Good morning and good riddance. What a week. Monday AND Tuesday? Then Wednesday? And don’t get us started on Thursday, the gall on that day.

Then this morning, just when you thought it was all over, here comes Friday, that lil rapscallion.

Also: there's a full moon tonight! Don’t forget to say hi. Wait, isn’t the moon responsible for all those days? It feels right, doesn’t it? Hoping our science writers don’t see this before it goes out.

Now, for some ACTUAL TRUE NEWS.

P.S. Happy Cinco de Mayo!🥳

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.91 minutes to read.

"No one has ever become poor by giving."

–Anne Frank (1929-1945)

This week, New York became the first state to approve a ban on natural gas-powered stoves, water heaters, furnaces, and other such appliances in all new homes and apartments.

The Democrat-backed bill also applies to some new commercial buildings, though exemptions include restaurants, hospitals, manufacturing facilities, and carwashes, as well as any establishment not fully supported by the electrical grid.

⏩ Driving the move… NY Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and Democratic lawmakers argue the measure is a crucial step towards reducing statewide greenhouse-gas emissions as mandated by a 2019 law, since ~30% of all statewide emissions currently originate from residential and commercial buildings.

• They also cite experts who say natural gas-powered stoves emit several pollutants that have been proven harmful to respiratory health, including nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide.

🔀 On the flip side: NY Republicans, local businesses, and labor unions argue the new law limits consumer choice and will increase New Yorkers’ utility bills by shifting more households to electricity, which is more expensive than fossil fuels across much of the state.

• Critics also point to a federal appeals court ruling last month that struck down the California city of Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation gas ban – and while the court’s decision isn’t legally binding in most of the country, New York Republicans say it shows their state’s ban is also likely to be struck down on shaky legal grounds.

📸 Big picture: More than a dozen Democrat-run cities outside of New York – including San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle – have passed similar bans against fossil-fuel hookups in new buildings.

Meanwhile, 20 Republican-led states have preemptively enacted laws that prohibit cities from banning natural gas usage in buildings.

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with New York’s new statewide law banning the use of natural gas-powered appliances in most new buildings?

Yes

No

Unsure/other

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Russia staged its worst attacks on Kyiv so far this year, per Ukraine’s military. Officials said Kyiv’s air-defense systems managed to shoot down most of the missiles and drones involved in yesterday’s attack, which marked the fourth such assault in as many days. Separately, a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday accused the US of ordering Ukraine to launch a drone attack on the Kremlin earlier this week. A White House spokesperson dismissed Russia’s claims as “lies” and said there’s still no conclusive evidence the supposed Kremlin drone attack took place.

🇷🇸🇵🇰 Deadly school shootings occurred in both Serbia and Pakistan over the past two days. A 13-year-old Serbian boy opened fire on his classmates on Wednesday, killing eight children and a security guard at a primary school in the capital city of Belgrade and wounding seven others. The following day, six school staff members in northwestern Pakistan (all Shi’ite Muslims) were killed by multiple armed gunmen, in what officials said appeared to be retaliation for an attack hours before in which a Sunni Muslim teacher was shot dead.

🇩🇰 Denmark joined several other European countries in increasing military spending. Denmark officials yesterday pledged to spend $5.7 billion over the next decade to ​​modernize its military facilities – including updated buildings and computer infrastructure – as well as increase the number of soldiers. Denmark, a NATO member, said it plans to reach the military alliance’s target of 2% GDP spent on military budgets by the end of this decade in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And it’s not alone there – a recent watchdog report found some of the sharpest increases in military spending last year were among countries neighboring Russia (specifically Finland, Lithuania, Sweden, and Poland).

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There was probably a lot of hullabaloo when fire was discovered. Heat for us – hoorah! But, also, it can burn us. Ouch.

So too with AI. And with the 2024 election cycle around the corner, it’s worth considering how these generative text and image tools may be put to use.

Targeting: Both Democrats and Republicans are already partnering with machine learning firms to more precisely target donors and voters. The idea being: by feeding the AI large sets of data about prospective voters, a campaign can laser focus its messaging on, for example, 38 year-old females who live in Wildwood, MO, and love NFL football – and then do that over and over again with every conceivable demographic profile.

Attack ads: Moments after President Biden announced his re-election campaign, the RNC released an AI-made video featuring several AI-generated images of an ominously lit Biden and Kamala Harris. It also includes AI-generated images of China invading Taiwan, an event that it framed could happen were Biden to be re-elected.

The messy middle: Experts predict campaigns could use AI-enabled chatbots to have in-depth conversations with voters on the issues that matter most to them. But here’s the big fear: misinformation. The large language models that power chatbots like ChatGPT are known for making stuff up and presenting it as fact. Combine that with a directive to “convince the voter our side is right,” and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

🏛️ Zoom out: The White House yesterday announced new policy guidelines and funding for how to develop ethical AI.

*Katy Perry voice* Laaast Friday night, Alabama’s scheduled starting pitcher and ace, Luke Holman, was scratched due to back tightness roughly an hour before a matchup with No. 1-ranked LSU. Holman was replaced by another Bama pitcher who hadn’t started a game in over a month – and you can probably guess how things ended up (spoiler: LSU won).

That same night, sports-betting regulators in Ohio were alerted to a pair of large bets predicting that LSU would beat Alabama regardless of score. Shortly afterwards, officials ordered a statewide halt on all wagers related to Alabama baseball. Regulators in four states – OH, NJ, IN, and PA – have also followed suit.

🤔 What’s going on?... Here’s what we know:

• Multiple sources told ESPN that video surveillance from a sportsbook at the Cincinnati Reds’ stadium shows the person who placed the two suspicious bets was in communication with Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon at the time.
• Alabama fired head baseball coach Brad Bohannon yesterday amidst an ongoing investigation into the suspicious betting activity.
• Sources say there’s “no reason to believe any student-athletes are involved."

