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Commercial Real Estate

Commercial Real Estate Demand Is On The Rise Throughout The US 

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According to a new index from the National Association of Realtors, a multitude of markets throughout the US are showing an increased demand for commercial real estate throughout the country. 

South Carolina, in particular, ranked the highest among all US states in future potential demand for commercial real estate. The National Association of Realtors works to provide a clear vision for investors throughout America when it comes to pursuing their next big venture. The data they report utilizes figures from local economies and past patterns to predict future demand. 

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This specific index looks at over 300 metropolitan markets, analyzing office, industrial, retail, and multifamily sectors while measuring the economic conditions within each region, CNBC reports. 

Government data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau for population and movement also helped inform the rankings. The office sector looked at growth in professional and business services employment. For industrial they looked at manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing employment growth. 

The NAR also measures growth in retail trade along with leisure and hospitality employment. In the multifamily sector, they incorporated population growth and net migration domestically and internationally. 

“It doesn’t say, ‘OK, go there and just buy property,’ but it says … where the data shows that the momentum is building, the demand is building,” Nadia Evangelou, principal economist and director of real estate research at NAR, said. 

The association also compared those selected markets to 2022, which is considered the peak of the pandemic migration boom. According to the index, out of all the markets analyzed, Raleigh, North Carolina is the only major one that is stronger today than it was in 2022. 

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Austin, Texas, Miami and Naples, Florida, once considered to be “superhot” markets, have all declined within the market within the past four years. 

Within the index the strongest metropolitan market is St. George, Utah due to their office employment growth. 

“It also has very strong population growth and in-migration, and its industrial demand is above average,” Evangelou said. 

“So St. George, for example, is the No. 1, because one industry happened to have a good year, so there is a broader momentum over there.”

Evangelou also said that small and midsized markets could provide some of the best opportunities for investors. 

The index also broke down where each of the four sectors is seeing their strongest demand, which includes Salem, Oregon and Fairbanks, Alaska. 

“When we take a look at New York, San Francisco and the big coastal markets, we see that the large markets are still generally weaker than the fast-growing Sunbelt and smaller markets in this index,” said Evangelou.

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Protests In US Have Massively Increased Since Trump’s First Term 

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After the first year of Donald Trump retaking office, the number of protests in the United States have increased greatly when compared to the same point in his first administration. The Crowd Counting Consortium, an open-source project collaboration with Harvard University’s Kennedy School and the University of Connecticut, reported that there were more than 10,700 protests in 2025. 

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This marks a 133% increase from the 4,588 recorded back in 2017 during the first year of Trump’s first term. 

According to the data from Crown Counting Consortium, a large majority of US counties have had at least one protest since he was placed back in office last year; this includes the 42% of counties that voted for Trump in the 2024 election. 

“It is a very historic time, in the sense that people are mobilizing where they live in ways that I don’t think I have seen before in my lifetime,” said Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist and co-director of the Crowd Counting Consortium.

Some of the most prominent protests have had to do with the main headlines to come out for the Trump Administration from his first year in office. There has been multiple coverage of protests for trans youth healthcare, the US’s support of Israel in Gaza, Elon Musk’s involvement in government, and anti-ICE movements as federal agents raid a multitude of US cities.

Chenoweth stated that more protests have not just occurred, but have been highly coordinated, organized, and scheduled, especially the No Kings and Hands Off protests. 

The project stated normally flash points of protests have been “localized to big cities or a march on Washington, and we’re not seeing that, we’re seeing very diffused protest mobilization all around the country.” 

What’s also significant is where these protests are occurring. Many notable movements have been occurring in red and rural pockets of the US that voted for Trump.

“It definitely cuts against the narrative that protest is confined to major cities, to the coasts, and to predominantly liberal areas where it doesn’t change anybody’s mind.”

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Looking back at Trump’s first term, there were a few major spikes in protests such as the 2018 student walkouts after the Parkland high school shooting, the summer 2018 protests regarding immigrant family separations, and the 2020 Black Lives Matter movements and protests following the killing of George Floyd. 

