Good morning. In this edition:

• 📝 The GOP’s plan for higher-education reform
• 🌳 Earth has a new branch manager
• ⛪️ The longest papal conclave in history

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.33-minute read (1,152 words).

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“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

–Harry S. Truman (1884-1972)

This week, House Republicans officially proposed a series of wide-ranging higher education reforms as part of a wider legislative package aimed at carrying out President Trump’s agenda.

A quick crash course

The House Education and Workforce Committee has been tasked with finding $330 billion in savings from programs under their jurisdiction to help offset Trump’s tax plan.

In pursuit of that goal, the GOP’s new the Student Success and Taxpayer Savings Plan features several proposed changes to higher education, including:

• Caps on federal student loans. The GOP plan would limit the total amount of federal loans a borrower can take out to $50,000 for undergrads, $100,000 for graduate students, and $150,000 for students seeking to become a doctor or lawyer.
• Fewer loan repayment plans. The measure would eliminate the dozen or so existing student loan repayment plans and replace them with two pared-down options: a fixed monthly amount paid over a certain period of time based on debt load, or an income-based “Repayment Assistance Plan.”
• A revamped Pell Grant system. Republicans’ plan would expand the Pell Grant—a financial aid grant of up to ~$7,400/year used by ~6 million Americans—to cover short-term workforce training programs. It would also require full-time Pell Grant students to be enrolled in at least 30 credit hours/year, up from previous requirements of 24 credit hours/year.

The plan has its share of detractors. Consumer advocates say the GOP’s proposed changes would further restrict poorer Americans’ access to higher education by slashing financial aid programs, eliminating basic consumer protections, and making it harder to repay student loan debt.

Looking ahead…The higher education plan is part of congressional Republicans’ planned “big beautiful bill” that includes funding for tax cuts, border security, and defense. The GOP has set a self-imposed deadline of July 4 to approve the final bill.

📊 Flash poll: How do you feel about congressional Republicans’ new plans for higher education reform?

• Support
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• Unsure/other

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Chick-fil-A isn’t the only major chain pushing for consumers to eat mor chikin.

McDonald’s this month announced the imminent release of McCrispy Strips, its first permanent menu item in four years, amid a broader push towards chicken products within the fast-food industry.

Other chains—also crying fowl

Mickey D’s isn’t the only restaurant ramping up its chicken offerings in response to high consumer demand.

• Last Monday, Wendy’s released a new Cajun Crunch Chicken Sandwich as part of a plan to expand within the chicken category.
• Also last week: Taco Bell added chicken nuggets to its menu as a permanent item, following a successful trial period back in December. Overall, T-Bell says 95% of innovations at its test-kitchen spotlight chicken.

Driving the trend: Chicken products have become more frequent on US fast food menus as the cost of beef continues to rise. The average price of a fresh, whole chicken was $2.06/lb in March, while ground beef stood at a record $6.14/lb.

Zoom out: In 1970, the average American ate ~50 lbs of chicken/year. That number has since more than doubled to reach ~102 lbs/year.

…and they didn’t even have to attend a special party to do so. Earlier this month, Apple TV+ replaced the final episode of canceled sitcom Mythic Quest with a reedited version that removes a cliffhanger and introduces a new ending the show’s creators believe provides more closure.

Posthumous edits—a regular studio practice

Famous examples include:

• Aladdin: The original version of the 1992 film was altered to correct insensitive lyrics that offended many theater-goers during its initial release.
• Game of Thrones: A Season 8 episode was edited after-the-fact to remove a coffee cup apparently left in medieval-like times by a time traveler.
• Blade Runner: Has seen three separate edits get released by director Ridley Scott, with two of the three resulting in different endings.
• The Star Wars original trilogy: In the late 1990s, ~20 years after their initial debut, creator George Lucas released versions of Episodes IV, V, and VI with new scenes and effects inserted.

Episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, and Scrubs have also been edited after-the-fact for various reasons.

But…Not everyone is a fan of the potentially plot-altering practice. That’s especially true when it comes to die-hard Star Wars fans, since (film nerd alert🚨) the heavily debated scene between Han Solo and Greedo over who shot first has a different answer depending on which version is watched.

Speaking of time-honored classics: Monty Python and the Holy Grail turned 50 years old this week.

