I run a wine bar in Los Angeles. My sales are down by 26%, and I've raised prices due to tariffs and the economy.

Small-business owner Zach Negin owns Tabula Rasa Bar in Los Angeles.

Zach Negin

• Zach Negin runs Tabula Rasa Bar in Los Angeles.
• Negin said he's had to increase the cost of wine because of tariffs.
• He doesn't think he will have to make job cuts.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Zach Negin, 46, owner of Tabula Rasa Bar in Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I own a neighborhood bar in Los Angeles, where the bulk of what we sell is wine. There weren't many wine bars in Los Angeles when we opened nine years ago.

When we first opened, we had to establish ourselves, get to know everybody, be good stewards of the neighborhood, and gain the trust of our customers.

Then COVID happened. We were shut down, and when we finally reopened fully a year and a half later, it felt like starting over again.

Now, it feels like I'm starting over yet again. Tariffs have had an effect on the industry. We like to have wines from a variety of places because it's very location-dependent. That's the story, the history, and the romance of it. When you have less access to those things because they're more expensive, it limits our ability to have a variety of products.

How have tariffs affected you as a customer or business owner? Reach out to this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

Because I have little kids, I want to be able to work on the business and not be behind the bar as much. That's changing again, which is unfortunate for me and for my family. It's fine. It's what I need to do. It's my business.

Running a business feels harder than it's been in the past — in a different way.

The last time there was a tariff war like this was the last time Trump was president

There was some wiggle room, though: Many wines of at least 14% alcohol by volume were not tariffed. At that time, a number of the distributors we work with — almost exclusively small businesses, and the winemakers they work with are oftentimes solo winemakers — and importers said, OK, well, we're just going to kind of split this cost. The producer's going to take a hit, the distributor's going to take a hit, and then we're going to have to raise prices a little bit.

This year, it's been these very rapid tariffs, and nobody really knows if they're going to stay. A number of distributors had wine that was already here and not subject to tariffs. The new stuff was, so we get emails saying, We're going to have to raise our prices.

That means wines that we used to be able to buy at a certain price are now two to five dollars more a bottle, or up to 30% more. And that may put them in a different price range for us in terms of what we can turn around and sell them for.

There are fewer affordable options that fit within the niche of the types of wines that we like to buy: small production, low intervention, and good farming.

One wine we buy, for instance, increased by $1.50 a bottle, from $23 to $24.50. That means we have also had to raise the price we sell it for — from $81 to $86 per bottle. We're not just rebuying the wines when they increase in price due to tariffs. We find less expensive options as well as lower our margins on many of the wines we serve.

Our wines come from all over the world, including right in Los Angeles and other parts of the US. We haven't necessarily been buying more domestically because that was already more expensive due to labor and land costs. Also, a lot of labels, corks, and glass come from all different places. We're not just talking about crushed grapes that have fermented.

The only thing coming down is sales

Our sales have dropped 26% since March, which is quite significant. I don't attribute 100% of that to tariffs, but that's having an effect. The overall economy and the cost of things are factors. This is why we're making some business changes.

Prices everywhere are higher, so people are going out less. The entertainment industry in Los Angeles has been hit pretty hard. They're working less frequently or not at all.

With lots of things being more expensive, we're also trying to lower our prices at the same time to meet our consumers instead of just going up and up and up. This is very tough in Southern California because labor is going up, rent is going up, insurance is going up, cost of goods is going up.

To lower our prices, we need to find different products of similar quality because what we used to buy is now more expensive. So our prices have gone up as the tariffs have gone up. But in an effort not to just have everything continue that way, I have been focused on trying to find lower price point items that we can still feel good about serving, so that our overall price point can be lower. However, we're making less money. So in that case, we're taking the hit on that, not marking up the same.

We're still keeping prices as low as possible, including always having a $9 glass of wine and $6 draft beer at happy hour.

We are focused on not laying anybody off

We've changed in and out times a little bit to shorten the hours of a shift. The bulk of our team's wages in the bar come from gratuities and tips.

When people might call out or go on vacation, we just aren't filling those shifts on that given night. We might just run a little lean, or I might come in for a couple of hours, or my manager will work more service.

It's a new thing that we've been talking about for a little bit, and looking at how to make these adjustments without severely affecting anyone's income. I think they're all on board and understand why we're doing it and that we're trying to do this in a way that keeps their best interests in mind.

We're just trying to stay ahead of it. We don't want to get caught in a place where we are bleeding money and then don't have money for payroll or to pay our vendors.

I feel pretty confident that we can make it through, but it might require some serious changes

It may require changes that I don't want to make, which would be having to lay staff off, and I would be the person filling in. I'm aware that it could get to that place, but I don't plan for it, and I don't expect it.

What we've done now is the things that are within our control, which is to be able to focus on hospitality and service and wine education for our team so that we can continue to be the place that people want to come to because people are still going to go out and are still going to spend money, but why do they decide to come to our place tonight versus somewhere else? That's always the question for me.

As a small-business owner, you don't get to complain about tariffs or other things. You just have to deal with them. We don't have the ability to change that. There are a few small groups that are helping lobby.

We just have to continue on. And if governments whose decisions affect our business say, OK, this is how much it's going to cost now, then we just have to deal with it. There's not much we can do. I don't complain about that. I signed up for this, and I love it. I would love to have more small businesses thrive. That's ultimately what I'd like to see.

How have tariffs affected you as a customer or business owner? Reach out to this reporter at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

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Air traffic controllers' union chief says tension is at an 'all-time high' as workers miss their first full paycheck of the government shutdown

Air traffic controllers missed their first full paychecks on October 28.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

• Frustration is soaring as air traffic controllers miss their first paychecks, the union chief says.
• "The tension is at an all-time high," Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said.
• Over 13,000 controllers are expected to remain on duty without pay amid the shutdown.

Air traffic controllers are still guiding the skies, but without pay and under mounting strain as the government shutdown drags on.

"We had a partial paycheck last time, so air traffic controllers have worked over 120 hours now with no pay. The tension is at an all-time high," Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, or NATCA, told NBC News on Wednesday.

"Air traffic controllers are not only stressed, they're not only fatigued, they're angry. They're upset," Daniels said.

With "no end in sight," he warned that air travel could become less safe each day the shutdown continues.

"When an air traffic controller isn't 100% focused on the job that they do day in and day out, that puts the system at risk," he said. "And every day that this drags on, that risk increases in the system."

According to the Department of Transport, over 13,000 controllers are expected to remain on duty without pay through the government shutdown.

Controllers missed their first full paychecks on October 28, following a partial payment in mid-October for work completed before the shutdown started.

