Following a relatively uneventful first half of Super Bowl 60, megastar Bad Bunny delivered a love letter to Puerto Rican culture that also included a handful of celebrity cameos.Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, teased days ahead of Sunday that his 13-minute performance was going to be a “big party,” and his first song of choice began in that direction.Standing amid a field of farmworkers, Bad Bunny began with “Tití Me Preguntó.” As he kept walking through the field, other various facets of Puerto Rican culture were featured.The songs that followedBad Bunny kept most of his setlist to party music, playing some of his well-known hits that include “Yo Perreo Sola,” “Safaera,” and “Party” before he sampled Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina,” an anthem that is one of the most famous reggaeton songs in the entire genre.The singer’s back half of the show included more recent songs, such as “Monaco, “EoO” and “DtMF,” with the last two songs being part of the album that won him the Album of the Year Grammy last week.Bad Bunny has mentioned in recent interviews that his DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album was his effort of trying to connect more to his cultural roots. Celebrities featured in Bad Bunny’s halftime showThere were a handful of featured guests, some widely speculated ahead of the Big Game, who made an appearance during the show.Among those featured were Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, Young Miko, and Jessica Alba.Lady Gaga was one of two — the other being Ricky Martin later on — guests to actually sing. She performed a Latin rendition of “Die With a Smile,” a song released in 2025 by both her and Bruno Mars. She appeared right after what appeared to be a mid-show wedding.According to The Associated Press, that wedding was real. Bad Bunny served as their witness and signed their certificate before he transitioned to perform “Baile Inolvidable” and “NuevaYol.”When Martin performed, he sang Bad Bunny’s “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” which translates to “What Happened to Hawaii.” That song echoes sentiment from Puerto Ricans pushing for cultural autonomy.Martin himself is from Puerto Rico.Transitioning the themeOne of the final songs Bad Bunny performed was “El Apagón,” which makes reference to others wanting to be Latino, but who lacked seasoning, drums and reggaeton. Bad Bunny performed this song while standing on top of a telephone pole; the song translates to “the blackout.”The latter part of the song, not played in the halftime show, has lyrics that roughly translate to, “I don’t want to leave here. Let them leave.”Also toward the end of the performance was a moment where a child was watching a clip from Bad Bunny during the Grammys. Seconds later, Bad Bunny handed the child a Grammy.Visible on the Levi’s Stadium scoreboard was the same message he shared during the Grammys: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”To close, Bad Bunny named every country and territory from South America to Canada, with every flag being carried out across the field. He also carried a football that read, “Together, we are America.” -The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. —
Following a relatively uneventful first half of Super Bowl 60, megastar Bad Bunny delivered a love letter to Puerto Rican culture that also included a handful of celebrity cameos.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, teased days ahead of Sunday that his 13-minute performance was going to be a “big party,” and his first song of choice began in that direction.
Standing amid a field of farmworkers, Bad Bunny began with “Tití Me Preguntó.” As he kept walking through the field, other various facets of Puerto Rican culture were featured.
The songs that followed
Bad Bunny kept most of his setlist to party music, playing some of his well-known hits that include “Yo Perreo Sola,” “Safaera,” and “Party” before he sampled Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina,” an anthem that is one of the most famous reggaeton songs in the entire genre.
The singer’s back half of the show included more recent songs, such as “Monaco, “EoO” and “DtMF,” with the last two songs being part of the album that won him the Album of the Year Grammy last week.
Bad Bunny has mentioned in recent interviews that his DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album was his effort of trying to connect more to his cultural roots.
Celebrities featured in Bad Bunny’s halftime show
There were a handful of featured guests, some widely speculated ahead of the Big Game, who made an appearance during the show.
Among those featured were Pedro Pascal, Cardi B, Karol G, Young Miko, and Jessica Alba.
Lady Gaga was one of two — the other being Ricky Martin later on — guests to actually sing. She performed a Latin rendition of “Die With a Smile,” a song released in 2025 by both her and Bruno Mars. She appeared right after what appeared to be a mid-show wedding.
According to The Associated Press, that wedding was real. Bad Bunny served as their witness and signed their certificate before he transitioned to perform “Baile Inolvidable” and “NuevaYol.”
When Martin performed, he sang Bad Bunny’s “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” which translates to “What Happened to Hawaii.” That song echoes sentiment from Puerto Ricans pushing for cultural autonomy.
Martin himself is from Puerto Rico.
Transitioning the theme
One of the final songs Bad Bunny performed was “El Apagón,” which makes reference to others wanting to be Latino, but who lacked seasoning, drums and reggaeton.
Bad Bunny performed this song while standing on top of a telephone pole; the song translates to “the blackout.”
The latter part of the song, not played in the halftime show, has lyrics that roughly translate to, “I don’t want to leave here. Let them leave.”
Also toward the end of the performance was a moment where a child was watching a clip from Bad Bunny during the Grammys. Seconds later, Bad Bunny handed the child a Grammy.
Visible on the Levi’s Stadium scoreboard was the same message he shared during the Grammys: “The only thing more powerful than hate is love.”
To close, Bad Bunny named every country and territory from South America to Canada, with every flag being carried out across the field. He also carried a football that read, “Together, we are America.”
-The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
Five years after a Times investigation dulled the shine of the glitzy Hollywood affair, the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, airing Sunday, will cap off a multi-day series of events and tributes now dubbed “Golden Week.” It appears neither controversy nor potential conflicts of interest have been enough to keep this party down.
Comedian Nikki Glaser, who delivered a good time as the emcee of the 2025 awards, has once again been tapped to host the star-studded ceremony. Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” and Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” are among the top film nominees, notching nine and eight nods each, respectively. On the television side, “The White Lotus” and “Adolescence” earned the most nominations with six and five nods apiece, respectively.
Actors Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker were already honored during Thursday’s “Golden Eve” special. Mirren, whose prolific career has included portraying a number of British monarchs, was presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award, while Parker, of “Sex and the City” fame, received the Carol Burnett Award.
The live 2026 Golden Globes telecast kicks off at 5 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+.
Screenplay Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme” Ryan Coogler, “Sinners” Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident” Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, “Sentimental Value” Maggie O’Farrell and Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
Original score Alexandre Desplat, “Frankenstein” Ludwig Göransson, “Sinners” Jonny Greenwood, “One Battle After Another” Kangding Ray, “Sirât” Max Richter, “Hamnet” Hans Zimmer, “F1”
Original song “Dream as One” (“Avatar: Fire and Ash”) Music and lyrics by Miley Cyrus, Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson, Simon Franglen
“Golden” (“KPop Demon Hunters”) Music by Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, Park Hong Jun Lyrics by Kim Eun-jae (EJAE), Mark Sonnenblick
Performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series, or a motion picture made for television Jacob Elordi, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” Paul Giamatti, “Black Mirror” Stephen Graham, “Adolescence” Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” Jude Law, “Black Rabbit” Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me”
Performance in stand-up comedy on television “Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?” “Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life” “Kevin Hart: Acting My Age” “Sarah Silverman: PostMortem” “Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts” “Ricky Gervais: Mortality”
Stressed? Absolutely. My flight was delayed, and delayed, and delayed. An accident jammed up traffic around the airport. My driver took a wrong turn. Instead of a 6-hour cushion, I made it to the conference with 20 minutes to spare before I went onstage. No sound check. No slide check. No time to go over a few cues with the techs.
No time to do anything but worry my keynote would fall flat.
The Yerkes-Dodson law is a psychological principle that describes the relationship between arousal (not that kind of arousal) and performance. Too much stress, and performance declines.
But up to a certain point, anxiety and stress actually improve performance.
How much stress is too much stress? Clearly, that depends. Feeling stressed because I’m running five minutes behind when I planned to get to the airport is unlikely to affect how I drive.
Spending all day worrying about whether I’d make it to an event on time, and having those fears nearly realized, is a different story.
Again, though, not always.
When something happens that makes you feel nervous, challenged, scared, etc., your body responds. Your heart rate increases. Your breathing gets faster, and shallower. Your body temperature rises. Those responses are automatic and normal.
Having your body spot a problem or challenge and say, “Let’s gear up!” is the upside of the Yerkes-Dodson law.
The downside? You also vasoconstrict: the muscles inside your blood vessels tighten, making the space inside smaller. Vasoconstriction raises your blood pressure and reduces circulation to your extremities (which is why, when you feel super-stressed, your fingers and toes can feel cold.)
That natural response to a more serious problem or challenge is terrible for you, and therefore for how you perform… unless you apply some emotional intelligence, and do a little cognitive reframing.
A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that when people viewed their stress response as helpful — when their body’s natural response to stress, like increased heart and respiration rate, signaled their rising to the challenge — they didn’t vasoconstrict. Their blood pressure didn’t rise.
In fact, their physiological profiles looked like what Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal describes in her 2013 TED Talk as what happens in “moments of joy and courage.”
