National

A federal judge on Friday gave Pacific Gas & Electric, California's largest power company, one week to explain its role in potentially starting two fires that have now burned hundreds of thousands of acres in Northern California.

Driving the news: PG&E told the state last month that malfunctions with one of its utility poles may have caused the Dixie Fire, the third-largest blaze in state history and currently the largest fire in the U.S. And U.S. District Judge William Alsup wants to know details.

Alsup has also asked PG&E for more information on the Fly Fire, which later merged with the Dixie Fire.

Of note: Alsup oversees PG&E’s safety precautions while the utility remains under criminal probation from 2010 when its natural gas lines destroyed a suburban neighborhood south of San Francisco.

PG&E's equipment was found responsible for the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.

The big picture: Six of the seven largest fires in California's history have occurred since Aug. 2020, according to CalFire.

The Dixie Fire stretched across 446,723 acres as of Saturday afternoon.

Go deeper: California wildfire victims sue former PG&E executives for alleged neglect

Judge: PG&E must explain role in Dixie Fire that's raging in California

PG&E told the state last month that malfunctions with one of its utility poles may have caused the Dixie Fire.

A PG&E truck passes by a home with a message to firefighters during the Dixie fire near Quincy, California, on July 26. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

California wildfires

Climate change

Extreme weather

Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

Energy & Climate

News and analysis of the scientific advances fueling AI and quantum computing, revolutionizing biology and medicine, and tackling climate change. Science is changing the world and colliding with the global politics that shape it.

Science

Welcome to our Axios AM Deep Dive wrapping up the Tokyo Olympics detailing what we learned and looking ahead to next year's Winter Games, led by Ina Fried, who's  on the ground in Tokyo, and Kendall Baker, who's been covering the Games every day in his Axios Sports newsletter.

Axios AM Deep Dive: Lessons for the next Olympics

What we've learned from Olympics during Covid

2020 Olympics

Beijing Winter Olympics

Shifts in technology and media are changing the way we play, watch and understand sports. Business models are adapting and social change is forcing those in charge of teams and leagues to reconsider decades-old practices.

Sports

President Biden on Saturday gave a final push for the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package as the Senate reconvened to advance the measure.

Driving the news: The Senate on Saturday broke the filibuster, clearing the 60-vote threshold to advance the plan for final passage, after which it will head to the House. It is not clear when the final Senate vote will take place.

What he's saying: "The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal ... will create good-paying, union jobs repairing our roads and bridges, replacing lead pipes, and building energy transmission lines," Biden said. "We can’t afford not to do it."

"We can’t just build back to the way things were before COVID-19, we have to build back better. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and my Build Back Better plan will grow our economy, and create an average of 2 million good-paying jobs every year over the next decade," he added.

Go deeper: Senate readies for final infrastructure vote

Senate clears key hurdle on infrastructure bill

The Senate on Saturday broke the filibuster to advance the plan for final passage.

Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Joe Biden

Policymaking

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Olympic gold medalist Simone Manuel suggested this week that journalists should stop the practice of interviewing athletes after "disappointing" performances.

The big picture: Athletes have stepped up to advocate for their own mental health at this year's Games and beyond.

Last week, Team USA gymnast Simone Biles decided to withdraw from some of the Tokyo competitions to protect her mental health.

After declining media interviews at the French Open in May, Naomi Osaka said: "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes mental health and this rings very true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one," in a statement on Twitter.

Zoom out: A majority of Americans — especially women and Black Americans — expressed support for Biles' decision to withdraw, our latest Axios/Momentive Olympics poll found.

Biles unexpectedly sparked awareness around Olympians' struggles with media coverage and intense pressure to perform and win. 

What she's saying: "Please stop interviewing athletes right after a disappointing performance before they have any time to process anything," the Olympic swimmer tweeted. "Trust me. They gave it their all. Nothing else people need to know at that time."

