• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the finalists from the 16th annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which attracted thousands of entries.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with 120/Life

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +0.4%; Dow: +0.6%; Nasdaq: +0.03%). | 📝 Inflation rose 2.9% in July from a year earlier, the lowest reading since 2021 and slightly below economists’ expectations of 3%; core inflation was 3.2%, also a three-year low.
• ☕ Incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol will receive $85 million in cash and stock for leaving Chipotle. (Dive deeper: Why is Niccol so highly regarded?) | 👙 Victoria’s Secret hired Hillary Super, Savage X Fenty’s chief executive, as its new CEO.
• 🍫 Mars, the family owned candy giant, is buying snack-maker Kellanova for $36 billion; it's the largest acquisition announced so far this year, as Mars looks to expand beyond the candy aisle. | 💳📱 Apple is opening up the payment chip in iPhones to third-party apps.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🤸 The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) published a report detailing its reasons for denying USA Gymnastics’ appeal to reinstate Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal; separately, multiple news orgs reported the head of the CAS panel that dismissed USA’s appeal has ties to the government of Romania (which was ultimately awarded the bronze).
• 🎞️ Justin Baldoni, the filmmaker and co-star of It Ends With Us, has hired a crisis PR veteran amidst rumors of on-set drama between Baldoni and Blake Lively, the film’s co-star and producer. | 🎭 Joaquin Phoenix unexpectedly dropped out of a gay romance movie from director Todd Haynes five days prior to production; analysts say the move will likely spawn legal action against Phoenix. | 🌿 Netflix renewed Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman for a second season.
• 🏈 Vikings rookie QB J.J. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, will miss the entire 2024 season following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. | 🏟️ The Taylor Swift craze during the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning season last year helped fuel a 30% boost in the Chiefs’ fanbase, according to the team’s CEO.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with “Flip Side” from Game Show Network

• 🏭 Heimdal, a startup backed by Sam Altman and Marc Benioff, launched America’s largest “direct air capture” facility aimed at sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere; the northern Oklahoma plant can capture 5,000+ tons of carbon dioxide annually.
• 🧓 The human body typically experiences two major waves of age-related changes – one around age 44, and the other around age 60, according to a new study published in Nature Aging. | 🐋 The world’s oldest humpback whale is still swimming – and scientists are trying to figure out its secrets.
• 🚀 NASA said it still hasn't decided the best way to get the Boeing Starliner crew home from the ISS, but it expects a final decision in two weeks (though this timeline is fluid, if history is any indication); the options are: use the beleaguered Starliner now, or wait until February to use one of SpaceX’s Dragon capsules. (Dive deeper: NASA has a tough decision to make)

*From our partners: 🥳👓 An exciting new addition to Game Show Network premiers September… “Flip Side,” hosted by Jaleel White of “Family Matters” fame, sees players guess how different groups feel about the same issue. Watch the “Flip Side” preview here.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌀 Tropical Storm Ernesto intensified into a Category 1 hurricane yesterday as it passed over Puerto Rico, leaving half of its residents without power; Ernesto is projected to further intensify in the coming days en route to Bermuda, and could potentially hit the Northeast US on Sunday.
• 💻 Iran-backed hackers have targeted roughly a dozen people tied to President Biden and former President Trump – including government and campaign officials – as part of an ongoing phishing attack, according to a Google report published yesterday. | 🗳️🏥 Arizona and Missouri this week announced ballot measures in November that propose codifying abortion rights through state constitutional amendments; they join several other states with upcoming abortion-related ballot measures.
• 🚨📰 A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a local newspaper was charged with felony obstruction of justice. | 🏛️ Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton, Illinois, who’s accused of misusing millions of dollars in taxpayer money, has gone missing following a new report into her alleged misdeeds.

CLICKBAIT

• 🧓 What 100-year-olds say they always eat – and what they never do.