Tuesday, November 17th, 2020
2nd Promising Vaccine, Boy Scout Abuse Claims & March Madness Plan
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by www.Rothys.com/newsworthy and Fitbod.me/newsworthy
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...
Moderna Vaccine Appears 94.5% Effective
Moderna revealed preliminary data from its late-stage vaccine trial. The drugmaker found its two-dose vaccine option was nearly 95% effective, far higher than the 50% bar set by the FDA. Among the 30,000 people who participated in the trial, 90 who got a placebo ended up getting COVID-19. Only five cases were detected among the group who got the vaccine. Pfizer announced similar results from its vaccine trial last week. More data is needed, both companies are on track to request official authorization in the next couple of weeks.
Read More: AP, NY Times, WaPo, Reuters, Axios, WSJ
Biden Urges Trump to Allow Transition
President-elect Joe Biden is working on his plan to address COVID-19, but he needs help from the Trump administration. He said "more people may die" if there's no coordination with his transition team. He talked about how important it is for his team to get briefed on White House efforts to control the pandemic and distribute future vaccines. The Trump administration has been working for months on these types of plans. Biden says if he has to wait until he becomes president in January, his team will be a month or two behind schedule.
Read More: AP, CBS News, NBC News, NPR
Trump Legal Challenges Update
So far, the Trump campaign and supporters of President Trump have filed at least 18 lawsuits in battleground states to contest the results of the election. Trump has brought up more examples of irregularities too. For example, in Georgia, Trump’s campaign team says they scored a win when an audit found 2,600 uncounted ballots in one county. More of those votes were for Trump than Biden, but not nearly enough to change the outcome of the election in Georgia or around the country.
Read More: AP, CBS News, WaPo, AP, Jason Miller Tweet, Trump Tweet
Boy Scouts Sex Abuse Claims
The Boy Scouts of America are facing at least 90,000 allegations of sexual abuse. Originally, BSA filed for bankruptcy in February because the organization was already facing hundreds of lawsuits. Since then, lawyers around the country have been signing up tens of thousands of men who say they were abused as children. As part of the bankruptcy deal, no one else can file a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts after this week’s deadline. Eventually, this will lead to settlements for survivors.
Read More: AP, CNN, USA Today
Dorsey and Zuckerberg to Testify
Today, the CEOs of Facebook and Twitter are expected to face more tough questions from lawmakers. This time, it’s about how they handled the U.S. election. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dosey are set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning. Senators are expected to ask about how content was moderated before, during, and after the election. The hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. ET.
Read More: AP, Cnet, USA Today
Watch Hearing Live: Senate Judiciary Committee
NCAA to Host Tournament in One City
The NCAA is making a change to March Madness. In 2021, the men’s college basketball tournament will happen in only one host city. Usually, the 68 games are spread out across more than a dozen different locations. However, the NCAA says it doesn’t want players and staff to have to travel unnecessarily during a pandemic. The host city hasn’t been decided yet, but Indianapolis is reportedly on the top of the list.
Read More: CBS Sports, NY Times, AP
Universal, Cinemark Early Streaming Deal
Universal Pictures struck a landmark deal with the Cinemark theater chain. It fast-tracks movies from the theater to streaming platforms. Lower-grossing films will have to commit to three weekends in theaters. Those that make more money at their openings will have to commit to five. Before now, films had to stay exclusively in theaters for about 75-90 days before they could go online. Earlier in the year, Universal struck a similar deal with AMC. Now, the terms are probably going to be revised to match this Cinemark deal.
Read More: Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Forbes
Online Chat Changes
Zoom is getting some upgrades. For example, Zoom started scanning social media posts for Zoom links. The company says that’s a sign online trolls might try to interrupt the meeting in what’s known as “zoom bombing.” Now, users will get an email if the company thinks a Zoom meeting is vulnerable. It will have advice on how to avoid it. Also, Zoom will now let you have longer free chats on Thanksgiving. It’s lifting its 40-minute limit on free accounts on November 26th.
Zoom Security Upgrade: ZDNet, PC Mag, Zoom
Zoom Scraps Time Limits for Thanksgiving: USA Today, Engadget, The Verge
Name National Zoo Baby Panda
The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. wants help naming its new baby panda. The cub was born back in August, so it’s about three months old now. However, it doesn’t have a name yet. Zoo officials have zeroed in on four possible options and they want people to vote on their favorites. All the names are in Mandarin Chinese. For example, one option is Xing Fu, which means “happy and prosperous.” Voting is open through Friday and people can vote once per day.
Read More: WaPo, Smithsonian, National Zoo
Trivia Tuesday
Q: What is the only major city located on two continents?
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 was Google’s original name?
A: BackRub
Read More: Business Insider, Britannica, Merriam-Webster