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Competing for the crown: Rivers Casino wants to be the ‘entertainment capital of Hampton Roads’
More than just gambling, Rivers Casino in Portsmouth has restaurants and live touring acts, and aims to be the No. 1 option for entertainment in Hampton Roads.
AIPAC has spent a record amount on Michigan's Senate primary, the biggest test of its influence yet
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens is benefiting from tens of millions in pro-Israel spending in her race to be the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan.
AIPAC Has Spent a Record Amount on Michigan's Senate Primary, the Biggest Test of Its Influence Yet
SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — Senate candidate Haley Stevens talks often about manufacturing, taking on President Donald Trump and why she’s the Democrat best positioned to win Michigan. The congresswoman has far less to say about the pro-Israel group that has spent millions trying to get her elected.
Looking back at the World Cup: Fans drank Boston dry, got permanent tattoos, sold out famous BBQ joints, and drove up small business revenue
From permanent tattoos and drinking Boston dry, to a bar doing nearly 300% of weekly business in one night, the World Cup is helping small businesses.
'The Mighty Jungle.' Shakespeare at Mount Union has live '60s music
Shakespeare at the Castle will be fun and irreverent. Featuring live music from the '60s, the Mount Union shows will put a twist on \
What everyone is saying about smaller teams in the age of AI
Jeff Bezos famously lived by a two-pizza rule. Thanks to AI, the days of such larger teams may be over.
Dana White Reacts to Dricus du Plessis Beating Kamaru Usman
UFC president Dana White shared his reaction after Dricus du Plessis defeated Kamaru Usman in the main event of UFC Oklahoma City. Du Plessis was the more effective striker through the 25 minutes that the UFC OKC main event lasted, as he took home a unanimous decision win with 50-45, 49-46, and 49-46 scorecards. It […] The post Dana White Reacts to Dricus du Plessis Beating Kamaru Usman appeared first on HEAVY.
Mavs Block Knicks, Match Offer To Keep Promising Young Center
Dallas secured frontcourt depth by matching a $4.7 million offer sheet for Moussa Cissé, preventing the New York Knicks from poaching the defensive specialist after his standout rookie season.
Mavs match Knicks' two-year, $4.7M offer to Moussa Cisse
The Dallas Mavericks have matched the New York Knicks' two-year, $4.7 million offer sheet on restricted free agent Moussa Cisse, Yann Balikouzou and Kevin Bradbury of LIFT Sports Management tell ESPN.
Rays' Ian Seymour: Short outing vs. Boston
Rays' Ian Seymour: Short outing vs. Boston
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
Port-A-Pet back in business after anonymous donor steps in following crash
An anonymous donor has provided a replacement vehicle to Trevon Petty, owner of Port-A-Pet, a local pet transportation company that lost its only vehicle in a crash on July 9.
How the ‘famously’ phoneless Christopher Nolan gets in touch with actors
Matt Damon is revealing how the ‘famously’ phoneless Christopher Nolan reached out to him about starring in ‘The Odyssey.’
Jim Parsons says he wouldn’t star on ‘The Big Bang Theory’ again ‘for any amount of money’
Despite the fame and accolades, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ star Jim Parsons says that the show’s cultural peak was ‘stressful’ and ‘miserable,’ admitting that he wouldn’t do it again ‘for any amount of money.’
Hyde Park, Mount Lookout businesses hit hard by Friday flash flooding
Several businesses in the Hyde Park and Mt. Lookout area are dealing with the damage from the flash flooding Friday night.
Free Fall 2.0 Puts The Front Office At A Crossroads
Too bad the crossroads seem to overlook a cliff on all sides, but which way do you want to go? This reminds me of a trip to Europe years ago in which Siri instructed, calmly, “turn left”. Only we were driving on a mountain road and for as long as the eye could see a […]
How a science experiment to grow native plants on Copper’s slopes is inspiring collaboration in the ski industry
Katherine Riesberg, a graduate of Middle Park High School in Grand County, has been skiing since the age of two. Riesberg said her love for outdoor recreation is a big part of what led her...
Multiple Hyde Park, Mount Lookout businesses closed amid flooding cleanup from heavy rain
Multiple businesses, especially in Hyde Park and Mount Lookout, are closed after massive flooding from heavy downpours Friday.
How a science experiment to grow native plants on Copper’s slopes is inspiring collaboration in the ski industry
Katherine Riesberg, a graduate of Middle Park High School in Grand County, has been skiing since the age of two. Riesberg said her love for outdoor recreation is a big part of what led her...
Philippine Science Department Expands Academic Partnerships to Push EV Adoption
Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription, on Patreon, or on Stripe. Help us produce all of the high-quality, original content we publish week after week despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles. The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is mounting a coordinated push ... [continued]
Spidery Drone Goes Near-invisible By Spinning Really, Really Fast
Researchers demonstrate that something interesting happens when a small drone with a spindly airframe spins at a high speed: it very nearly turns invisible. The spidery device is shown mounted in i…
This is how Tennessee is courting Paramount and other companies to leave California
Tennessee is hoping to persuade Paramount to exit California and join the growing number of businesses choosing the Volunteer State over California
Warren Buffett's message to investors: Be careful
Warren Buffett called out widespread gambling on stocks and the huge amounts being spent on AI. He also discussed his Alphabet wager.
First look at Priyanka Chopra Jonas in ‘RRR’ director SS Rajamouli’s ‘Varanasi’ (exclusive)
See an exclusive first look at Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ character, Mandakini, in the new film from ‘RRR’ director SS Rajamouli.
Costco adds hot fan favorite to food court menu as shoppers debate taste and value
Costco is expanding its famously affordable food court menu with a new $6.99 chicken strip meal and the addition has already divided shoppers over its flavor, breading and value.
How a science experiment to grow native plants on Copper’s slopes is inspiring collaboration in the ski industry
Katherine Riesberg, a graduate of Middle Park High School in Grand County, has been skiing since the age of two. Riesberg said her love for outdoor recreation is a big part of what led her...
New wp2shell WordPress Core Flaw Lets Unauthenticated Attackers Run Code
WordPress 6.9.5 and 7.0.2 patch wp2shell, a pre-auth core RCE that lets anonymous attackers run code on default installs, even with no plugins.
