<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rep. <keyword id="3858814" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Richard-Neal">Richard Neal</keyword> defeated primary challenger Holyoke Mayor <keyword id="9863544" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alex-morse">Alex Morse</keyword> in <keyword id="21044" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Massachusetts">Massachusetts</keyword> 1st Congressional District. </li><li>Neal, 71, is the chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee. </li><li>Morse, 31, the first openly gay mayor of the college town of roughly 40,000, ran on a progressive platform with endorsements from the AOC-wing Justice Democrats, the Sunrise Movement, and Andrew Yang.</li></ul>Polls in Massachusetts closed at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.<h2>The stakes:</h2>A contentious primary in Western Massachusetts with major implications for House Democratic leadership wrapped up on Tuesday. Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the influential House Ways and Means Committee, defeated a primary challenge from the left in the 1st District from Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, Decision Desk HQ projects.Neal, 71, has served in Congress since 1989, formerly the mayor of Springfield. He has one of the most influential positions of power in Washington atop the House Committee on Ways and Means, holding an iron grip on most key pieces of legislation in the House due to the committee's role in determining and appropriating the funding for legislation. The district, which includes all of Berkshire and Hampden counties, is safely Democratic and voted for 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by over 20 points in 2016. Morse, 31, was 22 when he became the first openly gay mayor of the college town of roughly 40,000. He's <a href="https://alexmorseforcongress.com/issues/">running on a progressive platform</a> of expanding healthcare, including Medicare for All, economic justice, and expanding access to housing. Morse's team branded Neal as "corporate America's favorite Democrat," highlighting the millions of dollars in support he's received from corporate interests over this years, slamming him for <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/richard-neal-corporate-power-surprise-billing_n_5f4de7d6c5b64f17e1422adf?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004">holding up legislation on surprise medical billing</a> and other progressive priorities, and, in their view, stalling action on demanding President Donald Trump's taxes, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alex-morse-richard-neal-massachusetts-primary_n_5f497ce4c5b697186e360536">the Huffington Po</a><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alex-morse-richard-neal-massachusetts-primary_n_5f497ce4c5b697186e360536">st noted.</a>Neal's campaign countered that his decades of experience in Congress and his hold of the Ways and Means gavel allows him to deliver on concrete assistance for the district, whose rural areas have been hit hard by COVID-19, and passing legislation on some of the biggest Democratic priorities. <a href="https://alexmorseforcongress.com/endorsements/">Morse received endorsements</a> from key progressive political figures and groups including Justice Democrats, OurRevolution, the Sunrise Movement, the Massachusetts Nurses' Association, and former 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, in addition to a large cohort of local organizations and leaders. Unseating one of the most powerful members of Congress was a tall order, but Morse's campaign gained momentum in recent weeks, with Morse announcing on August 30 that his campaign <a href="https://twitter.com/danielmarans/status/1300061848579067910">had raised $2 million total and $1 million in the month of August alone. </a>The high-profile race has also attracted a fair amount of outside spending, <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?data_type=processed&amp;is_notice=true&amp;most_recent=true&amp;candidate_office_state=MA&amp;candidate_office_district=01fice_district=01">Federal Election Commission records show.</a> Indivisible, the Justice Democrats, MoveOn's PAC, and the Nurses' Association have all spent money in the race supporting Morse and opposing Neal. The Democratic Majority for Israel PAC, the American Hospital Association, and the American Working Families PAC, a single-candidate PAC created to support Neal, are spending money supporting Neal. The race's received national attention when the student Democrats at UMass Amherst's chapter of the College Democrats of Massachusetts accused Morse of misconduct. In a letter sent to the UMass school paper, the <a href="https://dailycollegian.com/2020/08/college-democrats-allege-inappropriate-misconduct-between-holyoke-mayor-alex-morse-and-college-students/">Daily Collegian</a>, the students said Morse used his position teaching a political science course on campus and appearances at student Democrat events to find male students for romantic relationships.But subsequent reporting by <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/12/alex-morse-college-democrats-chats/">The Intercept</a> revealed a plot by two members of UMass Dems leadership to sabotage Morse's campaign, with one student reportedly banking on a job with Neal's office. The Intercept also reported that leaders of the state's Democratic party <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/14/alex-morse-richie-neal-state-party/">assisted and advised students in bringing the allegations to light</a>, despite the state party having an official stance of not getting involved in primaries.Morse has been adamant that he never had a non-consensual encounter with a student. "I want to be clear that every relationship I've had has been consensual. However, I also recognize that I have to be cognizant of my position of power," he said.The Neal campaign denied any collaboration with the students, and just days before Election Day on August 29, the leadership of the UMass <a href="https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/1299827366340984839">wrote a letter apologizing to Morse</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/UMassDems/status/1299801749621010432">issued a public statement</a> expressing regret for the way they presented the allegations and for any way in which their statement invoked homophobic tropes about gay men."Some political observers think the scandal may have actually helped Morse, raising his profile in the district and rallying die-hard progressive activists and members of the LGBTQ community to his cause," <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alex-morse-richard-neal-massachusetts-primary_n_5f497ce4c5b697186e360536">the Huffington Post reported</a>, noting that Morse raised $130,000 on the day the first Intercept article was released.

Rep. Richard Neal defeats primary challenger Alex Morse in Massachusetts' 1st District

