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‘We’re going to see more’ wildfires, Oregon governor warns
“Climate change is here, it’s real, and it’s like a hammer hitting us in the head,” the Democratic governor added. “And we have to take action.” The Bootleg Wildfire burning near Oregon’s border with California has now charred more than 400,000 acres. But Brown noted the state has also dealt with several other federal emergency declarations in addition to the ongoing Covid pandemic — including wildfires last fall, ice storms in February and a heat wave in the Pacific Northwest this summer that has been blamed for more than 100 deaths in Oregon. “Obviously, I’m very concerned that these very high heat temperatures will continue,” Brown said. Asked whether the federal government is doing enough in the near term to respond to the cri...
Virus resurgence menaces economy just as rescue programs unravel
Biden — whose Gallup approval rating dropped to 50 percent this week, its lowest yet — is already drawing attacks from Republicans over the issue. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top GOP tax writer in Congress, said the president has focused too much on pushing his “$4 trillion spending binge” and not enough on the virus. Jason Furman, a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama who is close to the current White House economic team, said the West Wing is very aware of the risks to the economy from the spike in Covid cases. “Any problem that has a 5 to 10 percent chance to derail the economic recovery you are looking at very closely and are worried about,” Furman said. He said that concern isn’t especially high, however, because even under “the most plausible wo...
Amazon Appears To Be Expanding Into Cryptocurrency
Amazon appears to be expanding into cryptocurrency and blockchain products, according to a job posting first reported on by Insider. According to the listing, Amazon is looking to hire a “Digital Currency and Blockchain Product Lead” who will “innovate on behalf of customers within the payments and financial system.” The Seattle-based position would be a part of the Amazon Payment Acceptance & Experience Team, and would “develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.” “You will leverage your domain expertise in Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Central Bank Digital Currencies and Cryptocurrency to develop the case for the capabilities which should be developed, drive overall vision and product strategy, and gain leadership buy-in and investment for new cap...
Pharrell Williams, Rick Rubin & More of the Most Awarded Producers of the 2000s
Williams won multiple Grammys in all three of these years. He also took the 2003 award for best pop vocal album for co-producing Justin Timberlake’s solo debut Justified; the 2013 award for album of the year for co-producing Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (and two other awards for its breakout hit “Get Lucky”); and the 2018 award for best pop vocal album for co-producing Ariana Grande’s Sweetener. Rick Rubin and Greg Kurstin are runners-up, with two wins each for producer of the year, non-classical since 2000. Rubin won the 2006 and 2008 awards. Kurstin won the 2016 and 2017 awards. Kurstin was the first producer to win back-to-back awards in this category since Babyface won three years running — 1995-97. Remarkably, Rubin produced or co-produced three of the 2006 album of ...
ADA, DOGE and VET price analysis: Bullish week could end in losses
The cryptocurrency market recorded a bullish week, but DOGE, ADA, and VET could record losses as the weekend approaches The cryptocurrency market enjoyed a positive week, with Bitcoin climbing above the $29k region to reach the $32k mark. Ether also performed well, crossing the $2k mark after dropping below $1,700 over the past few days. Of the three cryptocurrencies we’ll look at in this article, Dogecoin is the biggest winner this week, with its price rising by over 6%. Cardano and VeChain are up by less than 1% over the past week. However, as we head into the weekend, the cryptocurrencies are looking bearish, with the recent market rally cooling off. ADA price outlook ADA remains the fifth-largest crypto by market cap, and didn’t perform well this week. The ADA/USD 4-hour chart is looki...
Tones And I Flies to No. 1 In Australia With ‘Welcome To The Madhouse’
Welcome To The Madhouse features the previously released songs “Fly Away” and “Cloudy Day,” which this week lifts to a new peak, up 44-31. “Dance Monkey” appeared on Tones’ debut 2019 EP, The Kids Are Coming, which peaked at No. 3 on the national survey. “Wow wow wow! Thank you so much Australia for your ongoing love and support, I am blown away,” comments Tones on her latest chart feat. “I can’t bloody believe it, I will not be quitting any time soon. Haha.” In a busy week for new releases, John Mayer’s Sob Rock (Columbia/Sony) starts at No. 3, for the U.S. blues-rocker’s seventh ARIA Top Ten, while Pop Smoke’s second posthumous album Faith (Universal) opens at No. 4. Faith is the followup to Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon, which shot to No. 1 in July 2020. Also making an impact on...
