Good Morning! Today’s edition is 782 words, a 3-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Online Passpower Renewal

• Microplastics Found in Brain Tissue

• Rudest Cities in 2024

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Big Story

Fed Rate Cut

The Federal Reserve made a big move by lowering its key interest rate by half a percentage point, marking the first cut in over four years.

• The cut comes after a period of high rates that helped rein in inflation but made borrowing very expensive for American consumers. Inflation has dropped from its high of 9.1% in 2022 to 2.5% in August.

• With this rate cut, borrowing costs for things like mortgages, car loans, and credit cards should eventually drop, making it easier for people to refinance their loans and spend more. The Fed plans to make additional rate cuts later this year and into 2025 to keep the economy steady.

• The timing of the rate cut, just before the presidential election, has raised some political debates, but the Fed insists it is focused on economic stability, not politics.

• Despite inflation improving, some Americans are still upset about high prices for everyday items.

Big Story

Online Passport Renewal

The State Department announced that Americans can now renew their adult passports online.

• The new system is part of the government's push to make passport renewal more efficient and convenient. Increased staffing and technology improvements have shortened routine passport processing times by one-third compared to last summer.

• The online renewal system has the same requirements as the mail-in process, like uploading a photo and paying fees. It’s only available to adults living in the U.S. who need to renew a passport that expired within the last five years. The processing time for online and mail-in renewals is still six to eight weeks.

• In 2021, passport wait times were up to 18 weeks due to COVID-19 staffing shortages, but now times are back to normal. The number of Americans with passports is higher than ever — 48% of people have one in 2023, up from just 5% in 1990.

Big Story

FBI Stops Chinese Hackers

U.S. law enforcement has stopped a second major Chinese hacking group called "Flax Typhoon."

• The group, run by Integrity Technology Group, pretended to be an IT firm but gathered intelligence for the Chinese government. The FBI revealed that the group had hacked over 250,000 devices worldwide as of June.

• FBI Director Christopher Wray explained that Flax Typhoon used a botnet, a network of hijacked devices like cameras, to hide their hacking activity. When the FBI tried to take control, the hackers launched a cyberattack before giving up.

• The Chinese Embassy denied the accusations, saying the U.S. made false claims. Another hacking group, "Volt Typhoon," has links to China and is accused of targeting U.S. infrastructure. Beijing, however, says it was a ransomware group, not backed by them.

Little Stories

• Israel blew up thousands of radios used by Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday, following an earlier attack on pagers the day before. The attacks killed at least 14 people and injured 450. The radios had been booby-trapped by Israeli intelligence and given to Hezbollah to be used for untraceable communication. (More)

• ESPN's senior NBA insider, Adrian Wojnarowski, has agreed to become the men's basketball team’s general manager (GM) at St. Bonaventure University. He graduated from St. Bonaventure in 1991. The GM role has become more popular in college basketball recently because the transfer portal has led to frequent changes in team rosters. (More)

• Microplastics, tiny bits of plastic, are showing up in more places than ever, including our lungs, water, and even brain tissue. A new study found microplastics in the brain’s smell center in 8 out of 15 people who had passed away. While microplastics have been found in brain blood clots before, this is the first time they’ve been found in brain tissue itself. (The deaths were unrelated to the microplastics) (More)

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that his "Victory Plan," designed to bring peace to Ukraine while keeping the country strong, is now finished. The plan avoids creating "frozen conflicts." Zelensky plans to present it to President Biden next week during U.N. meetings. (More)

• The International Brotherhood of Teamsters decided not to endorse any presidential candidate in 2024. This is unusual since the Teamsters usually back Democrats. In 2020, they supported President Biden. The union’s president, Sean O'Brien, even spoke at a Republican event, which added to the suspense. Most other big unions have backed Vice President Harris for the upcoming election. (More)

Extra Credit

🏙️ The U.S.’ rudest cities in 2024.

🐟️ New grumpy fish discovered.

🥬 Scientists create nutrient-packed “Golden Lettuce.”

📸 See the finalists for drone photo awards.