Elon Musk wrapped up his time with President Trump’s administration on Friday with a lengthy press conference during which both men heaped praise on one other in what seemed like an attempt to shut down any suggestions of friction between them.
Trump said that despite his status of special government employee ending Friday, Musk is “really not leaving.”
Hes going to be back and forth, I think, Trump told reporters in the ornately embellished Oval Office. He added that DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) was Musk’s “baby.”
Musk stood by Trump, sporting a bruise near his eye he said was from “horsing around” with his 5-year-old son. When asked about his future role in government, Musk deferred to the president.
“I expect to continue to provide advice whenever the president would like advice,” he said. “I expect to remain a friend and an advisor and certainly if there’s anything the president wants me to do, I’m at the president’s service.”
A 130-day experiment in government disruption
The conference marked the end of one of the most turbulent governmental periods in history. For the past 130 days, Musk took a spot as one of Trump’s most visible employees after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on his campaign.
In that role, he powered an efficiency drive that he said was meant to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget by October 1. During that process, the agency cut wide swaths of important government agencies, amassed a number of lawsuits on the legality of its actions, and is still far short of its budget-cutting goal.
At the same time, Musk’s public perception dropped for not only him but his handful of companies. Investors voiced concerns that Musk was spending too much time in Washington, D.C., rather than focusing on running his businesses. Tesla, for example, has struggled with lagging sales in Europe and China, as well as consumer protests at its showrooms.
“This ends a dark chapter for Musk and Tesla,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in an email. Tesla stock is set to end the month up more than 24%.
Following a divided Supreme Court ruling Friday, more than half a million people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela stand to have their legal immigration status in the U.S. revoked. The decision follows another recent ruling clearing the way for President Trumps no-holds-barred immigration crackdown and puts close to one million people at risk of imminent deportation, even as the case continues its way through the courts.
The Supreme Courts decision to grant a stay in the case will temporarily pause an immigration program known as CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela) that offered temporary legal entry into the U.S. for people fleeing countries stricken by war and instability. Previously, a federal judge ruled that the administration could not suspend the program across the board, a decision that was upheld by an appeals court last month. Following those rulings, the Trump administration sought an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court and on Friday it was successful.
A Biden-era immigration program
Earlier this month in a parallel case, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the White House to remove the legal status of 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants living within the country through a program granting them legal protections known as Temporary Protected Status.
The Biden administration introduced an expanded humanitarian parole program in 2023, building on a previous program specific to Venezuela that was implemented the year prior. Under the expanded process, up to 30,000 people per month from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba who have a sponsor in the U.S. and pass background checks could be granted work authorization and allowed to stay in the U.S. for two years.
The initiative aimed to expand and expedite legal pathways for orderly migration by offering an additional immigration path that discouraged illegal alternatives. The Biden administration attributed a drop in unlawful immigration from Venezuela to the success of the humanitarian parole program.
The new Supreme Court ruling is the latest emergency order responding to the Trump administrations barrage of executive actions seeking to dismantle existing immigration policies. The ruling did not provide an explanation for the decision, which reverses a lower courts previous decision to block the administrations effort to end the humanitarian parole program.
Moving faster than the courts
After taking office, President Trump moved immediately to dismantle Biden-era immigration policies, which he characterized as enabling a large-scale invasion of the country. In an executive order issued on January 20, Trump announced his intention to end the humanitarian parole program and signaling the coming battle over immigration in the courts.
One of my most important obligations is to protect the American people from the disastrous effects of unlawful mass migration and resettlement, Trump said in the order. In March, the Department of Homeland Security moved to execute those plans, revoking temporary legal protections for more than 500,000 people in the U.S.
Trump has boasted of plans to deport upwards of 15 million people, but that number exceeds most estimates of how many total unauthorized immigrants are even in the U.S. to begin with. While Trumps immigration numbers may not eclipse those of his former political rivals, his administrations methods and priorities vary sharply.�
A rhetorical shift with familiar numbers
Despite centering his public image around immigration policy, Trump actually deported fewer people during his first term than former President Obama did during either of his two consecutive terms. During his first four years, Trump deported roughly 1.5 million people half of the 2.9 billion from Obamas first term but has promised to execute the largest deportation program in American history upon taking office again. For comparison, former President Biden deported more people in 2024 than any president within a single year in the last decade.
While the Obama administration focused its efforts on recent arrivals in the U.S., Trump is targeting people who have been in the country for years along with large swaths of people who entered the U.S. legally during the Biden era. Trump also made headlines by announcing that the U.S. would detail 30,000 people in Guant�namos infamous military prison, but has backed away from the flashy enforcement plan over concerns around cost and logistics.
Leaning on a centuries-old law
To achieve its anti-immigration aims, the Trump administration has undertaken a rash and potentially illegal series of deportations, leaning on an obscure law known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which was previously invoked only three times across history.�
In March, an ICE official admitted to mistakenly deporting a man with protected legal status to El Salvador. The administration initially said that it could not bring the man, Abrego Garcia, back to the U.S., though Trump later said that he could return Garcia with a single phone call but chose not to.
Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor denounced the courts emergency decision in a dissent on Friday, accusing the administration of intending to inflict maximum predecision damage through its appeal.
The Court has plainly botched this assessment today, Jackson wrote in the dissent, arguing that the decision undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.
The class of 2025 have now graduated from Kai Cenats Streamer University.”
Last week, 120 studentshandpicked from more than a million applicantsattended the University of Akron for a four-day live-in boot camp. Of course, the whole thing was streamed by Cenat as well as attendees.�
Cenat, who has 17.3 million Twitch followers and ranked No. 24 on Forbess list of the top-earning creators in 2024, with estimated earnings of $8.5 million, first announced his plans in February, explaining how he wants to help streamers both big and small learn from his success.
Cenat introduced each of the inaugural class from behind his principals desk during an hour-long meet-and-greet video, available to watch on YouTube. Enrollment was free, with food and accommodations on the college campus covered. Each student was also given a T-Mobile phone to livestream the entire experience.�
They did not disappoint. Content was streamed across nearly 1,000 different Twitch channels with over 719,000 peak concurrent viewers and over 27 million total hours of watch time, per Twitch Tracker.
In addition to snippets from inside the classrooms, other viral clips show students skipping class, trashing dorm rooms, and fighting with water guns (which ended with one student being hospitalized).
Follower boosts for grads
Despite some bad behavior, many students reported major follower growth from attending the university.
Before and after streamer uni, one participant posted on X. According to screenshots, her average number of views rose from below 100 to nearing 10,000. I still think Im dreaming, she wrote.
While livestreaming their experiences, students were also enrolled in lessons taught by professors, aka popular influencers. The curriculum covered “Defense Against Hating” and “Internet Beef,” among other subjects. During the grand finale awards ceremony, rapper Drake made a surprise appearance with a virtual message for both students and faculty.
Year one is officially in the books. Congratulations, Drake said from behind a desk. To be able to organize this incredible academia event . . . is something that has never been done before. Show love to your dean, the one and only Kai Cenat.
Cenats success has apparently not gone unnoticed by other streaming giants. During a recent Twitch stream filmed from his office, Cenat hinted that major streaming services had all expressed an interest in bringing “Streamer University” to their platforms.
However, the 23-year-old emphasized the importance of maintaining creative autonomy.
“With an idea like this so original, you gotta keep it where it’s at,” he said. “I want y’all to learn something, bro. Y’all channels, and who you are as a person. This y’all idea, this is your guy’s stuff. Treat your platform as you would treat other platforms.
Elon Musk has a long history of overpromising and underdelivering. In the past decade, his sky-high predictions around everything from full self-driving Teslas to high-speed tunnels and manned missions to Mars have reliably failed to defy gravity. So, it should come as no surprise that Musks just-announced departure from the Trump administration finds his DOGE project having saved a mere $175 billion of the $2 trillion in government spending he set his sights on.
Musks exit from DOGE seems like its meant to signal another big promise, one loaded with similarly inflated expectations: a hard reset for Tesla.
The companys shares rose 1.3% on the Musk news Thursday morning, but theyre still down 25% from a December high. And those hoping public opinion on Tesla will swiftly revert all the way back to pre-2025 levels are bound to be just as disappointed as anyone who thinks an Optimus robot from Tesla will be mowing their lawn and babysitting their kids anytime soon.
