Elon Musk is fueling an alternative-media ecosystem — right-leaning but not conventionally Republican — that has emerged in the last two years, Axios media trends expert Sara Fischer writes.

• Why it matters: Feeding on resentment against mainstream media, new media players have established a power base via Substack newsletters, podcasts and other independent channels.

These writers — including Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwald — are being empowered by Musk's ownership of Twitter.

• Musk gave Taibbi what the reporter and Substack author said were "thousands" of internal Twitter documents. Musk promoted a Twitter thread by Taibbi chronicling the company's decision to limit distribution of the Hunter Biden laptop story in 2020.
• Musk says he has handed over more documents to Taibbi and Weiss for another drop of "The Twitter Files."

💡 Who's who:

• Taibbi is a veteran writer who started on the left, capturing attention during the financial crisis of 2008 for describing Goldman Sachs as a "vampire squid." His work has more recently taken aim at media pieties, and alleged censorship by government and Big Tech.
• Weiss is a former New York Times op-ed columnist who left that newsroom amid controversy — and now focuses on voices and positions that, she argues, mainstream media outlets are suppressing.
• Greenwald is a veteran blogger who came to fame as a key figure in the massive 2013 leaks of U.S. government documents by Edward Snowden.

All three have created enormously popular newsletters on Substack, and use Twitter to bolster their audiences.

• Weiss has more than 500,000 Twitter followers and says she has more than 250,000 email subscribers on Substack, including free and paid readers.
• Greenwald has 1.9 million Twitter followers and has more than 200,000 free and paid email subscribers in Substack, with tens of thousands of paid readers.
• Taibbi has 1.3 million Twitter followers and said last year more than 30,000 people pay for his Substack newsletter.

Between the lines: Musk's Twitter takeover has helped these Substack entrepreneurs cement their alliance with Silicon Valley investors who share their hostility to mainstream media — including several members of Musk's inner circle, notably investor David Sacks.

• Marc Andreessen, one of tech's most prominent investors, has poured billions of dollars into Substack, Clubhouse, and other platforms that democratize media creation.

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Elon Musk's Neuralink is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that the brain-implant company's animal testing is being rushed, Reuters reports.

• Why it matters: Some workers say pressure from Musk to accelerate development has resulted in botched experiments.

The probe — focused on violations of the Animal Welfare Act — was opened in recent months by the Agriculture Department's inspector general at a federal prosecutor's request.

💬 In February, Musk sent Neuralink staffers a news article about Swiss researchers who developed an electrical implant that helped a paralyzed man to walk.

• "We could enable people to use their hands and walk again in daily life!" Musk wrote at 6:37 a.m. PT.
• Ten minutes later, he followed up: "In general, we are simply not moving fast enough. It is driving me nuts!"

Almost 48 hours after Moore County, N.C., went dark when two power substations were attacked by gunfire, downtown Southern Pines was mostly silent yesterday.

• A few generators powered a handful of local businesses struggling to remain open.
• The outage has left nearly 40,000 homes and businesses without power in the county, 60 miles southwest of Raleigh.

Why it matters: Many questions are unanswered, including who fired the guns and why, report Zachery Eanes and Lucille Sherman of Axios Raleigh.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference: "This kind of attack raises a new level of threat."

• Cooper said there was criminal intent, but stopped short of calling it an act of domestic terrorism.

Schools are closed for a second day. Blackouts could last for days.

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It was the same old Neymar out there yesterday — looking fit as he returned from an injury, and scoring a goal to move closer to Pelé's record, AP reports.

• Neymar, 30, led Brazil into the World Cup quarterfinals with a 4-1 win over South Korea.

Neymar reached 76 goals with the national team — one shy of Pelé, 82, who planned to watch the match from his hospital bed in São Paulo.

It's Election Day in Georgia — again, writes Emma Hurt of Axios Atlanta.

• Why it matters: Georgia has had two high-profile runoffs in two years, and four elections in 2022 alone. Thousands of ads and text messages have jammed Georgians' TV, phones and radios.

The campaigns of Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Republican challenger Herschel Walker have spent $335 million on TV ads, including nearly $80 million in the runoff, NPR reports.

• The saturation is such that Emma's sister once heard a first-grader, unprompted, parrot back a Warnock attack ad.

🥊 Reality check: Georgians are still showing up: Nearly 1.9 million ballots were cast ahead of Election Day.

🔮 What's next: Debate has begun about whether to change the runoff system. One proposal that has bipartisan support would replace general-election runoffs with an "instant runoff."

• Voters would rank candidate choices in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, results would be re-tabulated to take second choices into account.
• Advocates argue it could save $75 million in election administration costs. And it could save voters weeks of political inundation.

🖼️ The big picture ... Today's N.Y. Times front page: "Final Pleas in Contest to Shape The Senate and Define Georgia."

For the first time in the paper's 171-year history, today's print New York Times has only one advertiser — GE, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.

• The print takeover includes 22 full-page color ads.
• GE also has today's premier advertising real estate at NYTimes.com.

Why it matters: The partnership represents a shift at The Times from selling pages ad hoc to building big, interactive marketing campaigns.

The seven-figure campaign comes as GE begins a split into three publicly traded companies — GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace and GE Vernova (energy). GE HealthCare's first investor day is Thursday.

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Kirstie Alley — the two-time Emmy-winning actress who rose to fame with her role in "Cheers" — died yesterday at 71, after a battle with cancer.

• She was a "show-business natural who resisted the urge to be a star until she was well into her 20s," the L.A. Times wrote in 1987 when she landed her role as bar manager Rebecca Howe on the hit NBC show.

Alley worked as an interior decorator in Kansas before packing up and driving to Hollywood in 1981 "on an impulse." Six months later she was starring in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan."

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Editor's note: This item has been corrected to reflect that Alley starred in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," not "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."

From frozen sandwiches that don't need to be nuked to pies and waffles that go from freezer to plate, food manufacturers are racing to introduce "thaw and eat" products, Jennifer A. Kingson writes for Axios What's Next.

• Why it matters: Americans have gotten used to eating more meals at home during the pandemic. Now that schools and offices are beckoning people back, they're seeking easier-than-ever options.

🥪 The latest offerings — ready to eat in two hours or less, no microwave required — are aimed at adults who grew up with Uncrustables, Eggo and other one-handed cultural touchstones:

• J.M. Smucker Co. just introduced a new line of Uncrustables frozen sandwiches filled with meat and cheese instead of PB&J.
• Nestlé is rolling out Deliwich, a line of soft-crust Hot Pockets that don't require heating.
• Eggo unveiled its entry — "the first-ever Eggo waffle that doesn't require a toaster" — in April.
• Thaw-and-serve frozen pies (from Marie Callender's, Edwards, and others) are also available.

Our take: While Uncrustables specifically recommends against putting its sandwiches in the microwave (or toaster or air fryer), some thaw-and-eat products could probably benefit from a dose of heat.

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