Earlier this month, Daniels told Business Insider that some airline pilots and flight attendants have sent free food to air traffic controllers amid the shutdown.

Several air traffic controllers previously told Business Insider that they don't want to be used as political bargaining chips — they just want to do their jobs and be paid fairly for it.

"We want to continue to perform for the American people," Peter LeFevre, a Washington, D.C.-based controller and union representative, told Business Insider, "but we don't want the financial uncertainty in the back of our minds when we should be 100% focused on the work we do."

Representatives for the NATCA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider outside regular hours.

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How one Florida county is saving its public schools

Public schools in Broward County are listening to what parents want in order to boost enrollment.

Alfonso Duran for BI

In Broward County, Florida, the start of this school year brought more than the usual first-day jitters — it came with a sense of urgency.

About 10,000 fewer students entered its public schools this year, a 4.7% drop from last year, putting 34 of its schools on a watchlist for risk of closure or consolidation.

Broward County isn't alone; public schools nationwide are reckoning with shrinking student bodies as publicly funded vouchers for charter and private schools expand, birthrates fall, the cost of living rises, and immigration crackdowns deter some families. The Trump administration's push to redirect funding away from public schools has intensified the pressure. Faced with dwindling enrollment, which is directly tied to their funding, public schools must either reinvent themselves or risk shuttering classrooms. Business Insider visited five schools in the county that are doing the former — and seem to be succeeding.

"It costs a lot of money for a family to live in South Florida," Howard Hepburn, Broward County's superintendent, told Business Insider, which is pushing some families to move to areas with lower costs of living. "So incrementally, the district has been trying to address it, but it's compounded itself, and we have to make some tough decisions."

Students at Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy use augmented reality in their lessons.

Alfonso Duran for BI

The county's solution, a plan called "Redefining Our Schools," is now entering its second phase. The plan includes shutting down or repurposing some schools and incorporating community feedback to stay competitive with private schools.

"We're constantly in an iterative process of enhancing academic programs at schools," Hepburn said.

The county is also offering school choice reassignments, allowing families to attend schools outside their residential boundaries. Everglades Elementary School has approved over 100 reassignments, said Eliot Tillinger, the school's principal. Tillinger said the school's debate team — which often isn't offered until high school — is a likely draw.

"It could be people who know the reputation of the school, know the programs that we offer, and they just want to be part of what they believe is the best opportunity for their children's education," Tillinger said. "And that's a phenomenal, phenomenal thing."

Business Insider is exploring how America's public schools are fighting an enrollment decline due to the school choice movement, declining birth rates, funding challenges, and more. Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

Why families are leaving public schools and what might make them return

Andreina Gandica pulled her fifth-grade son from Coral Cove Academy of the Arts, a public school in Broward County, because she was worried about the switch to a larger public middle school in sixth grade. She sent her son to a K-12 charter school instead.

It turns out, she wasn't the only parent worried about this. Stephanie Saban, Coral Cove's principal, said that a high percentage of families used to leave the public school system after fifth grade because parents weren't satisfied with the transition to middle school. She's now overseeing Coral Cove's transition into a K-8 school.

Stephanie Saban, Coral Cove's principal, said the conversion to a K-8 school has boosted enrollment.

Alfonso Duran for BI

"We knew that we had something very special here, but we were not able to just draw the kids in based solely on that because of the competing charter schools," Saban told Business Insider. "Many families in my community wanted the K-8 continuity."

Teachers had to adapt, too. Some quit because they weren't prepared to work with older students.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not," Dina Becker, Coral Cove's art teacher, told Business Insider, adding that she ended up being happy with the transition. "I've always said I've never wanted to teach middle school, but then to save our school, we had to do something."

So far, the transition's first year is going well: 513 students were enrolled in the academy as of the 10th day of the current academic year, compared to 443 at the same point last year.

And Gandica has since reenrolled her son at Coral Cove.

"We never left because of a negative experience; it was simply a preventive decision related to future enrollment," Gandica said. "Once the new grade structure was announced, coming back felt like the most natural choice for us."

Parents in Broward County said the unique offerings at their neighborhood schools drew them in.

Alfonso Duran for BI

At Apollo Middle School, Principal Louis Kushner is also battling competition from private schools. He described Apollo's robotics program as the school's "hub," saying it helps attract families and boost enrollment. But it's not enough to stop student attrition. He said a family recently asked him to write a recommendation for their child to attend a private school, and he plans to have a conversation with them to understand why.

He's now working to strengthen the robotics program at the feeder high school to show parents that there is continuity for their kids after they leave Apollo.

"We have to get the parents to be in the building to see and feel what's happening," Kushner said.

Coral Cove and Apollo are examples of how public schools are trying to compete with charter and private schools. It's an uphill battle. The Trump administration has moved to expand school vouchers, directing the education secretary to explore shifting federal funds to "K-12 educational choice initiatives" and prioritizing support for schools promoting "patriotic education" over "woke" ideology.

The administration's immigration policies are also leading some families to leave the public school system, Hepburn said. Immigration has historically offset declining birth rates, "but with federal policies restricting immigration in the country, it's likely that it will not be enough to sustain enrollment going forward," said Tara Moon, a policy analyst at Georgetown University think-tank FutureEd.

"We're almost at a reckoning point for the public education system since we're seeing so many families choose to leave," Moon said.

There are bright spots: Broward's Apollo Middle School, Everglades Elementary School, and Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy have maintained steady enrollment or experienced growth over the past year. Broward's population has also been growing — it's up 13% since 2010 — and rose 0.79% in the past year. Some families say that the unique programs, like robotics and debate, drew them to the schools. Gastride Harrigan, the principal at Millennium, told Business Insider that parents are drawn to the school's structure, which enables students to receive an associate degree alongside their high school diploma when they graduate.

Gastride Harrigan and Kay Thomas said Millennium's STEAM program helps students shape their career plans.

Alfonso Duran for BI

"We noticed that 80% of our high school students were our middle school students, so that tells us we're doing something right," Harrigan said. "But the selling point for most parents is the free associate's degree."

Brian, a Millennium 9th-grade student, is part of the school's STEAM program. He said the science and technology programs are helpful because he wants to pursue a career in pediatrics.

"It really correlates to what I want to do when I grow up," Brian said.

Kay Thomas, the coordinator of the STEAM program, said it's designed to give students experience in their fields of interest and help them discover less familiar careers.

"It's providing also the hands-on experience and the exposure to the unknown, to not just sitting down and being instructed, but how can you really integrate this and have the kids engaged in what they're doing and learning what other options are out there," Thomas said.

