Tip News Daily Brief

Your Daily Brief

March 22nd, 2023

Good morning, and happy Wednesday. There’s a lot of news to get to today, but before we start, there’s this: former New York Knicks captain Willis Reed passed away at the age of 80. Reed led the Knicks to two championship titles in the 1970s and was the first NBA player to be named league MVP, Finals MVP, and All-Star Game MVP in the same season. If you ever saw him play, reply to this email and share your memory with us!

In Today’s Brief

Putin: Signs new deals with Xi
CDC: Report on fungal infections
Gwyneth Paltrow: Ski accident trial begins
Google: Testing ChatGPT rival

...and more

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LA school strike

A union representing 30K Los Angeles school custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and other staff walked off the job yesterday to begin a three-day strike.

The strike comes after over a year of negotiations over pay and health benefits with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and its superintendent, Alberto Carvalho. The union is reportedly seeking a 30% pay raise overall for its members, plus an additional $2 an hour “equity wage adjustment for all.” Per the union, the average salary of school workers in the LAUSD is about $25K per year, with most working part-time hours. Around 35K teachers joined the strike with their colleagues, prompting the LAUSD to close schools as a result.

LAUSD is the second-largest school district in the country, with over 600K students enrolled. In 2019, the district was shut down by a six-day strike when the teachers’ union demanded smaller class sizes, more school staffing, and higher wages.

Idaho firing squad bill

Idaho lawmakers passed a bill that would permit a firing squad as a substitute method of execution if the state fails to obtain the drugs required to carry out lethal injections.

Idaho has faced hurdles in procuring chemicals required to administer lethal injections. Senator Doug Rick–who co-sponsored the bill that Representative Bruce Skaug introduced–said the state’s difficulty in acquiring the chemicals could continue “indefinitely” and that he believes firing squad executions are “more humane.” The bill passed in Idaho’s House of Representatives on March 3rd. After passing the state Senate in a 21-44 vote on Monday, it has moved onto Governor Brad Little’s desk.

Four other states allow for a firing squad if other forms of execution aren’t available, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Those states are Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, and South Carolina. Since 1976, a total of three prisoners have died by firing squad in those states.

Lollapalooza lineup revealed

Lollapalooza yesterday unveiled the lineup for its 2023 festival, which will take place in Chicago’s Grant Park from August 3rd-6th.

According to the festival’s website, this year’s top-billed artists are Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Odesza, Lana Del Rey, Karol G, the 1975, Tomorrow X Together, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This year will mark the sixth time that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have headlined the festival. Other artists scheduled to perform include Maggie Rogers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Diplo, Rina Sawayama, and more. In all, over 170 artists will play across nine stages.

First conceived as a farewell tour for Perry Farrell’s band Jane’s Addiction in 1991, Lollapalooza partnered with the Chicago-based education organization Ingenuity to create the Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund, a $2.2M donation to support arts and education in Chicago Public Schools. Tickets are slated to go on sale starting tomorrow.

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Around the Globe

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Moscow and signed agreements to strengthen economic and political partnerships between the two countries (More)
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan yesterday evening; two people reportedly lost their lives in Afghanistan and one child was reported to have died in Pakistan (More)
Explosive devices were sent to journalists across Ecuador yesterday, according to Interior Minister Juan Zapata; one television presenter was reportedly wounded after a bomb resembling a USB stick detonated when he inserted it in his computer (More)

On the Homefront

A fire destroyed a 120K square-foot church in New Jersey late Monday evening into Tuesday morning; over 150 firefighters reportedly fought to control the blaze and no injuries were reported (More)
Sales of existing homes in the U.S. rose in February and registered their largest monthly percentage increase since July 2020, per the National Association of Realtors; the nation’s median home price also moved lower, marking the first year-over-year decline since 2012 (More)
U.S. cases of fungal infections with Candida auris have risen every year since 2016 and tripled between 2020 and 2021, according to a report from the CDC (More)

Glitz & Games

Trial over a 2016 ski accident involving Gwyneth Paltrow begins in Park City; the plaintiff claims Paltrow crashed into him after skiing recklessly and fled the scene (More)
Three-time Super Bowl champion Dont'a Hightower announced his retirement yesterday after nine years in the NFL as a linebacker with the New England Patriots (More)
James Patterson signed an exclusive first-look deal with Skydance Television and is set to adapt a number of books for the studio, including Women’s Murder Club, the Michael Bennett and Private series, and more (More)

Business & Markets

Major indexes in the stock market rose for a second day in a row, with the Nasdaq leading gains (Dow +0.98%, Nasdaq +1.58%, S&P 500 +1.31%)
Google has started rolling out its AI chatbot Bard and is beginning to allow some users in the U.S. and U.K. to start accessing the experimental version of the chatbot (More)
Intel’s head of graphic chips unit Raja M. Koduri will depart the company at the end of March, according to a tweet from CEO Pat Gelsinger (More)

Tips & Tricks

Feel Good: Check out this video that an Asheville, NC, woman named Debra Howell captured of a black bear using a tree to scratch its back (it would seem that the bear was bear-y itchy…get it?)
Sneak Peek: Watch Scott Caan play a bumbling hitman targeting J.K. Simmons in the official trailer for the upcoming Coen brothers-inspired dark comedy film One Day as a Lion
Bump This: U2 deliver a bare-bones piano and acoustic guitar version of “Invisible” off their most recent album Songs of Surrender - listen on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube
Nerd Out: Scientists used advanced imaging techniques to observe peoples' brains on psychedelics…and noticed increased connectivity across the brain, more communication between different areas and systems, and increased activity in areas linked with “higher level functions” like imagination
Go Deep: Read about how 30 U.S. state government websites were found to contain a web-tracking code made by TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, according to data collected in January and February of this year
Hot Goss: Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran revealed in a Rolling Stone cover story published yesterday that he and his wife Cherry Seaborn’s second daughter is named Jupiter (it’s official–that 10-month-old has one of the coolest baby names on the planet)
Life Hack: Qigong (pronounced “chee-gong”) is a low-intensity exercise that helps regulate the flow of energy throughout your body, directly impacting how you feel both physically and emotionally - here are three benefits of qigong and some poses to get you started

Tip-Offs

Examining the numbers that are too big for us to imagine.

Facts about Ramadan, which begins tonight at sunset.

A Louisiana couple’s battle to keep their pet nutria.

James Webb’s shot of a spiral galaxy resembling an eye.

The untold story of the first chef to receive six Michelin stars.

Meet the electronic devices that cause the most injuries.

Listing the 20 U.S. cities where allergies are the worst.

…and mapping out the happiest countries in the world.

Looking Back…

On March 22nd: British Parliament passes the Stamp Act, placing taxes on various printed papers in the colonies (1765); U.S. Navy Commissioner Stephen Decatur is killed in a duel (1820); the Augusta National Golf Club hosts the first Masters Tournament (1934); composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is born (1948).

In partnership with SuperMush

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