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| Presented By Bank of America |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen · Oct 12, 2022 |
| 🐪 Hello, Wednesday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,192 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Noah Bressner. |
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| 1 big thing: Billion-dollar trend |
 Data: Climate Central, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. (Damages of at least $1 billion, adjusted for 2022 dollars. Average = 1980-2022.) Chart: Axios Visuals The cost and frequency of extreme-weather disasters has increased in recent years, Axios' Andrew Freedman writes from new NOAA data. - According to Climate Central, a research and communications nonprofit, the frequency of billion-dollar weather disasters is now about one event every 18 days.
Why it matters: That compares to 82 days between such disasters in the 1980s, Climate Central found. 🌀 Zoom in: Early estimates from Hurricane Ian damage surveys indicate it was one of the costliest storms in U.S. history, with insured losses of $53 billion to $74 billion. Between the lines: Much of the increase in damage costs is related to population growth in vulnerable areas, including the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast. This gives storms, many of which have been worsened by climate change, a bigger bullseye to target. |
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| 2. 🗳️ Poll: Warning for Walker |
 Data: University of Georgia poll. Chart: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals Herschel Walker, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia, was slipping with female, Black and independent voters even before last week's damaging allegations from an ex-girlfriend. - That's a key finding of University of Georgia polling for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other members of the Georgia News Collaborative.
The Senate race was still neck-and-neck — and a third-party candidate could force a runoff, writes Emma Hurt of Axios Atlanta. - Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) had 46% to Walker's 43% — a statistical tie. Libertarian Chase Oliver was at 4%.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) kept a wide lead over Democrat Stacey Abrams — 51% to 41%. 🧮 By the numbers: Since last month's poll, Warnock grew 9 points with women, 12 points among Black voters and 7 points among independents. - White respondents, and those with high school degrees or less, maintained a wide preference for Walker over Warnock.
The AJC's Greg Bluestein writes that "9% of Kemp's voters back Warnock, and an additional 5% say they'll vote for Oliver." |
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| 3. Stacey Abrams' long game |
| Stacey Abrams attends the ONE MusicFest in Atlanta on Saturday. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images Since her last time on the Georgia ballot, as a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Stacey Abrams has gone from state lawmaker and tax attorney to a sought-after national speaker with lucrative book deals, writes Emma Hurt of Axios Atlanta. - Why it matters: No Black woman has been elected an American governor. And regardless of the outcome in November, Abrams has amassed the influence and financial strength to play a long game statewide and nationally.
Her opponent, Gov. Brian Kemp (R), calls her "Celebrity Stacey," and accuses her of using Georgia as a "stepping stone" to the presidency. - Abrams told The 19th last month: "They're mad because I'm not broke. They're angry because I leveraged my intellectual capital and my business acumen to do something over the last four years."
Abrams told Axios in an interview early last year that she has been intentional about engaging in the public, private and nonprofit arenas. - "I've been successful in all three," she said.
The intrigue: Democrats at times have been skeptical about results from Abrams' highly publicized voter-registration efforts. |
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| A message from Bank of America |
| Strengthening communities with economic opportunities |
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| Through training and affordable retail space, the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development is advancing economic mobility for the community's Hispanic-Latino residents. See what's in store for the organization's new business and cultural hub, CentroVilla25, supported by BoA. |
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| 4. 🔋 GM as tech company |
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| Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios |
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| GM is becoming a diversified energy company — selling battery technology and energy management services to power not just cars, but also trains, boats, commercial equipment and buildings, Joann Muller writes from Detroit for Axios What's Next. - "One day people are going to see GM as a tech company," says GM V.P. Travis Hester, who leads the company's EV growth initiative.
Why it matters: It's all part of GM's strategy to build an EV ecosystem — batteries, charging, connectivity and energy management — that it can supply to other industries as well. What's happening: The automaker is creating a new business unit, GM Energy, to sell energy storage and management services to residential and commercial customers. - Electric vehicle (EV) owners would be able to use their cars to power their homes during an outage — or sell energy back to utilities during peak consumption periods.
- GM's network of dealers will help market the company's home energy systems when they sell EVs.
🥊 Reality check: GM rival Tesla has had a solar energy and storage business for years. |
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| 5. 🔮 New metaverse onramp |
| Meta Quest Pro headset. Photo: Meta via Reuters A year after rebranding itself as Meta, Facebook's parent company released a $1,499 virtual-reality headset — Meta Quest Pro — that it hopes will show concrete results from already-massive investments, Axios' Ina Fried and Scott Rosenberg write. - Why it matters: The company knows that building an immersive, 3-D virtual network for work and play will take years. But it has to begin selling people today on the value and the excitement.
Mark Zuckerberg emphasized use of the device for "getting work done." - At yesterday's Meta event, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced plans to bring Office, Teams and Windows to Quest headsets.
Between the lines: Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth noted the headset's appeal to gamers and other tech enthusiasts, who'll appreciate its comfort and power. |
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| 6. 🏋️ Biden's workout challenge |
Photo: Sarah Silbiger for CNN President Biden told CNN's Jake Tapper last night during a pre-taped interview that he'll make a final decision on whether or not to run in 2024 after the midterms. - Insisting he could beat former President Trump again, Biden promised the U.S. would have an assault weapons ban by the time he left the White House:
- "Name me a president, in recent history, who's gotten as much done, as I have, in the first two years. Not a joke," he said.
Photo: Sarah Silbiger for CNN After answering a question about his age, Biden shot back: "Will you come work out with me in the morning?" |
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| 7. Biden enters L.A. furor |
| Protesters in the Council Chamber at L.A. City Hall yesterday. Photo: Gary Coronado/L.A. Times via Getty Images An angry crowd confronted the Los Angeles City Council yesterday after the L.A. Times revealed audio of a racist conversation among council members, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. - City Council President Nury Martinez resigned from that post on Monday — the day after the revelations. She's taking a leave of absence but remains on the council.
President Biden wants more resignations, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: - "The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable and it was appalling."
During yesterday's council meeting, protesters demanded resignations from three Latino council members on the tape. - The crowd chanted "fuera" — "out" in Spanish.
👀 What we're watching: L.A. is in the midst of a mayoral election dominated by rising crime, growing homelessness and the economy. The new mayor will also have a healing mission. |
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| 8. 🕵️ Remembering Angela Lansbury |
| Angela Lansbury and Gregory Sierra (as Lt. Gabriel Caceras) in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" titled "A Nest of Vipers" in 1994. Photo: CBS via Getty Images Angela Lansbury — the British actor who was beloved on Broadway and best known for her role in the TV series "Murder, She Wrote" — died yesterday, five days shy of her 97th birthday. - "As honored as she was in film and on stage, Lansbury achieved her greatest popularity on the small screen," Variety's Chris Morris writes.
The hit CBS series "became appointment TV for its fans on Sunday nights, and ran for 12 highly rated seasons" from 1984-1996. |
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| A message from Bank of America |
| A new cultural and business hub |
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| Cleveland's CentroVilla25 will serve as a hub for retailers and residents in the predominantly Hispanic-Latino Clark-Fulton community. Learn how Bank of America's delivering on its $1.25 billion commitment to racial equality by supporting economic development initiatives like CentroVilla25. |
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