Monday, September 28th, 2020
Trump’s Tax Records, Supreme Court Nominee & Desk Shortage
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 review the latest happenings...
Trump’s Tax Records
The New York Times says it obtained information about President Trump’s tax returns from more than two decades. It says Trump paid $750 in income taxes in both 2016 and 2017. The Times also said in ten of the previous 15 years, he didn’t pay anything because he reported losing more than he made. The IRS says the average tax filer paid about $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than what the president paid. In response, President Trump called the report “totally fake news.”
Read More: NY Times, AP, Politico, Reuters, WaPo
Trump Names SCOTUS Nominee
President Trump officially announced his nominee for the Supreme Court. As expected, he chose Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Just hours later, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham told FOX News confirmation hearings are scheduled to begin October 12th. He hopes for a full Senate vote on October 26th, one week before the presidential election. The judge is known to vote conservatively on issues like abortion, gun rights, and immigration.
Read More: WSJ, AP, CBS News, NBC News
Midwest Coronavirus Cases Surge
The Upper Midwest is now dealing with record-breaking outbreaks. Minnesota, Montana, South Dakota, and Wisconsin all reported one-day increases in COVID-19 cases Saturday. Hospitalizations have gone up too. Wisconsin and South Dakota set hospitalization records for the past five days in a row. Overall, the U.S. is reporting, on average, about 43,000 new cases a day. Dr. Anthony Fauci says that number should really be below 10,000 a day heading into the fall.
Read More: Reuters, Axios, Johns Hopkins
U.S. Far from Herd Immunity
A new study found fewer than 10% of people in the U.S. have built up antibodies to COVID-19. The study looked at more than 28,000 dialysis patients across 46 states. Researchers say the results suggest we’re not even close to having herd immunity in the U.S. They also found people who live in mostly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods were at least twice as likely to test positive for antibodies. People living in densely populated areas, like New York City, were ten times as likely to have them.
Read More: CBS News, Bloomberg, Axios, CNN, Full Study
Judge Blocks TikTok Ban
The popular video-sharing app TikTok faced a possible ban in the U.S. at midnight. It could have been pulled from all U.S. app stores, but that didn’t happen since a judge blocked the ban late last night. The judge questioned whether TikTok had been given enough time to defend itself. President Trump issued an executive order last month that basically told TikTok to sell to an American company or be banned. TikTok has been racing to make a deal ever since, most recently with Oracle and Walmart, but that deal is still up in the air.
Read More: AP, Reuters, WSJ, Axios
NBA Finals Set
The NBA championship matchup is set. The Miami Heat will play the Los Angeles Lakers in the Orlando bubble. In the conference finals, the Heat beat the Boston Celtics last night in game six. The Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets Saturday in game five. The last time the Heat were in the NBA finals was back in 2014 when they had Lebron James as their star player. The Lakers haven’t been in the finals since 2010, when they were led by the late Kobe Bryant.
Read More: ESPN, AP, NBA
FedEx Considering Unmanned Cargo Planes
FedEx wants to test out self-flying planes. The company would likely use small, single-engine airplanes from Reliable Robotics. Already over the summer, the robotics firm showed it could remotely land one of Fedex’s Cessna planes. However, the CEO says FedEx pilots don’t need to worry about the robots taking their jobs, for now. He says it will take decades for technology to really replace humans in the air.
Read More: Supply Chain Dive, Bloomberg, Gizmodo
Desk Shortage
Desks are now in short supply because of the pandemic. That’s because more people than ever are working from home and millions of students are learning from home. So desk sales reportedly surged 283% last month as compared to a year before. Retailers like Target and Ikea say they’re working to restock their inventory. In the meantime, some people are turning to Facebook Marketplace instead. Interest in desks on the platform recently doubled.
Read More: AP, USA Today, FOX Business
Yom Kippur
Today is Yom Kippur. It’s considered the holiest day of the year in Judaism, so many Jewish people will take the day off from work or school. Yom Kippur is all about self-examination. It means the “day of atonement,” so it’s observed, not celebrated. Traditionally, Jews spend the holiday fasting and some may not use technology. Yom Kippur started Sunday evening. It lasts through sundown tonight.
Read More: USA Today, National Geographic
Monday Monday: Adults Moving Back in with Parents
The Pew Research Center says now, for the first time, more than half of 18 to 35 year-olds live with their parents. As of July, 52% of millennials were living with their parents. Many say it’s because they lost their jobs in recent months. For others, the reason is college campuses closed, so they had to find a place to study remotely. Even those who aren’t living with their parents are relying on them financially. A survey last month found at least half of people aged 18 to 29 are getting money from mom and dad to buy things like gas and groceries.
Read More: USA Today, CNBC, Pew Research