THE NEWSWORTHY: THURSDAY, JULY 11TH, 2019
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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...
(Scroll down to read more about our Thing to Know Thursday topic …)
Potential Hurricane: A major storm is headed toward the Gulf Coast. It’s expected to turn into a tropical storm and could become a hurricane by the weekend. Hurricane watches are in effect in southern Louisiana. The area was already hit by ten inches of rain.
Read more: AccuWeather, Weather Channel, AP
S&P 500 Record: Stocks reached record highs yesterday. The S&P 500 broke above 3,000 for the first time. Both the Nasdaq and Dow Jones also reached all-time highs after comments from the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Powell pointed to a slowing economy across the globe and signaled an interest-rate cut could be coming soon.
Read more: CNBC, Bloomberg, NYT
U.K. Ambassador to U.S. Resigns: The U.K.’s ambassador to the U.S. is resigning. Kim Darroch says it’s impossible to do his job now that President Trump won’t talk to him because of leaked emails that criticized the Trump administration. Confidential emails showed Darroch called the Trump administration “clumsy and inept.” The White House cut ties with Darroch, and Trump called him “wacky” and “stupid.” Some British politicians say Darroch was just doing his job. No word yet on who might replace Darroch.
Read more: CBS News, BBC, CNN
Social Media Summit: The White House will hold a gathering of digital leaders to talk about today’s online environment. So far those planning to attend include President Trump supporters. Though the meeting is about social media, Google, Facebook and Twitter were not invited. Trump and others have voiced concerns with social media platforms, saying they suppress conservative voices. The companies say it’s not true, and critics are calling the summit a political ploy.
Read more: Vox, WSJ
Human History Discovery: Scientists may have found the oldest human remains outside Africa. Two skulls were found in a cave in Greece, and researchers believe it to be the earliest evidence of modern humans in that area. Skeptics are concerned there is no other evidence near the skulls and want additional signs that suggest humans were actually there.
Read more: Washington Post, Vox, Gizmodo
Alexa Health Advice: Amazon is partnering with the U.K.’s National Health Service to offer people faster, more accurate health advice. Users can ask Alexa questions about their symptoms and how to treat the issue. An algorithm will use information from the NHS website to deliver answers. This could be a big help for older people and blind patients. Some people are worried about privacy, and experts say it’s important to make sure the advice provided is safe.
Read more: The Verge, CNBC, AP
Snapchat Shows: Snapchat has a new feature: Creator Shows. The shows will be first-person videos about beauty, fitness, dance and fashion, featuring celebrities like Serena Williams, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kevin Hart. There will be about 10 five-minute episodes per season, available on Snapchat’s Discovery page.
Read more: The Verge, Variety
Highest-Paid Celebrities: Taylor Swift is number one on the Forbes 2019 list of the world’s highest-paid entertainers. She earned $185 million over the past year, an increase of more than 130 percent from the year before. Her last tour broke the record for the highest-grossing tour in the U.S. Number two on the Forbes list is Kylie Jenner. Though the top two spots went to women, only 16 of the top 100 are female.
Read more: Forbes, FOX Business
Victory Parade: The U.S. women's soccer team is back home after winning the World Cup Sunday. Along with typical celebrating, gender equality was also a theme at yesterday’s victory parade in New York. Remember: some players filed a discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer earlier this year.
Read more: CBS News, The Washington Post, CNN
ESPY Awards: Speaking of the women's national team, they also appeared at the ESPY Awards last night. They received a trophy for Best Team, and Alex Morgan won Best Female Athlete. Best College Athlete went to Zion Williamson, and Best Comeback went to the St. Louis Blues (who recently won the Stanley Cup).
Read more: USA Today, ESPN
Thing to Know Thursday:
50 Years After Apollo 11
Read More:
Apollo 11 History: History.com, BBC
Today’s Guest: Jennifer Ross-Nazzal
Dr. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal has served as the JSC Historian since 2004. Jennifer provides real-time resource and reference assistance to internal and external customers, and has shared her expertise with many NASA areas, broadcasting agencies, documentarians, and others. She was awarded her Ph.D. from Washington State University, her master's in History from New Mexico State University, and B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of Arizona.
Jennifer holds the unique distinction of being a scholar of NASA history and women’s history. She has been featured as a subject matter expert in several documentaries; is an accomplished oral historian; has presented at numerous national conferences; and authored many publications.