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Financial advisor advises to review health plans before cutting costs
Open enrollment is underway, and one financial advisor says there are specific places to cut costs and places not to.
North Star Sports and Entertainment Network to broadcast 14 Minnesota Men’s Hockey matches
The North Star Sports and Entertainment Network, in partnership with FOX9, will broadcast 14 regular-season Minnesota Men’s Hockey matches during the 2026-2027 season.
Man accused in chainsaw killings ordered into emergency mental health treatment, court documents say
Court records show the order was filed Friday, October 16. It says 47-year-old Thomas Steele’s mental condition has “deteriorated” since a judge first ordered a competency evaluation Tuesday, October 13.
More than $1 million in federal funding headed to rural Wisconsin businesses
More than $1 million in federal funding is headed to rural communities across Wisconsin, including three in southern Wisconsin where officials hope the money will help fill empty downtown storefronts.
WKU celebrates CAYA Advancing Research and Community Health Institute
Western Kentucky University celebrated the newly established CAYA Advancing Research and Community Health (ARCH) Institute.
Community invited to 5th annual Night of the Living Health Fair
The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 23 at RHI’s Anna health center.
Airline High School students run their own store to build real-world business skills
Airline High School students are getting a hands-on lesson in business through the Viking Exchange, a student-run store designed to help prepare them for the workforce and life after graduation.
Banana Ball returning to Las Vegas Ballpark in March 2027
Banana Ball returns to Las Vegas Ballpark March 18-20, 2027, general admission lottery closes Oct. 31, 2026.
Ford Airport in Iron Mountain sees hangar boom as business grows
Officials say airport expansion reflects wider economic growth in Dickinson County.
Amarillo VA Health Care System to host Veterans Flue Fairs next week
The Amarillo VA Health Care System set to host a walk-in Veterans Flue Fair Next week, October 19-24.
Sports Overtime: Week 8 (Friday, Oct. 16, 2026)
Watch highlights and view scores from Week 8 of the 2026 NSAA football season.
Winona Health holding memorial ceremony for infant loss
The ceremony will take place on Saturday, Oct. 17.
Community invited to 5th annual Night of the Living Health Fair
The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 23 at Rural Health, Inc.'s Anna location.
Students explore careers from health care to skilled trades at Career Connect
Wood County Christian School swapped its traditional college and career fair for face-to-face conversations this year, launching a Career Connect panel that brought local professionals to the gymnasium Friday.
Aurora Behavioral Health hosts first Connect Fest to connect families with care
More than 40 health organizations gathered in one place with the same goal: helping Valley families connect with the resources they need.
Phoenix mental health clinic hosts event to connect families with care
Aurora Behavioral Health hosted its first-ever Connect Fest at its location near 59th Avenue and Peoria Avenue.
Great Lakes Sports & Entertainment Network to air Pistons-Raptors game Friday
The Detroit Pistons are taking on the Toronto Raptors for a preseason game, and there’s a new way to watch.
Show-Me-State Politics: Good news for farmers; midterms near
KY3's Tyler Wayne and KY3 Missouri Capitol Bureau Chief Hannah Falcon discuss this week in Missouri politics.
Business temporarily evacuated after gas leak in Horry County
A business was temporarily evacuated after a gas leak in Horry County on Friday.
WDBJ7+ Hometown Health Special: October 2026
WDBJ7+ Hometown Health Special: October 2026
Health officials issue water quality advisory for Fort Walton Beach park
The advisory remains in effect until follow-up testing confirms bacteria levels have dropped back into acceptable safety ranges.
Mental Health Awareness Week
Steve Carleton, Chief Clinical Officer with Porch Light Health joins us in studio to talk about Mental Health Awareness Week.
Billy Joel says he can no longer perform or drive due to health condition
Billy Joel said he has hydrocephalus, a condition affecting his balance, memory, vision and hearing, and that he is unable to perform or drive.
