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England's Henry Pollock open to playing abroad or changing sports in future

England star Henry Pollock would consider playing abroad or changing sports altogether as part of an open-minded approach to his career.

Sep 15 • 3:23 AM EDT • Sports • espn.com

Cost of watching sport in Australia creeps up as streaming services search for long-term viability

Nine and Stan lock up Premier League rights for $120m a year with six major streamers increasing base prices since February 2025

Sep 14 • 11:01 PM EDT • Sports • theguardian.com

AI regulation faces political deadlock as calls grow for Congress to act

With Trump opposed and Congress divided, new safety legislation on AI is unlikely to pass anytime soon despite mounting pressure.

Sep 14 • 10:50 PM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com

AI regulation faces deadlock as calls grow for Congress to act

With Trump opposed and Congress divided, new safety legislation on AI is unlikely to pass anytime soon despite mounting pressure.

Sep 14 • 10:50 PM EDT • Politics • bbc.com

Phoenix Suns 2026-27 Player Profile: Ryan Dunn

Third-year forward Ryan Dunn faces a defining crossroads. To secure his rotation spot under Jordan Ott, the defensive specialist must unlock his offensive potential and silence lingering doubts.

Sep 14 • 8:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Supreme Court blocks sweeping mail ballot restrictions for midterm elections

The Trump administration had said the plan was necessary to protect against voter fraud, while states and voting rights groups said it could inject chaos in contests that will determine control of Congress.

Sep 14 • 7:57 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Supreme Court Blocks Trump Administration Plan to Screen Mail-In Ballots

The Trump administration had asked the justices to allow a new Postal Service plan to screen ballots just weeks before the midterm elections.

Sep 14 • 7:37 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Accidental dumpster fire causes minor damage at Pollocksville business, fire marshal says

An accidental dumpster fire caused minor damage to an Apex Plastics building in Pollocksville, according to the fire marshal.The fire happened at the business a

Sep 14 • 7:05 PM EDT • Business • wcti12.com

Will Netflix’s Latest Horror Film Save Its Summer? And Introducing a New Data Source...

(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.) All month, I’ve been polling you, my readers, on how we think the summer’s biggest blockbusters will do when they eventually land on streaming, and I wanted to share the results. First up, how readers think The Odyssey will perform when it comes to Peacock... People are pretty bullish that The Odyssey will smash it for Peacock. I don’t know that it will have as much rewatchability as Wicked did for kids, but we’ll see. It is now Universal’s highest-grossing film of all time. One note: almost half of Christopher Nolan’s films weren’t available for streaming the week The Odyssey came to theaters, including some of his biggest films like Inception, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer and Insomnia. If you did want to watch the others, Prime Video had Memento and The Dark Knight trilogy, HBO Max only had The Dark Knight trilogy (even though Warner Bros. produced most of Nolan’s films), Hulu had The Prestige and Interstellar, and Paramount+ had Interstellar. So you needed at least two streaming subscriptions to catch the rest. Warner Bros. whiffed right here. I know they have long term licensing deals, but they should have tried to get as many Nolan films on HBO Max for launch as possible. Here are the results for Spider-Man: Brand New Day: The audience is a bit more mixed on this one, with everyone agreeing Spider-Man will swing to a big opening, but not necessarily elite or best all time. On to this week’s issue. Netflix continues searching for a hit straight-to-streaming summer film and Lioness and Ted Lasso allow me to look at the difference between a “hit” and a ‘hit for them”. All that, plus new YA/teen melodramas on Prime Video and Netflix, the House of the Dragon finale, USA Network claims a big opening, more big NFL ratings, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. But we start with a fun new data announcement. 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 August 3rd to August 9th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe A New Data Source: Reelgood’s Data on Content Libraries Here’s a fun new treat for you. Reelgood—an online service and app that lets users track where shows or films are streaming—is providing data every month for the Streaming Ratings Report on the size of each streamer’s catalogue, along with the new shows and films for each streamer. Yay! Previously, I had pulled “new shows on streamers premiering on the first of the month”: While I liked that data cut, it was a big wonky since it didn’t show all of the new shows or movies that came to a streamer each month. Instead, I would have preferred something like this from Reelgood’s annual report: And now we have it! I’m going to feature Reelgood’s data monthly, showing both total catalogue size and new shows and films appearing on the charts. That’s going to make these two cool new charts. First, here’s the size of various streamers’ film catalogues… (By the way, Reelgood offered to make the charts for me, but I like doing that task by hand to understand the data better.) They also provided data back to last year. Here’s the number of films timeline: And here are the new films on each streamer for the month prior to Aug: As I get used to this data, I plan to keep tinkering with how I display it, but I’m excited to feature it monthly. Today, I’m sharing the film charts; next issue, I’m going to feature TV shows by streamer. Now, in full disclosure, Reelgood is a sponsor of this little-newsletter-that-could. But in my constant quest to figure out what streamer various shows and films are on, I was already a Reelgood user before this sponsorship. I go to their website all the time, and their data is very accurate on where shows are (or have been). Plus, I’ve been sharing their weekly top ten lists for years now, pre-sponsorship. For me, this is a great win-win, since I get to amplify a service I love, and I get a cool new data source to play with. Now, normally folks don’t usually mention their sponsors directly, but as I wrote before, as I start featuring ads in my newsletter, I plan to be extremely open about who is sponsoring my writing so you can trust what I write. Television - Two Big Returning Shows Look Set to Take Over The Charts One key question when it comes to judging streaming shows is whether a show is a “hit” or a “hit for them”. To be clear, the former means a show that’s one of the top shows on streaming, no questions asked. The latter means a show is one of the biggest, for a given streamer. That distinction makes a big difference! It’s really good to be one of the biggest shows on a streamer; it’s much better to be the biggest on streaming, despite the size of a streamer. Because, as we’ve seen now, nearly every streamer—while lacking the number of subscribers or usage of Netflix—can make hit TV shows: Paramount released Landman, whose first and second seasons were among the top two TV shows the year they came out. HBO Max’s The Pitt’s second season is the biggest show of the year so far. Love Island USA was the top show in 2025 for Peacock. And, crucially for today’s discussion: Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back in 2023, Ted Lasso was actually the top streaming show of the year according to Nielsen! So even Apple TV (formerly +) can make hit shows. It just doesn’t make them that often. And looking at the Nielsen charts this week, we have two prime candidates for this discussion: That’s right: Ted Lasso returned to Apple TV for its fourth season. Did it return in all its expected glory? Sure, though right now it’s still just a “hit for Apple TV”, but we’ll see how long it lasts on the charts. Its ten episodes are coming out weekly. (Smart choice, Apple!) Ted Lasso started out strong, actually making the Nielsen charts the week before new episodes dropped, which is a rare feat. (Shows like Stranger Things or Bridgerton have pulled that off. That’s terrific company to join!) On Nielsen, it opened to 14.4 million hours in its first week, and 16.6 million the week of 10-Aug. Here’s how that compares to previous seasons: Apple put out that this is their biggest TV launch through two days ever, and looking at the chart and Apple TV’s viewership history, I’d believe it. Here’s Apple’s top shows for season two and beyond: Other data tells a (mostly) similar story. Ted Lasso made Samba TV and it has elite IMDb scores, an insane 8.7 on 465K reviews. The only outlier is Luminate, where the latest season only had 7.4 million hours, and no other seasons made the top ten. As you’ll see below, that’s well below some other solid, but not spectacular shows like Sterling Point, Ride or Die or Furious. I’d be surprised if Ted Lasso isn’t bigger than those other shows, but it’s fine for different data sources to occasionally disagree. And while it’s sucky to bring this up, given that Warner Bros. produced this show, I do wonder how the streaming wars may have been different if Ted Lasso landed on HBO Max initially instead of Apple. I don’t think one show can make or break a streamer, but given HBO’s brand, it could have helped bring people to that streamer much earlier in its lifespan. (Though yeah, I don’t love calling out executives for passing on hit shows, since that’s just the nature of the job. Even the absolute best execs will pass on lots of successful shows. The key is not greenlighting the under-performers/misses.) The other show I’m thinking about in the “hit or hit for them” category is Lioness from Paramount+. Like Ted Lasso, its first season missed the charts, but it’s grown its audience since then. Here’s how season three opened: 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… How Lioness did on streaming... Two new melodramas for Netflix and Prime Video... Whether Netflix’s latest horror film saved its summer... Hulu’s Furious and Prime Video’s Ride or Die continuing their strong runs... The latest high profile showrunner to flop on streaming... All the flops, bombs and misses... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Next week, we’ve got a double issue—since the week of 17-Aug had very few notable new shows or films—so I’ll look at HBO’s Lanterns, Prime Video’s Reacher, Netflix’s Tires, Outer Banks (which posted up huge numbers four years ago), an Aussie romance, and another baseball event (that didn’t resonate). And a bunch of movies like the latest dramedy from an Adam Sandler daughter, Don’t Say Good Luck, Camp Rock 3 on Disney Channel and Disney+, Michael on Starz, and more. Later this month, we’ve got a ton of shows and films to analyze! Movies will be the big story, featuring a box office bomb (Supergirl on HBO Max) and an “underperformer” (The Mandalorian and Grogu on Disney+) contending with a bunch of star-studded straight-to-streaming films like Netflix’s The Whisper Man (Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan and De Niro!), Mayday on Apple TV+ (Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh!), The Runner (Gal Gadot) and The Last Sunrise (Eva Longoria and Maia Reficco) on Prime Video. Plus, a ton of TV shows have sophomore seasons coming out. Will The Gentleman put up big numbers on Netflix or suffer from a sophomore slump? Leanne and Beauty in Black on Netflix seem small, but they both might be bigger than you think. Hulu has a bunch of shows: a new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (the first after all the controversy last year) and the second season of Chad Powers (from Peyton Manning’s production company and starring Glen Powell). This one flopped last year; can it score a touchdown this year? Same goes for FX’s Adults, which I didn’t track last year; will it hit this year? Peacock’s The Office spinoff, The Paper and Apple TV’s Dark Matter also return for second seasons. And Netflix has more Untold specials featuring Vince Young, Raygun (that horrible breakdancer) and Mr. T. Long term, Paramount+ is rebooting yet another franchise, Clueless, and I’m somewhat bullish on this new show. The talent attached (Alicia Silverstone) and creative Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (of The O.C. and Gossip Girl) also feel solid...if they make it funny like the original.

