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Tony Gilroy on leaving the politics of ‘Andor’ behind for his 9-composer music drama ‘Behemoth!’
Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!”.
Tony Gilroy on leaving the politics of 'Andor' behind for his 9-composer music drama 'Behemoth!'
Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!” | WWL
Tony Gilroy on leaving the politics of 'Andor' behind for his 9-composer music drama 'Behemoth!'
Tony Gilroy’s “Behemoth!” | KYW Newsradio
Tony Gilroy on Leaving the Politics of 'Andor' Behind for His 9-Composer Music Drama 'Behemoth!'
NEW YORK (AP) — Long before Tony Gilroy wrote “The Bourne Identity," made “Michael Clayton” or created “Andor,” he wanted to be a musician. After playing guitar in a string of bands, Gilroy came to Los Angeles hoping to become a studio musician. A session with some real players quickly disabused him ...
Iowa Legislature expands MEGA program, creating path for steel plant incentive
During a special session on Friday, the Iowa Legislature expanded the Major Economic Growth Attraction (MEGA) program, paving the way for a tax incentive for Mesabi Metallics to construct a steel plant in Lee County. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law on Friday. The MEGA program, administered through the Iowa Economic Development Authority,…
Why Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) Stock Is Trading Lower Today
What Happened? Shares of content production and distribution company Sphere Entertainment (NYSE:SPHR) fell 12.3% in the afternoon session after Craig-Hallum ...
Congressional candidates discuss expanding executive power and need for political will
Congressional approval ratings are in the tank. By some measures this is one of the least productive sessions of Congress in living memory. WGLT's Charlie Schlenker reports those things may not change much any time soon.
Michael Douglas on 'immortality,' Kirk Douglas and the memories he once avoided
Michael Douglas, the award-winning actor and producer, recently turned 82 and has released a memoir titled “One Helluva Ride.” | 830 WCCO
Michael Douglas on 'immortality,' Kirk Douglas and the memories he once avoided
Michael Douglas, the award-winning actor and producer, recently turned 82 and has released a memoir titled “One Helluva Ride.” | WWJ Newsradio 950
2026 HCD Conference + Expo Preview: Designing Community-based Public Health Campuses
Explore design and planning strategies for public health facilities ahead of the 2026 Healthcare Design Conference in New Orleans.
Reclaiming 'Health Sovereignty': EU Gastein Forum Confronts A Fragmenting Global Order
Health, long treated as a sanctuary of diplomatic consensus, has entered an era of high politics and ideological division. Leading the closing panel of the EU Health Forum Gastein (EHFG) on Friday (2 October), session chair Ilona Kickbusch, founder of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, highlighted how recent votes at the UN General Assembly demonstrate that nation-states increasingly split and vote instead of searching for consensus.
Yale School of Medicine On the Science of Childhood Anxiety, Say, Anxiety Disorders Are the Most Common Mental Health Challenges In Youth
Credit: Matt Bradbury October 5, 2026 - By Isabella Backman - Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health challenges in youth. Left untreated, they can disrupt the lives of both children and their families. The good news is that with intervention, most children will overcome these conditions. Across Yale School of Medicine, scientists are working to understand anxiety at every level, from common anxious behaviors to molecular biomarkers in the brain. They are using their findings to develop and disseminate new evidence-based treatments for childhood anxiety. Today, the go-to treatment for childhood anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a form of psychotherapy that teaches children skills for confronting anxious thoughts and helps them practice managing situations that cause anxiety. While it is the gold-standard treatment backed by considerable scientific evidence, up to 50% of children will not see sufficient benefit from CBT alone. Wendy Silverman, PhD, Alfred A. Messer Professor in the Child Study Center, co-directs the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program alongside Eli Lebowitz, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center. One of their main interests is learning how to improve outcomes beyond CBT. “We’re developing cutting-edge, research-based knowledge that can reduce the suffering that anxiety causes children and their families,” says Silverman. Changing parent behavior YSM experts are investigating how to improve CBT outcomes for children by involving the parents. Silverman’s research has uncovered two main components of parent intervention that improve childhood anxiety: not enabling children to completely avoid the things that make them anxious and taking steps to enhance their autonomy. Parents may unintentionally reinforce their child’s anxiety by allowing them to avoid what makes them anxious. They also may unintentionally limit the children’s sense of autonomy by being overly intrusive. “One of the things that we take pride in is that we’ve focused on trying to understand what parents need to do, and to test our ideas and see if changing the parents’ behaviors is enhancing the effects of CBT,” Silverman says. “Our findings thus far suggest that they do." As much as CBT can be helpful, it can also be challenging to get one’s child to do the necessary steps for CBT to work. This is one important reason why Lebowitz created a novel intervention program for parents named Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). Existing intervention programs often teach parents to act as therapists for their child, such as training them on how to practice breathing exercises. “It makes sense, but this doesn’t work very well in practice,” says Lebowitz. “And part of the reason, I think, is that it’s not easy to get your kid to do things, especially if they’re not excited about doing it.” SPACE is unique because it focuses entirely on parent involvement and changing parental behavior—children are not involved in the sessions. For example, parents learn how to use supportive messages that convey confidence that their child can tolerate and manage distress. “It might sound like a parent saying to a child, ‘I get that this is really hard for you, but I know that you can handle it,’” Lebowitz says. The program also works with parents to identify the ways in which they are accommodating anxious behaviors. “We’ll pick one thing that parents are doing that is an accommodation and help them make a detailed plan for how they’re going to change that,” Lebowitz explains. Treating Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Much of the existing research on SPACE has focused on parents of children under age 14. Ongoing studies are now exploring its use with parents of older teens. “Both anxiety and accommodation can interfere with normative developmental shifts during the teen years, including increased autonomy and individuation from parents,” says Rebecca Etkin, PhD, associate research scientist in the Child Study Center. “In this sense, SPACE may be particularly well-suited for anxious teens and their parents. We want to see whether it is effective during this distinct developmental window.” Unfortunately, many families in need of CBT face barriers, including limited availability of services and geographic constraints. One way to improve access is digital interventions. Silverman and her team are developing an evidence-based digitized intervention program for parents that they can access directly from their computer or smart phone. “The work we’re doing will be one of the very few parent interventions that is digitized and importantly tested for effectiveness,” she says. Creating interventions for anxiety-related challenges Silverman and Lebowitz recently received a generous gift to develop and test other interventions that help parents reduce other child anxiety-related behavioral and emotional difficulties, such as restrictive eating and unexplained somatic symptoms. One of these projects in particular focuses on understanding the risks of social media and its potential benefits, including offering a sense of connection. “A lot of research has focused on the idea that social media is harmful and the less of it the better,” says Lebowitz. “But we actually see is that this is not quite right—there are negatives, but there are also positives. So, we’re trying to get a little bit more nuanced of a picture.” The team is working with teens with social anxiety and their parents over an extended period to better understand their social media habits and how their anxiety levels affect engagement with different platforms. The teens will answer questions sent to an app on their phones about mood and social media usage in an effort to capture emotional responses as they unfold. “We hope to develop interventions that can help make the best of social media while protecting against the more problematic effects,” Lebowitz says. The brain’s role in anxiety Researchers are also testing therapies to address anxiety at the neurological and molecular levels. In collaboration with Dylan Gee, PhD, professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Hilary Blumberg, MD, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, Lebowitz and Silverman are using brain imaging to identify changes in a child’s brain before and after parents enroll in SPACE. In one study, children viewed anxiety-inducing images while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); the researchers conducted scans with and without the children’s parents nearby. Before SPACE, children’s brains were better able to activate the regulatory circuitry needed to turn off an anxious response when their parents were nearby. But after SPACE, children could activate this circuitry even without the parent