Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🥩 Beyond Meat is going red
• ⚖️ Greenpeace USA is facing bankruptcy
• 🔥 Planes are getting hot

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.87-minute read (1,298 words).

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“Love your enemies, for they tell you your faults.”

–Benjamin Franklin (1705-1790)

Beyond Meat plans to launch a whole-muscle steak alternative that mimics the taste and texture of a filet, according to a recent announcement.

The company already sells plant-based steak tips, but the new product mimics the texture of a filet with mycelium, the rootlike part of fungi, CNBC reports. Beyond Meat sees it as a protein substitute for chicken, topping salads, and stuffing burritos.

The steaks are high

Beyond Meat is in need of a jolt, as its sales have been like a fish out of water – floundering.

• In August, the company reported its ninth straight quarter of year-over-year revenue declines. Sales for the quarter were 37% lower than the same period in 2021.
• Investors aren’t too stoked about this drop. Once valued at $14+ billion, Beyond Meat’s market cap now sits at ~$400 million. Its stock has lost a third of its value so far this year.

However – the company is currently in the midst of executing a previously announced turnaround strategy it hopes will mimic an angry parent and turn this car around.

The main tenet of this turnaround plan is, similar to a high school football coach during the school day, focused on health. In a bid to appeal more to consumers who believe its products are too processed, Beyond Meat has started trimming ingredient lists, highlighting the health benefits of a plant-based diet in marketing, and partnering with organizations such as the American Cancer Society and college athlete influencers.

👀 Looking ahead… The company’s new plant-based steak product, which doesn’t yet have a rollout date, will probably involve a partnership with a “healthier” restaurant chain, CEO Ethan Brown told CNBC. This marks a departure from Beyond Meat’s earlier (and largely unsuccessful) partnerships with health-food nuts Pepsi, McDonald’s, and Dunkin’.

The product’s rollout also comes amid a stagnant plant-based market. Sales of plant-based foods, which includes milk, meat, egg, and butter alternatives, rose just 1% to $8.1 billion last year, according to data from the Plant Based Foods Association.

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🇲🇽 Mexico’s Senate approved a controversial judicial overhaul plan. Yesterday, Mexico’s Senate voted 86-41 in favor of a constitutional amendment to remove all federal judges and hold elections for their seats. The amendment has seen major public pushback in recent weeks, with ~50,000 judges and court employees going on strike and hundreds of protesters storming the Senate. The amendment now heads to Mexico’s individual state governments for ratification, which analysts say is a likely outcome.

🇩🇪 Volkswagen is ending a 1994 labor agreement protecting its German workers from layoffs. This week, Germany’s largest employer announced the decision to quit the longstanding deal – which offered job security to ~120,000 workers – citing a desire to remain competitive in the face of falling European demand and increased competition from China. Volkswagen’s agreement will remain in effect until the end of this year, with any potential layoffs beginning in June 2025.

🇦🇺 Australia’s government proposed an age limit for social media. PM Anthony Albanese announced plans to introduce minimum age laws, as part of an initiative to protect youth mental and physical health. Australia’s government didn't specify an age limit, but said it would likely be between 14-16. If the proposed law is approved following a trial period over the coming months, it would make Australia one of the first countries to enact an age restriction for social media.

Greenpeace may soon have to come up with some major greenbacks to avoid bankruptcy in the US. The environmental group’s American arm is currently facing an existential threat from a lawsuit accusing Greenpeace of inciting months-long protests against the Keystone XL Pipeline in North Dakota several years ago.

Background: In 2016, thousands of Greenpeace members, Native Americans, and activists gathered to protest against the pipeline, which they said encroached on tribal land and endangered the local water supply.

The following year, Dallas-based Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace over accusations that it incited the protests, spread misinformation, and vandalized the project, leading to delays and significant extra costs for the oil giant.

• Energy Transfer is seeking $300 million in damages, with that figure rising as high as $1 billion including punitive costs – a sum Greenpeace says would bankrupt its US operations.

On the flip side: Greenpeace says it only played a supporting role in the protests, and denies engaging in any property destruction or violence. The group also argues that accusations of spreading false claims about the Keystone XL Pipeline should be thrown out on First Amendment grounds.

👀 Looking ahead… The trial between Greenpeace and Energy Transfer is scheduled to begin in February 2025.

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“Everyone’s got their phone or their tablet in their hand while they’re watching TV.”

Watch, shop, repeat. Paramount Global debuted a new partnership with Shopsense AI at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards last night. Using Shopsense’s “Lens” tool, VMA viewers were able to snap photos of celebrities’ outfits on-screen, then browse similar, more affordable options suggested by the company’s product recognition algorithm.

• Shopsense says it’s in discussions with other major media companies to bring its tech to a wide range of programming, including scripted television and sporting events.

🛍️ Zoom out: While live shopping currently represents less than 5% of the $1.32 trillion US e-commerce market, the industry has grown exponentially on a global scale in recent years, especially in China. In 2023, Chinese residents spent an estimated $695 billion on live commerce transactions, a figure higher than the individual GDPs of all but ~22 countries.

