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UK Board of Trustees approves joint venture with Signature HealthCARE
The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today approved a joint venture between UK and Louisville-based Signature HealthCARE to develop and operate a 105-bed skilled nursing facility on UK’s Hamburg East campus in Lexington. The facility will expand access to skilled nursing care and help patients move from the hospital to the next stage of their recovery sooner.
More Than a Charcuterie Board: A Mother and Daughter Build a Business Around Gathering.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Birch Bay Retirement Village. NORTHEAST HARBOR—Food’s ability to be a social cornerstone is one of the founding premises of one of Mount Desert Island’s newest, and perhaps most unique, endeavors in cuisine based catering. From intimate gatherings to large functions, Olive & Pearl creates charcuterie boards that can not only astound the tongue but also the eye. Many would agree that food can bring people together. In fact, culinary delights, and sometimes adventures, have been utilized as the centerpiece for social and business occasions of all kinds for centuries. Often times it even has the ability to start conversation, temper differences, and build new relationships. Settings can vary, from a multi-course sit down meal, a backyard barbecue, or a couple of bowls of chips and dip in front of a television, but the result can be the same. Humans come together, they share food, and the whole process is a catalyst for thought, communication, and a shared experience. Imagined and created by the mother and daughter team of Dr. Susan Scanlan (formerly MacCready) and Kayla Musetti, Olive & Pearl was started in June of this year and has been creating, delighting, and growing since. We gave the two an opportunity to answer some questions about themselves and their new venture. The love, passion, and pride for what they are doing and the fact that they are doing it as a mother and daughter team came through so strongly in their answers that we decided to present the question and answer session in its entirety. The Interview What did you do prior to Olive & Pearl? We’re a mother-daughter team, and food, family, and hospitality have always been a big part of our lives. Susan grew up in a large family in Pennsylvania, where the table was always at the center of everything. There were multiple dishes, little bites, stories, and plenty of conversation. Food was never simply about eating. It was about gathering, celebrating, and spending time together. After living in several Southern states, Susan relocated to Maine more than 20 years ago, and Maine has truly become home. She loves its sense of community, natural beauty, and connection to local food and makers. Professionally, Susan is a registered nurse and holds a doctorate in health administration. She has worked in a variety of clinical, nonclinical, and leadership roles and currently works as a faculty academic director. Building Olive & Pearl has been an exciting creative venture alongside her career. Kayla is also a registered nurse and works in the ambulatory surgery unit at Mount Desert Island Hospital. While healthcare is an important part of both of our professional lives, Olive & Pearl has given us an entirely different way to connect, collaborate, and create something together. Tell us about the business. Olive & Pearl is a mother-daughter charcuterie business centered around beautiful food, thoughtful presentation, and bringing people together. We create curated charcuterie boards designed for everything from intimate gatherings and dinner parties to weddings, showers, corporate events, boat days, and celebrations of all kinds. We think of our boards as more than food. They’re an experience and an invitation to gather, slow down, and enjoy time with the people around you. We’re intentional about quality ingredients, artful presentation, and personalization. Whenever possible, we also incorporate Maine-made and locally sourced products, including cheeses, jams, honey, seasonal produce, and baked goods. What inspired you to start Olive & Pearl? In many ways, Olive & Pearl grew out of something we had been doing our entire lives —bringing people together around food. We’ve always loved creating beautiful spreads for family and friends. There was something special about watching people gather around a table, graze, talk, laugh, and simply enjoy being together. Friends and family began telling us, “You should do this as a business,” and one day, we stopped laughing it off and started mapping it out. We realized we had an opportunity to combine our different strengths and create something that reflected what we both value: hospitality, creativity, quality, and connection. Charcuterie felt like the perfect expression of that. It’s beautiful and creative, but it’s also communal and approachable. At its heart, it brings us right back to where the idea began, a table filled with food and people gathered around it. Do you have a business partner(s)? Our business partner is each other! Olive & Pearl is truly a mother-daughter partnership, and building it together has been incredibly meaningful and sometimes hilarious! We know each other extremely well, which can be both a strength and, occasionally, a challenge. We have different personalities and strengths, but we’ve learned to lean into those differences and use them to our advantage. There’s a lot of trust between us, and we’ve learned how to communicate, collaborate, and occasionally laugh at ourselves along the way. We’re also building Olive & Pearl while continuing our careers in healthcare and education, so we’re taking things thoughtfully and growing the business one step at a time. We all have to start somewhere. One of the most rewarding parts has been having something that belongs to both of us. We get to learn from one another, celebrate the small wins together, and create something that we hope will become part of our family’s story for years to come. When exactly did you launch the business? Recently, in June 2026, we launched Olive & Pearl, turning an idea we had talked about for years into real business. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch something that started around our own family table and begin to find a place within the community. How is it going so far? How do you feel it has been received? It has been going very well, and we’ve been incredibly encouraged by how warmly Olive & Pearl has been received. As more people hear about us, our orders have continued to increase, and we’re seeing growing interest in boards for events and celebrations. It’s exciting to watch something that began as an idea between the two of us start to grow within the community. One of the most rewarding parts is hearing from customers after their events or seeing photos of our boards being enjoyed. Knowing that something we created became part of someone’s celebration is incredibly meaningful to us. Is there a brick-and-mortar location or is it all online? Olive & Pearl is currently an online business. We’re intentionally starting this way so we can build relationships with our customers, learn what they love, and grow thoughtfully. Our long-term dream, if the business continues to grow, is to eventually have a sit-down space where people can experience Olive & Pearl in person. Do you have any future plans if things go well/keep going well? Absolutely. For now, our focus is on continuing to grow Olive & Pearl, getting to know our customers, and becoming part of more celebrations and gatherings throughout the area. Long term, we would love to have our own physical space where people can come together and experience Olive & Pearl beyond the boards themselves. We can imagine a place that combines food, hospitality, creativity, and community. Ultimately, we want to build something that continues to grow while still feeling personal and connected to the people and community around us. Is there an aspect of the business that you really love? There are so many things we love about it, but the people and the connection are probably at the top of the list. We love creating something beautiful, but what really matters to us is what happens after we hand it over to the customer. We picture our boards on kitchen islands, at backyard gatherings, on boats, at weddings, or around a long dinner table—with people laughing, talking, and lingering a little longer. We also love the creative side. Every board is an opportunity to play with color, texture, shape, seasonality, and flavor. We don’t just want to fill a board, we want to curate an experience. And supporting local makers is especially meaningful to us. Whenever possible, we love incorporating