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Texas early voting for 2026 could break record

Texas is currently on track to beat the 2022 midterm turnout of 5.51 million voters.

Oct 27 • 6:30 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Animals Starves while the Kardashians Miss the Charts Again

(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.) Before we get going, I’d like to offer congratulations to Jonathan Funke, whose suggestion “midflicks” won the poll for what I should call straight-to-streaming films which aren’t big or cinematic enough to go to theaters but seem too expensive for a TV movie. It’s so useful a term, I just used it last week! Now I just need to add this term to my data dictionary! Okay, on to this week’s issue. We’re starting out looking at Netflix/Ben Affleck’s latest crime thriller, Animals. I’ll also look at Disclosure Day heading to Peacock (it did better than you’d remember in theaters...) and a new movie based on toys. Plus, a long-time streaming flop returns for its eighth season...will it finally chart? (No.) Will anyone at Disney care? Probably not. All that, plus another look at new shows landing on streaming on 1-Oct from Reelgood, what streamer hasn’t had a film make the Luminate charts since August, Reacher’s long run on the charts, M_onster: The Lizzie Borden Story’s_ short run, the top shows in 2026 according to Samba TV, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. And I mean that last part: putting this week’s issue together, I assembled OVER 25 images, most of which are bespoke looks I made just for this report. Really, publishing articles like this takes the work of writing two articles: one is the narrative and the other is making charts/graphs. 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 week of October 5th to October 11th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - Netflix’s Latest Star-Studded Thriller Goes For Glory The tempting angle for anyone writing about streaming film this month, like yours truly, is to ask, “Is this why Dan Lin lost his job at Netflix?” Take Animals, the Ben Affleck-starring-and-directing, Artists Equity-produced crime thriller that opened on 9-Oct. (Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson are also in it.) If it did really well, then one could argue that Lin has another success on his resume. If it underperformed, then it’s another example of a Netflix underperformance this year. So where did Animals fall? Kinda in the middle, but that means it’s more “not a hit” than “big hit”. On Nielsen, it opened to 12.0 million hours, and here’s how that stacks up for 2026 films so far this year: Obviously, that’s not great. It’s both under my 15 million opening bar for “fine” for a Netflix film and 20 million bar for “great” opening. It did a bit better on Samba TV, getting to first place. That’s very, very good, though again, looking at the Nielsen data, it probably means that it was a light week overall. Luminate’s data is a bit closer to Samba TV’s, tied for 17th all time for single weeks since May of 2024: To top it off, no one seemed to like it. It has a 33 on Metacritic and only a 5.7 on IMDb. Both of these numbers could have been impacted by the stories about Affleck’s comments about using AI to make the film. Given the controversy, the film might not have been as bad as the ratings suggest, but it’s also not a bullish sign. All to say…yeah, on net this film isn’t a point in Dan Lin’s favor. At this point, Netflix’s slide has been long enough—going on since February—that I’m almost tempted to lower the bar for what a “hit” is on streaming. Post-February of 2026 or so, it seems like straight-to-streaming films just haven’t hit the same heights as they did from 2022 to 2025. Before we head onto the “Quick Hits” for film, I want to shout out a fellow newsletter whose articles I’ve been loving this year, LA Material, a new LA-based news outlet. For just a highlight of my favorite articles since July... I loved this article on Ghost Town, a group on Venice that clears homeless encampments. As a Los Angeleno, obviously I adore their articles on LA parking issues. Their article on illegal parking tickets got the City Council to address the issue! Also check out their article on people parking in medians. Check out their deep dive on what went wrong with the LA Jazz Festival and how it fell apart, or what’s wrong with USC’s finances. Finally, they wrote up a voter guide on voter guides for the LA General Election. So meta! In search of a city? L.A. Material is an independent news outlet covering the people, politics, culture and glorious chaos shaping Los Angeles. L.A. Material brings you intel on the city you can’t get anywhere else. From exploring how Reddit short stories became Hollywood’s hottest commodity to reporting on the survival jobs keeping entertainment workers afloat. And answering, once and for all, why the AMC Burbank escalator is always broken. Through their newsletters, podcast, videos, events, and member community, L.A. Material is designed to help Angelenos connect to Los Angeles and each other. Sign up now for the free weekday newsletter. Quick Notes on Film Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Disclosure Day, came to Peacock on 9-Oct, and I’ll admit that, after pulling its stats, I did a pinch of a double take. As I wrote throughout my deep, deep, deep dive on summer box office/Obsession/Backrooms/IP/superheroes, oftentimes the film media discusses films as “flops” or “misses” or “hits” without clarifying what they specifically mean. Since Disclosure Day didn’t make $250 million in the US or $500 million globally, it was definitely a disappointment by Spielbergian standards, who is the highest-grossing director of all time, and arguably even more ahead in adjusted grosses. But it did make $245 million globally on a $115 million budget, so it isn’t as big of a miss as I remember. That’s still probably not enough to break even in the theatrical window, when you factor in marketing costs…but it’s close. And it grossed a lot more even in the US than some titles with about ten times more coverage. Anyways, lots of preamble to say this one only did 4.5 million hours according to Nielsen, so it did make the charts, but on the low end. Here’s how it stacks up to other Peacock titles: Apple TV (née +) followed up their “success for them” Mayday with Matchbox The Movie. This one doesn’t look like a success even for them, but at least it’s not a miss. Apple/Skydance clearly tried to take advantage of the success of Barbie at the box office—let’s greenlight all the toy properties!!!—but of course, this didn’t make it to theaters. And it stars John Cena, who, as I argued earlier this summer, NEEDS to get his movies back in theaters. Anyways, this one has mixed-to-bad numbers. It missed the Samba TV and Nielsen charts in its first week, but did make Luminate with 7.1 million hours. That’s just enough to not be an outright miss, and about half what Mayday did earlier this summer. Speaking of Apple Studio’s Mayday, it ended up lasting five weeks on Luminate, which isn’t bad for Apple TV. On Nielsen, it had a three-week run, racking up 13.5 million hours total. Again, like Matchbox, the issue is the budget; I doubt that this viewership earned enough to justify that budget. Also, to be clear, neither of these films are “midflicks”; both should have gone to theaters. Toy Story 5 is not hanging around on the streaming charts on Disney+, so it’s not as leggy as either Zootopia 2 or Moana 2, and definitely not in the same class as Encanto. (It did make all the money at the box office, so Disney is going to be fine…) The Breadwinner on Netflix (from Sony) is down to 3.9 million hours in its third week. It only lasted for one week on the Samba TV charts. Netflix’s Doing Life had a smaller-than-normal binge release curve bounce, only going to 7.1 million hours from 6.0 to start, but it made Samba TV at fifth place in its second week. The Netflix documentary, The Widower: Til’ Death Do Us Part, also had a small binge release curve bounce to 6.5 million hours, but did make a second week on Samba TV. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Unabomber fell off after two weeks on Nielsen—which is not great at all—and Demon Slayer fell off after just one week. Over on Luminate, the two smaller titles The Swan: Behind the Mirror and Kill. Bury. Print both fell out of the Luminate top ten charts. The story of library film at the first of the month is the arrival of the Ice Age films on Netflix. Now, here’s a small example of optimizing your library that even Netflix could do better. Say you want to rent/license a new film series from Disney**.** A streamer could pay a big paycheck and then drop each Ice Age film on the exact same day of the month, the fourth of October. That’s one choice. In contrast, the streamer could have released each film one week apart, and make each one a mini-event for folks watching Ice Age films. Or even roll them out monthly. Netflix opted for the former strategy, and as a result, only three of the films made the Nielsen charts this week. The “Miss of the Week” goes to Tubi’s YA-ish horror film_, R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2_, which didn’t even make the Luminate charts like Tubi films usually do, or, should I say, “used to”? Tubi films, most of which are straight-to-streaming, used to reliably make the Luminate film charts (which only covers straight-to-streaming films), but a Tubi film hasn’t made it since August. The first Pumpkinhead got 1.4 million hours last year according to Luminate. As I wrote about this film before, it seems to be a bit muddled in terms of age: too scary for young kids but probably not scary enough for older kids. Speaking of Luminate, Netflix’s latest doc about a comic (expect more docs about comedians all month), Who Is Martin Mull?, flopped, getting just 200K and 700K hours according to Luminate. Three other film/special misses belonged to Hulu, including a standup special, Jamie Foxx: Take Care of Yourself, Neon’s latest horror film, Hokum, which made $17 million in the US, and a Family Guy Halloween special. (That last one was only 22 minutes, so it’s not a surprise it missed.) Finally, another Netflix standup special missed the charts, Mojo Brookzz: I Know You Lying missed too. I can confirm last week’s misses, most notably Paramount+’s Jackass: Best and Last, MUBI’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and HBO Max’s Evil Dead Burn. Television - I Can’t Visualize Nothing: The Kardashians Story Normally, in the mini-dive essays that open the Streaming Ratings Report, I focus on shows that do well or, at the very least, make the charts. Why? Because as I’ve said time and again, I can’t visualize nothing like, say, the Kardashians’ TV shows. Here’s the TV debuts chart for this week with a missing spot for The Kardashians, whose eighth season just landed on Hulu:

Oct 27 • 6:17 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

WATCH: Trump says Venezuela sent him 1 million barrels of oil as a 'gift'

Oct 27 • 2:41 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Heineken hit with $124M antitrust judgment

A Dutch court has ordered Amsterdam-based Heineken NV to pay 111 million euros ($124 million) in damages to Greece’s Macedonian Thrace Brewery SA, holding it liable in the Netherlands for its Greek…

Oct 27 • 10:28 AM EDT • Business • businessinsurance.com

OpenAI asks outside experts, including a Nobel laureate, to check proofs its AI produced in math, computer science, and physics

OpenAI says its internal AI models have cracked three major open questions in math, computer science, and physics. One of them is part of a famous Millennium Prize Problem, each of which carries a $1 million prize. Outside experts, including a Nobel laureate, are now checking whether the proofs hold up. If the computer science proof holds on its own, hundreds of research papers lose their foundation.

Oct 27 • 8:37 AM EDT • Science • the-decoder.com

Republic Business Credit Provides $1MM Factoring Facility to Gulf Region Fuel Distributor

Republic Business Credit provided a $1 million factoring facility to a growing Southwestern fuel transportation and distribution company. The facility

Oct 26 • 11:33 PM EDT • Business • abfjournal.com

Ahead of midterms, Trump offers $1M reward to voter fraud tipsters

President Donald Trump offered $1 million Monday to anyone who reports voter fraud that leads to an arrest and conviction, escalating his efforts to cast doubt on the midterms.

Oct 26 • 9:00 PM EDT • Politics • seattletimes.com

21st annual CHaD HERO raises more than $1 million

The 21st annual CHaD HERO raised more than $1 million for the second straight year, supporting child health care across northern New England as Dartmouth Health...

Oct 26 • 8:30 PM EDT • Health • unionleader.com

CACI wins $281M Navy task order

Reston's CACI International has won a Navy contract worth up to $281 million to advance next-generation electromagnetic warfare capabilities.

Oct 26 • 3:17 PM EDT • Business • virginiabusiness.com

Elvis has entered the courtroom

The owners of Elvis Presley’s music are suing Anthropic, alleging it helped itself to the King’s songs to train its AI — and sending a $41 million reminder, according to the New York Times.

Oct 26 • 1:34 PM EDT • Business • businessinsurance.com

In brief: Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood joining 'The Gentlemen'

Netflix is rounding up more gentlemen. Tudum announced Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and Ed Speelers are joining stars Theo James and Kaya Scodelario for the third season of The Gentlemen, which is currently filming in the U.K. and Morocco. Also added to the series cast are Dexter Fletcher, Robert Carlyle and Bugzy Malone, who appeared in the 2019 film that inspired the Netflix series. Daniel Ings, who played the drug-addled older brother Lord Frederick “Freddy” Horniman to James’ criminal mastermind Eddie Horiman, told HATC magazine he will not return for the third season. Netflix has not confirmed this …The action-adventure series Fallout has inspired a new reality show. Prime Video has revealed Fallout Shelter: The Experiment, an unscripted competition inspired by the post-apocalyptic drama series and the video game universe. The show “invites everyday participants to test their aptitude for the apocalypse in Vault-Tec's state-of-the-art bomb-proof vault shelters," according to Prime Video. Contestants will “go head to head in a series of high-octane drills, psychological dilemmas and morally challenging behavior trials.” The winner walks away with a $1 million prize. Fallout Shelter: The Experiment will begin streaming in January 2027 … TNCMS.AdManager.render({region: 'fixed-big-ad-top-asset', slot: 1, fold: "above"}); Bravo renewed a slate of its reality shows ahead of Bravo’s Fan Fest on Saturday. New York-based In the City has been greenlit for season 2, while Next Gen NYC is coming back for a third season. For viewers seeking a little Southern charm, The Next Gen universe will be expanding with a spinoff based in Atlanta, and Southern Hospitality is moving forward with a fifth season. Premiere dates have not yet been announced … Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Thank you for reading kmaland.comAt KMA, we attempt to be accurate in our reporting. If you see a typo or mistake in a story, please contact us by emailing kmaradio@kmaland.com.

Oct 26 • 8:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • kmaland.com

Inglewood Starts Transit Development

Last week, Inglewood city officials broke ground on their scaled-down $261 million Inglewood Transit Connector project aimed at improving mobility between

Oct 26 • 3:01 AM EDT • Business • labusinessjournal.com

Inside 26-year-old’s club for million-dollar Chattanooga business owners

At 2nd American Restaurant on Thursday night, around 85 entrepreneurs who have scaled their businesses to at least $1 million in annual revenue sat to a family-style meal of beef cheek roast, airline chicken and the restaurant's signature bowl of mashed potatoes.