Billy Joel says he can no longer perform or drive due to health condition
Billy Joel, 77, said he has a condition called hydrocephalus that has affected his balance. (Source: AP Images, Canva, DCC Gray News)
Billy Joel says he can no longer perform or drive due to health condition
Billy Joel, 77, said he has a condition called hydrocephalus that has affected his balance. (Source: AP Images, Canva, DCC Gray News)
Billy Joel says he can no longer perform or drive due to health condition
Billy Joel, 77, said he has a condition called hydrocephalus that has affected his balance. (Source: AP Images, Canva, DCC Gray News)
Shawnee business honors first responders with pancakes and gratitude
EnviroTech Heating and Cooling owner James Gallet said the idea started last year when his daughter suggested hosting a breakfast for the community’s first responders.
Health officials warn mosquito-borne illnesses confirmed on Gulf Coast
We're taking a look at what these illnesses are, where they are being reported and what's being done to stop the spread.
Health officials warn mosquito-borne illnesses confirmed on Gulf Coast
IN-DEPTH WITH SARAH WALL: A warning from health officials about several mosquito-borne illnesses confirmed on the Gulf Coast: We're taking a look at what these illnesses are, where they are being reported and what's being done to stop the spread.
Kuakini Breast Health Institute expands access to cancer screening and treatment
The Kuakini Breast Health Institute is now open in time breast cancer awareness month, offering specialized cancer treatment, including screening, surgery and monitoring.
Can AI solve our mental health access problem?
Last week I asked you what worries you most about AI in health. It was close, but your top answer was “AI giving bad health advice.” Last week’s poll results: You’re in good company. This concern was top of mind at a conference I joined at Stanford last week, where researchers, clinicians, and people who build AI systems spent a day debating trust and safety in health AI. Stepping back, I’m also hearing your emerging concerns about AI’s impact on our well-being generally. I see this as a matter of public health, and we’ll take it in pieces as we learn together. Today we’ll focus on AI chatbots used for therapy for mental health. Early this month, Governor Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 903, California’s most ambitious attempt to regulate AI use for mental health. It’s at the center of active debate, and raises the questions patients, family members, citizens, and voters will face as AI moves deeper into health care. Let’s work through it. What is “AI-based therapy”? It’s really two things: purpose-built mental health apps designed to deliver structured support, and general chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini that people increasingly use for emotional support—even if they weren’t built for it. Spoiler alert: I don’t know whether the shift toward AI therapy is good or bad. The evidence isn’t there yet. But I do know it’s already happening, and I have some ideas about how we can roll it out with safety in mind. The therapy dilemma, in a nutshell Mental health challenges are common, and strain health and well-being across populations. Therapy (interactive dialogue with a trained, empathetic practitioner) helps many people heal. The demand for licensed therapists far exceeds the supply in California, and AI-based therapy can narrow that gap. AI-based therapy remains novel, unproven, and not well tested. Right off the bat, we can see we’re dealing with trade-offs here. Since the main driver of demand for therapy from a robot is lack of access to therapy from a human, we’ll start there. It’s too hard to find and afford a human therapist California is short roughly 55,000 licensed, non-prescribing therapists and counselors, about 40% of what we need. Psychiatrists, who rely on talk therapy as a complement to prescribed medications, are even more scarce. Eight counties have none, and density ranges from 1.7 per 100,000 residents in San Benito County, to 68.1 in Marin County. My wife is a psychiatrist in Marin, and even here access is tight. If it’s hard in the best-supplied county, imagine rural Sierra County, or the San Joaquin Valley. In 2024, more than half of Californians who tried to make a mental health appointment struggled to find a provider who took their insurance, compared with 14% for physical health care. When Senate staff posed as “secret shopper” patients and called 120 mental health providers in Medicare Advantage networks, they landed an appointment less than once for every five tries. Insurers pay behavioral health clinicians about 22% less than medical and surgical clinicians for comparable office visits. On top of that, billing denials and prior authorizations hit hardest at the solo and small practices common in mental health. Psychiatrists opt out of Medicare at the highest rate of any specialty. In many places, a cash practice for therapy fills quickly with patients paying $250 or more an hour, with no insurance paperwork at all. Families who can pay cash find providers more easily. Those who rely on insurance, including Medi-Cal enrollees, older adults, rural residents, and non-English speakers, compete for what’s left. So we can’t pretend the human system works, and we can’t blame people for turning to AI for support when they’re in distress. AI is filling the gap It’s estimated that roughly a quarter of AI users use it for mental health support. If you have internet, it’s