A call to action for public schools

Public school student bodies are expected to continue shrinking.

Faidra Monachou, an assistant professor at the Yale School of Management, coauthored a report that estimates public school districts nationwide could lose up to 6.5 million students over the next quarter-century.

Overall, 49.5 million students were enrolled in public schools in the fall of 2023, compared to 4.7 million students enrolled in private schools in the fall of 2021, the most recent year for which data is available.

States dole out funding to schools based on their number of students, and those with already limited resources could be hit the hardest by further enrollment declines.

Northeast High School offers free industry certifications for its students.

Alfonso Duran for BI

Hepburn said that Broward County has lost over $300 million in public school funding over the past decade due to declining enrollment, including an $85 million budget deficit this year. While closing schools is difficult for the community, he said, "it costs a lot of money to operate under-enrolled schools, and we're spending more resources on operating and maintaining the school than we are on educating the students."

Public schools gaining enrollment aren't immune from funding stressors, either. At Apollo Middle School, Kushner said the robotics program, which helps attract new families, is largely made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation. The Trump administration has canceled a range of NSF grants that it said did not comply with its priorities, and Kushner worries that the funding could end.

For Florida in particular, there's an additional challenge that could strain its public school system: property tax cuts. Lawmakers are considering cutting property taxes — which account for nearly half the state's public school budget — to help offset the strain of higher living costs. The Florida Policy Institute said in a September report that eliminating property taxes on primary residences could cost school districts $7.7 billion.

Sadaf Knight, CEO of the Florida Policy Institute, said the move would "leave local governments and school districts scrambling to balance their ledgers, whether it's through cutting vital programs and services or by introducing or raising new fees to replace the lost revenue."

Many schools are focusing on the factors they can control. Northeast High School champions a program that allows students to select a path in either art, technology, or aviation beginning in elementary school.

Principal Anthony Valachovic told Business Insider that the program was created to boost enrollment, with the added bonus of offering free industry certifications. He said he and his colleagues created the program after asking themselves, "What are colleges looking for and what can kids do hands-on?"

Northeast High School's students can use flight simulators to gain credit for the aviation pathway.

Alfonso Duran for BI

Students in aviation can gain experience at nearby flight schools, and classrooms feature flight simulators that allow students to practice. Art students can showcase their work at a fair in Palm Beach, exposing them to the entrepreneurship element of the profession.

Christopher Blackman, a sophomore at Northeast High School, aspires to pursue a career in coding. He said he plans to earn college credits and an industry certification to further his experience in the field once he graduates. According to data from Broward County, 15 teachers at the high school offer industry certifications, and 457 students passed the certification exam in 2025.

Randolph Manchester, Blackman's computer science teacher, said the certifications are "a big draw" for parents: "If they get certifications here with us, they might not have to pay for their children to get it elsewhere."

Enrollment pressures aren't going away. Hepburn said that public schools continue to be the first choice for many families, and districts must adapt to ensure that remains the case.

"Public education is not going anywhere," Hepburn said. "I think we just need to evolve to address our current times. Just like every business has to evolve over the years, it's now time for public education to evolve to really address the demands of today's world."

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Amazon just kicked off the new era of giant AI layoffs

Mercor pays over $1.5 million a day to humans training AI, says its CEO

Brendan Foody, the CEO of Mercor, said an IPO could be on the horizon.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic/Getty Images

• Mercor pays out over $1.5 million a day to humans it enlists to train AI models.
• Mercor recently secured a funding deal that valued the company at $10 billion.
• Mercor has over 30,000 contractors, and its clients include major tech firms.

Brendan Foody, the CEO and cofounder of Mercor, said the company is paying over $1.5 million daily to contractors who are training AI.

Mercor, which recruits teams of human experts to train AI models, including for companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, recently completed a funding deal at a $10 billion valuation, the company said Monday.

"The company has been growing like crazy," Foody said on the TBPN show following the valuation news.

Mercor is one of several startups that have been enlisted by Big Tech companies to help train their AI models using teams of human contractors.

The company said in a LinkedIn post on Monday that it currently has over 30,000 contractors. Foody told TBPN that a lot of investment is coming from the fields of software engineering, finance, law, and medicine.

In a blog post about the latest funding round, Foody described humans training AI as a "new category of work."

"Millions of people will spend the next decade teaching machines the judgment, nuance, and taste that only humans possess," Foody wrote in a blog post published on Monday. "Instead of doing predictable work repeatedly, they'll teach agents how to do it once, so the agent can do it a million times."

Foody told TBPN that an IPO for Mercor is "potentially on the horizon," but did not specify a date.

Foody did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Training AI chatbots is tech's new gold rush

Tech's latest gold rush is getting humans to train AI chatbots.

Workers can earn up to $100 an hour training AI chatbots, from meme specialists coaching xAI's chatbot Grok to understand internet culture to contractors tutoring it in everything from Japanese to finance.

Startups connecting these human trainers to AI labs are raising money at soaring valuations, and minting some of America's youngest billionaires.

Surge AI CEO Edwin Chen, 37, is worth $18 billion, while Scale AI's cofounders Alexandr Wang, 28, and Lucy Guo, 30, have fortunes of $3.2 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively, according to Forbes.

In a report published last month, Business Insider spoke with more than 60 data labelers worldwide. Several freelancers told Business Insider they have earned thousands of dollars a month training chatbots, although the work can be monotonous, chaotic, and disturbing.

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While America's pocketbook is shut down, Trump is taking over the purse strings

During the shutdown, President Trump has made funding decisions without Congressional approval, like White House renovations and military pay

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

• Congress typically controls America's wallet.
• During the government shutdown, Trump has been making his own funding decisions.
• Policy analysts told Business Insider that these money moves are disrupting the balance of power.

President Donald Trump is taking control of America's bank account.

As the government shutdown hits week four and Congress is stuck in a budget stalemate, Trump has been pushing for more power under the executive branch.

The president has made major budget and policy decisions without waiting for the customary legislative approval: igniting a new wave of federal worker firings, greenlighting military and law enforcement pay during the shutdown, and beginning construction on a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

The strategy has struck a nerve with lawmakers from both parties because, by law, Congress holds constitutional control over America's money.

Business Insider spoke with legal scholars and policy analysts about Trump's latest economic moves and what they mean for the US checks-and-balances system.

"That power of the purse is supposed to be the top card because it means that, more or less, anything the president can do Congress gets to veto by not paying for it," said Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the right-leaning Cato Institute. "But if the president can get around that, then he no longer has to listen."