Maine-made cheeses, local jams and honey, seasonal produce, and products from nearby bakeries and businesses. It allows us to showcase some of what makes Maine so special. Perhaps most importantly, we love doing this together. Building something as a mother and daughter has given us another way to spend time together, learn from one another, celebrate small wins, and create memories. Is there anything regarding any aspect of Olive & Pearl that you may think is important that is not reflected on the website? One thing that may not always come through online is just how personal this business is to us. Olive & Pearl isn’t something we created simply because charcuterie was popular. It grew very naturally from our family, our traditions, and the way we’ve always enjoyed gathering with people we love. There is a lot of heart behind every board. We think about the people who will be enjoying it, the occasion they’re celebrating, and how we can make the experience feel special. We also want people to know that we care deeply about supporting locals whenever possible. Using Maine products isn’t just about sourcing ingredients, it’s about telling a little story about where we live and the talented people who make and grow wonderful things here. Is there anything that we have not asked that you think is important/relevant that would like readers to know? We hope people see Olive & Pearl as more than just a charcuterie business. At its heart, it’s about gathering. Our goal is to make it easier for people to create those moments when everyone gathers around the table, conversations last a little longer, and people simply enjoy being together. We also hope people see the mother-daughter story behind the business. We’re building Olive & Pearl alongside our careers, one step at a time, and there is something incredibly special about creating a shared family legacy in the process. For us, success isn’t just about how many boards we make. It’s about becoming part of people’s special moments - birthdays, weddings, weekends with friends, quiet evenings at home, or a beautiful day on the Maine coast. If one of our boards helps people put down their phones, linger a little longer, laugh a little more, and enjoy the people around them, then we feel like we’ve done exactly what we set out to do. All photos courtesy of Olive & Pearl. LINKS TO LEARN MORE Olive & Pearl website Olive & Pearl Facebook Olive & Pearl Instagram RECENT PRESS RELEASES AND BRIEFS To see all the press releases, click here. To see our news, click here. For the full archive, click here. All of these are on our dedicated website. [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/pemetic-students-share-thoughts-on) [ Pemetic Students Share Thoughts on Declaration of Independence Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/pemetic-students-share-thoughts-on) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/pemetic-students-share-thoughts-on) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/fall-festival-at-the-noreaster-for) [ Fall Festival at the Nor’Easter for Mount Desert Nursery School, October 24. Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/fall-festival-at-the-noreaster-for) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/fall-festival-at-the-noreaster-for) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Explore career opportunities where you make a difference for Maine’s natural resources—and the people who enjoy them. Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Cranberry Isles Comprehensive Plan Committee Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/cranberry-isles-comprehensive-plan) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/cranberry-isles-comprehensive-plan) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) [ Community School Hosts a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser October 25! Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other. We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going. If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship. It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light. Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now. Thank you so much for being here. Founding member information can be found here. Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you. Subscribe Share Bar Harbor Story Share Leave a comment
Political, union groups endorse Minnesota school board candidates
A handful of political groups and unions are endorsing Minnesota school board candidates in what have traditionally been nonpartisan races.
Nurses at four Endeavor Health hospitals seek to join Teamsters
Nurses at Evanston Hospital and three other Endeavor Health facilities across the North Shore are officially seeking to unionize. Teamsters Local 734 filed a petition — covering more than 2,000 nurses at the Evanston, Skokie, Glenbrook and Highland Park hospitals — with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday asking for a union election. Nurses...
School board candidates support more mental health care, differ on approach
Candidates for school boards around the state generally agreed with a new law that will require the hiring of more mental health counselors, but those responding to a survey said more resources will be needed, while some called for more parental involvement.
Tony Lipp & Dara Gordon Join Entertainment 360 As Partners
Tony Lipp and Dara Gordon are joining Entertainment 360 as partners, with Lipp added to the management board and Gordon heading the New York office.
Meta's board thinks keeping Zuckerberg at its California office is key
The tech giant's effort to dissuade its CEO from relocating reflects a common belief that the best work happens when everyone is together in person.
Strategic Entertainment Announces Chase The King, A Chess Variant Where Players Start 1v1 And Earn Pieces By
100 Kings To Defeat, One Cursed Chess Board To Take The Crown. Coming To Steam and other PC Stores in November. Demo Now Available.
MTSU named to Billboard's top music business schools for 12th year
Nashville News, Weather, and Sports
Wyoming Business Council Seeking Interim CEO
The Wyoming Business Council Board of Directors has announced they are accepting applications for an interim chief executive officer following the departure of Josh Dorrell, who led the agency for seven years. According to a news release, this appointment is expected to last approximately nine to 12 months while the board prepares to recruit a […]
Burk begins term as Virginia Municipal League president
Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk is the new president of the Virginia Municipal League board of directors, according to a news release.
County BZA approvals permit poultry, business expansions
Wayne County Board of Zoning Appeals approved five petitions — two requesting additions for ag businesses, another seeking acreage reduction for poultry, a mining business expanding its property and a chiropractor moving his operations locally — at its Oct. 8 meeting. Hally Jordan and James Spears’ petition to reduce minimum lot acreage to accommodate 14 […]
Trishaween with Trisha Paytas canceled
Western Michigan University’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) event Trishaween with Trisha Paytas has been canceled as of Oct. 22, just nine days before Paytas was set to perform at Miller
Dispatch Celebrates Its One-Year Anniversary With New Game Modes, A Concert, And A Mobile Launch Announcement
Starting today, commentary and storyboard modes will be available as a free update to deluxe edition owners
Ohio State names Chandrasekaran dean of Fisher College of Business
The Ohio State University has named Aravind Chandrasekaran (AC) dean of the Max M. Fisher College of Business, pending Board of Trustees approval. Chandrasekaran has served as interim dean of the college since June 2025, building on more than 15 years as a faculty member, scholar and academic leader at the college. He will also continue to ho...
Apple’s Magic Keyboards for iPad are about half off, with a small catch
They have 90-day warranties, but are “pristine.”
Henrico Planning Commission advances proposed marijuana business regulations to board of supervisors
A new package of zoning restrictions on recreational marijuana businesses will advance to the Henrico Board of Supervisors, after the Henrico Planning Commission blessed the proposal Oct. 15. Commissioners voted unanimously for approval after only a few questions and no comments from the public. Supervisors will consider the regulations during
Liz Morentin Launches Entertainment, Media, Tech Communications Agency
Liz Morentin launched entertainment, media and tech communications agency Greenvalley Media & Marketing. Morentin was most recently at Virgin Music.
