Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. On this day fifteen years ago, Apple sold its first smartphone in the US. Five years later, 14% of the population owned an iPhone.

Today that number sits at 36% – and among teens, it’s even higher. 87% of all smartphone-owning young’uns currently have an iPhone, according to the latest Piper Sandler survey (if only to avoid that dreaded green bubble🙅‍♀️).

All-in-all, more than 2 billion models of the iPhone have been sold… but we’re betting 2022 is the year the flip phone makes a comeback.💪

Some other things you’ll know after reading this email:

• 💊 Why some major retailers are rationing Plan B
• 🤔 Which common flower is actually edible
• ⚖️ How the sentencing of Ghislaine Maxwell played out

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.39 minutes to read.

"It's your outlook on life that counts."

–Betty White (1939-2021)

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol held a surprise sixth public hearing yesterday “to present recently obtained evidence.”

• The hearing featured testimony from a top aide to Mark Meadows, former President Trump’s chief of staff, who said Trump demanded to be driven to the Capitol building on Jan. 6 with his supporters, but officials ultimately talked him out of it.

🏛️ The big picture: We previously took a 360° look at the Jan. 6 hearings after the first one was held. Here’s everything that’s happened since:

• Hearing 2 focused on election night in 2020, when former President Trump declared he had won though the election had not yet been called. It featured testimony from former AG William Barr and others.
• Hearing 3 covered former VP Mike Pence’s resistance to a pressure campaign from Trump to stop the certification of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, with testimony from Pence’s legal advisers.
• Hearing 4 took a look at Trump’s attempts to make local elections officials in Georgia, Arizona, and other states reject the 2020 election results, featuring testimony from the officials themselves.
• Hearing 5 was about Trump’s pressuring the Justice Department to help him overturn the election, with testimony from several former DOJ officials, including the acting Deputy Attorney General at the time.

👀 Looking ahead… The Jan. 6 committee will take a nearly two-week hiatus before holding its final public hearing(s) the week of July 11.

Several of America’s largest retailers have begun to ration morning-after contraceptive pills like ‘Plan B,’ due to a spike in demand following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

💊 A deeper dive… Amazon, Walmart, Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens are among those on the ration train – though Walgreens said the restriction was an error that would soon be corrected, and CVS reversed its decision yesterday after demand returned to normal.

• Most of the retailers told news orgs they have plenty of inventory in stock, but implemented purchase limits to avoid hoarding and ensure equitable access.
• Some women said they’re stocking up in anticipation of future Plan B restrictions similar to new anti-abortion laws, though Planned Parenthood recently advised against that strategy due to its limited shelf life.
• Plan B pills are distinct from abortion pills (aka ‘Plan C’), which require a prescription and can be used in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy to terminate it.

📸 Big picture: Between 2013 and 2015, 22% of women ages 15 to 44 who have ever had sex reported they had used an emergency contraceptive at least once in their lives, per the Kaiser Family Foundation, an increase from 4% in 2002. The first-ever morning-after pill was approved by the FDA in 1998.

+Dig deeper : From the Left | From the Right | See the 360° view on SCOTUS’ decision | How are legislators and companies responding?

Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday and fined $750,000 for her role in a decades-long child sex trafficking ring run by Jeffrey Epstein.

⚖️ More deets… Prosecutors said Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial in 2019, sexually abused children hundreds of times in the 1990s and early 2000s, and couldn’t have done so without Maxwell’s help.

• They had asked the judge to give Maxwell 30 to 55 years in prison, while her lawyers sought a lighter sentence of five years.

📝 What about the client list?... Epstein, who socialized with many politicians, prominent businessmen, and celebrities, has long been accused of introducing these people to girls for sexual abuse.

• He and Maxwell reportedly kept address books with the names and contact numbers of underage girls who gave him massages, and many people assume some of the names in these ‘black books’ were also high-profile figures who engaged in sexual abuse.
• The contents of the black books have been leaked to the press in recent years, though outside of Maxwell, criminal charges were only brought in a single case in France where there was ample evidence a crime was committed.

🤯 Did you know… Matcha is becoming one of the most popular summer drinks??? 🍵❄️

In fact, you can make a delicious iced matcha latte in 60 seconds or less – way faster than you’d ever be able to make coffee…

• Step 1: Mix matcha, plant-based milk, and optional sweetener into a blender.
• Step 2: Blend for 15-20 seconds, pour, and ENJOY! (pro tip: try it for 4th of July)

With matcha, you’ll finally be able to kick back and feel refreshed like never before thanks to its unique energizing properties, which work with its highly concentrated antioxidants for major benefits!😋💪

⚡🌞 Energy all summer… Cool off with matcha for the 4th of July and the whole summer – but it's only today that you’ll save 20% site-wide at matcha.com with the code: COOLOFF20 😎🍵

Keep cool this summer with matcha.

Turkey officially lifted its veto over Finland and Sweden’s applications to join NATO yesterday, after the three nations reached an agreement to protect each other's security. Long story short: the two Nordic countries are now on a path to join the military alliance within the next several months.

🇹🇷🇫🇮🇸🇪 Background… Since NATO operates by consensus, it’s possible for one country to block an application for new member status, which gave Turkey leverage when Sweden and Finland sought to join earlier this year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• Turkey had taken exception to how the two countries have handled domestic Kurdish terrorism, but relented after the trio committed to working together on issues of concern.
• Their deal was reached hours before the start of a three-day NATO summit in Madrid yesterday, where the 30-member military alliance labeled Russia as “the most immediate threat to our security.”

