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Venture capitalist Jim Breyer made his first billion from Facebook two decades ago when it was far from a sure thing. Now, with his two adult sons as partners and a family tragedy behind him, he’s got another big win and ambitions to reinvent healthcare. It’s the middle of August, and venture capitalist Jim Breyer has travelled from his home in Austin, Texas to his gated compound in Pebble Beach, California to catch some of the Monterey Car Week events, including the “world’s most prestigious car show,” Concours d’Elegance. Breyer enjoys admiring the sleek cars, but isn’t an avid collector–a…

Gardening tools are evolving to incorporate technology — including artificial intelligence — to help us keep plants healthier, avoid unpleasant tasks and even grow crops indoors over winter. And we can use them without losing the stress-relieving, analog benefits that nature provides.Here are just a few examples:MowingIf you don’t enjoy mowing the lawn, you can buy a robot that will do it for you. Many self-guided mowers, like the Segway Navimow, Husqvarna Automower, the Sunseeker X7 and others, will handle the task on a schedule, run quietly, then return to a charging station without human intervention (beyond setup). And many…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government starts phasing out paper checks for most programs on Tuesday.The change, which was initiated through an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, will affect recipients of benefits including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and tax refunds.Trump’s Republican administration argues the shift of all payments and collections to electronic methods is designed to protect taxpayers from fraud and stolen checks, speed up processing and cut costs. But advocates fear that the shift will hurt marginalized Americans who lack access to digital services and may not even know this phase-out is coming.“A lot…

More online platforms are giving secondhand shopping a digital upgrade, rolling out features like livestream shopping and AI-powered search to make thrifting faster and more exciting. Although choosing secondhand over new is often the more sustainable option, experts say it’s not a license to overconsume. They warn that resale has its limits, since buying more than you need still fuels waste, and shopping online can add emissions from servers and shipping, thrifted or not. eBay brought secondhand fashion to the runway. Experts say if you want to shop sustainably, skip the hauls and choose pieces you’ll actually wear. Here’s how…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A new lawsuit against Brown University has renewed questions surrounding the secrecy afforded many law enforcement officers employed by private colleges and universities across the U.S. Unlike public campuses, private higher education institutions are largely exempt from disclosing arrest records, incident reports and other documents even as they employ officers who have the authority to detain students, as well as, in some cases, use force. This lack of transparency has long raised objections from watchdog groups and open government advocates who say such records are critical to holding law enforcement accountable. A Brown University police vehicle…

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A single mother who relied on federal food assistance lost her benefits in 2020 after Kentucky investigators concluded she’d committed fraud. The state alleged she had made multiple same-day purchases, tried to overdraw her account a few times, entered a few invalid PINs and sometimes made “whole-dollar” purchases that are unlikely during typical grocery runs.The woman from Salyersville in Appalachian Kentucky had an explanation: She worked at the store. She would sometimes buy lunch there and then get groceries after work. Her child would also occasionally use her card.An administrative hearing officer kicked her off the…

CHICAGO (AP) — College student Maya Roman has the handoff down to a science: a text message, a walk to a designated site, and a paper bag delivered with condoms and Plan B emergency contraception. At DePaul University, it’s the only way students can get a sliver of sexual health support, she said.DePaul, a Catholic school in Chicago, prohibits distribution of any kind of birth control on its campus.To get around that, a student group runs a covert contraceptive delivery network called “the womb service.” The group was once the university’s chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action, but it has…

PARIS (AP) — At Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello dialed up the drama Monday night at Paris Fashion Week with a set of gigantic white flowers that loomed like a cinematic backdrop. If the blooms hinted at delicacy, the clothes told another story: big, bold, and unafraid of excess.Floor-sweeping gowns rippled with frills, evoking 1970s archival pieces and petals unfurling at twilight. They weren’t garments so much as visual arguments — “beauty as plural,” the house notes declared — gowns that embodied Vaccarello’s belief that esthetics are a language.The designer’s penchant for oversize, a through-line of his tenure, reached new heights.…

MILAN (AP) — Silvia Venturini Fendi, who took full creative control of her family’s heritage fashion house after the departure of Kim Jones, is stepping down from that role and into a new one: honorary president.“What a wonderful journey it has been, not only creatively but also from a human perspective: first through my bond with Karl Lagerfeld, then with Kim Jones and last but not least with my fantastic team, which over the years has become part of my family,” Venturini Fendi said in a statement released by the company Monday.Jones left Fendi in October 2024. Venturini Fendi, 64,…

One of the hottest markets in the artificial intelligence industry is selling chatbots that write computer code.Some call it “vibe-coding” because it encourages an AI coding assistant to do the grunt work as human software developers work through big ideas. Others dislike that term. But there’s no question that these tools are transforming the job experience for many tech workers amid an intense rivalry between leading AI companies to make the best one. “The essence of it is you’re no longer in the nitty-gritty syntax,” said Cat Wu, project manager of Anthropic’s Claude Code. “You’re not looking at every single…