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Readers Write: Wildfire prevention, Minneapolis politics, Bde Maka Ska dining, cougars
The promise of on-site biochar.
Biggest questions after reading 'A Court of Splintered Harmony'
Sarah J. Maas' "A Court of Splintered Harmony" is part one of a four-part story. It left readers wondering about Nesta's future and Azriel's shadows.
Letters to Sports: The Lincoln Riley debate and hate continues
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts on the USC and UCLA football teams, the Brewers winning the World Series and more.
Letters — Granada Theater, homeless plan, Islam, politics, Denton
Readers share memories about the Granada Theater, question a homeless proposal, explain Islam's view of death, ask questions of Republicans and had good experiences in Denton.
I tested all of Amazon's e-readers, and this is the best Kindle to buy
I'm putting the new Paperwhite, Colorsoft, and Scribe head-to-head.
Bottom Jokes Fueled Around a Third of the Taboo Humor in 269 Famously Funny Science Papers
An analysis of 269 humorous scientific papers found that 12.3% used sex, bodily functions or other taboo subjects, though the study did not test readers' reactions.
Enquirer announces Oct. 30 athlete of the week winners
Cincinnati Enquirer readers made their choices for the Oct. 30, 2026, Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Athletes of the Week.
Live Science readers respond to whether AI is making them lazy
Live Science polled its readers on whether they have experienced AI making them lazier
Politics
By the time you kindly readers get to partake of this column, the 2026 midterm election will have happened. As per usual, the campaigning by the candidates of both political parties, and their partisan supporters,...
Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 restock update: the Nintendo Store remains your best bet
🎮 The Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2 was released on October 29 and flashed in and out of stock at the Nintendo Store 🚨 Our Zelda Switch 2 restock tracker @mattswider on X will send out an alert as soon as stock appears 👀 Walmart was our top pick to have a restock, but a supply chain delay has pushed the date back ⌚ In-store midnight launches are being held at GameStop, Best Buy, and Nintendo New York/San Francisco Walmart: Zelda Switch 2 console Best Buy: Zelda Switch 2 console GameStop: Zelda Switch 2 console Nintendo: Zelda Switch 2 console 🚨 We’re tracking Zelda Switch 2 stock updates. If you’d like to know when more stock arrives, follow Matt Swider on X and turn on notifications. You can also become a free or paid subscriber to The Shortcut to help support our work. 🚨 The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2 launched yesterday, and it was the Nintendo Store that held the most restocks. The console flashed in and out of stock repeatedly throughout the day as limited units were sold and quickly snapped up. 🚨 Want the Zelda 40th Anniversary Switch 2? Drop your email for restock alerts before it sells out. ⤵️ Subscribe Many were met with error messages, “sold out” signs, or “couldn’t add the required amount” to their baskets. However, with a little persistence and luck, others were more successful. As it stands, it’s the best place to try to get the Zelda Switch 2, even if the experience can be a little frustrating. We’re expecting a similar situation today as our tracker continues to receive restock alerts. However, we’re reluctant to share them all as many have been false flags, but we immediately notified The Shortcut followers once the first restock went live. [ The Shortcut@theshortcut Zelda Switch 2 is back in stock at the Nintendo Store: nintendo.com Nintendo Switch™ 2 – The Legend of Zelda™ – 40th Anniversary Edition - Nintendo Official Site 4:18 PM · Oct 29, 2026 · 2.09K Views 2 Replies · 2 Likes ](https://x.com/theshortcut/status/2115840807773299128?a=b6yhtCFmoswv5lWWvEs&s=20) Amazon was the only other retailer to hold an online restock, though it sold out almost instantly. No more restocks took place, and sadly, the major Walmart restock of the Zelda Switch 2, which we were confident would take place, did not happen because of a supply chain issue. [ Matt Swider (The Shortcut)@mattswider ](https://x.com/mattswider/status/2115824408938111299?a=quc3qYd6I_Qe5wag2lU&s=20) 🚨 Zelda Switch 2 console at Amazon right now amazon.com/dp/B0HJ6F8L6V?… amazon.com Nintendo Switch™ 2 –The Legend of Zelda™ – 40th Anniversary Edition 3:13 PM · Oct 29, 2026 · 76.7K Views 32 Replies · 4 Reposts · 57 Likes The console will now be available to order online at Walmart on November 6, with Target also offering the same date. Some lucky shoppers could also get the Zelda Switch 2 in-store, with The Shortcut readers sharing their personal accounts of getting the console at Walmart and helping each other out. If you’re willing to travel to your local store, Best Buy and Nintendo are holding in-store events on November 5 (though you’ll need a Warp Pipe Pass for Nintendo’s event). GameStop is also letting customers pre-order in-store.. We’ll still be tracking every retailer with our exclusive Zelda 40th anniversary Switch 2 restock tracker, which provides up-to-the-second information when the Zelda Switch 2 is in stock. If the console appears – which it might – our followers will still be the first to know. Up next: PS5 Pro restock: it’s available again, but you’re paying more than you should Subscribe Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.
The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
Inside Business Matters: A CNY chain is one of the nation’s biggest employee-owned firms
Every Thursday, the Business Matters newsletter gathers Syracuse.com’s most insightful, noteworthy business journalism for readers.
Photo Essay: College of Science and Engineering Research Showcase
Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major Jess Visaya and Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major Dorette Pirie show off their soft robots. The robots are made to mimic worms, whose bodies bunch up before extending to propel themselves forward. The robots use pneumatic actuators to make linear movement outwards. Visaya and Pirie set up two of their worms with syringes attached to tubing which was then threaded through the end cap into the worms. Visitors to their station were encouraged to race the two worms by pumping the attached syringes. Third-year Biochemistry major Ira Evetts worked in Dr. Christopher Whidbey’s lab studying the vaginal microbiome, in an attempt to better understand the different microbes that build it up and how it affects health outcomes. Evetts’ research was specifically focused on lactobacillus iners, one of several bacteria naturally present in a healthy vaginal microbiome, and methylation systems. Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major John Diesko Boehm and Fourth-Year Mechanical Engineering major Ian Agopsowicz hold up their “DAQMobile.” They built their project, a modified RC kit car, to help teach mechanical engineers about circuits and electrical design through real-world application. Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major Ben Murphy holds up his mole crab and crawfish-inspired burrower. Murphy wanted to imitate the motion of a crab’s legs through robotics, with the primary goal to “turn the rotation of one motor into four alternating legs that would successfully displace soil.” Murphy was inspired by works that take inspiration from the natural world, and he found mole crabs particularly interesting. Although a mole crab is at an advantage with its burrowing being underwater, thus the sand being fluidized and easier to displace, Murphy’s machine is able to successfully burrow three centimeters into the ground. Second-year Mechanical Engineering major and Physics major Arabelle Miller shows off her rubber gripper, inspired by kirigami and origami. She took a piece of rubber and strategically cut slits into it to make it fold the way she needed, then glued googly eyes to the front. The gripper is able to hold up to 38 times its weight, or 226 grams. Third-year Mechanical Engineering major Joonseong Park talked about how his project took an unused and broken 3-D printer and transformed it into a testing platform for soft robotic grippers. The former-printer was reprogrammed and had its extruder part modified to be a mount for the grippers. Park shows off some of the other grippers that can be attached to the testing platform. Park classified grippers into two large categories. The first set of grippers is designed to deal with small delicate objects with great precision, and the second is made to lift heavy or large objects. Third-year Mechanical Engineering major Jiashuo Liu set out with a goal to deploy free open-source AI models to pre-existing robots to integrate object recognition and retrieval and command. The models are used to process the data received from the robots’ cameras in order to detect certain objects and their locations. Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major Cole Purohit focused on agricultural automation of raspberry picking. His project utilizes kirigami to make grippers to close around a raspberry when the two ends are pulled. “Nobody wants to eat a squished raspberry,” Purohit said. Fourth-Year Biochemistry major Mariel Nolan’s project focused on bacteria and proteins within the bacteria whose functions are unknown. Nolan’s research is finding a way to isolate those proteins with the ultimate goal of determining their functions. Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major Kai Boydon and Fourth-year Mechanical Engineering major Evan Nguyen show off their project, which uses custom extensors to help with the rehabilitation of stroke patients. They compared their project to a “party-popper” in the way it unfurls itself when placed under a patient’s fingers, helping the stroke patient rehabilitate finger movement. Boydon shows off the testing rig built for their project. It works as a mount for their extensor, as a way to test against resistance. Their program inflates the extensor through an air pump, which then makes the extensor push against the bed whilst an arduino calculates the force created and air pressure associated with the force. Navigate Left Navigate Right
Pope Francis’ memoir, a dark romantasy and more new November paperbacks
Before the holiday shopping season, publishers are releasing a broad range of new paperbacks and exciting paperback reissues for every reader this month.
