🐤 Sneaky moves

🏈 Moving to Miami: The Dolphins have reportedly reached a deal with NFL free agent Odell Beckham Jr. to play one year in exchange for a guaranteed $3 million and a total contract value of as much as $8.25 million. The wide receiver sat out the 2022 season with a torn ACL and came back for a $15 million one-year contract with the Baltimore Ravens. Despite missing an entire season, his return to the field included some pretty impressive stats and he helped lead the Ravens to the AFC Championship, which the Chiefs ended up winning.

🪪 ID, please: Election security has sparked some debate in the U.S., specifically over whether voters should be required to show ID before casting a ballot. Meanwhile, even one of the most recognizable faces in the United Kingdom isn’t immune to being carded in a local election. According to reports, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson showed up to a polling place on Friday but forgot his identification card. The staff promptly sent him on his way to retrieve it, which he did and returned in time to cast a ballot for his own Conservative Party.

💵 Cold hard cash: Nations around the world have experienced economic turmoil in recent years, but Zimbabwe has been hit particularly hard by the devaluation of its currency and a lapse in trust among citizens of the African country. Now, the government is hoping that an all-new currency — the ZiG — will restore some of that much-needed faith in the solvency of the nation’s economy. But despite being backed by gold, this is the sixth currency introduced in just 15 years and many entities (including some government agencies) refuse to accept it.

🔥 Heating up: April showers might bring May flowers, but this month is also shaping up to be an especially hot one across much of the United States. Recent weather forecasts from across several southern states are pointing to summer-like temperatures even with nearly two months left in spring. The sweltering trend is expected to span throughout the upcoming week, subjecting residents of Houston, Tampa, and various cities in between to an earlier than normal heat wave.

🏦 Markets: Wall Street followed up Thursday’s gains with another boost to end the week on a strong note.

All three major indexes finished the day more than 1% higher, led by a nearly 2% gain by the Nasdaq Composite. Gains were triggered in large part by an employment report that showed a lower-than-expected number of jobs added last month … which is a positive sign that the labor market is cooling down and lower interest rates could be on the horizon.

Best Buy has a proven record of placing early bets on home-technology products that go on to dominate the market. For example:

• Ring - acquired by Amazon for $1.2B
• Nest - acquired by Google for $3.2B

Pay attention, because Best Buy just unveiled a new smart-home product in over 100 stores that has potential for massive returns – RYSE Smart Shades.

RYSE is poised to dominate the smart shades market (currently growing at 50% annually) and they’ve just opened a public offering of shares priced at just $1.50/share. Current shareholders have already seen their value increase 20% year-over-year, with strong upside remaining as they scale into retail.

If you missed out on Ring and Nest, this is your chance to secure your stake in the smart home market.

Invest in RYSE before they become a household name.

It might not have the recognizable “swoosh” or three stripes of its more established rivals, but Hoka has set its sights on the big guys and is rapidly gaining ground with its unique take on casual footwear.

A billion-dollar gamble

Hoka was established in 2009 by a pair of mountain runners in the French Alps who were looking for comfortable shoes that could stand up to heavy use in a wide range of conditions.

When former marathon champion Mark Plaatjes got his hands on a pair, he was sold — and ended up purchasing 770 pairs to stock the shelves of a store he owned. From there, a variety of athletes took notice … as did a company called Deckers Brands.

The company, which included shoe brands Ugg and Teva in its portfolio at the time, bought Hoka in 2012 and set a lofty goal of turning it into a billion-dollar property. It achieved that goal a decade later, and Hoka has continued to expand since then.

What makes it special

Hoka means “to soar or fly” in Maori, and enthusiasts say that’s what it feels like when they wear a pair. Specifically, there are a few ways that Hoka has sought to set itself apart from the crowd.

• Comfort: A trademark midsole adds an extra layer of cushioning
• Performance: It’s curved design, known as the “meta-rocker,” propels runners forward
• Appearance: Bright colors and bold designs demand attention

And it doesn’t hurt that some prominent figures have been seen sporting a pair — from President Joe Biden to pop star Britney Spears. Athletes, models, and entertainers like Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon have brought attention to the brand, and its parent company is reaping the benefits.

Hoka makes up about 40% of Deckers Brands’ earnings, sending stock prices up 78% last year.

If you’re like many motorists, you might not remember the last time you tuned into an AM radio station. FM stations long ago secured prominence, with satellite and internet options taking an even bigger bite out of all types of terrestrial radio transmissions over the past few decades.

But while automakers are pushing to remove AM radio in new vehicles, that effort is facing some serious pushback from federal lawmakers.

Digging into the debate

AM radio, by its very nature, is old-school. And this analog service is at odds with the high-tech world in which modern automobiles — particularly electric vehicles — are made. That’s why advocates for a cleaner auto industry, like ZETA executive director Albert Gore, say AM stations should not be a requirement.

He said such a mandate “would do little to expand drivers’ ability to receive emergency alerts” while negatively impacting the “range, efficiency, and affordability” of EVs.

But it is precisely that access to emergency alerts that is driving the bipartisan support for the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, which would require AM transmission (at no extra cost to consumers) in every new vehicle.

Sens. Edward Markey, a Democrat, and Ted Cruz, a Republican, sponsored the bill and called AM radio “a lifeline for people in every corner of the United States to get news, sports, and local updates in times of emergencies.”

Forecasting the future

As it stands, the legislation has support from more than half of each congressional chamber, which bodes well for its passage. And with an estimated 82 million AM radio listeners nationwide, plenty of Americans would favor such a guarantee.

But with the vast majority of consumers now receiving alerts via smartphone, it might still just be a matter of time until AM radio has gone the way of the dodo.

From rabies to malaria, there have always been harmful diseases that spread from animals to humans. And now scientists think they’ve pinpointed the animal source of a major leprosy epidemic among the medieval population of Winchester, England.

A limited number of hosts

While you probably recognize the word leprosy (also known as Hansen’s disease), it’s not a malady we typically encounter in our modern society. But hundreds of years ago, it was far more common as it spread far and wide while resulting in devastating symptoms including blindness and paralysis.

When looking for a root cause for an outbreak, it’s easy to narrow down the list of suspects. In addition to humans, only a relatively small number of other species can serve as a host for the disease.

One of them is the red squirrel, and a new study published in Current Biology asserts that the evidence shows this animal was the likeliest cause of the disease’s spread throughout Winchester.

Connecting the dots

At the root of the latest research is an effort by experts to recreate the building blocks of the disease as it existed around the time of the Winchester outbreak. Using 12 samples from squirrels and about twice as many human samples, the report outlined a genetic makeup that senior author Verena Schuenemann said allowed the team “to identify red squirrels as the first ancient animal host of leprosy.”

Beyond the hard data, there’s another big reason to suspect squirrels were responsible for spreading the disease to humans.

Not only were squirrels common pets among residents of medieval England, but their pelts were widely used across Europe (and in England specifically) to make garments of various types.

For the folks trying to solve a centuries-old puzzle, all the pieces seem to point to one obvious conclusion.