Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020
Ginsburg Makes History, CDC Guidance Change & First Day of Fall
All the news 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 read the latest happenings...
RBG to Lie in State
This week, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first woman to lie in repose at the U.S. Supreme Court and the first woman to lie in state at the U.S. capitol. In the past, more people who have lain in state were presidents, prominent members of Congress, and military leaders. The only other Supreme Court justice to lie in state was William Howard Taft, who served as chief justice after his last term as president. Next week, Ginsburg’s private burial service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery.
Read More: AP, NBC News, USA Today, SCOTUS, House Speaker
Trump to Announce SCOTUS Pick This Week
President Trump is expected to announce his pick to replace Ginsburg on the bench this Friday or Saturday. Several news outlets reported he met with Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the White House yesterday and she’s likely his top choice for the job. She’s known as an anti-abortion advocate who survived a tough confirmation in 2017 when Trump nominated her to the job she has now. It’s still not clear yet if Senate Republicans will have the time to confirm a new nominee before Election Day, but Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he’ll try.
Read More: AP, Reuters, Axios, Bloomberg
Cities Dubbed “Anarchist Jurisdictions”
The Justice Department singled out three American cities, calling them “anarchist jurisdictions.” It was talking about New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. The Justice Department says they have all allowed violence and vandalism to persist during the last few months of protests and riots over racial injustice. Now, they could lose federal funding over it. However, the mayors of all three cities have criticized the move as a political stunt. It will likely be challenged in court.
Read More: USA Today, NBC News, FOX News, WSJ, WaPo, Justice Department, Mayors’ Response
“How Coronavirus Spreads” Confusion
The CDC again walked back some of its COVID-19 guidance, this time about how easily the virus can spread from person to person in the air. Things first changed on the CDC website on Friday. It was updated with a post saying the virus can hang in the air and that droplets could travel further than six feet. However, yesterday the CDC said it was “posted in error.” Then it replaced it with the previous advice that says the virus is spread primarily between people in close contact with one another, within six feet, for longer than 15 minutes.
Read More: AP, WaPo, WSJ, Axios, NY Times, CDC
Tropical Storm Beta
Nearly 11 million people are now under flash flood watches that cover all of the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Tropical Storm Beta made landfall in Texas late last night. When the storm first hit, Beta brought three to four feet of storm surge to the Galveston area. Houston’s fire chief tweeted early this morning that his department had completed 20 rescues from flooded vehicles, so he’s reminding people not to drive through flooded streets. Eventually, it will bring rain to Arkansas and Louisiana later in the week. However, by that point, the storm is not expected to be life-threatening.
Read More: The Weather Channel, Reuters, NBC News, NHC
Voter Registration Day
Don’t forget that if you want to vote, you must register first. That’s the message being spread today, National Voter Registration Day. It’s always on the fourth Tuesday of September. It’s meant to be a non-partisan civic holiday that celebrates our democracy and raises awareness about voter registration. There are all kinds of events happening today. You can find more on the links below.
Read More: Learn more, Register to Vote
Cruise Industry Guidelines for Return
There’s now a plan to get cruise lines sailing again. The industry’s leading trade organization and its members announced new requirements for companies like Royal Caribbean and Carnival to follow. For example, all passengers and crew will have to be tested for COVID-19 before they set sail, everyone will have to wear masks on ships when physical distancing isn’t possible, and cruise lines will have to improve ventilation to get more fresh air flowing below deck. Still, there’s no specific restart date set.
Read More: USA Today, CNN, AP, CLIA
Microsoft to Buy Video Game Maker
Microsoft is planning to buy Zenimax Media. That’s the company behind popular video games like The Elder Scrolls, Doom, and Fallout. The software giant is paying $7.5 billion for the company in what’s reportedly a cash deal. The company will use this new acquisition to beef up its Xbox Game Pass subscription. The deal will reportedly close sometime next year.
Read More: AP, The Verge, Cnet, Microsoft
New Emoji Approved to Help Express 2020
More than 200 new emoji are set to hit cell phones next year. The newest additions include a heart with a bandage around it, a heart on fire, and an emoji face with spiral eyes. Emoji are also getting more inclusive next year. For example, there will now be a gender-neutral emoji with a beard. Also, the couples emoji are getting overhauled to make it easier to show interracial relationships. Starting next year, you’ll be able to pick the skin tone of each person for the “kiss” emoji and the “couple with heart” emoji.
Read More: The Verge, CNN, Unicode
First Day of Fall
Today is the official first day of fall. The start of fall, or autumn, is usually the halfway point between our longest and shortest days of the year. So on average this month, each day will have roughly 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark, unless you’re near the North or South Pole. The days will continue to get shorter over the next three months until we hit the winter solstice in December, which marks the shortest day of the year.
Read More: WaPo, USA Today, BBC
Trivia Tuesday
Q: Which country consumes the most chocolate per capita?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories Quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Trivia Tuesday Answer
Q: What is the world’s first national park?
A: Yellowstone National Park
Read More: NPS, Travel and Leisure