CachyOS vs. Fedora 45 vs. Ubuntu 26.10 Performance On AMD Ryzen 9
With the recently released Ubuntu 26.10 and the nearly-released Fedora Workstation 45, Phoronix readers have begun inquiring about fresh benchmarks looking at how they stack up against the performance-optimized, Arch Linux based CachyOS.
Secret Service checks Portland businesses for skimming devices, shares tips to spot them
Secret Service agents spent two days checking Portland-area card readers and educating businesses about skimming devices as part of a multistate fraud-prevention effort.
Texas Border Business and Mega Doctor News Record 1.29 Million Page Views in Three Months
Texas Border Business and Mega Doctor News are thanking their readers after Google Analytics data showed strong digital traffic for both publications in July, August, and September 2026.
Is AI making you lazier?
A new study revealed that people who rely on AI for basic tasks like math problems became less motivated over time. In response, Live Science polled its readers to see if they agree with these findings.
Share your views in 2026 Wisconsin Business Energy Pulse survey
BizTimes Media is asking readers to share their views on the energy landscape in the region as part of our 2026 Wisconsin Business Energy Pulse survey.
COLUMN: The De-evolution of Local Politics
“Disagreement does not justify personal abuse” An OPINION by Jonathan Enzinna, Town of Cuba NY Councilman As some readers may or may not know, I have been fortunate to serve […]
Letters to the Editor: Not all patients have complaints about UCLA Health’s quality of care
'I am a retiree relying on Medicare. I am getting the best medical care of my life through UCLA Health,' writes an L.A. Times reader.
These Are Lifehacker's 2026 'Gift of the Year' Award Winners
The Lifehacker staff of tech experts and reviewers have selected their choices for the best Gifts of the Year for 2026 in 15 categories ranging from the best smartphone and e-reader to the best gaming equipment and fitness tracker.
Riff Raff: A Fort Smith government ‘we deserve’
A frequent question from Kind Readers and Readers of Another Kind is about this Fort Smith change of government thing. They inquire: Will the city and its residents be better...
Riff Raff: A Fort Smith government ‘we deserve’
A frequent question from Kind Readers and Readers of Another Kind is about this Fort Smith change of government thing. They inquire: Will the city and its residents be better...
What Is the Relationship Between Doing Good History and Entertainment?
[Cross-posted from The Tattooed Historian’s Dispatch] What exactly are we doing when we communicate history to the public? Most of us would agree that accuracy matters, evidence matters, context matters, historical rigor matters. But we also live in a world where attention matters (and attention spans are dropping at an alarming rate). Subscribe Whether we’re posting on social media, producing videos, hosting podcasts, giving public talks, or designing museum programs, we’re all competing with countless other demands on people’s time. The public doesn’t simply stumble into history anymore. Now, good history has to find people where they already are. This raises a difficult question: Is making history entertaining part of good historical practice, or is it simply what we must do to remain relevant? “Entertainment” is often treated as the opposite of seriousness. But what do we mean when we use the term itself? Does entertainment mean simplifying the historical record? Does it mean telling compelling stories in a lively manner? Is there a difference between being engaging and being entertaining? And who gets to decide where that line is? Share These questions become even more complicated online. Social media platforms reward attention. Algorithms reward engagement (the positive and the negative). Visibility often depends on producing content that people are willing to click, watch, share, and discuss. What happens when those incentives shape the way history is presented? Can historians work within those systems without letting those systems define the work? Are public audiences being served better than ever before, or are platform incentives changing what kinds of history rise to the surface? These are just a few of the issues that I discuss with John R. Heckman in our latest installment of “Historians Off the Cuff.” Feel free to suggest future topics for us to discuss in the comments section below. Hope you are entertained. LOL Civil War Memory is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
I cashed in my retirement to open a bookstore
In Atlanta, a former teacher opened a romance bookstore, fostering a community for romantasy readers despite concerns over market saturation.
I wish GM, other automakers, would've picked up on hybrids
Freep readers respond to Editorial Page Editor Nancy Kaffer's latest column, Michigan's U.S. Senate race and other news of the week.
My Co-Worker Is Losing It Over My Religion
Plus: Reader responses to a woman returning to the office after two decades of self-employment.
READERS' CHOICE | Impact Realty Group makes its mark with Best Small Business win
A locally owned and operated real estate brokerage has been named Best Small Business in the 2026 Texarkana Gazette Readers' Choice Awards.
Los Angeles health authorities report 2nd second rabies-positive raccoon
In a follow-up on the report a rabies-positive raccoon found in Los Angeles County, the first in more than 5 decades, the LA County Department of Public Health is investigating a second rabies-positive raccoon found in the Westlake Village area of Los Angeles County. Public Health has confirmed that the first raccoon was positive for a variant of rabies typically found in bats. Strain testing for the second raccoon is currently pending. The second rabid raccoon was found in a backyard in the vicinity of where the first raccoon was reported and appeared sick and aggressive. No residents or pets were exposed to the raccoon. Two people at a worksite may have been exposed to the raccoon and are receiving recommended follow-up for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis. The World’s Deadliest Viruses Prior to these detections, the last confirmed rabid raccoon in Los Angeles County was detected in 1973, when the skunk variant (strain) of rabies was still present in the County. That strain has not been detected in Los Angeles County since 1979. In 2014, a skunk infected with the bat variant of rabies was detected in Long Beach. “The detection of rabies in another raccoon is an important reminder to never touch, handle, or feed any wild animals, even when they appear healthy,” said Muntu Davis, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Health Officer. “Always keep a safe distance from wildlife and contact your local animal control if you encounter an animal that appears to be sick, injured, or behaving unusually. It is also critical to ensure your pets are up to date on rabies vaccination so they are protected before any potential exposure. Keeping your pets vaccinated is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your entire family.” Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Readers Write: Book bans, health care reform, Ilhan Omar raid
When you side with censors, you’re wrong.
Neko Health Turned a Dreaded Blood Test Into an Experience People Want to Repeat
Neko Health shows how a thoughtful, comfortable customer experience can turn a dreaded health screening into a service people want to repeat.
What will author Jeff Kinney’s Cedar Rapids show be like?
“Readers and families can expect the unexpected,” the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” author told The Gazette. “This will be nothing like any other event they've been to before.”
Letters to Sports: Debating Shohei Ohtani's two-way workload
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts on the Dodgers and Bill Plaschke's commentary, the Rams, Chargers, Lakers and more.
'Most people can't handle driving in 2 dimensions let alone 3': Readers respond to our poll about flying cars
Tesla recently demonstrated its Rocket Roadster "flying car." We asked our readers whether they think flying cars will be widely available in the near future.
