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Bay Area health officials urge vaccinations as measles cases continue to surge nationwide
Bay Area health officials are urging parents and international travelers to follow vaccination guidelines to prevent measles infections over the summer as
Pressley, Warren, Booker, Moore, Dingell, Adams, Underwood, Colleagues Renew Push to Combat Maternal Health Crisis
Mamas First Act would expand Medicaid coverage to include prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care provided by doulas, midwives, tribal midwives,...
Report: Two Arkansas Entertainment Venues Rank Among World's Best
Two Arkansas concert venues are receiving international recognition after earning spots in Pollstar’s 2026 Mid-Year Rankings, highlighting
Once Upon a Time in Space: Politics Always Wins
Join the space exploration journey as the Mir’s reign in space comes to an end with the arrival of the International Space Station.
Google launches a cheaper alternative to large AI security models like Mythos
Google says it achieved “competitive performance” compared to larger models.
Piitch-timer gamesmanship triggers scuffle between Pirates, Yankees
New York Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero triggered a benches-clearing scuffle with the Pittsburgh Pirates through manipulation of MLB's pitch clock.
Quest for research answers takes undergraduate student to Japan
Kaylin Lamaute has been spending the summer finding answers to her fascinations in materials science and engineering through the Adopting Sustainable Partnerships for Innovative Research Ecosystem (ASPIRE) program, an international initiative primarily driven by the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
LPI Scientists Honored with Asteroid Naming by the IAU
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has recognized the scientific achievements of Universities Space Research Association (USRA) scientists Dr. Imene Kerraouch and Dr. Allison McGraw by naming asteroids (20452) Kerraouch and (20092) Allisonmcgraw in their honor.
China’s rise shifts the global political vibe
China’s rise is driving a deeper shift in which Western emotional authority is fading and alternative visions for the international order are becoming increasingly possible.
Egypt: Release dozens detained over Gen Z online group calling for political change
The Egyptian authorities must release dozens of people detained for their association with a Gen Z online group calling for political change and publishing content critical of the government, Amnesty International said today. Since late May, officers from the National Security Agency (NSA) arrested at least 50 people, including nine women, for being part of the “Gen Z002” group on the social media platform, Discord, which called in October 2025 for toppling President Abdel […]
Apple Testing 7-Inch Display for Largest 20th Anniversary iPhone Model
Apple is reportedly prototyping a larger iPhone display measuring roughly 6.96 inches, which would likely be marketed as a 7-inch panel if it reaches production. According to Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station, Apple is testing the display internally in preparation for the 20th anniversary iPhone, which is expected to launch next year.
Clearing his lines
Only one player across the entire World Cup completed more clearances than new Leeds signing Tarik Muharemovic. The Bosnia and Herzegovina international cleared his lines 41 times. Only Nico Elvedi of Switzerland got rid of the ball on more occasions - 48.
Freedom, trust and the future of science: Nobel laureates reflect on the ideas shaping tomorrow
Behind every scientific discovery are years, sometimes decades, of fundamental research, failed experiments, uncertain funding, international collaboration and the freedom to pursue questions without knowing where they might lead. The Nobel laureates recently gathered at the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany argued that scientific breakthroughs depend on far more than brilliant ideas alone. Those conversations unfolded against the backdrop of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and growing geopolitical competition. The question running through the discussions was therefore broader than science itself: what conditions make discovery possible? ‘Europe is a space of freedom’
International Courts Against the Defunding of Climate Science? Revisiting the ICJ’s Climate Change Advisory Opinion
Introduction The first eighteen months of the second Trump administration have witnessed a sustained assault on scientific infrastructures enabling understanding of anthropogenic climate change. This has taken the form of cuts to national science agencies; freezes and dramatic reductions in grants to universities; and attempts to dismantle observation arrays and crucial monitoring stations. It has […]
Experts agree at landmark event that simulation should be built into health system
On 15 June 2026, over 80 representatives from simulation societies, ministries of health, hospitals, universities, international organizations, professional associations and industry partners met at the WHO Academy in Lyon for a joint event of WHO and the Society for Simulation in Europe (SESAM). Together they tackled a pressing question: how can simulation move from isolated initiatives to systematic integration within health systems? The consensus was clear: simulation is no longer a niche educational tool. Beyond training, it strengthens health systems by improving quality of care, patient safety, workforce preparedness, team performance and organizational resilience.Participants agreed the evidence for simulation’s value no longer needs to be demonstrated, but that implementation remains fragmented and too often dependent on individual local champions. Bridging that gap, they said, means both generating further evidence and raising awareness among decision-makers.Discussions pointed to a shared path forward. To achieve scale and lasting impact, simulation must be embedded in national policies, workforce development plans, education systems and financing mechanisms. No institution can do this alone; stronger collaboration between governments, health institutions, academia, professional societies, international organizations and industry partners will be essential.“At the WHO Academy, we see simulation not simply as a training methodology but as a strategic tool for capacity-building, workforce readiness and stronger health systems,” said Dr Bart Janssens, Unit Head, Health Learning and Capacity Building. “This event is not only about discussion; it is about moving from ideas to action.”As health systems worldwide face workforce shortages, growing complexity of care and rapidly evolving competency needs, participants concluded that the question is no longer “Why simulation?” but rather how to scale it, how to sustain it, and how to ensure it becomes an integral part of stronger health systems.Looking aheadThe event marked the beginning of a collaborative effort rather than the end of a conversation. Over the coming weeks, WHO and SESAM will consolidate the discussions, recommendations and priorities that emerged, with a joint WHO–SESAM report to be published soon.
