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☆ Virgin Galactic completes lengthy upgrade process ahead of resuming spaceflights
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

An aerial view of carrier aircraft VMS Eve, left, and spacecraft VSS Unity, at Spaceport America in New Mexico on Feb. 27, 2023. Virgin Galactic said on Tuesday it remains on track to resume spaceflights in the coming months after completing upgrades to its carrier aircraft and spacecraft. During that period Virgin Galactic conducted a variety of repairs and enhancements to its jet-powered mothership, called VMS Eve. Then Virgin Galactic will conduct glide tests, where VMS Eve carries the spacecraft and releases it, before a test spaceflight with a full company crew onboard. Shares of Virgin Galactic are up about 65% this year as of Tuesday's close of $5.74 per share.

☆ Virgin Galactic finishes lengthy spacecraft upgrades, plans Q2 commercial service
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Joe SkipperWASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (SPCE.N) has completed a lengthy upgrade period for its centerpiece tourist spacecraft, with commercial service on track to begin in the second quarter of 2023, the company said on Tuesday. This month, VSS Unity's twin-fuselage carrier plane VMS Eve made its first flight since 2021. Virgin Galactic is targeting monthly commercial missions after the Italian Air Force flight, a long-awaited cadence to handle the company's some 800 customers in line to fly. The company in February re-opened ticket sales to the public for spacecraft flights, setting prices at $450,000 per person with an initial deposit of $150,000. Each flight in space, over 50 miles (80 km) above ground, lasts roughly 10 minutes in microgravity, with VSS Unity launching mid-air from the center of its VMS Eve carrier plane.

☆ How AI is detecting heart attack risk and aiming to outsmart America’s No. 1 killer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kerima Greene | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Cleerly founder and CEO James Min, a cardiologist, started the company to find a better way to assess heart health, by applying AI to the problem. Heart disease is the nation's No. CNBC: What are indirect markers of heart disease? Min: Many emergency department visits for heart attacks are preventable if risk factors for heart disease are identified in advance. Using millions of annotated CCTA images, Cleerly algorithms quantify and characterize atherosclerosis and its features.

CNN —The US could be approaching a 2011-style debt ceiling market meltdown, but worried investors shouldn’t abandon ship, Wall Street analysts say. That means that if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling by then, the US could default on its debt. But lawmakers remain in a deadlock about whether to lift their self-imposed borrowing limit: Democrats want Congress to pass a debt ceiling increase without conditions but Republican leadership says that any debt limit increase should be accompanied by spending cuts. Wall Street’s response: A debt ceiling meltdown creates serious risk for investors. Even if the debt ceiling debates are resolved, it’s not a bad idea to have some money invested abroad just in case of upheaval.

☆ Black homeowners pushed out of one Baltimore block show how Wall Street banks failed to lend money they had promised, a Bloomberg investigation shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Alcynna Lloyd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Banks promised to invest in Black communities after they were hit by the 2008-2009 financial crisis. The block stands as a glaring reminder of the broken promises made by some of Wall Street's biggest banks to support America's Black homeowners, a recent Bloomberg investigation shows. As of October 2021, according to the US Census Bureau, 45% of Black Americans owned homes, which is nearly 30 points below the rate of white Americans: 74.6%. On Walbrook Avenue, the absence of large lenders has left many locals without a lifeline. After the 2008-2009 financial crisis, several financial institutions made pledges to invest billions of dollars to support Black homeownership.

☆ America needs immigrants to solve its labor shortage
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But If you’re wondering why America’s labor shortage persists nearly three years into the Covid pandemic, it’s in part because America doesn’t have enough immigrants. Immigrants are vital to the US economy and fill thousands of US jobs – jobs many Americas don’t want to do. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that in addition to an aging workforce there is a lack of foreign labor contributing to labor shortages. Those types of industries had higher rates of unfilled jobs last year – adding to existing labor shortages, according to UC Davis research. “The farm labor crisis is hindering production and contributing to food price inflation.

☆ Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit gets green light for first orbital space launch from UK — and will use a repurposed Boeing 747 for the mission
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit gained a license for the first orbital space launch from the UK. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK's space regulator, announced in a statement on Wednesday that Virgin Orbit was permitted to launch from Spaceport Cornwall in southern England. Issuing the final license to Virgin Orbit for the UK's first orbital satellite launch was another "major milestone," the CAA said in the statement. Virgin Orbit didn't respond to Insider's request for comment about the new launch date. Virgin Orbit has named the mission "Start Me Up" after a song by The Rolling Stones.

☆ Biden weighs reviving Trump-era immigration restrictions, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Since Biden took office in January 2021, his administration has struggled both operationally and politically with record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Another U.S. official said the Biden administration is also considering other Trump-era deterrents that include having Border Patrol agents conduct accelerated asylum screenings. The policies under consideration, if adopted, would sharply backtrack on those pledges and have already drawn concern from immigration advocates. Similar Trump policies were challenged in court and overturned. Republicans, who take control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January, have assailed Biden's handling of the border and threatened to impeach his top border official, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHow credit scores can both help and hurt AmericansCredit scores affect almost every aspect of an American's financial life. A recent study showed, for example, that 42% of Americans said their credit scores prevented them from accessing financial products like credit cards or loans. But some credit experts argue the current reporting and scoring systems have major issues. Others say that many of the criticisms are misguided. So, how do credit scores work in America and do they help or hurt consumers?

☆ Companies need to embrace an innovative path to create new employment opportunities
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-03 | by ( Ravi Kumar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This article is part of the "Financing a Sustainable Future" series exploring how companies take steps to set and fund sustainable goals. A LinkedIn survey found just one in 67 paid jobs in the US offered remote work in 2020, and that number this year grew to one in six. The labor shortage is compelling companies to boost pay. Low-complexity jobs will inevitably be automated, given the acute labor shortage, and the real opportunity will be in training people to take on higher-order responsibilities, which will allow enterprises to scale business purposefully. Remote work means more people otherwise limited by their circumstances — like caregiving adults, students, and people with disabilities or in rural areas — can now be included in the nontraditional American workforce and gig economy.

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