Briefly Noted


Rare Cicada Swarm Coming • For the first time in 221 years, two distinct broods of cicadas — one following a 13-year life cycle and the other following a 17-year life cycle — will emerge simultaneously this spring, NBC News reported. Gene Kritsky, an entomologist at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati and the author of A Tale of Two Broods, noted that “Thomas Jefferson was president the last time these two broods came out.” The rare event, last


observed in 1803, will see billions of these insects surfacing across the Midwestern and Southeastern United States when the soil reaches a relative temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit. The emergence is slated


to come around late April and will initiate a loud, monthlong mating ritual at the northern and southern midpoints of Illinois. The entire mating ritual


lasts only six weeks, at which point the cicadas will lay their eggs and then die. “By July 1, they’re gone,” Kritsky noted.


Elite Schools Settle Lawsuit • Five of the nation’s most


struggled with loses of between $30 to $40 million per year. The staff cuts followed weeks of turmoil at the 142-year-


T


old company. The newsroom staged a one-day strike in January, and two of the four-person management team recently quit after Kevin Merida resigned from his position as the Times’ executive editor.


22 NEWSMAX | MARCH 2024


prestigious universities agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing them of colluding to limit students’ financial aid packages, paying a combined $104.5 million to students harmed by the alleged antitrust violations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Brown, Columbia, Duke,


Emory, and Yale universities denied any wrongdoing, but said settling the two- year-old case will avoid costly and distracting legal proceedings.


eBay Fined Over Pill Presses • The e-commerce giant eBay will pay $59 million in a settlement with the Justice Department over thousands of pill press machines it sold. The machines can


be used to manufacture thousands of counterfeit pills an hour that look just like prescription pills but instead can be laced with substances like fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is fueling the deadliest overdose crisis in U.S. history. The Justice Department


says eBay failed to verify buyers’ identities, keep records, and report to the Drug Enforcement Administration to make sure the machines are traceable and not used illegally.


L.A. TIMES FIRES 115


he Los Angeles Times laid off 115 employees — more than 20% of its newsroom — as the newspaper


More than


of the L.A. Times newsroom was laid off.


20% NAME


1 One World Trade Center 2 Central Park Tower 3 Willis Tower


1


Boardwalk at Bricktown tower


rendering 2


3


HEIGHT FLOORS YEAR 1,776 ft 1,550 ft 1,450 ft


104 98


108


Oklahoma to Tower Over U.S.


O


klahoma City may soon be home to the tallest skyscraper in the United States.


Developers are adjusting the already ambitious plans to


construct the Boardwalk at Bricktown tower by a few hundred feet to make the building reach 1,907 in height, the Oklahoma City Free Press reported. The height would honor the year that Oklahoma was


admitted as the 46th state of the United States. Plans for the structure call for three towers, including 1,776


residential units, two Hyatt hotels, condos, and 110,000 square feet of commercial and community use space. The top floors will have a restaurant, bar, and an observation deck.


High-Speed Rail Boost • A proposed high-speed passenger train between Las Vegas and Southern California got another boost in January with Biden administration approval to issue $2.5 billion in tax- exempt bonds for the $12


billion project. The announcement


followed a $3 billion U.S. Department of Transportation grant in December and government authorization in 2020 for the company to sell $1 billion in similar bonds. The 218-mile Brightline


West project aims to whisk passengers at 186 mph or more in electric trains on new tracks along the Interstate 15 corridor, cutting in half a four-hour freeway trip between Las Vegas and suburban San Bernardino County near Los Angeles.


2014 2020 1974


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