The wolves play important roles in the cultures and spiritual beliefs of local indigenous people, with mythical creatures like the Gonakadet and Wasgo, found among the Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Haida peoples of British Columbia and Alaska, being inspired by them

Behaviour

One of the defining features of this subspecies is their movements between islands, in some cases swimming up to 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) between landmasses.[7] These movements are sometimes seasonal, including following the migration of salmon,[8] one of their preferred food sources.

Vancouver Island wolves have a diverse diet, with between 75 and 90 percent of it being sourced from the ocean. A quarter of that is salmon,[7] of which the wolves are documented eating solely the brains of, potentially to avoid a bacterial infection known as "salmon poisoning" which can be fatal to canids.[9]

Along the coast, they will forage for barnacles, clams, mussels, and crabs, digging into the sand with their paws and using powerful jaw muscles to break open shells.[8] They also scavenge whatever has been left behind by the tide, which can include everything from abalone to whale carcasses.[10]

Coastal wolves will also actively hunt marine mammals like otters, seals, and their offspring,[11] as well as terrestrial mammals like black-tailed deer.[8] River otters, as well as minks, appear more often as the chosen food source when the availability of terrestrial mammals decreases.[12] The wolves' diet varies as the seasons and scarcity of food sources change. They primarily feed on deer fawns and elk in the summer months while turning to beaver as a food source in the winter season. [13]

Additionally, age plays a part in the dietary differences of coastal wolves. Young pups consume a larger quantity of deer fawns, rather than adult deer, because it is theorized that the smaller prey is easier for adult wolves to transport to their offspring. [14]

In a post on X, Newsom addressed the U.S.'s global trading partners, writing "California is here and ready to talk."

It comes after a Fox News report revealed that Newsom is directing his state to pursue "strategic" relationships with countries announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., urging them to exclude California-made products from those taxes.

In response, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told Fox News: "Gavin Newsom should focus on out-of-control homelessness, crime, regulations, and unaffordability in California instead of trying his hand at international dealmaking."

On Wednesday, the White House imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports, including those from U.S. allies and non-economically active regions, along with higher rates for countries with large trade surpluses against the U.S. on Wednesday.

The tariffs include a 34 percent tax on imports from China, a 20 percent tax on imports from the European Union, 25 percent on South Korea, 24 percent on Japan and 32 percent on Taiwan. Mexico and Canada, from which most U.S. produce imports come, are exempt from Trump's latest tariffs, but the 25 percent tariffs that Trump levied on both countries last month will remain intact.

Trump's announcement sent the markets into turmoil on Thursday, with Wall Street recording its worst day since 2020, when Covid-19 was in full swing. Meanwhile, China hit back with a 34 percent retaliatory tariff on Friday, in the first signs of an all-out trade war that could cripple imports and exports. Other nations are now also mulling over retaliatory tariffs.

Amid the turmoil, the Newsom administration is concerned that California's almond industry, a key agricultural exporter, could lose billions of dollars, as countries like China, India, and the European Union impose retaliatory tariffs, Fox News reported.

A Newsom official also told Fox News that the new Trump tariffs will hinder access to essential supplies, like construction materials, needed to rebuild after the Los Angeles wildfires. The U.S. currently imposes a 14 percent duty on Canadian lumber, with the rate possibly rising to nearly 27 percent this year.

State officials also expressed concern that retaliatory tariffs will cause significant disruptions to supply chains between California and Baja, arguing that taxing goods each time they cross the border will raise final product prices, ultimately impacting Californians.

Why It Matters

California, the world's fifth-largest economy, plays a crucial role in driving U.S. economic growth. As the largest importer and second-largest exporter among U.S. states, with over $675 billion in two-way trade, it holds significant economic influence. Therefore, Trump's tariffs could have a major impact, potentially increasing costs for California businesses, disrupting global supply chains, and putting pressure on vital industries within the state.

What Happens Next

Trump's tariffs are set to go into effect between April 5 and April 9.

We got in touch with the inventors behind the Vape-o-Gotchi: NYC-based romantic partners Rebecca Xun and Lucia Camacho, who explained to Futurism in an interview that their project began as an idea that they saw circulating online — and they decided to make it into a cursed reality.

The idea for a vape-embedded Tamagotchi device has "floated around a lot on Twitter in the past," said Xun. "But I pitched it independently to Lucia last year as a potential project we could work on together."

