The Full Belmonte, 9/8/2023
Hurricane Lee powers up to Category 5 strength
Hurricane Lee Powers up to Category 5 strength.
“Hurricane Lee roared to Category 5 intensity Thursday far out in the Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said. The powerful storm's winds had doubled in speed in over 24 hours.
Whether Lee will make landfall or blow out to sea remains a key question.
•Long-range forecasts suggest Lee will likely curve north next week before reaching Florida. Potential impacts from Lee along the rest of the U.S. East Coast remain uncertain.
•Meanwhile, in the Pacific, Hurricane Jova churned through open waters far from Mexico’s southwest coast as a Category 5 storm. It posed no threat to land.
•Even before the hurricane season started, forecasters said 2023 was likely to be a busier-than-normal season, but in August they bumped up their predictions, calling for 14-21 named storms.” [USA Today]
Senators warn of dwindling time as hardline Republicans demand cuts
“While the House has yet to come back into session from its weeks-long summer break, the Senate, which returned Tuesday, has a gloomy outlook on Congress' odds of avoiding a government shutdown. Senators have been approaching the process of keeping the government funded on a mostly bipartisan basis. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Wednesday at a weekly press conference the upper chamber would vote next week on three out of the 12 appropriations bills needed to avert a shutdown, praising both Senate Democrats and Republicans for moving swiftly on the process.” Read more at USA Today
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.
J. Scott Applewhite, AP
Jan. 6 sentences so far: 700 years
Screenshot: MSNBC
“This week's sentences of Proud Boys members bring the total years of incarceration in Jan. 6 sentences to about 700, the WashPost's Aaron Blake writes from Justice Department data.
350+ people have been sentenced to jail or prison.
Average sentence: just under two years, The Post found.” [Axios]
Migrant child who died on Texas bus trip had fever before she boarded, coroner says
Texas officials previously said no passenger had medical symptoms when boarding the bus.
Rick Jervis
USA TODAY
“The 3-year-old Venezuelan girl who died last month after Texas authorities placed her family on a bus to Chicago already had a low-grade fever and other symptoms before she boarded, according to a new autopsy report released Thursday.
The revelation contradicts an earlier statement by Texas officials about the bus ride, which said ‘no passenger presented with a fever or medical concerns.’
The death of the migrant youth raises questions about medical screenings for the state-sponsored bus trips, which have been controversial since Gov. Greg Abbott and other governors began touting them more than a year ago as a way to ship migrants to more liberal states.
‘The child had reportedly begun experiencing mild symptoms and began feeling ill as the family boarded the bus in Brownsville,’ according to a statement by Marion County (Ill.) Coroner Troy Cannon. ‘At that point, she had a low-grade fever only, and was allowed to board the bus.’
Jismary Alejandra Barboza Gonzalez was a few days shy of her 4th birthday when she and her family boarded a bus from Brownsville, Texas, to Chicago last month.
Her condition deteriorated on the way to Illinois, the coroner said. Cradled by her mother, Jismary experienced vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration, according to the statement. She later lost consciousness and was removed from the bus and rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Cannon’s report listed the cause of death as ‘bacterial Shigella Flexneri Colitis and Aspiration Pneumonia along with diarrhea and vomiting, which caused electrolyte abnormalities and swelling of the brain.’ Jismary also tested positive for norovirus and rotavirus in the intestine and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, in the lungs.
A statement released by the Texas Department of Emergency Management in the wake of Jismary’s death said that after being released by U.S. Border Patrol in Brownsville, each bus passenger underwent a temperature check and was asked if they had any medical conditions. ‘Following this check, no passenger presented with a fever or medical concerns,’ it said.
The department didn’t reply to a request for comment on the latest autopsy report….” Read more at USA Today
Brett Kavanaugh says he's hopeful the Supreme Court will take 'concrete steps' to address ethics scandals
“WASHINGTON — Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaled Thursday that the Supreme Court may take steps ‘soon’ to address ethics scandals that have eroded confidence and sparked a partisan fight in Congress over whether lawmakers can force a code of ethics on the nation's highest court.
‘The chief justice spoke about that in May and said that we're continuing to work on those issues, and that is accurate. We are continuing to work on those issues,’ Kavanaugh told a conference of judges and lawyers in Cleveland, according to The Washington Post, CNN and others. ‘And I'm hopeful that there will be some concrete steps taken soon on that.’
