A longtime suspect was charged with the murder of Tupac Shakur yesterday—the first arrest made in the case since the rap icon was gunned down 27 years ago in a drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis—a former gang member and one of the last living witnesses to Shakur’s death—is being held without bail. Davis’s nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson (now deceased), has long been suspected of firing the shots that killed Shakur, something Davis has admitted along with his own involvement—which is why he’s been on authorities’ radars for years.

• In his 2019 memoir, Davis wrote that he rode in the passenger seat of the white Cadillac that pulled up alongside Shakur’s car at a red light and that he slipped a gun into the backseat that Anderson and potentially another man fired at Shakur’s car. (Anderson always denied any involvement.)
• Regarding the arrest, Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said he believes Davis “ordered the death” of Shakur to get revenge for his nephew, who was a longtime rival of the rapper’s and had brawled with him at a casino earlier that night.

For years, the public saw law enforcement’s failure to arrest a suspect following the 1996 shooting as a sign of a broken legal system. But the investigation into Shakur’s death got new momentum in July, when police searched Davis’s home in Henderson, Nevada, for evidence.

Legacy of a hip-hop legend

During his short career, Shakur sold 75 million records worldwide, got six Grammy nominations, and acted. He starred opposite Janet Jackson in the 1993 romantic drama Poetic Justice.

Shakur remains one of the most famous rappers in the world and a figure of fascination. His murder inspired documentaries, books, TV shows, and movies. His three posthumous album releases all went No. 1, a hologram of his likeness performed at Coachella in 2012, and in 2017, Snoop Dogg inducted him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.—ML

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein dead at 90. The California Democrat died at her home in Washington, DC, on Thursday night, just hours after casting a vote on the Senate floor. Feinstein, the longest-tenured female senator in US history and California’s longest-serving senator, was known as a trailblazer for women in politics. After her election in 1992, she became the first woman to chair the Senate Rules and Senate Intelligence Committees. Feinstein authored several landmark bills, including the 1994 assault weapons ban. Her declining health in recent years led some to call for her removal and for age limits in Congress. Gov. Gavin Newsom will now appoint a temporary replacement ahead of what’s expected to be a heated race to fill the seat in 2024.

The UAW strike got bigger. The United Auto Workers expanded its strike again yesterday, adding another 7,000 workers to the picket lines as it continues negotiating new contracts with Ford, GM, and Stellantis. The latest strike targets are a Ford assembly plant in Chicago and a GM assembly plant in Lansing, Michigan, as the union continues to shut down select locations to maximize pain to the carmakers while allowing many of its members to receive paychecks. Stellantis was spared from yesterday’s escalation because of progress in its talks with the union, while Ford’s CEO claimed the union was holding their deal “hostage over battery plants.”

SCOTUS to weigh in on social media moderation. The Supreme Court will decide whether Florida and Texas state laws that bar social media companies from taking down posts or banning users based on their viewpoints run afoul of the First Amendment. The laws, and others like them, are generally supported by Republican lawmakers who claim the companies favor a liberal outlook, while the tech companies insist that they interfere with their ability to combat misinformation and hate speech. A ruling is expected by June…so possibly right in the middle of election season.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino joined CNBC correspondent Julia Boorstin onstage at Vox’s Code Conference this week for a in which Yaccarino seemed not to know key details about the company she’s been heading since June.

It didn’t help that former Twitter exec Yoel Roth had sat on the same stage an hour before and harshly criticized Elon Musk. Yaccarino did not hide her agitation at “unexpectedly” having to follow Roth, pointedly noting, “I work at X. He worked at Twitter.” 

Yaccarino said X is on track to become profitable by early 2024 and touted the return of 90% of the largest advertisers that ditched the platform following Musk’s takeover. But she seemed flustered when Boorstin pressed for specifics…

• She initially struggled to state the exact daily active user count after being confronted with the fact that downloads and usage were down.
• And she deflected a question about Musk’s plans to charge X users a monthly fee, appearing unsure whether it was a final decision.

Despite bristling at the suggestion that she’s CEO in name only since Musk still calls the shots on key product decisions, she asked, “Who wouldn’t want Elon Musk sitting by their side?” It wasn’t meant to get laughs, but it did.—SK

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Shaking your fist at the sky?

That’s how The View co-host Ana Navarro described Naked Attraction, a nude dating show from the UK that arrived on Max last week and is already the No. 1 show on the streaming platform. Subscribers don’t seem put off by the graphic conversation and close-up shots of pubic hair illuminated by bright stage lights.

Nudity sells. The success of the series in the US follows its fame in the UK, where the beloved show is airing its seventh season. Stateside, talk shows like The View and Live with Kelly and Mark are now discussing the show, with some calling attention to its potential merits, like body positivity and inclusivity.

For some, it’s a little too much foreskin. The Parents Television Council called for Max to remove the show, calling it a “new low.” But it’s nothing new for the company that aired Real Sex and Cathouse. CEO of HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys argued that it adds to the service’s range of content. Come for The Sopranos, stay for the repeated use of the phrase “squishy butt.”—CC

Stat: Just when you thought the Barbenheimer hype had finally died down, Halloween is going Barbiecore. The doll is on track to be the third-most-popular Halloween costume for adults this year—behind only witches and vampires—and No. 7 for kids, according to the National Retail Federation. And Mattel likely has Greta Gerwig to thank for the share it’ll get of the $4.1 billion people plan to spend on dressing up for the holiday—it’s the first time the costume has cracked the top 10 for either group since the NRF started counting in 2004.

Quote: “I cannot believe it got done.”

A Tennessee judge said she was dumbfounded that Michael Oher was bound to a conservatorship agreement with Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the couple who took in the former NFL player when he was in high school, inspiring The Blind Side. The judge said she would end the conservatorship, but the broader financial dispute between the Tuohys and Oher remains pending.

Read: Inside scientists’ mission to save America’s wine industry from climate change. (Associated Press)

Learn: How rain works in video games.

Meet: A pup named Ryder who’s got his own credentials for the Ryder Cup.

See: The stunning winners of a bird photography contest.

Cook: Soup, because the air is finally chilly.

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