Minggu, 20 September 2026

Drug Discount, Paris Rudeness, and Toon Nostalgia

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Good Morning! On this day in 1977, Happy Days aired the infamous episode in which Fonzie, wearing swim trunks and his signature leather jacket, jumped over a caged shark on water skis. The stunt inspired the phrase “jump the shark,” describing the moment a TV show peaks and begins declining in quality. See the notorious jump here.

If you recall Saturday mornings as the best part of your childhood, those memories likely involve hours of animated cartoons. For decades, the three TV networks offered a programming combination that started off the weekend on a high note. Today’s Whatever Happened To… explains why those days are a thing of the past.

In case you missed it on The Flyover Podcast, Christopher revealed the six exercises physical therapists actually recommend to their patients. Most people don't notice their strength and balance slipping until something as simple as standing up from a chair gets hard. But when therapists were asked what really works, the same six simple moves came up again and again, and we walked through each one, including one you can do while waiting for your morning coffee. Tune in here!

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States Join Medicaid Discount Plan

President Trump announced on Friday that all 50 states will join the administration's Medicaid drug-pricing model, tying the price of select Medicaid drugs to the lowest rates paid in other wealthy nations, which the White House says will save states billions.

The plan commits 26 major pharmaceutical companies to enact drug pricing for federal agencies that match the rates paid in eight other high-income nations, including Canada, Germany, Japan, and the UK.

States could save Medicaid $64 billion over the next 10 years, according to a White House Council of Economic Advisers estimate.

The model operates through the existing Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and focuses on brand-name drugs. States can choose which eligible drugs they want covered under the model, but must adopt standardized coverage criteria.

Trump, Xi Prepare for State Visit This Week

U.S. officials will greet Chinese President Xi Jinping at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday, rather than at the White House, for the first state visit by the leader of China in more than a decade.

The visit will include an arrival ceremony inside the White House, a Rose Garden military review, and a state dinner.

A number of key issues are likely to come up during the visit, including trade, artificial intelligence, and rare earth minerals. U.S. officials said Washington and Beijing may be ready to ease tariffs on some nonstrategic goods.

Separately, Treasury Secretary Bessent will meet over the weekend in New York with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng to discuss a range of economic issues.

LIST: Most Popular Breakfast Cereals by State

Froot Loops is the most popular breakfast cereal in 13 states and the most-searched cereal in the U.S., according to Google Trends.

The tropical-fruit-flavored sugar rings dominate throughout the South, while two relatively healthy options, Cheerios and Rice Krispies, each won five states.

Not surprisingly, many state favorites were among the most sugar-laden options. Post Golden Crisp, with 42% sugar by weight, carried Ohio and Indiana.

Wheat-based cereals were not so popular. Wheaties, Raisin Bran, and Frosted Mini-Wheats each came out on top in a single state.

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The following stories are featured exclusively on The Flyover Podcast—a daily show that gives you the most important headlines in under 15 minutes, straight from the heart of the country.

➤ The world’s most valuable company wants the AI race to move even faster. (Hear More)

➤ SpaceX scored another massive NASA deal to keep astronauts flying through 2030. (Listen Now)

➤ Two mighty whacks opened the taps at the world’s biggest beer celebration. (Podcast Available)

➤ Vanderbilt erased a 17-point deficit and won on an improbable last-second defensive touchdown, forcing a fumble as NC State appeared to attempt to run out the clock by taking an intentional safety. (Watch Play)

➤ No. 8 Ole Miss intercepted Sam Leavitt in the end zone with less than a minute remaining, sealing a 32-24 victory over No. 7 LSU as former Rebels coach Lane Kiffin returned to a hostile reception in Oxford. (Watch Play)

➤ Joey Logano won the Bristol Night Race for his 40th career Cup victory after contact from Carson Hocevar wrecked Ryan Blaney, who punched Hocevar afterward. (Watch Video)

➤ Week 2 of the NFL season features an NFC North showdown between the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, while the Indianapolis Colts face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. (See Schedule)

➤ Kelsey Mitchell scored 33 points in the Indiana Fever’s 103-85 win over the Toronto Tempo, breaking the WNBA single-season scoring record with 1,034 points and three games remaining. (More)

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Weekly Market Report Previous Week

▲	NASDAQ National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations	26,522.54	1.94%
▲	SPX S&P 500	7,650.50	0.51%
▼	DJI Dow Jones Industrial Average	51,682.64	-2.03%
▲	BTC Bitcoin	$80,901.46	5.30%
▲	GOLD Per Ounce	$4,424.90	1.14%
▲	SILVER Per Ounce	$66.56	7.01%
▼	OIL West Texas Intermediate Crude	$100.30	-1.91%

Bitcoin, gold, silver, and oil are traded 24 hours a day.