UFC Freedom 250 Fails to Knock Out The Ratings
(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.) If UFC fans wanted one image to say, “Hey, Paramount+ is crushing it with their UFC rights deal,” I could provide that image. Here it is: (Reminder: this is my creation of the Nielsen Top 30, since Nielsen doesn’t combine the lists or include sports. I take all three lists and combine them. Some streaming TV shows probably have higher ratings than many of the films on this list.) Look at that! UFC Freedom 250 is number one! It topped the Nielsen “Top 30” list for shows and films that made the top ten the week of 15-June. So if you’re a UFC fan or supporter of Paramount+, that’s the good news for you this week. This program topped the ratings charts for one week. Everything else is bad news, or at least a huge caveat to that story, which I’ll explain today in the first part of this week’s Streaming Ratings Report—for the weeks of 8-June and 15-June—which is a double issue since I’ve been writing on a bunch of topics recently. UFC Freedom 250 is one of the biggest streaming events of the year, and super relevant to Paramount+’s strategy, so it merited its own article. Let’s dive 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 June 8th to June 21st 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Check Out My Interview on UFC 250 at MMA Draw After you read this article, if you want even more thoughts on UFC and Paramount-Skydance/Paramount+, I did a written interview with MMA Draw. They asked me to answer some questions about UFC Freedom 250, and I was happy to chat with them. Find it here: [ The MMA Draw Newsletter Did Paramount really overpay for the UFC? What the data tells us so far If you know the history of American television, you also know that combat sports is often a leading indicator of the future… Read more a day ago · 10 likes · 1 comment · Nate Wilcox and Zach Arnold ](https://www.themmadraw.com/p/did-paramount-really-overpay-for?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) I never thought I’d need a combat sports newsletter in my life, but the good folks at MMA Draw publish an excellent one on UFC, MMA, pro wrestling, boxing and more, analyzing both the sports themselves and the politics, economics and antitrust issues that impact them. Check the article and their newsletter out! Paramount+ Has Its Best Sporting Event of All Time…But Was It Worth It? Before we look at the UFC Freedom 250 data in particular, let’s talk about what we can’t say. Namely, let’s start with the lack of comparisons. First off, I’d love to put a chart out comparing this fight to past UFC fights on Paramount+…but we don’t have the data. This is the first time we’ve gotten Nielsen data about a Paramount+ UFC fight. As far as I can tell, Paramount provided data for the first fight, but it was a proprietary datecdote (saying it had “an average minute audience” of 5 million “views”) and then, for two fights, we got the linear viewership numbers when they aired on CBS, but no streaming data. Everything else was crickets. We also can’t compare this fight to other fights/combat sports on streaming, in particular the MMA and boxing, because Netflix also didn’t use Nielsen to track those events, opting for TVision and VideoAmp, respectively. (This isn’t Paramount’s fault, but does still suck.) We also can’t compare to UFC’s fights that used to be on ESPN+, since we don’t have any data for that, plus Disney+ didn’t have marquee fights. The comparisons would not be apples-to-apples. Can we compare to past Pay-Per-View fights? Absolutely not. The comparisons would absolutely NOT be apples-to-apples. That didn’t stop Paramount+, though, who bragged that their UFC events have reached drastically more people than past PPV fights. Duh. Sorry, but I gotta make this point again. A basic tenet of economics is that the cheaper something becomes, the more people consume or buy it. That’s Econ 101. (Sometimes pundits call things “Econ 101” that are actually like Econ 210 or even PhD-level economics, but no, this is really like first or second class basic economics.) Yet I still see one analytics firm consistently say that more people watch films on streaming than PVOD proves streaming which means that the streaming window is more valuable than the PVOD window. No, it’s not! Same thing here. Pay-Per-View events back in the day could be really, really, really expensive! So whole groups of people pitched in to buy them. That increased the perceived value of, say, the Mike Tyson fight. Or a UFC numbered event. So yes, the fact that Paramount+ makes numbered UFC fights essentially “free” if you’re already a Paramount+ member means consumption will go up. Obviously. Same for Netflix and their boxing matches. They’re talking about fights that used to cost consumers, in some cases, $50 in 1996…which is over $100 in today’s dollars. Over 1.6 million people paid that to watch the Tyson-Holyfield fight! Again, streaming is essentially “free”. Or $10 to $20, depending on what streamer we’re talking about and what tier you’re on. No wonder more people are “watching”. (Plus, Nielsen’s out-of-home viewing also helps these numbers.) UFC Freedom 250 Did Well…But I Have A Lot of Worries So what can we compare the fights to? Well, the good news is Nielsen put out that the fight averaged 7.0 million viewers for UFC Freedom 250, which is a solid number for a fight. We also know the length, at roughly 4 and a half hours. (I saw different run times, but this seems to be the consensus considering it started at 8 pm, had a delay and then finished after midnight on the East Coast. If you assume a shorter run time, then yes, the total hours viewed would go down.) That means I have the two numbers needed to add this to my Nielsen database. And then…I can compare this viewership to the NFL: And, uh, not great. But also within striking distance, mainly because the runtime for this event was so long. I’d also add that this event had viewership equal to a regular season NFL game on streaming, but if anything, it was more comparable to an NFL playoff or Super Bowl-esque event. And you can compare viewership to the top football games on broadcast, cable and streaming, and it’s not impressive at all: We can also compare it to other sports that week, including the NBA Finals and start of the World Cup: Again, not great. The NBA generated roughly four times as many average viewers each game for its NBA Finals. The World Cup has similarly big numbers. Also, that’s just a tiny fraction of the 25 most watched sporting events each week. The NBA, NHL and FIFA World Cup had many, many more games racking up hours. We could also compare this to other streaming programs to get an idea of “is this a good investment?” and here is how it ranks compared to other top Paramount+ programs: The worry here? Well, unlike scripted programming, which has rewatchability, older fights/sporting events have very little library value. Very, very few people are rewatching these fights, especially years from now. Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers. Then, in their quarterly earnings report, they only ended up with 700K subs. Not great! They claimed they dropped lower-value international subscribers, but that’s why I tend to discount subscriber additions when they’re leaked to the press.1 I expect we may see a bump again for UFC Freedom 250, but I’d caution using subscriber growth so soon after these events to judge the success, since new subs with high churn (see Peacock) aren’t great either. Also, analysts often want to attribute all subscriber growth to their favorite/pet show, and that just doesn’t make sense. The biggest caveat for UFC Freedom 250 and Paramount’s very first UFC marquee event is that these could be high watermarks for the sport. UFC Freedom 250 had an incredible amount of earned media coverage compared to most UFC fights. I mean, it had wall-to-wall national news coverage in the lead up to the event. (The first fight also had a lot of promotion from Paramount since it was first.) Other fights could reach this bar—say the Conor McGregor return to the Octagon—but they’ll be fewer and far between. Was This Deal Worth It? All to ask: is this Paramount deal worth it? In this case, I think the UFC Freedom 250 numbers are more distracting than helpful. This fight did well and compares well to other top sporting events. But we know that the first marquee event was at least a third smaller, if Paramount’s own data is to be believed. And it’s likely the other fights are much, much, much smaller. And then you get to the paycheck that Paramount-Skydance paid. FIFA’s World Cup cost about the same for Fox, but clearly generated multiples more total viewership. (Though it’s only every four years.) The NBA is much more expensive, but until the playoffs, they likely didn’t pay for itself. Even still, Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video likely overpaid. So, in that context, the NBA may be an overpay that makes the UFC look not so bad. But two overpays don’t make an underpay, to paraphrase the old cliché about wrongs and rights. And looking at UFC Freedom 250 as the likely ceiling of MMA on Paramount+, Paramount-Skydance likely paid too much. Share 1 I would love regular reports on subscriber additions by programs, but as is, it’s mostly leaked or rumored in haphazard ways.
