Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021
Election Day, New Climate Pledge & Shorts in Sports
All the news in about 10 min:
This episode is brought to you by kiwico.com (Listen for the discount code) and Ritual.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 read the latest happenings...
Several Local/State Elections
It’s election day for a lot of Americans. People in Virginia and New Jersey are going to be picking their next governors. Mayors will be chosen in several cities like New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and more. Many city council and school board races are happening, There are also ballot measures for voters to consider. For example, people in Minneapolis will decide whether to overhaul policing in the city. Elsewhere, people will vote on measures like tax increases, Airbnb rules, affordable housing, and more.
Read More: NY Times, CNN, Virginian-Pilot, ABC News
More Voting Information: Vote411
U.S. Plan to Reduce Methane
The White House has a new plan to address methane, the second-largest driver of global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to tighten regulations for oil and gas companies. Under a new proposal, there would be a new monitoring system that would make companies find and fix leaks. It would also crackdown on waste. The EPA wants to finalize the new rules next year after other agencies review them. President Biden is expected to talk about this later today, along with other new climate initiatives.
Read More: AP, NY Times, WSJ, WaPo, White House
COVID Death Toll Tops 5 Million
Unfortunately, Covid-19 is now responsible for more than five million confirmed deaths around the world. Experts say the true number of Covid-19 deaths is likely much higher. And the death toll continues to climb. Over the last couple of weeks, the world has been reporting an average of more than 7,000 new Covid-19 deaths a day. That’s an improvement since the world was reporting about 10,000 deaths a day a few months ago. Public health officials say that’s a sign vaccines are having an impact. More than half of the global population has been at least partially vaccinated.
Read More: NPR, NY Times, WSJ, Axios, Johns Hopkins
Vaccine Mandates Fallout
Thousands of government employees are now going without work, and without pay, as they fight Covid-19 vaccine mandates. New York City started enforcing its mandate for all city workers yesterday. Mayor Bill de Blasio says the employee vaccination rate is up to 91%. However, that means about 9,000 workers who didn’t get vaccinated were put on unpaid leave. Meanwhile, in Chicago, the deadline for city employees to get vaccinated was supposed to be December 31st, but a police union sued over it. This week, a judge decided the case should be sorted out before the city enforces the policy for union members.
Read More: Chicago Tribune, Fox News, NY Times, CNN
New Handball Shorts Rules
The International Handball Federation agreed to update its rules, so women are no longer required to wear bikini bottoms when they compete. Over the summer, the Norwegian women’s beach handball team protested the old rules by wearing shorts during a championship game. Even though the men are allowed to wear shorts, the women were fined $1,700 for breaking the rules. Now, the federation says women can compete with bike shorts and tank tops instead of bikinis.
Read More: The Guardian, NBC News, NY Times, Reuters, EHF
Coca-Cola Buys BodyArmor
Coca-Cola is buying the sports drink maker BodyArmor for $5.6 billion. Coke already had a 15% stake in the company. Now, it’ll have full control of the brand. It’s Coca-Cola’s largest brand acquisition ever. It means there will be more competition between Coke and Pepsi since Pepsi owns BodyArmor’s main rival, Gatorade. The estate of Kobe Bryant, who was an early backer of BodyArmor, is reportedly set to get about $400 million for its stake because of this deal.
Read More: CNBC, WSJ, Fox Business, Reuters, Coca-Cola
Kids Screen Time Doubled
A new study from the American Medical Association says screen time for adolescents between 10 and 14 years old is up to almost eight hours a day. That’s double what it was before the pandemic, and it doesn’t include school. The study focused on activities like streaming, gaming, social media, texting, and more. It also found more screen time was linked to worse mental health and stress for kids. The doctor who led the study suggests adults set screen time limits for their kids, show them examples of device-free behavior, and encourage them to avoid screens before bedtime.
Read More: CNN, USA Today, JAMA
macOS Monterey Issue
A word of caution for anyone who uses a Mac computer or laptop: some people have been complaining that when they updated their devices to the latest operating system, their computers became paralyzed. People with older MacBook Pros, Mac Minis, and iMacs are most impacted. The newer devices that run on Apple's new silicon chip don’t seem to be affected. If this does happen to you, reports say it’s best to visit the Genius Bar at your nearest Apple Store. So far, Apple hasn’t addressed the problem publicly.
Read More: Gizmodo, MacRumors, Ars Technica, TechRadar, Apple
Instagram Add Yours
Instagram is rolling out another new feature. This one is called Add Yours. It lets people take part in public, visual threads within stories. To use this new feature, you upload your own story, then choose the Add Yours sticker, and pick a prompt. From there, everyone can see who responds to it in their own stories. This feature is still rolling out, so you may not have the new Add Yours sticker option in your stories just yet. But, it’s likely coming soon.
Read More: TechCrunch, TechRadar, Instagram
Trivia Tuesday
Q: What is the rarest M&M color?
Play along on today’s Instagram Stories quiz. We’ll also have the answer right here next week.
Last Week’s Trivia Tuesday Answer
Q: In which country did Halloween originate?
A: Ireland
Read More: History, Good Housekeeping, Britannica