before golfing.
When he wasn’t golfing at Andrews, Obama tried to recreate at least part of the experience back home. He had a White House golf simulator installed after then-first lady Michelle Obama asked Thomas how they might acquire a model that the president had seen advertised on the Golf Channel. Thomas gave her a contact at the network.
Obama famously cut short a round at Andrews after nine holes in 2011 to hustle back to the White House for what turned out to be a top-secret review of final preparations for a Navy SEAL raid on the compound of Osama bin Laden.
But, while Thomas was golfing with presidents, he said he never witnessed play interrupted by an important call or any major emergency that forced them off the course mid-hole. There also were never any rain-outs.
If there was rain coming, theyd get the weather forecast before we would, Thomas said. They would cancel quick on that.
By Will Weissert, Associated Press
A new year has brought a new pay rate for more than 8.3 million Americans.
The minimum wage is going up in 19 states this week which will see workers in Hawaii earning as much as $2 more an hour. Collectively, these pay increases will boost pay checks by a total of $5 billion, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
While the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour hasnt budged in nearly two decades, and still applies in eight states, many states and cities have steadily been increasing their minimum wages to well over double that amount. Seattles minimum wage, at $21.30 per hour, is now nearly triple that federal threshold.
As is the case with Seattle, 47 cities and counties around the country have also increased their minimum wages, effective January 1. Heres a look at whats changed.
PAY IS GOING UP MOST IN HAWAII
Hawaii leads the 19 states with the biggest pay increase for workers this year, as its minimum wage has jumped to $16 per hour, up from $14 previously. And more than 21% of its workforce will benefit from this new legislation, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
But not all pay increases are alike. Several states have increased their minimum wages by less than 50 cents an houran amount that adds up to a difference of only several hundred dollars per year in gross earnings. Minnesota workers are only seeing a 28 cent hourly increase, for example.
Arizona 2026 minimum wage: $15.15, up 45 cents from $14.70 in 2025
California 2026 minimum wage: $16.90, up 40 cents from $16.50 in 2025
Colorado 2026 minimum wage: $15.16, up 35 cents from $14.81 in 2025
Connecticut 2026 minimum wage: $16.94, up 59 cents from $16.35 in 2025
Hawaii 2026 minimum wage: $16, up $2 from $14 in 2025
Maine 2026 minimum wage: $15.10, up 45 cents from $14.65 in 2025
Michigan 2026 minimum wage: $13.73, up $1.25 from $12.48 in 2025
Minnesota 2026 minimum wage: $11.41, up 28 cents from $11.13 in 2025
Missouri 2026 minimum wage: $15, up $1.25 from $13.75 in 2025
Montana 2026 minimum wage: $10.85, up 30 cents from $10.55 in 2025
Nebraska 2026 minimum wage: $15, up $1.50 from $13.50 in 2025
New Jersey 2026 minimum wage: $15.92, up 43 cents from $15.49 in 2025
New York 2026 minimum wage: $16, up 50 cents from $15.50 in 2025
Ohio 2026 minimum wage: $11, up 30 cents from $10.70 in 2025
Rhode Island 2026 minimum wage: $16, up $1 from $15 in 2025
South Dakota 2026 minimum wage: $11.85, up 35 cents from $11.50 in 2025
Vermont 2026 minimum wage: $14.42, up 41 cents from $14.01 in 2025
Virginia 2026 minimum wage: $12.77, up 36 cents from $12.41 in 2025
Washington 2026 minimum wage: $17.13, up 47 cents from $16.66 in 2025
WASHINGTON CITIES LEAD WITH HIGHEST PAY
The $21.30 per hour minimum wage that went into effect in Seattle this week isnt even the highest in Washingtonthe pay in several localities are even higher. In Tukwila and Burlen, two Seattle suburbs, certain employers must pay workers a minimum of $21.65 and $21.63, respectively, in 2026.
While some cities, like San Francisco and Los Angeles, updated their minimum wage thresholds at the mid-year mark, most opt for pay changes to coincide with the calendar shange. Some localities explicitly tie their increases to inflation, as measured by the consumer price index that grew at a less-than-3% rate in 2025.
Workers in major metropolitan areas can potentially earn several dollars more than the states minimum wage. Employers in the following cities must pay their workers more this week.
New York City, Long Island, and Westchester 2026 minimum wage: $17, up $1 from $16 in 2025
San Jose 2026 minimum wage: $18.45, up 50 cents from $18.95 in 2025
Denver 2026 minimum wage: $19.29, up 48 cents from $18.81 in 2025
Minneapolis 2026 minimum wage: $16.37, up 40 cents from $15.97 in 2025
Even when Americans have health insurance, they can have a hard time affording the drugs theyve been prescribed.
