Showing posts with label Morning Brew. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morning Brew. Show all posts

Thursday, December 4

Headlines


Photo by Adam GRAY/AFP via Getty Images



Trump’s immigration crackdown comes to New Orleans and Minnesota. Federal agents arrived in New Orleans yesterday and began an immigration enforcement operation that the Department of Homeland Security said would focus on people who are in the country without authorization and have a criminal history. But many people detained in past sweeps have not had criminal records, according to federal officials, and immigrants in the city told news outlets they were fearful of leaving their homes. New Orleans is the latest Democrat-run locale to be targeted, and, as in other cities, there have been protests in response. An operation was also launched in Minnesota, a day after President Trump went on a tirade against the state’s Somali population during a Cabinet meeting, saying, “I don’t want them in our country.”

Watchdog reportedly finds Hegseth could have endangered troops with Signal chat. The Pentagon’s inspector general’s report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to discuss a forthcoming military strike in Yemen said it could have put troops and their mission at risk—but also found that Hegseth had the power to declassify the information disclosed in the chat, sources who’d seen the findings told the Associated Press yesterday. The report is also said to note that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using a personal device for official business. The Signal use became public after an editor from The Atlantic was accidentally included in a chat. The report comes as Hegseth faces scrutiny from lawmakers over a second strike that killed the survivors of a previous attack on an alleged drug boat.

Trump admin to roll back car fuel-efficiency standards. With executives from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis in attendance, President Trump announced plans to weaken Biden-era fuel economy standards that were intended to help boost electric cars. Under newly proposed Department of Transportation rules, most cars would need to achieve 34.5 miles per gallon through the 2031 model year, down from the 50 miles per gallon standard adopted under former President Biden. The DOT said the proposal would save Americans $109 billion over the next five years, while critics say the change will encourage automakers to continue to focus on environmentally unfriendly vehicles that could ultimately cost consumers more at the gas pump.—AR



Wednesday, December 3

Headlines


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Costco is suing the Trump admin for a tariff refund. The wholesale retailer where you can get a $1.50 hot dog and 72 pairs of socks in the same trip is asking for a “full refund” of all the duties it’s paid under President Trump’s reciprocal tariff policies, according to a lawsuit filed with the Court of International Trade. Costco becomes the biggest company to sue the administration over tariffs, joining Ray-Ban-maker EssilorLuxottica, Kawasaki, and others in seeking relief from tariffs that they say are illegal. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of the tariffs next year. During oral arguments last month, most justices appeared skeptical of Trump’s argument that he had the authority to impose the sweeping levies.

Hegseth cites “fog of war” in defense of second strike on alleged drug boat. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he didn’t see that there were survivors before a follow-up strike was ordered on a boat allegedly smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea. “The thing was on fire,” Hegseth said, adding that he “didn’t stick around” after the first strike. The Washington Post reported last week that Hegseth ordered a second strike that killed survivors, which experts say would have been illegal. President Trump said neither he nor Hegseth ordered the second strike. According to the White House, Admiral Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley was “well within his authority” to sanction it.

Warner Bros. Discovery fielded sweetened takeover bids. In a second round of bidding, Paramount Skydance, Netflix, and Comcast all made revised offers in the hopes of buying the company behind HBO. Paramount—the only of the three suitors that wants to buy all of WBD, not just its studios and streaming businesses—is reportedly offering an all-cash deal with the help of three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds. Netflix is said to be proposing a mostly cash offer, while Comcast’s latest cash-and-stock bid would combine its NBCUniversal unit with WBD, per reports. Any deal would likely face regulatory scrutiny, though it’s believed that the White House favors Paramount, which is owned by David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder and longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison.—AE



Tuesday, December 2

Headlines


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Bitcoin had a bad day. Amid a wider crypto (and overall market) selloff, bitcoin plunged yesterday, briefly dipping below $85,000 before regaining some ground to end its worst day since March. With markets volatile, the digital currency is down more than 30% since its record high in October. Traders use liquidation data to get a sense of risk appetite, and Bloomberg reports that nearly $1 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated yesterday. Other digital coins, including ether, also fell sharply as macroeconomic concerns—among them whether the Fed will cut interest rates this month—continue to loom large for investors.

