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Turning good ideas into fundable projects
“Because having good ideas isn’t our problem. The harder part is figuring out how to pay for them — and sometimes the best place to start is by getting the right people around the table.”
A $480,000-a-year pill reflects a new normal for cancer drugs
Cancer drug prices have steadily increased. The expense is borne by government programs like Medicare, employers, patients and Americans who pay taxes and health insurance premiums.
Music in the Garden closes with the Carpinos
The month of concerts at Payson’s community college campus is now a recent memory, but the impact it will have on local students is long-lasting.
Presidio’s Resonate uses agentic AI to turn sports archives into searchable inventory
Presidio is pairing Captivate and Resonate to automate tagging, retrieval, and clip creation on AWS Media Lake, aiming to speed monetization and production work
Kokua Line: Why can’t new business register with state?
Question: Can you check what is going on with the slow approval times at the State of Hawaii DCCA Business Registration Office? Historically, if you paid the expedited review fee, your registration documents for a new entity would be approved within a week or sooner. Now, even paying the expedited review fee, I have been patiently waiting for months. My filing to form a new business submitted in June still has not been approved. Without the state’s approval, I cannot open a bank account, sign a lease, hire employees, or start my business. This has resulted in damages due to the delays. My emails to the DCCA have not been responded to. I heard that there is an issue with a new vendor of their supposed updated system, but forming a new business or other business registration tasks seem to have come to a standstill. I heard that they are working on May submissions now. I cannot believe that this unacceptable delay has not been publicized, complaints from the public more prevalent, and the elected officials not having been told by their constituents to immediately address this problem.
The Early Scale: EU's MDR delay shifts medtech timelines to 2028
EU extends MDR deadline to 2028. Medtech must prioritize digital commissioning. AI adoption universal but ROI low; CMOs face surprise AI bills.
A Political Operative on the Verge of Self-Deportation
Daysi González, who works to elect Democrats, is gearing up to leave the U.S. as soon as this month. She wants her own party to pay attention.
Student-loan forgiveness is now pushed back for these PSLF borrowers
The Trump administration removed some student-loan borrowers' payments toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness. It's throwing their futures into limbo.
Make politicians pay renaming costs
The renaming of the former Palm Beach International Airport is back in the news, and that prompts some readers to vent about it.
Pato O’Ward Makes History at Milwaukee
The Snap-On Makers and Finders 250 came to an end, the checkered flag waved. The orange and black No. 5 of Pato O’Ward drove across the finish line in first place. Fans in papaya orange jumped with joy as their favorite driver won the race. However, this wasn’t the first win from O’Ward that day. …
Bubba holds forth on health, headlines and Hogs
Bubba McCoy reports for Labor Day that his blood pressure is down thanks to medicine, beet juice that's tastier than you think, an elimination of salt, a steep reduction in booze and coffee, and to the fact that he doesn't pay a bit of attention to politics anymore.
Bubba holds forth on health, headlines and Hogs
Bubba McCoy reports for Labor Day that his blood pressure is down thanks to medicine, beet juice that's tastier than you think, an elimination of salt, a steep reduction in booze and coffee, and to the fact that he doesn't pay a bit of attention to politics anymore.
Heading off to college? Make healthcare a priority
Dr. Paul Mackarey: If you or your child are college-bound, it pays to be prepared for problems, with a first-aid kit, healthcare history and insurance file.
He Claimed Social Security at 62 to Pay His Health Premium. The Benefit Pushed Him Over the Marketplace Subsidy Cliff.
Starting Social Security at 62 to cover health insurance sounds like a clean solution, but the new check can quietly trigger a cost that wipes out the very subsidy it was meant to fund.
Trump Officials Draft Plan to Pay At-Home Parents, Using Funds for Working Ones
The proposed benefit, a top policy priority for Vice President JD Vance, would apply only to married couples and tap a fund intended to provide federal child care subsidies to working parents.
He Sold His Business For $2.1 Million — His Wife Was Ready To Quit Her Job Within Days
A 45-year-old man sold the landscaping business he spent years building into a $2.1 million payout. Within a week of the sale closing, his wife started talking about leaving her job immediately, while he wants to slow down and figure...
3 Stocks Tied To Rising HSA Use Including CVS Health Stock
Health Savings Accounts are quietly becoming a core part of how Americans pay for care, with more employers auto enrolling workers and pairing HSAs with high deductible health plans. That shift channels more money through platforms that handle contributions, custody, and investments. For investors, the question is which stocks may benefit most from this structural change. This article walks through three HSA exposed stocks from our screener and what the news could mean for each. The three...
What’s open on Labor Day? Most retailers. Closed? Government, banks and the stock market.
The origins of Labor Day date back to the late 19th century, when activists first sought to establish a day that would pay tribute to workers.
Apollo’s €3bn Bayer deal shows ‘non-control’ financing is spreading to operators
Apollo’s €3bn Bayer LARC investment and a $35bn Broadcom financing highlight how private credit is funding AI and industrial capex without operators giving up c
How Salary Floor Would Affect Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers have not needed a large payroll to win, but they may be compelled to spend more anyway.
Cosm’s 700-seat domes make NFL rights run like venue operations
Cosm’s NFL deal brings Thursday, Sunday, and Monday games into 700-seat 12K domes, changing staffing, AV ops, and ticketing playbooks.
ChatGPT bans campaigns from using AI to make ads. They’re doing it anyway.
A Washington Post review found 39 campaigns that disclosed payments to AI companies, but consultants say many more do it and don’t disclose it.
Central Health considers raising Travis County taxes for mental health resources
New revenue may benefit care for those in crisis, but some local leaders worry about an impact on taxpayers.
Guardant Health Faces a $245 Million Patent Judgment, But Its Newer Tests Could Offer Protection
Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH) faces a costly legal setback after a US court ordered the cancer-testing company to pay more than $245.2 million in a DNA-sequencing patent dispute. The final judgment upheld a 2023 jury verdict finding that Guardant willfully infringed two DNA-sequencing patents asserted by TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington. The financial […]
Stanford Health Care to lay off 95 employees
Stanford Health Care will lay off 95 employees this fall, the organization announced. Employees will remain on payroll until Nov. 2, when the layoffs will take effect.
Mount Sinai health system will end gender-affirming care for youth, under agreement with Justice Department
The health system must also pay a fine and spend $2 million to help people who received gender-affirming care to "detransition," the government said.
