The most important stories for you to know today
The Women’s March Foundation recently opened a coffee shop, Caféina, in its West L.A. hub. It's serving drinks inspired by notable women of recent history and other social justice concepts.Recognizing trailblazers like Gloria Steinem, Delores Huerta and Billie Jean King is part of the Women’s March Foundation’s overall effort to lift up women who have contributed to history, like the group’s effort to name more streets after women of note.
Caféina opened as part of the organization's new meeting space in West L.A. because, organizers say, community is often built around gathering for a little coffee and tea.The drinks themselves are both named for and inspired by the taste of famous women. For example, the Madam Vice President, named for the first American woman to hold the office, is based on Kamala Harris's preference for iced coffee with foam.Fancy a Madame Vice President Iced Coffee? It's what's on the menu at Caféina, a coffee shop that's part of the Women’s March Foundation’s new West L.A. hub on Overland and Pico. Emiliana Guereca, founder of the Women’s March Foundation, which advocates for social justice, told LAist it was designed to be a space to gather. “We require energy in advocacy and Caféina, which is Spanish for caffeine, is just a natural part,” she said. “When we gather, we gather around coffee, we gather around tea. So now for us, this space also has a coffee shop.” In the spirit of its mission, Caféina is serving up tea and coffee drinks inspired by the names and personal habits of key women in recent history.Guereca said the spiced chai latte, named for American journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, is inspired by Steinem's own drinkThe creamy iced coffee is informed by Kamala Harris, the first American woman vice president. “We know that she was always with her iced coffee with foam,” said Guereca. Not every drink is named after a person. Some are dedicated to feminist concepts, like the Ally Brew. Guereca said right now, the Marching Matcha Latte is her favorite. “It's vibrant and so yummy but also it's not too sweet,” she said. “I'm ready to march with it.”Other drinks include a café de olla named for California labor leader Dolores Huerta, an espresso named for American tennis great Billy Jean King and the Equal Pay Cortado, which speaks for itself. Caféina is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, inside the Women’s March Westside Hub at 2456 Overland Ave., Los Angeles.has a modest proposal: FIFA should learn from other organizations that have faced this dilemma and triumphed. Among others, the team behindthe musical, the National Park system, and the NYC Marathon have developed clever ways to fairly distribute tickets, hiking permits, and marathon bibs despite overwhelming demand.World Cup tickets are wildly popular, and there are only so many seats and matches. Not everyone will be able to see a World Cup match. Any approach to ticket sales, no matter how well-designed, will leave some fans disappointed. But the incredible popularity of the tournament and people's passion for soccer and its stars mean FIFA could choose to model fairness and thoughtfulness, too.Last October, I had a decision to make. Did I want to spend around $775 on World Cup tickets? For the first time since 1994, the men's World Cup is being held in the U.S., as well as in Mexico and Canada. I had just hours to decide. At this point, I also began to question the economic logic of FIFA's approach to World Cup tickets. Was FIFA, as soccer's governing body and the guardian of the beautiful game, bungling the ticket sales? For millions of soccer fans, buying World Cup tickets has been an ordeal. My friends and I had signed up for updates from soccer's governing body, FIFA, and their emails about how to buy tickets felt a bit like receiving the fine print of an insurance policy in monthly digests. First there was a presale—but it was sponsored by Visa and only for people with Visa cards, and it was a lottery. Winning the lottery didn't get you a ticket, though. You won the chance to buy a ticket. If you missed the presale, more lotteries followed. Winning one earned you the right to buy tickets. Another involved submitting an application for certain types of matches and then having your credit card charged automatically if you won and if your application was accepted. You could just browse and buy tickets on the FIFA website, but only expensive"hospitality packages" that included VIP perks. Or you could buy"special digital assets" During that time, I talked to economists about when high prices mean that something has gone wrong vs when high prices are a smart method for allocating scarce resources. And about cases when prices alone fail to achieve fair or efficient outcomes. Based on these conversations, I suspect that me staying home is a good outcome for society. I could have afforded the World Cup tickets, but I'm a bandwagon fan. So the high price nudged me toward instead spending my time and money on something I'd enjoy more. That's good! But selling tickets to unique, uber-popular events like the World Cup is a profound economic challenge—it's one of those exceptions to the otherwise incredible ability of prices to coordinate economic activity. World Cup tickets are incredibly popular