WV Department of Health confirms 139 cyclosporiasis cases; 15 hospitalizations
As West Virginia sits at the national epicenter of cyclosporiasis cases, the State Department of Health (WVDH) has provided updated numbers on how the parasite has spread across the Mountain State.
As AI spending surges, return-on-investment questions mount
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is creating major opportunities while also exposing companies to significant financial risks, The New York Times reports. Larry Ellison and his son are using Oracle-generated wealth to expand into media, with control of Paramount and a potential takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Meanwhile, Oracle is facing financial pressure […]
Young millionaire reveals the wealth-building lessons he learned from billionaires
The young entrepreneur behind 'School of Hard Knocks' shares his strategy for turning a content creator business into multiple revenue streams.
MWC Media Days: Day 2 Recap
Mountain West Media Days concluded yesterday and the event gave us the chance to familiarize ourselves with the new faces in the conference. It also gives us the opportunity to set our expectations for this fall, despite the league not releasing a preseason poll. Yesterday, Jeremy gave us an excellent rundown of the opening day […]
Mountaintop View 7-17-26: College Sports Act, Boise State Football, Mountain West Bowls, Media Days, Colorado State Football, Gonzaga Basketball
A loaded news day as we head into the weekend
Scientists Finally Learned How a Tiny Mouse Survives Near the Andes Death Zone at 7,000 Meters
World's highest-living mouse survives in thin air by solving a problem that no other mammal can—not even you, human
Chemistry From Another World Found in The Famous Hillsborough Meteorite
This could be a clue to how life was born.
Alabama state health officer receives 7% raise
The raise, a 5% performance-based raise and a 2% cost-of-living adjustment, amounts to an increase of about $16,800, for a total salary of $352,800.
Mourners remember George E. Johnson as builder of Black business
At his visitation service Thursday, mourners said the Johnson Products Company founder "created a demand for the city and the country to recognize that Black people are consumers." His funeral is scheduled for Friday.
Google workers rally for job security at Mountain View HQ
Google workers, led by Alphabet Workers Union, held a protest calling for layoff protections and urging CEO Sundar Pichai to address job security.
New Alzheimer's drug repairs DNA damage and reduces brain inflammation
A drug originally developed for spinal cord injury may offer a fresh approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease. In mouse studies, KCL-286 repaired dangerous DNA damage, reduced inflammation, and targeted multiple disease-related pathways instead of focusing on just amyloid or tau. Since it has already cleared an initial human safety trial, researchers believe it could move more quickly into Alzheimer’s clinical testing.
Op-Ed: The Forgotten Key to Wildlife Management: Values
Science alone won’t get the politics out of wildlife management. We shouldn’t want it to.
The ‘high-T military’ proposal misreads the basic science of testosterone
For starters, there is no single “right” amount of testosterone.
Medtronic recalls surgical devices due to risk of blood contamination
Trace amounts of blood were identified within the sealed packaging of these devices. No patients were exposed to the foreign material, and no adverse events were reported, but Medtronic is recalling the devices as a precaution.
A&E Arts & Entertainment Agenda, July 17-23
Marea’s Mahj Squad and Marea Aspen Mahjong Social Saturdays, July 18 Marea at The Snow Lodge will host Mahj Squad alongside Marea Aspen Mahjong Social Saturdays from 3 to 5 p.m., followed by a social...
Trump immediately fires the new court-appointed top prosecutor in Seattle
President Donald Trump fired the new top U.S. prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.
As fires burn, Boundary Waters businesses confront lost peak season
After days spent evacuating campers from the Boundary Waters as wildfires spread, outfitters and tourism businesses are beginning to consider the financial fallout. With the wilderness closed during the height of the summer season, many are facing mounting cancellations and an uncertain future.
San Util Design gears up for move to Washington, announces business model changes
This article ran in the June issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry NewsWINTER PARK, Colo. — San Util Design, a company that handcrafts bags and gear for backcountry travel, bikepacking, and mountain biking, is moving operations from Colorado to Bellingham, Washington. The move, which was planned for the end of June, coincides with changes to San Util’s business model.
Winter Sports Club responds to Nordic combined’s removal from Olympics
In a gut-punch to the Steamboat Springs Nordic combined community, the sport has been removed from the Alpes 2030 Winter Olympic games in France. Nordic combined has long been a bread-and-butter sport for the Steamboat...
Pulsar Crams A Noctua Fan In Its Feinmann FO1 Gaming Mouse While Retaining Its Lightweight Design; Release Date Revealed
Pulsar's Feinmann F01 Noctua Edition launches on July 21, 2026, featuring a 5V PWM fan, 42,000 DPI, and weighing 73 grams for sweat-free gaming.
Our friend Marvin has curated a rigorous entertainment program
Music for the People has become synonymous with Humboldt Folklife Society (HFS). The word “folk” comes from Germanic roots and simply means “of the people.” That certainly defines HFS and its mission as a showcase of local musicians in a community driven display of traditional and roots music for all of us to enjoy.
Waste, fraud, abuse… and the politics of power
One of the oldest tricks in politics is knowing when to use a number and when to use a percentage. If you want something to sound enormous, you use the raw number. If you want it to sound insignificant, you use the percentage. Politicians, statisticians and public relations strategists know this. Every citizen should understand […]
Trump's Iran notice aims to reset war powers clock amid growing political risks
The Trump administration's notification to restart the war with Iran aims to reset a 60-day clock for military action, but questions are mounting about public support as midterms approach.
Buffalo Bills quarterback is considered 'greatest of his generation'
Three names are locked into the Bills QB Mount Rushmore: Jim Kelly, Josh Allen and Joe Ferguson. This Bills backup should be the fourth.