Introspection required if EU Inc fails, says start-up lobbyist
European start-ups have a new voice in Brussels. Startups for Europe, created from the merger of lobby groups Allied for Startups and the European Startup Network, is hoping to harness the momentum behind EU-Inc, a campaign that united start-ups and investors behind demands for a new pan-European company regime.At a launch event for the new association in Brussels on October 1, the mood was remarkably upbeat compared to a typical Eurobubble gathering, more Silicon Valley than Schuman roundabout.When asked whether this reflects a feeling that Europe is on the right track, chief executive Serena Borbotti-Frison said it’s a “scary” moment as the continent looks to boost its competitiveness amid a new technological arms race.“What is at stake is quite intense, and the way we can answer is by delivering, but also with hope,” she told Science|Business. “It’s what our industry does. It’s not about identifying a pain point and then saying it’s too hard.”For many in the start-up community, that sense of hope is dwindling. In March, the European Commission presented its proposal for EU Inc, naming its initiative after the grassroots campaign.EU Inc was meant to be a gamechanger: the ability to incorporate within 48 hours for less than €100 and scale up across Europe; a harmonised stock option regime enabling start-ups to compete for talent; and simplified insolvency procedures for innovative start-ups to reduce the cost of failure.However, haggling by EU governments has raised concerns that EU Inc will be stripped of the very features, including stock option harmonisation, that are meant to make it attractive for companies.“I fear we are proving to ourselves that the model doesn’t work,” Borbotti-Frison said of the policymaking process. “Everyone agrees we should have EU Inc. Everyone agrees it’s hard to scale and we need to scale to answer the competitiveness [challenge], and still we cannot deliver? [. . .] What does that say about ourselves?”The Commission has made EU Inc a cornerstone of its single market reform, and has agreed with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to target an agreement by the end of 2026. However, several points are currently holding up an agreement, including national rules around employee participation in management decisions, and the provision that employee stock options always be taxed at the point of sale. Some EU governments have reportedly pushed back on the Commission’s choice of legal basis, contending that anything related to taxation requires unanimity in the Council.Trade unions have also protested against EU Inc, fearing it will be exploited by companies looking to undermine workers’ rights.“If this doesn’t work, it’s introspection time, on the way our institutions work, maybe the way our lobbies work, and maybe the way the cooperation between them works,” Borbotti-Frison said.“Is it in the national interest? Is it a gap between political will and technical ability to operate? Is it speed? I don't know, but something needs to be fixed.”Ahead of last week’s European Council meeting, EU-Inc campaigners tried a new strategy: appealing directly to EU presidents and prime ministers. In an open letter, they urged EU leaders to “step in and give your negotiating teams a clear mandate to change course and reverse their objections to the Commission’s original proposal.”Lessons from EU-IncLike its predecessors, Startups for Europe will represent national start-up associations, but it is also targeting investors. The founding sponsors are venture capital firm Atomico and EQT, the investor selected earlier this year to manage the €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund.It also wants to harness the knowledge and cross-border experience of European success stories. “Take the list of the 100 biggest unicorns in Europe. We are speaking to all of them,” Borbotti-Frison said. The association plans to publish a full list of supporters following the Slush tech conference in Helsinki in November.Andreas Klinger and Simon Schaefer, two key figures in the EU-Inc campaign, are both on the board of the new association, and Startups for Europe wants to take the lessons from their campaign.What was unprecedented about EU-Inc was “how rooted it was, and how strong it was in bringing everyone on board behind one clear pain point and solution to fix it,” Borbotti-Frison said. “This is an inspiration for us, and then we need to turn it into something more systematic, more bridged in Brussels, more connected to the policymaking game, and to scale it.”If it’s possible to unite such a broad coalition, it’s because the European start-up ecosystem is now mature, she said. “Maybe it was not ten years ago. Maybe it was not five years ago. But now, it’s mature to speak with one voice.”Open and liberal EuropeThe association plans to campaign on files related to three “pain points,” Borbotti-Frison said: “start and scale in Europe, fundraise and invest in Europe, and making Europe the most innovative continent.”As well as EU Inc, she cited public procurement, the EU’s simplification push, the Savings and Investments Union, and files related to AI adoption and technological sovereignty as priorities for the coming months.What these files have in common is that they relate not to subsidies but to the framework conditions influencing the availability of mostly private, or in the case of procurement, public, funding.Related articlesEmployee participation disagreement delays MEPs’ vote on EU IncCommission urges EU governments not to water down EU IncEU’s ‘ultra-fast’ €5B scale-up fund is set up to win, says its fund managerThe budget dispute over the next Horizon Europe programme will also impact start-ups, which are supported notably through the European Innovation Council. But EU innovation funding is a drop in the ocean compared to venture capital and public procurement budgets.“If competitiveness and innovation are a priority, then the [EU budget] should reflect it,” Borbotti-Frison said. However, she added that the main question is not how much public money is invested, but “how do we create the right conditions for the market to solve the problem?”The Scaleup Europe Fund mixes both approaches, using €1 billion in EU funding to crowd in private investors and address Europe’s lack of large-scale, late-stage growth funds. “It’s a proof of concept. Ideally, then the market will do it itself,” Borbotti-Frison said.Startups for Europe is also focused on bringing an alternative political narrative. Amid competing visions for open, global markets on the one side and a protectionist Europe on the other, it wants to offer “a third voice, to say we can be proudly European and build a strong continent in a liberal economy, open to the world, and global.”It can be tempting, when thinking about how Europe can better support innovation, to look across the Atlantic. But while it’s important to compare statistics to see where Europe needs to catch up, that’s where the comparison should stop, Borbotti-Frison said. “On everything else, we need to do it our own way. We don't have the same history. We don't have the same political model. We don't have the same way of life.”Many of the key files that could benefit the start-up community, including EU Inc and the Savings and Investments Union, rely on closer integration within Europe, making it easier to operate across borders.While the Commission has made deepening the single market a political priority, support at national level is more precarious. The coming months will see pivotal elections in Spain and France, while the German government has also been coming under pressure domestically. In each country, far-right parties have been gaining ground.When asked if she was concerned the political situation could jeopardise this progress, Borbotti-Frison responded: “Of course. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.” However, she continues to believe that cooperation is the only way forward. “Doing it alone is not the solution. It’s also not who we are, it’s not the model we are building, and it’s not the scale we need.”
Baptist Memorial marks lease transfer at Merit Health Rankin
The transfer was first announced on June 2 after a unanimous vote by the Rankin County Board of Supervisors.
North Pullman rehab effort touted as ‘history making’ has stalled
Six years after taking on 30 row homes north of the historic railcar factory, a developer still has at least 20 sitting boarded-up and unoccupied.
Local election coverage - Illinois Times, the capital city's source of news, politics, arts, entertainment, culture
From congressional races to contested Sangamon County Board seats and the sheriff’s race, here’s a look at who’s on the Nov. 3 ballot locally. We also have an overview of the landlord registry referendum that Springfield voters will be asked to consider. Sign up for our daily digital newsletter (https://www.illinoistimes.com/get-it-in-your-inbox/) to get timely information about […]
OCPS delays health insurance decision amid legal threats from unions
With a potential legal liability looming over the School Board, it ended with a unanimous vote to postpone a hearing until Nov. 13.
