Good morning. It's Friday, Aug. 28, and we've rounded up our most popular stories of the month—check them out below. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Laura Pummels Central Gulf States

At least six people were killed and more than 900,000 homes and businesses are without power after Hurricane Laura ripped through swaths of Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi yesterday. The storm had rapidly intensified into one of the strongest hurricanes on record to hit Louisiana, tying an 1856 system with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour at landfall. Early assessments suggested coastal towns sustained heavy wind damage but only moderate flooding, avoiding the worst predictions of a devastating storm surge.

Officials reported a chemical fire at a chlorine-producing industrial plant near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Residents in the area were ordered to close their doors and turn off the air conditioning to avoid potentially deadly toxic fumes leaking from the facility.  

Laura is projected to turn eastward, bringing heavy rains to the mid-Atlantic over the weekend. See drone video of some of the damage here.

Trump Accepts Nomination

President Trump capped the fourth and final night of the Republican National Convention last night, officially accepting the party's presidential nomination. Mostly a formality—as the incumbent, Trump never faced a major challenger—the spotlight now shifts to the head-to-head race between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump spent much of his acceptance speech (watch here) attacking Biden's record on the economy and claiming public safety would decline under a Biden administration, while laying out second-term priorities.

Two other candidates are in the race—Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian Party, polling around 2%) and Howie Hawkins (Green Party, polling around 1%). For comparison, Gary Johnson (L) took around 3% of the popular vote and Jill Stein (G) took 1% (data here) in the 2016 election. 

Election Day is 67 days away (Nov. 3). You can use this portal to register to vote in your state (and check registration deadlines and mail-in voting procedures). Find polls and poll averages here, including a look at the race in battleground states. The first of three presidential debates will be held Sept. 29 in Cleveland.

Finally, there has been a lot of discussion about the role mail-in voting will play in November. Check out this overview of the process from the MIT Election Lab. 

Stimulus Talks

Faint hopes for a fourth coronavirus stimulus package were dashed yesterday, after talks between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-12) and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—their first contact in three weeks—again ended at an impasse. Among the main sticking points is price tag; Democrats have reportedly offered to come down to $2.2T from an original $3T proposal, while the White House has stuck firm at $1T. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are working on a scaled-down stimulus, around $500B. Some observers believe both sides are waiting to attach a proposal to a must-pass funding bill at the end of September.  

Separately, initial unemployment claims for last week came in just over 1 million. It marks the 22nd time in the past 23 weeks the figure has eclipsed the 1 million mark. The total number of people making claims across all unemployment programs—which includes gig workers and the self-employed covered under a stimulus provision—was just over 27 million (see release). 

Finally, the US has reported 5.86 million total cases as of this morning, with 180,884 deaths. See the rolling averages for both here and here.

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

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> NBA players decide to resume playoffs after Wednesday boycott in wake of police shooting of Jacob Blake (More) | White House adviser Jared Kushner says he’ll reach out to LeBron James over decision to boycott (More)

> Joe Ruby, veteran animator and cocreator of “Scooby-Doo,” dies at 87 (More) | Former University of Arizona coach and basketball Hall of Famer Lute Olson dies at 85 (More)

> Simon & Schuster’s Dawn Davis tapped as Bon Appétit’s new editor in chief weeks after former editor Adam Rapoport resigned amid claims of racism (More)

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Science & Technology

> In rare discovery, paleontologists recover a fully preserved, unhatched dinosaur embryo fossil still inside its egg (More) | Allows 3D reconstruction of a baby titanosaur's face (More)

> Elon Musk's Neuralink says it will demonstrate a working prototype of its brain-computer interface today; watch the event here at 6pm ET (More)

> First full mapping of the mosquito immune system finds a new type of cell that may play a key role in how the insects ward off malaria, while still being able to transmit the disease (More)

Business & Markets

> Federal Reserve announces shift in policy allowing inflation to increase above 2% target placing more emphasis on employment figures, analysts project rates will stay at low levels for longer periods (More)

> Walmart joins Microsoft in bid for TikTok as the social network seeks buyer of US assets before Sept. 15 divestiture deadline; Walmart shares increase 6% (More)

> Eyewear e-commerce giant Warby Parker raises $245M at a $3B valuation (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> Thousands expected in Washington, DC, for civil rights march on the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, led by Martin Luther King Jr. (More) | Watch King's famous "I Have a Dream Speech," delivered at the 1963 march (More) 

> Prosecutors charge 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse with two counts of first-degree homicide in deaths of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin (More)

> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigns, citing health reasons; Abe is the country's longest-serving prime minister (More)

IN-DEPTH

'Remember Everything We've Lost'

Lafayette Daily Advertiser | Daniella Medina. On the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina—and having just survived Hurricane Laura—Louisianans look back on how their lives have changed. (Read)

Breonna Taylor, in Her Mother's Words

Vanity Fair | Ta-Nehisi Coates. Tamika Palmer provides a window into the personal life and upbringing of Taylor, whose March death during the execution of a no-knock warrant in Louisville, Kentucky, sparked months of protests. (Read)

Visualizing Data to Save Lives

MIT Press Reader | Murray Dick. A fascinating look at two centuries of public health infographics, used to battle everything from poverty to pandemics. (Read)

The Wildest Scheme

Texas Monthly | Katy Vine. The story of Theodore Robert Wright III—just T.R. for short—who attempted one of the wildest insurance fraud schemes in Texas history. (Read)

ETCETERA: BEST OF AUGUST '20

Editor's note: More than 1 million monthly clicks can't be wrong. Here are the most popular stories we ran in August. Enjoy!

(8/3) Landmark study pinpoints what makes a good relationship.

(8/3) A pigeon hangs on for dear life as a plane takes off.

(8/12) Photographer finds 120-year-old time capsule, develops the photos.

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(8/4) America's 50 most beautiful college campuses.

(8/19) Cardboard thieves are making millions. 

(8/20) Rare "red jellyfish" lightning captured on film in Texas. 

(8/10) Clickbait: Wild boar steals nudist's laptop (warning: nudists).

(8/26) Dead body found not so dead by funeral home workers.

(8/21) The world's best restaurants for 2020. 

(8/20) Clickbait: Porta potties in Japan go transparent. 

(8/18) Bill Murray inserted into famous historical paintings. 

(8/17) This bald eagle took down a government drone.

(8/18) Machine learning produces photorealistic portraits of Roman emperors. 

(8/14) How COVID-19 has upended the dating timeline. 

Historybook: Black teenager Emmett Till is brutally lynched for allegedly flirting with a white woman (1955); MLK delivers "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, DC (1963); HBD Shania Twain (1965); HBD LeAnn Rimes (1982); Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorce (1996)

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

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