Stocks making the biggest moves midday: First Solar, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Robinhood and more
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Wire
29 minutes ago
- Business Wire
Sammons Financial Group Employees Direct $175,000 to Iowa Charities
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sammons ® Financial Group, Inc. announced the results of its 2025 Community Outreach Program. Sammons Financial Group employees selected 25 organizations to receive a total of $175,000 in financial support. Recipient charities were invited to the company's West Des Moines headquarters to further connect with employees about their organization and mission. The initiative, started in 2018, empowers employees to nominate their favorite local charities to be considered for a financial grant from Sammons Financial Group. The employees who choose to make nominations are given the opportunity to educate their coworkers on the mission of the organization and why they are passionate about it. Employees then vote for the organizations they would like the company to support financially. 'Our employees selected this year's recipients because of the excellent work they do in our community,' said Casey Decker, West Des Moines site leader and Chief Operating Officer at Sammons Financial Group. 'We're proud to support these organizations elevating the quality of life in Central Iowa.' The following organizations received funding from the 2025 Community Outreach Program: Aheinz57 American Cancer Society (Iowa Chapter) American Lung Association of Iowa American Parkinson Association Iowa Chapter Animal Rescue League of Iowa Building Brave Teams Camp Fire of Iowa Combat Vets Motorcycle Association Iowa Chapter 39-1 Des Moines Refugee Support Focuss Four Oaks Foster and Adoption Support Great Plains Pointer Rescue Hope Ministries Iowa Donor's Network Iowa Jobs for America's Graduates Kid Hope USA Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Iowa Mason's Lighthouse Peace Creek Animal Sanctuary and Rescue SEEDS Shriner's Children's Hospital in partnership with Blank Children's Hospital Sleep in Heavenly Peace The Supply Hive Urban Bicycle Food Ministry Waypoint Resources The Community Outreach Program is one part of Sammons Financial Group's longstanding commitment to its communities. In 2024, the company donated $4.7 million to local charities through its various charitable giving programs. West Des Moines is home to about 1,000 on-site and remote employees. A similar program is held each year in the Sioux Falls office, which has 600 employees. About Sammons ® Financial Group, Inc. Sammons Financial Group ® helps families and businesses by empowering futures and changing lives. Sammons Financial Group is employee owned with member companies that are among the most enduring and stable in the financial services industry. Our member companies include Midland National ® Life Insurance Company (including Sammons ® Corporate Markets); North American Company for Life and Health Insurance ®; Sammons Institutional Group ® (including Midland Retirement Distributors ® and Sammons Retirement Solutions ®) and Sammons Wealth Management Group. Committed to our communities, Sammons Financial Group is Midwest-based, with offices in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota.
USA Today
29 minutes ago
- USA Today
Former Ryder Cup captain to help lay out new golf course in Wisconsin
Wisconsin native and former Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker will serve as a player consultant on a new course to be built in the southern section of the state less than an hour from Milwaukee. Stricker will join forces with Jackson Kahn Design and architect Scott Hoffman to lay out what will be become the private Kettle Forge in Ashippun. Wisconsin already is one of the best golf states in the U.S., especially on the public-access side with destinations such as Whistling Straits and the other courses at Kohler, Sand Valley and Erin Hills. Kettle Forge, with an anticipated opening in 2027, is about eight miles west of Erin Hills, which hosted the 2015 U.S. Open as well as this year's U.S. Women's Open. Nebraska-based Landscapes Unlimited will build the course on 270 acres. Its sister company, Landscapes Golf Management, will operate the club as well as oversee the course grow-in and handle membership sales at Kettle Forge. 'This is pure, unadulterated golf without tennis and swimming,' Bill Kubly – chairman of Landscapes Unlimited, a principal of Kettle Forge and a Wisconsin native – said in a media release announcing the course. 'Based on our work at Lost Rail outside Omaha, Kettle Forge is likely to reach a full membership before the course opens.' The Kettle in the name refers to local glacial kettles (steep-sided hollows) and mounds in the landscape. Holes on the 7,600-yard course will traverse wetlands and feature wide fairways across dramatic elevation changes. The clubhouse and guest cottages will be located atop a big hill with 20-mile panoramic views. 'Kettle Forge will uniquely look like a natural preserve with grasses, wildflowers and wetlands,' Brett Craig – a Wisconsin resident, former president and COO of Transitions Optical and a principal of Kettle Forge – said in the media release. 'It promises to be a course that attracts repeat play – fair to members yet exhilaratingly difficult for those who desire challenge amid rugged elegance and timeless appeal.'
