SWC’s Fast Five

Your growing traffic congestion experience is making farmers happy as we head toward increasingly unrecognizable office space, get access at work and home to rapid COVID tests and finally can exert a little control over who posts comments to our Facebook page as some, but not all of us, think we are getting back to normal.

So, here’s this week’s Fast Five:

1 Kiss your desk goodbye, more office space changes in the works

More than 80 percent of companies are embracing a hybrid model whereby employees will be in the office three days a week, according to a new survey by KayoCloud, a real estate technology platform. Workplaces are being reimagined for activities benefiting from face-to-face interaction as a way to promote a company’s culture and identity.

2 More drivers = higher corn prices

It’s not just on your dinner plate as about 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop goes to producing the gasoline additive ethanol. Consumption plunged during the pandemic, but the U.S. Agriculture Department in February projected farmers would plant 92 million acres of corn in the coming growing season – the most corn planted in the U.S. since 2016. 

3 New Facebook tool lets any user control comments on their posts

Previously, there was no way for posters to screen comments before they were published unless they used a keyword filter for a word or words to prevent comments from being posted.

4 Rapid COVID tests available over the counter for at-home use

Abbott Laboratories said on Wednesday that U.S. regulators have cleared its rapid COVID-19 antigen test for over the counter, at-home use in people without symptoms, making the cheap and abundant tests more easily available. Cost to retailers is estimated to be less than $10 each.

5 “Normal” gets the Taylor Swift treatment

Was BC (before COVID) really that great? For some, it’s like she sang – we are never, ever, ever getting back together.