Rwanda will test technology powered by artificial intelligence in more than 50 health clinics as part of a new initiative by the Gates Foundation to support 1,000 clinics across Africa with the aim to improve health care services
KIGALI, Rwanda — KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwanda will test technology powered by artificial intelligence in more than 50 health clinics as part of a new initiative by the Gates Foundation to support 1,000 clinics across Africa with the aim to improve health care services.
The technology is intended to strengthen rather than replace clinical judgment, while improving efficiency within an already stretched health system, Andrew Muhire, a senior official with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Rwanda now has one health care worker for 1,000 patients — far from the globally recommended ratio of 4:1,000.
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI on Wednesday launched a new initiative dubbed Horizons1000, with joint funding of $50 million over two years. Bill Gates said the initiative will help close the health inequality gap.
“In poorer countries with enormous health worker shortages and a lack of health systems infrastructure, AI can be a game changer in expanding access to quality care,” Gates said in a blog post on the launch.
Muhire described it as a “transformative opportunity” that will improve citizens’ access to health care, “reduce administrative burden” and help medical professionals make “more accurate and timely decisions.”
However, digital experts are worried about AI technology using the English language, which is not widely spoken in Rwanda.
Audace Niyonkuru, CEO of AI and open data company Digital Umuganda, told the AP that efforts are underway to develop AI technologies in Kinyarwanda, the language spoken by about 75% of Rwanda’s population.
“Deploying AI technologies that do not operate in Kinyarwanda would pose a serious barrier to effective care,” he said.
(CNN) — Five-year-old Mikko’s eyes lit up with glee when she noticed something familiar about her Barbie: The doll held a fidget spinner and wore oversize headphones, just like hers.
The moment was “almost magical,” said Mikko’s mother, Precious Hill, who’s based in Las Vegas.
The doll, launched Monday, is the first Barbie with autism. She carries a pink fidget spinner that actually spins, wears pink noise-cancelling headphones to reduce sensory overload and holds a pink tablet that represents her augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, device.
Hill says Mikko, who is nonverbal, also uses an AAC device, which helps people who have speech or language problems to communicate.
“Autism is such an invisible disability at times, and to see that it’s being represented through Barbie – everybody knows who Barbie is – it felt really good,” Hill said. “It’s really important to me that Mikko walks through life having representation. It really matters to me that she’s not alone.”
The new Barbie doll is part of Mattel’s Fashionista’s collection. Credit: Mattel, Inc. via CNN Newsource
The Barbie doll has a gaze that shifts slightly to the side, reflecting how some people with autism avoid direct eye contact. Her fashionable purple pinstripe dress is purposefully flowy, loose-fitting and short-sleeved, a nod to how some people with autism prefer to keep fabric from touching their skin as much as possible.
As Mattel prepared for the doll’s launch, the company sent the new Barbie to Hill. She too has autism, and she says the doll makes her “feel seen.”
She also has two other children, 11-year-old twins Matthew and Ma’Kenzie. While Ma’Kenzie has not been found to have autism, Matthew is autistic – and he too was happy to see the doll.
“Other families that are going through this, or that also have autism or loved ones that are on the spectrum, I hope that they feel seen, too,” Hill said.
The new doll is part of Mattel’s Fashionistas collection, which includes dolls with a diverse range of skin tones, hair textures, body types and health conditions, including type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome and blindness.
Mattel worked with the nonprofit Autistic Self Advocacy Network to design the doll, which aims to represent the roughly 1 in 31 children who are diagnosed with autism by age 8 in the United States.
“It is so important for young autistic people to see authentic, joyful representations of themselves, and that’s exactly what this doll is,” Colin Killick, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said in a news release. “Partnering with Barbie allowed us to share insights and guidance throughout the design process to ensure the doll fully represents and celebrates the autistic community, including the tools that help us be independent.”
Autism spectrum disorder is a range of neurodevelopmental differences that affect how people communicate, interact and experience the world around them. It typically begins before the age of 3 and continues throughout a person’s life. Although there is no cure for autism, early support and therapies can make a meaningful difference.
Barbie carries a functional fidget spinner. Credit: Mattel, Inc. via CNN NewsourceShe also has an augmentative and alternative communication device. Credit: Mattel, Inc. via CNN Newsource
Research suggests that autism is more than three times more common among boys than girls, but many experts believe it is frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed in girls.
In some cases, girls with autism are not diagnosed until much later in life – not until they become mothers. Hill was one of them.
A doll not just for kids
“I didn’t know that I was autistic growing up,” said Hill, 32.
It was only through her daughter’s diagnosis at age 2 that Hill discovered her own diagnosis.
“When I first learned about Mikko being autistic, I spoke with my aunt – my aunt is who primarily raised me – and she noticed it first. She said, ‘Well, I didn’t want to offend you. I didn’t know how you would take the news, but I kind of noticed that there were some similarities between Mikko and you and how you were when you were growing up.’ And when I was little, she just didn’t know what it was. She just knew that I was different.”
But as Hill started to research more about autism to support her daughter, she realized that many of the signs, symptoms and experiences paralleled her own life. She then met with a health professional and was diagnosed at age 29.
Eileen Lamb of Austin, Texas, also was not diagnosed until she was a mother in her 20s.
Five-year-old Mikko immediately noticed that the doll carries an AAC device, just like her own. Credit: Mattel, Inc. via CNN Newsource
“I can totally relate to being diagnosed later in life, as a female with autism,” said Lamb, senior director of social media and marketing at the nonprofit Autism Speaks, which advocates for and supports autistic people and families. Two of Lamb’s three children have autism.
“My 12-year-old was diagnosed at age 2, and I was diagnosed like a year later. … I got my diagnosis just after my son,” she said. “Autism can look different in girls, and the fact that Barbie is a girl is powerful in some way. It’s a great conversation opener, a great way to talk about it in a way that doesn’t feel so clinical and heavy.”
Lamb applauded the introduction of the new Barbie doll for highlighting some of the tools that help people with autism – such as the fidget spinner and AAC device – but she emphasized that autism is a broad spectrum, and many people may have different needs.
“I don’t think it’s possible to represent the entire spectrum in one doll. For instance, my son Charlie uses an AAC device also to communicate. He’s fully nonverbal. So I love that the Barbie has an AAC device. But my other son, who’s also on the spectrum, does not. So again, it’s not possible to represent everyone, but it’s a great step,” said Lamb, who’s also founder of The Autism Café blog.
“Toys matter. Representation matters, and it’s really good for children to see themselves in a toy,” she said. “It sends a message that being different is nothing to be ashamed of.”
THE HONOR IS BOTH HOSTING THIS, BUT ALSO DOING A SCULPTURE THAT CAPTURES THAT MOMENT AS WELL. WELL, THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DESIGN WERE BASICALLY, YOU KNOW, THE FOUNDING FATHERS, YOU KNOW, SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. MONTHS OF PLANNING, DAYS OF SCULPTING. MARIE PELTON AND JIM VICTOR MADE THE FARM SHOW BUTTER SCULPTURE, WEIGHING IN OVER 1,000 POUNDS OF BUTTER. IT IS QUITE THE FEAT. SO YOU SUBMIT THE DRAWINGS? WE DID THREE OF THEM, AND THIS WAS OUR FIRST DRAWING THAT WE SUBMITTED. AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE WERE GLAD THAT THEY ACTUALLY SELECTED THIS ONE. BRINGING YOU INSIDE OF THE BUTTER SCULPTURE. LET’S TAKE A LOOK. SET IN 1776 TO HONOR THE 250TH BIRTHDAY HERE OF THE UNITED STATES, AND CELEBRATING TWO 50 PA, WE HAVE THE FOUNDING FATHERS UP TOP WITH RED, WHITE AND BLUE ACCENTS. SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THERE’S A LITTLE TRIBUTE HERE TO BETSY ROSS OFF ON THE SIDE, CELEBRATING THE FARM SHOW HERE THIS YEAR. AND ON THE BOTTOM YOU SEE HIGHLIGHTS OF PENNSYLVANIA’S AGRICULTURAL EXPERTISE. SOME OF THOSE THINGS ARE THE THE DOCUMENT DEFINITELY IS A HIGHLIGHT. THE FIGURES OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, ARE VERY RECOGNIZABLE AS FOUNDING FATHERS SIGNING THE DECLARATION. THE BUTTER IS FROM ACROSS THE RIVER IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY FROM LAND O’LAKES. AND WHEN THE SCULPTURE REACHES ITS TIME TO MELT, IT WILL BE RECYCLED INTO RENEWABLE ENERGY. WE REALLY DO APPRECIATE THAT THAT THERE’S, YOU KNOW, A FAN BASE FOR THIS PARTICULAR THING. IT MEANS A LOT TO PEOPLE. AND SO WE WANT TO DO AS GOOD A JOB AS POSSIBLE. ALL THERE FOR YOU TO CHECK AT THE MACLAY STREET LOBBY ENTRANCE, ALL FAR
1,000-pound butter sculpture at Pennsylvania Farm Show honors America’s 250th anniversary
The 1,000-pound, 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture has been unveiled. In keeping with this year’s theme of “Growing a Nation,” in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, this year’s butter sculpture features Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and the Liberty Bell. You can see another view of the creamy creation below.Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, Carolyn Matthews Eaglehouse of Milky Way Farm, Chester Springs, and butter sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, of Conshohocken, attended the unveiling in the main hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center.The sculpture is crafted from butter donated by the Land O’Lakes plant in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.Video below: See the unveiling and get a closer look at the sculpture After the farm show, the butter will be recycled into biofuel. The Pennsylvania Farm Show takes place in the state’s capital of Harrisburg. It is held at the nation’s largest indoor agricultural expo, featuring more than 5,000 animals, 12,000+ competitive entries from over 4,600 competitors, 250+ commercial exhibits, and hundreds of educational and entertaining events.
