Monday, July 15th, 2019
Trump Targets Congresswomen, Facebook Fine & Prime Day Deals
All the news you need in less than 10 min:
Today’s episode is brought to you by ZOLA.
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 perusing the latest happenings...
Hurricane Barry: Hurricane Barry made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 1 storm. It was downgraded to a tropical depression yesterday and is expected to weaken to a tropical rainstorm today. New Orleans avoided a direct hit, but life-threatening flash flooding is still possible in other parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Already, thousands of homes and businesses lost power, and dozens of people had to be rescued.
Read more: AP, Accuweather, Weather Channel, ABC News
NYC Blackout: A power outage in New York City over the weekend left more than 70,000 people in the dark. Broadway shows were canceled and four subway stations were shut down. Officials are still working to find out what caused the outage, but it may have been because of a mechanical failure at a substation.
Read more: NYT, CBS News, USA Today, ABC News
Trump Targets Congresswomen: President Trump tweeted that some Democratic Congresswomen should go back to the “broken and crime infested countries they came from.” Though he didn’t include names, Trump is likely talking about four freshman Democrats in the House. All of them are American citizens, and three were born in the U.S. Many are calling it racist and divisive. At least 90 Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Congresswomen likely targeted, have spoken out against the tweet. Despite the backlash, Trump is not backing down.
Read more: AP, The Hill, Washington Post, FOX News
ICE Raid Update: Only a handful of arrests were made in the expected federal raids Sunday. Federal agents were expected to round up thousands of undocumented immigrants in major cities, but authorities say more could happen this week.
Read more: NYT, NPR
Facebook Fine: Facebook may be facing a $5 billion fine from the federal government. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started investigating Facebook’s mishandling of millions of users’ personal information. The fine would likely be part of a settlement, which still needs final approval from the Justice Department. If approved, it’ll set the record for the largest FTC fine against a tech company. Critics say it will be a slap on the wrist for such a large company. So far Facebook hasn’t said anything, but they already set aside $3 billion just in case they were fined.
Read more: WSJ, CNN, Ars Technica
737 Max Flights: American Airlines and United just removed the Boeing 737 Max planes from their schedules until early November. Media reports say the 737 Max planes are unlikely to be ready for any airline until at least next year. Boeing, the FAA and other regulators are expanding what they’re looking at and what it’ll take to get the planes flying again.
Read more: WSJ, CNBC, Fox Business
Wimbledon Wins: There were two big wins at Wimbledon this weekend in both the men’s and women’s finals. Novak Djokovic won the men’s final for the fifth time. His final match was the longest Wimbledon final ever at nearly five hours. Simona Halep beat Serena Williams in the women’s final. It would have been Williams’ record-tying 24th grand slam title.
Read more: CBS Sports, CNN, ESPN, Bustle
Alzheimers’ Prevention: There’s no cure for Alzheimer's, but several studies show people who take better care of their bodies can lower their risk of dementia. People who followed four or five healthy lifestyle behaviors for six years reduced their chances of getting dementia by nearly 60 percent compared to others. In one study, all the participants were over 60 years old and were still able to lower their dementia risks with healthier lifestyles.
Read more: NBC News, TIME
Prime Day Deals: It’s Amazon Prime Day, a two-day event full of discounts and deals. Hundreds of different items will be on sale, including the Amazon Echo and Fire Stick. In the past, Amazon Prime Day has led to record sales, typically surpassing holiday sales. Target, Walmart and several others are promoting their own sales to compete. Prime Day ends tomorrow at midnight.
Read more: CNET, Business Insider, USA Today, Fortune
Box Office: Spider-Man: Far From Home was number one at the box office for the second weekend in a row. Meanwhile, the indie film The Farewell brought in more than $350,000 from just four locations, beating Avengers: Endgame for best per-screen average in 2019. The Farewell premiered at Sundance Film Festival and will hit theaters nationwide in August.
Read more: Variety, Deadline