Good morning and welcome to Monday. You know that new-car smell? Well, our nostrils are filled to the brim with it because we just launched a brand-spankin' new website.🥳🍾

• You can take it for a spin here – but only if you promise to leave an air freshener or two on your way out (we’re partial to Black Ice).

It’s a great week to have a great week.😎

P.S. If you want a peek behind the curtain at the tech stack we’re using, check out this blog post.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.09 minutes to read.

"Surround yourself only with people who are going to lift you higher."

–Oprah Winfrey (b.1954)

🇺🇦 Ukrainian authorities said Russia bombed an art school housing 400 civilians yesterday in the southwestern city of Mariupol, where fighting has now reached the streets. About 4,000 civilians have been killed since the invasion began, per the city council.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said hundreds of civilians are still trapped underneath a Mariupol theater that was bombed by Russian forces last week.
• Russian missiles struck the western city of Lviv for the first time on Friday; the city is about 50 miles from the Polish border.
• At least 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, according to the UN. That’s nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s total population.
• Russia’s military said it used a new hypersonic missile over the weekend for the first time in combat, though the US couldn’t independently verify the claim; these weapons can carry a nuclear warhead and are designed to fly low and evade detection.
• A US official described reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the military commander responsible for Ukraine under house arrest as “credible,” per the WSJ; the director of the CIA told Congress this month that Putin had planned to seize Ukraine’s capital in just two days.

+The latest news: From the Left | From the Right

The messaging app Telegram has been suspended in Brazil, after Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Friday said it had repeatedly refused to adhere to judicial orders to freeze accounts spreading disinformation or comply with the country's laws.

🤔 Why it’s a big deal: Around half of all Brazilian smartphone owners have the app downloaded.

🚫📲 Was Telegram given any warning?... They were – but the company was checking the wrong email; the Court’s messages were being sent to an “old general-purpose email address,” according to CEO Pavel Durov.

📸 The big picture: Conservative President Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters have increasingly relied on Telegram as a form of mass communication as larger tech companies like Meta, Google and Twitter have adhered to Supreme Court orders to drop offending accounts over allegedly spreading disinformation, Reuters reports.

• Moraes has been leading a series of Supreme Court investigations into Bolsonaro and his supporters for allegedly disseminating fake news; this has angered many on the right and raised questions about judicial overreach.

🇧🇷🇷🇺 Zoom out: Brazil’s legal system has previously ordered blocks of Telegram competitor WhatsApp, but the bans have been short-lived.

• Telegram has also been banned in Russia for refusing to share encryption keys in anti-terrorism investigations, though that was lifted in 2020.

🏀 We’re down to 16 teams in the NCAA men’s tourney after an exciting four-day weekend of college basketball.

• Defending champ Baylor was the first No. 1 seed to go down, falling to No. 9 seed North Carolina in round two.
• The Peacocks of St. Peters became just the third 15-seed in history to make the Sweet Sixteen after upsetting No. 2 Kentucky in OT in the first round, then defeating No. 7 Murray State in round two.
• No. 11-seed Michigan beat No. 3 Tennessee to reach their fifth straight Sweet Sixteen, and No. 1 Gonzaga advanced to the tournament’s second weekend for the seventh straight year.
• The last perfect bracket, belonging to ESPN user “Bekins24,” lasted just 26 games before it was busted on Friday evening. The all-time record is 49 consecutive games picked correctly to start the tournament – or in other words, the closest-to-perfect bracket wasn't busted until one game into the Sweet Sixteen.

👀 Looking ahead… The Sweet Sixteen takes place this Thursday and Friday, and the Elite Eight is on Saturday and Sunday.

+ On the women’s side: The second round of March Madness wraps up today, with the Sweet Sixteen scheduled to begin on Friday. (Full bracket)

A 2019 survey highlighted some concerning points regarding women in the workplace.

🔢 By the numbers…

• Only 21% of business executives are women.
• Just 6% of CEOs at S&P 500 companies are women.
• 35% of companies had one woman or less in their C-Suite.

The same survey found women are underrepresented at every level of business, not just at the top.

📉 Things didn’t get better with the pandemic either, which had a disproportionate impact on women’s employment, income and financial well-being.

⏲️Time for change… TheWMarketplace decided to be the change it wanted to see, and launched an online platform 100% dedicated to female entrepreneurs. Founded by an all-woman team, every single product and service on TheWMarketplace is women-owned. (Read their full story here!)

Help female entrepreneurs by shopping their wide selection of products, including:

• Health & Personal Care
• Accessories
• Food & Beverage

And many services including:

• Accounting & Finance
• Coaching & Training
• Home & Event

🙌 At TheWMarketplace, there’s no minimum order amount, no membership fees and shipping is included in every price. (We’re looking at you, Prime…)

➡️ Support women entrepreneurs at TheWMarketplace.

UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas became the first trans athlete to win a D1 national championship in any sport after placing first in the women’s individual 500-yard freestyle on Thursday. She finished fifth and eighth in her two other events.