Man Buys $299K Rolls-Royce for $39K, Fixes It With Cardboard on Drive Home
YouTuber Tyler Hoover, the creator of Hoovies Garage, bought a 2011 Rolls-Royce Ghost for just $39,000, then attempted to drive the aging luxury sedan nearly 1,000 miles from Detroit, Michigan, to his home in Kansas. ... Read more
Commission announces plan for polar hub to step up research coordination
The European Commission plans to develop an EU polar research hub to strengthen coordination and improve the alignment between science and policy. The objective, according to a Commission official, is to “better connect research, observation and scientific infrastructure, improve access to research resources and strengthen coordination with stakeholders, including Indigenous people.”Announced in a new EU Arctic strategy on October 20, there is little detail yet on how the hub will be implemented, only that it will “reinforce and expand” the European Polar Coordination Office (EPCO), which is hosted and managed by the European Polar Board (EPB) at Umeå University in Sweden. EPCO was born from the EU-PolarNet projects funded through Horizon 2020 and currently coordinates the EU Polar Cluster, a network of EU-funded collaborative polar projects.While the practical details remain to be defined, the decision sends “a clear and positive signal,” said Maria Grigoratou, head of EPCO and executive secretary of EPB. “By reinforcing EPCO, the Commission has an opportunity to build on the legacy of EU-PolarNet 2, strengthen European polar research coordination and expand cooperation with a broader range of Arctic stakeholders,” she told Science|Business.The move has been welcomed by the polar research community. “The polar research hub could play an important role in connecting existing research communities, observation systems and infrastructure, and in bringing scientific knowledge closer to policymaking, in cooperation with local communities and Indigenous people,” said Katrine Moland Hansen, director of operations at Norway’s Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center.But money will be an issue. “It is clear that EPCO will need more resources and structure to function well and to make research reach policymakers,” said Kati Lindström, vice-chair of the Polar Research Committee of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. “European polar research is big if we pool the resources, and it should not only be left to enthusiastic scientists to develop networks of strategic importance in their free time.”The Arctic strategy makes a point of saying that local communities should have a greater involvement in Arctic science. “All EU Arctic research consortia are mandated to invite Indigenous people representatives to participate in projects,” it reads. “The EU also supports research that is directly led by Indigenous communities and address their challenges.”It also underlines the importance of reinforcing collaboration with like-minded partners such as Norway, Iceland, Canada, the UK, Japan and South Korea, as well as deepening its engagement with NATO. This includes the US, with which “the EU is committed to continuing a pragmatic transatlantic engagement based on shared interests and values.”Related articlesViewpoint: Does Europe dare to invest in the Arctic?Anchor Greenlanders in Arctic climate research, experts tell EU ahead of policy updateFor Moland Hansen, this open and inclusive approach to cooperation is encouraging. “The Arctic is also a strong example of why equal participation of associated countries in EU funding instruments matters.”Overall, she finds the new Arctic strategy to be ambitious, timely and comprehensive. “We particularly welcome the recognition that climate change, environmental protection, security, resilience and competitiveness are closely interconnected,” she said. “Research, observations and forecasting capabilities are essential to understanding the rapid changes taking place in the Arctic and addressing these challenges together.”Security focusWhile the Arctic strategy foregrounds security, with pledges to protect undersea cables, boost satellite monitoring, deploy more icebreakers and improve military mobility, the polar community is satisfied that environmental concerns have not been forgotten.“It is inevitable that there is a strong security angle to the EU Arctic strategy, but the impact of climate change and need for climate mitigation and resilience is also strongly recognised and includes a pledge to stay the course on climate commitments,” said Sian Prior, lead advisor to the Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of campaigning non-profit organisations.“We need to remember that by the time the next Multiannual Financial Framework comes to an end, in 2034, the polar regions, especially the Arctic region, will be living under a new reality when it comes to ecosystem processes, when it comes to the climate,” Grigoratou went on. “And that will affect any ambition that humans may have in the region.”Lindström agreed. “All aspects of European security are dependent on climate change in the Arctic and consequently, on climate science,” she said. “We cannot close our eyes to issues like energy security, critical minerals, northern shipping routes, dual-use technologies and others. However, it remains to be seen how well the promises to protect the environment and Indigenous rights will hold when faced with critical mineral extraction under the Critical Minerals Act.”
Lake Explorer II Research Vessel scientists show off operations and equipment
Wednesday brought in a once in a lifetime opportunity for science lovers. They got to board the Lake Explorer II, a Great Lakes research vessel and learn about their operations
Transportation Secretary Addresses NBAA-BACE, Announces Major AAM Milestone
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy addressed NBAA-BACE in Las Vegas and announced a major AAM milestone: the first manufacturer approved to operate eVTOL aircraft with passengers aboard for market research.
U.K. exam board science specifications reveal gender gap that may influence girls' STEM choices
An absence of women scientists in U.K. exam board specifications for science could be a factor in the disproportionate number of girls dropping STEM subjects at 16 and contribute to the gender gap in ...
EDA approves final round of business development grants for 2026
The Grand Marais/Cook County Economic Development Authority Board met Tuesday, Oct. 20, approving five business development grants and the hiring of Redpath and Company to conduct a financial audit, among other agenda items. The meeting marked the third and final round of the EDA’s 2026 business development grants, which began the year with a $200,000...
Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #228
Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy. In today’s edition, you’ll find: On the issues: The debate over Iowa’s education savings account program In this section, we curate reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues school board […]
MTSU named to Billboard’s list of top music business schools for 12th straight year
Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Recording Industry has been named among Billboard’s top music business schools for the 12th consecutive year, continuing a tradition of preparing students for careers across the music industry.
MTSU named to Billboard’s list of top music business schools for 12th straight year
Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Recording Industry has been named among Billboard’s top music business schools for the 12th consecutive year, continuing a tradition of preparing students for careers across the music industry.
Top Georgia election officials clash over Trump-fueled conspiracy theories
Georgia’s election board and secretary of state are feuding over whether the state’s elections need federal intervention.
Anthropic adds former Harvard science dean to oversight body
Anthropic said on Wednesday that Christopher Stubbs, former dean of science at Harvard University, had joined its oversight body, which holds the power to appoint a majority of the AI startup's board.Here are some details:
Offspring Guitarist Noodles Stepping Away From Tour Due to Health Issue
The Offspring guitarist Noodles told fans that he's temporarily stepping away from live performance due to an unspecified "fairly serious health issue.'
Health Foundation of South Florida Opens Nominations for 2027 Inspiring Women of Health Awards - Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report
Health Foundation of South Florida’s 2026 Inspiring Women of Health honorees and board members The Foundation celebrates seven years of honoring exceptional women advancing health equity in Broward, Miami-Dade, and […]
Barça report PSG to UEFA over chainsaw tifo
FC Barcelona has decided to take formal action and file a complaint with UEFA against Paris Saint-Germain. Barça's board considers the tifo displayed by the home ultras in the stands at the Parc des ...
Business Strategy: Re-Centering Ethics as Pharma's Competitive Advantage
By Dirk Brinckman Chief Compliance Officer, Johnson & Johnson Chair, IFPMA Ethics and Business Integrity Committee Chair, IFPMA Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers Roundtable Today is Global Ethics Day and this year’s theme is “Re-centering Ethics”. At a time when organizations face competing pressures and unprecedented change this theme serves as a call to intentionally...
Australia’s Live Industry Feels The Pinch From Escalating Costs
Australia’s concerts industry posted small single-digit declines in 2025, due to rising costs, changing ticket-buying behavior and more.
Charli xcx Cancels Arizona Concert, Says ‘It Breaks Me’ to Miss It
"I have been fighting sickness throughout this run of shows and have now completely lost my voice," she tells her fans ahead of Wednesday show.
Area school business managers recognized
BISMARCK – The North Dakota School Boards Association (NDSBA) recognized Velva School District Business Manager Skyler Helseth and Powers Lake School District Business Manager Shayna Johnson as graduates of the North Dakota School Business Managers Certification Program (NDSBMCP) during its annual convention on Oct. 8 in Bismarck. The certification program offers 20 college level courses […]
Officials Work to Improve Boardman River Health
The Traverse City Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and City of TC are working on multiple fronts to improve the Lower Boardman River – including habitat and shoreline improvements, repairs to a deteriorating retaining wall, and public placemaking projects. However, one of the main challenges to the urban river’s health – its proximity to so many …
OCPS rejects compromise on teacher health insurance ahead of school board hearing
The local teachers union accepted the compromise recommendations made by a special magistrate late last week. Both sides will share their views about teacher health insurance costs and salaries at Wednesday’s hearing, scheduled to…
OCPS rejects compromise on teacher health insurance ahead of school board hearing
Orange County Public Schools rejected on Tuesday a compromise on health insurance costs meant to break a months-long contract dispute between the district and its teachers union, saying that a special...
