Dozens detained in New York City protest over US arms sales to Israel
College Tuition Up 914% Since 1983, J.P. Morgan Reports
College Tuition Up 914% Since 1983, J.P. Morgan Reports
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Dozens detained in New York City protest over US arms sales to Israel
New Amex Offer for AT&T Wireless, Save $50 on Your Bill
Amex Offer for AT&T Wireless
Check your American Express credit cards for a new Amex Offer that can save you $50 on your AT&T Wireless bill. You may find this offer on consumer and business credit cards. Check out the full details below.
Offer Details
With this Amex Offer you can earn a one-time $50 statement credit by using your enrolled eligible Card to purchase a new qualifying AT&T wireless plan at att.com/MobilityAMEX and make a single payment of $65 or more by 6/30/2026.
Offer and availability may vary by cardholder. Just login to your American Express account(s) to see if you are eligible to add this offer to your card(s).
Important Terms
- Offer valid for new qualifying AT&T Wireless plan online only at US website att.com/MobilityAMEX.
- Valid one time only for new AT&T Wireless customers who purchase an elig. wireless plan (min. $65/mo. after discounts).
- Payment must be made directly with the merchant.
- Offer not valid on any smartphone, AT&T Prepaid, or Cricket Wireless products or services.
- Add’l charges, usage, speed & other restr’s apply. Taxes, fees, other charges & restrictions may apply.
- Not valid on purchases shipped outside of the US. See merchant website for shipping policy.
About Amex Offers
Amex Offers are an extra perk on all American Express credit cards, charge cards, and even prepaid cards. You can see these offers in your accounts either as a statement credit or extra Membership Rewards points for spending a certain amount at eligible merchants. You will need to add the offer to a specific card first, and then use that card to get the credit. Here are a few things you should know:
Guru’s Wrap-up
This is a great offer that we have seen in the past. You need to charge $65 or more on your card in order to get a $50 credit. The terms state that you need to use it for a “new qualifying AT&T Wireless plan”, but in the past it has always worked for existing users and even some other AT&T services like AT&T Fiber.
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Top brokers aren’t waiting — they’re closing deals in a tough market, exec says
“The professionals taking share right now don’t just quote numbers, they deliver clarity,” Fisher said. “They walk buyers through the full picture: the real payment, the real path, the real opportunity. They make homebuying feel possible when everything else is telling people to wait. This isn’t a demand problem. It’s a confidence gap.”
Fisher said brokers who adjust their mindset as to what the end goal is for the new homeowner, rather than focusing on a shifting mortgage rate, will find an abundance of deals even in a tight market.
“The professionals winning in this market aren’t just selling mortgages,” she said. “They’re guiding people home. That’s always been the job. In this market, however, it’s more visible who’s actually doing it. Rates will move with the market. They always do. But the bigger issue is mindset. Too many brokers and lenders are still waiting for a better market instead of learning how to win in this one.”
She’s seen too many in the industry planning for what they hope happens down the road instead of what is happening now. The ones who play the hand they are dealt will be the trusted advisors that clients need.
“The professionals who are growing right now made a decision to operate in the market we have, not the one they’re hoping for,” Fisher said. “If rates improve, that’s upside. But building your business around waiting is not a strategy. Now is the time for brokers to invest in themselves—strengthen operations, train their staff, and master the tech that increases efficiency and delivers a better client experience.
Types of Business Environment #Business #environment #shorts
Types of Business Environment #Business #environment #shorts
#ignou #onlineclasses #mba #type
source
CVS Health Just Got a $13 Billion Reprieve. Here’s Why the Stock Could Keep Climbing.
In a matter of months, a key issue affecting CVS Health‘s (CVS 1.56%) performance has seemingly vanished. On April 7, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the amount by which it will increase payments to providers operating under the Medicare program.
As you may recall, the original proposed increase was poorly received by investors, mostly because it was barely above zero and heightened concerns about a further squeeze on industry margins. But now, with the official increase far better than expected, healthcare stocks like CVS Health have surged again.
