How to Communicate Breaking News to Patients and Families

Breaking news is the term for new, urgent information about events that are developing or just occurred, often requiring immediate reporting. These developments capture the public’s attention and may include disasters, political upheavals or other significant occurrences that have the potential to affect large numbers of people. Breaking news stories often interrupt regular programming and are updated frequently as more details become available.

When breaking news, journalists must consider how to balance the need for speed with the need to accurately report and avoid sensationalism. They also must take care not to report the names of victims of injury or death until family members have been notified and confirmed. This can be a challenging task in chaotic and confusing situations such as mass shootings, natural disasters or ongoing investigations.

NPs also face the challenge of breaking bad news to patients and families. While many aspects of delivering this type of difficult message cannot be predicted, using an established communication template or protocol can help to instill quality and empathy into the process.

Ahead of time, assess the person who is receiving your news and determine how they might be feeling about it (e.g., they might already be aware that something is wrong, or they might be in shock). You should also decide what to tell them and how much you are willing and able to share. It might be helpful to prepare yourself for the conversation by taking some time to yourself, exercising, having a cup of coffee or doing some other self-care activity.

Startup Funding Options

Whether you’re seeking to raise startup capital via loans, bring on angel investors or crowdfund, the best funding option for your business will depend on your specific goals and strategies. However, regardless of which startup funding option you choose, one thing remains the same: You need to be able to clearly demonstrate your financial health to potential investors.

A tailored dashboard displaying clear, real-time financial insights will help you establish credibility and show that your company is well prepared to scale. It will also make it easier for investors to understand your company’s growth, allowing you to get the most bang for your buck.

The earliest contributors to a startup are often friends and family members, who provide seed funding and typically want to remain involved in the company for its formative years. Unlike traditional loans, this type of funding typically does not require an equity stake and can be an excellent alternative for entrepreneurs that are unwilling or unable to take on debt.

Startups that successfully secure seed or angel investment can move on to Series A funding, which is procured when a startup becomes more established and opens itself up to further investments. Series A investors are looking for a higher valuation than early seed investors and can often have a major impact on a startup’s future.

Government, foundation and private grants are another source of startup funding. Entrepreneurs can find available grant opportunities by researching online databases and using specialized platforms that match borrowers with donors. Those who win grant funding are required to submit proposals and other documentation, and may need to present their ideas in person.

Getting Involved With a Political Campaign

A political campaign is a coordinated effort to elect candidates to public office or pass ballot initiatives. Campaigns are fueled by volunteers and staffed with paid staffers who work to identify, persuade, organize, and mobilize support for a candidate or cause. They also oversee strategic decision-making and daily operations.

A campaign can last months or even two years. The length and scale of a campaign vary by the type of election and the office up for grabs. Every two years (a political cycle) thousands of campaigns take place nationwide, from local and state offices to presidential races and ballot initiatives.

Getting involved with a political campaign often begins with volunteering, but it is possible to be hired full-time as well. Whether this is a good idea depends on your personal fit, career goals, and other professional experience. A strong network can help with finding a job on a political campaign. Recruiters at colleges, law schools, and advocacy organizations with connections to partisan groups may be able to refer you to opportunities.

The most common positions on a political campaign include field workers, advance workers, and fundraising specialists. These roles tend to have the most demanding workloads and jack-of-all-trade requirements. Depending on your connections, it is also possible to begin in a different position in the campaign hierarchy.

Working on a political campaign can provide valuable insight into the mechanics of building and maintaining support for specific policy ideas and advancing them to government office. For this reason, it can be a great way to determine your fit for political work, and to prepare for a transition into politics-adjacent careers such as lobbying or consulting.

How to Write an Investor Update

Investor updates are a key part of maintaining transparency and trust with investors. The goal is to give them a holistic view of your business, including highlights, lowlights, and core metrics. These are typically emailed once or twice per month but can also be sent via PDF, deck, or link.

