In 2023, hotel rooms in NYC averaged $301 a night — a record — according to The New York Times.
Airbnb and inflation were culprits. But the migrant crisis also played a big role.
Dozens of hotels have been converted into migrant shelters, reducing the supply of available rooms.
For travelers planning trips to New York City, be prepared to shell out more money than ever for a hotel.
In 2023, the average daily cost of a New York hotel room was $301 a night, a jump from about $278 a night in 2022, according to the commercial and residential real estate provider CoStar. And from January to March 2024, the average nightly hotel rate in the city was roughly $231, up from a $216 nightly rate during the same period last year.
But it's not just an uptick in travel to New York City that is driving up prices. There's the upending of the Airbnb rental market, inflation, and the slowdown in new hotel construction.
This has reduced the supply of available rooms and helped drive up prices for guests looking for accommodations across the city. According to the Times, about 135 of the nearly 700 hotels in New York City are now sheltering asylum seekers. Those hotels earn up to $185 nightly a room, according to the city.
No hotel that switched to housing migrants has yet to revert to a conventional hotel, the Times reported.
According to CoStar data, the hotels now sheltering migrants have cordoned off roughly 16,500 rooms from the available hotel supply, resulting in nearly 122,000 available rooms for travelers. There are now about 2,800 fewer rooms available for travelers in the city compared to right before the coronavirus pandemic.
"During peak periods, try getting a hotel on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night in midtown Manhattan, and, if you can, you could end up paying dearly," LW Hospitality Advisors president and chief executive Daniel H. Lesser told the Times. "It's all supply-and-demand related, and the migrant rooms have reduced the amount of supply."
Immigration has emerged as a defining issue of the 2024 presidential campaign. Voters largely disapprove of President Joe Biden's handling of the issue. Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is looking to use immigration to rally Republicans and Independents around his campaign.
Since 2022, more than 180,000 migrants have arrived in New York City — with tens of thousands sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in protest of Biden's immigration policies. Mayor Eric Adams has faced enormous financial and logistical challenges to house the migrants.
The New York City hotel market was hit hard in 2020 as business travel plummeted and the city — once the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic — struggled to recover due to the resulting economic fallout.
But the city's hotel market picked up in a major way last year, and the city could see a $380 million bump in hotel revenue this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. If the projections prove to be accurate, it would be a stunning turnaround given the challenges faced by the travel industry throughout the pandemic.
The International Energy Agency wrote in a recent report that despite EV adoption in China being expected to grow to 45% this year, there are still "far more EV companies in China than can possibly survive in a competitive market."
"In 2014 alone, ten years ago, over 80,000 companies registered in China entered the electromobility sector. In 2023, over 80% of electric car sales in China were concentrated in just over 30 companies," it read.
China's EV market is known for being brutally competitive, with around 123 companies jockeying for customers. Executives and experts are warning that the number of players will likely shrink in the coming years, with economic headwinds piling the pressure on electric vehicle manufacturers.
The IEA report concludes that China's EV market will likely coalesce around a handful of "robust champions."
Some Chinese EV CEOs have echoed that sentiment, and are steeling themselves for what Xpeng boss He Xiaopeng described as a "knockout round" that could end in a "bloodbath" with prices continuing to drop even as growth slows.
"It is not correct for a startup firm to chase idealism," said William Li, CEO of Tesla rival Nio said at a media briefing in December, per The South China Morning Post.
"Nio, as an EV business, has to face the grim reality and try to dodge the bullet as market competition intensifies," he added.
Xpeng boss He Xiaopeng said 2024 will be a "knockout round" for China's EV firms.
Li Auto, meanwhile, saw vehicle sales and net income fall short of analyst targets and cut delivery targets for its new battery-electric van after it failed to sell as well as expected.
Slowing demand has sparked a brutal price war initiated by Elon Musk's Tesla. The automaker started cutting the prices of some of its Chinese models in 2022 and has continued since then, forcing local rivals to retaliate and slash their own prices to keep up.
It has also led to fears of overcapacity, with healthy subsidies for the EV industry leading to a glut of new factories being built over the past few years.
Many of them now sit empty, with China's National Bureau of Statistics estimating that capacity utilization across the auto industry was at 65% in the first three months of this year, down from 75% in 2023 and 80%-plus before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to The New York Times.
This has put increasing financial pressure on China's EV makers, many of whom have accumulated losses as they have rapidly scaled up their businesses.
Regulators have issued their own warnings. Xin Guobin, vice minister of industry and information technology, cautioned against expansion in the face of "insufficient" consumer demand for EVs and said Beijing would take "forceful measures" to address "blind" construction of new EV projects.
"There are a lot of EV companies in China. The average volume per brand is very low, not sustainable, and so there will be eventual consolidation," Stephen Dyer, head of Asia auto and industrials consulting at Alixpartners, told Business Insider.
Dyer said consolidation would likely be a protracted process, with investors and local governments reluctant to let EV companies die.