Sep 14 • 6:43 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Bills' Joe Brady locker room speech post-Texans win (video)

Bills coach Joe Brady went shirtless in his post-game locker room speech after beating the Texans in Week 1.

Sep 14 • 5:01 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Please Stop Conflating Sports Betting Handle With Spending On Entertainment

Editor’s note: The Cashout for paid subscribers will publish on Tuesday. Every September there’s a huge uptick in how much people bet on sports with the start of football season. Which means it’s time to get ahead of a ridiculous narrative before it picks up steam on social media or in mainstream media. Subscribe Every few months I see some version of this: [ Charlie Bilello@charliebilello Americans bet over $165 billion on sports last year, which is more than they spent on movies, books, concerts and sports tickets - combined. 1:00 PM · Jun 28, 2026 · 4.1M Views 258 Replies · 674 Reposts · 4.23K Likes ](https://x.com/charliebilello/status/2071217050328895935?s=20) Fortune published this in July. The headline and start of the story tell the same narrative (emphasis added): Gambling becomes America’s favorite pastime as Americans spend more on sports bets than movies, arts, museums, and music combined: The North American box office totaled $8.87 billion in 2025, which is still 22% below pre-pandemic levels. Recorded music revenue hit a record $11.5 billion. Live music like concerts and festivals brought in $18.51 billion. Meanwhile, book publishers tracked by the Association of American Publishers reported $14.6 billion for the year. And the U.S. museum industry generated an estimated $16.4 billion. Add it up and the total comes to roughly $70 billion, which is less than half what Americans wagered on sports. The story, to its credit, goes on to tell us why sports betting is entirely different, although people who only read headlines will miss that nuance. (The tweet above definitely skips over the nuance.) I will mostly be preaching to the choir here, but it’s worth saying out loud: Wagering money on sports is not the same thing as spending on entertainment from a financial perspective. When you spend money on a movie or concert ticket, that money is gone. You exchanged money for an experience. It’s a good trade! I get to have fun for “x” dollars. (Unless the movie sucks, I guess.) When you bet money on sports, the money is not necessarily gone every time you wager it. It could be gone, but sometimes it’s not and you actually get more money back! That’s not “spending” money or something you should try to compare directly to entertainment spend. A far better comp would be how much people lose at sports betting. That number was more like $17 billion in the US last year, at least for state-regulated sportsbooks. Why are we trying to equate handle and entertainment spending? I dunno. It makes for splashy headlines, I guess. Now, people should be betting for entertainment, and not because they expect to win in the long term; no doubt about it. Anyway, here’s hoping I don’t see people saying Americans “spent” hundreds of millions of dollars on sports betting this fall. Mindway AI and DraftKings Expand Responsible Gaming Drive with Launch of Gamalyze American Football In time for the NFL kickoff, Mindway AI has expanded its partnership with DraftKings to launch Gamalyze American Football the second title in the neuroscience-based Gamalyze Sports collection. Following the success of Gamalyze Football (soccer) during the FIFA World Cup, this gridiron-themed update replaces static questionnaires with immersive, stadium-inspired gameplay. Backed by 10+ years of Aarhus University research, Gamalyze evaluates real-time decision-making to deliver instant, unbiased player risk assessments. Integrated into DraftKings’ platform and nationwide activations, it engages fans when excitement peaks. Ready to upgrade your player protection? Contact Mindway AI to try Gamalyze Sports today. Gambling news roundup 🚨The important stuff 1st NFL Sunday of Season ‘Champagne-Popping Day for Bettors’ (Covers): “The first NFL Sunday of the season was a champagne-popping day for bettors, while the book was left cleaning up the corks,” Caesars’ head of football Joey Feazel said prior to the Sunday night game. “Caesars Sportsbook reported that Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs, Baltimore’s Derrick Henry, Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor, and Atlanta’s Bijan Robinson were among the top five most-bet players to reach the end zone, and all of them cashed tickets.” [ Ben Fawkes@BFawkes22 A @CaesarsSports oddsmaker on how Week 1 has gone so far: “The first NFL Sunday of the season was a champagne-popping day for bettors, while the book was left cleaning up the corks.” ➡️8 of 10 most popular anytime TD scorers cashed 1:31 AM · Sep 14, 2026 · 276K Views 16 Replies · 16 Reposts · 615 Likes ](https://x.com/BFawkes22/status/2099310001927995849?s=20) 🔍 Are we already getting a “customer-friendly results” narrative in Week 1? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke with CNBC about the prediction markets industry: “We think that there needs to be stronger regulations into the predictive markets,” Goodell said. “We want to see that to protect the integrity of our game. We want to make sure we’re protecting the consumers that are on those platforms for the NFL. So, we’re continuing to have conversations with them and talk to them about the things that we think they need to do to strengthen that so that they could be potential partners at some point in the future.” More on the NFL + PMs: [ Straight to the Point Quid Pro Quo The NFL has asked Kalshi and other prediction markets to remove certain easy to manipulate markets. Does a potential partnership hang in the balance… Read more 6 hours ago · 19 likes · Steve Ruddock ](https://straighttothepoint.substack.com/p/quid-pro-quo?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web&embedding_publication_id=1472492) Kalshi was on my podcast?: Kalshi was on my podcast [ The Event Horizon Episode 32: Talking Prediction Market Enforcement With Kalshi’s Robert DeNault Kalshi? On my podcast? Yep… Listen now 5 hours ago · 6 likes · 1 comment · Dustin Gouker ](https://nexteventhorizon.substack.com/p/episode-32-talking-prediction-market-enforcement-kalshi?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web&embedding_publication_id=1472492) DraftKings Enhances Responsible Engagement Efforts With New Customer Initiatives, Tools and Education (press release): DraftKings Inc. today announced a series of new initiatives designed to promote responsible engagement and increase awareness and use of the tools and resources to help customers make informed decisions and engage responsibly. The efforts include a new digital advertising campaign featuring Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas that promotes responsible engagement, a PGA TOUR sweepstakes that promotes customer engagement with responsible engagement features, the launch of Gamalyze American Football in collaboration with Mindway AI, and new custom cool-off options that give customers enhanced flexibility when choosing a cool-off period. The initiatives build on DraftKings’ commitment to making responsible engagement an integral part of the customer experience and providing players with accessible tools and resources that help them make informed choices about their gaming experience. “At DraftKings, responsible engagement is embedded in how we operate and is essential to building trust with our customers and our long-term sustainability,” said Lori Kalani, Chief Responsible Gaming Officer at DraftKings. “We’ve continued to invest in tools and resources that give customers enhanced access to information about their play and more choices for managing how they engage. From My Budget Builder and My Stat Sheet to player-set limits and new custom cool-offs, we’re continuing to evolve our approach while promoting awareness and use of the tools and resources available to help customers play responsibly.” … DraftKings is launching a new digital advertising campaign featuring Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas that continues the pair’s road trip and promotes responsible engagement and awareness of the tools and resources available to help customers make informed choices about their gaming experience and engage responsibly. The campaign was initially launched on Sep. 10th and will reach customers through digital channels, bringing responsible engagement messaging to fans in an engaging way. bet365 Launches “The Matchup,” a New Weekly Video Podcast Hosted by Super Bowl Champions Chris Harris Jr. and Emmanuel Sanders (press release): "bet365, a global leader in online sports betting and gaming, today announced the launch of “The Matchup,” a new weekly video podcast hosted by former Super Bowl Champions Chris Harris Jr. and Emmanuel Sanders. Featuring current and former NFL players, the original series marks a significant, intentional investment in football as bet365 works to become a go-to destination for U.S. bettors throughout the season. “The Matchup” premieres September 10, with new episodes released weekly in both video and audio formats. Full episodes will be available on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever podcasts are available, with clips and additional content rolling out across YouTube, X, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and TikTok. The show is being produced by Last Row Digital Media. Each week, Harris and Sanders will be joined by guests from across the game to break down the biggest NFL matchups, unpack the latest league news and share perspectives that go beyond the box score. By bringing together two former players with