Heavy rains, severe winds, and tornadoes wreaked havoc, damaged properties, and claimed at least 12 lives across the South, including Alabama, the Carolinas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Even though the storm has passed, trees could still fall due to the saturated ground, posing a continuing danger after falling trees already killed three in Alabama. More: - In Kentucky, at least five people died, and approximately 370,000 customers lost power as of Saturday.
- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said the wind reached 75 mph and warned that the power outages could last for days.
- In Tennessee, almost 100,000 customers did not have power, according to the utility tracker poweroutage.us.
- Scientists warn that the risks of increasingly inclement weather conditions make it urgent to protect people and property.
Zoom Out: - In California, several feet of snow is expected to fall in the Sierra Nevada mountains this weekend, just as mountain communities are starting to dig out from the last storm.
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An arm of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Asset Management (GSAM) is among the potential suitors for the global sandwich brand Subway, one of the world's largest quick-service restaurant chains. The Wall Street Journal said a sale could value Subway at more than $10B, although the deal structure is yet unclear. More: - Goldman reportedly rarely participates in auctions of this nature.
- Goldman's interest in buying Subway is through a division of GSAM internally known as its Principal Investment Area (PIA).
- Bain Capital and private equity firms TPG and TDR Capital are among the other potential bidders interested in buying the chain known for its foot-long sandwiches.
- Subway confirmed it was "exploring a possible sale of the company."
- The sandwich chain did not indicate the timing of the sale.
- Subway reported a 9.2% increase in same-store sales for 2022.
Zoom Out: - The first Subway store was opened in Connecticut in 1965 by Peter Buck, a nuclear physicist, and today it has over 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries.
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 A message from DESIGNINDC We are a digital agency that is full of right-brained and left-brained people. When searching for a digital agency, finding one that can do it all and do it right can be hard. We are a digital agency that is full of right-brained and left-brained people. Whether you want to build a website, create a video, or release an app, we are the jack and the master of all digital trades. We can offer you… - Human-centered design at the heart of our process
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 Antarctica's Larsen B ice shelf. There has never been less ice around the continent than there was last week. Photograph: staphy/Getty Images/iStockphoto Based on satellite observations dating back to 1979, there has never been less sea ice across the Antarctic than last week, reaching a record low. For 44 years, satellites have tracked how much ice glides on the ocean around Antarctica’s coastline. More: - Antarctica's ice mass shrinking is significant because the continent holds a sufficient quantity of ice to raise global sea levels drastically if it were to melt.
- A significant area of concern is ice around the Amundsen and Bellinghausen seas on the continent’s west.
- According to scientists, two-thirds of the Antarctic coastline was exposed to open water in February, well above the long-term average of roughly 50%.
- The vulnerable Thwaites glacier in the West Antarctic, also known as the "doomsday glacier," could singlehandedly raise sea levels by more than half a meter if it collapses.
- A 2022 study reported that, since 1979, the Amundsen Sea region has been seeing more extended periods without ice.
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 Networks of brain organoids could one day be used to support biocomputers. A new field called "organoid intelligence" could be the foundation for computers powered by cells found in the human brain. A team of researchers in the U.S. believes such biological hardware using lab-grown brain organoids has the potential to be the way of the future. More: - Scientists call the phenomena of lab-grown brain organoids "intelligence in a dish."
- These are cell cultures with neurons capable of brainlike functions.
- Researchers reportedly plan to use brain organoids to build "biocomputers” that compare with today’s supercomputers.
- The new biological computers may transform pharmaceutical testing for conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
- Biological hardware raises ethical questions, such as whether organoids can develop consciousness or sentience.
Zoom Out: - Research explaining the plan for organoid intelligence was published in the journal Frontiers in Science.
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 A message from ASSEMBLYAI How Jiminny leverages AI for conversation intelligence Join us on Thursday, March 9th for a conversation on how Jiminny, a leading Revenue Intelligence and Sales Engagement platform unlocks your Sales team's potential to drive revenue through conversation intelligence–seamlessly with AI.
Tom Lavery, CEO & Founder, Jiminny and Mısra Turp, Developer Educator, AssemblyAI will discuss how Jiminny thinks about building AI-powered features like Transcription and Speaker Labels into their product to power the success of its customers. Can’t make it? Register anyway and we'll send you the recording. Register Now
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A nationwide power outage hit Kenya on Saturday evening, attributed to a problem with a high-voltage transmission line, said Kenya Power, the country's sole electricity distributor. East Africa's biggest economy, with a population of 53 million, experienced the outage after a "bulk power supply" failure, the state-run utility announced on its Twitter account. More: - Kenya Power purchases most of its power from one source, Kenya Electricity Generating Company.
- Power blackouts are reportedly common in Keyna but not on this scale.
- In January 2022, a high-voltage transmission line connecting the capital to a hydroelectric dam broke, causing a nationwide power outage.
- Three senior managers were later charged with sabotage and negligence.
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An explosion and fire at an oxygen plant in Bangladesh killed at least six people and injured several more on Saturday. The death toll could rise as a rescue operation was ongoing at the plant in Sitakunda, 25 miles from the southeastern port city of Chittagong. More: - The explosion reportedly shook buildings within a range of 1.5 miles, local witnesses reported.
- The cause of the explosions is still unclear, and the government has launched an investigation.
Zoom Out: - In June 2022, a large fire at a container depot in Sitakunda killed 50 people and injured nearly 200.
- In 2012, a fire at Tazreen Fashions, which produced goods for Walmart and Sears, killed 112 workers, becoming Bangladesh's deadliest industrial accident.
- At a memorial held at the plant site in November 2022, attendees noted that 10 years later, the victims' families had still not received justice or compensation.
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- Paul Murdaugh provided the key proof after his death that legal experts say exposed his father, Alex Murdaugh, a former South Carolina attorney, which ultimately led to his conviction in the double homicide, CNN reports.
- Manhattan prosecutors are in the final stages of presenting evidence to a grand jury about former President Donald Trump's alleged role in paying hush money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election.
- A week of intense snowfall in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California has left residents and tourists rationing food and pleading for help, the NY Times reports.
- Mary Daly, president of the San Francisco Fed, says U.S. rates are likely to be higher for longer.
- Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried should be allowed while on bail to have a flip phone with no internet and a basic laptop but be forbidden from using other electronic devices, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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ART OF THE DAY: 
Mykola Pymonenko, Easter Matins in Ukraine, 1891, Rybinsk State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum Preserve, Rybinsk, Russia.
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 |  | Vildana is a writer, activist and university lecturer. Besides English, she is also fluent in German. You can follow her on Twitter. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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