Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.
Musk's SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say
Summary: Five sources have told Reuters that private space company SpaceX is in the process of building and deploying a network of hundreds of spy satellites for the US government under a $1.8 billion contract.
Context: This contract was reportedly signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office, which is a US intelligence agency that manages the country’s spy satellites, and if accurate this means the company’s Starshield derivative brand, which focuses on government and military payloads, is more active than was previously publicly known, while also suggesting that the US government and SpaceX are tighter-knit than even the company’s many contracts with NASA have suggested; according to this new report, this spy satellite network will operate at low orbits and would likely allow US intelligence and military services to keep near-constant, up-to-the-minute, and high-resolution tabs on essentially everything happening on the surface of the planet, which—if all that information is collected, sorted, and parsed appropriately—could be a pretty powerful tool for all sorts of purposes.
—Reuters
Mystery in Japan as dangerous streptococcal infections soar to record levels
Summary: Provisional figures released by the Japanese National Institute of Infectious Diseases, or NIID, indicate that 941 cases of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, or STSS, were reported in the country in 2023, and there are concerns that 2024’s figures will surpass those already record numbers, as 378 cases were reported in the first two months of the year, alone.
Context: STSS is an at times deadly form of group A streptococcal disease, which is the type of strep infection that causes what’s colloquially called “strep throat” in adults, usually with mild to moderate impact; this wave of infections is especially alarming to the NIID, though, because of those elevated numbers, and because this form of the infection usually kills about 30% of adults over the age of 30 who catch it, but more people under 50 are dying from it than usual; it’s thought that the sudden and widespread dropping of COVID-era precautions (at the government and individual level) might be contributing to this infection’s spread.
—The Guardian
National Association of Realtors agrees to slash commissions in $418 million settlement
Summary: The National Association of Realtors in the US have agreed to pay a $418 million settlement in a lawsuit that alleged it conspired to keep real estate agents’ commissions higher than the market would justify.
Context: If a federal court approves the settlement deal, this association will have to pay that fine over the course of the next four years, and the real estate industry in the US could change substantially, potentially lowering costs for homebuyers while also maybe shrinking the industry, as whatever fee structure replaces the existing (allegedly artificially elevated) 6% commission (which is higher than in most other countries) for using the industry’s multiple listing service, or MLS database system, may leave them unwilling or unable to continue operating.
—Axios
Cocoa contract prices have hit a new record of more than $8,100 per metric ton, which is substantially higher than the typical price in 2023, of around $2,578 per metric ton; extreme weather patterns and shipping irregularities in the Red Sea are both acting on these prices, and chocolate companies have been preparing investors for a pretty bleak year, profits-wise.
—Axios
7.6%
Portion of the US population that identifies as LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or some other non-heterosexual orientation), according to a new Gallup poll.
That’s up from 5.6% in 2020, and 3.5% in 2012, and the figure is substantially larger for “Gen Z” young adults (ages 18 to 26), about 22.3% of whom identify as LGBTQ+, and about 9.8% of Millennials aged 27 to 42 say the same.
—Gallup
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