Millions of Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” stand to lose their premium subsidies, with less than three weeks to go until they expire at the end of 2025. And the result of that would be skyrocketing health care costs for 22 million marketplace users.
If Congress does not extend the enhanced premium tax credits, it will also trigger a so-called “subsidy cliff,” or strict income maximum that abruptly cuts off subsidies to households with incomes that are over 400% of the federal poverty level. That would raise the costs of those healthcare plans by an estimated 75%, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group.
Currently, 92% of Americans enrolled the ACA marketplace plan receive some type of enhanced subsidies. That’s 22 out of 24 million people. However, not all would be affected by the subsidy cliff.
Letting the credits expire could send insurance skyrocketing to such high levels that many Americans wouldn’t be able to afford their current plans, or worse, keep their healthcare at all. One estimate found average family premiums could triple from $1,200 to $3,553 a month if the credits expire.
Congress is set to vote on extending the subsidies in mid-December, but it’s unclear if the House will pass it as is, or tack on conditions.
The run-up to that deadline has created a crisis as Republicans, backed by President Donald Trump, have seemed to play Russian roulette with 22 million American taxpayers’ healthcare. (The credits were not extended in Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill.) The dispute over the credits was at the heart of the recent federal government shutdown, with the upcoming vote being a condition for Senate Democrats to end the standoff.
The president has said he doesn’t want to extend the credits, and would instead give that money directly to the people so they can purchase their own, much better, health care.” However, according to independent fact-checking publication PolitiFact, without a formal proposal, there’s no way to determine if “Trump’s social media musings” would actually work.
Some Republicans are pushing for Americans to rely more on health savings accounts, or HSAs, but these can’t typically be used to pay for the actual health insurance plans themselves. Other Republicans are floating the idea of temporarily extending the credits through the 2026 midterm elections, when many are up for reelection.
If Republicans and Democrats in Congress don’t strike a deal, many Americans can expect to pay a lot more for their current plans on the exchange, or end up paying the same for less coverage.
Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than 200,000 Bronco and Bronco Sport vehicles because an instrument panel can fail, increasing the risk of a crash.
Federal auto safety regulators said that the instrument panel may not display at startup, leaving the driver without critical safety information.
The recall includes 128,607 Ford Bronco Sports, model years 2025-2026 and 101,002 Ford Broncos, also model years 2025-2026, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.
Ford is not aware of any injuries caused by the instrument panel failure.
Owners will be notified by mail beginning Dec. 8 and instructed to take their vehicles to a Ford or Lincoln dealership to have the software updated.
The NHTSA recall number is 25V540.
When Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier calmly sat down and told a group of assembled local media the WNBA is helmed by the worst leadership in the world on September 30, she likely did so with a full understanding of the potential impact of her words.
Collierwho launched Unrivaled, the womens professional three-on-three basketball league alongside the New York Libertys Breanna Stewart in 2023is the granddaughter of Gershon Collier, who served as Sierra Leones representative in the United Nations in the 1960s. She understands the impact of the right words.
And the words she chose forced the in-house negotiations between the WNBA and the players union, the Womens National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA), fully into the public eye.
I think its time that people know whats happeningthe way that the league is not valuing us the way that we need to be valued, Collier said.
WNBA players opted out of their current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) last year, and since then the clock has been ticking: after missing the October deadline, the WNBA offered players a 30-day extension, they agreed; the new deadline is November 30.
[The players] are at the center of everything we do, Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said speaking to reporters on October 3. If the players in the W don’t feel appreciated and valued by the league, then we have to do better, and I have to do better.
The WNBPAs current fight is one that hails from a long lineage of women-led labor strikes and disputes. UC Santa Barbaras Dr. Eileen Boris, who specializes in labor studies as well as gender, race, class, and womens history in the universitys Feminist Studies department, told Fast Company that there is a big history of women organizing in the United States.
Women have never been passive in the workplace, she says.
Were seeing that play out yet againand in the case of the WNBA, on one of the biggest public stages possible.
Echoes of the past
The heart of the dispute is money: the WNBA has never been more popular, and more money than ever has been pouring into the league. At the same time, the players are not adequately compensateda reality that is all the more confusing when one considers that the athletes in the WNBA are both the product and, effectively, the marketing team. Throughout the regular season, fans turn to social media more often than not to catch up on game scores, tunnel fits, and what teams are up to, and they form parasocial relationships with the stars of the game.
