Tuesday, April 20th, 2021
Jury Deliberates, Historic Helicopter Flight & ‘Doge Day’
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by and Ritual.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 read the latest happenings...
Chauvin Trial Deliberations
It’s now up to the jury to decide what happens to the former police officer accused of murdering George Floyd. Jurors heard from 45 witnesses over three weeks of testimony and lawyers on both sides summed it up with closing arguments yesterday. A prosecutor stayed focused on the video most people have seen by now. He told jurors, “Believe your eyes” when watching the ex-officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. After that, one of Chauvin’s lawyers criticized prosecutors for dismissing other things that might have caused Floyd’s death like heart problems and drug use.
Read More: Minneapolis Star Tribune, NY Times, NBC News, Fox News
Ofc. Sicknick Cause of Death
It turns out the Capitol Police officer who died after the Capitol attack in January had two strokes that day. Now, Washington, D.C.’s medical examiner says Ofc. Brian Sicknick died of natural causes. That means it is unlikely prosecutors will be pressing murder charges related to his death. Two men are already accused of assaulting Ofc. Sicknick by spraying a powerful chemical at him during the Capitol invasion. The medical examiner says the officer had a clot that caused his strokes, but the violent attack did play a role in his condition.
Read More: WaPo, Fox News, AP, Politico, Capitol Police
Walter Mondale Dies
The nation is mourning the death of former Vice President Walter Mondale. Under former President Jimmy Carter, Mondale was the first VP to serve as a real partner in the White House. He was a champion of activist government and civil rights and he was actively involved in both U.S. and foreign policy. Over the years, he also mentored many other politicians, like our current President Joe Biden. However, Mondale’s presidential run was a famous blunder. He told voters to expect a tax increase if he won, and he ended up losing to President Reagan in a landslide.
Read More: Politico, Axios, NY Times, AP, President Carter Statement
Snow and Record Cold Coming
A wintery storm is about to bring snow to more than a dozen states in the U.S. Today, it’s in the middle of the country. Most of it is falling in the Rockies where people could see up to a foot of snow. By the end of the day, it’s going to impact major cities like Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis, and Detroit. It will also be unusually cold for April. People are going to be experiencing sub-freezing temperatures from Canada to Texas. The National Weather Service is expecting many record low temperatures for the day to be tied or broken.
Read More: USA Today, CNN, The Weather Channel, NWS
Mars Helicopter’s First Flight
For the first time in human history, an aircraft was able to fly on another planet. NASA’s tiny Ingenuity helicopter successfully completed its first test on Mars. It hovered about 10 feet in the air for about 30 seconds before coming back down. That proves it’s possible to fly a manmade object in Mars’ extremely thin atmosphere. NASA says this opens up new possibilities for future exploration of the red planet. It’s hoping it can now fly aerial missions and cover more ground. A second test flight is scheduled for later this week.
Read More: NASA, Nat’l Geographic, NY Times, AP, BBC
Europe’s New Super League
12 of Europe’s biggest soccer teams from England, Italy, and Spain have announced plans to break away from their current national leagues and form a separate division called the Super League. The idea is participating teams would play against each other during the week and play in their original, domestic leagues on the weekends. However, European soccer’s governing body says a super league would damage the existing national leagues and the teams that are left out. Therefore, European officials are threatening to ban any teams that join the Super League from participating in domestic leagues.
Read More: BBC, CBS Sports, AP, Reuters, Boris Johnson, Kensington Royal
Facebook Unveils New Audio Products
Facebook is adding audio options to its platform. One called Live Audio Rooms works like the popular Clubhouse app. Users will be able to participate in real-time, audio-only chat rooms. Another feature in the works is called Soundbites. It will include editing tools for users to create and publish short audio clips. Also, the company is working with Spotify on a feature called Project Boombox. It’s reportedly meant to make it easier for users to share and listen to music and podcasts without having to leave Facebook.
Read More: Axios, Techcrunch, Reuters, CNBC, Facebook
DogeDay Push
Fans of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin are working to make today “DogeDay.” Dogecoin was started as a joke a few years ago to mock the growing interest in digital money. However, fans have recently rallied around the digital currency and have sent its value skyrocketing. Its value has risen by more than 5,000% since the beginning of the year. As of yesterday, one Dogecoin was worth about 39 cents. Investors are trying to get the value up to $1 today. However, analysts are reminding people that Dogecoin’s value could crash as quickly as it rises.
Read More: Fortune, USA Today, WSJ, Newsweek
Trivia Tuesday
Q: How much did Americans spend on legal marijuana in 2020?
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: Besides the U.S., which country is home to the most McDonald's restaurants?
A: China
Read More: McDonald’s China, Statista, Scrapehero