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="840469" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Anne-Wojcicki">Anne Wojcicki</keyword>, the CEO of <keyword id="378542" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="23andMe">23andMe</keyword>, could be worth $1.05 billion when the company goes public.</li><li>Wojcicki cofounded the <keyword id="77894" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Genetic-testing">genetic testing</keyword> company in 2006 after a career on Wall Street.</li><li>Wojcicki is fitness-obsessed and frugal, has three kids, and was married to <keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword>'s <keyword id="100154" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sergey-Brin">Sergey Brin</keyword>.</li></ul>Anne Wojcicki is about to join the ranks of billionaire CEOs minted in Silicon Valley.Wojcicki's genetic testing startup, 23andMe, is going public in a reverse merger with a blank-check holding company owned by Richard Branson. The deal could value the 15-year-old company at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-obstacles-23andme-faces-in-going-public-s4-analysis-2021-3">$3.6 billion.</a> Wojcicki's stake in the company could be worth $1.05 billion once the deal officially closes.The SPAC follows an unexpected year for Wojcicki, 47, and the company she cofounded: Despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/genetic-testing-company-strategy-after-layoffs-23andme-ancestry-helix-2020-2">a round of layoffs</a> in early 2020, Wojcicki in February told <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/23andme-cofounder-anne-wojcicki-interview-explains-decision-spac-ipo-2021-2">Insider's Megan Hernbroth and Lydia Ramsey Pflanzer</a> that the pandemic reinvigorated the lagging consumer-genetics industry. Even so, 23andMe's revenue has been dropping over the years, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-obstacles-23andme-faces-in-going-public-s4-analysis-2021-3">according to regulatory filings released as the company prepares to go public</a>. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/23andme-cofounder-anne-wojcicki-interview-explains-decision-spac-ipo-2021-2">23andMe is going public. We spoke with its CEO about its road to IPO, and what the future holds for the consumer-genetics industry.</a>With Wojcicki gearing up to take 23andMe public, here's a look back at how she got her start and built a genetic-testing empire. <h2>Wojcicki was born and raised in Palo Alto, California</h2><div type="image" title="Anne Wojcicki" height="2000" width="2666" msid="81861005" hostid="261"></div>Both of Wojcicki's parents are academics: her father, Stanley, chaired Stanford University's physics department; her mother, Esther, taught journalism at Palo Alto High School. Wojcicki's sister Janet also works in academia as a professor of epidemiology <a href="https://profiles.ucsf.edu/janet.wojcicki">at the University of California, San Francisco</a>.Wojcicki's other sister, Susan, is the CEO of <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword>. "My parents really looked at us always as like mini adults," Anne Wojcicki told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a> in 2018. "I think the one thing that my parents really did is they gave us a taste of freedom. And they encouraged it. They encouraged us to find our passions, they weren't controlling." Wojcicki played ice hockey growing up - she told <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3018598/for-99-this-ceo-can-tell-you-what-might-kill-you-inside-23andme-founder-anne-wojcickis-dna-r">Fast Company</a> in 2013 that she switched to the sport after figure skating "started to be a little bit like Honey Boo Boo on ice" - and later attended Yale University. She graduated in 1996 with a biology degree, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/29/technology/29google.html">The New York Times</a>.<h2>After graduating from Yale, she pursued a career on Wall Street</h2>Post-graduation, Wojcicki began working for a biotech-related hedge fund. She told Fast Company that her academic parents were offended by the choice. "It was always embarrassing to come home. People were like, 'Oh, Anne, you Wall Street girl,'" she told Fast Company. Wojcicki worked on Wall Street for about a decade as a <keyword id="6354525" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="healthcare">healthcare</keyword> analyst at firms including Investor AB and Passport Capital. <div type="image" title="Anne Wojcicki" height="1685" width="2247" msid="81861013" hostid="261"></div><h2>Wojcicki launched 23andMe in 2006</h2>Along with Linda Avey and Paul Cusenza, Wojcicki founded 23andMe with the goal of providing the ability for people to look at their own genome and understand what it means. (Avey and Cusenza have since left the company.)23andMe received backing from Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Sequoia Capital, Johnson &amp; Johnson, and others. In total, the company has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dna-testing-startup-23andme-raising-85-million-2020-12">raised over $873 million</a> in funding.23andMe's saliva tests - which can test for genetic predispositions, ancestry, and inherited traits - initially cost $999, but now costs as low as $99. Things took a turn for the company when, in 2013, the Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-sends-warning-letter-to-23andme-2013-11">sent 23andMe a warning letter</a>, calling its spit collection vial "an unapproved medical device" and placing limits on genetic testing for consumers. The company <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/12/06/bowing-again-to-the-fda-23andme-stops-issuing-health-related-genetic-reports/">stopped providing health analyses based on consumers' DNA</a> and was limited to offering only ancestry results.By 2015, the company overcame regulatory hurdles and was able to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/23andme-new-genetic-testing-2015-10">begin offering health information</a> to customers once again. Since then, 23andMe has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gsk-invested-300-million-in-23andme-genetic-drug-discovery-collaboration-2018-7">partnered with GSK</a>; has created tests that can detect if consumers have an elevated risk of developing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fda-allows-23andme-to-market-tests-that-show-disease-risks-2017-4">diseases like Parkinson's or Alzheimer's</a>; and is working on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/23andme-prescription-drugs-13-in-trials-ceo-wojcicki-2019-2">creating its own drugs</a> for conditions like cancer or heart disease.<div type="image" title="Sergey Brin Anne Wojcicki" height="2248" width="2998" msid="81861021" hostid="261"></div><h2>Wojcicki married Google cofounder Sergey Brin in 2007</h2>Wojcicki met Brin through her sister, Susan: In 1998, <keyword id="615083" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Susan-Wojcicki">Susan Wojcicki</keyword> rented Brin and Google cofounder Larry Page her garage in Menlo Park, California, in order work on their young company, Google. While they were dating, Brin would leave Anne Wojcicki notes in Braille about where to meet or leave her voicemails in Morse code, Wojcicki told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/style/anne-wojcicki-23andme-genetics.html">The New York Times</a> in 2017.Wojcicki and Brin married in May 2007 in a super-secret ceremony in the Bahamas. According to the <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2007/05/16/google-co-founder-sergey-brin-gets-hitched-in-the-bahamas/">San Jose Mercury News</a>, guests weren't told the location of the wedding and were instead flown to the Bahamas on the jet owned by Page and Brin. Once there, they were taken by boat to a sandbar where the ceremony was held - Wojcicki and Brin wore white and black swimsuits, respectively, and swam out to the ceremony site. The couple had two kids together whose last name is Wojin, a portmanteau of their parents' last names.Wojcicki and Brin separated in 2013 and divorced in 2015. It later came out that around the time of the separation, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2014/04/sergey-brin-amanda-rosenberg-affair">Brin started an affair</a> with a Google employee in her mid-20s, who was also in a relationship with another high-level Google executive at the time.Wojcicki told The Times that one person who helped her through her divorce from Brin was Ivanka Trump, who she described as "super-supportive."<div type="image" title="Anne Wojcicki Alex Rodriguez" height="1518" width="2024" msid="81861029" hostid="261"></div><h2>Wojcicki later dated former Major League Baseball player <keyword id="23712" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alex-Rodriguez">Alex Rodriguez</keyword></h2>The couple met through friends around 2015 and dated for about two years.Wojcicki <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/style/anne-wojcicki-23andme-genetics.html">told The Times in 2017</a> that Rodriguez was "a really sweet guy," smart, and a good person, but that their respective parenting obligations and lives on opposite coasts made the relationship unsustainable.Wojcicki's mom, Esther, told The Times that while she liked Rodriguez, the pairing was "a mismatch.""He had no academic background. We couldn't have an intellectual conversation about anything," Esther Wojcicki <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/style/anne-wojcicki-23andme-genetics.html">said</a>. "I wish J-Lo all the luck in the world."<h2>Wojcicki has said she lives frugally and doesn't like 'froufrou things'</h2>Brin is worth $91.3 billion, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/sergey-brin/">Bloomberg's Billionaires Index,</a> but Wojcicki <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/style/anne-wojcicki-23andme-genetics.html">told The Times in 2017</a> that she's not a fan of "fancy cars and houses and the right dress." She sometimes has her kids sleep in their clothes to save time in the mornings and wear their clothes into the shower on trips to save on hotel laundry costs. She said at the time that she cuts her kids' hair herself, mostly shops at Payless for shoes, and rides her bike to work. "It's so easy to be like, 'I don't have to do laundry again. I don't have to cook again.' But then you're not normal," she told The Times.Wojcicki is also fitness-obsessed, <a href="https://www.protocol.com/anne-wojcickis-coronavirus-new-normal">riding her Peloton bike</a>, taking two daily walks, and doing online yoga classes during the pandemic. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/06/06/23andme-dna-test-anne-wojcicki-prevention-plans-drug-development/?sh=4a85dc9d494d">Forbes</a> wrote in 2019 that 23andMe's headquarters "looks like a cross between a Silicon Valley startup and a fitness club."<div type="image" title="Anne Wojcicki" height="1813" width="2417" msid="81861036" hostid="261"></div><h2>Wojcicki gave birth to her third child, a daughter, in July 2019</h2>Wojcicki <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/06/06/23andme-dna-test-anne-wojcicki-prevention-plans-drug-development/?sh=211f4678494d">told Forbes</a> while she was pregnant that she decided to have the baby by herself because she wanted a third child. "So like, guess what? I executed," she said."Whether you're in a relationship or not should not dictate whether or not you have the ability to have children," Wojcicki told Forbes. "I'm very stubborn. When there's something I want to do, I get it done."After the birth of her daughter, Wojcicki became outspoken about the need to normalize breastfeeding and offer support to new mothers. She told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/10/01/andme-ceo-anne-wojcicki-is-new-quest-respect-breastfeeding-moms/">Washington Post</a> in 2019 that 23andMe has created a support system for parents or hopeful parents, including on-site breastfeeding rooms, a 1,500-square-foot playroom for employees' kids, and benefits for parents that include paid parental leave, fertility benefits, adoption assistance, and surrogacy reimbursement. "I'm in a luxurious position where I can do this, and normalizing it is part of how I can help people," she said.

