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☆ US companies face less pressure for climate and social reforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Jeenah MoonJune 9 (Reuters) - Shareholder support for proxy resolutions on topics including climate change and workforce diversity dropped significantly this spring, analysts said, as tough proposals from activists met with growing political pressure on fund firms' voting. Support for resolutions on social issues fell to 20% this year so far, from 26% in 2022 and 33% in 2021, Georgeson said. He declined to discuss specific companies, but his description fit results like at major U.S. banks that defeated calls to wind down financing for major fossil fuel projects. "These dynamics have led to an overall decline in investor support for environment and social shareholder proposals," Colton said. Both have previously said they vote on a case-by-case basis and noted an increasing number of proposals affect support rates.

Persons: Russell, Georgeson, Kilian Moote, ESG, Sow, Andrew Behar, Ford, Behar, Benjamin Colton, Colton, Scott Shepard, Ross Kerber, Sabrina Valle, Lincoln Organizations: New, REUTERS, Ford, eBay, Exxon, Street Global Advisors, BlackRock, Vanguard, Center for Public Policy Research, IBM, National Center, Thomson Locations: New York City, Manhattan, Weehawken , New Jersey, U.S, China, Houston

☆ Investing in Space: Here are the rockets chasing to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

SpaceXCNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Overview: Chasing the FalconNo rocket has been better-described as a "workhorse" than SpaceX's Falcon 9. Aside from Blue Origin's New Glenn, the early theme is rockets that are close to the capability of Falcon 9 and less expensive. – CNBC, which the lawsuit says were used for NASA projects including the International Space Station and the Space Launch Systems rocket. – Firefly Aerospace: The rocket builder says the deal will bolster its launch, spacecraft, and lunar lander businesses.

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, Phil Smith, SpaceX's, Glenn, Smith, –, Smith doesn't, CNBC ULA, Tory Bruno, Jeff Bezos, ULA, – Read, Shepard, Bob Smith, Jim Free, Artemis, HawkEye, – Hydrosat, Leonardo DiCaprio, – Momentus, Westinghouse EchoStar's Hughes, – EchoStar, Iris Lan, Sumara Thompson, King, Lan, – NASA Celeste Ford, Ford, – SpiderOak Melissa Quinn, Quinn Organizations: SpaceX CNBC's, SpaceX, Falcon, Boeing, NASA, CNBC, CNBC Department of Defense, Ukraine, Starlink, Pentagon, –, Space Station, Systems, CNBC SpaceX, Cargo, International Space, FAA, Intelsat, Japan Airlines, Embraer, – Intelsat, Rocket, ONE, Washington, Spaceflight, Aerospace, Aerospace Spacecraft, York, MaC Venture Capital, Broom Ventures, Veto, TechCrunch Viasat, Air Force, Viasat, Westinghouse, U.S . Department of Justice, – NASA, Ford, Stellar Solutions Locations: Florida, China, Russia, Colorado, Ukrainian, Bellevue , Washington, Cortado, Cornwall

☆ Investing in Space: Virgin Galactic still has a big hurdle to clear for commercial service
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

After Virgin Galactic last week flew its final developmental spaceflight, which it crowned successful, it'd be easy to think the space tourism company is at a turning point. But the Virgin Galactic story is not about its first operational spaceflight, as long-awaited as that may be. Virgin Galactic sold about 600 tickets at $250,000 or less, representing the majority of its total reservations. Yes, Virgin Galactic has nearly $900 million in cash and securities to continue to cover losses in the meantime. Colglazier has described Delta as "the economic engine" for Virgin Galactic, estimating revenue of over $2.7 million per flight.

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, it's, It's, Elon, Michael Colglazier, Colglazier, Beth Moses, Moses, Delta, he's, bode, Galactic's, Shepard Organizations: Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Elon Musk's, VSS Unity, VSS, Virgin Locations: that's, Virgin, Everest

☆ Virgin Galactic launches high-stakes flight carrying passengers to the edge of space
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The space plane is designed to then detach from the mothership, fire its rocket engine and swoop straight up with its two pilots at the controls. Virgin Galactic confirmed just before 12:30 p.m. The space plane then coasted back to a landing back at New Mexico’s Spaceport America. The SpaceShipOne technology was parlayed into a larger space plane design, called SpaceShipTwo, which Virgin Galactic still flies today. Virgin Orbit, a sister company to Virgin Galactic that is focused on launching satellites to space on a small rocket, filed for bankruptcy in April.

