Elizabeth Holmes admits that she was CEO of Theranos, the company she founded - The Verge

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No one was more invested in Theranos than CEO and founder Elizabeth Holmes, she testified today. She owned the most stock. She could even fire the entire board of directors — and basically anyone else at the company.

“Is that fair?” Prosecutor Robert Leach asked Holmes in his cross-examination. “The buck stops with you?”

“I felt that,” Holmes replied.

Holmes’ defense has mostly tried to lay blame elsewhere — lab directors, her co-defendant Sunny Balwani (who is being tried separately), marketing firm Chiat Day, and more. Holmes, who is standing trial for 11 counts of wire fraud, portrayed herself as a true believer in Theranos’ technology who was largely unaware of Theranos’ problems.

In order to knock down that testimony, prosecutors got her to admit to:

• Knowing Theranos was in a precarious financial situation in late 2013
• Altering the text of reports Theranos had written for drug companies, in addition to adding logos to them, before sending them to Walgreens, investors, and journalist Roger Parloff
• Trying to control Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou’s experience at a Theranos wellness center and attempting to kill his story by emailing the WSJ’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, who happened to be a Theranos investor
• Sending the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner after Carreyrou’s sources
• Having lawyers review the language on Theranos’ website, then ignoring their suggestions in slide decks presented to investors afterwards
• Asking Balwani to leave the company

Cash rules everything around me

Today, jurors stared deeply at an Excel sheet.

In August 2013, Theranos was running out of money. The company had to repay money to Blue Cross Blue Shield because Theranos hadn’t satisfied the conditions of a contract. On the week of September 23, 2013, Theranos had about $14.5 million left in free cash. The company had an intense burn rate and was nearly out of money, prosecutor Leach suggested. “I never thought of it like that,” Holmes replied.

A week later, Theranos raised $21.9 million from investors, but the cash crunch hadn’t ended. In December 2013, Balwani texted Holmes to warn her that they were down to $15 million in free cash. “I saw that,” she replied.

Motive established: Theranos needed money, fast.

A little editing

In her direct testimony, Holmes admitted that she’d added logos to the reports Theranos prepared for drug companies before sending them to Walgreens, investors, and others. Earlier in the trial, we heard testimony that these recipients thought the logos meant that the reports hadn’t been prepared by Theranos. During her direct exam, Holmes said adding those logos was an honest mistake, and she only wanted to convey the partnership. She said she regretted that people had been fooled.

Today, we were shown excerpts of Theranos’ contracts with drug companies that expressly forbid use of their logos without prior written permission.

But the logos weren’t all that changed. Snippets of text that might have made it easier to figure out the report was made for Pfizer instead of by Pfizer was removed by Holmes. On a memo Holmes added a Schering-Plough logo to, some of the language in its conclusion section was changed to be even more flattering to Theranos. Asked if she regretted it, she was defiant: “I think this was accurately reflecting the data in the document,” Holmes said.

One document she sent out did come from a drug company — it was an analysis from GlaxoSmithKline. It, too, had been altered. The original, sent from GSK to Theranos, was a word document with no logo. Holmes added the logo. Someone also deleted one of the report’s conclusions, a bullet point that said “finger prick/blood draw procedure was difficult (needed larger lancet and better syringe system).”

Did Holmes make this deletion? She said she didn’t know. She didn’t know who at Theranos might have made those changes to the documents, she said. I found this difficult to believe, particularly since she’d owned some other changes on those documents.

Bad Blood

When Theranos got wind of Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou’s investigation into the company, Holmes and Balwani exchanged texts about him. They’d hired a firm, Fusion GPS, to do “oppo.” “Our oppo guy knows him well,” she texted Balwani.

“We’’ll get [a] killer package for when [we] meet with Carreyrou to turn this into our story,” she texted Balwani later. On the stand, Holmes said she didn’t know if that was a reference to work with Fusion GPS, but I honestly don’t know what else it could be.

“Need to get ahead of all of it,” Holmes texted Balwani. Holmes was shown this text and asked if she remembered she was trying to get ahead of the story. She said it didn’t refresh her memory.

The attempts to control Carreyrou’s reporting didn’t stop there. Holmes and Balwani texted about Carreyrou’s plans to visit a Theranos wellness center and debated whether they should intervene to make sure he didn’t get a fingerstick test.

Then, just for fun, we read some texts where Balwani and Holmes mocked Carreyrou for being French.

When Holmes’ attempts to kill Carreyrou’s stories didn’t work, she appealed to a major Theranos investor: Rupert Murdoch. (Murdoch owns the WSJ and, incidentally, is the inspiration for the menacing patriarch Logan Roy on the excellent television show Succession). She emailed him, with a document attached, trying to get him to broker a meeting between a senior WSJ staffer and Theranos’ lawyers. “I’ve also attached the material Theranos has shared with WSJ (responsive to questions from John Carreryrou) since the materials I gave you in July…. I thought that were I in your shoes I would want to know/be in the loop,” she wrote.

Holmes did not succeed in killing Carreyrou’s story. Shortly after it ran, she went on Jim Cramer’s show, Mad Money, to deny its central claims — so we watched the clip in court. “Every test we run on our laboratory can run on our proprietary devices,” Holmes told Cramer. This was not true — only 12 tests, even fewer than the 15 Carreyrou initially reported, ran on Theranos devices.

Holmes was motionless as she watched the video, except for occasionally pressing her lips together.

Retaliation

In Holmes’ and Balwani’s efforts to get ahead of the story, Balwani tried to figure out who Carreyrou’s sources were. “Down to 5 people. We’ll nail this motherfucker,” Balwani texted Holmes.

“Who do u think,” she replied. “Now we have legal grounds.”

Asked about this in court, Holmes claimed — not especially convincingly — that she and Balwani were talking about who’d left Theranos some bad reviews on Glassdoor.

