Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Tuesday, March 9, 2021:
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The CDC has issued its highly anticipated guidance for people who have been vaccinated: if you’re two weeks past your last shot, you can now meet with other vaccinated people without masks or distancing. You can also mingle with unvaccinated people from a single household indoors without masks, provided those people are low-risk individuals, such as grandkids or healthy adults. Cases in the U.S. rose last week at their slowest pace since the pandemic began: just 1.5 percent. President Biden is planning to address the nation on Thursday night in his first primetime address, to mark one year since the first lockdowns went into effect. AP
GOP ELDER STATESMEN
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt will not seek reelection next year, the latest in a string of veteran Republican senators to call it quits. Blunt follows Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama and Sen. Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania -- all known as bipartisan dealmakers who have announced their retirement rather than face the prospect of being primaried by a Trump-backed opponent. POLITICO
DEREK CHAUVIN TRIAL
Jury selection in the Derek Chauvin trial is expected to start today after a delay. Chauvin is the former Minneapolis police officer who is charged with killing George Floyd last Memorial Day. Because the trial is happening in Hennepin County, where Floyd died, the process of picking an impartial jury is expected to take weeks. Much of downtown Minneapolis is under tight security and bracing for the possibility of protests and unrest during the trial, which will be televised. STAR TRIB
ROYAL REACTION
Oprah’s interview with Harry and Meghan blew the ratings out of the water: 17 million people tuned in -- that's more viewers than the Emmys and Golden Globes got, combined. The interview aired in the UK last night, and the reaction in the British media has been somewhere between apoplectic and hysterical. The Daily Mail has run at least two dozen stories on Harry and Meghan since Sunday, while also calling the interview a “sideshow.” The Sun suggested that Meghan is no longer welcome in Britain, and Piers Morgan walked off the set of Good Morning Britain after his co-host defended the couple. THR
HERE COMES THE BOOM
Goldman Sachs is predicting that the U.S. is about to enter a hiring boom that could bring the unemployment rate down to 4.1 percent by the end of this year -- about where it was this time last year, just before the wheels fell off. In fact, that boom appears to have already started. Last Friday, the February jobs report showed a surprise gain of 379,000 jobs, the majority coming from the leisure and hospitality industries. Goldman notes that two-thirds of the remaining pandemic-related job losses are in those sectors. YAHOO FINANCE
GAMESTOP MANIA
GameStop stock is back on a run, surging 35 percent on the news that the video-game retailer is starting its long-awaited shift to e-commerce. Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen, whose involvement in GameStop lit the fuse that pushed shares up 970 percent so far this year, has been tapped to lead the transformation. CNBC
COLLEGE HOOPS
With Selection Sunday less than a week away, NCAA men’s college basketball teams are fighting for a trip to the Indianapolis bubble. The ACC Tournament starts today, the Big Ten and Big East Tournaments kick off tomorrow. Gonzaga is the #1 seed according to the latest AP poll, followed by Baylor, Illinois, Michigan and Iowa rounding out the top five. ESPN
OSCAR FRONTRUNNER
The Oscar race is increasingly looking like it’s Nomadland’s to lose. The docu-style film about a woman’s journey through the American West in her van cleaned up at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday -- winning four trophies including for Best Picture and Best Director -- and snagged a best picture nom from the Producers Guild. It’s expected to pick up more steam when the BAFTA nominations are announced today. Oscar nominations come out next week. EW
SPOTTED...
… London’s Metropolitan Police, holding its first-ever all-female operation to tackle robbery and violent crime, timed to coincide with International Women’s Day: SEE PICS
LEFTOVERS: ROADKILL
Pepe Le Pew, the lovelorn skunk from Looney Tunes who was always iffy on matters of consent, has been scrubbed from the upcoming Space Jam sequel and reportedly won’t appear in any future Looney Tunes-related projects. Warner Bros. is said to have quietly decided to retire the character more than a year ago. Le Pew was recently called out by New York Times columnist Charles Blow for “add[ing] to rape culture.” THR
Listen to the N2K Podcast! 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!
