Good morning. Today is a big day, historically speaking.

On April 26: the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion occurred (1986), English colonists off the coast of present-day Virginia went ashore on an expedition to establish the first English colony in the Western Hemisphere (1607), Vermont Governor Howard Dean signed the nation’s first bill allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions (2000), and John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, was killed by federal troops (1865).

Quite a lot of action for such an unassuming date.

In today’s edition:

• 📝 A look at Gaza war protests on college campuses
• ✈️ Southwest’s open-seating policy could be on the chopping block
• 👶 The US fertility rate hit a new low

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~5.29-minute read (1,409 words).

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

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have intensified at an increasing number of colleges in recent days, resulting in the arrests of hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators following clashes with police.

Background: Tensions initially escalated last week, when 108 protesters at Columbia University were arrested as police tried to clear their encampment. Since then, such conflicts have spread across the country.

• On Wednesday, Los Angeles police arrested 93 protesters on suspicion of trespassing at the University of Southern California, while a clash between local police and student demonstrators at the University of Texas at Austin resulted in 34 arrests.
• Similar confrontations continued on Thursday, when Boston police announced the arrests of 108 people following a pro-Palestinian protest at Emerson College, and dozens of pro-Palestinian activists clashed with police at Emory University in Atlanta.

What do students want to see happen? While activist groups’ demands vary from campus to campus, there are a few connecting themes regarding what they want to see from schools:

• Stop investing endowments with funds/businesses who activists say are profiting from Israel’s war effort or its long-term occupation of Palestinian lands (including Google).
• Halt all business with weapons manufacturers supplying arms to Israel.
• Stop accepting Israeli research money for projects that aid the country’s military efforts, and be more transparent about money received from Israel.

📝 Bottom line: Universities are currently caught between a rock and a hard place. Many schools have said they want to have a conversation with students and honor their right to protest. But officials have also echoed the concerns of many Jewish students, who say some demonstrators’ words and actions represent antisemitism and create an unsafe on-campus environment.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support the pro-Palestinian student protests on college campuses?

• Yes
• No
• Unsure/other

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🇮🇹 Venice launched the world’s first tourist-entry fee. Day-trippers will be subject to a $5+ entry fee on 29 dates between April and July, as part of a pilot program aimed at curbing overtourism (overnight travelers are exempt). Visitors will be given a QR code to enter Venice, with a $50-$300+ fine for attempting to enter without one. A few hundred residents protested the fee yesterday, saying it targets low-budget travelers.

🇮🇷 An Iranian court sentenced a local rapper to death. In his recent music, rapper Toomaj Salehi publicly supported the 2022-23 anti-government protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police. Salehi was initially arrested in 2022 and sentenced to 6+ years in prison for his music and participation in the protests, but avoided a death sentence following a Supreme Court ruling. However, a lower Iranian court reinstated the death penalty this week in an unusual move, though Salehi plans to appeal.

🇮🇳🏓 Professional pickleball is coming to India. The United Pickleball Association – which was created last year following a merger between Major League Pickleball and the Professional Pickleball Association – announced a deal to host pro pickleball games in India, marking the new association’s first international agreement. As part of the deal, the PPA Tour will make an official tour stop in India next February, while MLP plans to sell franchises in India and launch a full 12-team season there in 2025-26.

FOMO doesn’t just hit college students grappling with whether to go out on a Wednesday night.

Southwest Airlines is considering a change to its unique-in-the-industry open-seating policy, CEO Bob Jordan told CNBC yesterday. This comes as rivals continue to invest in and make bank off of premium seating and upsells – something the airline has missed out on.

• Delta Air Lines generated $19.1 billion in premium-seating revenue in 2023, a 26% increase from 2022.
• United Airlines has increased its domestic premium seat capacity by 25% over the past five years. And it’s paid off. In Q1 2024, the airline reported a premium cabin-revenue increase of 14% year-over-year.

Seating fees (aka upsells) can also make like a calculator and add up. Eight US carriers – Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit, and United – collectively brought in $4.2 billion from seating fees in their domestic networks in 2022, per data reported by CNBC.

Yes, but…Just because Southwest is considering a seating policy change doesn’t mean it’ll actually make one.

That being said: The airline is coming off a disappointing Q1 and looking for ways to boost revenue. Despite strong travel demand, Southwest posted a wider loss in the quarter than the same period last year, and warned that Boeing’s airplane delays will hamper its growth into 2025.

👀 Looking ahead: Southwest will reportedly announce a decision on seating changes and introduce “a whole series of initiatives” (including overnight red-eye flights) at an investor day on September 26.

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In recent years, many experts have questioned the environmental sustainability of mining materials to make EV batteries, a process that often emits significant pollution.

But new companies focused on recycling EV batteries are slowly proving they can mitigate many of the negative effects – or the industry’s version of “the grass is actually greener on the other side.”

Background: Current methods for obtaining and refining EV battery materials require a large amount of energy, and oftentimes have major environmental impacts like deforestation, toxic waste, and waterway pollution. As a result, the initial emissions from EVs are higher compared to gas-powered vehicles – but those emissions are won back as the car is driven over time.