Xun started vaping last year, she said, as a way to begin the process of quitting cigarettes. She also has a "bunch of friends who vape," many of whom "are very attached to their vapes." But she's not naive about vaping's well-documented risks, and began to wonder if "gamifying" her nicotine use might help her disincentivize it. In the first iteration of the project, hitting the vape would actually murder the digital pet, and thus would ideally work to guilt-trip the user into not inhaling.

"There's a big trend of parental locking yourself," Camacho added. "I'm locked out of certain apps behind a password that Rebecca knows, so I don't scroll Instagram too much. It would be cool if you could have that for nicotine."

But then, explained Xun, Camacho "found this Stupid Hackathon. And we were like, it'd be kind of funnier to be evil."

And with that, their "evil-mode" Vape-o-Gotchi, which instead rewards users for vaping, was born. (The pair's darkly satirical pitch was that America is "in crisis" due to the year-over-year decrease in kids vaping between 2021 and 2023, a supposed calamity their device can help correct.)

To make the device, Xun and Camacho leaned on complementary skillsets. Xun is an alumnus of the social media giant Meta, and her background falls squarely on the software side. Camacho has deeper experience in hardware: she was an engineer at Anduril, the defense contractor known for its military drones, though she quit last Spring.

"From the electronic side," said Camacho, building the device is conceptually "very easy." It's "just measuring whether the vape is on or off," she explained, and "keeping track of that in a little computer."

The code for the game, meanwhile, tracks the pet's health and the voltage of the vape, and "will change the animation or the health, depending on when you hit it, or if you let time elapse," explained Xun.

To be clear, in case anyone from Tamagotchi's creator Bandai is reading: the digital pet element of the device isn't an actual Tamagotchi. Xun and Camacho instead cooked up a simpler, Tamagotchi-inspired critter. (The pair "thought maybe simpler is better" for now, said Camacho.)

Unlike traditional Tamagotchis, which have multiple care "meters" that users have to satisfy, this little guy has just one need: relentless vape clouds.

"It only survives off the vape," said Xun, though she caveated: "at the moment."

There was a bit of trial and error in the invention process, though. They burned through a few vapes, first trying to use Geek Bar's Pulse model. But that didn't quite work out, and they instead landed on Elf Bar's popular BC5000. All in all, they said, they spent about 80 bucks on vaping hardware, and another 50 or so on easily-accessible hobby electronics to pull the device together. Elsewhere, they relied on Camacho's 3D printer to whip up a few pieces.

"It looks really janky, but it actually takes quite a while to get everything to fit together, and print and reprint lots of components," reflected the former Anduril engineer. "My 3D printer also broke halfway through, so that was a whole other thing."

The project is already improved from where it was at the Hackathon. There, the hardware component had to be hooked up to a larger computer, which housed the virtual pet; now, though the device is still bulky and its electronic insides visible, it can be held in one hand. It can also hold a charge on its own, thanks to the fact that vapes are battery-powered.

But pushing the device forward, which the pair is eager to do, will get increasingly more complicated.

"We've run into a point where it is now hard," said Camacho, pointing to harder-to-solve problems like waterproofing and overall durability.

Cuteness, they noted, is also top of mind.

"This is surprisingly nice to hold in your hand, but it is a little bulky with the wires now," said Xun, holding the prototype to the camera. "It would be nice to have a more enclosed, nice, cute, egg-shaped vape."

"I think she needs to get cuter," nodded Camacho, referring to the animated digital pet. "Have, like, big eyes or something."

They're also still looking to build in a "good" mode that disincentivizes vaping, as they'd originally conceptualized.

"When it's in good mode, it would be nice to track how often you're vaping, and then just straight up not turn on if you've hit your limit for the day," said Xun.

As for what's next for the duo, beyond their Vape-o-Gotchi endeavors? Xun says she's looking to join a smaller company, ideally one working with civic technology alongside government, education, or nonprofits — or, she says, she'd love to work in a tech role somewhere in the arts, maybe in film. As for Camacho, she's focusing on personal projects for now.

"If we want to distribute [the Vape-o-Gotchi] or something like that, I don't think we're totally clear on it," said Xun, noting that she and Camacho have considered publishing their findings so that other folks can build their own versions of the device. "But I think right now, we just want to improve what we have, and it is a fun project."