From trillion-dollar promises to a $175 billion retreat
Whether he is actually leaving his position remains in dispute, but Musks tenure in Washington DC was turbulent by any measure. The, uh, Roman salute he made during Trumps inauguration was like a starter pistol kicking off a campaign of controversy and chaos. In short order, his DOGE team laid off thousands of government workers, sometimes indiscriminately, shuttered whole agencies, and decimated the amount of crucial medical aid the U.S. provides around the world. As he tormented remaining government workers and jeopardized all Americans personal data, Musk seemed to further enrich himself and thwart his competitors through government channels.��
Meanwhile, his outsize political influence, odd personal conduct, and tendency to make himself the main character of everything had the effect of taking a chainsaw to Teslas sales figures. Within a month of inauguration, the grassroots Tesla Takedown movement channeled public hostility toward Musk into his electric vehicle brand, and kept his rising global unpopularity in the headlines. When an April earnings call revealed Teslas profits had dropped a whopping 71% in the first quarter of 2025, it was obvious that something had to give. Now, it finally has.
Clashing with Trump over Medicaid
Though Musk had multiple public clashes with other high-ranking officials during his time as a special government employee, what appears to have expedited his exit is a conflict with Trumps agenda. Musk had always claimed he didnt plan to stay in the role all four years, but his exit announcement abruptly followed an interview he gave CBS earlier this week, during which he threw cold water on Trumps big tax bill. Republicans recently pushed the legislation through the House, despite its controversial proposed cuts to Medicaid, only for Musk to denounce it as a massive spending bill during that CBS interview. Less than a day later, amid a string of subtweets from top Trump advisor Stephen Miller, Musks White House off-boarding began.
If the former first buddy thinks the global car-buying community will simply forget the past four months ever happened, though, hes in for a rude awakening.
At some point after the White Houses bizarre Toyotathon for Tesla event and that disastrous earnings call in April, Musk seemed to stop spreading the conspiracy theory that paid protesters were fueling Tesla Takedown. Its an indication Musk either recognizes that the backlash is legitimate, or, more likely, that his defensive denials of its authenticity were doing him no favors. In any case, Tesla Takedown events are still on the books, including a #MuskMustFall Global Day of Celebration scheduled for his June 28 birthday. Reading between the lines, it seems like some of Tesla Takedowns proponents have moved on from the goal of pushing Musk out of politics to punishing him for what hedid while in politics. (Elon Musk is done at DOGE, but we’re just getting started, reads a headline on the dedicated website for that protest.)
Even if all the protesters around the world were to stop putting up anti-Musk stickers tomorrow, however, Tesla has other challenges ahead.
“Musk’s departure from DOGE will improve market sentiment, but I see no real change for Tesla,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein told Reuters on Thursday. “Tesla’s deliveries decline shows its current product lineup is at market saturation and facing strong competition in all three key markets of the U.S., China and Europe.”
Market confidence may rise, but Teslas problems persist
Tesla is going to have a harder time innovating its way out of these challenges as long as its yoked to Musk, who is inextricably associated with the companys recent flop, the Cybertruck. The kind of reputational damage Musk has sustained in 2025 is not the kind that is easily laundered or naturally fades. By applying his trollish social media persona to a government role that had a devastating impact on countless lives, he has lost something he can never recover: the ability to be received as a neutral tech CEO. No matter how much he curbs his aggressive political posting online, he will never be able to un-ring the DOGE bell for the rest of his career.
Musk may hope to revitalize his reputation in much the same way Trump has done since January 6, 2021, but he is ill-equipped for the task. Trumps supporters are singularly willing to forgive and forget. Some of them may occasionally get upset by, say, his memecoin, or his pardoning of violent January 6 offenders, but they always tend to boomerang back in droves. It makes sense that someone who has spent as much time working to elect Trump as Musk, and then working with him, would assume some of that invulnerability and public amnesia would rub off on him. But Trumps reputational resilience is neither contagious nor duplicable
Without it, Musk is about to find out the hard way how little overlap there is between the MAGA superfans he cavorts with on X and the worldwide electric car-buying community.
In between AI slop and viral dance trends, blacksmithing is quietly drawing audiences of millions on TikTok.
One of the platform’s most popular farriers, Samuel Wolfenden, has gained over a million followers on Instagram and 700,000 followers on TikTok since he posted his first video two years ago. I woke up the next day and had millions of millions of views; I had one hundred thousand followers, Wolfenden told the New York Times in a recent interview.
