Bed Bath & Beyond is closing 150 more stores — just a week after the struggling retailer announced the closure of 87 locations.
The company’s brick-and-mortar footprint has already shrunk dramatically, a regulatory filing showed late Monday, and the new closings mean it will have shuttered 400 stores in the past year — almost half the 950 or so stores it had open in February 2022.
That includes last week’s announcement that it was also closing all 49 remaining Harmon Face Value stores, which sold cosmetics; plus 5 buybuy Baby locations. A list of the new store closures wasn’t immediately available.
A turnaround doesn’t look imminent: The embattled home goods chain forecasts first quarter sales to be down by 30% to 40% with “sequential, quarterly sales improvement thereafter” the filing said.
The company said Tuesday it raised some $1 billion through an offering of preferred stock and warrants in a last-ditch effort to stave off bankruptcy. On Monday, the company said it appointed Holly Etlin, a bankruptcy expert, as interim chief financial officer.
Bed Bath & Beyond said Tuesday it will ultimately have 360 stores and 120 buybuyBaby stores. That means that the company will have announced plans to close nearly 500 of the stores it had just a year ago, and the new company will be about half of the size of the old one
Bed Bath and Beyond has been part of the meme stock phenomenon, with shares skyrocketing as much as 400% last year when activist investor and GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen took a stake and sought changes.
Shares of the retailer, which closed up 92% at $5.86 in a rollercoaster session Monday, were down 40% in in pre-market trading Tuesday.
Founded in 1971, Bed Bath & Beyond became a staple for affordable home decor, kitchenware and college dorm room furniture. It’s also known for its ubiquitous 20% off blue coupons, and cavernous stores with merchandise stacked high to the ceilings.
But the company struggled to make the transition to online shopping and fend off larger chains such as Walmart and Target
(TGT). Many shoppers switched to those competitors as the novelty of Bed Bath & Beyond’s coupons faded.
The company was also hit hard during the pandemic, closing stores temporarily during 2020 while rivals remained open. The company lost 17% of its sales in 2020 and 14% in 2021.
– CNN’s Nathaniel Meyersohn and Reuters contributed to this report
Hundreds of “Trans Lives Matter” protesters occupied the Oklahoma state Capitol on Monday to oppose the restriction of gender transition procedures on minors, and Twitter users scorched them for it.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, R-Okla., gave a State of the State address where he called on the legislature to pass a law banning gender transition procedures for children. “Minors can’t vote, can’t purchase alcohol, can’t purchase cigarettes. We shouldn’t allow a minor to get a permanent gender-altering surgery in Oklahoma,” he said.
He then asked the legislature to “send me a bill that bans all gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors in the state,” a request which enraged transgender activists across the country, to the point locals converged on the capitol building itself and chanted slogans like “trans lives matter” and “this is our house.”
Commentators on Twitter slammed both the protesters as well as much of the media for not reporting on the incident in the same way they did about January 6.
Trans-rights activists protest outside the House chamber at the state Capitol before the State of the State address Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
“A 100+ trans activists occupied the Oklahoma State Capitol yesterday to push gender mutilation of children and the MSM is calling it a ‘gathering’ and a ‘peaceful protest.’”
TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk tweeted. “So can radical protesters now occupy government buildings without being accused of an insurrection?”
Commentator Matt Walsh tweeted, “Trans activists stormed the Oklahoma state capital to defend their right to castrate, sterilize, and mutilate children. This is not only an insurrection but easily the most bizarre and disgusting one in history.”
Outkick founder Clay Travis balked at the normalization of trans procedures on minors.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt delivered his State of the State address Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
“Trans activists took over the Oklahoma state capitol because @GovStitt is passing legislation to prevent gender reassignment surgery for kids under 18,” he said. “In most states you can’t get a tattoo before 18, but 15 year olds can get their breasts removed? Crazy.”
Christian satire website The Babylon Bee’s real news offshoot, Not The Bee, tweeted, “Trans activists stormed the Oklahoma State Capitol yesterday, but for some reason you haven’t heard about it from the media.”
YouTuber Nuance Bro observed how much the United States has changed in a single decade.
“’Trans Lives Matter’ being chanted from the inside of the Oklahoma State Capitol. Could you imagine such a sight a decade ago? It used to just be a few weirdos on college campus now it’s large crowds in deep red states,” he said.
