The Buzz 04.02.26

FREE SPEECH

Elon Musk’s X thought some major companies were conspiring against it by not advertising on the social media platform. A federal judge dismissed that claim on March 26. In 2024, X filed an antitrust lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers and some major companies, which include Mars, CVS Health and Colgate. When Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, many companies pulled their advertising from X over concerns that safeguards protecting users had been removed, while previously banned users had their accounts reinstated. The lawsuit alleged the advertisers banded together to withhold “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X in a manner that violated antitrust law. The companies denied any wrongdoing, saying they had acted independently when making their business decisions, and instead argued that X could not prove they acted in unison. U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle agreed. “The very nature of the alleged conspiracy does not state an antitrust claim, and the court therefore has no qualm dismissing with prejudice,” she wrote.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I’m very frightened for our future.” - Onette McElroy of Monterey, who was among the estimated thousands who attended a No Kings protest at Window on the Bay on Saturday, March 28 (see story, montereycountynow.com/news)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

March 26 was another day for Greenfield High School student Rodrigo Velasquez as he checked in to his shift as a lead at KFC in King City, until he found out he was awarded $20,000 for college. Velasquez was one of 11 students nationwide to be awarded the top scholarship from the KFC Foundation this year. Velasquez, a student pilot, plans to attend San Jose State University’s aviation program in the fall. Velasquez applied for the scholarship by writing an essay that demonstrated financial need. Also during the surprise celebration, King City High School student Eva Vicencio received $5,000, which she intends to use at UC Davis Medical Center as she studies for a career in nuclear medicine. The foundation is awarding more than 300 KFC employees nationwide a total of $2 million in scholarships in 2026.

GREAT:

For the first time in more than half a century, a crewed spacecraft will fly around the moon – and two of the four crew members on the 10-day space flight are alumni of Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. Artemis II, which was expected to launch on April 1 (after the Weekly’s deadline), is commanded by retired U.S. Navy Capt. Reid Wiseman and piloted by Navy Capt. Victor Glover, both alumni of NPS. They earned certificates in space systems fundamentals from NPS, while Glover received a master’s degree in systems engineering from the school. The two have been to space once before. “U.S. Navy Capt. Gene Cernan was the last astronaut to set foot on the moon. He commanded the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 and was also an NPS alumnus. So, it’s exciting to see us headed back,” NPS President Ann Rondeau said in an article on the school’s website.