The 1,000-pound, 2026 Pennsylvania Farm Show butter sculpture has been unveiled. In keeping with this year’s theme of “Growing a Nation,” in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, this year’s butter sculpture features Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and the Liberty Bell. You can see another view of the creamy creation below.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, Carolyn Matthews Eaglehouse of Milky Way Farm, Chester Springs, and butter sculptors Jim Victor and Marie Pelton, of Conshohocken, attended the unveiling in the main hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center.
The sculpture is crafted from butter donated by the Land O’Lakes plant in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Video below: See the unveiling and get a closer look at the sculpture
After the farm show, the butter will be recycled into biofuel.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show takes place in the state’s capital of Harrisburg. It is held at the nation’s largest indoor agricultural expo, featuring more than 5,000 animals, 12,000+ competitive entries from over 4,600 competitors, 250+ commercial exhibits, and hundreds of educational and entertaining events.
LOS ANGELES — In a rooftop space filled with Hollywood’s most influential figures, actor Kristen Stewart delivered an unflinching speech urging women in film to stay united, reject tokenism and celebrate the next generation of female filmmakers.
Stewart, who directed “The Chronology of Water,” an adaptation of Lidia Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir, began her remarks with some humor, but she quickly turned to gender inequity in Hollywood.
“It’s awkward to talk about inequality for some people,” Stewart said Tuesday at the Academy Women’s Luncheon. “We can discuss wage gaps and taxes on tampons and measure it in lots of quantifiable ways, but the violence of silencing. … It’s like we’re not even supposed to be angry. But … I’m so angry.”
Stewart said she was invited to speak about the women who inspire her and began with Yuknavitch, whose memoir she credited with “giving voice to certain truths I inherently understood.”
“Hard truths, when spoken out loud, become springboards to freedom,” Stewart said. “The permission to be unpalatable, unsanitary, and to come from the inside out … led me to acknowledge the invisible cage that we are all living in and how easy it is to story our way out there.”
Stewart was the keynote speaker at the event held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with attendees including Tessa Thompson, Kate Hudson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Claire Foy, Kerry Condon, Patty Jenkins and Emma Mackey.
Many actors in attendance dressed in Chanel clothing, jewelry, shoes, makeup and accessories. The luxury fashion brand, which sponsored the event, has had a long association with film and women creatives since founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel saw an opportunity to put her designs in the movies and empower women in film.
While reflecting on the state of women’s filmmaking in the post MeToo era, Stewart said it seemed possible that stories made by and for women were finally getting their due.
“But I can now attest to the bare-knuckle brawling that it takes every step of the way when the content is too dark, too taboo,” she said before adding that “our business is in a state of emergency.”
After Stewart’s remark, she paused as the audience murmured in agreement.
“We are allowed to be proud of ourselves,” she said. “But let’s try not to be tokenized. Let’s start printing our own currency.”
Tuesday’s event was held to bring together women from all facets of the filmmaking community. It was also a celebration of the Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, a program that supports emerging women filmmakers.
Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter presented this year’s fellowship awardees to U.S. recipient Alina Simone, who was born in the Ukraine, and international fellow Marlén Viñayo, who has been based in El Salvador.
Carter described mentorship as the bridge between aspiration and opportunity.
“For me, mentorship was someone seeing me before I could see myself,” said Carter, the costume designer behind the “Black Panther” films became the first Black woman to win two Oscars in 2023.
“From my college professor Linda Bolton Smith, who refused to let me quit, to director Spike Lee, who offered me my first film, to the late John Singleton, who gave me room to learn and grow — that’s what mentorship and fellowship do,” Carter said. “They say to every woman filmmaker and artist: We see you. We believe in you. You belong here.”
From Carter’s praise to bold statements from Stewart, the energy of solidarity and sisterhood remained the centerpiece of the afternoon.
“I am so for you,” Stewart told the room. “I hope you are too. Let’s make art in the face of it.”
Stella’s crisis of conscience reaches its boiling point during a high-stakes presentation of said AI technology that goes off the rails, with the chatbot disclosing personal—and very damaging—information about Stella, leading her to resign from UBN. In voiceover, Stella maligns her descent from “smart, hardworking, steady” to “someone who does the job without expecting credit, who will shrink herself when asked, who won’t cause any trouble” at the helm. “Be who they want you to be until you can’t,” she says.
Says Lee, “The network broke her, but in all fairness, she’s not a victim. She’s someone who entered this position, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, full of ambition and drive. She was reimagining what the news could be. But the world was not moving in the same direction. I mean, here we are now, it’s 2025 and DEI is considered, like, a slur.”
Following her network fall from grace, Stella passes the baton to her trusted former colleague Mia (Karen Pittman), who managed to rise in the corporate ranks without getting consumed by the pressure to conform. “We ugly cried our way through that scene for hours. We have so much love for each other,” says Lee, growing visibly emotional. “Karen and I are both mothers. Both women of color. We have had to navigate certain spoken and unspoken challenges within the world, and there’s so much that is unsaid between Stella and Mia in every moment that is completely understood without it being articulated. I still get teary when I think about that.”
After the AI incident, Stella and Miles decide to run away together to Italy, but he stands her up at the airport after Celine gives him an ultimatum. But Lee has higher hopes for her character. “I want her to be on a beach having a nice, tall tiki drink. Maybe I’m projecting something,” she admits, smiling. Still, “The ultimate liberation is to fail and to be unburdened by the weight of carrying the torch.”
Pete Hegseth has never shied away from expressing his problematic thoughts out loud. Very recently, he said that military and other defence personnel will be held to the highest “male standard”, while completely disregarding the existence of women in the field. Now, he is saying that there is no strength in diversity. What is going on?
During the 250th Marine Corps anniversary celebrations held on October 18 (the same day as the America-wide ‘No Kings’ protests), the United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth dropped by Camp Pendleton. Taking to the podium, he delivered a few words of encouragement to the people congregated there. However, in a particularly shocking segment, he said that he did not believe in diversity. He said:
“Your diversity is not your strength. Never has been. Your strength is in your unity of purpose. It’s in your shared mission. It’s in your oath to the Constitution. It’s the bond that turns individuals into single-minded fighting units.”
The internet was not having it with Pete Hegseth’s diversity comments. As soon as clips of the event started circulating online, many people called out his nonsense. The conversations on X (formerly Twitter) were particularly noteworthy as multiple people bashed Hegseth using such strong words that it even left the MAGA people speechless. One person highlighted how far away from reality Hegseth’s comments were and said:
“Diversity is our one and only strength in America. He needs to stop with this fascist trope. Our military is the People’s military, and reflects our diverse nation. It’s not Pete Hegseth’s military to push his fascist ideology on.”
All these MAGA lunatics talk about is race and diversity. They bring race into everything. Typical Racists
“Diversity is not your strength… Exactly the message that you’d expect out of this white house. As they try to scrub diversity from history, labeling non-white male accomplishments as DEI. Why am I not surprised?”
Multiple others also echoed similar opinions. It’s mind-boggling how those in power can take centre stage and spread hate like Hegseth did. As the American people cling to every bit of democracy left, with Trump pushing the country towards autocracy, Hegseth’s comments remind us of what really matters, which is certainly not what he says.