NYC poised to get three casinos. New Yorkers may soon no longer have to find out what happens in Vegas, as a state gaming board signed off on three casino licenses yesterday, paving the way for its first facilities. One license will go to Mets owner Steve Cohen and the Hard Rock to open a gaming den, hotel, and event complex next to Citi Field in Queens. Another will go to gaming company Bally’s, which plans to open a casino on a former Trump Organization golf course in the Bronx (which could net the president’s company $115 million), and the other is for Genting Group, which will add gaming to its racetrack in Queens. The projects—which supporters say will generate billions worth of economic activity—still need one final approval, but they’re all expected to get it.

White House says second strike on alleged drug boat was lawful, despite lawmakers’ concerns. With lawmakers on both sides of the aisle supporting an investigation into the legality of the US ordering a second strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela that killed two survivors of a prior lethal attack (with at least one legislator calling it a potential war crime), the White House yesterday backed the decision to order the strike. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Navy admiral who gave the order acted “well within his authority and the law.” On Sunday, President Trump said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had told him he did not directly order the second strike.—AR



Monday, December 1

Headlines


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Over 12k flights delayed yesterday due to winter storm. Our long Thanksgiving travel nightmare is not yet over. FlightAware reported 12,008 delays into or out of the United States yesterday, as well as 977 cancellations into or out of the US, mostly due to a major winter storm that has impacted the Midwest, the western Great Lakes, and parts of the East Coast (which will get hit with another storm today and tomorrow). According to the National Weather Service, affected areas received six to 12 inches of snow and endured gusty winds and other hazardous travel conditions. The FAA reported that the airports of Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Rochester, BWI, and Ronald Reagan all had to deice planes. Airlines for America had predicted that a record-breaking 31 million passengers would fly for the Thanksgiving holiday, with 3.4 million expected to pass through the airports yesterday, before the weather disruptions.

Witkoff to meet with Putin in Russia following Rubio meeting with Ukraine. Steve Witkoff, special envoy to President Trump, is headed to Russia today to meet with President Vladimir Putin. Yesterday, a Ukrainian delegation met with Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Florida to continue discussing terms to end the war. Both the Ukrainian and US sides called that meeting productive, though few details were disclosed. It was the first gathering without Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former chief of staff, who was instrumental in softening a draft proposal circulated by the Trump administration that was seen by the international community as heavily favoring Russia. Yermak resigned on Friday, the same day his home was raided, amid a $100 million embezzlement scandal rocking Zelensky’s inner circle. Yermak’s quick departure was intended to keep the focus on negotiations without risking the US extracting heavy demands from Ukraine in light of the revelation.

Zootopia 2 dominated the Thanksgiving weekend. A PG-rated movie sequel centered on a dynamic partnership in a world of talking animals trounced box-office records—but it’s probably not the film you were expecting. Zootopia 2 earned a slew of superlatives, including the highest global debut of 2025 and the No. 1 movie globally, domestically, and internationally for the weekend. Its domestic receipts tallied $156 million since Wednesday, including $96.8 million over the traditional weekend, according to Variety. Wicked: For Good did pretty all right, though, bringing in $93 million over the weekend. But Zootopia 2 also garnered more encomiums from critics than the second installment of Wicked did. It’s Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 91%.—HVL



Sunday, November 30

CULTURE

The surprisingly poignant origins of kidults


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You may think kidults are a distinctly 21st-century phenomenon, but GI Joe sold over $1 billion worth of action figures by 1989, and Snoopy became the first beagle on the moon (kind of)—thanks to some serious adults of yesteryear believing character merch could represent more than just playthings.

The term “Kidult” dates back to at least 1960, when the television industry coined the portmanteau to describe shows like Flipper and The Flintstones that were meant to appeal to adults and kids alike.

Around the same time, perfectly respectable adults began buying children’s toys for themselves, sometimes for heart-wrenching reasons:In 1964, Hasbro released the first GI Joe action figure, which was 12 inches tall and featured articulated body parts. Vietnam War veterans collected the dolls, according to pop culture historian Roy Schwartz, to “reconnect with their Army days” once they were home.
In 1967, Hasbro debuted the first talking GI Joe, voiced by Bill Corsair, who went on to fight in Vietnam in 1969. This helped solidify the doll’s reputation as something more than a children’s toy.
Good grief

The 1960s also heralded the golden age of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip—which flipped the kidult script by featuring kids with a distinctly adult outlook.

