“Schitt’s Creek” star and comedy icon Catherine O’Hara died, her rep confirmed to Business Insider.
So did “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams, Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, and designer Valentino Garavani.
Legendary independent film director Béla Tarr also passed away.
Below, we look back at those we lost in 2026.
Scott Adams, 68
Scott Adams.
Michael Macor/Getty Images
Adams based the character in his beloved “Dilbert” comic strip on his coworkers at the telephone company he worked at in the 1980s. By the end of the decade, the character and his satirical office humor began appearing in comic strips.
At its peak, “Dilbert” was syndicated in over 2,000 newspapers. A cartoon series debuted in 1999 and ran for two seasons.
Adams gained notoriety when he began writing blog posts praising Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run. In 2023, “Dilbert” was pulled from newspapers across the US following racist comments made by Adams.
For over six decades, one name has been synonymous with women’s high fashion: Valentino.
The Italian designer launched his fashion business in Rome in 1960 and never looked back. Soon, every star wanted to be seen in his creations. They’ve been worn by icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins, Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Sharon Stone, and more.
Though Garavani retired from designing in 2008, his label is still a red carpet staple, as is his famous shade of bright red dubbed “Valentino Red.”
Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr became a legend in the arthouse world for his unflinching work featuring several-minute-long takes.
With movies like “Family Nest” (1979) and “The Turin Horse” (2011), Tarr showcased his slow cinema style while focusing on marginalized characters living bleak lives. Tarr pushed the envelope with his style when he made “Sátántangó” in 1994, which had a run time of 450 minutes.
His work influenced several arthouse filmmakers, including Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy” (“Gerry,” “Elephant,” and “Last Days”).
Weir was one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead.
The singer-songwriter wrote and/or sang on songs like “Sugar Magnolia,” “Playing in the Band,” “Truckin,'” “I Need a Miracle,” and “The Other One.”
After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir went on to form several other bands, including Kingfish, Bobby and the Midnites, RatDog, The Other Ones, and, alongside John Mayer, Dead & Company.
In the summer of 2025, Weir was diagnosed with cancer.
O’Hara, who was best known for her roles in “Beetlejuice” and “Home Alone,” got her start in the Canadian comedy scene, appearing in the now-legendary cast of “SCTV.” It would mark the beginning of a fruitful partnership with fellow actor Eugene Levy, who became her frequent costar and collaborator in memorable appearances in Christopher Guest films like “A Mighty Wind” and “Best in Show” and television series like “Schitt’s Creek,” which earned her an Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in 2020.
O’Hara’s representation confirmed her death to Business Insider on January 30.
Instead, we’ve preferred visiting more under-the-radar beach towns on the Oaxacan Coast.
Spots like San Agustinillo and Puerto Angel won us over with friendly locals and few crowds.
“I want to stay at this beach forever!”
My daughter was at hour four of splashing in the ocean. Beside her, our son squealed and ran from the warm, gentle waves as they lapped on the shore.
My husband and I reclined in beach chairs and sipped limonadas, watching a fisherman lug two large, freshly caught tunas from his boat. A couple of hours later, they were on our plates.
We were on the Riviera Oaxaqueña, a roughly 300-mile stretch of coastline along the Pacific Ocean that I’ve been visiting for the last 20 years, first as a young backpacker, then as a solo traveler.
When I had my own family, we opted to also try out the more popular beach destinations of Tulum and Sayulita, small cities both situated a short drive from some of Mexico’s biggest tourist destinations.
We thought the more direct flights and higher level of development would make a trip with young children easier. However, the high prices and level of hypertourism left us not so relaxed … and craving a return to Oaxaca.
There’s something for everyone in Oaxaca
We’ve enjoyed spending time in Puerto Angel.
Lauren Quinn
For us, the highlight of the Oaxacan Coast is the nearly 6-mile string of beachtowns stretching from Mazunte to Puerto Angel, each with its own distinctive vibe.
With its yoga studios and vegan ice-cream shops, Mazunte is a hippie haven. Partiers, surfers, and backpackers head to queer-friendly Zipolte, where the waves are crashing, the bars bumping, and the beach clothing-optional.
San Agustinillo is smaller and more family-friendly, with boutique guesthouses and restaurants nestled along its single main road.