Trans-rights activists protest outside the House chamber at the state Capitol before the State of the State address Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Conservative Louis Uridel tweeted, “Behold… the insurrection into the Oklahoma State Capitol [led] by Trans Lives Matter. Oh what? No threat to democracy here?”
Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected].
The spectacle of Biden smiling and offering a pointed riposte through multiple rounds of heckling from some House Republicans was, in many ways, an apt illustration of his presidency and a useful preview of his likely 2024 candidacy.
A majority of Americans say he hasn’t accomplished much, many Democrats aren’t thrilled at the prospect of him running for reelection and he faces clear disdain from most Republicans. But Biden powered through. Delivering what was widely viewed as a test run for his reelection announcement, Biden claimed credit for progress made during his first two years in office while stressing the job isn’t finished.
He faced sometimes-unruly Republicans, with whom he spiritedly sparred from the podium on spending cuts. The feisty display drew cheers inside the White House and offered the best preview to date of the energy Biden hopes to bring to the campaign trail soon.
The speech carried a strain of populism rooted in strengthening the middle class – vintage Biden, but delivered at a pivotal moment for his political future.
No president enters his State of the Union wanting to recite a laundry list of accomplishments and proposals, but – almost inevitably – the speech often veers in that direction. Biden’s was no different, even as the president sought to tie everything together with a refrain of “finish the job” – a phrase that appeared 12 times in his prepared text.
Connecting with Americans: If there is one political conundrum Biden’s advisers are urgently working to solve, it is why so many Americans seem to believe he has accomplished so little. By all accounts, Biden has passed large, historic pieces of legislation that could have transformational effects on the US economy. But polls show large majorities aren’t feeling them.
Biden hoped in his speech to bridge that gap, to demonstrate he cares about what Americans care about and to identify the problems he’s looking to fix.
“So many of you feel like you’ve just been forgotten,” he said. “Amid the economic upheaval of the past four decades, too many people have been left behind or treated like they’re invisible. Maybe that’s you, watching at home… You wonder whether a path even exists anymore for you and your children to get ahead without moving away.”
Bipartisanship: Working across the aisle was a theme throughout Biden’s speech. He started the address by acknowledging Congressional leaders from both parties, saying he is looking forward to working with Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
“Mr. Speaker, I don’t want to ruin your reputation but I look forward to working together,” Biden said as he launched into his speech.
He acknowledged that over the first years of his presidency, “we disagreed plenty.” But he appealed to his political rivals for cooperation.
“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this Congress as well,” he said. “I signed over 300 bipartisan laws since becoming President,” the president added.
China: The country was included in the text of Biden’s speech well before a suspected spy balloon slipped into American airspace. But the incursion, which has generated a diplomatic backlash from China and drawn second-guessing from Republicans, lent new urgency to Biden’s message about competing with Beijing.
Biden and his aides believe steps to counter China are one of the rare areas where he could find bipartisan support. He saw some success on that front with the passage of a law boosting US semiconductor production last year.
Spars with Republicans: For the first 45 minutes of Biden’s address, that appeared to be the play for both sides. But when Biden began castigating Republicans for plans that would slash Social Security and Medicare, the decorum dropped. His accusations seemed to provoke Republicans, who lobbed accusations of “liar” from their seats in the chamber.
As lawmakers like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene interrupted Biden, McCarthy was silent – but his glare into the crowd spoke for itself. Later he found himself shushing his conference multiple times at outbursts interrupting the president.
Republicans look to “new generation”: The GOP’s choice to deliver their response to Biden’s speech, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is – at 40 years old – the nation’s youngest governor. Half the president’s age, her selection was a clear choice to contrast a different generation of leaders.
While she cited her tenure as White House press secretary to Donald Trump, she did not rely heavily on her association with the former president. Instead, she appeared to call for a changing of the guard – an appeal for generational change that could apply as much to Democrats and Biden as it could to Republicans and Trump. “It’s time for a new generation to lead. This is our moment. This is our opportunity,” she said.
Watch CNN White House reporter Maegan Vazquez break down the speech on TikTok.
You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license.
Babies who are 6 to 9 months can form memories of masked faces and recognize those faces when they’re unmasked.
The new study should allay concerns of many parents and childhood experts who worry about possible developmental harm from widespread face-masking during the pandemic.
