The Great Gatsby, 1925
Maintaining relevance after 100 years in the public consciousness is no small feat, but thats exactly what the American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald has managed to do. First published by Charles Scribner’s Sons on April 10, 1925, it initially received mixed reviews and was a commercial failure. As this now-beloved novel celebrates its centennial, how did it finally find an audience and what are its most-enduring themes? Also, here’s to maybe catch a bit of the bash.
From failure to required reading
Fitzgerald died in 1940 from a heart attack thinking he had failed as a writer. What he didn’t know was that Gatsby had been chosen by the Council on Books in Wartime as one of the titles to be distributed to WW II soldiers waiting in army barracks to eventually be shipped overseasand it clearly had a massive trickle-down effect.
The soldiers identified with the character of Jay Gatsby and the themes of disillusionment and loss. This newfound popularity made literary critics take a second look. The book would find its way onto college syllabuses and later become required reading for high schools. It also inspired adaptations in various cultural mediums, such as musicals, movies, ballets, and more.
Enduring themes
The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a World War I veteran and Yale graduate, who moves from the Midwest to Long Island where he meets the enigmatic, flashy, “self-made” millionaire Jay Gatsby. Gatsby is famous for throwing extravagant parties at his Long Island mansion, embodying the Jazz Age and raucous Roaring Twenties, in hopes that his ex, Daisy Buchanan, will attend. The fact that she is already married to Tom Buchanan, a violent Yale graduate who comes from old money, doesnt stop Gatsbys obsessive pursuit. But with all that extravagance, illicit alcohol (this was the Prohibition, after all) and unrequited love, tensions are sure to boil over with deadly consequences.This short novel explores themes of class, the dark truth of the American Dream, corruption, and obsession. A hundred years later, the ’20s of a new century dont feel all that different from its predecessor, the 1920s.
Heres how book lovers can celebrate
In Gatsby celebrations (and real estate!), location is the thing. If you find yourself in or near Fitzgeralds birthplace of St. Paul, Minnesota, head over to the Minnesota History Center. On April 10, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time (CT), a live reading of the novel is scheduled, featuring a variety of readers. Also at the Center is an exhibit, Thats My Middle West: F. Scott Fitzgeralds St. Paul, which showcases artifacts from Fitzgeralds early life along with Gatsby memorabilia, and runs through May 31.
Princeton University, Fitzgeralds alma mater, is also celebrating Gatsby’s centennial and its favorite son throughout the month. A special exhibit at the Firestone Library called Living Forever: The Archive of The Great Gatsby opens April 10. A roundtable discussion titled Whats So Great About The Great Gatsby? will be held April 28.
New York City, the setting of much of Gatsby, couldnt let this 100th birthday go without a toast or two. The Empire State Building is turning green in commemoration, a nod to the glowing green light on Daisy’s dock that Gatsby gazes at from his lawn across the bay. Broadway is home to the 2023 Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of the novel. On April 10, the cast will have a special toast with audience members being gifted a special anniversary collector’s item souvenir. Also, the Midtown bar Oscar Wilde is throwing an all-day Gatsby-themed soirée, replicating the Roaring Twenties, with lots of music (DJ, 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and extravagant cocktails.
If you can’t make it to any of these locations. never fear, old sport. Throw your own Gatsby movie night. Jack Claytons 1974 offering starring Robert Redford in the title role is available to rent on Amazon with the MGM add-on. No add-ons needed to rent the 2013 Baz Luhrmann flick starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Pop some bottles and step into the Jazz Age. Maybe Fitzgerald will feel the long-sought admiration from his grave in Rockville, Maryland.
The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged after President Donald Trump said he authorized a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries that havent retaliated against the U.S.
The price of Bitcoin rose about 6% to nearly $82,000, while other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Solana jumped more than 10%. Overall, the $2 trillion-plus global crypto market posted a one-day increase in excess of 7%, according to CoinMarketCap.
Crypto traders, like traders of other financial assets, welcomed the news Wednesday that Trump has backtracked on tariffs for most countries just days after announcing an aggressive agenda that upended global financial markets. Trump hasnt relented on levies on goods imported from China; in the same post on Truth Social, he said hes increasing tariffs on China to 125%.
While the trade war with China is far from over, traders instead celebrated that Trump reduced reciprocal tariffs on other countries to 10% during the pause period after a brutal few days of whipsawed trading. Before announcing the pause, Trump posted on Truth Social urging Americans to be cool and that this is a great time to buy.
The price of cryptocurrencies has provided an interesting read on the pro-crypto Trump administration. While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin rallied in the weeks following his November 2024 election victory, that enthusiasm had already dissipated by mid-January when Trump returned to the White House.
