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The Emmys are in a week. Here's what to absolutely watch

Two pop culture experts weigh in with their picks.

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Sep 5 • 11:46 AM EDT • Entertainment • nbcphiladelphia.com
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😐 Neutral (16%)
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Vitality Acquires Icario, Creating Health Engagement Platform Serving 19 Million Members

Vitality has acquired Icario, creating a combined health engagement platform that will serve approximately 19 million members and 30% of U.S. health plans, including eight of the country's 10 largest plans.

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Sep 5 • 11:42 AM EDT • Health • pulse2.com
Have we got our Galaxy completely wrong? Scientists just worked out it's much wider than they thought | BBC Sky at Night Magazine

New measurements of our Milky Way Galaxy show its spiral arms lie up to 10 per cent farther away than expected.

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Sep 5 • 10:49 AM EDT • Science • skyatnightmagazine.com
10 Desk Gadgets Under $100 That Deserve A Spot In Your Home Office

While big-ticket items get all the attention, there are also some relatively affordable desk gadgets that you can buy to upgrade your current setup.

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Sep 5 • 10:02 AM EDT • Technology • bgr.com
Mariners News: Troy Taylor, Shane McClanahan, and Luis Durango

Good morning, foLLks, and happy Labor Day Weekend! The M’s fell to ten games under .500, losing 7-6 to the A’s. Now seven games back of the Astros, I think a fork can be safely stuck in the 2026 Mariners season. The string demands to be played out, though, and if you’re a true glutton […]

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Sep 5 • 10:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Green Bay Packers receive low defensive ranking from PFF prior to Week 1 of 2026 NFL season

The Green Bay Packers defense has a lot to prove in 2026. Unfortunately, one of those things is that they can play well without All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons. He, of course, is out for at least the first four games of the season as he works his way back from a torn ACL. With [...]

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Sep 5 • 9:40 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
☹️ Negative (-7%)
Bucs Insider Delivers Harsh Prediction for Bucs Star WR

Most expectations are for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ second-year wide receiver Emeka Egbuka to take over the team’s passing attack. However, while Scott Reynolds of Pewter Report definitely could see Egbuka as a leading receiver, he does not think it is quite so clear-cut. Reynolds made a prediction that, because of an early turf toe […] The post Bucs Insider Delivers Harsh Prediction for Bucs Star WR appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 5 • 9:36 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
In 2024, scientists dyed Michigan’s Peter Lake blue to block sunlight, then added fertilizer; despite the dye, rain washed pigment out and algae turned it green

In the summer of 2024, researchers dyed the water of Peter Lake, located in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, USA, with a non-toxic blue dye called Aquashade, then deliberately added fertilizer to the same lake. The experiment wasn't done for beautification.

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Sep 5 • 9:10 AM EDT • Science • timesofindia.indiatimes.com
How Do You Turn Plastic Waste Into an Edible Cookie? Scientists Found a Way

Researchers at Southern Illinois University are working to make food derived from PET and plant waste taste better, look better, and ultimately win over consumers.

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Sep 5 • 9:01 AM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
Low-income patients at UCLA Health scramble to find new doctors as contract ends

Thousands of low-income patients, some desperately ill, are scrambling to find new doctors as they lose access to UCLA Health physicians after an eight-year Medi-Cal contract was not renewed.

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Sep 5 • 6:00 AM EDT • Health • latimes.com
Used Toyota Yaris costs more than ride-hailing services

Buying a used Toyota Yaris was costly compared to relying on Uber and Lyft. The analysis highlights Uber's competition with car ownership.

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Sep 5 • 5:37 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Will a Turnaround Plan Revive Volkswagen or Merely Delay Its Demise?

The beleaguered auto giant reached a deal with unions to cut tens of thousands of jobs and slash production. Is it enough to revive an iconic German company?

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Sep 5 • 5:03 AM EDT • Business • nytimes.com
🫣 Here we go again? Wirtz sets unwanted PL record

Florian Wirtz’s first season at Liverpool definitely did not go as planned, despite an improvement in performances in the second half of the campaign. So things were supposed to get much better in h...

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Sep 5 • 4:16 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Why new Newcastle United approach could finally cause Bournemouth problems

Bournemouth have become a proper pain in the backside for Newcastle United lately. It is not just bad luck either, there’s a reason why NUFC have found them so difficult.

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Sep 5 • 2:05 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Bears Handed Intriguing Josh Sweat Take Amid 49ers Speculation

The San Francisco 49ers will likely be in the market for pass rush help if they are contenders once the trade deadline rolls around. Nonetheless, the question will be: Which pass rusher would make sense for the Niners?There are a couple of veteran pass rushers on rebuilding teams that could be a good fit for […] The post Bears Handed Intriguing Josh Sweat Take Amid 49ers Speculation appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 4 • 10:04 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
🙂 Positive (30%)
Dianna Russini’s Next NFL Move Takes Shape as Barstool Sports Emerges as Favorite

Dianna Russini may not be away from the NFL spotlight much longer.Five months after leaving The Athletic, Russini is “absolutely” planning a return to sports media and has been discussing several potential opportunities, according to a new report from Front Office Sports.And one possible landing spot has quickly separated itself from the pack.Front Office Sports’ […] The post Dianna Russini’s Next NFL Move Takes Shape as Barstool Sports Emerges as Favorite appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 4 • 9:11 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (27%)
Vikings rookie defender challenging veteran for key role

The Vikings may have a surprise Day 3 contributor who can step into the defensive backfield immediately.

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Sep 4 • 8:55 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Insider Gets Blunt on Commanders’ Jayden Daniels Before Eagles Game

Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels was hit with the injury bug last season, so the team will have to do everything possible to ensure that Daniels stays healthy this campaign. Nonetheless, the entire responsibility for Daniels’ health shouldn’t solely be on the offensive line. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer believes that the Commanders QB also should […] The post Insider Gets Blunt on Commanders’ Jayden Daniels Before Eagles Game appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 4 • 8:50 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Court Filings In A.I. Suit Invoke Copyright Law, Culture and Sports

Filings made Friday in The New York Times’s closely watched lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft included a range of copyright law and cultural references.

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Sep 4 • 8:02 PM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com
Adult Post-operative Mental Health Outcomes Following Abdominal and Orthopedic Surgeries: A Scoping Review

Poor mental health has been shown to negatively impact surgical outcomes; however, the impact of surgery on mental health remains under-investigated. Therefore, in this scoping review, we aimed ...

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Sep 4 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • cureus.com
Double Fine Boss Says 'We Never Actively Tried To Make A Game We Thought Was Going To Lose Money'

Setting the record straight on making artsy games vs. ones that sell

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Sep 4 • 7:00 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
AI-generated ads have come to Oakland politics. Accessible solution

Slowly but surely, more campaigns are using videos and songs made with artificial intelligence. We asked local candidates and experts about the implications.