It should be noted that the WNBAs astronomical growthstaggering increases in viewership and game attendance, league expansion that has included adding a total of six new teams by 2030, improved resources for players such as chartered flights, and an influx of funds from media rights deals and partnershipshave all happened under Engelberts watch. She emphasized to the reporters that the heart of the league lies with building a movement that not only showcases the best athletes in the world, but also inspires millions who dream of following in their footsteps.
At the top of the players list of demands is a more equitable share of overall revenue thats coming into the league. The players have proposed a new system: one that allows that share to grow as the leagues revenue grows. That would benefit not only the athletes currently in the league, but for the athletes who will join in years to come. But in response, the league has suggested a system not too dissimilar from what is already in place, offering salary increases that include a cap that increases by a fixed rate over time. To complicate matters further, the WNBA and NBA have not yet shared the books that explain just how much revenue there is.
This is hardly the first time the 29-year-old leagues athletes have entered into a legal dispute with the leagues leadership. In fact, the first-ever CBA nearly tore the league apartbut ultimately set the standard for womens professional sports leagues in the United States (and even in the world).
And yet, today, players remain embroiled in an extremely public, high-stakes fight; workers (in this case, players) are pushing back on a leadership they believe to be toxic.
This reality is underscored by a host of women-led labor movements: From the striking female workers at textile factories in the 1800s in Lowell, Massachusetts, to the garment workers of New York City, to the 1881 Atlanta Washerwomen strike, which achieved racial solidarity as part of its movement.
Historically, Boris says, women who were considered the consumers of the goods supported the [striking] workers in past U.S. disputes a pattern that is also playing out as the WNBPA continues to receive broad support from female fans. Those past movements are not dissimilar to what the players of the WNBA face now, and one key to success will be garnering and retaining mass public support for the fight.
Contentious negotiations
The players are demanding what they feel is fair, author and cohost of The Womens Hoop Show podcast Jordan Robinson explained to Fast Company. And I believe that the players feel like they maybe settled [for less than they deserved] in their last CBA negotiation with the hope of the league growing down the line. Now? That growth happened way faster and way sooner than a lot of the players probably were thinking.
That growth is owed in large part to Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, as well as Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese and Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers, and these new rookies coming in bringing a lot of fans from college, and a lot of eyes, attention, and dollars, Robinson says. Under the current agreement, a rookie drafted in the top four spots in 2025 makes $78,831 this year. But Clark, who is responsible for 26.5% of WNBA revenue all by herself, signed a contract that began at $76,535 annually when she was drafted as the number-one overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
ESPN reported this week that the WNBA has proposed increasing the max salary as part of the current negotiations. But why are some of the leagues best players making less than $80,000 a year, especially in a league that landed a $2.2 bilion media rights deal in July 2024?
The answer might be hiding behind what increasingly appears to be a toxic storm brewing within the league itself. Collier hinted at league-wide dysfunction and unrest in her statement, and in an interview with Glamour published October 28, she took things a step further.
We are being so grossly almost taken advantage of, and it should be illegal, she insisted. The amount of money that Caitlin Clark has made the league is insane, and shes getting 0% of it because we have no rev share. She gets less than $80,000 a year, and shes bringing in, like, hundreds of millions of dollars. Its insane.
As Boris put it, the general public does not look at these workers as workers.
They don’t see the working conditions. They don’t see the kind of bullying that might be taking place and the hierarchies behind the scenes.
Its a big problem, she says.
Like generations of women who have spearheaded labor disputes in the past, from the New York shirt waist strike of 1909 (which fought for better pay and hours, safer, more humane conditions) to a 2022 strike against Kroger (around wages and COVID-era safety at work), the players have to prove their own humanity to garner support.
Workers in other industries have been forced to take drastic measures to get their needs met, too: there were the dual SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America (WGA) Hollywood strikes in 2023, or what may unfold in West Virginia if coal miners struggling with black lung disease arent adequately responded to.
A WNBA spokesperson noted on October 28 that the league urges the Players Association to spend less time disseminating public misinformation and more time joining us in constructive engagement. But when toxicity feels as if its baked into the culture of the job, what options do any workers have but to fight for what they believe they deserve?
‘Self-sabotage’ for the organization
Like these labor disputes of the past, WNBA players are pushing for the same goals so many workers everywhere want: higher pay, increased benefits, and protection from occupational hazards, like injuries on the court. As Collier also said, Whether the league cares about the health of the players is one thing, but to also not care about the product we put on the floor is truly self-sabotage.
