What A Day

Democrats in Congress are launching an inquiry into Trump’s firing of an inspector general at the State Department. It comes after three other inspector generals were also removed from their positions earlier this year.

GrubHub is doing great business during the pandemic as more people rely on delivery. But a recent Buzzfeed report shows that the company is also making money from transactions they’re not involved in—and it’s making it harder for restaurants to stay afloat.

And in headlines: Justin Amash won’t run for prez, NYC experiences pandemic fatigue, and Puerto Rico’s governor will hold a vote on whether the territory should try for statehood.

Today the House is set to vote on a $3 trillion coronavirus relief package that Senate Republicans say is dead on arrival. They’ll also vote on rules to allow for remote voting—which means we could be seeing a lot more technology barriers and funny Zoom mishaps in the near future.

Late Wednesday night, FBI agents showed up to the house of Senator Richard Burr, served him a search warrant and took his cell phone. That’s in relation his sketchy sale of a ton of stock right before the market collapsed as a result of the pandemic. 

And writer and comedian Bridger Winegar joins us for headlines: McDonald’s sends US franchises a 59-page guide to reopening their dining rooms, South America’s soccer league issues temporary ban on kissing, and Ikea France snoops on customers and staff.

Former vaccine chief Dr. Rick Bright will testify before a house subcommittee today—he’s the guy who says he was removed from his job because he didn’t want to push for widespread use of unproven anti-malaria drugs as a treatment for coronavirus. Bright’s pre-released statement said we’ll be in trouble if we keep following Trump off a cliff. 

In their latest show of unity, Former VP Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders announced the members of their joint policy task forces. Names include: Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep Pramila Jayapal, and Former Secretary of State John Kerry. 

And in headlines: local governments in Brazil are issuing mandatory lockdowns since their president won’t, Flynn’s “unmasking” was normal, and glittery worms of the deep blue sea.

Top U.S. health officials took questions from the Senate Health Committee yesterday on coronavirus. The partially teleconferenced testimonies featured weird background filters, quarantine beards, and one notable poster for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The main takeaway was that the U.S. is far from "out of the woods" in the fight against COVID-19. 

House Democrats put out a draft of their new economic relief bill. It’s a 3 trillion dollar package that includes money for states, another round of $1,200 checks for some households, hazard pay for essential workers, and more. Republicans rejected it without even seeing it.

And in headlines: investigating the killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Twitter to let staff work from home forever, and one Australian soap opera resumes production sans kissing.

The governor of South Dakota threatened to sue two Sioux tribes over road checkpoints they have set up to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to their reservations. Members of the tribe say that establishing checkpoints is a matter-of-life and death. South Dakota’s governor, who never issued a stay-at-home order for her state, says the checkpoints are illegal and causing traffic. 

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in three cases regarding Trump’s financial records today. These cases will help determine the limits of Trump’s power to ignore subpoenas from Congress and state prosecutors.

And in headlines: Georgia’s AG appoints a new prosecutor to oversee the case of Ahmaud Arbery, Poland holds a “ghost election,” and Shanghai Disneyland re-opens.