The rise of Anne Wojcicki, the CEO of 23andMe who's about to be worth more than $1 billion when the genetic-testing giant makes its public debut

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A CDC study of a COVID outbreak suggests vaccinated people may spread the Delta variant as easily as the unvaccinated.</li><li>Almost all the symptomatic vaccinated people in the study had mild symptoms like headaches and sore throats. </li><li>The study was a major factor in the CDC's new mask guidance<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-fully-vaccinated-new-guidelines-wear-masks-indoors-delta-2021-7"> for vaccinated people</a>.</li></ul>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7031e2.htm?s_cid=mm7031e2_w">released a study on Friday</a> which suggests that fully vaccinated people can transmit the Delta variant of the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> just as easily as the unvaccinated - a find that may change the calculus of what's safe for vaccinated people to do, now that the Delta variant is responsible for <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions">more than 80% of US cases</a>."Unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement released alongside the new report.The study is a big part of the reason why the CDC changed its guidance for vaccinated people on Tuesday, saying that where COVID-19 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-map-shows-where-mask-guidelines-apply-2021-7">transmission is substantial or high</a>, vaccinated people should mask up again indoors in public.Delta was responsible for at least 90% of the cases in this outbreak, according to viral sequencing. It didn't matter much which shots vaccinated people with Delta infections got, but the most common symptoms - including cough, headache, and sore throat - were mild.<h2><keyword id="21044" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Massachusetts">Massachusetts</keyword> is a state with a relatively high vaccination rate</h2><div type="image" title="woman wearing vaccine costume walks down street with bikers, pedestrians watching" height="1400" width="2100" msid="84901362" hostid="261"></div>The study, released by the CDC on Friday, followed an outbreak that started in Barnstable County, an area of coastal Massachusetts that's popular for summer vacations and parties, and attracts people from across the US. According to the report, during the first half of July, multiple large events were held in an unnamed town there (local media coverage makes clear that it's Provincetown). The festivities included "densely packed indoor and outdoor events at venues that included bars, restaurants, guest houses, and rental homes." The outbreak is noteworthy, as <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations">Massachusetts is a state with a relatively high vaccination rate</a>.Among Massachusetts residents tied to the cluster and tracked by the state health department, 74% of the cases (346 infections) were in fully vaccinated people. The vast majority of the vaccinated infections were among men, with a median age of 42.But the outbreak extends far beyond Massachusetts, with the total number of cases tied to the outbreak now estimated at more than 830 people, Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ProvincetownManager/posts/156605409902966">said on Facebook</a>. Though the study demonstrates that vaccinated people are at greater risk of infection with Delta, the overwhelming majority of the breakthrough cases in the cluster have been mild, with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-delta-variant-symptoms-headache-runny-nose-sore-throat-2021-6">symptoms including coughs, headaches, sore throats, muscle aches, and fevers</a>.At least four vaccinated people were hospitalized, ranging from ages 20 to 70, but no deaths were reported. Two of the hospitalized patients had underlying conditions.In other words, the vaccines are still achieving what they were designed to do: prevent severe infections and deaths. <h2>Delta will 'find any gap in our defenses'</h2><div type="image" title="provincetown street with people walking, biking, dog walking, all wearing masks" height="1400" width="2100" msid="84901364" hostid="261"></div>Experts have been saying for weeks now that the Delta variant spreads both faster and more easily than other versions of the coronavirus, but this study provides some of the first clear evidence for why that's the case.Not only is the viral load of a person infected with Delta <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fully-vaccinated-people-not-immune-to-covid-milder-2021-7">estimated to be about 1,000 times higher</a> than with other versions of the virus, this study shows that a vaccinated person's load is roughly equal to an unvaccinated person's, meaning that vaccinated and unvaccinated people likely spread Delta equally well. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-slavitt-interview-trump-biden-covid-vaccine-future-pandemics-2021-6">Andy Slavitt</a>, a former senior adviser to President Joe Biden's coronavirus response team, has called Delta "COVID on steroids," while a leaked CDC slide presentation obtained by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/cdc-breakthrough-infections/94390e3a-5e45-44a5-ac40-2744e4e25f2e/?_=1">the Washington Post late Thursday said </a>"the war has changed," now that Delta is here. The CDC slides also say Delta is more contagious than the common cold - on par with chickenpox in its ability to spread. "What the Delta variant will do is that it will find any gap in our defenses," Hilary Babcock, medical director of infection prevention at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fully-vaccinated-mom-catches-covid-19-after-kids-summer-camp-2021-7">told Insider</a>. "You have to be really more careful about it all the time."

CDC: COVID-19 outbreak among 346 fully vaccinated people shows those 'infected with Delta can transmit the virus'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President Donald Trump ordered the building of a "National Garden of American Heroes" with statues of an eclectic range of people.</li><li>The list includes Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the basketball player Kobe Bryant, and the "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek.</li><li>Read the full list of Trump's picks below.</li></ul>President Donald Trump ordered the building of a "National Garden of American Heroes" with statues of people including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the basketball player Kobe Bryant, and the "Jeopardy" host Alex Trebek.Trump issued <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-building-national-garden-american-heroes/">an executive order</a> on Monday, the penultimate full day of his presidency, directing the construction of a statue garden "to reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism."Trump <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-announced-national-garden-of-american-heroes-2020-7?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">first proposed the garden</a> last July at Mount Rushmore amid a heated debate about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/confederate-monuments-spark-controversy-2017-8">removing Confederate monuments and statues</a>.He <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-plays-race-card-and-culture-war-against-biden-2020-7?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">claimed the US was threatened</a> by a "left-wing cultural revolution" and suggested activists were seeking to "tear down every statue."The executive order issued Monday did not specify a location for the garden but listed over 200 "American heroes" to commemorate. The president said it was "America's answer to this reckless attempt to erase our heroes, values, and entire way of life."The list included the sports stars Muhammad Ali and Herb Brooks, the singer Whitney Houston, the actors Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, and dozens of historical figures such as Christopher Columbus.There were also aviation pioneers, writers, inventors, musicians, military veterans, industrialists, and former presidents."The gates of a beautiful new garden will soon open to the public where the legends of America's past will be remembered," the executive order said. "The National Garden will be built to reflect the awesome splendor of our country's timeless exceptionalism. It will be a place where citizens, young and old, can renew their vision of greatness."The garden appears unlikely to be built, given that Trump issued the order during his last week in office and that President-elect Joe Biden has promised to spend his first days in the White House reversing Trump's signature policies.<h2>Read Trump's full list of 'American heroes'</h2><div type="image" title="Trump " height="1000" width="2000" msid="80350013" hostid="261"></div><ul><li>Ansel Adams</li><li>John Adams</li><li>Samuel Adams</li><li>Muhammad Ali</li><li>Luis Walter Alvarez</li><li>Susan B. Anthony</li><li>Hannah Arendt</li><li>Louis Armstrong</li><li>Neil Armstrong</li><li>Crispus Attucks</li><li>John James Audubon</li><li>Lauren Bacall</li><li>Clara Barton</li><li>Todd Beamer</li><li>Alexander Graham Bell</li><li>Roy Benavidez</li><li>Ingrid Bergman</li><li>Irving Berlin</li><li>Humphrey Bogart</li><li>Daniel Boone</li><li>Norman Borlaug</li><li>William Bradford</li><li>Herb Brooks</li><li>Kobe Bryant</li><li>William F. Buckley Jr.</li><li>Sitting Bull</li><li>Frank Capra</li><li>Andrew Carnegie</li><li>Charles Carroll</li><li>John Carroll</li><li>George Washington Carver</li><li>Johnny Cash</li><li>Joshua Chamberlain</li><li>Whittaker Chambers</li><li>Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman</li><li>Ray Charles</li><li>Julia Child</li><li>Gordon Chung-Hoon</li><li>William Clark</li><li>Henry Clay</li><li>Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)</li><li>Roberto Clemente</li><li>Grover Cleveland</li><li>Red Cloud</li><li>William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody</li><li>Nat King Cole</li><li>Samuel Colt</li><li>Christopher Columbus</li><li>Calvin Coolidge</li><li>James Fenimore Cooper</li><li>Davy Crockett</li><li>Benjamin O. Davis Jr.</li><li>Miles Davis</li><li>Dorothy Day</li><li>Joseph H. De Castro</li><li>Emily Dickinson</li><li>Walt Disney</li><li>William "Wild Bill" Donovan</li><li>Jimmy Doolittle</li><li>Desmond Doss</li><li>Frederick Douglass</li><li>Herbert Henry Dow</li><li>Katharine Drexel</li><li>Peter Drucker</li><li>Amelia Earhart</li><li>Thomas Edison</li><li>Jonathan Edwards</li><li>Albert Einstein</li><li>Dwight D. Eisenhower</li><li>Duke Ellington</li><li>Ralph Waldo Emerson</li><li>Medgar Evers</li><li>David Farragut</li><li>The Marquis de La Fayette</li><li>Mary Fields</li><li>Henry Ford</li><li>George Fox</li><li>Aretha Franklin</li><li>Benjamin Franklin</li><li>Milton Friedman</li><li>Robert Frost</li><li>Gabby Gabreski</li><li>Bernardo de Gálvez</li><li>Lou Gehrig</li><li>Theodor Seuss Geisel</li><li>Cass Gilbert</li><li>Ruth Bader Ginsburg</li><li>John Glenn</li><li>Barry Goldwater</li><li>Samuel Gompers</li><li>Alexander Goode</li><li>Carl Gorman</li><li>Billy Graham</li><li>Ulysses S. Grant</li><li>Nellie Gray</li><li>Nathanael Greene</li><li>Woody Guthrie</li><li>Nathan Hale</li><li>William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr.</li><li>Alexander Hamilton</li><li>Ira Hayes</li><li>Hans Christian Heg</li><li>Ernest Hemingway</li><li>Patrick Henry</li><li>Charlton Heston</li><li>Alfred Hitchcock</li><li>Billie Holiday</li><li>Bob Hope</li><li>Johns Hopkins</li><li>Grace Hopper</li><li>Sam Houston</li><li>Whitney Houston</li><li>Julia Ward Howe</li><li>Edwin Hubble</li><li>Daniel Inouye</li><li>Andrew Jackson</li><li>Robert H. Jackson</li><li>Mary Jackson</li><li>John Jay</li><li>Thomas Jefferson</li><li>Steve Jobs</li><li>Katherine Johnson</li><li>Barbara Jordan</li><li>Chief Joseph</li><li>Elia Kazan</li><li>Helen Keller</li><li>John F. Kennedy</li><li>Francis Scott Key</li><li>Coretta Scott King</li><li>Martin Luther King Jr.</li><li>Russell Kirk</li><li>Jeane Kirkpatrick</li><li>Henry Knox</li><li>Tadeusz Kościuszko</li><li>Harper Lee</li><li>Pierre Charles L'Enfant</li><li>Meriwether Lewis</li><li>Abraham Lincoln</li><li>Vince Lombardi</li><li>Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</li><li>Clare Boothe Luce</li><li>Douglas MacArthur</li><li>Dolley Madison</li><li>James Madison</li><li>George Marshall</li><li>Thurgood Marshall</li><li>William Mayo</li><li>Christa McAuliffe</li><li>William McKinley</li><li>Louise McManus</li><li>Herman Melville</li><li>Thomas Merton</li><li>George P. Mitchell</li><li>Maria Mitchell</li><li>William "Billy" Mitchell</li><li>Samuel Morse</li><li>Lucretia Mott</li><li>John Muir</li><li>Audie Murphy</li><li>Edward Murrow</li><li>John Neumann</li><li>Annie Oakley</li><li>Jesse Owens</li><li>Rosa Parks</li><li>George S. Patton Jr.</li><li>Charles Willson Peale</li><li>William Penn</li><li>Oliver Hazard Perry</li><li>John J. Pershing</li><li>Edgar Allan Poe</li><li>Clark Poling</li><li>John Russell Pope</li><li>Elvis Presley</li><li>Jeannette Rankin</li><li>Ronald Reagan</li><li>Walter Reed</li><li>William Rehnquist</li><li>Paul Revere</li><li>Henry Hobson Richardson</li><li>Hyman Rickover</li><li>Sally Ride</li><li>Matthew Ridgway</li><li>Jackie Robinson</li><li>Norman Rockwell</li><li>Caesar Rodney</li><li>Eleanor Roosevelt</li><li>Franklin D. Roosevelt</li><li>Theodore Roosevelt</li><li>Betsy Ross</li><li>Babe Ruth</li><li>Sacagawea</li><li>Jonas Salk</li><li>John Singer Sargent</li><li>Antonin Scalia</li><li>Norman Schwarzkopf</li><li>Junípero Serra</li><li>Elizabeth Ann Seton</li><li>Robert Gould Shaw</li><li>Fulton Sheen</li><li>Alan Shepard</li><li>Frank Sinatra</li><li>Margaret Chase Smith</li><li>Bessie Smith</li><li>Elizabeth Cady Stanton</li><li>Jimmy Stewart</li><li>Harriet Beecher Stowe</li><li>Gilbert Stuart</li><li>Anne Sullivan</li><li>William Howard Taft</li><li>Maria Tallchief</li><li>Maxwell Taylor</li><li>Tecumseh</li><li>Kateri Tekakwitha</li><li>Shirley Temple</li><li>Nikola Tesla</li><li>Jefferson Thomas</li><li>Henry David Thoreau</li><li>Jim Thorpe</li><li>Augustus Tolton</li><li>Alex Trebek</li><li>Harry S. Truman</li><li>Sojourner Truth</li><li>Harriet Tubman</li><li>Dorothy Vaughan</li><li>C. T. Vivian</li><li>John von Neumann</li><li>Thomas Ustick Walter</li><li>Sam Walton</li><li>Booker T. Washington</li><li>George Washington</li><li>John Washington</li><li>John Wayne</li><li>Ida B. Wells-Barnett</li><li>Phillis Wheatley</li><li>Walt Whitman</li><li>Laura Ingalls Wilder</li><li>Roger Williams</li><li>John Winthrop</li><li>Frank Lloyd Wright</li><li>Orville Wright</li><li>Wilbur Wright</li><li>Alvin C. York</li><li>Cy Young</li><li>Lorenzo de Zavala</li></ul>

Trump's picks for his 'National Garden of American Heroes' include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Kobe Bryant, and a quiz-show host