His oddly satisfying videos of hammering shoes on horse hooves have garnered Wolfenden a devoted following. Lucky horse, one user commented beneath one of his videos. The attention has since landed Wolfenden sponsorship deals, modeling gigs, and a publicist, according to the Times.�
Wolfendens not the only one cashing in on the demand. Farrier Sam Dracotts top three pinned videos on TikTok have a combined view count of over 630 million. Its so satisfying to watch, one user commented beneath one of his videos. Dracott, who has four million followers on YouTube and TikTok, now employs an entourage, which includes a videographer, a social media manager, and a publicist. Due to his online presence, his income has doubled.�
TikTok leans into trades
As well as pulling in millions of views, TikTok creators in the trades are also influencing career choices. This month, Skilled Careers Coalition (SCC) and SkillsUSA announced a partnership with TikTok to tap into the momentum, enlisting creators to produce exclusive content on trade careers like carpentry, construction, and HVAC contracting.�
This comes as 42% of Gen Z college grads now work in or are pursuing a blue-collar or skilled trade job, including 37% of those with a bachelors degree, according to a survey published this month by Resume Builder. The main motivators: flexibility and a preference for hands-on work over desk jobs.�
When it comes to horseshoeing, having no prior experience with horses is simply a minor detail for eager students, lead instructor at the Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School in Plymouth, Calif., Amanda Smith, told the Times.�
It makes me wonder: How did you think of this? Because you never put a halter on a horse, and now you are thinking of putting shoes on their feet? Smith said. I will have to admit, every time they come, my first thought is: Did you see one of those videos?
The FDA recalled a series of non-organic cucumbers grown by Bedner Growers, Inc. that are currently under investigation for a salmonella outbreak. And now, Target is included in the fallout.
At this point, the outbreak has affected 45 people in 18 states, and has almost doubled since three days ago. Target initially announced a recall of cucumbers and items containing the cucumbers on May 19, though Target specifically was mentioned in the FDA update on May 30.
Compared to other companies that have recalled just one cucumber product, like Walmart, Targets recall list contains over 40 different products purchased between May 7 and May 21. Two of them are regular cucumbers, two are chicken salad products, and a whopping 38 of the recalled products are a sushi variety.
The outbreak has resulted in 16 hospitalizations and zero deaths.
This recall comes in the wake of a particularly terrible year for Target, as the mega-corporation faces boycotts and tariffs set by the Trump Administration. Targets stock plunged 40% over the last year, and operating income was down 38% last year from its 2021 high.
Furthermore, this isnt the first cucumber recall Target customers have weathered. The FDA also announced another cucumber recall in November 2024 due to an investigation of a salmonella outbreak. These cucumbers were linked to a farm in Mexico, and were distributed by SunFed Produce, LLC, which initiated a voluntary recall. Target sent out automated warning calls to buyers in December, weeks after many customers had originally bought the cucumbers. The calls warned that consumers should immediately stop using the products, and to contact Target for next steps.
Joann fabrics, the beloved fabrics, arts, and crafts retailer, is finally shutting its doors for good after a long, slow goodbye.
While many of its 800 stores have already been shuttered since the company filed for bankruptcy (yet again) in January, the last 444 Joann stores (yes, you read that right) will finally shut their doors on Friday, May 30, according to Joann’s website.
What happened?
As Fast Company previously reported, the popular fabrics and crafts supplier announced earlier this year that it would close�all its U.S. locations after it filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, marking the second time Joann declared bankruptcy in less than�a year.�It also laid off all 19,000 workers, including more than 15,000 part-time store associates.
Like many brick-and-mortar retailers that have filed for bankruptcy, including Party City�and Forever 21, Joann faced declining sales and foot traffic since the COVID-19 pandemic, as more Americans shop online and curb spending due to higher prices, the soaring cost of living, inflation, and President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff wars.
Customers take to social media to lament the store’s demise
From�TikTok and Reddit to Instagram and Facebook, customers have been taking to social media, posting tearfully and nostalgically about time they spent in the store. Some even shared last haul videos of what they bought in the store’s final days.
On Reddit, nostalgic customers and workers posted multiple threads saying “goodbye” to individual stores. Some featured photos of the shuttered front door, like this one, which read, “RIP Joann 1943-2025: Died due to private equity and corporate greed,” lamenting the end of 80 years in business. (More on the private equity aspect below.)
Meanwhile, on TikTok, one woman with tears in her eyes posted, “Y’all I really can’t believe but I just really had a moment, Joann is fing closing . . . It’s so unfortunate.”