Pope hope, that’s entertainment, and getting ahead in the CIA
Happy Friday friends, I want to start by just breathing for all of us a big long collective sigh of relief at the news this week that the pope’s doctors have basically blown the all clear for Leo’s health. Going from knowing nothing to him declaring to the world he needed surgery, to a cancer diagnosis, to bouncing out of the hospital in barely even days, to ringing the bell in less than two weeks is whiplash inducing. But in the best possible way. We are living in a world in which the Roman pontiff, by dint of history, biography and circumstance, is once more at the epicenter of global affairs. Not just conversations about religion, or Christian and post-Christian values, but the bleeding edge of the most pressing issues of human affairs. Think I am exaggerating a touch? Consider the images of the crowds who greeted Leo in Paris just weeks ago, and juxtapose them with the absolute photo negative scenes unfolding there recently. Ask yourself how many world leaders are talking about AI right now and directly citing the pope as they do so. Try to name a country who has had as many top-ranked diplomats in and out of both Russia and Ukraine in the last three years as the Vatican has in the last three months. It has been fascinating to watch Leo XIV emerge as not just a kind of pop culture reference point or totem to be cited (Francis was often name-checked this way) but as a kinetic force in global conversation. Given the state of things, we need global figures of gravitas and values, even better if they have real wisdom behind what they are saying. So news of Leo’s illness was, it seemed to me, a tremor with potentially Richter Scale implications. That not only has the worst not come to pass but instead we’ve had the best of outcomes announced is something to really be grateful for. Humanity, it seems to me, is entering one of its irregular but cyclical phases where the pace of change — technological, social, and geopolitical — outstrips the ability of previously settled norms and received wisdom to cope. Such periods – and I think the first decades of the last century were a similar such time – throw into question the viability of all kinds of institutions. And many of ours have been straining to breaking point for a few years now. The papacy has the power and the potential to be a steadying pole in all of this. That’s my hope, anyway. It’s a lot to freight the office with, though it is arguably its ultimate purpose from its founding, to be a steadying rock on which all that matters can be anchored. It’s also, of course, an intolerable weight of responsibility to place on a single man. But I am encouraged to have hope in – and for – Leo. The apostle whom he succeeds, after all, was famously unequal to some moments, failed some tests of faith, and resiled from taking the road which led ultimately to the circus on Vatican hill. Human frailty and limitations, of health, of character, of temper, can open us to Christ, whose strength is greatest in our weakness, so St. Paul learned. That gives me hope, and I am sure it consoles Leo, too. And so I will continue to pray for him. Because we need apostles of rock right now. Here’s the news. Subscribe The News The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued yesterday a new document “Venite ad me: Considerations on the Transmission of the Faith in an Epochal Change.” It’s not a short document, and it is at pains to stress this isn’t a doctrinal note from the dicastery, either. Rather, it brings together reflections on an important issue from the Church around the world. Some of it I actually found really rather powerful. It is, however, 25,000, which is a lot for a busy reader to get through on a weekday. So, you can read our busy reader’s summary right here. — News broke yesterday of an Oct. 22 meeting of U.S. bishops with President Donald Trump. The meeting was organized by an official at the Heritage Foundation, according to several sources close to the meeting. Video of several U.S. bishops praying in the Oval Office over President Trump was posted on social media Thursday afternoon, first by White House Communications Advisor Margo Martin, and then by the official twitter.com account of the Archdiocese of Denver. The meeting has drawn sharp criticism because of its proximity to the upcoming midterm Congressional elections, in which Democrats are widely expected to win control of the House of Representatives, while control of the Senate remains closely contested. Sources close to the bishops’ conference told The Pillar that some USCCB senior officials were surprised by the existence of the meeting when video of it first emerged online. And a source close to conference president Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City told The Pillar that the archbishop was “deeply frustrated” by the occasion of the meeting. An official conference spokesperson told The Pillar that the meeting was “not organized with or by the USCCB” and was “not affiliated with the conference.” You can read the whole story here. — The next National Eucharistic Congress will be held in Indianapolis in 2029, a return to the city that hosted the last gathering in 2024. You read it here first. By here, I don’t mean this newsletter, I mean at The Pillar. We broke the story this week. It’s a big deal, in as much as the last congress was a roaring success and the next installment has the potential to be a real focal point for evangelizing efforts in the coming years. Read all about it here. — As Pope Leo prepares for the longest trip of his pontificate, Church leaders in Uruguay say the pontiff will encounter a highly secularized culture, in a country with a very different Catholic history than many of its South American neighbors. The nation has not had a papal visit since 1988, and leaders who spoke with The Pillar say it has a dire need for evangelization, even amid the prospect of a small revival in faith. This is real reporting on the Church in the country, and frankly a story you simply are not going to be able to read anywhere else. Read the whole thing. — The Archdiocese of Detroit announced this week a plan that would see the vast majority of its parish priests reassigned next summer, amid a restructuring process expected to dramatically shrink the number of parishes in the archdiocese. Archbishop Edward Weisenburger said this week that the plan “asks much of our priests,” but is a “sacrifice they are making as brothers of one, unified presbyterate.” The thing is, as JD pointed out in an analysis yesterday, pastors of parishes have a legal right to stability in office, so the only way this kind of wholesale reassignment goes ahead is if all of the archdiocesan clergy agree to resign. That creates its own kind of legal issues, though, and re-raises longstanding questions about the effectiveness of canonical due process protections for priests when dealing with coercive exercises in authority. Read the whole thing here. — More than three months after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued its decree declaring the excommunication of the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, questions remain about the full effects of the society’s schism. Specifically, the DDF’s July claim that marriages witnessed and confessions heard by SSPX priests are now invalid remains contested — and it emerged this week it appears that the Vatican’s own legal experts don’t agree. You can read my whole analysis of the situation and what it means here. All I would add is that the DDF’s undeveloped, some would say unsubstantiated, claim about the invalidity of some SSPX sacraments came in their July Explanatory Note on the schismatic consecrations by the society that month. It touches directly on both papal acts of governance — indeed it purports to nullify them — and the most intimate pastoral encounters possible in a parish setting. If there is one aspect of the Francis-era style of governance I would like the curia to finally cut out, root and branch, it would be these attempts to try to effect extraordinarily sensitive legislative acts via a note. — At least a dozen French bishops have spoken out following an eruption of violence on the country’s streets Oct. 17. Not surprisingly, they unanimously condemned the violence, but the length and content of their interventions varied significantly. Several sought to distinguish between the actions of rioters and what they suggested were the legitimate concerns of peaceful young protesters. Many also evoked Pope Leo XIV’s Sept. 25-28 visit to France, suggesting it offered a powerful counter-image to the scenes of looting and destruction. A number of bishops also stressed their solidarity with law enforcement officials who struggled to contain the disorder, as well as the owners of the roughly 3,000 damaged or looted businesses. What’s the background to the nationwide unrest that the French media calls “les violences du 17 octobre”? And what exactly are the bishops saying? Read all about it here. — A Polish bishop called for the firm defense of unborn children as well as compassion for their mothers this week, as the lower house of Poland’s parliament passed two bills seeking to liberalize the country’s abortion laws. The bill on decriminalizing assistance in an abortion passed by 217 votes to 213, while the abortion in cases of fetal abnormality bill passed by 233 to 203, thanks to the government’s majority in the lower house. Both bills will now move to the Polish Senate, the upper house of parliament, where the ruling coalition has a larger majority. The fetal abnormality bill is symbolically significant because if it became law, it would effectively overturn a 2020 ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal that a 1993 law permitting abortion for a severe and irreversible disability or a life-threatening incurable disease was unconstitutional. Read the whole story here. Subscribe **[The St. Paul Center App | Bible Study On-The-Go Read and understand the Bible with St. Paul Center’s new app! With today’s leading Catholic Scripture scholars as your guides, the St. Paul Center app empowers you to read the Bible](https://stpaulcenter.com/app?utm_source=pillar&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=applaunch)** from the heart of the Church. Download the app for free at either the Apple or the Google app stores. https://stpaulcenter.com/app That’s entertainment I have written before about my deep and sincere reservations about the celebrity exorcist subculture which has taken root in American Catholicism. And, because I am very ill at ease with the entire thing, I try to keep a weather eye on the phenomenon without being drawn into the kind of online back-and-forth which these figures sometimes generate. Earlier this week, JD noted that one such celebrity exorcist type, Fr. Chad Ripperger, has undertaken, on the request of his bishop, a year’s fast from interviews and public speaking. I’m sure that will be salutary for him, if for no other reason than that receiving with docility requests from one’s rightful ecclesiastical superiors always comes with graces. Then a second thing happened this week which caught my eye. Apparently, another fixture in the celebrity exorcist world, Fr. Carlos Martins, has initiated a lawsuit against two lay men — apparently associates of Rippenger, though I am unclear in what way, exactly — for allegedly defaming him and his ministry on a podcast. It seems the suit was initiated nearly a year ago and is now pending. At issue, I read, is that the two men described Martins on a podcast as “not who he says he is” with regard to his exorcism ministry and that he “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” These statements Martins considers to be false and defamatory and, his suit claims, “directly affected the sale and reception of [his] The Exorcist Files book that was newly released at the time these episodes aired.” I don’t want to get too into the weeds of the details here, but a couple of things struck me about all this.
