The Daily Dive

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Throughout the pandemic we have looked to three numbers to track how bad things were getting… cases counts, hospitalizations, and deaths. Hospitalizations in particular have been a key figure in assessing the severity of the illness, but a new study suggests that almost half of those hospitalized have mild or asymptomatic symptoms. While some patients are admitted for serious illness, some are there unrelated to Covid and later test positive, but are still counted toward overall hospital numbers. David Zweig, contributor to the Atlantic, joins us for closer look into Covid hospitalizations.

Next, about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, Lockheed Martin has a super-secret aircraft and weapons facility called Skunk Works. The U-2 spy plane and F-117 Nighthawk were both developed there and Lockheed is currently jockeying for a role in the Air Force’s next fighter jet program. Skunk Works has just opened a new state-of-the art factory and invited journalists to tour it, albeit in a very secretive manner with much of the travel around the campus through underground tunnels. Lee Hudson, defense reporter at Politico, joins us for a peek inside this very secretive facility.

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The effort to recall CA Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed and by a wide margin. The race was called just 50 minutes after the polls closed. So how did Newsom beat the recall? Huge Democratic turnout and the perfect foil in the leading Republican candidate, Larry Elder. The rise of Elder helped the Newsom campaign turn the race into a more traditional choice election and motivated voters to get to the polls. David Siders, national political reporter at Politico, joins us for a race that started off as a longshot, became unexpectedly competitive, and ended with a blowout.

Next, new Census data show that when accounting for pandemic relief aid such as direct stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits, the poverty rate fell to 9.1% lifting nearly 8.5 million people out of poverty. The other story that we saw was the population of those without health insurance rose, mostly due to people losing private insurance as they lost jobs. We will most likely now see arguments in favor of more aid like this to continue help lifting people out of poverty. Amy Goldstein, national healthcare policy reporter at The Washington Post, joins us for more.

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More vaccine mandates are coming to workplaces and offices including one from the Biden administration on companies with more than 100 employees. For now, many places are just operating on the honor system where health information is given voluntarily, but some employees feel nervous because they are not sure if everyone is following the rules. Ray Smith, lifestyle reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how businesses are handling mandates so far.

Next, a new study from the National Institute on Drug Abuse says that college students are smoking marijuana and using psychedelic drugs at record levels, but binge drinking less. How this relates to the pandemic is unclear, but tracks as larger parties and gatherings were mostly shut down last year. María Luisa Paúl, reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for more.

Finally, the latest Roomba vacuum is packed with new artificial intelligence and cameras that can detect dog poop, snap a picture and send it straight to your phone. The latest improvements can make it much more effective at cleaning your floors, but it does come at a cost of more or your personal data in the form of pictures and other details of your house. Dalvin Brown, innovations reporter at the Washington Post, joins us for how some of these new features concern privacy experts.

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The first trial in the Varsity Blues college-admissions cheating scandal has kicked off. While 57 individuals have been charged so far and 46 of them have plead guilty or will plead guilty, just a handful are going to court. In this trial we will see a former casino executive who paid $300,000 to get his daughter into USC and a private equity investor who paid over $1 million to get his kids into college. Melissa Korn, higher education reporter at the WSJ, joins us for opening arguments.

Next, New York City is now enforcing its vaccine requirement for restaurant employees and patrons who wish to eat indoors. Anyone aged 12 or older, must show proof of at least one shot to eat or drink indoors at restaurants, bars, nightclubs and more. Establishments will be fined $1,000 for a first violation. Heather Haddon, restaurants reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how businesses and customers are divided over this new enforcement.

Finally, the issue of homelessness continues to overtake many big cities across the country and homeless encampments are becoming a permanent part of the landscape. There are more encampments, they are popping up in new parts of cities, and are becoming communities where people live, rather than temporary situations. Petula Dvorak, columnist at The Washington Post, joins us for why this is changing how cities look.

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The deadline for the Gavin Newsom recall vote is Tuesday. Over seven million votes have been cast so far and the final push will see President Biden hitting California in support of Newsom. We also saw a last minute development as actress Rose McGowan alleged that Newsom's wife called her with a message from Harvey Weinstein's lawyer 6 months before her accusations went public asking what they could do to help the issue go away. McGowan is also throwing her support behind Larry Elder. Ginger Gibson, deputy Washington digital editor at NBC News, joins us for more.

Next, Texas schools are surveilling students' online activity and many times they are doing it without their knowledge or consent. Trying to watch out for signs of distress, violence, or self harm, schools are using technology from companies like Social Sentinel, Go Guardian and others to monitor social media posts, email and other online activity. Ari Sen, freelance investigative journalist at the Dallas Morning News, joins us for how Texas schools are keeping tabs on students.

Finally, we have heard for a while now that sitting for prolonged periods of time can be very harmful to your health contributing to high blood sugar, high cholesterol and messing with your metabolic health. To counter the ill effects of sitting too long, a new study says that moving for 3 minutes every 30 minutes can be very helpful. Even just walking 15 steps improved the blood sugar of workers in the study. Gretchen Reynolds, Phys Ed columnist at the NY Times, joins us for what to know.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The WSJ set up 31 TikTok accounts registered to teenagers to see what the algorithm would serve them up. What they saw after thousands of videos was a never ending stream content related to sex, drugs, and eating disorders. TikTok’s algorithm is engagement based, so spend any amount of time on a video or re-watch it, and get ready for a flood of similar content. The company uses 10,000 people and other algorithms to police content, but the app does not restrict certain videos based on age. Georgia Wells, reporter at the WSJ, joins us for how TikTok serves up videos to minors.

Next, the much anticipated trial of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of blood testing company Theranos, kicked off this week with opening arguments. She has been accused of knowing that the company’s new tech and blood tests were unreliable, harming patients, and overstating the company’s performance. The prosecution is trying to portray here as a fraud who lied and cheated to get money, and the defense is trying to humanize Holmes and saying that Theranos failed as a business and that failure is not a crime. Ben Popken, senior business reporter at NBC News, joins us for the opening of this trial expected to last three months.

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