Sinclair Broadcast Group asked its dozens of local affiliates across the U.S. this weekend not to air a controversial interview conducted on its program "America This Week," which touted conspiracy theories that NIAID director Anthony Fauci started the coronavirus.
Why it matters: Sinclair has been caught up in controversies around journalism ethics before. Most notably, it asked journalists at affiliates to read pro-Trump scripts about "fake news" in 2018.
U.S. universities and colleges are facing pressure from students to lower tuition rates amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Times reports.
Why it matters: Some students argue that they should pay less if schools are only offering online classes, while many institutions are bracing for the pandemic's impact on their budgets.
The price of gold surpassed its 2011 peak of $1,891.90 per ounce this week, with bullion hitting $1,902.02 at the close of trading in New York on Friday, Bloomberg reports.
Why it matters: The coronavirus pandemic and increased tensions between the U.S and China are fueling demand for safer assets, according to Bloomberg.
33% of America's museums are at a "significant risk" of closing permanently by next fall due to economic distress from coronavirus-related shutdowns, an American Alliance of Museums survey has found.
Why it matters: Ticket and gift shop sales, school trips and museum events are primary sources of funding, AAM President and CEO Laura Lott told NPR.
The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the value of simply giving cash to those in need.
Why it matters: The worst economic effects of the pandemic have been partially ameliorated by no-strings-attached cash transfers. With the economy unlikely to recover for months or longer and the job-destroying threat of automation growing, the pandemic could be laying the groundwork for a universal basic income.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved an advanced treatment for mantle cell lymphoma, a rare type of cancer affecting white blood cells. The one-time therapy, made by Gilead Sciences, is branded as Tecartus.
Why it matters: This is the third federal approval of a CAR-T therapy, a new-age cancer treatment in which a person's own immune system cells are extracted, reengineered, and then infused back into the person's bloodstream.
McDonald's will require customers to wear face coverings in its U.S. locations beginning Aug. 1, it announced Friday.
The big picture: 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., have already issued some form of mask mandate. Other major nationwide retailers and restaurant chains, like Chipotle, Walmart and Starbucks, have also recently adopted mandates of their own.
Vital Farms, the country's largest producer of pasture-raised eggs, set IPO terms to 7.8 million at $15–$17 on Friday. At the midpoint, it would raise $125 million and have an initial market cap of $627 million.
Why it matters: This is about real eggs made by real chickens, not pseudo eggs designed in a lab.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday that "dithering" by the White House and Senate Republicans was to blame for not producing a coronavirus stimulus proposal.
Why it matters: The top Democrats are going on the offensive regarding the stimulus plan as expanded unemployment benefits are set to expire in the coming days.
Big Oil's second-quarter financials are going to be a rough scene, but this morning brought a surprise when Equinor announced $350 million in adjusted earnings for the quarter.
Why it matters: The Norway-based multinational's profit was far below the $3.15 billion from the same period a year ago, but analysts had been expecting a loss, Reuters reports.
Gus Coldebella, former chief legal officer of Circle and ex-acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security at the end of the Bush Administration, has joined crypto-focused VC firm Paradigm as its general counsel.
Why it matters: Coldebella is one of a growing number of high-profile government officials to jump over to the crypto industry’s private sector.
Verizon Media said Friday that its revenue dropped 24.5% year-over-year in the second quarter to $1.4 billion amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: Verizon was counting on its media unit to bring in billions of dollars of ad dollars and compete with the likes of Google and Facebook. It was already struggling to make that a reality even before the pandemic hit.
Lots of media companies reported that initial jobless claims rose for the first time in 15 weeks last week, but that is only true when looking at the seasonally adjusted data.
Why it matters: Seasonal adjustment has significantly altered the number of claims, with reports showing more than 300,000 additional initial jobless claims during weeks in May.
In the first week of July, nearly 1.5 million Americans were receiving unemployment benefits from the little-known Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Short-Term Compensation programs.
The state of play: For the week ending April 11, the first week for which data on the programs is available, PEUC and STC programs counted a little over 62,000 and 27,000 claimants each, respectively. That means both programs have seen approximately 15-fold increases in about three months' time.
Twitter, a company well-acquainted with choppy waters, is having an especially rough moment. First, there was last week's brutal hack of high-profile accounts. Then, there was today's disappointing earnings report, along with the company's admission that it needs new sources of revenue, including subscriptions.
The big picture: Twitter has only grown in its importance to politics and culture in the U.S. even as the company's business fortunes have stagnated.
No matter what's going on at home, schools have always been something of an equalizer — with all the neighborhood kids, richer and poorer,sitting behind the same desks in the same classrooms. Pandemic-induced remote learning is doing away with that.
The big picture: When you don't have kids from different backgrounds learning together, all of their differences become magnified — particularly when they can see into each other's homes, and especially when online learning shortchanges some students more than others.
Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest lab testing companies, expects demand for coronavirus tests will grow even more over the next two months as faculty and students return to college campuses, more workers return to offices, more patients visit their doctor, and more people use retail testing locations.
Why it matters: These variables could further strain testing capacity, which has already been stretched to the limit due to the rising number of coronavirus infections.
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