COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
U.S. daily case numbers are back below 60,000 for the first time in a month and daily deaths are below 700, even as the pace of vaccinations has slowed to about 2.7 million a day. Though Michigan still has more cases per capita than any other state, the situation is starting to improve from the peak of the spring surge in mid-April. The White House is making plans to share its full inventory of the AstraZeneca vaccine with developing countries including India, where the virus is raging out of control. AP
POPULATION & POLITICS
The U.S. population grew in the last decade at its slowest pace since the Great Depression, according to the Census, driven by a declining birthrate and slowing immigration. The new Census numbers will change how the 435 seats in the House are apportioned in next year’s midterms, giving more power to red states in the South and West. Texas, Florida, and Montana are among the states gaining a seat, while California will lose one for the first time ever. New York also loses a seat that it would have kept if the Census counted just 89 more residents in the state. BLOOMBERG
NEWSOM RECALL
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is all but certain to face a recall election later this year after state officials confirmed there are more than enough signatures to trigger a vote. The pool of Republicans running to oust Newsom includes Caitlyn Jenner, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, and former adult film actress Mary Carey, who placed 10th in the 2003 recall election. Newsom is likely to survive the attempt to oust him based on current polling. POLITICO
'SHADOW DIPLOMACY'
John Kerry reportedly told Iran’s foreign minister about 200 covert Israeli actions against Iranian interests in Syria when he was serving as secretary of state during the Obama administration, according to leaked audiotapes. On the tapes, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif talks about his “astonishment” that Kerry outed top-secret Israeli operations directly to the Iranian government as the two sides were negotiating the nuclear deal. Kerry has denied having that conversation. i24.
ECONOMIC OPTIMISM
For the first time since the earliest days of the pandemic, Americans are net positive about the state of the economy. The Gallup Economic Confidence Index registered a +2 in April, up from -32 last April in the darkest days of the first stay-at-home orders. President Biden is getting fairly positive marks, with 57 percent of Americans saying they have confidence in him doing “the right thing for the economy.” That’s better than President Trump’s first-year economic ratings but not as good as those of Obama or Bush. GALLUP
DON'T TRACK ME, BRO
Apple has started rolling out its new version of iOS to iPhone and iPad users. While these software updates are often trivial, this one is big: iOS14.5 includes a controversial privacy tool called App Tracking Transparency. The feature prompts you whenever an app wants to send your data to a third party; if you say no, the app cannot track you. The digital advertising industry, led by Facebook, is united in opposition to the feature, calling it harmful to small businesses. NY TIMES.
KNICKS RUN OUT OF GAS
The Phoenix Suns ended the New York Knicks’ nine-game win streak on three daggers from Chris Paul in the last 90 seconds of play. The red-hot Suns are second in the West, behind the Utah Jazz, while the Knicks are in playoff contention for the first time in years at fourth in the East. ESPN
OSCAR RATINGS
Everyone knew they’d be bad, but this bad? Fewer than 10 million people tuned into the Academy Awards telecast on Sunday, a 58 percent drop from last year’s ceremony (which itself was a record low). In the demo, the plunge was an even steeper 64 percent. By comparison, the Oscars rating peak was in 1998, when nearly 60 million people watched Titanic win Best Picture. VARIETY
SPOTTED...
… the future monarchs of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, catching up over Zoom. The Scandinavian royal families are known to be close, often vacationing together and serving as godparents to each others’ kids: SEE SCREENSHOT
LEFTOVERS: BE KIND REWIND
A Texas woman is getting the embezzlement charges filed against her for an overdue VHS tape dropped after her story went viral. Caron McBride -- or someone using her video-store account -- rented Sabrina the Teenage Witch in 1999 and never returned the tape to the store, which went out of business in 2008. McBride was alerted during a recent trip to the DMV that she had a two-decade-old felony embezzlement charge against her for “willfully” keeping the $60 tape. She says she now believes that’s the reason she was fired from several jobs without cause over the years. GIZMODO.
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