Bitcoin bear market
In March, Bitcoin entered a bear market, defined as a decline of at least 20% from a high. Even with Wednesdays gains, the price of the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is still down more than 22% from an all-time high of more than $109,000 just hours ahead of Trumps second inauguration in January. Since then, global crypto markets have lost nearly $900 billion in value.
Meanwhile, the major U.S. stock indices have thus far not entered bear markets, though they were all in bear market territory in recent days. Trumps announcement Wednesday buoyed stock prices, as the S&P 500 jumped 9.5% and the Nasdaq 100 spiked 12%.
Still, while some sense of euphoria has returned to financial markets, some crypto experts caution that it could be some time before these assets recover their losses as the newest traders are being hit hardest by losses. Ki Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant, has predicted the Bitcoin bear market could last as long as six months, for example.
When Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk would be joining the government as an adviser and head of the quasi-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), there was skepticism about how long the relationship between the two would last. Experts predicted that the SpaceX founder wouldnt like playing second fiddle to the former Apprentice star.
As Trump himself put it in his 1987 business-advice book The Art of the Deal, One of the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably follow.
But its not success that appears to have driven the most serious wedge between the two businessmen. Its failure, and the catastrophic fallout from Trumps implementation of tariffs that has triggered a global trade wara decision that Trump has hit pause on, temporarily forestalling for 90 days reciprocal tariffs on all countries except China.
Its a trade war that Musk never wanted. The Washington Post reports that Musk lobbied Trump directly, though unsuccessfully, to not levy tariffs. And as those tariffs decimated U.S. stock markets, in a series of gobsmacking posts on X this week Musk has dubbed White House trade tsar Peter Navarro Peter Retarrdo, a moron, and dumber than a sack of bricks. While the name-calling has been limited to Navarro, the criticism is fundamentally pointed at Trumps most signature policy to date.
Musks brother, Kimbal, has quote tweeted Trump while adding negative comments about his tariff decisions. Mmm.. Celebrating causing China’s stock market to go down, by causing our own stock market to go down? Maybe this is why Trump brought back the R word. Its not clear whether he is referring to the risk of a recession, or echoing his brothers comments about Navarro when referring to the president.
Karoline Leavitt, Trumps press secretary, said on April 8 about the Navarro-Musk spat: These are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and tariffs. Boys will be boys and we will let their public sparring continue.
A clash of titanic egos
Not everyone is convinced thats all there is to it. It could be the first major public blowup between two titanic egos who were always going to struggle to coexist.
That Musk and Trump would clash on the issue isnt surprising. China was a healthy market for Musks electric vehicle company, Tesla, and Trumps 125% tariffs on goods from China will likely harm that business relationship. Musk has a big financial relationship with China, which is not happy with tariffs, says Steven Hassan, author of The Cult of Trump.
Navarros expertise is more rooted in academia and therefore takes a different approach to Musks, explains Steven Buckley, a lecturer in digital media sociology at City, University of London, who specializes in U.S. politics. Fundamentally I dont believe anyone in Trumps Cabinet actually has a good understanding of the impact of tariffs and how the wider global economy works. However, Musk actually experiences the direct impact of them on his businesses, and so regardless of whatever good trade policy would be, he knows that this isnt itfor him at least.
Trump, for his part, is not exactly jumping to tariff architect Navarros defense. Despite Trumps press secretary saying this spat is just boys being boys, its clear that Trump is fine to let these spats occur out in the open as they serve as a convenient distraction from any disagreement those in the administration may have with [him], Buckley adds. Its notable that Musk has held his tongue publicly about Trump, instead attacking individuals linked to the plan lower down the White House pecking order, while outriders like his brother criticize the presidents tariffs.
Attacks on Navarro can also be excused away by Trump as not targeting him or his decision-makingimportant, given the president can be stuck in his ways and refuses to back down on his decisions, even when presented with evidence that hes wrong, as shown by a vignette in Bob Woodwards recent book about first-term economic adviser Gary Cohn telling Trump Americans dont want to do manual labor. Navarro acts as a useful scapegoat so that when the damage these tariffs cause starts being felt by consumers Trump can blame him for his advice, Buckley says.
In the end, the tempestuous tweets were to be expected. Both Trump and Musk (who, in attacking Navarro, has attacked Trump and his policy by proxy) have built their reputations being abrasive and shooting from the hip on social media. The White House has sought to downplay the spat, releasing a statement about the brouhaha, saying: Whatever. We are the most transparent administration in history, expressing our disagreements in public.
Says Buckley: Its clear that Trump and those in his administration are immune to embarrassment and so these ugly public arguments only serve as a media story about political personalities at war with one another.
Basketball great LeBron James has become the first professional male athlete to have his likeness depicted in a Ken doll.
