⏱Moving on Mars
Walmart wages, and Texas fights on
Good morning everyone, and welcome to the end of the week! You did it!
0:05- Patience pays off, Perseverance lands
After a 205 day trip, and more than 10 years of attempts, the $2.7Bn Perseverance Mars rover has landed on the red planet. It wasn’t an easy trip either — it had to survive the “7 minutes of terror”, which involved entering the Mars atmosphere at more than 25k MPH without any help from NASA (it’s so far away that communications can now take up to 12 minutes one way). The rover is now safely taking pictures, recording audio, exploring, and even tweeting.
0:26- A roaring kitty inside of Congress
Today the controversial hearing about the Gamestop saga occurred in Congress, where Keith Gill (leader of the WallStreetBets surge, aka Roaring Kitty on YouTube), Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Melvin Capital CEO Gabriel Plotkin, and various other hedge fund employees, and experts were called to testify. The trial was largely inconsequential, however some memorable moments included Keith Gill declaring “I am not a cat” and a Congressman telling Plotkin that he should run for Senate with how much filibustering he was doing.
0:46- Walmart raises wages
After a strong holiday quarter boosted by a massive increase in eCommerce sales, Walmart indicated today in its earnings call that it would be passing along some of those profits to its employees, granting more than 425k of them a raise. This move is inline with CEO Doug McMillon’s view that the federal minimum wage should be raised from $7.25/hr (currently Walmart begins at $11/hr), and will also push Walmart’s average hourly pay above $15/hr, a number that has been proposed in the most recent Covid stimulus bill as a new federal rate.
1:13- Texas’ struggles continue
After the unusual winter storm ravaged Texas earlier this week, more than 350k people are without power in the state, causing in-house temperatures to drop as low as 35ºF in some areas. This is still significant progress though, as more than 2M have regained power since it initially went out. However, those still a part of the blackout are now facing the issues of unstocked grocery stores and a boil-water notice... when they have no way of boiling water. If you’re looking to donate, check out these organizations.
Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!
-The 90 Second News Team
Want the news in a different format? Text Message or Podcast (Apple | Google)
Join our referral program! Sign up here!
Follow us on Twitter, and Facebook!
Have any questions, comments, concerns? Email us at team@90SecondNews.info