Simply thinking about stress differently — seeing stress not as a problem, but as a good thing — changed how their bodies responded. Their “arousal” level stayed on the helpful side of the Yerkes-Dodson law curve.
So as the sound tech fitted my mic, I took a deep breath and decided that arriving in the nick of time was a good thing. I didn’t have time to pace. I didn’t have time to peek out and see the hundreds of people finding their seats. I didn’t have time to make small talk with people backstage to help the time pass.
I tried to smile and see being “late” as a challenge to overcome. After all, pressure is something you want to feel. Feeing pressure means you’re in a position to do something meaningful. Something important. Something where the outcome truly matters.
As Billie Jean King says, “Pressure is a privilege, and champions adjust.”
Did my reframing work? Not completely. Looking back, I give myself an A-minus. (OK, a B-plus.) I was still a little too amped up, and rushed the first minute. I could have read the room a little better. Overall, I wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked.
But I performed a lot better than I would had I not reframed the events leading up to my keynote.
When you feel nervous or stressed — when your heart rate rises, and your breathing quickens — reframe the feeling and let those emotions work for you. See it as your body rising to a challenge, helping you be more able to step in or step up. See stress as a signal that you have the opportunity to make your life better.
Sure, you will never totally control how you feel.
But with a little reframing, you can stay on the positive side of the Yerkes-Dodson law curve, and use stress as a tool to help you perform at your best.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
A company is nothing without the people who keep it running—but how can you, as a business leader, ensure those people are bringing their best selves to work?
That knotty question was the subject of the latest installment of Your Next Move, Inc.’s ongoing series of interviews with top business leaders.
“Without good performance management, your best people might leave and your worst habits stick around,” Inc. editor-in-chief Mike Hofman explained at the top of Thursday’s episode, which was produced in collaboration with Capital One Business. “We’re going to talk about how founders can build a sustainable and effective approach to managing performance as their companies scale.”
Joining Hofman in conversation were two CEOs from the wider Inc. community: Daniel Chait, co-founder of repeat Inc. 5000 honoree Greenhouse, which offers hiring software; and Christie Horvath, founder of the pet insurance company Wagmo, which entered the Inc. 5000 pantheon this year at No. 1,082.
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Performance management can be uncomfortable, Horvath said, since it often involves telling an employee that they’re not doing their job perfectly. That means having hard conversations—something that Chait emphasized is a skill you can hone through practice.
“Defining what good is—even knowing, ‘What are you trying to manage that person to do?’—isn’t always so obvious,” he said. “What good versus great actually means requires a lot of thought. It’s not always easy to get right.”
At one point, faced with an executive team that was struggling to give and receive feedback, the Greenhouse chief executive even brought in an outside expert who shared a feedback framework with the team: “Get a micro-yes, and then talk about the behavior and how it made you feel. … You have this little checklist in your head.”
Horvath also recommended role-playing the feedback process ahead of time so that leaders can get comfortable approaching those conversations with staff.
Of course, sometimes feedback isn’t enough and you have to let someone go. When that’s the case, Horvath said, it’s always best to get it over with.
“Every time I’ve ever had to exit somebody, I’ve always wished we’d done it sooner,” she explained. “It’s never worth waiting. Your company is so much more resilient than you think; your team is so much more resilient than you think. It really detracts from your top performers. So it is your job to make the unpopular decision [and] make sure that your top performers are surrounded by other top performers.”
The moment you start thinking about letting someone go, Chait added, is probably the right time to do it. That’s likely what’s best for both the organization and the individual, who would probably be a better fit elsewhere, he explained.
But you can make those decisions less painful.
“Be great at hiring,” Chait advised. “If I knew that I could hire an amazing ‘A’ player the minute this person’s out of that seat, I feel much more comfortable about making that change, whereas part of the fear that people always have is, ‘Gosh, if I get rid of this person, I don’t know if … the next person will be as good.’”
Another key consideration when it comes to managing your team is burnout. Sometimes there will be stretches of high-intensity crunch, Chait acknowledged, but it’s generally important to create a sustainable work culture so that when those periods do come up, everyone’s ready to handle them.
“I’ve had conversations with people in my teams,” he said, “where I’ve told them, ‘You’re creating a risk for the business in the way you’re working. You haven’t taken a Saturday or a Sunday off in three months. One day you’re going to come to me when I don’t know it’s gonna happen, and you’re going to catastrophically explode and quit—and that creates a big problem for me.’”
When it comes to making performance management a day-to-day task, both executives have developed their own distinct processes and philosophies. Horvath, for instance, asks her direct reports to check in with her about their strategic performance—on an “out of the weeds” level of abstraction–every month.
“’Let’s take a step back,’” she’ll say. “’How are you feeling about how you’re doing this month? Are you feeling supported?’ That way, when you get to that semiannual or whatever performance review, where it’s all documented and it’s a whole process, there’s no surprises.”
A poll of the audience watching this episode reinforces this notion:
Chait, meanwhile, said he’s sought to implement an ethos of “good is good” at his company.
“If everybody at the company did their job to a good level, we’d be in a really good spot—but it’s not great,” he explained. “What does it really mean to be transformational? What does it really mean to be great? … That’s a better place for us to find ourselves in.”
For many dog owners, the idea of chiropractic care for animals sounds either surprising or downright strange. Isn’t chiropractic something for people with bad backs? What does it have to do with dogs? As it turns out, a lot.
Animal chiropractic is a growing field that focuses on one critical principle: the connection between the spine and the nervous system. When that connection is free and functional, your dog’s body works better. When it’s restricted, the result can be pain, stiffness, behavioral changes, and even organ dysfunction.
The beauty of chiropractic lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t treat specific diseases or prescribe medication. Instead, it works with your dog’s own innate intelligence, the body’s built-in ability to heal and regulate itself. When the spine is properly aligned, that natural healing potential is unleashed.
Understanding the Nervous System-Spine Relationship
To understand how animal chiropractic works, you first need to understand how the nervous system functions. The nervous system is the master control system of the body. It sends messages between the brain and every organ, gland, muscle, and tissue. Whether your dog is wagging their tail, digesting breakfast, fighting off an infection, or reacting to a sound, it all happens through the nervous system.
The spine houses and protects the spinal cord, which is like the main communication highway connecting the brain to the rest of the body. But the spine is more than a shield—it’s a moving, dynamic structure. Each vertebra is connected by joints, supported by muscles, and wrapped in connective tissue. When one of those vertebrae becomes restricted in movement or misaligned (a condition called a vertebral subluxation), it can irritate nearby nerves or interfere with signal transmission.
This nerve interference can lead to a wide variety of symptoms—some obvious, like limping or stiffness, and some subtle, like lethargy, frequent infections, behavioral changes, or poor digestion. Chiropractic care addresses these problems not by treating symptoms directly, but by correcting the structural imbalances that cause them.
What Happens During an Animal Chiropractic Session?
Certified animal chiropractors begin with a detailed health history and a hands-on examination of your dog’s posture, gait, spinal alignment, and muscle tone. They may ask about behavioral changes, appetite, or even how your dog prefers to sit or sleep—because all of these can offer clues about what’s happening in the spine.
Next comes the palpation exam. The chiropractor will gently feel along the spine and joints, assessing restricted movement, muscle spasms, heat, swelling, or misalignment. This step is precise and highly refined—animal chiropractors are trained to detect subtle shifts that aren’t visible to the untrained eye.
If a subluxation is detected, the chiropractor delivers a gentle, specific adjustment. This is a rapid but controlled movement applied by hand to a joint that is not moving correctly. The goal is to restore normal motion, reduce tension, and remove interference from the nervous system.
Contrary to popular belief, adjustments are not forceful, and they’re nothing like the dramatic “cracking” you may have seen in human chiropractic videos. In fact, most dogs tolerate the adjustment well and often respond with a stretch, shake, or visible relaxation afterward. Some dogs even fall asleep.
Is It Safe?
Yes, when performed by a certified professional, animal chiropractic is very safe. Chiropractors and veterinarians who pursue post-graduate certification in animal chiropractic undergo hundreds of hours of specialized education, including anatomy, neurology, biomechanics, and hands-on clinical skills. Programs like those recognized by the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association (AVCA) require rigorous training and testing.
That said, chiropractic should never be performed by someone without proper credentials. Dog anatomy is not the same as human anatomy, and improper techniques can cause harm. Always ask to see proof of certification, and make sure your animal chiropractor is legally permitted to practice in your state or province.
What Can Chiropractic Help With?
Because the nervous system is involved in virtually every function of the body, chiropractic can have wide-reaching benefits. These may include:
Improved mobility and flexibility
Relief from stiffness, limping, or lameness
Enhanced performance in working and sport dogs
Faster recovery from injuries or surgeries
Reduced inflammation and joint stress
Better digestion and elimination
Increased energy and engagement
Support for aging dogs dealing with arthritis or weakness
Reduction in anxiety and mood-related behaviors
But chiropractic doesn’t “treat” these conditions in the way traditional medicine does. It simply removes interference so that the body can correct its own dysfunctions. For example, if a misaligned vertebra is affecting the nerve that supplies the hind leg, restoring that alignment can allow the nerve to resume normal function, and the dog may stop limping.
