The Full Belmonte, 7/11/2023
Members of the Supreme Court sit for a group portrait. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Campus visits and travel by Supreme Court justices put them in the company of big money donors
“U.S. Supreme Court justices have long benefited from the presumption they chose public service over more lucrative opportunities. But records obtained by The Associated Press reveal the justices attended publicly funded events that allowed the schools to put the justices in the room with influential donors, including some whose industries have had interests before the court, lent the prestige of their position to partisan activity and advanced personal interests such as book sales. Read more.
Why this matters:
The Supreme Court’s definition of banned fundraising is so narrow that it has allowed their appearances to be used as a powerful lure for money by institutions hosting them.
The AP investigation also found that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's staff prodded public institutions to buy her books, the documents revealing repeated examples of taxpayer-funded court staff performing tasks for the justice's book ventures in ways that would likely be prohibited for workers in other branches of government.” [AP News]
Sweden’s rocky road from neutrality toward NATO membership
“When long-neutral Sweden applied for NATO membership together with Finland, both expected a quick accession process. More than a year later, Finland is in, but Sweden has faced significant hurdles. On Monday, Turkey removed a major roadblock in return for help in reviving Turkey’s own chances of joining the European Union. Read more.
Why this matters:
For a country that hasn’t fought a war in two centuries, Sweden’s decision to apply to NATO was huge. Public opinion shifted toward NATO when Russian tanks rumbled across the Ukrainian border and missiles struck Kyiv and other cities.
Turkey’s objections to Sweden’s accession included their reluctance to crack down on groups that Ankara views as security threats, including the Kurdistan Workers Party. Some analysts also suggest Turkey was using the bid as leverage to press for upgraded F-16 fighter jets from the U.S.” [AP News]
Erdogan shakes hands with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson as Stoltenberg looks on in Vilnius. Photographer: Filip Singer/Pool/Getty Images
Deadly flooding is hitting several countries at once. Scientists say this will only be more common
“Although destructive flooding in India, Japan, China, Turkey and the United States might seem like distant events, scientists predict the additional atmospheric warming will only make it worse and lead to more deadly outcomes in the coming years. Read more.
Volunteers remove debris in Highland Falls, N.Y.Bryan Anselm for The New York Times
Why this matters:
Schools in New Delhi were forced to close Monday after heavy monsoon rains battered the Indian capital, with landslides and flash floods killing at least 15 people over the past three days. In Japan, torrential rain created floods and mudslides that left two people dead and at least six others missing. And at least one person died in a storm that hit New York’s Hudson Valley and Vermont especially hard.
‘As the climate gets warmer we expect intense rain events to become more common, it’s a very robust prediction of climate models,’ said Brian Soden, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Miami. ‘It’s not surprising to see these events happening, it’s what models have been predicting ever since day one.’” [AP News]
Migrants rest under the shade of a tree to avoid the heat during a protest against their dire conditions in Tunisia’s coastal city of Sfax on July 7. Photographer: Houssem Zouari/AFP/Getty Images
Photo Chris Jackson/Getty Images
“King Charles III, 74, greets President Biden, 80, yesterday in the Quadrangle at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.
Biden today is in Vilnius, Lithuania, for a NATO summit.” [Axios]
Putin met with Prigozhin days after rebellion
“There’s a new twist following the recent rebellion by the head of the Wagner mercenary group in Russia.
The Kremlin said today that President Vladimir Putin met with the head of the group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 29, five days after the brief uprising in which Prigozhin and his fighters took over a southern Russian city and were moving toward Moscow before halting their action.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting lasted almost three hours and that several dozen people attended. It was the first word of a meeting between Putin and Prigozhin, whose fighters have played a key role in the war in Ukraine.
Peskov said Putin heard Wagner commanders explain what happened the day of the rebellion. The spokesman said they were now ‘staunch supporters and soldiers’ of Putin.
As NBC News.com reports, ‘It’s not clear why the Kremlin decided to publicize the meeting, which happened nearly two weeks ago now, but it has been trying to project a sense of order and unity weeks after the mutiny saw Prigozhin’s fighters get to just more than 100 miles of Moscow.’” [NBC News]
Imprisoned former sports doctor Larry Nassar stabbed, prison union official says
“Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor convicted of sexually assaulting female athletes, was stabbed at the federal prison in Florida where he is serving a minimum of 40 years, officials said.
