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Good morning,

The state of the union is….

Find out tonight at 9 p.m. ET during President Biden’s State of the Union address. You can watch on all major networks or online. We’ll also have real-time coverage on the Mo News Instagram account.

🏆 If you plan to watch, don’t forget to play our SOTU Bingo card. There’s a real one (see above) and a fun ‘Wishlist Edition’ that will be available on our Instagram account later this morning. Will Biden whisper into the mic for dramatic effect? Will someone fall asleep during his speech?

Play along to find out!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

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

🇺🇸 PRIMARIES EXPOSE SOME VULNERABILITIES FOR TRUMP, BIDEN

Some of former President Donald Trump's toughest critics are clearing the path for his GOP presidential nomination. Nikki Haley, the first major candidate to challenge him for the 2024 nomination, and the one who lasted the longest, suspended her campaign yesterday.

HALEY BIDS ADIEU
She did not endorse Trump Wednesday, calling on him to earn the support of the people who backed her. Among the key groups where she drew her support (ranging from 20-40% of the vote in most states): independents, moderates, suburban and urban Republicans with a college degree, and centrist Democrats.

• Haley made history becoming the first female GOP candidate to win a presidential primary (DC and Vermont).

• At 52, Haley is still hoping for a future in politics, though it isn’t clear whether it is with the current MAGA Republican party. She added: “I have no regrets. And although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”

• The major question is whether Haley voters end up going to Biden, Trump, a third party candidate or don’t vote for president at all. It comes as we watch disenchanted Democrats, some of whom voted “uncommitted” in primary states. Biden also has his own concerns among progressives who are unhappy with his foreign policy as well as voters who may return to Trump’s camp over concerns about inflation and immigration.

BIDEN COURTS HALEY VOTERS
President Biden responded to Haley’s announcement by saying, “Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There’s a place for them in my campaign.”

TRUMP ALSO COURTS HALEY VOTERS (KIND OF)
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion….much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters….I would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY.”

THE DOUBLE HATERS

An important (and growing) group who both sides are looking to win over in the next eight months are the so-called “double-haters,” or voters who disapprove of both Biden and Trump.

In a new poll of swing states by Bloomberg News, almost 1 in 5 voters—18%—say they don’t like either candidates. This has been a trend since 2016, when both Hillary Clinton and Trump had high disapprovals. It continued in 2020, and it appears to be an even larger voting bloc this year. And, it comes in a year where we may see independent candidates like RFK Jr (pending they are on the ballot in all 50 states) get more than 10% of the vote.

🚨 DEMOCRATIC CITIES GET TOUGH ON CRIME

New York’s Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is planning to send National Guard troops and State Police officers into New York City’s subway system to help ensure riders' safety after a spike in transit crime.

Yesterday’s announcement comes as cities across the US—from San Francisco to Washington DC—are expanding police power to combat rising concerns of crime.

A PLAN FOR THE SUBWAY
Hochul’s five-point plan works to streamline crime efforts between law enforcement, transit personnel, and the city's district attorneys. It comes as the number of arrests in the nation's largest transit system was already up 45% this year.

• In February, six people were shot and one killed at a Bronx subway station. Other people have been recently kicked onto the tracks without provocation in a handful of occasions.

  • More than 1 billion people ride the NYC subway every year—an average of 3 million per day. While overall crime is down, there have been several dozen high profile violent incidents raising concerns.

• The plan will deploy nearly 1,000 state and MTA personnel, 750 of whom will be National Guard members, to conduct bag checks and patrol the lines. It also recommends legislation to allow judges to ban individuals convicted of transit crime from riding the subway and increases surveillance cameras.

• Small group of bad actors: MTA CEO Janno Lieber says that 1% of subway suspects are responsible for more than 20% of the crime.

LIBERAL CITIES FIGHTING CRIME
Liberal cities and states across the US are tightening laws and boosting restrictions because of an increase in crime.

• Oregon lawmakers recriminalized drugs after Portland was flooded with fentanyl. The 2020 law removed criminal penalties for possessing street drugs. But overdose deaths skyrocketed—there was a 42% jump in deaths across the state from September 2022 to September 2023.