As we should have learned by now, it doesnt typically pay to devalue workers and continue with toxic conditions. Over time, that erodes an organization from the inside out, something that has been demonstrated throughout the history of work in the United States. When it comes to the WNBA, the concerns are a little more physical and personal. Injuries are part of the game, and perhaps no one knows this better than Collier herself. The 29-year-old forward suffered at least two at crucial moments this season alone: she missed several games due to a sprained ankle, a reality that could have cost her the coveted MVP crown this season.
But playersworkersfeel within their rights to challenge any circumstances in which they dont feel safe. Many of the great labor advances in this country started exactly that way.
This is not only for us
Though it may feel obvious to those watching the WNBA and CBA negotiations closely that players are making demands that are reasonable when considering what they bring to the league, the path ahead of them is still very hard, Boris says. All workers have to get as high of a salary as you can during your prime when youre working, she explains.
The success of negotiations will depend in part on how public they are. One strategy which is really useful is having workers give testimony about working conditions or being forced to play, and [being] forced to practice with injuries or lack of sick days or family accommodation.
To that end, it seems thats what some players have had in mind: In addition to Collier, plenty of WNBA superstars, including four-time MVP Aja Wilson and the Indiana Fevers Sophie Cunningham, have made it clear where they stand on the issue and that they are willing to fight tooth and nail. Thats necessary because the stakes are just so high, Boris says.
And like the historic, women-led labor movements in the past, the outcome wont just affect the women currently playing in the league.
When asked about the perception that WNBA leadership is not pro-player, Seattle Storm guard Lexie Brown tells Fast Company: I think it runs deep. I think its been this way for a long time, and I think its getting to the point where we just finally have the leverage.
WNBA players have other opportunities, she points out, like AU Pro Basketball, the womens professional league that will kick off its fifth season in Nashville in February. The new Player B league in Europe and Asia also promises higher pay than the WNBA does. Such leagues afford players the money to potentially not have a [WNBA] season, she explains.
None of us want that to happen, but I think its just been a build up over years and years, and we have to stand on business when it comes to this.
The leagues players are fighting this fight for those who came before them: the players who continued to show up to work, every single year, despite the conditions, despite not having facilities, despite flying commercial, sharing hotel rooms, she says. Theyre also fighting for all the little girls out there that want to be in the WNBA.
This is not only for us, Brown added. Its for everybody in the future.
Adobe will acquire software platform Semrush for $1.9 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, as the Photoshop maker looks to strengthen its marketing tools and attract brands with generative artificial intelligence products.
The company will pay $12 per share for Semrush, representing a premium of around 77.5% to its stock’s last closing price. Semrush shares jumped 75% to $11.83 in premarket trading.
Semrush designs and develops AI software that helps companies with search engine optimization, social media, and digital advertising.
The acquisition, expected to close in the first half of next year, would allow Adobe to help marketers better understand how their brands are viewed by online consumers through searches on websites and generative AI bots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the deal earlier in the day.
Adobe’s tools, which also include InDesign, Acrobat, and Illustrator, have become household names in design software, widely used by enterprises, students, and creative professionals to edit, create websites, brochures, and graphics.
The company also provides “Adobe Experience Cloud” to help companies with data and analytics.
But investor pressure to ramp up monetization of AI products and features amid intensifying competition in the digital design industry has weighed on its shares, which have fallen more than 27% so far this year.
Adobe had said in October its video and image editing tools could be controlled by chatting with them. The company also said it was working with OpenAI to let users directly control one of its apps through ChatGPT.
Zaheer Kachwala, Reuters
A jovial President Donald Trump held a warm and friendly meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman at the White House, packed with plenty of handshakes and back pats. He brushed aside questions about Saudi Arabias human rights record, praised the prince for his statesmanship and announced hundreds of billions of dollars in new Saudi investment in the United States.
The White House rolled out plenty of pomp for the Saudi royal on Tuesday, dispatching fighter jets that the two leaders watched from a red carpet, parading out an honor guard on horseback and giving a lavish dinner in the East Room.
In a sitdown in the Oval Office that took place just seven years after Prince Mohammad was implicated by U.S. intelligence agencies in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Trump and the prince took numerous questions from reporters one of whom was repeatedly insulted by Trump on everything from commerce to the sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Riyadh.
