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Student loans, gender-affirming care, and fighting over 'Chili Crunch'

 
Today's POLITICS STORY

Biden pitches student loan forgiveness for millions

What happened
President Joe Biden has announced a new program that would reduce the amount that 25 million borrowers owe on their undergraduate and graduate loans. Approximately 10 million would get at least $5,000 in student loan debt relief and more than four million would have their debt forgiven entirely, according to The White House.

Who said what
"We're giving people a chance to make it," Biden said after outlining the plan during a Monday visit to Madison in the swing state of Wisconsin. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called the plan an "unfair ploy to buy votes before an election" while doing "absolutely nothing" to address high education costs.

The commentary
The iconic college town of Madison "symbolizes the president's promise to make higher-education affordability a cornerstone of his economic agenda," The New York Times said. It's a promise he has "so far failed to achieve." Biden's latest loan forgiveness proposal is "illegal," The Wall Street Journal said, and a future Congress or Administration might be able to "undo the lawless act."

What next?
Biden's proposal will almost certainly face conservative legal challenges as the legislative clock ticks down to the 2024 general election.

 
 
Today's FOOD story

Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproar

What happened
Chef David Chang is facing public outrage after his Momofuku food line attempted to trademark "Chili Crunch," and sent cease-and-desist letters to other companies before the trademark was approved.

Who said what
Momofuku "intentionally picked 'Chili Crunch' to further differentiate it from the broader chili crisp category," a spokesperson said. This is the work of "trademark bullies" who think trademarks are for going after "all companies big and small with abandon," said Fly by Jing chef Jing Gao. 

The commentary
Trademarks like this box out rivals and "limit who can profit off a food with a connection to entire cultures," the Los Angeles Times said. This is like "going after the term 'hot sauce' or 'ketchup' or 'mustard,'" recipe developer and author James Park told The Washington Post.

What next?
The trademark application process "typically" takes 12 to 18 months, The Independent said, and Momofuku will need to prove that the phrase "chili crunch" has "distinctiveness through extensive use in commerce over many years."

 
 
Today's RELIGION STORY

The Vatican's stand on gender-affirming care 

What happened
The Vatican published a document on Monday titled "Dignitas Infinita" (Infinite Dignity) enumerating "grave violations of human dignity." Examples in the declaration include "gender theory" and surgically changing a person's sex.

Who said what
Changing one's biological sex "risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception," the Vatican said. While "biological sex and the sociocultural role of sex (gender) can be distinguished," they cannot be "separated."

The commentary
The "culture war issues" that Pope Francis previously "largely avoided" are "not necessarily new,” said The New York Times, but this document will "be embraced by conservatives." That the declaration doesn't use the word "transgender" itself "speaks to limiting the dignity of transgender people," Michael Sennett, an LGBTQ+ ministry member,  told The Associated Press.

What next?
Advocates fear that the document will feed discrimination against the transgender community, even as Pope Francis has "made it his mission to broadcast a message" of inclusion, the Times said. 

 
 

It's not all bad

Researchers at King's College London have announced a potential breakthrough in asthma treatment that could prevent respiratory attacks. Most current therapies are based on the idea of asthma being an inflammatory condition and treat the aftermath of an attack. The new study, conducted on mice, suggests the damage and inflammation from an attack could be prevented by blocking a process that kills the epithelial cells that line the airways of lungs. Researchers also identified a chemical called gadolinium that can ease airway restriction. Human testing of gadolinium is now required.

 
 
Under the radar

The wine industry is getting pressed

Young people are often making healthier lifestyle choices and have grown wary of alcohol's detrimental effects. According to 2023 Nielsen data, "45% of Gen Z consumers (21 and up) say they've never consumed alcohol," said The San Francisco Chronicle. A separate Gallup poll revealed that "as of 2023, 52% of people between the ages of 21 and 34 believed moderate drinking is bad for your health." They are not incorrect: In a damning report last year, the World Health Organization announced that no level of alcohol consumption is safe.

One unsurprising reason younger people are avoiding wine is the cost. Good wine is generally more expensive than beer or spirits, and millennials notably have less disposable income, less job security and more student loan debt than their parents did.

The wine industry's arguable inaccessibility is another hurdle, as it has "pigeonholed itself into being something for the elite," Brandon Hofherr, the marketing director for St. James Winery, told Forbes. Young consumers have more of a vested interest in social justice and environmental issues, too. But the wine industry has been "slow to adapt," said wine critic Eric Asimov in The New York Times. 

As younger consumers lose interest and baby boomers age out of drinking, the wine industry is suffering from oversupply. These changes are good news for individual oenophiles: At the moment, there is a wide variety of choices at low prices. "The industry's woes are wine lovers' big win," said food and wine critic John Mariani at Forbes.

 
 
On this day

April 9, 1865

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant's Army of the Potomac at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. This effectively marked the end of the U.S. Civil War, though skirmishes between the Union and Confederacy would continue until a final battle a month later near Brownsville, Texas.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

Donald Trump now thinks states should decide on abortion regulations, says The Washington Post. The former president's failure to call for a national ban in a Monday statement disappointed allies, causing a "dustup over abortion" in the GOP, The Boston Globe says. The Wall Street Journal showcases a photo of Monday's total solar eclipse, and says millions were delighted by the "celestial sight."

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Goat to go

So many goats are roaming around the Italian island of Alicudi that officials are asking people to adopt the animals. The goat population has exploded in recent years, with an estimated 600 goats now living alongside the 100 human residents. The goats are damaging gardens and walls and "even wandering into people's homes", said The Guardian, but Mayor Riccardo Gullo told the paper that "we absolutely do not want to even consider" a cull.  Adopting them instead "could be a beautiful and more humane way to control the issue", he said.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Win McNamee / Getty Images; Tiziana Fabi / AFP via Getty Images; Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Portland Press Herald via Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images