What I Read This Week

Kicking off the newsletter with news that emerged last weekend to shake things up a bit.

The Grammy’s took place last Sunday with several high-profiles guests, appearances and wins. The Academy recognized and honored a number of first responders in the Los Angeles area who fought the reckless wildfires last month. In artist news and wins, Beyonce stole the show, with album of the year, unless you count Kayne and Bianca who made quite the entrance (images not appropriate).

Last Saturday President Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, and 10% tariffs on goods imported from China. Flashforward to Monday morning the market was in a tizzy as an intense standoff ensued on tariffs. By Monday evening, Trump put a pause tariffs on imports from both countries. However, the President did implement a 10 percent tariff on all Chinese products that went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday,

The final remains of those that were involved in the plane crash over the Potomac were recovered this week. And unfortunately, there’s been another aviation disaster this week. A passenger plane with 10 people on board has gone missing in Alaska.

OpenAI announced another new feature from ChatGPT this week, called Deep Research, which it claims can gather research from across the web and summarize it in easy-to-read reports.

Fox announced they’re set to launch a subscription streaming service later this year. Unfortunately, 2025 remains a bit bumpy for a number of reasons. This week, a number of high-profile technology giants have begun cutting back and cutting roles. Workday will lay off 1,750 employees to make way for AI.

According to new data, 33% of eighth graders in the U.S. have ‘below basic’ reading levels. By 2030, Americans older than 65 will outnumber those under 18. To better understand the impact of these changes on the mindset of shifting demographics, BBG Ventures conducted a study to find out American’s priority concerns. Health and Financial Security are the top two priorities for every race and gender, and nearly every age group. The exception is that those under 18 place Employment and Education as their top priority followed by Health.?

Gerber Products Company and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have issued a serious recall notice, of Gerber’s Soothe ‘n’ Chew Teething Sticks due to fears that they could present a choking hazard for babies. Schools in at least 10 states have closed over rampant cases of the flu this week. This hits home, as I’m exhausted today after my own kid was up all night with a fever.

It looks like AI is getting into the Super Bowl game. OpenAI is set to make its Super Bowl ad debut this weekend. And The New York Times has offered their Super Bowl ad ranking.

We’ve been talking about the rise of Substack a lot lately and there seems to be no signs of the platform and its content creators slowing down. Emily Sundberg’s business newsletter, #FeedMe, has made her a rising Substack star and landed her a feature in the New York Times.

Happy Weekend!

News

·?????? Healthcare: White House Preparing Order to Cut Thousands of Federal Health Workers

·?????? Jobs: Hiring Slows But Remains Solid, With Economy Adding 143,000 Jobs

·?????? Tech: Lawmakers Push to Ban DeepSeek App From U.S. Government Devices

·?????? Tech: General Catalyst, MGX in Talks to Join Anthropic Megaround

Tracking Executive Orders

·?????? Trade: How the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Tariffs Will Work—and What Products Are Targeted

·?????? Policy: What does USAID do? What to know about the foreign aid agency that Elon Musk is trying to dismantle

·?????? Policy: Trump Administration Closes USAID Headquarters

o?? Democratic Senator Says He Will Stall Trump Nominees Until USAID Is Back

·?????? Policy: Trump Appointees to Put Almost All U.S.A.I.D. Workers on Leave

·?????? Policy: Trump Order Set to Ban Transgender Girls and Women From Female School Sports

·?????? Administration: Senate confirms Trump’s nominee Pam Bondi as attorney general

What Else I Read This Week

·?????? Auto: Car prices face $3,000 increase as automakers worry over tariffs

·?????? Business/Leadership: How much do aspiring CEOs really need to know about AI? More than they think

·?????? Business: Honeywell to Break Up in Bid to Re-Create Some GE Magic

·?????? Business: Match appoints Zillow co-founder Spencer Rascoff as CEO

·?????? Business: Match Group Replaces CEO as Growth Eludes Dating Apps

·?????? Business: Match Group’s Fate Hinges on Tinder

·?????? Business: Salesforce announces its first COFO—a powerful new exec role that combines CFO and COO

·?????? Business: ‘It’s not only centered around video anymore’: Zoom’s CEO explains the video conference giant’s next act

·?????? Climate: The UN’s annual climate conference isn’t for 9 months—but hotel rooms in the Brazilian city are $15K a night

·?????? CPG: PepsiCo Adding Healthier Snacks as Consumers Shun Salt and Fat

·?????? DEI: Google Unwinds Employee Diversity Goals, Citing Trump’s D.E.I. Orders

·?????? DEI: This Edelman executive believes DEI will survive the current backlash. Here’s why

·?????? Economy: Trump crying wolf over tariffs has already convinced Wall Street that threats will be short-lived

·?????? Finance: Trump Promised a Cap on Credit Card Interest Rates. Here’s His Chance.

