Thursday, May 26th, 2022
Grieving with Uvalde, New Police Reform & NFL Streaming Service
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Pampers.com 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 peruse the latest happenings.
Latest on Uvalde Shooting
Vigils and memorials are being held to remember the 19 children and two teachers who were killed in a mass shooting at a rural Texas elementary school. People in Uvalde are also being offered access to grief counselors, ministers, and therapy dogs. Meanwhile, investigators are working to put together a timeline of the horrific massacre. The Texas governor says about half an hour before the shooting, the attacker sent online messages, including one that said he was going to shoot up an elementary school. Minutes later, law enforcement officials say he had a confrontation with an armed security guard but got into the school. The shooting lasted for 40 minutes until a Border Patrol agent shot and killed the shooter.
Read More: AP, CNN, WSJ, Reuters, Axios
How to Help: NPR, WaPo, NY Times, Texas Tribune, GoFundMe
Gun Debate in Texas
Texas has some of the most gun-friendly laws in the country and has been the site of some of the deadliest shootings in the U.S. over the past five years. Still, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says the laws are not the problem. Many Democrats disagree with him, including his main challenger in this November’s midterms. Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke interrupted a news conference Gov. Abbott was having yesterday to confront him on this issue. Top Republican officials on stage quickly pushed back, and O’Rourke was escorted out of the room.
Read More: Texas Tribune, Fox News, Reuters, NY Times
Gun Debate in Congress
At the nation’s capital, Democratic lawmakers lashed out at their Republican colleagues for not supporting their gun reform legislation. Many Democrats like President Biden want expanded background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons. Some Republicans say they don’t want any new laws about guns since the 2nd amendment protects Americans’ right to bear arms. Other Republicans are open to some reform, like red flag laws that let courts temporarily take guns from people deemed dangerous. At this point, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says there’s no obvious path forward for gun measures in Congress.
Read More: WSJ, AP, NY Times, BBC, CNBC, NPR
Biden Signs Police Reform
President Biden signed an executive order about police reform. It creates a national database of police misconduct, bans chokeholds unless deadly force is authorized, requires all police officers to go through anti-bias training, and more. The changes mostly impact federal law enforcement, not local police or sheriff’s offices. Large law enforcement groups in the U.S. are divided on their opinions about the executive order. Some say it’s a step in the right direction. Others say it’s “political theater” that will demoralize and endanger police officers.
Read More: Axios, ABC News, Fox News, WaPo, AP, White House
CDC Long Covid Study
If you get Covid-19, a new CDC study found you could have a one in five chance of having long-term symptoms. The federal health agency evaluated the medical records of nearly two million people. It found one in five adult Covid-19 survivors younger than 65 experienced at least one health condition that could be considered long Covid. Among seniors, that number was one in four. Long Covid is the term used to describe many kinds of symptoms that last a while after a person gets Covid-19. The study found the most common long-term conditions include respiratory symptoms and musculoskeletal pain.
Read More: CNN, Axios, NY Times, CBS News, CDC
CBO Inflation Outlook
Price hikes on most things are expected to stick around for the rest of the year and next year. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a new economic outlook. It says the key measures of inflation will stay uncomfortably high as demand outpaces supply. For example, the Consumer Price Index was up 6.7% last year from the year before. This year, it’s still expected to rise, but by less, about 4.7%. Price increases aren’t expected to fall back to the targeted 2% level until 2024.
Read More: CNBC, AP, Fox Business, WaPo, CBO
Boeing Starliner Lands
Aerospace giant Boeing could be flying astronauts to the International Space Station by the end of this year. Boeing’s Starliner reached the space station and docked as it was supposed to. Then, the spacecraft returned to Earth as planned yesterday. NASA and Boeing’s leaders called the test flight extremely successful. It was meant to prove to NASA that Starliner is ready to give astronauts a ride moving forward. Rival SpaceX is already taking NASA astronauts to the space station. However, NASA wants two companies it can rely on so it won’t have to rely on Russia quite as much.
Read More: Reuters, CNBC, AP, Space.Com, Boeing
Largest Asteroid to Approach Earth in 2022
It’s the largest asteroid expected to get close to Earth in 2022, and the fly-by is happening this week. The space rock is more than a mile long, and it’s traveling at about 30,000 miles per hour. It’s labeled “potentially hazardous”. If it were to hit Earth, it would cause a catastrophe. However, at its closest, the asteroid is expected to be 2.5 million miles away. That’s supposed to happen tomorrow morning. NASA will be watching closely, but you won’t be able to see it with the naked eye.
Read More: Earth Sky, USA Today, Newsweek
Possible NFL Streaming Service
Football fans, get ready for NFL+. The Sports Business Journal says the NFL plans to launch its own streaming service soon. It will reportedly cost roughly $5 a month and will feature live games on mobile phones and tablets, the same games you’d see on local TV. It could also include other content like radio, podcasts, and more. Before now, you could get the games for free on your laptop or tablet via various cell phone carriers of Yahoo! Sports. However, the deals that made that possible have expired. NFL+ is expected to come out this July.
Read More: SBJ, NBC Sports, TechCrunch, Engadget, Deadline
TikTok Launches Twitch-Like Subscriptions
Today, TikTok is launching a subscription program for its TikTok Live service. It lets fans pay a monthly fee in exchange for extra perks from their favorite creators. TechCrunch says the new option looks similar to what Twitch already offers. For now, the new TikTok live subscriptions are only available to certain creators, but they’re expected to roll out to more users in the coming weeks.
Read More: Bloomberg, The Verge, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, TikTok
Thing to Know Thursday: Avocado Hack Could Breed Salmonella
The FDA is warning people to avoid a popular avocado hack. Many videos have shown that storing your avocados in water in the refrigerator can help them stay green longer, giving you up to a month before they go bad. That may be true. However, the FDA told Newsweek it can breed bacteria. Even a little listeria or salmonella might be on the skin of the avocado, and it tends to multiply in water over time, even inside the fruit. A little bit of bacteria typically won’t cause healthy adults to get sick, but even a small amount can affect pregnant women, older adults, or others with compromised immune systems.
Read More: Newsweek, NY Post, KABC