Joann’s final years
By the 1990s, Joann became the largest fabric and crafts retail superstore in the U.S., and was taken private in 2011�by Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm, for around $1.6 billion. Then, a decade later, it went public again as the COVID-19 pandemic fueled an uptick in crafting, Fast Company previously reported.
However, like for many brick-and-mortar retailers, profits began to decline after the pandemic, leaving the company with $616 million in reported debt obligations when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January.
Some critics and customers blame Joann’s demise on private equity, which has increasingly been at the helm of large-scale business restructurings and closings, and been accused of stripping companies for parts instead of bringing them back to profitability. However, many experts have said it’s not that simple, and Joann’s failure is based on a mix of factors that go into the current economics of U.S. retail conditions.
A look at the numbers shows Joann fabrics’ last reported revenue of $539.80 million for its third quarter of fiscal year 2024 ending October 28, 2023, which was a decrease of 4.09%. That brought revenue in the last twelve months up to that date to $2.16 billion, down 4.20% year-over-year. In the fiscal year ending January 28, 2023, Joann had an annual revenue of $2.22 billion. Its last reported market cap was $3.20 million.
The Walt Disney Company said yesterday that it is rolling out a new perks program for subscribers of its Disney Plus streaming service. The program features 11 benefits that Disney Plus users can take advantage of, so long as they remain a paying subscriber.
But it’s likely that Disney isnt offering these benefits out of the goodness of their little mouse heart. Instead, the perks are likely an effort to reduce one of the biggest threats that Disney Plus and all other streaming services face: “churn.” That’s the industry term for when subscribers cancel a service during a specific period.
What did Disney announce?
The Walt Disney Company launched the new perks program yesterday, which is now available to all Disney Plus subscribers in the United States. Disney says the new perks program will be rolling out to other geographic regions later this year.
Upon its launch, the program features 11 perks that subscribers can take advantage of. However, it remains to be seen how compelling the perks will be to the average subscriber, as they appear to be a mixed bag of random free trials, discounts, and contests.
For example, two of the 11 perks are for contests. One, if you win, will let you attend the Freakier Friday world premiere in August, while the other gives you a chance to win a free Disney cruise.
In other words, these perks wont be available to every Disney Plus subscribermerely the chance to win them will be.
The perks are also full of free trials or limited memberships, including a three-month free trial of Clear+, the airport security membership program; a two-month Super Duolingo free trial; and a six-month free DashPass membershipbut only if youve never been a DashPass subscriber before.
Random discounts are also available, including 20% off at adidas.com, and 15% off at Funko.com and Loungefly.com. Subscribers can also get lower rates at select Disney resorts.
And then there are digital perks, including free emoji, early access to the digital pin collectable experience, Disney Pinnacle; and free in-game tokens for the Monopoly Go! and Star Wars TIE Fighter games.
The perks are available to all Disney Plus subscribers in the United States, and there is no extra charge for accessing them.
An effort to reduce churn
Though Disney did not specifically state that its new “always-on” perks program was an effort to reduce churn, thats likely what it is designed for.
Churn is the industry term that describes subscribers who cancel their streaming subscriptions, often when theyve watched all the content they want to see, such as a specific movie or series. Instead of continuing to be an active subscriber to the service, they will cancel it to save money and then only resubscribe when the service has new content they want to watch.
Churn stops Disney and other streaming services from receiving monthly recurring revenue from individuals. Instead of subscribing for the whole year, a subscriber who churns may cancel the service in February and not resubscribe until September, when new content of interest to them becomes available.
This cycle of canceling and resubscribing is very familiar to streaming customers who juggle a lot of services and aim to keep their monthly entertainment costs down. In fact, you might say that easy cancellation was the original “perk” of the streaming revolutionoffering a contrast to the long-term contracts that were so prevalent during the traditional cable TV era.
Disney is apparently hoping that by adding always-on perks, it will reduce subscriber churn, as when the subscription stops, so do the additional perks. But that carrot-style approach will only work if the subscribers find value in the perks to begin with.
Not the first time Disney Plus has offered perks
Disney announced its new perks program as an always-on one. It went with this branding because this isnt the first time that Disney has offered perks to Disney Plus subscribers. In the past, it has offered time-limited perks, like reduced fares on select Disney Cruise products.
But given that most of the always-on perks are still limitedsuch as the free trials and contestsit’s hard to imagine that most Disney Plus subscribers who are churners will stick around just for the perks, unless they do a lot of shopping at Funko and Addidas and really want those 15% and 20% discounts.