·?????? Health: 6 Ways Alcohol Can Affect Your Gut

·?????? Health: Booze or Weed: What’s Worse for Your Health?

·?????? Health: Doctors sue U.S. health agencies for removing health data websites per Trump’s order

·?????? Health: Kids and teens should avoid drinks with these 3 ingredients, researchers warn

·?????? Insurance: State Farm Was All In on California—Until It Pulled the Plug Before the Fires

·?????? International: At Least 10 Dead in Sweden’s ‘Worst Mass Shooting,’ Prime Minister Says

·?????? International: Trump Says U.S. Will Take Over Gaza

·?????? Media: How the Head of ‘60 Minutes’ Ended Up at the Center of Trump’s Fight With CBS News

·?????? Media: Trump’s New Line of Attack Against the Media Gains Momentum

·?????? Media: White House Cracks Down on News Subscriptions

·?????? News: A Professor Put Her Class on TikTok. Thousands Enrolled in a Digital H.B.C.U.

·?????? News: Edison Unit Says Its Equipment May Have Been Involved in SoCal Fires

·?????? News: Workday layoffs: HR enterprise software maker is cutting hundreds of jobs amid AI push

·?????? News: Kendrick Lamar wants to bring his storytelling to the Super Bowl halftime show

·?????? Personal Finance: If You Date Me, You Date My Debt

·?????? Real Estate: Climate Change to Wipe Away $1.5 Trillion in U.S. Home Values, Study Says

·?????? Retail: Amazon, King of Online Retail, Can’t Seem to Make Its Physical Stores Work

·?????? Retail: Estée Lauder to Cut Up to 7,000 Jobs

·?????? Retail: EU Consumer Group Calls Out Safety of Temu Products

·?????? Retail: Retailers are banning unaccompanied minors. It’s bad for business and sends a terrible message to teens

·?????? Sports Business: Athletes Are Signing Endorsement Deals Before They Get Prom Dates

·?????? Tariffs: Hope you like vodka. Trump’s tariffs could change how America drinks

·?????? Tech/Media: Trump Media Is Moving Into the Financial Services Industry

·?????? Tech/Travel: Airlines are finally embracing Apple’s AirTags—which means lost luggage could be a thing of the past

·?????? Tech: Amazon’s profit is suddenly going through the roof, fueling CEO Andy Jassy’s $100 billion AI spending spree to fight Google and Microsoft

·?????? Tech: Apple launches Invites, its event invitation app that takes on Partiful

·?????? Tech: Bluesky photo-sharing app Flashes launches in beta

·?????? Tech: Can this tech billionaire save the media from an AI apocalypse?

·?????? Tech: DeepSeek has tilted the balance towards open source AI, but big security issues remain

·?????? Tech: Everyone’s Rattled by the Rise of DeepSeek—Except Nvidia, Which Enabled It

·?????? Tech: Ex-Palantir engineers think they can beat Salesforce, Microsoft, and other tech giants at the AI agent game

·?????? Tech: Google’s AI views evolve in an ‘increasingly complex geopolitical landscape’

·?????? Tech: Klarna’s CEO warns AI is already capable of doing any human job—and his company is already living it

·?????? Tech: No One Knows How to Price AI Tools

·?????? Tech: Phishing Tests, the Bane of Work Life, Are Getting Meaner

·?????? Tech: Six Takeaways From a Monumental Week for AI

·?????? Tech: Tech Giants Double Down on Their Massive AI Spending

·?????? Tech: Why Amazon is Betting on ‘Automated Reasoning’ to Reduce AI’s Hallucinations

·?????? Tech: You can try DeepSeek’s R1 through Perplexity—without the security risk

·?????? Trade: Tariffs Are Here. The Price Hikes Coming for These Items May Surprise You.

·?????? Trade: The finance world mostly agrees: Trump’s tariffs are bad news

·?????? Trade: Trump’s Trade Move Could Increase Costs for Many Online Goods

·?????? Wellness: The Right White Noise for a Good Night’s Sleep