Kaiser Permanente Hawaiʻi invites Maui students to explore health care careers
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Massanutten operator announces leadership shifts
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Kalamazoo commission opposes health board ballot measure
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Sundar Pichai: Google’s Frontier Imperative, Compute Scarcity Dilemmas, Future AI Products and Businesses
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has little patience for doubts about Google’s willingness or capacity to compete at the frontier of AI. His company’s latest Gemini 4 Argon model — long-promised and recently delivered — beats OpenAI and Anthropic’s latest public models on coding, math, science, and knowledge-work benchmarks and has placed Google’s AI back among the world’s best. Amid chatter that Google was fine with good-enough lightweight ‘Flash’ models, Pichai pushed back hard against any suggestion that company is limiting its research ambitions. “We won’t do it any other way,” he told me in a Big Technology Podcast interview recorded this week at Google’s Mountain View headquarters. Pursuing cutting-edge research is costly for Google, requiring compute and chips that otherwise could be sold at a high markup by its cloud business. But Pichai said allocating resources to frontier AI development is “ground zero” for Google. “Our cloud business is at any given moment in time forgoing short-term revenues because we are making compute trade-offs to support frontier AI development,” Pichai told me. In our conversation, we discussed Argon (which Pichai says processed three times as many tokens as Gemini 3 in the 72 hours after launch), AI’s role in developing better models, the AI interface of the future, competition with OpenAI, Google’s partnerships with Anthropic and Apple, data centers in space, and the nature of his optimism. You can read the full conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity, below, or listen to it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice. Alex Kantrowitz: Google is back at the frontier with Gemini 4 Argon, which beats OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s public models on benchmarks spanning coding, math, science, and knowledge work. The conventional wisdom was that Google had given up on the frontier to focus on fast, good-enough models for its products. That was wrong? Sundar Pichai: Very wrong. Look, we are so committed to being at the frontier. It’s in our DNA. We won’t do it any other way. We’ve been thinking about the AI frontier for well over a decade now. The frontier is very dynamic. It’s very competitive. It’s very exciting. I couldn’t be more pleased with how Argon has come together. We took our time with it. We made sure we tested it safely and deployed it carefully. We took a bit longer than our other models, given its capabilities. Across the board, be it for agentic work, knowledge work, coding, creative tasks, Argon is one of the really good frontier models. The first 72 hours since we launched, it’s almost up to 25 trillion tokens used, which is about three times what Gemini 3.0 had in the first 72 hours. And we are capacity constrained as we are serving it. Excited, but there are always areas….. You know, the frontier is very dynamic, and you have to keep evolving the models. There are areas which we can see we need to improve as well. We’ll be at work on all of that as well. Which areas? On any given model, Argon would be across the board better at everything if you just look even two months back. But the space is so evolving. Even on coding, for example, there are pockets where we know we need to do better, and there’s clear feedback. We’ll make it better. The argument for standard models is that they’re already good enough to build great products, with the frontier valuable only for certain tasks. Meta built Muse with good models rather than the best, and Google could put standard models into Maps, Gmail, and Search. Why isn’t that sufficient? It’s definitely not how I have thought about it at all. We are deeply committed to driving the state of the art and actually pushing where this technology can go, all the way from transformers. That’s a journey we’ve been on. You will see us continue to do that. When you’re at the frontier, you get an earlier look into the emerging capabilities, earlier than others, which helps you better prepare for the future. We are fortunate to have a wide set of opportunities across consumer and enterprise. Some of our cloud customers, for sure, want the model at the frontier. The frontier models will be better at developing the next set of models in an era of recursive self-improvement. I would argue it matters there. Internally, we have definitely seen a steep point of inflection by deploying Argon to our developers. It definitely tackles problems which our previous models could not do. Being at the frontier puts you at the innovation frontier and helps you drive that as well. There is room for models of all sizes and capabilities. That’s why we did Flash, Flash-Lite, etc. I agree with you that you can develop very good product experiences with not necessarily the most frontier model, because they tend to be slower and more expensive too. But we care about the Pareto frontier, and we’re committed to doing all of that. You said developing frontier models gives you a look at what’s coming. What do you see on the horizon? What makes this moment so exciting is you build something which you think is a culmination of months of work, and you put it out. You already see clear headroom ahead. We’ve all been working on these agentic, long-horizon capabilities, but clearly the frontier is going to have multiple of these agents working together to do things. That’s an example of an exciting paradigm underway. It’s also clear to me that users, both in consumer and enterprise, will have access to some multi-agent framework for them, working all the time doing things. It feels like a moment of infinite possibilities. Sergey Brin said one of Argon’s core innovations was relying more on the model to help develop the model. Yet incidents involving OpenAI’s bots breaking containment and Google’s bots accessing a site they shouldn’t have suggest these systems still aren’t perfectly aligned. Isn’t there reasonable cause for concern about accelerating toward recursive self-improvement? There are three parts to your question. Let’s first talk about RSI itself. You’re right, Sergey mentioned RSI being a critical contributor as we are developing Argon. But to be very clear, today, in a continuum, we are pretty far from the end state of RSI or something like that. The right way to describe it is you have RSI loops along with AI researchers in various aspects of model development. You almost have agents helping AI researchers in some automated way work together to build these models. It’s good to at least understand where we are today, and it’s super exciting. I expect that continuum to keep making progress as we go into next year. The second question is around safety. Security comes from defense in depth. You’re talking about alignment, obviously. We all are doing a lot of work to make sure the models are as aligned as possible. But it’s an active area of research, and there are clear gaps. That’s not the only thing we rely on. You have the work you do on alignment, but beyond that, we put a lot of effort into real-time monitoring as these models are working. Making sure you have good telemetry into what’s happening so that you can intervene in real time if you see unexpected behaviors. How you do that, the architecture with which you do that, how you make sure it’s all sandboxed and isolated in a way that it can continue doing its job during real-time monitoring — these are all areas of investment. Obviously, when we deploy these models, giving customers, enterprises, control, both with real-time monitoring, but their ability to decide where they deploy, what type of data which models ever have access to, etc. All that work is very, very important, and we are doing a lot of that. As an industry, we need to constantly up our game and take the time to do all this stuff, including dedicating the compute required to make sure you can safely deploy these models. The third part is: Is it all enough? This is why there are a lot of conversations in the industry, and I think it’s reasonable to be worried. The right way to approach something you worry about is early on thinking about what more we can do. As an industry, you’re definitely seeing increased levels of work on alignment, testing for safety, etc., as we deploy these models. The next step would be developing better standards so there are cross-industry standards of how we do these things, including the ability to evaluate using independent evaluators. If you look at areas like financial controls, we have accounting standards, we have independent auditors. Those are all the next natural steps for us as an industry to work toward, and regulation will end up playing a role as we go through all of that as well. Google pursues both language models and world models, while some other AI companies like OpenAI have focused more heavily on LLMs as the path to AGI. Why is world-model research important to you? As humans, you obviously perceive the world around you, and you’re taking all those inputs. Making sure these models are able to understand the laws of physics, simulate the world in high fidelity. All that, I think, are key enabling blocks for intelligence. We are working across all possible applications of this. Take an area like robotics. It’s not an accident: If you look at embodied