1. Beirut Declares State of Emergency Over Explosion

Yesterday’s explosion in Beirut was so enormous it was felt in Cyprus, 150 miles away. At least 100 people are dead and 4,000 injured. Lebanese President Michel Aoun declared three days of mourning and a two-week state of emergency to deal with the catastrophe, reportedly caused by the accidental ignition of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate — used as fertilizer and in bombmaking — stored unsafely in a warehouse. The accident is likely to plunge the city, already struggling with COVID-19, further into crisis: It destroyed both grain stores and the port of Beirut, which imports most of the city’s food.

Sources:  BBC, NYT

2. Colorado Police Apologize for Terrorizing Family

Police in Aurora, Colorado, stopped Brittany Gilliam and her family Sunday when their SUV’s license plate number matched that of a stolen motorcycle with plates issued in Montana. Guns drawn, the police surrounded them and made Gilliam and several crying children, one just six years old, lie on the pavement. After a bystander’s video went viral, the department apologized, saying it will pay for therapy for the traumatized kids. Three officers were fired last month over the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died after being put in a chokehold by Aurora police and injected with ketamine. 

Sources: The Hill, USA Today

3. Tropical Storm Whips Up US Tornadoes

While Isaias made landfall this week as a hurricane, he rampaged up the Eastern Seaboard yesterday as a tropical storm. Six people died and at least 3.7 million lost power amid winds of 65 mph and tornadoes that Isaias spawned across five states. Shelters across the region had to alter protocols to allow for pandemic safety, restricting the potential capacity to house those displaced by the destruction. Isaias has already departed for Canada but the U.S. power outages are expected to last for days. 

Sources: AP, Washington Post, Sumter Item

4. Kodak’s Moment Is Under SEC Investigation

Last week, Kodak’s stock bounced up by 25 percent when it announced a $765 million government loan to allow the struggling camera company to start making drugs. That was a windfall for executives with stock option grants, some of which were made just one day before the announcement — and now the Securities and Exchange Commission, at the request of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, is investigating whether there was wrongdoing related to the disclosure’s timing. President Donald Trump has begun to distance himself from the deal and Kodak itself says the details of the loan aren’t final … and that the money could still be withdrawn.   

Source: WSJ (sub), Politico

5. Also Important …

Virgin Atlantic has filed for bankruptcy, despite a recent agreement on a $1.6 billion rescue deal. A shortage of Clorox wipes will continue at least through the end of the year, according to the company’s CEO. And progressive activist Cori Bush has unseated a 10-term congressman in the Democratic primary to represent St. Louis.

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You know Terry Crews from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, White Chicks … and blowing up the internet by warning about “Black supremacy” in the wake of the racial justice protests sweeping the nation. But his road to stardom is a remarkable one: From growing up poor in Flint, Michigan, to playing in the NFL, Crews battled depression and a pornography addiction on his way to stardom — and is now a lightning rod. How will he explain his inflammatory comments? Find out now on the latest episode of The Carlos Watson Show. Watch now.

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1. Robocar Pioneer Sentenced for Stealing Secrets

The road to hell is paved with … downloading 14,000 proprietary design files from your former employer to help a competitor copy its tech. Yesterday a judge sentenced self-driving car designer Anthony Levandowski to 18 months in prison for “the biggest trade secret crime I have ever seen.” Levandowski had worked at Waymo before switching to Uber — which has already paid $245 million in stock to Waymo over a separate incident and has promised not to use the tech. Levandowski had asked for house arrest, citing vulnerability to COVID-19 in prison, but the judge instead said he can start his sentence once the pandemic is under control.

Sources: Engadget, SF Chronicle

2. The Social Media Cold War Is Heating Up

This doesn’t stop at TikTok. Twitter and Facebook are both officially banned in China, but the use of such social networking platforms to spread disinformation — which has worked pretty well for Russia — is escalating there, OZY reports. Not only have multiple Chinese authorities used Twitter and Facebook to suggest COVID-19 actually originated in the U.S., but social media has also been used to spread fake news about its actions in Hong Kong and along the border with India. But with Twitter now fact-checking disinformation spread by President Trump, it’s also turning a critical eye to China’s questionable messages.

Source: OZY

3. Researchers Discover 11 New Penguin Colonies

Ice to meet you. Using satellite footage, the British Antarctic Survey says it’s discovered several new groups of emperor penguins in Antarctica, as much as a 10 percent increase in the known population. Penguins, who are experts at social distancing, like to keep at least 60 miles between colonies. Still, with Antarctica warming at three times the global rate and melting sea ice that’s key for penguin breeding season, the research team fears this is a short-lived resurgence, predicting all the new colonies could die off by the end of the century. 

Sources: Gizmodo, BBC

4. Tourist Photo Op Damages Italian Statue

These were no feet of strength. A 50-year-old Austrian tourist has been identified as the man who accidentally broke three toes off a 200-year-old statue while posing on it for a photo. Security camera footage from July 31 captured him sprawling on Antonio Canova’s plaster cast statue of Pauline Bonaparte at the Gipsoteca Museum in Possagno, Italy, then quickly leaving without telling anyone about the incident. Police were able to track him down using information he gave the museum to enable coronavirus contact tracing and are now deciding whether to press charges. 

Sources: CNN, People  

5. Nadal Cancels US Open Appearance Due to Virus

He didn’t want to court disaster. Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal was set to challenge Roger Federer’s record number of Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open at the end of the month, but now says he’d rather not travel due to the virus. Federer is skipping it too after multiple knee operations. In another blow for Spanish tennis yesterday, the Madrid Open — scheduled to take place next month ahead of the previously postponed French Open — was canceled due to rising virus cases in Spain.  

Sources: Yahoo Sports, ESPN, AP