The Full Belmonte, 7/25/2023
Air quality
Smoke rises from the Burgess Creek wildfire in British Columbia, Canada, on Saturday.
“Smoke from more than 1,000 fires burning across Canada is noticeably drifting into the US again. The pollution from the smoke is threatening residents' health in several cities including Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit — which are now ranked in the top 20 most polluted cities in the world, according to global pollution tracker IQAir. The blanket of hazy skies follows a belt of Canadian wildfire smoke that stretched across the US last week, triggering air quality alerts for more than a dozen states from Montana to Vermont, with some smoke reaching as far south as Alabama. The US will likely continue to see the downwind effects of Canada's prolonged wildfires as the country continues to experience its worst fire season on record.” [CNN]
Immigration
“The Justice Department is suing the state of Texas as Gov. Greg Abbott refuses to remove floating barriers his administration constructed in the Rio Grande. Abbott has argued the barriers are intended to deter migrants from crossing into Texas from Mexico, but his measures have disrupted US Border Patrol operations and put migrants at risk of drowning. In the lawsuit, the DOJ specifically alleges that Texas and Abbott, a Republican, violated the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act by building a structure in US water without permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers. However, Abbott is pushing back defiantly, saying in a Fox News interview on Monday that he plans to ‘take this lawsuit all the way to the United States Supreme Court.’” [CNN]
Emmett Till
“President Joe Biden will establish a new national monument today honoring Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose murder in 1955 helped galvanize the civil rights movement. The monument will be centered in Illinois and Mississippi, the states where Till was from and killed, respectively. The designation will come amid a national debate over how to teach painful facts about American history in public schools. Some Republican-led states have enacted new standards that critics say sanitize history, including the realities of slavery and of racist violence. Biden will officially name the monument at a White House event later today, which would have been Till's 82nd birthday.” [CNN]
IRS
“American taxpayers no longer have to fear the IRS showing up unannounced at their door. The IRS is ending a decades-old practice of having revenue officers visit households and businesses to help them resolve their account balances by collecting unpaid taxes and unfiled tax returns. The agency said Monday it is making the change due to growing safety concerns for both employees, who are increasingly dealing with hostile taxpayers, and Americans, who are contending with an increase of scam artists posing as IRS agents. Typically, tens of thousands of unannounced visits take place each year. Under the new policy, less than a few hundred visits are expected to occur in special circumstances involving the seizure of assets, for instance.” [CNN]
Biden-Harris hit themes of race, rights, economy
“As Congress prepares to head home at the end of the week for its August recess, the White House is ready to step into the spotlight.
Lawmakers will end their session with major spending bills still in limbo ahead of the Sept. 30 government funding deadline, and President Biden on Monday added a further challenge when he threatened to veto a proposed spending bill for military construction and veterans’ affairs, arguing that House Republicans are pursuing a partisan spending proposal that deviates from an agreement struck during debt ceiling talks. In a separate statement, the administration said Biden would veto a proposed agriculture spending bill, citing similar concerns that it contained deeper cuts than were agreed upon earlier this year.
“House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process, but instead, with just over two months before the end of the fiscal year, are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the [Fiscal Responsibility Act] agreement and endanger critical services for the American people,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy.
The compromise agreement reached between Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was intended, the White House said, to protect “vital programs” from “draconian” cuts House Republicans proposed (The Hill). Members of the House Freedom Caucus are seeking further cuts to this cycle’s spending bills, and House leadership has signaled that they will cut spending levels even further than the amount laid out by the Appropriations Committee. However, the Senate is pursuing its own funding bills with higher spending levels, so the bills House Republicans are considering are unlikely to be approved and are intended to stake out a negotiating position (Roll Call).
McCarthy threw a new punch at Biden on Monday night, suggesting that House Republicans may try to impeach him. “We’ve only followed where the information has taken us,” the Speaker told Fox News, referring to GOP investigations involving unsubstantiated accusations that Hunter Biden’s international business dealings roped in then-Vice President Biden. “This is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed,” McCarthy told Sean Hannity (The Hill). House conservatives are pressuring McCarthy for a floor vote to try to expunge former President Trump’s impeachments.
