The Powerball jackpot grew to an estimated $1 billion ahead of Saturday's drawing — the sixth jackpot in the game's history to reach the billion-dollar mark.
Why it matters: This is the highest lottery jackpot of the year, and the highest Powerball prize since April 2024, when a ticket from Oregon won $1.3 billion.
New voices and previously hidden stories have been reinterpreting U.S. history and reshaping museums for the last 20 years, drawing conservative criticism that President Trump is now wielding against the Smithsonian.
Retailers are ramping up promotions for the Labor Day weekend, warning shoppers — some subtly, others bluntly — to "buy now before prices rise."
Why it matters: Global tariff rates are in flux after a court declared much of Trump's trade agenda to be illegal. Still, retailers' pre-tariff inventory is nearly depleted — and what hits shelves next will have already been subject to higher tariffs rates that companies are passing on to consumers.
Some industry leaders and observers have a new idea for limiting mental health tragedies stemming from AI chatbot use: They want AI makers to stop personifying their products.
Why it matters: If chatbots didn't pose as your friend, companion or therapist — or, indeed, as any kind of person at all — users might be less likely to develop unhealthy obsessions with them or to place undue trust in their unreliable answers.
As students head back to school, a five-year effort to replace diesel school buses with electric ones has hit two big speed bumps: a federal funding freeze, plus the collapse of a leading bus manufacturer.
Why it matters: There's still lots of enthusiasm for cleaner buses, advocates say, but some school districts are turning back to diesel because they didn't get the electric buses they were promised or can't get service on the ones they own.
Royal Caribbean's newest mega-ship, the Star of the Seas, is more than the world's largest cruise ship — it's a floating city where a flying DeLorean features in a full-scale Back to the Future musical.
Why it matters: The cruise industry is in an arms race of scale and destinations that shows no signs of letting up.
