Condo Collapse: After five days of digging through the rubble of that collapsed Florida condominium building, the number of confirmed dead has risen to 11, leaving 150 unaccounted for.

  Searchers are finding the detritus of human life — photos, wallets, and jewelry — but no life.

  As the search goes on, the recriminations and lawsuits have begun. At least two suits have already been filed. One of them, filed by a man who survived the collapse, says the condominium association knew or should have known “the entire structure was deteriorating and becoming susceptible to catastrophic loss by collapse.”

  It’s already been reported that the association board failed to move quickly on a 2018 engineering report that said the building had some serious problems. Residents had noticed cracking and water in the parking garage.  The report noted “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and recommended extensive repairs “in the near future.” It didn’t happen.

The Delta Threat: Infections with the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus are surging in the Asia-Pacific region and in parts of the US, threatening a return to pandemic measures.

  It’s a serious threat to people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.

  Four Australian cities — Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, and Darwin — issued new lockdown orders.  The Malaysian government indefinitely extended stay-at-home orders. Hong Kong officials banned flights from Britain, where cases of the Delta variant are quickly increasing. Bangladesh has soldiers patrolling the streets enforcing stay-at-home orders.

  Here in the US, the more dangerous and infectious  Delta variant has spread to nearly every state. The CDC says the Delta variant accounts for 1 in 5 new infections and nearly all deaths. Los Angeles County has already reinstated mask guidance for indoor spaces.

  With a slowing vaccination rate, the growing concern is over children returning to school in August. Many large school systems — including Atlanta; Fort Myers, Florida; Flagstaff, Arizona; and the entire state of Hawaii — start school in the first two weeks of August.

The Social Network: In a major blow to governments looking to break up Facebook, a federal judge has thrown out antitrust lawsuits brought against the company by the Federal Trade Commission and 40 states.

  The lawsuits alleged that Facebook monopolized social media by buying up competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp back in 2012 and 2014, but Judge James Boasberg from the US District Court for the District of Columbia said too much time has passed. And he said in a separate opinion that the Federal Trade Commission failed to back its claim that Facebook has a monopoly over social networking.

  Facebook’s stock was up 4.2 percent on the news. The company surpassed $1 trillion in market capitalization, a first for the social network and one of only half a dozen companies to reach that value.

Vaporized: Juul Labs has agreed to pay North Carolina $40 million to settle a spate of lawsuits claiming the vaping company created a new public health nuisance and in particular hooked teenagers on nicotine. 

  The company faces thousands of lawsuits. Among them, 13 other states, including California, Massachusetts, and New York, as well as the District of Columbia claim that Juul knew, or should have known, that it was hooking teenagers on high levels of nicotine.

In the Boys’ Room: The Supreme Court declined to take up a case involving a transgender student’s right to use the boy’s bathroom, handing a victory of sorts to Gavin Grimm, who wanted to use the facility that matched his gender identity.

  An appeals court had previously ruled that the school board in Gloucester County, Virginia had practiced sex-based discrimination and violated the 14th Amendment by prohibiting Grimm from using the bathroom that matched his gender identity.

  The board in 2014 initially allowed Grimm to use the boys’ room until parents of other kids complained. The school offered him a private bathroom and he ended up suing, claiming discrimination. The case sets no precedent, but Grimm ultimately prevailed.

The Spin Rack: A committee of the NCAA has recommended that college athletes be allowed to make money from autograph signings, personal appearances, endorsements, and their social media platforms. The NCAA board would have to approve. — Lawyers for the Trump Organization met with New York prosecutors to argue that former president Donald Trump’s company should not be criminally charged over its business dealings. — The penthouse on the 96^th floor of  432 Park Avenue in New York is for sale at $169 million, but if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

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