You shouldn’t have to cross your fingers and hope for a strong stock market to coincide with your short-term goals. And right now, .

Because you’re working within a short time frame—think two to six years—investing for shorter-term goals like buying a house or paying for a wedding should look different from the portfolio you build for retirement. But don’t stop putting away money for your long-term goals while you’re working toward your short-term ones.

So, how do you balance saving for both?

How to think about funding short-term and long-term goals

Don’t forgo saving for the long term to meet your short-term goals. Thanks to the power of , saving early can have a large impact on your long-term outcomes. The longer the time frame, the greater the potential impact. You should put retirement front and center, especially as you approach your midcareer.

Earlier in your career, you might shift your savings somewhat to shorter-term goals, but retirement should still be part of the equation. At least, take advantage of any retirement match that your employer might offer. To some extent, what you’re saving for can tip the balance as well. You might direct more of your savings away from retirement if you’re saving for a house than if you’re saving for a vacation.

Account types that work for short-term investing

It’s helpful to separate your short-term portfolio from your retirement portfolio, but there are some accounts that you can use to multitask. Depending on your situation, you might use a tax-deferred account, like a , or a taxable brokerage account. Traditional IRAs are less appealing for short-term investing because there are tax penalties when you withdraw from the account before age 59 and a half.

Unlike traditional IRAs, Roth IRA contributions can be withdrawn at any time and for any reason without taxes or penalties. That makes a Roth IRA a perfect who need to build up both an emergency fund and retirement assets. Roth IRAs also allow you to withdraw up to $10,000 of earnings (in addition to any contributions) to help pay for a down payment on a first home if the account has been open for at least five years.

Finding the right investments to meet near-term goals

Unlike a long-term portfolio, which has a timeline of 10-plus years, the main goal of a short-term portfolio should be to outpace inflation while protecting what you’ve saved. Maximizing portfolio growth is less of a priority because the added risk likely isn’t worth the reward. Being able to buy a home in three years feels very different from affording it in seven because your investments lost value in the interim.

Common mistakes that investors make are either in taking on too much risk or not enough. Some investors might assume that because stocks have beaten other asset classes over long time periods, they’re also a good choice for the short term—but they aren’t.

Other investors might stick with guaranteed products, , because they’re concerned about protecting their savings. This approach leaves them at a disadvantage because inflation will eat into the value of those savings. Holding is a good idea if your timeline is super short—less than two years.

Short-term investment portfolio examples

Explore model portfolios that show . The portfolios consist of cash and shorter-term bonds. You might include a dash of stocks for growth potential, but the bulk of your money for short-term goals should be in safer, lower-returning assets.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to 

Margaret Giles is a senior editor of content development at Morningstar.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Campgrounds, boat ramps and other facilities in at least 30 locations at federal lakes and reservoirs in six states will be closed or have their hours curtailed as of mid-May as the Trump administration tries to rapidly shrink the U.S. government.

Officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the lakes and reservoirs and their amenities for boating, camping, hiking and sightseeing, said they are dealing with staffing shortages and other budgetary restrictions.

Corps spokesman Douglas Garman said concentrating staff at fewer recreational sites will allow those sites to keep the “full range of services” that visitors expect.

The Corps’ district office in Omaha, Nebraska, which oversees facilities across a large swath of the Great Plains from western Iowa and Nebraska to Montana’s border with Canada, said the changes also will protect hydropower and dam operations.

“Decisions to make operational changes at recreation areas are not made lightly, and we understand those decisions can be disruptive to the public’s travel plans,” Garman said in an email to The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump imposed a federal hiring freeze after beginning his second term in January, and his Department of Government Efficiency is trying to eliminate tens of thousands of government jobs.

In Pickstown, South Dakota, residents were “appalled” to learn the Corps plans to close its visitor center at the Fort Randall Dam and suspend tours of the dam’s powerhouse on May 1, said Cindy Broyhill, the president of the town’s Board of Trustees.

“”We have a lot of fishing and boating, but we also have a lot of just plain tourists coming through to see the dam,” Broyhill said of Pickstown, located a little more than a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) east of the dam on the Missouri River, about 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) north of the Nebraska state line.

“I think there are other places where they could cut that would make more sense,” she added.

In western Kansas, Sue Graham, manager of Knothead’s bait shop and camping supply store on the east side of Wilson Lake, was skeptical of a plan to limit a campsite there to daytime use as of May 15. The lake is about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Kansas City, home to the Corps district office for parts of Kansas, Missouri and southern Nebraska.

Graham doesn’t think the move will save much money because the campsite is used only by residents who own boat ramps nearby, but Corps officials would “shoot themselves in the foot” if they went further because of lost fee revenues, she said, adding that she does not expect her shop to be affected.

“People are still going to come out,” Graham said.

The Kansas City district plans to close visitor information centers at two Kansas lakes including Hillsdale, outside the Kansas City area, and Kanopolis, in central Kansas. The Corps will not allow overnight camping in 25 “primitive,” no-amenities spots in two areas at Harlan County Lake in western Nebraska near the Kansas state line. The sites and water nearby still will be accessible during the day.

Emily Coffin, the district’s natural resource section chief, said the district has pursued efficiency initiatives for five or six years that will lead to fewer visitor-staff interactions. They include self-service campsite registrations, cashless parking and payments through codes scanned with smartphones.

“It just may be a little bit more noticeable because we have more of that built on than maybe we did two years ago,” she said.

In March, the Corps’ Baltimore district closed three campgrounds at Raystown Lake in central Pennsylvania and a campground, swimming beach and boat ramp at Cowanesque Lake in northern Pennsylvania.

The Omaha district announced earlier this month that it would close six campgrounds in the Dakotas on May 1, as well as three visitor centers in South Dakota and Montana. It also plans to suspend or limit tours of four South Dakota dam powerhouses and decrease tours at Fort Peck Dam in northeast Montana.

The Corps district for southeastern Washington state announced last week it was closing two visitor centers and eight camping and recreation areas there.

“By concentrating our resources, we can better maintain essential missions,” Lt. Col. Katie Werbeck, the district’s commander, said in a statement.

There was no president. There was no comedian. What remained at the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner on Saturday night were the journalists and the First Amendment.

The stripped-down festivities were a reflection of the somber tone in Washington at the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, in which he has battled with the press on multiple fronts and wrested from the correspondents’ association the power to decide which outlets have the most access to Trump.

Trump’s deeper involvement in politics began after then-President Barack Obama roasted the New Yorker’s presidential ambitions during the 2011 correspondents’ dinner. He skipped the annual gala during his first term, and his absence had been widely expected this year.

The association scrapped a scheduled appearance at this year’s dinner by comedian Amber Ruffin after she referred to the new administration as “kind of a bunch of murderers” on a podcast last month. The organization, a nonprofit that helps White House journalists provide robust coverage of the presidency, decided to forgo the event’s traditional levity and focus on celebrating journalism.

Association President Eugene Daniels said in an email to the organization’s 900 members last month that the dinner was meant to “honor journalistic excellence and a robust, independent media covering the most powerful office in the world.”

