While not mandating vaccines for its employees, Delta Airlines announced on Wednesday that it would begin charging unvaxxed workers enrolled in its healthcare program a monthly $200 surcharge, require Covid testing, and possibly eliminate pay protection for Covid-related work absences. The moves show another path industry is taking in response to the ongoing pandemic and the Delta variant surge - WSJ and Bloomberg and StarTribune and NYTimes and Marketplace
Western Digital is reportedly in “advanced talks to merge with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp.” in a deal that “could be valued at more than $20 billion and further reorder the global chip industry.” Kioxia has also been exploring a mash-up with Micron Technology since last spring and is also mulling an IPO as alternatives to the Western Digital merger - WSJ and Bloomberg
Facebook, in an effort to avoid some of the messiness of recent election cycles at home and abroad (or at least to be able to shift some of the blame), “has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on global election-related matters.” The potential commission could weigh in on the acceptability of certain political ads and “what to do about election-related misinformation” - NYTimes
More on Fed Chair Powell’s coming virtual Jackson Hole remarks tomorrow, including an assessment of what Covid has done to disrupt the central bank’s “quiet revolution” introduced last year that was meant to give it space for a more “patient . . . approach” to interest rates and inflation - NYTimes and Bloomberg
A spate of international clothing and apparel brands has inked a new agreement aimed at protecting “workers in the Bangladeshi garment industry”—the result of a breakthrough after “months of deadlock between international fashion retailers and trade unions and local factory owners” - NYTimes
The DOJ and SEC are investigating Deutsche Bank’s asset-management arm (DWS Group) after the Journal reported that the “$1 trillion asset manager overstated its sustainable-investing efforts” and that the Group “at times painted a rosier-than-reality picture to investors” - WSJ and MarketWatch
New accounting shows that a mere $5.1 billion of the $46.5 billion allocated to the federal rental aid program known as the Emergency Rental Assistance Program has actually been disbursed by state and local governments. Though the cash comes with a three-year spending and has been the subject of ongoing federal tweaks, White House officials “had hoped states would have spent much more by now” to fight what’s viewed as an “increasingly likely” eviction crisis - NYTimes
The Great Minnesota Get Together is back after a Covid-year hiatus. And while things won’t be completely back to normal, enjoy these HOF-worthy eats that will be there to welcome you back next time you find yourselves in Falcon Heights during the last 12 days of summer - StarTribune
Stay safe, and get vaxxed,
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