The big players in financial services have long struggled to keep pace with technology. They’ve been slow to deploy the latest in computers and software to analyze data, pick investments, and engage customers.

That has created big opportunities for a slew of local entrepreneurs.

“The industry is just crying out for new ways of doing things,” said Adam Broun, chief operating officer of Kensho Technologies Inc., a Cambridge software company launched two years ago to speed the process of modeling the effect of world events on the prices of stocks, bonds, and other assets.

Kensho is one of a growing number of Boston-area companies seizing a moment when the needs of the financial industry and capabilities of technology are coming together, aiming to take advantage of modern computing speeds, troves of data, and the ubiquity of mobile devices. At least 100 financial technology startups have emerged in Greater Boston in recent years, according to FinTech Sandbox, a Boston nonprofit started in March to help these enterprises test ideas.

From investment software to payment systems to hedge funds that use crowdsourcing to make bets, these young companies hope to shake up one of the city’s oldest and most tradition-bound industries. Some of these firms are seeking to profit by helping banks, funds, and investors, while others are more disruptive.

“Historically, Boston hasn’t been known for startups in the financial technology space — now we’re seeing more and more companies,” said Jean Donnelly, executive director of the FinTech Sandbox.

Greater Boston seems to be the ideal place for a financial technology, or “fintech,” sector. It has long been home to one of the world’s leading tech sectors — and one that specializes in business-focused applications — as well as a robust and diverse financial industry that includes some of the nation’s biggest mutual funds, venture capital firms, and private equity companies.

So why now? Industry officials cite three main factors: data, timing, and better technology.

First, more things are getting measured. From social media to traffic patterns to health statistics to electric grid usage, massive amounts of data have become available for an unprecedented range of behaviors and events. By analyzing and understanding this data, financial firms can gain deeper insights into what moves markets, helping them make wiser investment choices.

“The most important trend behind our business is the explosion of data available from the real economy,” said John Fawcett, chief executive and founder of Quantopian Inc. of Boston, an investing platform that lets users write programs that evaluate investments.

Following the 2008 financial crisis, many of the biggest companies slashed budgets for technology development, Fawcett said. In the meantime, computers grew more powerful and people started expecting more from mobile devices. The result: opportunities for tech entrepreneurs.

Kensho and its 35 employees offer software that allows users to quickly answer questions about the effect of world events on asset prices: How do markets react when the Conservatives win in the United Kingdom? Such information can help inform their decisions on future investments.

Such analysis is done today through a combination of computing and human brain power. But Kensho’s software, in conjunction with today’s vastly improved computing power, accelerates the process and lowers the cost, said Broun, the chief operating officer.

Kensho’s clients include big investment banks, hedge funds, and asset managers. Financial news network CNBC uses the software to present statistics tied to news, such as a recent segment that looked at the connection between hot summers and the prices of utility stocks.

“Computing power is becoming more accessible and cheaper to use,” Broun said. “It makes this a wonderful time to be doing projects like this.”

Investors in Kensho include investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Google Ventures, venture capital arm of the tech giant Google Inc. In November, Kensho closed a $15 million round of funding.

Quantopian, founded in 2011, throws its digital doors open to anyone who wants to try writing computer code that analyzes potential investments. The company’s online community shares, tweaks, and collaborates on code intended to find the best investments. Each month, Quantopian chooses one promising strategy and backs it with $10,000; the member who wrote the code keeps the returns.

Quantopian, which has grown from a handful of employees to more than 30, has raised close to $24 million so far, including a $15 million funding round that closed in October. Quantopian plans to make money by launching a hedge fund that will use the best of these crowd-sourced algorithms to make and manage investments for pension funds, family foundations, university endowments, and other institutional investors, Fawcett said.

Another fintech newcomer, Elsen Inc., is concentrating on computing power, offering a high-performance computing platform that lets hedge funds, banks, and other institutions quickly process enormous amounts of data. The Boston company, founded in 2013, received its first outside investments — $400,000 from angel investors — in January.

“We’re more of a technology company than a financial company,” founder Zac Sheffer said. “We’re using the cutting edge of things that are out there.”

Bison Inc. (the name stands for Boston Illiquid Securities Offering Network), also of Boston, has created a system to let subscribers analyze and compare investment returns of private equity and venture capital funds. While public companies must file details of their financial performance with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, no such requirements apply to private companies. Most private equity and venture capital funds are privately held, making it harder to assess potential investments in these funds, Bison cofounder Michael Nugent explained.

Bison’s goal is to build a repository of data for privately held companies and the tools for subscribers to analyze the information. Data is collected from sources including federal and state regulatory filings, Freedom of Information Act requests, and news stories from more than 25,000 publications. The company’s clients are largely institutional investors, Nugent said, including foundations, university endowments, and pension funds.

Other startups aim to serve consumers rather than institutional investors. Circle Internet Financial Inc. of Boston, for example, has created an app that allows users to send and receive money in the form of US dollars or the digital currency bitcoin. Founded in 2013, the company has received $76 million in backing from investors.

Boston is an ideal spot for ambitious fintech entrepreneurs because of its supply of both clients and talent — technical and financial — industry officials said. Major financial companies, such as Fidelity Investments and State Street Corp., along with many smaller hedge funds, private equity firms, and university endowments make the city fertile ground for finance-oriented innovation. The hope, these fintech entrepreneurs said, is that Boston will embrace new approaches to financial services.

“Changes in the space are really overdue,” Donnelly of the FinTech Sandbox said.

Summary: The needs of the financial industry and capabilities of technology are coming together, boosting Boston’s financial technology sector.


06/15/2015 AT 01:15 PM EDT

It's back to the altar for

– this time as a wedding planner!

"A lot of brides actually go through wedding-planning withdrawal after their wedding, and I didn't have to because I got to plan another wedding," the newly married actress jokes to PEOPLE, as she gears up for wedding season in a whole new way – behind the scenes as a wedding planner in the Hallmark Channel's new romantic film

Above, PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the movie, in which McKellar's character, Jessica, is a type-A personality and a super-organized supermom who is always helping others out with their romantic, picture-perfect moments without ever allowing herself to find love.

"In that sense, we are very different because I have an amazing, wonderful husband," McKellar gushes about husband Scott Sveslosky, whom she

And if McKellar, 40, had to choose an alternative career path, we'd like to think she would be the perfect wedding planner.

In fact, she put together her own ceremony with a little help from an on-staff wedding planner at the Grand Hyatt Kauai: McKellar was surrounded by close family and friends when she and Sveslosky said "I do" at 6:30 a.m. in an intimate sunrise beach ceremony.

Drawing from the personal experience of planning her own perfect big day, McKellar says that "looking at the pictures and getting ideas for the color schemes and dresses" were just a few of her favorite things.

premieres June 20 at 9 p.m. ET on the Hallmark Channel.

Summary: The actress challenges her inner wedding planner, yet again, for Hallmark Channel's new romance


Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Corn is deposited into a semi-trailer after being harvested in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

After recent shortages in parts of the world and a run-up in prices, a bumper grain crop is shaping up this year—promising some price relief for consumers at the grocery checkout.

Rising production and large stocks have sent prices of corn, soybeans and wheat down by more than 40 percent from their 2014 highs, according to Hamish Smith, a commodities economist at Capital Economics.

"With a growing glut in the world market, we think prices have further to fall," he said in a report Monday.

Read More Sugar mills retrench as depressed prices take toll

The USDA recently bumped up its estimate for grain production around the world, based on good growing conditions in the U.S. and Europe. That will help push prices even lower into next year.

In the U.S., higher food prices earlier this year raised fears that inflation might accelerate.Those higher costs were the result of the ongoing drought in California, along with brutal winter storms and freezing temperatures in the Midwest.

But food prices—along with a sharp drop in oil and gasoline prices—have largely eliminated those concerns.

The strengthening dollar will also help push U.S. prices lower, according to Smith. He also notes that lower oil prices will reduce production costs for farmers and food processors.

Summary: Consumers are getting some relief after run-up in food prices this spring—thanks to a bumper grain crop and a weaker dollar.


Frenchman Serge Atlaoui is on death row. (AAP)

France will mobilise all diplomatic options to save Frenchman Serge Atlaoui from death row in Indonesia on drug charges after the execution of seven foreigners.

"Full diplomatic efforts continue on this issue," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told a cabinet meeting according to government spokesman Stephane Le Foll on Wednesday.

Indonesia's overnight execution of the convicts, including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, has drawn a storm of protest abroad.

However, President Joko Widodo is defending the deaths by firing squad as merely applying "the rule of law" against drug traffickers.

Atlaoui, 51, was originally among the group set to be executed but unexpectedly granted a temporary reprieve after Indonesia agreed to allow an outstanding legal appeal to run its course.

French President Francois Hollande has warned Indonesia would face diplomatic "consequences" if it pushed ahead with the execution of Atlaoui.

Do you have any news photos or videos?

Summary: Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says France will mobilise all diplomatic options to save Serge Atlaoui from death row in Indonesia on drug charges.


CAIRO — An $8.2 billion expansion of the Suez Canal opens Thursday, with dignitaries including President Francois Hollande of France expected to attend a lavish party marking an occasion that’s been promoted by Egypt’s government for months.

Cairo’s streets are adorned with billboards and flags praising Egypt’s leader, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, and the people who dug its “new Suez Canal.” The celebrations have an estimated price tag of $30 million.

The hype is typical of Egypt’s government since El-Sisi, as army chief, led the overthrow of his Islamist predecessor in 2013.

The canal expansion is the first of a series of megaprojects announced by El-Sisi to transform the country, starting with a promise for the new Suez to redraw the “map of the world” just as the 146-year-old original did.