The event, which raises money for journalism scholarships, remains a highlight of the Washington social calendar. The ballroom at the Washington Hilton was still packed with journalists, newsmakers and even a few celebrities. Daniels singled out Debra Tice, whose son Austin has been missing for a decade since disappearing in Syria.

“We’ve been tested and attacked. But every single day our members get up, they run to the White House — plane, train, automobile — with one mission, holding the powerful accountable,” Daniels said.

He later showed a video of past presidents, from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, who addressed the dinner, saying that the association invites the president to demonstrate the importance of a free press in safeguarding democracy.

Trump counter-programmed the last dinner during his first term, holding a rally to compete with the event in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the 2020 dinner. This year, Trump had just flown back from Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome and had no events Saturday night.

The Trump administration has had multiple skirmishes with the press in recent months. The FCC is investigating several media companies, the administration is working to shut down Voice of America and other government-run outlets, and The Associated Press has sued the administration for reducing its access to events because it has not renamed the Gulf of Mexico in line with Trump’s executive order.

A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the administration to stop blocking the AP from presidential events. In response, the White House adopted a new press policy that gives the administration sole discretion over who gets to question Trump and sharply curtails the access of three news agencies, including AP, that serve billions of readers around the world.

For many years previously, the correspondents’ association determined which news organizations had access to limited space events.

Alex Thompson of Axios, who won The Aldo Beckman Award for his coverage of the coverup of Biden’s decline while in office, addressed complaints from some on the right that the press had gone too soft on the Democrat.

“We — myself included — missed a lot of this story, and some people trust us less because of it,” Thompson told the room of journalists. “We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows.”

Saturday’s dinner also recognized the winners of a number of journalism awards, in addition to Thompson. They included:

—The Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure (Print): Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller of the AP, for reporting on the White House altering its transcript to erase Biden calling Trump supporters “garbage.”

—The Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage Under Deadline Pressure (Broadcast): Rachel Scott of ABC News, for her coverage of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

—The Award for Excellence in Presidential News Coverage by Visual Journalists: Doug Mills of the New York Times, for his photograph of Biden walking under a painting of Abraham Lincoln.

—The Katharine Graham Award for Courage and Accountability: Reuters, for its .

—Collier Prize for State Government Accountability: AP for its series, “Prison to Plate: Profiting off America’s Captive Workforce.”

—Center for News Integrity Award: Anthony Zurcher of the BBC for his coverage of the fallout from Biden’s handling of the Gaza War.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Diana and Rick Bellamy initially planned to take a Caribbean cruise out of Houston before heading to Laurel, Mississippi, to visit the home of one of their favorite HGTV shows, “Home Town.”

The Calgary couple scrapped those plans and vacationed last month along Mexico’s Pacific coast instead, put off by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, the insults he’s hurled at their homeland, and stories about American border agents searching people’s phones and detaining foreigners for minor reasons.

She found it ironic that she felt more comfortable traveling to Mexico than the U.S.

“I never thought I would hear myself say that,” Diane Bellamy said.

Trump’s attacks on Canada’s economy and threats to make it the 51st state have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips to the U.S. in big numbers. They also seem to have also flipped the narrative heading into Canada’s parliamentary elections on Monday, with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party surging after trailing far behind in the polls just a few months ago.

A steep decline

The U.S. gets more visitors from Canada each year than from any other country, according to the U.S. Travel Association, an industry trade group, which said the 20.4 million visits from Canada last year generated $20.5 billion in spending.

But there has been a big drop in foreigners traveling to the U.S. since Trump took office, and Canadians are no exception. There were more than 910,000 fewer land border crossings from Canada into the U.S. last month than in March of 2024 — a more than 22% drop — according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. An Air Canada spokesman, meanwhile, said Canada-U.S. flight bookings for April through September are down about 10%.

Trump brushed aside the decline in tourism to the United States on Wednesday, saying, “There’s a little nationalism there I guess, perhaps. It’s not a big deal.”

Traveler worries

Since Trump started his second term, there have been well-publicized reports of tourists being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense.

On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actor and entrepreneur on a U.S. work visa, was detained by U.S. border agents in San Diego. She was released after 12 days detention.

Before Mooney’s release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: “It certainly reinforces anxiety that … many Canadians have about our relationship with the U.S. right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents faculty and staff at Canadian universities, warned its members against nonessential travel to the U.S. due to the “political landscape” under Trump and reports of Canadians encountering difficulties crossing the border.

Academics who have expressed negative views about the Trump administration should be particularly cautious about traveling to the U.S., said the group.

“People are scared to cross the border. I don’t know what Americans are thinking, quite frankly. Are they that oblivious?” said former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who has family in Florida.

Mike Sauer, who runs a community policing center in Vancouver, said he and his partner have no interest in traveling to the U.S. now because of Trump’s politics and border fears. One of Sauer’s concerns is that if a border guard were to check his cellphone, the guard might see his past purchases of marijuana, which is legal to buy in Canada and about half the 50 states but is still illegal under U.S. federal law.

“The States have a different view on drugs. They could certainly look at my phone and see I’m 420-friendly,” he said, meaning he’s marijuana-friendly. “I think it kind of depends on which border guard would have a problem with that and which ones wouldn’t.”

Dietra Wilson, 32, said when she was younger, she often visited Detroit, which is just across the border from Windsor, Ontario, where she and her husband, Ben, own a secondhand shop. She hasn’t visited much in recent years, though, and she said she’s heard of people’s worries about crossing the border since Trump moved back into the White House.

“It’s worrisome,” she said.

Ben Wilson, 37, also has qualms about trying to cross.

“Why would I want to?” he said. “Regardless of the tariffs, if I’m going to be stopped at the border for my phone or something somebody texted me, why go?”

Industry worries

The drop in Canadian tourism to the U.S. led California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent target of Trump, to announce an ad campaign this month meant to lure Canadians back to his state, citing a 12% year-on-year drop in February.

McKenzie McMillan, a consultant with a Vancouver-based travel agency, The Travel Group, said the company’s bookings to the U.S. have dried up. “We have seen a near-total collapse of U.S. business,” he said. “Probably about a 90% drop since February.”

Lesley Keyter, the CEO and founder of the Travel Lady agency in Calgary, said she’s seen people actually forfeit money to cancel their U.S. trips.

“Even if they’re going on a Caribbean cruise, they don’t want to go down to Fort Lauderdale to get on the cruise ship,” she said.

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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press reporter Corey Williams in Windsor, Ontario, contributed to this report.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Thousands of people are gathering in New Mexico for a celebration showcasing Native American and Indigenous dancers, musicians and artisans from around the world.

Billed by organizers as the largest powwow in North America, the annual Gathering of Nations festival kicks off Friday with a colorful procession of dancers spiraling into the center of an arena at the New Mexico state fairgrounds. Participants wear elaborate regalia adorned with jingling bells and dance to the tempo of rhythmic drumming.

The event also features the crowning of Miss Indian World, as well as horse parades in which riders are judged on the craftsmanship of their intricately beaded adornments or feathered headdresses and how well they work with their horses.

Powwow roots

Powwows are a relatively modern phenomenon that emerged in the 1800s as the U.S. government seized land from tribes throughout the Northern and Southern Plains. Forced migrations and upheaval during this period resulted in intertribal solidarity among Plains people and those from the southern prairies of Canada.