and in short supply, so they should be expensive. But World Cup tickets shouldn't just be for rich people, so they should be affordable. How do you square that circle?have a modest proposal: FIFA should learn from other organizations that have faced this dilemma and triumphed. Among others, the team behindthe musical, the National Park system, and the NYC Marathon have developed clever ways to fairly distribute tickets, hiking permits, and marathon bibs despite overwhelming demand.In some ways, this would be more"fair" and pro-fan. But low prices can backfire. Instead of tickets going to true fans, they'd get scooped up by resellers—or by bots and whoever happens to have enough schedule flexibility to buy tickets the second that sales start. Plus, if tickets were only $20, some people with only mild interest in soccer would buy tickets. You could end up with empty seats at a Brazil–Argentina match because they saw rain in the forecast and skipped the game. Alternatively, FIFA could sell every ticket for $20, but only to superfans. But how do you identify the superfans? Or the working-class octogenarian whose last wish is to see a World Cup game? Do you make everyone write a personal essay? Ask people to rate their obsession with soccer from 1 to 10—and hope they don't lie? Figuring out who most values World Cup tickets, or any scarce resource, is a hard problem, and high prices are often an elegant solution. Want World Cup tickets? Then prove how much you value them by paying the high ticket price. This system works perfectly if everyone has the same amount of money. And it works well for goods that can be mass produced, like smartphones, or that only some people need or want, like Pokemon cards or Aspirin. But we live in a world where mildly interested millionaires can pay more for World Cup tickets than working-class families that live for soccer. That's probably why FIFA announced in December that it would sell some additional tickets for just $60—a move likely prompted byWatching the Marathon is free, but more people want to run than the course can accommodate. So New York Road Runners, the nonprofit that organizes the Marathon, has to sell or allocate spots. In fact, NYRR faces a similar mismatch of supply and demand. In December, FIFA announced that demand for World Cup tickets—in terms of the number of people entering its drawings—. In 2025, meanwhile, NYRR reported that around 200,000 hopeful runners entered a drawing for ~6,000 spots. That's also a ratio of around 30 to 1! NYRR could simply charge high prices and maximize their profits. But it's a nonprofit that relies on the goodwill of New Yorkers—the race shuts down dozens of busy streets across all five boroughs of New York. The same is true of FIFA. It is, officially, a nonprofit—a FIFA spokesperson stressed to us that"the revenue FIFA generates from the World Cup is reinvested to fuel the growth of the game ." And FIFA relies on the goodwill of the host country or countries, which shoulder the cost of building soccer stadiums and endure extra noise and traffic. So what's a fair way to decide who should get to run the NYC Marathon? Fairness is subjective and debatable. But the genius of the NYC Marathon is that NYRR's system uses four main methods to allocate spots, each of which optimizes for a different form of fairness:As the marathon's popularity grew, the first tool NYRR reached for was a lottery, or random drawing. Aspiring marathoners mailed in a postcard with their name on it, and staff picked lucky winners who got to run 26.2 miles. Eventually an online form replaced the postcards. It's brute-force fairness: straightforward and perfectly egalitarian.If NYRR distributed every spot by luck of the draw, the Marathon would not be an elite athletic event. That's why NYRR directly invites elite runners and Olympic-level marathoners to participate, and nonprofessionals can earn a spot by running another marathon or half-marathon extremely fast. NYRR effectively allocates some spots through high prices. If you spend $5,000 or $10,000 a year for a charitable NYRR membership, rather than the standard $60, you're guaranteed a Marathon bib. Or international runners can buy marathon packages that include a bib, hotel stay, and flights. Another approach to fair allocation is to give marathon spots to people who value them highly, but measured in ways other than money. NYRR has developed a clever metric: People prove their enthusiasm by running nine of NYRR's qualifying local races and volunteering at another. They effectively pay in time and effort for a Marathon spot. This 9+1 program helps local New Yorkers qualify and filters out wealthy people who have minimal free time—or can spend their free time on expensive diversions—all while helping new runners train and stay motivated. Or runners can earn a spot by fundraising for pre-approved charities. The NYC Marathon offers a smattering of other ways to earn a spot. But most race bibs are allocated through these methods. Each method has ways they feel fair and unfair. Each method has flaws and leaves people out. Taken together, though, they give just about everyone a shot at running the Marathon. With this framework in mind, you can spot organizations around the world allocating extremely popular tickets and permits using a portfolio of fair methods. Yosemite