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Sep 4 • 6:37 PM EDT • Politics • oaklandside.org
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15 discouraging hours with Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and 10 brilliant ones with He Who Watches

In the last few weeks, while playing some video games that I might review, I emailed two cries for help. I sent the first to a rep for Capcom, confessing that the company’s samurai game Onimusha Way of the Sword (out today for PC and console) was crushing me. “Feels like I’m playing ‘hard’ mode, not ‘normal,’” I wrote. “And I don’t want to have to knock it down to “story”. I’m exploring, trying to level my gear, but these two-phase boss fights with no mid-fight checkpoints are brutal.” I wagered I was only about halfway through the game, if that. I wasn’t sure I could keep up with the steepening difficulty curve. Was I missing something? Then, on Monday, I took some photos of some puzzles that were baffling me in the mind-bending He Who Watches (out now on PC), wrote out lengthy descriptions of how I’d been trying to solve them and asked Bobby Vanden, the game’s solo developer, for a nudge in the right direction. I told Vanden I’d spent hours on these puzzles. “I’m stuck in triplicate,” I told him. Could he tell me if the solutions I was attempting were even on the right track? I didn’t mention that the puzzles—coupled with major time pressures from other work—were stressing me out so much that playing the game was giving me headaches. This double dose of panic was unusual. I’m used to managing a workload full of reporting and reviewing, used to a crowded schedule and the need to stay calm amid the bustle. But I was stressed about these games. No one was forcing me to review them, nor even play them. I’d simply found them interesting enough to start, hoped they’d be interesting enough to write about and I’d sunk hours into them assuming I’d made the right call. Suddenly, however, I felt trapped. I was emailing for a way out. Above: This guy took me about an hour to beat. The feedback I got from Capcom confirmed my fears. They didn’t say it, but I will: Onimusha Way of the Sword is not for me. It’s a brutally hard game in need of a normal difficulty level. It’s a game that spikes so severely during its abundant boss fights—yet offers such flawed ways to improve when outside of them—that it feels like a bait-and-switch. In the new Onimusha, you play as famed samurai Musashi Miyamoto, aided by a magical soul-absorbing gauntlet that is possessed by a lady who offers advice. (Way of the Sword is a continuation of Capcom’s long-dormant Onimusha series, but that set-up had me wondering if the company was cribbing from their ill-fated Bionic Commando reboot; read about “wife-arm” when you get a chance). Way of the Sword is partially set in 17th century Kyoto, an explorable city where Miyamoto can fight demons, help civilians and eventually rescue ghostly dogs. The city evolves over time, with new mini adventures and obtainable loot on offer, all feeding into systems that promise to upgrade your gear and sword-fighting skills. Upgrades, however, are so incremental as to be imperceptible, causing the exploration of Kyoto to feel like inconsequential busywork. From that hub, players can go on linear missions into forests and old temples, where they will encounter many of the game’s tough bosses. Combat in Way of the Sword is akin to many modern melee games. Players are asked to mix attacks with dodges and parries. They’re encouraged to deplete an enemy’s stamina bar in order to do greater damage to its health bar. The old Onimusha games’ signature move was the issen, a counter-attack so sudden it’s all but pre-emptive. You strike just as they begin to strike toward you, beating them to the cut. By definition, the issen is a high risk move, leaving you wide open to pain. It feels risky in the game, especially against bosses, who can maul you in just a few blows. A game might train you to perform an issen well by offering a variety of lesser enemies who are not as tough as the boss but get close. Or it might offer a toehold against bosses by saving or checkpointing the player’s progress when a boss’ first health bar has been destroyed and before the second health bar appears. It might offer the less skilled player a chance to over-level their character, should the player simply commit to playing through its optional sidequests. Way of the Sword does none of this. Fighting its trivially easy grunt enemies and then its ferociously adept bosses is like playing a game of chess where I’ve got a rook, while the opposing side is all pawns and five queens. Bosses simply don’t checkpoint. You may be able to clear a boss’ first phase without taking much damage. Good for you. Do it again, every time you fail the second phase. As for the the central Kyoto hub, I kept pace with all of its added side activities and never felt like I was overpowered. Bosses could still easily buckle me. The new Onimusha, I concluded, is just too discouraging to keep playing. The advice I got from Capcom had been well-intentioned. They reminded me of the game’s various systems. They alerted me to an optional assist that flashes recommended button inputs (basically: counter this move; dodge that move). It was a little helpful. So was dropping down to “story mode,” which I tried last night. Story mode turns on those button prompts by default. It makes countering and dodging way too easy, nearly automatic. I don’t consider myself a master of action games like these, but I’ve cleared the likes of God of War, Stellar Blade, Star Wars Jedi and others of sub-Sekiro difficulty and had a fun time doing so. Not here. Not yet. Unless they patch Onimusha: Way of the Sword and add a middle difficulty or just checkpoint the damn bosses when they’re between health bars, my streak of loving Capcom games released in 2026 will likely end at two. It’s a shame, because I was having a good time finding those ghostly dogs. And then there’s He Who Watches, a phenomenal first person puzzle game with Portal vibes, except instead of a portal gun you’ve got a magical bow that shoots one arrow that can activate switches or be used to drag blocks. The twist is an actual twist: you can also walk on walls and the ceiling, reorienting gravity as you do, thereby placing blocks onto those other surfaces. Walking on walls and ceilings to solve problems is really the best thing. Would that I could in reality. He Who Watches consists of locked-room challenges, each brief enough to only require about a minute to actually solving, though it will take five, 10, eventually 30 minutes to figure out said solutions. They are not obvious! It’s a game of layered mechanics and shocking solutions. For example, see if you can follow this: You can drag a block to a wall. Then you can walk on the wall, which now feels like the floor, and drag that block across the wall. Later, back on the floor, you might realize you can look up. The block is still on the wall, stuck to it. You can shoot your magic arrow to its underside. Doing so creates a tether, so that you can yank the block off the wall and carry it, as if it were a balloon, into the spot where you need it to be to solve the puzzle. Here, watch Vanden explain some of the game’s basics in this launch trailer: As with any great puzzle game, the solutions to He Who Watches’ puzzles elicit relief and amazement. Oh my god, that worked! I didn’t even think that could be possible! Learning to solve the game’s puzzles feels like learning magic. But, oh, does the game get hard. Its Steam reviews, mostly glowing, are full of players remarking how quickly He Who Watches made them sweat. Wrote one: “loving this one already although my brain is hurting!” Wrote another: “As you get further in the game it feels like you need an IQ level of at least 120+.” Vanden has shown some mercy. Each locked room puzzle includes an optional junior version of the puzzle, meant to teach you. Difficulty nevertheless ramps severely. By the time I was emailing Vanden for help, I was struggling to even clear one of the hint puzzles. When I messaged him, my stress was exacerbated by strange things I’d found in the game’s various hubs: suspicious passageways, odd blocks and some intriguing locked doors. These were hints of secrets, I realized, yet I sensed I needed to play further into the game to understand them. I was stuck, but I wanted to see the rest. Vanden offered to give me the exact solutions, to solve those three puzzles for me, but first he gave four nudges. Three were for the specific puzzles, but his best hint was for all and ultimately proved to be a terrific life lesson: go back a bit, he suggested. Do the puzzles right before those. They were teaching you something. Focus on what their lesson was. Don’t rush, in other words. Recognize what you’ve accomplished. Build off of that. I did so. I absorbed the lessons. I saw those three tough puzzles in a new light. I solved one the night after he wrote back, another the morning after. I left a third for another time. I didn’t need it and I wanted to plunge deeper into the game, closer to the moment when I was sure I could start unlocking those secret doors. My head stopped hurting, too. He Who Watches feels special. It’s got more challenges, and I’m undeterred. It’s also nice that its puzzles don’t have a surprise second health bar. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: In brief… 🎮 Ilari Kuittinen, co-founder of Helsinki-based Housemarque (Super Stardust HD, Resogun, Returnal) has stepped down from his studio, after a 31-year run, saying he’s “ taking a rare and well-deserved breather.” Sony purchased Housemarque in 2021, and the studio released its newest game, Saros, earlier this year. Trend-watch: Sony-owned Insomniac saw its founder Ted Price retire in early 2025, after a 30-year run. Sony-owned Sucker Punch saw its co-founder Brian Fleming step down in late 2025, after a 28-year run. 👀 Savvy Games Group chief Brian Ward is stepping down from the Saudi-government-backed games conglomerate, Bloomberg reports. No word on a long-term successor yet, nor if this augurs any closer integration between Savvy and Electronic Arts. EA was purchased by a consortium led by Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, in early August. 💿 Square Enix has denied a Japanese media report that the company was planning to go private. In very different Square Enix news, the company revealed that the physical version of Final Fantasy VII: Revelation, the April 2027 finale of its radical remakes of FFVII, will include just one disc in its case, requiring a download for the rest. The first two FFVII remakes in the trilogy shipped on two discs apiece. While Square hasn’t commented on the reason why, a feature here in Game File last month broke down the processes and costs for physical games. The expense of a second disc comes out of the game publisher’s cut of each copy. Square could be saving in excess of a dollar a copy with this move. 🟥 Grand Theft Auto IV’s 26-minute ’‘extended look” gameplay showcase that premiered on Netflix last week—and was exclusive to the platform for six hours—drew 31.1 million views in its first four days, the streamer announced. (Netflix calculates views as total viewed hours divided by runtime; excludes replays). Compared to YouTube: The version that later premiered on Rockstar Games’ YouTube channel is sitting at 22.6 million views after seven days (YouTube’s more liberal counting system tallies anyone who viewed even just the first few second.) Compared to other Netflix mega-events: Last year, Stranger Things season 5’s first four episodes, which debuted together, drew a record 59.6 million views in their first few days on Netflix. For more of a live event type of comparison, in 2024, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match drew 65 million concurrent streams as it happened; Netflix didn’t release live numbers for the GTA premiere. ☁️ Microsoft is changing the way it charges for cloud gaming, from an all-you-can-play offer for Xbox Game Pass subscribers, to caps for the subscription’s tiers (15 hours per month at the Ultimate tier), with the option to buy more hours in bulk beyond that. The company also said it will sell batches of cloud gaming time to non-Game Pass subscribers, details TBA. Microsoft does not release figures for cloud game usage, but said its changes would impact 4% of Game Pass subscribers. That implies a small portion of its subscribers exceed the 15-hour monthly mark. Cloud gaming offers the promise of playing games without the need for console or PC hardware, as the graphics, sound and controls are all transmitted via a streaming connection. Microsoft notes that its cloud gaming service can be used for a range of things, including Xbox One players using it to play newer-gen Xbox Series games via streaming; and people playing games via streaming, sans any console, “in markets where consoles are less available or affordable.” (That latter use case could even be relevant in Xbox’s home market soon, as console prices keep rising.) Take Two Interactive chairman Strauss Zelnick recently told investors he expects game-streaming tech, which has been only lightly adopted by gamers for over a decade, to be widely used within three years. 🇺🇸 The Trump administration has published multiple agenda-driven web video games to the White House’s website. One called Build The Wall partially clones Tetris as it asks players to build a wall to stop a “zombie border siege.” While actual Tetris involves clearing lines and basically not building a wall, the Trump-backed game omits the line-clearing aspect (and omits the fun as well). On Instagram, Tetris’ official license holders reacted by stating: “At Tetris we believe in the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them. To our fans everywhere: we love you, we see you, and we’re grateful to have you in our community. P.S. The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of ‘Build the Wall.’ P.P.S.: We take copyright infringement very seriously.” Item 3: The week ahead: Tuesday, September 8 Game releases: Mewgenics (consoles; already out on PC) is an engrossing tactical combat game (with cats). It is getting its console port right after the release of a Star Wars tactics game and ahead of the late September launch of a Fire Emblem–a bumper crop for the genre. Wanderburg (PC) is an auto-shooting game like Vampire Survivors, but you’re a castle on wheels Event: Nintendo airs a 30-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on The Legend of Zelda’s 40th Anniversary. A full unveiling of the upcoming remake of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is expected. Will they also show footage from next year’s live action movie? Tease the next big 3D Zelda? Add Link to Mario Kart World? Shadow-drop a new Tingle game? Wednesday, September 9 Event: Nintendo again! On this day, they’re planning to air a 45-minute Nintendo Direct (10am ET) focused on games heading to Switch 2 this winter. Followed by about an hour of gameplay demoed by the company’s Treehouse team. The September Nintendo Directs are always some of the year’s biggest. The 2025 edition included announcements of several major 2026 Switch/Switch 2 games: Pokémon Pokopia, Mario Tennis Fever, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Fire Emblem Fortune’s Weave. Plus the return of the Virtual Boy. Friday, September 11 Game release: EA Sports NHL 27 (PlayStation, Xbox) is a hockey game. There are so few that an indie studio that had been making wacky sci-fi first-person shooters just announced that, hey, we’re going to fill a void and make a hockey game for PC.

