0:00

Today is Thursday, March 21st. We're

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talking about how the Federal Reserve's latest

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interest rate decision impacts your money, and

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the strictest climate rules ever enacted for

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the American auto industry. Also,

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the happiest countries ranked. We'll tell you where

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the U.S. stands, and hint, it's pretty

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far down the list. Plus, Reddit's

0:17

highly anticipated Wall Street debut, a

0:20

gambling scandal involving an interpreter for

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the MLB's biggest superstar, and a

0:24

star-studded tribute on the Hollywood Walk

0:26

of Fame. More stories and

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even more news to know next. Welcome

0:33

welcome to The Newsworthy, all the day's

0:35

news in around 10 minutes. Fast, fair,

0:37

fun, and on the go. I'm Erica

0:39

Mandy, thanks so much for being here.

0:41

You ready? Let's

0:45

do this. The

0:47

Federal Reserve decided to leave the benchmark

0:49

interest rate right where it is, unchanged,

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for its fifth straight meeting. The

0:53

decision was expected since recent data has

0:56

shown prices are still rising at a

0:58

faster pace than the Fed would like,

1:00

aka inflation hasn't gone down enough. That

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said, the Fed did still hint that

1:05

three interest rate cuts are still possible

1:07

this year. For now, though,

1:09

the Fed won't confirm an exact timeline for those

1:11

potential cuts, saying it all depends on how the

1:13

economy shakes out. Regardless, it means Americans

1:15

will need to wait until at least the

1:17

Fed's June meeting, or even later, for the

1:20

first rate cut since March of 2020. That

1:23

was back when the central bank slashed rates to

1:25

near zero due to the pandemic. In

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other words, for the next couple of months

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at least, borrowing costs are staying high, impacting

1:31

everything from credit card rates to mortgages to

1:34

car loans. Lending Tree says

1:36

these days the average APR on a new credit

1:38

card is nearly 25%, marking the

1:41

24th month out of the last 25 months

1:43

when APRs have increased. And

1:46

some credit cards may increase their APRs even

1:48

more after this week's announcement. On

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the bright side, Americans with high interest savings accounts

1:53

can really take advantage of the returns. Investors

1:56

seem to be happy as well about the potential for

1:58

future cuts. Stocks jumped after the announcement

2:00

yesterday. It's

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said to be one of the most

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significant climate regulations in American history, and

2:08

it could transform the American auto industry

2:10

forever. The Biden administration finalized

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a rule designed to ensure most new

2:15

passenger cars and trucks sold in the

2:17

U.S. are all-electric or hybrids by the

2:19

year 2032. The

2:22

goal is to have 56% of American

2:24

car sales be electric, even though

2:26

they made up less than 8% of car

2:28

sales last year. Another 13% of

2:31

new cars sold would be plug-in hybrids.

2:34

The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA,

2:36

decided to let automakers ease into

2:38

the rule more slowly than it

2:40

originally planned, since right now

2:43

legacy automakers are actually making more

2:45

money on their gas-powered cars and

2:47

have decided to slow down their

2:49

EV production to reflect slower-than-expected consumer

2:51

demand. But the EPA still

2:53

says the regulation will make a huge

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difference, helping the U.S. avoid more than

2:57

7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions

2:59

a year and make Americans healthier. To

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be clear, the new rule still does

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not ban the sale of new gas

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cars. Instead, an automaker can still make

3:08

higher-emissions vehicles as long as it also

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makes enough very low- or zero-emission vehicles

3:13

so it averages out. EVs

3:15

do tend to have higher price tags

3:17

than gas-powered vehicles, but the gap has

3:19

been narrowing and, in some cases, federal

3:21

tax credits make up the difference. The

3:24

EPA also says the new rules will actually save

3:26

Americans a lot of money over time. But

3:29

on the other side, as you might

3:31

imagine, the most vocal opponent of this

3:33

regulation is the oil industry. The American

3:35

Petroleum Institute has said it threatens consumer

3:37

freedom, energy reliability, and national

3:39

security. And the Texas Attorney General previously

3:41

filed a lawsuit to challenge the EPA's

3:44

authorities to set these rules. Many

3:46

oil trade groups back Texas in that case.