National Park, which only allows 300 hikers per day up to the summit of Half Dome, distributes permits via one main lottery and smaller, daily lotteries . Many popular musicians offer discounted tickets to their followers during presales. The team behindgenerated plenty of revenue by selling expensive tickets, but also ran lotteries for $10 tickets and partnered with local public schools so students could see $10 matinees.Tickets to the World Cup are frustratingly expensive, and the system for buying FIFA's mostly expensive tickets is complicated and exasperating. But there's some method there. With the NYC Marathon's example in mind, we can see FIFA using allocation methods that map to the four kinds of fairness:FIFA's random drawings allow them to sell tickets for less than the market-clearing price, but give everyone an equal shot at buying tickets that cost less than ticket reseller prices.FIFA gives 16% of each match's tickets to the competing country's Member Associations. That way, the Canadian Soccer Association or Egyptian Football Association can come up with an application process or criteria to reward loyal fans with tickets. According to FIFA, 50% of the tickets sold by Member Associations are in the"most affordable range," although only 10% are those budget, $60 tickets.FIFA's"hospitality packages" that cost thousands of dollars and include VIP perks allow people to claim a ticket via high prices. And the far-from-inexpensive prices for lottery winners mean prices still play an allocation role in the random drawings.If I interpret FIFA's digital collectibles program generously, I can see an attempt to allow fans to get access to tickets through the effort of figuring out the rules and collecting the right cards. A less generous interpretation is that it was a cash grab. Last year,reported that FIFA made more than $10 million from the collectibles before ticket sales had even started, and collectors at best won the right to buy tickets at prices that had That said, FIFA could make its World Cup ticket sales much simpler. Complexity itself is a way to restrict access, and if not done with intention, it usually rewards those with more resources and time to navigate it. So why not have just one lottery? Or at least not have an extra lottery just for people with Visa cards?FIFA's random drawings introduce some fairness via luck, but since most winners still have to pay hundreds of dollars, it's far from the shining example of$10 lottery tickets. When we asked FIFA about $10 lottery tickets and fan criticism of FIFA's high prices, they pointed to their $60 tickets, and also said, tellingly,"The pricing model adopted for FIFA World Cup 2026 reflects the existing market practice for major entertainment and sporting events within our hosts on a daily basis." FIFA could also offer would-be attendees a real path to earning tickets through effort. FIFA's digital collectibles involve effort, but fans had to buy them just to pay again for a ticket. It was not a way to pay in time in exchange for discounted tickets. The genius of NYRR's 9+1 and fundraising programs is that marathoners pay for a spot with effort and time. But unlike standing in line or filling out tons of paperwork—which economists call"ordeals," because they filter people out by forcing them to waste their time—the marathoners do useful things: train for the big race or raise money for charity. For FIFA, a comparable approach could be partnering with host countries' schools and soccer clubs, especially in low-income neighborhoods, to offer discount tickets to students who never miss a practice. Or rewarding fans who contribute to the growth of the game by coaching youth soccer or supporting women's soccer clubs in countries where the women's game is underfunded. World Cup tickets are wildly popular, and there are only so many seats and matches. Not everyone will be able to see a World Cup match. Any approach to ticket sales, no matter how well-designed, will leave some fans disappointed. But the incredible popularity of the tournament and people's passion for soccer and its stars mean FIFA could choose to model fairness and thoughtfulness, too.. Each chapter asks questions like: What's the deal with credit card points? Or: Why does my bank seem so eager to give me free stuff? And the book is filled with illuminating stories, like the time the president of Argentina tried to use tariffs to boost manufacturing—and force BlackBerry to manufacture smartphones on a remote island near Antarctica.and get a free poster. Or join us in April at any of our live events across the country. We've got a free tote bag to go with event ticket purchases while supplies last. Find tickets and details atThe head of the National Counterterrorism Center has resigned in protest over the war with Iran. Joe Kent, an Army veteran who completed 11 combat deployments to the Mideast and elsewhere, said he"cannot in good conscience" support the war.Kent said that Israel pushed the U.S. into the conflict with a pressure campaign to"deceive" President Trump, and that Iran"posed no imminent threat to our nation." He shared his resignation letter in a social media post. Kent called on Trump to"reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for." He said Trump could"reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards."In