Lifestyle
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Southwest ditched free bags and MGM added all-inclusive perks: how the travel industry is reinventing itself to survive
If Spirit Airlines’ abrupt collapse sent a warning across the travel industry, it’s that resistance to change can carry real consequences. That reality is now shaping decisions at companies where long-standing business models are being reworked in response to shifting consumer expectations and tighter margins. Few shifts have been more visible than at Southwest Airlines,…
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AI will turn all of your hotel experiences into luxury ones
AI is often derided as something that has made the workplace so robotic that job descriptions for “storytellers” are exploding and CEOs are looking for human intelligence to counteract its effects. As companies look to keep their identity while implementing new AI uses, there’s one industry above all that arguably requires the most human interaction:…
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Ann Patchett opened a bookstore everyone said would fail. Now it’s a blueprint
When she isn’t working on a novel, Ann Patchett is often thinking of what she can do for others: maybe coming up with a blurb for Douglas Stuart, or recording a video birthday message for fellow author-bookseller Emma Straub, or beginning an interview with a plug for another admired peer. “The new Liz Strout book…
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Low-budget films from YouTubers beat ‘Star Wars’ heavyweight at the box office — ‘we’ll probably look back at this as a real turning point’
Young audiences turned out in droves to movie theaters around the country this weekend. It wasn’t for the big budget “Star Wars” movie, “The Mandalorian and Grogu, ” which fell sharply in its second weekend, however, but for a small budget horror from a 20-year-old first-time filmmaker that began on the internet. “Backrooms,” released by…
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Experimental pill nearly doubles survival time for people with advanced pancreatic cancer. ‘I actually started crying’
A novel pill helped people with advanced pancreatic cancer live longer, researchers reported Sunday, raising hopes of long-needed better treatments for one of the deadliest types of cancer. “While not curing the cancer, it is a very large step forward,” said Dr. Zev Wainberg, of the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped lead the…
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Why the economy forces boomers to work longer, then vilifies them for it
There is a scene in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” where legendary fashion editor Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep, is walking alone through Milan’s fashion district. Her influence has been built on instinct and staying ahead of the culture. But in an industry increasingly shaped by social media, younger voices and constant reinvention, she…
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America finally crushed smoking—then defunded the playbook
The cigarette smoking rate among U.S. adults dropped to another all-time low last year, with 1 in 11 adults saying they were current smokers, according to government survey data released this week. Cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, and it’s long been considered the leading cause of preventable…
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Uber wants to answer the hotel industry’s most asked question. Now it’s integrating into 15,000 hotels globally
Every hotel front desk in the world hears it, multiple times a day, in every language. “Can you call me a cab,” said Mike Coscetta, president of the hospitality property management service Mews. It’s “one of the most common sentences when you run hotel operations.” And so begins a long process that puts a substantial…
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‘Boy, what a team,’ says Trump as Queens native scores an invite to see the New York Knicks in the NBA finals
President Donald Trump is planning to get an up-close look at the hottest team in basketball. Trump told reporters on Wednesday that New York Knicks owner James Dolan has invited him to the NBA Finals, when the Eastern Conference champion Knicks host either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the San Antonio Spurs next month at…
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The CDC said 8% of the country lacked health insurance in 2025, and it may rise this year
The proportion of Americans without health insurance held steady at around 8% of the population in 2025, according to new findings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national survey results, released Thursday, show the all-ages uninsured rate has stayed significantly down from where it was several years ago, but the ranks…