About 1 in 5 U.S. adults skip filling a prescription due to its cost at least once a year, according to KFF, a health research organization. And 1 in 3 take steps to cut their prescription drug costs, such as splitting pills when its not medically necessary or switching to an over-the-counter drug instead of the one that their medical provider prescribed.
As pharmacy professors who research prescription drug access, we think its important for Americans to know that it is possible to get prescriptions filled more affordably, as long as you know how before you go to the pharmacy.
Cost of copays ranges widely
When you have health insurance and have to pay for a prescription drug at the pharmacy, youre usually covering the cost of your copay. This is the amount patients or their caregivers are expected to pay after insurance covers the rest of the tab.
If you get your health insurance through Medicaid, the government program that covers low-income Americans and people with disabilities, you should not have to pay anything at all to obtain prescription drugs. If there is a copay, it should be low probably less than US$5.
And if youre insured through Medicare, the government program that mainly covers people who are 65 and older, or get your coverage through a private health insurance company, its important to understand what to expect when you visit a pharmacy.
Most private insurance companies charge US$5 to $50 for prescription drug copays. The copays are tiered based on what the drug costs. Brand-name and specialty medications have higher copays; older generics have lower copays.
Some generic drugs and vaccines may even require no copay at all. While a copay is a flat fee, it can change over the course of the year based on whether or not you have met your deductible. The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay out of pocket before your insurance starts covering your prescriptions. Before your deductible is fully paid, you may be responsible for the full cost of your medications. After youve met your deductible for the year, you will only be required to pay the copay.
As newer, more expensive drugs enter the market, cost-sharing at the pharmacy has increasingly shifted from a copay to coinsurance.
In contrast with a flat copay, coinsurance means your insurance company will cover a certain percentage of the drugs cost, and youll pay the rest. Since the patients share is based on a percentage of the medications price, coinsurance often results in higher out-of-pocket costs than copays do.
New help for patients with Medicare coverage
Two new government programs could help make prescription drugs more affordable for millions of older Americans.
Starting in 2026, people who are insured through Medicare will pay no more than $2,100 out of pocket on prescription drugs over the year. That cap may be much lower than $2,100 due to a quirk in Medicares rules. Prescriptions filled after someone has paid the maximum allowable amount will cost them nothing at all.
In addition, the government launched the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan in 2025. This program, which is available to people over 65, helps spread what patients spend out of pocket on prescription drugs throughout the year, making that expense more predictable and easier to budget for.
Early data indicates that very few Americans are enrolled in the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. Patients insured through private companies do not have similar opportunities.
Consumers should find out if they qualify for state or federal programs on their medications.
Coupons and discount cards
What if you cant afford a copay for your prescription drug?
Before giving up on ever getting it, ask the pharmacist about your options.
It may be worth trying to use a free online tool, such as RxAssist, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, or a discount card from GoodRx, which is a publicly traded company.
GoodRx cards are free. They help people compare local pharmacy prices and to locate coupons that make prescriptions more affordable.
GoodRx works by searching for the lowest available price for the prescription at various pharmacies. Other copay coupons provided by the drug manufacturer may also work similarly by lowering the cost of the medication. On some occasions, the cash price at the pharmacy may actually be cheaper than the copay, and the pharmacist should be able to help you navigate these options.
Heres what you should know before giving GoodRx a try:
GoodRx collects individual data on patients, raising significant privacy concerns.
Some pharmacies do not accept GoodRx. You may have to visit more than one pharmacy to be able to activate its discounts.
These cards may make the most sense for uninsured or underinsured patients, but do not always help those whohave insurance because you might not get a better price. Whats more, if you use a discount card, the amount you pay may not count toward your insurance deductible for the year.
You should weigh the caveats closely depending on your circumstance.
Prescription assistance programs
Prescription assistance programs provide another cost-saving tool for Americans.
Drugmakers, nonprofits, and government agencies sponsor those programs, which help patients who are uninsured or underinsured even if they are on Medicare fill prescriptions either at a discount or for free.
These programs include manufacturer-specific programs as well as charitable pharmacies like Dispensary of Hope, NOVA Scripts Central, and the Patient Advocate Foundation. Qualifying criteria vary for these programs, but typically you must have a low income and be a citizen or a legal U.S. resident.
The Patient Access Network Foundation and RxAssist, two nonprofits that help Americans pay their medical bills, also offer helpful tools to identify programs that could work for you.