Alliances were formed, giving way to the exchange of songs and dances during gatherings between different tribes. In the decades that followed, powwows were advertised to pioneers heading westward as “authentic” Native American dance shows. For some, it was an exploitation of their cultures.

The word powwow was derived from pau wau, an Algonquian Narrtick word for “medicine man,” according to the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Scholars say English settlers misused the word to refer to the meetings of medicine men and later to any kind of Native American gathering.

Today, some of the large powwows like the Gathering of Nations have become more commercialized events that use dancing and drumming competitions with big prize money to provide a glimpse into Indigenous cultures.

Reconnecting with culture

At ceremonial dances, participants wear traditional regalia specific to their tribe, whereas powwow attire often is more contemporary and flashy with sequins and sparkles. It’s about dressing to impress the judges, said Warren Queton, a Kiowa Tribe legislator and adjunct instructor at the University of Oklahoma who has participated in community dancing and cultural events since he was a boy.

Queton, who served as the head gourd dancer at the university’s recent spring powwow, said ceremonial dances are deeply rooted in community, identity and cultural values.

It’s a struggle to keep traditional cultural practices and commercial powwows from being lumped into the same category, he said. They have very different meanings in Native American and Indigenous cultures.

There has been a focus on promoting smaller powwows held in tribal communities. Queton said these gatherings serve as a way for people who live elsewhere to return home and reconnect with their families and the land, and to share traditions with younger generations.

“Knowing where you come from, your land, your oral traditions, your language, but also values and traits — that can only be learned from a community,” he said. “That’s why those smaller dances are so important because people learn those community values. They’re all a part of our identity.”

Capturing good energy

There still are elements of tradition woven in to modern powwows. Competitors wear feathered bustles, buckskin dresses, fringed shawls and beaded head and hair pieces. Some of the elaborate outfits are hand-stitched designs that can take months to complete.

The sounds, movements and emotions that radiate from the dancing are challenging to capture on canvas. But Cochiti Pueblo painter Mateo Romero did just that when he partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to create a series of powwow stamps to be unveiled Friday during Gathering of Nations.

Powerfully hypnotic, atavistic and somatic is how the artist describes the dancing. One of his pieces depicts what is known as a fancy shawl dance with its dips, pivots, hops and twirls. Each tassel on the shawl flows and flips, accentuating the dancer’s movements.

Romero said he used color, thick and thin paint and soft and hard edges along with photographic elements to create something that feels alive, embedded with feeling and bright pops of color.

Romero called it a huge honor to transform powwow culture into a postage stamp filled with “good energy.”

“I look at it as a sort of vehicle to express this sentiment, the energy, the celebration, the vibration, the beauty of it,” he said. “It’s the power of it.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A private equity executive turned his Manhattan apartment into a torture chamber of “grotesque sexual violence,” prosecutors said Thursday. The 43-year-old is accused of raping six women over five months in a depraved spree in which he punched, waterboarded and shocked victims with a cattle prod and kept recordings of the assaults as trophies.

Ryan Hemphill, who remains jailed after his arrest last month, pleaded not guilty to a 116-count indictment charging him with predatory sexual assault and other crimes dating to last October. He didn’t say anything else during the proceeding, sitting quietly in a khaki jail suit with his cuffed hands clutching a cross behind his back.

If convicted, Hemphill could spend the rest of his life in prison. He was previously acquitted in 2015 of choking and holding a knife to his ex-girlfriend’s throat after testifying that he enjoyed strangling her during sex.

“We have reason to believe these six victims are only the tip of the iceberg,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Mirah Curzer told Judge Ann E. Scherzer.

Hemphill’s apartment, near the Empire State Building, was outfitted with cameras, and investigators have recovered images showing dozens, if not hundreds, of other women, many of them naked and blindfolded, Curzer said.

Hemphill met the six women through websites, including some that specialize in “sugar daddy” arrangements for women seeking wealthy romantic partners, Curzer said.

He told the women he was into role play and dominance and offered them large sums of money in exchange for companionship, though he ended up not paying some of the women or giving them fake money instead, Curzer said.

As Hemphill got to know the women, he convinced them to confide their past sexual traumas, which he then deliberately reenacted as he assaulted them, Curzer said. He took advantage of some victims’ inexperience, the prosecutor said, or crossed boundaries that victims had clearly articulated.

Hemphill is accused of tricking victims into ingesting substances that rendered them unable to fight back, using handcuffs and other restraints on them, wrapping their heads and faces with duct tape, slapping and punching them, and torturing them with a cattle prod and shock collar.

Hemphill kept one victim shackled to a bed for hours while she begged him to let her go, Curzer said. Hemphill, who is also a lawyer, touted his connections to law enforcement and threatened to have victims arrested or disappeared in a bid to keep them silent about his abuse, Curzer said. He is charged with bribing a witness.

Hemphill’s alleged conduct is “truly shocking to the conscience,” and he “has made clear that he has no regard for the law or the courts,” Curzer said.

Scherzer ordered Hemphill to remain jailed without bail after prosecutors raised concerns that his predicament, combined with his wealth and connections — law and business degrees, a history of philanthropy and family real estate holdings — could give him the means and incentive to flee the country.

Hemphill’s lawyer, a public defender assigned to represent him at least through his arraignment, had urged Scherzer to move him to a rehabilitation facility to deal with substance abuse issues.

Scherzer ruled that, given the fact pattern laid out by prosecutors, “including efforts to dissuade by force and threats to witnesses from testifying against him,” jailing him was the only way to ensure Hemphill would return to court.

Hemphill’s alleged behavior, the judge said, “shows his extent to which he’s willing to go to protect himself from facing these charges.”

Major U.S. airlines are reducing their flight schedules and revising or withdrawing their profit outlooks for the year due to less domestic travel demand as sentiment about the national and global economies sours.

American Airlines pulled its financial guidance for 2025 on Thursday, joining rivals Southwest and Delta in declaring the economic outlook too uncertain to provide full-year forecasts. All three airlines cited weakening sales among economy class leisure travelers.

“We came off a strong fourth quarter, saw decent business in January, and really domestic leisure travel fell off considerably as we went into the February time frame,” American Airlines CEO Robert Isom told CNBC.

Consumer reluctance to book vacations would correspond with steered into a recession and that President Donald Trump’s broad and haphazardly enforced tariffs will cause prices to rise.

Some economic indicators point to expectations of a slowdown. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in March, and U.S. consumer sentiment plunged in April, the fourth consecutive month of declines. However, fears of a downturn have not translated into layoffs.

Trump announced sweeping tariffs on April 2 that triggered panic in financial markets and generated recession fears, leading consumers and businesses to start pulling back on spending, which includes travel. The president put a partial 90-day hold on the import taxes but increased his already steep tariffs against China.

Beijing increased its import tax on American goods to 125% in retaliation. On Thursday China denied Trump’s assertion that the two sides were involved in active negotiations to end or mitigate their trade war.

American Airlines said it would give an update on its full-year guidance “as the economic outlook becomes clearer.” Airline executives said sales among business travelers and for premium seats on long-haul international flights remained solid.