Sanchari Ghosh is a political writer for The Mary Sue who enjoys keeping up with what’s going on in the world and sometimes reminding everyone what they should be talking about. She’s been around for a few years, but still gets excited whenever she disentangles a complicated story. When she’s not writing, she’s likely sleeping, eating, daydreaming, or just hanging out with friends. Politics is her passion, but so is an amazing nap.
Our system is a 50-state hodgepodge of policies and practices. Is it a surprise that social services are overwhelmed?
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Different pages
The dismal academic performance of American K-12 students compared with peers in other industrialized countries is obvious. Employers lament the lack of qualified applicants. Social services are overwhelmed. Who or what is responsible? What can be done?
An aspect of the issue rarely discussed is the difference between public education in the United States and that in other countries. In the U.S., there is no national vision of public education — no goals and policies exist to ensure a system best suited not only for the individual but for the greater good of the nation. There is national frustration, but no consensus.
Our public education system is a 50-state hodgepodge of visions, policies and practices. Families, voters, civic leaders and government officials have influence in each state. All are involved; no one is responsible. What outcomes would you expect?
– William H. Koehler,Fort Worth
Eyes opened
Do you like the America you see now? Do you like the greed and corruption of our so-called public servants? What about the protection of child sex predators? The cruelty of immigrant deportation when no crime other than illegal entry has been committed? The disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law? The substitution of unproven ideas for science-based health care?
Growing numbers of American see beyond the painful reality of the moment and are seeking a better country than either political party has proposed. The value of leaders with integrity who value a democratic America is apparent.
Meanwhile, other retailers such as Target removed lethal tobacco products from their shelves years ago. Where is Walmart on that?
– David Fusco,Arlington
Try, at least
For a retired professor, threats to diversity, equity and inclusion are like using four-letter words to stigmatize institutions that overtly welcome populations harmed in the past.
I’m a white native Texan, and my K-12 education included no native minority classmates. After graduate school, I never met a Black chemistry Ph.D. until the 1970s.
By the late 20th century, some things, including gender equality, improved. But whole generations of us grew up where public schools, drinking fountains and restrooms were segregated until, thankfully, the sacrifices of Martin Luther King Jr. and those like him “woke” some of us.
It’s not what we say but what we do. It’s not a perfect world. But it was a better one when we not only recognized inequities but did something about them.
Immigration and intermarriage are helping the D.C. region become more diverse, experts said.
This story is Part 1 of WTOP’s three-part series “On the Move: The D.C. region’s population trends.”
Immigration and intermarriage are helping the D.C. region become more diverse, experts said.
According to a WTOP analysis of recent census data, neighborhoods across D.C., Maryland and Virginia are all reporting increases in their Hispanic and Asian populations.
In D.C. and Maryland specifically, immigration is the only factor preventing a population decline, according to Michael Bader, director of the 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.
From July 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024, D.C. reported an additional 3,475 people who identify as Asian and 4,514 more people who identify as Hispanic.
Over that same period in Montgomery County, Maryland, there were 1,746 more people who identify as Asian and 1,723 more people who identify as Hispanic. Nearby Prince George’s County added 1,235 people who identify as Asian and almost 10,000 people identifying as Hispanic.
In Fairfax County, Virginia, there were 4,757 more people who identify as Hispanic and 6,851 more people who identify as Asian. Prince William and Loudoun counties both reported increases as well.
“Immigration is really fascinating,” said Hamilton Lombard, a demographer at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center. “The level of immigration we had, it’s hard to say that’s going to continue its influence. When you look at some of the race ethnicity data, immigrants were heavily coming in from Latin America, some are from Asia. That’s really where you see growth.”
There’s been a “large influx of Latinos” into Maryland, especially from Central America, Bader said. People coming from Central America tend to be younger, and they’re at the time of their lives when they’re more likely to have kids.
“The region is likely to continue to become increasingly more racially diverse,” Bader said.
“I do have concerns and curiosity about how the population will change with the current federal administration policies, both related to immigration, but also changes to the federal workforce.”
It’s going to take several years, Bader said, before the impact can be understood, especially because the 2024 data is from before President Donald Trump’s administration took office.
Meanwhile, intermarriage is contributing to diversity too.
About two in five kids born in the U.S. have a parent who has a different racial, ethnic identity than the other parent, Lombard said. So when the population of the D.C. region is diversifying, “most of that’s happening organically. Immigration is a factor, but it’s actually most simply happening through intermarriage.”
“When you look at race data for the D.C. area, you look at race data nationally, you notice this sort of incredible gradient where the older population tends to identify as one race or ethnicity,” Lombard said. “When you look at the younger population, increasingly, they’re checking multiple boxes, and that’s something we’ll probably see continue happening in the next couple decades.”
A lot of the D.C. region’s population growth is tied to “the record level of immigration we had in the last couple years of the Biden administration,” Lombard said.
“If you didn’t have immigration, the region’s population would be declining,” he said.
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A Denver brewery known as a hub for the Latino community closed suddenly this week after city officials seized the property’s assets due to unpaid back taxes.
Raíces Brewing Co. in Lincoln Park owed $98,703 in sales and personal property taxes, according to a distraint warrant issued by the city. The business closed on Wednesday when the warrant was issued.
Brewery CEO José Beteta was not immediately available to comment on the circumstances, but a detailed goodbye note on Raíces’ website states the company had been working with the city for about a year to establish a payment plan for the taxes. The company blamed “a series of unexpected charges” issued by the city that it said are related to what’s called a business personal property tax. That’s essentially a tax on whatever assets a business owns.
The note alleged that Raices had “never received prior billing notices” and that all invoices dating back to 2019 “arrived together in 2024, already including years of interest and penalties — despite our lack of prior information.”
However, city spokesperson Laura Swartz said in a statement that the personal property taxes owed only amounted to $10,765, or about 10% of the business’s total outstanding balance. Raices owed nearly $69,000 in sales tax and about $30,000 for penalties and interest, she said.
“It’s unfortunate that this situation has gotten to this point. We want Denver’s businesses to succeed and that means offering the best customer service we can to them,” Swartz said. “Before issuing a warrant, we attempt to reach the business by phone, mail, email, and in person to both collect the sales tax and ensure they can continue to operate. As Raices has noted, the city has attempted to work with them for years, including on a payment plan that was not fulfilled.”
Opened in late 2019, Raíces Brewing Co. offered a welcome dash of diversity to Denver’s craft beer scene. Raíces means “roots” in Spanish, and the brewery quickly became a hotspot for events and traditions celebrating Latino culture. Its annual Suave Fest spotlighted Latin beer makers from across the country.
Raíces’ closure is notable because of its unique space in the community, and also because the beer was worth seeking out. In 2022, it won a silver medal at the U.S. Open Beer Championship for its Furia imperial red ale.
“Raíces Brewing Co. has always been more than a business – it has been a space of community, culture, and human connection. A meeting place where thousands of people celebrated their roots, their identity, and their diversity. We are profoundly proud to have built a place that served our people and the city of Denver with love, respect, and purpose,” the goodbye note says. “In times when the world often feels increasingly divided, spaces like this become essential.”
Japanese American import cars — and those who work to build, drive, drift or race them — have long been synonymous with Southern California car culture.
A panel on Saturday, August 30 will explore the world of import tuners and the roots of the import car scene, held at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center in downtown Los Angeles.
George Nakamura’s 1940 “Meteor” hot rod is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
With Brian Omatsu’s 1951 Mercury Coupe, the “Purple Reign” behind him, Kent Matsuoka, of LA, checks out artifacts in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Tod Kaneko’s 1973 Datsun 510 is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Ann Nomura, of Pasadena, looks over artifacts in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Mooneyes MOON Disc for hot rods is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Car club jackets and an image from the Nisei Week parade in Los Angeles by Toyo Miyatake is seen at Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A drifting artifact in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena is seen on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A drawing of the Mako Shark by ArtCenter alum Shinoda which became the design for the 1968 Corvette is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Warren Morimoto’s upholstery Singer sewing machine is seen at in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. Morimoto ran MotoStyle in Long Beach and studied at ArtCenter. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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George Nakamura’s 1940 “Meteor” hot rod is seen in Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community exhibit at ArtCenter College of Design’s Mullin Gallery in Pasadena on Friday, Aug. 29, 2022. The Japanese American National Museum exhibit in partner with ArtCenter honors Japanese American car culture. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The exhibit, running through November 12, explores the Japanese American car community in Los Angeles, featuring key players in the scene and car lovers alike. It highlights popular models from hot rods and lowriders, to drift cars and vintage classics, and tells the stories of how Asians and Asian Americans expanded the world of imports in the region.
