Friday, August 12th, 2022
Covid Guidance Relaxed, FBI Standoff & Historic NBA Honor
All the news you need in around 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Zocdoc.com/newsworthy and Thrivecausemetics.com/newsworthy
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 reading the latest happenings...
CDC Eases Covid Guidance
The top public health agency in the U.S. is dropping some of the most common safety guidelines. The CDC now says Americans no longer need to stay six feet away from each other. Also, Americans no longer need to quarantine if they’re exposed to the virus as long as they don’t feel sick or test positive. The CDC no longer recommends testing at schools. As far as masks go, the CDC says it’s still a good idea to wear them indoors if the virus is circulating at a high level in your community. People who test positive for Covid-19 should still stay away from others for at least five days and should only stop isolating if they’re fever-free for 24 hours.
Read More: CDC, AP, CNN, Fox News, NPR, WSJ
State of Covid in the US
The pandemic still isn’t over. The CDC says the difference now, compared to any other time, is that people are getting used to Covid-19. An estimated 95% of Americans 16 and older now have some level of immunity from being vaccinated or getting infected. The average numbers of reported Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths have been pretty much the same all summer. On any given day, there are about 40,000 Covid-19 patients in American hospitals, and 400 people a day are dying from the virus.
Read More: CDC, NY Times, CNN, ABC News
New Info on Mar-a-Lago Search
We’re getting some new insight into the FBI’s raid at former President Trump’s home. The Washington Post cites sources who say FBI agents were looking for classified documents, and at least some of them had to do with nuclear weapons. It’s still not clear what the agents found since the Justice Department hasn’t gone into the specifics yet. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unusual public statement to let Americans know he authorized the search at Trump’s estate. Also, Justice Department lawyers asked a court to unseal the search warrant so everyone can see what was taken.
Read More: DOJ, WaPo, NY Times, WSJ, AP, Newsweek
Cincinnati FBI Standoff
Law enforcement officers say a man tried to storm an FBI field office in Ohio. He took off and ended up in an hours-long standoff with police before he was shot and killed. Authorities say he raised a gun toward officers, so they opened fire. Since then, law enforcement sources have told news outlets the suspect had posted online recently about wanting to kill FBI agents over the raid at Mar-a-Lago. For now, the Ohio FBI office is considered safe and secure, but other authorities are still on high alert. Intelligence officials say they’ve seen a big rise in threats against FBI personnel and facilities on social media platforms.
Read More: FBI, NBC News, Fox News, WaPo, NY Post, Politico
Oil Leak in US Gulf
Seven oil and gas fields were shut down in the Gulf of Mexico. They move more than half a million barrels of oil a day onto the coast. The issue is a pipeline started leaking in Louisiana, so Shell, Chevron, and other oil producers had to stop their operations. Thankfully, the waters weren’t impacted by the spill, and the issue is expected to be fixed today. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality is now investigating.
Read More: Reuters, CNN, Fox Business, Bloomberg
Hawaii Primaries
Tomorrow, it’s Hawaii’s turn to hold primaries. People there will decide who should be on the ballot for November’s elections. There are two races people are watching on a national level: one for the U.S. Senate, the other for the U.S. House. Democrats typically dominate elections in Hawaii, but there are still quite a few Republicans running, saying they want to give voters a choice. After this, just nine more states have primaries before the midterm ballots are finalized.
Read More: Hawaii Public Radio, Cook Political Report, Honolulu Civil Beat, Ballotpedia
USPS Holiday Shipping Increases
The Postal Service announced it plans to raise prices during the busy holiday shipping season for the third year in a row. The USPS says the extra money will be used to offset rising delivery costs. The new shipping fees will be based on the weight of the packages and how far away they’re going. You could end up paying anywhere from an extra 25 cents to an extra $6 per package. The temporary price hikes still need final approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission. If given the go-ahead, they would begin in October and run through January 22nd.
Read More: USPS, Axios, CBS News, Fortune, CNBC
Drink Recall Expanded
A huge recall involving popular milk and nutrition drinks is now bigger. Food manufacturing company Lyons Magnus added batches of 30 more beverages made by major brands to the recall list. We’re talking about Oatly, Organic Valley, Premier Protein, Ensure, Pediasure, and others. There are concerns about potential bacterial contamination that could cause botulism, a serious type of food poisoning that can be deadly. So far, no one has reported getting sick from the drinks.
Read More: FDA, USA Today, CNET, CBS News
Teens Mostly Use YouTube
It seems YouTube is the most popular app among teenagers. The Pew Research Center polled 1,300 American teens aged 13-17. Of those surveyed, 95% use YouTube. The second-most popular app is TikTok, with 67% of teens using the video app. Instagram and Snapchat closely followed. However, Gen Z is less interested in Facebook than in years past. Pew did a similar survey in 2014 and 2015. Back then, 71% of teens used Facebook, compared to 32% in this recent study.
Read More: Pew Research, WaPo, NBC News, WSJ, Fox Business
Bill Russell Jersey Number Retired
The NBA announced a historic honor for one of its most legendary players. The league says the late Bill Russell’s No. 6 jersey will be retired across every team. The Celtics legend died last month. He won 11 NBA championships during his 13-season career. Once his playing days were over, Russell became the first Black head coach in the league. Russell is now the first player to have the league retire the number across all 30 teams. Players currently sporting No. 6 like Lebron James can keep the number, but no new players will be issued it.
Read More: NBA, AP, Yahoo! Sports, Boston Globe, CBS News
Feel Good Friday: Viral Little League Hug
A moment on the Little League baseball diamond has been touching hearts around the world. It happened during the Southwest Regional Championship in Waco, Texas. A pitcher on the Texas team threw a pitch that hit his opponent from Oklahoma in the head. Kaiden Shelton’s pitch knocked Isaiah Jarvis to the ground. Isaiah ended up being okay and got back in the game. However, Isaiah noticed Kaiden was visibly upset on the mound, so he went over and hugged him. The ballpark applauded, and the video of the touching moment has been viewed more than 3.5 million times.
Read More: CBS News, CNN, WaPo, Today
Watch Video: ESPN