The best way to create your investor update is to use a template that focuses on a clear structure with consistent sections, visuals, and personalization. It is a good idea to start by reviewing the previous month and gathering all of your key performance indicators (KPIs). Make sure that you have access to these from your sources of truth like accounting, marketing, CRM, and project management systems. It is important to share these metrics with context in order to help your investors understand any shifts in metric trends.

You should focus on sharing highlights that include everything from a new customer onboarded or partnership formed, to the number of product releases completed, and any notable wins in marketing, sales, or engineering. It is helpful to use bullet points and short sentences to keep your update navigable and easy for investors to skim.

It is also important to share the lowlights and challenges in your business. It is a normal part of the startup process to have rough patches and it is important that your investors know about these issues in order to better support you when needed. Ultimately, it is in the best interest of your investors to see your startup succeed, and consistent insights into your company can put them in a more helpful position when they are asked to make an introduction, recommend a new employee, or even invest further capital.

The Impact of a Government Shutdown on Federal Workers

Unless Congress passes and President Trump signs budget legislation that covers all of the discretionary spending for the next fiscal year (typically 12 appropriations bills) or a stopgap bill, the federal government will be forced to shut down. During shutdowns, agencies are required to cease all non-essential operations, but those considered “essential” continue operating as usual, including border protection, law enforcement, in-hospital medical care, air traffic control and many other services. Mandatory programs, such as Social Security checks and Medicare card issuance, also continue.

Many federal workers have been impacted by the shutdown, with employees deemed “non-essential” temporarily placed on unpaid leave. This has impacted the Smithsonian museums, the National Park Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among others. While some museums and other cultural institutions have tapped their reserves to remain open, the longer this goes on the more strain it will put on those reserves and the more reliance there will be on future congressional funding appropriations.

In addition, families are facing a real financial impact from missed paychecks. This is particularly true for vulnerable families, such as those with disabilities or who are on fixed incomes, who have limited resources to cope with the disruption in their lives. Beyond that, the political brinksmanship around a government shutdown hurts morale for those working in the federal workforce. These are people who have devoted their lives to the missions of the agencies they work for, and they feel like their hard work is being devalued by the partisan squabbling that leads to a government shutdown.

What is an Editorial?

An editorial is an opinion piece that is published in newspapers, magazines and online. It can be written by the editorial staff of a newspaper or magazine, or it can be written by a non-staff writer, such as an expert in a field who is invited to write an editorial on a topic. An editorial is usually accompanied by one or more graphics. It is often a shorter length than a news story.

The term op-ed is short for “opposite the editorial page.” It used to be called an editorial but that changed when the term was expanded to mean a piece that appears on any page of a newspaper and is not in the main body of the paper.

A good editorial should be well argued and contain a call to action. In the past, the editors of a newspaper would often invite experts to write an editorial, but today many online journals no longer publish them.

If your aim is to persuade readers, your op-ed should include at least one controversial argument and be clear and concise. You should also consider how your reader will respond to your article, which is important if you want to influence public debate and change opinion.

It is important to track the news and jump on the chance to discuss an issue that is dominating headlines, because that is what readers are interested in. If a celebrity has died or there is a new crisis in a war, you should talk about it in an op-ed. But it is not necessary to write an entire op-ed on something that is already dominating the news, especially if it has been covered recently by other op-ed writers or even in the main body of the newspaper.

Diplomacy Is More Than a Career

The word “diplomacy” is associated with embassies, international relations and high politics. But diplomacy is more than a career; it’s a set of skills we all use. It involves understanding the many facets of human nature that undermine agreement and stoke conflict, and an ability to unpick them with grace and foresight. It involves an appreciation that small lies can serve as guardians of bigger truths, allowing us to get by in a radically imperfect world.

The term comes from the ancient Greek diplomas (a paper folded twice, a license or chart conferring privileges), but grew to refer to any solemn document in which princes granted such favours. Later, as the word came to be conflated with foreign policy, it was identified with the diplomatic channel, the system through which states negotiate and manage their interactions with one another.

