Monday, April 5th, 2021
Another Capitol Attack, Florida Evacuations & MLB Takes Sides
All the news you need in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by NativeDeo.com/newsworthy and LightStream.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 review the latest happenings...
Capitol Police Officer Killed
Once again, the nation is mourning the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty. Officer Billy Evans was guarding the entrance to the Capitol Friday when a car rammed into him and another officer. The police chief says the attacker then got out of his car and started lunging at officers with a knife, so the police shot and killed the suspect. Both officers were rushed to the hospital and sadly, Officer Evans died. The other officer was seriously hurt, but he’s since been able to go home. So far, investigators don’t have an exact motive for an attack, but they don’t think it was terrorism.
Read More: NY Times, AP, NBC News, ABC News, USCP
Chauvin Trial Week 2
Today, the murder trial of ex-police officer Derek Chauvin enters its second week. He’s accused of killing George Floyd in Minneapolis last May. On Friday, prosecutors started getting into how the police department trained Chauvin since defense attorneys have said he was following his training that day. They questioned the most senior officer in the Minneapolis police department. He said he was never trained to put his knee on someone’s neck, especially not while they’re handcuffed and lying on their stomach. He said Chauvin violated department policy for kneeling on Floyd’s neck for as long as he did. The trial is expected to last at least another week.
Read More: CNN, NPR, NY Times, USA Today
FL Wastewater Evacuations
Hundreds of people are having to leave their homes in Florida because their neighborhoods might soon be flooded with polluted water. It’s happening in Manatee County, about 45 miles south of Tampa. Officials found a leak in a wastewater pond and have been trying to pump out water for days. There’s still fear the entire pond could collapse. Officials say in a worst-case scenario, there could be a 20-foot-high wall of polluted water rushing toward houses. So far, more than 300 homes have been evacuated and parts of a nearby highway have been shut down.
Read More: AP, ABC News, FOX News, Axios
U.S. Vaccine One-Day Record
There’s a new single-day record for COVID-19 vaccines. More than four million doses were given out Friday alone. The CDC says that brought the seven-day average to more than 3 million a day. It’s been just over 100 days since the first vaccine dose was given and now, overall, more than 40% of American adults have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. More than 23% are fully vaccinated.
Read More: CNN, NY Times, The Hill, CDC
J&J Taking Control of Plant
The Biden administration says the U.S. will have enough vaccines for every American adult by the end of May, even though millions of Johnson & Johnson shots were spoiled because of a mixup at a Baltimore plant. The federal government intervened because it was worried the problem would make people feel less confident in vaccines. It put Johnson & Johnson in control of that plant, instead of a subcontractor. Johnson & Johnson put out a statement too, saying it added staff to monitor operations and quality.
Read More: WaPo, NPR, Axios, J&J
CDC Updates Travel Guidance
More people are starting to see real advantages in being vaccinated. The CDC changed its guidelines to say fully-vaccinated people can safely enjoy traveling again, at least within the U.S. The new guidance says everyone should still wear masks and avoid crowds, but that two weeks after getting all their required doses, people can travel, even without getting tested for COVID-19 or going into quarantine afterward.
Read More: AP, Politico, NPR, CDC
Stanford Wins Women’s NCAA Championship
Stanford clinched the national championship in women’s college basketball. It’s the team’s first NCAA title since 1992 and the program’s third under head coach Tara VanDerveer. This time, it was a nail-biter of a championship game, but in the end, the Stanford Cardinal beat the Arizona Wildcats 54-53. Stanford’s star player Haley Jones was named the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament
Read More: ESPN, CBS Sports, SportsCenter
Men’s NCAA Championship Tonight
Tonight, the championship action shifts back to the men as Baylor and Gonzaga battle it out for the national title. No matter who wins, the outcome will be historic. Baylor has never won a men’s basketball championship before and Gonzaga is trying to become the first team in 45 years to pull off a perfect, undefeated season. The last team to do it was Indiana in 1976. Baylor and Gonzaga tip-off at 9:20 ET tonight on CBS.
Read More: USA Today, NY Times, Sports Illustrated
MLB Moving All-Star Game
Major League Baseball is looking for a new city to host July’s All-Star Game. The MLB decided to pull it out of Atlanta, Georgia to protest new voting regulations signed into law there last month. The commissioner said the league “fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans” and the best way the MLB could “demonstrate its values” was to move both the All-Star Game and MLB Draft out of Georgia. One state tourism official says the MLB’s decision will ultimately cost the state $100 million.
Read More: NY Times, WaPo, ESPN, Axios, MLB
Facebook Users’ Personal Data Posted Online
More than half a billion Facebook users had their personal information posted online. More than 32 million of those were Americans. Business Insider says the stolen data includes phone numbers, email addresses, locations, and birthdays. However, Facebook says this wasn’t because of a recent data breach, that hackers got all the information in 2019. Since then, it says it fixed an issue in its system to stop that kind of breach from happening again. Still, the information is out there now and one cybercrime intelligence firm says cybercriminals could use it to trick people into handing over log-in credentials to various websites or worse.
Read More: Business Insider, AP, Hudson Rock CTO,
SAG Awards
The Trial of the Chicago 7 took home the top prize at last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. The courtroom drama won the prize for best ensemble cast. Separately, actors of color won the top individual awards at SAG for the first time. The late Chadwick Boseman was honored with the best actor award while Viola Davis won for best actress. They were both awarded for their performances in the movie Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The whole event happened without a red carpet, host, or long-winded speeches. Instead, presenters and nominees were filmed at their homes days in advance and the show was edited down to just one hour.
Read More: AP, USA Today, Variety, SAG Awards
Money Monday: Household Item Prices Expected to Rise
You might have to start paying more for everyday items. The personal care company Kimberly-Clark says it will start charging stores more this summer. The difference will be a few percentage points. Then, stores could pass the price hikes onto shoppers. Kimberly-Clark’s products include things like Huggies diapers, Scott’s toilet paper, Kleenex tissues, Kotex feminine products, and more. The company says the price hikes are necessary because their raw materials are costing more due to supply and demand issues around the world.
Read More: NBC News, WSJ, Kimberly-Clark