With a major question mark still hanging over the possibility of meaningful gun reform, President Donald Trump may be turning his attention to regulating video game makers instead.
The commander-in-chief will [reportedly](http://thehill.com/policy/technology/376836-white-house-to-hold-meeting-with-video-game-industry-on-thursday) meet with industry executives on Thursday to discuss their role in preventing violent behavior.
But New York Magazine Select All Associate Editor Madison Malone Kircher says game makers are not the problem.
“Studies have shown there really is no connection between violent video games and violent actions,” she told Cheddar Monday. “The American Psychological Association came out a year ago and said to politicians and to the media [to] stop equating the two. There’s a link to a rise in slight aggression, but there’s insufficient evidence to say that these games lead to violent gun deaths.”
In a meeting with survivors of last month’s Parkland, Fla., shooting and other attacks, Trump suggested first-person shooter games and other seemingly violent content should be subject to a ratings system. One does already exist.
And Malone Kircher says Thursday’s confab is unlikely to result in more constraints on a system that’s already so highly regulated.
“It’s a pretty stringent system as it is now,” she said. “This has been through the Supreme Court. California in 2011 ruled that you can continue to sell these games to kids, and that was fine.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-trumps-flip-flop-on-gun-reform).
California Rep. Ro Khanna has a novel idea about how to solve the government shutdown: call in some experts."Why don't we get an independent group of experts? The President appoints two people. The House appoints two people. The Senate appoints two people," the Silicon Valley-based Democrat suggested. "Put them in a room ー six folks ー and have them come up with proposals that are going to be 6-0."
With Los Angeles public schools ending a third day without their striking teachers, a deal between the union and the district remains elusive, according to Joseph Zeccola, a 2018-19 L.A. County Teacher of the Year and one of more than 30,000 educators currently protesting in the country's second-largest school district. "We're at a standstill," Zeccola told Cheddar from the picket line on Wednesday. "The offers right now have not been good."
The U.S. needs to work on improving its relationship with China as well as stabilizing its own economy by ending the government shutdown, JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said on Wednesday.
The ongoing government shutdown will hurt franchisees, Fat Brands CEO Andrew Wiederhorn told Cheddar on Monday. The closure of the Securities and Exchange Commission may inconvenience companies like Fat Brands, which need access to the public markets, but its franchisees, who run outposts of Fat Brands restaurants like Fatburger and Ponderosa Steakhouse, can't seek loans or expand their businesses. "There is a trickle down effect to us, but it's pretty small. I think really it affects the small business owner ... and it's coming out of their pocket," Wiederhorn told Cheddar.
Airline passengers are facing long security lines as unpaid TSA officers have begun calling in sick due to the government shutdown. Staffing shortages led to the closure of an entire terminal at Houston's George Bush International Airport. Local Houston TSA President, Freddie Cuellar, says closing the terminal is the best way to utilize the staff who are able to come to work.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday Jan. 16, 2019.
President Trump has taken the government hostage, and House Democrats refuse to negotiate with a hostage-taker, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told Cheddar on Tuesday. "This is not about the wall, it's not about health care, it's not about ... spending. This is about a promise the president made, and he has now taken the government hostage," Hoyer told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin as the 25th day of the partial government shutdown dragged to a close.
Canopy Growth is planning its entry to the U.S. on the back of the new Farm Bill ー and aims to establish a hemp "hub" in New York, according to CEO Bruce Linton."New York is setting up a pretty progressive approach and we have an earlier first license under that system so we can actually create a hub," Linton told Cheddar on Tuesday.
As the government shutdown drags on, calls from some conservative corners have increased for President Trump to declare a national emergency in order to get federal employees back to work while diverting funds to build a border wall. However, conservative radio show host Erick Erickson is cautioning the president against doing just that.
The cannabis industry enjoyed a productive 2018, but the government shutdown may be turning the industry's green light to yellow. Cannabis stocks are up overall, but according to Debra Borchardt, co-founder and CEO of Green Market Report, the government shutdown has left some farmers and companies in limbo.
