Good morning and welcome to August. In today’s edition:

• 🌕 What it could look like to live on the moon
• 🎰 The history behind state lotteries
• 💰🌊 How much sunken treasure lives under the ocean?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.89 minutes to read.

P.S. A quick reminder that we’ll be running our Dose of Discussion section on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week.

"Life comes at us in waves. We can't predict or control those waves, but we can learn to surf."

– Dan Millman (b. 1946)

One Mega Millions ticket sold at an Illinois gas station matched all six numbers in the lottery’s Friday drawing, entitling its holder to an estimated $1.337 billion jackpot, the third-biggest in US history.

🎰 Lotteries, a history… Lotteries held a prominent place in colonial-era America, according to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, being frequently used to finance public works projects such as paving streets, constructing wharves, and even building churches.

In the 1870s, several states began to outlaw lotteries (and most gambling) following a series of massive scandals in the Louisiana lottery that included bribery of state and federal officials.

• Its revival began in 1964, when New Hampshire became the first state to re-establish a state lottery to raise cash for local jurisdictions… and the project went so well it kicked off a snowball effect. 
• At the moment, 45 states plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands have an official lottery.

🤔 So, what’s next?… The anonymous winner, who hadn’t submitted a claim as of Sunday night, can take their winnings in one of two ways: lump sum or annuity. The lump sum option constitutes a lower overall payout, but would require an immediate transfer of funds – in this instance, a cool $780.5 million (minus Uncle Sam’s cut, of course).

• The annuity route would consist of a series of increasing payments, doled out annually over the next 29 years.

+Fun fact: George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson all sponsored unsuccessful lotteries over their lives.

🌏📝 Pelosi is headed to Asia, and no one knows if she’ll visit Taiwan. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released a statement yesterday confirming she’ll lead a US congressional delegation to Asia this week, visiting Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, and Japan to discuss trade, the pandemic, climate change, security, and "democratic governance" – but made no mention of a long-rumored trip to Taiwan. Beijing has warned there will be consequences if Pelosi travels to Taiwan, including a Defense Ministry statement implying the country might use military force in response. China held live-fire military drills in the Taiwan Strait on Saturday.

🇺🇦 The Russia/Ukraine war is entering a new phase. After months of Russia making slow gains in Ukraine’s east, the conflict is shifting to the south. Ukraine officials say they’re launching a counteroffensive – with the help of Western weapons – to take back the southern port city of Kherson, an important strategic objective.

🇪🇸 Shakira, a-near-a… to prison time, potentially. Spanish prosecutors are seeking an eight-and-a-half year jail term if the Colombian pop star is convicted in a trial over allegedly failing to pay about $15 million in taxes between 2012-14. She rejected a settlement deal early last week, opting for a trial.

Over the past 18 months, JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank, has bought a booking system (cxLoyalty), restaurant review company (The Infatuation), and luxury travel agency (Frosch International Travel). It’s also building its own Sapphire airport lounges, as well as launching a new booking website in the coming months.

💰✈️ Driving the moves… A desire to control the whole shopping and buying experience for purchases customers are passionate about. (Automobiles and homes might be next, the WSJ reports.)

Travel has become an important spending category for banks and credit card issuers. JPMorgan estimates its customers already account for one of every three dollars spent on leisure travel in the US, but they rarely book on its own Ultimate Rewards website.

• With the recent moves aimed at getting these rookie numbers up, bank execs expect to capture $15 billion in bookings in 2025. This would make Chase the country’s third-biggest travel agency.

🏦 Zoom out: JPMorgan isn’t the only bank making its way into travel bookings. AmEx is currently the country’s third biggest travel agent, and Capital One plans to build its own travel site after opening its first airport lounge last year.

+Bonus travel read: ​​How JetBlue’s takeover of Spirit could change air travel

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Prepare yourself for a magical adventure, because Journey to the Center of the Earth now has a greenlit sequel: Journey to the Center of the Moon. According to newly published research from NASA-funded planetary scientists at UCLA, the moon has hundreds of pits and caves where temperatures stay at roughly 63° F, making human habitation a possibility.

🌕 More deets… This could become quite a big deal for lunar exploration and long-term habitation, considering the surface reaches temps of 260° F during the day (water boils at 212° F), and cools to minus 280° F at night.

The scientists studied one cave in particular, extending ~330 feet down past the surface. Inside, sunlight illuminates only part of the bottom – where it actually reaches temps of ~300°F – but the rest of it is out of reach, remaining permanently in the shadows (hence, perfect sweater weather). The shadows also offer some shield against cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorites.

• Two of the more than 200 studied pits have visible overhangs leading to some sort of cave or void, and there’s strong evidence that another may also lead to a large cave.

