Latest news with #Choose
Black America Web
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Black America Web
King Combs Gets Real: Never Stop EP and Life After Loss
Source: Reach Media / Urban One King Combs stopped by 'Posted on the Corner' to celebrate his latest EP Never Stop , and what started as a routine interview quickly turned into something much deeper. The young artist, son of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, showed a vulnerability we rarely see from him. 'ATL what's good? It's King Combs. I'm here,' he announced with his signature energy, but as the conversation progressed, we witnessed a more introspective side of the 26-year-old rapper. TRENDING STORIES: Turk Opens Up About Joseph, Hot Boys Legacy, and Overcoming Adversity Kirko Bangz Drops Gems on Growth, Authenticity, and 'Choose Self' Working with Kanye West on Never Stop was clearly a transformative experience for King Combs. 'He's definitely a genius, creative genius. And being in the studio with him and seeing how he creates the beats from scratch… sometimes the song be like reversed. You don't even know what he about to cook up.' We care about your data. See our privacy policy. The collaboration pushed King Combs into new creative territories, something evident throughout the EP's sound. He emphasized that every track was 'cooked from scratch,' resulting in what he calls 'straight heat.' Perhaps the most powerful moment came when discussing the track 'Kim,' dedicated to his late mother. When asked to describe his mood using a song from the EP, he chose this deeply personal tribute: 'I might have to go with Kim, you know, shout out my mom forever.' King Combs revealed this project marked a departure from his usual approach. 'On this tape I got a little bit more vulnerable than my other songs… I kind of dug a little deeper than I usually would.' The Houston-influenced, chopped and screwed production on 'Kim' provided the perfect backdrop for his raw emotions. The EP's title isn't just catchy – it's his life philosophy. When asked if he ever wanted to quit, he was emphatic: 'Never a moment where I wanted to stop. But during some rough times, dark times… that's what stood out for me – Never Stop.' This mindset extends to his advice for young fans facing similar losses. 'Know that they're still with you. My mom is my biggest fan, so I know she's still rooting for me and helping me and guiding me.' Beyond the music, King Combs teased upcoming merch drops and a Never Stop tour. 'We definitely doing a Never Stop tour. Be ready. ATL, watch out.' Never Stop isn't just an EP; it's King Combs' declaration that vulnerability and strength can coexist. READ MORE STORIES: King Combs Gets Real: Never Stop EP and Life After Loss Trending On The Timeline: Offset Acknowledges Mistakes; Drake Heats Up Legal Feud with UMG Jermaine Dupri's Magic City Documentary Celebrates Atlanta Culture SEE ALSO
Axios
01-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
Chicago launches new tourism campaign to play up its "swagger"
Why it matters: The city's first major tourism campaign in three years aims to play up Chicago's "swagger," as Reynolds calls it, and push back against negative narratives about the city and state — especially those coming from the White House. Reality check: Like other major U.S. cities, Chicago is seeing fewer international travelers because of President Trump's travel bans and other federal policies, Reynolds tells Axios. Yes, but: " The other statistic is a lot of U.S. travelers are not traveling internationally as they had in the past several years, so there's an opportunity to try and recapture some of the domestic market to fill those gaps," Reynolds says. Zoom in: Choose Chicago created the slogan after speaking with more than 300 locals. It also consulted with focus groups of regular visitors and those who haven't been to Chicago in a while to learn what should be emphasized. The website features itineraries made by Chicagoans about food, neighborhoods and even a tour inspired by the Chicago-born Pope. Between the lines: Recent marketing campaigns have focused on bringing in leisure travelers, but Choose is also speaking to convention and event planners, international sports fans and locals. By the numbers: The agency's 2024 budget was about $33 million and tourism brought in $20 billion, according to Choose's annual report. Choose spent $640,000 over the last two years on creating "Never Done. Never Outdone," spokesperson Isaac Reichman said. The tourism arm gets city and state money, but also engages in private partnerships. In 2025, Choose has received $22 million from the state, $3.4 million from the city, $5.7 million from MPEA and $3.5 million from private sources. What they're saying: "This isn't just a marketing campaign. It's bigger than that. It's a rallying cry for everything today, our residents, our neighborhoods, the businesses, our workforce and, yes, our visitors," Reynolds said at the press conference. "We're the voice of our city, we're the narrative. We're the ones responsible for saying, and amplifying all things Chicago." Zoom out: The ad campaign will run in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
Daily Maverick
05-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Maverick
EU's Von der Leyen announces 500 mln euro package to lure top researchers to Europe
'Science is an investment – and we need to offer the right incentives. This is why I can announce that we will put forward a new 500 million euros package for 2025-2027 to make Europe a magnet for researchers,' she said at a speech in Paris alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. 'We are choosing to put research and innovation, science and technology, at the heart of our economy. We are choosing to be the continent where universities are pillars of our societies and our way of life,' she added. She also said she wanted EU-member states to invest 3% of gross domestic product in research and development by 2030. Last month, Macron and Von der Leyen said they would be looking to invite scientists and researchers from the world over to Europe, at a time when Trump's administration is threatening to cut federal funding for Harvard and other U.S. universities. In April, France also launched the 'Choose France for Science' platform, operated by the French National Research Agency (ANR), which enables universities, schools, and research organisations to apply for co-funding from the government to host researchers. ($1 = 0.8825 euros)
Axios
04-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Chicago names new tourism chief as international visits fall across the U.S.