Kavanaugh's remarks were the most optimistic about potential changes at the Supreme Court since Chief Justice John Roberts told an audience in May that the ethics scandals swirling around the court were an ‘issue of concern’ and that the justices were ‘continuing to look at things’ to address the problem.
‘We’re nine public servants that are hard working and care a lot about the court and care a lot about the judiciary as a whole,’ Kavanaugh said, according to The Washington Post. The justices ‘want that respect for the institution to be shared by the American people,’ he said. ‘To the extent that we can increase confidence, we’re working on that.’
Faith in the court has tanked in recent years. An Ipsos poll last month found that half of Americans have little or no trust in the justices and that faith in the Supreme Court has slipped below that of other legal institutions, including juries, local police and state judges. Only ‘corporate attorneys’ fared markedly worse than the high court.
Justice Clarence Thomas, in particular, has been at the center of controversy involving private jet travel and luxury vacations paid for by a Republican megadonor. But other justices − including Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor and Roberts himself − have been the subject of news stories in recent months that have raised ethical questions.
A Senate committee in July approved a bill that would require the Supreme Court to adopt a code of ethics, but the issue has become highly partisan, and the measure is unlikely to win approval of Congress anytime soon.” [USA Today]
Trump White House official Navarro convicted of contempt after defying House Jan. 6 subpoena
“Trump White House official Peter Navarro has been convicted of contempt of Congress charges for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.” Read More. at AP News
Donald Trump’s next legal drama is a post-Civil War constitutional amendment barring insurrectionists from office.
“A left-leaning legal watchdog filed suit yesterday demanding that Colorado’s primary ballot exclude him under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment; other such attempts are expected. Trump, in a Truth Social post Monday, called the disqualification effort a trick to steal the election and said that ‘almost all legal scholars’ doubt the legal basis. Some judicial thinkers question whether state election authorities can enforce Section 3 against a presidential candidate, whether it can be applied to a former president and whether Trump violated the clause.” [Wall Street Journal]
Members of the public enter the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol for day three of the impeachment trial for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today. | Eric Gay/AP Photo
“IMPEACHMENT IMPACT — It’s said that everything is bigger in Texas, and that’s certainly true when it comes to a bitter political fight that is currently dividing the state’s dominant Republican Party.
At issue is the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been embroiled in legal issues since a state grand jury indicted him on criminal charges including securities fraud in 2015. Eight years later, that case is still bouncing around Texas courts. But that’s not all. In Oct. 2020, multiple whistleblowers came forward detailing additional improprieties in Paxton’s office, including abuse of office and bribery.
Paxton agreed to a $3.3 million settlement with the whistleblowers in Feb. 2023, but after asking that the state use taxpayer funds to pay the settlement, he was impeached by the state House in May. Now he faces 16 articles of impeachment in the Texas Senate, where a trial to determine whether he will remain in office began earlier this week.
Republicans control both chambers of the legislature and every statewide office, so this is a fight that doesn’t break down along party lines — it’s largely taking place within the GOP.
Since May, when the House voted 121-23 to impeach, the pro-Paxton faction of the party — both in Texas and nationally — has turned up the heat on Republicans who oppose him. Former President Donald Trump has defended Paxton, calling the impeachment in the House ‘ELECTION INTERFERENCE’ while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who’s up for reelection in 2024, said on X (formerly known as Twitter) ‘what is happening to Ken Paxton is a travesty.’
A super PAC called Defend Texas Liberty has also been targeting pro-impeachment Republican lawmakers, spending $3.5 million on billboards and television ads, mostly donated by Texas billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks.
Allies of Paxton have sought to nationalize this fight as well. As podcast host Steve Bannon said on his show Bannon’s War Room earlier this month, ‘We want the entire MAGA movement to understand that what’s going on in Texas is not just about Texas.’
On the other side of the ledger, veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove penned an op-ed critical of Paxton in the Wall Street Journal in August and former Texas Governor Rick Perry wrote his own piece in the Journal arguing that the attacks on fellow Republicans were ‘delegitimizing the impeachment process.’
