Plus: Why The U.S. Is Experiencing Record Storms

Good evening,

Nominations for the 2025 Emmy Awards are out, with Season 2 of Apple TV+’s sci-fi corporate satire Severance leading with 27 nominations.

The Pitt, HBO Max’s breakout drama about a group of doctors and medical students during a single 15-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency room, earned 13 nominations, including for Outstanding Drama Series.
- The Pitt’s Noah Wyles will be facing off against Severance’s Adam Scott for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Neither actor has won an Emmy before, but Wyles has been nominated six times for his previous role on ER.
Older favs like The Bear, Abbott Elementary, and Hacks will be competing against new shows like Nobody Wants This and The Studio for Outstanding Comedy Series. The Bear won last year, despite debates over whether the nail-biting show about a Chicago restaurant should even be considered a comedy.
- Harrison Ford, 83, earned his first ever Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy series for his role in the Apple TV+ show, Shrinking.
- Among the nomination snubs: past winners Jon Hamm (for Your Friends and Neighbors), Squid Game, Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson and past nominees Yellowjackets and Selena Gomez.
The Emmy Awards will be hosted by comedian Nate Bargatze on September 14. If you’re unfamiliar with Bargatze’s humor, check out his viral SNL skit on American measurement systems.

In the mean time, catch me humming the Severance theme song as I walk through the office.

Sam
Award-watching Associate Producer

🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING

Flash Flooding Submerges Streets And Subways Across The Northeast

Flash flooding across the Northeast on Monday shut down transit systems, submerged roads, and left two people dead in New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency. Flood watches remain in effect for parts of Virginia and Maryland.

In New York City, more than 2 inches of rain fell on Central Park in one hour — the city’s second-highest rainfall total ever, just behind Hurricane Ida in 2021.
- It overwhelmed the city’s drainage system and flooded subway stations from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn.

The flash flooding was fueled in part by unusually warm Atlantic Ocean waters and climate change.

MORE TO COME
According to Dr. Klaus Jacob, a geophysicist and professor emeritus at Columbia University, these scenes are only going to become more common.

Flash floods are now occurring outside of tropical storms, and more often. Since 1970, hourly rainfall intensity has increased in 90% of major U.S. cities. That’s outpacing what most drainage systems — built for lighter rains — can handle.

All of the top 3 heaviest, one-hour rainfalls in NYC have occurred in just the past four years.

Why? As the climate warms, the atmosphere holds more moisture. “So when that moisture hits a cold front, we get heavier and more frequent downpours,” Jacob told Mo News. The same dynamics — warmer air, more moisture, sudden downpours — are causing flash floods from Texas to Maine.

During hurricanes, forecasters can predict where the storm will hit and about how much rain will fall, but flash floods caused by localized downpours can strike anywhere, even at higher elevations.

THE COST OF MITIGATION
Because of how widespread the flash flooding issue is, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chairman Janno Lieber told PIX11 News that these type of flash flood delays are “the new reality” as city officials work on long-term solutions.

New York City's drainage infrastructure — much of it built over 100 years ago — was not designed for today’s climate. If more than 1.75 inches of rain falls in one hour across the city, the drainage system starts to get backed up overwhelming streets and subway stations.
- The MTA has noted that its infrastructure is not designed to withstand increasingly extreme weather, especially flash floods. They are asking for the city to invest and expand drainage infrastructure.
"The subway system wasn’t built to be a sewer, but in a storm, that’s what it becomes," Jacob said. “The flooding starts on the street, and the subway just happens to be underneath.”
- On Monday night, the MTA said it pumped 16 million gallons of water from New York City’s subway tunnels.

Solutions costs $$: The MTA has requested an additional $6 billion for stormwater and coastal flood resilience projects. According to New York City’s chief climate officer, it will actually take about $30 billion to upgrade the most vulnerable parts of the sewer system, but the city currently allocates just $1 billion per year.

Jacob says this funding is "a drop in a very big rain bucket” and warns that “we’ll pay tens of billions now, or hundreds of billions later in damages” down the road if governments in New York and beyond don’t invest more in mitigation measures.

TEXAS UPDATE
These types of flash floods devastated central Texas on July 4, killing more than 130 people. Around 100 remain unaccounted for, authorities say.

Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said Monday that search and recovery efforts could take as long as six months. At least 2,200 personnel from multiple agencies have been deployed to assist.
- There are also growing questions about FEMA’s response. The agency did not deploy search and rescue teams until at least the evening of Monday, July 7 — days after the last victims were found alive.
  - Some have reported the delay was due to new bureaucratic hurdles at the Department of Homeland Security where Secretary Kristi Noem has asked to personally sign off on expenditures by her department. Noem has denied there was any delay in deploying search and rescue teams.

Become Invisible Online 🫥

It seems like no matter what we’re doing online, someone is always trying to get hold of our personal information. From companies tracking your browsing habits to internet service providers logging your activity, it often feels like your data is up for grabs and being sold to the highest bidder.

That’s where Surfshark VPN comes in. It’s an easy-to-use app that lets you navigate the internet privately, keeping prying eyes away from your personal data. With just a simple login, Surfshark VPN encrypts your activity and hides your IP address so you can browse safely — whether you’re at home or using public Wi-Fi at airports, hotels, and cafes.

Another tip? Use the coupon code “monews” for an extra 4 months free at Surfshark.

⏳ THE SPEED READ

🚨NATION

Supreme Court: Trump can move ahead with mass firings at Education Department (MO NEWS)
House Republicans block release of Epstein files (MO NEWS)
Mike Waltz pledges to make UN ‘great again’ at Senate confirmation hearing (AP)
ICE says many in immigration detention no longer qualify for bond hearings (CBS)
Homeless population in LA drops for 2nd year in a row, data finds (ABC7)
House convenes hearing on antisemitism in higher education (THE HILL)

🌎 AROUND THE WORLD

Thousands of Afghans were moved to UK in secret scheme after data breach (BBC)
Netanyahu's coalition under pressure as ultra-Orthodox party announces exit (EURO NEWS)
Syria announces ceasefire after latest outbreak of deadly sectarian violence (AP)
European Union clears path for national social media bans (POLITICO)

📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH

Musk's xAI announces $200 million contract with Pentagon (AXIOS)
Inflation picks up again in June, rising at 2.7% annual rate (CNBC)
Nvidia says it will restart sales of a key AI chip to China, in a reversal of US restrictions (CNN)
14 million children did not receive a single vaccine in 2024, UN estimates (AP)

🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Beyoncé's unreleased music stolen from car during Cowboy Carter tour (BBC)
Fyre Festival sells troubled brand for just $245K on eBay (NBC)
Broadcast falls below 20% of TV use for the first time (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
World’s oldest marathoner, hit by car, dies at 114 (ESPN)

ICYMI FROM THE 📲

In case you missed it… ChatGPT isn’t just changing how we write — it’s changing how we talk. Words like “delve,” “realm,” and “meticulous” have spiked in conversations since the AI tool took off in late 2022. Researchers who analyzed more than 700,000 hours of YouTube and podcasts are calling them “GPT words,” or words ChatGPT frequently spits out.

Researchers say it’s part of a cultural feedback loop: we train AI, then unconsciously imitate it. Experts warn that this mimicry could flatten linguistic diversity if people start seeing AI-generated language as the gold standard.

If ChatGPT-speak becomes the norm, soon we’ll be ending this newsletter every time with, “Do you want us to refine that answer?” Nightmare.