91ֱ�� - Big Island News, Sports, Weather and Entertainment

Consumers lean on a ‘hamster wheel’ of credit to manage rising costs

New York Times — Mon, 11 May 2026 10:05:00 +0000

On paper, Alex Watts’ household looks financially stable. He and his wife together earn a bit more than $140,000 a year; own their home near Columbus, Ohio; have great credit scores; and stay on top of their bills. When an unexpected expense hits, like a car repair or a hospital trip, they always find a way to cover it.

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The cannabis industry’s new best friend? President Trump

New York Times — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:05:00 +0000

By some measures, the legal cannabis industry is flowering. It has grown to around $30 billion today from less than $20 billion just six years ago. But investors have remained wary of its high taxes, marijuana’s illicit status at the federal level and the operational costs of complying with a patchwork of state regulations.

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In the foothills of Mount Fuji, the fight is on against unruly tourists

New York Times — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000

FUJIYOSHIDA, Japan — Just after sunrise on a cloudless spring day, Junichi Horiuchi, wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers cap and hot-pink gloves and carrying a walking stick, was on the hunt.

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They went abroad to save money. Moving back seems unaffordable

New York Times — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Nino Trentinella enjoys the luxuries of an upper-middle-class life in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, where she has lived for more than two years.

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First-class seats drive airline profits. It wasn’t always this way

New York Times — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Twenty years ago, Delta Air Lines was giving away its best seats.

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Inside the sprawling world of MAGA merchandise

New York Times — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000

MAGA merchandise is its own pocket universe in the world of retail.

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Chromebook remorse: Tech backlash at schools extends beyond phones

New York Times — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

McPHERSON, Kan. — Inge Esping, the principal of McPherson Middle School, has spent years battling digital devices for children’s attention.

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COVID relief loans are haunting small businesses

New York Times — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

When COVID-19 came to Alma, the blueberry capital of Georgia, Chris Towns was staring down a paltry return on his berry crop as shoppers stayed at home and stuck to buying essentials.

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A downturn in Las Vegas could signal tough times for the nation

New York Times — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

LAS VEGAS — These days, the high rollers are still rolling into Las Vegas, but those on a budget no longer feel like winners.

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Why tech giants are ditching the power grid

New York Times — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

In a few short years, the artificial intelligence industry has transformed places such as central Ohio, where farmland is giving way to data centers and computer chip factories.

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China’s edge in an oil shock: Electric cars and renewables

New York Times — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

HONG KONG — As the price of oil soars to $100 a barrel and countries scramble to limit the fallout of the sudden loss of Middle East fuel, China has two significant advantages over its geopolitical rivals.

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Health care has become the lifeblood of the labor market

New York Times — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

It is an exceptionally difficult time to find a job in America as employers work through a hiring hangover from the pandemic and hesitate to invest in new staff with policy changes coming fast and furious from Washington.

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India poised to bump Japan among world economies

New York Times — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:05:00 +0000

NEW DELHI — India, the world’s fastest-growing large economy for four years in a row, released data on Friday showing that it expanded at a rate of 7.5% last year, driven in part by strength in manufacturing.

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Tech leaders are all in on AI. The public, not so much.

New York Times — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Silicon Valley executives promise that artificial intelligence is going to radically change everyone’s life for the better, starting just a few minutes from now. AI is described as the new electricity. It’s even bigger than fire. Don’t bother saving money for retirement because everyone will be rich rich rich.

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Bans on many CBD products loom this year

New York Times — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Millions of Americans who rely on the cannabis compound CBD to ease arthritis, anxiety, sleep problems or plain old boredom could soon be in for a shock. By November, many CBD creams, tinctures, gummies and beverages are to be swept from shelves nationwide, under a provision of the legislation that reopened the U.S. government last fall.

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Prediction markets and casinos go to war over sports betting

New York Times — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:05:00 +0000

In just eight short years, sports gambling has gone from an illegal enterprise in the United States to a booming business that processes $220 billion worth of bets each year. This weekend alone, some $1.8 billion is set to be wagered on the Super Bowl.

