Stephen King fans are already hyped for the return of Bill Skarsgard as the infamous killer clown Pennywise in HBO Max’s It prequel series, It: Welcome to Derry. Now co-creator and director of the 2017/2019 movies, Andy Muschietti, has teased something more than originally expected – a potential connection to King’s Dark Tower novels.
The story of It, published in 1986, is one of King’s largest works. While both the 1990 miniseries starring Tim Curry as the evil force eating the children of Derry, and the movie remake, with Skarsgard skillfully taking over the role, hint at the larger universe outside of Pennywise’s hunting ground in Maine, neither project was able to dive into the cosmic realms King’s novel features. This included the role of the benevolent cosmic turtle Maturin, a creature that is also present in The Dark Tower mythology, and is described as one of the most powerful forces in all of creation.
While speaking to TV Insider ahead of the arrival of It: Welcome to Derry, Muschietti teased how the show will go beyond what has previously been shown in It projects and leave a trail of breadcrumbs to a much wider and more expansive universe. He said:
“The purpose of the show, among others, is to open a window to the other side… and give the audience the feeling. Everything that is on the other side, it’s connected to the Dark Tower because it’s the same universe, the macroverse.”
When adapting It for the screen, both versions of the story dealt mostly with the viewpoint of the young characters facing Pennywise and their fears, and their adult counterparts reliving the nightmares almost 30 years later. The prequel appears to be going far beyond a human story and taking a more mystical route to the origins of “the eater of worlds.” Muschietti continued:
“Of course, being It, we are seeing all this from the perspective of humans, mostly. In this series, there will be more than speculation. We’re gonna have that and give the audience glimpses of the other side.”
The Stephen King Universe Is About to Be Explored Like Never Before
For fans of Stephen King, the author’s interconnectivity between stories is legendary. From the setting of Castle Rock, the history of which flows through early novels like The Dead Zone and Cujo, Needful Things (when King first said goodbye to Castle Rock in explosive fashion), and the more recent Gwendy trilogy, to the dozens of novels and short stories that have some connection to The Dark Tower, King was creating cinematic universes in written form long before it became popular in movies and on TV.
However, showing those connections on screen has always been tricky in the past, and even the previous attempt to bring The Dark Tower to life in its own right proved to be a disaster. Of course, we now live in a time when everything has its own universe, and the boundaries of TV and movies do not mean quite the same as they used to. If there was ever a time for the true extent of King’s connected works to be realized on screen, then it is right now.
While It: Welcome to Derry will still be primarily focused on the origins of the evil Pennywise, Andy Muschietti’s tease of a Dark Tower connection can only help build hype for the unrelated, but well-timed, development of Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower project at Prime Video. Although it is unlikely that these two shows will feature a true crossover, as rights issues are already tricky enough for The Dark Tower, there could certainly be a meaningful nod to the true epic scale of King’s universe in It: Welcome to Derry than has really been seen in previous projects.
The nine-episode first season of It: Welcome to Derry will float onto HBO Max in October 2025.
Diving into anime can be a little overwhelming for those who aren’t exactly sure where to find the biggest shows. As the medium continues its meteoric rise in popularity, it seems every major streaming service is doing all they can to add as many titles to their lineups as possible.
Fortunately for those who aren’t committed to mainly anime platforms like Crunchyroll, Netflix has greatly increased the number of available original anime series on their service throughout the last number of years. There’s quite a bit for fans to choose from, but these 10 shows are perfect for those just getting their feet wet.
Komi Can’t Communicate
Animated by OLM, Based on the Manga by Tomohito Oda
Komi-Cant-Communicate-Komi-Sad
Before it landed on Netflix, Komi Can’t Communicate was a highly popular manga series that cultivated its own sizable fan base thanks to an incredibly wholesome premise and likable characters. The adaptation by OLM only further spread that popularity, making it one of the top coming-of-age anime stories of the 2020s.
The series follows Hitohito Tadano, a perfectly average teenage boy who happens to sit next to Shoko Komi in class, the school’s most popular beauty queen. Upon getting to know her, however, he realizes her silent, stoic demeanor isn’t some stuck-up personality trait, but is rather due to her overwhelming anxiety.
Komi Can’t Communicate is an incredibly heartwarming slice-of-life experience, and one of the decade’s top comfort anime.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Animated by Science Saru, Based on the Graphic Novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley
There’s a rather significant chance non-anime watchers have heard the name Scott Pilgrim. The graphic novel series received a significant surge in popularity following 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World, and in 2023, was adapted into an anime series by the distinguished and highly regarded studio Science Saru, titled Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Those unfamiliar with the source material will have no problem jumping into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, as the series features its own original take on O’Malley’s graphic novel series. Science Saru is known for its breathtaking visuals, and the narrative has more of a Western feel for those who are still on the fence about diving headfirst into anime.
Good Night World
Animated by NAZ, Based on the Manga by Uru Okabe
Good Night World’s cast with their MMO characters in a tavern looking happy.
