Get caught up on the stories you Need2Know for Wednesday, August 3, 2022.

Wake Up With Cheddar

Need2Know: Pelosi Wraps Up Taiwan Trip,  DOJ Sues Idaho Over Abortion, Robinhood Layoffs

Let's start overseas. A game House speaker nancy Pelosi is in Taiwan. She landed Tuesday night to a warm reception that after a strong protest from china and against the advice of the U. S. Military, Pelosi is saying in a statement quote, America's solidarity with the 22 million people of Taiwan more important today than ever China called that visit a serious violation and said it would launch a series of military exercises off Taiwan's coast and that includes long range live firing in the Taiwan strait Pelosi the highest ranking U. S. Official to visit Taiwan in 25 years and the Justice Department is suing the state of Ohio over its abortion laws. The doj says the state's new abortion law violates federal law because it does not allow doctors to provide medically necessary treatment. The Ohio law which takes effect august 25th allows doctors to be criminally prosecuted for providing abortions. The announcement is the first legal action by the Justice Department challenging a state trigger law since the Supreme Court overturned roe versus wade in june. Meanwhile, President biden has named a White House monkeypox coordinator robert Fenton, a longtime fema administrator, now going to oversee boosting the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments. The by administration had been under pressure to name so somebody to lead the response that his cases continue to spread, particularly within the L. G. B. T. Q. Community. The C. D. C so far has recorded more than 6000 cases of monkeypox Justice May in the U. S. And the world of politics is waking up this morning and it's waking up after a surprising win for abortion rights in Kansas last night. Big surprise here. Megan prats live in Washington with more on this story. Good morning. Megan break this down for us here. Yeah, it was a huge win for abortion rights advocates. In that vote on Tuesday Kansas, voters overwhelmingly rejected an anti abortion amendment on Tuesday's primary ballot. As a reminder, the amendment would undo a 2019 decision from the state Supreme Court that found a right to an abortion in the state constitution. It would also open the door to more abortion restrictions, including potentially a full abortion ban, that some of the most concern members of the Kansas legislature have been looking for for a long long time. As of this morning, with about 96% of the vote counted no on the amendment resoundingly defeated. Yes, with almost 59% of the vote to about 41% meaning Kansas, voters rejected this amendment by more than 100 and 50,000 votes. The result defy some of the conventional wisdom and polling ahead of race. One poll found yes on the amendment leading by about four points in the days before the primary, which at the very least telegraphed a close vote Kansas is also a very conservative state. So it's all the more remarkable on a basic level to have such a large victory for abortion rights there. So Megan would it be fair to say that after this vote that abortion rights could be an energizing issue for democrats in the pro choice position. More broadly, I think it's absolutely fair to say that some of this was of course particular to Kansas, the state has a long history of personal freedoms and autonomy since its founding as a free state back before the civil war. But it is also as I mentioned, a conservative state, a red state polling indicates most kansans want abortion to be illegal in all or most cases, but the amendment vote makes clear that even in a conservative state, abortion is an energizing issue for the pro abortion rights camp in a post roe world. So definitely have to see how this sort of impacts the midterms. Coming up in just a few months. Meghan pratt's live from the White House. Megan, thank you so much. Taking a look now at some of the business stories we're following for you this hour, you're next international flight just got a bit more bumpy as british airways has suspended ticket sales at Heathrow for domestic and european destinations now until august the 15th. That's after London's airports decision to cap the number of passengers flying from the hub at 100,000 day until september british airways said that the suspension was designed to allow existing customers to re book flights when needed. Meanwhile Robin Hood laying off 23% of their staff and most of those cuts gonna be in operations marketing and program management. The ceo blaming inflation in the recent crypto crash, the company previously laid off 9% of their staff back in april. The news comes as new york's financial regulator find Robin Hood's Cryptocurrency subsidiary $30 million saying that the company broke anti money laundering and cyber security rules and big news. Mexican pizza is coming back. Taco Ballet set the return for it for september 15th. The chain pulled the beef and refried bean pizza back in twice 20 then tried to bring it back in May with the help of Doja Cat's Tiktok videos. But ingredient shortages couldn't keep up with demand, which Taco Bell says was seven times higher than when it was first available. One restaurant in particular in California sold more than 1000 mexican pizzas in just a single day. You know, I'm a Californian and I ate like a college student, so I'm really excited about this. Doesn't love a mexican pizza