White House rushes to further secure Trump’s new Air Force One — but he plans to keep flying it domestically
The White House is working to quickly upgrade the Qatari-donated jet that has newly started serving as Air Force One, a development that comes after administration officials internally discussed the need for President Donald Trump to avoid flying it in high-threat areas, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump and Burnham: Can the two leaders work together?
The BBC's Sarah Smith looks at how the new UK prime minister will manage his most crucial, and perhaps the trickiest, international relationship.
EPA Requests Comments on Draft Science NOx Science Assessment
What: On July 17, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a document titled “Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen—Health Criteria, External Review Draft” (“draft ISA”) for public comment.Why: Under the Clean Air
Michigan AD Warde Manuel to step down at the end of calendar year after internal investigation
The change at the top comes on the heels of a months-long investigation into the culture within the Michigan athletics department
Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process
[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe
Lights On: Burundi Hospital’s Maternal Health Unit Powered by Solar Energy
The monitors beep as doctors prepare for a cesarean. The suction machine and the bed warmer are arranged for the incoming baby. Unexpectedly, the lights go out, followed by all of the electrical me…
Science that spans borders
Argonne welcomes three Japanese students through the U.S.-Japan MEXT pilot program, which builds the next generation of the STEM workforce through international partnership and mentorship, expands discovery and fosters collaboration.
School program trains future business leaders — with help from SLO’s Junkgirls
The program is looking to expand, but funding has been an obstacle.
Weight around the belly is a better predictor of heart health than BMI, research indicates
Individuals with overweight or obesity can have a higher risk of heart disease despite appearing to be healthy, new research presented at the International Congress on Obesity in Mexico City (15–17 July) ...
NC House shuts down plans for liquor warehouse after construction dispute goes public
A House spokesperson says there’s not enough money to build. Critics say the House is trying to distance itself from the majority leader’s controversial actions on the project.
AMC Entertainment Attracts More Than 4.3 Million Moviegoers Worldwide as THE ODYSSEY Delivers the Biggest Opening Weekend for an R-rated Film Across AMC’s U.S. Circuit Since 2024
LEAWOOD, Kan., July 20, 2026--AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AMC), the largest theatrical exhibitor in the United States and the world, today announced that more than 4.3 million moviegoers attended AMC Theatres in the United States and ODEON Cinemas internationally from Thursday through Sunday, led by the opening of Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY.
World Cup fuels Broward's summer business and hotel boom
Thank you to the Tartan Army and all of the international fans!
Three political subplots from World Cup
The FIFA men’s World Cup has come and gone, with Spain defeating Argentina 1-0 in Sunday’s final to win the world’s top international soccer competition for the second time in the last 16 years.&nb…
Trump’s funding cuts created ‘the perfect storm’ that slowed the government’s cyclosporiasis response
The government’s reaction to the cyclospora outbreak has been undermined by massive budget and staffing cuts under President Donald Trump, CNN has found – including nearly funding that disappeared when Trump axed the US Agency for International Development.
Fortissimo nears $400 million Blackstone deal for RGIS international business
Exclusive: Israeli private equity firm is in talks to acquire control of the inventory services company's operations in Israel and several overseas markets, marking a second major transaction with Blackstone.
Electric cars became cheaper in Germany despite rising average prices
Models of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) became more affordable in Germany between 2020 and 2025, data from research organizations the International Council on Clean Transportation and Fraunhofer ISI showed.
Citizen Scientists Helped Decipher How Harvestmen Became Oddly Devoted Dads
Paternal care is vanishingly rare in the animal kingdom, yet one spider relative pulls it off repeatedly across thousands of species. Unlocking why required a surprising shortcut that compressed decad...
I went on Walmart's World Cup tour. It was peak America.
International World Cup fans fell in love with Walmart. I attended one of the tours the company organized to seize on the attention.
How’s business at Happy Valley Casino? Latest financials show significant decrease
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board released June’s financials Friday, and the numbers didn’t look favorably on the new casino at the Nittany Mall.
The mysterious hum heard around the world may finally have an explanation
The mysterious sound known as The Hum has been reported worldwide for decades, yet its source often remains impossible to find. Researchers tested whether people who hear it have exceptional low-frequency hearing or measurable sounds produced inside their ears, but neither explanation fit most participants. The strongest possibility is that many cases involve low-frequency tinnitus, even though the sound seems completely external.
Cells from your mother likely infiltrated your brain in the womb, and they could survive for decades, study reveals
Maternal cells that infiltrate children's brains during pregnancy take on different jobs in the brain and may persist into old age.
New Instagram directory aims to connect KC customers with Black-owned businesses
It’s a project from an organization that has spent years uplifting Black businesses in KC.
Governance Fragmentation and Collapsing Health in Wartime Yemen
Humanitarian groups need international support to overcome funding shortages and the country’s divided politics.
