This week in the news | 4 May 24
News from the past week, and a few other things.
👋 Hello Reader, I hope you had a great week.
Below you’ll find the “quick shot”—a supercharged summary of summaries, followed by the “slow brew”—longer summaries with select graphics, and comments from me.
THE QUICK SHOT 🚀
A supercharged summary of summaries
A lock icon (🔒) indicates articles behind a paywall, and a chart icon (📊) indicates an informative chart/graphic in “Slow Brew.”
North America
Hundreds of Protesters Arrested as Universities Blame Outsiders for Escalating Violence (WSJ🔒)
More than $124K raised for UNC frat brothers who protected American flag from anti-Israeli mob (New York Post)
Immigration Named Top U.S. Problem for Third Straight Month (Gallup) 📊
Exclusive poll: America warms to mass deportations (Axios) 📊
Europe
Biden is sending $61 billion to Ukraine. Much of it will pass through the US economy first. (Yahoo Finance) 📊
Middle East
Hamas considering latest Gaza truce offer in 'positive spirit' (Voice of America)
Turkey halts trade with Israel over 'humanitarian tragedy' in Gaza (BBC)
Africa
Asia-Pacific
Modi Is $20 Trillion Short on His Grand Plan for India’s Economy (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
The Japanese Yen Continues to Dive (Sherwood News) 📊
Keeping Up with the Pacing Threat: Unveiling the True Size of Beijing’s Military Spending (AEI) 📊
Space
Defense
OPINION | How to Fix the State Department (Statecraft)
Economy
Fed to Signal It Has Stomach to Keep Rates High for Longer (WSJ🔒) 📊
Even If the Fed Cuts, the Days of Ultralow Rates Are Over (WSJ🔒)
Why is the U.S. doing so much deficit spending? (Noahpinion)
U.S. consumer confidence drops to its lowest level in nearly two years (Axios) 📊
In-Demand Workers Are Staying Put as US Labor Market Cools (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
Business
New Job Scams Are Flourishing. Young Workers Are Especially Susceptible. (WSJ🔒)
Chinese Shopping App Temu Censors Searches For ‘Trump’ And ‘Biden’ (Forbes🔒)
Disaster Loans Provided a Lifeline. Now Small Businesses Owe Billions in Late Fees. (WSJ🔒)
Energy
In America’s Biggest Oil Field, the Ground Is Swelling and Buckling (WSJ🔒) 📊
America’s Nuclear Power Output: Flat (Sherwood News) 📊
G7 leaders agree to shut down coal-powered plants (Semafor)📊
Auto
Drunken-Driving Deaths Are Up. Why Are DUI Arrests Down? (WSJ🔒) 📊
Tesla Fires Many on Charger Team, Raising Doubts About Expansion (NYT🔒)
Driverless semis will soon carry freight along Texas highways (AP)
The New Math of Driving Your Car Till the Wheels Fall Off (WSJ🔒)
Will GM Regret Kicking Apple CarPlay off the Dashboard? (Bloomberg🔒)
Real Estate
Wall Street Has Spent Billions Buying Homes. A Crackdown Is Looming. (WSJ🔒) 📊
Young Americans Are Getting Left Behind by Rising Home Prices, Higher Stocks (WSJ🔒) 📊
Home Prices Soar To All-Time High—Here Are The Fastest-Growing Cities (Forbes🔒) 📊
Rates Increase Again and at a Key Moment for the Housing Market (FreddieMac)📊
Personal Finance
Technology
The world’s largest 3D printer is at a university in Maine. It just unveiled an even bigger one (AP)
Science
Enzymes open new path to universal donor blood (Science Daily)
Artificial Intelligence
AI priest avatar gets the chop in first week of digital ministry (Catholic Herald)
Cyber
FCC Fines Wireless Carriers About $200 Million for Sharing Customer Data (WSJ🔒)
Snap’s Overseas Userbase is Soaring (Sherwood News) 📊
Why Everything is Becoming a Game (Gurwinder)
Life
Religion
Skateparks, gyms and breweries: The right and wrong way to repurpose a closed church building (America Magazine)
United Methodist Church Reverses Ban on Practicing Gay Clergy (NYT🔒)
Education
Biden Cancels $6.1 Billion in Debt for Former Art Institute Students (NYT🔒)
Exclusive: Employers Are Souring On Ivy League Grads, While These 20 “New Ivies” Ascend (Forbes🔒) 📊
How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones (WP🔒)
Health
Some 11 percent of U.S. children have been diagnosed with ADHD (WP🔒)
US Agency Recommends Reclassifying Marijuana as Less Dangerous Drug (Bloomberg🔒)
Walmart Shuttering Health Clinics And Telehealth Services Nationwide (Forbes🔒)
Food & Drink
Nature
Travel
Entertainment
Saturday Sessions: Charley Crockett performs "America" (YouTube)
Taylor Swift Charts 32 Songs on Hot 100, Including Every Track From ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ (Billboard)
Sports
For Fun
Playbook: Fun and foreboding at the Washington Hilton (Politico)
The California man who hid for 6 months in a secret room inside Circuit City (SFGate)
THE SLOW BREW ☕
A more relaxed approach to the summaries.
North America
Hundreds of Protesters Arrested as Universities Blame Outsiders for Escalating Violence (WSJ🔒)
Hundreds of protesters were arrested across several campuses, as universities and police cracked down on what they say are outsiders escalating pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Weeks of escalating protests on campuses across the country have disrupted academic life and inflamed tensions between pro-Palestinian protesters and those who oppose them. University leaders have grappled over how to tame the protests without disrupting speech rights. Many Jewish students have said they feel unsafe amid rising antisemitism while protesters have said their demonstrations are peaceful. Protesters are calling on their universities to divest themselves of investments in companies doing business with Israel. New York University’s president said of 133 people arrested there on April 22, 68 weren’t current students, faculty, or staff. Tulane said the overwhelming majority of the protesters were outsiders. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said outside agitators were co-opting the protest movement at Columbia. The University of Texas at Austin said 45 of the 79 people arrested on campus on Monday weren’t associated with the school. “These numbers validate our concern that much of the disruption on campus over the past week has been orchestrated by people from outside the University,” UT Austin said.
