Thursday, January 27th, 2022
SCOTUS Job Opening, SpaceX Crash Coming & Young vs. Rogan
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by Zocdoc.com/newsworthy and Seed.com/newsworthy
Story Summaries
All the news stories mentioned in today's episode are listed with links below, so you can spend as much -- or as little -- time as you want to peruse the latest happenings...
Justice Breyer Retires
Justice Stephen Breyer is reportedly planning to retire at the end of the current term, which is this summer. The 83-year-old justice has been on the bench since 1994 when then-President Bill Clinton appointed him. Now, it will be up to President Biden to pick his replacement. During the presidential campaign, Biden promised if he had the chance, he would nominate the high court’s first Black woman. The president hasn’t commented on who he may pick. Whoever he chooses, Democratic leaders in the Senate say they’ll work to confirm them quickly.
Read more: Politico, Axios, NY Times, WSJ
Talks Over Eastern Europe Conflict
The U.S. and NATO are still hoping to negotiate with Russia to avoid what could be the largest invasion since WWII. This week, they sent written proposals in response to Russia’s demands. Russia wants NATO to rule out expanding any further east to roll back its presence in Eastern Europe and to keep weapons systems out of Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO haven’t been willing to meet any of those demands. However, they did bring up new proposals. For example, the U.S. would be up to renegotiating a nuclear treaty with Russia. NATO says it could increase communication and make sure there’s transparency around military exercises.
Read more: WaPo, NY Times, Newsweek, Fox News, Reuters
New Covid Sub-Variant
Scientists are monitoring yet another new version of Covid-19. This one is referred to as a “sub-variant” of omicron, called BA.2. It's been detected in dozens of countries already, including the U.S. Nearly 100 cases have been found in California, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington state. That’s out of the hundreds of thousands of Covid-19 infections that are being reported every day. For now, the World Health Organization doesn’t consider BA.2 a “variant of concern,” so there’s not much reason to worry. The W.H.O. is just asking scientists to watch and study it separately from omicron to see if it acts differently.
Read more: Reuters, ABC News, AP, USA Today, The Hill, WHO
Fed Interest Rate Announcement
As expected, The Federal Reserve decided to wait a little longer before raising interest rates, but the hikes are coming. The chairman says, for now, the plan is to raise them in March. That would mean the rate hike would come almost exactly two years to the day after the central bank slashed rates to nearly zero in response to the pandemic. The other thing the Federal Reserve did in response to Covid-19 was it started buying billions of dollars in treasuries and mortgage-backed bonds every month. The Fed now says it will phase those out in March, too.
Read more: AP, Reuters, WSJ, NBC News, Federal Reserve
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The whole world pays tribute to and honors the estimated six million Jews killed during the Holocaust during WWII. This day marks the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp, Auschwitz, in 1945. As a turning point in history, the Holocaust was one of the most visible acts of violence and discrimination. However, some people fear the lessons seem to fade over time. So, the United Nations put this remembrance day in place, hoping to educate more people and hopefully prevent future genocide.
Read more: USHMM, UN, STL Jewish Light, Deadline
SpaceX Rocket Part to Crash
An out-of-control SpaceX rocket part is reportedly on track to crash into the moon in less than two months. Elon Musk’s space company launched the Falcon 9 rocket into space in 2015. After it completed its mission to send a weather satellite to space, the rocket booster didn’t have enough fuel to come back to Earth. So, it was abandoned and has been floating around in space. Now, space observers agree, it will crash into the moon in March. They think the crash will make a new crater on the moon, but there won’t be significant damage.
Read more: NY Times, WaPo, NY Post, The Guardian, NASA
Spotify Takes Down Neil Young
Spotify picked popular podcaster Joe Rogan over folk-rock star Neil Young. That means the streaming service is taking down all of Young’s music. He gave Spotify an ultimatum this week, saying, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” Young posted a letter asking Spotify to remove his music and accusing the service of helping spread vaccine disinformation through Rogan’s podcast. Spotify says it tries to balance both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. And it started removing Young’s music last night.
Read more: Fox Business, WSJ, Reuters, Variety, Neil Young Archives
Picasso Heirs Launch Digital Art
Some of Pablo Picasso’s never-before-seen artwork will finally see the light of day through NFTs. The legendary artist’s granddaughter and her son announced they are putting around 1,000 digital pieces up for sale. Art enthusiasts will be able to buy the NFTs which are linked to a ceramic piece by Picasso from 1958. Remember, NFT’s are essentially unique identifiers tied to digital assets, like artwork or music. Meanwhile, the physical ceramic piece will also be auctioned off soon.
Read more: AP, WaPo, CNET, CBS News
Thing to Know Thursday: NATO Explained
NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was created in 1949 by the U.S., Canada, and several Western European countries after threats from the Soviet Union. Essentially, NATO was made so countries could work together to protect the people and territories of members. The ultimate goal is to keep a crisis from happening. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but it is an ally, so NATO members are standing united against Russia, and they have promised to help Ukraine if Russia makes a move.
Read more: NATO, History, WSJ, NY Times