distinct perspectives and firsthand experience, “The Matchup” will give audiences timely context and a deeper understanding of the teams, players and storylines shaping the week ahead. “Every great football conversation starts with a matchup—who has the edge, what everyone is overlooking and what could change the game,” said Chris Harris Jr. “Emmanuel and I have experienced the game from different perspectives, and we want the audience to feel like they are part of the conversation and leave every episode knowing more about the week ahead.” Today’s iGaming companies face new litigation threats as expansive consumer protection statutes spark lawsuits with sky’s-the-limit aspirations, sometimes backed by private funders. Clients of Ifrah Law have a staunch defender in Robert Ward – an agile litigator and case tactician who responds to the changing state of play with creative legal defenses and efficient case-closing strategies. Robert draws on federal clerkship experience and appellate defense work to advise iGaming clients on litigation exposure, white-collar risk, and regulatory defense across multiple jurisdictions. Read More: Robert Ward on Helping iGaming Clients Outmaneuver Lawsuit-Obsessed Adversaries 🔮 Prediction markets Update on legal action in Connecticut: [ Daniel Wallach@WALLACHLEGAL Connecticut says gaming service license holders which received subpoenas over sports prediction markets “are not under investigation” by the @CTDCP but may possess information that could assist the state “in evaluating the conduct of prediction market platforms.” 2:31 PM · Sep 13, 2026 · 844 Views 5 Likes ](https://x.com/WALLACHLEGAL/status/2099143914271670576?s=20) American Gaming Association Opposes CFTC Bid to Block New York Prediction-Market Enforcement (DeFi Rate): “The brief points to the Ninth Circuit’s Aug. 28 decision in KalshiEX LLC v. Assad, which the AGA says supports New York’s authority to regulate sports contracts as gambling. It also cites Kalshi advertising, product comparisons and reporting on Kalshi’s sports volume to argue that the economic product resembles a sportsbook wager more than a conventional financial hedge.” [ Daniel Wallach@WALLACHLEGAL AGA intervenes in CFTC v. NY case to oppose CFTC request for preliminary injunction, says the CFTC’s arguments “obfuscate a simple truth: prediction markets offer sports betting.” Highlights CA9 decision, @DustinGouker (6x), and $1.32 billion in OSB taxes for NY (0 from PMs). Daniel Wallach @WALLACHLEGAL High stakes hearing on Monday in CFTC v. New York State. If SDNY judge Lorna Schofield denies the CFTC’s motion for preliminary injunction, the New York AG would have a clearer path for securing a state court geofencing order against Kalshi, Coinbase, and Gemini Titan. 2:08 AM · Sep 13, 2026 · 4.78K Views 1 Reply · 2 Reposts · 8 Likes ](https://x.com/WALLACHLEGAL/status/2098957043474280584?s=20) Gaming Commission remains member of gambling council after questions raised over ties to Kalshi (Mass Live): “The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will not follow the leads of gaming regulators in Ohio and Michigan and drop ties with the National Council on Problem Gambling over its new association with Kalshi.” Sponsor’s messageTrusted Voices: Conversations About Betting is designed to equip adults, including parents and coaches, with tools and resources to talk to young people about gambling, including information on warning signs, risks and proxy betting. The program is led by retired professional basketball player Randy Livingston and his wife, basketball agent Anita Smith, who share their personal stories related to problem gambling, with the hope of preventing others from experiencing similar harms. Learn more and join the conversation here. 📣 Industry news Gaming M&A: Latest Mergers, Acquisitions and Deals (SBC Americas): “But what else is happening in the world of gaming mergers, acquisitions, investments, and partnerships? Here, we round up some of the news you might have missed.” BetMGM Named Official Sports Betting and Online Casino Partner of the Minnesota Vikings in Canada (press release): BetMGM, a leading iGaming and sports betting operator, announced a multi-year partnership with the Minnesota Vikings, naming it the Official Sports Betting Partner and Online Casino Partner of the team in Canada. The agreement gives BetMGM rights to use Vikings marks across approved sports betting, online casino and marketing activities in Canada. In addition, Vikings Big Kick LuckyTap™, a casino game by Design Works Gaming, is available now exclusively at BetMGM Casino in Alberta and Ontario. “Vikings fans bring a level of passion and loyalty that extends well beyond game day,” said Matt Prevost, Chief Revenue Officer at BetMGM. “As the home of one of the largest collections of sports-themed casino content in North America, BetMGM is uniquely positioned to combine sports fandom with iGaming. We are eager to start football season off strong with another fantastic partnership especially as we expand our reach in Canada to Alberta.” Martin Nance, Minnesota Vikings Chief Marketing Officer, said, “As we continue to deepen our connection with Vikings fans across Canada, we’re proud to welcome BetMGM as the team’s official sports betting and online casino partner in Canada. Their commitment to innovation and fan engagement aligns well with our organization, and we’re excited to create memorable experiences that celebrate Vikings football and connect with Canadian fans in new and meaningful ways.” Caesars Entertainment Launches Ball Rush Jackpots™ in New Jersey,the Latest Proprietary Online Title from Empire Creative™ (press release): Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: CZR) (“Caesars”) today announced the launch of Ball Rush Jackpots™, a new ball-and-peg style online casino game developed by Empire Creative™, the Company’s in-house game development studio. Now live in New Jersey across Caesars Palace Online Casino, Caesars Sportsbook & Casino and Horseshoe Online Casino, Ball Rush Jackpots is expected to become available in additional jurisdictions where Caesars offers online casino gaming following regulatory approval. The title expands Caesars’ growing portfolio of proprietary online casino titles, following the successful launch of Ca$hline™ earlier this year and further diversifying the Company’s lineup beyond traditional slots and table games. Ball Rush Jackpots follows the traditional ball-drop gameplay experience where players drop a ball down a board filled with pegs to land in a prize slot. As balls navigate independently through a field of pegs, every drop creates new opportunities to collect feature symbols, unlock bonuses and pursue jackpots, delivering a different experience with every round. “Ball Rush Jackpots delivers a different kind of casino experience for our players, combining easy-to-understand gameplay with meaningful customization, exciting bonus opportunities and jackpot potential,” said Matthew Sunderland, Senior Vice President and Chief iGaming Officer at Caesars Digital. “As we continue expanding our proprietary content portfolio, we’re focused on creating games that are simple to pick up, rewarding to revisit and designed around the features players enjoy most.” Bally’s Corporation Secures New Financing to Support the Development of the Bally’s Bronx Project (press release): Bally’s Corporation (NYSE: BALY) (“Bally’s” or the “Company”) announced today that it secured new financing led by WhiteHawk Capital Partners, LP to fund further development of the Bally’s Bronx project and general corporate purposes. The new financing comprises closing date term loan commitments in an aggregate principal amount of $400 million and delayed draw term loan commitments in an aggregate principal amount of $160 million (together, the “Facilities”). … Bally’s Chairman of the Board, Soo Kim, commented, “This important financing allows us to progress the pre-construction planning process so that we are ready to complete the remainder of the capital raise and remain on schedule. Furthermore, the additional liquidity provides us greater flexibility for other capital opportunities.” WORLD JAI ALAI LEAGUE LAUNCHES CENTENNIAL SEASON AND ENTERS NEXT CHAPTER IN MIAMI (press release): The World Jai Alai League will open its 2026 fall season on Tuesday, September 15 at Miami’s JAM Arena, beginning a milestone season that marks 100 years since professional Jai Alai first arrived in Miami. Season X, the tenth season of the Battle Court team-based competition launched in 2022, will also be the first since entrepreneur and sports asset investor Rob Gough acquired the World Jai Alai League in August 2026. The acquisition marks the beginning of a new chapter for the league. World Jai Alai League will maintain the existing Battle Court competition and operating format, with Chief Operating Officer Scott Savin overseeing Season X. Gough and his team will use the coming months to listen to players and fans, evaluate opportunities across the league, and execute plans for a broader evolution of Jai Alai’s presentation, live experience, media, marketing and commercial strategy beginning in 2027. “This is a really unique moment for Jai Alai,” said Rob Gough, Owner of the World Jai Alai League. “We have a sport with more than 100 years of history in Miami, extraordinary athletes and incredible speed, but I also believe there is enormous untapped potential.” bet365 reveals most popular online slots in 3 US states in August (SBC Americas): “In its monthly Gaming Insights and Performance report, growing online casino operator bet365 tracks player trends and game performance in online slots across its North American online casino markets.” The Closing Line is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe

Sep 14 • 2:45 PM EDT • Entertainment • closingline.substack.com

iOS 27 and iOS 26.7 Fix More Than 100 Security Bugs

Today's iOS 27 update addresses over 100 security vulnerabilities, which is a good reason to install the new software. If you don't want to update to iOS 27 yet, Apple also released iOS 26.7 with over 80 security fixes. 75 of the fixes are shared across both updates, so iOS 26.7 addresses many of the same issues. There are multiple kernel fixes, including one that could allow a malicious app to gain root access and another that could allow for Bluetooth remote code execution.

Sep 14 • 2:36 PM EDT • Technology • macrumors.com

Henry Pollock ‘open to every opportunity’ amid Northampton contract talks

Pollock hopes to play abroad and possibly try another sport in the future

Sep 14 • 1:30 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Mamdani announces lawsuit against Trump admin over ‘public charge’ rule

New York joins 22 other states and Washington DC in suing to block the “Public Charge” rule which would give immigration officials wide discretion to deny green cards, visas, or admission if they are deemed likely to need public benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers. The legislation is set to go into effect on Friday.

Sep 14 • 1:16 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Owen Heinecke: Don’t Let the Michigan Loss Divide Oklahoma

Frustrated fans demand accountability after a sloppy defeat in Ann Arbor, but the Sooners must mirror last season’s resilience to prevent a winnable loss from fracturing the locker room

Sep 14 • 1:09 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Texas landowners sue to block Trump border wall plans

The lawsuit was filed by Conserve Big Bend, with the support of dozens of landowners.

Sep 14 • 12:24 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Sandra Bullock recalls ‘pervert’ asking her to drop her pants while auditioning: ‘Not the role for me’

The Oscar winner stars in “Practical Magic 2,” now in theaters.

Sep 14 • 11:58 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

NFL fatigue rankings reveal major hidden disadvantage for Texans, 49ers

A new NFL Fatigue Index reveals the massive travel, rest and body-clock disadvantages facing the Texans, 49ers and other contenders in 2026.

Sep 14 • 11:24 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Does Sean Steur Give Newcastle Something Different In Midfield

The Dutch starlet offers Matthias Jaissle a creative spark, combining ball-carrying flair with tactical flexibility to unlock stubborn defenses while flourishing under the mentorship of Bruno Guimaraes.

Sep 14 • 11:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

As Supreme Court Weighs Trump Mail Ballot Plan, Another Judge Blocks It

The ruling delivered another blow to the plan with a looming Supreme Court decision that could determine whether it goes into effect before the midterm election.

Sep 14 • 10:40 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Seattle Mayor Wilson still rents. Can she help her fellow renters?

Katie Wilson lives in the same one-bedroom apartment she lived in before winning the mayors' race. She's trying to improve stability for her fellow renters — but big roadblocks lie ahead.

Sep 14 • 10:00 AM EDT • Politics • kuow.org

Detroit Pistons Rookie Ugonna Onyenso On Blocking Shots: ‘It’s Natural’

With Isaiah Stewart in Memphis, the Detroit Pistons had to find a shot-swatting replacement in the Motor City, which is exactly where Ugonna Onyenso enters the picture

Sep 14 • 7:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

RI's primary victors must now face independent Ken Block for governor

Ken Block runs a software company that finds fraud and waste. Now, he has his eye on becoming RI's governor.

Sep 14 • 6:05 AM EDT • Politics • providencejournal.com

Carney, locked in US trade war, pitches Canada to global investment titans

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomes dozens of global investors to Toronto this week, hoping to lure investments for more than 160 projects that ​he says are key to steering Canada's economy through a trade war with the United States.

Sep 14 • 6:03 AM EDT • Business • reuters.com

Kentucky looks to expand GLP-1 drug access for Medicaid patients

A federal program could help Kentuckians on Medicaid get GLP-1 drugs, but outdated state rules block the path.