Southwest Airlines reported late Wednesday that it would trim its flight schedule for the second half of the year due to lower demand. The company also said it could not reaffirm its 2025 and 2026 outlooks for earnings before interest and taxes, given “current macroeconomic uncertainty.”

United Airlines last week gave two different financial forecasts for how it may perform this year, one if there’s a recession and one if not. The airline said it planned to reduce its scheduled domestic flights by 4% starting in July in response to lower-than-expected demand for economy fare tickets.

“We think there is a reasonable chance things can weaken from here,” United CEO Scott Kirby said.

Delta Air Lines, the nation’s most profitable carrier, predicted as recently as January that the company was on track for the best financial year in its history. Earlier this month, the airline scratched its performance expectations for 2025 and said it was putting a planned flight schedule expansion on hold.

“With broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said at the time. “In this slower-growth environment, we are protecting margins and cash flow by focusing on what we can control. This includes reducing planned capacity growth in the second half of the year.”

The parent companies of Frontier Airlines and Alaska Airlines also pulled their 2025 guidance.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival kicks off on Thursday, bringing together a smorgasbord of the city’s most iconic homegrown artists for the next two weeks.

The festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of attendees, began in 1970 as a homage to the sounds of the birthplace of jazz and other genres with deep regional roots: blues, gospel, folk, Cajun zydeco and more. It now covers a wide range of music — headliners include Pearl Jam and Lenny Kravitz alongside hometown favorites like Lil Wayne — but remains focused on celebrating local artists and culture.

“We started out to reflect New Orleans to the world but now it’s just as much a part of New Orleans as Mardi Gras,” said Quint Davis, the festival’s longtime producer.

Davis also urges attendees to come hungry — the local flavors served up by festival celebrate the city’s renowned cuisine just as much as its music.

What’s the big deal about the food?

For some attendees, Davis says, the festival’s world-class musicians provide a soundtrack for their first priority: getting their hands on the delicious Cajun and Creole meals — from pheasant, quail and andouille gumbo to pecan catfish meunière and alligator sausage — served by local vendors.

Most of the nearly 70 different vendors have been part of the festival for several decades and “perfected their craft,” said Michelle Nugent, the festival’s food director.

“The menu we feature you can’t find anywhere else,” Nugent said. “Everything is hand-made and home-cooked.”

Robert Harrison III carries on the legacy of his late mother’s bakery, Loretta’s Pralines, which sells chocolate, rum and coconut pralines, along with a fan favorite that mixes pralines with a deep-fried dough pastry known as a beignet.

“The praline beignet — my mom was a genius for this: she took two New Orleans products that were just so French and she mashed them together,” Harrison III said. He and his staff have spent weeks preparing thousands of pralines for the festival: “It’s something that you have to love to do — my Mom loved to do it and we do too.”

Another Jazz Fest offering to drool for is the Cochon de Lait Po Boy — suckling pig slow roasted on French bread — prepared by Walker’s Southern Style BBQ.

“We dry rub all those pork butts every night and they smoke all night long,” said Shayne Brunet, whose family has operated a stall at the festival for more than two decades. They add fresh coleslaw for crunch and the family’s secret “wertie” sauce — what Brunet describes as “Creole creamy” — for a sweet kick.

“One thing you won’t find there is burgers, hot dogs, pizza, French fries, any of the normal food that you can get any other festival type of place,” said John Caluda, who runs a baking shop and pioneered the crawfish strudel, a festival mainstay that wins over skeptics with its contrasting, flavorful textures.

The strudel joins the pantheon of festival originals beside local chef Pierre Hilzim’s “Crawfish Monica” a creamy pasta dish featuring crawfish tail meat and named after his wife. It’s become one of the festival’s most popular dishes and Hilzim says he requires nearly two million crawfish to satiate the appetites of festival customers.

“To be able to put a dish in the lexicon of food in this city – I’m very humbled by that,” Hilzim said. As for attendees of the festival: “I don’t think anywhere in the world is eating better food.”

Who is playing at Jazz Fest this year?

Headliners at the festival include Pearl Jam, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Matthews Band, Luke Combs, Kacey Musgraves, Santana, Burna Boy and Lil Wayne and The Roots.

The majority of the dozens of artists playing over the course of eight days across 14 stages are native New Orleanians — Lil Wayne among them — such as Trombone Shorty, Big Freedia, Irma Thomas, Harry Connick, Jr. and Mardi Gras Indian leader Big Chief Monk Boudreaux.

This year’s festival poster features local band Tank and the Bangas, whose album “The Heart, the Mind, the Soul” won a Grammy earlier this year for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.

Lead singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball, who grew up on a street called Music, first performed at the festival as a member of her high school choir. Even after touring around the world, she says there’s nothing like performing for her city.

“When it comes time to be at home for Jazz Fest, everybody just wants to give a little extra magic to the show,” Ball said. “You want to make it extra special because your auntie is out in the crowd, your little cousins — cause it’s home.”

She’s also looking forward to the festival food — her family runs a fried chicken and jambalaya stand, and Ball says they’ll have a plate saved for after her show.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: .

PENN YAN, N.Y. (AP) — A decade ago, Scott Osborn would have eagerly told prospective vineyard owners looking to join the wine industry to “jump into it.”

Now, his message is different.

“You’re crazy,” said Osborn, who owns Fox Run Vineyards, a sprawling 50-acre (20-hectare) farm on Seneca Lake, the largest of New York’s Finger Lakes.

It’s becoming riskier to grow grapes in the state’s prominent winemaking region. Harvests like Osborn’s are increasingly endangered by unpredictable weather from climate change. Attitudes on wine are shifting. Political tensions, such as tariffs amid President Donald Trump’s trade wars and the administration’s rollback of environmental policies, are also looming problems.

Despite the challenges, however, many winegrowers are embracing sustainable practices, wanting to be part of the solution to global warming while hoping they can adapt to changing times.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between Rochester Institute of Technology and The Associated Press.

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The Finger Lakes, which span a large area of western New York, have water that can sparkle and give off a sapphire hue on sunny days. More than 130 wineries dot the shorelines and offer some of America’s most famous white wines.

At Fox Run, visitors step inside to sip wines and bring a bottle — or two — home. Many are longtime customers, like Michele Magda and her husband, who have frequently made the trip from Pennsylvania.

“This is like a little escape, a little getaway,” she said.

Traditionally, the plants’ buds break out in spring, emerging with colorful grapes that range from the cabernet franc’s deep blues to the soft greens of the region’s most popular grape, riesling. However, a warming world is making that happen earlier, adding to uncertainty and potential risks for farmers. If a frost comes after the buds have broken, growers can lose much of the harvest.

Year-round rain and warmer night temperatures differentiate the Finger Lakes from its West Coast competitors, said Paul Brock, a viticulture and wine technology professor at Finger Lakes Community College. Learning to adapt to those fluctuations has given local winemakers a competitive advantage, he said.

Globally, vineyards are grappling with the impacts of increasingly unpredictable weather. In France, record rainfall and harsh weather have spelled trouble for winegrowers trying their best to adapt. Along the West Coast, destructive wildfires are worsening wine quality.