• DC saw a nearly 40% spike in violent crime last year, largely driven by armed robberies and carjackings. On Tuesday, DC lawmakers passed the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024, which increases penalties for gun violence and organized retail theft and expands the definition of carjacking.

• San Francisco voters approved Proposition E regarding public safety and police ability to chase suspects by car and use certain surveillance technologies.

🦣 BRINGING BACK THE WOOLLY MAMMOTHS TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

A company working toward bringing woolly mammoths out of extinction announced a breakthrough: they created a line of Asian elephant stem cells—the closest relative to a woolly mammoth—that can potentially be transformed into other types of cells needed to bring back the giant. The Asian elephants are close to being extinct themselves.

THE BREAKTHROUGH
Colossal Biosciences has been working on de-extinction efforts since 2021, but Harvard geneticist and Colossal co-founder George Church started trying to resurrect the woolly mammoth for over a decade. He calls this “probably the most significant step in the early stages of this project."

• The cells, known as pluripotent stem cells, can propagate indefinitely and give rise to every other type of cell in a body.

• The elephant to mammoth pipeline: Scientists with Colossal plan to make genetic changes in the stem cells from the elephant sequences to woolly mammoth sequences, and then see if the cells can grow into a mammoth-like creature.

• But, why do this? Proponents argue that this work could yield lessons to help preserve endangered elephants and other species. They also argue that the animals can fight climate change, envisioning a future arctic herd stomping down permafrost and preventing it from thawing and releasing carbon into the air.

A LONG WAY TO GO
The research still needs to be peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal, but some scientists are expressing ethical concerns. Actually birthing a woolly mammoth is years away. And questions whether an elephant can even carry the edited embryo, or how it will come out, are still up in the air. And then there are the ethical questions about bringing back an extinct species.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 Alabama governor signs law protecting IVF treatments (NPR)

📌 House passes funding bills to avert partial government shutdown (ABC NEWS)

📌 After meeting Trump, Elon Musk says he will not be donating to either presidential candidate (REUTERS)

📌 Bill that could ban TikTok in the U.S. gains momentum in Congress (NBC NEWS)

📌 House Republicans set public testimony from Hunter Biden for March 20 (FOX NEWS)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Hamas rejects latest ceasefire/hostage deal as talks stall ahead of Ramadan (NY TIMES)

📌 Hundreds of truckloads of aid for Gaza stuck as more malnutrition deaths are happening (ABC NEWS)

📌 Russian strike lands near Zelensky and Greek prime minister (AXIOS)

📌 Several crew members killed for first time in Houthi attack on commercial ship near Yemen (CNN)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Cancer-causing chemical found in a number of popular acne treatments (REUTERS)

📌 Rare gray whale, extinct in the Atlantic for 200 years, spotted near Nantucket (NBC NEWS)

📌 OpenAI says Musk agreed the ChatGPT maker should become a for-profit company (ABC NEWS)

📌 NTSB says Boeing has not provided details about midair blowout (NPR)

📌 Coastal cities in the US are sinking as sea levels continue to rise, new research shows (ABC NEWS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Trial over stolen 'Hotel California' lyrics abruptly ends after prosecutors drop charges, citing new emails (NBC NEWS)

📌 ‘Rust’ movie armorer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, acquitted of evidence tampering (CNN)

📌 Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal to Star in Broadway’s ‘Othello’ (VARIETY)

📌 Tony Goldwyn, Jane Fonda, Matthew Modine and more sign open letter ahead of Oscars to “make nukes history” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)

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🗓 ON THIS DAY: MARCH 7

• 1876: The telephone was patented by 29-year-old Alexander Graham Bell. He made the first phone call 3 days later to his assistant in the room next door.

• 1933: The board game ‘Monopoly’ is invented. It was actually a derivative of several real estate games available at the time.

• 1965: The ‘Bloody Sunday’ attack took place in Selma, Alabama on the Edmund Pettus Bridge when state troopers used nightsticks and tear gas to attack American civil rights activists during their attempted march to the state capitol in Montgomery.

• 1985: "We are the World," a song to help fight famine in Africa that brought together some of the era’s biggest artists, was released.

  • For the incredible story behind the song, check out Netflix’s new documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop.