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☆ A 'Saturday Night Live' actor breaks down how TikTok has influenced the show's approach to hiring and content
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

He landed the gig through a personal connection but said TikTok has greatly influenced hiring since. He breaks down how the short-video app has influenced the show's filming style and talent. If Madray were trying to land a spot on "SNL" today, though, he might have taken a different route. Now, "SNL" uses the app to spot talent like Marcello Hernandez, who blew up on TikTok and became a regular cast member on the show. Recently, he said, the show has been experimenting with shooting content vertically so it can fit the frame of a TikTok video.

☆ MLB roundup: Jorge Soler's walk-off HR pushes Marlins past Nats
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Washington's Josiah Gray threw 104 pitches in seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out five. Miami's Jesus Luzardo, who threw 93 pitches in six innings, allowed one run and struck out seven. Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks while striking out 10 in seven innings. Pirates starter Luis Ortiz (0-2) allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits in three-plus innings. White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn (2-5) allowed three runs (one earned) and seven hits in seven-plus innings.

☆ As comedy views surge on TikTok, comedians say the app has broken the traditional power balance and opened up 'so many more ways' to be working comedians
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Before TikTok, comedians often bet on auditions or personal connections to break into the industry. Today, with 417,000 followers, Rahma is carving out a new space for unscripted comedy on the app. Insider spoke with 20 entertainment and TikTok insiders, including a dozen comedians, about how TikTok has impacted the comedy industry. TikTok comedians are bypassing traditional industry gatekeepersComedian Kyle Gordon was "flailing" before TikTok. Five comedians said they felt traditional late-night shows and comedy TV were losing some of their cultural impact as TikTok encroaches.

☆ Abortion Bans Can Help Make This Cheap, Accessible Birth Control Pill a Hit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( David Wainer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains how over-the-counter access could affect reproductive care across the U.S. Photo: Laura KammermannAs efforts to crack down on abortion increase around the U.S., contraceptives are bound to play an increasingly important role in family planning. But for many women, cost and access are still prohibitive factors. A cheaper, over-the-counter option could help close that gap while creating a sizable market for generic drugmaker Perrigo . Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration earlier this week recommended that Perrigo’s oral contraceptive, called Opill, be made available without prescription. If the recommendation is adopted by the FDA, it would help widen access to birth control around the country.

But housing costs have soared in the state over the past decade due to a lack of new construction, making it difficult for some students to live close enough to those universities to attend them. In Santa Cruz, the problem has been exacerbated by a flood of remote workers who arrived from the Bay Area during the pandemic and a 2020 wildfire that destroyed 900 housing units countywide. Santa Cruz is the second most expensive market for renters in the nation.

☆ LaLiga in the bag, but Barcelona still face huge problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Fernando Kallas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BARCELONA, May 14 (Reuters) - Barcelona may have won the LaLiga title on Sunday, but their outstanding domestic campaign has been somewhat overshadowed by turmoil off the pitch including deepening financial problems and a refereeing scandal that could drag on for years. Spanish prosecutors in March filed a complaint over alleged payments Barcelona made from 2001 to 2018 totalling 7.3 million euros ($8 million) to firms owned by former refereeing official Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. A Barcelona court has agreed to take on the case. Also in March, European soccer's governing body UEFA opened its own formal investigation into the club, looking into the same payments. FINANCIAL HEADACHESAnd it comes at a time when Barcelona are already facing huge accounting problems related to their massive wage bill, to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the club's 1.6 billion-euro renovation project.

☆ Xavi relies on flawless defence mechanism to lead Barcelona back to glory
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Fernando Kallas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The change in mentality may not have sat entirely comfortably with Xavi who said Barca's style was "non-negotiable" when he was appointed coach in November, 2021. A former Barca player himself, Xavi was a symbol of their attacking style as a flamboyant midfielder who won every major title with the club and with Spain. They have conceded 13 goals in the league, by far the best defensive record in Europe’s top five leagues. The trio hold the key to stifling their rival's attacking threats, particularly Araujo who has arguably been Europe's top defender this season. Barcelona were last champions of Spain in 2018-19 when they still had club greats Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez leading their attack up-front.

☆ Comedians say TikTok has broken the power of traditional gatekeepers and brought greater control and financial stability to their careers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

☆ A 19-Year-Old Pianist Electrifies Audiences. But He’s Unimpressed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Javier C. Hernández | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“He’s a musician way beyond his years,” said the conductor Marin Alsop, who headed the Cliburn jury and led the Rachmaninoff performance. “Technically, he’s phenomenal, and the colors and dynamics are phenomenal. He’s incredibly musical and seems like a very old soul. Born in Siheung, a suburb of Seoul, Lim had a childhood filled with soccer, baseball and music. He began studying the piano at 7, when his parents enrolled him in a neighborhood music academy.

