🦁 In Like a Lion

🌏 Around the World

• 🇲🇲 At least 18 people were killed in Myanmar after police and military forces opened fire on protestors in multiple cities on Sunday, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office. Prior to this weekend, Myanmar had seen three total protest-related deaths since the military seized control of the government in a coup last month. (The background.)
• 🇳🇬 Three-hundred and seventeen schoolgirls were kidnapped by a group of unidentified gunmen in northwestern Nigeria late Friday night. Authorities are still searching for the kidnapped students.
• 🇭🇰 Authorities in Hong Kong charged 47 pro-democracy advocates - including some government leaders - with conspiracy to commit subversion, marking the largest crackdown to date under last year’s national security law. They could potentially face life in prison if convicted.

🏛️ House Passes COVID Relief Bill

The House voted 219–212 to pass the Biden-backed $1.9T COVID relief bill early Saturday (all but two of the 221 Democrats voted in favor).

• Among other things, the bill includes one-time payments of $1,400 to those making under $75K per year, an extra $400 a week in unemployment benefits, and a provision to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour (which is not expected to survive in the Senate). Here's a full breakdown.

More: The bill now heads to the Senate. If passed, a new version would then head back to the House, ultimately ending up on President Biden’s desk.

🗽 Cuomo’s Sexual Harassment Investigation

Charlotte Bennett, former aide to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, accused him of sexual harassment over the weekend, per the NYT ($). She is the second woman to do so.

• This comes two months after former economic adviser Lindsey Boylan initially came forward with sexual harassment claims against Cuomo, and less than a week after she published a Medium post further detailing the accusations.

Gov. Cuomo published a statement Sunday evening.

⏰ Catch Up Quick:

🌿 Virginia’s legislature voted to approve the legalization of adult-use marijuana on Saturday, becoming the 16th U.S. state to do so. (Left-Center | Right-Center)

🗣 Former President Trump delivered his first public speech since leaving office yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Full video – 1 hr 35 mins | Recap: Left-Center | Right-Center)

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

Image: Archaeological Park of Pompeii

• Researchers in Pompeii unearthed an intact ceremonial chariot from a villa near the famed site, referring to it as an “exceptional discovery.”

🖋️ Money in the Berk

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett released his annual letter to shareholders on Saturday.

• In it, Buffett revealed Berkshire Hathaway had spent nearly $25B in stock buybacks last year and continued to repurchase shares in early 2021.
• He also said the conglomerate owns the biggest amount of U.S. assets - defined as property, plant & equipment - by value than any other company in the country (estimated at $154B – Buffett said AT&T ranks 2nd with $127B).

💉 J&J Receives A-OK

The CDC approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose COVID-19 vaccine yesterday after an agency panel unanimously voted to recommend the shot for people 18 and older.

• The move comes less than a day after the FDA issued emergency use authorization for the vaccine.

More: White House officials said distribution centers will start receiving 3.9M doses of J&J’s vaccine as early as Tuesday.

🏀 Dollar and a Dream

The WNBA and NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Atlanta Dream to a group of three investors, including former Atlanta Dream player Renee Montgomery.

• Montgomery becomes the first former player to become both an owner and executive of a WNBA team.

More: The team was formerly co-owned by ex-GA Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R). Last summer, Loeffler wrote a letter to the WNBA commissioner in opposition to the league's support of the Black Lives Matter political movement. This prompted calls for her to sell the team.

LEFT CENTER → USA Today

RIGHT CENTER → WSJ

☝️ 1 Last Thing…

🃏 Dapper Labs created a blockchain-based trading card system in conjunction with the NBA. It’s generated over $230M in sales so far.

💌 The Friendship of a Lifetime

The year was 1967. Fifteen-year-old Robbinroger Beever took a stroll down the beach in Liberia and noticed a washed up whiskey bottle buried in the sand.

• Taking a closer look, Beever discovered a message in a bottle from two years prior, written by a Swedish marine. 

He wrote back to the mysterious messenger, and was thrilled to receive a reply from the marine’s younger sister in-law, Saija, a fellow teenager living in Finland.

Images via CNN.

The two teens struck up a friendship and continued to write to each other from across the world, forming a bond Beever describes as “a spiritual connection.”

"We have been corresponding for almost 55 years – from being giggly teenagers to older responsible adults," Beever told CNN. "I felt really, really connected to her."

Beever and Saija finally meeting in Finland, 35 years after the initial letter was sent.

While the duo has turned to email to keep in touch these days, they sometimes still send snail-mail out of tradition.

• “There’s nothing more exciting than to receive a letter in a beautiful envelope, nicely folded, with birds and flowers, and open it. And actually, it’s a part of the person that comes.” 🌸📨🥰