A few things stood out from last night's first Kamala Harris-Donald Trump contest ...
🎯 Harris aimed for the center. She embraced the U.S. oil boom in her latest pivot from her 2019 call for a fracking ban, and later shouted out record gas output.
Over and over at last night's presidential debate, Kamala Harris set traps surgically designed to provoke, rattle and enrage Donald Trump.
And over and over, Trump stepped right into them.
Why it matters: With just eight weeks until the election, Harris delivered for Democrats on the biggest possible stage — the type of national stage that ended President Biden's political career less than three months ago.
Storm Francine intensified into a hurricane Tuesday evening as it churned from the western Gulf of Mexico toward coastal Louisiana, per the National Hurricane Center.
Threat level: Hurricane, storm surge and tropical storm watches and warnings are in effect from westernmost Louisiana to coastal Mississippi.
Tropical Storm Francine is due to make landfall along Louisiana's coastline midday Wednesday, and preparations were already underway Tuesday.
The big picture: The storm is expected to impact central Louisiana, especially along the coast, and New Orleans residents warily eyed Francine's track as it jogged eastward Tuesday.
Fast-moving wildfires in California and Nevada have left tens of thousands of people under mandatory evacuation orders, numerous structures threatened and air quality impacted, as a dangerous heat wave continues to grip Southern California in particular.
The big picture: California Gov. Gavin Newsom activated the National Guard Monday in response to the massive Line Fire in San Bernardino County — one of nine large blazes in California and 71 large fires burning across the western U.S. as of Tuesday, per the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC).
Google's got a counterintuitive plan for tackling the urgency of climate change with carbon removal: patience.
Why it matters: A deal with the startup Holocene targets much lower costs — $100 per ton of CO2 — than current direct air capture systems that are well into the hundreds of dollars per ton.
A growing "green skills gap" is akin to the shortage of tech workers at the onset of the 2000s Internet boom, according to a new analysis from OnePointFive first shared with Axios.
Why it matters: The report spotlights a human resources challenge to achieving a net zero future. It shows the gap stems from a "hiring and skills misalignment."
Tropical Storm Francine formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on Monday morning, and is moving toward a likely landfall in central Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane on Wednesday afternoon and evening.
Threat level: The storm is likely to bring damaging winds, coastal flooding and inland flooding to much of Louisiana and parts of Mississippi.
Fall is getting warmer across the continental U.S., a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: Warmer autumns mean more demand for cooling (and thus higher energy use), longer wildfire seasons, big changes for farmers and gardeners, etc.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are set to face off in their first presidential debate on Tuesday, giving voters a chance to finally compare the them side-by-side.
Why it matters: This is the only presidential debate scheduled between Harris and Trump so far, making it a high-stakes opportunity for both candidates to lay out their priorities as voters begin casting ballots.
