Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Wednesday, October 21, 2020:

CHEDDAR POLL

Joe Biden is maintaining a 10-point national lead against President Trump with less than two weeks until Election Day, according to a new Cheddar/SurveyUSA poll out this morning. The poll finds Biden growing his lead among key groups like women while the president is underwater with seniors. LIkely voters rank the pandemic and the economy as their two most important issues. CHEDDAR

STIMULUS SHOWDOWN

Just as the House Speaker and Treasury Secretary appeared to be nearing a breakthrough on a new $2 trillion-ish stimulus bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly told the White House not to accept a new bill before the election, as it would disrupt the Senate’s plans to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court next week. McConnell would need to bless any deal for it to have a shot of becoming law before Election Day, and that’s looking extremely unlikely, even though President Trump has urged Congress to “go big.” WASH POST

COVID-19: SILVER LINING

Even as new cases continue to surge in the northern hemisphere, two new peer-reviewed studies show that there’s been a sharp drop in mortality for hospitalized COVID patients across age groups. One study out of NYU and another out of the UK suggest that doctors and hospitals are getting much better at standardizing treatment for the virus. The NYU study found that hospitalized patients had about a 26 percent chance of dying at the start of the pandemic, and about an 8 percent chance of dying now. That still makes COVID more deadly than the flu, but it’s a significant improvement. NPR

UNITED STATES V. GOOGLE

The U.S. government has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of antitrust violations related to its dominance in search. This is the most significant action taken against a tech giant by the federal government since President Clinton’s DOJ sued Microsoft. The government is arguing that Google is protecting its advantage in search by striking deals with Apple and others to make Google the default search engine on iPhones and other devices. Google is likely to argue that there’s plenty of choices for consumers on the internet. THE VERGE

SOCIAL MEDIA & ELECTION

Twitter has implemented a change to how users “retweet” that the company says will stay in place until at least the week after Election Day. Now, when you want to retweet something, you are prompted with an encouragement to write about whatever it is you’re retweeting. The hope is that by adding some friction to the retweet process, it will cut down on the spread of misinformation. Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that platform may ease up its content restrictions after the election. Both Twitter and Facebook continue to face criticism from Republicans that they are censoring or “throttling” conservative content. FOX BIZ

ELECTRIC HUMMER

Tesla has some new competition in the market for high-end electric cars. General Motors debuted the new all-electric Hummer in a commercial during the World Series, officially entering a market that has been dominated by Elon Musk and Tesla. GM is marketing the GMC Hummer EV as an electric “supertruck” that will be available in a year, just before Musk’s Cybertruck. Starting price: $80K. CAR & DRIVER

WORLD SERIES

The Dodgers easily took Game 1 of the World Series, beating the Rays, 8-3, on the back of a dominant outing from pitcher Clayton Kershaw. The MLB is allowing 11,500 fans to attend the games at the brand new Globe Life Field in Texas. ESPN

FASTER & FURIOUS..ER

The Fast & Furious “core” franchise will come to a close after the 11th film. Universal is reportedly in talks with director Justin Lin, who is in post-production on the ninth installment of the series, to wrap up the story over two final movies. Fast & Furious is now Universal’s most successful franchise ever, eclipsing Jurassic Park. DEADLINE

FINAL ACT

Chadwick Boseman’s final performance will be memorialized on Netflix. The streaming giant will premiere Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Dec. 18. The drama has the late Boseman starring opposite Viola Davis, who plays the legendary blues singer Ma Rainey. Boseman’s turn as her ambitious trumpet player already getting buzz as a contender for a posthumous Oscar. WATCH THE TRAILER

LEFTOVERS: CALL FOR CIVILITY

The two opposing gubernatorial candidates in Utah appear together in a new commercial calling for civility ahead of Election Day. The Republican, Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, and the Democrat, Chris Peterson, ask Utah residents to “show the country that there’s a better way.” (Cox is way up in the polls, for what it’s worth.) SEE THE AD

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!

Share:
More In Culture
A New Plant-Based Way to Quit Smoking
John Bencich, CEO of Achieve Life Sciences, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss a new plant-based compound that's being used to fight nicotine addiction.
Plant-Based Way to Quit Smoking; Innovation in Stroke Therapy
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.'
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.
Load More