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In most cases, confusing Portland, Maine, with Portland, Oregon, might be seen as an innocent faux pas. But in the case of political actors ahead of an election, it can be a costlyand frankly comedicblunder. A recent attack ad targeting Troy Jacksonthe Democratic candidate in the Maine Senate race who is running against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collinshas appeared in front of users far from Maine, leading many to believe its placement was a mistake. Funded by the Defending Main Street super PAC, the 30-second ad titled “Too Many Taxes” focuses on taxes and the cost-of-living crisis, which both Collins and Jackson have made central to their campaigns in the lead-up to the election in November. But despite the ad reportedly costing Defending Main Street around $25,000, the message might not be effective. Shown for the first time on October 8, it has racked up over 1.2 million viewsbut to viewers in Oregon, not Maine. “Ive gotten 5 anti-Troy Jackson ads in the last 24 hours. I choose to believe they mixed up Portlands,” one user, whose location is set to Oregon, said on X. Many others with an Oregon location chimed in to share their similar experiences, with one saying: “I’ve gotten them too. lol.” Another added: “I’ve gotten so many this week.” Some social media users shared screenshots of the ad’s Google Ads Transparency Center pagea public repository of ads served on Googlewhich showed the selected region for the ads as zip codes from Oregon. The Google Ads page has since been updated with Maine zip codes. The Intercept reported on the mix-up earlier. “So out of touch” The apparent error is not the first Republican mix-up this election cycle. In September, Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri tried to catch former special counsel Jack Smith in a gotcha moment during a Senate hearingonly to confuse two basketball teams (the Hawks and Hawkeyes), collapsing his line of questioning and sparking widespread mockery online. While Collins’s campaign and Defending Main Street have yet to speak out on the mishapor respond to a request for commentJackson’s campaign has already noticed the situation. “Susan Collins allies are so out of touch with Maine, they cant even find it on a map,” Dan Gottlieb, spokesperson for Jackson’s campaign, tells Fast Company. “Good luck convincing Mainers you know whats best for them when you dont know which Portland they live in.”
Category:
E-Commerce
Chinas passenger car exports surged 64% in September from the same month in 2025, an industry association reported Monday, as Chinese automakers increasingly focus on exports to drive growth amid sluggish domestic sales. China exported around 919,000 passenger vehicles in September, lifted by overseas demand for plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed. In the first nine months of 2026, China exported over 7.1 million passenger cars, up more than 70% from the same period last year. Meanwhile, domestic passenger car sales in China fell for most of the year as automakers faced weaker consumer confidence at home and scaled-back government subsidies. They fell 27% year over year in September to over 1.6 million units, according to the association. China is the worlds largest vehicle exporter, but is facing increasing skepticism from trade partners who fear its undermining their domestic industries and trade balance. The European Union is capping Chinese hybrid vehicle imports at 350,000 a year, officials say. Chinese car sales grow in regions including Europe In recent months, Chinese automakers have more aggressively targeted rapid growth in overseas markets such as Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Canada is also opening its doors to Chinese EV exports under a tariff cut deal with China. The industry increasingly relies on overseas markets for sales and profit growth as players seek to offset weakness in the domestic market, analyst Stephen Chan of S&P Global Ratings said. Consultancy AlixPartners and some auto analysts expect Chinese automakers to export nearly or around 10 million vehicles globally in 2026. In Europe, Chinese automakers are increasingly challenging the European auto industry with lower costs and prices. AlixPartners analysis found, for example, that a Chinese-branded EV costs around $20,000 to produce, compared with $31,000 for a European equivalent. EU to cap Chinese hybrid vehicle imports at 350,000 annually The EU has already imposed higher tariffs on pure electric vehicles from China, prompting Chinese carmakers to export more hybrid vehicles. Recent policy discussions have focused on the rapid rise in sales of Chinese hybrids in Europe. Chinese automakers captured around 12% of Europe’s new-car market in August and accounted for one in four hybrid sales in the region, said a research note by Deutsche Bank. Amid growing pressure on the EU to rebalance trade with China, EU trade chief Maro¹ ©efèoviè said Friday that the two sides had reached an interim deal that could halve Chinese hybrid vehicle exports to the bloc. The agreement sets an annual import quota of 350,000 hybrid vehicles made in China, including plug-in hybrids, two senior EU officials said Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under European Commission policy. Starting as early as December, customs authorities across the 27-nation bloc will coordinate monitoring of these imports and halt further shipments once the annual quota is reached, one official said. The limit excludes cars made in Europe by Chinese companies. Analysts said protectionist measures would likely continue to cloud Chinese automakers overseas outlook. An import cap on Chinese hybrid cars would likely disrupt the highly profitable vehicle export growth that Chinese automakers recently enjoyed in the European market, Deutsche Bank analysts said. You cant expect BYD or the other OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to export too many cars without facing tariffs or pushbacks from the foreign governments, Xiao Feng, head of Hong Kong and China industrials research at investment group CITIC CLSA, told reporters recently. Geopolitics is the biggest challenge to BYDs overseas expansion, executive vice president Stella Li, who leads the Chinese EV giants global growth, acknowledged at an event