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rep. Stephen Lynch defeated infectious disease specialist Dr. Robbie Goldstein in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts' 8th Congressional District. </li><li>Lynch, a former union ironworker and Massachusetts state legislator, has served in Congress since 2001. </li><li>Goldstein challenged Lynch from the left on a progressive platform of expanding healthcare.</li></ul><h2>The stakes:</h2>Dr. Robbie Goldstein, a physician, infectious disease specialist, and expert in transgender health lost his primary challenge to ten-term incumbent Rep. Stephen Lynch in Massachusetts' 8th Congressional District. Lynch previously represented Massachusetts' 9th District from 2001 to 2013 before being redistricted into the current 8th District, which encompasses parts of Boston and a large part of the South Shore, including Quincy, Bridgewater, Brockton, Canton, Hingham, and Scituate. This safely Democratic seat voted for 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 25 points. Lynch, a former union ironworker and Massachusetts state legislator, has branded himself as a champion for the working class and union workers during his time in Congress. He currently serves on the powerful House Financial Services and House Oversight Committees, <a href="https://www.stephenflynch.com/working-for-the-people-of-the-8th-congressional-district">with his campaign website emphasizing</a> his commitment to good jobs and infrastructure in the Boston area and the concrete investments he's secured for the 8th District.He's held <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/08/16/metro/eighth-congressional-race-stark-contrast-between-lynch-goldstein/">more conservative views on other issues</a>, like guns, gay rights, and abortion, over the years, <a href="http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/03/10/a_decade_later_gay_marriage_advocates_praise_lynch/?_sp=7d04d9ff-0be6-4fc0-8d2c-6e040a0f5674.1598905911836&amp;page=2ge=2">but once said in 2010</a> that "calling me the least liberal member from Massachusetts is like calling me the slowest Kenyan in the Boston Marathon...it's all relative.''Goldstein, a researcher who holds a Ph.D. in cancer genetics, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsYoEtZm9RY">drew a sharp contrast between himself and Lynch</a> on issues including healthcare, protecting the environment by passing the Green New Deal resolution, and reproductive rights.While Lynch is one of three currently sitting House Democrats to have voted against the Affordable Care Act in 2009, Goldstein <a href="https://www.robbieforchange.com/priorities">supports the United States transitioning to a universal Medicare for All system.</a><a href="https://www.stephenflynch.com/affordable-health-care/">Lynch's campaign website emphasizes</a>, however, that he has voted against all subsequent attempts by congressional Republicans to repeal the ACA, voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act, and has backed efforts to reduce prescription drug costs. Goldstein <a href="https://www.robbieforchange.com/endorsements">was endorsed</a> by 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang and his organization Humanity Forward, some elected officials in the state, and a slew of progressive organizations including Indivisible and OurRevolution.With most of the attention in the state focused on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ed-markey-joe-kennedy-massachusetts-senate-primary-live-results-updates-2020-8">the high-profile Senate primary battle</a> between Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Joe Kennedy III, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/richard-neal-vs-alex-morse-massachusetts-primary-live-results-2020-8">primary challenge of Rep. Richard Neal</a> in Western Massachusetts, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/massachusetts-4th-congressional-district-primary-live-results-updates-2020-8">the crowded seven-candidate Democratic primary</a> in Massachusetts 4th District to replace Kennedy, this race has flown somewhat under the radar. Lynch, a talented politician with deep roots in Boston and the South Shore, easily defeated a primary challenge from Brianna Wu in 2018 <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Massachusetts%27_8th_Congressional_District#2018">by a margin of 48 points. </a>Goldstein still mounted a formidable challenge, spending $52,000 and $23,000 on digital ads so far this year, outspending Lyncg, while Lynch had just gone on the air in the final period before the election and has also started recently started running Facebook ads, <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/massachusetts-playbook/2020/08/26/challenger-outspends-lynch-on-the-airwaves-baker-not-invited-to-rnc-nantucket-party-linked-to-covid-cases-490185?nname=massachusetts-playbook&amp;nid=0000014f-704c-d54c-a1ff-fb6da68f0000&amp;nrid=0000016b-2cd6-d307-a5ff-eddff0860000&amp;nlid=630384;nlid=630384">Politico's Stephanie Murray recently reported. </a><a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?data_type=processed&amp;is_notice=true&amp;most_recent=true&amp;candidate_office_state=MA&amp;candidate_office_district=08fice_district=08">Federal Election Commission filings</a> show that Goldstein had also overwhelmingly benefited from independent expenditures placed by outside groups on ads.The Committee for Access to Affordable Healthcare, a PAC <a href="https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00753749">filed with the FEC in early August</a> that is specifically <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00753749&amp;cycle=20202020">supporting Goldstein</a>, has spent over $70,560 on digital ads supporting Goldstein and opposing Lynch, and Indivisible PAC has spent over $2,800 on text messages for Goldstein. By contrast, just one $5,000 independent expenditure from the Massachusetts Nurses Association has been placed to support Lynch. Expanded Coverage Module: insider-voter-guide

Rep. Stephen Lynch defeats primary challenger Robbie Goldstein in Massachusetts' 8th District

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Masks were a warranted, temporary intervention before we had a highly effective vaccine for <keyword id="8764262" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid">COVID</keyword>.</li><li>Now a large majority of the most vulnerable are vaccinated, making COVID much less deadly.</li><li>The time for "back to normal" is now - COVID isn't going away, but we can manage it with <keyword id="79555" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Vaccines">vaccines</keyword>.</li><li>This is an <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</li></ul>I was not in Provincetown over July 4.I was there for a couple of hours on July 2 - I spent the holiday weekend with family nearby and drove up to Provincetown for a visit on a rainy day - and during that brief visit it seemed everywhere I went I found gays I know from New York or California. The town was crowded. And with the rainy weather, all anyone could talk about was how long the lines were to get into the already-crowded bars.After the weekend, it seemed like all people could talk about was how many people had gotten COVID in Provincetown over the 4th. And now, unfortunately, all of you are talking about this. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-fully-vaccinated-people-infected-can-transmit-covid-study-2021-7">report on the Provincetown COVID cluster</a> - 469 cases in Massachusetts residents, 76% of them in vaccinated individuals - is one of the key pieces of evidence that has <a href="https://www.insider.com/cdc-internal-document-war-has-changed-delta-variant-infections-vaccine-2021-7">led the agency to shift its tune</a> on Delta toward more alarm, especially for the vaccinated.But the environment in Provincetown over July 4 was roughly what you would have designed if you were trying to come up with a maximally efficient environment to spread COVID to the vaccinated. If this is what happens when things go wrong with vaccinated people, that's an excellent story about vaccines.As Andrew Sullivan <a href="https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/let-it-rip">described in his Friday newsletter</a>, Provincetown really is a town, not a city. But tens of thousands of people cram into it on peak summer weekends, partying in small, cramped venues with low ceilings and often poor ventilation. Weather over July 4 weekend was dreary (it was 57 degrees with rain during my brief visit) which made indoor venues both more popular and more crowded than usual.People were also making out with each other, I am told.And yet, despite all that, the Provincetown cluster has led to a total of seven hospitalizations and zero deaths, <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexBMorse/status/1421139894257266691">according to town manager Alex Morse</a>. Case rates and positivity rates in the town are falling. This is another demonstration that, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/27/vaccinated-americans-are-more-likely-die-lightning-strike-than-covid-dont-bring-back-restrictions/">for vaccinated people</a>, the best evidence we have is that COVID really is "just the flu" or even <a href="https://www.axios.com/chart-vaccinated-americans-delta-covid-cases-b93710e3-cfc1-4248-9c33-474b00947a90.html">less serious than the flu</a> - despite the fact that breakthrough cases sometimes arise.<h2>The vaccinated have no moral obligation to save the unvaccinated from themselves</h2>The<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/30/key-numbers-cdcs-new-assessment-delta-variant/"> primary risk that remains</a> in this pandemic is to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-coronavirus-deaths-nearly-all-among-unvaccinated-cdc-head-2021-7">people who have chosen not to get vaccinated</a>. I'm disappointed that the <keyword id="6354656" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="fda">FDA</keyword> has taken so long to approve vaccines for children under 12, but fortunately COVID cases are disproportionately mild in children - only <a href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Focus-on-Ages-0-18-Yea/nr4s-juj3">about 500 people under 18</a> have died from COVID in the US during the entire pandemic. And if adults want to take the risk of getting COVID without a vaccine, that's on them. But most of the people at the greatest risk from COVID have chosen to get vaccinated, including the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html?action=click&amp;module=Spotlight&amp;pgtype=HomepageHomepage">90% of the seniors</a> in the US who have gotten at least one shot. Disproportionate vaccination of the most vulnerable is a reason the recent surge in COVID cases is not producing a proportionate number of hospitalizations and deaths compared to prior waves - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-covid-19-delta-variant-cases-spiked-deaths-have-not-2021-7">a trend we have seen in the UK</a>, which got hit with Delta before the US.I supported masking rules before vaccines were widely available, because they appeared to be one of the best tools we had. That said, they weren't that good a tool - there's a reason you need a statistical model to see the benefits produced by mask rules, while the benefits of the vaccine are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/31/us/covid-delta-cases-deaths.html">easily visible on a map</a>.<a href="https://twitter.com/JimPethokoukis/status/1422205802845249536">In most states</a>, hospitalization rates remain way, way below the highest levels reached in the waves last summer and this past winter. As a result, in the vast majority of the country, the need to protect hospital capacity - one of the key justifications for the restrictions imposed last year and earlier this year - is not a reason to reintroduce social distancing measures.Some states in the southeast, especially Florida, are exceptions. But perversely, the return to mask mandates and other non-pharmaceutical interventions has little political support there and much more support in places that don't need them, like the northeast.<h2>Bill de Blasio is right</h2>The <keyword id="6379474" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cdc">CDC</keyword> has encouraged that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks in public indoor settings where there is "substantial or high transmission" of COVID, a designation that currently applies to most of the country.Washington, DC, and Los Angeles County, among other municipalities, have turned this guidance into a mandate, and Governor Andrew Cuomo has urged localities in New York to do the same if CDC guidance applies to them, which it does for New York City and some suburban counties. (Because the governor's emergency powers related to COVID have lapsed, that decision now lies with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and other local officials, not with Cuomo.)In a press briefing Monday, de Blasio emphasized that "overwhelming strategic thrust" of his approach to fight the new COVID wave is vaccination because vaccines are by far the most effective intervention we have available. He does not want to send a message that masks can be a substitute for vaccines. So while he encouraged vaccinated people to voluntarily mask up indoors when around the unvaccinated, he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/02/us/nyc-mask-mandate/index.html">declined to impose a new requirement</a>, saying this did not align with the city's strategy of placing vaccination at the center of the response.And he was undeterred in emphasizing that New York is back in business, with concerts and festivals and public art and all the in-person activities that make our city such a great place to gather.What de Blasio's approach underlines is that non-pharmaceutical interventions are costly. Closures and capacity limits are especially costly, but mask mandates are costly too, especially if you intend to enforce them - for the mandate to work, both the city and private organizations within the city would have to devote extensive manpower to enforcing compliance.A mandate would also undermine the "back in business" message that is important for getting New Yorkers back to work and school, and to fully recover the city's employment and tax base. Getting back to normal is essential for the well-being of not just New York's economy but of its people who have given up so much for the last 16 months, and the mayor is right to prioritize that.<h2>My face is my business again</h2>One unfortunate side effect of a deadly pandemic is that it makes pious busybodies right about a lot of things and gives them good reasons to harangue the rest of us. Fortunately, as this pandemic has gotten far less deadly in the US, we can go back to ignoring the busybodies. Sometimes the busybodies even ignore themselves: DC mayor Muriel Bowser, who imposed one of the mask mandates this past weekend, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bowser-attended-wedding-amid-mask-mandate-report-2021-8">didn't wait 24 hours to violate it</a>.The thing about the new demands for the vaccinated to mask up is that the benefit of masks has sharply declined with the effective vaccines (a vaccinated person is much less likely to get COVID and therefore much less likely to spread it) but the cost of masking remains.Masks are one of the factors that has inhibited our social interactions, depriving us of the ability to see each other's faces. Mask rules are also likely to discourage business at restaurants and stores and airlines, prolonging the economic and jobs crisis. And any ramp-up of social distancing rules is likely to give fuel to teachers unions' and other campaigners that would seek to provide anything other than full, in-person, five-day instruction to all students this fall. (Fortunately, the president has been saying the right things about this last point.)But there is also the issue of personal liberty and the expansion of the zones of behavior that nosy scolds feel free to intrude on. My face is mine, and absent a really good reason, you should mind your own business instead of telling me what to do with it. The highly effective vaccines have downgraded your reason for telling me otherwise from "really good."<h2>The new normal is here</h2>From March of last year roughly through this April, the story about COVID restrictions was clear: Follow these rules now to protect yourself and avoid spreading the virus, and more of us will live until a later time when activities will be safer and we can return to normal.There is no longer anything obvious that makes "later" safer than "now." So if you're talking about the need to modify the way society works to stop the spread of COVID, you are fundamentally talking about doing that indefinitely.Whether it's a good idea to impose indefinite restrictions is not a question for "the experts." They can only provide one component of the cost-benefit equation: How much illness a given policy will generate. (And frequently,<a href="https://twitter.com/dwallacewells/status/1421879965814042625"> they've gotten that one wrong, anyway</a>.) It's up to the rest of us to evaluate what indefinite restrictions we're willing to endure to affect that outcome - just as we do with other risks we don't fight to zero, like auto accidents and alcohol-related deaths and heart disease and, yes, influenza.People want to get back to the things they love. For some people, that's partying in a sweaty basement in Provincetown where you might get a cold, or COVID. We had good reason to take that away from them last year. But now it's time to let people get back to their lives. Even if some of them might get sick.