“Young Asian Americans and Japanese Americans have been at the forefront of championing and legitimizing Japanese imports as popular contemporary cars, within contemporary car culture,” said scholar and author Oliver Wang, who will be moderating Saturday’s panel. Wang curated the “Cruising J-Town” exhibition and wrote its companion book featuring essays and images inspired by the stories and histories found in the display. He had been working on the project for nearly a decade.
“Asian Americans have been such a major part, especially in L.A., of the evolution of car culture within the fabric of American culture and society, and yet this is not deeply acknowledged,” Wang said.
The exhibit and Wang’s book illustrate the history and central role both cars and trucks played in the working lives of Japanese-Americans throughout Los Angeles. Through archival photographs, film and memorabilia, it tells the stories of Nikkei — referring to Japanese emigrants and their descendants — gardeners’ prominence in the local economy, made possible by their work trucks, and fish truck drivers called sakanaya, who brought fresh fish and Japanese goods to the postwar suburbs six days a week. It explores different periods of Japanese American history, from L.A.’s Nikkei car culture history, to WWII, post-war car culture and contemporary movements.
“Cruising J-Town” also features five classic cars: George Nakamura’s 1940s “Meteor” hot rod; Brian Omatsu’s custom 1951 Mercury coupe known as the “Purple Reign;” a 1956 Ford F150 pickup truck owned by Kirk Shimazu; Tod Kaneko’s 1973 Datsun 510, one of the models that launched the import car craze; and a hot pink 1989 Nissan 240SX from professional drift racing driver Nadine Sachiko Toyoda-Hsu.
Iconic L.A. car culture locations — such as the original Ascot Speedway in South L.A., F&K Garage in Little Tokyo, sites of the Mojave dry lake racing scene, Lion’s Drag Strip, and the Irwindale Speedway — are highlighted as well.
At Saturday’s event, panelists will explore how Japanese Americans helped to “legitimize” Japanese import cars to be seen as more “sexy and reliable, popular outside of being utilitarian,” throughout the last four decades, Wang said. Speakers with deep knowledge of import history from the 1970s and on will explore its wide spectrum — from Nikkei community racing and San Gabriel Valley Asians who popularized the Honda Civic and Acura Integra, to the way once-overlooked imports — from manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Acura and Subaru — have transformed into hot sellers with a huge fanbase.
The panel also features Terry Yamaguchi, one of the founders of the Japanese Classic Car Show, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in October.
“There are so many ancillary programs and events that have allowed an opportunity for different segments of the Japanese American car culture to come together — sometimes meeting each other for the first time,” Nakano said. “The ‘Cruising J-Town’ project has really served as a wonderful way for the broad car culture community to meet each other and come together.”
Agreed Wang, “Asian Americans drive — pun intended — this movement, making the import scene what we know today. I hope it might motivate other people and institutions to do similar projects about the ways Asian Americans have been shaped by and laid down their own influence on different areas of popular culture; in the realm of cars, film, music, food, you name it. There are so many blind spots that could have a spotlight on them.”
Saturday’s panel is at the Japanese American National Museum’s Democracy Center, 100 North Central Avenue in Los Angeles, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $5 for general admission, and free for youth and JANM members.
NEW YORK — The Rev. Al Sharpton will lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963.
Sharpton, in a statement, called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation.”
In response, Sharpton’s civil rights group, the National Action Network, has encouraged consumers to avoid U.S. retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity among their employees and reducing discrimination against members of minority groups, women and LGBTQ+ people.
Earlier this year, Sharpton met with Target’s CEO as groups called for a boycott of the retail giant, which joined Amazon, Walmart and other major retailers in foregoing DEI initiatives.
The civil rights leader has also called for “buy-cotts” in support of companies such as Costco that have stuck by their DEI principles despite the conservative backlash.
“Corporate America wants to walk away from Black communities, so we are marching to them to bring this fight to their doorstep,” Sharpton said in a statement ahead of Thursday’s march.
The march is expected to start around 10 a.m. in Foley Square, located in downtown Manhattan near the African Burial Ground that’s the largest known resting place of enslaved and freed Africans in the country.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been detaining migrants during their routine appearances at the immigration court located there. A federal judge earlier this month also ordered the Trump administration to improve conditions for migrants jailed there.
Marchers are expected to make their way past Wall Street’s famous Charging Bull statue before the event ends with a speaking program.
New York City mayoral candidates, including incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, state Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, are among those expected to join the demonstration.
The Department of Homeland Security released a second round of August funding for Hurricane Helene relief this week, even as the agency directs increased resources toward President Donald Trump’s “mass deportation” framework.
Secretary Kristi Noem’s latest $28 million allocation formally offered Sunday brings the month’s total to $124 million in funds from FEMA, which sits within DHS, for the deadly Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend and devastated the Smokies.
The funding will go to road repairs and critical infrastructure restoration – which is especially needed in North Carolina and Tennessee.
In that regard, a crucial stretch of Interstate 40 washed into the Pigeon River near that state line — cutting off the lone major trucking route over the mountains, as large vehicles are prohibited on Tail of the Dragon and other regional crossings.
Devastation from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, 2024.(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
FEMA funds have also been allocated to debris removal and “life and property” concerns.
“North Carolina families suffering from this unimaginable tragedy were cruelly ignored by the Biden administration,” Noem deputy Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, FEMA is moving faster than ever before to get Americans the relief they need. This move to continue supporting North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene is a testament to that fact.”
Trump lambasted former President Joe Biden’s initial response to Helene, claiming he “didn’t like reports that [he was] getting about the federal government.”
Trump alleged that more conservative areas – of which the western half of North Carolina has many, with the notable exception of Asheville – were wrongly being underserved by the feds.
Biden, however, rejected the claim, cutting off a reporter who asked him about it at the time.
A stretch of eastbound Interstate 40 in Cocke County, Tenn., near the North Carolina line, collapsed into the raging Pigeon River during Hurricane Helene, stymieing regional commerce.(Brianna Paciorka/Knoxville News-Sentinel/IMAGN)
“He’s lying, and the governor told him he was lying. I’ve spoken to the governor. I spent time with him and he told me [Trump is] lying. I don’t know why he does this,” said Biden, who had recently spoken with then-North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp around that time.
Republicans also lambasted then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas when he claimed FEMA was running out of funds amid allegations the agency spent large sums on the migrant crisis, according to the New York Post.
However, Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who represents a swath of storm-ravaged communities, said in a “fact-check” on his congressional website that FEMA did not divert any disaster response to the border or to foreign aid.
“FEMA’s non-disaster-related presence at the border has always been of major concern to me, even before Hurricane Helene, and I will continue to condemn their deployment of personnel to the southern border, but we must separate the two issues,” Edwards said, while adding that the agency informed him they had enough money for recovery needs.
“Secretary Mayorkas’ statement indicating otherwise was an irresponsible attempt to politicize a tragedy for personal gain,” Edwards said.
Trump later told a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that Biden’s response to Helene was worse than what followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Then-President George W. Bush was memorably lambasted for praising then-FEMA Director Michael Brown’s response – remarking “Brownie, you’re doing a heckuva job,” Bush said while surveying recovery efforts in Mobile.
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Administrators at the University of Colorado’s campus in Colorado Springs thought they stood a solid chance of dodging the Trump administration’s offensive on higher education.
Located on a picturesque bluff with a stunning view of Pikes Peak, the school is far removed from the Ivy League colleges that have drawn President Donald Trump’s ire. Most of its students are commuters, getting degrees while holding down full-time jobs. Students and faculty alike describe the university, which is in a conservative part of a blue state, as politically subdued, if not apolitical.
That optimism was misplaced.
An Associated Press review of thousands of pages of emails from school officials, as well as interviews with students and professors, reveals that school leaders, teachers and students soon found themselves in the Republican administration’s crosshairs, forcing them to navigate what they described as an unprecedented and haphazard degree of change.
Whether Washington has downsized government departments, clawed back or launched investigations into diversity programs or campus antisemitism, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs has confronted many of the same challenges as elite universities across the nation.
The school lost three major federal grants and found itself under investigation by Trump’s Education Department. In the hopes of avoiding that scrutiny, the university renamed websites and job titles, all while dealing with pressure from students, faculty and staff who wanted the school to take a more combative stance.
“Uncertainty is compounding,” the school’s chancellor told faculty at a February meeting, according to minutes of the session. “And the speed of which orders are coming has been a bit of a shock.”
The college declined to make any administrators available to be interviewed. A spokesman asked the AP to make clear that any professors or students interviewed in this story were speaking for themselves and not the institution. Several faculty members also asked for anonymity, either because they did not have tenure or they did not want to call unnecessary attention to themselves and their scholarship in the current political environment.