Assistance from these programs could cut your copay or even provide a prescription drug at no cost.
Separately, the Trump administration announced in November 2025 that a new White House prescription drug pricing program will soon begin to connect consumers to companies that have agreed to sell certain prescription drugs at a big discount.
Many experts dont expect the program, known as TrumpRx, to help people who have health insurance. Instead, it could be most likely to help those with no insurance at all. The new government program is slated to begin to roll out in 2026.
Direct-to-consumer models
Beyond coupons and assistance programs, a more radical shift is in the works: direct-to-consumer platforms and cash-payment models.
In 2025, several manufacturers offered to sell medications directly to patients on websites and patient portals at cash prices. For example, the drug manufacturer Eli Lilly is offering its popular weight-loss medication, Zepbound, on its website.
These websites have out-of-pocket costs that can run upward of $300 a month, making them too high for many, if not most, Americans to afford. And insurance companies have so far refused to cover them.
To be sure, the systems underlying these programs are still being built. We believe that the Trump administration would need to make a bigger effort to make it easier for millions of Americans to be able to afford filling their prescriptions.
Sujith Ramachandran is an associate professor of pharmacy administration at the University of Mississippi.
Adam Pate is a clinical professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Mississippi.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Tesla lost its crown as the worlds bestselling electric vehicle maker on Friday as a customer revolt over Elon Musks right-wing politics, expiring U.S. tax breaks for buyers, and stiff overseas competition pushed sales down for a second year in a row.
Tesla said that it delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, down 9% from a year earlier.
Chinese rival BYD, which sold 2.26 million vehicles last year, is now the biggest EV maker.
It’s a stunning reversal for Musk, who once dismissed BYD as a threat as Tesla’s rise seemed unstoppable, crushing traditional automakers with far more resources and helping make him the world’s richest man.
For the fourth quarter, sales totaled 418,227, falling short of the 440,000 that analysts polled by FactSet expected. The sales total was impacted by the expiration of a $7,500 tax credit that was phased out by the Trump administration at the end of September.
Tesla stock was up 0.5% at $451.60 in early trading Friday.
Even with multiple issues buffeting the company, investors are betting that Tesla CEO Musk can deliver on his ambitions to make Tesla a leader in robotaxi service and get consumers to embrace humanoid robots that can perform basic tasks in homes and offices. Reflecting that optimism, the stock finished 2025 with a gain of approximately 11%.
The latest quarter was the first with sales of stripped-down versions of the Model Y and Model 3 that Musk unveiled in early October as part of an effort to revive sales. The new Model Y costs just under $40,000 while customers can buy the cheaper Model 3 for under $37,000. Those versions are expected to help Tesla compete with Chinese models in Europe and Asia.
For fourth-quarter earnings coming out in late January, analysts are expecting the company to post a 3% drop in sales and a nearly 40% drop in earnings per share, according to FactSet. Analysts expect the downward trend in sales and profits to eventually reverse itself as 2026 rolls along.
Investors have largely shrugged off the falling numbers, choosing to focus on Musk’s pivot to different parts of business.
He has been saying that plunging car sales dont matter as much now because the future of the company lies more with his new driverless robotaxis service, the companys energy storage business and building robots for the home and factory. To make his task worthwhile, Teslas directors awarded Musk a potentially enormous new pay package that shareholders backed at the annual meeting in November.
Musk scored another huge windfall two weeks ago when the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a decision that deprived him of a $55 billion pay package that Tesla doled out in 2018.
Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire later this year when he sells shares of his rocket company SpaceX to public for the first time in what analysts expect would be a blockbuster initial public offering.
This story has been corrected to show that BYD sold 2.26 million vehicles last year, not 2.26.
Associated Press
A group of about 19 Buddhist monks and their rescue dog, Aloka, are walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to promote world peace. Their planned route spans approximately 2,300 miles across 10 states and is expected to take 120 days to complete.
Here’s what to know about their journey and how to follow along in real time:
Why are the monks walking?
The group has been sharing updates about their journey on their official Walk for Peace Facebook page. According to the Facebook page, the walk is intended to promote the awareness of peace, loving kindness, and compassion across America and the world.
Their movement has drawn massive support across social media, attracting more than 575,000 Facebook followers and over 618,000 Instagram followers. The group even has social media accounts for their furry companion, Aloka the Peace Dog, who has some 210,000 followers on Facebook.
They use the Facebook page to share updates, photos, and messages of hope with their supporters. The monks are accepting support along the way. The group welcomes anyone, regardless of their beliefs, to show support by donating, volunteering, or sharing their message.
When did they start walking and how long will it take?