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Feeling ‘amateur’ at retirement planning, they asked AI for help

New York Times — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Caitlyn Yingling had a 401(k) but never looked at it. When she did, after listening to a personal finance podcast in September, she was stunned. As far as her investment allocations were concerned, the 32-year-old had already retired — 10 years ago.

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Freedom with a side of guilt: How food delivery is reshaping mealtime

New York Times — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:05:00 +0000

There’s pasta in the pantry and jarred sauce in the refrigerator. So what compels Kiely Reedy to keep having spaghetti with marinara delivered from the restaurant down the street, for several times the cost of cooking the dish herself?

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High January is the new Dry January

New York Times — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 10:05:00 +0000

On a chilly January afternoon at a Stew Leonard’s grocery store in Paramus, New Jersey, prominently featured in the center of the liquor department, sit stacks of colorful boxes of hemp-infused drinks.

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How to prevent aging parents and relatives from making financial mistakes

New York Times — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Jilenne Gunther’s uncle noticed her 91-year-old grandfather never seemed to have as much cash as he should in his wallet. A banker with access to the cash dye packs used to catch bank robbers, her uncle put one in a wallet in their home. When the money went missing, a trusted home care worker had the dye on her coat.

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Billions at stake as Trump throttles offshore wind farms

New York Times — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:05:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — It was three days before Christmas, and Patrick Crowley was getting ready for a holiday party when he got a shocking text.

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Would you let AI design your living room?

New York Times — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 10:05:00 +0000

When Lee Mayer launched the interior design platform Havenly in 2014, she used technology to help make design more affordable to the masses.

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From AI to chips, Big Tech is getting what it wants from Trump

New York Times — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 10:05:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Before President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, the titans of the tech industry went all out to win him over with inauguration donations and pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

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Real or fake? There’s a war over Christmas … trees.

New York Times — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Milk had “Got Milk?” Beef had “Beef: It’s what’s for dinner.”

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With less steak available at higher cost, restaurants are caught in middle

New York Times — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 10:05:00 +0000

In early November, as Halls Chophouse was heading into the critical holiday season, its president, Tommy Hall, made a tough call: Prices at his steakhouse chain would go up.

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Get ready, America: Here come China’s food and drink chains

New York Times — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 10:05:00 +0000

SEOUL, South Korea — The economic relationship between the United States and China is as fraught as it has been in recent memory, but that has not stopped a wave of Chinese food and beverage chains from moving aggressively into the United States for the first time.

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Irresistible deals put them in debt. Now they’re trying to manage their overspending.

New York Times — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Holiday sales can put Kristen Conti in a good mood. Whether it’s a bargain on home decor, designer shoes or a new purse, Conti, 60, said shopping makes her feel happy and alive.

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Climate change is stressing Italy’s cows, and coming for your burrata

New York Times — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 10:05:00 +0000

ALTAMURA, Italy — As a fourth-generation cheesemaker from the Puglia region in Italy’s boot, Angelantonio Tafuno sounds in many ways like just another millennial trying to slow down in a frenetic world.

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Hydropower is getting less reliable as the world needs more energy

New York Times — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 10:05:00 +0000

On Brazil’s third-largest river basin, deep in the Amazon, a massive hydroelectric power plant stands as a monument to the world’s oldest source of clean energy — and the big challenges it faces.

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Mariners wanted: Six-figure salaries and months at sea

New York Times — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:05:00 +0000

GALVESTON, Texas — The United States could soon need a lot more people like Nicole Caputo, who works as an officer on American cargo ships.

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Pasta at twice the price? Some Italian producers face huge US tariffs

New York Times — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:05:00 +0000

GRAGNANO, Italy — Each day, as many as 20 trucks of semolina arrive at Garofalo, one of Italy’s largest pasta exporters. The ground durum wheat can come from anywhere in the world, but every other step in the process must happen in Gragnano, a town outside Naples where Garofalo is based.

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Facing Trump’s tariffs, Swiss farmers find themselves with too much milk

New York Times — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 10:05:00 +0000

As a dairy farmer, Boris Beuret tends to more than 60 cows in the gently rolling meadows of his farm in Switzerland’s Jura region. Their milk, herbaceous and nutty from the tender grasses they graze on, makes fine Swiss cheeses and chocolates, much of it destined for American consumers.

