Good morning. In this edition:

• 🌎 The EPA and climate change
• 🥸 Light’s multiple identities
• Swimming pools🤝strip malls

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~3.99-minute read (1,061 words).

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"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."

–Ronald E. Osborn (1917-1998)

Last week, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans to rescind the agency’s landmark 2009 declaration that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare.

The move is designed to eliminate the EPA’s authority to fight climate change, according to Zeldin. He framed it as “driving a dagger into the heart of the climate change religion" that’s been used to justify ~$1 trillion in unneeded US regulations.

The arguments

To support its new finding, the Trump admin commissioned a report from several top scientists who are skeptical of current climate science. Among other assertions, the report’s authors say that:

• Temperatures in the US are milder now than they were in the 1930s.
• There are unconsidered benefits to warmer temps and higher CO2 levels, including higher crop yields and longer growing seasons.
• Heat waves, floods, wildfires, and other extreme weather aren’t getting worse.
• Current computer models are inaccurate and can’t predict future atmospheric warming.

However…Many other scientists and policymakers disagree. Data collected by the NOAA—and the EPA itself—has consistently found that average global temperatures are at their highest level since record-keeping began in the 1850s, even if temps in the US are below record highs from the 1930s.

• America's 2023 National Climate Assessment—a congressionally mandated document from 14 federal agencies—also found higher CO2 levels and temperatures can increase the risk of extreme weather events like droughts and wildfires, along with boosting the amount of pests and diseases that affect crops.

The potential impact: If finalized, the EPA’s proposed rule change would eliminate current regulations on greenhouse-gas emissions from cars, factories, power plants, aircraft, landfills, and other sources. It could also prevent future presidential administrations from proposing rules to tackle climate change.

Looking ahead…The EPA’s announcement is only a proposal for now. It’s widely expected to be challenged, first in comments during the process of finalizing the rule, and later in US courts.

📊 Flash poll: In general, do you support or oppose the EPA’s push to rescind its 2009 declaration that greenhouse-gas emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare?

• Support
• Oppose
• Unsure/other

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BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💼 US employers add fewer-than-expected nonfarm jobs in July (73,000); unemployment rate ticks up to 4.2% from 4.1%. | May and June jobs reports revised downward by 258,000 total jobs, to 19,000 and 14,000, respectively; President Trump subsequently ordered the firing of the Senate-confirmed Department of Labor official who oversees the monthly jobs report, alleging the figures were manipulated. | Why jobs numbers change.
• 🚗 Tesla liable for $243 million in damages after a jury found that the company's driver assistance technology was partly responsible for a fatal 2019 crash; judgment likely to be appealed, may set a precedent in cases involving self-driving tech.
• ✈️ Delta tells lawmakers it won’t use AI and customers' personalized data to set custom airfare.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Thinking Huts

• 📝 WNBA's Connecticut Sun reportedly to be sold for $325 million; would mark the highest price ever for a professional women's sports franchise. | Pro Football Hall of Fame inducts four new members: Jared Allen, Sterling Sharpe, Eric Allen, and Antonio Gates.
• 🍿 The Naked Gun opens to ~$17 million; The Fantastic Four suffers higher-than-expected 66% drop in its second weekend. | F1 The Movie passes $545 million at the global box office; becomes Brad Pitt's highest-grossing film of his career.
• 📺 Corporation for Public Broadcasting will shut down, move comes after it lost $1.1 billion in gov’t funding over the next two years; the CPB, created in 1967, subsidizes 1,500+ local media stations, including those affiliated with PBS and NPR.

*From our partners: ❤️‍🩹 A girl dreams of saving lives as a doctor, but lacks a classroom to start… Thinking Huts 3D-printed schools turn one child's potential into tomorrow's breakthroughs, making education accessible for all. Be the reason a school gets built—support Thinking Huts today.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 💡 MIT researchers demonstrate light has two identities—wave and particle—that can't be observed simultaneously; new version of the double-slit experiment revives a century-old debate between physicists Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, finding in Bohr’s favor.
• 🤖 Anthropic revokes OpenAI's license to the Claude large language model, claiming OpenAI engineers were using its coding tools to develop its next product.
• ⚡ 2017 lightning megaflash extending 515 miles from eastern Texas to near Kansas City, Missouri, confirmed to be longest on record. | How does lightning work?

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🌎 Magnitude 3.0 earthquake strikes New Jersey and New York. | Volcano in Russia’s Far East erupts for first time in 475+ years, accompanied by 7.0 magnitude earthquake; comes days after an 8.8 magnitude quake struck the area.
• 🏛️ US DOJ is seeking voter and election information from at least 15 states, per the Associated Press. | White House announces construction of 90,000 sq. ft. ballroom, expected to cost ~$200 million; President Trump says no gov't funds will be used.
• 📝 New videos showing Israeli hostages released by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group; European leaders condemn the action and renew calls for the hostages' release. | US and Israel to soon present "all or nothing" deal to Hamas that involves the release of all Israeli hostages, multiple reports indicate.

☝️🐾 You’re looking at some of the goodest dog entries from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest. Check out other notable pup-pics here.

🤔 Did You Know? The Mona Lisa, though painted by da Vinci in 1503, wasn’t considered a masterpiece until August of 1911, after it was stolen from the Louvre—when it became a worldwide sensation. The painting was safely recovered 28 months later.

📰 Worth a Read: Why you’re going to see a lot more swimming pools in strip malls

🖱️ Clickbait: The two-year hunt for ‘one of the rarest games in history’

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On Friday, we covered how Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan officially took effect for dozens of US trading partners, as well as an ongoing lawsuit that could strike down the majority of Trump’s trade agenda as unconstitutional.

❓ Our question to you (long-form): What are your general thoughts on America’s trade situation following the Trump admin’s latest deadline?

• “It’s a bit chaotic to me, but I believe it’s all a negotiating tactic. When you see the price of tariffs that other countries charge us while we charge little to nothing, it’s unbelievable. Plus, the tariffs could go a long way towards paying down our debt.”
• “I fear that tariffs will raise costs for businesses, which will then turn to AI to save on personnel (most likely entry-level jobs). I don’t think we will realize the consequences of tariffs and AI on the economy until it is too late.”
• “The United States had paid more in tariffs for years. Americans are accustomed to having what they want, when they want it. This will even the score and America will make money on its goods and be in a better place to manufacture our own goods. Prices will go up, but it's not the end of the world.”

Click here to read more of the most thoughtful longform responses.

+Note: Some responses may have been edited for clarity/length; Sample size: We received 163 longform responses.

Can you guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words?

1. Ceram
2. Dexter
3. Horm
4. Larv
5. Ont

🐶 Paws Chicago has rescued more than two dozen dogs and puppies stranded in the deadly Texas flood zones, treating and preparing them to find their new furever homes. 

1. Clay (ceramic)
2. Right (dexterity)
3. That which excites (hormone)
4. Ghost (larvae)
5. Existing (ontology)

+Clue for the Games newsletter: Anything goes in today’s Conjoiner sequence, which starts off with a hot take.