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Good morning,

It just keeps getting better for Taylor Swift, who joins the billionaires club this year. Forbes reports a “Blank Space (baby)” for Swift, who joins 2,780 other billionaires in 2024 — 14 of whom are celebs with a collective net worth of $31 billion.

• Swift’s newfound status (with $1.1 billion) is all the more impressive because she’s the first do make it on her music and performances alone.

• George Lucas tops the celebrity list with $5.5 billion, while Steven Spielberg, Michael Jordan, Oprah and Jay-Z are in the top five. Kim Kardashian, Tyler Perry, and Rihanna follow. Though, they are virtual paupers when compared to the top of the list. LVMH’s Bernard Arnault and his $233 billion fashion and cosmetics empire finished at #1 this year.

Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

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📌 WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN AID WORKERS KILLED IN GAZA AIRSTRIKE

An Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers traveling in a convoy in Gaza. The charity, started by celebrity chef José Andrés, is temporarily suspending delivery of vital food aid to Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the country’s forces had carried out the “unintended strike... on innocent people” and will conduct a full investigation.

THE INCIDENT
WCK is a US-based nonprofit that feeds people around the world, including in Israel, during humanitarian, climate, and community crises. The charity said that its team had been coordinating its movements with the Israeli military.

• The incident: On Monday, three cars, two armored, were traveling in a “deconflicted zone.” The group’s logo was visible on all the cars.

• According to Haaretz, Israel suspected a Hamas terrorist was traveling with the convoy and launched the drone strike.

  • Israel was concerned about an armed man at the WCK warehouse. But, it turns out he was NOT in the convoy — he'd stayed behind.

• Some of the aid workers fled the hit car for another in the convoy, but seconds later another missile hit that car. The third car in the convoy approached, and passengers began to transfer the wounded when a third missile then struck them.

Those killed were six international aid workers and a Palestinian driver.

• WCK’s CEO says the strike is unforgivable: “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war.”

THE AID CRISIS WORSENS
Now, the United Arab Emirates is among those pausing aid deliveries to Gaza pending further safety guarantees from Israel and a full investigation.

• The UN’s main agency in Gaza, UNRWA, was barred by Israel from making aid deliveries to the north after it was uncovered that several workers participated in the October 7 terror attack on Israel.

INTERNATIONAL OUTCRY
Israel is facing a wave of criticism from humanitarian organizations and foreign leaders.

• Biden has said he is “outraged,” and calling for Israel to better protect aid workers. The US called for a swift probe into the incident. Poland said the strike was a “disregard for international humanitarian law,” and Britain said the news was “deeply distressing.”

• Jamie McGoldrick, the UN aid coordinator in the Palestinian territories, said, "This is not an isolated incident” and that the strikes are part of a troubling trend that as a record number of humanitarian workers have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began.

📌 OREGON WALKS BACK DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION LAW

Oregon is walking back its first-in-the-nation decriminalization of drugs. Three years after the law first took effect, Governor Tina Kotek signed a bill on Monday that reimposes misdemeanor charges, with potential jail time, for drug possession.

It goes into effect September 1, and comes as the state, and particularly Portland, saw overdose death rates soar.

THE EXPERIMENT
Back in 2020, over half of Oregon voters chose to adopt Measure 110. It made the possession of illicit drugs (think: heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine), intended for personal use, punishable by a maximum fine of $100. The law went into effect in 2021, just as fentanyl use across the nation began to soar. And more, the money intended for addiction services was slow to arrive in the midst of the COVID pandemic. So the results have not been great.

• Now, having even a small amount of those drugs could send you to jail for 180 days. But lawmakers also established measures to get people into drug or mental health treatment programs instead of jails.

WHAT’S NEXT
Some lawmakers who initially supported Measure 110 voted last month to rollback the measure. But others are concerned that the law will lead to more arrests and exacerbate social inequities.

• Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler has acknowledged reform is needed, but doesn’t want to go back to “the war on drugs.” He says, “I hope this isn’t an excuse for people to turn their backs on the hard work of building a mental health system.”

