Thursday, August 1st, 2019

Interest Rate Cut, FDA on Impossible Burger & Meghan Markle Fashion

(+ Talking CBD Craze)

All the news you need in less than 10 min:

Today's episode is brought to you by Skillshare.

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...

Interest Rate Cut: The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade. The rate went down a quarter of a percentage point. Stocks actually dropped after the Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said he won't promise additional cuts in the near future.
Read more: NBC News, WSJ, CNBC, AP News

Dem Debate Night 2: Ten more presidential candidates took the stage for last night’s Democratic debate. There were tense moments, especially involving frontrunners Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on issues like abortion, health care, immigration, criminal justice and more.
Read more: NYT, CNN, Vox, Politico, FOX News

Osama bin Laden’s Son: He was the potential next leader of Al-Qaeda, but now officials say Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden, is dead. It’s not clear exactly where or how Hamza bin Laden died, but The New York Times cites sources who say the U.S. government played a role.
Read more: NBC News, NPR, The Guardian

Greenland Heatwave: The record-breaking heat wave that hit parts of Europe last week is headed toward Greenland. The world’s second-largest ice sheet is in Greenland, so if it gets warm enough and starts to melt, it could affect sea levels and weather all over the world.
Read more: CNN, Washington Post

NFL Pre-Season: The NFL pre-season kicks off tonight. The Atlanta Falcons will play the Denver Broncos in the Hall of Fame game in Ohio. You can watch it at 8:00 pm ET.
Read more: CBS Sports, Bleacher Report

2023 World Cup: The next Women’s World Cup will have 32 teams, instead of 24. FIFA says they’ve decided to expand the number of teams allowed to play in the hopes of helping women’s soccer continue to grow. This also means more countries will have a chance to host the next World Cup in 2023. The added teams have until April to make a bid.
Read more: FIFA, ESPN

FDA on Impossible Foods: Impossible Foods got approval from the Food and Drug Administration to get its plant-based burgers on grocery store shelves. Impossible Foods has been working with the FDA for several years to make sure their food meets all safety regulations. The FDA was concerned about an ingredient known as 'heme,' which is an iron-containing molecule that makes meat look pink. Impossible Foods has already partnered with fast food chains Burger King and White Castle, and getting into grocery stores will give it a chance to better compete with its main rival, Beyond Meat.
Read more: TechCrunch, CNBC

Meghan Markle Fashion: The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle is launching her own clothing line. She’s partnering with clothing brands to make a women’s workwear line. For every piece sold in stores, another piece of clothing will be donated to SmartWorks, an organization that gives clothes to women in need. The line comes out in September.
Read more: People, CBS News

Hal Prince Dies: Broadway director and producer Harold Prince has died after a brief illness. He’ll be remembered for producing or directing some of the most famous and successful musicals in Broadway history, including West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof and Phantom of the Opera. He won a record 21 Tony awards during a nearly 70-year career. Prince was 91.
Read more: NYT, CNN, Deadline

Woodstock 50 Canceled: The Woodstock 50 festival is officially canceled. The event was set for later this month, but organizers lost financial and production partners while planning and couldn’t secure permits or a venue. The 50th anniversary of Woodstock will still be celebrated in the town where the original festival took place. Musicians including Ringo Starr are expected to perform.
Read more: USA Today, Yahoo

Thing To Know Thursday

CBD

Read More: Harvard Health, Medical News Today

Today’s guest: Dr. Peter Grinspoon

Peter Grinspoon, M.D. is a primary care physician and cannabis practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. He is a board member of the advocacy group Doctors For Cannabis Regulation. He spent two years as an Associate Director of the Massachusetts Physician Health Service helping physicians with addiction and mental health issues. He is the author of the memoir ‘Free Refills: A Doctor Confronts His Addiction’