Mattel Inc. unveiled the LeBron Ken doll on Wednesday to kick off the toy manufacturer’s Kenbassador series. Last year, nine female athlete Barbies, including tennis star Venus Williams, were introduced.
As a young kid, I was fortunate to have role models who not only inspired me but also showed me whats possible through hard work and dedication,” James said. “Now, as an adult, I understand how vital it is for young people to have positive figures to look up to. Thats why partnering with Barbie to release the LeBron James Kenbassadors doll is such an honor. Its an opportunity to recognize the powerful impact of role models who instill confidence, inspire dreams, and show kids that they, too, can achieve greatness.
The LeBron doll wears sunglasses, headphones and a blue-and-white letterman’s jacket with LJ on the left breast, his number 23 on the right sleeve and Ohio and crown patches on the other. His first name is on the back with Just a kid from Akron underneath. His T-shirt says We Are Family, a nod to the LeBron James Family Foundation. His blue shoes, of course, are Nikes.
The doll costs $75 and goes on sale Monday.
In an Associated Press-produced video of James seeing the doll for the first time, the King expressed his approval, repeatedly calling the doll “dope, another word for cool.
While looking it over, he put an I Promise wristband on the doll’s wrist and adjusted the strap on its fanny pack.
OK, now we ready, James said. I mean, he might need to do a little lifting. Legs look a little skinny. Little fraily little fellow. Nah, that’s dope.
Mattel senior vice president Krista Berger noted that Ken is Barbie’s longtime best friend and supporter.
We are excited to bring fans a new presentation of Ken that celebrates LeBron as a role model, his icon status, lasting impact on culture, and dedication to setting a positive example for the next generation to reach their limitless potential, Berger said.
U.S. pediatricians and infectious disease experts say the fight against rising measles cases nationwide is being hampered by a lack of forceful advocacy for vaccination from government health officials and statements on unproven treatments that are confusing parents.
Since January, 505 people have been infected in Texas and more than 90 total in neighboring New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. Two children have died in Texas, including an 8-year-old girl last week, and an adult death in New Mexico is under investigation. The United States has more than 600 known cases and outbreaks in six states, according to HHS.
Dr. Sue Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said leaders need to speak with a consistent science- and fact-based message about measles vaccination, calling that the only way to handle an outbreak like this. “That is the number one message we’re trying to put in front of everyone.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of advocating against vaccines, has backed vaccination as the best way to prevent measles from spreading since becoming the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
But unlike previous health secretaries faced with containing outbreaks, his comments are not unequivocal. He has also made misleading claims about nutrition, vitamin A and other treatments, while exaggerating vaccine risks, even as U.S. vaccination rates are falling.
“Our work is becoming harder by the minute,” said Dr. Rana Alissa, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Florida chapter, a state where kindergarten vaccination rates last school year were 81%, far below the 95% needed to establish community protection.
An HHS spokesman in a statement disputed that there was a lack of strong federal messaging, saying Kennedy has repeatedly reinforced the important role of vaccines. The spokesman said HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been monitoring the situation and are collaborating with state and local health authorities, including by providing resources.
“Secretary Kennedy remains committed to ensuring Americans have accurate information on all available treatment options,” the statement said.
In an interview on CBS News on Wednesday, Kennedy repeated that it was his and the government’s position that people should get the measles vaccine.
On Sunday, however, he followed a post on X championing the vaccine with another praising alternative treatments, drawing fresh criticism from disease experts.
The CDC, the nation’s lead agency on infectious disease outbreaks which reports to Kennedy, has made just two official public statements and provided a weekly tally of cases on its website. HHS said the CDC has issued statements and updates as needed.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the CDC needs to conduct frequent press conferences and issue multiple press releases urging Americans to vaccinate their children.
In 2019, when a New York measles outbreak recorded 1,274 cases, CDC officials did just that and New York City made the vaccine mandatory, issuing summonses to families who failed to comply.
That year, Health Secretary Alex Azar forcefully endorsed the measles vaccine, calling it “among the most-studied medical products we have”, and launched a national immunization campaign.
Doctors are looking to fill in the communication void. AAP has produced new website content, several press releases, 20 social media posts and launched a misinformation-fighting initiative, aimed at clarifying the safety of vaccines and the role of Vitamin A, which Kennedy has touted.
There is no treatment for the highly contagious vaccine-preventable disease beyond those to address symptoms and complications, AAP’s Kressly said.
Vitamin A is only recommended when administered by a doctor in specific quantities as too much can cause liver damage. Some pediatricians in Texas have reported cases of liver toxicity among children, Kressly said.
In his Sunday X post, Kennedy promoted the inhaled steroid budesonide, which is used to treat asthma, and the antibiotic clarithromycin.
