Titan's demise, Musk's 'five things,' remembering Loni Anderson: The week in review

USA Today

3 days ago

Titan sub was doomed from the start
The catastrophic implosion that killed all five crew members on the submersible Titan on a voyage to the wreck of the Titanic in June 2023 could have been prevented had it not been for broad failures of the company that built and operated it, a long-awaited Coast Guard report found. It cited OceanGate's 'inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection,' along with a 'toxic workplace environment' that sought to silence any safety concerns. The sub's carbon-fiber hull imploded at 11,000 feet, killing the occupants instantaneously. The crew on the mother ship on the surface, the Polar Prince, reported hearing a thump from the depths without knowing what it was.
Musk's 'five things' are no more
If federal employees could name one thing they could do without, it very well could be the end of those '5 things' memos. The Trump administration's Office of Personnel Management announced it was doing away with the weekly emails that came courtesy of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, starting in February, that directed federal workers to outline their five accomplishments for the past week. (Musk had declared that failure to respond to the email amounted to a resignation.) Musk, of course, has since famously split with the White House and laid out an accomplishment target of his own: launching a third political party.
DOGE staffer assaulted: Former Musk team member beaten in DC carjacking attempt
Americans are fixated on their money
When Snoop Dogg sang 'with my mind on my money and my money on my mind' in 'Gin & Juice' in the 1990s, he might as well have been singing about 2025. Americans today spend nearly four hours a day on average thinking about money − or their lack of it − according to a study from the financial services company Empower. Seventeen percent of Americans check their financial accounts multiple times a day; 24% check their bank accounts every day; and 36% say they have lost sleep over their financial worries, the survey found. It's no small-time obsession: Four hours a day thinking about money, said Empower's Rebecca Rickert, is like 'a part-time job.'
Loni Anderson, WKRP's savvy siren, dead at 79
Loni Anderson, who starred as Jennifer Marlowe on the 1970s and early '80s CBS sitcom 'WKRP in Cincinnati' only after insisting she not play a stereotypical dumb blonde, has died. She was 79. Her portrayal of the sexy, whip-smart receptionist at a last-place AM radio station proved to be the right call: It was her breakout role and turned her into a sex symbol in a decades-long career in Hollywood. Friend and fellow actress Barbara Eden posted on social media: 'She was a real talent, with razor smart wit. ... Loni was a darling lady. I am truly at a loss for words.'
Loni Anderson's true Hollywood story: Her love affair with Burt Reynolds – and its messy end
MLB Speedway Classic crosses the finish line
A little rain couldn't stop baseball history from being made. The Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves made it only to the bottom of the first inning Aug. 2 before the inaugural MLB Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway was declared a washout after two long rain delays. The game − sponsored by NASCAR and the first regular-season contest ever played in Tennessee − resumed the next day after setting an all-time MLB attendance record of 91,032. The Braves won 4-2. Baseball has done big things before, but at Bristol, said MLB's Jeremiah Yolkut, 'we knew we could go really big.' − Compiled by Robert Abitbol