Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🏬 Macy’s closures are driving an American mall transformation
• 🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israel placed its military on high alert for a potential Iranian attack
• 🤔 Which college won the Olympics?

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.97-minute read (1,323 words).

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"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Macy’s, long a staple of malls across America, has shuttered 270 locations over the past 10 years. And in February, the retailer said it plans to close another 150 by early 2027.

These closures are driving a She’s All That-like transformation in the mall industry. Macy’s stores are big – typically ranging between 200,000 and 225,000 sq. feet – and owners would be hard-pressed to find a single tenant to fill the whole space, since mall staples like Nordstrom and Belk generally aren’t opening up huge stores like in the past. And many of the fastest growing retailers in terms of store count, such as Dollar General, Five Below, and T.J. Maxx, want to be in suburban strip centers rather than malls, CNBC reports.

This is leading mall owners to pursue other…creative options:

• Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco traded its Macy’s for a Whole Foods, movie theater, sporting goods store, and healthcare facility.
• Tysons Galleria near Washington, DC, replaced a closed Macy’s with entertainment options, including a bowling alley and movie theater, home furnishing stores such as Crate & Barrel, new dining options, and a showroom for EV brand Lucid Motors.
• A former Macy’s near Salt Lake City, Utah, will soon be transformed into a training and practice facility for the NHL’s new addition, the Utah Hockey Club – ice skating rinks and corporate offices included.
• Other ways malls are filling the empty space: New apartment complexes, amusement parks, or activities like pickleball, laser tag, and rock climbing.

Zoom out: A clear dichotomy has emerged in the mall industry in recent years, according to commercial real estate firm Green Street. Namely – top-tier malls, which have higher occupancy rates and lower sales density, are doing fine. Lower-tier malls? Not so much.

Overall, however, foot traffic is on the upswing. Indoor malls and open-air shopping centers have seen foot traffic increase every quarter since Q1 2021, with June’s foot traffic outpacing 2019 levels by 10% and 21%, respectively.

Looking ahead… Expect the weak malls to get weaker, and the strong malls to get stronger. Projections from Anand Kumar, an associate director of research for Coresight, indicate that by 2030, top-tier malls will draw a greater share of total mall spending and more lower-tier malls will either close or be forced to convert more space into non-retail uses.

🏬📈 Bottom line: Reports of the American mall’s demise, like President Biden’s golf handicap, may have been greatly exaggerated. But the times, they are a’changing.

Get your fill of Game Show Network with free episodes on their YouTube Channel featuring originals like…

• 🦅 Find out how our country really feels with America Says, hosted byJohn Michael Higgins
• 🔃 See contestants battle it out trivia-style on Switch, hosted by Jeff Hephner
• 🔗 Enjoy clever wordplay on Chain Reaction with Dylan Lane
• 🤔 Test your pop culture knowledge with People Puzzler, hosted by Leah Remini

There are also tons of extras like behind-the-scenes content, clips of big wins, host interviews, and lots more.

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🇮🇱🇮🇷 Israel placed its military on high alert for a potential Iranian attack. Yesterday, Israel’s military said new intelligence indicates Iran will directly attack Israel in the coming days as retaliation for the assassination of Hamas’s political leader on Iranian soil last month. In a related move, the US yesterday announced plans to send a guided-missile submarine and an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East amid heightened concerns of a possible attack against Israel.

🇮🇳 US short-seller Hindenburg accused India’s top markets regulator of a conflict of interest regarding local conglomerate Adani Group. In a report published Saturday, Hindenburg accused Madhabi Puri Buch, the chair of India’s Securities and Exchange Board, of holding investments in offshore funds also used by the Adani Group, a ~$43 billion Indian conglomerate operating across a wide range of sectors (commodities trading, airports, utilities, renewable energy, etc.). Hindenburg claims this conflict of interest has prevented an in-depth probe of fraud allegations into Adani Group, which Hindenburg first published in January 2023. Buch and Adani Group both denied the allegations.

🇨🇳 China unveiled plans to accelerate its carbon-reduction initiatives. The 33-point guideline outlines tax changes and regulations aimed at boosting production of non-fossil fuels – including wind, solar, hydropower, and nuclear sources – to constitute 25% of China’s total energy mix by 2030. Overall, China’s environmental protection industry is projected to reach $2 trillion by 2035, up from ~$310 billion in 2022.

