⏱Legal drugs, and robots without jobs
90 Second News Issue #10
Hello everyone. Joe Biden is currently leading the presidential race at 253 electoral votes, but with recounts all but certain, we’re just hoping you took our advice about buckling up for election week. To save your sanity, the rest of this newsletter will be free of any more news about that election- you’re welcome.
0:15- Are you telling me I can now do heroin in Oregon? Well no, but kind of
On Tuesday, Oregon voted to decriminalize (small amounts of) all drugs, including heroin, cocaine, and meth. This by no means makes them legal, but just instead allows those facing addiction to be treated with medical attention instead of the current criminal approach. This approach, including the addiction centers will be funded by marijuana tax revenue. Although Oregon is the first state in America to take this approach, other countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, and Switzerland have all done the same successfully.
0:36- From Paris without love-
Yesterday, the United States officially left the Paris Agreement, a global accord created in 2015 in an effort to avoid the effects of climate change. Over 189 countries originally signed the agreement, committing to certain environmental standards designed to keep the increase in average temperatures worldwide below 3.6ºF. While this move does separate us from the rest of the world, it will currently have no effect on how we’re handling emissions in America.
0:47- Humans are stealing all of the robots’s jobs! ... Wait, what?
Walmart has recently ended its relationship with Bossa Nova Robotics, leaving robots in over 500 stores without jobs. It’s not 100% clear why the retail giant made this decision, but we assume it came down to cost. Score 1 for the humans against our technological friends.
1:00- Uber and Lyft are in the driver’s seat now
California voted on prop 22 on Tuesday, a measure that determined the fate of gig economy workers in the state. Essentially, the measure was to determine whether or not those companies would have to consider their drivers as workers, thereby requiring them to offer benefits. The measure failed however, and companies will continue to employ workers as “independent contractors”. $UBER and $LYFT were up large on the news.
1:18- A big win for the fight against Alzheimer's-
Biogen, a Massachustes based pharmaceutical company, had it’s stock jump 43.97% (yes, you read that correctly) after it was announced that FDA regulators had given its Alzheimer’s drug, aducanumab, a positive rating. It would be the first in the market to slow cognitive decline in patients, and could bring in billions of revenue.
Have a great rest of your day, and we’ll see you tomorrow bright and early!
-The 90 Second News Team
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