Winegrowers as part of the solution

Many winegrowers say they are working to make their operations more sustainable, wanting to help solve climate change caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline, coal and natural gas.

Farms can become certified under initiatives such as the New York Sustainable Winegrowing program. Fox Run and more than 50 others are certified, which requires that growers improve practices like bettering soil health and protecting water quality of nearby lakes.

Beyond the rustic metal gate featuring the titular foxes, some of Osborn’s sustainability initiatives come into view.

Hundreds of solar panels powering 90% of the farm’s electricity are the most obvious feature. Other initiatives are more subtle, like underground webs of fungi used to insulate crops from drought and disease.

“We all have to do something,” Osborn said.

One winegrower’s sustainability push — and struggle to stay in business

For Suzanne Hunt and her family’s 7th-generation vineyard, doing something about climate change means devoting much of their efforts to sustainability.

Hunt Country Vineyards, along Keuka Lake, took on initiatives like using underground geothermal pipelines for heating and cooling, along with composting. Despite the forward-looking actions, climate change is one of the factors forcing the family to make tough decisions about their future.

Devastating frosts in recent years have caused “catastrophic” crop loss. They’ve also had to reconcile with changing consumer attitudes, as over the past few years, according to wine industry advocacy group Wine Institute.

By this year’s end, the vineyard will stop producing wine and instead will hold community workshops and sell certain grape varieties.

“The farm and the vineyard, you know, it’s part of me,” Hunt said. “I’ll let the people whose dream and life is to make wine do that part, and I’ll happily support them.”

Tariffs and US policy changes loom

Vinny Aliperti, owner of Billsboro Winery along Seneca Lake, is working to improve the wine industry’s environmental footprint. In the past year, he’s helped establish communal wine bottle dumpsters that divert the glass from entering landfills and reuse it for construction materials.

But Aliperti said he’d like to see more nearby wineries and vineyards in sustainability efforts. The wine industry’s longevity depends on it, especially under a presidential administration that doesn’t seem to have sustainability at top of mind, he said.

“I think we’re all a bit scared, frankly, a bit, I mean, depressed,” he said. “I don’t see very good things coming out of the next four years in terms of the environment.”

Osborn is bracing for sweeping cuts to federal environmental policies that previously made it easier to fund sustainability initiatives. Tax credits for Osborn’s solar panels made up about half of over $400,000 in upfront costs, in addition to some state and federal grants. Osborn wants to increase his solar production, but he said he won’t have enough money without those programs.

Fox Run could also lose thousands of dollars from retaliatory tariffs and boycotts of American wine from his Canadian customers. In March, Canada on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods — including wine.

Osborn fears he can’t compete with larger wine-growing states like California, which may flood the American market to make up for lost customers abroad. Smaller vineyards in the Finger Lakes might not survive these economic pressures, he said.

Back at Fox Run’s barrel room, Aric Bryant, a decade-long patron, says all the challenges make him even more supportive of New York wines.

“I have this, like, fierce loyalty,” he said. “I go to restaurants around here and if they don’t have Finger Lakes wines on their menu, I’m like, ‘What are you even doing serving wine?’”

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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska bill that would bar transgender students from bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams that correspond with their gender identity has advanced from the first of three rounds of debate — but with a caveat.

Sen. Merv Riepe, who helped tank an effort to pass a similar bill last year, agreed Tuesday to provide the 33rd vote needed to break a filibuster against the bill. But only if the bill’s sponsor agrees to support his amendment to remove language that would ban bathroom and locker room use, leaving only the ban on sports participation. That amendment will be introduced in the next round of debate, Riepe said.

“They’ve agreed to it,” Riepe said of the bill’s main sponsors. “They know if they don’t, I’ll kill it in the next round.”

The bill from Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth is a reprisal of one she has introduced repeatedly in recent years. It was billed in 2023 as a companion to another Kauth measure restricting gender-affirming medical care for minors. The medical care bill passed and was enacted, but the bathroom and sports bill failed to advance from committee.

Last year, the measure failed to break a filibuster when Riepe and fellow Republican Sen. Tom Brandt joined with 15 Democrats and an independent in the officially nonpartisan Legislature to kill it.

This year, the measure gained the vocal backing of Republican Gov. Jim Pillen, who placed it among his legislative priorities for the year, and the bill was rebranded as the “Stand With Women” act.

In that vein, lawmakers who supported the measure spent much of the debate arguing that it was needed to protect women’s safety in intimate spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms and to guard women’s sports from ostensibly stronger and faster transgender competitors.

“This is not fairness,” Republican Sen. Loren Lippincott said of transgender women competing in women’s sports. “It’s a setback for women’s sports.”

Opponents argued that the bill is discriminatory and targets a population already vulnerable to bullying and abuse.

Some also took issue with the idea that women need protection from transgender people.

“As a woman, I don’t need protection from transgender women,” Sen. Wendy DeBoer said. “If I need protection — if I need it at all — it’s from a cisgender man.”

Kauth pushed back aggressively, sometimes using descriptions offensive to the transgender community.

“If your definition of women is men who believe that they’re women, then you’re incorrect,” she said. “A trans woman is a man.”

Protesters against the bill wandered the rotunda just outside the legislative chamber doors during the debate. But they remained more subdued than in years past, when hundreds of protesters chanted against anti-trans measures. About 30 supporters of the bill wearing shirts that read “Stand With Women” filled the seats of one of the chamber’s public viewing balconies.

Following the vote, at least one person yelled from the balcony, “Shame on you! Shame on you guys!”

A can be a powerful tool when saving for future education expenses because investments in the plan can increase tax-free, but many savers don’t take full advantage of all the benefits that 529 plans have to offer.

One common deterrent to investing through a 529 plan is the concern that assets in a 529 account will reduce financial aid eligibility. While it’s true that 529 assets have an impact on financial aid, the effect is likely smaller than you think.

Do 529 plans affect financial aid?

The short answer is yes. An increase in the means to naturally means the beneficiary is eligible for less need-based aid.

However, assets in a 529 plan have a lesser impact on financial aid packages than income does. A student’s federal financial aid is based on an estimate of what a family can contribute annually from their income and assets. Income is the largest portion of this measurement of a student’s ability to pay for college, which is represented by the Student Aid Index, or SAI, on the , or FAFSA. The SAI replaced the expected family contribution, which was previously used on the application.

Typically, the SAI calculation expects parents to use 25% to 35% of their adjusted available income to cover college costs, though that number can go as high as 47%. Parental contribution from assets, including 529 account balances, is assessed at a much lower maximum of 5.64%. So, if a family has a 529 account with $10,000, this raises the expected family contribution by at most $564 and reduces the federal aid package by the same amount.

A 529 plan’s impact depends on who owns the account

The impact of 529 assets on a beneficiary’s financial aid package depends on who owns the account. As outlined above, if the plan is owned by the beneficiary’s parent, then 5.64% of the account’s value is considered in the SAI, which determines a student’s financial aid eligibility on the FAFSA.

On the other hand, if the plan is owned by the student, then up to 20% of the account value may be considered in calculating financial aid eligibility.

With as part of the FAFSA Simplification Act that took effect for the 2024-25 academic year, 529 accounts owned by grandparents or other relatives are not considered student assets and won’t impact the beneficiary’s financial aid.

