Good Morning! Today’s edition is 1,159 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Eli Lilly’s new cholesterol treatment

• 11-year-old robber arrested in Seattle

• America’s safest cities in 2024

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Big Story

Spirit Goes Under

Spirit Airlines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

• The airline blamed the filing on financial losses, failed merger attempts, and grounded planes caused by Pratt & Whitney engine issues. However, Spirit will keep operating, allowing customers to book flights and use points.

• Insight: Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a court-supervised process that allows a debtor to reorganize its assets and liabilities while remaining in business.

• To support its recovery, Spirit secured $350 million in new investments and a $300 million loan while converting some of its debt into stock. However, the airline's stock is only worth a dollar per share — it dropped 25% last Friday and 97% since 2018.

• Spirit has struggled to return to profitability post-pandemic. Rising labor costs and competition from major airlines offering budget fares have hurt Spirit’s bottom line. Plus, US leisure travel fares fell this summer because more flights were available.

Big Story

New Cholesterol Treatment

Eli Lilly's new experimental pill significantly reduced a hereditary type of high cholesterol called lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a).

• The pill, called muvalaplin, cut Lp(a) levels by up to 86% using a specific test created by the company and 70% with a traditional blood test. Unlike bad cholesterol (LDL), Lp(a) has no approved treatments, despite being a major risk factor for heart disease, strokes, and other conditions, especially among people of African and South Asian ancestry.

• The trial tested three doses of muvalaplin (10, 60, and 240 mg) against a placebo in 233 participants. Results showed significant Lp(a) reductions across all doses, with the highest dose performing best. Side effects were similar between the drug and placebo groups.

• Eli Lilly is evaluating the next steps to begin larger trials, though more studies are needed to confirm if lowering Lp(a) reduces heart attacks and other heart-related events.

Big Story

West Coast Bomb Cycle

The West Coast will get hit with long-duration heavy rain from a bomb cyclone forming today.

• A "bomb cyclone" occurs when warm and cold air masses collide and intensify rapidly as their pressure drops. It results in a low-pressure channel that carries a lot of tropical moisture, called an atmospheric river.

• The cyclone could bring relentless heavy rain through the weekend, with some areas in Southwestern Oregon and Northern California seeing up to 15-20 inches, especially in coastal and elevated regions. The National Weather Service has issued warnings for significant urban and river flooding.

• The storm will also bring powerful winds, with gusts up to 70 mph near the coastline and up to 100 mph offshore near Vancouver Island and Washington State. Offshore waves may reach 70 feet, causing high surf along the Pacific Northwest coast.

• The atmospheric river is forecast to rank a 4 out of 5 on a severity scale. While it isn’t expected to cause historic flooding, atmospheric rivers have caused extreme past flooding in California.

Quick Stories

US News

• Police arrested an 11-year-old, along with a 21-year-old and a 19-year-old, for a series of armed robberies at convenience stores and gas stations in the Seattle area. Police say the group committed four robberies early Friday morning and a fifth robbery later that night. (More)

• The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that mail-in ballots without the correct handwritten dates on their envelopes should not be counted in this year’s election. Some local officials had included these "undated" ballots, but the court clarified they shouldn’t be part of the official results. (More)

• The White House and leaders in Ohio condemned a group of white nationalists who marched in Columbus on Saturday, chanting slurs and carrying Nazi flags. The march happened in the city's Short North Arts District, according to eyewitness reports. (More)

World

• Masked men looted a convoy of 109 UN aid semi-trucks carrying food, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. The looters forced the drivers to unload the cargo at gunpoint from Ninety-seven of the trucks. (More)

• Officials in Delhi, India, closed schools, stopped construction work, and blocked non-essential trucks from entering the city because air pollution reached its worst level this year. Pollution levels hit 50 times higher than the WHO’s recommended safe limit. (More)

• Ecuador’s government announced a 60-day national emergency due to 17 active wildfires. Another five are under control. The country is also dealing with an energy crisis that has caused daily 14-hour power outages. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed mixed on Monday (S&P +0.39%, Nasdaq +0.60%, Dow -0.13%). Tesla popped 5.6% to drive gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq index. (More)

• MicroStrategy made its largest Bitcoin buy ever, acquiring $4.6B worth of the cryptocurrency. Its total Bitcoin holdings are now over $29B. MicroStrategy’s stock shot up 12% on the purchase news. (More)

• Trump Media is in advanced talks to buy the cryptocurrency trading firm Bakkt, according to the Financial Times. The news caused both companies' stock prices to rise, with Trump Media's shares jumping more than 16% shortly after the report was released. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• The Los Angeles Lakers will honor Pat Riley with a statue outside their arena. Riley won four championships as head coach of the "Showtime" Lakers in the 1980s and also earned titles as a player and assistant coach. (More)

• Betty White will be honored with a US postage stamp starting in 2025, according to the US Postal Service. White passed away in 2021 at age 99. She won eight Emmys, a Grammy, and three Screen Actors Guild awards over her 80-year career. (More)

• Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and pitcher CC Sabathia are among 14 new candidates on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. They join 14 returning candidates, including reliever Billy Wagner. Other newcomers include pitcher Félix Hernández, outfielder Carlos González, and infielders Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramírez. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• Google has added a new feature to help users manage their phone time called "Screen time reminders.” It’s part of Google’s Digital Wellbeing tool and shows a reminder when you've been using an app for a long time.  (More)

• A new report reveals that porch pirates are using tracking data from AT&T systems to steal iPhones. The thieves are reportedly tracking real-time delivery updates to steal packages from doorsteps, particularly iPhones ordered from AT&T and delivered by FedEx. (More)

• An E. coli outbreak linked to recalled organic carrots has killed one person and hospitalized 15, per the CDC. Grimmway Farms recalled multiple sizes and brands of baby and whole organic carrots on Saturday. A total of 39 people across 18 states were affected. (More)

Extra Credit

🔎 Secret messages in popular company logos.

🎤 Georgia wins the 2024 Junior Eurovision contest.

⌚️ Gold Titanic-era watch sells for $2M at auction.

🏙️ Mapping America’s safest cities in 2024.