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Trump has been making major funding decisions without Congress

The president has made a mark on the global economy during his second term. His rapidly changing trade policies have moved markets, he fired the nonpartisan head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a disappointing July jobs report, and he has repeatedly butted heads with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over interest rates.

When Business Insider spoke with policy analysts about whether the president's actions have historical precedent — or a legal basis — the verdict was murky. For most government spending, Congress outlines what are called "appropriations," very specific line items on when and how each dollar should be spent. Any attempt to change those appropriations typically requires legislative approval, a step of the process that Trump has been bypassing.

"This is Democrats' disgusting playbook: inflict maximum pain on Americans to cling to power, the administration wrote in an October 22 statement. "While President Trump takes decisive action to ensure service members get paid and critical nutrition assistance programs for low-income women and children remain funded, unhinged Democrats are doing anything they can to stop him."

Take Trump's decision to pay the military and select law enforcement during the shutdown. Without a vote in Congress, the White House sent an October 17 memo stating that "In such a dire circumstance as this, where there is no other appropriation providing for payment of military salaries, and where failure to pay our troops directly undercuts the effectiveness of other appropriations, The President may, as Commander in Chief, direct that such appropriations be used to cover military salaries."

That money is likely coming from the Pentagon's standard research and development budget, but the administration did not provide more information on what money is specifically being used or if it had been bookmarked for a purpose other than stopgap military pay.

Most other federal workers — like government contractors and agency staff — will not receive a paycheck until the government reopens. Troop pay was preapproved by Congress in past shutdowns, and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle showed a willingness to pay troops this time around. On October 24, the Pentagon said it received an anonymous $130 million check directed toward military pay, which the president said came from "a friend of mine."

"It's a particularly egregious choice when you have the option to do the legal thing and Congress has signaled that it's willing to do the legal thing," said Devin O'Connor, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and former Office of Management and Budget official, adding, "Conceptually, it opens up an enormously dark space."

The White House also called for federal law enforcement members, such as deportation officers, air marshals, border patrol, and Secret Service, to receive "super checks" for overtime hours and missed pay during the shutdown. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Business Insider that this money is coming from DHS allocations in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a law that allocates billions toward "activities in support of the Department of Homeland Security's mission to safeguard the borders of the United States" between 2025 and 2029.

"There are ways in which what they're doing on law enforcement could be totally kosher, or maybe is more of a stretch, or they could just be doing something super illegal," O'Connor said. "We don't actually know because we don't have their justification."

In other money moves, the Trump administration announced in October that it's funneling $300 million in tariff revenue to fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program during the shutdown.

Sam Berger, a senior fellow at CBPP and former OMB official, said the money that is being used in this case is probably revenue collected in 2024 that was initially allocated for Children's Nutrition Programs, like school lunches.

"I would think of that as an example of them misrepresenting what they're doing for political purposes," Berger said, but it's likely still legitimate for Trump to use this money because "there's an existing transfer authority" to spend it on nutrition programs.

Berger also referred to Trump's ballroom renovation of the East Wing. Congress does not have to approve changes to the White House, but major construction projects often require federal funding — which is granted by the legislature.

To fund the roughly $250 million project, the president is relying on money from a personal legal settlement with YouTube, along with potential donations from major company leaders and his own funds: "The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly," he wrote in an October 20 Truth Social post. Top execs at companies like Blackstone, Palantir, Lockheed Martin, and OpenAI are also on the guest list for an upcoming donor dinner at the White House.

The policy analysts Business Insider spoke with additionally pointed toward federal funding cuts for public health, nonprofits, and benefit programs in recent months. Congressional appropriations go both ways, they said. Opting not to spend money that lawmakers have already budgeted for could also be an example of executive overreach.

They mentioned legal precedents like the Impoundment Control Act and the Anti-Deficiency Act that are intended to prevent government overspending and outline specific situations in which the president could override a funding appropriation. Examples of Trump's impounding funds include his previous cancellations of foreign aid for USAID or the cancellation of federal infrastructure funding for New York City.

It's not unheard of for a president to be at odds with Congress or make major funding decisions in emergency cases, though the analysts said the level of unilateral moves by Trump is uncharted territory and bigger than his first term.

Congress can update funding rules or seek legal recourse

If Congress wants to take back its purse strings, there are a few things lawmakers can do.

Berger and O'Connor published an analysis last week about what they call "guardrails," including a proposal to Congress that would require at least 60 Senate votes to approve any funding cuts to federal or grant programs, alongside making it more difficult for the executive branch to unilaterally freeze grants and contracts.

Olson said Congress is "obliged to uphold the Constitution and step forward to say, 'Mr. President, you're not obeying the law.' Or, in this case, spending outside of appropriations."

It's also possible for lawmakers and organizations to sue the president over funding decisions or executive overreach, but it's unlikely that they would see an outcome any time soon because of how long the legal process takes. And Congress won't be able to move forward until it decides on a temporary budget to reopen the government.

"The problem is that the courts are not particularly set up to prevent illegality here, they're set up to declare reality happened after the fact," O'Connor said. "When you have funding decisions, getting a decision two years after the fact that they should have spent funds in some way is not particularly helpful. Because the damage has been done."

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See inside American's new Airbus A321XLR, a long-range jet loaded with premium seats soon flying to the US and beyond

American Airlines is soon introducing its new Airbus A321XLR on its special transcontinental routes.

American Airlines

• American Airlines' first-ever Airbus A321XLR touched down in Texas on Wednesday.
• The inaugural flight is scheduled for December 18, flying from New York to Los Angeles.
• The premium-heavy plane has lie-flat business class and will eventually fly to international cities.

There's a new plane in town.

American Airlines' first Airbus A321XLR touched down in Dallas—Fort Worth on Wednesday after an 11-hour delivery flight from Hamburg, Germany, making it the first of its kind in the US and ushering in a new era of long-haul narrowbody flying.

The A321XLR — short for "extra-long-range" — will debut on December 18, operating American's 11 a.m. New York to Los Angeles service and eventually replacing the carrier's transcon-specific A321T fleet.

More premium than American's other domestic narrowbodies, the A321XLR (and the A321T) features seatback TVs in coach and full meals in business class.

As of Friday morning, one-way fares start at $379 for basic economy. Premium economy and lie-flat business class on the inaugural are already sold out; the next-day one-way fares run about $1,050 and $1,850, respectively.

While its first flights will be domestic, the A321XLR is designed for much longer missions. An extra fuel tank boosts its range to roughly 5,400 miles — about 800 miles more than its A321neoLR (long-range) predecessor.

This allows airlines to link lower-demand routes — especially to Europe — that can't support larger widebodies or are out of reach of existing narrowbodies, like the A320neo or the Boeing 737 Max.

