Good morning. A pair of fugitives from justice were captured recently.

• A Connecticut man who scammed Home Depot out of $300,000 using doors. The man would allegedly dress like a contractor, enter stores empty-handed, then grab a few doors from inside and return them for store credit. He reportedly repeated this process for nine months across multiple states before being caught.
• Hank the Tank, the Lake Tahoe-bear directly linked to 21 home invasions. Wildlife biologists captured and "safely immobilized" Hank, along with her three cubs, on Friday morning, according to the state wildlife department. Following a clean vet exam, she’ll be transported to Colorado and placed in The Wild Animal Sanctuary, a 33,000-acre wildlife refuge.

The lesson? Whether you’re a scammer, animal with kleptomaniacal tendencies, or serial crypto pump and dumper – over time, there’s a bear-y good chance you’ll get caught.

And when the law is closing in, you may want to call that one Chinese zoo to see if you can borrow their bear costume. Maybe you’ll get a lenient sentence filled with trees and honey.

Now, NEWS.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 4.51 minutes to read.

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"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

–Oprah Winfrey (b.1954)

This week, a California regulatory board will vote on whether Alphabet-owned Waymo and GM-owned Cruise can expand their fleets of driverless taxis in San Francisco and establish competing ride-hailing services, each with hundreds of vehicles operating 24 hours a day.

And while the vote only pertains to one city, it marks the start of what’s shaping up to be a state-by-state Super Smash Bros.-style battle royale over whether to allow self-driving cars and trucks on American roads.

👍 Arguments in favor: Cruise and Waymo say their autonomous taxis are significantly safer than the average human-operated vehicle, citing data from each companies’ first 1 million driverless miles. For context, regular human drivers in America are involved in ~3.5 crashes per 1 million miles, including at least one crash that causes an injury.

• Waymo reported two crashes and 18 other “minor contact events” collectively resulting in zero injuries. And in every vehicle-to-vehicle incident, Waymo says the human driver in the other car was responsible for “one or more road rule violation and/or dangerous behaviors.”
• Cruise says its vehicles recorded 54% fewer collisions overall when benchmarked against human drivers in a comparable driving environment, and zero traffic fatalities.

🙅 Arguments against: Many San Francisco city officials have expressed concerns about the proposed autonomous taxi expansion. They note the number of monthly reported incidents involving the companies’ vehicles increased over 3x between January and April of this year, reaching a frequency “that would preclude any teenager from getting a California Driver’s License.”

• These incidents include unresponsive self-driving taxis blocking traffic or emergency vehicles, intruding into crime scenes or construction zones – and in one instance, even attempting to drive into an active fire (forcing a firefighter to break the car’s window to halt the vehicle).

📸 Big picture: Beyond San Francisco, Cruise and Waymo are currently operating hundreds of self-driving taxis in Phoenix, and deploying dozens more test vehicles to LA, Miami, Dallas, Austin, and Nashville. Both companies plan to eventually scale up ride-hailing operations in all of those areas, as well as in other major US cities with favorable weather conditions.

📊 Flash poll: As it stands today, would you feel comfortable taking a ride in a self-driving car?

Yeah, of course

No way

Maybe with some peer pressure 😉

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🇮🇹🌉 Italy is planning to build the world’s largest suspension bridge. According to a recently-approved proposal from Italy’s Parliament, the new two-mile bridge, which aims to connect Sicily to mainland Italy, will be held up by a pair of Empire State Building-sized towers on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina. Italian officials are planning to break ground on the bridge by mid-2024 and have it operational by the early 2030s, though all previous attempts to build such a bridge have failed to work out (dating back to the 1950s).

🇸🇪⚽🇺🇸 Sweden defeated Team USA in penalty kicks yesterday, eliminating the US women from the World Cup. Following 90 minutes of scoreless regulation, a 30-minute overtime period that also didn’t feature any goals, and seven nail-biting penalty-kick rounds, Sweden claimed a 5-4 victory by about one millimeter. Team USA’s round-of-16 exit marks the first time they’ve placed lower than third since the Women’s World Cup began in 1991.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking two Russian oil tankers with explosive drones over the weekend. While Ukraine’s government didn’t officially comment, multiple news outlets cited sources in Kyiv who claimed responsibility for the drone attacks, which would represent the first time Ukraine has struck at a commercial Russian port. On Sunday, Moscow launched a reported 70 attack drones and missiles at Ukraine in response to what it described as a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on a Russian civilian ship.

On Friday, the FDA approved the first pill specifically intended to treat women with postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression – a condition that manifests after pregnancy and commonly includes mood swings, crying spells, anxiety, and difficulty sleeping – affects an estimated 10%–15% of women who give birth in the US.

💊 The treatment: The new pill, called “Zurzuvae,” is designed to be taken once daily for 14 days. It was approved based on two studies indicating a majority of women who took the pill clinically responded to treatment after the two-week course (72% in one trial; 57% in the other), meaning their scores on a standard depression scale improved by 50% or more.

And the drug’s benefits, measured via psychiatric test, appeared within three days for many patients – a far cry from any prior treatments.

• Standard treatment for postpartum depression includes counseling or antidepressants, which can take weeks to work and don't help everyone.
• The only other drug approved for postpartum depression is brexanolone (marketed as Zulresso), but it’s both logistically- and- cost- prohibitive. The drug requires a 60-hour IV drip in a hospital, carries risks of loss of consciousness, and costs $34,000. Only ~1,000 patients have received it since its approval in 2019.

😬 Zoom out: The maternal mortality rate in the US is currently the highest it's been since 1965. The leading cause of death for mothers, either during birth or up to a year postpartum, is mental health issues (23%).

