theNewsWorthy: Monday, May 13th, 2019
ALL THE NEWS YOU NEED - IN ONE PLACE.
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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 perusing the latest happenings...
Severe Weather: Rain is expected to hit the Northeast today and the Midwest later this week, but the South was hit hard over the weekend. Governors in states like Louisiana and Mississippi declared states of emergency due to flooding. New Orleans was one of the most impacted cities.
Read more: USA Today, CBS News AccuWeather, The Weather Channel
Tariffs Latest: Trade talks between the U.S. and China are now at a standstill. President Trump claimed China is paying most of the tariffs, but White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said both sides will suffer as U.S. businesses and consumers pay higher prices and China’s economy is affected by fewer exports (China won't pay the U.S. anything directly). President Trump warned China to act now to make an agreement or risk an even worse deal in 2020.
Read more: AP, Reuters, FOX News, CNBC, Washington Post
Uber IPO Update: Uber opened for trading as a public company on Friday in one of the largest initial public offerings in U.S. history. However, Wall Street was not as welcoming as the company expected. Even after Uber priced its shares near the bottom of its range, it opened even lower and fell again by the time the market closed. Rival Lyft has also done worse than expected since going public as well.
Read more: Business Insider, CNET, NYT
Helium Shortage: A global helium shortage is affecting a variety of businesses. Party City brought more attention to the issue when it announced it'll close 45 stores. Its helium-filled balloons are one of the company’s biggest sellers. Helium is also used for things like airbags, MRI machines and fiber optics, so the global shortage could have a bigger impact.
Read more: USA Today, Gizmodo, CNN
SpaceX Satellites: SpaceX is taking the next step to bring high-speed internet to the world. The company is launching its first batch of 60 satellites to space this week. It’s part of a plan to send 12,000 satellites to space to bring internet to more parts of the world.
Read more: The Verge, Business Insider
AI For Good: Artificial intelligence is helping some industries. Utility companies are now buying AI systems to help predict which equipment and locations are prone to wildfires. The new systems can help detect malfunctions and analyze environmental factors. Also, Google just gave out $25 million in grants for positive uses of artificial intelligence. A total of 12 winners have been chosen for the grants, including the New York City Fire Department, which could reduce response times with the help of AI.
Read more: VentureBeat, Axios
NBA Playoffs Update: The conference finals are set after Kawhi Leonard hit a shot at the buzzer last night that bounced off the rim four times before going in for the win. It was the first Game 7 buzzer beater in NBA history, and it means the Toronto Raptors are heading to the Eastern Conference finals to play the Milwaukee Bucks this week. In a different Game 7, the Portland Trail Blazers won. They’ll now go to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. They’ll be up against the Golden State Warriors starting Tuesday night. Also of note from the NBA: Superstar Dallas Mavericks player Kristaps Porzingis was involved in a fight at a club over the weekend in his home country, Latvia. He was reportedly jumped and assaulted, and there's a viral video of the aftermath.
Read more (Playoffs): CBS Sports, Yahoo! Sports, NYT
Read more (Player Fight): ESPN, CBS News
Record NFL Deal: An NFL deal just made history: Xavien Howard signed a five-year $76.5 million deal with the Miami Dolphins. He’s now highest paid cornerback in history, and the highest paid Dolphins player.
Read more: ESPN, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports
Weekend Box Office: Avengers: Endgame topped the box office for the third weekend in a row, bringing in $65 million in North America. It’s now the third highest grossing domestic movie of all time. Pokemon Detective Pikachu came in at a close second over the weekend with $58 million. Pikachu had the biggest video game adaptation opening.
Read more: Variety, USA Today
TV Series: NBC announced a big renewal deal for the popular show This Is Us, promising at least another three seasons. Also, the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will no longer air on network TV as the lingerie company says it's working on a new kind of event and saw its lowest ratings ever. For HBO fans, the series finale of Veep aired last night, and the Game of Thrones series finale trailer went up on YouTube. Watch it here.
Read more: This Is Us: Variety, People, VS Fashion Show: CNBC, Yahoo, Veep: THR, GoT Trailer: YouTube