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Sep 4 • 6:23 PM EDT • Technology • gamefile.news
Letter from Iranian Former Political Prisoners, Writers, Scholars, Activists

We, the undersigned former Iranian political prisoners, activists, writers, artists, intellectuals, academic scholars, researchers, and members of civil society within Iran and in exile, stand resolutely in support of the open letter published in The Guardian on 20 August 2026,

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Sep 4 • 6:21 PM EDT • Politics • newpol.org
Should the Miami Heat Have Aggressively Pursued Ben Simmons?

As Sacramento gambles on the former All-Star, the Miami Heat's championship-caliber roster avoids the risk, prioritizing established veterans over a reclamation project with declining production and immense pressure.

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Sep 4 • 6:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Foldable 'iPhone Ultra' Still Likely to Be Missing These Five Features

Apple's first foldable iPhone, dubbed the "iPhone Ultra," is expected to launch without at least four features that will be present on the iPhone 18 Pro models, despite a price tag of at least $2,000. The iPhone Air lacks Ultra Wide and Telephoto rear cameras, a SIM card slot, and stereo speakers.

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Sep 4 • 6:00 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com
BRAVES VS. PHILLIES: NL EAST SHOWDOWN HAS ARRIVED

The calendar has flipped to September, and the National League East race is about to get extremely interesting. The Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies begin a massive four-game series Friday at Citizens Bank Park, with the Braves entering the weekend sitting four games ahead of Philadelphia in the division. Atlanta comes in at 83-57, while…

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Sep 4 • 5:36 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Lending a trusted ear to farmer mental health struggles

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and that’s especially important in rural areas, where suicide rates are roughly 1.5 times higher than urban areas. A lack of rural mental health care options and a negative stigma against discussing mental health have contributed heavily to this issue. Fortunately, a new project in the Midwest is aiming […]

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Sep 4 • 5:30 PM EDT • Health • iowaagribusinessradionetwork.com
New method predicts where massive earthquakes will strike

UC Riverside scientists have developed a way to identify where Earth’s biggest earthquakes are most likely to occur.