But he added that only "a handful" of Chinese firms are likely making a profit on their EV business, meaning a crunch is inevitable.
"Among the little over 120 EV brands that are selling EVs in China, we think about 20 to 30 will probably be financially viable in the long term," he added.
The red ocean
There are signs this thinning of the herd has already begun.
Several smaller Chinese EV makers have run into financial difficulties in recent months, with Shanghai-based WM Motor filing for pre-restructuring last October and the company behind the premium EV brand HiPhi suspending production in February for at least six months.
An Aiways EV on display at Sweden's eCarExpo.
Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images
Tencent-backed Aiways, meanwhile, is reportedly moving its operations from China to Germany, with sources familiar with the matter telling Autocar the move was due to intense competition and pricing pressure back home.
EV parts suppliers are also feeling the squeeze as car makers take longer to pay the bills.
Bloomberg reported this month that both Nio and Xpeng are taking longer to clear their receipts payable — something Alvarez & Marsal consultant Lin Zhu warned was pushing smaller suppliers to the brink.
"We've seen more car components producers approaching us to improve their performance and some of them are thinking about offloading unprofitable businesses," Zhu told Bloomberg.
"The weak ones in the supply chain will face a high risk of being kicked out of the game," she added.
"It is a matter of existing at the moment. It's becoming more and more difficult for European manufacturers in China," Linda Jackson, CEO of French brand Peugeot, told the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit. Peugeot did not respond to BI"s request for comment on whether it is currently selling EVs in China.
"To be there, you either enter into what I would call the red ocean (of losses), or you stand back, reduce your volume and wait to see where the market goes," she said.
"There will be consolidation, even in the Chinese market … a large majority of Chinese electric vehicle startups are not making any money," Jackson added.
A fight to survive
A BYD Seagull EV. The Tesla rival reported a fall in sales in its first-quarter earnings.
NurPhoto/Getty Images
Paul Li, the CEO of China-based EV tech firm U-Power, told BI that Chinese EV companies needed to change their business models to become profitable and avoid extinction.
"The carmakers can find a lot of new ways to make a profit rather than just selling the car," Li said.
"Batteries can become a service, charging can become a service, finance, insurance, and autonomous driving can all become a service," he added.
Ultimately, the biggest challenge Chinese EV makers face is differentiating themselves from the hundred-plus other companies fighting for customers — and until they do, the price war will likely continue, Stephen Dyer of AlixPartners told BI.
"Most of the companies are not clearly differentiated. And if your product is not differentiated, it is going to end in a price war," he added.
John Yuksel (left) and Matine Yuksel moved from San Francisco to Dubuque, Iowa in 2020. The brothers and business partners now live in Cincinnati.
Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel
John and Matine Yuksel moved from San Francisco to the Midwest in 2020.
The brothers and business partners lived in Iowa and Cincinnati while launching their startup.
They sometimes miss California life but love Cincinnati's friendly people and affordability.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John Yuksel, 33, and Matine Yuksel, 29, two brothers who moved fromSan Franciscoto Dubuque, Iowa, in 2020 to start Beltways, an accelerating walkway company. The brothers then moved to Cincinnati in 2022. Their company is based nearby in Northern Kentucky.
John: We're children of immigrant parents who grew up in southern Arizona.
I've always known I wanted to be close to my brother. He's my only sibling. We lived in San Diego for a few years after college, and then we moved to San Francisco in 2018.
Matine:San Francisco is amazing. It's the most diverse environment I've been in, and it's high-caliber for business, especially tech.
John: Matine was working for Walmart e-commerce and then later got a job with Apple. I was working as an attorney.
We were paying incredibly high rent but we had the best view, looking over the Pacific Ocean with the sunset in our windows each night.
But San Francisco was apocalyptic. During COVID, the streets were barren. It felt unsafe. I had my car broken into multiple times.
Matine: COVID helped us rethink and reprioritize things. Rather than work to release the next-generation iPhone, I wanted to make a new product that few people have ever heard of.
John:Beltways is really our father's dream. Forty years ago, he was living in Istanbul and he realized today's forms of mobility were not moving people efficiently. He thought up a modular design to make walkways 10 times faster.
John and Matine Yuksel with their parents.
Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel
My brother and I always wanted to do something together and years after our father came up with the idea, we started looking into it.
Matine: We established Beltways in July 2020. We quickly realized we had to move out of San Francisco. It would have been way too expensive to do what we needed there.
John: It wasn't the right place for our startup. We're a big hardware manufacturing startup. It made a lot more sense to be near industrial clusters of technology. We wanted to be in the Midwest, where there's still viability for manufacturing.
Matine: John met someone with experience in the walkway industry and he offered us a shop out in Iowa.
We moved to Dubuque, Iowa, in 2020
John: It was a very small town in the middle of the cornfields, an hour and a half from any airport. Dubuque is a beautiful, quiet town on the Mississippi River. We could drive anywhere in town in two minutes.
