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Good morning,

Some big news today, about us!

Today is the 500th episode of the Mo News daily podcast. We pulled it off in just under two years, thanks in part to all of you who listen!

• 🎧 Our premiere was June 13, 2022; we started with twice-weekly episodes (to see if anyone would even like it). You did and we went daily two months later.

• 🎙️ Since then, we’ve recorded more than 400 daily episodes, conducted nearly 100 interviews, and launched Mo News: The Interview AND the Mo News Premium podcasts.

• ⭐️ We have hit the Top 10 on the Spotify and Apple news podcast charts multiple times, and are pacing to soon hit 5 million downloads.

Also, in that time, we’ve also added two very important members to the Mo News team— babies Greyson and Olivia.

For everyone who listens, thanks for spending part of your day with us. And if you haven’t listened yet, what are you waiting for?! 😉

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

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✓ Listen to the member-only podcast for exclusive and BTS episodes
✓ Support Mo News and help us provide independent, non-partisan news coverage

🏀 WHY THE WNBA’S TOP DRAFT PICK WILL MAKE LESS THAN 1% OF THE NBA’S

No surprise, Caitlin Clark was the #1 WNBA draft pick. Maybe more of a surprise: that her first-year salary will be $76,535.

• Clark, who was the NCAA's all-time scoring leader (for men and women), selected by the Indiana Fever in Monday's WNBA draft. She received a four-year contract worth a total of $338,056, per WNBA rules.

WHAT THE?!
Of course, she’s expected to make many more millions in endorsements. Already, it’s estimated that her deals with State Farm, Gatorade, and Nike are worth $3 million. But that’s not stopping the social media backlash of the salary.

• Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson wrote on X."These ladies deserve so much more…Praying for the day."

• NBC’s Hoda Kotb called it ridiculous.

• Journalist Lisa Ling wrote “It’s BULLSHIT… Is this even a living wage?”

AS FOR THE MEN
More notable, the NBA’s top draft pick will make over $10 million. So what’s behind the enormous pay gap? The two leagues say it is all about economics.

UNDERSTANDING THE NUMBERS
A big reason for the pay disparity is that the WNBA makes a lot less money than the NBA, in terms of both ticket sales and TV contracts.

• The NBA brings in over $10 billion a year — dwarfing the WNBA’s total revenue of $200 million by 50x. Notably, each of the 32 NBA teams averages about $200-$300 million in revenue alone.

• The WNBA’s season is half the length. (40 vs 82 games).

• The WNBA currently makes about $60 million a year from its media rights. Meanwhile, the NBA is currently in a $24 billion television deal that pays the league $2.7 billion annually.

MO FANS = MO $
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said securing more lucrative media-rights deals in the coming years will be critical to the league’s ability to compensate athletes more.

• Translation: More people need to watch games, as well as buy tickets and merchandise, for the WNBA to pay more.

• And experts say we’re not talking 5 to 10 percent here; there has to be a very significant jump.

• But ratings ARE increasing, as is investment. Condi Rice, Michael Dell, Lorraine Jobs and Nike are among recent WNBA investors. .

And if the record-breaking NCAA championships viewership is any indicator of what’s to come, Clark will certainly provide a huge boost to the WNBA.

🏀 Look for Clark to make her professional debut on May 14, when the WNBA’s regular season opens. Mark your calendars: It’s will be on ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

📌 GOP TENSIONS ERUPT OVER JOHNSON OUSTER THREATS

Groundhog Day, so soon? No, it’s just Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) job is on the line as some far-right members of the House are threatening to oust him. He says he “is not resigning.”

• “We need steady leadership. We need steady hands on the wheel,” he said. “Look, I regard myself as a wartime speaker.”

• Reminder: Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted last fall after only 269 days. Johnson is only 175 days into his speakership.

THE ISSUES
Yesterday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) followed Marjorie Greene's (R-GA) lead by calling on Johnson to resign. They are threatening to oust Johnson after he proposed a plan to get aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and other allies, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate in February.

• On Monday night, Johnson decided to make each aid package a separate bill. Aid for Israel took on new urgency after Iran’s missile and drone barrage this weekend.

Republicans have a two seat majority. That majority will go down to one seat by the end of the week with the latest resignation. A vote to ‘vacate the chair’ only needs a simple majority, meaning two Republicans (Massie and Greene) + all Democrats could remove Johnson. This time, though, some Democrats are indicating that they may help save Johnson, since he has reached across the aisle to pass legislation.

WHAT THE GOP IS SAYING
Massie’s announcement came at a closed-door Republican conference meeting and was reportedly met with "booing." The last time they booted a Speaker, House Republicans took three weeks to find and vote in Johnson.

