LIV Golf may be a lost ball after Saudis pull support

  LIV Golf may be a lost ball after Saudis pull support

Hector Vivas/Getty Images

This is why Shania Twain says to dance with the one that brought you: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced yesterday that it will stop funding LIV Golf, its high-paying disruptor league, leaving players who defected from the PGA Tour in the lurch. This is probably the end of LIV, at least in its current form. The upstart league is looking for new investors after the PIF confirmed weeks of speculation that it was pulling out. But it’s tough to imagine who might be willing and able to fill the Saudi-sized hole left in LIV’s business after the current season ends in August: As LIV’s sole backer, the PIF poured $5+ billion into the league since co-founding it in 2021. It reportedly spent $100 million per month on LIV this year. And the league is bleeding money. Despite luring top talent with extravagant tournament purses and contracts worth up to $300 million, LIV struggled to sustain US fan interest. Looking ahead…LIV players who violated their PGA Tour contracts to join LIV may have some groveling to do. “There were rules, and they were broken,” the PGA Tour’s CEO said this week. The league recently offered four elite players a way to come crawling back from LIV, but only one took the deal, at a cost of up to $90 million in reentry fees.

Everything is reality TV now

 Everything is reality TV now

Screenshot via @MrBeast/YouTube

The number of reality TV series may have dropped in recent years, but that’s not because there’s a shortage of Kardashians. Instead, much of that drama and unpredictability has moved to different platforms or bled into other aspects of our lives. Don’t forget to subscribe: It’s no secret that cable—the lifeblood of reality TV—is having connection issues. According to Business Insider and media advisory firm Madison and Wall: Nearly 90% of US households paid for a cable TV subscription in 2010. Now, that number is about 50%. Meanwhile, YouTube accounts for nearly 13% of viewing time in the US, the New York Times reported, citing Nielsen data. A lot of that content is unscripted, like the videos put out by Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, who is basically a reality-TV/game-show host with more than 430 million YouTube subscribers (and who has successfully taken a show to Amazon Prime Video, too). Living the stream Livestreaming has also supplanted the more voyeuristic aspects of reality TV. And, like VH1’s run of reality shows in the 2000s, even celebrities are getting in on the action. Per Axios: Livestreaming platform Twitch has more than 21 million active streamers. Year over year, athlete and celebrity streams are up by nearly 20%. Social studies: Social media and the influencer economy are carrying on the spirit of reality TV. Audiences used to watch strangers cook, lose weight, and find love on 30- or 60-minute episodes. Now, that’s five minutes on Instagram. Politics has had a distinctly reality-TV flavor, too: Lawmakers have firmly joined in the influencer space, starting podcasts and getting major exposure through short, fiery clips, sufficiently Jersey Shore-ifying our social feeds. And, back in 2017, the New York Times reported that President Trump (himself a former reality TV star thanks to The Apprentice) instructed aides to think of each day as an episode of a TV show.

Soldier in Maduro raid charged over $400k bet

 Soldier in Maduro raid charged over $400k bet

Maduro after his capture. XNY/Star Max/Getty Images

Federal prosecutors allege a US soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro took advantage of his access to classified information to win $400,000 by betting on the timing of Maduro’s ouster on Polymarket. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, was involved in the planning of the raid as of early December 2025, and placed 13 bets by the end of that month on the Venezuelan leader being out by Jan. 31, prosecutors claim. The US captured Maduro in early January. Van Dyke faces years in prison if convicted on the charges, which include unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, commodities fraud, and others. Unpredictable actors Though prediction markets have rules against market manipulation, Van Dyke is hardly the first accused of cheating on them. Polymarket’s rival Kalshi recently fined and suspended three candidates for betting on their own elections. And some try to make their own luck: Paris police are currently investigating suspected tampering with meteorological equipment after some recent wins in long-shot Polymarket bets on local weather. The French national weather service believes someone may have messed with a sensor at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport, which the prediction market used to gauge the city’s temperature. Weather enthusiasts speculate that meddlers might’ve used a hairdryer to heat the air around the sensor, creating anomalous temperature swings that led to big payouts, Le Monde reported.

