Superman, M&M's, Jenny Lee Bakery, Olympic sailer, 'doms and mistresses'
Sorry, Dean Cain – of course, Superman is woke, he fights injustice.
Hello, dear readers,
I used to think boredom was something to avoid at all costs.
Pre-COVID, I packed my life full.
Work, volunteering, projects — all good things, but I almost never stopped moving.
If I had a free hour, I likely filled it with something.
Being busy felt like proof that I was doing something right. I was helping others. I was helping to report on more news. I was doing something good.
Then the world stopped.
And, honestly? I welcomed the quiet. I didn’t panic.
I think I was already burning out and just hadn’t admitted it to myself yet.
The stillness felt like relief.
Of course, that time was heavy — full of fear, grief and uncertainty. Like everyone else, I was worried and processing loss in real time.
But alongside all of that, the sudden quiet gave me something I didn’t know I needed.
For the first time in years, I could hear myself think.
I wasn’t rushing.
I wasn’t overbooking.
I wasn’t focused on productivity.
I was just... still.
And it was exactly what I needed.
At the end of 2022, I left my full-time journalism job.
There were a bunch of reasons, but one of them was this need for space — to slow down, to reset, to figure out what mattered to me outside of constant deadlines.
Now, five years out from that big pause, I’m still learning how valuable doing “nothing” really is.
I don’t fill every minute.
My phone’s on “do not disturb” just about all of the time. Most of the app notifications are off.
I still doomscroll Instagram more than I’d like, but even that feels different when it’s not jammed in between a hundred things.
I’m learning that boredom isn’t failure. It’s breathing room.
It’s where real thoughts show up, and where my voice finally gets a word in. Which — let’s be honest — is both enlightening and mildly terrifying. (Turns out, I have a lot to say to myself when I’m not drowning in notifications.)
So, if you’re tired and your brain feels full but fuzzy, maybe boredom isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s the answer.
🍒
Can men and women be just friends?
Yes.
No need to even click the link (it’s paywalled anyway) from The Economist.
And if you can’t just be friends with someone without there being a romantic attraction, that’s on you. Moving on.
Target continues missing its … well, target
The retail giant that, in January, announced it would cut diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — including promoting Black-owned businesses, sourcing products from Black suppliers and participating in the Human Rights Campaign survey — continues to struggle.
The number of customers visiting Target stores per location in the first quarter of the year declined by 4.8% year-over-year.
In the first quarter of 2025, comparable sales decreased by 3.8%, with comparable store sales declining by 5.7%, according to the company’s earnings report.
However, Target refused to acknowledge in its earnings report that widespread boycotts of the company are to blame, referring only to “a challenging environment.”
In its second quarter investor letter, ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, also ignored the boycotts, saying Target has been “challenged by continued shifts in consumer spending away from discretionary categories.”
Small business retirement crisis looms as baby boomers age out
Nancy Forster-Holt, a business professor writing for The Conversation, warns that aging small business owners across the U.S. are facing a retirement crisis with sweeping economic consequences.
With boomers owning 2.3 million U.S. businesses that employ nearly 25 million people, Forster-Holt says the lack of succession planning is a looming crisis.
Many owners plan to sell their businesses to fund retirement, but just 20 percent are market-ready, and current economic headwinds—high inflation, borrowing costs and weak buyer interest — are making exits harder.
Policymakers often focus on flashy startups, ignoring the quieter backbone businesses at risk of simply shutting down.
Forster-Holt argues that retirement planning support should be baked into small business policy from the start.
That includes building exit infrastructure, stabilizing tax policy and considering the ripple effects of public budget cuts on regional business ecosystems.
Candymakers holding out against RFK Jr.’s pressure
As the measles outbreak surges, RFK Jr. has continued to push companies into removing synthetic dyes.
But there’s at least one holdout: Candymakers.