We basically lived in a mansion. We had a three-story, four-bedroom place for half the price of our condo in San Francisco.
Matine: The snow was definitely a change of pace. We got our fair share of workout shoveling.
It was a different way of life. We needed to be focused and Iowa was good because we didn't have too many distractions. The two years we spent in Iowa went by very fast.
The brothers said they had to adjust to small-town living after moving to Dubuque, Iowa.
Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel
John: We built the prototype for the world's fastest-moving walkway while we were living there. It was a hundred-foot-long system and it got us our first VC check.
That was a big milestone for us. We put all our money into this company. We left stable jobs. We refinanced our home. There's been nothing more fulfilling than making our father's invention something commercial.
Matine: It was a surreal day when he came out and rode the system for the first time. It was the icing on the cake to see his excitement standing on something he thought up so many years ago.
John: We needed to start scoping out the next spot for our company. The next step was to pilot our walkway. We were invited by several airports to do a pilot demo of our system.
We knew CVG Airport in Cincinnati had a real track record of innovation and taking care of startups. The area was also advantageous for manufacturing. It's super cheap. The facility we're currently in is only a little more expensive than my rent in San Francisco, and this is 20,000 square feet.
We moved to Cincinnati in 2022
John: We even moved our parents out here, too. We wanted our father to work with us and be part of the company in person. Our parents live three floors below us in our building in the Mount Adams neighborhood.
Moving to Cincinnati felt like we were back in a big city after two years in Iowa. We have major sports teams and a large hub airport. It's a much more temperate climate.
The winters have been pretty mild so far. The spring is lush and green. You can kayak down the rivers, and there are amazing trails nearby. The air quality is great. And the summers aren't 120 degrees like they were in Arizona.
I met my partner, and now I have a child that was born here in Cincinnati. The city has become home for us. The company is here, the whole family is here.
John and Matine Yuksel enjoy a football game in Cincinnati.
Courtesy of John and Matine Yuksel
We miss life on the coast sometimes. California is a beautiful place. We love that climate and the diversity of people. San Francisco is where tech starts and bleeds out from. It's really the birthplace of a lot of amazing stuff.
Matine: But Cincinnati's tech scene has also been very good to us. It's growing. It's a close-knit startup community. From the moment we got here, the community has been so welcoming.
Bringing our father's dream to life has been incredible
Matine: We started Beltways in a humble garage in Tucson, where my brother built prototypes himself. Now, we're in a 20,000-square-foot facility here in Northern Kentucky, right next to our first airport customer. And we're US-made.
John: Our goal is to become an official partner of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics to provide temporary high-speed conveyance.
Cincinnati is a great place to raise a family and have a business. We see ourselves staying for the foreseeable future.
But our ultimate goal is to make our walkways commonplace and spread this technology around the world. So wherever we have to go to make that possible, we will. This is bigger than us.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Prime Video released the first trailer of "I Am: Celine Dion."
The documentary, out on June 25, will also show Dion's journey with Stiff Person Syndrome.
Here's a timeline of her health updates before and after sharing her diagnosis in 2022.
Prime Video has released the first trailer for "I Am: Celine Dion," promising insight into Dion's life after she was diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome.
In December 2022, Dion announced that she had been diagnosed with the rare neurological condition, which affects the brain and causes muscles to stiffen uncontrollably.
The singer canceled concerts after the diagnosis and has not made many public appearances since. In January, Dion said that Amazon MGM Studios had acquired the rights to a documentary about her life and career.
The movie's first teaser, released on Thursday, showed clips of Dion in physical therapy and in tears about how the disease has stopped her from performing. The movie will arrive on Prime Video on June 25.
Here's what Dion and her family have said about her health in recent years.
October 2021 to April 2022: Celine Dion begins postponing shows.
Celine Dion at the launch of "Celine," her second headline residency show at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on August 27, 2015.
Denise Truscello/WireImage/Getty Images
Fans started worrying about Dion's health after the singer began postponing concerts.
In October 2021, Dion said she would delay her Las Vegas residency show at the new Resorts World Theatre. Per a statement, Dion couldn't perform because she was "experiencing severe and persistent muscle spasms."
"Now, I have to focus on getting better… I want to get through this as soon as I can," Dion wrote in an Instagram post.
In January 2022, Dion canceled her remaining North American shows for her Courage World Tour, which had been delayed since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She again cited her muscle spasms.
"I'll be so glad to get back to full health, as well as all of us getting past this pandemic, and I can't wait to be back on stage again," Dion said.
A few months on, in April 2022, she recorded a video for fans saying she was delaying the European leg of the tour as well.
"The good news is that I am doing a little bit better, but it's going very slow, and it's very frustrating for me," she said in the video.
Dion eventually canceled the whole tour in May 2023.
December 2022: Celine Dion says she has Stiff Person Syndrome.
Celine Dion performs live at Barclaycard Presents British Summer Time Hyde Park at Hyde Park on July 5, 2019.