Sep 14 • 5:01 AM EDT • Health • courier-journal.com

Lancaster County lawmakers support regulating Flock cameras

Across Lancaster County, video cameras are recording the license plates of passing cars, along with their vehicle make, model and paint color, and storing that information in searchable databases.

Sep 14 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • lancasteronline.com

Iran Decries Austria’s Blocking of Nuclear Chief from IAEA Conference

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned Austria’s refusal to issue a visa to Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, to attend an International Atomic Energy Agency conference in Vienna, calling the move completely unjustified.

Sep 14 • 4:22 AM EDT • Politics • tasnimnews.ir

Dramatic final at the Heritage Classic, Bunch clinched the title

Emma Bunch entered the day with a two-stroke lead, lost the advantage on the front nine and then with three holes to play, Bunch was deadlocked atop the leaderboard with Tiffany Le.

Sep 13 • 9:39 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The System Is Not the Patient

Across OECD countries, healthcare spending has long grown faster than GDP, while health-adjusted life expectancy has stagnated or declined and up to 20% of spending remains directed to low-value care. Outcome-based care measures success by patient outcomes relative to resources used, yet no health system has implemented it end to end. The World Economic Forum convened expert workshops to identify practical solutions. This paper argues that full system redesign, perfectly aligned incentives and flawless measurement systems are not prerequisites for progress, highlighting instead six interconnected priorities. The challenge is now to connect existing building blocks into a coordinated system focused on improving patient outcomes.

Sep 13 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • weforum.org

440,000 Forced Out of Advantage Bought Medigap. Their Health Questions Were Waived. Their Claims Came With Them.

Your Plan G premium just jumped and you filed no claims, changed nothing, and did nothing wrong. The reason traces back to 440,000 people who landed in Medigap blocks across the country, and understanding it changes what you do next.

Sep 13 • 7:33 PM EDT • Health • finance.yahoo.com

Inside Bears' locker room after dominant shootout win vs. Panthers

Take a look inside an electric Bears locker room following their historic win over the Panthers in Week 1, which included more "Good, Better, Best."

Sep 13 • 6:49 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Is Michigan Ranked? Latest AP Top 25 Poll Revealed

The Michigan Wolverines dropped out of the Top 25 last week following a controversial win over Western Michigan. That had the college football world locked in on Saturday’s matchup against No. 11 Oklahoma.Michigan pulled off the upset, 17-10, and once again appear to be a legitimate contender. So how would improving to 2-0 be reflected […] The post Is Michigan Ranked? Latest AP Top 25 Poll Revealed appeared first on HEAVY.

Sep 13 • 5:45 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

MLR Under Pressure: Where Risk Ends and Margin Begins

By the time MLR pressure shows up in your numbers, the margin may already be locked into the quarter. The question is whether you’ll spot the signals

Sep 13 • 4:18 PM EDT • Health • beckersbehavioralhealth.com

Detroit Lions S Avonte Maddox Suffers Injury vs. Saints

Detroit Lions defensive back Avonte Maddox headed to the locker room after leaving the field with an apparent arm injury.

Sep 13 • 2:19 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

'Practical Magic 2' conjures a No. 1 box office debut with $30 million

“Practical Magic 2” conjures a box-office victory this weekend, topping the North American charts nearly three decades after its predecessor. The Warner Bros. sequel, starring Sandra Bullock and...

Sep 13 • 2:01 PM EDT • Entertainment • houstonchronicle.com

'Practical Magic 2' conjures a No. 1 box office debut with $30 million

“Practical Magic 2” conjures a box-office victory this weekend, topping the North American charts nearly three decades after its predecessor. The Warner Bros. sequel, starring Sandra Bullock and...

Sep 13 • 2:01 PM EDT • Entertainment • stamfordadvocate.com

Kosovo approves new government after months of political deadlock

Sep 13 • 12:11 PM EDT • Politics • aljazeera.com

Microsoft blocked every Windows 11 account bypass except the most boring link on its own page

Windows 11 Home still lets you skip the Microsoft account requirement, and the trick is clicking a Learn More link Microsoft put there.

Sep 13 • 11:27 AM EDT • Technology • windowslatest.com

Giants Facing One Massive Roadblock in Beating Cowboys

The New York Giants are facing one massive challenge against the Dallas Cowboys.

Sep 13 • 11:11 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Fans raise a ruckus over the paywalling of World of Warcraft Forever’s Skyborne ‘cash elves’

As World of Warcraft Forever continues to dominate the conversation among fans after its BlizzCon reveal, another round of chatter is quickly gaining momentum: the matter of the Skyborne race, or as one fan put called them the "cash elves," which is locked behind a paywall and not included with the upcoming variant or game subscription. [...]

Sep 13 • 11:00 AM EDT • Technology • massivelyop.com

Marian U. President discusses Crossroads Academic Medical Institute

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Sep 13 • 10:30 AM EDT • Business • insideindianabusiness.com

Who's hosting the 2026 Emmy Awards? Ceremony unlocks new milestone

The countdown to TV's biggest night is on, with the 78th Emmy Awards scheduled to take place tonight, Monday, Sept. 14, in Los Angeles.

Sep 13 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com

📸 Man Utd - Man City: the blockbuster combined XI 🔥

A very enticing clash.This Sunday afternoon, Manchester United and Manchester City will face off in a derby that already promises fireworks.The Citizens will be hoping to hand their new manager, Enzo ...

Sep 13 • 8:39 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

FULL SHOW: Inside INdiana Business 9/13/26

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Sep 13 • 7:47 AM EDT • Business • insideindianabusiness.com

Candidates answer Flock, data center, business questions at NAACP forum

Four local candidates took part in the Henderson NAACP’s “Can We Talk?” forum, answering questions that included topics of data

Sep 12 • 7:13 PM EDT • Business • the-hendersonian.com

Should The Miami Heat Pursue Darius Garland?

Following the blockbuster addition of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Miami could target Darius Garland to fix backcourt depth issues and solidify a championship-caliber big three.

Sep 12 • 6:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Click here to see Tapatío's squad for Dorados clash

Tapatío will have the opportunity today to get back to winning ways against Dorados. In Matchday 8 of the 2026 Apertura of the Liga de Expansión, the Young Flock will visit the team from Sinaloa at ...

Sep 12 • 5:56 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Raya helps Arsenal get the better of resilient Sunderland

Arsenal took all three points from the Stadium of Light with a 2-0 victory over Sunderland in Premier League fixture number four. After a goalless first half, the visitors broke the deadlock in the 58...

Sep 12 • 5:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Titans Rookie Fernando Carmona Will Make Franchise History on Sunday

The fifth-round draft pick defied the odds to beat out a seasoned veteran, setting a new franchise milestone for late-round blockers against a formidable Jets defensive front.

Sep 12 • 4:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony: Starcraft Returns, Diablo V Announced, Warcraft news and more

I’ve been at Blizzard a long time, and I’ve got a bunch of BlizzCons under my belt. Do you know how hard all these announcements were to hold in as we prepared for BlizzCon 2026? I can’t even believe this is real, man, like…okay, sorry, I’m locked in. Whether you’re watching it all unfold live […]

Sep 12 • 3:20 PM EDT • Technology • news.xbox.com

Albert Breer Has Broncos Making The Super Bowl

Fueled by a blockbuster trade for Jaylen Waddle and Bo Nix’s return, Denver eyes a championship run after Albert Breer projected the AFC’s top seed to reach Sunday’s biggest stage.

Sep 12 • 3:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Divine Bovine Community Challenge

Gather your herd and band together to take down Moophisto. End his Mad Cow rage to unlock a reward for all who oppose his reign of udder chaos.

