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Xbox is reportedly considering dropping disc drives as it tests new feature that lets players digitize physical games
A new report now claims Xbox, like PlayStation, is set to "drop the disc drive."
ESPN reportedly favorite to renew TGL media rights
TGL, the tech-infused simulator golf league co-founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TMRW Sports, is in the market for a new media rights deal after having completed its second season earlier this year. The league spent its first two seasons on the ESPN family of networks, posting strong and stable viewership during a portion…
Sports Audio Report: Female Fans
The latest report, Sports Audio Report: Female Fans with Edison Research, SiriusXM Media, and GroupM explores the unique audio listening habits of U.S. female sports fans and shows how they interact with sports beyond the field. Sports audio plays an integral role in female sports fandom – 57% of female sports fans “frequently” or “occasionally” listened to sports audio content in...
Crypto, real estate, watches: How Trump made over $1 billion last year
The latest disclosure report listing President Trump's financial holdings shows he took in about $1.2 billion last year from crypto holdings, overshadowing a real estate business that first brought him fame.
20 companies moving forward in Fort Worth Business Plan Competition
The field has narrowed in the 2026 Fort Worth Business Plan Competition, with 20 competitors moving on to participate in several weeks of business
Elon Musk denies a report about SpaceX’s AI phone prototype
Musk says the report is “utterly false.”
Maryland-Bred Big Cuddle Joins Haskell Lineup
Pocket 3's Racing’s Big Cuddle will face his stiffest test yet in the $1 million, Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 18, the Daily Racing Form reports. The Haskell field is expected to draw Preakness winner Napoleon Solo and runner-up Iron Honor, as well as G3 Tampa Bay Derby ...
Alabama target, top cornerback reportedly makes commitment decision
Top cornerback prospect Hayden Stepp has reportedly announced a commitment between Alabama, California, and Oregon.
Next Metroid Game for Switch 2 Reportedly Leaked in Age Rating From Brazilian Government
The Brazilian government may have leaked the next Metroid game, thanks to an age rating filed through the country’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
Musk denies WSJ report that SpaceX showed AI handset prototype before IPO
Elon Musk on Wednesday denied a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX showed investors and other stakeholders a prototype of an AI-focused device ahead of its blockbuster IPO.
Report: Penguins sign Andrei Kuzmenko to one-year contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins keep adding, the latest is the report that winger Andrei Kuzmenko is joining the team for one year and $5.0 million. Kuzmenko has been among the NHL’s slowest skaters, but has the hands and scoring ability to cover up that deficiency. Curiously, his salary is right in the price range of Rickard […]
SpaceX has an AI device prototype, and it sure sounds phone-ish
SpaceX reportedly showed investors a "handset-like" AI device before going public. It could be another signal SpaceX wants to expand into wireless.
New details emerge on Xbox 'Positron', Microsoft's disc-to-digital program — as it seems likely Xbox Helix will drop discs too
Xbox Helix is likely to be joining PlayStation 5 in dropping discs. A new report describes how Microsoft plans to mitigate the issue.
Yui-Gi-Oh Tournament Postponed Because Players Were Too Smelly
A card shop in Oregon had to suspend an even for a week because of reports of poor hygiene
Meta Plans Cloud Business to Take on Big Tech Rivals
Meta is planning a cloud infrastructure business that will sell AI computing power/model access. That’s according to a report Wednesday (July 1) by
Meta shares jump after company announces new cloud infrastructure business
CNBC's Julia Boorstin reports on news regarding Meta.
Cause of death revealed for Oregon-raised star of 'The Ring,' 'Lilo & Stitch'
Daveigh Chase, the Oregon-raised actress known for her roles in the films like "Spirited Away," “Lilo & Stitch” and “The Ring," died June 16 from complications due to AIDS, The Oregonian reports.
Ocelli Among 29 Indiana Derby Nominations
Nominations are in for the 32nd running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby set to run Saturday, July 11 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. A total of 29 names are on the nomination list headed by third-place finisher Ocelli in this year’s Kentucky Derby. Seven starters from the first leg of the Triple ...
Wild reportedly retaining veteran UFAs Nick Foligno, Zach Bogosian
These are solid depth moves for Minnesota involving a couple guys with over 2,000 games between them.
Meta stock pops on news it will reportedly start a cloud computing business
Meta is reportedly building a cloud computing business.