More of a functioning fishing village than a tourist destination, Puerto Angel is perhaps the most low-key coastal town — and our personal favorite.
Set in a small bay, it has some of the calmest waters along the coast, making it a big hit with young children. And, we could get a beachside hotel room for under $100.
Its Playa Panteón is lined with family-owned restaurants featuring beach chairs, umbrellas, and caught-that-day fish. Local vendors pass by to offer tamales, rice pudding, souvenirs, and lightning-fast hair braiding.
Two meals and a day’s worth of beverages came to under $80 here, about half of what we spent in Sayulita.
Across the Oaxacan Coast, the waters seemed clean and teeming with wildlife. One morning, while eating breakfast on the beach, we watched a pod of humpback whales move along the coastline.
One day, we took a mangrove boat tour at the community-based Laguna Ventanilla, where we spied iguanas, crocodiles, and more birds than we could count. We then headed to the beach to watch freshly hatched sea turtles scuttle into the ocean.
The area doesn’t feel too tourist-y — at least, not yet
Just as appealing as the attractions of the Oaxaca coast are what it doesn’t have.
Lauren Quinn
Popular beach towns like Tulum or Sayulita sometimes face more traffic, tourists, and trash than their infrastructures can handle.
Meanwhile, I feel the Riviera Oaxaqueña has managed to maintain a “just right” level of tourism for the two decades I’ve been visiting.
The beaches feel clean, quiet, and rustic. Independent guesthouses, eco-resorts, and small hotels are plentiful, with more elevated options appearing in recent years.
Many restaurants are family-owned, and much of the cuisine is local — though if you’re craving falafel or acai bowls, you can find them in Mazunte.
Shopkeepers, vendors, and taxi drivers we’ve encountered have been welcoming. Interacting with them, we felt more like we were contributing to a local economy than pricing out residents or driving out culture.
Still, the area’s smaller-scale, sustainable level of tourism may change, especially as new infrastructure (like the highway from Oaxaca City) opens the region to more visitors.
One day, this stretch of coast may become another victim of its own charm — but for now, it’s paradise.
Americans are digging themselves out of this weekend’s massive snow storm. One tech YouTuber and reviewer found a 21st century solution: the autonomous Yarbo Snow Blower.
Yarbo
Americans pushed snow blowers and dug through mounds of snow with shovels after this past weekend’s winter storm.
An EV battery reviewer was able to watch his autonomous snow blower clear his driveway from the warmth of his home.
The 230-pound Yarbo Snow Blower, which retails for $4,999, can chuck snow over 40 feet and charges in an hour and a half.
Forget robotaxis — a man and his robo-snow blower were the envy of X during the weekend’s winter storm.
More than 250 million Americans are thawing out after a massive winter storm swept the country with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall.
Tom Moloughney, however, stayed inside. He watched a nearly 230-pound robot clear his long New Jersey driveway, documenting the process in a video posted to his X account.
Winter Storm Fern has descended upon NJ this morning and my @yarboglobal autonomous snow blower went into action. This is going to be a great test to see if this robot can handle a 6,000 sq.ft. driveway during a major winter storm. I’m inside sipping a coffee while it’s doing… pic.twitter.com/52DuOGUc9a
Moloughney is a certified techie, host of the State of Charge YouTube channel and a senior editor at InsideEVs. He’s been reviewing a $4,999 autonomous snow blower from robotics company Yarbo.
The storm dumped about six inches of snow in Moloughney’s town over 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. It was the perfect opportunity to give the bot a whirl.
“This is going to be a great test to see if this robot can handle a 6,000 sq.ft. driveway during a major winter storm,” Moloughney wrote on X. “I’m inside sipping a coffee while it’s doing its job and so far so good!”
Videos Moloughney posted during the storm showed the Wi-Fi-connected machine clearing snow from his long driveway, a walkway, and the curved area in front of his two-car garage. When its battery ran low, the robot returned on its own to a charging pad, recharging for about an hour and a half before heading back out into the freezing temperatures.
According to Yarbo’s website, the autonomous snowblower can clear up to 12 inches of snow, throw it as far as 40 feet, and operate in temperatures as low as minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit.
