Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🐻 Western US states are trying to curb grizzly populations
• 🍬 TikTok is driving a Swedish candy boom
• 🪥 Brushing teeth: a relatively new practice

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.65-minute read (1,237 words).

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“Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though [they] may be your enemy. ”

–George Washington (1732-1799)

Following a recent spike in human encounters with grizzlies, a trio of Western states have become the bearers of bad news.

Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are currently pushing federal regulators to remove the protected status of grizzly bears and allow local hunters to target the species for the first time in decades.

Some quick background: Grizzly bears have made a roaring comeback since they were first put on the Endangered Species List in 1975, when just ~700 grizzlies roamed the Lower 48 US states. Their endangered status was removed in 2017 once the Lower 48 population reached ~2,000 – though grizzlies later regained protection in 2020 following a successful legal challenge from environmental and tribal groups.

But Western states say the growing grizzly population is becoming – wait for it – unbearable. Newly filed documents from Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming highlight two main reasons why the states are seeking to remove federal protections for grizzlies:

1. The bears are roaming far beyond their previous domain and encroaching into human populations. The range of grizzlies in the Lower 48 states has tripled since 1990 to reach 27,000 square miles, with bears recently seen across the Northern Rockies for the first time in 100+ years.
2. Grizzly conflicts are becoming more costly for state governments. Wyoming currently spends ~$2 million/year on conflicts stemming from grizzlies, who are increasingly burglarizing buildings, tangling with people, and killing numerous cows, sheep, chickens, and pets.

👀 Looking ahead… The US Fish and Wildlife Service is currently reviewing whether to remove protected status for all grizzlies in the Lower 48 states, with a decision expected by late January. Should the protected status be removed, grizzlies would join black bears and other brown bears as fair game for hunting.

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🇹🇭🇯🇵 Two Asian prime ministers are departing office. Thailand’s Constitutional Court dismissed PM Srettha Thavisin yesterday, ruling he violated ethics laws by appointing a cabinet member who was briefly imprisoned for contempt of court in 2008. Thailand’s Parliament is scheduled to elect a new leader tomorrow following Thavisin’s dismissal, which marked the fourth time Thailand’s high court has removed a PM in the past 16 years. Separately, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida announced plans to step down next month in response to declining approval ratings (now ~25%), which analysts largely attribute to fundraising scandals and a cost-of-living increase during his term.

🇺🇦 Germany issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian man allegedly involved in the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions. According to multiple reports, Germany is pursuing a Ukrainian man accused of participating in a group that sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines used to transport Russian gas to Europe. Analysts say the group behind the pipeline sabotage likely aimed to remove Russia’s natural gas leverage over the EU, though Ukraine’s government has repeatedly denied any responsibility.

🇨🇳 A Chinese court ruled that a child can have two legal mothers. In a recent landmark ruling, which came in China’s first-ever same-sex custody suit, a Beijing court concluded that a local resident has maternal rights over the daughter she conceived with her wife. While same-sex unions aren’t legally recognised in China, advocates say the ruling marks a significant first step towards expanded LGBTQ+ rights.

It’s 2024, and Aaron Carter’s 20+-year-old song “I Want Candy” has never been more relevant.

TikTok has identified 120+ million videos as Swedish candy reviews, with most of those posted over the past seven-and-a-half months. And all this online attention is driving real-world results, per a new Bloomberg report:

• BonBon, a chain of stores in NYC that sells colorful candy imported from Scandinavia, has seen its number of daily orders grow 15x since January.
• Sweetish, an incredibly named Swedish candy shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has needed to expand its team from 12 to 26 people to fulfill the onslaught of orders.
• LA’s Sockerbit and Toronto’s online-based Sukker Baby have also experienced an uptick in orders (and wait times), as have other shops across the US.

This high demand is squeezing supply chains. Bubs, a popular Swedish brand that makes flavored oval gummies, was forced to stop exporting its candy to any new customers in February as it works to increase manufacturing capacity.

What’s so attractive about Swedish candy? While relatively pricey – sometimes north of $18/lb – the ingredients are generally higher quality than, say, Skittles or Starbursts; most Swedish gummies are vegan, gluten-free, allergen-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing, and their sweetness comes mostly from sugar instead of corn syrup, per Bloomberg.

💸 Zoom out: This isn’t the first time TikTok has been responsible for driving commerce on a large scale. Since 2018, sales of young adult fiction (+50%) and adult fiction (+42%) have significantly outpaced overall book sales (+10%), a phenomenon largely attributed to BookTok.

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"At first I actually found it really funny, these cars are honking at each other. I don't find it funny anymore."

• Silicon Valley, long famous for its disruption, has claimed a new victim: the sleep schedules of local San Franciscans. In recent weeks, residents in the city’s South of Market neighborhood have reported being awakened throughout the night by honks coming from Waymo self-driving cars, which are attempting to tell each other about their day navigate the parking lot where they sit when not making trips. Waymo, which attributes the honking to a new feature designed to avoid collisions, says it’s working on a software update to avoid the nightly disruptions for local residents.

• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the finalists from the 16th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which attracted thousands of entries.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with 120/Life

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +0.4%; Dow: +0.6%; Nasdaq: +0.03%). | 📝 Inflation rose 2.9% in July from a year earlier, the lowest reading since 2021 and slightly below economists’ expectations of 3%; core inflation was 3.2%, also a three-year low.
• ☕ Incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol will receive $85 million in cash and stock for leaving Chipotle. (Dive deeper: Why is Niccol so highly regarded?) | 👙 Victoria’s Secret hired Hillary Super, Savage X Fenty’s chief executive, as its new CEO.
• 🍫 Mars, the family owned candy giant, is buying snack-maker Kellanova for $36 billion; it's the largest acquisition announced so far this year, as Mars looks to expand beyond the candy aisle. | 💳📱 Apple is opening up the payment chip in iPhones to third-party apps.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🤸 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) published a report detailing its reasons for denying USA Gymnastics’ appeal to reinstate Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal; separately, multiple news orgs reported the head of the CAS panel that dismissed USA’s appeal has ties to the government of Romania (which was ultimately awarded the bronze).
• 🎞️ Justin Baldoni, the filmmaker and co-star of It Ends With Us, has hired a crisis PR veteran amidst rumors of on-set drama between Baldoni and Blake Lively, the film’s co-star and producer. | 🎭 Joaquin Phoenix unexpectedly dropped out of a gay romance movie from director Todd Haynes five days prior to production; analysts say the move will likely spawn legal action against Phoenix. | 🌿 Netflix renewed Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman for a second season.
• 🏈 Vikings rookie QB J.J. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, will miss the entire 2024 season following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. | 🏟️ The Taylor Swift craze during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning season last year helped fuel a 30% boost in the Chiefs’ fanbase, according to the team’s CEO.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with “Flip Side” from Game Show Network

• 🏭 Heimdal, a startup backed by Sam Altman and Marc Benioff, launched America’s largest “direct air capture” facility aimed at sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere; the northern Oklahoma plant can capture 5,000+ tons of carbon dioxide annually.
• 🧓 The human body typically experiences two major waves of age-related changes – one around age 44, and the other around age 60, according to a new study published in Nature Aging. | 🐋 The world’s oldest humpback whale is still swimming – and scientists are trying to figure out its secrets.
• 🚀 NASA said it still hasn't decided the best way to get the Boeing Starliner crew home from the ISS, but it expects a final decision in two weeks (though this timeline is fluid, if history is any indication); the options are: use the beleaguered Starliner now, or wait until February to use one of SpaceX’s Dragon capsules. (Dive deeper: NASA has a tough decision to make)

*From our partners: 🥳👓 An exciting new addition to Game Show Network premiers September… “Flip Side,” hosted by Jaleel White of “Family Matters” fame, sees players guess how different groups feel about the same issue. Watch the “Flip Side” preview here.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌀 Tropical Storm Ernesto intensified into a Category 1 hurricane yesterday as it passed over Puerto Rico, leaving half of its residents without power; Ernesto is projected to further intensify in the coming days en route to Bermuda, and could potentially hit the Northeast US on Sunday.
• 💻 Iran-backed hackers have targeted roughly a dozen people tied to President Biden and former President Trump – including government and campaign officials – as part of an ongoing phishing attack, according to a Google report published yesterday. | 🗳️🏥 Arizona and Missouri this week announced ballot measures in November that propose codifying abortion rights through state constitutional amendments; they join several other states with upcoming abortion-related ballot measures.
• 🚨📰 A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a local newspaper was charged with felony obstruction of justice. | 🏛️ Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton, Illinois, who’s accused of misusing millions of dollars in taxpayer money, has gone missing following a new report into her alleged misdeeds.

CLICKBAIT

• 🧓 What 100-year-olds say they always eat – and what they never do.

💰📈 Stat of the Day: In recent years, American millennials have seen a dramatic reversal of fortune regarding their net worth, largely on the back of surging real-estate prices, according to Federal Reserve data. Between Q1 of 2020, and Q1 of 2024, the collective wealth of US millennials and older Gen Z jumped from $4.5 trillion to $14.2 trillion, with 25+% of that increase stemming from a boost in housing wealth.

🤔 Did You Know? Toothbrushing wasn’t widely popular in America until after World War II, when soldiers who returned home continued the practice that had been mandatory during their military service.

📰 Worth a Read: Inside the secret warehouse containing hidden tales from the Titanic → (BBC)

Yesterday we covered the recent campaigns by Democratic and Republican officials to block ballot access for Robert F Kennedy Jr. and other third party presidential candidates.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, does America need more than two major political parties?

• 👍 Yes: 63%
• 👎 No: 20%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 17%

Click here to read the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 3,501 votes and 364 longform responses.

Vermont filmmaker Andy Mitchell's new documentary, Inside the Mind of a Dog, has attracted human and canine audiences alike. 

🐾 The ultimate movie party: This past weekend, 200+ pooches and their owners gathered in Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater to watch the documentary in an attempt to break the world record for “most dogs to attend a film screening.”

• While the screening fell short of the official record, the night was filled with happy pups, playtime, and popcorn. 

To create this newsletter, our team scours hundreds of sources and explores all corners of the internet. Below you’ll find some resources, fun tidbits, and life hacks we’ve stumbled across that are worth checking out, but don’t exactly fit elsewhere in the newsletter.

🏈 Enjoy: Electric wide receiver Tavon Austin just retired from the NFL. Toss on a highlight clip from his senior year of college at West Virginia and prepare to marvel.

📈 Listen + level-up: Email, like baking, should be done in batches, according to Laura Mae Martin, the Executive Productivity Advisor at Google. Her recent appearance on Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast offers other hot tips.

📨 Read: TLDR is a great supplement to The DONUT, with quick-read stories on startups, tech, and programming.*

🎤 Watch: Arkansas football defensive coordinator Travis Williams spit some bars. We’re now ready to run through a brick wall, Coach🫡.

🤑 Save that $$$: The Friendletter sends weekly emails letting you know about all the freebies, savings hacks, and money mindset shifts that will set you up for a lifetime of spending better.*

*A message from our partners (who we had actually discovered prior to any professional relationship).

Mt. Elbrus, the tallest peak in Europe, is located in which country?

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