Chiropractic is particularly valuable for:
Performance Dogs: Agility, herding, flyball, and dock-diving dogs place significant demands on their bodies. Routine chiropractic care can improve coordination, prevent injuries, and support recovery.
Senior Dogs: Older dogs often experience stiffness, muscle loss, and balance issues. Adjustments can improve comfort and slow the physical decline associated with aging.
Puppies: Rapid growth, awkward play, and birth trauma can all contribute to early misalignments. Starting chiropractic care early can help set a foundation for balanced development.
Post-Surgical Dogs: Dogs recovering from orthopedic surgery often develop compensatory patterns. Chiropractic care can help them regain symmetry and prevent overuse of the opposite limb.
How Often Should My Dog Get Adjusted?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Frequency depends on your dog’s age, activity level, health status, and goals. An agility dog might benefit from weekly or biweekly adjustments during competition season. A senior pet may do well with monthly care to manage arthritis. For many family pets, a schedule of every 4–6 weeks works well as maintenance.
After an initial exam and adjustment, your chiropractor will recommend a care plan based on your dog’s specific needs. Just like with dental cleanings or grooming, consistency is key to getting the full benefit.
What’s the Difference Between Chiropractic and Other Modalities?
Chiropractic care is sometimes confused with massage, physical therapy, or acupuncture. While all of these are valuable, they each serve different functions:
Massage targets soft tissues to relieve tension and improve circulation.
Physical therapy focuses on rehabilitating injured muscles and joints through exercises and modalities.
Acupuncture stimulates specific points on the body to influence energy flow and nerve function.
Chiropractic corrects joint restrictions to restore normal spinal function and nerve flow.
Often, the best outcomes occur when these modalities are used together in an integrative care plan. Chiropractic is not meant to replace your veterinarian, but to complement their care by addressing structural imbalances that can affect recovery and performance.
What Results Can I Expect?
Results can be immediate, cumulative, or subtle. Some dogs show improvement right after their first adjustment—moving more freely, jumping up with ease, or playing with renewed enthusiasm. Others need several sessions before significant change is noticeable, especially if the problem has been long-standing.
Just as importantly, chiropractic helps prevent problems before they start. Many owners report fewer injuries, fewer vet visits, and better overall wellness when their dog receives regular adjustments.
And then there’s the intangible: the lightness in your dog’s step, the extra tail wags, the way they stretch and breathe more easily. When the body is in balance, your dog simply feels better—and it shows.
The Takeaway: Animal chiropractic is not a trend—it’s a science-based, hands-on way to help your dog live a more comfortable, agile, and balanced life. Whether your dog is a working athlete or a beloved couch companion, chiropractic care supports the nervous system that runs it all. When that system is clear, your dog has the best chance to heal, move, and thrive—naturally.
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Dr. Bill Ormston graduated from Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1988. After attending Options For Animals in 1998 he received certification from the AVCA and began using chiropractic to treat his animal patients. Jubilee Animal Health is a mobile mixed animal practice in the Dallas Metroplex area where he cares for pets and horses using mostly alternative methods. He is one of the founding instructors of the post graduate course in Animal Chiropractic at Parker Chiropractic College in Dallas. Dr.O has lectured both nationally and internationally on Animal Chiropractic and biomechanics and gait analysis in the quadruped. He has written booklets on chiropractic care in the dog and horse and a book about blending traditional and alternative care in pets.
As former members of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education, we have long respected the complexity and responsibility of serving on the board. It is a demanding and often thankless role. Yet, the gravity of our district’s challenges and the content of the Denver Post editorial from September 28, 2025, compel us to speak out.
The editorial referenced “some candidates running for the Denver Board of Education who would rather see the district’s world-class lottery system go away,” and accused them of wanting to “keep the best schools in Denver a secret.” Let’s be clear: the three incumbents — Scott Esserman, Xóchitl Gaytán, and Michelle Quattlebaum — have led efforts to dismantle school choice in Denver. They have also collaborated with the Superintendent to only publicize the positive results and limit public access to negative school performance data especially among low income students. The public deserves to see the disaggregated achievement by race, ethnicity, and income.
Despite campaigning on promises of transparency and accountability, the incumbents’ actions have too often produced the opposite. The current board has made critical decisions behind closed doors, minimized authentic community engagement, and failed to deliver measurable improvement for Denver’s students.
This November, Denver voters have the opportunity to elect four new board members who will restore integrity, transparency, and student-centered decision-making. These candidates–Mariana del Hierro (District 2), Caron Blanke (District 3), Timiya Jackson (District 4), and Alex Magaña (At-Large)—represent the best of Denver’s civic and educational leadership. Two are accomplished educators, and two bring executive management experience rooted in community service. Collectively, they are prepared to govern responsibly and help rebuild a system that prioritizes student success above all else.
The data tell a sobering story. While 75% of white students in DPS are proficient in reading, only 30% or fewer Black, Latino, and low-income students meet grade-level expectations–a gap that continues to widen. In mathematics, the disparities are even starker, with up to 80% of students from these groups performing below grade level.
Standardized scores are not the only indicator of educational health, but they are an important one. Denver Public Schools has not returned to pre-pandemic levels of achievement and, alarmingly, has no clear plan to get there. The current leadership has failed to set ambitious goals, measure progress transparently, or hold itself accountable for student outcomes.
It is deeply concerning that a board responsible for $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds, 90,000 students, and 15,000 employees demonstrates so little urgency or accountability. Under this leadership, Denver students have fallen even farther behind academically, socially, and emotionally.
This election offers a turning point. Denver voters can choose leaders who bring urgency, competence, and a clear sense of responsibility to public education. Blanke, del Hierro, Jackson, and Magaña are ready to collaborate with the Superintendent on an aggressive, student-centered plan to raise achievement and restore public confidence. The pandemic presented an opportunity to reimagine a district that works for every child. The current board–and the incumbents seeking reelection—failed that test. Denver cannot afford another generation of lost potential.
This November, we urge voters to support new leadership committed to transparency, accountability, and the belief that every Denver student deserves the opportunity to learn, thrive, and succeed.
Elaine Gantz Berman, Theresa Peña and Mary Seawell are all former elected directors of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education.
Apple is back with the latest version of the iPad Pro, and like the iPad Air earlier this year the surface-level changes are minimal. Like that iPad Air, there’s a new chip on board here. It’s the M5, which was also added to the 14-inch MacBook Pro and Vision Pro. There are new Apple-designed networking chips: the N1 handles Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread, while the C1X handles 5G connectivity. Both of those chips debuted in the iPhone Air last month, so this is the first time they’re in an iPad. Finally, the iPad Pro supports fast charging for the first time; you can get to a 50 percent charge in about 30 minutes using a 60W power adaptor.
Compared to the redesign Apple introduced with the M4 iPad Pro in 2024, this is very much a minor spec bump. It makes sense for Apple to ensure the iPad Pro has its most performant chips as soon as they are released. If you’re charging customers upwards of $1,000 for an iPad Pro, it had better be on the bleeding edge. (The 13-inch iPad Pro I’m testing with 1TB of storage and 5G connectivity costs $2,099, plus the $349 Magic Keyboard.)
As such, the iPad Pro M5 is fairly easy to understand. Want a new iPad Pro? You’re now getting exactly what Apple offered a week ago, plus some impressive performance gains for specific tasks. Almost no one who bought an M4 iPad Pro should upgrade to this one, but anyone using an older model will find a ton to appreciate here.
And while the hardware hasn’t radically changed, iPadOS has. The recent iPadOS 26 release introduced an entirely new multitasking system, a significantly improved Files app and more support for background processes, to name just a few of the highlights. Those things are best appreciated on a powerful device with a large screen like the 13-inch iPad Pro M5 I’m reviewing here. For years, the question that has dogged the iPad Pro is when its software would match up to its undeniably impressive hardware. I think the combo of iPadOS 26 paired with this hardware is a winner, but as always the price is going to be a sticking point.
Apple / Engadget
The iPad Pro remains perhaps the most impressive piece of hardware Apple sells, and it’s more powerful and capable than ever. Too bad it’s so incredibly expensive.
Pros
M5 chip is a significant update for some GPU-powered tasks
Possibly the best screen I’ve ever seen
Extremely thin and light
First iPad with fast charging
iPadOS 26 is a major improvement
Cons
Prohibitively expensive
Accessories like the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro make it cost even more
As mentioned, the M5 chip is the big change for the iPad Pro, and if you’re coming from a device older than last year’s M4 model you can expect a big performance increase when you start pushing the envelope of what you can do.