🎰 Zoom out: College baseball isn’t the only sport dealing with gambling issues. Five NFL players were suspended less than two weeks ago in the league’s biggest crackdown on violations of its gambling policy in history.

💬 Quoted… “It looks like I'm not having to retire from my day job, after all."

In a unanimous jury decision, Ed Sheeran was found not liable yesterday in a copyright infringement lawsuit that accused the UK pop star of stealing parts of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his own song, “Thinking Out Loud.” Which may have just saved music (or modern-day pop music at least) – during the trial, Sheeran had implied that he would retire if he lost.

• Speaking of Ed Sheeran: his fifth studio album, Subtract, debuts today.

🕍✡️ Stats of the Day: Total enrollment in supplementary Hebrew schools across the US fell by almost half from 2006 to 2020, per a recent study from The Jewish Education Project. Over that same period, the number of Jewish children in America increased by 17%.

🤯 Did You Know?... The first official US coin in circulation, called the Fugio Cent, had the motto “Mind Your Business” inscribed at the bottom.

📖 Worth a Read: The secretary who helped uncover one of America’s strangest Ponzi schemes → (The Hustle)

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board yesterday (S&P: -0.7%; Dow: -0.9%; Nasdaq: -0.5%).
• 🛍️ Shopify announced plans to cut 20% of its workforce, or around 2,300 employees. | 🍎📈 Apple reported Q2 earnings yesterday that beat Wall Street expectations, driven by larger-than-anticipated iPhone sales.
• 💹 Kenvue, the new spinoff of Johnson and Johnson's consumer-health business, IPO'd yesterday; shares were up 22% on the first day of trading to reach a ~$50 billion valuation; it was the biggest US IPO since 2021.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🌌🍿 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters today.
• 🏇🏆 The 149th Kentucky Derby is set to run at Churchill Downs tomorrow, with a post time of 6:57 pm ET.
• 🏀 The Milwaukee Bucks fired head coach Mike Budenholzer yesterday; the move follows the top-seeded Bucks’ first-round NBA Playoffs loss to the No. 8-seeded Miami Heat.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🤖🌐 Microsoft opened Bing’s free ChatGPT-enhanced search engine to the general public yesterday; the tech giant also granted free access to its AI-enabled Edge web browser.
• 🌕☄️ The inner core of the Moon is a solid ball with a density similar to that of iron, per a peer-reviewed study published Wednesday in Nature. | A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo'oalewa could be an ancient chunk of the Moon that broke off millions or billions of years ago, per a new study from Cornell University researchers.
• 🧑‍🚀🛰️ A pair of Russian cosmonauts successfully relocated the experimental airlock onboard the ISS in a 7+-hour spacewalk mission on Wednesday.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏆 The winners of the 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced yesterday by Fast Company.
• ✍️🇸🇩 President Biden signed an executive order yesterday enabling the US to impose a wider range of sanctions on individuals and entities related to the ongoing military conflict in Sudan.
• 🏛️⚖ Four leading members of the Proud Boys, including former head Enrique Tarrio, were found guilty of seditious conspiracy yesterday by a jury over their involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 The most effective – but unpopular – way to raise happy kids.

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Yesterday we covered a pair of new Education Department reports that found eighth-graders' test scores in US history and civics both fell to their lowest levels on record last year.

❓ Our question to you (long-form): What do YOU think is needed to get America’s children back on track in the classroom?

• “I think that we need to stop with grade inflation and honestly give time for a reset. We have to remember that kids were online for up to three years, and it has been proven kids need to be in a classroom to learn effectively.” –Olivia H. TX
• “We need less focus on standardized testing and more focus on Project Based Learning + reading. Educators are forced into formulaic teaching practices that rely heavily on rote memorization, rather than critical thinking and problem-solving.” –Kelly D. OH
• “I think students need to be held accountable in a nurturing, structured way. I have seen a huge shift in awareness of mental and emotional health in schools, which is great – but we can't sacrifice academic accountability. Part of caring for young people is showing them they're valued enough to be held to certain standards.” –Rachel R. CA

Click here to read more of the best responses from yesterday’s poll.

+Note on sample size: We received 654 longform responses.

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.

A group of second-graders helped facilitate the adoption of eight shelter dogs (and counting), thanks to a clever lesson idea by their teacher. 

🦮 The deets... Kensey Jones paired each student with a shelter animal waiting to be adopted, and then asked the class to write a short persuasive paragraph "as if they were speaking on behalf of the shelter dog trying to get adopted." 

• Once completed, the kids' assignments were proudly hung on the cages at the animal shelter for potential adopters. 

🖼️🐶 Finding furever homes: The kids committed to the task at hand, creating posters that are just downright adorable. "All dogs deserve a loving home," said one second-grader, Danielle. "I am so very happy to be able to help neglected animals find great forever families." 

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

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Milk
• Pudding mix
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Vanilla
• Frozen whipped topping
• Vanilla wafers
• Bananas

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Rolled oats
• Brown rice cereal
• Raw almonds
• Shredded coconut
• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Kosher salt
• Cayenne pepper
• Brown sugar
• Maple syrup
• Vegetable oil
• Water

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Rye bread
• Thousand Island dressing
• Swiss cheese
• Deli sliced corn beef
• Sauerkraut
• Butter

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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Start referring.👇

1. ☝️ Recipe #1: Banana pudding
2. ✌️ Recipe #2: Chocolate cereal breakfast bars
3. 3️⃣ Recipe #3: Reuben sandwich

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