Good morning and welcome to September, the month where we as a society agree on a few things:

• Football is back
• It’s time to stop wearing white clothes
• Billie Joe Armstrong is not to be bothered until October

Any other September societal rules to live by? Hit reply and let us know.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.79-minute read.

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P.P.S. We'll be off on Monday for Labor Day. See you back here on Tuesday!

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."

–William James (1842-1910)

The US government is considering its biggest change to federal drug policy in decades.

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended marijuana be reclassified as a Schedule III drug, instead of its current Schedule I status alongside other drugs considered to have a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use (like meth, heroin, and LSD).

💥 The potential impact: While reclassifying marijuana to Schedule III wouldn’t affect the drug’s illegal status on a federal level, doing so would open up a wide range of new opportunities for businesses across America.

A few notable examples:

• Marijuana companies could write off normal business expenses, saving the industry hundreds of millions of dollars per year. An IRS code intended to prevent drug dealers from claiming tax deductions doesn’t apply to Schedule III drugs.
• The marijuana industry could finally have access to banking services and institutional investment, according to legal experts. Because of the drug’s Schedule I status, cannabis companies are currently banned from both.
• US scientists could study the effects of marijuana on human patients, likely leading to the development of cannabis-based prescription drugs. Current research on marijuana is incomplete, but indicates some health benefits alongside risks like increased anxiety and substance dependence.

👀 Looking ahead… All eyes are now on the DEA, which has the ultimate authority on scheduling substances. The agency officially began a public review of marijuana after receiving the HHS’ recommendation, a process that often takes several months.

📊 Flash poll: Do you agree with HHS’s recommendation that marijuana be reclassified from a Schedule I drug to Schedule III?

Yes

No, marijuana should remain Schedule I

No, marijuana shouldn’t be illegal at all

Unsure/other

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🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine’s military has pierced the main defensive Russian line as part of its ongoing counteroffensive. Following three months of slow advances, a squad of Ukrainian paratroopers broke through entrenched Russian positions near the southeastern town of Robotyne in recent days, per multiple reports. Ukrainian officials say they’re now focused on creating a hole in the Russian line large enough for Western-provided armored vehicles to push through and provide logistical support.

🇸🇦 A Saudi Arabian man was sentenced to death over online posts critical of the government. Mohammad Al-Ghamdi, a retired teacher in his mid-50s, is the first person in Saudi Arabia to receive a sentence of capital punishment based solely on his X and YouTube activity. The move comes as part of a wider effort by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to eliminate any criticism of the kingdom, which also includes 25+-year prison sentences handed to other citizens convicted for their online behavior.

🇲🇽🗳️ Mexico’s opposition coalition has chosen a presidential candidate for 2024. The nomination of Senator Xóchitl Gálvez strongly suggests Mexico’s next president will be its first female leader in history, since former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is the leading candidate to run for the ruling Morena party. Experts say Sen. Gálvez is a longshot to win against the Morena party, which controls both chambers of Congress and governs 22 of Mexico’s 32 states.

The pumpkin spice latte and other pumpkin-themed menu items have been available at Starbucks stores across the US for more than a week now, the timing of which has probably made Charlie Brown very happy.

The August 24 arrival of The Great Pumpkin Starbucks’ fall menu is tied with 2021 as the earliest rollout in company history. It’s not the only food/drink chain to have rolled out its fall (read: pumpkin-themed) menu weeks before the actual debut of the fall season, either.

• Krispy Kreme rolled out its pumpkin spice doughnut lineup on August 7
• Dunkin’s fall menu was released on August 16
• IHOP unveiled its fall menu on August 28

Over time, the launch dates of these fall-themed menus have started to creep up earlier and earlier. The number of limited-time pumpkin launches at restaurant chains and convenience stores was 86 in August 2022 compared with 32 in August 2019, per data from Technomic (a ~169% increase).

And even though this may cause some consumers not named Charlie Brown to grumble, companies have their reasons. Execs say consumer research indicates they have permission to push the boundaries of timing – and these limited-time menus are very profitable. Starbucks typically sees same-store sales increase 10%-25% overall during the week after its fall menu launches; it also sells an estimated 20 million pumpkin spice lattes alone while its fall menu is live.

This past Tuesday at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's Science Committee, officials sounded the alarm on a critical piece of infrastructure called the Deep Space Network (DSN).

The DSN is a worldwide network of ground antennas, located in the US, Spain, and Australia, that supports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft missions. It’s basically the T-Mobile/Verizon for US deep space projects like the Artemis missions to the Moon, the Voyager probes floating in interstellar space, and numerous other endeavors.

• There are currently ~40 missions that rely on the DSN, and another 40+ will join the roster over the next decade or so.

🤔 What’s the problem?... In one word – bandwidth. NASA's inspector general last month found that demand on the network is sometimes exceeding supply by as much as 40%. Which in turn forces the DSN to prioritize certain missions over others – like during Artemis I, where it was turned away from the James Webb Space Telescope.

👀 Looking ahead… Suzanne Dodd, who oversees the DSN in her position at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is calling for additional funding to bolster the network's infrastructure, hire more staff, and bring old antennas back online to meet the increasing demand. The DSN’s annual budget has fallen from $250 million in 2010 to $200 million today, and is projected to continue to decrease through the end of the decade.