Before getting into the nitty gritty, here’s a rundown of what’s different from last year. Probably the most significant change is that the M5’s GPU now includes a “neural accelerator” on each of its 10 cores, an architectural tweak that’ll unsurprisingly give the chip more muscle when using the GPU for AI-related tasks. Beyond the neural accelerators, the GPU is also up to 30 percent faster in graphics performance, and the third-generation ray-tracing engine here is up to 45 percent faster in apps using ray tracing.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
The standard CPU cores (four performance, six efficiency) are also faster than last year’s model, though less dramatically so. That’s not a surprise, as each successive M-series chip has gotten similar modest performance gains over the years. (Note that the iPad Pros with 256GB or 512GB of storage only get three performance cores. They also come with 12GB of RAM compared to the 16GB in configurations with more storage, but that’s more than the 8GB of RAM in the last generation’s equivalent options.) The Neural Engine has been upgraded, as well. Apple is also promising big gains in memory bandwidth, which now hits 153GB/s (nearly 30 percent higher than on the M4). Finally, read/write speeds to storage are up to two times faster than in last year’s model.
Doing some benchmarking with the Geekbench 6 and Geekbench AI apps show the expected major gains for GPU and AI performance. Single-core and multi-core CPU tests with Geekbench 6 come in at about 15 percent and 10 percent better than the iPad Pro M4, but GPU performance has increased more than 32 percent.
Things are more dramatic when you look specifically at the Geekbench AI results. The app offers three scores (single precision, half precision and quantized) and can be run on three different chip backends (CPU, GPU and Neural Engine). When running the CPU- and Neural Engine-based benchmarks, the M5 only bested the M4 by single-digit percentages. But when using the GPU, the M5’s single-precision score was 22.4 percent better than the M4. Half precision and quantized performance was even more impressive — the M5 scored 85 percent and 101 percent better than the M4, respectively.
The story this tells is that unless you’re hitting your GPU hard with AI tasks, the M5 isn’t massively better than the M4. Not a huge surprise, and most people who shelled out for an iPad Pro in the last 18 months should still be plenty happy with their purchases. But those GPU scores show off exactly where the M5 can stretch its wings compared to its predecessor.
As I’ve only had the iPad Pro M5 for less than a week, I’m still comparing the M4 to M5 iPad Pro on specific AI-focused tasks and in certain apps and will update this review with more details later this week.
The caveat with all of this is that while the M5 is incredibly powerful, it’s also overkill for most things that people are going to use an iPad for. An iPad Pro with the M2 chip from 2022 still feels plenty responsive for most standard tasks that don’t require exceptional speed or power. Yes, there are definitely people buying an iPad Pro and maxing out its impressive capabilities, and those who do so will appreciate the performance here. But for everyone else, the M5 alone isn’t going to change how you use the iPad Pro on a day-to-day basis.
Apple’s 13-inch iPad Pro M5 is on the left; the 11-inch iPad Pro M4 is on the right.
(Nathan Ingraham for Engadget)
Hardware and display are still stunning
Anyone upgrading from an iPad Pro older than last year’s M4 model is in for a treat far beyond sheer performance. The iPad Pro M5 is physically identical to the prior one, but that doesn’t matter because I think this is still the single most impressive device Apple makes. I went deep into the many changes Apple made last year in my review of the iPad Pro M4, and everything I said there still applies.
But to recap, the iPad Pro is extremely portable despite its performance chops. Apple made it about 20 percent thinner and about a quarter-pound lighter than the iPad Pro models Apple sold from 2018 through 2023. This radically improves the experience of using it. If you’re holding it like a tablet, the 13-inch model is now light and thin enough to be comfortable for extended use without having to put it down. Doing anything with the on-screen keyboard while holding it is still pretty awkward and the 11-inch option still feels like the best size for hand-held tasks. But the 13-inch iPad Pro I’m reviewing is noticeably easier to hold than the iPad Air because of its reduced weight and slimmer profile.
The only complaint I might have about that thinness is it prevents Apple from shoving a bigger battery in here. The iPad Pro M5 gets the same 10-hour battery life rating (for surfing the web or watching videos) that every iPad has gotten since the tablet was released in 2010. But in recent years, Apple has, to some degree, stopped focusing on making every device as thin as possible at the potential expense of things like performance or battery life. Clearly, performance isn’t an issue here. But the same people who value extended battery life in a thicker device when using things like the MacBook Pro might feel the same here.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
That’s a valid opinion, but a tablet is meant to be held in your hands and carried around with you even more so than a laptop, so I understand why Apple values portability over extending the iPad Pro’s battery life. Plus, the iPad Pro M5’s fast-charging capabilities make it pretty easy to extend its life. Using Apple’s new 40W Dynamic Charger that can automatically step up to 60W, I got from 23 percent to 70 percent in 35 minutes. That’s a tad slower than the 50 percent charge in 30 minutes Apple claims, but we’re well within the “close enough” range.
One thing I didn’t get to test last year with the iPad Pro M4 was its durability. The tablet’s extremely thin design reminded people of past Apple devices that had had some issues with flexing. After over a year with the previous iPad Pro, I’m not at all worried about this one. I’ve taken an iPad Pro M4 all around the US and internationally with no issues. Granted, it’s usually in its keyboard case, but I’ve also traveled with it in the basic Smart Folio Apple sells and have seen no evidence of bending. I also don’t remember seeing any reports about durability issues from owners over the last 18 months, so I wouldn’t worry about its long-term durability.
I don’t have a great read on how long the iPad Pro M5 lasts away from its charger just yet — in the first few days with a new device it’s often downloading a lot of data from backups and doing some optimizing, thus not giving you a great feel for how long it’ll usually last. But so far, performance seems similar to the iPad Air M3 and iPad Pro M4 I’ve reviewed recently. I was getting between seven and eight hours while using the Magic Keyboard, and I’m guessing that I’ll blow past the 10-hour estimate when watching locally-stored video. More details on that to come.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
Performance, check. Design, check. The third thing that continues to impress me about the iPad Pro is its screen. It quite simply has the nicest display I have ever seen on a portable device, be it a laptop, phone or tablet. Apple’s tandem OLED display (two OLED panels layered on top of each other) is the same in all respects as it was last year. That means the 13-inch screen has a 2,752 x 2,064 resolution (264 ppi) and standard brightness that can hit 1,000 nits, or up to 1,600 nits peak for HDR content. Aside from the OLED display, the only display improvements the iPad Pro has that the iPad Air doesn’t is ProMotion support for 120Hz refresh rates as well as a nano-texture glass option for the 1TB and 2TB models.
To be clear, though, the iPad Pro’s screen is in a completely different ballpark than the one on the iPad Air. Between the much faster refresh rate, high brightness levels, completely dark blacks and wonderful contrast, there’s no question this screen far surpasses what you’ll find on any other iPad. Professionals who do detailed work in video, photography, drawing with the Apple Pencil Pro or graphic design will appreciate all of these features. But it also makes something like kicking back on a plane to watch a movie more enjoyable.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
iPadOS 26
In last year’s iPad Pro M4 review, I wrote: “Apple has shown no indication it’s going to make iPadOS more like a Mac.” As such, I recommended people not buy an iPad Pro unless they were happy with the limitations that have been inherent to iPadOS for a long time. It took Apple until this summer, but its latest updates rendered my earlier words invalid. With iPadOS 26, Apple pretty much said “screw it” and addressed nearly every big software complaint users have had.
As a quick refresher: apps still open in full screen by default, but you can now grab the corner and resize it to any shape you see fit; you can then stack up as many windows as you want in that view. Apps are also much better at remembering their size and position on your screen than ever before. If you swipe up and dismiss all the apps you’re working with and then re-open one, it’s right in the same place you left it. If you want to throw something back in full-screen, the familiar “stoplight” controls from the Mac are available for easy window management.
You can swipe up and hold for a second from the bottom of the screen to enter Expose, which shows every open window in your view. Swiping right shows all the full-screen apps you have open. If you have an app in full screen, you can switch back to a windowed app that’ll just float on top of what you’re working in. There’s also a menu bar at the top of the screen that makes it easy to access advanced controls for whatever you’re using.
As I said when I first started testing out iPadOS 26 in the summer, the end result of all these changes is that your iPad (no matter which kind) will feel significantly more capable with this software update. And there are other features that power users will appreciate, like a significantly improved Files app. Since it’s easier to have multiple windows, moving things around or dragging and dropping things into apps is a lot simpler. And there are improved sorting options as well, while PDFs finally open in the new Preview app rather than within Files .
Background task capabilities have also been significantly expanded. For example, Final Cut Pro can now render video in the background, whereas before, switching to a different app would put the lengthy and intensive process on pause. And developers can tap into this API to use it for their own apps, too.
I can’t say for sure that this will answer all the complaints of various iPad Pro owners out there, but I think Apple has gotten about as close as it can without just putting macOS on the device and calling it a day. Even with the big updates to iPadOS, an iPad Pro isn’t for everyone. Plenty of people will still choose a traditional laptop. But the iPad has always offered a pretty unique blend of power and portability, and with better software it’s a more viable option than ever.
