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Good morning,

Can’t get enough of March Madness? Well, we have more, but with a Mo News twist: The Mo Madness Presidential Bracket.

Over the next few weeks, the Mo News team will debate these Sweet 16 US presidents’ policies and records (not an actual 1:1 🏀).

• 🎤 We’re running it back… debate team style. Different Mo News team members will tell you why one president should beat the other.

• Debates will take place over at the Mo News Premium Instagram page (sign up here), where all premium members will then get to vote on each round.

• We’ll post the winners on the main Instagram page.

Let the POTUS madness begin!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

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📲 US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES APPLE OVER IPHONE MONOPOLY

Big tech got hit with another lawsuit yesterday. This time, it’s Apple. The US Department of Justice, along with 16 state attorneys general, allege the $3 trillion dollar tech behemoth gained and kept control of the smartphone market by stifling competition, “not by making its own products better — but by making other products worse.”

MONOPOLY, BUT NOT THE GAME
Apple holds over 65% of the entire U.S. smartphone market—globally it’s around 20%. As the majority of Americans know, iPhones can cost around $1,600. That price tag, the DOJ says, is the price Americans pay for Apple’s unlawful hold on the market.

• A monopoly is defined as “the power to control prices or exclude competition.”

• The case alleges Apple does this by restricting Apple users’ access to third-party apps (like cloud-based mobile games) and non-iPhone users from accessing that iMessage feature. (Think: how photos and videos sent from android devices to iPhones look terrible.)

  • The lawsuit also says Apple limits non-Apple digital wallets and watches.

• Recently, US officials have also filed anti-monopoly lawsuits against Amazon, Google and Meta Platforms.

“BUY YOUR MOM AN IPHONE”
That was Apple CEO Tim Cook’s solution to the question of how Apple would fix iPhone-to-Android messaging.

• Apple says the quote was taken out of context, but the DOJ report has multiple internal messages from company officials worrying that consumers would buy cheaper competitor products if their systems were broadly offered.

• Apple responded to the lawsuit saying, “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets. If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple—where hardware, software, and services intersect.”

• Apple argues that their ‘walled garden’ of devices that all talk to one another (but not very well to competitors) is necessary to maintain quality and security.

Time check: This could be a multi-year lawsuit, so don’t hold your breath for that green bubble to turn blue when messaging your Android friend anytime soon.

🐷 FIRST-EVER PIG-TO-HUMAN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT

In a medical breakthrough, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital transplanted a pig’s genetically modified kidney into a living person.

Doctors said the patient is recovering well Thursday after a four-hour surgery last weekend. He is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.

THE PROCEDURE
62-year-old Rick Slayman is living with end-stage kidney disease. He had a human kidney transplant in 2018, but had to go back on dialysis last year as it showed signs of failure.

• When his doctor suggested the landmark pig-to-human transplant, Slayman says he saw it not only as a way to help himself, “but a way to provide hope for the thousands of people who need a transplant to survive.” Over 800,000 Americans currently have end-stage kidney disease.

• Dr. Tatsuo Kawai, the surgeon who performed the operation, said after the organ was transplanted, it “pinked up immediately and started to make urine… It was the most beautiful kidney I had ever seen.”

NATIONWIDE SHORTAGE
Over 100,000 people in the US currently need an organ transplant— kidneys being the most needed— while 17 people die a day waiting for one. It would have taken up to 7 years for Slayman to get another human kidney.

• Medical experts think animal-to-human organ transplants (xenotransplant) are the best fix to the nationwide organ shortage.

• HOW IT WORKS: Gene-editing tool CRISPR— which won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2020— genetically modified the pig to make it more compatible with humans.

  • Critics tell the NY Times that “xenotransplantation raises the prospect of still greater exploitation of animals and may introduce new pathogens into human populations.”

• So far, two other people have received pig organs—both hearts, and both patients died weeks after the procedures. But doctors are more confident in this operation, given that Slayman is in better condition than the heart recipient.

PRODUCE WITH DIRTIEST (🍓) & CLEANEST (🥑) PESTICIDE RESIDUE

Nicknamed the “Dirty Dozen” and “Clean Fifteen,” the Environmental Working Group— an environmental and health advocacy organization— released its annual list of which fruits and veggies have the most and least amount of pesticide residue.

• Dirtiest: Strawberries, leafy greens such as spinach and kale, collard and mustard greens, grapes, peaches and pears led the “Dirty Dozen.”

• Cleanest: Avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, onions and papayas came out at the top of the “Clean Fifteen” list.

• How they got there: Researchers looked at data from 47,510 samples— mostly from the USDA— of 46 non-organic produce.

• The Pushback: Critics accuse the EWG of shoddy science, being funding by the organic food industry, and not providing context on the amount of pesticides that are actually dangerous to people.

Check out our post ^ to see what produce is dirtiest, cleanest, and ways to wash.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 New York AG takes 1st step toward possibly seizing Trump's assets as part of $464M fraud judgment (ABC NEWS)

📌 California approves Prop. 1 to fund mental health programs for homeless (CBS NEWS)

📌 RFK Jr. struggling to get on state ballots ahead of naming his runningmate next week (POLITICO)

📌 'Little rascals' trio, ages 11, 12 and 16, arrested for robbing a Houston bank (ABC NEWS)

📌 Over 100 migrants break through razor wire, knock down guards as they illegally cross El Paso border in wild scene (NY POST)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 US tests hypersonic missile in Pacific as it aims to keep up with China and Russia (CNN)

📌 Plan to recover "holy grail" of shipwrecks holding billions of dollars in treasure is approved over 3 centuries after ship sank off the coast of Colombia (CBS NEWS)

📌 French President Emmanuel Macron shows off his boxing skills in “thirst trap” photos, sparking mixed reaction (CNN)

📌 India's main opposition party accuses Modi's government of freezing bank accounts (NBC NEWS)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Dozens sue Ozempic, other drugs, claiming harmful side effects (USA TODAY)

📌 DMV services disrupted nationwide over system outage (NBC NEWS)

📌 Rupert Murdoch and new 'Washington Post' CEO accused of cover-up in hacking scandal (NPR)

📌 E-waste from trashed electric devices is piling up and recycling isn’t keeping pace, UN says (AP)

📌 Toddlers Smell like flowers, teens smell ‘goatlike,’ study on body order finds (NY TIMES)

 📌 Mitch McConnell’s sister-in-law was intoxicated when she drove into lake and died, sheriff’s office says (CNN)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Britain’s Royal Family searches for new communications assistant, pay is $33,000 (FORTUNE)

📌 Dana Carvey apologizes for ‘SNL’ skit that made Sharon Stone ‘take her clothes off’ — and she reacts (NY POST)

📌 Real Housewives: Potomac star Karen Huger charged with DUI following crash (PEOPLE) Beverly Hills’ Annemarie Wiley fired after one season (DEADLINE)

📌 Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter fired by LA Dodgers amid accusations of ‘massive theft’ (CNN)

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🎉 CHEERS TO THE FREAKIN WEEKEND

• WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: Mosheh: “Photographer” featuring friends of the Mo News podcast, Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier; Jill: Kiddywink Crew Podcast.

• WHAT WE’RE READING: Mosheh: American Woman ~ Katie Rogers; Jill: Google’s Woke AI Wasn’t a Mistake. We Know. We Were There. ~Francesca Block and Olivia Reingold.

• WHAT WE’RE EATING: Mosheh: & Jill: Hamantaschen from Breads Bakery in New York.