For the study Michaela DeBolt, a doctoral candidate in cognitive psychology, and Lisa Oakes, a professor in the psychology department and at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, used eye tracking to study how masks influence infants’ facial recognition.
They showed 58 babies, each seated on a parent’s lap or in a highchair, pairs of masked and unmasked women’s faces on a computer screen, while cameras recorded where they looked. Because babies linger longer over unfamiliar images, the researchers could derive which faces they recognized, DeBolt says.
The testing took place at the Infant Cognition Lab at the Center for Mind and Brain in Davis, California, from late December 2021 to late March 2022, during a statewide mask mandate and the arrival of the coronavirus Omicron variant.
“When babies learned a masked face, and then they saw that face again unmasked, they recognized it,” DeBolt says.
However, when the order was reversed, babies did not show strong recognition of masked faces that they first saw unmasked. DeBolt says that was similar to her own experience of not instantly recognizing a friend who was wearing a face mask.
Learning faces is central to how babies learn to talk, perceive emotions, develop relationships with their caregivers, and explore their environment, Oakes says. “So people were very worried about face masks and the effect they would have on how infants are learning about human faces.”
Oakes, an expert on cognitive development in infancy, says the study highlights a remarkable ability of babies to adapt. “I think that it should be very reassuring to parents in general,” she says. “Babies all over the world develop and thrive.
“There are so many variations in babies’ everyday lived experience,” she adds. “As long as they are well cared for and fed and they get love and attention, they thrive. We can get into a mode where we think the way we do things is the best way to do things and that anything different is going to be a problem. And that’s clearly not the case.”
The study appears in a special issue of the journal Infancy, which focused on the impact of COVID-19 on infant development.
Less than half of infants around the world are breastfed as recommended, and baby formula is in high demand despite failing to offer the same health and developmental benefits as breast milk, experts say. According to a new report, misleading claims and political influence are to blame.
The report from health experts at institutions around the worldsays that commercial milk formula sales tactics violate the international code on breastfeeding marketing and calls for stricter government regulation of irresponsible baby formula marketing and widespread industry interference.
The three-paper series, published Tuesday in the medical journal The Lancet, extensively outlines “predatory tactics” in the formula milk marketing industry. The research also highlights the need for stronger maternity protections, such as universal paid maternity leave, to support breastfeeding for all women.
“The sale of commercial milk formula is a multi-billion-dollar industry which uses political lobbying alongside a sophisticated and highly effective marketing playbook to turn the care and concern of parents and caregivers into a business opportunity,” Dr. Nigel Rollins, a scientist with the World Health Organization and co-author of the series, said in a news release. “It is time for this to end. Women should be empowered to make choices about infant feeding which are informed by accurate information free from industry influence.”
CNN has reached out to the Infant Nutrition Council of America, a trade group representing formula marketers, for comment.
The report comes as more children than ever are being fed formula and as climate, political and economic crises repeatedly threaten global supply. The US is still recovering from a monthslong shortage of infant formula that stressed families and may spark sweeping changes at the US Food and Drug Administration. Other countries have faced similar supply chain disruptions caused by events like flooding South Africa, war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic – events that companies capitalized on to garner more donations and customers, according to the report.
The authors acknowledge that formula is necessary for some women who choose not to or who can’t breastfeed and note that criticisms of the commercial milk formula industry should be not be interpreted as criticism of women.
Research has shown that breastfeeding promotes infant brain development, prevents malnutrition and sudden infant death syndrome, and lowers the risk of infectious diseases, chronic diseases and leukemia later in life. For mothers, breastfeeding helps lose pregnancy weight and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and breast and ovarian cancer.
The authors of the new report note that “perceived pressure, or inability, to breastfeed – especially if it is at odds with a mother’s wishes – can have a detrimental effect on mental health, and systems should be in place to fully support all mothers in their choices.” They emphasize, however, that women make infant feeding decisions based on the information they receive, and they say this information should be accurate and free from commercial influence.
Despite evidence of its benefits, global breastfeeding rates have increased very little over the past two decades while baby formula sales have nearly doubled, reaching $55.6 billion in 2019, amid misleading marketing strategies that the authors say undermine breastfeeding.
