New Covid Boosters Rolling Out Soon

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Good morning,

It’s almost time for pumpkins, changing leaves and Halloween. But there’s one season I’m not looking forward to: cold and flu season. Add an increase in Covid cases on top of that, for which hospitalizations are rising.

New vaccines can help reduce that risk, and this season’s updated flu vaccine has reduced hospitalization risks in South America by 52%, according to a CDC report.

On Tuesday, the CDC recommended that most Americans get new Covid-19 boosters designed to target the newest strains of the virus. Vaccines are expected to be delivered to pharmacies and providers soon.

BREAKING NEWS

At least 5,300 people are thought to be dead and some 10,000 are reported missing after flooding in northeastern Libya over the weekend. A heavy storm in the Mediterranean Sea brought severe rain, overwhelming two dams to the point of collapse and flooding areas with flowing waters.

New York City’s pension funds and Oregon filed a lawsuit against Fox Corporation accusing it and its board of repeatedly broadcasting false information about the 2020 presidential election, allegedly exposing itself to defamation lawsuits that could reduce shareholder value—months after Fox settled its $787 million defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems. New York City’s pension funds held about 857,000 shares of Fox stock worth $28.1 million, according to the New York Times.

BUSINESS + FINANCE

A cyberattack forced MGM Resorts to shut down operations at a dozen of the most iconic casino hotels in Las Vegas—including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and the Cosmopolitan—as well as another half-dozen properties around the U.S. Since Monday evening, the MGM website has been replaced by a splash page advising guests to contact the company directly via phone. MGM Resorts is one of the world’s largest casino-hotel companies, earning $14.1 billion in revenue last year.

After more than two years of unintentionally offering a way to buy bitcoin for less than its market price—sometimes a lot less—the world’s most popular cryptocurrency investment fund is advancing in an attempt to change its format thanks to a court victory that could provide an overnight bonanza to investors. Logically, the question should be more when, than if, the $16 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC ) will transform into an exchange-traded fund from its current restrictive format.

WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Oracle chairman Larry Ellison lost nearly $20 billion in net worth after the company suffered its worst daily stock loss in more than two decades Tuesday. The software giant’s earnings report largely disappointed investors, leading shares of Oracle to crash 13.5%, despite previously outpacing the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s year-to-date gains.

TECH + INNOVATION

As the biggest tech antitrust trial in decades finally got underway Tuesday, the DOJ said that Google used its scale and resources, particularly through its exclusivity deals with device makers, to illegally maintain a monopoly for more than a decade. Google, meanwhile, argued it won those contracts because of the quality of its search engine, which the company claims manufacturers chose because it made their products better.

After raising a fresh $400 million to fund seed stage companies, venture capital firm Uncork Capital has now brought on a fifth partner, Amy Saper, as part of an aggressive expansion plan for the company that is known for being one of the first checks into companies like Postmates, Poshmark and email startup Front. According to managing partner Andy McLoughlin, Uncork wanted to double the size of its investment vehicles from $200 million to $400 million and hire a new partner with expertise in fintech, one of the firm’s blind spots. Saper fit the bill.

MONEY + POLITICS

Spending on political ads across multiple media is expected to reach $10.2 billion during the 2023-2024 election cycle, which would make it the most expensive election of all time, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks political spending. Spending is expected to increase 13% over the previous record of $9.02 billion, which was set during the 2019-2020 election cycle.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy cited a string of allegations against President Joe Biden related to his son’s foreign business dealings in opening a formal impeachment inquiry into the president Tuesday, though McCarthy did not explicitly call for Biden to be impeached, instead saying the allegations “warrant further investigation.” The impeachment inquiry casts a wide net around a sprawling list of accusations in Republicans’ long-running probes into the Biden family.

MORE: White House spokesperson Ian Sams sharply criticized McCarthy over the decision to direct the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees to open impeachment inquiries into President Biden without holding a vote, calling the decision “extreme politics at its worst.”

SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers is likely out for the season after tearing his achilles tendon just four plays into his debut with the New York Jets on Monday night, ESPN reported. The devastating injury comes five months after Rodgers announced plans to join the Jets, and after he restructured his contract to rake in a guaranteed $75 million in his first two seasons in New York.