Balwani texted Holmes, correctly, that Carreyrou’s sources were “Tyler [Shultz], Erika [Cheung] and Adam [Rosendorff].” Holmes didn’t ask who Cheung was, though they’d barely interacted. In fact, the issues Cheung raised were the same ones regulators later found in the Theranos lab, Holmes admitted. “I sure as hell wish we treated her differently,” Holmes said of Cheung.

Cheung was tailed and served with a threatening letter from Theranos’ lawyers, Boies Schiller. The letter instructed her to “cease and desist from these activities…. Theranos will consider all appropriate remedies, including filing suit against you.” Holmes denied that this was threatening and said she was only trying to protect trade secrets.

Shultz was surprised at his grandfather’s house by Boies Schiller lawyers, though Holmes denied she’d meant to “ambush” him. Shultz’s grandfather, George, was also a Holmes mentor and sat on her board of directors. He called her, angrily, about the ambush.

“Better”

In 2013, Holmes hired a lawyer to review Theranos’ marketing materials just before the Walgreens launch. “I haven’t quite worked my way through the whole website, but I’m worried,” the lawyer emailed Holmes. “For example, every time you say ‘better’ without specifying what it is better than, you are making a comparative claim, at least to all market leaders. You must be able to substantiate these claims.”

We saw a proposed list of language changes: replacing “highest quality” with “high quality,” “highest levels of accuracy” with “high levels of accuracy,” and “more precise” to “precise.” Lawyers also suggested making sure Holmes substantiated several claims on the site.

But when she wanted more money from investors, it seems she ignored the lawyers.

About three months later, Holmes sent PFM Management’s Bryan Grossman a Powerpoint presentation. “Theranos provides the highest level of oversight, automation and standardization,” one slide said. Another said Theranos tests had the “highest levels of accuracy.”

Around the same time, Lisa Peterson — who worked for the DeVos family office and ultimately led an investment in Theranos— received a Powerpoint said that Theranos’ high-complexity lab “requires the highest level of training.” It also contained information about Theranos’ proficiency testing, but didn’t mention that testing all took place on conventional machines. Holmes said she didn’t remember discussing the slide, but that she didn’t mention modified conventional machines with any investors.

Balwani texts

We saw a lot of texts between Holmes and Balwani. The least successful use of those texts was to try to cast doubt on Holmes’ claims that Balwani abused her.

The prosecution delved into Holmes and Balwani’s relationship, bringing Holmes to tears on the stand twice. Though he hadn’t told her to lie to investors or anyone else, she said that his treatment affected “everything about who I was.”

That seemed particularly evident when she testified that, despite being Balwani’s boss at Theranos, she had to get his approval to live her life. In one text, she asked him if it would be okay for her to see friends in the morning, as long as she was home by 11AM. “I think I was asking permission to see my friends,” Holmes said. “I often tried to ask him if it would be okay if I could see a friend before going to the office or going to a work meeting.”

“Do you know how many times the word ‘love’ appears in these texts?” Leach asked. She did not, but said she wasn’t surprised to hear it was 594 times. He then instructed her to read some tender exchanges to the court. Mixed in with the affection was business, as when Balwani texted her that he was “worried about your ‘all fingersticks on our technology comment.”

It was hard to tell what the jury made of all this, though I saw a few jurors shifting in their seats during this segment of testimony. It turned my stomach — and gave the defense a serious opening to challenge the prosecution’s overreach.

Some of Holmes’ testimony did actually bolster the prosecution’s case. She said she sometimes gave Balwani direction, that he was an at-will employee, and that she could have fired him at any time. As for his exit at Theranos, “I asked him to leave,” Holmes said. She said that her disillusionment with him after a lab audit turned up lots of problems was part of what prompted her to end their relationship.

Who is Elizabeth Holmes?

The portrait painted on the cross-examination showed a CEO who was in control of her company, and who was actively working to make sure that its presentation to the world was what she wanted it to be.

On direct examination, we were told that Holmes was young and naive. She’d made some mistakes, sure, but she’d also delegated to a lot of experts. Besides, those mistakes weren’t really criminal.

Today we saw someone else — someone who was in firm control of Theranos and wanted to make its story larger than life. We saw memos Holmes doctored to make Theranos more appealing. We read her texts and emails, where she tried to kill an unflattering news story. She also tried to punish the story’s sources when she couldn’t get to the reporter. Despite hiring lawyers to review her language, she ignored their advice when she made investor presentations.

The jury will soon decide whether Holmes is guilty of fraud. What’s no longer up for debate? She was pulling the strings at Theranos.

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This Durable Luggage Set From Amazon Is a Must-have, Shoppers Say - Travel+Leisure

Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.

If your current luggage collection is a discombobulated jumble of mismatched suitcases and overnight bags, you're not alone. It happens to the best of us because certain travel calls for certain types of luggage, and it can be difficult to find one universal bag. So after years of searching for the suitcase to end all suitcases, and accumulating luggage of all shapes and sizes in the process, we're pleased to announce we haven't found one perfect travel companion — we've found three.

When we first stumbled upon Coolife's Hardshell 3-piece Spinner set on Amazon, we were skeptical that it really had everything we'd need for a worry-free travel experience. But built with features like multidirectional wheels, TSA-friendly locks, a lightweight carry, and over 9,000 perfect ratings, it's safe to say this set has it all. To sweeten the deal even more, shoppers can save $10 right now with a special coupon applied at checkout. 

The luggage set is guaranteed to impress fresh out of the box. The first thing buyers will notice is the hard outer case, which is made of durable, anti-scratch ABS hard-shell plastic. The casing covers all three pieces, which stand at 20, 24, and 28 inches tall. While the smallest piece fits the carry-on requirements for most airlines, the larger two spinners serve as checked bags, which, according to shoppers, is where the sturdy ABS casing comes in handy.  