The Washington Post: The federal government could shut down in October. Here’s how and why.
Politico: Senate aims to sidestep culture war land mines in race to pass defense bill.
Monday’s announcement marked an impassioned start to a major White House week that is set to highlight both Biden and Vice President Harris, who is leaning further into a typical vice-presidential role: that of a White House rapid responder. As The Hill’s Alex Gangitano and Brett Samuels report, when Tennessee Republicans moved to expel state Democratic lawmakers who protested at the state Capitol over gun violence, the White House sent Harris to Nashville to call out GOP tactics. And when Florida passed controversial new educational guidelines for how issues like slavery should be taught in schools, it was Harris who was quickly on a flight to Jacksonville.
The vice president appears eager to step into the role as she and Biden prepare for what could be an intense, mudslinging 2024 campaign next year. But the role also comes with its risks, with polls consistently showing many Americans hold an unfavorable view of the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president — yet strategists say it could also be a good thing when it comes to her own political future.
“If you think about her political position, she’s thinking about Joe Biden being reelected and then she’s running four years from now,” said one strategist who has worked on Democratic campaigns. “So a role where she’s attacking Ron DeSantis, [former President] Trump and others is perfect because it gives her a lot of visibility with the base and the people who will be deciding the next nominee.”
Harris got another opportunity to amplify the White House message Monday, when she urged members of the largest Hispanic civil rights group in the country to stand against extremists at the UnidosUS 2023 annual conference in Chicago. Biden and Harris’s focus on race and civil rights stands in stark contrast to Republican candidates, who have minimized or sidestepped issues of race beyond their individual biographies.
Harris’s trip to the Windy City continued a month-long series of events to gain the support of key Democratic groups, including Latino and Black voters. On the itinerary are a trip to Indianapolis to Delta Sigma Theta’s conference, three separate trips to Chicago, the NAACP conference in Boston this Friday and the Women’s Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Orlando. (Chicago Sun-Times and The Boston Globe).
Biden has a busy week: Today he and Harris will designate a national monument in honor of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley — both of whom served as catalysts for the civil rights movement. The new monument will be established across three locations in Illinois and Mississippi in an effort to protect places that tell Till's story and reflect the activism of his mother, who was instrumental in telling the story about her son’s 1955 murder in Mississippi at age 14 (NPR).
The president will host Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the White House on Thursday (The Hill), and later that day will deliver remarks at the Truman Civil Rights Symposium at the National Archives. He is scheduled to visit Maine on Friday, where he will promote the administration’s “Bidenomics” campaign message (Portland Press Herald).
Related Articles
The Associated Press: Hunter Biden will go before a judge Wednesday to formally strike a plea agreement with prosecutors on tax and gun charges.
Insider: Hunter Biden sold his art to a Democratic donor later named by President Biden to an unpaid commission role.
The Hill: Shuwanza Goff, Biden’s new White House legislative affairs director, is known for her productive working relationship across the aisle with House Republicans. Goff is the first Black woman to direct legislative affairs in the West Wing.
The Hill: The House Oversight and Accountability Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday about “unidentified aerial phenomena,” or UAP, focusing on eyewitness accounts by U.S. military pilots describing aerial craft moving without identifiable technological means.”
© The Associated Press / Patrick Semansky | Vice President Kamala Harris with President Biden at the 2022 signing of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act.
Officer on leave after police K-9 attacks unarmed man
“An Ohio police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave after he released his K-9 police dog on a Black man who was unarmed following a pursuit, according to a local official.
Officer Ryan Speakman has been on leave for at least five days, Circleville Mayor Don Mcllroy told NBC News’ Jesse Kirsch.
Bodycam video from the July 4 incident shows an officer identified as Speakman deploying the dog on Jadarrius Rose, 23, who can be seen with his hands in the air.