🧠 In the know: If Finland and Sweden are added, NATO would more than double the length of its border with Russia, the global power it was formed to counteract.

🌎 Zoom out: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier this week that the military alliance will boost the number of troops on high alert by more than sevenfold to 300,000, describing the move as “the biggest overhaul of our collective deterrence and defense since the Cold War."

• ☝️ Blast from the past: Step into your time machine and check out these vintage computer ads from 1970-1990.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US stocks fell across the board yesterday. (Dow: -1.6% | S&P: -2.0% | Nasdaq: -3.0%)
• 🙅‍♀️🎉 Airbnb said its temporary global ban on parties and events, put in place nearly two years ago, is now permanent.
• 💰 Ernst & Young has agreed to pay a $100 million fine to the SEC and admit that some of its auditors cheated on required ethics exams in recent years; it’s the largest fine the agency has ever imposed on an audit firm.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎾 Wimbledon update: Serena Williams was handed an early exit by Harmony Tan, the world’s No. 115th-ranked women’s player, in her first match since a leg injury one year ago today; on the men’s side, Rafa Nadal won his first set since claiming his record 22nd Grand Slam title earlier this month.
• 💸 Idris Elba is reportedly involved in marketing firm Miroma’s $1.2 billion bid to acquire British broadcaster Channel 4.
• 🧙‍♀️ Disney released the first trailer for Hocus Pocus 2, which will be available on Disney+ starting September 30.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌿 Using recreational marijuana is associated with a higher risk of emergency room care and being hospitalized for any reason, according to a new peer-reviewed study.
• 🚀 NASA announced plans to launch the Space Launch System rocket – its most powerful ever built – sometime between August 23 and September 6.
• 🪐 Even if life once existed on Mars, it’s almost certainly buried meters below the surface due to eons of cosmic radiation, according to the first experiment ever to mix amino acids – the building blocks of life – with simulated Martian soil.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🏛️ California lawmakers agreed to send “inflation relief” payments of between $200 and $1,050 to roughly 23 million residents by early next year. (From the Left | From the Right)
• 🚨 Three people were arrested in connection with one of the deadliest human-smuggling incidents in US history discovered near San Antonio, TX; the death toll rose to at least 51 yesterday, with 11 more migrants hospitalized with heat-related illnesses.
• ⚖️ A Texas judge temporarily blocked the state's abortion ban from taking effect; abortions can now continue pending a hearing on July 12. (From the Left | From the Right)

💬 Quoted… ​​ “I'm actually gonna probably have to run for president now."

Howard Stern said on his SiriusXM show this week that he’s seriously considering a 2024 presidential run if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee – “and I’m not f---ing around.”

• Stern ​​previously ran for governor of New York in 1994 on the Libertarian ticket, but withdrew after refusing to disclose his personal finances.

🎶 Stat(s) of the Day: Drake earned his 11th No. 1 album on the Billboard Top 200 charts with the release of his latest LP ‘Honestly, Nevermind.’

• The Canadian rapper/popstar is now tied for third-most No. 1 albums of all time, trailing only Jay-Z (14) and The Beatles (19).

🌎 Around the World: Ecuador’s president announced an end to negotiations with indigenous leader Leonidas Iza yesterday, claiming Iza was only serving his own political interests. Largely indigenous demonstrators have been marching across the country in protest of high fuel and food prices since June 13, with at least eight deaths connected to the protests.

🤯 Did You Know?... Raw dandelions are actually edible. What’s more, they’re “probably the most nutritionally dense green you can eat — outstripping even kale or spinach,” according to diet experts.

📖 Worth a Read: The Giant Hangar Poised for an Aviation Revolution → (BBC Future)

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+Note: A written response isn't required, all you need to do is click one of the links above and your vote is recorded. Poll results and the best comments for each response will be featured in tomorrow's newsletter.

Ahhhh... there's nothing quite like a nice walk through the great outdoors. 

⬆️ Tired yet?... T.O. Fuller State Park in Memphis, Tennessee recently unveiled its newest trail: a 2.5-mile-long path made up of thousands of old tires.

• Volunteers and local contractors had been collecting littered tires from around the state park since 2019. 
• In total more than 24,000 tires were broken down into "crumbs," and transformed into a nice soft walking path.

♻️ Reduce, reuse: “This is a quintessential example of recycling in full circle, collecting dumped material then converting it into positive use,” said David Salyers, commissioner of Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation.

• The trail is one of the longest and only tire trails in the country, but the team at T.O. Fuller is hoping that other states follow in their tracks – tire tracks, to be specific.😉

🎃 Trivia: Is a pumpkin a vegetable or a fruit?

🤔 True or False?… Alexander the Great had epilepsy.

🍩😋 Riddle Me This: How many doughnuts can you eat when your stomach is empty?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone you think would like the DONUT.

🎃 Trivia: Fruit, it grows on a vine.

⚔️👑 T/F: False. He’s often featured in lists of famous people with epilepsy, but his symptoms were in fact a reaction to a medication.

🍩 Riddle: One. After that your stomach is no longer empty.😉