Good morning! If you’ve been oversleeping lately, blame your iPhone. Your alarm might actually not be going off. Apple confirmed some users are experiencing an alarm-silencing software bug.

This is a perfect late-to-work excuse. You might consider saving it for a rainy day, though. Your boss is probably only going to buy it once.

PROTEST

🪧 Columbia protestors attempt a 1968 revival

Partying and protesting: the two Ps of college. As we’re all aware, the latter is going on in spades right now as demonstrators voice their opposition to Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Colleges are cracking down, though.

Hundreds of students have been arrested and expelled. Politicians of all stripes have condemned the protests for destruction of property and antisemitism.

• Opponents of the encampments say demonstrators are out of bounds. They point out the First Amendment protects protest, but not barricading buildings or blocking campus access to other students.

The demonstrators aren't backing down. Late last night, the NYPD had to retake Columbia's Hamilton (yes, that one) Hall by force via a second-story window due to lower-level barricades.

The legacy of 1968: The Gen Z protest organizers at Columbia say they're basing this movement on the anti-Vietnam War protests of 1968. Democrats hope the comparisons end there.

1968 was a presidential election year. Massive protests broke out at that summer's Democratic National Convention (DNC). Thousands of police officers clashed with thousands of demonstrators. Riots broke out. Hundreds of protestors were arrested. And hundreds more (on both sides) were injured. Many Democrats blame their loss to Richard Nixon that year on the DNC chaos.

1968 and 2024 have more in common than student protests and presidential elections.

• Both Democratic Conventions take place in Chicago.

• Both elections feature incumbent Democratic presidents unpopular with anti-war protestors... who once served as VPs to charismatic young presidents (JFK and Obama).

• Both elections feature guys named Robert F. Kennedy running for president (Sr. in '68, Jr. in '24).

Finally, both Republican candidates are often accused of being authoritarians who dislike the press (that's Nixon and Trump).

Whatever happens, look on the bright side. A team of Russian mercenaries is hot on the trail of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony (the favorite college protest subject of 2012).

GOVERNMENT

🚬 DEA to loosen federal marijuana laws

Don't break out a celebratory smoke just yet, but the devil's lettuce might soon be two notches less illegal. President Biden promised in 2019 that, if elected, he would work to decriminalize marijuana. Now the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is poised to reclassify it as a Schedule III drug.

Federal law classifies drugs on different schedules, or tiers, based on addictiveness and danger. The DEA is proposing to drop marijuana from Schedule I down to Schedule III.

• Schedule I is the baddies: heroin, LSD, molly, etc.

• Schedule II has some medical use: Adderall, cocaine, morphine, etc.

• Schedule III drugs are more common: Anabolic steroids, ketamine, and, maybe soon, marijuana.

This goes all the way to Schedule V with the cough syrups that actually work. Most meds you get, from prescription antibiotics to OTC Pepto aren't controlled substances at all.

Future: The change will still need to be approved and posted online (in the Federal Register). Then it will go through a mandatory public comment period where medical experts, hot boxers, and your Aunt Susan will get to drop in their two cents.

After that, assuming the government still favors the change, the rule will become law. It's important to note that this isn't legalization or decriminalization. Weed will still be illegal in the eyes of the feds. But the reins (and punishments) will be loosened a bit.

Elsewhere...

• Mexico and the United States will work together to crack down on illegal migration. Measures include more flights home for arrested migrants and tougher enforcement at airports and train stations.

• The FCC is hitting the big wireless carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon -- with a $200 million fine for sharing customer GPS data without permission.

POLITICS

🔵 The Biden White House is denying reports that senior staffers tried to convince press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to quit. Allegedly, they began reminding her last fall that her predecessor left voluntarily after 16 months. She'll hit the two-year mark next month.

• Vice President Kamala Harris was on Monday's "Drew Barrymore Show." She was a sitting duck as Barrymore awkwardly word-vomited this doozy: “We need you to be Momala of the country."