Brian Rasic/Getty Images
In another video, Dion shared the diagnosis, which she said she had gotten recently.
"Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I'm used to," Dion said with tears in her eyes.
Dion said that she was working with a team of doctors and sports-medicine therapists, hoping to perform again.
"All I know is singing. It's what I've done all my life, and it's what I love to do the most," she said.
Business Insider's Marianne Guenot previously reported that there is no known cure for Stiff Person Syndrome. Instead, symptoms are managed using muscle relaxants and sedatives.
July-December 2023: Dion's sister Claudette gave updates on her sister's behalf.
Celine Dion also appears in the 2023 movie "Love Again" which was filmed during the global COVID-19 pandemic.
"I honestly think that she mostly needs to rest. She always goes above and beyond, she always tries to be the best and top of her game," she said.
Claudette said her other sister Linda moved in with Dion.
Later that year, Claudette told the French-Canadian magazine 7 Jours that her sister could not control her muscles.
"What breaks my heart is that she's always been disciplined. She's always worked hard," she said in December 2023.
Claudette added that she hoped her sister would be able to perform again but wondered how.
"The vocal cords are muscles, and the heart is also a muscle," she said.
January 2024: Celine Dion announces a new documentary about her career, and a plan to perform again.
Celine Dion singing.
Getty Images
In January, Dion announced that Amazon MGM Studios had acquired the rights to "I Am: Celine Dion," a documentary about her career.
Dion said it would include a behind-the-scenes look at her struggles with Stiff Person Syndrome.
She said she hoped the documentary would raise awareness and help others with the condition.
"This last couple of years has been such a challenge for me, the journey from discovering my condition to learning how to live with and manage it, but not to let it define me," Dion said.
In the statement, Dion referred to "the road to resuming my performing career," suggesting that she hopes to return.
But she didn't give a timeframe. It also isn't clear when the documentary will be released.
February 2024: Dion presents the album of the year award at the 2024 Grammys.
Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, and Rene-Charles Angelil at the 66th Grammy Awards.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
"Thank you all. I love you right back," Dion said. "When I say that I'm happy to be here, I really mean it from my heart."
"Those who have been blessed enough to be here at the Grammy Awards must never take it for granted, the tremendous love and joy that music brings to our lives and to people all around the world," she continued.
She gave the top prize to Taylor Swift for her album "Midnights."
March 2024: Dion marks International SPS Awareness day.
Celine Dion, photographed in 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Trying to overcome this autoimmune disorder has been one of the hardest experiences of my life, but I remain determined to one day get back onto the stage and to live as normal of a life as possible," Dion wrote. "I am deeply grateful for the love and support from my kids, family, team and all of you!"
"I want to send my encouragement and support to all those around the world that have been affected by SPS. I want you to know you can do it! We can do it!" she added.
April 2024: Dion says she undergoes "athletic, physical, and vocal therapy" five days a week.
Celine Dion in 2020.
James Devaney / Getty Images
On April 22, Vogue France revealed that Dion was the cover star for their May issue.
In her Q&A for the cover, Dion said she hoped that someone would find a miracle cure for the disease, but she has "to learn to live with it" until then.
"Five days a week I undergo athletic, physical and vocal therapy. I work on my toes, my knees, my calves, my fingers, my singing, my voice," she said. "I have to learn to live with it now and stop questioning myself."
Dion said her goal was to see the Eiffel Tower in Paris again.
"The way I see it, I have two choices. Either I train like an athlete and work super hard, or I switch off and it's over, I stay at home, listen to my songs, stand in front of my mirror and sing to myself," she said. "I've chosen to work with all my body and soul, from head to toe, with a medical team. I want to be the best I can be."
Dion said the love of her family, children, fans and support from her team was helping a lot with her recovery.
"People who suffer from SPS may not be lucky enough or have the means to have good doctors and good treatments. I have those means, and this is a gift," she said. "What's more, I have this strength within me. I know that nothing is going to stop me."
Dion said later that she couldn't say when she would return to performing.
"I don't know... My body will tell me," she said. "But there's one thing that will never stop, and that's the will. It's the passion. It's the dream. It's the determination."
May 2024: Amazon releases the first trailer of "I Am: Celine Dion"
In late May, Prime Video dropped the first trailer for "I Am: Celine Dion," which premieres on the platform on June 25.
In the trailer, we see a behind-the-scenes shot of Dion's Instagram video from December 2022, when she delayed and canceled several shows. Later in the trailer, Dion cries as she talks about how much she misses performing.
"I miss it so much. The people. I miss them. If I can't run, I'll walk. If I can't walk, I'll crawl. And I won't stop. I won't stop," she said.
Google Classroom exploded in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and soon had more than 150 million users.
Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Google Classrooms is a free learning platform created by Google.
Anyone with a Google account can make a Google Classroom — not just teachers or students.
Google classrooms is used by more than 150 million people worldwide.
