Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🗳️ A look at Michigan’s primary results
• 📈 Flip phones are making a resurgence
• 🏜️ America’s hottest waterfront destination

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.92-minute read.

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

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

–Epictetus (~50 AD – 135 AD)

Residents from the Mitten State headed to the polls yesterday to raise their presumably warm hands in favor of their preferred presidential candidate, in a primary that could give us a better look into what’ll happen in November. Michigan is seen as a key swing state in 2024; Trump won it in 2016 and Biden won in 2020, both by slim margins.

On the Republican side: Former President Trump defeated former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley by an estimated margin of 68%-27%, with 77% of votes reported as of late last night.

This result means Trump earned at least nine of the state’s 55 delegates – essentially electoral votes for the GOP nomination – bringing his running total to 119, while Haley won at least two Michigan delegates and increased her total to 22. To secure the Republican presidential nomination, candidates need to win a majority of the 2,429 total delegates.

• According to FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregator, Trump currently leads Haley by a 77%-17% margin among GOP voters across America, with all other major candidates having dropped out of the race.

On the Democratic side: Some registered Democrats in Michigan – especially those in the state’s large Arab American community – organized a campaign to vote “uncommitted” in yesterday’s primary instead of backing President Biden, aiming to send a message that Biden is at risk of losing Michigan in November if he doesn’t reverse his support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

• While yesterday’s results have yet to be finalized, the “uncommitted” campaign drew the support of at least 75,000 Michigan voters, far higher than the margin by which Hillary Clinton lost the state to Donald Trump in 2016 (-10,704).

Looking ahead… Next Tuesday is Super Tuesday, when fifteen states and one US territory are scheduled to hold their primaries – with roughly a third of all delegates up for grabs.

🗳 Big picture: When it comes to the November election, Trump leads President Biden by a margin of 3%-7% in a hypothetical matchup, while Haley and Biden are roughly even, per the latest national polls.

📊 Flash poll: If November’s presidential election were held today, who would you vote for?

• The Republican candidate
• The Democratic candidate
• A third-party candidate
• I’m too young/I don’t vote
• Unsure/other

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🇳🇱 The Netherlands convicted 17 drug cartel members in its largest criminal trial ever. Members of the "Mocro-maffia" cartel, one of the Netherlands' largest cocaine distributors, were handed prison sentences ranging from just under two years up to life over the course of the six-year trial. Dutch officials sentenced the cartel’s kingpin – who was the Netherlands’ most-wanted fugitive for years – to life in prison for his involvement in at least five assassinations across the country.

🇨🇳 China revised its law on state secrets, adding to risks for foreign businesses. Chinese law requires that anyone intending to disclose information relating to state secrets, national security, or China's leaders must get government authorization – with an expansive definition of these terms that US officials say allows China to censor essentially all information pertaining to politics, economics, and society. The new changes to the law are the first since 2010, and increase its scope to include more sensitive information like certain “work secrets” in addition to state secrets.

🇳🇿 New Zealand officially overturned the world’s first generational smoking ban. The law, previously set to take effect in July, would’ve banned tobacco sales for people born after 2008, cut nicotine concentration in tobacco products, and reduced the number of tobacco retailers. New Zealand’s new PM said yesterday’s repeal is aimed at curbing inflation and improving the economy, which fell into recession in 2023. The former smoking ban acted as a model for anti-tobacco legislation worldwide, including efforts in Canada, Australia, France, Mexico, and the UK.

Since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, smartphones with one big rectangular touchscreen have dominated the cell phone market.

But flip phones are making a comeback – especially among the youth. According to data reported by ZDNet, online searches for flip phones among Gen Z and younger Millennials increased 15,369% from November 2022–November 2023.

Driving the trend… Experts point to nostalgia, a desire to escape content overload, and that satisfying feeling you get from flipping the phone shut to hang up a call. But a big part of this trend is also being driven by novelty, aka companies leaning into producing retro-style flip-phones and foldable smartphones (which are lumped together data-wise).

• Samsung introduced its first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, in 2019. In August 2023, the company unveiled its most up-to-date model, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, alongside a new flip version, the Galaxy Z Flip 5.
• Motorola released an updated version of its Razr flip phone last year.
• Google also unveiled its new Pixel Fold smartphone last year.

Plus, more big-name smartphone companies are channeling the sixth man in basketball – currently sitting on the sideline, but about to enter the game. The biggest example? Apple, which is rumored to be working on its own foldable iPhone for 2026.

👀 Looking ahead: The latest data from IDC pegs worldwide shipments of flip and foldable phones in 2023 at 21.4 million units, a more than 50% increase from the year before. By 2027, that figure is expected to reach 48.1 million units.

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💬 Quoted… “This is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do this.”

