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A former reality TV star just won the longest-ever Iditarod in Alaska after a grueling 10-day race

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NOME, Alaska (AP) — Jessie Holmes, a former reality television star, won the longest-ever Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, celebrating with fist pumps to a cheering crowd and posing for photos with his two floral wreath-adorned head teammates, Hercules and Polar.

Holmes was first to the finish line in the Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast. The race began March 3 in Fairbanks after a lack of snow forced changes to the route and starting point.

That made the normally 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race a staggering 1,129 miles (1,817 kilometers) across the Alaska wilderness. Holmes finished in 10 days, 14 hours, 55 minutes and 41 seconds.

“It’s hard to put into words, but it’s a magical feeling,” Holmes said shortly after crossing the finish line. “It’s not about this moment now. It’s about all those moments along the trail.”

Holmes, who was competing for the eighth time, previously finished in the top 10 five times, including third last year and in 2022. In his first Iditarod, in 2018, his seventh-place finish earned him Rookie of the Year honors.

Born and raised in Alabama, Holmes left at age 18 and worked as a carpenter in Montana for three years. He arrived in Alaska in 2004 and found adventure running dogs on a remote location of the Yukon River.

“It’s been a truly amazing 10 days and I soaked in every part of it — the lows, the highs, the in-betweens. … I’m really proud of these dogs and I love them. And they did it. They deserve all the credit,” Holmes said.

He gave a special salute to his two lead canines, Hercules, his half-sprint dog, and Polar, saying, “He’s the brains behind the operation.”

Holmes now lives in Nenana, where he works as a carpenter and lives a subsistence lifestyle. From 2015 through 2023, he was a cast member of “Life Below Zero,” a National Geographic program that documents the struggles of Alaskans living in remote parts of the state.

Besides the lack of snow north of the Alaska Range that forced the change of starting point to Fairbanks, race organizers also had to make changes to the ceremonial start in Anchorage.

With snow trucked in to cover streets in the state’s largest city, the usual parade route there was shortened from 11 miles to under 2 miles (from about 18 kilometers to under 3.2 kilometers), and the number of dogs was reduced.

Only 33 mushers started in Fairbanks, tied with 2023 for the smallest field ever. The drop in participants has raised concerns about the viability of the race, which has had to contend with inflation, climate change and pressure from animal rights groups.

One dog died in this year’s Iditarod: a pregnant female on the team of musher Daniel Klein, who under race rules scratched due to the death.

Nearly a third of the mushers quit early, including eight who scratched and two who were withdrawn for not being competitive.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Becoming an accountant is more accessible as 3 states scrap the stringent 150-hour education requirement

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Nvidia surpasses Tesla as the No. 1 held stock on Robinhood, fueled by Gen Z interest

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  • Nvidia is loved by young investors, but despite the alarm caused by DeepSeek and tariffs, many investors are still bullish about the company’s future.

Nvidia investors have had a mind-blowing experience in the last five years. The tech hardware company’s stock value has skyrocketed over 1,800% since 2020, elevating Nvidia to become one of the most valuable companies in the entire world—and interest from young investors may be to thank.

The company recently overtook Tesla as the top-held stock on Robinhood, the investing platform with 75% funded accounts held by Gen Z and Millenials. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev tells Bloomberg that investing in companies like Nvidia is going to be more important than ever, thanks to AI.

“I think AI is going to make investing more important because if control over the technology is going to be centralized in the technology companies, then you have to be an investor in those companies to benefit,” he says.

Many Gen Zers are already listening. On any given day, Nvidia is one of the most commonly discussed individual stocks on the 18-million-user strong subReddit r/wallstreetbets, and over 88,000 individuals are part of the NVDA_Stock community, one that exclusively discusses investing in the tech company.

Nvidia is a growing linchpin in the U.S. economy 

Nvidia is one of the most closely watched stocks globally, and experts now say its earning reports are now on par with U.S. jobs reports in terms of driving market moves.

The company’s most recent earnings results smashed expectations, having generated $39.3 billion in the last part of 2024 alone. Many industry analysts are also bullish about Nvidia’s future, placing it in a “Buy” recommendation, according to Barron’s

But the company has had somewhat of a rocky start to 2025. Off news of DeepSeek’s ability to match U.S. AI at a fraction of the cost, Nvidia’s value dropped $500 billion, and its stock price has somewhat stagnated ever since. This has led some investors to question whether the company’s impressive growth in 2023 and 2024 will be mimicked in the years to come, especially in the wake of tariffs and rising fears of a U.S. recession

CNBC’s Jim Cramer says many Nvidia investors may be too quick to drop the stock.

“The relentless selling in Nvidia is a sign, once again, or the weak shareholder base that only knows it is a hot stock not that it is a great company, plus worries about a potential Taiwan sellout by President Trump,” Cramer wrote on X in early March.

Gen Zers are investing earlier than ever

Gen Zers are beginning to invest earlier than ever. According to Charles Schwab’s Moden Wealth Survey, the generation on average is starting at age 19—that’s compared to age 25 for Millenials and 35 for Baby Boomers. Given ongoing concerns about financial literacy, it’s more important than ever for younger generations to understand the risks associated with investing. 

Sherron Permashwar, CPA and financial education expert, says for new investors, buying an individual stock or two, like Nvidia, can be a great way to become educated on the stock market and its ebbs and flows. 

“You don’t want to make mistakes on your $400,000 portfolio. You want to make mistakes on your $4,000 portfolio,” she says.

Having a diversified portfolio, such as with an ETF, is the smart move since it can minimize risk, she adds. Moreover, despite Nvidia being the second-best performer in the entire S&P 500 last year, not having all your eggs in one basket can avoid falling for the misconception that past performance might dictate future results.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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MIT and Yale are among more than 50 universities the Trump administration is investigating amid anti-DEI campaign

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More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

The Education Department announced the new investigations Friday, one month after issuing a memo warning America’s schools and colleges that they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, scholarships or any aspect of student life.

“Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. “We will not yield on this commitment.”

Most of the new inquiries are focused on colleges’ partnerships with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups get degrees in business with the goal of diversifying the business world.

Department officials said that the group limits eligibility based on race and that colleges that partner with it are “engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.”

The group of 45 colleges facing scrutiny over ties to the PhD Project include major public universities such as Arizona State, Ohio State and Rutgers, along with prestigious private schools like Yale, Cornell, Duke and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A message sent to the PhD Project was not immediately returned.

Six other colleges are being investigated for awarding “impermissible race-based scholarships,” the department said, and another is accused of running a program that segregates students on the basis of race.

Those seven are: Grand Valley State University, Ithaca College, the New England College of Optometry, the University of Alabama, the University of Minnesota, the University of South Florida and the University of Tulsa School of Medicine.

The department did not say which of the seven was being investigated for allegations of segregation.

The Feb. 14 memo from Trump’s Republican administration was a sweeping expansion of a 2023 Supreme Court decision that barred colleges from using race as a factor in admissions.

That decision focused on admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, but the Education Department said it will interpret the decision to forbid race-based policies in any aspect of education, both in K-12 schools and higher education.

In the memo, Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, had said schools’ and colleges’ diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have been “smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming and discipline.”

The memo is being challenged in federal lawsuits from the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions. The suits say the memo is too vague and violates the free speech rights of educators.More than 50 universities are being investigated for alleged racial discrimination as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his officials say exclude white and Asian American students.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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