A looming government shutdown could add to the travel industry’s woes.
The U.S. travel economy could lose $1 billion a week if the government shuts down, which is set to happen on Wednesday without a deal in Washington.
It risks disrupting air and rail travel and could result in the closure of national parks and museums—at a time when visitor spending is already expected to fall $29 billion this year. Geopolitical tensions have deterred international travelers, and lower-income domestic travelers are pulling back on spending.
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FIRST UP
Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek speaks at a news conference in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, September 27, 2025.
Claire Rush/Associated Press
Oregon sued the federal government Sunday seeking to block the Trump Administration from deploying the National Guard in Portland. President Donald Trump directed the deployment in a Truth Social post on Saturday, citing riots and attacks on ICE officers. But the lawsuit claims that the “heavy-handed deployment” is targeting relatively small protests, “involving less than thirty people.”
Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, is still reeling after President Donald Trump promoted unproven ties between autism and acetaminophen, but it may just be the start. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also targeted antidepressants, GLP-1s and statins—which more than 92 million Americans take to prevent heart disease and lower cholesterol.
MORE: The ascendance of RFK Jr., a vocal vaccine skeptic, has come alongside more bad news for vaccine makers Moderna and BioNTech, whose stock prices have imploded since their 2021 peaks. At that time, Forbes counted eight billionaires from the two companies, worth a combined $116 billion—but now it’s almost all gone, hit by a one-two punch of plunging vaccination rates and the reluctance of governments worldwide to continue paying for them.
BUSINESS + FINANCE
Americans’ spending slowed in August, new federal data shows, as inflation matched economists’ expectations. Still, the Federal Reserve’s preferred metric of price changes remained above its target of 2% for the 54th consecutive month, setting the stage for September’s jobs report later this week.
Auto parts chain AutoZone is one of the best-performing stocks of recent decades, with its shares returning an average of 21% annually in the last 20 years—far surpassing the S&P 500. And while that’s generated windfalls for its original private equity sponsor KKR, hedge fund billionaire Eddie Lampert and its founder, Pitt Hyde, it’s also making thousands of its employees millionaires from their company stock, Hyde says.
TECH + INNOVATION
ILLUSTRATION BY SAMANTHA LEE FOR FORBES VIA GOOGLE GEMINI AI
In the TikTok deal announced by President Donald Trump last week, one vitally important asset that won’t be fully transferred in the deal is the platform’s powerful For You algorithm. In an exclusive excerpt from Forbes senior writer Emily Baker-White’s new book Every Screen On The Planet, out tomorrow, she details how the recommendation engine was shaped by a bunch of ordinary, 20-something curators.
MONEY + POLITICS
Both conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group and broadcast firm Nexstar reversed course and said they would bring Jimmy Kimmel Live! back on air Friday night, which includes larger markets like Washington, D.C., Seattle and Portland. The companies had initially kept the show off the air even after ABC ended the late-night host’s suspension.
SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
Jimmy Fallon is one of the highest-paid hosts on TV, with a contract that Forbes estimates at $16 million annually, but even he is not immune to the pressures of television’s structural decline. That’s adding new urgency to his side hustles, including an NBC reality competition show launching this week, On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, in which contestants with no marketing experience pitch campaigns for major brands.
DAILY COVER STORY
Bookie Tied To Ohtani’s Interpreter Says Half Of All Pro Athletes Gamble On Sports
“You have a million bookmakers across the country right now,” says Mathew Bowyer, “and people don’t realize it.”
FRANKIE BATISTA
More than a year after the world learned of the gambling scandal that nearly took down one of modern baseball’s greatest players, Mathew Bowyer, the California bookmaker who took $326 million in wagers from Ippei Mizuhara, is about to serve a year in prison for his crimes.
Mizuhara, the interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani, had run up a gambling debt of $40.2 million in just over two years. Ohtani denied any involvement and was never charged with a crime, saying Mizuhara defrauded him of millions of dollars.
After an investigation confirmed Mizuhara was the one gambling, stealing a total of $16.2 million from Ohtani to pay Bowyer $500,000 every few weeks, he received a five-year prison sentence for bank and tax fraud. For his role, Bowyer was sentenced to 12 months and one day for running an illegal gambling operation, money laundering and filing falsified tax returns.
While Bowyer is the face of the biggest sports betting scandal in recent history, his conviction does not mean that the illegal bookmaking industry is going away. Over the last 12 months, illegal sportsbooks took in $84 billion in wagers and $5 billion in revenue, according to the American Gaming Association, while legal sportsbooks made $13.78 billion in revenue off $149.9 billion in wagers in 2024.
Bowyer estimates that about half of all professional athletes gamble on sports and the public should expect more scandals, especially in college athletics. “There’s been many that haven’t been brought up yet or found or maybe got away with, let’s be honest,” he says.
WHY IT MATTERS “The scandal showcased just how easy it is for the integrity of baseball—or any sport—to crumble thanks to the mainstreaming of sports betting,” says Forbes senior writer Will Yakowicz.
MORE Where Is Sports Betting Legal? A Guide To All 50 States
FACTS + COMMENTS
Americans are increasingly worried about the economy, according to the widely-tracked survey of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan:
55.1: The consumer sentiment reading in September, its lowest level since May
4.7%: How much Americans expect inflation to rise to over the next year
0.5%: The month-over-month increase in consumer spending in July, to the highest level in four months
STRATEGY + SUCCESS
So-called “ghost growth” is the illusion that you’re progressing in your career but without a comparable raise, promotion or increase in authority. Decide what kind of advancement you’re looking for, confirm how the process works within the company, and follow up regularly to keep your request top of mind. Continue to pursue advancement opportunities outside the company to make sure you don’t lose momentum on real growth.
VIDEO
QUIZ
A gold presidential seal has turned up in connection with one of President Donald Trump’s businesses, raising questions about whether it violates federal law. Which kind of business is it?
A. Hotel
B. Golf course
C. An online university
D. A line of wristwatches
Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Caroline Howard.
Editor’s Note: This story has been corrected to reflect Nexstar’s Friday announcement that it would reinstate Jimmy Kimmel Live!