Thursday, February 4th, 2021
Vaccine Slows Spread, New Terror Group & Golden Globe Noms
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Noom.com/newsworthy and BlueNile.com
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...
AstraZeneca Vaccine Data
Another COVID-19 vaccine is showing promise, not just for stopping illnesses, but for slowing the spread of COVID-19. It’s the first data to answer whether the shots can prevent people from getting infections without symptoms. Researchers at Oxford University say the AstraZeneca has an impact on both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Right now, people are already getting the AstraZeneca shots in the UK, Mexico, India, and elsewhere. However, that one is still being tested in the U.S. so the FDA hasn’t yet reviewed or authorized it for widespread use.
Read More: AP, CBS News, Business Insider, Oxford
McKinsey Opioid Crisis Settlement
Another company is paying hundreds of millions in the fallout from the opioid crisis. This time, it’s consulting giant McKinsey and Company. Lawsuits say McKinsey helped Purdue Pharma aggressively market oxycontin painkillers and its advice contributed to the deaths of more than 450,000 people who overdosed on opioids over the last two decades. McKinsey has now reportedly reached a deal with 47 states and Washington, D.C. to pay more than half a billion dollars.
Read More: NY Times, WSJ, Reuters
OH Officer Murder Charges
A white former police officer in Ohio is now facing murder charges for killing an unarmed Black man. Body camera footage shows Adam Coy shot and killed Andre Hill within seconds of responding to a noise complaint in December. It shows Hill walking from a garage and holding up a cellphone and a keyring. Coy says he thought the keyring was a gun, so he shot him. Coy’s lawyer says if his client thought Hill had a gun, he reacted as he should have. However, a grand jury decided his actions amount to felony murder.
Read More: Columbus Dispatch, NY Times, ABC News, NPR
Canada Names Proud Boys a Terror Group
Canada is now the first country to call the Proud Boys a terrorist organization, putting the far-right nationalist group on the same list as Al Qaeda or ISIS. Canadian officials say it’s not political, but it’s an effort to crack down on violent extremism. Now, Proud Boys members could face harsher terrorism-related penalties for certain crimes. It’s also illegal to send money to the organization or buy their merchandise in Canada. The U.S. government says a review is underway here too.
Read More: WaPo, Politico, AP, Axios
New START Treaty
It’s a sign of some stability between the U.S. and Russia. Negotiators from both sides formally extended a nuclear agreement. It’s called the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START for short. It limits how many nuclear weapons the U.S. and Russia are allowed to have and both countries are allowed to inspect each other up to 18 times a year to make sure everyone is following the rules. The U.S. says it’s now working on a deal with China too.
Read More: WaPo, AP, NBC News
Stock Market Latest
Federal regulators are taking a closer look at online message boards like Reddit in response to all the ups and downs on Wall Street lately. Bloomberg says investigators are combing through online posts to see if there are any signs of fraud. They want to see if any were part of a manipulative effort to drive up share prices for GameStop and other companies. Until now, the belief is it was small, individual investors doing it, but new questions have come up about whether professional investors used boards to fuel the frenzy.
Read More: Bloomberg, The Verge, CBS News, WSJ
Country Star Racial Slur Backlash
A country music star is getting backlash for using a racial slur. A neighbor caught Morgan Wallen on video yelling profanities like the N-word outside his home. That video has been shared widely and now, Wallen has been suspended from his record label. Also, hundreds of radio stations around the country stopped playing his songs, CMT removed Wallen from all its platforms, and more. Wallen has released an apology, saying he’s “embarrassed and sorry” and wishes he could “take it back.”
Read More: WaPo, AP, TMZ
Golden Globe Nominations
The Golden Globe nominations are in and this year, Netflix is dominating the field. The streaming platform got 42 nods for shows like The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown as well as movies like The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Mank. After Netflix, Disney comes in second place with 25 nominations followed by Warner Media with 13. Amazon and Hulu have 10 apiece. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are hosting the awards show again this year on February 28th.
Read More: Variety, NPR, USA Today, Golden Globes
Study: The Moon May Influence Sleep
A new study found people get less rest in the days leading up to a full moon. Researchers looked at the sleep patterns of hundreds of people over a lunar cycle. They found people had later bedtimes and got the least amount of sleep during the three to five days before a full moon. It took people about 30 minutes longer to fall asleep and they slept for about 50 minutes less than usual. Researchers say they don’t know the reason behind the trend, but they’ll keep looking into it.
Read More: WaPo, Space.com, Science Advances
Thing to Know Thursday: COVID-19 Immunity
Throughout your life, your body’s immune system detects, remembers, and defends against germs that can make you sick. That resistance is called immunity. There are three ways you might be able to get that protection: by actually getting sick, by receiving someone else’s antibodies as treatment, or by getting an effective vaccine. Doctors say the safest way to get COVID-19 immunity is to get a vaccine. It also seems the vaccine provides immunity for a longer amount of time, but more research is needed to know for sure.
Read More: BBC, Bloomberg, Cnet, NPR, NY Times