“Egypt is a great civilization with very few modern achievements,” said Samuel Tadros, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Hudson Institute. “El-Sisi understands this hunger among the Egyptian people for success in the world, and he’s giving it to them.”

Egyptians snapped up $8.2 billion of 5-year investment certificates issued to fund the project within days.

Newspapers pointed out similarities with the 1956 nationalization of the Suez to use revenue to build the Aswan Dam after the government failed to secure foreign funding.

Future projects promised by El-Sisi’s government include a new administrative capital east of Cairo, the reclamation of swaths of Egypt’s desert, and the building of new urban centers.

The celebratory mood isn’t shared by all Egyptians.

Hundreds of supporters of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood have been killed since El-Sisi was elected president last year, with thousands more imprisoned. El-Sisi’s critics accuse his government of using excessive brutality to restore stability, while supporters say he spared Egypt the kind of state collapse seen in other parts of the Middle East.

State authority did break down following the popular uprising which ousted long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011. The ensuing security gap scared away investors and tourists, causing the sharpest economic downturn in decades.

The construction projects have boosted the economy, which grew above 4 percent in the nine months to March for the first time since 2010.

Summary: An $8.2 billion expansion to the Suez Canal opens on Thursday, with dignitaries including French President Francois Hollande expected to attend a lavish party marking an occasion that’s been hyped by Egypt’s government for months.


China may have devalued its currency twice this week, sparking the largest drop in the yuan in over two decades, but that might not mean much for the country's start-up scene.

"We don't see the short-term currency fluctuations having a big impact," Jeff Richards, GGV Capital managing partner, told CNBC's "Squawk Alley," differentiating from the pain for companies importing into China like Apple.

Most VCs are less concerned with short-term moves since investments are made over a longer time frame of three to 10 years, according to Richards. But even then, a weaker yuan's impact could be negligible for the average insular start-up.

Read MoreThe one-stop shop for China's entrepreneurs

Summary: While a weaker yuan could hurt Apple, don't expect any immediate impact on VC activity in China, GGV Capital's Jeff Richards says.


January retail sales in the U.S. dropped despite cheaper gas because consumers are spending their new-found money elsewhere, Peter Boockvar said Thursday.

The Lindsey Group's managing director told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that, while gas prices have reached multiyear lows, the cost of living keeps rising. "People have other costs of living," he said. "Gasoline isn't the only thing we have to pay for. We have to pay for health care, food ... and rent." Boockvar added that rent prices will go up 3 to 4 percent this year.

Read MoreWall Street shrugs off Greece fears, but weak data weighs

U.S. gas prices averaged $2.23 per gallon on Thursday, down from $3.32 per gallon the previous year, according to GasBuddy.com. Overall retail sales dropped 0.8 percent in the last month, marking the second-straight monthly decline. "We have to take the cost of living in the aggregate, and that's got to be part of the equation when determining where retail sales go," Boockvar added. Overall consumer spending in the U.S. rose little in January.

Boockvar also said consumers are probably saving more money, rather than spending it. "I think consumers are more willing to save that money."

—Reuters contributed to this report.

Summary: The Lindsey Group's Peter Boockvar explained Thursday why retail sales did not rise on lower gas prices.


Telecommunications and cable companies are unlikely to spend less on infrastructure investment, Ernst said. He noted that the companies spent $44 billion to acquire new wireless spectrum during an FCC auction in January.

"They wrote that check full knowing that this was coming," he said.

Read More Cuban on net neutrality: It will be whac-a-mole

The outcome is a "shot in the arm" for the technology sector because it blocks service providers from charging companies to reach customers more quickly through so-called "fast lane" connections, David Garrity, founder of GVA Research, told "Squawk Box."

"That obviously benefits not only the established players on that side of the business, but potentially also a lot of the venture capital and start-up activity that is going to rely on the Internet," said Garrity, an advisory board member for a late-stage venture capital start-up co-investment fund.

Net neutrality proponents claim differential pricing will make it harder for new companies to compete with large tech firms, who could pay for access to fast lanes and therefore offer a better user experience.

Because the FCC will not enforce a Title II provision that allows it to regulate the cost of service, the vote does not control the sector as much as some people have feared, Garrity said. Critics say bureaucrats could later decide to impose that part of Title II on Internet service providers.

Read MoreNet neutrality will slow investments: Sununu

Given the ratio of Democrats to Republicans among the commissioners, the fact that the issue is somewhat politicized should not be a shock, Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, told CNBC. The best way to enforce net neutrality would have been through the political process, he added.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., indicated earlier this week congressional Republicans would not seek a legislative solution to the issue as previously planned, saying Democratic support for FCC regulation had made it all but certain a vote on Capitol Hill would fail.

In the absence of such a vote, Isaacson said, it's a plus that the FCC took measures to prevent cable and telecoms companies from deciding how Internet is delivered to American homes, noting that there's little competition in the industry. A recent FCC study estimates that 75 percent of Americans don't have a choice of Internet service providers.

Ernst said the political aspect of the vote gives him pause.

"The fact that actually Obama did influence the shift to Title II makes you say, "Well OK, does he actually have influence over the [Department of Justice]? If he wants to block this, is it possible?'" Ernst said, referring to the widely anticipated legal challenges to the FCC's decision.

Summary: The new net neutrality regulations may persuade the Justice Department to OK the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, analyst Daniel Ernst tells CNBC.


Vail also said the central bank would hike up its interest rates soon by 75 basis points in the best of cases. "Unlike the previous cycle, I think the Fed will be early to the initial rates hike, and then on a very slow path, as opposed to a normal Fed normalization process, which would be late to the game and quickly raising rates," Vail said.

Matus also said that, "once the Fed hikes, they're going to hike a couple of times in a row."

Nevertheless, Art Cashin, UBS' director of floor operations at the NYSE, said he is not so sure of which course the Fed will take.

Read MoreInvestors slash US exposure on rate hike fears

"If she takes the word ("patient") out, it doesn't compel her to raise rates, and she has a press conference immediately after, so she can calm the markets down if they're at all destabilized," Cashin told "Squawk on the Street" in an earlier interview on Tuesday.

"If they leave the phrase in, by their own definition, they are postponing any rate move for two months because they said it would be two months after the word 'patience' comes out."

Summary: Investors should expect Fed Char Janet Yellen to be more hawkish than in the past, two analysts said.


High demand has actually caused delays in closings, as builders are unable to deliver in time. While the wait may be frustrating, shopping for an existing home in the market is getting even more so. The inventory in July was 22 percent lower than a year ago, according to the listing service CarolinaMLS, even as new listings increased 6 percent.

Homes are just selling much more quickly. Sales in July were 17 percent higher than one year ago, and days on market, the time from listing to contract, fell from 69 to 59 days. Tight supply pushed the median home price to $202,500, up 5.5 percent from a year ago, according to CarolinaMLS. The rate of price increases has slowed somewhat, but buyers are still getting sticker shock.

Higher prices have not pushed more sellers into the market, however. Despite the increases, Charlotte sales were very strong at the height of the housing boom in 2006, and as a result, a lot of homeowners are still either underwater on their mortgages or don't have enough equity to afford a move up.

Summary: Homebuilders in Charlotte, North Carolina, are struggling to keep up as more buyers are choosing the amenities that new construction offers.


09/15/2015 AT 09:00 PM EDT

had to learn a Boston accent for her role as notorious gangster James "Whitey" Bulgerâs girlfriend Lindsey Cyr in

, she knew exactly what she had to do: get in with the locals.

"I'd listen to people. I have a thing about listening and eavesdropping on people," Johnson told PEOPLE on Tuesday evening at the Boston premiere of the film. "So Iâd just listen to people in restaurants. And I worked with a dialect coach a bit and just did my best to practice."

Johnson, clad in a white strapless tea-length gown and sporting deep red lipstick, said working with the filmâs star

was "kind of the best thing in the world."

"He was giving me so much to work with," said Johnson. "Even though the subject matter was not the best thing in the world. I think it was just being around someone as talented as he is. It was a beautiful experience to be able to work alongside someone like that. It was the best."

Depp, clad in a canteloupe-colored sport jacket and sporting a red fake tooth, breezed by the masses of press but made sure to pose for a few shots with his new wife,

, who looked stunning in a black jacket and cropped black pants, with her long blond hair cascading down her back. The couple recently showed their passion for each other at the

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp

Heard, 29, and Depp, 52, had a great time getting to know Boston while Johnny shot the film during the summer of 2014.

tells the story of the tumultuous South Boston that Bulger controlled during the 1970âs and 80âs. Johnny and Amber hit up local favorites like the

for poetry and art books, and classic restaurants like

Summary: Dakota Johnson told PEOPLE at the premiere of her new movie Black Mass about how she honed the Boston accent


The dollar index that gauges the greenback against a basket of currencies was up 0.3 percent at 97.595. It fell 0.71 percent on Tuesday, its biggest single-day fall since June 17, partly on poor U.S. company earnings results.

News home resales rose to a 8-1/2 year peak and propelled the greenback to session highs.

Weaker commodity prices also supported a mild rebound in the dollar. Brent crude prices ended down 1.6 percent, while spot gold slid to a five-year low.

The British pound rose 0.25 percent to $1.5599. Against the euro, it gained 0.6 percent to 69.91 pence.

Read More Will the dollar foil the Fed's rate-hike plans?

According to records from the Bank of England's July 8 meeting, several policymakers are moving towards voting for the first rate increase following BOE Governor Mark Carney's recent comments that a hike might happen around the end of year.

The notion of less monetary stimulus also bolstered the yen. On Tuesday, BoJ Governor Kuroda suggested no more quantitative easing would be needed given his view on inflation rising due to a tight labor market.

The yen slipped 0.2 percent versus the dollar at 124.07 yen , while the euro fell 0.2 percent at 135.28 yen.