SAC Health lays off 49 workers to close budget gap of $10M
SAC Health’s CEO wrote in a memo to staff that layoffs and executive pay cuts were necessary in order to reduce the operating gap.
Mark Cuban and Healthcare Competition: News Article
Payton Herres successfully underwent heart transplantation surgery as a preteen. A year later, she began taking everolimus—a vital medication used to
Who pays if PEEHIP’s rising health care costs outpace state funding?
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WBMA) — Alabama’s public education health insurance plan says it needs another $222 million in funding next year just to maintain current bene
Supreme Court Sides With Republicans in TV Ad Fight
Republican groups had asked the court to clear the way for political parties to pay the same low-cost ad rates as candidates, a move that could undercut a Democratic advantage in the midterms.
NY health insurance rate hikes approved. How much you will pay in 2027
NY's Department of Financial Services says it rejected higher rate hikes sought by insurers, saving consumers $1.6B via lower approved rate increases.
Terri Irwin recalls final days, ‘long and sweet goodbye’ with husband Steve Irwin 20 years after his death
Terri Irwin recalled her final days with late husband Steve Irwin in an emotional tribute, 20 years after his death on Sept. 4, 2006.
Hospice care has increased in Minnesota, but some nurses are set to strike
Allina hospice nurses are demanding better pay and manageable caseloads as demand for care has grown statewide.
Is HireQuest (HQI) Stock Outpacing Its Business Services Peers This Year?
Here is how HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) and Repay Holdings (RPAY) have performed compared to their sector so far this year.
Xbox app is coming to TCL TVs just as Microsoft rolls out pay-as-you-go cloud gaming
Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to more TVs, just as Microsoft makes some major changes to its cloud gaming service.
RADIATION BUSINESS SOLUTIONS ENCOURAGES INDUSTRY-WIDE FEEDBACK ON PROPOSED MEDICARE PAYMENT CHANGES
Radiation Business Solutions (RBS) urges radiation oncology providers and industry leaders nationwide to join ongoing advocacy efforts concerning the CMS proposed CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
Healthcare Dealmakers—UHS closes Talkspace acquisition, Sanford's North Memorial deal clears and more
Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, payers and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. | Sword Health nears Headspace all-cash acquisition, HCA Healthcare adds dozens of Texas urgent care centers and more healthcare merger and acquisition news from August.
New revelations about Reform UK and funding
Nigel Farage again denies party have broken the law after undercover filming shows man posing as ‘impermissible donor’ paying for polling that helped Reform
Fastbreak AI is quietly becoming the scheduling engine for 50-plus pro leagues
Fastbreak AI says it schedules 50+ pro leagues. The ops implication: scheduling is now a multi-constraint optimization problem tied to travel, venues, and media
Has Chelsea's transfer strategy finally started to pay off?
Chelsea have had a few remarkable transfer summers since their forced sale from Roman Abramovich's control in May 2022. Once again they were big spenders, outlaying £349m on 11 signings such as Morgan Rogers, Maxence Lacroix and Emiliano Martinez. Chelsea actually made a trading profit after selling 17 players.
Commentary: Teen-safety settlement is Meta’s shrewd move to hurt competitors
The headlines this week wrote themselves: Meta, humbled at last, agrees to pay up to $17.1 billion and accept the strictest limits ever imposed on teenage social media use. A
Juventus switch 'could play to Woltemade's strengths'
Football journalist Julien Laurens believes playing in Serie A "could work and play to Nick Woltemade strengths", with the Newcastle forward having joined Juventus on a season-long loan deal. Germany international Woltemade joined the Magpies last summer but has struggled to bed into the Premier League. Juventus will pay Newcastle a £3.5m loan fee for Woltemade, but do not have the option to buy the 24-year-old.
When War Pays: Trump, Iran, and the Politics of Private Gain
A Democratic congressional analysis does not prove financial motive, but it highlights a deeper accountability problem when a president can shape energy
‘Don’t ignore the warning signs’: A message pays off in Nigeria
A research effort aims to change the way colorectal cancer is studied and treated in Nigeria – and around the world.
DC librarian offers paid internship to boost interest in library science
A D.C. school librarian is paying students out of his own pocket to work in the library, hoping to boost students' interest in library science.
Bears need health, production from WR Rome Odunze to form dynamic duo
Their decision to trade DJ Moore to the Bills opened up salary cap space in 2026 and into the future, when the Bears hope they have to pay Caleb Williams like a franchise quarterback. It also put the onus on Odunze and Luther Burden to perform like one of the best receiver pairings in the NFL.
Republican state party leaders grumble about the midterm convention
Event organizers said they believed that doing a post-Labor Day convention will be the best way to reach people who don’t always pay attention to politics.
Xbox imposes harsh new time limits for Game Pass game streaming
Over 1 million Game Pass subscribers will have to pay more for their heavy streaming use.
SEC proposes reforms to political contribution rule for investment advisers
Wall Street's top regulator on Thursday proposed reforms to "pay-to-play" regulations intended to prevent investment advisers from winning business from public pension funds by making political contributions.
SEC Proposes Reforms to Political Contribution Rule for Investment Advisers
Sept 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's top regulator on Thursday proposed reforms to "pay-to-play" regulations intended to prevent investment advisers from winning business from public pension funds by making political contributions. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Securities and ...
N.J. public workers and taxpayers slammed with another massive increase in health premiums
Facing another year of premium hikes for current and retired public workers, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she will bring unions and other leaders together to discuss cost-cutting strategies.
Paychex: Small-business job growth holds steady in August
Paychex reports stable small-business job growth in august with employers relying on existing workers amid steady demand and restrained wage increases.
Microsoft opens up Xbox Cloud Gaming with new pay-as-you-go option
Microsoft is trying once again to tempt people without an Xbox into its ecosystem.
Circular unveils Ring 3 series with contactless payments and on-finger vibration alerts
Smart ring maker Circular on Thursday unveiled its upcoming Ring 3 series, which consists of a Pro model and a Slim option. Both of the smart rings will
UW pays $600K to settle lawsuit with computer science professor over parody land acknowledgment
Stuart Reges was disciplined by the University of Washington after including a parody land acknowledgment in a course syllabus. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found university officials violated Reges' academic freedom rights.