around. “As parents work on gradually reducing some of their accommodations, you can see a child get better at regulating their own fear system in the brain,” Lebowitz says. “It’s remarkable.” Research into the molecular underpinnings of anxiety can also inform new childhood anxiety treatments. In a recent study, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Flora Vaccarino, MD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, discovered that a protein known as fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) could be protective from the toxic effects of stress. FGF2 levels in children and their parents were linked to the children’s risk of developing anxiety and depression, the study showed. The findings could help explain why some children who are exposed to early life trauma such as poverty or abuse are more prone to developing mental health disorders. And FGF2 could be a target for treatment. “This is very novel because it starts to give a clue to what is the molecular chain that connects those lived experiences to the actual psychological outcomes,” Lebowitz says. New ways to study and treat childhood anxiety Michael Crowley, PhD, associate professor in the Child Study Center, collaborates with Silverman and Lebowitz to study the role that attention plays in development and maintenance of childhood anxiety. There is a large body of research that shows that anxious children, like anxious adults, are prone to focus on threatening stimuli such as angry faces compared with neutral faces. This has led to innovative interventions that involve attention retraining. The idea is that if experts train children to look away from threatening stimuli, it may reduce their anxiety—especially children with social anxiety who are most prone to attend to threats. The researchers have just completed a clinical trial for attention retraining with 10- to 14-year-olds with social anxiety disorders and are currently analyzing the findings. Besides this innovative attention retraining research, as Crowly notes, “I like to design tasks that are engaging to kids,” Crowley says. “My goal is to assess something without the kids knowing what we are assessing.” With this goal in mind, Crowley has created a virtual game, named Boom, to study threat processing in children with anxiety disorders. The game is similar to that of hot potato—the child and three digital players take turns virtually passing a ball to each other’s gloves. At some point, the ball turns into a bomb, and as the bomb lands in each player’s glove, the outline of the glove turns yellow. The goal is to avoid having the bomb go off in your glove. What isn’t obvious is that the game is designed to measure different types of threatening stimuli, both ambiguous and direct. In the game, the direct threat occurs as the bomb is traveling towards your glove. The ambiguous threat is the yellow outlined glove as it is unknown where the bomb will travel next. While children play the game, Crowley’s team measures their brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG). The researchers have discovered that in kids with anxiety, the brain reacts more strongly to ambiguous threats than it does in their peers, but less strongly to direct threats. They believe that the initial abnormally large brain response to not knowing where the bomb is going impairs the brain's ability to properly respond when the threat is actually traveling the child’s way. “The brains of children with anxiety are unable to differentiate between threats you need to do something about and those that are not your problem.” Michael Crowley, PhD, develops innovative games for studying anxiety in children and adolescents.Credit: Matt Bradbury Based on these insights, Crowley hopes to study whether interventions like attention training could restore appropriate threat processing. Crowley’s team is also working on a test called the Balloon Risk Avoidance Task, which evaluates risk-taking and avoidance behaviors. It features a digital balloon that is full of air and about to burst. Kids have six seconds to let air out of the balloon. The more air they let out, the less risk they face that the balloon will pop. But at the same time, the balloon becomes less valuable as it deflates. “The more air you keep in the balloon, the more points you get,” Crowley explains. So far, the researchers have found that when the balloons pop unexpectedly, teens with social anxiety show distinct brain responses. Studying these responses can help psychologists understand the underlying pathways driving the various manifestations of anxiety. The genetics of anxiety When Thomas Fernandez, MD, associate professor in the Child Study Center and of psychiatry, was still in training, there was a lot of excitement about understanding the genetics associated with autism spectrum disorder. Since then, scientists have identified around 250 genes associated with autism. The genetic contribution to anxiety disorders, on the other hand, has historically received less attention. Anxiety is less heritable than autism, but the genetic contribution for anxiety disorders that emerge in childhood may be higher than for anxiety disorders overall. While scientists estimate the heritability of anxiety disorders in general to be around 30% to 50%, some studies suggest higher heritability for certain childhood-onset anxiety presentations. “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism,” Fernandez says. “So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” “I saw firsthand how researchers in the field went about finding vulnerability genes for autism. So, we’re using a very similar playbook for childhood anxiety.” Thomas Fernandez, MD Associate Professor In the Child Study Center and in Psychiatry Now, Fernandez and Emily Olfson, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Child Study Center, are studying children and their parents to identify genetic changes that are present in the child but not the parents, known as “de novo mutations.” “All of us have some de novo mutations—maybe about 50 to 100 sprinkled throughout the genome,” Olfson says. “But when they occur within the coding regions of genes, they can be really disruptive.” Previous research shows that people with autism have higher rates of damaging de novo mutations than the general population. In 2022, Olfson, Lebowitz, Silverman, and Fernandez published a study on 68 children and their families that found that children with anxiety had similarly high levels of these mutations. Studying de novo mutations can help point the researchers to where they should be looking for genes associated with anxiety. “The end game is using the genes to steer us toward the right part of biology that we can then target to come up with better treatments,” Fernandez says. Building on those findings, the team is now studying more families to better understand how these de novo mutations, along with other genetic and environmental factors, shape pediatric anxiety disorders. They recently received a National Institutes of Health grant to enroll 750 new families over the next five years. Olfson is the principal investigator, with co-investigators Lebowitz, Fernandez, Silverman, and Shuangge Steven Ma, PhD, department chair and professor of biostatistics at Yale School of Public Health. Neurodevelopment, Risk Genes, and Mental Health Conditions - The Olfson Lab Joel Gelernter, MD, Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, is interested in how different anxiety disorders differ genomically. “We are studying social phobia, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder, working to understand why people differ in their risk to these specific anxiety disorders and evaluating various risk factors,” he says. Gelernter was recently involved in one of the largest studies to date of the genomics underlying anxiety disorder. The study included around 122,000 people with anxiety disorders and around 730,000 without. It found that some genetic differences associated with anxiety were linked to signaling that helps reduce overactivity in the nervous system. Many anxiety medications available today work by targeting this process. “It’s nice when the biology that you get out of a large genome-wide study ratifies things that we already know because that can help increase confidence in further findings from the study,” Gelernter says. Uncovering the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and chair of the Department of Psychiatry, is interested in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of which anxiety is a major symptom. In the late 1980s, Krystal’s team discovered that the drug yohimbine activated symptoms in patients with PTSD. “This was the first time we could link a specific biological mechanism to the symptoms of PTSD,” Krystal says. At the time, he adds, this finding was highly controversial. “A lot of people felt that PTSD was a purely psychological syndrome that didn’t have an underlying biology.” Since then, Krystal has dived deep into understanding the neurobiology of PTSD to learn how to better treat it. His team is evaluating the use of ketamine and psychedelics. These would be among the first treatments to be developed specifically for PTSD. They may also be applicable for other disorders including anxiety disorders, Krystal adds. An important gap in PTSD treatment is the absence of biological tests that inform how to best help patients manage their PTSD symptoms. A doctor doesn’t diagnose cancer based on how they feel. Rather, they use tests of the biology of the cancer to determine the best course of treatment. “And we can’t do that in any psychiatric disorder other than Alzheimer’s disease,” Krystal says. “But now we are building a foundation for this approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders for the first time.” Source: Yale School of Medicine
5 takeaways from Iowa lawmakers passing historic $1.4B tax breaks
Five key takeaways from the Iowa Legislature passing historic tax incentives for a $15 billion proposed steel mill.