Opinion | Double standard over GLP-1 drugs hits women especially hard
Women experience the effects of obesity in many ways, including heart disease, certain cancers, fertility challenges, maternal health complications, and more severe menopause symptoms.
DREAMTEAM
RUARIDH McCONNOCHIE, THE FORMER BATH, ENGLAND, ENGLAND SEVENS AND GREAT BRITAIN SEVENS WINGER, CHOOSES THE BEST XV HE HAS PLAYED WITH OR AGAINST… 1. Beno Obano – I’ve always thought Beno has been criminally underrated at international level. Everyone sees his power, but his hands and footwork are exceptional for a prop. He’s been a […] The post DREAMTEAM appeared first on The Rugby Paper.
Washington Huskies Forward Leads Serbia to Championship of International Tournament
Huskies forward Nikola Dzepina will face another potential UW recruit, Urban Kroflic, in the championship game of the FIBA EuroBasket tournament.
Where Shane Beamer, Dabo Swinney stand in CBS Sports’ 2026 hot seat rankings
The seat is a bit warmer for both coaches, CBS says.
Is Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) Undervalued After Its CTF Life Awards Deal?
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) is back in focus after CTF Life agreed to become the exclusive title sponsor of the 2026 TMElive International Music Awards, bringing the event to Hong Kong for the first time. See our latest analysis for Tencent Music Entertainment Group. Despite the CTF Life partnership putting Tencent Music Entertainment Group back in the headlines, the stock’s recent performance has been mixed, with a 1 month share price return of 4.95% contrasting with a year to...
CFM wins approval for jet engine durability boost
Jet engine maker CFM International said it had won U.S. and European approvals for an upgrade that would improve durability of engines used on Boeing 737 MAX jets.
Brass at the Beach brings musical excitement back to Myrtle Beach
The Drum Corps International Brass at the Beach returns to Doug Shaw Stadium on Tuesday, July 28 at 7 p.m.
Honeywell Technologies completes first acquisition after spin-offs for $1.8B
The automation company bought a business based in a world capital.
Life after Kane - are England facing a false nine future?
Are England facing the prospect of using a false nine up front once record scorer Harry Kane calls time on his international career?
Nuclear deal that would permit uranium enrichment by Saudi Arabia in limbo awaiting Trump admin sign off
The Trump administration has tentatively agreed to allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium without enacting international safeguards intended to prevent nuclear weapons development, according to sources familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by CNN.
Here’s where MS ranks among worst states for business in 2026. Did it get better from last year?
See how Mississippi’s ranking compares to previous year and other states across the country.
What should we take away from Hornets’ NBA Las Vegas Summer League run?
Charlotte concluded 2026 stay in the desert with a 92-90 loss to Memphis Grizzlies.
Boston businesses hope energy from World Cup crowds can have lasting impact on nightlife
Boston's summer of major international events is nearing its finale, but businesses and residents hope the momentum will continue long after the final whistle of the World Cup.
Abbott investigates two separate cyber incidents, says no operations affected
Abbott Laboratories is investigating two cyber incidents involving unauthorized access to some internal systems at its cancer diagnostics business and its LabCentral portal, the company said on Friday, adding that its operations were not affected.
Oregon Health Authority cancels layoffs
Oregon Health Authority leaders won’t divulge the size or cause of the agency's budget hole, but internal records indicate it needs to find $90 million in savings over the coming year. For now, though, layoffs won’t happen.
US oil firms sign deals with Iraq to develop alternative shipping routes
U.S. companies have signed roughly $60 billion in agreements and partnerships with the Iraqi government, including deals intended to create alternative routes for shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf.
Tepper Sports is ‘broken’ and favors women, former Charlotte FC employee alleges
The first person hired by Charlotte FC was fired for an email he didn’t send, a discrimination lawsuit says, and women faced no repercussions.
‘I am closing the door’: Katie Porter to leave politics, become a book influencer
The former Democratic U.S. representative is pivoting to her rediscovered passion for reading and books.
Raleigh’s Hopscotch Music Festival 2026 lineup is here. List of 100+ performers
Plus, festival dates and how to get tickets.
Less sleep = less health; Led Zeppelin in the OR; dangers of people-pleasing; plus other stories with Vanderbilt Health sources
Prevention interviewed Beth Malow, MD, Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics in the Vanderbilt Sleep Division, for a story about two randomized trials published in Annals of Internal Medicinethat found decreasing sleep by just 1.5 hours each night was linked with increases in body weight, waist circumference, and sedentary time in adults with elevated cardiometabolic risk. Yahoo Healthalso picked up the story. WTVF News Channel 5 reporter Nikki Hauser interviewed Ashish Shah, MD, Professor and Chair of Cardiac Surgery, for a new video podcast series called “Why Nashville” where she interviews interesting people doing interesting work about why they came to Nashville and how it is going. Among the revelations: his go-to OR music includes Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. Everyday Health interviewed Aaron Brinen, PsyD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, for a story about the TikTok trend that encourages women to speak up about their concerns or they’ll develop an autoimmune disease. Overall, people suggest that suppressing feelings of anger, minimizing your own needs, or people-pleasing raises your risk. Telemundo Nashville broadcast a story on cyclosporiasis that quotes both William Schaffner, MD, professor of Preventive Medicine, and Juan C. Salazar, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and system Pediatrician-in-Chief for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Schaffner also spoke to WKRN News 2 about measles and The Cutabout shingles and long distance running. WREG (Memphis) and others picked up the measles story as well. CNN reporter Deidre McPhillips interviewed John Trahanas, MD, Assistant Professor of Cardiac Surgery, and Director of Thoracic Aortic Surgery, for a story about aortic dissection in last week’s death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. The Nashville Post published a story by freelance reporter Leah Hunter on robotic surgery, including a patient story and numerous quotes from Sekhar Padmanabhan, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Surgical Oncology.
Parents want safer phones for kids. These companies are answering the call.
As parents look for alternatives to unrestricted smartphones, a growing number of companies are building phones designed specifically for kids, from feature-limited mobile devices to minimalist home phones.