As Charles Schulz biographer David Michaelis wrote, “Children are not supposed to be radically dissatisfied…Schulz gave these children lifelong dissatisfactions, the stuff of which adulthood is made.” But that was part of their charm, and their broad appeal:Sports writer Luke Epplin compiled Peanuts cartoon strips about Snoopy’s and Woodstock’s fruitless attempts to find their lost mothers, which echoed Schulz’s own mother dying of cancer while he was being shipped off to World War II. Such adult themes may have helped grownups reading the newspaper seek them out.
The TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas came out in 1965, cementing the franchise as an American institution. And a lucrative one—the show’s massive success led to surging demand for Peanuts merchandise. By 2010, the franchise’s merch was responsible for $2 billion in global sales annually.

The Peanuts are still flying the kidult flag: You likely know at least one septuagenarian who will shamelessly buy themselves a Snoopy doll. That’s no surprise, since the brand has been dialed into the adult market for a long time. In 1967, it already had merch meant specifically for adults, like this felt banner of Lucy Van Pelt screaming, “I’M FRUSTRATED, INHIBITED AND NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME!”—HVL


Saturday, November 29

Headlines

LUXURY
Shred the gnar at the Netflix founder’s private resort


Powder Haven


Netflix won the streaming wars by being the first to deliver entertainment to the masses, its vast library offering something for everyone as it scaled toward global domination. That’s made co-founder Reed Hastings a billionaire, but the philosophy behind his latest venture—a private, high-end ski community in the Utah wilderness—is less Netflix and more HBO.
New kind of mile-high club

Months after retiring as Netflix’s CEO in 2023, Hastings bought Powder Mountain for an undisclosed sum and has since invested hundreds of millions of dollars to turn it into the world’s most bespoke ski destination. The hope is that it can serve as a quieter alternative to the overcrowded mass-market slopes you see all over Instagram each winter.

“This isn’t about exclusivity for its own sake,” Hastings told The Hollywood Reporter last year. “It’s about creating a sanctuary for people who love this mountain as much as we do.” Here’s how the unusual public-private resort works:Memberships, which cost $25,000 annually (plus an initiation fee), give skiers exclusive access to 2,700 acres of pristine powder. The remaining 5,300 acres are open to the public.
To become a member, you must purchase real estate in the resort’s residential community, Powder Haven. Lots start at $2 million, and membership is capped at 650 families.
Real estate sales will help pay for improvements to the public side, including new chairlifts, to make sure it doesn’t get too crowded, either.

Demand is high. The first phase of development (39 lots) sold out in a few months, based solely on renderings and before roads were even paved, according to Robb Report. A 73,000-square-foot lodge with restaurants, pickleball courts, a gym, a pool, and a spa is under construction, per SFGate.

But not everyone’s thrilled. Some are worried that Hastings’s elite winter wonderland will price locals out (public pass prices have already increased). Others say that the changes threaten Powder’s mom-and-pop feel, which had set it apart from most mountains in the area. The Financial Times suggested the Netflix billionaire is “walking a gentrification tightrope.”—AE



CLIMATE TECH
The cannons keeping ski towns afloat


AscentXmedia/Getty Images


When you tell your grandkids that you used to go bombing through dumps, the most unbelievable part of the story might be that there was ever so much fresh snowfall. Shorter, warmer winters are becoming more common, and most ski towns increasingly count on an imperfect fix—snow machines—to fill a growing void of white.

Cold time is money: To cushion lighter snowfall at the beginning and end of winter, the Aspen Snowmass resort upgraded its snowmakers this summer as part of a broader $80 million development project, for example. Without the tech, subpar skiing conditions can threaten not just resorts but also surrounding restaurants, hotels, and rental services.