👽 Bottom line: Future babies may very well be able to say to their ancestors, “you merely adopted the dark, I was born into it.” NASA’s Artemis program is aiming to put an astronaut back on the moon by 2025, with a broader stated goal of enabling human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

• ☝️ Historic flooding in eastern Kentucky has killed 28 people, including at least six children, and the death toll will continue to climb, KY Gov. Andy Beshear warned; some areas received more than eight inches of rain in 24 hours; hundreds of homes were destroyed; the water devastated a part of the state that includes seven of America's 100 poorest counties.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 Markets: The S&P 500 gained ~9.1% last month, its biggest monthly percentage gain since November 2020; the Nasdaq increased ~12.3% in July for its biggest monthly gain since April 2020.
• ⚖️🐦 Elon Musk countersued Twitter on Friday; details haven’t been made publicly available but a redacted version of the suit may be released soon in line with court rules.
• 📈 The personal consumption expenditures price index, which the Fed uses to measure inflation, rose 6.8% in June, its largest jump since Jan. 1982.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🙏 Will Smith posted an apology video for slapping Chris Rock; it’s his first public address since the incident.
• 🏀 Boston Celtics great Bill Russell, an 11-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer, died yesterday at age 88; he was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
• ⚖️ Netflix is suing Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, the Grammy-winning duo behind an unofficial Bridgerton musical, for infringement after the pair performed a sold-out live show in DC last week.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🇨🇳🚀💥 A Chinese booster rocket made an uncontrolled return to Earth on Saturday, landing in the Indian Ocean near the Philippines; NASA released a statement after-the-fact criticizing Beijing for not sharing trajectory data.
• 🌌👗 Space clickbait: The James Webb’s first photo has been made into a dress.

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🦠 President Biden tested positive for a rebound case of Covid after being treated with Paxlovid, his doctor said.
• ✈️ Authorities have recovered the body of Charles Hew Crooks, a co-pilot who exited an aircraft mid-air as it prepared for an emergency landing in North Carolina; the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident.
• 🇩🇪 The German city of Hanover shut off hot water in public buildings as part of a plan to reduce energy consumptions by 15%; it’s the first major European city to do so.
• 🗳 The House voted 217 to 213 to pass a ban on certain semi-automatic weapons; the bill now heads to the Senate. (From the Left | From the Right | From the Center)
• 🙌🍪🤤 Delicious and healthy snacks that support a cause… Good Food Brands features uniquely delicious foods from small brands with big dreams. This month’s box celebrates Black Business Month, and features Junita’s Jar Chocolate Chip Cookies. Save 20% with code DONUT!* 

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💬 Quoted… “[Some of] the most egregious and blatant violations we’ve seen by the Russian government in order to destabilize and undermine trust in American democracy.”

The DOJ on Friday indicted Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, a Russian national, for allegedly controlling three US groups that sought to “sow discord” in American politics on behalf of the Russian government.

• The indictment accuses Ionov of coordinating and funding direct action by these groups within the United States intended to further Russian interests, overseeing the publishing of pro-Russian propaganda, and coordinating coverage of this activity in Russian media outlets.

Dive deeper.

✈️ Stat of the Day: A recent study analyzing data from @CelebJets, a Twitter account that tracks the private jet trips of celebrities, found the ten most frequent-flying celebs have already emitted, on average, 482.37x more CO2 so far this year than a normal person does annually.

• The top three biggest offenders are Taylor Swift (her team released a statement saying, “Taylor’s jet is loaned out regularly to other individuals. To attribute most or all of these trips to her is blatantly incorrect.”), Floyd Mayweather, and Jay-Z. See the full list here.

🤯 Did You Know?... There’s an estimated $60 billion worth of sunken treasure in the oceans.

📖 Worth a Read: How I Became the Deepfake Tom Cruise → (Hollywood Reporter)

+Note: We’ll have the results from Friday’s poll for you tomorrow.

• Monday (8/1): National Girlfriend’s Day; Spider-Man Day; US Air Force Day
• Tuesday (8/2): National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
• Wednesday (8/3): Maine Lobsterfest kicks off
• Thursday (8/4): National Book Club Conference begins in Atlanta; APA Conventions starts; National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day; happy bday to the US Coast Guard
• Friday (8/5): July's jobs report; International Beer Day; The Sandman hits Netflix

Most athletes celebrate their scores by collecting trophies and recognition. Eighteen-year-old Lesein Mutunkei, however, celebrates by planting trees.🌳🏆 

• For every goal he scores on the soccer field, he plants eleven saplings off it – one for each member of his team.

⚽️ Kicking it off… The young athlete took his initiative a step further in 2018 when he founded Trees4Goals, an organization with a mission to mobilize young athletes in his region to take up his pledge of planting trees every time they score.

• He’s even trying to get FIFA onboard.

🗯 What he’s saying: “[Football] has the power to connect, engage, educate and inspire my generation to create a safer and greener future," according to Lesein.

Guess the definitions of the following Latin and/or Greek root words.

1. Archaeo
2. Dem
3. Gram
4. Polis
5. Bon

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Primitive, ancient (archaic)
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3. Something written (grammar)
4. City (metropolis)
5. Good (bonus)