*By: Madison Alworth*
Jill Steinberg credits 23andMe with saving her life.
The mom of two decided eight years ago to take the ancestry and health tests for fun with her husband, Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg. As a result, she found out she carried the BRCA 1 gene mutation.
That means she had a much higher chance of developing breast cancer. In fact, 80% of those with the mutation are eventually diagnosed with the disease.
After receiving the news from 23andMe and consulting with her doctors, Steinberg decided to get a double mastectomy.
"It was life-changing news to find out," she said in an interview Friday. "But it was something that I could take, consult my doctors, and do something about. So I feel that I was able to save my own life, take my life into my own hands, and survive cancer before I got cancer."
Anne Wojcicki, CEO and founder of 23andMe, is happy to provide this kind of information to the public. She says she tells employees, "We really change lives. And it might be about ancestry, and it might be you found out something meaningful, but there's always something there to learn."
Investigators recently used genetic information to make an arrest in a decades-old case. A suspect was taken into custody this week in the Golden State Killer case. An [open-source DNA](https://www.wired.com/story/detectives-cracked-the-golden-state-killer-case-using-genetics/) database was used to finally draw a connection between the suspect and the crimes.
Instances like that have some people ー even those not trying to conceal crimes ー worried that genetic and other records stored online could eventually get into the wrong hands. But Wojcicki said that keeping 23andMe customers' information private and secure is a top priority.
"We do everything we can to protect our customers," explains Wojcicki. "We have no business if I can't protect the privacy of our customers."
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-23andme-is-saving-lives).
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