More than $124K raised for UNC frat brothers who protected American flag from anti-Israeli mob (New York Post)
A group of patriotic frat brothers at the University of North Carolina are being rewarded for protecting the Stars and Stripes from an anti-Israeli mob bent on hoisting the Palestinian colors. A GoFundMe page set up for the Pi Kappa Phi students has raised more than $122,000 as of Wednesday afternoon for the students’ heroic stand this week at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus — “to throw this frat the party they deserve,” the fundraising site said. The confrontation happened Tuesday when the campus — among dozens in the nation occupied by anti-Israeli demonstrations — was targeted by a pro-Palestinian student mob, Newsweek reported. The protesters moved in to raise the Palestinian flag during a confrontation with counter-protesters on campus — when Pi Kappa Phi stepped into the fray. A group of frat brothers grabbed the American flag to keep it from touching the ground, all the while being pelted with debris and taunts from the angry mob, according to the outlet. “These boys … no, men, of the UNC-Chapel Hill Pi Kappa Phi gave the best to America and now they deserve the best,” the fundraising site said. “Helps us raise funds to throw this frat the party they deserve, a party worth of the boat-shoed Broleteriat who did their country proud.”
NOTE: The GoFundMe for the frat is now over $500K.
Immigration Named Top U.S. Problem for Third Straight Month (Gallup) 📊
A steady 27% of Americans say the most important problem facing the U.S. is immigration, topping Gallup’s open-ended trend for the third consecutive month, the longest stretch for this particular issue in the past 24 years.
Exclusive poll: America warms to mass deportations (Axios) 📊
Half of Americans — including 42% of Democrats — say they'd support mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, according to a new Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll. And 30% of Democrats — as well as 46% of Republicans — now say they'd end birthright citizenship, something guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. When asked to identify their greatest concern around illegal immigration, Americans most frequently cited: Increased crime rates, drugs, and violence (21%). The additional costs to taxpayers (18%). Risk of terrorism and national security (17%).
Europe
What Happened to ‘Stalemate’ in Ukraine? (CFR) 📊
For months, no word was used more often to describe Russia’s war against Ukraine than “stalemate.” For generals and policymakers, military analysts and journalists, the term helped capture the difficulty each side faced in making major gains against the other. The image of a deadlocked war shaped the policy debate as well. To advocates of a cease-fire, it bolstered the case for negotiation. To critics who felt the Joe Biden administration was too cautious, frozen front lines meant Washington had not offered enough aid when doing so could have made a difference. Still other critics, fearing an unending conflict ahead, began calling U.S. aid futile and wasteful. But while the word stalemate provided a handy summary of the war as Ukraine’s counteroffensive petered out in the second half of 2023—with both sides unable to make more than small gains—the term has now become obsolete. In 2024, the most important questions the two sides face are about a possible break in the stalemate. Russia and Ukraine could soon be looking at a transformed conflict—one in which both have real reasons for hope as well as fear.
Biden is sending $61 billion to Ukraine. Much of it will pass through the US economy first. (Yahoo Finance) 📊
Washington is spending another $61 billion to help Ukraine. But most of the money will flow through the US economy first. The new law will allow the Pentagon to send existing weapons — everything from bullets to missiles to tank parts — to Kyiv and then simultaneously backfill that inventory with new manufacturing efforts for US armories. There are 117 production lines in about 71 US cities that are set to produce those weapons systems, according to research from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
NOTE: This was part of the bill President Biden signed on 24 Apr, which will provide additional aid to Israel and the Indo-Pacific as well as possibly ban TikTok in the US next year.
Middle East
Hamas considering latest Gaza truce offer in 'positive spirit' (Voice of America)
Hamas says it is considering in a "positive spirit" a Gaza truce deal, while the U.N. warned rebuilding the devastated Palestinian territory would require efforts not seen since World War II. After months of stop-start negotiations, Hamas has sounded an optimistic tone about the latest hostages-for-cease-fire proposal, raising hopes an agreement may soon be reached -- even as medics in the besieged strip reported fresh strikes on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah on Friday. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said the group will "soon" send a delegation to Egypt to complete ongoing cease-fire discussions with a deal that "realizes the demands of our people." Haniyeh, the leader of the militant group's political wing, told Egyptian and Qatari mediators in calls on Thursday that Hamas was studying the latest proposal from Israel with a "positive spirit."
Turkey halts trade with Israel over 'humanitarian tragedy' in Gaza (BBC)
Turkey has suspended all trade with Israel over its offensive in Gaza, citing the "worsening humanitarian tragedy" in the strip. The Turkish trade ministry said the measures would be in place until Israel allowed an "uninterrupted and sufficient flow" of aid into Gaza. Trade between the two countries was worth almost $7bn (£5.6bn) last year. Israel's foreign minister accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of acting like a "dictator". Israel Katz said on X that Mr Erdogan was "disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen and ignoring international trade agreements".
Africa
Russians sent to Niger airbase occupied by US troops (BBC)
Russian troops have been deployed to an airbase in Niger where American troops are located, top US officials say. The move is seen as adding pressure to the US as it negotiates withdrawing its forces from the country, following an expulsion order by its military junta. The US has been operating two drone bases in Niger, aimed at countering Islamic insurgents in the region. Washington has denounced last year's coup. In turn, junta leaders have turned to Russia for assistance. Niger is in Africa's Sahel region, which is considered the new global epicentre of the Islamic State group.
Asia-Pacific
The Taliban are working to woo tourists to Afghanistan (AP)
Around 30 men are crammed into a Kabul classroom, part of the debut student cohort at a Taliban-run institute training tourism and hospitality professionals. It’s a motley crew. One student is a model. Another is 17 and has no job history. The students vary in age, education level and professional experience. They’re all men — Afghan women are banned from studying beyond sixth grade — and they don’t know anything about tourism or hospitality. But they are all eager to promote a different side of Afghanistan. And the Taliban are happy to help. In 2021, there were 691 foreign tourists. In 2022, that figure rose to 2,300. Last year, there were 7,000. Mohammad Saeed, the head of the Tourism Directorate in Kabul, said the biggest foreign visitor market is China because of its proximity and large population. Afghanistan also has advantages over some of its neighbors.
Modi Is $20 Trillion Short on His Grand Plan for India’s Economy (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
In an August 2022 speech delivered at the historic Red Fort in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a bold pledge: India will be a developed country by 2047. Modi’s target “is highly ambitious,” says Alexandra Hermann, Oxford Economics’ lead economist, in an email. “Never say never, but our own forecasts are for the economy to grow by 6.6% per year on average over the next five years, with the pace of expansion slowing over the medium term as the economy develops further.” Even though India’s economy grew more than 7% in the fiscal year that ended in March and is expected to match that in the current one, achieving a consistent 8% pace would be extremely difficult.
