Friday, September 25th, 2020
Peaceful Transfer of Power?, Pac-12 Reversal & Flying Ring Camera
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 reading the latest happenings...
FBI: No Evidence of Voter Fraud
With just 40 days before the general election, FBI Director Christopher Wray was back in the hot seat, before Congress, talking about election security. This time, he told lawmakers there was no evidence of a national attempt to defraud the November election. Wray said the FBI has seen instances of local voter fraud from time to time, but he said it’s unlikely that kind of fraud would be able to mount any major challenge to a national election.
Read More: NBC News, Axios, NY Times
Lawmakers Promise Orderly Election
President Trump raised some concerns about the integrity of the November election yesterday. Reporters asked if he were to lose the election if he would peacefully give up power to his Democratic challenger Joe Biden. He simply said, “we’ll see what happens.” Lawmakers from both parties reacted by saying they are committed to a peaceful election process and transfer of power. Congressional leaders have promised to step aside if they’re voted out of office and some say they’ll lean on President Trump to do the same if it comes to that.
Read More: AP, Axios, Reuters, WSJ
Ginsburg to Lie in State
Today, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. President Trump paid his respects yesterday when her casket was at the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump is expected to announce his choice for Ginsburg’s successor either today or tomorrow.
Read More: USA Today, NY Times, History
Seattle Officer On Leave
There’s another video circulating online that shows a police officer’s confrontation with a protester. For now, that officer is on leave while a criminal investigation is underway. It happened in Seattle Wednesday night during a protest. The video seems to show an officer rolling a bicycle over a person’s head in the street. At this point, it’s not clear what led up to the incident or whether the person was hurt.
Read More: Seattle Times, CBS News, NBC News, Seattle OPA
Justice for Breonna Protests Continue
For the second night in a row, people protested a grand jury’s decision to not indict officers directly for Breonna Taylor’s death. Louisville’s Black Lives Matter chapter released a statement in which it promised to “continue to demand justice, seek accountability, and fight for real change.” The local police association also weighed in, defending the grand jury’s decision. It said it’s clear the shooting was in self-defense because Taylor’s boyfriend fired the first shot. Her boyfriend said he thought the police officers were intruders because they were not in uniform.
Read More: Louisville Courier-Journal, AP, WSJ, Reuters, WaPo
DHS Proposes Limiting Student Visas
The Trump administration is proposing a new rule to limit international college students’ time in the United States. It would cap most student visas at four years and others at two years. Most of the countries facing the stricter two-year rules are in Africa, but others are in the Middle East and Asia. Students who might want to stay longer to finish a degree, or for graduate school, would have to reapply for a new visa or seek an extension. The proposed change is now open for public comment for the next month.
Read More: WSJ, Vox, Forbes, DHS
Pac-12 to Restart Season in November
The Pac-12 sports conference announced it will play a seven-game season starting November 6th. That wasn’t the original plan. Last month, it said it was postponing fall sports until 2021 because of the pandemic. Then yesterday, the Pac-12 CEO group voted unanimously to move that date up a couple of months for football. There will be extra measures in place to keep players safe though, like daily COVID-19 testing. It will also only play games in its own conference.
Read More: ESPN, AP, CBS Sports, NY Times
Virus Tests Available to United Passengers
A major U.S. airline is going to start testing passengers for COVID-19. United Airlines will soon offer testing to passengers traveling from San Francisco to Hawaii. They can get a rapid test at the airport and get quick results before they fly out. The tests aren’t mandatory, but they could be beneficial. If the results come back negative, travelers won’t have to follow Hawaii’s mandatory two-week quarantine. United will start making testing available on October 15th.
Read More: United, CNN, USA Today, CBS News
Advocacy Group Takes on Apple and Google
Apple and Google may be feeling renewed pressure over how they operate their app stores. 13 major companies, like the maker of Fortnite, the company behind Tinder, and also Spotify, have formed an alliance called “The Coalition for App Fairness.” It lays out principles it wants tech giants like Apple and Google to follow. For example, it wants them to stop taking a 30% cut of app purchases. It also wants them to be more transparent about how they approve apps. Apple and Google haven’t weighed in on the new coalition yet.
Read More: NY Times, WSJ, WaPo, Coalition for App Fairness, Apple Website
Amazon Debuts New Hardware
Amazon has unveiled its latest products, including the new Echo, Ring, and FireTV. The ring devices include a camera for your house that’s actually a drone. It flies around your home to give you multiple points of view. That will cost $250 when it goes on sale next year. There’s also a ring camera called Car Cam. It’s basically a dashcam that lets you monitor for bumps and break-ins with real-time alerts and video footage. That costs $200.
Read More: Axios, Engadget, CNN, CNBC
Global Day Of Climate Action
Today is the Global Day of Climate Action. It calls for people to unite and demand action on the climate crisis. Protests, online and in-person, will be happening around the world today. The day is always meant to encourage people to join the conversation about protecting the environment. This year, people will post about climate change on social media, dance in the streets, and opt for bikes instead of cars for the day.
Read More: Fridays for Future, How to Get Involved
Feel Good Friday: Community Helps Rebuild 72-Year-Old Woman’s House
An electrician rallied a community to help a 72-year-old in Massachusetts. John Kinney first met Gloria Scott when sparks were shooting out of one of her light fixtures. Once he got to the house, he realized she also had plumbing problems, holes in the roof, and raccoons were getting inside. Scott couldn’t afford to fix the problems. So Kinney helped fix some of them and started a fundraising campaign to get other professionals to help fix the rest. He has ended up raising $100,000 which has gone toward a new electrical system, new plumbing, a new roof, new windows, new insulation, a new paint job, a new back porch, and grass in the backyard.
Read More: CNN, CBS News, Facebook