➤ The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 95.40 points on Friday to close a volatile week marked by rising Treasury yields, elevated oil prices, and the Federal Reserve’s first rate hike in three years. (More)

➤ Consumers will pay an extra $100 for Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, which hit the market on Friday. The cost increase is due to the AI-driven global memory and storage shortage. (More)

➤ Bitcoin topped $80,000 Friday for a two-week high as ETF inflows and short covering fueled a broader cryptocurrency rally despite a Fed rate hike and the Clarity Act’s failure. (More)

Today's Rotator section is brought to you by:

Ladies and gentlemen, here are our most-clicked stories of the week:

➤ Physical therapists revealed the six simple exercises they actually recommend to keep patients strong, steady, and independent as they age, including one you can do while waiting for your morning coffee. (Podcast Available)

➤ Travelers and tourism experts named Paris, Italy, Germany, South Korea, New York, and Montenegro among the rudest destinations, suggesting overtourism may leave locals jaded toward visitors. (More)

➤ Thirty nostalgic photos revisit childhood in the 1980s, featuring PEZ dispensers, chalkboard classrooms, Cabbage Patch Kids, bike rides, ice cream trucks, and lines for Return of the Jedi. (See Photos)

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➤ The U.S. approved a potential $2.68 billion air defense sale to Ukraine on Friday, financed by European contributions and previously appropriated U.S. funds, pending congressional review. (See Details)

➤ Cuba’s power grid collapsed for at least the sixth time this year on Friday, leaving millions without electricity before service returned to just 5% of Havana customers by dusk. (More)

➤ Russian authorities said cyberattacks targeted voting systems and communication lines during parliamentary elections Saturday, but officials claimed the attacks were repelled. (See Report)

➤ The lone juror whose guilty vote forced a mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s triple-murder case hired an attorney who represented President Trump, saying he has faced attacks for refusing to acquit. (See Details)

➤ Tom Cruise called Taylor Swift a genius in an interview this week, saying she was “schooling me on football” during Monday’s Chiefs opener, his first NFL game since before the pandemic. (See Video)

➤ A humpback whale surfaced in the Sacramento River Delta on Wednesday, about 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean, prompting the Marine Mammal Center to urge boaters to keep their distance. (See Photos)

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Whatever happened to Saturday morning cartoons?

For a solid three decades, Saturday morning in America meant one thing for kids: wake up before your parents, pour a bowl of something frosted, and park yourself in front of the TV for hours of cartoons.

It was appointment viewing before the term existed, and it shaped a generation. Kids memorized the Saturday morning cartoon schedules. Then, gradually, it all went away.

The tradition took root in the early 1960s when Hanna-Barbera, the studio behind The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and dozens more, began filling network schedules with made-for-TV animation. By 1966, all three, ABC, NBC, and CBS, were programming full animation blocks between 8 a.m. and noon. Here's a TV ad promoting CBS' 1965 lineup.

What followed was a golden age for kids: Scooby-Doo, Super Friends, Underdog, Schoolhouse Rock!, The Smurfs, and later G.I. Joe, Transformers, and He-Man, a full morning's worth of child-focused entertainment.

The whole ecosystem ran on sugar cereal. Kellogg's, General Mills, and Post poured enormous ad dollars into Saturday mornings, deploying cartoon mascots of their own, who became as iconic to kids as any other TV character.

The networks got rich, the cereal companies moved product, and kids got four glorious hours of animation. Everybody won.

The decline came slowly, but from multiple directions. Cable channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network began offering cartoons all day, every day, making the once-a-week block less special. VCRs, video games, and weekday syndication pulled viewers away.

Then Congress passed the Children's Television Act in 1990, requiring educational programming that squeezed out pure entertainment. NBC dropped its cartoon lineup in 1992. ABC held on through 2011. The very last broadcast block, The CW, signed off on September 27, 2014, and was replaced by a live-action educational lineup.

The cartoons themselves live on. In 2024, Weigel Broadcasting launched MeTV Toons, a 24/7 network devoted to the classics, from Bugs Bunny to Scooby-Doo to The Jetsons. The shows survived. The ritual didn't.

Did you have a favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Hit reply and tell us which one got you out of bed.

Yellowstone National Park reveals the most common and unusual trash collected from its geyser areas this year.

What got you out of bed on Saturday mornings?

Yesterday's Results:

What's your favorite thing about fall?

Cooler weather: 52%
Football: 19%
Fall foliage: 19%
Other: 4%
Pumpkin everything: 4%
Halloween candy: 2%

Daily Quote

"I wish I would have done it 20 years earlier, knowing that I would have enjoyed it so much. I can build one of the buildings in my sleep right now where it took me hours when I first started."

— Truck driver Joe Macken, who spent more than two decades building a scale model of New York City, creating more than 800,000 structures out of balsa wood and foam board.