Rather than being the recipient of a short-lived rally, the latest Medicare rate increase could kick off a further surge in shares.
Image source: Getty Images.
What makes the Medicare decision a big deal for CVS
Back in January, news of CMS’s proposed 0.09% Medicare rate increase sparked a sharp sell-off in top healthcare stock, including CVS. To some, this may be surprising. After all, isn’t CVS just a pharmacy chain?
Today’s Change
(-1.56%) $-1.24
Current Price
$78.09
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$101B
Day’s Range
$77.53 – $78.82
52wk Range
$58.35 – $85.15
Volume
6.7M
Avg Vol
8.8M
Gross Margin
13.78%
Dividend Yield
3.35%
That hasn’t been the case for quite some time. Currently, CVS is a highly diversified provider of healthcare services. Besides operating its eponymous chain of pharmacies, CVS Health is the parent company of health insurance provider Aetna. As a major provider of Medicare Advantage plans, the prospect of just a 0.09% increase signaled lower profitability ahead.
However, with CMS’s finalized payment policy calling for a nearly 2.5% increase, perceptions regarding future profitability have improved considerably. With this increase, insurers will collect $13 billion more in payments than previously expected.
Although payment increases still lag rising costs of as much as 9% annually, sell-side analysts like Mizuho‘s Jared Holz believe plan providers like CVS Health’s Aetna unit have a greater chance of increasing their margins next year, mostly through benefit cuts.
Why the rally could continue
The biggest takeaway with the Medicare payment rate decision news is what it could mean for CVS Health’s earnings in the coming year. Although managed care accounts for only a portion of CVS’s overall business, the aforementioned news bodes well for confidence in management’s 2026 earnings guidance.
As stated in the Q4 2025 earnings report, management expects CVS’s adjusted earnings per share to come in between $7 and $7.20 per share. Shares have rallied from the low $70s since the Medicare announcement, implying the stock is trading at around 11 times forward earnings. Health insurance stocks like UnitedHealth Group and Humana trade at 15 to 20 times forward earnings.
That’s not to say that CVS is destined to reach valuation parity with these stocks, but even partially bridging the valuation gap could have a considerable impact on CVS’s stock price. For instance, at 13 or 14 times forward earnings, based on current guidance, a move to $90 or $100 per share may be reasonable. The potential upside, both in the near and longer term, could be even greater.
The high end of analyst estimates calls for CVS to report EPS of $7.40 this year, with the larger Medicare payments perhaps driving a further double-digit earnings growth in 2027. Alongside growth potential, an investment in CVS Health offers steady gains via the stock’s 3.4% forward dividend yield.
IDR Payment Tracker Returning to StudentAid.gov After Education Department Reversal
The Department of Education says it is working to restore the income-driven repayment (IDR) payment count tracker on StudentAid.gov — reversing its own prior statement that the tool would not return.
Updated guidance published March 27 on the StudentAid.gov FAQ page states: “The court actions require that we modify the display of the IDR payment counters, which will require additional system changes. We are working to update our systems to make those changes.”
The department provided no timeline, no details on what modifications are being made, and no explanation of what “additional system changes” are required.
The Backstory: The IDR tracker originally let borrowers see how many qualifying payments they had accrued toward eventual loan forgiveness under plans like IBR, PAYE, and ICR.
The department removed it after the Eighth Circuit’s February 2025 injunction against the SAVE Plan Final Rule, which also changed qualifying forbearance and deferment criteria across all IDR plans. The reason for the removal was that the tracker was allegedly displaying incorrect information as the result of the ongoing litigation about what counts and what doesn’t.
Example of the IDR Payment Tracker.
In December 2025, the department told a federal court it had “no plans to resume using the tool” because the injunction rendered the tracker’s data inaccurate.
But last summer, Senator Elizabeth Warren said Education Secretary Linda McMahon had assured her the tracker would return “soon” once system fixes were in place. The March guidance now appears to confirm McMahon’s earlier assurance.