☆ A new law in Florida forces teachers who want to be in unions to pay dues through mail-in checks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Being in a teacher's union in Florida just got harder. Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a bill into law Tuesday that will require teachers who want to be in unions to mail in written checks every month. The system would replace the current arrangement, widely used in unions across the US, in which teacher union dues get automatically deducted from their paychecks. The change will make it harder for unions to exist and pile red tape onto teachers, Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book said in a statement. On average, roughly 60% of teachers in Florida are paying dues toward their unions, shows a Florida Senate analysis.

☆ A new law in Florida forces teachers to pay union dues through mail-in checks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Being in a teacher's union in Florida just got harder. The system would replace the current arrangement, widely used in unions across the US, in which teacher union dues get automatically deducted from their paychecks. On average, roughly 60% of teachers in Florida are paying dues toward their unions, shows a Florida Senate analysis. The signings represent a win for DeSantis, who has battled teacher's unions since the COVID pandemic and first proposed the change to union dues in December 2022. Florida comes in at 48th in the nation for average teacher salaries, according to the National Education Association, the state's largest teacher's union.

☆ Metformin and Autophagy: The Cellular Recycling Process Behind Aging
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Daniela Hernandez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

E37Why Fungi Are the Next Big Global Health Threat As certain fungi like Candida auris become more widespread throughout the U.S., deaths related to severe fungal infections are rising. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains what you should know. Composite: Noah Friedman

☆ MLB roundup: Red Sox beat Phillies for 7th straight win
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Sale (3-2) allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk. He allowed seven hits and no walks while striking out five. Hunter Greene (0-2) allowed five runs and seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. The 6-foot-9 Ober, making his third start of the season, lasted seven innings, allowing just singles to Jose Ramirez and Oscar Gonzalez and a double by Josh Naylor. In six innings, he allowed seven runs (five earned), on eight hits, two walks and seven strikeouts.

☆ Obesity Could Be Pharma’s Biggest Blockbuster Yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( David Wainer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some drugs initially approved to treat Type 2 diabetes are now being used for cosmetic weight loss. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains how they work, their side effects, and concerns over unintended consequences. Illustration: Elizabeth SmelovAs social-media hype around drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro explodes, patient testimonies have focused not only on the dramatic effect on their waistlines, but also on how quickly many seem to pack the pounds back on if they stop taking the injections. That may not be ideal for patients, but for Wall Street it is a feature rather than a bug. Nothing gets investors more hyped up than a product whose target market is massive—more than 40% of American adults are obese—and that also needs to be taken indefinitely.

☆ ‘You’re not alone’: CNN Heroes share advice for Mental Health Awareness Month
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Gabriel Kinder | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this year it seems to coincide with a flurry of violent headlines. “One of the things that we underestimate as a society is how our global mental health impacts us as individuals. Some of them marked Mental Health Awareness Month by sharing advice and insight with CNN’s Elizabeth Belanger about what is working for their communities. CNN Hero Michele Neff Hernandez Sam Comen/CNNWe have to model good mental health care by learning about mental health with the same vigor we use to learn about physical health. It takes all of us to realize mental health needs to be talked about, not buried under the rug.

☆ Horse racing-Skinner becomes fourth horse scratched from Kentucky Derby
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 (Reuters) - Skinner, the bay colt trained by John Shirreffs, has become the fourth horse scratched from Saturday's Kentucky Derby, bringing the field for the first leg of U.S. thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown down to 19, Churchill Downs said on Friday. Skinner was a fast-closing third in his most-recent outing, the Santa Anita Derby in early April, and was seen as a serious contender for the Kentucky Derby. The announcement comes a day after Lord Miles, Practical Move and Continuar were also scratched from the field, each for varying reasons. The last time four horses were scratched from the Kentucky Derby was 2015 when 22 horses entered the race. Lord Miles was scratched after Churchill Downs suspended the bay colt's trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. following the death of two of his horses at the property ahead of the Kentucky Derby.

☆ Bayern without injured Choupo-Moting, Stanisic against Werder
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUNICH, Germany, May 5 (Reuters) - Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich will be without injured striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and defender Josip Stanisic when they travel with a "decimated squad" to Werder Bremen on Saturday, coach Thomas Tuchel said on the eve of the match. "He is feeling the knee and it causes discomfort," Tuchel said of Choupo-Moting's nagging injury. "He will out for about two weeks but two weeks at this stage are a lot and the number of matches is not increasing. Bayern reclaimed the lead last week with a win over Hertha Berlin as Dortmund slipped up against VfL Bochum with a draw. We have the chance to up the ante now but we cannot allow ourselves any more ups and downs," Tuchel said.

☆ Why You Might Not Be Able to Start Taking Wegovy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Dominic Chopping | Peter Loftus | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some drugs initially approved to treat Type 2 diabetes are now being used for cosmetic weight loss. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains how they work, their side effects, and concerns over unintended consequences. Illustration: Elizabeth SmelovThe Danish pharmaceutical giant that makes the obesity drug Wegovy said it would temporarily hold back some lower-strength starter doses in the U.S. in an effort to safeguard supplies for current patients amid soaring demand. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk , as a treatment for chronic weight management in 2021. It has since exploded in popularity.