"[We] bought the set of luggage last week, packed all three, and headed to Mexico the next day," one reviewer wrote. "The lightweight but sturdy shell protected the contents well and held up nicely to the treatment they received being thrown in and out of the luggage carts and cargo holds, without being overly heavy. We are very happy with this purchase and plan to buy another set."

To buy: amazon.com, $170 with coupon (originally $180)

In addition to a rugged build, the luggage also boasts an ergonomic aluminum telescoping handle, an interior mesh zip pocket for security of smaller items, TSA-accepted zipper locks, and an overall luxurious feel thanks to smooth and silent 360-degree spinner wheels. The set even comes in 12 colors, so you have plenty of options.

The top-rated set is sure to be your go-to for years of jet setting and road tripping. If security, simplicity, and peace of mind during travel is what you're searching for, drop this set in your Amazon cart now — and don't forget to grab your $10-off coupon.

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Finding omicron in the US requires national boost in surveillance efforts : Shots - Health News - NPR

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A registered nurse stirs a nasal swab in testing solution after administering a COVID-19 test in Los Angeles, Calif. Increased testing could help in efforts to detect and track new variants like omicron. Mario Tama/Getty Images

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There's a lot we need to learn — and fast — about the omicron variant. Federal health officials have been scrambling since Thanksgiving to gather critical information to inform the U.S. response.

Key to that is ramping up the country's capacity to detect the variant in the U.S. population. Once it turns up — and experts are confident that's a matter of when not if — tracking its spread will be crucial.

"All of the key questions about the variant are really dependent on us being able to identify the variant here in the U.S. but also tracking how it's spreading and in whom," says Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health.

But Jha and other experts are concerned that the U.S. capacity to detect and ultimately track the variant is limited by a few big issues that have plagued our pandemic response from day one, including the patchwork, siloed nature of our public health capabilities.

"There's a reason we haven't heard of something called the United States variant, and it's not because it doesn't exist. It's because we just don't detect these things early," says Dr. Kavita Patel, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and physician practicing in Washington, D.C. "They're picked up in other places that tend to have better surveillance systems."

During a briefing Tuesday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, defended the agency's efforts to expand efforts to spot and track new variants.

"Throughout the pandemic... CDC has continuously monitored variants and vastly expanded our capacity for genomic sequencing over the past nine months," Walensky said, noting that the U.S. is now sequencing more than 80,000 specimens of the virus each week, representing one out of every seven that test positive.

"We are actively putting systems in place with local and state laboratories to make detection and sequencing even faster," Walensky said, adding that the U.S. is increasing testing at four major airports: New York, Newark, San Francisco and Atlanta

Here are several areas where public health experts see opportunities to improve U.S. surveillance in the short and longer term.

Take advantage of PCR testing, which can sometimes identify the variant

The CDC is asking labs around the country to step up what they're doing to try to track the variant. The good news is, certain PCR tests can spot likely omicron cases.

"One of the things about this variant is that there is a tell in laboratory tests, so you don't even have to do the full genetic sequencing," says Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer for the federal COVID-19 response. There's a kind of signature — called S gene target failure — that some tests can pick up. In those cases "there is an ability to do an early, quick analysis," Kessler adds, and then prioritize those tests for genetic sequencing.

About 56 state public health labs around the country are currently able to do this, and other labs with the capacity to are being asked to shift to using this test for the next two weeks, according to Scott Becker, chief executive officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Jha cautions, it's vital that labs start looking for this signal. "Most labs don't look at that automatically," he says. "But that information is in the labs that are doing regular testing, and we've got to be sending the word out that they need to look for that and they need to report that to state health departments and the CDC."

Ramp up genomic sequencing

To definitively pinpoint a case of omicron requires detailed genetic sequencing. This is increasing around the U.S., according to Kessler. "We've ramped up our genetic sequencing markedly, close to 10,000 sequences a day," he says.

Several public health experts think it's not enough. "I think the U.S. has the capability to do much better," says Rick Bright, CEO of the Pandemic Prevention Institute at the Rockefeller Foundation. "They need to make a decision now to ramp up their sequencing capabilities and their genomic surveillance capabilities and do much more testing."

The problem, Bright explains, is that the sequencing that is currently happening may not be well distributed geographically and could easily miss a case in a region with little surveillance.

"If you're focusing on that sequencing in very limited or few populations, you can get 10,000 sequences a day from New York City and doesn't tell you what's happening in the rest of the country," he says.

During Tuesday's briefing, however, Walensky said the agency had received specimens from all 50 states, plus Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

"We're sequencing samples from these jurisdictions and from geographically diverse areas around the country, collaborating with state labs and academia and industry partners, and our variant surveillance system has demonstrated we can reliably detect new variants," she said

But Association of Public Health Laboratories CEO Becker agrees that the U.S. could be doing more sequencing.

"In areas of the country where there's less testing going on, you're going to see less specimens coming through the surveillance system and therefore we won't be sequencing as many from those parts of the country," he says. "It's important that all states work with CDC to conduct the surveillance and ramp it up if necessary."

Increase and speed up PCR testing

It appears that PCR and antigen tests still work as well to catch positive cases of the new variant, as they did with older variants, though the FDA is analyzing them to confirm that, says Becker. But the trouble is, note Patel and Bright, the U.S. doesn't do enough testing, and lab turnaround times are slow.

"We need to do much more testing to be able to identify where this virus is in the United States," says Bright. He says one obstacle is that the over-the-counter antigen tests are too unaffordable for many families. "Most Americans don't have access to those tests," he says. "In many places, they're $25 for a kit of two. So we're already behind the gun right there in making sure that more people are able to test rapidly to see if they're infected and should go to further sequencing."