Here is a look at some of the takeaways from the visit:
Movement on military cooperation
Trump had previewed his decision to sell F-35s on Sunday but formalized it before the prince on Tuesday when he said the approval was complete and that Israels fears about maintaining its qualitative military edge in the Middle East would be addressed.
Details of the deal were not immediately clear, but some in the Pentagon and other agencies have opposed the sale because of the potential for advanced technology being shared with China, which also has close ties with Saudi Arabia.
As far as Im concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line, Trump said of Saudi Arabia and Israel, which already has F-35s. Israels aware and theyre going to be very happy.
Israeli officials have suggested that they would not be opposed to Saudi Arabia getting F-35s as long as Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords framework.
The Saudis have said they would join the Abraham Accords but only after there is a credible and guaranteed path to Palestinian statehood, a position Prince Mohammad repeated in the meeting.
We want to be part of the Abraham Accords, but we want also to be sure that we secure a clear path of two-state solution, he said. Were going to work on that to be sure that we come prepared for the situation as soon as possible to have that.
Trump also said the U.S. and Saudi Arabia would complete a broader agreement on military and security issues during the visit and that the U.S. would proceed with a civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, about which Israel also has raised concerns.
The two nations also signed a deal that calls for the Saudis to purchase nearly 300 tanks from the U.S.
At the dinner Tuesday night, Trump announced he was designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, a largely symbolic move that gives foreign partners some defense, trade and security cooperation benefits.
Khashoggi’s killing gets swept aside
Tuesdays meeting was the first White House visit for the crown prince since Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist, was killed and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018.
U.S. intelligence said Prince Mohammad likely approved the slaying.
In a remarkable scene in the Oval Office, the prince, nicknamed MBS, faced questions from reporters, something not typical for the de facto head of the absolute monarchy where dissent is criminalized.
He was asked about Khashoggi’s slaying along with the role that Saudi citizens played in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Trump, however, lashed out at the reporter for the line of questioning.
Trump called Khashoggi, a Saudi pro-democracy activist, extremely controversial and said a lot of people didnt like that gentleman that youre talking about. Whether you like him or didnt like him, things happen, but he (the crown prince) knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that.
Prince Mohammad, who has denied involvement in Khashoggi’s killing, replied that his government had taken action.
Its been painful for us in Saudi Arabia, he said. We did all the right steps of investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia, and weve improved our system to be sure that nothing happens like that again. And its painful, and it was a huge mistake.
Trump also commended the Saudi leader for strides made by the kingdom on human rights without providing any specific detail but presumably referring to reforms relating to womens rights. Whats he done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else, Trump said.
Lots of pomp and circumstance
Trump greeted Prince Mohammed at the White Houses South Lawn entrance with a handshake and arm slung over the prince’s shoulder. Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for the Saudi leader, with a military band on hand and a flyover by U.S. military planes, before showing the crown prince his decorations along the White House Colonnade.
We have a extremely respected man in the Oval Office today, Trump said at the top of meeting, calling the prince a friend of mine for a very long time.
Trump also castigated his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for greeting Prince Mohammed with a fist bump during his 2022 visit to Saudi Arabia.
When you get out of the plane and you get the future king and a man who is one of the most respected people in the world you shake his hand, you dont give him a fist bump, right? Trump said. Trump doesnt give a fist bump. I grab that hand and he did just that.
At the dinner Tuesday night, the tuxedo-clad president and first lady Melania Trump welcomed the crown prince back on the red carpet again, before feting him at a dinner attended by tech titans such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Tesla founder Elon Musk, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, along with golfer Bryson DeChambeau and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
They dined on a pistachio-crusted rack of lamb, followed by a couverture mousse pear for dessert.
Vast but vague commercial and economic deals
Prince Mohammad told Trump that his country would be increasing its financial commitments to the U.S. from $600 billion, which ws announced during the presidents trip to Riyadh in May, to $1 trillion.
Details of those deals were not immediately clear but are expected to include investments in a variety of American businesses, including artificial Intelligence, as well as the purchase of jet engines and other equipment.
Matthew Lee, AP diplomatic writer
Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
Time slows. The mind chatter quietens. Outside distractions dial down to a hum. You are at one with the task at hand. Congratulations, youve reached flow state.
Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi coined the term to describe a state of complete immersion in an activity, one in which focus comes naturally and youre in the zone. Think of the hours flying by as a painter gets lost in their art. Or when youre juggling three browser tabs, the caffeine hits, and suddenly, your fingers start flying across the keyboard.
