The News Not Noise Letter: Auto Workers Walk Out
What does the UAW want, and when do they want it? (Now!) Plus: a simple retinal scan could be a healthcare game changer, and who's going to be the Taylor Swift correspondent?
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Here are the headlines:
UAW Strike Begins: For the first time, workers at three automakers are walking out at the same time. Roughly 13,000 auto workers (out of roughly 146,000 total) walked out at three major auto factories today after General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis Jeep (formerly known as Fiat-Chrysler) failed to agree to United Auto Workers’ terms. Autoworkers made massive concessions to keep carmakers afloat after the 2008 financial collapse; now they’re asking to see more of those benefits restored. UAW is asking for:
A 36% increase in employee wages over the next four years, close to the 40% pay increases they say automakers’ CEOs’ have enjoyed.
Improved working conditions.
Pension plans.
Cost of living adjustments.
Automakers have offered to increase pay and meet some UAW terms, but argue that accepting their offer would drive up prices and prevent US automakers from competing with Tesla and overseas producers. Currently workers are striking at three plants, but UAW leadership warns more will strike if deal terms aren’t met.
Hunter Biden Charged: Here’s another first. The Justice Department indicted Hunter Biden on three federal gun charges — the first time the DOJ has indicted a President’s child. It is illegal to buy and possess a gun while addicted to drugs. The DOJ has charged Biden with two counts of making false statements when he purchased a gun at a Delaware gun store in 2018. The DOJ says he checked “no” when asked whether he was using illegal drugs — one charge is for lying on a federal form and the other charge is for giving that form to the gun dealer. The third count alleges he unlawfully possessed a firearm while addicted to drugs. Some specifics:
Biden admits he was addicted to crack during this time.
His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, says he “did not violate the law;” that the law which Biden is charged with violating — the Gun Control Act — “is unconstitutional” based on “recent rulings by several federal courts;” and that the suit is a “purely partisan attack on the Biden administration and family.” Lowell says he plans to prove this in court and predicts the charges will be dismissed.
Hunter Biden still faces possible charges for failing to pay his taxes.
This is separate from the impeachment inquiry the House has launched – they are looking for any evidence that President Joe Biden financially profited from Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Despite years of looking, they’ve found no evidence of this.
Hunter Biden faces a potential 25 years if convicted, though legal analysts point out it would be extremely unusual to get jail time for this crime alone, and jail sentences for similar offenses are typically much shorter than the maximum.
Noise Meter: There’s a lot of noise around this story — ranging from politics to the law to policy questions (When’s the last time you saw MAGA representatives so eager to see a gun law enforced?). We’ll continue to update you on the facts of this story.
Northeast Braces for Lee: Residents of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and more are bracing for Hurricane Lee, a Category 1 storm headed for the northeast Atlantic coast. Lee is an unusually large storm, and its impact could bring a massive storm surge, flash flooding, hurricane-force winds, and widespread power outages across the region. Though Lee is currently only a Category 1 hurricane, this refers only to wind speed, not storm severity; forecasters warn that Lee’s massive size could bring disastrous impacts throughout New England and much of Canada’s Atlantic coast. Lee is expected to make landfall late Saturday, and President Biden issued an emergency declaration for Maine, freeing up FEMA funds to address Lee’s impact as soon as possible. To our readers in the Northeast, please heed the warnings. If it passes, no harm done. If it impacts you, you’ll be glad you prepared.
Here’s some news that doesn’t suck:
Eyes are the Window to… Your Health? This could be a breakthrough in diagnosing medical conditions. A groundbreaking new AI technology could detect your risk of heart and kidney disease by taking a picture of your eye. And it all takes less than a minute. Not only is this retinal scan less invasive than traditional procedures, according to its developer it’s also proving to be extremely accurate: as good as a CT scan when it comes to detecting heart disease and even more accurate at detecting kidney disease than blood and urine tests. How is that possible? The retinas are the only part of the body where you can directly observe blood vessels without invasive procedures – you essentially just need light, a tiny camera, and a powerful microscope. The technology was developed by a South Korean startup called Mediwhale. They use a proprietary AI algorithm trained on hundreds of thousands of images to assess retinal scans and flag high-risk patients, who are then referred to specialists for further testing and treatment. Because this technology assesses risk in under a minute, patients could get near-immediate results. (Imagine eliminating the wait-time to see a specialist who’ll review your CT scan?) Mediwhale envisions a world where primary care doctors have access to their technology, screening patients regularly and efficiently to better detect dangerous heart and kidney conditions early. The technology has already been approved in parts of Asia and Europe, and the company says FDA approval is expected by the end of 2023. Other companies are developing AI and retinal imaging tools to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Mystery Orb: File this one under “known unknowns,” mysteries for which science doesn’t (yet) have the answer. Researchers found a mysterious golden orb on the seafloor of the Gulf of Alaska, and they can’t identify it, other than to say it’s definitely “biological in origin.” Watch here as the baffled scientists deploy a tool to “tickle” the specimen while they puzzle out what it might be: “My first guess would be sponge?” “Let’s give it a little shake.” Now the sample heads to land-based labs where researchers will try to identify it. We share this as a reminder that there is a lot here on earth we have never seen and can’t explain; the oceans are enormous and most deep sea research has only become possible in recent decades. Keep in mind, just because the orb is a mystery, that doesn’t mean there’s any cause for alarm, and not every weird thing is an alien.
IKEA Moment: An early Van Gogh painting stolen from a Dutch museum in March 2020 has been recovered – in an IKEA bag. The main suspect was arrested in 2021 and is behind bars, but the painting remained missing. That is, until private art detective Arthur Brand took the case. (Side note: what a job!) Using his PI skills, Brand tracked down the people holding the Van Gogh and negotiated a handoff in a public square in Amsterdam. The painting was handed over to him in a bright blue IKEA bag. The people who were holding the painting reportedly hoped to use it to “barter for the release of a prisoner.” An interesting detail: technically the insurance company owns the painting – because they paid out when it was stolen – but the Groningen Museum says they’ll buy it back. Museum officials describe the painting as in “good condition,” but it will be “scientifically investigated in the coming months” before it returns to display. Luckily, unlike most IKEA items, this painting doesn’t come with baffling instructions and one extra piece you can’t quite identify.
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