Patel says the U.S. should emphasize testing and shift resources toward "really high throughput PCR testing," since PCR tests can then be sent for genetic sequencing. She notes that there is money from the CARES Act to support testing that has gone unspent.

Improve communication between CDC, state labs, academic labs and clinicians

Even if more labs do more tests, including the type of PCR test that can spot omicron, detection could still be slow because these labs have to start routinely notifying the CDC about what they're finding.

The "silos of our public health surveillance system" have kept the U.S. behind when it comes to detecting variants throughout the pandemic, says the Brookings Institution's Patel.

"The labs that the states run or the labs that the academic centers run are in isolation of where clinical work is happening. So the two just don't speak," she says.

Bright agrees. "We have a lot of capability and different public health labs across the United States, but we're not fully leveraging all of the sequencing capability in our academic sectors and our private sectors, and we're not yet linking all of that together to get as much information as possible," he says.

Start tracking all breakthroughs

An increase in breakthrough infections would be one of the first red flags that the omicron variant is spreading widely in this country and evading the protection offered by the vaccine, says Kessler.

"If in fact it does come into the United States, I would predict that we would see an increase in breakthrough cases," he says, though more breakthrough cases doesn't necessarily mean more severe cases. "That's still up in the air."

Many public health experts say the CDC made a big mistake when it decided to only closely track those breakthrough infections that cause serious illness and deaths, instead of tracking all mild breakthrough cases.

"I think that left us a little bit flat footed. It leaves us now playing catch up," says Patel, explaining that we could have learned more about who was getting breakthroughs and why.

The CDC does track breakthroughs in a limited way, using "cohorts" that Kessler says offer "highly reliable" data, but the most complete data only relates to hospitalizations and death.

Bright says that means, "we're missing the opportunity to look at the changes in those viruses that could be leading to those severe cases and stopping it before it gets there."

"There's a lot of information being left on the table by not looking into those cases," he adds.

Will Stone contributed to this report.

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The questions Tiger Woods answered and the questions that still don't have answers - ESPN

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Tiger Woods offered hope of a return but also a sobering assessment of his situation in his first interviews since a serious car crash in February.

Speaking at his first news conference Tuesday, a day after a lengthy video conversation with Golf Digest was released, Woods expressed gratitude for being alive and not losing parts of his right leg to amputation.

At the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, an event he hosts for his foundation, Woods also spoke alternatively about his desire to come back and play competitive golf and his realization that it is unlikely that his leg or his game can ever be the same.

Here are a few takeaways:

Woods expects to play again

It's just going to take some time, and he would not say when. But Woods acknowledged it is a long way off. He also seemed eager for the challenge of going through rehab to get to a point where he can compete again -- even if it's limited.

While a full schedule and all the practice required to play at that level is undesirable, being able to pick his spots seems to be an idea he likes.

• 

"To ramp up for a few events a year as Mr. [Ben] Hogan did, he did a pretty good job of it, and there's no reason that I can't do that and feel ready,'' Woods said Tuesday. "I may not be tournament-sharp in the sense I haven't played tournaments, but I think if you practice correctly and you do it correctly, that I've come off surgeries before, I've come off long layoffs and I've won or come close to winning before. So I know the recipe for it. I've just got to get to a point where I feel comfortable enough where I can do that again.''

The 2018-19 run was big

Coming back from 2017 spinal surgery to win three times, including his 15th major championship at the 2019 Masters, makes this a bit easier to deal with in terms of golf.

Woods said he's "already climbed'' the mountain a few times and doesn't need to do it again.

"I don't see that type of trend going forward for me,'' he said. "I won't have the opportunity to practice, given the condition of my leg, and build up. I just don't. I'll just have a different way of doing it and that's OK. I'm at peace with that. I've made the climb enough times.''

This coming Masters never seemed possible -- and still doesn't

play

1:50

Stephen A. Smith reflects on what he's thankful for in regards to Tiger Woods after watching his news conference early Tuesday morning.

One three-second video of Woods hitting balls set the internet ablaze. Odds were even posted as to his ability to win the Masters in April. But the idea of playing there never appeared remotely possible. Most medical people who have been interviewed about the injuries he suffered have maintained that it would be a yearlong recovery. Woods himself suggested things would go faster. Still, while he looks and sounds good, that compression sock on his right leg says a lot. When asked about The Open at St. Andrews, Woods said he'd love to be there, then dove into the champions dinners at that tournament and the Masters.

He is managing expectations

It is quite possible that Woods has bigger goals and that, for one of the rare times, he is trying to tamp down the expectations -- perhaps even his own. He is well aware of how hard it was to compete against the world's best when he had far less in the way of physical struggles to overcome. And he knows that doing so in his late 40s was always going to be difficult anyway. To get back out and compete again would be the ultimate accomplishment at this point.

"I've got to be good enough to do it, OK?'' he said. "So I've got to prove to myself in practice that I'm good enough. I'll chip and putt any of these guys, but the golf courses are longer than just a chip-and-putt course. We're not going to be playing the par-3 course at Augusta to win the Masters. So I got to get a little bit bigger game than that. As I said, I've got a long way to go in the rehab process to be able to do something like that.''

He's not on board with the proposed rival golf leagues

Woods clearly has been approached about Greg Norman's LIV Golf Enterprises endeavor that is seeking to start a new golf league. Same with the Premier Golf League. He said he's not interested.

"I've decided for myself that I'm supporting the PGA Tour, that's where my legacy is,'' he said. "I've been fortunate enough to have won 82 events on this tour and 15 major championships and been a part of the World Golf Championships, the start of them and the end of them. So I have an allegiance to the PGA Tour.

