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☆ This AI startup that helps stores catch shoplifters just bagged $1.5 million in pre-seed funding without using a pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

MokSa.ai uses general-use models and customizes them to detect suspicious activity at store locations. The company also pays college interns in India to watch footage for suspicious activity and annotate it — a process called data labeling. The dashboard shows reports of suspicious activity at a glance. MokSa.aiThe Android of the surveillance marketBefore MokSa.ai, Kolli worked as a quality manager at a company producing parts for high-speed rails. While these two tout their abilities to detect suspicious activity and send alerts, they both require customers to use their cameras and sensors.

Persons: —, Nikhil Teja Kolli, Kolli, Jay Farner, MokSa.ai, MokSa.ai Kolli, Shruti Gandhi, Gandhi, It's Organizations: Service, Business, Array Ventures, Quicken Loans, The Fund, Ventures, Royal Ozarks Locations: Kansas, India, Detroit

New York City CNN —Donald Trump is trying to turn the tables on Alvin Bragg. He goes after guys like Trump who did nothing wrong,” Trump said. “There are hundreds of murderers all over the city, they know who they are and they don’t pick them up. Trump is currently on trial in New York four days a week, severely limiting his ability to campaign or fundraise outside of the state. On Tuesday, Trump used the appearance at the bodega to attack Bragg.

Persons: York City CNN — Donald Trump, Alvin Bragg, Jose Alba, Bragg, Eric Adams –, Trump, Adams, “, ” Trump, bodegas, Francisco Marte, ”, –, Alvin, Trump’s, ” Marte, Marte, Joe Biden, “ We’re, “ Alvin Bragg, bodega, Alba, Austin Simon, Simon, Mr, Alice Fontier, ” Adams, ” “, ” Alba, Black, ” Bragg Organizations: York, York City CNN, Harlem bodega, bodega, The, Bodega, Small Business Association, Throngs, Broadway, Trump, Bragg, CNN, NYPD, ”, Democratic, Biden, Yorker, ” Prosecutors, Republicans, City Locations: York City, Manhattan, Lower Manhattan, New York, York, Trump, Alba, bodega, “ New York, ” New York, New York City, ”, City of New York, Albany

☆ Against All Odds, New York’s Artist Buildings Have Survived
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( M.H. Miller | Miranda Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

The expansion of government-subsidized housing loans meant that cheap space was also easy to come by, as New York had a then-ample stock of residential and industrial buildings. But the city has always romanticized artist-dominated buildings, the kinds of communal spaces in which every unit might be home to an artist’s studio (and sometimes, unofficially, their residences, too). In an almost unheard-of feat of perseverance, the same artist, Don Dudley, 93, has been working out of this loft since 1971. So artists have had to create a kind of whisper network to withstand New York’s unimpeachable forward march, which the art market has, ironically, enabled. Most of them are temporary fixes before an artist — who’s grown out, or been priced out, of their space — has to move on.

Persons: Bill, Don Dudley, What’s, it’s, — who’s Organizations: Veterans, Pop Art, Brooklyn Army, Financial, Artists Locations: Europe, Paris, New York, York, Sunset, Williamsburg , Brooklyn, Ridgewood , Queens, TriBeCa, ”, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens

☆ Death of Fringe Friendships: Making Gen Z Sad, Hurting Job Prospects
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

One of the biggest reasons for our shrinking social circles is the loss of fringe friends — casual friends that you enjoy seeing occasionally. These relationships might seem trivial or inconsequential, but experts and research indicate that fringe friends are vital. But now these fringe friend groups are disappearing, and we're all worse off for it. AdvertisementGlimmers of hope for Gen ZThe decline in fringe friends has also created a generational divide when it comes to who's doing well socially. There's no real solution to the loss of fringe friends.

Persons: Nikol Moses, Moses, Gen, would've, That's, —, Gen Zers, It's, Juliana Horowitz, Daniel Cox, Cox, what's, he'd, we've, Danielle Bayard Jackson, Long, Evan Paul Cudworth, Cudworth, Anna Goldfarb, I've, he's, Pew's Horowitz, Jackson, she'd, Goldfarb, it's, — Moses Organizations: Brisbane —, IRL, Pew Research Center, Gallup, Pew, American Survey, Survey, Survey Center, American Enterprise Institute, bodega, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Facebook, Social, DMs, Pew Research, American Locations: Melbourne, Brisbane, Brooklyn, New York

☆ Where Southerners Go to Fill the Tank and Feed the Family
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Kim Severson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

New York City has its bodegas. The South has its gas stations. When you stop for motor oil in Mississippi, you can also grab fried chicken on a stick. In North Carolina, you can buy a steamy bowl of pozole along with a batteries and a five-pound bag of White Lily flour. Documenting these independent Southern temples of commerce and community has become a singular focus for the photojournalist Kate Medley, who, like most kids raised in Mississippi, grew up eating at rural gas stations.