Oct 25 • 2:01 PM EDT • Business • timesfreepress.com

ESMO: Roche touts ‘convincing’ phase 3 KRAS data after win over rivals

Roche has shed more light on its investigational KRAS G12C inhibitor's phase 3 victory over Amgen’s Lumakras and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Krazati. The open-label Krascendo 1 trial enrolled 338 people with previously treated KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients who had already received a KRAS G12C inhibitor or pan-KRAS/RAS inhibitor were excluded from the trial. Participants received either divarasib once daily, Lumakras once daily or Krazati twice daily. Roche announced back in July that divarasib had demonstrated statistically significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), meeting the trial’s primary and key secondary endpoints. But the Swiss pharma had been holding back the detailed data until now. At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid, Roche revealed that median OS for the 167 patients who received divarasib was 17.7 months, compared to 12 months for the 171 patients who received Lumakras or Krazati. The benefit was similarly clear when it came to median PFS, which stood at 9.8 months versus 5.7 months, respectively. A total of 44% of patients receiving divarasib were alive without disease progression at one year, compared to 24% of the control group, according to Roche’s presentation. It was a similar story for the objective response rate, which came in at 58% for divarasib versus 32% for the control group, while median duration of response was 11.9 months versus 6.9 months. Stefan Frings, M.D., Ph.D., deputy chief medical officer at Roche Pharma, told Fierce that the data made for a “very comprehensive, strong package, which should be convincing to health authorities.” “It’s an important advance for patients with lung cancer,” Frings said in an interview at a Madrid hotel during the conference. “It's a second-line setting, and patients who receive divarasib benefit compared to the current first-generation KRAS G12C inhibitors by having far longer overall survival,” he continued. “They live longer. They have better progression-free survival, better response rates, and with a safety profile which is—if [anything]—even better,” he said. According to Roche, 4.8% of patients receiving divarasib discontinued treatment due to treatment-related adverse events, compared to 11.7% in the control group. Serious treatment-related adverse events were also less common with divarasib, at 7.8% versus 15.2%. Roche’s confidence in divarasib had been building even before this phase 3 success. The candidate had already shown better potency and selectivity than the incumbent KRAS G12C inhibitors Krazati and Lumakras in preclinical tests. After cross-trial comparisons suggested that the edge translated into better clinical outcomes, Roche axed a study comparing divarasib to the chemotherapy docetaxel and went toe-to-toe with Lumakras and Krazati. “We designed the drug on purpose with higher potency and better selectivity,” Frings explained. “So, based on preclinical models, we clearly knew it would be superior to the first generation.” “It’s honestly not so frequent that pharma companies go head-to-head,” he added. “But if you want to make a point, if you want to convince payers, prescribers and patients … then a head-to-head win is rather rewarding.” While Amgen and BMS reached the regulatory finish line first for KRAS G12C-mutated, locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC in 2021 and 2022, respectively, they have struggled to capitalize on their head start. Krazati brought in $55 million for BMS in the second quarter, while Lumakras delivered $111 million to Amgen. For its part, Roche is aiming for peak divarasib sales of 1 billion to 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.2 billion to $2.5 billion), according to Frings. The Big Pharma is currently recruiting patients into a phase 3 trial comparing divarasib plus Keytruda against Keytruda plus chemotherapy in previously untreated advanced or metastatic nonsquamous KRAS G12C-mutated NSCLC. Roche has previously suggested that sales in metastatic disease would account for most of the forecast. Frings was tight-lipped on the exact timeline for a regulatory filing but said the Swiss pharma is “certainly keen to get this to as many patients as possible around the world.” Roche has more RAS drugs coming up behind divarasib. The pharma has already launched phase 1 trials of a pan-RAS inhibitor called RG6505 and a KRAS G12D inhibitor dubbed RG6620 in solid tumors. Roche’s partner Chugai Pharmaceutical is also testing a pan-KRAS inhibitor called AUBE00. Roche has made a “deliberate effort” to test a range of RAS drugs, Frings said. “If you have many rare mutations and you are scrambling to find sufficient patients, a pan-RAS inhibitor makes a lot of sense,” he explained.

Oct 25 • 11:30 AM EDT • Health • fiercebiotech.com

Business briefs: Harry Reid airport completes $71 million baggage upgrade

In Terminal 1, the work included upgrades to eight baggage carousels, replacement of eight others, new conveyors and new carousel columns with LED screens. In Terminal 3, the project upgraded the computer hardware and software that control the baggage system …

Oct 25 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • lasvegassun.com

Coyer Candle Co. nears $1 million raised for community groups

Coyer Candle Co., owned by Scott and Lisa Coyer, produces clean-burning candles with 100% soy wax and cotton wicks.

Oct 24 • 4:08 PM EDT • Business • ourmidland.com

South Bend teen’s slime business racks up 21,500 followers and 6.1M views in 23 days

A 14-year-old South Bend-area entrepreneur has gained more than 21,500 Facebook followers and 6.1 million video views in just 23 days with her slime and squishy

Oct 24 • 3:02 PM EDT • Business • wsbt.com

Milligan Unveils New Ballad Health Simulation Lab on Campus

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (Oct. 23, 2026) — Today, Milligan University unveiled the campus’s new Ballad Health Simulation Lab to kick off Homecoming Weekend. Thanks to a generous $1 million gift from Ballad […]

Oct 23 • 3:24 PM EDT • Health • milligan.edu

Presbyterian Health Foundation raises its investment in OU Health center to $1M

Presbyterian Health Foundation increased its support for OU Health’s pediatric behavioral health center to $1 million ahead of its December opening.

Oct 23 • 9:43 AM EDT • Health • journalrecord.com

Bernie Sanders Gives $1 Million to Bolster El-Sayed and Counter AIPAC in Michigan

The transfer came day after the news that the pro-Israel lobby was planning to contribute as much as $9 million to defeat the Democratic nominee for Senate.

Oct 22 • 7:02 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

2 major health insurance companies cancel Medicare Advantage plans covering 1 million people

The two companies are the largest private health insurance companies for older adults in the U.S.

Oct 22 • 4:43 PM EDT • Health • cleveland.com

This WA Supreme Court race could be one of the most expensive in history

In the race for Position 4 on the Washington Supreme Court, judges Sean O'Donnell and Ian Birk have raised more than $1 million thus far.

Oct 22 • 9:00 AM EDT • Politics • seattletimes.com

Resident Evil Developer Capcom Issues Phishing Warning After Data Breach Hits Over 11 Million Customer Accounts

Capcom has disclosed a data breach of its online membership account service affecting over 11 million customer accounts, warning customers to brace themselves for potential phishing attempts.

