When it comes to expanding his country's geographic boundaries, Russian President Vladimir Putin has more tricks up his sleeve than just invading his neighbors and illegally annexing their territory. In a submission to the United Nations, the Russian Federation is now claiming that it has the right to exert economic control over nearly half a million square miles of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole.

The approximately 460,000 square miles that Russia is claiming contains some of the world's largest untapped reserves of fossil fuels, as well as valuable minerals. It also contains a potentially important northern shipping route that has been slowly opening up as Arctic Ice melts due to global climate change.

Read MoreCold War threat from Russia?

Russia is making its claim under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which dictates just how far from its recognized borders a country is entitled to an exclusive economic zone. The convention allows for a 200-mile zone from recognized borders, except where a country can demonstrate that the continental shelf on which it sits actually extends farther then 200 miles. In such cases, the law recognizes a 350-mile limit.

More from The Fiscal Times:Putin's Spokesman Wears a Golden Skull Watch Worth $620K Putin's Next Invasion – The Pop ChartsBlame China for Your Costly Lobster Roll

However, Russia is claiming considerably more than that, on the grounds that the resources under the Arctic Ocean are "natural components" of the territory it already controls.

Summary: Russia is claiming that it has the right to exert control over nearly half a million square miles of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole.


Russia's finance minister Anton Siluanov sought to reassure investors that the country is still a safe and "very profitable" bet for firms looking to do business there.

Russia's economy is feeling the pain of sanctions imposed on the country since March, when it annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. The ruble has fallen 18 percent against the U.S. dollar so far this year and the sanctions have made it hard for Russian firms to access the dollars and euros they need to meet their overseas debt obligations. The deterioration in relations between Russia and the West has led to a surge in capital outflows from Russia.

Read MoreHere's just how badly Russia is bleeding capital

"We are now facing some geopolitical shocks and we see artificial limitations imposed against Russia but we hope that these limitations would soon be lifted and we welcome all the foreign investors to come back to Russia and begin investing again," Siluanov told CNBC in an interview in Washington DC.

Read MoreWhy China-Russia ties are heating up

Summary: Russia's finance minister sought to reassure investors that the country is still a safe and "very profitable" bet for firms looking to do business there.


Clapham's Studio Voltaire has become one of the most energising spaces in London. Its ad-hoc approach and knack for spotting young talent makes it a formidable presence on the city's art scene. Each year it holds an open-submissions exhibition and this time writer and critic Michael Bracewell and punk artist Linder were invited to oversee proceedings. The results - work by some 16 artists chosen from 250 - are bleakly funny. From Duncan Marquiss' bizarre drawings of KKK members to BoyleANDshaw's dry comic wit, the selections are engagingly wicked.

Summary: Studio Voltaire, SW4, to Sep 7


It’s hard to believe that it was just June of 2007 when apps made their big splash as one of the features of a new phenomenon called the Apple iPhone. Addictive and even lovable, these applications have become tools of life for many users.People talk about their apps like a hit TV show … or the latest sports trade. To say apps are a phenomenon is putting it mildly.Click ahead for Apple’s list of the top selling non-gaming apps for 2009.Posted: Jan. 5, 2010

Summary: To say apps are a phenomenon is putting it mildly. Addictive and even lovable, these applications have become tools of life for many users.


Tsakalotos is thought to be a close ally of Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and the soft-spoken economist is thought to be liked by officials representing the country's creditors and the "troika" of organizations – The European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- that make sure Greece is sticking to the terms of its loans .

Director of Euro Area Economic Research at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe, Robert Kuenzel, said while said the reshuffle was "necessary" it may not be enough to resolve the talks.

Read MoreDeal or no deal, Greece still faces bankruptcy

"The reshuffle at the negotiating level was a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the talks to ultimately succeed. While members of the (ex-)Troika have noted a recent improvement in the tone of the discussions, there are many major sticking points (pensions and labor markets, but also fiscal issues) that simply can't be papered over with friendlier faces," Kuenzel told CNBC.

"So, as far as it goes, the reshuffle is a step in the right direction," he said.

Senior economist at IHS Global Insight, Diego Iscaro said the move was not a "game changer".

"Not even the most charming negotiator will help to unlock the funds without Greece agreeing to implement the reforms demanded by its creditors," he said.

Summary: Deputy Foreign minister of Greece Euclid Tsakalotos has been drafted in to lead debt talks with creditors to replace hot-headed Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.


BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 1, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FilmOn Networks announced today a new comedy series hosted by the legendary Cheech & Chong star, Tommy Chong, Almost Legal With Tommy Chong. The iconic actor, best-selling author, and Grammy-winning comedian will host an interview and sketch comedy show co-produced by FilmOn Networks and title sponsor WeedMaps. The series will be distributed by FilmOn.com, air on FOTV over Dish Network, and will be syndicated to WeedMaps. Almost Legal with Tommy Chong is an irreverent take on the traditional late night talk show with celebrity interviews, sketch comedy and musical acts—he's called it "a stoner's version of Jon Stewart." Chong will address, "anything that affects the pot smoker's status in any way, negative or positive," and that includes his own battle with cancer and salvation through medical marijuana. "I am thrilled to co-produce and distribute Almost Legal with Tommy Chong," said FilmOn Networks CEO Alki David. "His fans are legion, and his comedy has never been more relevant—and poignant—than now. WeedMaps is the perfect partner to make this happen for the FilmOn.com audience." Confirmed guests include Danny Trejo, Steve-O, Andy Milonakis, Garfunkel and Oates, Chef Roy Choi, Hannibal Buress and select guests provided by WeedMaps, such as major marijuana attorney Linda Held. The show is written by veterans from The Whitest Kids U'Kno and Late World with Zach Galifianakis. Chong's production company Chongson is also co-producing. The series is directed by Tommy's son, Paris Chong, executive produced by Eli Graham, written by Sam Brown, Joe Wagner, Kyle Williams and Eddie Ifft and shot in Los Angeles. The show is the first FilmOn has created as branded entertainment with a major sponsor. FilmOn will secure additional ad revenue for the show and distribute to it's 70 million monthly unique users around the world. It will also syndicate the content to WeedMaps for further distribution. The largest OTT provider in the world, FilmOn has over 600 free linear channels and tens of thousands of VODs. Its sister companies under the Anakando Media Group umbrella, including AdVirally, Class15, Hologram USA and digital distributor MondoTunes, provide support for its original programming.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=35750

CONTACT: For more information about Almost Legal of for interview requests contact media@almostlegalchong.com For more information about FilmOn contact TomPaulJones213@gmail.com

Summary: BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 1, 2015-- FilmOn Networks announced today a new comedy series hosted by the legendary Cheech& Chong star, Tommy Chong, Almost Legal With Tommy Chong. The series will be distributed by FilmOn.com, air on FOTV over Dish Network, and will be syndicated to WeedMaps. Almost Legal with Tommy Chong is an irreverent take on the traditional late night...


Focus on Sport | Getty Images

Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan sports his Nike Air Jordan sneakers during a game against the Washington Bullets in Landover, Md., in 1985.

For those bored by the onslaught of sports events and barbecues that mark the start of the summer, some of the largest sneaker makers may have a cure. And it can be found at the local retail outlet.

This weekend could easily be dubbed "Sneakerpalooza," as Nike, Adidas and Puma are unleashing a wave of classic sneakers on the market. Among the most eagerly awaited offerings were two lines of Nike's Air Jordan brand, the Pinnacle—expected to retail at $400—and High OG Varsity Red. Air Jordan, inspired by basketball great Michael Jordan, celebrates its 30 year anniversary in 2015.

However, the company issued a statement on Friday canceling the online launch of both imprints, saying that fake Internet sellers "have been compromising the experience around specific products. We're working hard to make sure real consumers are the ones getting access."

Sneakerheads, however, can still take heart in the raft of other shoes from a bygone era that will be available. These include Puma's "Great Gatsby" inspired Baskets, and an Adidas brand created in collaboration with music impresario Pharell Williams. Not to be outdone, skater stalwart Vans pushed out an iteration of its "Old Skool" line, which went on sale Thursday.

Read More Celebrity deals? No thanks, says this $2B brand

At least one person won't be forced to battle the crowds—or even wait—for his own special issue sneakers. The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama, on a trip to Nike's Beaverton, Oregon headquarters earlier this month, received a two-pair pack that won't be officially released until June. The so-called MTM sneakers contain one Air Jordan 1 and an XX9, the latest of the brand.

Complex has a roundup of all the shoes going on sale at its website.

Summary: Nike, Adidas and Puma are among the big brands unleashing a wave of rare and classic sneakers on the market.


The H5N2 avian flu virus began showing up in Midwest commercial turkey and chicken farms this spring. To date, 48 million turkeys and chickens have died or were euthanized to prevent the virus from spreading further. The frequency of new cases has slowed dramatically in most states, though agriculture officials said last week that an Iowa chicken farm with 1 million egg-layers tested positive for the virus.

Because of the egg crisis, the U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its forecast for table egg production this year to 6.9 billion dozen, a 5.3 percent drop from 2014. By late May, the price for a dozen Midwest large eggs had soared 120 percent from their mid-April, pre-bird flu prices to $2.62, industry analyst group Urner Barry said.

Prices began falling last week, but officials say it could take up to two years to return to normal production.

"The best-case scenario, we're talking about a year before the availability is more robust," said John Howeth, the American Egg Board's senior vice president in charge of food service and egg product marketing.

Read MoreThe losers—and winners—of the US avian flu outbreak

At Hi-Way Diner in Lincoln, Nebraska, owner Scott Walker said the surge in costs may force him to pass it along to his customers. The restaurant includes two eggs with every breakfast order, and offers an optional third egg for free. That comes out to more than 5,000 eggs a week, and the price per case has more than doubled to $37 since mid-April.