Sullivan & Cromwell Apologizes to Judge for AI Hallucinations in Motion - Business Insider

Sullivan & Cromwell Apologizes to Judge for AI Hallucinations in Motion - Business Insider


AI hallucinated — and now an elite law firm is profusely apologizing to a federal judge
By Kelsey Vlamis Follow

A lawyer from the elite law firm has apologized to a bankruptcy judge for AI errors. DAVID DEE DELGADO/Reuters
Apr 21, 2026, 2:15 PM GMT-7

A partner at the elite Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell wrote an apology letter to a federal bankruptcy judge for a court filing that contained AI hallucinations.

Andrew Dietderich, co-head of Global Finance & Restructuring at the firm, said in the April 18 note that a prior filing contained inaccurate citations and other errors, including AI hallucinations.

"'Hallucinations' are instances in which artificial intelligence tools fabricate case citations, misquote authorities, or generate non-existent legal sources," Dietderich's letter said. "We deeply regret that this has occurred."

A chart attached to the letter showed that the motion contained incorrect case names and numbers and apparently fabricated quotes from cases.

Dietderich said the errors by Sullivan & Cromwell, which represented the bankrupt firm Prince Global Holdings, were caught by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, which represented creditors, and that he'd thanked them and apologized. Sullivan & Cromwell — a 140-year-old firm with more than 1,000 attorneys — has comprehensive policies when it comes to using AI and that there are safeguards to avoid this exact scenario. The firm's policies weren't followed, and the errors also made it past the firm's review process for citations, he said.

Dietderich wrote to Manhattan-based Chief Judge Martin Glenn that he and the firm were "keenly aware of our responsibility to ensure the accuracy of all submissions."

"I take responsibility for the failure to do so," he said, adding they would submit a corrected version of the filing.

A representative for the firm and Dietderich did not respond to inquiries from Business Insider. A representative for the judge also did not respond.

When it comes to AI hallucinations in legal work, Sullivan & Cromwell has company.

Fake legal citations have become more common since 2023, according to legal researcher Damien Charlotin, who keeps a public database of AI hallucinations in legal cases.
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Fair-weather college fans

 Fair-weather college fans

The Washington Post/Getty Images

Even after rigorous research on cost, culture, fit, size, and location, your college choice may have come down to something as unpredictable as the weather. According to a recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, students are less likely to apply to a college if they visited the campus when the weather was bad, no matter how sunny your tour leader’s disposition may have been. Researchers at Amherst College discovered that applications dropped 10.1% when a campus tour was comparatively hot, 5.9% when it was cold, 4.9% when it was cloudy, and 8.3% when there was precipitation. So, a school’s application rates literally depend on whether it has a good atmosphere or not.

LIV Golf reportedly looking to postpone New Orleans event | CBC Sports

LIV Golf reportedly looking to postpone New Orleans event | CBC Sports

LIV Golf reportedly looking to postpone New Orleans event

News comes 2 weeks after CEO assured staff, players the season would continue 'uninterrupted'

The Associated Press · Posted: Apr 28, 2026 5:29 AM PDT | Last Updated: April 28

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LIV Golf tee box signage is seen during the LIV Golf Mexico City at Club de Golf Chapultepec on April 19. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

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LIV Golf's inaugural tournament in New Orleans that was scheduled for the end of June is likely to be postponed until the fall, according to multiple reports.

New Orleans television station WDSU and Nola.com were among the first to report Monday the June 25-28 event at Bayou Oaks at City Park was being moved to later in the year.

An announcement by LIV Golf and the Louisiana Economic Development was expected Tuesday.

That would mean LIV Golf would not have any tournaments in the United States for a three-month period from northern Virginia on May 7-10 at Trump National until the Aug. 6-9 tournament at Trump Bedminster in New Jersey.

• The Buzzer
  Is this the end of LIV Golf?

The development comes two weeks LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil assured staff and players the season would continue "uninterrupted and at full throttle." O'Neil was responding to speculation the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia would no longer provide financial support to a league that already has spend more than $5 billion since it began in 2022.

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LIV Golf is said to be looking to move the New Orleans event to the fall to avoid peak summer temperatures, ensure the course is in championship shape and to avoid attendance and viewership conflicts with the World Cup.

