Nurses Sharon Daley, left, and Maureen Giffen fill syringes with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in a makeshift clinic in the kitchen of a community center, Friday, March 19, 2021, on Great Cranberry Island, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Wednesday, April 7, 2021:
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
All adults in the U.S. should now be eligible for vaccination no later than April 19, President Biden said, shaving two weeks off his earlier deadline. California will fully reopen its economy on June 15 but will keep the statewide mask mandate in place for the time being. Dr. Fauci says he thinks vaccination uptake is going to keep the U.S. from a fourth wave, but urged people to keep mitigation efforts in place. REUTERS
'60' BLOWBACK
CBS News and 60 Minutes are facing backlash over a story from last weekend that focused on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s vaccine partnership with the grocer Publix. The piece suggested that there may have been a “pay to play” situation between the governor’s office and Publix, given that the company had made a hefty donation to DeSantis’ reelection campaign. But several Florida officials, including Democrats, say Publix was recommended as a partner to the governor because it was ready to start vaccinating immediately. CBS is standing by the story. CNN
ARK TRANSGENDER LAW
Arkansas lawmakers overrode a veto by the governor to make the state the first in the country to ban gender confirming treatment for transgender minors. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, said the legislature went a “step way too far” in enacting the ban, especially because it doesn’t grandfather in young people currently under hormone treatment. "The Republican Party that I grew up with believed in a restrained government that did not jump in the middle of every issue,” he said. NPR
IRAN TALKS
The U.S. and Iran agreed through European intermediaries to begin the process of getting both countries back into compliance with the nuclear deal, a small first step toward reviving that agreement. Tehran wants the U.S. to lift sanctions first, while Washington insists that the Iranians comply with the original terms of the deal first. Both sides called the first day of talks constructive. AL JAZEERA
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
The U.S. economy is getting ready to take off like a rocketship. The IMF is predicting that America is set to lead the world in a post-COVID boom, estimating the U.S. economy will grow 6.4 percent in 2021, the fastest rate in decades. That’s nearly double the rate it was predicting just six months ago. The global economy is expected to grow by 6 percent. The IMF credited the rapid vaccine rollout in the U.S. for its new forecast, saying the end of the pandemic is “increasingly visible.” NPR
RICH GET RICHER
Last year was terrible for just about everyone -- with an exception for the world’s very, very rich. According to the annual Forbes billionaires list, Jeff Bezos is once again in the top spot, followed by Elon Musk, who was the biggest gainer thanks to Tesla’s soaring share price. Bernard Arnault, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg round out the top five. In other notable entries, Kim Kardashian made the list for the first time and Donald Trump dropped 300 spots. Despite -- or because of -- the pandemic, there was a $5 trillion surge in wealth and a record number of new billionaires added to the list. FORBES
ALL STAR MOVE
The MLB All-Star Game will now be held at Coors Field in Denver after the league moved it from Atlanta in response to the Georgia voting law. That controversial decision has led to backlash from Republicans, some of whom are threatening to revoke the MLB’s antitrust exemption. Cobb County, Ga., where the game would have been played, has estimated that losing it will cost the region $100 million. ESPN
HARRY & MEGHAN'S FIRST DOC
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s production company has announced its first docu-series for Netflix. Heart of Invictus will follow wounded veterans training for the 2022 Invictus Games. Harry will executive produce and appear in the series, which is the first to be produced under the couple’s Archewell Productions umbrella as part of its deal with Netflix. DEADLINE
SPOTTED...
…Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo, wearing matching dresses with their two little girls in a rare family pic: SEE PIC
LEFTOVERS: HYPEBEAST MASK
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas is launching a $300 face mask that comes with noise-cancelling headphones. Honeywell, maker of the N95, is partnering on the “Xupermask,” which includes HEPA filters as well as Bluetooth connectivity and LED lights. It’s a bet that masks can become a fashion statement in the streetwear scene: SEE IT
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Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Two companies recently announced a new partnership aimed at addressing the growing demand to borrow against crypto - digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower is partnering with commercial bank, BankProv. The companies are launching a crypto lending platform that will allow Bitcoin miners to receive loans to invest in crypto mining equipment. The companies say the program also addresses the difficulty of breaking into crypto mining due to the high cost. CrossTower research analyst Martin Gaspar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-gen social sports platform Break the Love recently raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Break the Love's platform and iOS app allows users to discover and book group-based tennis activities, to either learn, train, or compete. The new company has already gotten support from a few big names in the world of tennis, including the coach of Naomi Osaka, as well as the United States Tennis Association and the brand Wilson. Break the Love founder and CEO Trisha Goyal joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
As the Omicron variant continues to sweep across the country. The US Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments at the end of this week on whether or not the Biden administration can force private companies to vaccinate or test millions of their employees. In addition, the National Nurses United has spearheaded legal action to protect nurses and health care workers, patients, and the public while on the job. President of the National Nurses Union, Zenei Cortez, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
China's ongoing crackdown of its own entertainment industry has been raising eyebrows for once now. With the ruling Communist Party instructing media companies to boycott immoral and overly entertaining stars. But the country has gone even further. Now experts warn that this could lead to further issues such as gender-based violence. Professor at the Institute of Sociology at National Tsinghua University, Hsiu-Hua Shen, and Associate Professor of Politics at Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame Joshua Eisenman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Today marks one year since the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. The Country watched as supporters of then-President Trump stormed what was assumed to be the most secure building in the country in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 Election. Several lawmakers, including the Vice President, could be seen ducking down as they feared for their lives. Democratic Michigan Representative Dan Kildee, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Bed Bath & Beyond delivered disappointing fiscal third-quarter results for 2022. Shares initially dove more than 9% in premarket trading on the news but finished the day up nearly 8%. Bed Bath & Beyond has been a meme-stock target for online investors in the past -- so was meme-stock mania a factor in the recent stock movement for the company? Jaime Rogozinski, the founder of the subreddit WallStreetBets, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more, as his forum helped spark the meme stock phenomena. He also discussed some decentralized finance services and trends for the retail investor to watch for in 2022.
Digital medical care provider Pear Therapeutics rang the closing bell on the Nasdaq Friday and President and CEO Dr. Corey McCann, joined Cheddar to talk about how the company plans to grow the business of software-based therapeutics and how the first FDA authorized prescription digital therapeutics company will go about treating illnesses like insomnia and addiction. "These really are pieces of software. In many cases, they're apps and in the cases of our addiction products, these are based on something called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT," he said. "These products change the patient's brain circuitry to help them be abstinent, to help them stay in treatment, and that's exactly what we see in randomized clinical trials and that's what we see in the real world." He also addressed the ongoing mental health crises brought on by the pandemic. **copy updated to remove IPO information as Pear Therapeutics went public in December**
James Tattersall, director of sales and marketing for Lake Nona Wave Hotel, talks about the hotel's initiatives to foster diversity and how these amenities champion inclusivity in the Orlando area.