“One of the factors, which is a main focus of the series, is the very misleading and exploitative marketing from infant formula companies that use messaging about the benefits of their products without almost any scientific basis whatsoever, essentially sending a message that infant formulas are similar to, if not even better than, breastfeeding for the health and well-being of the babies,” said Rafael Perez-Escamilla, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health and a co-author of the report.
The report also explains how companies exploit parental anxieties about their children’s health and development in the vulnerable newborn period. Companies often suggest that common infant adaptations such as fussiness, colic or short nighttime sleep duration are signs of breastfeeding issues that formula can fix.
“Formula companies use these behaviors and present them as problematic and basically lead people towards using products as the solution to problems that may, in fact, not be problems at all but part of normal human developmental behavior,” said co-author Cecilia Tomori, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.
Experts emphasize that with appropriate education and support, such concerns can be managed appropriately with breastfeeding.
Dr. Susan Crowe, a Stanford University School of Medicine ob/gyn and lactation specialist who was not involved with the report, says she tells her patients that “the purpose of these ads is to sell formula” so they are “aware that these companies are there primarily to make a profit. Sometimes just letting them know that they’ve been exposed to advertising is helpful.”
These misleading and unsubstantiated scientific claims, experts say, violate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes, a landmark agreement put into place in 1981 that aims to regulate unethical marketing practices to ensure that mothers are not discouraged from breastfeeding and that substitutes are used safely if needed.
Unlike most World Health Organization member countries, the United States does not legally enforce any provisions of the code.
“The US does not regulate [baby formula] marketing at all. Everything goes in terms of the marketing of infantry and formulas,” said Perez-Escamilla, who urges the FDA and Congress to intervene.
The report also says that baby formula companies’ influence extends far beyond marketing, including lobbying against vital breastfeeding support measures, incentivizing physicians to recommendtheir products to new mothers and funding research that supports their marketing agenda.
One study by WHO and the United Nations Children’s Foundation surveyed 8,500 women worldwide and found that more than a third said a health care worker recommended a specific brand of formula to them.
“It is, as a whole, a very powerful system of lobbying, of capturing scientists, of capturing health care providers and, at the end of the day, capturing families themselves with their products by really exploiting the fears of families and parents during a very vulnerable psychoemotional time,” Perez-Escamilla said.
In addition to ending the harmful marketing tactics and industry influence of formula milk companies, the authors call for actions across governments, workplaces and health care to support women who want to breastfeed.
The report calls for extending paid maternity leave to align with the recommended six-month duration of exclusive breastfeeding. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months and continued breastfeeding through age 2, while the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months and continued breastfeeding through age 1 or longer.
Paid maternity leave has been shown to increase breastfeeding exclusivity and duration. However, according to the new report, more than half a billion working women globally lack adequate maternity protection – most of whom are lower-income and women of color who are forced to go back to work out of financial necessity.
The report’s authors say that formula milk marketing “exploits the lack of support for breastfeeding by governments and society” by framing breastfeeding as a “moralistic judgment, while presenting milk formula as a convenient and empowering solution for working mothers.”
The US is the only high-income country without federally mandated paid maternity leave. Although more than 80% of mothers in the USstart off breastfeeding, less than a quarter exclusively breastfeed their baby at 6 months, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2011, the US Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding identified the lack of paid maternity leave as a significant barrier to breastfeeding and argued that “paid leave is necessary to reduce the differential effect of employment on breastfeeding among disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and economic groups, which in turn would allow disadvantaged populations to benefit from the health effects of breastfeeding.”
The new report’s authors also highlight the need for expansion in health professional training on breastfeeding to offer skilled counseling before and after birth to all mothers who wish to breastfeed. This includes guidance and support for mothers who are unable to breastfeed due to limited milk production or medical reasons, such as active HIV infection.
“Initiation of breastfeeding and lactation support is tremendously helpful so that people can understand normal volumes and intervene with supplementation only when medically necessary,” Crowe said.
The authors note the importance of supporting a woman’s choice regarding breastfeeding and emphasize the need for systemic policies free from unregulated baby formula marketing, lobbying and influence to allow families to make informed decisions on infant feeding.
“We are asking for social support, structural social support from governments and systems to help people achieve their breastfeeding goals,” Tomori said. “We want to make sure that they understand that it is not up to individual women and mothers to do breastfeeding, that it’s actually their right, and it is part of health as a human right that they have all the support and the enabling environments that they deserve.”