Norman Powell agrees to 2-year, $45 million deal with Bulls: report
Powell averaged 21.7 points per game for the Miami Heat this past season.
Meta Stock Rises on Report It’s Building a Cloud Business. CoreWeave Drops.
Meta rises on a report that it hopes to generate revenue from selling excess computing power to third parties. CoreWeave and Nebius are falling.
Content Independence Day, one year on: building the business model for the agentic Internet
One year after declaring Content Independence Day, a dynamic market for monetized content has officially emerged. In this report, we examine how the rise of autonomous AI agents is upending traditional search referrals and detail the new infrastructure required to support a sustainable web economy.
Meta to sell excess AI computing capacity via cloud business, Bloomberg News reports
Meta Platforms is building a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter.
Meta to sell excess AI computing capacity via cloud business, Bloomberg News reports
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Microsoft to cut 2.5% of its workforce in yet another round of layoffs
More than 5,000 people will likely lose their jobs pretty soon. It seems like Microsoft continues its series of layoffs, with the last one being in July...
How cognitive automation can transform your business
Zapier reports that cognitive automation enhances business efficiency by enabling machines to interpret information and make decisions, unlike traditional automation.
Private sector added 98,000 jobs in June, below expectations, ADP says
The figure reported on Wednesday is below economists’ estimates of an increase of 118,000 jobs. The prior month's reading was unrevised at 122,000.
Trump filing shows he took in about $1.2b from crypto businesses last year
President Trump got more than $500 million from his World Liberty Financial business selling new crypto products, according to the annual disclosure report with the Office of Government Ethics.
Taylor Swift Wants Final Approval Over Travis Kelce Wedding Footage
Taylor Swift is reportedly filming her nuptials with Travis Kelce but wants the final word over the wedding footage. Sources claimed that the singer has hired a professional crew to document her speci...
The Case for Performance-First Management
What began as a crisis-driven response to the Covid pandemic laid the foundation for today’s dominant management paradigm: people-first management. But today’s business demands a different approach, as performance and productivity have replaced engagement and retention atop the CEO agenda. Performance-first management represents a gentle shift toward an approach where managers empower their teams to deliver high-impact results within a complex and evolving reality. It keeps people at the center, but reorients the manager’s role around enabling performance, not just supporting satisfaction. Gartner research shows that managers who shift toward a performance-first approach are up to 21% more likely to deliver the business results that are expected of them. And employees who say that their managers are performance-first report higher overall satisfaction with their employee experience.
Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028
New games sold for PlayStation consoles will only be available digitally and won’t be sold on discs effective January 2028, Sony has announced. The move applies to all PlayStation games released from that point on, including those made by Sony and those released by third parties. The PlayStation group calls the change “a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,” according to a PlayStation blog post reviewed by Game File in advance of its publication. As movies, TV and music have shifted from physical media to an age of downloads and streaming, Sony’s move could speed the demise of physical media in a gaming. The industry has offered consumers games via cartridges, cassettes, floppy discs, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays across a 50-year stretch. Sony has been reporting to investors in recent years that PlayStation games have been increasingly purchased as downloads, not as discs. The most recent figures show nearly four in five purchases of full games for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were purchased digitally in the past year. Stats like that may cause today’s news to carry an air of the inevitable. But Sony’s declaration for 2028 is still likely to produce a shock, as the biggest gaming platform on the planet that uses game discs leaves them behind. Discs going away, but the fate of game boxes is unknown Sony is committing to still selling games in physical retailers even after they drop discs in 2028. Just how those games will be sold—in boxes with codes inside, as cards marked with digital redemption codes—is unclear. Digital games will also continue to be sold in the online PlayStation Store. New games released for PlayStation consoles prior to January 2028 will be unaffected by the policy change, Sony says. That means the PS5 games of 2027, be they a new Madden, a new God of War, a new Call of Duty, a new Sly Cooper (one can dream?), would still potentially be offered on disc. PlayStation 6 implications Sony’s timeline for a transition to a no-disc era will also spin up more speculation about the timing and configuration of Sony’s next-generation console, the probable PlayStation 6. “This pretty much guarantees that PS6 won’t arrive until 2028 at the earliest,” Piers Harding-Rolls, senior games research analyst at Ampere Analysis tells Game File. Harding-Rolls also concludes from today’s news that “the base version of a PS6 will not include a physical media drive,” as Sony looks to keep costs down on the device. Sony itself is saying nothing about the PS6 today: not its timing, nor how it might or might