CNN —Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sánchez are engaged, a source close to the couple tells CNN. No additional details about the proposal or pending wedding plans were immediately available. Bezos and Sánchez, a former broadcast journalist and now philanthropist, first went public with their relationship in 2019. Since Bezos and Sánchez began dating, they have kept details of their lives together mostly private outside of being photographed at various events. Sánchez has three children from previous relationships, and was married to Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell for 13 years before finalizing their divorce in 2019.

☆ NASA Picks Blue Origin-Led Group to Build Moon Lander for Artemis V Mission
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On the second try, Jeff Bezos and his rocket company have won a contract to take NASA astronauts to the surface of the moon. NASA announced on Friday that it had awarded a contract to Mr. Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, to provide a lunar lander for a moon mission that is currently scheduled to launch in 2029. The mission, Artemis V, is another key piece of NASA’s Artemis program, which is to send astronauts back to the moon as part of an effort to explore the south pole region. The winning of the contract could start a promising rebound year for Blue Origin after a number of delays and setbacks. Blue Origin has identified the cause and hopes to resume New Shepard flights involving both space tourists and scientific cargo later this year.

☆ Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s reputation takes hit after text messages reveal what he said in wake of 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Bret Baier’s standing as a “fair and balanced” newsman is being called into question like never before. The Fox News chief political anchor has long enjoyed a strong reputation in Washington circles and among viewers, anchoring major news events for the network and moderating presidential debates. That reputation, however, has been ruptured in recent months by the release of leaked private text messages sent in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, casting the “Special Report” anchor in a dramatically different light. “We need to do something to reassure our core audience,” Carlson wrote Baier in the wake of the Arizona call, according to The Beast. The revelations about Baier are especially noteworthy given that he is the face of Fox News’ so-called “straight news” division.

☆ Virgin Galactic set for first spaceflight since Richard Branson's trip two years ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The flight, slated for late May, will carry two pilots and a crew of four Virgin Galactic employees, the company announced Monday. If all goes well, Virgin Galactic expects to begin commercial services out of its spaceport in New Mexico in late June. At the time Virgin Galactic went public in 2019, it had also been touting plans to start commercial service in 2020. They include two pilots — CJ Sturckow and Mike Masucci — as well as four Virgin Galactic employees who will ride in the passenger cabin. Virgin Orbit, a sister company to Virgin Galactic that is focused on launching satellites to space on a small rocket, filed for bankruptcy in April.

☆ Robert Patrick, Early and Prolific Playwright of Gay Life, Dies at 85
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Penelope Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Robert Patrick, a wildly prolific playwright who rendered gay (and straight) life with caustic wit, an open heart and fizzy camp, and whose 1964 play, “The Haunted Host,” became a touchstone of early gay theater, died on April 23 at his home in Los Angeles. One day in 1961, a 24-year-old Mr. Patrick followed a cute boy with long hair into the place, where the playwrights John Guare, Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson and, soon, Mr. Patrick, all got their starts. The cute boy was John P. Dodd, who went on to be a well-known lighting designer and die of AIDS in 1991. No one was paid, except the cops, because Mr. Cino was not just running an unlicensed cabaret but also a gay hangout, which was illegal in the early 1960s. Its young playwrights, particularly Mr. Patrick, churned out plays, playlets and monologues akin to TikToks, as Don Shewey, the author and theater critic, said in a phone interview.

☆ Despite tough talk, Ron DeSantis can’t shake Disney’s grip on Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Although Disney has thwarted the state’s most aggressive efforts against it, Ron DeSantis has repeatedly promised he will win out in the end. In the governor’s effort to wrest control of Disney’s Orlando-area theme parks, he found that Disney’s corporate lawyers have routinely outmaneuvered him. “The question is, how much are you willing to hurt everybody else?”Legally, he says, DeSantis can’t single out Disney explicitly because retaliation against a single company is unconstitutional. To be sure, Disney’s parks division is a huge part of its business. In other words: Florida needs Disney more than Disney needs Florida.