Drew Barrymore announced this week that her talk show would be returning to air, drawing backlash from writers in the WGA who have been on strike since May. Barrymore isn’t the only daytime talk show host returning to air, as The Jennifer Hudson Show and The Talk also announced they will be back this month. Some critics have called the return of these shows a “moral violation” of the Hollywood strikes.

SCIENCE + HEALTHCARE

A new study finds people with sedentary lifestyles are more likely to develop dementia, especially if they remain sedentary for 10 hours a day or more. The research is the latest in a number of studies that have found a link between how much someone exercises and their likelihood of developing dementia.

DAILY COVER STORY

Through Airport Security In 30 Seconds? That’s The Goal Of This New Technology

TOPLINE In an industrial park near Seattle’s airport, an Australian company called Micro-X is developing a system that could make air travelers’ dreams come true: speedy security screening that promises minimal interaction with TSA officers.

Micro-X’s new technology would be used in airport checkpoints reconfigured to resemble self-checkout lanes at supermarkets, allowing more travelers to pass through. In an environment where the TSA always seems to be under fire for inefficiency, its poor performance on tests for finding weapons, for making the experience confusing and unpleasant for travelers, and for its expensive bloat, Micro-X’s process would also be pricey.

Micro-X’s target for the cost of the self-screening system is roughly twice that of the newest type of conventional security lanes, according to Brian Gonzales, Micro-X’s chief scientific officer and head of its U.S. operation. This year, the TSA has already committed to pay up to $1.3 billion for about 1,200 CT scanners to screen carry-on bags.

The hope is that the cost of the Micro-X process would end up being “competitive” on a per-passenger basis, according to John Fortune, who oversees the project as manager of a Department of Homeland Security technology-development program called Screening at Speed.

Here’s how it would work. After getting their IDs checked, travelers enter an area with rows of booths, each big enough for two adults. An avatar on a screen tells them to put their belongings in the cabinet of a CT scanner that’s one-quarter the size of anything else on the market. It uses X-rays to create a 3-D image that’s automatically analyzed for prohibited items by software powered by machine-learning algorithms. Meanwhile, a camera system and an electromagnetic body scanner examine the traveler and the avatar prompts them if they’ve forgotten to take something out of their pockets—or seem to be hiding something.

TSA officers would step in only if the system detects a suspicious item or if a traveler needs help.

WHY IT MATTERS Airport security officials, especially since 9/11, have been navigating a delicate balance, weighing travelers’ convenience with the imperative of keeping them safe. That task only grows harder when more people fly. If passenger growth rates return to their pre-pandemic trajectory—about 4% annually—that means bigger challenges, says Fortune.

“At some point you’re not going to be able to keep up with both the evolving threats, but also the number of travelers that continue to go through the system,” he says.

MORE New York To Paris In 90 Minutes. Can This Startup Make It Happen?

FACTS AND COMMENTS

This year is already the worst on record for billion-dollar climate disasters in the U.S., according to a report from the NOAA. Experts warn that these extreme events are likely to become more frequent and intense unless drastic action is taken to curb human-driven climate change:

23: The number of weather or climate disasters so far in 2023 that have caused at least $1 billion in estimated damages

$57.6 billion: Cost of events in 2023 so far

$2.6 trillion: Total cost of the 371 billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. (adjusted for inflation) since 1980

STRATEGY AND SUCCESS

When answering the “tell me about yourself” question in interviews, don’t treat it like a meandering list of everything you’ve done since high school. Focus on how your skills, experience, background and other attributes make you a great fit for the role, and you can share why you’re passionate about the field. It’s helpful to prepare a script ahead of time to guide your answer.

VIDEO

QUIZ

Former President Donald Trump faces his second lawsuit in a week challenging his candidacy in 2024, now from a group in Minnesota. Under which amendment to the U.S. Constitution do the lawsuits argue Trump should be barred from the ballot due to his role in the January 6 riots?

A. 16th Amendment

B. Fifth Amendment

C. 14th Amendment

D. Ninth Amendment

Check your answer.

ACROSS THE NEWSROOM

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