Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

April 08, 2026

Rise and grind. Unhappy with the NBA’s dunk contest, Shaq is launching his own professional dunk league. It sounds cool, but if you wanted to see people get dunked on mercilessly, you could always just ask your mom if she’s seen anyone you went to high school with recently.

—Dave Lozo, Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Adam Epstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll look at:

Growing backlash to data centers
President Trump agreeing to a two-week Iran ceasefire
The shrinking US middle class

MARKETS

Nasdaq

22,017.85

+0.10%

S&P

6,616.85

+0.08%

Dow

46,584.46

-0.18%

10-Year

4.343%

+1.0 bps

Bitcoin

$69,430.79

-0.40%

Apple

$253.50

-2.07%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Stocks initially sank yesterday in response to President Trump’s apocalyptic threat to Iran (more on that later), but they recovered late in the day on hopes of a last-minute deal. Meanwhile, Apple fell following a report that the release of its foldable iPhone could get delayed.

CENTER OF ATTENTION

The fight against data centers is escalating

Jim West/Getty Images

Yesterday, 13 bullets were fired at the home of an Indianapolis city councilor who recently supported the construction of a data center in his district, the latest chapter in the growing backlash against the controversial buildings that power AI.

The elected official, Ron Gibson, said that a note left at the scene (where no one was physically harmed) read “No Data Centers.” The attack came days after he voted in favor of a data center project in an Indianapolis neighborhood where many locals had fought against it.

Maine and other states are pushing back

The state known for lobster and “oh, you mean that Portland” is expected to pass legislation this spring that would place a moratorium on data centers that consume more than 20 megawatts—a rebuke of the swelling energy costs that come with these computing factories. Other states are considering similar measures:

Statewide bans are on the table in nine states; Pennsylvania would make 10 if it proposes one of its own, which is expected.
Activists in Ohio are collecting signatures to get a statewide ban on the ballot in November.
Two states—South Dakota and Wisconsin—have rejected proposed bans on new data centers.

And that’s not all. Residents in Port Washington, WI, voted yesterday on a measure that would stop future data center development in the town of ~12,000 people. There are at least three other municipalities around the country that will consider something similar this year.

Big picture: While evidence shows that data centers can be environmental hazards (a new study says that they create heat islands within a 6-mile radius that can cause pollution and deaths), they are also job creators. The response to the bill in Maine, where a Senate seat is up for grabs in November, could serve as a “canary in the coal mine” for officials in other locales, according to a construction trade group that spoke to the Wall Street Journal.—DL

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Fatemeh Bahrami/Getty Images

Trump agrees to two-week ceasefire with Iran, subject to Strait of Hormuz opening. In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said he had agreed to a proposal by Pakistan to stop bombing Iran for two weeks while diplomatic negotiations continue, subject to Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Israel also agreed to the ceasefire, CNN reported. Trump’s post came roughly 90 minutes before his 8pm deadline for Iran to reopen the strait or else “a whole civilization will die,” which the president had threatened in an earlier post. Trump’s threat was condemned by US politicians across the aisle, as well as world leaders and Pope Leo XIV. Earlier on Tuesday, the US struck targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s main oil hub.

Bill Ackman’s fund wants to buy Universal Music Group. The hedge fund billionaire best known for writing really long tweets could soon own the music company behind Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny. Ackman’s Pershing Square is offering to buy Universal Music Group (UMG) for about $64.4 billion, according to a statement. Ackman praised the company for building a “world-class artist roster,” but argued that its stock price has “languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business.” If the deal goes through, UMG, which currently lists on the Euronext Amsterdam, would merge with Pershing Square and list on the New York Stock Exchange instead.

Music festival canceled after Kanye West banned from entering UK. Don’t bother with a late registration to this year’s Wireless Festival in London, because it’s not happening now that would-be headliner Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, was barred from entering the UK over his history of antisemitism. Following widespread backlash to Ye’s role at the festival, the UK government rescinded his authorization to travel to the country on the basis that it would not benefit the public good, The Guardian reported. Ye, who has publicly praised Hitler and denied the Holocaust, apologized for his remarks earlier this year, saying they were due to his bipolar disorder.—AE

Upper middle class is US’ biggest income group

Niv Bavarsky

The ranks of Americans that can add guac to their burrito bowl guilt-free have swelled. The upper middle class has become the largest income group in the US, according to a recent analysis by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, highlighted by the Wall Street Journal.

The report contends that the lower rungs of the middle class shrank because more Americans got richer:

In 2024, 31% of American families were upper middle class, compared with just 10% in 1979.
The think tank’s report defined the upper middle class as a family of three earning $133k to $400k in 2024 dollars—five to 15 times the federal poverty line.