this month. BYD has therefore been expanding overseas production, including setting up plants in Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and Hungary, she told the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore. More overseas production limits impact from trade curbs Chinese automakers will likely continue to expand overseas production to reduce exposure to tariffs and other risks, said Ming Lee, head of Greater China automotive and industrial research at BofA Global Research, a unit of Bank of America. More and more volume will be made locally, he said. Meanwhile, the U.S. has effectively shut Chinese EVs out of its market with hefty tariffs. President Donald Trumps meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during Xis state visit to Washington last month yielded no deal on access for Chinese EVs. Experts say continued political uncertainty likely makes the U.S. market a lower priority for Chinese automakers. By Chan Ho-Him and Sam McNeil, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Workers removed more than 500 trees at a Washington, D.C., golf course over the weekend that President Donald Trump is working to remodel, and it happened like many of his other design projects in town: suddenly and without permission. Preservationists asked a judge Sunday to halt the Trump administration after it removed 529 trees Saturday at East Potomac Park, a golf course managed by the National Park Service, and on Monday, a judge called the removal “inexcusable.” The course is home to elms, oaks, pines, and willows, as well as some of the 3,000 Japanese flowering cherry trees gifted by the government of Japan in 1912. Together they told the story of golf’s rise in America from a mostly treeless game on the U.S. coasts to a sport known for its big, lush vegetation. Now, just like that, a century’s worth of landscape design history has been torn up. [Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images] The removal happened “faster than anticipated,” according to the lawsuit, and the Trump administration didn’t meet its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act, attorneys representing the D.C. Preservation League and a pair of local golfers said in a filing seeking an emergency action to pause further tree removal. “‘Pulling a fast one’ has become the model this administration uses to circumvent the laws intended to protect the environment and D.C. landmarks,” Abbe D. Lowell, a founding member of Lowell & Associates, which is representing the plaintiffs along with Democracy Forward and Democracy Defenders Fund, said in a statement. “It did so with the East Wing and the Kennedy Center and we are continuing our effort to stop them before they succeed in destroying D.C.s historic public golf course.” A brief history of parkland courses The land that’s now East Potomac Park sits on a small island in the Potomac River south of the National Mall. The earliest known vegetation there was tall grass and willow trees, most of which were cleared to design the first course in 1917, but through the years, more trees were added to adapt to changing tastes. That’s according to a 2017 cultural landscape inventory of the course conducted by the Urban Heritage Project from the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design that tracked the park’s evolution. The first course at East Potomac Park was designed by golf course architect Walter J. Travis who cleared the fairways of most willows but kept some existing trees along the course’s perimeter to separate the front and back nine. A new style of golf course design in the 1920s called parkland style, however, meant more trees would eventually be planted over the years. [Photo: Historic American Landscapes Survey/Library of Congress] As golf grew more popular and moved inland, parkland courses came to be known for their big, mature trees. The popularity of televised golf tournaments beginning in the 1950s and ’60s only made lush, green, gorgeous park-like backdrops that more appealing, according to the inventory, like the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, with its trees and plants imported from around the world in bloom. At East Potomac Park, the Civilian Conservation Corps planted cedar trees in 1939 and additional trees in the 1960s and ’70s, including crabapple trees. The 2017 inventory also counted large wolf trees, large willow oaks, and a large American Elm. Some trees were planted for reasons of gameplay, not just aesthetics. The park’s miniature golf course, for example, was designed around a limited number of trees that function as hazards, and the park’s White Course has few trees and open fairways and thus became popular with less competitive players. The 2017 inventory noted that the park needed some care, including invasive vines and trees it said were damaging some cherry trees, and it said that a “piecemeal nature of planting” had resulted in “a variety of mature trees and shrubs scattered throughout the landscape” that had no overall harmony. A “surprise demolition” But those suing Trump’s Interior Department and National Park Service say the administration’s tree razing went far above routine maintenance or a thoughtful pruning and that the administration had even removed healthy, mature oaks and maple trees. p class="wp-block-paragraph">“Unleashing a surprise demolition razing over 500 historic trees in this public park and claiming it is part of maintenance from a dated, years old landscaping plan is yet another brazen, lawless power grab that has become routine for the Trump administration,” Democracy Defenders Fund executive chair Norm Eisen said in a statement. Trump’s planned makeover of the park (he had rubble from the White House East Wing taken after demolishing it), is part of a larger takeover of the federal government golf course system. Trump is reportedly offering his Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in Florida as an official U.S. government golf course for presidents that his family’s company would continue to operate. Like the rings of a tree tell its story, the landscape design of East Potomac Park told a story of a game that grew up to appreciate the value of mature trees and ample vegetation as it became more popular. With the Trump administration’s sudden tree removal, a part of that history is now gone.
