Presidential debate: All of the major television networks plan to carry tonight’s Presidential Debate hosted by CNN. The debate will originate at CNN’s studios in Atlanta. President Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to two debates, with the second one scheduled for Sept. 10 to be hosted by ABC News. There will not be a studio audience at tonight’s debate and the microphone of the person not speaking will be muted with the intent of preventing anything said out of turn from being heard.
Walgreens financials: Walgreens says it will be closing what it called a substantial number of its roughly 8,000 stores to help shore up its financial picture. At the same time, the chain reported third quarter sales of $36.4 billion, a 2.5% increase from a year ago. Walgreens’ third quarter ended on May 30. Third quarter operating income was $111 million compared to an operating loss of $477 million in the third quarter last year. CEO Tim Wentworth said the company continues to face a difficult operating environment. He said the company will be concentrating on improving its core business, which he said is retail pharmacies.
Unemployment insurance claims: Some economic forecasters suggest that today’s unemployment numbers show a strong employment situation in the U.S. and will put pressure on the Federal Reserve bank not to cut interest rates this year. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, In the week ending June 22, there were 233,000 new claims for unemployment insurance, a decrease from the previous week of 6,000. The seasonally adjusted iunemployment rate was 1.2% for the week ending June 15, unchanged from the previous week. Connecticut had the largest increase in initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending June 15 with the number of new claims there going up by 2,168. Â
Attempted coup: Brazilian Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga, who Tuesday was removed as commander of the Brazilian Army, yesterday attempted to stage a coup and overthrow the government. Zuninga led military units in an attack on the presidential palace. The coup attempt failed and Zuniga was arrested, handcuffed and taken away in a police car. Zuninga alleged that the attempted coup was ordered by Brazil’s president as a stunt to increase his popularity. There has been increasing unrest in Brazil due to the country facing economic problems.
Trump e-mail: Donald Trump’s campaign has sent out a fundraising email claiming that Trump was tortured while he was being booked and having his mug shot taken at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia. Trump went to Fulton County for his booking in connections with charges that he was involved in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump’s appearance at the Fulton County Jail lasted about 20 minutes and videos and photos showed no signs that he was tortured while there. Trump never previously alleged that there was torture nor did he file any complaints against jail personnel.
Boeing 737: The National Transportation Safety Board says Boeing violated its regulations by releasing to the news media details about the incident affecting an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 while the Safety Board’s investigation is underway. As a party to the investigation, Boeing is required to keep information confidential. Boeing said that the door plug that blew out while the plane was in-flight did not have four bolts installed that should have kept it in place. Boeing said that the bolts were never installed because workers did not have work order papers telling them to install the bolts.
