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Good morning. Yesterday, the space tourism company Space Perspective opened up reservations for a “luxury” six-hour flight to the edge of space on giant balloons the size of a football stadium. The cost per ticket: $125,000.
It led to a debate among the Brew writers: Would you be willing to pay to travel to space or would you need to get paid to travel to space?
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Nasdaq
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14,271.73
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S&P
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4,241.84
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Dow
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33,874.24
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Bitcoin
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$33,179.15
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10-Year
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1.486%
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Tesla
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$656.57
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Markets: The S&P broke a two-day win streak, but Tesla propelled the Nasdaq to an all-time high.
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Covid: The highly transmissible Delta variant accounts for 20% of recent coronavirus cases in the US, CDC head Rochelle Walensky said yesterday, though case numbers are at their lowest point since March 2020. In fact, the past week had the lowest number of Covid cases and deaths globally since this February.
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Economy: A bipartisan group of US senators said they reached a deal on the framework for a $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal, which they'll present to the White House today.
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A lot of sad desk salads were consumed by clerks yesterday, as the Supreme Court was busy handing down a flood of rulings with implications for the business world.
Cheerleaders can cuss
When Brandi Levy, a Pennsylvania public high school student, didn’t make the varsity cheer team in 2017, she posted the uncensored version of, “f– school f– softball f– cheer f– everything” to Snapchat. The school banned Levy from cheer for a full year and her (clearly cool) dad got the ACLU involved, claiming that the school violated her First Amendment rights.
The decision: The court ruled 8–1 in favor of Levy. A case from 1969, Tinker v. Des Moines, stated that schools can punish on-campus speech that disrupts the “work and discipline of the school,” but the rise of social media has thrown that ruling for a loop.
Bottom line: Because Levy didn’t bully anyone or post her frustrations during school, SCOTUS said she had the right to be an angry teen.
Mortgage mania
Shares in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which back about half of the country’s $11 trillion in mortgages, tanked yesterday after the Supreme Court foreclosed on investors’ dreams of recouping some of their investments.
The backstory: The government took over Fannie and Freddie following the 2008 financial crisis, then it collected more than $100 billion from them in exchange for the taxpayer-funded bailout. A group of Fannie and Freddie investors argued that this “profit sweep” was illegal. The Supreme Court didn’t buy that, but did concede that the structure of the agency that oversees Fannie and Freddie is unconstitutional.
What it means: President Biden gets to replace the agency’s head with someone of his choosing, and Fannie and Freddie will likely stay under the government’s watch for a while longer.
Farm workers lose union facetime
Union organizers can’t recruit on California farms anymore—at least not without the farm owner’s permission. Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down a regulation that allowed union organizers to meet with agricultural workers during some periods of the day. Now, that’s a property rights violation.
Some history: A 1975 ruling that helped farm workers and union organizers meet was a big win for the Cesar Chavez-led farm workers movement, celebrated for giving largely nomadic and less-educated farmhands the chance to learn about and join unions. Fast forward to 2021, and some argue union organizers could just slide into farmers’ DMs instead of meeting IRL.
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Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
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Today, Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy tabloid, Apple Daily, printed its last issue. But it wasn't a case of a newspaper failing in its pivot to digital: Chinese authorities raided its offices last Thursday, froze its assets, and arrested five executives, including the editor-in-chief.
- Founder Jimmy Lai has been in jail since last year for participating in a political protest, among other charges.
The publication covered everything from celebrity gossip to politics and was known for being anti-government, irreverent, and a strong supporter of pro-democracy protests.
Free speech is getting more costly in Hong Kong
The region has historically been a media hub because of its press freedoms, but the government’s crackdown on pro-democracy activism has spread to journalism.
- Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) was forced to swap its station head with a career politician with no journalism experience.
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Following difficulties obtaining necessary work permits, the New York Times moved part of its Hong Kong office to Seoul.
Looking ahead...the former chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association said, “Police did not rule out the possibility of more arrests, and the next [target] could be other media.”
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Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
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In her most public statement to date about her personal affairs, Britney Spears told an LA probate judge that she wants to end the conservatorship she's been under for 13 years. "I’ve been in denial; I’ve been in shock; I am traumatized. I just want my life back," she said during a remote hearing.
#FreeBritney crash course: The pop star’s father, Jamie Spears, has had complete control over her finances, career, and personal life since 2008, when she entered into a court-ordered conservatorship after an apparent mental health crisis.
During her time in the conservatorship, Spears...
- Released four albums
- Grew her net worth to $60 million
- Held a four-year contract with Planet Hollywood that brought in ~$138 million and was the fourth highest-grossing Las Vegas residency, per Billboard.
Big picture: Spears’s story gained traction after her fans started the #FreeBritney movement in 2019. And this year the NYT documentary, Framing Britney Spears, introduced many viewers to the complex conservatorship arrangement and what can happen when it goes wrong.
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Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images
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Stat: Southwest Airlines has never had a single layoff or furlough in its 50-year history, even during the pandemic. Gary Kelly, who’s been the airline’s CEO since 2004, announced yesterday he would step down to become executive chairman.
Quote: "I still relish being on the field and carrying the ball. But I'm clearly playing in a game that, for me, has moved past the fourth quarter into overtime."
The football metaphors are strong with Warren Buffett, who said yesterday he’s resigning as a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and donating $4.1+ billion worth of Berkshire Hathaway shares to the nonprofit. Buffett has pledged to give away about 99% of his net worth.
Read: Why didn’t bullet journaling work for me? (Medium)
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Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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The latest addition to the Las Vegas strip, Resorts World, opens today. And just like everything else in Vegas, it will be extremely...large:
- With a price tag of $4.3 billion, Resorts World is the most expensive property ever developed in the city.
- It features 3,500 guest rooms and suites, a 117,000 square-foot casino, a 5,000-seat theater, and seven swimming pools.
- If you’re looking for a size comparison, think the Venetian or the Bellagio.
Big picture: Las Vegas is firmly in a post-Covid mentality right now, bringing visitors back to its business conventions and entertainment options. About 2.6 million people visited the city in April, 73% of pre-pandemic levels, per the WSJ.
Looking ahead...Miley Cyrus is taking the Resorts World stage on July 4th, but if you can’t find tickets, you can still catch the show: It’ll be broadcast live on the 100,000 square-foot LED screen on the hotel’s exterior.
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John McAfee, the antivirus software entrepreneur, died by suicide in his jail cell in Spain hours after his extradition to the US was approved.
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Morgan Stanley is barring unvaccinated employees and clients from entering its NYC offices starting July 12, per an internal memo seen by the FT.
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US single-family home sales fell to a one-year low in May as prices soared 18.1% from a year earlier.
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BuzzFeed is close to a deal to go public via SPAC, per the WSJ.
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Three Headlines and a Lie
Disney is making a live-action Snow White, which is fine, but we can all agree that a live-action movie about all of this week’s bizarre news headlines would be much better. Try to identify which headline is like Phony, the lesser-known of the seven dwarfs.
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Lab analysis of Subway tuna sandwiches fails to identify tuna DNA
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Man purchases his own toe with Prime Day deal
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42,000 pounds of missing pistachios leads to possible illegal pistachio operation
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“Redneck Rave” descends into throat slashing, impalements, and mass arrests
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A man did not purchase his own toe on Prime Day
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