"I'm absorbing it right now, but I am due for a price increase," Walker said.

A popular breakfast spot for more than 20 years in Des Moines, Iowa, is contemplating a surcharge of 50 cents to $1 to each of their egg-heavy dishes because cases have rocketed from $18 to $40 in just a few weeks.

Summary: Those who like to indulge in a good omelet or quiche at the local cafe should prepare to pay a little more—if it's even on the menu.


Jamaal Charles is confident. That's great. But mocking Aaron Rodgers with his "Championship Belt" touchdown celebration while losing is a questionable move.

Jamaal Charles scores TD, does Aaron Rodgers' Championship Belt celebration http://t.co/WBHxfBym3a

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 29, 2015

Charles did it after his second-quarter rushing touchdown Monday night cut the Chiefs' deficit to 14-6. To Charles' credit, he did back up his troll with a three-touchdown evening.

Meanwhile, Rodgers was 24-of-35 for 333 yards and five touchdowns. The Packers won 38-28 to go to 3-0 on the season. The Chiefs dropped to 1-2.

The "Championship Belt" celebration morphed into the "Discount Double Check," when Rodgers' sponsor, State Farm, incorporated it into their commercials.

When Rodgers was asked about Charles' move after the game, he was in full spokesperson mode:

Aaron Rodgers on Jamaal Charles doing the belt: "State Farm appreciates it" https://t.co/pEnZVd7jpe

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) September 29, 2015

Rodgers leads all passers with 10 touchdowns and Charles is tied with the Falcons' Devonta Freeman for most rushing touchdowns at four, so both have their fair chance to show off in the end zone. But after Rodgers' Monday night victory, Charles should stay away from the belt area.

Here are Rodgers and Charles all good after the game:

-- Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.

Topics: Aaron Rodgers, Championship Belt, Discount Double Check, Football, Green Bay Packers, Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs, Monday Night Football, NFL, State Farm, Touchdown, Touchdown Dance

Summary: Jamaal Charles is confident. That's great. But mocking Aaron Rodgers with his "Championship Belt" touchdown celebration while losing...


"Grandma's potato salad ends up in the garbage, and the dog can knock over the garbage can," said Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, a veterinary specialist with the VCA Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver. "It's a petri dish for bacteria."

Or worse. "Scraps can be a danger of 6, 7, 8 on a scale of 10, versus 2, 3, 4 for chocolate," said Benson. Fatty scraps can lead to pancreatitis. Turkey bones, if ingested, can splinter or become lodged in the digestive tract.

Then there are more unusual holiday risks. "We always worry with cats at Christmastime, about that tinsel you put on the tree," Benson said. If ingested, he said, "it anchors in the near part of the gut," and can cut through the digestive tract. Ribbon and ornaments pose problems, too.

In 2011, Chatham, N.J., resident Ashley Tate found her poodle, Normandy, chewing on the metal topper for a Christmas ornament. A desperate search failed to turn up the glass ball that had been attached to it.

Summary: An unexpected line item on your holiday budget: A pricey vet bill for accidental poisoning or foreign body ingestion.


These difficulties are more easily understood by remembering the Fed critics' usual refrains. When they say "the Fed did too little too late," they accuse the Fed of letting the economy slip into recession. And when they say "the Fed panicked by doing too much too soon," they refer to Fed's premature rate hikes aborting the recovery.

Assuming that they are acting in good faith, the Fed's critics forget that they are demanding the impossible: An institution run by human beings endowed with perfect foresight.

Read MoreKeep an eye on the Fed's accelerating asset sales

Here is what that perfect foresight means. Instead of making a guess, the Fed would have to know exactly where the economy is at the time it designs and implements a policy change. And then, it would have to know exactly where the economy will be at the time when the policy change – acting through an ex-ante unknowable lag -- will hit the real economy.

Remembering these fundamental concepts in the theory of monetary policy makes me reluctant to criticize the Fed – the only major exception being the Fed's calamitous and unforgivable errors leading up to the financial crisis.

I will, therefore, pass one more time on Fed's criticism, but I will venture a hunch: It seems to me that the Fed should speed up the removal of a mind-boggling inflationary potential presented by its bloated balance sheet.

The latest numbers show that during the two weeks between November 26 and December 10, the Fed shrank its balance sheet by $56.3 billion. That brought the monetary base down to $3.7 trillion, a $315.1 billion decline from its peak of last August.

These liquidity withdrawals had no negative impact on U.S. money and capital markets: The federal funds rate remained well below its 0.25 percent target, and the yield on the Treasury's benchmark ten-year bond closed at 2.25 percent last Friday.

I expect to see the Fed accelerating asset reductions in the weeks and months ahead.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is in a completely different situation as a result of the weak cyclical position of the euro area economy.

Summary: The U.S. economy is on course to generate a trade deficit of $700 billion which can be considered as America's net contribution to the world economy.


10/13/2015 AT 01:20 PM EDT

never could have expected that her intimate nuptials in Clarksville, Tennessee, would become the most talked-about wedding of the weekend.

On Oct. 3, Sarah and her new husband, Paul Ray, were packing up their car after their wedding ceremony to head to the reception with their close friends and family.

"Paul then got a phone call that my dad and grandparents had been in a car accident just down the road," Ray tells PEOPLE. "They were on the way to the reception."

Without thinking twice, Sarah, who also happens to be a paramedic, headed to the scene just a couple miles away – wearing her wedding dress.

Right away, she knew her dad and grandfather were alright as they stood by the car, but her grandmother was in an ambulance.

Sarah's mother, Marcy Martin, who happens to be a photographer, took a picture of her daughter that has since gone viral.

"Everyone is calling me this hero for rushing to the scene in my dress," says Sarah. "But really, I would have pulled over in my wedding dress for anyone if I saw a car wreck."

When she realized that her grandmother, June Irish, was going to be alright, she sat with her in the ambulance and Irish told her that she felt bad about ruining her wedding day.

"I told her that is the last thing she did," says Sarah. "This was just one part of the day and it could have been much worse. But I hate that this happened to her, especially she came to my wedding from out of town."

For Martin, she is far from surprised that her daughter got to the scene, hiked up her dress and ran in the rain to check on her family.

"She has always been very calm, very level-headed and helpful," Martin tells PEOPLE. "Even when she was younger she was like this. When she 16, she saved her sister from drowning when she had a seizure."

Martin adds: "She doesnât react. She just takes care of her business."

And since everyone involved in the accident is okay, Sarah says she can laugh about the now-famous picture.

"My dress was a mess. It was dirty from the rain and the fluids from the car," she says. "My grandfather went to the hospital with my grandmother, but my dad shook it off and came to the reception."

Sarah Ray and her dad Ray Harper

They still got to have their father-daughter dance and the rest of the day went off without a hitch.

But Sarah does want the public to know one thing: "I'm not a hero," she says. "They were already being taken care of. I just wanted to make sure they were okay."

Summary: "She's always been that kind of person to help," says Sarah Ray's mother, Marcy Martin


A young boy in the UK has had an adorable reaction to learning he is going to be a big brother, breaking down into uncontrollable sobs.

According to his mother, Teresa Dooley, six-year-old Jack Dooley, from Naas, Ireland, has been begging for a sibling for years.

“(He) has been asking, wishing, hoping and praying for a sibling for the last couple of years,” she told TODAY.com.

Mrs Dooley said she and her husband have been struggling to conceive, after suffering a stillborn birth three years ago.

When the couple finally fell pregnant they decided to surprise their son with the news.

They sat him down and handed him index cards which they asked him to read out as they filmed him.

“I’m sorry I took so long to get here,” Jake read.

“But I am here now.

He looked down, confused and when he looked back up his mother was kneeling in front of him holding a T-shirt which read “This guy is going to be a big brother”, and a picture of her ultra sound.

“You’re pregnant?” he asked in shock before running to hug his mum, sobbing into her shoulder.

He continued to cry as he showed his dad the T-shirt, reading out the slogan.

“Are you happy?” his mum asked him.

“So happy,” he said between sobs.

He continued to sob, before proudly donning his new shirt.

Mrs Dooley said she and her husband filmed the exchange so they could share it on Facebook later to announce the news to their family and friends.

The video has been viewed more than 480,000 times since being uploaded last week.

“Dreams really can come true,” Mrs Dooley wrote alongside the video.


01/05/2016 AT 10:35 AM EST

It looks like there will be no truce in the

, and the comedian threw the first stone of the year.

"I made a resolution [that] in 2016, I was not going to mess with Matt Lauer anymore," the comedian says in Tuesday's episode of

. "Instead, I'll just show you this clip of him interviewing

However, DeGeneres was up to her old tricks.

The host had footage of the interview doctored to show Lauer inappropriately caressing Adele's hands and rubbing them on his face.

Lauer laughed off the prank after watching it on the

show, but it's unclear whether the host will return fire.

"I have no idea," Lauer said. "I'm going back to billboards, apparently. I've got to figure something out."

Summary: Spoiler alert: Adele was involved (sort of)


In March, junk-rated Puerto Rico sold $3.5 billion worth of bonds priced to yield 8.73 percent, with hedge funds buying much of the issuance. Earlier this month, the island also sold a $1.2 billion short-term deal at an almost 8 percent rate to banks. That compares with an around 2.3 percent yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury.

The March sale met with strong demand, although many funds quickly took profit, leading to price volatility. The deal earlier this month came with an unusual lockup period for buyers.

"There's always a price. It may not be a price the company wants to pay," Herbert said.

Indeed, Herbert believes the ownership concentration is a greater risk for bond buyers.

Read More Junk bonds aren't junky: Pimco

"Many of the fund managers and managers of ETFs (exchange-traded funds) have gotten so large, they can drive prices [up] to levels where credit should not trade," at least in the new issuance market, Herbert said.

