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☆ Roblox steps up its 'year of scale' with new ad formats, hires, and key partnerships as it aims to build a $1 billion ads business
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Video ads within Roblox are similar to real-world digital out-of-home advertising. A Roblox Portal Ad for a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" pizza party experience. Roblox/GamefamRoblox's partnerships boss, Christina Wootton, previously told Business Insider that while 2023 was a year of testing, 2024 would be the "year of scale" for its ads business. Roblox ads are labeled and can only be served to users over the age of 13, the company said. "If you literally just slap ads within the game, people are going to run a mile," Litman added.

Persons: Roblox, we'll, Stephanie Latham, Christina Wootton, Michael Guthrie, Latham, Ben Fox, David Vesper, it's, Nathan Pillot, Pillot, It's, Michael Litman, Litman Organizations: Business, Walmart, Warner Bros . Pictures, HUGO, Meta, Yahoo, Google, Social, viewability, Media.Monks, Logitech Locations: Roblox

☆ Buffalo Wild Wings leans into Go takeout format as a third of sales move off premises
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The 100th location of Buffalo Wild Wings Go opened Wednesday on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. Buffalo Wild Wings opened its 100th Go location on Wednesday in New York City, four years after unveiling the quick-service offshoot of its sports bar chain. Since 2018, Buffalo Wild Wings has been a part of Inspire Brands, which is backed by private equity firm Roark Capital. Buffalo Wild Wings' revenue fell 1% in 2023 to $2.32 billion, according to franchise disclosure documents. Opening a traditional Buffalo Wild Wings location requires anywhere from $2.44 million to $4.83 million in initial investment, depending on the restaurant's location and other factors, according to franchise disclosure documents.

Persons: Jimmy John's, Dunkin, Robbins, Red Robin, Jack Litman Organizations: Buffalo Wild Wings, Manhattan . Buffalo Wild Wings, Inspire Brands, Roark Capital, Baskin, Inspire, Barclays, Munson Group Locations: Side, Manhattan, New York City, BWW

☆ Here’s what happens if Trump can’t get a $464 million bond
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Mark Morales | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Trump personally owes over $454 million stemming from the ruling made by Judge Arthur Engoron back in February. Here’s what happens if Trump can’t secure the bond:Seizing bank accounts and cashIn theory, officials can begin the complicated legal process of taking his assets, barring any other strategic legal maneuvering from state prosecutors and countering from Trump’s legal team. “They walk in and give it to the manager,” said Adam Pollock, a former assistant New York State Attorney General who now specializes in judgment enforcement at Pollock Cohen LLP. “The attorney general’s office is the largest firm in New York State, if you think about it as a law firm. That is really the end of the day, I think, for the Trump organization in New York,” Litman said.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, Judge Arthur Engoron, Eric, Donald Jr, Letitia James, they’ll, ”, Peter Katz, Marshall, Adam Pollock, Pollock Cohen, “, “ They’re, Alden B, Smith, Pollock, Pollack, ” Pollock, ” Smith, Tish James, Harry Litman, “ That’s, James “, ” Trump, Chris Kise, ” Kise, Jean Carroll, Litman, ” Litman Organizations: CNN, New York Attorney, Trump Organization, Eastern, of, New, New York City Sheriff, New York, Springs ., New York State, “, Trump Locations: York, New York City, New York, Westchester County, Briarcliff Manor, Springs, Lago, Florida, Mar

☆ I tried the AI robot massage table coming to Equinox. It's impressive, but I still prefer a human.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Equinox is getting an AI massage table this summer and it's the first of its kind to launch in the US. So naturally, I had to test out the new Aescape AI massage that Equinox is adding to its New York City locations in June. It's the first fully automated, customizable massage experience available commercially in the US, with two long robotic arms that massage you in tandem. The table is located in a dimly lit room with a large dresser, mirror, and robotic massage table in the center. Beider also said Aescape's massage table isn't an option for everyone.

Persons: —, I've, It's, Eric Litman, Rachel Beider, Aescape, Ana Altchek, Litman, Molly O'Connor, Frank Sinatra, Beider, didn't, We've, you'll Organizations: Service, Massage, PRESS Locations: Paris, New York City, Colombia, COVID

☆ Opinion | The Future of Online Speech Shouldn’t Belong to One Trump-Appointed Judge in Louisiana
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Kate Klonick | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

On Monday, Judge Doughty refused a stay on his injunction, putting it into immediate effect. Other examples include laws passed in Florida and Texas that prohibit larger social media platforms from removing posts because of the opinions they express and the ban on TikTok that Montana has passed. How do you regulate a public right like freedom of expression when that right is intermediated by private companies? Those questions lie at the heart of the case before Judge Doughty. I agree with Judge Doughty that the apparent pressure that the Biden administration placed on the platforms is questionable.

