Thursday, July 28th, 2022
Big Rate Hike, Surprise Senate Deal & Beyoncé Album Leaked
All the news you need 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 peruse the latest happenings.
Fed Interest Rate Hikes
The Federal Reserve took another aggressive step to try and tame historically-high inflation. For the second time this summer, the Fed raised interest rates by three-quarters of a point. That raises the key rate to a range of 2.25 to 2.5%. The idea is that when the Fed raises rates, it’s making it more pricey to take out a mortgage, an auto or business loan, or new credit card debt. Because of that, people and businesses start borrowing and spending less, cooling the economy. The Fed is betting it will be able to slow things down enough to tame inflation. However, they don’t want to cause layoffs or raise unemployment.
Read More: Federal Reserve, AP, NY Times, Fox Business, Reuters
New Climate/Tax/Inflation Package
Democrats on Capitol Hill have a new plan to address inflation, climate change, taxes, and healthcare. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 costs nearly $740 billion. A lot of that money would come from raising the corporate minimum tax to 15% and better-enforcing tax rules at the IRS. About half of the money would be spent on climate and energy programs. Another $64 billion would go to extend healthcare subsidies. Then, the rest would go toward bringing down the federal deficit. Supporters say that would help lower inflation. However, Republicans say raising taxes on businesses will hurt the job market. A Senate vote is expected next week.
Read More: Senate Dems, Sen. Manchin, WaPo, WSJ, CNBC, NPR
Prisoner Exchange Offer
The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia. American diplomats are now hoping Russia accepts it and releases two U.S. citizens: WNBA player Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t offer specifics on the deal. However, sources told CNN and other news outlets that the U.S. government is suggesting a prisoner swap, saying that if Russia lets Griner and Whelan go, the U.S. will release a convicted Russian arms dealer. Next, Blinken says he’ll speak with his Russian counterpart this week for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Read More: State Dept, CNN, Fox News, Politico, Reuters
FDA Clears Monkeypox Vaccine Plant
American healthcare workers are about to be better equipped to stop monkeypox outbreaks. The FDA signed off on a big batch of monkeypox vaccines coming from Denmark. That means nearly 800,000 doses will be shipped to local health departments around the country. For now, the CDC only recommends the shots for people who may have been exposed to monkeypox or are considered “high-risk”. At last count, the CDC reported more than 4,600 monkeypox cases in the U.S. across almost every state. So far, it’s mostly spreading among men who have sex with other men, but no one is immune.
Read More: FDA, CDC, CNBC, The Hill, WSJ, NY Times
Biden Tests Negative
President Biden is finally able to get back in the Oval Office. As we told you last week, Biden has been in isolation with Covid-19. That lasted six days until the president tested negative yesterday. Now, he says he’s feeling great. He credits vaccines and treatments for giving him only a mild case. Biden used the occasion to encourage Americans who aren’t up to date on their vaccines and boosters to get caught up.
Read More: White House, The Hill, Reuters, Fox News, WaPo
More Patients Cured of HIV
Two more HIV patients appear to have beaten the virus. A 66-year-old man in Southern California is the fifth and oldest person yet who appears to have completely rid his body of HIV. He had the virus that causes AIDS for more than 30 years until he got a stem cell transplant to treat blood cancer. The donor was naturally resistant to HIV. The other patient is a 70-year-old woman who received immune-boosting therapies as part of a clinical trial. Even though she still has HIV in some cells, she is said to have been in viral remission for more than 15 years. These cases are said to be giving people with HIV hope and scientists new inspiration.
Read More: NIH, WSJ, NBC News, Reuters, BBC, WaPo
Spirit + Frontier Merger No More
It’s official now: Spirit Airlines will not merge with fellow budget airline Frontier. Instead, it will hold talks with JetBlue about a possible deal. JetBlue launched a hostile takeover in May. In other words, when Spirit’s board of directors turned down JetBlue’s offer, the airline went to Spirit’s shareholders. It has continued to sweeten the offer to buy. Now, it seems those efforts worked. If a deal does go through, a JetBlue takeover of Spirit would create the country’s fifth-largest airline.
Read More: Spirit, Fox Business, Axios, WaPo, USA Today
FTC Sues Meta Over VR Deal
Federal regulators want to stop Meta from acquiring a virtual reality company. Meta wants to buy Within, the company that owns the VR fitness app Supernatural. However, the FTC filed a complaint to block the deal because Meta already owns a similar app, Beat Saber. The FTC argues that letting Meta move forward with the acquisition would get rid of the competition. However, Meta says the FTC’s case is based on speculation, not evidence.
Read More: FTC, TechCrunch, The Verge, Reuters, WSJ
Meta First YOY Decline
Meta reported its first decline in revenue since going public a decade ago. It was only a 1% drop in quarterly revenue compared to the year before. Still, it made headlines because it was a drop. Meta blamed weaker demand for digital advertising and broader economic uncertainty.
Read More: Meta, NY Times, Business Insider, WSJ, MarketWatch, TechCrunch
Beyoncé Album Leaked Online
Beyoncé fans were dealt a big temptation this week. The singer’s new highly-anticipated album leaked online about 36 hours before it was supposed to be officially released. When the leak came out, her fans were torn. Some were excited to hear the new music as soon as possible. However, Beyoncé’s fan club sent out alerts, telling fans to hold off. Yesterday, Twitter disabled multimedia tweets with the word “leak”. It also shut down the hashtags #Beyoncé and #Renaissance, which is the name of her new album. The new release is set to officially drop tonight at midnight.
Read More: LA Times, Variety, USA Today, TMZ
‘Jeopardy!’ Permanent Co-Hosts
‘Jeopardy!’ has finally reached a decision. Both actress Mayim Bialik and former champion Ken Jennings will be permanent hosts of the popular game show. This ends a search that’s been going on for nearly two years, ever since longtime host Alex Trebek passed away. Already, Bialik and Jennings have been filling in. Now, they’ll split the hosting duties. Jennings will be the face of ‘Jeopardy!’ from September through December. Bialik will take over in January. Eventually, the show will come up with a new, long-term schedule that works for everyone.
Read More: Jeopardy!, Axios, Fox News, CNN, Variety
Thing to Know Thursday: Home Cams & Police Requests
Police might be able to access your home security video without a warrant. Amazon-owned Ring was first to come under fire because it said it gave police footage more than ten times so far this year without a court order. Then, privacy advocates pointed out that Google can also send police footage from their Nest cams anytime. It says it in the company’s terms of service. Privacy advocates have argued policies like that could lead to police abusing the system. However, Amazon and Google say they only share video in real emergency situations when they think someone could be in immediate danger and time is of the essence. Other home security companies still have stricter rules, though.
Read More: CNET, The Verge, USA Today, 9to5Google