Joe Rojas, a prison union official, told NBC News that Nassar was stabbed in the neck, back and chest and also suffered a collapsed lung in the attack during an altercation with another inmate yesterday.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said staff at the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman in central Florida provided life-saving measures and that the inmate, whom it did not name, was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition.
The Bureau of Prisons describes Coleman as a ‘low security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.’
Nassar, 59, has been in prison there since 2018 after being convicted of sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes while working for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University.
At his sentencing, more than 100 women and girls testified about how Nassar had hurt them.” [NBC News]
James Lewis, the suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed 7 in the Chicago area, has died
BY MARK PRATT
“The suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisonings that killed seven people in the Chicago area, triggered a nationwide panic, and led to an overhaul in the safety of over-the-counter medication packaging, has died, police said on Monday.
Officers, firefighters and EMTs responding to a report of an unresponsive person at about 4 p.m. Sunday found James W. Lewis dead in his Cambridge, Massachusetts, home, Cambridge Police Superintendent Frederick Cabral said in a statement. He was 76, police said.” Read more at AP News
Manhunt for murder suspect who escaped from Pennsylvania jail
“Officials said Micheal Charles Burham escaped from the Warren County Jail three days ago using bed sheets tied together.
Officials said Burham, a suspect in the murder of a New York woman and other crimes, is ‘very dangerous,’ is likely to be armed and should not be approached.
They said he was discovered missing from the jail’s recreation area and that he had climbed onto a metal gated roof, lowering himself to the ground with the bed sheets.
Officials said he was being held in the jail in connection with burglary and arson charges and is also suspected in the kidnapping of a Warren County couple and the murder in May of a woman in Jamestown, N.Y.
More than 10 local, state and federal agencies were involved in the manhunt.” [NBC News]
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the FDA to investigate Prime, a sports energy drink with high caffeine levels founded by social media influencers Logan Paul and KSI that has become popular with teens. The company told CNBC Prime Energy ‘contains a comparable amount of caffeine to other top selling energy drinks, all falling within the legal limit of the countries it’s sold in.’” [NBC News]
“Pop star Madonna told fans that she is ‘on the road to recovery’ after being hospitalized recently with a bacterial infection.” [NBC News]
“Used car prices are coming down, according to an index of wholesale used car prices. Cox Automotive said its Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index dropped 4.2 percent last month, the biggest monthly decline on record, CNBC reported.” [NBC News]
College essay conundrum
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
“The high-stakes college admission essay could become even more crucial in a post-affirmative action America.
But there are legal questions about how colleges and students can use it, the L.A. Times reports.
One of the essay prompts in the Common Application — accepted by more than 1,000 schools — is: ‘Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.’
It's a place where students of color can — and often do — detail how their identity has shaped their lives.
What's happening: In the ruling striking down affirmative action, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: ‘Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.’
He also warned universities not to use essays as a roundabout way of determining race: ‘Universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.’
That has left administrators confused about how to use essays.
Go deeper: How the end of affirmative action will change universities.” [Axios]
Living geologic history
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
“Today, scientists are expected to announce key evidence that the world has entered a new epoch, called the Anthropocene, Axios managing editor Alison Snyder writes.
Why it matters: Earth's 4.5 billion-year history is divided into geological epochs that each typically span millions of years. We may soon officially enter a new one — the first defined by human action.
Researchers say humans, rather than a natural phenomenon like an asteroid strike, pushed the planet into this phase — one in which Earth is being rapidly transformed.
‘[W]e are living in a new geological period, one in which the scale and power of human activities match or even exceed the scale and power of natural processes,’ Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science, tells Axios via email.
The big picture: A new epoch would represent a new reference point for how scientists understand Earth's history and trajectory — especially the impact of human-caused climate change.
Epochs, eras and ages frame scientists' views of Earth's evolution — the emergence of plants and the extinction of dinosaurs, the breakup of supercontinents and natural changes in global temperatures.
Data: International Commission on Stratigraphy. Chart: Alice Feng and Tory Lysik/Axios
What's happening: The new epoch isn't a done deal yet — the Anthropocene is, for now, still just a proposal. Some scientists, including many who study climate change, already use the term widely.
A working group of the International Commission on Stratigraphy has spent more than a decade evaluating whether Earth has entered the proposed Anthropocene.
