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Apple reveals uncharacteristically colorful products at its spring product launch event.
Apple unveiled a slew of new products and upgrades during its annual spring product launch event, including a new iPad pro, a long-awaited AirTag location tracker, and an updated Apple TV and remote. Most notably, the brand slimmed the design of its iMac and introduced seven candy-hued colors, including peach, mint, and lavender—perhaps a nod to its early days, when Apple was known for infusing unexpectedly bold colors into tech. The new iMac, which will be available for purchase in the second half of May, also comes with colorful keyboards, mouses, and trackpads.
Chicago increases its public art budget by 15,000 percent for a new cultural program.
As part of a new $60 million cultural recovery program called Arts 77, Chicago will bolster its public art budget from $100,000 to $3 million—a 15,000 percent increase. Per an announcement from Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office, the program “signals a new direction for Chicago’s cultural policy, which in the arts are embedded in initiatives and strategies across city government.” Five collectives and artists have already been awarded $100,000 to spearhead ambitious public art projects, while seven more organizations have been earmarked to fund projects by individual artists.
Crib bumpers, which were originally designed to protect infants, are linked to many deaths.
Bipartisan legislation is being introduced that will ban the sale of crib bumpers, which are still being sold across the United States despite having been linked to dozens of deaths and more than 100 serious injuries of sleeping infants since 1985. While bumpers were originally designed to protect babies, research shows they can do the opposite: Infants suffocate in the bumper and suffer sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). “The fact that these deadly products can still be found on shelves across the country is extremely confusing to new parents who don’t believe stores would be selling them if they were truly dangerous to Babies,” Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said in a statement about the Safe Cribs Act. “We should be doing everything we can to help new parents and end preventable deaths like these.