Whether Paxton manages to remain in office or not, the issue has caused deep enough rifts to raise questions about its effect on the state party in the 2024 election cycle and beyond. There is the risk of depressed fundraising, depressed turnout and damaging optics in a state where Democrats continue to harbor dreams of a “Blue Texas.”
A splintered party doesn’t bode well for Cruz, who must go before voters next year after narrowly winning reelection in 2018. And his decision to throw his hat in with Paxton could easily come back to haunt him.
For a party that needs to project cohesiveness ahead of its attempts to retake the Senate and the presidency in 2024, Paxton’s case has done just the opposite.
Hardline conservatives may argue that Paxton has been the best state attorney general in the country, but his divisive impeachment trial — still only three days in — is already raising questions about whether he’s worth the high price the GOP is paying.” [POLITICO]
Miami schools again reject proposal to recognize October as LGBTQ history month
“A proposal to recognize October as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer history month in Miami-Dade public schools went down in flames last year. On Wednesday night, advocates set their sights on a do-over, hoping they wouldn’t meet the same fierce opposition this time around. After a 13-hour school board meeting, a revised version of the proposal failed in a 5-3 vote. The meeting reportedly stretched into early Thursday morning, drawing dozens of supporters and opponents - including a contingent of Proud Boys, the right-wing hate group, according to the Miami Herald.” Read more at USA Today
•”A Florida city declared itself a sanctuary city for LGBTQ people.” [USA Today]
•”After body slamming a student during an arrest, Georgia school police chief placed on leave.” [USA Today]
A menstrual pad that tests for cervical cancer?
“Six North Carolina teenagers have spent two years working on Sensible, a diagnostic menstrual pad to detect cervical cancer — and save potentially hundreds of thousands of lives. The team devised a simple solution to a multifaceted problem. More than 340,000 people die of cervical cancer each year, the team said. Four in five of those victims live in developing countries. However, cervical cancer is highly treatable when caught early, according to the National Institutes of Health. You just need better, cheaper, widespread screening.” Read more at USA Today
An ailing American explorer trapped 3,000 feet deep in Turkish cave awaits difficult rescue
“Rescuers from across Europe rushed to a cave in Turkey on Thursday, launching an operation to save an American researcher who became trapped almost 3,000 feet below the cave’s entrance after suffering stomach bleeding.” Read More at AP News
‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson gets 30 years to life in prison for rapes of 2 women
“‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson has been sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the rapes of two women two decades ago. The sentence was the maximum allowed by law.” Read More. at AP News
Philanthropies Pledge $500 Million to Address Crisis in Local News
The effort, spearheaded by the MacArthur Foundation, will give grants to support newsrooms and start-ups as concern grows over the rapid disappearance of local news outlets.
“Many major philanthropic groups have increasingly focused their attention in recent years on helping struggling local newsrooms. Now they are joining forces.
On Thursday, more than 20 nonprofit organizations announced plans to invest a total of $500 million over the next five years in local media organizations, one of the biggest efforts yet to address the crisis in local news.
The initiative, called Press Forward, is spearheaded by the MacArthur Foundation and supported by organizations including the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Press Forward will use the $500 million to fund grants for existing local for-profit and nonprofit newsrooms, help build shared tools, provide resources to diverse outlets and those in historically underserved areas, and invest in nonpartisan public policy development that advances access to news and information….
The investment by Press Forward reflects the concern over the rapid shrinking and disappearance of local news organizations across the United States — and what that information void means for democracy. More than 20 percent of Americans now live in what are called news deserts, which are areas that have little or no independent news sources on local issues, or communities that are on the verge of becoming one, according to a 2022 report by Northwestern University’s Medill School.
Some 2,500 newspapers have shut down since 2005 — and more continue to close. Declining revenue from print advertising and subscriptions has made it nearly impossible for struggling papers to survive, and those that are still around have a small fraction of the staff they once had. Digital news outlets and nonprofit newsrooms have sprung up across the United States, but not in numbers large enough to fill the gap.
According to the Northwestern report, most of the new outlets serve urban centers, leaving some economically struggling and rural communities at a loss. Without an independent local news source, the report said, residents don’t have the information they need to make informed decisions about civic issues and governance, and that provides an opening for the spread of misinformation and disinformation….” Read more at New York Times
Unused rental cars are parked in an overflow lot at Kahului Airport, Hawaii. (George F. Lee/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)
Maui beckons tourists, and their dollars, to stave off economic disaster after wildfires
“So few tourists are coming to the Hawaiian island of Maui after last month's wildfires that restaurants and tour companies are laying off workers and unemployment is surging. State tourism officials, after initially urging travelers to stay away, are now asking them to come back, avoid the burn zone, spend money and help Maui recover. Read more.
Why this matters:
Residents are worrying about a full-blown economic catastrophe in the wake of the Lahaina wildfires that destroyed homes and killed at least 115 people.
Airlines are offering steep discounts, while some resorts have slashed room rates by 20% or are offering a fifth night free. The number of visitors arriving on Maui sank by about 70% after the Aug. 8 fire. Nearly 8,000 people filed for unemployment on Maui during the last three weeks of August, compared with 295 during the same period in 2022.
Hawaii’s leaders and Hollywood celebrities have switched from warning people away from the island to beckoning them. Actor and native Hawaiian Jason Momoa recently advised his 17 million Instagram followers: ‘Maui is open. Lahaina is closed.’” [AP News]
Out-of-state abortions surge
Data: Guttmacher Institute. Map: Axios Visuals
“Legal abortions rose sharply in states bordering ones that banned the procedure after Roe was overturned last year, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes from a new analysis by the Guttmacher Institute.
Border-hopping patients are highly motivated to travel to get care in the face of state bans, the abortion-rights research group said.
Why it matters: Anti-abortion politicians across the country are increasing efforts to hinder travel for out-of-state abortions and pushing for a national ban.
The prospect of a national ban became a major topic and divided candidates at the first GOP presidential debate despite evidence that it's a losing position with voters.
Zoom in: States are escalating ‘attempts to interfere with out-of-state travel for abortion and as more states ban or severely restrict abortion,’ the institute said.
The push could create ‘larger regional clusters of states with bans and thus increasing the likelihood that patients will have to cross multiple state lines to get care.’” [Axios]
Vying for Dominance
Indian artist Jagjot Singh Rubal gives final touches to an oil painting of U.S. President Joe Biden at his workshop in Amritsar, India, on Sept. 5.Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty Images
“U.S. President Joe Biden touched down in India on Thursday in anticipation of the much-heralded G-20 summit—and he’s already making waves. Capitalizing on the looming absences of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Biden was quick to assert U.S. dominance over the economic bloc and remind developing countries that Washington is their best ally for advancement. This will be Xi’s first time missing the summit since coming to power in 2013, and it is the second consecutive year that Putin is skipping out.
Upon arriving in New Delhi, Biden touted his G-20 proposals for countering Chinese influence and promoting the global south. He announced plans to strengthen the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to better assist developing nations in repaying their debts. Biden has repeatedly turned to the two Western-led institutions as alternatives to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
‘Given both the scale of the need and, frankly, the scale of [China’s] coercive and unsustainable lending through the Belt and Road Initiative, we need to ensure that there are high-standard, high-leverage solutions to the challenges countries are facing,’ said U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Biden’s focus on lending practices comes after the White House asked the U.S. Congress for $2 billion to fund World Bank and IMF projects. It also furthers Washington’s pledge to raise $600 billion by 2027 for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, a U.S.-led alternative to the Belt and Road.
Beijing has increasingly championed Chinese-led economic initiatives as more promising alternatives for the global south than traditional Western-dominated economic groupings, such as the G-7 and G-20. At last month’s BRICS summit, for instance, founding members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa invited six new countries to join the economic bloc, which many experts saw as a big win for China. However, the G-20 and BRICS are still largely incomparable. Whereas the G-20 makes up 85 percent of global GDP, the original BRICS members plus the newly invited six nations still only represent as much as 36 percent.
Biden hopes that Xi’s absence at the G-20, which runs from Sept. 9-10, will demonstrate that Beijing is in no position to help developing countries—especially as it fails to alleviate its own deflation and property crisis. China’s yuan slid to a 16-year low on Thursday as the U.S. dollar gained strength.