available 24/7, it’s cheap, and it speaks your language. Uninsured adults are about twice as likely as insured adults to do it (30% vs. 14%). It feels anonymous in ways that may enable people to ask things they’re unsure or embarrassed about. The largely hidden, personal use makes it hard to study whether it’s actually helping people with their mental health issues, but researchers are trying. Does AI therapy work? A 2026 analysis of nearly 40 randomized trials found chatbots showed a real but small reduction in depression symptoms. But most of these trials were compared to an alternative of no therapy, not a human therapist. So the benefit of AI therapy is probably real, but modest, and mostly untested against the alternative of human contact. We need more studies. Serious concerns OpenAI’s own estimate is that more than a million ChatGPT users each week show signs of suicidal planning or intent. These are high stakes encounters, and AI doesn’t always get it right. That’s partly because a chatbot can sound like a therapist, but it has no license, no duty of care, and it’s not clear who to hold accountable when it gets things wrong. AI is also designed to help users in whatever task they’re seeking to accomplish. People may feel like they’re getting therapy, but they’re mainly getting a convincing conversation. It’s easy for an AI companion to wander into gray areas, like playing along with “creative writing” that may be about the user’s own suicidal intent. Courts are driving safety conversations A wave of lawsuits have been filed on behalf of families claiming that chatbots pushed people they loved toward self-harm, including teens who died by suicide. The first settlements came this year. OpenAI is headquartered in San Francisco, and dozens of cases alleging that ChatGPT drove users to suicide or self-harm are now before a San Francisco judge. Character.ai has filed for bankruptcy after several states brought lawsuits accusing the chatbot of pushing dangerous content to kids. But the technology seems to be improving. Last month, an independent evaluation found that newer AI models “almost never endorse suicide.” That’s progress, but our societal appetite for even one preventable death is very low. So how do we move forward? Finding a middle ground Earlier this month the governor vetoed Senate Bill 903, a bill designed to place guardrails on the use of AI for therapy. The bill would have prohibited any AI-based platform from being advertised as psychotherapy, and would have required a licensed professional to review and approve each encounter where AI was used to support therapeutic decisions. Newsom called it overly broad, since even routine screening questions would have needed clinician sign-off. Knowing we’re already short on mental health providers, requiring human review of AI encounters may not relieve our access problems. Still, the answer isn’t no oversight. Here’s one feasible short term solution. Rather than reviewing each encounter, a licensed clinician can design the guardrails: what counts as a crisis, what triggers an immediate handoff to a human, and what gets sampled for audit each month. The AI runs inside that structure. Conversations get checked, failures get reported, and a real clinician owns the framework. Medicine already has models to learn from. The FDA process for rolling out newly approved medications is an example. After a product reaches patients, we keep watching for adverse events. Patient-facing AI needs the same “digital pharmacovigilance”: systematic tracking of harms, near misses, and the types of groups that get hurt and why. It’s also critical that users know that they can reach a human if they’re in crisis. Most chatbots now include messages like these: Bottom line The rush to use unproven AI tools for mental health support is mostly a workaround, a sign of a health system people can’t get into. We need better access to proven care from licensed clinicians. That takes reimbursement that makes accepting insurance viable, and a bigger workforce. But, built and tested well, AI could be part of the answer. It could be the 2 a.m. check-in when no one else is awake, or a way for patients to practice skills their therapist taught them. It could be the first step to get someone the right level of care, and take paperwork off clinicians’ plates so they spend more time with patients. None of this is simple. The SB 903 veto doesn’t end the debate, and the legislature will be back. In the meantime, those of us using these tools need to stay informed, ask hard questions, and hold the companies building them accountable. I’ll try to do my part, and we’ll keep learning together. Love,Matt P.S. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988- you’ll reach a real person— or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7. Dr. Matt Willis is the author of Your Local Epidemiologist in California. A California native, he’s served as a primary care physician, CDC epidemiologist, and public health officer for Marin County, where he guided the pandemic response. He lives in Marin with his family and their dogs, Teddy and Ramona. Thank you Cynthia He, MD, PhD, and Parnika Saxena, MD, for their guidance in preparing this article. Cynthia works in an outpatient mental health clinic, treating patients who have Medi-Cal or, sometimes, no insurance. Parnika works in an inpatient psychiatric unit, treating patients with public or private insurance or self-pay ability. All opinions are their own and do not represent their employers.