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Everyone knows The Lorax speaks for the trees—but who’s in charge of their health check-up?

This week, the European Space Agency launched a first-of-its-kind satellite that can see through clouds and leafy canopies to monitor the world's rainforests.

A data-gathering mission: The ESA’s new Biomass satellite will "weigh" all ~1.5 trillion trees in Earth’s rainforests to measure how much planet-warming carbon is being stored and kept out of the atmosphere—a figure that’s been impossible to calculate up until this point.

• Biomass features a massive ~40-foot-diameter antenna that’s able to use an especially long wavelength, allowing it to see deeper inside forests and reveal branches and trunks obscured by the canopy.

Looking ahead…ESA researchers hope to produce the first maps from Biomass within six months, while the satellite will continue to gather data for five years.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📊 US markets closed up across the board (S&P: +0.6%; Dow: +0.8%; Nasdaq: +0.5%); the Dow extended its longest winning streak of 2025.
• 📝 President Trump put the gearstick into “R” for some auto industry tariffs; the move is intended to soften their impact for automakers. | Amazon denied a plan to display US tariff costs on Amazon Haul product listings after pushback from the White House.
• ☕ Starbucks missed earnings and revenue estimates for its fiscal Q2; same-store sales fell for the fifth straight quarter.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with MANSCAPED®

• 🤖 Meta announced a standalone AI app meant to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT; the platform will reportedly include social networking features, including sharing your AI conversations with friends in a discover feed.
• 🏈 Eli Manning is reportedly assembling an investment group to bid for a piece of the New York Giants, his former team.
• 🎮 Electronic Arts laid off 300+ employees and canceled a new Titanfall game already in development.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🌎 President Trump dismissed all scientists working on the National Climate Assessment, a congressionally mandated climate change report that’s been published every ~4 years since 2000.
• 💊 A new immunotherapy drug can eliminate tumors in some early-stage cancers, allowing a majority of patients to skip chemo, radiation, and/or surgery, per a new study.
• 🧠 Noninvasive ultrasound treatments can be used to significantly reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD, per a new study.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

in partnership with SideDeal

• 🇨🇦 Canada election: PM Mark Carney’s Liberal Party is projected to fall short of a majority and form a minority government, per CBC; Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre—Carney’s main rival—is projected to lose his seat in Parliament.
• ✈️ A ~$60 million fighter jet slipped off the hanger deck of a US aircraft carrier on Monday and was lost overboard after the ship reportedly came under fire from Houthi rebels.
• 🎓 A pair of internal Harvard reports criticized the school’s response to antisemitism and anti-Muslim biases present on campus in the months after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. | 🚰 Florida is poised to become the second state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, following Utah’s move last month.

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☝️ You’re looking at a map showing the most popular beer brand in each US state, courtesy of Visual Capitalist.

🤔 Did You Know? The longest papal conclave in history lasted nearly three years (1268-1271), and involved magistrates removing the roof of the election building to try and speed up the cardinals’ decision.

📰 Worth a Read: The suburban office park that launched Silicon Valley

🖱️ Clickbait: Man rescued from Mount Fuji twice after returning to get his phone

🪶 Thousands of people attended the annual Gathering of the Nations in New Mexico last weekend; the festival, considered the largest powwow in North America, offers Indigenous communities a chance to bond and celebrate their heritage.

🐶 Buford, a rancher's dog in Arizona, is being credited with saving the life of a toddler who was missing for 16+ hours; the 6-year-old pup received an "Honorary Search and Rescue Certificate" and vest from the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office earlier this month.

♿️🐢 Employees at the Museum of Natural History in Nova Scotia built a tiny wheeled mobility aid out of Legos for their resident wood turtle who is missing a foot.

⚡ Read: The first reviews of Marvel’s Thunderbolts. The film hits theaters this weekend.

🎨 Watch: Professional artists guess whether art is AI-generated or human-created.

🧠 Use this site: When you can’t remember a word that’s on the tip of your tongue.

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

1. 🌜 15: Number of people who have walked on the Moon
2. 🛣️ 50: How many minutes/day the average American driver spends in their car
3. 🍓 250: Average amount of seeds on the outside of a strawberry

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1. 🌜 Under; 12 people have walked on the Moon
2. 🛣️ Over; 60 minutes/day
3. 🍓 Under; 200 seeds on average