Countries race to provide oral health care for all in 100-Day Sprint across Asia
Twenty Asian countries and areas across the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions vowed to strengthen essential oral health benefits as part of a “100-Day Sprint” initiative, during the 16th Asian Chief Dental Officers Meeting held from 27 to 29 September in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. The meeting marked the midpoint of the 100-day sprint bolstering support for countries to develop essential oral health benefit packages that can be integrated into national universal health coverage plans. Convened by the two WHO regional offices and the Malaysian Ministry of Health as the Secretariat, the meeting brought together national oral health leaders from 20 Asian countries, staff from all levels of WHO, WHO collaborating centres and other development partners. Participating countries and areas included: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong (SAR) China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam. Participants reviewed progress and refined proposals using the WHO Service Package Delivery and Implementation (SPDI) Platform. Countries conducted bottleneck analyses across four key areas: service delivery, workforce, access to essential medicines and health products, and health financing. They identified practical actions to address implementation challenges and refined proposed revisions to their national oral health benefit packages. “There is no health without oral health. Through the 100-Day Sprint, countries are advancing the implementation of the Western Pacific regional implementation plan on oral health and strengthening progress towards universal health coverage,” noted WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Saia Ma'u Piukala. Participants identified bottlenecks and proposed workable solutions to strengthen access to essential oral health care through primary health care, sharing experiences and discussing how best to translate policy commitments into feasible and sustainable action at the country level. Malaysian Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad highlighted the importance of prevention and primary health-care approaches to improve oral health: “Oral diseases can have lifelong consequences, yet many are preventable. By integrating essential oral health care into primary health care and promoting prevention in schools and communities, we can improve oral health across the life course.”The WHO team led by Dr Huong Tran, Director of the Division of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Control of the WHO Western Pacific Region and national oral health leads from over 20 Asian countries visited the SK Pekan Putatan School, Sabah for school oral health programme including flouride mouth rinsing. © WHO / V. ChaudharyDr Huong Tran, Director of the Division of Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Control for the WHO Western Pacific Region, emphasized key collaborative roles WHO can play. “Oral diseases are the most common noncommunicable diseases, yet many can be prevented and treated through essential oral health services delivered at the primary health-care level,” she said. “By sharing experiences and using WHO tools such as the SPDI Platform, countries are accelerating progress towards universal health coverage for oral health.” “Integrating oral health into broader health services is essential for reducing inequities, expanding access and recognizing oral health as an integral component of overall health and well-being. The 100-Day Sprint provides an important opportunity to translate this commitment into practical action and ensure that quality oral health services reach all people, especially those most in need,” said Dr Suman Rijal, Director of the WHO South-East Asia regional Department of Healthier Populations and Noncommunicable Diseases. As host of the meeting, Malaysia showcased ongoing efforts to strengthen oral health care through primary health care and prevention-focused approaches, while providing a platform for countries across the two WHO regions to exchange experiences and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage for oral health. “WHO is encouraged by Malaysia's leadership in addressing the burden of oral diseases and advancing universal health coverage for oral health through practical, country-led action,” said Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe, WHO Representative to Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore. Countries will continue to refine and figure costs for national oral health benefits during the remaining sessions of the 100 days. These efforts support implementation of the WHO Global strategy and action plan on oral health 2023–2030, while also helping to expand access to essential oral health services through stronger and more equitable health systems across the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions.______________For more information, or to arrange media interviews, contact: WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific: wprocom@who.int WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia: SEMediaRelations@who.int
NC lawmakers call for special session of General Assembly to tackle high gas prices
Republican leaders in NC House and Senate announced Saturday that they plan to convene a special session to focus on gas prices.
How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy
Hey all, Jason here. Money20/20 is still two weeks away, but I’ve already started packing (not procrastinating for once!). My calendar is already filling up with various sessions I want to catch, meetings, and of course happy hours, dinners, and other side events. If you’ll be in Vegas and want to catch up, let me know by replying to this email, and we can try to find a time amidst the chaos of the Venetian. A big if not totally unexpected piece of news dropped on Friday: the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group that represents smaller U.S. banks, filed a lawsuit against the OCC and Comptroller Jonathan Gould, arguing that the regulator’s move to grant trust bank charters to firms seeking to use them to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authorities granted to the OCC by Congress. I haven’t had time to fully digest the legal filing or speak to folks in my network about it, but you can expect to see coverage and analysis on it in next week’s newsletter. Subscribe or Support by Upgrading The NerdCon agenda just dropped. It’s stacked. Partner content: Nubank built an AI-first bank. Chime built its own banking core. Figure and Valon are rebuilding the mortgage stack. At NerdCon, you’ll hear from the people behind those bets: what they chose, what they learned, and what they’re still figuring out. The agenda is live, with leaders from Nubank, Chime, OpenAI, Remitly, Mercury, Figure, Valon and more. Follow the mainstage conversations, bring the problem your team is wrestling with to a hands-on workshop, or pull up a chair at a roundtable. Pick your quests. Meet us in San Diego, November 18–20. Fintech Business Weekly readers save 20% with code FBW20. Explore the Agenda Things To Know & Other Good Reads Federal Reserve Board finalizes changes to enhance the transparency and public accountability of its stress test and reduce volatility in its stress test-related capital requirements (Federal Reserve Board of Governors) FDIC Announces Conclusion of Independent Monitorship (FDIC) Modernizing Financial Regulation: Initial Observations from eSLR (Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman) The Data Version of Godzilla versus Kong: FRED Takes on AI (Fed Governor Christopher Waller) Financing the AI buildout (Brookings) Q3’26: Rules for Banks but Not for Crypto (Fintech Takes Banking) The Inevitability of Local Stablecoins (Lombard Notes) Delusions of AI Governance: The Human-in-the-Loop Comfort Blanket (Fintech Snark Tank) Stripe agrees to acquire Parafin to expand revenue opportunities for platforms and help small businesses grow (Stripe) Listen: Fighting Fraud in the Age of AI, with SEON’s Tamas Kadar (Fintech Business Weekly) How Americans’ Financial Health Is Faring In The “K-Shaped” Economy If there is one overarching theme across the economy and politics in the U.S. at the moment, it’s “affordability.” The term is vague enough to encompass a panoply of factors shaping Americans’ day-to-day lives: rising costs for the hallmarks of being “middle class,” including healthcare, housing, childcare, and education, inflation and rising interest rates, and a job market with the specter of AI hovering over it. At the same time, policy shifts under the Trump administration have resulted in reduced subsidies to those who get health insurance under the Affordable Care Act and new restrictions on qualifying for Medicaid and SNAP, the impacts of which have yet to be fully felt. These factors are contributing to declining consumer confidence and general dissatisfaction with the economy, despite continuing GDP growth and stock market records. This divergence is encapsulated in the idea of the “K-shaped” economy, in which a small proportion of Americans have seen their wealth balloon, while the majority of American households struggle to preserve the lifestyle they have. Perhaps the greatest determinant of which branch of the “K” a household is on is whether their wealth and income are primarily derived from employment vs. from assets. Nearly two decades of low interest rates and, more recently, elevated rates of inflation have benefited asset owners, while those whose income is primarily or solely derived from labor have largely seen real purchasing power stagnate or decline. This is reflected in recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that labor share of U.S. GDP — the fraction of economic output that accrues to workers as compensation in exchange for their labor — dropped to just 52.8% in Q2 2026, the lowest since the BLS began keeping records. In 1947, approximately 2/3rds of economic output accrued to workers; even as recently as 2001, labor’s share of GDP was 64.1%. Against this backdrop, we’ve seen the rise of more credit and credit-like products: cash advance apps, “no-fee” overdraft, earned wage access, and buy now pay later, which are often used as small-dollar short-term borrowing mechanisms to meet immediate consumption needs or pay other bills (eg utilities, cell phone, other debt payments). With the markers of a middle class existence and, increasingly, basic financial stability seemingly out of reach for many, it should be no surprise there’s been an increase in “financial