response, Trump said Tuesday he"always thought" Kent was a nice guy but also"was weak on security, very weak on security." The senior vice president of the pro-Israel political nonprofit J Street, Ilan Goldenberg, said Kent's warnings of an Israeli conspiracy to deceive the U.S."plays on the worst antisemitic tropes."The head of the National Counterterrorism Center has resigned in protest over the war with Iran. Joe Kent, an Army veteran who completedHe said that Israel pushed the U.S. into the conflict with a pressure campaign to"deceive" President Trump, and that Iran"posed no imminent threat to our nation." Kent ran two unsuccessful congressional bids in Washington state as a Republican and Trump loyalist. He said in his resignation letter that he supported"the values and the foreign policy" that Trump campaigned on. "Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation," Kent wrote to Trump in the letter.Kent called on Trump to"reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for." He said Trump could"reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards." In response, Trump said Tuesday he"always thought" Kent was a nice guy but also"was weak on security, very weak on security." "I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy, but when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat every country," Trump said during an Oval Office event.as director of the National Counterterrorism Center in February 2025. The Senate confirmed him to the position in July 2025,, without Democratic support. Ahead of his confirmation, numerous reports detailed his links with extremist figures, including to people affiliated with the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, both far-right extremist groups., a neo-Nazi who has become influential within younger ranks of the GOP, about the possibility of assisting with his congressional campaign social media strategy. Kent later tried to distance himself from that call and said he had no further associations with him. The senior vice president of the pro-Israel political nonprofit J Street, Ilan Goldenberg, said Kent's warnings of an Israeli conspiracy to deceive the U.S." "Donald Trump is the President of the United States and he is the one ultimately responsible for sending American troops into harms way," Goldenberg wrote on X, noting his own opposition to the war.If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.Bottles of the energy drink Feel Free inside a display case at a smoke shop in Clovis on March 6, 2026.A drinkable product called Feel Free was once marketed to USC students as a wellness tonic. It contains an addictive, opioid-like ingredient called kratom leaf, now banned for sale by the California Department of Public Health but still available in many stores. A new bill in the Legislature would make the ban permanent in California.Feel Free is a psychoactive tonic drink that can be consumed like a shot of tequila or Nyquil. The small, two-ounce blue bottles are available in places from smoke shops to health food stores in California.Kratom leaves, which are plucked from coffee trees in Southeast Asia, are used and branded as alternatives to alcohol and to lessen symptoms of withdrawal from other substances like opioids. A small amount of kratom typically makes people feel alert and energetic. But high doses can produce opioid-like effects like nausea, itching, dry mouth, drowsiness, insomnia, or even psychosis, according to theCalifornia legislators are attempting to regulate products containing an addictive, opioid-like plant — one that, until recently, several universities including the University of Southern California marketed in a beverage as a wellness tonic and distributed at no cost. Feel Free is a psychoactive tonic drink that can be consumed like a shot of tequila or Nyquil. The small, two-ounce blue bottles are available in places from smoke shops to health food stores in California. It is made from plants, kava root and kratom leaf, the latter of which contains organic compounds called alkaloids that act like drugs in the human body. These alkaloids — 7-hydroxymitragynine and mitragynine — are not technically opioids, but they interact with the same brain receptors as opioids to produce pleasure and relieve pain.This law lays out rules for selling and manufacturing food, drugs, cosmetics and supplements, and grants Public Health the authority to seize those types of products if they are not federally or state approved. State lawmakers have moved to formally add kratom and the compound 7-OH to the Sherman Law, which they said would unlock additional resources for the health department’s crackdown and protect their ability to conduct that enforcement if kratom’s federal legality is unclear. One suchwill be heard by a state Senate committee later this year. The priority, according to the bill’s author, Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a Bakersfield Democrat and a physician, is to keep kratom out of the hands of children.Feel Free is earthy and aromatic, but customers don’t drink it for the taste, according to the drink’s manufacturer“It just made me feel a little bit floaty,” said a 2024 University of Texas at Austin alumnus who requested anonymity in this story due to her public job. Botanic Tonics sponsored her university from 