Good Morning! Today’s edition is 1,003 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Airfare costs on the rise

• Australian Open upset

• The cost of raising a family in each state

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Big Story

JFK, RFK, MLK Files

President Trump signed an executive order to declassify files related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

• The order follows a 1992 law requiring JFK file releases by 2017 and Trump's previous partial document release in 2017. Trump gave intelligence and justice officials 15-45 days to present plans for full document disclosure.

• John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas in November 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were both assassinated in 1968 - RFK by Sirhan Sirhan after winning the California Democratic presidential primary and King in Memphis while supporting a sanitation workers' strike by James Earl Ray.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary, had previously called for file releases and pushed theories about the CIA's involvement in JFK's assassination.

Big Story

OxyContin Settlement

Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, who own the company that created OxyContin, have upped their offer to $7.4 billion to settle lawsuits related to the opioid crisis.

• This new settlement is more than $1 billion higher than a previous deal that the Supreme Court rejected. The Sacklers will contribute up to $6.5 billion over 15 years, while Purdue Pharma will pay $900 million. The Sackler family will also give up ownership of the company.

• OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller, was introduced in 1996 and has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the US. The company has been accused of downplaying the addiction risks of the drug and targeting doctors with misleading information.

• The Sackler family continues to deny any wrongdoing, with one branch of the family claiming the lawsuits have no merit. They are estimated to be worth billions more than the settlement amount.

• A portion of the money is intended to compensate victims and fund treatment and overdose rescue medicines. However, the deal still needs court approval.

Big Story

Airfare Costs

Strong demand and reduced supply suggest airfare prices will continue to rise in 2025.

• Fare-tracking platform Hopper reported domestic January "good deal" fares at $304, a 12% jump from last year. Factors like late aircraft deliveries from Boeing and Airbus, air traffic constraints, and financial pressures contribute to higher prices.

• Airlines are prioritizing profitability by reducing poor-performing routes and discount rates. Spirit Airlines, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, is the most extreme case and has drastically reduced its flights to cut costs.

• Other indicators hint that ticket prices will remain high through 2025. Off-season travel, particularly to Europe, is showing strong demand. Customers are also increasingly interested in premium seats. Carriers like JetBlue and Southwest are preparing to debut new amenities and premium seating to capitalize on the interest.

Quick Stories

US News

• The Senate confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director with a 74-25 vote, making him the second key member of President Trump’s new national security team. (More)

• A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked President Trump's executive order to limit automatic birthright citizenship, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional." (More)

• Mississippi state Sen. Bradford Blackmon introduced the "Contraception Begins at Erection Act," a bill proposing to ban men from “discharging genetic material without intent to fertilize an embryo,” except for sperm donation or when using contraception. (More)

World

• Italy’s highest court upheld Amanda Knox’s slander conviction for falsely accusing an innocent man in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. Knox won’t be jailed except for the four years she already served. (More)

• Australian police are investigating if foreign actors are funding antisemitic attacks, as antisemitic crimes in the country have risen since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023. (More)

• The European Commissioner for Home Affairs has suggested EU funds could be used to build border barriers, framing them as a defense against "hybrid threats" from Russia or Belarus targeting several EU countries. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed higher on Thursday (S&P +0.53%, Nasdaq +0.22%, Dow +0.92%). The market has gotten a boost this week from potential tax cuts and deregulation under Trump. (More)

• UnitedHealthcare appointed Tim Noel, former head of Medicare and retirement, as its new CEO following the December targeted killing of former executive Brian Thompson in Manhattan. (More)

• Amazon announced it will close all seven of its Quebec warehouses within two months, citing customer savings, though a Canadian union claims the closures aim to prevent further unionization. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” topped the Oscar nominations with 13, including best picture and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón. Musical “Wicked” and Brady Corbet's epic “The Brutalist” earned 10 nominations each. (More)

• 19th-seeded American Madison Keys upset No. 2 Iga Swiatek in an intense Australian Open semifinal. She will face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka for the trophy on Saturday. (More)

• The 2025 NBA All-Star Game starting lineups were announced, with Giannis Antetokounmpo leading all players in fan votes at 4.4 million and Nikola Jokić as the top vote-getter in the Western Conference. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• Google attributed a “data error” to former President Joe Biden being omitted from search results for US presidents. Users noticed the omission on Wednesday, where lists ended with Donald Trump instead. (More)

• The near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5, discovered last year, is believed to have broken off from the Moon after a large impact, according to a recent study. (More)

• Military imaging studies reveal that repeated blast exposure can reduce brain volume, increase inflammation, and disrupt neural connections, affecting blood flow. (More)

Extra Credit

🎥 Razzie Awards nominees highlight the worst of cinema.

🐈️ Mittens the cat becomes an accidental frequent flyer.

🍺 Coors Light jumps into the skincare game. 

👪️ The income needed to raise a family in each US state.