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Big tech’s AI spending is accelerating (again)

New York Times — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Four of the tech industry’s wealthiest companies made it clear this week that their spending on artificial intelligence was not about to slow down.

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India’s most valuable export: Tens of millions of workers

New York Times — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

NEW DELHI — India has a teeming population of able-bodied workers, tens of millions more than its employers can accommodate. Many other countries have the opposite problem: more jobs than workers.

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Big Tech makes Cal State its AI training ground

New York Times — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

On the first day of AI Camp, a new summer program at California State University, Savannah Bosley got a hands-on introduction to Amazon Bedrock, a system for building artificial intelligence apps.

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The NFL to nursing pipeline

New York Times — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Afew years ago, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, a former offensive tackle with the New York Jets, faced a question that often challenges retired athletes: What should I do with my life?

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Gen Z wants to build credit. It has few options.

New York Times — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

When Danny Benson started applying for apartments after graduating from Syracuse University in May, he assumed the hardest part would be finding the right location. He didn’t expect to be rejected before he got an opportunity to submit an application.

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How China powers its electric cars and high-speed trains

New York Times — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

GUQUAN, China — In China, the longest ultrahigh-voltage power line stretches more than 2,000 miles from the far northwest to the populous southeast — the equivalent of transmitting electricity from Idaho to New York City.

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Nasty news? Forget about it. The markets say all is well.

New York Times — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Really, investors couldn’t have asked for better returns.

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Forget cowbells. Cows wear high-tech collars now.

New York Times — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

MERCED, Calif. — The cow at the edge of Tony Louters’ dairy farm in Merced, California, held 11 gallons of milk and a secret: In the next 48 hours, she would become sick.

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Is sports betting illegal in your state? Not if you call it a ‘prediction market.’

New York Times — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Online sports betting is not legal in Minnesota, but that hasn’t stopped Ian White from trading money on the outcomes of NFL games. White, a special education paraprofessional, said he downloaded Kalshi, a “prediction market” app, after seeing an ad on TikTok. He buys contracts worth $10 a game and has made about $130.

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What declines in reading and math mean for the US workforce

New York Times — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

The U.S. military is seeing lower scores on its Armed Forces Qualification Test.

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If the Swiss Army knife is made in America, is it still Swiss?

New York Times — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

IBACH, Switzerland — In the vast Alpine factory where Swiss Army knives are made, workers fixed finely sharpened blades onto stainless steel plates. Corkscrews, mini-scissors and can openers were clicked into place. Sealed in a bright red case and stamped with a silver cross and shield, a “Made in Switzerland” icon was born.

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Hamburger Helper sales rise as Americans try to stretch food dollars

New York Times — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

In the 1970s, Hamburger Helper became a staple on American dinner tables as families, strained by inflation and soaring beef prices, looked to turn a pound of ground beef into an entire meal.

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91ֱ�� visitors show high interest in weed tourism

whtnone — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Interest in cannabis tourism is high among 91ֱ�� travelers, according to newly released data from MMGY Travel Intelligence’s summer edition of its Portrait of American Travelers, the travel industry’s longest-running examination of leisure travel behavior in America.

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The capital of electric cars is turning to electric planes

New York Times — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

As the smooth, white dragonfly of an aircraft flew over the Norwegian coastline, only a low hum could be heard from its engine.

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The Starbucks turnaround that has baristas and customers steamed

New York Times — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

For Starbucks, the Strawberry Matcha Strato Frappuccino was one of the hottest drinks of summer.

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Airlines want a piece of every purchase you make

New York Times — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

Frequent-flyer programs are becoming one of the most prized assets in aviation.

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Krispy Kreme bets on big-box stores to stay fresh

New York Times — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

NEW YORK — At a factory in the Bronx, making a Krispy Kreme doughnut involves precision timing.

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Rented robots get the worst jobs and help factories keep the humans

New York Times — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 10:05:00 +0000

DETROIT — Employees at S&F Foods dreaded lifting heavy cardboard boxes from a conveyor belt and placing them onto pallets for shipment all day. So Mike Calleja, the plant manager for the company, which makes frozen food for school cafeterias, hired a robot.

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