| | | Vice President Kamala Harris will take front and center next week in Munich in meetings over the Russia-Ukraine border crisis. New York abandons its mask mandate today, joining a growing number of states in relaxing pandemic restrictions. Starbucks fires union organizers in what the union calls an act of retaliation. And the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston will make history later this summer. All this and more in today’s PDB. | | |
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| IMPORTANT | 1 - Harris on the Frontlines VP Kamala Harris Tasked With Rallying NATO Allies The White House announced that Vice President Kamala Harris will headline next week’s annual Munich Security Conference — likely to be dominated by talk of the Russia-Ukraine border crisis — to outline U.S. policy and reaffirm a strong commitment to NATO allies. Her tasks will involve one-on-one meetings with EU and NATO leaders throughout the week to forge a united front, marking a strong step up in U.S. engagement with allies as Russia ratchets up its military presence in the area. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has approved plans for the Pentagon to use U.S. troops to help evacuate Americans in Ukraine. (Source: Al Jazeera) |
| 2 - Off With the Masks! NY Drops Mask Mandate, Joining a Growing Number of Blue States New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would let her state’s mask mandate expire today. Democratic governors in New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon have all made similar decisions this week as COVID-19 caseloads drop off after the omicron surge. The loosely coordinated movement is the result of weeks of often quiet discussions within the Democratic Party after their disconcerting November elections. Governor Philip Murphy of New Jersey ran a series of focus groups across his state and found that voters were almost unanimous in feeling worn down by public health measures and want a return to some kind of normalcy. (Sources: AP, NYT) |
| | | 3 - Starbucks Busting Seven Workers Fired at Tennessee Starbucks in Possible Retaliation Starbucks Workers United (SWU) has made it their goal to unionize the coffee giant and their efforts are gaining momentum. But, according to SWU, Starbucks is taking drastic steps to prevent that. The union accused the chain of “union-busting” and selectively enforced rules in order to fire union leaders. At one Memphis store, Starbucks fired seven employees — a third of the store’s workforce and most of the union organizing committee. A company spokesperson denied allegations of retaliation, saying the employees were fired due to “safety and security violations.” (Source: The Guardian) |
| 4 - Bank it Black US Central Bank Leadership Just Got More Diverse The first Black woman to lead a regional Federal Reserve Bank will take office in July. Susan Collins, currently serving as provost at the University of Michigan, will assume her post at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in the midst of the Fed’s tightening of monetary policy to combat high inflation. Collins will succeed Eric Rosengren, who stepped down amid a scandal over his personal trading during the pandemic. Collins will become part of the select few who set U.S. monetary policy, which includes all 12 of the regional Fed bank presidents. (Source: Reuters) |
| 5 - Briefly Here are some things you should know about today: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls trucker protest “unacceptable.” Trudeau defended his country’s COVID-19 restrictions in the face of nationwide unrest. (Source: BBC) House Committee investigating Jan. 6 has subpoenaed Trump White House trade adviser Peter Navarro. Navarro supported former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen through voter fraud. (Source: ABCNews) The National Archives seeks help from Department of Justice in investigation of former President Trump. The Archives is determining whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act. (Source: CNN) |
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| | | Catch the Newest Episodes of The Carlos Watson Show, Season 4
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| INTRIGUING | | | 1 - Diversifying the Skies African Continent To Get Its First Millimeter-Range Radio Telescope Astronomers rejoice! The new African Millimeter Telescope, as it will be called, will take its place on Table Mountain in Namibia's Gamsberg Nature Reserve. The instrument, a repurposed telescope currently operating in Chile, will be donated by European observatories and will take five years to complete. A collaboration between a university in the Netherlands and the University of Namibia, the project is meant to “fill a missing observing window on the continent,” said Charles Takalana of the African Astronomical Society. The telescope will help complete the coverage of the Event Horizon Telescope, which observes black holes. Photo credit: Sangku Kim/ESO. (Source: Scientific American) |
| 2 - Driver’s Ed Without the Driver A New Startup Sends Self-Driving Cars to Virtual Driving School The autonomous truck startup Waabi says it has developed “the ultimate school for self-driving vehicles.” Right now, autonomous vehicles are largely trained through a time-consuming process of trial and error in a virtual world manually modeled off the real one. Waabi eliminates the manual aspect, using artificial intelligence to digitally re-create the real world. Waabi AVs can then learn to drive within this world, where different challenges and assessments are applied, tweaked and reapplied. With this kind of new tech, Waabi may be able to compete with established AV companies that have benefitted from a longer testing history. (Source: Axios) |
| 3 - Crypto Wars Ukrainian Defense Groups Gets Support Via Cryptocurrency As the threat of a Russian invasion looms, some military and “hacktivist” groups in Ukraine have taken on the task of counteracting Russian aggression. A cryptocurrency tracing firm called Elliptic found that in the second half of 2021 these groups saw a huge boost in cyber payments. For example, in 2020 Elliptic tracked $6,000 going to such groups; in 2021 payments reached $550,000 — the result of crowdfunding campaigns that deal in bitcoin, litecoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies. The company’s founder explained that because crypto is impervious to censorship or regulation, it has proven a “robust way to fund wars.” (Source: Wired) |
| 4 - Heat Wave Touchdown Los Angeles Will Host Super Bowl Among Abnormally High Temps As fans get hyped for the Super Bowl this Sunday in LA’s SoFi Stadium, they’ll have to contend with some unexpectedly warm temperatures. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for LA County through the weekend, warning that people participating in outdoor activities may be at an increased risk for “heat-related illnesses.” The service projects that temperatures could peak in the high 80s, although evenings should stay in the seasonable 50s. The hottest Super Bowl ever was also in Los Angeles, in 1973, when temps hit 84 degrees Fahrenheit. (Source: TheHill) |
| 5 - Goodell Speaks NFL Commissioner Blasts Discrimination in the League “We won’t tolerate racism. We won’t tolerate discrimination.” That was Roger Goodell’s response to weeks of controversy at his annual Super Bowl news conference yesterday. The NFL has entered a sort of reckoning after Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores, a Black man, sued the league for racism and said he was bribed to lose games by team owner Stephen Ross. The allegations spotlight the shocking lack of diversity in team leadership across the country, as well as the widespread misconduct that seems to plague the sport. Goodell said the league is taking all allegations seriously. (Source: AP) |
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