3:49

But the auto industry sided with the EPA,

3:51

saying carmakers are investing billions of

3:53

dollars into going electric since reducing greenhouse

3:55

gas emissions is a national priority. Eventually,

3:58

the fate of this rule may have to be decided. decided by

4:00

the US Supreme Court. Secretary

4:04

of State Antony Blinken is on his sixth trip

4:06

to the Middle East now since the war in

4:09

Gaza broke out. And once again,

4:11

he's hoping to convince Israel to ease

4:13

up on the fighting while still defeating

4:15

Hamas. Blinken will also talk

4:17

about a post-conflict plan that the US

4:19

is hoping will lead to a two

4:22

state solution despite Prime Minister Netanyahu's objections.

4:25

Plus Blinken is still talking about securing

4:27

the release of Israeli hostages taken by

4:29

Hamas and getting more Palestinian aid into

4:31

Gaza. State Department officials don't expect

4:33

major breakthroughs to come out of this visit.

4:36

They really just want to advance the discussions.

4:38

It comes as fighting has grown more intense in

4:41

recent days in northern Gaza. Overall

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Gaza health authorities say nearly 32,000 Palestinians

4:46

have been confirmed killed since the

4:48

war began in October. Blinken is

4:50

meeting with Arab leaders and foreign ministers today

4:52

and then will be in Tel Aviv tomorrow.

4:55

Then a high level Israeli delegation will be

4:57

visiting the US next week. The

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US has fallen out of the top 20

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happiest countries for the first time. Once

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again, data was collected in the Gallup World

5:09

Poll for the World Happiness Report. People in

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more than 140 countries answered questions about the

5:13

overall satisfaction with their lives. Plus

5:16

the study takes into account things

5:18

like GDP, social support, healthy life

5:20

expectancy, freedom and more. Well now

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Americans overall rank 23rd

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in happiness down from 15th just a

5:27

year ago. One of the main

5:30

reasons for America's drop is the overall unhappiness

5:32

in younger people. In fact, the report says

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people younger than 30 are now the least

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happy age group. That's a big change from

5:38

2006 to 2010 when the young were among the happiest.

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The survey did not ask people to give

5:45

reasons for their happiness levels, but researchers behind

5:47

the report did mention an epidemic of loneliness

5:49

and its impact on mental and physical health.

5:52

Some experts also believe there's other factors

5:54

playing into it like polarization over social

5:57

issues and economic inequality that makes it

5:59

hard for young people to afford their own homes.

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If you just look at people under 30, the

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US actually ranks 62nd on the

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list. But when you look at people 60 and

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older, the US ranks in the top 10. As

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for the happiest countries overall, Nordic nations

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dominate the top of the list once again.

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Finland came in first, followed by Denmark,

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Iceland and Sweden. We

6:22

have more news for you still ahead. But first, support

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for this episode comes from Honeylove. It's

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yourself to Honeylove because you deserve it. OK,

7:27

now back to the news. President

7:31

Biden announced one of the biggest federal

7:34

investments in U.S. chip manufacturing. He

7:36

granted tech giant Intel with up to eight

7:38

and a half billion dollars to help pay

7:40

for new plants in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio

7:42

and Oregon. The idea is

7:44

to boost American manufacturing and address

7:46

growing geopolitical tensions with China by

7:49

propping up an industry that's become

7:51

especially critical. Much of the

7:53

world's chip production has shifted to Asia in recent

7:55

decades, and now the U.S. is making just about

7:57

10% of the world's global supply.

