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| Happy Friday, Daily Briefing readers! Welcome to the end of the work week! In the news to know: U.S. travelers eager to visit Canada next week may end up facing 'lengthy delays' as a worker strike looms north of the border. In economic news, the U.S. likely enjoyed another hiring spree in July and Spirit Airlines' CEO admits what the carrier is going through now is "not (its) best moment." |
| Steve is here with Friday's news. |
| 🌎 New this morning: In a USA TODAY Opinion piece, Robert Jay Lifton writes that survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bombing helped the world shape nuclear weapons policy. Today's COVID-19 survivors could become messengers of wisdom and renewal. |
| 🔵 'Catastrophically destroyed': The Dixie Fire, the largest wildfire in California this year and now the sixth-largest blaze in the state's modern history, leveled the gold rush town of Greenville Wednesday then forced the closure of a national park on Thursday while also chasing residents from their homes. |
| 💲 Fewer jabs mean fewer jobs: According to two new reports out this week, states with lower vaccination and higher COVID infection rates are behind in growth this summer. |
| 🔵 Crash site discovered in 'a steep mountainous area': The Coast Guard reported that six people were killed after a floatplane crashes in southeast Alaska. |
| 🎤 Take 2: On Thursday night, rapper Kanye West emerged from his stadium cocoon for a second live album presentation of "Donda" in Atlanta. "It was immediately apparent that the retooled album sounded more cohesive," USA TODAY's Melissa Ruggieri wrote. |
| 📝 Did you follow this week's headlines? Take the USA TODAY News Quiz to test your knowledge. |
| 🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, hear how the Dixie Fire wiped out one California town. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| What else is happening today: |
US travelers to Canada may face 'lengthy delays' as strike looms |
| Strikes set to begin at Canadian airports, land borders and commercial shipping ports on Friday could cause long lines and delays when Canada's border with the U.S. reopens next week . Nearly 9,000 Canada Border Services Agency employees are set to begin strikes, arguing that unionized employees have worked without a contract for over three years and should get "greater parity with other law enforcement agencies across Canada." Two labor unions, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Customs and Immigration Union, warned that the strikes could have a "dramatic impact" for U.S. travelers on Aug. 9 and could affect Canada's supply chain by slowing down commercial travel. |
What else people are reading: |
| 🔵 'One of our planet's key circulation systems': A new study warns of an 'irreversible transition' in ocean currents that could rapidly freeze parts of North America. |
| 🔵 'No turning back:' President Joe Biden has signed an executive order targeting half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. to be zero-emissions by 2030. |
| 🔵 'The possibility of the highest possible punishment': Idaho prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Chad Daybell over the alleged murder of his former wife and his two stepchildren, who were 17 and 7 when they were killed. |
| 🔴 'I just try to be as understanding as possible': Houston Texans cornerback Jonathan Owens felt 'sick' watching his girlfriend Simone Biles struggle during the Tokyo Olympics. |
| 🔴 'While I'm alive?' Former Dallas Cowboys head coach and current Fox broadcaster Jimmy Johnson took some jabs at owner Jerry Jones over the the team's Ring of Honor induction. |
US likely enjoyed another hiring spree in July as economy rebounds |
| Despite an uptick in COVID-19 cases and a shortage of available workers, the U.S. economy likely enjoyed a burst of job growth in July as it bounced back with surprising vigor from 2020's coronavirus shutdown. The Associated Press notes that the Labor Department's July jobs report Friday is expected to show that the United States added more than 860,000 jobs last month, topping June's 850,000, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet. The coronavirus triggered a brief but intense recession last spring, forcing businesses to shut down and consumers to stay home as a health precaution. The economy lost more than 22 million jobs in March and April 2020. Since then, it has recovered nearly 16 million jobs, leaving a 6.8 million shortfall compared to February 2020. U.S. hiring accelerated in June as employers added 850,000 jobs. |
Friday in Tokyo: Women of Team USA dominant in volleyball, basketball |
| The U.S. women have been golden Friday at the Tokyo Olympics. Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman, known as the "A Team," cruised to the women's beach volleyball gold medal, beating Australia's Mariafe Artacho del Solar and Taliqua Clancy in straight sets. They became the first American women to win gold in the event since Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings in 2012. The dominance in volleyball wasn't limited to the beach either as the U.S. women won their indoor volleyball semifinal, grabbing a victory over Serbia in straight sets. The U.S. will to try to win the gold medal Sunday. On the basketball court, the U.S. women jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back, defeating Serbia 79-59. They will play for the gold medal in their seventh consecutive Olympics. Later today, track and field fans will get to see the finals of some key events, including the women's 400-meter, 1500-meter, and 4x400-meter relay. |
 | | April Ross of the United States celebrates a point against Australia in the women's gold medal beach volleyball match at the Tokyo Olympics on Aug. 6, 2021 | | USA TODAY Sports photo and graphic | |
