Friday, October 30th, 2020
Election Countdown, Economic Growth & Expert Advice for Halloween
All the news you need in around 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by MunkPack.com and NativeDeo.com/newsworthy
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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...
Election Day Countdown:
We’re just four days away now from Election Day, and more than 82-million Americans have already cast ballots in the presidential election, setting the stage for the highest voter turnout in more than a century. Texas, for example, is on track to see more people vote in this election by today than the total voter turnout for the state in 2016’s election. Hawaii became the first state where mail-in ballots have already surpassed all of 2016’s votes. Meanwhile, the two main presidential candidates are still making their closing arguments, especially in swing states. Both President Trump, and his Democratic rival Joe Biden, appeared in Florida yesterday, just hours apart. Both of them are set to hold events in Minnesota today.
Record Voter Turnout: WaPo, Reuters, Fox4Dallas, The Hill, U.S. Elections Project
Swing State Showdown: WSJ, AP, WaPo, The Hill
US Record Infections:
Today, the U.S. is on track to surpass 9 million confirmed COVID-19 cases total, and unfortunately, the U.S. just set another record for new daily cases when it topped more than 89,000 new cases yesterday alone. That breaks the record set a week ago. Hospitalizations are rising, too. Wisconsin, for example, says it could run out of ICU beds, and nurses to staff them, in as little as two weeks.
Meanwhile, in California, a health care worker is now reportedly recovering from getting both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time. It’s not clear if this is the first case of co-infection in the U.S., but experts don’t think it’ll be the last since flu season is here. Health officials are reminding people to get their flu shots in addition to all the other things you’ve already heard during this pandemic: wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay physically distanced.
Read more: NY Times, NBC News, USA Today, Johns Hopkins
US Economy Sees Record Growth:
The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace ever in the third quarter (July- September). The Commerce Department says the GDP (the value of all goods and services produced) grew by more than 33 percent. Still, that record growth isn’t enough to get the economy back to where it was before the pandemic hit. Some economists point to the stimulus programs for helping the recent recovery, but they say, those programs are now expired or expiring. Also, with the latest surge of COVID-19 cases, the economic growth is likely slowing once again.
Read more: USA Today, Reuters, WSJ, CNBC
French Terror Attack:
Three people died in a knife attack at a church in Nice, France. Authorities are calling it an act of terrorism and more than doubling the number of soldiers deployed to protect against these types of attacks. The country is now on its highest terrorism threat level.
Read more: AP, BBC, CNN
Zeta Aftermath Update:
More than 2 million homes and buildings were left without power after Hurricane Zeta made landfall and battered the South Wednesday. Now, the storm’s death toll is up to at least six people across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Many homes and businesses have significant damage. Crews are working to restore power, though it could be days before everyone gets back electricity. The hurricane was downgraded to a tropical depression as it brought heavy rain and high winds to North Carolina and Virginia yesterday before heading offshore. 2020 holds the record for the most named storms to make landfall in the U.S. in a single hurricane season.
Read more: USA Today, AP, NY Times, NOAA
Walmart Pulls Guns, Ammo:
Walmart says it removed all guns and ammunition from the sales floors of its U.S. stores. America’s largest retailer says it wants to prevent firearms from being stolen if stores are broken into during any incidents of civil unrest. Walmart points to what it calls ‘isolated incidents’ of civil unrest around the U.S. in the last few years.
Read more: WSJ, NPR, NBC News, Bloomberg
Facebook Losing Users:
Facebook is seeing a decline in users in both the U.S. and Canada. The number of people logging on each day is down by about 2 million compared to earlier this year. So what’s behind this? The company says it saw a huge surge in users at the start of the coronavirus lockdowns, but now, things are starting to taper off. That said, this drop-off didn’t seem to affect the company’s revenue, which is up 22 percent from last year. As for the other tech giants, they’re also reporting increases.
Read more: Engadget, CNBC, Business Insider, WSJ, AP, CBS News
Apple One Launches:
Apple One is launching today. That’s Apple’s new subscription service that bundles services like: Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and more. People can choose from three different subscriptions that range in price from $15/month to $30. Apple Fitness is then expected later this year.
Read more: The Verge, TechCrunch, Bloomberg
Netflix Raising Prices:
Heads up: Netflix is raising its prices. The streaming platform’s standard plan is going up by a dollar, so it’ll now cost $14/month. The premium plan is going up by two dollars. This is Netflix’s first price hike in the U.S. since January of last year. The price increase comes as Netflix looks to spend even more money on content and variety. Subscribers will start seeing the new rate over the next few weeks.
Read more: The Verge, Engadget, Axios, CNBC, Reuters
Rare “Rogue” Planet:
Scientists have discovered a new, so-called “rogue” planet in our galaxy. That means it’s not orbiting any star; it’s just free-floating through space. They say this new “rogue” planet could be the smallest one they’ve ever detected, with an estimated size between that of Earth and Mars. The findings still need to be confirmed, but researchers say rogue planets can help us learn about how planets are formed. NASA wants to track down more of them, so it’s working on a telescope to observe them.
Read more: Engadget, Space.com, The Atlantic
CDC on Halloween:
Happy Halloween tomorrow! Of course, you can expect this year to have a different vibe because of the pandemic.The CDC says it doesn’t recommend things like traditional trick-or-treating, haunted houses or indoor parties. But health officials say there are some safer ways to celebrate. For example, you can put out individual goodie bags for trick-or-treaters to grab-and-go. Just put them on display at the end of your driveway or yard so everyone can keep their distance.
Read more: USA Today, Fox News, CDC
Halloween's Full Moon:
If you do get outside to celebrate safely, look up! You may see the full moon. This will be the first time in 76 years that a full moon will be visible on Halloween night across all time zones. It’s considered a ‘blue moon’ as well, which means it’ll be the second full moon in the month of October.
Read more: Cnet, CNN, LiveScience, Farmer’s Almanac
Daylight Saving Time Ends:
Here's your reminder that Daylight Saving Time ends early Sunday morning. That means: clocks will ‘fall back’ one hour. So, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep, but it also means, it’ll now get darker earlier in the evening.
Read more: CNN, NJ.com
Feel Good Friday - Bookstore Flooded with Orders:
Thousands of people came together to help save one of New York’s oldest bookstores. The owner of Strand Bookstore, which is 93 years old, took to social media last week to ask for help since the pandemic was crushing her business. Well, it didn’t take long for customers to jump into action. Within one weekend, the bookstore was flooded with 25,000+ online orders. The bookstore made more than $170,000 that one weekend. The owner now has high hopes the store will be able to survive through the end of the year.
Read more: WaPo, The Guardian