“Like our colleagues across higher education, we’ve spent considerable time working to understand the new directives from the federal government,” the chancellor, Jennifer Sobanet, said in a statement provided to the AP.
Students said they have been able to sense the stress being felt by school administrators and professors.
“We have administrators that are feeling pressure, because we want to maintain our funding here. It’s been tense,” said Ava Knox, a rising junior who covers the university administration for the school newspaper.
Faculty, she added, “want to be very careful about how they’re conducting their research and about how they’re addressing the student population. They are also beholden to this new set of kind of ever-changing guidelines and stipulations by the federal government.”
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Misplaced optimism
Shortly after Trump won a second term in November, UCCS leaders were trying to gather information on the Republican’s plans. In December, Sobanet met the newly elected Republican congressman who represented the school’s district, a conservative one that Trump won with 53% of the vote. In her meeting notes obtained by the AP, the chancellor sketched out a scenario in which the college might avoid the drastic cuts and havoc under the incoming administration.
“Research dollars –- hard to pull back grant dollars but Trump tried to pull back some last time. The money goes through Congress,” Sobanet wrote in notes prepared for the meeting. “Grant money will likely stay but just change how they are worded and what it will fund.”
Sobanet also observed that dismantling the federal Education Department would require congressional authorization. That was unlikely, she suggested, given the U.S. Senate’s composition.
Like many others, she did not fully anticipate how aggressively Trump would seek to transform the federal government.
Conservatives’ desire to revamp higher education began well before Trump took office.
They have long complained that universities have become bastions of liberal indoctrination and raucous protests. In 2023, Republicans in Congress had a contentious hearing with several Ivy League university leaders. Shortly after, the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania resigned. During the presidential campaign last fall, Trump criticized campus protests about Gaza, as well as what he said was a liberal bias in classrooms.
His new administration opened investigations into alleged antisemitism at several universities. It froze more than $400 million in research grants and contracts at Columbia, along with more than $2.6 billion at Harvard. Columbia reached an agreement last month to pay $220 million to resolve the investigation.
When Harvard filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s actions, his administration tried to block the school from enrolling international students. The Trump administration has also threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
Northwestern University, Penn, Princeton and Cornell have seen big chunks of funding cut over how they dealt with protests about Israel’s war in Gaza or over the schools’ support for transgender athletes.
Trump’s decision to target the wealthiest, most prestigious institutions provided some comfort to administrators at the approximately 4,000 other colleges and universities in the country.
Most higher education students in the United States are educated at regional public universities or community colleges. Such schools have not typically drawn attention from culture warriors.
Students and professors at UCCS hoped Trump’s crackdown would bypass the school and others like it.
“You’ve got everyone — liberals, conservatives, middle of the road,” said Jeffrey Scholes, a professor in the philosophy department. “You just don’t see the kind of unrest and polarization that you see at other campuses.”
The purse strings
The federal government has lots of leverage over higher education. It provides about $60 billion a year to universities for research. In addition, a majority of students in the U.S. need grants and loans from various federal programs to help pay tuition and living expenses.
This budget year, UCCS got about $19 million in research funding from a combination of federal, state and private sources. Though that is a relatively small portion of the school’s overall $369 million budget, the college has made a push in recent years to bolster its campus research program by taking advantage of grant money from government agencies such as the U.S. Defense Department and National Institutes for Health. The widespread federal grant cut could derail those efforts.
School officials were dismayed when the Trump administration terminated research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Defense Department and the National Science Foundation, emails show. The grants funded programs in civics, cultural preservation and boosting women in technology fields.
School administrators scrambled to contact federal officials to learn if other grants were on the chopping block, but they struggled to find answers, the records show.
School officials repeatedly sought out the assistance of federal officials only to learn those officials were not sure what was happening as the Trump administration halted grant payments, fired thousands of employees and shuttered agencies.
“The sky is falling” at NIH, a university official reported in notes on a call in which the school’s lobbyists were providing reports of what was happening in Washington.
There are also concerns about other changes in Washington that will affect how students pay for college, according to interviews with faculty and education policy experts.
While only Congress can fully abolish the U.S. Department of Education, the Trump administration has tried to dramatically cut back its staff and parcel out many of its functions to other agencies. The administration laid off nearly 1,400 employees, and problems have been reported in the systems that handle student loans. Management of student loans is expected to shift to another agency entirely.
In addition, an early version of a major funding bill in Congress included major cuts to tuition grants. Though that provision did not make it into the law, Congress did cap loans for students seeking graduate degrees. That policy could have ripple effects in the coming years on institutions such as UCCS that rely on tuition dollars for their operating expenses.
DEI and transgender issues hit campus
To force change on campus, the Trump administration has begun investigations targeting diversity programs and efforts to combat antisemitism.
The Education Department, for example, opened an investigation in March targeting a Ph.D. scholarship program that partnered with 45 universities, including UCCS, to expand opportunities to women and nonwhites in graduate education. The administration alleged the program was only open to certain nonwhite students and amounted to racial discrimination.
“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news UCCS is included on the list” of schools being investigated, wrote Annie Larson, assistant vice president of federal relations and outreach for the entire University of Colorado system.
“Oh wow, this is surprising,” wrote back Hillary Fouts, dean of the graduate school at UCCS.
UCCS also struggled with how to handle executive orders, particularly those on transgender issues.
In response to an order that aimed to revoke funds to schools that allowed transwomen to play women’s sports, UCCS began a review of its athletic programs. It determined it had no transgender athletes, the records show. University officials were also relieved to discover that only one school in their athletic conference was affected by the order, and UCCS rarely if ever had matches or games against that school.
“We do not have any students impacted by this and don’t compete against any teams that we are aware of that will be impacted by this,” wrote the vice chancellor for student affairs to colleagues.
Avoiding the spotlight
The attacks led UCCS to take preemptive actions and to self-censor in the hopes of saving programs and avoiding the Trump administration’s spotlight.
Emails show that the school’s legal counsel began looking at all the university’s websites and evaluating whether any scholarships might need to be reworded. The university changed the web address of its diversity initiatives from www.diversity.uccs.edu to www.belonging.uccs.edu.
And the administrator responsible for the university’s division of Inclusive Culture & Belonging got a new job title in January: director of strategic initiatives. University professors said the school debated whether to rename the Women’s and Ethnic Studies department to avoid drawing attention from Trump but so far the department has not been renamed.
Along the same lines, UCCS administrators have sought to avoid getting dragged into controversies, a frequent occurrence in the first Trump administration. UCCS officials attended a presentation from the education consulting firm EAB, which encouraged schools not to react to every news cycle. That could be a challenge because some students and faculty are seeking vocal resistance on issues from climate change to immigration.
Soon after Trump was sworn in, for example, a staff member in UCCS’s sustainability program began pushing the entire University of Colorado system to condemn Trump’s withdrawal from an international agreement to tackle climate change. It was the type of statement universities had issued without thinking twice in past administrations.
In an email, UCCS’s top public relations executive warned his boss: “There is a growing sentiment among the thought leadership in higher ed that campus leaders not take a public stance on major issues unless they impact their campus community.”
—
AP Education Writer Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this report.
BOSTON — Massachusetts leaders are blasting a U.S. Supreme Court court ruling that will allow the Trump administration to claw back nearly $800 million in federal grants for medical and scientific research, saying the move will hurt patients and institutions who rely on the money for lifesaving work.
A divided Supreme Court on Thursday issued an unsigned order allowing the National Institutes of Health, the largest public funding source for biomedical research in the world, to terminate federal grants linked to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
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SEOUL, South Korea — After three decades in Hollywood, Daniel Dae Kim has done spy thrillers, sci-fi epics and medical dramas. But there’s one role that’s eluded the Korean American actor: romantic leading man. “I’m still waiting to play a romantic lead after all these years,” Kim says with a laugh.
His latest project, “Butterfly,” which features a star-studded cast including top Korean actors Kim Tae-hee and Park Hae-soo (“Squid Game”), follows a former U.S. intelligence operative in South Korea whose past catches up with him. It premiered on Amazon Prime in the U.S. and elsewhere earlier this month, but makes its Korean debut Friday.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press in Seoul, South Korea, Kim revealed one of his biggest regrets, reflected on cultural lessons from the Korea-U.S. co-production, and opened up about what it’s really like being the bridge between two cultures while pursuing his mission to tell stories “that haven’t been told yet.” The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
KIM: As an EP, I’m a job creator. I am a person responsible for a lot of people, and I will fight so much harder for others than I often fight for myself. When I feel like one of the cast, or one of the crew, or one of the writers is not being taken care of, I’m not afraid to talk to anybody and have a hard conversation.