not support internal or external disc drives in order to run disc-based PS4 and PS5 games, should the console be backwards compatible. The many signs this was coming Industry support for games being released on physical media has been waning. As has consumer interest in them. PC games effectively went all-digital years ago, thanks to the popularity of playing games through Steam and other digital storefronts. The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that kept much of the global population home helped shift shopping patterns toward downloads. Sony’s own data shows PlayStation game downloads being an uncommon consumer choice a decade ago and now becoming the norm. On consoles, physical media has been in such decline that Sony and Microsoft both launched their current gen Xbox Series and PS5 consoles in 2020 with cheaper versions that lacked disc drives. In early 2024, Phil Spencer, then head of Xbox, told me that ““[w]e ship games physically and digitally, and we’re really just following what the customers are doing.” He added that the game industry had become an outlier in still supporting disc-based entertainment, even as movies and TV have bailed on discs in favor of downloads and steaming: “Gaming consoles themselves have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a drive. And this is a real issue, just in terms of the number of manufacturers that are actually building drives and the cost associated with those. And when you think about cogs that we’re going to go put in a console—and as you have fewer suppliers and fewer buyers—the cost of the drive does have an impact.” Last year, the Nintendo’s Switch 2, which uses cartridges rather than discs, introduced the concept of game-key cards, which are physical media that contain no game, just a prompt for a download. Even disc-based games aren’t what they once were, now frequently containing just stubs of games rather than the whole thing. The website Does It Play has tested over 3000 games and found that, for example, that the disc version of this year’s hit 007: First Light, only contained the game’s first mission, with the rest needing to be downloaded. Beyond all that, last week brought the news that Grand Theft Auto VI, likely the biggest game launch this decade, will debut for PS5 and Xbox Series without a disc-based version. Today’s big news comes to you for free. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and ensure more of my work is possible, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Discs helped define PlayStation However the trends in entertainment may be going, it is still remarkable to see PlayStation ditch discs given their importance in PlayStation history: In the late 1990s, the first PlayStation’s support for games on relatively cheap CD-ROMs instead of traditional game cartridges allowed the upstart console to outmaneuver cartridge-based systems from Nintendo and Sega, as it drove down game prices down in the process. (The cheaper disc format even prompted Final Fantasy VII maker Square to taunt Nintendo in a magazine ad, saying that if the game was “available on cartridge, it’d retail for around $1200.”) PlayStation devices often doubled as machines for watching movies and TV on the latest disc-based formats. In the late 2000s, for example, Sony’s pricy PS3 gained traction as a go-to device for playing then-novel Blu-Ray discs. In 2013, Sony effectively roasted the digital game-sharing restrictions proposed by rival Microsoft for its upcoming Xbox One console by showing how games could be shared for the then-upcoming PS4. In a 21-second clip that has over 20 million views on YouTube, one PlayStation executive simply handed a game box—presumably with disc inside—to another, who said “thanks.” Sony’s possible motivations The PlayStation announcement today cites “consumer preferences” and a shift away from discs among “the broader entertainment industry,” but does not delve into the decision-making process that brought Sony to this point. Sony is not discussing the economics of this move (I asked!), but there are a number of potential factors: Abandoning discs will spare Sony the cost of manufacturing and shipping them, which analysts and industry veterans I spoke to said could account for $1 or so of a game’s retail price. For first-party games, that’s direct savings for Sony, though the amount is limited by the winnowing percentage of people who were even buying the disc-based versions. For third-party games, Sony could pass the savings on to partners or just retain the better profit margin for themselves. As the 2024 comments from Phil Spencer alluded to, leaving discs behind could mean leaving disc-drives behind, allowing Sony to produce consoles more cheaply. Switching to digital-only for games could diminish the risks of copies of new games leaking. It would also seemingly make second-hand sales of used games impossible, pushing more people to buy their own copies of games. These economic benefits for Sony could be boons for the games industry overall, Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls tells Game File. Among other things, it could free publishers and retailers from having to worry about securing an inventory of game discs when trying to sell games, he noted. “If there is a way to streamline the business of games retail, I generally think it’s a good thing for the industry as it removes unnecessary costs,” Harding-Rolls said. “This will help offset pressure on margins from other directions – development and staffing costs for example.” Should the industry shift from game boxes that contain discs to smaller, cheaper game cards, Harding-Rolls said, that reduces pressure on publishers and retailers. “The advantage of everything going digital for the industry is that sales can be tracked much more easily and there is less commercial risk for