2022 to 2025. “It gives everything like a soft feeling.” Shortly after its founding, Botanic Tonics partnered with universities through athletic department sponsorships that required marketing Feel Free as medicinal. This included Florida State University, University of Texas at Austin, and USC. Botanic Tonics did not respond to multiple inquiries from CalMatters on whether they sought a college student consumer base. Kratom leaves, which are plucked from coffee trees in Southeast Asia, are used and branded as alternatives to alcohol and to lessen symptoms of withdrawal from other substances like opioids. A small amount of kratom typically makes people feel alert and energetic. But high doses can produce opioid-like effects like nausea, itching, dry mouth, drowsiness, insomnia, or even psychosis, according to thewhich has not approved the plant as a lawful dietary supplement or drug. The 7-OH compound, whose effects can be reversed with Narcan, is less prevalent than mitragynine in kratom, but binds much more strongly to opioid receptors and can causeThousands of Reddit users on the subreddits r/Quittingfeelfree and r/Quittingkratom report physical and emotional effects, as well as severe withdrawal symptoms from the product itself. Botanic Tonicsthat people with histories of substance abuse should not drink Feel Free, adding it can be “habit-forming and harmful” if used improperly.said in January it will enforce the health department’s prohibition, ordering stores with liquor licenses to remove kratom from their shelves. Cities have enacted their ownand limitations, including Anaheim, Oceanside, Jurupa Valley, Newport Beach and San Diego, along with the counties of Los Angeles and Riverside. Botanic Tonics stillA screenshot from a Feel Free webpage that shows a store locator map with multiple pins marking locations around Sacramento where the product is available.Feel Free was founded in 2020 with headquarters in Santa Monica and in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Within a few years, the Texas student said, the product was part of the college atmosphere, especially at parties, where she would see students chug multiple servings at once, leaving waves of empty blue bottles rolling around the floor. The 2-ounce tonics, about $10 each, could be bought in any gas station, bodega or convenience store in Texas, and she saw many students drinking them on and off campus. “It would mess people up. People would use it to pregame,” she said. “Whenever people used it, they would shoot the entire thing.” “We were introduced to them as… a potential partner at the university,” the Texas student said. “So I trusted it. That’s the thing. I never thought twice about it.”The USC Trojans had a turbulent relationship with Botanic Tonics, according to Jose Eskenazi, former associate athletic director who was laid off due to budget cuts in August 2025 after 22 years on the job. He said that around the time of Feel Free’s founding, PlayFly Sports, USC’s sports marketing partner, approached him with a sponsorship contract. Eskenazi remembered the advertising materials he reviewed seemed innocuous, and that the product was described as “calming.” So he signed a three-year contract. “It was just a different category of business that we had never been involved in,” he said. “It all seemed legitimate.” The product was already being sold in the area at the time, at health food stores and USC Village, the nearby shopping mall where students hang out, he added. “In retrospect, I mean, could we have dug a little deeper? Maybe,” Eskenazi said. “But from what I recall, the research that was done, there was nothing negative that came up at the time.To fulfill their role in the partnership, the Trojans agreed to display digital rotating signage in sports stadiums, promote Feel Free on social media, and advertise the product on football game radio broadcasts. A promotional Facebook post from 2022 advertises a giveaway for two USC basketball game tickets alongside a bottle of Feel Free tonic. The product is described as the “Official tonic of USC Athletics.”Another requisite, Eskenazi said, was giving out free samples of the product. The Trojans’ corporate partners would set up booths at the annual Fan Fest, including Botanic Tonics, which gave out samples, he said. Things went south a few years into the partnership, Eskenazi said. USC officials would not comment on why the partnership ended, but Eskenazi said people complained to the university that though the drink was marketed to addicts in sobriety, people were using it to get high. In response, the college administration asked the athletic department to end the sponsorship, so the department terminated the contract after about 1.5 years, Eskenazi said. “We’ve never really had a situation like that before, where we cancelled the sponsorship based on some feedback that we had gotten,” Eskenazi said. “It wasn’t the right brand to align with our brand, based on the complaints that occurred.” David Wright, the vice president of USC Administration since 2019, deferred CalMatters inquiries about the sponsorship to the USC media relations director, who deferred the inquiries to Cody Worsham, USC athletics media relations director. Worsham told CalMatters that they reached out to “previous” USC and athletics leaders and received no