WASHINGTON — NASA and Astrobotic have changed the landing site for the company’s first lunar lander mission shortly before its scheduled launch, moving the mission to a location of greater scientific interest.
NASA announced Feb. 2 the Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission, flying payloads for the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program and other customers, will now attempt a landing near a region called the Gruithuisen Domes on the northeast edge of Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, on the western part of the moon’s near side.
Astrobotic had originally targeted a region called Lacus Mortis, a basaltic plain on the northeastern side of the near side of the moon, based on the projected performance of the lander and a desire for a relatively safe landing area. That was the landing location identified when NASA awarded one of the first CLPS task orders to Astrobotic for the mission in May 2019.
“However, as NASA’s Artemis activities mature, it became evident the agency could increase the scientific value of the NASA payloads if they were delivered to a different location,” the agency said in a statement announcing the landing site change. NASA is planning to send an instrument suite called Lunar-VISE to the Gruithuisen Domes on a future CLPS mission to study that region to understand why they appear to be rich in silica.
Sending Peregrine to a region near the Gruithuisen Domes, NASA stated, “will present complementary and meaningful data to Lunar-VISE without introducing additional risk to the lander.”
There had been signs that NASA was planning a change in Peregrine’s landing site. In a presentation to NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee Dec. 6, Joel Kearns, NASA deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, showed a map of CLPS landing locations that showed Peregrine landing near Gruithuisen Domes.
The announcement did not provide an update on the anticipated launch date of Peregrine on the inaugural flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Astrobotic said Jan. 25 it had completed testing of the lander and was awaiting the “green light” from ULA to ship the spacecraft to Cape Canaveral for pre-launch processing. The rocket itself arrived at Cape Canaveral last month and ULA is preparing it for tests leading up to the launch.
Mazda introduced the 2024 CX-90 last week and now they’re following up with pricing as well as fuel economy estimates.
Kicking things off is the entry-level CX-90 3.3 Turbo Select, which begins at $39,595. The crossover features a handsome exterior with a honeycomb mesh grille, black accents, and 19-inch alloy wheels. The model also comes equipped with rain-sensing wipers and a power liftgate.
Moving inside, the three-row crossover has a 7-inch display in the instrument cluster and a 10.25-inch infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. They’re joined by a leather-wrapped steering wheel, an eight-way power driver’s seat, and an eight-speaker audio system. The model also has an automatic climate control system, a push-button ignition, and USB charging ports in the first two rows.
Despite its entry-level status, the CX-90 3.3 Turbo Select comes with a host of driver assistance systems including Mazda radar cruise control with stop and go, lane keep assist with lane departure warning, and rear cross traffic alert. They’re joined by a blind spot monitoring system, smart city brake support, driver attention alert, and a rear seat alert system.
Power is provided by a turbocharged 3.3-liter inline-six that produces 280 hp (209 kW / 284 PS) and 332 lb-ft (450 Nm) of torque. It’s connected to an eight-speed automatic transmission and a standard all-wheel drive system. In terms of fuel efficiency, the crossover carries an EPA estimated rating of 24 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, and 25 mpg combined thanks in part to its 48-volt mild-hybrid system.
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Moving up the trim ladder is the $43,445 CX-90 3.3 Turbo Preferred, which has a lightly revised exterior with piano black accents as well as a power sunroof. Bigger changes occur in the cabin as there’s black or “greige” leather seats with heating and power adjustment up front. The Preferred trim also adds second-row sun shades, third-row USB charging ports, and no-cost captain’s chairs in the second-row.
The $45,900 CX-90 3.3 Turbo Preferred Plus builds on that by adding a wireless smartphone charger, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and a head-up display. The model also adds a Tow mode to the standard Sport and Off-Road settings.
The $48,900 CX-90 3.3 Turbo Premium is distinguished by a more upscale exterior with chrome trim, a shark fin antenna, and larger 21-inch wheels. Other niceties include a panoramic sunroof and a hands-free power liftgate.
The amenities extend to the cabin as the model comes standard with second-row captain’s chairs as well as an auto-dimming rearview mirror with Homelink. Buyers will also find a 12-speaker Bose premium audio system, a driver’s seat memory system, upgraded interior lighting, and SiriusXM satellite radio.
