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PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
FTC Investigating Amazon’s $3.9B Purchase of One Medical (Maria)
The author writes, “The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of the primary health organization One Medical, a move that could delay the completion of the deal. Both One Medical and Amazon received a request for additional information Friday in connection with an FTC review of the merger, according to a filing made with securities regulators by One Medical’s parent, San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare Inc. Amazon announced plans in late July to buy One Medical, a concierge-type medical service with roughly 190 medical offices in 25 markets.”
In Battleground Georgia, New Voters on the Rise Before ’22 Election (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “Georgia has changed ahead of this year’s elections: More than 1.6 million new voters over the past four years, representing more than one-fifth of all registered voters. A growing and more diverse electorate. A swing state with close and high-stakes elections. Many of the new voters come from groups that typically support Democrats, including people of color, those under age 35 and people from other states who moved to urban and suburban areas in Georgia, according to an analysis of the state’s registration list by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.”
Your Questions on the New COVID Vaccine Boosters Answered (Sean)
From Stat: “Pharmacies and doctors’ offices are going to start to receive Covid-19 boosters that have been reformulated to include protection against one of the sub-variants of Omicron. These boosters, from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech as well as from Moderna, are bivalent shots. They target two strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, both the original strain that all previous vaccines have protected against, and the Omicron sub-variants BA.4/BA.5. … Now that these updated vaccines are a reality, you probably have some questions about who can get them, who can’t get them, and when you should time your appointment, if you’re going to make one. We have some answers.”
New Iranian Hijab Law Set to Be Enforced by Facial-Recognition Technology (Mili)
From Arab News: “Iranian women defying the strengthened laws on wearing the hijab will have to avoid government facial-recognition technology on public transport as new plans to support the stricter rules come into power. The secretary of Iran’s Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, Mohammad Saleh Hashemi Golpayegani, said Tehran is planning to deploy the technology on public transport and other public places after President Ebrahim Raisi passed stricter rules on women’s clothing on Aug. 15. The new law came after the July 12 national Hijab and Chastity Day, which was marked by mass protests by women who took to social media to show how they were not complying with the rules on public transport.”
Israeli Military Admits Shireen Abu Akleh Likely Killed by Israeli Fire, But Won’t Charge Soldiers (Sean)
The authors write, “The Israel Defense Forces have admitted for the first time that there is a ‘high possibility’ Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by Israeli fire while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin in May, the IDF announced Monday. ‘[I]t appears that it is not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire which hit and killed Ms. Abu Akleh. However, there is a high possibility that Ms. Abu Akleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire fired toward suspects identified as armed Palestinian gunmen during an exchange of fire,’ the IDF said in a statement. But the Israeli military does not intend to pursue criminal charges or prosecutions of any of the soldiers involved, IDF’s Military Advocate General’s Office said Monday in a separate statement.”
Rainwater Is No Longer Safe to Drink Anywhere on Earth Due to ‘Forever Chemicals’ Linked to Cancer, Study Suggests (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Rainwater is no longer safe to drink anywhere on Earth, based on US contamination guidelines, a team of environmental scientists has found. That’s because rainwater across the planet now contains hazardous chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. … Researchers at University of Stockholm, which has been studying PFAS for a decade, found evidence that these substances have spread throughout the entire atmosphere, leaving no place untouched.”
Thanks to Middle-Schoolers Like Me, There Are at Last No More Salem ‘Witches’ (Russ)
The author writes, “It took more than 300 years, but the story of a forgotten woman convicted in the Salem witch trials has finally been told. And it took my eighth-grade civics class to tell it. Elizabeth Johnson Jr. was a single 22-year-old resident of Andover, Mass., in 1692 when the Salem witch trials started. By the time the pandemonium reached Johnson’s town, accused women had learned to plead guilty in the hope that they would be spared execution; it was usually the people who claimed innocence who were killed in Salem. But the strategy didn’t save Johnson. Only a last-minute stay from the governor kept her from hanging. I was a 13-year-old student at North Andover Middle School in 2021 when my mission to clear Johnson’s name started.”