The group left the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on October 26, 2025, and should arrive in Washington, D.C., in mid-February.
Theyre walking at a mindful pace of 20 to 30 miles each day. Along the way, the monks have been greeted by crowds of supporters.
The walking journey has not been without obstacles
In November, while walking about 30 miles east of Houston, Texas, two monks were injured after a car hit one of the groups escort vehicles.
Venerable Maha Dam Phommasan, a senior monk, was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. His injuries were severe, resulting in the amputation of one of his legs. After spending over a month in the hospital, he returned to his home temple in Snellville, Atlanta.
The renaming group members have continued their mission while he offers support from afar. Earlier this week, the group stopped to visit with him when they passed through his city.
Since the incident occurred, local police departments have stepped up to volunteer to escort the monks as they continue their cross-country endeavor.
Where are the monks now?
Today, theyre making their way to Monroe and Good Hope, Georgia, according to an early-morning post on Facebook.
How can I follow the monks along their journey?
Despite encountering some challenges along the way, the monks are now more than halfway through the planned journey.
You can track their progress and see where the monks are in real time on a live interactive map created with Google Maps. Their Facebook page is the best resource for up-to-date information on the daily route.
After years of career experiments, two clear life paths stand out to me. Just two choices people make, sometimes without realising it. Decisions that define almost every area of our lives. The most successful people pick one of these paths early. And stick around long enough for it to work. Everything that follows grows from those two decisions. The work you do. The skills you build. And the doors that open for you. Ive seen both work. Different roads. But they can all help you build the life you want. You dont need to have it all figured out. You cant. No one can. But once you understand these two choices, you start aiming for what you want.
Choice one: Be the best at one thing
Hone your specific knowledge. This path cannot be any clearer. You pick one skill. One craft. One path. And you go all in. Not ten things. One. You wake up thinking about it. You go to sleep obsessing over it. You become it. And own it. This choice scares people. It feels limiting. Like youre closing doors. You are. Thats the point. Choice one is the engineer whos been solving similar problems for decades. Or the writer whos still honing her craft after everyone quits. The rewards compound over the years. Skills stack in your favour. Reputation grows. Doors open because people trust you to deliver. When you commit to one thing, you know what to say yes to. You know what to ignore. That alone puts you ahead of most people. But you have to get it right from the start. Think ten, twenty years down the line. Are you still happy doing the same thing? Will automation reduce the demand for your skill?
Specific knowledge matters. It runs the primary systems we all rely on. For a writer, its their voice. For a surgeon, its a skill. The stuff people cant Google in five minutes. If you become the best at something, really the best, you can be so good they cant ignore you. But the process takes time. You need more than ten thousand hours for that. Being the best takes sacrifice. Years. Maybe decades. Youll have to say no to almost everything else. And hope AI doesnt disrupt your path to the life you want. This route works. But its rare. And its not for everyone.
Choice two: Master meta-skills
You build range on purpose. You are not great at just one thing. But youre very good at two or more. You stand out by combining many strengths. Meta-skills are skills that help you learn other skills faster. They travel with you. Things like learning how to learn, writing clearly, thinking in systems and talking or listening to people. Mastering meta-skills means you are not attached to one identity. You know how to ask good questions, how to break problems down. And how to teach yourself new things. You switch between different sets.
You collect experiences. You learn fast by adapting. Different roles. Different industries. Different people. Ive seen friends do this well, too. They easily go from design to marketing to product. They are good at connecting dots that other people miss. You dont need to be the smartest person in the room. You need to adapt faster than the room changes. And it changes a lot.
If youre good at coding and public speaking you have leverage. Most programmers cant pitch. You can. That becomes your strength. Or maybe youre solid at business strategy and strong at storytelling. That combination makes you unstoppable. The secret is to stack rare but useful skills. It creates a mix thats hard to copy. Thats how you become irreplaceable. Be interesting and useful in a combination of ways.
How the two choices work together
This is the part people struggle with. If you only pick one thing, you risk getting stuck when things are changing. But you can still win if you pick right. And hone a few meta-skills too. If you only collect meta-skills, you stay indispensable. Together, they compound. Your specific skill makes you extraordinary. Your meta-skills give you range. You become irreplaceable without getting rigid. You can pivot without starting from zero. Thats how careers last. Thats how confidence grows.
Ive changed my one thing more than once. Each time, the meta-skills came with me. If you are already on a specific path, what skills would make you better at learning anything else later? Keep an open mind. Designing your extraordinary life is not really about which option is better. But the path that works better for you. For the life you want.
