After years of planning and political fighting, the decennial U.S. census begins today.
While the major push will begin in March in most states, the first count this year is taking place in a hard-to-reach fishing village in southwest Alaska called Toksook Bay. The state's sparsely-settled areas have been the first to be counted since 1867, U.S. Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham explained to Cheddar, because the area becomes difficult to get to and more dangerous to traverse once the snow and ice start melting.
The full U.S. count is expected to finish in August.
The months of counting across the U.S. are essential, Dillingham emphasized. The results determine how federal funds are distributed to public entities like schools and hospitals and for infrastructure and public services. It also determines how many seats states receive in the House of Representatives, the number of electors, and helps to draw congressional district lines.
Although door-to-door efforts are underway in Alaska, Dillingham noted that new technology allows people to respond "anytime and anywhere."
Now that respondents can answer online, in addition to over the phone or by mail, questions about security become more prominent, but Dillingham said the process "is safe because the law provides that this information can only be used for producing statistics and, if we violate that, we'd go to prison for a long time.".
"The Census Bureau has an excellent track record," he added. "Your information is protected."
Dillingham said the bureau expects about 60 percent of households to self-respond, but he hopes that number gets higher. "Whenever households self-respond, it saves American taxpayers more than $100," he said
That can add up. The Census Bureau is funded by Congress, but some states are spending their own funds to boost census efforts. California, the nation's largest state, and 25 others are spending near a third of a billion dollars to ensure residents respond to the census. On the other hand, 24 states, 17 of which are led by Republican legislatures and governors, are not spending a dollar. Tight budgets may be partly to blame, but critics contend an accurate census would include more "hard-to-count" groups, like Asians, Hispanics, and poor voters, who may tend to vote for Democrats. A bill to commit $50 million to a census response failed in Republican-led Texas despite a large and growing population of immigrants.
The Trump administration had made a failed attempt to add a question to this year's census inquiring about citizenship. However, critics said the question could make non-citizens, many of whom are found among minority populations who traditionally vote for Democrats, unlikely to respond to the census, skewing the results in favor of Republicans. The Supreme Court blocked the question after dozens of states, cities, and groups sued the administration, claiming the addition of the question was politically motivated and would decrease participation in the questionnaire that helps appropriate funding and voting power.
Dillingham notes the Census Bureau employs counters to tally people not living in traditional residences, such as those individuals experiencing homelessness, in order to increase participation.
"We have special efforts in those communities and use special procedures," he said. The bureau sends "people out in the middle of the night working in pairs to find those people," he said.
"Wherever they may be, we can work with them and make sure we can get them counted."
AT&T announced earlier today it is spinning off its media properties in WarnerMedia in a merger with Discovery in a $43 billion deal.Scott Rostan, founder and CEO at Training The Street, joined Cheddar to talk about what the unwinding of the telecom giant's Time Warner media properties means for investors. "I think the investor sentiment is they're digesting the new information, and they're looking into the dividend, especially the reduction of the dividend," said Rostan, noting the transaction allows AT&T to focus on its core telecommunications business.
A 2021 report from UK Research and Innovation found that the shipping industry makes up at least 2.5 percent of the world's total CO2 emissions. It's a problem that energy solutions company, Leclanché, is trying to solve. Founded in 1909, the company has been developing and producing batteries for more than 100 years. Today, Leclanché's lithium-ion battery is used to electrify not just ships, but also railroad locomotives, trucks, and specialty vehicles. Cheddar News spoke with Pierre Blanc, chief technology and industrial officer of Leclanché, to discuss.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has been a driving force for youth mentorship since 1904. The nonprofit organization is launching its annual Big Draft campaign this month in partnership with the NFL, and Artis Stevens, the first Black CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, joined Cheddar to discuss the push for adding more "Bigs" as mentors on his one-year anniversary leading the non-profit organization. "While the NFL is recruiting and drafting more players, they're also helping us to draft more mentors and, particularly, men all the way from across February to all the way to April of this year," Stevens explained.
The Supreme Court will reconsider race-based affirmative action in college admissions. The court will examine admissions policies at Harvard University and The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which count the race of applicants as a factor in admissions. The court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, saying it helps to create more diverse student bodies. However, the conservative Supreme Court could be skeptical and even possibly hostile to such policies. Nick Anderson, Higher Education Writer, Washington Post joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The value of most cryptocurrencies have plummeted in recent months since reaching all-time highs in November, wiping out more than $1 trillion in value globally. The steep crash has some talking about the possibility of a crypto winter, a term referring to a prolonged bearish period where asset prices persistently fall over many months. This all comes as the Fed is expected to raise interest rates, and the Biden administration is working on an executive order to regulate Bitcoin and other assets. Josh Goodbody, COO of Qredo, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss the crypto crash, and how the industry might recover from it.
Recent data reveals that streaming giants are struggling to retain subscribers in the months following a major release.
According to data from Antenna, subscriber trends show that users will subscribe to a given streaming service just to watch a particular show, and then cancel those subscriptions shortly after. This comes as the streaming space continues to heat up as new entrants crowd the space. Jon Christian, Founding Partner + Digital Supply Chain Leader at OnPrem joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
