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FRANCONIA, N.H. (AP) — The closing of a health center in rural New Hampshire has raised concerns that the projected cuts in Medicaid are already taking a toll.Last month, a site of the Ammonoosuc Community Health Services in Franconia, a town of around 1,000 people, closed for good.Ammonoosuc officials and a Democratic senator have blamed Medicaid cuts for the closure of the facility that served 1,400 patients from Franconia, Easton, Lincoln and Sugar Hill. These are all tiny communities around the White Mountains, whose patients typically are older and sicker than in other parts of the state. Threats to rural…

Focus Friend, the screen time assistant from YouTuber and entrepreneur Hank Green, is Google Play’s app of the year. Launched in August, the productivity tool lets you block yourself from distracting phone apps while encouraging you with the aid of a virtual friend — a little cartoon bean that likes to knit socks and scarves, which can later be exchanged for décor for the little bean’s room. The premise behind the app is that users might be encouraged to manage their screen time better if they know their actions would impact others, even if it’s just a little bean that…

SOKOTO, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s leader promised authorities would intensify efforts to rescue 24 schoolgirls who were abducted by gunmen earlier this week from a school in the country’s northwestern region.The girls were kidnapped from their dormitory before dawn on Monday, when gunmen attacked their boarding school, the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, in the town of Maga in Nigeria’s Kebbi state. Local police said that the gunmen scaled the fence to enter the dorm and exchanged gunfire with police officers guarding the school before seizing the girls and killing a staff member.No group has claimed responsibility for the attack,…

FRANCONIA, N.H. (AP) — For more than two decades, Susan Bushby, a 70-year-old housekeeper from a rural ski town in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, took comfort in knowing she only had a short drive to reach the community health center.The lodgelike medical building, which sits on a hill overlooking town, was like a second home for Bushby and many other patients. The front desk staff knew their names and never missed a chance to celebrate a birthday or anniversary. Staff photos of the wilderness that makes this place such a draw hung on the walls, and bumping into a neighbor…

Budget travelers looking to book their vacation for next year will have an array of new destinations, thanks to Allegiant Air’s latest network expansion. The low-cost carrier just announced 30 new nonstop routes launching next year that will connect 35 cities across the United States. When the flights debut in the first half of 2026, Allegiant will enter four U.S. markets brand new for the airline. Among those new markets are cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest, including La Crosse, Wisconsin (LSE); Trenton, New Jersey (TTL); Columbia, Missouri (COU); and Philadelphia (PHL). Allegiant will connect each of its four…

As Nicholas Rudder built his last startup, an educational marketplace called ScholarSite, he kept running into the same problem: tax.   “Marketplaces are liable for tax on their entire GMV (gross merchandise value) not just their take rate, so every new country meant a maze of registrations, filings, deadlines, and risk,” Rudder told TechCrunch. “It became a constant distraction. Instead of building the business, I was spending time deciphering international compliance rules I never wanted to become an expert in.”   As he and co-founder Adrian Sarstedt were looking to shut down ScholarSite (later calling it Sphere), Rudder decided to keep the name but turn the product into something new.  …

In an aerial view, a customer enters a Lowe’s store on May 21, 2025 in Cotati, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesLowe’s on Wednesday posted a year over year sales increase for the quarter, but the company lowered its full-year profit outlook slightly to reflect a tougher economic backdrop.The home improvement retailer now expects full-year total sales to be $86 billion, up from its previous expectations of $84.5 to $85.5 billion, because of a recent acquisition. However, it said it expects comparable sales, an industry metric that takes out one-time factors, to be flat compared to a year ago compared…

These days, it’s not easy to be a limited partner who invests in venture capital firms. The “LPs” who fund VCs are confronting an asset class in flux: Funds have nearly twice the lifespan they used to, emerging managers face life-or-death fundraising challenges, and billions of dollars sit trapped in startups that may never justify their 2021 valuations. Indeed, at a recent StrictlyVC panel in San Francisco, above the din of the boisterous crowd gathered to watch it, five prominent LPs, representing endowments, fund-of-funds, and secondaries firms managing over $100 billion combined, painted a surprising picture of venture capital’s current…

Poe, Quora’s app that brings together different AI models into one platform, is launching group chat functionality. The company announced on Monday that users worldwide will be able to start group chats with up to 200 other people, then collaborate across more than 200 AI models — including text, image, video, and audio generators — within a single conversation. The launch comes just days after OpenAI’s ChatGPT began piloting group chats in markets like Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan. The move could potentially transform the chatbot from a one-on-one AI interaction into a collaborative space where users can…

Toyota said on Tuesday it will invest $912 million in five U.S. factories to expand production of hybrid vehicles to meet increasing demand. The investment in hybrid vehicles — of which Toyota is a market leader — is part of the Japanese automaker’s recent announcement to spend up to $10 billion over the next five years in the United States. It also comes at a time when Toyota, and the rest of the automotive industry, is trying to navigate the effects of tariffs and the end of federal tax credits for EVs. The capital will be spread among five of…