On Saturday, the House passed the long bill, the name given to the 600-plus-page spending measure adopted each year. But not without some short-lived intrigue: Earlier in the week, Rep. Brandi Bradley, a Republican, triggered the legislative equivalent of the nuclear option and asked that the entire bill be read aloud.

That request — all 15 hours of it, in this case — must be honored. A computer in the House began reading the bill Thursday night, then picked up again Friday morning and finished a half-day later.

When the reading finally concluded Friday night, House leaders quickly moved to wrap things up. They invoked a rule that limited debate on the budget to one hour, and the chamber then passed the full budget — and several dozen subsidiary spending bills — on Saturday.

As an aside (and warning of things to come): Working weekends isn’t all that unusual for the legislature, especially in the final weeks of the session and double-especially when the minority caucus (or, in this case, one member of the minority) slows down the House’s proceedings.

Bradley’s move, which she made to protest how the House handled her ethics complaint against a fellow Republican, was significant in how unusual it was and how long it took to overcome. Still, it only modestly upset the legislature’s apple cart.

The Senate will begin deliberating on the budget this week, as it was scheduled to, and that chamber should have its work wrapped up by week’s end. After that’s done, the lawmakers who write the budget will gather in committee to consider — and definitely not instantly smite — the various changes their colleagues made to the document on the floor during its two-week legislative voyage.

Lost sleep for Colorado lawmakers as they reckon with budget cuts for disabled people, immigrant children

Once that's all wrapped up (likely next week), the budget will roll down the Capitol stairs to the governor's office for signature into law.

Given how much time and energy the budget takes up, expect little else to happen in the Senate this week. The House has a modest committee schedule, with more legislation likely set for debates in the full chamber.

Once the budget's cleared, we'll enter the final, frantic weeks of session. The last day is May 13.

That caveat aside, here's what you can expect to see in the legislature this week, with schedules subject to change.

Monday

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to take up , which is aimed at helping shore up the state's criminal justice competency system. The committee will also take up several bills related to easing the state's prison population, a key demand of lawmakers as Gov. Jared Polis looks to open new detention facilities.

The House's Finance Committee is scheduled to hear , which would further tighten how state and local authorities interact with federal immigration efforts.

Tuesday

The Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee will debate , which seeks to curb financial scams against older and vulnerable adults. That bill generated some controversy in the House because of the various forms of immunity it would grant to banks.

Potential floor debates

Other bills are due for discussion but lack certain timing. The House is scheduled this week to debate , which would regulate gun barrels. That bill's kicked around on the House's calendar for a few weeks now.

Fresh off of , the House is also scheduled to bring up this week. That bill would make it harder for some agricultural workers to qualify for overtime.

The new proposal is the third attempt in two years to find agreement on how to regulate AI, and it’s the second involving a specially convened task force. Gov. Jared Polis signed Colorado’s first-in-the-nation regulations into law in 2024 under the broad understanding that those rules would serve as a cudgel to force some fine-tuning in years to come.

Without any legislative action this spring, those much-debated regulations would take effect in June as originally written.

The proposal unveiled Tuesday would leave it to the courts to decide liability between the developers of AI tools and the organization that used the tools for any discrimination attributed to the use of AI, based on the circumstances of the individual case. The covered AI technology would include any technology that processes personal information and engages in computation to make predictions, recommendations, rankings or other information that is used to guide or assist decision-making about an individual.

The proposed bill would focus on when AI is used to make “consequential decisions,” such as those involving education or employment opportunities, housing, financial or lending services, insurance, health care services and essential government services.

Consumer tools such as spell-check, calculators, spreadsheets, robocall filtering and large language models, such as ChatGPT, would not be affected.

“I am very grateful to the hardworking members of the Colorado AI Policy Working Group that have reached a unanimous agreement on AI policy to protect consumers and support innovation in our state,” Polis said in a statement. “I look forward to supporting the recommended framework as legislation moves through the process, and commend the Colorado AI Policy Work Group for their efforts to get us here.”

The framework must now be turned into legislation and wind its way through the meat grinder of lawmakers and lobbyists who weren’t involved in the task force’s deliberations.

Those dynamics sank the prior attempts at fine-tuning the regulations during the regular legislative session in 2025 and the special session later in the year. Competing interests fought over coverage and who would be liable for the misuse of AI technology to make so-called consequential decisions.

Lawmakers ultimately voted in August to delay the start time for the 2024 regulations to give themselves a third bite at the apple.

At the heart of the issue is the danger of AI being used, willingly or not, to discriminate against consumers. Earlier proposals failed as Polis worried that regulations that were too strict would kill the industry in Colorado or put the state at an economic disadvantage. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, a fellow Democrat, warned that having no regulations would hurt Coloradans and leave no recourse for misusing it.