While Nestle, ConAgra, Kraft Heinz, General Mills and PepsiCo have agreed to remove synthetic dyes despite limited research backing up RFK Jr.’s claims, a spokesperson for the National Confectioners Association, a candymakers’ trade group, told the New York Times the group “will continue to follow regulatory guidance from the authorities in this space.”
In 2027, Texas will require warning labels on food and drinks that contain certain additives. That includes the dye used to make M&M’s, NYT said.
The following year, in 2028, West Virginia, citing potential health risks, will ban foods containing most artificial food dyes and two preservatives.
What’s causing this uproar over food dyes? Despite limited research, there is a belief that artificial dyes are linked to behavioral problems in children.
The quiet revolt, already underway: Where the world has already moved beyond capitalism
This week’s “Deeper Dive” from Andrew Springer at Novice News is usually just for paid subscribers — but he made this one free. And I’m glad he did.
It’s a sharp breakdown of something I think about often: What it would actually take to move beyond capitalism — not in some abstract, burn-it-all-down way, but practically.
Springer walks through real-world examples, like Sweden’s Meidner Plan in the ’70s, which aimed to transfer corporate control to workers over time. Or the UK’s 2019 Inclusive Ownership Fund proposal under Jeremy Corbyn.
Both were democratic. Both were feasible.
Both scared the hell out of the rich.
He also points to examples already in motion here in the U.S. — from the publicly owned Bank of North Dakota to the VA health system to Alaska’s Permanent Fund.
Other things to know…
Changing this up this week…Here’s a look at other stories I’ve read recently:
Economy
Dollar Tree completed its sale of Family Dollar to two private equity firms for about $1 billion, Retail Dive reports. Dollar Tree acquired Family Dollar for $8.5 billion over a decade ago.
A new CNBC analysis ranks the ten weakest U.S. state economies in 2025, with Alaska, Mississippi and Kansas landing at the bottom. These states face headwinds like declining oil prices, weak job growth, overreliance on federal funding and vulnerability to tariffs.
Pennsylvania
The Department of Justice has asked Pennsylvania election officials to provide detailed information on how the state maintains its voter rolls, WESA reports. In a June 23 letter, the DOJ requested data on voter registration additions, removals and access controls as part of a broader review of compliance under the guise of the Help America Vote Act. Similar inquiries were sent to other states, raising eyebrows of election integrity and voting rights experts ahead of the 2026 election.
As many as 150,000 Pennsylvanians could lose their health insurance coverage in 2026 if Congress fails to renew enhanced premium tax credits, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Pennie, the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, projects average premiums could spike 82 percent next year once the federal subsidies expire. The potential increase comes alongside new federal rules requiring customers to pay full price until income is verified, which could leave another 100,000 temporarily uninsured.
An Erie restaurant that called its staff “doms” and mistresses,” offered sensually indulgent decor and required diners to pay in advance for their four-course vegan meal at about $100 per person is set to close just 10 months after opening, the Erie Times-News reports. Sauce Vegan Ristorante — which had a list of rules including no phones and an all black dress guest code — will transition to a food truck.
Jenny Lee Breakfast Nook is set to celebrate its grand opening July 16, WPXI/Pittsburgh Business Times reports. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because the restaurant, which will serve Turner’s Iced Tea during its breakfast and lunch hours, is connected to the 150-year-old McKees Rocks-based Jenny Lee Bakery, which has been known as 5 Generation Bakers since 2009. Read more about the menu from Pittsburgh magazine.
Olympic sailor Sarah Newberry Moore gave birth at UPMC Hamot in Erie after doctors successfully delayed her premature labor by 11 days, the Erie Times-News reports.
Entertainment
MAGA actor Dean Cain says James Gunn made a “mistake” calling Superman an “immigrant,” asking, “how woke is Hollywood going to make this character?” The movie soared to a $217 million global opening. Sorry, Dean Cain – of course, Superman is woke, he fights injustice, The Guardian’s Betsy Reed writes.
And, finally…
Booms over the bay.
