Good Morning! Today’s edition is 996 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Mail ballot warning

• Army Sec. Driscoll steps down

• How planes fly

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Big Stories

Apple Changes Hands

• John Ternus became Apple's CEO Tuesday, succeeding Tim Cook after 15 years leading the company. Cook took over from Steve Jobs in 2011 and oversaw Apple's rise from roughly $350 billion to more than $4.5 trillion in market value, expanding beyond the iPhone into wearables and a massive services business.

• Ternus, 51, joined Apple in 2001 and most recently led its hardware engineering division. He helped oversee products including the Apple Watch and AirPods and played a major role in Apple's successful transition from Intel processors to its own chips for Mac computers. Cook will remain involved as executive chairman, including handling some relationships with policymakers.

• Ternus inherits a highly profitable company facing its biggest technological shift in years. Apple has struggled to keep pace with rivals in artificial intelligence, including delays to promised Siri upgrades, while also navigating tariffs and efforts to diversify manufacturing beyond China. His first major product event comes next week.

Mail Ballot Warning

• A whistleblower is warning that a new U.S. Postal Service system for processing mail ballots was rushed into development and could prevent some voters from receiving ballots ahead of the midterms. The system uses an online portal for states to submit lists of verified voters, which the Postal Service would check before sending their mail ballots.

• The system was developed to implement President Trump's executive order requiring states to verify the citizenship of mail voters before ballots are sent. According to the disclosure released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, it was built in roughly three months despite normally requiring a year or more and has not undergone full testing. A single verification error could cause an entire batch containing tens of thousands of ballot requests to be rejected.

• The new requirements are currently blocked by a 14-day federal court order, although the Postal Service can continue developing the system while the legal fight proceeds. North Carolina begins sending the country's first midterm mail ballots Friday, and election officials have warned the new requirements cannot be implemented that quickly.

Tupac Murder Conviction

• Duane “Keffe D” Davis was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur, bringing a verdict nearly 30 years after the rapper was fatally shot in Las Vegas. Davis, 63, faces life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 13. He plans to appeal.

• Prosecutors did not accuse Davis of firing the shots that killed Shakur. They argued that the former South Side Compton Crips leader organized the attack after Shakur and others assaulted Davis' nephew hours earlier. Nevada law allows someone who helps another person commit murder to be convicted of the crime.

• The case remained unsolved for decades amid conflicting accounts and uncooperative witnesses. Davis later repeatedly discussed his involvement in interviews and described his role in a 2019 memoir, prompting investigators to reopen the case. Prosecutors said those accounts ultimately provided the evidence needed to charge and convict him.

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Quick Stories

US News

• The House voted 370-48 to fund the federal government through early December, sending the measure to President Trump and averting the threat of a shutdown at the end of September. (More)

• Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation after 18 months in office following months of reported tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the direction of the Army. (More)

• The DOJ ordered nearly 300 truck-driving schools to shut down as part of a nationwide crackdown on fraudulent commercial driver’s licenses and inadequate driver training. (More)

World

• Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party won all three of Canada’s special elections, gaining a Conservative-held seat in Quebec and increasing its House of Commons total to 173 seats. (More)

• Thailand’s Pattaya is preparing for thousands of USS Abraham Lincoln sailors following a record stretch of more than 270 days at sea that included an extended deployment to the Middle East. (More)

• The U.S. military struck Iranian targets along the Strait of Hormuz after recent attempted attacks on commercial ships and American service members, according to U.S. Central Command. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed lower on Tuesday (S&P -0.71%, Nasdaq -1.03%, Dow -0.79%). Rising oil prices renewed inflation concerns and pushed U.S. bond yields higher, adding uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate decision. (More)

• Shein raised $1.73 billion in Hong Kong’s largest IPO this year, valuing the fast-fashion company at $26.2 billion, down sharply from its $100 billion valuation in 2020. (More)

• U.S. employers posted 7.27 million job openings in July, up slightly from June, while layoffs declined and unemployment remained low at 4.1%. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• The U.S. and International teams finalized their 12-player Presidents Cup rosters, with the Americans seeking an 11th consecutive victory later this month at Medinah Country Club. (More)

• Arte Moreno agreed to sell the Los Angeles Angels to Rams owner Stan Kroenke in a deal valuing the franchise at $4 billion, surpassing the previous MLB sale record. (More)

• Miley Cyrus, who recently dropped her last name professionally, announced her next album, Bass Persuades, will be released Sept. 18 through Atlantic Records. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• The largest review of ethics education to date found dedicated lessons improved students’ ethical reasoning across all levels of schooling, particularly when programs emphasized discussion rather than lectures. (More)

• Researchers discovered a previously unknown spider species in northern Idaho, naming it Hexura vandal after the University of Idaho’s Vandals mascot. (More)

• Rare winter storms blanketed parts of Chile’s Atacama Desert with snow in August, with one storm carrying precipitation across the normally hyperarid region nearly to the Pacific coast. (More)

Extra Credit

91-year-old reclaims record of oldest hiker to complete the Appalachian Trail.

Mapping the 2026 cost of living in every US state.

Cities where people overspend the most on vehicles.

Watch an explainer on how airplanes actually fly.