• The VP is on a nationwide tour highlighting the administration’s economic policies and plans for Black voters.

🔴 The judge of his NYC hush money trial held Donald Trump in contempt of court for violating a gag order by posting nine times on Truth Social about jurors and possible witnesses. Trump had to delete the posts and pay a $9,000 fine. Judge Merchan threatened him with jail time if the posts continue.

• It’s not all bad for Trump, though: the judge will allow him to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation on May 17.

• Trump doubled down on his border security plans, saying he would use the National Guard to "illegal immigrants.”

⚪ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R) continues threatening to make the House vote on whether to fire Speaker Mike Johnson (R). But Johnson's getting some backup from an unlikely source: Democrats. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Leader, says Dems will back Johnson if Green forces the vote.

🔵 If you want to win, you’ve got to run. Democrats will have candidates on the ballot in all 28 of Florida’s U.S. House seats this year for the first time since 2018.

TRIVIA

After three years of loss, California’s population is finally growing again. The nation’s most populous state picked up 67,000 residents last year, according to newly released data. Within 5 million, what is the current population of California?

Hint: Nearly 12% of Americans live in Cali.

WORLD

🇸🇻 El Salvador: After the arrest of an official for bribery, President Nayib Bukele said the attorney general will investigate his entire government for corruption. Bukele is a populist famous for a (very popular) gang crackdown that put 1% of Salvadorans behind bars.

🇮🇱 Israel: The International Criminal Court (ICC) might soon issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials. The ICC, established in 2002, handles war crimes and genocide but isn't part of the U.N. It relies on member countries to make its desired arrests.

🇰🇪 Kenya: Flash floods killed "at least 45 people" in Kenya on Monday. Two weeks of torrential downpours have devastated much of East Africa. The total death toll is over 100 people in Kenya and over 150 in neighboring Tanzania.

🇷🇺 Russia: The Russian Federation (aka Russia) banned Wikipedia last year. In its place comes a new pro-Russia version called Ruwiki. The new site's been wiped of anything that could be taken as critical of Russia, Putin's government, or authoritarianism.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is "very, very close" to normalizing relations with Israel. Saudi recognition of Israel would be a watershed moment for the Middle East but would require "calm" in Gaza and a path to statehood for Palestine.

BRIEFS

• Instagram is overhauling its Reels algorithm to boost smaller accounts with original content rather than aggregators

• The CDC says three women got HIV at an unlicensed New Mexico medical spa in the first documented case of cosmetic transmission

• Women no longer have to make the first move after Bumble dropped a big redesign yesterday to fight off a slump in users

• Three U.S. Marshals and one local police officer were tragically killed while serving search warrants at a home in Charlotte, NC

• Walmart is taking on Trader Joe’s with a new upscale store brand featuring options like vegan cheese, oat milk, and hot honey

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a possible truce as Israel vows to invade Rafah "with or without" a deal

• Pedro Sánchez will stay on as Spanish prime minister after a "period of reflection" in reaction to a "smear campaign" against him

QUOTE

SNACKS

🌙 Moon: The moon will soon host a 4G cell network courtesy of Nokia. The system is being tested ahead of a future manned mission to Mars.

🎵 Music: The source of the viral 80s pop song, "Everyone Knows That," has been found after a three-year internet-wide search. Aaaaand… it’s porn.

📺 Scooby: Netflix is working on a live-action Scooby-Doo series. This is a win-win. It’s either good. Or, like Max’s “Velma,” so bad it gets hate watchers.

ANSWER

Nearly 39 million people live in California. It turns out not everything is bigger in Texas (the Lone Star state comes in second with a measly 31 million).

California posted rapid gains its entire history until the state began slightly shrinking a few years back. For the first time ever, it lost seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2020 Census. It’s back in the green for now but will need to increase that growth rate if it wants those congressional seats back.