January 30, 2025

  x Starbucks and the union representing thousands of its employees said on Thursday that they were bringing in a mediator in a push to revive contract talks, which had stalled over an impasse on wage increases. In a joint statement, the two sides said that they had made progress over the last nine months, […]

  x This week in Newly Reviewed, Will Heinrich covers Raoul De Keyser’s elegance, Nicola Tyson’s camp sincerity, Susan Fortgang’s bright geometry and Dietmar Busse’s uncanny New York. Chelsea Raoul De Keyser Through March 1. David Zwirner, 519 West 19th Street and 525 West 19th Street, Manhattan; 212-517-8677, davidzwirner.com. The Belgian artist Raoul De Keyser

  x Spasmodic dysphonia is a neurological condition that causes certain muscles in the “voice box,” or larynx, to spasm, often making the voice sound raspy, strained or breathy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started developing symptoms of the condition in 1996, when he was making most of his income from speaking engagements. He said he

  x Loretta Ford, who co-founded the first academic program for nurse practitioners in 1965, then spent decades transforming the field of nursing into an area of serious clinical practice, education and research, died on Jan. 22 at her home in Wildwood, Fla. She was 104. Her daughter, Valerie Monrad, confirmed the death. Today there

  x Staffing at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was “not normal for the time of day and volume of traffic,” according to an internal preliminary Federal Aviation Administration safety report about the collision that was reviewed by The New York Times. The controller who was handling helicopters in the

  x During the hearing to consider his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke at length about issues in health and medicine, including the cause of chronic illnesses, Covid-19 and ultraprocessed foods. Here is a running list of key health claims, fact-checked by our reporters. Chronic

  x Wolfgang Zwiener, who immigrated to New York City from Germany in 1960, ferried thousands of hissing platters of porterhouse to the oak tables as a waiter at Peter Luger in Brooklyn and then founded his own empire of 35 steakhouses stretching from Park Avenue to the Philippines, died on Jan. 23 at his

  x The Chinese A.I. start-up DeepSeek upended the prevailing view that artificial intelligence systems require huge amounts of power and investment. But Blackstone, the private equity behemoth and a major global investor in data centers that run A.I. systems, remains optimistic. “We still think there’s a vital need for physical infrastructure, data centers and

  x Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, informed NPR and PBS this week that he had ordered an investigation into the practice of their member stations airing sponsorships. Mr. Carr told Katherine Maher, NPR’s chief executive, and Paula Kerger, PBS’s chief executive, about the investigation in a letter on Wednesday. Mr.

  x In the Syrian capital, Damascus, anticipation was running high on Wednesday. Ahmed al-Shara, who led the overthrow of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad, was expected to address the public for the first time since his rebel coalition seized power almost two months ago. But the speech never came. Instead, a series of critically important