Good morning. In this edition:

• 🏛️ Rising political violence
• 🤖 OpenAI’s for-profit restructure
• 🍄 Kayak made of mushrooms

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.35-minute read (1,158 words).

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“Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.”

–Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990)

More details have emerged regarding the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday, which represents the latest in a series of violent acts targeting political figures from both parties in recent months.

What we know: After initially detaining and later releasing two persons of interest when it became clear neither of them were tied to the killing, FBI officials yesterday said they had obtained “good video footage” of the shooter, who “appears to be of college age.” They later released photos of the potential suspect, and are now offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the shooter’s arrest.

• Federal officials also revealed the discovery of a “high-powered, bolt-action rifle” in a wooded area where the shooter fled after firing at Kirk.
• According to multiple reports, an internal police bulletin said investigators also found three unspent rounds in the rifle’s magazine that were engraved with expressions of “transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”
• But some law-enforcement officials also cautioned that the investigation is still in its preliminary stages, and the bulletin may not accurately reflect the messages on the ammo.

Kirk’s assassination is one of several recent attacks

• June 2025: Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband were killed at their home by an assailant impersonating a police officer. The same assailant also wounded state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife in a similar attack.
• May 2025: Two Israeli embassy staffers were killed while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, by a suspect who chanted “Free Palestine” as he was being arrested.
• April 2025: An arsonist set fire to the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) while the governor’s family was inside, with police saying the suspect staged the attack because he believed Shapiro’s stance on Gaza was killing Palestinians.
• December 2024: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed on a sidewalk in Manhattan by an alleged shooter who carried an ideological disdain for the health care industry.
• Summer 2024: President Trump was the subject of two separate assassination attempts while on the campaign trail.

Big picture: Roughly three-quarters of Americans think politically-motivated violence is a major problem in the US (73%), and also that the issues that divide the nation pose a serious threat to democracy (76%), according to a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll that sourced responses in late June.

📊 Flash poll (long-form): What are your thoughts on the Charlie Kirk assassination and/or recent rise in political violence across America? The most thoughtful answers will be featured in Monday’s newsletter.

• Click here to leave a response.

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

🏥 Death rates from fall injuries among Americans ages 65+ has more than tripled over the past 30 years, according to a study from epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Farley.

🚄 Amtrak's new high-speed Acela trains—introduced late last month—are currently running ~9 minutes slower than their older counterparts on a trip from Boston to DC. Amtrak says the railroad’s infrastructure is a limiting factor, and expects speeds to soon improve.

💰 The median US income for men working full-time stood at $71,090 in 2024, up 3.7% from the previous year, while that same figure for women rose by 1.5% year-over-year to reach $57,520. It marks the second-straight year where America’s gender wage gap increased.

👠 The Wizard of Oz is reportedly earning up to $2 million/day (~$200/person) in recent screenings at the Las Vegas Sphere, and could top $1 billion in earnings over the film’s run through March 2026.

🐎 Haru Urara, a legendary Japanese racehorse who passed away at 29 years old this week, lost all 113 races she ever competed in. The feat earned her a starring role in the 2016 short film: The Shining Star of Losers Everywhere.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📈 US Consumer Price Index rose 2.9% year over year in August, above 2.7% in July and the fastest pace since the start of the year.
• 🤖 OpenAI and Microsoft reach non-binding deal for new relationship terms allowing OpenAI to restructure itself into a for-profit company; chairman Bret Taylor said the existing OpenAI nonprofit would maintain control over a new public benefit corporation and take a stake of at least $100 billion in the corporation.
• 🏘️ Opendoor names Shopify executive Kaz Nejatian as CEO and co-founder Keith Rabois as chairman; shares close up 80%, continuing recent meme-stock-related boost.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

in partnership with Pacaso

• 📺 Paramount Skydance reportedly preparing majority cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, backed by the Ellison family; shares of Paramount (+16%) and WBD (+29%) both close higher.
• 🎓 NCAA investigating 13 additional men’s CBB players from six D1 schools for involvement in gambling schemes; allegations include betting on and against their own teams, along with point-shaving.
• 🏈 Thursday Night Football: The Packers beat Commanders 27-18.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🚕 Amazon’s Zoox launches its robotaxi service in Las Vegas, the company’s first-ever market; rides will be free for at least the first few months to promote usage.
• 🐙 Octopuses prefer to use different arms for different tasks, despite all eight arms being capable of all actions, new research indicates; finding could inform the design of life-saving robots.
• 🏆 Lasker Award, aka "American Nobel,” given to three scientists who developed a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug that extends patients’ lifespan by decades.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🙏 Two students are in critical condition after being shot and wounded by a gunman at a high school in Evergreen, Colorado, on Wednesday; the 16-year-old male suspect, who was a student at the school, died of a self-inflicted gunshot. | At least five historically Black colleges locked down campuses, canceled classes, or ordered students to shelter in place due to “credible” threats of violence yesterday; two additional HBCUs canceled classes as a precaution.
• 🏛️ Nadine Menendez, wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), sentenced to 54 months for her role in a bribery scheme that involved her husband.
• 🇧🇷 Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro sentenced to 27 years in prison by country’s Supreme Court for attempting a military coup to remain in office despite his 2022 electoral defeat.

☝️Move over, Little Old Woman who lived in a shoe…here comes the young man who sailed on a mushroom. Last month, Sam Shoemaker paddled more than 26 miles in a kayak made entirely out of mushrooms, setting the record for the longest open-water trip in a vessel built from a fungus. Shoemaker joins a niche crew of scientists and artists exploring the potential of fungi as an environmentally friendly plastic alternative.

🤔 Did you know? The entire second verse of Rihanna’s hit song “SOS” is comprised of songs from the 1980s strung together as sentences. The verse includes phrases like "Take On Me", "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight", "I Melt With You", "Head Over Heels", "You Keep Me Hanging On" and "The Way You Make Me Feel.”

📰 Worth a read: Why we tell on each other: the science of speaking out

🖱️ Clickbait: Could aardvark burrows be ground zero for the next pandemic?

Grammy-winning artist will.i.am passed on investing $200K in Airbnb in 2010. It’d be worth $100M+ today.

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And you can join them today for just $2.90/share. But don’t wait too long.

How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

🤔 Thought exercise: What would Alexander Hamilton think of today’s national debt?

🏅Treasure hunt: There’s a clue to a $1 million gold prize hidden in this 13-stanza poem.

🌎 Like a marble: Livestream Earth from the International Space Station.

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*A message from our partners

1. I’m the smallest two-digit number divisible by both 2 and 3. What am I?
2. What’s the only perfect cube greater than 10 but less than 50?
3. What’s the only number that’s spelled in alphabetical order?

🌱 Community gardens are sprouting up nationwide—not just for veggies, but also for connections. These “intercultural gardens” are giving both longtime locals and new arrivals a place to grow together.

1. 12
2. 27
3. 40 (forty)