Thursday, February 3rd, 2022
U.S. Troops Deployed, Cutting Cancer Deaths & Washington Commanders
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by StitchFix.com/newsworthy and Rothys.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 peruse the latest happenings...
U.S. Raid in Syria
Early this morning, American special forces launched an attack against what reportedly could have been a senior Al Qaeda leader. The Pentagon says all Americans got out okay. However, reports from the scene say several civilians, including children, may have been hurt or killed. It started after midnight in a town in northwest Syria. American commandos reportedly surrounded a house, and there was a standoff. After about two hours, witnesses say a major battle erupted. The Pentagon isn’t saying much about it yet, just that the mission was successful. More information is expected to come out today.
Read More: NY Times, AP, Reuters, DOD
U.S. Troops to Eastern Europe
In the next few days, thousands of American troops are headed to eastern Europe. It’s in response to the ongoing standoff with Russia over Ukraine. The Pentagon says 3,000 service members are going to Poland and Romania, temporarily, to show support for fellow NATO members. The American troops will be traveling from either North Carolina or Germany. That’s on top of the 8,500 troops who are still on standby. No matter what though, the U.S. says it will not send troops into Ukraine. Still, Russia is calling the new troop deployments “destructive” and unnecessary.
Read more: AP, Fox News, Reuters, Axios, Defense Dept.
Winter Storm Latest
A winter storm is tearing through several American states across three different time zones. Heavy snow has been falling since Tuesday in areas from Colorado to Michigan. Some places near Colorado Springs got more than 20 inches. Then, this storm hit the midwest. Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana got slammed yesterday. Then, late last night, the storm reached southern states. Several school districts canceled classes, businesses told workers to stay home, and buses and trains stopped running. Thousands of flights have been canceled, and a lot more are expected to be, especially at busy airports from Texas to Ohio.
Read More: CBS News, CNN, NY Times, AP, NWS, FlightAware
Biden’s Cancer Goal
President Biden has a new plan in the hopes of cutting the death rate from cancer in half over the next 25 years. He’s relaunching the “moonshot” program he started five years ago when he was vice president. Biden says he’s creating a new Cancer Cabinet in the White House to coordinate the work of several agencies. He also announced a campaign to urge Americans to get screenings that they might’ve missed during the pandemic, and he’s calling on the National Cancer Institute to fast-track the development of tests that might be able to detect many kinds of cancers at once.
Read more: WaPo, NY Times, ABC News, Fox News, Stat, White House
Commerce Dept. Finalizing TikTok Rules
The U.S. government is still working on new regulations for Chinese-owned apps like TikTok. The concern is foreign governments like China could be able to get data from American users and leverage it in a way that could be a national security risk. Now, the Commerce Department is proposing new rules that would expand government oversight on those apps. They would require apps to go through audits so the U.S. would independently scrutinize their code and what data they collect. So far, TikTok has not responded. In the past, it said it doesn’t share information with the Chinese government, even though it has a Chinese parent company.
Read more: WSJ, WaPo, Business Insider, Federal Register
Washington Football New Name
It’s nearly two years in the making, but the Washington Football Team finally has a new name: The Commanders. After 87 years with its old name, which is considered a racial slur to Native Americans, and two years as just The Washington Football Team, the organization revealed the new name, uniforms, and logo. The team sifted through 40,000 fan submissions, did surveys, research, even cold-called fans to see what names resonated with them. Plus, the team president and the head coach said they knew they wanted to pay tribute to the military with the new name.
Read more: ESPN, WaPo, NFL, Washington Commanders
CNN President Resigns
CNN’s top boss is stepping down because he kept his romantic relationship with a fellow executive under wraps. The network’s president, Jeff Zucker, said he was wrong to hide the relationship with Executive Vice President Allison Gollust. She will stay with the company. Their relationship came to light during the network’s internal investigation into former anchor Chris Cuomo. The CEO of CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia says three top CNN executives will team up to take over Zucker’s old duties for now.
Read more: CNN, NY Times, Fox News, NY Post
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees
Several big-name artists were nominated for induction into one of music’s most exclusive clubs, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. They include Dolly Parton, Rage Against the Machine, Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Carly Simon, and Eminem, just to name a few. If Eminem gets in, he’ll become only the seventh hip-hop act ever to be inducted into the hall of fame. This year also marks the most women to be nominated in the past 30 years. The winners will be announced in May with a ceremony to come in the fall.
Read more: USA Today, CNN, Rolling Stone, NY Post, Rock Hall
Thing to Know Thursday: Olympics Covid Protocols
The Beijing Winter Olympics kick off tomorrow, and since we’re still in the middle of a global pandemic, the Olympic athletes and other attendees will go through some of the strictest Covid-19 prevention protocols ever created for an event. The general public isn’t allowed to go and watch, but 11,000 people are expected in Beijing. To try and avoid Covid-19 at all costs, super-strict measures are in place, like a “closed-loop system”. That’s meant to shut off the outside world completely. There are many rules on the list of Covid-19 protocols, and staff will be set up all around the area to make sure people are following them.
Read more: Yahoo! Sports, AP, CNN, Axios, NY Times