nihilism,” something industry peers like Alex Johnson and Frank Rotman have discussed and analyzed the roots of. The explosion of gambling and gambling-adjacent products and services — often marketed under the guise of being an “investment” — is inextricably intertwined with the rise of financial nihilism. Crypto, sports betting, and, more recently, prediction markets offer an escape or even hope of sorts, like a contemporary, digital version of a scratch-off lottery ticket, while leaving the overwhelming number of people who use such products worse off. Share of Households That Are Financially “Vulnerable” Ticks Up The Financial Health Network’s 2026 Financial Health Pulse® report adds context on how American households are faring. (I linked to this report in last week’s newsletter, but wanted to take time to further unpack the data in the report this week.) The Financial Health Network publishes the report annually, providing insight into how Americans’ financial circumstances are changing over time. The 2026 report is derived from a survey fielded in April and May 2026. The report leverages survey responses to assess indicators of financial health across spending, saving, borrowing, and planning/protecting and to determine a zero to 100 “FinHealth” score. Those with scores between 0 and 39 are considered “Financially Vulnerable,” consumers with scores ranging between 40 and 79 are defined as “Financially Coping,” and those with scores of 80 to 100 are “Financially Healthy.” The report found that moderate improvements in 2025 were reversed, with the share of respondents considered financially “vulnerable” rebounding to 17%. The longitudinal data reflect the impact of pandemic-era programs, like expanded unemployment, cash stimulus payments, and pauses of federal student loan payments. The positive impacts of those programs, as reflected in the Financial Health Pulse reports, had largely disappeared by 2023. While pandemic-era inflation — to be fair, in part caused by the various support and stimulus measures — had come down from as high as 9% in 2022, it has rebounded since the start of Trump’s second term, with tariffs and energy market disruptions owing to the war in Iran pushing prices back up. Specific indicators in the survey that deteriorated from 2025 to 2026 include the share of respondents spending less than their income over the past 12 months, the share paying all bills on time over the past 12 months, the share that have a manageable amount or no debt, the share that are “moderately” or “very” confident their insurance is adequate to cover them in an emergency, and the share that “somewhat” or “strongly” agree that their household plans ahead financially. Unsurprisingly, lower- and moderate-income households are more likely to struggle to pay their bills on time and have any funds leftover to save. The share of low-income households whose income exceeded their spending dropped from 35% in 2025 to 31% in 2026, while the share of upper-income households whose income exceeded expenses remained unchanged at 63%. Households with student loans or revolving credit card debt reported having “a bit more” or “far more” debt than was manageable at rates far higher than those not carrying these types of debts. The share of those with student loan debt indicating their debt load was too high to manage increased from 50% in 2025 to 55% in 2026, while the share of those with revolving credit card debt saying the same ticked up from 51% in 2025 to 54% in 2026. Households that had student loans were markedly more likely to be financially “coping” or “vulnerable” vs. those without student loans. In 2026, 27% of households with student loans were considered financially vulnerable, a jump of 6% points vs. 2025. Households without student loans saw just a 1% point increase (not statistically significant) in those considered financially vulnerable. Households’ perception of the affordability of categories of goods and services paints a stark picture, with less than one-fourth considering higher education affordable, about a third deeming childcare affordable, and less than half viewing healthcare as affordable. Fintech Business Weekly is made possible by the generous support of paying subscribers — bringing you independent analysis of banking, fintech, and crypto without fear or favor. You can support my work by becoming a paying subscriber if you aren’t already. Paying subscribers enjoy: access to the entire archive of nearly six years of newsletters extended versions of the weekly newsletter, with additional content and analysis and (for founding member tier) quarterly personal 1:1 fintech Q&A / strategy calls with me, tapping into my unparalleled knowledge of the intersection of banking and fintech and experience working in the sector, including helping to launch Goldman Sachs’ retail bank Marcus Support Fintech Business Weekly You can also support Fintech Business Weekly by sponsoring a newsletter or podcast, putting you in front of 93,000+ of the most influential decision makers in banking, fintech, and crypto. Learn more about sponsor opportunities or request a media kit by dropping me an email. Democratic Senate Report Highlights How Iran Uses Tether to Evade U.S. Sanctions Iran uses stablecoins, specifically Tether, to evade sanctions, fund regional proxies, and to purchase military drones, a report released last week by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says. The report was authored by committee ranking member Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and the minority staff. Crypto and stablecoin proponents will often push back on criticism that criminals make use of these assets by arguing that, on an absolute dollar basis, far more illicit funds flow through traditional banking systems and payment rails than via crypto and stablecoins. And while that is likely true, it elides the reality presented in news story after news story: whether state actors — Russia, Iran, North Korea — or criminal groups, those looking to engage in illicit transactions increasingly favor stablecoins and, specifically, Tether (USDT). The report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released last week adds context to how Iran uses Tether has a lynchpin in its shadow banking system. The report analyzed 846 wallets that have been sanctioned or targeted for seizure, finding that 84% of them transacted exclusively or primarily in Tether. The ability to create near limitless, anonymous wallets and to move funds effectively instantaneously and irreversibly have made crypto a favored financial mechanism for bad actors. Stablecoins solved key drawbacks of bitcoin, namely, the original cryptocurrency’s highly volatile value in dollars. And while Tether (the company) has the technical ability to “freeze” or destroy funds, the company is often limited and reactive in its approach to doing so, the Senate report argues. Tether, which is nominally based in crypto-friendly El Salvador, “has stated that its compliance with OFAC sanctions is ‘voluntary’ and that it follows ‘OFAC guidelines,’” the Senate report says. Owing to these favorable attributes, Tether “became a primary cryptocurrency for Iran, Hamas, Hizballah, and the Houthis beginning in 2023 and has expanded in scale since,” according to the report. Tether’s role in Iran’s shadow banking system, the report says, is enhanced by crypto exchanges like Bybit, Kyrrex, OKX, Gate, and Binance, and through “over the counter” exchanges and hawala networks. The consequences of these financial flows aren’t hypothetical. The Senate report links Tether as a funds transfer mechanism to Iranian proxies in the region, including Hizballah, the Houthis, and Hamas. Tether has also been used to make payments to secure components necessary to manufacture drones, the report says. The report concludes by arguing that “[s]tablecoin issuers with a significant nexus to the United States, particularly those that offer dollar-denominated stablecoins, should be subject to American sanctions law rather than being allowed to hide behind foreign jurisdictions.” Stablecoin issuers like Tether must be held accountable for repeated failures to prevent illicit finance and sanctions violations by law enforcement, the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and OFAC, the report argues. [Paying Subscriber Exclusive] OUSD Goes Live, Make Your Own Neobank, U.S. Sanctions Russia’s A7 Network As “Transnational Criminal Organization” OpenUSD, the stablecoin issued by the Open Standard consortium that includes Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, core providers, crypto firms, and numerous banks, went live last week. Social commerce platform Whop raised eyebrows in fintech by offering creators on its platform the ability to launch their own neobanks, which the company describes as “great businesses that are easy to run,” in just 15 minutes. And OFAC and FinCEN target Russia’s “shadow banking” A7 Network — more on these stories after the paywall.
Is Elanco Animal Health (ELAN) Still Undervalued As Its Stock Sits At $22.14?
Elanco Animal Health (ELAN) recently caught investor attention after its latest trading session, with the share price closing at $22.14 even as recent month and past 3 months returns show declines. Zooming out, Elanco Animal Health has a 1-day share price return of 1.70% at $22.14, while the 30-day and 90-day share price returns are down 9.63% and 11.90%, which points to fading short-term momentum even as the 3-year total shareholder return of 131.59% signals a much stronger longer-run...
Iowa Football: Numbers That Stood Out From Ohio State Loss
Ohio State won the time of possession battle by 17 minutes, but the real eye-opening stat was Jeremiah Smith recording 200+ yards for the second straight game.
NC GOP leaders to call special session on fuel prices
The Senate and House Republican leaders have not set a date for lawmakers to return to Raleigh.
Baptist Health Calhoun Hospital Foundation Golf Classic Set for Oct. 7
ANNISTON, AL. — The Baptist Health Calhoun Hospital Memorial Foundation will host its annual Golf Classic on Wednesday, Oct. 7, with proceeds benefiting the health system. The tournament will feature a four-person scramble format with a shotgun start. Golfers may participate in either the morning session, beginning at 7:30 a.m., or the afternoon session, beginning […]
‘Abbott Elementary’ teases sixth season changes
PHILADELPHIA — The new season of "Abbott Elementary" is nearly back in session. And from the looks of it, there are some changes coming. In the Season 6 trailer that
Beijing Zhongke WengeAI Science And Technology (SEHK:1956) Jumped 7%, Is It Fully Priced?