Most recently, protesting has been occurring throughout nearly the entirety of 2025 and into 2026 over ICE deployments in multiple states and major cities throughout the country. In Minneapolis, many are protesting following the killing of Renee Good during and ICE interaction on January 7th. 

“What’s really notable now is how much grassroots, improvised and then organized response there is to ICE operations,” said Chenoweth. 

“The defining feature of [the Minneapolis ICE] protests is absolutely focused on that issue and sense of outrage, and just finding unbearable and intolerable, the way the administration is approaching this.”

Cheneweth stated that the US is at an “inflection point” when it comes to the growth in nonviolent protesting, and these movements help to give citizens a real sense of agency in wake of feeling powerless and hopeless. 

“This is a very important thing for people to feel and internalize when the more dominant narrative is otherwise.”

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TikTok Facing New Privacy Investigation From Europe Over China Data Transfers 

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Popular social media app TikTok is facing a new privacy investigation from the European Union due to user data being sent to China, regulators stated this week. 

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The Data Protection Commission opened up the inquiry as a follow up to a previous investigation that ended earlier this year with a 530 million euro ($620 million) fine. The fine was enforced after it was found that TikTok put its user’s data at risk of being exposed and spied on by allowing remote access from China. 

TikTok’s European headquarters are based in Dublin, Ireland, so the Irish national watchdog will be serving as TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the 27-nation EU. 

During a previous investigation, TikTok told the regulator that they didn’t store European user data in China, and the data itself was remotely accessible by staff in China. 

Later on, it backtracked and stated that some data had been stored on Chinese servers, and the watchdog responded by stating they would consider regulatory action, according to the Associated Press.

“As a result of that consideration, the DPC has now decided to open this new inquiry into TikTok,” the watchdog stated.

“The purpose of the inquiry is to determine whether TikTok has complied with its relevant obligations under the GDPR in the context of the transfers now at issue, including the lawfulness of the transfers,” the regulator said, referencing the General Data Protection Regulation which is the European Union’s privacy rules.  

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TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance, and has been under scrutiny from multiple nations over how they handle personal user information and data. Western officials specifically believe that the app poses a security risk which the EU has also cited. 

“Our teams proactively discovered this issue through the comprehensive monitoring TikTok implemented under Project Clover,” the company said in a statement. 

“We promptly deleted this minimal amount of data from the servers and informed the DPC. Our proactive report to the DPC underscores our commitment to transparency and data security.”

Under the GDPR, European user data can only be transferred outside of the bloc if there are safeguards in place. These safeguards ensure a certain level of protection, and only 15 countries or territories are deemed to have an equal data privacy obligation as the EU.

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EU Hits Apple And Meta With $797 Million Antitrust Fine For Breaching Digital Markets Act 

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The European Union has fined tech giants Apple and Meta with a combined €700 million ($797 million) fine for breaching the Digital Markets Act. This marks the first enforcement of the EU’s digital competition law. 

According to CNN, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has fined Apple and Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, €500million ($570 million) and €200 million ($228 million) correspondingly. 

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Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, said that the EU’s decision is an “attempt to handicap successful American businesses.”

“This isn’t just about a fine; the Commission forcing us to change our business model effectively imposes a multibillion-dollar tariff on Meta while requiring us to offer an inferior service.”

The European Commission performed a year-long investigation in which they found that for a period last year, Meta had removed their users ability to use certain versions of its platforms that don’t process as much personal data unless they paid an extra fee. 

In November 2023, Meta took on a “consent or pay” advertising model in which European users of Facebook and Instagram were forced to either consent to “personal data combination” for personalized advertisements or pay for an ad-free version of the platforms, according to reports.

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A year after implementing that model, Meta introduced another free personalized advertising program that “processes less personal data.” The European Commission stated that they are currently assessing the new model to see if it aligns with their rules. 

