Tip News Daily Brief

Your Daily Brief

August 18th, 2023

Good morning, and happy Friday! Our team is excited for the weekend, but not looking forward to the Friday afternoon traffic on the way home. A recent study broke down the top 10 U.S. cities with the worst traffic and why traffic might actually be a good thing - think a strong economy. The city in the number one spot might surprise you. Let us know what you think of the results!

In Today’s Brief

Colombia: 6.3 magnitude earthquake hits
Hunter Biden: Tax charges are dismissed
Suits: Breaks its own time-watched record
Blue Shield: No longer working with CVS

...and more

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Top Tips

Hurricane Hilary approaches

Hurricane Hilary was upgraded to a hurricane from a tropical storm yesterday and could bring heavy rain and flash flooding to the Southwest by the weekend, according to forecasters.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary had maximum winds of 110 mph at mid-afternoon yesterday, just 1 mph below a Category 3 storm. It is forecast to approach the Baja Peninsula of California on Saturday. National Weather Service forecasts show the potential for 2 to 10-plus inches of rain to fall in Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. The Weather Prediction Center has preemptively placed parts of southern California and the Southwest under a slight risk for flooding rainfall Saturday into Sunday, and a moderate risk for heavy rainfall in the Sunday to Monday timeframe.

Hilary could be the first tropical storm to make landfall in California since 1939, according to federal weather officials. It may reach Category 4 intensity by today before beginning to weaken.

Wildfires in Canada

Wildfires burning around Yellowknife, the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories, forced the city's government to order the evacuation of 20K residents.

The fire, boosted by strong winds, was within 10 miles of Yellowknife’s northern edge, and people in the four areas at highest risk were told to leave as soon as possible, according to Fire Information Officer Mike Westwick. Westwick urged residents in other areas to leave by noon today. More than 200 wildfires have already burned a widespread area of the Northwest Territories. There were 1.06K active wildfires burning across Canada as of Wednesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau convened an urgent meeting with ministers and senior officials yesterday to discuss the evacuation and pledged to provide any support needed.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year with more than 5.7K fires burning more than 53K square miles from one end of the country to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.

Entire police department resigns

A small city in southeastern Minnesota could be left without a police department after the entire force recently resigned, according to officials.

Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith submitted his resignation at a City Council meeting on August 9th. A full-time officer and five part-time employees resigned two days after having learned about Smith. In July, Smith had told the city that it wasn’t offering enough money to retain officers. The salary for a Goodhue is currently $22 an hour. He reported that smaller departments pay at least $30 an hour. The mayor said the mass resignations were surprising because the council gave officers a 5% increase and Smith a $13K raise earlier this year.

There are 202 vacancies for police officers in Minnesota, according to Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck. Anderson Buck maintains that the city will continue to have police coverage, despite Smith saying he has had zero applicants for police positions since July.

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Quick Tips

Around the Globe

An earthquake and its aftershock hit Colombia yesterday, according to the United States Geological Survey; the quake registered a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 and was recorded about 10 miles north of Cumaral, around 100 miles southeast of Bogota (More)
Authorities in Pakistan have arrested at least 146 people in the Punjab province one day after a group attacked five churches and dozens of houses belonging to the local Christian community over claims of blasphemy (More)
63 people are presumed dead after a boat from Senegal capsized and sank near Cabo Verde; the boat was reportedly carrying 100 passengers, with 38 confirmed to have survived, according to the U.N. International Organization of Migration (More)

On the Homefront

Hunter Biden's misdemeanor tax charges have been dismissed by a federal judge in Delaware after his plea deal fell through last month during his first court appearance in the case (More)
South Dakota Senator Jessica Castleberry resigned yesterday after agreeing to repay $500K in federal Covid-19 relief she received for her daycare enterprise in violation of the state constitution (More)
Lawyers for former President Trump requested an April 2026 start date for the trial on his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, according to a court filing made yesterday (More)

Glitz & Games

In partnership with Bee Lucia

‘Suits’ had its fourth consecutive week of more than 3B minutes of watch time, surpassing the record for an acquired series on Nielsen’s streaming charts again; this earns Suits the number 13 spot on the list of the biggest streaming weeks ever since Nielsen began measuring streaming viewership in 2020 (More)
A new open category for transgender athletes has been established by World Aquatics, swimming’s governing body, at a World Cup event in Berlin; the new category will be open for all gender identities and will include 50m and 100m races across all strokes (More)
Twila Kilgore will serve as interim coach of the U.S. women’s national soccer team following the resignation of coach Vlatko Andonovski; Andonovski’s resignation comes less than two weeks after the U.S. was knocked out of the Women’s World Cup (More)

From our partners: Stop polluting your home with toxic-scented candles – The fragrances & waxes used in most candles represent an unidentified mixture of ingredients including carcinogens, allergens, respiratory irritants, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxic chemicals and environmental toxicants.

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Business & Markets

Stocks closed lower for the third straight day, with the Nasdaq once again leading losses (Dow -0.84%, Nasdaq -1.17%, S&P 500 -0.77%)
Blue Shield of California will no longer use CVS Health’s Caremark as its pharmacy benefit manager and instead will partner with other companies as it seeks to lower drug prices; the insurer expects to save up to $500M in annual drug costs once the multi-year plan is fully implemented (More)
Average mortgage rates in the U.S. reached their highest level in over 20 years, with the average rate for the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage sitting at 7.09%, according to Freddie Mac (More)

Tips & Tricks

Feel Good: Meet Rene J. Rodriguez, an El Paso native and Army combat medic who received the Soldier’s Medal for heroic actions after he saved a woman from an assault outside of a coffee shop in Wahiawa
Bump This: Indie outfit Emotional Oranges create a sparse sonic landscape in their haunting new break-up single “Better Apart” - listen on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube
Chow Down: Summer salad season isn’t over yet, and if you want to capitalize before the cool weather, try out this recipe for eggplant salad that’s full of fresh flavor from grilled eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs
Nerd Out: Read up on how scientists recently determined that the famous glacier mummy Oetzi the Iceman was mostly descended from farmers from present-day Turkey…and that his head was balder and skin darker than what was initially thought when he was first discovered decades ago
Lucky Draw: Learn more about the Maryland man who hit it big in the state’s lottery drawing after he purchased 15 tickets and played the same numbers on each one, securing the top prize a total of 15 times
Hot Goss: Sam Ashgari, 29, officially filed for divorce from Britney Spears after 14 months of marriage following reports this week that the pair had separated amid allegations of infidelity
Life Hack: There aren’t many people out there who have been married for over six decades, and they may know a thing or two about it - see what the secret is to a long and successful marriage, according to a 101-year-old neurologist who has been happily married for 66 years

Tip-Offs

Based on complaint levels, America’s dirtiest cities.

The best activities for getting a good night’s sleep.

Charting the wealth in the U.S. for each generation.

Take a deeper dive into the Blind Side controversy.

Examining the rise and fall of Bored Ape NFTs.

Watch this epic Call of Duty gameplay reveal trailer.

…and doorbell video footage of a bear encounter.

A Michelin-starred chef dishes on how to be happy.

Looking Back…

On August 18th: The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified after Tennessee becomes the 36th state to approve it, capping the 72-year fight to give women the right to vote in the U.S. (1920); Vladimir Nabokov publishes the novel Lolita (1958); basketball player Larry Bird announces his retirement (1992); actor Edward Norton is born (1969).

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