Beijing Zhongke WengeAI Science and Technology (SEHK:1956) drew attention after a sharp 7.4% gain in the latest session, a move that contrasts with its weaker performance over the past month and past three months. The sharp move in Beijing Zhongke WengeAI Science and Technology comes after a tougher stretch, with the share price return down 7.49% over the past month and 22.93% over the past quarter, contributing to a 38.63% year to date share price decline from the current HK$68.55...
Why BrightSpring Health Services (BTSG) Stock Is Up Today
What Happened? Shares of healthcare services provider BrightSpring Health Services (NASDAQ:BTSG) jumped 4.8% in the afternoon session after BMO Capital analy...
Part of Capitol complex in downtown Sacramento evacuated due to threat
California lawmakers are not currently in session, but construction crews and legislative employees were at the site.
Social media video of gas station tattoo session prompts health department response
Health officials are warning of tattoo regulations after a social media video surfaced showing tattooing done between pumps at a gas station.
Can't stop thinking about 'Verity'? 12 thrillers with twists you won't see coming.
From "Gone Girl" to "Basic Instinct," these movies turn relationships and obsessions into games of deception.
Miranda Lambert returns with country-disco album 'Crisco,' a set of songs that have 'a lot of joy'
Miranda Lambert has entered her disco era with her new album, “Crisco,” set to release Friday | KYW Newsradio
Free Play Days – FARCRY 6, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull and Bones, The Crew Motorfest
This weekend, Polterguys: Possession Party is available this weekend for XBOX Game Pass members, while WWE 2K26 and Wildgate are free for all. Jump in!
NFL fans question roughing call involving Patrick Mahomes
Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock.com Roughing call sparks debate after Chiefs win A roughing-the-passer call involving Patrick Mahomes sparked plenty of discussion after the Chiefs defeated the Dolphins 24-10. Chop Robinson was flagged after making contact with Mahomes as he released the ball. The penalty extended Kansas City’s possession and later became a talking point because of how…
Evolution and climate change are missing from Florida's proposed science standards
The Florida Department of Education held its first listening session at Armwood High School. Some teachers brought up their concerns about missing topics, such as evolution.
Arsenal Rank Third Among Premier League Clubs for Dictating Play
Arsenal sit third in CIES' latest game dictating index, with their opening five matches showing why possession alone only tells part of the story.
Is it your personality or a psychological disorder? TikTok has answers.
Maladaptive daydreaming, obsessional jealousy and misophonia are now topics of study as social media trends force psychiatrists to rethink their diagnostic “bible.”
Victoria Monét’s ‘Frequency of Love’ aims to strike the optimal sonic vibration
Victoria Monét is back with 22 new tracks of music for her project “Frequency of Love.” | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM
Victoria Monét’s ‘Frequency of Love’ aims to strike the optimal sonic vibration
Victoria Monét is back with 22 new tracks of music for her project “Frequency of Love.” | 830 WCCO
Business and Industry Association Ranks Lawmakers for the 2026 Session; Political Winds Shifting
The Business and Industry Association's annual legislative report and legislative rankings is an indication of how much the political landscape has changed in Concord.
Business and Industry Association Ranks Lawmakers for the 2026 Session; Political Winds Shifting
The Business and Industry Association's annual legislative report and legislative rankings is an indication of how much the political landscape has changed in Concord.
UN Decade of Healthy Ageing midpoint report finds progress, calls for greater investment
New evidence in the Secretary-General's report to the 81st UN General Assembly, prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in coordination with the UN system, finds more countries acting on healthy ageing than ever before – but longer lives will not become healthy, dignified ones without faster, more sustained investment at country level.(NEW YORK, 28 September 2026) The Secretary-General transmitted to the 81st session of the UN General Assembly the mid-term progress report on the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030), marking the midpoint of the ten-year global effort to improve the lives of older people. The report was prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in coordination with the UN Inter-Agency Group on Ageing and with inputs from thirteen UN entities, the World Bank Group and civil society partners. It finds real progress in countries – and persistent gaps that must close before 2030.The number of people aged 60 and over passed 1 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050, with the fastest growth in low- and middle-income countries. Longer lives are not automatically healthy ones: globally, the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at age 60 widened between 2000 and 2023, and an estimated 71% of excess deaths from COVID-19 between 2020 and 2023 were among people aged 60 and over. “Longer lives are one of humanity’s great achievements, but we cannot congratulate ourselves while leaving millions without health and support,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, Director, Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing, WHO. “The first half of the Decade has shown what is possible. The second half must be about scaling and financing the progress to meet the needs and rights of older persons.”Real progress, unevenly sharedThe report finds that more countries than ever now have legislation against age-based discrimination – up from 44.5% in 2018 to 57.7% today – and over half now have national long-term care policies, up from 49% in 2023 to 56.7%, dedicated programmes to build age-friendly environments (54.6%), and comprehensive health and social assessments of older people (54.6%). New WHO guidance on services for long-term care and for Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) delivered in communities is enabling systemic change as an increasing number of countries incorporate these services within national universal health care benefit packages. A host of UN agencies and other partners support training, increasing health workforce competencies and use of digital health tools.“This report shows the Decade of Healthy Ageing is working,” said Dr Ritu Sadana, Head of the WHO Secretariat for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing. “More countries are legislating against ageism, providing integrated care, strengthening long-term care systems, and creating age-friendly environments than ever before, in all regions and income levels. But progress is uneven and in one area, regressive: fewer countries report active multi-stakeholder forums on ageing, down from 53.1% in 2020 to 43.3% today. The second half of this Decade must turn commitments into results, in every country.”The financing gap: this Decade's binding constraintFinancing remains the binding constraint: more than a third of reporting countries (33.8%) have very little or no dedicated resources to develop long-term care, with similar shortfalls across the Decade’s other priority areas. Less than half of countries (45.4%) have legislation providing access to assistive devices (including hearing aids, spectacles or rollators), which are key to enabling older people to maintain productive, independent and dignified lives. Only 22.7% of countries can track older people’s health over time – the largest gap across the Decade’s core progress indicators. Nationally representative information is needed in each country, as policies and interventions cannot be designed as if all older adults of a given age share similar needs and capacities. The report calls for sustained investment through national budgets, country-owned plans, development cooperation and innovative financing mechanisms to fully close these gaps by 2030.“The Decade was designed as a whole-of-UN effort, and this report shows it in action,” said Amal Abou Rafeh, Chief of the Programme on Ageing Section at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), and Permanent Co-Chair of the UN Inter-Agency Group on Ageing. “Thirteen UN entities, the World Bank group and civil society organizations contributed to this report, with WHO as the lead technical and implementing agency. That is the model of coordination the second half of the Decade will need to scale, with countries leading legislation, funding and implementation, engaging older people.”“Investing in healthy ageing is not simply a cost; it is one of the highest-return investments a government can make,” said Fiona Stewart, Global Lead for Ageing and Pensions at the World Bank Group. “Countries that invest early in integrated and long-term care see savings that outweigh the upfront cost many times over. The evidence in this report makes the economic case; what is now needed is predictable financing at country level to act on it, along with efforts to support older entrepreneurs and the silver economy.”Older people's own voicesThe report also draws on the direct experience of older people themselves, including a multilingual global survey conducted by the International Federation on Ageing that reached more than 1000 older people across 58 countries. WHO and UN partners called on Member States to use the second half of the Decade to accelerate implementation, strengthen data systems, and secure the financing needed so that the gains of longer lives reach older people everywhere. About the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030)Proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 2020, the Decade is a global collaboration bringing together governments, UN agencies, civil society, the private sector, academia and older people themselves to improve the lives of older people, their families and communities. It is coordinated by the World Health Organization together with the UN Inter-Agency Group on Ageing. The Decade's mid-term progress report was transmitted to the General Assembly by the Secretary-General, prepared by WHO, and is available in 6 languages.Full Report available: A/81/366 Implementation of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030): Note by Secretary-General [ العربية | 中文 | English | Français | Pусский | Español