"And I understand that some of the comparisons are very similar to when Arnold [Palmer] and Jack [Nicklaus] broke off from the PGA of America [as part of a separate playing division in 1968] to start the [PGA] Tour. I don't see it that way. I think the Tour has done a fantastic job.''

Woods seems at peace

Looking forward to a great week at Albany for the #HeroWorldChallenge! pic.twitter.com/LpNT6ClZ4j

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) November 30, 2021

It was nearly nine months since the crash. While Woods could have spoken earlier to address his situation, he was never going to do it in public while in a wheelchair and not likely while on crutches, either.

Woods waited until he could walk freely again, sent out a three-second video showing himself hitting one shot, then addressed the media in a controlled setting in the Bahamas where access was limited given the short notice of his appearance.

Once there, in front of the cameras and questioners again, he looked at ease. He deflected questions about the accident, saying the details are in the police report and that he didn't remember anything that happened. He managed to talk around when he might return again, which he's done dozens of times over the years. He was self-deprecating about wanting to play the forward tees and only being able to compete in pitching and putting. Yet, he said he knows how to get the job done even with a limited schedule.

"Am I going to put my family through it again, am I going to put myself out there again? We had a talk within the family, all of us sat down and said if this leg cooperates and I get to a point where I can play the Tour, is it OK with you guys if I try and do it?'' Woods said. "The consensus was yes.

"Now, internally, I haven't reached that point. I haven't proven it to myself that I can do it. I can show up here and I can host an event. I can play a par-3 course. I can hit a few shots. I can chip and putt. But we're talking about going out there and playing against the world's best on the most difficult golf courses under the most difficult conditions. I'm so far from that.

"I have a long way to go to get to that point. I haven't decided whether or not I want to get to that point. I've got to get my leg to a point where that decision can be made. And we'll see what happens when I get to that point, but I've got a long way to go with this leg.''

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Elon Musk says Raptor engine production is a ‘disaster’ that puts SpaceX at risk of bankruptcy - The Verge

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On Black Friday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sent an anxious email to his company’s employees, urging them to work over the weekend on SpaceX’s Raptor engine line and describing the production situation as a “crisis.” In the email, a copy of which was obtained by The Verge, Musk argued that the company faces a “genuine risk of bankruptcy” if production doesn’t increase to support a high flight rate of the company’s new Starship rocket next year.

The Raptor is SpaceX’s massive methane engine that will be used to propel the company’s next-generation launch system, called Starship. SpaceX plans to use Starship to take people to deep space, and in April, NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to develop Starship as a lunar lander to transport astronauts to the Moon’s surface as early as 2025. SpaceX has been hard at work developing and testing Starship prototypes at the company’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas, though the company has yet to launch the vehicle to orbit.

SpaceX is currently hoping to conduct Starship’s first orbital launch in either January or February of 2022, according to a presentation given by Musk to the National Academies of Sciences on November 17th. However, according to Musk’s email, SpaceX needs to launch Starship at least once every two weeks next year to keep the company afloat. And apparently, Raptor engine development isn’t on track at the moment.

In the email, first reported by SpaceExplored and CNBC, Musk claimed that after key senior management departed the company, SpaceX personnel looked deeper into issues surrounding Raptor production and found them to “be far more severe than was reported.” Two vice presidents, one of whom worked on Raptor engine development, recently left the company, CNBC reported this month.

“I was going to take this weekend off, as my first weekend off in a long time, but instead I will be on the Raptor line all night and through the weekend,” Musk wrote in the email. He also urged employees to come in for an “all hands on deck” situation unless they had critical family matters or could not “physically return to Hawthorne,” the location of SpaceX’s headquarters in California.

While Starship will ultimately be used to transport people to deep space, Musk also stressed the vehicle’s role in launching the company’s next-generation Starlink satellites. Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious initiative to launch a mega-constellation of nearly 12,000 satellites to provide broadband Internet coverage to users all over the Earth. So far, SpaceX has launched more than 1,800 Starlink satellites and is currently serving roughly 140,000 users in more than 20 countries, according to a presentation SpaceX gave to the Federal Communication Commission on November 10th.

However, SpaceX has only launched the first version of its Starlink satellites, known as Version 1 or V1. Most of those satellites don’t have lasers allowing them to communicate with one another, though recent launches have included this capability. Eventually, SpaceX plans to launch its Version 2 or V2 satellites, which are much more massive and will include laser communication. And per his email, Musk claims that Starship is the only rocket that can launch these larger satellites.

“Falcon has neither the volume *nor* the mass to orbit needed for satellite V2,” Musk wrote, adding that “Satellite V1 by itself is financially weak, whereas V2 is strong.” SpaceX filed an amendment with the FCC in August, proposing changes to its satellites with plans to launch them on Starship. In the email, Musk also noted that SpaceX will be ramping up production of its user dishes, which customers must buy in order to tap into the Starlink V2 satellites. Musk says the terminals will be useless unless the new satellites are ready to “handle the bandwidth demand.”

It’s hard to know for sure if SpaceX is truly in dire straights. SpaceX did not respond to a request for a comment from The Verge. But this isn’t the first time Musk has called on his employees to rally and work long hours or risk bankruptcy. In 2018, Musk claimed that his other company, Tesla, came “within single-digit weeks” of collapse over problems with the production of the Model 3. Since then, Tesla has rebounded and recently surpassed a $1 trillion valuation.

Read the entire email from Musk below:

Unfortunately, the Raptor production crisis is much worse than it seemed a few weeks ago. As we have dug into the issues following exiting prior senior management, they have unfortunately turned out to be far more severe than was reported. There is no way to sugarcoat this.

I was going to take this weekend off, as my first weekend off in a long time, but instead I will be on the Raptor line all night and through the weekend.

Unless you have critical family matters or cannot physically return to Hawthorne, we need all hands on deck to recover from what is, quite frankly, a disaster.