The Japanese Yen Continues to Dive (Sherwood News) 📊
The currency of the world’s fourth largest economy is plummeting, with ¥100 buying just $0.63 on [26 Apr 2024] — its lowest rate in over 34 years, just as Japan's Golden Week holiday period kicks off. The weaker yen is a boon for Japanese exporters and foreign visitors, who have been increasingly flocking to the country in recent times. Indeed, last month a record 3.08M foreign travelers visited the island nation, which was slower than others to re-open borders after the pandemic, only relaxing restrictions in October 2022. The yen's depreciation is a perfect case study for economics teachers around the world. While most major central banks have aggressively hiked rates to combat inflation, Japan's rates remain near zero — fueling a classic “carry trade”, where investors borrow the currency cheaply and sell it to invest in higher-yielding currencies or assets (i.e. stuff that’s likely not in Japan), driving down the buying power of yen.
Keeping Up with the Pacing Threat: Unveiling the True Size of Beijing’s Military Spending (AEI) 📊
Beijing’s publicly released military budget is inaccurate and does not adequately capture the colossal scope and scale of China’s ongoing military buildup and wide-ranging armed forces modernization. After accounting for economic adjustments and estimating reasonable but uncounted expenditures, the buying power of China’s 2022 military budget balloons to an estimated $711 billion—triple Beijing’s claimed topline and nearly equal with the United States’ military budget that same year. Equal defense spending between the United States and China plays to Beijing’s benefit. As a global power, the United States must balance competing priorities in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere, which spreads Washington’s budget thinly across multiple theaters. Meanwhile, each yuan China invests in its military directly builds its regional combat power in Asia. America’s spy community has confirmed that Beijing’s defense spending is on par with Washington’s, but questions remain. The intelligence community’s estimate of China’s $700 billion in annual military expenditures needs more transparency to better convey Beijing’s military budget breakdown and inform policy debates regarding US defense spending investments, gaps, and imbalances.
NOTE: The report can be found here.
Space
A horse-shaped nebula gets its close-up in new photos by NASA’s Webb telescope (AP) 📊
NASA’s Webb Space Telescope has revealed the sharpest images yet of a portion of a horse-shaped nebula, showing the “mane” in finer detail. The Horsehead Nebula, in the constellation Orion, is 1,300 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers). Webb’s latest infrared images released Monday captured the top of Horsehead in greater detail, illuminating clouds of chilly hydrogen molecules and soot-like chemicals. These glamour shots can help refine astronomers’ understanding of the nebula, which acts as a nursery for big stars to brew.
Defense
OPINION | How to Fix the State Department (Statecraft)
In our final installment, we wanted to zoom out, and look at the State Department as a whole. So we got in touch with Dan Spokojny, a former Foreign Service officer and diplomat. Spokojny is also the founder and CEO of fp21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that advocates for more data and evidence in foreign policy decision-making. In today’s interview, we had a productive argument about exactly that topic.
What You’ll Learn: Why do presidents prefer the National Security Council to State? How do diplomats receive information? Why don’t we learn from foreign policy mistakes?
Inside a Navy Submarine Navigating the Arctic (NYT🔒) 📊
The Navy’s 68 submarines could be anywhere at any time — patrolling the Arctic and the Persian Gulf, or near Russia, China or North Korea. Their missions are closely-held secrets, but a frigid training exercise offers a glimpse of military life deep undersea. U.S. Navy submarines run classified missions around the world every single day. Attack boats like the Hampton might collect intelligence on enemy warships or eavesdrop on unfriendly governments, while much larger ballistic missile submarines stay submerged for 90 days at a time, carrying enough nuclear warheads to destroy entire countries. U.S. Navy sailors aboard nuclear-powered submarines have long trained in the Arctic, learning to hunt their Russian counterparts in case of war. But America’s sub force is sharpening its combat skills at the edge of the world as Russia expands military operations there.
Economy
A Strong U.S. Dollar Weighs on the World (NYT🔒)
Every major currency in the world has fallen against the U.S. dollar this year, an unusually broad shift with the potential for serious consequences across the global economy. Two-thirds of the roughly 150 currencies tracked by Bloomberg have weakened against the dollar, whose recent strength stems from a shift in expectations about when and by how much the Federal Reserve may cut its benchmark interest rate, which sits around a 20-year high. High Fed rates, a response to stubborn inflation, mean that American assets offer better returns than much of the world, and investors need dollars to buy them. In recent months, money has flowed into the United States with a force that’s being felt by policymakers, politicians and people from Brussels to Beijing, Toronto to Tokyo.
Fed to Signal It Has Stomach to Keep Rates High for Longer (WSJ🔒) 📊
Fed officials will hold their benchmark federal-funds rate steady at its highest level in more than two decades, around 5.3%, at their two-day policy meeting that begins Tuesday. Firmer-than-anticipated inflation in the first three months of the year has likely postponed rate cuts for the foreseeable future. As a result, officials are likely to emphasize that they are prepared to hold rates steady, at a level most of them expect will provide meaningful restraint to economic activity, for longer than they previously anticipated.
Even If the Fed Cuts, the Days of Ultralow Rates Are Over (WSJ🔒)
Amid the debate over whether and when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, another important argument is unfolding: where do rates settle in the long run? At issue is the neutral rate of interest: the rate that keeps the demand and supply of savings in equilibrium, leading to stable economic growth and inflation. For the last 40 years, and especially following the 2008 financial crisis, economists and Fed policymakers steadily revised down their estimates of neutral. This view became embedded in bond yields, mortgage rates, equity prices and countless other assets. But now, some see reasons for neutral rising, with the potential to change a wide range of asset prices.
Why is the U.S. doing so much deficit spending? (Noahpinion)
Why was the U.S. so blasé about big deficits in 2002-2020, when we had freaked out so much over comparatively modest deficits in the early 90s? Part of it was that there were a bunch of emergencies that seemed to justify a temporary burst of deficit spending — 9/11, the financial crisis and Great Recession, and Covid. But a lot of it was simply due to the fact that interest rates were really low, so it was a lot easier for the government to carry a larger amount of debt. But over the last two years, something ominous has happened. Although the pandemic is long over, the economy is doing great, and interest rates have risen sharply, the U.S. federal government is still borrowing a ton of money. The deficit was over 5% of GDP in 2022, and increased to over 6% of GDP in 2023 — levels not seen since the Great Recession. Part of the increase from 2022 to 2023 appears to have been a one-off, driven by a stock bust and some strange timing of tax collections. But the 2022 deficit is still historically very large as a percent of GDP. And it’s starting to cost us.