“It will continue to do that until the driveway is completely done twice,” Moloughney updated viewers on X during the storm. “I’ll then send it out again and continue to do so until the snow stops.”
Autonomous Snow Blower Update: The @yarboglobal completed the first pass of the driveway and went back to the charging dock. After about 1.25hrs, it will be 80% charged and will automatically return and continue to clear the driveway. I plan to run it during the entirety of the… pic.twitter.com/JiP8JGZ93t
Still, the robotic helper hasn’t been flawless, according to Moloughney. The reviewer said the machine required extensive digital setup before the storm and struggled to establish GPS connectivity in parts of his driveway. During a previous storm, he said hail fell before the snow, leaving a sheet of ice the robot couldn’t remove. And, during a previous storm, hail fell before the snow, leaving a sheet of ice covering his driveway before the bot cleared the snow.
Moloughney and Yarbo did not respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
Despite the hiccups, Moloughney said the robot worked through the night as the final flakes fell, calling its performance “kicking ass.”
You can watch the reviewer’s unboxing of the robo-snow blower in the video below.
Iren Azra Zou landed a new job two weeks after being laid off by Amazon in October.
She said being emotionally and financially prepared helped her bounce back quickly.
Zou shared her top pieces of advice for other laid-off tech workers navigating the job market.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Iren Azra Zou, a 27-year-old in New Jersey. She is a founding engineer at tech startup Double Nickel, and previously worked as a software engineer at Amazon until being laid off in October 2025. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
The day before Amazon announced layoffs in October, there were rumors that something big was coming.
I had a strange feeling in my gut that I might be affected, even though I felt I was performing well and had met my goals earlier than expected. I’d been laid off from my previous tech job the year prior, in 2024, and I knew how, in situations like these, people can quickly become just numbers on a spreadsheet.
It was hard to sleep that night, and the next morning, I woke up to a 6 a.m. automated text from Amazon telling me to check my email for a message about my role. At that moment, I was pretty sure I had been laid off, which the message soon confirmed.
The first person I told was my husband, who was next to me in bed. After that, I messaged a few close coworkers to figure out who else had been affected. When I found out that some rock stars on my team had also been laid off, I was shocked.
I landed a new job two weeks after being laid off
I was mentally prepared for my layoff — due to the speculation that cuts were coming — but I was also financially prepared.
My husband and I had taken steps to save aggressively and ensure we had enough savings to last for a while if we were both laid off. That financial cushion helped me stay calm when I found out I’d lost my job.
I made a point to stick to my daily routines: coffee, exercise, and sleep schedule. I didn’t want everything to feel chaotic.
I quickly started looking for new job opportunities, and two weeks later, I landed and accepted an offer to start a software engineering role in December.
Here’s my advice for anyone who’s recently been laid off:
1. Take time to process and grieve if you need to
When you get laid off, you can’t help but ask yourself, “Why me?”
Eventually, you come to terms with the reality that you can do everything right and still be included in a layoff simply because you’re a number on a budget sheet. I know I worked hard and brought a lot to the table; a layoff didn’t erase that.
I was prepared for interviewers to ask about my Amazon layoff, but it didn’t really come up. I think other companies recognized the scale of the layoff and that it wasn’t performance-based, in many cases. I also think that, despite the layoff, having a household name like Amazon on my résumé was probably helpful.
2. Take a day or two to reflect on your next career move
Reflect on what you want in your next role and create a targeted job search plan to maximize your chances of landing it. I wanted to make sure I found the right fit, so this was really helpful for me.
Upon reflection, I decided that the best fit for me might be at a smaller company with less bureaucracy than Amazon — and where I could better see the impact of my work.
The pro of working at a big company was that you could do one thing and it could affect millions of people in less than 30 minutes, which was exciting. However, the downside was that it sometimes felt like you were a very tiny piece in a giant machine.
I was also hoping to land a remote role. For the last few months of my time at Amazon, I’d been required to commute one hour each way from New Jersey to the New York City office five days a week, which was really draining. I figured I might have more leverage to ask for remote flexibility at a smaller company than at Amazon, where so many people are competing for job postings.
My team at Amazon also didn’t have many women, so I wanted to be in a place with a bit more diversity.
I narrowed down my target: a software engineering role at a small company that offered remote flexibility — and where I felt I could grow and thrive.
