Tuesday, July 19th, 2022
Heat ‘Apocalypse’, Blue Angels First & Toys ‘R’ Us Comeback
All the news in about 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 to read the latest happenings...
Europe Heatwave
Temperatures in England topped 100 degrees yesterday, and they could get higher today. It’s a big deal there because very few homes, businesses, or schools have air conditioning, and the infrastructure wasn’t designed for these conditions. Rail service has been limited over fears the tracks could buckle, and two airports had to close their runways because heat damaged them. Sadly, more than 1,000 people have reportedly died from the heatwave in Europe, and the true death toll is expected to go up.
Read More: BBC, NBC News, AP, USA Today, NY Times, NWS
Ukraine Treason Investigations
Ukraine’s president is working to strengthen his government. President Zelensky dismissed two senior officials, saying their agencies have been harboring traitors who have collaborated with Russia. With that, Zelensky said hundreds of treason investigations have been opened. Meanwhile, on the front lines, Russia has been launching more attacks with both bullets and missiles, and the devastation across the country is growing. However, the Ukrainian military says troops have been able to stay on top of the attacks this week, mostly thanks to technically-advanced rocket systems they’ve gotten from the west.
Read More: Ukrainian President, AP, Fox News, Axios, The Guardian
Ukrainian First Lady Visits US
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska is visiting the U.S. this week. She met with American Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday, who told her the U.S. is still committed to Ukraine. He also commended her for her work with civilians. The first lady has been promoting counseling for millions of Ukrainians dealing with grief and trauma. Today, Zelenska plans to meet her U.S. counterpart, Jill Biden. Tomorrow, she is set to address Congress.
Read More: State Dept., The Hill, WSJ, Reuters, AP
Top Republican Donors Charged with Fraud
Two American businesspeople, who were once top Republican donors, were arrested this week for fraud. The Justice Department says they operated a multi-million-dollar investment scheme, promising to help foreign nationals get visas and access American politicians like President Trump. They never actually got the visas, but they were able to meet with former President Trump at a fundraiser in 2017. The donors are accused of charging each guest big money to get into the fundraiser and then using it to make illegal political campaign contributions to Trump and the Republican National Committee.
Read More: DOJ, WSJ, AP, Bloomberg
Maryland Primaries
Today, voters in Maryland will choose which candidates will represent each party in the November elections. The governor’s race could be especially interesting. On the Democratic side, the ballot includes the former head of the national Democratic Party, a former U.S. education secretary, a bestselling author, and more. For the GOP, the outgoing governor hand-picked a successor from his administration. However, she’s running against another Republican who has the endorsement of former President Trump. There are also races for U.S. Senate and House seats as well as statewide and local elections.
Read More: WaPo, AP, WTOP, ABC News
First Female Blue Angels Pilot
For the first time, the Navy’s famed Blue Angels will have a female demonstration pilot. The Navy says Lt. Amanda Lee will join the elite U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron this fall. Other women have served with the Blue Angels for years, but not typically as pilots. The Blue Angels perform aerial moves at air shows, sporting events, and other flight demonstrations. Training starts this fall, and Lt. Lee’s first event will likely be early next year.
Read More: DVIDS, Reuters, WSJ, WaPo, NBC News
Toys ‘R’ Us Coming to All Macy’s
One of America’s most iconic toy stores is coming back. Toys ‘R’ Us is opening shops inside Macy’s stores for the holiday season. They will range in size from 1,000 square feet in smaller locations to 10,000 square feet at flagship stores in major cities. The shops will include hands-on demonstration tables, a life-size Geoffrey Giraffe to take photos with, and more. The rollout has already begun, and there will be a Toys ‘R’ Us inside every Macy’s by mid-October.
Read More: Toys ‘R’ Us, ABC News, NBC News, MarketWatch
Uber Settles Disability Violations Case
Uber agreed to pay millions of dollars to passengers with physical disabilities as part of a settlement. Federal regulators sued Uber, saying its wait fee system discriminates against disabled customers. Under the system, Uber may start charging if a passenger takes more than two minutes to board the car. Uber has said the fees are typically less than $1, but the plaintiffs argued they contributed to a broader system of discrimination. Uber is now paying more than $2 million to people who complained or were harmed in some way. It also encourages riders with a disability to use the self-declaration form to have wait time fees waived.
Read More: DOJ, Axios, Bloomberg, WSJ, The Verge
New Instagram Payments Feature
Instagram has launched a way for you to buy products in private DMs. The “payments in chat” feature will let you pay for and track your order and ask the business follow-up questions. The company says users often chat about their orders with businesses through direct messages anyway, so they’ll now be able to pay in that chat thread, too. It appears it will work when the business or seller sends a payment request to the customer in the chat.
Read More: Meta, PYMNTS, TechCrunch
Snapchat for Web Launches
Snapchat is coming to your desktop. It’s called Snapchat for Web, and it will be the first time the company has made Snapchat available on anything but smartphones. It will have things like snapping, chatting, and video calling that you can do from your computer. In the U.S. right now, it’s only available to Snapchat+ subscribers. Snapchat+ launched last month. Subscribers pay $3.99 a month for extra features.
Read More: Snap, CNBC, The Verge, CNN, TechCrunch
Twitter Testing Themed Timelines
Twitter is testing a custom timeline feature. It will give people feeds focused on particular topics so users can scroll through conversations happening about them. It will also merge tweets with other media about that interest. The first experiment for a small group of users is a timeline focused on “The Bachelorette”. Twitter sees a future where other third-party developers could create custom timelines for people to use on the platform.
Read More: Twitter, TechCrunch, The Verge
Home Run Derby Recap
Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week is well underway in Los Angeles. Last night was the popular Home Run Derby. Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto won it all, logging 19 home runs in the final round. At 23 years old, he’s the second-youngest player ever to win the derby, just after Juan Gonzalez, who won it when he was just one day younger than Soto is now.
Read More: MLB, Yahoo! Sports, WaPo, CBS Sports, AP
Celebrity All-Star Game
Another one of the week’s popular events happened over the weekend and aired last night: the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game. Because it happened in the heart of the Hollywood area, quite a few stars were playing, like Bad Bunny, JoJo Siwa, Bryan Cranston, J.K. Simmons, and many more. The game MVP award went to WWE star The Miz, thanks to fan applause voting.
Read More: MLB, NY Post, People, Rolling Stone
MLB All-Star Game Tonight
Tonight, it’s time for the main event of All-Star Week: the MLB All-Star Game. It will feature the best players in baseball. The starting pitcher for the National League will be Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers at his home field. Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan will get the ball for the American League. If, after nine innings, the game is tied, another home run derby will determine the winner. You can watch the game on Fox at 5 p.m. PT.
Read More: MLB, ESPN, CBS Sports, LA Times
Trivia Tuesday
What country has the national language with the longest alphabet?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Trivia
Q: What is the highest-grossing Broadway show of all time?
A: The Lion King
Read More: Playbill, The Wrap, Broadway.Com, The Lion King, NY Theater Guide