Sherrill accuses Trump of playing politics with New Jersey disaster aid
Gov. Mikie Sherrill accused President Donald Trump of using federal disaster relief to punish political opponents, saying New Jersey taxpayers are being
You'll Need To Pay $100 To Play Final Fantasy 7 Revelation 24 Hours Early
The Premium Edition isn't even the most expensive
Apple paying 400% more for iPhone 18 Pro memory, says TrendForce
A new market intelligence report suggests that Apple will be paying four times more for iPhone 18 Pro memory than...
Messi to get mid-game tribute by soccer teams across Argentina after international retirement
Soccer teams across Argentina will pay tribute to Lionel Messi with a mid-game minute of applause during their next match following his decision to retire from international duty. Referees will pause play at the 10-minute mark of every match in the upcoming round of the Clausura tournament, as well as in other men's and women's leagues in Argentina, in appreciation of Messi’s career with the national team, the Argentine Football Association said late Wednesday. The 39-year-old Messi, who wore the No. 10 jersey for Argentina, announced on Monday he will no longer play for the national team after 21 years of service.
10 high-paying and growing jobs with low exposure to AI
Several healthcare jobs are among the high-paying, growing jobs with low exposure to AI.
Argentine league to pause games to honour Messi
The Argentine football league will pay tribute to Lionel Messi's international career by pausing all their domestic matches in the 10th minute this weekend.
Following Nintendo's example, Sony and Microsoft argue they have no obligation to pass tariff refunds onto customers
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are in agreement that you shouldn't expect refunds for paying extra for their products as a result of US tariffs.
Changes to Medicare’s quality payment program may disadvantage radiologists
CMS is moving to new MIPS Value Pathways, or MVPs, which are specialty-specific measures intended to replace traditional ones, experts write in JACR.
VCU Health awards cleaning services contract to new vendor, to pay $26M in first year
The contractor transition means at least a temporary layoff of more than 500 employees, though many of them are expected to be rehired by the new vendor.
Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers, echoing Nintendo
Back in July, Sony executives told investors that the company expected to receive $508 million in refunds from the U.S. government, after tariffs that the PlayStation-maker paid were ruled mostly in 2025 were found to be illegal. “Most” of the refund would by recouped by Sony’s gaming division, its chief financial officer said. This week, Sony’s lawyers are arguing that the company is not legally obligated to pass those proceeds on to consumers who paid for recently price-hiked PlayStation consoles. That’s in the face of a lawsuit from gamers calling on them to do exactly that. “Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact,” the lawyers wrote in a legal motion filed on Monday, as they asked a judge in California’s Northern District to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit over the tariff refunds. Microsoft made a similar argument two weeks ahead of Sony’s lawyers, in a similar lawsuit brought by a gamer in federal court in Washington State. As Microsoft’s legal team put it on August 21, in their request for a dismissal of that lawsuit: “There is nothing unjust about Plaintiff purchasing an Xbox at an advertised price and getting exactly what he paid for—regardless of whatever theory he devised months later about Microsoft’s cost structure.” Both legal fights are set to go on for some time. How things got to this point U.S. tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods, including game consoles, had kicked off in early 2025. In May 2025, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” They raised them again that September. In August of that year, Sony raised the price of PlayStation 5 consoles, citing “a challenging economic environment.” Sony later told investors that its tariff fees for the fall quarter were nearly $200 million. in February of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 2025 tariffs illegal, prompting impacted companies to begin to request refunds. In turn, consumers began suing the likes of Sony and Microsoft to get what they said was their share. The gamers in the Microsoft and Sony lawsuits argue that the 2025 price hikes of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which added $50 or more to their sticker price, were due to illegal tariffs and should now be returned to consumers. The Sony suit started in May, when a group of gamers sued in federal court in California, saying Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) would be unjustly enriching itself if it did not pass tariff refunds to its PS5 buyers. “Sony is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” the gamers’ lawyers wrote at the time. They called for Sony to partially reimburse anyone who bought a PlayStation in the U.S. since August 1, 2025. The Microsoft suit, filed by gamer Trevor Hastings against the Xbox giant in July, made similar claims. The console makers push back In late July, Nintendo’s lawyers, facing a similar suit accusing them of double-dipping on tariffs and refunds, replied with arguments that previewed Microsoft’s and Sony’s: “Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” they wrote. Sony has buttressed that Nintendo-style argument this week by saying that the gamers have failed to prove that tariffs were the reason for its August 2025 PS5 price hike. They call thatclaim “speculative and illogical.” Other factors, including “inflation, currency fluctuations, component costs, logistics, competitive dynamics, or demand,” could have played a role. (No, the Sony lawyers do not break down the costs and factors that officially triggered the price increases). Microsoft has also argued that there’s no proof in these lawsuits that tariffs drove all or some of the price increase, as it seeks to dismiss the tariff refund suit it’s facing: “Plaintiff provides no specific allegations that would establish any pricing differential attributable to tariffs or suggest any possibility that Microsoft applied then or could recreate now any dollar-for-dollar calculation of tariff-related pricing—any more than it could any other market factor that affects pricing.” To further skewer the gamer side’s argument in its case, Sony’s lawyers have pointed to what might be a surprising defense: yet another PlayStation 5 price hike from this past spring, after the tariffs were ruled illegal. “If the original price increase were attributable to tariffs, SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment, aka PlayStation] would have had no reason to raise prices again after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs.” … “If tariffs were the cause of the price increases, one would expect SIE to lower prices once the tariffs were eliminated—not raise them again. Instead, the timeline confirms that the pricing of PlayStation consoles includes a diverse and dynamic set of input costs.” Judges have not yet ruled on the arguments made by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Last week, Panic, the company behind the small, yellow Playdate handheld said it would be passing its tariff refunds on to consumers. It is the only gaming hardware maker to have made such a pledge. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: A reporter’s second Second Life Wagner James Au, who from 2003-2006 was paid by San Francisco-based tech company Linden Lab to be a full-time journalist embedded in their virtual world Second Life, is returning to the company. This time, he’ll be an editorial advisor and business development specialist, he tells Game File. The new role will involve trying to share the stories of people inhabiting Second Life’s ongoing online world with reporters and by extension the public. Au plans to continue to also chronicle some of that through his long-running blog New World Notes. I’ve known Au since the mid-2000s and featured him in a 2007 article for the Columbia Journalism Review about reporters like him opening up virtual news outlets within Second Life. As I wrote at the time: On April 22, 2003, writing as Hamlet Linden for the New World Notes blog on Second Life’s Web site, Au introduced himself. “For the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent.” He wasn’t paid to keep it positive. He wrote about builders and eccentrics, but then in August of that year, he reported on a tax revolt against Linden Lab (a complaint about the fees it charges users who build stuff) led by a resident whose avatar was a big cat. Second Life has always been less of a video game and more of a virtual world where people can live, hang out, make art, sell virtual items and flirt. Back in 2007, Au described touring it as “sort of like underwater lucid dreaming.” For the past two decades, Au has maintained New World Notes as an independent publication. But he said he’s been drawn back to Second Life and Linden Lab as a place to directly work. The virtual world has around 650,000 monthly active users, he said, “which is actually about what it was during the hype wave.” Au says he’s still finding rich stories in Second Life, the kind that keep him interested 20 years into the beat: “Over the last few months for instance, I wrote about an SL creator in Venezuela whose apartment was destroyed by the earthquakes, so the global SL community rallied to get him back on his feet,” he told me. “Then there’s the woman from a Middle Eastern country who explored her lesbian sexuality in SL, then earned enough from her virtual jewelry to escape her abusive family situation and country.” Au wants to beckon more reporters to give Second Life another look. He argues that it is often ahead of internet trends, noting, for example, an early backlash in the community against AI-made art. Now the platform is drawing curiosity from more of the user-generated content community who’ve grown up with the likes of Roblox, according to Au. “Second Life was too early during its hype wave in 2005-2010, but it now feels right for a new wave of interest,” he told me.