The commission also found that Apple broke rules within the DMA as well. One of the rules stated that app developers that are distributing their apps in Apple’s App Store should have the ability to inform customers of alternative offers outside of the store and allow them to make those purchases if they see fit. 

However, due to Apple’s own restrictions, “consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers,” the European Commission said in a statement.

An Apple representative said that the fine is “another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting [the company and forcing it] to give away the technology for free.”

“We have spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for. Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way,” the representative stated.

Both Apple and Meta must pay their fines within 60 days or they could risk additional penalties.

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Up To 300,000 Australian Facebook Users To Receive Potential Payouts From Cambridge Analytica Settlement

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Hundreds of thousands of Australian Facebook users who had their data harvested as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal could be compensated after Meta agreed to a $50 million settlement with Australia’s privacy regulator, according to reports. 

The settlement announcement was made by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) last week. It’s been a four-year legal battle against Meta, as well as two years since a $725 million legal settlement was made in the US. 

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“[The new settlement represented] the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia,” said Elizabeth Tydd, The Australian information commissioner.

“It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter; gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program; and brings to an end a lengthy court process,” Tydd said.

Back in 2018, the Observer published an article that exposed Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis company, for harvesting millions of Facebook profiles to assist the campaign of Donald Trump and the pro-Brexit campaign in the UK. 

The company collected the data through a personality quiz. They collected information from the users who took the quiz as well as the information about their friends on Facebook. In 2020, the OAIC launched legal action in Australia alleging a breach of privacy of Australian users.  

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Court documents stated that there’s an estimated 53 people in Australia that installed the quiz app through Facebook. The app was called ‘This is Your Digital Life.’ Since the app also collected data from users’ friends, an estimated 311,127 individuals were affected. 

Meta agreed to set up a payment scheme run by a third-party administrator from early next year. Individuals who will be eligible for compensation need to have had a Facebook account between November 2013 and December 2015. They also would’ve had to be present in Australia for more than 30 days throughout that time period and either had the quiz app or were friends with someone who did.

“We settled as it is in the best interest of our community and shareholders that we close this chapter on allegations that relate to past practices no longer relevant to how Meta’s products or systems work today,” the spokesperson for Meta said. 

“We look forward to continuing to build services Australians love and trust with privacy at the forefront.”

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1 In 3 Americans Might Have Undiagnosed Iron Deficiency: “An Underappreciated Public Health Problem”

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According to a new study that analyzed data from over 8,000 individuals, about 1 in 3 Americans might have an undiagnosed iron deficiency. Iron deficiency can cause levels of fatigue, brain fog, difficulty concentrating, heart palpitations, hair loss, and more.  

The study itself was published last week in JAMA Network Open. It reported that 14% of the 8,000+ individuals studied had low iron blood levels, known as absolute iron deficiency, and 15% had the “right” iron levels, however, their bodies didn’t know how to use the mineral properly, which is known as functional iron deficiency. 

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In general, doctors don’t normally screen adults for iron deficiency, which is one of the reasons cited that many people may have it without knowing. Researchers weren’t surprised by the results of their study, as previous data has shown that iron deficiency may be more of a “widespread issue” that doctors know, NBC reported.

“This is a common yet underappreciated public health problem,” said study co-author Leo Buckley, a clinical pharmacology specialist. 

“What’s unique about our study is we were looking at regular people who would not otherwise have been screened or tested.”

“[While iron deficiency] is almost never life-threatening, it’s a tremendous quality of life thing,” said Hematologist Dr. Andrew Eisenberger, an associate professor of medicine at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

“Tens of millions of people in the U.S. are basically running on fumes either because there isn’t enough fuel in the tank or because the tank isn’t connecting to the engine well,” said Eisenberger.

“In our society we are hardwired to be at peak performance. With this tremendous prevalence of iron deficiency, so many people can’t do their best.”

One of the biggest hopes of the study is that it will bring greater attention to the issue and ideally raise awareness for both doctors and patients to realize the problem is much more common than we think. 