To keep drivers safe, there are additional safety features including emergency lane keeping and a secondary collision reduction system. They’re joined by blind spot assist, traffic sign recognition, and front and rear parking sensors.
The final member of the CX-90 3.3 Turbo lineup is the $52,950 Premium Plus. It sports a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, a heated steering wheel, and Nappa leather front seats with heating, ventilation, and eight-way power adjustment. Buyers will also find heated second-row seats, a windshield wiper de-icer, power-folding auto-dimming side mirrors, and a power outlet in the cargo area.
Mazda also throws in additional safety features including smart brake support reverse, front crossing, and turn-across traffic braking. The 360° view monitor is also “enhanced with a new see-through view feature that projects a large image of the area ahead of and besides the CX-90 on the center display.”
The 340 HP Variant Starts At $51,750
Buyers looking for more performance can opt for the $51,750 CX-90 3.3 Turbo S. The model builds on the CX-90 3.3 Turbo Premium and features 21-inch wheels, additional body-color components, and an adaptive front lighting system.
Other highlights include a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, an eight-way power front passenger seat, and a six-passenger seating option. Buyers will also find Cruising & Traffic Support, which combines adaptive cruise control with lane centering. The crossover also sports vehicle exit warning, which warns occupants about vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists approaching from the rear.
More importantly, the CX-90 3.3 Turbo S sports an upgraded 3.3-liter inline-six engine that develops up to 340 hp (254 kW / 345 PS) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque when running on premium gasoline. Despite being significantly more powerful, the EPA estimated fuel economy rating only dips to 23 mpg city, 28 mpg highway, and 25 mpg combined.
Buyers looking for more luxury can upgrade to the $56,450 CX-90 3.3 Turbo S Premium, which features a six-seat interior with Nappa leather as well as a heated steering wheel with power adjustment. There’s also an auto-dimming rearview mirror and auto-dimming side mirrors with power folding. Buyers will also find safety features such as smart brake support reverse, a 360° view monitor with see-through view, and front cross traffic alert with front cross traffic braking.
The model’s standout feature is a driver personalization system, which can use an interior camera and facial recognition technology to recognize drivers, so their preferred settings can automatically be loaded when they get into the vehicle.
That brings us to the range-topping CX-90 3.3 Turbo S Premium Plus, which starts at a whopping $59,950. It fully embraces luxury as buyers will find a two-tone leather-wrapped steering wheel, maple wood trim, and suede-like fabric on the dashboard.
Mazda’s flagship crossover also sports upgraded footwell lighting as well as heated and ventilated second-row captain’s chairs that are separated by a center console. Last but not least, there’s special Nappa leather seats for an added touch of elegance.
The 4-Cylinder Plug-In Hybrid Starts At $47,445
Lastly, there are three plug-in hybrid trims. The CX-90 PHEV Preferred starts at $47,445 and echoes the CX-90 3.3 Turbo Preferred. However, it comes equipped with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and can be had with either seven or eight seats.
While the equipment isn’t remarkable, the crossover is notable for featuring a plug-in hybrid powertrain that consists of a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, an electric motor, and a 17.8 kWh battery pack. This setup gives the model a combined output of 323 hp (241 kW / 327 PS) and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque. More importantly, the crossover can travel short distances on electricity alone, although details won’t be released until closer to launch this spring.
The $52,900 CX-90 PHEV Premium sports chrome accents, a panoramic sunroof, a hands-free power liftgate, and 21-inch wheels. Inside, there’s second-row captain’s chairs, a wireless smartphone charger, a 12-speaker Bose premium audio system, and an auto-dimming rearview mirror with Homelink. Other highlights include a driver’s seat memory function, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and SiriusXM satellite radio. Buyers will also find emergency lane keeping, a secondary collision reduction system, blind spot assist, traffic sign recognition, and front and rear parking sensors.
Finally, there’s the $56,950 CX-90 PHEV Premium Plus. It sports Nappa leather front seats with heating, ventilation, and eight-way power adjustment. The model also has heated second-row seats, a windshield wiper de-icer, power folding side mirrors, and extra safety equipment including front crossing, turn-across traffic braking, and a 360° view monitor with see-through view.
Needless to say, the CX-90 offers an extensive and slightly confusing lineup. However, there’s something for everyone as there’s a $20,355 spread between the entry-level variant and the range-topping model. If you’re so inclined, you can build your own on the company’s new configurator.