Even now, uncertainty remains around how this latest shot will pan out, both inside the Capitol and outside. On Monday, the Washington Post that the Trump administration has been working with House Republicans to block state-level AI regulations as part of a package of federal legislation.

Though the framework was adopted by the group, nearly every participant also voted for “targeted revisions” to the draft — meaning that they wanted amendments. Each of those changes may be different and may rankle other members of the task force, and it����ap unclear how any lingering tensions will be resolved.

The Colorado Technology Association was among the groups represented on the task force. President Brittany Morris Saunders said in a statement that the association was among those that voted yes, with an eye toward changes.

“We look forward to seeing this progress reflected in the forthcoming legislation and to continuing the dialogue on how to protect consumers while enabling innovation to thrive,” Morris Saunders said.

Even more unclear is how the framework will be received in the Capitol. While significant interests were involved in the task force, including the Colorado Chamber of Commerce and prominent consumer groups, it was, by design, a small, cloistered group.

About every international technology business, such as Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, has invested heavily in the technology, too.

Task force members said they had not established a process for shepherding the bill through the legislature. Members, including Loren Furman, the president and CEO of the Colorado Chamber, said they wanted to try to keep the task force aligned as other interests or lawmakers proposed amendments and weighed in.

“As the legislative process unfolds, we’ll focus on ensuring the framework remains centered on consumers, functions effectively in practice and provides a foundation for adapting to future technology and emerging harms,” said Marissa Molina, the chief policy and communications officer for the Community Economic Defense Project and another task force member. She called the framework “real progress toward fairer technology accountability.”

That would offer at least something of a unified front — while defending the tenuously negotiated framework.

The framework “isn’t a completely finished product,” Furman said. “We’re still getting some revisions coming in, and we’re hoping this stays as intact as it can be as it hits the legislature. But as you and I know, people have opinions in the legislature.”

“It will be interesting to see how the task force can stick together and oversee the draft in its current form,” said Anaya Robinson of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, who sat on the task force. The process from here, he said, “is clear as mud.”

Adam Burrows, a co-founder of Range Ventures and member of the task force, praised the proposal as finding a solid balance between what consumer groups felt they needed and what would still allow the business community — particularly small and medium-sized businesses — to flourish.

He said he was one of the few to vote for the framework as is. But more importantly, the framework represents a vast improvement over the 2024 law, which passed as , he said.

That law is stocked with reporting requirements and broad definitions that Burrows called “massive, unnecessary and pointless burdens on businesses.”

His Denver-based firm works with dozens of companies, many of which are in Colorado. All would have been affected by SB-205 going into effect, he said. This proposal would clean up definitions and give clearer guidance, he said.

“This is much more specific — much more surgical — with the protections that consumer groups felt were really needed … and then making it workable for businesses,” Burrows said in an interview. “I feel really proud of what the group came up with.”

It����ap not totally clear who will sponsor the bill that’s eventually drafted from the framework, though Rodriguez has made clear he intends to be involved. He has held a tight grip on previous proposals, including stacking committees to get his preferred votes and voluntarily killing his own bill when it became clear that other forces would make changes he didn’t like.

Rodriguez had not yet reviewed the draft proposal and declined to comment through a spokeswoman on Tuesday.

The task force had worked through several iterations of its framework, and a final vote was delayed repeatedly as its members navigated late issues, including the question of whether to fully carve out hospitals and the insurance industry from being subject to the proposal. Furman said discussions around other areas of the policy continued into Monday night, dragging on to the point where she suggested another delay.

RTD chief executive and general manager Debra Johnson inspected the system at an electronic “fare validator” panel west of Denver’s Union Station.

Riders can pay for their trips using credit cards or mobile wallets scanned into panels adjacent to drivers on 952 RTD buses and at 235 train and bus stations across the district’s 2,342-square-mile metro Denver service area, which spans eight counties.

First-time and occasional riders, perhaps visitors in Denver for Broncos football games, will find RTD with this “Tap-N-Ride” payment system more convenient, Johnson said.

“You can use whatever is in your wallet,” she said. “The flexibility and the ease of payment will entice those who might have trepidation about using our system.”

The number of riders on RTD buses and trains is lagging. This year, agency records showed a decline, with about 40 million fewer riders per year compared with six years ago. RTD executives’ newly proposed $1.3 billion budget for 2026 does not include funds for boosting bus and train frequency — widely seen as crucial for ridership.

This week’s rollout of credit card tap payment puts RTD on par with other major public transit agencies that offer that option in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon.

RTD board chairman Julien Bouquet anticipated the new system would not only increase ridership but also help the agency raise revenues. Bus and train fares cover about 4.9% of RTD’s operating expenses.

Over the past year, RTD transit police and contract security agents have stepped up enforcement to make sure riders pay. Police making checks — they made more than 460,000 last month — can use a handheld validator device to check a rider’s card or device and verify whether the rider paid as required.

