Category: MA

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS

NEW YORK (AP) — Levi Strauss is set to finally part ways with Dockers — inking a deal to sell its brand once credited with propelling the popularity of “Casual Fridays” to Authentic Brands Group.

In an announcement Tuesday, the denim giant said it had agreed to sell Dockers to Authentic for up to $391 million. The transaction will start at an initial value of $311 million, with the potential of adding another $80 million to the price tag based on business performance under the new ownership.

The sale arrives as San Francisco-based Levi Strauss boosts its focus on the chain’s core Levi’s brand — as well as Beyond Yoga, which the company acquired in 2021, as more and more consumers continue to cozy up to athleisure wear.

Selling Dockers “further aligns our portfolio with our strategic priorities,” Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass said in a statement, while thanking the Dockers team for their commitment to building the brand, which she said “continues to be the authority on khaki.”

Jamie Salter, founder and CEO of New York-based Authentic, called Dockers a “natural fit” for his company’s model. Dockers “played a key role in shaping casual workwear as we know it today, and we see significant potential to build on that legacy and grow the brand across a variety of categories,” he said.

Levi Strauss launched Dockers back in 1986, and the brand soon became a “Casual Friday” staple. Many office workers turned to Dockers’ khakis and looser button-downs in the place of more traditional business attire. While it was not the sole — or very first — creator of dressed-down office looks, Dockers has been widely-credited as an integral part to “Casual Friday’s” rise, particularly in the 90s.

But the nearly 40-year-old brand has struggled some in recent years — notably since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many shoppers traded their khakis for more comfortable clothes, like yoga pants and other athleisure, as they began working from home. And even with returns to the office, many dress codes remain more relaxed than they were before.

Levi Strauss said it began to “evaluate strategic alternatives” for Dockers in October of last year, citing recent underperformance at the time.

On Tuesday, Levi Strauss said it expected to close Dockers’ sale to Authentic around July 31 for the U.S. and Canada, pending customary closing conditions, and in January 2026 for remaining operations.

In its 2024 fiscal year, Levi Strauss reported profit of $210.6 million and revenue of $6.36 billion.

In light of the rapidly shifting landscape for global trade, it’s imperative to recognize the critical but often overlooked backbone of the country’s infrastructure and its dependence upon market access: the recycled materials industry.

Each year, 30% of domestically recycled materials are exported, directly supporting 50,000 American jobs. U.S. exports are crucial to the American economy as they reduce America’s trade deficit and ensure continued domestic operations, which spur greater investments in U.S. innovations, operations and workers.

Without access to these global markets, U.S. recyclers could not source and supply raw materials relied upon in domestic manufacturing, putting the national supply chain at risk and affecting everything from energy infrastructure to consumer goods.

The recycled materials industry contributed $170 billion to the economy, directly and indirectly supported nearly 600,000 jobs, according to a report by the Recycled Materials Association. Those numbers will continue to grow, but only with trade policies that support market access abroad.

Some trade trends are troubling. For example, several European governments indicated in February that they may end the export of their recycled steel, which would have a cascading effect globally and damage the U.S. recycled materials industry and other industries. It would also undermine the European Union’s climate objectives.

The materials provided by recyclers worldwide are the first link in global manufacturing supply chains, which is why recent efforts by several EU states to restrict exports of recycled steel pose a significant threat to recyclers and manufacturers that rely on recyclable commodities to fulfill more than 40% of the global raw material needs.

While most recyclables are consumed domestically in the United States and the EU, both economies are net exporters to global manufacturers that seek sustainable inputs. The needs of consumers worldwide drive the demand for recycled materials, and governments should not take steps to intervene in these markets.

Recycled materials play a crucial role in the nation’s infrastructure — in tunnels and train tracks, transportation and piping systems, and in ports and the ships they receive. The bulk of the structure of North American-made cargo ships is made with recycled steel. Bridges are made with recycled steel — indeed, 70% of all steel manufactured in the United States is “green steel” made from recycled material.

The recycled materials industry’s contributions to infrastructure are ubiquitous at the residential level in any American neighborhood. The sidewalks that flank residential roadways are enhanced with recycled rubber. The drainage pipes underneath roads are crafted with recycled plastics, as is the asphalt that covers roads.

Ensuring that this core industry remains vibrant and vital hinges on providing market access for recycled materials. It is not optional; it is critical for our nation’s future and the industries and livelihoods touched by recycled materials.