Good Night World is a perfect entry point for new fans into one of anime’s most popular genres, the ‘got sucked into a video game’ narrative that’s been popular since the mid 2010s. Based on the manga by Uru Okabe, Good Night World follows a dysfunctional family into an alternate digital world.
Filled with drama, action, and deep exploration in a fantasy setting, the series offers a quick 12-episode taste of the sort of story that’s uniquely common to the medium of anime, and packs in a neatly tied-in-a-bow narrative. It isn’t the most complex series the genre has to offer, but it’s perfect for those just beginning their anime journey.
Devilman Crybaby
Animated by Science Saru, Based on the Manga by Go Nagai
Akira turns into Devilman from Devilman Crybaby.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from something like Good Night World, Science Saru’s Devilman Crybaby is for viewers looking to dive head first into the sort of strange and often twisted stories anime has to tell. The series is based on the highly influential 1972 Devilman manga, but updates its story to fit a modern setting.
Devilman Crybaby is not for the faint of heart, and should probably only be enjoyed by the dedicated dark fantasy fans out there. As one of Netflix’s earliest original anime series, it became the center of attention upon release in 2018, and has continued to take unsuspecting viewers by surprise ever since.
Kotaro Lives Alone
Animated by Liden Films, Based on the Manga by Mami Tsumura
Kotaro Lives Alone is a Netflix Original that flew somewhat under the radar on release, and is another example of a sort of show that’s largely unique to anime and manga. Despite an innocent premise and overly cute artstyle, the series does not hesitate to step into some heavier themes, and can often become quite an emotional experience.
Four-year-old Kotaro Sato moves into an apartment on his own, and the series follows his neighbors of all different backgrounds coming together as a community to look after the boy. Kotaro Lives Alone is a low-energy, comfort slice-of-life series that will draw some tears on first watch.
Pluto
Animated by Studio M2, Based on the Manga by Naoki Urusawa and Takashi Nagasaki
Atom/Astro Boy from Netflix’s Pluto
Pluto is an interesting case of an anime series based on a manga by a legendary artist, Naoki Urusawa, which itself was based on a story from the Astroboy manga by arguably the most famous manga artist ever, Osamu Tezuka. The series follows a robot detective attempting to hunt down a mysterious killer who plants horns into the heads of their victims.
In a time when robots and artificial intelligence are somewhat touchy subjects, Pluto does well to examine human and robot relations while touching on themes like oppression, individuality, war, violence and more. The series is a tight eight episodes, making it an easy watch for any sci-fi fan with some spare time on their hands.
Delicious in Dungeon
Animated by Trigger, Based on the Manga by Ryoko Kui
Chulchank, Laios and Senji collecting vegetables in Delicious in Dungeon
As one of 2024’s top new titles, Delicious in Dungeon is for fantasy fans who are getting a little tired of the usual fantasy tropes. The series follows a standard party down into a series of dungeons crawling with increasingly dangerous creatures the further down they traverse, but offers a unique spin by using cooking as a central motif.
As they take certain threats out, those threats become the main ingredients in whatever lunch or dinner is that day. It’s a fun and fresh take on the dungeon fantasy genre that’s popular in anime, and the series incorporates quite a bit of drama and action as it goes on.
Aggretsuko
Animated by Fanworks, Original Anime Series
Retsuko Raging Her Frustrations Using Death Metal in Aggretsuko
At first glance, some viewers might be put off by a series about a cute red panda by the creators of Hello Kitty, but it would be unwise to judge Aggretsuko too soon. The 2018 anime is tailor-made for lost adults in their mid-20s doing everything in their power to figure out their lives.
Retsuko, the series’ titular red panda, is a single 25-year-old accountant who works far too much and likely isn’t paid nearly enough. When the troubles of life become just a bit too big to handle, and she’s ready to explode, she goes to karaoke and sings death metal to blow off steam.
If any 20-something lost, tired, and angry viewer wants their adult version of Hello Kitty, she can be found screaming in a karaoke booth.
Violet Evergarden
Animated by Kyoto Animation, Based on the Light Novel by Kana Akatsuki
Violet Evergarden
Violet Evergarden is far more than the pretty visuals and steampunk aesthetic it’s become known for, but it wouldn’t be entirely untrue to say that Kyoto Animation did some of their best work on the series. Despite the relaxed vibe present throughout the majority of the series, Violet Evergarden is not afraid to touch on some darker subjects.
The titular character is a former child soldier who was raised with the sole purpose of becoming a weapon. Now, years after the war had ended, she must learn human emotions and the meaning of love while working a job typing others’ letters to loved ones. The series is an incredibly emotional affair, and ends in one of the best anime movies of the 2020s.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
Animated by Trigger and CD Projekt, Based on the Video Game by CD Projekt Red
Lucy on the moon in Cyberpunk Edgerunners
Video game adaptations, in any storytelling medium, are historically hit or miss. However, 2022’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners does justice to its best-selling source material by expanding the world of the game and following an all-new cast of characters.
With intense action, impressive visuals, and a gripping story, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has proven itself to not only be one of the greatest anime series of the last decade, but one of the very best ever. The rise and fall of protagonist David Martinez is one of the most tragic tales the seedy Night City has ever seen, and is guaranteed to stick with viewers long after the credits have rolled.