☆ Blue Origin says an overheated engine part caused last year's cargo rocket failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The moment of the anomaly during the New Shepard cargo mission NS-23, in which the booster's engine failed. The company's New Shepard rocket, flying the NS-23 mission carrying science and research payloads, suffered a failure in September 2022. No people were onboard, and Blue Origin says its capsule's emergency escape system functioned properly, but the rocket's reusable booster was destroyed. "Blue Origin expects to return to flight soon, with a re-flight of the NS-23 payloads," the company said. The New Shepard rocket booster is reusable, returning to land on a concrete pad near the launch site.

☆ Blue Origin expects New Shepard rocket's return to flight in late 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin expects to return its New Shepard rocket to flight by the end of 2023 after the vehicle suffered a mid-flight failure in September, a company sales executive said on Wednesday. "We are looking to get back into flight with New Shepard by the end of this year," Ariane Cornell, vice president of commercial and international sales, said at a conference in Washington. The company has provided few details on an investigation into why its 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) New Shepard rocket aborted a research capsule roughly one minute after lifting off in Texas in September. No humans were aboard the rocket. Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sued over allegations the rocket company discriminates against older workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A spokesperson for Blue Origin did not respond to a request for comment. It's not the first time that Blue Origin has faced criticism from a former employee. In 2021, Alexandra Abrams, the former head of Blue Origin employee communications, published an open letter alongside a group describing itself as 21 former and current Blue Origin employees. At the time, a Blue Origin representative told Insider the company doesn't tolerate harassment and would investigate the claims. Do you work for Blue Origin or have insight to share?

☆ The 10 biggest revelations from Dominion’s explosive Fox News legal filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Murdoch rejected that Fox News, as an entity, endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. They endorsed,” Murdoch said, according to the filing, when asked about the hosts’ promotion of false claims about the election. ► Behind the scenes, Paul Ryan repeatedly warned the Murdochs to stop allowing the spread of election lies. “Maybe best to let Bill go right away,” which would “be a big message with Trump people” the filing said. These documents reveal that Fox News executives and hosts knew the truth and yet they peddled election lies to the audience.

☆ Kristen Bell: In business, 'I don't have an MBA,' so I make up for it with 'emotional intelligence'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

For most of her career, Kristen Bell had more experience in front of cameras than in boardrooms. At those companies, Bell initially felt "out to sea" when her colleagues discussed "ROI and endcaps," Bell recently told Real Simple. So instead of trying to keep pace with business jargon, she leaned into her own strengths to facilitate better communication among employees. "I don't have an MBA," Bell, 42, said. So when Bell experiences imposter syndrome at either of her two businesses, she leans into her emotional intelligence and communication skills to overcome those doubts.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Blue Origin, the private space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was awarded its first interplanetary NASA contract on Thursday to launch a mission next year to study the magnetic field around Mars, the U.S. space agency and company said. Blue Origin has flown previous NASA missions with its smaller, suborbital New Shepard rocket, which can carry research payloads on short, microgravity trips to the edge of space and back. Blue Origin, known for its astro-tourism business for wealthy customers and celebrities, is one of 13 firms NASA chose last year for its Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare missions (VADR) program. VADR essentially is intended to spur private development of private space launch vehicles by assigning lower-cost NASA science missions to new rockets with an unproven record and higher chance of failure. Blue Origin also declined to discuss financial details.

The sportswear staple known for its crisp collar and clean cut, has been revamped in ways that boggle the mind and energize the wardrobe. Witness the bounty of surreal white shirts in the resort 2023 collection from New York brand the Row, including the version shown at left, which would be standard if not for its detachable, puffy white shawl. “That was my Catholic school uniform!” said Megan Bugey, 46, an Austin, Texas, paralegal, of the shirt’s standard form. “But now, it’s trippy.”This season has seen an abundance of white collared shirts—and they’re anything but uniform. “I love the utility [button-up shirts] have in my wardrobe,” said New York stylist Pamela Shepard, 39, who owns “countless” iterations, including oversize and dip-dyed riffs from Ralph Lauren and J.Crew.

