“The Delta coronavirus variant appears to cause more severe illness and spread as easily as chickenpox, and fully vaccinated people might spread it at the same rate as unvaccinated people. (Remember, vaccines don’t prevent all infections, and people can be asymptomatic carriers of the disease.) This dire information comes from an unpublished, internal CDC document. The agency is expected to release new data today that backs up its decision earlier this week to issue stricter mask guidance. The US averaged more than 66,000 new daily cases over the last week, according to Johns Hopkins University data -- an average that's generally risen since the country hit a 2021 low average of 11,299 daily cases.” Read more at CNN
“WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday sought to revive the nation’s stalled push to vaccinate Americans against the surging Delta variant of the coronavirus, announcing new requirements for federal workers to be vaccinated and urging local and state governments to offer $100 to anyone willing to get a shot voluntarily.
His announcement included only federal civilian employees, but hours later the Pentagon said members of the military would also be subject to the same rules: Get vaccinated or face regular testing, social distancing, mask wearing and limits on official travel.
Although those steps fall short of a mandate, Mr. Biden also ordered the Defense Department to move rapidly toward one for all members of the military, a step that would affect almost 1.5 million troops, many of whom have resisted taking a shot that is highly effective against a disease that has claimed the lives of more than 600,000 Americans.
The announcement marked the first time he has suggested that a mandate could come for active-duty members of the military before any of the three federally authorized vaccines receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.” Read more at New York Times
“Nevada has issued an emergency order requiring people in 12 of the state's 17 counties, including tourist hot spots Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe, to wear masks in public indoor spaces, whether they are vaccinated or not beginning Friday. Disney has announced that guests ages 2 and older will have to don face coverings for all indoor attractions and on Disney transportation at California's Disneyland and Florida's Disney World. The announcements came on the heels of the CDC's latest recommendation that even vaccinated Americans resume wearing masks indoors if they are in areas with high or substantial transmissibility of COVID-19.” Read more at USA Today
“The Delta variant has clouded the outlook for U.S. economic growth.
While the economy grew rapidly in the second quarter, exceeding its pre-pandemic size, rising virus cases and hospitalizations have tempered growth expectations for the rest of the year. Renewed measures, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation that vaccinated people wear masks indoors in some places and Apple’s decision to require masks in many of its retail stores, have stirred uncertainty. Economists see two main ways the Covid-19 Delta variant could disrupt the recovery. Some states and localities could reimpose restrictions on businesses, or consumers could curtail their spending on restaurants and travel. For now, it doesn't appear Americans are retreating back to their homes, but the variant’s rapid spread shows the economy remains vulnerable as long as the pandemic persists.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Biden wants Congress to extend the federal eviction moratorium.
The Biden administration isn't going to move to extend the ban, set to expire on Saturday, because it says a recent Supreme Court ruling prevents it from doing so. Instead, the president is asking Congress to authorize such an extension, which would help millions of people potentially avoid being forced out of their homes. Governments across the country, however, have struggled to distribute billions of dollars in aid aimed at helping renters pay back rent. It's unlikely Congress will move to extend the moratorium before the weekend after it had previously been extended three times. ‘There must be a realization that hundreds of thousands of people, including children, could end up homeless if the moratorium is not extended,’ said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) earlier this week. Of the $47 billion authorized, just $3 billion has been distributed as of the end of June. A recent Census Bureau survey found that about 8.2 million adults were behind on their rent or mortgage as of July 5 and have low confidence they can pay on time next month. Some data suggest that the effects of the moratorium expiring could be muted: The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia finding this spring that more than 80% of tenants in arrears had formal or informal arrangements with their landlords to pay back their missing rent, suggesting at least some landlords may not immediately pursue evictions.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Long-term consequences for the brain? Researchers are concerned about the possibility that COVID-19 might lead to dementia.” Read more at USA Today
“Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed an executive order directing Texas state troopers to stop any vehicle if there is ‘reasonable suspicion ‘that it is being used to transport migrants released from the custody of US Customs and Border Protection. Abbott says it is a public health measure, and has repeatedly tried to link a rise in Covid-19 cases in the state to border crossings. However, Abbott has pushed back against other measures like mask mandates, vaccine requirements and testing for immigrants released from custody. Attorney General Merrick Garland has threatened action against Abbott’s order. At the border, frustration is growing amid immigration advocacy groups over federal immigration restrictions put in place at the beginning of the pandemic that haven’t been lifted under the Biden administration.” Read more at CNN
“Hong Kong protester sentenced to nine years. Tong Ying-kit, the first person convicted under the national-security law imposed by Beijing, was sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty this week of inciting secession and committing terrorist activities.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The long-running drought and oppressive heat that have been plaguing the western US for weeks have gotten even worse in recent days, intensifying wildfire risks and pushing temperatures to triple digits. Nearly half of California is currently suffering ‘exceptional drought,’ which is the worst category designated by the US Drought Monitor. The Bootleg Fire in Oregon has been raging for almost a month, and was only 53% contained yesterday. The governors of California and Nevada are pleading with the government for more federal assistance to fight the heat and the blazes. Today, President Joe Biden will meet with seven governors from the region to discuss efforts to strengthen wildfire prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response efforts. They’ll also talk about increasing pay and hiring for some firefighters.” Read more at CNN
“Another round of extra tax refund cash will continue to be doled out Friday , as the Internal Revenue Service sends money to taxpayers in the middle of an abrupt change in the rules relating to jobless benefits. Refunds by paper check will begin to arrive Friday after the IRS adjusted their federal income tax returns. Those receiving refunds by direct deposit, began to do so as early as Wednesday. Overall, about 1.5 million people received an average of $1,686 this week. The IRS has been rolling out these special refunds in batches as it makes adjustments for early filers who paid more than they owed in taxes on their jobless benefits for 2020 during the pandemic.” Read more at USA Today
“Texas Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was arrested Thursday for participating in a voting rights demonstration in Washington, joining Reps. Joyce Beatty (Ohio) and Hank Johnson (Georgia) as the third Black House Democrat to be arrested in three weeks under those circumstances.
All three have evoked the term ‘good trouble,’ a nod to the late civil rights icon Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who fought for voting rights and made the phrase famous.” Read more at USA Today
“A woman’s control over her body looks set to become a political dividing line in next year’s U.S. midterm elections.
That poses a challenge to President Joe Biden’s efforts to ease America’s polarization after the conflicts of the Donald Trump administration.
As Greg Stohr reports, 228 Republican members of Congress signed a brief sent to the Supreme Court yesterday urging the justices to uphold Mississippi’s ban on terminations after 15 weeks of pregnancy and, ‘if necessary,’ to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that guaranteed women the right to an abortion.The filing means virtually the entire GOP caucus is now on record as opposing the Roe decision. A dozen Republican governors in a separate brief to the court argued that ‘the authority to regulate abortion should be returned to the states.’
That would mean near-total bans in practice in many conservative states, where opposition to abortion has long been an article of faith among Republican evangelical supporters. Trump’s appointment of three Supreme Court justices, creating a 6-3 conservative majority, makes them optimistic they may get their way this time.
The Court is likely to rule by June 2022 and a rejection of Roe would inject more ideological rancor into the November midterms.
Republicans may see advantage in stoking the culture wars that raged under Trump to galvanize their religious base and provoke tensions within Biden's progressive wing, even at the risk of alienating moderates in their own party who regard abortion as a private choice.