Rose was driving a semi-tractor trailer when police tried to pull him over because the truck “was missing a left rear mud flap,” according to an incident report. The dog was released on him as he was surrendering following a “lengthy pursuit,” officials said.” [NBC News]
McCarthy floats Biden impeachment
Diagram: Sarah Grillo/Axios
“Speaker Kevin McCarthy last night raised the possibility of an "impeachment inquiry" into President Biden and compared him to Richard Nixon, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.
Why it matters: McCarthy has dangled impeachment against Biden cabinet officials. But this is the closest he's come to making that threat against the president himself.
Between the lines: The House isn't ready to vote on Biden's impeachment yet — a move many swing-district moderates wouldn't go for. But McCarthy faces significant pressure from his right flank to go full bore.
Last month, the speaker went so far as to kill a right-wing effort to hold a House vote on impeaching Biden over his border policies.
But McCarthy told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Monday that the House investigation into business dealings by Biden family members "is rising to the level of impeachment inquiry, which provides Congress the strongest power to get the rest of the knowledge and information needed."
Citing testimony by IRS whistleblowers to the Oversight Committee, McCarthy said: "This president has also used something we haven't seen since Richard Nixon — used the weaponization of government to benefit his family."
The other side: Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte, in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), offered to make U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who led the investigation into Hunter Biden, available for testimony. Read the letter.” [Axios]
After decades of delays and broken promises, coal miners hail rule to slow rise of black lung
“Decades ago, the nation’s top health experts urged the federal agency in charge of mine safety to adopt strict rules to protect miners from poisonous dust, but inaction, denial and lobbying has resulted in thousands of premature deaths from pneumoconiosis, or "black lung" disease. Now, proposals are emerging to cut the silica exposure limit by half, aligning with the standard recommended by The Centers for Disease Control since 1974. Read more.
Why this matters:
As miners dig through more layers of rock to reach less accessible coal, generating deadly silica dust in the process, the problem has increased in severity. Silica dust is 20 times more toxic than coal dust and causes severe forms of black lung disease even after a few years of exposure.
An estimated one in five tenured miners in Central Appalachia has black lung disease; one in 20 has the most disabling form of black lung. A former regulator called the lack of protection from silica-related illnesses one of the most “catastrophic” occupational health failures in U.S. history.” [AP News]
New lawsuit provides more detail in alleged Northwestern University football hazing
“A fourth former Northwestern University football player filed a lawsuit against the school Monday, accusing it of negligence while providing the most detailed account to date of the alleged hazing that occurred within the football program. Monday's lawsuit is the fourth known complaint filed against Northwestern over the hazing scandal, but the first with a named plaintiff, Lloyd Yates. It is also the first lawsuit that has been filed by well-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump and Steven Levin, who said last week they represent more than a dozen former Northwestern athletes. Crump referred to the lawsuit in a news conference Monday as the start of "college sports' #MeToo movement." Read more at USA Today
Standing with former Northwestern athletes, attorney Ben Crump speaks during a news conference addressing widespread hazing accusations at the university.
Erin Hooley,
Youth sour on America
Data: Gallup. (2015-2019 includes ages 18-29; 2020-2023 includes 18-34.) Chart: Axios Visuals
“American patriotism has declined steeply among young adults over the past decade, and now sits at a record low.
Why it matters: Pride in national identity is lowest among those 18-34 — showing the fractures among generations at a time of deep partisanship, Axios' Sareen Habeshian writes.
By the numbers: In Gallup polling from June, Americans 55+ were nearly 3 times more likely to be extremely proud of their nationality than younger generations.
Overall, 39% of U.S. adults say they are "extremely proud" to be American.
Only 18% of those aged 18-34 said the same, compared to 40% of those aged 35-54 and 50% of those 55 and over.” [Axios]
Chaos in Israel
A man stands in front of an Israeli police water cannon in Jerusalem today. It was used to disperse demonstrators protesting plans by the Netanyahu government. Photo: Ariel Schalit/AP
“Israel's parliament passed a highly controversial judicial overhaul today despite mass demonstrations and warnings from the White House, Axios' Barak Ravid reports from Tel Aviv.