☆ French antitrust body tells Meta to change conditions for access to ad verification
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, May 4 (Reuters) - France's anti-trust watchdog on Thursday gave Facebook-owner META (META.O) two months to change its access rules for ad verification partners, saying the company was potentially taking unfair advantage of a dominant market position in online advertising. Ad verification companies offer services including measuring how many views online ads receive, detecting fraudulent online traffic, and ensuring client ads do not appear on websites harming their brand, such as pornographic sites. The case was brought by Adloox, a small, independent French ad verification company, which sought unsuccessfully to be granted access to Meta's data for these services from 2016 to 2022. Adloox complained to the competition authority last year, and the authority found that the barrier to entry created by Meta constituted an "immediate and grave" harm to Adloox specifically, as well as to the independent ad verification sector as a whole. Reporting by America Hernandez, writing by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Silvia AloisiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Federal worker safety inspections have alleged poor maintenance or a lack of safety training at some Tyson plants where ammonia leaks injured workers. CNN interviewed eleven current or former Tyson workers across three different plants who experienced ammonia leaks. !”A safety sign hangs on a fence at a Tyson plant in Hope, Arkansas, in March 2023. Still, some Tyson workers who lived through ammonia leaks said they wished more had been done to protect them. That means that the data doesn’t necessarily cover Tyson plants or other meat facilities that hold smaller amounts of ammonia.

Companies TotalEnergies SE FollowBAGHDAD, May 3 (Reuters) - Iraq and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) expect to kick-start a long-delayed $27 billion project within the next two weeks, Iraq's oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said on Wednesday. Abdel-Ghani said at a conference in Baghdad he expected five side agreements related to the deal to be signed in the next two weeks, paving the way for implementation to commence. Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said last week the two sides had reached an agreement on Iraq's stake in the project. "I think (it) is a good setup with our finalising of all the paperwork," Pouyanne said on TotalEnergies' first-quarter results call last week. "The government of Iraq confirmed the whole contract, no modification at all ... so that was for me more than a good news," Pouyanne said.

☆ The Outrageous Star Power of El Duque
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jack Curry | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The mystery man was tall and lean and he was smiling, perpetually smiling. His life had dramatically changed when he left Cuba in a fishing boat, and it was about to change again. Every day featured more changes, more smiles and more glimpses of the pitcher known as El Duque. That was the scene on a sunny spring training day when Orlando Hernández first pitched in front of the Yankees. On that day in Tampa, the real El Duque antics started when he pitched from a windup and unveiled a funky motion that was different from any that the attendees had ever seen.

☆ They've been beaten, trolled, threatened with sexual violence but refuse to be silenced
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Adie Vanessa Offiong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Ixchíu Hernández had already been the victim of years of online threats -- attempts to humiliate and silence her. Published in April 2021, it reveals: "Online attacks on women journalists appear to be increasing significantly, as this study demonstrates, particularly in the context of the 'shadow pandemic' of violence against women during COVID-19. "Online violence against women journalists is designed to: belittle, humiliate, and shame; induce fear, silence, and retreat; discredit them professionally, undermining accountability journalism and trust in facts; and chill their active participation...in public debate. Ricchiardi-Folwell explains that because of the often-sexualized nature of the attacks, women remain silent about their harassment, which leads them to believe they are alone. Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2021 and updated to reference the latest report by UNESCO.

☆ A Drone Opera, Brought to You by General Dynamics? A Company Clarifies.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Javier C. Hernández | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the Washington National Opera announced that it would open its coming season with the premiere of “Grounded,” a new opera exploring the psychological toll of drone warfare, its star composer, Jeanine Tesori, got less attention than its listed sponsor: General Dynamics, the military contractor. Anger erupted online, with critics accusing Washington National Opera of serving as a mouthpiece for the defense industry. A think tank that advocates military restraint labeled it a “killer drone opera.” New York magazine gave the opera a “despicable” rating on its Approval Matrix, describing it as “the drone-bombing opera ‘Grounded,’ sponsored by General Dynamics.” RT, a state-owned Russian news outlet, said the work showed the strength of the American military-industrial complex. The creative team behind “Grounded,” an adaptation of an acclaimed Off Broadway play, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, which commissioned the opera, grew disturbed by how the new opera was being portrayed. They worked behind the scenes to push the Washington National Opera to make it clear that General Dynamics, which has been a major sponsor of the opera company since 1997, had nothing to do with the creation of the opera.

☆ MLB roundup: White Sox surge past Rays, snap 10-game skid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

[1/6] Apr 30, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn (25) watches his game-winning three-run home run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the ninth inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. Christian Bethancourt added a solo homer and two RBIs. Orioles 5, Tigers 3Adam Frazier and Jorge Mateo hit solo home runs and visiting Baltimore continued its dominance of Detroit. Evan Phillips closed out the ninth inning to earn his third save. Reliever Zack Thompson (1-2) allowed two runs on one hit and two walks while retiring just two batters.

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