By all means, pick one thing. And own it. But then, look up. Learn the skills that let you keep moving. Use your specific knowledge as a foundation.
A great life is the work youre known for, connected by the wisdom you apply daily. Dont let your one amazing skill become your entire personality. Let it be the foundation. Then build everything else on top of it with the meta-skills.
President Donald Trump signed a New Year’s Eve proclamation delaying increased tariffs on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets and vanities for a year, citing ongoing trade talks.Trump’s order signed Wednesday keeps in place a 25% tariff he imposed in September on those goods, but delays for another year a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture and 50% tariff on kitchen cabinets and vanities.The increases, which were set to take effect Jan. 1, come as the Republican president instituted a broad swath of taxes on imported goods to address trade imbalances and other issues.The president has said the tariffs on furniture are needed to “bolster American industry and protect national security.”The delay is the latest in the roller coaster of Trump’s tariff wars since he returned to office last year, with the president announcing levies at times without warning and then delaying or pulling back from them just as abruptly.The Trump administration on Wednesday also signaled it may back away from a steep tariff proposed on Italian pasta that would have put the rate at 107%. The U.S. had threatened to add a heavy tariff on Italian pasta makers after the U.S. Commerce Department launched what it said was a routine antidumping review based on allegations that the pasta makers sold product into the US at below-market prices and undercut local competitors.A final decision on the sanctions was scheduled for Jan. 2, with the option of extending it.The Commerce Department said Wednesday that based on a new review, the rates would be lowered to between 2.26% and 13.89% for the pasta makers because they had addressed many of the department’s concerns. A final decision is now set for March 12.Italian farm lobby Coldiretti and another food industry association, Filiera Italia, welcomed the development. The two lobby groups had strongly objected to the original tariffs and urged the Italian government to intervene.The two associations said the original proposed tariffs would have doubled the cost of a plate of pasta for American families, “opening the door to Italian-sounding products and penalizing the authentic quality of Made in Italy.”They reported that in 2024, Italian pasta exports to the U.S. amounted to 671 million ($787 million).“Coldiretti and Filiera Italia will continue to defend our premium pasta exported to the U.S. market, which we have also supported with a strong campaign in the international media,” the associations said in a statement.
Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.
Michelle L. Price, Associated Press
Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York City on Thursday, taking over one of the most unrelenting jobs in American politics with a promise to transform government on behalf of the city’s striving, struggling working class.Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a decommissioned subway station below City Hall just after midnight, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath as the city’s first Muslim mayor.After working part of the night in his new office, Mamdani returned to City Hall in a taxi cab around midday Thursday for a grander public inauguration where U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the mayor’s political heroes, administered the oath for a second time.“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” Mamdani told a cheering crowd.“To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives,” he said.Throngs turned out in the frigid cold for an inauguration viewing party just south of City Hall on a stretch of Broadway known as the “Canyon of Heroes,” famous for its ticker-tape parades.
Mamdani wasted little time getting to work after the event.He revoked multiple executive orders issued by the previous administration since Sept. 26, 2024, the date federal authorities announced former Mayor Eric Adams had been indicted on corruption charges, which were later dismissed following intervention by the Trump administration.Then he visited an apartment building in Brooklyn to announce he is revitalizing a city office dedicated to protecting tenants and creating two task forces focused on housing construction.
‘I will govern as a democratic socialist’
Throughout the daytime ceremony, Mamdani and other speakers hit on the theme that carried him to victory in the election: Using government power to lift up the millions of people who struggle with the city’s high cost of living.Mamdani peppered his remarks with references to those New Yorkers, citing workers in steel-toed boots, halal cart vendors “whose knees ache from working all day” and cooks “wielding a thousand spices.”“I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist,” Mamdani said. “I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed ‘radical.'”Before administering the oath, Sanders told the crowd that most of the things Mamdani wants to do including raising taxes on the rich aren’t radical at all.“In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.”Mamdani was accompanied on stage by his wife, Rama Duwaji. Adams was also in attendance, sitting near another former mayor, Bill de Blasio.Actor Mandy Patinkin, who recently hosted Mamdani to celebrate Hannukah, sang “Over the Rainbow” with children from an elementary school chorus. The invocation was given by Imam Khalid Latif, the director of the Islamic Center of New York City. Poet Cornelius Eady read an original poem called “Proof.”In addition to being the city’s first Muslim mayor, Mamdani is also its first of South Asian descent and the first to be born in Africa. At 34, Mamdani is also the city’s youngest mayor in generations.
