Tuesday, October 5th, 2021
Social Media Meltdown, Abortion Rule Reversed & Shatner in Space
All the news in about 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...
Biden Reverses Trump-Era Abortion Policy
President Biden is changing a rule put in place during the Trump administration. Under former President Trump, organizations that got taxpayer dollars from a federal family planning fund couldn’t refer patients for the procedure. The rule is changing back next month, but clinics still won’t be able to use government money to perform abortions. They’ll just be able to send patients elsewhere for them. Planned Parenthood is calling the latest action a “huge victory.” However, critics have also come forward to say if abortion advocates want the government out of their business, they should stop taking government money.
Read More: AP, NY Times, Fox News, WaPo
China Trade Policy Update
The Biden administration says it will keep pressuring China on trade. The new U.S. trade representatives slammed China’s unfair trade practices this week. She says President Biden is not going to lift tariffs on Chinese goods. She also says the U.S. is going to keep holding China accountable for the commitments it made during the Trump administration. Remember, China promised to buy more American agriculture and energy products as well as manufactured goods. Now, the Biden administration says it looks forward to restarting talks with China since the last agreement expires at the end of the year. However, for now, the same policies stand.
Read More: Politico, WSJ, NY Times, CNBC
Possible Oil Spill Cause
Investigators might have figured out what caused one of California’s largest recent oil spills. They think an anchor on a large commercial ship might have struck the oil pipeline. Ships are given anchor points to make sure those pipelines are avoided, so the Coast Guard is trying to figure out exactly what happened this time and if the ship’s captain knew the pipeline was hit. State and federal officials have also launched criminal investigations into the spill. Since the pipeline first started leaking, roughly 126,000 gallons of oil have gushed into the Pacific Ocean. Wildlife is threatened, and several beaches are closed.
Read More: LA Times, AP, WSJ, Reuters
NYC Teacher Vaccine Mandate
Thousands of people who work for the nation’s largest school district are now on unpaid leave because they didn’t get vaccinated against COVID-19. The vaccine mandate took effect at New York City schools this week. Mayor Bill de Blasio says about 95% of employees have complied, getting at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before the deadline. However, the United Federation of Teachers says about 4,000 employees it represents have not, so they’re not at work. In the meantime, thousands of vaccinated substitute teachers are going to the schools that need them.
Read More: NY Times, WSJ, AP, Mayor de Blasio
Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded
This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine went to two American scientists. They won for breakthrough research that could help doctors better treat chronic pain. David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have done separate studies into how the nervous system reacts to heat, cold, and touch. They pinpointed specific receptors on our skin that respond to temperature changes and physical pressure. Other researchers are now using this information to develop new pain treatments that could be alternatives to highly addictive prescription opioids.
Read More: Axios, AP, BBC, Nobel Prize
Global Facebook Outage
Facebook is finally back online after a massive outage. Facebook along with the other apps it owns, like Instagram and WhatsApp, were down for more than six hours yesterday. The social media giant blamed the problem on a “configuration error,” not a cyberattack. The outage cut off communications between Facebook’s data centers, so the platform wouldn’t work for billions of users. The internal systems were hit, too, so Facebook employees couldn’t get into buildings or conference rooms because their digital badges stopped working. However, things slowly started coming back online last night, and the company says no user data was compromised.
Read More: The Verge, AP, WSJ, Facebook
Hollywood Union Votes to Authorize a Strike
People who work behind the scenes in Hollywood could go on strike soon. Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees overwhelmingly voted to strike. The group represents tens of thousands of workers like camera operators, set builders, makeup artists, editors, and more. The union says workers are paid less for projects on streaming platforms than they are when they work for more traditional media production companies. It also says the demand for new content has led to grueling production schedules. The strike isn’t happening yet, but the union now has the power to begin a strike at any time.
Read More: Variety, THR, NY Times, WaPo, IATSE
William Shatner in Space
The actor who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek is going to space for real this time. William Shatner will join a Blue Origin crew on a spaceflight next month. He’s 90 years old, which will make him the oldest person to have ever flown to space. Shatner will be part of a four-person crew including two paying customers and a Blue Origin executive, Audrey Powers, who used to be a flight controller for NASA. The trip will go to space for a few minutes, just past the internationally recognized boundary of space.
Read More: NBC News, NPR, CNN, AP, William Shatner, Blue Origin
New NFL All-Time Passing Record
Quarterback Tom Brady is now the NFL’s all-time leader for passing yards. He’s throwing more than 80,500 yards. Brady broke the record previously held by quarterback Drew Brees who retired in 2018 after 20 seasons. After breaking the record, Brady gave credit to the wide receivers who he says have always done a great job catching his passes. Brady also holds the NFL records for regular-season touchdown passes, playoff passing yards, and playoff passing touchdowns.
Read More: ESPN, Fox News, SI, NFL
Bubba Wallace Makes NASCAR History
History was made on the racetrack this week. Bubba Wallace won his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Wallace is the first Black man to win at NASCAR’s elite cup level in nearly 60 years. The only other Black man to do it was Hall of Fame driver Wendell Scott in 1963. Wallace says he hopes his win will help inspire kids to “stay true to your path and not let the nonsense get to you.”
Read More: NBC Sports, For the Win, AP
World Teachers’ Day
Today, we’re encouraged to show some extra gratitude for the teachers in our lives. It’s World Teachers’ Day. The holiday has been celebrated every year since 1994. It falls on October 5th because that was the day in 1966 when the United Nations adopted guidelines to promote the status of teachers around the world. For this year’s theme, UNESCO chose the slogan “Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery.” The idea is to find ways to support teachers as they work to get their students back on track during a global pandemic.
Read More: National Today, UNESCO, HMH
Trivia Tuesday
Q: What’s the brightest star in the sky?
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 most common letter in the English language?
A: E
Read More: Lexico, Reader’s Digest, Thesaurus