Siblings’ 529 assets don’t count for federal financial aid

After the FAFSA Simplification Act, assets in 529 accounts are counted as parental assets only for the beneficiary of the account. That means, if you have 529 accounts set up for your other children, the assets in those accounts are no longer counted toward the expected family contribution. As mentioned above, accounts owned by grandparents or other relatives will also be excluded from determining federal financial aid eligibility.

Financial aid eligibility differs between FAFSA and CSS profile

There are also schools that use the College Scholarship Service, or CSS, Profile (primarily private schools) to calculate their financial aid packages. The CSS Profile’s formula to calculate aid differs from FAFSA’s. For instance, the CSS Profile asks for all 529 accounts owned by the beneficiary’s parents, whereas the FAFSA only counts 529 accounts for which the student is the beneficiary. Moreover, the CSS Profile is customized by the institution, so each school can have its own formula to calculate its aid packages. While each school that uses CSS Profile information applies its own standards, this estimates what your family might be expected to pay.

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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to 

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials said they plan to phase out eight petroleum-based artificial colors from the nation’s food supply, triggering an overhaul of scores of brightly hued products on American store shelves.

Details of the plan are expected to be announced Tuesday afternoon by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, who have advocated the change as part of Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

The officials are expected to spell out a regulatory path for removing the color additives, a process that typically requires public notice and agency review. It would be a sweeping change for U.S. food producers, who would likely replace the dyes with natural substitutes.

Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods, citing mixed studies indicating they can cause neurobehavioral problems, including hyperactivity and attention issues, in some children. The FDA has maintained that the approved dyes are safe and that “the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives.”

The FDA currently allows 36 food color additives, including eight synthetic dyes. In January, the agency announced that the dye known as Red 3 — used in candies, cakes and some medications — would be banned by 2028 because it caused cancer in laboratory rats.

The dyes Kennedy wants to remove are used widely in the U.S. foods. In Canada and in Europe — where artificial colors are required to carry warning labels — manufacturers use natural substitutes.

Some U.S. states, such as California and West Virginia, recently enacted laws that ban artificial colors and other additives from school meals, and in some cases, the broader food supply.

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Aleccia reported from California.

___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

NEW YORK (AP) — As economic uncertainty deepens worldwide, gold prices have notched more and more record highs.

That’s because gold sales can rise sharply when anxious investors seek “safe havens” for parking their money. Gold’s current rally arrives as U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s announces new tariffs on economic allies and foes alike, roiling financial markets and threatening to reignite inflation for families and businesses alike.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund said that outlooks for economies worldwide, including the U.S., have significantly worsened in the wake of Trump’s sweeping tariffs and the uncertainty they have created. And Trump’s recent threats suggesting he can remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have only put investors more on edge.

If trends continue, analysts say the price of gold could continue to climb into unprecedented territory.

Here’s what to know.

What’s the price of gold today?

The going price for New York spot gold hit a record $3,424.24 per troy ounce — the standard for measuring precious metals — as of close Monday. That’s about $1,097 higher than a year ago.

The price of spot gold is up more than 30% since the start of 2025, per the data firm FactSet. By contrast, the stock market has tumbled. The benchmark S&P 500 is down over 12% this year.

Gold futures also reached a record early Tuesday, briefly surpassing the $3,500 mark for the first time before falling closer to $3,444 by mid-morning.

Why is the price of gold going up?

A lot of it boils down to uncertainty. Interest in buying gold typically spikes when investors become anxious — and there’s been a lot of economic turmoil in recent months.

The heaviest uncertainty lies with Trump’s escalating trade wars. The president’s on-again, off-again new levy announcements and retaliatory tariffs from some of the nation’s closest traditional allies have created a sense of whiplash for both businesses and consumers — who economists say will foot the bill through higher prices.

Consumer confidence and global economic outlooks have deteriorated as a result. On Tuesday, the IMF said that the global economy will grow just 2.8% this year, down from its forecast in January of 3.3%. And for the U.S. specifically, the fund expects growth will come in at just 1.8% this year, down sharply from its previous forecast of 2.7%. China, which currently faces the heaviest levies from the U.S., is also expected to see weakened growth.

Last week, Trump also renewed threats suggesting he could remove Powell — and has since stepped up his public criticism of the Fed chair for not cutting interest rates. Any attempt to unseat Powell would likely set off a crisis in global financial markets over fears that a less independent Fed could struggle to keep inflation under control — making investors all the more anxious.

Over the last year, analysts have also pointed to strong gold demand from central banks around the world amid other ongoing geopolitical tensions, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

Is gold worth the investment?

Advocates of investing in gold call it a “safe haven” — arguing the commodity can serve to diversify and balance your investment portfolio, as well as mitigate possible risks down the road. Some also take comfort in buying something tangible that has the potential to increase in value over time.

Still, experts caution against putting all your eggs in one basket. And not everyone agrees gold is a good investment. Critics say gold isn’t always the inflation hedge many say it is — and that there are more efficient ways to protect against potential loss of capital, such as derivative-based investments.

The Commodity Futures Trade Commission has also previously warned people to be wary of investing in gold. Precious metals can be highly volatile, the commission said, and prices rise as demand goes up — meaning “when economic anxiety or instability is high, the people who typically profit from precious metals are the sellers.”

And even gold’s current rally has seen some volatility. The price of spot gold fell for several days following Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2, for example.

If you do choose to invest in gold, the commission adds, it’s important to educate yourself on safe trading practices and be cautious of potential scams and counterfeits on the market.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stores selling secondhand clothes, shoes and accessories are poised to benefit from President Donald Trump’strade war even as businesses the world over race to avert potential damage, according to industry experts.

American styles carry international influence, but nearly all of the clothing sold domestically is made elsewhere. The Yale University Budget Lab last week estimated short-term consumer price increases of 65% for clothes and 87% for leather goods, noting U.S. tariffs “disproportionately affect” those goods.

Such price hikes may drive cost-conscious shoppers to online resale sites, consignment boutiques and thrift stores in search of bargains or a way to turn their wardrobes into cash. Used items cost less than their new equivalents and only would be subject to tariffs if they come from outside the country.

“I think resale is going to grow in a market that is declining,” said Kristen Classi-Zummo, an apparel industry analyst at market research firm Circana. “What I think is going to continue to win in this chaotic environment are channels that bring value.”

The outlook for preowned fashion nevertheless comes with unknowns, including whether the president’s tariffs will stay long enough to pinch consumers and change their behavior. It’s also unclear whether secondhand purveyors will increase their own prices, either to mirror the overall market or in response to shopper demand.

A new audience courtesy of sticker shock

Jan Genovese, a retired fashion executive, sells her unwanted designer clothes through customer-to-customer marketplaces like Mercari. If tariffs cause retail prices to rise, she would consider high-end secondhand sites.

“Until I see it and really have that sticker shock, I can’t say exclusively that I’ll be pushed into another direction,” Genovese, 75, said. “I think that the tariff part of it is that you definitely rethink things. And maybe I will start looking at alternative venues.”