“Our main drive as a board is increasing ridership,” and the tap payment option will make the system more accessible, Bouquet said.

“People want a more welcoming transit environment. That’s what the directors want. It’s going to be an easier experience for you to pay for that ticket. If we can generate more revenue, that’s a plus. We’re in a pretty tight financial situation coming into 2026.”

Riders can still use cash or pre-loaded funds available via RTD’s “MyRide” accounts to pay for their transit. Those choosing the new tap payment system can skip buying tickets at vending machines and rely on a quick, secure and convenient transaction using Visa or Mastercard credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards or mobile wallet cards such as those provided through Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

Agency officials said they’ll add American Express and Discover card Tap-n-Ride options in 2026.

RTD police officer Leon Duran said riders who board without paying and are caught may be asked to leave trains and buses. Transit police can issue tickets with a penalty of $86 for nonpayment. The handheld devices that let police quickly check whether a rider paid may, in the future, also be used to collect funds.

“It gives a less confrontational way of having somebody pay their fare without embarrassing someone,” Johnson said.

The agency’s elected directors included funds for setting up the credit care system in the RTD’s record-high $1.2 billion budget for 2025. The RTD is funded mostly by residents of the eight metro Denver counties who pay sales and use taxes.

The White House released a list of contributors Thursday. In addition to Palantir, the roster included crypto companies and enterpreneurs; technology companies like Meta, Apple and Amazon; major businesses like HP, Caterpillar and T-Mobile; and prominent Republican donors.

It’s unclear how much Palantir, , contributed to the project. The company did not return an email seeking comment Friday morning, and the White House did not identify how much had been given by each donor.

The company was also included on a guest list for a dinner that Trump previously held for nearly 130 supporters of the ballroom,

The donations have helped pave the way for Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing and his plans to replace it with a new, 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

The ballroom project has yet to receive approvals from the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, although White House staff secretary Will Scharf, who was also tapped by Trump to lead the planning commission, said approval is not needed. The commission vets the construction of federal buildings.

At the donor dinner earlier this month, Trump said there are no zoning requirements for him as the president of the United States and he can do whatever he wants with the construction.

Palantir’s valuation and prominence have exploded in recent years as it has increasingly offered its services of merging, analyzing and utilizing massive datasets to government agencies. Palantir is now worth more than the combined value of every other Colorado-based company tracked by The Denver Post.

Palantir’s donation to Trump brings the company even closer to the administration. The company has received more than $100 million in federal government contracts since Trump took office, including controversial contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Most recently, the company signed an $11.4 million contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs at the end of September, along with roughly $20 million in recent contracts for the U.S. State Department, according to federal contracting records.

The company has also undertaken high-profile work for the U.S. Department of Defense and, outside of the U.S., for the Israeli military — an association that drew criticism from a United Nations official.

Palantir’s billionaire CEO, Alex Karp, has long supported both Republican and Democratic causes, including some Colorado Democrats. But his donations this year have increasingly tilted conservative:

He’s spent $575,000 on a handful of groups supporting Republican Senate candidates in states like Texas, Louisiana and Maine, according to federal campaign finance records. He donated $1 million to a Trump super PAC shortly after Trump won a return to the White House last year.

The New York Times and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Not the happiest of times.

You strike up a conversation with the guy from the next car, someone seemingly sensible beyond his years. Out of nowhere, he drops this bit of wisdom: “You know, someday just two companies will be worth as much as the entire U.S. economy right now.”

“Sure thing, buddy,” you say, spinning your finger next to your head to sign “crazy” to your spouse in the car. Anything is possible. But realistic? Yeah, right.

Yet … here we are.

In 1979, the inflation-adjusted GDP of the entire United States was $6.97 trillion. Today, the combined market capitalization of Microsoft and Apple alone is about $6.94 trillion. Combine Nvidia and Microsoft, and it����ap $8.28 trillion. In other words, the total value of all goods and services produced by the United States in 1979 now equates to about 84% of the value of just two of its top companies.

Admittedly, this is sort of an apples to oranges comparison. GDP measures output, not value, like market cap. But that assessment, while fair, misses the point: progress via innovation. Innovation, especially in technology, is cumulative — and at times, exponential.

The 1970s were a mess. After Nixon left the gold standard in 1971, inflation surged. Real incomes fell as prices rose. The S&P 500 peaked in 1973, shortly before being cut in half. The Vietnam War, Watergate, and the Arab Oil Embargo all contributed to a turbulent geopolitical environment. Lines formed at gas stations. It was an era of malaise on many fronts.

But amid all this discontent, the microprocessor was born. Intel launched the first commercially available chip in 1971. In 1975, two young guys named Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. The following year, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed Apple in a garage. Nvidia came a little later in 1993, when its founder Jensen Huang created specialized graphics processors for PC gaming. Today, revenue from these three companies accounts for almost 2.5% of the U.S.’s entire economic output.