Netflix is home to countless highly acclaimed anime series, but there is none better for budding anime fans than Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
For most of its career, Suede assumed Britpop — the movement the band helped originate in the early ’90s — wouldn’t make a comeback. That assumption will be tested on Sept. 6, when Oasis plays the Rose Bowl, one of its first U.S. shows in more than two decades and part of what’s being billed as the biggest rock tour of 2025. Ninety thousand fans are expected to show up in Pasadena for the Gallagher brothers’ brash, sentimental version of Britishness — the stadium-sized equivalent of a pub on Santa Monica Boulevard. The day before, five thousand miles away, Suede will release “Antidepressants,” its 10th studio album.
In the U.S., the band goes by the London Suede, thanks to a decades-old legal dispute with an American folk singer. That name is more likely to elicit polite recognition than the ecstatic nostalgia Oasis still inspires. But in Britain, Suede was the spark. Its 1992 single, “The Drowners,” ignited what would become Britpop, the most significant resurgence of British rock since Beatlemania, paving the way for a new generation of bands and projecting British soft power abroad. The group’s self-titled debut album followed the next year, pairing stacked, anthemic guitar lines with intimate, distinctly British portraits of life.
Emerging from a cult of nonpersonality, where ordinary figures with unassuming names like Ian Brown ascended to British music royalty, Brett Anderson, Suede’s fey and foppish androgyne, reintroduced theatricality and glamour to the scene. For a brief spell, Ricky Gervais co-managed the band. The group landed the cover of Melody Maker, then one of Britain’s most popular music magazines, before it even released a song. Its debut album became one of the most anticipated releases of the early decade, with a volume of enthusiasm comparable to the Smiths’ arrival just over a decade before. When it was released, “Suede” became the fastest-selling debut album in British history.
“We released the first Britpop album,” Anderson says, matter-of-factly. “You have to accept that.” And yet the band’s legacy remains strangely unclaimed, overshadowed by bands who made their Britishness easier to export. As Britpop began to cohere into a recognizable genre and vision, Suede was canonized as its originators, only to be largely eclipsed as bands like Blur and Oasis came to define the movement.
Today, Anderson is joined by Suede’s bassist Mat Osman, who wears a distressed black tee and statement necklace. Anderson, who describes himself as “anti-fashion,” is wearing the same uniform he’s worn for the better part of two decades: an impeccably cut shirt and a pair of tight cocktail trousers. He reclines into his couch, one arm flung lazily behind his head, while the greens of his English garden sway in the waning summer light. His band has been around so long that the zeitgeist it emerged in has circled back around again.
“We released the first Britpop album,” Suede’s Brett Anderson says. “You have to accept that.” And yet its legacy remains strangely unclaimed, overshadowed by bands who made their Britishnesseasier to export.
(Dean Chalkley)
Soon after Suede released its debut album, David Bowie told Anderson candidly: “Your playing and your songwriting’s so good that I know you’re going to be working in music for quite some time.” He was right. Ten albums in, Suede remains creatively restless, refusing the comforts of a heritage band afterlife. “We are anti-nostalgia,” says Anderson. The band’s latest album carries the hard-earned knowledge of age and the strange doubleness of feeling both young and old, like “18-year-old software on 50-year-old hardware,” as Anderson puts it. He and Osman are nearing 60.
“Antidepressants” is every bit an emblem of late-style. If Suede’s early work captured the ecstasy and collapse of first love, “Antidepressants” is about the more precarious work of maintenance. “People sing about falling in or out of love,” Anderson says, “but no one really writes about keeping a relationship alive.” Suede has become an experiment in longevity, driving teenage feelings through a wizened motor. Still, in the group’s songs today lies a complex kind of Britishness — at once maddening and beautiful, destitute and soaring — the very kind the musicians always sought to capture in their portraits of British working-class life.
Anderson grew up near Osman in the southern English town of Haywards Heath, part of a working-class family in a government-subsidized home. His father was a classical-music obsessive; his mother, an artist — tendencies that, at the time, were considered antithetical to working-class life. That assumed contradiction mirrored Suede’s own sensibility, which resisted tidy prescriptions of what working-class representation should look like. The music press, an industry overwhelmingly drawn from the upper middle class, struggled to reconcile it. “There’s a certain kind of working-class culture or person that the middle class is very comfortable with,” Osman observes. “It’s that Oasis, football-and-beer thing.” Britpop, in its mass-market incarnation, became precisely that: laddish, boozy and wilfully simple.
Suede quickly dissociated from Britpop when it curdled into something the band couldn’t recognize; something that, to the group, resembled a kind of jingoism. The band’s second album, 1994’s “Dog Man Star,” was Suede’s “anti-Britpop” statement, more art-rock fever dream than stadium singalong. It was around this time that the press came to define Britpop through caricatured rivalries: Oasis (working-class, football-and-pints Manchester) versus Blur (middle-class, art-school London). Suede, with its glam inflections and high-drama songs, didn’t slot neatly into either camp. The bandmates dressed in secondhand suits that made them look posh to some and, perhaps more damningly, refused to flatten their class identity into something easily legible.