Persons: Lily, Kate Medley Locations: York City, Mississippi, North Carolina

HAVANA (AP) — Until recently, the space was the one-car garage of a private home in Cuba’s capital, Havana. Yet despite their modest setup, their prices are far from affordable, even for a doctor or a teacher, who make about 7,000 Cuban pesos a month (about $28 in the parallel market). Political Cartoons View All 1247 ImagesFor example, one kilo (2.2 pounds) of powdered milk from the Czech Republic costs 2,000 Cuban pesos (about $8). “I retired with 2,200 (Cuban pesos a month or $8.80) last year and I can’t even buy a package of chicken," she said. The novelty is that the small shops like the one in Vedado and bigger bodegas like the “Cuban Costco” are entirely private and accept payments in Cuban pesos.

Persons: ” Ania Espinosa, Espinosa, Ingracia Virgen Cruzata, “, Goya, ”, Pedro Freyre, Akerman, That’s, Freyre Organizations: —, Cuban Costco, Akerman Consulting, Miami Law School Locations: HAVANA, Cuba’s, Havana, El, Cuba, Cuban, Vedado, Czech Republic, U.S, Uruguay, Florida, America, Caribbean

☆ The warped financial logic fueling America’s ‘doom loop’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Well, when a landlord doesn't lower the rent to get a new retail tenant, it's because that landlord can't. They're free to renegotiate or refinance the terms of mortgages, given the extraordinary downturn facing retail storefronts. And the future will be full of even higher vacancy rates, higher interest rates, and lower rents. Retail rents have flattened, she says, but the construction of retail space has not. Still, from an urban-planning standpoint, the way we finance retail space makes no sense.

Persons: You've, apocalypses, that's, It's, David Greensfelder, Greensfelder, Banks, what's, —, Larisa Ortiz, Ortiz, Justin Sullivan, Lorenzo Perez, I've, Rachel Meltzer, Kazuko Morgan, Perez, Culdesac, Something's, Meltzer, Adam Rogers Organizations: McKinsey & Company, Verizon, Republics, Harvard Locations: America, Urban, Manhattan, San Francisco, Market, vaya, What's, Phoenix, That's, LA, New York, Wakefield, Tempe , Arizona

☆ New York City Has a Bold Plan to Fix Its Housing Crisis. Will It Work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Mihir Zaveri | More About Mihir Zaveri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Upgrading basements and building up bodegas. The plan is a combination of different strategies. One component would also make it easier to build smaller apartments, like for single-room occupancy, that could be relatively cheap to rent. Other parts of the plan would apply only in less crowded areas outside of Manhattan, where a hodgepodge of zoning rules often prevent the development of anything other than single- or two-family homes. These changes, which could also increase the supply of lower-cost homes, include:● Allowing the construction of two- to four-stories of apartments above laundromats, shops and other businesses along certain commercial strips;● Allowing the construction of modest apartment buildings on big lots near subway, bus and other transit stations;

Locations: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens

But the recent shift toward e-cigarettes that can’t be refilled has created a new environmental dilemma. U.S. teens and adults are buying roughly 12 million disposable vapes per month. But the quantities used in vaping devices are too small to warrant salvage. Disposable e-cigarettes currently account for about 53% of the multi-billion U.S. vaping market, according to U.S. government figures, more than doubling since 2020. The company has incinerated more than 1.6 million pounds of vaping waste in recent years, mostly unsold inventory or discontinued products.

Persons: ”, Yogi Hale Hendlin, Michael Garland, ” Garland, Brian King, “, New York Sheriff Anthony Miranda, Bob Cappadona, Daniel Ryan, Shelly Fuller, ” Fuller, Joseph Frederick, Matthew Perrone Organizations: WASHINGTON, University of California, Environmental, Agency, EPA, FDA, Regulators, New, Veolia, Centaurus High, ”, Twitter, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: U.S, San Francisco, Monroe County , New York, Arkansas, New York City, New York , California, Monroe County, “, New York, Gum Springs , Arkansas, Boulder County , Colorado, Boulder

☆ Home Sweet Times Square: How New York City can save Midtown Manhattan from the 'urban doom loop'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

And New York City has had success transforming single-use office districts, most notably Lower Manhattan's financial district, into more vibrant mixed-use places. Times Square is one of those, according to Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance, which represents the district's businesses. AdvertisementAdvertisement"I'm not negating it, but certainly the opportunities south of Times Square, to the west of Times Square, are a little bit better for development of the housing stock," he said. The mix of businesses around Times Square has changed in a way that could be appealing to potential residents. Times Square lost 179 businesses during the pandemic, but has since welcomed more than 180 new businesses into the neighborhood, according to the Times Square Alliance.