Antibiotics cannot treat a viral infection and using an inhaled steroid to treat measles-related inflammation is risky because it suppresses the immune system, which could make the infection “significantly worse,” said Dr. Tina Tan, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Northwestern University and president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
“Massive epidemic”
The Texas outbreak likely involves thousands of cases as official case counts only tally laboratory-confirmed cases, Offit said. “This is a massive measles epidemic.”
Measles typically causes one-to-three deaths per 1,000 cases. Three deaths linked with the Texas outbreak suggest there could be as many as 1,000 to 3,000 cases, epidemiologist Dr. Katelyn Jetelina wrote in her Substack blog on Monday.
Rising vaccine skepticism and misinformation have resulted in only 11 U.S. states with vaccination rates of 95% or above – the level needed to protect residents unable to receive the vaccine. The measles vaccine is 97% effective after two doses and 93% after one.
Dr. Michael Donnelly, who crafts messaging for pediatricians across Medstar Health’s 10 hospitals in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore areas, said Kennedy’s comments set this year apart from the concerns raised by parents in prior years.
On one side, you have people panicking when they don’t need to. And then on the other side, you have people who are pretty blase.”
Dr. Alisa Kachikis, who cares for women with high-risk pregnancies at UW Medicine in Seattle, noted that measles can cause miscarriage and birth defects. She recommends pregnant women who are unvaccinated get the shot right after delivery to protect their baby.
The vaccine can’t be given to children younger than six months and is usually not given until a child reaches 12 months.
Dr. Theresa Horton, a pediatrician in Owasso, Oklahoma, said she used to tell parents if they didn’t vaccinate their children, they were relying on others who were vaccinated to protect them.
With vaccination rates among Oklahoma kindergartners hovering around 88%, she now tells them: “We no longer have herd immunity.”
Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
Trump’s tariffs are currently on hold for all countries with the exception of China. If and when they do go into effect, however, your trip to the supermarket will likely get a whole lot pricier.
The tariffs promise sweeping new taxes on imports from nearly all countries; and if past research tells us anything, the cost of those tariffstaxes paid by businesses on goods from outside the countrywill likely be passed on almost entirely to American consumers.
Coupled with higher inflation and slower U.S. economic growth, these tariffs are expected to raise prices in the U.S., according to the Budget Lab at Yale.
Here’s a look at some of the food items likely to be hit the hardest.
What foods will get more expensive?
Food that isn’t grown locally will take the biggest hit. However, the price of coffee, seafood, fruit, cheese, nuts, candy bars, and other imported foods, are likely to increase the most, according to experts, as reported by CNN. That’s because the U.S. imports approximately 80% of its coffee and seafood, 59% of its fresh fruit, and 35% of its fresh vegetables, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
While these foods are likely to increase the most, the damage isn’t limited to these grocery store items. Phil Lempert, a food trends reporter, known as the Supermarket Guru, told NPR that “probably almost half of the products in a supermarketabout 40,000 productswill be affected by these tariffs, whether it’s the entire product or just an ingredient.”
Other groceries that consumers might want to keep an eye on include: alcohol, beef, and yes, chocolate, per NPR.
Coffee
The U.S. is the world’s second-leading coffee importer (both Arabica and Robusta varieties); and in 2023, about 80% of unroasted coffee imports came from Latin America (valued at $4.8 billion), principally from two countries: Brazil and Colombia, according to USDA.
Seafood
Chile, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam are the largest suppliers of seafood to this country, per the USDA. The U.S. imports about 80% of its seafood, with estimates as high as 85%, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition, Vietnam and Indonesia, could see some of the highest “reciprocal” tariffs, pushing prices even higher. (But with the new 90-day pause on tariffs, the short- and long-term effects are yet to be determined.)
Fruit
Costa Rica and Guatemala are the leading exporters of bananas to the U.S. According to the USDA, we also get pineapple, avocados, and mangoes from Costa Rica; and from Guatemala, melons, plantains, and papayas.
Lempert told NPR that because “these products don’t have a long shelf life,” the tariffs will not only cause higher prices but also availability issues.
Cheese
Some of our top cheese imports come from Europeparticularly, Italy, France, Spain, and the Netherlands, according to USDA, which were subject to 20% EU tariffs before the 90-day pause. Gouda, brie, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses are among the cheese that could increase in price, according to NPR.
Nuts
The World Bank reported the U.S. imported a majority of its nuts from Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Brazil and Thailand in 2023. Pecans, cashews, and macadamia nuts could see the greatest price increases due to the tariffs, NPR reported.
Additionally, America also exports nuts. The U.S. tree nut industry itself is now anticipating losses as they wait and see if Canada, China and Mexico will slap retaliatory tariffs in the future. The three are this country’s main trading partners for pistachios, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pecans and macadamia nuts.