Disney, similar to a player about to start their first RollerCoaster Tycoon adventure, is embarking upon a massive theme park expansion.

Over the weekend, the entertainment giant announced a series of new theme-park attractions set to roll out in the near future as part of its recent $60 billion investment in experiences.

A few examples:

• Villains Land, home of the company’s beloved (and feared) antagonists, breaks ground at Disney World in 2025.
• The first-ever Monsters Inc. Land is coming to Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, with construction starting next year.
• A reimagined Indiana Jones experience and a new Encanto ride will replace Disney World’s DinoLand USA starting in 2027.
• Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – a redesigned version of Splash Mountain – is opening at Disneyland this fall.

The new park attractions come at a pivotal time for the House of Mouse. Last week, the company reported its first-ever streaming profit. But it also revealed weaker-than-expected results from its theme parks division due to higher operating costs and lower demand, which Disney says will continue in the coming quarters.

🔄 This marks a Freaky Friday-like flip-flop from recent years. Since the launch of the company’s streaming division in November 2019, strong sales and profits at theme parks have helped offset a combined $11+ billion in losses from Disney’s streaming ventures. As Michael Scott would say: Oh how the turn tables.

Introducing Flip Side, a new addition to the Game Show Network line-up hosted by Jaleel White of Family Matters fame (minus the coke-bottle lenses).

• 🔄️ Flip Side pits two teams of players against each other, challenging them to correctly guess how they think two different groups of people feel about the same issue.
• 💰 The teams will have a shot at $10,000 by guessing top answers based on anonymous surveys.

Whoa, Mama! Flip Side premieres on Game Show Network in September, catch the preview here.

“I think consumers have gotten to the point where they’re just not accepting it.”

• America’s historic inflation spike over the past three years appears to be winding down – and US consumers are a large part of that trend, according to economists. In recent weeks, some of the largest US companies (including Amazon, Disney, and Yum Brands) have said their customers are increasingly opting for cheaper products or services, and avoiding items they deem too expensive. Analysts say US consumer behavior appears to be returning to the pre-pandemic era, when most companies felt they couldn’t raise prices too swiftly without losing business. America’s economic situation will become clearer later this week, with July’s Consumer Price Index set for release on Wednesday, and last month’s retail sales data published on Thursday.

• ☝️ A massive geological feature in southern Utah known as the “Double Arch” (or the “Toilet Bowl”) collapsed late last week, per the National Park Service; park rangers said changing water levels and erosion from waves in Lake Powell likely contributed to its demise.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Game Show Network

• 💰 US markets closed mixed (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: -0.4%; Nasdaq: +0.2%). | ✈️ JetBlue was downgraded by ratings agencies S&P and Moody's after the carrier unveiled plans to raise $3+ billion in debt; shares fell 19% on the day, their worst single-day plunge on record.
• 🛻 Tesla discontinued online orders for its cheapest Cybertruck model ($61,000); the least-expensive Cybertruck available for purchase is now $100,000.
• 🏦 How Bank of America ignores its own rules meant to prevent dangerous workloads. (Read)

*From our partners: 🥱 Need entertainment?... Check out the Game Show Networks library of free web games. Featuring interactive versions of favorites like America Says, Chain Reaction, People Puzzler, and classics like Solitaire, Mahjong, and lots more. Play games FREE on Game Show Network.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🐭 Miley Cyrus was honored as the youngest-ever Disney Legend; 13 other artists were also bestowed Disney Legend status, including Harrison Ford, James Cameron, and John Williams.
• 🏈 The Associated Press published its Top 25 preseason college football poll yesterday; Georgia ranks No. 1 for a second straight year, while 8 of the top 9 teams are from the SEC or Big Ten. | 🤸🥉 USA Gymnastics said its appeal to restore gymnast Jordan Chiles' bronze medal in the floor exercise has been denied, despite new timestamped video evidence Team USA says is conclusive proof Chiles should retain her medal.
• 🎶📲 Universal Music Group signed a licensing deal with Meta, under which Universal artists’ music will be available on WhatsApp for the first time. | 📺 DirecTV is launching a new Deion Sanders-led ad campaign aimed at highlighting its dish-free streaming options (aka internet TV bundles).

