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President Donald Trump is teaching car enthusiasts around the world by example. If you have a new project car, you should have a reliable daily to fall back on should the worst happen. Trump stated on Sunday that the Boeing VC-25B Bridge will be out of service for "about a month." Earlier this month, he had flown home from a NATO summit in Turkey on an older Boeing VC-25A because the new Qatari-gifted aircraft allegedly lacked the appropriate missile countermeasures.

Trump initially claimed the plane swap was to allow the VC-25B Bridge to visit air bases in Europe so stationed U.S. Air Force personnel could tour the aircraft. However, the New York Times reported that the Secret Service advised the President not to fly the new plane, citing security concerns. When questioned in Turkey about a potential threat, he answered, "I'm number one of the kill list for Iran." When asked on Sunday about why he's continuing to fly the VC-25 Bridge despite its lack of anti-missile defenses, Trump replied:

"Well, it has — it has a lot, and you know it has a lot of capability, but as I understand it, in about a month or so, they're going to send it to have it be maxed out. So they're going to be sending it, and they'll have it be maxed out."

$1 billion spent on this plane and it still needs to be maxed out

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Using the phrase "maxed out" when talking about a Boeing aircraft probably isn't the best choice of words, but I'm sure Trump doesn't want to shower an American neighborhood in Air Force One parts. Just the prospect of retrofitting this aircraft again raises numerous concerns. After the Qatari royal family donated the Boeing 747 to the Trump administration, the White House spent $1 billion for L3Harris to modify the plane for service. If $1 billion was spent on classified upgrades but somehow didn't include anti-missile countermeasures, what was that money spent on exactly?

It should be noted that L3Harris turned around the VC-25B Bridge for service worryingly too fast. There was less than a year from initial transfer to its inaugural flight this month. The aircraft is referred to as "Bridge" for a reason. Trump was desperate to fly on a new Air Force One before he left office, but delays with the actual VC-25B jeopardized that prospect. There was also the cherry on top: the Bridge plane will be donated to the Trump Presidential Library Foundation by the end of 2028. %!s()

Bisignano surveilled colleagues at JPMorgan while he was co-chief operating officer, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. He wanted information to "keep a tight rein on employees" and "to undermine his rivals," the Journal reported. One of the subjects of the surveillance was Charlie Scharf, who is now CEO of Wells Fargo, according to the Journal.

"Charlie called me last night. We had a good laugh about it," Bisignano said.

Wells Fargo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Bisignano's remarks.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent praised Bisignano in a statement to CNBC sent after Bisignano spoke on air. "With decades of experience leading some of America's most successful companies, Frank Bisignano has brought proven executive leadership, operational excellence, and a results-driven mindset to the IRS," Bessent said.

"He has done a terrific job delivering better service to taxpayers, eliminating waste, modernizing operations, and ensuring the agency works for the American people," Bessent said.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon issued a statement in 2013 praising Bisignano after his departure from the bank. A spokesperson told CNBC on Tuesday that the bank "applauds [Bisignano's] service to our country both at the Social Security Administration and the IRS," without addressing the spying allegations.

Bisignano left JPMorgan to run payments processor First Data in 2013. That company later merged with Fiserv.

Bisignano left Fiserv in 2025 to take on increasing responsibility in the Trump administration. He was confirmed by the Senate as commissioner of the Social Security Administration in May 2025. Bessent appointed him in October to the newly created position of CEO of the IRS.  

Bessent tasked Bisignano last week with overseeing the implementation of the Trump Account savings vehicle created by last year's Republican tax and policy law, CNBC reported. He retains his leadership roles at the IRS and the Social Security Administration.

Bisignano as IRS chief signed a settlement with President Donald Trump giving him immunity from some tax audits. A federal judge last week criticized that settlement.

Bisignano is named in a class-action shareholder lawsuit in the Southern District of New York. The suit alleges that Fiserv misled investors about its growth numbers and that Bisignano benefited from an artificially inflated share price.

Frank Bisignano, chief executive officer of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), during a House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.

Tierney L. Cross | Bloomberg | Getty Images

An attorney for Bisignano didn't immediately respond to a question from CNBC about the lawsuit, but declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal on active litigation and said that much of the share price decline took place under Mike Lyons, who took over as CEO from Bisignano.

Fiserv's share price dropped sharply after Bisignano left for the Trump administration. Bisignano sold shares in Fiserv to meet his ethics obligations to the federal government. At least $77 million of those sales came in July 2025, after Bisignano had departed the company but during a blackout period that covered existing executives, the Journal reported.

Lyons told investors in July 2025 after those sales that Fiserv would need to revise its guidance. In October, Lyons said that it would be "objectively difficult to achieve" the company's shareholder guidance initially set under Bisignano and that Fiserv would undergo a "critical and necessary reset."

Fiserv's shares are down 78% from their peak set in March 2025 under Bisignano through Tuesday morning, according to Factset data. Lyons has since left Fiserv.

Bisignano said he's no longer at Fiserv when asked on CNBC about the company's declining share price. "I know they went through a leadership change. That's never ... that good."

Fiserv didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. %!s()

Once abundant across the Hawaiian Islands, the Aʻeo dwindled to roughly 200 birds in the 1940s after decades of overhunting, the loss of wetlands to agriculture and development, and the spread of invasive predators. Following its listing as endangered in 1973 and sustained conservation efforts, the population has since climbed to more than 1,500 birds today.