Free child care and bus rides
At the watch party on Broadway, onlookers stood shoulder to shoulder gazing up at several jumbotrons and singing and dancing to stave off the cold, with some passing out hot cocoa and hand warmers. Many described feeling as though they were witnessing history.Among them was Ariel Segura, a 16-year-old Bronx resident, who had arrived five hours earlier to secure a place near the front of the crowd.“I’m out here fan-girling a politician, it’s kind of crazy,” he said, wiping away tears as Mamdani concluded his speech. “Now it’s time to hold him accountable.”In a campaign that helped make “affordability” a buzzword across the political spectrum, Mamdani ran on a focused platform that included promises of free child care, free buses, a rent freeze for about 1 million households and a pilot of city-run grocery stores.Mamdani insisted in his inaugural address that he will not squander his opportunity to implement those policies.“A moment like this comes rarely. Seldom do we hold such an opportunity to transform and reinvent. Rarer still is it the people themselves whose hands are on the levers of change. And yet we know that too often in our past, moments of great possibility have been promptly surrendered to small imagination and smaller ambition,” he said.But he will also have to face the everyday responsibilities of running America’s largest city: handling trash and snow and rats, while getting blamed for subway delays and potholes.In his speech, Mamdani acknowledged the task ahead, saying he knows many will be watching to see whether he can succeed.“They want to know if the left can govern. They want to know if the struggles that afflict them can be solved. They want to know if it is right to hope again,” he said. “So, standing together with the wind of purpose at our backs, we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else: We will set an example for the world.”
Quick rise to power
Mamdani was born in Kampala, Uganda, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, an academic and author. His family moved to New York City when he was 7, with Mamdani growing up in a post-9/11 city where Muslims didn’t always feel welcome. He became an American citizen in 2018.He worked on political campaigns for Democratic candidates in the city before he sought public office himself, winning a state Assembly seat in 2020 to represent a section of Queens.Now that he has taken office, Mamdani and his wife will depart their one-bedroom, rent stabilized apartment in the outer-borough to take up residence in the stately mayoral residence in Manhattan.The new mayor inherits a city on the upswing, after years of slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Violent crime has dropped to pre-pandemic lows. Tourists are back. Unemployment, which soared during the pandemic years, is also back to pre-COVID levels.Yet deep concerns remain about high prices and rising rents.In opening remarks to the crowd, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised New Yorkers for choosing “courage over fear.”“We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” she said.
Dealing with Trump
During the mayoral race, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the city if Mamdani won and mused about sending National Guard troops to the city.But Trump surprised supporters and foes alike by inviting the Democrat to theWhite House for what ended up being a cordial meeting in November.“I want him to do a great job and will help him do a great job,” Trump said.Still, tensions between the two leaders are almost certain to resurface, given their deep policy disagreements, particularly over immigration.Several speakers at Thursday’s inauguration criticized the Trump administration’s move to deport more immigrants and expressed hope that Mamdani’s City Hall would be an ally to those the president has targeted.Mamdani also faces skepticism and opposition from some members of the city’s Jewish community over his criticisms of Israel’s government.Still, Mamdani supporters in Thursday’s crowd expressed optimism he’d be a unifying force.“There are moments where everyone in New York comes together, like when the Mets won the World Series in ’86,” said Mary Hammann, 64, a musician with the Metropolitan Opera. “This feels like that just colder.”Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this story.
Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press
Every week, another executive asks me: Where do we even start with AI? As we enter 2026, this question drives explosive demand for AI upskilling platforms and AI-powered learning solutions. Yet most enterprise AI training programs fail because they lack a systematic framework that moves the organization from confused to fluent to truly differentiated. Think of it as Maslow’s hierarchy, but for AI capability development. And 2026 is the year to climb that hierarchy.
An effective AI upskilling platform must address five levels of organizational capability: foundational literacy, company-specific application, durable skills development, breakthrough innovation, and co-intelligence integration.
THE FOUNDATION: BUILD YOUR BASE CAMP
Just as you can’t achieve self-actualization without food and shelter, you can’t build an AI advantage without foundational literacy. Yet most organizations skip this step, rushing to deploy tools before their people understand what they’re actually working with.
The three non-negotiables at the base:
1. Understand what AI actually is. Not the marketing promises, but the reality. When your teams understand the underlying mechanics, they make better decisions about when and how to apply these tools. The goal isn’t turning everyone into data scientists. It’s eliminating the dangerous combination of over-confidence and ignorance.
2. Safety and ethics literacy. Fear of “doing it wrong” stops more AI adoption than any other factor. People need clear guardrails: What data can we use? When must we disclose AI assistance? Without this clarity, your talented people will simply avoid AI entirely.