publishers wanting to continue selling via retail,” he said. The shift to no discs will also likely impact game development timelines, as developers will no longer face the same urgency to have a build ready to submit to PlayStation for the production of a disc, as industry experts noted around GTA VI’s no-disc news last week. Instead, projects may gain weeks of development time, in the event delivery deadlines for platform approval move closer to release date. Preservationists’ likely worries While millions of gamers have shifted to digital, there are still people who associate game discs—and only game discs—with actual ownership of PlayStation games. That portion of the gaming community spoke up last week about wanting to buy a version of GTA VI that they could hold in their hands, could lend to a friend and could potentially pop into a well-preserved PS5 console three decades from now and still see it run. Such gamers didn’t want to worry that they’d merely purchased a digital copy that could lose access to the game if, say, the company behind the game someday turns of the servers that transmit downloadable copies. Digital copies of games are inherently less long-lasting, because consumers aren’t actually buying a game (on a disc), just buying access to the game. The fine print in online gaming shops notes this, as does a recent law that went on the books in California in 2025. That lasw requires game publishers doing business in the state to refrain from words like “sell” when offering digital copies of games, unless they explicitly tell consumers that what’s being sold isn’t the game itself but a potentially revocable license to access it. A Sony spokesperson noted to Game File that “[w]ith all digital content, including games, movies, and music, players are purchasing a personal license for non-commercial use.” Regarding the fears of PlayStation games being lost to time in an all-digital era, the rep also noted that Sony remains “committed to delivering experiences from past generations to the new platforms our players are using.” They noted that PlayStation has used emulation and remasters to keep offering its classic games to modern gamers. It’s true that many consumers have become accustomed to not having physical copies of new music albums or movies, but the relative precariousness of digital copies of games is in fact being highlighted today by…. Sony’s other big announcement: the upcoming closure of the PS3 and PS Vita online stores Sony said today that it will be closing the online marketplaces for its PlayStation 3 console and PS Vita handheld in most countries in July 2027 (sooner elsewhere: August 2026 for the PS3 store Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua; late 2026 for PS3 in other Latin American countries and the Middle East). “We know this news may be disappointing to PS3 and PS Vita players who hold a special place in their hearts for this generation of gaming,” Sony said in its announcement, saying the move “was not an easy decision for us to make.” Sony said that PS3 and Vita marketplaces “are no longer able” to support modern commerce systems, prompting a “need” to close the shops and focus on more modern PlayStation platform stores. The news may spark some deja vu. Sony announced back in March 2021 that it planned to take the PS3, Vita and PlayStation Portable marketplaces offline that summer. The move would have caused some 2,000 digital-only games to become unavailable for new purchasers, according to a VGC analysis at the time. Fans complained loudly. By April 2021, Sony walked back the PS3 and Vita shop closures, with then PlayStation boss Jim Ryan saying “it’s clear that we made the wrong decision here.” This time around, Sony is giving a longer notice period in most regions. The closure of those stores is still likely to cut off access to new purchases of digital-only PS3 and Vita games. The current PlayStation 5 marketplace sells PS5 and PS4 games, as well as a selection of PS1 and PS2 games. It does not sell PS3 games, because games for that platform can’t run on the system (some are offered via a PlayStation Plus streaming option). Vita games also aren’t sold via PS5. Sony says digitally purchased PS3 and Vita games will be downloadable after the stores’ shutdowns “for the foreseeable future.” Sony’s move contrasts with Microsoft’s Xbox platform, which continues to sell and support games from all four Xbox console generations. But it puts it in line with Nintendo, which disabled purchases in the marketplace for its Wii console (a contemporary of the PS3) in 2019. Nintendo discontinued purchases in the online shop for its 3DS portable (a contemporary of the Vita) in 2023. The big questions about Sony’s 2028 post-disc era Will Microsoft follow suit, ending support for new disc-based games on Xbox platforms and therefore all game consoles, too? Whether Microsoft does or not, will third-parties that can no longer release games on discs for PlayStation, simply ditch the disc options across the board? Given the GTA VI no-disc experiment launching this November, will more game publishers decide to forgo disc-based offerings even in 2027? How will no-disc PS5/6 games be packaged and sold in brick-and-mortar retail stores? What becomes of game sharing in an all-digital era? Will Sony modify its current set-up, which currently allows some sharing of digital games across a pair of consoles, to allow more casual lending? (See for example, Nintendo’s year-old system of letting players lend a digital game to another player in a “family group” for up to 14 days.) Will there be a version of a PS6 with a disc drive? Or will a drive be offered as an add-on? And how will gamers who want to retain access to PS4/PS5 disc-based games react to whichever configurations Sony chooses to offer? What will the final disc-based PlayStation game be?
