Tuesday, September 29th, 2020
First Presidential Debate, Hospital Chain Cyberattack & Iconic Mansion on Airbnb
All the news in less than 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by LiquidIV.com (listen for how to get a discount)
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...
First Presidential Debate Tonight
President Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden will have their first one-on-one, face-to-face debate tonight. It comes as early in-person and mail-in voting is already underway and we are just five weeks from Election Day. The candidates are expected to talk about issues like the vacancy on the Supreme Court, the coronavirus pandemic, as well as race and violence in American cities. The debate is being moderated by Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace. It will air commercial-free on every major network and cable news channel tonight, starting at 9 p.m. ET.
Read More: AP, NY Times, Reuters, Time
Massive 911 Outage Reported
People in several states were not able to call 911 last night because of an outage. It affected calls in Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Nevada, Ohio, Arizona, and Delaware. The outage lasted less than an hour, so calls should be working now. It’s not clear exactly what caused the outage. One FCC commissioner has already said there should be an investigation.
Read More: The Hill, FOX News, Newsweek
Hospital Chain Cyberattack
A major hospital chain was hit by what appears to be one of the largest medical cyberattacks in U.S. history. It affected Universal Health Services which has more than 400 locations, most of which are in the U.S. Computers started shutting down over the weekend and the company says it’s offline because of a “security issue.” Experts say it was likely a ransomware attack. For now, UHS doesn’t think any patient or employee data has been compromised. Still, it could be days before computers are working again.
Read More: NBC News, USA Today, TechCrunch, UHS
Microsoft 365 Outage
Microsoft 365 suffered a major outage last night. Microsoft tweeted that most users should be back online now. However, programs like Outlook, Office, and Teams were impacted yesterday. The company says it’s working to investigate the root cause of the issue, but a Microsoft spokesperson told CNN "at this time, we've seen no indication that this is the result of malicious activity."
Read More: Reuters, CNN, Microsoft Tweet
Global COVID-19 Deaths Top 1 Million
More than a million people around the world have now died from COVID-19 since the first confirmed death nine months ago. The true death toll could be even higher. The World Health Organization says these numbers, from Johns Hopkins University, likely “underestimate” the true toll of COVID-19 because not every country is focused on data collection.
Read More: Johns Hopkins, WSJ, BBC, Axios, CNBC
Tests for Low-Income Countries
The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced a deal to send 120 million rapid coronavirus tests around the world. A lot of them will go to low and middle-income countries. This should help because those tests have a turnaround time of less than 30 minutes and they don’t need to be taken to a lab to get a result. Scientists have warned in the past that those tests aren’t always accurate, but they do pick up most cases.
Read More: AP, The Week, The Hill, WHO
Northern CA Wildfires
Two new wildfires are growing out of control in Northern California. The Zogg Fire is burning in Shasta County, about 200 miles north of San Francisco, and is responsible for at least three deaths. Meanwhile, the Glass Fire is burning in Napa and Sonoma wine country. More than 100 homes and other buildings have been destroyed in that fire, along with a winery and at least one five-star resort. Tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate to safety. As of early this morning, both fires were zero percent contained.
Read More: AP, Reuters, USA Today, NBC News, Axios, Cal Fire, NIFC.gov, Red Flag Warning, Red Cross Donations
Water Found on Mars
Italian scientists reported new evidence of an underground lake near Mars’ south pole. It appears the lake is about 15 miles across and is surrounded by other smaller lakes and ponds. This raises the odds of microbial life swimming on the red planet. They also think the water is super salty which prevents it from freezing. Some scientists not involved in the study are skeptical, saying Mars is too cold for water. Either way, the new findings could affect future Mars missions.
Read More: NBC News, AP, Full Report, Space.com
CDC Halloween Guidelines
The CDC broke down certain Halloween activities and events based on COVID-19 risk. As far as high-risk categories go, it listed trick-or-treating, indoor parties, and haunted houses. But it suggested lower-risk activities like small, outdoor, socially distanced costume parties, parades, socially-distanced pumpkin patches, or pumpkin carving with immediate household members only. The CDC also pointed out that Halloween costume masks are not the same as protective face masks, so it suggests people consider a cloth mask with a Halloween theme.
Read More: USA Today, NPR, CBS News, CDC
CDC Recommends Virtual Thanksgivings
The CDC also put out new guidelines for Thanksgiving gatherings. It says the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to skip holiday travel this year and hold a virtual event instead. It also says potluck dinners are a no-go and it suggests sharing recipes instead. For people who want to hold some kind of in-person event anyway, it says an outdoor event is better than an indoor one.
Read More: CBS News, FOX News, NY Post, CDC
Tampa Bay Lightning Wins Stanley Cup
The Tampa Bay Lightning are now the 2020 Stanley Cup Champions. The Lightning beat out the Dallas Stars 2-0 last night in game six. This is the second time the hockey team won a championship in franchise history. This one is extra special because it’s the first time any major sports title has been decided since the coronavirus pandemic forced all sports to shut down back in March. The season restarted last month in a bubble. A few Lightning players were quoted last night, saying it was all worth it.
Read More: AP, CBS Sports, FOX News, NHL
‘Fresh Prince’ Mansion on Airbnb
The iconic mansion from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air will be available to rent on Airbnb. Starting this morning, fans can book the place for a one-night stay. It will cost only $30 because Airbnb, the current homeowners, and actor Will Smith teamed up to welcome guests in honor of the show’s 30th anniversary. There are some limitations though. The mansion is now only available for five select dates next month and only available for Los Angeles locals to rent.
Read More: Forbes, Deadline, Variety, Airbnb Listing, Will Smith
Trivia Tuesday
Q: How many carats was the largest diamond ever discovered in the United States?
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: Which country consumes the most chocolate per capita?
A: Switzerland
Read More: World Atlas, Statista, US News