Well, over on TikTok, a new trend has the internet sharing the hyper-specific ways they genuinely enter their “flow statethe more chaotic, the better.
One example: When the iced latte, Zyn & Adderall hit at the same time and I genuinely reach flow state, a TikTok user wrote, blinking and looking around the room with full alertness, punctuated by slurping coffee through a straw.
When I have a drink for hydration, a drink for caffeine, and a drink for fun & genuinely reach a flow state, another wrote, triple-fisting beverages while standing in front of a laptop.
Another added, When youre matching socks and genuinely reach flow state. Boom.
While the trend takes a tongue-in-cheek approach to the psychological phenomenon, it is a real, if elusive, feeling.
Csíkszentmihályi explains that flow happens when our abilities line up just right with the task in front of us. Too easy, and we get bored. Too hard, and we get stressed.
Flow occurs in the sweet spot where were both completely absorbed and able to enjoy the process.
Theres this focus that, once it becomes intense, leads to a sense of ecstasy, a sense of clarity: you know exactly what you want to do from one moment to the other; you get immediate feedback, Csikszentmihalyi said in a 2004 TED Talk. You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears, you forget yourself, you feel part of something larger.
Research shows that entering the flow state can boost performance in activities such as sports or music, and also improve both creativity and well-being. Csíkszentmihályi went as far as to call it the secret to happiness, with research showing those who regularly experience flow appear to be less susceptible to depression.
With Gen Z locking in” from now until the end of the year, now is as good a time as ever to practice getting in the zone, blocking out all distractions, and checking off some goals before 2026.
Or, as one TikTok user suggested: When Im eating the wings and fries at the same time while also getting water and I genuinely reach flow state.
Tyson Foods has agreed to stop making claims about reaching net zero or selling climate-smart beef for at least five years, part of a settlement from a lawsuit brought against it by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG).
EWG sued Tyson in 2024 over false or misleading marketing claims. The lawsuit, filed in D.C. Superior Court, alleged that Tyson misled customers through materials that said the companys industrial meat production operations will reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and also claims that it produces climate-smart beef.
Beef is one of the worst climate offenders when it comes to proteins. It is responsible for eight to 10 times the carbon emissions as chicken and up to 50 times those of beans. Climate experts highlight beefs immense land and water use, deforestation, and the methane emissions from cattle as top environmental impacts.
In the United States, agriculture at large accounts for about 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. About half of that comes from livestock, with cattle specifically making up 35% of agriculture emissions.
“No plan” to achieve net zero goals
In 2023, Tyson launched a Climate-Smart Beef Program.” It advertised that its Brazen Beef products were part of that program, and that they came from animals raised with emissions reduction practices in mind, per the lawsuit.
On its Brazen Beef website, Tyson had said that its emissions were already down 10% (the website is no longer available).
But EWG says that Tyson never defined what exactly climate-smart beef is, what baseline it is using for comparison, or how it is measuring any alleged [greenhouse gass] reductions, the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also alleged that Tyson has no plan to achieve its net zero goals.
In the settlement, announced this week, Tyson agreed to no longer make those environmental claims for five years. Tyson also cannot introduce new environmental claims unless they are supported by expert analysis and verified facts, per the nonprofit.
The five-year restriction is meaningful because it prevents Tyson from turning around and re-introducing these claims without doing the hard work to substantiate them, Caroline Leary, general counsel and chief operating officer at EWG, says via email.
Five years is a substantial window for a company of Tysons size to either make real, measurable progress on reducing its emissions, or for it to reconsider the accuracy of the claims it makes to consumers, she adds.
In a statement, a Tyson spokesperson says the settlement does not represent any admission of wrongdoing by the company.
Tyson Foods has a long-held core value to serve as stewards of the land, animals and resources entrusted to our care, the spokesperson added.
Spin and bones
The Tyson settlement comes in the same month as a separate settlement between the New York attorney generals office and JBS USA, part of the worlds largest meat company.
In that settlement, JBS also agreed to stop making unsubstantiated claims about reaching net-zero emissions.
JBS USA will also pay $1.1 million for agriculture programs to help New York farmers reduce emissions and become more climate resilient.
The settlements highlight both the environmental impact of meat companies and also their intense marketing practices.
A 2024 report found that meat and dairy companies are failing to address these impacts, and none have net-zero targets that meet UN standards. The industries spend more on advertising than on climate solutions, the report found.