3. Core application skills. Everyone in your organization should understand how to effectively communicate with AI systems. In 2026, this isn’t optional AI literacy anymoreit’s as fundamental as email proficiency was in 2005.
THE CRITICAL MIDDLE: YOUR COMPANY’S POINT OF VIEW
Here’s where good companies separate from mediocre ones. The best organizationsShopify, Zapier, Duolingodon’t just teach generic AI skills. They build a distinctive point of view on how AI should work in their specific context.
This means answering hard questions: What should AI do here? What should it never do? How does AI use align with our values and competitive positioning?
Your “company POVAI sandbox” becomes the space where teams safely experiment within defined boundaries. It’s structured freedomclear enough to prevent dangerous mistakes, open enough to enable innovation.
Then comes personalization. Generic training fails because a software engineer’s relationship with AI looks nothing like a customer service representative’s. Breaking down use cases by team, role, and workflow transforms abstract concepts into concrete daily practice.
This is where enterprise AI upskilling platforms differentiate themselves, by enabling personalized AI training that adapts to each team’s workflow context. Research shows that personalizing training by role achieves much higher adoption than generic training programs.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN AI UPSKILLING PLATFORM
Organizations succeeding with AI transformation share common infrastructure:
Cohort-based learning for peer accountability and shared discovery
Workflow integration that brings training into daily work contexts
Role-specific pathways rather than generic content
Safe experimentation environments (AI sandboxes)
Progress tracking that measures fluency, not just completion
The right AI-powered learning platform doesn’t just deliver contentit builds organizational AI capability systematically across the hierarchy.
THE TRANSFORMATION ZONE: DURABLE SKILLS
Here’s the insight that escapes most organizations entering 2026: Crossing from competent to breakthrough doesn’t require more AI skills. It requires human skills that AI amplifies.
Critical thinking. Curiosity. Entrepreneurial agency.
These durable AI skills separate organizations that use AI to do the same things faster from those that reimagine what’s possible. Leading corporate AI training platforms focus on developing these capabilities through experiential learning and peer collaboration, not just content consumption.
This tier splits into two paths:
Scale and efficiency growth: AI’s ability to generate and personalize at near-zero marginal cost fundamentally changes business economics. Smart companies systematically examine every workflow, asking: Where does AI change our cost structure?
Human-first breakthrough: The harder path, with far higher returns. This requires asking: How can AI make our company more human? How do we free people from tedious work to do more creative, caring, human work? How do we use AI to create experiences that are more personalized and genuinely helpful than humans alone could deliver?
Most organizations stop at efficiency. The winners push through to augmentation and transformation.
THE SUMMIT: CO-INTELLIGENCE
At the peak sits a different relationship with AI entirelyone that forward-thinking organizations are achieving in 2026. Not tool and user, but genuine co-intelligencewhere AI seamlessly integrates into workflows, giving your people capabilities they never had before.
This is where empowered, curious, AI-native talent emerges. These individuals don’t think about “using AI.” They think through problems with AI as a natural extension of their cognitive toolkit.
Organizations at this level aren’t just AI-fluent. They’re AI-native in their decision making, customer experience, and innovation process.
YOUR 2026 AI TRANSFORMATION ROADMAP
Whether you’re evaluating AI upskilling platforms or building internal corporate AI training programs, this hierarchy provides your 2026 roadmap. The organizations winning with AI aren’t those with the most toolsthey’re those with the most systematic approach to workforce AI capability development.
The beauty of this hierarchy is its clarity:
If you’re at zero: Start with foundations. Build understanding, safety literacy, and basic skills across your organization.
If you’re past foundations: Develop your company POV. Create your sandbox. Personalize by role and workflow.
If you’re operationally fluent: Identify your catalysts. Build their durable skills. Set them loose on breakthrough opportunities.
If you’re pushing toward co-intelligence: You’re writing the next chapter.
The path isn’t easy. But it is clear. And in 2026, as AI capabilities accelerate and organizations remain paralyzed at the base, simply moving systematically up this hierarchy creates a genuine competitive advantage.
The question isn’t whether your organization will become AI-fluent. It’s whether you’ll get there in 2026 before your competition doesand whether you’ll stop at efficiency or push through to transformation.
Start climbing.
Candice Faktor is co-CEO of Disco.
Six years ago, the commercial production process for Fortune 500 companies, tech innovators, and global giants meant six-figure budgets, and months of research, scripting, and voice actor castings. Every campaign was a marathon of design thinking and strategic storytelling. Today, however, with the help of AI tools, those very steps can unfold in a fraction of the time, and a quarter of the cost. For marketing and communications leaders, the landscape has drastically shifted overnight.
