The Daily Dive

New data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that over a 10-month period, there were nearly 400 car crashes that involved advanced driver-assistance technology.  Think of Tesla’s Autopilot or Full Self Driving Mode, and other tech like lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control.  Tesla was responsible for about 70% of the crashes, but they also have more vehicles on the road.  Neal Boudette, reporter for the NY Times, joins us for more.

Next, with all the changing economic news, some workers don’t feel as powerful as they used to.  The tight labor market and the Great Resignation led employees to demand remote work and higher salaries, but as inflation continues and fears of a recession loom, people are looking for more security over flexibility and companies are taking note.  Callum Borchers, On the Clock columnist at the WSJ, joins us for this change in attitude.

Finally, children are increasingly becoming targets of ID theft and it usually goes unnoticed until they apply for a student loan or first credit card and find their credit scores are in the dumps.  Identity theft affects about 1.25 million kids every year and most of the time these victims know the perpetrators personally, whether it is family member or caregiver.  Tatum Hunter, tech writer at The Washington Post, joins us for how to protect your kids.

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In an effort to help with inflation, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 0.75 of a percentage point, the largest increase since 1994.  We will see what the impact of this action will be, but many are still dealing with record high prices of goods and gas.  With all that is going on many experts fear a recession could be on the way.  Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist at The Washington Post, joins us for some financial moves you can make to prepare if a recession comes our way.

Next, rolled into all the latest economic news are the big drops in the Crypto market.  Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices are plummeting and even crypto companies that were on hiring sprees are now laying off employees.  Cryptocurrencies were once marketed as a hedge against inflation, but we now see that they are very much tied to the overall market.  David Yaffe-Bellany, crypto reporter at the NY Times, joins us for what to know.

Finally, another round of primaries this week brings us closer to the midterms.  We saw the first impeachment casualty in Rep. Tom Rice in South Carolina.  He voted to impeach Trump and now it cost him.  In Nevada, Republicans flipped a Democratic House seat as they made big inroads with Hispanic voters.  Mariana Alfaro, politics reporter at The Washington Post, joins us for top takeaways.

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The bear market is here!  The S&P 500 is more than 20% off its peak and its time for investors to reassess their risks in the stock market.  For many, these losses can be felt harder than gains after such a long period of increases.  Tech stocks are down and the crypto market, which was once seen as a hedge against falling markets and inflation is also seeing huge drops.  Suzanne Wooley, personal finance reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for more.

Next, after more than 2 years of the pandemic, we are seeing that Covid is making the flu and other common viruses act in unfamiliar ways.  Behavioral changes like stay-at-home orders, masking and social distancing could be responsible for viral shifts.  For instance, at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, children are being admitted with a range of seven different respiratory viruses, many of which are out of season and seem to be more virulent.  Frances Stead Sellers, senior writer at The Washington Post, joins us for how everything is out of whack.

Finally, President Biden is increasingly growing frustrated with rising prices and the inability of the WH to bring down inflation.  The American people are even more so frustrated as they continued to get hammered with no end in sight.  Tyler Pager, White House reporter at The Washington Post, joins us for how Biden is worried about messaging and ineffective policies impacting the economy.

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Did you weather the pandemic storm and stick with your employer over the last couple of years?  Well, you could be underpaid.  The hot job market and Great Resignation has led to a lot of movement and forced employers to lure new candidates with bigger paychecks and that has led to a divide with current employees.  Aki Ito, senior correspondent at Business Insider, joins us for how salaries for new hires are on average 7% higher than existing workers.

Next, you’re booking a flight and want to pick a “preferred seat,” you click through and see an extra fee, in some cases it can be as high as $100, but it doesn’t come with any extra legroom or early boarding… so what are you paying for?  In most cases, it just helps you avoid the middle seat, but for airlines, it’s the second biggest source of revenue.  Dawn Gilbertson, Carry On columnist at the WSJ, joins us for what these fees are and how to get the free seats.