Commodity currencies, including the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollar, which have been hit by the dollar's rally in the past month, were still on the back foot.

Read More Novartis confirms 2015 outlook after Q2 profit miss

The kiwi fell 0.7 percent to $0.6585, a shade above six-year lows set last week, with focus turning to a Thursday meeting of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand that is expected to cut interest rates at least a quarter point.

Summary: The dollar rose after its biggest fall in a month the previous session, while sterling gained in response to minutes from the Bank of England's last meeting.


Aug 5 (Reuters) - Nagging investor concerns over viewers cutting the cord on cable television and moving online turned into a rout in the sector's shares on Wednesday after Walt Disney Co reported a dip in subscribers for its cornerstone sports channel ESPN and rivals produced a mixed batch of earnings.

ESPN, which is available only as part of broad cable TV packages, has been seen as a savior of the bundling business model with its line-up of live sports and highlight reels. But the latest figures suggest even that may not be enough to stop viewers demanding slimmer cable packages or moving online to watch standalone streaming services.

"I haven't seen this much red in a long time," said John Miller, a portfolio manager at Ariel Investments, watching the broad stock decline. "It seems like people's concerns regarding cord-cutting have accelerated."

Disney's shares fell 9 percent on Wednesday, wiping $18 billion off the company's market value, a day after it lowered the profit outlook for its cable networks and Chief Executive Bob Iger said ESPN saw "modest" subscriber losses.

"If Disney can get dinged, maybe nobody's safe," said Barton Crockett, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.

Time Warner Inc, which has been quicker than Disney to unbundle its popular cable offerings and embrace the online model, also felt the wrath of investors, who sent its stock down 9 percent, even though it reported better-than-expected profit on Wednesday.

Shares of the media company, which launched its own standalone streaming service HBO Now and struck a deal with video-streaming service Hulu, hit their lowest since early February, closing at $79.80.

Discovery Communications Inc shares also got blitzed, falling 12 percent after the owner of the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet blamed lower advertising sales and a strong dollar for quarterly profit slipping below analysts' estimates. The company also said it was unlikely to buy back any more shares this year as it looks to save cash.

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc shares closed down 7 percent, and dropped slightly further in after-hours trading as it reported lower quarterly adjusted revenue on a decline in TV advertising sales and a lack of major film releases.

CBS Corp, owner of the most-watched U.S. TV network, also saw its shares fall almost 5 percent in regular trading. They recovered slightly after the bell as it reported better-than-expected quarterly profit on higher revenue from affiliates and subscription fees.

Shares of cinema and cable company Viacom Inc closed down 7.5 percent.

Bucking the trend, Dish Network Corp reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit as it earned more per pay-TV subscriber and added broadband Internet users. Its shares ended up 4.3 percent.

Even so, the second-largest U.S. satellite TV company said net subscriber losses almost doubled to about 81,000, and noted the momentum toward cord-cutting.

Dish's "linear TV business has matured and is now declining," Dish CEO Charlie Ergen told analysts. "Over-the-top is growing."

(Reporting by Lehar Maan, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru, Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Writing by Bill Rigby in New York; Editing by Mary Milliken, Toni Reinhold)

Summary: Aug 5- Nagging investor concerns over viewers cutting the cord on cable television and moving online turned into a rout in the sector's shares on Wednesday after Walt Disney Co reported a dip in subscribers for its cornerstone sports channel ESPN and rivals produced a mixed batch of earnings. Disney's shares fell 9 percent on Wednesday, wiping $18 billion off...


Round us a shield and bright as molten silver the moon uprose last evening about 7 o'clock, touching the cupola of the City Hall with right and throwing out into delicate relief the foliage and branches of the Park trees, as your Reporter hastened from the TIMES Office to Broadway, on his way to view the Wide-Awakes.

Even at that early hour, the Park itself and all the sidewalks were densely crowded, the stages and carriages having to slowly crawl up the centre of the street through dense fringes of excited and expectant humanity. Windows and stoops were packed with curious faces; all the corners displayed mass-meetings in embryo -- fresh accessions constantly thronging up from the side streets to swell the numbers or supply the places of those lucky ones who had managed to push their way into the main upward-drifts of the palpitating current.

Stepping into a stage and driving up towards Union-square as fast as the many human obstructions would allow us, the scene became more animated and brilliant each moment, as we approached the main centre of attraction. Broadway never more thoroughly displayed its Metropolitan character -- all ranks and varieties of men, women and children being collected and merged together behind its curbstone lines on either hand.

Here and there some earnest Republican, not having the fear of Southern excommunication in his heart, had lighted up the entire front of his store with a prodigal display of wax-candles in tin sconces -- the provisions of his policy of insurance being set at naught for this one night. But other store-fronts were dark and dismal, more especially those desirous of figuring in such "white lists" as the enterprising Mr. HAMBLETON, of Georgia, was in the habit of publishing at fifty dollars per name.

Slowly presses forward the stage between living walls of American man-and-womanhood, the best order everywhere prevailing, and not a single disturbance marring the harmony of curiosity and expectation. It is a scene such as only the Empire City could produce -- a thing to be proud of in the midst of that lax administration of justice which has so long been the reproach of our people. Everywhere the Police may be seen quietly moving through the crowds and pressing back those who would block up the thoroughfare. Now and again a suspicious character is caught in the middle of a throng, his fingers probably coveting his neighbor's goods. Without noise or bustle he is seized, hurried away down some back street towards a Police Station, and there given lodgings for the night, on the truly charitable pretext of keeping him out of temptation.

Brilliantly gleam the many-colored, fiery lamp-writings in front of the various theatres and concert halls. Proudly flap the Lincoln and Hamlin banners suspended across the street in front of each Republican Campaign Club. Denser and more billowy grows the human tide on either side of the street, as the stage in which we are seated slowly plows its way, in the rear of a long procession of similar vehicles, up towards Grace Church. Here we pass the gaudy white marble-front of the St. Nicholas, every window in its immense face thronged with a private party of patient spectators. Next we reach the severely conservative New-York Hotel, from the darkened windows of which no word of cheer can be expected.

But just in front of this latter hostelry is one of the largest Wide-Awake Clubs in our City -- the Club, in fact, which had the difficulty with the New-York Hotel guests some eight or ten days ago. From the large wooden stage in front of this building, a fiery arrow now shoots up into the darkened sky -- a serpentine quivering light, flinging behind it as it rises a shower of golden sparks, brilliant and beautiful as the auriferous rain with which Jove penetrated the chamber-roof of Danae. Higher and higher shoots the wavering spear of fire, followed by a dozen similar projectiles, each bursting at the climax of its height, and scattering broadcast against the deep blue background of the sky a shower of flaming rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires and white crystals. We are approaching the outskirts of the procession, and this is the first alarm-point on the route.

Slowly, and yet more slowly, creeps forward the stage until, as it approaches Union-square, the whole street becomes blocked with a barricade of flesh, broadcloth and crinoline, jammed and crowded together in one inextricable mass. Peeping out of the front window of the impeded vehicle, the eye is arrested by a lurid and smoky glare, overtopping the tumultuous billows of humanity. We are now opposite Grace Church, and can see the light of the Wide-Awake Clubs sweeping down Fourteenth-street, through Union-square, towards Fifth-avenue.

Twenty hands -- there have been twenty in the stage -- pull the check-string all together, and twenty men dismount to merge and be separated on their various missions of curiosity or business, through the crowd. Your Reporter makes a dive into a side street, elbows and bows and pushes his way into Union-square by a circuitous route, arriving just in time to see a grand circling procession of many thousand torches, banners and richly-colored lamps, sweeping in a sort of patriotic war-dance round and round the astonished statue of Washington!


2015 has been the best of times and the worst of times for retail stocks. It just depends on what kind of retail stocks we're talking about.

The S&P 500 Internet and catalog retail industry, host to hot names such as Amazon, Netflix and Expedia, is up 58 percent on the year. Meanwhile, the multi-line retail group, home to beleaguered names like Nordstrom and Kohl's, is up a mere 3 percent.

The latest bad news for that set of stocks came on Wednesday morning, when Macy's reported earnings and revenue that dropped from last year. The retail giant attributed that partly to unfortunate macro factors.

"Throughout the first half of the year, overall consumer demand has been restrained in many of the categories of merchandise we sell, and the strong U.S. dollar has led to significantly lower international tourist spending," Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren said in the earnings release.

Read MoreEarnings miss 'a tough one': Macy's CEO

Apparently, those same factors have not been felt by companies like Amazon. The company's sales are up 20 percent versus the same period last year. Meanwhile, Macy's reported that revenue has fallen 3 percent.

"Retail is actually looking quite good, and when you really delve down into it, the driver of all of it is really in Internet retail," chief equity investment officer Erin Gibbs of S&P Capital IQ said Tuesday on CNBC's "Trading Nation."

Gibbs reports that Internet retail companies are expected to grow almost 50 percent in 2016. Multi-line retail companies are also expected to grow about 12 percent, she said.

Unsurprisingly, this expected growth comes at a price. Internet retail companies are trading at quadruple the forward earnings multiples of department stores like Macy's.

Fellow multi-liners Kohl's and Nordstrom are also expected to report earnings on Thursday.

Options trader Stacey Gilbert of Susquehanna International Group said investors are putting on bearish bets ahead of retailers reporting earnings, according to increased activity in buying August put options of the SPDR S&P retail ETF (XRT).

"This is actually what we would label a more aggressive, cautious, bearish tone here," Gilbert said Tuesday. "Investors are somewhat nervous into the next two weeks of earnings."

However, Gilbert said several specific companies, such as Staples, are seeing long-term bullish bets.