But…the pressurized cannons dotting ski trails typically work in tandem with local weather, so there’s usually only so much that they can do:Basic snowmakers shoot out high-pressure water and condensed air, meaning they’re useless if it’s not cold enough outside. Some Colorado ski resorts had to switch off their snowguns at the beginning of November, when temperatures got into the 60s.
A resort’s snow machines can take days to weeks to cover the slopes, depending on how much natural powder
there is already. At the extreme end, it required nearly two months, almost 400 snowguns, and an estimated $60 million to completely blanket barren mountain venues for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Conundrum: Newer snow machines can work in up to 80-degree weather, but they cost as much as $500,000, compared to $15,000 to $30,000 for traditional models, according to the Washington Post. They’re also energy-intensive, which exacerbates the core issue facing ski towns: snowmakers are “pretty much using the cause [of climate change] to find a solution,” a spokesperson for TechnoAlpin, a leading snowmaking company, told the outlet.

Looking ahead…based on current greenhouse gas predictions, lower-altitude ski towns could see 80% less snowfall by 2100.—ML

Friday, November 28

Headlines

GROCERY
The coupon’s not dead yet


Andersen Ross/Getty Images


An American-born shopping strategy may be in the midst of a mini comeback. The days of couponing so hard that you get on a TLC show are over, but post-pandemic grocery inflation has ushered in a new wave of deal fiends.

Although coupon use plummeted to an all-time low in 2022:Redemptions ticked up in 2023 and 2024, mostly driven by digital offers rather than traditional newspaper inserts, according to Inmar Intelligence.
More than 25% of US adults are using more coupons because of the state of the economy, up from 18% in mid-2021, according to a 2024 survey by the National Retail Federation.

Rebound: In September, Kroger reported a “lift” in the number of products sold after the grocery chain reintroduced paper coupons. Bargain shoppers also logged a win in August, when Bed Bath & Beyond Home opened its first store under its new banner and brought back its legendary 20% coupon. This time around, though, it can’t be used with other offers.
The deals aren’t what they used to be

Gone is the era of combining enough coupons to save 75% at checkout (or even be owed money by the store):Walmart, ShopRite, and Target don’t let shoppers use more than four of the same paper coupon in one day anymore.
Many retailers have also stopped giving cash back on coupons of a higher value than the purchase price.
To limit fraud risks, some stores don’t allow printouts from Coupons.com—or any coupons that aren’t on their master list, even if they’re legitimate.

Where the Extreme Couponers are now: Many stars of the 2011–2012 TLC show moved on from coupon-clipping to maxing out their 401(k) and IRA contributions and racking up hotel loyalty points for cheaper travel. They told the Wall Street Journal that this offers higher returns for a drastically lower time commitment. Probably fewer paper cuts, too.—ML




PERSONAL FINANCE
Are all of these loyalty schemes programs worth it?


Francis Scialabba


You’re just six more purchases from a free coffee. You’re four more hole punches from a free sandwich. If you amass 500 more points, that airline will let you fly the plane.

Maybe that last one isn’t real (yet), but loyalty programs have become ubiquitous. As of 2016, long before the current loyalty gold rush, Accenture reported that 90% of companies already had programs that gave you “free” stuff for making purchases.

But these plans can come at a cost.
Loyalty being punished?

If you’ve noticed the perks aren’t as perky as they were when you first joined a given club, you might not be imagining things. The Washington Post looked into potential loyalty paranoia and instead found that Starbucks and other companies might use your info to cut back on your deals through surveillance pricing:Former FTC officials Samuel Levine and Stephanie Nguyen told the outlet that some companies will use AI and your personal data to charge higher prices to specific patrons.
A study from the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator and the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice also found that these programs can invert the idea of loyalty, benefiting companies more than customers.

Data concerns: Ask that app not to track all you want, but some are still able to gather enough data in other ways to determine things like your income and how much money you’re willing to fork over. The author of the WaPo story requested and received his data report from Starbucks, which showed every drink and snack he had bought, every offer he had received, and every tap he made in the app. That kind of data could be shared with dozens of tech firms that specialize in tailoring prices.