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
Wrap-up
My viewpoint on the iPad Pro hasn’t changed since last year. I still find it a wildly impressive device that is unlike much else you can buy. Just like the last model, it has Apple’s newest chip, the best display Apple has made (aside from its $5,000 Pro XDR monitor) and a physical design that feels almost impossible given how much technology is crammed inside. It’s truly delightful, and it’s even more capable than before thanks to the combination of iPadOS 26 and the M5 chip.
However, I still can’t stomach that price. $1,299 for a 13-inch iPad with 256GB of storage, no 5G connectivity and no Magic Keyboard is a lot of money, even if it is as capable as a similarly-priced laptop. Given the incredible technology inside of the iPad Pro, I can understand why it’s so expensive. And it’s powerful enough that some buyers will be able to use it for three, four, even five years before they feel the need to update, which makes the up-front investment a little less burdensome. It’s not the kind of device you need to replace annually, that’s for sure. But unless you are going to use it as your main computer — all day, every day — and know exactly what benefits you’ll get from the iPad over a more traditional laptop, you’re probably better off buying an iPad Air and saving yourself a lot of money.
Like clockwork, Apple has introduced a new M-series chip on updated versions of the iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and for the first time, Apple Vision Pro. The new M5 chip shares plenty of similarities with the M4 chip Apple introduced in 2024, but the biggest seems to be a focus on improving graphics and AI performance.
The M5 chip is made using a new third-generation 3nm process, according to Apple, with an updated 10-core GPU architecture on all versions that offers four times the peak GPU compute performance of the M4, while carrying over support for things like hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The M5 also features a 10-core CPU, just like the M4, with six efficiency and up to four performance cores.
The M5 chip configurations for the iPad Pro.
(Apple)
That is unless you’re buying an M5 iPad Pro. The 1TB and 2TB models of the Pro feature a 10-core CPU and GPU, but if you opt for a smaller storage size of 256GB or 512GB, you’ll get a nine-core CPU with six efficiency cores and three performance cores. Apple says the 10-core CPU offers “up to 15 percent faster multithreaded performance” over the M4 chip, though it’s not clear if that’s due to the CPU or memory improvements. That’s because the new chip offers an improved memory bandwidth of 153GB/s, up from the starting 120GB/s bandwidth on the M4, though less than what you can get with the M4 Pro or M4 Max. Apple will likely release M5 versions of both chips next year, but it’s worth knowing what you’re missing if you opt for the M5 right now.
The performance gains Apple was able to squeeze out of its new GPU and improved memory bandwidth seem like the biggest changes users will actually notice from the M5. That includes “up to 30 percent faster” graphics performance than the M4 and “up to a 45 percent graphics uplift in apps using ray tracing.” Apple introduced the M4 with a focus on dynamic caching and ray tracing, and it seems like the M5 makes both graphical processes more efficient. The gains are apparently even more noticeable on the M5 Vision Pro, where the headset can achieve a 120Hz refresh rate, up from the 100Hz max Apple guaranteed before, and is now able to render “10 percent more pixels.”
AI performance is also improved, though not necessarily thanks to the M5’s 16-core Neural Engine alone, which seems to be the same Neural Engine used in the M4. Instead, Apple’s taking a new approach to AI processing by including dedicated “Neural Accelerators” in each core of its GPU. This extra help has led to faster performance when devices are using Apple Intelligence skills or AI-powered features like the Vision Pro’s ability to generate a Persona, according to Apple.
In-depth testing and benchmarking of Apple’s new M5 devices will be required to accurately capture how the M5 chip changes things, especially when it comes to general CPU performance. For now, though, Apple’s chips continue to get more graphically powerful, which bodes well for anyone who uses MacBooks and iPads for creative tasks, AI or playing games.
“You’re able to stand onstage in front of tens of thousands of people,” I said. “That doesn’t sound shy to me.” (In short, how could he not be a total extrovert?)
“That’s different,” he said. “There I’m totally comfortable and in the moment, because it’s like I’m in a little bubble, playing music with my friends.”
Should I have been surprised Kirk is introverted? (Or that Richard Branson is introverted? Or Warren Buffett, he of the five-hour Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting Q & A sessions?)
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
Nope: being introverted or extroverted has little to do with what you do, especially in public.
Here are few other things conventional wisdom gets wrong about introverts and extroverts.
1. Extroverts are better suited to be leaders than introverts.
Yeah, no. According to multiple studies, there’s no difference in the effectiveness of introverted leaders and extroverted leaders in terms of overall team and company performance.
Except in certain circumstances: as Adam Grant notes, extroverts are more effective leading employees who tend to seek guidance, direction, and motivation, and introverted leaders are more effective leading employees who tend to take initiative and work well without supervision.
The best leaders? Whether introverted or extroverted, they adapt to the individual needs of each employee. The key is what you do with who you are, and what you believe.
These are phenomenal, phenomenal leaders who are all introverts. The one thing they have in common, whether you’re extroverted or introverted, is undying belief in your cause.
The charisma is not how much energy you have. The charisma is how much you’re willing to devote to that. And if it’s all of it, you have charisma. You have leadership capacity.
If you’re an introvert, one of your strengths is the ability to assess, analyze, evaluate, and make considered, thoughtful decisions. So is the willingness to back your decisions — and your goals — with determination, effort, and persistence.
Both of which are qualities of a great leader.
2. “Extroverts like to spend time in the outer world of people and things, introverts in the inner world of ideas and images.”
The above quote comes from the folks at Myers-Briggs, early popularizers of the “E” and “I” in the MBTI personality test.
Science shows that’s really not the case, though. A study published in Personality and Individual Differences found that introverts tend to spend the same amount of time with people, and doing things, as extroverts do. (And they’re just as happy as extroverts when they do.)
A study published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that extroverts get energy from talking and interacting with other people, but so do introverts; in fact, both extroverts and introverts said their energy levels were highest when they interacted with other people, whether at work or in their personal lives.
Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, you like to spend time in the outer world, interacting with people and doing things.
The only real difference in extroverts and introverts is their sensitivity to outside stimulation. I’m introverted, so after a while I need a little quiet time to recharge. My brother-in-law is extremely extroverted and never seems to need quiet time; to him, more interaction provides even more energy.
3. Extroverts are better at sales than introverts.
The real winners? Ambiverts, the people who tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum — and as a result, can more easily adapt their approach depending on the individual needs of potential customers. According to the authors of a study published in Psychological Science:
Because they naturally engage in a flexible pattern of talking and listening, ambiverts are likely to express sufficient assertiveness and enthusiasm to persuade and close a sale but are more inclined to listen to customers’ interests and less vulnerable to appearing too excited or overconfident.
Turns out the same is true for being a great leader and a great salesperson: your personality matters a lot less than your willingness and ability to adapt to the needs of other people.
4. Extroverts perform better in public situations than introverts.
Extroversion and introversion have little to do with social skills. Plenty of introverts are engaging, and plenty of extroverts are socially awkward.
The situation also matters. Some extroverts love interacting in a group, but struggle with one-on-one conversations.
The best meetings I ever attended were led by an introvert. He wasn’t loud, or talkative, or charismatic, or any of the stereotypical signs of extroversion. When he spoke, it was to the point. When he listened, he really listened. He had figured out how to use what he did best to his advantage.
Research bears out that approach; a Carleton University study found that performance is mitigated by psychological coping style. If you’re shy, coming to a meeting prepared will help you feel comfortable speaking up. If you’re outgoing and gregarious, reminding yourself to listen more than you speak — or even to make sure you speak last — helps ensure other people feel listened to and valued.
And gives you the opportunity to learn whether your assumptions or “just thinking out loud” opinions are wrong.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
The Breakaway Music Festival is hosting its inaugural event in Sacramento at Cal Expo, bringing electronic dance music to the city after three years in San Francisco.The festival features three stages and dozens of performances. Day one was marked with performances from Tiesto, Elderbrook and Malaa. Martin Garrix and Louis the Child will headline day two. “It’s great. I love it. We’re happy to be here and excited for the next two days,” festivalgoer Ryan McAuliffe said. The move to Sacramento surprised some attendees, but many said they were pleased with the convenience. “I was really surprised that EDM was making its way over to Sacramento of all places. I mean, I’m used to going to San Francisco and all sorts of different places,” festivalgoer Dre Alvarado said. “But in Sacramento, it’s kind of great to just be able to just drive 10 minutes from my house to come to an EDM fest.””First of all, less travel time. So it’s great. I love it,” festivalgoer Yadira Cuevas said. Visit Sacramento noted that the festival will provide a boost to the city during a weekend that previously hosted the GoldenSky Country Music Festival. They expect about 20,000 people over two days. The festival is introducing a new sound to Sacramento, but it is fostering a familiar sense of community. “I think like overall, like there’s just so much love and positivity,” Alvarado said.”Everybody just feels like family when you don’t even know them,” festivalgoer Gabriela Hernandez said. “We’re here to dance and it’s just all peace, love, unity and respect,” festivalgoer Amanda Katami said. Many people said they hope the festival will become a regular event in Sacramento.”Hopefully, people bought tickets so they were they could bring it back next year,” Cuevas said.Doors open for day two at 3 p.m. Tickets are still available, with a one-day pass costing about $100.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The Breakaway Music Festival is hosting its inaugural event in Sacramento at Cal Expo, bringing electronic dance music to the city after three years in San Francisco.
