Good morning. It's Friday, Sept. 3, and we're covering Ida's rising death toll, the start of the college football season, and more. Have feedback? Let us know at [email protected].

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NEED TO KNOW

Ida Stuns the Northeast

The death toll from former Hurricane Ida soared yesterday, as remnants of the storm brought torrential downpours and triggered widespread flooding from Maryland to Massachusetts. As of this morning, at least 46 deaths have been reported, including 13 in New York, 23 in New Jersey, and five in Pennsylvania. A 19-year-old Maryland resident died after reportedly rescuing his mother from a basement apartment overnight Wednesday.  

The deaths come in addition to at least four in Louisiana, where Ida arrived Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, and two in neighboring Mississippi, where a highway bridge collapsed. Some estimates place the total economic loss from the storm at $18B. 

See videos from New York City here and here, and drone footage from Louisiana here.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Larry—now in the middle of the Atlantic—is forecast to grow into at least a Category 4 storm, but is not currently projected to make landfall (see trajectory).

College Football Kickoff

The 2021 college football season kicks into full swing tomorrow, with a number of marquee matchups scheduled for opening weekend. 

Starting the day, No. 12 Wisconsin hosts No. 19 Penn State (12 pm ET, Fox) in one of the biggest in-conference season openers in recent Big Ten history. In the afternoon, No. 1 Alabama hosts No. 14 Miami in a neutral site game in Atlanta (3:30 pm ET, ABC). It marks the fourth time in six seasons that the Crimson Tide enters as the top-ranked team, though they must replace QB Mac Jones and a number of other starters. 

In the biggest Week 1 matchup, No. 3 Clemson takes on No. 5 Georgia in Charlotte, North Carolina (7:30 pm ET; ABC). The game is Clemson's first of the post-Trevor Lawrence quarterback era, and the Tigers will lean on sophomore DJ Uiagalelei to take the offensive reins. Other notable games include No. 17 Indiana at No. 18 Iowa (3:30 pm ET, BTN) and No. 9 Notre Dame at Florida State Sunday (7:30 pm ET, ABC). See the full schedule here.

No. 4 Ohio State started the party early, beating Minnesota 45-31 last night. 

Face Mask Study

The largest randomized control trial on the effectiveness of face masks to date revealed a positive relationship between the prevalence of mask-wearing and a decrease in COVID-19 transmission. The study, involving almost 350,000 people spread across 600 villages in rural Bangladesh, showed a 30% increase in facial coverings, following a series of interventions that encouraged residents to wear masks, resulted in roughly a 10% drop in COVID-19 transmission. The protective effect increased to nearly 35% for those over 65 years old, researchers said. A paper describing the study is awaiting peer review. 

The rolling average of new US cases sits near 170,000 per day, with daily deaths averaging above 1,400. Explore the data here.

Have a great Labor Day—we'll see you Tuesday morning!

In partnership with Piestro

THE PIZZA MAESTRO

Let's cut to the chase: Americans love pizza. The cheesy goodness, the crispy crust, the world of topping options (including pineapple, if you care to admit it). So it's no wonder that the US pizza market is valued at $46B and is poised to grow to $54B in the next two years. We can't get enough of the stuff.

And Piestro is innovating how and where we purchase our pizza. They've designed pizza-making robots to construct your favorite pies in a matter of minutes: three minutes from start to finish, to be precise. With speed and efficiency like that, Piestro's profit margins are estimated at 48% (versus 22% in traditional pizzerias). And pizza experts around the world are taking note: Piestro's robots have received $580M in pre-orders via commercial contracts that are taking Piestro global. And you can invest in the possible upside today.

If you're fascinated by the tech behind food-preparing robots, or simply love all things pizza-related, check out the Piestro investment offering today. But take note: the round closes at the end of the month!

Please support our sponsors!

IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

Brought to you by Laird Superfood

> Famed Swedish band ABBA reunites in the studio for first time in nearly 40 years, announcing new studio album due out in November and a 2022 virtual concert (More)

> US men's national team draws with El Salvador in its first 2022 World Cup qualifying game (More) | NBA announces likely COVID-19 protocols for upcoming season to include practice and game day testing for unvaccinated players (More)

> Sidharth Shukla, Bollywood actor and reality TV star, dies of heart attack at 40 (More)

From our partners: It's a plant-based flash sale! Laird Superfood specializes in creating the cleanest (and tastiest) plant-based food products on the market. And today only, you can take 20% off the superfoods that everyone is raving about. Fan favorites like superfood coffee creamer, oat & macadamia nut plant milk, functional mushroom coffees, coconut water, and your new go-to snacks—shop now for 20% off!

Science & Technology

> Federal Aviation Administration grounds spaceflights from Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic while it investigates problems the company's latest spaceflight (More)

> Four-legged whale fossil revealed in long-awaited study; the 43-million-year-old fossil is believed be an ancient land mammal species in the process of evolving back into a marine animal species (More)

> Modified buckyballs—spheres made of 60 carbon atoms—shown to be comparable in strength and hardness to diamond, but capable of conducting electricity (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets up (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +0.1%) as weekly jobless claims drop to pandemic-era low of 340,000 (More) | Record high 50% of US small-business owners had unfilled job openings in August (More)

> Jury selected in criminal trial of Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of the blood-testing startup Theranos (More)

> Hedge fund executives from Renaissance Technologies will pay $7B to settle long-running tax dispute with IRS (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> New Zealand police kill a reportedly ISIS-linked extremist after six stabbed in Auckland grocery store attack (More)

> Former Georgia prosecutor faces misconduct charges, with state officials alleging she shielded the men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery (More)

> Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he won't run for leadership of the country's governing party next month, effectively stepping down from the office amid criticism of the country's handling of COVID-19 (More)

WEEKEND READS

Tough Trees, Hot Fires

E&E News | David Ferris. Increasingly intense western wildfires are beginning to threaten California's redwoods, some of which are thousands of years old. (Read)

Why Do We Work Too Much?

New Yorker | Cal Newport. Even workers and executives who have some control over their own schedule tend to overwork themselves. (Read, paywall)

Ohio's Fake High School

USA Today | Staff. The story of Bishop Sycamore, who tricked ESPN into airing their high school football game, but whose address is a Columbus-area duplex. (Read)

24/7 PIZZA

In partnership with Piestro

It's 3 am and you want a slice of pizza. What are you doing up at 3 am?! Not important—Piestro's got you covered. 

With restaurant-quality pizzas in shopping malls, universities, office buildings, and so much more, Piestro's robotic pizzeria can serve up a pizza with all your favorite fix-ins in just three minutes (but if it's extra urgent you can order ahead online). To help fuel Piestro's global expansion—including $580M in pre-orders via commercial contracts—they're looking for investors like you to consider their offering. Check it out today—the round closes on 9/30.

Please support our sponsors!

ETCETERA

Editor's note: More than 3 million monthly clicks can't be wrong. Here are the most popular stories we ran in August. Enjoy!

(8/23) Go inside the world's most popular Airbnb.

(8/25) America's most beautiful towns.

(8/18) One in 10 Americans is unbanked.

(8/19) How Americans feel about cancel culture.

(8/10) The best and worst states to have a baby.

(8/18) Hypnotism: We have no idea what this is, but we can't stop watching.

(8/12) Man hooks a great white from the beach.

(8/4) Cite money constraints when declining invitations.

(8/20) Watch a squid blast through a deep-sea jellyfish.

(8/26) Venomous sea snakes are getting frisky with divers.

(8/31) Charting every type of known cognitive bias.

(8/9) The Olympics' best photos.

(8/19) More terrifying footage of Boston Dynamics' robots.

(8/6) Forbes' list of richest self-made women.

(8/24) Clickbait: Congrats to the potato photographer of the year.

(8/3) Bonus Clickbait: This woman has the world's biggest mouth

Historybook: Treaty of Paris signed, ending American Revolutionary War (1783); Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Marguerite Higgins born (1920); HBD author Malcolm Gladwell (1963); RIP football coaching legend Vince Lombardi (1970).

"If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires."

- Malcolm Gladwell

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