reasoning benchmarks, Argon is state of the art. That all comes from our experience building world models. Inherently, I would expect there will be architectures which will converge all of this in the future. But for us, we view this as, today, this jagged frontier that is intelligence. We want to be at the frontier of all the possible approaches, and that will help us both drive better research, better insights, and develop a much better AGI model, is how we think about it. Some people argue Google should focus on selling its computing resources rather than using them for AI research. Cloud wants to sell compute at a high markup, while researchers need a very big computer to build the best models. How do you balance those demands? Ground zero for us is making sure we are investing in the compute that’s needed to be at the AI frontier. In 2015, I set the company to be AI-first. AI is that key horizontal ingredient across everything we do, all the way from Search to Cloud to Waymo. That is ground zero for us, making sure both for research and developing the models that we have enough compute needed. Beyond that, we have these independent businesses which each have their own long-range plans. They’re using those long-range plans to project forward, and we plan for compute for all of them. The cloud team, they have a business and they have a projection and they have demand signals. They have committed contracts. With that help, we can plan on a long-term compute trajectory for them. We’re fortunate to have this wide set of opportunities. There’s no company in the world which isn’t making trade-offs at any given moment in time. But the first principles we operate on is making sure we have enough compute to invest in the frontier, and that’s non-negotiable, and everything else works on top. Remember, we are building our own compute, our own data centers. There are long lead times. The compute we have today is a function of decisions I made in 2024. Even if you think back to a year from today, last year the agentic coding takeoff hadn’t happened. Today, obviously, when you sit and look at anything, everyone is short—not just us, other companies—and everyone wishes you had two times what you had planned for. That comes with the territory. At any given moment in time, we are planning for what we would need two to three years out in the future. You’re going to find some decisions you make may look suboptimal two years out, depending on where the state of the art is. I don’t spend too much time thinking about it. The way I think about compute allocation is making sure Google DeepMind, both for research and frontier model development, is cutting edge in terms of compute access. After that, we plan for all our businesses. It’s great we can provide our compute to other people too, like we have done. It allows us to scale that up, get real tests for it in the widest application set possible, test it in the real world, and make sure we are at the cutting edge of technology at every layer of our AI stack as well. Ben Horowitz relayed on a podcast that Andy Jassy had said compute was sold out until 2028. Are you seeing the same thing? If today a customer is coming out and asking us for compute in ’27, that is incredibly difficult to do. Even last year we went out and leased some short-term compute to accommodate some customers and help them out. But yes, we are all dealing with similar timelines. Every major technology shift seems to involve overbuilding, from railroads to fiber. Do you think that’s happening here? It depends on the time frames you’re looking at. This level of build, if I take a long enough time frame, it makes complete sense to me. We are at early stages of the most consequential technology ever, and this is not like fiber. It’s not dark. We are using it. We are capacity constrained on a daily basis. The applications, the underlying technology is improving rapidly. But running a company, the way I work through the moment is you look at your demand signals. You look at your committed revenue opportunities that you’re getting in the form of contracts. You balance that with the underlying technical capability, or internally you balance how we are using it internally, the model trajectories. Based on all that, you take a disciplined approach—a confident, aggressive, but disciplined approach—to plan out compute. But when you talk about the broader economy as a whole, you’re having people operate with various levels of risk. I focus on what I can control as a company and plan through it. If your question is, can there be an overbuild? Yes, because you can have some constrained components. Remember, what matters is a set of everything you need to build out that compute. Memory, electricity, electricians…. Land. Like 2,000 components or more. You could get constrained at some point. There could be things which cause bottlenecks, and then you could have overbuilds. There could be external shocks to the economy. There are macro risks. All that is possible at any given time. But am I confident that the compute we are planning for, we will have uses for it given enough time? Absolutely, yes. I was in the room when you said AI would be as profound as fire and electricity. If you believe that, shouldn’t you give researchers the biggest possible computer, even at the expense of today’s cloud profits? We’re all doing some form of that. Our cloud business is at any given moment in time forgoing short-term revenues because we are making compute trade-offs to support frontier AI development. What you’re seeing is true already. But you want to be thoughtful. Even our AI researchers have some constraints, which are also good. That’s what inspires creativity. That’s what helps you come up with a more efficient algorithmic breakthrough, maybe to use less memory. What we are committed to is to invest what’s needed to stay at the frontier. OpenAI President Greg Brockman told me a few months ago that the ideal AI product might have no interface at all—just as natural as conversation. What do you think the interface looks like in the age of AI? Computing historically has been humans adapting to computing. With AI, it’ll be the other way around. The technology will adapt seamlessly to how humans live and go about their day-to-day life. You want to be able to speak to that AI when you want to. It has context. It can be persistently running somewhere, give you continuity. You’re not dealing with a lot of complexity. It’s natural. All that makes sense to me. That doesn’t mean it won’t have any interface, however. Nowadays, even on my phone, Gemini voice models are so good. I can just press the microphone button. I can just ramble. That’s why we call it Rambler. I can ramble. It intelligently corrects with my personal context. Even my friends’ names, weird names, it gets it right, even if it first guesses it wrong. It’s amazing. I’m not going in, backspacing, editing once I finish saying it. It’s remarkable how good it’s gotten. But there are going to be moments you will need an interface. You may want to entertain yourself. You may want to watch a video. You may ask your AI to create something, and you want to watch it, consume it. The way I think about it is, you want it to be as seamless and as natural as possible, and that you are not doing the hard work adapting to whatever the interface is. The technology is adapting to how you’re working at any given moment in time. When I asked Sam Altman about competition from Google, he argued that OpenAI was building AI-native products and implied Google was bolting AI onto existing ones. Do you accept that framing, and can a “bolt-on” compete with an AI-native product? First of all, it’s a very dynamic moment. We are all pushing each other. OpenAI has pushed us as a company too. This is not just we are doing something to them. Far from it. Yes, Google went into its own version of a code red too. In the AI moment, all of us have to respond with varying levels of urgency at any given moment in time. We are constantly building new products as well. Gemini was built from the ground up as a product—the Gemini app I’m talking about. Or tomorrow, as all of us are adapting to agents, are you bolting agents onto ChatGPT, or are they building it natively? How would you think about that? You can always put these questions back. I don’t think of it that way. I think of it as you want to build world-class product experiences that are AI-native and they are winning. Some of it is adapting products, some of it is rethinking new experiences. They will all be part of how you approach this moment. How do you expect to make money from these AI interfaces? If an agent recommends a product and I buy it, should it take a cut of the sale, even if that’s disclosed? I’m going to put enterprise aside. Consumers are going to increasingly value this technology. Take software developers today. Developers are willing to pay for these coding models because it really helps make them more productive. Nobody would want to code the way they were coding three years ago, or even the same time last year. When you’re delivering value, there’s value to be had. I’ve never seen examples where consumer products really scale to billions of users, where people are using it intensely, and haven’t had monetization to go along with it. If you’re providing value to people, there is inherent value to be had. The nature of it may change. You’re asking a scenario in which agents are doing stuff for you. At the end of the day, you will have commercial needs. The agents need to fulfill those commercial needs. The providers on the other side are going to see value in that. There’s going to be some mechanism by which it