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Game Show Network

• 🚫📝 The journal Psychopharmacology retracted three papers regarding the use of MDMA-assisted therapy to treat PTSD, citing “protocol violations amounting to unethical conduct” at one of the sites where the research took place. | 🌎♂️ Cancer deaths among men worldwide are projected to increase 93% by 2050, per a peer-reviewed study published in Cancer.
• 🚀 SpaceX repeatedly violated environmental regulations by releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas, according to a state agency.
• 🪐💧 Scientists discovered evidence of liquid water on Mars for the first time, which they say is buried in cracks several miles below the surface, per a new study.

*From our partners: ✨🎤 Meet the hosts behind the magic… Game Show Network wouldn’t be what it is without the energy and magic its hosts bring to each game. But how well do you really know them? Get the inside scoop on Game Show Network’s ensemble of hosts.

MISCELLANEOUS

• 💻🗳️ The FBI confirmed it’s investigating reports the Trump campaign was hacked and some of its internal documents were leaked (which Trump officials blame on Iran); the Harris campaign was also the target of a recent cyberattack, though the hack was unsuccessful, per a new WaPo report.
• 🍗 A Chicago-area school worker who stole ~$1.5 million worth of chicken wings was sentenced to nine years in prison.
• 🗣️ Elon Musk interviewed former President Trump on X last night following a 40-minute delay (full audio; recap); hours before the interview, Trump posted from his X account for the first time in nearly a year.

CLICKBAIT

• 🧀 How Much Cheese Should You Eat? You Won’t Like the Answer.

🎓🥇 Stat of the Day: Maryland has crabcakes and football. Stanford? Computer science and Olympic medals. The Palo Alto-based university took home 39 medals at the Paris Olympics – over 2x more than any other US school, and more than all but the top seven medal-winning countries (outpacing nations like the Netherlands, South Korea, Germany, and Canada). This summer continued a recent trend of Olympic excellence for Stanford, whose athletes earned enough medals to place 11th overall in the 2021 Tokyo Games and 10th in the 2016 Rio Games.

🤔 Did You Know? Young children have the capacity to grow back their fingertips following an amputation or accident.

📰 Worth a Read: The woman who left Britain to parachute into Nazi-occupied Poland → (BBC)

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

• 🇺🇸🥇 Team USA topped the overall medal chart in Paris for the 8th consecutive Summer Games (each one since 1996). (Read more)
• 📚 S/o BookTok: Since 2018, sales of young adult fiction (+50%) and adult fiction (+42%) have significantly outpaced overall book sales (+10%). (Read more)
• 💰📉 American consumers expect inflation will be 2.3% in three years, per a NY Fed survey, marking the lowest figure in the survey’s history (since June 2013). (Read more)
• 🏥 71% of Americans are in favor of euthanasia being legal, while 66% think doctor-assisted suicide should be allowed, per new Gallup data. (Read more)
• 🗳️ The share of US voters who dislike both presidential candidates in 2024 – aka “double-haters” – fell from 20% to 8% after Kamala Harris replaced Biden on the ticket. (Read more)

Yesterday, we covered California Governor Gavin Newsom’s campaign to clean up homeless encampments across the state, including his recent threat to withhold funding from local governments who fail to do so.

❓ Our question to you: Do you support California’s new statewide push to clear homeless encampments?

• 👍 Yes: 57%
• 👎 No: 21%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 22%

Click here to read the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 3,059 votes and 317 longform responses.

There's panda-monium at the San Diego Zoo, where caretakers and visitors are celebrating the first pandas to be sent to the US in two decades. 

👋 Say hello to the cele-bear-ties... Yun Chuan, a 5-year-old male, and Xin Bao, a 4-year-old female, made their first public appearances at a welcome ceremony this past weekend.

• California's governor declared August 8th as California Panda Day in honor of the new pair.

❓ Trivia: What’s the top number of a fraction called?

🌈 True or False?... Yellow is the middle color on a rainbow.

🤔 Riddle Me This: There are four days that start with the letter T. Two are Tuesday and Thursday; can you name the other two?

👆 Check out the referral prizes you can get, just for introducing people you know to little old us. 

What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize.

Start referring.👇

❓ Trivia: The numerator

🌈 T/F: False, it’s green

🤔 Riddle: Today and tomorrow