Some international travelers are skipping trips to the U.S., including from Canada, where Chicago gets the biggest chunk of its international travelers. Driving the news: Chicago has a new tourism head, who will be tasked with making sure international and domestic visitors keep coming here. Choose Chicago announced Thursday it has selected Kristen Reynolds as the new CEO, replacing interim CEO Rich Gamble. Reynolds comes from Discover Long Island and has more than 25 years of experience in the tourism industry, according to a news release. Why it matters: Reynolds takes over as anti-American sentiment is high because of federal policies such as tariffs and anti-transgender executive orders. The big picture: More than 50 million people visited Chicago in 2023, 1.8 million were international, and overall they spent about $19.5 billion, according to Choose. Reynolds' goals include growing visitors to more than 61 million, with 1.8 million of those travelers coming from outside the U.S. Approximately 450,000 visitors came from Canada in 2023. Zoom out: Advance bookings for Canada-U.S. flights for April-September are down more than 70% compared with this time last year, per aviation data firm OAG, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports. By the numbers: The number of foreigners passing through customs at the 10 busiest U.S. airports, including O'Hare, fell by more than 20% year over year toward late March, based on a seven-day rolling average. A slight uptick followed, but the number was still down 18.4% as of March 28 versus the same time last year. Compare that to the number of U.S. citizens returning to the country, which was up nearly 14% by late March from a year earlier. What they're saying: "We are holding information sessions for partners and working closely with our teams on the ground in Canada and in key markets around the world to elevate the message that Chicago remains a welcoming, bucket-list destination for all global visitors," Choose chief marketing officer Lisa Nucci told Axios in a statement. Flashback: Chicago had historic hotel revenue last year, Choose said, likely due to large events like Taylor Swift concerts. The intrigue: Reynolds' salary is not public record as Choose is a private nonprofit, and a Choose spokesperson would not share this information.
Boston Globe
19-02-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Social Studies: Feeling meh about ChatGPT; when government agencies retaliate; Hollywood blockbusters and the stock market
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up This pattern also held in two other experiments. One compared the experience of using traditional Google search and the 'AI Overview' that Google now presents in its search results. The other found that people who read advice written by people who had consulted ChatGPT considered the advice less informative, less trustworthy, and indicative of less effort than advice written by people who had used traditional Google search. Advertisement Melumad, S. & Yun, J., 'Experimental Evidence of the Effects of Large Language Models Versus Web Search on Depth of Learning,' University of Pennsylvania (January 2025). The deep (contracting) state If a company loses out on a bid for a federal contract, it can file a protest with the Government Accountability Office — but that might lead to retaliation down the road, according to a new study. Advertisement Researchers used the Freedom of Information Act to get GAO data about bid protests filed between 2005 and 2016. The researchers wanted to assess whether successful protests (ones in which the government agency that wrongly denied a bid was forced to take corrective action) later affected the protesting companies. The researchers managed to isolate the effect by finding incidents in which multiple companies submitted protests over the same contract but at least one of them was hindered by a local power outage around the time of the submission deadline. Because these outages impaired the quality of submissions and reduced the likelihood of a successful protest, the researchers could observe a difference in what happened to the companies that ended up with a successful protest: They suffered for it. In the subsequent years, such companies received fewer and less valuable contracts and experienced more contract cancellations from the agency against which it had lodged the protest. And the odds of the company protesting another agency contract fell to near zero. Canayaz, M. et al., 'Choose Your Battles Wisely: The Consequences of Protesting Government Procurement Contracts,' Management Science (forthcoming). Raging bull If President Trump really wants the stock market to go up, he should make some calls to Hollywood executives. A study finds that from 2000 through 2019, blockbuster movie releases — defined as releases in more than 4,000 theaters — boosted the stock market the following week by an average of half a percentage point, even controlling for month of the year, holidays, and other stock-market and economic factors. Increased online searches using movie and theater-chain terms also predicted stock-market gains. The effect appears to be that such movies boost both people's happiness (as measured by Twitter sentiment) and investor optimism while reducing people's expectations of stock-market volatility and their risk aversion. Whether a movie is upbeat or is in a certain genre doesn't appear to matter. There were, on average, about seven blockbuster releases per year in the time frame studied. Advertisement Hong, S. & Wei, X., 'Blockbuster or Bust? Silver Screen Effect and Stock Returns,' Review of Finance (forthcoming). Empty calories Researchers found that people expect poor people to prioritize their basic physical needs over higher-level psychological needs, while rich people are expected to prioritize the latter and to thus enjoy certain products and experiences more. For example, simply telling people that a restaurant 'approaches food as art' leads them to expect that poor people will enjoy it less. But surveys of poor people about their preferences and experiences aren't consistent with these expectations. Olson, J. et al., 'When and Why Consumers (Erroneously) Believe Income Impacts the Enjoyment of Consumption Experiences,' Journal of Consumer Research (forthcoming).