That����ap a sizeable amount, but three companies do not an economy make. To further put this progress in perspective, remember that the S&P was at 108 in 1979. Today, it����ap about 6,300, a 58-fold increase. That����ap an 11.8% annual growth rate from the day equities died (according to BusinessWeek) to May of 2025. That means if you’d invested $10,000 in something tracking the S&P 500, you’d have about $1.6 million today, less taxes.

Headlines get attention, but they aren’t always right. Good ideas — those that power the next decade’s innovation — will work quietly behind the scenes, regardless of their press coverage. The media feeds on urgency, but investing and innovation take time and patience. As an equity owner, you can choose either fear or patience; historically, only one has been consistently profitable.

Those who waited patiently through the 1970s eventually saw the tide turn. The Volcker Fed broke rising inflation. America gained energy independence through innovations in shale and fracking. Vietnam became a key trading partner and producer. Equities rebounded, climbing higher than imaginable. Nearly all the fears blasted on the nightly news evaporated in the rearview mirror, only to be replaced by new end-of-the-world-causing events.

Being told in 1979 that two yet-to-be-founded companies would be worth more than the entire output of the U.S. economy would have sounded like science fiction. But this history offers a valuable reminder that the future is so big, it����ap almost incomprehensible. Looking ahead, what could these numbers look like in 30, 40, even 50 years? Innovation doesn’t wait for good news, and as investors, we must focus on owning a piece of it.

No timeline is ever smooth, but progress is inevitable. On what will you choose to focus?

At its core, investing requires optimism and a belief in the ingenuity of mankind. Setbacks will happen, but progress inevitably delivers a brighter future. It����ap possible, even probable, that our grandkids will compare today’s GDP to the value of a company being founded in someone’s garage today. Don’t let fear dissuade you from investing in it.

Steve Booren is the founder of Prosperion Financial Advisors in Greenwood Village. He is the author of “Blind Spots: The Mental Mistakes Investors Make” and “Intelligent Investing: Your Guide to a Growing Retirement Income” He was named by Forbes as a 2024 Best-in-State Wealth Advisor, and a Barron’s 2024 Top Advisor by State.

• Apple — Nine out of 10 in my extended family use an iPhone on the Verizon network.

• Google — I search for answers to just about everything, multiple times per day, usually in a Chrome web browser.

• Berkshire Hathaway — They’re the holding company behind Geico, Duracell, Burlington Railroad, and See’s Candy, which is a personal favorite.

• J.P. Morgan Chase — This is the biggest bank and the credit card provider (powered by Visa) we all use.

• Proctor & Gamble — For the “quicker picker upper” (Bounty), “the best a man can get” (Gillette), and “hair you can’t get enough of” (Head & Shoulders), we reach for P&G products. They make nearly everything under the sink and in the laundry room.

I’ll bet your list has some overlap with mine, and that we share even more than five in common. We consistently rely on — and budget for — these brands and businesses in our daily activities.

Now imagine that you could own part of these successful long-lasting businesses, and it wouldn’t require boardroom visits or restroom cleanings. Instead, you can purchase shares. Warren Buffett would agree: Buying what you know is a wise investing principle.

When you log into your investment account, do you see a list of stocks and their prices or a list of real companies you rely on every day? Imagine: no ticker symbols. No flashing red or green arrows. Just some of the businesses that influence your daily life.

Now ask yourself: If the price of these companies were to drop 50%, would you stop using their products or services?

This isn’t a trick question. Understanding that you’re the partial owner of real companies, not a speculator in abstract stock tickers, shifts everything. Far too often, people meld the concept of “the market” with the economy or their financial future. But in reality, the market is simply a collection of daily prices driven largely by headlines and emotions.

Businesses, on the other hand, are real. They hire people. They make things, solve problems and serve customers. The best ones innovate relentlessly, grow shareholder value, increase earning and improve efficiency.

If “the market” were to drop 50% in price, I bet you’d still buy shampoo. You’d still pay your phone bill. You’d still hop on Netflix tonight to find a new show. The distinction between “stocks” and “businesses” may sound subtle, but it����ap fundamental — and it becomes clear when you develop an ownership mentality. Prices can swing wildly based on moods and news. But a well-managed company still serves its customers, earns profits, and reinvests in its future.

Earlier this year, the S&P 500 was dominated by a handful of high-flying tech names priced at record-high valuations. Then, within just a few weeks, the market dropped nearly 22% from its peak. Did those businesses suddenly become less innovative? Did people stop using their products? Did their long-term earning power collapse overnight?

Of course not.

What collapsed was sentiment. The “tariff tantrum” reared its head, fear took the wheel, investors got spooked and prices fell. This quick emotional reaction was driven largely by unexpected news.

