Why Americans are sleeping less; Global Coral Reef bleaching crisis

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Good morning,

Need some inspiration to take a leap? Check out these 🐧 penguins!

Hundreds of six month-old emperor penguin chicks were caught on camera taking their first jump. And it was off of a 50-foot cliff in Antarctica — MUCH higher than the foot or two they usually start-off with.

One giant leap for penguin-kind… 😉

Have a good one!

Mosheh, Jill, & Lauren

📌 TRUMP ON TRIAL. THE FIRST OF FOUR.

Here we go. History was made yesterday as Donald Trump became the first former President to face a criminal trial. This is a case over how he covered up alleged hush money payments to two women who allege they had extramarital sexual encounters with Trump.

At issue: Nearly $300,000 in payments made to the women, and whether Trump falsified business records to help him win the 2016 election. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, made the actual payments and Trump reimbursed him, but didn’t appropriately disclose them. Cohen already pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws and served time in prison. He will testify against Trump.

Trump, who is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, is required by law to attend the trial. He posted on social media and spoke outside of the courthouse (above), calling the trial a witch hunt and politically motivated. The charge carries up to four years in prison, but it’s unlikely that he’d serve time behind bars, even if found guilty. That’s up to the judge.

THE CASE
The allegations focus on payoffs to porn actress Stormy Daniels for $130,000 and former Playboy model Karen McDougal for $150,000, who said they had extramarital sexual encounters with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied, denied, denied.

Catch-and-kill: Cohen arranged the National Enquirer’s publisher to pay McDougal for exclusive rights to her story with no intention of publishing it — a practice known as “catch-and-kill.” The tabloid also bought the silence of a Trump Tower doorman who said Trump fathered a child out of wedlock, which turned out to be false.
Extramarital affairs are not criminal, and neither is hush money, but it’s illegal to falsify business records. The allegation is that Trump’s company reimbursed Cohen and paid him extra bonuses for the job. But it was all falsely logged in Trump Organization records as “legal expenses.”
The prosecution made this a felony case by arguing that the falsified records were used to facilitate further federal crimes related to campaign finance and tax-related crimes. [Join Mo News Premium for a Deep-Dive on the case and why this will be a very challenging case for the prosecution.]

NO CAMERAS, ALL ACTION
Journalists are allowed in the court room, but can’t take video or photos. Some noted that Trump appeared to briefly fall asleep during the proceedings Monday. Check out this conversation with the artists who will be sketching Trump in court.

NOW TO THE JURY
Finding the 12 jurors and 6 alternates who can be impartial about Trump is expected to take two+ weeks. 500+ potential jurors were summoned to the NYC court yesterday.

Over half of the 96 people in the first group were dismissed after the judge asked if they could be impartial and they said no.
Each potential juror has to fill out a 42-question survey (click the link to see it).
We are at the early stages, more personal and intense questioning will be done by the defense and prosecution when numbers get whittled down.

The trial is expected to go into June — and Trump may take the witness stand in his own defense. The action takes place Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday each week. It’s likely that this case will be the only one of the four criminal cases against Trump to reach a verdict before voters head to the polls in November.

Here is the status of the other cases.

🪸 SCIENTISTS PREDICT MOST EXTENSIVE CORAL BLEACHING EVENT ON RECORD

Scientists are sounding the alarm about what they expect to be the widest global coral reef crisis on record. NOAA and international partners voiced their concern yesterday, saying rising sea temperatures around the planet have caused this major coral bleaching.

The bleaching threatens the coral reefs, which are vital ecosystems that support the planet (earth is 70 percent ocean). They help to protect coasts from erosion and storms, and bring in big $$ around tourism.

THE CRISIS
Coral bleaching occurs when the corals become so stressed that they lose the algae they need to survive. Colorful coral reefs turn a ghostly white.

If that water around the coral is too hot for too long, it can’t recover from the bleaching and will die.
Scientists are worried that many of the world's reefs will not recover from the intense, prolonged heat stress that has been hitting 54% of the world’s coral reef areas in the past year.

WHAT WE’RE SEEING
The bleaching is impacting at least 54 countries — along coastlines from Australia to Mexico. And that coral is estimated to provide $2.7 trillion in goods and services.

