Wednesday, May 13, 2020
5:39 pm ET: 1 Day Sooner Signs Up Volunteers to Be Injected With COVID-19
Would you volunteer to be deliberately infected with COVID-19? It's a question some people are seriously considering. In an effort to speed up the development of a vaccine, 1 Day Sooner is asking volunteers to sign up for human challenge trials that will expose them to the virus in an effort to study the disease and develop a cure.
Josh Morrison, the co-founder of 1 Day Sooner, told Cheddar Wednesday that these human challenges have been used to study other diseases in the past, including malaria, typhoid, and cholera. Read more...
— McKenzie Marshall
4:40 pm ET: Wall Street Slides Again on More Worries About Recession
Stocks fell for the second day in a row on Wall Street Wednesday, weighed down by worries about a slow recovery for the economy. The weakness came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned about the threat of a prolonged recession because of the shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic. The S&P 500 lost 1.7%. The sharpest losses hit stocks that most need a healthy economy for their profits to grow, like energy companies and banks. The market has been wavering the last few weeks as optimism about reopening the economy collides with worries about the dangers of lifting restrictions too soon. Read more...
— The Associated Press
3:45 pm ET: Colby College Rallies Alumni to 'Pay It Northwards'
Graduating from college can be a time of uncertainty and transition for many, but members of the Class of 2020 face a unique challenge in navigating a job market that has come to a near standstill in some sectors and a country dealing with unprecedented unemployment.
Colby College, a small liberal arts college in Maine, recently launched its Pay It Northward campaign, in an effort to help find opportunities for graduates who have not landed jobs yet. Read more...
— McKenzie Marshall
3:43 pm ET: Banks Weigh Closing Branches Even After Coronavirus Threat Subsides
The coronavirus outbreak spurred a nationwide shutdown of bank branches, and the sector is watching closely to see how easily customers adapt to a new normal where digital is the only option.
The trendlines have been clear for years. Between 2010 and 2019, the number of branch locations declined 12 percent from 95,000 to 83,000, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Read more...
— Alex Vuocolo
2:05 pm ET: Around the World in 90 Seconds
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a $260 billion stimulus plan as the country’s unemployment hits 25 percent. Germany sees a coronavirus cluster in a meat processing plant leading to a slowdown on easing restrictions. Mexico installed sanitizing stations at the border with the U.S. for travelers to be sprayed with disinfectants before entering the country, and tourism-reliant Greece awaits EU guidance on reopening its borders. On a positive note, the Chinese community in South Africa recently donated 10,000 parcels of food and supplies to help combat the pandemic in the African nation.
12:35 pm ET: Wall Street Sinks Again as Worries About Economy Weigh
Stocks are falling in another erratic day of trading on Wall Street Wednesday, weighed down by worries about a slow recovery for the economy.
The market has been wavering the last couple weeks after coming off its best month in a generation, as optimism about reopening the economy collides with worries about the dangers of lifting restrictions too soon. Read more...
— The Associated Press
11:26 am ET: Couples Turn to 'Minimonies' to Salvage Wedding Plans
Couples trying to salvage weddings put on hold by the coronavirus are feeding a fresh trend in the bridal industry: the “minimony."
Rather than wait, they're getting hitched alone or with a few local loved ones looking on at a safe social distance as other guests join virtually. Then they plan to reschedule larger celebrations when allowed. Read more...
— The Associated Press
10:04 am ET: Federal Reserve Chair Powell Warns of Possible Sustained Recession
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Wednesday of the threat of a prolonged recession resulting from the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak and urged Congress and the White House to act further to prevent long-lasting economic damage. Read more...
— The Associated Press
10:02 am ET: Dutchie and Hypur Partner on Contactless Payments
Cannabis online marketplace Dutchie and digital payments provider Hypur have teamed up to bring contactless payments to some 1,100 dispensaries nationwide. The development comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has made dealing in cash — a reality for many businesses in the federally illegal cannabis industry — even riskier. Read more...
— Chloe Aiello
8:27 am ET: Need2Know: Fauci’s Warning, WFH Forever & COVID-Free at Age 113
Get your news over easy every morning by listening to the Need 2 Know podcast (Stitcher, iTunes) and signing up for our morning newsletter.
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: The two leading disease experts in the U.S. warned the Senate that the country faces a resurgence of the coronavirus if the economy reopens too soon. Drs. Fauci and Redfield testified that the pandemic was far from contained, despite President Trump’s comments a day earlier that “we have prevailed.” In California, an L.A. County official said Los Angeles’ stay-home order will likely be extended for three more months. The California State University system has already told students they won’t be returning to classes in the fall. NY TIMES
DEM STIMULUS BILL: House Democrats released a $3 trillion economic stimulus bill they’re calling the HEROES Act. The cornerstone of the legislation is $875 billion to help keep state and local governments afloat. The progressive wing of the party says it doesn’t go far enough, but it has little chance of getting through the Senate as is anyway. Sen. Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell has said there’s no “urgency” for a new rescue package. The House will vote on the plan this week. POLITICO
HUMAN GUINEA PIGS: Would you deliberately infect yourself with the coronavirus? More than 16,000 people have already volunteered to do just that. The 1DaySooner Project is collecting young, healthy volunteers for “challenge trials,” in which they’d be purposely infected with the virus and then given potential vaccine candidates. The organizers say it will help cut down on the time it takes to develop a vaccine, but there are ethical concerns with exposing people to a deadly virus for which there is no treatment. FT
SUPREME COURT: TRUMP TAXES: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments via conference call in two major cases related to presidential powers. In the first, the justices appeared to be unpersuaded by President Trump’s legal defense that he is immune from criminal investigation while in office. The second, a case involving whether the president can keep his taxes confidential in defiance of subpoena, is more of an open question. The Court is likely to issue decisions in both cases by July. Depending on the ruling, President Trump could be forced to release his personal financial records in the heat of the election. AP
WFH FOREVER: Twitter has told its employees that they can work from home indefinitely from now on, if that’s what they wish. The company plans to reopen its offices at some point, but will no longer require the vast majority of their workforce to come in. BUZZFEED
UBER EYEING GRUBHUB: Uber has reportedly been in talks with the food-delivery giant GrubHub about a potential takeover. The negotiations are said to be continuing and not a done deal. But if the two companies come to an agreement, it would amount to a major consolidation of the delivery industry, which has become essential to many people in the pandemic. WSJ
MLB MONEY BATTLE: Major League Baseball’s owners and players are now locked into a financial battle that will determine whether there is or is not an abbreviated season this year. The owners presented their plan for an 82-game season to the player’s union, but there is a yawning chasm between the two sides over how the players will be compensated. Here’s a breakdown of where things stand: ESPN
HAMILTON THE MOVIE: Disney is moving up the release date of its Hamilton film a full 15 months and will forgo theaters entirely. The filmed version of the smash-hit musical, with Lin-Manuel Miranda in the title role, will drop on Disney+ on July 3 — just in time for Independence Day. DEADLINE
SPOTTED...fashion designer Vera Wang, who is allegedly 70 years old, showing off her abs and lighting social media on fire in the process: SEE PICS
LEFTOVERS: WONDER WOMAN: A 113-year-old woman in Spain — thought to be the oldest living person in the country — has beaten COVID-19. Maria Branyas was born in 1907 and lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Spanish Civil War, both World Wars and, now, the coronavirus pandemic. Branyas reportedly contracted the virus in the nursing home where she’s lived for the last 20 years and self-isolated for weeks, but only felt mild symptoms. NDTV