Nearly three in four US scam victims report mental health harm, poll finds
Gallup survey says the financial toll of scams in the United States in 2025 was estimated at $68bn.
Kustom Entertainment Reports Record Country Stampede Attendance Ahead of Gilley’s Park City Partnership
Kustom Entertainment reports record attendance at its Country Stampede festival, highlighting strong demand and a new partnership with Gilley’s Park City.Quiver AI SummaryKustom Entertainment, Inc. has announced record attendance for its 30th anniversary Country Stampede festival, held from June 25–27, 2026, at Azura Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, KS, attracting over 42,000 fans, surpassing expectations by more than 10,000 attendees. The festiva
Corona maker Constellation Brands tops forecasts as beer business drives earnings growth
Strong beer performance lifts quarterly resultsConstellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) reported first-quarter results ahead of Wall Street expectations, supported by continued strength in its beer division. Adjusted earnings came in at $3.
Apple ‘Hide My Email’ Vulnerability Reveals Peoples’ Real Email Addresses
”Hide My Email users deserve to know that it may be possible for attackers to discover their hidden email addresses,” the person who reported the issue said.
West Virginia’s youngest children are losing health care coverage
A troubling new report suggests that health insurance coverage is slipping away from too many of our youngest children.
Big Tech is spending billions to not employ people
Amazon disclosed $2.7 billion in estimated severance costs in its latest annual report, while Intel and Oracle also reported spending $1.8 billion.
Would Hunters Take A Lyme Disease Vaccine? We Asked
By Bram Sable-Smith and KFF Health News HealthDay ReportersWEDNESDAY, July 1, 2026 (HealthDay News) — It’s tick season, possibly the worst in a decade. More and more Americans are being exposed to these parasites as climate change expands the range where they can survive. That means more people are also exposed to the bevy of health conditions they can ...
Fish named after Blackpink’s Jennie; China’s 6G smart city: 7 science highlights
From two Chinese scientists leaving the US to a desalination prototype, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting.
85% of hospitals experienced ‘vendor disruption’ in last year, as most brace for cyberattack inevitability, report shows
An analysis from cybersecurity consultancy group Omega Systems reveals that most healthcare practices place too much trust in their third-party vendors to secure patient data, neglecting their own IT systems in the process.
Survey shows Japan's business sentiment improving for a 5th straight quarter
The Bank of Japan has reported its quarterly survey of business sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers rose to 22 in June from 17 in the previous quarter
FBI reportedly deems three ransom notes tied to Nancy Guthrie disappearance to be fake
The FBI reportedly denies the veracity of three ransom notes linked to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie: two from February, sent days after she was declared missing, and one from June, alleging to have video of her following her kidnapping.
Servers recalled after glitch results in radiologists reading images for wrong patients
The issue could cause a reader to unintentionally report on the wrong patient when using interactive applications, according to a notice from the FDA.
Garden City restaurant violations include black mold, unsafe foods
Wayne County health reports show violations at Garden City eateries, including improper food storage, equipment malfunctions and hygiene issues.
2027 NFL Draft summer scouting report: Darian Mensah, QB, Miami
Miami transfer quarterback Darian Mensah is next up one the 2027 NFL Draft summer scouting report series.
Karamo Brown confirms he's 'dating a celebrity' amid Jussie Smollett rumors: 'It's not like we're hiding'
Karamo Brown confirms that he's 'dating a celebrity,' following a report that he is in a relationship with former 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett.