American says it will put the jet on international routes in the first half of 2026, though it hasn't yet announced which ones.

United Airlines is also expected to receive the A321XLR starting in 2026. It plans to use the jet both to replace its aging Boeing 757s and to open new thin transatlantic routes — including potential services from the US to Northern Italy and West Africa.

Several global carriers have received Airbus' latest jet. The range of cabin layouts — from lie-flat business seats on American to the all-economy setup on Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air — shows the A321XLR's adaptability to various airline strategies.

American's decision to offer lie-flat seats reflects the airline's push to tap into the rising demand for premium travel — particularly among higher-spending leisure flyers.

"Premium seating is expected to grow at twice the rate of non-premium offerings, with lie-flat international seating growing by 50% by the end of the decade," American CEO Rob Isom said of the airline's overall cabin plan during its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday.

American's A321XLR plane is premium-heavy.

American's first-ever Airbus A321XLR.

American Airlines

Twenty suites have been fitted on the A321XLR in a 1x1 setup, taking up about 13% of the plane's total 155 seats.

If you factor in the 12 premium economy seats, the overall higher-dollar seating jumps to roughly 20%.

Premium revenue is driving airline profits — especially across the Atlantic — as people remain willing to pay more for a better flight experience.

The new business class elevates American's premium product.

The new narrowbody business class cabin will appear on A321XLR transcontinental and transatlantic routes.

American Airlines

The Flagship Suite Business Class debuted on a newly delivered Boeing 787 in June, as American follows the global trend of launching door-equipped suites.

Its cocoon-like setup is similar to the enclosed Mint Suites on JetBlue Airways' A321neoLR. American's old business class, still flying on most of its widebody aircraft, does not feature doors.

Customers get more than a door.

American's renovated business class makes it more competitive.

American Airlines

The lie-flat cabin also offers features like a wireless charging pad, a television, ample storage, and a multicourse meal.

"Whether customers are traveling from coast to coast or across the ocean, American's newest aircraft demonstrates our commitment to providing a premium travel experience," Heather Garboden, American's chief customer officer, said in a press release.

Suite passengers get special airport perks.

American's priority check in area at New York-JFK Terminal 8.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider

American said its highest-paying customers get priority check-in, security, boarding, and baggage handling.

They also gain access to airport lounges, like the Greenwich Lounge at New York-JFK and the Flagship Lounge in Los Angeles.

Premium economy has a legrest and privacy wings.

American's premium economy cabin has no middle seats.

American Airlines

Premium economy features two seats per row, instead of the 1x1 configuration in business and the 3x3 configuration in economy, ensuring that every passenger is guaranteed a window or aisle seat.

Instead of a bed, the oversized lounger has a deep recline, a calf and footrest, and wide headrest wings for privacy.

Customers are also provided with enhanced hot meals, a blanket and pillow, and an amenity kit.

The premium-ish cabin is a popular middle-ground option.

The wireless charging location is behind the middle armrest.

American Airlines

The premium economy section is like the Goldilocks zone of airplane cabins.

It's more comfortable than coach but doesn't have a bed. It's typically hundreds or thousands of dollars less expensive than business.

Economy will keep its special long-haul perks.

American's A321XLR economy cabin has more amenities than the coach cabins on most of its other domestic aircraft.

American Airlines

There are 123 economy seats in a 3x3 cabin at the back of the plane. These feature headrests, "multiple power options," and seatback entertainment screens — the latter is already on the route's A321Ts.

Adding television to the A321XLR makes sense for continuity, and because the jet is expected to operate international routes, too.

Seatback screens are not available on most of American's other domestic flights.

American Airlines has a tablet holder on its seatbacks instead of a screen.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider

Domestically, American's seatback TVs are largely limited to its special transcontinental narrowbody flights.

Instead, passengers can use a built-in tablet holder to prop up their device and access American's streaming content. Americans' widebodies already come equipped with personal screens.

Unlike American, most of Delta Air Lines and United's domestic aircraft offer seatback entertainment.

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I met the execs behind Rivian's e-bike bet. They're trying hard to replace your car — sort of.

Business Insider's Lloyd Lee met with ALSO's team to try the startups $4,500 e-bike.

Lloyd Lee/BI

• ALSO is an e-bike company that began as a skunkworks division inside Rivian in 2022.
• The startup has doubled in size, from 70 to over 150 workers, and is expanding to a second office.
• Business Insider met the team behind ALSO's $4,500 modular e-bike.

I'm addicted to my car.

Even in a densely-packed city like San Francisco, I couldn't imagine getting around without it.

But I also hate my car.

It's a little silly to think that I need to start and stop a couple-ton vehicle just to drive a few minutes to my friend's house or to grab groceries. I also think about the painful amount of money I've spent due to a cracked wheel from a pothole, flattened tires from a perfectly placed nail, or the driver who sideswiped me after they blew a red light. That was all within the past year.

If I could get rid of my car, I would.

ALSO, a startup that began as a skunkworks inside Rivian is trying really hard to replace our large vehicles — at least for some trips.

"The name ALSO is very intentional. It's not an either-or proposition," Ben Steele, ALSO's chief commercial officer, told me. "I think what we're really seeking to do with our products is to say to people: 'The unexamined choice of just defaulting to a car? We want to reframe that for you.'"

I met the executives of ALSO on a Saturday afternoon at their office in Palo Alto, just across the street from Rivian's office, where they gave me a chance to try the product: a $4,500 e-bike. ALSO is calling it the T-MB for "Transcendent Mobility Bike."

Chris Yu, the president of the startup, told me that the "genesis" behind ALSO was simple: "Why doesn't that magical experience you get out of a Rivian exist in anything smaller than a car?"

Having seen the bike up close and hearing the executives talk about the TM-B, I can clearly see where Rivian's vertically integrated approach and even the design language are ingrained into the bike.

Yu said the startup is growing, from about 75 employees in March to over 150 employees today. ALSO is building a second office, located less than a mile away.

Here's a closer look at the TM-B and the executives behind ALSO.

Yu not only worked at another e-bike company, but is also a dad who takes his son to school on a bike

Lloyd Lee/BI

Yu has an extensive background in biking.

He told me he raced competitively in college and continued to do so throughout his years at Specialized Bicycle Components, a bike manufacturer, where he spent more than 10 years and led the company as the chief product and technology officer.

Yu's not doing much racing these days, but he still bikes often with his son.

Yu said he'd take his son to school on the back of his bike, one of the use cases ALSO kept in mind for the development of the TM-B. Both the father and son are intimately aware of the pain points for e-bikes.

