The Los Angeles Lakers players and coaches celebrate after the Lakers defeated the Miami Heat 106-93 in Game 6 of basketball's NBA Finals Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Monday, October 12, 2020:
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are up across the country, with only three states -- Texas, Washington and Maine -- reporting a decline in new cases week-over-week. Some 58,000 new infections were reported on Friday, a two-month high. The situation is no better in Europe, where health officials are warning that a combination of a spike in cases and widespread “COVID fatigue” could hamper mitigation efforts into the winter. Italy has mandated masks outdoors as hospitals warn that beds are filling back up, and the UK is expected to introduce a three-tier lockdown system today. CNN
SCOTUS CONFIRMATION HEARINGS
Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings begin on Capitol Hill today. Sen. Kamala Harris, who has not said whether she or Joe Biden support court packing, will attend remotely because of a lack of COVID safety protocols in the Senate, where two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee tested positive. Democrats are going into the hearings with the baseline goal of not doing anything to upset Biden’s lead in the polls, as they do not have the votes to sink the nomination. AXIOS
THE HOMESTRETCH
With three weeks until Election Day, President Trump is at his lowest point in the polls in months. The latest national poll from the Washington Post/ABC News has Joe Biden ahead by 12 points. FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average now puts Biden up by 10.3 with an 86 percent probability of winning. Meanwhile, the president’s doctor has declared him no longer a transmission risk, but would not say whether he has tested negative. Trump will hit the campaign trail today with a rally in Florida. WASH POST
DELTA DISSIPATES
The remnants of Hurricane Delta will soak the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast today after kicking up tornadoes and funnel clouds in the Southeast. Residents of Louisiana are cleaning up from the storm’s landfall, which killed one person and left hundreds of thousands without power. NBC NEWS
STIMULUS NEGOTIATIONS
After President Trump took any new stimulus off the table before Election Day, the White House reversed course and reopened a push for a narrow $1.8 trillion bill. That was rejected by both parties in Congress, with House Democrats saying it doesn’t do enough and Senate Republicans calling it a betrayal of GOP priorities. CNET
SUMMER OF NORMALCY
There seems to be a growing sense among the country’s biggest and most influential companies and institutions that life won’t be “back to normal” in the U.S. until next summer. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said over the weekend that the bank’s offices almost certainly won’t be fully staffed until then, and that’s assuming a vaccine becomes available. Facebook and Google have been telling employees they can work from home through June 2021. And Broadway just announced it will stay closed until next summer. MARKETWATCH
CHAMPIONS
NBA: The L.A. Lakers have claimed their 17th championship, beating the Miami Heat in six games to close out a season that has lasted nearly a whole year. LeBron James was named Finals MVP for the fourth time, putting him behind only Michael Jordan. The team dedicated its win to Kobe Bryant, who died earlier this year. YAHOO SPORTS
TENNIS: Rafael Nadal is now tied with Roger Federer for most Grand Slam titles after he crushed Novak Djokovic on the clay courts at the French Open. Federer congratulated his “greatest rival” for his 20th win, saying they’ve both pushed each other over the years to become better players. ESPN
'SNL' RECAP
Comedian Bill Burr is being both cheered and condemned for his polarizing SNL monologue about white feminism and cancel culture. Burr hosted an episode that was better received than the season premiere and featured Jack White filling in as the last-minute musical guest after Morgan Wallen was bounced for breaking COVID protocols: WATCH THE MONOLOGUE
QUEEN OF THE NILE
Gal Gadot and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins will reunite for a reboot of the period epic Cleopatra. Paramount won an auction for the big-budget film, which will have Gadot wearing the crown of the Egyptian queen. DEADLINE
LEFTOVERS: MILLENNIAL SAINT
An Italian teenager who dedicated his life to the poor before he died of leukemia at 15 is one step away from becoming the world’s first millennial saint. The Catholic Church beatified Carlo Acutis on Saturday in Assisi, the home of his idol, St. Francis, putting him “one miracle away” from sainthood. Acutis was a computer whiz who spent his time building websites documenting supposed miracles and tending to the homeless. The Vatican ruled that he posthumously intervened to cure a young Brazilian boy’s disease, setting him to become a saint. EURONEWS
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!
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of Achieve Life Sciences discusses a new plant-based compound that's being used to fight nicotine addiction; President & CEO OF DiaMedica Therapeutics explains a new ischemic stroke treatment option that expands the window for effective therapy for stroke patients; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Asteroid Rush.'
Catching you up on today's entertainment headlines with the Tribeca Film Festival has kicked off in NYC, "Black Adam," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson dropped its first full trailer, the musical "Come From Away" based on a true story set during 9/11 will be closing on Broadway this October, and more.
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."
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."
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."
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.
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 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.
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.
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."