“It is likely that this event will surpass the previous peak of 56.1% soon,” Derek Manzello, the coordinator for NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program, said.
- “The percentage of reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress has been increasing by roughly 1% per week.”
This will be the fourth global bleaching event on record — previous events were in 1998, 2010, and 2014-2017. Those events were brought on by El Niño heat waves, but climate change is making things even worse.
In the past year, sea surface temperatures have smashed records dating back to 1979.

To date, the world has warmed by approximately 1.2 Celsius (2.2 F) above pre-industrial temperatures. Scientific models forecast that between 70% and 90% of the world's coral reefs could be lost when global warming reaches 1.5 degrees C (2.7 F).

😴 MAJORITY OF US ADULTS WANT MORE SLEEP

Reading this in a rush? What about half asleep? Well, new polling shows that Americans and getting less sleep than ever, and are more stressed. 57% of American adults say they would feel better if they got more sleep — the highest percentage since Gallup started asking the question 23 years ago. And maybe that’s why we’re also seeing the highest levels of stress — 49% of Americans.

Getting the least amount: Women ages 30 to 49. The most: Older men.
Who’s the most stressed?: Women 18-49. Least: Men 50+.

THE NUMBERS
Gallup reports that today, only a quarter of American adults get the recommended eight+ hours of sleep. And, the percentage getting five or less hours has risen to 20%.

34% of millennials said they were getting the requisite amount of sleep — 8 hours. Meanwhile, 55% of people aged 65+ said they slept enough.

By gender, the poll found 36% of women—versus 48% of men—were getting the sleep they needed. Both figures are the lowest Gallup has measured for each group to date.

"Women typically report higher levels of stress than men. Often this relates to the burden of balancing family or caring responsibilities with a career, often leading to feelings of overwhelm,” psychologist Claire Vowell told Newsweek.
Researchers also point to smartphones and the feeling of always being available to stress spikes and sleep decreases.

⏳ SPEED READ

🚨NATION

📌 US experiencing growing OBGYN shortage: Here is why (THE HILL)

📌 American Airlines pilots seeing ‘significant’ spike in safety issues (BLOOMBERG)

📌 Florida bans local heat protections for outdoor workers in extreme heat (NPR)

📌 'Rust' armorer Hannah Gutierrez gets maximum 18 months for fatal on-set shooting, lack of remorse and trashing of jurors (ABC NEWS)

📌 Justice Thomas misses Supreme Court session Monday with no explanation (AP)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

📌 Allies urge Israel to show restraint after Iranian attack (REUTERS)

📌 Anti-Israel protesters shut traffic to O’Hare Airport, Sea-Tac Airport and Golden Gate Bridge for hours (NY POST)

📌 Sudan on brink of collapse and starvation as country marks one year of civil war (NPR)

📌 Bishop and worshippers attacked in another mass stabbing in Sydney, Australia (REUTERS)

📌 5 years after fire ravaged Notre Dame, an American carpenter is helping rebuild Paris' iconic cathedral (CBS NEWS)

📌 AI chatbots spread falsehoods about the EU election, report finds (POLITICO)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

📌 Apple loses top phonemaker spot to Samsung as iPhone shipments drop (REUTERS)

📌 Trump stock tanks after announcing massive share sale (NBC NEWS)

📌 Rural Americans are way more likely to die young. Why? (WASHINGTON POST)

📌 Scientists identify three new species of ancient kangaroo—and one was more than 6.6 feet tall (CNN)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

📌 Caitlin Clark drafted #1 by Indiana; Her first-year salary $76,535 (WASHINGTON POST)

📌 Sisay Lemma wins his first Boston Marathon title, while Hellen Obiri retains her crown for second year following thrilling finish (WBUR)

📌 Nike’s US women’s Olympic team outfits criticized for being ‘born of patriarchal forces’ (CNN)

📌 Grimes apologizes for disastrous Coachella set (NBC NEWS)

🗓 ON THIS DAY: APRIL 16

1789: President-elect George Washington left Mount Vernon, Virginia, for his inauguration in New York. [Thomas Jefferson would be the first president inaugurated in the new capital of Washington DC.]
1963: Martin Luther King Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” responding to a group of clergymen who criticized him for leading street protests, writing the famous line: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
2001: 'The Weakest Link' hosted by Anne Robinson premiered on NBC.
SONGS: 2002: Nelly’s ‘Hot in Herre’ & 1983: Journey’s ‘Faithfully.’