Today’s edition of quick hits.
* A big case: “The U.S. Department of Justice filed a landmark lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing it of monopolizing the smartphone market. The civil suit, joined by attorneys general for 15 states and the District of Columbia, accuses Apple of restricting its smartphone operating system in a way that drives up costs for consumers and prevents developers from successfully releasing products on other smartphone systems.”
* Speaking of important cases: “State prosecutors in New York said Thursday that fewer than 300 of the over 170,000 documents recently turned over to lawyers for former President Donald Trump are potentially relevant to his criminal defense and that their case alleging falsified business records should proceed to trial on April 15.”
* Biden really has made student debt relief a priority: “President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the White House has approved the cancellation of nearly $6 billion in federal student debt for thousands of public service workers. The 78,000 eligible public service workers include teachers, nurses and firefighters, according to the White House.”
* I’ve been hoping this would happen: “The FBI has resumed some of its efforts to share information with some American tech companies about foreign propagandists using their platforms after it ceased contact for more than half a year, multiple people familiar with the matter told NBC News.”
* The latest Jan. 6 sentence: “A Colorado man who helped other rioters drag a police officer into a mob storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Thursday to more than five years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Jeffrey Sabol ripped a baton from an officer’s hands before pulling another officer into the crowd outside the Capitol, allowing other rioters to assault the officer with weapons.”
* All is not well in Alabama: “Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill Wednesday making hers the latest state to enact bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public colleges and offices.”
* As people confront an avalanche of nonsense, it’s never been more important to be smart consumers of media and information: “Physicians say they’re seeing an explosion of birth-control misinformation online targeting a vulnerable demographic: people in their teens and early 20s who are more likely to believe what they see on their phones because of algorithms that feed them a stream of videos reinforcing messages often divorced from scientific evidence.”
See you tomorrow.