"We're not seeing investors rush into any one sector, retail or anywhere else. They're kind of picking their names they like and positioning likewise," she said.

Summary: Retail stocks are one of the best performing groups in the S&P, but within that group there are winners and losers.


As the United States welcomes Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to Washington this week, the importance of our commercial relationship with Mexico will take center stage during the second meeting of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED).

Read MoreWhy investors shouldn't give up on Mexico: UBS

Nearly two years ago, President Obama and President Peña Nieto announced the formation of the HLED, a forum through which our governments can better collaborate to advance strategic commercial priorities central to promoting mutual economic growth, job creation, and global competitiveness. As a result of these efforts, we are already working together more effectively. We have made significant strides in areas ranging from cross-border trade to the promotion of a knowledge economy.

The HLED has achieved several concrete outcomes. We are moving goods and people across our border more efficiently, and we have negotiated a new air-services agreement that will benefit travelers, shippers, airlines and the economies of the United States and Mexico with competitive pricing and more convenient services. To reduce bottlenecks at the border, we are expanding capacity at our ports of entry. For example, at the El Chaparral-San Ysidro Port of Entry between San Diego and Tijuana, the busiest land crossing in the world, new construction has reduced wait times from three hours to approximately 30 minutes. We are collaborating to boost travel and tourism between the United States and Mexico, expand supply-chain security, and better manage our telecommunications systems along the border. Our two governments have also pledged to increase international education exchanges, which will help ensure citizens of both countries have a workforce with the skills needed to succeed in the global economy.

Read MoreMexico's 'tremendous' hedge: Oil is falling but this big producer isn't worried

The HLED represents the next step forward in the U.S.-Mexico economic relationship, a fruitful partnership shaped by openness, cooperation, and collaboration. Today, two decades after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into force, the benefits of our economic integration are clear. Two-way trade between the U.S. and Mexico now stands at half-a-trillion dollars annually, supporting millions of jobs in both countries. In the manufacturing/assembly sector, 75 percent of company activity is located along the border, and the United States supplies 80 percent of the inputs. When the U.S. imports final goods from Mexico, roughly 40 percent of the content of that merchandise has originated in the United States.

At the same time, business investment in both directions has grown dramatically. Nearly 20,000 American firms now have operations in Mexico, and the country is now the 15th largest source of foreign direct investment into the United States, supporting thousands of American jobs in sectors ranging from mining to retail. In short, we trade with each other more than ever. We invest in each other more than ever. We produce together more than ever. And we can do more.

Through the HLED, we are regularly engaged with the government of Mexico to devise solutions that will create new trade and economic opportunities and strengthen our commercial ties. We are doing this all in partnership with civil society and the private sector – because no one will feel the impacts of the HLED more strongly than U.S. and Mexican businesses and workers.

Read MoreShould the US lift its oil-export ban?

Guided by input from our stakeholders, our countries will focus on numerous key areas in 2015, including energy, modern borders, workforce development, regulatory cooperation, stakeholder engagement and partnering in regional and global leadership. In February, my team will host a stakeholder event to share the progress we've made on the HLED and solicit input from the private sector and civil society.

When I chose Mexico as my first international trade mission as Secretary of Commerce, I did so knowing the relationships between our governments, our businesses, and our people have never been stronger. As we look to the future, it is clear that the United States and Mexico are poised for even greater success as a result of our deep and blossoming cultural, economic, and person-to-person ties. Using the HLED as our guide, we can increase exports and boost trade, promote economic growth, create good jobs for all of our citizens, and keep our nations open for one another's business.

Summary: Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's visit to the U.S. this week is important for economic growth on both sides of the border, says Sec. Pritzker.


Facebook-owned Oculus VR had invited press to attend a briefing ahead of the E3 gaming conference later this week to announce details of its forthcoming virtual reality headset — but on Tuesday morning, it may have accidentally scooped itself. (Tweet This)

As part of an update to the Oculus website, the company appeared to have mistakenly uploaded images of the final hardware for the Oculus Rift, which eagle-eyed VR watchers quickly grabbed — thanks, VR Focus!

Oculus says the leaked images are not final, but there are unannounced details that would seem to point to what we'll see on Thursday.

Read more from Re/code: Hey Twitter advertisers—want more clicks? Lose the hashtag! LeBron James gives athletes the last word with video project Consumer smart glasses are set to arrive next year

Among the new details: The camera that points at the virtual reality headset to track its position is mounted on a microphone-like pole, and the Rift headset will have a forward-facing camera. Screenshots of the leaked details mention two input options: A simple TV-like remote called the "Simple Input Device" and a traditional gaming gamepad, both included in the box.

There's also a reference to a partnership with NewEgg.com, presumably for ordering the right level of computer parts needed to power the Rift. There's no mention of final price in the leaked screenshots, but Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe said at the Code Conference last month that he expected the all-in price of the Rift and the PC to power it to come in at around $1,500.

Read More Oculus set to seek mass consumer audience for Gear VR

Reached for comment, an Oculus spokesperson directed Re/code to a Reddit post by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, claiming that these are "old placeholder concept image[s]."

"Everything in it is ancient, certainly nowhere close to final," Luckey wrote on Reddit. "Enjoy checking it out, at this point, but don't expect everything to carry through to" the pre-E3 event.

Summary: Facebook-owned Oculus VR may have  scooped itself, Re/code reports.


10/17/2015 AT 06:30 PM EDT

has wasted no time getting back into movin' her lips.

Just over one month ago, Trainor took her family, friends and fans along with her for

when she opted to get surgery to

"It was a big slap in the face," the "All About That Bass" singer, 21, told PEOPLE at the Just Dance 2016 launch celebration on Thursday. "I have to be more strict and try not to get sick, even though it's hard with the schedules.

"I was trying my best, so it's just sleep is very difficult. It's hard to sleep on a moving bus. You gotta learn and get more tricks and try to be healthy."

Trainor returned to the stage on Wednesday

, and she admitted she was "a little nervous," but "excited" to get back out there and show the world she's ready to conquer, yet again.

"I'm more aware of my voice," Trainor said of what she's noticed differently about her voice since

. "I know when I'm using it too much and I can feel it still, and I know when I'm like, 'We're gonna not talk.' "

But since this surgery, Trainor says she is more cautious about when and how she uses her voice.

"This morning during glam, I didn't speak at all because I was like, 'I'm gonna save it for today because I have an hour of interviews,' so I have to think like that, which a lot of people don't have to do, but it's a new thing in my world."

With a few love interests in her past – one of which inspired her latest song "Lead Me On" – Trainor admits she hasn't been seeing anyone special.

"It's weird – before I was famous, guys were more interested and now, they're scared of me or intimidated, so I'm learned a whole new world of how to even chill with guys."

So, guys, if you're looking to win her heart over, here's a few things you should know: "They just have to appreciate how hard we work in the music business – like download that song on iTunes! I like funny dudes, I like funny guys who are nice and treat girls nice."

Summary: Meghan Trainor opens up to PEOPLE about life post-surgery


Sept 2 (Reuters) - Borrowing by U.S. small businesses dipped slightly in July from a record level the previous month, an index released Wednesday showed, but its relative strength was seen as a sign of domestic momentum despite the recent volatility in global markets.

The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index edged down to 145.2 from an upwardly revised June reading of 146.4, but the readings marked the index's two highest points since it was launched in 2005.

The July reading, up 13 percent from the same month a year ago, was driven by robust activity in key sectors like transportation and construction, said PayNet founder Bill Phelan.

"This is showing some strength - while foreign markets are falling, while corporations are pulling back on their investments," Phelan said. "We've got this small business economy anchoring the U.S. economy."

The small-business borrowing index has historically been a leading indicator of U.S. gross domestic product by two to five months, and is also a good predictor of capital spending and job growth, Phelan said.

GDP expanded at an upwardly revised 3.7 percent annual rate last quarter, buoyed by consumer spending.

The data comes as the Federal Reserve is weighing whether to increase U.S. interest rates from near zero, where they have been kept since December 2008.

A recent stock market selloff has given some Fed officials pause and prompted investors to cut their predictions of a September U.S. rate hike to about 32 percent.

But Phelan said the high levels of borrowing, spread evenly throughout the United States and across most industries, augur economic strength and financial health in the small business sector.

Small businesses have "a lot of capital to borrow, a lot of capital to invest more when the opportunity presents itself," Phelan said. "That means there's ... a lot of runway for GDP expansion."

PayNet collects real-time loan information such as originations and delinquencies from more than 325 leading U.S. lenders.

(Reporting by Megan Cassella, editing by G Crosse)

Summary: The Thomson Reuters/ PayNet Small Business Lending Index edged down to 145.2 from an upwardly revised June reading of 146.4, but the readings marked the index's two highest points since it was launched in 2005.. The July reading, up 13 percent from the same month a year ago, was driven by robust activity in key sectors like transportation and construction, said...


Thoughtlight LLC, an online learning organization, is hosting a digital marketing workshop. Christina Inge, a marketing educator, will share seven tips to increase online impact. Wednesday, 9 to 11 a.m., Impact Hub, 50 Milk St., Boston. Free to $10.

Mass Innovation Nights, a group for local entrepreneurs, is hosting its November event at Autodesk Inc., a software company. Attendees will see 11 new products on display. Wednesday, 6 to 8:30 p.m., Autodesk, 1560 Trapelo Rd., Waltham. Free.

their ideas about how to best serve K-12 education at an event hosted by LearnLaunch Institute, a nonprofit focused on digital technology for educational purposes. Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m., Education First, 2 Education St., Cambridge. Free. (Above right, Peter Stidwill of Learning Games Network at a LearnLaunch Institute event.)