In the meantime, they're both continuing to recover from the Hackathon, where their quest to keep their Vape-o-Gotchi alive throughout the event took a noticeable physical toll.

"We did not feel rewarded at the end of the Hackathon," said Xun. "Because we tested it so much, we were both so diseased from vaping."

The US manufacturer registered only 1,277 new cars in January, its lowest monthly total since July 2021, according to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority.

Tesla lost substantial ground in an electric vehicle market that was up 54% for the month, suggesting Musk’s vocal support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party likely dragged on demand.

Tesla also posted declines in the UK and France last month, meaning its sales fell in Europe’s three largest EV markets. In addition to vouching for AfD leader Alice Weidel and taking on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Labour government, Musk spent the month cementing his position in the administration of US President Donald Trump, who’s threatened to hit the European Union with tariffs.

The company’s sales plunged 63% last month in France — the EU’s second-biggest EV market, after Germany — and dropped 12% in the UK. Tesla shares traded down as much as 2.3% shortly after the start of US trading Wednesday.

Musk, 53, hosted a live discussion with Weidel on his social media site X ahead of Germany’s federal election this month. During a virtual appearance at a party rally later in January, the Tesla CEO urged Germans to be proud of their culture and, in an apparent reference to wartime atrocities under the Nazis, discouraged “too much focus on past guilt.”

The remarks — made just before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp — sparked outrage in a country where reckoning with the past is central to its postwar identity.

Other factors outside of politics are likely at play in Tesla’s slow start to the year. The company is changing over assembly plants to produce a redesigned Model Y, its best-selling vehicle, which will cost the manufacturer several weeks of lost production. One of those plants is located just outside of Berlin.

Tesla also may be contending with shortages of inventory in some markets due to the all-out push the company made to boost sales late last year.

While the automaker delivered more vehicles than ever in the fourth quarter, it fell short of a forecast for slight growth for the full year. Instead, the company posted its first annual decline in more than a decade.

But there have been more signs outside of Europe that Musk’s politics are having an effect on the carmaker he runs. Tesla registered fewer cars in California in all four quarters of 2024, as sales of its second-most important vehicle — the Model 3 — plunged 36% for the year.

California went for Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris by 20.2 points in November, and Musk feuded with Governor Gavin Newsom throughout the year.

In a memo to employees about what to do when Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrives, the health system told staff, “you should not try to actively help a person avoid being found by ICE.”

The language in the guidance, which was obtained by Crain’s, emphasizes compliance with authorities beyond what other health systems and trade groups have issued in memos to staff, which have tended to focus more on hospitals’ rights to deny ICE access and set up protocols to gatekeep facilities.

The notice has unsettled some staff, who see patient care as their primary mission.

“I feel like it’s part of our job to treat people from other countries compassionately, whether or not they are here legally,” said one NYU Langone nurse who was not cleared to speak with press. “Most people I know feel the same way. Like, obviously if ICE was there we would try to protect our patients from them.”

NYU Langone declined to comment.

Hospitals began issuing guidance to staff after President Donald Trump repealed an Obama-era limit on immigration enforcement in so-called “sensitive locations,” like hospitals, schools and houses of worship. The move corresponded with a number of high-profile immigration raids in the city and around the country as the administration moved to implement Trump’s mass-deportation agenda.

In January, Greater New York Hospital Association, the largest trade association of hospitals and health systems in the northeast, issued a memo to its members with suggested procedures for handling ICE agents. The memo outlines the scenarios in which employees may block an ICE inquiry from moving forward and cautions members that officials may use “persuasion and even intimidation” in attempting to circumvent protocols.

The trade group’s guidance makes no mention that staff should be warned to avoid aiding undocumented patients from capture. In it, GNYHA suggests hospitals reiterate a commitment to patient privacy, “regardless of their immigration status or that of their family members. Every action that we take, or decline to take, in response to law enforcement activity will be informed by that principle,” it states.

By contrast, the guidance from NYU Langone, which is named after Home Depot billionaire and GOP-megadonor Kenneth Langone, focuses on “our obligation to comply with applicable laws and regulations.” It instructs staff to notify the security department when a government agent requests information about a patient or access to non-public areas.

“Please note, it is illegal to intentionally protect a person who is in the United States unlawfully from detention,” it states.

"Definitely didn't sit well with me," the nurse said.