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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Katie Loftin, 33, and Phill Jackson, 34, a couple who share an apartment in Dallas and have separate bedrooms. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Loading audio narration… Loftin: As a woman, there’s often pressure to follow a more traditional path. But ever since I was 16, I’ve known I don’t want kids or to share a bed with my partner. I don’t sleep well next to someone else, and I value having my own space, so I brought up the idea of separate bedrooms with Phill before…

Christmas is still eight months away, but artificial tree maker Lou Liping is already worried about a bad holiday season due to the Iran war.Lou’s company, Kitty Christmas Factory, has been making artificial trees for the U.S. and European markets for nearly three decades. Her facility is based in the city of Yiwu, known as China’s Christmas capital.”Many customers … are holding off on orders,” she told CNBC last Friday at her showroom in the city’s international expo center. The center houses hundreds of manufacturers that contribute to the country’s vast production of the world’s artificial trees, tinsel, ornaments and other…

Advocates attend a news conference about the “impact of incarcerating those charged with marijuana-related offenses,” and policy reform ideas, outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday, April 20, 2026. Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty ImagesA White House executive order on psychedelics, signed by President Donald Trump on Saturday, aims to speed up research on drugs like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine, helping to legitimize an industry that’s long lived largely underground. But it also raises a broader question: Will psychedelics fall victim, like cannabis has, to a slow-moving federal process?The latest executive order comes roughly four months after an…

Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, sued The Atlantic on Monday morning, accusing the publication of defaming him in a report about his drinking. Loading audio narration… Citing anonymous sources, The Atlantic story, published on Friday, said Patel had “bouts of excessive drinking.”The article reported several incidents where sources described Patel behaving erratically. Citing anonymous sources, it said Patel had a “freak-out” and told allies the White House fired him when he found himself locked out of a computer system. The Atlantic story said Patel’s drinking “has been a recurring source of concern across the government,” and that FBI…

Between startup costs, regulations, and legal hurdles, there are many factors to consider when starting a business. But as a recent study shows, sometimes the most important one could be the city itself.WalletHub recently conducted a study of more than 1,300 small cities — each with a population of 25,000 to 100,000 — to determine which were the best for starting a business. The personal finance website evaluated each city across three categories: business environment, access to resources, and business costs.The business environment category considered average commute time, startups per capita, and industry variety, among other factors. Access to resources considered…

US defense spending is on track to top $1 trillion for the first time in history. Congress approved $900 billion for defense in 2026, and President Donald Trump has since proposed a staggering $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, the largest request in decades. Much of that money goes to weapons like the F-35, which can cost over $100 million apiece. So why are American weapons so incredibly expensive?US military spending wasn’t always like this. In 1909, the Wright Brothers sold the first military airplane for $30,000. During World War II, Henry Ford’s Willow Run plant could efficiently crank out…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tina Nenshi Gada, a 31-year-old user experience designer based in Washington, DC, who has worked at Citibank, Vanguard, and as a contractor for the World Bank Group. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Loading audio narration… When I started reading “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi in 2023, I wasn’t looking for a networking manual.I’ve always been drawn to psychology, and the title of the book stopped me immediately because it matched something I already believed deeply: If you have enough — whether that’s food, wealth, time, or…

A view shows a second-generation R1S at electric auto maker Rivian’s manufacturing facility in Normal, Illinois, on June 21, 2024.Joel Angel Juarez | ReutersA tornado damaged part of Rivian Automotive’s factory in central Illinois over the weekend, according to a message sent to employees Sunday night by CEO RJ Scaringe that was viewed by CNBC.The tornado touched down on the plant, Scarigne said. That area was being used for parts storage and logistics for Rivian’s upcoming R2, which is a crucial product for the company that’s expected to be on sale this spring. Scaringe said operations in the damaged area…

A Jersey Mike’s restaurant in Walnut Creek, California, Nov. 21, 2024.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesJersey Mike’s has confidentially filed for an initial public offering, the company said on Monday. The announcement comes more than a year after Blackstone bought a majority stake in the sandwich chain in a deal that reportedly valued Jersey Mike’s at roughly $8 billion.After the Blackstone deal closed, Jersey Mike’s tapped former Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison to helm the company. Morrison led the chicken wing chain for a decade, ushering it through its own IPO and a period of historic growth.With more than…

Eli Lilly will acquire biotech company Kelonia Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $7 billion, the company said Monday.Lilly will pay $3.25 billion upfront, and the remaining payments are contingent upon clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, it said. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Kelonia is developing technology to reprogram patients’ T-cells inside the body so those cells can attack cancer, called in vivo CAR-T. Current treatments require that work to be done outside the body, or ex vivo, a process that involves harvesting cells, engineering them in a lab and then reintroducing…