Sep 12 • 2:32 PM EDT • Technology • news.blizzard.com

Judge shields more Catholic health providers as Illinois assisted suicide law takes effect

A federal judge on Sept. 11 temporarily blocked Illinois from enforcing the state's physician-assisted suicide law for Catholic entities that challenged it.

Sep 12 • 2:28 PM EDT • Health • osvnews.com

Influencers with 46M followers urge Home Depot, Lowe's to drop Flock

A group of influencers with a combined following of 46M followers are demanding Lowe's and Home Depot drop their Flock Safety contracts.

Sep 12 • 1:24 PM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

Golden Knights lock down Mark Stone with new contract extension

Once again, the Vegas Golden Knights identified their biggest piece of business in the coming offseason and addressed it well beforehand.

Sep 12 • 12:34 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Warriors' Steph Curry Linked To Spurs In Blockbuster Trade Proposal

Former teammate Stephen Jackson proposes a monumental shift, envisioning an elite veteran backcourt pairing with Victor Wembanyama to reignite championship aspirations in San Antonio.

Sep 12 • 7:22 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Demichelis Already Facing a Fight to Save His Leipzig Job

Consecutive defeats and locker-room communication barriers have pushed the Argentine to the brink, leaving Sunday’s clash with Hamburger SV as a must-win to avoid a premature exit.

Sep 12 • 6:36 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Kaia Castle delivers career night for Texas A&M volleyball

Aggie middle blocker Kaia Castle hit .576 without an attack error across 33 attempts in the Aggies' five-set loss to No. 6 Wisconsin.

Sep 12 • 5:50 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Amending constitution won't solve Taiwan's political deadlock: Panel

Amending the Constitution is not the answer to Taiwan's political deadlock over disputed legislation and judicial appointments, panelists at a Taipei seminar said Saturday, calling instead for dialogue between the ruling and opposition parties.

Sep 12 • 4:46 AM EDT • Politics • focustaiwan.tw

The politics and possibilities of ‘AI could kill us all’

I found myself fielding a lot of questions from folks who don’t usually talk much about AI this week. They were mostly along the lines of “do you think AI is going to kill us all?” or “how worried should I be about this human extinction stuff?” Motivating this wave of existential anxiety was the highly dramatic resignation of now-former Anthropic employee Jacob Coxon, who quit his job while publicly sharing his concerns about safety practices at the leading AI companies. More specifically, he declared that almost everyone at OpenAI and Anthropic, the leading AI labs, believes that there’s a decent chance the AI systems they’re producing could “kill us all” by the end of the decade, and the companies aren’t “acting responsibly.” Other AI safety researchers, including those still employed at Anthropic and OpenAI, all confirmed that yes, Coxon is correct, they’re all worried that their company’s products might prove fatal for the entire human race as well. Two more AI employees quit and joined the chorus. Now, the warning shot has been covered everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Fox News to WIRED to the Guardian. I understand why all this sounds scary, but my response to those who have asked, has generally been: No, you don’t need to worry that AI will kill go rogue and kill us all. But that does not mean we shouldn’t worry, period. Far from it. The companies building AI products are now among the wealthiest and most powerful entities in the world. And they very much are building enormous engines of mass surveillance, extraction, and automation. They can and have allowed their AI systems to carry out felony hacks of other companies, provided the government with autonomously generated kill lists, and sold enterprise technology to firms around the world that is explicitly intended to replace jobs. But “AI” has done these things not because they have all-powerful minds of their own but, ultimately, because people have programmed, calibrated, and directed them to. In other words, it’s not AI we need to worry the most about. It’s the people and corporations working to profit from and gain power by deploying it. The technology is sophisticated, sure, and, especially in cybersecurity contexts, potentially disruptive to plenty of existing systems. But if we want to stop this predatory, profiteering, and extractive form of AI—and it’s worth noting that at this point, most people do—we absolutely can. A quick note/plea: I can only do all of this with the support of readers like you, so if you find value in independent, critical tech journalism and analysis, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I want to keep as much of this un-paywalled as absolutely possible, and I need your support to do so. Many thanks to all who continue to chip in, it’s very much appreciated. Onward. Subscribe First, some context: AI industry folks like Coxon have been discussing the prospect that AI will destroy humanity for years. Even before the beginning of the AI boom, many working in the industry, from the executive staff to the rank and file researchers, have obsessed over ‘x-risk’, or the possibility that AI will become sentient or semi-sentient and move one way or another to exterminate humanity. This is ostensibly why Elon Musk bankrolled OpenAI in the first place, and is the grounds for his lawsuit alleging OpenAI betrayed its charter by abandoning its nonprofit status to become a commercial enterprise. Many AI engineers and startup founders have calculated their own personal p(doom), or the probability that the tech product they are working on will initiate an actual humanity-extinguishing apocalypse. 10-25% p(doom)s are pretty common. (I wrote about a long weekend I spent among these folks at one of their top conferences here, to give you an idea of their ideas and belief systems.) Sam Altman himself drove the narrative of the imminent rise of a super-powerful AI, or artificial general intelligence, to prominence by declaring that the technology he was building posed an existential risk to humanity. This idea is in other words baked into the DNA of modern AI companies and into the products they engineer. It’s also why the industry is routinely accused, by myself and others, of “doom marketing,” ie, using such proclamations and framings to impart the sheer power of the technology behind your product onto investors, partners, consumers, and the state. Some ambient understanding of this tendency may have helped prevent the press from repeating the claim every time one of the x-risk folks made it over the years, including when they quit their jobs at AI companies while doing so. Yet Coxon’s AI x-risk alarm has broken containment, as they say, and has exposed the idea to the mainstream media once again. This has happened, I think, for a number of reasons. First, when AI CEOs were going around saying AI might kill everyone in 2023, their companies were well-capitalized, but not nearly to the extent they are today. They were more easily dismissed as eccentric geeks of the sort that Silicon Valley is supposed to produce. Now, not only do their products have much greater market saturation, but people are more aware of a) the often unethical ways the executives and companies comport themselves b) the other adverse impacts of AI that have already arrived, and c) the physical cost of building these systems, particularly when it comes to data centers. Finally, toss in the constant stream of headlines in 2026 about AI models going rogue or potentially upending the world’s infrastructure. [ ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) [ With the backlash to data centers, Flock and AI glasses, a mass opposition to big tech is underway. Silicon Valley is in denial. ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) Brian Merchant · Aug 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/with-the-backlash-to-data-centers) As a result, general sentiment was already overwhelmingly skeptical of AI and its overlords, so the table was pretty well set for someone to come along and say ‘just a reminder, the companies that are building the product that promises to take your job and leave a data center in your neighborhood also think that it might exterminate the human race’ and get a strong reaction from the media and the public. The question is: Should we understand this stuff as hype, strategically fanned to feed already swelling valuations? Is it doom marketing? Genuine cause for alarm that the infrastructure that undergirds modern life is facing a novel threat vector? Or reason to be sincerely worried that AI companies are amassing too much power, and that their products are genuinely dangerous? The answer, I’m afraid, is “yes.” Let me try to untangle all of this a bit, because arguments over how to navigate this moment are extremely heated right now, as they are essentially arguments over how to approach the politics of AI at a moment where there may be a unique opening for action. Those sympathetic to AI alignment concerns and x risk arguments—which increasingly includes a faction on the left who want to shut down AI over safety concerns—argue that people who dismiss AI as all hype have their heads in the sand. Meanwhile, critics of the x-risk narrative—which I might note includes a cadre of investors and tech folks on the right, too—argue that it is hype and can be used to further inflate valuations or for pursuing regulatory capture. The challenge is that many feel that dismissing AI as just hype or purely marketing also diminishes the urgency of taking on the AI industry as the novel and threat to labor, civil society, and the public sphere it is; others that by accepting the industry’s own terms, we imbue it with undue power and enable it. But let’s be clear: Declarations that AI is so powerful it might end the world are a kind of marketing, and anyone who says otherwise is just as off base as those who say that’s all that it is. If you don’t think that these sub-trillion dollar companies have higher-ups who noticed that when their founders talked about super-powerful dangerous AI they got spikes in media interest and phone calls from investors, or that those founders didn’t notice that themselves, and lean into certain narratives to advantage their products, then I don’t know what to tell you. Not all marketing is a Pepsi ad campaign with a celebrity spokesperson. Yet confronting the AI industry should certainly be considered an urgent project. Do I share the x-riskers’ fear that out-of-control, super-intelligent AI agents might end the world? I do not. I’ve read a good deal of AI extinction literature over the last couple of years and I have not come across a credible, step-by-step documentation of how exactly AI might move from self-recursively improving AI to killing every single human on the planet. Most of what I’ve read seems predicated on a sort of reverse Ian Malcolmian logic: Eventually, it becomes smart enough and AI, uh, finds a way (to exterminate humanity). Are the AI companies also overstating and dramatizing what their products can do? Yes, pretty much all the time. They’re in a knife fight for market share and are trying to win customers and government contracts before their investors come knocking. And yet. They have concentrated enormous amounts of compute, have extensive data collection and surveillance capacities, have inserted themselves into the state in numerous capacities, including military kill chains, and they are being run by egomaniacal billionaires who are rushing to monopolize an entire new market. The way I think about their most recent frightening-seeming exploits is not as a “swarm of rogue AI agents building a new civilization” or whatever, but as corporations with a hitherto-unimaginable amount of compute at their disposal recklessly experimenting with automation programs, completely unafraid of any repercussions because we have been unwilling or unable to impose any on them. So I think we should welcome any newfound imperative to hold them accountable. I also think that ultimately, the AI critics, Pause AI folks, leftists, doomers, effective altruists, and, honestly, most of the public, want a lot of the same things: legitimate checks and limits on AI companies’ power, actual transparency into what the companies are doing, and for more of AI to be under public control. (Ultimately, a lot of what animates the x-risk fears are rooted in just that: a fear of losing control.) How we move towards all this, exactly, is the question of the day, and while there’s much to be argued over in terms of building a viable political platform to challenge the AI industry’s power, I do want to cast a vote against one particular approach. Not to pick on Chris here, as there are a lot of folks out there proposing stuff like this, and the policy ideas actually stem from AI safety groups. But not only would this be challenging to land politically (I can already hear the ‘China will beat us to AGI’ calls) and all but unworkable in practice, this approach is a) far too limiting, b) fails to address the current harms caused by AI and c) would likely only wind up serving Anthropic and OpenAI; it’s what regulatory capture looks like in action. Full model transparency is the floor for what should be on offer here. If these companies believe their products will kill us, the very least we deserve is to know how. It’s in the public interest. I would also argue we might get a lot of the way to stopping any currently envisioned robot apocalypse simply by forcing AI companies to assume liability, and to submit to the full brunt of the law. If Sam Altman were liable to be charged with a felony for approving the hack on Hugging Face1, if Google was forced to pay defamation fines each time it published a false and injurious AI Overviews, these companies might suddenly find cause to restrain their models’ output, and we might hear less about rogue AI. We would need to introduce new frameworks and available tools for tracking automated lawbreaking, to be sure, but I’d wager that little would frighten the AI companies more than actually being held accountable for what their products enable. To that end, Illinois has passed an AI liability law, which the industry fought tooth and nail, and Florida is considering one. The next steps would be towards moving AI under public control; again, it’s only reasonable, since everyone, not just AI insiders, should get a say over how a technology whose developers say might kill us is developed and deployed. Dismantling the whole industrial project as currently structured should be on the table, too, pending democratic input. But that’s for another post. For now, suffice to say that while I won’t be losing any sleep about an AI-enabled extinction event, Mr. Coxon and co. have given us an opportunity to underscore the urgency of the clear and present damage AI companies are doing, the extreme power they wield and the extent to which they hold themselves unaccountable, and the abundance of political capital there is out there for taking them on. Subscribe 1 Purely speculative! I do not know if he did or not.