KIM: Every day, there was something that needed to be translated literally through language but also working styles. In Korea, because it’s a more Confucian society, the hierarchy of departments is very clear. We had to learn to talk to the head of the department who would then talk to the staff, as opposed to if you have an issue with one of the staff, you go directly to the staff. This kind of thing was new to the Americans.
KIM: I think in 2007 I got a DUI when I was working on “Lost,” and I regret that night every day of my life. At the time, I felt so much shame, so much guilt, so much regret. I felt terrible to my parents, because that’s not the way I think they wanted me to be raised. I think with the right perspective, these things, these mistakes that you made can actually be helpful for your life because they can guide you in certain ways.
KIM: We’re already seeing it. If you look at what happened with Paramount and CBS News, we’re seeing a chilling effect on free speech and journalism and DEI. “DEI” is a bad word these days, but to me, DEI’s not a fad. The idea of inclusion is not something that’s a political trend. It’s my life. It’s what I’ve lived every decade I’ve been in this business.
KIM: I’m human, so everyone feels on certain days like, “Oh, this is too tough,” or on another day, “I can’t wait to do this.” But one of the reasons I think I act and produce is because I feel like there are a lot of stories to be told that haven’t been told yet, and one of those stories is a Korean American story.
KIM: I got so much criticism when I did “Lost” that I had to learn how to not take it so personally because it hurt a lot at the time. When I came to Korea when I was 18, cab drivers would give me such a hard time because I couldn’t speak fluent Korean. And they were like, “You’re Korean, your face is Korean, why don’t you speak Korean?” They had never thought about an immigrant experience from another country. But now Korea is so used to that kind of thing that people are much more understanding.
KIM: I have a lot of sympathy for actors who take stereotypical roles when they’re starting out because you need some way to break into the business. It’s much easier once you’re more successful and more established because you have more financial stability. It’s something that, if you’re not a person of color, or someone who’s a minority in the United States, you don’t have to think about. You don’t think about what this role means for the rest of a nation or an ethnicity. You just do what you’re drawn to, and that’s very liberating. I am lucky enough now where I can also make those same choices. But I don’t ever escape the fact that whatever I do will be watched and seen by so many people and judged through their own lens and filters.
KIM: I’m still waiting to play a romantic lead after all these years. I’ve never gotten the opportunity and it’s one of those interesting things because I look the way I do as an Asian American and Asian men were never considered handsome or sexy. That’s changing now though. I’m friends with Jimmy O. Yang and, a few years ago, he got to play a romantic lead in a rom-com. And I said to Jimmy like, “Who would have thought you, Jimmy, would have been the one to be the romantic lead?” But I was so happy for him because it meant that the way we were looking at Asian men was different.
WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court said Thursday the Trump administration may cancel hundreds of health research grants that involve diversity, equity and inclusion or gender identity.
The justices granted an emergency appeal from President Trump’s lawyers and set aside a Boston’s judge order that blocked the canceling of $783 million in research grants.
The justices split 5-4. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined the court’s three liberals in dissent and said the district judge had not overstepped his authority.
The court’s conservative majority has repeatedly sided with the administration and against federal judges in disputes over spending and staffing at federal agencies.
In the latest case, the majority agreed that Trump and his appointees may decide on how to spend health research funds allocated by Congress.
Upon taking office in January, Trump issued an executive order “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.”
A few weeks later, the acting director of the National Institutes of Health said the agency would no longer fund “low-value and off-mission research programs, including but not limited to studies based on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and gender identity.”
More than 1,700 grants were canceled.
Trump’s lawyers told the court the NIH had terminated grants to study “Buddhism and HIV stigma in Thailand”; “intersectional, multilevel and multidimensional structural racism for English- and Spanish-speaking populations”; and “anti-racist healing in nature to protect telomeres of transitional age BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] for health equity.”
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and his counterparts from 15 Democrat-led states had sued to halt what they called an “unprecedented disruption to ongoing research.” They were joined by groups of researchers and public health advocates.
The state attorneys said their public universities were using grant money for “projects investigating heart disease, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, alcohol and substance abuse, mental-health issues, and countless other health conditions.”
They said the NIH had terminated a grant for a University of California study examining how inflammation, insulin resistance and physical activity affect Alzheimer’s disease in Black women, a group with higher rates and a more aggressive profile of the disease.
Also terminated, they said, was a University of Hawaii study that aimed to identify genetic and biological risk factors for colorectal cancer among Native Hawaiians, a population with increased incidence and mortality rates of that disease.
In June, the Democratic state attorneys won a ruling from U.S. District Judge William G. Young, a Reagan appointee. He said the sudden halt to research grants violated a federal procedural law because it was “arbitrary” and poorly explained.
He said Trump had required agencies “to focus on eradicating anything that it labels as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”), an undefined enemy.” He said he had tried and failed to get a clear definition of DEI and what it entailed.
When the 1st Circuit Court refused to lift the judge’s order, Trump’s Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer appealed to the Supreme Court in late July.
The solicitor general argued that Trump’s order rescinded an executive order from President Biden in 2021 that mandated “an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda” and instructed federal agencies to “allocate resources to address the historic failure to invest sufficiently, justly, and equally in underserved communities.”
He said the new administration decided these DEI-related grants “do nothing to expand our knowledge of living systems, provide low returns on investment, and ultimately do not enhance health, lengthen life, or reduce illness.”
As Brandon Bailey, founder and CEO of TutorD, built his career in software engineering, he came face-to-face with the “lack of diversity and inclusion” in tech — and he wanted to do something about it.
Image Credit: Courtesy of TutorD. Brandon Bailey.
Bailey worked at a consultancy in Chicago at the time, and as co-lead for one of the firm’s employee resource groups, he partnered with a couple of community-based organizations. One partnership was with a middle school in Bronzeville.
The school was located about 15 minutes from Bailey’s home, but the students “had a totally different lived experience,” the founder recalls. Many of the kids had never been on an escalator or inside a skyscraper despite living just minutes from downtown.
The program helped the students have those experiences and access internships and other opportunities. “That gave me this drive and passion for the educational experience and helping facilitate it,” Bailey says. “It changed my life. I know it changed [their lives].”
But Bailey wanted to figure out how to reach even more people. He landed a job at an edtech startup in Los Angeles, California, and began to think about how he could bring together education, engineering and entrepreneurship.
When considering the platform or tool that could accomplish that, Bailey noted one significant obstacle: There was an issue of connectivity for students who didn’t have access to computers in their homes. However, most students did have cellphones, so Bailey decided to meet the students where they were and build for those.
“We wanted to lead with providing value to the community first and gaining trust and buy-in.”
Bailey officially founded TutorD, an edtech platform for teachers and tutors to enable distance learning, and TutorD Scholars, a nonprofit that teaches “urban youth in-demand 22nd century skills,” in 2019.
“We wanted to lead with providing value to the community first and gaining trust and buy-in into what we were doing,” Bailey says. “So that’s why we led with the nonprofit TutorD Scholars first, while building out the software platform.”
Teaching made it easier to figure out the specific tools students would need on the platform and how to tailor lessons to their unique learning styles.
”We’re teaching [the students] in different ways,” Bailey says, “so using visual, auditory, reading and kinesthetic. [It’s] a very intentional approach.”
Entrepreneur sat down with Bailey to learn more about how he’s grown TutorD into a successful business — and the role that Intuit’s IDEAS accelerator program has played.
Intuit’s IDEAS accelerator program provides founders access to capital and the company’s AI-powered platform, service and experts, plus business coaching from the National Urban League and executive coaching from Zella Life to support their business and professional growth.
Learning the accounting fundamentals was a game changer
Through the IDEAS program, Bailey got valuable exposure to the basic accounting fundamentals, like cash flow and profit and loss statements, that make or break a business.
“That wasn’t something I had a lot of support with growing up, looking back at it,” Bailey says. “In our household, [and] it is common across Black and brown households, we didn’t have that training around finances.”
Receiving that technical training helped Bailey and the TutorD team develop a clearer sense of where the business was headed and how its costs and sales projections would shape that trajectory, the founder notes.
Streamlining the business’s messaging was also key
TutorD used Intuit’s MailChimp, an email and marketing automation platform for growing businesses, to streamline its communications.
Not only did the platform make it easier for people to get in touch with TutorD, but it also helped cultivate a sense of presence — making the business seem bigger than it was, Bailey says.
”We’re a team of five right now, and we’re dealing with other companies that are 200, 500 people strong,” Bailey explains. “And they have $20 million backed by different investors. [MailChimp] helped us appear bigger than we are to compete in the market and with other edtech companies.”
The business coach that Bailey connected with through Zella Life also became an integral part of TutorD’s journey.