Google Classroom is a free learning platform created by Google with the purpose of making it easier to not only create assignments but also simplifying the distribution and grading.
Google Classroom has grown significantly since its humble beginnings in August 2014. More than 70 million G Suite for Education users were on it by August 2017, and its popularity exploded even further when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. By 2021, it had reached more than 150 million students and educators.
Google Classroom lets you share announcements, host virtual lessons, and even create interactive questions for YouTube videos.
While Google Classroom can be used by anyone, if you are creating a classroom at a school for students you must use Google Workspace for Education.
Here's everything you need to know to get started.
How to make a Google classroom
Despite its power, creating a Google classroom is surprisingly straightforward. It can be completed in just 3 steps.
Click on the add button, which looks like a plus (+) sign, and click Create class.
Click the "+" button. The Create class and Join class buttons will both pop out of the add button.
Kyle Wilson/Business Insider
Fill in a name for the class and click Create.
Quick tip: The same screen where you can fill in a class name is also where you can include a section, room number, and class subject.
How to use Google Classroom
Once your Google Classroom is created, you now need to add content to it and invite students.
Adding content to your Classroom
Under the Classwork tab, click Create. In this menu, you have the ability to create an assignment, quiz, question, or add material or topics, which are like section headings.
Click "Create" and write out instructions for students, or upload your assignment as an attachment.
Kyle Wilson/Business Insider
Google Classroom will then provide two blank fields and prompt you to enter a title and assignment instructions for students. You can create assignments from Google's suite of programs, including Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets, or you can attach links, documents, or YouTube videos to the assignment.
You can also share photos with students using Google Photos.
After you create the assignment, you can set a due date, assign it to specific students or all students, and even post a rubric.
Inviting students or teachers to your Classroom
Navigate to the People tab and click on the Invite teachers or Invite students tab as applicable. Then enter their email address(es) and click Invite.
Alternatively, you can have students join your class by using the Class code.
Click on the add button, which looks like a plus (+) sign, and click Join class.
Input the class code you received from your teacher and click on the blue Join button in the top right corner of the window.
Enter the class code and click Join.
Kyle Wilson/Business Insider
Quick tip: Students can also join a Classroom through an invite link. Click on the three vertical dots to the right of the Class code field and click Copy class invite link.
How to unenroll from a Google Classroom
If you wish to leave or otherwise unenroll from a Google Classroom, that is accomplished in a quick two-step process.
Click on the three vertical dots beside your classroom's name.
Click Archive and then Archive again in the confirmation window that appears.
Click Archive.
Kyle Wilson/Business Insider
Quick tip: Classrooms must be archived first prior to deletion. If you want to permanently delete a classroom, archive it and then go to Archived classes, click the three dots, and click Delete and then Delete again in the confirmation window that appears.
Nicole Shanahan took ketamine with Elon Musk and had a sexual encounter in 2021, NYT reported, citing multiple sources.
Shanahan, a lawyer and RFK Jr.'s running mate, was married to Brin from 2018 to 2023.
Shanahan and Musk both previously denied having an affair.
Nicole Shanahan took ketamine with Elon Musk at a private party in 2021 and later told her husband at the time, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, that she had sex with the Tesla CEO, The New York Times reported, citing multiple sources.
The New York Times published an article on Wednesday about Shanahan, a lawyer campaigning as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
The article discussed details of her relationship with Brin, whom she married in 2018 before the pair finalized their divorce in May 2023, and sheds new light on a past allegation that she had an affair with Musk in 2021, which both Shanahan and Musk have denied.
During Shanahan's marriage to Brin, the Times reported that Shanahan partied with Silicon Valley's upper echelon and engaged in recreational drug use that included ketamine and cocaine, citing eight sources as well as documents the publication viewed. Ketamine is a "dissociative anesthetic" that can have some hallucinogenic effects, according to The Drug Enforcement Administration. Ketamine can be legally prescribed under federal law and recent research indicates it could be used to treat depression, but it's also a popular party drug.
Nicole Shanahan and Sergey Brin, who were previously married.
Ian Tuttle/Getty Images
Stressors like the COVID-19 pandemic and their daughter's autism diagnosis began weighing on the former couple's marriage, prompting Shanahan to start going out and attending events without Brin, according to the report.
"At a party in early 2021 in Miami, Ms. Shanahan was so intoxicated by drugs and alcohol that she required an IV infusion," the outlet reported.
Three sources told the Times that Shanahan and Musk had an affair in December 2021 during a private party in Miami. They both took ketamine and "disappeared together for several hours," the Times reported, citing four people who had been briefed on the matter and related documents.
Musk said in March 2024 that he takes a "small amount" of ketamine weekly and that he has a prescription.
"Ms. Shanahan later told Mr. Brin that she had had sex with Mr. Musk, three of the people said. She also relayed the details to friends, family and advisers," the Times reported.
Elon Musk.
