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NIH to study long COVID in kids
14 mins ago - HealthAd tech bounces back
26 mins ago - TechnologyLive updates: Jeff Bezos heads to space
38 mins ago - ScienceBipartisan senators unveil bill to claw back Congress' national security powers
41 mins ago - Politics & PolicyFacebook's vaccine-misinformation mess
1 hour ago - TechnologyOlympians are getting their voices back
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Live updates: Jeff Bezos heads to space
Jeff Bezos at the unveiling of the Blue Origin New Shepard system in 2017. Photo: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, and three other passengers will fly on a suborbital mission into space Tuesday morning aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard.
The latest: The New Shepard is set to take flight around 9 a.m. ET with Bezos, his brother Mark, aviator Wally Funk and the company's first paying customer, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. The livestream will be aired on Blue Origin's website.
New wrinkle for space tourism: Deciding who counts as an astronaut
Illustration: Megan Robinson/Axios
Jeff Bezos is going to space today, but whether that makes him an astronaut is open to interpretation.
Why it matters: Bezos and his billionaire rival, Richard Branson, are hoping to lure wealthy customers into space tourism, in part, with the promise of becoming astronauts — but the definition of who is considered an astronaut isn't clear-cut.
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Olympians are getting their voices back
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Colin Kaepernick isn't in the Olympics, but the lasting image of an athlete kneeling on the sidelines in silent protest is likely to find its way to Tokyo all the same.
Why it matters: Such a demonstration would have previously been banned at the Games, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has relaxed its rules governing protests in the wake of 2020's global racial reckoning.
Axios-Ipsos poll: Convincing the unvaccinated
Most Americans who still aren't vaccinated say nothing — not their own doctor administering it, a favorite celebrity's endorsement or even paid time off — is likely to make them get the shot, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.
Why it matters: The findings are more sobering evidence of just how tough it may be to reach herd immunity in the U.S. But they also offer a roadmap for trying — the public health equivalent of, "So you're telling me there's a chance."
Conservative media diets tied to distrust in health officials
People who rely on conservative media have much less confidence in key public health institutions and experts, and are much more likely to believe misinformation about the vaccine, according to a new study from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Why it matters: The survey finds a widening gap between Americans who trust key health institutions and those who don't.
Software bots could be the future of business automation
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Businesses are building a new kind of assembly line — and this one is digital, staffed by software bots.
Why it matters: For all the hopes and fears around industrial robots, more progress is being made in the realm of digital workers: Bots that can perform a growing number of often tedious and time-consuming tasks in an increasingly online business world.
Facebook's vaccine-misinformation mess
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
In walking back his comments about Facebook "killing people," President Biden Monday conceded that the debate around vaccine misinformation is too complicated to be narrowed down to soundbites.
Why it matters: Inoculating people is the surest path to ending the COVID pandemic, but the U.S. vaccination drive has petered out against a tide of partisan rhetoric and suspicion fueled by misinformation.
Resources pushed to limit as wildfires burn across U.S. and Canada
A helicopter flies with a load of water to the Bootleg Fire, near Bly, Oregon. Photo: Payton Bruni/AFP via Getty Images
Fire officials are seeing resources stretched to the limit as scores of wildfires burn across the U.S. and Canada amid hot, dry conditions.
Threat level: In Oregon, officials have called in firefighting support from outside the Pacific Northwest — as the biggest blaze in the U.S., the Bootleg Fire, swelled to 537 square miles Monday.
Man sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Flynn case judge
Judge Emmet Sullivan works at his office on in D.C. Photo: Dominic Bracco for THE WASHINGTON POST via Getty Images.
A New York man was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Monday for threatening to kill the judge overseeing the criminal case against Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, per the Washington Post.
Driving the news: Frank Caporusso pleaded guilty last April to leaving a threatening message on the voice mailbox of U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan over Flynn's case in May 2020.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's Twitter account suspended for COVID misinformation
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene at the U.S. Capitol in June. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Twitter announced Monday that it's suspending the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for 12 hours.
Driving the news: "We took enforcement action on the account you referenced (@mtgreenee) for violations of the Twitter Rules, specifically the COVID-19 misleading information policy," Twitter said in an emailed statement.
FEMA chief heads West as large wildfires rage, heat wave peaks
Fire engulfs trees at the Tamarack fire in Central California on Saturday. Photo: Ty O'Neil/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell will make her first trip to wildfire-affected states amid another dangerous week of extreme heat and "critical" fire weather conditions, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The West is experiencing its worst drought this century, and repeated, extreme heat waves have dried out forests and grasslands, priming them to burn. Officials are gearing up for an unprecedented, prolonged peak fire season.
Dems eye infrastructure for Medicare expansion
Sen. Bernie Sanders. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senate Democrats are debating lowering the Medicare eligibility age as part of the $3.5-trillion "soft" infrastructure package, at the risk of jeopardizing centrist support for a measure being pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Why it matters: Giving Americans over age 60 access to Medicare would force Democrats to either add an estimated $200 billion to their overall infrastructure price tag or cut other progressive priorities currently in the package.
House builds infrastructure alliances
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Members of the House are forming alliances and gearing for battle while waiting for the Senate to work out final details of an infrastructure deal.
Why it matters: The lower chamber has been on the sidelines during its two-week recess, yet representatives have been watching senators carefully in anticipation of their own debate on the measures that will be shipped their way.
By the numbers: Would-be Dreamers
The fate of roughly 80,000 people who applied for but hadn't been approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program rests with Congress — and the Senate parliamentarian.
Why it matters: A federal judge Friday blocked roughly 500,000 to 700,000 unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from participating in DACA and receiving its deportation protections. Nothing changed — for now — for the more than 600,000 active DACA recipients.
GOP split over infrastructure messaging
Republicans are looking to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, seen Monday, for their infrastructure cue. Photo: Tom Brenner/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republicans are all over the map about how their party should proceed on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal.
What we're hearing: GOP strategists tell Axios they've struggled over not only whether they support the current Senate negotiations but how to message off the broader infrastructure debate.