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Sep 4 • 5:16 PM EDT • Science • news.ucr.edu
STHS and Prominence Health Partner to Raise Malnutrition Awareness Among Local Seniors

Mega Doctor News Good nutrition is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, components of healthy aging. As people grow older, changes in appetite, chronic health conditions, medications and other age-related factors can make it more difficult to meet their nutritional needs, increasing the risk for serious health complications. Unfortunately, malnutrition is often a […]

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Sep 4 • 5:15 PM EDT • Health • megadoctornews.com
Taos Whole Health announces it will shut its doors

Taos’ shortage of primary care physicians and healthcare options generally will likely worsen in early October, when Taos Whole Health Integrative Care clinic will shut its doors for good.

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Sep 4 • 5:13 PM EDT • Health • taosnews.com
‘Wheel of Fortune’ announcer fired after airline laptop incident

Sony Pictures Television has fired Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton over an incident on a Los Angeles-bound flight involving his participation in an online chatroom, TMZ reported Friday. “Following a thorough investigation, Jim Thornton’s employment with Wheel of Fortune has been terminated, effective immediately,” a studio spokesperson told TMZ. The incident unfolded in May […]

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Sep 4 • 5:10 PM EDT • Entertainment • ktla.com
Ethics Cmte. deadine passes to take action against Max Miller before election

Amid national scrutiny on Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, over domestic abuse allegations, Congress appears unlikely to take any actions against Miller before the election.

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Sep 4 • 5:00 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumnews1.com
Art & Science Combine in Digital Art Exhibition in Portland in October

Unlikely Universes is an exhibition of Ann Tracy's digital works on canvas, metal and paper; the show opens with an artist's reception from 5:00 to 8:00

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Sep 4 • 4:48 PM EDT • Science • maineartscene.com
Opponents of new abortion law eye 2028 repeal effort

Activists angered over a new law that removes barriers to abortions later in pregnancy have filed paperwork seeking to suspend and ultimately repeal the measure in the 2028 election cycle.

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Sep 4 • 4:10 PM EDT • Politics • statehousenews.com
Maria Bartiromo’s lawyer claims she’s ‘still an employee at Fox’ after network said she’s ‘no longer’ at channel

Fox announced Thursday that Bartiromo “is no longer with Fox News Media” effective immediately.

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Sep 4 • 3:53 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com
The Fierce Battle For Kids’ Eyeballs...Plus Two “Devils” Face Off

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) During the week of this report, Spider-Man: Brand New Day hit theaters and went on to become one of the biggest films of all time. So, you know what that means! It’s time for a poll! Recently, Project Hail Mary came to Prime Video and became a top five film for them, but didn’t smash streaming records, a feat I cautiously thought it could accomplish. Can Spider-Man 4 do better? To set the stakes, some of the biggest films of all time do just okay on streaming. Wicked, Top Gun: Maverick, and Barbie come to mind... But unlike those films, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a Sony film which means it’s headed to Netflix, the world’s largest streamer. Now, per friend of the newsletter and my go-to Netflix expert, Kasey Moore of What’s on Netflix, Sony films usually appear on Netflix 120 days after they premiere, which means Spidey 4 would land on Netflix on, checks notes, 28-November, one of the two biggest streaming weekends of the year! But Sony occasionally delays its biggest hits for a bit longer, to give them more time to make money on PVOD, so Spider-Man: Brand New Day might not swing onto Netflix until late December or even February 2027. Loading... Okay, on to this week’s issue. Since The Super Mario Galaxy Movie made its way to Peacock, I’m looking at the true workhorse of streaming viewership: kids films. And the surprising film that bested most Netflix animated movies. All that, plus Hulu has a new show that might be a hit (for them…?), two “Devils” square off on streaming, Zendaya tries to find some streaming magic, Netflix’s I Will Find You continues to do well, House of the Dragon tries to break into the season three top ten, some big NBC sports and summer programs, what friendly neighborhood Spider-Man character actually generates the most viewership on streaming, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of July 27th to August 2nd, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - As The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Hits Peacock, How Have Kids Films Fared in 2026? Like Mario hopping on a Koopa, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie landed on Peacock on 30-July. (Yeah, I kinda forced that Mario reference.) How did it do? Great, just like the first film. It got 13.0 million hours on its opening, and that’s good enough to take second place among Peacock films on the Nielsen charts all time: As I mention all the time, Peacock just isn’t the world’s biggest streamer—in fact, nowhere close—so its films struggle to put up numbers like Netflix (or even Prime Video and Disney+). So this is a solid debut for that streamer. And as we saw last time, The Super Mario Bros. Movie had a HUGE second life on Netflix when it moved streamers. This chart doesn’t even show how long the first Mario lasted on Netflix: a whopping, KPop-esque 31 weeks. For NBCUniversal, though, the big win was the second Mario movie grossing $429 million in America and over $1 billion globally. But yeah, to add a very strong streaming performance only makes its success even greater. Illumination pretty clearly has another hit franchise on their hands. This is a good time, though, to check in on kids films so far in 2026. We’ve had a few big, big titles, a rare Netflix success, and some disappointments. Let’s start with the top animated films since November of 2025, over their first four weeks on the charts, along with a few of the “best all time” animated films: (As a reminder, if a film doesn’t make the Nielsen top ten lists, I don’t have data for it, so it gets a “zero” in terms of viewership. Now, it had some viewership, but I don’t know what it is, so it gets a zero.) I added a few titles to get an idea of what the best of the best looks like in terms of animation. And you can see, through four weeks, Zootopia 2 can now claim “one of the biggest streaming films of all time” titles. GOAT too did surprisingly well, besting Netflix’s biggest films (Swapped and In Your Dreams) through four weeks. When I’ve talked about how films can have varying performances on streaming compared to their box office, this is what I mean. Goat just managed to gross even $103 million at the box office—so it’s popular, but just barely—but did very well on streaming. Of course, what set Encanto and KPop Demon Hunters apart from the rest was their absolutely insane longevity. Here are the kids film charts through eight weeks to show that: And really KPop Demon Hunters just kept going, and no 2025 or 2026 kids films have had that sort of longevity. I can’t wait to see the sequel in theaters. Film - Two Devils and a Drama As I wrote last week, in the past, theatrical-first film flops weren’t eligible for “Miss of the Week” or “Miss of the Year” honors/dishonors, but since so many more films go to theaters first these days, I’ve made them eligible now! But it’s complicated. You see, this is a Streaming Ratings Report, emphasis on streaming, which makes analyzing this week’s two biggest streaming misses—The Drama on HBO Max (A24’s dramedy starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson) and Prime Video’s The Devil Mouth (a killer shark movie starring young attractive people)—somewhat tricky. The Drama isn’t eligible for Luminate, but The Devil’s Mouth only had 1.5 million hours in its first week: The Devil’s Mouth notched 5.2 million hours according to Nielsen. Meanwhile, The Drama missed the charts entirely. Not great! But Prime Video is a much bigger streamer than HBO Max. That said, HBO Max titles are on Prime Video, but I think Prime Video prioritizes their original/exclusive titles, which helps boost their viewership. Complicating this further, The Drama made $48 million in the US—while A24 sells foreign distribution; the $57 million of overseas grosses helps A24 sell overseas rights for money in the future—off of a $28 million budget (which seems low for Zendaya and Pattinson, so they might have backend). The Devil’s Mouth, though, had zero dollars at the box office. The other stats for The Devil’s Mouth are bleak, and by “bleak”, I mean horrendous: a 4.7 on 15K reviews on IMDb (yikes) and a 46 on Metacritic (double yikes). The Drama, though buzzy online, only has a solid (but far from elite) 7.1 IMDb score on 121K reviews and a 59 on Metacritic (which is far, far lower than I’d have guessed). So which film is the “Miss of the Week”? I’m giving it to The Devil’s Mouth for one simple reason: it’s a horror film. And almost all horror films, even poorly reviewed horror films, should get a shot in theaters to at least try to recoup some of their budgets. The Drama made money at the box office and The Devil’s Mouth didn’t. It’s just like the situation last issue with Obsession and Masters of the Universe. Sure, Obsession didn’t pop on the streaming charts, but at least it already made it money at the box office. And as we’ve been seeing for years now and we’ll see all fall, theatrical films just do better on streaming. After all, the big “devil” winner this week was actually The Devil Wears Prada 2 with 14.8 million hours according to Nielsen. That’s right, The Devil Wears Prada 2—one of the box office success stories of May—came to streaming and parlayed its $220 million box office into 14.8 million Nielsen hours. Disney also put out a datecdote that it had 15.2 million “views” globally in five days, but again we don’t have a lot of great context for what that means. Here’s how it stacks up to other Hulu films, since I’m categorizing this mainly as a Hulu title (though it was also on Disney+): Share Quick Notes on Film We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Whether Hulu has a new hit show on its hands... The top first and third seasons of all time and which shows are climbing those charts… What version of Spidey is the most popular... What sport and TV show are performing better on NBC than the NBA... All the flops, bombs and misses... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, wow, things stay so busy. One of streaming’s biggest shows of all time, Ted Lasso, returns along with new YA-ish shows from Hulu (The Shards, from Ryan Murphy) and Prime Video (Sterling Point). The Challenge moves to Paramount+, plus My Life with the Walter Boys returns to Netflix and Futurama returns to Hulu. And Netflix has a new horror film, The Last House. Lots to talk about! All month, things stay busy. We’re talking Reacher on Prime Video! Outer Banks and Tires on Netflix! Lanterns on HBO Max! UFC 330 on Paramount+ and the MLB Field of Dreams game on Netflix. And a ton of smaller films come to streaming. Long term, the VMAs are back on 27-Sep! I feel like I haven’t heard much about this show in past years, but I’m seeing more news coverage and buzz for this show than in past years. I’m curious to see how it does.

