Good morning. On today’s docket:

• ✍️ The Hollywood writer’s strike enters its 115th day
• 🇷🇺 Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner mercenary group, was killed (murdered?) in a plane crash outside Moscow
• 🍺 Gen Z is drinking less than previous generations

Game faces, on. It’s news time.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.40-minute read.

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"New beginnings are disguised as painful endings."

–Lao Tzu (c. 500 B.C.)

Late Tuesday night, AMPTP, the alliance representing Hollywood’s studios, broke a mutually agreed-upon media blackout and publicly released the details of an offer it has provided to the ~11,500 striking writers represented by the Writers Guild of America.

The offer includes:

• A combined 13% pay hike over the course of the three-year deal, the highest increase for the WGA in 35 years, per the studios.
• An increase in data transparency; viewership reports would be shared with writers quarterly.
• A stipulation that writers will not be “disadvantaged” if AI is used to write any part of a script.
• A guaranteed minimum employment rate in development rooms, as well as an increase in total residuals from $72,067 to $87,546 per episode.

Per the WGA, which has now been on strike 115 days (its third-longest work stoppage in history), AMPTP’s public release of the offer was an effort “not to bargain, but to jam us.”

Though when it comes to the deal’s merits, the offer "substantially improves" on anything that came before, according to the WGA. But the union points to "limitations and loopholes and omissions" that fail "to sufficiently protect writers from the existential threats that caused us to strike in the first place" as its reason for rebuking the offer.

📉 Zoom out: In addition to creating an about-to-be-realized scarcity of new content (actors are still on strike too), the ongoing Hollywood strikes have already cost California’s economy an estimated $3+ billion.

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🇮🇳 India became the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon. The country’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft touched down yesterday morning, setting off a wave of celebrations across India. Chandrayaan-3 is the first craft in history to make a soft landing at the Moon’s south pole, where it will deploy a robotic rover to run experiments over the next two weeks. Many countries and private companies – including the US, China, and Russia – are interested in Moon’s south pole, since peer-reviewed research has found it contains a large amount of frozen water (a potential source for rocket fuel and/or use in daily life).

🇷🇺 Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group that mutinied against Russia, likely died in a plane crash. Russian authorities said Prigozhin was onboard a private plane that crashed northwest of Moscow yesterday afternoon, with all 10 passengers and crew presumed dead. A Telegram account associated with the Wagner Group claimed the plane, which belonged to Prigozhin, was shot down by Russian air defenses. Unverified video footage posted by onlookers shows what looks like the trail of a missile and the plane falling from the sky with one wing missing, per the WSJ. In June, Prigozhin led a failed mutiny against Russia that saw ~25,000 Wagner troops advance to within 120 miles of Moscow.

🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 Leaders of the BRICS nations gathered for a summit in Johannesburg. BRICS refers to a grouping of the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. For years, the leaders of BRICS nations have spoken about their desire to move the international trade and debt system away from its current reliance on the US dollar, and towards a new, non-Western currency. At this week’s summit, officials announced plans to establish mechanisms to add some of the 40+ countries which have expressed interest.

The drinking habits of America are changing. At the forefront of this change? Gen Z – who, based on recent data, are less likely to drink alcohol than previous generations at the same age.

According to a newly-published Gallup poll, 62% of Americans aged 18 to 34 say they drink – down from 72% when Gallup asked the same question two decades ago.

Experts say there are a few big reasons why:

• Demographics: The percentage of Americans aged 18 to 34 who are a racial minority has doubled over the past two decades – and non-white Americans are consistently less likely than white Americans to use alcohol across all age groups.
• Health concerns: More than half of young adults (52%) currently think moderate drinking is unhealthy, up from 34% just five years ago (s/o Andrew Huberman).
• Increased marijuana use: The number of Americans aged 18 to 34 who consume marijuana has nearly doubled since Gallup first gathered such data in 2013; research has shown many people use marijuana as a replacement drug for alcohol.

📈 It appears older generations are picking up the younger’s slack. Nearly 60% of US adults aged 55+ say they drink, up from 49% who said the same 20 years ago. Americans aged 35 to 54 have the highest drinking rate at 69%, a level that’s stayed relatively consistent for decades.

💬 Quoted… “Tonight, the race for the White House takes flight.”

The first debate of the 2024 presidential election took place in Milwaukee last night, where eight of the top Republican candidates each made their case for why GOP voters should choose them in the primary elections. (Full video)

• Notably absent from the debate was former President Trump, the current Republican front-runner by a wide margin, who released a pre-recorded interview with Tucker Carlson roughly five minutes before the debate began.

+Dive deeper: Background | Recap from the Left | Recap from the Center | Recap from the Right

🎃☕ Stat of the Day: If you heard the pitter-patter of fluffy boots sprinting to the car this morning, it’s because Starbucks’ uber-popular pumpkin spice latte is back; the drink will be available in stores nationwide starting today. The Seattle-based coffee chain doesn’t release sales data by flavor, but analysts say the PSL’s first week of availability typically correlates with a 10%-25% bump in overall sales. Starbucks sells roughly 20 million PSLs each year.

