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
The Affordable Care Act's 'Family Glitch,' Explained
Krutika Amin, associate director at the Kaiser Family Foundation for the Program on the Affordable Care Act, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the Biden administration's plan to fix the so-called 'family glitch' in the Affordable Care Act preventing millions of Americans from accessing government-subsidized health plan.
House Votes to Hold Scavino, Navarro in Contempt
Abdallah Fayyad, opinion writer at the Boston Globe, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss the House's vote to hold former Trump aides Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro in contempt of Congress and send the recommendation to the Department of Justice. Fayyad also weighs in on the pressure facing Attorney General Merrick Garland to be more aggressive in prosecuting the January 6 case.
Biden Administration Extends Student Loan Pause to August
Those paying back federal student loans are getting a few extra months of relief. President Biden just announced another extension of the pandemic relief program allowing millions of borrowers to freeze their student loan payments. The pause began in March 2020 and it has been extended six times. Tomas Campos, co-founder and CEO of Spinwheel, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Doctors, Medical Experts Divided on Second COVID-19 Booster
There has been notable disagreement in the medical community about a fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose. The FDA last week authorized a second booster dose for older and immunocompromised individuals, as some agency officials did not support the idea. The FDA made the decision without meeting with its advisory committee, as it had ahead of its recommendations on the previous COVID-19 vaccine doses. The CDC followed in the footsteps of the FDA and authorized a fourth dose as well. Reports say the agency also did not discuss the move with its own advisory team of vaccine experts. Now, a growing number of doctors are speaking out against the decisions - leaving people confused about whether they should get another vaccine dose. Dr. Julie Morita, a member of the CDC's advisory committee to the director, and the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
JetBlue Bids on Spirit, Jeopardizing Frontier Deal
JetBlue made an unsolicited offer to buy low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, potentially jeopardizing the original offer from Frontier Airlines. Several analysts sounding the alarm on JetBlue's proposed $3.6 billion merger, saying the deal doesn't quite make sense. Jim Corridore, Senior Insights Manager at Similarweb joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Biden Admin Latest Federal Student Loan Extension Adds to Borrower Uncertainty
The Biden administration is once again extending the pause on federal student loans payments — this time, through the end of August. In a statement, President Biden cited a recent analysis from the Fed that if the payments were to resume, millions of student loan borrowers would face significant "economic hardship, delinquencies, and defaults that could threaten America's financial stability." Sarah Foster, an analyst at Bankrate, breaks down the impact of the extension on borrowers, the economy, and the future of student loan forgiveness. "I think this is just an instance of the federal student loan forbearance program kind of creating additional uncertainty for borrowers, especially in the sense that these past four extensions from the Biden administration have kind of come at the 11th hour here," she said.
Load More