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Pentagon Deadline Tests Silicon Valley Arms Model

Zoox Will Start Charging for Driverless Las Vegas Rides

Texas Grid Pause Puts Abbott at Odds With Trump

Saudi Refinery Closes After Houthi-Claimed Strike

New Women's Baseball League Starts Inaugural Season

Pentagon Deadline Tests Silicon Valley Arms Model

Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg gave U.S. weapons makers 21 days to propose faster delivery schedules and increased production of critical systems in an Aug. 5 memo made public Sunday, and the Pentagon said contractors' responses will help shape its fiscal 2028 budget request. The order follows heavy use of advanced interceptors and precision munitions during months of fighting with Iran, while constraints involving rocket motors, specialized machinery and skilled workers could make replenishment a yearslong effort. It also comes as the Pentagon looks beyond traditional prime contractors, with Undersecretary Emil Michael, a former Uber executive, promoting federal investment as a signal to private capital and other emerging suppliers. Anduril, a venture-backed defense technology company founded by Oculus creator Palmer Luckey, represents that newer model with its focus on autonomous aircraft, drones and surveillance systems. Its new $1 billion Arsenal-1 factory in Ohio recently produced its first YFQ-44A autonomous aircraft and is designed to build as many as 150 annually. The contractors' answers will show whether newer manufacturing approaches can help rebuild U.S. stocks fast enough to sustain a major conflict and what Congress may be asked to fund.

CNBC / Washington Post / Defense News

Zoox Will Start Charging for Driverless Las Vegas Rides

Amazon-owned Zoox will begin charging passengers for driverless rides in Las Vegas on Monday, marking its first commercial service after years of free testing. The company has not disclosed a base fare but says prices will be calculated from a starting fee, distance and travel time and will compete with ride-hailing companies' comfort tiers. The planned launch follows a July exemption from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that allows Zoox to operate purpose-built vehicles without steering wheels, pedals or other manual controls, covering up to 2,500 vehicles in each of the next two years. The bidirectional vehicles seat passengers in two inward-facing rows, and Zoox has also carried riders during testing in San Francisco, Austin and Miami. Charging fares will allow Zoox to test whether its vertically integrated model can challenge Alphabet's much larger Waymo service while establishing a regulatory path for vehicles built without human controls.

CNBC / News 3 Las Vegas

Texas Grid Pause Puts Abbott at Odds With Trump

Texas regulators paused new data center projects moving through the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' grid-connection process while they audit applicants' projected electricity demand, water use, public assistance, community protections and ownership. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the review Aug. 3 and directed regulators to deny connections to projects that do not comply with state requirements. ERCOT has received roughly 474 gigawatts of large-load connection requests, about 90% of them from data centers and more than five times Texas' record peak demand of about 91 gigawatts. The queue reflects capacity developers have applied for, not a forecast of what will be used, and many of the proposed projects are not expected to be built. President Donald Trump called Texas opposition to data centers a mistake on Aug. 7, while Abbott's office said rapid demand growth could threaten grid reliability. The dispute could influence where companies invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure and how other states weigh economic development against pressure on power and water supplies.

Texas Tribune / Utility Dive / Office of the Texas Governor / Houston Public Media

Saudi Refinery Closes After Houthi-Claimed Strike

Yemen's Houthi movement said Sunday that it attacked Saudi Aramco's Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia with a drone, while Saudi authorities reported a fire at the facility but did not identify its cause. The Saudi Energy Ministry said the fire was extinguished without casualties, and reporting indicated that Aramco shut the refinery, which can process about 400,000 barrels of crude a day. The incident came two days after Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a NATO-like pact treating an attack on one as an attack on all. It also occurred as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained heavily restricted after Iran asserted control over the waterway when fighting resumed in July. President Donald Trump said the United States would emphasize economic pressure on Iran, while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said negotiations could not resume until Tehran's conditions were met. A prolonged refinery shutdown would further constrain fuel supplies already affected by the disruption at Hormuz, with potential consequences for energy prices and inflation.

NPR / NBC News / Al Jazeera / CBC / ABC News / OilPrice / Breaking Defense / Atlantic Council

New Women's Baseball League Starts Inaugural Season

The Women's Pro Baseball League opened its inaugural season Aug. 1 at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois, creating the first new U.S. professional women's baseball league in nearly three decades. Its four teams — the Boston Hunters, New York Heights, Los Angeles Queens and San Francisco Firebells — will play their regular-season games and playoffs at the neutral Springfield ballpark. The rosters include Los Angeles player Mo'ne Davis, who drew national attention in 2014 when she became the first girl to pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series. The league follows a scattered history that includes the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which folded in 1954, and the short-lived Ladies Professional Baseball League of 1997 and 1998. The launch gives elite women baseball players a professional U.S. pathway at a time of rising investment and audiences across women's sports.

OPB / Texas Public Radio / KPBS / Women's Pro Baseball League

AUGUST 10, 1776: LONDON LEARNS OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

News reached London on August 10, 1776 that the American colonies had formally declared independence from Britain. The announcement signaled that what had been viewed as a colonial rebellion in Massachusetts had become a full-scale struggle to break from British rule and assert a new nation’s rights.

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Sources

1. CNBC / Fortune / Al Arabiya / CNN / Washington Post / Defense News
2. CNBC / CNBC / News 3 Las Vegas
3. Texas Tribune / Utility Dive / Office of the Texas Governor / Houston Public Media
4. NPR / NBC News / Al Jazeera / CBC / ABC News / OilPrice / Al Jazeera / Breaking Defense / Atlantic Council
5. OPB / Texas Public Radio / KPBS / Women's Pro Baseball League