Good morning, Early Birds. Today we’re thrilled to welcome Alec Dent, our new assistant editor, to the Early 202 team. He’ll play a key role in getting this newsletter into your inboxes early every morning. Say hi to him at alec.dent@washpost.com. 

And one more note before we dive in: Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich has been held unjustly in a Russian prison for more than a year and Austin Tice, who wrote for The Post, has been held in Syria for nearly 12 years.  Tips: earlytips@washpost.com. Was this forwarded to you? Sign up here. Thanks for waking up with us.