Looking at the Ugly Side of the Paramount-Skydance Merger...And How I’d Fix It
A Message from Our Sponsor Certified Fresh with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, FX’s Adults is an ensemble comedy series about a group of twenty-somethings in New York leaning on each other to navigate love, work, friendship and family. Don’t sleep on “The Sitcom of the Moment” - Awards Buzz All Episodes now streaming on Hulu on Disney+. Watch The Teaser Trailer... (Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industr(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Before we dive in, I wanted to congratulate Broadcast Now for being the first to report that Netflix’s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast has been cancelled. (I saw this in a write-up by Kasey Moore of Whats-On-Netflix.) More importantly, I wanted to note that, as of yesterday, none of the other trades had reported the news yet. I have half a guess that eventually one of them will report this. Anyways, it’s time to take a break from my deluge of streaming ratings reports to continue my analysis of the Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery (PSWbD) saga. As I noted last week, a lot of times when folks use the (sometimes cliched) “the good, the bad and the ugly” framing for an article, “the ugly” section is just more bad. Or very, very bad. In this case, yeah, I do think it’s ugly. In more than one way. Unfortunately, we’re only going to have time to tackle one of those ways today: the ugly pile of debt to finance this deal. (In a future article, I may cover the entire process for how it went down, which was very, very ugly.) Last issue, I explained why I liked this deal in a vacuum. Unfortunately, “vacuums” don’t exist outside of space. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - The Ugliness of the Paramount/Warner Bros. Merger More than one person sent me a note speculating that the big problem with Paramount Skydance buying Warner Bros. Discovery is the “Warner Bros.” portion of the deal. In fact, that’s a take I read a lot about Warner Bros., ever since they caught Netflix’s, and then Paramount-Skydance’s, eye. In short, multiple companies (Time, AOL, AT&T, Discovery) have bought and then regretted buying Warner Bros. Since it’s nearing Halloween, you could almost say it’s like the folks think WB is cursed! It’s a haunted studio—like the town of Derry in movie studio form—and whoever takes possession of it will fall into misery! Yet...I just don’t like that story, because it doesn’t explain the “why” behind why those deals fell through. Especially when Warner Bros. has continued to succeed as a TV and film studio in the intervening two decades. Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter? Game of Thrones? Everything HBO? Considering it never fully owned a broadcast TV channel, this media company has done pretty well. So what went wrong? Well, in recent years, companies bought Warner Bros. instead of the other, smarter option. Explaining POCD (And Applying It to Mergers & Acquisitions) As I explained last issue, one of my favorite frameworks is the POCD tool for evaluating venture capital investments: People Opportunity Context Deal The bar to invest as a VC is high. (Or I might say “was” since cheap interest rates made life easier last decade.) You review a thousand prospectuses, get pitched by a hundred, and invest in the ten best, with the hopes that one of those ten would pay for the rest. That means every element of a deal needed to pay off: you needed the right people running the companies, who could capitalize on the right opportunity, in the context of an industry that was ripe for disruption. If you could then not overpay, you could make some money in a smart deal. The analogy isn’t perfect here, but close enough. For a merger or acquisition to work, you need the combined company (which is the opportunity) to make more than the price you need to pay (which is the deal). Note: the people and context still matter, but with M&A, it’s a little more straightforward: does the opportunity exceed the cost? And usually with Warner Bros., it hasn’t. If you want to find out the single biggest mistake made by the Warner Bros. suitors over the last few years (and my simple fix) become a paid subscriber. I’ll also touch on who I think Paramount-Skydance could (shockingly) consider buying next, TBD, and more. Sign up here.
Evolution, climate change missing from Florida's new K-12 science standards
The Florida Department of Education held its first listening session at Armwood High School. Some teachers brought up their concerns about missing topics, such as evolution.
Crisis responses, H.R. 1 fallout are challenging states' mental health delivery
North Carolina and Wisconsin are working to decouple law enforcement from crisis response, leverage 988 in care entry and conquer longstanding data silos. | State officials spoke frankly about the challenges they face in delivering equitable mental healthcare during policy sessions at the annual Behavioral Health Tech conference last week, held in Nashville.
Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Portugal training session
Cristiano Ronaldo left Portugal’s national team training shortly after coach Jorge Jesus’s press conference, in which the manager had assured that CR7 would take part in the session.According to t...
Carle Health to host Camp Healing Heart
The event features therapeutic sessions interspersed with camp activities, hayrack rides, a climbing wall and arts and crafts.
Contrasting Anthropic and Oura IPO plans show stock market breadth issue
Anthropic is racing toward a massive IPO while Oura hits pause, exposing Wall Street's increasingly narrow AI obsession.
Why AMC Entertainment (AMC) Dipped More Than Broader Market Today
AMC Entertainment (AMC) concluded the recent trading session at $3.08, signifying a -6.38% move from its prior day's close.
Innovative country experiences show how primary health care can accelerate health system transformation in the Americas
Barbados, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic and Guyana shared experiences on strengthening Primary Health Care through targeted actions in health workforce, services organization and system’s planning during the 63rd PAHO Directing Council.Washington, D.C., 29 September, 2026 (PAHO) – Innovative approaches to transform health systems based on primary health care (PHC) were highlighted today during a briefing session at the 63rd Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Richmond International Airport to host free business forum Nov. 12
Richmond International Airport will host its sixth annual P.O.W.E.R. Forum Nov. 12 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The free event, scheduled from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., is designed to connect businesses with potential partners and airport procurement opportunities. Sessions also will provide
Des Moines seeks public input on Greenwood Park improvements
The Des Moines Parks and Recreation Department will host two public input sessions Oct. 7 to gather residents’ ideas and priorities for the future of Greenwood Park. The sessions will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. at the park. Feedback will help shape a plan for potential improvements, which…
Holland & Knight Health Dose: September 29, 2026 | Insights
Senate returns for its final legislative session before recess, with FDA and HHS nominations pending and debate continuing over proposed HHS funding rescissions.
How loud is too loud? Dubuque County weighs health risks of data center hum
Under the county’s moratorium timeline adopted in July, supervisors plan to complete town hall sessions in October and release an initial public draft of the data center ordinance by early November.
[NAC] FNCS Solos Qualifiers in NA Central: Qualifier 1 Day 1 Round 1
Drop into the FNCS Solos! The competition kicks off with Round 1, featuring two three-hour sessions—Day 1 and Day 2—with up to 11 matches per session. Eligible players must rank within the top 200,000 on the overall Power Rankings Leaderboard. Players ranked in the top 2,000 may skip Round 1 and automatically qualify for Round 2; however, choosing to compete in Round 1 forfeits that automatic qualification. After both Round 1 sessions conclude, scores from Day 1 and Day 2 will be combined. The top players on the cumulative leaderboard will advance to Round 2: Top 8,000 EU; Top 4,000 NAC; and Top 2,000 OCE, ASIA, ME, BR, and NAW. Round 2 consists of one three-hour session with up to 11 matches. At the end of the session, the top 1,000 players in each region will advance to Round 3. Round 3 also features one three-hour session with up to 11 matches. In Qualifier 1, the top 100 players on the Round 3 leaderboard will advance to Fast Track. In Qualifier 2, the top 108 players will advance to Heats. Good luck and have fun!
Now an elder statesman, former Gov. Gray Davis surveys his career in a major Berkeley project
After 17 lengthy recording sessions and more than a decade of review and revision, Davis and the Oral History Center at Bancroft Library are releasing their monumental history of a career that help shape modern California.