The stock market is often like a funhouse mirror, distorting reality in both directions. When times are great and things feel good, it����ap easy to fall into greed and chase high prices. Conversely, when things get scary and uncertain, it����ap easy to panic.

Resisting those urges, no matter how “logical” they may seem, is good investment behavior. The temptation to react will always exist, but panicking and selling great companies has never been a winning strategy. What separates successful investors isn’t their ability to predict the market, but their good investment behavior when it matters most.

Buinesses like those I’ve listed have delivered something remarkable over decades: the slow, steady, relentless compounding of value. Their stock prices may be volatile, but their results trend upward. Earnings rise, dividends grow and shareholders who stay invested are typically rewarded.

I believe the greatest returns don’t come from picking the fastest growing stocks but instead from fostering good investment behavior and sticking to a long-term perspective. To invest requires optimism, believing that no matter what happens day-to-day, our future will be brighter. Markets may consist of numbers and headlines, but investing is ultimately human.

When you’re tempted to check your portfolio five times a day, remember you’re not just holding stocks; you’re part-owner in businesses you rely on and understand. That little shift in thinking can improve investor behavior and make all the difference in your financial success.

Then, the next time volatility strikes and people are running for the exits, take a breath. Your job is to stay focused on long-term ownership of those quality companies you’ve chosen — the ones that improve lives and create lasting value.

Steve Booren is the founder of Prosperion Financial Advisors in Greenwood Village. He is the author of “Blind Spots: The Mental Mistakes Investors Make” and “Intelligent Investing: Your Guide to a Growing Retirement Income” He was named by Forbes as a 2024 Best-in-State Wealth Advisor, and a Barron’s 2024 Top Advisor by State.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — After stumbling out of the starting gate in Big Tech’s pivotal race to capitalize on artificial intelligence, Apple tried to regain its footing Monday during an annual developers conference that focused mostly on incremental advances and cosmetic changes in its technology.

The presummer rite, which attracted thousands of developers from nearly 60 countries to Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, was more subdued than the feverish anticipation that surrounded the event during the previous two years.

Apple highlighted plans for more AI tools designed to simplify people’s lives and make its products even more intuitive while also providing an early glimpse at the biggest redesign of its iPhone software in a decade. In doing so, Apple executives refrained from issuing bold promises of breakthroughs that punctuated recent conferences, prompting CFRA analyst Angelo Zino to deride the event as a “dud” in a research note.

In 2023, Apple unveiled that has been little more than a niche product, and last year WWDC trumpeted its first major foray into the AI craze with highlighted by the promise of a smarter and more versatile version of its virtual assistant, Siri — a goal that has hasn’t been achieved yet.

“This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s top software executive, said Monday at the outset of the conference. The company didn’t provide a precise timetable for the Siri’s AI upgrade to be finished but indicated it won’t happen until next year, at the earliest.

“The silence surrounding Siri was deafening,” said Forrester Research analyst Dipanjan Chatterjee said. “No amount of text corrections or cute emojis can fill the yawning void of an intuitive, interactive AI experience that we know Siri will be capable of when ready. We just don’t know when that will happen. The end of the Siri runway is coming up fast, and Apple needs to lift off.”

The showcase unfolded amid nagging questions about whether Apple has lost some of the mystique and innovative drive that turned it into a tech trendsetter during its nearly 50-year history.

Instead of making a big splash as it did with the Vision Pro headset and its AI suite, Apple took a mostly low-key approach that emphasized its effort to spruce up the look of its software with a new design called “Liquid Glass” while also unveiling a new hub for its video games and new features like a “Workout Buddy” to help manage physical fitness.

Apple executives promised to make its software more compatible with the increasingly sophisticated computer chips that have been powering its products while also making it easier to toggle between the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

“Our product experience has become even more seamless and enjoyable,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told the crowd as the 90-minute showcase wrapped up.

IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo said Apple seemed to be largely using Monday’s conference to demonstrate the company still has a blueprint for success in AI, even if it����ap going to take longer to realize the vision that was presented a year ago.

“This year’s event was not about disruptive innovation, but rather careful calibration, platform refinement and developer enablement –positioning itself for future moves rather than unveiling game-changing technologies,” Jeronimo said.

Besides redesigning its software. Apple will switch to a method that automakers have used to telegraph their latest car models by linking them to the year after they first arrive at dealerships. That means the next version of the iPhone operating system due out this autumn will be known as iOS 26 instead of iOS 19 — as it would be under the previous naming approach that has been used since the device’s 2007 debut.

The iOS 26 upgrade is expected to be released in September around the same time Apple traditionally rolls out the next iPhone models.

In an early sign that AI wasn’t going to be a focal point of this year’s conference, Apple opened the proceedings with a short video clip featuring Federighi speeding around a track in a Formula 1 race car. Although it was meant to promote the June 27 release of the Apple film, “F1” starring Brad Pitt, the segment could also be viewed as an unintentional analogy to the company’s attempt to catch up to the rest of the pack in AI technology.

