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I first visited a Buc-ee’s a few years ago in Kentucky on a road trip. It’s a melting pot of American culture and consumerism (with a really good cherry limeade pop). It’s also apparently an aggressive trademark litigator over its beaver mascot. Take a pit stop and share your news and tips here: bob.herman@statnews.com .

[Tim Robinson voice] You sure about that?

UnitedHealth Group was happy to promote a new audit that said nearly all of the diagnoses recorded for its Medicare Advantage members during home visits (97%) were justified by medical records. But the results are not nearly as clean, or useful, as the company suggests.

Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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BRUSSELS — The European Commission is considering stationing its officials in EU capitals, speeding up recruitment and getting the institution “AI-ready,” according to a sweeping set of proposals unveiled in an internal meeting Monday.

“There is an appetite for change,” said Piotr Serafin, the commissioner responsible for human resources. “There’s a readiness to reform the Commission … among the staff.”

The potential changes are part of the Commission’s first comprehensive workplace review in two decades. Launched last year, the review aims to make the Commission more efficient and a more attractive employer, with final recommendations due to be presented to President Ursula von der Leyen by the end of 2026.

The review comes as von der Leyen’s self-described “geopolitical Commission” confronts growing demands, from trade tensions with Washington and Beijing to supporting Ukraine against Russia. Its expanding role has also sharpened sensitivities in some capitals about the EU executive’s growing reach.

Monday’s proposals include shifting more officials from the Commission’s Brussels headquarters to EU capitals to strengthen ties with the bloc’s 27 member countries, accelerating the promotion of a new generation of leaders ahead of an expected wave of retirements, and preparing the institution to become “AI-ready,” according to a senior official involved in the review.

The official, granted anonymity to discuss the contents of the internal report, stressed that the proposals stopped short of abolishing any of the Commission’s 41 directorate-generals (DGs), the EU executive’s policy departments, or creating additional ones. It also won’t recommend cutting staff.

Instead, the focus was on making sure staff are not “siloed” in their departments and can collaborate more easily, the official said, along with reprioritizing work to make better use of existing resources.

‘More and more’

That effort may still require more people. According to a second official, the Commission plans to hire an additional 1,500 staff under the EU’s next seven-year budget, which starts in 2028, alongside another 1,000 roles across other EU institutions.

The first batch of recommendations — laid out in a 400-page report compiled by senior officials from 15 departments — was presented to all 30,000 Commission staff during a virtual meeting on Monday.

Serafin noted that the Commission employs around 1,500 fewer staff than it did in 2014 — even as demands have grown.

The Commission is expected to do “more and more,” he warned, arguing the institution needs adequate funding to match its expanding responsibilities.

Part of the solution, he said, is rethinking where EU officials work. More Brussels-based staff should spend time in national administrations of member countries to deepen cooperation.

“We have the people from the national administrations coming to Brussels, and I believe that we should also invest into the model of EU officials going to national administrations to have this cross-fertilizing of both systems,” he said.

Best talent

Recruitment remains another weak spot. Serafin singled out the European Personnel Selection Office, arguing that its lengthy hiring process is undermining the Commission’s ability to compete for talent.

“My biggest concern with the current model of EPSO is that it takes two to three years from the moment of application to the moment to the first salary,” he said. “This is not a recipe for attracting the best talent to the European institutions.”

Meanwhile, changes at the top are already looming, POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook reported . Several senior roles are expected to open in the coming months as officials retire or move on.

Among them is Gert Jan Koopman, the veteran Dutch official running the Commission’s DG ENEST enlargement department, according to two EU officials.

Michael Karnitschnig, currently acting director-general of DG MENA (foreign relations in the Middle East and North Africa), and Deputy Director-General Despina Spanou of DG CONNECT (comms networks and tech) are both tipped as candidates to replace him, which would leave their roles vacant.

