Yosemite Fires, Wimbledon, and Pokémon Cards

Your Daily Brief

July 11th, 2022

Good morning, and happy top-of-the-week! Today is National Free Slurpee Day, and before you run out to your local 7-Eleven (because you totally should), here’s what we have for you:

Today’s Highlights

Wildfire in Yosemite National Park forces evacuations and grows to threaten sequoias
Formula production resumes at Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis facility once again
Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina are Wimbledon champions

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Wildfire in Yosemite forces evacuations and grows to threaten sequoias

A wildfire known as the Washburn Fire in Yosemite National Park has grown to over 1,500 acres and doubled in size over the weekend, according to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.

The blaze was first reported Thursday in the park’s Mariposa Grove section. 500 mature sequoia trees are located in the grove, including the famed 3,000-year-old “Grizzly Giant,” which firefighters have set up a sprinkler system around as protection from flames. In a tweet, Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management said: “The Grizzly Giant is the most renowned giant sequoia in Yosemite National Park. Standing at 209 feet, it is the second-largest tree in Yosemite, and one of the most photographed.”

While there have been no reports of damage to any of the trees in Mariposa Grove, the fire has forced the evacuation of residents and campers in the nearby community of Wawona. Per Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management, the Washburn Fire is 0% contained as of yesterday evening, and 360 firefighters have been assigned to fight it.

Formula production resumes at Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis facility once again

Baby formula maker Abbott Nutrition announced that it has resumed production at its Sturgis, Michigan facility after shutting it down for the second time in five months.

The company issued a voluntary recall of its Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare products in February after four babies were hospitalized with bacterial infections after consuming formula manufactured at the plant (two of the infants died). The recall–and subsequent shut down of the plant–exacerbated an already-existing nationwide shortage of formula. Then, two weeks after restarting production, Abbott shut down the same Sturgis facility in mid-June due to damage from thunderstorms, including flooding.

Abbott spokesperson John Koval said that following a reboot on July 1st, the company restarted production of the specialty formula EleCare for infants with food allergies and digestive problems. In an email, Koval said the company is “working to restart Similac production as soon as we can,” and that Abbott will provide more information when they have it.

Novak Djokovic and Elena Rybakina are Wimbledon champions

Wimbledon concluded this weekend in London, with Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina beating Ons Jabeur to win the women’s championship title, and Novak Djokovic defeating Nick Kyrgios to win the men’s.

Rybakina was born in Moscow but has played for Kazakhstan since 2018, when the country offered her funding to support her career. At age 23, she is the youngest player to win Wimbledon since 2011. Rybakina’s win marks her first Grand Slam title, as well as the first time a player from Kazakhstan has won a singles trophy at a major tournament.

On the men’s side, Djokovic’s win marks the Serbian tennis player’s fourth Wimbledon title in a row. Djokovic, 35, has now won Wimbledon seven times and has earned 21 overall Grand Slam titles–passing Roger Federer and sitting one Grand Slam title short of world record holder Rafael Nadal, who has 22.

Around the Globe

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is projected to increase its majority in an election two days after former Prime Minister Shino Abe was assassinated while giving a speech in the western city of Nara
At least 15 were killed and dozens are feared trapped after Russian rockets struck an apartment complex in the Donetsk region of Ukraine
Canadian telecommunications company Rogers Communications restored service to the majority of its customers after an outage left millions in the country without network access to banking, transportation, emergency services, and more

On the Homefront

U.S. Department of Transportation has completed 10 investigations into airlines over complaints that they failed to provide timely refunds to customers during the Covid-19 pandemic
Thousands of pro-choice protestors descended on the White House for the Women’s March one day after President Biden signed an executive order to protect abortion access (see the White House news release here)
Steve Bannon said he was willing to testify before the January 6th committee–preferably at a public hearing–after former President Trump waived executive privilege (executive privilege outlines the right of the president to withhold information or documents from other branches of government; read more about it here)

Glitz and Games

Singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes postpones the first three weeks’ worth of dates in his upcoming world tour, citing mental health reasons
Former Seattle Seahawk and current NFL free agent Duane Brown was arrested at LAX for allegedly carrying a gun in his luggage
Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder earned $143 million in the U.S. during its opening weekend, per Disney

Money Moves

Stocks ended flat on Friday after a week-long recovery in the major indexes (Dow -0.15%, Nasdaq +0.12%, S&P 500 -0.08%)
Elon Musk filed to terminate his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, and the company’s board plans to take legal action in a Delaware court to force him to close the sale
The percentage of self-employed people in the U.S. rose to its highest level since 2008 with 16.8 million people classified as self-employed in June, per Bloomberg calculations based on recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Tip & Tricks

Binge Watch: Grab tickets to see Thor: Love and Thunder this week and let us know what you think of Christian Bale’s look as Gorr the God Butcher
Bump This: “For My Hand” by Burna Boy and Ed Sheeran has been on repeat the past few days - check out the vibey dance track on Apple Music and Spotify
Nerd Out: The Pokémon Company printed 9 billion cards between March 2021 and March 2022 to help satisfy demand and prevent resale prices of more than 350x a card’s original value
Look Up: Mark your calendars to see the first images released from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope tomorrow at 10:30 am ET; it is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built
Say What: “That would be great, but that’s all up to TC. It’s all up to Tom,” actor Miles Teller said when revealing that he has been speaking with Tom Cruise about starring in a potential third installment of the Top Gun film franchise
Hot Goss: Amber Heard is reportedly seeking a new trial in the Johnny Depp defamation case, alleging that one of the trial’s jurors was never supposed to serve on the jury in the first place
Life Hack: Walking 3 miles burns more calories than running 1 mile (you’re welcome)

Question of the day

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Looking Back…

On July 11th, 2015, Sinaloa drug cartel boss Joaquín Guzmán–also known as “El Chapo”–escaped from prison using a lengthy underground tunnel; a massive manhunt ensued, and he was captured again about six months later.