In this file photo, parents dressed as Wizard of Oz characters, from left, the Lion, the Tin Man and the Wicked Witch, wait their children trick-or-treat at a shopping center at sunset in Freeport, Maine, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Wednesday, September 23, 2020:
SUPREME COURT SHOWDOWN
Utah Sen. Mitt Romney says he is on board with supporting a qualified Supreme Court nominee from President Trump, all but ensuring that the Senate has the votes to fill the seat before the election. A Court with a decisive 6-3 conservative majority is the nightmare scenario for liberals, though Senate Democrats seem to acknowledge that they have very few tools to stop it from happening at this point. The Judiciary Committee is reportedly making plans for confirmation hearings to take place next month in an accelerated timeline. Public viewings for Ruth Bader Ginsburg begin this morning at the Supreme Court. NY TIMES
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has put in place new nationwide restrictions for six months, urging anyone who can work from home to do so. As the U.S. surpasses 200,000 deaths, a new poll shows six in 10 Americans won’t take a coronavirus vaccine as soon as it becomes available. The CDC has issued guidelines for Halloween that include recommendations against haunted houses, hayrides, parties and door-to-door trick-or-treating. The agency says the safest way to trick-or-treat is for houses to leave individually wrapped bags of candy at the end of a driveway or yard. NPR
RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
The first presidential debate next Tuesday will be broken up into six 15-minute segments devoted to: Trump and Biden’s records, the Supreme Court, the pandemic, race and social unrest, election integrity and economic issues. Meanwhile, Mike Bloomberg has raised $16 million to pay the fines and court fees of 32,000 Black and Hispanic voters in Florida who have felony records, a targeted move to help increase turnout for Democrats in the swing state. Floridians with felony convictions who have served their sentences are barred from voting if they have outstanding fines with the court. WASH POST
VIRTUAL UNITED NATIONS
In a normal year, this would be the week that all New Yorkers dread, as diplomats and heads of state converge on the east side of Manhattan for the UNGA. This year, everything’s virtual. President Trump opened the General Debate with an attack on China, the WHO and the “China virus” in pre-recorded remarks, and said he intends to deliver more peace deals in the Middle East. Presidents Xi and Putin -- neither of whom have made the trip to NYC since 2015 -- pushed back on Trump and the U.S. in their own messages. UPI
TESLA BATTERY DAY
Tesla investors and fans were hoping that Elon Musk was going to announce a breakthrough in the company’s battery technology at an event Tesla was calling “Battery Day.” Instead, Musk said that the company was in the process of making advancements that could eventually lead to electric cars with much longer ranges and cheaper battery costs -- but that they're still about three years away. Musk spoke to a parking lot full of Tesla shareholders who were lined up in their Teslas, honking in approval. THE VERGE
PELOTON KILLER KILLED
For a brief moment, it looked like Amazon was trying to take on Peleton with a lower-priced at-home exercise bike. Potential clients started to see ads for a $500 Prime Bike advertised by Echelon Fitness, but by Wednesday morning, it appeared to have been wiped from the internet. BLOOMBERG
NOTRE DAME PUNTS
The Notre Dame-Wake Forest game scheduled for Saturday has been postponed after the Fighting Irish said 13 players were in isolation, with seven testing positive for COVID-19. The schools say they will try to reschedule the game for Oct. 3. It’s the fourth ACC game to be impacted by the coronavirus. ESPN
TIME 100
Time magazine has unveiled its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Usually it’s a big gala event -- this year, it happened as a virtual event aired in primetime on ABC. Dr. Fauci, Google chief Sundar Pichai, rapper Megan Thee Stallion and Gabrielle Union are among those who made the list. SEE THE COVERS
SPOTTED...
…Prince Harry, sporting a new hairstyle in a video message he recorded for his charity: SEE PIC
…Succession’s Jeremy Strong, aka Kendall Roy, carrying his new Emmy as he left a NYC hotel: SEE PIC
LEFTOVERS: BEST ALBUMS EVER
What is the greatest album ever recorded? Rolling Stone has updated its revered 500 Best Albums of All Time list, starting from scratch for the first time since it debuted in 2003. Nearly half the albums are different from the original list, including: Taylor Swift’s Red, Adele’s 21 and Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head. Coming in at #1: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. SEE THE LIST
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."
