Friday, July 19th, 2019

Puerto Rico Protests, Apollo 11 & Alexa Board Game 

All the news you need in less than 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 perusing the latest happenings...

Iranian Drone: The U.S. military brought down one of Iran’s drones in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for a lot of the world’s oil supply. President Trump told reporters it was in self-defense after Iran’s drone came too close to a U.S. ship. Iran’s foreign minister seemed to deny the event, saying the country has “no information about losing a drone.” Things between the U.S. and Iran have been tense since the U.S. left the Iran Nuclear Deal, and remember, Iran took down a U.S. drone just last month.
Read more: NBC News, AP, The Washington Post, CBS News

Puerto Rico Protests: More protests are planned in Puerto Rico today, and things have already turned violent this week. Police used teargas on protesters when they started using firecrackers and charging the governor’s mansion. Protesters want to pressure Puerto Rico’s governor to step down because of leaked messages that Governor Ricardo Rossello sent to top aides. Many comments are said to be vulgar, misogynistic and homophobic. While the governor admits what he said was “improper” and apologized, he still says he didn’t do anything illegal and won't resign.
Read more: ABC News, Reuters, Washington Post

Minimum Wage: The House voted to double the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 dollars per hour. Under the House-approved plan, the pay requirement would gradually phase in over the next six years. Even though the Democrat-led House gave the thumbs up, the Republican-led Senate likely won’t pass the bill. Republicans are worried that raising the minimum wage might cause people to lose their jobs, saying companies won't be able to afford as many employees. Democrats say the change would bring a million people out of poverty.
Read more: CNBC, The Hill, NYT

British Open: Today is the second day of the British Open, the oldest of the four major golf championships. All eyes are on Tiger Woods. He didn’t do well yesterday, ending with one of his worst single round scores in a major tournament. Woods even warned people before the tournament, saying his game wasn’t where he wanted it to be, but he would play anyway.
Read more: CBS Sports, Bleacher Report

50 Years Since Apollo 11: Tomorrow marks 50 years since the first humans walked on the moon. Hundreds of millions of people around the world tuned in to watch astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. The mission was a huge engineering accomplishment and helped scientists better understand the solar system. NASA hopes to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024 in a mission called “Artemis,” reaching the moon’s south pole for the first time and keeping humans stay on and around the moon for longer. The ultimate goal is to get to Mars.
Read more: Vox, NBC News, The Verge (events)

Sesame Street Honors: Sesame Street is also celebrating 50 years in 2019, and now, the beloved children’s show will be the first ever TV series to win a Kennedy Center honor. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has awarded musicians, musical groups, movies and TV stars, but never a TV show -- until now. Sesame Street actors Linda Ronstadt and Sally Field will also receive awards.
Read more: Deadline, LA Times

Netflix Subscribers Drop: Netflix lost U.S. subscribers for the first time in several years. The streaming service claims it’s because of its higher prices rather than competition. The last time Netflix lost U.S. subscribers was in 2011, when the company also raised prices. Netflix at least expects 7 million more users to sign up next quarter since it’s adding more content.
Read more: CNBC, AP, USA Today

Toys ‘R’ Us Returns: Toys ‘R’ Us is making a comeback with two new stores set to open in time for the holidays. The toy stores will open in Houston and New Jersey in November. The new locations will be smaller than the original stores and will allow customers to interact with every toy for sale in the store. Tru Kids plans to open 10 stores by the end of next year.
Read more: Business Insider, CBS News, CNN

Alexa-Powered Board Game: A new murder mystery board game just hit the market, and it’s powered by Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa. St. Noire is the world’s first fully voice acted board game designed for Amazon Alexa. Players take on the role of a detective to solve a murder by visiting different locations in the game and talking to various characters to investigate. Alexa runs the game by playing the background sounds and voices: more than 2,500 lines of dialogue performed by actors playing 12 different characters. St. Noire is available on Amazon for $40, but it doesn’t include the Alexa device.
Read more: Engadget, VentureBeat