Anna Webber/Variety/Getty Images
Brin filed for divorce from Shanahan one month later in January 2022, citing "irreconcilable differences."
Representatives for Shanahan, Musk, and Brin did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.
The Wall Street Journal first reported in July 2022 that an "alleged affair" between Shanahan and Musk had created a rift between the Tesla CEO and Brin, whom many considered to have a close and amicable friendship.
"This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!" Musk wrote. "I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."
He added in another post: "Haven't even had sex in ages (sigh)."
Musk also posted a photo of himself with Brin, which he said had been taken at the party the previous day (his biographer Walter Isaacson later said that Brin had "tried to avoid" the selfie).
"We are confident in our sourcing, and we stand by our reporting," The Wall Street Journal said in a statement at the time.
Shanahan also denied any affair, telling People that the speculation was "utterly debilitating."
"To be known because of a sexual act is one of the most humiliating things . . . it was utterly debilitating," she told the outlet. "I remember feeling like everything I had ever worked for was under siege by a press cycle that had no idea what was going on in my life and who I was."
In response to questions from a The New York Times reporter, Shanahan said she was "shocked the NYT is letting you run something like this."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s early life was overshadowed by his father's assassination.
UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s early life was overshadowed by the murder of his father.
He later struggled with a drug addiction.
After his most humiliating moment, Kennedy reinvented himself as an environmentalist.
Robert F. Kennedy's children have spent a lifetime trying to add their marks to their slain father's legacy. They made history in public service, followed his footsteps into Congress, and contributed to an Academy Award-nominated documentary. Like their relatives born into the generation after Camelot, some struggled to shake the tinge of tragedy and scandal that continues to hang around the famous family.
Robert F. Kennedy's namesake has seen all elements of this journey.
The first Kennedy to run for the presidency in decades, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is doing so without the family's well-documented loyalty. Instead, some of his siblings have begged him to drop out. For years, they have worried, in increasingly public ways, that he's eroding the foundation of why the nation reveres them so much in the first place.
The son of the expected next Kennedy president.
Born into privilege in 1954, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was raised between Massachusetts and suburban Virginia estates. He took an early interest in the outdoors, an affinity aided by the menagerie of animals kept at Hickory Hill, the family's McLean, Virginia mansion. He was the third of the 11 eventual children born to RFK and Ethel Kennedy.
He was asleep in his dorm at Georgetown Preparatory School on June 5, 1968, when a priest awoke him. He wasn't told what was happening, only that a ride would soon take him back to Hickory Hill. At the family home, he was told his dad had been shot the night before. He, Kathleen, and Joseph P. II flew out on Vice President Hubert Humphery's plane in a rush to be by their father's side.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was later a pallbearer at his father's funeral, joined by Astronaut John Glenn and former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was one of the pallbearers in his father's funeral.
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The 14-year-old never returned to Georgetown Prep, which now counts two Supreme Court justices and multiple lawmakers among its influential alumni. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. bounced between three private schools before graduating from high school.
At Millbrook School in New York, he briefly kept a lion cub gifted to him by former "Tonight Show" host Jack Paar. Kennedy was forced to find a new home for the animal, aptly named Mtoto Mbaya, "Boy Boy" in Swahili, after a string of incidents, including when it bit the backside of the school's zoo keeper, according to "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized 2015 biography. It wasn't the animal that got him kicked out.
Kennedy had begun to use drugs and not just marijuana, according to the 2015 book. Officials became increasingly concerned that they would be held responsible if another Kennedy died on their watch. Years later, Kennedy would tell Oprah that the source of his drug problems didn't truly matter. He viewed his problems more as being a product of the 1960s. Whatever the reason, his drug use would lead to repeated brushes with the law.
Kennedy graduates from Harvard, but drug use continues to hang over him.
After graduating from high school, Kennedy attended Harvard, the alma mater of his father, uncle, and grandfather. Like JFK, RFK Jr. would see his senior thesis turned into a book. Unfortunately for him, reviewers reacted harshly to the tome about federal judge Frank M. Johnson Jr., whose rulings played a major role in the Civil Rights movement.
After briefly attending the London School of Economics, Kennedy graduated from the University of Virginia Law School. While in Charlottesville, Kennedy met his first wife, Emily Black. Their wedding in Black's native Bloomington, Indiana, received international coverage as the Midwesterner joined the nation's foremost political family. The couple had two children together.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s marriage to Emily Black, his law school classmate, received international attention.
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He filed for divorce in 1994 in the Dominican Republic, taking advantage of a local law that allows foreigners to file for divorce there and potentially trying to avoid media scrutiny.
In March 1982, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, whom JFK had previously appointed to lead the famous Southern District of New York, hired RFK Jr. as an assistant district attorney. The famous son's first brush with politics in New York, the state his father represented in the US Senate, did not go well. Kennedy struggled to pass the bar exam. He resigned in July 1983.