Oct 22 • 6:17 AM EDT • Technology • ign.com

Michigan's 7th District House race is nation's most expensive for political ads, outraging both candidates

Political ad spending in Michigan's 7th Congressional District has topped $61 million, making it the nation's most expensive U.S. House race for advertising. Both candidates call the spending outrageous but disagree on how to rein it in.

Oct 21 • 5:55 PM EDT • Politics • wkar.org

Capitol Hill Lutheran Church receives $500,000 grant for historic restoration

Capitol Hill Lutheran Church in Des Moines was given a $500,000 matching grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places to support restoration of its historic tower and steeple. The church, established in 1886, is one of 30 congregations nationwide selected to share more than $9.1 million in funding this year. The National Fund for…

Oct 21 • 5:30 PM EDT • Business • businessrecord.com

Collectors sent rare Pokémon and sports cards to get graded. Then thieves stole nearly $1 million worth of them from the FedEx truck taking them home

A YouTuber who lost 104 cards says PSA’s payout may be capped at $1,500 a card, even for cards PSA valued higher.

Oct 21 • 2:33 PM EDT • Sports • fortune.com

Arkansas awards $16 million for trails, sidewalks and pedestrian improvements

The Arkansas Department of Transportation has awarded more than $16.1 million in federal funding for 47 projects across the state, including improvements to sidewalks, walking trails, bicycle routes and recreational...

Oct 21 • 5:56 AM EDT • Business • talkbusiness.net

Nearly $1 million worth of Pokémon and sports trading cards stolen in FedEx truck theft

The truck was broken into on Oct. 13 outside a company called Professonal Sports Authenticator that verifies memorabilia.

Oct 20 • 7:35 PM EDT • Sports • walb.com

Nearly $1 million worth of Pokémon and sports trading cards stolen in FedEx truck theft

The truck was broken into on Oct. 13 outside a company called Professonal Sports Authenticator that verifies memorabilia.

Oct 20 • 7:35 PM EDT • Sports • wmtv15news.com

Nearly $1 million worth of Pokémon and sports trading cards stolen in FedEx truck theft

The truck was broken into on Oct. 13 outside a company called Professonal Sports Authenticator that verifies memorabilia.

Oct 20 • 7:35 PM EDT • Sports • wcax.com

Nearly $1 million worth of Pokémon and sports trading cards stolen in FedEx truck theft

The truck was broken into on Oct. 13 outside a company called Professonal Sports Authenticator that verifies memorabilia.

Oct 20 • 7:35 PM EDT • Sports • wtap.com

Nearly $1 million worth of rare Pokémon and sports cards stolen from FedEx truck in California

Nearly $1 million in rare trading cards were stolen from a FedEx truck parked near a Santa Ana, California, business, according to police.

Oct 20 • 3:59 PM EDT • Sports • abc7chicago.com

Idealab’s Bill Gross thinks AI could help launch 1 million new businesses, making up for any job losses it causes

The Idealab CEO thinks AI-powered entrepreneurship could compensate for any job losses AI causes

Oct 20 • 3:01 PM EDT • Business • fortune.com

Nearly $1 million worth of rare Pokémon and sports cards stolen from FedEx truck in Santa Ana

Nearly $1 million in rare trading cards were stolen from a FedEx truck parked near a Santa Ana business, according to police.

Oct 20 • 2:47 PM EDT • Sports • abc7.com

Powerhouse UCSB team awarded big grant to investigate mathematical foundations of AI

Researchers Nina Miolane, Haewon Jeong, Sanjuka Krishnagopal and Yao Qin win $1 million from NSF for their collaborative investigation

Oct 20 • 12:22 PM EDT • Science • news.ucsb.edu

Great Lakes Science Center’s Robotics Initiative receives $1 million gift

A $1 million endowment from the Thomas F. Peterson Jr. Charitable Trust will fund robotics education and 3-D printed prosthetics for those in need.

Oct 20 • 11:24 AM EDT • Science • cleveland.com

Retired Missouri S&T faculty members contribute $1 million to establish graduate fellowship in psychology

Retired Missouri S&T faculty members Dr. Robert L. Montgomery and Dr. Frances M. “Dee” Haemmerlie Montgomery have donated $1 million to establish a graduate fellowship in the department where they mentored hundreds of students throughout their careers. The Robert L. Montgomery and Frances M. Haemmerlie Graduate Fellowship in Psychology will support graduate student research in...Continue Reading Retired Missouri S&T faculty members contribute $1 million to establish graduate fellowship in psychology

Oct 20 • 10:30 AM EDT • Science • news.mst.edu

Seattle Art Museum renovations: Peek inside at construction

An $8.1 million project is underway at Seattle’s flagship art museum, adding more public spaces to gather, work and dine at the museum. Take a peek!

Oct 20 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • yakimaherald.com

TraceLink Announces $1 Million Challenge to Build Agentic Business Processes

/PRNewswire/ -- TraceLink, the world's largest Agentic Business Network, today announced the $1 million OPUS Agentic Business Process Challenge, a global...

Oct 20 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • prnewswire.com

TraceLink Announces $1 Million Challenge to Build Agentic Business Processes

/PRNewswire/ -- TraceLink, the world's largest Agentic Business Network, today announced the $1 million OPUS Agentic Business Process Challenge, a global...

Oct 20 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • prnewswire.com

San Marcos High School breaks ground on a new era of health care education - Santa Barbara News-Press

The project has received significant philanthropic contributions, including $1.5 million from Cottage Health and $1 million from Betty Elings Wells

Oct 19 • 11:56 PM EDT • Health • newspress.com

The Chase still has NASCAR chasing its former viewership

While NASCAR reintroduced its final stretch run, The Chase, to rekindle postseason interest, viewership for the races has remained lackluster. Over six races, the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase averages 1.62 million viewers, up just 1% year over year (1.61 million), per NASCAR Communications. So far, The Chase hasn’t delivered the viewership renaissance NASCAR hoped…

Oct 19 • 12:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Country Stampede drew more than 42,000 people, its largest turnout at Bonner Springs.

Ross is scheduled to discuss the closed $6.1 million sale of Kustom's video business and plans for up to 20 events at Gilley's Park City in 2027.

Oct 19 • 8:10 AM EDT • Entertainment • stocktitan.net

RCPS seeks funds to expand science labs, STEAM education

CONYERS — Rockdale County Public Schools could receive up to $1 million to expand elementary science labs and arts education through a state tax credit initiative, as district officials work

Oct 19 • 6:16 AM EDT • Science • rockdalecitizen.com

Five Veterans Groups Receive $1 Million in New SBA Grants to Help Entrepreneurs Boost US Business Production

Funding Earmarked to Further Equip Veteran Business Owners to Support America’s Supply Chain

Oct 19 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • military.com

Hooksett sewer project aims to spur Route 3A business growth

Hooksett approved a $1 million underwater sewer extension near I-93 Exit 10, aiming to support future Route 3A business growth without using residents’ property...