For Biden and the Democrats, eager to stress his sweeping infrastructure and spending programs, the risk is the campaign narrows to disputes over morality and faith that overshadow everything else.” Read more at Bloomberg
“US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says time is running out on negotiations with Tehran over the Iran nuclear deal. The Biden administration has been engaging in indirect talks with Iran with the goal of returning to the nuclear deal that Trump pulled the US from in 2018. He then applied a slew of sanctions that made it impossible for Tehran to reap any of the economic benefits the deal promised, and Iran in response began violating the terms of the agreement. However, Blinken says the talks can’t go on forever without eventually leading to diminished returns.” Read more at CNN
“Defrocked former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception at Wellesley College in the 1970s, making him the highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in the United States to face criminal charges in the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
McCarrick, 91, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., who fraternized with popes and presidents before he was expelled from the priesthood over sexual abuse allegations, is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 in a criminal complaint filed by Wellesley police in Dedham District Court.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Carl Levin, a six-term Democratic senator from Michigan who was an influential leader on national security and whose intellect and integrity made him one of the most widely respected lawmakers of recent times, died July 29 in Detroit. He was 87.
He had lung cancer, said a family spokesman, Jim Townsend.” Read more at Washington Post
“A geologist may have uncovered the oldest sign of animal life on Earth: sponge fossils that potentially date back 890 million years. That’s some 350 million years earlier than the oldest undisputed findings of animal fossils.
Elizabeth Turner, a professor at Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, chanced upon the fossilized structures in rock formations while doing field work as a graduate student in the country's remote northwest more than two decades ago.
Recently, she went back to collect more samples and -- aided by present-day advances in the study of far more modern sponges, which are simple aquatic animals with dense yet porous skeletons -- she became confident enough in her theory to publish her findings in the journal Nature.” Read more at Boston Globe
“MEXICO CITY — Frustrated by raging violence, the Mexican government is seeking to overhaul the Merida Initiative, a $3 billion US aid program that’s been the centerpiece of security cooperation between the two nations for more than a decade but that’s failed to reduce bloodshed.
Mexican officials say they have been meeting with Biden administration officials since late spring to refocus their cooperation against drug cartels and other criminal groups, amid growing concerns that such gangs are expanding their control over Mexican territory.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Peru’s politics. Peru’s new President Pedro Castillo chose Guido Bellido, a congressman and fellow member of his Marxist Free Peru party, as his prime minister as part of a cabinet announcement on Thursday, setting up a tense confirmation battle with the country’s opposition-led Congress. Bellido courted controversy in a local media interview in April when he expressed sympathy for members of Shining Path—a Maoist guerilla group who fought a bloody insurgency during the 1980s and 1990s. Although Castillo has named most of his cabinet, he has yet to nominate a finance minister.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“About 200 Afghans who served as interpreters, contractors or other ally roles for the U.S. military landed at Dulles — the first of many such flights as U.S. troops withdraw from the region.
700 Afghan allies and families will be brought into the U.S. on special immigrant visas, Axios' Erin Doherty and Stef Kight report.” Read more at Axios
“World Series hopefuls will look to bolster their rosters before the MLB trade deadline comes to an end Friday at 4 p.m. ET. The Los Angeles Dodgers made a blockbuster deal late Thursday, adding Max Scherzer and Trea Turnerfrom the Washington Nationals. The San Diego Padres have already traded for All-Star Adam Frazier and reliever Daniel Hudson. The Houston Astros added to their pitching staff by trading with the division rival Seattle Mariners to acquire pitcher Kendall Graveman. In the AL East, the New York Yankees added more power to their lineup by first trading for slugger Joey Gallo and then surprising many by adding Anthony Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs.” Read more at USA Today
“Day 7 of the Tokyo Olympics received a jolt when top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic lost in three sets to Alexander Zverev in a semifinal match, eliminating him from contention for a gold medal. Djokovic was trying to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and an Olympic gold in the same year. Elsewhere, the track and field competition got underway with preliminary heats, controversy came to the swimming meet, the U.S. women’s basketball team stayed unbeaten in the group stage and the U.S. women’s soccer team is playing the Netherlands in a quarterfinal.” Read more at USA Today
“This was supposed to be the night that Simone Biles added yet another star-spangled page to the history books, by becoming the first gymnast to defend an women’s Olympic all-around title for more than 50 years. Instead a new American talent emerged from the shadow of greatness.
