Author: NY TIMES

Loretta Ford, who co-founded the first academic program for nurse practitioners in 1965, then spent decades transforming the field of nursing into an area of serious clinical practice, education and research, died on Jan. 22 at her home in Wildwood, Fla. She was 104.Her daughter, Valerie Monrad, confirmed the death.Today there are more than 350,000 nurse practitioners in America; it is one of the fastest growing fields, and last year U.S. News and World Report ranked it the top job in the country, a reflection of salary potential, job satisfaction and career opportunities.That success is in large part the result…

Vilas Thanna, the father of Pongsak Thanna, a Thai fruit farmhand who was held hostage in Gaza, could barely get the words out as he digested the news of his son’s release after 15 months of captivity.“When we are happy, we cry,” he said. “When we are sad, we also cry. But these are happy tears.”Mr. Pongsak was among five Thai hostages who were released on Thursday. Working on farms in often dangerous parts of Israel, Thai farmhands suffered a heavy toll in the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. At least 39 were killed, and at least 31 were…

California Chevrolet-Palisades Charter High School joint venture baseball team is crowded in its full outdoor field of its temporary houses, which is a temporary venue for the displaced team. The playful surface and outer grass are spots and unhealthy. Without the pier, its main purpose is for the battleball.But this is what they must cooperate with them. The tragic environment-a fire swept their school and the city-there is almost no relationship between them reaching this place. What is important? The university captain Ryan Hirschberg was dissatisfied with the efforts and concentration of junior college students in common practice.Herbeir told the…

Customers at some CVS stores will no longer have to push a button and wait for a clerk to unlock one of those glass cabinets to get the products they want to buy. A new app will allow them to open the cabinets themselves, the company said on Tuesday.That feature of the new CVS Health app has been available in three stores in New York City as part of a pilot program that began in August, said Tara Burke, a CVS Health spokeswoman. She said there are plans to roll out the “smart locks” at approximately 10 stores on the…

Investors worried about how much money big technology companies are spending on artificial intelligence did not get much relief from Microsoft when it reported its latest financial results on Wednesday.In its most recent quarter, which ended on Dec. 31, Microsoft kept up its rapid drive to build data centers to power cloud computing and artificial intelligence. It spent $22.6 billion on capital expenses, almost twice as much as a year earlier.Microsoft has said it would spend around $80 billion in data centers this fiscal year, which ends in June. It is sprinting because it has said it does not have…

Since the year 2000, more and more Black women have been nominees for album of the year: India.Arie, Missy Elliott, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Janelle Monáe, Cardi B, H.E.R., Lizzo, Doja Cat, SZA and Mary J. Blige. But it’s Beyoncé’s appearances in this category — beginning with “I Am … Sasha Fierce” (2010) — that have garnered the most headlines. The tension between the evolving, colossal ambition and innovation of her nominated releases, their critical acclaim and their global popularity, set against the Grammy voters’ repeated unwillingness to reward these efforts, has amounted to the greatest ongoing Grammy drama:…

The top American envoy to the Middle East was to meet on Wednesday with Israel’s prime minister and, potentially, visit the Gaza Strip to reinforce a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas that, if made permanent, would allow thousands more displaced Palestinians to return to their homes.The envoy, Steven Witkoff, was expected to inspect the Netzarim Corridor, a four-mile strip that bisects Gaza, where American security contractors have been enlisted to help handle the return of displaced Palestinians. He would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Gaza in years, both because of security concerns and the official American no-contact…

After the United States blocked Nippon Steel’s bid for U.S. Steel, the Pittsburgh company is facing new pressure from an activist investor who is seeking to oust U.S. Steel’s leadership and thwart the companies’ efforts to revive the deal.The activist investor, Ancora, said in an open letter to U.S. Steel’s board on Monday that it has nominated nine directors, including Alan Kestenbaum, the former chairman and chief executive of Stelco Holdings.Stelco last year was acquired by the Cleveland- Cliffs, which is considering its own bid for U.S. Steel. Ancora wants Mr. Kestenbaum to replace U.S. Steel’s chief executive, David Burritt,…

The Trump administration declared on Friday that the Gulf of Mexico had been renamed the Gulf of America, but popular mapping services from Google and Apple have continued showing the old name.On Monday, Google said it would update its maps to display Gulf of America as soon as the U.S. government updated its official maps.“We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the company said in a post on X.President Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, to rename the gulf, in addition to…

Laura Van Antwerp tried Dry January for the first time 11 years ago. Like many who participate in this monthlong sobriety challenge, she reveled in the immediate benefits: She slept better, went to the gym more often and saved money.But as February approached, Ms. Van Antwerp felt excited — “maybe overly excited,” she admitted — to drink again. She would be traveling to Southeast Asia for a six-week trip, and she imagined sipping a glass of wine in Bangkok when she got off the plane.“I couldn’t even wait that long,” Ms. Van Antwerp, 40, said. “I ended up drinking at…