Catching you up on what you need to know on Mar 31, 2022, with updates on Biden's push for more COVID funding, a wave of storms hammering the South, Etsy sellers going on strike, and more.

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Need2Know: COVID Funding, Storms Slam the South & Etsy Sellers Strike

up on your need to know headlines this morning and several updates in the fight against the coronavirus this morning. President biden pushing for more money from Congress that to fight the coronavirus pandemic, he's warning that there could be major consequences if those funds run out. Take a listen. Americans are back to living their lives again. We can't surrender that now. Congress, please act. You have to act immediately. The consequences of inaction are severe. They only grow with time, but it doesn't have to be that way. We've proven what we can do when we work together. So I urge democrats and republicans to get this done with urgency. Let's stand united. Let's continue to pull together. Let's get this done now, the president said without another round of covid funding, the US would fall behind on testing and also put vaccine and treatment supply at risk. After speaking, the president rolled up his sleeve and he received his second booster shot. This comes the same day that the CDC signed off on cruise travel after two years. The agency no longer warning travelers against sailing that to avoid the coronavirus. That's just one aspect of shifting covid restrictions when it comes to travel. That's because 21 states are suing the biden administration that to end that transportation mask mandate before it expires on april the 18th and travelers now get pandemic information about places that they plan to visit in the US or where they live on a new website. Covid dot gov and meanwhile Russian forces are continuing to strike cities in Ukraine. Even after the country vowed to sharply reduce combat in the area near Kiev. The strikes happened just hours after peace talks between the two countries didn't see any major progress. So far, a small number of Russian troops have repositioned, but Ukraine officials report constant shelling in Kharkiv yesterday on twitter, Ukrainian President Zelensky said he spoke with President biden for an hour about negotiations, defensive support, sanctions and humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, british intelligence officers say Russian President Putin has misjudged the situation on Ukraine, the head of the british spy agency, Jeremy Fleming said Russian forces are refusing to carry out orders and that Putin's advisors are afraid to tell him the truth about what's going on. Yeah, that is matching what American intelligence officials are saying as well regarding Vladimir Putin being misled about the war. Meanwhile, in the deep south, a tornado in Arkansas injured at least seven people that is part of a major storm system that we told you about yesterday. You can see some of the damage here. The south saw hurricane force winds and several tornadoes overnight. New Orleans also hit by severe storms that just a week after they faced major damage from a tornado. The storm system now moving east and it's bringing storms to the east coast for at least the end of the week. Hannah and jumping to some amazon news the first amazon union could be on the horizon today, officials count the votes to see if amazon workers on staten island have elected to unionize an in person vote of amazon employees at the company's JFK eight. Staten Island fulfillment center ended yesterday. If a majority of employees vote to unionize it would mark the tech giant's first union since the company was established in 1994. This is just one union effort at the company votes are also being counted this week at an amazon warehouse in Bessemer Alabama. All right. Meanwhile, if you're an Etsy fan, you might need to shop somewhere else next month. Etsy sellers. Apparently you're going to strike starting on april the 11th and now they're asking customers to do the same. This is all in retaliation over the online selling platforms. Recent changes that they say is hurting sellers, things like higher fees, mandatory marketing programs and drop shippers. The campaign and support of the strike reached 15,000 signatures in just the last week. Strike organizers are saying though, this is just the start. They're hoping to find more ways for sellers to work together as to support each other in the future as well. So it's those fees apparently this happened recently when, etc. Got a new Ceo. So it's almost like they're saying the old, etc. Was sort of much more preferred here. They're now worried that, etc, which by the way, is making a ton of profits now is sort of turning itself now into an amazon with these extra fees mandatory marketing placements that they have to do A one seller in particular says that there's a 12% advertising commission on each sort of transaction that a customer has to. So as a result, Etsy sellers are saying they're losing tons of money. But the flip side to this, some people who use that see as their primary source of there are to sell their products say maybe they won't be able to take part in the strike because they just can't afford it. Oh yeah, and I was, I was actually speaking to my aunt before the show because she has a very successful Etsy account and she was saying that there are ways to go about this. You can kind of go on social media, go through Ebay and you know, she says a lot of her friends encouraged the same thing if, but then again it's different if you're making your full income on Etsy. But again, like there are other companies, Ebay and social media, those are just the ones that we know about the top of our heads. But I'm sure that there are others That are a valuable option for something like that on top of that. If this seems like this is a reoccurring thing because by the way there have been other strikes over the course of the last 10 years or so and let's see if this is a reoccurring theme. Does that open it up for another sort of seller's market place that does take advantage of, that might be something to watch here. We're moving on to the fourth commercial flight, Jeff Bezos Space Tourism Venture Blue Origin is scheduled to lift off this morning. The flight has been delayed for two days. Excuse me because of poor weather. six. Soon to be astronauts will take part in the brief voyage flying to more than 60 miles above the planet's surface. They will experience a few minutes of weightlessness and sweeping views before gravity drags them back to earth. The whole excursion will take about 10 minutes. But it's unclear how much customers have forked over for this mission. Last year one would be passenger won an auction for a ticket for a whopping $28 million. So did you look into who's going on? And I saw a few and because I was like okay if Pete Davidson is not going to be on this one who's gonna be on this? Well I have a guy, his name got a guy, okay so he's he's a professor at U. N. C. And kitchen Kitchen. Thank you. I was like I know his last name is Kitchen right? So he said that He's not gonna disclose how much he paid, but it's worth every penny. And the story behind this is that 25 years ago he made his wife sign a prenup agreeing that if he goes to space she has to allow him to do. So was like his lifetime. So he put it out there like manifestation Israel I did my marriage all completely wrong now. I should have put something like this like going to space. You have to allow me to do it right. So essentially she signed a line saying she agrees if he ever has the opportunity to go to space, he will do it. He literally applied like the application on. That's so funny. That is so funny by the way. So you mentioned the faculty members from University of north Carolina is going to be there. Also, the former ceo of California closets also going to be there as well. Yes. So they're getting this more than Pete Davidson. Yes. Stories we need to yes. These are the interesting mix of people by the way, they might get some new closet space, but also can you imagine if you're about to fly, go to space with Pete Davidson? Yes. That also changed all of this as well. Meanwhile, three software engineers at Twilio and Four bay Area residents have been charged with insider trading that during the early days of the pandemic, the sec is charging seven separate Silicon Valley residents. They're claiming that they generated over a million dollars in profits all via the cloud software company. The group of engineers allegedly accessed private financial information that ahead of the company's blowout earnings report that saw the stock pop over 40%. The alleged scheme was first flagged by a US district court in California. The news comes as the SEc is suggesting some new rules related to executives and stock sales, all to prevent insider trading here, Hannah And for more stories, you need to know, scan the QR code on your screen right now and sign up for 10 hours daily newsletter. Yeah, get those headlines sent directly to your inbox and let's go.