Oct 18 • 7:00 PM EDT • Business • unionleader.com

'Street Fighter' wins N. America box office, buzzy doc stuns in 2nd

Paramount's action film "Street Fighter" karate-chopped the competition this weekend with a $31 million debut at the North American box...

Oct 18 • 4:09 PM EDT • Entertainment • afp.com

Streaming’s Biggest Show Returns…and a Buzzy Genre Struggles

(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.) Obviously, the big news of the week (if not month) is Netflix letting go of executive Bela Bajaria, their chief content officer. I’m going to cover this in my next “Most Important Story of the Week”, but I also have a data angle that I might publish before then. (Too much news this month, am I right?) But first, I have a bonus Streaming Ratings Report issue for you. Today’s article is a bit of a grab bag of topics I’ve wanted to write about, but couldn’t squeeze into the (already very long) Streaming Ratings Report issues. The NFL drives huge viewership numbers, so I’ve got a look at that. A whole bunch of TV shows returned to the traditional broadcast channels, and I have thoughts. And I have a quick look at adult animated shows, since a couple flopped earlier this month. Plus, the Emmys aired earlier this month, and we got some fun data bout how popular those nominated shows are and why I’m not optimistic about the show’s future. That’s a lot, so let’s dive right in. Subscribe Sports - Football Remains the King of Streaming Over the last two Streaming Ratings Reports, I sorta ignored the biggest “show” each week. (I was tempted to say “piece of content” but I know that word bugs folks.) In my database, I call these “specials”, and they sure are special. I speak of the king of American TV: football!!! Streaming football is back and, unlike some other sports, it routinely dominates all viewership. Probably the best way to show this is to update one of my favorite graphics, the “40 Million Hour Club”1 since football games have joined that club each week they’ve premiered: (Yep, that’s the data through 28-Sep, the first four weeks of the season. As a reminder, I take the average minute audience provided by Nielsen, factor out a percentage of linear TV viewers in home markets, and multiply the run time by the three-hour runtime.) Again, the numbers are huge. Let’s start with Netflix. They grabbed the rights to the bonus opening week NFL Kickoff game (which was on YouTube last year) and it put up 18.5 million viewers on average. That nets out to 47.4 million hours of estimated streaming hours. That’s good! Though, notably, it’s well below Christmas Day games from previous years. Compared to other streamers/broadcasters, that’s a bit of a mixed result. On one hand, Netflix’s 18.5 million average is about what YouTube claimed last year, though Nielsen used a bespoke methodology at that time, so I trust this viewership figure more. So that’s good. (The game also shifted from a Friday to a Thursday and that could have helped the viewership as well.) And Netflix continues to best Prime Video in total viewership—as you’ll see next—though Netflix has had much higher-profile (opening week and Christmas Day) games. NBC/Peacock’s opening game the night before averaged 25.1 million average viewers, which is just much bigger than Netflix (or Prime Video). That’s the big caveat to all streaming viewership records: even in success, they can’t compete with traditional linear TV. Previously, I called this my “hierarchy of viewership”, and the data keeps supporting that thesis. The downside for NBC is that this game’s viewership was down compared to previous years, though it may be a counting issue. Here’s a great chart from Sports Media Watch: Indeed, looking at all the opening week games across all windows, Netflix still lags the other primetime windows, but does well compared to the afternoon games: I saw a few folks make the case that streamers still lag traditional broadcasters in reach, and I’d add they really lag compared to “broadcast plus streaming” options like NBC/Peacock, ESPN/Disney+ and CBS/Paramount+. The best data I saw for this came from Samba TV, who charted reach through the 2025 season, and, wow. (Samba TV’s numbers are historically lower than Nielsen’s, so don’t compare their household figures to Nielsen’s hours, but use them as a proxy for the relative reach of the streamers.) The good news is Prime Video is NOT having a down year. Their opening Thursday Night Football game reached 18.6 million viewers (about what Netflix got), but that’s a high for Prime Video on Thursdays and the biggest Thursday night game since 2015. The TNF games the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep continued this streak, getting 43.1 (16.8 million average viewers) and 42.5 total hours (16.6 million average viewers), which were both up from last year. Still, that continues the (typical) season slide: (For those new-to-streaming-football-numbers folks, the viewership declines for Thursday Night Football as the year goes along.) Overall, it appears as if Prime Video is now part of the “football habit”, be it for customers at home or out at places like bars and restaurants. And its viewership is slowly catching up to broadcast. One last chart shows this. Last season, Nielsen started adding out-of-home viewership to the charts, so I try not to do season-to-season comparisons as I did for the first few years. And while Nielsen added Big Data viewing this year, I’m going to compare the last two seasons. Here’s that chart, which shows the season-over-season gains: When it comes to streaming football, we have to keep a few seemingly contradictory thoughts in our head… First, streaming doesn’t come close to matching broadcast’s reach and, thus, viewership. Second, even with that gap, football is still the biggest “thing” on streaming. It’s very, very popular. Third, while some methodology changes have likely helped Prime Video’s numbers, their viewership does appear to be growing. Lastly, yeah, the NFL started the season off poorly, with week one dragging down the numbers in year-over-year comparisons. However—and again, methodology changes may have helped this—the viewership grew compared to previous seasons over the next couple of weeks. So football is still king. On streaming and off. Television - Adult Animation Continues to NOT Make the Streaming Charts In the last two reports, two adult-animated shows whiffed: Netflix’s animated comedy, Dang! Paramount+’s Sega-video-game-inspired fantasy/comedy, Golden Axe. Neither made the charts, but that’s usually the case for animated shows. I mean, here’s literally every animated show that’s made the Nielsen Original charts since the start of 2025: And one of those shows is G_abby’s Dollhouse_! A kids show! The problem with charts like this is that they don’t give you a sense of how many shows miss the charts. Netflix had at least eleven animated flops, including comedies like Big Mouth (a show everyone assumed was popular in the pre-Streaming Ratings Era), Long Story Short, Haunted Hotel, Mating Season, Strip Law, and Alley Cats, and action shows like Blood of Zeus, Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Prime Video had at least six animated misses, two in the same universe (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss), three more comedies (#1 Happy Family USA, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy and Kevin) and an action show (The Mighty Nein). Disney+ had MCU and Star Wars animated misses (Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld) but I can’t tell how many of those shows were geared towards adults. HBO Max had Harley Quinn and Hulu had Solar Opposites. None of these shows made the charts! That’s a lot of misses! If I remade the chart with all those misses, here’s how it would look: Listen, I know the counter arguments. First, it’s cheaper to produce animated shows than live action. Fair enough, but with viewership this low, even that cheaper price point starts to not matter. Second, just look at the acquired charts. Hit animated comedies can generate viewership for years! Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers do really, really well. Fair enough, but streaming has failed to recreate the dynamic that Fox has mastered so well. That’s a problem for streaming still. Television - Emmys! The annual Emmys broadcast was a few weeks ago, and I’ve got data on how the nominees performed on streaming, plus hot takes on this year’s viewership (and the big news about the broadcast’s, er, streamcast’s future). 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… The top Emmy-nominated shows… ...why I’m worried about the future of the Emmys telecast... ...the pros of broadcast television ...and the cons... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue (since the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep were so light), but then I’ll be all caught up after a deluge of streaming ratings data from Nielsen in September. In the meantime, I’m going to try to take a look at Netflix’s stats to explain why Bela Bajaria is out. But even light weeks give me plenty to talk about. The Great British Baking Show returns to Netflix and Apple TV has a buzzy new star-studded comedy. And Netflix has a controversial-but-appears-to-be-popular new game show. Plus big films like Toy Story 5, Backrooms and The Breadwinner head to streaming. And is East of Eden a hit? After that, The Kardashians return to Hulu, Prime Video has a reboot of Carrie, and Netflix has a horror show, Below. Disclosure Day heads to Peacock, The Housemaid heads to HBO Max_,_ a new Ben Affleck film, Animals, lands on Netflix, and Apple TV has a new John Cena action film based on, checks notes, Hasbro’s Matchbox toys. Okay. Longterm, some interesting TV production news. HBO Max ordered How to Survive Without Me, starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson, for fifteen episodes! I love that some streamers (or, at least, HBO Max) are finally ordering TV shows with more than eight episodes. In less wise production news, Landman does not appear to be coming back this year, since it just started production. Frankly, I don’t love this (get your shows out on time) but Landman is so popular, I doubt it matters.