Chicago Tribune
29 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Bradshaw: Advice for high schoolers entering the AI era
Dear Freshman, You're starting high school with an advantage: you already know you're interested in math and computers. That focus can set you apart — but you need to understand the world you're stepping into. By the time you graduate, artificial intelligence will be doing much of the work people train years for today. Coding simple programs, solving standard math problems, even designing basic websites — AI can already do these things faster, cheaper, and often better than most humans. And it's improving. The newest version of Chat GPT-5 was released last Thursday. It's a doctorate-level expert on any subject. Anyone can create software by typing in simple English language prompts. It's called 'vibe coding.' That's not a reason to give up. It's a reason to aim higher. Your goal isn't just to learn skills — it's to learn how to think, adapt, and work with AI, so you're the one directing the tools, not the one being replaced by them. 1. Build your math foundation — because reasoning is still human territory. Math as a set of procedures is easy for AI. Math as a way of thinking is still a human edge. Algebra and geometry aren't just boxes to check—they're your training ground for logical reasoning, problem decomposition, and spotting errors. AI can solve a problem, but it often can't judge whether the problem makes sense. Aim for mastery, not speed. If you take calculus by senior year, great — but the bigger win is learning to frame problems, question assumptions, and verify solutions, especially when AI hands you an answer. Those skills translate into every field AI will touch — which is all of them. 2. Learn to code — but as a designer, not just a typist. Yes, AI can write code. In fact, it can write decent code with just a short prompt. That means your value isn't in typing every line — it's in knowing what to build, why it matters, and how to guide the AI to produce it. Python is still a great starting point, but think of it as learning to read and write in a new language so you can collaborate with AI fluently. The earlier you understand the structure of programs, the easier it will be to spot AI's mistakes, combine AI-generated components into something original, and add the creativity and judgment that machines still lack. 3. Join competitions and projects — but choose ones AI can't dominate. Math competitions and coding hackathons are still valuable but understand the landscape: AI can already solve many contest style problems. The human advantage now is in creative problem framing, strategy, and interpreting messy, incomplete data. Look for contests or projects that require innovation, interdisciplinary thinking, or human insight — like robotics design, ethical AI challenges, or data projects tied to real world communities. If your school doesn't have a club that takes this approach, start one. Colleges will notice a student who organizes an 'AI + Society' club more than another generic coding group. 4. Make summers your AI-era laboratory. Summer projects matter more than ever — but the projects that will stand out are those that combine AI with something unique to you. Building yet another calculator app won't impress anyone. Using AI to analyze local environmental data and present it to city planners? That's original. By the time you're applying to college, admissions officers will see thousands of AI-assisted projects. The ones that stand out will be those where the student clearly drove the vision, used AI as a partner, and produced something tied to a personal interest or local need. 5. Read widely — especially about how technology reshapes society. The technical history of people like Alan Turing and Grace Hopper is still inspiring. But now you should also study the thinkers wrestling with AI's impact — economists, ethicists, historians of technology. Understand not only how to build a tool, but how that tool changes jobs, politics, and even human relationships. Books like 'Life 3.0' by Max Tegmark or 'Prediction Machines' by Agrawal, Gans, and Goldfarb will give you a broader view of AI's role in the economy you're heading into. 6. Communication is no longer optional, it's survival. Ironically, as AI gets better at writing and speaking, human communication skills are becoming more valuable. In your high school years, practice turning complex, AI-assisted work into clear, persuasive presentations. Lead a meeting, explain your process, write a compelling project report. These skills will help you manage AIdriven teams later on. 7. Treat curiosity as your competitive advantage. AI is trained on the past. Your edge is seeing possibilities that aren't in its data yet. That's why you should follow your curiosity beyond the obvious — physics, economics, art, and philosophy. Many of the breakthroughs in AI itself come from unexpected intersections of disciplines. When something sparks your interest, chase it down — talk to experts, experiment, connect it back to your math and computer skills. The more unique the mix of your knowledge is, the harder you are to replace. No better place to ask these questions than as a student on the high school newspaper. 8. Find mentors who are already living in the AI-augmented world. Seek out people who use AI in their work today — engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs. Ask not just how they use the tools, but how those tools are changing the nature of their jobs. Learn what tasks have been automated, what new opportunities have opened up, and where the human role is shifting. Here's the truth: by the time you finish high school, AI will be far better at many of the skills schools still test you on. But the people who thrive won't be the ones competing with AI on speed or memory — they'll be the ones orchestrating it, combining its output with human insight, creativity, and values. Your mission over the next four years is to train yourself to think critically, work adaptively, and use AI as a force multiplier for your own ideas. That's not just how you protect your future, it's how you lead it.
