Thursday, September 10th, 2020
Trump Admits Holding Back, Teen Vaping Down & NFL Returns
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 to peruse the latest happenings...
Trump Downplaying Virus
President Trump told veteran journalist Bob Woodward he purposely downplayed the deadly nature of COVID-19. The Washington Post and CNN got advance copies of Woodward’s book “Rage.” It says in February, President Trump told Woodward COVID-19 is “more deadly than even your strenuous flu,” but three weeks later, Trump told the public “it’s a little like the regular flu.” Trump later told Woodward, “I still like playing it down because I don’t want to create a panic.” The president stands by that statement, but also calls the book a “political hit job.”
Read More: WaPo, CNN, Reuters, WSJ, CBS News
COVID-19 Cases, Death Rate
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has a grim forecast for the next few months. It says the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. could more than double by January 1, 2021. However, this week, it seems the death rate is going down. The CDC expects it to keep trending lower through the end of this month, then trend higher again next month. For those upswings, public health officials point to Labor Day weekend gatherings, travel picking back up, schools starting, and more businesses reopening.
Read More: Johns Hopkins, WSJ, Reuters
DHS Whistleblower Complaint
A senior official at the Department of Homeland Security filed a whistleblower complaint. Brain Murphy, who used to be in charge of Intelligence and Analysis at DHS, says he was told to stop working on reports about Russian interference because they made President Trump look bad. In a separate incident, Murphy says he was told by a different boss to make the threat of white supremacy “appear less severe.” DHS denies all of this, saying it looks forward to the results of any investigation that may come of this.
Read More: NY Times, WaPo, AP, WSJ, Full Complaint
More U.S. Troops Leaving Iraq
More American troops are coming home from Iraq in the next few weeks. A military commander announced the U.S. presence in Iraq will go from about 5,200 troops now to 3,000 by the end of the month. He says it’s possible because the Iraqi military has done a good job taking control in the fight against ISIS and other militant groups. This is the first American troop withdrawal from Iraq since 2016 when troop levels rose to where they are now.
Read More: ABC News, Politico, Axios, NY Times
Western U.S. Wildfires
More than 90 major wildfires are still burning across the western U.S. These fires have now reportedly burned more than 5,300 square miles which is almost the size of Connecticut. At least seven people have died and thousands of homes may have been destroyed. The fires are having an eerie effect in the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley. The sky has been glowing orange and red, even though the biggest fires are about 200 miles away. People on social media have described it as “apocalyptic.”
Read More: USA Today, NY Times, SF Gate, Donate to Red Cross, Donate to Salvation Army
NFL Returns
The 2020 NFL season kicks off tonight with an exciting game. The reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the Houston Texans. Since the pre-season was canceled, it’s hard for fans to know exactly what these teams are going to look like on or off the field. We do know there will be many new rules in place. For example, jersey swaps or handshakes aren’t allowed anymore. Also, cheerleaders and mascots are out for the season. In Kansas City tonight, attendance will be capped at just over 20%, so about 17,000 people will be allowed in the stadium.
Read More: AP, NBC Sports, WSJ, ESPN
Teen Vaping Drops
A new CDC survey shows fewer teenagers are using e-cigarettes this year, as compared to last. For high schoolers, the rate of teen vaping went down 8%. It’s down about 6% among high schoolers. That suggests the number of kids who vape has fallen by nearly two million. It’s not clear exactly what’s driving the trend, but it’s possible vaping-related illnesses seen last year scared some kids off. Also, the FDA banned certain flavors from vaping cartridges, so they might now be less appealing.
Read More: AP, The Verge, Axios, FDA, Full CDC Survey
Mall Owners Purchase JCPenney
JCPenny found a buyer for its stores. Mall operators Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Group agreed to buy the business. They’ll pay about $300 million in cash and assume $500 million in debt. JCPenney says this will keep it from having to completely shut down and lay off 70,000 workers. For now, the stores and the jobs are safe.
Read More: NY Times, USA Today, Business Wire
Companies Hiring Thousands of Workers
Amazon says it needs to fill 33,000 corporate and tech positions. The pay for these jobs will reportedly be around $150,000 a year. Amazon is holding an online career fair on Wednesday. Also, UPS is looking to bring on more than 100,000 people to help out during the holiday season. The delivery giant is looking to fill both full-time and part-time positions, mostly package handlers and drivers.
Amazon Hiring Spree CNN, Fox Business, AP, Amazon
UPS Holiday Hiring: AP, AJC, Forbes, UPS
Thing to Know Thursday: How Many Vehicles are Now Electric?
2019 was the best year yet for electric vehicles. The International Energy Agency says almost 4.8 million electric vehicles were sold last year. Back in 2015, that number was only about 700,000. That includes fully electric vehicles and hybrid models. Still, electric cars only make up about 3% of all vehicle sales around the world. The International Energy Agency wants to increase that to 30% by 2030.
Read More: Quartz, CNBC, Virta Global, Motley Fool