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Sep 4 • 3:16 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
'Definitely Different!' Dak Prescott Reacts To Cowboys Offseason 'Energy'
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Sep 4 • 3:15 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Ag, economics, and politics

The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, Sept. 1, indicates a continued backwards slide into worse conditions. Almost all of Barton County and much of the surrounding are now in moderate/severe drought with more and most of Stafford and Rice Counties in severe drought. The northeastern third of the state is in good shape as is a small area of the northwest. The six-to-10-day forecast (Sept. 8-12) indicates a 70-90% chance of likely above normal for temperatures and 33-50% of leaning above near normal for precipitation. The eight-to-14-day forecast (Sept. 10-16) indicates a 60-80% chance of likely above normal for temperatures and near normal to leaning a bit above normal for precipitation.

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Sep 4 • 3:09 PM EDT • Politics • gbtribune.com
‘There has to be a political resolution’: CAO says airport case likely won’t be decided for decades

The city of Jackson is suing the state in U.S. District Court to block the implementation of a 2016 bill taking over the Jackson-Evers airport.

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Sep 4 • 3:02 PM EDT • Politics • wlbt.com
Maria Bartiromo vs. Fox News: Pivot Between Politics, Wall Street Hurt

Maria Bartiromo's ongoing pivot between politics and coverage of Wall Street likely hurt her standing at Fox News

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Sep 4 • 2:35 PM EDT • Business • variety.com
Maria Bartiromo vs. Fox News: Pivot Between Politics, Wall Street Hurt

Maria Bartiromo's ongoing pivot between politics and coverage of Wall Street likely hurt her standing at Fox News

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Sep 4 • 2:35 PM EDT • Politics • variety.com
What crisis line reports reveal about mental health in the rural West

Mountain West texters are more likely to bring up self-harm in crisis conversations than Americans at large.

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Sep 4 • 2:18 PM EDT • Health • knpr.org
What crisis line reports reveal about mental health in the rural West

Mountain West texters are more likely to bring up self-harm in crisis conversations than Americans at large.

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Sep 4 • 2:18 PM EDT • Health • aspenpublicradio.org
Pelosi, Omar join Trump and Schiff as unlikely alliance pushes to onshore key industry

Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi and Ilhan Omar back Donald Trump's federal film tax incentive to bring movie production back to California and America.

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Sep 4 • 1:35 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Vin Cherwoo, longtime AP sports desk editor and union leader, dies at 56

Vin Cherwoo, a trusted editor and writer for The Associated Press sports desk for more than three decades and the president of the News Media Guild, has died. Cherwoo died early Friday in Tampa, Florida, following a long illness, said his wife, Stacy. Known affectionately as “Woo” by many colleagues and friends, Cherwoo was a reliable mainstay of the sports department’s night editing crew.

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Sep 4 • 1:31 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (0%)
Science Applications (SAIC) Grew Revenue 6% but Posted a 0.6 Book-to-Bill Ratio. Is the $22B Backlog Enough?

Science Applications International Corporation (NASDAQ:SAIC) reported second-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue of $1.88 billion, up 6.3% year over year. Net bookings, however, were approximately $1.2 billion. That produced a quarterly book-to-bill ratio of 0.6, calculated as net bookings divided by revenue, while the trailing 12-month ratio was 0.8. Total backlog stood at approximately $22.1 billion, including […]

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Sep 4 • 1:16 PM EDT • Science • finance.yahoo.com
Western Computer Achieves the 2026/2027 Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle Award

Western Computer, a Microsoft solutions partner delivering Dynamics 365 ERP, Microsoft 365, and AI-powered business applications, today announced its selection to the 2026/2027 Microsoft AI Business Solutions Inner Circle award. Participation within Inner Circle is based on sales achievements that rank Western Computer in the top echelon of Microsoft's AI Business Solutions global network of partners. It's widely acknowledged that Inner Circle members perform at a high-level by delivering valuab

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Sep 4 • 1:07 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Trustees handle financial, MTFR, cemetery business

At its regular meeting Monday, Aug. 17, the Miami Township Board of Trustees moved through a relatively light agenda, approving a new part-time EMT and the sale of two aging Miami Township Fire-Rescue vehicles.

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Sep 4 • 1:03 PM EDT • Business • ysnews.com
Hideki Shirakawa, Who Helped Turn a Lab Error Into a Nobel, Dies at 90

The Japanese chemist played a key role in the discovery of electricity-conducting plastics, largely by accident.

