Today’s Big Story

Memorial Day Travel

This holiday weekend’s rush travel could be busiest ‘in almost 20 years’

What are your plans for the holiday weekend? If you’re headed out of town, make sure you’re prepared for the crush. Because the patience of Memorial Day weekend travelers was already tested Thursday by widespread delays across the country. Thankfully, there were relatively few canceled flights, raising hopes that airlines can handle the bigger crowds expected today.

The Transportation Security Administration predicted that Friday will be the busiest day for air travel over the holiday weekend, with nearly 3 million people expected to pass through airport checkpoints. It could rival the record of 2.9 million, set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. “Airports are going to be more packed than we have seen in 20 years,” said Aixa Diaz, a spokesperson for AAA.

And it’s not just airports. Most people are expected to drive, as is the case every year. AAA estimates that about 38.4 million Americans will hit the roads over the long weekend, a projected increase of 4% from last year and a 1.9% increase from before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

Compared to last year, gas prices are up a few cents a gallon; domestic hotel prices are down slightly, about 5%—and there’s been more interest in traveling to theme park, entertainment venues and internationally than there has been in a while. Domestic car rental rates nationwide are down, too, about 17%, according to AAA’s trackers.

As for where people are headed, the top domestic destinations include Orlando, Seattle, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Boston. While those looking to jet out of the country are headed to Italy, England, France, the Netherlands and Greece.

Will This Change the Future of College Sports?

A nearly $2.8 billion settlement to antitrust claims could mean millions of dollars going to athletes

The NCAA and its five power conferences voted to approve new rules Thursday that will allow schools to directly pay college athletes for the first time. And it could direct millions of dollars to athletes as soon as fall of 2025.

The nearly $2.8 billion settlement, which would be paid out over the next decade to 14,000 former and current student-athletes, “is an important step in the continuing reform of college sports that will provide benefits to student-athletes and provide clarity in college athletics across all divisions for years to come,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a joint statement Thursday night with the commissioners of the ACC, the Big 10, the Big 12, the Pac-12 and the SEC.

The NCAA and power conferences called the settlement a “road map” that would allow the uniquely American institution to provide unmatched opportunity for millions of students and write the “next chapter of college sports.” Of course, there are still many steps that have to be taken before the change can become a reality. Plus, determining how much each athlete gets is a question that will take months to figure out and involve attorneys, the judge and a formula assessing what they are owed.

The Government Tries to Break Up Live Nation and Ticketmaster

Live Nation ‘suffocates its competition,’ U.S. says in monopoly lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Department and more than two dozen states on Thursday sued to break up Live Nation, arguing that the big concert promoter and its Ticketmaster unit illegally inflated concert ticket prices, hurt artists and generally made the overall concert-going experience an expensive and stressful nightmare. “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, alleging that it has a monopoly in the live ticketing industry that enables it to illegally suppress competition. Live Nation, meanwhile, has responded by calling the claims “absurd” and “baseless.”

The DOJ alleges that Live Nation’s dominance—which spans ticket sales, promotion, artist management and venue ownership—has given the company unfair commercial advantages over rivals. In particular, its alleged ticketing monopoly has reduced consumer choice, resulting in higher prices, according to the government. Live Nation owns or controls over 265 concert venues in North America, according to the DOJ, which includes more than 60 of the top 100 U.S. amphitheaters. Their highly criticized fees aren’t cited as directly anti-competitive themselves but, rather, a symptom of Live Nation’s alleged monopoly.

How’d we even get here? Well, the two companies merged in 2010. According to The Verge, President Obama’s Justice Department at the time was criticized for allowing the merger despite concerns that it would give the unified companies too much control over the live entertainment industry. While the DOJ hasn’t said at this stage what exactly a breakup should look like, a ruling in the government’s favor could eventually result in an effective unwinding of the Ticketmaster merger.

Shave Ice Is Suddenly Everywhere

You can have summer’s coolest treat in all sorts of ways

It’s one of the world’s oldest desserts, but it’s certainly new again this summer. Because shave ice, in all kinds of variations, is suddenly everywhere.

Depending on the style and provenance, it goes by many names. Bingsoo, kakigori, Hawiian shave ice, raspados, halo-halo … the frozen dessert—in which blocks of ice are shaved into snow-like mounds; thin, feather-like shards; or curly swirls—is particularly popular in Asian countries, where it can be found in different forms. Of course, in the corn fields where I grew up, we simply called them snow cones.

While the names, flavors and forms might differ from country to country, shave ice is always a satisfying street food that provides a cooling refreshment for a reasonable price. Eater takes a closer look at a variety of ice-based sweets from across the world and where you might be able find some near you.

A Weekend Pairing

‘Ferrari’ + a Lambrusco

Ferrari didn’t do too well in theaters, but that doesn’t mean it can’t find a second life on streaming, right? It’s now on Hulu. The tense drama from Michael Mann stars Adam Driver as Enzo Ferrari as he enters his racers in the Mille Miglia, a dangerous 1,000-mile race. Meanwhile, his and his estranged wife’s (played brilliantly by Penélope Cruz) business is nearing bankruptcy.

Incredibly stylish, with plenty of automotive action, the film was really well-reviewed by critics. It currently has a 72% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Set largely in 1957, the Ferrari focuses on an especially catastrophic year in Enzo’s convoluted life. The whole world seems to want something from him, but he seems to care only about his racecars. The New York Times says the movie is “similarly divided between genres, and like Enzo himself, it toggles between the melodrama that defines his domestic life and the thriller that takes off every time one of his racecars does.”

Don’t let uncertainty spoil your fun.