Open investigation: The FTC began investigating surveillance pricing in July 2024, but when the Trump administration took office, it halted the probe. Levine and Nguyen said they’d like to see it resume. Noting that in some cases loyalty programs may be the only path to a discount, Levine told WaPo, “We shouldn’t be put in a position where we have to decide between affording our groceries and protecting our privacy.”—DL



Wednesday, November 26

Headlines



Tobias Schwarz/Getty Images



Sorry, Nvidia: Meta reportedly wants Google’s chips. Meta is considering spending billions of dollars to use Google’s AI semiconductors in its data centers in 2027, The Information reported this week, sending shares of Alphabet up 1.5% and Nvidia down 2.6%. Under the deal, Google would provide Meta with tensor processing units (TPUs), which can be customized for specific AI functions. That differs from Nvidia’s industry-standard GPUs, which were originally designed to render visual graphics. The reported deal comes at a good time for Google and a bad time for Nvidia: The search giant recently inked a multibillion-dollar chip agreement with Anthropic, while AI-bubble fears already dragged Nvidia’s stock down more than 10% from a late-October peak. In response to the report, Nvidia said it was “delighted by Google’s success,” but also added that “Nvidia is a generation ahead of the industry.”

Ukraine–Russia peace deal gains momentum. Ukraine is “ready to move forward” on the “framework” of a US-backed deal to end the war with Russia, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, though some disagreements over key issues remain, including territory. This comes after American and Russian delegates reportedly met in secret and drafted a 28-point plan that was widely seen as favorable to Moscow. Following Ukrainian and American officials’ amending of the proposal, President Trump will now send US special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who experts believe is likely to nix the deal. Hours after Trump signaled optimism about the deal, Russian attacks killed at least seven people and caused many others to shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Traveling for Thanksgiving? You’ve got a big storm coming. A record 82 million people in the US are set to travel at least 50 miles to their Turkey Day destinations this year, according to the American Automobile Association. If you’re one of them…good luck! Extreme weather is expected to cause traffic delays and flight disruptions today, with strong winds and blizzard conditions in parts of the Midwest and rain and fog along the East Coast and in the Northwest. Luckily for the Labubu Float, weather is supposed to clear up for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City tomorrow, but strong gusts might make balloon handlers’ arms feel especially sore on Friday.—ML



Tuesday, November 25

Headlines


BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images




Charges against Comey and James dismissed over prosecutor’s appointment. A federal judge tossed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, determining that the prosecutor who brought both cases was unlawfully appointed. The ruling is a setback for President Trump, who has publicly called for the prosecution of his critics and appointed Lindsey Halligan—a former insurance lawyer and personal attorney for Trump with no experience as a prosecutor—as interim US Attorney after another lawyer refused to file the case against Comey. However, both cases were dismissed without prejudice, which means they could be refiled.

After speaking to Xi, Trump says he’ll go to China. The two world leaders had what President Trump described as “a very good telephone call” yesterday, after which Trump said he had accepted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China in April and reciprocated with an invitation for a state visit later. Xi is said to have initiated the call in an unusual diplomatic overture that comes after the US and China reached an understanding on tariffs last month. The two discussed Taiwan and Ukraine, both sensitive topics, as well as trade, including the purchase of US soybeans.

White House says Trump “remains hopeful and optimistic” on Ukraine peace deal. After Ukrainian negotiators returned home from Geneva having agreed to modify a US plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would discuss “sensitive issues” with President Trump. The president’s original proposal struck Ukraine and its European allies as fulfilling a Russian wish list, according to Reuters. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump was optimistic and said there are “just a couple points of disagreement.” But it was not clear whether Russia would accept an updated version.—AR


Monday, November 24

Headlines


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Ukraine peace talks yield progress after leaked plan draft raised doubts. Secretary of State Marco Rubio provided the update yesterday after he attended high-stakes talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Geneva, though he declined to offer specifics. After a 28-point peace plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that seemed to favor the former leaked late last week, politicians from Europe, the US, and the UK mostly criticized the plan as unworkable. In a statement on Sunday night, the White House said Ukraine’s delegation in Switzerland “affirmed that all of their principal concerns—security guarantees, long-term economic development, infrastructure protection, freedom of navigation, and political sovereignty—were thoroughly addressed during the meeting.”

Tyson to close Nebraska beef plant amid industry struggles. Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in North America, announced on Friday that it will close its beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, on or around January 20. The facility employs approximately 3,200 people. On its earnings call earlier this month, before the closure was announced, Tyson CEO Donnie King told investors that cattle supplies were at record lows, and that its beef business would lose $600 million in the current fiscal year. Around the same time, President Trump said that he instructed the Department of Justice to investigate “the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation.”