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Sep 4 • 12:06 PM EDT • Science • nytimes.com
Exclusive look at 'Moana' bonus features showing how they created Moana's island home

"Moana" filmmakers reveal how they created Moana's island home in the most unlikely place! The film heads to digital platforms Sept. 8

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Sep 4 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • abc7.com
Exclusive look at 'Moana' bonus features showing how they created Moana's island home

"Moana" filmmakers reveal how they created Moana's island home in the most unlikely place! The film heads to digital platforms Sept. 8

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Sep 4 • 12:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • abc7chicago.com
The behind-the-scenes effort to contain Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak

Public health workers are relying on word-of-mouth immunization clinics to fight the state’s growing outbreak.

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Sep 4 • 11:55 AM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com
Maria Bartiromo Denies Fox Firing, Retains Bryan Freedman As Attorney

"The irresponsible reports that have been published stating that Maria Bartiromo was fired or is no longer an employee of Fox are absolutely and unequivocally false," Freedman said.

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Sep 4 • 11:40 AM EDT • Business • hollywoodreporter.com
Jadon Sancho encouraged to complete dramatic move to unlikely club

1Former Manchester United forward Jadon Sancho’s plans have not unfolded as expected since leaving Old Trafford this summer. The Red Devils opted against offering the Englishman a new deal, and he p...

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Sep 4 • 11:35 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
A single world will make your doctor more likely to respond in the patient portal: study
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Sep 4 • 11:15 AM EDT • Health • nypost.com
Why have Virginians’ health insurance premiums increased?

The expiration of federal subsidies is likely to drive November’s midterms.

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Sep 4 • 10:52 AM EDT • Health • whro.org
Why Talking to Your Pet Like a Person Is Completely Normal, According to Science

Researchers found about 10% of recorded human speech was directed at pets, from regular conversation to high-pitched baby talk.

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Sep 4 • 10:46 AM EDT • Science • vice.com
Investors flip Mount Joy medical office building for $6M

For the second time in two years, the building housing Lancaster Orthopedic Group’s Mount Joy offices has been sold for approximately $6 million.

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Sep 4 • 10:27 AM EDT • Business • lancasteronline.com
Tigers vs Guardians doubleheader time, channel and streaming

The Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians will play a day-night doubleheader on Friday, Sept. 4, with the second game exclusively on Apple TV.

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Sep 4 • 10:21 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
‘LaPolitics’: Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser weighs in on his future political plans

LaPolitics: Are you definitely running for reelection next year? Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser: My plan is to run for reelection, if I’m still healthy and I still have this passion I have right now. And it’s no secret, every day someone calls me and wants me to run for governor. Some people don’t think the […]

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Sep 4 • 10:12 AM EDT • Business • businessreport.com
‘LaPolitics’: Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser weighs in on his future political plans

LaPolitics: Are you definitely running for reelection next year? Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser: My plan is to run for reelection, if I’m still healthy and I still have this passion I have right now. And it’s no secret, every day someone calls me and wants me to run for governor. Some people don’t think the […]

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Sep 4 • 10:12 AM EDT • Politics • businessreport.com
PDS Health and United Concordia Launch Saliva Screening Pilot

United Concordia Dental and PDS Health®, leaders in oral health and dental-medical integration, respectively, launched a saliva screening pilot in Southern California earlier this week that aims to improve oral health and overall health by investigating the screening’s impact on periodontal (gum) disease management. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 40% of U.S. adults over the age of 30 have some form of gum disease. Left untreated, this condition can lead to tooth loss and infections and is associated with systemic conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. “Gum disease is not just an oral health issue. It’s closely connected to a person’s well-being,” said Ed Shellard, DMD, president and CEO of United Concordia. “This partnership with PDS Health underscores our shared commitment to dental-medical integration and allows us to empower patients with on-the-spot data about the current status of their gum health.”…

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Sep 4 • 10:08 AM EDT • Health • dentistrytoday.com
'I really believe in the manager and the club'

Liam Delap says Oliver Glasner played a big part in his decision to sign for Nottingham Forest because he feels he "can really improve" under his coaching. The 23-year-old striker was made available for sale this summer by Chelsea after he scored just one Premier League goal in a 2025-26 campaign disrupted by shoulder and hamstring injuries. Delap's frustrating season was off the back of a hugely successful one at Ipswich Town in which he scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League games.

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Sep 4 • 9:39 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
😐 Neutral (20%)
Cyclosporiasis outbreak exposes a weakened US public health system

The parasitic disease causes explosive diarrhea, abdominal pain and fatigue but is rarely fatal.

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Sep 4 • 9:35 AM EDT • Health • detroitnews.com
Midterm mail ballots start to go to voters

North Carolina on Friday is scheduled to become the first state to widely distribute mail ballots for this year’s elections

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Sep 4 • 9:29 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Midterm mail ballots start to go to voters

North Carolina on Friday is scheduled to become the first state to widely distribute mail ballots for this year’s elections

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Sep 4 • 9:29 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Midterm mail ballots start to go to voters

North Carolina on Friday is scheduled to become the first state to widely distribute mail ballots for this year’s elections

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Sep 4 • 9:29 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
Vance, El-Sayed resist calls to disavow controversial friends: Live discussion

Vice President Vance and Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed (D) are facing separate questions over their associations with Tucker Carlson and Hasan Piker, respectively. How are each of them res…

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Sep 4 • 8:42 AM EDT • Politics • thehill.com
Only 19% Make It: The Hidden Barriers Women Face in Science Today - Futura-Sciences

From Lecture Hall Storms to Today’s Invisible Barriers Let’s rewind to 1867, when women first arrived at university lecture halls. Instead of applause, they were greeted by a storm—literally. Baked apples thrown, misogynistic heckling echoing in the corridors, and courses deliberately sabotaged by peers. Every dirty trick was used to...

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Sep 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • futura-sciences.com
‘Distressing’: East Texas Residents Struggle to Find Mental Health Services

Survey finds costs, access and timely treatment are putting people at risk.

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Sep 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • publichealthwatch.org
Indiana football: 3 things to know about North Texas

North Texas comes to Bloomington with a new head coach and an almost entirely new roster for the 2026 season.

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Sep 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Sony's PlayStation disc plant is losing 10 percent of its volume in 2028, not 90

