Good morning. It's Friday, March 21, and we're covering an executive order to dwindle the Education Department, the record-breaking sale of an iconic NBA franchise, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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Education Department Order |
President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday seeking to minimize the US Education Department and give more authority to state governments. Critical programs, including Pell Grants, student loans, and funding for low-income students, will still be administered but through other agencies. The Education Department cannot be shuttered without approval from Congress, which established the department in 1979.
The order follows mass layoffs that have slashed the department's workforce by nearly half. The department oversees education policy, supports funding for state and local education systems, and promotes educational equity. It also provides aid to higher education institutions and students, managing $1.6T in federal student loans. In fiscal year 2024, the department had a $268B budget, accounting for 4% of total federal spending. The Office of Federal Student Aid was its highest-spending division at $161B. Learn more about the Education Department and how it spends its money here (w/charts).
Separately, a judge temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Social Security Administration systems that hold millions of Americans' sensitive data. |
Astronomers detected oxygen in a galaxy confirmed to be the farthest known from Earth, challenging current theories around galactic formation in the early universe. Light from the galaxy, known as JADES-GS-z14-0, took 13.4 billion years to reach Earth and reveals the so-called cosmic dawn roughly 300 million years after the Big Bang.
The galaxy was first discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope in January 2024 (see image). The research, published in two separate studies yesterday, used data from an interferometer telescope array located in Chile's high, dry Atacama desert to zoom in on the region. The results revealed 10 times the amount of heavier elements in the galaxy than previously expected.
Current theories about galaxy development argue young galaxies and their stars are full of light elements like hydrogen and helium and that heavier elements like oxygen would take millions of years longer to develop. The studies add to growing evidence such theories need to be revised. |
The Boston Celtics sold for a record-breaking $6.1B yesterday to a group led by private equity executive Bill Chisholm. The sale is the largest in North American sports franchise history, surpassing the NFL's Washington Commanders' $6.05B sale in 2023. The deal reflects a trend of rising sports franchise valuations and team owners cashing out for major returns.
Chisholm, a native of Massachusetts, is the cofounder and managing director of Symphony Technology Group, a private equity firm investing in tech. The billionaire purchased the team from the Grousbeck family, which bought the Boston Celtics in 2002 for $360M. The new ownership includes private equity firm Sixth Street, current shareholder and businessman Rob Hale, and real estate president Bruce Beal Jr. The deal awaits approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors.
Since their formation in the 1940s, the Boston Celtics have won 18 championships—the most in NBA history—and currently hold the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. See the most expensive franchise sales in history here, and see our 1440 Topics page on the NBA here. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> NCAA women's basketball tournament kicks off in earnest today; see full preview (More) | ... and see latest men's tourney bracket (More) |
> Mariah Carey wins lawsuit against songwriter who alleged copyright infringement on Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" (More) | "Coco" sequel in the works at Disney with a 2029 release date (More) |
> Kirsty Coventry, two-time swimming gold medalist and current Zimbabwe Minister of Sport, elected as the first woman and first African president of the International Olympic Committee (More) |
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> AI startup Anthropic adds web search in preview to Claude 3.7 Sonnet for paid US users, enabling the chatbot to automatically search for information across the internet (More) | Everything you need to know about generative AI (1440 Topics) |
> Babies form episodic memories in hippocampus, study finds, challenging long-held belief that infantile amnesia is due to inability to store memories; finding suggests issue may instead be an inability to access those memories (More) |
> Scientists successfully replace defective gene in mice to alleviate symptoms of Dravet syndrome—a rare form of epilepsy—without adverse side effects or death (More) |
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New Sapience is moving beyond the mainstream to create what they call "Synthetic Intelligence" that truly comprehends language and explains its reasoning. And the potential here is staggering. Bill Gates says a company that can build true AI would be “worth 10 Microsofts.”
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> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.0%, Nasdaq -0.3%) (More) | Fintech startup Klarna inks deal with DoorDash to offer US customers deferred and installment food delivery payments; comes ahead of initial public offering (More) |
> Tesla recalls 46,000 Cybertrucks manufactured from November 2023 to February 2025 due to an exterior trim panel that can detach from the vehicle (More) | US charges three people accused of using Molotov cocktails to set fire to Tesla cars, dealerships, or charging stations (More) |
> US existing home sales rose 4.2% month over month in February, beating estimates of 3.2%; median home price of $398,400 is up 3.8% from a year ago and is the highest median home price for any February (More) |
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> At least 85 dead from expanded Israeli strikes in Gaza, while Hamas fires rockets back at Tel Aviv, with no casualties reported; Israeli military says Palestinians will no longer be allowed to enter northern Gaza from the south (More) |
> European Union delays implementing first retaliatory tariffs on US goods, including a 50% levy on whiskey, to mid-April for more time to negotiate (More) |
> Delta plane that crashed and overturned upon landing at Toronto's international airport last month descended too quickly, preliminary report finds (More) |
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> A Literary Examination of the Critic
The Yale Review | Merve Emre. The critic is a notoriously disliked figure in English literature, with unflattering portrayals in works by Shakespeare and Samuel Johnson. Despite their negative reputation, some critics have attempted to reframe their role as a friend. (Read)
> The Skill of Troubleshooting
The Autodidacts | Curiositry. A professional troubleshooter defines the practice as systematically determining the cause of unwanted behavior in a system and fixing it—and offers steps for improving errors across various domains. (Read) |
> Louisiana’s Ancient Cypress Trees
PBS Terra | Staff. In the nation’s largest river swamp, a million acres of nearly indestructible trees protect Louisiana from extreme weather. Threats face these natural wonders, prompting communities to ponder how to save them. (Watch)
> Julius Caesar's Rise to Power
The Ancients | Tristan Hughes. Dive into the early life of Julius Caesar, a history that includes growing up in a prestigious Roman family, political struggles, and getting captured by pirates. (Listen) |
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