Studies show wildfires often peak around July 4

America’s love of dazzling pyrotechnics comes with risks

7/3/24 5:23AM

Tomorrow, millions of Americans will celebrate July 4th, a holiday which — perhaps surprisingly — ranked joint 6th in a YouGov survey of America’s favorite days of the year (Christmas was first, Thanksgiving second, Halloween third, in case you were wondering).

Most people agree that some of the key ingredients for a good Independence Day bash include lots of hot dogs, as many mayonnaise-based salads as your table can fit, friends and family, and, of course, fireworks. But, America’s love of a dazzling display of pyrotechnics comes with risks.

In fact, a 2020 study by Mietkiewicz et al., originally published in The Conversation, found that the number of human-caused wildfires often spikes in the days around July 4th — an increase that’s largely attributed to the widespread use of fireworks during the holiday. This regular uptick exacerbates the pre-existing issue of human-caused wildfires in the US. Nearly 85% of wildfires between 2000 and 2017 were caused by humans according to data cited by the National Park Service.

As Reuters reports, wildfires aren’t the only issue caused by fireworks. The noise and light can disturb and endanger certain species of wildlife, and pollutants such as perchlorate can enter the food chain if not properly disposed of. Furthermore, most people don’t handle things-that-go-bang very frequently, leading to an uptick in visits to the emergency room: the chart of firework-related injuries is an even more extreme version of the one above. Stay safe!

US Powerball jackpot climbs to $1.7 Billion

Your upcoming Powerball loss is DraftKings’ gain

As the Powerball jackpot has stretched to $1.8 billion, users are flooding into DraftKing’s Jackpocket lottery app.

Americans that live in colder states are more likely to sleep longer

But most US adults still aren’t getting enough shut-eye.

American flag design pillow. USA Flag Throw Pillow. Patriotic concept

Max Knoblauch

9/2/25

Paramount and Microsoft’s Activision agree to partner on a “Call of Duty” movie

Less than a month after forming, Paramount Skydance has landed another major piece of intellectual property. The studio said it’s signed a deal with Microsoft’s Activision to create a live-action “Call of Duty” film.

The competitive shooter is one of the most popular gaming franchises in the world and has been the US’s bestselling series for the past 16 years. The next title in the 22-year-old franchise, “Black Ops 7,” will debut in November.

Paramount, which closed its merger with Skydance in August, has had a summer of big deals. It acquired UFC broadcast rights in a $7.7 billion deal with TKO last month, following a $1.5 billion deal for “South Park” rights in July. The company also lured “Stranger Things” creators away from Netflix last month for a four-year film and TV development deal.

Paramount & Activision Team For ‘Call Of Duty’ Movie

Tom Jones

9/1/25

“Blinding Lights” just officially hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

Over the weekend, The Weeknd’s biggest hit crossed over the impressive threshold, with Spotify marking the feat with an Instagram post that the artist shared to his story.

According to Spotify data collated by Kworb, the song now has a staggering 5,000,010,581 streams on the platform, and is racking up nearly 1.5 million streams each day at the time of writing.

Blinding Lights crosses 5 billion chart — Sherwood News

While Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” released about two years before “Blinding Lights,” looks like it’ll be the next song to hit the 5 billion boundary, “Starboy,” another song from The Weeknd, might not be too far behind.

Besides those two megahits, The Weeknd has 26 other songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify — more than any other artist on the platform.

The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” is about to hit 5 billion streams on Spotify

Besides those two megahits, The Weeknd has 26 other songs that have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify — more than any other artist on the platform.

$30B

Nia Warfield

8/29/25

Americans are set to gamble a record $30 billion on the NFL this season, according to estimates from the American Gaming Association.

For context, that’s the same price tag as all US sports broadcasting rights combined. Leading sportsbooks like DraftKings, Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel, Caesars Entertainment, and MGM’s BetMGM are positioned to cash in, with each battling for market share through promos, partnerships, and increasingly sticky mobile apps.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are ramping up efforts to crack down on illegal sportsbooks: this month, 50 attorneys general urged the Justice Department to take action against unlicensed gambling, warning that states are losing roughly $4 billion in tax revenue.