Here are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, January 15, 2021:
BIDEN GOES BIG
President-elect Biden announced a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill designed to ramp up vaccinations and support the economy and those out of work until the pandemic is over. Among the policies included in the plan, which the Biden administration says is its no. 1 priority: direct payments of $1,400 to add to the $600 stimulus checks already going out, increasing enhanced unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 and extending them until the fall, increasing the federal minimum wage to $15, $20 billion for a national vaccination program and an increase to the child tax credit. The administration reportedly wants to get Republicans in Congress on board, but plans to move quickly if they can’t bypassing as many of the provisions as possible through budget reconciliation, which only requires 50 votes in the Senate (and which Dems now have). READ MORE
CAPITOL GREEN ZONE
The entire National Mall is expected to be closed on Inauguration Day, and the National Guard has been authorized to use lethal force in protecting the Capitol. Some officials say President Trump’s incitement of the riots last week has galvanized an extremist movement that is determined to disrupt the transfer of power and the new administration for months and possibly years to come. Dozens of people on the FBI’s terror watch list were in Washington the day of the Capitol siege, and the arrests keep coming: the man who had the Confederate flag in the Capitol has been arrested, as has the man in the Camp Auschwitz shirt, the retired firefighter who allegedly threw a fire extinguisher at police, and another man who allegedly beat an officer with a flagpole. WASH POST
COVID-19: LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
While the vaccine rollout is not going particularly well anywhere, it’s going especially poorly in the South. States like Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama are way behind the curve, with Alabama last in the country in terms of vaccinations per capita. In California and New York, residents are complaining about websites that are confusing and buggy (when they work at all), and wait times as long as 14 weeks. In Los Angeles, some providers have reportedly been throwing away doses due to confusion over the rules. LA TIMES
FLINT WATER CRISIS
Rick Snyder, the former governor of Michigan, has been criminally charged for his role in the Flint water crisis. Snyder is being charged with misdemeanors related to his decision to switch the water supply to the city of Flint in 2014 in order to save money. That switch exposed Flint residents to dangerous levels of lead and led to at least nine deaths from Legionnaires' disease. MLIVE
LABOR MARKET
Nearly another million Americans filed for first-time unemployment in the first full week of the new year. Economists believe the $300 weekly payment from the government is partially responsible for the increase in filings. Those enhanced benefits have started to reach those in need, as nearly 10 million of the 22 million or so jobs that vanished during the pandemic remain lost. CNN
MESSAGING MOVES
The encrypted messaging services Signal and Telegram are seeing tens of millions of new users open accounts, pushing both apps to the top of the download charts. They are benefiting from a perfect storm of sorts: WhatsApp’s privacy update that reminds users their data can be shared with parent company Facebook, misinformation that Facebook can read those messages, and the broader Big Tech crackdown on far-right accounts in the wake of the Capitol riots. Here’s a guide to the differences between Signal and Telegram: READ IT
BRADY V. BREES
New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees turns 42 today. On Sunday, he will face off against fellow “old” person, 43-year-old Tom Brady, as the Saints take on the Bucs in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. It’s the first time the veterans and future Hall of Famers will play each other in the postseason, and the memes are already flying. Here’s comedian Frank Caliendo narrating the matchup as Morgan Freeman on the History Channel: WATCH
SPOTTED...
...Dua Lipa, shot by David LaChapelle in a barely-there bodysuit for the cover of the new issue of Rolling Stone: SEE IT
...moving trucks outside the White House: SEE PIC
MARVEL ON DISNEY+
The first scripted series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe made specifically for Disney+ drops on the streaming platform today. WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as Vision, two characters familiar only to the most diehard Marvel fans. Marvel and Disney are releasing the first two episodes today, and then one a week for the 9-episode run. The reviews so far have been stellar: READ THEM
LEFTOVERS: GIVE US BACK OUR PIGEON?
There's been an international kerfuffle over a pigeon named Joe. After a racing pigeon that disappeared from Oregon in October was believed to have resurfaced in Melbourne, Australia, authorities there said they would need to kill it due to strict quarantine rules. But now the government says they're looking further into the pigeon's origin so, for now, the bird has been spared. AP
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