Return-to-office mandates have been unpopular among all kinds of employees, whether they work for the private sector or federal government. Despite vocal discontent, companies have generally pressed on with these policiesoften tasking human resources and people teams with implementing and enforcing them.
It turns out many of the HR leaders who seemingly promote these policies have their misgivings, according to a report from people management platform Leapsome. In a survey of about 1,000 leaderswho oversee HR teams in the U.S. and a handful of European countriesmore than half said they were pressured by their companys CEO to enforce RTO policies that required workers to be in the office for a set number of days. Those pressures were even greater among American companies, with 63% of HR leaders in the U.S. reporting that their CEOs had pushed them to embrace return-to-office mandates.
And yet, an overwhelming majority of those leaders (81%) believe strict RTO policies are ineffective. In fact, 42% of them say flexibility is the most important element of enabling collaboration. That’s contrary to what many CEOs have preached as they brought employees back into the office. Most of the HR leaders surveyed also claim that allowing people to work where they want improves overall productivity.
Employee resistance to RTO
If anything, RTO policies can actually damage trust among workers, according to the report, and make it more difficult for employers to recruit new employees successfullysomething HR leaders already seem to be experiencing. Sixty percent of them say that employees are resisting RTO mandates.
Across private companies and federal agencies, stringent policies that mandate five days a week in the office have led employees to quit or look for new jobs. The Pew Research Center has found that nearly half of remote workers would leave their jobs if they could no longer work from home. Hundreds of Amazon workers who were surveyed in late 2024 said they were looking for other opportunities or planned to quit this year, in anticipation of the company’s new policy taking effect. And over the past two months, about 75,000 federal workers have accepted deferred resignation offers, partly driven by Trump eliminating remote work arrangements for all employees.
Challenges of RTO implementation
As some legal experts have pointed out, these RTO policies can also lead companies to inadvertently discriminate against certain employees, especially if mandates are enforced inconsistently; top performers who are considered more valuable may get more leeway when it comes to office attendance.
The push to get employees back in the office also has an outsize impact on the people who benefited most from flexible working arrangements, from disabled workers to caregivers. It seems many HR leaders are acutely aware of this issue, not to mention what the ripple effects might be on workplace culture. More than half of the leaders surveyed said RTO mandates are detrimental for disabled workers and that those policies were at odds with company efforts to promote inclusion.
The impact of the DEI backlash
As conservative politicians and right-wing activists threaten diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across the workforce, about a third of HR leaders are also concerned about broader changes that could undermine DEI work, including budget cuts.
The HR leaders who were surveyed argue that when workers see their employers cutting back on DEI programs, it can compromise performance and satisfaction and drive employees out of the company. (In a recent report from the research insights firm Gravity Research, many companies expressed concerns over how their employees would react to DEI cuts and that they felt pressured to make internal statements reaffirming their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.) Corporate leaders may have their reasons for reevaluating their DEI efforts and embracing RTO mandatesbut there can be real costs to making those changes.
On Wednesday, a week after imposing sweeping reciprocal tariffs, President Trump announced a 90-day pause for dozens of countries, and a raise to 125% on levies to China.
Last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement revealed a 10% global base tariff on all countries, including uninhabited territories, in addition to reciprocal tariffs for countries such as China, India, and Vietnam.
Stock markets across the globe plunged for several days, and Wall Street banks increased recession odds, including JPMorgan raising its estimate to a 60% chance.
Trump’s decision to increase levies on China comes after the second-largest economy responded with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods.
Citing that more than 75 countries are engaging in trade negotiations with the U.S., Trump announced via social media that in addition to the pause on tariffs, there will be a reduced reciprocal tariff of 10% during the pause period.
At the time of publishing, U.S. markets reacted positively, with Dow Jones, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 increasing by 5.5%, 7.08%, and 5.7% respectively.
Lego opened a $1 billion factory in Vietnam on Wednesday that it says will make toys without adding planet-warming gas to the atmosphere by relying entirely on clean energy.
The factory in the industrial area of Binh Duong, close to Ho Chi Minh City, is the first in Vietnam that aims to run entirely on clean energy. Lego says it will do that by early 2026.
It’s the Danish company’s sixth worldwide and its second in Asia. It will use high-tech equipment to produce colorful Lego bricks for Southeast Asias growing markets.
We just want to make sure that the planet that the children inherit when they grow up needs to be a planet that is still there. That is functional, Lego CEO Niels Christiansen told The Associated Press.
The factory is an important factor in Lego’s quest to stop adding greenhouse gases by 2050. It has a shorter-term target of reducing emissions by 37% by 2032. The privately held group makes its bricks out of oil-based plastic and says it has invested more than $1.2 billion in a search for more sustainable alternatives. But those efforts have not always been successful.