Why it matters: The legislation slashes the authority of Israel's Supreme Court — and is so polarizing that Israeli fighter pilots and other reservists have threatened not to report for duty in protest.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis filled the streets to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-right government to back down. President Biden personally lobbied Netanyahu on the eve of the vote.
What they're saying: The White House said it was ‘unfortunate’ that Israel's Knesset passed the law ‘with the slimmest possible majority.’
Netanyahu, who has repeatedly attacked the courts for alleged judicial overreach, called the law ‘a needed democratic step.’ However, he also said he'd reach out to the opposition ‘to start a dialogue’ before proceeding with additional changes to the judicial system.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid claimed Netanyahu was being ‘held hostage’ by far-right members of his own government and was only proposing dialogue to calm the protests. Lapid declared that the opposition ‘will not be part of a charade.’
State of play: Huge demonstrations are underway in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv. Israel's biggest labor union has also taken a preliminary step for a possible strike, and multiple NGOs have filed appeals to block the law.
What to watch: Further waves of unrest are likely.
The next phase of the judicial overhaul may focus on changing the system of appointing judges to give politicians full authority, rather than the current system in which existing judges also play a role.” Go deeper. [Axios]
“Xi Jinping appears to be on a mission to single handedly jawbone the Chinese economy and markets higher.
While Xi and senior officials have not promised loads of fresh stimulus, the Chinese leader has vowed to treat private companies better, offered an olive branch to the embattled real-estate sector and dangled promises to boost consumption in two major policy documents in the space of a week.
Key Reading:
China’s ‘Dovish’ Politburo Signals Rate Cuts, Property Easing
China to Review Official Appointments, Removals Tuesday
China Envoy’s Month-Long Absence Takes Toll on Xi’s Diplomacy
Xi’s China Markets Lifeline Raises Hope This Time Rally Can Hold
Markets rallied on the news. But his messaging campaign comes at a tricky time.
Xi’s hold on power rests on the belief he drives prosperity for his people. Yet economic growth has been — relatively speaking, for China — muted, and local government debt problematic.
Xi has also met with plenty of outside guests of late including former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and American billionaire Bill Gates. He’s due to see Indonesian President Joko Widodo this week in the southwestern city of Chengdu. A tally by the official Xinhua News Agency shows he’s met with over 30 foreign guests so far this year.
The domestic and international strands of that outreach are linked. Xi’s focus on getting the economy moving creates an incentive to lower tensions with others — the US in particular — especially over trade. To spur domestic demand, Xi needs foreign businesses coming in.
But Xi’s big push is not without risk. Putting his very personal stamp on the health of the economy means he gets the credit if things go well. If they don’t, he is visibly the one who was driving.
He also has the delicate problem of his foreign minister, Qin Gang, a protege who has not been seen in public for about a month, with no explanation.
The refusal to reveal anything at all about the workings of the ruling Communist Party when it comes to senior officials doesn’t inspire investor confidence in China.
With the economy the way it is, that is something Beijing can ill afford.” — Rosalind Mathieson [Bloomberg]
A giant screen showing footage of Xi speaking on July 4. Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images
“Russia’s attacks on a port on the Danube River as part of its intensifying efforts to cripple a vital export route for Ukrainian grain has sent wheat prices to the highest level in five months. The destruction of a grain hanger in Reni, just across the river from NATO member Romania, came about a week after Moscow ended a deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship its crops across the Black Sea, and subsequently attacked Odesa ports.
European Union agriculture ministers will discuss how to facilitate exports of Ukrainian grain during a meeting in Brussels today.
