Axios PM: Coast-to-coast makeover

Plus: Goodbye to a giant | Thursday, December 09, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Morgan Stanley   Axios PM By Mike Allen ·Dec 09, 2021 Today's PM — edited by Justin Green — is 468 words, a 2-minute read. ⚡️ The first Starbucks union: Workers at a branch in Buffalo voted to form the 50-year-old firm's first union. A second branch voted against unionizing. Go deeper.     1 big thing: Coast-to-coast makeover National Park Service employees cook on a newly restored masonry grill at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia. Photo: Moira Gasior/National Park Service via AP The National Park Service has begun a coast-to-coast makeover of "once in a generation" ambition, including fixes to power lines laid in the 1930s and picnic shelters built in the 1940s. The big picture: America's national parks suffered decades of neglected maintenance requests and deteriorating conditions, all while national park tourism surged, notes Axios' Erin Doherty. The Great American Outdoors Act, passed in 2020, provides more than $1 billion annually over the next five years for repairs at national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and tribal schools, AP reports. Driving the news: Some small-scale improvement projects have already concluded, while larger projects are in the works. D.C.: Crews completed a $3.8 million project to clean the white marble of the Jefferson Memorial of grime and fixed cracked stone. New River Gorge in West Virginia: Workers restored masonry grills from the 1930s. The Grand Canyon: New water line to serve more than 6 million visitors and full-time residents, per AP. Puerto Rico: A project would secure a cliffside that has been worn down by the elements at San Juan National Historic Site. The bottom line: "The [act] ... offers us really a once in a generation opportunity," NPS official Mike Caldwell told AP.     2. Chart du jour Data: YCharts; Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios Apple has risen in value by an astonishing $1.85 trillion in just 433 trading sessions since the lows of March 2020, notes Axios Capital author Felix Salmon. Before 2018, no company had ever even been worth $1 trillion.     A message from Morgan Stanley Your 2021 guide to impactful holiday giving     As we look to close out the year on a healthy, hopeful note, consider these ways to support the causes you value and the people you care for. Connect with a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor today to discuss how you can set yourself up for a successful year-end and a bright 2022.     3. Catch up quick President Biden speaks at the virtual opening of the Democracy Summit. Photo/Susan Walsh/AP New midterms memo: Top Democratic strategist Anita Dunn advised the party's House and Senate members to frame Republicans "as being against the economic interests of working Americans." Read the memo. Teens, too: The FDA authorized Pfizer-BioNTech boosters for 16- and 17-year-olds. Go deeper. New York AG Letitia James suspended her campaign bid for governor, citing a desire to "finish her work" as AG. Go deeper. The parents of two students who survived last month's school shooting in Michigan are suing the school district. Go deeper.     4. Senators say goodbye to a giant The casket of former Sen. Bob Dole in the Capitol today. Photo: Jabin Botsford/Pool/Getty Images President Biden, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other lawmakers honored Sen. Bob Dole, who laid in state at the U.S. Capitol after passing away Sunday at the age of 98. "He, too, was a giant of our history. That's not hyperbole," said Biden of his longtime Senate colleague. Photo: Mandel Ngan/Pool/AFP via Getty Images Speaker Pelosi — who kissed the hand of Dole's wife, former Sen. Elizabeth Dole (pictured above) — said, "[A]s we honor his life this morning, let us resolve to meet his challenge ... 'to act worthy of our ideals' — and carry on his mission." "May Sen. Dole rest in the peace that he deserves."     A message from Morgan Stanley Your 2021 guide to impactful holiday giving     As we look to close out the year on a healthy, hopeful note, consider these ways to support the causes you value and the people you care for. Connect with a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor today to discuss how you can set yourself up for a successful year-end and a bright 2022.   Like this email style and format? Bring the strength of Smart Brevity® to your team — more effective communications, powered by Axios HQ.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: