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| Happy Thursday, Daily Briefing readers! Data from the most recent census will shed new light on America's changing population. Tropical Depression Fred is marching through the Caribbean and could make landfall in Florida tomorrow. And, remember the 1989 hit movie "Field of Dreams?" Well it's back, kind of. |
| It's Steve and Jane with today's news. |
| 🗣 New this morning: "Weaker I get, the louder I become." Ady Barkan, a progressive activist dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), is not done fighting for health care. |
| 🔴 A few fleeting moments: A Florida woman gave birth and took two photos with her baby. Days later, she died of COVID. |
| 🎤 "America's Got Talent" contestants laid it all on the line to advance to the semifinals, but one Golden Buzzer winner didn't have the chance to. |
| 🔵 "I'm going to miss my friend": Maurice "Reggie" Shepperson, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant whose brightly colored pants earned him the nickname Skittles, died this week from COVID-19. |
| 🎧On today's 5 Things podcast, hear how the U.S. is changing ahead of new census data. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
Data from 2020 census to be released |
| Americans will get their first full look at the country's racial and ethnic makeup in years when the U.S. Census Bureau releases data Thursday from its decennial survey. Experts expect the data will reflect the expansion of the Hispanic, Black and Asian American populations, as well as the growing number of multiracial residents. The results from the 2020 census, taken amid the pandemic and partisan sniping about the politicization of the process, are meant to be a snapshot of the population as of April 1, 2020. States use the information to determine legislative and congressional districts – and the Electoral College votes that come with them. |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 "That's not what you'd expect in a competitive market": President Joe Biden said his administration is taking steps to crack down on illegal activity that might be contributing to a rise in gas prices. |
| 🔵 From USA TODAY Opinion: Early Wednesday, Senate Democrats passed a $3.5 trillion budget. This is why you should care. A lot. |
| 🔵 "Game over"? Prince Andrew, William and Harry's uncle, faces no good options in a lawsuit filed in New York by one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers. |
| 🔵 "Pay cuts for remote work will not be received well": Google employees could face reductions in their salaries if they choose to work from home permanently. |
| 🔴 "This is an extraordinary opportunity": Nate Burleson's new contract with CBS will expand the former wide receiver's role with the network, including joining the high-profile morning news program "CBS This Morning." |
 | | Nate Burleson on the set of "CBS This Morning" | | CBS photo via Associated Press; USA TODAY graphic | |
A strengthened Fred takes aim at Florida |
| Tropical Depression Fred will continue to move toward Florida Thursday and could make landfall as early as Friday. The risk of Fred impacting the Sunshine State was increasing as it brought heavy rain and flooding risks to the Caribbean island nations of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, according to the National Hurricane Center. Fred weakened from a tropical storm to a tropical depression Wednesday, but forecasters said it could become a tropical storm again Thursday as it moved near the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas Fred is the sixth named storm of the 2021 hurricane season and first named storm in August, breaking a month-long lull after Hurricane Elsa formed last month. |
Newsmakers in their own words: Bernie Sanders on the work done, the work ahead |
 | | Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), speaks to the media outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2021. | | AFP photo via Getty Images; USA TODAY graphic | |
| Sen. Bernie Sanders, the quirky independent from Vermont, was at center stage early Wednesday when the Senate approved a historic $3.5 trillion budget blueprint. If congressional Democrats can hold together, Sanders will have been one of the key architects of the biggest expansion of America's social safety net since FDR. |
| But he also understands much needs to be done before that law passes. "We are operating with the thinnest possible majority, and it's going to require an enormous amount of work to bring people together who have different points of view," Sanders told USA TODAY. |
Judge set to begin key hearing in Boy Scouts bankruptcy case |
| Attorneys for the Boys Scouts of America are asking a Delaware judge to approve an $850 million agreement that is the foundation of the group's plan to emerge from bankruptcy. The judge was to begin a hearing Thursday on whether to approve the agreement. But even though this is already one of the largest-ever child sexual abuse cases against a single national organization, plaintiffs' attorney Michael Pfau questioned last month whether the offer is robust enough. "The Boy Scouts have disclosed that their local councils have over $1.8 billion in unrestricted net assets," Pfau said. In March, USA TODAY estimated the Boy Scouts to be worth over $3.7 billion. |
Schools' defiance of Texas ban on mask mandates continues to grow |
| Defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mask mandates continued Wednesday as more Texas school districts and communities announced plans to require students to wear face coverings. Dallas, the Houston suburb of Spring, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth are all now requiring students and staff to wear masks on campuses and other district buildings. Also, The superintendent of Houston's school district, the state's largest, planned to ask his school board to approve a mask mandate during a Thursday meeting. The mandates go against an executive order Abbott repeated last month banning mask mandates by any state, county or local government entity. |
Fans begin to say goodbye to 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine' |
| After being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10-episode final season of the police precinct comedy "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" will premiere Thursday night (8 ET/PT, NBC). Back with new episodes for the first time since April 2020, "Brooklyn" is not the same happy-go-lucky series it was when it last aired. After the death of George Floyd, the creators and stars said the protests against police brutality and racism deeply impacted the show they were writing. Star Terry Crews confirmed four scripts were tossed and rewritten following "somber talks and very deep conversations" about reorienting the show as other cop series' grappled with the racial reckoning. NBC will air the final installments over the next five weeks. |
 | | Stephanie Beatriz as Rosa Diaz and Andy Samberg as Jake Peralta in "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." | | NBC | |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories yesterday: |
| 🔵 Critics are calling for consequences for CNN's Chris Cuomo after his brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo's resignation amid a sexual harassment scandal. |
| 📺 Double Jeopardy: The long-running quiz show announced two new permanent hosts: Mike Richards, who will lead the nightly syndicated "Jeopardy!" and Mayim Bialik, who will take on primetime specials and tournaments on ABC. |
| 💉 The CDC is urging pregnant people to get vaccinated and California is mandating coronavirus vaccine shots for teachers. |
| 👶🏼 A baby born in Singapore last year, who is believed to be the world's smallest baby to have survived a premature birth, went home last month after more than a year in the hospital. |
MLB holds its 'Field of Dreams' game |
| Major League Baseball and movie lovers alike will have plenty to cheer for Thursday, when the New York Yankees face-off against the Chicago White Sox in Dyersville, Iowa, near the set of the 1989 hit movie "Field of Dreams." In fact, the two teams will play in an 8,000-seat park adjacent to where the movie was filmed. And just like the film, players will appear from a cornfield — the park is surrounded by about 159 acres of corn about 10 to 12 feet high. In addition to a cinematic environment, the "Field of Dreams" game holds significance in the playoff race. The Yankees are chasing the Boston Red Sox for the final American League Wild Card spot, while the White Sox are less than two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the best record in the AL. |
📸 Photo of the day: 2021 Butter Cow unveiled in Illinois 📸 |
 | | The 2021 Butter Cow by sculptor Sarah Pratt unveiled in the Dairy Building at the Illinois State Fairgrounds marks the 100th anniversary of the Butter Cow at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. The theme of this year's Butter Cow is "Embracing Tradition" and features a young exhibitor embracing the cow along with 13 hearts hidden throughout representing 13 essential nutrients found naturally in milk. | | Justin L. Fowler, The State Journal-Register | |
| Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and first lady MK Pritzker unveiled the 2021 Butter Cow by sculptor Sarah Pratt at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on Wednesday as they marked the 100th anniversary of the Butter Cow at the Illinois State Fair. The annual fair opens Thursday. |
| Head here for more photos of butter sculptures, the creative masterpieces that celebrate art and agriculture. |
| 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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