Here lay much of the problem. As Noel Gallagher said himself in 1994, the year Oasis released its debut album: “You get a band like Suede and they write pretty decent music and all that, but Brett Anderson’s lyrics are basically a cross between Bowie and Morrissey, and I don’t think that some 16-year-old on the dole is going to understand what he means.” In Britain, Osman observes, “The cartoon is realer than the reality.”
In America, that cartoon is also beginning to gain traction, a surprising development given Britpop’s deep-seated anti-Americana stance. Unlike previous musical movements in Britain, Britpop required no reference to American culture and often positioned itself against it. As Britpop rose to prominence in England, grunge was taking hold in America. At times, Britpop acted as a cultural reflex against its Yankee counterpart. Blur even satirized grunge music with its megahit “Song 2,” a song of nonsense lyrics and unearned vim. Suede’s sense of Britishness, however, was less a matter of manifesto than of instinct, driven by the desire to render small lives and intimate details in sweeping, romantic, even histrionic gestures. Britpop conveyed Britishness through wryness; grunge articulated Americana through sublimated passion. “You know,” Anderson says, “if I could choose between grunge and Britpop today, I’d probably choose grunge.”
Osman says he’s making a conscious effort “not to be cynical” about Britpop’s return. “It’s basically a generation with spending power indulging nostalgia for their youth,” he says. “I’m trying to think of that as a positive thing.” He rationalizes it by seeing the Oasis gigs less as musical events than as exercises in monocultural communion, “as much about being in a huge crowd of people who feel the same as you as it is about anything else.” Suede, for its part, inspires a similar mass fervor in far-flung territories: in Chile, where the group recently played to a crowd in the tens of thousands, and in China, where it can comfortably fill sports stadiums. In America, a different story. Anderson says the band has no plans to tour the States, since it probably won’t make any money from it, “and we’re not doing charity work.”
While Oasis’ Rose Bowl show may be remembered as Britpop’s American victory lap, Suede remains focused on the future, still finding ways to push itself. “Britpop’s just automatically some kind of nostalgia thing, isn’t it?” Anderson says. “It’s a faded version of a past that never really existed.”
British singer-songwriter Myles Smith will be the halftime show performer at the NFL’s first-ever regular season game in Dublin, Ireland, on Sept. 28.
The Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers will go head-to-head at the city’s iconic Croke Park as part of the league’s International Games programme (kick off 2:30 p.m. BST/9:30 a.m. ET).
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Following in the tradition of the coveted halftime show at the Super Bowl, Smith will perform live for fans in the stadium and watching at home on television around the globe.
The Luton-born singer released “Stargazing” in May 2024, which has since topped a billion streams and peaked at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 4 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart. Earlier this year, Smith collected the BRITs Rising Star Award, a prize previously won by Adele and Sam Fender, and he supported Ed Sheeran on his Mathematics tour.
Smith will be joined by the The Line-Up Choir, a Dublin-based contemporary group during his performance.
Speaking exclusively to Billboard, the 27-year-old said, “It has been an incredible year for me so far, and now to be on a stage like this is insane. Performing at the first-ever regular NFL season game in Dublin, in such an iconic venue, feels like another major milestone. It’s an honor to be alongside so many other amazing performers, both from Ireland and around the world. I can’t wait to bring my music to such a massive stage and share this experience with those in the stadium and watching around the world.”
Lyra, the Cork-born singer-songwriter, will perform Ireland’s national anthem prior to the game’s kick-off; her self-titled LP reached No. 1 on the Irish Albums Chart in April 2024.
“As an Irish singer, standing at the center of Croke Park, singing in front of my fellow Irish and visitors from around the world, fills me with immense pride,” Lyra said. “I am deeply grateful to the NFL for giving me the opportunity to represent my homeland at such a momentous occasion. To be part of such an iconic moment, as the NFL makes history with its first regular-season game in Ireland, is an honor I will carry in my heart forever.”
The 82,000-capacity stadium has hosted NFL football in the past, with the pre-season “American Bowl” between the Steelers and the Chicago Bears being played in 1997. In recent years, the city’s Avivia Stadium has hosted a number of college football games.
Croke Park is a popular spot for large concerts with Oasis, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen and AC/DC all playing the ground in recent years. The stadium is home to the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) and hosts Gaelic football and hurling matches.
The 2025 NFL season will kick off on Thursday (Sept. 4) when the Dallas Cowboys visit the Philadelphia Eagles, winners of the most-recent Super Bowl back in February. Across the 2025 season, NFL matches will take place in Dublin, London, Berlin and Madrid this coming fall; the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers will kick off their season in Sao Paolo, Brazil this coming Friday (Sept. 5).
Savannah Chrisley took a lot on when her parents Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley went to prison in January 2023, and she has some resentment toward older brother Chase Chrisley for not bearing some of the load. The tension between the siblings was documented in the premiere episode of their family’s new reality show, The Chrisleys: Back to Reality, which was filmed before Todd and Julie’s release via a pardon from Donald Trump in May.