Persons: Doughty, Leah Litman, Steve Vladeck, Judge Doughty, Donald Trump, Biden Organizations: Democratic, Monroe Division, Western, U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit Locations: Covid, Florida, Texas, Montana, Louisiana, Monroe, Western District

☆ Opinion: Supreme Court drops the H-bomb and D-bomb
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Graduates of Harvard and other Ivy League schools earn significantly more than most college graduates –— the credential opens doors. Maybe the best confirmation of that is that eight out of the nine Supreme Court justices went to law school at either Harvard or its Ivy rival, Yale. “The court’s decision Thursday is consistent with its view that race-based preferences should and would have a limited shelf life. And the Supreme Court has just guaranteed that this will be the case for many years to come.”“The court made the right decision,” wrote Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University.

Persons: Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana, ”, Harvard isn’t, –, Michael Gerhardt, Roe, Wade, Donald, Trump, Bill Bramhall, Tan, ” Ana Fernandez, Richard Kahlenberg, Harvard …, Lanhee Chen, Peniel, Joseph, Joe Biden’s, Rachel Clark, “, Ilya Somin, Biden, ” Clay Jones, Somin, Leah Litman, isn’t, aren’t, Timothy Holbrook, Nicole Hemmer, Drew Sheneman, Phil Hands, Julian Zelizer, Yorkers, Walt Handelsman, Jill Filipovic, ’, Patrick T, Brown, DeSantis, Duncan Hosie, Ken Ballen, Trump Jack Ohman, Jennifer Martin, ” Martin, Vladimir Putin’s, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Prigozhin, David A, Putin, Jade McGlynn, CNN’s Chris Good, it’s, Frida Ghitis, Keir Giles, Victory, Don’t, Agency Dean Obeidallah, Keith Magee, France Kara Alaimo, Vicki Shabo, Leroy Chiao, Abdullah, Billy Lezra, MonaLisa Leung Beckford, Timothy Naftali, David Horsey, It’s, Blake Moore, Marc Veasey, Hershel “ Woody ” Williams, Moore, Veasey, “ Williams, Williams, Hershel ‘ Woody ’, Abraham Lincoln, ” Moore, Lincoln Organizations: CNN, Harvard, Harvard College, Wall Street Journal, of Harvard, Ivy League, Yale, Supreme Court, University of North, University of North Carolina —, Wellesley College, Blacks, …, George Mason University, “, University of Michigan, Democratic, Agency, Trump, New Yorker, American Academy of Sleep, Soviet Union —, RFK, Republican, Utah Republican, Texas Democrat, Marines Locations: Boston, University of North Carolina, California, “, Chicago, Detroit, Great, Bedminster, New Jersey, New, Iran, Ukraine, Russia, Soviet Union, Moscow, France, Hong Kong, China, America, Utah, Texas, Iwo Jima, Lincoln

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File PhotoWILMINGTON, Delaware, June 29 (Reuters) - A prominent U.S. lawsuit to ban the abortion pill mifepristone has focused on the drug's safety and approval process. Skop and 10 other doctors submitted their testimony when the case began in November. She said she was harmed by the FDA expanding access to the pill because she has treated dozens of women at her hospital's emergency room with mifepristone complications. Erin Hawley, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom legal organization representing the plaintiffs, said abortion sets the case apart. In the abortion pill case, the two initial court rulings found harm to Skop and other doctors was "impending" because the mifepristone label says the treatment may be unsuccessful in up 7% of women.

Persons: Evelyn Hockstein, mifepristone, Ingrid Skop, Roe, Wade, Skop, doesn’t, Leah Litman, Erin Hawley, Hawley, Matthew Kacsmaryk, Samuel Alito's, Danco, Tom Hals, Amy Stevens, Deepa Babington Organizations: Alamo Women's, REUTERS, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, Supreme, FDA, University of Michigan Law School, Alliance Defending, Alliance for Hippocratic, District, Appeals, U.S, Fifth, Amnesty International, Danco Laboratories, Thomson Locations: Carbondale , Illinois, U.S, WILMINGTON , Delaware, Texas, America, Amarillo , Texas, Amarillo, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, Wilmington , Delaware

☆ Israeli turmoil alarms business leaders: There's 'fear over what happens next'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Jason Gewirtz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The uncertainty in Israel's political situation extends deep into the business sector. This month, ratings service Fitch warned that the courts controversy "could weaken Israel's credit profile." Weingarten's big fear is an irreparable divide in Israel, a country where a great degree of unity was once seen as a given. Such a drop would make the prime minister push his right-wing coalition partners into a deal that's more aligned with the country's citizens at large. Women dressed as handmaidens from "The Handmaid's Tale" attend a demonstration after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the defense minister and his nationalist coalition government presses on with its judicial overhaul, in Jerusalem on March 27, 2023.