💬 Quoted… “This isn’t a police issue – this is a parenting issue… Our children cannot be raised by social media. They’re being inundated by influencers.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams had some… words to direct towards influencer Kai Cenat, who stands accused of inciting a riot and promoting an unlawful gathering in New York City.

• Cenat, who has 6.5 million followers on Twitch and 4 million subscribers on YouTube, announced plans to give away PlayStation 5s, gift cards, and other various electronics in the city’s Union Square Park on Friday – which drew thousands of mostly teenagers. More than 65 people were arrested at the event (~30 juveniles), which saw some attendees jumping and dancing on cars, as well as lighting fireworks and throwing objects like bottles, eggs, and ceramic plates at police.

🎀🍿 Stat of the Day: Before this weekend, 52 movies had grossed at least $1 billion at the modern box office (not adjusted for inflation) – and zero were directed solely by a woman. But much like an upset baby, those numbers are now in some need of changing. The Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie surpassed $1 billion at the global box office over the weekend, becoming both the 53rd movie to do so and the highest-grossing film directed solely by a woman in history.

🤔 Did You Know?... About 1 in 9 Americans age 65 and older has Alzheimer's disease, and two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's are women.

📰 Worth a Read: It's time we design a 15-minute city for friendship → (Bloomberg)

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• ☝️ You’re looking at images from last week’s supermoon, which refers to a full moon positioned closer to Earth than usual; it’s the first of two supermoons expected this month.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Slumber

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board on Friday (S&P: -0.5%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: -0.4%); both the S&P and Nasdaq had their worst week since March. | 💼 The US economy added 187,000 jobs in July, below economist estimates of 200,000 and slightly above the downwardly revised 185,000 jobs in June.
• 🧓📈 Berkshire Hathaway posted its highest-ever quarterly profit (~$36 billion); operating earnings grew 6.6% to reach ~$10 billion.
• ✈️ Aerospace and defense company RTX recalled hundreds of Pratt & Whitney jet engines; Hawaiian Airlines, Spirit, JetBlue, and some international airlines are forced to suspend future growth plans and reduce flights.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with The Wine Connection

• 🏅 Simone Biles won the all-around competition at the US Classic on Saturday night; it was the four-time-Olympic-gold-winning gymnast’s first competition since the 2021 Tokyo Games.
• 🥊 Jake Paul defeated Nate Diaz, an MMA fighter making his boxing debut, by unanimous decision on Saturday night. | 🤼 Who ya got? – Elon Musk says his potential in-person cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg will be streamed on X.
• 🎓 The Pac-12 conference will be down to just four teams starting in 2024; Washington and Oregon are joining the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah agreed to join the Big 12.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🏥 A ransomware attack on Prospect Medical Holdings – a health care system that operates 16 hospitals and more than 165 clinics across Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and California – has forced some of its locations to close and left others to rely on paper records for the immediate future.
• 🪱 A 500-million-year-old fossilized sea worm recently discovered in northern Utah has been named Shaihuludia shurikeni after the fictional “Shai-Hulud” giant sandworms from the Dune novels/movies.
• 🐈 A UK man recently bitten by a stray cat ended up contracting an infection from a species of bacteria previously unknown to science, per a peer-reviewed case study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

MISCELLANEOUS

• ⛽ Oregon drivers are allowed to pump their own fuel for the first time in 72 years after state lawmakers lifted a decades-old ban on Friday; New Jersey remains the only state with such laws on the books.
• 🏛️ Tennessee Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones – a pair of Democrats who were expelled following a gun-control protest on the House floor – were re-elected in a special election on Thursday.
• ⚖️ A Texas judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing abortion bans against women facing serious pregnancy complications; Friday’s decision was put on hold one day later pending an appeal with the state Supreme Court. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• 🙅 The No. 1 worst state to retire – and it's not New York or California.

Monday: National Purple Heart Day

Tuesday: First NY Jets Hard Knocks episode debuts on HBO; Only Murders in the Building Season 3 debuts on Hulu

Wednesday: The deadline for US military veterans to file a health care benefits claim under the PACT Act

Thursday: US inflation data for July; weekly unemployment claims

Friday: Russia plans to launch its first Moon mission in nearly 50 years; The Last Voyage of Demeter hits theaters nationwide

On Friday, we covered credit agency Fitch’s decision to downgrade the US government’s perfect AAA rating by one level to AA+, in the second such occurrence since national credit ratings were established in 1917.

❓ Our question to you: How do you feel about Fitch’s decision to downgrade America’s credit rating to AA+?

• 😬 It’s a sign of trouble on the horizon: 58%
• 🥱 It’s not really a big deal: 20%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 22%

Click here to read the best responses from Friday’s poll.

+Note on sample size: We received 8,220 votes and 893 longform responses.

It's been hard to miss all the hubbub surrounding Taylor Swift's wildly successful (and still ongoing) Eras tour. 

🚛 A team effort... It takes hundreds of people to run the superstar's show each night, and with its US leg coming to an end, Taylor is paying thanks to some of the most important team members – her truck drivers. 

• As a thank you for all of their work, the star gifted each of her 50 truck drivers $100,000. 
• Taylor made sure each driver received the bonus, along with a handwritten thank-you note. 

💬 What they're saying: “These men and women, they live on the road. They sleep during the day and work all night,” said Michael Scherkenbach, founder and CEO of Shomotion trucking company “It’s a grueling task... For Taylor’s tour, they’ve been away from home for 24 weeks.” He shared this opportunity for them could very well be "life changing." 

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Opac
2. Narr
3. Hor
4. Eu
5. Dorm

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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1. Opac = Shady (e.g., opacity)
2. Narr = Tell (narrative)
3. Hor = Hour (horoscope)
4. Eu = Good (euphoria)
5. Dorm = Sleep (dormitory, dormant)