More Than a Charcuterie Board: A Mother and Daughter Build a Business Around Gathering.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Birch Bay Retirement Village. NORTHEAST HARBOR—Food’s ability to be a social cornerstone is one of the founding premises of one of Mount Desert Island’s newest, and perhaps most unique, endeavors in cuisine based catering. From intimate gatherings to large functions, Olive & Pearl creates charcuterie boards that can not only astound the tongue but also the eye. Many would agree that food can bring people together. In fact, culinary delights, and sometimes adventures, have been utilized as the centerpiece for social and business occasions of all kinds for centuries. Often times it even has the ability to start conversation, temper differences, and build new relationships. Settings can vary, from a multi-course sit down meal, a backyard barbecue, or a couple of bowls of chips and dip in front of a television, but the result can be the same. Humans come together, they share food, and the whole process is a catalyst for thought, communication, and a shared experience. Imagined and created by the mother and daughter team of Dr. Susan Scanlan (formerly MacCready) and Kayla Musetti, Olive & Pearl was started in June of this year and has been creating, delighting, and growing since. We gave the two an opportunity to answer some questions about themselves and their new venture. The love, passion, and pride for what they are doing and the fact that they are doing it as a mother and daughter team came through so strongly in their answers that we decided to present the question and answer session in its entirety. The Interview What did you do prior to Olive & Pearl? We’re a mother-daughter team, and food, family, and hospitality have always been a big part of our lives. Susan grew up in a large family in Pennsylvania, where the table was always at the center of everything. There were multiple dishes, little bites, stories, and plenty of conversation. Food was never simply about eating. It was about gathering, celebrating, and spending time together. After living in several Southern states, Susan relocated to Maine more than 20 years ago, and Maine has truly become home. She loves its sense of community, natural beauty, and connection to local food and makers. Professionally, Susan is a registered nurse and holds a doctorate in health administration. She has worked in a variety of clinical, nonclinical, and leadership roles and currently works as a faculty academic director. Building Olive & Pearl has been an exciting creative venture alongside her career. Kayla is also a registered nurse and works in the ambulatory surgery unit at Mount Desert Island Hospital. While healthcare is an important part of both of our professional lives, Olive & Pearl has given us an entirely different way to connect, collaborate, and create something together. Tell us about the business. Olive & Pearl is a mother-daughter charcuterie business centered around beautiful food, thoughtful presentation, and bringing people together. We create curated charcuterie boards designed for everything from intimate gatherings and dinner parties to weddings, showers, corporate events, boat days, and celebrations of all kinds. We think of our boards as more than food. They’re an experience and an invitation to gather, slow down, and enjoy time with the people around you. We’re intentional about quality ingredients, artful presentation, and personalization. Whenever possible, we also incorporate Maine-made and locally sourced products, including cheeses, jams, honey, seasonal produce, and baked goods. What inspired you to start Olive & Pearl? In many ways, Olive & Pearl grew out of something we had been doing our entire lives —bringing people together around food. We’ve always loved creating beautiful spreads for family and friends. There was something special about watching people gather around a table, graze, talk, laugh, and simply enjoy being together. Friends and family began telling us, “You should do this as a business,” and one day, we stopped laughing it off and started mapping it out. We realized we had an opportunity to combine our different strengths and create something that reflected what we both value: hospitality, creativity, quality, and connection. Charcuterie felt like the perfect expression of that. It’s beautiful and creative, but it’s also communal and approachable. At its heart, it brings us right back to where the idea began, a table filled with food and people gathered around it. Do you have a business partner(s)? Our business partner is each other! Olive & Pearl is truly a mother-daughter partnership, and building it together has been incredibly meaningful and sometimes hilarious! We know each other extremely well, which can be both a strength and, occasionally, a challenge. We have different personalities and strengths, but we’ve learned to lean into those differences and use them to our advantage. There’s a lot of trust between us, and we’ve learned how to communicate, collaborate, and occasionally laugh at ourselves along the way. We’re also building Olive & Pearl while continuing our careers in healthcare and education, so we’re taking things thoughtfully and growing the business one step at a time. We all have to start somewhere. One of the most rewarding parts has been having something that belongs to both of us. We get to learn from one another, celebrate the small wins together, and create something that we hope will become part of our family’s story for years to come. When exactly did you launch the business? Recently, in June 2026, we launched Olive & Pearl, turning an idea we had talked about for years into real business. It has been incredibly rewarding to watch something that started around our own family table and begin to find a place within the community. How is it going so far? How do you feel it has been received? It has been going very well, and we’ve been incredibly encouraged by how warmly Olive & Pearl has been received. As more people hear about us, our orders have continued to increase, and we’re seeing growing interest in boards for events and celebrations. It’s exciting to watch something that began as an idea between the two of us start to grow within the community. One of the most rewarding parts is hearing from customers after their events or seeing photos of our boards being enjoyed. Knowing that something we created became part of someone’s celebration is incredibly meaningful to us. Is there a brick-and-mortar location or is it all online? Olive & Pearl is currently an online business. We’re intentionally starting this way so we can build relationships with our customers, learn what they love, and grow thoughtfully. Our long-term dream, if the business continues to grow, is to eventually have a sit-down space where people can experience Olive & Pearl in person. Do you have any future plans if things go well/keep going well? Absolutely. For now, our focus is on continuing to grow Olive & Pearl, getting to know our customers, and becoming part of more celebrations and gatherings throughout the area. Long term, we would love to have our own physical space where people can come together and experience Olive & Pearl beyond the boards themselves. We can imagine a place that combines food, hospitality, creativity, and community. Ultimately, we want to build something that continues to grow while still feeling personal and connected to the people and community around us. Is there an aspect of the business that you really love? There are so many things we love about it, but the people and the connection are probably at the top of the list. We love creating something beautiful, but what really matters to us is what happens after we hand it over to the customer. We picture our boards on kitchen islands, at backyard gatherings, on boats, at weddings, or around a long dinner table—with people laughing, talking, and lingering a little longer. We also love the creative side. Every board is an opportunity to play with color, texture, shape, seasonality, and flavor. We don’t just want to fill a board, we want to curate an experience. And supporting local makers is especially meaningful to us. Whenever possible, we love incorporating Maine-made cheeses, local jams and honey, seasonal produce, and products from nearby bakeries and businesses. It allows us to showcase some of what makes Maine so special. Perhaps most importantly, we love doing this together. Building something as a mother and daughter has given us another way to spend time together, learn from one another, celebrate small wins, and create memories. Is there anything regarding any aspect of Olive & Pearl that you may think is important that is not reflected on the website? One thing that may not always come through online is just how personal this business is to us. Olive & Pearl isn’t something we created simply because charcuterie was popular. It grew very naturally from our family, our traditions, and the way we’ve always enjoyed gathering with people we love. There is a lot of heart behind every board. We think about the people who will be enjoying it, the occasion they’re celebrating, and how we can make the experience feel special. We also want people to know that we care deeply about supporting locals whenever possible. Using Maine products isn’t just about sourcing ingredients, it’s about telling a little story about where we live and the talented people who make and grow wonderful things here. Is there anything that we have not asked that you think is important/relevant that would like readers to know? We hope people see Olive & Pearl as more than just a charcuterie business. At its heart, it’s about gathering. Our goal is to make it easier for people to create those moments when everyone gathers around the table, conversations last a little longer, and people simply enjoy being together. We also hope people see the mother-daughter story behind the business. We’re building Olive & Pearl alongside our careers, one step at a time, and there is something incredibly special about creating a shared family legacy in the process. For us, success isn’t just about how many boards we make. It’s about becoming part of people’s special moments - birthdays, weddings, weekends with friends, quiet evenings at home, or a beautiful day on the Maine coast. If one of our boards helps people put down their phones, linger a little longer, laugh a little more, and enjoy the people around them, then we feel like we’ve done exactly what we set out to do. All photos courtesy of Olive & Pearl. LINKS TO LEARN MORE Olive & Pearl website Olive & Pearl Facebook Olive & Pearl Instagram RECENT PRESS RELEASES AND BRIEFS To see all the press releases, click here. To see our news, click here. For the full archive, click here. All of these are on our dedicated website. 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Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/explore-career-opportunities-where) [ Cranberry Isles Comprehensive Plan Committee Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/cranberry-isles-comprehensive-plan) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/cranberry-isles-comprehensive-plan) [ ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) [ Community School Hosts a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser October 25! Oct 22 ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) [ Read full story ](https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/community-school-hosts-a-pancake) HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other. We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going. If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship. It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light. Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now. Thank you so much for being here. Founding member information can be found here. Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you. Subscribe Share Bar Harbor Story Share Leave a comment
The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
'Today's' Craig Melvin crowned People's sexiest morning show host
'Today' co-anchor Craig Melvin reluctantly accepts the crown for sexiest morning show host in People's Readers' Choice Poll.