Colorado’s primary proved in this political climate money doesn’t buy electoral happiness
To catch you up, campaign committees from this 2026 election cycle already collected and shoveled out a lot of cash: $102.64 million. That’s contributions in all forms — dollars, in kind, loans, etc. — from December 2024 to now. Total expenditures just for advertising amount to $32.94 million. More to come for the general election. […]
Chico City Council moves forward with proposed entertainment zones ordinance
Seeking to revitalize local businesses, the Chico City Council voted unanimously to approve the first reading of a proposed ordinance establishing two entertain
Uber Announces Acquisition Offer for Delivery Hero
Cash consideration of €41.50 per share offered to all Delivery Hero shareholders, representing an Equity Value of $14.8 billion, or $13.7 billion adjusted for Uber’s prior stake purchases The transaction is expected to be accretive to Non-GAAP EPS upon close; high-single-digit percentage accretion by year three Delivery Hero has separately agreed to sell part of its business covering 14 markets to SSW Partners Management Board and Supervisory Board of Delivery Hero unanimously welcome and support the Takeover Offer and intend to recommend Delivery Hero shareholders to tender into the offer, subject to their review of the Offer Document Prosus has irrevocably committed to tender their shares, which would bring Uber’s total economic interest to ~53% Uber Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: UBER) has entered into a business combination agreement with Delivery Hero, extending the world’s largest mobility and delivery platform to a total of 99 markets, with combined pro-forma Gross Bookings of $236
Trump administration 'screwed up' Epstein files communication, Vance says
During a lengthy podcast interview with Joe Rogan released Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance pointed largely to former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who infamously stated that an alleged “client list” of Epstein’s was “sitting on my desk right now.”
Science-based testing powers better health at Plus10 - Cross Timbers Gazette | Southern Denton County | Flower Mound
Flower Mound resident Yves Lafortune has competed in his fair share of Ironman events, 100-mile runs, and national-level triathlons over the years. And if you ask him if he plans to do more, he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. Clearly, the challenge isn’t finding the passion or commitment to keep going. As a lifelong athlete, […]
The States Try to Topple WarnerMount…Thus Begins the Local Antitrust Era
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Well, it looks like it’s time for another strategy column. Can I finally avoid writing about M&A? No, it seems I cannot. Admittedly, I’m a week early with this column, since I usually put it out every other week. But this news couldn’t wait. This will make three “Most Important Stories” in a row with a merger or acquisition as its centerpiece. First, Roku-Fox (an acquisition), then Comcast-NBCUniversal (a divestment!), and now the State AGs and the WGA’s lawsuits against Paramount’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery (antitrust). M&A is usually the “most important” topic any given week, simply because a giant company merging or breaking up (or preventing those outcomes) can have the biggest impact on the streaming board. If you think about these companies as players in a game, changing the number of players is one of the biggest changes you can make. I shouldn’t really complain, either, since this lawsuit is very good news for customers and suppliers (econ speak for talent, workers and indie studios in Hollywood). So let me answer some questions about this potential trial, along with (shudder) making some heavily caveated predictions. I’ll also look at whether Hollywood must consolidate, whether or not the states can win, trouble at X-Box, Netflix’s YouTube binge, and more. Plus, I have five images that visualize this merger and the harm, including three brand new data looks you’ve never seen before. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Can The States and the WGA Stop Hollywood’s Consolidation (Crisis)? If every other newsletter and news outlet is writing about the same story, I try to avoid writing about it as well, but I can’t ignore a story this consequential. The story of the last year was the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery, and this development potentially extends that saga into 2027. As I tried to figure out my angle, I realized, like my last column, I’m again faced with a series of questions. These questions, though, are much more forward-looking. Will the states win? Will the WGA win? If so, what happens to Warner Bros. Discovery? Either way, will this chill the market for future mergers? So you know what that means: predictions. About the future, no less, the hardest thing to predict.1 Just remember: nothing here comes with a guarantee. And the more confident someone is in their predictions, the less you should trust them. This situation is incredibly fluid, nuanced, uncertain and tenuous. So let’s try to explain what may happen. Question: Why File this Lawsuit? I’ll admit, a few months back, I was fairly pessimistic about the fate of this lawsuit. Rumors had started bubbling up that the state Attorneys General (in particular California) wanted to settle with either some minor divestments (usually CNN) or behavioral remedies. And that tracked for me: the states usually settle lawsuits, like the recent John Deere right-to-repair suit. Yet, they plan to fight this. (As they did the LiveNation-Ticketmaster monopolization trial and the Nexstar-Tegna merger.) Honestly, that also makes a ton of sense. Frankly, this move is just good politics for these State AGs. Most are still running for higher and higher office in blue states—some folks have emphasized that only Democratic AGs joined this suit, but given the Ellison/Trump ties, and fears of retribution, that tracks—and a high profile case like this will help them move up the electoral ladder, especially since Paramount and its leadership (the Ellisons, father and heir) have sided with the other side of the political aisle. That makes them unsympathetic to Democratic voters and Hollywood workers in particular. Why did this lawsuit happen? In addition to the very real concerns about industry consolidation, this is why. That said, I don’t think we would have seen this lawsuit for Netflix and Warner Bros., simply because they’re more sympathetic and aligned with Democrats. But those consolidation concerns are real. The “town”—meaning Hollywood and such—really is seeing the damage of mergers on this industry. That’s why the WGA also filed its own lawsuit in defense of workers as well. (Wildcard: What about Europe? Will they try to stop the deal, too? There have been some rumors out of the UK they may try to fight the deal, and UK enforcers just stopped a Getty Images-Shutterstock tie up, so there is precedence. This argument could go either way, though. On one hand, the EU doesn’t need to step in, cause they states are handling it. On the other hand, this could make the EU’s case easier. Just imagine if both sides coordinated. I’ll simply say, “We’ll see!”) Question: Will The State AGs or the WGA Win? Can the state AGs play David to Paramount-Skydance’s Goliath here? That’s really the whole thing, isn’t it? If you know this result, you could make a lot of money. When things are uncertain, it’s tempting to shrug and say, “Eh” meaning it’s a 50/50 proposition. I wouldn’t, though. When in doubt, you should expect that the merging parties succeed. AT&T did successfully buy Warner