"The amount of people who say we’re just sore losers or that we are 'obligated' to do the interviews is problematic. Lack of empathy for athletes is problematic," she added.

"It’s mentally and emotionally exhausting to coherently answer questions while trying to process the fact that people already saw you fall short of the goals you worked so hard for on the world’s biggest stage."

Manuel recommended that journalists get "better training" so they know when and if they should interview athletes and how to handle talking about certain topics, victories and disappointments with sensitivity.

Driving the news: Manuel, who earned a bronze medal at the U.S. 4×100 relay, failed to make the podium at the 50-meter freestyle, and faced the press immediately after the loss. 

The swimmer dominated those same events at the Rio 2016 Games, where she won the 100-meter freestyle race, becoming the first Black woman to ever win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming. She also earned a silver medal in the women's 50-meter freestyle.

Go deeper: Olympic swimmer Simone Manuel holds her head high in "victory and defeat"

Swimmer Simone Manuel: Stop interviews after "disappointing" performances

"Trust me. They gave it their all. Nothing else people need to know at that time."

Simone Manuel. Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Axios AM

This single slide — marked up in the yellow scrawl of SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son — captures this era's euphoria over the hyper-scaling of tech startups, combusting with extremely low interest rates:

The big picture: Cash gushers chase indefensible valuations on delusional growth prospects and paths to profitability, with little regard for the reality of the underlying business and market structure. 

The slide was uncovered by Wall Street Journal reporters Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell as they wrote the delicious new book "The Cult of We," chronicling the wiles and humiliation of Adam Neumann, WeWork's day-drinking co-founder, former CEO, and chief snake-oil salesman. 

"As he pondered a bigger investment in WeWork," the authors write, "Son pushed WeWork's already ambitious financial projections into territory unprecedented in business history. During a meeting with Neumann, he scribbled out a vision for a company worth $10 trillion."

Graphic from "The Cult of We," by kind permission of the authors, Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell

SoftBank made Goldman Sachs look downright restrained in a pitch deck, also obtained by the authors, to take WeWork public.

Goldman bankers included the bar chart shown above ("Your Path to $1 Trillion"), which "played to both Neumann's hunger for a giant valuation and his affinity for simple visuals."

On the book's cover, business journalist Charles Duhigg calls it a portrait "of how grifters came to be called visionaries."

The wild-haired Neumann — a yeller who combined a televangelist's frenzy with tequila and weed, plus quirks that included strolling Manhattan barefoot — eventually drove his baby off a financial cliff:

The rise and fall of WeWork was enabled by a collision of forces: a man characterized by charisma, unbridled optimism, and astute salesmanship met an entire financial system primed to fall under his spell. 

"Had a frothy venture capital sector not been so obsessed with the search for eccentric and visionary founders," the authors continue, "WeWork might still occupy only a smattering of buildings in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan."

The authors told me that COVID shutdown had sunk their reporting travel plans. But it turned out to be easier to talk to key players in the drama when they were stuck at home, rather than trying to meet them and gain their trust in a coffee shop. Maureen Farrell, who's on The Journal's Deals team, told me it's scary how much capital was destroyed during the We Work saga: 

"In this era of so much money chasing the next great idea, it makes people willing to not have the checks and balances."

Eliot Brown, who covered venture capital and now writes about the SPAC frenzy, said Neumann got "smart people to do dumb things": 

"Theranos was a charismatic entrepreneur making up numbers to trick investors. This was a charismatic entrepreneur using real numbers — but getting them to delude themselves."

Read a free excerpt, "Chapter 1: The Hustler."

WeWork book: The $10 trillion mirage

Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell chronicle the fall of WeWork's day-drinking co-founder and chief snake-oil salesman.

WeWork

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

The U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan on Saturday urged all U.S. citizens to leave the country "immediately," adding that they should "not plan to rely on U.S. government flights."

The big picture: The warning comes as the Taliban capture their second provincial capital, Sheberghan in Jowzjan Province, in two days.

The Taliban on Friday took over Zaranj, a provincial capital in Southwestern Afghanistan.

The terrorist group also killed the director of Afghanistan’s Government Information Media Center, saying that the official was "punished to his deeds."

Deborah Lyons, the special representative of the United Nations' secretary-general for Afghanistan, warned at a special session of the United Nations Security Council on Friday that without intervention, the nation could fall “into a situation of catastrophe so serious that it would have few, if any, parallels in this century,” per the New York Times.

Details: The American embassy said that all citizens should leave using any available commercial flights, adding that they will offer loans for people who cannot afford to purchase a plane ticket.

The State Department in April ordered the departure of federal employees from the embassy in Kabul if their work can be performed elsewhere.

The travel advisory for Afghanistan is at level 4 due to "crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, armed conflict and COVID-19."

What they're saying: The embassy also condemned the Taliban's "violent new offensive against Afghan cities."

"These Taliban actions to forcibly impose its rule are unacceptable and contradict its claim to support a negotiated settlement in the Doha peace process," the embassy added.

"They demonstrate wanton disregard for the welfare and rights of civilians and will worsen this country’s humanitarian crisis."

Go deeper: Biden defends Afghanistan exit as fears of collapse grow

State Department urges U.S. citizens to leave Afghanistan

The warning comes as the Taliban capture their second provincial capital in Afghanistan.

Murals are seen along the walls at the US embassy on July 30, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: Paula Bronstein /Getty Images

Afghanistan

Conflicts, policies and powers are intersecting and shaping the world. Breaking news and analysis of national security, foreign policy and global crises.

World

Team USA sprinter Allyson Felix won her 11th Olympic medal on Saturday night, making her the most decorated American Olympic athlete in track and field.

Why it matters: The win for Team USA means that Felix has topped Carl Lewis for most medals in U.S. track and field history.

Felix, 35, helped the U.S. win the 4x400-meter mixed relay in its debut at the world championships two years ago.  

This is her fifth Olympic games and likely her last. The Tokyo Olympics are the first Summer Games Felix has competed in since the birth of her daughter. There were times she wasn't sure she'd ever get back on the track after a life-threatening pregnancy complication.

Driving the news: A team of Felix, Sydney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu earned the gold on Saturday night in the 4x400-meter relay, continuing a U.S. winning streak in an event that has gone unbroken since 1996.

Go deeper: Allyson Felix enters 5th Olympic games as a leader for women

Allyson Felix becomes most decorated U.S. Olympic track athlete with 11 medals

Team USA won the gold medal on Saturday night in the 4x400-meter relay.

USA's Allyson Felix reacts after winning the women's 4x400m relay final during the Tokyo Olympic Games on Aug. 7. Photo: JEWEL SAMAD / Getty Images

2021 Olympics

The withdrawal of Greece's entire 12-woman artistic swimming team was just one high-profile example of athletes who had their experience at the Games cut short due to the virus.

The big picture: The worst fears may not have been realized, but COVID still had an impact on the Olympics despite the protocols — and Tokyo had an even bigger spike of virus cases outside the Games. 

By the numbers: As of Friday, 382 people had tested positive for COVID-19 at the Games, including 29 athletes, according to an Olympic database of cases.

The total includes 31 people who live in the Olympic village and 351 people who live outside the village.

Some of the other athletes who withdrew from the Games due to COVID-19 include:

American pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, who was widely considered a medal contender, tested positive on July 29, prompting his withdrawal.

Two members of Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic team, including a long jumper and a 400-meter hurdler, per Reuters.

American men's beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb was the first Team USA athlete to test positive for the Games, per NBC News. 

Four Czech athletes tested positive, including beach volleyball players Ondřej Perušič and Markéta Sluková-Nausch, table tennis player Pavel Sirucek and cyclist Michal Schlegel, per Forbes.

