Grants Pass, Section 702, and Celebrating Earth Day

Facts, without motives. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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Good morning. It's Monday, April 22, and we're covering a Supreme Court hearing, a military withdrawal from Niger, and much more. First time reading? Sign up here.

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Need To Know

Grants Pass v. Johnson

The Supreme Court today will hear arguments on whether a US city can fine or jail people for sleeping outside. The hearing comes amid a rise in housing costs and record levels of homelessness; last year, more than 650,000 people in the US were estimated to be homeless on any given night.

In Grants Pass, Oregon, officials passed laws allowing the city to fine people $295 if found illegally camping on public property. Repeat violators could face added fines or jail time. In 2022, a federal court found the city’s laws violated the 8th Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment if there aren't enough shelter beds. At issue will be whether the laws apply to a class of people (those experiencing homelessness) or target an illegal action (sleeping outside).

The Supreme Court ruling could have implications nationwide. Officials in Idaho, Montana, and California (home to almost one-third of the US homeless population) have joined Grants Pass to ask the Supreme Court to clarify or overturn the lower court ruling.

US Exits Niger

The US military will fully withdraw its roughly 1,000 troops from Niger after the two sides failed to reach a deal allowing American forces to remain in the country, officials said over the weekend. The frayed alliance ends eight months after the Niger military overthrew the government, a move eventually designated as an illegal coup by the US.

Since that time, Niger’s military junta has established closer ties with Russia, which has recently trained local forces. Analysts say Moscow has both directly or tacitly supported recent coups in places like Mali and Burkina Faso, often using Libya as a gateway to funnel arms and equipment.

The US established a presence in Niger in 2013—including building a $110M Air Force base in 2018—as a command center for operations in Africa's Sahel region. The sub-Saharan region has seen a significant rise in extremist violence, accounting for more than 40% of global terrorism-related deaths in 2022.

Section 702 Renewed

The Senate passed a law reauthorizing part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act minutes after Friday's midnight deadline, overcoming opposition from privacy advocates and former President Donald Trump.

Since 2008, Section 702 has allowed US intelligence officers to bypass the warrant process and compel companies like AT&T and Google to share communications of foreigners living outside of US soil. Through this process, officials may also track messages from Americans engaging with those foreign targets.

US officials say intelligence from Section 702 has helped foil threats and enabled the 2022 killing of al-Qaida’s leader. Privacy advocates are concerned about the warrantless collection of Americans’ private communications; the FBI and others have been found to search the database for phrases related to Black Lives Matter and the events of Jan. 6.

President Joe Biden signed the bill hours after passage in the Senate. It extends Section 702 for two years and includes a House provision expanding the type of companies that can be compelled to comply.

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In The Know

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Taylor Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department" hauls in 300 million streams on Spotify on its opening day, a Spotify record (More) | ... the album also sold 1.4 million copies on its first day, the most ever for a Swift album (More)

> Roman Gabriel, former NFL MVP and NFL's first Filipino American QB, dies at 83 (More) | Sir Andrew Davis, longtime conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, dies at 80 (More)

> Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir and Alexander Mutiso Munyao win women's and men's titles at London Marathon (More) | LSU wins its first-ever NCAA women's gymnastics championship (More)

Science & Technology

In partnership with Incogni

> Australia's Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing the worst mass coral bleaching event on record, researchers say (More) | Phenomenon occurs when changing water temperatures cause coral to expel colorful algae, potentially leading to coral death (More)

> Researchers find evidence of cosmic ray bombardment on Earth's surface roughly 42,000 years ago, during a period when the planet's geomagnetic field temporarily flipped (More) | What we know about the Laschamp excursion (More)

> Scientists identify brain circuit governing foraging behavior in animals; decision making combined history of reward and whether waiting longer increased the amount of food available at different locations (More)

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Business & Markets

> US stock markets close mixed Friday (S&P 500 -0.9%, Dow +0.6%, Nasdaq -2.1%); six-day losing streak for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq is the worst for the two since October 2022 (More)

> Tesla cuts Full Self-Driving software cost in the US by one-third ($12K to $8K) as CEO Elon Musk scraps plans on releasing low-cost electric vehicle to prioritize proliferation of self-driving technology (More)

> Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant vote to unionize Friday, part of United Auto Workers broader push to unionize workers at 10 foreign carmakers with plants in the US; vote at Mercedes plant in Alabama to take place next month (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> House passes $95B aid package to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan Saturday, sending bills to Senate; House bill would also ban TikTok in the US unless China-based parent company ByteDance divests (More) | See previous write-up (More)

> Fourteen people killed in Israeli military raid in the West Bank (More) | The US expected to sanction Israeli military unit Netzah Yehuda as soon as today for actions in the West Bank prior to Oct. 7 Hamas attacks (More) | See war updates (More)

> Ecuador voters head to the polls on referendum with 11 measures to expand powers of police and armed forces to combat violence and crime; crime has been on the rise, with at least a dozen politicians killed since January 2023 (More)

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Etcetera

Earth Day today focuses on plastics.

... and Passover begins tonight at sundown.

The science of volcanic lightning.

... and views of the most powerful volcano in our solar system.

Charting how much Americans sleep each night.

A resurfaced photo captures the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

The nearly billion-dollar empire of Uncrustables.

Spice Girls reunite for Victoria Beckham's birthday.

Clickbait: An AI-designed coffee blend.

Historybook: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Ellen Glasgow born (1873); Earth Day first celebrated in the US (1970); Photographer Ansel Adams dies (1984); President Richard Nixon dies (1994); Former NFL football player Pat Tillman killed during the war in Afghanistan (2004).

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Grants Pass, Section 702, and Celebrating Earth Day

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