Sep 12 • 3:59 AM EDT • Politics • bloodinthemachine.com

GALLERY: Ball State College of Health hosts Block Party

Ball State College of Health hosts Block Party, an event that serves as the kickoff for Family Weekend, starting Saturday, September 12th. The event went from 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm on the courtyard between the Health Professions and Foundational Sciences buildings. Block Party featured free popcorn, shaved ice, pins, games, and music. Attendees were also able to take photos at a selfie station and as well as listen and watch the Ball State Studio Band perform throughout the event.

Sep 11 • 10:46 PM EDT • Health • ballstatedailynews.com

Carter Jensen does the Monster Mash; Royals beat Red Sox

The bullpen locked things down.

Sep 11 • 9:59 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Walker Kessler's Lakers Comments Send Blunt Reminder to Jazz

Fresh off a blockbuster trade, the defensive specialist prioritizes winning over rebuilding as he joins Luka Doncic, highlighting the stark contrast between Los Angeles and Utah.

Sep 11 • 9:37 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Brewers Reacts Survey Results: What concerns you the most?

Milwaukee is close to locking up a return to the postseason, but there are still areas for concern

Sep 11 • 6:29 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Laredo opens new mental health unit facility downtown

The city of Laredo and police cut the ribbon on a new facility on the 1500 block of Washington Street.

Sep 11 • 5:48 PM EDT • Health • kgns.tv

Albany County Flock case fuels push for ALPR guardrails

An Albany County sheriff's investigator is accused of conducting more than 4,000 unauthorized Flock camera searches. The case is renewing debate over privacy, police oversight, and proposed statewide rules for license plate readers.

Sep 11 • 5:18 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Hero GTA V Modder Adds 235 Flock Cameras Specifically For Players To Destroy

'Flock is a scourge on America'

Sep 11 • 5:00 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com

Derek Shelton Explains Twins' Plan for Top Prospect

The manager says Walker Jenkins needs time at the major league level, but the organization already views him as a long-term building block.

Sep 11 • 4:52 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Judge will name receiver to take over closed Resilience hospitals

The judge said too many roadblocks have come up for current owners to reopen West Suburban Medical Center and Weiss Memorial.

Sep 11 • 4:45 PM EDT • Business • chicagobusiness.com

Scientists unlock secrets of ancient Egyptian materials with proteomics

Analysis revealed seed proteins from sesame and moringa, which held religious and symbolic significance.

Sep 11 • 2:49 PM EDT • Science • arstechnica.com

"Clock's ticking" for Joey Porter Jr. and the Steelers

Sep 11 • 2:28 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

🚨 Stassin, Pepelu... Sevilla-Valencia XIs are in

Two fallen members of the league aristocracy face off today, hoping their bad spell is only temporary.Sevilla and Valencia kick off Matchday 5 in LaLiga with a real blockbuster at the Ramón Sánchez-...

Sep 11 • 1:52 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Apple sets cutoff time for getting faster iPhone 18 Pro pre-order

Here’s the deadline for when iPhone 18 Pro purchase decisions need to be locked in with Apple for a faster pre-order experience.

Sep 11 • 1:05 PM EDT • Technology • 9to5mac.com

DLSS Multi Frame Generation Has Now Been Modded Onto RTX 40, RTX 30 & Even RTX 20 GPUs

Modders unlock NVIDIA's DLSS Multi Frame Generation on RTX 20, 30, and 40 Series, expanding frame interpolation capabilities beyond the RTX 50 Series

Sep 11 • 10:20 AM EDT • Technology • wccftech.com

Johan Manzambi return can unlock Aston Villa's new-look attack

Dan Bardell believes Johan Manzambi's return could transform Aston Villa's new-look attack, with the summer signing offering the ball carrying, creativity and versatility Unai Emery has been missing as he looks to knit together a significantly changed team.