The consequences for SpaceX if we can’t get enough reliable Raptors made is that we then can’t fly Starship, which means we then can’t fly Starlink Satellite V2 (Falcon has neither the volume *nor* the mass to orbit needed for satellite V2). Satellite V1 by itself is financially weak, whereas V2 is strong.

In addition, we are spooling up terminal production to several million units per year, which will consume massive capital, assuming that satellite V2 will be on orbit to handle the bandwidth demand. These terminals will be useless otherwise.

What it comes down to is that we face genuine risk of bankruptcy if we cannot achieve a Starship flight rate of at least once every two weeks next year.

Thanks,

Elon

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Three players that need to step up to ignite the Blackhawks offense - Blackhawk Up

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No one on the Blackhawks has been that great offensively, well maybe outside of Brandon Hagel and Alex DeBrincat. This team needs to get more players involved on the offense.

Brandon Hagel is second on the team with seven goals, Alex DeBrincat has continued to show that he is the real deal with 12 goals on the year. One name is missing from the top two and that is Patrick Kane. Kane has just six goals on the year and hasn’t scored since November 17th, in fact during the team’s last five games he has just one point.

Kane and the Blackhawks have not been getting involved offensively. Last year’s strength has become this year’s weakness. Now we need to talk about three different guys that need to step up offensively in order to get the Hawks’ offense on another level.

Patrick Kane is not going to be on this list, while he might not be scoring goals as much as he has in the past, he still is Kane and he still finds a way to get involved for the team. As long as he gets back on track in the next week or so he should be good. Some other players still need to show up offensively to start the season, which brings us to the first name on the list.

Jonathan Toews

Jonathan Toews has no goals in the first 21 games of the season. While he has done a lot of stuff great, like getting back after missing an entire season due to an illness and being a force for the team across the entire ice, he hasn’t been able to produce offensively. The Hawks need their captain to score at least 15 goals this season, yet through 21 games he doesn’t have a single tally.

Dominik Kubalik

Dominik Kubalik needs to be better. His shooting percentage is at a career-low right now at just 6.7 percent and his ice time is at an all-time high averaging over 16 minutes a night. Reunited with his former linemate Jonathan Toews was supposed to be a good thing yet the former 30 goal scorer has just three in the first 21 games of the season.

The Hawks lineup is not that deep, and they really need a player like Kubalik to be a good asset right now in the top six. Otherwise, they are going to struggle to make up any type of ground in the standings. Getting Kubalik scoring is good for another reason too considering the team might be able to use him as trade bait at the deadline.

Seth Jones

It is a little weird to have a defenseman on this list but here we are. Jones has just two goals despite registering 59 shots on goal which is third on the team. The Hawks are definitely over-relying on Seth Jones in the defensive zone right now, and that is why he is having a hard time finding the back of the net sometimes, but they still need a competitive offensive defenseman to win games.

In the past two games, Jones has played over 28 minutes in both matchups against the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues. The offense was not really swinging during that time as they only created two goals during those two games. With someone being on the ice for that long we need to see Jones produce a little more for the team to win.

Winning games starts with these three players getting involved offensively, otherwise, we might see some trades sooner rather than later as the franchise tries to readdress the direction of the team.

Chicago is 30th in the entire league with 45 goals for at this point in the season. Last year the team was 16th offensively, a stark drop after a relatively strong offseason with the additions they made.

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Tiger Woods on playing again: 'I don't know when that is going to happen' - CNN

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(CNN)Tiger Woods spoke about his golf future on Tuesday in his first press conference since suffering serious leg injuries in a February single-vehicle rollover accident. Woods is hosting the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas this week.

The 15-time major champion said he doesn't know when he would play again but is happy that he can participate.

"As far as playing at the Tour level, I don't know when that is going to happen," Woods said. "I'll play a round here and there, a little hit and giggle, I can do something like that. The USGA (United States Golf Association) suggests play forward, I really like that idea now. I don't like that the tees are on back."

He continued: "To see some of my shots fall out of the sky a lot shorter than they used to is a little eye opening. But at least I'm able to do it again. That's something that for a while there didn't look like I was going to. I'm able to participate in the sport of golf. Now to what level, I do not know that."

Tiger Woods said on Tuesday that he isn't sure when he's going to be able to play professionally again.

READ: Justin Thomas says Tiger won't return 'if he can't play well'

On how much more difficult his current recovery has been compared to his others, Woods said, "This one has been much more difficult. It's just hard to explain how difficult it's been just to be immobile for the three months and lay there.

"I was just looking forward to just getting outside... that was a goal of mine, especially for a person who has lived his entire life outside."

Woods has not played in a golf tournament since his accident.

The last time Woods played competitively was in December 2020, with his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship in Orlando, Florida.

Last week, the 82-time PGA Tour winner posted a three-second video on social media of him taking a swing with the caption: "Making progress."

The 45-year-old's accident occurred near Los Angeles on February 23, when his SUV crossed a median, went across two lanes of road, then hit a tree and landed on the driver's side in the brush.

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Opinion: The Milwaukee Bucks Made This Roster Move That The Brooklyn Nets Should Have - Sports Illustrated

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According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski the Milwaukee Bucks are going to sign DeMarcus Cousins (see tweets below and read article here). 

Cousins is a four-time All-Star, and while several injuries have derailed his once promising career, he is still an intriguing pickup for the defending NBA Champions. 

I believe that the Brooklyn Nets should have signed Cousins. 

Why should the Nets have signed Cousins?

The Nets are a team that is built around superstars, and aging veterans with experience. 

However, Blake Griffin and Paul Milsap (who relatively play the same position as Cousins) have been off to a poor start to the season. 

Griffin is 32-years-old and averaging just 5.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game on 31.8% shooting from the field. 