To be sure, Jagger noted that expectations U.S. interest rates won't rise for at least a year are likely to ensure demand for high-yield bonds won't wane.

Read More Don't fight the ECB: Can you still find yield in Europe?

"Until market expectations change over the timing of interest rate rises, investors are going to be attracted to high yielding asset classes," he said. The recent selloff in high-yield has also shaken out a lot of "tourist" money, while longer-term strategic investors have used the improved valuations as a buying opportunity, Jagger said.

It's a shift that may help to protect against a rapid selloff. The IMF has been concerned that the share of the credit market susceptible to a retail selloff has grown, but large institutional investors are less likely to face a "run risk," it said.

—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1

Summary: Add a new concern to the stable of high-yield bond risks: ownership of some companies' issuance has become concentrated with just a few fund managers.


Wikipedia is edited by thousands of so-called "Wikipedians", who are internet users from around the world committed to auditing content posted on the website for no compensation. Wikipedia is a non-profit enterprise, funded by donations.

Read MoreIs Jimmy Wales a Credible Source on Wikipedia?

In the same survey the BBC scored 61 percent in degree of trust, while The Times and The Guardian got 45 percent. The Sun and other tabloids scored 13 percent. YouGov surveyed 1,943 people in a poll conducted on the 6th and 7th of August.

The research was cited by Jimmy Wales, over the weekend in his speech at Wikimania, the annual Wikipedia conference, which was in London for the first time this year.

"People still talk about the 'mainstream' media, when the readership of Wikipedia has dramatically caught up with the most popular newspapers" Wales said in a YouTube clip of the event. He added that the quality of the Wikipedia's content and the passion of its users as the reason for this high degree of trust.

Follow us on Twitter: @CNBCWorld

Summary: Around two thirds of the British public trust online encyclopedia Wikipedia more than they trust traditional news outlets.


Peyton Manning's reputation as the National Football League's most bankable player took a hit when he was among 10 athletes cited in a lawsuit filed by six former female students against the University of Tennessee.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday and first reported by The Tennessean, claims that the university violated Title IX regulations and created a "hostile sexual environment" through a policy of indifference toward assaults by student-athletes.

Title IX is a federal statute that bans discrimination along gender lines at schools that receive federal funding.

The suit cited nearly a dozen instances dating back to the mid-1990s of former student athletes accused of sexual assault, including star quarterback Manning who won his second Super Bowl title earlier this month, with the Denver Broncos.

Neither Manning's agent nor the Broncos were immediately available for comment.

The lawsuit alleges that in 1996, when Manning was quarterback for the Volunteers at the University of Tennessee (UT), he placed his naked genitals on the face of a female athletic trainer while she was examining him for an injury. PEYTON MANNING THROUGH THE YEARS:

Peyton Manning suffers dent to his wholesome image

PHOENIX, AZ - JANUARY 30: Peyton Manning attends the SuperBowl Breakfast where he received the Bart Starr award at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa on January 30, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jerritt Clark/Getty Images for Super Service Challenge)

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) prepares to take the field prior to an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

FILE - In this Dec. 7, 2014, file photo, Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning passes against the Buffalo Bills during an NFL football game in Denver. A person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press that Manning will return for a fourth season in Denver and 18th in the NFL. Manning will reduce his salary from $19 million to $15 million in 2015, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official announcement. However, he can make up all of the $4 million pay cut by reaching certain performance benchmarks. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) celebrates his 509th career touchdown pass with teammates during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning looks to the sidelines during the second half of an NFL football game against the San Diego Chargers Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 19: A digital display commemorates the NFL record 509th career passing touchdown by quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos in the second quarter of a game between the Denver Broncos and the San Francisco 49ers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 19: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos throws as he warms up before a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

OAKLAND, CA - NOVEMBER 09: Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos in action against the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum on November 9, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos runs the offense against the Indianapolis Colts at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on September 7, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. The Broncos defeated the Colts 31-24. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

SANTA CLARA, CA - AUGUST 17: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos stands on the sidelines during their preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on August 17, 2014 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 16: NFL quarterback Peyton Manning accepts award at The 2014 ESPYS at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on July 16, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images For ESPYS)

JERSEY CITY, NJ - JANUARY 26: Starting quarterback Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos addresses the media on January 26, 2014 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos in action against the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos in action against the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos celebrates after they defeated the New England Patriots 26 to 16 during the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

KANSAS CITY, MO - DECEMBER 01: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos watches the scoreboard from the sidelines during the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on December 1, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - SEPTEMBER 15: Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos calls a play during the first half against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on September 15, 2013 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

DENVER, CO - OCTOBER 28: Quarterback Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints congratulates Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos after the Broncos defeated the Saints 34-14 at Sports Authority Field Field at Mile High on October 28, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

ENGLEWOOD, CO - MAY 21: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos waits to talk to the local and national media following organized team activities at Dove Valley on May 21, 2012 in Englewood, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

ENGLEWOOD, CO - MARCH 20: Quarterback Peyton Manning (C) poses with majority owner, president, and CEO Pat Bowlen (L) and executive vice president of football operations John Elway (R) during a news conference announcing Manning's contract with the Denver Broncos in the team meeting room at the Paul D. Bowlen Memorial Broncos Centre on March 20, 2012 in Englewood, Colorado. Manning, entering his 15th NFL season, was released by the Indianapolis Colts on March 7, 2012, where he had played his whole career. It has been reported that Manning will sign a five-year, $96 million offer. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

ORCHARD PARK, NY - JANUARY 3: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Indianapolis Colts looks on from the side line during their NFL game against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on January 3, 2010 in Orchard Park, New York. The Bills defeated the Colts 30-7. (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS - NOVEMBER 01: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Indianapolis Colts throws a pass during the NFL game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 1, 2009 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

INDIANAPOLIS - DECEMBER 14: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Indianapolis Colts waits to be introduced before playing the Detroit Lions on December 14, 2008 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - FEBRUARY 04: Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Indianapolis Colts calls a play to his team in the second quarter of Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears defense on February 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images)

Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts speaks during Media Day prior to Super Bowl XLI at Dolphins Stadium in Miami, Florida on January 30, 2007. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning warms up before play against the Cincinnati Bengals Dec. 18, 2006 in the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Colts won 34 - 16. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick at a 2005 American Bowl press conference at the Tokyo Dome Hotel in Japan, Thursday August 4, 2005. (Photo by A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

MIAMI, : Miami Dolphins' defensive end Kenny Mixon (R) can't catch up to Indianapolis Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning (L) as he scrambles into the end zone for a touchdown during second quarter action 17 December 2000 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida. AFP PHOTO/RHONA WISE (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP/Getty Images)

18 Apr 1998: First overall pick Peyton Manning shows off his jersey after being selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the first round of the 1998 NFL Draft at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York. Mandatory Credit: Ezra C. Shaw /Allsport

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - AUGUST 16: Indianapolis Colts rookie quarterback Peyton Manning looks for a received during a pre-season game with the San Diego Chargers 22 August at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, IN. (Photo credit should read JOHN RUTHROFF/AFP/Getty Images)

Manning, who was never the subject of a police investigation into the incident, has denied the allegations and said that he was instead "mooning" a team mate.

The trainer, Dr. Jamie Naughright, later sued Manning after he described her in a book as being "vulgar mouthed".

Malcolm Saxon, the player alleged by Manning to have been the target of the "mooning", refuted Manning's account in documents filed on Naughright's behalf in the case.

Naughright's lawsuit against Manning was settled in 1997 with the agreement that she leave the university.

The allegation that Manning sexually assaulted a female athletics trainer while in college was first reported in 2003, but gained wide exposure in social media networks on Saturday when it was described in detail in a New York Daily News column.

The filing of the lawsuit comes at a time when Manning, a future Hall of Fame quarterback who is a 14-time Pro Bowl selection, is being investigated by the league over allegations that he had human growth hormone sent to his house.

Those allegations surfaced in December in an Al-Jazeera report that said Manning's wife had received deliveries of HGH, which is banned by the NFL, while he was recovering from neck surgery during his tenure with the Indianapolis Colts.

Manning, 39, has denied the allegations, which have since been recanted by the key source of the report.

Meanwhile, Manning continues to consider whether he will retire from the game after he helped steer the Broncos to a 24-10 Super Bowl victory over the Carolina Panthers a week ago.

Manning, who revolutionized the position while winning a record five NFL most valuable player awards, said he wanted some time to reflect after playing in what many expect to be the final game of his storied career.

For most of his 18-year career, Manning has been a marketing dream for the NFL and also one of the United States' most popular athletes.

Chosen by the Indianapolis Colts with the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, he projects a folksy charm with a disarming southern drawl that helps mask an off-the-charts football IQ and a fiery competitiveness.

Manning, who can be seen on television pitching everything from Papa John's Pizza to Nationwide Insurance, ranked number 32 on the Forbes 2015 list of highest paid athletes, making nearly as much in endorsements ($12 million) as salary ($15 million). MORE FOOTBALL COVERAGE: Cam Newton storms out of post-game press conference Peyton Manning has odd answer to retirement question The best Super Bowl ads are ...

Summary: Peyton Manning's reputation took a hit when he was among 10 athletes cited in a lawsuit filed by former female students against the University of Tennessee.


Wireless customers hoping to buy a new smartphone or tablet from Verizon Wireless VZ will soon need to plunk down some cash to get out the door.

Starting on Sunday, Verizon Wireless customers who activate either a new line or tablet connection will need to pay a one-time $20 activation fee, spokeswoman Kelly Crummey has confirmed to Fortune. Those customers will be charged if they pay for a device through Verizon’s payment-installment program, as well as activate a device they already own or pay for a device in full. The activation charge applies to new Verizon customers, or existing ones adding a new line of service to their account. But existing customers will not be charged if they use the installment plans to simply upgrade the handset on their existing line.