response. CalMatters attempted to contact USC athletes from 2021 and 2022, who did not respond to questions about the Feel Free sponsorship. USC, a private university, is not beholden to California public record laws. The Florida and Texas universities, both public, released their sponsorship contracts with Botanic Tonics through public record requests. The contracts required the universities to make Feel Free their “official tonic,” and refuse any other partnerships with medicinal tonics “taken to give a feeling of vigor or well-being.”agreed to market Feel Free through social media campaigns, arena-level LED signage, intercom announcements and “on-court promotion.” Florida’s agreement required the university to distribute samples of the drink to students, including at games and at theheld beforehand, and the company gained the right to use the college’s name and logo in their advertising. Texas gave Botanic Tonics the right to distribute free samples at college games and events. The Texas contract expired in June 2025. Florida State terminated the contract in early 2024, the university’s deputy athletics director, Douglas Walker, told CalMatters, without stating why.legislators proposed bills to set higher standards for kratom product testing and further regulate its distribution, but the bills have not progressed.The Texas student worked at a health food store near campus while she attended college. The store sought to appeal to health-conscious people like university athletes and students, and specialized in products that were clean and natural. Her managers told her to market Feel Free to customers as an energizing alcohol alternative that could help with mental clarity and studying. Since she was paid on commission, the student said, she recommended the drink to hundreds of customers. The drink was natural, healthy and would offer five hours of pure energy, without cops ever having a reason to pull you over, she would say. “‘Makes you feel good. Go on for it. Just take it,’” she said. “Oh yeah, they sold. They sold fast.” She began to notice repeat customers.The student, her manager, and a couple of coworkers decided to try it themselves one day. She said the drink made her feel detached and she didn’t like it. But her coworker, in his 20s, took to it immediately. “The effect was quick,” she said. “He went from doing one maybe every other day to… buying three to four, four to five bottles at a time. And these are expensive little bottles.” Eventually, she said, the coworker developed a tolerance. Feel Free bottles contain two servings, but he would drink three bottles and say they had no effect. He turned to kratom supplement pills, which he would buy and consume in bulk. Witnessing the effect of the substance, she said, was like watching someone smoke too much weed. “It had altered his mood and it had altered his mental state and his behavior,” she said. In October 2025, a U.S. District Court judge in Northern California approved a settlement for over 40,000 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Botanic Tonics, which alleged the product was sold without disclosing the health risks of kratom. According to the plaintiffs’the company directly targeted college students because they were “vulnerable” and could recommend it to family and friends. The suit also alleged that Feel Free served free samples to students on the USC campus, including a study center, during finals week, telling students it would fix their stress. The Texas student said she searched the product online one day, read about the side effects, and immediately stopped recommending the product after that. “It was marketed as a healthy thing, it was like a study thing. I had no idea,” she said. “It’s frustrating whenever you take a substance and you put it in your body and you have no idea the side effects that it could cause.”to add kratom products to the Sherman Law, ban the sale of products containing kratom that is synthetic, inhalable or appealing to young people, and prohibit selling kratom to people under age 21, a restriction that Botanic Tonics adoptedSince it was estimated to cost over $50,000 annually to uphold, the Senate Appropriations Committee assigned the bill to thein February 2025 with similar kratom regulations that the Senate health committee will consider later this year. A spokesperson for Bains told CalMatters that while kratom and 7-OH are currently not legal to sell as food or drugs under California’s Sherman Law, the goal of her new law is to keep it that way. Bains said she is particularly concerned about the impact of kratom on young brains, adding that kratom marketing uses bright colors and mimics candy packaging in order to appeal to young people.at a committee hearing. “Exposure to substances with central nervous system effects during this critical period can interfere with proper development and increase the risk of substance use disorders later in life.”on online kratom beverage marketing that most kratom drinks are described as either all-natural or good for well-being — and that a person would be better off consuming them, researcher and assistant economics professor Dr. Teresa Perry said. In, Perry analyzed online posts about kratom and found that kratom drinkers often don’t know about the side effects, because product labels don’t mention them. “There’s