Sony’s PlayStation disc plant is losing 10 percent of its volume in 2028, not 90 Sony won’t license disc pressing to anyone else, Microsoft does, and a former PlayStation boss thinks that’s the whole problem. When Sony DADC chief Dietmar Tanzer spoke with an Austrian broadcaster in July about PlayStation disc production at the Thalgau plant, a number of press outlets misunderstood the report, writing that production would fall to a tenth of current levels. It won’t. Sony DADC confirmed to Game this week that the figure is a 10 percent decline, not a decline to 10 percent. “To clarify and avoid any misleading information: in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent,” a spokesperson with Sony DADC told Game. That figure covers 2028. Tanzer didn’t put a number on the years after, and the spokesperson declined to comment further. What we do know is that on July 1, PlayStation announced that physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028 and that the transition has no impact on games that have already released in disc format or will be releasing in disc format prior to that month. “So, there will be reorders going to the market after January 2028,” the Sony DADC spokesperson said. “For details around that I would ask you to liaise with the PR team from PlayStation, as we can’t speak or comment on their behalf.” PlayStation officials did not respond to questions about reorders or other disc-related matters. But I did recently speak with Shawn Layden, Game Industry Strategic Advisor and former chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, who called a future without physical PlayStation discs “depressing, but solvable.” then added, “I think.” The chief hurdle to third-party manufacturing of collector’s editions or any other version of a PlayStation game disc is that Sony owns the proprietary process to press those discs, Layden said. “And unless they decide or determine a way to license that to some of these bespoke disc manufacturers, there’s no way to make it happen,” he said. Layden was careful to add that he understands the concept but doesn’t have “line of sight on the particulars.” “Depressing but solvable, I think.” — Shawn Layden Microsoft already licenses replication to outside plants. Xbox discs are pressed by manufacturers Microsoft certifies as Authorized Replicators, a term defined in its publisher agreements, with the approved list set at the company’s sole discretion and Microsoft retaining the right to halt manufacture. The structure is still in place today: publishers select an Authorized Replicator in Partner Center and submit a bill of materials created with a Microsoft representative. Sony, by contrast, presses PlayStation discs through Sony DADC, its own manufacturing subsidiary. No one I spoke with said they were in discussions with Sony about doing that, and PlayStation hasn’t responded to questions about whether it would be open to a licensing deal. There is an obvious reason Sony might not want to. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed it out on the day of the announcement: it’s a platform-led decision, he wrote, designed to cut costs, eliminate the resale market, and drive all revenue through the PlayStation Store. The math is not subtle. On a $70 third-party game sold through the PlayStation Store, Sony keeps $21. Sold at retail, Ahmad says, it earns about half that. Licensing disc replication to an outside manufacturer might not be worth it. And even if it were, it seems unlikely that such a deal would come from boutique companies like iam8bit, which sells collector’s editions of video games. “We would absolutely love to find a way forward to continue making physical PlayStation games,” said Jon Gibson, co-owner and co-creative director of the company. “We are big believers in giving humans the option to truly own media. If we can play a role in helping make that a reality for the future of PlayStation games, count iam8bit in!” If it were to happen, it would most likely be with a company like Conectiv Supply Chain Solutions, a Memphis-based manufacturer of optical discs and vinyl records that also runs third-party logistics, fulfillment and distribution for packaged media. The company, which was formed in 2025 when Los Angeles private equity firm Variant Equity Advisors purchased Vantiva’s Supply Chain Solutions division, traces its lineage back to Technicolor. When it sold the division, Vantiva described the business as having served video game creators for more than 25 years. Conectiv is also buying, not shrinking. Last month it acquired SDS, the distributor for Universal and Warner Bros. home entertainment, consolidating those studios’ packaged-media pipeline from pressing plant to retail shelf. I reached out to Conectiv and its CEO, but haven’t heard back. Layden pointed to music and books in our discussion about the ongoing value of physical media. “No one ever saw the comeback of cassette tape,” he said. “And vinyl didn’t so much come back. The flame went down, the fire’s dying, but the ember was always there, and it just kind of came back. Much like the book business. We thought we’d all be on Kindles right now. “I believe that physical media is crucial and important. One of the things that makes us gamers, one of the core game mechanics, going back to the beginning of time, is collecting stuff. “Did you get all the diamonds in Crash Bandicoot? Did you get all the stars in Mario? And we like to collect our games. And we have a game shelf. And we put all our boxes up there. And if you’re super hardcore, when you buy a game, you buy two copies, right? One stays in the shrink wrap, and you play the other one. What happens to that important cultural part of the gaming world? You know, we buy the steelbook and the three-disc Final Fantasy set and the figurine and, you know, you can’t download any of that. “What happens to that?” And Layden believes it shouldn’t have been a revenue question for PlayStation. “This was a core thing to the experience of our most devoted fans,” he said. “Yeah, it’s fan service. Why would we take that away? Well, we can’t afford to. It’s already 120 bucks, you know, limited edition special purchase onyx box version of whatever, and those sell at a higher rate than the box selling at $69.99 does. So yeah, the market has said they will continue to buy them. You’re just saying you just don’t want to make them anymore.” Layden said he was recently talking with someone about these sorts of business decisions and how they’re made. Too often, he said, it’s all about the financials and nothing else. “OK, we can do this and save this much money, or we can invest this to look at that outcome, or we can do this and have this happen over there, or move this team to Sri Lanka,” he said. “But each one of those, someone also has to have a ledger there saying, ‘OK, what is the brand impact from that move?’ “Iif you can’t resell it, do you really own it?” — Shawn Layden “If we do that, dollars and cents work out. I get it. That’s just math. But what’s the brand impact? Are people going to say, ‘Good move, you guys?’ Or are they going to say, ‘We hate you guys. Quit doing that.’ And sometimes they say, ‘We hate you.’ Then you take a note and say, OK, how much of that can we live with? How much ‘we hate you’ is OK. And when does it go over the line? “I see a lot of companies making decisions which, objectively speaking, I don’t know what the dollar end of that was for you, Mr. Company, but your brand value just dropped 30 percent. So I hope it was worth it.” Of course, shifting to a digital-only model for games raises other issues beyond simply wanting to collect. The biggest is ownership. Layden pointed out that once you go to a streaming-only or download-only model, it’s just a digital footprint on a hard drive. “What does ownership mean anymore?” he said. “It’s a genuine question. Well, in fact, it’s not even a question anymore. It’s like you are shifting the model from ownership to accessibility. “And what’s always been true, which people forget, is you’ve never been able to sell your iTunes library. And you can’t sell your PlayStation download library. So if you can’t resell it, do you really own it?” The touching tribute found in the credits for Star Wars Zero Company. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Interview and Hands-On with a Minoan Masterpiece Star Wars Zero Company hands-on: Attack Astromechs, permadeath, and delightfully fatal Rube Goldberg tactics Control Resonant opens up as you get stronger — and as characters start trusting you

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Sep 4 • 7:57 AM EDT • Technology • game.substack.com
This UAE-backed Fatah dissident is allying with Hamas and pushing a proposal to change Palestinian politics

A UAE-sponsored plan by exiled Fatah dissident Muhammad Dahlan to “end Palestinian division” has quietly become the working platform for an unlikely electoral alliance with Hamas. Here is what this could mean for the future of Palestinian politics.

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Sep 4 • 7:48 AM EDT • Politics • mondoweiss.net
In South Carolina, Newsom makes an early play for 2028 voters

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s trip to Alabama and the Carolinas offers an early look at his approach on the campaign trail as he moves toward a likely presidential bid in 2028.

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Sep 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • sfchronicle.com
iPhone Ultra Production Hitting Just 'a Few Hundred' a Day, Says Nikkei

Apple last month only managed to produce "a few hundred units a day" of its upcoming foldable iPhone because of the company's extremely high quality control standards, according to Nikkei Asia ($), citing supply chain sources. From today's report: "Production is ramping up slowly, with output currently at only a few hundred units a day in late August.

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Sep 4 • 6:08 AM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com
Iconic singer and controversial TV personality dead at 94: ‘Absolutely unforgettable’

She was one of a kind.

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Sep 4 • 5:05 AM EDT • Entertainment • pennlive.com
Minnesota is losing hospital obstetrics units faster than most states, new data finds

Minnesota is one of only eight states that lost more than 20 percent of hospital-based labor and delivery units since 2010. It’s part of a nationwide trend of hospitals closing birthing centers across the U.S, especially in rural areas, where obstetrics services tend to be too expensive to staff for the relatively few babies delivered each year.

