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| Happy Wednesday, Daily Briefing readers! A statue of Robert E. Lee will finally come down in Virginia. Swells stirred up by Hurricane Larry could soon start pounding the East Coast. And it's the news you've been waiting for – Star Trek Day is officially here! |
| It's Steve and Jane with today's news. |
| 🔵 New this morning: After lying low since the Jan. 6 insurrection, members of the Proud Boys have been offering muscle at protests against mask mandates and coronavirus vaccine requirements. |
| 🌎 A powerful earthquake struck near the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, killing at least one person and causing buildings to rock and sway in Mexico City, hundreds of miles away. |
| 🦠 What is the Nipah virus? Officials in India are racing to contain an outbreak that has claimed the life of a 12-year-old boy and is deadlier than COVID-19. |
| 💔 The photo of a boy grieving his mother after 9/11 was unforgettable. Twenty years on, he recalls his mom's sacrifice. |
| 🎾 Carlos Alcaraz, the 18-year-old Spaniard who set the U.S. Open aflame last Friday, abruptly retired from his quarterfinal match Tuesday night. |
| 🎧On today's 5 Things podcast, national correspondent Christal Hayes breaks down the upcoming recall election of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your smart speaker. |
| Here's what's happening today: |
Virginia set to remove Richmond's Robert E. Lee statue, its largest Confederate monument |
| A 131-year-old Robert E. Lee memorial statue, which served as both a symbol of Confederate heritage and the unofficial ground zero of racial equity demonstrations in Virginia's capital last summer, will be taken down Wednesday after the state Supreme Court cleared the path for its removal . The statue will be kept in a state-run storage facility until a decision on its disposition is made. Gov. Ralph Northam announced the Lee statue — considered the crown jewel in a parade of Confederate memorials on Monument Avenue — would be removed in 2020 amid the nationwide protests against systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd's death. Residents filed a lawsuit opposing the removal, but the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled last week the monument could be taken down. |
| 📖Read more on race and identity: Sign up for USA TODAY's This Is America newsletter |
Star Trek Day: A virtual celebration |
| Star Trek Day arrives Wednesday and fans around the world will be able to attend a virtual celebration of the culture-altering sci-fi TV series that continues to hurtle through galaxies. Sept. 8, 2021 marks the 55th anniversary of the premiere of "Star Trek," also known as "Star Trek: The Original Series," as part of NBC's prime-time lineup. The series was canceled in 1969 after its third season, but it has maintained a massive cult following that has led to more than a dozen movies and a half-dozen separate television series. A free live-streamed event celebrating the beloved franchise is scheduled for Wednesday night and will feature conversations with many people associated with the "Star Trek" universe (8:30 p.m. ET, Paramount+ and startrek.com/day). |
 | | William Shatner speaks to USA TODAY. | | Entertain This! | |
What else people are reading: |
| 👶🏼 Another baby is on the way for the Kardashian-Jenner clan: Kylie Jenner announced she's expecting her second child with Travis Scott. |
| 🎤 "America's Got Talent" is one week away from crowning a champion, an amazing feat considering Season 16 almost didn't happen. |
| ‼ Grimace is a what? We might have an answer to one of life's burning questions: what exactly is the McDonald's beloved purple blob character? |
| 🔴"My fight is not done": Former NBA player Cedric Ceballos said he has spent 10 days in the intensive care unit with COVID-19 and is asking for prayers. |
Hurricane Larry to soon start impacting the East Coast |
| While the Ida-hammered areas await more rain, Larry lurks in the Atlantic . The Category 3 hurricane, with sustained winds still blowing at 115 mph Wednesday morning, is not expected to reach the Atlantic Coast but swells could also begin pounding East Coast beaches from Florida to Maine as soon as Wednesday. The increased wave action could prompt coastal flooding at high tide, forecasters said. Meanwhile, the effects of Ida continue to bring rain in parts of the Northeast and Southeast, and while the showers are typical of summer weather, they continue adding to the troubles from Ida's destruction last week. |
Newsmakers in their own words: Supporting a teacher for who he is |
