Today’s highlights are a morning panel on childhood development and poverty, a conversation on the lessons from the financial crisis, and former president Bill Clinton’s conversation with former president Jimmy Carter to cap off the event.
You can review the full event agenda here. You can view tweets from throughout the event here. A collection of official photos is here.
Expect a high of 95 degrees today, with a chance of rain in the afternoon and evening.
Yesterday’s highlights at CGI America
America’s economic future depends on small businesses. “We can’t hope to lead the world in the economy if we don’t lead the world in small-business formation,” said Clinton, in discussion with Jewel Burks, Sandy Douglas, Shirley Ann Jackson, and Ian Bremmer. But the panelists agreed that if the US wants more entrepreneurs, it needs to relieve some of its $1.2 trillion student-debt burden.
Opioid abuse should be treated as an illness, not a crime. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin relayed heart-breaking stories of lives lost to prescription painkillers, and urged attendees to support his related legislative proposals, including a one-cent tax on every milligram of opioids sold in the US.
Green jobs are the future of the US. Georgia Power’s W. Paul Bowers and Adrianna Quintero of Voces Verdes made the case for preparing kids for the green jobs of the future starting in elementary school. BlocPower’s Donnel Baird said that machine learning was a critical job skill area as well. “We need to demystify this” to make sure people of color don’t exclude themselves from opportunities, said Quintero.
What everyone is talking about at CGI America
Green infrastructure in Atlanta. Mayor Kasim Reed boasted about the Atlanta Beltline, a 22-mile rail trail made possible by a CGI America commitment in 2013, and a proposed $2.5 billion expansion of Atlanta’s public transportation system. A new CGI America commitment will focus on converting several blighted watershed neighborhoods into a park, providing new public green space and an advanced system to manage sewage and stormwater runoff. Another new commitment partners the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church (where Martin Luther King Jr. and Sr. worshipped) with BlocPower for energy audits of its buildings.
Expanding home ownership in Detroit. Clinton and Kresge Foundation president Rip Rapson lauded the city’s unique plan to heal its housing market, which was plagued by low-quality structures that were nearly impossible to mortgage. A CGI America commitment led to the creation of Detroit Home Mortgage, which launched in February and will facilitate one thousand fixer-upper home loans by the end of this year.
Divisive politics and a disease of “likes.” “Even with what happened in Orlando yesterday, Americans are less racist, sexist, and homophobic than we’ve ever been,” said Clinton. “Our remaining vice is that we don’t like to be with people who disagree with us.” Political division is the nation’s biggest weakness now, echoed Bremmer, and it’s not reassuring to our allies abroad.
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What’s happening in the rest of the world
E3 Expo 2016 begins. The world’s premier video-game convention returns to Los Angeles, with a focus on new hardware. Sony announced a slew of new games ahead of the event and details of Microsoft’s new pared-down Xbox One were leaked.
Diplomats gather in Oslo to talk Tehran. US secretary of state John Kerry, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Zarif, and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will meet to discuss the Iran nuclear deal. The Oslo Forum is an annual meeting of leaders focused on mediating and resolving global conflicts.
Valeant holds its annual shareholder meeting. Last week, the pharmaceutical giant saw its stock slip to its lowest level in nearly six years after it slashed its outlook for the year and reported poor results. Today it faces angry investors in a live-streamed meeting.
Southeast Asian leaders discuss borders with Beijing. Foreign ministers from 10 countries are meeting in China for talks over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. China claims most of the sea, but countries including Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and Taiwan have competing claims.
Matters of debate
Inequality isn’t making us sick. A study of Swedish lottery winners shows they don’t get any healthier after financial windfalls.
“Pay for success” investment programs can help fix social mobility in the US. It’s better to focus on outcomes rather than outputs.
We’re near the end of the fossil-fuel era. We’re not running out—the alternatives are just getting cheaper.
Surprising discoveries
Germans are no longer the world champions of nude sunbathing. Neighbor Austria has nabbed the crown.
An Indian minister’s tweet about a broken fridge went viral. ”Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress.”
Robots are working at Belgian hospitals. The humanoid robots work as assistants at reception desks in Liege and Ostend.
Facebook accidentally declared war in the Philippines. It has apologized for not using the country’s peacetime flag.
Mongolia is changing its addresses to three-word phrases. The vast country is using an app that assigns unique phrases to 9-square-meter spots linked to GPS coordinates.
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