| Housekeeping note: Hey friend — starting next week, I will be on a brief book leave (so I can finish this project), and will return in May. Don't you worry, though — this newsletter will keep arriving in your inbox while I'm gone. And yes, I will miss you too. — Elamin THE BIG STORY
Oil giant BP has pledged to go carbon-neutral by 2050
BP has become the largest oil and gas company to promise it’ll become carbon-neutral by the middle of the century, meaning it would only generate as much climate pollution as it can pull out of the atmosphere.
The move comes at an interesting time — fossil fuel companies are facing increasing pressure from activists, stakeholders, and city and state officials looking to hold them accountable for a warming planet.
In fact, BP is one of several companies being sued by multiple US cities and states for climate impacts.
As part of its new strategy, BP says it will install equipment at all major oil and gas processing sites to measure emissions of methane by 2023. The company did not define what constitutes a major processing site.
Activists expressed caution over celebrating the oil giant's announcement before knowing specifics on how it planned to get there.
Lance King / Getty Images STAYING ON TOP OF THIS The frontrunner to become the next leader of the UK's Labour Party
Right now, Keir Starmer is the favorite for leadership of the UK’s Labour Party. But it’s not entirely clear what kind of leader he would be, for a party sitting in one of its deepest lows.
Starmer, who was elected in 2015 after a high-profile legal career, does not fit neatly into a political box. On the left, he is dismissed as a centrist in the mold of Tony Blair. On the right, he’s dismissed as a radical Marxist. He praises both Jeremy Corbyn and Blair as excellent party leaders.
On top of that, he has a knighthood (!), and friends in the Conservative Party, leading some to see him as an “establishment” candidate. And yet the frontrunner status holds.
Emily Ashton gives the deep background on Starmer.
Stefan Rousseau / PA SNAPSHOTS Disgraced Google executive Andy Rubin’s smartphone company is shutting down. Essential Products, the smartphone maker founded by Android creator and former Google executive Rubin, announced it is shutting down following months of scandal and scrutiny of its leader.
Two Ohio State football players allegedly raped a woman and tried to get her to say it was consensual on video. Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint were arrested after turning themselves in Tuesday for the alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman.
A college professor compared “OK, Boomer” to the n-word, leaving the school and students outraged. According to the University of Oklahoma’s student paper, the Oklahoma Daily, journalism professor Peter Gade used the slur in class during a lecture about the changing media industry.
Noah Centineo opened up about his past drug use, revealing that it was a “dark time.” In a recent magazine interview, the actor best known for To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before got personal about his past, and revealed that he has a lot of “sanity-keeping rituals” that keep him balanced.
TARGET AUDIENCE Juul bought ads on Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and other kids websites, a new lawsuit claims
Juul, the vaping giant, has long insisted that its nicotine vaping devices are meant for adults, not teens. They’ve said this even as federal surveys showed that about 27% of high school seniors have vaped in the last month.
However, the Massachusetts attorney general alleged in a lawsuit filed against Juul that internal company documents show that the e-cigarette giant’s early advertising campaigns explicitly targeted young people, helping spark the nationwide teen vaping crisis.
The lawsuit claims Juul sought to get its devices into the hands of the likes of Cara Delevingne and Miley Cyrus, and it bought ads on kids websites, including Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, teen magazines, and others — even some allegedly aimed at preschoolers.
Attorney General Maura Healey said that the marketing sparked a new generation of kids addicted to nicotine, even as rates of teen cigarette smoking continue to decline.
PAYCHECK REALITY CHECK This mom shared a TikTok of her $9 paycheck after working 70 hours
Aaliyah Cortez has been a server at a local sports bar in Austin, Texas for over a year. She recently went viral after posting a TikTok of her paycheck.
The reason? After logging 70 hours, the total paycheck came to $9.28. Cortez told us she decided to share the video to show how the service industry operates. She told us, “There are laws set up that allow tipped employees to be paid below the federal minimum wage, which makes us rely on the customer to pay our wages.”
Tell someone you love that you're proud of them today, Elamin P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide). 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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