“It covers the cost of turning on a new line of service, things that have to happen to activate a new phone number,” Crummey says. She confirmed that the charge also applies to tablets.

Verizon, the largest U.S. carrier, offers two plans to so-called “postpaid” customers, or those who pay for ongoing service after it’s provided. On the smartphone side, customers can opt to buy the device outright with no contract, which on a base iPhone 6s model, can set them back $650. The other, most-popular option, Crummey says, is Verizon’s installment plan, which lets users pay for the cost of the device over a period of 24 months and put nothing down at the time of purchase.

“Many customers prefer those plans to putting up all of the money upfront,” she says.

Verizon doesn’t offer two-year contract plans on smartphones to new customers, but lets existing two-year-contract subscribers stay on the plans, if they wish.

Prior to this change, Verizon was notable for being the only major wireless carrier without a requirement that customers pay an activation fee to sign up for monthly payments. Sprint S , for example, charges a $36 activation fee on installment plans, while AT&T T charges customers $15. T-Mobile TMUS charges a “SIM starter kit” fee of $15.

The move adds another turn in what is becoming a maze of plans for customers to consider before they choose a device and carrier. Most of the top wireless carriers in the U.S. offer three types of plans: the standard two-year agreement, which requires them to pay a fee for the device and then service charges over the period (again, which Verizon does not offer to new customers); an installment plan that requires no money down (besides activation fees) that amortizes a device’s cost over a set number of months; and off-contract, which requires a customer to pay for a device’s full cost at the time of purchase.

Just a few years ago, customers were largely kept to two options: an off-contract charge or the two-year agreement. Since then, new types of plans have come onboard, and customers must now decide which option would be best based on their buying habits, their credit history, and how much money they want to dole out at any given time.

To make matters worse, earlier this year Apple announced its own payment-plan service that lets customers pay a monthly fee for an iPhone and be guaranteed to get the latest version each year.

All the while, smartphones are enjoying ever-increasing popularity, and they’re running in tandem with hundreds of millions of tablets and other devices all connecting to carrier networks. The load placed on those networks has forced many carriers to make the controversial decision to force customers into plans that have monthly data limits, rather than their previously offered unlimited plans. If customers run over, they’re often charged fees for their extra data usage.

To ease the notion of now charging new fees, Verizon has instituted several caveats. For one, current Verizon customers who plan to buy a new smartphone as well as keep their existing line will not be required to pay the activation fee. Verizon’s Crummey also says that customers who have bought devices at another store but want to put them on Verizon’s network will now be charged $20 instead of the previously charged $40. The new activation fee affects only consumers: business customers are not part of the new policy.

The activation fee isn’t the only charge that is increasing on Sunday. Starting on Nov. 15, Verizon is also upping the price on its unlimited data plans by $20-per-month. While the company doesn’t offer unlimited data plans to new customers, those who have been grandfathered in are allowed to keep their plans—for $20 more. According to Crummey, unlimited data plan holders number in the “low single-digit percentage” of Verizon’s total subscriber base of more than 137.5 million.

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For more on Verizon’s other businesses, including its AOL acquisition, check out the following Fortune video:

Summary: Installment plans plus new line activations equals $20.


We’re really not trying to rain on Palmer Luckey’s parade. The Oculus CEO and his team have worked for years and are understandable thrilled to finally launch the Rift virtual reality headset into the wild. Everything we’ve seen personally has been fairly impressive—even if not everyone agrees with that.

But with all due respect, Luckey’s enthusiasm might be starting to run away with him. Rather than seeing virtual reality as the next great leap in technology, he’s starting to prosthelytize it as the end-all, be-all of technological achievements.

“If you have perfect virtual reality eventually, where you’re be able to simulate everything that a human can experience or imagine experiencing, it’s hard to imagine where you go from there,” Luckey told NPR on Monday. “Once you have perfect virtual reality, what else are you supposed to perfect?”

Again, with all due respect, that’s just stupid.

There are all sorts of exciting technological breakthroughs still to be made—some seemingly in the semi-near term, others a little (or a lot) further out. Here are a few things we’re eager to explore further:

The Hyperloop: No matter how ubiquitous VR may become, there will still be times you have to physically travel from city to city. Planes are fine in some cases. But Tesla CEO Elon Musk‘s idea of a system that efficiently shoots hovering pods full of cargo or passengers through a depressurized tube at a pace of up to 700 mph sure sounds appealing. Two companies, Hyperloop Tech and HTT, are already trying to bring this vision to reality, with both now in various stages of building test tracks. Hyperloop Tech seems to be the leader. The company is expected to get nearly $9.2 million in tax incentives from the state of Nevada to help its tests.

How does the Hyperloop work? Watch:

Tricorder: If Walter De Brouwer, CEO of Scanadu, has his way, Star Trek’s Dr. McCoy won’t be the only one with a tricorder medical scanner before too long. Scanadu’s handheld device measures five vital signs in roughly 30 seconds and has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital funding. The device is currently awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration with hopes to go on sale later this year. If it lives up to its potential, a real-life tricorder could revolutionize at-home healthcare and how patients interact with their doctors.

Commercial Space Travel: Yep, it’s undeniably cool to experience floating in outer space while wearing a Rift or other VR headset. Games like Adr1ft convey the sense of awesomeness and wonder of being freed from Earth’s gravitational pull. But you know what’s cooler? Actually being out there.

Sir Richard Branson is hoping to lead the charge with his commercial space travel outfit, Virgin Galactic. Roughly 700 people have already signed up for the $250,000 rides, plotted to take them 62 miles above the planet and offer a few moments of weightlessness as well as a view of Earth from space. Also in the race for out-of-this-world tourism are Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems, and Boeing. Heck, even NASA is booking commercial flights now.

Self-Driving Cars: Telecommuting may be big now, and it could become even bigger should VR become a common part of mainstream life. Still, plenty of people will still have to make an actual commute to the office.

But if they could they use that time more efficiently and commute with a higher degree of safety, that’s pretty appealing too. Google, among others, is serious about bringing self-driving cars to the road—and soon. The automotive artificial intelligence was recently qualified as a legal driver by the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration.

Flying Cars: Avery Brooks’s outrage at the lack of flying cars at the beginning of this IBM commercial struck a chord with many viewers.

Sure, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actor might have backed off the demand for George Jetson’s ride by the end of the spot, but viewers still wanted one.

We’re still a bit far out on this vehicular advancement, but the dream has wings, nonetheless. The Federal Aviation Administration gave flying car company Terrafugia the green light to start testing its prototypes later this year.

Teleportation: While the tricorder might be within reach, we’ve still got a long way to go on Star Trek‘s transporter technology. Yet it may not be quite as impossible as it seems. In 2012, physicists in China reportedly were successful in beaming photons more than 97 kilometers. The downside: zapping physical objects from one place to another is still just a pipe dream.

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Warp Drive: One of the main staples of any science fiction film is a starship sporting engines propelling it faster than the speed of light. Call it warp speed, hyperdrive, an FTL device—whatever you’d like. (It’s fiction, after all.) But it sure would make exploring the rest of the universe a lot more handy.

The Internet, on a semi-frequent basis, gets in a tizzy about NASA making advances in this field (as the Internet is wont to do). Once again, the space agency shot down that talk in a statement last year, retorting “traveling at the speed of light is simply imaginary at present.” That’s not stopping the Tau Zero Foundation, run by a former NASA Glenn Research Center physicist, from seeking advancements in propulsion that would make interstellar flight possible.

Time Machine: The joke among physicists is they’re all waiting for their future selves to come back in time to tell them how to make a time machine. (Oh, those nutty physicists!)

No joke: one University of Connecticut research professor is seriously trying to make it happen. We’re not going to hold our collective breath, but we will keep our fingers crossed.

(On a final note, while a virtual simulation might be nice, there’s very little that’s not better in reality.)

Summary: Awesome tech doesn't end here.


Dylan Downing and 2-month-old son Mason

03/18/2016 AT 05:50 PM EDT

her 2-month-old son Mason while out to lunch a Texas sushi restaurant.

"I needed to nurse, he needed to eat, and I just fed him," Downing told Houston's

Downing was alarmed when a waitress at the restaurant approached her and placed a cloth napkin over her and her baby.

"I ripped it off and said, 'Why are you touching me and covering my child?' " recalled Downing.

The waitress, Rattana, told KHOU 11 that she was just trying to help cover Downing after three male costumers at a nearby table complained about her

"I understand she has to feed the baby," she said. "I don't mind if she feeds the baby but I just tried to help to cover, that's it."

Downing shared a photo of her receipt from the meal on Facebook, showing that she did not leave a tip. She added, "Do not touch breastfeeding women!"

Rattana has since apologized to Downing, and Downing has accepted her apology. She hopes the incident will open up further conversation of

and makes it more accepted.

"I don't go out of my way to shout from the rooftops, 'Everybody free the nipple.' I definitely believe in it, and I think you should breastfeed wherever you want," said Downing. "I don't think you should be shamed for it for sure."

Summary: "I don't think you should be shamed for it for sure," Dylan Downing says of breastfeeding in public


Americans spend more than $340 billion a year on clothes and shoes. Unfortunately for American factory workers, almost all of that money heads directly overseas.

That's the upshot of a story that appeared in

recently. Data from the American Apparel and Footwear Association confirm that we spend nearly a third of a trillion dollars a year to keep ourselves clothed and shod. But when given a choice between buying a cheaply made product from China, Vietnam or Bangladesh, or a higher-quality, somewhat pricier product "Made in the USA," shoppers almost to a man -- and woman -- choose to pinch pennies and buy the foreign product.