New Orleans is not hosting any World Cup matches.

Louisiana officials said last August when the tournament was announced they had agreed to pay LIV Golf $5 million US and spend an additional $2.2 million on improvements to the Bayou Oaks course in City Park.

WDSU reported Louisiana will be repaid $1 million, which the state had already paid to LIV in advance of the tournament.

News orgs are raging against the Wayback Machine

 News orgs are raging against the Wayback Machine

Niv Bavarsky

What some consider to be the digital library of Alexandria is in danger of losing valuable scrolls. Major media outlets are blocking the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine from saving web pages to prevent AI giants from training models on snapshots of old articles. Wired reported that 23 news organizations, including USA Today and the New York Times, are among the 241 sites denying Internet Archive’s web crawler access to their articles. It’s not personal—some outlets still use the Archive in their reporting—it’s about the looming threat of AI: Tech companies can skirt copyright laws by using the Wayback Machine as a workaround for training language models on their content (including recipes, probably). Mark Graham, the director of the Wayback Machine, emphasizes that the digital archive has controls to limit abuse of AI automation and prevent large-scale data extraction. Publishers can archive their material, but a third party maintains a more incorruptible version of stories that can hold outlets accountable when it’s revised after publication. Nothing new: Last year, Reddit barred the Wayback Machine from data scraping for similar AI concerns. The archive also lost a slew of information when federal government websites were deleted. Still working: Graham is reportedly in talks to regain access to the material, while more than 100 media workers signed a letter supporting Wayback.

Fed nominee Kevin Warsh would be the wealthiest chair ever

 Fed nominee Kevin Warsh would be the wealthiest chair ever. Warsh, President Trump’s pick to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, is worth between $135 million and $226 million, according to financial disclosures released ahead of his nomination hearing next Tuesday. That would make him significantly richer than Powell, who is currently worth between $19 million and $75 million and was considered the wealthiest chair when confirmed in 2018. If Warsh becomes the next chair, he said he would divest from assets that may pose a conflict of interest and resign from other positions he holds. Warsh also disclosed millions of dollars in holdings belonging to his wife, Jane Lauder, heir to the Estée Lauder fortune. Forbes pegs her net worth at $1.9 billion.

Condom prices to spike because of…Iran war

 Condom prices to spike because of…Iran war

Niv Bavarsky

Brace yourself for a wave of babies named Sabrina and Justin. The world’s largest condom producer, Karex, plans to raise prices by 20–30% over the next few months due to supply chain disruptions from the war in Iran, the company said yesterday. Scoreboard: One out of every five condoms worldwide are made by Karex, a Malaysian company that owns ONE Condoms and supplies brands such as Durex and Trojan, as well as the UK’s national health system, and UN-run aid programs. Now, the economic shockwaves that are jolting countless goods, from oil to food, have come for the ruler of rubbers, too. According to Karex: Production costs are up 25–30% since the US and Israel first struck Iran, amid shortages of oil-derived condom materials. With global freight disrupted, Karex’s shipments to Europe and the US—which used to take one month to arrive—now take two. Looking ahead…with how uncertain the geopolitical landscape is, Karex said its outlook is hazy beyond the next two to three months, and it can’t rule out further price increases. Meanwhile…since the US slashed funding for USAID, condom stockpiles in some developing nations have dwindled, which is compounding the current crunch.

