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Good morning readers. If you thought Boeing’s 2024 couldn’t get any worse, you thought wrong. The company’s turbulent year hit another air pocket as a 787 Dreamliner nosedived mid-flight, injuring roughly 50 passengers. The incident caps off a string of mishaps including a Max 737 door plug debacle, flight control issues, and safety concerns. Amidst plummeting stocks and FAA scrutiny, Boeing faces a credibility crisis. But as shares freefall, it's not just about dollars lost—it's about rebuilding trust with its customers. With each headline, the once sky-high reputation of Boeing faces more turbulence than its troubled planes.

Let’s jump into today’s storylines.

In today’s digest:

• Special counsel Robert Hur gets an earful in fiery House hearing

• Headline Hustle: The decision to ban TikTok happens today, inflation rose slightly in February but that hasn’t worried the Fed, Tesla and Ford receive bad grade in study for ‘driver-assist’ technology

• The hidden mental health cost of ultra-processed foods

• Pulse Points: What’s Trending

POLITICS

Special counsel Robert Hur's report sparks firestorm on Capitol Hill

In a scene more charged than your phone on a good day, the House Judiciary Committee was all ears and elbows as Robert Hur, the former special counsel, tackled questions about his hot-off-the-press report on President Biden's handling of classified documents.

Brimming with bitterness

At the heart of the matter was Hur's decision not to charge Biden, a move that has drawn fire from both sides of the aisle. Democrats lobbed accusations of bias, suggesting Hur was playing politics to favor former President Trump's re-election bid. They zeroed in on the report's focus on Biden's memory lapses, branding it as a low blow meant to undermine the President politically. Meanwhile, Republicans weren't exactly singing Hur's praises either. They slammed him for allegedly shielding Washington elites and questioned why Biden got a pass despite the flagged memory issues.

Hur, for his part, stood his ground. He insisted his report was clean of partisan leanings, and that mentioning Biden's memory issues was crucial for the full story. Republicans, however, weren't buying what Hur was selling either. Rep. Kelly Armstrong focused in on Hur’s conclusion that Biden would have come off to a jury as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and that his decision doesn’t discount that Biden met “every element of the crime.” They saw him as a protector of the political elite, questioning why Biden got off scot-free despite the acknowledged lapses.

The back-and-forth reflects more than just a squabble over a report.

• It's a glimpse into the strategies being woven by both major parties as they eye the 2024 elections.

• Republicans see a chance to question Biden's fitness for office, while Democrats decry the politicization of what should be a straightforward legal process.

Both parties are trying to use Hur's report to their advantage. Republicans are being upfront about their plan to use any negative details in the report to make Biden look bad as they look to convince people that he isn't mentally fit for office. On the other side, Democrats are calling out Hur for including those details in the first place. They're also pointing out that Trump had his own memory issues and problems with classified documents.

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IN THE KNOW

Headline Hustle

📱 Lawmakers vote whether or not to ban TikTok today. Lawmakers are gearing up for a significant vote today on a bipartisan bill that would essentially force ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell off its ownership stake in the popular app. The recent flood of calls from TikTok users to Capitol Hill has certainly added fuel to the fire. TikTok's CEO is scheduled to meet with lawmakers, and tensions are running high over concerns about fairness and national security. If voted in favor of banning the social media app, ByteDance has 165 days to divest its ownership of the app or risk being removed from US app stores.

📈 Inflation rose by 0.4% in February but not enough to worry the Fed. Inflation continues its upward trajectory, keeping the Federal Reserve cautious about interest rate adjustments until at least summer. February saw a 0.4% rise in the consumer price index (CPI), slightly exceeding forecasts, with an annual increase of 3.2%. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 0.4% monthly and 3.8% annually, both surpassing expectations. Housing and energy costs primarily drove the increase, posing challenges for the Fed's 2% inflation target. Despite resilient economic growth, concerns over persistent inflation linger.

🚗 Tesla, Ford receive poor rating in study on ‘driver assist’ technologies. A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has cast a shadow over the effectiveness of driver-assistance systems in vehicles, with Tesla and Ford among those receiving poor ratings. These systems, designed to partially automate driving tasks, were found lacking in measures to ensure driver attention remains focused on the road. Despite the increasing prevalence of such features, the study indicates little evidence of enhanced safety. The findings highlight the urgent need for automakers to bolster safeguards to prevent misuse and maintain driver alertness.

HEALTH

How our snacks are snacking away at our mental health

Just when you thought junk food's biggest crime was expanding waistlines, new research is pointing to a more sinister accomplice: our mental health.

It turns out that those ultra-processed snacks, brimming with fats and sugars, might be messing with more than just our physical well-being. They could be hijacking our brains and moods, leading scientists to flag a potential new mental health concern dubbed "ultra-processed food use disorder."

It's not just the scale that's alarming

These highly refined munchies share a troubling resemblance to addictive substances like nicotine and alcohol, sparking intense cravings and compulsive eating habits. The secret? A crafty manipulation of ingredients to hit our taste buds and brains with a one-two punch, lighting up the same reward centers that drugs do.

The link between a diet heavy in ultra-processed foods and a slew of physical health issues—obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and even cancer—is well-documented. Yet, the conversation is expanding to include mental health, with emerging evidence suggesting a diet rich in these foods could heighten the risk of depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances. The addictive nature of these foods, characterized by their unusual blend of refined carbohydrates and fats, is believed to trigger changes in brain activity and gut health, both of which play critical roles in mental well-being.

Big picture: As the evidence mounts, it's becoming clear that tackling the tide of ultra-processed foods could be key to lifting the mental health of societies worldwide, urging a shift towards more wholesome, less manipulated diets for the sake of our minds as much as our bodies.

SNIPPETS

Pulse Points

• Airbnb bans indoor security cameras in hosts' properties to prioritize renter privacy, effective April 30th.

• Michael Bloomberg's charity will invest $200 million to assist leaders of 25 U.S. cities in accessing federal funds to reduce emissions.

• President Joe Biden secured the Democratic presidential nomination for a rematch with Donald Trump, amidst party divisions and concerns over his age and fitness for office.

• Apple will enable developers to distribute their iOS apps directly from websites in EU countries through a software update later this spring, allowing app distribution outside the App Store while adhering to Apple's strict guidelines.

• The success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, earning over $1 billion, has led Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment to develop a sequel, scheduled for release on April 3rd, 2026.

• John Barnett, a former Boeing employee and whistleblower involved in a legal case against the company, was found dead in Charleston, South Carolina, in what appears to be a suicide amidst his ongoing battle over production standards and safety concerns.

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