Alabama Department of Public Health discusses measles
Alabama Department of Public Health discusses measles
Morocco health alert issued due to diphtheria: US Embassy
In the North African country of Morocco, the country’s Ministry of Health reported a small diphtheria outbreak with clusters in multiple regions in Morocco in late September. Moroccan health teams are tracing contacts and providing preventive treatment and vaccines. This has prompted the US Embassy to issue a health alert for U.S. citizens in Morocco. Diphtheria is a serious bacterial infection. It spreads primarily from person to person through coughs and sneezes (respiratory droplets). Most Americans were vaccinated as children and have received Td or TdaP boosters as adults. The risk to U.S. citizens in Morocco remains low. U.S. Citizens may contact their local doctors if they would like immunizations. Embassy officials advise citizens to watch out for the following symptoms: Sore throat or hoarse voice, mild fever, a thick gray or white coating in the throat or nose, swollen neck and trouble swallowing or breathing. If you or a family member has trouble breathing or swallowing, please contact your local doctor. They also advise on the following actions concerning vaccines: Check your vaccination records and your family members’ records. Get a booster if you need one. Adults need a diphtheria booster (Td or Tdap) every 10 years. Make sure your children are up to date on their routine vaccines. Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
HOMETOWN ENTERTAINMENT: Comedian Brad Williams bringing his “Tall Tales Tour” to Roanoke
Brad Williams brings Tall Tales Tour to Roanoke this month.
HOMETOWN HEALTH: Epilepsy leading to greater risk of developing dementia before 65, study shows
Researchers said the overall risk of dementia is still low, and more study is needed to understand the link.
Winona Health holding memorial ceremony for infant loss
Winona Health’s Family Birth Center is holding a memorial ceremony on Saturday in support of families and individuals who have experienced the loss of a baby
Republicans are spending millions to oust a Democrat who won by 187 votes. Should he worry?
Adam Gray won California’s closest House race by 187 votes in 2024. Now, Republicans are spending millions trying to reclaim the Central Valley seat.
Charlotte business owner offering free house cleanings to families in crisis
Rachel Farber cleans at least 1 home a week for free for families dealing with illness, death or mental health struggles.
MORNING BUSINESS REPORT: Amazon listening device, foldable iPhone, Anthropic revenue
New AI listening devices from Amazon, preorders for the foldable iPhone, and Anthropic revenue. Here's the Morning Business Report for Oct. 16.
Leela Gray stresses blue-collar roots in 'closing argument' of CD 13 campaign
'You can't fix something when you're not listening.'
Worker killed during robbery at east Las Vegas business complex, police say
Las Vegas police investigate a deadly shooting on East Flamingo Road after a business employee was killed during an attempted robbery by three suspects.
Worker killed during robbery at east Las Vegas business complex, police say
Las Vegas police investigate a deadly shooting on East Flamingo Road after a business employee was killed during an attempted robbery by three suspects.
Worker killed during robbery at east Las Vegas business complex, police say
Las Vegas police investigate a deadly shooting on East Flamingo Road after a business employee was killed during an attempted robbery by three suspects.
Worker killed during robbery at east Las Vegas business complex, police say
Las Vegas police investigate a deadly shooting on East Flamingo Road after a business employee was killed during an attempted robbery by three suspects.
