🐤 Lean with it

🏦 Markets: Just like that, much of the Wall Street gain accumulated over the past several weeks evaporated during a big sell-off on Wednesday.

All three major indexes closed the day well over 1% lower. Both the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq had their worst day since October and it was the worst day since September for the S&P 500.

It’s not time to start panicking yet, though. Analysts say hot streaks often cool off suddenly when investors decide to cash in on their profits.

It’s an iconic landmark that put the town of Pisa, Italy, on the map. But the world-famous Leaning Tower was on the verge of collapse near the end of the 20th century before a crew of experts started working on a plan.

Before we get there, let’s explore what gave the building its lean in the first place.

Underground uncertainty

For millions of years, a river flowed into the Ligurian Sea, causing it to rise and fall while changing the makeup of the nearby soil. This was concentrated in the area of Pisa, where a mismatch of sand and clay made for a sketchy foundation when construction of the tower began in the 12th century.

It kept leaning more and more until 1990, when its 5.5-degree tilt sparked calls for immediate action. The previous year, a similar building collapsed, and the Italian government knew something needed to be done.

A complex solution

Engineers and architects performed a series of tests to determine the best way to reverse course while preserving the trademark lean that brought so many tourists to the town.

They started with a temporary stabilization method that worked for a while as they started to research more permanent fixes. Pumping groundwater from the sand would have unpredictable results and electro-osmosis to remove water from the clay didn’t really work on the highly conductive material.

In the end, they divided to selectively excavate the ground. Starting around the turn of the 21st century:

• 41 long holes were dug underneath the tower
• About 70 tons of soil were removed altogether
• The tower’s tilt was reduced by about half a degree

This put the tower at about the same lean as the early 19th century, meaning it’s once again safe from collapse (at least for now).

🥩 Meat crimes: Snapping into a Slim Jim is one way to grab a quick meaty snack, but breaking into the Slim Jim car could land you behind bars. The company reported this week that its custom wrapped “Fast Meat” vehicle, a Nissan Z created as part of a collaboration with the WWE, was stolen near Los Angeles this week. You might have seen the car in commercials alongside wrestler L.A. Knight, but if you happen to see it on the streets, you’re encouraged to call the cops.

🏈 Ohio bound: The top-ranked high school football player in the U.S. is headed to Ohio State. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had already signaled his intention to join the Buckeyes and when the time came to sign an official letter, he was quick to add his name. The confirmation should come as welcome news to the Ohio State squad, which lost 36th-ranked prospect Jeremiah McClellan, a wide receiver who verbally committed to the Buckeyes but ultimately chose Oregon.

🛣️ Paved paradise: Brazilian lawmakers passed a controversial piece of legislation this week that would allow government money earmarked for conservation efforts to be used for paving a highway that runs through the Amazon rainforest. Although the road dates back about 50 years, it hasn’t been used much in the decades since and has fallen into a state of disrepair. The lower house of Brazil’s Congress wants to repave the highway, but the Senate still hasn’t approved the measure.

🛫 Swift emissions: 2023 was clearly the year of Taylor Swift, who was named Time’s Person of the Year, embarked on a massively successful tour, and still had time to spark a whirlwind romance with NFL star Travis Kelce. But she also gained another dubious distinction. After being named the biggest celebrity carbon dioxide polluter in 2022, her frequent flights between New York and Kansas City to attend Chiefs games was likely enough to earn a second straight title.

Although former President Donald Trump is the clear front-runner in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, an ongoing effort to have his name removed from ballots in a number of states recently gained serious traction in Colorado.

The state’s highest court agreed that he should be excluded from the primary ballot due to the conclusion that his actions ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

A political powder keg

It goes without saying that the Jan. 6 debate continues to rage between Trump’s supporters and critics nationwide — but the Colorado case brings this dispute to the forefront. And it’s all but certain that an appeal by the former president’s legal team will reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which will have an opportunity to decide whether he should be listed among his GOP rivals on the state’s ballot or not.

The Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling included a provision that it would not go into effect until Jan. 4, giving the appeals process only about two weeks to play out. Primary voters in the state will cast their votes on Super Tuesday, which is set for March.

Complex considerations

U.S. Supreme Court justices could play an even bigger role in the 2024 presidential race than just weighing in on the Colorado case. Special counsel Jack Smith, who is pursuing federal charges against Trump, wants the high court to determine whether the former president’s claim of immunity should prevent him from facing prosecution.

Of course, the Democratic candidate has won Colorado’s electoral votes for nearly two decades straight, so that state alone might not decide the outcome of the election. But with similar lawsuits underway elsewhere across the country, any forthcoming Supreme Court decision could influence how those cases play out.

What do you call a manufacturing plant that makes products that are just OK?

A satis-factory.

They’re cool armored reptiles that can live a long time, grow really big, and according to Aesop, defeat a rabbit in a long-distance race. Unfortunately, turtles are also frequently the victims of illegal schemes to feed the appetites of people in some regions who crave their meat and eggs.

One such operation was stymied, however, when diligent customs authorities at an airport in Lima, Peru, noticed something suspicious.

Thousands of turtles rescued

According to reports, officials spotted some irregularities in the export papers provided by individuals seeking to transport more than 4,000 turtles from Peru to Indonesia. A number of details, including ages and species, appeared to be off, and all of the animals were confiscated.

After a brief investigation, officials determined that more than 400 of them were South American river turtles, which environmental groups have pushed in recent years to reclassify as critically endangered. It was unclear from the information available how the would-be traffickers obtained the turtles.

The remaining reptiles were identified as Taricaya, or yellow-spotted river turtles, and although they were accompanied by export licenses, the paperwork listed their ages as between 1 and 3 years old and the turtles were clearly not that old.

The work is never done

While this recovery was unusually large, Peru’s National Forestry and Wildlife Service (aka Serfor) indicates that its officials recover thousands of illegally transported animals each year. In addition to turtles, traffickers often engage in schemes involving monkeys and parrots.

Thanks to the quick and decisive action in this case, none of the turtles rescued at the Lima airport had died as of the most recent updates available. They were transported to an approved facility nearby where they will receive the appropriate care until a more permanent home is found.