Candy prices rise as Halloween beckons
Halloween lurks a few days away, but something scarier approaches: candy prices rising.
In the run-up to the 2026 midterm elections, the political parties in many states are working to redefine their congressional district maps to gain every possible edge. From California and Texas to Tennessee and Virginia, redistricting efforts have taken center stage. The Supreme Court has sanctioned partisan gerrymandering, and the system has evolved to one in which state legislature majorities get to determine who is most likely to fill those seats in Congress.
In short, gerrymandering has become a central feature of the system, not a bug. But what if we rethink the structure entirely?
For years, remote work has been viewed as one of the most important drivers of employee satisfaction. New research suggests that assumption may be giving remote work too much credit.
A study published in the INFORMS journal Management Science found that while remote employees often report higher job satisfaction, much of that advantage disappears when researchers account for factors such as workplace culture, trust in management, communication and opportunities for professional development.
A new study from INFORMS suggests warehouse robots perform better when they work together instead of operating independently.
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Halloween lurks a few days away, but something scarier approaches: candy prices rising.
Traffic congestion on U.S. highways added $94.6 billion in costs to the trucking industry in 2021, according to the latest Cost of Congestion study published by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). The cost of congestion in 2021 is the highest level yet recorded through ATRI’s ongoing research initiative.
BALTIMORE, MD, October 30, 2023 – INFORMS, the largest association for the decision and data sciences, has awarded the 2023 Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in the Practice of Advanced Analytics and Operations Research to the Decision Engineering team from Intel for their work on the transition of semiconductor products from a single large monolithic chip to an assembly of dozens of small chiplets (aka “disaggregation”). This work has realized more than $500 million in benefits so far. The award was presented at the 2023 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona.
Keeping trick or treaters happy this Halloween is probably going to most more than you think. The cost of candy began to soar in April and prices have yet to come back to earth.
Americans eager to get jabbed with the updated COVID-19 vaccine in September were disappointed when they began looking for doses.

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