Ep. 86: News Roundup Week of 5/31/21

Heart & Home

Facebook bans former U.S. president Trump for two more years until 2023. —- U.S. President Biden wants 70% of Americans vaccinated by July 4. More than half of the U.S. adult population has reached full-vaccination status, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For those 65 and older, that figure stands at 75%. New incentives were added this month as well as running local radio and TV ads, including messages by celebrities, and United Airlines giving away free flights in a sweepstakes for vaccinated fliers. —— Barriers around George Floyd Square at 38th and Chicago were dismantled by crews in Minneapolis on Thursday, in a move to reopen the intersection that has been closed to traffic since George Floyd was killed there a year ago on May 25, 2020. Not everyone was happy with the move. The spot where Floyd was killed last year by Minneapolis police became a pilgrimage site for racial justice ——- Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open. The four-time major winner posted a statement on Twitter saying she was pulling out to "take some time away from the court” for mental health reasons. ——- The NFL on Wednesday pledged to halt the use of “race-norming” which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive function. It reached a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims, that were harder for Black retirees to show a deficit and qualify for an award. ——-——— In an Instagram post on Thursday, Vanessa Bryant shared a photo of an unidentified person holding what is an unapproved Kobe Protro 6 "Mamba Forever" tennis shoe she worked on with Nike that wasn’t supposed to be released. Not only that the Mambacita shoe exists but she wrote: "I do not know how someone else has their hands on shoes I designed in honor of my daughter, Gigi and we don't." ——— Queen Elizabeth II will welcome U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden next week on June 13 during their first foreign trip as president and first lady. Biden will be the 12th U.S. president the queen has met face-to-face during her reign. He’s there to attend the G7 summit in Cornwall, England. Next, he travels to Brussels for the NATO the meetings. —— Amsterdam is testing electric boats as an alternative mode of transportation in the Dutch capital’s canals to ease traffic on its congested narrow streets.