Good morning, it's Monday, Sept. 28. Storms drenched both the East Coast and Hawaii but largely avoided widespread problems. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: The imminent closure of the Western Hemisphere's oldest natural science museum (Need to Know), positive news following a dangerous tackle in college football (Sports, Ent., and Cult.), a roiling debate over whether to bring iced coffee to an interview (Etc.), and much more. 

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 Need To Know 

An Early Nor'easter

An early-season nor’easter brought heavy rain and strong winds to the East Coast over the weekend. At least one person was killed by a falling tree, and around 180,000 people lost power at the storm’s peak (videos of the aftermath).

Multiple New England states recorded wind gusts exceeding 60 mph and rainfall from two to six inches (what causes a nor’easter?). Coastal floods overtook roads and buildings along the Jersey Shore and Long Island. Warnings for river flooding in New Jersey and Massachusetts remained in effect yesterday. On Nantucket, nor’easter-driven waves washed remains from a shipwreck ashore. Experts believe the wooden fragments were part of a schooner that sailed in 1884. 

Separately, Hurricane Nolo threatened Hawaii with gusty winds, rain, and flooding as it moved away from the islands yesterday. Its proximity prompted Hawaii’s unprecedented third hurricane watch in a single year, fueled by an exceptionally strong El Niño.

Science Museum Swan Song

The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia closed its museum to visitors yesterday, concluding an almost 200-year run. Opened in 1828, it was the oldest natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere, containing over 19 million scientific specimens. 

As with 55% of US museums, the academy struggled to return to prepandemic attendance levels, sliding from 123,550 visitors in 2019 to below 42,000 in 2021. It has been a nonprofit subsidiary of Drexel University since 2011, but the private institution said that the operational costs had become unsustainable. The university faces its own financial challenges, including a roughly 20% drop in enrollment over the last decade. Hundreds of people gathered to protest the museum’s closure, and Philadelphia City Council members scheduled a special hearing with museum leadership for Oct. 7. 

The museum featured a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex cast, a live butterfly garden, and over 200 plants collected by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Take a virtual walk-through. 

Missouri Map Mayhem

The Supreme Court rejected an effort to reinstate a reworked congressional map in Missouri late Friday, suspending a federal appeals court ruling permitting its use in the upcoming midterms. The decision—the third in recent weeks ruling in favor of a 2022 map—means some voters will cast ballots for candidates different from those in August primaries.

One of the more chaotic examples of recent midcycle redistricting efforts, the state’s legislature passed a new map favoring Republicans last September. A voter petition to use the 2022 map was ultimately found valid (see full timeline), but only after the primaries, forcing election officials to scramble to rewrite ballots. The current (from 2022) map gives the GOP a 6-2 seat advantage; the rejected map aimed for a 7-1 split. 

The Nov. 3 midterms are 36 days away. Find how to register to vote in your state, and see ratings for open House and Senate races here and here.

 In The Know 

Science & Technology

> OpenAI pauses training of latest models for second time in three months amid multiple reports of its agents probing US and Australian government websites (More) | What would it take to build trustworthy AI? (More, w/podcast) 

> Archaeologists excavate the first intact human burials from Göbekli Tepe, the world's oldest known temple site; the organized graves offer researchers clues about why bones previously found appeared to be scattered around the site (More) 

> Mount Vesuvius' eruption helps scientists refine geochronology methods to more accurately date Earth's history, per new study (More) | Watch a 3D animation of Pompeii's final day (More, w/video)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets finish Friday up (S&P 500 +0.5%, Dow +0.9%, Nasdaq +0.5%), fueled by a drop in oil prices following talks between Iran and US officials (More) | Ban on some Canadian alcohol goes into effect at midnight tonight (More)

> Jury finds Apple owes more than $5.7B in damages for unintentional patent infringement around haptic technologies, which provide tactile feedback (i.e., when your phone vibrates) (More) 

> Trump administration cuts Biden-era fuel economy standards; proposed rule cuts fleetwide averages for cars and light trucks from 50.4 to 34.5 mpg by 2031 (More) | Diesel prices down slightly week over week, around $6.47 per gallon (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> President Donald Trump rejects Iranian offer to restart talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; US reportedly focused on nuclear program concessions (More) | Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorist activity outside RAF Fairford, a British airbase used by the US (More)

> Northern Ireland’s “Orange Order” cleared to hold contentious Drumcree parade for the first time since 1998; march was a flashpoint during decadeslong Catholic-Protestant conflict (More) | What were "the Troubles?" (More)

> At least 27 people killed, more than two dozen wounded in separate mass shootings outside South Africa's Johannesburg and Cape Town; suspects at large as of this writing (More) 

Four ways to fix your attention span. (via YouTube)

How often should you wash sheets and towels?

Dogs and cats are hooked on a new Netflix cartoon.

Take an audio tour of America's Wild West.

Explore the demographics of your county and state.

Watch a massive compilation of every Simpsons "couch gag."

Iced coffee at interviews is the new intergenerational debate.

Fast-food chain Wendy's enters its emo phase with a six-song EP. (listen here)

Scientists discover a three-lipped sea spider species. 

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Clickbait: Give your salad a seasonal flair with spooky ranch dressing. 

Historybook: Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin (1928); Ted Williams is last Major League Baseball player to end season batting over .400 (1941); Jazz legend Miles Davis dies (1991); American tennis great and color barrier breaker Althea Gibson dies (2003); Rapper Coolio dies (2022).

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