While some of the new AI tricks compatible with the latest iPhones as part of free software updates, the delays in a souped-up Siri became so glaring that the chastened company stopped promoting it in its marketing campaigns earlier this year.

While Apple has been struggling to make AI that meets its standards, the gap separating it from other tech powerhouses is widening. Google keeps packing more AI into its Pixel smartphone lineup while into its search engine to dramatically change the way it works. Samsung, Apple’s biggest smartphone rival, is also Meanwhile, ChatGPT that will bring former Apple design guru Jony Ive into the fold to work on a new device expected to compete against the iPhone.

Besides grappling with innovation challenges, Apple also faces regulatory threats that could siphon away billions of dollars in revenue that help finance its research and development. A federal judge is currently weighing whether proposed in search should include a ban on long-running deals worth $20 billion annually to Apple while another federal judge from collecting commissions on in-app transactions processed outside its once-exclusive payment system.

On top of all that, Apple has been caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s with China, a key manufacturing hub for the Cupertino, California, company. Cook successfully persuaded Trump to exempt the iPhone from tariffs during the president����ap first administration, but he has had less success during Trump’s second term, which seems more determined to prod .

The multidimensional gauntlet facing Apple is spooking investors, causing the company’s stock price to plunge by 20% so far this year — a decline that has erased about $750 billion in shareholder wealth. After beginning the year as the most valuable company in the world, Apple now ranks third behind longtime rival Microsoft, another AI leader, and AI chipmaker Nvidia.

Apple’s shares closed down by more than 1% on Monday — an early indication the company’s latest announcements didn’t inspire investors.

“So (trade) deals are something that can help adjust the tariffs, but again, 10% seems really sticky at the moment,” Penelope Naas, a trade expert with the German Marshall Fund, told a Denver crowd during lunch at World Trade Day. She was introduced as a “tariffologist.”

Tariffs are such a stressful topic that the World Trade Center, sponsor of the annual event, offered a “Tariff Therapy Oasis” room for attendees.

Naas put up a clip of a New York Times advertisement that Donald Trump purchased in 1987 to criticize trade deficits. In repeated interviews over the years, he has used the same language about the country being ripped off and people taking advantage of the U.S. or failing to pay for their fair share for military security.

Trump promotes four key benefits from higher tariffs, Naas said. They will reduce the country’s trade deficit, encourage more domestic manufacturing, create political leverage over trading partners and companies, and generate revenues for the country, which can be used to reduce budget deficits or fund other priorities, such as the tax cuts the House approved this week.

Despite his strong convictions, Trump can be swayed by the fallout his supporters are facing, the opinions of CEOs he respects and complaints from Republican members of Congress, not to mention the action of the bond markets, said Naas, who urged businesses to lobby their political representatives so they understand the hit they are taking.

When JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned on May 8 on Fox News that the tariffs could crash the economy, the administration announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs the next day, she said. When the CEO of Walmart warned about empty store shelves because of tariffs of 145% on Chinese goods, the administration announced a deal to reduce them to 30% for 90 days.

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Oval Office visit, which was likely used to point out how iPhones couldn’t be produced easily outside of China, resulted in a high tariff exclusion for smartphones and other electronic goods made in China.

And the influence can also work in the other direction. A 100% tariff on movies produced outside the U.S. seemingly came out of the blue, but it followed a meeting Trump had with actor and producer Jon Voight, who advocated for the levy to protect Hollywood.

Canada, the European Union and China have strategically used Trump’s concern for his base to target tariffs on specific products, such as rice from Louisiana and bourbon from Kentucky. Their pushback has also thwarted expectations for a quick resolution.

More than 60 countries have been hit with reciprocal tariffs. But trade deals are complicated and can take a long time to work out. The administration has found itself understaffed in terms of having the capacity to reach so many agreements at the same time, Naas said.

The end game, however, appears to be a reset of the trade relationship between the U.S. and China, which is pushing to become a top military power under President Xi Jinping and has come to dominate manufacturing globally.

“China has taken over manufacturing around the world and while they consume about 55% of what they make, they export about 45%. And that is taking over and damaging every country’s manufacturing,” Naas said.

The U.S. is especially vulnerable to disruptions from China when it comes to smartphones, computer monitors, video game consoles, energy storage systems, baby carriages, toys and recreational gear. China is also a dominant supplier of the ingredients needed to create antibiotics and of rare earth minerals.

China’s military is not strong enough yet to defeat the U.S. and Europe. To compensate, the country has adopted an approach to make any enemy “blind, deaf and dumb” in the first hours of an outbreak of war, Naas said.

Chinese electronic products, such as routers from TP-Link, have reportedly been used to launch cyberattacks by Chinese state actors. Naas said electronic products from China have been found with embedded kill switches that can’t be explained by any benign intent, including recently in solar power systems.