Trump made more than $1bn from crypto in first year back in office
It compares with more than $600m in total income that Trump reported in his last financial disclosure.
Microsoft to cut under 2.5% of workforce in latest layoffs, Business Insider reports
Microsoft is planning to cut under 2.5% of its workforce in the latest round of layoffs that could be announced as early as next week, Business Insider reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Microsoft to cut under 2.5% of workforce in latest layoffs, Business Insider reports
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Jonathan Turley: This is a court that follows principle, not politics
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley argues that the Supreme Court’s upholding of birthright citizenship showcases its integrity and independence on ‘Special Report.’
Election officials react to report detailing distrust in Wisconsin elections
Republican research firm The Tarrance Group polled 600 likely Wisconsin voters about election administration concerns.
Generative AI chest X-ray models offer new approach to radiology reporting and quality improvement
While the technology remains investigational in many practices, researchers say it has the potential to improve diagnostic accuracy, streamline AI development and strengthen radiology quality assurance.
Small Businesses Snagged $273 Billion In Federal Contracts, Even As Thousands Continue To Leave Contracting Base
Even as the government meets its goals in working with small businesses, a concerning trend appears to be accelerating.
Xbox Layoff Plans Reportedly Include Closing Arkane, Canceling Blade
The cuts will apparently start next week.
Seven gastrointestinal illness cases linked to Seattle sushi restaurant, health officials say
Seven people reported getting sick after eating at the Sushi%AYCE/All You Can Eat restaurant in Seattle’s Chinatown International District.
Health officials warn of West Nile virus in mosquito in Alhambra, human infection in Long Beach
The first human case of West Nile virus in Long Beach and current mosquito-carrying activity in the San Gabriel Valley has been reported this month.
Kawhi Leonard reportedly traded back to Raptors as Clippers move on from star forward
The Kawhi Leonard era is over with the Clippers.
Politics: High Cost Of Healthcare And The Political Fallout
Americans are grappling with a rising cost in healthcare. For the first time in five years, fewer than half of Americans can consistently afford healthcare. That’s according to the latest data from Gallup. The cost of healthcare in the US remains higher than any other large, wealthy country. According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, five million fewer people are enrolled in marketplace plans for 2026, compared to last year. That’s as average premium costs rose about 58%.With health care costs increasingly becoming a stress for Americans, voters are now making the issue a top priority at the ballot box. And it’s an issue that crosses party and geographic lines. According to new polling from The Century Foundation, 71% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans and 75% of rural voters agree that reigning in hospital costs should be a top priority for lawmakers. While new polling from Ipsos and Axios suggests that a majority of Americans say they’re more likely to vote for candidates in November who will lower their health costs.How will the issue of healthcare shape the midterms? And how are Americans grappling with the cost of their health?Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
Politics: High Cost Of Healthcare And The Political Fallout
Americans are grappling with a rising cost in healthcare. For the first time in five years, fewer than half of Americans can consistently afford healthcare. That’s according to the latest data from Gallup. The cost of healthcare in the US remains higher than any other large, wealthy country. According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, five million fewer people are enrolled in marketplace plans for 2026, compared to last year. That’s as average premium costs rose about 58%.With health care costs increasingly becoming a stress for Americans, voters are now making the issue a top priority at the ballot box. And it’s an issue that crosses party and geographic lines. According to new polling from The Century Foundation, 71% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans and 75% of rural voters agree that reigning in hospital costs should be a top priority for lawmakers. While new polling from Ipsos and Axios suggests that a majority of Americans say they’re more likely to vote for candidates in November who will lower their health costs.How will the issue of healthcare shape the midterms? And how are Americans grappling with the cost of their health?Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
Lakers Praise Departing LeBron James; Fans, Not So Much
LeBron James won't be coming back to the Los Angeles Lakers, and while some fans will miss him, others are excited to see him leave. The post Lakers Praise Departing LeBron James; Fans, Not So Much appeared first on LA Sports Report.
Lebanon County cafe and catering business announces closure
ANNVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) — A local cafe that got its start as a food truck and catering company announced its closure after operating for a decade. abc27 News reported back in February 2025 when …
Santa Cruz County business filings: Week of June 30
Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area.
Police chief issues statement after Dianna Russini mentioned NFL coach, avoided ticket
NFL reporter Dianna Russini mentioned texting with an NFL coach after getting pulled over for being on her phone.