Category:
E-Commerce
In the era of streaming music and satellite radio, traditional broadcast stations are easy to overlook. AM radio, in particular, has fallen out of favor with younger drivers. So it’s perhaps no surprise that some automakers have begun dropping it from new vehicles. Congress, however, wants to put a stop to that. Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 979, the “AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act of 2025.” The bill is now on the Senate’s legislative calendar and has broad bipartisan support. The Senate also has a companion bill, S. 315, which cleared committee last year and is awaiting a floor vote. While AM radio is dominated by political talk shows, religious programming, and sports, it still draws a sizable audience. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which supports the congressional effort, says more than 80 million Americans listen to AM each month. The group describes AM radio as “a platform for locally produced content that is relevant to their audience and speaks to their unique cultural and linguistic needs.” It also notes that AM stations have historically provided an entry point into radio ownership for racial and ethnic minorities. Automakers, meanwhile, are grappling with tariffs and rising component costs, and looking for ways to trim expenses. Removing AM radio wouldn’t shave hundreds or thousands of dollars off a vehicle’s price, but it could offer modest savings. Electric vehicle makers face another challenge: The technology that powers EVs can interfere with AM radio reception. “The high-voltage electrical systems in EVs generate electromagnetic interference that, according to the Center for Automotive Research, ‘distorts AM radio signals, affecting the listening experience for drivers and passengers.’ In other words: really staticky,” said John Bozzella, president and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, in 2024 congressional testimony. “Its not possible to eliminate that interference, and techniques to reduce interference add weight and mess with battery range and would cost an estimated $3.8 billion.” Bozzella also argued that requiring AM radio amounted to a government mandate with no public safety justification. Supporters of the legislation dispute that argument. AM stations play a significant role in the nation’s emergency alert infrastructure, including a FEMA-supported network of radio stations equipped to continue broadcasting during disasters. Bozzella’s position was echoed by the then-president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, who wrote in a letter to the editor of The Washington Post that “a federal mandate that every car comes equipped with an AM radio in 2024 and beyond is like mandating that they come equipped with ashtrays or 8-track players.” Still, traditional radio may have more life left in it than skeptics think, even as music streaming subscriptions approach 1 billion worldwide. As more Americans return to the office, radio has benefited from renewed interest. Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” report, released in July, found that AM/FM radio accounted for 62% of ad-supported audio listening among adults, compared with just 6% for Spotifys ad-supported service. In cars, AM/FM commanded an even larger share of ad-supported audio listening: 82% among adults 18 and older. Whether the Senate will vote on the AM radio bill before November’s midterm elections remains unclear. And despite its bipartisan support, its prospects at the White House are uncertain. The auto industry may oppose the measure, but it has some influential backers beyond the broadcasting industry, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, AARP, and a coalition of public safety organizations.
Category:
E-Commerce
Elon Musk, the world’s only trillionaire, has quietly become the biggest known donor in this year’s midterm elections, doling out more than $276 million since July to try to save Republican majorities in Congress. The numbers, first reported by The New York Times ahead of this week’s federal filing deadline, were confirmed by Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s super PAC. The money includes $158 million given to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidates, one of the largest known political donations in American history, according to the Times. Another $76 million went to America PAC, a Musk super PAC, which has once again built out a major turnout operation like the one it used to help elect President Donald Trump by knocking on doors in 2024. Musk also provided $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group that supports the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, Ken Paxton. The race has been a major focus of Musk’s efforts. It’s a dramatic turnaround since last May, when Musk said he intended to cut back on future political spending. I think Ive done enough,” he said at the time. Despite the cash infusion, Musk has generally kept a lower profile than in 2024, when he appeared onstage next to Trump at rallies, and in the early days of the president’s second term, when he led the Department of Government Efficiency. He had a falling out with Trump while leaving his government post, but the two have since reconciled. Trump presented Musk with the National Medal of Science last week. Musk’s net worth has fluctuated around the trillion-dollar line this year based on changes in stock prices, but he topped $1 trillion again last week according to Forbes magazine. Republicans have a gaping financial advantage over their Democratic counterpartsa disparity that has been a rare bright spot for a party that is bracing for major potential losses amid deep voter frustration over the president’s performance, stubbornly high prices, and the unpopular war with Iran. They have been using the money to blanket the airwaves in the race’s final stretch. These robust investments have allowed the GOP apparatus to get its message out so Republicans can have a fighting chance to defy history,” Romeo told the Times. Democrats responded to the news by accusing Republicans of using vast amounts of cash to mask their shortcomings. Republicans are hoping to buy these elections, injecting tens of millions into races to try and outrun their unpopular candidates, unpopular president, and unpopular economy, said Lauren French, a spokesperson for Democrats’ Senate Majority PAC. By Jill Colvin, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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