Elon Musk's unprecedented wealth is in large part tied up in Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer he has positioned at the center of his sprawling business empire. But Musk's dependence on Tesla as his primary earnings engine is a two-way street, particularly as the car company scrambles to hold its mercurial CEO's attention amid sliding sales and a slumping reputation.

Tesla's two-person Special Committee of the Board of Directors announced plans this week to award Musk millions of shares of company stock, worth up to $30 billion, because he has "not received meaningful compensation" at the company for years. "Retaining" Musk at Tesla, the committee said, is "more important than ever."

An 'astounding' pay package
The award is a "first step, 'good faith' payment" to Musk, said Tesla board members Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson in a company filing. Musk's previous compensation package, estimated at $50 billion, has been tied up in Delaware courts since it was first announced in 2018. The new package offers Musk "roughly 3% of the company," said The New York Times. It's an "astounding figure," but still far below Tesla's nearly $1 trillion market capitalization. Nevertheless, the package would likely "outstrip most or all pay packages for CEOs at publicly traded companies," said The Wall Street Journal.

This new compensation package will be "forfeited" if Musk and Tesla prevail in Delaware courts and are allowed to exercise the 2018 deal, said CNBC. The package is scheduled to vest in two years, so long as Musk remains Tesla's CEO "or in another key executive position."

'Crucial pivot'
The Tesla board is focused on "keeping the billionaire entrepreneur at the helm" of the company amid a "crucial pivot from its struggling core auto business" to Musk's long-promised rollout of "robotaxis and humanoid robots," Reuters said. Tesla has faced sagging sales lately, "wrought by its aging vehicle line-up, tough competition," and "Musk's political stances" that have "alienated some potential buyers."

Company stakeholders have been "growing weary" of Musk's "forays into politics at the expense of their earnings," said The Daily Beast. The new tranche of shares is "thought to be an effort to ease this tension." And unlike Musk's 2018 compensation package, this proposal "does not appear to be tied to goals like increasing the company's stock price," said TechCrunch.

When Trump introduced a resurrected plan for his U.S.-Mexico border wall almost immediately after retaking office, some experts expressed concern that it could affect more than just the people in that region. A new report claims that Trump's plan for a 25-mile stretch of wall in Arizona could have a devastating impact on the area's wildlife, much of which is already endangered or threatened.

How could the border's wildlife be affected?
The wildlife in question lives in Arizona's San Rafael Valley, a mountainous region along the southern border. At least 17 endangered or threatened species have been photographed in the valley, which is also home to the "highest number of modern jaguar detections anywhere in the U.S.," said the Center for Biological Diversity. The valley currently has only low wire fencing that allows animals to pass through. Building a wall in the area "would block species movement, destroy protected habitats and inflict irreversible damage on critical ecological linkages." 

A border wall "modifies the whole ecosystem around that community," Dr. Ganesh Marin, a biologist who studies wildlife movement with Conservation Science Partners, said to The New York Times. Beyond restricting movement, a border wall "could also cause smaller prey animals to avoid the area," resulting in "cascading negative effects."

What is being done about this?
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol is soliciting bids for the wall's construction, with the Department of Homeland Security's press release notably not mentioning plans for the area's wildlife. There have been some efforts by outside groups to try to halt the administration's plans.

The Center for Biological Diversity is "suing to stop further construction of the border wall in Arizona," saying the construction is "unconstitutional by pushing aside 30 laws passed by Congress," said KOLD-TV Tucson. If the wall is completed, it "will destroy the border's last remaining significant wildlife corridor," the center said in its initial court filing.

"It's a physical barrier" that would harm the wildlife but not stop immigration, Valerie Gordon, an American conservationist in the region, said to The Arizona Republic. "It's an emotional barrier. It's a pointless barrier."