Good morning. It's Tuesday, July 15, and we're covering wildfires in and around one of America's national parks, Congress' focus on cryptocurrency, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4.5 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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Firefighters in Arizona are battling a pair of fast-moving wildfires (w/map) in and near the Grand Canyon. As of this writing, the Dragon Bravo Fire and the White Sage Fire have burned more than 55,000 acres of land together—roughly the size of Washington, DC.
The Dragon Bravo Fire, started by lightning on July 4, has destroyed up to 80 structures, including a historic lodge and a wastewater treatment plant, which caused a chlorine gas leak. The blaze also forced the closure of the Grand Canyon's North Rim (a less popular area that draws in fewer than 10% of tourists) for the rest of the year. It has burned around 5,700 acres. The White Sage Fire, also caused by lightning, began July 9 about 35 miles north of the Dragon Bravo Fire and has burned around 50,000 acres. Both fires are 0% contained as of this writing.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) has called for an independent investigation into federal wildfire management after reports that the Dragon Bravo Fire was initially treated as a "controlled burn" amid extremely dry, windy conditions. |
The US House of Representatives will begin considering three cryptocurrency-related bills today. The legislative push, dubbed "Crypto Week," is expected to yield the country’s first major crypto legislation. Bitcoin hit an all-time high yesterday, at one point trading above $123K amid promises of clearer regulations.
The first of the three bills—the GENIUS Act—passed the Senate last month and is expected to clear the House before President Donald Trump signs it. The bill aims to regulate stablecoins, which are easy and cheap to transfer but differ from bitcoins in that they are dollar-pegged. A second bill regulates the broader digital currency market, dividing oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A third bill limits the Federal Reserve’s ability to create a central bank digital currency.
Trump has positioned himself as a crypto-friendly president; his crypto investments are estimated to make up roughly 10% of his net worth. Learn more about cryptocurrency from 1440 Topics here. |
The first federal jury trial against Tesla began in a Miami court yesterday involving its Autopilot driver-assistance system, designed to perform basic maneuvers and alert drivers to upcoming obstacles. Most previous lawsuits against Tesla were either dismissed or settled out of court.
The case centers on a 2019 crash in which a man was driving his Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged (see how it works). As he bent to retrieve a dropped phone, the Tesla hit a parked SUV, killing 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and severely injuring her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. Benavides' family and Angulo are pursuing punitive damages against Tesla, alleging Autopilot malfunctioned and Tesla overpromised drivers about the technology’s capabilities. Tesla’s lawyers are expected to argue the driver was responsible for supervising the system and present data showing his foot was on the accelerator before the crash.
The trial comes as Tesla aims to expand its self-driving taxi service nationwide and faces a second year of declining sales, with last quarter’s deliveries falling 13.5% year over year. |
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In partnership with SmartAsset |
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7 Mistakes When Choosing A Financial Advisor |
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Working with a financial advisor can be a crucial part of any healthy retirement plan.
Research suggests that people who work with a financial advisor feel more at ease about their finances and could end up with about 15% more money to spend in retirement.* But choosing the wrong one could wreak havoc. Avoiding these 7 mistakes people make when hiring an advisor could potentially help reduce financial stress.
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> The 2025 MLB All-Star Game set for tonight (8 pm ET, FOX); see roster breakdown and preview (More) | 2025 MLB Draft wraps; see full tracker of all 615 picks (More) | The history of MLB (1440 Topics) |
> John Elway won't face charges in the April death of his friend and agent Jeff Sperbeck, who died from injuries sustained after falling off a golf cart driven by Elway (More) |
> Animated children's show "Bluey" is most streamed US show in first half of 2025 with 25 billion minutes viewed (More) | HBO's "Harry Potter" TV series begins production, sets 2027 release date (More) | "Superman" flies to $122M in its opening weekend to lead US domestic box office (More) |
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In partnership with Death & Co |
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> Defense Department awards contracts worth up to $200M to Google, Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI to develop AI systems for unspecified national security applications (More) |
> Astronomers detect the largest merger of two black holes to date via measuring gravitational waves; collision produced a single black hole roughly 225 times the mass of the sun (More) | What happens if you fall into a black hole? (1440 Topics) |
> Photonic quantum device—systems that use light to perform quantum computing tasks—integrated into a commercial electronic chip for the first time; marks a key step toward manufacturing light-based quantum computers (More) | Einstein's insight underlying quantum computing (1440 Topics) |
Microplastics: Today's 1440 Science & Technology newsletter explores the tiny particles found everywhere on Earth. Email comes out at 8:30 am ET—sign up here to receive! |
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> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.3%) as investors continue to monitor trade talks and look ahead to second quarter earnings reports (More) |
> Cognition AI to acquire coding startup Windsurf in deal with undisclosed financial terms; follows failed acquisition by OpenAI and $2.4B licensing deal between Google and Windsurf last week (More) |
> Amazon’s Prime Day event drove over $24B in e-commerce sales—the equivalent of two Black Fridays—with traffic from generative AI products increasing 3,300% year over year (More) | Starbucks employees ordered to work in person four days a week by October or take payouts; some leaders must also relocate to headquarters within 12 months (More) |
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> Supreme Court clears the Trump administration to lay off over 1,300 employees at the Department of Education, functionally eliminating the agency (More) | Two dozen states sue the federal government for withholding $6.8B in education funds (More) |
> President Donald Trump announces plan to sell Patriot air defense systems, other weapons to Ukraine, paid for by European allies; Trump threatens tariffs on Russian goods if a peace deal is not reached within 50 days (More) | Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launches independent mayoral bid after Democratic primary loss to Zohran Mamdani (More) |
> Food and Drug Administration approves blue color additive derived from gardenia fruit as part of larger push to remove synthetic dyes from American diets (More) | Dozens of ice cream makers, representing roughly 90% of the US market, pledge to stop using artificial dyes by 2028 (More) |
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> The Price of Revenge
Hidden Brain | Staff. Psychology professor James Kimmel Jr. explains the addictive nature of revenge—and how he narrowly avoided becoming a murderer. (Listen) |
> 'Superfake' Luxury Handbags
WSJ | Carol Ryan, Bobby Doherty, Annie Ng. Fake high-end handbags are no longer confined to the knockoffs sold on street corners. The most realistic models can run customers $500 to $5K and are purchased surreptitiously through apps like WhatsApp. (Read) |
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In partnership with SmartAsset |
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How to Set Up a Family Trust |
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*Disclosure: "Journal of Retirement Study Winter" (2020). The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of your future results. Please follow the link to see the methodologies employed in the Journal of Retirement study.
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