Donald Trump is set to accept the Republican Party’s nomination for president tonight. Expected to attack Democratic nominee Joe Biden on a number of policy fronts, Trump will argue that he is the better choice to heal racial divisions and bring an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Democrats spent their convention calling Trump an unfit leader who could undo American democracy if given another term. —David E. Rovella

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Here are today’s top stories

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows talked for the first time in three weeks Thursday about the stalemate on a new pandemic relief bill. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the biggest subway and commuter transit systems in the U.S., said it will implement a doomsday plan with radical service cuts, rate hikes, firings and borrowing if Congress doesn’t provide it with $12 billion in desperately needed aid.

At least four people were killed as Hurricane Laura raked Louisiana early Thursday, becoming one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the state, leaving in its wake chemical fires, wrecked buildings, flooded roads and what could be more than $15 billion in insured losses.

If you were hoping to buy your own self-contained, reliable, $5 coronavirus test at the local pharmacy soon, you may have to wait until 2021. The Trump administration is going to spend $750 million buying up almost all of Abbott Laboratories’ 15-minute Covid tests to be made this year, some 150 million. It isn’t totally unclear however to whom the White House will send these tests. Confirmed Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now exceed 180,000, about the same as the next two countries, Brazil and Mexico, combined. Here is the latest on the global pandemic.

Fear gauges for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes may be providing fresh reasons for caution about the rally in U.S. stocks. Applications for state U.S. unemployment benefits decreased last week following an unexpected jump. Initial jobless claims in regular state programs fell by 98,000 to 1.01 million in the week ended Aug. 22, in line with economists’ estimates. Total U.S. unemployment stands at 14.5 million.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell unveiled a new approach to setting U.S. monetary policy, letting inflation and employment run higher in a shift that will likely keep interest rates low for years to come. Following a more than year-long review, Powell said the Fed will seek inflation that averages 2% over time, a step that implies allowing for price pressures to overshoot after periods of weakness. It also adjusted its view of full employment to permit labor-market gains to reach more workers.

What do Minneapolis, Ferguson, Missouri, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, have in common? White police department employees in all three cities either choked to death, shot to death or paralyzed unarmed Black men. But these Midwest cities also share another characteristic: they exist in a part of America that dominates lists for the greatest racial inequality on income, homeownership and incarceration. In Kenosha this week, where White teenager Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested in connection with the killing of two protesters, the local police chief, Daniel Miskinis, laid blame for the shooting deaths on people not obeying a curfew. The American Civil Liberties Union called for Miskinis and other police officials to resign, saying they allowed police employees to fraternize “with white supremacist counter-protesters” and let the shooter get away. One of Miskinis’ employees, Rusten Sheskey, who is White, shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, seven times in the back on Sunday, triggering the protests in Kenosha and in other cities across the country.

The founder and chairman of an electric-truck startup is giving his company’s first 50 employees 6 million of his own shares.

What you’ll need to know tomorrow

• Ohio Republican official Frank LaRose sued for voter suppression.
• New Zealand mosque mass-killer gets a life sentence.
• Singapore push for domestic hiring threatens coveted expat jobs.
• China warns U.S. with launch of its “carrier killer” missiles.
• TikTok’s CEO has had the job for a few months. He just quit.
• U.S. businesses are gagging employees when it comes to Covid-19.
• Dream: A $29 million Grand Cayman mansion with a 100-foot pool.

What you’ll want to read in Bloomberg Technology

Elon Musk’s Brain Claims Are Backed by Science

Doubting Elon Musk can be a risky bet. It is true that he’s made plenty of claims about Neuralink, his brain-machine interface venture. On Twitter and on podcasts, the billionaire has touted abilities that sound nothing short of miraculous: easing depression, helping with obsessive compulsive disorder and treating traumatic brain injuries. As it turns out, science seems to back him up.

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