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Thanksgiving traditions typically include turkey, sides, pie and, for many households, worrying about how much food will cost.

This year, retailers are offering deals that promise to feed a crowd on a budget.

“A traditional holiday meal for 10 can come in at under $75, with a full spread of popular dishes totaling $73.09,” financial services company Empower wrote. People said they expect to spend more than that estimate: $137 in all for a Thanksgiving meal.

To keep costs down, the people surveyed said they plan to cook fewer desserts, cut portion sizes, skip meat or choose a meat that costs less than a whole turkey, use fewer pricey herbs and spices, use more affordable store brands — or skip Thanksgiving dining all together.

Regarding opting out, almost 57% of people surveyed by Empower worried Thanksgiving will be too pricey to cook this year, but a greater percentage, 73%, said Thanksgiving dinner is “still worth the cost despite higher prices.” The payoff: time with family and memories, people said. read more

By BARBARA ORTUTAY and MATT O’BRIEN, AP Technology Writers

The tech industry is moving fast and breaking things again — and this time it is humanity’s shared reality and control of our likeness before and after death — thanks to artificial intelligence image-generation platforms like OpenAI’s Sora 2.

The typical Sora video, made on OpenAI’s app and spread onto TikTok, Instagram, X and Facebook, is designed to be amusing enough for you to click and share. It could be Queen Elizabeth II rapping or something more ordinary and believable. One popular Sora genre is fake doorbell camera footage capturing something slightly uncanny — say, a boa constrictor on the porch or an alligator approaching an unfazed child — and ends with a mild shock, like a grandma shouting as she beats the animal with a broom.

But a growing chorus of advocacy groups, academics and experts are raising alarms about the dangers of letting people create AI videos on just about anything they can type into a prompt, leading to the proliferation of nonconsensual images and realistic deepfakes in a sea of less harmful “AI slop.” OpenAI has cracked down on AI creations of public figures — among them, Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mister Rogers — doing outlandish things, but only after an outcry from family estates and an actors’ union. read more

By GLENN GAMBOA, AP Business Writer

NASHVILLE (AP) — Richard Casper shakes his head as he touches one of the boarded-up windows in the once-abandoned church he plans to transform into a new 24-hour arts center for veterans.

The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient said he was an arm’s length away from military officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at Marine Barracks Washington when he learned the former church his nonprofit CreatiVets just purchased had been vandalized.

The physical damage to the building and its stained glass windows saddened Casper. But what worried him more was that the church had remained empty since 2017 without damage. That vandalism came just weeks after CreatiVets bought it, suggesting that maybe he and the veterans in his program were not welcome.

“I almost just left,” Casper said. “It put me in a weird headspace.”

However, Casper, 40, a CNN Heroes winner and Elevate Prize winner, needed more support for the center — “a place to go when the PTSD hits.” Like so many veterans, he said his PTSD, caused by seeing a close friend die on patrol in Iraq, would generally come in the middle of the night, when the only places open are bars and other spaces that can be ”destructive.” read more

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Most U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday and carried the market back to where it was before last week’s swoon.

The S&P 500 added 0.2% after erasing a loss taken during the morning. It’s been bouncing around lately, coming off Monday’s vigorous rebound following its first losing week in four.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 559 points, or 1.2%, to a record, surpassing its prior all-time high set two weeks ago. The Nasdaq composite lagged the market, though, as Nvidia got back to falling amid continued concerns that stocks caught up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy may have become too expensive. The Nasdaq dipped 0.3%

Helping to lead the market was Paramount Skydance, which jumped even though the entertainment giant reported revenue and profit for the latest quarter that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations.

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By Lauren Schwahn, NerdWallet

Work takes up a big chunk of our lives. In an ideal world, all of the time and energy we spend working would be met with riches and endless satisfaction.

But in reality? Burnout and job fears are rising. Between a slew of layoffs, a government shutdown, a changing economy and a shift toward artificial intelligence, it’s no wonder people are feeling uncertain.

Trust me, I get it. I’m a writer. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never worried about being replaced by AI.

So how do we overcome these work-related challenges? I asked career coaches for their advice.

Protect your time

As a full-time employee and parent of two young kids, I know how quickly the day can disappear — and how hard it is to feel like you’re making progress on an endless list of tasks. Structure helps.

Using your time intentionally is a “superpower,” says Ally Meyers, a certified executive and positive psychology coach in Saratoga Springs, New York.

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