Milsap hasn't been any better; the 36-year-old has averages of 2.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and shooting 34.9% from the field. 

Therefore, the Nets should have gone out and signed Cousins instead of the Bucks. 

If the Nets have any chance of a winning a title this season they will have to go through the Bucks (the team that beat them in the playoffs last season) and this move was a solid one for the Bucks. 

Cousins is low-risk, because if he doesn't work out they can waive him, but if he works out he has the potential to be a game-changer.

He's younger (31-years-old) than both Griffin and Milsap, and last season he averaged 8.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game on 42.6% shooting from the field in 41 games with the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers. 

The move could end up being nothing, but there is also a chance the Bucks may have just gotten an absolute steal that the Nets should have gotten. 

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Some of the NPR staff's favorite books of 2021 from Books We Love - NPR

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In what has become an annual tradition, NPR's staff and regular book critics bring you a mighty year-end guide of Books We Love. In 2021, you can find more than 360 recommendations ranging from cookbooks to realistic fiction and from graphic novels to tell-all tales.

Here are a handful of some of the most interesting staff picks — you may even find some choices that surprise you! — like The Secret History of Home Economics and Fat Chance, Charlie Vega.

We hope you enjoy our full slate of selections — and take some time to browse through for awhile!

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

"Build Your House Around My Body begins with the disappearance of a young woman named Winnie, and works its way backwards through time, telling a story of unfinished business and long-delayed revenge. Some of its set pieces are familiar from Hollywood horror movies and Brothers Grimm fairy tales – there's an exorcism and a haunted forest. But because this book is set in Vietnam, the forest is an overgrown rubber tree plantation and the exorcism doesn't have crucifixes or holy water. It's a sprawling novel that tells a ghost story spanning generations, drawing the reader into its supernatural world." — Ari Shapiro, host, All Things Considered

Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood

"Billed as 'One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World,' this fascinating, exhaustively researched and gorgeously written tome delves deep into the background of everything from D.W. Griffith's monstrous silent Birth of a Nation, to teenager Darnella Frazier's video of the murder of George Floyd. If you've ever wondered why you can't see the Sidney Poitier/Dorothy Dandridge Porgy and Bess, or why Spike Lee had to borrow money to fly to Cannes to win Best Young Director for She's Gotta Have It, or why ... nah, I should stop. So many treasures to unearth, you'll want to do it yourself." — Bob Mondello, movie critic, Culture Desk

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

"Michelle Zauner's debut memoir eloquently lays out the complexity and the ongoing grief of losing a parent in your 20s, just as your own life is about to start. Zauner, who heads the indie band Japanese Breakfast, writes about how she turned to Korean food as a way to process her grief when her mother, her only tie to Korean culture, died of cancer. The book, which was first excerpted as viral New Yorker essay in 2018, reflects on how cooking and eating the food that her mom once prepared gives her a way to connect to her identity. As someone who also lost a parent in my 20s, it's hard to convey the loss of identity and confusion that I faced, so I'm so thankful this book exists." — Alyssa Jeong Perry, producer, Code Switch

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

"I'm glad there's a wave of YA books with fat protagonists, but the characters often possess a level of self-confidence that's too good to be true. Crystal Maldonado has created a much-needed believable protagonist with teenage and adult readers. Charlie Vega is a fat, glasses-wearing, biracial Puerto Rican with a diet-pushing mother and a beautiful, athletic best friend. When her classmate Brian pursues a romantic relationship, Charlie is plagued with-self doubt. The book is propelled by conflicts both internal and external. I'm glad this book isn't body-positive escapism, but rather a well-observed story of fat teenage life." — Jessica Reedy, producer/editor, Pop Culture Happy Hour

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke

"Kristen Radtke looks at the science of loneliness and its presence in American society – and interweaves it with poignant stories from her own life. She dives into its evolutionary purpose while retracing the surprising places where loneliness comes up: in TV laugh tracks, in the much-venerated lone cowboys in American pop culture. All the while, she shares her own brushes with isolation – mourning the end of a TV series, scrolling through her phone in bed, witnessing the death of her grandmother. It's a deeply engaging, masterful work of science and heart, and incredibly timely as the pandemic continues on." — Malaka Gharib, deputy editor, Goats and Soda, author of I Was Their American Dream

Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994-2007) by Dan Ozzi

"Let breathe new dawn - this art is dead / No sense of original thought in the mainstream" goes a lyric in the opening track of Against Me!'s first major-label album – one I (wrongly) thought sucked before ever having heard it, simply because it was on a major label. In Sellout, Dan Ozzi examines this intersection among bands trying to make a mark in the world, music labels hoping to make a buck off them and fans feeling betrayed by their idols. Even if you never spent time on punknews.org arguing about the taxonomy of "folk punk," it's a question that exists in every art form: How much is it worth to get paid? — Andrew Limbong, reporter, Culture Desk

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

"Ashley Ford's riveting memoir is an honest, heartbreaking story about her father's incarceration and the resulting family trauma. Her story is about race and family and about how the choices we make, plus those forced upon us, can complicate the trajectory of our lives. Ford writes with a refreshing and riveting candor. As a fellow Hoosier, I found the book particularly compelling because it is not only a coming-of-age Midwestern tale with all the typical concerns about body image and mother-daughter tension, but also a sharp commentary on the harsh realities of growing up as a Black person in Indiana. Ford also gives us an important glimpse of how prison shapes the daughters left behind." — Asma Khalid, White House correspondent, Washington Desk

The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

"Anna Sun is a talented violinist in the Bay Area whose disappointing boyfriend springs a proposal on her: an open relationship. While processing her boyfriend's request and battling a creative block, Anna meets Quan and wonders if he might be the real deal. I love this book because it deals with issues that feel really relevant to today, such as creative burnout, bad boyfriends and neurodivergence, which Helen Hoang explores through these deeply rich and heartfelt characters." — Candice Lim, production assistant, Pop Culture Happy Hour