When the Chrisleys went to prison, Savannah became the legal guardian of their minor children, Grayson Chrisley and Chloe Chrisley, and she said Chase hasn’t been there for her.
“Chase and I are definiteliy on rocky terms because over the past two-and-a-half years, he has not helped me at all,” Savannah noted. “When it comes to the kids, financially, mom and dad … he has not picked up a single ounce of slack and he’s been given ample opportunity to do so.”
However, Chase has his own side of the story and shared his reason for not being more involved. “Savannah wants help on Savannah’s terms,” he insisted. “As much as Savannah says she wants my help, I don’t actually think Savannah wants any help because she wants to be able to say that she’s done it on her own.”
Savannah accused her brother of being “performative” when he connects with her and claimed he only does so when he “has something he wants to gain.” She added, “There’s a lot of resentment, so when things are said and done, I don’t forget. And I don’t know if it can ever be repaired, honestly. Once I shut someone off, I shut them off.”
Julie called in from prison to express her concerns about this divide. “My greatest worry while being in prison is that of my children,” she said. “I worry that they’re OK. I worry that they’re getting along because I’m not there to wrangle everyone and to diffuse a situation. Chase and Savannah have fought since they were teenagers and that worries me because I feel like the divide is going to continue to get bigger and bigger.”
The siblings then came face-to-face at a family dinner, which also included Grayson, Chloe, Todd’s mom Nanny Faye, and Julie’s parents. It was the first time the entire family had been together since Todd and Julie were put behind bars. In addition to tension with Chase, Savannah also had issues with her maternal grandparents, Harvey and Pam, whom she also accused of “not showing up” for her.
“They haven’t helped me with Chloe, Grayson, nothing. Everyone is just all about themselves,” Savannah claimed.
The dinner began with some awkward hugs before conversation shifted to Todd and Julie. When Chase asked if Savannah had heard anything more about their parents potentially being pardoned, she replied, “No. I mean, I wouldn’t tell y’all if I did.”
She further explained in a confessional, “We all say in our family, ‘If you want the world to know, tell Chase.’ So you can’t trust that they’ll keep their mouths shut, you can’t trust that they’re not going to say or do something that’s going to put the pardons in jeopardy, and at this point I’m not willing to risk that.”
Harvey asked Savannah to let them know what they could do to help her and she laughed before replying, “I’m going to be fine on that one. That question couldn’t have come two-and-a-half years ago?”
Grayson appeared right on time to diffuse the tension for a moment, but then Harvey asked Savannah if she’d “suffered any consequences” because of how outspoken she’d been in supporting Trump in hopes of receiving the pardon.
“She declared war on Democrats. I’m pretty sure every Democrat, like, loathes her,” Chase said. Savannah added, “I don’t pay attention to that. What I pay attention to is me doing what I know is the right thing to do.”
Harvey wanted to know how Savannah’s public actions would benefit her parents. “It benefits in the end because all the right people are hearing about it,” she explained. “Within the Trump administration, it goes to lay out all the corruption that’s occurred and to build a stronger case for us.”
The two began arguing a bit when Harvey asked whether the “swoop of a pen” could change things. “You’re asking the most powerful person in the world to make a decision like this,” Savannah replied, before mouthing across the table, “I hate him!” She then sarcastically said, “Nothing I do … I’m not making any progress.” Chloe assured her, “You are,” and Chase chimed in, “Yes, you are.”
Savannah said “thank you” to Chloe, who urged her to “thank Chase, too,” but she didn’t. “This is why there is zero relationship,” she said to her friend at the dinner table. “Zero.”
The Chrisleys: Back to Reality, Episode 2, Monday, September 1, 9/8c, Lifetime
The Chrisleys: Back toReality, Remaining Episodes, Tuesdays, 8/7c, Lifetime
As colleges reopen for the fall, new research has pinpointed a problem keeping students from graduating on time: Classes required for their majors aren’t taught during the semesters they need them, or fill up so quickly that no seats are left.
Colleges and universities manage only about 15% of the time to provide required courses when their students need to take them, according to research by Ad Astra, which provides scheduling software to 550 universities. It’s among the major reasons fewer than half of students graduate on time, raising the cost of a degree in time and money.
Now, with widespread layoffs, budget cuts and enrollment declines on many campuses — including in California — the problem is expected to get worse.
“What is more foundational to what we do as colleges and universities than offering courses to students so they can graduate?” asked Tom Shaver, founder and chief executive of Ad Astra.
Fifty-seven percent of students at all levels of higher education spend more time and money on college because their campuses don’t offer required courses when they need them, Ad Astra found in an earlier study last year.
Independent scholars and university administrators generally confirm the finding.
“We’re forcing students to literally decelerate their progress to degrees, by telling them to do something they can’t actually do,” Shaver said.
Scheduling university and college courses is complex. Yet rather than use advanced technology to do it, many institutions still rely on methods that include producing hard-copy spreadsheets, according to some administrators.
Difficulties at California State University
The cash-strapped California State University system has eliminated 1,430 course sections this year across seven of its 23 campuses, or 7% of the total at those campuses, a spokeswoman, Amy Bentley-Smith, confirmed. These include sections of required courses.
At Cal State Los Angeles, for example, the number of sections of a required Introduction to American Government course has been reduced from 14 to nine.
Emilee Xie, a senior geology major, said required upper-division courses fill up quickly. It’s common to apply for a class needed to graduate, end up on a wait list — and have to apply again next semester.
“It is what it is,” said Xie, of San Gabriel. Her parents ask her whether she plans to graduate soon and her advisors tell her she’s on track to graduate in spring 2026. But she’s not so sure.
Those geology classes, due to the small size of her department, aren’t offered during the summer, when most students try to take classes they’ve missed during the academic year.
“The more courses that aren’t offered as often, like my geology courses, the more expensive your degree will be,” she said.
Professors at the beginning of the semester warned juniors Victoria Quiran and a friend, Gabriela Tapia, both biology majors, about how hard it would be to register for classes in upcoming semesters during the first days of class.
Tapia and Quiran have struggled to get into required courses because there aren’t enough seats, they said. They’ve seen wait lists grow to as many as 40 students. Although the school provides advisors, the help can often feel impersonal, Tapia and Quiran said.
“A bunch of us are first-[generation students] who don’t have anyone to guide us,” Quiran said.
Consequences mount
In addition to taking longer and spending more to graduate, students who are shut out of required courses often change their majors or drop out, according to research by Kevin Mumford, director of the Purdue University Research Center in Economics.
Together with economists at Brigham Young University, Mumford found that when first-year students at Purdue couldn’t get into a required course, they were 35 percentage points less likely to ever take it and 25 percentage points less likely to enroll in any other course in the same subject.
Students at U.S. colleges and universities already spend more time and money getting their degrees than they expect to. According to a 2019 national survey by a research institute at UCLA, 90% of freshmen say they plan to finish a bachelor’s degree within four years or less. But federal data show that fewer than half of them do. More than a third still haven’t graduated after six years.
At community colleges nationwide, students who can’t get into courses they need are up to 28% more likely to take no classes at all that term, contributing to graduation delays, a 2021 study by UC Santa Cruz and the nonprofit Mathematica said.
An increase in students with double majors, minors and concentrations has further complicated the process. So do the challenges confronted by part-time and older students, who typically don’t live on campus and juggle families and jobs; such students are expected to account for a growing proportion of enrollment as the number of 18- to 24-year-olds declines.
“There are so many obstacles students face, from transportation to work schedules to child care. Some can only take classes in the afternoon or on the weekends,” said Matt Jamison, associate vice president of academic success at Front Range Community College in Colorado.
Meanwhile, “we have instructors that have [outside] jobs and aren’t always available. And faculty can teach only so many courses.”
Several colleges and universities are turning to more online courses. In California’s rural Central Valley, for example, community college students struggled to get into the advanced mathematics courses needed for STEM degrees.
Improving the scheduling of required courses seems a comparatively simple way for universities to raise student success rates, Mumford said.
“This seems like a much cheaper thing to solve than many of the other interventions they’re considering,” he said.
Marcus is a reporter for the Hechinger Report, which produced this story and is a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. McDonald is a Times staff writer.
Chicago Alderman Ray Lopez recently appeared on NewsNation and blasted Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for refusing to work with Trump and his administration to improve public safety in the city.
While making an explicit reference to the latest rounds of shootings and murders in the city, Lopez asked how many victims the city is willing to permit.
The problem here is that Democrat leaders are being held hostage by the party’s insane base that wants constant war with Trump, even on matters that make perfect sense to the majority of the American people, like cracking down on violent crime.
Lopez pressed Johnson and Pritzker to instead work with President Trump and get any help he might offer in order to make the streets of Chicago safer for the people who live there.
“We should be working to make sure that we are in coordination with each other,” Lopez said. “There’s nothing stopping the mayor of the city of Chicago, the governor of the state of Illinois, from picking up the phone and reaching out to the President of the United States and saying, ‘What can we do to be on the same page?’”
“We should all be looking to continuously decrease the number of victims in our city and in our state, and instead we’re getting into this tit-for-tat social media back and forth nonsense, which is only putting the people of Chicago and the people of Illinois in the middle, in the crosshairs of criminals who are going to use this time to exploit and go crazy as we’re continuing to see this weekend where we’ve had multiple mass shootings,” he continued.
Watch the video below:
NEW: Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez *TORCHES* Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov J.B. Pritzker for not collaborating with TRUMP to crack down on crime
“How many victims are we comfortable with? Because that’s ultimately the subtext of what the mayor and the governor are saying is… pic.twitter.com/7WzOBG4Akr
Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker are putting their political ambitions (and their egos) above the safety of the people of Chicago. It’s sickening to watch it unfolding in real time as people are shot and killed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived in Beijing by train on Tuesday to attend a military parade with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, North Korea’s state media reported. The event could potentially demonstrate three-way unity against the United States. Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the 26 world leaders who’ll join Chinese President Xi Jinping to watch Wednesday’s massive military parade in Beijing that commemorates the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and China’s fight against Japan’s wartime aggressions. FRANCE 24’s Jan Camenzind Broomby has more from the region.