Vikes Views: Sunday King
The Minnesota Vikings won on the road in Tampa Bay, in an ugly game. There were 17 punts, 3 Interceptions, and 17 penalties. Three different times, the teams combined for five consecutive possessions ending in punts. The teams averaged less than 17 yards per possession in a defensive battle. The two defenses are stout, but […]
UAMS-Sponsored Health & Wellness Expo Offers Free Screenings, Other Resources
The 2026 Health & Wellness Expo drew hundreds of Arkansans for a morning of health screenings, question-and-answer sessions with experts from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), and other activities.
Chilean Minister of Health elected President of PAHO’s 63rd Directing Council
Washington, D.C., 28 September 2026 (PAHO) – Chile’s Minister of Health, Dr. May Chomalí Garib, was elected today as President of the 63rd Directing Council of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) during the opening session of one of the Organization’s governing bodies.Dr. Chomalí assumes the leadership of PAHO’s Directing Council for the Americas, succeeding Lisa Cummins, Minister of Health and Wellness of Barbados.
Sylvester Stallone Says He Had Bulimia When His Body Became a Dangerous ‘Obsession’
At 80, the star of the “Rocky” and “Rambo” franchises says he abused his body and used steroids. The actor also opens up about dealing with anxiety and figuring out love late in life.
Sylvester Stallone ‘became bulimic’ during body ‘obsession,’ had 2.6 percent body fat ahead of “Rocky III”
The actor explained how he eventually “broke the cycle” of his eating disorder.
In 'Open Season' Draymond Green takes you on his mental health journey
Warriors star Draymond Green discusses the docuseries of unscripted therapy sessions, LeBron James, Steve Kerr and more.
Billy Ray Cyrus shares never-before-seen letter from Dolly Parton: ‘One of my most prized possessions’
The Country singer unveiled the note in honor of “9 to 5 Day,” a.k.a Dolly Parton Day, adding, “Today felt like the right day to share it.”
The Americas are making progress in health but must accelerate action on emerging challenges, says PAHO Director
At the opening of the 63rd Directing Council, Dr. Jarbas Barbosa highlighted the Region’s public health gains, called for stronger regional cooperation, and underscored priorities including primary health care, vaccination, digital health and emergency preparedness.
New task force aims to expand employee ownership to Vt. businesses and workers
MONTPELIER — Vermont Treasurer Mike Pieciak will convene a task force ahead of the legislative session to explore ways the state can expand employee ownership to local businesses and their
Premier League: Is top-flight possession football on way out?
Only 36% of teams with more than 60% possession have won this season in the Premier League. BBC Sport looks at why?
Chaplains and Commissars: An Analysis of the People's Liberation Army’s Political Work System and the Will to Fight
In future conflicts, Western forces can reduce the PLA’s will to fight by undermining belief in the chain of command and CCP more broadly.
“SNL”’s Ashley Padilla debuts ‘totally normal’ take on Trump aide Natalie Harp in cold open
“She’s like the girl from ‘Obsession,’ but blonde,” James Austin Johnson as Trump quips.
Trump's Greenland obsession isn’t random. Here’s what’s at stake
Greenland's untapped rare earth minerals, oil and gas reserves could reshape U.S. energy security as Trump's Denmark deal expands military presence.
FUTURE-HEALTH
Future Health – A Global Initiative by Abu Dhabi convened Ministers, senior government representatives, and global health leaders in New York on the sidelines of the 81st Session of the
Expert picks for Sunday singles at the 2026 Presidents Cup
After three days and four sessions at the Presidents Cup, it's time now for the Sunday singles.
Why does healthcare cost so much? Look at administration.
Iowa made progress to help patients in the 2026 legislative session, but more work is needed, writes Dr. Michael Kitchell.
Registration begins for 2027 Business Accelerator Academy sessions
WARSAW — Registration is underway for the 2027 Wyoming County Business Accelerator Academy.
[NAC] Override Series: Persona 5 Royal Cup Reload in NA Central: Session 1
Take their hearts! Compete for a chance to earn Persona 5 Royal cosmetic rewards. Good luck and have fun!
Georgia x Northern Ireland - Highlights, Summary and Match Report
Georgia controlled much of the contest at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, finishing with 62.2% possession, 11 shots and nine corners, while Northern Ireland were more direct with 12 attempts of thei...
'War' review: HBO's delicious legal drama is your next TV obsession
Dominic West and Sienna Miller star in this tale of divorce and betrayal.
LeBron James mocked online over viral open-run footage
headlinephotos/Depositphotos LeBron James sparks new 76ers viral debate LeBron James, a forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, became the focus of a viral video on September 22, 2026, showing him missing jumpers during an open run at Crespi Carmelite High School in Los Angeles. The footage came from a longer session also featuring NBA players DeMar…
Pritzker pushing for data center legislation in fall veto session
Gov. JB Pritzker expects the state Legislature will take up the issue of data-center regulation during the veto session session later this year.
Pritzker pushing for data center legislation in fall veto session
Gov. JB Pritzker expects the state Legislature will take up the issue of data-center regulation during the veto session session later this year.
H3D Foundation, IFPMA and Leith Host Webinar on How Storytelling Helps Science Travel Further
Little Black Book, This session formed part of the H3D Foundation’s webinar series focused on strengthening African scientific leadership and visibility
Senate GOP eyes last-ditch push on affordability as fears deepen over midterm map
Inside the Senate GOP’s campaign headquarters on Wednesday, dozens of Republicans gathered for a strategy session during what was expected to be their final days in Washington before the November midterms.
Bulgaria’s presidential race turns to ballot numerology
The Bulgarian obsession for political numerology has practical roots
Considering a healthcare career? Check out these sessions
The IU Health workforce training organization is adding an orientation to help Indianapolis residents get connected with jobs in healthcare.
From Congress to County Commissioner: Kentucky State Council Urges Multilevel Political Power
A packed room of IAM delegates attended the fall session of the Kentucky State Council in Calvert City, Ky. Local political candidates, who are running for positions like local commissioner to U.S. Congress, courted coveted labor votes in the IAM. The keynote speaker was retired IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger who talked about the importance
Free Play Days – PGA TOUR 2K25, The Escapists 2, Young Suns, and The Division 2
This weekend, Polterguys: Possession Party is available this weekend for XBOX Game Pass members, while WWE 2K26 and Wildgate are free for all. Jump in!
Pope: Climate crisis is not just an environmental challenge, but a matter of justice
On the occasion of the Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope Leo receives its members in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican and ...
CPA Chairperson and South African Speaker highlight women's, children's and adolescents' health at 69th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in South Africa
Parliamentarians and health leaders from across the Commonwealth gathered at the 69th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in South Africa to discuss how stronger parliamentary leadership, oversight and collaboration can advance the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents. The session highlighted the need to translate commitments into measurable action, strengthen accountability for health financing and ensure policies deliver meaningful results for communities.
Potential health science high school update on Columbia BOE meeting agenda
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia Board of Education will hold a work session Thursday morning to discuss lottery school updates and the potential addition of a "health science high school." The work session will begin at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, in the Aslin Administration building. According to the meeting agenda, lottery schools are specialized schools that
Therapy returns for St. Louis County jail residents in an effort to address mental health needs
With the county jail dealing with staffing issues and crowding, the St. Louis County Public Health Department is providing therapists to conduct group and one-on-one sessions with detainees who are interested.
England vs Spain: Anthony Gordon backs Thomas Tuchel's 'DNA' comments about possession and calls on Three Lions to focus on their strengths
Thomas Tuchel said control with possession is not in the DNA of England players after World Cup loss; Anthony Gordon agreed, explaining inbuilt ability for Spanish players; winger calls on England to focus on own strengths; Follow England vs Spain on Sky Sports website and App on Saturday
Unionized hospital doctors reach deal with Allina Health after historic 4-day strike
The union representing about 150 Allina hospital doctors announced on Wednesday a tentative agreement on a first labor contract covering wages and benefits. The agreement follows a four-day strike last week, believed to be the first by private-sector hospital doctors in U.S. history. It came after three years and more than 66 contentious negotiation sessions […]
South Korea’s weight-loss obsession and the health risks it brings
South Korean women face higher underweight rates than men, with experts warning that social pressure to be thin and weight-loss drugs may pose health risks.