Walmart names Kinnard to replace departing US COO Shanahan, memo shows
Kieran Shanahan, chief operating officer of Walmart's U.S. operations, is leaving the retailer and will be replaced by the company's international division COO, Kyle Kinnard, an internal memo showed on Friday, amid a major management rejig under CEO John Furner.
Sporting KC acquires two 2026 international roster slots
Sporting Kansas City announced today that the club has acquired two 2026 international roster slots in a pair of trades with the Philadelphia Union and the Seattle Sounders. Sporting has acquired an international roster slot and the 22nd spot in the Waiver Order from Philadelphia in exchange for the first
The Bull Case For Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) Could Change Following Its TMElive Awards Push Into Hong Kong
CTF Life recently announced a long-term partnership with Tencent Music Entertainment Group to bring the TMElive International Music Awards to Hong Kong for the first time in August 2026, with CTF Life as exclusive title sponsor. This collaboration positions Tencent Music to extend its brand beyond online platforms into a large-scale international live festival, deepening its presence in the fan-driven music ecosystem. We’ll now examine how hosting the TMElive International Music Awards in...
Bizcap US Launches, Bringing Fast, Flexible Funding to SMBs
VICTORIA, AU / ACCESS Newswire / July 17, 2026 / Global non-bank funder Bizcap has officially launched in the US, expanding its international footprint and bringing its proven funding model to one of the world's largest small business markets. Already ...
Exclusive : Diagnostics log confirms iPhone 18 Pro Max camera specs ahead of launch
An ISP diagnostics log, part of the trove of internal Tata Electronics files leaked in June by the World Leaks ransomware group, confirms several previously rumored iPhone 18 Pro Max camera specs ahead of Apple's official announcement.
Sports without politics is a fantasy and the World Cup proves it
From ancient Greece to Nazi Germany, sport and politics have long been intertwined. Nevertheless, we still imagine that international sport can be kept above the fray and serve as a neutral arena where nations compete on merit alone. In this article, diplomacy scholar Geoffrey Allen Pigman argues the 2026 FIFA World Cup shows this is a dangerous illusion. When international sport is left entirely to revenue-maximizing private bodies like FIFA, it doesn't escape politics, but rather surrenders to its worst expressions. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics fast approaching, the IOC must decide whether to learn that lesson or repeat the same mistakes. The largest and most lucrative FIFA World Cup ever draws toward its climactic conclusion amidst a swirl of controversy. Team members, staff, fans, and spectators have been denied their right to enter the United States to participate, and US President Donald Trump intervened with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to overturn a referee’s call that Trump believed disadvantaged the US national team. It is a moment to step back and reflect on what the purposes of international sport mega-events like the World Cup, and international sport more broadly, are, and what they should be. Does international sport serve public purposes? Is there a public interest? Or is it primarily a private endeavor organized by commercial enterprises to entertain the global public (and generate profit in the process), which is occasionally used by governments and leaders for raisons d’etat? Central to the idea of sport is the principle of fair play, which in the international context demands that games be free from political interference. However, it is impossible to separate sport from politics, all claims to the contrary notwithstanding. The most positive political use of international sport through the millennia has been to facilitate diplomacy. The use of international sport for diplomatic objectives has existed since at least the time of the ancient Olympic Games, around which was instituted the custom of the Ekecheiria, or Olympic Truce, between participating states to facilitate fair competition and diplomatic achievements by ensuring that participants could travel safely to the Olympiad. In his seminal work On Diplomacy (1987), diplomacy scholar James Der Derian characterized the objectives of diplomacy as overcoming alienation and mediating estrangement between governments and between peoples. One increasingly important diplomatic tool in the technology-infused media environment over the past century has been public diplomacy, under which governments and non-state diplomatic actors (e.g. transnational corporations) communicate to global publics about their international policy objectives and to shape their global brand image. Political scientist Michał Kobierecki, in his important book Sports Diplomacy (2020), views sports diplomacy as falling broadly within the ambit of public diplomacy, as international sport intimately involves the participation of global publics as spectators and consumers of global media. Diplomacy scholar Stuart Murray and this author, in a 2013 article, distinguish between international sport used for diplomatic purposes and international sport-as-diplomacy, which encompasses the range of diplomacy that occurs as teams and competitors, spectators and fans, and government officials all converge for international sporting events like the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. Diplomacy scholar H.E. Chehabi, in a 2001 article on US-Iran sports diplomacy, describes the interaction between spectators and fans at international sporting events as “people-to-people diplomacy,” in which relationships develop independently of governments and their objectives. Diplomacy by the aforementioned definitions is often unsuccessful. Moreover, all too often the tools of diplomacy may be employed by governments and other actors to thwart or oppose the objectives of diplomacy as characterized by Der Derian. Governments routinely use the tools of public diplomacy to disseminate propaganda, spreading misinformation in the attempt to deceive global publics about their objectives and to create misleading impressions about their brand identity. Within sports diplomacy, the term “sportswashing” has been coined recently to describe how governments invest in and promote international sport to create positive global public impressions of their nations and, in doing so, to distract the global public from their deficient records in areas such as human rights and democratic governance. Murray, in his 2018 book Sports Diplomacy: Origins, Theory and Practice, introduces the concept of sports anti-diplomacy, wherein governments intentionally use international sport to advance aggressive and nationalistic objectives. Obvious historical examples include Hitler’s use of the 1936 Berlin Olympics to glorify his Third Reich and the 1969 El Salvador-Honduras football “war.” SUGGESTED READING The beautiful game made ugly By Emily Ryall FIFA argues that it is and seeks to be apolitical in its stewardship of international Association Football (soccer). FIFA policies governing bids to host the World Cup require uninhibited and non-discriminatory access for players, team staff, and spectators of all participating countries to host nations and venues. It became clear soon after Trump returned to power in the United States in January 2025 that Trump’s political intentions and objectives to limit non-US citizens from living and working in the United States and, in numerous cases, even visiting the country, would collide with FIFA’s host nation policies. Beginning soon after the start of the second Trump administration, US federal authorities imposed restrictions on entry to the United States of citizens of between 20 and 40 countries for any purpose, with only limited exceptions. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began arresting non-US citizens in the United States, including persons with and without legal status, holding them in jails, concentration camps, and other detention facilities until they were deported to their home or third countries, where they faced substantive risks to their personal safety. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, in an effort to ensure the most successful and lucrative World Cup in history, engaged diplomatically with President Trump in an attempt to facilitate entry to the US for World Cup participants. Infantino did all in his power to ingratiate himself with Trump, to the extent of creating a FIFA “Peace Prize,” which he awarded to Trump in December 2025 at a ceremony in the then Trump-controlled John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the World Cup draw. The prize was an ersatz consolation for someone who aspired in vain to win the rather more prestigious and well-known Nobel Peace Prize. And in the run-up to the World Cup, conditions became worse. In February 2026, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a war of aggression against Iran, illegal under international law, under the false pretence that Iran’s government was preparing to attack the United States and Israel. During the US aerial bombardment of Iran, US planes bombed Azadi Stadium, the facility where Iran’s national football team trained. As the 2026 FIFA World Cup began, it was clear that Infantino’s efforts had been for naught: the Trump administration would not adhere to FIFA policies governing access to World Cup host nations. World Cup referee Omar Artan, a citizen of Somalia, was denied a US visa to enter the United States to participate in the World Cup. Trump’s government only granted US visas to Iran’s football team ten days before they were scheduled to arrive for the tournament. Numerous members of the support staff for Iran’s team were denied US visas. Iran’s team, which had been scheduled to train in Arizona, was directed to shift its training site to Tijuana, Mexico, notwithstanding that all three of their group stage matches took place at US venues. The US Department of Homeland Security only permitted the Iranian team to enter the US on the day before each scheduled match and then to return to Mexico immediately after playing. Members of Iraq’s and Switzerland’s football teams were delayed for hours by US officials at the US border, and an Iraqi team photographer was refused entry. Spectators and fans from Haïti and Iran were denied entry to the United States altogether. A large number of fans from a range of countries had their applications for US visas rejected. There were multiple off-ramps through which participants could have avoided the negative consequences of Trump’s decisions for the 2026 World Cup. Once it was clear that the Trump government intended to violate the established expectations for World Cup hosts, FIFA could have shifted the matches scheduled to take place in the United States to Mexico and Canada. The three nations were already designated as co-hosts, and host cities and venues had been selected. Once it was clear that FIFA, governed by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino’s dependent and dysfunctional relationship with Trump, would never consider this option on its own, it fell to the national football federations to act. The national federations, particularly some combination of federations of the leading contenders (France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Morocco, England, Germany, etc.), could have refused to participate under the US-imposed conditions or, at the least, demanded an ironclad agreement with the Trump government that FIFA policies on access would be respected. ___ International sport is inextricably entangled with diplomacy of different sorts, for good or ill, it cannot be considered to be in the purely private realm and left to revenue-maximizing private actors. ___ Why did neither FIFA nor the national football federations act to protect the interests of players, team staff, referees, fans, and spectators? In essence, the relentless engines of capitalism prevailed over norm observance, ethics, and fair play. The revenue interests of FIFA, sponsors, global media, and host cities won out. FIFA’s managers viewed hosting another World Cup principally in the United States as a veritable pot of gold for FIFA and its collaborators. FIFA has estimated its own revenue over the 2023-26 budget cycle, which includes the 2026 World Cup, at $13 billion, revised up from an initial projection of $11 billion, and 72% higher than the previous revenue cycle. Of that total, FIFA is estimated to have generated $8.9 billion from the Cup itself in revenue from TV rights ($3.92 billion), sponsorships ($2.69 billion), ticket sales ($3.1 billion), licensing rights, and other sources. A joint study by FIFA and the World Trade Organization estimates that the World Cup will contribute over $40 billion to global GDP, including nearly $14 billion in direct visitor spending in the three host countries (but principally in the United States, which hosted the lion’s share of the matches). The FIFA World Cup is now reportedly “the single most lucrative recurring commercial property in global sport.” And yet, notwithstanding the Trump government’s uses of the World Cup for sports anti-diplomacy, and the climate of anxiety that this created for participants and spectators, diplomacy that did not depend upon governments was able to thrive at the World Cup. Examples of successful people-to-people diplomacy were legion, as citizens of towns and cities across the States, as well as in Mexico and Canada, welcomed team members, their families and supporters, to training sites across North America. Fans of different teams joined together in person in stadiums for matches, at watch parties and bars, and at welcome events sponsored by host cities. The joy and camaraderie shared between the citizenry of Boston and Scotland’s “Tartan Army” of fans is but one example of how the “Beautiful Game” brings people together. Friendships forged across continents are likely to endure well beyond the Cup final. Even those achievements cannot be seen as unalloyed, however. As South African football fan Byron Pillay commented to Al Jazeera, “Football is called the Beautiful Game for a reason, for its ability to unite people. But it’s hard to believe in that magic with the politics and war rhetoric off the field of play, especially when one of the tournament hosts is central to that.” Ultimately, the experience of the 2026 FIFA World Cup illustrates that, as international sport is inextricably entangled with diplomacy of different sorts, for good or ill, it cannot be considered to be in the purely private realm and left to revenue-maximizing private actors. As long as there is the possibility of diplomatic progress in mediating estrangement between governments or between peoples, there is a broad and overarching public interest in international sport. Likewise, as it would be difficult to put on an international sport mega-event without international sporting organizations like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), global media firms, and companies purchasing sponsorships, public and private interests in international sport must coexist, most likely somewhere on a shifting spectrum between partnership and rivalry or cross purposes. As the World Cup wraps up, the IOC needs to consider its lessons before the scheduled 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if they want to avoid a media-hyped Trump version of the 1936 Berlin Olympiad. The IOC and the National Olympic Committees need to set conditions on and make demands of Trump’s government with clearly articulated consequences for non-compliance, up to and including cancellation of the Games. Time is running out for the IOC, as unlike with the FIFA World Cup, there is no at-the-ready alternate venue for Los Angeles.
Fort Worth cocktail bar announces closure after decade of business
The Basement Lounge announced its closure on social media after over a decade of business in Fort Worth.
