Things To Do In SW Florida

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Like clockwork, Carla Johnson sends out letters every spring asking for donations to help pay for the annual Fourth of July fireworks show that draws tens of thousands of people to New Mexico’s largest lake.

Related Articles

• 
  Anne Wojcicki’s nonprofit gets court approval to buy 23andMe for $305 million

• 
  Weather clears as SpaceX launches European satellite

• 
  Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dismisses $95M overdraft case vs. Navy Federal Credit Union

• 
  AI ghosts: Researchers explore planning for death with new technology

• 
  Fed vs. Trump on tariffs impact will soon be put to test

And she has no reservations about doling out verbal reminders when she sees her patrons around town. There’s too much at stake to be shy about fundraising when donations collected by Friends of Elephant Butte Lake State Park are what make the tradition possible.

But even Johnson’s ardent efforts as the group’s fundraiser might not cut it next year if the U.S. and China remain locked in a trade war. read more

Imagine interacting with an AI video of a deceased friend that can talk, act and converse just like they did in life. Or, having access to a texting feature that can answer questions on behalf of a dead family member regarding their life experiences or last wishes.

The reality is that this type of artificial intelligence, or AI, isn’t far off. In some cases, it’s already here.

“It’s not a question of if generative ghosts are coming, it’s a question of when,” University of Colorado Boulder professor Jed Brubaker said. “And so it’s really important that we start thinking about what that’s going to look like now so that we can design them to be the most pro-social, most positive version possible, and we can be thoughtful and avoid unanticipated and negative outcomes that we want to make sure we avoid.”

AI ghosts, also known as generative ghosts, are AI agents designed to represent a dead person by acting on their behalf or acting as them.

CU Boulder graduate student Daniel Sullivan said it’s exciting to be on the forefront of something so new and strange. read more

By Amara Omeokwe, Bloomberg News

It’s a widely held belief among economists that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will boost inflation notably over the next few months. But muted price increases so far have called that assumption into question, emboldening the White House and opening up divisions at the Federal Reserve.

Related Articles

• 
  Mexican banks face cascading consequences following US sanctions

• 
  US won’t send some weapons pledged to Ukraine following a Pentagon review of military assistance

• 
  FBI says it plans to move headquarters to different location in Washington

• 
  What the Justice Department’s push to bring denaturalization cases means

• 
  Fueled by Trump, governor candidate Byron Donalds courts Florida voters

Anticipation of firmer inflation has kept the U.S. central bank from delivering interest-rate cuts this year as it waits to see what happens. The Trump administration is applying intense pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to bring down borrowing costs, and two Fed governors in recent days have publicly diverged from Powell by asserting a cut could be appropriate as soon as July. read more

Chuck Karam anticipates steady sales inside Bulldog Fireworks as the Fourth of July falls on a Friday.

“People are going to be able to celebrate the entire weekend,” owner Karam said..

Although rainy weather kept many customers away in the spring, business picked up when the calendar turned to summer, Karam said.

“Now with the sunshine, people are starting to move around,” he said.

Karam added the volume of sales around Independence Day varies significantly depending on the day of the holiday.

“We’re going into a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, which is going to have good traffic,” he said.

Specifically, profits are typically about 20% higher when the holiday is on a Friday or Saturday as opposed to a Tuesday or Wednesday, Karam said.

On average, fireworks sales contribute over $2 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to the American Pyrotechnics Association. Additionally, Americans set off 295.3 million pounds of fireworks last year — a nearly 20% increase over the 246.5 pounds ignited in 2023, per the association. read more