Today’s Big Story

How Do “Leap Days” Work?

Why do we get an extra day in February, and why isn’t it December 32 instead?

You’ve likely noticed, but this February will be a little longer than usual. Today is the leap day of our leap year. Scientifically speaking, 2024 is what’s knonw as a “bissextile” year. Now, I know people don’t always think it’s real, but the term comes from the Latin word '“bissextus” and means the “second sixth day”.

Why do we have them? Well, leap years exist because while the world follows a 365-day Gregorian calendar, it actually takes the planet a little bit more than a year to orbit the sun. It takes Earth approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds to orbit the sun, according to NASA—and while that is rounded down to the 365 days we recognize as a typical year, those nearly six extra hours don't disappear. So this leap day is essentially a once-every-four-years correction of that annual rounding error.

Why in February? Good question. It can be traced back, like so many things in our modern world, to ancient Rome. “It’s mostly that the Romans didn’t really like February very much,” Ben Gold, a professor of astronomy and physics at Hamline University in Saint Paul, told CBS News two leap years ago, in 2016. Several ancient cultures (including early Christians) believed the world was created in the spring and therefore March was the beginning of the year. This means that when the Roman calendar added an extra day in February, they were in fact adding a day at the end of their year. That’s why we don’t get a December 32nd.

Of course, it’s not an official holiday in the United States. But in other parts of the world, leap days are not treated as regular ol’ days: In Ireland, for example, women are encouraged to propose to their partners on leap days, flipping traditional gender roles. In parts of China, children give their parents gifts. And in a slew of countries, leap days are popular days for weddings—perhaps so you have less chances of forgetting your anniversary?

Supreme Court to Weigh Trump’s Immunity Claim

It will likely delay the election-obstruction trial until at least late spring or summer

This was pretty inevitable, but the Supreme Court has officially announced that they will weigh whether former President Trump is immune from prosecution—it’s a historic case with profound implications for essentially everyone involved: The court, the 2024 election and the presidency itself.

But the justices’ decision to hear Trump’s appeal will further delay the Justice Department's prosecution of the former president over his role in the chaos of Jan. 6th. The justices have fast-tracked the appeal, but oral arguments won’t begin until late April, with a ruling on the merits expected by late June. Trump’s criminal trial has been put on hold pending resolution of the matter. It’s a blow to Special counsel Jack Smith, who had urged the Supreme Court to swiftly reject Trump’s claims, arguing the charged crimes “strike at the heart of our democracy.”

Three judges on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. unanimously sided with prosecutors this month. The panel said that Trump's immunity argument has virtually no limit. And when Trump's lawyer was pressed by the panel, he conceded that a president “could order SEAL Team 6 to assassinate his political rivals and still be free from any criminal prosecution.” NPR reports that all that can be said with certainty now is that the clock is ticking. “If Trump regains the White House, he could order his Justice Department to drop the case or even attempt to pardon himself.” The former president has also raised immunity issues in his federal case in Florida, where he is charged with illegally retaining classified materials after he left the White House and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.

Want to Join the 1%?

Here’s how much you’ll need in America. But don’t worry, it’s not as much as you’d need in Monaco.

We all want to be rich, right? But … how financially secure? Like comfortably wealthy or filthy, stinking Succession-level rich? Either way, breaking into America’s top 1% is getting harder.

In the United States, you need to have at least $5.8 million to sit at the tippy-top, a 15% increase from last year, Bloomberg reports. That’s according to the respected property broker Knight Frank’s 2024 Wealth Report, which outlines how much money you need to break into the one percent in nations across the world. Robust wealth creation, driven in part by a strong U.S. economy, helped bump the threshold higher, the report said. Over 4% more ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI), worth at least $30 million, were minted in 2023, bringing the global total to nearly 627,000.

According to Robb Report, while Americans need quite a substantial net worth to call themselves part of the one percent, they don’t have the hardest time reaching that echelon. Monaco has retained its status at the top of the list, with people needing at least $12.8 million, a 3.2% jump from the year prior. Luxembourg is next, with a $10.8 million bar, followed by Switzerland with $8.5 million.

Wait, Is Weed … Bad for You?

New study looks at a link between daily use and heart health

Ben Harper one sang, “What’s from the Earth is of the greatest worth.” And I’m pretty sure that I got my first contact high at one of his concerts. But despite research showing that cannabis can help manage chronic pain and other symptoms from serious diseases, a new study published Wednesday called into question just how much good it does our bodies.

Those who regularly smoke marijuana have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, researchers found. And the risks rose sharply the more frequently marijuana was used. Scientists analyzed data on nearly 435,000 patients, ages 18 to 74, and from their analysis, they found that any cannabis use—whether smoked, eaten or vaporized—was associated with a higher number of adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

“Despite common use, little is known about the risks of cannabis use and, in particular, the cardiovascular disease risks,” Abra Jeffers, a data analyst at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, told Newsweek. “The perceptions of the harmfulness of cannabis are decreasing … however, smoking cannabis—the predominant method of use—may pose additional risks because particulate matter is inhaled.”

The Long Read

Nearly 30 years after Amazon was founded, we still don’t really know where its profits come from

Everyone starts somewhere.