Expanded Crew Works Science, Microgravity Adaptation, and Next Crew Departure
The International Space Station is a busy place hosting ten crewmates from NASA, Roscosmos, and ESA (European Space Agency) through the end of July. The
Exclusive: Intel Core Ultra 400 "Nova Lake" to feature new branding
Intel is preparing new Core Ultra Series 4 branding for its Nova Lake desktop processors. Internal embargo windows point to a staggered release throughout 2027.
Google Gemini Launch Delayed as Tech Falls Short of Internal Goals
Alphabet Inc.’s Google is months behind schedule on delivering Gemini 3.5 Pro, its most powerful flagship AI model, because the company has been taking time to try to improve its capabilities, particularly in coding, according to people familiar with the matter.
Live Heat updates: Riley speaks; no Bam discipline; Giannis, Portis speak; LeBron
Live updates: Adebayo won’t be disciplined. Giannis and Portis speak. And LeBron James tracker.
NC elections board approves new rule making it easier to disqualify ballots
The elections board’s Republican majority approved a series of rules in a 3-2 vote, including one on ballots without voter ID.
NC State Health Plan overhauls insurer, hospital network and premiums. What to know
State employees will see numerous changes.
SLO County coffee trailer wants to make eco-friendly easy. Inside Tiny Café
The mobile coffee shop is the first cafe in SLO County to be green-business certified.
Move over, GPS: Navigation satellites in low Earth orbit are making a comeback
Xona aims to deploy 258 satellites into low Earth orbit as a GPS alternative.
‘86 47’: How Trump’s war on dissent gave his opponents a political rallying cry
The president’s attempts to bury a meme — and his political opponents — turned a small bit of political speech into an international symbol of protest.
State Department hosting international officials to talk left-wing terrorism
Counterterrorism experts say the Trump administration’s focus on the far left lacks context about the full range of threats from extremists across the political spectrum.
As US AI costs soar, global firms pivot to China’s cheap, open-weight models
A sharp narrowing of the performance gap is prompting some developers to shift from costly American giants to budget-friendly Chinese alternatives.
Two Familiar Faces Emerge to Replace Steve Yzerman
Shawn Horcoff and Kris Draper are the leading internal candidates to replace Steve Yzerman as Red Wings general manager.
Google and Epic Abandon Settlement, Clearing the Way for Rival Android App Stores
Google and Epic Games this week withdrew their joint settlement agreement after it became clear the court was unlikely to allow it. With the settlement out, Google is bound by a permanent injunction issued in October 2024 requiring it to allow alternative app stores on Android devices. In a court filing [PDF], Google said that it plans to begin supporting alternative app stores on July 22. In a statement to The Verge, Google said it decided to withdraw the motion to avoid a prolonged legal fight.
Beck the Lead Author of Article Published in <em>Quaternary Science Reviews</em>
“Pleistocene record of a dynamic, fluctuating lacustrine margin from the Turkana Basin, Kenya,” co-authored by Associate Professor of Geosciences Catherine (Cat) Beck, appears in the October issue of Quaternary Science Reviews from Elsevier.
ZeniMax Online Studios leadership to exit as part of Xbox cuts
There are major changes happening atop Maryland-based ZeniMax Online Studios, developer of the Elder Scrolls Online, Game File has learned. Joe Burba, a 14-year veteran of the studio who was appointed to run it last July, is departing, along with ESO executive producer Susan Kath, studio game director Rich Lambert and production director Ala Diaz. Their roles were listed among hundreds of others cut last week from the Maryland offices of ZeniMax, in a WARN letter sent to the state by ZeniMax and obtained today by Game File. Tonight, BUrbam Kath, Lambert and Diaz notified Zenimax Online Studios workers of plans to “transition” to a new leadership team consisting of promoted ZOS veterans. That transition will occur “over the next few months,” they told workers, according to a copy of the notice reviewed by Game File. “We will remain in place during the transition period to help ensure a smooth handoff.” Last week, Microsoft laid off of 1,600 workers across its vast gaming teams in locations around the U.S. and abroad. Just who has been impacted and how hard various studios have been hit has been emerging day by day. Game File reported last week that Microsoft/ZeniMax notified officials in Maryland that 379 gaming jobs were being cut across the state. They tallied cuts in two locations: one for ZeniMax Media Inc. (covering Elder Scrolls/Starfield/Fallout-maker Bethesda Game Studios and central Bethesda game publishing) and one for ZeniMax Online Studios (Elder Scrolls Online). More than 200 jobs were cut at the latter. Last week’s totals did not reveal job titles, nor did Microsoft announce any leadership changes in the ZeniMax group. That has now happened. Earlier today, Game File obtained from Maryland officials a breakdown of the 379 impacted roles, which, extraordinarily, included “studio head.” Microsoft later confirmed to Game File which studio head that referred to: ZeniMax Online Studios’. Microsoft has since has notified studio employees and internally announced new leadership. ZOS will now be run by Josh Henderson, previously head of business operations at the studio, and Nick Giacomini, who was promoted to game director for ESO last August. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Last week’s news of 200+ cuts at ZeniMax Online Studios generated public sympathy for those workers and questions about the long-term viability of the Elder Scrolls Online. ESO is a massively multiplayer online game that inherently persists on the strength of new content being developed for it. Earlier today, fans and workers in Maryland protested the cuts at the ZeniMax teams in a rally organized by the Communication Workers of America, the union that represents many of the impacted employees. Regarding concerns around the game, a community manager stated on Saturday: “The plan is still to deliver great content, and we will hopefully have an update soon.” In their note to the studio today, the outgoing leaders of ZeniMax Online Studios predicted “growth” for the game: We have tremendous confidence in Josh and Nick, the future of this studio, and the continued growth of ESO. With exciting experiences still ahead for our players as we wrap up work for Update 51 and beyond, we believe that your passion, creativity, and commitment to each other and the community will continue serving as the heartbeat of ESO. The list of jobs cut in the ZeniMax WARN notice in Maryland includes several very senior roles, including: Studio Head Studio Operations Director Studio Game Director Studio Audio Director Studio Art Manager Vice President and Controller VP, Global Sales & Business Development While some of those job descriptions match the exiting ZOS leadership team, Game File couldn’t verify if all were from that studio. The full list of cut roles shared by Maryland officials also covers workers at Bethesda Game Studios and its central publishing office. The following is an excerpt: The list of 379 eliminated ZeniMax jobs in Maryland also includes: four animators three bilingual CS (community service) leads for Chinese, Italian, and Japanese a creative director for the Elder Scrolls Online Player Life Cycle two food service workers seven producers more than 60 senior QA testers. and many others The WARN notice states that almost all of the 379 workers were notified of their layoff on July 6. In fine print, it states: “Approximately 9 employees were notified of the elimination of their position prior to July 6, 2026.” A 2021 mega-merger scaled back Microsoft announced in 2020 that it intended to buy ZeniMax and its network of game studios in 2020, and closed the $7.5 billion deal in March 2021. The purchase, which preceded Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, added several award-winning studios to Microsoft’s portfolio, including Bethesda (Elder Scrolls, Fallout), Arkane (Dishonored), and id Software (Doom). The studios’ output since then included a 2024 Game of the Year contented from MachineGames in the form of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle along with Starfield from Bethesda and the poorly-received Redfall from Arkane Austin. In recent years, a Microsoft repeatedly in cutback mode closed ZeniMax’s Tango Gameworks (which was reconstituted by Krafton) and closed Arkane Austin. The Xbox cuts last week have hit the ZeniMax group hard, with 158 jobs eliminated in Texas, many of them at id, and 379 from the ZeniMax teams in Maryland. Xbox also said last week that it would be entering a consultation process around Arkane Lyon, a process expected to end in a sale, shutdown or other form of divestment. The Lyon team has been working on a game tied to Marvel’s Blade vampire-hunting super-hero.
