Pecker Unleashed: “This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior. It was election fraud, pure and simple.” The Trump trial is underway. Both sides gave opening statements and the people called David Pecker. (Which seems like a pretty rude thing for the people to call David.) A lot of the early testimony will be about Pecker and the National Enquirer’s catch and kill business. NYT Magazine (Gift Article): What I Saw Working at The National Enquirer During Donald Trump’s Rise.

+ A Place in the Sun: “President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities.” Meanwhile, in California, solar panels are everywhere. And that’s a good thing. But is it too much of a good thing for grid operators? “But now, the state and its grid operator are grappling with a strange reality: There is so much solar on the grid that, on sunny spring days when there’s not as much demand, electricity prices go negative. Gigawatts of solar are ‘curtailed’ — essentially, thrown away.” WaPo (Gift Article): Rooftop solar panels are flooding California’s grid. That’s a problem. (Not as big a problem as the world burning up, though!)

+ Bad Intel: “I carry that black day with me ever since, day after day, night after night. I will carry the horrible pain of the war with me forever.” Israel military intelligence chief quits over 7 October.

+ Ozempics or It Didn’t Happen: Ozempic is not usually associated with size increases. But that’s exactly what’s happening in Kalundborg, population under 17,000. That’s where Novo Nordisk makes its product and is transforming a town. NYT (Gift Article): How Ozempic Is Transforming a Small Danish Town.

+ Hopelessly Divoted to You: Nothing like celebrating a Masters win with another win. Scottie Scheffler claims fourth win in five starts. But as is often the case these days, there’s a women’s sports story that’s even better. Nelly Korda has won five consecutive LPGA tournaments.

+ Frampton Comes Alive: “It’s a diverse list that stretches from R&B/rock pioneer Big Mama Thornton to pop superstars Cher and Dionne Warwick, and from ’70s-rooted rockers like Peter Frampton, Foreigner and Ozzy Osbourne to ’90s icons the Dave Matthews Band, Mary J. Blige and A Tribe Called Quest.” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Announces 2024 Inductees.

+ Tortured Competition: You’ll never guess who just smashed Spotify’s single day streaming record (beating her own record which previously beat her own record…)