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| 📝 Good afternoon and welcome to Notes on the News. Here's what you should know today, Aug. 27: President Biden's top national security advisers warned that another attack in Kabul is likely, the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration's new eviction moratorium and Hurricane Ida could hit the Gulf Coast by Sunday. Let us know what you think by replying to this email. Thanks for reading. | |
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| |  | | A Taliban fighter stood guard Friday at the Kabul airport amid debris left by Thursday's attack.
PHOTO: WAKIL KOHSAR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES | | | | |
| 1. After a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghan fatalities rose to nearly 200. The bombing was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Afghanistan over the last 20 years. Despite the carnage, crowds of Afghans still desperate to evacuate gathered at the airport again on Friday. | |
| 2. China plans to ban data-heavy tech firms from going public in the U.S. The new rules would apply to companies with large amounts of sensitive consumer data, but those with less sensitive data are still likely to receive Beijing's approval for foreign listings, according to people familiar with the matter. | |
| 3. Peloton said U.S. officials are looking into how it reported product injuries. The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have issued subpoenas to the exercise equipment maker, the company said one day after it dropped the price of its original stationary bike by 20%. The federal scrutiny comes as Peloton is predicting slower growth in demand as people head back to in-person gyms. | |
| 4. The Texas House passed a Republican-backed voting bill. After 12 hours of debate in the chamber yesterday, GOP lawmakers advanced a contentious measure that Democrats had fled the state in an effort to halt. The bill, which is likely to be enacted, would limit early voting hours, ban public officials from offering unsolicited applications to vote by mail, empower partisan poll watchers and make it harder for election workers to remove them. | |
| 5. The Federal Reserve could start scaling back stimulus this year. Chairman Jerome Powell explained in greater detail why he expects a recent surge in inflation is temporary. One reason, he said, is that prices of certain items that contributed strongly to the recent hikes, such as used cars, have begun to decline. | |
| 6. ESPN is seeking a sports-betting deal worth at least $3 billion. The media company is hoping to capitalize on the fast-growing online gambling industry, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would let ESPN profit without taking bets or making payouts to winners. | |
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| 67 — Florida's total number of school districts, all of which can now impose mask mandates after a judge ruled today that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his authority by banning them. The state hit an all-time daily high in Covid-19 cases this week and set records for hospitalizations. At least 10 Florida school districts, including the six largest, have already defied the governor's order by mandating masks with no opt-out provision. 3 weeks — The quarantine period Hong Kong is requiring for most overseas arrivals, making it one of the world's strictest such policies. The rule is an effort to maintain zero locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, and it has worked despite backlash from business groups. Some residents have also said the rule is too onerous, discouraging overseas Hong Kongers from coming home because of the cost of prolonged hotel stays. $56,000 — The average price for a year of Biogen's new Alzheimer's drug, Aduhelm. The price puts the drug, which is administered monthly by infusion, out of reach for many patients. Health insurers are reluctant to pay for a medicine whose effectiveness is disputed among doctors, and many Alzheimer's clinics are holding off for now on prescribing it. | |
| | What Everyone Wants To Know | | |
| |  | | The Supreme Court on Thursday lifted the latest federal ban on evictions.
PHOTO: JOSE LUIS MAGANA/ASSOCIATED PRESS | | | | |
| The Supreme Court ruled that evictions can proceed. The court sided with landlords against an extended moratorium the Biden administration imposed this month, which has largely allowed tenants who were struggling to pay rent during the pandemic to remain in their homes. Evictions can now resume across the country, except in jurisdictions that have put in place their own moratoriums, like California and New York. June data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed approximately 1.2 million households were very likely to face eviction in the next two months. Meanwhile, just a tenth of the nearly $47 billion in federal emergency rental-assistance funds have been distributed, according to Treasury data from late July. This Supreme Court ruling will come as a relief to landlords, many of whom have lost out on rent payments for months. | |
| Hurricane Ida is on track to hit Louisiana on Sunday. As it headed toward the Gulf Coast, the tropical storm was upgraded to a hurricane this afternoon, adding another major storm to the busiest hurricane season on record. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency as officials urged residents to prepare for heavy rains, life-threatening storm surges and winds up to 120 miles an hour. Though the worst of the storm is expected in Louisiana, heavy rain could also sweep coastal Mississippi and Alabama. Current forecasts show Ida could strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane over the next two days. | |
| U.S. officials fear another attack in Kabul is likely. Days ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline the U.S. set to withdraw from Afghanistan, President Biden's national security advisers are warning that further terrorist violence could be imminent as evacuation efforts continue. The Pentagon attributed Thursday's deadly attack to ISIS-K, an Islamic State affiliate, but revised an earlier assessment that identified two suicide bombers, saying just one was responsible. The death toll has risen to 13 U.S. service members and nearly 200 Afghans killed. American officials have vowed to retaliate while continuing to airlift people from Kabul, and officials said they are taking steps to protect U.S. troops in the coming days, which they expect to be the most dangerous yet. Despite pressure from some lawmakers to extend the withdrawal deadline, Mr. Biden said doing so would bring added risk to U.S. troops. | |
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| |  | | CATCH A WAVE Creeping red fescue grass left long in front of an Ojai, Calif., studio forms undulating patterns. PHOTO: LISA ROMEREIN/OTTO | | | | |
- Go outside: If you have an outdoor space, consider swapping traditional turf for more environmentally friendly alternatives. Taking care of grass can be time-consuming and resource-heavy. But microclovers, wildflowers or drought-tolerant fescue grass can be more sustainable and still look great.
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| 🏖Notes on the News is hitting the beach and taking off Saturdays for the month of August. You'll still get the newsletter in your inbox from Sunday through Friday. Thanks for reading! | |
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| Today's newsletter was curated by Alex Janin in New York, in collaboration with colleagues in New York. We hope you're enjoying Notes on the News. If you would prefer to receive a different newsletter, please check out all your options to keep up with the latest on markets, economics, politics and more. For members, we recommend The 10-Point. | |
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