U.S. consumer confidence drops to its lowest level in nearly two years (Axios) 📊
Consumer confidence dropped for the third straight month in April — hitting its lowest level since July 2022, the Conference Board said Tuesday. Why it matters: Higher prices for food and gas weighed on the American mood. Gas cost $3.49 a gallon on average in the U.S. this week, up from $3 at the beginning of the year, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The big picture: Though inflation has cooled from the highs of two years ago, it's reaccelerated over the past few months.
In-Demand Workers Are Staying Put as US Labor Market Cools (Bloomberg🔒) 📊
The dynamism that gives the US labor market its edge is slowing down. The number of people that go from one job to immediately land in another has fallen by more than half a percentage point in recent months, according to data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia last week. The dwindling numbers of job switchers — often the most highly skilled — suggest these workers are insecure about their job prospects, or they’re not getting poached like they used to.
Business
New Job Scams Are Flourishing. Young Workers Are Especially Susceptible. (WSJ🔒)
New college graduates eager to get their first professional job are becoming targets of a bolder and more personalized type of fraud. Scammers are using information available online to claim a school dean or professor the student knows has recommended them for a job opening. In some cases, the scammers hack into a professor’s emails or create similar addresses to pose as a faculty member urging the student to apply. The goal is to get the student to apply for a job and then steal the college student’s identity or bank information. On a smaller scale, the scammers might be trying to persuade the student to put up money for home-office equipment.
Chinese Shopping App Temu Censors Searches For ‘Trump’ And ‘Biden’ (Forbes🔒)
is extending censorship mandated by the Chinese government to the American market. Not only does it restrict search terms for politically sensitive topics in China — like Xi Jinping, Dalai Lama, and Chinese Communist Party — it is also censoring search results for American political topics as well. Keyword searches for “Trump,” “Biden,” “election,” “president” and “MAGA,” which generate a multitude of results for U.S.-based retailers, return no hits on Temu, despite the fact that such items are actually listed on the platform. Hundreds of Trump and Biden-themed products are available for purchase on the site, like this Trump baseball cap or this set of stickers advertising support for the current American president. While searching for “Trump” pulls up nothing, other terms like “freedom” or “USA” result in Trump merch like a coffee mug or pocket watch or flag. By contrast, Amazon returns over 10,000 results for Biden, and over 30,000 for Trump. Walmart’s website yields more than 1,000 listings for Biden and Trump each. Target shows 24 results for “Biden,” and 139 results for “Trump,” all of them books. Temu also does not return searches for “Israel,” “Palestine,” “Palestinian” and “Hamas.” But it does return results for “Nazi” and “Hitler,” which yields numerous German-language and Germany-themed products, such as lapel pins of the German flag. (None of the products appear to include actual Nazi memorabilia.)
Disaster Loans Provided a Lifeline. Now Small Businesses Owe Billions in Late Fees. (WSJ🔒)
The Small Business Administration provided $390 billion in Covid disaster loans to nearly four million small businesses and nonprofits during the pandemic. The loans provided a lifeline for many small businesses. For some borrowers who have defaulted on their loan payments, the bill is now coming due—and it is larger than they expected. The SBA has referred 860,000 delinquent Covid disaster loans totaling more than $59 billion to the Treasury Department for collection. Some borrowers say their businesses are still struggling or have closed their doors, while others say they inadvertently missed loan payments, or never intended to repay their debts.
Energy
In America’s Biggest Oil Field, the Ground Is Swelling and Buckling (WSJ🔒) 📊
In a desolate stretch of desert spanning West Texas and New Mexico, drillers are pumping more crude than Kuwait. The oil production is so frenzied that huge swaths of land are literally sinking and heaving. The land has subsided by as much as 11 inches since 2015 in a prime portion of the Permian Basin, as drillers extract huge amounts of oil and water, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite data. In other areas where drillers dispose of wastewater in underground wells, the land has lifted by as much as 5 inches over the same period. The constant extraction and injection of liquids has wrought complex geologic changes, which are raising concerns among local communities long supportive of oil and gas. Earthquakes linked to water disposal have rattled residents and prompted state regulators to step in. Some researchers worry that wastewater might end up contaminating scarce drinking-water supplies.
America’s Nuclear Power Output: Flat (Sherwood News) 📊
For many Georgia residents, the opening of a new nuclear reactor this week was better late than never, though many others were left wishing they could have plumped for the "never" option. On Monday, Plant Vogtle’s Unit 4 officially started commercial operation — 7 years behind schedule and, along with the Unit 3 reactor that opened last summer, racking up a total bill of $30-35B: more than double the initial budget. The reactors are the first to be built from scratch in the US for more than 30 years, making the larger Vogtle site, along with two other decades-old reactors, the nation’s largest generator of carbon-free electricity. Indeed, Georgia Power reports that it can produce more than 30 million MWh of electricity annually… which may offer little solace to some of its residential customers, who have paid $1,000 on average towards the construction.
G7 leaders agree to shut down coal-powered plants (Semafor)
Energy ministers from the Group of Seven nations tentatively agreed to shut down all their respective coal-powered plants by 2035. The deal was announced by Andrew Bowie, the UK’s Minister for Nuclear and Renewables, at the group’s climate talks in Turin. The deal marks a significant step by wealthy nations in the transition away from fossil fuels. The ministers also plan to discuss expanding electricity storage capacity during the talks, according to the Financial Times, to aid in the shift to renewable sources such as solar or wind power. A final communique will be released Tuesday. The G7 coal target follows on the heels of new US Environmental Protection Agency rules released last week that would force coal plants to cut or capture 90% of carbon emissions by 2032, or shut down by 2039.
Auto
Drunken-Driving Deaths Are Up. Why Are DUI Arrests Down? (WSJ🔒) 📊
Drunken-driving deaths in the U.S. have risen to levels not seen in nearly two decades, federal data show, a major setback to long-running road-safety efforts. At the same time, arrests for driving under the influence have plummeted, as police grapple with challenges like hiring woes and heightened concern around traffic stops.
Tesla Fires Many on Charger Team, Raising Doubts About Expansion (NYT🔒)
Elon Musk has gutted the part of Tesla responsible for building electric vehicle charging stations, sowing uncertainty about the future of the largest and most reliable U.S. charging network. The layoffs of about 500 Tesla employees, which many of them posted about on social media on Tuesday, raised questions about deals that Mr. Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, struck with the leaders of General Motors, Ford Motor and other automakers last year allowing cars made by other companies to use Tesla Supercharger stations.
