Playing Catch-Up

COVID-19 Snapshot

• Check your state’s ICU bed capacity.
• Major virus news: On Sunday, Victoria, Australia, declared a ‘State of Disaster’ for the next six weeks, restricting shopping to one person per household per day and imposing a curfew on the 5 million residents of Melbourne.

Hong Kong Cancels Upcoming Elections

Invoking emergency powers, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Friday postponed the city’s Legislative Council elections by one year (from Sept. 6, 2020, to Sept. 5, 2021), citing concerns due to COVID-19. Lam said that China’s top legislative body will decide any legal issues surrounding the vacuum of power created by pushing back the elections.

More: The move comes after Hong Kong disqualified 12 pro-democracy candidates from participating in the elections due to their positions on legislative issues.

Boston Marathon Bomber’s Death Sentence Overturned

A federal appeals court threw out the death sentence handed down to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his participation in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing on Friday. The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that the judge who oversaw the case did not adequately screen jurors for potential biases. Attorneys for Tsarnaev, among other things, pointed to social media posts from two jurors that suggested they harbored strong opinions even before the 2015 trial began.

Worth Noting: On Saturday, an estimated 17k people in Berlin, Germany, marched in protest of the country’s restrictions imposed due to COVID-19.

Also Worth Noting: The Department of Homeland Security removed its top intelligence official after reports surfaced that his department compiled intelligence reports on journalists covering protests in Portland, and monitored protesters’ electronic communications. Both stories raise legal concerns.

The Dragon Has Landed

The SpaceX Dragon Capsule, carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley & Bob Behnken, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico just south of Pensacola, FL, on Sunday - the first crewed U.S. water landing in 45 years. The capsule launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Falcon rocket booster in late May, after which the astronauts spent about two months aboard the station before undocking and returning to Earth.

Twitter Hack: Tracked & Cracked

Early Friday morning, the FBI, IRS, U.S. Secret Service, and local law enforcement apprehended a 17-year-old native of Tampa, FL, in connection with last month’s massive Twitter hack. According to an affidavit, authorities have probable cause to believe the Tampa resident was the one who directly accessed over 100 high-profile accounts to perpetrate a Bitcoin scam. Later that day, the DOJ formally charged two other individuals, aged 19 and 22, for aiding in the hack.

Window(s) Of Opportunity

Microsoft confirmed on Sunday that it has entered into acquisition talks with Chinese tech company ByteDance regarding its social video app TikTok. The two companies have reportedly looked at Microsoft buying TikTok in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and may offer other American investors a chance to get involved. Microsoft said it will continue to work with the federal government on a potential deal ahead of a self-imposed Sept. 15 deadline.

More: The news comes after President Trump told reporters on Friday that he was considering banning TikTok in the U.S., and was opposed to a potential acquisition by Microsoft.

In other acquisition news: Marathon has agreed to sell its gas stations to 7-Eleven’s Japanese parent company, Seven & I Holdings, for $21 billion - the largest U.S. energy-related deal of 2020.

Worth Noting: Rupert Murdoch’s son, James, resigned from the board of News Corporation, citing “disagreements over editorial content” in a filing to U.S. regulators.

Also Worth Noting: The NHL dropped the puck in its first Return to Play round-robin playoff game on Sunday as the Flyers beat the Bruins 4-1. The 24-team format is expected to crown a Stanley Cup champion by early October.

Getting Down To Brass Tacks

Jazz trumpeter Shamarr Allen of New Orleans loves his home city for its rich swing music history. Still, he has long been troubled by its gun violence problem. In 2018, the Big Easy had the fourth-highest homicide rate of any city in the country. Finally, after learning that a nine-year-old boy had been fatally shot in the city’s 7th Ward, Shamarr decided to take action to prevent violent behavior.

Shamarr, who has a nine-year-old son of his own, recently started a program called Trumpet Is My Weapon, through which the young people of New Orleans can exchange a gun for a trumpet. The effort, which has raised more than $34,000 for the quid pro quo music supplies, connects participants to a network of free music lessons.

Run Forest Run!

In 2017, Chile experienced the worst wildfire season in the country’s 110-year history. That year, flames destroyed a colossal 1.4 million acres of forest, decimating the landscape’s lush covering of flora and fauna. Following the fires, a woman named Francisca Torres began to develop a way to revive the charred environment – and called on some canine companions to help her.

Over the past three years, Francisca has trained her three border collies – Das, Summer, and Olivia – to run through the scorched woods wearing backpacks that slowly spill native seeds onto the forest floor. The extremely energetic pups can travel up to 18 miles a day, dropping 20 pounds of seeds at a time as they doggedly dash through the rejuvenating forest.

Mowing The Extra Mile

When Shannon Ingram, an employee at Lowe’s Home Improvement in Cleveland, OH, met a 13-year-old named Gabriel, he was perusing the store’s selection of push lawnmowers. Gabriel, a hard-working entrepreneur, mows as many yards as possible to earn spending money. However, his equipment had broken down the previous day after he finished grooming seven lawns.

After learning that the diligent young boy was planning to labor late into the evening to afford a new grass cutter, Shannon and the staff at Lowe’s gave Gabriel a brand-new mower for free. Shannon also launched a GoFundMe page to support Gabriel’s business further, raising more than $2,300 for the young landscaper.