Analysis: How Real Madrid’s Passivity Allows Opponents To Thrive
The out-of-possession woes continue
Tuchel Contemplates Senior England Training For Young Gunner Star
Thomas Tuchel could fast-track Arsenal’s record-breaking prodigy into senior sessions as injuries deplete the Three Lions’ squad, offering the teenage sensation a chance to test himself alongside some of the world's best.
Trump’s South Africa obsession upends the US refugee program
Thousands of immigrants are set to arrive next year. Almost all of them are white South Africans.
13th Session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 13)
13th Session of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES 13)
Brazil hold first full-squad training session; see
The Brazilian National Team held its first training session with the full squad under Carlo Ancelotti on Wednesday (23) at Ballymore Stadium in Brisbane, Australia.With the morning arrivals of goalkee...
RIC business opportunity forum planned Nov. 12 in Richmond
Richmond International Airport will host its sixth annual POWER Forum Thursday, Nov. 12, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The free event is designed for businesses interested in airport contracting and procurement opportunities. Sessions will address potential business partnerships, technical assistance, access
Presidents Cup 2026: Thursday's fourball matchups, starting times at Medinah
The first session features five fourball matches, the first of which tees off at 12:35 p.m. ET.
Class is back in session at Robbins Science Center
Since the school bus crash at Robbins Science Center on June 2, facilities have worked over the summer to repair the damage. “The building had substantial water damage after the bus hit a sprinkler pipe and set off the sprinkler system. It took several weeks to dry out the building so reconstruction could begin. Crews...
Klopp ready to 'get straight down to business' in Germany debut
Jürgen Klopp said he will get "straight down to business" in his debut as Germany coach in the Nations League opener against the Netherlands on Thursday. "I haven't heard of many friendly matches in Amsterdam so it's straight down to business," the new national team told journalists after the final training session on Wednesday.
School's back in session. Let's talk mental health.
So how equipped are our schools to address mental health?
Reform and the UAE – a threat to British politics
By Alex Carlen The United Arab Emirates likes to present itself as part of the solution to the climate crisis. The oil-rich Gulf state has committed to Net Zero by 2050, hosted COP 28, and even declared “championing climate action” as one of three strategic objectives for this week’s session of the United Nations General Assembly. But behind the scenes the UAE has quietly built one of its closest political relationships in Europe with the party most hostile to climate action in Britain: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. There is no evidence that the UAE is funding Reform. But a new FairSquare report, Petro-populism: the UAE–Reform threat, published today, documents a growing political relationship that should concern anyone interested in the integrity of British democracy. Reform’s leaders have embraced the UAE’s political model and promoted positions that align closely with the Emirati government’s priorities, while the UAE has given Farage and his party unusually warm access and public backing. What is emerging is not simply a relationship between British politicians and a wealthy Gulf state, but a channel through which an authoritarian government can cultivate political influence here, and abroad. Democracy for Sale relies on its readers. If you already support us, thanks so much. If you don’t, sign up to support fearless independent investigative journalism. Subscribe Back in January, Nigel Farage appeared at a GB News event in Dubai. On the 50th floor of a tower overlooking the luxury resorts and upscale residences of Palm Jumeirah, the Reform leader declared: “I want Clacton to look like this.” At the event – which Farage never declared on his official register of interests – senior Emirati officials mixed with British expats. Farage was keen to flatter. “We recognise you are our friends”, he said, assuring them that “a Brexit London, a Reform London, will remember you.” Controversy surrounding Reform’s finances and its susceptibility to foreign influence have centred around high-profile donations from billionaire crypto donors, and the jailing of Nathan Gill, Reform’s former leader in Wales, for accepting bribes to give pro-Russia speeches. Far less attention has been paid to Reform’s blossoming new alliance with the UAE, an oil-rich authoritarian state with a track record of ruinous anti-democratic interventions. Farage wasn’t always so fond of the UAE. Back in 2023 he called it an “absolute monarchy with an abysmal human rights record.” Now Reform’s hierarchy calls the UAE home. Deputy leader Richard Tice splits his time between his constituency and Dubai and has called on the UK to learn from the UAE. The party’s treasurer Nick Candy runs a firm which has been in partnership with a UAE-state linked firm since 2024. Nadhim Zahawi sits on the board of an Abu Dhabi think tank alongside an array of the most senior UAE officials and is reportedly close to three brothers of the country’s despotic ruler Mohammed Bin Zayed. Reform’s leading lights have effusively praised the UAE’s governance model, defended it from criticism, and advanced its political agenda in the UK. GB News, whose two major shareholders – the Legatum Foundation and Paul Marshall – have strong links to the UAE, has been more than happy to broadcast UAE propaganda and was forced to pay damages in 2025 after airing a false claim about a UK charity by the UAE “disinfluencer” Amjad Taha. The UAE has responded in kind. When the UAE Minister for Foreign Affairs conducted an official visit to the UK in May, Farage was the only non-government figure granted an audience. UAE state media publicised the meeting, and said that they discussed “the strategic relations between the two countries and ways to enhance them in a manner that serves mutual interests.” For the UAE these ‘mutual interests’ largely concern its paranoia over political Islam, and in this regard the UAE-Reform alliance is part of a broad and troubling pattern. Following a crackdown on dissent at home in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the UAE has offered material and political support to a range of violent and authoritarian actors willing to oppose the Muslim Brotherhood with no regard for the consequences. Its meddling in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and most notably Sudan, have been devastating. The UAE’s strategy of seeking out partners on the political fringes who it believes will advance its interests is not unique to Britain – it extends beyond the Middle East to Europe and the US. In France, it has offered clandestine support to Marine Le Pen through secret meetings, as well allegedly funding trips to the region after which Le Pen returned with a renewed focus on the UAE’s perceived enemies – Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. Left-wing opposition leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has accused the UAE of smearing him and of “encouraging discrimination, hatred or violence”. In the US, the UAE actively supported the rise of Donald Trump, establishing itself as a key ally during both his first and second terms. Around these relationships sits a wider ecosystem of figures willing to amplify UAE narratives, that even extends to Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson. Subscribe In Britain, the UAE has used a combination of aggressive diplomacy and illicit, disruptive tactics to achieve its policy goal of eliminating any perceived threat from political Islam. In 2012, for instance, it threatened to block billion-pound arms deals with the UK and stop inward investment if David Cameron did not act against the Muslim Brotherhood and rein in the BBC’s coverage of the group – going so far as to suggest, with no supporting evidence, that the group had infiltrated the BBC. It has financed smear campaigns against a high-profile UK charity and funded a mercenary to secretly surveil, and possibly assassinate, a British national on British soil. In Reform UK, the UAE has finally found an ally willing to not only ban the Muslim Brotherhood, but to publicly vilify the group and repeat the UAE’s claims that dangerous Muslims are a fifth column in British society, a narrative that aligns with the Islamophobia and anti-immigration sentiments that underpin Reform’s populist politics. The Rycroft review into foreign interference concluded that “hostile states and non-state actors have a clear incentive to attempt to undermine UK democracy.” The UAE’s network and alliance with Reform must be understood within that framework. It is a powerful, disruptive and deeply authoritarian actor with the resources and networks to intervene in our politics, and a track-record of doing so in a multitude of other countries. The evidence of the threat the UAE poses is overwhelming. The question is whether parliamentarians are willing to call the UAE out and demand action using the tools that the government has to respond. Placing the UAE on the “Enhanced Tier” of the Foreign Registration scheme alongside Russia and Iran would send a powerful signal to the UAE that its meddling will no longer be tolerated, and would place Farage’s next trips to the UAE under the scrutiny they deserve. Alex Carlen is research and advocacy manager at London based human rights organisation FairSquare and author of its new report Petro-populism: the UAE–Reform threat. Subscribe
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