Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Tuesday, November 30, 2020:

COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Anyone who traveled over Thanksgiving should “assume that you were exposed” to the coronavirus and get tested this week while avoiding contact with people who are elderly or have underlying conditions. That plea came from Dr. Deborah Birx on Sunday, and followed Dr. Fauci’s warning of a “surge upon a surge” that will hit in the next few weeks. In an abrupt change, NYC will reopen public elementary schools a week from today and abandon the controversial 3 percent test-positivity threshold. Middle and high schools in the country’s largest public-school system remain online-only for now. NY TIMES

BIDEN TRANSITION

President-elect Biden has announced an all-female communications team to be led by Jen Psaki, a former Obama adviser, as White House press secretary. He is also said to have also chosen Neera Tanden, a divisive figure in Democratic circles, to lead the budget office. Arizona and Wisconsin are set to certify their election results today (a recount in Wisconsin is over and reaffirmed Biden’s win there). The president-elect will likely have to wear a boot for a while after he fractured his foot while playing with his dog over the weekend. NPR

IRAN VOWS REVENGE

The supreme leader of Iran is calling for “definitive punishment” over the killing of the country’s top nuclear scientist. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated by a 12-person hit squad near Tehran on Friday in a sophisticated plot that had all the hallmarks of being conducted by Israel’s Mossad. Iran’s hardline state media has been casting Fakhrizadeh, who will be buried with full honors, as a martyr. There is growing concern that the brazen killing could destabilize the region just as a new U.S. administration is coming in. One Iranian newspaper called in an op-ed for a strike on the Israeli port city of Haifa. Israel’s embassies around the world have been put on high alert. REUTERS

TRANSATLANTIC ALLIANCE

The European Union is reportedly working on a proposal for a new transatlantic alliance with the U.S. in the post-Trump era. The draft plan proposes rebuilding ties on issues from trade to digital regulation as a way to counter the rise of China. Relations between the U.S. and many EU member states have been strained under the Trump administration. FT

IN MEMORIAM: TONY HSIEH

Tributes continue to pour in across the business world for Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos.com who died on Friday from injuries he sustained in a house fire. Hsieh was known as a visionary entrepreneur who was among the first to understand how to get customers to buy things on the internet -- namely, through a fanatical devotion to customer service. He pioneered a famous employment policy in which Zappos would pay new employees $1,000 to quit. The idea being: if they took up the offer, they didn’t have the sense of commitment the company was looking for. Hsieh was 46 years old. INC

CYBER MONDAY

In a Covid world, is there even a difference between a Black Friday that primarily happened online and the typical Cyber Monday online sales event that takes place today? Who knows. But the deals are still aplenty. The hottest big-ticket items this year are arguably the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, but good luck finding them in stock, virtually or physically. CBS NEWS

FOOTBALL: HIGHS & LOWS

NFL IN DISARRAY: The NFL’s marquee regular-season weekend did not go smoothly. The Broncos played their Sunday game against the Saints with a practice wide receiver at QB after all of the team’s quarterbacks were all sidelined under the COVID-19 protocol. It did not go well. Meanwhile, the Steelers-Ravens matchup that was supposed to be the big Thanksgiving night game was postponed to Sunday and then postponed again until tomorrow. In the NFC East, the N.Y. Giants are in first place with a record of ... 4-7. SBNATION

HISTORY MADE: Meanwhile, history was made in college football on Saturday when Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play for a Power 5 team. Fuller, who is normally a goalkeeper for Vanderbilt’s soccer team, kicked off to open the second half in the Vandy-Mizzou game: WATCH THE KICK

'CROODS' CRUSHES

The box office just had its biggest opening of any movie since before the pandemic. The Croods: A New Age took in $9.7 million domestically, or $14.2 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, beating out Tenet for the best opening haul since Disney’s Onward in March. Box office analysts were shocked by the opening and say it shows that the movie theater experience is resilient and could be set for a huge rebound post-vaccine. VARIETY

SPOTTED...