Russia is supplying wheat to Mali, bolstering ties with one of its strongest African allies.” [Bloomberg]
“Semiautomatic American-made guns exported to countries around the world are often linked to violent crimes, and manufacturers such as Sig Sauer have found an eager ally to fuel the overseas push: The US federal government has helped push international sales of rapid-fire weapons to record levels. The US firearm industry has worked to weaken gun-control laws in other nations, particularly in Latin America, while industry-backed oversight changes have reduced Congress’s ability to monitor sales abroad.” [Bloomberg]
An attendee handles an automatic rifle manufactured by Sig Sauer at the Eurosatory defense and security trade fair in Paris on June 13, 2022. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg
“Starvation is threatening about 42,000 people in northeastern Burkina Faso, where Islamist militants are laying siege to towns and villages, the International Rescue Committee says. As Antony Sguazzin writes, a combination of rising insecurity and climate change has left millions displaced across swathes of West Africa’s Sahel region, with the number of people suffering from severe food insecurity rising more than sixfold since 2014 to 5.4 million.” [Bloomberg]
“Wildfires engulfing Greek holiday islands are a dramatic illustration of the fact that Europe’s €1.9 trillion ($2.1 trillion) travel and tourism industry needs to confront the realities of climate change and adapt. Summers have been getting more intense in Mediterranean countries, and scientists say it’s going to get worse even if we can limit global warming. That means travel patterns will be remapped in a way that will inevitably hit parts of southern Europe that currently depend on tourism.” [Bloomberg]
Visitors crowd around a water fountain in Rome on July 17. Photographer: Gaia Squarci/Bloomberg
By David Leonhardt and Ian Prasad Philbrick
Good morning. We’re covering Israel’s judicial changes, a cold-case arrest and nu metal’s resurgence.
Protesters blocked a highway in Tel Aviv yesterday.Corinna Kern/Reuters
Strength from weakness
“In their details, the judicial changes that Israel’s Parliament passed yesterday sound like something that liberals in the U.S. and democracy advocates around the world might support.
Israel reduced the power of its Supreme Court judges, who until now could use the vague standard of “reasonableness” to overturn policies enacted by government ministers. Going forward, democratically elected leaders will have more power, and unelected judges will have less. Conceptually, the policy is not so different from changes that many Democrats would like to implement in this country.
But the reaction from political progressives, moderates and even some conservatives — in Israel and elsewhere — has instead been one of extreme alarm. And that alarm stems from worries among many observers that Israel is using the mechanics of democracy to transform itself into an undemocratic country.
The government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who’s known as Bibi) is the most right-wing in the country’s 75-year history, many observers say. Freed from judicial oversight, it will have the ability to push Israel further toward becoming a religiously conservative country. In the process, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians could worsen.
Among the fears of Netanyahu’s critics:
Israel may build many more settlements in the West Bank, including on privately owned Palestinian land, making long-term peace impossible.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged in religious study may have an easier time avoiding military service, creating a two-tier society even among Israelis.
Netanyahu may be able to appoint corrupt officials to top posts. The clash with the Supreme Court stems partly from its decision blocking Netanyahu’s appointment of Aryeh Deri — an ally who had been convicted of accepting bribes — to be a minister.
Netanyahu, facing his own corruption trial, may replace the attorney general now that the Supreme Court has been defanged. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing and said he doesn’t plan to replace the attorney general.
Thousands of Israeli military reservists may follow through on their threats to abstain from training and service because of the overhaul, undermining national security.
Bibi’s turnabout
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, left, speaking with Netanyahu yesterday.Amir Cohen/Reuters
As our colleague Isabel Kershner, who’s based in Jerusalem, told us: “The basic divide is between the more liberal, largely more secular Israelis who want a pluralistic country with a tolerant and open society and the religiously conservative and right-wing forces who make up Bibi’s current government.”
The Supreme Court has been an especially important body because Israel lacks a formal constitution. In other countries, a constitution can limit the powers of an elected government, including attempts to rig the political system to allow leaders to remain in power. In Israel, the court played that restraining role.
One paradox of the judicial overhaul is that it both strengthens Netanyahu’s government and is a sign of his own political weakness. He long opposed such an overhaul, while some far-right and religious parties supported it. But he now needs those parties to remain in power — and he may need to remain in power to stay out of prison.