A poll conducted by the Times earlier this year had 46 percent of Americans saying that if given a choice between buying an item of clothing for $50, or paying $55 or even $70 for a similar item with a Made in the USA label, they'd buy American. And not just out of patriotism, either. It turns out that "Made in the USA" means "better quality" to consumers.

In the Times poll, a majority of shoppers -- 56 percent or more -- agreed with the statement that "American-made products have higher quality than imports."

Manufacturers recognize the sentiment, and play to it in their advertising. That's why L.L.Bean, for example, proudly declares that the canvas bags it sells are "made by us here in Maine from practically indestructible cotton canvas."

That sounds like smart marketing. After all, if consumers say they're willing to pay more for good quality, and if they agree that American-made is synonymous with good quality, then it stands to reason that American-made goods should sell well, even at higher prices.

That theory works great, right up until the moment shoppers see the price tag.

Lamenting today's disposable, wear-it-a-day-then-throw-it-away culture, industry researcher NPD warns that "in many cases the [foreign version of an American-made product] does not have the same, higher level of standards that we saw in earlier years ... [because foreign manufacturers] take things out to keep the price the same."

So even if American shoppers are willing to pay a small premium for "Made in the USA" quality, the premiums that retailers demand aren't always "small" at all. Here are a few of the comparisons noted by the reporters at Times:

And here are a few more items that you can check out for yourself on Amazon.com (

In the Times' examples, the price differential between an American-made product and a foreign analog ranges from 27 percent (the Brooks Brothers coats) to 120 percent (that stylin' A&F sweater).

In the Amazon examples, the range is a bit tighter, but the difference in prices is still substantial -- from 70 percent for the shoe to 80 percent for the belt. And the cost to drape yourself in an American flag that was actually "Made in the USA" is 78 percent more than for imported stars and bars.

%VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks%Incidentally, that's right in the range quoted by specialists in the Made in the USA trade. Remember "

?" We wrote about this Ohio-based retailer, which stocks its shelves 98 percent full of only Made in the USA merchandise, early last year. Back then, store managing member Mike Petro estimated that most Made in America merchandise costs 50 percent to 100 percent more than similar-looking foreign-made products.

This price differential may be shrinking, though. Over the past decade, labor costs in China have increased at an average rate of 12 percent annually, even as the increasing strength of the country's currency, the yuan, has made Chinese goods more expensive. With rising labor costs in China, an appreciating yuan, and the high price of shipping goods internationally, consulting firm AlixPartners estimates that within just two years, foreign manufacturers' pricing advantage may disappear.

Indeed, knit-goods manufacturer Keff NYC estimates that already today, retail prices of U.S.-made goods need only be 20 percent or so higher than the rates for foreign-made goods.

Perhaps one day soon, those "46 percent of Americans" who say they'd happily pay $60 for a $50 sweatshirt -- so long as it's got the Made in the USA label attached to it -- will get a chance to put their money where their mouths are.

Summary: Americans spend more than $340 billion a year on clothes and shoes, and most of that money heads  overseas, despite the common view that made in the USA means better quality.


A federal judge in Alabama issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against auto parts manufacturer Lear Corp. after the Labor Department accused the company of illegally harassing its workers and obstructing a federal safety investigation.

The Labor Department on Wednesday asked a federal district court to issue the restraining order against Lear that would force it to drop a lawsuit against a worker it fired after she made public statements about unsafe workplace conditions at the company.

"It appears employees spoke openly about the health and safety conditions where they worked, and [Lear] subsequently transferred or terminated them for doing so," wrote Judge Callie V. S. Granade, for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama.

Lear, a multinational auto parts manufacturer, has come under scrutiny in recent months over claims about worker safety in its Selma, Alabama, Renosol plant. The plant employs more than 80 workers on an assembly line that makes car-seat and headrest foam cushions exclusively for Hyundai vehicles.

The federal suit came the same day that a former Lear employee, Kimberly King, 50, appeared in a Montgomery County, Alabama court over a separate lawsuit Lear filed against her last month. The company had fired King and sued her after she complained publicly about unsafe conditions in the plant. A judge had slapped her with a restraining order banning her from discussing the case publicly.

Kim King works at the Renosol factory and says that she's developed "a cough that I can't get rid of." She spends $100 per month on inhalers and other medications for respiratory problems that she says come from working at the plant. John Brecher / NBC News

The Labor Department suit asked the court to intervene and to force the company to drop its lawsuit against King, re-hire her, and desist from otherwise intimidating workers.

"The litigation commenced by [Lear] against former employee Kimberly King is meritless and designed with the intent to create a chilling effect within [Lear's] employee ranks," the Labor Department wrote.

The Department asked the federal court to stop Lear from "terminating, suspending, harassing, suing, threatening, intimidating, or taking any other discriminatory/retaliatory action against any current and/or former employee" who engages with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or speaks publicly about workplace concerns.

A hearing is scheduled for April 29 when the court will decide whether to impose an injunction on Lear. Until then, the court has issued a temporary restraining order.

King was one of the subjects of a July NBC News investigation about workers who said they'd become sick from exposure to a chemical called TDI used to make foam for car interiors. A Yale University clinic tested worker blood samples and concluded that King and others had been sensitized to TDI, which can lead to permanent respiratory illness.

In previous comments, Lear told NBC that it had not seen the Yale doctor's tests.

In November, OSHA cited and fined the company for failing to adequately protect workers from exposure to the chemicals. OSHA says that its examination of worker medical records shows that employees were likely made sick from chemical exposure.

Lear said as recently as last week that there is no evidence of unsafe conditions. Lear fired and sued King after she refused to sign a statement admitting to lying about conditions at the plant. The company had also temporarily suspended another worker. A Montgomery County, Alabama judge issued a temporary restraining order against King, which effectively barred her from speaking publicly about Lear.

"We deny all the allegations by the DOL (Department of Labor) -- they simply are not true," wrote Lear vice president Mel Stephens in response to NBC News' questions about the suit. "We look forward to presenting our side of the facts in this matter in court."

The Renosol plant, which makes foam seats for Hyundai, near Selma, Alabama. John Brecher / NBC News

King appeared in court yesterday in the earlier case, which is ongoing. But the Labor Department's federal lawsuit, filed Wednesday, asked a federal judge to, in effect, override Lear's suit against King.

Lear's "entire goal in seeking a [Temporary Restraining Order] is to silence Ms. King from continuing to speak out, in other words, to stop her from engaging in protected activities," the Labor Department wrote in a memorandum attached to the suit.

The Department said the Lear suit exposes a "disparity in power" between the Fortune 500 Company and King, who earned $12.20 an hour.

OSHA has been engaged for months in a federal whistleblower investigation over concerns that the company has retaliated against workers who speak to the press or to federal health and safety authorities. The federal complaint filed yesterday alleges that the company has intimated workers, which OSHA says obstructs the agency's ability to investigate worker safety.

In the federal court order issued Thursday Judge Granade wrote that Lear is prohibited from "dissuading and attempting to prevent employees from initiating discussions with the Secretary of Labor and others about their work environment. This chilling effect also limits [Labor Department's] ability to investigate related claims."

In filings, OSHA also said that during the health and safety investigation that it conducted last year, which Lear attempted to halt through legal action, the company filmed workers who participated in TDI tests. The government suit also asks that the company be barred from any efforts to interfere further with the OSHA investigations.

Summary: A federal judge in Alabama issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against Lear Corp. after the Labor Department accused the company of illegally harassing its workers.


Jason Matthew Biggs was born on May 12, 1978, in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, to Angela (Zocco), a nurse, and Gary Biggs, a shipping company manager. Jason has two sisters, Heather, a tax specialist born in 1971, and Chiara, born in 1980. He was raised Catholic, and is of English and mostly Italian descent. Jason started acting at age five, appearing in several national commercials. In 1991, at 13 he won a part on the FOX sitcom Drexell's Class, but the show was canceled after one season. Also during that year, he made his Broadway debut opposite Judd Hirsch in the play, Conversations With My Father. The play helped earn him a spot on As the World Turns, as the rebellious Pete Wendall. The role earned him a nomination for Best Younger Actor in a Drama Series at the Daytime Emmy's. After graduating high school in 1996, he studied briefly at New York University and Montclair State University in New Jersey but dropped out to pursue acting again. In 1997, he costarred in the short lived television series Camp Stories. In 1999 came his breakthrough role in the teen sex comedy American Pie. His performance shocked yet wooed audiences, critics, and casting agents to bring him for the first time the chance to choose new roles and scripts. He chose such roles in Loser and Boys and Girls. See full bio on IMDb »

Summary: Jason Biggs on TMZ, your go-to source for celebrity news, photos, & videos. Latest Story: Jason Biggs -- My Wife Is Nuts for Snapping Junk-Revealing Selfie


Among the few remaining unpublished writings of Zane Grey (1872-1939), the once mega-selling author of westerns like "Riders of the Purple Sage," "The Light of Western Stars" and "Code of the West," is a series of 10 small journals locked away from public view, along with several hundred photographic prints and negatives, by an anonymous collector identified only as X. Written in code, the diaries graphically chronicle - and, through the photos, graphically illustrate - Grey's sexual exploits, stretching from his college years to his sixth decade, with more than a dozen women possibly excluding his wife of 34 years though not, alas, her relatives.

Courtesy of Loren Grey/From "Zane Grey"

Grey in Nova Scotia, 1924, with his first record catch, a 758-pound tuna.

Courtesy of Loren Grey/From "Zane Grey"

Grey in 1922 with one of his many mistresses, the teenage Louise Anderson (Grey was 50).