gets fleshed out. That’s what an efficient system does. But what matters is that you’re building those world-class consumer experiences. I promised myself one product feature request: Can you make Gemini-powered search in Gmail as good as searching Gmail through ChatGPT? What’s going on here? One of the exciting things we announced recently is the unified Gemini agent for enterprise, and we’re bringing that to consumers. These are persistent agents which run 24/7 in the cloud. We’re spinning up a micro VM effectively for every query, and from the runtime, the harness, the model—it’s all a headless service. It’ll work everywhere, and it has your context with you. You can address this agent whether you’re in Workspace, in Search, in Gemini. Agents are going to drive this unification from a customer experience, which people are looking for. When you have a broad product portfolio and you’re moving forward fast, there are always areas where you’re moving forward faster than some other areas. That’s valid feedback. But we are putting a lot of time and effort into making sure, as we build out our agentic experience, that unification and that capability works well across all these services. People have asked where Google’s equivalent of Muse or Dots is. Do you anticipate creating a new product to compete with them? Our goal with Gemini is to be a personal, proactive, and powerful assistant. That’s what we are working toward. You saw us describe the early versions of it at Google I/O this year with Spark. Effectively, already, if you open the Gemini app as a Pro or an Ultra user, you see Chat and Task, and they start giving you that agentic experience. With Argon now, that capability is dramatically accelerated. What we announced recently in our enterprise event, we are bringing that to consumers as well. Soon in Gemini, you will be able to ask something, and it’s a continuum. You don’t need to think about whether you’re asking a chat or an agentic task. It’ll just automatically do the right thing, and it can work persistently in the background securely and get things done for you. Already, empirically, when I look at what’s coming into Gemini in our app, last year you would have tagged them and most of them would have been chats. But a steadily growing percentage is already agentic tasks in Gemini. Yes, we are going to bring personal agents to our consumers. It’ll work in the Gemini app. It’ll work in Google Search. It’ll work in Gmail. You can address it, call it, etc. We want to make sure we’re getting it right. It’ll be powered by Argon, and we are very excited to bring it to our users. Google has invested and committed tens of billions of dollars to Anthropic. What do you see in Dario Amodei that makes you want such a deep investment and partnership? Very early on, when we looked at the founding team of Anthropic, it was very clear to us this was a world-class team which was involved in some of the earliest GPT models. We were quickly able to assess that they would be at the frontier. We’ve always tried to identify and partner with companies which would be at the cutting edge of technology. We’ve done that with SpaceX. We’ve done that with Anthropic. That’s what we saw, and we had a chance to partner. Is your partnership with Apple to license Gemini for Siri expanding, contracting, or standing still? For both us and Apple, that partnership was about translating the capabilities of AI into better experiences for users. I thought Apple has done a phenomenal job of incorporating—they customize these models and build it into Siri—and it’s been great to see the reception. We are committed to doing more. You’re going to do more with them? There’s nothing specific to comment, but it’s a partnership. It’s working well. What have you learned so far about the feasibility of data centers in space? It’s a very exciting project. Projects like this remind me—I still recall that moment in the desert for the DARPA Grand Challenge, watching the Stanley car compete in it, which ended up being the basis for Waymo. With all these technologies, you’re at a moment in time where it looks a bit like sci-fi, but 10 to 20 years down the line, it’s actually working in a meaningful way. I feel the same in space. We’ve always believed in betting big on these technologies. Quantum has been a great example of it. We’re probably 10 years into the journey. Waymo, we are almost 20 years into the journey. Space, we are two to three years into the journey. It’s clear to me that it’s an approach which will make a lot of sense in the future. Being in sub-synchronous orbits with 24/7 access to the most abundant form of energy we have access to will make a lot of sense for this exponential increase in compute that we are going to need. Having said that, this is a challenging project. The team has disciplined milestones. It was a super exciting milestone to send the TPUs up to space. Sometime, as we are speaking, we are expecting a “hello world” moment from them. I look forward to seeing that happen, and we’ll continue investing here too. You previously said 25% of the code written within Google was written by AI. What’s the number today? That number in our world today is meaningless in the sense that every part of what we now touch is influenced by AI deeply. What we are tracking with Argon, for example, it’s been a point of inflection. People are using Argon to really go tackle complex projects, including projects which affect millions of lines of code. In the four weeks since we have launched Argon, we have seen a 30% increase in CLs, and more importantly, almost a similar increase—a one-third decrease in rollbacks. People are writing code more productively and better code with it. We are tracking it with newer metrics now. How are you dealing with opposition to data centers? If you can’t build in the U.S. the way you want to, where else do you go? We’re very committed to building our data centers very responsibly. When I look at our largest data centers in some of the communities where we have been the longest, I visit them, I talk to people. There are people who come and tell us their kids have gone to college because of our investments in these communities, and we’ve grown in those communities. To me, this is about doing it right. Engaging with the communities early, doing it transparently. We are committed to making sure we are bringing incremental power, and we cover 100% of the cost of our power needs for these projects. It’s understanding the impact on neighborhoods and making sure you’re working thoroughly to address them. Done rightly, you can continue making progress. But we are constantly taking feedback into account. I do worry not everyone operates the same way. People have been surprised by data centers showing up in their backyard. Those are all important. As an industry, we should continue to do better. But part of the reason, in a 20-year time frame, we are thinking about things like data centers in space is making sure we are able to put these data centers where maybe the trade-offs will be different. What unproven area of AI is Google working hardest to crack? Is it continual learning—getting models to keep updating after release—or something else? There are multiple parallel paths. You saw with Argon we have a million output tokens. With our Gemini models early on, we had a one-million context window on the input side. These are all examples of breakthroughs we are constantly working on. How do you think about synthetic data? How do you think about continual learning? How do you think about more efficient architectures? We do dedicate a meaningful percentage of our compute to these research bets too. It always goes hand in hand, including our world models. Those are all bets we are placing. Sometimes, as part of these bets, there are ideas that emerge which just make their way into the mainline models. Maybe we don’t fully talk about it, but we have multiple steps in these areas. Working in technology requires optimism that building something will improve the world, but those bets can leave real consequences when they fail. I recently returned to a town in El Salvador where enthusiasm for Bitcoin had given way to unfinished construction and something resembling a ghost town. How do you maintain the optimism you spoke about in your Stanford commencement address while accounting for those risks? I genuinely have a deep conviction that improving technology and improving access to technology makes people’s lives better. It’s been my personal experience in my life, out of which comes that deep conviction, optimism. But with that, I’ve always felt humanity’s journey is always about working hard to harness that technology to make it work well for society. The optimism is not an optimism that you just build whatever you want, whenever. You work hard to make sure you’re building technology in the service of humanity, to make the human condition better. That’s got to be the defining goal as we are approaching it. With that framework, I’m very, very optimistic. We are in very early stages of the kind of progress that we are going to see on many areas. We’re all talking about areas like healthcare. A lot of the progress is ahead. The ability to make things in a fundamentally cheaper way on many things where things have been getting expensive for a long, long time, discovering new materials, etc., which really bend the curve—it’s tough to step today and understand the impact of all that, but they’re going to be very profound. I’m very optimistic, but we have to be rightfully concerned about all the ways this technology can go wrong. Sundar, I know you don’t do many of these. Thank you. Thanks, Alex. Appreciate it.