• GOP members were quoted as saying: "It's a clusterf**k” and "We are screwed."

• Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) said, "I'm frustrated. We've got the world on fire and a lot of work to get done here ... to threaten it again without any plan forward is, at best, silliness, [and at worst] it's unpatriotic.”

• Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) called it a "distraction and an "unforced error.”

📌 NPR EDITOR SUSPENDED AFTER CALLING OUTLET BIAS

Criticize your employer and you might get… suspended. That’s what happened this week to NPR’s senior business editor who wrote an online article saying the media group’s liberal point of view and “progressive worldview” has tainted its coverage.

• Uri Berliner’s five-day suspension without pay began last Friday.

• Berliner was told he violated the company's policy that it must approve work done for outside news organizations.

To add fuel to the fire, NPR’s new CEO is getting backlash for left-wing posts on social media about Trump and social justice causes before she joined the media company; Berliner says this proves his point.

THE CRITICISM
At issue, Berliner’s essay “I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust, and his conversation with journalist Bari Weiss on her podcast, both for The Free Press.

• He says NPR’s coverage of issues were tainted by liberal bias. And at times went so far as to bury stories:

  • TRUMP: “What began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.”

  • HUNTER BIDEN: A New York Post story about emails on Hunter Biden’s laptop wasn’t pursued. “I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump.”

  • COVID: Ignoring evidence of a Wuhan lab leak. “Over the course of the pandemic, a number of investigative journalists made compelling, if not conclusive, cases for the lab leak. But at NPR, we weren’t about to swivel or even tiptoe away from the insistence with which we backed the natural origin story.”

Berliner’s essay calls for immediate change. He says he found 87 registered Democrats and no Republicans working at NPR’s headquarters in editorial positions. It’s led NPR leadership to instate monthly reviews of the network's coverage.

CEO UNDER FIRE
After Berliner’s essay, NPR’s new CEO Katherine Maher — who started at the company last month — is facing backlash for social media posts she made about Trump and embracing progressive causes in 2020. 

THE RESPONSE
NPR noted that "the CEO is not involved in editorial decisions." Maher says, "In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen.”

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Murder numbers plummets in a number of major U.S. cities (except Atlanta and LA) (AXIOS)

📌 House sends DHS Secretary Mayorkas impeachment articles to the Senate (CNN)

📌 Supreme Court appears divided on case that could upend felony charges against Jan. 6 rioters, Trump (ABC NEWS)

📌 Columbia University’s president to testify at antisemitism hearing today (CNN) What she plans to say (COLUMBIA)

📌 USC valedictorian banned from giving graduation speech over ‘security concerns,’ after complaints about anti-Zionist, anti-Semitic rhetoric (NY POST)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Justin Trudeau plans to win over Canadians with his Gen Z-friendly budget (POLITICO)

📌 Historic Copenhagen stock exchange in Denmark goes up in flames (BBC)

📌 Dubai gets nearly 2x annual rainfall in a matter of 6 hours (CBS NEWS) ‘Cloud seeding’ may have been partially to blame (INSIDER)

📌 US Treasury Department plans to impose new sanctions on Iran after Israel attack (CNBC)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 UnitedHealth to take up to $1.6 billion hit this year from Change hack (REUTERS)

📌 Zuckerberg wins bid to avoid personal liability in addiction lawsuits (THE HILL)

📌 Pro-Palestinian Google employees stage ‘sit-ins’ over company contract with Israel (WIRED)

📌 World faces ‘deathly silence’ of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts (GUARDIAN)

📌 American Airlines’ pilots report ‘significant spike’ in safety issues (NY POST)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Celine Dion documentary gets a release date (GMA)

📌 Michigan given three-year probation, recruiting penalties by NCAA for football violations — case vs. Jim Harbaugh pending (AP)

📌 Blake Griffin retires after high-flying NBA career that included Rookie of the Year, All-Star honors (CBS SPORTS)

📌 First product of Meghan Markle's lifestyle brand revealed (BBC)

Mo News Podcast: A daily conversation about the news that matters.

🗓 ON THIS DAY: APRIL 17

• 1961: The Bag of Pigs invasion of Cuba, where about 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles attempted to topple Fidel Castro, launched. It failed within days.

• 1964: Ford introduced the Mustang. They almost named it the Cougar.

• 1972: The Boston Marathon allowed women to compete for the first time — Nina Kuscsik won the race with a time of 3:10:26. On Monday, Hellen Obiri of Kenya won the women's race at 2:22:37.

• MUSIC: 1972: Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man;’ 1973: The Eagles’ ‘Desperado;’ 1976: Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back in Town.”