Jeff Bezos appears at the Baby2Baby Gala in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 13, 2021, left, and actor-comedian Pete Davidson appears at the premiere of "Big Time Adolescence" in New York on March 5, 2020. Davidson is heading to space. The “Saturday Night Live” star will be among the six passengers on the next launch of Bezo’s space travel company, Blue Origin. The company announced the March 23 flight on Monday. (AP Photo)
Pete Davidson is heading to space.
The “Saturday Night Live” star is among the six passengers on the next launch of Jeff Bezos' space travel venture Blue Origin, the company announced Monday.
The launch is scheduled for March 23 and Davidson will be the third celebrity on a Blue Origin flight. William Shatner was on a flight in October, blasting off from West Texas and reaching a height of roughly 66 miles above Earth on the 10-minute jaunt.
Former NFL great and “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan flew on Blue Origin's second passenger flight in December, joining astronaut Alan Shepard's daughter on the journey. Bezos, the founder of Amazon, flew on the company's first passenger flight last July.
The other passengers on next week's flight are CEO and investor Marty Allen; Sharon and Marc Hagle; teacher and entrepreneur Jim Kitchen and George Nield, a former NASA manager who has worked to promote commercial spaceflight.
Marc Hagle is CEO of the commercial and residential property company Tricor International. His wife, Sharon Hagle, founded SpaceKids Global, a nonprofit aimed at inspiring children about spaceflight.
Blue Origin flights give passengers a few minutes of weightlessness above the Earth's surface before the capsule parachutes and lands in the West Texas desert. The company has not disclosed the ticket price for paying customers.
M&T Bank rang the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning as the company celebrated a milestone of opening 100 new multicultural banking centers. David Femi, head of multicultural banking, joined Cheddar to discuss the culturally inclusive expansion as part of the bank's overarching goal to increase financial access in racially and ethnically diverse communities. "By designating branches as multicultural is just one way for us to be intentional in making sure, that number one, when [customers] come into these branches, they see people that look like them, they see people that speak their language," he said.
A second Starbucks location in the U.S. has officially voted to unionize. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board announced workers at the Starbucks store located in the Buffalo, NY suburb of Cheektowaga voted 15-9 in favor of being represented by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. The New York Times reports votes were tallied in December but remained inconclusive as the union challenged the ballots of several employees it said did not work at the store. A Starbucks spokesperson has said that it may appeal the labor board's decision, which comes as several other Starbucks stores across the country are also pushing to form a union. Danka Dragic, shift supervisor for the second Starbucks store in the country to unionize, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Technology-driven sustainable waste management platform, RoadRunner Recycling, recently raised a $70 million Series D round from BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic. RoadRunner says it creates and manages end-to-end waste and recycling solutions for businesses of all sizes and that its proprietary technology can boost cost savings and improve recycling rates for companies, which in turn drives sustainability for the waste industry and our world. RoadRunner Recycling founder and CEO Graham Rihn joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Apple TV+ is in serious talks for the rights to stream MLB games next season, the first foray into sports content for the platform, according to the New York Post. Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Sports, sat down with Cheddar to discuss how such a deal might impact the tech giant and the sports content industry. "Quite often with new media platforms one of the quickest ways to create and implement a programming strategy — and actually one of the most expensive ways — is to offer up sports content," Berke noted. "So, with this package available, it puts Apple literally in the game and gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in offering up a major league sport."
A.I.-enabled fintech company Qraft Technologies recently closed a $146 million investment from SoftBank Group Corp.
The companies say they are entering a partnership to accelerate artificial intelligence in the asset management industry. Qraft has already developed A.I. solutions that have been used by major financial institutions and says its new approach to asset management maximizes investment efficiency. Qraft Technologies U.S. CEO Robert Nestor joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Peacock has announced a slate of original Olympic games documentaries set to premiere throughout January. The first series, 'Meddling' is now available to stream. The four-part docuseries details the 2002 winter Olympic scandal which alleged that the pairs figure skating competition had been fixed to favor Russia. Tara Lipinski, Olympic gold medalist, champion figure skater, and executive producer of ' Meddling,' joins Cheddar News discuss the series.
A decade ago, long before streaming services, the amount of binge-watching viewers could take part in was slim. Now, streaming services have established binge-watching as a viewing norm. However, how can viewers know when they've crossed the line from innocent entertainment to harmful addiction? Judy Grisel, professor of psychology at Bucknell University, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new study that identifies psychological predictors of problematic binge-watching.
Glassdoor has officially revealed its list of the best places to work in the year 2022. The top 10 on the list include tech companies and just one retail company. Senior economist at Glassdoor, Daniel Zhao, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Students in the Chicago Public School system will head back to class tomorrow at long last. The move comes after four days of canceled classes due to clashes between teachers and the city, including Chicago Mayor Laurie Lightfoot. National Educational Reporter at USA Today, Richard Erin, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Sixteen of the country's most prestigious universities have been hit with a lawsuit claiming those schools illegally conspired to eliminate competitive financial aid offers for students. Just some of the schools mentioned include Yale, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, and Cornell. Author of "Who Gets In and Why" and Professor of practice at Arizona State University, Jeff Selingo, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