🤔 Did You Know?... More US workers call in sick on August 24 than any other day on the calendar. #2 on the list? Super Bowl Monday.

📰 Worth a Read: How to have meaningful conversations with kids → (Vox)

Full transparency – when you Google "kratom," the results aren’t exactly comforting. Claims of it being unsafe, ineffective, and just plain dangerous have been swirling around for years. 

However, millions of people in the US use kratom in moderate doses every day without issue. So why the bad rap?

• It started when the Thailand government hiked taxes on then-legal opium around WWII. As a result, people began consuming the abundant leaves of the kratom tree instead. The government's response was to ban kratom so people would go back to buying opium.
• But in 2021, Thailand removed kratom from its list of prohibited substances (along with marijuana). The WHO also stated their concern for kratom was at the lowest level possible around this time. Unfortunately, the damage to public reputation doesn't recover easily – or quickly.

Get 3rd party lab-tested kratom from Top Tree Herbs. All tea bags crafted in small batches with care.

• ☝️ An extremely rare spotless giraffe was born at Brights Zoo in northeastern Tennessee late last month; the only other such instance in recorded history occurred in the 1970s.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Visit Lodi

• 💰 US markets closed up across the board yesterday (S&P: +1.1%; Dow: +0.5%; Nasdaq: +1.6%). | 📉 Nike’s stock closed down for the 10th straight trading day, its longest losing streak on record (-11.6% over that period).
• 📈 Nvidia reported both revenue and earnings exceeding analysts’ expectations, including a 101% annual jump in Q2 revenue.
• 💼 US job growth over the past year was weaker than previously reported by about 300,000 jobs, per an annual benchmark review by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

*From our partners: 🍾✨ Uncork the magic of Lodi Wine Country… with luxury accommodations, vibrant nightlife, beautiful natural vistas, and tasting fees that start at just $15, you’ll be vacationing on cloud wine! Get the official 2023 Lodi Visitor’s guide here.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• ⚖️ Former USC football star Reggie Bush is suing the NCAA for defamation; Bush claims the NCAA issued a false statement saying he was involved in a “pay-for-play arrangement” at USC; Bush is also seeking the return of his 2005 Heisman Trophy.
• 🏈 NY Jets wide receiver Corey Davis, the former 5th overall pick, announced his retirement from the NFL at age 28.
• 🍿 The first trailer for Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire was released this week.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Lingopie

• 🍖 Juicy Marbles, a vegan meat company, is launching plant-based ribs with edible “bones.”
• 🐶 Dogs pay more attention to women than men when spoken to directly, per a new peer-reviewed study published in Communications Biology.
• 🧬 The human Y chromosome – aka the male sex chromosome – has been fully sequenced for the first time, according to a peer-reviewed study published yesterday in Nature.

*From our partners: 🍿🎓 Learn a language this school year by watching great TV… Lingopie upgrades Netflix with clickable subtitles and interactive features, making it easier than ever to learn a new language. They have a kids’ version, too! Get your first 7 days of Lingopie free here.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🍔📲 A Burger King employee who received a gift bag as a reward for never calling in sick over 27 years of service has raised $400,000 via GoFundMe, after a TikTok video of his situation went viral.
• 🎓 The Biden administration this week began accepting sign-ups for its Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) student-loan forgiveness program. (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
• ⚖️ South Carolina’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on most abortions after six weeks; yesterday’s ruling reversed a decision the Court previously made in January, after the makeup of the Court changed earlier this year. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• ❤️ The jobs most (and least) likely to land you on The Bachelorette.

❓ Yesterday's poll question to you: If next year’s presidential election were held today, who would you vote for?

• 🐘 The Republican candidate: 27%
• 🐴 The Democratic candidate: 39%
• 3️⃣ A third-party candidate: 14%
• 🔞 I’m too young/I don’t vote: 8%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 12%

Click here to read some of the best responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 14,937 votes and 1,844 longform responses.

New York City resident Harley Langberg has loved cooking since he was five years old. "I always tell people my parents are the worst cooks ever, and I was so tired of takeout and delivery that I had to cook for my own survival," the creative chef joked.

😋 Nice to... eat you: With a passion for cooking and an appreciation for art, Harley has become known for his food art pieces. The dishes capture the likes of celebrities, animals, and more.

• Harley has made hundreds of food art pieces; he uses a variety of ingredients to bring his creations to life.

Check some of them out here.

+Editor's note: This story previously ran in Positive DONUT, a separate newsletter we publish weekly that recaps all the good things happening throughout the world (your antidote to news-induced outrage and/or anxiety). Subscribe here for free.

We bring you the most unusual, off-the-wall and occasionally laugh-out-loud headlines from this week.

• ‘T. rexes’ race to photo finish at Washington state track → (Associated Press)
• Car crashes into business hours after they finished fixing damage from the last crash → (Toledo WTVG)
• Georgia Man Arrested for Stealing His Neighbors’ Entire Front Porch → (The Messenger)
• Message in a bottle from Ireland washes up in New Jersey → (UPI)
• A Minnesota teen thought he caught a big fish but it was actually a wallet with $2,000. → (Insider)

Which river, pictured above, helped form the Grand Canyon?

(keep scrolling for the answer)

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The Colorado River