Starbucks announced plans to close approximately 250 stores across North America, representing about 1% of its 18,000 locations in the region. The closures follow the company's settlement of a DEI lawsuit with Florida, in which Starbucks agreed to pay $1 million and eliminate race-and sex-based employment practices nationwide.
The Trump administration's cancellation of a federal research grant studying Alzheimer's disease risk in two low-income Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh has forced researchers to shut down the study early without sharing cognitive test results with 600 participants, potentially delaying diagnosis of a disease where early treatment is critical. The grant cuts are part of a broader disruption affecting over 5,700 NIH-funded medical research projects, with researchers now suing the administration for allegedly censoring research based on political priorities rather than scientific merit.