Stephanie Hughes

1 week ago | marketplace.org | Stephanie Hughes

According to its latest earnings report, Macy’s saw a 1.2% drop in sales, including its online marketplace, from the same time a year ago during the first quarter. The company blamed that decline in part on international tourism. Specifically, that there’s quite a bit less of it than usual right now. According to the U.S. Travel Association, international visits to the U.S. were down 14% in March from the same time a year ago. The Macy’s store on Herald Square in Manhattan is old and famous.

1 week ago | marketplace.org | Stephanie Hughes

Plenty of economic data is headed our way this week, including a couple of important indicators: On Thursday, we’ll get the first revision of gross domestic product for the first quarter of this year — that’s a more refined reading of the strength of the U.S. economy. Then on Friday, we’ll get the personal consumption expenditures price index for April. That, of course, is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.

2 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Stephanie Hughes

It’s been about two months since the U.S. Department of Education announced it was reducing its workforce by nearly half. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said that it was to ensure resources are directed “where they matter most: to students, parents and teachers.” In practice, it means there are close to 2,000 fewer workers in the agency now than there were at the start of the year. And the absence of those workers is being felt.

2 weeks ago | geldards.com | Stephanie Hughes

Technology, artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, is developing rapidly. Having seeped into the education sector, AI advances are having a noticeably significant impact on school communities. The Department for Education’s (DfE) position seems to be that AI can help “to modernise our education system”, assisting with efficiency and workloads. This great development has, however, brought with it significant concerns for child protection that do not yet seem to have been sufficiently addressed.

3 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Stephanie Hughes

Ann Dahl had to be at her anthropology class by 8:40 a.m. — which, in the world of college students, is basically the crack of dawn. But she still took the time to add a little blue pin to her outfit. “It says ‘Goucher Student,’ and that’s what I am right now,” she said. Dahl is 86 and a 1960 graduate of Goucher, a private liberal arts college just north of Baltimore. Now, she’s back as part of a pilot program for a university retirement community.