Good Morning! Today’s edition is 907 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Music piracy case heads to Supreme Court

• Midwest winter storm

• Gramma the tortoise

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Big Stories

Record Black Friday

• Black Friday online sales hit $11.8B, up 9% year-over-year. Combined with in-store purchases, total US retail sales rose 4.1%, according to Mastercard.

• In-store visits fell 3.6% compared to 2024, while online sales surged, fueled by AI-powered shopping tools and social media advertising. Cyber Monday is projected to hit $14.2 billion, another record, as more shopping goes digital.

• Rising costs, partly driven by Trump’s tariffs, pushed average selling prices up 7%. Shoppers bought fewer items in response, leading to a dip in order volumes. With job worries and growing credit stress, more consumers are delaying payments through “buy now, pay later.” Still, numbers are on pace for a record-setting trillion-dollar holiday season.

Music Piracy Case

• The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case that could determine whether internet service providers must police copyright infringement on their networks. Sony Music and over 50 record labels sued Cox Communications for failing to take steps to stop piracy or cut off repeat offenders.

• The music industry says Cox helped customers distribute thousands of copyrighted works for free, costing the industry billions annually. Cox argues that cutting service based on automated notices from copyright owners would turn ISPs into 'internet police' and force them to disconnect homes, hospitals, and businesses based on unverified accusations.

• The Justice Department, Google, X, and the ACLU have sided with Cox in the case.

Americans Moving Less Than Ever

• Americans moved at the lowest rate on record in 2024, with only 11% changing residences, according to census data analyzed by Point2Homes. That's down from 14% a decade ago and 20% in the 1960s.

• The study identifies three main causes: rising housing costs, economic uncertainty, and remote work, reducing job-related relocations. People are particularly reluctant to move after securing low mortgage rates during the pandemic, with rates now significantly higher. Higher homeownership rates, at 65% compared to 45% in the early 1900s, also contribute.

• New Jersey and New York had the lowest mobility at 8-9%, while Alaska, Oklahoma, and Colorado saw the highest at 14%. Only 19% of movers changed states.

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Quick Stories

US News

• Lawmakers opened investigations after a report said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered strikes on survivors of a September drug boat attack, calling it a potential war crime if true. (More)

• Trump officials, including Secretary of State Rubio, met Ukrainian negotiators in Florida to revise a peace plan ahead of talks with Putin in Moscow this week. (More)

• Winter storms dumped up to 10 inches of snow across the Midwest, causing over 1,400 flight cancellations in Chicago alone and nearly 2,000 delays nationwide during the holiday weekend. (More)

World

• Swiss voters rejected a 50 percent inheritance tax on fortunes over 53 million euros and a plan to require women to do mandatory military or civic service. (More)

• Floods and landslides killed over 600 across Southeast Asia, with hundreds still missing in Indonesia's Sumatra, where heavy rains destroyed homes and left thousands stranded without supplies. (More)

• Israeli PM Netanyahu asked for a pardon on bribery and fraud charges before conviction, an almost unprecedented move that would end his five-year corruption trial. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed higher on Friday (S&P +0.54%, Nasdaq +0.65%, Dow +0.61%). Major indexes closed up for a fifth consecutive day. (More)

• OPEC+, which pumps half the world's oil, agreed to maintain production quotas for 2026 and pause output increases through March as crude prices have fallen 15 percent this year. (More)

• UnitedHealth agreed to sell its last South American business for $1 billion, completing a Latin America exit that cost the struggling health insurer $8.3 billion in losses since 2022. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• Lane Kiffin left Ole Miss for LSU on a $12 million yearly deal but won't coach the Rebels in their playoff run after the school denied his request to finish the postseason. (More)

• British playwright Tom Stoppard, who won an Oscar for "Shakespeare in Love" and five Tony Awards, died peacefully at his home in England at 88. (More)

• Bill Belichick's first college season at North Carolina ended with a 42-19 loss to rival NC State, capping a 4-8 record marked by five blowout losses. (More) | Alabama beat Auburn 27-20 after blowing a 17-0 lead, earning a rematch with Georgia in the SEC title game. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• Researchers found soybean oil drives weight gain in mice by creating oxylipins that disrupt liver fat metabolism. Genetically altered mice avoided obesity, suggesting genetics and high-linoleic diets shape risk. (More)

• A black fungus thriving inside Chernobyl's reactor appears to use melanin to harvest radiation for energy like plants use sunlight, but scientists still can't prove how this "radiosynthesis" actually works. (More)

• Scientists found that 66-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur fossils preserved skin details through ultra-thin clay coatings, revealing for the first time a tall neck crest, tail spikes, and toe-enclosing hooves. (More)

Extra Credit

Time magazine’s top 100 photos of 2025.

The 10 fastest-growing jobs of the next decade.

Gramma the Galapagos tortoise, passes at 141.

Watch: Why a mile-high skyscraper is almost impossible.