Thanks in Advance

COVID Roundup:

Image via CDC

• The number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 reached a new high on Tuesday, surpassing 88k according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. The U.S. has set a new record each day since hospitalizations first passed 60k on Nov. 10.

⚠️ CA Uncovers Unemployment Scam

A multi-agency report published yesterday revealed what may be “the largest fraud investigation in California history.” The report stated at least 35k fraudulent unemployment claims were filed in the name of California state prison inmates between March and August this year, 20k of which were paid out (totaling over $140M).

More: Investigations have yet to be conducted outside the March-August timeframe, or on California's large system of county jails, which the report estimates could amount to nearly $1B in ineligible payouts.

Even More: At least 158 claims were filed on behalf of 133 death row inmates, including convicted murderer Scott Peterson.

Quick Hits:

🗿 Authorities discovered a mysterious 10-12 foot tall metal monolith in the Southeastern Utah desert on Monday. The three-sided, stainless steel structure provided no clues as to who might have driven it into the ground or why. (Though officials explicitly stated, “This thing is not from another world”... bummer.)

🏆 The 2021 Grammy nominees were published on Tuesday. Beyoncé became the most-nominated female artist in Grammy history after leading the pack with nine nominations (79 overall). The full list.

🚀 China Rocks the World

China launched a spacecraft to the moon on Monday as part of its Chang’e 5 lunar collection mission. The unmanned craft is expected to collect over four pounds of lunar rock and soil samples (estimated to be ~1.2B years old) before returning to Earth in mid-December.

More: If successful, it would mark the first time lunar samples were returned to Earth since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976. China would also become the third country ever to demonstrate the technical capacity to pull off such a mission (the other two being the U.S. & Soviet Union).

📈 Market Mania

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.5% on Tuesday to reach (and close) above 30k for the first time in history, while the S&P 500 (+1.6%) and Nasdaq (+1.3%) made similar daily gains. Markets will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and will resume with a half-day on Friday.

More: Tuesday’s moves propelled Elon Musk past Bill Gates to become the second-richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index ($), though Forbes disagreed with that claim.

💊 Purdue Takes Their Medicine

Purdue Pharma pled guilty yesterday to three felony charges covering widespread misconduct related to the company’s handling of OxyContin, its addictive prescription painkiller. The plea deal carries more than $6.5B in penalties and forfeitures. (Though the federal government is expected to forego all but $225M, with the rest allocated to state and local governments and other entities suing Purdue over the toll of the opioid epidemic.)

More: America’s ongoing opioid crisis has claimed more than 470k lives over the past two decades.

🧦 Sock It to Ya

Jake Teitelbaum was a junior at Wake Forest University in 2014 when he was diagnosed with Refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma – cancer affecting the circulatory and immune systems. Determined to finish his degree despite his diagnosis, Jake felt alone and helpless as he endured chemo, quickly realizing a particular aspect of the hospitalization experience was further dampening his spirits: the socks.

“It always stuck out that you get your gown and these really drab hospital socks,” he told CBS New York.

Thus, during his recovery, Jake founded Resilience Gives, a company that designs colorful cozy socks for pediatric cancer patients. The company donates a pair of socks with every purchase, distributing the appealing apparel to children battling illness with the help of volunteers – many of whom survived childhood cancer themselves.

😁 You Make Me Smile

Jacquez “Jackie” Worthy, a 22-year-old from Columbus, OH, first moved to the area from Chattanooga, TN, as a teenager to escape a tumultuous family life. After moving in with his aunt, the young man quickly settled into his new adult life, finding a sanitation worker's job. All was going well for Jackie, until he was approached one night by three drunk men who began harassing his girlfriend.

Although Jackie attempted to keep the peace, the men responded with violence, one of them punching Jackie’s mouth hard enough to break his front teeth.

With his own smile shattered – and no insurance to reconstruct the damage – Jackie still decided to bring joy to others along his trash collection route, excitedly greeting customers and dancing for passersby on the street.

The community quickly took note of the good-humored garbage collector and have since launched and contributed to a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the dental work necessary to restore Jackie’s smile.

🐕 A Leg Up

In 2019, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois named Kuno was deployed in Afghanistan as a British Army Working Dog. While on a mission to attack a well-armed Al Qaeda compound, his fellow human troops became trapped by a hail of machine-gun fire from an unseen insurgent. Released by his handler, the courageous Kuno attacked the enemy fighter, allowing the British troops to escape the attack and clear the building.

Kuno had saved his comrades’ lives, but now his own was in danger: when he attacked the insurgent, the fighter had fired a round of bullets into the canine’s hind legs.

Although the heroic dog was able to receive life-saving treatment as he was lifted out of the compound in a helicopter, veterinarians were forced to amputate part of one of his rear paws to prevent the spread of infection.

Now, Kuno has become the first UK Military Working Dog to be fitted with custom-made prosthetic limbs and was recently awarded a Dickin Medal – the equivalent of the U.S. military’s Medal of Honor.

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