Good Morning! Today’s edition is 911 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Rite Aid closes shop

• Pearl Harbor soldier identified

• Alligator golf shot

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Big Stories

Paramount CBS Shakeup

• Paramount Skydance acquired The Free Press and named journalist Bari Weiss editor-in-chief of CBS News. Weiss co-founded the online news outlet in 2021 as an alternative to legacy media. The publication has 1.5 million subscribers and generates an estimated $15 million annually.

• The acquisition is CEO David Ellison's first major move to reshape CBS News after his $8 billion Paramount purchase. In seeking federal merger approval, Skydance pledged to embrace 'diverse viewpoints' and represent 'varied ideological perspectives of American viewers.' The company also committed to appointing an independent watchdog to handle complaints about CBS News coverage.

• Weiss left The New York Times in 2020, citing intolerance and bullying by colleagues who disagreed with her views. The acquisition comes after CBS settled President Trump's $16 million lawsuit over alleged deceptive editing.

Rite Aid Closing

• Rite Aid closed all remaining stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, its second filing since October 2023, ending 63 years in business. The company faced hundreds of lawsuits alleging it ignored red flags while filling opioid prescriptions and accumulated over $4 billion in debt it couldn't repay.

• Alexander Grass opened the first Rite Aid in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1962 as a discount drugstore. The chain expanded rapidly through acquisitions, including the 1997 merger with Thrifty PayLess, which brought the store count past 3,600. At its peak, Rite Aid was the third-largest US pharmacy chain.

• The company sold pharmacy assets to CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, and Giant Eagle and is transferring prescription records through its website. At the time of closure, Rite Aid operated 1,240 stores in 15 states.

Three Win Nobel Prize

• Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for uncovering how the body keeps its immune system in check. Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi identified regulatory T cells as key to this process, which prevents autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus.

• Sakaguchi discovered regulatory T cells in mice in 1995, while Brunkow and Ramsdell found in 2001 that mutations in the Foxp3 gene prevent these protective cells from forming, causing autoimmune disease. Sakaguchi then showed how the normal gene produces regulatory T cells that stop the immune system from attacking the body.

• The work opened a new field of immunology. Scientists are now trying to increase regulatory T cells to fight autoimmune diseases without suppressing the entire immune system, which leaves patients vulnerable to infection. The discoveries are also being used to improve organ transplant success and enhance the body's fight against cancer.

Reddit’s Top Stocks Beat the S&P by 40%

Buffett-era investing was all about company performance. The new era is about investor behavior.

Sure, you can still make good returns investing in solid businesses over 10-20 years.

But in the meantime, you might miss out on 224.29% gainers like Robinhood (the #6 most-mentioned stock on Reddit over the past 6 months).

Reddit's top 15 stocks gained 60% in six months. The S&P 500? 18.7%.

AltIndex's AI processes 100,000s of Reddit comments and factors them into its stock ratings.

We've teamed up with AltIndex to get our readers free access to their app for a limited time.

The market constantly signals which stocks might pop off next. Will you look in the right places this time?

Get the AltIndex App

_{Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk including possible loss of principal.}

Quick Stories

US News

• The remains of Navy Fireman Edward Bowden, killed in the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, have been identified after 84 years using DNA analysis. He'll be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday. (More)

• A fire at South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein's beach home injured three family members Saturday. Investigators are checking if it was arson after she received recent death threats. (More)

• The Supreme Court rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's appeal, keeping her 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse. (More)

World

• Police busted an international gang that smuggled up to 40,000 stolen phones from Britain to China last year. It was the UK's largest phone theft operation. (More)

• France's prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, quit on Monday, less than 24 hours after naming his government and less than a month after taking office, saying he couldn't build consensus. (More)

• Israel and Hamas began peace talks in Egypt on Monday on Trump's plan to exchange hostages for prisoners, disarm Hamas, and place Gaza under temporary international control. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed mixed on Monday (S&P +0.36%, Nasdaq +0.71%, Dow -0.14%). The S&P and Nasdaq closed at fresh record highs. (More)

• OpenAI and AMD struck a deal where OpenAI will buy 6 gigawatts of AI chips over several years and could take a 10% stake in AMD, sending AMD's stock up 30% Monday. (More)

• Fifth Third Bancorp will buy Comerica for $10.9 billion in stock, creating the ninth-largest US bank with $288 billion in assets when the deal closes early next year. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• Trevor Lawrence scrambled for a 10-yard touchdown in the final minute after stumbling twice, rallying the Jaguars past the Chiefs 31-28 and improving Jacksonville to 4-1 this season. (More)

• The Dodgers beat the Phillies 4-3 in Game 2, taking a 2-0 series lead in the NLDS with their fourth straight playoff win. (More)

• Rush will reunite for a 2026 tour with surviving members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, plus drummer Anika Nilles. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• A study found that bacteria living in ants, plus acids and enzymes the insects produce, work together to ferment milk into yogurt overnight. (More)

• Scientists found specific neurons in mouse brains that create visual illusions of edges that don't exist, proving it by using light to activate just those neurons and recreate the illusion. (More)

• Scientists found a 167-million-year-old lizard in Scotland with snake-like jaws and teeth but a lizard's body and legs, revealing connections between snakes and their lizard ancestors. (More)

Extra Credit

Pro golfer hits shot from water with alligator close behind. (via X)

Trunk-or-treat takes over America.

California corn maze takes over 45 minutes to escape.

How long $1.5M in retirement lasts in each state.