Nov 18, 2018

3. Michael Bloomberg donates $1.8 billion to help Johns Hopkins become "forever need-blind"

Michael Bloomberg, billionaire and former mayor of New York City. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Sunday said he’s giving $1.8 billion to his alma mater Johns Hopkins University to provide financial aid to students from low- and middle-income families. This is said to be the largest private gift to a single academic institution.

The details: Bloomberg wrote in an online op-ed for the New York Times that his gift will enable the private university in Baltimore to make its admissions process “forever need-blind; finances will never again factor into decisions. The school will be able to offer more generous levels of financial aid, replacing loans for many students with scholarship grants.” According to a May 2018 report by the Congressional Research Service, Johns Hopkins’ endowment was $3.8 billion.

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Ashley Gold

27 mins ago - Technology

Congress' next moves to rein in Big Tech

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

After grilling the CEOs of Amazon, Facebook, Google and Apple last week, members of Congress are grappling with whether to accuse any of the firms of illegal anticompetitive behavior, to propose updating federal antitrust laws — or both.

The big picture: Congress is just one arm of government making the case against these companies. Google is expected to be the first of the firms to face possible antitrust litigation from the Justice Department before summer's end, but all four face a full-court press of investigations by DOJ, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general.

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Eileen Drage O'Reilly

41 mins ago - Health

Fauci: Coronavirus task force to examine aerosolized spread

A sneeze. Photo: Maartje van Caspel/Getty Images

The White House coronavirus task force will examine more closely just how much SARS-CoV-2 might be transmitted via aerosols, and not just from droplets, NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Wednesday at an online forum sponsored by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Why it matters: The longer the coronavirus can remain infectious in the air, the more likely it can infect people, particularly indoors — leading to the possible need to alter air filtration and circulation within buildings.

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Dion Rabouin, Kim Hart

46 mins ago - Economy & Business

The next wave to hit Main Street

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Call it the great retail wash. A wave of defaults, bankruptcies and evictions expected in cities across the U.S. is poised to remake the retail landscape across the country, but there may be some upside for consumers and small businesses.

Why it matters: Rather than an overnight descent into a collection of urban wastelands full of Starbucks, Amazon fulfillment centers, Chase bank branches and nothing else, the coronavirus pandemic and resulting retail apocalypse may just mean that, in major U.S. cities, less is more.