While Biles watched and whooped from the stands, 18-year-old Sunisa Lee held her nerve in an epic four-way tussle for gold. She had already made waves by becoming the first Hmong American to compete for Team US – and then again during a nerveless performance in Tuesday night’s team competition after Biles withdrew citing anxiety concerns. This, though, was a performance bursting with energy, boldness and power.” Read more at The Guardian
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter are both declaring Friday ‘Sunisa Lee Day’ after the Olympic gymnast won a gold medal for the all-around competition at the Tokyo Olympics. On Friday, track and field is finally ready to begin, with the opening qualifying rounds getting underway. Also, in a rematch of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup final, the U.S. women's soccer team takes on the Netherlands in the Olympic quarterfinals. In swimming, two-time Olympic gold medalist Lilly King, who already won bronze in the women's 100-meter breaststroke, took home silver in the 200 breaststroke final, with teammate Annie Lazor getting bronze. On the court, the U.S. women's basketball team defeated Japan in its second game of pool play, but had a tough time finishing off the victory.” Read more at USA Today
'“‘Moving all his limbs’: American Connor Fields is awake and awaiting further medical evaluation following a major crash in the BMX Olympic race.” Read more at USA Today
“58.3% — The share of the European Union's population that has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot. The U.S., meanwhile, has at least partially vaccinated 56.7% of its population. The EU is outpacing the U.S. in vaccinations for the first time, as America struggles to persuade holdouts to get a shot to slow the spread of the Delta variant.
$50 million — The projected amount of money actress Scarlett Johansson allegedly lost out on because Disney released her new movie, "Black Widow," on its streaming platform as well as in theaters. Johansson's deal was based on a series of box-office bonuses, and she is now suing Disney, saying that her contract was breached because of the change in release plans.
$1 billion — The estimated cost, according to lawyers, to pay damages associated with the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo tower last month in Florida. There are 98 confirmed deaths and 136 apartments damaged, but the $50 million available in insurance money might not even be enough to cover some residents for the value of their lost units.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Bugs, birds, fish and plants with names linked to white supremacists may be renamed, as science confronts its ties to systemic racism, Axios race and justice correspondent Russell Contreras reports.
Why it matters: The sciences have long underrepresented and erected barriers of entry to people of color, and there’s a concerted effort for a reset under way in academia, research and hiring.
The Entomological Society of America announced this month that insects known as Aphaenogaster araneoides and Lymantria dispar will no longer be called ‘gypsy ants ‘and ‘gypsy moths.’ Gypsy is a racial slur for Romani people.
The American Ornithological Society announced its commitment to changing ‘exclusionary or harmful bird names.’
The National Audubon Society is debating whether to change its name. The group is named after John James Audubon, a bird enthusiast who also enslaved Black people.
The other side: Bird names are one of the treasures of the English language, and not all are derived from old white men, wrote Helen Andrews, a senior editor at The American Conservative:
‘Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were talking about swans, sparrows, and ravens when William the Conqueror was a boy.’” Read more at Axios
Photo: Scarlett Johansson in "Black Widow." Photo: Marvel Studios/Disney via AP
“Scarlett Johansson sued Disney over the early streaming release of her current hit ‘Black Widow’ (on Disney+ for a $30 rental), which she said breached her contract and deprived her of earnings.
Why it matters: Studios and stars are coming into conflict as film distribution is disrupted in the chase for homebound eyeballs.
Once taboo, hybrid theatrical and streaming releases have become more normal for many of the biggest studios during the pandemic, AP reports.
Disney said the case has no merit: ‘The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.’” Read more at Axios
“‘Wonder and pride’: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis says her 25-year old daughter Ruby is a trans woman.” Read more at USA Today