Doctors typically screen patients for anemia during routine blood testing, however, that test simply measures the levels of red blood cells in an individual’s body, and someone can have a “normal” amount of cells while still having iron deficiency. 

“This is an incredibly preventable disease,” Eisenberger said. 

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“So many people come to me who have had this problem for years and years and years, but their doctors have missed it, ignored it or just didn’t know what to do about it. People suffer tremendously. It’s one of the most satisfying things to take care of because people’s quality of life markedly improves.”

The Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers were responsible for the new study and utilized information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey which collected data from the years 2017 to 2021 from 8,021 adults. Participants in the study were on average around 48 years old. 

Buckley stated that doctors should focus on individuals who exhibit symptoms of iron deficiency for testing in the future. Additionally, they should pay attention to individuals who are at high risk, such as pregnant women. 

“The average pregnant woman needs 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams of additional iron,” Eisenberger said.

“Many women don’t have their iron levels checked till late in pregnancy. At that point, there’s not enough time to fix it before the woman delivers and the fetus has spent the entire pregnancy with not enough iron.”

“Low iron levels in a pregnant woman have been associated with long-term cognitive impairment in children, small size at birth and early delivery,” Eisenberger said.

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Children Who Are Considered Obese Are Twice As Likely To Develop Multiple Sclerosis, According To New Study

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Children who are considered obese could face more than double the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS) as adults, according to a new study from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. 

MS can impact the brain and spinal cord. It causes a range of potential symptoms such as problems with arm or leg movement, sensation, balance, or vision. MS can also lead to serious disability throughout one’s life. 

The Karolinska Institute will be presenting the findings of their study at the European Congress on Obesity in May in Venice. 

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Previous research has speculated that there is a link between high body mass index (BMI) in adolescence and a larger risk of MS in adulthood, however, most of the studies that suggested this were using self-reported data, so it was difficult to arrive at an accurate conclusion. 

With this particular study, the researchers wanted to evaluate the risk of developing MS by utilizing a large population of obese children to compare with the general population.

According to reports from the Guardian, researchers analyzed data from the Swedish Childhood Obesity Treatment Register, which utilizes a database known as Boris. This institute is one of the world’s largest registries for treatment of childhood obesity.

The study looked at data from more than 21,600 children with obesity aged two to 19 who joined the registry between 1995 and 2020. The children, on average, started their treatment for obesity when they were around 11-years-old. They also compared that data to more than 100,000 children without obesity to get the greatest comparison possible. 

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The children monitored in the study were tracked for about six years, and during the follow-up period, 28 of those with obesity were diagnosed with MS (0.13% of the group) and 58 in the group without obesity (0.06% of the group). 

Within both groups, the average age of the MS diagnosis was 23-years-old. 

“Despite the limited follow-up time, our findings highlight that obesity in childhood increases the susceptibility of early-onset MS more than twofold,” the authors stated. 

“One of the effects of obesity in childhood is that it causes a low-grade but chronic inflammation, and most probably this inflammation increases the risk to develop several diseases such as MS,” study authors, Emilia Hagman, an associate professor, and Prof Claude Marcus, said.

“It is also believed that chronic low-grade inflammation increases the risk for other such diseases as asthma, arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and some forms of cancers. However, we know that weight loss reduces the inflammation and most likely the risk to develop such diseases.”

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Former Disney Star Bridget Mendler Is Launching A Satellite Data Startup 

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Former Disney star Bridget Mendler, known for appearing in programs like “Good Luck Charlie,” “The Clique,” “Lemonade Mouth,” and more, is not embarking on a new venture that will change how satellite data moves from space back down to Earth. 

Mendler has spent the past several years gaining various degrees and studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as Harvard Law School. Mendler spoke to CNBC about her new career in the space industry as CEO of Northwood Space, a startup based in El Segundo, California. She began this journey after “falling in love with Space law” throughout her educational journey. 

“The vision is a data highway between Earth and space. Space is getting easier along so many different dimensions but still the actual exercise of sending data to and from space is difficult. You have difficulty finding an access point for contacting your satellite.”

