Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, September 3, 2021:
AT LEAST 46 DEAD IN IDA’S WAKE
At least 46 people are dead after remnants of Hurricane Ida slammed the northeast with tornadoes, torrential rains, and historic flash flooding. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said at least 23 people had died after being overtaken by flood water in their cars. Other victims died in six states: Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Many people are still unaccounted for. CNN
COVID-19 LATEST
NEW VARIANT: The WHO added a new variant to their list this week, but Dr. Fauci says it’s not an immediate threat to the U.S. Mu, also known as B.1.621, has mutations that suggest it could evade certain antibodies, including those produced by vaccines. But there’s not a lot of real world data to support that just yet, said Fauci, who explained the mutations have been found in in-vitro lab data. CNBC
BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT: The White House says it is going to invest $2.7 billion to ramp up domestic production of critical vaccine components, including tubing, needles, syringes and lipids. This is part of President Biden’s plan to make the U.S. the “arsenal of vaccines for the world.” NY TIMES
NK DECLINES SHOTS: North Korea has declined an offer of 2.97 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. The country says they should be sent to other nations with worse outbreaks. North Korea shut its borders in January 2020, and has declined international aid for fear that outside help would bring the virus in. The country still maintains it has no virus cases, a claim that outside health experts are skeptical about. NY TIMES
UNEMPLOYMENT ENDS
By Monday, around 11 million people are set to lose federal unemployment benefits in some form. About 3 million people will lose weekly bonuses that are tacked onto their state unemployment benefits, and 7.5 million people will be cut off from aid entirely when the temporary pandemic unemployment programs expire. White House officials have said they will not continue the enhanced benefits past this month, as they were meant to be temporary. CNET
JOBS REPORT
The August jobs report was released this morning and boy was it a flop. Economists expected around 720,000 payrolls to have been added last month. The actual number: 235,000. There had been an expected slowdown due to the COVID-19 delta variant; it just looks like it was much worse than predicted. Still, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% from 5.4%. CNBC
REDDIT IPO?
Reddit is reportedly looking to hire investment bankers and lawyers as it pursues an IPO in New York. The online message board that’s home to Wall Street Bets hopes it will be valued at more than $15 billion by the time it goes public. A timeline isn’t laid out just yet -- sources said that the timing and the size of the IPO are subject to market conditions. REUTERS
TWITTER TESTS “SAFETY MODE”
Twitter is testing a new feature called “Safety Mode” that screens out and filters tweets that could potentially be abusive. Users can enable the mode from the settings menu, and the filter lasts for seven days. It can be reactivated after a week. “Safety Mode” is only rolling out to a select number of users first, as the company hopes to focus on female journalists and marginalized communities. TECHCRUNCH
FTC INVESTIGATES MCFLURRY MACHINES
The Federal Trade Commission has reached out to McDonald’s franchisees seeking information about what exactly is going on with reports of broken ice cream machines after years of public outcry. Franchise owners have long complained that the machines are overly complicated, hard to fix, and time consuming to clean. McDonald’s said it understands the frustrations and is working on the problem. WSJ
BIG 12 EXPANSION?
The Big 12 is reportedly thinking about adding BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to its conference. This would bring the Big 12 to 12 teams for the first time since 2010 before Colorado and Nebraska left. The conference is eyeing those four teams after it lost Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC. YAHOO SPORTS
SPOTTED…
… ABBA has announced a new album and a reunion of sorts: the Swedish band will perform virtually at a special London venue starting next May. They also posted one of their two new singles: LISTEN
… Kanye West released a music video for the song “Come to Life” off of his new album “Donda.” The video was filmed during West’s August 26 listening party. WATCH
LEFTOVERS: HAVE THAT THIRD CUP
New research shows that drinking up to three cups of coffee daily is associated with lower risks for stroke and death from cardiovascular disease, as well as death from all causes. The European Society of Cardiology says that “even high daily intake was not associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes.” USA TODAY
Note: The Need2Know Podcast and Newsletter will return Tuesday, September 7! 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!