However, it should be noted that Disney says new Perks will drop regularly. The company is also rolling out perks to Hulu subscribers starting in June, which include more contests and nondescript exclusive perks from LG, Microsoft, and Pure Green.
Streaming is more important than ever to Disney
Disney Plus is a significant focus for the Walt Disney Company, as the service is a potentially massive source of recurring income. Therefore, its no wonder that Disney wants to make it as appealing as possible to retain subscribers and reduce churn.�
Recently, signs point to Disney being aware of a possible slowdown in Disney Plus growth. When it reported results for its second-quarter fiscal 2025 in March, Disney said it had 126 million Disney Plus subscribers during the period, up by 1.4 million from the quarter before.
However, the company gave a lukewarm forecast for Disney Plus in the current Q3. Disney said it expects to see only a modest increase in Disney+ subscribers compared to the service’s Q2 fiscal 2025 numbers.
It’s become commonplace to message someone a photo, text them an address, and switch to a video chat all in the middle of a phone call.
But 911 systems, largely designed for the era of landlines, don’t typically allow for those luxuries, even when callers are trying to communicate address information from a noisy environment or share a photo of an ongoing emergency.
A startup called Prepared is working to change that, helping emergency call takers communicate more efficiently with people in situations where every second matters by enabling text, photo, and video communication and providing AI tools to transcribe and even translate conversations in real time.
Cofounder and CEO Michael Chime says he had initially focused on providing an app to help schools during emergencies, having grown up near to a school shooting. During the COVID pandemic, when schools were closed, he communicated with school districts about additional features they might want, and several mentioned difficulty sharing detailed data with 911 centers during an emergency.
The company then began to focus on technology allowing livestreaming video to 911 centers and has since expanded to add additional AI-powered features like transcription and live translation. Already, the technology is being used by more than 1,000 emergency call centersknown as public-safety access points, or PSAPsaround the country, including those serving Las Vegas, Nashville, and Baltimore. And the company just announced a new $80 million Series C funding round, led by General Catalyst with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and First Round Capital, bringing their total funding to $125 million.
“Our mission is to make sure every emergency gets the best possible response,” Chime says.
One challenge facing the agencies that handle emergency calls is that while call volume continues to grow in many locations, staffing often doesn’t rise to match it. Prepared’s technology is designed to help call takers handle calls faster and more accurately, getting correct data to dispatchers who in turn send firefighters, police, EMTs, or other responders to emergencies.
[Image: Courtesy of Prepared]
“It takes a tremendous amount of multitasking,” Chime says. “They have to listen, give thoughtful responses, make sure you feel good and safe, while also collecting all the key details.”
Prepared generates automated summaries, which can be visible to both call takers and dispatchers, automatically highlighting key information like addresses and descriptions of people or vehicles involved in an incident. And transcripts can also help call takers verify they heard everything correctlyeven on a noisy lineand let them quickly ensure that they’ve gathered all required information before ending the call.
Prepared’s technology is easy to integrate into existing workflows, letting call takers see the platform’s information alongside their existing software tools. And call centers can easily have their phone systems duplicate calls to Prepared’s system for processing without disturbing their existing routing configurations.
“I actually think it’s helping with our retention too,” says Kari Morrissey, director, emergency communications for Anoka County, Minnesota. “Because there’s a lot to learn as a new telecommunicator.”
The AI can also help prompt call takers to make sure to ask specific questions and otherwise follow specified protocols even in stressful situations. If call centers desire, the AI can also help in quality assurance reviews after the fact, highlighting correct protocol and any areas for improvement.
[Image: Courtesy of Prepared]
Prepared’s software can also transcribe emergency radio communications, helpful to dispatchers who are often required to monitor multiple radio channels at once.
And automatic translation can dramatically cut response times for callers speaking a language not known to call center workers. Instead of trying to identify the language and conference in an appropriate interpreter, call takers can see an automated translation of what they’re hearing and often type in a response, which will be translated back to be read aloud or texted to the caller. That also makes it easy for call takers to simply copy-and-paste typical questions to be translated, though Prepared is working on direct speech translation as well.
[Image: Courtesy of Prepared]
A call that could take 15 minutes, including connecting with an interpreter, can be processed in just three or four minutes with Prepared’s translation in place, says Anthony Mignogna, chief of communications and 911 coordinator for the Delaware County Department of Emergency Services in Pennsylvania.