“He looks like a weak prime minister who is being led by the hard-liners in his party and his coalition,” Isabel said. A Netanyahu biographer told David Remnick of The New Yorker that the mass protests and military disobedience suggest that Netanyahu has become Israel’s weakest prime minister.
Of course, the Israeli political center and left may be weaker yet, a reason Netanyahu remains in power.
The measure passed Israel’s 120-seat Parliament by a vote of 64-0, after opposition members walked out in protest.
The law includes only some of the planned changes. Netanyahu said lawmakers would delay voting on other proposals to allow for talks with the opposition.
Opposition leaders plan to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the new law. The court has not said whether it would take a case about its own powers.
The court has three choices, The Times’s Emily Bazelon writes: strike down the law, narrowly interpret it to limit its impact or avoid any decision by refusing to hear petitions asking to void it.
Israelis blocked roads in protest. In Tel Aviv, police officers unleashed a water cannon; in central Israel, a car drove into a demonstration on a highway, injuring three protesters.
Critics questioned whether Netanyahu can manage the aftermath of such a divisive moment.
President Biden chastised Netanyahu over the vote, but his defense of democracy can be situational.
Many businesses shut in protest yesterday. Doctors went on strike today in much of the country, and Israel’s largest labor union is considering a general strike. Follow our updates.” [New York Times]
Scoop: Inside Musk's plan for an "everything app"
The new branding, unveiled yesterday. Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Images via Getty Images
“Elon Musk's bet-the-house, against-the-odds gamble on Twitter is about to get substantially riskier — with exponentially higher stakes.
Why it matters: Musk is obsessed with killing the Twitter name and its reason for being, and transforming it into a merger of a moneyless marketplace + public square + video content factory — his everything vision for an everything app.
Fast forward one year: Twitter will no longer be Twitter, or even a simple platform for argument and information sharing. It will be X, a Musk-run social universe that pulls together 24 years of his ideas and wildest fantasies.
In Musk's random tellings, it will be Twitter + Substack + YouTube + PayPal + Amazon + TikTok + WeChat + Baidu — all rolled into one universe marked by one letter: X.
Reality check: While Musk has been talking a good game about wanting to build new things on top of the old Twitter, in the nine months he has run the place, he has done little of that.
Workers dismantle the giant sign at Twitter HQ in San Francisco yesterday. Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters
Behind the scenes: Walter Isaacson spent almost three years with Musk — sometimes for 12-hour stretches, day after day — for a stunningly detailed book, "Elon Musk," coming Sept. 12.
Isaacson told me Musk has been plotting the X rebranding for more than nine months — since just before signing the paperwork to buy Twitter.
"He said it can be a trillion-dollar company — easily," Isaacson said. "This is an idea he has thought about for 25 years — a financial platform that helps anyone profit from creating content."
"He feels it can transform journalism by offering an alternative to subscription models, where people can just make easy payments for whatever strikes their fancy."
In Isaacson's book, he reports that Musk told him two weeks before taking over Twitter in October that he was going to change the name to X.com.
Musk has been obsessed with killing the bird logo since the day he first walked into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, with Isaacson in tow.
"When he first walked in, it was like a hardscrabble cowboy walking into a Starbucks," Isaacson recalled. Conference rooms had names like Aviary, Tern, Bluebird, Canary and Mallard.
Musk said: "There are too many birds here."
A pile of characters removed from the sign at Twitter HQ in San Francisco yesterday. Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP
To many, the bird was witty and jaunty — a clever play on the company's name and function. To Musk, it was a sign that employees weren't thinking big enough, and didn't have a burning sense of mission.
Isaacson describes Musk wandering the floors of his new company. "He pulled all the woke T-shirts out of the cabinets, and scoffed at the notion of psychologically safe workplaces," the author said. "It was like watching a movie on fast forward. ... I could see him getting more and more frustrated with the culture."
Musk said: "We have to replace this with a maniacal sense of urgency."
