Good morning. It's Tuesday, Aug. 5, and we're covering a standstill in the Texas House, the culprit in a marine murder mystery, and much more. First time reading? Join over 4.5 million intellectually curious readers. Sign up here.
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The Texas House yesterday issued civil arrest warrants to force the return of Democratic lawmakers who left the state and blocked a vote on a Republican-led redistricting plan. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said the absent lawmakers had forfeited their seats and warned he would begin efforts to remove them from office if they didn't return. The warrants can only be enforced within Texas.
Most of the 62-member House Democrats left Texas Sunday to block a quorum and stall voting on a map that would create five additional Republican congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections. Texas’ constitution requires two-thirds of the 150-member Texas House to be present to advance legislation. See a history of the political maneuver's use in Texas here.
Democratic lawmakers, who traveled to states like Illinois and New York, argue the redrawn map dilutes the voting power of minority communities and displays characteristics of partisan gerrymandering. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas’ 38 US House seats. See an overview of gerrymandering here. |
Starfish Syndrome Breakthrough |
A study published yesterday identified Vibrio pectenicida bacteria as the cause of an ongoing and the largest-ever marine epidemic that has killed over 5 billion Pacific Ocean starfish over the past decade.
Sea star wasting syndrome, first seen in 2013 along North America’s Pacific coast, causes starfish to develop lesions, decay, and die. The disease has ravaged more than 20 species, wiping out over 90% of sunflower sea stars in under a decade. Their decline fueled a 10,000% rise in sea urchins along California's North Coast between 2014 and 2023. Roughly 96% of the region's kelp forest vanished during that period as unchecked sea urchin populations devoured kelp forests—key ecosystems that support biodiversity, capture carbon, and filter pollution.
Researchers exposed lab-raised sunflower sea stars to the disease under various conditions to confirm Vibrio pectenicida as the culprit. The team now aims to understand how the bacterium—which belongs to a genus that thrives in warming waters—triggers sea star wasting syndrome in hopes of preventing future outbreaks. |
A military trial began yesterday over the March 2024 Moscow concert hall shooting rampage that killed 149 people and wounded over 600 others. The attack, claimed by a regional ISIS affiliate, was the deadliest massacre in Russia’s capital in 20 years.
Nineteen people are on trial over the attack at Crocus City Hall concert venue, where attendees waited to see the popular rock band Picnic (see history). After gunning down concertgoers, four assailants set the venue ablaze. Authorities identified the suspects as citizens of Tajikistan, where an ISIS affiliate has recruited thousands of people. The US said it warned Russia of intelligence suggesting an imminent attack, but Moscow dismissed the warning amid its war with Ukraine.
Roughly 30 survivors were present at yesterday’s hearing, which is not open to the public. Defendants include the four alleged gunmen and 15 accomplices, held in Russia’s defendant cages. Human rights groups have criticized the treatment of the suspects over signs of torture. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> President Donald Trump to sign executive order today creating an intergovernmental task force related to 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (More) |
> The New York Post is set to launch new daily newspaper, The California Post, in early 2026 (More) | Sean "Diddy" Combs denied release on bail, will remain in jail ahead of Oct. 3 sentencing (More) |
> South Korean star Son Heung-Min to join Los Angeles FC from the English Premier League's Tottenham Hotspur for an MLS record transfer fee of $26M (More) | Texas and Ohio State top preseason college football coaches poll (More) |
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> AI startup Perplexity accused of using techniques similar to those of malicious hackers to evade instructions not to crawl and scrape webpages (More) | OpenAI's ChatGPT nears 700 million weekly users, up 400% from March (More) |
> Paleontologists discover new species of long-necked plesiosaur dating to roughly 180 million years ago; creature lived during a mass extinction known as the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (More) | Climatology 101: Our next Science & Technology newsletter comes out at 8:30 am ET today (Sign up here) |
> Researchers discover RNA virus responsible for a mass die-off of British Columbia oysters in 2020; strain is a "mega" virus, with one of the largest viral genomes on record (More) |
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In partnership with Med-X |
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> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +1.5%, Dow +1.3%, Nasdaq +2.0%) after losses Friday (More) | European Union delays countermeasures against US tariffs for six months as trade talks continue (More) | American Eagle shares surge 23.7% after President Donald Trump praises Sydney Sweeney ad campaign (More) |
> Elon Musk conditionally awarded roughly $30B in Tesla shares by the company's board to keep him as CEO through 2030 as litigation continues over his 2018 compensation package (More) |
> AI company Palantir tops $1B in second quarter earnings for first time and raises full-year revenue forecast after striking $10B, 10-year US Army deal last week (More) | About 3,200 Boeing defense workers in Missouri and Illinois strike after rejecting a contract offer; it's the aerospace company's second strike in less than a year (More) |
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> Justice Department to launch grand jury probe into how Obama administration officials handled intelligence about Russian interference in 2016 election (More) | Rep. Nancy Mace (R, SC-1) launches campaign for South Carolina governor (More) | New Hampshire becomes first state in the Northeast to ban medical interventions for transgender minors; joins 27 other states (More) |
> Israeli government votes to fire attorney general amid ongoing corruption trial against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; country's Supreme Court freezes the decision to consider legality (More) |
> Canada wildfires prompt air quality alerts throughout the US Midwest and Northeast; see map of affected areas (More) |
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> Tequila, Drugs, and Torture
WSJ | Ashley Wong, Ben Foldy, and John McCormick. Two millennial cryptocurrency investors had political ambitions, wooing influential American families. They've been arrested on charges of kidnapping and torture. (Read) |
> Snowboard to Drug Lord
Toronto Life | Simon Lewsen. El Toro is on the FBI's most wanted list—an alleged killer known for building a $1B cocaine operation. He was once an Olympic snowboarder from Canada. (Read) |
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