The most innovative brand leaders have always thrived on speed. What allowed them to exist beyond the curve was their ability to stay ahead of the story, and see around corners before anyone else could. This has always been important, but the velocity at which were witnessing ideas go from ideation to execution is differentand alarming. Every week seems to introduce a new AI tool that promises to do things smarter, faster, and better for half the price.
The constant pressure to adopt or be left behind is palpable. In fact, according to Marketing Weeks 2025 Language of Effectiveness survey, 57.5% of marketers currently use AI to generate campaign content and creative ideas. Yet, 85% of those surveyed by Adweek say they feel pressure to keep up with the latest tools. The question that keeps arising for many leaders isnt whats next, but instead, at what cost?
ETHICAL INTELLIGENCE: A BRAND DIFFERENTIATOR
Debates about AI are often argued in extremes, either as magic wands or existential threats. Whats missing from that conversation is the middle ground. A place where brand leaders can lean into true stewardship, and where human values and intuition can meet machine precision. Its the space where empathy meets foresight.
The future of influence wont be determined by who adopts the next big tool first, but by who uses it responsibly. Ethical intelligence is the muscle every leader needs to strengthen to discern which AI tools to trust, and how best to use them. Because, when you rely on a chatbot or content platform, youre not just trusting its outputs, you are trusting its creators ethics, awareness, and intentions. Leadership in this new world of storytelling understands the cost, and therefore asks the harder questions: Who does this tool serve? And who could it harm?
To build ethical intelligence in storytelling and content creation, brand leaders should anchor their choices by asking three questions:
1. Empathy: Have we considered how technology impacts the communities it touches?
Large language models still struggle to detect the cultural nuances that build audience trust. This often shows up in subtle ways, like failing to capitalize Black and Brown when referring to ethnic communities, a detail that carries deep significance. At my agency, for example, we refrain from using chief for executive roles or pipeline to describe processes, out of respect for Indigenous communities. Language evolves daily, and the nuance of storytelling cant be replaced by technology. The more we automate narratives, the greater the risk of eroding the human nuance that builds trust for audiences and consumers. Instead, we should look to culturally-attuned tools that are created or informed by the audiences you speak to, such as Aisha, an AI-powered guide informed by the Black experience.
2. Transparency: Are we being clear about how and why AI is shaping our stories?
Consider recent headlines about Sora, OpenAIs AI app and video generator that puts deepfake capabilities into users hands. A product like this tells us that authenticity and source are no longer a barrier or concern. Ive witnessed these risks firsthand when my son created an AI-produced video of me getting my driver’s license (a milestone that never actually happened). Curious, I posted on my Instagram close friends list to see if anyone could spot the inauthenticity. No one did. Instead, my DMs were filled with congratulatory messages.
While this example can be considered harmless, the broader consequences can be far more serious. In the wrong or ill-informed hands, AI-generated content can perpetuate inequity and racial stereotypes if left unchecked. Take the case of Liv, an AI-powered digital influencer. Marketed as a breakthrough in representation, Liv was created by an all-white male development team to personify a Black, queer woman. Lacking authentic oversight, the bot inevitably fell into harmful caricatures reminiscent of the Mammy stereotype from early American media.
As scholar and author, Ruha Benjamin, observed in her book Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code, Technology is not creating the problems. It is reflecting, amplifying, and often hiding preexisting forms of inequality and hierarchy. Liv became a case study in the urgent need for accountability and diverse perspectives in the development and deployment of AI-driven narratives.
3. Equity: Are we creating in ways that protect human dignity over data dominance?
Its worth asking what this constant reliance on technology is doing to our minds. People are doing so much cognitive offloading of their thinking that its reducing their critical thinking skills in ways that dont bounce back, notes X. Eyeé, AI expert and CEO of the consultancy Malo Santo.
As AI-generated content becomes more advanced, many leaders are using it to expedite proposals, campaigns, and creative productions. When it comes to data, the direction has been about volume. Yet some organizations are taking an opposing stance by embedding clauses into their contracts to restrict AI use. Not because they reject efficiency, but because they are signaling a pillar of their values that speed should never come at the expense of authenticity.
In the future, transparency will be at the forefront of the most innovative companies. Where AI already plays a role in your workflows, be upfront about it with your team, clients, stakeholders, and audience. The next generation of brand leadership will be shaped by those who prioritize ethics and integrity in every decision about the way AI is used, and set a new standard for responsible innovation.
Rakia Reynolds is a partner at Actum and founder/executive officer at Ski Blue Media,
