• ☝️ You’re looking at some of the winners from the Black and White Photo Awards 2024, which featured thousands of global entries and $6,000+ in prize money.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Surfshark VPN

• 💰 US markets fell across the board (S&P: -0.9%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: -1.7%) | 🗣️ What to expect from Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole later today.
• 🏡 US home sales rose 1.3% in July from the prior month, the first increase in five months; the median home price in July was $422,600, slightly lower than June's record high of $426,900.
• 🚲 ​​Peloton reported its first sales increase in nine quarters as well as a reduction in overall losses; shares rose 35% on the day. (Peloton wants to help you get stronger)

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚽ The National Women’s Soccer League reached an agreement with the NWSL Players Association to eliminate the draft and make all players eligible for unrestricted free agency; the NWSL is the first major US professional sports league to eliminate their draft. | ⚾ Joey Votto, longtime Cincinnati Reds first-baseman and 2010 NL MVP, announced his retirement; analysts say Votto has a strong case for eventually joining the Hall of Fame (except for Mad Dog Russo, that is). | 🏈 The 2024 college football season kicks off tomorrow.
• 🤸🕺 Stephen Nedoroscik, aka “Pommel horse guy” from the US Olympic men’s gymnastics team, is taking his talents to Dancing with the Stars.
• 🐔🍿 Chick-fil-A is getting into Chick flicks: The fast-food chain has reportedly been working with a number of major production companies to create family-friendly shows, particularly in the unscripted space, that would live on the company’s yet-to-be-launched streaming service.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with NoNetz

• 💉 The FDA yesterday approved updated Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, putting the shots on track to reach most Americans in the coming days.
• 🦠🎮 Scientists created a blob of squishy transparent gel that can not only play the video game Pong, but also improve its performance over time, per a new study. | 💧 Rainwater may have helped create a meshy wall around Earth’s first protocells 3.8 billion years ago – a transition which eventually led to the creation of every bacterium, plant, animal, and human that ever lived, per a new study.
• 🚰 A new US government report concluded the presence of fluoride in drinking water at twice the recommended limit is linked with lower IQ in children; the report said ~0.6% of the US population – or ~1.9 million people – are on water systems at or above that level of fluoride. | 🌊 A new Dartmouth-led study found it’s highly unlikely that the world’s oceans will rise up to 50 feet as the planet's polar ice sheets melt, which a UN climate panel recently put forth as a potential worst-case scenario.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🚂 Canada’s government ordered an end to a work stoppage at the country’s two main railroads; the order requires the rail companies and employees to enter binding arbitration over labor disagreements; freight traffic is expected to resume in the coming days
• 📬 The US Postal Service proposed new changes officials say would save $3 billion/year starting in 2025 while still retaining the same maximum delivery times.
• 🗳️ VP Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on the fourth and final night of the DNC. | ⚖️ The Supreme Court partially granted a request from the Republican National Committee to make Arizona enforce measures requiring residents to show proof of US citizenship when registering to vote.

CLICKBAIT

• 📸🐶 The Best All Time Images From The International Dog Photography Awards.