☆ The Trump-appointed judge who blocked Biden's student-loan forgiveness compared the debt relief to a law enabling Hitler
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mark Pittman, a federal judge in Texas, blocked Biden's student-debt relief last week. In a hearing prior to the ruling, Pittman compared the relief to a law that gave Hitler power. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by two student-loan borrowers who sued because they did not qualify for the full amount of debt relief. Replying to that argument, Pittman suggested that allowing loan forgiveness in response to an emergency is similar to a German law that gave Hitler power. "Again this is a Trump-appointed judge invalidating student debt cancellation (after likening statutes authorizing debt cancellation to ... the rise of Hitler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)"

☆ Why a Trump-appointed Texas judge blocked Biden's student-debt cancellation plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Trump-appointed Judge Mark Pittman struck down Biden's debt relief in Texas last week. They claimed that enacting broad student-loan forgiveness is an overreach of the authority and should require Congressional approval, while Biden has maintained one-time student-loan forgiveness is well within the administration's legal authority. The plaintiffs' standing to sueBoth of the plaintiffs who brought the Texas lawsuit hold student loans. The first plaintiff, Myra Brown, sued because her loans are commercially-held and therefore ineligible for Biden's debt relief, which requires the borrower to owe their debt directly to the federal government. Pittman said that Biden's Justice Department argument that the plaintiffs' standing does not exist is "untrue."

The Florida Democratic Party noted it has had a Municipal Victory Program since 2016 that includes efforts to fundraise and help school board candidates. Historically, it hasn’t taken a lot of cash to influence school board races, which are generally nonpartisan and often draw low voter turnout. In a 2018 survey, just 9 percent of school board officials reported spending more than $5,000. “What Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida — supporting a bunch of these school board candidates — is really smart, because the No. Some of the liberal efforts to push back against conservatives in school board races are well established.

☆ Alex Jones’ conspiracy empire hangs in the balance after jury’s nearly $1 billion award to Sandy Hook families
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN Business —Judgment Day arrived on Wednesday for Alex Jones — and he said that it felt like he landed in Hell. “This must be what Hell’s like,” the notorious right-wing conspiracy theorist said on an Infowars livestream as a Connecticut jury awarded plaintiffs a staggering nearly $1 billion in damages. The families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School victims actually know what Hell feels like. Jones put them there with his heinous conspiracy theories and lies about the 2012 shooting, which he repeated again and again over the years, ignoring pleas to stop. And it is, unfortunately, more popular than ever, with right-wing media stars and top Republican politicians emulating Jones’ modus operandi.

☆ Donald Trump hints at legal action over Mar-a-Lago raid. Lawyers are already finding fault with his Fourth Amendment defense.
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-20 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On Friday night, former President Donald Trump hinted at legal action concerning the Mar-a-Lago raid. He said a "major motion" related to the Fourth Amendment would soon be filed. According to the Daily Beast, lawyers are already tearing apart the Fourth Amendment defense. In a post on Truth Social, on Friday night, Trump said that a "major motion" related to the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, will soon be filed. Though the "major motion" is yet to be filed, lawyers are already saying his Fourth Amendment defense would likely fail.

☆ What is Moore v. Harper? Experts say the next big Supreme Court case 'could provide the path for election subversion'
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-03 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear the case of Moore v. Harper in October. Moore v. Harper is a North Carolina case regarding the independent state legislature doctrine and gerrymandering. The review was granted on June 30 with the case to be heard in the Supreme Court session this October. "And it would do so at a time when voting rights are under attack, including at the Supreme Court itself." Conservative Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito have all endorsed versions of the legal theory in previous court opinions.

Persons: Moore, Harper, —, Harper Moore, Robin Hudson, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Timothy K, SCOTUS, Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, Carolyn Shapiro, Brennan, Brett Kavanaugh, Richard Hasen, Cortez Organizations: Service, Republican, Democratic, North Carolina Supreme, General, United States, North Carolina House of, Independent, Washington Post, Supreme, Brennan Center, Justice, Conservative, New York Democrat Locations: North Carolina, North Carolina's, Alexandria

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