On the first full day of the X rebranding, the bird-themed conference rooms had already been renamed to eXposure, eXult and s3Xy, the N.Y. Times reports.” [Axios]
Elon explains: "Adieu to the bird"
Replying to a tweet listing early names of now iconic companies (Netflix was originally Kibble), Elon Musk last night explained his thinking.” [Axios]
Spotify hiked prices for its premium ad-free subscriptions.
“How much? Individual plans will increase by a dollar to $10.99 in the U.S. and family plans to $16.99, the company said yesterday. Duo plans will go up by $2 to $14.99 a month.
Why? It brings Spotify’s price in line with other music streaming services. The increase for individual plans is the first in over a decade for the world’s biggest music streamer.”
Read this story - Washington Post
Scott Eisen/Getty Images
“The Supreme Court may have ended race-based affirmative action, but a different kind of bias in college admissions still exists – and it favors rich kids.
The richest 1% of American kids are more than twice as likely to attend the most elite U.S. private colleges as kids from middle-class families with similar SAT scores, according to Harvard University researchers.
Along with legacy admissions and athletic recruitment, rich kids have better non-academic ratings. They have the resources to take more extracurricular activities, get better letters of recommendation and write better personal statements.
The “Ivy-Plus colleges” studied have a huge impact on who gets influential positions in our society. Researchers say it’s important for these colleges to reform admission practices and eliminate bias toward the wealthy.” [NPR]
Sugarflation
Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
“Expect everything from soda and baked goods to Halloween candy to cost more thanks to “sugarflation.”
Sugar prices have surged 42% globally since June 2022, according to research firm The Smart Cube.
They're expected to keep increasing with tight supplies coupled with weather mayhem, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes.
“The intensity of the dry season that El Niño is set to influence this year could result in a 10%–15% reduction in sugarcane yield globally,” says The Smart Cube's Nidhi Jain.
By the numbers: Sugar and sweets were up 11% in June compared to a year earlier.
Candy and chewing gum were up 13.2% year-over-year.” [Axios]
1 film thing: Barbie's lasting impact
Data: Comscore. Chart: Simran Parwani/Axios
“The blockbuster weekend debut for "Barbie," combined with a better-than-expected opening for "Oppenheimer," led to one of the best North American opening weekends of all time, Axios' Sara Fischer writes from Comscore data.
Why it matters: "An obvious lesson from the gargantuan success of both 'Barbie' and the [Taylor Swift] Eras Tour is that there is a huge, underserved market for entertainment that takes the feelings of girls and women seriously,” N.Y. Times opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote.
What's next: Movies based on the iconic toys Polly Pocket and Hot Wheels are in the works.” [Axios]
“The U.S. women's opener against Vietnam at the World Cup averaged 5.3 million viewers on Fox, making it the second-most-watched group stage game ever on an English-language telecast. Go deeper.” [Axios]
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
“Linda Caicedo, the 18-year-old who scored the winning goal in Colombia’s 2-0 victory over South Korea, is in her third World Cup in a year after playing in the under-20 and under-17 tournaments.
The Philippines won its first World Cup game ever with its first World Cup goal, defeating the co-host New Zealand, 1-0.
Three points for a win and one for a tie: Here’s how teams can advance to the round of 16.” [New York Times]
1 fun thing: Avocado 2.0
Got chips? The Luna UCR variety of avocado is guacamole-ready. Photo: Stan Lim/U.C. Riverside
“Meet the "Luna," a new variety of avocado that's grown on a smaller tree and easier to harvest than the dominant Hass breed.
Why it matters: The Hass, with its creamy texture and wonderful taste, has fueled our love affair with guacamole and avocado toast. A competitive alternative could make supplies of the fruit more plentiful, Axios' Jennifer A. Kingson writes.
U.C. Riverside released the Luna after a half-century of breeding and development.
Read on.” [Axios]
”Lives Lived: Reeves Callaway made high-performance automobiles for deep-pocketed customers that challenged Porsche and Ferrari, reaching speeds of 250 miles per hour. Callaway died at 75.” [New York Times]