Man arrested on three warrants for deceptive business practice
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A 65-year-old man was arrested on three counts of deceptive business practices after allegedly taking an initial payment and not completing agreed-upon work, according…
Palace Theatre supporters celebrate 100 years as entertainment venue
Like many kids growing up in Greensburg over the past 100 years, The Palace Theatre has meant a lot to Mayor Robb Bell. He and a group of friends from the Northmont neighborhood would walk over to the theater on Saturday mornings. They’d pay a nickel to watch cartoons in
Why health equity is now a business imperative in cardiology
For health systems under value-based care payment initiatives, there a direct financial incentive to invest in programs that improve access and outcomes among underserved populations. Cardiologist Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, shared her thoughts on this important topic.
No Rest For The Wicked Director Calls Game Critics 'Untrustworthy'
Pay attention, because his new site is 'the one source of truth for gamers'
How one newsletter writer is building a subscription business when “paywalls don’t really work”
David Covucci, founder of FOIAball, on using public records to break big stories about college football and what to try when readers assume someone else will pay.
Tiger Woods plea deal includes suspended driver’s license for five years
Tiger Woods accepted a plea deal in his DUI case. His driver’s license will be suspended for five years, and he will pay a $1,500 fine.
Apple's New Mac Mini Already Discounted - See the Pre-Order Deals
Amazon has introduced the first cash discounts on Apple's brand new Mac mini, with discounts including two of the M6 models as well as the M5 Pro model. All of these deals are pre-order discounts on the 2026 Mac mini, which officially launches on September 22. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
You Might Benefit from a $7.85 Million Payout as PlayStation Settles Anti-Trust Lawsuit
Free money?
US private payrolls growth slows in August, ADP says
U.S. private payrolls increased moderately in August, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday.
Tim Cook scores $47 million pay deal to remain Apple's chairman
Tim Cook is poised to earn a $2 million salary and stock awards with a target value of $45 million in his first year as Apple's executive chairman.
Inside a Conservative Operation to Hijack Your Social-Media Feed
A service run from Latvia offers payment for short, social-media-friendly clips designed to look like grassroots GOP support.
August Monthly Review: ChatGPT In Epic
Death, taxes, another frontier lab healthcare launch inspiring truly insane LinkedIn takes. As much as I want to stay away, I repeatedly am the crewman unplugging his ears whenever we pass these sirens. So it’s not the first and probably not the last time we dial up the typewriter rather than tie ourselves to the mast. The full blow-by-blow timeline: Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe The End of the Standalone PHR (Jan 8): ChatGPT Health arrives for consumers, at the time powered by b.well. I was bullish on the approach in that the best way for the PHR to finally solve distribution was to meet consumers were they already are (i.e. When Horizontal Meets Healthcare (Jan 9): OpenAI for Healthcare puts out the shingle for enterprises, with SharePoint ingestion standing in for the EHR integration the product actually needed. Another One: Anthropic’s Healthcare Debut (Jan 16): Claude's version, on HealthEx rails instead of b.well, with Agent Skills for FHIR development as the one true vertical-specific investment. ChatGPT for Clinicians: The Trap Sprung (Apr 24): OpenAI filled in the missing GTM middle with a free product for verified clinicians, effectively peeling the enterprise wrapper off ChatGPT for Healthcare and taking the PLG fight directly to OpenEvidence. OpenAI’s Second Attempt at Health (Jul 31): a relaunch of their patient specific app, now branded Health in ChatGPT, where the privacy partition came out, the connectors thinned, and b.well disappeared in favor of first-party FHIR work against a smaller network Beyond a Shingle So what was announced now? Today, we’re introducing a new electronic health record integration that brings authorized patient context from Epic into ChatGPT for Healthcare, along with the Healthcare Public Data plugin for direct, structured access to official healthcare datasets like PubMed, DailyMed, and CMS Coverage. Together, these capabilities bring ChatGPT closer to the systems and sources healthcare teams trust, while supporting the controls and compliance healthcare work requires. The core portfolio is unchanged from prior announcements we delineated and discussed (aside from the relaunch of patient-facing). Since trade publications still seem to be confusing them by using the wrong names: Enterprise sales motion: ChatGPT for Healthcare Protecting their core product / PLG: ChatGPT for Clinicians Consumer/patient-facing product: Health in ChatGPT So really, this is a feature release (specifically for ChatGPT for Healthcare when it comes to EHR integration). What’s cool about it, though, is that we are moving beyond just putting out a shingle. Everything in the January enterprise launch was horizontalizable: Horizontal tech companies thus generally start verticalization with their “putting out a shingle phase”. Telling the world you’re open for business as a horizontal tech company reliably attracts early inbound interest from buyers who are already trying to force-fit horizontal tools into domain-specific workflows and are eager for any signal that the vendor intends to support their use case more directly. Nothing was really vertical specific, which is exactly what you'd expect from the ultimate hypergrowth horizontal company dipping their toes into specific industries. But eventually you have to stop changing the sign on the door and start changing the product. Can you guess where the horizontal product was going to run out of road? This is the core dilemma writ large: verticalization requires differentiation, while scale economics of consumer and horizontal push toward unification. I’ve buried the lede so deep here it will be painful to some readers, but what should be shocking to no one is that my perspective is that EHR integration is the only path that meaningfully resolves this tension for ChatGPT for Healthcare. Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint is fine, but it is categorically insufficient for any product that hopes to influence clinical decision-making. SMART Money Well here we are, eight months later! Real vertical investment has begun, which surprised a few people. One friend in the industry messaged me: “Absolutely no way Epic gave ChatGPT API access.” Looking forensically at the announcements, the integration is notably read-only across appointment notes, laboratory results, medications, and specialist documentation. So while I’m not a betting man, I'd wager the house this is a SMART on FHIR launch: That sounds a lot like USCDI! The recommended path for the workflow they outline would be SMART on FHIR Their Health AI lead’s post is evocative of both standalone and EHR launch SMART, which another termed “ChartGPT” and “EHR Plugin” The implementation burden for SMART on FHIR is the lowest of the available integrative paths This is the team who literally did patient-facing SMART on FHIR with Epic last month Most importantly, if you’re a horizontal company, you generally still haven’t taken the full plunge and thus (overly) value reusability. SMART on FHIR is the logical compromise: healthcare-specific enough to matter, but standardized enough to reuse. Nobody Asked Judy Another friend asked “I thought they had to go to each health system, or did they go direct to Epic and now health systems opt in?” Given the trust paradigms in healthcare, this functionally cannot be Epic hoovering up all the data for OpenAI and shoving ChatGPT in their customers’ faces (or they would revolt). However, I do believe the aforementioned terrible coverage by TechCrunch and other outlets is probably responsible for that question, given the 325 million reference. When using FHIR as a business associate to an Epic customer, there is no EHR gatekeeping to speak of, as that isn’t how fhir.epic.com works: You register an app You pick your APIs You test against the sandbox APIs You list as “Ready for Production” Hospitals pick your app You test and go live with them Bluntly, nobody had to say yes or no in Verona (nor were they given the chance). Vendor Services (their next developer tier up that I doubt OpenAI is using quite yet in this initial release) certainly has contractual paperwork that some resent, but even there, the twin pressures of mounting antitrust and information blocking make outright gatekeeping increasingly fraught. My friend’s sentiment is, to me, representative of a broader industry neurosis, perhaps a sort of scar tissue of prior eras: people assume the gate is still there and never actually try the door. There are certainly other ways Epic (and any EHR) can put its thumb on the scale, but they are not so dumb as to stand in front of a federally mandated API and play bouncer at this exact moment in time. So I think they can and probably should go deeper, as this release is at best parity and at worst behind vertical-specific competition. OpenEvidence did a basic SMART launch with Sutter Health in February, allowing for more convenient evidence search by providers. They then add patient-context (the equivalent SMART on FHIR flow to what we see here) when Cedars-Sinai went enterprise-wide in May. UpToDate has four distinct applications across deeper workflows like patient engagement listed in Epic Showroom and announced a partnership with Epic to power Art at UGM Abridge and other ambient scribes have invested deeply into the deepest bidirectional clinical copilot workflow with integrations well beyond SMART on FHIR. In that light, the “Who is OpenAI primarily targeting here?” is clear. This release brings them into striking distance of OpenEvidence, but not the others quite yet. They are the only one of the three you can reach without building something truly Epic-specific. When will they go further? Competition is a great motivator to overcome the horizontal demons and start building things that can’t be reused: not across industries, not across EHRs, maybe not past the customer you built them for. That’s the price of actually verticalizing. The question is if and when OpenAI will be willing to pay it. Month in Review Here is the monthly review. As a reminder, this is a regular round-up of the month’s posts and other content to surface things you may have missed across regulation, litigation, interoperability, and beyond. AI assistance is used in these bullet summaries so I can focus on articles. Articles Published: None this month Video Content: The Information Exchange: Standards-based Thruple Edition (Aug 14): Back to school for us too, with Brad reporting in from the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem’s one year anniversary in DC. We get into the January CMS-0057 deadline, the fall rulemaking reading list, and why enrollment still keeps most apps off FHIR. The Information Exchange: Epic Dúnadan Edition (Aug 25): A UGM roundup with Ryan Brickner joining for the first time to check our takes against what the building actually thinks. Rangers, Ergo sitting on top of EHI, and a down-market lineup that needs some cuts. Regulatory: Stacked Deck, Bad Hand (Aug 05): ONC’s website refresh took the entire HIT Policy Committee record with it, so I rebuilt the archive and went looking for the regulatory capture story everyone assumes is buried in there. Stacking the deck and winning the hand turn out to be very different things. The Sixth Generation of Patient Access (Aug 19): A quick catalog of the five generations of patient access we’ve layered on since HIPAA, and the two candidates now competing to be the sixth. One is planned. The other is the market routing around the plan entirely. Court cases: Three Cases Walk Into a Docket (Aug 06): Two surprise settlements cleared the board in a single week, and then Judge Maddox dropped ninety-four pages on Vyne v. Henry Schein. The sleeper is a DMCA holding that makes direct-to-database a considerably riskier business model. Epic v. Health Gorilla: Into the MDL (Aug 10): Nine class actions are headed to Miami, and the Panel