Opinion | Should We Shut Down Business Schools?
Readers discuss a professor’s Opinion essay that suggested doing so. Also: Children without lawyers at deportation hearings; legal rights for robots?
James Patterson is writing a romantasy with this Scottish author
Like millions of readers worldwide, James Patterson loves Sarah J. Maas' "A Court of Thorns and Roses" and Rebecca Yarros' "Fourth Wing."
Mad about Science: Doppelgängers and weird coincidences » Sandpoint Reader
By Brenden BobbyReader Staff History is full of weird coincidences. Enough people exist for a certain length of time and you are bound to have some expected, albeit unusual, occurrences. It’s just statistics at...
Your Voice, Your Vote: Stanley Langlow, Chelan County sheriff candidate
.engage-icon { width: 40px; height: 40px; margin: 5px; padding: 4px; border: 1px; border-style: solid; border-radius: 50%; cursor: pointer; } .icon-clicked { width: 40px; height: 40px; margin: 5px; padding: 4px; border: 1px; border-style: solid; border-radius: 50%; background-color: #C5D9E2; } .engage-container { display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 10px; text-align: center; float: center; min-height: 100px; } .success-message { font-family: Helvetica Neue,'Open Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-style: italic; color: #333; } .label { font-family: Helvetica Neue,'Open Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; } .link-button { border-radius: 5px; border-color: #333; background-color: #C5D9E2; color:#333; align:center; max-width: 175px; margin: 5px; } .button-text { font-family: Helvetica Neue,'Open Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; } Copy article link Sign up for our newsletters function Copy() { var button = document.createElement('input'), text = window.location.href+'/?utm_medium=internal&utm_source=readerShare&utm_campaign=bButton'; document.body.appendChild(button); button.value = text; button.select(); document.execCommand('copy'); document.body.removeChild(button); document.getElementById('articleShareButton').innerHTML = "Link copied!" }; Trending Wenatchee house fire displaces family, 3 dogs rescued 1 dead, another injured in car fire outside East Wenatchee Delilah: From local Wenatchee singer to Latin Grammy nominee East Wenatchee standoff ends after cigarette break Spokane developer applies for 250 apartment project outside East Wenatchee
Your Voice, Your Vote: Adam Musgrove, Douglas County sheriff candidate
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Your Voice, Your Vote: Tyler Caille, Douglas County sheriff candidate
.engage-icon { width: 40px; height: 40px; margin: 5px; padding: 4px; border: 1px; border-style: solid; border-radius: 50%; cursor: pointer; } .icon-clicked { width: 40px; height: 40px; margin: 5px; padding: 4px; border: 1px; border-style: solid; border-radius: 50%; background-color: #C5D9E2; } .engage-container { display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 10px; text-align: center; float: center; min-height: 100px; } .success-message { font-family: Helvetica Neue,'Open Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-style: italic; color: #333; } .label { font-family: Helvetica Neue,'Open Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; } .link-button { border-radius: 5px; border-color: #333; background-color: #C5D9E2; color:#333; align:center; max-width: 175px; margin: 5px; } .button-text { font-family: Helvetica Neue,'Open Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.42857143; } Copy article link Sign up for our newsletters function Copy() { var button = document.createElement('input'), text = window.location.href+'/?utm_medium=internal&utm_source=readerShare&utm_campaign=bButton'; document.body.appendChild(button); button.value = text; button.select(); document.execCommand('copy'); document.body.removeChild(button); document.getElementById('articleShareButton').innerHTML = "Link copied!" }; Trending Wenatchee house fire displaces family, 3 dogs rescued 1 dead, another injured in car fire outside East Wenatchee Delilah: From local Wenatchee singer to Latin Grammy nominee East Wenatchee standoff ends after cigarette break Spokane developer applies for 250 apartment project outside East Wenatchee
Why Pronouns Matter in Science Fiction
Readers should be invited to identify with nonbinary protagonists, and gain a new perspective on old beliefs.
A note to readers: Science, accountability and elections
Dear readers, As early voting begins, I wanted to share some news — and why it connects to the decisions we make at the ballot box. I’ve been selected for the inaugural cohort of the South Atlantic Climate Journalism Hub mentorship program, hosted by Covering Climate Now. I’m excited to join this group, learn from scientists and fellow journalists, and expand my science reporting. Science directly ties to governance. Local officials make decisions about where development goes, how infrastructure is maintained, what emergency preparations receive funding, and how communities rebuild after disasters. Understanding the evidence behind those decisions helps us evaluate whether our government is serving us well. Here in western North Carolina, those connections are all around us, in Lake Lure and beyond. Flood maps inform decisions about property and development. Engineering assessments help identify risks at dams and bridges. Rainfall forecasts guide emergency preparations. Geological information helps explain landslide hazards. Water testing gives communities information they need to assess conditions. Meteorologists’ knowledge and public perception of weather events shape public safety. Each involves scientific or technical knowledge. Each also raises questions about public responsibility: What did officials know? How did they use that information? What did they tell the public? What did taxpayers receive for their money? A study can identify a problem. Elected officials still have to decide what to do about it, how to pay for it, and how to explain their choices. Reporting should examine both the evidence and the response. That is where I want to strengthen my work. My reporting on Helene recovery, infrastructure, flooding, public safety, and public spending has repeatedly brought me to questions that require scientific expertise alongside public records. This mentorship may help me better understand the research, ask more precise questions, and explain the answers clearly. I also bring the perspective of someone living with these concerns. I live downstream of Lake Lure Dam, and landslides affected my property during Helene. Those experiences bring urgency to my questions. Careful reporting helps establish the answers. Readers deserve to know what the evidence shows, where uncertainty remains, and whether officials accurately describe the information guiding their decisions. You also deserve scrutiny of proposed solutions: what they cost, what they are expected to accomplish, and what risks remain. Access to that information matters. As a mostly deaf journalist who relies on written communication, I will continue pressing for written public warnings, records, and explanations that people can read and use in real time. As you consider the candidates seeking your vote, consider how they approach evidence, preparedness, and transparency. Do they support local journalism, even when it’s not parroting a press release? Do they explain weather events clearly in plain English and explain their decisions after them? Make supporting records available? Acknowledge uncertainty? Follow through when a report identifies a risk? Those are practical questions about governing. Thank you for supporting Cops & Congress and the work that makes these questions part of the public conversation. I’m grateful to David Dickson and the CC Now team for this opportunity, and I look forward to bringing what I learn back to you. Annie DanceEditor & Publisher, Cops & Congress — Learn more about this newsletter, ethics policy, how you can help shape this work, and support it. Follow on X and Facebook. Send constructive criticism, fan mail, and tips with public documents for future stories: CopsandCongress@gmail.com ICYMI: View the Cops & Congress archive — Annie Dance is the publisher of Cops & Congress, a newsletter that analyzes what happens when crime, courts, disaster, democracy, and small-town policies collide. Views expressed here are covered by the First Amendment. Dance has a Bachelor of Arts from Manhattan University in Communication with a focus in Journalism and Government. She has been a journalist for over 20 years. Share Upgrade now or give a gift subscription
Hammer and Rails Readers Reacts Survey: Purdue Men’s Basketball Newcomers
Which newcomer will make the biggest impact on Purdue basketball this season?
