While you were sleeping, we compiled the biggest stories of the day in one place. Each story has a quick and easy summary, so you're prepared for whatever the day brings. Just click on the links if you want to know more!
1. Another Florida lawsuit against the Biden Administration
Florida is suing the Biden Administration over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday.
The administration is requiring federal contractors to mandate vaccinations and ensure that workers are fully vaccinated by Dec. 8.
DeSantis on Thursday said that once the new OSHA rule is officially released, the state of Florida will take legal action against that mandate as well.
2. Biden unveils framework for $1.75 trillion spending bill
The framework of the massive bill tackles several issues including investing in childcare, addressing climate change, expanding health care, strengthening the middle class, and tackling immigration issues.
The Biden administration says the bill will provide universal and free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, the largest expansion of universal and free education since states and communities across the country established public high schools 100 years ago.
Biden also addressed how the package will be paid for and added that over the next 10 years, the package will not add the deficit and may actually reduce it. Much of the money would come from raising taxes on wealthy Americans.
3. Sick of robocalls? There's a way to cash in
Fort Pierce resident Jonathan Smith said he's collected nearly $40,000 from telemarketers calling and violating the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Smith credits Doc Compton, the founder of Robocalls.Cash, with teaching him how to cash in on the calls for less than $50 using his kit.
Attorney David Lamos is working with Smith and WPTV asked him why the telemarketers are writing the checks so easily.
"Because the cost of not writing them is greater," Lamos said. "They would rather pay small amounts of compensation per call on negotiation than get dragged into court."
4. Dinosaur tells the UN "Don't choose extinction"
In a video produced by the U.N. Development Programme ahead of COP25, a climate summit in Glasglow, Scotland, a computer-generated dinosaur named Frankie warns people about the threat of extinction.
"You're headed for a climate disaster and yet every year governments spend hundreds of billions of public funds on fossil fuel subsidies," Frankie said.
The climate summit will bring together leaders from the U.S., France, Italy and numerous other countries in an effort to tackle climate change.
5. Facebook's plan to escape bad PR includes a new name
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that his company will rebrand itself as Meta as it focuses on its virtual-reality vision for the future.
It doesn’t appear the change will affect consumers that much, though. The company’s corporate name will be Meta, while its flagship social networking site will keep the Facebook name, The Washington Post reports. That’s similar to how Google’s parent company name is Alphabet.
Many have pointed out that the new brand appears to be an attempt to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, a trove of documents that have recently revealed the many ways the company ignored internal reports and warnings about how its social platforms have harmed people across the world.
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On This Day In History
On October 29, 1929, Black Tuesday hits Wall Street as investors trade 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression.
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