Improving Education: With Mike Bloomberg’s Backing, Top U.S. Colleges Seek More Low-Income Students (Washington Post)

Leaders of more than 100 selective colleges and universities met at Bloomberg’s offices in New York to strategize on how to recruit and graduate more students from the lowest rungs of the economic ladder.

The American Talent Initiative is claiming momentum two years after it launched with backing from Mike Bloomberg. It has 110 members, up from the founding 30, and it counts progress toward a goal of adding 50,000 students of modest means to the rolls of schools nationwide with high graduation rates by 2025.

“These are solvable problems if we have the courage to do it,” Mike Bloomberg said in an interview.

Education policy analyst Stephen Burd, from the left-leaning think tank New America, said colleges should be applauded and any effort to reward institutions for enrolling more low-income students is a good one.

Climate Alarm: It’s Official: Five Warmest Years In Recorded History Have Been the Last 5 Years – NASA (New York Times)

“We’re no longer talking about a situation where global warming is something in the future. It’s here. It’s now,” said Gavin A. Schmidt, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the NASA group that conducted the analysis. The report found extreme weather in 2018 cost the U.S. $91 billion in losses.

Brexit Updates:
-Mark Carney Says Brexit Uncertainty Cascading Through the Economy (Bloomberg)
-Theresa May Heads to Brussels Seeking Escape From Brexit Backstop ‘Trap’ (Bloomberg)

Unreal: Florida Republican Congressman Blames Gun Violence on Immigration System, Lawmaker Claims Wall on Southern Border Would Help as Parkland Father Protests (McClatchy)
Wednesday’s hearing came nearly a year after 17 people died when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Gun violence had not been addressed by the House Judiciary Committee in eight years — eight years when Republicans controlled the House. Watch the video here.

Following State of the Union: Trump Plans to Amp Up Anti-Abortion Rhetoric (Axios)

Scoop: Trump Wanted $20 Million for 2006 Moscow Deal, Developer Says (Bloomberg)

Venezuela Crisis: Venezuela-Colombia Bridge Blocked by Maduro to Keep Out Humanitarian Aid (Bloomberg)

Today in Media News: From Twitter to New York Cabs and Airports – Where Bloomberg’s TicToc is Going Next (The Drum)
TicToc is learning to do something different: Mindy Massucci, TicToc’s head of global content, said TicToc is “creating content and journalism in a new way.”

Get Moving! Forget Standing Desks: To Stay Healthy, You’ve Got to Move All Day (The Guardian)

Best of late night.

“A woman in Germany is claiming to be in love with an airplane. ‘I know how to cure her!’ said Spirit Airlines.”
— Seth Meyers

“A team of scientists in Brazil and Ireland have published a paper suggesting ways to genetically modify tomatoes to be spicy, though to be fair, people in Ireland already think tomatoes are spicy.”
— Seth Meyers

​“Officials in Boston are saying 12 people were arrested yesterday during the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory parade. So at least it was more exciting than the game.”
— Seth Meyers

For more best of late night from the New York Times, click here.