Startup Stir, a networking group, is hosting an event sponsored by Beacon Hill Partners focusing on social entrepreneurship. Daniel Acheampong, Startup Stir board president, is moderating a panel discussion with three innovators. Thursday, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Impact Hub Boston, 50 Milk St., Boston. $10 to $13.

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council is hosting a symposium for contract research organizations and contract manufacturing organizations. Michael Martorelli (left), director of Fairmount Partners, and Willy Shih (right), the Robert and Jane Cizik professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, are the keynote speakers. Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, 606 Congress St., Boston. $105 to $215.

Summary: Startup Stir, innovation, and more notable events and things to know.


New-look Mars. (Berkeley News/Tushar Mittal)

A new study has revealed that Mars is set to receive a planetary ring of its own – but not for a very, very long time.

The study, which was conducted by scientists from the University of California and the University of New York and was published in the journal Nature Geoscience, claims the Martian moon Phobos will eventually be crushed by its host planet’s tidal stresses, resulting in a debris ring much like that of Saturn.

While this is not expected to happen for at least 20-40 million years, it will mark the first time a non-gas planet in our solar system has acquired a ring.

Phobos' gravitational "stretch marks". (NASA)

The study’s authors claim 28km-wide moon Phobos, which orbits just 6,000km above the Martian surface, is slowly advancing towards the planet by a couple of centimetres per year.

Evidence of tidal stresses have already appeared on the moon, in the form of long, shallow grooves in its surface: gravitational “stretch marks”.

"Those grooves indicate the break up might be happening sooner than we expected," the study's lead author Dr Benjamin Black said.

A diagram showing how Phobos will become Mars new ring. (University of California/University of New York)

Phobos’ eventual collapse, once begun, is expected to be completed in just five orbits.

Many of the moon’s larger chunks, unable to withstand gravity, will crash into the Red Planet’s surface, forming craters.

The ring itself is not expected to last longer than 100 million years, as it too succumbs to tidal stresses.


By Christina Dugan and Nick Maslow

12/16/2015 AT 04:30 PM EST

Jordan Smith is poised for superstardom after winning

– but first, he'll need a nap.

"I'm going to go and I'm going to sleep for probably like three days once this is all over," the singer, 21, quipped in a press conference after the

on Tuesday. "Just not get out of bed."

No one can say he doesn't deserve some rest after claiming

on NBC's singing competition. Smith is already the best-selling singer to ever come from

, thanks in large part to his

America loves the song so much, he managed to end

's five-week reign on iTunes with "Hello." He followed it up with another No. 1:

The question on everyone's minds: how does he top himself?

"The show is nothing compared to what's next," said Smith. "I'm ready to start writing music and putting music out there and working hard to make this happen for myself and make a place for myself in the industry."

And with instant hits under his belt, Smith is not afraid to dream big.

"I'd love to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl," he said. "I think that'd be amazing."

was on hand to give his seal of approval, saying, "I think that's a great idea."

"It's one of my favorite songs," replied Smith. "I would love to do that."

Just as he did throughout season 9, Levine cheered Smith on like a proud big brother.

"I think we should ask for it now," he said. "That'd be okay with everybody?"

For Smith, the show hasn't just given him fame and success – it's helped him overcome self-confidence issues and embrace his high-pitched voice.

"It means a ton," Smith said of winning. "Slowly throughout the show, it just proved that those things don't matter ... It's really special to hear at the end of a show like this, to be celebrated because of those differences."

Meanwhile, his coach can't help but be inspired.

"His energy is very calming," said Levine, who has been vocal about his struggle with ADHD. "I am the opposite. I've learned how to kind of chill and stay mellowed in times where usually I might not."

has been rocking his way to the top of the charts with Maroon 5 for over a decade, Levine insists that Smith is a superior singer.

"I've learned that I'm not as good a singer as he is, which makes me want to be a better singer," he said. "Because let's be honest, he's way better than I am. But I think that we both learn from each other, too. It's just been mutually kind of a nice symbiosis working with this guy."

And then there's his excitement over reminding

he is the triumphant judge.

"It's really quite beautiful because Jordan gets to win

and I get to tear Blake apart for the next six months, bragging about my win and his drought of victory," he explained, joking. "It's going to be great. I'm going to think of new and exciting ways to make him feel terrible. It's going to be really fun, guys. So thank you."

Summary: "The show is nothing compared to what's next," says the new champion


The two bombs went off in a Shi'ite neighbourhood in Damascus.

At least 60 people have been killed, including 25 Shi'ite fighters, and dozens wounded by a car bomb and two suicide bombers in Syrian capital Damascus.

Sunni fundamentalist Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to Amaq, a news agency that supports the group. It said two operations "hit the most important stronghold of Shi'ite militias in Damascus".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the casualties were expected to rise from the suicide attacks in Sayeda Zeinaba, a district of southern Damascus where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other Iraqi and Iranian militias have a strong presence.

Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Observatory, said the suicide bombers had targeted a military bus carrying Shi'ite militias who were changing guard there.

The explosions occurred as representatives of Syria's government and its divided opposition began convening in Geneva for the first UN-mediated peace talks in two years.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, head of the government delegation at Geneva, said the blasts in Damascus just confirmed the link between what the government says are a Saudi-led and funded Islamist "opposition" and terrorism.

State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the neighbourhood.

Syrian state news agency SANA, quoting an interior ministry source, said a group of militants had detonated a car bomb near a public transport garage in the neighbourhood's Koua Sudan area.

Two suicide bombers then blew themselves up nearby as people were being rescued. The authorities put the dead at 45 people.

The area in the south of the city is a site of pilgrimage for Shi'ites from Iran, Lebanon and other parts of the Muslim world.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halaki was quoted as saying the attacks were prompted by "terror groups" who sought to "raise their morale after a string of defeats" by the army.

The Sayeda Zeinab shrine area witnessed heavy clashes in the first few years of the war but has since been secured by the Syrian army and Shi'ite militias led by Hezbollah, which has set up protective roadblocks around it.

The shrine houses the grave of the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Taleb, the cousin of Prophet Mohammed, whom Shi'ites consider the rightful successor to the prophet. The dispute over the succession led to the major Sunni-Shi'ite schism in Islam.

Iraqi and Iranian Shi'ite militia groups that have volunteered to fight Sunni Islamist radicals in Syria often say they are coming to Syria to defend the shrine.

Summary: At least 30 people have been killed in blasts in a large Shi'ite neighbourhood of the Syrian capital Damascus.


Banned procedures include forced nakedness, hooding and threatening prisoners with dogs

Delayed more than a year amid criticism of the defence department's treatment of prisoners, the revised Army Field Manual released on Wednesday updates a 1992 version.

It also explicitly bans beating prisoners, sexually humiliating them, depriving them of food or water, performing mock executions, shocking them with electricity, burning them, causing other pain and a technique called "water boarding" that simulates drowning, said Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, army deputy chief of staff for intelligence.

Officials said the revisions are based on lessons learned since the US began taking prisoners in response to the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Release of the manual came amid a flurry of announcements about US handling of prisoners, which has drawn criticism from Bush administration critics as well as domestic and international allies.

President George W Bush acknowledged the existence of previously secret CIA prisons around the world where terrorist suspects have been held and interrogated, saying 14 such al-Qaeda leaders had been transferred to the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay and will be brought to trial.

Though defense officials earlier this year debated writing a classified section of the manual to keep some interrogation procedures a secret from potential enemies, Kimmons said that there was no secret section to the new manual.

Bush decided shortly after the September 11 attacks that since it was not a conventional war, "unlawful enemy combatants" captured in the fight against al-Qaeda would not be considered prisoners of war and thus would not be afforded the protections of the Geneva convention.

The new manual, called "Human Intelligence Collector Operations," applies to all the armed services, not just the army.

However, it does not cover the Central Intelligence Agency, which has also come under investigation for mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan and for keeping suspects in secret prisons elsewhere around the world since the September 11 attacks.

Summary: A new US Army manual has been published which bans torture and the degrading treatment of prisoners, detailing for the first time some of the abuses which have become infamous since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.


A new law in Italy will encourage supermarkets to give their unsold food to those in need, after a bill was passed with bipartisan support in the government’s lower house on Monday.

The country will become the second in Europe, after France, to pass such a law.

Businesses will be given incentives to donate their food to charities in an effort to quell Europe’s waste issue, which costs almost $A18 billion each year.

Italy’s Agriculture Minister, Maurizio Martina, told La Repubblica that the law will make it “more convenient” for companies to donate waste.

“We currently recover 550 million tonnes of excess food each year but we want to arrive at one billion in 2016,” Mr Martina said.

An existing law makes it compulsory for all shops, bars, restaurants and food companies to declare their charitable donations in advance.

The new law will offer businesses reductions in rubbish taxes based on how much they donate.

The issue of food waste has become a major talking point across Europe after a study found that 47 million tonnes of food were wasted each year, with 80 percent of it edible.


Courtesy Nate D. Sanders Auctions; Inset: AP

03/28/2016 AT 03:35 PM EDT

is revealing more about herself

than she did in life.

The famously private, Alabama-born author was surprisingly candid in a series of letters exchanged with her friends Doris and Bill Leapard, and pen pal Don Salter throughout the 1990s, which are now being auctioned off

last month – not long after her decades-old

– decidedly withdrew from public life after becoming a literary darling. While maintaining a friendship with author Truman Capote, Lee still avoided any publicity, even opting not to accept the 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom in person.

But the author's wit is evident in the 29 signed letters available for purchase online, and even aspects of her home life in Monroeville are divulged.