ESPN writer reveals Patriots overall offseason report card grade
How should the Patriots be graded on their 2026 offseason report card?
Cavs are reportedly interested in another reunion with LeBron James
Don’t count out a return to Cleveland just yet.
LeBron James leaving Lakers, reportedly plans to return for 24th NBA season with a new team
James will continue his run of unprecedented longevity and production for at least one more season.
Can the New Orleans office market rebound? New report says suburbs remain strong, city struggling
More than five years after the pandemic, New Orleans' office market remains fragile, though it is performing better than some other cities.
Report: Apple Watch Redesign Coming Next Year With New Band System
A "major overhaul" of the Apple Watch's design is due to arrive next year with a new system for connecting bands, according to a known Weibo leaker. In a set of recent posts, the leaker known as "Instant Digital" linked the new claim to older rumors about an "Apple Watch X" model, which was said to introduce a fresh design and break compatibility with the existing watch band system.
July 2026: Sustainable Business Wins Roundup
Each quarter, Plastic Pollution Coalition is reporting exciting news from companies that are leading the way for a transition away from fossil fuels and synthetic materials to a healthier plastic-free future.
Molecular imaging pioneer Eva Nogales awarded the 2026 Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science
The Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science recognizes scientists who have a stellar record of research accomplishments.
Concern Mounts About Rumored ‘State Of Decay 3’ Cancellation At Xbox
Xbox fans are now worried about reports that State of Decay 3 may be cancelled, despite recent previews, ahead of big layoffs.
Vanderbilt Health performs nation’s first breast cancer surgery using intraoperative PET-CT scan technology
The novel imaging technology provides surgical teams with a real-time view of tumor margins in the operating room.
Live Updates: Supreme Court Rules on Banning Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports
The court’s decision involving laws from West Virginia and Idaho has implications for 25 other states with similar restrictions. Times reporters are reading it and providing analysis.
Is AI causing layoffs? This report says it's complicated.
New research has found that companies spending the most on AI aren't slashing jobs; they're actually hiring faster than their peers.
Plus Therapeutics Provides Mid-Year Business Update Including Corporate Rebranding
Plus Therapeutics to become Cerenome, to trade under new Nasdaq ticker CNSY on August 3, 2026 Affirms 2026 guidance on key milestones Reports positive...
EDITORIAL: Bennet, Hick play politics with the judiciary
Facing spirited challenges from the left — in the final hours of races each thought would be a walk in the park — Colorado’s two Democratic U.S. senators are doing what comes naturally to politicians. Pandering. How else to explain their opposition, reported Sunday, to the pending nomination of respected and rock-solid U.S. District Judge […]
Two are elected to the USC wing of the L.A. Times Sports Hall of Fame
Two people have been elected into the USC wing of our Los Angeles Times Sports Report Hall of Fame .
Xbox is reportedly considering closing State of Decay developer Undead Labs
Having a promising project like State of Decay 3 in development is seemingly not enough to save Undead Labs from being shuttered, according to new reports.
Ozempic Might Be Making Your Team Less Driven. Here’s the Science
New reports on GLP-1 drugs and the brain’s “wanting” system have direct implications for how leaders motivate, reward, build teams, and sustain culture.
El Boletín newsletter: An earthquake shakes Venezuela’s political reset
Our correspondent in Caracas reports on how disaster is testing an already fragile country
Top GLP-1 prescription indications include sleep apnea, depression and kidney disease, study finds
A report from Trilliant Health looking at payer data found that, as prescriptions for the popular weight loss drugs spike, so rises the number of approved benefits.
Bruno Genesio agrees two-year Marseille contract
Bruno Genesio is set to put pen to paper over a two-year deal as Marseille manager, according to a report from L’Equipe. The former Lille OSC head coach was identified by Les Phocéens as the ide...
England maternity commissioner role would be ‘fundamentally dangerous’, says campaigner
Founder of Maternity Safety Alliance says recommendation in Amos report will not solve wider cultural problems
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Netflix and Superheroes Are Having a Rough Stretch on Streaming....
