Important | 1 | | Texas — where COVID-19 cases have jumped more than 30 percent in a week — has announced that it won’t continue with planned reopening phases, though Gov. Greg Abbott talked down the idea of closing businesses again. Meanwhile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield estimated that cases in the U.S. are ten times higher than detected, meaning more than 20 million people have likely had the virus. Following the surge in the epidemic in Arizona, officials say hospitals will be overwhelmed by next month and have to begin rationing care. For all OZY’s COVID-19 coverage, click here. | |
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| 2 | | Exactly one month after George Floyd’s death under a police officer’s knee, the Democrat-led House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act 236-181, with only three Republicans supporting it. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the act was “honoring his life” and pledging “never again.” Reforms include a chokehold ban, limits to no-knock raids and reducing police immunity from lawsuits. Republican Senate leaders, struggling to advance their own reforms, are almost certain to reject the measure, so federal action isn’t expected until after November’s election. OZY asks if radical police reform will ever come. | |
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| 3 | | At a time when millions of Americans may have no health care alternative during a pandemic, even President Donald Trump’s aides have reportedly counseled against it. Yet last night, the Department of Justice submitted a legal brief to the Supreme Court arguing that the 2010 Affordable Care Act was invalidated in 2017 when Congress, under GOP control at the time, took away financial penalties for being uninsured. The move was decried by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who called it a “heartless crusade” amid a pandemic. Trump has insisted, without explaining how, that “we’ll have great health care.” | |
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| 4 | | After German payments firm Wirecard made up a story that $2.1 billion went missing and tried to blame the Philippines’ banking system — and then saw its chief executive arrested on suspicion of fraud — EU officials suspect Germany’s national banking regulator, BaFin, might not have been doing its job. So the bloc’s markets watchdog has been asked to investigate treatment of the firm, which owes its creditors about $4 billion. Others made money, though: Hedge funds in Britain and the U.S. made an estimated $1.2 billion over the last week by betting against Wirecard. | |
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| 5 | | Colorado’s governor has ordered a probe into the 2019 death of unarmed Black man Elijah McClain, who was injected with ketamine after being stopped by police. Russian hackers are thought to be targeting Americans working from home during the pandemic. And Verizon has joined a boycott of buying ads on Facebook. Try this: Feeling presidential after a week of briefings? Prove it with the PDB Quiz. Watch this: Be sure to stream the latest episode of Defining Moments With OZY this Pride Month, featuring Jason Collins, the first active male athlete in one of the four major sports leagues to come out as gay — available on Hulu. And if you have watched it already, be sure to catch an exclusive conversation with Jason at Pride Fest, a free virtual festival from Hulu, on Sunday, July 28. |
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| Intriguing | 1 | | Are you flush with ideas? For its 2024 moon mission, NASA is putting out a call to the general public for ways to improve the experience of pooping in space. There are toilets on the International Space Station, but they’re not designed to deal with moon gravity (about a sixth of the gravity experienced on Earth). Prize money for what they’ve dubbed the Lunar Loo Challenge is $35,000, and there’s a separate category for ideas from under-18s. Both are due August 17 and winners will be announced in the autumn. Read OZY’s proposal for hosting the Olympics in space. | |
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| 2 | | Call it “emission” impossible. The Golden State has become the first in America to force the trucking industry to go zero-emissions, with all new trucks in the state required to be electric by 2035. California is home to seven of the 10 smoggiest American cities, and the changes are expected to generate $9 billion in savings in health costs for people who would otherwise have been exposed to toxic fumes. It’s also predicted to kick-start the electric truck industry, which accounts for less than 1 percent of the market. Other states are expected to follow California’s lead. | |
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| 3 | | In Hong Kong, Taiwan and along the Indian border, China’s been unusually aggressive lately, asserting its own dominance with a newfound confidence. That’s likely to do with President Trump’s anemic rallies and sad poll numbers, OZY reports: While he’s been long been belligerent toward China, Trump’s influence seems to be waning and a second term is anything but a sure thing. That’s given China the opportunity to run roughshod over others, confident that while Trump talks a good game, talk is really all it can be. | |
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| 4 | | My oh my, what a wonderful day. Disneyland’s iconic Splash Mountain ride has long gotten the side-eye for being based on the 1946 film Song of the South, which won an Oscar for “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” but is now acknowledged to be replete with racist stereotypes. Now the company has announced that the water ride will be rebuilt around its 2009 film The Princess and the Frog, which is set in New Orleans and stars Disney’s first Black princess, Tiana. According to Disney, the rebranding has been in the works since last year. Read OZY on the gangs of Disneyland. | |
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| 5 | | In what might be called an epic anticlimax, Liverpool ended a three-decade drought last night, mathematically all-but-clinching the English Premier League title. The team watched it on TV: Rival Manchester City lost 2-1 to Chelsea, virtually assuring the Reds a 19th championship — something expected of their record-breaking season even before the pandemic stopped play in March. They returned this week in winning form, running up four unanswered goals against Crystal Palace. Now they need only two points in seven more league matches — close enough for fans to stream into the night, virus be damned, and launch fireworks. | |
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| caught up? now vault ahead ... | To get more fresh stories and bold ideas in your inbox, check out The Daily Dose. | | News + Politics What did President Donald Trump's aides mistakenly say he was joking about regarding coronavirus testing this week? | READ NOW |
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