Hurricane Hanna Hits Texas | Florida Coronavirus Cases Soar | Sport's Debate On Fake Crowds

Plus: Why Fast Food’s Smartest Operator Is Expanding When Business Is Terrible

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• Hanna Lashes South Texas Coast Overwhelmed By Coronavirus Crisis

• Another Round Of $1,200 Stimulus Checks Coming, Trump Officials Say

• Molotov Cocktails And Rifle Magazines Retrieved From Portland Park, Police Say

• Florida Now Has The Second Highest Number Of Coronavirus Infections As Crisis Deepens 

MORE: France, Spain, Germany Suddenly Facing New Coronavirus Surge

• Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton Says Slavery Was A ‘Necessary Evil,’ Cites Founding Fathers

Top Take-Aways

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized a proposal to give unemployed workers 70% of their wages as being overly complicated, arguing that over 60% of American supported a "flat amount" instead, as Congress prepares to negotiate the next stimulus bill this week.

Civil right hero John Lewis crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge for one last time, strewn with rose petals, in Selma, Alabama, by way of a horse-drawn hearse. As a tribute to the congressman who died on July 17, his coffin passed the site where he was beaten by police in 1965.

Bitcoin has been trading sideways since its supply squeeze in early May—though many other smaller cryptocurrencies have surged during that time. The likes of Chainlink and Ethereum have soared—with some more than doubling in value in a matter of months.

Less than two years after SAP swooped in to acquire Qualtrics for $8 billion as it was on the cusp of an IPO, the experience management software company may be going public after all. SAP now plans to spin out Qualtrics and take it public, keeping majority ownership. 

MLB joins the fake crowd noise debate: ESPN began the season by using a tiny bit of noise but mainly letting in the natural sounds of the ballpark. On Saturday, Fox unveiled its computer-generated fans approach. As expected, it’s polarizing.

Hotels throughout the world are welcoming gardening enthusiasts by showcasing a wide variety of colorful plants and flowers. Leave your home, or not, here are some of the world’s most brilliant hotel gardens.

Today's Must-Read

This spring, when restaurants across America were struggling to survive or closing down, business was booming for Neal Aronson’s Sonic, including a record 30% jump in May. The retro chain of car-hop joints he acquired through Roark Capital in 2018 was perfect for the pandemic.

But Paul Brown, CEO of Inspire Brands, the Roark holding company that owns Sonic, wasn’t satisfied, reports staff writer Chloe Sorvino. Brown wanted to speed up the rollout of a new format for the 67-year-old chain that would reduce its dependency on drive-up stalls to make room for take-out and add covered patios so guests could leave their cars and dine outside under string lights.

“Those builds weren't in our budget and we’re in the middle of the pandemic,” says Aronson, the PE titan who quickly gave Brown the go-ahead. “Always do what's right and long-term smart, regardless of conventional wisdom.”

The pair were fiddling with a rare bright spot in an $18 billion (assets under management) portfolio of more than 20 fast food chains and other franchising businesses that have a retail footprint totaling 39,000 locations.

“The question is, who is going to have the experience, the time frame, and the capital to make the investments that offset some of those headwinds,” says Aronson, who named Roark after the ruthlessly competitive lead character in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, a favorite of individualists and Libertarians. “Not everybody will. What we've decided to do is not sit there and take it.”

Read the full story here.

Across Forbes

Forbes Advisor: Congress may pass another package of Covid-19 relief, which may include a second stimulus check. If the measure becomes law, here are 5 smart ways to invest your stimulus check.