"Every other bike that we've used when we hit potholes and the speed bump in his school parking lot, he'd always get bounced around, and he always just thought that was the norm," Yu said.

"The payload capacity to carry a 75-pound kid on the back does not exist," he added.

The TM-B is a modular e-bike ALSO aimed to build for everyone

Lloyd Lee/BI

Yu said that the TM-B was designed with a one-bike-fits-all approach. He said that one of the first pain points for consumers is deciding which type of e-bike to buy in the first place.

"We wanted to build in as much breadth of personality, utility, and capability into one platform as much as possible to remove that kind of initial friction and pain point," Yu said.

I had the opportunity to try the launch edition, which has a starting price of $4,500. The base edition will start under $4,000. ALSO plans to launch in 2026.

The pedals are not attached to a chain, and the TM-B does not have gear shifting

Lloyd Lee/BI

The TM-B stands apart from most e-bikes on the market due to its pedal-by-wire system. That means the pedals aren't mechanically linked to a chain that moves the tires. Instead, the pedals are attached to a generator, which provides the power to move you forward.

That also means there's no gear shifting in the traditional sense. There is a manual mode where you can "shift" gears, and you'll feel a haptic feedback on the pedals that indicates when you're changing gears.

I found that this propulsion system made going up a hill seamless. The bike didn't require much more pedaling effort when I went up a hill.

The TM-B is a class 3 bike, giving a pedal-assist speed of up to 28 mph and a throttle that assists the rider for up to 20 mph.

The bike can achieve a range of up to 100 miles, depending on the battery pack size

Lloyd Lee/BI

A standard battery pack delivers up to 60 miles of range. The large battery pack provides up to 100 miles of range.

The regenerative braking system can extend the range by around 25%, according to the company.

Riders can also use the battery as a portable charger for their electronic devices.

Walk up to the bike, and the TM-B turns on

Lloyd Lee/BI

Much like a Rivian, a rider can walk up to the TM-B to turn on the bike since it's connected to the user's phone.

It's a "software-defined" bike, Yu said, which allows for over-the-air updates and an easy user experience straight out of the box.

ALSO added security features to help riders treat their bike like a car

Lloyd Lee/BI

At around 70 pounds, the TM-B is not a traditional bike that a rider would lug up several floors of their apartment building.

Yu said the company envisions riders treating the bike more like a car that you could feel comfortable leaving inside a parking structure.

Kelly Veit, VP of software, said the bike is equipped with Wi-Fi, LTE, and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) connectivity for location tracking purposes and anti-theft protection.

If the bike senses motion, the owner is alerted on their phone. If the bike is stolen, the owner can track its location and "brick" it, making it essentially unrideable.

ALSO will have different seat attachments that you can swap at the click of a button

Lloyd Lee/BI

ALSO executives showed me three attachments: one for the solo rider, one that allows for up to 75 pounds of payload, including a small child or groceries, and a "bench" for more comfortable riding.

This e-bike has turn signals

Lloyd Lee/BI

All the modular seat attachments are equipped with lights on the back that also serve as turn signals.

For bikers, that means no longer having to stick their arm out to indicate when they're about to make a turn.

The headlight resembles Rivian's design and function

Lloyd Lee/BI

The headlight serves as a daytime running light and a turn signal.

Yu said that the light can also indicate the battery charge status and show the progress of over-the-air updates.

The orange throttle button helps users 'ride with traffic'

Lloyd Lee/BI

The throttle on the TM-B is set to a maximum speed of 20 mph, as per federal regulations for e-bikes, allowing the bike to reach that speed without pedaling.

Saul Leiken, director of product line, said the bike was designed to accelerate "basically as fast as a car can coming off of a stop sign."

"I'm not talking a zero to 60 type of thing," he said, "but if you're running a little late to work, that allows you to ride with traffic instead of being in traffic's way."

Yu said the throttle is helpful to quickly move out of intersections.

Yu said the service expectation should be more like an EV than a traditional e-bike

Lloyd Lee/BI

Due to its fewer moving parts, Yu said the frequency of servicing the T-MB should be much lower than that of traditional bikes.

The president said ALSO is working on several ways for riders to bring in their bikes: a "small brick-and-mortar footprint across the country," a mobile service fleet, and a network of authorized service providers.

Additionally, ALSO can notify users via telemetry if there is an issue with the bike, he said.

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Welcome to the 'Great Freeze': Why companies aren't firing, workers can't grow, and the unemployed can't get jobs

Hiring and layoffs are low in the US.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

• The US job market is in a "Great Freeze" due to a slew of factors.
• Companies don't want to let talent go, but they're not adding head count.
• Low layoffs at a time of low hiring can hinder professional advancement.

Bundle up and hunker down. The low-fire, low-hire job market can be summed up in one phrase: the "Great Freeze."

There are a lot of "lows" in the soft job market, including layoffs and unemployment. That's the good news and has been the story for over a year. However, the not-so-good news is that job openings and hires have also dropped.

The lack of hiring and the lack of firing could have the same causes. Economists told Business Insider that the US hasn't had large-scale layoffs because even though the economy is still strong, uncertainties around tariffs and other issues mean that companies are hanging on to the talent they have while being reluctant to hire more.

Are you job searching, staying put in your job, or a hiring manager who has seen the workplace change? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com. 

The low-fire, low-hire labor market has its pros and cons, including hindering potential career growth for workers but offering cost-saving measures for companies.

ZipRecruiter called the recent labor market "The Great Freeze" in a new report on recent turnover and hiring outlook.

"We're seeing employers and job seekers both trying to wait out any of the uncertainty," Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, told Business Insider.

The lockup between low layoffs and low hiring might not end any time soon.

"We're only a few months until the end of the year, and there isn't an immediately obvious catalyst for why the job market would snap out of the malaise that it's in," Daniel Zhao, the chief economist at Glassdoor, said.

Why companies aren't laying people off or hiring extensively

Jason Draho, the head of asset allocation Americas for UBS Global Wealth Management, said growth and consumer spending remain relatively solid, making it hard to justify large-scale layoffs.

"Earnings are still positive, businesses are still making money, and there's not really a catalyst for them to reevaluate their head count," said Stephen Juneau, a senior US economist at Bank of America.

Juneau said that uncertainty, artificial intelligence, pockets of economic weakness — such as in construction activity — and supply issues are affecting companies investing in new talent.

There are likely fewer workers entering the US these days, slowing labor force growth. "This negative labor supply shock obviously contributes to a slowdown in hiring," Juneau said.

Supply issues combined with low hiring have also affected unemployment, which has risen but remains relatively low, Draho said.

