Good morning. Adam Levine’s PR team has been hard at work. Since the Maroon 5 singer’s scandal dropped – literally 18 days ago – we’ve seen cheating accusations in chess, Irish dancing, poker, competitive fishing, cycling, and the Try Guys.

Kinda makes you wonder what would’ve happened if Couch Guy had the same publicists.

In today’s edition:

• 🌿 Marijuana is under the microscope
• 🚫🤝 Kanye and Adidas are on the outs
• 🤔 Why don’t we talk about orcas more?

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.92 minutes to read.

"Silent and listen is the same word, just misspelled."

–CyHi the Prynce (b.1984)

We’re officially one month (and one day) away from the midterm elections, held this year on November 8, though early voting has already started in nearly a dozen states that use mail-in or absentee ballots.

🏛️🗳️ A deeper dive… All 435 House seats are up for election, as are 35 Senate seats – 14 currently held by Democrats and 21 by Republicans. The GOP only needs to flip one seat to win back the Senate, and four seats to gain control of the House.

• Take a peek at the primary results and midterm election previews for all 50 states here.

☝️ What do the polls say?... Republicans and Democrats have been locked in a dead heat on a generic congressional ballot for the past two months, per data from RealClearPolitics. Meanwhile, FiveThirtyEight projects there’s a 33% chance Republicans take control of the Senate, and a 69% chance the GOP wins back the House (compared to 29% and 73% when we last covered the midterms a month ago).

• Historically, a first-term president’s party usually suffers some losses in the midterms. Especially when that president is as unpopular nationally as Biden, who’s currently hovering around 43% job approval (unchanged from last month), the lowest non-Trump rating at this point in the presidency since Ronald Reagan.

📊 Flash poll: If the midterms were held today, which generic Congressional candidate would you vote for?

The Republican one

The Democratic one

One from a third party (Libertarian, Green, etc.)

Who votes anyways? (OR our under-18 folks)

I haven’t made up my mind yet

Someplace, somewhere, Cheech and Chong are jumping-for-joy. And we heard rumors that Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson are flying in to join them.

President Biden announced plans yesterday to pardon all prior federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, as well as block future offenses from being prosecuted. He called on state governors to do the same, but said regulations on trafficking, marketing, and underage sales should remain in place.

• Biden also ordered the DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services to review marijuana’s status as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, a category that includes heroin and LSD.

🌿🏛️ More deets… White House officials said the pardons will clear over 6,500 people who were convicted on federal charges of simple ​​marijuana possession from 1992 to 2021, and thousands more who were convicted of possession in D.C. There aren’t any individuals in federal prison rn solely for simple possession of marijuana, which carries a max sentence of one year per offense.

👀 Looking ahead… Officials said there’s no deadline on the ordered "scientific review" of marijuana's classification as a Schedule 1 drug, which the government defines as those with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

• This designation treats marijuana as more dangerous than fentanyl, a Schedule 2 drug that caused 71,238 overdose deaths in America last year alone, per the CDC.

+Fact dump: 37 states plus D.C. currently allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, and 19 states plus D.C. have legalized recreational use among adults. The legalized US marijuana market is currently worth ~$64 billion, per a report published this week by analytics firm Coresight Research. Numerous recent public polls have found 60+% of Americans support legalizing marijuana on a federal level.

Adidas is reviewing its partnership with Kanye West, the German sneaker and apparel maker revealed yesterday. To which the rapper-turned-fashion-mogul replied: “F––––– ADIDAS I AM ADIDAS.”

🤔 How did we get here?... The Graduation and College Dropout creator signed an agreement with Adidas in 2016 to co-design, manufacture, and distribute Yeezy-branded products. The press release touted future plans for retail stores, as well as expanding the partnership to create performance-intended designs.

At the time, Adidas billed the move as “the most significant partnership ever created between an athletic brand and a non-athlete.” It didn’t disappoint. Sales took off and continued to climb, reaching $1.7 billion last year – a 31% year-over-year jump that netted Yeezy $191 million in royalties.

But cracks started to emerge. In a series of now-deleted Instagram posts, the rapper turned fashion mogul called out Adidas for allegedly copying his designs, as well as not giving him enough control over his products or opening up physical Yeezy stores – similar to the grievances causing Ye to terminate his Gap partnership last month.

👀 Looking ahead… While the review is being conducted, Adidas and Yeezy will co-manage existing products. Though one man should have all that power, according to Ye. “It’s time for me to go it alone,” he told Bloomberg in an interview last month. “No more companies standing in between me and the audience.”

• Yeezy’s partnerships with Adidas and Gap were recently valued between $3.2 billion and $4.7 billion by UBS, per a private document reviewed by Bloomberg.