Worker killed during robbery at east Las Vegas business complex, police say
Las Vegas police investigate a deadly shooting on East Flamingo Road after a business employee was killed during an attempted robbery by three suspects.
“Light the Horizon” event at Lake Superior Zoo highlights mental health awareness
Lake Superior Zoo hosts mental health awareness event
Health officials in Illinois say it is time to get your flu shot
Flu season is here, and health officials say now is the time to get your flu shot if you haven’t already.
Dunlap, LePage clash over health care, costs in final CD2 debate
Hosted by WABI in partnership with WAGM, the candidates for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District went head-to-head on affordability, energy, health care and immigration.
Hollywood Casino hosts inaugural Maine Science Awards
Honorees were recognized in five categories: Lifetime Achievement, Innovation, Impact, Surprising Science, and Advancing Trust in Science.
Health department shuts down Lexington Mexican restaurant
The health department closed the 1030 South Broadway Jalapeno’s location for “evidence of rodents.”
‘Business as usual’: Rosemary Beach recovering after Hurricane Isaias
Rosemary Beach returns to normal operations after Hurricane Isaias.
Business recovery center opens after fire
The city says the federal small business administration has approved low-interest disaster loans for businesses impacted by the fire
Green Bay highlights sustainable business initiative
The program, funded by a local grant from the “Daybreak Fund”, helps business owners find ways to make their company more sustainable.
Green Bay highlights sustainable business initiative
The City of Green Bay is celebrating the success of its “Sustainable Business Accelerator” program.
Small Business Administration offering loans to small businesses and nonprofits impacted by the Aspen Acres Fire
The Small Business Administration will be offering low-interest loans to those impacted by the Aspen Acres fire this summer.
Prichard finance committee meeting raise questions about employee health insurance and potential pay
During Thursday’s finance committee meeting, a committee member questioned Mayor Carletta Davis about confusion surrounding the city’s health insurance plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
New plans could bring Burlington’s Nectar’s back to life
Plans are in the works to bring live music, food, and entertainment back to Burlington’s historic Nectar’s building, which has been closed since last year.
Prichard finance committee meeting raise questions about employee health insurance and potential pay increases
Prichard finance committee meets as city budget runs more than two weeks overdue
Eau Claire simplifies business loan programs
The city of Eau Claire is simplifying its business loan programs to make them easier to understand.
UnityPoint Health brings pop-up innovation lab to Sioux City
This provided Unity Point team members the opportunity to take challenges with equipment and brainstorm with engineers to create solutions.
HOMETOWN ENTERTAINMENT: Roanoke-area events this week include outdoor festival, ghost tour and ‘The Wiz’
"The Wiz," Go Fest and other live music events happening in our hometowns over the next several days
Martini Corner businesses react to new Royals ballpark renderings
Shop owners near the new stadium site say the renderings show opportunity
Beacon Health Systems to consolidate, centralize behavioral health services
Beacon Health Systems said they are consolidating behavioral health services in order to better serve patients and offer them a wider range of services.
Lawsuit alleges mental health failures before Montpelier couple allegedly slain by son
The lawsuit says WCMHS workers were notified multiple times that Matthew Gomes was in a mental health crisis.
Illinois Wesleyan mourns loss of assistant business and marketing professor
Details surrounding her death were not immediately available.
Med Center Health mammographer stresses yearly screenings after 40
Mammographer of 23 years breaks down comfort, compression and digital technology.
Independent candidate for governor accuses Sen. Marsha Blackburn of favoring political self-interest over the people
Independent candidate for governor Lauren Pinkston made claims against frontrunner Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee. Pinkston claims that Blackburn’s office is more worried about political gain that the people.
Laredo Health Promotores hosts third annual Halloween Health Fair
The Laredo Health Promotores will host its third annual Halloween Health Fair at El Eden Park on Oct. 17 from 4 to 7 p.m.
Lexington Walmart pilots new rural health care program
A Walmart in our area is one of just five rural communities in the country testing a new “Health Ambassador” role aimed at making healthcare easier to navigate.