Having a support system in place was invaluable as Bailey juggled the challenges of growing a business with major life events, he says.
“My father passed away, and my baby came, and I had an injury, all in a three-month span,” Bailey says. “My coach had also lost his mother around that time, so we [had a] really deep connection, and he was able to help.”
Bailey says that the IDEAS program put TutorD in the position to scale — and gave him and his team the confidence to talk to people about their journey.
Advice for young entrepreneurs
Bailey encourages other young, aspiring entrepreneurs to never stop learning, seek out opportunities where there’s a need and ability to create value, connect with other founders who can serve as mentors, and leverage the community to help lay the foundation for business success.
He’s also excited to see people embracing the “triple bottom line,” which tracks a business’s financial, social and environmental performance — and suggests anyone considering the leap to founder do the same.
“ People are waking up to [the fact that] it’s not just about making money and some infinitely growing, making-money approach to entrepreneurship and capitalism in general, but really looking at it with a triple bottom line approach, generating sustainable profit or revenue for yourself, your family, business and shareholders, but also making an impact in the community,” Bailey says.
NEW YORK (AP) — The typical compensation package for chief executives who run companies in the S&P 500 jumped nearly 10% in 2024 as the stock market enjoyed another banner year and corporate profits rose sharply.
Many companies have heeded calls from shareholders to tie CEO compensation more closely to performance. As a result, a large proportion of pay packages consist of stock awards, which the CEO often can’t cash in for years, if at all, unless the company meets certain targets, typically a higher stock price or market value or improved operating profits.
The Associated Press’ CEO compensation survey, which uses data analyzed for The AP by Equilar, included pay data for 344 executives at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two full consecutive fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and April 30.
Here are the key takeaways from the survey:
A good year at the top
The median pay package for CEOs rose to $17.1 million, up 9.7%. Meanwhile, the median employee at companies in the survey earned $85,419, reflecting a 1.7% increase year over year.
CEOs had to navigate sticky inflation and relatively high interest rates last year, as well as declining consumer confidence. But the economy also provided some tail winds: Consumers kept spending despite their misgivings about the economy; inflation did subside somewhat; the Fed lowered interest rates; and the job market stayed strong.
The stock market’s main benchmark, the S&P 500, rose more than 23% last year. Profits for companies in the index rose more than 9%.
“2024 was expected to be a strong year, so the (nearly) 10% increases are commensurate with the timing of the pay decisions,” said Dan Laddin, a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners.
Sarah Anderson, who directs the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, said there have been some recent “long-overdue” increases in worker pay, especially for those at the bottom of the wage scale. But she said too many workers in the world’s richest countries still struggle to pay their bills.
The top earners
Rick Smith, the founder and CEO of Axon Enterprises, topped the survey with a pay package valued at $164.5 million. Axon, which makes Taser stun guns and body cameras, saw revenue grow more than 30% for three straight years and posted record annual net income of $377 million in 2024. Axon’s shares more than doubled last year after rising more than 50% in 2023.
General Electric Co. CEO Lawrence Culp Jr. signs a $52 billion deal by Emirates to purchase Boeing aircraft with GE engines, at the Dubai Air Show, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo)
General Electric Co. CEO Lawrence Culp Jr. signs a $52 billion deal by Emirates to purchase Boeing aircraft with GE engines, at the Dubai Air Show, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo)
Almost all of Smith’s pay package consists of stock awards, which he can only receive if the company meets targets tied to its stock price and operations for the period from 2024 to 2030. Companies are required to assign a value to the stock awards when they are granted.
Other top earners in the survey include Lawrence Culp, CEO of what is now GE Aerospace ($87.4 million), Tim Cook at Apple ($74.6 million), David Gitlin at Carrier Global ($65.6 million) and Ted Sarandos at Netflix ($61.9 million). The bulk of those pay packages consisted of stock or options awards.
The median stock award rose almost 15% last year compared to a 4% increase in base salaries, according to Equilar.
Tim Cook attends the WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Tim Cook attends the WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
“For CEOs, target long-term incentives consistently increase more each year than salaries or bonuses,” said Melissa Burek, also a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners. “Given the significant role that long-term incentives play in executive pay, this trend makes sense.”
Jackie Cook at Morningstar Sustainalytics said the benefit of tying CEO pay to performance is “that share-based pay appears to provide a clear market signal that most shareholders care about.” But she notes that the greater use of share-based pay has led to a “phenomenal rise” in CEO compensation “tracking recent years’ market performance,” which has “widened the pay gap within workplaces.”
Some well-known billionaire CEOs are low in the AP survey. Warren Buffett’s compensation was valued at $405,000, about five times what a worker at Berkshire Hathaway makes. According to Tesla’s proxy, Elon Musk received no compensation for 2024, but in 2018 he was awarded a multiyear package that has been valued at $56 billion and is the subject of a court battle.
Other notable CEOs didn’t meet the criteria for inclusion the survey. Starbucks’ Brian Niccol received a pay package valued at $95.8 million, but he only took over as CEO on Sept. 9. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang saw his compensation grow to $49.9 million, but the company filed its proxy after April 30.
The pay gap
At half the companies in AP’s annual pay survey, it would take the worker at the middle of the company’s pay scale 192 years to make what the CEO did in one. Companies have been required to disclose this so-called pay ratio since 2018.
The pay ratio tends to be highest at companies in industries where wages are typically low. For instance, at cruise line company Carnival Corp., its CEO earned nearly 1,300 times the median pay of $16,900 for its workers. McDonald’s CEO makes about 1,000 times what a worker making the company’s median pay does. Both companies have operations that span numerous countries.
Overall, wages and benefits netted by private-sector workers in the U.S. rose 3.6% through 2024, according to the Labor Department. The average worker in the U.S. makes $65,460 a year. That figure rises to $92,000 when benefits such as health care and other insurance are included.
“With CEO pay continuing to climb, we still have an enormous problem with excessive pay gaps,” Anderson said. “These huge disparities are not only unfair to lower-level workers who are making significant contributions to company value – they also undercut enterprise effectiveness by lowering employee morale and boosting turnover rates.”
Some gains for female CEOs
This photo provided by Otis Elevator Co. shows CEO Judy Marks. (via AP)
This photo provided by Otis Elevator Co. shows CEO Judy Marks. (via AP)
For the 27 women who made the AP survey — the highest number dating back to 2014 — median pay rose 10.7% to $20 million. That compares to a 9.7% increase to $16.8 million for their male counterparts.
The highest earner among female CEOs was Judith Marks of Otis Worldwide, with a pay package valued at $42.1 million. The company, known for its elevators and escalators, has had operating profit above $2 billion for four straight years. About $35 million of Marks’ compensations was in the form of stock awards.
Other top earners among female CEOs were Jane Fraser of Citigroup ($31.1 million), Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices ($31 million), Mary Barra at General Motors ($29.5 million) and Laura Alber at Williams-Sonoma ($27.7 million).
FILEw – Jane Fraser, CEO, Citigroup, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing to examine Wall Street firms on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILEw – Jane Fraser, CEO, Citigroup, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing to examine Wall Street firms on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, arrives for a dinner at the Elysee Palace, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, arrives for a dinner at the Elysee Palace, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
Christy Glass, a professor of sociology at Utah State University who studies equity, inclusion and leadership, said while there may be a few more women on the top paid CEO list, overall equity trends are stagnating, particularly as companies cut back on DEI programs.
“There are maybe a couple more names on the list, but we’re really not moving the needle significantly,” she said.
FILE- Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, talks to David Rubenstein during an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
FILE- Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, talks to David Rubenstein during an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
Prioritizing security
Equilar found that a larger number of companies are offering security perquisites as part of executive compensation packages, possibly in reaction to the December shooting of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
Equilar said an analysis of 208 companies in the S&P 500 that filed proxy statements by April 2 showed that the median spending on security rose to $94,276 last year from $69,180 in 2023.
Among the companies that increased their security perks were Centene, which provides health care services to Medicare and Medicaid, and the chipmaker Intel.
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Reporters Matt Ott and Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed.
For the second year in a row, Staffing Industry Analysts listed Travel Nurses, Inc. on their annual list of Diversity-Owned Staffing Firms
GERMANTOWN, Tenn., June 12, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– Travel Nurses, Inc., a leading healthcare staffing agency, has been named to Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) 2025 list of Diversity-Owned Staffing Firms for the United States and Canada. The annual list honors staffing agencies that are certified by third-party organizations as diversity-owned and making meaningful contributions to the staffing industry. This year’s list includes 177 firms, including 79 that are women-owned.
