Friday, September 3rd, 2021
Thousand-Mile Storm, “Unconstitutional Chaos” & Historic Superhero
All the news you need in around 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Noom.com/newsworthy and BetterHelp.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...
Ida’s Northeast Damage
Ida has finally moved out to sea, but unfortunately, the death toll from the historic storm keeps rising. Overall, the storm is responsible for about 60 deaths across eight states. The most widespread destruction is from flooding, most recently in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Emergency workers had to go out on boats to save thousands of people from their homes and cars. Homes were also ripped apart by several tornadoes in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. They uprooted trees, tossed cars, and left roads covered with debris.
Read More: ABC News, NY Times, Reuters, Weather Channel
Louisiana Recovery Continues
Louisiana and Mississippi are still dealing with widespread devastation. When Ida hit Louisiana on Sunday, it was the fifth-strongest hurricane to ever hit the mainland U.S. Some power finally returned in the New Orleans area yesterday, but hundreds of thousands of people are still in the dark. That means they’ve had no power or air conditioning during a heat advisory. Many of them also lack clean drinking water and gasoline. President Biden plans to visit Louisiana today to survey the damage.
Read More: AP, Politico, The Hill
NZ Terror Attack
A New Zealand supermarket was the site of a terror attack. A man who’s being called a “violent extremist” stabbed six shoppers. New Zealand’s prime minister said the man was a Sri Lankan national who was inspired by the ISIS terror group but acted alone. The man has reportedly been considered a person of national security interest for the last five years. Police were able to shoot and kill him at the scene because they were already following him. Six other people are hurt, some of them critically.
Read More: The Guardian, AP, CNN
Ex-DA Indicted for Arbery Case
A grand jury decided to bring misconduct charges against the woman who was a district attorney when Amaud Arbery was shot and killed in Georgia. Arbery is the Black man who was killed last year during a fight with two white men, a father and son, in what Arbery’s family believes was a racist attack. Gregory and Travis McMichael weren’t arrested for murder until two months after the attack. Now, the former district attorney is accused of showing “favor and affection” to the suspects since one of them was previously an investigator in her office. The former DA hasn’t commented on the new charges.
Read More: AJC, Axios, WaPo, GA Attorney General
Biden Admin Responding to Abortion Law
President Biden is criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision not to block a strict new abortion law in Texas. The law bans the procedure as soon as doctors can detect a heartbeat. Abortion providers and others tried to appeal the law at the Supreme Court, but in a 5-4 decision, the justices decided to let the law stand. In a new statement, President Biden said that ruling “unleashes constitutional chaos.” He said his administration would launch a widespread effort to respond to the court’s decision. However, his specific plan isn’t clear yet.
Read More: NY Times, AP, Texas Tribune, White House
15M Vaccine Doses Thrown Out
The U.S. has reportedly been wasting millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses. NBC News got hold of government data that shows at least 15.1 million doses have had to be thrown away since March. It says even that is probably an undercount. There are a lot of reasons why a vaccine might have to go in the trash, like if the vial gets cracked or a freezer malfunctions. Sometimes, there are also just more doses ordered than people who want them. Far more shots have been used than wasted, though. More than 372 million vaccine doses have been given in the U.S.
Read More: NBC News, The Hill, CDC
$3B to Vaccine Supply Chain
The U.S. is planning to invest another $3 billion in the vaccine supply chain in the coming weeks. The money will go to American manufacturers to add new production lines and facilities to make things like syringes, needles, and tubing. The funding is coming from the last relief package Congress passed, and President Biden signed, back in March. The White House says this will create thousands of good-paying American jobs and set the country up for future vaccination efforts. However, activists are also calling for the Biden administration to ramp up vaccine manufacturing around the world.
Read More: Reuters, NY Times, WaPo
Labor Day Weekend Travel
A lot of Americans are hitting the road this Labor Day weekend. Highways are expected to be extra crowded around major cities like Atlanta, Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, and Washington D.C. However, analysts say they likely won’t be quite as packed as the Memorial Day or 4th of July weekends. That’s because most kids are now back in school, and other people are worried about the latest surge of COVID-19 cases. The CDC has put out a warning saying people who aren’t vaccinated against the virus should stay home.
Read More: USA Today, CNN, CNBC
Automakers Halt Production Again
American automakers are shutting down their production plants because of an ongoing chip shortage. There aren’t enough of the needed computer chips to finish building vehicles. General Motors is pausing work at eight North American plants over the next two weeks. Ford and Stellantis have also planned shutdowns. This is bad news for American dealerships already struggling with their inventory. Last month, dealers had fewer than a million new vehicles available for sale. That’s 72% less than in 2019. Analysts say inventory will stay tight well into next year.
Read More: AP, Reuters, CNBC, Fox Business
Store IDs in Apple Wallet
Apple wants to let you save your driver’s license or state ID to its Apple Wallet just like you can with your credit cards. The tech giant says Arizona and Georgia will be the first states to accept this technology. Others will follow, including Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah. In those states, even TSA will let you show your ID on your phone. Apple doesn’t plan to stop there either. It says the Wallet app will also be able to store digital versions of your home keys, hotel room keys, and corporate IDs. These functions will start becoming available on iOS 15 that will likely roll out this fall.
Read More: Apple, The Verge, CNET, USA Today
Marvel’s First Asian-American Superhero Movie
For the first time, a Marvel movie is coming out about an Asian American superhero. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is set sometime after the last two Avengers movies. It stars Chinese-Canadian actor Simu Liu. Most of the rest of the cast is of East Asian descent too. Marvel Studios says its creative teams made sure the characters and themes were authentic and not racial stereotypes. Shang-Chi is being released today in theaters. In 45 days, it will be available on Disney+ too.
Read More: NPR, Variety, Axios, CNN
Feel Good Friday: Homeless Artist Became a Viral Sensation
Richard Hutchins went from living on the streets to making a living as an artist. This has always been his dream, but it’s been a tough road. For two years, he was in jail. He had to use hair from his beard as a brush, colors from Kool-Aid, toothpaste, Skittles and M&Ms as paint, and envelopes as canvases. When he was released, he got a job at a studio, but it burned down, so he ended up homeless for the next six years. Eventually, he met a former music manager with a nonprofit that helps people reach their goals. He brought Hutchins supplies and set up a website to sell his paintings. Hutchins has now sold more than $200,000 worth of artwork in the last four months.
Read More: CNN, WaPo, The Guardian, Richards Hutchins Studio