Scientists want to pinpoint a ‘golden spike’ — a place on the planet where evidence of the start of a global change is etched into rock, sediment or ice.
Today, they'll announce their choice to represent the proposed epoch. (Find out the answer in Axios PM!)
Reality check: There's a big debate about whether human-caused changes amount to a new epoch — and, if so, when it began.
Some anthropologists point to a time hundreds of thousands of years ago when humans first harnessed fire, or to the dawn of agriculture.
Others argue humans have been on Earth for such a short time in geological terms, that we don't warrant our own epoch.
‘The Anthropocene inflates our own importance by promising eternal geological life to our creations,’ Peter Brannen wrote in The Atlantic.” [Axios]
Falling trust in college
Data: Gallup. Chart: Axios Visuals
“All major demographic groups, led by Republicans, are less confident in higher ed than they were just a few years ago, according to an eye-opening Gallup poll out this morning.
Why it matters: This is a new sign of America's cratering trust in institutions, and of the culture wars' impact beyond politics.
‘In 2015, majorities of Americans in all key subgroups expressed confidence in higher education, with one exception — independents (48%),’ Gallup writes:
By 2018, confidence had fallen across all groups, with the largest drop — 17 points — among Republicans.
But it's not just Republicans: "Confidence among adults without a college degree and those aged 55 and older dropped nearly as much as Republicans' since 2018."
The only key subgroup with majority-level confidence in higher education: Democrats.
Explore the data.” [Axios]
Battle for Aretha's riches
Aretha Franklin performing in Austin in September 2014. Photo: Gary Miller/Getty Images
“A trail of handwritten documents, including one found in couch cushions, will determine who controls Aretha Franklin's estate.
Why it matters: A jury trial began today in Pontiac, Michigan, to decide how to split up assets worth millions — including real estate, jewelry and future royalties from her songs, Axios Detroit co-author Samuel Robinson writes.
Catch up fast: Franklin hadn't made a formal will when she died in 2018 at age 76.
It was thought that her four sons would split the estate. But then several scrawled notes were found in her home. As the N.Y. Times put it: ‘Is Aretha Franklin’s True Will the One Found in the Couch or a Cabinet?’
Today, the judge said the only task for jurors is to decide whether a 2014 document handwritten by the Queen of Soul and found in couch cushions can be accepted as a valid will.
Michigan law allows for final wishes to be fulfilled through handwritten documents if there is no typewritten will.
State of play: The 2010 will lists Franklin's son, Ted White II and a niece, Sabrina Owens, as co-executors. It says her two other sons, Kecalf and Edward Franklin, ‘must take business classes and get a certificate or a degree’ to benefit from the estate, AP reports.
The 2014 will crossed out White's name as executor and lists Kecalf Franklin in his place — without any mention of the business classes.
Get the latest.” [Axios]
The Athletic to cover sports for NYT
“The New York Times is sunsetting its legendary sports desk:
Breaking news (for the paper and online) will be drawn from the paper's subscription sports site, The Athletic. Enterprise and investigative coverage will come from business, culture and other desks, Axios' Sara Fischer writes.
Why it matters: The "Sports of the Times" column once was prime real estate in American journalism, and the late Times columnist Red Smith was one of the most renowned sportswriters ever. Lately, The Times had world-leading coverage of soccer scandals, concussions and doping.
The change is part of a broader effort to shift sports coverage to focus ‘more directly on distinctive, high-impact news and enterprise journalism,’ says a memo from publisher A.G. Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien.
There won't be layoffs, and ‘current Sports staff will transition to other desks around the newsroom,’ the memo says.
The Athletic isn't profitable. But it's helping fuel digital subscription growth for The Times.” [Axios]
Northwestern University fires football coach amid hazing scandal
“Northwestern University head football coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired on Monday after several former players revealed details of hazing within the football program, and days after an independent investigation confirmed hazing activities were ‘widespread among football players.’ University president Michael Schill said the details of the investigation would remain confidential, but revealed that 11 current or former players told investigators hazing had been ongoing. While he said some players didn't think the hazing was harmful, he said others ‘viewed it as causing significant harm with long-term consequences.’” Read more at USA Today
Northwestern Wildcats head coach Pat Fitzgerald (center) takes the field with his team against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ryan Field.
David Banks, David Banks-USA TODAY Sports