Today's BUSINESS story

New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine

What happened
A fractured New York state appellate court yesterday threw out the roughly $500 million penalty levied on President Donald Trump last year for fraudulently inflating his wealth and property values to obtain favorable loans. Trump claimed a "total victory," but the judges upheld the lower court's fraud judgment and limits on the ability of Trump and his company to conduct business.

Who said what
Trump did harm in inflating his assets, but "it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half-billion-dollar award," Justice Peter Moulton said in one of the three opinions from the five-judge panel. The jumble of rulings marked a "financial victory" and a "measure of legal validation" for Trump, The New York Times said, as well as a "remarkable turn" in his "battle" against New York Attorney General Leticia James, one of Trump's "foremost adversaries and a target of his wide-ranging retribution campaign."

Trump thanked the judges on social media for having the "courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful decision." James said that "yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law" and "affirmed the well-supported finding" that Trump is "liable for fraud" and "our case has merit."

What next?
James said she would appeal the ruling. The fact that the "sharply splintered" appellate panel could only get majority agreement that James acted within her authority "all but ensures New York's top court will have to get involved," The Wall Street Journal said.

Today's CULTURE WAR Story

Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse site

What happened
Officials in Orlando yesterday criticized Florida's state government for painting over a rainbow-colored crosswalk outside Pulse, the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were shot dead in 2016. The Florida Department of Transportation did not comment on the overnight paint job but Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said on social media that he "will not allow our state roads to be commandeered for political purposes."

Who said what
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (D) said the Florida transportation department installed the rainbow crosswalk in 2017, and it was a "callous" and "cruel political act" to "hastily" repaint it with no warning or discussion. The crosswalk "not only enhanced safety and visibility" for people visiting the Pulse memorial, he said, it "also served as a visual reminder of Orlando's commitment to honor the 49 lives taken."

The overnight "clandestine repainting" was apparently part of a push by state and federal transportation officials to "wipe 'political banners' from public roadways," the Orlando Sentinel said. After Florida warned cities to erase political or ideological "surface art," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy nationalized that effort with a "safety initiative" in July. "Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks," he said on social media.

What next?
Orlando officials said they didn't believe the city "has the authority to paint back the rainbow," the Sentinel said. Some residents who gathered outside Pulse yesterday to criticize the rainbow's removal "colored in the crosswalk with chalk," The Associated Press said, "but their efforts were washed away by an afternoon rainstorm."

It's not all bad

A Canadian man regained his sight after undergoing surgery involving his tooth. Brent Chapman, who lost his vision 20 years ago, recently had osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis surgery, a procedure developed in the 1960s for severe corneal blindness. The operation, also called tooth-in-eye surgery, involves placing a plastic cornea-substitute cylinder in a slice of the patient's tooth, growing the tooth-cylinder combination inside the cheek and later implanting it into the eye. Chapman told CNN he is feeling "fantastic."

Under the radar

A new world: redrawing the Mercator map

"On classroom walls from Lagos to London," the standard map of the world depicts an "inflated Britain at the center" and a dramatically "shrunken Africa" below, said The Times of London. But this could soon change.

The African Union has thrown its weight behind a "correct the map" campaign, calling for an end to the use of the standard Mercator map in favor of one that accurately reflects the scale of the world's second-largest continent. "It might seem to be just a map," said Selma Haddadi of the African Union Commission, "but in reality, it is not."

Created in 1569 by Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator, the world map commonly used today "did a good job" of depicting the general shape of countries, said USA Today. But when trying to map a spherical planet onto a flat piece of paper, "something's got to give." In the case of the Mercator map and its successors, "what gives is the size of places near the poles," which become distended compared to land masses nearer the Equator. The result? A map that "disproportionately" enlarges the "rich and powerful regions of the world," said Al Jazeera.

The Mercator projection is still "widely used" by "schools and tech companies," but there has been progress toward adopting a more accurate map, said Reuters. The World Bank says it is "phasing out" the Mercator map, while the desktop version of Google Maps switched to a "3D globe view in 2018, although users can still switch back to the Mercator if they prefer," and it remains the default view on the mobile app.

On this day

August 22, 1865

William Sheppard received the first patent for liquid soap. While he is often credited with inventing liquid soap, Sheppard's patent was actually for "Improved Liquid Soap," so historians believe the concoction may have existed earlier. Liquid soap is now a big seller, with global sales expected to grow to $41 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.

TODAY'S newspaperS

'Yawning gap over Ukraine'

There's a "yawning gap over Ukraine" as "Kremlin still demands what Kyiv won't give," The New York Times says. "Ukraine deal is no closer despite president's big push," The Wall Street Journal says. "Hurricane Erin hits closest point to the U.S.," the Detroit Free Press says. "Storm generates walls of water," The Boston Globe says. "Erin adds to unusual trend of Category 5 storms," The Washington Post says, while on the other coast, "California rushes to offset new Texas map." California "voters to decide on new House districts," and in a new poll, "more say it is a good idea" than not, says the Los Angeles Times.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

If it glows, it goes

Consumers have been warned not to eat frozen raw shrimp purchased at Walmart and some other retailers due to the possibility of radioactive contamination. The FDA recommended a recall after Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, was detected on four shipping containers and in a piece of breaded shrimp from Indonesia's BMS foods, Walmart's supplier. The shipments were denied entry into the U.S., and the FDA said no shrimp in the country's food supply has tested positive for Cesium-137.

Morning Report was written and edited by Helen Brown, Nadia Croes, Rebekah Evans, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.