Readers whose eyebrows have failed to rise will be forgiven, since the exposure of writerly peccadilloes, like those of politicians and celebrity tarts, is by now familiar background noise, the static we half expect to find as we dial through an author's oeuvre. But Grey's case is different. His novels - however denigrated by critics as empurpled froths of "virgins, villains and varmints" - were only part of the allure that fixed his name in the hearts of millions of Americans. Billed at his death as "the greatest selling author of all time," with his work exceeded in sales "only by the Bible and the Boy Scout Handbook," Zane Grey was as much a brand as a writer - a brand that would eventually come to encompass films, television series, a monthly magazine, a saltwater fishing reel, even a Pacific sailfish by the name of Istiophorus greyi. And behind that brand stood the man: a self-made model of rugged rural virtue overimbued with what the critic Heywood Broun acidly called "the sanity, the strength and the wholesomeness" of his novels; a teetotaler opposed to the "jiggle and toddle and wiggle" of jazz-age dancing and all the era's other "rotten sensual stuff"; and a staunch champion of clean outdoor living and hard work and righteous, simple codes of conduct.

And also, as it turns out, quite the swinger. The revelations about Grey's blue cache of journals and photos - and about Grey's considerable harem of mistresses, who openly shared him with his wife and one another - make Thomas H. Pauly's biography a major correction to the wholesome image Grey enjoyed for almost a century. "The cowboys all had secrets," Grey once wrote, and, as Pauly freely (though not assaultively) admits, the spilling of this cowboy's secrets was a central reason for this book. The last and only full-scale biography of Grey was Frank Gruber's "Zane Grey: A Biography" (1970), long out of print and widely dismissed as unreliable hagiography. Grey's readership has dramatically ebbed since then. "One of the ways I find out how old people are," Grey's son Loren said a few years ago, is to "ask them if they've heard of Zane Grey. If they're over 50, they have. If they're under 50, they haven't." Which presents us with one piece of evidence as to where Grey's audience has steadily been vanishing: the grave. Yet the cultural forces that wiped westerns off our movie and television screens also took their toll on Grey's legacy, as did the content of Grey's novels themselves. Grey's archaic, overheated prose was a throwback when he wrote it, as if he'd plundered a time capsule stuffed with the discarded sentences of James Fenimore Cooper, and the decades since his death have only widened that aesthetic distance. That is, if aesthetic questions can ever be applied to prose like this:

"I am an outcast. I am hunted. If I made you my wife it might be to your shame and sorrow. . . .'Take me,' she cried, and the soft, deep-toned, passionate voice shook Adam's heart. She would share his wanderings. 'Goodbye, Oella,' he said huskily. And he strode forth to drive his burro out into the lonely, melancholy desert night."

After summarizing the nearly unanimous critical drubbing Grey's novels received, partly because of passages like these, Pauly goes on the offensive. He writes: "Contrary to the negative assessments of these critics, Grey was, in fact, a skillful writer who combined easy readability with artful embellishment." No, he wasn't. Grey was a profoundly bad writer who combined mawkish sentimentality with geographic fabulism. (Exception: Grey's fishing essays are largely devoid of the pinched overexertion of his fiction, and are actually quite excellent.) But bad writing hardly disqualifies an author from our interest, an axiom we might call the Harriet Beecher Stowe Principle. By the thunderous force of his popularity and the potency of his mythologies, Grey had a deep and pervasive effect on the way America saw itself, and he was a crucial - perhaps the crucial - figure in the romanticization of the West that has yet to loose its grip on the nation. When George W. Bush struck a cowboy pose in 2001, vowing to capture Osama bin Laden "dead or alive," he was aping an archetype that came straight from Grey's imagination. That Grey was a far more complex figure than previously thought, therefore, warrants some attention. America is never as simple as it longs to be.

Jonathan Miles, a contributing editor for Men's Journal, writes frequently for the Book Review.

Summary: Zane Grey's mega-selling westerns were only part of the allure that fixed his name in the hearts of millions of Americans.


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A baby miraculously woke up in a Chinese morgue after spending 15 hours at just over 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to reports.

Morgue workers in Pan'an in the eastern province of Zhejiang were preparing to cremate the boy when he began to moan, AFP reports, citing provincial television.

The boy had spent weeks in intensive care after being born prematurely in January.

Read: Watch This Mom Get Her Infant Triplets Plus a 2-Year-Old Ready For Bed

After 23 days, the boy's father took him home to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Days later, the boy's condition worsened and he was declared dead February 4. His doctor decided the boy's heart had stopped beating and a doctor issued a death certificate.

But the boy wasn't dead.

Read: 92-Year-Old Vet Fires Pistol, Scares Off Burglar: 'I Could Have Shot Him Right in the Head'

"It's the first time I've seen this. It's a true miracle," said a doctor at the boy's Pan'an hospital. "It's the first time I've seen this. It's a true miracle."

According to reports, the boy's father wrapped him in two layers of clothing and a thick bag before taking him to the morgue, possibly saving his life.

However, the miracle may be short-lived. Doctors say they're cautious about his chances of recovery.

Watch: Teen Gets 48 Staples After 'Duct Tape Challenge' Mishap: 'I Could Have Died'

Summary: A baby miraculously woke up in a morgue after spending 15 hours at just over 10 degrees Fahrenheit, according to reports.


PENN & Teller made illusions and sleights of hand cool years before the likes of David Copperfield made them flashy.

For 40 years now, the pair have been the instantly recognizable face of magic in America: The tall, chatty one is Penn Jillette; the short, silent one just goes by Teller. And now they’ve taken a break from their Vegas residency — 14 years and counting — for their first New York appearance since 2000.

And, save for some updates — a trick with a cellphone, a newly slimmed-down Penn — the act’s vibe feels largely unchanged from back then.

Being a greatest-hits package of sorts, the show is a perfect intro for Penn & Teller newbies, reaching back to one of Teller’s oldest routines — where he swallows 100 needles and then some thread, before regurgitating the lot with all the needles threaded. It’s fast, simple and to the point, like the stunt — new to them — in which the duo pull a live rabbit out of a hat.

But several numbers lack that directness and seem to be made up of 90 percent Penn patter.

Now, we all know that a big part of magic consists of distracting the audience, but Penn can get carried away, as if taken off course by the sound of his own voice. In a routine involving a TSA metal detector similar to the ones used in airports, he launches into libertarian speechifying about government interference. How about making the lecture disappear?

The seams also show more than you’d expect, especially in Teller’s underwhelming sleight-of-hand moves.

Dressed in natty pinstripe suits, the duo are welcoming hosts to the many audience members who end up onstage. Penn is friendly with an edge, as if always just barely refraining from poking fun at the volunteer help.

His love for the traveling carnies and freaks of yore is endearing, as is his interest in the history and even ethics of magic. Penn rails against con artists claiming to be mentalists, for instance — not a surprise from a guy who used to co-host a TV show called “Bulls - - t!”

He also reveals the technique for eating fire, and the side effects of ingesting lighter fluid. The best part is that when he eventually does the trick, knowing how it works doesn’t matter: It’s still a wondrous sight.

Summary: PENN & Teller made illusions and sleights of hand cool years before the likes of David Copperfield made them flashy. For 40 years now, the pair have been the instantly recognizable face of magi…


updated 04/11/2016 AT 09:00 PM EDT

•originally published 04/11/2016 AT 08:30 PM EDT

Ingrid Lyne, a Washington state mother of three who went missing on Friday, has been assumed dead by Seattle police, PEOPLE confirms.

In a press conference on Monday, Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said that remains found in a recycling bin in a south Seattle residential neighborhood on Saturday are assumed to belong to Lyne, 40.

Although police say that all evidence points to the remains being those of the missing victim, confirmation from the medical examiner is still pending.

Authorities have arrested John Robert Charlton, 37 – who was staying at a residence in Snohomish County, Washington – in connection with Lyne's murder. He is currently being held in the King County Jail.

During the press conference, it was revealed that Charleton does have a criminal history, which includes crimes of violence, although officers would not specify further.

While officers would not discuss the details of the body parts, the

reported over the weekend that an unidentified homeowner found three body parts packaged in plastic bags in his recycling bin around 4 p.m. Saturday and alerted police. Officers later confirmed that they were human remains.

Police reportedly believed the bags were placed in the bin late Friday or early Saturday, but they did not think the crime was committed in the area.

Lyne, who lives in Renton, but works as a nurse at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, was reported missing on Saturday by her ex-husband,

reports. Friends and neighbors had reportedly been unable to contact her date, who she had met online and whose identity has not yet been released. Police did not say if the suspect in custody is the same person Lyne was meeting.

Over the weekend, Lyne's neighbor Edward Franceschina voiced concerns that something bad had happened to the woman, telling

's local sister station – that the last time he saw her was before her date, when she went out to check her mail before attending the Seattle Mariner's opening.

"I don't know; it's not good," Franceschina told the station. "The purse, the telephone and everything was in the house. The longer it goes on, the more you think she's not coming back."

According to local CBS affiliate,

, neighbors said that Seattle police had been at Lyne's house since Saturday evening and spent several hours investigating there.

Police recovered Lyne's vehicle in Downtown Seattle late Monday night, although there were no details about any evidence found inside the car.

Although both, the remains and Lyne's disappearance, were reported within hours of each other, it wasn't until Monday that police officially linked the two.

Seattle police are asking anyone who may have seen anything to contact them immediately.

Summary: Ingrid Lyne was reported missing on Saturday


Democrats in 22 states across America go to the polls next Tuesday to pick between two presidential prospects: Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

We urge them to choose Obama – an untried candidate, to be sure, but preferable to the junior senator from New York.

Obama represents a fresh start.

His opponent, and her husband, stand for déjà vu all over again – a return to the opportunistic, scandal-scarred, morally muddled years of the almost infinitely self-indulgent Clinton co-presidency.

Does America really want to go through all that once again?

It will – if Sen. Clinton becomes president.

That much has become painfully apparent.

