Former White House advisor Steve Bannon testified in a closed-door hearing on Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee. The hearing about questions surrounding ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Axios' National Political Reporter Jonathan Swan explains what he's learned about Bannon's testimony, and the way members of Congress are reacting.
Karamo Brown stars as the ‘culture guy' of the Fab 5 in the Netflix reboot, “Queer Eye." Brown sits down with Alyssa Julya Smith in Los Angeles to chat about the upcoming show and how the reboot is pushing for acceptance, while the original pushed for tolerance.
Online sharing community Imgur is on a mission to provide an uplifting user experience, and differentiate itself from other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The company's COO Roy Sehgal explains how Imgur is rolling out new products to its user base.
After a two-week delay of 5G deployment at airports due to the airline industry's claims it will cause "catastrophic disruption," AT&T and Verizon are set to roll out the service on January 19. Michael Boyd, CEO of aviation consultancy Boyd Group International, joined Cheddar to discuss the concerns being voiced by the airlines. "If the airline industry thinks it's going to be something to disrupt our system or impair safety, it shouldn't roll out at all, period," Boyd said, noting that the telecom giants should rethink the activation over safety and security.
A recent study by MSI uncovers a vast racial divide in influencer marketing. The research found a 35% racial pay gap between white and black influencers. This gap is extremely wider than the gap in other industries such as education, business, and finance. The research also suggests that brands and agencies have the power to close this gap. Tiffany Hardin, founder and CEO of Gild Creative Group, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, a private-public fund backed by Bill Gates, is planning to invest up to $15 billion in clean technology initiatives across the U.S., UK, and European Union. It will target four key areas and help fund large projects that otherwise would not be financially possible. Bobby Hollis, Director of Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Student loan collection company Navient agreed to cancel $1.7 billion in debt and paid more than $140 million in other penalties to settle a lawsuit over abusive lending practices. Josh Shapiro, the attorney general of Pennsylvania who led negotiations in the settlement, joined Cheddar to go over the details of the company's predatory lending. "What Navient would do is charge [borrowers] these exorbitantly high rates, even though they knew people couldn't pay them or they would likely default on them," he explained.
An economic development agency, the Northwest Arkansas Council, is looking to draw technology professionals to their region of the Southern state with incentives like $10,000 worth of Bitcoin and a new bicycle. Nelson Peacock, president and CEO of the private nonprofit made up of companies like Walmart and Tyson Foods, joined Cheddar to talk about the program to further power his local economy. "By offering the payment in Bitcoin, we're looking to identify those people with interest and expertise in the underlying technologies, the blockchain technologies," he said.
Stocks closed mixed Friday with big bank stocks dragging on the Dow after a few lackluster earnings reports. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 gained, but overall, stocks notched a second losing week in a row to start 2022. Tom Kozlik, Head of Research and Analytics at Hilltop Securities, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss today's close, expectations for 2022 earnings reports, whether or not the COVID-19 omicron variant is being properly priced into markets, and more.