Zhao said that employers are labor hoarding, or holding on to talent as a precaution, because they don't want to relive previous staffing troubles. "After the experience during the Great Resignation and the labor shortages era, many businesses are hesitant to return to a world where they are desperate for workers and can't find them," he said.

Draho said that if next year has better growth, stimulus measures, and tariff clarity, then companies won't want to be making mass layoffs now and then have to scramble for employees. "They don't want to be caught short with a lack of labor," he said.

ZipRecruiter's September survey of talent acquisition professionals showed 63% of businesses intend to hire moderately or significantly more in the next year, down from 76% last year. "However, the current macroeconomic conditions are continuing to add delays and additional layers that are going to continue to keep hiring and movement in general at this slower pace for the next couple of months," Bachaud said.

But labor hoarding could crumble if the economy worsens. "If employers have some cash or some buffer to work with, they can afford to keep some workers on staff, even if it isn't profitable right now," Zhao said. "I don't expect this labor hoarding story to be able to protect against a full business cycle and recession where businesses are going to be forced to lay off workers."

What today's job market means for workers, job seekers, and employers

Zhao said labor hoarding can be good for workers because of job security, and unemployed people have less competition than if there were mass layoffs. However, many people are still actively seeking employment in the low-hiring, low-layoff environment. So, it can be tough to land a job. There were 7.4 million people unemployed in August, but only 7.2 million job openings were available; the number of job openings per unemployed person has cooled way down since the tight labor market recovery after the pandemic recession.

"Many workers have to settle for jobs that are not a good fit for them, whether they don't pay commensurate with their experience or it's not in a field or industry that they're skills would best match," Zhao said.

Lack of turnover can hinder professional development. Zhao said that low hiring affects jobholders who may want to secure a new job that offers better career growth opportunities or who wish to advance or negotiate a raise internally. The Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker showed the 12-month moving averages of median wage growth were similar for job switchers and job stayers as of August.

"Employers who are focusing too much on stability and keeping everything as it is, keeping the status quo, are going to risk losing out to innovation and growth that's not going to be happening if there's no movement internally in their company," Bachaud said. "Employees are going to be stuck in their role without growing and adding new skills and moving along their career paths."

In the cool job market with workers staying put, Bachaud suggested people upskill within their roles so they can still grow and add to their résumé when they look for a new position.

Are you job searching, staying put in your job, or a hiring manager who has seen the workplace change? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

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I checked out The Row's sample sale line. People camped overnight for the quiet luxury brand. Some got paid to do it.

Gigi Principe had been in line for nine hours by the time I talked to her.

Alice Tecotzky

• I talked to people in line at The Row's sample sale in New York City.
• Some paid hundreds for line-sitters to hold a spot overnight.
• I talked to people ready to spend thousands and saw that the quiet luxury cult is still very alive.

Gigi Principe had been waiting in line for more than nine hours by the time I talked to her. She had the No. 1 spot at what might be New York City's hardest door this week: The Row's sample sale.

But Principe didn't plan to shop the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen brand for herself — she said it's way too expensive, even with the sale's 75% markdown. She is one of many hired, patient line-sitters.

With its clean-cut, label-free $550 white cotton tees, $2,700 scarves, and $6,000 bags, The Row epitomizes the "quiet luxury" trend that's dominated the high-end fashion industry for years.

The line at The Row sample sale at 8:40 am Thursday morning

(no I did not wait in line or get to touch the cashmere sweaters inside) pic.twitter.com/0EsgAloFH9

— Alice Tecotzky (@ATecotzky) October 23, 2025

On Thursday morning, I stepped into the black hole of The Row's cult following — in other words, into the sample sale line. Some sipped coffee or unwrapped bagels; others read in folding chairs; one woman sat straight on the sidewalk, typing on her computer.

The first day of the public sale began at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, and Principe, 26, said she had been in line since 7 p.m. the night before. As an assistant at the line-sitting company Same Ole Line Dudes, she's been paid to wait for everything from buzzy restaurants to legal trials to Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting.

Samuel started Same Ole Line Dudes in 2012.

Alice Tecotzky

Robert Samuel, 50, started Same Ole Line Dudes in 2012 and described The Row's event as "the Super Bowl of all sample sales." He was sold out with 61 bookings on Wednesday and had 35 on Thursday. Customers pay sitters $25 an hour plus an extra $15 if they want someone in line before 7 a.m., as well as fees for inclement weather or holidays.

By my calculations, the person who hired Same Ole Line Dudes to show up at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night would have paid $365 before taking their spot in line around 9 a.m. to enter the sale.

Principe said the sitters look out for each other, coordinating bathroom breaks and food runs. When signs suddenly popped up on Wednesday night banning tents and chairs in line, the earliest waiters collectively decided to simply set up on the other side of the sidewalk and shift to the correct area closer to opening.

The Row hopefuls don't just pay for line babysitters. One personal shopper told me she had gone for five people on Wednesday and five on Thursday, including a client from Australia. She showed me a receipt for $1,619 for three pairs of shoes and a coat, which would have cost almost $6,500 retail. Those Australian clients pay for her concierge service fee, shipping costs, and tariffs, which haven't seemed to hurt the international appetite for The Row's simple silhouettes and neutral tones.

Some held their spot in line with items while running out to get food or go to the bathroom.

Alice Tecotzky

"They have a cult following. People really want quiet luxury," she said. "They love The Row because it's really, really well-made, but there are no logos. But people in the know know what it is."

Quiet luxury is alive and well

The luxury sector is facing a "significant slowdown" this year, according to McKinsey's State of Luxury report, as is the broader fashion industry. Clients are increasingly interested in luxury experiences over items, the report found. Yet on Manhattan's 18th Street, I saw that hunger for clothing straight out of the scenes of "Succession" is still very alive, especially as wealthy consumers help power the economy.

Three women in their early 30s who hired one of Samuel's employees — "I feel like everyone knows a line guy," they told me — said they valued the longevity of the items. Two of them said they'd given themselves a shopping budget of $5,000, and one of them pulled out their phone to start filming for a TikTok she said she'd likely never make.

Whether or not she gets around to editing her post, social media is filled with videos of The Row hauls worth tens of thousands of dollars, and details of what it's like inside the sale (phones are taped, bags are somewhat rare, dressing rooms are communal).

I saw a woman bravely sitting on the sidewalk.

Alice Tecotzky

The woman who hired a line-sitter for 7 p.m. on Tuesday night was back on Thursday, but she had paid someone to wait starting at 4 a.m. for the second day. She asked for anonymity because she'd taken the day off work for the event. Her voice got quieter when I asked how much her three bags and two coats from the first day cost, a sheepish smile creeping up as she politely declined to share.