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💬 Quoted… “Look what you made me do… #TaylorWins”

Even Friday the 13th is being outshone by Taylor Swift. The pop superstar announced yesterday that a new concert film of her Eras Tour will hit theaters nationwide starting Friday October 13 – which is also the release date for The Exorcist: Believer.

• But, hours after T-Swift’s announcement, Universal said it’s moving up the premiere date for The Exorcist by one week to October 6th. Which dealt quite a blow to growing hype over a potential “Exorswift” double feature.

✈️ Stat of the Day: If you’re flying this Labor Day weekend, prepare to see even more airport dads than usual. More than 14 million passengers are expected to pass through US airports over the holiday weekend, which would set a new all-time record, per new TSA estimates.

🤔 Did You Know?... Free-ranging domestic cats are the top human-caused threat to US wildlife, killing an estimated 1.3 billion–3.7 billion birds and 6.3 billion–22.3 billion mammals each year, per a 2013 study.

📰 Worth a Read: The Real Story of Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover → (WSJ)

• ☝️ Just over 92,000 spectators attended the University of Nebraska’s women's volleyball match on Wednesday night held in the university's football stadium; it set a new world record for the largest crowd at a women’s sporting event; the crowd represented ~5% of Nebraska’s population.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Upway

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: -0.2%; Dow: -0.5%; Nasdaq: +0.1%); the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite snapped five-month winning streaks in August, while the Dow posted its first monthly loss since May.
• 💵📉 Dollar General stock dropped ~12% to its lowest close in years after the company cut its sales and earnings outlook.
• 🏠 Tesla is being investigated by the DOJ and SEC over the use of company funds on a secret project described internally as a glass house for CEO Elon Musk (the literal, not proverbial, kind).

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with EnerHealth

• 🏈 Week 1 of the college football season officially kicked off last night, with games also scheduled for Saturday through Monday.
• 🎭 The heads of Hollywood’s largest studios reportedly attended a virtual sit-down late Wednesday, as the ongoing writers and actors strikes continue. | 🤵👑 Suits was changed during filming at the request of the British royal family, which didn’t want Meghan Markle – who was dating Prince Harry at the time – saying phrases like “poppycock,” per show creator Aaron Korsh.
• ⚖️ Fans of Ana de Armas weren’t tricked into watching the 2019 movie Yesterday after she was featured in the trailer but ultimately didn’t appear in the film, a US federal judge ruled this week. (Background)

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 😳 The ancestors of modern-day humans nearly went extinct roughly 1 million years ago, with the world population hovering at ~1,300 for more than 100,000 years, per a peer-reviewed study published yesterday in Science.
• ☄️ Harvard professor Avi Loeb and his research team are claiming to be the first to have found fragments from a meteor that came from outside our Solar System, though many other scientists are skeptical.
• 🍄 A single dose of psilocybin, the active psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms, can lead to a “rapid, robust, and sustained reduction” in symptoms of severe depression when combined with psychotherapy, per a peer-reviewed study published yesterday in JAMA.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌀 Tropical Storm Idalia crossed from the eastern part of the Carolinas into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday; the storm caused roughly $9.36 billion in damages to insured properties in Florida, per preliminary estimates from UBS.
• 🏛️⚖️ Former Proud Boys leaders Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl were sentenced to 17 years and 15 years in prison, respectively, for their actions during the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol two years ago; it marks the second- and third-longest sentences to date over Jan. 6. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)
• 🧑‍⚖️ Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito published their 2022 financial disclosure forms yesterday; both Justices had sought extensions amid reports about them excluding items from their previous disclosures. (Background | From the Left | From the Center | From the Right)

CLICKBAIT

• ☝️ This is the No. 1 trait you need to be more successful than most.

👆 You're looking at Peanut, a chicken who recently became a Guinness World Record holder. 

🐣 Background: Peanut was born in 2002, when her owner, Marsi Darwin, almost tossed out what she thought was a dud egg. 

• Just before getting rid of the egg, however, Marsi noticed there was a tiny chick inside. Peanut was born soon after, but was rejected by her mother and the rest of the coop. Marsi adopted her as a housepet.

🐓 What happens when you actually count your chickens before they hatch: Now, at 20-years-old, Peanut recently was awarded the Guinness World Record for oldest living chicken. 

It’s time to find out – our weekly news quiz is live.

Below are three lists of ingredients. All you have to do is give us the completed dish they make.

☝️ Recipe #1:

• Cream cheese
• Mozzarella
• Garlic powder
• Dried oregano
• Basil
• Marinara sauce
• Pepperoni slices
• Parmesan
• Sliced baguette

✌️ Recipe #2:

• Brisket
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil
• Sweet onions
• Garlic cloves
• Chicken broth
• Crushed tomatoes
• Coconut sugar
• Apple cide vinegar
• Carrots

3️⃣ Recipe #3:

• Salted butter
• Marshmallows
• Graham cracker cereal
• Chocolate bars
• Dehydrated shapes marshmallows (like Lucky Charms)

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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☝️ Recipe #1: Cheesy pizza dip

✌️ Recipe #2: Classic Rosh HaShanah brisket

3️⃣ Recipe #3: S'mores cereal treats