Vandals hit NYC subway OMNY readers in apparent political protest
NEW YORK — Cops are looking for a group of vandals who took a drill to a bank of One Metro New York, or OMNY, readers at a Brooklyn subway
Vandals hit NYC subway OMNY readers in apparent political protest
NEW YORK — Cops are looking for a group of vandals who took a drill to a bank of One Metro New York, or OMNY, readers at a Brooklyn subway station, apparently as a political protest. The subway sabota...
Business Insider launches subscriber-only newsletter, Legal AI Insider
Business Insider is launching Legal AI Insider, a subscriber-only newsletter that will take readers inside the things transforming legal work.
Readers Are Pleading To Make American Healthcare Greater
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
You voted, now here it is – Cincinnati's top 10 sports mascots
With over 1,000 votes, our readers made their pick for Greater Cincinnati's No. 1 mascot.
Readers respond: Coordination, not isolation, for Oregon State Hospital
Letters to the Editor can be submitted to letters@oregonian.com with full name and place of residence.
Speak Up: Readers weigh in on New Mexico politics and Project Jupiter
Readers share views on Project Jupiter, Medicaid, the governor's race, ABQ Ride and more.
‘A real-world story’: Ruidoso doctor pens novel on youth mental health
The novel introduces young readers to a 13-year-old who attends therapy and is prescribed medication for anger management.
Readers Write: Political ads, sexual violence, the demise of Hourcar, letter writing
These ad makers must think our brains are mush.
Dear Abby: My adult daughter doesn't want anything to do with me
Dear Abby gives advice to a reader who is struggling to maintain a relationship with her daughter and her grandchildren.
73+ brands dropped new products this month — these are the ones our editors already love from Away, Kindle and more
Amazon’s most itty-bitty e-reader is officially here, along with an automatic pour-over machine from Breville and a Nutrofol hair serum to get rid of split ends.
Enquirer announces Oct. 16 athlete of the week winners
Cincinnati Enquirer readers made their choices for the Oct. 16 Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine Athletes of the Week.
‘Sense and Sensibility’ review: Daisy Edgar-Jones shines in adaptation
Every beloved book lives forever in the mind of its reader, and sometimes if we’re lucky, it becomes a beloved movie, too. Jane Austen’s tale of two sisters, “Sense and
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
National newspaper supplements mark World Mental Health Day 2026 in Bangladesh
To mark World Mental Health Day 2026, special newspaper supplements were published across nine national newspapers in Bangladesh, helping bring mental health messages to readers across the country. The supplements appeared in seven Bangla-language and two English-language newspapers: Bangladesh Pratidin, Bhorer Akash, Jaijaidin, Jugantor, Kalbela, Dainik Amader Shomoy, Prothom Alo, New Age and The Daily Star.
Entertainment RX: Matthew Gilbert's recommendations for the grieving
Entertainment RX is an entertainment-guided advice column offering things to read, listen to, or watch that somehow address — or, in some cases, distract from — the issues readers write in about.
The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.
E Ink upgraded the screen found in most color e-readers
Future e-readers could be getting a better color screen.
By changing America’s ‘death business,’ Newsom can show his morality
'He has shown the courage, many times, to do the right thing rather than the popular thing. I hope he does the same with regard to this “business of death” in America,' writes an L.A. Times reader.
Inside Business Matters: A transplant’s perspective on CNY, plus news on a local AI startup (how to sign up)
Every Thursday, the Business Matters newsletter gathers Syracuse.com’s most insightful, noteworthy business journalism for readers.
Mad about Science: Oakville blobs » Sandpoint Reader
By Brenden BobbyReader Columnist We continue through October with another instance of unsolved mysteries. This is a story with twists and turns, and the potential of a massive government cover-up happening right in the...
Ubisoft plans cuts at German studios, adding to wave of workforce reductions
Ubisoft is planning to reduce its workforce in Germany, where it operates a trio of studios, by about 100 workers, Game File has learned. The company wants to offer employees buyouts to, should enough people accept, avoid having to lay anyone off. “In Germany, we initiated discussions with the Works Council last week regarding a proposed voluntary departure plan across Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Berlin & Ubisoft Mainz,” a company rep told Game File. A “works council” is a union-like group representing employees. “The voluntary plan is the primary measure being proposed to support the intended organizational changes,” the Ubisoft rep added. The company declined to confirm the scale of the potential headcount cut. Of the impacted studios, Mainz might be the best known to the public. It leads development of the Anno series and shipped the well-reviewed strategy game Anno 117: Pax Romana in November 2025. Berlin and Dusseldorf operate as support studios within Ubisoft’s creative network. Berlin recently supported the development of Rainbow Six Siege and the Rayman Legends Retold remake. Dusseldorf also contributed to those projects, as well as The Settlers and Ubisoft-branded escape rooms. Dusseldorf is the biggest of the three studios, with some 400+ workers, compared to just over 100 at the other two, a source familiar with the reductions and the teams told Game File. More than half of these new reductions of about 100 people are expected to happen at Dusseldorf. The planned cuts were announced at a town hall for the German studios on Tuesday of last week. In an email follow-up, the studio group’s managing director, Benedikt Grindel, said the cuts were intended to “best position our German studios for the future... with a clearer focus on their role, capabilities and organizational setup needed for the work ahead.” The email was an echo of the past. In January 2025, Grindel had emailed the Ubisoft developers in his region (or studio “zone”) to explain that a round of 185 cuts at the time, including about 65 at Dusseldorf, were “essential to improve our operational efficiency and ensure the long-term sustainability of our studios, the zone and the company.” A half-decade of continued job cuts Ubisoft has been aggressively cutting its headcount for years. At the end of September 2022, it had 20,729 workers. By the end of March 2026, that total was down to 16,590. Studio management is trying to trim costs as it grapples with a changing industry and a drought of releases, let alone hits. The company announced earlier this year that it had reduced its costs since 2022 by “nearly €325 million” ($362m) and planned to lower them through 2028 by another €180 million ($200m). In June the company said it was closing down its Winnipeg and Belgrade studios and cutting roles in its Barcelona team. Even commercial and creative success hasn’t spared studios from this ongoing company-wide contraction. As Game File was nailing down details around the proposed cuts in Germany, Ubisoft management was informing workers of cuts in its Singapore studio, which shipped a hit remake of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag this past July. Some 70 positions in Singapore are being eliminated “to align the studio with upcoming production needs,” per a company rep’s statement to Game File. In early 2024, a large team in the Singapore studio launched the multiplayer pirate game Skull & Bones. It performed poorly but has been supported with regular content updates since. Many of Ubisoft’s studios around the world are heavily subsidized via regional grants and tax breaks. Singapore had been among them for years, but received no such local assistance in the 12 months ending this past March. News of the Singapore cuts broke today alongside word that Ubisoft is also proposing the closure of RedLynx, pending negotiations with officials. The Finnish studio behind the motorbike series Trials was founded in 2000 and sold to Ubisoft in 2011. As reported by VGC (and corroborated by Game File), Ubisoft management told employees it could not come up with a new, sustainable assignment for RedLynx. The 2025 workforce at Ubisoft Dusseldorf were straight-up cuts. This time, Ubisoft is hoping the reductions at its trio of German studios will largely come from workers taking a payout to leave. The company offered such voluntary dismissals at its Massive Entertainment studio (The Division) a year ago. For the German studios’ buyouts this time around, Ubisoft and the Works Council had discussed a formula that’d pay a worker’s monthly salary multiplied by 1.5 and by the number of years they’ve worked at the company, according to Game File sources. The formula is still subject to negotiations with the Works Council and has not yet been part of an official offer to workers. It could be adjusted up or down, and it could be supplemented with additional bonuses. Asked about the floated payout formula, a Ubisoft rep told Game File, “The terms of a potential voluntary departure program remain subject to negotiation with employee representatives. No final agreement has been reached, and we won’t comment on specific proposals while discussions are ongoing.” Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: Epic’s AI adventures Epic Games (Fortnite, the Unreal engine) is all-in on using AI to try to transform the way it makes video games and game-making tools. It’s leaders appear to be undeterred by any resistance among gamers and some game developers around generative AI—and instead emboldened by advances, particularly in AI-assisted programming. A recap of the last three days: On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Epic management told workers last week that development of an upcoming game combining Star Wars and Marvel characters would be “AI first.” Employees would be expected to use AI models such as Claude to code the game. A manager told Epic’s developers there would be “[n]o more hand-written code” and that art for the game would be “generated with full AI workflows,” per the outlet. Just ahead of that story running, Epic founder Tim Sweeney tweeted: “We have a huge pivot underway here at Epic, moving developers around to retool for maximum AI acceleration. The aim isn’t to do the same stuff with fewer people, but to enable everyone here to build MORE and BETTER stuff, and to bring the benefits to all teams using Unreal.” In a follow-up, Sweeney predicted that most game development processes would be at least three times faster a year from now than they were in January 2026, thanks to AI. To a person on X who told him he was failing to read the room, Sweeney said: “Much of the room wants it to be 2016 again, but it’s not. Our job, as the provider of tools and technology to much of the industry, is to design for the present that is and the future that will soon be.” On Wednesday, Epic announced it was releasing a faster launcher for its Epic Games Store marketplace. It did so by stating in a blog post as clear as could be that the launcher is an AI-enabled, vibe-coded project: Programming is hard. So, instead of doing that, we vibe coded a new Epic Games Launcher that’s way faster and more responsive than the current one, and has a new look. Programming is hard? That was unexpected phrasing from a company founded by a legendarily great programmer. Back in 2011, Sweeney told me that he’d picked up programming quickly as a kid and rejoiced at the power it gave him. “I could look at any program that anybody else had written and, with enough effort, build something cooler.” Item 3: The Xbox Labs experiment (and one of the people behind it) Microsoft’s Xbox division, which is flooding the zone with announcements lately, yesterday revealed a new internal tech-tinkering team called Xbox Labs. In the words of Xbox boss Asha Sharma Labs is “a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists whose job is to turn emerging ideas into things our players and developers can experience.” Conventional wisdom coming out of the announcement is that Labs is a team that’ll focus on ideas driven by generative AI. In her announcement, Sharma cited some of the dizzying achievements in tech and gaming over the past month as AI agents and other AI tools have been deployed to swiftly figure out how popular games work, then rebuild them and mix them up. She mentioned seeing ”games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support” and said “[p]erhaps more surprisingly, we’ve seen many of the biggest games in the world have been remixed into the source code of another.” (Minecraft plus Elden Ring, for example, or Fortnite + Super Monkey Ball + Overwatch + Diablo + others.) Sharma also cited the work of Windows PC games being ported to run in browsers, a seeming reference to a recent AI-assisted fan port of Halo. Or perhaps Call of Duty or GTA. Sharma didn’t use the specific term “AI” in her memo, but she came close, citing AI “agents” and their potential for game-making tools that Labs could help craft: I think XBOX has an important role to play here. Coding became the first major workload for agents because they can write, run, and test software. Games share many of those same properties, and people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing XBOX games, roughly five times the estimated time spent writing code worldwide. We’ve spent 25 years learning how to make great games, and I want our game makers to help shape what these new technologies make possible. As we learn, we’ll share the tools we build with developers across the industry, just as we always have. When I asked an Xbox rep if Labs was an AI-centric team, they said genAI was not the focus, describing it as having a broader mandate for using new tech in new ways in gaming. As an example, they pointed to Xbox’s recently launched disc-to-digital gaming usage rights program. Microsoft didn’t specifically name anyone involved full-time in Xbox Labs yesterday, but on social media and LinkedIn, I spotted Adrian Mato IDing himself as leading the creatio of tools at Labs and talking up the launch. Mato first caught my attention in late September, when he said on X that he was “starting to build a new team at Xbox focused on products and tools for how games get built and distributed as agentic tools become more capable.” At the time, he framed AI-based tools as a supplement to traditional game dev tools. “I don’t think we need to replace them,” he said. Since then, he’s publicly shown interest in AI and in games. He’s recently spent some of his X feed marveling at the power of AI agents and praising the lighting in the latest Gears of War. Following the Labs announcement yesterday, he enthused about the Xbox Labs’ stylish landing page. He wrote: “We built some fun tools to art-direct shaders in real time, experimented with interactive ASCII art, and sprinkled in lots of tiny details. “Move your mouse to leave a colorful trail that reveals the original footage, or interact with the video to trigger bursts of particles. “A lot of love went into making it all feel just right. “More to come”
Gainesville businesses celebrated at Community’s Choice Awards gala
More than 40,000 reader nominations and votes helped honor Gainesville-area businesses at the 2026 Community’s Choice Awards gala.
Scenes from the 2026 Gainesville Community’s Choice Awards
Gainesville Sun readers cast more than 40,000 nominations and votes recognizing local businesses, with awards presented in more than 100 categories.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Busy Fall
We have a busy fall ahead of us—and that’s always good news. We like to stay busy. We’re working on two special annual publications: the CNY Business Guide and the CNY Winter Guide. Both publications are designed to reach specific audiences in the community. We’re excited about these new editions and would like to share a few details about them. Let’s begin with the Winter Guide. Winter can be challenging, but it also offers plenty to celebrate. The new CNY Winter Guide will help readers embrace the season and make it more fun and enjoyable. This year’s annual publication will feature an extensive calendar of events, compelling stories, and curated lists of things to do and see throughout the winter. This will be our 31st annual issue. It is one of the few publications—if not the only one—devoted exclusively to winter in Central New York. For advertisers, it offers a valuable opportunity to reach readers across the region. As we tell prospective advertisers, one ad works for them all season long. Rates start in the low $200s. The guide will be available at hundreds of high-traffic locations, including all Wegmans stores and select Price Chopper and Tops Friendly Markets locations. It will also be available online, with every ad hyperlinked so readers can click directly through to the advertiser’s website or Facebook page. Our network of drivers will also deliver the guide to hundreds of high-traffic locations several times throughout the winter. The publication will be out by Thanksgiving. The CNY Business Guide is a one-of-a-kind publication that many readers use as a reference. Unlike the books of lists published by business journals across the country, it comes in a glossy, full-color magazine format. It also ranks employers in four counties, with a particular emphasis on Oswego and Onondaga and substantial information about Cayuga and Jefferson. It is an ambitious project that requires extensive research, phone calls, careful fact-checking, writing and design. In short, it takes a great deal of work—and we’re glad to take on the challenge. The guide is widely distributed to business and professional readers throughout Central New York. The Business Guide gives companies an excellent opportunity to highlight their growth and expansion, showcase new products, and share other noteworthy developments. For readers, it provides a valuable snapshot of companies across the region, including what they do and who leads them. The guide will be published in early December. We invite companies to advertise in both publications. Advertising costs are relatively low, and each guide offers access to a broad audience across Central New York. Wagner Dotto is the editor and publisher of Oswego County Business Magazine.