Oct 18 • 3:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Utah Tech University receives National Institutes of Health flagship research grant

Utah Tech University has received its first National Institutes of Health research grant, worth more than $1 million, creating more opportunities for student learning, workforce development and scientific discovery in

Oct 18 • 2:45 PM EDT • Health • stgeorgeutah.com

Box Office: Elizabeth Holmes movie ‘You Can See Everything’ is now a hit in theaters too

Paramount's “Street Fighter” leads the box office this weekend, earning $31 million from 3,575 theaters in the U.S. and Canada | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM

Oct 18 • 12:50 PM EDT • Entertainment • audacy.com

Box Office: Elizabeth Holmes movie ‘You Can See Everything’ is now a hit in theaters too

Paramount's “Street Fighter” leads the box office this weekend, earning $31 million from 3,575 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. However, the spotlight is on the Elizabeth Holmes documentary “You

Oct 18 • 12:50 PM EDT • Entertainment • lancasteronline.com

Box Office: Elizabeth Holmes movie ‘You Can See Everything’ is now a hit in theaters too

Paramount's “Street Fighter” leads the box office this weekend, earning $31 million from 3,575 theaters in the U.S. and Canada | KNX News 1070 AM

Oct 18 • 12:50 PM EDT • Entertainment • audacy.com

Box Office: Elizabeth Holmes movie ‘You Can See Everything’ is now a hit in theaters too

Paramount's “Street Fighter” leads the box office this weekend, earning $31 million from 3,575 theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

Oct 18 • 12:50 PM EDT • Entertainment • news4jax.com

Former Tennessee mental health center owner sentenced for employment tax fraud

A former Middle Tennessee business owner was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay more than $1 million dollars for employment tax fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday…

Oct 17 • 12:41 PM EDT • Health • wkrn.com

New 4,300-mile-long internet cable will shuttle data along the ocean floor at 1 million gigabits per second

Petal, the world's first petabit transoceanic fiber cable, could theoretically support simultaneous music streaming for 75% of the world's population.

Oct 17 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com

Alberta early-voter surge suggests edge for Canadian side

CALGARY, Canada — More than 1 million people have already cast their ballots in Alberta’s referendum on separation from Canada, signaling strong voter turnout that pollsters say may favor the

Oct 16 • 7:56 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com

More than $1 million in federal funding headed to rural Wisconsin businesses

More than $1 million in federal funding is headed to rural communities across Wisconsin, including three in southern Wisconsin where officials hope the money will help fill empty downtown storefronts.

Oct 16 • 5:47 PM EDT • Business • wmtv15news.com

RFK Jr. allocates $11M for NH rural health services

RFK Jr. announces $11 million for New Hampshire rural health, supporting mobile EMS and reducing hospital overcrowding.

Oct 16 • 4:50 PM EDT • Health • concordmonitor.com

Heart surgeons now earn more than $1 million per year

Cardiac surgeon compensation is up 11%, according to new survey data from MedAxiom and the American College of Cardiology. Vascular surgeons experienced an increase in pay as well, but it was much smaller.

Oct 16 • 4:15 PM EDT • Business • cardiovascularbusiness.com

Ocasio-Cortez Transfers $1 Million to Help El-Sayed in Michigan Senate Race

The transfer represents an unusually large amount for a House member to give to a Senate race.

Oct 16 • 10:32 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Remedy Boss Reacts After Control Resonant Sells 1 Million Copies, Becoming Studio's Fastest-Selling Game

Control Resonant has sold one million copies, becoming Remedy’s fastest-selling game in spite of leakers cracking the title and pirating it after its digital launch in September.

Oct 15 • 7:04 PM EDT • Technology • ign.com

Trump donor leading Caucasus fund has major Armenia holdings, Russia business history

WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a $201 million investment fund in the Caucasus holds major telecom and mining interests there and formerly ran a Russia-focused ...

Oct 15 • 6:09 AM EDT • Business • yahoo.com

Trump Donor Leading Caucasus Fund Has Major Armenia Holdings, Russia Business History

By Alexandra Ulmer and Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a $201 million investment fund in the Caucasus holds ⁠major ⁠telecom and mining interests there and formerly ran a Russia-focused investment firm that ⁠touted close ties to the Kremlin,

Oct 15 • 6:09 AM EDT • Business • usnews.com

Lakeland receives $1 million to boost science, health care learning

A $1 million estate gift to Lakeland University will fund science scholarships and expand science and health care programs.

Oct 15 • 5:12 AM EDT • Science • sheboyganpress.com

Gemini 4 Argon Arrives With Big Claims for AI Agents and Scientific Discovery

Google just released the new Gemini 4 Argon, which it claims can generate up to a million tokens in a single run, a big jump for long code migrations and multi-step agent work. Competitors top out around 128,000 output tokens per request, so based on that claim, Argon’s 1 million is roughly 8x higher. Argon […]

Oct 14 • 1:12 PM EDT • Science • hpcwire.com

McLellan Calls DeBrincat Critical as Wings Commit $91 Million

Todd McLellan had one word for Alex DeBrincat, and Detroit just backed it with a long-term deal. #RedWings

Oct 14 • 10:50 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

RWJBarnabas Health Provides $1 Million Lifeline to Maintain, Expand Stable Housing for Unhoused Newarkers

RWJBarnabas Health has announced a $1 million investment in Newark-based United Community Corporation (UCC) to expand its medical respite program for individuals experiencing homelessness and support the continued operation of its emergency shelter. The funding will double the program's capacity from 10 to 20 residents, providing more patients with a safe place to recover following hospital discharge while addressing housing instability and other social determinants of health.