EWG, which was represented by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Earthjustice, Edelson PC, andFarmSTAND in the suit, called the settlement a significant victory and says it will continue to review climate claims across the meat industry.
Our hope is that this settlement raises the bar for the entire industry, and that companies like Tyson will take a fresh look at what substantiation actually requires, Leary says. If Tyson or any other company chooses to resume climate claims without the evidence to back them up, we will be prepared to take appropriate action. Consumers deserve truth in advertising, now and in the future.
Starting a new job can be exhilarating and stressful at the same time. You are excited to meet new people, take on new responsibilities, and grow. You also want to demonstrate to your new employer that they made the right choice by hiring you.
So, how do you put your best foot forward?
Perhaps the most important thing to remember about that impression is that how you do things is more important than what you accomplish in those first few weeks. You are helping your new colleagues to get to know what it is like to work with you. This approach is valuable whether youre entering the organization near the bottom or the top of the org chart.
Listen first
When you first start with a new company, you dont know what you dont know. Even if you have lots of experience in similar industries, you are still entering an organization with its own history, people, and ways of doing things. In addition, you are stepping into conversations that have been going on for a long time. Of course, youre going to want to immediately demonstrate your value to others, and it will seem like the best way to do that is to make suggestions.
Start by listening: How do people talk to each other? What is the best way to build on other peoples ideas? Which people in the organization have the respect of others? Who seems to have influence in meetings and behind the scenes?
The best way to answer all of these questions is to listen. When you go into meetings with the intent to impress and say things, then you listen long enough to figure out what youre going to say next. When you enter meetings to learn, then you listen a lot and miss less of the subtlety of the discussion going on around you.
Be curious
When you get hired, you want other people to respect the knowledge and skills youre bringing to your new team. As a result, you may not want to admit ignorance. Instead, you should be a sponge. Assume you know very little and that you are there to learn from others rather than to spread your knowledge and wisdom.
Ask a lot of questions of other people. When you hear a phrase or acronym that is new to you, stop the conversation and ask for clarification. When someone moves forward with a particular plan or a decision gets made, ask why it was done? Clarify that youre asking why to understand the criteria and values people are using to reach decisions.
Ask your new team members whether there are documents you can read to understand how current projects have reached the point where they are. Attend as many briefings on projects as you can. Monitor communication channels like Slack to see how projects get discussed.
Admit mistakes
Of course, youre going to make mistakes. That is inevitable. It is particularly likely early on. Youre going to misunderstand an instruction, or try something and get it wrong.
That doesnt mean you should blunder about. If you are asked to do something and youre not completely sure you understand the request, get clarification. It is better to be walked through the steps of a new task than to move forward with it and do it badly so that you or someone else has to redo it.
No matter how carefully you clarify, though, youll do some things wrong. It is crucial that you tell a supervisor or other colleague as soon as you recognize that you have made a mistake. Ask for help and find out what you can do to correct any problems that arise.
You might think that admitting a mistake will immediately tag you as someone who is not trustworthy. The paradox is that when you admit a mistake quickly, you are letting the people around you know that you are paying attention to the outcomes of your actions and that you are going to let others know as soon as something goes wrong. As a result, admitting mistakes quickly is likely to gain you trustas long as you dont make the same mistakes repeatedly.
Be trainable and correctable
When you first start in a new role, you probably feel a little apprehensive. You want to prove that you belong. When someone offers you some information or advice, you might want to demonstrate your prowess by telling others when you already know something you have been told. Resist that urge.
Instead, thank people for the advice they give and for taking you under their wing. You want everyone around you to know that you can be taught and trained. Even new executives have a lot to learn. Youd like everyone in the organization to feel like they have a vested interest and a role to play in your success.
In addition, if youre in a leadership role, you should also clarify to everyone that you dont want their deference. You are likely to say things that reflect that you are new to the organization (and have blind spots). Encourage people to correct things you say that are wrong and to push back on ideas they disagree with. Start early to create an atmosphere of productive disagreement and constructive criticism.
If someone does offer you a critique of a position, accept it gracefully even if you disagree with it. Thank them for the feedback and take it seriously, even if you still think what you said originally is correct.
After all, people are watching what you do as a guide toward how to treat you. If you dismiss well-intentioned feedback, you will probably dissuade other people from offering suggestions in the future.
The flight disruptions during the record government shutdown that ended last week inspired a rare act of bipartisanship in Washington on Tuesday, when congressional representatives from both parties introduced legislation that would allow air traffic controllers to get paid during future shutdowns.