Goop Kitchen’s Gluten-Free Empire State of Mind

 Goop Kitchen’s Gluten-Free Empire State of Mind

Isa Zapata

Slop bowls are out and Goop bowls are in. At least that’s what Gwyneth Paltrow is betting on. The actress-turned-entrepreneur is expanding her food takeout business, Goop Kitchen, to New York City, after a successful launch on the West Coast. We assume gluten futures are already tanking. The concept: Goop Kitchen is an offshoot of the separately run Goop, Paltrow’s multimillion-dollar lifestyle and luxury diaper company. It offers “certified clean” takeout food that was designed to travel well, like bowls, wraps, salads, soups, and pizzas that are made without gluten, seed oils, or processed ingredients. The prices are better than you might expect from the founder of a company that once featured a five-figure backgammon set, with menu items hovering in the $15 to $25 range. However, some have very questionable pun names, like Goopfellas Pizza. Recipe for success: Five years after it started, Goop Kitchen currently has 11 locations in Los Angeles and three in the San Francisco Bay Area. And they’re doing well—the company told the Wall Street Journal: Goop Kitchens serve more than 40,000 customers a week. Half of its locations make $20,000 per day on average. Year over year sales grew 48% in fiscal year 2024, and 61% in FY 2025. Ghost Space Coast to Coast: Three Manhattan locations are slated to open on Monday. Like the California outposts, they’ll use ghost kitchens to prepare food items for pickup or delivery only. Miami, Paris, and London could be next, Paltrow said.

Tonight in Your Rights: Eastman disbarred

Tonight in Your Rights: Eastman disbarred
As Trump's prosecutors play defense for Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, the brains of a "coup in search of a legal theory" loses his law license.

ADAM KLASFELD





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Jan. 6th Committee hearing from 2022. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)


Tonight’s legal briefing includes two dramatically different Jan. 6-related tales, a blow against Trump’s ICE warehouse scheme, and an update in an under-the-radar prosecution of a politician calling out immigration-related abuses.

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On Tax Day, a little more than five years after the Jan. 6th insurrection, the mastermind of the legal prong of Donald Trump’s “coup in search of a legal theory” finally had to pay the piper.

John Eastman played an instrumental role in plotting an effort to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, leading to his appearance in Trump’s state and federal indictments.

Now, he’s been disbarred.

“The court orders that John Charles Eastman (Respondent), State Bar Number 193726, is disbarred from the practice of law in California and that Respondent's name is stricken from the roll of attorneys,” the docket entry reads.

Eastman unsuccessfully tried to persuade former Vice President Mike Pence to try to illegally reject electoral college votes and send them back to the states.

In the fallout, the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol sent Eastman a subpoena pursuing information about the legal campaign to subvert the election. That pursuit resulted in a historic ruling where a federal judge found that Eastman and Trump both likely committed federal felonies.

“Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history. Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower—it was a coup in search of a legal theory,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter wrote in 2022. “The plan spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nation’s government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process.”

Carter’s ruling long predated Trump’s eventual prosecution and predicted two of the crimes to be charged against him: conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstructing an official proceeding.

In 2023, the California State Bar filed 11 disciplinary charges against Eastman, starting a years-long process that included a 35-day trial.

A trial judge recommended Eastman’s disbarment the following year, which was finalized on Wednesday following years of review.

States United Democracy Center, an advocacy group that filed a bar complaint against Eastman in late 2021, called the California Supreme Court’s decision a “reckoning for those who seek to undermine the rule of law in this country.”

“While Trump tries to consolidate power, the states and courts continue to successfully check executive overreach and the unlawful actions of his administration,” the group’s senior vice president Christine P. Sun said in a statement.

POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney reports:


“Though the decision only applies to Eastman’s license to practice law in California, disbarment decisions are typically adopted by authorities in other jurisdictions in “reciprocal” rulings. Eastman is also a member of the bar in Washington, D.C., though his license has been suspended there as well.”

Eastman is expected to appeal the decision.

Warner Bros. investors approve Paramount takeover

 Warner Bros. investors approve Paramount takeover. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted overwhelmingly yesterday in favor of the acquisition, which is valued at $111 billion and would transform the film industry. It puts David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance one step closer to owning the storied studio—despite opposition from Hollywood stars—after a messy bidding process that Netflix ultimately dropped out of. But it’s not time for Porky to say “That’s all folks” yet, as antitrust regulators must still bless the deal before it can be finalized.

JPMorgan Chase had a champagne-worthy Q1

 JPMorgan Chase had a champagne-worthy Q1. Revenue for the biggest bank in the US grew 10% to hit nearly $50 billion for the first three months of the year, smashing Wall Street’s expectations as market volatility and elevated dealmaking generated record hauls for big banks. JPMorgan’s trading fees hit a record high, investment banking fees rose more than those of any other global bank, and M&A advising fees surged by a whopping 82%. Still, the firm slightly revised down its full-year guidance for net-interest income, a central earnings driver. CEO Jamie Dimon said that the US economy is resilient, but “an increasingly complex set of risks” lies ahead, including “geopolitical tensions and wars” and “energy price volatility.” Elsewhere on Wall Street, strong trading also propelled Citigroup to an earnings beat, but Wells Fargo fell short of expectations.