Bill Clinton’s thuggishly self-centered campaign antics conjure so many bad, sad memories that it’s hard to know where to begin.

Suffice it to say that his Peck’s-Bad-Boy smirk – the Clinton trademark – wore thin a very long time ago.

Far more to the point, Sen. Clinton could have reined him in at any time. But she chose not to – which tells the nation all it needs to know about what a Clinton II presidency would be like.

Now, Obama is not without flaws.

For all his charisma and his eloquence, the rookie senator sorely lacks seasoning: Regarding national security, his worldview is beyond naive; America must defend itself against those sworn to destroy the nation.

His all-things-to-all-people approach to complicated domestic issues also arouses scant confidence. “Change!” for the sake of change does not a credible campaign platform make. But he remains a highly intelligent man, with a strong record as a conciliator.

And, again, he is not Team Clinton.

That counts for a very great deal.

A return to Sen. Clinton’s cattle-futures deal, Travelgate, Whitewater, Filegate, the Lincoln Bedroom Fire Sale, Pardongate – and the inevitable replay of the Monica Mess?

And don’t forget the Clintons’ trademark political cynicism. How else to explain Sen. Clinton’s oft-contradictory policy stands: She voted for the war in Iraq, but now says it was a bad idea. She’d end it yesterday – but refuses to say how.

It’s called “triangulation” – the Clintonian tactic by which the ends are played against the middle.

Once, it was effective – almost brilliant. Today, it is tired and tattered – and it reeks of cynicism and opportunism.

Finally, Sen. Clinton stands philosophically far to the left of her husband, and is much more disciplined in pursuit of her agenda.

At least Obama has the ability to inspire.

Again, we don’t agree much with Obama on substantive issues.

He should be their choice on Tuesday.

Summary: Democrats in 22 states across America go to the polls next Tuesday to pick between two presidential prospects: Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We urge them to choose Obama – an untrie…


General Motors GM said Monday it will launch a $5 billion share buyback and put forward a new plan for capital allocation that promises investors the potential for further cash returns.

The automaker has reached a deal with an investor group that averts a proxy fight. As part of the agreement, investor Harry Wilson will drop his effort to get a seat on GM’s board. Wilson praised the company’s capital plan.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that a buyback is expected on Monday. An agreement comes amid the threat of a proxy fight with hedge funds that have been demanding that GM return more cash to shareholders on a faster timetable.

The Detroit auto giant signaled last month that it intended to return to investors a chunk of its roughly $25 billion cash pile. But company executives didn’t offer specifics, and indicated that any significant new share repurchase would have to wait until the resolution of certain legal proceedings.

GM is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with its mishandling of recalls related to a deadly ignition switch defect in older cars. The company faces a separate and potentially costly legal challenge connected to the delayed ignition switch recalls in U.S. bankruptcy court.

A group of hedge funds led by investor Harry Wilson disclosed in February that it had amassed a 1.9 percent stake in GM shares, and said GM should launch an $8 billion share buyback over the next year.

Wilson is a former member of the Obama administration auto task force who was instrumental in GM’s federally financed bankruptcy restructuring in 2009.

Wilson is also seeking a seat on GM’s board of directors. It’s not clear how or whether GM will offer a response to that proposal today.

Last week from another big GM shareholder, Warren Buffett, who told CNBC that he disagreed with putting “somebody on the board who has an option on some other people’s stock which is only good for two years.” The reference was to an agreement Wilson has with his hedge fund allies that could pay him 2 to 4 percent of the gains on their GM shares over the next two years.

GM’s largest single shareholder is a healthcare trust controlled by the United Auto Workers union

UAW President Dennis Williams told Reuters last month that he was concerned the proposed $8 billion buyback was premature, but he didn’t oppose a smaller return of cash.

Summary: Move is in response to pressure from a group of hedge funds to return more cash to investors.


KAGE YAMI is a ninja for hire.

For the past four years, the 27-year-old Newton resident has worked as a professional stunt performer for films and TV shows being made in the Boston area, like Ghostbusters, set for release this summer. Sometimes work takes him to New York. Sometimes California. Sometimes he models. Basically, he says, he takes on “whatever gig comes my way.”

Yami is one of a growing number of workers participating in the “gig economy,” the hip-sounding term used to describe those Americans who make their livings in nontraditional ways — nontraditional meaning “in ways not limited to a 9-to-5 job” or, framed in less optimistic terms, “in ways that don’t usually offer health insurance.”

According to a 2014 study commissioned by the Freelancers Union, 53 million Americans are independent workers, about 34 percent of the total workforce. A study from Intuit predicts that by 2020, 40 percent of US workers will fall into this category.

While there is considerable disagreement over this projection, what is clear is that “more and more jobs are being moved to independent contractor status,” says Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University. Pfeffer cites a recent paper that found that “the percentage of workers engaged in alternative work arrangements rose from 10.1 percent in February 2005 to 15.8 percent in late 2015.” This rise accounts for over 9 million people — more than all of the net employment growth in the US economy over that decade.

More and more workers are striking out on their own. Is it a sustainable workforce?

To be clear, employers are driving the change. Between 2009 and 2013, the unemployment rate was more than 7 percent, suggesting workers were turning to gigs because they didn’t have a choice. But that’s not to say most independent workers aren’t happy with their job situations. According to the Freelancers Union, a 300,000-plus member nonprofit, nearly nine in 10 of its members surveyed said they would not return to a traditional job if given the chance.

Kage Yami loves what he does, and he’s glad he gave up his Target job three years ago to focus exclusively on stunt work. The gigs are consistent, he says, “at least once a week.” In fact, he doesn’t even need to seek them out anymore. He’s been dodging cars and falling off buildings for so long that directors now know who he is and offer him work before he even asks. He’s also in the union SAG-AFTRA, which means his pay is regulated (and pretty good) and he gets benefits.

But Yami’s arrangement is wildly different than that of Jillian Melnyk, a 33-year-old independent worker in Waltham. Melnyk is a photographer and sells her work through traditional markets and online via Etsy. She also holds an MFA in writing and is working on a novel. “I kind of enjoy doing a handful of different things,” she says. “I like having different creative pursuits.” Good thing — because, as she readily admits, it’s tough to make a living just selling photography. So she supplements her income by working part time for Rochester & Genesee Valley Parent Magazine, a small publication her mother owns.

Melnyk thinks the biggest challenge for independent workers is the income unpredictability. “You’ll have one month that’s great, then a month that isn’t so great. You never really know where the revenue streams are going to be.”

Even when freelancers do lock in a gig, the money doesn’t always pan out. “Seven out of ten freelancers experience trouble getting paid by clients, often waiting months for a check — and sometimes getting outright stiffed,” explains Sara Horowitz, founder and executive director of the Freelancers Union.

Not to mention, says Pfeffer, that “in the US, every benefit comes through your employer — your 401k, health insurance, unemployment insurance. To the extent that you don’t have an employer, you have no access to any of these things.”

To remedy this, Steven Hill, author of Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers, has proposed an Individual Security Account, which would stay with gig workers wherever their careers took them.

Zac Wolf, a 27-year-old wedding photographer in Brighton, is booked in advance anywhere from six to 18 months out, and because his clients pay 50 percent of their bill upfront, he’s able to plan his finances with the same kind of regularity a traditional office employee might enjoy. He doesn’t want to end up like another wedding photographer he heard about, who broke his back in a motorcycle accident and was forced to cancel his bookings for the rest of the year (and had to return deposits). Wolf carries his own disability insurance in case of disaster.

The gig economy doesn’t treat everyone fairly, says Hill. “This economy leans to certain personalities,” he says, noting that making it largely depends on being able to hustle and market yourself 24/7.

“Taking great photos is step one,” says Wolf, who studied marketing in college to give himself an edge, “but there are so many steps after that.” If you know those steps, you’ll do well in this economy. If you don’t — you might not.

THOUGH RESEARCHERS HAVE LONG STUDIED workplace psychology — the field even has its own name, industrial and organizational behavior — the growing gig economy hasn’t received the same attention. That’s a shame: According to a recent paper from Roosevelt University, many freelancers regularly experience anxiety, frustration, anger, and depression, which is not surprising given the demonstrated benefits of regular employment on mental health.

Spencer Harrison, associate professor in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, says that although gig workers face financial anxieties, the bigger issue can be an existential one. “Because we spend so much of our lives at work, work is a place where we find out who we are and craft our identities,” he says. “When we’re moving from one thing to the next, some people might sense a difficulty cobbling together ‘Who am I?’ ”

Gianpiero Petriglieri, a psychiatrist and associate professor at INSEAD, an international graduate business school, studies independent workers with colleagues Sue Ashford and Amy Wrzesniewski. They’ve noticed a unique double bind adding to the anxiety of freelancers. “On one hand, the work is precarious, but at the same time, it’s very self-defining,” says Petriglieri. “So work is becoming more and more important to who you are, and at the same time it’s becoming less secure.”

Anxiety about the future is one reason why Kage Yami’s parents want their only son to get out of the stunt industry. “They say, ‘I know you make enough money to do this and to do that, but it’s not steady. If you want a job that’s steady, you should go back to school.’ ” But Yami isn’t listening. He thinks about the old saying that if you find a job you love, you won’t ever have to work again. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever worked a day in my life on a film set.”

Renee Rakowsky, a 60-year-old life coach in Newton, feels the same way. She says she’s “virtually unemployable” in a traditional environment, with “the bureaucracy, the politics, even the fact that they want me to work a schedule.” That’s why, when she’s not coaching, she drives for Uber. “I want to take time off Friday because I want to do blah blah blah; I block out time. Flexibility is fundamental to me.”