Driverless semis will soon carry freight along Texas highways (AP)
In less than nine months, Aurora Innovation Inc., an autonomous transportation company, will launch up to 20 driverless trucks carrying loads on Texas highways for partners such as FedEx, Uber Freight and Werner.
The New Math of Driving Your Car Till the Wheels Fall Off (WSJ🔒)
The average age of Americans’ vehicles has risen significantly over the past 50 years, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration. The share of cars that are 10 or more years old climbed from 16.9% in 1977 to 44.2% in 2022.
Will GM Regret Kicking Apple CarPlay off the Dashboard? (Bloomberg🔒)
The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV was the nicest ride Michael Waldron had ever owned. When he purchased the $62,000 electric SUV last November, he was enamored with its “radiant red” paint, buttery acceleration and deluxe interior with slick displays stretched across the dash. There was just one big thing missing: Apple CarPlay. General Motors Co., Chevy’s parent, had revealed the prior spring that it was ditching support for Apple Inc.’s infotainment hub in its new EVs so it could bolster GM’s in-house Ultifi platform. It was a buckle-your-seatbelt move. For tens if not hundreds of millions of drivers, CarPlay has become the default home screen of the center console, an iPhone-enabled grid of apps available in vehicles ranging from Fords to Ferraris. According to Apple, as of 2022, 79% of US car buyers would only consider purchasing cars that were CarPlay compatible. Apple says CarPlay provides a smarter and safer way to use an iPhone in vehicles, and that it’s inaccurate to suggest it’s somehow blocking the development of other technologies simply by offering CarPlay as an option for automakers and iPhone users. GM is now racing to refine its software and convince customers that it’s worth breaking old habits for. If the company can smash through the gates of Apple’s walled garden, GM projects that digital services will bring in as much as $25 billion annually by 2030. Then again, it might end up simply alienating droves of Apple loyalists like Waldron, who bought an iPhone mount for his Blazer once the GM software was fixed. “If my nav screen bricks again,” he says, “I can at least make it useful by suction-cupping my iPhone to it.”
Real Estate
Wall Street Has Spent Billions Buying Homes. A Crackdown Is Looming. (WSJ🔒) 📊
Wall Street went on a home-buying spree. Now, more lawmakers want to stop it from ever happening again. Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House have sponsored legislation that would force large owners of single-family homes to sell houses to family buyers. A Republican’s bill in the Ohio state legislature aims to drive out institutional owners through heavy taxation. Lawmakers in Nebraska, California, New York, Minnesota and North Carolina are among those proposing similar laws. While homeowner associations for years have sought to stop investors from buying and renting out houses in their neighborhoods, the legislative proposals represent a new effort by elected officials to regulate Wall Street’s appetite for single-family homes. These lawmakers say that investors that have scooped up hundreds of thousands of houses to rent out are contributing to the dearth of homes for sale and driving up home prices. They argue that investor buying has made it harder for first-time buyers to compete with Wall Street-backed investment firms and their all-cash offers. The bills in the House and Senate would cap rental-home ownership at no more than 50 homes for many companies, requiring them to sell off any more they already own. A bill in Minnesota, meanwhile, would limit ownership to 20 homes.
Young Americans Are Getting Left Behind by Rising Home Prices, Higher Stocks (WSJ🔒) 📊
America has come to expect ever-higher prices on houses, stocks and a swath of other financial assets. Civic leaders and corporate executives routinely praise rising home prices and rallying stocks as signs of widespread economic well-being. But those rising asset prices are wedging an increasingly large gap between the wealth of older generations and their children and grandchildren. The gains are heavily concentrated in older Americans who are already homeowners and who invested many years ago when prices were lower. For those looking to embark on the American dream today, it is further out of reach than ever. Home-buying affordability fell last year to the lowest level since 1985, according to a National Association of Realtors index. The median household now needs more than 40% of its income to cover payments on a median-priced home, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Home Prices Soar To All-Time High—Here Are The Fastest-Growing Cities (Forbes🔒) 📊
Home prices across the U.S. rose by 6.4% in February from a year earlier, surpassing the previous month’s 6% annual gain and recording the fastest growth rate since November 2022—continually breaking past the record highs set last year, on a seasonal adjusted basis. The jump is even more severe in big cities: Prices across 10 major cities grew by 8% year-over-year—up from January's 7.4% increase—and prices in 20 major cities jumped 7.3%, up from a 6.6% annual gain in January; both indices are “currently at all-time highs,” according to Case-Schiller data.
Rates Increase Again and at a Key Moment for the Housing Market (FreddieMac)📊
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased for the fifth consecutive week as we enter the heart of Spring Homebuying Season. On average, more than one-third of home sales for the entire year occur between March and June. With two months left of this historically busy period, potential homebuyers will likely not see relief from rising rates anytime soon. However, many seem to have acclimated to these higher rates, as demonstrated by the recently released pending home sales data coming in at the highest level in a year.
Here’s What Goes Into Your Mortgage Rate (WSJ🔒) 📊
Mortgage rates are back above 7%, sending home buyers in search of ways to trim the cost of their loans. Buyers this spring say they are resigned to the fact that the Federal Reserve won’t give them a helping hand by lowering rates. The central bank, which meets this week, is likely waiting for inflation to ease first. Mortgage rates tend to track the 10-year Treasury yield, which has risen for four straight weeks. But the Fed isn’t the only factor influencing mortgage costs. Give your financial information to two different lenders, and you may receive very different quotes that mean saving or losing tens of thousands of dollars. That variation has grown since the Fed started lifting rates in 2022. The payoff for having a great credit score has grown as rates have risen. People with scores of 800 or more locked in an average rate of 7.15% last Thursday, compared with the broader average of 7.27%. The rate differential has sometimes been more than a quarter of a percentage point. That may suggest borrowers with higher scores are more aggressively shopping for rates, according to Brennan O’Connell, director of data solutions at Optimal Blue. Research has found that financially savvy borrowers tend to lock in the lowest rates. Academics and regulators have urged buyers of all credit types to shop around. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a tool that shows the range of rates available to buyers.