Community partners with conservation managers

The team analyzed more than five decades of data, representing more than 2,000 nests across nine wetlands on Oʻahu from 1963 to 2020. They found that nesting success and chick fledging success improved measurably over time, providing evidence that management actions such as predator control and habitat restoration are working.

"This is a bright spot story," said Melissa Price, associate professor in CTAHR's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management. "So many species across Hawaiʻi are in decline. The Aʻeo demonstrates how community can work in partnership with conservation managers to achieve recovery and rebuild relationships with our native species."

A promising path

Expanding managed wetland habitat is the key to increasing the Aʻeo population. Aʻeo readily colonize restored and managed wetlands, and recent work has documented the birds nesting in restored Indigenous wetland agroecosystems. As sea-level rise threatens existing coastal wetlands, these community- and culturally grounded restoration efforts offer both new habitat and a model for stewardship.

The new rule accompanying the reclassification is designed to keep the momentum going. It allows certain activities that benefit the Aʻeo to continue, including habitat management and restoration work, even where such activities would otherwise be restricted under the act. This flexibility is intended to sustain the partnerships and on-the-ground care that the species still depends on as it progresses toward full recovery.

The authors are careful to call the Aʻeo a "conservation success story in progress." Like many native Hawaiian species, it remains conservation-reliant: dependent on ongoing predator control, water management and habitat protection.

"Downlisting doesn't mean the work is done," said lead author Jessica Idle, a manager with the UH Mānoa Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit. "It means the work is paying off. Continued monitoring and management, especially expanding protected wetland habitat, will be essential to keep the population growing."

The research was a collaboration among UH Mānoa, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, Tufts University and other partners, reflecting the coordinated, cross-agency effort behind the bird's recovery.

More information

Jessica L Idle et al, Fifty years of conservation under the Endangered Species Act: Himantopus mexicanus knudseni (Ae'o or Hawaiian Stilt), a conservation success story in progress, Ornithological Applications (2026). DOI: 10.1093/ornithapp/duag037

Who's behind this story?

Lisa Lock

BA art history, MA material culture. Former museum editor, paramedic, and transplant coordinator. Editing for Science X since 2021. Full profile →

Robert Egan

Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →

Citation: Hawaiian stilt reclassified from endangered to threatened after 50 years of conservation efforts (2026, July 21) retrieved 22 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hawaiian-stilt-reclassified-endangered-threatened.html

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Bloomberg writes that the lease term for iPhones and Apple Watches will be up to 24 months, while leases for Macs and iPads will be up to 36 months. The devices can either be kept or returned at the end of the leasing period, while upgrades to new devices will also be available (hence the name of the program). The report notes vaguely that, in some cases, “transactions will incur an additional fee.”

Apple already has a similar program called iPhone Upgrade, although the company plans to stop allowing new customer sign-ups to instead build out the broader, more inclusive Apple Upgrade program, the report said.

A leasing program is an obvious strategy for Apple at this point. The iPhone maker has been battling supply chain issues wrought by “RAMageddon” — the industry-wide shortage of memory chips that is driving up the price of hardware. Those shortages have been driven largely by the AI industry, which is gobbling up so much memory that it’s not leaving much for the rest of us.

To deal with these issues, Apple recently announced that it would be raising prices, and Upgrade clearly seems designed to make those hiked prices more palatable to consumers.

TechCrunch reached out to Apple and Klarna for more information.

Overall, the new program seems like a shrewd move for Apple, which is currently facing a hectic transitional period. As new CEO John Ternus takes the reins, the company also entered into a legal battle with AI startup superstar OpenAI — suing the company for alleged trade theft.

In short: The company has its hands full, and anything that can shore up sales and keep the business headed in the right direction is worth trying.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Lucas is a senior writer at TechCrunch, where he covers artificial intelligence, consumer tech, and startups. He previously covered AI and cybersecurity at Gizmodo. You can contact Lucas by emailing [email protected].

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Reports of layoffs at 1047 began to surface last week. "A bunch of us, 'the crew' aboard the 1047 train, are getting off on this post-Empulse station," QA director Igor Krinitskiy wrote at the time. "It has been an interesting ride, bumpy at times, narrowly avoiding derailment and with everyone working hard to keep that 1047 train going."

More recent messages also point to multiple cuts across the studio. UI engineer Iannis Stefan Palaczkos wrote that "the studio has been sadly hit by another wave of layoffs, and I got caught in that wave," while concept artist Jonathan Kuo said separately that "as of the end of this week, it will be my last day at 1047 Games due to the third wave of studio layoffs."

1047 Games found fast success several years ago with Splitgate: Arena Warfare, a 'Halo with portals' mashup that was an immediate hit. That success prompted a $100 million funding round in 2021 and big ambitions about becoming "the next Riot Games," but nothing has clicked since. Splitgate 2 was a mess, leading to a rollback and layoffs just a couple months after it went live; it was resurrected as Splitgate: Arena Reloaded a few months later but hasn't attracted anywhere near the players of its predecessors.

Empulse, announced earlier this year, also made a positive early impression but hasn't drawn big player numbers. Unlike Splitgate, which is free to play, Empulse will cost you $20 to get in, which is no doubt a factor in those smaller numbers. But even in that context, sub-1000 concurrent player counts on Steam aren't great. Studio CEO Ian Proulx said in 2025 that "the goal is to grow over time, not aim for a massive splash on day one"—he was speaking of Splitgate 2's relaunch, but it's a philosophy he'll have to apply more broadly if Empulse (and, by extension, 1047 itself) is to have any future.

I've reached out to 1047 Games for comment on the layoffs and will update if I receive a reply.

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill. %!s()