Tuesday, January 26th, 2021
Travel Bans, Coast-to-Coast Storm & Super Bowl Ads Pulled
All the news in about 10 min:
Today's episode is brought to you by BlueNile.com and Ritual.com/newsworthy
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 read the latest happenings...
New Travel Restrictions
The U.S. has new travel restrictions in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Biden administration restarted a travel ban that now applies to 30 countries. Many non-American citizens from those places can no longer come into the U.S. Also starting today, all travelers flying into the U.S. from abroad have to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before getting on a plane. The State Department says all Americans should reconsider non-essential travel anywhere outside the country now.
Read More: NPR, CBS News, AP, USA Today, White House
Plan to Overturn Election Investigated
A federal watchdog is looking into whether any current or former officials at the Department of Justice tried to alter the 2020 election results. The Justice Department itself has said there’s no evidence of any widespread fraud that would have changed the results. However, more recently, a couple of news outlets had reported that President Trump planned to fire his last acting attorney general and replace him with someone willing to pursue voter fraud claims. Now, the DOJ’s inspector general is investigating the situation.
Read More: WSJ, WaPo, FOX News, NY Times, OIG Statement
Impeachment Article Delivered
The House impeachment managers delivered the article of impeachment against former President Trump to the Senate. It says Trump’s voter fraud claims played a role in riling up the crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol. The Senate trial is set to begin the week of February 8th. Nine House lawmakers are acting as the prosecutors. Today, the Senators will be sworn in as jurors. President Trump’s legal team will also be able to defend him.
Read More: CNBC, NY Times, AP
Italy Prime Minister to Resign
Italy’s prime minister is set to resign today. A government spokesperson announced the move after months of criticism about how the nation’s leader has handled the pandemic. Giuseppe Conte became prime minister in 2018 and Axios says he’s easily Italy’s most popular politician. However, he lost some control this year when a small party withdrew from the government. It had criticized Conte for how he was managing economic recovery. What happens next should be decided in the upcoming days and weeks.
Read More: BBC, WaPo, Axios
World’s Ice Melting Faster than Ever
The world’s ice is melting faster than ever. A new global study found that between 1994 to 2017, Earth lost 28 trillion metric tons of ice. That’s the equivalent of a sheet of ice, about 100 meters thick, covering the state of Michigan. It’s happening fast. The study says the rate of melting has gone up 65% since the 1990s. One researcher who wrote about the new study explained that ice plays a crucial role in regulating the climate. He says this kind of melt will increase the likelihood of extreme weather events.
Read More: WSJ, Bloomberg, WaPo, Full Research
Latest Winter Storm
About 60 million Americans from California to Kansas to New York are getting hit with severe winter weather. So far, the most snow has been falling in the middle of the country. A lot of it started after the sun went down last night. Parts of Illinois could end up getting eight inches by the end of the day. Snow totals will likely be higher in parts of Nebraska and Iowa, so people across the midwest could run into some treacherous morning commutes or power outages. Later today, the snow will move into the Northeast, but the snow totals won’t be quite so high.
Read More: USA Today, AP, NBC News, Accuweather
Major Brands Sitting Out Super Bowl
Brands like Budweiser, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Audi, and Hyundai say they’re not running ads during the Super Bowl this year. Beer company Anheuser-Busch says it’s going to take the money it would have spent on a Budweiser ad and donate it to another ad about COVID-19 vaccination awareness. Meanwhile, Pepsi says it’s going to focus solely on sponsoring the halftime show. Other brands have opted out over worries the game could get delayed or canceled. A 30-second Super Bowl ad costs about $5.5 million this year.
Read More: AP, CNBC, NY Times, Budweiser
Google Helps Vaccine Efforts
Google is the latest company to throw its weight behind the COVID-19 vaccination efforts. It says it’s converting some of its facilities into vaccination sites. Google has also promised to take steps to promote accurate vaccine information in its search pages and on Google Maps. Plus, it’s spending $150 million to support groups helping give out the shots. $100 million of it is going to ad grants for the CDC Foundation, World Health Organization, and non-profit groups. The rest is for organizations that address underserved communities.
Read More: SF Chronicle, ABC News, Engadget, Google
Twitter Launches Fact-Checking Feature
Twitter launched a new feature called Birdwatch. It lets Twitter users fact check misleading or false tweets by adding notes to them that might add some context or clarification. People can sign up to become fact-checkers now. Twitter says it wants both experts and non-experts to sign up so it can work sort of like Wikipedia. To help weed out unhelpful notes, Twitter plans to attach a “helpfulness score” to each one and label the best ones as “currently rated helpful.” Birdwatch is still being tested on a separate section of Twitter for now.
Read More: The Verge, NBC News, AP, Twitter, Birdwatch
Disney Overhauling Jungle Cruise
One of the oldest attractions at the Disney theme parks is getting an overhaul. We’re talking about the Jungle Cruise rides at Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. They were inspired by nature documentaries. However, for years, they've faced criticism by people who think the “native” people in the ride are depicted as wild and threatening caricatures. Now, Disney says the rides are being revamped to “reflect and value the diversity in the world around us.” Disney hasn’t said how long it will take to make all the changes.
Read More: SF Gate, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, Disney Parks
AFI’s Top Movies
The American Film Institute revealed its top ten movies from the past year. You can watch most of them on streaming services now. Four are on Netflix, including Aaron Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7 and Chadwick Boseman’s final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Amazon got a couple of top spots too for dramas Sound of Metal and One Night in Miami. Pixar’s Soul is also on the list which you can watch on Disney+. AFI says all the nominees advance the art of movies, inspire audiences, and make a mark on American society.
Read More: AP, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, AFI
Trivia Tuesday
Q: What exciting, personal news do I want to share with you?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories Quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Trivia Tuesday Answer
Q: What is President Joe Biden’s Middle Name?
A: Robinette
Read More: Reader’s Digest, Today, PopSugar, Cnet