Broncos say their new stadium will be ‘privately financed,’ but ‘private’ often still means hundreds of millions in public resources

The Denver Broncos announced in early September 2025 their plan to build a privately financed football stadium. The proposal received a lot of attention and praise. Across the five major sports leagues in the U.S. – the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB and MLS – only 20% of facilities are privately owned. I’ve studied the intersection […]

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America is falling behind in the global EV race – that’s going to cost the US auto industry

At the 2026 Detroit Auto Show, the spotlight quietly shifted. Electric vehicles, once framed as the inevitable future of the industry, were no longer the centerpiece. Instead, automakers emphasized hybrids, updated gasoline models and incremental efficiency improvements. The show, held in January, reflected an industry recalibration happening in real time: Ford and General Motors had […]

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Rescheduling marijuana would be a big tax break for legal cannabis businesses – and a quiet form of deregulation

In December 2025, the Trump administration accelerated the process of reclassifying marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act – a shift that would reduce restrictions and penalties associated with the drug. Under the move, medical and recreational marijuana would still remain illegal at the federal level. At the state level, […]

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Before Venezuela’s oil, there were Guatemala’s bananas

In the aftermath of the U.S. military strike that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, 2026, the Trump administration has emphasized its desire for unfettered access to Venezuela’s oil more than conventional foreign policy objectives, such as combating drug trafficking or bolstering democracy and regional stability. During his first news conference after the […]

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China’s new condom tax will prove no effective barrier to country’s declining fertility rate

Once the world’s most populous nation, China is now among the many Asian countries struggling with anemic fertility rates. In an attempt to double the country’s rate of 1.0 children per woman, Beijing is reaching for a new tool: taxes on condoms, birth control pills and other contraceptives. As of Jan. 1, such items were […]

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International aid groups are dealing with the pain of slashed USAID funding by cutting staff, localizing and coordinating better

Since Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump has slashed U.S. foreign aid spending. It began with a stop-work order that paused spending on everything from treating tropical diseases in Mali to providing nutrition support in Nepal. By early February 2025, billionaire Elon Musk announced that the […]

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Colorado ranchers and consumers can team up to make beef supply chains more sustainable

Cowboys guided a herd of longhorn cattle through downtown Denver to celebrate the opening of the annual National Western Stock Show on Jan. 8, 2026. As ranchers bring their best cattle to compete for blue ribbons over the course of this month, it’s a good time to consider whether beef production can be part of […]

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Supreme Court is set to rule on constitutionality of Trump tariffs – but not their wisdom

The future of many of Donald Trump’s tariffs are up in the air, with the Supreme Court expected to hand down a ruling on the administration’s global trade barriers any day now. But the question of whether a policy is legal or constitutional – which the justices are entertaining now – isn’t the same as […]

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Companies are already using agentic AI to make decisions, but governance is lagging behind

Businesses are acting fast to adopt agentic AI – artificial intelligence systems that work without human guidance – but have been much slower to put governance in place to oversee them, a new survey shows. That mismatch is a major source of risk in AI adoption. In my view, it’s also a business opportunity. I’m […]

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Doing things alone is on the rise, and businesses should pay more attention to that – even on Valentine’s Day

Every February, Valentine’s Day amplifies what single people already know – that public life is built for two. Restaurants roll out prix fixe menus for couples. Hotels promote “romantic getaway” packages designed for double occupancy. A table for one still invites the question, “Just you?” Yet there’s irony that’s hard to miss. While Valentine’s Day […]

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