Months later, Kennedy would spark his largest legal scandal. While on the way to receive treatment in South Dakota for his addiction, a fellow passenger found him sick in an airplane's bathroom. Local authorities later found a small amount of heroin in his belongings. He faced up to two years in prison, according to The New York Times. Kennedy was sentenced to probation and community service.
Kennedy found a new advocacy after his lowest moment.
Kennedy's lowest moment led to his greatest reinvention. As part of his community service, he worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council and was later connected with the Hudson River Fishermen's Association. Robert Boyle, founder of the New York environmental group, began to mentor Kennedy. The organization already had notched major legal victories, but Kennedy's star power would help take it to new heights.
He was so committed to his new career that in 1994, he married Mary Richardson, a longtime friend of his sister Kerry Kennedy, aboard a ship on the Hudson River.
Robert F. Kennedy became a star for his environmental advocacy.
"I think he's a despicable person," Boyle told Kennedy's unauthorized biographer in 2014. Boyle's children recently told The Washington Post that his father later couldn't even bear looking at the Hudson as it was too much of a reminder of Kennedy's betrayal.
As for Kennedy, his environmental advocacy became the foundation of his fame. In 1999, Time Magazine named Kennedy one of its "Heroes for the Planet" as part of a series of reports on leading environmentalists.
While gaining fame, Kennedy began to notice problems with his voice. He recently told The Los Angeles Times that he was 42 when he first noticed the problem. Kennedy was later diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological condition that affects muscles in one's voice box.
In 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Richardson, the mother of four of his six children. Two years later, she died by suicide at the couple's former Bedford estate.
After years of environmentalism, Kennedy became the face of anti-vaccine advocacy.
After decades of environmental advocacy, Kennedy prepared to make his most controversial turn. In his retelling, mothers began to approach him at events to question whether vaccines had affected their children.
In 2005, Kennedy wrote a piece for Salon and Rolling Stone that is now regarded as establishing him as a major player in spreading vaccine skepticism. Despite his claims of a major conspiracy over a mercury-based preservative that had already been "removed from all childhood vaccines except for some variations of the flu vaccine in 2001," according to STAT. Within days, Salon, which published the piece online, issued five corrections. In 2011, the site decided to retract the article entirely.
In 2014, Kennedy married the actress Cheryl Hines, best known for her co-starring role in the Larry David-led "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
One year later, Kennedy joined the World Health Defense Fund. He continued to be involved with Riverkeeper, but his anti-vaccine advocacy overwhelmed his public persona.
Kennedy's name fueled his rise in the movement, which drew on the credibility of his environmentalism and his famous family. In turn, the now-presidential hopeful began to cobble together what the Associated Press would later deem "an anti-vaccine juggernaut" that he deployed when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.
San Antonio gave 1,000 low-income residents $5,108 in a guaranteed basic-income pilot. They used the money to pay for housing and other necessities.
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San Antonio's basic-income pilot helped low-income families afford housing and other necessities.
Participants received a total of $5,108 in no-strings payments over 25 months.
Texas is a key state for income pilots, with programs also launching in Austin and Harris County.
When Monique Gonzalez received her money from the San Antonio guaranteed basic-income pilot, she bought school supplies, shoes, and Christmas gifts for her children.
The mother of six said the program allowed her to afford things her family had "put on the back burner" because they didn't have the money. Gonzalez told UpTogether — a national nonprofit that has sponsored a series of GBI programs — that basic income was what she needed to invest in her children's future.
San Antonio is one of several cities nationwide piloting guaranteed basic-income programs. For the most part, the programs offer no-strings-attached cash payments to low-income individuals over a set time period. Participants in cities such as Denver, Austin, Boston, Minneapolis, and Durham, North Carolina, have reported using the money to secure housing, afford transportation, buy groceries, pay off credit-card debt, and drop second jobs. Some programs, like the one in Denver, have been so successful that their funding was extended.
UpTogether oversaw San Antonio's pilot, investing $5,108 in each of the 1,000 individuals participating over a 25-month period. Program participants received an initial $1,908 payment in December 2020, followed by eight quarterly payments of $400 between April 2021 and January 2023. Participants had household incomes that fell below 150% of the federal poverty line — which is $46,800 for a family of four — and many were facing financial hardship because of the pandemic.
UpTogether is running an additional income pilot that will end in December 2024. Twenty-five UpTogether participants, including Gonzalez, are receiving $500 a month for 18 months.
"We have more opportunities to be happy, content, and healthy," Gonzalez said."This helped to eliminate a lot of the stressors we have."
Shafeka Hashash, associate director of Guaranteed Income at the Economic Security Project, told Business Insider in May that pilot programs across the US show guaranteed income is an effective poverty solution.
GBI has been piloted over 100 times since 2019. In contrast to traditional social services like SNAP and rental assistance, basic income allows participants to choose to spend money where they need it most. And, Hashash said trusting families with no-strings cash assistance has far-reaching impacts.
