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Why Panera's exempt from California's new wage law... [Advertisement] February 29, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [Masterworks]( Good morning, Happy Leap Day, and happy 12th birthday to Ja Rule. Here’s an idea for future leap years: Instead of adding February 29…we add March 0. Go full Gilbert Arenas. You on board? —Molly Liebergall, Cassandra Cassidy, Matty Merritt, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 15,947.74 -0.55% S&P 5,069.76 -0.17% Dow 38,949.02 -0.06% 10-Year 4.274% -4.1 bps Bitcoin $61,400.00 +7.59% UnitedHealth $498.28 -2.95% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks [fell]( yesterday, while bitcoin almost touched an all-time high after surging 20% in five days as its halving approaches. UnitedHealth dipped on reports that antitrust regulators are investigating the massive insurer.  AI [Gemini’s stumbles cost Google some cred]( [Google Gemini interface]( Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images When creatives put a fictional spin on history, you get Bridgerton or Inglourious Basterds—but when Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, revises real events, you get a $90-billion single-day market loss. “We got it wrong,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai [wrote]( in a memo about Gemini’s current issues with biased answers and racially inaccurate images. The statement comes after widespread criticism led parent company Alphabet to suffer its second-steepest single-day drop in a year on Monday. ICYMI…Gemini got dragged last week for [overdiversifying]( answers to historical questions by spitting out pictures including an Asian founding father, a female pope, and a Black Nazi. Google suspended Gemini’s ability to generate images of people last Thursday, but users realized something was also awry with the AI’s text-based answers over the weekend after the bot refused to say if Adolf Hitler had a worse impact on the world than Elon Musk. Now, some people think Gemini has the woke mind virus. Since the fiasco began, Musk fired off several tweets promoting the theory that Google’s generative tech is racist against white people, according to Bloomberg opinion columnist Parmy Olson. But…Olson and Semafor’s Reed Albergotti see the flubs as [overcorrections]( of previous racial bias and as [consequences]( of Google’s efforts to rush out fixes for Gemini’s algorithm. No time to waste Gemini’s image generation capabilities should be restored in the next few weeks, Google says, but public perception will be harder to debug. Somebody’s probably kicking themselves: More than two years ago, Google [failed to prioritize]( an AI chatbot created by two employees who tried to push the company to develop it. Now, it’s playing catch-up. Big picture: Expectations are high for Google, so analysts warn that AI missteps could easily undermine trust in the company’s brand and business. But with Microsoft and OpenAI leading the generative tech space, Google has likely doubled down on moving fast and breaking things.—ML   PRESENTED BY MASTERWORKS [Locking in 5% risks missing 13.9%, 14.6%, and 17.8%]( [Masterworks]( Thanks to last year’s interest rate hikes, investors can finally get rewarded for parking their excess cash. But for those who are really looking to put their money to work, there’s something else you might want to consider: [opportunity](. Like the opportunity to invest with Masterworks, an award-winning platform for investing in blue-chip art. So far, each of its 21 exits have delivered a profit, with [Masterworks investors realizing returns of 13.9%, 14.6%, 17.8%]( and more. With a track record like that, Masterworks’ offerings can sell out quickly. However, Morning Brew readers can skip the waitlist to join and claim their free account with [this exclusive link](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Mitch McConnell]Samuel Corum/Getty Images Mitch McConnell to step down as Senate GOP leader. McConnell, the longest-serving party leader ever in the Senate, said yesterday that he’ll [give up]( his leadership position after the presidential election in November. His decision that it’s “time for the next generation of leadership” comes after the 82-year-old Kentucky politician’s health has been in the news after two recent episodes of freezing up while speaking publicly and as the old-school Republican has clashed with Donald Trump and his supporters. Trump’s immunity claims head to the high court. The Supreme Court [agreed]( yesterday to weigh in on Donald Trump’s assertions that he is immune from being prosecuted for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election because he was president at the time. The justices will hear arguments in April, giving the court the final word on the novel legal issue. Though a decision is expected in June, it delays one of the criminal cases against Trump as the 2024 election approaches. In other legal news about the former president, an Illinois judge [ruled]( he can’t appear on the state’s primary ballot because of the ban on insurrectionists, but paused the decision pending Trump’s likely appeal. SCOTUS seems split on gun case. The Supreme Court heard [oral arguments]( yesterday challenging a Trump-era federal ban on bump stocks, accessories that make semi-automatic rifles shoot more quickly. The justices appeared divided over whether it should be upheld. The ban was enacted after a shooter using the device killed 58 people in Las Vegas in 2017. The case doesn’t ask the court to interpret the Second Amendment and instead hinges on whether the ban can stand under a law forbidding machine guns. FOOD [Why Panera is exempt from a new minimum wage law]( [Photo of a Panera Bread]( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Here’s a strong case for staying friends with people from high school: California Gov. Gavin Newsom may have pushed for Panera Bread to get an exemption to the state’s new $20 minimum wage law because of a long-standing [relationship]( (and donorship) with fast-food restaurateur Greg Flynn, according to Bloomberg. Jog your memory: Last year, Newsom signed a law to raise the minimum wage for the state’s fast-food workers from $16 to $20/hour starting this April. But there was one mystifying exemption: fast-food chains [that sell bread]( as a standalone item—like Panera. Newsom said the oddly specific rule came about due to “the sausage-making” of politics, but that sausage might have been wrapped in puff pastry. Per Bloomberg: - Flynn owns 24 Panera Bread locations in California. - Flynn and Newsom attended the same high school, where they overlapped for one year. Flynn has also donated at least $164k to Newsom’s political campaigns. Flynn said that he played no role in creating the bread exemption, and Panera Bread didn’t respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment. Bottom line: Industry experts say Panera Bread will probably still have to increase wages to compete with the chains that are offering more money to workers. Some of the Panera Bread locations owned by Flynn recently posted job openings with $20 hourly pay.