Fast-industrializing Vietnam also aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, so it needs more of its factories to use clean energy. The country hopes the plants 12,400 solar panels and energy storage system will help set a precedent for more sustainable manufacturing.
Locating the Lego factories in regions they supply has also helped insulate them from the tariffs ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump, Christiansen said. Right now, I am probably more observant of what does this mean to growth in the world? Do we see consumer sentiment changing in parts of the world or not, and what would that potentially mean? he said.
The blocks are made from differently colored plastic grains that are melted at high temperatures and then fed into metal molds. The highly-automated factory uses robots for making the bricks to a tenth of a hair’s width precision and then packaging them. It eventually will employ thousands of mostly skilled workers to operate these machines. Some of them have already begun work after being trained in in Lego’s factory in eastern China.
Manufacturing makes up a fifth of Vietnam’s GDP and consumes half the energy it uses. There are plans to phase out its coal power plants by 2040.
The Lego factory, which spans 62 soccer fields, sets the blueprint for making large, power-guzzling factories sustainable while remaining profitable, said Mimi Vu, a founder of the consultancy Raise Partners in Ho Chi Minh City. Sometimes it takes a big company, like Lego, to take those risks. To show that we can do it And we can be profitable, she said.
The factory will benefit from a new 2024 rule known as a direct power purchase agreement or DPPA, which allows big foreign companies to buy clean energy directly from solar and wind power producers and to meet their clean energy requirements.
The factory will be linked to an adjacent energy center where electricity can be stored in large batteries.
So even if the sun is only shining during the day, we store the energy and can use it all over. That will cover by far the majority of the consumption of the factory, added Christiansen,
The remaining 10%-20% of the factory’s energy needs will be met through agreements with other clean energy producers.
Lego and Vietnam, we are having the same aspirations. We both want to be green, to play our part in the climate. And I think this with the solar and battery and DPPA, it is showcasing that it can be done, Jesper Hassellund Mikkelsen, Senior Vice President Asia Operations at the LEGO Group told The AP.
The company will also open a distribution center in Vietnam’s southern Dong Nai province to help serve markets in Australia and other Asian countries where it sees an opportunity for growth.
The five buildings in the factory meet high energy efficiency standards. Lego also has planted 50,000 trees twice the number of the trees it cut to clear land for the factory. It’s the first Lego factory to replace single-use plastic bags with paper bags for packaging.
Lego’s founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, started the company as a wooden toy maker before patenting the iconic plastic bricks in 1958. It is still is seeking a way to make its plastic bricks more environmentally friendly.
Christiansen said Lego bricks last decades and could be reused, though the ultimately ambition is to make them out of more renewable materials. He said that a third of the materials used in Lego bricks made last year were from renewable and recycled sources. But that’s more expensive than plastic made out of fossil fuels.
Its not inexpensive at this point in time, but we believe if we … lean into that, we help create a supply chain for the type of plastic materials that are not based on fossil fuel, he said.
Aniruddha Ghosal, Associated Press
The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Jared Bossly was planting soybeans one spring night in 2023 on his 2,000-acre farm in South Dakota when he spotted a sheriffs vehicle parked at the corner of his property. He had a hunch it wasnt a social visit.
Im like, Well, I doubt hes just being a friendly neighbor, giving a guy a beer at eight oclock at night, said Bossly, 43.
He was right. The sheriffs deputy served him court papers. Summit Carbon Solutions, the company behind a massive proposed carbon pipeline, was suing Bossly to use his land for the project through eminent domain, which is the taking of private property with compensation to the owner.
He gives me a stack of papers about like this, Bossly said, stretching his hands several inches. They started the process of suing us to take our land.
Bossly is one of many landowners who were sued by Summit Carbon Solutions as it unleashed a barrage of eminent domain legal actions in South Dakota to obtain land for the nearly $9 billion pipeline spanning five Midwest states.
Lee Enterprises and The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of cases, revealing the great lengths the pipeline operator went to get the project built, only to be stymied in South Dakota by a groundswell of opposition from local farmers and landowners. The legal salvo generated so much outrage that South Dakotas governor signed a bill into law in early March that bans the use of eminent domain for building carbon dioxide pipelines, putting the future of the project in doubt.
The review found that Summit brought 232 lawsuits against landowners across South Dakota, North Dakota and Iowa including lawsuits seeking access to property for surveys. All 156 of the eminent domain actions were brought in South Dakota. Over the course of two days in late April 2023, the company filed 83 eminent domain lawsuits across the state.
Summit spokesperson Sabrina Zenor said the companys priority is voluntary agreements and that the vast majority of easements have been and continue to be secured voluntarily.