Persons: —, Eric Adams, Dan Garodnick, Garodnick, Lynne Sagalyn, Sagalyn, Andrew Lichtenstein, Susan Mello, Walker, Dunlop, Mello, Luiz C . Ribeiro, Tom Harris, Harris, aren't, Le Bernardin, haven't —, Gardonick Organizations: Midtown, Service, Garment, Eighth, New York City's Department of City Planning, Columbia University, Getty, Financial, Times Square Alliance, Times, Lambs, —, Taco Bell, Grand Central Madison Locations: Midtown Manhattan, Midtown, Manhattan, America, Manhattan . Old, York City, Lower Manhattan, hasn't, Retail, Long, New York

☆ Americans are being asked to consider tipping, but is it really required?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Mingrone pays her kitchen staff between $20-25 an hour, well above minimum wage. Comparatively, her front of house staff — servers and bartenders — make the state’s tipped minimum wage of $6.38 an hour. Eight states have abolished their tipped minimum wage. One Fair Wage, the group leading the movement, wants businesses to be required to pay employees the state’s minimum wage, plus tips. The federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 an hour and has been frozen there since 1991 — and many states default to that.

Persons: ”, Carly Cullen, ” Cullen, Emily Mingrone, aren’t, Mingrone, —, I’ve, Danny Meyer, “, pushback, Sean Kennedy, Destiny Fox, Georgetti’s, Coco Pazzo —, She’s, Fox Organizations: New, New York CNN, Purdue University, Temple University, Co, Square Hospitality, Nation Restaurant Association, National Restaurant Association Locations: New York, New Haven , Connecticut, State, Chicago

☆ A Former Weed Dealer Built the ‘Budega’ Brand. Then Copycats Moved In.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Ashley Southall | More About Ashley Southall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the fall of 2021, an acquaintance of Alex Norman, the founder of a cannabis apparel and lifestyle brand called Budega NYC, reached out to congratulate him on making a deal to open several dispensaries in Southern California. There was just one problem, Mr. Norman said: “It wasn’t me.”Instead, an international conglomerate had claimed the Budega name, which Mr. Norman, 50, said was a nod to the longstanding role of New York’s neighborhood bodegas in supplying weed before legalization. It was the first of a series of copycats that have forced Mr. Norman, who lives in Brooklyn, to decide whether to wage costly legal battles to defend his brand, work out deals to coexist or start over with a new name. Cases like his have played out across the country as states legalize cannabis and allow businesses to open stores and release products under similar-sounding names. Jessica Gonzalez, a cannabis and trademark attorney, said the trend will only accelerate if the federal government legalizes cannabis and companies begin competing for national dominance.

Persons: Alex Norman, Norman, Jessica Gonzalez Organizations: Industry Locations: Southern California, York’s, Brooklyn

☆ DoorDash quietly ends an experiment to deliver grocery orders within 15 minutes in NYC
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In 2021, Gorillas, Buyk, and Gopuff opened dozens of rapid-delivery warehouses in Manhattan. Amid a collapse in the sector, DoorDash has ceased its ultrafast delivery operation in Chelsea. DoorDash's exit comes as the ultrafast grocery delivery space has collapsed over the past year after growing wildly in spring 2021. Many had spread throughout New York City, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. Neighborhoods in New York City also balked at the dark store operations, accusing them of ruining retail enclaves and taking away business from local bodegas.

Persons: Gopuff, DoorDash, —, York DashMart, Fuad Hannon, they're, Hannon, Robert Mollins, Gordon, Getir Organizations: Investors, Service, The Locations: Manhattan, Chelsea, New York City, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, York

☆ To Fight Rats, N.Y.C. Restaurants Will Have to Put Trash in Containers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Emma G. Fitzsimmons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the latest front in New York City’s fight against the proliferation of trash and rats, city officials plan to require restaurants and bodegas to set out trash in containers instead of bags. The move would address one of New York’s ubiquitous, age-old eyesores: the heaps of smelly trash bags filled with restaurant food scraps and liquids that remain at curbside for hours at night, providing easy targets for rats until commercial haulers arrive. “We want people to understand that bags on the street attract rats, and we need everyone to do their part — residents, businesses and the city — to get the black bags of rat food off the streets,” Ms. Tisch said. The rule would apply to a wide range of businesses that produce most of the city’s food waste: catering companies, food manufacturers, restaurants, food wholesalers and retail food stores. They would be required to put trash at the curb in “rigid receptacles with tight-fitting lids.”