“Lauren and Kiki, they had it perfect the first time,” Betts, mother of the former Grandview stalwart and current UCLA star, recalled to me in advance of Lauren leading her Bruins into the NCAA women’s hoops Final Four on Friday. “The timing of the people popping up behind them in the window, they were struggling to figure out ways to make that part work. It was a huge production. There must have been 100 (on the crew) there in and outside the house.”

Michelle knew in mid-February, the day of the AT&T shoot, that her kiddo had hit the big time. Mind you, it didn’t quite blow her mind when they dropped Mom off at a parochial school that had been converted into a Hollywood backlot. Or when

A few steps later, though, one image finally did. It was when Michelle walked up to one of those white superstar trailers, only to find a sign on the front that read, “MISS LAUREN BETTS.”

Ka-blooey. Complete, total ka-blooey.

“I was like, ‘What the (heck) is this kid’s life right now?'” Michelle said.

Once Mom got through the door, she noticed a hair stylist and a makeup artist in one corner of the trailer, while a spread of catered food lined another.

“Who the (heck) are you?” an incredulous Michelle asked her daughter.

“I know,” Lauren replied. “Can you believe this?”

Believe it.  Betts, whose 34-2 Bruins meet 35-3 UConn in the second national semifinal Friday in Tampa, is fast joining the Lakers’ Luka Doncic as one of the freshest new faces in the L.A. hoops scene.

The 6-foot-7 center scored 17 points, pulled down seven boards and blocked six shots in a 72-65 win over LSU in the regional final, avenging a Sweet 16 loss to those same Tigers in Albany at this time a year ago.

The younger Betts, a first-team AP All-American and Naismith/WBCA Defensive Player of the Year, stormed the Big Dance, averaging 23 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks through four NCAA tourney appearances.

In fact, Lauren’s inaugural run through the Big Ten was so dominant, and seen by so many more eyeballs than previous seasons at Stanford and UCLA (thanks, Pac-12 Network!), that draftniks figured Betts would be a sure-fire top 5 pick in the upcoming WNBA draft — if she chose to forgo her senior season.

Spoiler alert: She won’t.

One of the reasons, Mom says, is the opportunity to play with little sister Sienna, a UCLA commit, next fall. Another is the fact that the Bruins, loaded as they are, could be even better next season. And there are her current : In addition to the campaign with AT&T, Betts has deals with Under Armour, C4 Energy, JLab, The Den, HighlightHER, Bumble and Grandeur Models.

Lauren and Sienna’s marketing is being handled by the heavy hitters at The agency’s clientele are so permeated into pop culture that most of Denver probably owns a record, movie or book produced by somebody with WME ties.

“I thought it was hilarious that people thought Lauren was going to enter the draft early,” Michelle said. “I really didn’t get it. She had no reason to go early, and it never crossed her mind to go into the draft as a junior.”

Between Sienna’s winning MVP honors at the McDonald’s All-American game in New York and Lauren cruising through postseason tourneys, Mom’s spent the last few weeks zipping through DIA terminals. She cracked that balloons from the celebrations over Sienna’s state title with Grandview last month are still floating around her place.

“I feel like I’ve barely been here,” Michelle chuckled. “I have decorations I still have to put away.”

And while Lauren may be the new Toast of Tinseltown, her ceiling is still a Mile High. Mama Betts figures she’s caught her daughter’s AT&T commercial by now in Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Spokane — and all points in between.

But probably the favorite time it popped up for her was last weekend at a hotel bar in Brooklyn, while watching Lauren and Kiki knock off LSU on her smart phone. Mom, who’d just flown from Washington state to the Big Apple, fist-pumped her way to a catbird seat on Cloud 9. Who says fairy tales can’t have sequels?

“Welcome,” Michelle laughed, “to Hollywood.”

It can be hard to curb excessive use of smartphones and social media, which are addictive by design. Reducing your screen time is often more than just a matter of willpower, especially for younger people whose brains and impulse control are still developing.

If you’re a phone addict who wants to cut down on the hours a day spent looking at your device, here are some techniques you can try to free up more IRL time:

Delete apps

An easy first step is getting rid of any apps you’ve been wasting time on.

Over the past year, I’ve deleted Facebook, Instagram and Twitter from my phone because I wanted to use them less. Now and then I’ll have to go the app store and reinstall one because I need to do something like post a photo I took on my phone. (Sometimes I’ll transfer the photo to my laptop and then post it to the web from there, but usually, it����ap too much hassle.)

The danger with this approach is that if you do reinstall the app, you won’t bother deleting it again.

Use built-in controls

Both iPhones and Android devices have onboard controls to help regulate screen time. They can also be used by parents to regulate children’s phone usage.

