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☆ 5 tips for small businesses that want to try SMS marketing, from a founder who saw her profits double
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Short-message-service, or SMS, marketing can be a powerful way to engage customers. Insider talked to Vasquez and the marketing consultant Danielle Reid to understand what small-business owners should know about setting up a successful SMS marketing campaign. Reid said it's a good idea to regularly remind customers that they can opt out of SMS marketing if they no longer want you to contact them. Offer something of valueBefore she schedules any text message, Vasquez asks herself: Is this providing value? Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents said they learned of an interesting sale or promotion from a brand's text message that they wouldn't have known about otherwise.

Persons: SBOs, —, Ashley Vasquez, Zachary Dripps, Vasquez, Danielle Reid, Reid, Britney Kelsey, they've, Dripps, it's, that's Organizations: Small, Service, Los Locations: Los Angeles

☆ El Salvador’s abortion laws are notoriously harsh. These women say they were convicted of homicide after having stillborn babies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

CNN —A sign greets visitors arriving at a sun-filled two-story house in El Salvador’s capital. But within El Salvador, a largely Catholic and evangelical Christian country, some viewed the women’s accounts with skepticism and hostility. Again, the UN’s human rights office weighed in, calling El Salvador’s laws “draconian.”Two months later, 11 justices from El Salvador’s Supreme Court commuted Vásquez’s sentence, saying evidence in the case did not prove that she had taken any action to end her baby’s life. The Harvard professor has been studying these women’s cases and the impact of El Salvador’s abortion restrictions for years. This shows her after a visit in August 2018, six months after El Salvador's Supreme Court commuted her sentence.

Persons: Teodora Vásquez, they’ll, It’s, El Salvador, it’s, Vásquez, who’ve, “ We’ve, ” Vásquez, “, ”, Teodora, Oscar Rivera, Salvador Melendez, Jocelyn Viterna, ” Viterna, Viterna, Dana Sussman, —, Benedicte, Ra’ad Al Hussein, José Miguel Fortín Magaña, Jose Cabezas, El, ‘, ’ ” Vásquez, Libres, who've, Jessie Wardarski, “ I’ve, Jacqueline Castillo, “ It’s, ” Castillo, she’s, Mujeres, there’s, Marvin Recinos, She’s, Merlin Delcid, CNN’s Tierney Sneed Organizations: CNN, El, Getty, Hollywood, Amnesty, of Women, Harvard University, Salvadoran, Pregnancy, UN, Human Rights, El Salvador’s Institute of Legal Medicine, Reuters, Citizen Group, Harvard, Mujeres Libres El, Inter, American, of Human, “, of Steel Locations: El Salvador’s, “, Libres El Salvador, Mujeres, Salvadoran, El Salvador, United States, New York, El, San Salvador, Mujeres Libres, Mujeres Libres El Salvador, AFP

☆ Backup driver in 2018 Uber self-driving crash pleads guilty
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Uber Technologies Inc FollowJuly 28 (Reuters) - The backup safety driver behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber Technologies (UBER.N) test vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona, in 2018 pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to probation, prosecutors said. The first recorded death involving a self-driving vehicle prompted significant safety concerns about the nascent autonomous vehicle industry. Police said previously the crash was "entirely avoidable" and that Vasquez was streaming "The Voice" TV program at the time of the crash. In 2019, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) faulted Vasquez's inactions and Uber for inadequate attention to safety and decisions in the company's autonomous vehicle development. In 2020, Uber announced the sale of its autonomous driving unit to self-driving car startup Aurora for $4 billion.