8:00

and none of the most advanced kind

8:02

of chips that are needed for artificial

8:04

intelligence. But the Intel grant is

8:06

supposed to help drive a comeback. Overall,

8:09

Intel is expected to invest more than $100

8:11

billion in U.S. projects over the next five

8:13

years. It should create more than 10,000 Intel

8:16

jobs, plus nearly 20,000 construction jobs. Other

8:20

chip makers have also applied for grants worth

8:22

tens of billions of dollars, and those awards

8:24

are expected to be announced soon. The

8:26

money is all coming from the Chips and

8:28

Science Act that passed Congress with bipartisan support

8:31

a couple of years ago. Reddit

8:34

raised hundreds of millions of dollars in its

8:36

initial public offering this week. This

8:38

is the first social media IPO since Pinterest

8:41

went public back in 2019. And

8:43

to kick things off, Reddit gave its most

8:46

active users a chance to become shareholders. Remember,

8:49

on a basic level, an IPO just

8:51

means the company is starting to trade

8:53

on a stock exchange, going from private

8:55

to public ownership. It also gives Reddit more money

8:57

in the bank to grow its business. The stock

8:59

will actually begin trading on the New York

9:02

Stock Exchange this morning under the ticker symbol

9:04

RDDT. Shares are priced at $34 apiece. The

9:09

man who's been called the best player in Major League

9:11

Baseball seems to have been victim to a major scam.

9:14

Shohei Otani's interpreter and close friend

9:16

is accused of stealing millions of

9:18

dollars from the Japanese Baseball star

9:20

for illegal gambling. He didn't make

9:22

bets on baseball, but sports gambling of any kind

9:25

is still illegal in California. And the

9:27

interpreter allegedly made bets on soccer,

9:29

basketball, and football with an illegal

9:31

bookmaker using Otani's money. The

9:33

interpreter was fired this week. So far,

9:35

he has not been charged with a crime, but is

9:37

said to be the target of a federal investigation. Legendary

9:43

hip-hop producer Dr. Dre received his Hollywood

9:45

Walk of Fame star this week, and

9:48

he brought out a crowd so large that Hollywood Boulevard had

9:50

to shut down for a little while during the ceremony. It

9:52

wasn't just fans either. Snoop

9:54

Dogg, Eminem, and 50 Cent were all there

9:56

to pay tribute, along with many others. Snoop

9:58

even broke the record. got into a rap

10:01

for the occasion. Of course Dre first found

10:03

fame as the founding member of the rap

10:05

group NWA. Then he made a name for

10:07

himself as a solo artist and as president

10:09

of Death Row Records. Dre went

10:11

on to found aftermath records where he was

10:13

one of rap's most sought-after producers. Later

10:15

he had a second act as founder and

10:18

CEO of Beats Electronics. And in

10:20

the last decade Dre was focused on

10:22

giving back donating 70 million dollars to

10:24

USC and another 10 million dollars to

10:26

Compton High School. That's

10:29

it for the main news today so now it's

10:31

time for Thing to Know Thursday. But first this

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episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. I know

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now back to Thing to Know Thursday. So

11:43

in the US demand for electricity has

11:45

started to surge. As the New York

11:47

Times reports over the past year electric

11:49

utilities have nearly doubled their forecast for

11:51

how much extra power they'll need by

11:53

the year 2028. This comes as more

11:55

data centers are being built. New federal

11:57

laws are encouraging a boom in manufacturing.

12:00

and millions of electric vehicles are being plugged

12:02

in. An analysis by consulting firm

12:04

Grid Strategies says peak demand in the summer

12:06

is expected to go up by 38,000 megawatts

12:09

nationwide in the next five years. That's

12:12

like adding another California to the grid.

12:15

To meet spiking demand, utilities in

12:17

states like Georgia, North Carolina, South

12:19

Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia want to

12:21

build dozens more power plants over

12:23

the next 15 years. There

12:25

are also cleaner alternatives like wind and solar

12:28

power, but as the Times points out, they're

12:30

not growing fast enough to keep up with

12:32

demand and can get bogged down by delayed

12:34

permits and slow supply chains. And the

12:37

North American Electric Reliability Corporation says if

12:40

more power is not brought online soon,

12:42

large portions of the country could risk

12:44

blackouts. Though environmentalists and other

12:46

groups argue in some cases, the future

12:48

demand growth is overestimated, and they're challenging

12:51

utility plans around the U.S. to look

12:53

for more green alternatives to traditional power

12:55

plants. So expect to see this debate

12:57

come up a lot in courtrooms for months

13:00

or even years to come. All

13:03

right, thank you so much for listening today. Be

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sure to tell a friend about The Newsworthy if

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support our work and or

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thenewsworthy.com/insider and a big thank

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you to all of our current supporters. We'll catch

13:23

you up on more news to know tomorrow. Until

13:25

then, have a great day.