Good morning. It's Wednesday, Sept. 16, and Hurricane Sally unexpectedly intensified to a Category 2 storm just before landfall along the Gulf Coast. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Breonna Taylor Settlement

The city of Louisville, Kentucky, will pay the mother of Breonna Taylor $12M and will commit to a series of police reforms, officials announced yesterday. The news was the result of a legal settlement with the family of Taylor, who was killed by police during a midnight no-knock raid in March. Taylor's boyfriend exchanged gunfire with officers—believing them to be intruders—during which Taylor was shot eight times.

The incident has become one of the central focal points of social and racial justice protests that swept the country this year, with the side effect of drawing attention to the use of no-knock warrants (see overview, PDF). In addition to reviewing the way the city handles warrants, officials committed to establishing programs aimed at building ties between officers and communities.

A decision on whether the officers involved will be charged is still pending. Many rumors have swirled around the incident—see a fact check of major claims ($$, Courier Journal). 

Sally Intensifies Before Arrival

Hurricane Sally will hit eastern Alabama and the western Florida panhandle this morning, making a leisurely landfall as a Category 2 hurricane. Meteorologists are more concerned about flooding than high winds. The system's forward movement had slowed to a sluggish 2 mph by yesterday afternoon—the average is 15-20 mph—raising fears of a stall out over cities like Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. Some forecasts predict up to 30 inches of rain in spots along the coast, with between 6 inches and 1 foot expected as the storm moves eastward through South Carolina (see trajectory). As of early this morning, 150,000 homes had already lost power.

The exact mechanics of hurricane slowdowns remain an open question, though studies have shown more frequent stalling over the past 50 years. Sally is the 18th named storm of the busy Atlantic hurricane season—one more named storm and forecasters will switch to Greek letters for just the second time on record (2005 saw 27 named storms).

Stimulus Pitch

A group of bipartisan lawmakers revealed a nearly $2T coronavirus stimulus package, the first major package to be proposed not originating from party leadership on either side. While the package is unlikely to be taken up as is, the group of 50 House lawmakers behind the push said they hoped to revive stalled negotiations behind a larger package. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-12) said the House would not break for an election recess until a package is passed, but stayed quiet on the new bill; no progress has been made since talks broke down in early August. 

Separately, Michael Caputo, the top communications official at the Department of Health and Human Services who caused an uproar after hosting a Facebook live event in which he accused CDC scientists of sedition, apologized to staff and is considering resigning.

The US has reported 6.6 million total cases as of this morning, with 195,942 deaths. See the rolling averages here and here.

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A MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> Denver Nuggets top Los Angeles Clippers in Game 7, will face Los Angeles Lakers in NBA Western Conference Finals (More) | Miami Heat edge Boston Celtics in overtime to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals (More)

> The 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction, honoring the best original English-language novel, released its shortlist of six nominees including four debut novelists (More)

> “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” and “Saturday Night Live” both take home three awards at night two of the 2020 Creative Arts Emmys (More) | Madonna to cowrite and direct her own biopic film (More)

Science & Technology

> Apple hosts virtual product event, rolling out new Apple Watch and iPad models; iPhone 12 rollout delayed to October (More) | Sources say General Motors is exploring entry into the flying car market (More)

> Stillbirth rates rise dramatically across the globe; researchers attribute increase to disruption in healthcare due to COVID-19 for high-risk pregnancies, but not the virus itself (More)

> Microsoft pilot project to run cloud infrastructure from underwater data centers deemed a success; operation was found to be eight times more efficient versus land-based systems, which have more variation in environment (More)

Business & Markets

> In one of the year's most anticipated IPOs, cloud-based data management provider Snowflake prices at $120 per share, representing a $33B valuation; company to start trading today on NYSE (More)

> Home-selling platform Opendoor to go public via a special purpose acquisition company, valuing the company at $4.8B (More)

> Uber safety driver in fatal 2018 Arizona crash charged with negligent homicide (More) | FedEx delivers better profits than expected, as FedEx Ground business unit soars 31% amid e-commerce growth; shares up 7% in after-hours trading (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> Israel signs peace accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain in White House ceremony (More) | Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny makes first public comments since being poisoned in August; says he will return to Russia from Germany when recovered (More)

> House committee calls for probe into Georgia immigration detention facility after whistleblower complaint of medical neglect (More) | Read complaint, which includes allegations of excessive rates of hysterectomies (More, PDF)

> Grand jury subpoenas sent to the publisher and literary agent of former National Security Adviser John Bolton, as Justice Department opens criminal probe of whether Bolton misused classified information in recent book (More)

INVEST FOR LESS

In partnership with The Motley Fool

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ETCETERA

America's best and worst cities to drive in.

Why daylight saving time should be made permanent.

Visualizing tree loss in the world's rainforests over time. ($$, Bloomberg)

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Chicago crowdsources solutions for pandemic winter dining.

Pepsi rolls out a new bedtime drink.

Paris Hilton's new documentary is surprisingly candid. (full film via YouTube)

Reindeer herders find a perfectly preserved ice age cave bear.

A humpback whale takes a wrong turn into crocodile alley.

Clickbait: Hoverboarding dentist sentenced to prison.

Historybook: Pilgrims depart from England on the Mayflower (1620); Actress Lauren Bacall born (1924); American musician BB King born (1925); HBD historian and author Henry Louis Gates Jr. (1950).

"The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you."

- BB King

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