• ☝️ Americans across the country gathered at memorials, firehouses, city halls, and more to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks yesterday.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Mira

• 💰 US markets rose across the board (S&P: +1.1%; Dow: +0.3%; Nasdaq: +2.2%). | 📝 Inflation rose 2.5% year-over-year in August, down 0.4% from July and the lowest reading since February 2021; core inflation, which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.2% year-over-year, in line with forecasts. | 🏡 Mortgage rates fell for the sixth straight week last week.
• 💼 PWC is laying off 1,800 employees, or 2.5% of its workforce.
• 🤖🍔 McDonald’s is trialing automatic kiosks that can take cash and give change.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 💃🥇 Rachael Gunn, aka “Raygun,” the Australian Olympic breakdancer who went viral during the Paris Games, was ranked #1 in the world by the sport's governing body.
• 🎸 Jon Bon Jovi helped a woman who was distraught and hanging off the side of a bridge in Nashville climb back to safety this week, according to local police.
• ⚖️ Dawn Richard, a singer in the former girl group Danity Kane, filed a civil lawsuit accusing music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault and inhumane treatment; Richard is the eighth person over the past year to sue Combs for sexual abuse.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Niphtio

• 🚀🌕 NASA confirmed its Europa Clipper mission – which will search for signs of life on Jupiter's moon Europa – is on schedule to launch as early as October 10. | 🧑‍🚀 A NASA official said the recent uncrewed landing of Boeing’s Starliner capsule would have succeeded if the agency had decided to send astronauts onboard.
• 🚄 Siemens Mobility announced plans to build the first US high-speed rail factory, a $60 million facility in Upstate New York.
• 🌌 SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission was gearing up to attempt the first-ever private spacewalk as of this send; the event is expected to start at 5:58 am ET; see live updates.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🌀 Hurricane Francine made landfall along southern Louisiana last night as a Category 2 storm, before weakening to Category 1 as it headed inland; Francine is projected to further weaken into a tropical storm as it reaches Mississippi this morning.
• 🎓 Harvard became the latest US university to report a decline in enrollment among students who identify as Black following last summer’s SCOTUS decision outlawing race-based admissions policies.
• 🗣️👀 The Trump-Harris presidential debate drew 67.1 million viewers across major TV networks, outpacing the 51.3 million viewers who watched the Trump-Biden debate.

CLICKBAIT

• 🪐👀 Scientists spot ancient 'smiley face' on Mars — and it could contain signs of life.

🔥✈️ Stat of the Day: Planes and wherever Nelly was in that one song have something in common: it’s getting hot in there. Devices powered by lithium-ion batteries – including phones, laptops, e-cigarettes, and wireless headphones – are increasingly overheating during airline flights and creating major fire hazards, per a new report from nonprofit UL Standards & Engagement. Their research found such incidents increased by 28% over the past six years to reach a current rate of 2/week – though it's still a drop in the bucket compared to the ~180,000 US flights occurring each week. However, the report also identified a potentially overlooked risk: over a quarter of airline passengers say they put vapes and/or portable chargers in checked bags, in violation of a federal law aimed at preventing fires in the cargo hold (which are harder to detect and extinguish).

🤔 Did You Know? There are at least 240 billion pennies lying around in the US, making it the most produced coin in the history of human civilization. But that figure is just a fraction of the total amount of pennies minted since 1793, per New York Times Magazine writer Caity Weaver, meaning most are missing or just in the same place as all your misplaced pens.

📰 Worth a Read: When a Trailblazing Suffragist and a Crusading Prosecutor Teamed Up to Expose an Election Conspiracy → (Smithsonian Magazine)

Yesterday, we covered the first – and potentially only – presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle between former President Donald Trump and VP Kamala Harris.

❓ Our questions to you: In your opinion, how did last night’s debate affect the presidential campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris?

🔴 Trump:

• Helped his chances: 18%
• Harmed his chances: 51%
• Had no material impact: 31%

🔵 Harris:

• Helped her chances: 68%
• Harmed her chances: 14%
• Had no material impact: 18%

Click here to read the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received a combined 6,310 votes and 653 longform responses.

When Connecticut single-mom Randi Marcucio evacuated her home last month as a storm system raged through the Northeast, she had no idea it would be the last time she saw it standing. 

The floods completely washed away her house, which she had purchased for her and her son only three years ago, and took almost everything with it. 

⏩ A few days later – and 35 miles away in Westport, Connecticut – Nancy Lewis was walking on the beach when she found a sonogram picture washed up in the water. 

• Upon closer inspection, Nancy discovered the photo belonged to Randi, and managed to contact her and return it.
• "Just as a mom myself, [I] was thinking that this is a special memento, but then hearing the story of her losing her home and everything made it even more meaningful," Nancy said.

What is the most easterly country of the Caribbean Islands?

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Barbados