Apple’s Screen Time controls are found in the iPhone’s settings menu. Users can set overall Downtime, which shuts off all phone activity during a set period. If you want a phone-free evening, then you could set it to kick in from, say, 7 p.m. until 7 a.m.

The controls also let users put a blanket restriction on certain categories of apps, such as social, games or entertainment or zero in on a specific app, by limiting the time that can be spent on it. Too distracted by Instagram? Then set it so that you can only use it for a daily total of 20 minutes.

The downside is that the limits aren’t hard to get around. It����ap more of a nudge than a red line that you can’t cross. If you try to open an app with a limit, you’ll get a screen menu offering one more minute, a reminder after 15 minutes, or to completely ignore it.

Android users can use turn to their Digital Wellbeing settings, which include widgets to remind users how much they’ve had. There’s also the option to create separate work and personal profiles, so you can hide your social media apps and their notifications when you’re at the office.

Don’t be distracted

There are other little tricks to make your phone less distracting. I use the Focus mode on my iPhone to silence notifications. For example, If I’m in a meeting somewhere, I mute it until I leave that location. Android also has a Focus mode to pause distracting apps.

Change your phone display to grayscale from color so that it doesn’t look so exciting. On iPhones, adjust the color filter in your settings. For Android, turn on , or tweak the color correction setting.

Android phones can also nag users not to look at their phones while walking, by activating the feature in Digital Wellbeing.

Block those apps

If the built-in controls aren’t enough, there are many third-party apps, like Jomo, Opal, Forest, Roots and LockMeOut that are designed to cut down screen time.

Many of these apps have both free and premium versions with more features, and strongly push you toward signing up for a subscription by minimizing the option to “skip for now” on the payment screen. I tested out a few on my iPhone for this story.

To try out Opal, I reinstalled Facebook so I could block it. Whenever I tapped the Facebook icon, Opal intervened to give me various inspirational messages, like “Gain Wisdom, Lose Facebook,” and tallied how many times I tried to open it. To get around the block, I had to open Opal and wait through a six-second timeout before requesting up to 15 minutes to look at Facebook. There’s an option to up the difficulty by increasing the delay before you can look again.

Jomo, which I used to restrict my phone’s Reddit app, worked in a similar way: tap the Unlock button, which took me to the Jomo app, where I had to wait 20 seconds before I could tap the button to unlock Reddit for up to 10 minutes.

The OneSec app takes a different approach by reminding users to first take a pause. The installation, which involves setting up an automation on the iPhone’s Shortcuts, can be confusing. When I eventually installed it for my Bluesky app, it gave me a prompt to run a shortcut that wiped my screen with a soothing purple-blue and reminded me to take a deep breath before letting me choose to open the app — but in practice it was too easy to just skip the prompt.

The Android-only LockMeOut can freeze you out of designated apps based on criteria like your location, how many times you’ve opened an app, or how long you’ve used it.

The obvious way to defeat these apps is simply to delete them, although some advise users to follow the proper uninstall procedure or else apps could remain blocked.

Use external hardware

Digital blockers might not be for everyone. Some startups, figuring that people might prefer a tangible barrier, offer hardware solutions that introduce physical friction between you and an app.

Unpluq is a yellow tag that you have to hold up to your phone in order to access blocked apps. Brick and Blok are two different products that work along the same lines — they’re squarish pieces of plastic that you have to tap or scan with your phone to unlock an app.

The makers of these devices say that software solutions are too easy to bypass, but a physical object that you can put somewhere out of reach or leave behind if you’re going somewhere is a more effective way to get rid of distractions.

What about stashing the phone away entirely? There are various phone lockboxes and cases available, some of them designed so parents can lock up their teenagers’ phones when they’re supposed to be sleeping. Yondr, which makes portable phone locking pouches used at concerts or in schools, also sells a home phone box.

See a therapist

Perhaps there are deeper reasons for your smartphone compulsion. Maybe it����ap a symptom of underlying problems like anxiety, stress, loneliness, depression or low self-esteem. If you think that����ap the case, it could be worth exploring therapy that is becoming more widely available.

One London hospital treats “technology addiction” with a plan that includes dealing with “discomfort in face-to-face time” with other people, and exploring your relationship with technology.

Another clinic boasts that its social media addiction treatment also includes working on a patient����ap technology management skills, such as “setting boundaries for device usage, finding alternative activities to fill the void of reduced online interaction, and learning how to engage more with the physical world.”

Downgrade your phone

Why not trade your smartphone for a more basic one? It����ap an extreme option but there’s a thriving subculture of cellphones with only basic features, catering to both retro enthusiasts and people, including parents, worried about screen time. They range from cheap old-school brick-and-flip phones by faded brands like Nokia to stylish but pricier devices from boutique manufacturers like Punkt.

The tradeoff, of course, is that you’ll also have to do without essential apps like Google Maps or your bank.

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