Condemnation is a legal tool available under the law, but its not our preferred approach, Zenor said. The numbers reflect thatweve reached agreements with thousands of landowners without litigation.
The pipeline would span 2,500 miles (4,023-kilometers) across the five states and connect to 57 ethanol plants. The carbon dioxide produced by these plants would be captured and shuttled through the pipeline and ultimately stored underground in North Dakota, reducing carbon emissions and allowing the ethanol producers to market their fuel as less carbon intensive. The project would also allow ethanol producers and Summit to tap into federal tax credits.
Summit dispatched representatives to state legislatures, county commissions and regulatory boards to make what seemed like an easy sell in a region where the corn and ethanol industry typically has broad support. But Summits legal actions and encounters with farmers provoked passionate opposition in South Dakota. Some said their first encounter with Summit was looking out the window and spotting surveyors on their land, and that company representatives were quick to threaten litigation.
Landowners interviewed by Lee and AP described a range of aggressive financial offers made by Summit during the negotiations. One farmer declined an initial $80,000 offer for a 36-acre easement, and that offer grew to $350,000, which he also refused. Another said he turned down an offer north of $40,000.
Bossly, like some other landowners, battled with Summit in court for months to keep the company from surveying his farm in Brown County, a rural farming stretch of northeastern South Dakota. As Bossly tells it, he found out that Summits surveyors had shown up on his property in May 2023 after his wife, home recovering from gallbladder surgery, called him claiming that there were strangers inside the house. (In court filings, Summits surveyors said they knocked several times before walking to a different building.) Bossly eventually turned his tractor around for the slow, 10-mile drive home from a neighbors farm where he had been planting alfalfa.
The company accused him of threatening to kill the surveyors over the phone that day. That landed him in court in front of a judge, who had already ordered landowners not to interfere with Summits surveys. But the audience in the courtroom gallery underscored the larger anti-pipeline sentiment brewing in South Dakota: It was packed with farmers rallying in Bosslys defense. Bossly denies that he made the death threat.
The backlash ultimately had major political consequences in the state. In last years primary election, a number of incumbent lawmakers were ousted by candidates opposed to the project.
It created an odd political dynamic in the region: Farmers in some of the reddest counties in America joining forces with environmentalists to block a pipeline that was designed to cater to a bedrock Republican constituency Midwest corn farmers. Bossly proudly hangs a Donald Trump-JD Vance campaign banner from the ceiling of his shop.
They did this all to themselves, Brian Jorde, an attorney representing landowners, said of Summit. Their legal plan was, we will force them into submission because the lawsuits will break them.’
Pipeline backed by the ethanol industry
Summits pipeline, first proposed in 2021, is viewed by the Midwest ethanol industry as a potential economic boon.
Nearly 40% of the nations corn crop is brewed into ethanol, which is blended into most gasoline sold in the U.S. With the rise of electric vehicles and less of the fuel additive powering cars, some Midwest farmers and the ethanol industry see passenger jet fuel as a potentially huge new market for ethanol. But under current rules, the process for turning ethanol into aviation fuel would need to emit less carbon dioxide to qualify for tax breaks intended to reduce greenhouse gases. Supporters see carbon capture projects such as Summits pipeline as a way to fight climate change and to help the ethanol industry.
Carbon capture involves separating carbon dioxide from the emissions of industrial facilities, such as ethanol plants, and pumping it underground where it is stored so it doesnt contribute to climate change.
Carbon capture isnt without critics. Some environmentalists question its effectiveness at large scale and say it allows the fossil fuels industry to continue unchanged.
Then theres the Midwest farmers who oppose the project, questioning whether the pipeline would be safe in the event of a rupture and saying Summit trampled over their property rights.
Taking landowners to court
Some South Dakota landowners described troubling moments with Summits representatives. LeRoy Braun, a 69-year-old fifth-generation farmer in Spink County, said that land acquisition people working for Summit threatened to sue him during a March 2023 visit at his property after he refused to sign an easement agreement.
Just as they were leaving, they said, Well, if you dont sign, were going to file eminent domain on you and youre going to get nothing compared to what were offering you, Braun said. He said his neighbors described similar interactions.
The last time Summits representatives stopped by his property in late April 2023, they indicated that they wanted to continue a dialogue, Braun said. But a few hours after they left a sheriffs deputy served him with condemnation court papers.
I just thought, Well, these are the most arrogant, bullying type of people Ive ever dealt with, Braun said.
In response to Brauns claim that he was threatened with litigation, Summit spokesperson Zenor said that they dont condone threats or coercion and the company cant confirm the exact wording of the interaction. She added that the timing of the eminent domain lawsuit was not a retaliatory act.
