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...

Mueller Testifies: Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is scheduled to testify today during House hearings. House Democrats hope to highlight specific examples of the president’s questionable behavior, while Republicans hope to discredit the Mueller report. Mueller himself is not thrilled about testifying and has made it clear that he’ll only discuss what’s already in the final report. It all starts at 8:30am ET today.
Read more: NYT, Wired

Food Stamps “Loophole”: More than 3 million people could be cut off from food stamps in a new proposal from the Trump administration. The administration says the change would close “a loophole” that makes some people automatically eligible for food stamps if they’re receiving other benefits, and it could save billions of dollars. Democrats argue fraud is rare, and the change will take food away from families. The rule change is now open for public comment.
Read more: AP, ABC News

9/11 Victim Fund: The House and Senate passed a bill to provide more money to help 9/11 first responders who are now getting sick. Emergency workers and others are now dealing with health issues, such as cancer, due to the toxic rubble at Ground Zero. Now, the new bill will help ensure the fund, that helps pay for treatment, doesn’t run out until at least 2090, assuming President Trump signs the bill.
Read more: Washington Post, The Hill

Hottest Month: July is on track to set a big heat record. Scientists say this is because of heat waves in North America and warm temps in the arctic. Last month was already the warmest June ever recorded.
Read more: NBC News, The Guardian, USA Today

UPS Drones: UPS is taking the next steps to bolster its drone delivery program with a subsidiary called UPS Flight Forward and an application to get FAA approval. UPS also said it’ll start delivering packages seven days a week, starting next year.
Read more: Techcrunch, WSJ

Starbucks Delivery: It seems the partnership between Starbucks and Uber Eats is working. They just announced they’ll be expanding Starbucks delivery nationwide by early next year.
Read more: The Verge

Amazon + Realogy: Amazon wants to help you buy a house through a new partnership with Realogy, the nation’s largest residential real estate brokerage company. The new program is called ‘TurnKey.’ The program connects homebuyers with a real estate agent, and then, if you actually buy a home, Amazon offers up to $5,000 in home services and smart-home gear.
Read more: NYT, Barron’s

Rare Sneakers: A pair of Nike shoes just sold for more than $400,000 – the most expensive sneakers ever sold at an auction. The Nike cofounder apparently made them himself with his wife’s waffle iron to create the pattern on the sole, and it was meant for runners in the 1972 Olympic trials. A Canadian investor and collector bought 99 pairs of the world’s rarest sneakers.
Read more: CNBC, Bloomberg

Work & Mental Health: Recent research found just one day of work per week is all you need to get the mental health benefits of employment. The UK study found the risk of mental health problems went down in unemployed people who got paid to work for up to eight hours a week (though there was no evidence of any extra boost in well-being beyond eight hours). Researchers say this is good to know as robots and automation could lead to fewer working hours for some people in the future, and it can also benefit those who are retired.
Read more: Bloomberg, The Guardian

Wednesday, July 24th, 2019

Story Summaries

FOLLOW @NEWSWORTHYPOD