The festival features three stages and dozens of performances. Day one was marked with performances from Tiesto, Elderbrook and Malaa. Martin Garrix and Louis the Child will headline day two.
“It’s great. I love it. We’re happy to be here and excited for the next two days,” festivalgoer Ryan McAuliffe said.
The move to Sacramento surprised some attendees, but many said they were pleased with the convenience.
“I was really surprised that EDM was making its way over to Sacramento of all places. I mean, I’m used to going to San Francisco and all sorts of different places,” festivalgoer Dre Alvarado said. “But in Sacramento, it’s kind of great to just be able to just drive 10 minutes from my house to come to an EDM fest.”
“First of all, less travel time. So it’s great. I love it,” festivalgoer Yadira Cuevas said.
Lady Gaga is extending her dominance of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards and has been added as a performer, show organizers announced Saturday.Related video above: A flight delay, a jazz band and a viral momentThe Grammy-award winning musician leads this year’s VMA nominations with 12 nods, including artist of the year and best album for “Mayhem,” which was released earlier this year.Gaga has a long-standing history with the VMAs, with 57 total nominations throughout her career. Mother Monster, as she’s known, last took the stage in 2020, singing various hits from her album, “Chromatica,” including a performance of “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande.She joins a slate of other seasoned VMAs performers confirmed for this year’s roster, including Doja Cat, who will give the first ever televised performance of her new single “Jealous Type.” Jelly Roll will also perform and is competing for the first time in four categories. Post Malone, a six-time VMA winner, is also set to take the stage.Pop singers Conan Gray and Tate McRae will each make their performance debut on the VMAs stage next month.Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s MTV VMAs.New awards honor Latin and Rap artistsThis year’s MTV Video Music Awards is shaking things up, handing out two new awards to decorated artists in the rap and Latin music genres.Rapper Busta Rhymes will receive the first ever MTV VMA Rock the Bells Visionary Award and Ricky Martin will be honored with the inaugural Latin Icon Award.The Rock the Bells Visionary Award celebrates the hip-hop star’s “boundary-breaking cultural impact and an indomitable musical career,” the announcement read. Rhymes, who has taken the VMAs stage various times since his first performance in 1997, will also perform during the ceremony.Martin, whose long VMAs history began with his first performance in 1999, will also perform and be honored for a “four-decade career that launched Latin music and culture into the mainstream,” according to the announcement.Who is performing at the VMAs?Gaga joins a growing list of confirmed performers for this year’s VMAs, including Gray, McRae, Jelly Roll, Doja Cat, Post Malone and more.Rhymes and Martin will both perform, as well as a slew of other artists, including Alex Warren, J Balvin, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr.Warren, who’s nominated for best new artist, best pop and song of the year, will take the VMA stage for the first time, performing his breakout hit, “Ordinary.” Newcomer sombr, a singer-songwriter and producer, will also be making his award show debut.Balvin will perform “Zun Zun” with Latin singers Justin Quiles and Lenny Tavárez, and “Noventa” with producer DJ Snake.Carpenter, who offered a debut performance at the VMAs last year, taking home song of the year, will return to perform “Manchild.”McRae is also up for four first-time nominations, including song of the year and best pop artist.When are the MTV Video Music Awards?The 2025 VMAs will air on Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern, live from the UBS Arena on New York’s Long Island.Who will host the VMAs?LL Cool J has snagged wins, co-hosted and performed atop the MTV Video Music Awards stage. Now, the Grammy-winning rapper-actor-author is going solo to host the 2025 awards ceremony.He’s retaking the stage, this time without Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow, with whom he co-hosted in 2022.He’s also up for the best hip-hop award for his single “Murdergram Deux” featuring Eminem. The single is part of his most recent album, “THE FORCE,” which released in September and was his first album in 11 years.LL Cool J is a longtime champion of the VMAs, having won his first Moon Person in 1991. He became the first rapper to receive the Video Vanguard Award, in 1997. He also performed in an all-star tribute to hip-hop’s 50th anniversary in 2023 and a celebration for Def Jam Records’ 40th anniversary last year.Can I stream the VMAs?Yes, the show will be broadcast by CBS for the first time, and also simulcast on MTV and available for streaming on Paramount+ in the United States.Who’s nominated for the VMAs?Gaga is leading this year’s awards with 12 nominations, including artist of the year. The “Mayhem” singer was nearly tied with Bruno Mars, who has 11 nods. The pair’s duet, “Die with a Smile,” is up for four awards, including song of the year.Gaga’s plethora of nominations dethrones Taylor Swift, who held the top spot for two years. This time around, Swift received one artist of the year nomination. The two are accompanied by Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen and The Weeknd in that category.Gaga and Mars are followed by Lamar with 10 nominations, ROSÉ and Carpenter with eight each, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven each and Billie Eilish with six.Charli XCX also received love with five nominations for her “Brat” Summer success “Guess,” featuring Eilish.Bad Bunny, Doechii, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll, Miley Cyrus and McRae have four nominations each.How can I vote for the VMAs?Fan voting across the 19 categories is live now on the VMAs website. Voting closes on Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. Eastern, except for the best new artist category, which will accept votes into the live show. The public can vote up to 10 times a day until voting closes.Who will receive the Video Vanguard Award?Mariah Carey will receive this year’s Video Vanguard Award.The award was given to Katy Perry last year. Previous recipients include Shakira, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and Madonna.
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
Lady Gaga is extending her dominance of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards and has been added as a performer, show organizers announced Saturday.
Related video above: A flight delay, a jazz band and a viral moment
The Grammy-award winning musician leads this year’s VMA nominations with 12 nods, including artist of the year and best album for “Mayhem,” which was released earlier this year.
Gaga has a long-standing history with the VMAs, with 57 total nominations throughout her career. Mother Monster, as she’s known, last took the stage in 2020, singing various hits from her album, “Chromatica,” including a performance of “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande.
She joins a slate of other seasoned VMAs performers confirmed for this year’s roster, including Doja Cat, who will give the first ever televised performance of her new single “Jealous Type.” Jelly Roll will also perform and is competing for the first time in four categories. Post Malone, a six-time VMA winner, is also set to take the stage.
Pop singers Conan Gray and Tate McRae will each make their performance debut on the VMAs stage next month.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s MTV VMAs.
New awards honor Latin and Rap artists
This year’s MTV Video Music Awards is shaking things up, handing out two new awards to decorated artists in the rap and Latin music genres.
Rapper Busta Rhymes will receive the first ever MTV VMA Rock the Bells Visionary Award and Ricky Martin will be honored with the inaugural Latin Icon Award.
The Rock the Bells Visionary Award celebrates the hip-hop star’s “boundary-breaking cultural impact and an indomitable musical career,” the announcement read. Rhymes, who has taken the VMAs stage various times since his first performance in 1997, will also perform during the ceremony.
Martin, whose long VMAs history began with his first performance in 1999, will also perform and be honored for a “four-decade career that launched Latin music and culture into the mainstream,” according to the announcement.
Who is performing at the VMAs?
Gaga joins a growing list of confirmed performers for this year’s VMAs, including Gray, McRae, Jelly Roll, Doja Cat, Post Malone and more.
Rhymes and Martin will both perform, as well as a slew of other artists, including Alex Warren, J Balvin, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr.
Warren, who’s nominated for best new artist, best pop and song of the year, will take the VMA stage for the first time, performing his breakout hit, “Ordinary.” Newcomer sombr, a singer-songwriter and producer, will also be making his award show debut.
Balvin will perform “Zun Zun” with Latin singers Justin Quiles and Lenny Tavárez, and “Noventa” with producer DJ Snake.
Carpenter, who offered a debut performance at the VMAs last year, taking home song of the year, will return to perform “Manchild.”
McRae is also up for four first-time nominations, including song of the year and best pop artist.
When are the MTV Video Music Awards?
The 2025 VMAs will air on Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. Eastern, live from the UBS Arena on New York’s Long Island.
Who will host the VMAs?
LL Cool J has snagged wins, co-hosted and performed atop the MTV Video Music Awards stage. Now, the Grammy-winning rapper-actor-author is going solo to host the 2025 awards ceremony.
He’s retaking the stage, this time without Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow, with whom he co-hosted in 2022.
He’s also up for the best hip-hop award for his single “Murdergram Deux” featuring Eminem. The single is part of his most recent album, “THE FORCE,” which released in September and was his first album in 11 years.