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The FCC is chasing suspected DJI front companies

Multiple rebranded DJI-like devices are on sale in the US

New DJI products were banned in the US last year

Since last December, new DJI devices have been banned in the US, because the drone and camera maker is on the Covered List — a list of foreign manufacturers deemed to fall short of the security and safety standards put in place by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

However, the FCC thinks that DJI is sneaking products into the United States through front companies with different branding, and it's now taking action: as The Verge reports, eight of these companies have now been hit by $25,000 fines, with further investigations from the authorities pending.

The companies in question are Cogito Tech, Fikaxo Technology, Lyno Dynamics, Skyhigh, Spatial Hover, SZ Knowact Robot, WaveGo Tech, and Xtra Technology. You can check out the range of Cogito Tech drones on its website here , and decide for yourself how much they do or don't resemble DJI's offerings.

Xtra Technology also has a website showing off its vlogging cameras: as noted by The Verge, the company is promoting an Xtra Muse 2 Pro camera with the tagline "from Pocket to Pro", which bears more than a passing resemblance to the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P .

Cracking down

The DJI Osmo Pocket 4P (Image credit: Tim Coleman) These companies have so far failed to respond to questions from the FCC, and it seems the regulatory body is now ramping up its efforts to get some answers. Some of the test labs that these devices are passing through are being targeted as well.

The Verge also reports that gadgets previously approved for sale before the ban took effect have now disappeared from the FCC website — gadgets including the DJI Osmo Pocket 4 Pro. However, there's no indication that DJI products that have already been sold in the US are going to stop working or be recalled.

In order for any electronic device using radio frequencies to be sold in the US, from phones to drones, it has to be approved by the FCC — which is why we get so many detailed hardware leaks from FCC filings . Any company on the Covered List isn't going to get that approval, essentially meaning their products are banned.

While DJI has been vocal in calling its ban unfair, it hasn't commented on the claims around these alleged front companies so far — and it appears that the companies themselves aren't being at all communicative either. We've reached out to DJI for comment on the report, and will update this story if we hear back.

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A lawsuit says Ford buyers deserve tariff refunds after a court ruling.

One plaintiff claims his Mach-E price included tariffs later overturned.

Ford says it is reviewing the complaint, citing its “affordable” lineup.

Nobody likes paying a tariff -inflated price for a new car. But finding out after the ink has dried that the automaker could get that money back while you don’t is downright unfair. That’s the argument behind a new lawsuit that could have much wider implications than a single Ford sale.

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The proposed class action was filed against the Deaborn automaker in federal court in Michigan by California resident Jason Bullock, The Detroit News reports. Bullock says he paid an inflated price for his Mexico-built Ford Mustang Mach-E earlier this year because tariff costs had been baked into the sticker price and destination charges.

Related: The Fastest Car Up The Goodwood Hill Was An Electric Ford

But earlier this year the US Supreme Court struck down the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Although some tariffs on components and materials remain in place that SCOTUS decision means companies that paid those duties are now in line for substantial refunds from the federal government.

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Ford has already told investors it expects a one-time benefit worth roughly $1.3 billion from recovering tariffs paid between March 2025 and February 2026. According to the lawsuit, that’s exactly why customers who absorbed those extra costs should receive something back too.

The Double Recovery Argument

The complaint argues Ford shouldn’t be allowed to pocket both the higher prices charged during the tariff period and the refunds received afterward. As the filing puts it, “If Ford retains the tariff refunds while also retaining the tariff-related price increases paid by consumers, Ford will receive a double recovery and unjust windfall.”

Ford hasn’t commented on the legal arguments themselves but confirmed it’s looking into the case.

“We are reviewing the complaint,” Ford spokesperson Richard Binhammer told The Detroit Press . “We have a lineup of affordable and accessible vehicles today and we’ll continue to act on that commitment in ways that make sense for customers and dealers.”

