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Tech CEOs have promised artificial intelligence will do many things for us. They’ve used these promises to justify billions of dollars of investment in building the language models and data centers needed to power AI.

Four of the world’s biggest tech companies – Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – have promised to collectively spend $380 billion this year in the AI space.

That spending has led to huge rallies in these companies’ stock prices. There are now hundreds of private AI companies with values – on paper – of over a billion dollars. And in October, the AI boom created the world’s first company worth $5 trillion – Nvidia.

So, is this spending justified? Do these companies’ stock values hint at a financial bubble in AI? Or is this situation different?

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The typical American supermarket carries more than 30,000 products.

There are nearly as many opinions about what items you should buy to maintain a healthy diet.

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says changing how Americans eat is key to improving our public health — but some of his advice has nutritionists scratching their heads.

Throw in the influence of a multi trillion-dollar food industry, and the grocery aisles can become a very confusing place.

That’s where Marion Nestle comes in. She is one of our country’s foremost nutrition experts — not only on what we should eat, but about the invisible forces that shape our options.

Her new book is titled “What to Eat Now: The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find It, and Why It Matters." We discuss her new book.

Why do we have so many choices when it comes to groceries? How can we cut through the noise of fad diets and get the nutrition we need each day?

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The last two weeks have highlighted fractures within both the Republican and Democratic parties.

The fight over releasing the Epstein files has shaken the GOP, causing some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies – like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – to call him out. And recent incidents of antisemitism within the MAGA movement have prompted infighting about how (and whether) to root it out.

Despite that, the party in the country’s crosshairs is on the left.

The longest government shutdown in American history ended last week after 43 days. And it ended with eight senators breaking with the Democratic caucus to pass a spending bill – without securing the health insurance provisions they had demanded.

Many Democrats across the country — from Washington strategists to local activists — called the move a surrender. They say the defectors gave up a winning hand right when public opinion was on their side. The loudest criticism came from younger Democrats who called for new party leadership.

In this latest installment of “If You Can Keep It,” our weekly series on the state of democracy, we look at the fractures the shutdown exposed on the left and how a new generation of lawmakers thinks the party should govern in the years ahead.

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The longest government shutdown in history is now over after a group of Senate Democrats broke with the party to vote for a bill that funds the federal government.

Meanwhile, House Democrats facilitated the release of emails from the Epstein files that reference President Donald Trump and suggest that he knew about former financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes.

Shots were fired at ICE agents in Chicago this week amid chaotic immigration enforcement operations.

And, in global news, in the face of the growing U.S. presence around his country, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is mobilizing his army, ordering the deployment of some 200,000 soldiers.

Donald Trump sent a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog asking him to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over corruption charges the latter is facing in his country.

Following explosions in Islamabad and New Delhi, both India and Pakistan and on edge. It remains unclear who is responsible for the attacks.

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The civil war in Sudan has claimed the lives of some 150,000 people.

From the outside looking in, the story of the war is one of two competing generals, foreign involvement complicating matters, and mass casualties among the innocent.

Now, following a massacre in the city of El Fasher, the rebels have agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire proposed by the Quad — a group of group of four countries including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. But for how long will it hold?

We discuss the latest on the conflict in Sudan and the humanitarian crisis. What is the international community doing to help (or hurt) the situation?

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In-home elder care costs are rising more than three times faster than inflation.

AARP estimates that caregivers in the U.S. spend an average of $7,242 out of pocket each year.

Cuts to federal spending have gutted programs that support them. And amidst the longest government shutdown in history, what little help was left is quickly drying up.

Why is the cost of care going up? What can be done to combat those costs?

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Late Sunday, while most eyes were on the Senate’s shutdown negotiations, the Trump administration was busy rewriting the history of the 2020 election.

Just before midnight, a Justice Department lawyer posted a list on X of dozens of the president’s top allies and former aides who’d received pardons related to their efforts to overturn that election.

Among them are Trump’s former lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows; and Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor who tried to overturn election results in key swing states and spread false claims of widespread voting machine fraud.

What do these pardons do? And how is the president using the Justice Department to shield those closest to him from future legal consequences?

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In the first general election since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term, Democrats won big. But they might also be set to kill a lot of that momentum.

Exit polls have found that in major races across the country — in states like Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and California — the economy and affordability were the biggest issues that drove voters to the polls.

An NPB News poll from October suggests that 63 percent of registered voters believe the Trump administration has fallen short when it comes to the economy.

As part of our weekly series on the state of democracy, If You Can Keep It, we dive into some of the biggest local races and what they tell us about the issues that matter most to you – and what Democrats and Republicans can take away from this year’s results. 

But first, we dive into a potential deal to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history that has some critics claiming Senate Democrats are caving to President Trump.

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Democrats swept on election night this week, winning several key gubernatorial races, state legislature positions, and the New York City mayoral election.

As the government shutdown continues, airports are struggling to run at maximum capacity. The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to cut 10 percent of flights at high traffic airports as they struggle with delays and staffing shortages.

The Supreme Court began hearing arguments over whether or not Donald Trump’s tariffs on America’s trading partners are legal.

Meanwhile, a top Israeli military lawyer was incarcerated this week after she leaked footage of Israeli soldiers allegedly sexually assaulting a Palestinian prisoner. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are working to combat what he calls the “most severe public relations attack that the state of Israel has experienced.”

U.S. officials are mulling possible regime change in Venezuela. The federal government’s operations in and around Caribbean and South American waters have intensified in recent weeks.

Donald Trump is also threatening to take action in Nigeria if the country’s government doesn’t take action to protect Christians within its borders.

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It’s open enrollment season. And for the 20 million Americans who buy their own health insurance, prices are through the roof.

Rates are up an average of 30 percent for a typical plan in the 30 states where the federal government manages markets. In states that run their own markets, rates are up an average of 17 percent. That’s according to an analysis from the health policy research group KFF.

Meanwhile, the longest government shutdown continues in Washington. Lawmakers still can’t agree over whether to extend subsidies that would make health insurance more affordable. Without those subsidies, experts estimate that more than 4 million people could lose access to insurance.

How did health insurance get so expensive in the first place? And who stands to benefit from higher costs?

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