The vaccines work very well against Delta, so stop badgering the vaccinated to wear masks

<ul><li><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59b2caac609c3030008b5836-1233/screen shot 2017-04-27 at 41039 pm.png" alt="Sol Kumin" data-mce-source="YouTube/America's Best Racing" data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J_q9ncQgME" /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J_q9ncQgME">YouTube/America's Best Racing</a>Sol Kumin.</div></div></div>A portfolio manager has left Folger Hill, a fund that has struggled since it launched two years ago. </li><li>Folger Hill was started by billionaire investor Steve Cohen's former chief operating officer, Sol Kumin, and Todd Rapp, previously of Highfields Capital.</li><li>The portfolio manager who left, Patrick Saunders, rejoined D. E. Shaw in a role he held before Folger Hill. Two analysts and a technologist also recently left Folger Hill's US offices.</li><li>Folger Hill has made several hires, mostly in Asia, meanwhile. </li></ul>A hedge fund started by Steve Cohen's former chief operating officer has seen a shakeup in staffing.Patrick Saunders, healthcare portfolio manager for Folger Hill Asset Management, rejoined $42 billion D.E. Shaw on Tuesday in a role he previously held, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/de-shaw-rehires-patrick-saunders-from-folger-hill-2017-9">Business Insider earlier reported</a>.Saunders is one of the latest staffers to leave Folger Hill. At least 15 US-based staffers have left the startup over recent months following performance concerns and a dwindling asset base, according to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sol-kumins-folger-hill-hedge-fund-loses-several-employees-2017-7">Business Insider reporting</a>.Other recent Folger Hill departures, which have not been previously reported, include industrials analyst Alex Vecchio, who left in July and had worked for Ryan Novak, the industrials portfolio manager who is now at Man GLG, a division of British giant Man Group. Another analyst, Andrew Coleman, and Danny Heuser, a technologist, also have left.Meanwhile, Folger Hill has made several hires over recent weeks:<ul><li>Chris Morse - analyst in tech in Boston from Piper Jaffray &amp; Co. </li><li>Colin Egan - a Boston research associate in media and telecoms, who previously worked at Eaton Vance </li><li>Ruth Yong - Compliance Officer and Office Manager for Singapore office, formerly with Asset Management One Singapore</li><li>Yavanna Lau - operations in Hong Kong </li><li>Yohsuke Kobayashi - analyst in Hong Kong, formerly at Nomura Asset Management </li><li>Shinya Yamada - analyst in Hong Kong, former analyst at Credit Suisse Securities Japan</li><li>Josee Wong - human resources in Asia, former head of Human Capital Asia at Standard Advisory Asia Limited </li></ul>Folger Hill Asset Management gained 3.7% after fees in the first half of this year in its flagship US fund, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sol-kumins-folger-hill-posts-slight-gains-in-first-half-of-2017-2017-7">documents</a> previously reviewed by Business Insider showed. Longer term, the fund lost 17.1% after fees from its launch in March 2015 through June this year, according to investor documents previously reviewed by Business Insider. Folger Hill launched two years ago and was founded by Sol Kumin, Steve Cohen's former chief operating officer at SAC Capital.With global expansion plans, Folger Hill attracted the backing of big-name Wall Street groups like Leucadia National Corp., which encompasses the investment bank Jefferies Group, and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, which backed the hedge fund's Asia unit.After assets tumbled last year, Kumin started a search <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sol-kumin-folger-hill-2017-4">to raise $300 million to $400 million with a lockup of several years</a>. The search is ongoing, people familiar with the situation said.Last year, assets dropped to a low of about $600 million from a peak of $1 billion earlier in 2016. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/make-hollandaise-sauce-delmonicos-where-eggs-benedict-originated-new-york-city-restaurant-2017-8">We learned how to make hollandaise sauce from the restaurant that created eggs Benedict</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/FRncqB9s-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

