Good morning and welcome to your weekday morning roundup of the top stories you need to know.
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What's going on today:
- The plan is no plan. Unemployment aid will vanish for 7.5 million workers in September. There's no plan to extend. Federal unemployment aid for long-term jobless people and gig workers expire in a month. The Century Foundation finds millions will get kicked off.
- A decorative lawn ornament warning. A North Carolina man built a 13-foot skeleton in his front yard warning his unvaccinated neighbors: 'Not vaccinated, see you soon, idiots!' Jesse Jones surrounded the skeleton with fake gravestones with epitaphs that read: "I listened to Trump" and "I got my
news from Fox." - COVID rates climb among children. Children's COVID-19 infections are rising in Florida and Texas, and many of them are among kids who are too young to be vaccinated. More than 40 pediatric COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Florida on Tuesday, bringing the total number to 135 children in the state.
- Bezos' Blue Origin resorts to trash talk. Blue Origin has a new publicity strategy: Posting salty graphics that trash competitors like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. NASA snubbed Blue Origin's lunar lander in favor of SpaceX's Starship to return astronauts to the moon. Jeff Bezos's company gave a fiery response.
- Masason in the hot seat. Fair Financial investors say SoftBank drove the startup into the ground so it can gain full control through bankruptcy. SoftBank invested more than $300 million in Fair Financial. The startup may be headed for bankruptcy now and some investors blame SoftBank.
- That's all for now. See you tomorrow.