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Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Monday, December 6, 2021:

WAITING FOR OMICRON

Dr. Fauci says the early indications of the severity of the Omicron variant are “a bit encouraging.” Omicron has quickly become the dominant strain circulating in South Africa, but hospitalization rates there are yet to increase at an alarming rate -- suggesting the variant may be much more contagious than Delta but also less dangerous. While Omicron has now been confirmed in about a third of U.S. states, the Delta variant is still far and away the dominant strain circulating in the country and is driving a surge of hospitalizations in the North. AP

IN MEMORIAM: BOB DOLE

Bob Dole, the WWII veteran, longtime senator from Kansas and one-time GOP presidential candidate, has died. Over his long career as a Republican stalwart in Congress, Dole was known as a partisan-turned-skilled legislator who worked across the aisle with Democrats on issues like Social Security reform and the Americans with Disabilities Act. After he lost to Bill Clinton in 1996, Dole became something of a TV pitchman, cutting ads for Pepsi, Visa and, famously, Viagra. He was 98. OBIT

CRUMBLEYS LOCKED UP

The parents of the teenage boy who allegedly shot and killed four classmates at his Michigan high school are in custody. James and Jennifer Crumbley are being charged with involuntary manslaughter for allegedly providing their son with unfettered access to the gun he used in the shooting. They failed to appear for their initial arraignment, leading authorities on a manhunt that ended with their arrests at a warehouse in Detroit. All three Crumbleys -- the mother, father, and son -- are being held in isolation at the same jail, each under suicide watch. CNN

SUU KYI SENTENCED

A court in Myanmar has sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s former civilian leader, to four years in prison on charges of inciting public unrest and breaching Covid protocols. The sentence is the first of several expected to be handed down in the coming months against the Nobel laureate, which could keep her locked up for the rest of her life.  Suu Kyi was deposed in a military coup in February that led to violence and protests across the country. AL JAZ

BITCOIN CRASH

Bitcoin is currently trading around $48,000, down from $57,000 on Friday morning. The cryptocurrency had an extremely volatile weekend, tumbling 20% to $43,000 before recovering some. The president of El Salvador, who recently adopted Bitcoin as a national currency, said the country bought 150 coins on the dip. The crypto market has been seeing wild swings as investors sell off riskier assets as they watch what the Omicron variant could mean for the markets. COINDESK

TWITTER POST-JACK

Twitter’s new chief executive is in the midst of a major shakeup of the social media company following the departure of Jack Dorsey. Twitter’s heads of design and engineering are out as part of the reshuffling, which CEO Parag Agrawal says is in the name of “operational rigor” and “faster execution.” The reorg comes as the platform has started a new policy on what kinds of images users can and can’t share. Going forward, Twitter will have the right to take down any photo or video taken of someone without their consent -- unless it’s in the public interest to keep it up. WASH POST

CFP SET

No. 1 Alabama will play No. 4 Cincinnati and No. 2. Michigan will play No. 3. Georgia in the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Eve. The winners of those two games will compete in the national championship game on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis. Cincinnati is the first school from a non-Power 5 conference to make the playoff since its inception in 2014. ESPN

CUOMO FIRED

Chris Cuomo will not be coming back to CNN. The network fired their top-rated primetime anchor over the weekend after an internal investigation into his efforts to help his brother, Andrew, uncovered “additional information.” It’s not clear what that additional information is, but Cuomo’s termination came after a separate anonymous allegation of sexual misconduct was made against him by a former colleague at another network. Cuomo has denied that allegation. THE WRAP

SPOTTED...

...Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and their kids, catching a showing of Licorice Pizza in L.A.: SEE PICS

...the leaked cover of W magazine, featuring Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott, that was scrapped in the aftermath of the Astroworld tragedy: SEE IT

LEFTOVERS: MYSTERY ON THE MOON

China’s lunar rover has spotted a mysterious cube-shaped object on the horizon, and will spend the next couple months trying to get a closer look. The Yutu-2 rover has been exploring the far side of the moon since it landed in 2019, and recently snapped an image of what the Chinese space agency is calling a “mystery hut”: SEE IT

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More In Culture
Pressure to Settle $1 Billion Claim From Nassar Survivors Against FBI
Survivors of Larry Nassar, including Olympian Simone Biles, are seeking $1 billion in damages from the FBI due to its failure to investigate the former gymnastics team doctor convicted of committing years of serial sexual abuse of minors. Jack Queen, a senior reporter at Law360, joined Cheddar News to break down the legal grounds of this case. "This is one of the biggest black eyes that the Bureau has faced in generations, quite frankly, and the FBI has taken full responsibility and admitted that it completely botched this investigation," he said. "So, there's a lot of pressure to settle."
Elevate Prize Foundation Wants to Create 'Fanbase for Good' With $10K Awards
The Elevate Prize Foundation is donating $10,000 to different grassroots organizations based on a theme every month to help scale their work, focusing on a different theme each time. Upcoming prizes will help uplift an organization supporting the LGBTQ community and one mobilizing to help end gun violence. The foundation's CEO Carolina Garcia Jayaram joined Cheddar to discuss the initiative and why it's important to uplift these grassroots organizations. "We are identifying social entrepreneurs around the world to help them scale their work. but the ultimate purpose of that is to create the first-ever fanbase for good," she said. "We're trying to make good famous and by inspiring people to think about the role they can play in doing good in the world."
Stephanie Shojaee on Paving the Way for Women in Real Estate
With real estate being a largely male-dominated industry, Stephanie Shojaee, vice president and chief marketing officer at development company Shoma Group, joined Cheddar News to discuss how she took on the gender gap for women to achieve leadership roles, starting at her own company. “It's been very important to teach all the women that work here, especially the younger ones, that they shouldn't change themselves," she said. "You need to be happy with who you are and just keep breaking barriers."
Hot summer could lead to rolling blackouts
We are already starting to feel the effects of summer. Heat waves in Texas and California are already sending temperatures soaring. That could spell trouble for the nation's power supply. there are new concerns about outages in many areas of the country. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier explains the two main causes of blackouts, and what states are doing to keep the lights on and the air conditioning running.
U.S. traffic deaths hit 16 year high
If you have been on the road this past year, you've probably seen more accidents on the road than you ever have. You're not wrong. Traffic fatalities are not only increasing they are hitting historic highs. Almost 43,000 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2021. Cheddar's Shannon Lanier investigates - and finds out why.
U.S. Stocks Closed at Session Highs Tuesday
U.S. stocks close Tuesday at session highs after a subpar start to the trading day. Tim Chubb, Chief Investment Officer at the wealth advisory firm, Girard, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. 'We're starting to see the moderation of three core things -- we've seen the moderation of prices, we've seen the moderation of wage growth we've seen in the labor market, and we've also seen a moderation of job openings,' he says.
Gymnasts Seek $1 Billion From FBI Over Larry Nassar Case
The victims from the USA gymnastics sexual abuse scandal continue to seek justice. Survivors of Larry Nassar are seeking more than one-billion dollars from the FBI for failing to stop the convicted sports doctor when the agency first received allegations. According to a report released by the Justice Department's Inspector General, FBI agents knew in July of 2015 that Nassar was accused of abusing gymnasts; however, Nassar wasn't arrested until December of 2016. The group that filed the claim includes Olympic medalist Simone Biles and around 90 other women. Louise Radnofsky, sports reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Kat Tat on Becoming 'Elite' Black Woman Tattoo Artist in Unwelcoming Industry
Tattoo artist Katrina "Kat Tat" Jackson, famous for starring in the VH1 hit series "Black Ink Crew: Chicago," is also the first Black woman to own a tattoo shop in Beverly Hills. She joined Cheddar News to discuss her trailblazing work, the stigma BIPOC tattoo artists face in the industry, and the way the space has changed for artists of color since her start. "In the beginning, I remember walking into a tattoo shop just like, hey, I wanna learn, I wanna be a tattoo artist and kind of just being laughed at, not taken seriously," she said. "Even with the tattoo conventions, a lot of African American tattoo artists were almost scared to go to conventions because it's not a welcoming environment."
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