A Weekend Off The Deep-End

NY AG Files Suit To Disband NRA

New York AG Letitia James on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking to disband the National Rifle Association due to alleged violations of the state’s nonprofit laws. The suit, which is the culmination of an 18-month investigation by AG James, alleges that NRA insiders illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars from the group. The NRA filed a counter-suit seeking an injunction against James, claiming the move was for political purposes.

U.S. Reinstates Canadian Aluminum Tariff

President Trump announced plans to reinstate a 10% tariff on aluminum imports from Canada (first imposed in March 2018). In May 2019, the U.S. agreed to drop the tariffs after Republican lawmakers told the White House that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement - enacted just over a month ago - would not pass Congress without its removal.

More: In June, 15 CEOs and senior executives across the U.S. aluminum industry signed a letter urging the White House not to reimpose tariffs on Canada.

NOAA Predicts Record Hurricane Season

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Thursday said the Atlantic hurricane season is on pace to be one of the worst in recorded history. The 2020 season - which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 - started off with a record nine named storms, and is projected to have between 19 and 25 such storms in total (with 7 to 11 of them developing into hurricanes).

COVID Roundup: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine tested positive for COVID-19, but a second test came back negative. | The U.S. State Dept. lifted its advisory on avoiding international travel. | Check your state’s ICU capacity.

Worth Noting: A former Saudi intelligence official filed a complaint in a Washington, D.C. court alleging that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent a hit-squad to Canada to assassinate him.

We Have The Eats

Uber reported a second-quarter loss of $1.78B on revenue of $2.24B, compared to a record loss of $5.24B on revenue of $3.17B in the year-ago quarter. The company’s delivery business (Uber Eats) saw year-over-year adjusted net revenue rise 162%, overtaking its ride-sharing segment - which fell by 66% - for the first time.

Second Is The Best

T-Mobile on Thursday said it has overtaken AT&T as the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. Bolstered by an April merger with Sprint, the company said it ended the second quarter with 98.3M total subscribers, eclipsing AT&T’s 92.9M subscriber count. Both companies trail Verizon, which reported 119.9M total subscribers at the end of Q2 2020.

Lyriqal Genius

General Motors unveiled Cadillac's first all-electric vehicle late Thursday. The Cadillac Lyriq is the first of a multibillion-dollar plan for Cadillac to lead GM’s transition from internal-combustion engines to battery-electric. GM has said its next generation of all-electric vehicles - including the GMC Hummer - will be capable of fast-charging, driving 400+ miles on a single charge, and will be profitable on a per-unit basis from the beginning.

Worth Noting: Another 1.18M Americans filed for unemployment last week, the lowest mark since the pandemic began.

Also Worth Noting: Twitter said it will begin labeling accounts and tweets tied to government officials and “state-affiliated media.”

Breaking: President Trump signed an executive order late Thursday night that would sanction U.S. companies & citizens that do business with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, starting in 45 days.

Building Blocks For Learning

Learning braille can allow people with visual impairments to be more independent, access higher levels of education, and achieve more success in the professional world. However, the tools for studying the tactile communication system are costly, cumbersome, and make it difficult for students to correct mistakes. As a result, the number of people who use braille has been steadily declining, with less than 10 percent of visually impaired children in America utilizing the system.

Seeking to make braille more accessible to young learners, Lego unveiled “Braille Bricks” - a new line of its famous toy blocks designed to make learning the system easy and fun. The original product will consist of 250 bricks – containing the alphabet, numbers, and math symbols – and will be offered to academic institutions free of charge.

Bird Is The Word

Susan Ahalt of Cody, WY, rescued her first bird in the early 1980s. Although she did not know the proper way to care for the animal, an abandoned baby starling named Rex, Susan did her best to raise Rex into adulthood and released him back into the wild after he learned to fly. Prior to that experience, Susan knew that she loved working with animals, but Rex’s successful rehabilitation focused her attention on birds.

For the past 33 years, Susan has single-handedly operated Ironside Bird Rescue, a nonprofit that rehabilitates injured birds of prey – including eagles, hawks, and owls. Susan, who treats up to 175 raptors each year, has gained fame in her region as the “Bird Lady,” running one of only three bird-rescue nonprofits in Wyoming.

Paint By Numbers

Daisy Watt of South Yorkshire, England, is an award-winning artist who has been painting for almost half of her life – a total of just four years.  She began painting at six years old in 2016, the year two of her grandparents were diagnosed with cancer. Wanting to cheer her relatives up, Daisy masterfully brushed a beautiful floral landscape onto a simple sheet of paper.

Encouraged by her mother, a primary school art teacher, Daisy now paints vibrant floral arrangements to honor those battling cancer, auctioning off her pieces at galleries to raise money for local cancer charities. During quarantine, the young artist – whose work sells for up to £9,500 – painted floral landscapes to bring in donations for the UK’s National Health System.

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