Cities where home prices could crash

Bozeman, Montana, has earned the nickname “Boz Angeles” because of all its new transplants. Austin, Texas, residents are being priced out of their town. Boise, Idaho, initially saw a huge homebuying boom — and now, its bubble is starting to bust.

Experts say Zoomtowns could make rent and housing prices go down in other places. Of course, NYC is still expensive. But California’s housing market is cooling, and there are actually affordable places across the country. And speaking of housing … I’m sharing your responses about Florida below. First, the news.

— Nicholas Carlson

• More than 500 Salesforce employees wrote to execs demanding layoff answers. Leaked messages show how management responded — read them here.
• The case to block Biden’s student-loan forgiveness keeps getting weaker. Get the full story.
• Three presidential frontrunners are embroiled in classified-documents controversies. Read more.

It’s been described as a wonder drug. A depression treatment. A mental-health panacea. You’ll find it at raves and parties, and increasingly at a growing swath of VC-backed psychedelic therapy startups.

But while ketamine is far less addictive than, say, opioids, some people are still finding themselves hooked. One NYC physician until recently had been using the drug daily for almost a year and a half. “It was all I could think about,” she told Insider, “and it was all I wanted to do.”

The number of people using ketamine exploded at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when escaping the world was less a choice than a survival tactic. But its addictive potential and long-term effects aren’t widely understood. And as it becomes increasingly accessible, some are sounding the alarm.

Insider’s Anna Silman takes stock of ketamine’s impact: its supporters, its detractors, and the people who can’t resist it — and who are suffering the consequences.

Top reads

• Tiny plastic, huge risk. A microplastics expert named Laura Hardman is concerned about how much plastic babies are exposed to, from diapers to bottles. Here’s how she cuts down on her child’s plastic consumption.
• Attention homeowners and real-estate investors: Goldman Sachs has bad news. The bank says home prices are going to fall further in 2023 than they had previously thought, particularly in cities like San Jose and Phoenix. What to know.
• You may be experiencing “unemployment depression.” Layoffs can be life-changing events and harmful for your mental health. How to identify it, and steps for coping.
• Google laid off a married couple — while one was on parental leave. Allie and Steve — both of whom were managers at the tech giant — were hit by Google’s mass layoffs on Friday. Allie had been on maternity leave caring for their four-month-old child at the time. More here.
• Amazon has warned employees not to share confidential information with ChatGPT, after seeing cases where its answer “closely matches existing material” from inside the company. Get the scoop here.
• CEOs are using a hot productivity hack. The popular TikTok trend “monk mode” allowed one CEO to be “completely present in the moment” and helped him with both big projects and small tasks. Here’s how it works.
• A reversal for Earth’s inner core? Researchers believe the mysterious iron ball at the center of the Earth may have stopped spinning — and actually reversed direction. What it might mean.

Letters to the editor

My inbox was overflowing with responses. From one resident’s message to those thinking of moving to the state (“Welcome to Sunny Florida. Population – FULL!”) to notes about rising prices and hectic traffic, we compiled some of your best responses here. Give it a read, and let us know what you think: insidertoday@insider.com.

Take a look

A Canadian mining startup says metal-rich rocks on the seafloor can help power the switch away from fossil fuels. Critics say mining them could cause ecological destruction, but no one knows exactly what the impact will be yet. Watch here.

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This edition was curated by Nicholas Carlson and edited by Hallam Bullock, Lisa Ryan, Dave Smith, Nathan Rennolds, Kevin Kaplan, and Shona Ghosh. Get in touch: insidertoday@insider.com.