These are the headlines you Need 2 Know. * **Shutdown: Day 34:** President Trump agreed to delay his State of the Union address after a day of brinkmanship with Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Trump conceded that he would wait until after the shutdown to address the House, just hours after Pelosi expressly disinvited him until an agreement was reached to reopen the government. Meanwhile, the Senate is set to vote on two bills to end the stalemate today, though neither is likely to pass. Read more [here](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/23/politics/white-house-state-of-the-union-off-guard/index.html). * **Polling:** Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 34 percent, down eight points since last month, according to a new Associated Press poll. Read more [here](https://apnews.com/dad8086738a64b4ba78c0404d5d04e79?utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter). * **Pope:** On his way to celebrate World Youth Day in Panama, Pope Francis said the fear of migration “is making us crazy.” Read more [here](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pope-francis-donald-trump-mexico-border-wall-fear-of-migration-making-us-crazy/). * **Bank Shooting:** Five people were shot to death when a gunman entered a Sebring, Florida, bank and took hostages. The gunman started shooting after making the victims get down on the floor. He ultimately surrendered. Read more [here](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/01/23/sebring-florida-bank-gunman-opens-fire-suntrust-bank/2659958002/). * **Cohen Testimony:** Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer, has postponed his congressional testimony indefinitely. His lawyer cited safety concerns due in part to the verbal attacks made by the president. Cohen was scheduled to appear in front of lawmakers on Feb. 7. Read more [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/us/politics/michael-cohen-testimony-postponed-congress.html). * **Venezuela in Crisis:** Juan Guaidó, Venezuelan opposition leader, has declared himself interim president of the country and has the backing of the U.S. President Nicolás Maduro has not agreed to give up power, and ordered American diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours. The State Department says it won’t comply. Read more [here](https://www.npr.org/2019/01/23/687643405/anti-maduro-protesters-march-in-cities-across-venezuela). * **Streaming Wars:** A week after Netflix announced it would raise prices, Hulu is lowering the price for its main streaming service, from $9 to $7 per month. At the same time, Hulu’s Live TV package will increase by $5. Read more [here](https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/hulu-drops-the-price-for-its-streaming-service-to-6-per-month-but-raises-prices-for-live-tv/). * **Baldwin Plea:** Alec Baldwin has pleaded guilty to harassment and will take an anger management class as a result of a dispute over a parking spot in New York City. Baldwin admitted to pushing a man who supposedly took his parking spot. Read more [here](https://abc7ny.com/entertainment/alec-baldwin-pleads-guilty-to-harassment-in-parking-spot-fight/5101965/). * **Bryan Singer:** Director Bryan Singer responded to an explosive story in The Atlantic, in which he was alleged to have had sex with multiple underage boys, calling the article a “homophobic smear piece” timed to take advantage of the success of Bohemian Rhapsody. Singer was fired from directing that film with weeks to go in its production, reportedly due to his on-set behavior. Read more [here](https://deadline.com/2019/01/bryan-singer-responds-atlantic-report-sex-boys-bohemian-rhapsody-1202540084/). * **Bada Bing:** James Gandolfini’s son, Michael, will play Tony Soprano in an upcoming film that will serve as a prequel to the iconic HBO show. The Many Saints of Newark is being co-written by David Chase, the Sopranos creator, and will tell the stories of some of the fictional Sopranos characters set against the backdrop of the 1967 Newark riots. Read more [here](https://variety.com/2019/film/news/young-tony-soprano-sopranos-movie-michael-gandolfini-james-gandolfini-son-1203114859/). * **Genderless Approach:** Actress Kate Hudson says she’s using a ‘genderless’ approach to raise her baby girl, Rani. She made the comment in an interview with AOL. Read more [here](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6625049/Kate-Hudson-reveals-using-genderless-approach-raise-daughter-Rani.html). * **X No X No:** Sweethearts, the popular Valentine’s Day candies, aren’t available this year. The original producer of the conversation hearts, Necco, went out of business last year. A new company acquired the brand, but didn’t have enough time to get them on shelves this year, but plans to have them ready for next V-Day. Read more [here](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/23/americas-favorite-valentines-day-candy-is-unavailable-this-year.html). * **Lunar Landing:** Something exceedingly rare took place during Monday’s “super wolf blood moon”: a telescope caught a meteorite slamming into the lunar surface ー believed to be the first known sighting of a meteorite impact during an eclipse. See it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNvfBCu-jjI). Cheddar's Hena Doba and Jill Wagner get into the latest. Subscribe to the Need 2 Know newsletter [here](https://theneed2know.com).

Share:
More In Politics
End of Child Tax Credit Could Mean Slide Back Into Increasing Child Poverty
Millions of Americans with young children have relied on the child tax credit since the federal government began issuing checks in July 2021. The last round of payments was sent out just before the Christmas holiday — at the same time as the omicron variant surged. Leah Hamilton, associate professor of social work at Appalachian State University, joined Cheddar to discuss what the end to the tax credit means as the U.S. sees the end of many relief programs and its highest number of COVID cases since the start of the pandemic. "It'll become harder for families to meet their basic needs, increasing national childhood poverty rates and the proportion of families who have difficulty putting food on the table, maintaining stable housing, and paying their bills," Hamilton said. She also pointed to research that the credit as a long-term investment in children offsets claims that it contributes to macroeconomic impacts like inflation.
President Biden Speaks with Ukrainian President Ahead of Russia Meeting
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the week-end, just days after he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call comes as Washington prepares to meet with Moscow on January 10, as tensions mount over Russia's military build up near its border with Ukraine. Cheddar News speaks with Mustafa Tameez, a former advisor to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, about the issue.
NYT Piece Claims Silicon Valley Investors and Founders Contorted Legal Tax Break to Avoid Taxes on Investment Profits
Several Silicon Valley insiders are being accused of contorting a 1990s-era tax break to avoid taxes on millions of dollars of investment profits. The tax break is known as the qualified small business stock exemption, and it allows early investors in certain companies to avoid half of the taxes on up to $10 million in capital gains. A piece recently published in the New York Times says venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz replicated the tax exemption by giving shares of companies to friends and family, who would otherwise face a 23.8% capital gains bill. The CEO of Roblox is also accused of replicating the tax break for his family members at least 12 times. Although the loophole known as 'stacking' is considered to be legal, the Times piece implies that the exemption has been manipulated for the ultra-wealthy to become more wealthy. Greycroft co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Alan Patricof joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
This Year In Trivia
Hena Doba and Azia Celestino recap some of the biggest stories of the year, and learn a thing or two while they're at it. It's This Year in Trivia!
Looking Ahead to Regulating Uber, Lyft, and the Gig Economy in 2022
The push to regulate the gig worker economy is gaining steam as the share of workers who participate in freelancing through businesses like Uber and Lyft have also exponentially grown during the pandemic. Employment attorney Mark Kluger, founding partner at Kluger Healey, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down how the battle to reclassify gig workers will continue in the new year, and why the issue continues to generate conflict. "More and more workers are using gig work as their primary source of income and as a result of that they are not like employees in the sense that they don't have benefits like health insurance," Kluger noted.
2022 Promises a Mixed Bag of Market Predictions
2021 saw markets continue to be impacted by the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic -most recently in the form of the Omicron variant- in addition to the global supply chain shortage, and increased inflation. But it wasn't all bad news, as crypto soared throughout the year, and meme stocks continued to have a moment. With the year coming to a close, investors are keeping an eye out to see if they should expect more of the same in the new year. Chris Vecchio, Senior Analyst, at DailyFX tells us what market trends to be on the watch for in 2022.
Load More