Following the G-20, Biden is set to visit Vietnam for two days to strengthen bilateral ties with the growing economic power. Despite Hanoi and Washington only normalizing relations in 1995, the two nations have developed a robust trade relationship to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. The United States is Vietnam’s largest export market.” [Foreign Policy]
“Mexico’s green wave. In a major win for access to reproductive care, Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion on Thursday. It is now illegal across all of Mexico’s 32 states to criminally penalize terminating a pregnancy. Mexico City became the first state to decriminalize abortions in 2007, but it was the state court of Coahuila’s ruling in 2021, which said that an existing law punishing those who seek abortions was unconstitutional, that kick-started a federal decision.
In the past three decades, at least 59 countries, including Mexico, have expanded abortion access. In Latin America, the feminist movement’s rise, growing birthrates among girls under age 15, and calls to make reproductive access a human right have all pushed the region toward expanding abortion protections. The United States, meanwhile, has gone the other direction since its 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, a 1973 ruling that established a constitutional right to an abortion.” [Foreign Policy]’
“Bongo released. Gabon’s ruling junta announced the release of ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Thursday after holding him and his family captive at the presidential palace since the Aug. 30 coup that embroiled the Central African nation. Bongo is now free to travel abroad for medical appointments. The announcement follows pressure from neighboring countries and the Economic Community of Central African States to free the former leader.
Bongo held power for 14 years before a military junta deposed him from office. Before Bongo, his father ruled for 41 years. The family’s removal from power has been widely celebrated by many Gabonese, who argue that the Bongos enriched themselves with income earned through Gabon’s oil industry while much of the population struggled with high levels of poverty.” [Foreign Policy]
“Corruption sentencing. Former Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday for money laundering and fraud. While in office, Pérez Molina received millions of dollars in bribes for granting more than 70 contracts to numerous corporations. Pérez Molina was forced from office in 2015 by anti-corruption protests and has been imprisoned ever since.
Last year, Pérez Molina and his vice president were found guilty of taking bribes from Guatemala’s customs authorities in an investigation conducted by the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala. However, that U.N.-backed body has since been kicked out of the country by Pérez Molina’s successor, Jimmy Morales, after it began investigating Morales.” [Foreign Policy]
“Tinubu’s election win stands. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday after a Nigerian appeals court rejected a petition that challenged Tinubu’s qualifications to run for reelection. According to the court, there was also not sufficient evidence to prove that voting irregularities marred February’s election. The petitioners have the right to appeal the decision to the country’s Supreme Court within 60 days. The decision likely did not come as a surprise to the opposition, though; despite repeated challenges to election results in the country since 1999, no presidential election has been overturned.” [Foreign Policy]
Russia holds elections in occupied Ukrainian regions in an effort to tighten its grip there
Russian authorities are holding local elections this weekend in occupied parts of Ukraine in an effort to tighten the Kremlin’s grip on territories Moscow illegally annexed a year ago and still does not fully control. Read more.
Why this matters:
The voting for Russian-installed legislatures in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions begins Friday. It has already been denounced by Kyiv and the West.
For Russia, the vote is key to maintaining the illusion of normalcy, despite the fact that the Kremlin does not have full control over the annexed regions, political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said.
For some residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, large swaths of which have been held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014, there is nothing unusual about the vote. The picture appears bleaker in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where local residents and Ukrainian activists say poll workers make house calls accompanied by armed soldiers.” [Axios]
India is seeking greater voice for the developing world at G20. The war in Ukraine war could overshadow talks
The global ramifications of Russia’s war on Ukraine mean even greater-than-usual challenges for meaningful agreement at the Group of 20 meeting this year in India. Read more.
Why this matters:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this year's host, has pledged not to let Ukraine overshadow the needs of the mostly developing nations in the so-called "Global South." However, many issues to be discussed -- such as supply chain security, energy security and food supply -- are closely affected by the war.
Diplomatic tensions surrounding the war have already led to a deadlock among G20 member nations over communique phrasing on Ukraine. If this deadlock persists, it could lead to the first time that the group’s summit has ended without a statement reflecting the countries’ commitments.
India, as the host of this year's G20 summit, faces the challenge of balancing its historic ties with Russia and maintaining its good terms with the U.S. Modi is hoping to use his country’s influence to bridge gaps between the wealthy nations standing together to sanction Russia over the Ukraine war and the Global South.” [AP News]
‘Some things, like pulling the levers that control the economy, don’t mix well with politics, and can even have disastrous effects.