The secondhand clothing market already was flourishing before the specter of tariffs bedeviled the U.S. fashion industry. Management consulting firm McKinsey and Co. predicted after the COVID-19 pandemic that global revenue from preowned fashion would grow 11 times faster than retail apparel sales by this year as shoppers looked to save money or spend it in a more environmentally conscious way.

While millennials and members of Generation Z were known as the primary buyers of used clothing, data from market research firm Sensor Tower shows the audience may be expanding.

The number of mobile app downloads for nine resale marketplaces the firm tracks — eBay, OfferUp, Poshmark, Mercari, Craigslist, Depop, ThredUp, TheRealReal and Vinted — increased by 3% between January and the end of March, the first quarterly gain in three years, Sensor Tower said.

The firm estimates downloads of the apps for eBay, Depop, ThredUp and The RealReal also surged compared to a year earlier for the week of March 31, which was when Trump unveiled since-paused punitive tariffs on dozens of countries.

Circana’s Classi-Zummo said that while customers used to seek out collectible or unusual vintage pieces to supplement their wardrobes, she has noticed more shoppers turning to secondhand sites to replace regular fashion items.

“It’s still a cheaper option” than buying new, even though retailers offer discounts, she said.

A tariff-free gold mine lurking in closets and warehouses

Poshmark, a digital platform where users buy and sell preowned clothing, has yet to see sales pick up under the tariff schedule Trump unveiled but is prepared to capitalize on the moment, CEO Manish Chandra said.

Companies operating e-commerce marketplaces upgrade their technology to make it easier to find items. A visual search tool and other improvements to the Poshmark experience will “pay long dividends in terms of disruption that happens in the market” from the tariffs, Chandra said.

Archive, a San Francisco-based technology company that builds and manages online and in-store resale programs for brands including Dr. Martens, The North Face and Lululemon, has noticed clothing labels expressing more urgency to team up, CEO Emily Gittins said.

“Tapping into all of the inventory that is already sitting in the U.S., either in people’s closets or in warehouses not being used,” offers a revenue source while brands limit or suspend orders from foreign manufacturers, she said.

“There’s a huge amount of uncertainty,” Gittins said. “Everyone believes that this is going to be hugely damaging to consumer goods brands that sell in the U.S. So resale is basically where everyone’s head is going.”

Stock analysts have predicted off-price retailers like TJ Maxx and Burlington Stores will weather tariffs more easily than regular apparel chains and department stores because they carry leftover merchandise in the U.S.

Priced out of the previously owned market

Still, resale vendors aren’t immune from tariff-induced upheavals, said Rachel Kibbe, founder and CEO of Circular Services Group, a firm that advises brands and retailers on reducing the fashion industry’s environmental impact.

U.S. sellers that import secondhand inventory from European Union countries would have to pay a 20% duty if Trump moves forward with instituting “reciprocal” tariffs on most trading partners and eliminates an import tax exception for parcels worth less than $800, Kibbe said.

A circular fashion coalition she leads is seeking a tariff exemption for used and recycled goods that will be offered for resale, Kibbe said. Trump already ended the duty-free provision for low-value parcels from China, a move that may benefit sellers of secondhand clothing by making low-priced Chinese fashions pricier, she said.

James Reinhart, co-founder and CEO of the online consignment marketplace ThredUp, said the removal of the “de minimis” provision and the 145% tariff Trump put on products made in China would benefit businesses like his. He doubts creating resale channels would make a big difference for individual brands.

“Brands will explore this and they may do more, but I don’t see them massively changing their operations,” Reinhart said. “I think they’re going to be figuring out how to survive. And I don’t think resale helps you survive.”

Rebag, an online marketplace and retail chain that sells used designer handbags priced from $500 to tens of thousands of dollars, expects tariffs to help drive new customers and plans to open more physical stores, CEO Charles Gorra said.

Gorra said the company would analyze prices for new luxury goods and adjust what Rebag charges accordingly. The two historically rose in tandem, but Rebag could not match Chanel’s 10% price increase last year because of lower resale demand, Gorra said.

“That has nothing to do with the tariffs,” he said. “Consumers are feeling priced out.”

Norah Brotman, 22, a senior at the University of Minnesota, buys most of her own clothes on eBay. She also thrifts fashions from the 1990s and early 2000s at Goodwill stores and resells them on Depop.

If tariffs upend the economics of fast fashion and discourage mindless consumption, Brotman would count that as a plus.

“I would love if this would steer people in a different direction,” she said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Revelers wearing decorated hats and costumes participated in the annual Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival in New York City on Sunday.

This gallery, curated by Associated Press photo editors, highlights images from the holiday event in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.

Sam Rutledge and his wife have a baby due in mid-July, so they thought they had a few more months to research and buy the gear they’ll need.

But President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in early April turned the couple’s slow walk into a sprint. In the past few weeks, they’ve bought two strollers, a car seat, a nursery glider, a crib and a high chair. All of them are made overseas.

“These are all pretty expensive under normal conditions, but when it became clear tariffs were coming we decided to buy them in case they became prohibitively expensive,” said Rutledge, who is a high school physics teacher.

Raising a child in America has never been cheap. In the first year alone, it costs an average of $20,384, according to Baby Center, a parenting website. But tariffs – ranging from 10% for imports from most countries to 145% for imports from China — will make it many times more expensive for new parents.

An estimated 90% of the core baby care products and the parts that go into making baby paraphernalia – from bottles and diaper pails to strollers and car seats – are made in Asia, according to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, a U.S. trade group. The vast majority come from China.

“Overseas manufacturing has been the norm in our industry for decades,” said Lisa Trofe, the association’s executive director.

It wasn’t always this way. When Munchkin Inc. CEO Steven Dunn founded his company in 1991, it made baby bottles in California with tooling from New Jersey. But over the years, the manufacturers he used shut down and the cost of doing business in the U.S. skyrocketed. Now, about 60% of Munchkin’s 500 products, from a $5 sippy cup to a $254 Night Owl Stroller with headlights, are made in China.

In response to the tariffs, Dunn halted orders from China and instituted a hiring freeze at Munchkin’s California headquarters, where 320 people are employed. Dunn expects Munchkin will run out of some products within three months.

“There is no possibility of being able to pass on those tariffs” to customers in the form of price increases, he said.

Dunn said he tried to reduce his dependence on China in recent years, shifting some manufacturing to Vietnam and Mexico. He also spent a year communicating with American manufacturers to see if one could make Munchkin’s new Flow Nipple Shield, which allows a breastfeeding mother to see if her milk is flowing. But most said they couldn’t make the complex silicone product, Dunn said. It’s now made in Vietnam.

“There’s not enough tool makers and manufacturing expertise and automation and skilled labor in the U.S. to make the thousands of products the juvenile industry needs,” Dunn said.

Multiple baby brands and companies contacted by The Associated Press didn’t respond or said they weren’t commenting on the tariffs, including Graco, Chicco, Britax, Nuna, Dorel Juvenile, UppaBaby, Evenflo and Bugaboo.

The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association said it asked the Trump administration for a tariff exemption, arguing that baby products are essential for children’s well-being. Trump exempted some baby products, including car seats and high chairs, from import taxes during his first administration. But he hasn’t said whether he would consider doing so again.

The Associated Press left a message seeking comment with the White House.