A hedge fund started by Steve Cohen's former COO is going through a shakeup

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cf68b4911e2053bce2257a6-2400/ubiome-toilet-paper-1.jpg" border="0" alt="uBiome Toilet Paper 1" data-mce-source="Hollis Johnson / Business Insider" data-mce-caption="The microbiome testing company uBiome has come under scrutiny after an FBI raid." />Hollis Johnson / Business InsiderThe microbiome testing company uBiome has come under scrutiny after an FBI raid.</div></div></div>Hello!When the three founders of the "microbial-genomics" startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ubiome">uBiome</a> began collecting human poop, they kept it in an erstwhile storage closet, inside secondhand freezers from a discount-lab-supply website. It was a far cry from a state-of-the-art facility.So starts Erin Brodwin's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-poop-testing-startup-inside-story-what-happened-timeline-2019-5">inside story on uBiome</a>, a startup that convinced Silicon Valley it was worth $600 million before the FBI came knocking. Hers is a great report on how a citizen science project became a clinical-testing company with big-name backers, and the corners some say it cut along the way. You can read the full story <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-poop-testing-startup-inside-story-what-happened-timeline-2019-5">here</a>. Erin's story is a reminder of the risks when the Silicon Valley tech ethos of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health-science-startups-dupe-investors-public-theranos-2019-5">"move fast and break things" runs into the healthcare principal of "do no harm."</a>Erin worked on another story, with colleague Shana Lebowitz, on the VC's ultimate guide to sniffing out risky healthcare startups - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/avoid-next-theranos-healthcare-startups-venture-capital-guidelines-2019-6">and not getting tricked into backing them</a>. Emma Court had a story on the four slides from Mary Meeker's Internet Trends reports that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-internet-trends-report-on-digital-health-telemedicine-2019-6">should be a warning for tech companies that want to disrupt healthcare</a>. And you can read our recent series on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/technology-transforming-future-of-healthcare-intro-2019-4">how technology is reshaping healthcare here</a>. Separately, if you missed our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWR72OlAubs&amp;t=2566s">IGNITION: Transforming Finance</a> event on Monday, you can catch up on what you missed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-goldman-sachs-morgan-stanley-execs-talk-tech-2019-6">here</a>. You can also check out a few clips from the event:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/executives-from-jpmorgan-and-bnymellon-discuss-keys-to-partnership">WATCH: Executives from JPMorgan and BNY Mellon tell fintech founders the best ways to partner with large banks</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/executives-from-morgan-stanley-citi-and-barclays-talk-about-tech-2019-6">WATCH: Executives from Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Barclays explain how they encourage innovation within big, unwieldy banks</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-marcus-executive-speaks-on-apple-card-2019-6">WATCH: A Goldman Sachs Marcus exec explains why Apple is the perfect partner for their new credit card</a></li></ul>We'll be hosting more events like it, focused on specific industries, across the US in the coming months. If you have any ideas for live events you'd like to see or feedback from our event on Monday, contact me at mturner@businessinsider.com.-- Matt<h2>Quote of the week</h2>"Unicorns are amazingly deflationary vehicles. They're deflating rents, they're deflating driver salaries, they're deflating all kinds of things." - Famed short-seller Jim Chanos explains <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jim-chanos-silicon-valley-unicorns-suppressing-inflation-federal-reserve-role-2019-6">how Silicon Valley unicorns have pushed prices lower</a>. <h2>In conversation</h2><ul><li>Alex Nicoll and Dan DeFrancesco talked to Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield about the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-neobank-monzo-announces-its-us-launch-with-inperson-events-2019-6">UK digital-only bank's decision to launch in the US</a>.</li><li>Meghan Morris talked to Clare Flynn Levy, the founder of Essentia Analytics, which gives traders as much performance feedback as athletes so they can make better decisions. She explained why it can be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clare-flynn-levys-essentia-helps-traders-overcome-behavioral-biases-2019-4">hard to convince some veteran traders to look in the mirror</a>.</li><li>Rosalie Chan talked to RapidAPI founder and CEO Iddo Gino about how he turned a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rapidapi-m12-microsoft-andreessen-horowitz-25-million-2019-6">tool he made for newbie programmers into a product used by over a million developers</a>.</li><li>Megan Hernbroth talked to Scott Tierney, cofounder and former partner of CapitalG (formerly Google Capital), about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/capitalg-founder-scott-tierney-valo-ventures-2019-6">his $175 million fund for his venture firm</a>, Valo Ventures.</li><li>Shona Ghosh talked to Markus Villig, founder and CEO of Bolt, a major European Uber rival backed by Daimler and China's Didi Chuxing. He said the company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-rival-taxify-relaunches-in-london-as-bolt-says-it-is-sometimes-profitable-2019-6">has profitable quarters because it doesn't set cash on fire</a>.</li><li>Lucia Moses talked to Andrew Morse, the executive vice president and general manager of CNN Digital Worldwide, about its decision to pull its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warnermedias-cnn-is-pulling-anderson-cooper-news-show-off-facebook-2019-6">high-performing Anderson Cooper news show off Facebook Watch</a>. </li><li>Emma Court talked to Dr. Sheila Gujrathi, CEO and cofounder of $1 billion biotech Gossamer Bio, about the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-ceos-advice-from-sheila-gujrathi-ceo-of-gossamer-bio-2019-6">three jobs that prepared her to be a first-time CEO</a>.</li><li>Tanya Dua talked to The Hershey Company's CMO Jill Baski about the company's decision to launch its own in-house ad agency. She said overhead costs are down 25%, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-hersheys-in-house-agency-c-sweet-2019-6">output is up fivefold, and there's been over $4 million saved in agency fees</a>.</li></ul><h2>Finance and Investing</h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rob-casper-jpmorgan-data-head-profile-managing-financial-account-info-2019-5">Meet the JPMorgan banker with no technical expertise who's now in charge of one of the biggest data projects on Wall Street</a>Rob Casper stands up and takes a piece of laminated paper from behind his desk. Standing in his 39th floor office in JPMorgan's glass-walled midtown Manhattan headquarters, the bank's chief data officer wants to make a point.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funds-open-source-platforms-2019-5">Hedge-fund managers are overwhelmed by data, and they're turning to an unlikely source: random people on the internet</a>Hedge funds are sifting through so much data that they might just turn to random people online to help with it.<section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/merrill-lynch-winning-millionaire-customers-after-comp-overhaul-2019-6">Merrill Lynch's 'thundering herd' of advisers are winning over troves of new millionaires, and the growth is coming from a surprising place</a>The wealth management division at Bank of America Merrill Lynch had an explosive year in 2018, and 2019 is off to a torrid pace as well, adding thousands of new millionaire clients.</section><h2>Tech, Media, Telecoms</h2><section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-salesforces-6-month-courting-process-of-tableau-2019-6">Inside Salesforce's $15.7 billion takeover of Tableau, which came together at Marc Benioff's San Francisco mansion and almost died last week amid wild market swings</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/salesforce">Salesforce's</a> $15.7 billion <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-to-acquire-tableau-2019-6">acquisition of Tableau</a>, announced Monday, started with a text, came together over a meeting in a San Francisco mansion, and very nearly fell apart multiple times.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-ipo-business-model-analysis-investors-bullish-2019-6">Peloton, the $4 billion fitness startup with a cult-like following is about to IPO. Insiders reveal why it's business is set to explode. </a>Michael Duda knew from the first time he met John Foley that he wanted to make a bet on Foley's fitness equipment startup, Peloton.<section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gary-vaynerchuk-discusses-taking-on-the-agency-holding-companies-2019-6">VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk says his bootstrapped digital media company is generating more than $130 million and is coming for WPP and Omnicom - with no 'meaningful competitor' in sight</a>As the advertising establishment heads to Cannes for the annual, rosé-soaked ritual of making deals and collecting awards on the French Riviera, Gary Vaynerchuk wants the marketing world to know there's a new type of agency holding company in town.</section></section><h2>Healthcare, Retail, Transportation</h2><section><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/northwell-healths-michael-dowling-on-the-future-of-the-hospital-2019-5">The biggest health system in New York used to make 80% of its revenue from hospitals. A decade later, that's down to half.</a> Out the window of Northwell Health's New Hyde Park, New York, offices sits an expansive <a href="https://theislandnow.com/featured/lockheed-martin/">1.4-million-square-foot</a> building.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/first-vc-psychedelics-field-trip-ventures-canada-2019-6">Investors just launched the first VC dedicated exclusively to psychedelics, which they call the 'next wave' after the cannabis boom</a>As the legalization of medical cannabis has swept the globe, it's also paved the way for another new health frontier: psychedelic medicine.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/careem-pitch-deck-from-7-years-before-uber-acquisition-2019-6">Here's the pitch deck Careem used to secure its first round of venture capital, which led its first investors to a 100x return when Uber bought the company this year</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/uber">Uber</a> has struggled to attain the same dominance in the tricky region of the Middle East that it's built in places like the United States.</section> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/executives-from-morgan-stanley-citi-and-barclays-talk-about-tech-2019-6">WATCH: Executives from Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Barclays explain how they encourage innovation within big, unwieldy banks</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/W0V6xm4r-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