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Australia: NSW Health warns against handling bats due to lyssavirus
NSW Health is advising the public not to handle, or otherwise handle bats, following a recent increase in people being bitten or scratched across the state. In the two weeks from 28 September to 10 October, 43 people were assessed by NSW Health after being bitten or scratched by bats. This includes in coastal areas in Hunter New England, the Mid North Coast, Northern NSW, and the Central Coast. This is a significant increase when compared with 10 reported cases of bat bites or scratches for the same two-week period in 2025. Keira Glasgow, Director in Health Protection at NSW Health, said, “We want people to assume that any bat could carry Australian bat lyssavirus, which is a close relative to the rabies virus and very dangerous to humans.” “If you see a bat that is injured or in distress, call your local wildlife rescue service and do not touch it. Only trained, protected and vaccinated wildlife handlers should interact with bats. “It is incredibly rare for Australian bat lyssavirus to transmit to humans, but once symptoms of lyssavirus start in people who are scratched or bitten by an infected bat, sadly there is no effective treatment. “If you are bitten or scratched by a bat, urgent medical assessment is crucial.” Rabies virus and Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV) belong to a group of viruses called lyssaviruses. These viruses transmit via a bite from an infected ("rabid") animal. They all cause a similar illness known as rabies, which affects the central nervous system and is usually fatal. Rabies and ABLV infection cause similar symptoms. The early symptoms are flu-like, including headache, fever and fatigue. The illness progresses rapidly to paralysis, delirium, convulsions and death, usually within a week or two. Rabies cases and the three known human cases of ABLV infection have shown a wide variability in the time it takes for symptoms to appear following exposure to an infected animal (from several days to several years). The best way to protect yourself from infection is to not touch bats. If you see a bat in distress, injured or trapped on the ground, do not try to rescue it. Instead, contact trained experts. Outbreak News Today is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Flock is facing a surveillance backlash. Meanwhile, its drone business is booming
As cities push back against its license plate readers, the $8.4 billion surveillance company is betting big on police drones, raising fresh questions about privacy and oversight.
Susan Moore shares lessons from 60 Ideas in 60 Minutes
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We asked: What is one challenge facing the Greater Des Moines business community that deserves more attention?
– Compiled by Emily Barske Wood and Kyle Heim Each year the Business Record’s readers cast votes for what Des Moines has to offer in a variety of business-related categories. We asked the winners: What is one challenge facing the Greater Des Moines business community that deserves more attention? Here’s what some of them had…
The science, instinct and hard work behind Roosters’ success
Enter your email address to get each Tribune edition sent to your inbox Subscribe There’s a fair bit of unseen work that goes into winning an NRL premiership, dating back many months - just ask Simon Jones. The Sydney Roosters Head of Performance, who hails from Southland, has been in the thick of it. He played a lead role in guiding the 2026 champions through a marathon campaign that ended with a grand final win over the Newcastle Knights. The Roosters had to navigate the lengthy round-robin competition, including the pre-season, before playing through all four weeks of the finals series. It was a demanding stretch that tested the players and the staff responsible for keeping them on the field. “It is a hell of a beast, mate, to be honest,” Jones told The Roar Podcast. “There’s such a great group of staff there that know what they’re doing, and the boys are pretty professional.” Jones believed the Roosters managed the physical demands well, pointing to the health of the squad throughout the campaign and the decision to rest a significant portion of the playing group in the final round of the regular season. That call, made by head coach Trent Robinson and his coaching staff, proved valuable as the Roosters entered the finals with some energy in reserve. “We did finish the season physically where we needed to be, and we’d sort of had a pretty healthy squad all year,” Jones said. “To the team that do that, mate, mission accomplished, really.” It is the sort of work that often goes unnoticed when the spotlight falls on the players scoring tries and making match-winning plays, but Jones knows the cumulative effect of those decisions can be significant over a long season. After a win over Penrith had helped establish them as premiership favourites, losses to the Wests Tigers and Dolphins were followed by a defeat to the Panthers in the opening week of the finals. Rather than panic, the club refocused to position itself to challenge for the title. “The Tigers’ performance was probably the only one where you’re really quite disappointed because it’s hard to get to the top of the competition,” Jones told The Roar Podcast. “We had proof that we could; we knew what we needed to do. We just had to get back to that.” For Jones, the answer was not necessarily a radical change to the programme. It was about executing the basics consistently, both on the field and in preparation. “We just do the basics better than anybody else,” he said. “Whether that is actually the way you play the game or how you’re preparing, it’s just be really consistent, do the basics really, really well.” Like many professional sports teams, the Roosters are entrenched in sports science and performance data. The club has access to a range of information, including players’ sleep, GPS metrics and neuromuscular scores, helping staff assess how individuals are coping with training and competition. “We are very science-backed, and some people would say data-driven, but it’s people first,” he said. “The reason you collect all this data is to try and be the best for that person.” Jones said the club was also prepared to reconsider testing methods if they were not generating useful discussions or helping staff make better decisions. In an environment where technology is continually evolving, he believes experience and gut instinct remain important. “The data is no good unless you have conversations,” he said. “When you strip it right back, mate, trust the gut still and obviously, you know, just doing the basics really, really well.” The return of halfback Sam Walker provided a further example of the importance of individual determination and the work of the club’s medical team. Walker underwent ankle surgery late in the regular season, with his premiership campaign appearing in doubt. However, he was determined to return for the preliminary final. Jones said Walker was back at the training ground three days after surgery, walking freely enough to surprise those around him. While the surgeon’s work was crucial, Jones credited the halfback’s mindset as a major factor in the remarkable turnaround. “He was quite clear with Robbo after he got the surgery that he was going to make it back for the prelim finals,” Jones said. The Roosters’ performance programme also sits within a wider club culture that Jones believes is central to their success. Each season, players develop their own team mantra through a lengthy process facilitated by Robinson. It provides principles that the squad can connect to its actions on the field. Rather than simply carrying over the previous year’s wording after a successful campaign, the club repeats the process because the players’ ownership of it is what gives it meaning. “When it’s led, player-owned and player-led, mate, it’s really powerful,” Jones said. Get more from Logan Savory in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android Get the app Jones joined the Roosters in 2024 and said the environment had evolved as experienced players departed and younger members of the squad took on greater responsibility. Maintaining continuity in the club’s culture and preparation had helped the group navigate those changes. The premiership was a significant achievement for Jones, who acknowledged how difficult it was to win the NRL’s ultimate prize. However, he is already looking at how the performance programme can improve. “There’s still things within my role and things that I’d like to help improve at the club,” he said. For Jones and his team, the challenge now is to review the season, refine their systems and prepare for another campaign. The celebrations may have followed a memorable title win, but the work behind the scenes never really stops. The Southland Tribune is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Readers Write: Health care reform, U.S. defense, road funding fight
We need to research and weigh all the trade-offs of reform. Then act.
Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center to Host Halloween Gala
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Speak Up: Reader opinions on New Mexico politics, data centers and more
Readers share views on data centers, elections, campaigns, public lands and more in today’s Speak Up.
Letter to the Editor, Sunday, Oct. 11
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Native Chattanoogan Dr. Darria will bring expert health advice to readers in column
Shortly after ownership of the Times Free Press changed hands, new owner Craig Fuller made it clear the pages within each section would reflect a rededication to local news coverage.
Game Day Q&A With Roll Bama Roll
Longtime readers of this site will know that while we here at Dawg Sports love all our fellow SB Nation sister sites, but that we have a special place in our hearts for the crew over at Roll Bama Roll, SB Nation’s home for Alabama Crimson Tide coverage. The reasons for that are numerous. For […]
Letters: Chargers have a problem. Is it Justin Herbert?
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section give their thoughts on the winless Chargers, USC and Lincoln Riley, the Dodgers and more.
Vanderbilt Health recognized in Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville Reader’s Poll
Vanderbilt Health along with OB/GYN, Orthopaedics, and the Birth Center received accolades from readers of the Nashville Scene.
Southern Tier hunter gets his crossbow buck
Reader-submitted big game photos from Oct. 2026.
Most Fort Smith Board members avoid questions about Flock cameras
It’s unknown if Fort Smith will join a growing number of Arkansas cities taking action to end or curtail the use of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. City Director...
Poll: Business Journal readers overwhelmingly oppose Fresno County library privatization - The Business Journal Fresno County library privatization opposed in reader poll
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Just Right Reader Launches 'Science of Reading Take-Everywhere Games' to Engage Students in Fun, Hands-On Literacy Practice
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Idaho deserves a competent lawyer and politician for attorney general
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Readers Write: International Falls Broncos, U.S. healthcare system, Israel, presidential chaos
Regardless of record, a supportive community is a winner.
2026 Reader Rankings Winners: General Business / Business Services
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