Courtesy Nate D. Sanders Auctions

In a note from 1990, Lee laments fan requests for money and gifts, writing, "You will never believe what people take it into their heads to ask for: everything from, 'Send two autographed first editions of Mockingbird' to 'Send $850 to help me get a new TV-VCR machine so I can look at the movie.' They don't even say pleaseâ¦' "

Another, dated Nov. 26, 1990, includes details of an evening at a restaurant when Lee couldn't stop giggling "for no apparent reason," and said she found herself laughing consistently.

Some feature commentary on civil rights, and a critique of the literary scene in the South, while others detail mundane aspects of daily life, including the hot weather and her sister's ear surgery.

Lee even quips of now-presidential candidate Donald Trump's Atlantic City hotel: "The worst punishment God can devise for this sinner is to make her spirit reside eternally at the Trump Taj Mahal."

While many of the notes were written on a typewriter, others included Lee's swirly penmanship and filled an array of fun greeting cards.

Her fear of media attention was clear in a note to Salter, a longtime fan with whom Lee regularly corresponded. Writing of an upcoming cataract surgery, Lee requested, "please don't put this on the Internet or anything – I'd dread for it to bring more mail!"

For fans of Lee's body of work, the letters – which start at $750 – are a final look at the words of a brilliant writer.

Summary: Harper Lee, who penned To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman, died at 89 this Feburary


05/18/2016 AT 10:20 PM EDT

It's not easy playing a super-villain, especially when you have sweat going into places sweat shouldn't go.

Oscar Isaac stars as the big blue bad guy in

, but with he's barely recognizable under all the makeup and prosthetics.

"I would do some acting and then go to my tent and try to breathe and not freak out that sweat was pouring into my ears and I couldn't touch them," the actor tells

for his upcoming cover story. "It was rough. But the challenge of basically doing Kabuki theater in a film was crazy."

According to the magazine, Isaacs' Apocalypse suit – which producer Simon Kinberg called "a nightmare contraption" – weighed a whopping 40 pounds, and its matching high-heeled boots shot Isaacs up from five feet nine to over six feet.

But Isaac says the costume did help him get closer to his costar Michael Fassbender. ""He was dressed up in blue and I had my cape and helmet on," Fassbender says in the article. "Two grown men. We had a little chuckle."

The actor also gave some insight into another major franchise he's involved with. While his character, Poe, was originally supposed to get killed off in

, Isaacs says he's not leaving the series anytime soon.

"It's the first time in my life when things have been mapped out for quite some time. I'm basically Star War-ring until 2020," Isaac says.

Summary: Oscar Isaac tells Rolling Stone about his very uncomfortable costume in X-Men: Apocalypse


TEN years ago, who could have predicted that a small, open-top car reminiscent of British-made MG's and Triumphs of the 1950's and 60's would be so wildly successful that it would spawn a wave of imitators, reviving the virtually dead market for sports roadsters? It was, after all, an era of largely sensible, aerodynamic, look-alike sedans.

But the Mazda Miata, introduced in 1989 as a 1990 model, turned out to be a breath of fresh air. Mazda has now sold more than 450,000 Miatas worldwide, more than half in North America to young people buying their one and only car and to nostalgic baby boomers who have made it the second or third car in their household fleets.

Now, nearly a decade later, Mazda has come out with its first redesign of the Miata, and a weeklong test drive proved that this sequel improves on the extraordinary original. Everything that was good about the first Miata has been made even better in the 1999 MX-5.

Casual observers will notice little difference between the old Miata and the new one. The black test model parked in my driveway for a week drew little more than a matter of fact, ''Oh, the Miata.'' There is no question in anyone's mind of what the car is, which is precisely Mazda's point.

In unveiling the car at the auto show in Detroit in January, Tom Matano, designer of the original Miata who now heads Mazda's California design studio, succinctly stated the company's design philosophy for the roadster: ''We want people seeing the Miata from a distance to ask, 'Is that a Miata?' '' he said. ''As they get closer, we want them to say, 'Yep, that's a Miata, but that's a new Miata.' ''

Evolutionary redesigns do not always come out well, but the new Miata's styling accomplishes its goals without unnecessary additions.

It will not be confused with the many other roadsters on the highways. With dimensions virtually identical to the model it replaces, the Miata continues its classic, timeless and simple design. Yet, it appears fresh.

The most significant exterior differences appear on the front end. Front fenders are more sculpted and the built-in head lamps replace the pop-up variety of the original. The tail lamps are updated but the back maintains the simple, uncluttered appearance of the original.

Likewise, the interior remains familiar but freshened. The air-bag housing in the center of the beefy three-spoked steering wheel is more compact for a better view of the instrument panel. The instrument panel layout is the same as the original design, but the chrome trim around the gauges has been discarded for a cleaner, more contemporary look.

(Interestingly, as Mazda eliminates the chrome trim, other manufacturers, including Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz, are adding it to create a nostalgic look.)

I miss the chrome trim, and I bet original Miata owners will as well. Also gone are the optional speakers built into the headrests, another distinctive feature that I suspect others will miss.

Still intimate, the inside of the Miata uses more rounded surfaces and a dash that sweeps back onto the doors for a more spacious feel. The use of door panels made of rounded plastic-molded surfaces instead of the flat panels has allowed for built-in door handles and storage pockets. Storage in the trunk has been increased 10 percent by moving the spare tire and battery below the floor.

The armrest-center console has been redesigned to include cup holders, but they are not particularly convenient; they are at elbow level and interfere with shifting.

Thankfully, the seats in the Miata continue to provide the same level of grip and support as the original did, ideal for holding its passengers in place on quick turns and sweeping bends.

A significant improvement is the addition of a glass rear window with a built-in defroster. The previous Miata required that the plastic rear window be unzipped before lowering the top. Folding the top of the new Miata now is a simple one-person job that can be performed without leaving the driver's seat -- at a stoplight, for instance. Wind blockers have been added behind the seats to prevent air that rushes over the rear of the vehicle from swirling about in the passenger compartment.

Other substantial changes were made under the skin.

The Miata's 1.8-liter four- cylinder engine, the only engine available, has been bolstered to 140 horsepower from 133. Torque has also been improved slightly. While the differences don't look huge on paper and only improve zero to 60-miles-an-hour performance a scant half-second or so, the increased power and torque make the car feel substantially faster taking off from stoplights and making highway passing maneuvers.

The engine is paired with a standard five-speed manual transmission or the optional four-speed automatic, which has undergone some improvement. Still, the stick shift is the best choice for this sports car.

Improvements have also been made in the Miata's four-wheel double-wishbone suspension. Those, combined with the roadster's more rigid body structure and lower weight, improve handling noticeably. The new Miata has more grip going into corners and around curves but provides a smoother ride. Yet, you can still fishtail the Miata if that's your idea of a good time.

The other feature that made the original Miata so attractive remains as well: the price. The new Miata starts at $20,200 including destination fees. Fully outfitted, the Miata can be had for under $25,000, about the same as its predecessor.

The simple, classic design, the fun-to-drive performance and the affordable price of the new Miata will maintain the Mazada's position as the leader among roadsters for fun per dollar.

INSIDE TRACK: The MG for modern times, now even better.

Photos. Graph: ''2 Doors, 2 Seats, Tops Down'' compares price and features of the BMW Z3 1.9, the Mazda MX-5 Miata, and the Mercedes-Benz SLK230-Kempressor.


Amazon’s ongoing expansion into more and more product categories has finally hit a big speed bump. The Fire Phone, Amazon’s recently launched smartphone, was supposed to compete with high-end devices like Apple’s iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy. But consumers apparently didn’t bite—Amazon was forced to take a $170 million writedown charge on costs related to the device, it was revealed Thursday. Meanwhile, the company reportedly has $83 million worth of unsold Fire Phones still in its inventory.

While CEO Jeff Bezos is likely surprised that the Fire Phone hasn’t flown off Amazon’s virtual shelves, the device’s lack of appeal was obvious to many outside observers. Here are four reasons Amazon’s Fire Phone was doomed from the start:

Amazon has a history of undercutting competitors on everything from tablets to balsamic vinegar. So it came as somewhat of a surprise when the Fire Phone launched at $199 with a two-year wireless contract, essentially the same price as the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. The high price didn’t help incentivize iPhone and Galaxy owners to abandon their devices, which is what Amazon needed to happen for the Fire Phone to gain quick traction. The company saw the error of its ways relatively quickly and dropped the phone’s price to 99 cents in September, but that hasn’t been enough to turn things around.

Though Amazon’s devices run on Android, they use a proprietary app store tailor-made for the company’s phones and tablets. That means developers have to make different versions of their apps specifically for the Fire Phone and Kindle Fire, and many haven’t bothered. Amazon’s app store has about 240,000 apps, compared to more than 1 million in the Google Play store. Most notably, Amazon’s store lacks Google’s flagship apps, so Fire Phone owners have no easy access to Gmail, YouTube or Google Maps. Other popular services, like Dropbox, are also absent. Users can sideload Android apps onto the Fire Phone, but it’s a more cumbersome process that might be beyond the technical prowess of some Amazon fans who are used to the simplicity of devices like the Kindle e-reader.

The Fire Phone was a classic case of “too little, too late.” Apple is on its eighth generation of iPhones, and Android devices have been around nearly as long. Smartphones now account for 72 percent of the overall mobile market in the U.S., according to Comscore. Amazon would probably have the most luck convincing first-time smartphone buyers who have yet to develop a device preference to pick up a Fire Phone, but there simply aren’t many of those people left.

Many of the Fire Phone’s most innovative features, like the ability to scan 100 million real-world objects with the press of a button, are really aimed at getting customers to buy more things on Amazon. Making such features the main selling point of the device immediately means its appeal will be limited to only heavy Amazon users. Other new features, like the 3D display, were generally met with a collective yawn. The iPhone 6’s most prominent new feature, meanwhile — its big screen — is a more obvious upgrade, and its own commerce-focused perk, Apple Pay, works at plenty of places outside Apple’s ecosystem.