“It really covers that hurdlethat gapthat we have with the legacy system,” e says.
The system also helps gather health data from callers’ phones if they have the opt-in Medical ID feature on their smartphones, which can automatically route health data to 911 call centers, enabled. And it cleanly highlights caller locations on a map for call takers to see, helping to ease a traditional hurdle of getting accurate location information from callers, Mignogna says.
“We get a lot of supplemental data just by somebody dialing 911, which you wouldn’t get on that traditional 911 phone call,” he says.
Prepared also enables emergency call centers to receive textshelpful in situations where people can’t speak for safety or medical reasonsand to send texts to callers, requesting more information or including links that let callers send photos or stream video of their surroundings to help emergency responders understand the situation.Prepared’s technology can even potentially handle some calls to nonemergency lines on its own, with the AI system collecting information and generating a transcript that can be quickly reviewed by human staff. One human can review multiple calls at once, jumping in if there’s an issue, and the AI can automatically reroute calls describing a potential emergency like chest pain to 911.
But Chime says the company has no plans to replace human call takers altogether, instead using AI to enhance their ability to handle emergency calls.
“Humans have limitations, like I haven’t met anybody who speaks 30 languages,” Chime says. “But the technology can empower them to do that.”
Two compressor stations along Transcos natural gas pipeline in North Carolina would emit more than 935,000 tons of planet-warming greenhouse gases each year, state records show. The expansion would also contaminate nearby communities with harmful air pollutants up to 350% over current levels.
Transco, a division of the Houston-based group Williams, plans to increase the horsepower at the existing compressor stations in Lexington, in Davidson County, and�in Mooresville,�in Iredell County. The stations would accommodate the companys Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SSEP), a pipeline expansion that traverses five states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.
A view of Station 155, one of Transcos several compressor stations along the Southeast Supply Enhancement Project pipeline route, in a residential neighborhood of Lexington, N.C. [Photo: Lisa Sorg/Inside Climate News]
Compressor stations use high pressure to force gas through a pipeline; they are located every 50 to 60 miles along a route. They routinely leak methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, and other pollutants through valves, flanges and other connectors. The gas is also sometimes intentionally released directly into the atmosphere, a practice called venting, and sometimes the gas is flared, or burned off, during maintenance, shutdowns and startups. Venting is worse for the climate, while flaring produces more harmful air pollution.
Each compressor station would be powered by natural gas, according to Transcos recent air permit applications to the N.C. Division of Air Quality. Division officials are reviewing the applications and will accept public comment after the evaluations are complete. Meanwhile, environmental advocates are asking local government officials to oppose Transcos entire natural gas expansion.
Transco did not respond to an email requesting comment on the air permit applications.
With increased horsepower comes increased pollution. At the Lexington station, concentrations of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, sulfur dioxide and hazardous air pollutants, such as cancer-causing formaldehyde, would increase over current levels, by between 175% and 350%, state records show.
Residents in Lexington and Mooresville are already burdened by decades of air pollution from existing Transco infrastructure and deserve to breathe clean air, said Juhi Modi, North Carolina field coordinator at Appalachian Voices. NCDEQ has the power to defend against Transcos proposal to emit more health-compromising pollution into our communities.
EPA data show Davidson County is already afflicted by six types of air pollutants regulated under National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
Davidson County is in compliance with the air quality standards, according to state officials, but they apply to large areas, like a county, and arent necessarily going to be reflective of the reality on the ground for the people who live around these compressor stations, said Deirdre Dlugoleski, a former associate attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, now with Defenders of Wildlife. Compliance with the NAAQS isnt enough to ensure that environmental justice communities close to these sites wont be harmed.
[Image: Inside Climate News]
Neighborhoods within a mile radius of the Lexington compressor station rank among the highest in the state in terms of exposure to very fine particulate matter (known as PM 2.5), ozone, and toxic releases to the air, according to the�EPAs EJ Screen. Nearly half of the 800 residents in the affected area are low-income.
The potential risks to public safety and the environment prompted the Midway Town Council, by a 4-1 vote, to formally oppose SSEP and the compressor station in Lexington, about 10 miles south of Midway.
Davidson County already has 176 miles of natural gas and liquid petroleum pipelines within its boundaries. Midway officials cited the negative impacts on air and water quality, residents health and property values, in their May 5 resolution, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.