3. Reach out to your network and ask for help
This is not the time to be shy — most people will be sympathetic and eager to support you.
I believe my LinkedIn presence — where I’m very active, posting career advice tailored to young professionals — helped me boost my visibility.
The day after my layoff, the chief technology officer of Double Nickel — a tech startup focused on truck driver recruitment — reached out to me on LinkedIn about a software engineering role they were hiring for. She said she’d seen my post-layoff LinkedIn post and, as a former Amazon employee herself, decided to reach out.
The role seemed like a good fit, so I applied and quickly landed an interview.
Following the interviews, I was given an offer, which I accepted. We agreed to an arrangement where I’d work in a hybrid setup for the first few months to help with onboarding, and then transition to remote work around the end of February. So far, I’m very happy with the role.
Looking back, I see the layoff as a turning point because it helped me clarify what I wanted in my next role. It was still a difficult experience, but I felt more grounded and optimistic as time went on — and ultimately landed a role I feel great about.
The Wall Street investment giant reported that QTS, the data center developer and operator it took private in 2021, was the single largest driver of gains in the company’s $1.3 trillion portfolio in 2025. The results were a clear sign that Blackstone’s bets on digital infrastructure amid the artificial intelligence boom have reaped returns as other segments of its business, including real estate and private credit, have run into headwinds.
In a call on Wednesday to discuss Blackstone’s year-end performance, Stephen Schwarzman, the firm’s co-founder and chairman, called QTS now “the world’s largest data center platform.”
Jon Gray, the company’s president, said that investor interest in AI was a chief driver of strong inflows. The company reported $239 billion of inflows for the year, its highest total since a record year in 2021.
“You have what’s happening in the AI world, economy growing faster, productivity picking up, and us investing in sectors we really like,” Gray said. “We think that will really get this flywheel going, which is why you hear this optimism.”
Gray said its bets on AI and data centers had delivered for the company. Its infrastructure platform — powered by data center appreciation — had grown 40% during the year to $77 billion and had raised $4 billion from investors in the fourth quarter. Infrastructure investments earned 8.4% returns for the quarter and 23.5% for the year.
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, the firm’s $54 billion retail focused real estate investment fund, meanwhile, generated 8.1% returns during the year, more than double its benchmark for the sector. The fund, which is known as BREIT, is heavily invested in QTS.
Real estate investments, broadly, were the weakest segment for Blackstone, delivering a 0.6% loss for its opportunistic strategy and 3% gains for its core assets.
QTS, which Blackstone originally bought for $10 billion, was the “largest single driver of returns” for its infrastructure strategy, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, as well as in real estate,” Gray said.
Schwarzman said the firm would continue to “lean into key thematic areas such as digital infrastructure, including data centers, power, and electrification, private credit,” as part of its broader investment strategy.
“The historic pace of investment taking place in the US to facilitate the development of artificial intelligence, including the design and manufacture of semiconductors, data center construction, and the expansion of power generation, is the key driver of economic growth today,” Schwarzman said.
Gray added that the firm’s $319 billion real estate platform would “continue to invest in AI infrastructure and data centers.”
In private lending, Gray said the artificial intelligence race and the hundreds of billions of dollars in related spending it will require would also feed the company’s private credit business.
“The build-out of AI infrastructure requires a massive amount of private debt capital for the construction of fabs, energy supply, and data centers,” Gray said. Fabs refer to computer chip manufacturing facilities.
Gray reported that Blackstone’s private credit portfolio now totaled $130 billion, an increase of 30% during the year, while also acknowledging that BCRED, one of its largest credit fund had an “uptick in redemptions” tied to industry-wide concerns about default risks.
Blackstone has long touted its focus on data centers.
In addition to QTS, the firm has invested in the AI developers Anthropic and OpenAI, the storage and high performance computing provider DDN, as well as energy providers who will deliver the prodigious electricity needed for AI computing. Last year, the firm, for instance, announced its $11.5 billion acquisition of TXNM Energy, a utility holding company. In 2024, the company was part of a group of investors that provided the data center operator CoreWeave with a $7.5 billion loan.
Blackstone reported $14.5 billion of revenue for the year and $4.4 billion for the quarter, up 9% and 42% respectively.