LeBron James Said To Be the First Active NBA Player To Earn $1 Billion USD
LeBron James, a Los Angeles Lakers player, businessman and now movie actor, is the first active NBA player to earn $1 billion USD, according to Sportico. According to Sportico‘s sports valuation reporter Kurt Badenhausen, the 36-year-old’s career earnings, which include salaries and endorsements, currently total just over $1 billion USD. Badenhausen says that James is the “first athlete in a U.S. team sport to hit $1 billion USD, with $330 million USD in playing salary and $700 million USD off the court.” Badenhausen adds that James’ off the court earnings include “current endorsement partners AT&T, Beats, Blaze Pizza, GMC, Nike, PepsiCo, Rimowa and Walmart,” and most recently, a Fortnite skin through an endorsement with Epic Games. Badenhausen clarified that there is a “big difference...
Twitter Reaches More Than 206 Million Users and Exceeds Quarterly Revenue Expectations
Twitter on Thursday released its second-quarter earnings report, revealing that the social media platform now has more than 206 million monetizable daily active users, or Twitter users who view advertisements on the site. The company reported a second-quarter revenue of $1.19 billion USD — an increase of 74 percent compared to its 2020 figures — topping financial forecasts of $1.07 billion USD. Twitter also reported an earnings per share of $0.20 USD, exceeding an expectation of $0.07 USD. After suffering a $1.3 billion USD loss in market value in the second quarter of 2020, the social media company on Thursday reported a $65.6 million USD profit. Following the release of Twitter’s earnings report, the company’s stock rose as much as nine percent in extended trading, according to CNBC. Thr...
The pandemic drove women out of the workforce. Will they come back?
For Haley Stomp, a 46-year-old in Des Moines, Iowa, the coronavirus toppled the elaborate balancing act she and her husband had set up to take care of their two boys. After spending hours last fall looking at their finances, figuring out how long they could go without her income as a senior vice president of marketing at a global multinational company, Stomp took a sabbatical at the start of the year and later decided not to return. “I just couldn’t picture myself going back,” she said, “into the constant meetings.” In the months since she left, she’s gone through different stages — at times wondering if she’ll ever be motivated enough to return to work, or more recently, getting excited again to have a job once she finds something with the right amount of flexibility. “Covid took some of ...
Tencent Makes $1.3 Billion USD Bid to Acquire ‘Forza’ and ‘Hitman’ Studio Sumo Group
Chinese tech and gaming giant Tencent has now made a $1.3 billion USD bid to acquire Sumo Group. The British company was founded in England back in 2003 and has since expanded to own more than 10 studios, boasting an inventory of games including Forza Motorsport 7, Hitman 2, Team Sonic Racing, Crackdown 3 and Little Big Planet 3. The pending acquisition forms part of Tencent’s continuous expansion into the gaming industry through acquisitions and purchasing stakes in other developers. The Chinese firm currently owns 100 percent of League of Legends developer Riot Games, 40 percent of Fortnite‘s Epic Games, 23 percent in Dontnod, and five percent each in Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft and Paradox. As of now, no deal has been finalized yet, with Sumo Group sa...
These 4 Motown Stars Received Kennedy Center Honors Before Label Founder Berry Gordy
Gordy, 91, founded Motown Records in 1959. Four of his biggest stars received the honor before he did. Take a look: Stevie Wonder: Wonder was just 49 when he got the honor in 1999. That makes him one of the youngest Kennedy Center Honorees in history, along with LL Cool J (2017) and Midori (2021), who were also 49 when they were honored in 2017 and 2021, respectively, and the creators of Hamilton: An American Musical, who were even younger when they received a special Kennedy Center Honor in 2018. Wonder is the only artist in Grammy history to win album of the year with three consecutive studio albums: Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976). Wonder has amassed 25 Grammys and also won an Oscar for “I Just Called to Say I...
NFT Marketplace OpenSea Hits $1.5 Billion USD Valuation After Latest Funding Round
NFT marketplace OpenSea has raised $100 million USD and hit a valuation of $1.5 billion USD in its latest funding round. We’re expanding! Announcing our $100M raise and $1.5B valuation, led by @a16z ? OpenSea is also now cross-blockchain. NFTs that you create can now be gas-free, allowing creators to fully earn their way into crypto for the first time Details ↯ https://t.co/EeQfyZTxUA 1/2 — OpenSea (@opensea) July 20, 2021 Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the Series B funding, alongside other crypto investors like Walt Disney president Michael Ovitz, NBA star Kevin Hart and Ashton Kutcher, among others. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that blockchains represent one of the most exciting paradigm shifts in the history of technology,” the company said in a blog post. The company...