Robin Wiener is the president of the Recycled Materials Association.

“Dancing in the Dark” is Bruce Springsteen’s most poppy song. It’s got that big hook. It was remixed to be spun by club DJs. Its video features a doe-eyed Courteney Cox.

“The original is really peppy, really fun,” Ward Hayden told the Boston Herald. “But it’s a song of despair. It’s a song about not knowing where to go, not being happy with your situation and blindly trying to find your way out.”

Ward Hayden & the Outliers’ take on the tune slows it down and frames the grim lyrics — “Stay on the streets of this town and they’ll be carvin’ you up alright/They say you gotta stay hungry, hey baby, I’m just about starvin’ tonight.”

“I felt like we might have done it the way he wrote it,” Hayden said.

New England’s best honky tonk and alt country outfit, the Outliers spent the last couple years digging through Springsteen’s catalog. The results are two albums of cover songs — “Little By Little” came out last month with release parties at the Lizard Lounge on May 22 and 23; follow-up “Piece By Piece” will be out in the fall.

The impulse for the LPs came from Hayden hearing a fellow country singer tear down Springsteen in an interview, saying people should stop listening to him.

“I was a little bit disturbed by it,” Hayden said.

The idea was to go into the studio and record two songs as a sort of counterpoint — “Brilliant Disguise” and “Cadillac Ranch.” But, with no real mission or intention, Springsteen tribute sessions continued over a few years and across a couple studios. Between these sessions, Ward Hayden & the Outliers released a set of originals — 2023’s excellent, twang-and-ballad filled “South Shore” which features the very Boss-like “(Breaking Up with) My Hometown.” Eventually, Hayden decided the band had spent too much time and money to not put out the covers.

“Once we had the 16th song (done), I said, ‘We’ve got to prioritize this,” he said. “But we couldn’t fit it all on one vinyl so there are two. So many of these songs just lent themselves so well to a country lean with elements of early rock ‘n’ roll and a lot of the styles that we do.”

Some of the songs dig into novel reinventions like “Dancing in the Dark” — a fiddle doubles the iconic harmonica line “Promise Land;” “If I Should Fall” highlights Hayden’s distinctive voice (a magic set of pipes somewhere between Roy Orbison and Dwight Yoakam). Others relax into the barn burners they always wanted to be, see “Cadillac Ranch.”

“We tried some that didn’t work,” Hayden said with a laugh. “But Springsteen might be more country than people realize. He was inspired by Hank Williams according to his autobiography.”

Hayden is right about the country connection. Last week, Springsteen released the very-Ward Hayden & the Outliers “Repo Man,” a song from shelved 1995 country album “Somewhere North of Nashville” — the record will be released June 27 as part of Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums.” Maybe the Boss should return the favor and record a set of Outliers songs. A natural starting point would be “(Breaking up with) My Hometown.”

For tickets and details, visit wardhaydenandtheoutliers.com

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is set to overpay Medicare Advantage plans by up to $2 trillion over the ten years – in no small part thanks to private insurers duping the federal government.

The alternative to traditional Medicare promises all the benefits of traditional Medicare in one neat private package. But the reality of Medicare Advantage is mishandled payments and improper reporting, which costs taxpayers billions in overspending on healthy patients.

There has been no better time for DOGE to step in.

Change is needed now because Medicare Advantage plans are so popular. Medicare Advantage plans are similar to patients’ private or employer-sponsored coverage that they would have had before Medicare Advantage. Instead of the government directly covering Medicare patients, it funnels money to private insurers who then offer patients a few plans to choose from on the open market.

Private insurers consistently overbill the American taxpayer. A recent report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the nonpartisan body that advises CMS, estimated that Medicare Advantage plans cost the government and taxpayers 22% more than traditional Medicare.

The estimated savings if the Department of Government Efficiency were to take its proverbial chainsaw to the program’s mistakes? $83 billion in 2024 alone. Cutting improper payments within Medicare Advantage would amount to nearly double the total government savings so far thanks to DOGE’s actions.

The crux of the Medicare Advantage payment problem lies in these private insurers. They are the middlemen between the government and patients, so it’s ultimately up to them to determine how much they charge each side.