 | | Winterset, Iowa, student Amari Bonner holds a homemade sign on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2021 to show support for Lucas Kaufmann, a teacher who was put on administrative leave after using an image of a pride flag in a presentation to share information about himself with his students. | | Des Moines Register photo; USA TODAY graphic | |
| More than 100 students have walked out of school in protest over the Winterset, Iowa, school district placing seventh-grade literacy teacher Lucas Kaufmann on leave. Kaufmann was placed on leave last week following a presentation about himself to his class that featured the LGBT Pride flag, according to a www.change.org petition. When asked by students, Kaufmann said he was bisexual. |
Kamala Harris to campaign for California Gov. Newsom as recall election looms |
| Vice President Kamala Harris will campaign in her home state of California for Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday, ahead of next Tuesday's recall election. Harris' campaigning in the Bay area will come days before President Joe Biden arrives in the state to do the same. A loss for Newsom in California — which hasn't elected any Republican to statewide office since former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 — would be a brutal setback for the Democratic brand nationally, 15 months before the 2022 midterm elections. Conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder is considered the leading Republican in a race that features 46 qualified candidates. |
'Dancing With the Stars' to reveal full Season 30 lineup |
| ABC's reality dance competition "Dancing With the Stars" will announce the complete lineup for Season 30 on "Good Morning America" Wednesday after revealing last month that U.S. Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee and YouTuber JoJo Siwa, both 18, will compete for the mirrorball trophy starting Sept. 20 (8 p.m. ET/PT). |
| Siwa was named to Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2020 list last year. She came out as a member of the LGBTQ community in January and will be the first "DWTS" contestant to have a same-sex pro dance partner. |
 | | U.S. gymnast superstar Suni Lee and YouTube powerhouse JoJo Siwa will compete on Season 30 of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," premiering Sept. 20. | | NBC/ABC | |
ICYMI: Some of our top stories Tuesday |
| 📺 "Focus on my health and my family": ESPN reporter Todd McShay said Tuesday he is stepping away from the network for an unspecified period. The announcement comes after one of his segments as a sideline reporter during Saturday's Alabama-Miami game prompted concern, with viewers speculating that he did not look well. |
| 🌎 For Gen Z, Sept. 11 is history. Here's how they've come to understand the attacks. |
| 🔵 A police officer exposed a video showing a death in custody. Now, he's facing prison time. |
| 🚘 An error in judgment: A Louisiana man called 911 to report that a Tesla hit him, but the vehicle's cameras told a different story. |
| 🏈 USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-130: Georgia made a strong push for No. 1 but the top spot still belongs to Alabama. |
Derek Jeter, Larry Walker to be inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame |
| After being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter and Colorado Rockies star Larry Walker, who had his best years with the Colorado Rockies, will finally be formally inducted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on Wednesday (1:30 p.m. ET, MLB Network and live streamed on MLB.com). Jeter and Walker will be joined in the Class of 2020 by former St. Louis Cardinals catcher/first baseman Ted Simmons and the late former labor leader Marvin Miller. No one was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2021. |
📸 Photo of the day: Giant-killer in action on the court in New York 📸 |
 | | Canada's Leylah Fernandez hits to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. | | Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports | |
| The magical run of Leylah Annie Fernandez, the Canadian lefty who turned 19 this week, put together another stunning third-set performance Tuesday to knock out No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 after 2 hours and 24 grueling minutes, and advance to the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Fernandez beat defending champion Naomi Osaka in the third round last week. |
| As columnist Dan Wolken explained, for any player making a run like Fernandez, "there's always an element of unexplainable, perhaps even magical confidence in their ability to execute under pressure in ways they never have before. But the foundation of that confidence is not magic. It's just tennis." |
| Head here to see the best shots from the 2021 U.S. Open in New York City. |
| 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. |
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