• In the US, it takes an estimated 25,000 miles of driving for an EV to break even with a fossil-fuel vehicle emission-wise, assuming all the EV’s materials eventually end up in a landfill.

But that assumption isn’t matching up with reality. A market dedicated to recycling EV batteries has emerged in recent years. And, while the industry is still in its infancy, companies are currently able to recover 95+% of an EV battery’s key minerals – and also turn a profit.

• This recovery method shortens the average EV’s environmental breakeven time to less than 15,000 miles of driving, per a new Stanford analysis.

👀 Looking ahead… By 2030, when a projected 65+% of US electricity will come from zero-carbon sources, EVs could break even on emissions after a few thousand miles of driving.

💬 Quoted: “Like the MICHELIN Stars for restaurants, the MICHELIN Keys are our most outstanding hotels.”

• Michelin, the tire company that began its world famous restaurant guide in 1900 to create demand for automobiles, published its first-ever ranking of the top hotels in America yesterday. A total of 124 destinations made the list, receiving either one, two, or three “Keys” to signal their relative excellence. Anyone seeking a three-Key experience will have to visit New York or California, where all 11 of Michelin’s top-rated hotels are located.

👶📉 Stat of the Day: Despite all the new moms featured on your Insta feed, baby fever just ain’t where it used to be. The total US fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman last year, representing the lowest level since the government began tracking such figures in 1930, according to new federal data. Some 3.6 million children were born in the US last year, down from a recent peak of 4.3 million in 2007 and the lowest figure since 1979.

🤔 Did You Know? Inyo County in eastern California is home to the highest point in the 48 contiguous US states (Mount Whitney), the lowest point in the entire US (Badwater Basin), and the hottest temperature ever recorded in the world (Death Valley).

📰 Worth a Read: Rhyme as reason: The cognitive quirk that makes bad advice seem wise → (Big Think)

• ☝️ The winners from Nature’s annual Working Scientist photography competition were unveiled this week, featuring images captured by active researchers around the world.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with AutoGive

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: -1.0%; Nasdaq: -0.6%).
• 📝 US GDP grew a seasonally-and inflation-adjusted 1.6% in Q1, below analysts' expectations of 2.4%; federal data also indicates inflation was higher than expected in March.
• 📈 Microsoft reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts’ expectations on revenue and profit. | 📈 Alphabet also reported earnings that topped analysts' expectations on revenue and profit; in addition, the tech giant announced its first dividend. | 📈 Rounding out the trio: Snap unveiled a strong earnings report, sending shares up ~25% in after hours trading.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 USC QB Caleb Williams was selected by the Chicago Bears with the #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. See the full Round 1 results. | 🏟️ Da Bears also unveiled a $4.7 billion proposal for a new lakefront stadium.
• 📝 Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction has been overturned by the State of New York Court of Appeals, which ordered a new trial; the disgraced Hollywood producer will remain behind bars as it plays out due to his rape conviction in the state of California.
• 🤝 Paramount and Skydance Media are inching closer to a deal.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Meco

• 🧑‍🚀 Chinese astronauts successfully repaired damage to the country’s Tiangong space station caused last month by a piece of space debris. (Space junk: a growing problem) | ☄️ Scientists are preparing for a potentially hazardous asteroid that will fly by Earth in 2029 at a distance ~10x closer than the Moon.
• 🤖 A Baltimore-area high school athletic director has been arrested and charged with using AI to impersonate his principal and frame him for fake racist and antisemitic comments.
• 🥛 The FDA announced that tests of commercially available milk detected traces of bird flu, though federal officials say the risk to the public remains low.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏭 The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled new rules aimed at curbing emissions and other pollution from power plants; legal challenges are expected.
• 🙏 Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ) passed away at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack earlier this month.
• ⚖️ The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday over whether former President Trump should have presidential immunity from criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the 2020 election results. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🍪🍬 Oreo announced a new Sour Patch Kids collaboration.

You've heard of Spider-Man, but have you heard of Seagull Boy? Nine-year-old Cooper from Derbyshire, UK, adopted his alter ego "Seagull Boy" after he was nipped by one of the birds at a beach. 

• After learning to squawk perfectly like a seagull, Cooper entered the official EC Gull Screeching competition, a contest held every year in an effort to change the image of seagulls, which some people see as pests.

🏆 Cooper scored a 92 out of 100, winning top prize in both the youth division and overall.

It’s time to find out – our weekly news quiz is live.

• Test your mettle against the team.

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

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Eggs
• Olive oil
• Red, green, yellow bell peppers
• Scallions
• Roma tomatoes
• Baby spinach
• Plantains
• Rosemary
• Chile flakes
• Black pepper

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Eggs
• Schmaltz
• Water
• Kosher salt
• Ground pepper
• Matzo meal
• Chicken stock
• Carrot
• Celery
• Parsley
• Black pepper

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Flour
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Almond extract
• Fresh cherries

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☝️ Recipe #1: Plantain frittata

✌️ Recipe #2: Matzo ball soup

3️⃣ Recipe #3: Cherry cake