The bill proposes funding salaries, operating expenses, and other Federal Aviation Administration programs by tapping into a little-used fund with $2.6 billion that was created to reimburse airlines if the government commandeers their planes and they are damaged. The bill’s sponsors, which include four of the top Republicans and Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, hope that relying on the fund might make their bill more attractive than other proposals because it would limit the potential cost of doling out paychecks.
U.S. Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, the GOP chairman of the committee, said in a statement that the bill would help keep the traveling public safe during future shutdowns. The other sponsors include Democratic U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen of Washington and Andre Carson of Indiana, along with Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, who leads the aviation subcommittee.
We all saw that the system can be vulnerable when Congress cant get its job done, Graves said. This bill guarantees that controllers, who have one of the most high-pressure jobs in the nation, will get paid during any future funding lapses and that air traffic control, aviation safety, and the traveling public will never again be negatively impacted by shutdowns.
The bills introduction comes ahead of a scheduled hearing Wednesday by a Senate subcommittee to examine the impacts of the 43-day shutdown on aviation.
But it’s not clear whether this bill or any similar proposals that have been floating around Congress since the 2019 shutdown will have a chance to get approved before the next government funding deadline at the end of January. Nearly all the other proposals, including one from U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, would rely on the aviation trust fund that collects money from fees the airlines pay, and the Congressional Budget Office has given those bills a much higher price tag.
Fixes have been proposed, but none approved
Over the years, lawmakers have tried a handful of fixes for a long-term solution to keep air traffic controllers and other essential aviation workers paid during funding lapses. The proposals often gained bipartisan attention, especially after the 35-day shutdown that ended in 2019 during President Donald Trumps first term, but none made it over the finish line.
Moran’s bill, known as the Aviation Funding Stability Act, for example, is a recurring proposal in Congress that would allow the FAA to tap into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Lawmakers in both chambers have reintroduced versions of it over the years, including in 2019 and 2021.
The legislation resurfaced in March when Moran, the Republican chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, put it forward. It came up again in September, weeks before the shutdown began, when Carson and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, also a Democrat, introduced it in the House.
The new bill introduced Tuesday would cut off the money if the insurance fund dips below $1 billion. But Transportation Committee staffers estimate that would still provide enough funding to keep FAA operating for four to six weeks.
Air traffic controllers stretched thin during shutdown
The issue gets so much attention because of all the flight delays and cancellations that happen during a shutdown as more air traffic controllers call out of work. The existing shortage of controllers is so severe that just a few absences in an airport tower or other FAA radar facilities can cause problems.
The controllers and the FAA technicians who maintain the equipment they rely on are expected to continue working without pay during a shutdown to keep flights operating. But as the shutdown dragged on this fall, more controllers began calling out of work, citing the financial pressures and the need to take on side jobs.
The delays got so bad during the latest shutdown that the government ordered airlines to cut some of their flights at 40 busy airports nationwide, in what the FAA said was an unprecedented but necessary move to relieve pressure on the system and controllers. Thousands of flights were canceled before the FAA lifted the order entirely and airlines were able to resume normal operations Monday.
Why the insurance fund was created
The fund that the bill introduced Tuesday would use was created years ago to pay for claims an airline might file if the government uses one of its planes for a military operation or other use. But that’s not common anymore.
The last time a claim was made was after Americas withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The fund has continued to grow as it collects interest.
For a time, it was also used for an insurance fund at a time when airlines were having trouble getting any insurance coverage after 9/11. For years, airlines paid into the fund regularly to get coverage from the government.
But by the early 2010s, the insurance market for airlines had stabilized. Congress let the insurance program expire at the end of 2014.
Josh Funk and Rio Yamat, AP transportation and airlines writers
New York City’s incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani, hasn’t taken office yet. But he’s already the new avatar of evil for conservative media figures.
He’s been called downright sinister and incompatible with America. His labels include commie, Marxist, jihadist sympathizer and seething leftist. Fox News’ Laura Ingraham warned her viewers not to be fooled by smiling socialists who rule like Soviet tyrants.
A New York Post post-election cover that depicted Mamdani holding aloft the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle symbol sold out on newsstands by noon and was offered on e-Bay for $75. By the end of the day, the Post was selling baby onesies and commemorative plates emblazoned with the cover.
Already, conservative outlets see Mamdani joining Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton as someone guaranteed to make their audiences’ blood boil. And by doing so, they can help Republicans in the midterm elections.
