Good morning. On today’s docket:

• 🌐 A 360° look at New York’s Clean Slate Act
• 📲 RCS messaging is coming to iPhones
• 🔀 Snoop Dogg’s brand is changing

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.68-minute read.

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”

–Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a new law yesterday allowing ~2 million residents convicted of lesser crimes to have their state-level criminal records sealed following a period of good behavior.

Under the new Clean Slate Act, New Yorkers who complete their sentences and maintain a clean record for a set amount of time – three years for misdemeanors, eight for eligible felonies – will have their convictions sealed from the general public, including landlords and most employers.

The law also includes several exceptions:

• It doesn’t apply to sex crimes or most Class A felonies, including murder, first-degree kidnapping, and first-degree arson. Some drug-related Class A felonies are still eligible for sealing.
• Certain government agencies and employers can still see past criminal convictions after they’re sealed. This list includes public schools, the DMV, police agencies, firearms regulators, and licensed facilities dealing with children, older people, or those with disabilities.

🗣️ The arguments: Democratic lawmakers, labor unions, and business groups who support the bill say those who paid their debt to society shouldn’t be discriminated against when applying for employment or housing. Many also argue it’ll boost the economy by reducing employers’ hesitancy to hire people with criminal records – a bias that costs at least $78 billion in lost US GDP each year, per the Chamber of Commerce.

On the flip side, Republican lawmakers and law-enforcement groups who oppose the Clean Slate Act say the bill is too broad, and allows people convicted of serious crimes – including manslaughter, attempted murder, armed robbery, domestic violence, and hate crimes – to hide their history from employers, landlords, or residents who could be placed in danger.

📸 Big picture: New York is now one of a dozen mostly Democratic-led states with similar clean-slate laws on the books.

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with New York’s new Clean Slate Act?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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💥 Israel-Hamas war update: After its troops captured Al-Shifa hospital – the largest in Gaza – on Wednesday, Israel released footage of a tunnel opening within the hospital, representing the first evidence to support its assertion that Hamas’s vast tunnel network runs underneath the medical complex. Hamas has denied claims that it used the Al-Shifa as a command center, and requested the hospital be reviewed by international organizations. Israel also said it discovered some Hamas weaponry, uniforms, and other equipment within the hospital, but didn’t find vast quantities of weaponry, Hamas forces, or hostages.

🇪🇺 TikTok and Meta are suing the EU over its new gatekeeper law. The lawsuits are challenging the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which designates companies with 45+ million monthly active users as “gatekeepers.” Starting next March, these gatekeepers will be outlawed from favoring their own services or preventing users from removing pre-installed software, or face fines of up to 10% of global revenue. TikTok is arguing that it’s a newer competitor taking on established platforms and shouldn’t be covered under the law, while Meta disagrees with including Marketplace and Messenger.

🇪🇸 Spain’s Socialist Party leader was reelected prime minister. Although the conservative Popular Party earned more votes than any other party in July’s general election, it failed to win a majority of Parliamentary seats and form a government. Incumbent Socialist PM Pedro Sánchez secured an absolute majority through an amnesty deal with two political parties involved in a failed bid to secede the Catalonia region from Spain in 2017. Tens of thousands of Spanish residents have protested since October, saying Sánchez violated the Constitution for his political gain. The EU is currently reviewing the amnesty deal for Catalonian secessionists.

Like Anne Hathaway at the start of The Princess Diaries, messaging between iPhone and Android users is about to receive a major glow-up. Apple announced yesterday that its phones will support a next-gen messaging standard called RCS – the same one used by most Android phones – starting later next year.

RCS aims to replace traditional SMS/MMS text messaging between iPhones and Androids with a system offering more robust chat features, like Wi-Fi messaging, read receipts, higher-resolution photos/videos, and emoji message reactions. RCS messages are also encrypted, while SMS/MMS messages are not.

• Google, Samsung, and many Android users have called on Apple to support RCS for years, but the tech giant had previously resisted due to iMessage’s ecosystem lock-in effect.

✋ Yes, but: Apple still isn’t opening up iMessage to non-Apple devices, meaning the age-old debate that’s divided friend groups, torn apart families, and sowed division throughout the world – aka green bubble vs. blue bubble – will remain for users texting between Android and iPhone.

👀 Looking ahead… It’s unclear exactly which RCS features will be supported on iPhones and how the system will be implemented, with Apple declining to comment any further than its initial announcement.

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💬 Quoted… “I’m giving up smoke.”

• In a social media post yesterday, rapper and weed enthusiast Snoop Dogg said he’s dropping smoking like it’s hot and moving on to the next episode. It marks a major turnaround for Snoop, who in 2013 posted that he smokes 81 blunts per day – but it also comes months after the rapper said he started cutting down on smoking after becoming a grandfather.