Yet it would be an overstep to say the program should not exist. Medicare Advantage serves a clear purpose for recipients looking for most of Medicare’s benefits wrapped up in a single private plan, but the insurers looped in as middlemen are hijacking the system.

Private insurers have gotten away with overbilling for years thanks to a few shady practices. The most egregious of these is “upcoding” – where Medicare Advantage plans consistently diagnose Medicare patients as sicker than they are and upcharge the government as a result. Insurers will send employees to patients’ homes, administer “Health Risk Assessments” not backed by physicians, and direct doctors to diagnose patients with far more severe conditions than expected.

Overcharging Medicare patients and the government isn’t something that’s out of the realm of possibility – as outsourcing healthcare to the private sector comes with built-in costs. Plan administrators take 12 cents of every dollar spent on Medicare Advantage plans just to cover administrative costs.

In tandem with lowering costs, these insurers also need to demonstrate some amount of accountability and transparency before we continue to let them run these programs unchecked. In 2023, insurers made 50 million prior authorization decisions before administering care, potentially sidelining patients from life-changing treatments. Plan administrators must be clear about their prior authorization criteria so that patients can make informed decisions about their care.

But it’s this ingrained expectation to trust insurers over patients that drains taxpayer dollars to an unjustified degree. Medicare Advantage plan enrollment is climbing, projected to grow to 42 million recipients by 2040. Each new enrollee increases the likelihood of abuse from insurers.

Luckily lawmakers from both parties are taking notice of this abuse – a rare instance in a bitterly divided government. For Democrats looking to limit private sector influence in healthcare and Republicans looking to cut unnecessary spending, tackling the Medicare Advantage cost problem is a win-win.

Healthcare advocates like Senator Bill Cassidy have pushed bills like the No UPCODE Act that remove incentives for private insurers to overcharge for care. Former Rep. Katie Porter advanced a similar bill in 2023 calling for increased transparency for Medicare Advantage plans. But more can still be done.

The effects on patients are obvious. I know colleagues that see patients every year on Medicare Advantage plans that are upcharged for no logical reason, and countless others are unhappy with their lack of care thanks to prior authorization. Yet Medicare Advantage can work as intended with a few policy tweaks.

Medicare Advantage is a vital part of the healthcare ecosystem – but it needs serious changes so it can continue to thrive.

Dr. Juliette Madrigal has been a practicing physician for 19 years. 

The three frontwomen who are playing at Sonia tonight have a few things in common, including all being friends. They were all on major labels during the ‘90s. They all had next-big-thing status at least once. And they’ve all proven to be first-class singer/writers of hard-edged pop songs.

Headlining the gig is ex-Fuzzy/Shepherdess/Monsieurs member Hilken Mancini, promoting her first official solo-band album. Mary Lou Lord, who went from busking the subways to indie acclaim, is coming out of semi-retirement to open the show. And if the Cujo doesn’t sound familiar, the name of co-leader Jen Trynin — a local favorite who made two Warners albums in ’94 and ‘97 — probably will.

Hilken Mancini’s always had a split musical personality: She can write gorgeous pop hooks, but also likes to turn it up and rock out. Both sides are in evidence on the album, though the pop side is a bit more pronounced; the opening “Set My Sights” is one of the catchier local songs you’ll hear this year. And it was written largely by accident.

“My records always come out sounding sweeter than I do live,” she said. “Set My Sights’ was the name of a Fuzzy song that we never released, recorded some time ago at J Mascis’ house. We couldn’t access the tapes so I was trying to pull that song out of my brain. And when we got the tapes back, of course it sounded totally different.” Making a solo album with her band (which includes Fuzzy bassist Winston Braman, Tsunami drummer Luther Grey and ex-Heavy Stud guitarist Melissa Gibbs) wasn’t intentional either; she was intending to continue an ongoing collaboration with Chris Colbourn, who got too busy with his regular band Buffalo Tom (he still appears on a few songs). “Then the pandemic happened. I didn’t like it that people were sick and dying, but it meant I could finally stop doing too much and get some writing done.”

Mancini has always been a mover and shaker, she cofounded two successful enterprises — Girls Rock Camp and Punk Rock Aerobics — and also runs the 40 South Street vintage store in Jamaica Plain. “What fuels me is probably anxiety, and what soothes me is work. As I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that’s how I am, I always need to be doing something. Even in Fuzzy, I was in a band with my best friend, my boyfriend and the Lemonheads’ drummer, and I was not having a good time. That’s over now but I definitely have a crazy work ethic.”