signaled it wants to bring the case that spawned them along too. That would leave Epic arguing the requests were obviously fraudulent in one courtroom and unknowable in the other. Amazon v. Perplexity: Agents Are Legalized! (Aug 11): The Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction against Comet, holding that the user is the one accessing the servers rather than the company that built the agent. A real win for agentic access, and a much narrower one than the headline suggests. Veeva v. Epic: Come At Me, Bro (Aug 26): Epic’s response brief wants the dismissal affirmed and, unusually, wants the opinion published as precedent. Buried in it is Epic’s own description of what its non-competes actually prohibit, which current and former employees should read closely. EHRs: The Contract Epic Would Never Sign Today (Aug 04): A 1999 SEC exhibit catches Epic licensing nearly its entire product line, Tapestry included, to the company that became TriZetto. The marketing services menu attached to it is the part that will make you blink. Forecast from Verona (Aug 07): The Epic Almanac makes one argument six different ways: the AI is only as good as the networks behind it. Emmie headlines, Art’s context stack is the most ambitious part, and Penny finally gets an autonomous coding date on the calendar. Works With Epic MyChart (Aug 17): Epic’s first new Showroom category since the death of Workshop certifies hardware instead of software, badge on the box and all. Made for iPhone, but for blood pressure cuffs, and rough news for anyone selling the RPM stack sitting in between. UGM Hot Takes 2026 (Aug 20): Everyone else covered the AI announcements, so I went after Savvy deleting the payment gateway, Rangers as Boost with the timer removed, and a down-market lineup with too many entries. Plus the Health Grid tidbits I cannot help myself on. MyChart Central Grows Up (Aug 24): Device data and Emmie turn Epic’s identity hub into a full consumer platform, which is both a logical answer to ChatGPT and a bit of a mistake. It also happens to be the best scraping target Epic has ever shipped. Industry Analysis: The Wrong Yardstick (Aug 12): Vertical software keeps getting judged against Superhuman and Notion, which is the wrong bar entirely. Your user is comparing your product to a whiteboard and forty phone calls before lunch. Primitives vs. Abstractions (Aug 27): Developers want building blocks, systems of record prefer to hand out business logic, and both sides have a real case. There’s no test from the outside that separates the engineering reason from the competitive one, which is why this keeps ending up in court. Cross-industry Comparisons: The Two Kinds of Platform Power (Aug 18): Attention power and record power are different problems that keep getting handed the same regulatory toolkit. Congress’s latest swing at Big Tech shows both what’s possible and where it falls apart. The Dogs of (Platform) War (Aug 21): A CourtListener alert turned up a property management fight with healthcare’s exact shape and none of the Cures Act. Shell prospects, ghost accounts, a notetaker bot that came back to haunt someone, and a lawyer arguing both sides of the same theory in two states. Fractals All the Way Down (Aug 31): Yardi dominates property management right up until you zoom into one segment, where AppFolio owns it outright and Yardi doesn’t appear at all. Where you draw the line around a B2B software market is about to decide an awful lot of cases. Other News: If Judy Had the Courage (Aug 13): A short eulogy for the era when software was allowed to look insane: WinAMP, bold colors, and everything the grey chatbot era has taken from us. External Media: Portland Monthly Health Tech Meetup: Erin O’Brien channeled my own feelings - maybe it’s just because it’s August and beautiful, but the monthly edition of the PDX Health community meetup was a ripper. Make sure to reach out if interested to join for the next one. STAT’s Coverage of Epic This Month: Brittany Trang of STAT did a fantastic job of breaking the FTC investigation that’s been lurking, as well as UGM related coverage, so I had to give her her wish of a meme. Fall Conferences: I’m pumped to be kicking off my fall conference season in NYC at Nabla Accelerate next month, which Chrissy provided the link to apply for. Here’s the rest of my schedule in case you want to meet up: Commonwell (Redwood Shores, CA): Oct 13-14 Open@Epic (Madison, WI): Oct 21-22 eHealthExchange (Austin, TX): Oct 27 Sequoia Project (Austin, TX): Oct 28-29 HLTH (Vegas): Nov 15-18 RSNA (Chicago): Nov 29-Dec 3 Posts I Liked: HTI-6 Should Unbundle API Certification: Josh Mandel makes the case that HTI-6 should split (g)(10) into separate authorization and data certifications, so a PACS or a genomics platform can certify only the role it actually performs. Imaging is the urgent example, but the structure solves a much bigger problem. On implementing ePrior Auth with Epic: Scott Rossignol’s field notes from a live ePrior Auth build on Epic, including the two app registrations nobody warns you about and the CPT mapping problem waiting at the end. CMS-0057 implementations are going to be such a beast. Healthcare point solutions are starting to look a lot like streaming services: Spencer Dorn runs the cable-to-streaming arc against health IT and lands squarely on the bundling half of the cycle. Bundling can be good! It can also be bad! Life is nuanced. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Corpay (CPAY) Simplifies Its Business As Profits Take A Hit
On August 5, Corpay (NYSE:CPAY) delivered two headlines in one breath. The corporate payments company reported second-quarter results that beat its own targets, and it agreed to sell a UK fleet software business it no longer sees as core. Revenue climbed 21% to $1,338.8 million and adjusted earnings per share jumped 36% to $7.00, yet […]
Don’t trade away our TABOR refunds
Here we go again — tax-and-spend politicians going in the wrong direction. Colorado families are being asked to believe a familiar lie: the only way to fund education is to let politicians keep more of your money — forever. Proposition NN is being sold as a solution for schools and teacher pay. But look past […]
What Box Office Bomb Crushed Obsession on Streaming?