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Zac Brown Band has announced a major 2026 concert run — the Love & Fear Tour — in support of their eighth studio album Love & Fear, released late last year. The North American trek spans 27 dates from July 17 through November 21, 2026, with shows in cities such as Grand Rapids, Boston, Chicago, Tampa, Detroit, Rosemont, and multiple New York area stops. To help you secure your seats, I’ve broken down how to get Zac Brown Band tickets below.
The band has roots dating back to 2002, when lead singer and co‑founder Zac Brown formed the group in Atlanta. Over the years, they have become one of the most successful country music acts of the 21st century, blending country, rock, bluegrass, and Americana into a distinctive sound. Their breakout came with the major‑label debut The Foundation in 2008 — featuring hits like “Chicken Fried,” “Toes,” and “Free” — which helped establish their reputation for heartfelt songwriting and energetic live performances.
Across their career, the band has released multiple chart‑topping albums and singles, earned Grammy Awards, and toured extensively, building a passionate fan base through both festival appearances and headlining tours. Their 2026 Love & Fear Tour continues that tradition, promising fans a blend of new material and classic favorites in a celebratory setting. Keep reading for the full schedule, and head to StubHub or Vivid Seats when you’re ready to buy.
Zac Brown Band’s 2026 tour schedule
Opening acts on select dates of the Zac Brown Band’s 2026 tour include Fitz and the Tantrums, Grace Potter, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Brothers Osborne, offering fans a strong lineup of country and rock‑flavored performances across arenas and outdoor venues.
July 17, 2026 — Grand Rapids, MI at Van Andel Arena
July 18, 2026 — Cleveland, OH at Rocket Arena
July 31, 2026 — Albany, NY at MVP Arena
August 2, 2026 — Boston, MA at Fenway Park
August 13, 2026 — Pittsburgh, PA at PPG Paints Arena
August 14, 2026 — Columbus, OH at Nationwide Arena
August 15, 2026 — Columbia, MD at Merriweather Post Pavilion
August 27, 2026 — Forest Hills, NY at Forest Hills Stadium
August 28, 2026 — Forest Hills, NY at Forest Hills Stadium
August 29, 2026 — Philadelphia, PA at TD Pavilion at Highmark Mann
September 10, 2026 — Kansas City, MO at T‑Mobile Center
September 11, 2026 — St. Louis, MO at Enterprise Center
September 17, 2026 — Charleston, SC at Credit One Stadium
September 18, 2026 — Tampa, FL at Benchmark International Arena
September 19, 2026 — Hollywood, FL at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
October 8, 2026 — Knoxville, TN at Thompson‑Boling Arena at Food City Center
October 9, 2026 — Greenville, SC at Bon Secours Wellness Arena
October 10, 2026 — Greensboro, NC at First Horizon Coliseum
October 19, 2026 — Morrison, CO at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
October 20, 2026 — Morrison, CO at Red Rocks Amphitheatre
October 23, 2026 — Minneapolis, MN at Target Center
October 24, 2026 — Sioux Falls, SD at Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
November 5, 2026 — Buffalo, NY at KeyBank Center
November 6, 2026 — Detroit, MI at Little Caesars Arena
November 19, 2026 — Lincoln, NE at Pinnacle Bank Arena
November 20, 2026 — Des Moines, IA at Casey’s Center
November 21, 2026 — Rosemont, IL at Allstate Arena
When shopping resale tickets for Zac Brown Band’s 2026 Love & Fear Tour, Vivid Seats and StubHub offer a wide range of prices — so there’s often something for every budget. On Vivid Seats, you can find some of the lowest resale options starting around $103-$107 for standard seats at many venues, making it one of the more affordable ways to catch the band live this summer and fall. These cheaper listings are ideal if you’re happy with upper‑level seating or general tickets.
At the higher end, premium seats and VIP packages can push prices up significantly, depending on location and demand. While specific StubHub listings fluctuate day‑to‑day, its marketplace typically features higher‑tier resale tickets that can climb into the several hundreds of dollars for front‑row or closer seating options, especially at popular stops like outdoor amphitheaters or big city arenas. And regardless of price, StubHub backs purchases with its FanProtect Guarantee to help ensure buyers receive valid tickets.