CORONAVIRUS UPDATES… The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. has reached 34,281,864 and the nation’s death toll stands at 610,177, according to figures released last night by Johns Hopkins University… White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients warned yesterday that the spread of the Delta variant is overloading hospitals in areas of high infections. Zients said counties with the highest case rates have significantly lower vaccination rates than other areas. Florida, Texas and Missouri accounted for 40 percent of all cases nationwide last week, he noted.
U.S. SANCTIONS CUBANS OVER HUMAN RIGHTS… The Treasury Department yesterday announced new sanctions on Cuban officials accused of “serious human rights abuse and corruption” amid ongoing protests calling for economic reform and COVID-19 relief. The sanctions target Cuba’s Interior Ministry and Alvaro Lopez Miera, head of Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. The anti-government protests, stemming from an economic crisis and the pandemic, are the largest seen in decades in the island nation.
NEW DOCUMENTS SHED LIGHT ON KAVANAUGH INVESTIGATION… The FBI is being accused of failing to fully investigate sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his nomination to the court in 2018. Seven Democratic senators, including Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Chris Coons of Connecticut, said a letter they received from the FBI last month shows the agency gathered more than 4,500 tips relating to Kavanaugh without any apparent further action by investigators. An FBI spokeswoman acknowledged that the department conducted only 10 additional interviews in its supplemental investigation. She said “relevant tips” from phone calls and messages were forwarded to the White House counsel’s office. It’s unclear what became of the tips after that.
HOUSE PASSES AFGHAN VISA MEASURE… The House yesterday overwhelmingly passed legislation that allows an extra 8,000 special immigration visas for Afghans who helped the U.S. and are at risk of retaliation as U.S. troops complete their pullout from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. The bipartisan bill passed by a 407-to-16 vote. Colorado Congressman Jason Crow, who led the group that sponsored the bill, said the additional visas would cover all potentially eligible applicants in the pipeline. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged last month that there were about 18,000 possible applicants. The Special Immigrant Visa program is available to Afghans who worked with the U.S. government or U.S. military. The U.S. has granted 26,500 such visas since December 2014.
COMPUTER OUTAGES… A computer network outage temporarily took down a number of websites belonging to a variety of major companies yesterday. Delta Air Lines and Amazon were among the victims. Akamai Technologies, a cloud service and web security company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, fixed the problem by and is investigating the cause.
ENTERTAINMENT
ROLLING STONES TO RESUME TOUR… The Rolling Stones have released rescheduled dates for the U.S. leg of its No Filter tour. U.S. dates were originally to begin in May 2020 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour will now kick off September 26 in St. Louis and end November 20 in Austin, Texas. The band has also added three new dates, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Los Angeles on October 17 and Las Vegas on November 6. previously scheduled dates for Vancouver, Louisville, Cleveland and Buffalo could not be rescheduled.
SPRINGSTEEN, OBAMA PUBLISHING BOOK… Bruce Springsteen and former President Barack Obama have unveiled plans to publish a book based on their podcast conversations. “Renegades: Born in the USA” is scheduled for release on October 26. The 320-page book features handwritten Springsteen lyrics, annotated Obama speeches, and other archival material. The book is being published globally by Penguin Random House in partnership with Higher Ground.
SPORTS
MLB SCOREBOARD…
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta 7 – PHILADELPHIA 2… Dansby Swanson unloaded a grand slam in the top of the third inning and the Braves coasted past the Phillies. Orlando Arcia also went deep. Charlie Morton (9-3) allowed two runs on four hits over six innings.
San Diego 3 – MIAMI 2… Blake Snell (4-3) gave up just a run on three hits over six innings and the Padres edged the Marlins. Jurickson Profar had a couple of hits and drove in two runs.
ST. LOUIS 3 – Chi. Cubs 2… Dylan Carlson homered to lead off the bottom of the fist inning, Nolan Arenado added a two-run shot in the third and the Cardinals held off the Cubs. Kwang Hyun Kim (5-4) surrendered two runs on two hits over six innings.
San Francisco 5 – L.A. DODGERS 3… The Giants scored four runs with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to upend the Dodgers. Darin Ruf drew a bases-loaded walk from L.A. closer to force home the tying run. LaMonte Wade followed with a two-run single.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
DETROIT 7 – Texas 5… Eric Haase gave the Tigers an early lead with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fist inning and they hung on to top the Rangers. Victor Reyes homered and lifted a sacrifice fly.
Tampa Bay 5 – CLEVELAND 4 (10 innings)… They Rays overcame a pair of three-run deficits to outlast the Indians. Austin Meadows singled home Randy Arozarena with the tie-breaking run in the top of the 10th inning. Yandy Diaz homered and Brandon Lowe doubled home a run in the ninth.
BOSTON 5 – N.Y. Yankees 4 (10 innings)… Rafael Devers raced home on a wild pitch and Hunter Renfroe lifted a walkoff sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Red Sox a come-from-behind win over the Yankees. Kiké Hernandez’s two-run double in the ninth forced the extra inning.
L.A. Angels 3 – MINNESOTA 2… Jack Mayfield’s three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning provided all the offense the Angels needed. Andrew Heaney (6-7) limited the Twins to two runs on four hits over seven innings.
Oakland 4 – SEATTLE 1… Sean Manaea (7-6) held the Mariners to a run on three hits and struck out 13 in a dominating seven-inning performance on the mound. Ramon Laureano stroked a pair of run-scoring singles for the Athletics.
TODAY’S MLB SCHEDULE…
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona (Zac Gallen, 1-4) is at the Chi. Cubs (Zach Davies, 5-6)…
Philadelphia (Zack Wheeler, 7-5) hosts Atlanta (Max Fried, 7-5)…
San Diego (Joe Musgrove, 5-7) is at Miami (Zach Thompson, 2-2)…
Cincinnati (Tyler Mahle, 7-3) hosts St. Louis (Wade LeBlanc, 0-1)…
Pittsburgh (Chad Kuhl, 3-5) is at San Francisco (Johnny Cueto, 6-5)…
the L.A. Dodgers (David Price, 4-0) host Colorado (Chi Chi Gonzalez, 3-6)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
the N.Y. Yankees (Gerrit Cole, 10-4) are at Boston (Eduardo Rodriguez, 7-5)…
Cleveland (Zach Plesac, 5-3) hosts Tampa Bay (Rich Hill, 6-4)…
the L.A. Angels (Alex Cobb, 7-3) are at Minnesota (J.A. Happ, 5-5)…
Kansas City (Kris Bubic, 2-4) hosts Detroit (Wily Peralta, 3-1)…
Texas (Kolby Allard, 2-7) is at Houston (Jake Odorizzi, 3-5)…
Seattle (Yusei Kikuchi, 6-5) hosts Oakland (Frankie Montas, 8-8)
INTERLEAGUE
Washington (Patrick Corbin, 6-8) is at Baltimore (Jorge Lopez, 2-12)…
the N.Y. Mets (Tylor Megill, 0-0) host Toronto (Hyun Jin Ryu, 9-5)…
the Chi. White Sox (Lucas Giolito, 8-6) are at Milwaukee (Freddy Peralta, 7-3)
Bob Sarber 