this is Shades of the Day — bringing you different shades of opinion in news & culture so that you can see the big picture quickly. We believe that seeing multiple POVs is the best way to stay informed.

It’s Monday, February 17 — here are today’s three featured stories:

1. The Nordquist murder

2. The Altman-Musk beef

Shades makes it fun to stay informed on today’s top stories — check out our latest app update here.

1) After Trump's DOJ ordered prosecutors to drop corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a wave of DOJ officials resigned. In The Daily Beast, George Conway says the resignations signal a “revolt” against Trump's leadership.

2) A federal judge blocked President Trump's move to fire Hampton Dellinger as the head of the Office of Special Counsel. But Reuters explains Trump isn't backing down -- he asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

3) Donald Trump’s spin Sunday on the Daytona International Speedway track in the presidential limousine ― ahead of the Daytona 500 opening event of the Nascar series ― drew accusations of hypocrisy and double standards on social media.

4) Death toll rises in Kentucky flood disaster as waterlogged Tennessee Valley braces for winter storm.

5) As U.S. and Russian envoys prepare to begin talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war in Ukraine, European leaders have called an emergency meeting in Paris after being cut out of the peace negotiations.

6) U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was on his way to the country, amid expectations that peace talks on ending the war in Ukraine are about to begin.

The Nordquist murder

Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old trans man, was murdered in New York. AP News says officials have charged five people with second-degree murder in connection with his death. Police say Nordquist was tortured for more than a month leading up to his death

This Reddit user says it's an obvious hate crime: The Nordquist murder is just one example of the danger anti-trans rhetoric poses to trans people

News Nation No says the Nordquist family would agree. Sam's mother said his murder was “some type of hate crime”

On the other hand, NYSP says there's no evidence of a hate crime. 13Wham reports prosecutors and police say Nordquist knew the accused, complicating assumptions

The Altman-Musk beef

Elon Musk offered to buy OpenAI for $97.4B -- but Sam Altman declined the offer. Ars Technica says Altman hit back with a snarky remark on X, insisting the OpenAI mission is not for sale

The WSJ says the public beef is rooted in recent history: Altman and Musk co-founded OpenAI back in 2015, but Musk left the company on bad terms in 2018. Plus, the two have dramatically different leadership styles

The Free Press says the beef runs deeper than that, though: The two tech lords are clashing over control of AI's role in society. Listen to the outlet's interview with Altman for yourself here

Still, a Guardian Op worries that Musk will end up owning OpenAI sooner or later: Musk holds a personal vendetta against Altman for deviating from his open-source vision for the company