Good morning. It's Tuesday, March 23, and Colorado is reeling from yesterday's deadly grocery store rampage. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Colorado Mass Shooting

Ten people were killed yesterday after a gunman opened fire inside a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, as customers waited in line to check out. As of this morning, the victims had not been publicly identified, though reports say 51-year-old police officer Eric Talley, the first officer on the scene was among those killed. See photos from the scene here. 

Eyewitness accounts provided little insight into the motivation for the attack—shoppers recalled the shooter, also unnamed as of this morning, dressed in black and opening fire as soon as he entered the store. After a standoff of about an hour, footage showed the suspect being led away in handcuffs (w/video, warning: sensitive content). 

Colorado has one of the highest rates of mass shootings per capita, many occurring in or near Denver. The list includes the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and the 2012 theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. 

AstraZeneca Vaccine Data

Editor's Note: In overnight news, a government panel said AstraZeneca may have provided outdated information in its results, possibly delaying authorization. This story is developing. 

A COVID-19 vaccine developed by drugmaker AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford showed an efficacy of 79% in US trials, according to data released yesterday. The two-dose regimen was 100% effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death, and was found to be equally effective in younger patients and those over 65 years of age. The company will seek emergency use authorization, with the drug potentially available as early as May. 

The report follows a temporary suspension of the vaccine in more than a dozen European countries last week over blood clotting concerns. Regulators concluded the vaccine does not increase the general risk of blood clots. Scientists are still studying cases of a condition known as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. European health officials identified 18 cases of CVST out of more than 20 million people vaccinated. A causal link to the vaccine has not been identified. 

Three shots are currently authorized in the US—Moderna (two doses), Pfizer/BioNTech (two doses), and Johnson & Johnson (one dose). AstraZeneca's vaccine can be stored at regular refrigeration temperatures for up to six months. See how the drug works here. 

Almost 83 million people in the US have received at least one vaccine shot, with the country averaging about 2.5 million doses per day. As of this morning, 542,949 total COVID-19 deaths had been reported, with a rolling seven-day average of just over 1,000 deaths per day. New cases have plateaued at around 55,000 new cases per day. Explore the data here.

(Another) Election in Israel

Voters in Israel head to the polls today to cast ballots in the country's fourth round of national elections in less than two years. The nation has been politically paralyzed since April 2019, when longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition. Today's elections follow the collapse of a fragile power-sharing agreement between Netanyahu and challenger Benny Gantz reached last March.  

No party in Israel has ever won a majority of the 120-person legislature (known as the Knesset). As a result, parties must successfully form coalitions to govern. Whether Netanyahu retains control, despite the prominence of his center-right Likud party, will likely come down to which smaller groups win a handful of seats—a system that places outsized power on the more minor parties.

One factor that may tip the race is Netanyahu's handling of the pandemic. Israel leads the world in vaccination rate, having inoculated roughly half its population, enabling the country's economic reopening. 

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Elgin Baylor, basketball Hall of Famer and 11-time NBA All-Star, dies at 86 (More) | Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson now faces 13 separate civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct (More)

> First round of women’s NCAA tournament in the books, second round begins today (More) | Men’s Sweet 16 field set after first two rounds of March Madness deliver several upsets (More)

> Cardi B becomes first female rapper ever to have five No. 1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (More) | ViacomCBS to raise $3B in stock sale to invest in streaming following recent launch of Paramount+ (More)

Science & Technology

> Scientists create map predicting where the world's undiscovered species are; only 10% to 20% of the world's species are believed to have been formally described (More) | Browse map here (More)

> Researchers demonstrate method of reading the brain's electrical activity using ultrasound; approach represents a noninvasive route to brain-computer interfaces (More)

> Carbon-ring molecules, believed to have played a key role in the development of life on Earth, observed for the first time in an interstellar cloud (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets up (S&P 500 +0.7%, Dow +0.3%, Nasdaq +1.2%), with tech stocks surging on falling bond yields (More)

> Leon Black to step down as chairman of asset manager Apollo, the company he cofounded 31 years ago, after review of ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; former SEC chairman Jay Clayton appointed non-executive chairman (More)

> US supply of homes for sale drops 29% to 1.03 million, largest year-over-year decline on record (More)

From our partners: Cut through the business noise. The Daily Upside, written by a former investment banker, gives you a deeper dive into business news in an engaging and insightful style. Sign up for the free newsletter.

Politics & World Affairs

> US Supreme Court to review lower court's decision overturning the death sentence for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; case to be heard in the fall (More)

> Coordinated sanctions leveled by the US, United Kingdom, Canada, and European Union against China over the treatment of the country's Muslim Uighur minority (More) | Saudi Arabia offers cease-fire to Yemen rebels in bid to end bloody seven-year conflict (More)

> Rep. Henry Cuellar (D, TX-28) releases photos from inside facility hosting unaccompanied migrant children; Biden administration has been criticized for lack of media access amid migrant surge (More) | Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) confirmed as labor secretary (More)

IN-DEPTH

The Mystery of Harriet Cole

Atlas Obscura | Jessica Leigh Hester. In 1888, famed anatomist Rufus Weaver painstakingly dissected and mounted an entire human nervous system, dubbing it "Harriet Cole." Despite attracting thousands of astonished viewers over the decades, little is known about the person from which the specimen was produced. (Read)

Google and the Age of Privacy Theater

Wired | Gilad Edelman. Google made waves earlier this month when it announced it would stop using third-party cookies—data files that track your internet browsing history. Yet surveillance of our online behaviors, usually in a quest to sell ads, likely isn't going anywhere, and claims of a privacy revolution may be exaggerated. (Read, $$)

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ETCETERA

Australia's floods have created a spider nightmare. 

A timeline of the pandemic's key events.

... and new study finds Americans gained 1.5 pounds per month during lockdown. 

Award-winning chef unveils the "optimized" pasta shape.

This AI program will help you hone your debate skills.

Norway to build the world's first ship tunnel. 

Remote work is a raw deal for Gen Z.

A time-lapse of the Aurora Borealis in the Wisconsin sky.

Clickbait: Florida bans toilet-invading iguanas. 

Historybook:  Patrick Henry delivers "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech (1775); Sir Roger Bannister, first person to run a sub-4-minute mile, born (1929); Adolf Hitler becomes dictator of Germany (1933); RIP Elizabeth Taylor (2011).

"There is no deodorant like success."

- Elizabeth Taylor

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