Good morning. Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday, so there will be six more weeks of Winter. At least, that’s what they want you to think…

We here at DONUT HQ have been doing some digging and, folks, there’s a dark underbelly to the groundhog prediction world that most people never see.

On late Wednesday evening, Quebec’s version of Phil, Fred la marmotte, was, and this is a quote from an actual newspaper, “found dead.” Fred? Dead? Fred was in the prime of his life. Makes you wonder what he might have been ready to say about the weather yesterday…

Maybe Fred was tired of the old groundhog and pony show. Maybe he was done pretending to understand what a shadow even was, let alone the concepts of Winter and Spring. Maybe Fred wanted out.

Well, tragically, Fred got his wish. Event organizer Roberto Blondin said, “When I went to wake him last night he had no vital signs. He most likely died during hibernation.”

During hibernation?? That’s a mighty long window of time, Mr. Blondin.

We’re continuing to track this situation and will keep you all posted with any and all updates. All relevant parties, including the new groundhog of Quebec, Fred Junior, declined to comment.

RIP Fred. You were the best of us, and we’ll miss you dearly.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.98 minutes to read.

“The more knowledge you have, the more you're free to rely on your instincts.”

–Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947)

On Wednesday, the College Board released a revised curriculum for its new Advanced Placement African American Studies course, which is being offered in 60 US high schools this academic year, and hundreds more during the 2023-24 year.

The announcement came nearly two weeks after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) barred the new AP African American Studies course from being taught in public high schools statewide. He cited a leaked draft of the original curriculum that officials said violated a state law regulating how race is taught in schools, and also “significantly lack[ed] educational value.”

• The Florida Dept. of Education listed six problems with the College Board’s pilot curriculum: Black Queer Studies, Intersectionality and Activism, Movement for Black Lives, Black Feminist Literary Thought, The Reparations Movement, and Black Struggle in the 21st Century.

🤔 So, what’s in the updated course?... The College Board removed required teachings on intersectionality, the Black Lives Matter movement, reparations for slavery, “Black struggle in the 21st century,” Black queer studies, and affirmative action, instead choosing to list them only as examples of optional projects. The organization also added a new example of an optional project called “Black conservatism.”

• In a statement, the College Board said its course revisions weren’t due to any political pressure, but had been completed in December after consultation with 300+ college professors of African-American Studies, as well as high school teachers currently piloting the new AP class.

👀 Looking ahead… It’s unclear if the College Board’s revisions will change the course’s status in Florida public high schools. A spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis said the state education department is currently reviewing the updated curriculum for compliance with Florida law.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about the College Board’s new changes to its AP African American Studies course?

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 A rare “mother-of-pearl” cloud was spotted this week in the sky above Scotland. Officially known as a nacreous cloud, it only forms in air that reaches extremely cold temperatures – around minus 112°F – at an elevation of 12 to 19 miles, far above where clouds typically form. The shimmering colors are caused by sunlight diffracting as it passes through a mixture of ice crystals, supercooled water, and nitric acid. Nacreous clouds have been spotted just a handful of times in the UK dating back to 2016.

🇦🇺 Australia is removing the British monarch from its banknotes. Yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia announced plans to feature a new design on its $5 note that honors "the culture and history of the First Australians," rather than an image of King Charles III. The $5 bill was the country’s only remaining bank note to still feature the UK monarch, who is technically Australia’s head of state (though the role is largely symbolic). King Charles will still be featured on Australian coins that currently bear the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

🇵🇭 The Philippines reached an agreement with the US that strengthens military ties between the countries. The deal, announced yesterday, gives US troops access to four more military bases in the Philippines, in addition to the five it has access to already. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the new US-Philippine agreement was “especially important” due to China’s recent illegitimate claims in the South China Sea. The new bases' exact locations haven't been revealed, but the deal could place US armed forces fewer than 200 miles south of Taiwan, a democratically-governed nation that China claims – and the West denies – is part of its territory.

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Welcome to the first ever Watermania event, held by the WWE (Water Wars Entertainment). We’ve got one heck of a fight today, with California up against its former besties – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and Nevada!

🤼‍♂🏞 Let’s set the stage: The seven states listed above rely on the Colorado River for their water supply. But over the past few decades, hotter temps and decreased rains have lowered the average annual flow for the River below what’s needed – which kicked off a state squabble over water rights.

So the federal government stepped in and set a January 31 deadline for the states to deliver a plan to conserve their water usage by 15%-30%... which came and went without any agreement. But not because they didn't send any plans.

They sorta… sent one too many (two).

• Proposal #1: Six of the seven states – all but California – submitted a proposal to cut water use by factoring in the 489 trillion gallons of water per year that’s lost due to evaporation and transport (which hadn’t been done previously). Under this plan, over 326 trillion gallons of the cuts would come from California, about 25% of its total yearly allotment.
• Proposal #2: The Golden State wasn’t too happy about this plan, and clapped back with a proposal of its own – one that said existing seniority rights should take priority. California has the most senior rights out of the states and, under its proposal, would only give up about 130 trillion gallons, less than half of what’s being asked in the other plan.

👀 Looking ahead... The US Department of the Interior – aka the Watermania referee – will ultimately make the call on the dispute. The agency is currently reviewing both proposals, and will make a decision by late summer.

Last month, a group of nine lawmakers in Maryland’s House of Delegates proposed a new bill that would provide tax credits to specific employers within the state that agree to try out a 32-hour workweek (vs. the conventional 40 hours) with no loss of pay for employees.