🏊 Background: Thomas swam for the UPenn men’s team for two seasons before coming out as trans, beginning hormone therapy treatment in the summer of 2019.

• She competed on the men’s team as a female the following season, but sparingly.
• After fulfilling an NCAA requirement that trans female athletes undergo hormone replacement therapy for at least 12 months, Thomas swam for Penn’s women’s team this past season.

👥 Internal response... After reports of anonymous critical comments attributed to Thomas’ teammates, Penn athletics issued an unsigned statement last month on behalf of "several members” of the women’s swimming and diving team who supported Thomas being on the squad.

• Days later, Olympic gold medalist and Title IX advocate Nancy Hogshead-Makar sent a letter on behalf of 16 anonymous Penn swimmers in support of new rules that would have barred Thomas from competing.

📝 What new rules?… In January, the NCAA said it would shift its guidelines on transgender participation so that by the 2023-24 season, each sport follows regulations established by their individual governing bodies.

• Soon after, USA Swimming announced a new set of rules for trans swimmers seeking to compete in women’s events that effectively raises the length of time required for transition from one year to three.

🇺🇸 Zoom out: Over the past two years, nearly a dozen GOP-led states have passed laws banning trans women and girls from participating in women’s sports.

• ☝️ Check out this Insta account that creates brand logos reimagined as medieval art.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 All three major US stock indexes notched their best week since November 2020 after posting a fourth straight day of gains on Friday.
• 🏥 The three largest US credit firms – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – will remove nearly 70% of medical debt that currently shows up on credit reports starting in July.
• ✈️🥃 American Airlines is bringing back alcohol on short-haul domestic flights starting April 18.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏎️ Charles Leclerc won the season-opening Formula One race in Bahrain yesterday; fellow Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz placed second and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton came in third.
• ⚾ MLB Free Agency: Shortstop Carlos Correa signed a three-year, $105.3 million deal with the Twins | Outfielder Nick Castellanos reached a five-year, $100 million contract with the Phillies | Shortstop Trevor Story inked a five-year, $140 million deal with the Red Sox.
• 📺 Maury Povich is retiring; he's the longest-running daytime talk show host in the history of broadcast television (31 seasons of Maury/The Maury Povich Show).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💉 Moderna asked the FDA to approve a fourth booster shot for all Americans days after Pfizer requested the same for those over 65.
• 🚀 Pete Davidson is no longer heading to space after Blue Origin pushed back the launch date by six days to March 29.
• 🚘🔌 Here's the cost of charging an EV versus the cost of refueling a conventional gas vehicle.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🇫🇮 Finland was found to be the world's happiest nation for the fifth year in a row, according to the tenth annual World Happiness Report.
• ⛪ Pope Francis introduced a new Vatican constitution that will allow any baptized lay Catholic, including women, to head most Vatican departments.
• 🏛️ Rep. Don Young (R-AK), the longest-serving member of Congress, passed away at 88.

💬 Quoted… “Weddings are back.”

• Signet Jewelers, the owner of Kay and Zales, predicted weddings will hit a 40-year high this year based on internal research and data on bookings at venues.

🍬🍫 Stat of the Day: Chocolate and candy sales hit a record $36.9 billion last year in the US, up 11% over 2020.

🏈 Story of the Day: A Charleston, SC, man who was sent to Fargo, ND, as punishment for losing his fantasy football league earlier this year returned home as the “King of Fargo."

🤯 Did You Know?... In 2008, scientists discovered a hidden painting underneath The Blue Room, a 1901 painting by Pablo Picasso.

📖 Worth a Read: Ego is the Enemy: The Legend of Genghis Khan → (Farnam Street)

Monday: Congress begins Supreme Court nomination hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Tuesday: Opening statements in criminal fraud trial of former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani

Wednesday: National Puppy Day

Thursday: President Biden will attend a NATO meeting in Brussels; Atlanta season 3 premieres on FX/Hulu

Friday: Bridgerton season 2 hits Netflix

Endurance mountain climber Andrew Hughes missed his adventures while under lockdown during the pandemic. But more than anything, he missed community.

•  That's when he got the idea to host a tea party more than 21,000 feet above sea level.

🏔 🫖 Breaking records... Andrew and a fellow group of climbers made their Mount Everest tea party happen in May 2021. 

• The supplies, complete with hot tea and girl scout cookies for dipping, had to make it across the world from Seattle to their base camp. 
• And after making it up the snowy peak, the group officially broke the world record for highest tea party ever held.  

💬 What they're saying: "The greatest things in life are often those shared," said Andrew, who hopes the feat will "inspire others to seek their own dreams, no matter the heights."

Who's the most-streamed artist on Spotify (as of March 2022)?

A) Dua Lipa

B) The Weeknd

C) Drake

D) Ed Sheeran

(keep scrolling for the answer)

Check out our referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to this newsletter. 👇

Here’s your unique link to copy & send to anyone you think would like the DONUT:

D) Ed Sheeran