By Nicole Zhu
The point of much of modern technology is to improve society: making human lives more convenient, connected, and accessible. But since its advent, Big Tech—now powering the fastest-growing sector in the economy—has led to its own uniquely modern set of issues: fake news, screen addiction, an affordable housing crisis, skyrocketing homelessness, and ever-increasing income inequality amidst continual debate about who deserves a slice of the $5 billion tech pie.
By Kyle Castellanos
In the summer of 2019, a worrying trend concerning tourism to the Dominican Republic came to light. This began in April 2019 with the death of Robert Bell Wallace who died after becoming seriously ill, drinking from his hotel’s minibar three days earlier. Similarly, seven other life-threatening medical incidents involving American tourists, ranging from respiratory failure to heart attack, had no explicable cause. However, several of the cases involved people drinking alcohol from hotels’ minibars, suggesting a potential causal link.
By Kyle Castellanos
Maria Elvira Salazar is a Cuban-American journalist, working in the industry for 35 years. Now, she is running as the Republican candidate in 2020 for Florida’s 27th Congressional District, which is currently held by Rep. Donna Shalala (D-FL). I sat down with her this week to discuss climate change her views on climate change as a Republican living in Miami, one of the cities most affected by climate change.
By Nicole Zhu
Governments of nations worldwide face rising costs in healthcare, education, and economic stimulus. Now, countries are pouring millions and even billions into the newest category of expenditures: climate change. The pressure has trickled down to corporations and businesses, who now more than ever feel the crunch of a rapidly changing environment.
By Kyle Castellanos
In continuance of President Trump’s war on communism — or, depending on how you look at it, his attempt to win the Hispanic vote in Florida — the U.S. is poised to impose additional sanctions on Cuba. This time, Trump appears to be targeting Cuba for supporting Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, whose rise to power is widely considered illegal. The Trump administration is gearing up for another round of sanctions on Cuba in order to push Cuban relations back to Russia and China, isolating Venezuela in the process.
By Kyle Castellanos
Modern art’s most infamous anonymous artist, Banksy, worked with art broker Sotheby’s yet again to place one of his works up for sale. Devolved Parliament, Banksy’s largest known oil on canvas painting, hit the auction house almost one year after his most famous media stunt—in which Girl with Balloon was auto-shredded during a live sale at Sotheby’s. Devolved Parliament was expected to sell for anywhere between $1.8 million to $2.5 million. Instead, the painting blew out Banksy’s previous record auction sale, selling for over $12 million.
By Nicole Zhu
Facebook’s much-publicized legal troubles last year regarding the Cambridge Analytica data scandal was only the beginning of the company’s run-ins with the law. Now, amid rising pressure from regulators from the United States, the European Union, and even from presidential candidate front-runner Elizabeth Warren, the future of Facebook—and its controversial CEO Mark Zuckerberg—is being called into question.
By Sabrina Wong
Major credit card issuers such as Capital One and American Express are increasing social media ad spending over traditional mailbox campaigns in the midst of a slowing credit card issuance season.
By Winny Sun
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on April 24th that it would impose a fine up to $5 billion on Facebook for being involved in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. During the incident, a researcher called Aleksandr Koganraw developed a Facebook app that illegally collected data from more than 87 million Facebook profiles. The personal information was then used by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to develop political strategies for the Trump campaign.
By Winny Sun
Lyft went public last month on March 29th. On its first day of trading, Lyft’s share price rose by 8.7%; it hit a valuation of $26.4 billion by the end of the day. But the strong stock performance did not hold for long. On its second day of trading, Lyft’s share price dropped by 12%, closing below its initial public offering price of $72.
By Sabrina Wong
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) released a report last Thursday detailing the potential economic impacts of the Trump administration's new trade deal proposal, the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Renegotiating and replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was a major campaign promise made by President Trump in his 2016 election. The White House Council of Economic Affairs (CEA) also released a report outlining its own findings for USMCA impacts. The two reports differ greatly in the extent to which the new deal will benefit the US economy.
By Winny Sun
On March 25th, a group of Hollywood big names like Steven Spielberg and Octavia Spencer gathered on the Apple campus, bearing witness to the momentous announcement that the Silicon Valley giant will soon launch its own video streaming service.
By Sabrina Wong
Last Wednesday, the Colorado state legislature approved and passed major oil and gas procurement reforms. The calls for reform stemmed from heightened public concern for increasing levels of drilling and fracking activity posing as a major threat to health, safety, and the environment.
By Winny Sun
Last Wednesday, Google was fined $1.7 billion by the European Commission for unfairly blocking other companies from posting ads on third-party websites that use the Google search engine. According to European regulators, Google required owners of third-party websites to prioritize its own ads over those from competing advertising agencies.
By Sabrina Wong
The Fed has announced that it will put interest rate hikes on hold between 2.25% and 2.5% and has hinted at the possibility of slashing rates before the end of the year, citing poor economic indicators and widespread uncertainty as drivers behind these decisions. The US economic picture is made even more unclear by the recent unprecedented 35-day government shutdown causing a lag in the availability of the most updated data. Global trade tensions have increased as a result of political systems continuously failing to reach trade agreements—creating, in turn, heightened market volatility. Finally, political and economic confusion surrounding the future of Brexit has made it difficult for investors to react with confidence.
By Sabrina Wong
This past Wednesday, the FDA’s policies regulating the sale of flavored e-cigarettes have officially been put into effect. Convenience stores and gas stations nationwide will not be permitted to sell e-cigarettes in flavors except for tobacco, mint, and menthol unless they either restrict minors from entering their stores altogether, or create a store segment where minors cannot enter.
By Ethan Wu and Emily Shiang
The first thing one notices about ThriveCash, a lending service, is exactly who it’s meant for. Its website is crammed with testimonials from beaming college students describing their experiences with ThriveCash. Anderson from Harvard got $5,000 to secure housing in NYC. Rachel from NYU went on summer getaways with friends. Tom from RIT paid off a security deposit. Friendly illustrations and a texting helpline complete the picture of a product targeted at enterprising—but perhaps financially inexperienced—undergrads.
By Winny Sun
On March 6th, Chinese telecom giant Huawei sued the United States government, accusing it of unfairly banning the company from the U.S. market without providing any incriminating evidence.
By Sabrina Wong
Oil industry leaders ExxonMobil and Chevron have recently announced initiatives to ramp up oil and gas production via fracking in the US Permian Basin, a large southwestern oil field well known for its petroleum, potassium, and natural gas resources. ExxonMobil executives say that the company is aiming to reach a production level of a million barrels a day by 2024, while Chevron sets a benchmark of 900,000 barrels a day within the next five years.
By Winny Sun
This week, the Trump administration announced that it will not impose tariffs worth $200 billion on Chinese imports.