Friday, February 19th, 2021
Millions Without Water, Immigration Overhaul Bill & Restaurant Tip War
All the news you need in around 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by BLUblox.com/newsworthy and Fitbod.me/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 reading the latest happenings...
Texas Power and Water Crisis
People in Texas are still dealing with the fallout of a historic winter storm. Today, power is finally back on for most Texans, although there are still a couple hundred-thousand people in the dark, many without heat. The more widespread problem is there are more than 14 million Texans without safe drinking water. Over the past few days, pipes and water mains cracked, wells froze, and water treatment plants were knocked offline. The good news is Texas is expected to warm up this weekend and that should hopefully give crews some time to fix the problems.
Read More: AP, NY Times, CBS News, Dallas Morning News
Sen. Cruz Vacation Backlash
Sen. Ted Cruz has been facing a lot of backlash for taking his family to Cancun, Mexico while his home state of Texas deals with the crisis. Both Democratic and Republican leaders have said he abandoned the people who voted for him. However, Cruz says he was just trying to be a good dad, taking his kids on a trip while school was canceled. He was scheduled to stay in Mexico through the weekend, but he decided to return to Texas yesterday instead. He’s now saying the whole trip was “obviously a mistake.”
Read More: WaPo, NPR, AP, Houston Chronicle
Dems Introduce Immigration Bill
Democrats in Congress unveiled a bill that would overhaul the nation’s immigration system. One of the most notable parts of it is an eight-year pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. now. The bill would also make more diversity visas available and give more funding to immigration courts and technology. Some political analysts don’t think it stands a chance at actually becoming law since most Republicans will likely be against it, but many Democrats say they’re open to negotiating.
Read More: Politico, ABC News, FOX News, USA Today
Iran Nuclear Talks Offer
American and Iranian officials could be coming together soon for a new round of nuclear talks. The European Union invited both sides to meet, along with the other five countries who signed onto the last nuclear agreement in 2015. The Biden administration confirmed it’s in. That doesn’t necessarily mean the U.S. will rejoin the agreement, but the U.S. says it’s open to it if Iran can meet certain terms. No word from leadership in Iran yet, but if they agree too, this will be the first substantial talks between the U.S. and Iran in more than four years.
Read More: NY Times, NBC News, WSJ, Reuters
Mars Rover Successfully Lands
NASA’s newest rover is now roaming the red planet. It’s NASA’s biggest and most advanced robotic explorer for Mars yet. Its name is Perseverance, or Percy for short. It successfully touched down on Mars yesterday and that’s a huge triumph because this was NASA’s most complicated Mars landing yet and it took years of preparation. All went according to plan though. Now, it has a mission to gather data that could show signs of ancient life on the planet. The samples will eventually be returned to Earth in about a decade.
Read More: USA Today, AP, NASA, First Image from Perseverance
Millions of Phony N95 Masks Seized
U.S. officials have taken millions of fake N95 masks out of circulation. The counterfeit masks look like they’re made by the brand 3M, but they may not have the same protection standards as actual N95 masks since they were never tested. Federal investigators have been looking into them and found some of the phonies were sold to hospitals, medical facilities, and government agencies, potentially putting frontline workers at risk. Agents notified about 6,000 potential victims in at least 12 states. Homeland security officials say they’ll seek criminal charges too.
Read More: AP, WSJ, Axios, 3M: ID PPE Fraud
Facebook Bans News-Sharing in Australia
News stories shared in Australian Facebook feeds or from Australian news organizations have now disappeared. It’s because of a proposed law in Australia that would force tech companies to pay news providers for journalism shared on their platforms. Facebook argues it’s not stealing content when publishers choose to share stories on its platform, so it’s sending a message with a ban. Australian leaders are asking Facebook to reconsider, saying the law is meant to give the media “a fair go” in the tech platforms.
Read More: CNBC, Business Insider, The Verge, AP, Facebook
Amazon Launches Build It
Amazon wants you to decide which products it will roll out next. The company launched a new program called Build It. Amazon will come up with product ideas and give them 30 days to gain steam. If enough people pre-order the product, people will receive the items. Either way, customers won’t be charged until a product ships, so if it turns out an item isn’t popular enough, you won’t lose money. Already there are three possible products up for consideration: a printer for sticky notes, a high-tech nutrition scale, and a cuckoo clock that you can program.
Read More: USA Today, CNBC, The Verge, Amazon
First U.S. Endangered Species Clone
For the first time, scientists cloned a U.S. endangered species. It’s a black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann. It was born in December and just announced this week. Scientists used frozen genes of another ferret who died more than 30 years ago and it worked. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says Elizabeth Ann is “holding her own.” She won’t be released into the wild though. Researchers will keep her for more research and breeding. Scientists think this kind of work could eventually bring back extinct species or save other endangered ones.
Read More: AP, NY Times, CBS News, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Feel Good Friday: ‘Tip War’ Raises Thousands for Restaurant Workers
A friendly “tip war” is helping restaurants in Ohio. It started last month when a Xavier University alumnus ate lunch at a Cincinnati cafe. He tipped his server $1,000 on a $55 check. With it, he left a note on a napkin that read, in part, “Go Xavier!” Two University of Cincinnati fans read about it on Facebook and were inspired. They went to another restaurant and left a $1,001 tip with a note that read, “Bearcats up by 1.” Since then, dozens of other people have joined. Earlier this month, ABC News estimated, because of this, more than $34,000 went to restaurant workers.
Read More: ABC News, Today, CNN