Travel Nurses, Inc. stands out not only as a certified women-owned business but also for its deep roots in healthcare. Founded by nurses nearly 37 years ago, the company has grown into a national leader in staffing nurses and allied health professionals across the country. Today, 91% of the company’s corporate workforce is made up of women.
“As a women-owned business, we’re honored to be included on this year’s SIA Diversity-Owned Staffing Firms list,” said Denise Burnett-Stewart, founder of Travel Nurses, Inc. “I am so proud of how far this agency has come. This recognition reflects our commitment to our mission of fostering a culture of trust, respect and continuous growth for the healthcare professionals we serve.”
As a recognized leader in healthcare staffing, Travel Nurses, Inc. is proud to receive this acknowledgment from SIA. Being named to the 2025 Diversity-Owned Staffing Firms list underscores the company’s long-standing reputation for excellence, trust and dedication in serving healthcare professionals and facilities nationwide.
The full list of 2025 Diversity-Owned Staffing Firms is available on the SIA website.
John Albert’s daughter isn’t going to school on Friday. And he couldn’t be happier about it.For the first time, the high school senior and all of New York City’s public school students have the day off to mark the holiday of Diwali, celebrated in India and among the global Indian diaspora as the victory of light over darkness and marked by communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.Video above: Ho Ho Ho-liday Lights: Tips Before You BuyTo get the holiday added to the school calendar, where it joins other days off for Rosh Hashanah, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr as well as federal holidays like Veterans Day, Christmas and Memorial Day, took years of pushing from those in New York’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities like Albert. But it was worth it.”It was this feeling of wanting to weave our culture into New York,” he said.From religious and cultural holidays to region-specific commemorations to days meant to honor the towering figures and moments of U.S. history, the holiday calendars across the 50 states and the country at large are increasingly diverse ones, a reflection of and a window into the many communities that make up the American whole. Including a smaller culture’s or community’s special days as something to recognize in the larger general culture is an act of unity, says Lauren Strauss, professor of modern Jewish history at American University.”By doing that in an American context and by including a Muslim feast for the end of Ramadan and by including Diwali and including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, my goodness. You’re just saying it out loud, aren’t you? You’re saying that these cultures, these people, they aren’t visitors, that they are a permanent part of this community, that it is multicultural and multiethnic,” she says. “Whether or not you think it’s good or bad, certainly it paints a different picture of what it means to be American and what the American calendar is.”A look at what days are marked as holidays in places around the country can be a crash course into what matters in those places. Louisiana, home to New Orleans, takes a day for Mardi Gras. In Hawaii, the state marks a day for King Kamehameha, who united the Hawaiian islands, as well as a day for becoming a U.S. state. California and some other states mark Cesar Chavez Day, named for the civil rights and labor movement activist. In Texas and in the southwest, there are celebrations scheduled for Friday marking Day of the Dead, the Mexican cultural remembrance of loved ones who have passed.The federal government, in addition to the 11 days that are days off for federal workers, has a host of days that it marks as national observances, like Harriet Tubman Day in March and Patriot Day on Sept. 11.It keeps greeting card companies on their toes.”Celebrating holidays and occasions, big or small, with the people we care about is a vital thread that runs through our shared human experience,” Kelly Ricker, chief product officer at American Greetings, said in a statement. The company is “studying and talking to consumers, continuously” to keep up with the kinds of cards people are looking for.When Chris Sargiotto started his greeting card company Apartment 2 Cards about 15 years ago, the holiday offerings were limited to Christmas and Hanukkah. In recent years, he’s added Kwanzaa and Ramadan, and is looking to bring Diwali cards onto the roster for next year.The additional holidays were added because of requests from his customers, the stores around that country that stock Apartment 2 cards, a reflection of increasing demand.”It was stores asking for it because of their customers are asking for it,” he said. “Whenever we introduce one of these specific cards, it seems to take off. So I think there definitely is the need for these.” But a holiday is not always uncontested. Take mid-October, when the federal government recognizes Columbus Day. It was added to the federal calendar in the 20th century after efforts from Italian Americans, who pushed for it as a way to stake their community’s place in America. In the decades after though, indigenous communities pushed back, citing the impact of colonization on their people and the continuing challenges. That has led to the spread of Indigenous People’s Day marked on the same day, which while not a federally recognized is recognized in states around the country.And sometimes there’s some learning that needs to happen as well. In Montville, New Jersey, the police department this month put a post on Facebook explaining to the community that with Diwali approaching, they would be more likely to see swastikas, a variation of which are ancient sacred symbols in some religions and not deployed in the way Hitler and the Nazis did.With both Jewish and Hindu communities in the town, it was done in an attempt to forestall misunderstanding, said Chief Andrew Caggiano, and has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.”It’s a great opportunity,” he said, “to raise awareness about other cultures that are that are in our community and that are part of our community at this point.”
NEW YORK —
John Albert’s daughter isn’t going to school on Friday. And he couldn’t be happier about it.
For the first time, the high school senior and all of New York City’s public school students have the day off to mark the holiday of Diwali, celebrated in India and among the global Indian diaspora as the victory of light over darkness and marked by communities of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
Video above: Ho Ho Ho-liday Lights: Tips Before You Buy
To get the holiday added to the school calendar, where it joins other days off for Rosh Hashanah, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr as well as federal holidays like Veterans Day, Christmas and Memorial Day, took years of pushing from those in New York’s South Asian and Indo-Caribbean communities like Albert. But it was worth it.
“It was this feeling of wanting to weave our culture into New York,” he said.
From religious and cultural holidays to region-specific commemorations to days meant to honor the towering figures and moments of U.S. history, the holiday calendars across the 50 states and the country at large are increasingly diverse ones, a reflection of and a window into the many communities that make up the American whole.
Including a smaller culture’s or community’s special days as something to recognize in the larger general culture is an act of unity, says Lauren Strauss, professor of modern Jewish history at American University.
“By doing that in an American context and by including a Muslim feast for the end of Ramadan and by including Diwali and including Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, my goodness. You’re just saying it out loud, aren’t you? You’re saying that these cultures, these people, they aren’t visitors, that they are a permanent part of this community, that it is multicultural and multiethnic,” she says.
“Whether or not you think it’s good or bad, certainly it paints a different picture of what it means to be American and what the American calendar is.”
A look at what days are marked as holidays in places around the country can be a crash course into what matters in those places. Louisiana, home to New Orleans, takes a day for Mardi Gras. In Hawaii, the state marks a day for King Kamehameha, who united the Hawaiian islands, as well as a day for becoming a U.S. state. California and some other states mark Cesar Chavez Day, named for the civil rights and labor movement activist. In Texas and in the southwest, there are celebrations scheduled for Friday marking Day of the Dead, the Mexican cultural remembrance of loved ones who have passed.
The federal government, in addition to the 11 days that are days off for federal workers, has a host of days that it marks as national observances, like Harriet Tubman Day in March and Patriot Day on Sept. 11.
It keeps greeting card companies on their toes.
“Celebrating holidays and occasions, big or small, with the people we care about is a vital thread that runs through our shared human experience,” Kelly Ricker, chief product officer at American Greetings, said in a statement. The company is “studying and talking to consumers, continuously” to keep up with the kinds of cards people are looking for.
When Chris Sargiotto started his greeting card company Apartment 2 Cards about 15 years ago, the holiday offerings were limited to Christmas and Hanukkah. In recent years, he’s added Kwanzaa and Ramadan, and is looking to bring Diwali cards onto the roster for next year.
The additional holidays were added because of requests from his customers, the stores around that country that stock Apartment 2 cards, a reflection of increasing demand.
“It was stores asking for it because of their customers are asking for it,” he said. “Whenever we introduce one of these specific cards, it seems to take off. So I think there definitely is the need for these.”
But a holiday is not always uncontested. Take mid-October, when the federal government recognizes Columbus Day. It was added to the federal calendar in the 20th century after efforts from Italian Americans, who pushed for it as a way to stake their community’s place in America.
In the decades after though, indigenous communities pushed back, citing the impact of colonization on their people and the continuing challenges. That has led to the spread of Indigenous People’s Day marked on the same day, which while not a federally recognized is recognized in states around the country.
And sometimes there’s some learning that needs to happen as well. In Montville, New Jersey, the police department this month put a post on Facebook explaining to the community that with Diwali approaching, they would be more likely to see swastikas, a variation of which are ancient sacred symbols in some religions and not deployed in the way Hitler and the Nazis did.
With both Jewish and Hindu communities in the town, it was done in an attempt to forestall misunderstanding, said Chief Andrew Caggiano, and has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said, “to raise awareness about other cultures that are that are in our community and that are part of our community at this point.”