The inside story at uBiome, disrupting Wall Street from within, and Peloton's prospects

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/52a0624b69beddf159c3403f-1200-924/rtx160jf.jpg" border="0" alt="Metro-North engineer William Rockefeller" /> REUTERS/Eric ThayerMetro-North engineer William Rockefeller Jr. is loaded into an ambulance after a derailment in the Bronx borough of New York December 1, 2013.</div></div></div>NEW YORK (AP) -- It's sometimes called highway hypnosis or white-line fever, and it's familiar to anyone who has driven long distances along a monotonous route.
Drivers are lulled into a semi-trance state and reach their destination with little or no memory of parts of the trip. But what if it happened to an engineer at the controls of a speeding passenger train?
A man driving a Metro-North Railroad commuter train that went off the rails Sunday in New York, killing four passengers, experienced a momentary loss of awareness as he zoomed down the tracks, according to his lawyer and union representative, who called the episode a "nod," a "daze" or highway hypnosis.
Their accounts raised questions about just how widespread the problem is in the transportation industry and what can be done to combat it.
At the time of the crash, the train was going 82 mph into a sharp turn where the speed limit drops to 30 mph. That's when the engineer says he snapped out of it and hit the brakes, but it was too late. The train hurtled off the tracks, leaving a chain of twisted cars just inches from a river in the Bronx.
While the term highway hypnosis has been around for decades, there's no technical definition of it and scant specific medical study of it, although multiple studies have found that long driving times on straight roads can cause people to lose focus.
Some experts equate highway hypnosis with a sort of autopilot state - performing a task, usually competently, without awareness of it. Sleep experts say the daze could really be a doze, especially if a driver has undiagnosed sleep problems.
Whatever it is, nearly every bus or train driver has experienced the feeling of being momentarily unaware while driving long hours, said Larry Hanley, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Hanley, who spent eight years driving a bus in New York, recalled spending a week on the midnight-to-8 a.m. shift and sometimes stopping to pick up passengers who weren't there.
"You find yourself stopping, and you open the doors, and all you see is a mailbox," he said, adding that fatigue and work schedule changes play a role.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which has yet to determine the cause of the crash, concluded talking with the engineer Tuesday. Investigators continued interviewing the train's other crew members.
Investigators have said the engineer, William Rockefeller, had enough time off for a full night's rest before the crash, but they were looking at his activities in the previous days.
Highway hypnosis doesn't show up often in medical literature, but numerous researchers have looked at the effect that monotonous driving can have on alertness and reaction time.
In one early paper on the phenomenon, published in 1962, retired Rutgers University psychologist Griffith Wynne Williams wrote that the modern superhighway's smooth, uninterrupted stretches of concrete could put people in a daze.
"Driving under these conditions makes little demand on the driver's orientation to reality," he wrote. "The distracting stimuli are few."
It's the "Where did those 10 miles go?" sensation of realizing you've been driving apparently without paying attention to the road or yourself, said Stephen J. Morse, a professor of <keyword id="6355470" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Law">law</keyword> and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
Many sleep experts see highway hypnosis as micro-sleep, a phenomenon often attributed to fatigue or sleep deprivation.
Most people don't even realize when they've been micro-sleeping - for example, "resting their eyes" for a few seconds, said Dr. James Maas, a sleep expert and retired Cornell University psychology professor.
"Many of those times you were asleep. You're just not going to remember it," he said.
Transportation safety advocates also have long been concerned about fatigue in all modes of transportation.
In 2008, the operator of a transit train was killed after she fell into a micro-sleep and collided with another train in Newton, Mass. Fatigue also was a factor when two trains collided in Red Oak, Iowa, in 2011, killing two crew members.
A survey of transportation workers last year by the National Sleep Foundation found 26 percent of train operators said sleepiness affected their job performance at least once a week, compared with only 17 percent of non-transportation workers. About 18 percent of train operators reported having a "near miss" at work because of fatigue, and 44 percent of train operators said their work schedule did not allow enough time for sleep.
Rockefeller's schedule, which had recently switched from the afternoon shift to the day shift, could be a cause for concern about fatigue, said Patrick Sherry, executive director of the National Center for Intermodal Transportation at the University of Denver, which studies national transportation issues.
"Did he make an appropriate transition from his previous shift to this new shift?" Sherry said.
How long that transition takes is highly individual - think jet lag, which levels some people while others adjust easily, said Dr. Clete Kushida, a neurologist and sleep specialist at Stanford University Medical Center.
Federal investigators would not comment on Rockefeller's level of alertness. The NTSB had found no problems with the brakes or rail signals. Alcohol tests on crew members were negative, and investigators are awaiting the results of drug tests.
The NTSB has issued more than 200 recommendations addressing fatigue, including scheduling problems that disrupt sleep patterns, Chairman Deborah Hersman said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Hersman said positive train control technology, which can slow or stop a train that's speeding or otherwise not being operated correctly, might have forestalled the derailment. Railroads are facing a congressional deadline to install such systems by December 2015.
"This is the type of accident that positive train control is designed to prevent," Hersman said.
As for how to avoid micro-sleeping, a 10- to 20-minute nap or a cup of coffee can help in a pinch, suggested Kushida.
But experts agree there's no substitute for getting good sleep.
Truck driver Alex Gordon agrees. He drives for no more than 10 hours at a time and makes sure to get enough sleep, and he says he's never experienced highway hypnosis.
"I drive 10 hours, sleep 11," the Miami-based Gordon said Wednesday during a break at a truck stop in Kearny, N.J. "You just can't" put people in danger, he said.
In case of an engineer becoming incapacitated, the train's front car was equipped with a dead man's pedal, which must be depressed or the train will automatically slow down.
Trains also can have alarms, sometimes called alerters, which sound if the operators' controls haven't been moved within a certain timeframe. If an engineer does not respond, often by pressing a button, brakes automatically operate. But the train that derailed didn't have such a system, a Metro-North spokeswoman said.
Rockefeller, 46, has worked for the railroad for 15 years and has been an engineer for 10.
Crews are rebuilding the damaged track where Rockefeller's train crashed. One of three tracks on the affected line reopened Wednesday, and commuters said they were grateful service was restored fairly quickly.
"We don't get to complain," said Elite Rubin, who does marketing for an accounting firm. "We weren't on that train where people died."
---
Hananel reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jim Fitzgerald, Meghan Barr and David B. Caruso in New York, Katie Zezima in Kearny, N.J., and researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report.

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