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get into this week’s issue, let me ask you for some suggestions. At the risk of coining too many names for too many things (hence my dictionary of terms...), I need a name for straight-to-streaming films that are too expensive to justify a straight-to-streaming release, but not big enough to justify a theatrical release. Like some of the films I highlighted in last week’s tally of the biggest film flops of 2026 so far: Hulu’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, Pizza Movie or Never Change! They don’t feel like “made for TV movies” (think Hallmark and Lifetime movies, cheap Netflix romcoms, or Disney Channel Original movies, for example) but they don’t feel big enough for the big screen. They’re not “cinematic” enough, so to speak. As I wrote... “I still need a name for this middle zone of film that’s too expensive to go straight-to-streaming but too small to justify a theatrical release (with all the PR, distribution, marketing and whatnot costs that go along with it), the Goldilocks zone of streaming film death.” Friend of the newsletter Brandon Katz has suggested the “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”. I love that first one. I’d offer up the much wordier “The Streaming Budget Dead Zone” or “the Goldilocks Zone of streaming film death” but that last one isn’t accurate since, unlike Goldilocks’ porridge, these films are the opposite of “just right”. That’s the problem! Anyway, if you have any suggestions, let me know! On to today’s Streaming Ratings Report. As you can tell by today’s headline, things are going to be spicy! I’m looking at a box office bomb that did really, really well on streaming, somewhat challenging a few different narratives. And another Netflix series declined in its second season. All that, plus Wicked: For Good switching streamers, The Hawk continuing its strong run, _The Bear’_s finale season finally dropping off the charts, the WNBA posting a big viewership number, “shallow libraries”, a sitcom spinoff failing to launch, more big budget IP flopping on Paramount+, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of July 20th to July 26th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - The Latest Theatrical Success Story on Streaming In the latest edition of “Flops, Bombs and Misses of the First Half of 2026”, I made a crucial change: I started including theatrical films with the streaming misses. The streamers have collectively—including Netflix, but not to as big of an extent—stopped making a lot of straight-to-streaming films, and the ones they do make aren’t as expensive as in the heyday of the streaming bubble. After the following two films bombed in theaters, you’d guess that they’ll be included in my next collection of flops, bombs and misses six months from now: Masters of the Universe on Prime Video (only $64 million domestic box office) Mortal Kombat II on HBO Max ($79 million domestic) But you’d be wrong! Masters of the Universe, a reboot of the He-Man franchise, a toy from the 1980s, came to streaming on 22-July and did great! This long-gestating project—it’s been at every studio for years, and came close to getting a greenlight at Netflix—then finally came to theaters in June, and showed up on streaming less than two months later. (I don’t love this short theatrical window.) It surprisingly grabbed nearly 20 million hours on its debut: That means, wait for it, Masters of the Universe is currently the eighth biggest film on streaming through two weeks. My rough bar for “hit” is shows or films in the top 15%. Ergo…Masters of the Universe is a legit, streaming hit! (One quick caveat: if it falls out of the top ten next week, it will move to 13th overall, just on the edge of the top 15.) Of course, that’s the data for just 2026. Here’s how it stacks up to Prime Video’s theatrical films: That drop into its second week is typical for Amazon films, but also a worrying sign. I have a feeling interest in this film is front-loaded and we’ll see it drop off after this. As for Mortal Kombat II, in this case, the viewership numbers roughly match the theatrical outing, with only 4.1 million hours in its first week. Here’s how it stacks up to other HBO Max films: The best defense of this number is that, as a relatively violent rated-R film, Mortal Kombat II never had a good chance at breaking out. So now it’s time for a little big of “Entertainment Nuance Guy”: First, yeah, my headline is obviously facetious, since Masters of the Universe besting Obsession says more about horror as a genre than it does that film. Second, I read and listened to quite a few “nobody wanted this IP” takes about Masters of the Universe, and that’s not really true. At least enough people wanted it to power a 20 million+ hour debut! Third, both this film and Mortal Kombat II were considered “average” by viewers, but not great films, with a 6.4 and 6.3 respectively on IMDb. That’s just shy of the level needed to be a word-of-mouth hit. Fourth, in the olden days, strong word of mouth could transform a box office miss into a cable/DVD hit, like Austin Powers or The Shawshank Redemption. We haven’t seen a lot of examples of that on streaming, though. And there are far fewer ways to monetize the post-theatrical life of a film these days. Fifth, Prime Video has shown an ability to push their own titles well, likely because they control the Amazon Fire TV ecosystem. Add it all up, and here’s my nuanced take on Masters of the Universe: it was a box office bomb, but, shockingly, a streaming hit. Unfortunately, while being a theatrical hit saves your film financially, being a streaming hit does not. Both Masters of the Universe and Mortal Kombat II had big budgets and needed to make more money in theaters to justify them. So…Straight-to-Streaming or Theaters? We’ve hit a really fun point in the streaming calendar, since the films that came out in theaters in April, May, and June are now arriving on streaming. So the “Do theatrical releases help streaming performances?” question is gonna get a fresh round of updates nearly every week. No single week will answer the question, but we may get some insights. For example, so far in 2026, it looks like theatrical films are lasting longer on the weekly Nielsen film charts. Here’s a list of films that have made the charts in their fourth or fifth week of release, separated by “for kids” and “general entertainment”: It certainly seems like theatrical films are lasting just a pinch longer on the charts, with Project Hail Mary being the current five-week champion. One Battle After Another did well for HBO Max too, and even The Sheep Detectives made it four weeks. The only exception to this trend? Obsession, which only lasted two weeks on the charts. You might tempted to overreact to this news. Don’t. Obsession is a huge horror hit, but horror just doesn’t do as well on streaming. By the way, here’s the Google Trends for various theatrical and stremaing films: Plus, when it comes to Netflix in four months, Obsession may have another big boost. Quick Notes on Film Note that when I write, “the streamers have pulled back on straight-to-streaming films” that doesn’t mean “abandoned” because Netflix is gonna Netflix. On 24-July, they released 72 Hours, a Kevin Hart comedy. Along with Eddie Murphy, Mark Wahlberg, John Cena and Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart is a streaming film star now. Did this latest one work? Not really. It only garnered two weeks of 13.2 and 12.2 million hours on its debut, well below the 20-million-hour hit threshold. It also was poorly received critically—a 44 on Metacritic—and by customers—a 5.4 on IMDb on 21K IMDb reviews. We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The latest Netflix true crime doc to pop on the charts… How The Bear finished its run… Netflix’s latest Western to return to streaming… What Paramount+ animated film flopped… And what sitcom also missed… All the flops, bombs and misses… And a whole lot more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! I’m behind by a week, so we’ve got two issues coming your way this week, including one in a couple of days or so, then we’ll be all caught up**.** Next issue, inspired by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie coming to Peacock, I’m going to take a look at the workhouse of streaming TV: kids films. Plus The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues theatrical films’ big run on streaming. All that, plus another surprise hit on Hulu, Lioness on CBS, and a whole lot more. Long term, LeBron James is filming his own “Last Dance”-style docu-series, surprising no one. But as I’ve been writing about a lot this summer, this genre is really overrated, so whoever ends up buying it (reportedly ESPN) really shouldn’t pay too much for it.
Maine health clinics say state failed to pay nearly $6.5M cost-of-living increase
The state health department said there was no funding appropriated for this year's adjustment.
Heavy Metal Sausage was forced to stop serving dinner. It may shutter the acclaimed South Philly restaurant
The South Philly butcher shop's acclaimed trattoria dinners are on pause after a health inspector found Heavy Metal Sausage Co.'s layout inadequate for indoor seating.