Nebraska 2nd Congressional District debate: Political rhetoric
Nebraska 2nd Congressional District debate: Political rhetoric
Suspect in fatal Mason business shooting not competent for trial
He is accused of shooting and killing 29-year-old Vincent "Vinny" Stoetzel.
Casino Del Sol donates $20,000 to El Rio Health to bring medical care to Tucson’s unhoused
Casino Del Sol commits $20,000 to El Rio Health’s Street Medicine program, which brings medical care to shelters, parks, encampments and washes across Tucson.
Binghamton’s fall Restaurant Week to support local health program
The event spans over the course of 10 days, starting Tuesday, Oct. 20, through Thursday, Oct. 29.
Coral Academy of Science hosts open houses at all Reno campuses
The open houses takes place Saturday, Oct. 17 at the elementary, middle and high schools.
Let's Do Lunch!: Episode 12: Dr. Regan Bailey from ICON Health talks nutrition, makes healthy snack
Tune in to today's episode of Let's Do Lunch!, featuring Dr. Regan Bailey from ICON Health! She discussed food as medicine and whipped up a healthy snack!
HOMETOWN HEALTH: What is pneumonic plague? UVA health expert discusses concerns after Siberia lab death
The death has raised questions about what happened and how, and whether the disease poses a risk to the United States.
State lawmakers react to IDHS decision to preserve some beds at Choate Mental Health Center
Illinois State Senators Terri Bryant (R-Murpysboro) and Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) say a new plan for Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna does not go far enough.
Aspirus Health sees trend of younger women being diagnosed with breast cancer
“We’re seeing more breast cancer cases in younger women than we did in the past, and there isn’t one simple reason why,” Dr. Huang said.
Wisconsin Science Festival returns with free STEAM events
Wisconsin Science Festival returns with free STEAM events
How This Zombie Foot is Helping Scientists Fight Stingray Strikes
Warm El Niño waters are driving an increase in stingray injuries. These labs are devoted to understanding what’s going on under the surface.
Nutritionist shares health benefits of pumpkins, pumpkin seeds
Nutritionist Jen Avis joined Good Morning ArkLaMiss to talk about the health benefits of pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.
Nutritionist shares health benefits of pumpkins, pumpkin seeds
Nutritionist Jen Avis joined Good Morning ArkLaMiss to talk about the health benefits of pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.
Nutritionist shares health benefits of pumpkins, pumpkin seeds
Nutritionist Jen Avis joined Good Morning ArkLaMiss to talk about the health benefits of pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.
Nutritionist shares health benefits of pumpkins, pumpkin seeds
Nutritionist Jen Avis joined Good Morning ArkLaMiss to talk about the health benefits of pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.
Carle Health encourages moderation during holiday season
With the holiday season approaching, enjoying your favorite treats may be challenging, but practicing moderation and portion control can help manage those cravings.
Vermont seasonal businesses try to make ends meet in a short window
From apple picking to finding the perfect pumpkin, business owners rely on customers to make their year-round work worthwhile.
Wisconsin Science Festival returns with free STEAM events
The 16th Wisconsin Science Festival returns with more than 800 events planned throughout the state through Oct. 25 at venues such as museums, libraries and schools.
MORNING BUSINESS REPORT: Record high diesel, Social Security adjustment, more moving money out of savings
Diesel comes down but is still high, the Social Security cost of living adjustment, and more move money out of their savings accounts. Here's the Morning Business Report for Oct. 15.
Business taxes explained: City of Savannah to host resource event
The City of Savannah’s Revenue Department is hosting Business Tax 101 on Thursday, a resource event for current business owners and anyone thinking of becoming one.
Las Vegas Arts District businesses form coalition to help at-risk youth
Following a deadly shooting, downtown Arts District businesses formed a coalition to connect at-risk youth with jobs and mentorship.
Ceuta and the Politics of Not Naming
The Ceuta gray-zone crisis reveals how migration pressure, political ambiguity, and delayed attribution shaped Spain’s response to Morocco.