Overall, Amazon’s ambitious device simply doesn’t have a defining quality that would compel the average consumer to run out and buy it. We’ve all made it this far in life with perfectly suitable smartphones, and there already myriad ways to buy stuff on Amazon. The Fire Phone is solving problems that nobody had in the first place.

Summary: Amazon still has $83 million worth of unsold units


Think of football, and a lot of things come to mind: Big playoff rivalries, tailgate parties overflowing with beer and chicken wings, Super Bowl halftime shows.

But financial literacy? Not so much.

Justin Tuck wants to change that. The newly-retired New York Giants legend, a defensive end for a decade in the NFL, is making it his mission to help low-income and minority kids get money-smart.

Tuck and his wife Lauran, founders of the nonprofit R.U.S.H. for Literacy are being honored this week by Columbia University in New York for their leadership in financial literacy.

The following are their thoughts about the intersection of football and finance:

Q: What did being a professional athlete teach you about handling money?

Justin Tuck: Look at the average NFL roster, and most players come from low-income families. They go from being 18-year-old kids with nothing to being 21-year-olds with millions of dollars.

That situation is like nothing you can imagine. It’s the reason why most people who hit the Lotto end up broke. They get all this money all of a sudden, and they just don’t know how to handle it.

Q: You could have focused on a lot of different causes – why financial literacy?

Lauran Tuck: We started by providing books to schools in New York, New Jersey, Alabama and California, now over 86,000 books to over 14,000 students. But then we started to look at education long-term: Kids who have college savings are many times more likely to actually go to college and graduate, than those who don’t.

So along with partners like Citi, we started seeding college-savings accounts for kindergartners, raising matching money, and providing financial education for parents on subjects like household budgeting and understanding credit scores.

Q: Was there a particular moment that made you want to get involved in kids’ education?

JT: I remember in the ninth grade growing up in Alabama, I was assigned a history book, and all the previous kids had written their names in it. One of those names was my aunt, who is 17 years older than me.

Just imagine how much the world changes in 17 years – that’s the book I had to learn from. Thinking back to that moment made me really want to get involved and move the needle for kids’ education.

Q: When you hit it big, did you make financial mistakes?

JT: Sure I did. Even if you have a multi-million-dollar contract, you have to have a budget and put away savings, because one injury and your career can be over.

Most players are out of the NFL by age 25. If they come from a poverty-stricken area, maybe they buy a home for mom, and a car for dad, and then friends start coming out of the woodwork and asking for money. Take out taxes, and fees for agents and lawyers, and throw in a divorce, and it can all go away very quickly.

Q: When you were active in the NFL, what was your strategy as a couple for handling money wisely?

LT: We made a good team together. I’m more conservative about investing, and Justin is more of a risk-taker.

With a lot of the players in the league, who may have come from a lower socioeconomic status, there’s an attitude of ‘You can’t take it with you.’

That’s why you see some players living paycheck to paycheck. They’re not thinking about building wealth for their children, and their children’s children.

Q: You have two kids of your own. What advice do you have for other parents, on making kids money-smart?

JT: Kids are very curious by nature. So when Lauran and I are at the kitchen table talking about budgeting and spending, and our six-year-old son says ‘What are you talking about?’ we break it down for him.

That’s a good way to start exposing them to it. Give them a piggy bank, and if they want to buy a book or a toy, make them save up for it and stick to a budget.

Q: Is it difficult to see ex-players in dire straits because of bad financial decisions?

JT: Definitely. The game is so tough, all that wear and tear on your body. As the saying goes, ‘NFL’ stands for ‘Not For Long.’ At the end of the day, you want to have something to show for it.

Summary: With nonprofit R.U.S.H. for Literacy


Short answer: Older than it is now. The economic pressures of aging populations and shrinking pension trust funds mean the retirement age will probably increase in the coming decades. But exactly how much will depend on where you live. The U.S. Congress has already set the age to receive full benefits at 67 for people born after 1960, and economists say the government could reasonably be expected to raise that age by a couple years by 2050. That number will likely become 70 in the U.K., 65 in China and 67 to 69 throughout much of the E.U.

Economists and public-health experts say the government-set retirement age is just one factor in determining when people retire–if they retire at all. The reality of providing for a longer life span will push many potential retirees to work past the day they can first get government benefits. And lots of people who end their formal careers may opt to work part time for pocket money or volunteer to stay active.

All of this plays into the so-called flexible retirement concept, according to Monika Queisser, a retirement-policy expert at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. “It gives them the flexibility to choose the patterns that they feel fit to do,” she says. “But at the same time, from a macro perspective, it’s better to have as many hours worked as long as possible.”

Instead of predicting the retirement age, it may be better to think about what old age will look like free from today’s associations with the word retired, says Ruth Finkelstein, an assistant professor of health policy at Columbia University. “We need to rethink how we understand work, making the concept of retirement age obsolete,” she says. “It should be possible for people to dial up and dial down work across their life course. People shouldn’t turn a switch when they’re old and change everything.”

The inching up of the retirement age marks a dramatic shift for Western civilization. People in the West have seen 65 as the age to kick back and enjoy the twilight since 1916, when Germany made it the trigger for government old-age benefits. The U.S. set the retirement age for full benefits at 65 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security legislation in 1935. Politicians have been arguing over the number ever since.

“We have had the same retirement age,” adds Finkelstein. “But that number is politically negotiated. It’s not an age rooted in a person’s capability or longevity.” And that’s in large part why it’s changing even as the definition of what it means to retire changes too.

Summary: Predicting longevity in the future


Not since Watergate has the question of presidential power been as salient as it is today. The recent revelation that President George W. Bush ordered secret wiretaps in the United States without judicial approval has set off the latest round of arguments over what the president can and cannot do in the name of his office. Over the past few years, the war on terror has led to the use of executive orders to authorize renditions and the detention of enemy combatants without trial - for which the Bush administration has been called to account by our European allies. The treatment of detainees has also given rise to concerns in Congress about the prerogatives of the chief executive: both houses recently voted to limit the president's authority to employ C.I.A. or other executive agents to engage in cruel and inhumane interrogations. The limits of presidential power will almost surely be a major topic of discussion during Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, which are scheduled to begin this week.

The stakes of the debate could hardly be higher: nothing is more basic to the operation of a constitutional government than the way it allocates power. Yet in an important sense, the debate is already long over. By historical standards, even the Bush administration's critics subscribe to the idea of a pre-eminent president. Administrative agencies at the president's command are widely understood to be responsible for everything from disaster relief to drug approval to imposing clean-air standards; and the president can unleash shock and awe on his own initiative. Such "presidentialism" seems completely normal to most Americans, since it is the only arrangement most of us have ever known.

For better or worse, though, this is not the system envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. The framers meant for the legislative branch to be the most important actor in the federal government: Congress was to make the laws and the president was empowered only to execute them. The very essence of a republic was that it would be governed through a deliberative legislature, composed carefully to reflect both popular will and elite limits on that will. The framers would no sooner have been governed by a democratically elected president than by a king who got his job through royal succession.

The transformation of the United States from a traditional republic to a democratic nation run in large measure by a single executive took a couple of hundred years. Constitutional evolution, like its counterpart in the natural world, has occurred sometimes gradually and sometimes in catastrophic jolts, like those brought about by war or economic crisis. The process has not been entirely linear: presidential power grabs have often been followed by a Congressional backlash, as in the wake of Richard Nixon's presidency. But the overall winner has unquestionably been the president, who has reached heights of power that the framers would scarcely have imagined. The modern presidency, as expressed in the policies of the administration of George W. Bush, provides the strongest piece of evidence that we are governed by a fundamentally different Constitution from that of the framers. While any constitution must evolve over time to meet new circumstances and challenges, there is reason to think that, when it comes to presidential power over national security, the latest developments have gone too far.

The rise of the presidency began with the Louisiana Purchase, which in 1803 doubled the landmass of the United States. History taught the framers that, just as Rome changed from republic to empire with conquest of new lands, territorial acquisition would lead to the centralization of political power. Sure enough, Thomas Jefferson's decision to buy the territory without seeking a constitutional amendment or advance Congressional approval amounted to a huge expansion of presidential authority. Jefferson entered office as a skeptic of the national government's power and even privately suggested that the purchase was unconstitutional. In overcoming his own republican instincts and arranging the purchase secretly, he demonstrated how the office of the presidency would come to serve its own interests, swaying the men holding it to strengthen not simply their own authority but also that of the institution itself.

Three decades later, Andrew Jackson's presidency marked another leap forward in presidential power. His contribution was his claim to represent the country, in its entirety, more directly and democratically than the congeries of local politicians who made up Congress. This rhetorical stance, coupled with the expansion of voting rights to white men without property, gave him the political muscle to veto the national bank and stand up to Congress in the name of the common men who had voted for him.

By the middle of the 19th century, with the admission to the Union of Florida, Texas and California, the United States became a continental empire. Such an empire called for an "imperial presidency," as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. suggested in his classic 1973 book of the same name. With the onset of the Civil War, the threat to the nascent empire led Abraham Lincoln to govern without Congress and to suspend access to the courts. When in 1898 William McKinley conquered the Philippines and chose to rule it, the imperial metaphor became still more apt: the United States had become, for the first time, the proprietor of whole nations whose peoples would never vote in its elections and whose governors reported directly to the president.

