Thursday, January 20th, 2022
Biden’s First Year, Troops as Teachers & Stars at Sundance
All the news you need in about 10 min:
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Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want to peruse the latest happenings...
One Year of Biden Presidency
It’s been one year since President Biden took office, and he says it has brought “challenges, but also enormous progress”. For starters, he thinks big parts of his social climate and spending package will pass before the November midterms. He also said he expects Russia to invade Ukraine, and there will be repercussions. As far as Covid-19, the president admitted the U.S. should have done more testing early, but he said it’s happening now, and he is encouraged by rising vaccination rates. Then there’s inflation. Biden says he supports the Fed’s plan to raise interest rates to combat that issue.
Read more: ABC News, LA Times, Fox News, WSJ, White House
SCOTUS Sides With Jan. 6th Committee
The Supreme Court told former President Trump to turn over his records for lawmakers investigating the Capitol riot. There are hundreds of documents like speech drafts, call and visitor logs, handwritten notes, and more. Lawmakers have been requesting them, hoping to piece together Trump’s actions and mindset in the weeks leading up to the January 6th attack. Eight out of the nine supreme court justices all agreed those records are fair game. Lawmakers on the House panel say records have already started arriving.
Read more: Politico, NPR, CBS News, NY Times, Fox News, Supreme Court
Free N95 Mask Plan
It’s not just Covid-19 tests and vaccines Americans are getting for free. N95 masks are coming, too, at no charge. Those are the masks health experts say are most protective, especially against the omicron variant. This week, The Biden administration says 400 million of them are rolling out. They’re going to thousands of pharmacies and community health centers around the country. Each person will be able to get up to three of them, and they should be available by the end of the week.
Read more: CNBC, NY Times, WSJ, Fox News
Past Infection vs. Vaccine Study
New data shows when the delta variant of Covid-19 was dominant in the United States, people who recovered from the virus in the past were better protected than those who never got Covid but had been vaccinated. That’s according to a new study from the CDC. It was based on analyzing more than 1.1 million people in California and New York who were infected with Covid-19 between May and November of last year. However, the same study notes immunity started fading at that time for people who were among the first to get vaccinated. Also, boosters weren’t widely available yet.
Read more: Stat, NBC News, WSJ, Politico, CDC
National Guard Subbing for Teachers
Some children are about to be taught by troops instead of teachers. New Mexico is the first state in the U.S. to ask the National Guard to work as substitutes. As we’ve reported before, many schools around the country are facing staffing shortages, which are only made worse by a surge of Covid-19 infections. So, the National Guard in New Mexico will step in at preschools and K-12 public schools. Other states have gone other routes. Just this week, Oklahoma allowed state workers to volunteer as subs while getting their government salaries. Others have relied on parents, college students, or alumni.
Read more: Albuquerque Journal, AP, The Hill, KOB, NM Governor
Worst Orange Shortage Since WWII
Orange farmers and orange lovers are in for an especially rough season. Florida’s orange crop is on track to be its smallest in more than 75 years. That’s a problem since Florida churns out more than 70% of the country’s oranges. It looks like the state will only produce 44.5 million boxes of oranges this season, and that’s 1.5 million less than expected. The Florida Department of Citrus blames the shortage on an outbreak of an incurable plant disease spread by insects. Plus, the pandemic caused a boom for orange juice, so demand is high. That means prices are going up, too.
Read more: NY Post, CNN, NBC News, WSJ
Starbucks Nixes Vax Mandate
Starbucks is scrapping its three-week-old vaccine-or-test mandate. The coffee giant nixed its rule that said baristas have to be vaccinated or get tested weekly. That’s the same rule the Biden administration tried to impose on all businesses with 100 or more workers. However, the Supreme Court struck it down. Starbucks isn’t alone. Last week, General Electric suspended its vaccine-or-test mandate for its workforce, too. Other companies are keeping their mandates, including big banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, as well as United Airlines, Tyson Foods, Facebook, Google, and more.
Read more: AP, Axios, NY Times, Forbes
Hotter Days Dangerous for Kids
New research shows hotter days could be more dangerous for children than cold ones. The first nationwide study on how heat affects kids found higher temperatures were associated with more emergency room visits for kids. To figure it out, Harvard researchers looked at ER visits at children’s hospitals from 2016 to 2018. They learned children were 12% more likely to go to the ER than adults during the warmest months of the year. Researchers note that heat impacts children’s bodies differently than adults. Nearly one-third of the pediatric visits were for heatstroke or heat exhaustion.
Read more: NY Times, WFTS, NIH
Gaspard Ulliel Dies
One of France’s most famous actors died in a ski accident. 37-year-old Gaspard Ulliel crashed with another skier in the French Alps. That ended in a traumatic brain injury. The other skier was okay. Ulliel’s death comes just one day after Disney+ released a trailer for Marvel’s “Moon Knight”, which Ulliel stars in. Even though he’s been in other American movies like “Hannibal Rising”, “Moon Knight” probably will expose him to one of the largest audiences yet. He was an award-winning actor with multiple Cesar nominations, which are the French equivalent of the Oscars.
Read more: WaPo, AP, Variety, NPR
Sundance Film Festival Begins
The Sundance Film Festival kicks off today from the comfort of home. Even though the in-person festival was scrapped in favor of the virtual one for the second year in a row, this year’s lineup still promises the best of independent movies and a bunch of stars. Some of the films feature famous actors like Emma Thompson and Julianne Moore. There are movies directed by Amy Poehler, Eva Longoria, and Jesse Eisenberg. Another big one is Lena Dunham directing her first film in a decade. The festival starts today and runs until January 30th.
Read more: AP, WaPo, EW, USA Today, Sundance
Thing to Know Thursday: We’re Cursing More
If you’ve noticed you’re cussing more since the pandemic started, you’re not alone. The news agency Storyful reports swear words are being fired off more than 41% more than they were in 2019 on Facebook. There’s a 27% uptick of cuss words being tweeted. A Denver-based profanity-filtering software backs up the report, saying cuss words online have more than tripled in 18 months. One language expert says it's because Covid-19 has blurred the boundaries between work and home, so people are less scared of their co-workers seeing or hearing bad language.
Read more: WSJ