Its sponsor said the bill was inspired by a recent study from nonprofit 4 Day Week Global and Boston College, which took 33 companies through a six-month pilot program of a four-day workweek.

• Employees were told to work 80% of their regularly scheduled hours, in return for 100% of their pay and a pledge to deliver 100% of their standard output.
• And whoever coined the phrase “less is more” may know what they’re talking about. Despite less hours being worked, average revenue at participating companies rose 38% when compared to the same period last year, per the survey.
• After the six-month pilot was over, none of the 27 companies that responded had reverted back to five-day workweeks.

🌍 Zoom out: One of the largest four-day workweek pilot programs in history – spanning 73 UK firms and 3,300+ employees – wrapped up in December, with final results due later this month. At the halfway point of the experiment, more than 95% of participating companies said they’d experienced no loss in productivity, with 49% saying it had actually increased.

Maybe Pipiyopi had it right after all.

💬 Quoted…​​ “Wicked cold.”

• Residents of New England, get ready to hear – or say – a lot more of this phrase. A potentially record-breaking cold snap descended on New England last night and is expected to last into Sunday, with wind chills as low as negative 60°F in northern Maine🥶.

📱 Stat of the Day: One-quarter of the world's population used Facebook every single day in December (2 billion people).

🤯 Did You Know?... ChatGPT reached an estimated 100 million active monthly users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, per new research from investment bank UBS. It took TikTok nine months – and Instagram 2.5 years – to reach the same milestone. 

📖 Worth a Read: The New Rules: Etiquette for Tipping, Parenting, Friends, and Work → (The Cut)

The internet gives us access to the most innovative tools in history. It also gives us access to BuzzFeed. So, how do you distinguish between what’s decent, and what’s just wasting your time to ultimately get your info/money?

🦸‍♂️ Enter Wonder Tools: a free weekly email that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Written by Jeremy Caplan, formerly of Time Magazine, a recent post featured the best ways you can be using ChatGPT. A couple of examples include:

• Generating a list of pros and cons… maybe of eating a large pizza in one sitting?
• Inject a dose of humor in your writing (we’ll be trying this one)
• Probe your own thoughts, like an interactive journal (it’s surprisingly comforting for a robot)

🐝 The buzz… A well-known reader Tweeted "One of the most useful weekly newsletters I get." Hey, if that’s not social proof, we don’t know what is.

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• ☝️ A suspected Chinese “surveillance balloon” is currently hovering above Montana (left); federal officials have been tracking the balloon since it was spotted on Wednesday by civilians in a commercial airliner; the US dispatched fighter jets to Montana, but decided against shooting the craft down for fear of harming people on the ground; the situation arose days before a planned visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 🏡📊 Average 30-year fixed mortgage rates in the US are now below 6% for the first time since September. | The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 0.5% yesterday to 2.5%; the ECB expects another 0.5% increase in March.
• 🖥️📉 Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet all posted fourth quarter earnings reports yesterday. | Meta added $100 billion in market cap yesterday, its biggest daily gain in nearly a decade.
• 🤖 Microsoft rolled out Teams Premium with ChatGPT included; the service will include AI-generated PowerPoint presentations, real-time translations for captions, and meeting notes generated automatically by AI.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🎤🏆 The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees were announced yesterday; the 14 artists include Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott, and Sheryl Crow.
• 📱❌ Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) called on the CEOs of Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores yesterday.
• 🏈 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said yesterday he wants to sign Tom Brady to a one-day contract so the longtime Pats QB can retire with the team.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🙅‍♀️ Twitter is ending free access to its API.
• 🧊 UK researchers have discovered a new type of ice that more closely resembles the properties of liquid water than any of the other 20 previously-known types, per a new study published in Science.
• 🌕🌊 Saturn’s moon Mimas may be a “stealth” ocean world with large amounts of water hidden away underground, a new peer-reviewed study suggests.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🔎📑 The FBI is expected to search the home of former Vice President Mike Pence in the coming days to look for additional classified materials, per multiple reports. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
• 🏛️ The House voted along party lines to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🧠 Companies already have the ability to decode your brainwaves.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane – no wait, it’s the DONUT’s weekly news quiz.

Find out how your news superpowers stack up against our team.

You're looking at Gordon, an 11-year-old Shibu Inu who recently won the title of World's Cutest Rescue Dog, beating out more than 9,000 other dogs for the title. 

🚙 Ruff beginnings... Gordon was found in Taiwan after surviving a hit-and-run that left him paralyzed in his hind legs.

• "I'm reading this sad story," said Gordon's now-owner, Wendy Wickersham. "And there was a picture of him and he’s got the biggest, goofiest smile." 

❤️ Home furever: Gordon flew from Taiwan to Arkansas to meet his family in November of 2015. And after a slight adjustment period, the pup was zipping around on his wheels in no time.

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

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Oreos
• Thick hot fudge sauce
• Vanilla ice cream
• Chopped M&M’s

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Chicken breasts
• Canola oil
• Salt & pepper
• Italian seasoning
• Paprika
• Heavy cream
• Minced garlic
• Tomatoes
• Parmesan cheese
• Fresh spinach

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Oil
• Onion, celery, carrot
• Tomato paste
• Mince garlic
• Seasonings
• Spinach
• Chicken broth
• Canned tomatoes
• Beans
• Pasta
• Parmesan

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Treatzza pizza

✌️ Recipe #2: Tuscan chicken

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Minestrone soup