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Today’s Big Story

‘Coolcations’

They’re booming again as tourists prioritize quieter, off-peak trips

This year, more vacationers are choosing cooler, quieter spots over busy summer favorites in Europe. The trend—pivoting away from traditional hotspots amid growing concerns over blistering heat and raging wildfires—reaffirms the phenomenon of so-called “coolcations” being the next hot thing in travel, so to speak.

Jenny Southan, CEO of travel trend forecasting agency Globetrender, described the summer of 2025 as “a turning point for European tourism, underscoring that no destination is truly immune to climate volatility.” Extreme heat is made much more likely by the climate crisis, the chief driver of which is the burning of fossil fuels. CNBC reports that heatwaves and wildfires across popular vacation destinations in Spain, Portugal and Greece have taken their toll on local infrastructure in recent weeks, triggering mass evacuations and shuttering beaches.

Global travel network Virtuoso said in its latest advisor survey that 79% of respondents agreed extreme weather events impacted travel planning, while 55% reported that their clients were choosing to travel at off peak times due to the climate crisis. European destinations such as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and increasingly Poland were among those attracting tourists who want active vacations, comfortable weather “and experiences with real depth,” one travel agent said.

Travel expert Alice Ford told Scripps News that there are plenty of cooler regions of the world worth visiting. Greenland is also high on Ford’s list of recommendations. She notes that it’s still relatively undiscovered. “It is absolutely beautiful, especially if you’re someone that really craves adventure—definitely an off-the-beaten-path place where you can get up close to Arctic wildlife,” Ford said. “You can kayak along fjords and along the coastline, or you can opt for a sailboat or cruise.”

For those who want to stay in the United States, Ford recommends Alaska. And if you’re aiming to be more sustainable in your travel choices, she suggested checking services like Green Key, Green Globe and EarthCheck.

Trump’s Take on History

The president says he has instructed lawyers to look into “woke” museums

President Donald Trump accused the Smithsonian Institution on Tuesday of focusing too much on “how bad slavery was” and not enough on the “brightness” of America as his administration conducts a wide-ranging review of the content in its museum exhibits. Later in the day, he expanded his criticism to include other museums in a long social media post.

“The Museums are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE.’ The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been—Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” he posted. “We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”

The president says he’ll pressure the institutions to accept his demands, just like he did with colleges and universities by threatening to cut federal funding. You might recall, in an Aug. 12 letter to Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, White House representatives said they’d audit eight of the Smithsonian museums “to ensure alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism.” But a number of museum and historical associations, including the Organization of American Historians and the American Association for State and Local History, have pushed back against what the American Alliance of Museums described as “growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums.”

Summer Colds?

They’re possible. But there’s also a new COVID variant nicknamed 'Stratus'

Summer is a time of fun and freedom. This is not thought of as “cold and flu” season, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch some sniffles. Hot weather often drives people indoors with air conditioning. And when people gather inside, germs have an easier time spreading. That’s why it’s not unusual to see a summer bump in cases.

Recent federal data, for example, shows that cold symptoms and, worse, COVID-19, is trending up in most states, with emergency department visits up among people of all ages. According to the Associated Press, wastewater data from around the country estimates “moderate” COVID-19 activity. CDC wastewater also shows the XFG variant—nicknamed stratus—is most common in the U.S. Stratus can cause a “razor blade” sore throat and is considered a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization. The WHO said the variant is only marginally better at evading people’s immune systems and vaccines still work against it.

The expectation is that COVID-19 will eventually settle into a winter seasonal pattern like other coronaviruses, but the past few years have brought a late summer surge, said Dr. Dean Blumberg, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at University of California Davis Children’s Hospital. Other viruses circulating this time of year include the one that causes “hand, foot and mouth” disease—which has symptoms similar to a cold, plus sores and rashes—and norovirus, sometimes called the stomach flu.

‘Possibly Radioactive’ Shrimp Recalled

FDA warns public that the shrimp sold at Walmart could be dangerous

The Food and Drug Administration is warning the public not to eat, sell or serve certain Great Value raw frozen shrimp sold at Walmart due to “possible contamination with Cesium-137”, a radioactive isotope. U.S. Customs and Border Protection alerted the FDA about possible Cesium-137, or Cs-137, detected in shipping containers at four U.S. ports, the FDA said Tuesday in a press release. Testing on frozen shrimp from the distributor, Indonesia’s BMS Foods, also tested positive, the FDA said.

Some of the raw frozen shrimp products processed by an Indonesian company are sold at Walmart stores in 13 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia, according to the FDA. Cs-137 is the radioactive form of Cesium, “a soft, flexible, silvery-white metal that becomes liquid near room temperature” and used for medical devices and gauges, according to the EPA.

However, no shrimp that has tested positive for Cesium-137 has entered the U.S. food supply. The FDA is still recommending a recall on all products from BMS Foods that were shipped after the company's shipping containers tested positive, even though the products themselves have not tested positive.

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