A new variety of red berry grapes marketed as Boombites are about to help revolutionise our snacking. They are black outside and deep red inside — and it’s this that accounts for their health-boosting nutritional profile.
Their colour is down to high levels of anthocyanins, the powerful antioxidant which also makes blueberries blue and which gives them their superfood status. But the new red berry grapes not only have antioxidant levels on a par with blueberries, they are also rich in resveratrol – another health-enhancing anti-inflammatory antioxidant.
Resveratrol is thought to explain what’s known as the ‘French paradox’ – the fact that France has very low rates of heart disease despite the population’s diet being laden with saturated fats and often washed down with wine.
The new Boombites were created by crossing old varieties of wine grapes, which have red flesh and high levels of resveratrol, with some of the world’s tastiest varieties of the fruit. It took thousands of different combinations of small and soft wine grapes with large, sweet, and crunchy seedless table grapes to create the red berry version.
The cross-breeding process involves removing the male part from the flowers of one parent plant before they have a chance to produce pollen, and then using a fine brush to transfer pollen from the other parent plant. It’s so painstaking that Bloom Fresh, the agricultural innovators behind the new grapes, often employ people who worked as embroiderers
to carry out this specialist pollination process. Once they’re pollinated, the immature bunches are then covered to prevent airborne pollen from any other grape variety disrupting the process.
The same technique is being used to develop fruit and vegetable varieties with increased resistance to pests and climate change as well as even healthier varieties of fruit and vegetables. Tests by researchers at the Spanish University of Murcia showed the new Boombites have three times more resveratrol than blueberries and comparable levels of antioxidants.
Dietitian Nichola Ludlam-Raine a member of the Red Berry Grape Advisory Board – an expert panel set up to explore the science and health benefits of grapes and new varieties — says: “Blueberries are widely recognised as a superfruit thanks to their high antioxidant levels, and regular consumption is linked with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, so it’s great that now we also have a red berry grape variety that’s naturally sweet and crunchy, offering comparable levels of antioxidants and an impressive amount of resveratrol, providing another delicious option for supporting health.”
The Murcia researchers also found the grapes hit a surprising metabolic sweet spot. Despite having similar amounts of natural fruit sugars, they showed much lower glucose uptakes than standard varieties. Dr Nisa Aslam, a GP on the Red Berry Grape Advisory Board, says: “This means that while new red berry grapes are sweet to taste, the combination of phenols they contain alters the way that these sugars are transported and absorbed in the gut.
“This may have major implications for weight control, insulin response and dietary advice around fruit consumption, with consumers restricting intakes of fruits rich in antioxidants because of concerns about sugar.”
New consumer research confirms 60% of adults have tried to cut back on sugar and another 10% know they should. Around seven in 10 also considered monitoring the glycemic index, or GI, of the foods they eat so they can gauge how rapidly sugars go into their bloodstream.
Dr Aslam adds: “Glucose metabolism is also closely linked to the cardiovascular system and some experts believe it should be recognised as an independent risk factor for heart diseases and the circulatory system.”
This metabolic edge is thought to stem from the new red berry grapes having such high levels of antioxidant polyphenols coupled with fibre and other nutrients. The total package is known as the ‘food matrix’, a concept now an increasingly hot topic among scientists looking at diet and health.
Nichola explains: “The food matrix is simply the physical structure of the foods we eat, how this influences the way we absorb different nutrients – and how this can be altered when food is processed rather than eaten in its natural form.
“For instance, we absorb more calories from ground or chopped nuts as we do from eating the same quantity of whole nuts.”
Boombites are available in Marks & Spencer and Ocado for a limited time only. Visit boombites.com for more information
BOOST FOR HEART HEALTH
Antioxidants are associated with a wide range of health benefits, but studies suggest polyphenols – such as the anthocyanins which give the new grapes their distinctive red flesh – are particularly important. Population studies show eating a diet packed with polyphenols reduces the risk of cardiovascular (CVD) disease – which affects 7.6 million people here – by 46%.
This is thought to be due to multiple benefits including reduced oxidative stress and inflammation and improvements in blood cholesterol, clotting and endothelial function, the term used to describe the elasticity of blood vessels. Anthocyanins, the polyphenols which give blueberries, acai berries and goji berries their deep purple colour and superfruit status, have proven cardioprotective properties.
They could prevent CVDs through their lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory properties. A study in the Frontiers in Nutrition journal concluded eating anthocyanin-rich berries regularly “could prevent cardiovascular diseases through their lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory properties”.
Resveratrol is the antioxidant thought to explain health benefits associated with red wine, and is also found in fruits including grapes and blueberries. A super study combining 13 trials involving more than 209,000 people, showed wine drinkers had a 32% reduction in the risk of heart disease and stroke, compared to non-drinkers.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
This is the second installment in the “1,000 Days of AI” series. As an AI keynote speaker and strategic advisor on AI university strategy, I’ve seen firsthand how generative AI is transforming education — and why aligning with the future of learning is now a leadership imperative.