☆ Unilever Tries Reformulating Its Ice Cream to Survive Warmer Freezers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Katie Deighton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Keeping ice cream at 10 degrees as opposed to zero will reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 20% to 30% per freezer, it said. Unilever’s out-of-home ice cream sales declined slightly during the fourth quarter of 2022 because, the company said, some stores unplugged their freezers sooner in the year than usual. Higher temperatures can lead to softer ice creams that stick to wrappers and slide off ice cream sticks, for example, said Andrew Sztehlo, chief research and development officer for Unilever’s ice cream division. The warming program isn’t designed to sweat competitors out of Unilever freezers, which some shopkeepers fill with an assortment of brands that don’t carry the Unilever logo, Mr. Sztehlo said. Representatives from ice cream makers Nestlé SA, Mars Inc., General Mills Inc. and Froneri International Ltd. declined to comment.

☆ Tyre Nichols Case Prompts Questions About Police Tactics in Crime Hot Spots
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Joe Barrett | Cameron Mcwhirter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NEWARK, N.J.—More than two dozen people recently sat around a conference table in this working-class city, poring over crime statistics and pondering how to bring the numbers down. Most weren’t police officers, and the focus wasn’t on boosting arrests. Instead, the Newark Public Safety Collaborative, which is spearheaded by academics and includes social-service agencies, hospitals, schools, police and the city, talked about installing new streetlights and figuring out why bodegas seem to be magnets for crime.

☆ Weed has been legal in New York state since 2021 but the first dispensary is set to open — finally — in Manhattan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marijuana has been legal in New York State since March 2021, but there are still no licensed dispensaries in NYC. The first legal dispensary in New York State will be opened by an HIV/AIDS nonprofit in Manhattan on Dec. 29, Gov. In March 2021, cannabis was legalized for recreational use in New York state. Kathy Hochul said her goal was to open 20 legal dispensaries by the end of 2022, digital news platform The City reported. Prior to this announcement, how and where to legally obtain weed in New York City was a confusing matter.

☆ Marijuana's black market is undercutting legal businesses
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Stefan Sykes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Thriving, unregulated marijuana businesses across the United States are undercutting legal markets awaiting banking and tax reform. Unlicensed businesses are "taking a pretty hefty percent of the potential market share," according to Amanda Reiman, a researcher at cannabis intelligence company New Frontier Data. The problem is particularly cumbersome in New York City, Knowles said. Besides cease-and-desist letters, New York City has begun cracking down in other ways, too. "We will not let the economic opportunities that legal cannabis offers be taken for a ride by unlicensed establishments," the mayor said at a news conference.

☆ More Americans are living and working in Mexico. Where does that leave the locals?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Jaylinn Herrera | Jaylinn Herrera Is A Nbc News Associate With The Nbc National News Desk. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Mexico City has seen an influx of people migrating to the historic metropolis, especially during the pandemic when remote work made it possible to work from different places. Currently, 1.6 million Americans live in Mexico, according to the State Department, and Mexico City is the fifth rated destination for digital nomads globally, according to nomadlist.com. He emphasized Mexico City isn’t cheap, but in comparison to other countries digital nomads are migrating from, it’s considerably more affordable. “If you’re making your salary in U.S. dollars, pounds, Canadian dollars, you’re better off living in Mexico City.” Romero said. He believes those areas with higher numbers of digital nomads are already economically out of reach for most of the locals.

☆ Jill Biden holds the key to the nation's political future as her husband weighs re-election in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

"Joe Biden wouldn't have run in '20 if Jill Biden had not wanted him to run and he won't run in '24 if Jill Biden doesn't want him to run," he told Insider. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden watch fireworks go off on national mall from the White House on July 4, 2022, in Washington, DC. Jill Biden divorced her first husband after five years and married Joe Biden two years later. First lady Jill Biden tours a classroom at the James Rushton Early Learning Center in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 9, 2021. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 18, 2022.

☆ New York's top cannabis regulator says most of the state's pot shops won't open until next year — but illegal sellers are already filling the gap
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jeremy Berke | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

New York state will have at least one legal cannabis shop open in 2022, but the bulk of stores won't open until at least the middle of 2023, the state's top cannabis regulator said. Wright added that most legal shops probably wouldn't open until 2023 — about two years after the state legalized cannabis. AP Photo/Steven SenneBoth Krueger and Peoples-Stokes laid some blame for New York's cannabis stumbles at the feet of former Gov. Over half of cannabis sales in California are estimated to stem from the illegal market, though the state opened cannabis shops in 2018. New York's testing requirements pose a challengeNew York's legal cannabis market could face other hurdles.

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