X’s new location feature roiled the internet. Over the weekend, the company formerly known as Twitter started showing the country or region in which an account is located. Screenshots proliferated across the platform, with users alleging they had uncovered the origins of several prominent MAGA accounts, which had claimed to be based in the United States, as being based out of Africa, Macedonia, and South Asia. On Friday morning, posts claiming to show that the US Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) account was based in Tel Aviv, Israel, went viral, before the feature disappeared from X temporarily. A global rollout officially took place on Saturday. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, responded to some of the outraged tweets, saying that the rumor of the DHS account’s origins showing up as Israel was “fake news.” On Sunday, DHS released an official denial of its account having been operated in Israel.—HVL



Sunday, November 23

America’s oldest sport is drawing up new plays


Evan Bernstein/Getty Images


Best known to some as the sport the teen wolves play in Teen Wolf, lacrosse is not (yet) considered among the giants of professional team sports. But it’s much closer today than it was six years ago.

The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) was founded by brothers Paul and Mike Rabil in 2019 as an upgrade to Major League Lacrosse (MLL), which had long been criticized for low player salaries and inconsistent media exposure. “Our goal was to fix professional lacrosse,” Paul, a former legendary midfielder at Johns Hopkins and perhaps the sport’s most recognizable name, told Morning Brew.

“Innovation has always been our engine.”
  • With the backing of investors like Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai, the PLL made a handful of bold moves:Player equity: Every player has an ownership stake in the league—a model adopted by a number of upstart leagues (like Unrivaled).
  • Touring model: The league plays all of its games in one city each weekend (think: the WWE), though plans eventually call for moving to a traditional home-and-away schedule.
  • Broadcast experimentation: The PLL mics up its players (and refs) and has them analyze plays on the sideline in a “Breakdown Booth” right after they happen.

The early returns have been generally positive: ESPN was so happy with its media deal that it bought a minority stake in the league, and PLL reports that viewership and ticket revenue are climbing from their modest beginnings. The MLL no longer exists—the PLL absorbed what was left of it in 2020.

Still...most players don’t make a living on their PLL salaries alone. Many have full-time jobs or supplement their PLL income by coaching and running camps and clinics. A future in which “lacrosse player” is a lucrative career path wouldn’t have seemed possible a decade ago, but now, you don’t have to strain super hard to see the potential.

Looking ahead: The Brothers Rabil and the PLL have been instrumental in securing lacrosse’s return to the Olympics competitively for the first time in 120 years at the 2028 Games in LA. But a major question looms about whether the IOC will allow the Haudenosaunee people from present-day New York and parts of Canada—who created the first version of lacrosse almost 1,000 years ago—to compete under their own flag.—AE


Saturday, November 22

Headlines



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Zelensky says Ukraine faces “a difficult choice” over Trump’s peace plan. President Trump said he expects a response from Ukraine by Thursday on the plan, which US officials hashed out with Russia. A draft that leaked to the press showed it’d require Ukraine to make significant concessions, including giving up territory and limiting the size of its army, in exchange for peace and security guarantees from the US. President Zelensky said the choice of whether to accept the plan means Ukraine would face “losing its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner.” Still, he vowed to work with the US, and said he’d spoken to Vice President JD Vance about the proposal.—SK

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Trump had a “productive” meeting. The two New Yorkers met yesterday at the White House to chat about affordability, crime, and immigration in the city. The amicable rendezvous represented a vibe shift after months of mutual gloves-off criticism, with Trump saying yesterday that the self-described democratic socialist will hopefully be “a really great mayor” and that they agree on “a lot more than I would have thought.” Mamdani said that he looks forward to working with the president to make New York more affordable.—SK

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to resign. The Georgia congresswoman—who was once one of President Trump’s staunchest allies but recently fell out with him over the economy, foreign policy, and the Jeffrey Epstein case—plans to step down on Jan. 5, 2026. In a statement posted to X, Greene railed against the “Political Industrial Complex” and said, “I have too much self respect and dignity, love my family too much, and do not want my sweet district to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the President we all fought for, only to fight and win my election while Republicans will likely lose the midterms.” She also suggested that Democrats would try to impeach Trump after regaining control of the House.—AR