North Phoenix sports bar, 2 Mesa restaurants cited for health violations
Did your favorite restaurant make this week's Dirty Dining report?
North Phoenix sports bar, 2 Mesa restaurants cited for health violations
Did your favorite restaurant make this week's Dirty Dining report?
North Phoenix sports bar, 2 Mesa restaurants cited for health violations
Did your favorite restaurant make this week's Dirty Dining report?
North Phoenix sports bar, 2 Mesa restaurants cited for health violations
Did your favorite restaurant make this week's Dirty Dining report?
North Phoenix sports bar, 2 Mesa restaurants cited for health violations
Several Valley restaurants were cited by health inspectors this week for handling food without washing hands and for keeping food at dangerous temperatures.
College Station business owner calls for wider input on Harvey District plan
A College Station business owner says the Harvey District plan needs every one to participate to succeed.
Kauai residents hope reopening of state park will boost business after hurricane
Community partners consider the reopening of Ha'ena State Park a milestone that could add momentum to the island’s long road to recovery.
Endeavor Health, Rush University System announce plans to merge
Endeavor Health and Rush University System for Health announced plans to merge into a singular integrated academic health system in a Wednesday news release. The merger will create a unified network of 12 hospitals and more than 400 care sites across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana that will employ more than 46,000 people and serve...
Your Business Probably Has More Data Than Insight by Nathan Tayloe
Most businesses know more about themselves than they ever have. Leaders have access to financial reports, sales pipelines, customer data, employee metrics, website analytics, and dashboards for almost every part of the organization. CRMs track every stage of the sales process. Marketing platforms report results in real time. AI can analyze and summarize enormous amounts of information in seconds. Yet I've sat in plenty of meetings where all of that information is available, and some of the most important questions are still surprisingly difficult to answer. What's actually working? Why are customers choosing us? Where are we losing opportunities? What should we do differently? Having the data and understanding what it means are two very different things. More Information Doesn't Always Create More Clarity Over the past decade, businesses have invested heavily in visibility, and that's a good thing. We can understand performance with a level of detail that would have been unimaginable not long ago. But there's an unintended consequence. The easier something becomes to measure, the easier it is to assume it must be important. Website traffic goes up, so that looks positive. Leads increase, so marketing appears to be working. Sales activity climbs, so the pipeline looks healthy. Maybe. The numbers tell us what happened. Understanding why it happened, whether it matters, and what we should do next still requires judgment. Not Everything That Matters Fits on a Dashboard Consider a customer who ultimately contacts your company through Google. The data may attribute that lead to search. What it may not show is that the customer heard about you from a colleague six months earlier, saw your company mentioned in an industry publication, followed one of your employees on LinkedIn, and read several reviews before finally searching for your company. Google may have produced the click. It didn't necessarily create the decision. This happens throughout a business. Some of the things that matter most are difficult to reduce to a single metric: Why your best customers stay Why talented employees choose your company Why a prospect trusts one provider over another Why one service is gaining momentum while another isn't Why the market perceives your business the way it does Data can help answer those questions, but it needs context. Better Decisions Start With Better Questions One of the easiest traps for leaders is starting with the information in front of them rather than the decision they're trying to make. Instead of opening a dashboard and asking, "What does the data show?" it can be more useful to start with a different set of questions: What are we trying to understand? What decision are we trying to make? What would we need to know to make that decision confidently? That changes the role of data. Instead of looking at every number available and searching for meaning, you're using information to understand something specific about the business. Information Still Requires Judgment More sophisticated analytics and AI will continue to give leaders access to better information, faster. That's valuable, but I don't think it reduces the importance of experience and judgment. If anything, it increases it. Someone still has to decide which numbers deserve attention, which patterns matter, what context might be missing, and when the data isn't telling the whole story. The goal isn't to know more about your business simply because you can. It's to understand your business well enough to make better decisions. Good data can tell you what happened. Good leadership has to decide what it means. — Learn more about how we help organizations turn business, customer, and marketing insights into smarter strategies at tayloegray.com, or reach out directly at nathan@tayloegray.com.