Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🏛️ Surveillance law debate
• 🙄 “Annoyance economy”
• 💥 Israel-Lebanon ceasefire

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.91-minute read (1,039 words).

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"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Congress is racing against an April 20 deadline to renew a controversial surveillance program, as House leaders delayed a key vote for a second time on Thursday amid ongoing internal divisions.

At the center of the debate is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which will expire on Monday without an act of Congress.

What is FISA Section 702?

The law, passed in 2008, allows US intelligence agencies to collect the electronic communications of foreign nationals living outside the US without obtaining a court order.

FISA Section 702 is widely used at the highest levels of US government, with nearly 350,000 surveillance targets in 2025.

• US officials say the law has helped disrupt terrorist plots, track fentanyl supply chains linked to China, respond to ransomware attacks, and uncover foreign hacking operations targeting US infrastructure.
• In 2023, an estimated ~60% of items in the president’s daily intelligence briefing relied at least in part on Section 702 data.

It’s also been the subject of controversy. Foreigners targeted by Section 702 often communicate with people in the US, meaning Americans’ messages are consistently swept up in the process.

• A landmark 2019 inspector general report and subsequent audits in recent years revealed thousands of occasions where FBI agents searched the surveillance database for information on Americans without a proper legal basis.
• This includes improper searches on political figures—including a US senator and state-level officials—as well as people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and 2020 George Floyd protests.

The arguments

Supporters of the law, led by the Trump admin, intelligence officials, and centrist leaders from both parties, argue Section 702 is an essential tool for defending against threats from China, Russia, Iran, and other countries. They’re pushing for an 18-month extension of FISA’s mandate without any major changes, citing the law’s importance to national security and counterterrorism.

On the flip side: Opponents—a bipartisan coalition of civil libertarians, progressive Democrats, and hardline conservatives—say the program enables backdoor warrantless searches of American citizens, pointing to past FBI abuses as evidence that Section 702 needs stricter limits or should be allowed to lapse.

Looking ahead…Lawmakers have until Monday to reach a deal on renewing or reforming FISA Section 702 before its authority will expire.

📊 Flash poll: Do you think Congress should renew FISA Section 207 ahead of Monday’s deadline?

• Renew the program as it is
• Renew, but with some major changes
• Let it expire

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🖼️ One lucky Parisian is taking home “Head of a Woman,” a Picasso painting worth nearly $1.2 million, after winning a charity raffle he entered for just €100 (~$118).

💰 Americans lose an estimated $165 billion/year to the “annoyance economy,” or everyday interactions like dealing with spam, robocalls, hidden fees, insurance claims, and subscription cancellations.

📲 Meta is expected to overtake Google in digital advertising for the first time this year, with ~$243 billion in projected net ad revenue versus Google’s ~$240 billion, per Emarketer.

♀️♂️ American females have far more first-name diversity than males, new Census data shows. 16% of US males have a top-10 most frequent name vs. 7.8% of women, while women require ~3x as many given names to cover a quarter of population than males.

📊 Dolly Parton is by far the most popular person among a group of 20 major global figures, per a new YouGov/UMass Lowell survey. She carried a 65% net favorability rating, far outpacing Barack Obama (14%) and Volodymyr Zelensky (12%) as the next-highest options.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 S&P 500 and Nasdaq each notch new record highs, with the Nasdaq’s 12-day winning streak marking its longest run since 2009. (S&P: +0.3% | Dow: +0.2% | Nasdaq: +0.4%).
• 🍿 Netflix Chair Reed Hastings to step down from the company’s board in June, streaming giant announces alongside earnings; shares fell over 8% in after-hours trading following disappointing future guidance.
• ✈️ Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of remaining jet fuel supplies, with possible flight cancellations coming “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war, per new interview with IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 NBA Play-In Tournament concludes tonight with #8-seed games between the Hornets-Magic and Warriors-Suns; the Trail Blazers and 76ers have already locked up 7-seeds. | 🏒 NHL Playoff bracket finalized after the regular season concluded last night; playoff action kicks off on Saturday with a slate of three games.
• 🎥 Paramount CEO David Ellison commits to releasing “minimum” of 30 movies/year once Paramount Skydance completes its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
• 🍿 Netflix announces upcoming animated movie Charlie Vs. The Chocolate Factory, featuring Kit Connor and Taika Waititi in lead voice roles. | Tribeca Film Festival announces 2026 lineup of ~120 films.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖 OpenAI unveils new AI models built to help life sciences researchers work faster, accelerating research, drug discovery, and translational medicine.
• 🏥 President Trump nominates Erica Schwartz to serve as CDC director; ​​Schwartz served as deputy surgeon general during the first Trump admin, where she played a major role in America’s Covid response.
• 🧑‍🚀 Artemis II crew gives first interviews since returning from this month’s trip around the Moon, which included venturing further into space than any human before.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 💥 President Trump says Israel and Lebanon reached a 10-day cease-fire agreement that began Thursday evening, and invited both countries’ leaders to the White House; Trump also says the US might hold peace talks with Iran this weekend.
• 🚨 ICE agent charged by Minnesota state prosecutors with two counts of assault related to a road rage incident; it’s the first federal agent charged in connection with DHS’ recent operation in Minnesota.
• 🙏 Justin Fairfax, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia, fatally shot his wife Cerina and then killed himself at their home early yesterday morning, according to police.

👆 Coachella’s second weekend kicks off today in Indio, California, bringing back headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G. Weekend one drew 200,000+ attendees to see a total of 160 artists across eight stages.

🤔 Did you know? The cardboard box holds a spot in the National Toy Hall of Fame. Inducted in 2005, the box was the first “toy of imagination” to claim a space on the exclusive list, with later additions including the stick and the blanket.

📰 Worth a read: San Diego now has so much water that it’s selling it

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• Not all sleep scores are created equal
• How to improve your attention span
• How people who use emojis at work are perceived

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How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

1. I am a number between 50 and 70. I am divisible by 4 and 5. What number am I?
2. How many seconds are in 4 minutes?
3. A bag contains 4 red marbles and 6 blue marbles. Two marbles are drawn without replacement. What is the probability that both marbles are red?

❤️ Meet Dan, a 13-year-old who's using his skills in the kitchen to help bring homemade meals to unhoused people in NYC. 

1. 60
2. 240 seconds
3. 2/15 (4/10 * 3/9)

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