• Thousands of tourists are rushing to visit one of America’s hottest new waterfront destinations – which also doubles as the hottest, driest place in the country. Over the past month, Death Valley, California, experienced a pair of rare extreme rain events called atmospheric rivers that have created a temporary, 6 billion-gallon body of water on top of a normally dry salt flat. Officials at Death Valley National Park are using the new Lake Manly to draw tourists before the body of water likely disappears in the coming days or weeks. “Everything is ephemeral out here,” self-described ‘Death Valley desert rat’ Patrick Donnelly told the Wall Street Journal, channeling Kunu from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Paul Rudd’s character) while bobbing through Death Valley on a kayak. “It is like there’s this fleeting nature in the desert and you just want to see it all and absorb it all before it goes away.”

🍔📈📉 Stat of the Day: Much like the mood of a two-year-old, the price of Wendy’s menu could soon fluctuate throughout the day. The fast-food giant recently revealed plans to start testing Uber-like surge pricing in 2025, meaning Wendy's already relatively-high prices would change based on time, location, and demand. In 2022, Wendy’s overtook Burger King as America’s most expensive fast-food chain with an average item price of $6.63, per consumer transparency platform PriceListo.

🤔 Did You Know?... More people than ever are able to check the time of the clock located on the $100 bill as part of a quest to read a hidden message on the Declaration of Independence. According to the WSJ, the C-note is “far and away” the most common form of US paper currency, with the number of $100 bills in circulation more than doubling between 2012 and 2022.

📰 Worth a Read: You Don’t Need to Use Airplane Mode on Airplanes → (Gizmodo)

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the finalists for the 17th annual Sony World Photography Awards, which drew over 395,000 entries.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Binoid

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: +0.2%; Dow: -0.3%; Nasdaq: +0.4%) | 💪 US consumer confidence dropped in February for the first time in four months.
• 🏬 Macy's is closing 150 stores, or ~30% of its footprint; though the company plans to open new locations of its Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury chains.
• 🎮 Sony plans to lay off ~8% of its gaming division, or ~900 workers. | 💏 Bumble is laying off ~350 employees, or 37% of its workforce.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚽🇺🇸 The US Women’s National Team suffered a 2-0 defeat against Mexico on Monday night, marking the USWNT’s second-ever loss in 43 matchups against its southern neighbor.
• 🥊⚖️ The writer of the 1989 film Roadhouse is suing Amazon over its upcoming remake starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor; the copyright infringement lawsuit seeks a court order blocking Amazon from releasing the movie.
• 🙅🤝 Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have reportedly halted merger talks. (Read more)

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Olyra

• 🏥🌐 Change Healthcare, a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary that manages payments for many US health systems and pharmacies, was offline for a seventh straight day on Tuesday after hackers gained access to its network last week; UnitedHealth says 90+% of affected pharmacies have set up electronic workarounds .
• 🚫🚘 Apple is winding down plans to build its own electric car to rival Tesla, according to Bloomberg.
• 💥☄️ NASA’s DART mission, which involved smashing a $325 million spacecraft into an asteroid to see whether that method is useful for defending Earth, ended up hitting the asteroid so hard that the rock changed shape, per a new Nature Astronomy study.

*From our partners: 🥳 The guilt-free way to enjoy chocolate… Olyra Dark Chocolate Sandwich Biscuits are 100% organic, high in fiber, and contain just 6g of sugar. Made with a unique blend of ancient Greek grains. Save 20% on Olyra with code DONUT20.

MISCELLANEOUS

• ⛈️🌪️ The Midwest is experiencing severe thunderstorms with the possibility of tornadoes and hail the size of hen eggs; the storms began last night and are projected to end sometime this morning; they follow near-record warmth across the Midwest earlier yesterday.
• 🥇🚘 Hybrid electric vehicles earned six of the top 10 slots in Consumer Reports’ rankings of the best new vehicles in 2024; Toyota had the most top picks of any automaker with four, followed by Subaru with two.
• 💥 President Biden said Israel is willing to halt its military action in Gaza during Ramadan (early March to early April) if militants agree to release some hostages – though both Israel and Hamas downplayed the idea that they’re close to a ceasefire deal.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔📱 The best iPhones for 2024: Which model should you buy?

Happy National Pancake Day! In honor of the February 28 holiday, Eggo is launching the first-ever Eggo House of Pancakes, a fully functional home that looks like a stack of their famous flapjacks. 

🏰 Pancake palace... The home is located in the pancake capital of the South – Gatlinburg, Tennessee – and is available for short-term rentals on HomeToGo.

• The house features fluffy pancake beds and bean bag chairs, a fire pit overlooking the Smoky Mountains, a maple syrup fountain, a game room with an Eggo pancake-fied pool table, a freezer stocked full of Eggos, and more.

How it works: We provide an incorrect stat. Then you guess whether the actual number is over or under the stated value.

1. ⚾ 100: Number of stitches on a regulation baseball.
2. 👻 275: Total levels in Pac-Man.
3. 🐔 350: Eggs per year produced by a hen in her laying prime.

(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 who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

1. ⚾ Over, 108
2. 👻 Under, 256
3. 🐔 Under, 300