Tip News Daily Brief

Your Daily Brief

February 2nd, 2023

Good morning, and happy Thursday! Today is Groundhog Day, which–as Bill Murray may well know–means that Punxsutawney Phil will leave his burrow and look for his shadow this morning. If he sees it, he predicts we’ll see six more weeks of winter…but you should probably know that out of the 136 times he’s done it so far, he’s been correct less than half the time! More like Pretty Inaccurate Phil.

In Today’s Brief

United Kingdom: Mass walkouts
Vermont: Youth basketball brawl
The Blacklist: Ending after season 10
PayPal: Cuts 7% of workforce

...and more

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Top Tips

FBI searches Biden residence

The FBI conducted a search for additional classified documents at President Biden’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, yesterday.

President Biden’s lawyer, Bob Bauer, confirmed that the FBI didn’t find any classified materials. It marks the third search of a Biden site in less than two months and follows the January 20th check of the president’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, where agents discovered documents with classified markings. Yesterday’s search came the same day that special counsel Robert Hur began his work at the Justice Department to oversee the investigation of Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Classified records have been found in the homes of President Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former Vice President Mike Pence in the past several months. Last week, the National Archives sent a letter asking former presidents and vice presidents to search their personal records for any classified documents or other materials from their time in office.

Tom Brady announces retirement

Tom Brady announced his retirement from professional football yesterday after 23 seasons.

In a message posted to Twitter, Brady said, “I’m retiring for good. I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first. It won’t be long-winded. You only get one super-emotional retirement essay, and I used mine up last year.” Brady previously announced his retirement on February 1st, 2022, but returned to play this past season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers confirmed his retirement in a press release.

Brady, 45, was selected to the Pro Bowl a record 15 times. He ends his career as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards (89,214) and touchdown passes (649), and as a seven-time Super Bowl Champion–the most of any player, and more than any franchise.

Lower rate hike

The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points (or 0.25%) yesterday at its latest monetary policymaking meeting.

Yesterday’s rate hike–the eighth one in a process that began in March 2022–brings the federal funds rate to a target range of 4.50% to 4.75%, its highest level since October 2007. In a statement, the Fed wrote that inflation “has eased somewhat but remains elevated,” and reaffirmed that it “seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.” The Fed added that it “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.”

Per the statement, all 12 members of the Federal Open Market Committee voted in favor of the increase. Yesterday’s rate hike comes after December’s 50-basis point increase, which followed a string of four consecutive increases of 75-basis points that the Fed began imposing in June of 2022 for the first time since 1994.

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Quick Tips

Around the Globe

Australian authorities found a missing radioactive capsule which went missing in the Outback last month; the 8x6mm capsule contains a small quantity of Caesium-137, which can reportedly cause skin damage, burns, or radiation sickness (More)
Up to 500K British workers walked out over pay in the largest coordinated strike action in a decade, including teachers, civil servants, train drivers, and more; the walkouts shut schools, halted rail services, and forced the UK military to be put on standby to help with border checks (More)
Russia has reportedly mobilized around 500K troops and is preparing a “major” new offensive that could begin at the end of this month, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov (More)

On the Homefront

Over 2.1K domestic flights were canceled yesterday amid ongoing ice storms in the central and southern parts of the United States (More)
A brawl during a middle school basketball game in Vermont resulted in several injuries and a 60-year-old spectator losing his life (More)
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is preparing to run for president in 2024, per familiar sources; Haley previously served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018 under former President Donald Trump (More)

Glitz & Games

NBC series ‘The Blacklist’ will end after its 10th season; the show’s final episode is set to premiere on February 26th (More)
The Arena Football League is set to return in 2024 after shutting down in 2019; the league’s 2024 season will feature 16 teams that will play a 10-game regular season during the summer (More)
Beyoncé announces Renaissance World Tour consisting of 40 dates and a mix of stadium and arena shows, launching in Stockholm on May 10th (More)

Business & Markets

Major indexes in the stock market closed higher following the Fed’s interest rate hike of 25 basis points (Dow +0.02%, Nasdaq +2.00%, S&P 500 +1.05%)
PayPal will cut 7% of its workforce, or about 2K full-time employees, according to President and CEO Dan Schulman (More)
Electric truck maker Rivian Automotive is laying off 6% of its staff to improve the company’s operating efficiency, per an email that CEO RJ Scaringe sent to employees (More)

Tips & Tricks

Feel Good: Meet Oliver James, a 34-year-old who has amassed over 125K TikTok followers by sticking to one goal: teaching himself to read (James grew up with learning and behavior disabilities which subjected him to what he calls “abusive” teaching practices in special education as a kid)
Sneak Peek: Watch the official trailer for upcoming the Amazon series The Power, giving us a fictional world where teenage girls develop the power to generate electricity at will
Bump This: Float on with the dreamy-yet-funky vibes in the new single “Merchants” from Italian R&B artist Sans Soucis - listen on Apple Music and Spotify
Chow Down: If you’re feeling something healthy this morning, don’t overpay for a smoothie bowl down the street; instead, check out this recipe for blueberry smoothie bowls that will make you want to open up your own breakfast joint
Go Deep: Learn why everyone seems to be watching TV with subtitles these days, with or without hearing impairments (hint: it could have something to do with where your TV speakers are located)
Hot Goss: Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will remain in custody for at least another 30 days after a Romanian court rejected an appeal against their detention; the pair have retained American defense attorney Tina Glandian, who has previously represented Chris Brown, Mike Tyson, and others
Life Hack: If you’ve never felt like an early bird, how alert (or groggy) you feel when you wake up in the morning might be more under your control than you think - here are three ways to wake up energized each morning and increase your alertness, according to new research

Tip-Offs

What the lessons of our past teach us about the future of AI.

Discovering Chicago’s secret 108-mile-long underground tunnels.

Seances and occult ceremonies captured in spooky photos.

Exploring whether Montessori schools actually work.

A stream with crystal-clear blue water in Omachi, Japan.

…and an actual stairway to heaven in Zhengzhou, China.

The cars that auto insurers are refusing to cover.

Diving through Wikipedia’s weirdest articles.

Looking Back…

On February 2nd: The U.S. and Mexico sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848); South African President F.W. de Klerk lifts the 30-year ban on the African National Congress (1990); James Joyce’s Ulysses is first published by Sylvia Beach in Paris (1922); Colombian singer Shakira is born (1977).

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