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Scientists have the first direct proof that orcas are capable of hunting and killing a great white shark, according to a new study published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Ecology.

🤿 A deeper dive (get it?)… A team of local scientists recently captured drone and helicopter footage off the coast of South Africa showing a pod of orcas pursuing several great white sharks for more than an hour, eventually killing at least two of them.

“This behavior has never been witnessed in detail before, and certainly never from the air,” said Alison Tower, a shark scientist at the Marine Dynamics Academy in South Africa and lead author of the study.

• And in the ocean, word, apparently, gets around fast. The researchers spotted just a single great white shark over the next 45 days, despite having seen them in the area every day for weeks prior to the orcas’ hunt.

😤 Why don’t we talk about orcas more: They’re one of the most intelligent species on the planet and the apex predator of the oceans, hunting large marine mammals and fish in pods of up to 40 individuals. They also use a highly-evolved system of echolocation to assess their surroundings via clicks – and according to one study, are so skilled at it that they can identify which species of salmon they prefer out of hundreds of types of fish, including five other salmon species.

💬 Quoted…​​ "There comes a point in time when we've either been successful or we have not."

• Peloton announced its fourth round of job cuts this year, trimming 12% of its remaining workforce (500+ jobs). CEO Barry McCarthy, who assumed the role in February, told the WSJ that if things don't significantly turn around in another six months, Peloton likely isn’t viable as a stand-alone company (though he walked that claim back in a staff memo, saying there's no "ticking clock" on the company's performance).

🚬 Stat of the Day: 2.5 million US youths currently use e-cigs, including 14.1% of all high school students and 3.3% of middle-schoolers, per a new study published yesterday by the FDA and CDC. That’s up from last year, when 2 million adolescents said they vaped.

🤯 Did You Know?... Actor Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone fame changed his middle name in 2018, from “Carson” to “Macaulay Culkin.” So his official name is now Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin. Seriously.

📖 Worth a Read: How to become an expert → (Psyche Magazine)

• ☝️ Dutch yacht builder U-Boat Worx unveiled a $25 million superyacht named Nautilus that can safely dive up to 650 feet underwater.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📉 US stocks fell across the board for a second straight day yesterday. (Dow: -1.1% | S&P: -1.0% | Nasdaq: -0.7%) | The Department of Labor will publish its September jobs report later this morning.
• 📱 TikTok-parent Bytedance saw its operating losses more than triple last year to $7+ billion as it continues to spend heavily on growth, the WSJ reported yesterday.
• 🐦⚖️ The Elon Musk-Twitter trial was temporarily postponed yesterday, after a Delaware judge ruled both parties have until October 28 to close the deal; if it doesn’t close by then, the trial will resume in November. (Background)

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏆 The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to French author Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.”
• ⌚ Google unveiled a new line of flagship Pixel phones yesterday alongside its first-ever smartwatch, the Pixel Watch.
• ⚾️ The MLB playoffs begin today.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🦖 A 230-million-year-old reptile fossil discovered a century ago in Scotland was recently found to be an ancient cousin of the pterodactyl.
• ☄️ The annual Draconid meteor shower will reach its peak in the evening on Saturday and Sunday; it’ll also coincide with a full Hunter’s Moon.
• 🤓 Over 40% of Americans are near-sighted, up from 25% in 1971.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🇮🇷 The US issued new sanctions against Iranian leaders yesterday over the use of deadly force against protestors by its police.
• ⚖️ A federal judge struck down parts of New York’s new gun laws yesterday, which were enacted after the old ones were struck down by the Supreme Court in June; the ruling doesn’t go into effect for three days to allow the state to challenge in a higher court. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
• 🏛️ Federal agents believe they have enough evidence to support charging Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, with tax crimes and making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a gun, WaPo reported yesterday. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
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Ziggy the cat left his owners in "floods of laughter" after sneaking into Drury Primary School's picture day. 

📸 Say 'cheese'... Ziggy is a frequent visitor at school, loved by students and staff alike. I mean, who couldn't love him with a face like that? 

• When picture day rolled around, Ziggy "just jumped on the chair. He didn’t need any encouragement, he just got up there for a photo," said his owner Emma Roberts. "The school has just accepted him and he goes there at any opportunity. He’s there every day.” 

Emma admitted to buying a professional copy of Ziggy's portraits along with her two daughter's photos, all to be proudly displayed on the mantel. 

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Milk
• Pumpkin puree
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Pumpkin pie spice
• Coffee
• Whipped cream

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Butter
• Mayo
• Celery
• Lobster meat
• Chives
• Zest
• Hot dog buns
• Salt & pepper
• Butter

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Oranges
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cloves
• Nutmeg or ginger
• Water
• Brown sugar
• Apples

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: PSL

✌️ Recipe #2: Lobster rolls

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Apple cider