—CC   SPONSORED BY APPLE CARD [Apple Card]( Spend + earn. With Apple Card, you earn unlimited Daily Cash back—up to 3% on every purchase, every day. We’re talking [real cash]( not points. The best part? You can grow your cash back automatically at [4.50% APY]( when you open a high-yield Savings account through Apple Card. [Apply now](. TECH [Bumble to lay off staff as Gen Z dumps dating apps]( [Bumble logo]( Bumble It’s not just your single friends frustrated with the state of dating apps. Bumble said this week that it plans to [lay off]( 30% of its staff (about 350 employees) after a Q4 earnings report highlighted that profits are ghosting the company and Gen Z considers dating apps a turnoff. Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones, who took over in November when founder Whitney Wolfe Herd stepped down, said the cuts would save the company around $55 million. The company plans to invest in relaunching the app next quarter with new safety and AI features to woo Gen Zers looking for love. It’s no easy task: Everyone’s [losing interest]( in swiping for a soulmate, especially young people. - In an October Axios/Generation Lab survey, 79% of college and grad students [said]( they don’t use dating apps. - Meanwhile, 41% of users age 30+ said they’ve paid for dating apps, compared to just 22% of users under 30, according to a Pew Research study last year. Rebrands everywhere: Bumble’s competitors are scrambling to innovate, too. Tinder is trying to shake its hookup reputation, and Hinge (along with other apps) is investing in in-person meetups.—MM   GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#) [A Toyota Prius Prime]The Washington Post/Getty Images Stat: The Toyota Prius may have gotten a makeover in recent years to help shed its image as the car for people who consider granola its own food group, but it’s still got the environmental bona fides. The nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy ranked the plug-in hybrid Toyota Prius Prime SE the [greenest car]( you can buy in the US, beating out even fully electric vehicles. The rankings take into account the pollution cars generate on the road and when being manufactured. The Prius also took the crown in the group’s rankings in 2020 and 2022. Quote: “In some ways, it was a world of imagination, like imagine that there is a whole chocolate factory here.” The [actor]( hired to play Willy Wonka at a Glasgow event billed as an immersive chocolate experience and advertised with AI-generated images of a whimsical funhouse that in [reality]( turned out to be a mostly empty warehouse with a few props is speaking out. Comedian Paul Connell told The Independent he had nothing to do with organizing the Fyre Fest of candy factories but tried his best to make the event special for the kids who arrived (who were given one jelly bean and a cup of lemonade each) even though the script was “15 pages of AI-generated gibberish.” Connell says he stayed in character for three and a half hours as the scene devolved into chaos until he didn’t know “where I ended and Wonka began.” Read: How the company created the “Disney Adult.” ([The New Statesman]( NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Wendy’s]( backtracked clarified that it’s not planning on implementing surge pricing after Frosty lovers reacted badly to the chain’s CEO saying on an earnings call this week that it planned to roll out dynamic pricing next year. - [Texas]( saw the second-largest wildfire in the state’s history, which prompted concerns about a nuclear facility as it blazed through. - [Lawmakers]( struck a deal to keep the government from shutting down this weekend. - [Comedian Richard Lewis]( known for his standup and role on Curb Your Enthusiasm, died at age 76. - [Sam Bankman-Fried’s]( lawyers argued he should only serve between 5 and 6.5 years in prison for fraud at FTX—a far cry from the 100 years that probation officers have suggested. - [European media companies]( including Axel Springer (which owns Morning Brew), slapped Google with a $2.3 billion lawsuit claiming they were harmed by the company’s digital ad policies. RECS [To do list Thursday] Extra day, extra deals: Here are the companies offering [Leap Day]( discounts and freebies. Hang it up: The best way to [hang your pictures]( on the wall, according to neuroscience. Learn: Why reality show stars drink out of [colored goblets](. Watch: See if you can get through Jon Stewart’s [tribute to his dog]( without crying. (We couldn’t.) Build wealth: Get your finances in order with this best-selling [wealth planner](. Spend $1 to save $500: …on every flight. For the next 12 hours, [try Dollar Flight Club]( for $1 to save on round-trip flights like Hawaii from $161 or Italy from $299. [Got a dollar]( *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew Mini: Leap days happen just once every four years, and you can bet Mary didn’t miss the opportunity to weave them into today’s Mini. [Play it here](. Three Headlines and a Lie Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than the first sign of spring in the Midwest. Can you spot the odd one out? - When [maggots]( are what the doctor ordered - Chefs divided on whether you really need to [wash]( knives - Merriam-Webster says you can end a sentence with a [preposition](. The internet goes off - Japan’s millennia-old ‘naked man festival’ [ending]( because of population decline SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER We made up the one about the chefs. Wash your knives. Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: restaurateur, meaning “a person who owns and operates a restaurant.” Thanks to Dara from Los Angeles for cooking up the suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ✢ A Note From Masterworks Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See Important disclosures at [www.masterworks.com/cd](. Written by [Neal Freyman]( [Abigail Rubenstein]( [Molly Liebergall]( [Cassandra Cassidy]( and [Matty Merritt]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Take The Brew to work - Marketers: [Marketing Brew]( - Corporate: [CFO Brew](  [HR Brew]( - Tech: [IT Brew](  [Tech Brew]( - Retailers: [Retail Brew]( - Healthcare: [Healthcare Brew]( Get smarter in just 5 minutes - Money & Career: [Money With Katie](  [Bossy]( Interested in podcasts? - Check out ours [here]( [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011