Finally, get ready to see more robots in your daily life.  We see them all over the place now delivering food or cleaning your floors, but the ongoing labor shortage is fueling the demand for more robot workers.  They could have a bigger presence in restaurants and are poised to make a big difference in caring for the elderly.  Jennifer Kingson, chief correspondent at Axios Media, joins us for the summer of robots.

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With advancements in mobility and connectivity enabling new technologies at a faster rate than ever, staying ahead of the curve can be a challenge for even the most skilled of operators. From education to retail; mining to medical; all sectors face the common challenge of digitizing their workflows and offerings for an increasingly connected world. While these organizations may have a deep understanding of their own fields, even the most forward-thinking leaders rely on outside partners to bring them up to speed on the technology front, and Infosys is one of those leaders.
 
In this episode, we sit with Maddie Rajurs,  Associate Vice President of Infosys, who is helping her clients—and entire industries—transform via digitization. Maddie has seen her career span from helping light up the first wave of wireless cities to now harnessing the power of 5G to put her clients on the forefront of the digital age. Maddie and her team diligently work to stay ahead of the curve, partnering with start-ups, institutes, and other technology leaders to seek out and develop the latest technology solutions for their clients. A self-proclaimed techno-optimist, Maddie believes that her work will lead to improving efficiencies, productivity, and even lives in both the long and short run.

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Senate negotiators have reached a deal on guns.  For now, it’s just a framework, a deal on principle.  Legislation still needs to be written, but it mostly centers around giving states incentives to create red flag laws and expanded background checks for those 18-21.  There would also be funding for mental health and school safety.  Ten Republican senators have signed on so far, but there is still a lot that can go wrong.  Ginger Gibson, deputy Washington digital editor at NBC News, joins us for what to know about the framework and what to expect from the rest of the Jan. 6 hearings.

Next, what does a road trip looks like in an all-electric vehicle?  For one reporter, it was kind of a nightmare.  The trip did cost less money for fuel, but more time was spent charging than sleeping.  To be clear, this trip used public-charging infrastructure on a trip from New Orleans to Chicago and back.  Not all chargers were fast chargers and not all of them are created equal, charging speeds varied every time.  Rachel Wolfe, consumer trends reporter at the WSJ, joins us for her four-day EV road trip.

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This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

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This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

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The number of Monkeypox cases keep rising and some changing guidance from the CDC is causing confusion.  Cases are still very low overall and prolonged, close contact is needed to contract the virus, but it can be airborne too.  The CDC recently deleted their guidance for travelers to wear masks to protect themselves, because they say it also caused confusion.  Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter at the NY Times, joins us for what to know about monkeypox.

Next, when is a bumblebee a fish?  When a unanimous ruling by a California state appeals court deems it so.  Public-interest groups had asked the state to include four types of bumblebees on its list of endangered species, but the 50-year-old law only applied to birds, mammals, fish, amphibians or reptiles.  Because the legal definition of a fish was vague and had been used to include other animals in separate instances, the bee was added to the list. Matt Grossman, reporter at the WSJ, joins us for the legal wrangling it took to get there.

Finally, two senators this week proposed an industry friendly cryptocurrency bill.  The legislation would create a regulatory framework for the crypto markets, classify the majority of digital assets as commodities, and empower the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate the industry.  Paul Kiernan, financial regulations reporter at the WSJ, joins us for what’s in the bill.

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This episode is something special I did in conjunction with 23andMe and the SPIT podcast which you can hear on iHeartRadio.  I took a look into what my DNA says about me.  Beyond what my ancestry says, with a focus on my health.  Throughout this process I learned about two genetic variants that could impact myself or my family and also that I have a typical likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, which has always been a concern since it runs in my family.  There’s also fun stuff I learned from my DNA… I won’t be losing my hair anytime soon and why I experience itchier mosquito bites.  Stacey Detweiler and Alisa Lehman from the 23andMe team both join me to go over some of my results and help understand more about my DNA.

Next, I go a little deeper into what the results I got specifically mean to me.  Things I’ve experienced with my family and in my past and why this process has been eye opening in some cases.  The best thing to come out of this has been the information learned and knowing what to do next to improve my health.

Listen to more stories on the SPIT Podcast here.

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