Sep 11 • 10:09 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Nintendo Secures Legal Victory Against Sale of Switch Game Piracy Devices

Nintendo has won a major legal victory aimed at blocking the sale of devices that enable Switch game piracy.

Sep 11 • 8:36 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com

Flock Safety's fastest-growing business is police drones

What if a drone arrived before the police? Flock Safety's fastest-growing part of its business is drone as first responder technology. Credit: AJC

Sep 11 • 8:23 AM EDT • Business • ajc.com

What are tomorrow's quantum threats?

Most people trust that the passwords, bank accounts, medical records and private messages they use every day are protected by encryption. But as quantum computing advances, some of today’s most widely used security tools could eventually become breakable. That means information stolen now could potentially be saved and unlocked years later, when quantum computers are powerful enough to crack protections that current computers cannot.

Sep 11 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • news.asu.edu

The successes and sacrifices of balancing equestrian sport and motherhood

Riders have had to negotiate systemic roadblocks to return to the sport after giving birth.

Sep 11 • 5:05 AM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com

An AI tool aims to catch harder-to-detect heart attacks in EKGs

A newly approved AI tool can scan EKGs for severe heart attacks and, the company says, for rarer patterns indicating blocked arteries.

Sep 11 • 4:30 AM EDT • Health • statnews.com

Fulton Fire Department responds to fire affecting business Thursday evening

The Fulton Fire Department responded to a commercial structure fire Thursday evening in the 2400 block of North Bluff Street.

Sep 10 • 7:24 PM EDT • Business • komu.com

Anthropic says it blocked possible efforts to use AI for biological weapons development, Iran-linked cases

The company detailed five cases involving potentially dangerous biological research, saying it banned the associated accounts and strengthened its safeguards.

Sep 10 • 6:28 PM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com

Anthropic reports it blocked potential bioweapons research

Anthropic intervened in multiple attempts by scientists and other actors who were using its models to help develop biological weapons, the artificial intelligence research company said in a report released

Sep 10 • 6:16 PM EDT • Science • unionleader.com

Denver sues Trump to block armed ICE agents from polling sites

The City of Denver, along with several immigrant rights groups, sued the Trump administration Thursday, seeking to block armed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from polling sites during the upcoming midterm elections. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., leans heavily on 18 U.S.C. 592, an older federal law which […]

Sep 10 • 6:10 PM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

Big Ten announces final decision on new protocol

Last Saturday’s matchup between the Michigan Wolverines and the Western Michigan Broncos ended as one of the most controversial games in college football history. The Wolverines appeared to lose as the clock struck zero after a Hail Mary pass attempt by Michigan’s Bryce Underwood flew to the back of the end zone, but after review,…

Sep 10 • 6:09 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Atlanta Hawks Predicted to Make Blockbuster Trade Next Season

The Atlanta Hawks could make a blockbuster trade next season.

Sep 10 • 5:53 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

The Not-So-Secret Winner in Netflix and YouTube’s Streaming Wars Battle

(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Here’s a good piece of advice: when someone tells you a company has “won” the streaming wars, just assume they haven’t. Remember the narratives about the streaming media over the last few years: 2024 - Netflix has won the streaming wars! 2025 - YouTube has won the streaming wars! Yet…in 2026, I’d categorize it as… 2026 - Netflix and YouTube are battling for talent! Netflix and YouTube are aggressively fighting for top creators, marking a fierce new battle in the streaming wars. For two companies that “won”, that certainly doesn’t seem like winning behavior. If you win, you don’t have to fight for talent, because talent has to come to you. This is a good reminder that, if the streaming wars are a war—and I think they are—we should know what type of war they are. So it’s worth revisiting one of my big theories of the streaming wars, that the war these battles most represent is… The Thirty Years’ War1 I prefer this war to other, simpler wars, because, while it featured two “sides”—based on religion—and the current war has two main sides—tech versus entertainment—it also featured a lot of smaller players battling it out, sometimes switching sides. And that’s still the case for entertainment and media, despite the above headlines. I’d recommend this truism: if someone has to tell you they won the streaming wars, they probably haven’t. To wit, if someone told you they were fighting in the Thirty Years’ War—and no, they didn’t call it that at the time—and in year five, they told you they won, well, obviously they had 25 more years to go. That’s a lot of preamble to say, the story of the week is the latest battles between YouTube and Netflix. Their battle for talent says a lot about how hard this war will be to win. All that, plus The Curse of the Mogul in action, Netflix providing more (theatrical) data, whether Apple TV is in trouble, AMC getting in on distribution, and a whole lot more. Subscribe Today’s article is sponsored by… Substack is hosting a live Emmys watch party, starting at 5PM on the East Coast (2PM on the West Coast) on Monday, 14-Sep. Check it out! Tune In Most Important Story of the Week - Who’s the Big Winner in the Netflix vs YouTube Showdown? Netflix spent a lot in 2025, and then even more in 2026 adding a host of “creators”—both podcasters and YouTube stars—to their TV lineup. Frankly, for years, I’ve thought that more major studios/streamers/channels should look to YouTube as the launching pad for future stars and IP. Either by poaching proven talent—albeit at good prices—or by treating YouTube as an arena for your “A&R” reps to scout new talent and emerging voices. Netflix started executing the former strategy—which I thought was smart—while Focus Features did the latter with Obsession. So what changed? YouTube finally responded! Yikes. That’s a strong response, and stronger than I’d argue most narratives about YouTube suggest. People often describe YouTube as a self-reinforcing flywheel of success. Get on YouTube or perish. So why did YouTube have to respond? Because other folks poaching their top talent could really damage their business, implying their flywheel is a pinch more rickety than most analysis suggests. Clearly, creators can envision a life off YouTube and potentially a much more lucrative one. The Curse of the Media Mogul is Playing Out In Real Time 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… Who is the big winner in the Netflix versus YouTube battle… The biggest question about YouTube… Plus why YouTube’s saber rattling should worry talent… Why I’m skeptical that a U.S. federal tax credit for film will happen… What key change could pull Apple from the streaming business. AMC getting in on distribution… Some great reads on the Warner Bros.-Paramount merger... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.

Sep 10 • 5:34 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

GOP secretaries of state ask Supreme Court to block Trump mail-in ballot rule

The proposed change would significantly increase the likelihood of midterm election issues, they warned.

Sep 10 • 3:36 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Why Celtics Rival Still Hasn't Completed Blockbuster Trade

The Kawhi Leonard trade agreed to more than two months ago still hasn't been finalized.

Sep 10 • 3:02 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Humans experimented with drugs 23,000 years earlier than we thought

Betel nut use among hunter-gatherers may turn back the clock.

Sep 10 • 2:21 PM EDT • Science • popsci.com

Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Aniston joke about both dating Tate Donovan: ‘Shared a boyfriend’

The longtime pals both dated the “Damages” star in the 1990s.

Sep 10 • 1:11 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Anthropic Says It Blocked Possible Efforts to Build Biological Weapons

In a new report, the A.I. start-up added that it could not determine if the research was legitimate or nefarious, leading the company to shut down the work.

Sep 10 • 1:00 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

U.S. Supreme Court again blocks Republican-backed Missouri congressional map

The SCOTUS decision is the latest in a whirlwind of legal decisions shifting the lines of Missouri’s congressional districts.

Sep 10 • 11:03 AM EDT • Politics • kansascity.com