"When you don't have this group of mothers whose babies are born into economic backslide, you inherently have a stronger community," she said. "When families receive a guaranteed income that improves their children's stability in the school system, you inherently have a stronger community."
San Antonio participants felt happier and more supported by basic income
Program leaders in San Antonio surveyed participants throughout their time in the program. Of the 182 participants who responded to a question asking them whether the cash payments had an overall positive impact on their lives, 161 answered affirmatively. Many said the money was critical for their daily survival and allowed them to cover expenses they otherwise couldn't afford.
Ingrid Sullivan, a participant with four children and three grandchildren, told UpTogether that basic income allowed her to secure housing and reliable transportation. She said the program allowed her to gain financial security with dignity and help pay for her family's needs.
"I felt supported for the first time ever," Sullivan said. "I didn't know what it felt like before this."
San Antonio participants also told UpTogether that the GBI payments significantly improved their mental health. Many survey respondents said they experienced chronic stress about money. With some of that financial worry alleviated, participants reported being able to spend more time with their families or in their communities and said they generally enjoyed life more.
For participants with families, many said their extra income went to enrolling their children in after-school and extracurricular activities and supporting their educations.
"I was able to do more at times because I was able to get my bills met," one survey respondent said. "In turn, I had extra money to be able to spend on my children to take them out or get them what they needed or wanted."
The San Antonio pilot also provided program leaders with feedback. In the survey, some participants said future income programs should provide payments monthly instead of quarterly and provide more opportunities for in-person connection with other participants and the community.
Texas is a national leader for income programs, but GBI continues to face opposition
Texas has been a major state for GBI pilots. Austin and Harris County — which includes Houston — have also launched pilot programs that distribute cash payments monthly.
In May 2022, the Austin Guaranteed Income Pilot began distributing $1,000 a month for one year to 135 low-income households using funding from the city and philanthropic donations. Austin was the first Texas city to launch a taxpayer-funded guaranteed-income program.
A report from the Urban Institute, a think tank based in Washington, DC, found that Austin GBIparticipants spent more than half of the money on housing, allowing some to purchase their first homes or more easily afford rent. After the yearlong program, participants also reported being more food secure: From a survey of 51 responses, the number of those unable to afford a balanced meal fell by 17 percent.
Stephanie Hendon was living in a shelter with her four kids while working long hours, but within a year of the program, she was able to rent a three-bedroom apartment, purchase a new car, buy clothes for her children, and get a new job. She said she's become more financially savvy and believes she's on the right path to financial stability while also being able to spend more time with her kids.
However, the program wasn't a major success for every participant. Jessica Nairns said the program helped her advance her career and buy essentials, though she was still unhoused a few months after the program. She said she's grateful for the temporary assistance she received, though she couldn't invest money for the long term or find more secure housing.
Harris County, where about 16% of residents live below the poverty line, will provide participants in its pilot program — which is set to start payments in April — with $500 a month for up to 18 months. Officials are pulling from over $20 million of federal COVID-19 relief to fund the Uplift Harris project, which has been met with some Republican opposition.
Uplift Harris participants were set to receive their first payments on April 24, but the program is under a temporary block after a lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Ken Paxton called the program "unconstitutional." The block will remain while the Texas Supreme Court decides if the program can proceed.
South Dakota lawmakers recently introduced a bill to preemptively ban all state and local income programs, which a bill sponsor called a "socialist idea" and "one-way ticket to government dependency." A similar ban has been proposed in Iowa.
In Arizona, GOP leaders are trying to pass another statewide ban. The Republican-led state House approved the GBI ban, and it will soon be taken up by the state Senate. Republicans say they are worried income programs will raise taxes and make people overly dependent on government assistance.
"Is money a birthright now? Do we just get born and get money from the government? Because I think the Founding Fathers would say that is very contrary to our capitalist system and encouraging people to work," John Gillette, a Republican state representative from Arizona, told Business Insider.
Despite legislative resistance, GBI programs continue to be launched in new cities — one focused on new moms in Flint, Michigan began enrolling participants on January 10. Chicago also announced in April that it will relaunch its basic income program.
Even so, program leaders in San Antonio said GBI cash payments are only a step toward combating poverty.
Basic income helped participants in Texas and other states to meet their basic needs, the UpTogether survey report said, but they often can't fix long-term financial challenges. For participants to thrive over time, people also need access to educational opportunities, stable employment, and healthcare.
And, as more cities experiment with GBI, Hashash said the programs provide insight into long-term policy. States like New Mexico and California are already expanding the scope of basic income to the state level. She said flexible funding programs like the American Rescue Plan Act have let states continue testing basic income, and the model has "spread like wildfire."
"It opened the door for states to be able to demonstrate guaranteed income's effectiveness, and for the federal government to take notice," Hashash said.
Have you benefited from a guaranteed basic-income program in San Antonio or elsewhere? Are you willing to share how you're spending your money? Reach out to these reporters atallisonkelly@insider.comandnsheidlower@insider.com.