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| Happy Hump Day, Daily Briefing readers! President Joe Biden will travel to Ohio for a CNN town hall as COVID-19 cases continue to climb. Smoke from wildfires in the western United States is affecting people as far afield as New York. And, some of you in Milwaukee are surely still celebrating the Bucks defeating the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Enjoy! |
| It's Steve and Jane with Wednesday's news. |
| 🌎 New this morning: The U.S. saw the largest one-year drop in life expectancy since World War II during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hispanic and Black populations saw the largest declines. |
| 🦠 The latest COVID-19 news: According to a new study, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may not be as effective as those with mRNA technology. |
| 🏙 "We probably have some injuries": More than a dozen shots were fired in Milwaukee during the Bucks' NBA championship celebration. |
| 🥇 "A successful Games in Australia": Brisbane has been picked to host the 2032 Olympics without a rival bid. The Games will go back Down Under 32 years after the 2000 Sydney Olympics. |
| 🌎 Deadly gender reveal: A couple has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in Southern California after a 2020 fire sparked by gender reveal left a firefighter dead. |
| 📺 Final night of auditions: When NBC's "America's Got Talent" returns from its hiatus due to the Tokyo Olympics, the judges will narrow down over 150 acts to just 36. |
| 🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to the 5 Things podcast. |
| What else is happening today: |
Milwaukee celebrates after Bucks' title win |
| The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns 105-98 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night, delivering an excited city of Milwaukee its first championship since 1971 when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson were the star players. Two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo carried the Bucks in a career-defining effort that included scoring 50 points, and collecting 14 rebounds and five blocks. In addition to the thousands of fans inside the Fiserv Forum who got to see the long-awaited victory live, 65,000 more packed into the Deer District outside the arena, a wild party that figured to last deep into the Midwestern night. Antetokounmpo, who raised his game in the Finals and put up numbers never seen before, was voted the unanimous NBA Finals MVP. |
 | | The Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrates his first NBA championship in July 2021. | | USA TODAY Sports photo and graphic | |
Biden heads to Cincinnati for CNN town hall |
| President Joe Biden travels to Cincinnati on Wednesday for a live CNN town hall , which is expected to focus on issues ranging from COVID-19 to the economy, the network reported. The event comes as COVID-19 cases are rising across the nation, driven by the highly transmissible delta variant. Also, Biden has been traveling throughout the Midwest to tout his $1.2 trillion infrastructure proposal. It's the president's first visit to Cincinnati since taking office and his third trip to Ohio, a state he lost by 8 percentage points to Donald Trump in 2020. CNN anchor Don Lemon will moderate the event, which will air at 8 p.m. ET. |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 "Very hard for them to beat me": Donald Trump boasted in an interview for a new book that even George Washington, with Abraham Lincoln as his vice president, might not have beaten him in an election. |
| 🔴 "As a deaf-blind person... I am used to being forced to become comfortable in uncomfortable surroundings," writes swimmer Becca Meyers for USA TODAY Opinion on her "incredibly difficult" decision to withdraw from Tokyo Paralympics. |
| 🔴 "You don't call Nick Saban, Nick": Jackson State football coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame Deion Sanders walked out of SWAC Media Day after being called "Deion" when he asked to be called "Coach." |
| 🔵 "It's always #HotGirlSummer": Country music legend Dolly Parton dressed up as an original Playboy bunny for her husband's birthday. |
| 🔵 It got loud: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of lying to Congress about COVID-19's origins during a hearing. Fauci wasn't happy about it. |
 | | Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as he testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee about the origin of COVID-19 on Tuesday. | | Pool, Getty Images | |
Also on Wednesday: Yup, the Tokyo Olympics have begun! |
| ⚽ Grudge match: Sweden stunned the U.S. women's national soccer team 3-0 in their worst loss in a major international tournament since the 2007 World Cup. Follow Nancy Armour for all the action. |
| 🥎 Tribute to perseverance: Christine Brennan writes about 38-year-old superstar softball pitcher Cat Osterman, who came out of retirement to play for Team USA and led them to a 2-0 victory over Italy Wednesday in the sport's return to the Olympics. |
