promoearn: That’s a 1 and 12 zeros: $1,000,000,000,000

Thursday, August 2, 2018

That’s a 1 and 12 zeros: $1,000,000,000,000

For Apple, that's a 1 and 12 zeros: $1,000,000,000,000

A photo of Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs

Apple made history before most people ate lunch

Apple has once again gone where no other U.S. company has gone before. It made Wall Street history Thursday morning when it became the first publicly traded U.S. corporation to reach a market value of $1 trillion – beating rivals Amazon ($877 billion), Google parent Alphabet ($858 billion) and Microsoft ($817 billion). Investors can thank the ubiquitous and wildly successful iPhone for this honor. Apple is so valuable that it would rank as the 15th biggest economy in the world if it were a sovereign nation. If you are curious, here's what $1 trillion looks like in iPhones.

The 'low point' that has Ivanka Trump speaking out against her father

Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, called the administration's immigration enforcement policy that led to more than 2,500 family separations along the southern border a "low point" that she felt "very strongly about ." Thursday's comments were very rare for the first daughter, a monther of three, who spoke often on the campaign trail about bringing a mother's perspective to her decisions, but had addressed the family separation saga only once before. Her silence had another famous political daughter, Meghan McCain, asking on TV, "Where is Ivanka in all of this?" We found her.

VA staff plea: End 'incompetence' and fix worsening conditions

Infection rates went up instead of down. Patient satisfaction went down instead of up. Employee satisfaction tanked. The Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, D.C., was supposed to improve after high-profile changes were made last year in response to reports that conditions at the medical center were putting veteran patients in danger. But internal reports show conditions have deteriorated instead, and some hospital employees have taken the rare step of writing new VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to beg for help. "We ask you, our respected leaders, to stop this coverup and incompetence, to really care and live up to America's promise to its Heroes," the employees wrote. This USA TODAY exclusive is a #mustread.

Ohio State football – right now it's not about the game

The Buckeyes ranked No. 3 by the preseason college football Amway Coaches Poll released Thursday. But that's not the buzz surrounding the team. Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was put on paid administrative leave Wednesday amid allegations he was aware of multiple instances of possible domestic abuse involving one of his former assistant coaches. Background: Last week, Zach Smith was fired from his position as Buckeyes' receivers coach, three days after his current wife filed a domestic violence protection order. Meyer revealed that he knew of allegations of domestic abuse involving Smith, specifically an incident in 2009 when Smith was arrested for felony assault against his then-pregnant wife. Interesting coincidence: A two-year contract extension signed in April revealed that Meyer's compensation for the 2018 season is $7.6 million. However, it also contained new provisions that could give the university ample latitude to fire him for cause.

We saw it on Twitter

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had to ask people not to wash or otherwise reuse condoms. "We say it because people do it," the CDC tweeted. "Use a fresh one for each #sex act." We'll just leave that right there.

President Donald Trump said shoppers must show identification to buy groceries. That set off a creative response on Twitter with some inventive grocery store names.

ICYMI

•	Is New York City facing a decline? Slow subways, slummy projects and soaring rents suggest so.
•	Pope Francis redefined the Catholic Church's stance on capital punishment, calling the death penalty "inadmissible" because it attacks the inherent dignity of all humans.
•	Brookstone, the store known for its wide-range of unique home items (yes, thinking about those massage chairs) filed for bankruptcy and will close 100 mall stores.

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This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY, brought to you by Emily Brown, David Carrig, and Alex Connor . Look for some fresh names in here next week. Also, our amazing editor is retiring! We'd like to think it's not because of us.

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