"A lot," the 37-year-old said, adding they were completely worth the splurge.

Betul Thena, 38, got in line at 9:20 a.m. and said she became "an avid follower of the brand" after attending The Row's sample sale four years ago. Eva Dayton, who works in secondhand luxury fashion, arrived at 7:45 a.m. but didn't mind what she assumed would be around a three-hour wait.

I left the sale before the doors officially opened at 9 a.m., and as the person who'd hired Principe was dropping by to snag their coveted spot at the very front.

"The audience is divided into 'These people are crazy' and 'What a crazy deal,'" the woman who was back for a second day told me. "So you just pick your line and you stick to it."

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Rivian CEO says the company tore down a highly popular Chinese EV. Here's what he thought.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said China's low cost of labor and government support helps make EVs cheaper in the country.

Mike Blake/Reuters

• Rivian isn't in the Chinese market, but it still pays attention to EVs abroad.
• CEO RJ Scaringe told BI that the company tore down a Xiaomi SU7 to learn what's inside.
• The CEO said the SU7 is "nicely done," but there's nothing new to learn from it.

Rivian doesn't have a footprint in China's highly competitive EV market, where companies like BYD and Xiaomi reign supreme.

That doesn't mean the California-based EV maker isn't paying close attention to the world abroad.

In an interview with Business Insider, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said the company tore down a Xiaomi SU7, a highly popular EV sedan in China, as part of an industry-standard practice of benchmarking other vehicles in the market.

The SU7 is the Chinese smartphone juggernaut's success story. It was launched in early 2024 with a starting price tag of $30,000 and helped Xiaomi blow past its annual delivery expectations by November of the same year.

The car was praised by Ford CEO Jim Farley. Business Insider previously wrote that the SU7 delivered on performance. After Rivian took a look, Scaringe agrees.

"I'd say it's a really well executed, heavily vertically-integrated technology platform," Scaringe said, referring to how the company develops the car's tech stack in-house. "Nicely done."

The CEO said the SU7 would be one of the cars he'd consider buying if he were living in China — that is, of course, since Rivian's not there.

However, Scaringe said there's no secret sauce inside the car that makes the SU7 cheap and a runaway success in the country.

"Cost — we understood how they've arrived there," Scaringe said, adding that "there's nothing we learned from the teardown."

The CEO points to macroeconomic factors like the low cost of labor and the Chinese government's support for EVs.

"The cost of capital is zero or negative, meaning they get paid to put up plants," Scaringe said of Chinese companies. "It's a very different opportunity."

Scaringe added that, while the US has provided loans, the idea of a production plant being supported through a government grant is "just not something that exists in the US."

The Department of Energy announced in January a $6.6 billion loan to support Rivian's new manufacturing plant in Georgia.

A mix of looser regulatory hurdles, lower labor costs, and more government subsidies allow China to churn out more affordable electric cars, Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute, previously told Business Insider.

"When you take the cost of capital down to zero or less than zero and you have a cost of labor that's very low — you can do the math, you can build a spreadsheet that can arrive at exactly how they're doing it," Scaringe said.

It's a factor that the Rivian CEO said he wished more people talked about to de-mystify why China's rate of electrification surpasses that of the US.

"I think it's like Wizard of Oz," he said. "I think when people think there's a Wizard of Oz, it's not helpful. It's like there is no magic in the world. Everything could be analyzed and calculated."

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Ukraine says UK-made Storm Shadow missiles joined its long mission to destroy Russia's war machine from the rear

Ukraine said it had used Storm Shadow missiles to strike a gunpowder plant in Russia.

Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• Ukraine said it used Storm Shadow missiles to strike a gunpowder facility in Russia on Tuesday.
• Kyiv is repeatedly striking Russian industry, trying to whittle down Moscow's ability to wage war.
• Now, it's adding the UK-made missiles to its list of weapons against Russia's war economy.

Ukraine officially said on Tuesday that it used Storm Shadow missiles to strike a production facility in Russia, adding the Western-made advanced munition to its arsenal against the Kremlin's key war industries.

The Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces wrote on Telegram that it had conducted a "massive combined missile and air strike" on the Bryansk Chemical Plant in southern Russia, a facility that manufactures gunpowder, explosives, and rocket fuel components.

It added that the salvo included air-launched Storm Shadows, subsonic cruise missiles jointly developed by France and the UK that can carry a 1,000-pound explosive payload.

"The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to strike strategic facilities of the military-industrial complex on the territory of the Russian Federation, thereby weakening the offensive potential of the aggressor state," the post said.

Ukrainian officials said the results of the strikes were "being assessed."

Russia's defense ministry said it had destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones over Bryansk on Tuesday evening, but did not say if Storm Shadow missiles were detected in the attack.

Bryansk's governor, Alexander Bogomaz, also said that Kyiv had attacked the region with fixed-wing drones. While he later issued two missile alerts, Bogomaz also did not mention the Western-made cruise missiles.

Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels circulated clips of a large fire breaking out in what appears to be an industrial facility, saying that a power substation in Bryansk had been hit. Business Insider could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage.

Tuesday's attack comes as Kyiv ramps up its campaign of deep strikes on Russian industry complexes to undermine the Kremlin's ability to pay for and manufacture arms.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on October 8 that "long-range sanctions against Russia," referring to attacks on Russian energy facilities, are achieving "truly significant results" and have forced Moscow to tap into its diesel reserves.

That effort has relied mainly on Ukraine's homegrown fixed-wing drones and missiles, which were used to strike dozens of oil facilities and weapons factories in the last year.

The latest use of Storm Shadow missiles indicates that Kyiv is now officially adding these Western weapons as an offensive option against Russian industry.

Russia previously said that it had shot down three Storm Shadow missiles over the Rostov region in December, and that a fourth missile struck a building in a chemical plant after being deflected.

But Ukraine has, until now, been evasive on whether it's used Storm Shadow missiles to target Russian infrastructure.

The Storm Shadow can strike targets 155 miles away and fly at low altitudes to avoid detection. The UK and France delivered an unspecified number of these missiles to Ukraine in 2023, but limited Kyiv to using them against Russian targets in occupied territory.

In November, Ukraine was permitted for the first time to launch Storm Shadows against military targets in Russia.

Using these Western weapons against Russian industry points to Ukraine receiving more explicit backing from the UK amid Washington's waning and inconsistent support.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump was reported to have urged Kyiv to submit to Russia's demand of surrendering eastern Ukrainian territory, after months of publicly voicing displeasure with Moscow.

Representatives for Russia and Ukraine's defense ministries did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

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