That’s what is unfolding in Poland, where central bank Governor Adam Glapinski is facing accusations that he tried to juice monetary policy to help his friends in the ruling Law & Justice party win next month’s elections.
He blindsided markets this week with an unexpectedly large reduction in the borrowing costs that underpin the economy, triggering the biggest selloff of the zloty currency since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine.
Market watchers were quick to see the similarities with Turkey, where a central bank under the sway of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slashed interest rates before May elections, triggering an almost 30% plunge in the lira this year. And less than a year ago, Liz Truss was effectively forced out as UK prime minister after just 44 days in power by bond investors for stoking financial turmoil.
At a news conference yesterday, Glapinski made it worse. After arguing the move will help ordinary Poles, the 73-year old economics professor denounced skeptical economists as supporting the political opposition.
The decision only adds to the controversy surrounding Law & Justice, which has for years drawn fire from the European Union for blurring democratic checks and balances and undermining Poland’s institutions, prompting the European Commission to block billions of euros in aid.
While the party leads opinion polls before the Oct. 15 vote, a cost-of-living crisis has hit a lot of Poles, and it may struggle to hang on to power. In the past, it won people over by lavishing them with state handouts.
The latest move by Glapinski may backfire, not only by devaluing the zlotys in voters’ wallets, but also raising doubts over whether the government is fit to run the economy.” — Piotr Skolimowski [Bloomberg]
Adam Glapinski. Photographer: Piotr Malecki/Bloomberg
“The Group of 20 nations is nearing agreement on a joint statement on climate change after resistance to concrete action faded. As negotiations continued today on the eve of the summit in New Delhi, Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is the sole topic still to be resolved, with China apparently dropping its initial opposition to measures on global warming and language on Ukraine and Russia, a Beijing ally.” [Bloomberg]
“Mexico’s main opposition presidential candidate, Xochitl Galvez, called for sweeping reform of state oil firm Pemex, opening the energy sector to private investment and supercharging renewables. In a Bloomberg interview, Galvez didn’t commit to privatizing the company but said Mexico doesn’t have the resources to transform the industry and wider economy on its own.” [Bloomberg]
CLICK TO WATCH: Galvez discusses reforming the state oil producer Pemex. Photographer: Alicia Vera/Bloomberg
”North Korea showed off a new submarine it said was capable of launching tactical nuclear attacks in a ceremony attended by leader Kim Jong Un. South Korea’s military expressed doubts about the vessel’s capabilities.” [Bloomberg]
Employee happiness at 3-year low
Data: BambooHR. Chart: Axios Visuals
“Employees are more unhappy now than they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Axios Communicators author Eleanor Hawkins writes from a new report.
Why it matters: Disengaged employees can be costly, and openly unhappy or disloyal employees can directly impact company morale by creating a toxic workplace.
Data from BambooHR found that employee sentiment has declined 10 times faster than in the previous three years.
Health care employees are the most unhappy followed by the education sector.
Construction workers are the happiest due to a rise in wages and job opportunities.” [Axios]
Goldman's $100M rural push
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Goldman Sachs today will announce plans to invest $100 million in rural communities across the U.S., deepening its efforts to bolster small businesses, Axios managing editor Javier E. David writes.
Why it matters: The era of high prices, wages and interest rates hasn't been kind to Main Street, which generates 44% of America's economic activity. Small businesses have struggled to adapt to pressures from costlier goods and services.
Beginning in North Dakota and Arkansas, the Goldman push will reach small businesses in 20 states over the next five years.
Parting shot
Coco Gauff celebrates last night's win. Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images
“Coco Gauff, 19, reached her first U.S. Open final after winning her semifinal against Karolina Muchova, with the New York crowd roaring for each Gauff point.
Play was delayed 50 minutes when a climate protester glued his bare feet to the concrete floor.” [Axios]
Richest deal in NFL
Joe Burrow in training camp in July. Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
“Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is the NFL's highest-paid player after a five-year, $275 million contract extension, AP reports.
The contract includes $219 million guaranteed, paying the 26-year-old an average of $55 million a year.” [Axios]
Bruce Springsteen has peptic ulcer disease. Doctors say it's easily treated
Bruce Springsteen says he needs to postpone concerts this month because of peptic ulcer disease. Fans who aren’t familiar with this gastrointestinal problem may wonder how it could sideline The Boss. Read More.