Visualizzatore Storie Instagram

The Trump administration is pressuring migrants to self deport. But for migrants, self-deporting isn’t always as simple as it sounds. ⁠
⁠
Host/Reporter: Xavier Martinez⁠
Reporters: Michelle Hackman and Klaus Galiano⁠
Producer: Jacob Ohara

A potato tycoon who couldn’t type was the first to bet big on Micron. Now, the rest of the world is catching on.⁠
⁠
The Boise, Idaho-based maker of memory chips closed above $1 trillion in market value for the first time on Tuesday, a sign of how even the most basic elements of the AI build-out are getting swept up in the yearlong frenzy for semiconductor stocks.⁠
⁠
Shares of Micron rose 19% on Tuesday, solidifying the country’s largest homegrown chip maker as the latest flag-bearer of the semiconductor rally. The stock has surged by about 80% in the past month.⁠
⁠
“For all intents and purposes, that seems to be unprecedented,” said Dan Russo, co-chief investment officer and a chartered market technician at Potomac.⁠
⁠
With its dizzying rise, Micron is the 12th U.S. company worth $1 trillion and the first based in Idaho, cementing the fastest run to a 13-figure valuation ever seen. The company reached the threshold only 48 days after it was first valued at $500 billion, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Nvidia, the undisputed champion of artificial-intelligence chip makers, took 490 days to pass the same benchmark.⁠
⁠
The stock might have yet more room to run as Micron builds capacity to accommodate the biggest supply crunch the memory industry has seen in over 40 years.⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.

A popular Japanese capsule-hotel chain opened its first U.S. outpost near Waikiki Beach. WSJ’s Dawn Gilbertson checked in for two nights to size up the budget option. ⁠
⁠
Host/Columnist: Dawn Gilbertson⁠
Producer: Jacob Ohara⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.

If you’re lucky enough to own an oceanfront house in Wrightsville Beach, you’ll look out on the sand, the water and, now, an endless stretch of blue and turquoise fabric. In this North Carolina town, Shibumis, lightweight shade structures that flap in the wind like giant flags flown horizontally, are everywhere.⁠
⁠
But don’t try planting a Shibumi on the sand in Myrtle Beach, S.C. From now until Labor Day, the only shade structures permitted in that resort town are traditional umbrellas. “The beach was being consumed by tents and canopies,” said Mayor Mark Kruea. “They blocked access to the beach for some folks, and potentially to emergency responders.”⁠
⁠
In fact, when some residents proposed relaxing the rules for quieter beaches away from Myrtle’s main commercial strip, the Beach Advisory Committee voted unanimously not to allow that.⁠
⁠
At a public hearing last month, Nan Trout, who lives near the beach, presented the committee with a long list of reasons to keep the ban in place. Among them: congestion that leads to “conflicts over territory, and the possibility that guy lines and anchors will cause many people to trip.⁠
⁠
Trout said she talks to her neighbors and “none of them want to see Shibumis on the beach.”⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
Photo: Allison Joyce / Getty

It sounds like the beginning of a spy novel: A suburban Los Angeles mayor is a Chinese spy. Yet this is real life, writes Mary Julia Koch for @wsjfreeexpression via @wsjopinion.

Read the piece at the link in @wsjfreeexpression’s bio.

Photo: Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times via AP

The boom in autism therapy has become Medicaid's fastest-growing jackpot.⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
Reporter: Christopher Weaver, Tom McGinty and Anna Wilde Mathews⁠
Photo: @jaymiey for @wsjphotos

For decades, Diet Coke has been a durable pop culture icon, as much a symbol of boardroom swashbuckling as high fashion society. More recently, limited-edition Diet Coke cans were released to coincide with “The Devil Wears Prada” sequel.⁠
⁠
The soda is also beloved across generations. It has been given the mantle of “fridge cigarette” by a Gen Z cohort who, according to Cosmopolitan, want to “blow off steam without the actual fumes” and is repped by quintessential baby boomers, including Bill Gates in a TikTok he posted of himself re-creating Warren Buffett’s recipe for Dusty Diet Coke. (That’s a bizarro mix of the soda, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and malted milk powder.)⁠
⁠
All of this soft-drink soft power belies an uneasy truth for Diet Coke fanatics. The diet soda sweeping the nation is actually the beverage’s own sibling, Coke Zero Sugar—part of a zero-sugar soda boom that accounted for 52% of growth in soft drink sales last year, according to the market research firm Circana. Sales of Diet Coke, by comparison, have been, well, pretty flat since the soda peaked in popularity in 2006.⁠
⁠
As Coke Zero gets bigger, and threatens to dethrone “DC” as the most important diet soda property in the Coca-Cola extended universe, the feud between Diet Coke fans and Coke Zero drinkers is getting pretty fizzy.⁠
⁠
The Coca-Cola Company did not deny that there are clear differences among the stalwarts of its diet brands. “Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke attract similar consumer demographics, however, their distinct taste profiles and brand identities result in each brand largely having their own unique loyal consumer base,” a company spokesperson wrote in an email.⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
📷: @elizabetharvelos / WSJ

