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Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and Equity co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. We’ve been living through a lot of tech history over the past two years, but the brutal Twitter layoffs feel especially sad, complex and exhausting…

Twitter begins rolling out $7.99 Twitter Blue plan with verification, fewer ads

Just days after newly minted Twitter CEO Elon Musk floated changes to Twitter’s system for verifying user accounts, including charging $8 per month for the privilege, Twitter appears to have begun rolling out a new tier of Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service, that reflects some of the changes that Musk has proposed. According to…

Former students of Ron DeSantis said he was a ‘total jock’ who partied with students and thought it was ‘very special’ that he graduated from Yale: NYT

Ron DeSantis at a football game in Jacksonville, Florida on October 29, 2022. James Gilbert/Getty Images Ron DeSantis spent a year after college teaching at a private school in Georgia, per The New York Times. Former students said he had a “smug” air about him and was a “total jock” who partied with students. Some…

Ukraine lost access to 1,300 Starlink terminals over a funding issue

As recently as October 24th, Ukraine’s military suffered a partial internet outage after 1,300 Starlink terminals went offline due to a funding shortage, reports CNN. The blackout occurred amid ongoing talks between SpaceX and the Department of Defense that continue despite Elon Musk having said his company would continue to foot the bill for the…

A former student of Ron DeSantis’ says he was ‘hostile’ to her because she was Black and would play ‘devil’s advocate’ about the Civil War: NYT

Ron DeSantis. James Gilbert/Getty Images Ron DeSantis spent a year at a private school in Georgia teaching history and government, per The New York Times. A former student said DeSantis would “play devil’s advocate” over controversial subjects like the Civil War. The student also said DeSantis was “mean” and “hostile” to her because she was…

Bayonetta 3 was reportedly “scoped as a semi open-world game”

Bayonetta 3 was reportedly “scoped as a semi open-world game”. That’s according to games journalist Imran Khan, who offered an insider peek at the sequel’s lengthy delay on his Patreon, reflecting on why those open world rumours seemingly didn’t amount to anything in the end. “At one point in development, Bayonetta 3 was scoped as…