Meanwhile, the share of American households living in or near poverty declined from almost 30% in 1979 to below 19% in 2024.

‘We’re comfortable’ class

The Wall Street Journal notes that upper middle class folks are often white-collar professionals in dual-income households, who have benefitted from women’s advances in the workforce and rising wages in fields like software engineering. Many are boomers raking in sizable pension payments made possible by stock market gains.

This group’s shopping habits are behind the rise of bougie goods and services, like first-class plane tickets, which have been a major driver of US economic growth.

But…economic inequality has also grown, with families in higher tax brackets seeing greater income growth while the poorest 5% seeing their earnings decline.—SK

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WITH A “B”

The billion-dollar health startup with a lot of red flags

MEDVi

The AI-powered telehealth startup Medvi was the subject of a New York Times profile that touted the company’s expected $1.8 billion in sales this year and its rapid growth with just 2 employees. But critics have since claimed that the company has as many red flags as a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient.

Medvi’s founder Matthew Gallagher told the NYT that he started the company, which offers GLP-1 weight loss drugs, with just $20,000 and AI software—vibe-coding its entire website, deploying AI customer service agents, and using Midjourney to make content for ads.

It sounds like the real-life version of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s 2024 dream of an AI-powered, one-person company worth $1 billion…but other news outlets report:

Fake before-and-after patient images appeared on Medvi’s site as recently as last month, according to Futurism.
Medvi uses affiliate marketing that seems to rely on fake doctors and AI-generated testimonials for its Facebook ads, according to Business Insider. The company responded, “If we find an affiliate doing this we work to take these ads down.”

And more officially…the company is facing two lawsuits accusing it of violating spam laws with unsolicited texts and emails (which Medvi denies). Plus, the FDA sent Medvi a warning letter over misleading claims about some of its weight loss products, which the company told BI were made by an affiliate marketer on a website that’s since been taken down.—MM

STAT

Prime number: Accuracy of Google’s AI Overviews

Morning Brew Design

When you Google “do dogs know math?” and other important questions as you lie in bed at night, Google’s AI Overviews will provide an accurate response about 90% of the time, according to new research from the AI startup Oumi. While that seems pretty good, there are caveats:

Since Google processes trillions of searches per year, 90% accuracy still equates to tens of millions of inaccuracies per hour (or hundreds of thousands per minute), the New York Times noted.
More than half of accurate responses linked to sources that did not actually support the information.
The second- and fourth-most-cited sources were...Facebook and Reddit.

Google concedes that AI Overviews aren’t always accurate and encourages users to double check the info. And, for the record, dogs do possess a rudimentary understanding of math (I learned that from Google’s AI Overview).—AE

READER POLL

Do you trust Google’s AI Overviews?

Yes, without question
Sometimes—I often double check
Never

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NEWS

What else is brewing

OpenAI urged the California and Delaware attorneys general to investigate Elon Musk for “improper and anti-competitive behavior” as the trial between the two sides is set to begin later this month.
Anthropic is allowing tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft to test a new, more powerful AI model to help it prepare for cyberattacks ahead of a wider release.
Delta raised bag fees by $10, becoming the third major airline to hike prices as the industry deals with a jet fuel shortage steaming from the Iran war.
Sony Pictures is laying off hundreds of employees as part of a strategic shift.
Netflix’s recent price hikes were ruled illegal by an Italian court, which the streaming company intends to appeal.
Chopped, the Food Network reality cooking series, is getting a spinoff in which chefs are stranded on an island and must build their own kitchens to cook meals. Sure!

RECS

Smell: Why it’s good for you to stop and smell the flowers.

Appreciate: This site shows the opening line to a famous novel each time you visit.

Relieve: Tips to get through your seasonal allergies.

Read: You don’t have to be a New Yorker to dive into the Mets’ fascinating history.**

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PLAY

Word Search: The theme of this week’s puzzle is “Etch A Sketch drawings.” Guess you could say we’re shaking things up. Play the Word Search here.

TV shows by episode titles

Name the TV show from two of its episode titles.

“The One with the Monkey” and “The One with the Invitation”
“Say My Name” and “Ozymandias”
“Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games” and “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award”
“The Tanned Triangle” and “Just Another Day at the Shore”
“7:00 A.M.” and “8:00 A.M.”
“The Panic in Central Park” and “All Adventurous Women Do”

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ANSWER

Friends
Breaking Bad
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Jersey Shore
The Pitt
Girls

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: rudimentary, meaning “limited to basic principles, of a primitive kind.” Thanks to Christian from Oklahoma for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

✢ A Note From Pendulum

*Based on preclinical studies. Not intended for weight loss.

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