Coffee & The DONUT

European Lockdowns

🇫🇷 France will reinstate a nationwide lockdown on Friday for at least one month in response to a growing number of COVID-19 infections, requiring people to stay in their homes except for essential activities.

🇩🇪 Germany is also heading into lockdown in response to rising COVID-19 infections. The lockdown will last from Nov. 2 through Nov. 30, during which restaurants, bars, and theatres will be closed, while schools and shops will remain open.

The DOJ & Operation Fox Hunt

The DOJ charged eight individuals with conspiring to act as illegal agents of China as part of “Operation Fox Hunt,” an international repatriation scheme targeting political dissidents and critics of the Chinese Communist Party. Federal prosecutors say the eight men, two of whom are U.S. citizens, played an active role in harassing and intimidating a New Jersey man and his family in an attempt to force them to return to China.

More: Five of the defendants were arrested by the DOJ, who said the other three remain at large.

California Wildfires Expand

Two wildfires in Southern California forced more than 100k Orange County residents to evacuate their homes this week. The Silverado Fire (5% contained) and Blue Ridge Fire (16% contained) expanded to cover around 13k and 15k acres, respectively, after nearly doubling in size overnight Tuesday due to high-speed winds.

More: There have been no reported deaths from the fires so far, though two front-line firefighters were hospitalized due to second and third-degree burns.

Quick Updates:

🌀 Hurricane Zeta made landfall as a Category 2 storm Wednesday afternoon near Cocodrie, Louisiana, with winds estimated at 110 mph as it swept through New Orleans overnight. One death was reported as of late Wednesday.

🕘 Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney imposed a city-wide curfew on Wednesday from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. Thursday morning in an attempt to prevent a third night of looting and violence amid widespread protests.

✉️ The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld state supreme court decisions to extend the deadline for counting absentee ballots in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Boeing Reports Turbulence

Boeing released its Q3 earnings report yesterday, showing a net loss of $466M compared to a profit of $1.2B a year earlier. The company later said it would be laying off 7k employees by the end of 2021 due to a decline in air travel demand as a result of the pandemic.

More: The move comes in addition to the 20k layoffs announced by Boeing earlier this year (representing a combined ~19% of its workforce).

Even More: Boeing has also been financially impacted by a 2019 regulatory ban on the 737 MAX, its bestselling plane, which was enacted in response to two crashes that killed 346 people.

Chewy’s Pet Project

Pet food retailer Chewy on Wednesday launched  “Connect-with-a-Vet,” a telehealth service that links pet owners with a licensed veterinarian. The service is offered for free to customers who are a part of Chewy’s Autoship program, which automatically ships deliveries of pet food or other pet products.

🤝 Done Deals:

⌚ Wearable fitness company Whoop closed $100M in funding that values the company at $1.2B. Among the new investors are athletes Patrick Mahomes, Rory McIlroy, Kevin Durant, and Larry Fitzgerald.

⛳ Golf giant Callaway acquired the rest of Topgolf on Tuesday in an all-stock deal valuing the company at ~$2B (Callaway previously owned 14% of Topgolf).

🏀 Qualtrics CEO and co-founder Ryan Smith purchased a majority stake in the Utah Jazz (along with the team’s arena, G-League affiliate, and management of the Triple-A baseball affiliate Salt Lake Bees) in a deal reportedly worth $1.6B.

Trial By Fire

Travis Ochs of Boulder County, CO, had very little time to think last week as the encroaching CalWood wildfire threatened to consume his ranch, a property that has been in his family since the 1940s. Rushing to first ensure his family members' safety, Travis then scrambled to secure his beloved horse and donkey – Adam and Ennis, respectively – but quickly realized there was not enough time to load the animals into the horse trailer.

The devastated Travis was forced to leave behind Adam and Ennis as the Och Family narrowly escaped the ferocious flames. Unable to sleep, he agonized over the fate of his beloved equines. Finally, at the end of the week, Travis received a call from the local wilderness ranger station and was overjoyed to learn that, although the fire had destroyed his home, Adam and Ennis had survived.

Reunited And It Feels So Good

Holocaust survivors Ruth Brandspiegel and Israel “Sasha” Eisenberg first met as children in 1946 at a displaced persons camp in Austria. Their two families, who were placed in the same barracks at the facility, immediately connected -- even finding they hailed from the same hometown in Poland. Although Ruth and Sasha grew to be close friends, they fell out of contact with one another after their families departed from the camp in 1949.

Then, in late September of this year, Ruth – who now lives in Philadelphia – was attending a virtual Yom Kippur service when she heard a voice announce Sasha’s name on the call. Ruth, who had not heard from her old friend in more than 70 years, decided to investigate, finding that she had lived less than 60 miles away from her childhood companion for years. On October 13th, Ruth and Sasha shared a socially-distanced and long-overdue reunion in East Brunswick, NJ.

I’m Coming Home

Since September, firefighter Josh Padron of San Jose, CA, has served as one of the thousands of first responders combating the devastating wildfires. Working tirelessly to contain two separate blazes, Josh has had to spend a total of 27 days away from his family, an absence that has been incredibly hard on his 10-year-old daughter, Eliana.

Thus, to bring his daughter joy amidst the taxing atmosphere of the wildfires and the pandemic, Josh decided to surprise Eliana by returning from his most recent firefighting shift several days early. In a video of the special moment, the proud daddy’s girl reacts to her father’s return by leaping to her feet and bursting into tears, greeting her heroic parent with a tight embrace.

The net worth of the average U.S. Black family trails behind every other ethnic group, sometimes by as much as 7 times less.

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