...the actress Rebel Wilson, who has been chronicling her weight loss on social media, announcing that she has hit her goal weight for her “Year of Health” journey a month early: SEE PICS

LEFTOVERS: MISSING MONOLITH

A large, silvery metal monolith that mysteriously appeared in the Utah desert has just as mysteriously vanished. The Bureau of Land Management says the monolith was removed sometime on Friday. No one knows what it was or who put it there, though the art world has been speculating that it was the work of the late sculptor John McCracken, who reportedly wanted his art to be left in remote places to be discovered after his death. AP

Listen to the N2K Podcast! Looking for more context and analysis on the big stories of the day? Check out our podcast! Hosts Jill and Carlo break down the headlines, every weekday morning Listen on Apple or Spotify, or watch on YouTube, and send us your feedback!

Share:
More In Business
Amazon Poised to Challenge Sports Media Giants to Become Leader in Sports Broadcasting
It's no secret tech giant Amazon has a mission of becoming a major player in sports media, and the company is poised to make progress on that goal in 2022. Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home to Thursday Night Football for the 2022-23 NFL season. In December, the New York Post reported that Amazon is in the beginning stages of developing studio sports programs, and hopes to soon have a full daily lineup of sports shows. Front Office Sports senior reporter A.J. Perez joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Little Otter Raises $22 Million Series A to Combat the Children's Mental Health Crisis
Digital mental health company Little Otter recently announced it closed a $22 million Series A round. Little Otter was founded in 2020 by a mother-daughter team, which based the company on the idea that a child's mental health can only be addressed by treating the whole family through technology available to everyone. Little Otter CEO and co-founder Rebecca Egger and her mother, Little Otter Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and co-founder Dr. Helen Egger joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Stocks Close Lower as Rate Hike Fears Hit Tech Stocks
Stocks closed lower Thursday with the tech-heavy Nasdaq in particular under pressure as investors dump tech stocks amid interest rate hike fears. This is the third session in a row that the Nasdaq has slipped. Meanwhile, rate-sensitive stocks gained one day after the Federal Reserve announced its more hawkish policy including three rate hikes this year. Kristina Hooper, Chief Global Market Strategist at Invesco, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, this week's Fed minutes and the central bank's new hawkish policy, and more.
Health Tech Like Abbott Biowearable Lingo Take CES Center Stage
Jared Watkin, senior vice president, diabetes care, at Abbott Laboratories, joined Michelle Castillo from the CES 2022 floor to discuss the future of health tech, including Abbott's consumer-facing biowearable called Lingo. The accessory is supposed to send real-time biomarker information like glucose or ketone levels to the Lingo app for the wearer to review. "The idea is that it's a window into your body," Watkin said. "It gives you insight into what's going on in your body and the certain circumstances that you otherwise wouldn't be able to have."
LIDAR Tech Firm Luminar Partners With Volvo to Advance Safe Autonomous Driving
Aaron Jefferson, VP of product at Luminar, joined Cheddar to discuss partnering with automaker Volvo to bring its LIDAR (light detection and ranging) tech into autonomous cars capable of safely driving on the highway. While companies like Tesla have come under fire due to safety issues with its self-driving technology, Jefferson noted how his company's tech differs. "Our LIDAR, its iris sensor that's really set for production, is able to sense, understand, and give the vehicle confidence to react accordingly such that you don't have these same types of issues," he said. The Ride Pilot technology in Volvo vehicles will be rolled out in California following safety testing.
Mark Cuban-Backed Fintech App Dave on Disrupting Banking as It Goes Public
The fintech app backed by billionaire Mark Cuban called Dave made its public debut on the Nasdaq Thursday via a SPAC merger. CEO and co-founder Jason Wilk spoke to Cheddar's Kristen Scholer about the IPO and how his company's services distinguish it from traditional banks. "Customers come to us because they're tired of paying $20 billion of overdraft fees, and they come to Dave, they download our app, and within minutes they can get access to $250 of no interest credit, which we give them through our own proprietary machine learning model," he told Cheddar.
Marriott Design Lab for Hotel Tech Innovation Announced at CES 2022
Stephanie Linnartz, president of Marriott International, joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to talk about the launch of the Marriott Design Lab, a new facility within its Bethesda, Maryland, headquarters to explore innovative tech offerings for bolstering the guest experience. "It's all around figuring out how we can innovate in the guest room in the public space, looking at how we can use robotics, improve sustainability, etcetera," she said. Some short-term changes in the future Linnartz also noted is an expansion of the chain's mobile capabilities to make check-in and check-out an easier process for guests, as well as mobile room service, from the feedback it received during the pandemic.
Load More