Abortion Law Blocked, Adversity Score & Google Maps Update  

All the news you need in less than 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 perusing the latest happenings...

Epstein’s Accusers: More than 20 women who say Jeffrey Epstein abused them shared their stories in court yesterday. The politically-connected multi-millionaire was accused of sex-trafficking and abuse, but his case never went to trial since he was found dead in a jail cell earlier this month. A judge is expected to drop the case, but there’s still a lawsuit against Epstein's estate. Epstein's lawyers pushed for more investigation into how he died, though an autopsy found he died by suicide.
Read more: Washington Post, NYT, ABC News, CNBC

Abortion Law Blocked: A federal judge is blocking one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion regulations from taking effect today in Missouri. The law would mean pregnant women can’t get an abortion after 8 weeks, even if they were raped or incest was involved. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood challenged it in court, saying some women don’t know they’re pregnant until after eight weeks. So, the judge blocked the rule -- at least until the legal fight is resolved.
Read more: NBC News, CNN, The Hill

SAT Adversity Score: The College Board, which oversees the SAT, has changed its mind about the so-called "adversity score." It would have looked at various factors to come up with a score to reflect how much hardship each student has faced on a scale from 1-100. The scoring method faced some criticism, so the College Board has a new plan to replace it. It's called Landscape, and it'll still provide colleges with information about students’ social and economic backgrounds but won't assign just a single score to an individual.
Read more: WSJ, NBC News

Dorian Update: Puerto Rico is now under a state of emergency and a hurricane watch. Forecasters think Tropical Storm Dorian could cross directly over the island today, though it’s not clear if Dorian will turn into a hurricane. Either way, the storm could bring widespread flooding, landslides, powerful winds and power outages. The emergency declaration means federal resources are available to help, if needed. The storm could also impact Florida by the weekend.
Read more: CBS News Live Coverage, AP

Facebook's Local Alerts: Facebook is releasing a new emergency alert tool called Local Alerts, which allows city officials to let users know if something unsafe is happening in their area. This tool is set to be available to verified Facebook pages run by government officials or first responders by the end of the year. Posts flagged as local alerts will be seen by more users, and those in the impacted areas will receive notifications.
Read more: USA Today, CNET, Local Alerts Request Form

Ninja + Adidas: Record-setting Fortnite streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins is the first pro gamer to sign a deal with Adidas. There aren’t a lot of details about the multi-year deal, but it could lead to Ninja products for sale in either the physical or virtual world. This was Ninja’s second major deal of the summer. He recently switched from Amazon’s streaming service Twitch to Microsoft's platform Mixer.
Read more: The Verge, Bleacher Report, Engadget

Spirit Airlines + WhatsApp: Spirit Airlines wants to let travelers book a flight with a text message. The airline is rolling out a plan to allow customers to use the app, WhatsApp, to buy tickets or change reservations. Spirit Airlines is known as a low-budget airline with extra charges that can add up fast, and the new feature is no different: there’s a $25 fee to use the service, which launches September 1st.
Read more: CNBC, FOX Business

Google Map Update: Google Maps will now show ride-sharing options like Uber and Lyft as well as cycling. You can put your destination in and then tap the “transit” tab to access information about your trip, including how much it will cost for an Uber or Lyft ride, and how long the wait is. It also works with bikes, showing bike paths.
Read more: The Verge, Engadget

Netflix vs. Theaters: Martin Scorsese’s new movie The Irishman won’t be in as many theaters as originally thought. It’s because of a policy that requires theaters to play a movie for 3 months before it can be on a streaming service. Netflix is helping make the movie and wants it to be available for its subscribers ASAP. The company offered theaters a 30-day window, but big theater chains are not on board. So, the film will only play in 250 indie theaters starting on November 1st and will be available on Netflix three weeks later.
Read more: Hollywood Reporter, Forbes