Beyonce appears in the audience before accepting the award for best rap song for "Savage" at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sunday, March 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Monday, March 15, 2021:
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Even though the rate of vaccinations continues to improve -- a record 3 million shots were given on Saturday -- the decline of new cases in the U.S. appears to have leveled off, raising concerns that the country is plateauing at a level that’s still too high. There are ominous signs abroad, too. Much of Italy is going into another lockdown effective today as it deals with an exponential rise in cases brought on by at least one of the new variants. The entire country will lockdown for Easter weekend. At least six European countries have suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns about blood clots, even though the EU’s drug regulator says the benefits still outweigh the risks. CNN
VACCINE ELIGIBILITY
A bunch of states are expanding their vaccine eligibility requirements today. California is opening it up to anyone with a serious underlying condition. Georgia goes 55 and up plus anyone with high-risk conditions. Texas expands to 50 and up. New Jersey adds transit workers and other public-facing personnel. New York opens its next phase on Wednesday, and is now authorizing four hours paid time off for every public and private state employee. BI
CUOMO LATEST
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “vaccine czar” has reportedly been calling county officials across the state to gauge their loyalty to the governor amid his widening scandals. The calls led at least one local official to believe the implication was that vaccine supply could suffer if their loyalty was deemed insufficient. Cuomo reiterated on Friday that he had no plans to resign, after the New York Senate delegation called on him to step down. NY TIMES
WINTER STORM
There are 27 inches of snow on the ground at Denver International Airport, making the weekend’s winter blast the fourth-largest on record for the Mile High City. Some mountain locations recorded 60 inches. The system is moving across the Midwest today, creating a travel nightmare for the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin. TRACK
AMERICAN OPTIMISM
Americans are growing increasingly optimistic about the next few months. The latest CBS News poll shows 64 percent of respondents think the vaccine rollout is going well; 55 percent will get or already have gotten vaccinated; 75 percent are in favor of the new stimulus package and 71 percent think the law is going to help the working class. Last week, a Politico poll found 50 percent of Americans think the country is on the right track (that number has rarely been above water in the last 20 years). CBS NEWS
STREAMING WARS
Disney’s streaming platform is such a smashing success that it’s now on pace to overtake Netflix in the next three years. Disney announced earlier this month that Disney+ has more than 100 million subscribers after 16 months. It took Netflix a decade to reach that milestone. Between Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, Disney is expected to steal Netflix’s crown as the world’s top streamer by 2024. GUARDIAN
LET'S DANCE
The field of 68 is set for March Madness. Gonzaga, Illinois, Baylor and Michigan are the top seeds. Four teams that didn’t make the cut -- Louisville, Colorado State, St. Louis and Mississippi -- are on standby for the first round in case any team has to drop out by tomorrow due to COVID protocols. SEE THE BRACKET
GRAMMY HISTORY
Women ruled the night at the Grammys: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion and Billie Eilish were the big winners from the socially-distanced show at the Staples Center. Beyoncé broke the record for most Grammy wins by a female -- and any singer, male or female -- with 28. Before the show, she and daughter Blue Ivy Carter won the award for best music video for Brown Skin Girl, making 9-year-old Blue Ivy one of the youngest Grammy winners ever. BILLBOARD
SPOTTED...
...Alex Rodriguez, telling a TMZ photog he’s “not single” amid reports that he and fiance Jennifer Lopez had called it quits: SEE PIC
...Yo-Yo Ma, giving an impromptu concert to Mass. residents waiting in line to get vaccinated: WATCH
LEFTOVERS: CHEER MOM
A Pennsylvania woman has been arrested on charges that she created deepfake videos of her daughter’s cheerleading rivals in compromising situations and sent them to the coaches in order to get the girls kicked off the squad. Raffaela Spone is charged with cyber harassment of a child. The case is bringing new attention to the ethical concerns with deepfake technology, now that it is becoming much more advanced. PENNLIVE
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!
Daniel Madrzykowski, research director at the UL Fire Safety Research Institute, joins Cheddar News to discuss the deadly Bronx fire that killed 19 people and fire safety tips that people need to know about.
Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Two companies recently announced a new partnership aimed at addressing the growing demand to borrow against crypto - digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower is partnering with commercial bank, BankProv. The companies are launching a crypto lending platform that will allow Bitcoin miners to receive loans to invest in crypto mining equipment. The companies say the program also addresses the difficulty of breaking into crypto mining due to the high cost. CrossTower research analyst Martin Gaspar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-gen social sports platform Break the Love recently raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Break the Love's platform and iOS app allows users to discover and book group-based tennis activities, to either learn, train, or compete. The new company has already gotten support from a few big names in the world of tennis, including the coach of Naomi Osaka, as well as the United States Tennis Association and the brand Wilson. Break the Love founder and CEO Trisha Goyal joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
As the Omicron variant continues to sweep across the country. The US Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments at the end of this week on whether or not the Biden administration can force private companies to vaccinate or test millions of their employees. In addition, the National Nurses United has spearheaded legal action to protect nurses and health care workers, patients, and the public while on the job. President of the National Nurses Union, Zenei Cortez, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
China's ongoing crackdown of its own entertainment industry has been raising eyebrows for once now. With the ruling Communist Party instructing media companies to boycott immoral and overly entertaining stars. But the country has gone even further. Now experts warn that this could lead to further issues such as gender-based violence. Professor at the Institute of Sociology at National Tsinghua University, Hsiu-Hua Shen, and Associate Professor of Politics at Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame Joshua Eisenman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Today marks one year since the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. The Country watched as supporters of then-President Trump stormed what was assumed to be the most secure building in the country in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 Election. Several lawmakers, including the Vice President, could be seen ducking down as they feared for their lives. Democratic Michigan Representative Dan Kildee, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Bed Bath & Beyond delivered disappointing fiscal third-quarter results for 2022. Shares initially dove more than 9% in premarket trading on the news but finished the day up nearly 8%. Bed Bath & Beyond has been a meme-stock target for online investors in the past -- so was meme-stock mania a factor in the recent stock movement for the company? Jaime Rogozinski, the founder of the subreddit WallStreetBets, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more, as his forum helped spark the meme stock phenomena. He also discussed some decentralized finance services and trends for the retail investor to watch for in 2022.
Digital medical care provider Pear Therapeutics rang the closing bell on the Nasdaq Friday and President and CEO Dr. Corey McCann, joined Cheddar to talk about how the company plans to grow the business of software-based therapeutics and how the first FDA authorized prescription digital therapeutics company will go about treating illnesses like insomnia and addiction. "These really are pieces of software. In many cases, they're apps and in the cases of our addiction products, these are based on something called cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT," he said. "These products change the patient's brain circuitry to help them be abstinent, to help them stay in treatment, and that's exactly what we see in randomized clinical trials and that's what we see in the real world." He also addressed the ongoing mental health crises brought on by the pandemic. **copy updated to remove IPO information as Pear Therapeutics went public in December**