Note: Prices exclude a $1,375 destination and handling fee ($1,420 in Alaska)
A public health expert says there are good reasons to switch from a gas stove to electric—but there are also safety steps you can take in the meantime.
Given a rash of recent headlines suggesting gas stoves could be bad for our health, should you be worried that cooking with them could be harmful?
The surprisingly emotional debate over gas stoves was sparked in part due to a 2022 study that found about 13% of childhood asthma cases in the US can be attributed to gas stove use, and because of a US Consumer Product Safety Commission official suggesting a ban on their sale.
Despite the agency later clarifying that it had no plans to prohibit them, conservative politicians, like Rick Perry, former Texas governor and energy secretary, were upset at the prospect of the “environmental woke crowd” coming for people’s stoves.
Culture wars aside, there are research-backed reasons to be aware of the potential hazards of gas stoves, for ourselves and for the environment. Jonathan Levy, a Boston University School of Public Health professor and chair of environmental health, studies indoor air pollution specifically related to gas stoves. He, as well as others, have found direct correlations between gas stoves and personal exposure to nitrogen dioxide, which is associated with more severe asthma and other respiratory issues.
Gas stoves also expose us to other hazardous air pollutants, according to Levy, including low levels of benzene, a cancer-causing agent. Although the federal government doesn’t have plans to ban them just yet, cities across the country have been eliminating natural gas hookups in new construction to lower greenhouse gas emissions, since gas stoves emit methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that dramatically fuels climate change.
But many of us have been using gas stoves for years, so is all the outrage and worry overblown? Yes and no.
Climate writer Emily Atkin calls gas stoves the “plastic straws of building emissions,” meaning that even though their overall impact is small—gas stoves account for less than 3% of household natural gas use—they provide a door to discuss larger problems.
Here, Levy digs into indoor air pollution, whether opening a window while cooking makes a difference, and the overdue attention gas stoves are receiving:
The crisis at the southern border is expected to cost New York City an estimated $4.2 billion by the middle of 2024, according to an internal memo.
The New York City Office of Management and Budget memo, reported by the New York Post, states that the city will spend an estimated $4.2 billion on costs related to migrants and asylum seekers that would be spent through June 30, 2023 and the end of fiscal year 2024.
According to the internal city memo, New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan would reimburse the city for up to $1 billion in migrant aid, which only covers 29% of expected shelter costs.
During a trip to El Paso, New York City Mayor Eric Adams estimated that “our price tag could be anywhere from $1.5 to $2 billion” regarding the migrant crisis.
Migrants speak with NYC Homeless Outreach members as they camp out in front of the Watson Hotel after being evicted on January 30, 2023 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago)
Mayor Eric Adams attends a joint press briefing with Governor Kathy Hochul on subway safety at Fulton Transit Center.(Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The memo states that Hochul’s budget poses a problem to the city.
“However, financially, the Governor’s Executive Budget contains few city priorities and poses challenges to the city if enacted as written, particularly because the city’s financial position has already been strained by the Migrant Crisis,” the memo states.
“If the proposed actions by the Governor are not reversed and more aid is not secured to deal with the Migrant Crisis, the city will be forced to take a number of actions to maintain a balanced budget in FY23 and FY24. This would make it difficult to provide current levels of service to New Yorkers,” the memo also states.
Last week over 50 illegal migrants refused to be relocated from the Watson Hotel to the new migrant shelter in Red Hook.(Instagram/@nycmayor)
The memo, dated Feb, 6, comes after Adams slept inside a mega-migrant shelter in the city following a protest from migrants who didn’t want to leave the Watson Hotel.
Migrants were moved last week from the Watson Hotel to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal facility, but 50 migrants protested outside the hotel for days. Several migrants went to the migrant center, only to return and complain that the facility didn’t have sufficient heat and water, prompting Adams to spend a night himself.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams slept overnight in a new mega-migrant shelter in Brooklyn, New York. (Instagram/@nycmayor)
“I slept like a baby, it was warm. I had my nice little blanket. That’s my favorite blanket. I’m like Linus, you know, on Charlie Brown,” Adams said on Fox 5. “I have my favorite blanket that I just hug up on and I had pleasant dreams, got up the next day, had breakfast and sat down and spoke with asylum seekers.”
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter @asabes10.