LL Cool J is a longtime champion of the VMAs, having won his first Moon Person in 1991. He became the first rapper to receive the Video Vanguard Award, in 1997. He also performed in an all-star tribute to hip-hop’s 50th anniversary in 2023 and a celebration for Def Jam Records’ 40th anniversary last year.
Can I stream the VMAs?
Yes, the show will be broadcast by CBS for the first time, and also simulcast on MTV and available for streaming on Paramount+ in the United States.
Who’s nominated for the VMAs?
Gaga is leading this year’s awards with 12 nominations, including artist of the year. The “Mayhem” singer was nearly tied with Bruno Mars, who has 11 nods. The pair’s duet, “Die with a Smile,” is up for four awards, including song of the year.
Gaga’s plethora of nominations dethrones Taylor Swift, who held the top spot for two years. This time around, Swift received one artist of the year nomination. The two are accompanied by Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Morgan Wallen and The Weeknd in that category.
Gaga and Mars are followed by Lamar with 10 nominations, ROSÉ and Carpenter with eight each, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with seven each and Billie Eilish with six.
Charli XCX also received love with five nominations for her “Brat” Summer success “Guess,” featuring Eilish.
Bad Bunny, Doechii, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll, Miley Cyrus and McRae have four nominations each.
How can I vote for the VMAs?
Fan voting across the 19 categories is live now on the VMAs website. Voting closes on Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. Eastern, except for the best new artist category, which will accept votes into the live show. The public can vote up to 10 times a day until voting closes.
Who will receive the Video Vanguard Award?
Mariah Carey will receive this year’s Video Vanguard Award.
The award was given to Katy Perry last year. Previous recipients include Shakira, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and Madonna.
THIS STORY ORIGINALLY appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
Traditionally, the athletics track in an Olympic stadium is red. However, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, it’s purple, to match the event colors chosen by the Paris organizing committee. But there’s another difference: It’s made with recycled shells produced by the fishing industry, as part of the 2024 Olympics’ commitment to sustainability.
Resilient flooring, such as running-track flooring, is made using calcium carbonate, which is usually obtained through mining. Instead, the company that designed the track for the 2024 Summer Olympics, Mondo, teamed up with a fisher’s cooperative to gather shells of bivalve mollusks from the Mediterranean Sea, such as mussels and clams, which are rich in the material. The shells would’ve otherwise gone to waste.
The track is functionally the same as a traditional one, with the aim being to consolidate the creation of a new, resilient, sustainable sports flooring.
Stadium staff work on the long jump track inside the Stade de France.Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Mondo teamed up with Nieddittas, an Italian fishing cooperative specializing in mollusks, to get the materials it needed. Its fishers cleaned and dried waste shells from harvested mussels and clams, grounded them into a fine powder, and sent the material to the flooring manufacturer to make the track. The scientists in charge of the project worked on perfecting the technique for three years.
The sports industry can reduce its ecological impact by using seashells this way. Mining of limestone and marble to gather calcium carbonate produces carbon emissions, as well as mining waste. According to Mondo, the construction of a track using biogenic calcium carbonate offsets the emissions of a Euro 4 diesel vehicle driving 60,000 kilometers. “The project serves as a forward-looking example of a long-term commitment to sustainability and local communities,” Nieddittas said in a press release.
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Comedian and podcaster Theo Von will be performing at the Palace Theatre in Albany this summer. The show is scheduled for August 1 at 7:30 p.m.
The comedian and Lousiana native is known for his appearances on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and “Kill Tony,” as well as for competing on “Last Comic Standing” and “Reality Bites Back.” He’s also the host of the “This Past Weekend” podcast.
Von has released two full comedy specials across his career. The performance is a stop on his “Return of the Rat” tour. Tickets for his Albany performance go on sale June 28 at 10 a.m.
The Palace Theatre is located at 19 Clinton Avenue. You can buy Theo Von tickets online through the Ticketmaster website or in person at the Palace’s box office.
Company named Linehaul Carrier of the Year wins accolades as key supplier-partner providing superior quality truckload transportation services for PECO’s North American pooled rental pallet network.
INDIANAPOLIS, April 2, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Venture Logistics, a full-service logistics company with a deep portfolio of specialized transportation, supply chain and freight management services, has been recognized by PECO Pallet as its Linehaul Carrier of the Year.
PECO Pallet is one of North America’s largest providers of rental pallet services to the beverage, grocery, and consumer products industries. The company works with third-party trucking firms that provide time-definite transportation of PECO’s signature red, highly engineered nine-block pallets to thousands of customer locations across North America and return of pallets to PECO depots.
PECO reviewed dozens of trucking service providers in its annual supplier performance evaluation program. Venture Logistics won top honors in the Linehaul Carrier category.
“I want to commend the Venture Logistics team on a level of performance in 2023 that earned the highest evaluation score among our line-haul service partners,” said Mike Greene, PECO’s Senior Vice President, Network Planning and Transportation. “Their consistently superior service played a key role in supporting PECO’s quality and service commitment to our customers.”
PECO’s inaugural Carrier of the Year program objectively assesses carriers on key performance metrics, including equipment quality and availability, on-time performance, delivery updates, invoicing timeliness, safety, data quality, proactive communications, and overall customer support. Evaluation criteria also include cost-reduction initiatives, FMCSA CSA scores, and continuous improvement efforts.
“We are deeply honored to have been chosen as Carrier of the Year by PECO. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire Venture team,” said TJ Lehnertz, Business Unit President at Venture Logistics. “At Venture, we strive to exceed expectations and deliver exceptional service to our partners every day. PECO has been a great longstanding partner of Venture and we are truly grateful for their continued support.”
PECO Pallet operates North America’s second-largest pallet rental network with some 90 pallet depots deploying and managing an inventory of over 20 million of its signature red, high-quality pallets.
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Empire Live announced they will be hosting a performance by metal band Fozzy. The concert is scheduled for October 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Fozzy is fronted by professional wrestler Chris Jericho. The band has released eight studio albums and is best known for their songs “Judas”, “Painless” and “Burn Me Out.”
The show is a stop on the band’s 25th anniversary tour. The concert will kick off with performances by The Nocturnal Affair and CloZure.
Empire Live is located at 93 North Pearl Street in Albany. You can buy Fozzy tickets online through the Ticketmaster website or in person at the venue’s box office. Tickets go on sale to the public on March 29 at 10 a.m.
The ladies return this week with a plethora of celebrity topics and news to discuss, starting with Kate Middleton being spotted for the first time since her abdominal surgery (2:30). Later on in the pod, the ladies get into Rihanna’s $6 million performance in India (21:18), the Cyrus family drama (24:57), and Jay Shetty’s self-help book (29:23).
Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins Producer: Jade Whaley
Taylor Swift is proving she’s a pro when it comes to unexpected mishaps — and that she’s INSANELY fit!
The Anti Hero songstress has brought her Eras Tour to Tokyo, Japan this week for another three-show run of sold out performances. We’ve seen the superstar get past a few different mistakes with her “the show must go on” attitude ever since the tour started last year — and she continues to prove time and time again nothing will stop her from delivering the very best for her fans!
On Wednesday, a short clip started circulating on X (Twitter) showcasing Tay Tay’s latest Vigilante S**t performance in Japan during the Midnights portion of her concert. If you’ve seen the show, you know this set is HAWT! The 34-year-old and her dancers shake their butts and spin around on chairs as she sings the ballad. It’s SPICY as hell — but not as easy as it looks!
In the clip, Taylor is supposed to squat down, legs wide, onto her chair — eyes never leaving the audience as she sings. But either the chair wasn’t in quite the right spot or she wasn’t. She apparently just missed the chair and nearly fell to the ground! We said “nearly” though. The amazing part was, she was able to hold the squat without breaking a sweat despite there being no chair beneath her to keep her leverage! OMG!
Ch-ch-check out the clip (below) to see the moment she has to reach behind her to pull the chair under her butt:
Do you want to turn your next gig into an unforgettable show?
In front of a packed crowd?
In a cooler venue?
The key to booking better gigs is right here in this apple…
No, this isn’t an Adam & Eve reference.
Instead, I’d like you to imagine you’re moderately hungry.
If I offered you this apple, you might eat it. You might not.
If it’s been months since you ate an apple (assuming you like apples), you might scarf it down.
Now what if I offered you two apples today? You might eat one and let the other go bad.
And if I promised I’d bring you free apples every Friday for the next year, you might think:
“Well, what’s the point of even eating an apple today? There’s always next week.”
Plus, maybe you’re in the mood for tacos tonight.
The economics of… apples?
Yes, there’s an Economics lesson buried in here somewhere. About scarcity, demand, inflation, and — let it NOT go unaddressed — the Universal Law that tacos are better than apples.
But what does this story about apples have to do with gigs, you ask?
Let’s do a little reverse engineering.
Bigger venues need to trust you can fill ’em
Advancement is partially about managing perceptions.
In order to book a better gig tomorrow, a talent buyer has to feel relatively certain that you’ll be able to recreate the success they’ve already seen you achieve today.