I’m starting with education, not because it was the most disrupted, but because it was the first to show us what disruption actually looks like in real time.
Why start here?
Education is upstream to everything. Every future engineer, policymaker, manager and founder is shaped by what happens in a classroom, a lecture hall or a late-night interaction with a search engine. When generative AI arrived, education didn’t have the luxury to wait. It was forced to adapt on the fly.
ChatGPT didn’t quietly enter higher education. It detonated. Assignments unraveled. Grading frameworks collapsed. Students accessed polished answers in seconds. Faculty were blindsided. Institutional responses were reactive, inconsistent and exposed deep fractures in how learning was being defined and delivered.
The idea that education meant memorization and regurgitation cracked almost overnight.
AI in education didn’t break higher ed — It exposed the disconnect
Long before AI, colleges were already straining under somewhat outdated models — rigid lectures, static syllabi, compliance-heavy assessments and a widening chasm between classroom instruction and workforce reality. Students were evolving faster than the systems designed to serve them.
Generative AI made that gap impossible to ignore. Within months of its release, a majority of students admitted to using ChatGPT or similar tools for coursework. Meanwhile, most college presidents acknowledged they had no formal AI policy in place. The dissonance was loud, and it created not just urgency, but opportunity.
In the past year, I’ve partnered with some of the largest education systems in the world to help develop their AI strategies. We co-developed governance frameworks, launched executive working groups, crafted responsible use guidelines and trained thousands of faculty across campuses. The goal wasn’t just to respond; it was to lead.
At the same time, I’ve worked with community colleges — the frontline of workforce development. These institutions feel disruption first and move fastest. I’ve helped their leaders connect generative AI to student outcomes, integrate tools into classroom experimentation and align innovation with workforce readiness and equity.
Whether it’s a flagship university or a high-impact college, the principle is the same: Strategy must align with people, culture and mission. The institutions making the biggest strides aren’t the ones with perfect AI plans. They’re the ones willing to move while others wait. This momentum is powered by intrapreneurship on the inside, and increasingly, by student-driven entrepreneurship on the outside.
Students are becoming entrepreneurs
Students aren’t waiting for permission; they’re reinventing how learning works. They adapt quickly, embrace emerging technologies and experiment boldly. Some might call it cheating. I’d call it testing the system.
Today’s students no longer see education as a linear path to a degree. They see it as a launchpad for ideas.
They’re using not just ChatGPT, but a full arsenal of AI tools — Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and more — to write business plans, generate branding, build MVPs and pressure-test real-world ideas. In fact, some aren’t just using tools; they’re creating their own. They’re not waiting to be taught. They’re teaching themselves how to build, launch and iterate.
And yes, some of it is used for shortcuts. For cutting corners. For getting around assignments. Academic integrity is a real issue and one that institutions must address. But it’s also a signal that the system itself needs to evolve. These students are not just bypassing rules — they’re stress-testing the relevance of education as it exists today. And this is where intrapreneurs inside the system become critical to bridging the gap.
We all know that innovation rarely happens in the corner offices. The most powerful change isn’t coming from executive memos. It’s coming from the ground up.
I’ve seen faculty members redesign assessments to include AI. Academic advisors build GPT-powered chatbots for student support. Department chairs test automated grading workflows while central IT is still writing policy. These are intrapreneurs — internal innovators leading with agility.
My work has always been to help them scale and to get out of their way. Real transformation happens when governance, incentives and innovation align — and when execution is taken seriously.
What institutions are doing that works
Here are five moves I’ve seen deliver the greatest impact across leadership, faculty and students alike.
Accept that change is inevitable: Ignoring, shaming or regulating innovation won’t stop it. Institutions must choose to engage with change, not resist it.
Acknowledge that learning is now co-created: In many cases, students are more fluent in new tools than faculty. It may feel awkward — but that discomfort is the birthplace of co-creation and collaborative innovation.
Support intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship: Encourage faculty and staff to experiment internally while also supporting students who are launching startups or prototyping ideas using AI.
Institutions that move now are defining the next decade of learning. That doesn’t mean ignoring issues of academic integrity or the risks of cognitive offloading — we don’t know what we don’t know. But that uncertainty should inform us, not paralyze us.
The institutions that will thrive in the next 1,000 days aren’t those with the most tech. They’re the ones that create space to adapt, listen and lead from every level — through both intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship.
Leadership is no longer a title; it’s a posture. Every instructor redesigning a course, every student experimenting with AI, every staffer who builds a better workflow is shaping the future of education.
According to the World Economic Forum, over 40% of core job skills will shift in the next five years. That’s not a prediction — it’s a mandate.
The only way forward is to build systems that learn as fast as the people in them. Presidents and provosts can provide vision, but it’s intrapreneurs who will make it real. Transformation won’t be dictated from above. It will be powered from within.
AI is not the end. It’s the beginning of a new way of learning and a new kind of leadership.
Coming next in the “1,000 Days of AI” series: Higher education wasn’t ready for AI, but students forced the conversation. K-12 is even more essential because critical thinking, ethical reasoning and digital fluency must begin long before college.