Bros., after all, and Disney bought Fox without any challenges. Many judges are extremely sympathetic to mergers, and I’d bet the state AGs get a judge who will allow the merger. (Even Obama-appointed judges often allow mergers.) As I understand it, we’ll see two main attacks. First, theatrical films. The AGs are arguing that, when it comes to share of box office and the number of both “wide releases” and blockbuster (or “tentpole”) films, the merging parties will have over 27% market share. Now, the Supreme Court once ruled from on high that any merger that exceeds 30% is presumptively illegal, but that’s guidance, not an ironclad bar. Still, the states will have to argue that this is close to having too much power, and with that power, this will likely further worsen the theater/studio splits in particular. Indeed, as Matthew Stoller pointed out, “just five studios are responsible for 95% of all blockbusters; if this merger goes through, then Paramount and Disney will control 60% of that.” So yes, movie studios will be very concentrated after this merger. Want me to visualize some of that? Well, here’s the share of films that grossed over $200 million at the domestic box office since 2022. (Note: this isn’t all films released in over 3,000 screens, but it is a good look at market power.) First, here are the 43 films by studio: Notice all the blue (Disney), orange (Universal), and purple (Warner Bros)? Yeah, those studios are powerful, and this combines Paramount with one of them. Here’s the look by studio and share of the films that grossed over $200 million: Now, if you look at that and also think, “Huh, should we break up Disney?” I’m with you. I’ve seen some folks poo-poo this idea that this is a real category, but it is! For an upcoming article, I’ve been pulling data on the share of top 100 films at the box office as a share of total box office, and it’s massive. Here’s the chart: (This analysis looks at The-Number’s top 100 films and total domestic box office each year.) To be clear, tentpoles make up 80.7% of the box office each year, so I do think it’s a genuine market. (To be clear, films grossing over $50 million make up 80% of the domestic box office, and films grossing over $100 million make up 64.1%.) I mean, the top 100 films at the box office make up 95% of each year’s grosses. Worse, the combined studios will likely cut output to flex that market power. Everyone can just look at what happened to Disney and Fox to see the precedent. (With fewer films, the remaining theaters have to give more for those few films that remain.) Here’s an image I’ve used a lot, the share of wide-release films from Disney and Fox over time: The AGs will also argue that this consolidation will also impact the cable industry. In this case, the consolidation is actually worse, but that environment is…complicated. Paramount will argue that the cable industry is shrinking. That said, predictions that cable will “go to zero” also don’t look very well supported by the data, as the declines are shrinking, meaning “cable” or “vMVPDs” will likely stabilize at some point. Can the state Attorneys General win on those two main arguments? I honestly don’t know. Again, I’d bet no, since history in general supports that, but it depends on the judge/jury and how they interpret the arguments. Notably, Paramount won’t face accusations about monopoly power in other areas, like streaming, news, sports rights, or vertical integration. I tend to disagree with leaving out sports rights, but I also see the appeal for a simpler case. The states also aren’t really pushing novel theories about labor harm either, which should help. (By the way, Sean McNulty at The Ankler wrote a great run through of potential options, and Capitol Forum also wrote a great paper on theatrical consolidation. Both these pieces predated the lawsuit. Matthew Stoller is also out with his analysis of the pros and cons of the case too.) In some ways, the WGA’s case is even stronger. Quoting Sean McNulty’s summary: “The WGA is citing WARNAMOUNT as crossing a 30% market share in multiple sectors, a number that the Supreme Court has precedent for deeming “presumptively anticompetitive” in a market. According to the WGA numbers, WARNAMOUNT would have represented: - 35% of film writing jobs between 2021 and 2024 - 36% of TV writing projects between 2022 and 2025 - 38% of overall deals between 2021 and 2024” Notably, antitrust enforcers did win recently in the Penguin-Simon & Schuster merger by focusing on labor impact, so don’t count this thinking out. (Wildcard: Will the states try to get a jury trial? Most likely no, they’ll let a judge handle it. If I’m them, though, I’d try to put this in front of a jury. Juries tend to understand monopoly power in a more realistic way than judges faced with legions of economists.) Question: What if They Win? What if They Lose?
How Mickey Mouse reshaped American entertainment
Mickey Mouse helped transform animation, launch the Disney empire and become one of the most recognizable icons in American entertainment.
The downside of making Daylight Saving Time permanent
One of the most famous quotes about politics is Otto von Bismarck’s observation that it’s the “art of the possible.”
We Called It the Greatest Rivalry in Sports. Readers Showed Us the Red Card.
England vs. Argentina may be the most explosive game of this World Cup. But Wall Street Journal readers ranked this grudge match far behind some of the famous feuds of U.S. sports.
Top 10 Mountain West Football Games of the Divisional Era
With the Mountain West changing, I thought it would be fun to go back and highlight the best players, games, and teams since the last phase of conference realignment 13 years ago. Previously, I’ve covered Top 10 football players, Top 10 basketball players, Top 10 Football Teams, and Top 10 Basketball Teams. Today’s list covers […]
Skullgirls Dev Accused Of Misconduct Working On Avatar Fighter
Paramount confirmed that the former Skullgirls and Indivisible CEO 'holds a position as an individual contributor' on its upcoming game
NASA’s Webb Discovers Hidden Planet in Famous Star System
Astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant planet outside our solar system, called an exoplanet, hiding within one of the
An All-Star goodbye? Plus, another World Cup surprise
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Earn some boos today. Coming up: 😳 Spain shocks France 🤨 Strange vibes at ASG 🔍 Another Leonard investigation There are days when the important sports events pile up. Sometimes I stare at the metaphorical mountain and feel lost. What stories are most important? What slice of the sports world am I leaving on the cutting room floor? Then I looked at my TV screen and saw the box score of the MLB All-Star Game. Nine’s a good...
Inside the states' case to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
Winning a restraining order will be a crucial test for California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and his group. Some observers see the states' efforts as an uphill climb because the U.S. Justice Department last month approved the merger.
Peace Center 2026-27 schedule includes neo-soul, gravity-defying shows
Shows for the upcoming Peace Center season will run from Sept. 2, 2026 through June 2, 2027.
Cape Cod restaurants: New cocktail spots and cafes open in two towns
New cocktail spots and cafes are opening across Cape Cod, including a speakeasy-style lounge in Falmouth.
A large amount of the Universe is missing. Scientists think they may have found it | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
A lot of normal matter in the Universe is missing. Astronomers think they might have found it, and it's been hiding in plain sight all along.