State budget committee releases $10M to clean up PFAS
The funds are part of a payment made by Tyco earlier this summer in its settlement for causing contamination in Marinette, Wisconsin.
From Israel to international markets: How geography shapes digital entertainment apps
From local regulations to payment systems and user experience, geography plays a defining role in shaping how digital entertainment apps work across international markets.
Naomi Osaka honors Allen Iverson with US Open outfit
Naomi Osaka went all-out in paying tribute to basketball great Allen Iverson with her look at the US Open tennis tournament.
Politics keeps European stocks in America’s shadow
The bloc’s policymakers typically lean towards protecting consumers and taxpayers at the expense of investors
ESPN Unlimited Now Available on YouTube TV
ESPN Unlimited content is now available directly on YouTube TV, giving the streaming service’s subscribers access to thousands of additional live sporting events. YouTube TV’s addition of ESPN Unlimited comes under the deal struck between Google and Disney reached in November 2025, after a two-week blackout of Disney-owned networks on YouTube TV. Other pay-TV providers …
Paying Homage To “The Troublemaker Of Watchmaking” With The M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese
✓ Meet the new M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese ✓ Paying homage to the self-proclaimed troublemaker of watchmaking ✓ Check out this Baladin watch! ✓
Hands-On: The M.A.D.Editions M.A.D.3 Vincent Calabrese
The third entry in the MB&F spinoff pays tribute to a legendary watchmaker.
Scott's Addition's newest pizza parlor, Pizzeria Delores, opens for business
After leasing the former ice cream shop last fall, Max Sayer and Jacky Welch set out renovate the space to pay tribute to pizzerias of the 1980s with wood-paneled walls and vintage Schlitz Beer chandeliers hanging over booths.
‘Most’ of Star Wars Zero Company studio Bit Reactor was furloughed ahead of launch
Last week was meant to be a moment of triumph for Bit Reactor, the Maryland-based game studio founded in 2021 with ambitions to create a great new tactical combat game. On Thursday, August 27, Bit Reactor’s debut title, Star Wars Zero Company, released to stellar reviews. And, from the Gamescom show in Cologne, Germany, studio co-founder Greg Foertsch was giving interviews discussing what the studio’s next game may be. But for many developers on the game, launch has been bittersweet. Fans love it. Critics prefer it to most recent Star Wars games. Zero Company, which is out for PS5, Xbox Series consoles and PC, is the top-selling game on Steam. Much of the team that made it, however, is currently going without pay. They were furloughed, just weeks ahead of the game’s launch. A rep for Bit Reactor confirmed to Game File today that the studio had furloughed many of its workers prior to the game’s release. They said it was a difficult decision and one that had been made before it was clear how launch would go. The rep emphasized that the call to do this was Bit Reactor’s alone (meaning not from publisher EA nor Star Wars license holder Disney). While the rep declined to comment on the scale of the furloughs, a previously unreported lawsuit brought by studio co-founder Alison Kelly in 2024 noted in a filing from August 12 of this year that Bit Reactor “has furloughed most of its employees and terminated contractors…” One source told Game File the furloughs impacted 80% of the team; another referred to there only being a skeleton crew left on Bit Reactor’s active payroll, ready to address any of Zero Company’s post-launch bugs. The issue is that Bit Reactor, a studio formed in 2021, had run out of most of its money just ahead of the launch of its first game. Over the weekend, Zachariah Scott, a senior technical artist who worked at Bit Reactor from early 2023 until an acrimonious exit this past May, said on LinkedIn that the studio was “concealing the fact that the team was Furloughed weeks ago.” Reached by phone today, Scott told Game File that he spoke to nearly a dozen Bit Reactor workers over the weekend. “Everybody has essentially the same story, which is, ‘Yeah, I got furloughed three weeks ago.” The Bit Reactor rep told Game File that the studio hoped to bring furloughed workers back, suggesting that a successful launch of the game could be impactful. Scott told Game File that workers he spoke to were less confident that even if there were returns, that all who were furloughed would get their old jobs again. A heated dispute Bit Reactor’s mid-2026 was almost even more tumultuous. The lawsuit by co-founder Alison Kelly that first revealed the furloughs was initially slated to go to trial in June. The suit is a she-said/he-said about whether Kelly, until 2024 the chief operating officer of Bit Reactor, was a co-owner of the studio or whether it was solely owned by Greg Foertsch. In July 2024, Kelly sued, saying she was pushed out by Foertsch. She first sued in federal court and later refiled in Maryland’s Baltimore County, alleging breach of contract and that Foertsch had unjustly enriched himself. Kelly cited damages of over $20 million, on the basis of Bit Reactor allegedly being worth more than double that. Foertsch’s side has said Kelly was never a co-owner and has countered with claims about her job performance (which she has denied). The June trial was postponed until early 2027, as both sides have been deposing witnesses and filing more claims and denials along the way. Amid all of that, filings in the lawsuit reviewed by Game File paint a picture about Bit Reactor’s origins, early aspirations around tactics games, the team’s breakthrough in drawing the attention of Electronic Arts with the help of a pitch tied to one of EA’s non-Star Wars franchises, and early fractures among its co-founders. The real story about the company behind Zero Company
Texas hospitals to lose $27 million in Medicaid funding daily
Starting Sept. 1, the Trump administration will withhold about $9.8 billion in extra annual funding that helps hospitals cover the difference between Medicaid payments and the actual cost of services.
The Google TV Streamer now costs $50 more
Would you pay $149 for a streaming device from 2024?
PlayStation Is Set to Pay Out $7.85 Million to Users as Part of Class-Action Lawsuit
PlayStation users may be eligible for a cut of a $7.85 million class-action lawsuit settlement very soon.
Business Owner Charged with Tax Fraud, Wire Fraud Related to COVID Relief Funds
URBANA, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) - Hans Lee Grotelueschen, 56, of Mahomet has been charged with allegedly failing to pay employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and fraud related to Economic
Illinois Quick Hits: Champaign business owner charged with COVID relief fraud
(The Center Square) – A Mahomet man has been charged with fraud and failing to pay employment taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
John Galliano's Met Gala 2027 exhibit canceled after backlash
Fashion designer John Galliano pays the price, again, for racist outbursts that upended his career more than a decade ago. His Met Gala 2027 exhibit has been canceled.