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Look what you made her do Taylor Swift has announced her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”Swift announced the album on her website shortly after a countdown timer expired at 12:12 a.m. Tuesday. No release date was announced, but her site said vinyl editions of the album would ship before Oct. 13.Fans have long theorized that Swift’s 12th album would soon arrive. On Monday, Taylor Nation an official branch of the pop superstar’s marketing team posted a TikTok slide show of 12 images with the caption “Thinking about when she said ‘See you next era'” Swift is seen wearing orange in every image.A special limited vinyl edition of the album will be released in “Portofino orange glitter,” according to a pre-order page on her site. A special cassette edition is also available for pre-order.Sensing a pattern, eagle-eyed fans noticed that 12 minutes earlier, the popular “New Heights” podcast posted a tease for Wednesday. The show, hosted by Swift’s boyfriend and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce alongside his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce, posted an orange image on social media with a mysterious silhouette, many believing to be Swift.The podcast announced early early Tuesday that Swift would would appear on “New Heights” and a teaser video posted about her appearance showed her pulling the album from a briefcase. The actual album artwork, just as it is on her website, is blurred.“The Life of a Showgirl” follows last year’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her record-breaking tour, which raked in over $2.2 billion across two years and five continents, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.The album is also her first release since Swift regained control over her entire body of work. In May, that pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings originally released through Big Machine Records from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music. The project was instigated by Hybe America CEO Scooter Braun’s purchase and sale of her early catalog and represents Swift’s effort to control her own songs and how they’re used. Previous “Taylor’s Version” releases have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new “from the vault” music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work.So far, there have been four rerecorded albums, beginning with “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” in 2021. All four have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.Swift’s last rerecording, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the most No. 1 albums in history. Maria Sherman, AP Music Writer
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President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law will result in less income for the poorest Americans while sending money to the richest, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Monday.The CBO estimates that the 10% of poorest Americans will lose roughly $1,200 a year as they experience restrictions on government programs like Medicaid and food assistance, while the richest 10% of Americans will see their income increase by $13,600 from tax cuts. Overall, American households will see more income from the tax cuts in the legislation, including middle income households, but the largest benefit will go to the top 10% of earners.The CBO’s report comes as lawmakers are away from Washington, many taking their messages about the bill to voters. Republicans muscled the legislation deemed “the big, beautiful bill” by Trump through Congress in July. Democrats all vehemently opposed the legislation, warning that its tax cuts and spending priorities would come at the expense of vital government aid programs and a ballooning national debt.“This really is a big, beautiful bill for billionaires, but for the poor and the working class in this country, you are actually poorer,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, in an MSNBC interview on Monday.Changes to eligibility for government food assistance under the law will impact millions of Americans, the CBO found. Roughly 2.4 million people won’t be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under new work requirements for many recipients. Low-income Americans could also see their income reduced through further restrictions on food aid and other types of assistance included in the law.Already, more than 10 million Americans are expected to lose health insurance by 2034 due to changes to Medicaid under the law.Following release of the report, Rep. Jason Smith, the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he took issue with CBO’s methodology, repeating criticism he has made in the past.“CBO has a troubled track record of getting its estimates incorrect and, like Democrats, is biased in favor of more federal spending and higher taxes,” Smith said on social media. “Don’t buy it.”Republicans have been eager to sell the upsides of the legislation arguing that the tax cuts will spur economic growth while they are on a monthlong summer break from Washington. But those who have held townhalls in their home districts have often been greeted by an earful from voters and activists.“Tax the rich,” the crowd in Lincoln, Neb. chanted last week as Republican Rep. Michael Flood attempted to defend the bill.Still, Trump has been undeterred.“President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is putting America First like never before, delivering huge savings for hardworking families, boosting our economy, and securing our borders,” said White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson in a statement last week. Stephen Groves, Associated Press
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Heads up, Elon? AST SpaceMobile, a Texas-based startup that designs and manufactures satellites with aims of challenging companies like SpaceX, saw its stock price shoot closer to the moon after it announced second-quarter earnings on Monday. The catalyst appears to be that the companys plan to deploy as many as five dozen satellites into orbit by next year is actually taking flight, and is fully funded, per AST’s earnings report. We are confirming our fully-funded plan to deploy 45 to 60 satellites into orbit by 2026 to support continuous service in the US, Europe, Japan, and other strategic markets, including the U.S. Government,” Abel Avellan, founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We also have planned orbital launches every one to two months on average during 2025 and 2026.” At the same time, the company reported widening losses of $99.4 million for the second quarter of 2025, compared to $72.6 million for the same period last year. Shares in AST SpaceMobile Inc (Nasdaq: ASTS) were up almost 13% in premarket trading on Tuesday as of this writing. Half dozen satellites already in orbit The company currently has six satellites in orbit, Avellan added, so the deployment of dozens more would signify a huge increase in its current presence in space. Its goal is to create a space-based cellular broadband network to rival SpaceX’s Starlink, which could help connect smartphones and computers to the internet in areas where terrestrial coverage gaps exist. We are on target to complete 40 satellites equivalent of microns by early 2026 to support full voice, data, and video space-based cellular broadband services, Avellan said. Starlink is only one of several potential rivals in this space, however. For instance, Apple is currently backing Globalstar, while Amazon has Project Kuiper. In all, it seems that space is about to get less emptyat least in orbit, where numerous companies are competing for an advantage.
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