In the 20th century, the Great Depression helped propel the presidency to its current level of dominance. The administrative agencies that were created during Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal were a response to the tremendous complexity and growth of the national economy. An overwhelmingly Democratic Congress went along with the Roosevelt administration, giving the agencies broad discretion in regulating the economy and addressing workers' welfare. Over time, as the agencies expanded to administer health and safety regulations, Congress realized that it was more convenient to pass the buck to agencies than to deal with hard policy questions on its own. A congressman could take credit for an agency's action when it was convenient and blame the agencies when they adopted policies that his constituents disliked. It is now taken for granted that the president is in charge of the vast administrative apparatus that makes most of the important domestic-policy decisions in the country.

Noah Feldman, a contributing writer for the magazine and a law professor at New York University, is the author most recently of "Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem - and What We Should Do About It."

Summary: Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s confirmation hearings are likely to focus on the expansion of executive power. But it's not the Supreme Court that has to curb the presidency. It's Congress.


A former Destiny's Child singer was arrested Thursday after cops found her drunk and disorderly outside a Georgia gym.

Farrah Franklin — who performed with the girl group from 1999 to 2000 — was taken into custody after cops noticed her slurring her words and smelling of alcohol, TMZ reports.

Authorities say Franklin got into a disagreement with a male friend in front of the gym at around 3 a.m., shortly before they arrived at the scene.

When the officers urged her to go home, she reportedly refused and allegedly said, "These n----s won't leave me alone."

Destiny's Child reunites for new song

She remained defiant when the cops asked her how much she had to drink, allegedly replying "Not enough."

The 35-year-old was booked in DeKalb County shortly after and charged with public intoxication and possession of a small amount of marijuana.

She remained in custody as of Thursday afternoon, with her bail set at $250, according to TMZ.

Franklin was previously arrested for disorderly conduct in 2011 and 2014, with both incidents involving alcohol, TMZ reported after the second arrest.

Michelle Williams' 'Say Yes' music video features Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland

The Los Angeles native was named an official member of Destiny's Child in 2000, joining at the same time as Michelle Williams. The duo replaced former groupmates LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett.

Six months later, however, she left the group. Beyoncé later told MTV that her exit was a mutual decision after she missed a series of major promotional events.

Summary: A former Destiny's Child singer was arrested early Thursday morning.


For decades, documentary filmmaker Doug Block has supplemented his income with wedding-video gigs — and he’s now combined the two to make a documentary, 112 Weddings, which is out in the UK today and premieres in the U.S. on HBO on June 30. In the film, Block revisits several of the couples whose weddings he filmed to see how their marriages have worked out. The couples are divorced and still together, childless and with children, happy and not so much, but they all open up about what’s caused their marriages to work out the way they have.

“People conflate the wedding with the marriage and the getting married with the being married,” Block explains. “That’s really what the film is: so many movies end at the wedding day with the happy ending being the wedding, and I thought what an interesting place to start.”

And, it turned out, Block wasn’t the only one who wanted to know what would happen. He says that interest in 112 Weddings was probably the highest of any project he’s worked on — though he’s not sure whether people were more interested in finding the secret to happiness or just getting in a little schadenfreude. If it was the former, viewers are in luck: Block, who’s been married 28 years himself, says he learned something from all of the couples with whom he reconnected. He jokes that now he knows enough to become a love consultant to the stars and charge exorbitant fees for his advice, but he was willing to share a little knowledge with TIME pro bono.

So, after more than 100 weddings filmed and about a dozen revisited, what’s Block’s top advice about marriage?

“Pick wisely is the best advice,” he says. “You’d better find somebody who feels like your jokes are funny.”

Beyond that, it’s important to stay flexible and accept imperfections. After all, he says, you can’t prepare for marriage because it’s a lifelong commitment and there’s no way to know what will happen in your life. It’s more important to be ready to face what you don’t expect than to think hard about your expectations.

Block also says that one of his favorite parts of the film is a discussion of the concept of “soulmates,” something he and at least one interviewee agree is pretty weird, the idea that there’s one person out there who you’ll be happy with forever. In reality, he’s noticed, love and affection come in waves, and a couple can want nothing to do with each other and then feel great about their marriage all within a short period of time.

“A lot of marriage is coming to terms with who is this imperfect person you’re living with, and acknowledging that you’re not exactly a perfect person either,” he says. “The ideal to me of marriage is you’re both growing as individuals but you’re not growing apart. You’re supporting each other in your growth. That’s what keeps the bond tight, because you’re not stagnating, you’re not getting dull.”

It’s clear from the film that the storybook idea of marriage is unrealistic — but that a wedding can be worthwhile anyway. “As I say in the film,” Block says, “happy ever after is complicated.”

Summary: Doug Block turned his wedding-videographer gig into a documentary


Whole Foods Market’s announcement today that it will cut 1,500 jobs is the latest sign that the upscale grocer is serious about taking costs out of its system.

The move comes as Whole Foods WFM is experiencing intense competition in the natural and organic food arena, which it helped create. In response, the company has been working to reduce its prices.

This summer in conversations for a Fortune article about co-CEO and co-founder John Mackey’s views on capitalism, Mackey and I discussed the three components of the retail equation: quality, service, and price. “You can’t combine all of those things into one package,” Mackey said. “There’s an inherent tension there.” As he put it at the time, “We realized we needed to make Whole Foods more price-competitive and take costs out of the system.”

Whole Foods historically has been mostly about quality and service. But in recent years it’s been working on reducing the overhead of its stores to better compete on price. Mackey told me the company was examining the service part of the equation and whether it could cut back on areas where it wasn’t adding value.

Mackey gave the example of the company’s bakery, where the current model in many stores requires customers to line up and wait for an employee to slice their bread. He noted that the current set up is slow, and that customers could slice their own bread and cakes could go pre-packed. “You can do a complete self-service bakery and cut a tremendous amount of labor,” he added, “and people don’t have to wait in line.”

He also suggested the possibility of self-service meat or a combination of self-service with a butcher. “I don’t know the right combination,” he said, “but we’re doing lots of experiments.”

Earlier this year the company announced that it will launch a new lower-priced chain called 365. It’s a way to jump ahead on price reductions while the flagship brand moves to take out costs systematically. “We realized that if we started a new kind of store, we could lower our prices immediately,” Mackey told me.

The thinking behind the new brand—leaning toward price and quality over service—will be built with cheaper material, operated on smaller footprints, and have an assortment of lower-priced goods. “365 is an evolutionary strategy,” Mackey told me. And, of course, it’s a lot easier to charge less when you have reduced your own expenses.

Fortune editor Alan Murray will be interviewing Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb and CIO Jason Buechel at 6:35 p.m. ET at Fortune Brainstorm E. Watch live or visit Fortune.com later tonight for coverage.

Summary: Sensitive to its reputation for high prices, the high-end grocer is reducing overhead. It's hard on employees—but it'll help ease the toll on consumers' wallets.


Americans care less about environmental issues now than they have in the past—and they’re no more worried about global warming than they were decades ago, a new poll shows.

The Gallup survey released on Wednesday shows Americans were more concerned about the environment in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but interested dropped off in the early 2000s. Since then it’s remained close to historic lows. And when it comes to global warming specifically, Americans are no more worried now than they were in 1989.

In the recent survey, which questioned 1,025 U.S. adults in early March, Americans reported feeling the most concerned about drinking polluted water and least worried about global warming. In 1989, 35% of the men and women surveyed said they cared a great deal about climate change, but only 32% said the same thing in 2015. Even when it came to polluted water, just 55% of Americans reported caring a great deal, down from 65% in 1990.

Gallup notes that the state of the economy could play a roll in how concerned Americans are about the environment. Americans tend to give environmental concerns a higher priority when the economy is doing well, Gallup says.

Summary: Concern over the environment is near a record low


Collaboration among Ford employees often requires jumping into a car and driving to one of the 70 company buildings spread throughout Dearborn, Mich. right now.

But the automaker unveiled plans on Tuesday to bring all of those employees to one high-tech campus, a visible symbol of Ford’s attempt to modernize and transition into a corporation that does more than make and sell cars.

The massive construction project, encompassing more than 7.5 million square feet of work space to be rebuilt and upgraded, will take a decade to complete. Once finished, all of Ford’s approximately 30,000 employees will be housed across two locations on one sprawling campus. That will consist of a product area to include a new design center and another section around the current Ford global headquarters. The campus will include all of the requisite features found on many Silicon Valley-based tech companies, such as walking paths and trails, on-demand shuttles, eBikes, wireless connectivity speeds up to 10 times faster than today, and even autonomous vehicles.

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Construction of the new product campus begins this month at the Ford Research and Engineering Center, which currently houses 12,000 employees. When complete, the center will accommodate 24,000 employees. The majority of work is expected to be complete by 2023, Ford says. Major work on the second campus around Ford World Headquarters will break ground in 2021 with a scheduled completion date in 2026.

A new 700,000-square-foot silver-domed design center will serve as the focal point of the campus, housing new studios and an outdoor design courtyard. Ford will upgrade its historic 14,000-square-foot Ford Design Showroom to be used as an event venue.

Ford CEO Mark Fields explains why the company is in Silicon Valley:

Ford visited Stanford University and the University of Michigan campuses as well as several tech companies, including Google, to study collaborative work spaces, Roger Gaudette, director of Dearborn facility strategy at Ford Land Development Co., told Fortune. Detroit-based architecture firm SmithGroupJJR designed the new campus layout.

The campus will also feature a sustainability showcase, a large glass circular structure that Gaudette touts will be a net zero-energy and net zero-water facility using geothermal heating and cooling as well as solar panels. Geothermal heating will also be deployed throughout the campus. The sustainability building could even double as a welcome center.

Ford’s core business is still making, financing, and servicing cars and trucks. Last year, the company introduced a so-called smart mobility strategy involving building cars with Internet connectivity, developing autonomous vehicle technology, and using big data collected from sensors in cars to learn more about how people travel.

Summary: The automaker unveiled plans to bring all 30,000 Dearborn, Mich. employees together.