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Ferguson has given little explanation as to why he has so often rejected the recommendations of his Clemency and Pardons Board.
Scientists Uncover a Hidden Factor That Could Change How We Manage Diabetes
Timing may matter in insulin-treated type 2 diabetes; patients with the steadiest daily rhythms were 2.3 times as likely to meet blood sugar goals, while afternoon activity was linked to smaller swings. People with type 2 diabetes who use insulin need to keep blood glucose from climbing too high or falling too low. In a
New law firm office chief; museum names pair to board; consultancy picks new managing director
Take a look at some of the recent promotions and new hires announced at south Louisiana businesses.
Amazon's delivery box: a symbol of instant gratification and convenience
The Amazon delivery box — a fixture everywhere from suburban front porches to city apartment lobbies — is more than just a cardboard box. It’s symbolic of a shopping culture
In India, the Scion of a Political Dynasty Tries to Seize His Moment
Rahul Gandhi is the descendant of three prime ministers. A surge of protests could give him a springboard to take on the nation’s current leader.
Seventeen's hot new JxJ unit are showing off their chemistry — with a little help from Pinterest
Jeonghan and Joshua from the mega K-pop boy band Seventeen are offering fans a dream to lose themselves in and a mood board for shopping
Facing Realities: Christian Nationalism, From Local Messages to Political Action - by Jessica Mitchell
Part 3.d -- Faith can guide someone’s vote, their decision to run for office, or their objections to a school board’s action. The question becomes more
Newsom offers mental health support for USS Abraham Lincoln sailors
Sailors and Marines who recently returned from an extended deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were offered mental health services Saturday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Becky G Brings World Mental Health Day Festival to a Close in NYC
Becky G on mental health, BMI empowers women in música mexicana, Lin-Manuel Miranda honored & Latin Grammy's Leading Ladies of Entertainment announced.
Traverse City Central's New 'Ride Lab' Uses Skateboards to Teach Physics, Business Skills
What if the most effective physics classroom isn’t a classroom at all, but a skate park? This fall, Traverse City Central High School is experimenting with that very question. Brett Derr is one the teachers behind the Ride Lab, a brand-new double-block course at Central that combines physics, business, marketing, and advertising. In the past, …
Manny Rutinel smashes Colorado House race fundraising record in 8th CD
Democratic congressional candidate Manny Rutinel raised more than $4.2 million in the most recent quarter in his bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans in Colorado’s most competitive U.S. House race, hauling in more than twice as much as Evans and setting a new state record. Across the board, the state’s Democratic nominees outraised […]
Commentary: Election outreach is public service, not politics
In response to concerns of advertising at a local sports event, the Charleston County Board of Elections explains their efforts to serve the public. Politics stay out of it.
Expedia accused of inflating hotel prices in new lawsuit
Struggling to afford hotel prices? A new lawsuit alleges Expedia is jacking up costs across the board. A proposed class-action lawsuit filed on Oct. 2 in the U.S. District Court
Board of Regents: Candidates talk issues ahead of Nov. 3 election
Name: Edie Hooton Office Sought: Colorado Board of Regents, District2 Party: Democrat How should the Board navigate curriculum debates that have become politically polarized? Curriculum decisions must be anchored in the principle of “shared governance,” as defined in Regent Laws. The responsibility for academic excellence lies with the faculty and subject matter experts, as they […]
Town of Wellsville: New business hours, Help Wanted: Union position for MEO Operator now open
From the Town of Wellsville, Starting November 2, 2026, the Town Board had decided new business hours for the Town of Wellsville Offices. PUBLIC NOTICE: CHANGE IN BUSINESS HOURS TOWN […]
Chris Murray challenges Palumbo with affordability, health care focus
Democrat Chris Murray has placed affordability, health care and environmental protection at the center of his campaign as he tries to unseat incumbent Republican state Sen. Anthony Palumbo. Mr. Murray — an attorney who was elected chairman of the Suffolk County Community College Board of Trustees in 2019 and has also chaired the Citizens Campaign...
Lisandro Martínez's future at Manchester United uncertain after board criticism
Manchester United currently occupies 13th place in the Premier League with six points from six matches, having won only two of nine games this season.This decline in form, which includes a five-game ...
Opinion: Before you vote for Chicago’s school board, ask candidates these four questions
Voters deserve to know how each candidate for the Board of Education would actually govern, say two Chicago-area professors.
Health Foundation of South Florida Awards $300,000 to Bring Vision Care to Low-Income Schoolchildren in Miami-Dade and Broward - Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report
Health Foundation of South Florida’s 2026 Inspiring Women of Health honorees and board members The Foundation celebrates seven years of honoring exceptional women advancing health equity in Broward, Miami-Dade, and […]
A Chicago billionaire is now a chief foe to both Mayor Johnson and CTU. Just who is Michael Sacks?
For years, Sacks has been a behind-the-scenes fixture in Chicago politics. Now he’s putting his money behind frontrunner mayoral candidate Alexi Giannoulias, as well as anti-Chicago Teachers Union school board candidates in the Nov. 3 election.
Douglas County, a Republican stronghold, turns a lighter shade of red
Douglas County is turning a lighter shade of red — and its ramifications could reverberate from the local school board to Colorado's seat of power to Washington, D.C., though the prevailing expectation is that Republicans will keep the congressional seat in their column.
Sports quiz of the week: love, songs, speedy skating and celebrations
Have you followed the big stories in football, rugby, tennis, boxing, basketball, skateboarding, F1 and the NFL?
University of Michigan approves new $100M sports medicine institute in Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan Board of Regents has approved plans for a 100,000-square-foot sports medicine institute in south Ann Arbor that will bring specialized care, surgery, rehabilitation, and athletic performance services under one roof.
Executive Profile: Cactus Sam Harris
Cactus Sam Harris House Organist, Board Member Warnors Theatre What we do: Warnors Theatre is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving one of Fresno's great historic landmarks while providing a place for entertainment, the
Denver Museum of Nature & Science Appoints Kirk Johnson as President and CEO
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science Board of Trustees has appointed Kirk Johnson as the Museum’s next president and CEO.
From labs to billboards: Behind China’s push to turn scientists into patriotic icons
Giant tributes to nuclear physicists and rocket scientists are popping up across major Chinese cities. However, academic Erik Baark observes that behind the scientific drive is a push for academic reforms.
Designs reviewed for Greenville’s Falls Park Conference District, JW Marriott
Greenville Design Review Board approved one application and deferred another involving the planned Falls Park Conference District during its Oct. 15 meeting.
Billy Joel Shares Health Update as He Prepares to Auction Off His Beloved Motorcycle Collection: ‘I’m Not Allowed to Drive’
Further, "The neurologist told me, every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion," Joel shared in a new interview.
Billy Joel Health Update as He Auctions Off Motorcycle Collection
Billy Joel is saying goodbye to his motorcycle collection as he continues to navigate his normal pressure hydrocephalus diagnosis.
Leader Entertainment & Sony Music Publishing Enter Partnership
Leader Entertainment & Sony Music Publishing have entered a music partnership, plus Amazon Music and more publishing news.