Oct 14 • 10:45 AM EDT • Health • newswise.com

RWJBarnabas Health Provides $1 Million Lifeline to Maintain, Expand Stable Housing for Unhoused Newarkers

RWJBarnabas Health today announced a $1 million donation to United Community Corporation (UCC), a longstanding pillar of the Newark community, to support and double the capacity of its medical respite program that provides safe, stable, transitional housing for the unhoused following discharge from a hospital.

Oct 14 • 10:02 AM EDT • Health • rwjbh.org

A Major Labor Boom in CNY? Not Here Yet

With so many major projects going on — Micron, I-81 viaduct and others — job growth is predicted to increase. But so far the number of jobs in the region has declined By Aaron Gifford [caption id=attachment_11065 align=alignright width=350] Amy Stage, deputy director at the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY): “For us, the conversation isn’t just about filling jobs. It’s about creating sustainable pathways that help people see a future for themselves in manufacturing.”[/caption] The I-81 viaduct project in Syracuse and Micron facility construction in Clay are expected to create a major labor boom for Central New York. But for the time being, the number of jobs here has actually decreased in the past year. The New York State Department of Labor reported that, for the annual comparison of June 2025 to this past June, private sector jobs decreased by 2,200 or less than 1% to 260,000. Job gains were concentrated in leisure and hospitality (+700), private education and health services (+400) and other services (+300). Job losses for that annual period were reported in the areas of trade, transportation and utilities (-1,500); professional and business services (-1,000); financial activities (-500); mining, logging and construction (-300); manufacturing (-200); and information (-100). The public sector job count rose over 12 months, with most growth concentrated in education, the state Department of Labor reported. Looking ahead, the Central New York economy is expected to benefit from both the Micron and I-81 viaduct projects over a period of several years. Initial job growth is foreseen in construction and computer and electronic manufacturing. Spin-off jobs will be created in the areas of professional and business services, health care and education, the state Department of Labor said in an email response to Oswego County Business magazine. “Population growth tied to the buildout of Micron Technology semiconductor complex in Clay is also expected to bring more workers and residents to the region, increasing demand for transportation services,” the agency said. New York Department of Labor highlighted current or projected job growth trends in various sectors. An increase in defense-related contracts at local high-tech employers has continued to support employment growth in the computer and electronic product manufacturing sector and Micron is expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs as the project progresses. This sector paid an annual average wage of $117,500 in 2025 and employment in the sector is projected to grow by over 60% through 2032, making it the fastest-growing industry in the region. Typical occupations in this industry include electrical, electronic and electromechanical assemblers, software developers and industrial engineers, the state agency reported. Specialty trade contractors include several different types of tradespeople — electricians, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) mechanics and installers. Many of these positions are trained through apprenticeships, the state Department of Labor reported. The Interstate 81 construction project is generating local jobs, including construction laborers, projected to grow at a 6.4% rate, and operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, projected to grow at a 7.3% rate over the next several years. Construction of the Micron Technology facility is also “creating thousands of job opportunities that will continue over the next two decades,” the state agency reported. The specialty trade contractors sector paid an annual average wage of $86,200 in 2025. For Central New York, the challenge isn’t creating jobs, it’s filling them. Amy Stage, a deputy director at the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY), said meeting this unprecedented growth is a much larger task than just replacing retirees. “We’re seeing workforce gaps at every experience level,” she said. “Companies need entry-level employees, experienced technicians, supervisors, engineers and skilled trades professionals. The opportunity is tremendous, but we need more people entering these career pathways.” Employers are looking for people who can troubleshoot, read technical information, use computers and learn new processes, not just perform repetitive production work, Stage said. To address this demand, the MACNY created the Manufacturers Talent Institute, which aims to connect students and job seekers with meaningful career pathways while helping employers build their workforce. Twenty-one companies have so far signed up to provide opportunities for more than 800 students. “For us, the conversation isn’t just about filling jobs,” Stage said. “It’s about creating sustainable pathways that help people see a future for themselves in manufacturing.” Several manufacturing facilities in the region are in the midst of expansion: • TTM Technologies, a leading U.S. manufacturer of advanced electronics and interconnect solutions for aerospace, defense and high-technology markets, which has a plant in DeWitt, completed its buildout of an additional facility, adding 400 jobs and expanding production of high-tech circuit boards for defense and critical electronics applications. • In Cortlandville, the Byrne Hollow Crossing Plant, a dairy manufacturing and processing facility, is increasing its operations, creating 100 new jobs. • The Chobani yogurt company is building a 1.4-million square foot dairy processing facility in Oneida County. This will create more than 1,000 good-paying jobs and double Chobani’s New York state workforce, Stage said. Stage noted several ways that local, state and federal governments can help spur manufacturing job growth in this region. Elected leaders and public agencies could work with industry representatives to create pre-apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship programs seeking to upskill workers and improve employee retention. New York state has a variety of grants, tax incentives and financing programs to support site preparation, infrastructure, workforce development and capital investment. The U.S. Department of Labor has a pay-for-performance incentive program that provides employers $3,500 per new apprentice hired and retained for 90 days. MACNY was previously awarded an $87,000 federal grant that will cover 25 apprentices at nine companies. The manufacturing skills gap in the United States, at its current rate, could result in 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030, according to a study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute. In New York state, that gap is on pace to exceed 100,000 unfilled positions within six years. Manufacturing companies will be counting on more women to help fill that gap. While women make up half of the overall U.S. workforce, they only account for 29% of the manufacturing workforce in this country, Stage said. “Pre-apprenticeship programs like Real Life Rosies help to bring awareness to the manufacturing industry to fill some of the gaps, but we have a long way to go and it starts with educating people at younger ages about careers in manufacturing and earn-and-learn opportunities,” she said. As for Micron, that $100 billion-plus project, considered the largest private investment in New York state history, is expected to eventually create up to 50,000 jobs throughout the region, factoring in the spin-off opportunities for construction and supply chains. The plant’s foundation was poured on July 9. “As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, data and memory are foundational to the modern economy — and Micron is increasing our U.S. investments to more than $250 billion through 2035 to meet that moment,” the company’s president and CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, said in a news release. Bechtel, Micon’s construction partner in the project, reported that 4,500 people will be employed to help build the facility, including skilled craft professionals, local union members representing various trades and apprentices. The Syracuse-based CenterState CEO organization tallies the regional labor force at 397,582 workers (Onondaga, Cayuga, Cortland, Madison and Oswego counties). Job growth isn’t limited to the Central New York region. For the larger area covering portions of the Mohawk Valley, the North Country, the Southern tier, and the western part of the state, there are 155,601 employees in the advanced manufacturing sector, and 155,275 construction workers. The agency’s 2026 Economic Forecast report noted that 41% of community and business leaders surveyed said a shortage of skilled workers in this area remains a problem, though 77% shared a positive economic outlook for the year ahead. Beyond the semiconductor and advanced manufacturing areas, local business leaders also see growth in small manufacturing companies, storage businesses, housing, unmanned flight technology and general construction. “Productive reuse of property,” the report said, “will hopefully continue to preserve unique architecture while driving business.” The report identified several challenges for economic growth in the region, including an aging workforce, outdated equipment, the rising cost of raw materials and “the disconnect between the speed of business needs and the pace of talent readiness.”