☆ CNBC Names Successor to Shepard Smith’s Show, Shakes Up Lineup
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Will Feuer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KC Sullivan took over as president of CNBC in September. CNBC named a new show to succeed “The News With Shepard Smith” in a broad programming shake-up as president KC Sullivan puts his stamp on the network. CNBC, a unit of Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, will replace the 7 p.m. show with “Last Call,” anchored by Brian Sullivan, according to a memo to staff on Thursday. The show, which will explore “the intersection of money, culture and policy” comes after CNBC canceled Mr. Smith’s 7 p.m. general-interest show in a bid to focus more on business-news coverage. Mr. Sullivan previously anchored “Worldwide Exchange” at 5 a.m.

☆ WNBA to host first Canada game with Lynx-Sky preseason clash
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Jun 26, 2022; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Sky forward Candace Parker (3) defends against Minnesota Lynx forward Jessica Shepard (10) during the second half of a WNBA game at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports/Jan 18 (Reuters) - The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) will host its first-ever game in Canada, a preseason showdown between four-times champions Minnesota Lynx and 2021 title-holders Chicago Sky at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena, the league said on Wednesday. It is only the third time that a WNBA preseason game has been played abroad, after games in Monterrey, Mexico, and Manchester, England, were held in 2004 and 2011, respectively. The Lynx and Sky will face off on May 13. Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York Editing by Toby DavisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Indiana University says an 18-year-old student was targeted and stabbed on a bus in Bloomington for being Asian. An 18-year-old Carmel, Indiana, woman told investigators that while waiting for the doors of the bus to open, another passenger began to strike her repeatedly in the head, police said in a statement. Police did not respond to a question about whether the attack is being investigated as a hate crime. The university's Asian Culture Center called the attack "a horrific and targeted anti-Asian hate crime." Indiana's hate crime law, enacted in 2019, allows judges to consider harsher sentences where “bias” factors, including “color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion,” motivated the crime, according to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

☆ Building self-discipline by age 27 is crucial, says psychiatrist from the Netflix doc 'Stutz': 3 ways to do it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Leading a fulfilling life requires discipline, Stutz said on a recent episode of "Armchair Expert," hosted by Dax Shepard and Monica Padman. Structural disciplineThe act of taking those reactive habits and integrating them into your "baseline" routine is what Stutz called structural discipline. Structural discipline relies more on conscious decision-making, while reactive discipline relies on subconscious behavior. In her book, "Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick," Wood frames it like this: You have to make the decision to ask your boss for a promotion. In other words, habits — good and bad — are formed through routines over time, which is why Stutz says you would be wise to adopt daily routines that promote good habits.

☆ Companies Are Inventing Silly, Cute Executive Titles but It's a Trick
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Drew Limsky | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Chief amazement officers, chief heart officers, and chief empathy officers are popping up across companies. They also found that titles like chief people officer and chief happiness officer were gaining in use. If you thought home's where the heart is, think again, because the workplace now has a chief heart officer. Sometimes the chief heart officer exists in addition to the head of human resources, a role that is increasingly called, more humanistically, the chief people officer. Claude Silver, the chief heart officer at VaynerMedia and self-proclaimed "first chief heart officer," told Forbes in 2017 that she was "here to be of service" to her staff.

☆ Richard Branson left school at 15—his headmaster said he'd either 'go to prison' or 'become a millionaire’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

When billionaire Richard Branson was 15, he dropped out of school to run a magazine. The headmaster at Branson's school was taken aback by his persuasiveness, and offered a prediction and a warning. "[I knew] I could pay for the printing of the paper and manufacturing, and so I quit school … with the headmaster saying, 'You're either going to prison or you're going to become a millionaire,'" Branson, 72, said on the podcast. Branson hasn't spent any time behind bars, but he has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, as of Thursday morning. In a 2019 blog post, Branson wrote that dyslexia is often associated with high levels of creativity and problem-solving abilities.

At the start of their new, much-anticipated Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” the Duchess of Sussex — the woman formerly known as Meghan Markle — is asked what her motivations are for creating the documentary. The Oprah interview won Harry and Meghan a swell of support, but also prompted some audience anger. The royal family today must constantly justify its existence in the modern world. This is understandable: They’ve been out of the royal family for almost double the amount of time that Meghan spent within it. Harry and Meghan still have the potential to be a unique hybrid of unofficial statespeople, philanthropic ambassadors and celebrities with a near-celestial kind of star power.

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