Test time has emerged as a fierce battleground among parents of high-schoolers. Students with diagnosed disabilities or medical issues for years have been given longer to finish college-entrance exams. But the ranks of the extra timers have surged, with a concentration in wealthy areas. And many parents are crying foul.⁠
⁠
They’re training their anger on families who are going to extremes for an edge, from spending $10,000 for a diagnosis from a neuropsychologist to finding a gastroenterologist to support requests for unlimited bathroom breaks.⁠
⁠
Accommodations vary and depend on the issue. They can include time-and-a-half or double time, testing in a separate room to reduce distractions or having unlimited breaks. Some students with severe anxiety can take the ACT over four days.⁠
⁠
Parents of children who have fought for extra time say they are tired of defending themselves, and call the cheating accusations offensive.⁠
⁠
ACT spokesman Juan Elizondo said getting extra time isn’t as simple as paying a neuropsychologist for an evaluation, which can cost between $2,000 and upwards of $10,000 and often isn’t covered by insurance. He said the ACT also looks for a demonstrated history of special allowances such as a customized curriculum or a 504 plan, a set of accommodations for students with learning disabilities.⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
🎨: @alexcitrin / WSJ

Buying a home has always been a milestone of financial independence. For some young Americans caught in the least affordable housing market in decades, it has become a family affair—strings attached.⁠
⁠
After years of annual moves in search of lower rent, Jennifer Gross had ended up with a roughly two-hour round-trip commute to work. Her father stepped in and offered to buy her a house. She gratefully accepted.⁠
⁠
Jennifer’s dad, Mark Gross, had a spending limit of $700,000, and one condition: She had to stay within 2 miles of him. The four-bedroom house they closed on last month was $625,000, and an 8-minute bike ride away.⁠
⁠
The mortgage is in her father’s name, and Jennifer pays him $2,200 a month to cover a portion of the payments. He bought her sister, Jessica Locati, a house nearby a few months earlier, fulfilling their mother’s dying wish that the family live close to each other.⁠
⁠
“Face value, there is immediate judgment, my dad bought me a house,” Jennifer said. But, she noted, her family didn’t grow up wealthy. The older generations saved and invested well, and are now in a position to help the younger generation.⁠
⁠
“This is the pinnacle of every sacrifice each generation has made to pay it forward to the next,” Jennifer said.⁠
⁠
At wealth-management firm AlTi Global, co-head of U.S. wealth planning Brittany Cook says her clients are more apt to ask about buying—and then actually buy—homes for their kids than they were in the past. Many are giving cash or short-term loans up front so that their kids can make their offers more competitive.⁠
⁠
Cook attributes the shift to increased housing market competition—“but also because wealth has grown, and people want their kids to enjoy it before their death.”⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
📷: Johnny Kompar for @wsjphotos

Montblanc’s fountain pen, the Meisterstück, is a sought-after $1,200 luxury item. WSJ visited Montblanc’s factory in Germany to see why the pen is still popular after 100 years.⁠
⁠
Producers: Jordan Kranse and Michelle Kim⁠
⁠
Watch more at the link in our bio.

Real-estate mogul Fernando De Leon opens up about the struggles of entrepreneurship.⁠
⁠
At the link in our bio, the billionaire founder of Leon Capital Group talks about investments in unglamorous businesses, career-defining bets during the financial crisis, and why he still sometimes balks at his dry-cleaning bill.⁠
⁠
Producer: Nikki Walker

When Larry Konecny was recruited to Red Lobster in November 2024, he quickly learned the horror stories about the chain’s past Endless Shrimp promotion.⁠
⁠
Kitchen workers were overwhelmed preparing mountains of shrimp. Other food orders, at times, would sit in windows too long and get cold, so staff would have to throw them away and remake them, while still cooking more shrimp.⁠
⁠
Rules around the promotion irritated customers and servers. Plates couldn’t be refilled until every shrimp was gone, and some servers were tasked with shrimp counting.⁠
⁠
“The underlying math was so broken in the old way. We spent a lot of time forcing our service team to be the Endless Shrimp police,” said Konecny, Red Lobster’s chief operating officer, in an interview.⁠
⁠
Red Lobster has run versions of its Endless Shrimp promotion for more than 20 years, and it was a hit with customers.⁠
⁠
It is also infamous for helping to drive the storied seafood chain into bankruptcy two years ago, when Red Lobster’s former owners ran the deal continuously and cratered the chain’s profits.⁠
⁠
After months of planning and internal debate, Red Lobster executives believe they have cracked the code on Endless Shrimp.⁠
⁠
Read more at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
Photo: Scott Brauer/Zuma Press