Why It Matters: Millions of borrowers on IDR plans have no way to verify how many qualifying payments they’ve made toward the 20- or 25-year forgiveness threshold. Without the tracker, borrowers must contact their loan servicer directly and request a manual count, a process that has proven unreliable and time consuming.
The stakes are especially high right now. Starting in 2026, borrowers who receive IDR forgiveness may owe federal and state income taxes on the discharged amount – known as the tax bomb. Knowing your exact payment count is the difference between planning ahead and getting hit with a surprise tax bill. Borrowers should run the tax bomb calculator to estimate any potential taxes.
How This Connects: The College Investor has tracked this story since the tracker first disappeared. Millions of borrowers are still unable to see their IDR payment counts, and a separate administrative backlog has left hundreds of thousands of borrowers stuck waiting for repayment plan processing.
Borrowers can currently access their IDR payment counts by downloading their “MyAid.txt” file and scanning the document manually for “QualifyingPaymentCount”. There are also free tools like this TXT File Reader to help.
What To Watch: The timing of this announcement corresponds with multiple other student loan changes rolling out. SAVE plan borrowers need to switch to another IDR plan or be moved to the Standard plan. The department will also launch the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) on July 1, a new IDR option with a 30-year forgiveness timeline.
All of these changes require significant system updates — the same systems that house the IDR tracker. Whether the tracker returns alongside these July changes or later remains unclear. The department has not commented beyond the FAQ update.
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Editor: Colin Graves
The post IDR Payment Tracker Returning to StudentAid.gov After Education Department Reversal appeared first on The College Investor.
HYBE moves to crack down on bootleg merch ahead of US dates
Counterfeit merchandise has long been a fixture of the live music economy. For decades, bootleggers have hawked unauthorized T-shirts, posters, and other goods outside concert venues.
But in recent months, the music industry has significantly ramped up its legal action against the practice — both at the venue gates and online — with artists and merch companies increasingly turning to federal courts to crack down on unauthorized sellers.
Over the weekend, news broke that Live Nation subsidiary Merch Traffic had filed a trademark infringement lawsuit on behalf of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, seeking a temporary restraining order and seizure order ahead of the group’s April 20 date at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Now, according to a separate filing spotted by MBW, HYBE is cracking down too.
A complaint filed on April 9 in the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida (Tampa Division) sees HYBE, BIGHIT Music, and HYBE America sue unnamed individuals and companies — listed as John Does 1-100, Jane Does 1-100, and XYZ Companies 1-100 — described in the filing as bootleggers whose identities are not yet known. The complaint states that it “will be amended when their true names and capacities are ascertained.”
“The Bootleg Merchandise is generally of inferior quality. The sale of such merchandise is likely to injure the reputation of BTS and Plaintiffs, which have developed the reputation for high quality associated with the Tour Merchandise by virtue of BTS’s public performances and Plaintiffs’ sale of officially licensed BTS merchandise in connection with such performances.”
excerpt from complaint filed by HYBE
The filing, which you can read in full here, arrives ahead of BTS’s performances at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 25, 26, and 28 — the opening dates of the group’s US tour. Rather than targeting specific known defendants, the complaint is designed to secure a court order that would give HYBE’s agents and law enforcement the legal authority to seize counterfeit merchandise from whoever turns up selling it in and around the venues.
The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order and seizure order authorizing “agents of Plaintiffs, the local and state police, and/or any persons acting under their supervision, to seize and impound any and all Bootleg Merchandise which the Defendants attempt to sell, distribute or hold for sale at, within, or in the vicinity of the Tampa Shows and the other U.S. concert performances on the current Tour, before, during and after said concerts.”
The complaint alleges that defendants “will sell and distribute unauthorized, infringing, and counterfeit T-shirts, posters, and other merchandise” bearing BTS’s trademarks “in the vicinity of the Tampa Shows before, during and after the performance, and at subsequent concerts during the Tour as they have done on every other prior BTS tour.”
That bootleg merchandise, the filing states, is “of the same general appearance” as official tour merchandise and is “likely to cause confusion among prospective purchasers,” while being “generally of inferior quality.”