'This is not our proudest moment': Spirit Airlines sees more cancellations |
| Saying, "This is not our proudest moment and we know that," Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie publicly addressed this week's operational meltdown for the first time Thursday, blaming the more than 1,700 flight cancellations on a variety of factors that left it short on staff as August began. Bad weather at the end of July, a time when flight crews start to run out of eligible hours to work, caused cancellations and "tipped us over, Christie said. Pilots and flight attendants timed out, leaving the airline with no slack in its system and forcing cancellations. Things began falling apart on Sunday, Aug. 1, and have gotten worse as the week's dragged on. Spirit has canceled more than half of its flights for three consecutive days. The bad news for Spirit passengers: the mess isn't over. As of 7 a.m. ET, the airline has already canceled 255 Friday flights, or one in three flights, according to FlightAware. |
Newsmakers in their own words: One Olympian explains how he deals with stress |
 | | Tom Daley of Great Britain knits while in attendance at an event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. | | USA TODAY Sports photo and graphic | |
| Great Britain's Tom Daley, who won a gold medal last week in synchronized 10-meter platform diving, has taken social media by storm with his knitting and crocheting projects during the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In a recent video, he revealed a pouch he made to store his new medal. Daley also told fans his projects have helped keep him sane during the process of competing in the Olympics. |
New movies to watch this weekend |
| 🎥 "Vivo": Lin-Manuel Miranda writes the Latin-flavored tunes and also sings them as a honey bear named Vivo in this animated comedy premiering on Netflix. When his musical partner is unable to deliver an important song to an old friend, Vivo travels to finish the job with the help of his buddy's grandniece. While the narrative is fairly predictable, it nicely drives home the theme of proudly being yourself. |
| 🎥 "Annette": This musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard attempts to be an avant-garde rock opera, a farce about modern star culture and a tragic family drama all in one bizarre, head-scratching concoction. USA TODAY critic Brian Truitt gave "Annette" ★★ out of four. |
| 🎥 "The Suicide Squad": This new version from "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn kinda/sorta/not really continues on from the critically pummeled 2016 "Suicide Squad." Either way, the 2021 movie, armed with A-list stars such as Idris Elba, Margot Robbie and John Cena, is an improvement. Truitt's rating: ★★★½ out of four. |
 | | Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie, far left), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) take the fight to a formidable enemy in "The Suicide Squad." | | JESSICA MIGLIO/WARNER BROS. PICTURES | |
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally returns, and delta will be there |
| The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, a massive annual gathering of bikers in South Dakota, is back on Friday with the highly infectious delta variant threatening to turn the event into a superspreader of huge proportions. About 700,000 people are expected to attend the weeklong event, which has become a haven for people eager to escape coronavirus precautions. Those hardly deterred participants last August, when roughly 460,000 attended. Masks were mostly ditched as bikers crowded into bars, tattoo parlors and rock shows. Contact tracers reported 649 infections from every corner of the country linked to the 2020 rally, including one death. A team from the CDC concluded in a published study that the gathering "had many characteristics of a superspreading event." |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories published Thursday |
| 🏃♂️ A 'clown show' that was 'totally avoidable': Carl Lewis, the winner of nine gold medals, could not contain his frustration while watching the U.S. men's 4x100-relay team melt down in Tokyo. |
| 🦠Thursday's COVID-19 news: As the state sees the number of cases surge due to the delta variant, California's public heath department issued an order that mandates vaccines for all workers in healthcare settings. |
| 🚨 Key witness: In the state attorney general's report, a young, female New York state trooper on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's security detail described how she was harassed. |
📸 Photo of the day: Ready or not, the NFL is back! 📸 |
 | | Dallas Cowboys running back Rico Dowdle (34) tries to escape the grasp of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ulysees Gilbert III during the first half of the Pro Football Hall of Fame NFL preseason game Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021, in Canton, Ohio. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane) | | The Associated Press | |
| In a matchup of two of the NFL's most popular franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers followed a stumbling first half with a strong final 30 minutes to beat the Dallas Cowboys 16-3 Thursday night in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, the league's first preseason game in two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Head here to see the best photos from the training camps of all the teams across the NFL. |
| The Daily Briefing is free, but several stories we link to in this edition are subscriber-only. Please support our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today. |
| Contributing: The Associated Press |
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