Town officials asked FERC to consider a no-build option and, in the event the pipeline is expanded, to require the compressor stations to use the best available control technology to reduce emissions.
At the Mooresville station, Transcos air permit application shows the increases would range from 20% to 37% over current emissions levels, depending on the pollutant.
Like their Lexington counterparts, people living within a mile of the station are exposed to some of the highest levels of PM 2.5, ozone, toxic air releases and diesel pollution. These neighborhoods also flank Interstate 77, one of the main arteries into Charlotte.
[Image: Paul Horn/Inside Climate News]
Both stations would emit toxic air pollutants acrolein, benzene, and formaldehyde at high rates. In Lexington, benzene exceeds federal hourly emission rates by 100 times; in Mooresville, the figure is 61 times.�
Thee rates trigger a requirement for the company to conduct air dispersion modeling to measure contaminant levels, if they move off site and how far.
This proposed massive methane gas project would add more pollution and health risks to North Carolina communities already struggling with poor air quality, compared to the rest of the state, said Caroline Hansley, campaign organizing strategist at Sierra Club. NCDEQ must exercise its authority to protect North Carolinians and deny the permit for this unneeded, dirty, and dangerous project.
More Demand From Data Centers
In North Carolina, the SSEP includes the Eden Loop, 4.4 miles in Rockingham County, where the pipeline enters the state from Virginia. The Salem Loop, also part of SSEP, is longer, running roughly 24 miles through Guilford, Forsyth, and Davidson counties.�
The SSEP is one of three major pipeline projects in North Carolina. MVP Southgate is proposed for Rockingham County, where it would tie into the T-15, a pipeline which would run east to Duke Energys new natural gas plants in Person County.
All of these projects are estimated to begin operating within the next three to five years, although they often run behind schedule because of permitting issues, litigation or construction delays. There is still a vacancy on the FERC commission, which could also cause backlogs.
Transco officials say the project is necessary to accommodate increased energy demand from data centers. Some energy analysts, like Tyler Norris of Duke University, though, counter that load flexibility could preclude the need for more generation and transmission.
Environmental advocates argue that energy companies are financially incentivized to build pipelines. From 2018 to 2023, Transcos average return on equityearningswas 17%, according to the National Gas Supply Association.
Earlier this spring, Transco updated its project filings with FERC, which reflected minor adjustments to the proposed route. Maps show hundreds of homes and businesses, schools, day cares, even parks and recreational centers within the pipelines 1,114-foot high consequence area. Also known as the blast zone, these areas are where the force of an explosion could kill or injure people, as well as damage or destroy property.
The zone is based on the diameter of the pipelineSSEP is 42 inchesand its maximum allowable pressure. Within these areas, there are different classifications of risk, depending on population density and the number of vulnerable people who couldnt quickly evacuate.
Some homes lie as close as 20 feet from the center of the pipeline, according to Transcos filings with FERC. The pipeline skirts churches; the Oak Ridge Weekday School; a child care center in Guilford County; the VA Medical Center in Kernersville; and U.S. Highway 52, a major thoroughfare. It would burrow under three acres of Triad Park, a 6,000-acre recreational area that straddles Guilford and Forsyth counties.
Farther south in Davidson County, Wallburg Elementary School enrolls more than 720 students in pre-K through Grade 5. It is less than a quarter mile from the pipeline and within the blast zone, as is the Wallburg Recreational Center across the street.
In a recent presentation to Guilford County Commissioners, Transco officials emphasized that safety is the highest priority. The company continuously monitors its pipelines and frequently inspects them, officials said, and uses pressure and temperature sensors to warn of potential problems.
Previous studies of pipeline accidents in Kentucky, Virginia, and New Mexico have shown that blast zones extend farther than originally calculated, according to the Pipeline Safety Trust, a nonprofit based in Washington state.�
The trust raised safety concerns about the SSEP in its recent comments to FERC. The SSEP route already contains up to four other pipelines of different types, and FERC should calculate the blast to reflect those co-locations, wrote Erin Sutherland, the trusts policy and program director, and attorney. This is a serious environmental and public health danger that FERC should consider.
Even routine construction will affect communities along the route. Theres a huge gap that is going to fall on local municipalities, Hansley said. Peoples wells could be blasted and impacted in Oak Ridge and other places. The roads could see massive traffic increases from heavy loads, get damaged and then who would end up paying for it?
Lisa Sorg, Inside Climate News
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for its newsletter here.