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Sep 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • mprnews.org
St. Pete tech entrepreneur uses AI to help save family farms

AgWise is bringing a bushel of AI technology to an industry — farming — sorely in need of it.

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Sep 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • businessobserverfl.com
Fast-food franchisee chooses Tampa to debut healthy eating drive-thru

Tampa-based drive-thru concept Greenlane is redefining convenience with fresh, made-to-order meals — and bringing innovation to an industry sorely lacking it.

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Sep 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • businessobserverfl.com
End of the world: Scientists reveal 7 countries most likely to survive a global collapse by maintaining society and food production

With countries fighting wars and natural calamities sweeping away civilisations, it seems a global collapse might be a spark away. But the possibility of entire humanity vanishing off the face of Earth seems a little less plausible with the years of effort we have spent preparing solutions for such situations.

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Sep 4 • 4:27 AM EDT • Science • timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Google Releases Chrome Update to Patch Actively Exploited V8 Zero-Day

Google patched an actively exploited Chrome V8 flaw that enables arbitrary code execution inside the sandbox through a crafted HTML page.

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Sep 4 • 3:18 AM EDT • Technology • thehackernews.com
Yankees’ Max Fried Plan Vs. Padres Comes With Risk

Max Fried is still working himself back to full strength from injury.Because of that, the New York Yankees seem likely to employ a fascinating strategy with him when he takes the mound on Friday against the San Diego Padres.Fried is the scheduled starting pitcher, and that’s not really in question. He should get the ball […] The post Yankees’ Max Fried Plan Vs. Padres Comes With Risk appeared first on HEAVY.

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Sep 4 • 1:47 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Top Institutes for Data Science Course in India: Courses, Skills, Projects & Career Support The Hype Magazine: Unveiling the Pulse of Urban Culture - From Hip Hop to Hollywood! Explore a Diverse Tapestry of Stories, Interviews, and Impactful Editorials Spanning Fashion, Gaming, Movies, MMA, EDM, Rock, and Beyond! www.thehypemagazine.com - The Hype Magazine The Hype Magazine - News From Hip Hop To Hollywood!

Discover the heartbeat of urban culture with The Hype Magazine! From Hip Hop to Hollywood, delve into a rich tapestry of diverse stories, interviews, and impactful editorials. We go beyond music, catering to fashion enthusiasts, gamers, movie buffs, MMA followers, EDM and rock fans, and more. If it's newsworthy, we cover it passionately. Join us for a journey through the pulse of entertainment and lifestyle!

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Sep 4 • 1:42 AM EDT • Science • thehypemagazine.com
Matt Campbell is Perfectly Buying Into Penn State's History

Penn State football history is perhaps the biggest part of the program. Penn State, from top to bottom, has done a lot of good throughout its existence. The program has been among the top in college football year in and year out, and that doesn't look likely to change anytime soon, given how much money the school is allocating to the program.

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Sep 3 • 11:15 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is day-to-day with multiple health issues

Ohtani sits out Thursday’s game against the Cardinals after appearing physically uncomfortable while striking out four times during a 10-inning loss a night earlier. A potential stint on the IL is unlikely but not impossible.

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Sep 3 • 10:13 PM EDT • Health • ocregister.com
Why Amen Thompson’s Extension Could Be Risky for the Rockets

While Ja Morant’s falloff was largely self-inflicted, it could’ve warned Houston of possible troubles to come in their future.

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Sep 3 • 10:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Built-in backlash: Musk’s toxicity complicates his return to politics

Jen Psaki looks at how Elon Musk's tone deafness on issues like data centers and his evident antisemitism, not to mention his image as a villain to many Americans since his disastrous implementation of DOGE at the start of Trump's second term, makes him a likely political liability for Republicans even as he hopes to help them financially. Jesse Lehrich and Rob Flaherty, co-hosts of the "Nobody Knows Anything" show, join to discuss.

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Sep 3 • 9:24 PM EDT • Politics • ms.now
Newsom says he plans to endorse in S.F. House race

Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to endorse in the San Francisco congressional race to replace Nancy Pelosi, and that he would likely do so as part of a batch of endorsements in California races.

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Sep 3 • 9:23 PM EDT • Politics • sfchronicle.com
John Rich Says Jelly Roll Knew Political Comments Could Cost Him Fans

John Rich says Jelly Roll likely knew his recent political comments could alienate part of his country music fan base but spoke candidly anyway.

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Sep 3 • 9:02 PM EDT • Politics • billboard.com
Study finds young women more likely than men to get health and wellness information from influencers

A recent Pew Research Center study found that young women are more likely than young men to get health and wellness information from social media influencers, with 57% of women ages 18 to 29 reporting they receive such information from influencers, compared with 47% of men in the same age group.

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Sep 3 • 8:50 PM EDT • Health • abc30.com
Missouri candidate allegedly wanted campaign manager to plant cocaine in opponent’s car

The state’s GOP chairman called the allegations “serious and deeply troubling” and said Republican Thomas Christopher Ross should immediately drop out of the race.

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Sep 3 • 8:15 PM EDT • Politics • nbcnews.com
High-Signal Publisher
Cyclospora season ends but health officials still investigate cases

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — While the official U.S. Cyclospora season concluded on Aug. 31, federal and state health agencies are still actively identifying and investigating cases. This has been the largest Cyclospora outbreak ever recorded in the United States, with over 11,400 confirmed illnesses reported across at least 20 states. Dr. Angela Walla, a […]

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Sep 3 • 8:11 PM EDT • Health • ktsm.com
Procrastination study by Duke’s Dan Ariely retracted after sleuths find signs of data tampering

A psychology journal has retracted a seminal 2002 paper on deadlines and procrastination coauthored by behavioral scientist Dan Ariely of Duke University just days after a team of sleuths published…

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Sep 3 • 7:46 PM EDT • Science • retractionwatch.com
Missouri Supreme Court blocks newly-drawn congressional map

The case was argued Wednesday and is likely the final action the court will take regarding the “Missouri First” map passed by state lawmakers last fall.

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Sep 3 • 5:45 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
New Report Finds Women Who Played Sports as Girls Are More Likely to Become Workplace Leaders

New research from e.l.f. Beauty and Parity, unveiled at the 2026 Power of Women’s Sports Summit, finds the lessons girls learn on the field can follow them into the workplace — and all the way to the C-suite

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Sep 3 • 5:19 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
OU adding more defensive line help after court win

Defensive lineman Braxton Fely is expected to join the Sooners roster before the Southeastern conference’s midnight roster cutoff according to George Stoia.

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Sep 3 • 5:01 PM EDT • Sports • oudaily.com
Carla Jeffery’s family denies drugs played a part in Disney star’s death

Carla Jeffery, known for Disney Channel’s ‘Zombies,’ died at the age of 33 on Wednesday; a cause of death was not immediately revealed.

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Sep 3 • 4:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Colts Brutal Opening Stretch Will Put Daniel Jones’ Health to the Test

Daniel Jones looks fully healthy, but Baltimore, Kansas City and Houston will put that claim to the test immediately.

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Sep 3 • 3:30 PM EDT • Health • si.com
Abliteration.ai is making a business out of removing AI guardrails

Abliteration.AI is making powerful AI models without guardrails easier to access, arguing that giving defenders the same tools as bad actors could ultimately improve cybersecurity.

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Sep 3 • 2:37 PM EDT • Business • techcrunch.com