Persons: Rafaela Vasquez, Uber, Vasquez, Elaine Herzberg, Rachel Mitchell, Vasquez's inactions, Herzberg, David Shepardson, Jonathan Oatis, Richard Chang Organizations: Uber Technologies, Technologies, Prosecutors, Police, National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, Volvo, Aurora, Thomson Locations: Tempe , Arizona, Maricopa County, Tempe

☆ The making of a fake war hero: An American who reinvented himself as a social-media soldier in Ukraine is accused of 'stolen valor'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

Four foreign fighters and volunteers in Ukraine who knew Vasquez told Insider it was widely known he wasn't actually taking part in front-line fighting. A Pentagon representative, however, told Insider that Vasquez was never deployed to either of those places — or anywhere else. "I had to tell a million lies to get ahead," Vasquez told the Times. When Ashton-Cirillo took to Twitter to expose Vasquez, Huggett said she felt compelled to make a video to back her up. Huggett told Insider: "I'm tired, but I'm not sorry I exposed the lying scammer.

Persons: James Vasquez, Vasquez, Tucker Carlson, Adam Kinzinger, wasn't, he'd, Tina Vasquez, Libkos Vasquez, Sarah Ashton, Huggett, James, Tim, I'm, Viktor Yatsunyk, Vasquez —, Ashton, Cirillo, James messaged, I've, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Wagner, Vasquez's, Peg Leg, that's, selflessly, Ripley's, hadn't, John, Twitter John, Da Vinci, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Da, Malcolm Nance, Nance Organizations: Service, Twitter, Operation, Storm, Pentagon, New York National Guard, Army Reserve, The New York Times, Army, Times, New York Post, AP, Territorial Defense Force, Armed Forces of, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Wagner Group, UN, United Nations, Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, Armed Forces, Legion, Ripley's, New York Times, Da Vinci Wolves, Wolverines, Wolves, National Police, Security Service, MSNBC, Ukraine's International Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russia, Connecticut, Soledar, Kuwait, Iraq, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Donetsk region, American, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Maidan, Geneva, Ashton, US

☆ The White House is cracking down on companies illegally using migrant children to fill the labor shortage as 15-year-olds pack Cheerios and 13-year-olds change your hotel sheets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The New York Times reported last week that companies across the US are exploiting the labor of migrant children. The investigation comes as multiple states seek to loosen child labor laws to address the labor shortage. The Times reported that the use of child labor is prevalent across a number of prominent brands in the US, highlighting J. The Labor Department has found some of these companies, such as ice cream staple Ben & Jerrys, guilty of child labor violations before. Economists say that during a labor shortage, paring back child labor laws is a common phenomenon in the US.

☆ In Mexico, a reporter published a story. The next day he was shot dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Sarah Kinosian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

One man got out, walked inside and shot the 42-year-old journalist dead. As he lay dead, a nearby patrol car responded to an emergency call, intercepted the pickup and arrested the two men. "In silence zones people don't get access to basic information to conduct their lives," said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ's Mexico representative. One of those killed was Gustavo Sanchez, a journalist shot at close range in June 2021 by two motorcycle-riding hitmen. "You would think the biggest enemy would be armed groups and organized crime," said journalist Patricia Mayorga, who fled Mexico after investigating corruption.

☆ In Mexico, a reporter published a story. The next day he was dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Sarah Kinosian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

A day earlier, Lopez–who ran two online news sites in the southern Oaxaca state–had published a story on Facebook accusing local politician Arminda Espinosa Cartas of corruption related to her re-election efforts. As he lay dead, a nearby patrol car responded to an emergency call, intercepted the pickup and arrested the two men. "In silence zones people don't get access to basic information to conduct their lives," said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ's Mexico representative. The infrastructure was a part of the Interoceanic Corridor–one of Lopez Obrador's flagship development projects in southern Mexico. "You would think the biggest enemy would be armed groups and organized crime," said journalist Patricia Mayorga, who fled Mexico after investigating corruption.

☆ YouTubers are pushing dodgy crypto investment advice. Here’s why you should ignore it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Rob Price | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Together, these revenue streams mean cryptocurrency influencers profit off their viewers no matter which way the market turns. Of course, crypto YouTube is a far cry from the regulated world of traditional finance. Armstrong told the Post that he made "maybe close to a million" from before dropping sponsored content in January 2022. A price list leaked by ZachXBT appears to show that dozens of small crypto influencers also have menus for similar undisclosed deals. But with little regulatory oversight, crypto influencers show little sign of slowing down — despite the precipitous decline of the crypto market.

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