Actress Dascha Polanco is teaming up with food brand, Knorr, for a unique voter registration program called #FeedTheVote. The new initiative targets food-insecure families, a demographic that tends to have low participation in voting.
When it comes to elections, she said, "It's important that we educate ourselves, but also make educated decisions. And make it easily accessible to register to vote and feel the importance of our voice and how we can seek change at the ballot boxes."
It is also important to encourage civic engagement and spread the word in those communities, Polanco said, "I think being a part of these initiatives, where we are making it easily accessible for those [potential voters], whether it's visiting the page, providing a link, I think we have to have these conversations. #FeedTheVote will be able to spread all the information."
The purpose of the #FeedTheVote campaign is to help raise awareness about the roughly 54 million Americans who experience hunger in the United States. In partnership with UnidosUS and Feeding America, the campaign will offer families free, healthy meals and provide on-the-ground voter support in key swing states.
Polanco has a personal connection to this new program as she has experienced food insecurity firsthand. When she was growing up, her parents worried about where their next meal would come from. Now that she is a mom, her connection to the new initiative feels even deeper. It is "an issue of humanity," she said, and that is why she and Knorr are making the effort to ensure consistent access to nutritious food.
"This is a necessity, not a luxury," Polanco said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that an estimated one million people have fled from Ukraine since Russia invaded. Christopher Boian, senior communications officer at UNHCR, joined Cheddar News to report on the current refugee crisis and what the world might expect if conditions continue to worsen. "We have planning figures that forecast as many as four million people could be forced to flee Ukraine," he said. "But that very much depends on how the conflict underway in that country at the moment unfolds in the days and possibly weeks ahead."
Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), corn-based ethanol has been mixed into gasoline sold at pumps in the U.S. since 2005, when a policy was enacted aimed at reducing emissions. Corn-based ethanol had been thought to be a relatively greener energy source compared to other biofuels, but now, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports it may be actually worse for the climate than straight gasoline. Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Sustainability, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell and discussed the pushback against the study. "Essentially when you need to produce more corn to meet the demand for use as ethanol as fuel, farmers respond and they switch more crops like soybeans and wheat into corn," Lark said. "They also bring more land into production, so things that used to be pasture grassland, and both those activities are associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions."
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced new sanctions against Russian oligarchs and others in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
Christian Blauvelt, executive managing editor at IndieWire, joins Cheddar News to discuss the growing number of studios pulling content from Russia over Ukraine invasion.
Russian forces are battling for control of a crucial energy-producing city in Ukraine’s south and gaining ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea.
In the past few years, Betthany Frankel has made a major name for herself as a philanthropist after founding the
BStrong initiative, which has provided relief to people impacted by natural disasters as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, BStrong is shifting its focus to Ukraine, raising millions of dollars in donations for those impacted by Russia's invasion. Bethenny Frankel, the founder of BStrong, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Bryan Lee, Chief Investment Officer at Blue Zone Wealth Advisors, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he elaborates on the volatility we've seen in the markets this week fueled by rising oil prices and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for McClatchy, joins Cheddar News to discuss all the topics President Biden has to juggle in his State of the Union address.