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Ford Might Not Be The Only Target

The case could also attract attention because Ford isn’t the only automaker expecting tariff-related reimbursements . General Motors and Stellantis have also indicated they anticipate receiving refunds, raising the possibility that similar legal challenges could follow across the industry.

If the court agrees the extra costs were passed on to buyers, automakers could find themselves paying out over tariffs long after the tariffs themselves have disappeared.

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Ford

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Windows 11's Copilot app has a new feature in testing

'PC insights' provides an easy way to receive clear answers to hardware-based questions about your device and its specs

While there are some fears over privacy (and bloat), Microsoft has made it clear that Copilot needs to be granted permission to access your system and files

Copilot is getting a new ability to answer questions about your PC's hardware, allowing the AI to tap into the relevant hardware details to do so – and while Microsoft is treading carefully with privacy here, that's unlikely to stop some level of paranoia.

Windows Latest flagged the introduction of 'PC insights' for the Copilot app on Windows 11, which as Microsoft explains , "enables customers to conversationally ask Copilot questions about their Windows PC and receive clear responses based on their device's state without having to dig through system settings."

This is currently an experimental feature, so still in testing, and an optional ability that you must turn on for it to be in play. Windows Latest notes that it's gradually rolling out, but only in the US for now.

You can ask Copilot how much RAM you have, or storage space left, or what your GPU is , and the current level of usage for your processor, and a whole bunch of similar component-related queries. You can ask about elements as diverse as whether you have an antivirus running, or what your laptop's battery health is, diving into mild troubleshooting territory should you wish.

To get its answers, the Copilot app hooks up to Windows APIs to analyze your system, and the AI asks for permission to do this. You can allow it access to your PC's hardware details on a one-time basis for that session only, or you can elect to 'always allow' if you're happy to give Copilot this access on a more permanent basis.

Analysis: fears over hallucinations and bloat

(Image credit: Getty Images) As ever, this is AI, and as Microsoft notes, Copilot "may not always provide complete or accurate information", especially during this testing phase. So, if you do get a chance to try out PC insights, maintain a healthy sense of skepticism with the responses you get.

As Windows Latest makes clear, there's also a certain irony about a Windows 11 user checking up on resource usage, perhaps due to system sluggishness, employing the Copilot AI to run diagnostics when the app itself uses the best part of 1GB of RAM when running in the background and doing nothing.

That doesn't stop this new PC insights feature from being situationally useful, of course. Some of the reaction has come from a place of disdain, though, as you might guess, with comments such as the one from this Redditor : "Oh hey it's like Task Manager except instead of lightweight and authoritative, it's bloated and might be lying to me."

Of course, this is a feature aimed at less well-informed PC owners, not those who can easily understand what's happening in Task Manager at a glance. Criticism around the bloat of the Copilot app is fair enough, mind, and this is because in its most recent incarnation, Microsoft changed things so the app is essentially a standalone spin-off of the Edge browser .

Another worry is that of privacy, and having Copilot 'snoop around' on your machine, but as noted, there are clear requests for permissions, and the new feature is strictly opt-in. You don't ever have to go near PC insights if you don't want to. It's also worth noting that giving the Copilot app access permissions doesn't mean it can read the actual contents of files, but only their sizes (for weighing up questions about storage and the like).

At the moment, this is a purely informative or troubleshooting feature, and in the case of attempted diagnostics, it may point to issues with your PC, but won't resolve them for you. However, it's not difficult to envision where Microsoft might head with this, in terms of getting Copilot to implement fixes for certain issues that the AI flags up. I'm talking simple Settings changes rather than anything in-depth, and this has always been the idea of Copilot (even though it hasn't yet been realized to much of an extent).

When we get AI agents in Windows 11 – and they are coming, make no mistake – this kind of functionality may turn into a full-on troubleshooting agent. The trouble (pun not intended) with that being that the mistakes and hallucinations that AI can make could be considerably more aggravating in this kind of scenario.