But there’s a hidden cost to this kind of flexibility. Because gig workers are never “on the clock,” they’re never really off it. A 2004 study concluded that because of the cyclical nature of independent work and the 24/7 brand management it requires, gig markets actually “place more rather than fewer constraints on workers’ time.”

So why, in light of all these anxieties, do most freelancers seem to prefer gig work? “That’s the million-dollar question,” says Wilma B. Liebman, former chair of the National Labor Relations Board. But one thing’s for sure, she says: “There is deep discontentment among working people — what do you think is fueling [Bernie] Sanders’s and [Donald] Trump’s campaigns?”

The hard part for researchers who study gig work is knowing whether someone is pursuing a genuine narrative of passion — “I’m doing this job because it gives me purpose” — or as more of a temporary Band-Aid, says Harrison. In either case, workers may speak positively about their jobs. And that makes sense, says Jeffrey Pfeffer. “There’s a process called cognitive dissonance, so you come to terms with where you are,” he says. “Humans have a way of not being chronically unhappy.”

But perhaps, says Petriglieri, some academics who spend their lives in established institutions might find it hard to look at freelance work as anything other than a bump in the road on the way to traditional employment. “It’s as if we can’t imagine people might actually choose to have a working life outside of an organization — and thrive.”

Whether they see the workplace changes as fundamentally positive or negative, experts agree that they need more research, because the gig economy isn’t going away. In any economy, the name of the game is getting work done efficiently at the lowest cost. Sure, you’re great at your job — but an independent worker could do just as well, and your boss wouldn’t have to give her benefits. Or pay for her water-cooler time.

Every worker needs to take part in these discussions, says Petriglieri. “This might be you some day.”

Summary: Say goodbye to salaries, health insurance, and vacation days. Forty percent of America’s workforce could be freelance by 2020.


Ten thousand down, 45,000 to go.

Tesla Motors’ bid to sell two-thirds more all-electric vehicles than last year got off to a positive—and more transparent—start in the first quarter. And while the delivery numbers will likely get the bulk of the attention, the timing of the announcement deserves a some of the spotlight too.

In an effort to control its message, Tesla TSLA has always waited until its quarterly earnings report to release delivery figures—a strategy that has largely backfired. Without metrics to evaluate, wildly different sales projections are typically released in the lead up to Tesla’s quarterly reports, often causing CEO Elon Musk to take to Twitter to clarify or debunk the estimates. The upshot—even when those projections are incorrect—is a desperate-sounding, reactive company, and certainly not the picture of control and capability that its leader has tried to create.

The Palo Alto-based electric automaker said it will now publish the number of new cars deliveries within three days of quarter end because “inaccurate sources of information are sometimes used by others to project the number of vehicle deliveries.”

The company (and Musk) is starting to mature as an automaker, said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. “If you’re in the automotive industry, especially if you’re in the spotlight, you have to be transparent. You’re better off controlling the message, even if it’s not that great, than being opaque. I think he’s finally realizing that.”

Tesla still doesn’t report its production numbers every month like the rest of the automotive industry, a move Brauer said would only add to its authority and validity as an automaker.

The luxury electric automaker said Friday it delivered 10,030 Model S vehicles in the first quarter, a 55 percent jump from the same quarter last year.

While Brauer said the company’s first quarter numbers are positive, he strikes a cautious tone moving forward.

“There’s no way they can hit the 55,000 figure this year unless they get the Model X out,” he said. “Everything is riding on it. If Elon can get it out, he’ll have the demand.”

Tesla plans to deliver about 55,000 Model S and the anticipated Model X SUV vehicles in 2015. If Tesla can meet that delivery goal, it would represent a 67% increase over 2014.

Tesla fell short of its car delivery goal for the fourth quarter of 2014, and as a result, for the year. The company delivered 9,834 Model S vehicles in the fourth quarter, falling short of the 11,200 it needed to deliver to meet its year-end—and recently revised—goal of 33,000.

At the time, Tesla blamed the shortfall on production delays of its Performance All-Wheel Drive Dual Motor (P85D) Model S, which pushed some deliveries to the first quarter of 2015. The company also said the lower-than-expected deliveries were caused by a combination of other factors including customers “being on vacation, severe winter weather and shipping problems (with actual ships).”

The company did manage to hit its production goals, making 11,627 vehicles in the fourth quarter.

Summary: In a sign that Tesla Motors is maturing as an automaker, the Palo Alto-based company has changed the way it reports sales.


Lawyers for accused murderer Sara Connor have argued that the case against the Australian woman seems "made up" and have called on the judges not to "sacrifice" her and simply to save face.

The 46-year-old mother from Byron Bay fronted Denpasar District Court on Wednesday for the second day of her trial over the alleged murder of Wayan Sudarsa, whose bloodied body was discovered on Kuta beach in the early hours of August 17.

Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor are facing charges of murder, fatal assault in company and assault causing death.

Connor's legal team - made up of Erwin Siregar, Robert Khuana and Ketut Ngastawa - have launched a challenge, urging the judge to dismiss the charges levelled against her.

"The prosecution has been inaccurate, unclear and incomplete in formulating the indictment," they said.

The prosecution should have charged her with eliminating evidence or released her, they submitted.

"Don't force (yourself) to fulfil specific targets or save face by sacrificing the defendant and sacrificing the law," they told the judges.

The indictment, they argued, was not based on the result of the investigation but "speculation" and gave the general impression of being "made up".

They submitted that the prosecution had "copied and pasted" the same allegations when explaining each charge against their client, rather than outlining different actions.

The indictment, they added, also focused on the actions of Taylor, rather than Connor.

Taylor's trial, which is being held separately to Connor's, meanwhile heard testimony from Denpasar detective Sulhadi.

He said the murder stemmed from Taylor confronting Mr Sudarsa and accusing him of being involved with Connor's missing purse.

This, he said, "insulted" the traffic cop, and sparked the fight which ended with his death "at the hands of two perpetrators".

Taylor responded to his testimony through an interpreter, saying: "I hit the victim's face with (his binoculars) and later with the (beer) bottle. That was for self-defence".

"The one cutting (Mr Sudarsa's) identity cards was Sara and it was Sara's idea."

"It is not true that I killed (him) it was only self-defence."

Detective Sulhadi said that during one of the interrogation sessions, held after their arrest in August, Connor "confessed" to hitting Mr Sudarsa, sitting on him and wrapping her arm around him during the fight.

Connor will return to court on Monday, while Taylor matter will return on Wednesday next week.

Summary: A Bali court has been urged not to "sacrifice" Australian woman Sara Connor simply to save face.


© Alex Katz/Licensed by VAGA, New York, N.Y. (www.vagarights.com)

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Alex Katz made this strangely staggered portrait of his friend Edwin Denby in 1964. Denby was a famous figure in bohemian mid-century Manhattan. There was only one of him, but he was impressively manifold.

He was not only a poet but a dance critic — the greatest of his generation, as alive and responsive to classical ballet as to the experimentation of Paul Taylor and Merce Cunningham. He became close friends with Willem de Kooning and Arshile Gorky in the 1930s, and with Franz Kline and Katz in the ’50s and ’60s.

Despite these relationships, he only wrote three essays about visual artists. Two were about de Kooning; the third was on Katz. (A subsequent poem, “Alex Katz paints his north window,” touched on both artists.)

Katz liked Denby’s poetry. “At first,” he wrote in “Invented Symbols,” his autobiography, “his sonnets seemed good but difficult. They are not smooth.”

This was a problem for the smooth and concertedly hard-boiled Katz. But “after reading them over and over,” he wrote, the poems “became good friends, more interesting, more thrilling, and more immediate.”

This portrait, which belongs to the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, is made more immediate and yes, more thrilling, by the simple tactic of repeating the figure of Denby four times. (There is a second version with just a single figure of Denby at the Colby College Museum of Art.)

Each iteration, cut from a piece of Masonite and attached to the purple background, is subtly but significantly different. The differences are painterly rather than mechanical. You see them in, for instance, the eyes, the modeling of the arms, and the touches of yellow around the meeting point between Denby’s black pants and white shirt.

These differences produce not a hollowing out of presence, as in the replications of Andy Warhol or the blur of Gerhard Richter, but a kind of uncanny increase, one that wavers between humorous surprise and outright alarm.

Upon seeing Katz’s portrait for the first time, Denby wrote: “I saw not a flattering likeness, but the person I catch without warning in a mirror.”

He described Katz’s collages and cutouts as “foolery hinged on lifelikeness. . . . You think you see more of a likeness than the object shows, and you see much less than it shows.”

Katz’s works deal with a serious question, Denby continued: “How can everything in a picture appear faster than thought, and disappear slower than thought?”

Katz has been trying to make pictures that present convincing answers to this question for the past 50 years. He’s been pretty successful.

By Alex Katz. At Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine. 207-725-3275, www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum

Summary: A portrait of the poet and dance critic Edwin Denby, made in 1964 by his friend Alex Katz, manages the uncanny trick of evoking the subject’s own variety.


In this thrilling new spin-off of NBC's breakout hit series, undercover operative Tom Keen joins forces with Susan "Scottie Hargrave (Famke Janssen), the brilliant and cunning chief of Grey Matters, a covert mercenary organization that solves problems governments don't dare touch. While on the hunt for Liz's attacker, Tom secretly discovered that Scottie is actually his biological mother, which drew him closer to her. Now, as they team up to employ their unique skills and resources in a dangerous world of deadly criminals, Tom begins his own mission to find out more about his shadowy past.

StudioSony Pictures Television, Universal Television, Davis Entertainment

Executive Producers/WritersJon Bokenkamp ("The Blacklist," "Taking Lives"), John Eisendrath ("The Blacklist," "Joy" feature film)

Summary: Coming to NBC. Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold) joins forces with Scottie Hargrave (Famke Janssen) in The Blacklist Redemption, from the creators of The Blacklist.