So let’s talk about how to manage perceptions that your gigs are successful events.
Don’t “oversaturate” your market
Audiences rally when opportunities are rare.
How do you guarantee your gigs look like a success?
It should feel like a special event. A rare occasion.
Meaning: Don’t play too often in the same town.
Maybe once per season. Once per year, even!
Every concert should be a can’t-miss event
Scarcity creates urgency.
If you only play once in a while, your fans will have a deeper yearning to attend (or a bigger sense of obligation, if we’re talking about friends and family).
You want ALL your gigs to feel important enough for people to do the inconvenient stuff: trade work-shifts, hire babysitters, make the drive.
Even if that means overall you’re playing fewer gigs, the ones you do play will be more rewarding for both you and your fans. And any new downtime can be used to expand your tour circuit. Or produce better shows. (More on that below).
Play venues that are too small
Demand should outweigh supply.
Oh no. Supply & Demand?
Yep. In terms of your tour calendar, this means don’t play too often in any given region.
But you also should play in venues that are slightly too small to fit all of your likely attendees. This creates an atmosphere of exclusivity. We all want to feel special, right?
So if you can get 400 people out on Friday, play a 300-cap room.
If you can rely on 50 people on Tuesday, play a tiny room that squeezes ’em in.
If you think 15 people will show up, bring your own PA to a bookstore or boutique or barber shop and host your own pop-up style concert. These can be incredible opportunities to provide an intimate experience that feels exclusive and rare.
Groupthink can be a good thing
Buzz = Permission.
The more tightly packed the place is, the more you’ll create the perception (or reenforce the reality) that you’re an exciting artist.
This can be a bit of a balancing act, of course. Because a line around the block to get into your show is great PR on the one hand. On the other hand, it would also be great to have those people as paying attendees INSIDE the venue.
So, just remember…
Crowds stir excitement, and excitement grants permission to crowds.
By packing the place, you’re removing psychological barriers for the entire audience. A big audience will often pay closer attention, go deeper into the music, and appreciate what you’re doing on stage all the more.
As opposed to a half-empty club. Or a theatre with a bunch of empty seats. Suddenly you’re introducing doubt. “Hmmm, I wonder why more people aren’t here? Is the band slipping? Have trends changed? Should I feel bad for them? Awkward!”
Less gigs should mean better gigs
Redirect your resources to produce an unforgettable performance.
When you’re more selective about the shows you play, you can spend more time prepping for each show to make it truly special.
Dial in the production. Rehearse some crazy songs. Plan a secret collaboration. Pick a theme for the night. Get amazing outfits. Build props. Curate a must-see lineup. Promote, promote, promote.
The time you would’ve spent diluting your audience across too-frequent local shows can now be put to better use: Making the ONE show you do play feel like the event of the year.
Basically what I’m saying is: If people show up because you promised an apple, give them a taco!
Conclusion
The point of this article was to introduce a little psychology and economics into your booking strategy.
If you want to start playing more amazing shows, just remember:
The power of rarity, scarcity, and urgency. Don’t play too often in a single town. More people will attend the gigs you DO play.
Choose smaller venues to create the impression of demand. Make each gig feel exclusive and exciting, and your audience will enjoy the show even more.
Spend the time to make each show feel like a special event. You want your fans to not only remember the concert, but to keep talking about it.
If you do all those things, it won’t be long before bigger venues, notable talent buyers, and local promoters start approaching you. And once you’ve proven that all your local gigs are a success, maybe it’s time to partner with one of these entities to scale-up to bigger and better performances.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s standing among California voters has hit an all-time low, with 49% disapproving of his performance as governor, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
The survey showed Newsom’s popularity has tumbled this year as he continues to amplify his national profile and campaign outside of the Golden State to support President Biden and attack Republican governors and their conservative political agendas.
Newsom’s approval rating was 44% in the late October poll, an 11-point slide from February when 55% of voters approved of his performance. His disapproval among California voters increased 10 percentage points from earlier this year.
“He’s kind of taking on a new persona,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley poll and a longtime California pollster. “He’s no longer just the governor of California. He’s a spokesperson for the national party and basically voters are being asked to react to that.”
Despite the negative perception of his leadership, the Berkeley poll offered a key upside for the Democratic governor: Voters overwhelmingly support Proposition 1, his $6.4-billion mental health bond on the March 2024 ballot.
Only 15% of voters said they had heard about the proposal, which is estimated to generate enough funding for 10,000 new treatment beds across the state. After reading a description of the measure, 60% of likely voters backed the idea, 17% were opposed and 23% remained undecided. The survey questions did not mention that Newsom backs Proposition 1.
DiCamillo noted that the initial support for the ballot measure was broad-based, though Republicans and conservatives were more divided.
Newsom’s decline in popularity spans nearly every major voter category and includes significant drops among his Democratic base and voters who aren’t affiliated with either party, DiCamillo noted.
Though Newsom still enjoys 66% approval from voters in his own party, his support from Democrats fell 16 points from February. Now a quarter of Democrats disapprove of his performance compared with 12% earlier this year. The poll found similar dips among moderate and liberal voters.
The governor’s support from voters without a party preference declined from 49% to 37% approval over the same period.
Nathan Click, a spokesperson for the governor, pointed to a separate poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California in late August and early September that found Newsom’s support to be much higher at 56% among likely voters overall. That PPIC poll was based on the opinions of likely voters. The Berkeley poll’s findings were among registered voters, a broader pool of Californians. Newsom’s approval among likely voters surveyed in the Berkeley poll was 48%, slightly higher than among registered voters.
Though Newsom insists he is not interested in running for president, the governor has been raising money for Biden and Democratic candidates in other states and elevating his role in the culture wars with conservatives. Newsom also inserted himself into the presidential contest by setting up a debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican contender for president, in Georgia at the end of the month.
DiCamillo said it’s not uncommon for governors to experience a decline in popularity if they campaign outside of the state.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown received low marks as governor in April of 1980, the same month he ended his second presidential campaign. At the time, 38% of Californians approved of his performance and 61% disapproved.
Voters offered mixed reviews of Newsom taking on an increasingly prominent role in national Democratic politics, with 45% approving and 43% disapproving. Half of the respondents approved of his recent trip to China to while 39% disapproved.
When asked about his appointment of U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler to fill the late Dianne Feinstein’s seat in Congress, 37% approved, 30% disapproved, while 1 in 3 voters offered no opinion.
“Fox News is going to feast on these numbers,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political consultant, about Newsom’s ratings.
Stutzman chalked up some of Newsom’s fall to coming down from a natural “sugar high” of largely positive public perception since his reelection last year.
Newsom’s popularity as governor peaked in September 2020, shortly after his initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting him in such good graces with California voters that his approval rating was among the highest of any governor in the last 50 years at the same point in their first term.
Both Stutzman and DiCamillo said economic concerns in California and across the nation could account for some of the recent drop. Californians are also frustrated with the state of California, particularly about the issues of crime and homelessness, Stutzman said.
The recent PPIC poll found that 55% of California adults think the state is going in the wrong direction. Jobs, the economy and inflation, and homelessness were cited as the top concerns among residents.
“I think the real wake-up call is how dramatically Democrat voters seem to be shifting underneath him,” Stutzman said. “I’m not surprised his numbers are down. I’m surprised his numbers are down that far. He’s clearly upside down.”
The new polling comes after the governor split with the progressive wing of his party on his solutions to California’s homelessness and mental health crisis. He roiled the far left when a provision was added to Proposition 1 that allows the funding to support mental health beds in locked facilities, which has become controversial in health care. His CARE Court plan approved in 2022 could force Californians struggling with mental illness and drug addiction into treatment as an alternative to jail, which similarly ran afoul of civil liberties organizations.
He also ran afoul of environmentalists and some Democrats in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region earlier this year over his failed plan to streamline the construction of a controversial $16-billion tunnel to transport water south.
Newsom terms out of office in 2026 and doesn’t have a reelection to worry about in California.
But he has about a year left until he enters the lame-duck phase of his governorship, when a politician’s power decreases as his term nears an end. As his governorship begins to wind down, losing the backing of the public will affect his ability to get things done with the Legislature.
“It affects his political capital, he’s not interested in expediting his lame duck status and he probably has a very difficult budget year ahead of him, which is not going to buoy his approval ratings,” Stutzman said.
After closing a nearly $32-billion deficit in the state spending plan approved in June, the Newsom administration anticipates that California will still face an additional shortfall of at least $14.3 billion next year.
The Berkeley IGS poll surveyed 6,342 California registered voters, including a weighted sub-sample of 4,506 considered likely to take part in the March primary. The poll was conducted online in English and Spanish, Oct. 24-30. The results were weighted to match census and voter registration benchmarks, so estimates of the margin of error may be imprecise; however, the results for the full sample have an estimated margin of error of 2 percentage points in either direction. The estimated margin of error for the likely voter sub-sample is 2.5 points.