Nurture&, a company that makes a popular nursery glider and other baby furniture, said it’s trying to be transparent about the impact of tariffs.

In a recent email, the company told customers it started lowering prices on some items when the tariffs hit. The company, which was founded in 2020, said it would keep those lower prices in place until April 30, but after that it may not be able to absorb the full cost of the import duties.

“These are large purchases, these are investments, and this is a very sensitive life stage,” Nurture& Chief Merchant Jill Gruys said. “We want people to make the best decision for their budget and their family.”

Elizabeth Mahon, the owner of Three Littles, a baby store in Washington, said she’s worried the tariffs will make essential products too expensive for some families.

Mahon volunteers twice per month at the Department of Motor Vehicles, where she teaches people how to buckle their kids safely into car seats. Some families still must be persuaded to use car seats, she said. Mahon fears higher prices would be another deterrent.

“No one is dying if they can’t buy a toy, but if they don’t have access to car seats, kids will get seriously injured,” she said.

At her own store, Mahon is getting notices that some manufacturers plan to introduce steep price increases in May. She feels lucky she could rent a storage facility and build up inventory ahead of the tariffs. For many small businesses, she said, the extra costs are “a death sentence.”

At The Little Seedling baby shop in Ann Arbor, Michigan, owner Molly Ging said she would normally be putting in Christmas orders at this time of year. Instead, she’s sorting through price increase notices from many of the vendors she works with.

“It’s a lot to manage, and I just have no idea how it’s going to play out,” she said.

Business is brisk right now, with customers hoping to beat tariff-related price increases. But Ging worries about her 13 employees – all moms who bring their kids to work – and about whether she can maintain enough inventory to meet future demand.

“Babies don’t stop being born because there’s tariffs,” she said.

Marijuana culture’s high holiday, known as 4/20, falls this year on Easter Sunday, as well as the last day of Passover, meaning cannabis fans can celebrate in some unusual ways, including an “Easter nug hunt” in Los Angeles, kosher-style THC gummies in New York and a “blaze and praise” drag brunch in Portland, Oregon.

“It seemed appropriate with egg prices today that we’d be searching for something else,” said Brett Davis, who runs the marijuana tour company Weed Bus Los Angeles and organized the “Easter nug hunt.”

Here’s a look at 4/20’s history and how it’s being celebrated this year:

Why 4/20?

The origins of the date, and the term “420” generally, were long murky.

Some claimed it referred to a police code for marijuana possession or was derived from Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35,” with its refrain of “Everybody must get stoned,” 420 being the product of 12 times 35.

But the prevailing explanation is that it started in the 1970s with a from San Rafael High School, in California’s Marin County north of San Francisco, who called themselves “the Waldos.”

A friend’s brother was afraid of getting busted for a patch of cannabis he was growing in the woods at nearby Point Reyes, so he drew a map and gave the teens permission to harvest the crop, the story goes.

During fall 1971, at 4:20 p.m., just after classes and football practice, the group would meet up at the school’s statue of chemist Louis Pasteur, smoke a joint and head out to search for the weed patch. They never did find it, but their private lexicon — “420 Louie” and later just “420” — would take on a life of its own.

The Waldos saved postmarked letters and other artifacts from the 1970s referencing “420,” which they now keep in a bank vault, and when the Oxford English Dictionary added the term in 2017, it cited some of those documents as .

How did 4/20 spread?

A brother of one of the Waldos was a close friend of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, as Lesh once confirmed in an interview with the Huffington Post, now HuffPost. The Waldos began hanging out in the band’s circle, and the slang term spread.

Fast-forward to the early 1990s: Steve Bloom, a reporter for the cannabis magazine High Times, was at a Dead show when he was handed a flyer urging people to “meet at 4:20 on 4/20 for 420-ing in Marin County at the Bolinas Ridge sunset spot on Mt. Tamalpais.” High Times published it.

“It’s a phenomenon,” one of the Waldos, Steve Capper, now 69, once told The Associated Press. “Most things die within a couple years, but this just goes on and on. It’s not like someday somebody’s going to say, ‘OK, Cannabis New Year’s is on June 23rd now.’”

While the Waldos came up with the term, the people who made the flier that was distributed at the Dead show — effectively turning 4/20 into a holiday — remain unknown.

How is it celebrated?

With weed, naturally.

In New York City, the cannabis brand Tokin’ Jew is advertising a kosher-style THC gummy line, “Tokin’ Chews,” designed to meet dietary restrictions for Passover.

Davis said he expected 300 people to partake in the West Hollywood Easter nug scavenger hunt this weekend, aided by a mobile app leading them through participating dispensaries, trivia challenges and “stoner activities.” There is a $500 cash prize.

In Portland, Bar Carlo is hosting the “blaze and praise” drag brunch. Cannabis consumption isn’t allowed onsite — “Please blaze before you arrive or go for a walk in the neighborhood in between performances,” the event listing reads — but there will be a door-prize gift basket from a local dispensary.

Bar owner Melinda Archuleta said the brunch is a dry run for hosting Pride month events in June. She herself doesn’t care much for marijuana, but as a Mexican American who has been influenced by Catholicism, she is interested in seeing the two cultures melded “in a cheeky way.”

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how the queens do it,” Archuleta said. “We’ve obviously given them carte blanche to do whatever they want — it’s 21 and up — so it doesn’t matter if it’s sacrilegious or borderline offensive.”

There are bigger celebrations, too, including the Mile High 420 Festival in Denver and one put on by SweetWater Brewing in Atlanta. Hippie Hill in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park historically has attracted massive crowds, but the gathering was canceled for a second straight year, with organizers citing a lack of financial sponsorship and city budget cuts.

Just north of the Bay Area, Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California, releases its “Waldos’ Special Ale” every year on 4/20 in partnership with the term’s coiners.

4/20 also has become a big industry event, with vendors gathering to try each other’s wares.

What about the politics?

There are 24 states that allow recreational marijuana and 14 others allowing it for medical purposes. But the movement recently has suffered some setbacks, with voters in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota deciding not to adopt legalization measures last November.

Several states also have cracked down on intoxicating products derived from hemp, which have been widely sold even in prohibition states thanks to a loophole in the federal Farm Bill.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. As a candidate, President Donald Trump said he would vote for Florida’s amendment and signaled support for reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a process started by the Biden administration.

But his administration has not indicated cannabis policy is a priority. A released by the White House last month complained that marijuana decriminalization in Washington, D.C., was an example of “failed policies” that “opened the door to disorder.”

A bipartisan group of senators last week reintroduced legislation that would ensure states can adopt their own cannabis policies and remove certain financial hurdles for the industry, such as letting entities deduct business expenses on their taxes.

Charles Alovisetti, a lawyer with the cannabis industry law firm Vicente LLP, said he hopes the administration will push forward with marijuana reform at the federal level, saying “it does align with some of their policy objectives — namely reducing criminal activity, or cartel activity.”

He also encouraged advocates to keep pushing, noting some measures such as improving banking access for marijuana businesses might pass as part of larger legislative packages.

“You continue speaking up, even if the political momentum isn’t there,” Alovisetti said. “It’s only possible if you stay in everyone’s ear.”