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) I have a quick prediction before we start today’s article: You might see this data in future news articles. Not my specific charts or analysis, but the core trend I’ve been monitoring—Netflix is having a lackluster Q2—will become inescapable. Often, folks want to know “What does the data say?” Well, that’s what it says. I haven’t seen this analysis hit the trades really yet, but I have a feeling some other outlets are going to start making this case soon. Remember, you read it here first. You probably have read about the problems facing superhero films at the box office this weekend. Well, this week, I explore whether superheroes are dying on TV as well! And the data says: definitely maybe! We have a lot to cover in today’s Streaming Ratings Report, which covers the two weeks of 18-May and 25-May. Today, I’m just looking at TV, like Netflix’s disappointing Q2, superhero shows underwhelming, a few TV shows dropping off the charts, The Pitt finally ending its epic run on the viewership charts (and whether “view counts” change its status as one of the biggest shows of all time), all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Tomorrow, I’ve got a great rundown of the film side of things. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, Showlabs, TV Time trend data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of May 18th to May 31st, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Netflix’s Q2 Slump Continues Having analyzed streaming ratings for going on half a decade, I have learned to trust my gut, but I’m always relieved when I can find actual data to back it up. For example, after a string of very popular shows like Stranger Things, Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent came out, week after week, in January and February, my gut wondered if Netflix had enough new and returning TV shows to sustain them throughout the year. Since then, Netflix’s post-March slate of shows has not impressed me. This week seemed to feature a potential new hit, but then, like a classic Duffer Bros. TV show, there was a twist. I speak of The Boroughs, Netflix’s latest (and last) Duffer Bros. produced show. The pitch is “Stranger Things with older actors”. And it topped the Nielsen charts: With just two weeks of viewership, The Boroughs would have been a top 25 debut show last year: But here’s the twist: Netflix has already cancelled The Boroughs! What happened? Likely a few things. First, the show didn’t do as well globally as it did in the US. As What’s on Netflix showed, it lagged behind several other shows that got cancelled. Second, its completion rate was likely low; after an initial burst of interest, it quickly dropped off on the Samba TV and Luminate charts. Third, the Duffer Bros. left Netflix for Paramount, and that may have factored into Netflix’s decision here. (Though I tend to believe that if a show is doing well, Netflix would have kept greenlighting seasons.) Still, just because I can explain why Netflix may have cancelled this show doesn’t mean I’m justifying it. In particular, as I’ve noted before, Netflix is losing a lot of their bigger shows as they reach their natural ends, and they need to replace those shows. This show had the hallmarks of a big new genre show, and it’s their biggest hit of the last few months (in the US at least), but now it’s done. Netflix’s other show this week—The Four Seasons, the second season of the “hit” show from last year—definitely disappointed. Its sophomore season had about half the viewership of the first, only 12.7 million hours. It also only had a two week run on Samba TV, and its numbers were all down on Luminate too. In other words, even with two successes, the Q2 slump for Netflix looks real: I could add to the list of disappointments: Both Lord of the Files and Man on Fire had short runs on the Nielsen charts. Running Point’s sophomore season also opened to about half its viewership, similar to The Four Seasons. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’s second season—see below—didn’t even make any of the three viewership charts I track, unlike the first season. Netflix is absolutely having a dismal second three months of 2026. If this Nielsen data is any indication, and I think it is, I think this will show up in Netflix’s engagement report, and maybe even their financial outcomes. And the rest of June doesn’t look much better. We have two hit shows coming back—Sweet Magnolias, one of their quietest big shows, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, a big hit for them in 2024—but the other big swings are limited series crime thrillers i.e. no future season potential. Like I said above, sometimes when I uncover a juicy nugget like this, other outlets end up writing very similar articles mimicking the data without credit. We’ll see if that happens this time! Share Television - The State of Superhero Shows on Streaming When I first heard the pitch for Spider-Noir—a Sony TV show on Prime Video that binge-released eight episodes first on MGM+ then on Prime Video two days later—I had my doubts. It’s a live-action Spider-Man show set in the 1930s, starring Nicholas Cage, based on a cameo of a character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. No, seriously, that’s the pitch. That could either go terrifically well or horribly wrong. Great because, Spider-Man. He’s the biggest superhero we have. I’ve seen tracking numbers that put the new _Spider-Man: Brand New Da_y as the blockbuster of the year and initial pre-sales back that up. And yet this Spider-Noir pitch feels very esoteric. (Also, the eight-episode binge release feels very “Amazon copying Netflix” again.) So what’s the data say? And what does this say about the future of superhero shows?