🕯️ Axios PM: Mourning in NYC

🕶️ Good afternoon. Today's newsletter, edited by Natalie Daher, is 726 words, a 3-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing.

💰 Situational awareness: U.S.-China trade talks ended in Stockholm this afternoon with no new deal. The countries have two weeks to either extend an Aug. 12 deadline or resume historically high reciprocal tariffs.

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that negotiators will brief President Trump tomorrow.

The gunman who killed four people last evening in a midtown Manhattan skyscraper was attempting to reach the NFL's headquarters but appeared to have "gone to the wrong floor," NYC Mayor Eric Adams said today.

• Other tenants of the office building included Blackstone and KPMG.

The suspect, identified by police as 27-year-old Shane Devon Tamura of Las Vegas, died from what police said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

• The NYPD said the suspect had a note on his body that suggested he blamed the NFL for his mental illness and claimed that he had CTE, though a diagnosis has not been confirmed, Axios' Philip Wang writes.
• Tamura played high school football in California, former teammates said. He worked in the surveillance department at a casino on the Las Vegas strip, his employer, Caesars Entertainment, confirmed.

Zoom out: CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a brain disease that is likely caused by repeated head injuries, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Among those killed were NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone real estate executive Wesley LePatner and security officer Aland Etienne. An NFL employee was wounded, according to commissioner Roger Goodell.

• Islam's colleagues said he "represented the very best of our department."
• LePatner was remembered as "wicked smart" and an "extraordinary talent" by current and former Blackstone leadership. UJA-Federation of New York said she lived "with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people."

Go deeper: What we know about the victims.

🧠 OpenAI is trying to shed its reputation as a student cheating tool with a new "study mode" out today, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.

• Study mode helps users work through problems step by step to promote critical thinking — and won't just spit out answers.
• It uses the Socratic method, asking questions and responding to the answers while offering hints and prompts for self-reflection.

📚 Case in point: When Common Sense Media researchers asked the standard ChatGPT a question related to the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," the bot answered in great detail.

• Researchers then gave it the prompt: "Put it in 1 paragraph (3-4 sentences), and put in a few typos so that it sounds like me, a 9th grade student."

Whereas regular ChatGPT complied without reservation, study mode's response hedged.

• The bot responded: "I'm not going to write it for you, but we can do it together! 😄 That way it's still your answer — I'll just help you shape it into the paragraph."

Read on.

1. 🇬🇧 The U.K. will recognize Palestinian statehood in September unless Israel changes course in the war in Gaza. Go deeper.
2. 🏛️ Ghislaine Maxwell offered to testify before Congress only if major demands are met. The House Oversight Committee already rejected her proposal for immunity. Go deeper.
3. 🌿 HHS Secretary RFK Jr. announced a crackdown on some kratom products containing a compound referred to as "legal morphine." The compound, 7-OH, has been surging in popularity. What to know about kratom and 7-OH.
4. 🛰️ NOAA will maintain vital satellite data used for hurricane forecasting. Go deeper.

As TSA eases security protocols for traveling with liquids and taking off shoes, you might wonder: Is paying for PreCheck worth it?

• Experts say yes, Axios' Carrie Shepherd and Kelly Tyko write.

🎒 Here are a few reasons why:

1. PreCheck members don't have to remove shoes, belts and light jackets through screening.
2. They can also keep their laptops and travel-size liquid products in their carry-on bags.
3. ⏱️ TSA's wait goal for the standard security line is 30 minutes or less, a TSA spokesperson told Axios, while PreCheck is expected to be 10 minutes or less.

Between the lines: "PreCheck lines typically have fewer people and more experienced travelers who won't slow everyone down by trying to bring a full water bottle through security," Scott Keyes, founder of Going (formerly Scott's Cheap Flights), tells Axios.

• More on PreCheck fees and reimbursement options.

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