Personal Finance
Washington, District of Benefit Cliffs (AEI)
As the welfare state expands while policymakers struggle to contain its costs, one unintended result is the creation of significant benefit cliffs. These dynamics are especially pronounced in Washington, DC, where per capita public welfare expenditures exceed any state. How generous is the safety net in DC, exactly? As depicted below, a representative family consisting of a single parent and three-year-old child can receive government benefits exceeding $70,000 per year, provided the parent has low earnings from work. However, if that parent works and earns more, benefit phaseouts and growing payroll and income taxes combine to wipe out any improvement in their finances. The shocking bottom line is that “due to benefits cliffs and the co-occurring phaseouts of multiple transfer programs, the hypothetical family is as financially well-off at $11,000 as it is at $65,000 of earned income. In other words, due to the structure of the combined federal and local DC social safety net, an increase in employment income by $54,000 does not result in any gains in net financial resources for this family.”
Many Americans will tip at restaurants, even for terrible service (Chartr)
While adding a healthy percentage onto restaurant bills has been the norm for nearly as long as the hospitality industry has existed, the integration of touch-screen tipping — everywhere from coffee shops, to drive-thrus, to self-checkout kiosks — has meant that many Americans are now feeling the gratuity squeeze.
Technology
The world’s largest 3D printer is at a university in Maine. It just unveiled an even bigger one (AP)
The world’s largest 3D printer has created a house that can cut construction time and labor. An even larger printer unveiled on Tuesday may one day create entire neighborhoods. The machine revealed Tuesday at the University of Maine is four times larger than the first one — commissioned less than five years ago — and capable of printing ever mightier objects. That includes scaling up its 3D-printed home technology using bio-based materials to eventually demonstrate how printed neighborhoods can offer an avenue to affordable housing to address homelessness in the region.
Science
Enzymes open new path to universal donor blood (Science Daily)
The quest to develop universal donor blood has taken a decisive step forward. Researchers at DTU and Lund University have discovered enzymes that, when mixed with red blood cells, are able to remove specific sugars that make up the A and B antigens in the human ABO blood groups. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology.
Cyber
FCC Fines Wireless Carriers About $200 Million for Sharing Customer Data (WSJ🔒)
Federal regulators fined wireless carriers Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint nearly $200 million for sharing customer-location data without consent. The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said that an investigation found the four carriers sold access to customers’ location data to aggregators, who resold the data to third parties. The FCC said that Verizon was fined $46.9 million, AT&T was fined $57.3 million, T-Mobile was fined $80.1 million and Sprint was fined $12.2 million. Sprint and T-Mobile merged in 2020. The agency first proposed the fines in 2020 following an investigation. The FCC said at the time that the carriers had relied on assurances that location-based services providers would obtain consent from customers before using their information.
Snap’s Overseas Userbase is Soaring (Sherwood News) 📊
Shares of Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, are up more than 30% in the last last week after posting better-than-expected results for the most recent quarter — in no small part due to impressive growth outside of North America. Revenue jumped some 21% on the year prior, but Snap also posted a 39M annual increase in global daily active users, over 90% of which came from outside of the US and Canada.
Why Everything is Becoming a Game (Gurwinder)
For years, some of the world’s sharpest minds have been quietly turning your life into a series of games. Not merely to amuse you, but because they realized that the easiest way to make you do what they want is to make it fun. To escape their control, you must understand the creeping phenomenon of gamification, and how it makes you act against your own interests. It all seemed so simple: if we could only create the right games, we could make humanity fitter, greener, kinder, smarter. We could repopulate forests and even cure cancers simply by making it fun. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, gamification took a less wholesome route.
Artificial Intelligence
AI priest avatar gets the chop in first week of digital ministry (Catholic Herald)
An AI-generated avatar priest that was launched at the start of the week by a Catholic organisation appears to have been digitally defrocked following criticisms and concerns raised about the experiment in using emerging artificial intelligence technology to bolster the Catholic Faith. The “Fr. Justin” interactive AI app was launched by Catholic Answers, a US-based media ministry focused on apologetics and evangelisation, to answer questions about the Catholic faith, using material from the Catholic Answers library of resources, such as articles, talks and apologetics materials.
Life
Less Is More: The Case for ‘Slow Productivity’ at Work (WSJ🔒)
You’re oh so busy. You’re on Slack and email and back-to-back Zoom calls, sometimes all at once. Are you actually getting real work done? Cal Newport doesn’t think so. “It’s like, wait a second, none of this mattered,” says the Georgetown University computer science professor and crusader for focus in a distracted age. Newport, 41, says we can accomplish more by shedding the overload. He calls his solution “slow productivity”—and has a book by the same name—a way for high achievers to say yes to fewer things, do them better and even slack off in strategic doses. Top-notch quality is the goal, and frenetic activity the enemy. The way we work now is a “serious economic drag,” Newport says. Knowledge workers have devolved into a form of productivity that’s more about the vibes—stressed!—than actually making money for the company. Data from Microsoft finds that lots of us spend the equivalent of two workdays a week on meetings and email alone.
NOTE: I’ve read two of Cal Newport’s books, Deep Work and Digital Minimalism and I’ve enjoyed both of them.
Religion
Skateparks, gyms and breweries: The right and wrong way to repurpose a closed church building (America Magazine)
Because of shrinking numbers in the pews and fewer vocations to the priesthood, the Catholic Church, the largest private real estate owner in the world, faces decisions about what to do with its extensive real estate portfolio. Particularly in the Northeast and Midwest, where more parishes are closing or merging than in other parts of the country, the church has a chance to transform the way it serves urban neighborhoods.
United Methodist Church Reverses Ban on Practicing Gay Clergy (NYT🔒)
The United Methodist Church removed on Wednesday its longstanding ban on ordaining gay clergy, formalizing a shift in policy that had already begun in practice and that had prompted the departure of a quarter of its U.S. congregations in recent years. The overturning of the 40-year-old ban on “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” passed overwhelmingly and without debate in a package of measures that had already received strong support at the committee level.
Education
Biden Cancels $6.1 Billion in Debt for Former Art Institute Students (NYT🔒)
The Biden administration on Wednesday canceled more than $6 billion in student debt for 317,000 people who attended the Art Institutes, a now-defunct network of for-profit colleges that President Biden said “knowingly misled” students. After a review of lawsuits brought by state attorneys general against the schools and their parent company, Education Management Corporation, the Education Department found that the Art Institutes falsified job placement figures in advertisements and misled prospective students with inflated salary expectations. Mr. Biden said last month that he would make another attempt at large-scale debt forgiveness for more than 25 million people, despite opposition from Republicans, who say it would be unfair to borrowers who struggled to pay off their student debt without assistance. In the meantime, the administration has forgiven about $160 billion in debt for 4.6 million borrowers by fixing and streamlining existing programs that have been plagued by bureaucratic and other problems for years.
The Total Cost of Student Debt Cancellation (CRFB) 📊
Including the Biden Administration’s new student debt cancellation plan, we estimate all recent student debt cancellation policies will cost a combined $870 billion to $1.4 trillion. That’s more than all federal spending on higher education over the nation’s entire history. To put $870 billion to $1.4 trillion in context, this range suggests the cost of recent debt cancellation is likely higher than: All historic spending on higher education prior to the COVID-19 pandemic ($744 billion from 1962 to 2019); All projected education appropriations over the next decade ($935 billion from 2025-2034); The federal cost of offering universal pre-K and universal affordable child care ($750 billion); The cost of tripling the Pell Grant program ($675 billion).
Exclusive: Employers Are Souring On Ivy League Grads, While These 20 “New Ivies” Ascend (Forbes🔒) 📊
For the entirety of America’s existence, the Ivy League has provided an essential service. In sorting the best and the brightest upon admission and then rigorously educating them, these “Ancient Eight” universities have provided employers, investors and even voters a meritocratic seal of approval. Some one-third of U.S. presidents and the current Forbes 400 list of richest Americans are Ivy alums, as well as eight sitting members of the Supreme Court. But as evident just by reading or watching the news, something feels distinctly off on Ivy League campuses. While it’s easy to chalk up the ham-handed protests, policies and presidential resignations to a particular moment right now, this erosion is several years in the making. And guess what? Employers have figured this out. Forbes surveyed nearly 300 subscribers to its Future of Work newsletter, with three-fourths of respondents holding direct hiring authority. Among those in charge of employment decisions, 33% said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates than they were five years ago, with only 7% saying they were more likely to hire them. Perhaps this is an indictment of all of higher education? Absolutely not. Forbes also surveyed the hirers about public university graduates and the grads of good non-Ivy private colleges, and the numbers are almost precisely the opposite of the Ivy results, with 42% saying they are more likely to hire public university grads and 37% saying they are more likely to hire grads of non-Ivy League private colleges than five years ago. Only about 5% say they are less likely to hire from either group.
How a Connecticut middle school won the battle against cellphones (WP🔒)
Those decisions come amid rising bipartisan alarm over the ways cellphones and social media may be harming children, concerns that have led to warnings from the U.S. surgeon general and the health commissioner of New York City. About a third of U.S. teens report that they use a social media site “almost constantly.” When Raymond Dolphin became assistant principal of a middle school in Connecticut two years ago, it was clear to him that the kids were not all right. The problem was cellphones. Students were using the devices in class, despite a rule against it. Social media was exacerbating nearly every conflict among students. When Dolphin walked the hallways or surveyed the cafeteria, he invariably saw heads bent over screens. So in December, Dolphin did something unusual: He banned them. The experiment at Illing Middle School sparked objections from students and some parents, but it has already generated profound and unexpected results. Dolphin likened prohibiting cellphones to curbing consumption of sugary foods. “In a matter of months, you start feeling better,” he said. What unfolded at the school reflects a broader struggle underway in education as some administrators turn to increasingly drastic measures to limit the reach of a technology that is both ubiquitous and endlessly distracting. Scores of schools across the country — from California to Indiana to Pennsylvania — have taken similar steps to remove cellphones altogether rather than rely on rules around their use.
NOTE: Yes!
Health
Some 11 percent of U.S. children have been diagnosed with ADHD (WP🔒)
More than 1 in 10 children in the United States — about 11 percent of those ages 5 to 17 — have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. The report data was drawn from interviews, conducted in person and by phone from 2020 through 2022, with members of a representative sample of U.S. households. ADHD is a medical condition characterized by differences in brain development and activity that can lead to children being inattentive, overactive and impulsive. For instance, a child might not listen when spoken to, have trouble organizing tasks and activities, fidget and squirm while seated and talk excessively. Although most children occasionally struggle with these issues, the struggle is harder and more frequent for those with ADHD.
US Agency Recommends Reclassifying Marijuana as Less Dangerous Drug (Bloomberg🔒)
The US Justice Department has recommended that cannabis be reclassified as less risky, a decision that could help the growing legal marijuana industry benefit from tax breaks. Several steps remain before marijuana can be taken off Schedule I, where it’s listed with dangerous narcotics like heroin, and put on Schedule III, which is for less risky drugs with a medical use. This would ease access to cannabis for patients and researchers studying its medical applications without decriminalizing it. The production, distribution and possession of marijuana for recreational purposes, however, would remain illegal under federal law. The effort, which could still collapse, arrives almost 30 years after California legalized medical marijuana. More than half the US population is now able to buy pot under a state-by-state patchwork of voter-driven laws.
Walmart Shuttering Health Clinics And Telehealth Services Nationwide (Forbes🔒)
All 51 Walmart Health centers across five states—Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas—will be closed, as well as Walmart Health Virtual Care, the retail giant’s telehealth services, according to the company, though the release did not indicate when the closures will begin.” The retail giant said it “determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue.” CNBC reported that health care worker shortages have increased Walmart’s labor costs, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation. Walmart’s pharmacies and vision centers—which have nearly 4,600 and more than 3,000 locations nationwide, respectively—will not be impacted by the closures.
Food & Drink
Walmart Takes On Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods With New Premium Brand (WSJ🔒)
Walmart wants to expand its food empire. It thinks gluten-free muffin mix and oat milk ice cream hold the key. Already the country’s largest grocer, the company is introducing a line of premium food called Bettergoods this year, aiming to attract new, often higher income shoppers more frequently and to encourage current shoppers to spend more. The new brand took years to develop and will include foods such as cardamom rose raspberry jam for $5.24 and curry chicken empanadas. Walmart plans to add more than 300 Bettergoods items to shelves this year—many of which will cost $5 or less.
Nature
Swimming Beneath Sand, It’s ‘the Hardest of All Animals to Find’ (NYT🔒) 📊
Just four inches from nose to tail, the animal would fit in the palm of your hand. And unlike the mole species of North America, it is a marsupial. But you probably wouldn’t see one: While the animals are plentiful, sightings remain extremely rare because northern marsupial moles live in tunnels beneath sand dunes, navigating them with a swimming-like motion using flipper-like front feet. “This is the hardest of all the animals to find,” said Denzel Hunter, an Indigenous ranger who works to survey and conserve wildlife in the lands of the Nyangumarta people. “Every time we go out looking for northern marsupial moles, we find evidence that they’re there. But I’ve never seen one.” Earlier this month, Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa Martu rangers found a kakarratul in the Great Sandy Desert, nearly 1,000 miles northeast of Perth. Their photographs of the creature, which has been spotted only a handful of times in the past decade, expand scientific knowledge of the species as well as of the wider desert regions that make up close to one-third of Australia’s land mass.