📰 Stat of the Day: There are currently around 6,000 US newspapers across the country, down from 8,891 in 2005, per a new study from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. The report also found more than half of all US counties have zero or very limited access to local news.

🤔 Did You Know?... Prior to 1804, the US Vice Presidency was granted to the candidate who finished second in the presidential election.

📰 Worth a Read: There’s a reason a killer money-saving app still doesn’t exist →

(WSJ)

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the third annual Natural Landscape Photography Awards, which fielded more than 1,000 entrants from 53 countries.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Spoak

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: -0.1%; Nasdaq: +0.1%). | 🏬 Walmart reported Q3 earnings that topped analysts' estimates; however, the retailer was cautious about its outlook and CEO Doug McMillon said deflation could be coming.
• 🚗📦 Amazon will allow auto dealers to sell cars through its site, starting with Hyundai. | 🤝 UAW workers voted to ratify the union’s deal with GM; Ford and Stellantis’ deals are not yet ratified but are on pace to be approved.
• 🏘️ The DOJ ruled a lawsuit alleging that real-estate software company RealPage illegally fixes rents at millions of apartments can go forward. (Behind the suit: is big data driving up rents?)

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚾ 🏆 New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole and San Diego Padres' Blake Snell won the AL and NL Cy Young Awards for MLB's best pitchers (more); Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani and Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña unanimously won the AL and NL MVP (more). | 🐘 The Oakland A’s are about to become the Las Vegas A’s after MLB owners unanimously approved the team’s move to the city.
• 🏎️ Speaking of Vegas… Formula 1 hits the Strip this weekend for the very first Las Vegas Grand Prix. | 🏈 Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh has reportedly decided to accept his three-game suspension and the university will drop its lawsuit against the Big Ten.
• 🚫 IBM paused advertising on X after a report found the company’s ads were placed next to antisemitic content; the news came one day after X CEO Elon Musk boosted an antisemitic post and issued statements that drew backlash from critics. | 🍿 The Hunger Games prequel, a standalone film set ~60 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute, debuts this weekend.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Matcha

• 📉 Cancer deaths among kids are going down: From 2001 to 2021, the US cancer death rate among young people up to 19 years old dropped 24%, from 2.75 per 100,000 to 2.1 per 100,000. (Dive deeper)
• 💡🚢 The brightest flash of light ever seen in the night sky – dubbed the BOAT (brightest of all time) – disturbed Earth's upper atmosphere last year in a way that has never been detected before, researchers said this week.
• 🦵 Torn ACLs may heal with therapy instead of surgery, per a recent study.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🛍️ Federal prosecutors arrested two Manhattan individuals in the largest seizure of counterfeit goods in US history, with an estimated retail value of more than $1 billion.
• 🏛️ Rep. George Santos (R-NY) “blatantly stole” from his own congressional campaign, per a new House Ethics Committee report citing “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking; in response, Rep. Santos said he won’t run for reelection. | 🗳️ The Senate voted 87-11 in favor of a stopgap funding bill, avoiding a government shutdown until at least early 2024.
• 🧑‍⚖️ A New York judge temporarily suspended a gag order barring former President Trump from commenting on court staff in his $250 million civil business fraud trial. | ⚖️ The 43-year-old man who attacked then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with a hammer in October 2022 was found guilty of attempted kidnapping and assault; he faces up to life in federal prison.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔 Why Wyoming doesn’t exist.

These two rogue emus wandered their way into Edgewood Veterinarian Group's parking lot last week in Essex, UK. 

😳 Something you don't see every day... A resident spotted the two giant birds the day before, and ran to the vet's office to report what they thought were ostriches roaming the woods nearby. 

• The team had no luck finding the birds after the report – but luckily, the duo wandered straight to them, causing quite the scene and "terrorizing the clients a little bit." 

😮‍💨 Stay calm... The birds were safely wrangled by the veterinary staff and brought to the local petting zoo. Soon after, the boys' rightful owner came forward and brought them back home.

Our weekly news quiz is live. How well did you pay attention this week? Let’s find out.

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

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Gingersnap crumbs
• Sugar
• Butter
• Pumpkin purée
• Cream cheese
• Powdered sugar
• Molasses
• Vanilla extract
• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Cardamom
• Cloves
• Heavy cream

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Potatoes
• Salt
• Butter
• Whole milk
• Sour cream
• Pepper

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Warm water
• Active yeast
• Sugar
• Flour
• Salt
• Butter
• Whole milk
• Egg

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Pumpkin cheesecake

✌️ Recipe #2: Garlic mashed potatoes

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Crescent rolls