Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, February 19, 2021:
TEXAS WATER CRISIS
Power has been restored to most Texas residents, who are now facing a new crisis in a lack of potable water. Frozen wells and cracked pipes are leading some people to drink melted snow and ice, and the thaw that's now underway means more pipes will burst. The situation at the state’s hospitals is particularly dire as exhausted healthcare workers who have been treating COVID patients are now forced to cart in buckets of water to flush toilets. In one hospital, they’ve been using bottled water for chemotherapy treatments. At least 30 people in the state have died as a result of the winter weather and blackouts. TEXAS TRIB
DAMAGE CONTROL
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is back on American soil after a brief but eventful trip to Cancún. Cruz has been pilloried from all sides for his decision to take a Mexican beach vacation while his state was in the middle of an historic emergency. He first said he was trying “to be a good dad” by placating his daughters, but he later acknowledged that the trip was “obviously a mistake” and apologized. Group texts leaked to The New York Times showed that his wife, Heidi, had hastily arranged a family trip to the Cancun Ritz-Carlton to get away from their “FREEZING” home. NY TIMES
COVID-19: VAX REINFORCEMENTS
The cavalry is coming. The U.S. is close to maxing out its weekly vaccine supply, administering about 1.6 million doses a day on a supply of about 10 to 15 million doses a week. But that is likely to significantly change -- and soon. Capacity is expected to nearly double in March and April and rise to over 30 million weekly doses available by June. That assumes drug manufacturers are able to hit their delivery targets, which is not a given, but the current supply problem is increasingly likely to flip into a demand problem by late spring or early summer. BLOOMBERG
GAMESTOP HEARING
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev apologized during congressional testimony for the decision to pause trading in stocks like GameStop, calling the extreme volatility in that stock a black swan event that was impossible to prepare for. Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill also testified and made a bullish case for why he and other Reddit traders rallied behind GameStop. On the other side, the founder of the hedge fund that bet against GameStop defended his firm’s short. CHEDDAR
TOUCHDOWN!
NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully touched down on the surface of Mars, where it is now preparing to explore the site of an ancient lake. Over the coming days, the Perseverance will beam back photos of the Red Planet and launch a 4 lb. helicopter to get some aerial shots. It will also give us the first-ever sound recordings from Mars. Here's NASA mission control exploding in applause at the moment of landing: WATCH
THE HOT RENEWABLE
Geothermal energy -- basically using the Earth’s own heat to generate power -- has always been the black sheep of renewables: too expensive, too complicated and impossible to scale. Perhaps not anymore. This week, Bill Gates invested $30 million into a company that says it’s figured out how to tap geothermal to heat homes. Separately, BP and Chevron put up $40 million for a start-up that says it can extract geothermal heat on demand. The reason why geothermal has such potential is almost too good to be true: the Earth’s core is roughly as hot as the sun. It is believed that tapping just 0.1 percent of that heat content could supply all of humanity’s energy needs -- for the next 2 million years, and with zero emissions. Here’s some excellent further reading on the topic: VOX
QB BONANZA
One of the biggest questions of the NFL offseason has been answered. The Philadelphia Eagles are sending Carson Wentz to Indianapolis in exchange for a pair of future draft picks. The Colts had been eyeing Wentz for some time, and he is said to have grown unhappy in Philly after a tumultuous 2020 season. ESPN
WHAT'S STREAMING
If you’re begging the entertainment gods for something new to watch that could actually be worth the time investment, there’s a couple of buzzy releases dropping this weekend: HBO will debut its four-part doc about Woody Allen, Allen v. Farrow, that’s being called “damning” and “haunting”. Netflix has I Care a Lot, a black comedy starring Rosamund Pike, who’s getting raves for her performance. And Hulu is home to Nomadland, the Oscar favorite with Frances McDormand in a “career-defining” role. USA TODAY
THANKS BUT NO THANKS
Dolly Parton is asking lawmakers in Tennessee not to put up a planned statue of her on the state capitol grounds in Nashville. Parton, a noted philanthropist who has given money that helped develop the Moderna coronavirus vaccine, says: “Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time” but that she would be humbled to receive the honor “somewhere down the road.” TENNESSEAN
LEFTOVERS: QUIET, PLEASE
Earth was quieter last year than it has been in decades, according to seismology data that tracks ambient noise generated by human activity. With factories shuttered, planes grounded and traffic down during the pandemic, the hum that our daily activities cause dropped by as much as 50 percent in some urban areas. Geologists say one of the silver linings of the lockdowns is that they’ve been able to detect small earthquakes around the world that had previously been too minor to pick up, and the data will help improve how they monitor seismic activity going forward. REUTERS
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