Winter Storm, Commercial Controversy & Google Maps the World 

All the news you need in less than 10 min:

This episode is brought to you by Noom

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 perusing the latest happenings...

Major Winter Storm: 
A major winter storm is moving across the Midwest and heading into the Northeast today. Ice and snow will impact 39 million people across 16 states. Severe thunderstorms are a concern in the South. The storm has already caused dozens of crashes. The winter weather is expected to linger through tomorrow night. 
Read more: Weather Channel, Accuweather, NBC News, CNN

UN Climate Talks: 
Delegates from nearly 200 nations failed to meet their goals or come to an agreement after two weeks of debate in Spain at the annual UN climate summit. Developing countries accused the U.S. and others of not doing enough to help deal with the impact despite being the largest polluters. That said, in a different meeting, European leaders committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Read more: WSJ, WaPo

Historic Vote This Week: 
Lawmakers in the House are set to vote Wednesday to decide whether or not President Trump should be impeached. Wednesday’s vote will likely be along party lines with Republicans against impeachment and Democrats in favor, with a handful of exceptions. If it goes as far as a Senate trial, Democrats say they plan to seek testimony from new witnesses, including John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney. President Trump wants to call witnesses of his own, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Joe and Hunter Biden. Stay tuned.
Read more: AP, Washington Post, Axios

Hallmark’s Flip-Flop: 
The Hallmark Channel is at the center of controversy over commercials. First, the company was running ads showing two brides kissing at the altar, but then they pulled the ads off the air under pressure from a conservative advocacy group. Then, there was backlash to the backlash. Celebrities and others made it clear online they weren't happy over the decision to yank the ads. Hallmark’s parent company Crown Media is now apologizing and putting the ads back on the air.
Read more: AP, NYT, Today, ABC News

World’s Most Powerful Women: 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been named the world’s most powerful woman for the ninth year in a row. Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank came in second, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is #3 on the list.
Read more: Forbes, CNBC

Historic Moment at Miss World: 
Miss Jamaica is now Miss World. Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica took the crown over the weekend. For the first time, black women hold the titles of all five major beauty pageants at the same time. 
Read more: TIME, NY Daily News, CNN

Heisman Trophy Winner: 
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is the winner of the 2019 Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the top player in college football. Burrow won by the largest margin in the award’s history.
Read more: USA Today, Sports Illustrated

Tiger Woods Wins President’s Cup: 
Tiger Woods led the U.S. to victory at the President’s Cup this weekend. The team was losing for the first three days but made a comeback. This is the United States’ eighth cup win in a row and Woods’ first time as captain.
Read more: ESPN, CBS Sports

Google Maps the World: 
After a decade of Google taking pictures, we now know how much of the world it photographed: more than 10 million miles of imagery for the Street View and 36 million square miles for Google Earth. Google uses satellites, Street View cars and Trekker backpacks to take the images. It’s faced some privacy concerns, but Google says pictures are only taken from public places.
Read more: CNET, The Verge, Engadget

VW Self-Driving Shuttle: 
Volkswagen is working on self-driving shuttles and buses, which will be a part of the public transportation network in Doha, Qatar. The fleet will include 35 self-driving vans. Testing could start as soon as next year before going live by 2022. No word on if they’ll make their way to the U.S.
Read more: Engadget, TechCrunch

Apple, Spotify & Alexa: 
You can now listen to Apple Podcasts as well as the free version of Spotify on Amazon Alexa devices. Alexa will be able to play all 800,000 podcasts; all you have to do is ask. Example: "Alexa, play The NewsWorthy on Apple Podcasts."  To sync your smartphone and Alexa device, set up your Apple ID in the Alexa app.
Read more: CNET, TechCrunch, The Verge

Movie News: 
As expected, Frozen 2 hit the $1 billion mark at the box office, making it Disney’s sixth billion-dollar movie this year. After three weekends in a row at the top of the box office, it lost the top spot to Jumanji: The Next Level, which brought in $60 million and beat industry expectations for the debut.
Frozen 2 Hits $1B: The Hollywood Reporter, CNBC
Box Office: Variety, Deadline
 
Money Monday - Cost of College:
The cost of college has gone up more than 25 percent in the last decade at both private and public schools. Experts blame two major reasons: 1) cuts to higher education funding and 2) an increase in cost of living.
Read more: CNBC