Oct 14 • 8:23 AM EDT • Business • oswegocountybusiness.com

Baptist Health Foundation Announces $1 Million Grant from Knight Foundation to Advance Healthcare Technology Innovation Fellowship - Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report

Renewed investment will support the next five years of the Baptist Health Knight Foundation Fellowship in Healthcare Technology Innovation October 13, 2026 – Baptist Health Foundation today announced a $1 million […]

Oct 14 • 7:46 AM EDT • Health • southfloridahospitalnews.com

Business Interruption Claims Are Approaching $1M Average

The average cost of a business interruption claim is nearing $1 million, an upward trend that appears to have several causes. A new report shows BI losses

Oct 14 • 1:00 AM EDT • Business • claimsjournal.com

Red Wings Reportedly Closing In on Massive Alex DeBrincat Extension

Elliotte Friedman reports the Detroit Red Wings are nearing a massive seven-year, $91 million contract extension with Alex DeBrincat.

Oct 13 • 9:04 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Scheele Legacy Lives On as $1 Million “Transformational Gift” to Lakeland U Science Programs

Ronald Scheele, a 1966 Lakeland University graduate and native of Sheboygan, has given back to his alma mater ...

Oct 13 • 3:53 PM EDT • Science • whbl.com

USDA Rural Business Development Grants Program has awarded over 1 million dollars

In a major effort to stimulate economic growth and expand job opportunities across rural Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Director Andrew Iverson announced $1.024 million in investments through the USDA Ru…

Oct 13 • 2:53 PM EDT • Business • civicmedia.us

Scinai Expands CDMO Business with $5.1 Million Development and Clinical Manufacturing Agreement

Committed Customer Orders¹ reach approximately $7.6 million, up approximately 300% from $1.9 million at year-end 2025 Agreement with a U.S. based,...

Oct 13 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • prnewswire.com

Palm Beach donor gives $1M to Cox Science Center education programs

Led by a Palm Beach resident, the William H. Pitt Foundation’s $1 million gift will support education programs at the Cox Science Center and Aquarium.

Oct 13 • 1:05 AM EDT • Science • palmbeachdailynews.com

Study links environment and youth mental health

A new University of Canterbury-led study of almost 1 million young people in New Zealand shows the environments they live in may be linked to their mental health over time. Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha ...

Oct 12 • 2:00 PM EDT • Health • phys.org

'As highly trusted as anyone': Spokane Valley business reacts after former employee gets prison time for stealing $1 million

Oct 9 • 7:45 PM EDT • Business • krem.com

Vitalize Secures $31 Million to Address Healthcare’s Staffing Chaos

Vitalize raised $31 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate the growth of its artificial intelligence (AI)-native platform that helps health

Oct 9 • 4:20 PM EDT • Health • pymnts.com

A new defense tech initiative will serve Baton Rouge startups, small businesses

Baton Rouge has been included in a new federally backed defense technology initiative aimed at helping Louisiana startups and small businesses compete for military and commercial work. The U.S. Small Business Administration this week awarded $1 million to Precision Platform Solutions, the legal entity behind Monroe-based Maven Scouts, to launch the Gulf South Defense Tech […]

Oct 9 • 11:02 AM EDT • Business • businessreport.com

NIH Awards Boston University Clinical And Translational Science Institute $41 Million

The National Institutes of Health awarded $41 million to the Boston University Clinical & Translational Science Institute to support its work translating scientific research into new treatments and healthcare technologies.

Oct 9 • 8:11 AM EDT • Science • pulse2.com

Trump bought over $1 million in SpaceX debt days before unveiling space policy

The purchase, revealed in his latest financial disclosure, involved a firm directly affected by his administration’s actions — and led by presidential ally Elon Musk.

Oct 8 • 5:53 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com

Two arrested in alleged $1M fraud investigation tied to Silver Springs business

Two booked in Lyon County investigation involving alleged losses exceeding $1 million

Oct 8 • 5:45 PM EDT • Business • kolotv.com

UFC AND CLEVELAND CLINIC RENEW LONGSTANDING PARTNERSHIP

UFC To Provide $1 Million Contribution To Fund Professional Athletes Brain Health Study Through 2030 WWE Joins Study; Zuffa Boxing Athletes Now Eligible To Participate

Oct 8 • 10:20 AM EDT • Health • ufc.com

Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.

Oct 7 • 6:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

‘Revive the business’: Candlelight Curated awarded $1 million state grant

12 weeks into production at Candlelight Curated in Lockport, the state has awarded the company $1 million in grant money as it aims to rebuild from the now-closed Candlelight Cabinetry.

Oct 7 • 5:06 PM EDT • Business • wkbw.com

Health organization in Wichita gives more than $1M for Kansas medical students

Wichita’s Riverside Health Foundation has given more than $1 million to Kansas Health Science University through an endowed scholarship fund established to benefit medical students.

Oct 7 • 10:30 AM EDT • Science • kwch.com

Health organization in Wichita gives more than $1M to benefit Kansas medical students

Wichita’s Riverside Health Foundation has given more than $1 million to Kansas Health Science University through an endowed scholarship fund established to benefit medical students.

Oct 7 • 10:30 AM EDT • Health • kwch.com

Health organization in Wichita gives more than $1M for Kansas medical students

Wichita’s Riverside Health Foundation has given more than $1 million to Kansas Health Science University through an endowed scholarship fund established to benefit medical students.

Oct 7 • 10:30 AM EDT • Health • kwch.com

Top Super PAC for Senate Democrats Raises Record $151 Million in Third Quarter

Democratic Senate candidates have generally out-raised Republicans, but are struggling to match outside spending from Trump-affiliated groups.

Oct 6 • 9:30 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

41st Great Sports Legends Dinner Supports Neuroscience Research at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis

The 2026 Legends Dinner honored 11 athletes and announced a $1 million gift supporting drug discovery and The Miami Project’s research.

Oct 6 • 4:58 AM EDT • Sports • news.med.miami.edu

Trinity Health improves to 1.1% operating margin in FY2026

Trinity Health grew its operating income from a narrow loss to a $281.1 million gain (1.1% operating margin) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, a performance improvement the large nonprofit at | The 91-hospital system credited volume gains and greater rates for its 5.2% operating revenue growth and expense management, including a reduction in full-time equivalents and checked cost growth "well below the medical rate of inflation."

Oct 5 • 4:30 PM EDT • Health • fiercehealthcare.com