In Mancini’s view, a good club gig is more satisfying than playing to thousands of people — and she should know, having been invited with the Monsieurs to open for the Foo Fighters at Fenway Park in 2018. “I was running Girls Rock Camp that day, and I like to tell them that ‘Our music and our sound is going to fill the streets of Boston.’ Then I went to soundcheck and our music literally filled the streets near Fenway. So that felt pretty great.”

Jen Trynin’s return to music was a long time coming, after the major-label experience left her feeling bruised and used up (she even published a memoir about it, “Everything I’m Cracked Up to Be”). She only started the Cujo because a friend, bassist Matt Tahaney, kept pestering her to be in a band. And when they started writing songs together, she was amazed at how much she enjoyed it — especially since it turned out louder and more attitudinal than what she’d done previously. “It’s really the first time I’ve written with anything else, and some of these songs just make me laugh. Like our song ‘I Don’t Even Want You’ — it sounds so much like ‘70s and ‘80s leather metal music that it’s ridiculously wonderful. That blatant kind of childishly overt sexuality — I love that and I’ve missed it.”

Some of the Cujo tracks were produced by her late husband Mike Denneen, the well-respected producer and Q Division founder (she was widowed in 2018, another reason she shied away from music). “I spent a few years just hallucinating,” she says. She does plan on making more music, though in a more serious vein: She’s writing a second memoir about her widowhood, with an accompanying set of songs. And she will play a few of her old local hits during the Cujo set this week.

“What I literally want to do right now is to make up with music, like it’s an old friend. I had such a rough relationship with music than I want to say, ‘I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad partner.’ We all have things we have to live through. But when you start feeling like you want to rock, I think you owe it to other people to go out there and rock.”

Mary Lou Lord has always been fueled by her love of other peoples’ music; so it happened that after years offstage (mainly due to a shoulder injury) she saw a recent gig by English artist Nick Saloman, aka the Bevis Frond, a longtime friend and collaborator. “I saw Evan Dando recently as well. The fact that they’re still out there playing, as good if not better, was inspirational to me. It meant that you don’t have to retire just because you’re older. So I went home and wrote a song, a little pop song, with some of Nick’s help. The song itself is no big deal, but it was a big deal that I wrote it.”

The song, probably called ‘On the Radio’ is partly about her friend Elliott Smith, but it’s not a sad farewell. “It’s about hearing a million kids singing his songs, which is really heartwarming. So the radio is kind of metaphorical, but nobody wants to sing words like ‘Youtube’ or ‘Spotify’.”

Americans’ confidence in the economy slumped for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as anxiety over the impact of tariffs takes a heavy toll.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.9 points in April to 86, its lowest reading since May 2020. Nearly one-third of consumers expect hiring to slow in the coming months, nearly matching the level reached in April 2009, when the economy was mired in the Great Recession.

The figures reflect a rapidly souring mood among Americans, most of whom expect prices to rise because of the widespread tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. About half of Americans are also worried about the potential for a recession, according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center.

“Rattled consumers spend less than confident consumers,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, in an email. “If confidence sags and consumers retrench, growth will go down.”

UPS to slash 20,000 jobs

UPS is looking to slash about 20,000 jobs and close more than 70 facilities as it drastically reduces the amount of Amazon shipments it handles.

The package delivery company said Tuesday that it anticipates making the job cuts this year. It anticipates closing 73 leased and owned buildings by the end of June. UPS said that it is still reviewing its network and may identify more buildings to be shuttered.

“The actions we are taking to reconfigure our network and reduce cost across our business could not be timelier,” CEO Carol Tomé said in a statement on Tuesday. “The macro environment may be uncertain, but with our actions, we will emerge as an even stronger, more nimble UPS.”

The electrification of everything is the biggest shake up the global energy system has seen in decades. Unfortunately, the route to the future is hung up by the culture wars of the energy transition and the fight against climate change. That’s putting pressure on the advocates of electric vehicles, heat pumps and wind turbines to address the risks their vision carries.

Confronting them is increasingly important as power consumption booms. Since 2010, global electricity demand has grown almost twice as fast as total energy use. The trend is likely to continue, in part because of electron-hungry new technologies, like data centers and artificial intelligence, and in part simply because the world is getting richer.

