Tuesday, February 9th, 2021
Impeachment Trial Begins, Minimum Wage Study & Tesla Boosts Bitcoin
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by MunkPack.com (Listen for the discount code) and NativeDeo.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...
Impeachment Trial Guidelines
The historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump gets going today. Today will be the first time the nine House Democrats acting as prosecutors will come face-to-face with Trump’s legal team. They’ll be debating for up to four hours about whether the trial is legitimate under the constitution since the former president is no longer in office. Senators will then vote on whether to continue. Opening arguments are expected to start tomorrow.
Read More: AP, NBC News, NY Times, FOX News, Senate.Gov
CBO Minimum Wage Report
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office looked into what would happen if the U.S. raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. President Biden and many Democrats are looking to do that. The study found if they get their way, 27 million American workers could get raises and it would lift 900,000 of them above the poverty line. However, the same study found downsides. For example, 1.4 million Americans would lose their jobs and the extra cost to businesses could also lead to higher prices for consumers.
Read More: WSJ, NPR, CNBC, CBO
Rep. White Dies of COVID-19
A second elected congressman has died from COVID-19. Texas Republican Ron White died in the hospital less than three weeks after testing positive for the virus. White was high risk since, in recent years, he’s been battling lung cancer. In a statement, his office wrote, “Ron maintained his quick wit and optimism until the very end. Congressman-elect Luke Letlow died from COVID-19 back in December, weeks before he was set to begin his first term. There will be special elections soon to pick new representatives for their districts.
Read More: WaPo, Politico, Axios
U.S. Cases and Hospitalizations Drop
In less than a year, nearly 465,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. The rate of new deaths has been going up since September. However, there is hope the trend is now changing. The Covid Tracking Project found in the past week, the U.S. reported a 25% drop in new cases and the average number of COVID-19 patients in American hospitals fell by 15%. Those are both record drops.
Read More: Reuters, CNBC, Johns Hopkins, COVID Tracking
FB Removing False Vaccine Claims
Facebook says it’s going to fight harder against misinformation, especially when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines. Facebook says it checked with the World Health Organization and others to come up with a list of false or misleading information to watch out for. For example, it said it will start removing posts saying the vaccines cause autism or that it’s safer to get COVID-19 than to get a vaccine. Scientists say neither of those claims has been proven. The company is also giving advertising credits to UN agencies to spread reliable information about vaccines.
Read More: NY Times, Axios, The Hill, Facebook
Tesla Invests in Bitcoin
Tesla is throwing its weight behind Bitcoin. The electric automaker has invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency. It says it plans to eventually accept it as payment from customers. Tesla’s investment could have a domino effect, prompting other major corporations to accept Bitcoin as a legitimate form of money. Since Tesla invested, Bitcoin has hit a new high, topping $47,000 per coin yesterday. However, some market experts think Tesla is only investing as a way to stir up more interest in its stock.
Read More: WaPo, AP, WSJ, SEC Filing
MLB Ball Changes
Baseball fans might soon notice their favorite MLB teams are hitting fewer home runs. That’s because the MLB is reportedly making changes to its baseballs. They’ll be made a little less bouncy and a little bit lighter. The MLB tried them in an independent lab already and found the new balls will fly about one to two feet shorter when hit over the length of the field. Some analysts say this could reduce home run rates by 5%.
Read More: AP, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, The Athletic
Climate Change Affects U.S. Allergy Season
A new study blames climate change for making the U.S. allergy season worse. Researchers found since 1990, the season has started, on average, 20 days earlier and had about 21% more pollen. They also found warming temperatures and increased carbon dioxide are largely at fault. Scientists explain it by saying the warmer the Earth gets, the earlier spring stars, so the earlier plants and trees bloom. On top of that, plants produce more pollen when they get more carbon dioxide. Scientists say the trend is expected to get worse.
Read More: NY Times, AP, Full Study
Three Spacecraft Will Soon Arrive at Mars
Mars is about to get a little more crowded. Three spacecraft are set to reach the red planet over the next few weeks with the first one slated to arrive today. The unmanned spacecraft were launched within days of each other last July. One was sent by the United States, one by China, and a third by the United Arab Emirates. They were all sent there for research and they’ll be studying things like weather. They’ll also be collecting rocks that could tell us if life ever existed on Mars.
Read More: AP, The Verge, Al Jazeera, NASA
Trivia Tuesday
Q: M&M stands for what two last names?
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: Why are there only 28 days in February?
A: Roman superstition
Read More: Britannica, Mental Floss