a lot of people who were taking kratom without realizing what kratom was, and who became dependent on it, who then had to figure out how to quit it on their own,” Perry said. Phoebe Huss is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.If it continues business as usual, the U.S. Postal Service is on track to run out of cash for paying its workers and vendors in about a year and may have to stop deliveries, Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers this week.The warning is the latest development in longstanding money troubles at USPS — a unique federal government agency that relies on stamps and service fees, not tax dollars, to deliver mail and packages six days a week to every address in the country.almost every fiscal year with fewer people and businesses using first-class mail, its most profitable product, amid the rise of paperless billing and digital communication.If it continues business as usual, the U.S. Postal Service is on track to run out of cash for paying its workers and vendors in about a year and may have to stop deliveries, Postmaster General David Steiner told lawmakers this week. The warning is the latest development in longstanding money troubles at USPS — a unique federal government agency that relies on stamps and service fees, not tax dollars, to deliver mail and packages six days a week to every address in the country. "I am not sure that the American public is aware that the Postal Service is at a critical juncture. I know that I wasn't aware of the extent of it before I took on this role, but at our current run rate and if we continue to pay our required obligations in the same manner as we have done in recent years, then we will be out of cash in less than 12 months," Steiner, who joined USPSalmost every fiscal year with fewer people and businesses using first-class mail, its most profitable product, amid the rise of paperless billing and digital communication. "I like to say that in the time since peak 2006 mail volume, the Postal Service was thrown overboard and instead of tossing us a life jacket, we were thrown an anchor," Steiner said, referring to what USPS has seen as burdensome regulations and requirements.. And after finishing its busiest mailing and shipping season of the year in December, it recently posted its fourth quarterly loss in a row (Mail deliveries have not stopped, however, because USPS has been able to borrow money from the U.S. Treasury, while holding off on paying some pension obligations in recent years.And defaulting on more benefit obligations is not a long-term solution, Steiner told Congress, because at some point, USPS"will no longer be able to maintain operations in the short-term through such defaults, and those obligations that we cannot meet will have to include payments to our employees and vendors."Among the changes Steiner is calling for is increasing the Postal Service's debt limit, which has not changed since 1992, and allowing USPS to raise postage prices beyond the current limits. Reforming its retiree benefit obligations has been another focus of USPS officials.of the Postal Service's governors, Amber McReynolds, who chairs the board, said"policymakers must act urgently to address the structural and statutory cost pressures that continue to weigh heavily on our financial future.", which got rid of a requirement for USPS to prepay future retiree health benefits and canceled about $57 billion in past-due prefunding payments. That law resulted inFor its part, USPS is trying to boost revenue this year by starting to take bids from large and small businesses for special shipping rates for its nationwide"last-mile" delivery network. Some industry experts, however, say that could push Amazon and other big shippers to stop relying on the Postal Service and further destabilize the agency. But President Donald Trump is continuing a push to appoint his own picks to the agency's board of governors, whose politically appointed members are currently all nominees of former President Joe Biden. This month, Trump named
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Intel buckles to anti-feminist campaign by pulling ads from gaming siteGamerGate supporters try to silence calls for video game equality
Read more »
Reclaiming Phillis Wheatley (Peters): Imagination as a Feminist Founding ProjectMore Than A Magazine, A Movement
Read more »
St. Patrick’s Day Food and Drink Deals: Lucky Freebies, DiscountsChrissy Callahan is a writer for Today.com.
Read more »
Is It Safe to Drink Day-Old Water? Experts Weigh InExperts advise on the safety of drinking water left out overnight. While a day-old glass may be fine, leaving it longer can lead to bacterial growth and potential gastrointestinal issues. They recommend a 12-hour rule and caution against drinking from shared containers or those directly touched by the mouth.
Read more »
Handpicked by Locals: 5 places to eat, drink and explore in Ocean BeachThese recommendations by Cesarina Mezzoni, chef and owner of two Italian restaurants, include The 3rd Corner Wine Shop & Bistro and Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-op.
Read more »
The simple recovery drink that fueled athletes during the Winter GamesWhen the U.S. speedskating team packed their bags for the 2026 Winter Games, they made one special request: chocolate milk.
Read more »