It’s very clear that he’s going to be the No. 1 target of right-wing media for the foreseeable future, well into 2026, said Howard Polskin, publisher of the Righting, a newsletter that follows conservative media. He’s colorful, controversial and not afraid of a fight.
The new bogeyman for conservative media
The head of an outlet that Polskin regularly monitors, the Daily Signal, said Mamdani is likely seen as a threat because his appeal to working-class Americans who feel left behind by the economy is similar to that of President Donald Trump, although they have different ideas about how to handle that.
Remember years ago there was Nancy Pelosi who was the bogeyman for Republicans, said Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of the Daily Signal. I think Mamdani is probably going to be the new person. I think thats why you see a lot of emphasis on him in conservative media.
In the Washington Examiner, editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon saw ominous signs in Mamdani’s election night victory speech. He was downright sinister, glorying not just in his achievement but in having laid low his vanquished enemies and stuck it to others besides. He took off his smiling campaign mask and revealed his venomous self, Gurdon wrote.
Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt called Mamdani the mayor for the foreign-born. We have flooded the country with diversity, and diversity delivered us Zohran.” In an interview, Schmitt said he wasn’t quite ready to anoint Mamdani as a deliberate target for the conservative media.
A go-to bogeyman makes it sound like it’s manufactured, he told The Associated Press, whereas we are just appropriately concerned about people that are spewing or trying to push an ideology that is destined to not work.
The Post recognized Mamdani as a target of interest well before the election. Between Oct. 27 and Nov. 5, he was the subject of seven of the tabloid’s covers. One, headlined Mam-Child,” depicted Mamdani in a little boy’s overalls to illustrate a column warning that the city wasn’t a toy to hand to a baby like Zohran. Another front page blared Not Zo Fast to herald a tightening race in the polls. Election Day’s lead headline was Trump to New York: Keep the Commie Out.
Mamdani reached out to the White House post-election for a meeting with Trump and the president said Sunday that we’ll work something out.
A socialist or a communist?
Mamdanis status as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and his Muslim background are behind many of the conservative media attacks.
Asked on NBC’s Meet the Press this spring whether he was a communist, Mamdani said, No, I am not. Webster’s defines socialism as a political theory where the community or government owns and controls the production and distribution of goods. Communism, advanced by revolutionary Karl Marx, is considered a step beyond, where private property and capitalism no longer exist.
Many of Mamdani’s critics make no distinction. Commie takeover in the Big Apple, one Fox News onscreen headline read. They elected a communist, World Net Daily wrote. Communist, not socialist, Trump said in a 60 Minutes interview last month. Communist. He’s far worse than a socialist.
Some Jewish groups have expressed skepticism about Mamdani, who has supported Palestinian rights and criticized Israel’s attack in Gaza as genocide. But he has denounced Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and said he will work to combat antisemitism.
Republicans have a clear interest in seeing more American Jews traditionally a group that leans toward Democrats switch over. But that doesn’t account for some of the hostility seen in the media.
The National Review said Mamdani’s win meant it’s open season on New York Jews. Megyn Kelly said the tenets of Islam are inconsistent with American values and Muslims should not be elected mayors or governors. Podcaster Michael Savage called him a Marxist jihadist sympathizer. Influencer Laura Loomer predicted Mamdani would encourage Muslims to commit political assassinations to acquire power and silence critics.
Mamdani’s staff did not return messages from The Associated Press. In the waning days of his campaign, he spoke out against some of the religious-based attacks on him.
I thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face or racist, baseless attacks all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith, he said. I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.
Making Mamdani the leader of his party in consumers’ eyes
Some of the attacks reflect a common theme in politics and the media not unique to Mamdani to associate all members of a political party with the beliefs of one who could be depicted as on the fringe. The Daily Signal wrote after his election that Mamdani is now the putative leader of his party.
The Victory Girls conservative blog used an illustration of the incoming mayor in a military uniform. “The socialists are coming, and Mamdani is just the begining, the blog wrote. If we ignore them, we will all be in big trouble.
He’s the new AOC in the sense that they have found someone who is relatively unknown that they get to define and hold up as the example of what it means to be a Democrat, said Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America.
Carusone said he’s not sure if Mamdani will become a villain of the conservative media on the level of a Clinton or Pelosi, but he can understand the urgency.
If you don’t check him now,” Carusone said, he’s going to capture the young people.”
David Bauder, AP media writer