Other landowners alleged that Summit had private armed security guards present during surveys. Craig Schaunaman, a farmer in Brown County and a former South Dakota legislator, said that during Summits survey of his land in May 2023, one of two on-site security guards was carrying a holstered pistol. I thought it was uncalled for, Schaunaman said.
Zenor said that Schaunamans account is not consistent with our policies or our understanding of what occurred. She added that current policy does not include” armed security.
Such views arent uniform among South Dakota farmers. Walt Bones, a fourth-generation farmer in Minnehaha County and a former state secretary of agriculture, strongly supports the project for its potential economic benefits and said that his interactions with Summits representatives, who were interested in his land, were always respectful.
South Dakotans who oppose the project were dug-in from the start and spread lies and overblown safety concerns about the pipeline, Bones said.
When Summit started filing the condemnation lawsuits in April 2023, many South Dakota landowners, such as Bossly, werent surprised. What Bossly didnt expect was how his run-ins with Summit would galvanize opposition.
After the threat allegations were detailed in court documents, Bosslys name was everywhere on television news and across social media. The company wanted a judge to hold him in contempt. During a May 2023 hearing, the judge declined to do so, but said Bossly must not come within 100 yards of Summits surveyors, according to a transcript of the hearing.
So Bossly largely stayed confined to the area of his workshop after Summits surveyors hauled large machinery to his South Dakota farmstead on June 20, 2023. Sheriffs deputies were also present. The surveyors spent hours working on his farm. Photos and videos of the incident were posted online and circulated on social media.
That day really kicked our opposition movement into gear because thats when we really got support from all over the state, said Ed Fischbach, a farmer in Spink County who helped organize the projects opponents. Even people that this pipeline doesnt even affect were so appalled by what this company was doing that day.
As for Bossly, life was different. A farmer who grows alfalfa, rye and other crops, Bossly became a standard bearer for the opposition to Summits pipeline. He was doing media interviews and speaking at public meetings about the project. Bossly got a standing ovation after speaking at a conference of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association a group whose website states that a sheriffs law enforcement power in a county is greater than that of any other official in Las Vegas in 2024.
I didnt even know what Zoom was, Bossly said. And now, like, thats two or three nights a week where Im on Zoom with different people across the state or the nation.
Summit kept filing eminent domain lawsuits in South Dakota until late August 2023. In seven cases, landowners signed easements after getting sued in condemnation, court records show. But after the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission rejected Summits permit application in September 2023, Summit paused or dismissed the legal actions, Zenor said.
Political fallout
By the end of 2024, Summit had secured approval for routes in Iowa and North Dakota, a leg in Minnesota and the underground storage. In Iowa, the commissioners who approved Summits route were appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican with strong backing from the states farming organizations. Although many Iowa landowners opposed the project, powerful groups such as the Iowa Corn Growers Association supported the proposal because of its promise to open new markets for corn-based ethanol. Summit was founded by Bruce Rastetter, a major Iowa donor to Republican political candidates.
But Summit faced hurdles in South Dakota, where it still lacked a permit and the state Supreme Court ruled in August that the company had not yet proved that it qualified for eminent domain power. In the November election, South Dakota voters rejected regulations that opponents said would deny local control over such projects and consolidate authority with state regulators. Supporters framed the regulations as a landowner bill of rights.
And the composition of the South Dakota Legislature had changed significantly after the 2024 primary, when voters elected new lawmakers who opposed Summits pipeline and its use of eminent domain, said Jim Mehlhaff, the Republican majority leader in the South Dakota Senate and a supporter of the pipeline. Lawmakers also were pressured by Summits vocal opponents to vote for the new eminent domain law, he said.
Mehlhaff said that the new law sends a signal that South Dakota is not business friendly.
The legislature, you know, at the behest of what I would call the shrill minority, will cut your legs out, he added.
The federal governments approach to climate change also has changed dramatically since the pipeline was proposed. While former Democratic President Joe Biden increased tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to encourage carbon capture to slow climate change, Republican President Donald Trump has emphasized the need for more oil and gas drilling and coal mining.
Its unclear how Summit will proceed in South Dakota. The company asked state regulators to suspend its permit application timeline. Zenor said the company is focused on advancing the project in states that support investment and innovation but added that Summit continues to believe there is a path forward” in South Dakota.
But even some supporters of Summit say the company didnt do itself any favors in South Dakota.
Did they get off to a bad start? Did they soil their sheets? No question, absolutely, Bones said. I mean, I wouldnt argue that a bit.
This story is a collaboration between Lee Enterprises and The Associated Press.
Eric Ferkenhoff/Lee Enterprises and Josh Kelety/AP
AP writer Scott McFetridge contributed to this report.
