Friday, June 17th, 2022
Spotlight on Pence, Mortgage Rates Jump & New NBA Champions
All the news you need in around 10 min:
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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...
Third Jan. 6th Hearing
Day three of the public Capitol riot hearings was mostly about former Vice President Pence. Lawmakers talked about the pressure former President Trump put on his vice president to overturn the 2020 election, even though he was told it would be illegal to do so. Several witnesses said the vice president did not have the legal authority to reject the votes, as Trump requested. Regardless, Pence’s chief of staff told the panel the vice president said “many times” he wouldn’t do that. Yet, he says he kept up the pressure, having a “heated” conversation with him the morning of January 6th and tweeting that he “lacked courage” during the riot. Still, Trump says he did nothing to incite the riot and has called the investigation a sham.
Read More: AP, WSJ, NY Times, Reuters, NY Post
Border Crossings Hit Another Record
The number of people crossing into the U.S. from the southern border hit its highest level ever recorded. U.S. Customs made more than 239,000 arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border last month. That’s nearly 60,000 more than they arrested in May of last year, and officials think the numbers could go up more throughout the summer. However, they’re trying to discourage migrants from making the journey. They point out that at this time of year, they’re traveling in “one of the most remote, extreme environments in the western hemisphere,” since the weather is extremely hot, and there is very little cover from the broiling summer sun.
Read More: NBC News, WSJ, WaPo, USA Today, CBP
50 Years Since Watergate
Today marks exactly 50 years since the Watergate scandal began. On June 17th, 1972, burglars were arrested in the Democratic National Committee office. It turns out those burglars were connected to President Nixon’s reelection campaign. They were caught wiretapping phones and stealing top-secret documents. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein published reports about how Nixon was related to the conspiracy and tried to cover it up. By August of 1974, Nixon had resigned from office. Now, the scandal is being remembered. The Library of Congress has a new exhibition on display that features a lot of evidence from the investigation, and the Smithsonian is hosting a political art show.
Read More: WaPo, CBS News, NPR, History, CRF, FBI
Warriors Win NBA Finals
For the fourth time in eight years, the Golden State Warriors are national champions. They beat the Boston Celtics last night in game six of the finals, winning the NBA title. This means head coach Steve Kerr now has nine championship rings, five from his time as a player and four as a coach. Besides another ring, Warriors star Steph Curry took home his first finals MVP trophy, one of the only honors that has eluded him so far. Now, the Warriors go back to California. San Francisco will host a championship parade on Monday.
Read More: NBC Sports, USA Today, ESPN, NBA
FIFA Picks World Cup Host Cities
The biggest sporting event in the world outside of the Olympics is coming to the U.S. We’re talking about the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It will be the first World Cup in history to be spread out across three countries: the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Most of the sites will be here in the U.S. Soccer’s governing body, FIFA, chose 11 American cities: Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, and New York/New Jersey. Plus, it picked three sites in Mexico and two in Canada.
Read More: ESPN, AP, Fox News, NPR, FIFA
Mortgage Rates Hit New High
U.S. mortgage rates have reached their highest level since 2008. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now averages 5.78%. The increase since just last week marks the largest one-week jump since 1987. These higher rates for a home loan, coupled with climbing home prices, mean some Americans can no longer afford to buy a home. However, analysts say the higher rates could cool down the housing market and bring prices lower. It’s a ripple effect from the Federal Reserve raising key interest rates this week, part of an effort to curb inflation and slow the economy.
Read More: Fox Business, CNN, NY Times, WSJ, Freddie Mac
Revlon Bankruptcy
Cosmetics giant Revlon has filed for bankruptcy after 90 years in the beauty industry. The AP reports the company was already dealing with rising debt when things got worse with the pandemic. Then came the global supply chain issues on top of more competition from other big rivals and celebrities. However, filing for bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean Revlon is shutting down. The company’s CEO said the move will “allow Revlon to offer our consumers the iconic products we have delivered for decades while providing a clearer path for our future growth.”
Read More: WSJ, AP, CNBC, Fox Business, Revlon
Boring Company Building Vegas Tunnels
Downtown Las Vegas will soon have more underground tunnels. The city council gave a unanimous thumbs-up to Elon Musk’s The Boring Company’s plans to expand its system of tunnels there. When the Vegas loop is completed, the underground tunnels are expected to have 51 stops and cover 29 miles, transporting 57,000 passengers each hour. For now, it only has 1.7 miles of tunnels up and running, taking people across the convention center campus. It turns a 25-minute walk into a two-minute ride in a Tesla with a human driver.
Read More: The Verge, Engadget, The Hill, City of Las Vegas
Juneteenth
This Sunday is Juneteenth. The annual holiday commemorates the day when the last enslaved Black people learned they were free. It was June 19th, 1865 when union soldiers made it to Galveston, Texas to bring the news, which was their final stop. It was two years after President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation declared all slaves free. This weekend, people will hold parades, cookouts, family gatherings, big festivals, and more. Since Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday last year, a lot of employees are getting Monday off work.
Read More: History, Vox, CNN, Juneteenth
Father’s Day
Here’s your reminder that Sunday is Father’s Day. This year, Americans are expected to spend $20 billion on Father’s Day activities. That’s according to the National Retail Federation. It says people plan to spend an average of $172 each, mostly on special Father’s Day outings like dinner or brunch. A lot of restaurants are offering deals to help. For example, the Cheesecake Factory will give anyone who buys a $100 gift card another $25 gift card for free.
Read More: KMGH, Fox Business, NRF
Feel Good Friday
Researchers at Harvard found a correlation between lifespan and optimism in women. The authors discovered that optimistic women live longer, many past the age of 90. The study revealed that a lot of the factors we traditionally think of as contributing to longevity, such as diet, exercise, and other lifestyle choices, don't seem to hold as much weight as an optimistic outlook. When compared to the least optimistic participants, the optimistic women had a 5.4% longer lifespan.
Read More: Harvard
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