Guess who bought ~1 in 5 Cybertrucks

 Guess who bought ~1 in 5 Cybertrucks

Mario Tama/Getty Images

This is a bit like when your own parents had to buy your brownies at the bake sale because the other kids were unsurprisingly not into the weird-looking walnuts. According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk’s SpaceX bought nearly 1 in 5 of the Cybertrucks that were sold by Elon Musk’s Tesla in Q4: SpaceX’s purchases were likely worth more than $100 million in total. Cybertruck sales would have plummeted by 51% in the quarter if not for the purchases by Musk’s other companies. Bloomberg reported that the Musk-to-Musk Cybertruck sales pipeline has continued into this year. One auto expert told the outlet that Tesla is “running out of buyers” for the electric pickup truck that critics say looks like a toolbox.

Dolly reigns

 Dolly reigns

Shannon May

Jolene may have won the battle, but Dolly has won the war. According to a survey by UMass Lowell and YouGov, Dolly Parton is by far the most popular person among a group of 20 major global figures: 70% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the 11-time Grammy winner, while only 5% have an unfavorable impression, giving Parton a net favorability of 65%. Barack Obama and Volodymyr Zelensky placed a distant second and third, with 14% and 12% net favorability, respectively. The Guardian attributes Parton’s popularity in part to staying out of politics. “I’ve got as many Republican fans as Democrats, and I don’t want to make any of them mad at me,” she said in 2017.

Tree-ting the Earth right

 Tree-ting the Earth right

Shout-out to Mother Earth. She carries a lot of precious cargo, and she carries it well. So does a Subaru. And in appreciation of our beautiful planet, Subaru and its retailers partner with the Arbor Day Foundation to provide and distribute trees in communities across the country. Every year, the US loses 36 million trees to age, disease, infestation, and extreme weather. To do your part, remember this: Proper tree care begins with selecting the right tree and space. Consider your climate to identify water or pruning needs. And if you’re ever concerned about your tree’s health, contact an arborist. To date, Subaru Loves the Earth has provided 1.1 million trees and counting. Learn more.

Europe’s planes are about to run out of fuel

 Europe’s planes are about to run out of fuel

Davide Bonaldo/Getty Images

Mac Miller lyrics that European airlines cannot relate to right now: “I never run out of jet fuel.” The Strait of Hormuz’s closure has disrupted oil supplies so drastically that Europe has “maybe six weeks” of jet fuel left, with flight cancellations coming “soon” unless the waterway reopens, the head of the International Energy Agency told the Associated Press yesterday. This is “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said. His comments follow an even bleaker warning from the trade group that represents European airports, ACI Europe, which said last week that fuel shortages could commence in as little as three weeks. European airlines are fastening their oxygen masks: Europe’s largest carrier, Ryanair, suggested this week that it’s on track for fuel shortages by June, while the region’s second-largest airline, easyJet, said it currently has 70% of its summertime jet fuel covered. To counter elevated jet fuel costs, which have roughly doubled since the Iran war began, German carrier Lufthansa will cut some long-haul flights and take up to 40 planes out of rotation. Around the world, airlines are clawing back cash by raising ticket prices. All major US airlines have hiked baggage fees in recent weeks. US travel may be better protected (for now) Europe’s oil refineries have been dwindling for decades, and the continent is the biggest recipient of jet fuel that passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Across the pond, however, the US reigns as the world’s largest net exporter of jet fuel, and it produces most of the juice its airlines need in-house. Still, major US airlines (even Delta, which has its own oil refinery) project billions of dollars in added costs if fuel prices don’t return to normal. The price spike could reportedly sink Spirit Airlines entirely. Looking ahead…if the US and Iran reach an agreement to reopen the strait, it could take “up to two years to come back where we were before the war,” Birol said of global oil flow.