Lubbock woman’s custom shoe business now selling internationally
Natalie Buxkemper, owner of The Sewing Studio on the South Loop, started Patchwork Kicks about a year ago.
Airlines, health experts warn against permanent daylight saving time
Airlines for America warns that permanent daylight saving time could significantly disrupt aviation, affecting passenger travel and international connectivity on ‘America Reports.’
How do Hurricanes build on run to title game? ‘Shut up and work,’ Cristobal says
‘Last year’s team isn’t this year’s team. We’ve got a new team. ... We’re learning our new identity and understanding ourselves.’
Call for AANHPI voices for science funding
When the Chinatown-International District in Seattle hosted the world’s largest dim sum party, it was easy to celebrate how a diverse community comes together for a family style meal.
Viking Project
NASA’s Viking Project found a place in history when it became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images of
New Chaplaincy Program for Prenatal and Postpartum Care Launches at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull
NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the launch of the Trauma-Informed Maternal Health Chaplaincy Volunteer Program, a new volunteer opportunity for
Two Triangle hospital systems considered for key State Health Plan status. Who got it?
Duke Health and WakeMed were under consideration for the plan’s new access tier as officials worked to finalize the 2027 network.
Senate committee reviews Erica Schwartz's nomination to take over CDC
The CDC long enjoyed a sterling international reputation but has been in turmoil since Trump returned to office last year
HANDCRAFT ENTERTAINMENT PARTNERS WITH TAKASAGO TO DEVELOP FRAGRANCES, FLAVORS, AND CONSUMER PRODUCTS TO DEFINE THE WORLD OF "GLOBAL" J-POP
Handcraft Entertainment and Takasago International Corporation USA, one of Japan's largest and one of Asia's leading fragrance and flavor companies, today announced a strategic partnership to build the smell, taste, and feel of "Global" J-Pop.
3/4 of small businesses don't trust AI for basic tasks
Bluevine reports that while 74% of small businesses are using AI tools, 82% face barriers like data security concerns, and 78% don't fully trust AI for basic tasks.
TCU Alumnus Named to National College Sports Leadership Role
Kenny Thompson Jr. ’03 has been named the inaugural head of strategic communications and external affairs for the College Sports Commission.
PPG introduces PPG AEROVIEW virtual aircraft painter for business, general aviation
Innovative digital tool enhances aircraft paint color selection, design experience PPG (NYSE: PPG) today announced the launch of the PPG AEROVIEW™ virtual aircraft painter, a digital tool designed to help business and general aviation customers explore and customize aircraft paint colors with precision and ease. This web-based tool provides an interactive platform where users can select from a variety of aircraft models and digitally apply colors from PPG’s comprehensive aerospace color library to visualize custom paint schemes in real time. The PPG AEROVIEW™ virtual aircraft painter is a digital tool designed to help business and general aviation customers explore and customize aircraft paint colors with precision and ease. The PPG Aeroview virtual aircraft painter is designed to increase the visibility and accessibility of PPG’s aerospace coatings, particularly for business and general aviation markets. The tool provides a digital alternative to traditional physical color brochures
PayPal stock surges on reports of Stripe and Advent acquisition bid
PayPal shares soar as Stripe and Advent International reportedly propose a $53 billion acquisition, marking a major M&A offer in the payments sector.
Valve is “starting to sunset” replacement Steam Deck batteries, says iFixit, as it turns attention to alternatives
iFixit recently revealed to a customer that it is unlikely to receive more OEM Steam Deck LCD batteries from Valve moving forward.
Best international shows to stream in 2026
For six weeks, soccer made the U.S. the center of worldwide celebration. Keep the post-World Cup blues at bay by watching these 15 international series.
China's Sinopec establishes four business units in major overhaul, officials say
Sinopec is launching a major internal restructuring, setting up new business units and relocating hundreds of staff, as the world's biggest refiner seeks to lift profits amid flagging Chinese oil and petrochemicals demand, company officials said.
Stripe, Advent offer to buy PayPal for more than $53 billion, sources say
Payments company Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have made a joint offer to acquire PayPal Holdings Inc for $60.50 per share, in a deal that would value the payments company at more than $53 billion, two people familiar with the matter said.
Atlanta leaders hope FIFA World Cup sparks long-term business investment and economic growth
Metro Atlanta's business leaders say the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup is creating new international partnerships they hope will translate into lasting future economic opportunities.