📚 COLLEGE FOR MORE THAN $90,000 A YEAR

The cost of college keeps getting higher and higher. As many high school seniors choose where to go to college in the coming weeks, the price tag for a number of private colleges has now soared above $90,000 for a single year of tuition, room & board, and expenses.

As we reported yesterday, more young people are turning to trade school as the cost of four-year colleges and universities goes up. Two million high school students are about to graduate in the US and cost is going to be a major factor in where they continue their education.

PRICE TAGS $$$$
It’s now officially over $90,000 for a year at the following schools: Wellesley, University of Southern California, Harvey Mudd College, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Boston University, and Harvard University.

• The latest income data for the US shows the median household income was $74,580 in 2022 — a 2.3% decline from the 2021 estimate of $76,330.

• But colleges keep raising tuition. Tuition rates from the 2022-2023 school year, compared to 2023-2024, at private US universities rose by about 5%. In-state tuition and fees at public universities rose by nearly 4% and 1.4% for out-of-state students.

A LITTLE HELP PLEASE
For some lower-income families the private tuition rates are misleading, because, after aid, they can be cheaper than in-state schools.

• Phillip Levine, a professor of economics at Wellesley College near Boston, said most people won’t pay $90,000 because “the existence of a very generous financial aid system lowers that cost substantially."

  • Wellesley’s estimated price tag is $92,000, but over half of students get financial aid that averages out to reduce the cost by two-thirds (more like $30,000).

• Private schools average out to an advertised cost last year of $60,000. That’s more than double the cost ($29,000) for public in-state schools, while out-of-state students face $47,000 a year.

Bigger picture: 43 million Americans (about 13% of US adults) owe around $1.7 trillion in student debt. And the US’s new federal financial aid system has caused confusion and delays this admissions season.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 14 Million under tornado watch as storms sweep through Ohio Valley (AXIOS)

📌 RFK Jr. argues that Biden is a bigger threat to democracy than Trump (CNN)

📌 New York prison inmates sue state to get permission to watch solar eclipse (FOX NEWS)

📌 Freight railroads must keep 2-person crews, according to new federal rule (ABC NEWS)

📌 Car loan financier who put up $175m bond for Trump was ‘happy to do it’ (GUARDIAN)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Strongest earthquake in 25 years hits Taiwan, collapsing buildings (CNN)

📌 One dead, two injured in Finland school shooting as 12-year-old suspect detained (BBC)

📌 Biden, Xi speak for first time since November summit (CNN)

📌 Kidnapped American YouTuber who paid $50,000 ransom is still unable to leave Haiti (BLOOMBERG)

📌 J.K. Rowling will not be arrested for comments about transgender women, police say (NBC NEWS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Ozempic should only cost $5 a month, according to recent study (FAST COMPANY)

📌 Trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida (ARS TECHNICA)

📌 You'll need more than $100,000 in income to afford a typical home in the US, studies show (NPR)

📌 White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon (REUTERS)

📌 Jon Stewart claims Apple wouldn't let him interview FTC chair on his podcast (AXIOS)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Lizzo says she didn’t mean she will quit music when she posted “I Quit” on Instagram (BBC)

📌 Angie Harmon says Instacart driver shot and killed her dog (CNN)

📌 Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ ex shares new footage of raid on his LA home, slams agents using ‘militarized force’ (NY POST)

📌 Iowa, LSU make history as most watched women's college basketball game ever (ESPN)

📌 Top musicians among hundreds warning against replacing human artists with AI (AXIOS)

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

🗓 ON THIS DAY: APRIL 3

• 1895: The trial of Oscar Wilde, a celebrated playwright and poet, began in London over homosexuality, which was illegal in Britain at the time.

• 1968: ‘Bookends,’ the fourth studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, was released

• 1973: The first portable cell phone call was made by Motorola employee Martin Cooper, using a prototype of what would become the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x

• 2010: Apple released the first-generation iPad.