ECU Health welcomes 152 new resident physicians and fellows to train across Eastern NC
WCTI ABC 12 Greenville and WYDO Fox 14 Greenville offer local and national news reporting, sports, and weather forecasts to viewers in the Greenville, New Bern, Washington, North Carolina region, including Farmville, Wilson, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro, Snow Hill, Pikeville, and Simpson, North Carolina.
Paramount-WBD merger could impact entertainment options
California Attorney General Rob Bonta joins "Here's the Scoop" to discuss how the merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery could impact the entertainment industry.
Cottonwood Fire drives tourist drought for Piute County businesses still open
While firefighters continue to make progress on the Cottonwood Fire in Fishlake National Forest, some business owners on the other side of the mountain in Piute
All-Star Game Discussion
Starting pitcher for the AL is Toronto’s Dylan Cease, the first Blue Jay to do so since 2009, when Roy Halladay did so. On the mound for the NL will be Cristopher Sánchez of the hometown Phillies. Weirdly, the last Phillies pitcher to start the All-Star Game was… Roy Halladay, in 2011. This is the […]
Classroom Champions: Mount Pleasant summer camp seeks sports equipment donations
A co-coordinator at Kaleidoscope Summer Camp at Carolina Park Elementary School is seeking sports equipment donations for students in kindergarten through 5th grade.
Somerset County leaders fault new state budget over mental health, 911 funding gaps
WJAC provides news, weather and sports information for Johnstown, Altoona, State College and DuBois, Pennsylvania. Our coverage area includes Bedford, Everett, Somerset, Meyersdale, Ebensburg, Windber, Hollidaysburg, Huntingdon, Mount Union, Tyrone, Bellefonte, Philipsburg, Clearfield, Punxsutawney, St. Marys, Brookville, Emporium, Treasure Lake, Ridgway, Centre Hall, Reynoldsville and Curwensville.
NSF Seafood Engine in New England wins $15M U.S. National Science Foundation award to strengthen fisheries and aquaculture
KINGSTON, R.I.—July 14, 2026— The U.S. National Science Foundation announced a major new award to bolster the American seafood industry through the NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program within the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships. The NSF Seafood Engine in New England, led by the Portsmouth-based non-profit NERACOOS, is a collaboration of seafood […]
Pro-Palestinian protester sues Trump administration, citing KKK Act
Mahmoud Khalil alleges private groups, including the conservative Heritage Foundation, and public leaders conspired to persecute him.
County business park to get first infrastructure, new name
New Hanover County’s Holly Shelter Business Park could be getting its first infrastructure and a new name in the coming months. The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a $6.5 million infrastructure construction contract and renaming on Monday. Once developed, the approximately 300-acre master-planned industrial park is expected to accommodate more than 2 million square feet of industrial space. The construction contract was awarded to Carolina Civilworks, which submitted the lowest responsive bid for the construction of the infrastructure, Akin Akinola, the county’s engineer, told commissioners on Monday. In May 2023, the county approved a development agreement with Sidbury Land & Property Company to establish the business park. The firm then conveyed approximately 52 acres to the county, giving officials the option to purchase another 200 acres, Akinola said. “The county’s role is to construct the initial public infrastructure that will make the site ready for future development,” he said. “Today’s contract award represents the first major construction phase of that project.” The first phase of development will include approximately 2,750 linear feet of business park roadway, a water main and fire hydrants, along with a sanitary sewer pump station, sewer force main and gravity sewer. Other infrastructure will include a right-turn lane on Holly Shelter Road, along with associated drainage, utilities and traffic control improvements. “Completing this work establishes the backbone infrastructure necessary to serve future development and positions the site for future economic investment,” Akinola said on Monday. County staff, in consultation with Wilmington Business Development officials, are also recommending renaming the park as the I-40 Coastal Commerce Park, said Jennifer Rigby, the county’s chief strategy officer. The new name would emphasize the park’s proximity to I-40 and its location on the coast, she said. Several county commissioners also asked to add New Hanover County's name to the business park's name to commemorate the county's contributions. “We are hoping to achieve space for our businesses to grow and expand here in New Hanover County,” Rigby said. “We’ve had great success with out Blue Clay Business Park and this is another opportunity to really provide locations for our businesses to grow and expand.”
47 revelatory hours with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced
To review this month’s supposed remake of 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, I must first correct the record. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced isn’t a game about pirates (and assassins) in the 18th century Caribbean. Sure, sure, that’s what the trailers would have you believe. They’ve go their clips of Edward Kenway swinging his swords and steering his pirate ship into cannon-blasting combat against British frigates. Is Resynced truly a pirate game? Of the 47 hours I spent playing Resynced over the past few weeks, I will admit I spent maybe 44 (?) of them collecting plunder with Blackbeard, drinking rum with Anne Bonny and debating the pros and cons of the lawless pirate-run settlement Nassau with Benjamin Hornigold. I may in fact have spent dozens of hours sailing to remote islands, reading treasure maps, opening messages left in bottles, sinking the odd Man o’ War with a well-timed broadside, collecting sea shanties for my crew, befriending a pet monkey, and hunting whales. I am nevertheless neither so Gullible nor so Narrow-Minded as to call the magnificent Resynced a “pirate remake.” Oh no. Forget any reviews of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced you may have read. Forget what you yourself may have played, if you’ve spent any time with the game since its launch. What Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is really about I’m here to give you the scoop (spoilers for Resynced’s Animus menu lore, which many players are probably not going to see): Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the new game whose development was led by Ubisoft Singapore, is set in the year 2096. It’s about a societal split, about revolution, about an old Assassin’s Creed adventure repurposed in the series’ distant future as propaganda or samizdat. It’s about the overheated future of 2096, essentially conquered by the series’ well-established nefarious Templar-run company Abstergo. (In this future, Abstergo is, among other things, remaking a 2013 pirate movie called Devils of the Caribbean, but this time in VR. The VR version will be backed by a marketing plan that involves AI influencers, a 10,000-avatar “metaverse premiere event” and that manufacturing of memes aimed at “50 million VR nodes.” See what I mean about Abstergo being evil?) Resynced is about a late 21st-century population mollified by the widespread use of Abstergo’s Animus devices which let people experience the lives of historical figures culled from “genetic memories.” It’s about an insurgent faction of Assassins. And it’s about a plan to wake the population into revolutionary fervor by showing them the memories of 18th century pirate Edward Kenway, who—as depicted in the original Black Flag and again in Resynced—gradually comes to an understanding about the Assassins of his day and their centuries old fight for freedom. Resynced is also about an AI developed within the late 21st-century Animus, called Ego. It has found a way to alter genetic memories, to create and show Animus users false ones. The game is about Ego’s efforts to tell the people experiencing Edward Kenway’s memories that Kenway was wrong, that fighting against order is folly, that we should crave a world where “compliance is rewarded with power.” Who are we in this game? We’re an unnamed Animus user in 2096 who experiences Kenway’s journey virtually. At four moments during Kenway’s exploits in the Caribbean our virtual jaunt can be interrupted for 10-15 minutes, as we explore Animus “rifts” where Ego explicitly tries to tell us how wrong Kenway was. None of this is what 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was about, of course. That was a different game, even if you also spent dozens of hours pirating as Kenway in that game, across missions and a map that’s been faithfully reintroduced and rebuilt for Resynced. The 2013 Black Flag was about you playing as an unnamed researcher newly hired in 2013 by Abstergo Entertainment, the video game development wing of the Templars’ evil-corp. In that game, you were assigned to use the Animus to dive into the genetic memories of Desmond Miles, a man who died in Assassin’s Creed III and who was descended from a long line of Assassins (and at least one Templar) whose adventures were featured across the prior AC games. In 2013’s Black Flag, your mission was to plumb the Edward Kenway experience for material that Abstergo could use in productions such as the motion picture Devils of the Caribbean, though the Templars had some ulterior motives for the assignment. Resynced is therefore not a remake of 2013’s Black Flag. It’s a sequel. It is a new game about a new exploration of Edward Kenway’s pirate/assassin journey, set 83 years after the framing sequences of the original game. Resynced provides a new narrative framework that, thanks to the concept of an AI that wants to alter historical memories, arrives with creative justification to tweak a now-classic 13-year old game. That makes Resynced, already a hot seller, a tantalizing hint of where Ubisoft could go with a line of Assassin’s Creed remakes. They could remake the first game, the Ezio games, even the recent ones set in ancient Egypt and Greece. And for each, they could not just modernize the graphics and controls but expand and alter their sequences of events to use them as reference points for a conflict set in the late 21st century, as rival factions try to weaponize historical memories. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, even when that work consists of ravings about Assassin’s Creed’s modern day plot, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe A story most players will probably miss If you didn’t know any of this, I’m not surprised. If you played the game and still didn’t catch it, I’m not a bit shocked. If Ubisoft has no plans to do more of this, I won’t fall down. Almost all of what I’ve described is optional and missable in Black Flag Resynced. I nearly missed it myself, as I planned for a breezy playthrough of an old Assassin’s Creed favorite. Instead, I found myself in a 40+ hour hunt for the “real” story, buried deeper in Resynced than any gold-filled chest. The story of 2096 is Resynced’s meta-story, told in two remote pockets of the game: 1) four optional playable “rifts” that players may find as they proceed through Resynced’s pirate fantasy , 2) in dozens of text files tucked three menus deep in the game’s barely-interactive Animus hub. Assassin’s Creed games have almost always had a meta-story about people in the 21st century (usually matching the game’s release year) and their connections to the main history portions you play. Those meta-stories have always been squeezed into the margins, though seldom as severely and as, uh, graphiaclly simple, as in recent games. Back in 2013, the modern-day exploits of you as an Abstergo Entertainment employee were prominent. They were portrayed via first-person portions that occasionally interrupted the third-person Kenway experience and could be explored for hours, complete with their own missions, side quests and puzzles. Resynced’s 2096 story—of Assassin “Watchers” vs. Abstergo/Tempar goons, of rogue AIs, of panicking scientists, of a woman wondering why her Animus-addicted husband is muttering about Mary Read (“What does he mean by Assassins?”), of a fight for the population’s hearts and minds via varying interpretations of Edward Kenway’s life choices—is mostly told through unlockable text files. The files are interesting. Offered via diary entries, intercepted chats and news reports, they present varied perspectives of a world in crisis. One set works as a narrative puzzle as it reveals the Rashomonic interpretations of a massacre, or was that a successful Assassin hit? Another favorite reveals the rising bitterness of a person who, through Edward Kenway’s journey, now shakes at the ignored evil around him. One surmises that Ubisoft is averse to putting the Assassin’s Creed’s meta-story in the way of more marketable pirate playgrounds and ninja/samurai epics. Instead, we get a better-than-nothing text-in-menus approach introduced in 2025’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows. In Shadows, players unlocked the meta-story text files largely via time-gated missions that called on the user to kill X number of enemy type Y, clear three enemy castles, re-win a three-phase fighting tournament, and other grinds. Time restrictions on accessing these missions and unlocking the files meant it could take players months to access the full story in-game. But even in the most hardcore Assassin’s Creed hangouts, the fanbase instead seemed to throw up their hands rather than grind to keep up. In Resynced, Ubisoft has shown some mercy, diminishing the amount of new text files that are tied to timed grinds. Now, most of the text-based 2096 lore are associated with “data file” collectibles that players can find in the world. That includes a batch of written entries that explain a historical link between the feudal Japan era in Shadows and the piracy adventures in Black Flag. Players who explore a lot will find dozens of data files, though the game does not appear to offer any in-game tracker for finding each one. You just need to keep looking for them. As of this writing, I have most of them, but not all. I can’t find any full guide for them online. And even Ubisoft’s optional $5 microtransaction that reveals lots of items in-game does not appear to reveal the locations of the text files (at least the official description omits them from its collectibles list). That’s not a huge bother, because tracking the data files down compelled me to re-explore the waves and islands of Black Flag. That was a thoroughly pleasant task to do for the first time in a dozen years. I expect many players, though, will be content to wait for the files to be reproduced in an online AC wiki somewhere, the easier to read on a web page. It may not seem enticing to play a video game in order to gradually unlock pages of text to read. Why not, you may ask, just read a book, where they put the pages in order? For one, they’ve not tucked this latest installment of Assassin’s Creed’s meta saga in a book. I also enjoy the unordered delivery, the dawning comprehension of a story about 2096’s desperate people and questionable tech, which I glimpsed first at its middle, then the end, then the front, then other moments in between1. I am also enamored with the idea of the Assassin’s Creed games I’ve previously played, including Black Flag, being repurposed for an information war. The ideas in Resynced’s meta-story, which builds off characters and ideas in Shadows’ chunks of text, are strong. The potential of where they could go with it is exciting. As for the pirate stuff? Looks great, controls pretty well, is fun to play and oh so speedy in terms of how much of a good time you can have with each sit-down. It never gets old to chase a new shanty page across a rooftop, bombard a fort with upgraded mortars or use a diving bell to explore sunken wrecks (hats off to the team at Ubisoft Barcelona that worked on the underwater portions in Resynced; that team is now facing layoffs, such is the misery of modern gaming and oft-troubled Ubisoft). New pirate missions in Resynced involving new ally characters are brief, dramatic and add more to Edward’s story, even if the gameplay perks they provide barely enhance the gameplay. A new denouement for high-class pirate Stede Bonnet is affecting; a new hunt for Blackbeard’s treasure is a welcome extra moment. A new epilogue to hunt down a pirate killer, on the other hand, over-complicates Kenway’s character. The ending credits remain my favorite of any game I’ve ever played. Black Flag provides great source material. The revisit is well-made and a great sign of what could be. It is offered in a different wrapper that hints at an opportunity for more interesting remakes to come, should Ubisoft choose to pursue such treasures—and as we brace to resist or comply with an Abstergo future. 1 The messages that Edward Kenway finds in bottles tell another out-of-order story, one about a man reckoning with the strange memories and voices he’s heard in his head since he was a boy. That tale was also in the 2013 game and develops into one of Black Flag’s most compelling character arcs. In Resynced, it has lost its climax, because the bottle story previously paid off in the halls of the first-person Abstergo Entertainment, which is exclusive to the older game. An altered resolution, written by the 2013 game’s lead writer is fine, doesn’t invalidate the 2013 version, but makes for an inferior final note.
43 Years Ago, Scientists Dropped Gophers Onto a Volcano. Today, They’re Tiny Heroes.
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Mahmoud Khalil files lawsuit against federal government, private groups
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'This was the easy part for Alonso'
The Drake Suite at Stamford Bridge is adorned with pictures of Chelsea managers holding trophies. Many of these pictures are of Jose Mourinho, but fellow Premier League winner Antonio Conte also features. Xabi Alonso motioned to these as he answered a question on his illustrious predecessors during his unveiling news conference on Monday, saying he is "really honoured and privileged" to follow in their footsteps.
Mountain Brook passes home business ordinance after more than a year of debate
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New rumours suggest Nintendo could be looking into upgrading the Switch 2 with an OLED screen
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Heat can be deadly, but sunshine itself? Science says we could use more of it
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Mountain Brook city council approves new home-based business ordinance
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Graham’s Death Complicates G.O.P. Agenda in Congress
Senators returned to the Capitol mourning their colleague, who played pivotal roles on multiple issues confronting lawmakers.
Donald Warren "Don" Iwerks
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The Quintessential Trump-era Politician
In 2020, I wrote an article about collaboration and collaborators. The title was History Will Judge the Complicit, and it started with the story of two famous East Germans, Markus Wolf and Wolfgang Leonhard, who both landed in East Berlin just after the end of the war. Although they came from very similar backgrounds, the former stuck with the regime, eventually becoming its spy boss; the latter, horrified by the brutal reality of Soviet-style communism, escaped. By way of juxtaposition, I also wrote about Lyndsey Graham and Mitt Romney. These two men also made very different decisions when confronted by Donald Trump’s assault on the ideals that they had both grown up believing: A glance at their biographies would not have led many to predict what happened next. On paper, Graham would have seemed, in 2016, like the man with deeper ties to the military, to the rule of law, and to an old-fashioned idea of American patriotism and American responsibility in the world. Romney, by contrast, with his shifts between the center and the right, with his multiple careers in business and politics, would have seemed less deeply attached to those same old-fashioned patriotic ideals. Most of us register soldiers as loyal patriots, and management consultants as self-interested. We assume people from small towns in South Carolina are more likely to resist political pressure than people who have lived in many places. Intuitively, we think that loyalty to a particular place implies loyalty to a set of values. But in this case the clichés were wrong. It was Graham who made excuses for Trump’s abuse of power. It was Graham—a JAG Corps lawyer—who downplayed the evidence that the president had attempted to manipulate foreign courts and blackmail a foreign leader into launching a phony investigation into a political rival. It was Graham who abandoned his own stated support for bipartisanship and instead pushed for a hyperpartisan Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. It was Graham who played golf with Trump, who made excuses for him on television, who supported the president even as he slowly destroyed the American alliances—with Europeans, with the Kurds—that Graham had defended all his life. By contrast, it was Romney who, in February, became the only Republican senator to break ranks with his colleagues, voting to impeach the president. “Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office,” he said, is “perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.” In the wake of Graham’s unexpected death on Saturday, I wrote about him again. He was, in many ways, the quintessential politician of Trump’s Washington, a man who shifted 180 degrees. Graham had been a fervent American patriot, proud reserve officer and military lawyer; he became one of the most important defenders of a president who believes soldiers are “suckers and losers” and shows no respect for law of any kind. As his politics changed, his language grew coarser and his behavior grew worse: He urged Israel to “level the place” in Gaza, and insulted the Danish prime minister in Munich, prompting a colleague, Senator Elissa Slotkin, to issue an apology. Here’s an excerpt from the article, which you can read in The Atlantic (gift link here) Like his close friend John McCain, Graham believed that America should stand at the center of a broad democratic alliance. The few times I met him were in that context, at the Munich Security Conference or at other European-American gatherings, which he once attended with great regularity. He also took seriously the practice of American democracy at home. In a 2014 conversation with The Atlantic, he described himself as a pragmatic politician who eschewed populist slogans. “I know Washington is broken, but what’s broken about it is everybody yelling and nobody trying to fix it,” he said. “I’m trying.” When Donald Trump first appeared in U.S. politics, Graham recognized him immediately for what he was: the spokesman for an alien ideology, one radically different from the idealistic patriotism that Graham had practiced and preached since childhood. Trump privately mocked the military that Graham loved as nothing but “suckers and losers.” He put falsehoods, cynicism, and personal greed at the center of his politics, while expressing disdain for transparency, accountability, and democracy itself. In 2015, Graham described Trump as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” who should “go to hell.” Also as a “nutjob.” When Trump won, Graham understood, as did so many others, that he would have to make some important choices. For a while, he went silent. In the spring of 2016, I saw him at one of those conferences in Europe. He seemed too depressed to speak. But then, like many other Republicans—and, more important, like many other people who have lived under political occupation or experienced radical regime change—he made the decision to abandon his previous ideals, to bury the patriotism that was once so important to him, and to become, instead, a loud, opportunistic collaborator. As I wrote in 2020, it’s very hard to look in to anyone’s heart and to understand their motivations from the outside. But it does seem that Graham had a deep need to be relevant, to be in the game, to be a player, at any cost. And that, rather than any particular achievement, is what he will be remembered for. Continuing to monitor conflicts of interest, ostentatious emoluments, outright corruption and policy changes that will facilitate outright corruption. (Read my original article, Kleptocracy Inc and check out the SNF Agora Institute chart) June 27 Trump diverted funds from more than 900 projects nationwide—including safety upgrades at national parks—to finance beautification projects around Washington, including $700,000 used to fix a White House walkway. June 28 After a years-long Department of Justice investigation into Abbott Laboratories over its management of a baby formula facility where potentially deadly bacteria turned up enough evidence to criminally charge the firm, top department officials instead opted for a financial penalty—illustrating the department’s move away from strict corporate enforcement under the Trump administration. June 29 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stacked the Defense Policy Board—which is charged with providing independent national security recommendations to the Office of the Secretary of Defense—with Trump allies, including tech billionaire Marc Andreessen, who has invested in defense contractors like OpenAI and SpaceX, after purging the panel last year. Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of stock in Axon—which makes about 90% of US tasers—two weeks before ICE solicited bids for a $220 million taser contract. The White House unveiled limited-edition US passports for America’s 250th birthday, featuring a portrait of Trump overlaid on the Declaration of Independence. June 30 Trump made around $1.2 billion from his various crypto companies last year, including more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial and $600 million from sales of his meme coin. Trump is considering issuing 250 pardons to commemorate America’s 250th birthday. These are expected to be largely doled out through the Office of the Pardon Attorney’s informal network of intermediaries. White-collar defense attorneys say they can typically win pardons for clients for $2 million. Last year, Trump administration officials awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million to Clark Construction for the White House ballroom—negotiations in which the president was directly involved. July 1 The Amazon MGM Studios documentary about Melania Trump earned the First Lady more than $10 million. Trump made hundreds of individual stock purchases worth as much as $12.8 million the day before his announcement pausing “Liberation Day” tariffs for 90 days sent the S&P 500 soaring nearly 10%—one of the largest single-day gains ever. Mar-a-Lago and Trump National Doral saw record surges in revenue during Trump’s first year in office, earning $77.5 million and $121.9 million respectively, compared to average annual revenues of $25 million and $75 million during Trump’s first term. Entities across the Persian Gulf paid more than $300 million to Trump’s businesses last year, including $263 million from the sale of half his stake in World Liberty Financial to a firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a top UAE royal and brother of the country’s president. Kash Patel failed to properly disclose his stock purchase of a Department of Justice contractor, MicroStrategy, worth up to $250,000 last year, despite laws requiring disclosure within 45 days of the trade. July 2 Trump has been directing administration officials to steer more government contracts—so far worth more than $2.4 billion—to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin aerospace firm, after Amazon gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, donated to the White House ballroom project, and reached a $40 million deal to license a Melania Trump documentary. Alongside the billions he made from cryptocurrency last year, Trump earned millions of dollars from real estate licensing fees, including $21 million from organizations in the UAE and $9.2 million in Saudi Arabia, along with smaller sums from merchandise sales, including $4.7 million from Trump Watches and $35,920 from 45 Guitar, a guitar brand endorsed by the president. House Democrats accused consultants tied to the Trump administration of financial fraud, alleging they gave prospective donors to America250—the bipartisan committee created by Congress to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial—the banking and routing numbers for Freedom 250, the White House’s fund for events like the UFC cage fight. Democrats also allege that Freedom 250’s CEO traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos to solicit donations from foreign government officials and business leaders. The Trump administration’s proposed rollback of gun regulations would lift the prohibition on mailing handguns to individuals, a significant win for GrabAGun—the direct-to-consumer firearm retailer on whose board Donald Trump Jr. sits and in which he holds a 1.1% ownership stake. GrabAGun currently must rely on a middleman to transfer firearms to customers. Trump’s financial disclosure revealed that he made more than 21,000 securities trades during his first year back in office, growing his investment account to at least $858 million across stakes in around 1,600 companies, compared to the 13 total trades Joe Biden made during his entire presidency. July 4 Nearly 1 million people who bought the president’s meme coin—Trump Coin—collectively lost $3.8 billion on the token, while he walked away with $636 million. July 6 Shares of Dell closed up 4.4% after Trump recommended people buy the firm’s computers during a speech announcing the launch of Trump investment accounts for children, boosting the more than $1 million worth of shares the president owns in the company. July 9 Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh named crypto investor and Trump ally Marc Andreessen to a task force aimed at modernizing the Federal Reserve, including rethinking its approach to inflation—a key factor keeping interest rates elevated. Palm Beach International Airport has officially changed its name to Trump International Airport—a move that will require Florida to pay royalties to the president’s family for licensing his name. I was there a few months ago, during a trip to Barcelona. The sculptures were a revelation, I’d never seen so many together before. Each one has its own personality. Enjoy the good weather, if you are lucky enough to have it. History Will Judge the Complicit The Quintessential Politician Autocracy Inc Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
New York among 12 states challenging Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros.
The lawsuit argues that the $81 billion mega merger would “extinguish competition” in Hollywood and threaten jobs across the industry.