The complaint warns that such activity is “likely to cause the purchasing public to believe that the sale of such Bootleg Merchandise is authorized, sponsored, or approved by BTS and Plaintiffs and that such Bootleg Merchandise is subject to the same quality control and regulation required by BTS and Plaintiffs.” It adds that the sale of counterfeit goods “also injures Artist and Plaintiffs in that Defendants do not have to pay any royalty for these unlawful sales.”
The filing brings four causes of action: violation of the Lanham Act, unfair competition, violation of the right of publicity under Florida statute, and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. It also seeks damages and the delivery and destruction of all bootleg merchandise.
HYBE notes that it previously obtained identical relief in connection with BTS concerts in 2019 and 2021, when courts in California and the Northern District of Illinois granted temporary restraining orders and authorized the seizure of counterfeit goods. In those cases, “HYBE and its authorized representatives seized a substantial amount of counterfeit and infringing Bootleg Merchandise from bootleggers in the vicinity of BTS’s concert performances,” the complaint states.
The filing also reveals that HYBE has licensed BTS’s trademarks for official tour merchandise to its wholly-owned US subsidiary, HYBE America, which has entered into an agreement with Amazon.com Services, LLC to sell official tour merchandise.
HYBE is represented by K&L Gates (Miami) and Loeb & Loeb (New York).
The HYBE and Springsteen filings are the latest in a growing wave of anti-counterfeiting litigation across the music industry, targeting both physical bootleggers at concert venues and knock-off sellers online.
On the touring side, Sony‘s merch venture Ceremony of Roses has recently obtained court orders targeting bootleggers at Benson Boone and Dua Lipa concerts, while Merch Traffic previously filed comparable claims in connection with Tate McRae‘s Miss Possessive Tour.
On the e-commerce front, the estate of late rapper MF Doom and pop duo Twenty One Pilots have both filed lawsuits against Temu over alleged knock-off merchandise sold on the platform. In 2023, Harry Styles targeted sellers on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour sued the operator of a fake online storefront selling unauthorized merch.
The surge in legal action reflects the growing financial importance of merchandise to the music business.
The merch operation at the world’s largest music company, UMG‘s Bravado, for example, generated $912 million in revenue in 2025 and is sure to have a billion dollars in annual turnover in its sights for 2026.
As MBW has previously reported, the boom in live music has made ancillary income at concerts, particularly from apparel and consumer goods, an increasingly significant earnings stream for artists and their partners.
According to MIDiA Research, expanded rights revenue — which covers labels’ participation in merch, live, and branding — grew 21.5% in 2025.
At the same time, counterfeiting has become easier than ever. The proliferation of low-cost manufacturers and print-on-demand services has lowered the barrier to producing knock-off goods, while online platforms have given small-time sellers access to a global customer base.
The US leg of the BTS WORLD TOUR ARIRANG is scheduled to visit 10 cities between April and September, with stadium dates in Tampa, El Paso, Stanford, Las Vegas, East Rutherford, Foxborough, Baltimore, Arlington, Chicago, and Los Angeles.Music Business Worldwide
6 Low-Stress Side Hustles for Soon-to-Be Retirees
Advertising Disclosure: When you buy something by clicking links within this article, we may earn a small commission, but it never affects the products or services we recommend. Retirement is meant to be an exciting chapter in life full of rest, relaxation and enjoyment — not a time to worry about your finances. However, not all retirees can afford to stop working when they’d like if they don’t…
Spirit Launches ‘Free Spirit’ Debit Card With $6.99 Monthly Fee (Priority Boarding, Points Pooling)
(Update 4/13/26: updated and repost as this is now live)
The promised Spirit card (“Free Spirit” debit card) has a landing page and is now live for application within the Spirit app. (ht FM) We’ve updated the post below with some additional details.
