4.10.2018

All your news in a single email. We scour 100+ sources so you don't have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more - all packaged in a 5-minute read below.
 

FBI Raids Trump Lawyer.
The FBI raided the office and hotel room of President Trump's longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen yesterday on suspicion of bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations. Agents reportedly seized documents and records related to multiple incidents, including Cohen's payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who alleges a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. The President denied knowledge of the payment last week in his first comments about the issue since it surfaced. The search warrant was reportedly obtained based at least in part on evidence from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe - Mueller passed the information to federal prosecutors in New York. According to Justice Department regulations, Mueller would have had to confer with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (Attorney General Jeff Sessions' number two) on the new charges, who would've then referred the matter to other federal prosecutors. 

Early reports suggest the evidence that led to the warrant was uncovered in Mueller's probe of a Ukrainian billionaire's donation to the Trump foundation in 2015 in exchange for a video speech - a transaction facilitated by Cohen. 

Facebook Notifies, Zuckerberg Testifies.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with lawmakers yesterday ahead of two days of hearings on Capitol Hill to discuss the company's handling of transparency and privacy issues. The hearings come on the heels of the widely-publicized Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the data science firm skimmed info from the profiles of more than 87 million users by exploiting lax oversight and privacy rules. Facebook also notified users yesterday if their data had been compromised in the breach. Zuckerberg appears in front of the Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees today (2pm ET) and the House Energy and Commerce Committee tomorrow (10am ET). The company has been on a goodwill tour ahead of the appearances - it set new rules for political advertisers, launched an initiative to assess the impact of social media on elections, and took out full-page apology ads in major US and UK publications. You can read Zuckerberg's prepared testimony here. 

Zuckerberg also got a crash course from experts in how to be charming, according to reports. 

New Definition of Alzheimer's Onset.
Scientists and government officials have proposed a new way of defining Alzheimer's, a chronic neurodegenerative disease that causes memory loss and dementia that affects nearly 6 million people in the US. The new approach would rely on advanced brain imaging techniques to measure physical changes in the brain - current approaches mostly depend on qualitative assessments of things like memory loss in patients. Many disease have specific biological markers doctors can link with disease onset - like blood sugar in diabetes - but only recently have researchers been able to measure the buildup of two key proteins, amyloid and tau, linked to Alzheimer's. While scientists are still not sure exactly how the disease works, these two proteins cause plaque buildup in the brain, resulting in nerve damage and cognitive decline. The ability to measure this buildup could allow doctors to diagnose the disease up to 20 years earlier than currently allowed. 
 

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> FL Gov. Rick Scott (R) announces Senate race against incumbent Bill Nelson (D) (More)
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Ranking the most popular dog breeds in the US (from the American Kennel Club). 

Tammy Duckworth becomes the first sitting US senator to give birth.

Get Out director Jordan Peele to produce Lorena Bobbitt docuseries for Amazon.

The biggest American beer nerds rank the best US beers by state.

Ambassadors reveal the one book you should read before visiting their country.

Military vets give advice on how to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. 

The number of Americans with no religious affiliation is rising. 

Route 30 in east Pittsburgh collapses, plummets 40 feet in landslide (w/ photos).

Mean Girls is now a Broadway musical.

Clickbait: Wheel of Fortune fail. 

Historybook: The Great Gatsby is first published (1925); HBD Dolores Huerta (1930); HBD John Madden (1936); Paul McCartney leaves The Beatles (1970); Good Friday Agreement is signed (1998).
 

"Self-praise is for losers."
- John Maden
 

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