| 🔴 Text with us at the Tokyo Olympics: Subscribe to USA TODAY's Olympic texts, where we'll be your official guide to the Games. |
Hazy skies seen across the country as wildfires rage in the West |
| Smoke from wildfires raging in the western United States were clouding skies as far away as New York, but the haze won't be in the forecast for the East Coast for long. A cold front will move into the Northeast from Canada Wednesday, clearing out some smoke in the process, Accuweather said. Meanwhile, in the western part of the U.S., where residents and wildlife alike have already been dealing with months of drought and extreme heat, thick smoke chokes areas near where wildfires continue to burn. The Bootleg Fire, now some 606 square miles in size, is burning 300 miles southeast of Portland in and around the Fremont-Winema National Forest. It is one of many fires burning in a dozen states, most of them in the West. |
 | | A thick haze hangs over Manhattan, Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in New York. Wildfires in the West are creating hazy skies as far away as New York as the massive infernos spew smoke and ash into the air in columns up to six miles high. | | Julie Jacobson, AP | |
Newsmakers in their own words: Tom Brady jokes about the 2020 election |
 | | President Joe Biden, surrounded by members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, listens as Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady speaks during a ceremony at the White House, in Washington, on July 20, 2021. | | Associated Press photo; USA TODAY graphic | |
| The Tampa Bay Buccaneers visited President Joe Biden at the White House Tuesday to celebrate their championship season. Star quarterback Tom Brady, who helped lead Tampa Bay to a Super Bowl 55 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in February, cracked a couple of jokes during a public ceremony, including one at the expense of former President Donald Trump's supporters, who still believe Biden lost the 2020 election. |
Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill hits snag |
| The odds a bipartisan infrastructure bill will move forward Wednesday appear grim as GOP negotiators push to delay the Senate vote. Nearly a dozen Senate Republicans struck a deal with President Joe Biden in June on the infrastructure plan. Since the 50 Democrats need at least 10 Republicans to support the bill to clear a parliamentary hurdle for debate, losing the support of just a few Senate GOP negotiators can stall the bill. The vote will be a key test of whether any of President Joe Biden's ambitious and expensive economic proposals will become law. The bipartisan package offers hundreds of billions of dollars for roads, bridges, railways and broadband. |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories published Tuesday |
| 🏊 "This is an absurd situation for me": Poland swimmers were outraged after they were sent home from the Tokyo Olympics due to the country's error. |
| 🦠 Both individuals were vaccinated: A White House official and an aide to House Speaker Nancy aide tested positive for coronavirus after attending an event together. |
| 🐠 "Quite the stir": A 100-pound rare deep ocean tropical fish washed up on a Northern Oregon beach. |
Who's running to unseat California's governor? |
| The final list of candidates appearing on a Sept. 14 ballot to recall the election of California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be released Wednesday. Those hoping to oust the Democrat to run the most populous state in the country include Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and millionaire businessman John Cox, who lost to Newsom in the 2018 election. The push to unseat Newsom is largely rooted in frustration with school and business closures during the COVID-19 pandemic that overturned daily life for millions of Californians. "I think Republicans are going to show up because they hate Newsom, not because they are particular fans of any of the replacement candidates," said Jack Pitney, a professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College. |
📸 Photo of the day: Blue Origin rocket crew blasts off into space 📸 |
 | | A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket and capsule launch from Texas on Tuesday, July 20, 2021 on the company's first crewed flight. The mission included Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, aviator Wally Funk, and student Oliver Daemen. | | Emre Kelly / FLORIDA TODAY | |
| Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the richest man in the world and his Blue Origin rocket crew made history Tuesday, blasting off from the West Texas desert, reaching space and returning to Earth in a smooth parachute landing minutes later. "Best day ever," Bezos said after the rocket touched down. |
| Click here to see more images of the Blue Origin rocket and the crew who went into space. |
| The Daily Briefing is free, but several stories we link to in this edition are subscriber-only. Please support our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today. |
| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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