Actor Jussie Smollett, center, leaves the Leighton Criminal Courthouse with unidentified siblings, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, in Chicago, following a verdict in his trial. Smollett was convicted Thursday on five of six charges he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself nearly three years ago and then lied to Chicago police about it. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
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Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, December 10, 2021:
JUSSIE GUILTY
Jussie Smollett was found guilty of lying to police about being the victim of a hate crime nearly three years ago, in a case that quickly tapped into the country’s political polarization. The jury convicted the former Empire actor on five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct, and he could face up to three years in prison on each count. Smollett’s defense team said they will appeal the verdict, calling him an “innocent man.” NBC NEWS
BOOSTER ELIGIBILITY
Booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine are now available to 16- and 17-year olds, so long as they are six months past their second dose. The CDC granted the emergency authorization and strongly encouraged those teens to get boosted as soon as they become eligible, given the extra protection the boosters seem to provide against the Omicron variant. REUTERS
MIGRANT TRUCK CRASH
At least 53 people died and dozens more were injured when a tractor-trailer carrying over 100 migrants crashed in southern Mexico. The truck rolled over and crashed into a pedestrian bridge near Mexico’s border with Guatemala. Most of the victims appear to be from Central America and include some young children. AP
NZ TOBACCO BAN
New Zealand is implementing a novel approach to ending smoking entirely. Under a new plan, the minimum age to purchase cigarettes will be raised by one year every year. That means that children who are 14 when the law goes into effect will effectively be banned from ever legally buying tobacco. The government wants to reduce the national smoking rate to 5% by 2025, with a goal of eliminating it altogether. Critics of the plan say it will just push the sale of cigarettes onto the black market. BBC
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
You wouldn’t know it from his poll numbers, but President Biden is overseeing the fastest economic recovery in American history. Weekly jobless claims fell to 184,000 last week – the lowest level in more than half a century, as the labor force participation rate is now back to pre-Covid levels. The unemployment rate is down from 6.7% this time last year to 4.2% today – approaching the level economists call “full employment,” meaning virtually everyone who is able and willing to work is working. Still, the cost of goods remains near a 40-year high, as we will see when the monthly inflation data is released this morning. THE HILL
STARBUCKS UNION
Starbucks workers at a store in Buffalo, N.Y. have voted to unionize, creating the first U.S. labor union in the coffee chain’s 50-year history. In the first of three separate store elections in the Buffalo area, one location voted in favor of the union, one voted against, and the third vote hasn’t been ratified. The election is a big win for the resurgent organized labor movement in America, and a blow to Starbucks, which had fought the unionization attempts. BUFFALO NEWS
FOR THE WIN!
Rutgers pulled off the greatest buzzer beater of the college basketball season in its game against Purdue last night. Ron Harper Jr. drained a three from just inside half court as time ran out to give the Scarlet Knights the win over the Boilermakers. Purdue was playing in its first-ever game as the No. 1 team in the country: WATCH
TRAVIS SCOTT BREAKS SILENCE
Travis Scott is speaking out at length about the tragedy at his Astroworld music festival for the first time. The rapper sat down with radio host Charlamagne Tha God for a 50-minute interview, claiming that he had no idea that a mass casualty event was unfolding in the crowd in front of him until after he ended the Nov. 5 show. Scott suggested that the media was unfairly blaming him for the incident, in which 10 fans were killed in a stampede, and that he continued to perform after emergency personnel were on scene only because he wasn’t told in his earpiece how serious the situation had become. POWER 105.1
SPOTTED...
…Bob Iger, delivering the morning weather report on L.A.’s KABC, ahead of his retirement from Disney at the end of the year: WATCH
…an 850-lb. pot brownie containing 20,000 mg of THC, baked in Massachusetts and thought to be the biggest ever: SEE IT
LEFTOVERS: IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...
The giant container ship that got itself wedged into the Suez Canal for six days in March – a canary in the coal mine for the supply chain breakdown, in retrospect – is about to give it another go. The Ever Given is currently steaming toward the canal once again, fully loaded up with cargo. Ship-tracking data estimates that she’ll reach the Suez sometime on Sunday. BLOOMBERG
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Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
Dolly Parton, Eminem, Lionel Richie, and Carly Simon are just a few of the nominees announced for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2022 induction. Results of the voting will be released in May, however, the ceremony date has yet to be announced.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
According to the Federal Reserve, the investment gap between Black and white Americans has remained substantial, with only 34 percent of Black households joining in on the historic rise in the markets. Stacey Tisdale, the first Black woman to have reported from the NYSE and the CEO and president of Mind Money Media Inc., said that the data might not be as disheartening as it seems. "I think that number is very deceiving. That Federal Reserve study is actually from 2019, and it's very important that we all look beneath that number and look beneath the surface because there is nothing short of an investing revolution going on in the Black community," Tisdale said.
James Vlahos, Co-Founder and CEO of HereAfter AI, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed.
Ava Rathenberg, Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover,' joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community.
An award-winning performance by the LSU Tiger Girls dance team is going viral on TikTok, but like many other viral tiktoks, this one had a larger story to tell. The story goes back to 2021 when for the first time in 22 years, the LSU dance team was informed it could not compete at Universal Dance Association Nationals. The team made their anticipated return to UDA Nationals this year with a performance that delivered a strong and clear message to their university. The LSU Tiger Girls walked away from the competition with their first national championship title in 12 years, redemption against the university that held them back, and of course- millions of new fans and friends on TikTok.
Solid-state battery maker Factorial Energy recently raised $200 million in a Series D round led by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis. Factorial says the funding will be used to accelerate commercial production and deployment of its solid-state battery technology, which the company says is safer, and offers up to 50% more driving range than current lithium-ion technology. Factorial also has joint development agreements (announced in late 2021) with Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Hyundai, three of the top 10 global automotive manufacturers, to commercialize its batteries. Factorial CEO Siyu Huang joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL over racial discrimination, exposing a long-running problem the NFL has had with diversity in its top coaching and management positions. Eric Mitchell, the president and CEO of public relations and communications company LifeFlip Media, joined Cheddar News to delve into the scandal rocking the pro football world just before the Super Bowl. "There is a problem. If you look at who owns teams in the NFL, it's right, it's a good old boys club, it's a bunch of old white guys," he said. "So, it's exposing something that's been around for ages and now that we're sitting in 2022 has come up."
This April, Madison Square Garden will be hosting the first-ever women's boxing match to headline at the arena in its 140 years of history in boxing. Undisputed lightweight champion, Katie Taylor, and seven-division champion, Amanda Serrano, will go head-to-head for a career-high guaranteed seven-figure purse for both of them. The pair joined Cheddar News to talk about the upcoming "fight of their lives." "I mean, this is the first step I believe," said Serrano. "Unheard of, two women headlining the Garden, we get in the biggest paydays of our career, I hope it continues to break down barriers."