Today’s diplomats are not all nobles, but a wide range of individuals, from university students to corporate executives and retirees. They operate out of headquarters called embassies, which are usually located in large cities and have a staff of specialists. Larger missions may also have other places of representation, which are known as consulates. Diplomatic relations are governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and a broader corpus of treaty and customary law.

Henry Wotton remarked around 1604 that an ambassador was “an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his country.” That caricature has lived on, but in our more pragmatic age we recognize that the aims of diplomacy are more complex than that: to compel, deter or shape behavior without full-scale war. Diplomats do this by using the power of conversation in ways that keep escalation under control.

How a Business Merger Can Boost Growth

Almost no small business owner builds their company with the goal of merging with another, but when it’s a good fit, this type of transaction can boost growth. Mergers are distinct from sales and acquisitions, though the terms are often used interchangeably.

A merger is when two companies form a new entity with one combined stock. Typically, both original companies retain some percentage of ownership in the new company. The exact share exchange ratio can vary based on the merger terms.

When a business merges, the two companies can gain access to each other’s customer base and production facilities, reducing costs and increasing profits. Mergers can also be a lifeline for struggling businesses, allowing them to stay open and avoid bankruptcy.

While many people associate business mergers with a hostile takeover, this type of transaction can be very friendly and is a way for companies to grow together in an organic manner. In fact, most mergers are completed with the blessing of the target company’s management team.

If the two companies’ shareholders agree to a merge, professional advisors from each firm will analyze each other’s financial data and perform due diligence. The consultants will look at each other’s income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, intellectual property, pending lawsuits and more. They will use a variety of valuation methodologies, including comparable company analysis and discounted cash flow (DCF), to determine each company’s value. Once the companies have agreed to a merger, they will work on integrating their operations, IT systems and human resources.

The Costs of a Trade War

When a country puts tariffs or other trade barriers in place to protect domestic industries, it’s known as a trade war. This can cause economic conflict between nations and reduce international cooperation.

The Trump administration has used the term trade war to describe the escalating trade conflict with China and other trading partners. While Donald Trump campaigned on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US, he has continued to impose tariffs and other protectionist measures since taking office. These actions are intended to address what the White House has described as unfair trade practices by China.

A trade war can be expensive for all parties. The costs of a trade war are not just the higher prices that consumers pay for imported goods. Manufacturers also face rising input costs, which can lead to price increases for manufactured products and services. This can lead to consumer inflation, which is a significant economic problem for both the economy and households.

In the short run, higher prices can lead to decreased production, which can lower employment and incomes. In the long run, higher prices can depress demand, leading to a recession.

During the first two years of the trade war, the increased tariffs have generated over $264 billion in higher customs duties collected for the US government from importers. This is the equivalent of about $625 per year, on average, for each US household before accounting for behavioral effects like lower incomes and reduced output.

Writing on Current Events

In the era of globalization, the world is full of news that can spark discussion and excitement. Tutors often ask students to write on current events for the purpose of testing their grasp of affairs. Such an essay is dictated by facts, and the author must be knowledgeable about the topic to make a proper judgment. Hence, it is important to research the topic in question to establish its authenticity.

Identify and cite the source of information. Acknowledgement of sources is a display of knowledge and avoids cases of plagiarism. It is also essential to verify data, especially numbers, from multiple sources and establish any inconsistencies that may be present in the story. This will ensure that the essay is based on sound facts and will help to support your argument.

Explain the significance of the event and why it is important to your audience. Consider how the event relates to your community, nation, or the world. Choose the most important aspects of the event and write them down in a list. You can also consider the five Ws and H: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

In the essay, you should also explain the consequences of the event and what the future holds for those involved. Moreover, you should include what other media outlets have covered the story and when. By including this information, your essay will be more credible and attractive to readers. Besides, you will be able to establish your authority as an expert in the subject matter.