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According to Mendler, Northwood will mass produce ground stations, which are normally large with circular antennas that connect to satellites in space. 

Northwood is also already attracting high-profile venture investors with around $6 million in initial funding. Some of these investors include the Founders Fund. Andreessen Horowitz, and Also Capital. 

Besides Mendler, Northwood has two other co-founders, the startups Chief Technology Officer, and her husband Griffin Cleverly, as well as head of software Shaurya Luthra. 

Mendler told CNBC that the name “Northwood” comes from a lake in New Hampshire, where she was with her family during the Covid-19 pandemic when the idea for the company came to her. 

“While everybody else was making their sourdough starters, we were building antennas out of random crap we could find at Home Depot … and receiving data from [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] satellites.”

“For me, why the ground-side matters is because it actually is about bringing the impacts of space home to people,” Mendler said.

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Cleverly told the news outlet that the general growth of the space industry proves that there is a “colossal” amount of data currently trying to travel back to Earth from various satellites. 

“We need an approach so that those companies can get the data down reliably in the quantities that they need,” Cleverly said. 

Northwood is working to start their initial operations quickly. They want to build ground stations with fast production and deployment flexibility as the priority, according to Luthra, who also said that they want to deliver these ground stations “within days, not months.” Luthra explained that this will make it easier for current satellite operators to avoid reconfiguring their networks. 

“If you want a detected antenna, you have to wait 18 months to get the antenna delivered, installed, and built out for you,” said Luthra. 

Northwood will also be reaching out to services who don’t want to spend the money to build their own ground station networks. 

“Traditionally, when I wanted an antenna or site to use, I would first have to ask, ‘Do you have availability, or is it already rented out to everyone else in the world?’ A lot of times very key sites were already rented out,” Luthra said.

Northwood is aiming to conduct their first connection test with a spacecraft currently in orbit later this year.

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What Health Officials Are Saying About New Covid Variant JN.1

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JN.1 is the newest fast-spreading variant of Covid-19, and is now the most widely circulating version of the virus, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

According to reports from the Alabama Local News, JN.1 is an offspring of the Omicron variant, and currently accounts for 66% of the current positive cases of Covid-19; an increase from the 44% two weeks ago. 

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In a statement, the CDC said that “Covid-19 activity is currently high. Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths have increased in recent weeks. JN.1 may be intensifying the spread of Covid-19 this winter.”

Covid-19 infections, however, are not causing severe disease as frequently as it was. The CDC’s recent report showed that while cases are up by 27% compared to this time last year, the number of Covid-related illnesses requiring emergency room visits are down by 21%. 

Overall Covid-19 hospitalizations are 22% lower when compared to 2023, and the total deaths associated with Covid is down by 38%. The CDC cited the immune protections provided by vaccines, prior infections, or the combination has led to these lower percentages. 

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“Over 97% of people have natural or vaccine-induced antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19. This immune protection can fade over time but tends to last longer for preventing severe disease than for preventing infections.”

While the JN.1 specifically hasn’t caused more severe illness for those who contract Covid-19, the symptoms are similar. ALN reported that these symptoms include: sore throat, congestion, runny nose, cough, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, fever, chills, loss of taste or smell, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

NBC News reported that of these symptoms, healthcare facilities have reported more upper respiratory symptoms followed by congestion and cough. The symptoms that were more common in earlier Covid-19 cases, such as loss of taste or smell and diarrhea, are much less present. 

All diagnostic Covid-19 tests, including common rapid antigen tests and PCR tests, are effective at detecting the JN.1 variant, as well as other variants. The CDC also reported that the variants are impacted by antiviral treatments as well.

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14% Of Adults Worldwide Are Addicted To Ultra-Processed Food, Researchers Say

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Experts have stated that one in seven adults and one in eight children are impacted by addiction to ultra-processed foods (known as UPFs). The new research has led to individuals wanting certain products to be labeled as addictive.

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