At the same time, the way the world meets electricity demand is changing beyond recognition: Weather-dependent generation sources like solar panels and wind turbines are becoming the largest source of incremental supply in contrast to the dependable sources the world has relied on for the past century — atomic reactors, coal-fired power plants and large hydropower projects.

Still, the global mindset when it comes to energy security is firmly focused on the geopolitics of fossil fuels and the Middle East, rather than in the new world of electrons. Energy officials have yet to map properly the risk implications of electrifying everything. Fortunately, governments are starting to wake up to them.

The International Energy Agency, which was born out of the 1973 oil shock, is proposing to elevate “electricity security to a strategic policy priority.” In a confidential background paper ahead of a meeting on energy security organized with the UK government in London April 24-25, it told delegates that “electricity security is more important than ever.” Hardly anyone in Britain would disagree: Only a few weeks ago, Heathrow Airport shut down after a single transformer at an old substation caught on fire.

And on Monday, Spain and parts of Portugal were hit with widespread power outages. As the New York Times reporter, E-Redes, the national energy supplier of Portugal, said “the interruption was due to a problem in the European electricity grid.”

Unfortunately, green activists, who hardly see any problem with electrifying everything, believe any concerns represent little more than attempts to delay a needed transition away from fossil fuels. Climate deniers only see trouble in renewables, EVs and the other greener technologies, forgetting all the risks that oil, gas and coal bring along. In between both positions lies the reality.

The first risk of electrifying everything is meeting the huge extra demand for electrons. From 2025 to 2027, global electricity consumption is expected to rise every year by the equivalent of what Japan consumes today. If renewables can’t match that increase, alternative sources will be needed. Sadly, China is still relying on coal-fired stations to meet the growth in electricity demand. That’s a huge risk for the environment.

Often forgotten as the growth in renewable generation attracts headlines, coal is still the world’s favorite source of electricity, providing just over a third of all the electrons. Add natural gas and the two account for roughly 50% of the world’s electricity supply.

The second risk is matching a demand that requires 24/7 supply with a generation system that, at the margin, depends today on whether the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. “Systemic challenges will emerge from balancing increasingly renewable-dominated grids during extended low-generation periods,” the IEA said in its confidential paper, which was seen by Bloomberg Opinion.

In plain English: It’s unclear how the grid will work when the weather isn’t helping. That’s a reality that the IEA — and renewable advocates — have long downplayed. It’s refreshing that it is now acknowledged openly.

There’s an additional headache. Under pressure to meet green targets, utilities are shutting down so-called dispatchable power plants that can be turned on and off on demand, like atomic reactors and coal- and gas-fired plants. Germany, which shut all its nuclear power stations, is a textbook example. “Current vulnerabilities stem from premature retirement of dispatchable generation without adequate replacements,” the IEA warned.

The third risk is the spiderweb-like grid that connects hundreds of power plants, substations, and consumers. Bottlenecks mean that renewable plants often have to wait months, if not years, to start producing. The not-in-my-backyard attitude means that investments needed to accommodate more renewable production are delayed. If investment in overhead power lines is lacking, spending in the last few miles of connection is even more sorely missing. The world needs many more transformers and low-tension distribution lines to accommodate the growth in demand. Investment in grid storage is also lacking.

The fourth risk is the special nature of electricity. Supply and demand of electrons must match every second, every minute, every hour, every day. The coal, gas, and oil markets have many buffers and stockpiles, smoothing out any glitches. Electricity doesn’t have that luxury. That makes the system more vulnerable. A pylon that goes down can trigger a regional blackout; a cyberattack can disconnect large swatches of the network.

The fifth risk is price volatility. Compared to fossil fuels, electricity prices have swung incredibly over the last five years. In Germany, day-ahead wholesale power prices had been since 2020 as high as €687 ($782) per megawatt hour and as low as minus €5 per MWh. The extreme volatility means not only pain for consumers, but also difficult investment decisions by producers. Renewable energy — and the need for costly gas-fired power plants as backup during bad weather periods — are the main reason behind that volatility.

The first step to solve a problem is to acknowledge it. It’s good news that governments are openly talking about the risks of well-intended green policies. Now, the job is to start addressing them. Flagging the problem isn’t climate denialism. It’s electricity realism.

Javier Blas is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities. He is coauthor of “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.”/Tribune News Service