The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life by Kyle Beachy

The year 2021 is the year of skateboarding. The "rebel" pursuit was transformed into an Olympic sport. Thrasher magazine, the skateboarding's bible, turned 40. And many have picked up skateboards for the first time. So The Most Fun Thing couldn't have come at a better time. Kyle Beachy is a longtime skater and writing professor. His memoir, compiled from essays that span a decade, ponder the meaning of skateboarding. "What percentage of skateboarding, I wonder, is talking about skateboarding?" he writes. "Half, probably. There is such rich joy to be found in these debates without stakes." Even as they "go nowhere, slowly." — Milton Guevara, production assistant, Morning Edition

The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live by Danielle Dreilinger

"The secret's out! Before I read this book, home economics was just a class that I took in junior high with the aptly named Mrs. Housekeeper. But in reading this book, I discovered that in the early 20th century, the field provided jobs for women in the sciences, corporations and government. And despite a flirtation with the eugenics movement, it was an area in which Black women could, and did, make significant contributions. Danielle Dreilinger also makes the case that cooking and managing a budget are invaluable lessons for all children and should still be part of the school curriculum. — Emiko Tamagawa, senior producer, Here & Now

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

"I'm among the weirdos who responded to the pandemic by upping my workouts, which made Alison Bechdel's latest graphic novel feel unexpectedly timely. A lifelong fitness freak, who's embraced everything from martial arts to mountaineering, Bechdel applies the same rigor to her analysis of her quest for a mind/body connection, which contains the sort of psychoanalytic layers, self-deprecating charm and ambitious complexities her fans have come to expect." — Neda Ulaby, correspondent, Culture Desk

Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey Into the Heart of Desire by Tracy Clark-Flory

"As a woman, dating men is kind of exhausting – especially when you consider all of the ways women's understanding of our own sexuality is shaped by the male gaze. In her new memoir, Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey Into the Heart of Desire, Jezebel writer Tracy Clark-Flory unpacks the different ways women are taught to be passive objects of lust, rather than active participants in sex. Through a combination of personal stories, previous reporting and feminist theory, Clark-Flory decodes the messy yet massively rewarding journey of taking agency over one's pleasure, with or without a partner." — Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, assistant producer, Weekend Edition

---

To read more recommendations from staff members, you can explore the "Staff Picks" section on the 2021 Books We Love website.

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DNR concurs that Enbridge cleanup is progressing | Fort Atkinson | dailyunion.com - Daily Union

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DNR concurs that Enbridge cleanup is progressing | Fort Atkinson | dailyunion.com  Daily Union

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China is mining much more coal again and that's boosting its factories - CNN

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Hong Kong (CNN Business)China's economy is finally getting some good news: Its big factories are staging a recovery as a power crunch that held back production starts to ease because of a big jump in coal supply.

A government survey of manufacturing activity increased to 50.1 in November from 49.2 in October, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday. It was the first reading above 50 — indicating expansion rather than contraction — in three months. It was also the first time since March that the index increased over the prior month.

Beijing on Tuesday attributed the improvement to "recent policy measures" that have strengthened energy supply and stabilized soaring costs.

"In November, power shortages eased and prices of some raw materials dropped significantly," said Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician for NBS, in a statement.

China has grappled with the power crunch for months, as extreme weather, surging demand for energy and strict limits on coal usage delivered a triple blow to the nation's electricity grid.

The problem came to a head in September, when companies were told to limit their energy consumption in order to reduce demand for power. Supply was cut to some homes, reportedly even trapping people in elevators.

The energy crunch, along with surging raw material costs, resulted in a sharp drop in industrial output for September and October. To combat the problem, authorities have relaxed their efforts to cut carbon emissions and ordered coal mines to ramp up production.

The result was notable. China — which uses more than half the world's coal supply and is already the largest emitter of carbon — set a new daily record for coal production in mid-November, according to statistics from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The agency's "strong interventions" mitigated the "overall power shortage" and eased cost pressures on some industries, analysts from Citi wrote in a Tuesday research report. The power woes had pushed up the cost of aluminum, steel and other raw materials, rippling through industries like carmaking and construction.

Stress still to come?

But there may be some continued stress on industrial output in the coming months, resulting from China's preparation for the upcoming Winter Olympics, a continuing crisis in real estate, and the potential impact of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Citi analysts said that the production of raw materials — which causes high levels of air pollution — may be limited in northern China as the government tries to "ensure blue skies for [the] Beijing Winter Olympics."

The downturn in China's property sector poses another risk.

Tuesday's data showed while new orders received by factories rebounded somewhat, that gauge still did not enter expansion territory, suggesting that domestic demand remains weak.

"The major challenge now is the significant pressure that the property downturn puts on the aggregate demand," the Citi analysts said. Real estate — and related industries — account for as much as 30% of Chinese GDP.

Tuesday's data also showed that non-manufacturing PMI, which measures the performance of services and construction industries, reached 52.3 in November, slightly weaker than October's 52.4.

Analysts say the Omicron variant might be a concern going forward, especially for the services industry.

The newest variant of the coronavirus has been labeled of "concern" by the World Health Organization because of its seemingly fast spread in South Africa and its many troubling mutations. While specific details of the new variant have yet to be made clear, several countries have scrambled to impose travel bans.

China, though, has long pursued a "zero Covid" approach, and maintains what are already among the strictest border restrictions in the world.

"Looking ahead, most of the weakness in services should reverse in December unless — obviously a big caveat with the emergence of Omicron — there are new outbreaks," wrote economists with Capital Economics in a Tuesday research report. "In that case, the authorities would turn to more stringent controls to contain it."

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