Travel
Deep Beneath London, Onetime Bomb Shelters Will Become a Tourist Attraction (NYT🔒)
There’s a locked door on the eastbound platform of the Chancery Lane station of the London Underground. The door is unassuming, sturdy and white. Behind it is a wide set of stairs leading to a roughly mile-long maze of tunnels built in the 1940s that were first intended to serve as a World War II shelter and later used for espionage, the storage of 400 tons of government documents and telecom services. Welcome to the Kingsway Exchange tunnels, set roughly 100 feet below street level in the center of London, sprawling beneath the Underground’s Central Line. Soon they could enter a new chapter: Angus Murray, the owner of the complex, who bought the tunnels last summer, has applied for planning permission to the local authorities together with the architecture firm WilkinsonEyre to turn the tunnels into a tourist destination that could handle millions of people a year. Mr. Murray’s London Tunnels is planning to invest a total of 220 million pounds (about $275 million) on restoring and preserving the tunnels, as well as adding technology for art installations and other attractions. Mr. Murray hopes to open the complex in 2027, and said that it would be able to host temporary art exhibitions, fashion shows and more.
Entertainment
Saturday Sessions: Charley Crockett performs "America" (YouTube)
A descendent of American folk hero Davey Crockett, Charley Crockett was raised in a Texas trailer park. He bought his first guitar in a pawn shop and taught himself how to play it. In 2015, he started releasing records independently. Fourteen albums later, Crockett has established himself as one of the leaders in traditional country music's revival. From his new album "$10 Cowboy," here is Charley Crockett with "America."
NOTE: Um, wow. What a unique voice.
Taylor Swift Charts 32 Songs on Hot 100, Including Every Track From ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ (Billboard)
Taylor Swift is having a historic week on Billboard’s charts (dated May 4). On top of earning her 14th career No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with The Tortured Poets Department, she sets numerous new records across Billboard’s charts, including on the Billboard Hot 100. As previously reported, the set launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 2.61 million equivalent album units earned in its opening week, according to Luminate. That’s the second-biggest week by that metric since Billboard began measuring the week’s most popular albums by equivalent album units in 2014, after Adele’s 25 (3.482 million, Dec. 12, 2015). Further, all 31 songs from the deluxe version of The Tortured Poets Department debut on the latest Hot 100, including the entire top 14 – the biggest takeover ever from No. 1 on down. The Tortured Poets Department also sold more vinyl records in a week than any album in at least 33 years, became the first to gain 300 million streams in a single day, and the fastest to reach 1 billion streams.
Dave & Buster’s to Allow Betting on Arcade Games (NYT🔒)
The restaurant and arcade chain Dave & Buster’s is going to let customers bet on arcade games, according to an announcement on Tuesday. Customers will be able to digitally place cash bets at the arcades, where people play games like Skee-Ball, billiards and basketball shootouts. Dave & Buster’s did not respond to requests for comment, and it was not clear which specific games customers would be able to place bets on, or when the company would roll out the betting product, which will be available to people enrolled in the Dave & Buster’s loyalty program. Marc Edelman, a law professor and the director of sports ethics at Baruch College in New York, said there is a carve-out in gambling laws that allows for people who are engaging in a physical competition to compete for money in that competition. For example, professional golfers and tennis players pay an entry fee to compete and can win a cash prize. “If two people are competing against one another in Skee-Ball, presuming that there is nothing unusual done in the Skee-Ball game and physical skill is actually going to determine the winner, there is no problem,” Professor Edelman said. The trouble lies in people betting on others’ games. “If I am taking a bet on whether someone else will win a Skee-Ball game, or whether someone else will achieve a particular score in Skee-Ball, if I myself am not engaged in a physical competition, that very likely would be seen as gambling,” Professor Edelman said.
Sports
Why MLB Called for a Change-Up in Uniform Fiasco (WSJ🔒)
For more than two months, Major League Baseball executives had endured the gripes from players and the ridicule from fans about the league’s much-maligned new uniforms. Then, last week, they finally decided they had enough. On a video call last Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, MLB told Nike officials that things needed to change. The tiny letters on the back of the jerseys had to go. The massive stains that appeared when players got sweaty needed to be fixed. And so did the frequent instances of their pants ripping when they slid. Then, on Sunday, a scathing memo sent by the MLB Players Association confirmed that the changes to the uniforms, which are designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics, will be made by the start of the 2025 season.
The beginner’s illustrated guide to watching an F1 race (WP🔒)
Formula One can be a dizzying affair to behold with its glitzy sights, growling sounds and unfamiliar terminology. During race weekend, some may find themselves asking: What is a sprint? Or a race steward? And what shapes race strategy? This guide can help you find answers to those questions and become a more knowledgeable viewer. Keep it on hand for this season’s first race in the United States, Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
For Fun
Playbook: Fun and foreboding at the Washington Hilton (Politico)
NBC promised to put a lot into this weekend and it showed. Led by White House Correspondents’ Association president Kelly O’Donnell, NBC leaned on its formidable stable of news personalities and the firepower of “Saturday Night Live” to help create one of the more highly produced and polished WHCA Dinners we’ve attended. The show included a montage of SNL’s best political sketches, a vignette by Steve Kornacki breaking down the map of the famously crammed ballroom of 2,600 people, and lots of references to Johansson, with many C-SPAN cutaway shots of her sitting front and center below the dais.
NOTE: Actually some pretty funny jokes about Biden, Trump, and the press.
The California man who hid for 6 months in a secret room inside Circuit City (SFGate)
In February, it was announced that Channing Tatum will play Manchester in a movie entitled “Roofman.” Although Manchester’s escapades have a Robin Hood-like flair to them, he’s no hero, as police are quick to point out.
Have a great weekend!
The Curator
Two resources to help you be a more discerning reader:
AllSides - https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news
Media Bias Chart - https://www.adfontesmedia.com/
Caveat: Even these resources/charts are biased. Who says that the system they use to describe news sources is accurate? Still, hopefully you find them useful as a basic guide or for comparison.