Between the lines: Those are snapshots, but if you go beyond daily case counts, there's been a 133.3% increase between the latest seven-day average and the previous week's average.

Go deeper: Behind the scenes at the COVID Olympics

The Olympics COVID count

In all, more than 300 virus cases were connected to the Olympics, and there was a bigger spike in Tokyo.

Illustration of coronaviruses with radiating circles.

Coronavirus

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

Health

Do you support or oppose Simon Biles’s decision to withdraw from competition for mental health reasons?

Data: Momentive; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios 

A majority of Americans — especially women and Black Americans — support gymnast Simone Biles in her decision to withdraw from some of the Tokyo competitions to protect her mental health, our latest Axios/Momentive Olympics poll found.

The big picture: Biles unexpectedly sparked awareness around Olympians' struggles with media coverage and intense pressure to perform and win. Survey respondents by a nearly two-to-one margin said they believe Olympic athletes’ mental health issues are not taken seriously.

Majorities across all age groups and political affiliations shared that view.

More findings this poll will be featured in an Axios deep dive on the Olympics this afternoon.

What they're saying: Momentive's Laura Wronski said Biles entered Tokyo "under a brighter spotlight than perhaps any other American athlete."

The findings show that her unexpected withdrawal from much of the competition "effectively redirected that attention away from the medal count and onto the sometimes taboo topic of mental health."

By the numbers: 62% of Americans say they supported Biles' decision (51% "strongly"), while just 13% opposed it and another 22% said they didn't know enough about the situation to render judgment.

70% of Black respondents, 67% of women and 57% of men supported Biles. 

She found support from four in five Democrats and half of Republicans.

On the broader question of Olympic athletes' mental health, Americans overwhelmingly said it's not taken seriously, 61% to 33%.

More women than men held that view (66% vs 55%). Younger Americans were more likely than middle-aged respondents or seniors to say mental health was being taken seriously. 

Methodology: These data are from an Axios|Momentive online poll conducted Aug. 2-4 among 2,875 adults ages 18 and older in the United States. Respondents were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on the Momentive platform each day.

Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of the United States age 18 and over. The modeled error estimate is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Exclusive poll: Americans care about Olympians' mental health

By a nearly two-to-one margin, Americans said they believe Olympic athletes’ mental health issues are not taken seriously.

Axios AI+

The U.S. men's basketball team won its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in Tokyo on Saturday, beating France 87-82. 

The big picture: The U.S. men's basketball team is the most dominant team in Olympic history, medaling in every Olympics it has competed in, with 16 golds, a silver and two bronzes.

How it happened: Team USA's gold medal run did not come easy after the U.S. team got off to a rocky start, losing to France, which includes NBA stars Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum, in its opener. 

The U.S. team then rebounded, beating Iran, the Czech Republic, Spain and Australia. 

And the U.S. found France plenty tough in its rematch as well. Kevin Durant had 21 of Team USA's 44 first half points, but repeated fouls by the American squad allowed France to keep it close, trailing by just five at halftime.

The second half remained close as well, with the U.S. lead stretching into double digits at times, but the game never getting out of hand.

France cut the lead to just three points with 10 second to go — its closest point of the second half, but Durant was fouled and hit both free throws to seal the deal, finishing with 29 points to lead all scorers.

Worth noting: Saturday's win marks Durant's third gold medal, tying Carmelo Anthony’s record.

What's next: The U.S. women's basketball team will aim for their seventh straight gold medal on Sunday, taking on host Japan, which upset France to reach the gold medal game.

U.S. men's basketball wins 4th consecutive Olympic gold medal

The win also marks Kevin Durant's third gold medal, tying Carmelo Anthony’s record.

The U.S.' Bam Adebayo stops a France shot in the first half of the gold medal game at the Tokyo Olympics

Bam Adebayo of Team USA stops a France shot in the first half of the gold medal game at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo: Ina Fried

Saturday's top stories