Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019
‘Catastrophic’ Dorian, Boat Fire & Facebook Hiding Likes
All the news you need in less than 10 min:
Today's episode is brought to you by M.M.LaFleur.
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 perusing the latest happenings...
Hurricane Dorian: Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas over the weekend and is expected to head toward Florida, Georgia and South Carolina this week. Already, at least five people have been reported dead because of the storm in the Bahamas and thousands of homes were destroyed. The storm made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, and while it's been downgraded to a Cat 3 as of early this morning, it's still strong. There are hurricane watches, warnings and some mandatory evacuations in some places along the East Coast. The hurricane might stay off-shore but is expected to get "dangerously close," and any slight changes in the track could mean a direct hit. Stay tuned.
Read more: AccuWeather, Weather Channel, AP, CBS News, USA Today
Texas Shooting: A mass shooting in West Texas spanned two towns: Midland and Odessa. It started on Saturday with a routine traffic stop but led to a high-speed police chase with the gunman shooting people at-random from his car. Seven people died and more than 20 others were hurt. Police ultimately killed the 36-year old shooter, though they’re still working to figure out his motive. He was reportedly fired hours earlier and had called both 911 and the FBI tip line to complain (but with no threats).
Read more: CNN, NPR, AP, NYT, NBC News, USA Today
CA Boat Fire: A commercial scuba diving boat caught fire off the coast of Southern California with 39 people on board. Some crew members were able to survive, but at least 25 people have been reported dead. Nine are still missing. No word yet on what caused this fire. Expect updates today.
Read more: AP, NBC News, LA Times, FOX News
Hong Kong Protest: The protests in Hong Kong have now turned into a two-day strike from school. Thousands of students from 200 different schools did not show up for their first day of classes and held a large rally instead.
Read more: BBC, The Guardian, CNBC, Reuters
U.S. Open & MLB Record: Naomi Osaka was the top-ranked tennis player in the world and defending champion at the U.S. Open, but she lost yesterday to Belinda Bencic, who will now move on to the quarter-finals. In baseball, the Minnesota Twins broke a record for the team with the most home runs within just one season. The team hit 268 home runs so far (beating the Yankees record), and there's still a month remaining in the season.
Read more (U.S. Open): ESPN, Bleacher Report
Read more (Home Run Record): CBS Sports
Facebook Hiding Likes: Facebook is now thinking about hiding how many likes a post gets. Facebook confirmed that it isn’t live yet, but may be tested in the future. Users would still be able to see some of the reaction emojis to a post, but an actual number wouldn’t show up. The goal is to take some of the pressure away when it comes to getting a lot of likes on social media. Remember: Facebook-owned Instagram is already testing this in several countries, including Canada.
Read more: TechCrunch, CNET, The Verge
Galaxy Fold, Apple Watch: The Samsung Galaxy Fold may finally make its way to customers. The foldable phone had some issues a few months ago, but customers can now pre-register to buy the phone. It might be coming out later this month. At the same time, Apple announced a new repair program for some Apple Watches. Apple says it’ll replace cracked screens on eligible models for free. There are also new rumors about a new sleep tracking feature coming to the Apple Watch, which will likely be announced at Apple’s event next week.
Read more (Galaxy Fold): Engadget, Business Insider
Read more (Apple Watch): The Verge, 9to5Mac
Kevin Hart Crash: Comedian Kevin Hart was in a car accident over the weekend and had "major back injuries" because of it. His wife told reporters that he'll be okay. Hart’s car was involved in the crash, though he wasn’t driving. Stars, including his friend Dwayne Johnson, took to social media to wish him a speedy recovery.
Read more: People, CBS News
Netflix Talent Search: Netflix is releasing its first music competition series. Rhythm + Flow is a search for the next hip-hop sensation. Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and T.I. are judges. They’ll travel to places Los Angeles, New York and Chicago to find undiscovered artists. The show will debut on October 9th, and unlike most Netflix shows that are released all at once, this show will come out with only a few episodes each week.
Read more: Engadget, Deadline
Box Office & Music Charts: No major movies debuted this weekend, so Angel Has Fallen easily topped the holiday weekend box office. Labor Day typically marks the end of the summer movie season. On the music charts, Taylor Swift broke a record with her new album “Lover.” She’s the first female artist to have six different albums each sell 500,000 copies in a week. The only other singer to do it is Eminem.
Read more (Box Office): Variety, Forbes
Read more (Swift's Record): Billboard