Free Spirit Debit card
Direct card link (note: application available in Spirit app only)
- $6.99 monthly fee (non-waivable)
- 200 points signup bonus
- 200 monthly Spirit bonus points for the first 12 months (for month 2 through month 12)
- Card earning (when PIN is not used):
- Earn 1 point for every $2 spent
- Spirit purchases will earn 1 point per $1 spent
- Load card via ACH, debit card (2.5% fee), or you can add cash at certain partner stores
- Issued by Cross River Bank
You can also earn bonus points monthly based on your average daily balance from the previous month:
- $1,000 – $2,499: 100 points per month
- $2,500 – $4,999: 200 points per month
- $5,000 – $9,999: 400 points per month
- $10,000 – $24,999: 800 points per month
- $25,000 – $49,999: 2,000 points per month
- $50,000 or more – 4,000 points per month
Additional Benefits
- Group 2 priority boarding on Spirit flights
- Priority check-in
- Points pooling access
Our Verdict
We recently saw debit cards released by United, Southwest, and Wyndham. This Spirit card is from a different bank backer and the details are not as similar to the others.
During the first year, the 200 monthly points helps somewhat offset the $6.99 monthly fee. After the first year, if you’re not spending on the card or doing the balance bonus, you’re basically paying $6.99 per month for Group 2 priority boarding, priority check-in, and access to points pooling. Possibly the .5x on debit purchases can be useful in certain scenarios (e.g. tax payments).
Overall, might be somewhat interesting to frequent Spirit flyers who don’t carry the Spirit credit card.
‘I’m not going to force you’: Duolingo CEO backs off from evaluating employees on their AI usage
Using artificial intelligence is becoming a prerequisite for many jobs, but some companies are rethinking its value when it comes to assessing employees’ performance.
Nearly a year after announcing Duolingo would evaluate AI use in performance reviews, CEO Luis von Ahn said the company has let that metric go.
On April 28, 2025, he announced that the edtech company would be “AI-first,” and employees would be assessed on their AI use.
It’s sparked a public backlash, and von Ahn told the Financial Times last year that he “did not expect the blowback” after long-time Duolingo users commented they were deleting the app.
In an interview on the Silcon Valley Girl podcast last week, he described the feedback from employees, saying some began to ask if Duolingo just wanted them to use AI for AI’s sake.
“At the end, we backtracked, and we said ‘no.’ Look, the most important thing in your performance is that you are doing whatever your job is as well as possible. A lot of times AI can help you with that. But if it can’t, I’m not going to force you to do that,” von Ahn said.
“It felt like rather than being held accountable for the actual outcome, we’re trying to just push something that in some cases did not fit.”
Von Ahn’s new approach diverges from many companies that are going all in on incentivizing AI employee use. Until recently, Meta had a leaderboard of the top 250 AI token users company-wide, an employee-led effort that allowed workers to see how much AI their colleagues were using.
This month, employees at marketing automation platform Omnisend who are considered outstanding AI users will be awarded a 2%-4% raise. They will be evaluated on how much time and money their AI use saves, tangible outcomes from their AI workflows, and how widely those workflows are adopted.
But a recent global survey conducted by SAP subsidiary WalkMe found that workers are quietly ducking AI use. More than a third of employees surveyed skipped using AI on tasks because it would stop their workflow or cost them more time.
In addition to pushback on how employees are using AI, many employees see the technology as a direct threat to their jobs and livelihoods. Von Ahn’s AI-first declaration last year said the company would replace contractors with AI, which raised eyebrows.
Since then, von Ahn has clarified that he does not believe AI will replace his employees, but he wants to empower his employees to use the technology.
“The reality is it’s not yet the case that AI is better at coding than humans. I think you still really need engineers, and you’re going to need them for a long time,” he said on the podcast last week.
In his experience, AI-written code can be difficult to debug and is not consistently reliable when writing stories for Duolingo, von Ahn added.
“Duolingo has used AI for years to personalize learning and expand access. Technology is core to how we build. We’re always learning about what works, and we refine our approach as we go. That includes how we think about AI’s role across our teams,” a company spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. “Our teams’ work depends on human judgment, expertise, and creativity. AI tools assist with that work; they don’t make decisions or replace the people building Duolingo. What drives every decision we make is what’s best for learners.”