1
A big coronavirus surge this fall and winter is looking unlikely.
- Why? New booster shots (rolling out now) and widespread immunity against the latest virus strains should put us in a better position than in the past two years, experts said.
- But there’s a caveat: Pandemic predictions rarely age well. A new variant could change the rosier forecast, and a majority of Americans haven’t gotten booster shots.
2
Ten people were killed in a mass stabbing in Canada yesterday.
- What we know: At least 15 more were injured in the James Smith Cree Nation and the village of Weldon in Saskatchewan. Authorities are still searching for two suspects.
- This is unusual: Mass killings in Canada are relatively rare compared with the U.S. This is one of the deadliest since a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020 left 22 dead.
3
Mississippi’s capital still doesn’t have clean drinking water.
- What to know: Last week, in part because of severe flooding, a treatment plant failed, leaving many of Jackson’s more than 150,000 residents completely without water.
- The latest: People should have running water in their homes again, the city said yesterday, but it’s still not safe to drink or use without boiling.
- This crisis has been building for years: Jackson’s infrastructure started to decline in the 1970s, after its schools were forced to desegregate and thousands of White families moved away.
4
The next U.K. prime minister will be announced this morning.
5
Chilean voters rejected a dramatic new constitution.
- What to know: It would have replaced the country’s 1980s dictatorship-era constitution with one that called for an economic model to narrow inequalities.
- Why this matters: The new constitution was an experiment that started as an attempt to unify the country after protests in 2019 — but ended up dividing it further.
6
NASA postponed the launch of its new moon rocket again.
Serena Williams may have played her final tennis match.
Jamie Ross contributed to this briefing.
