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     A wide selection of interesting and trending stories – rip ‘em, read ‘em
                                   & post ‘em!
                  FOR THURSDAY, JULY 23rd, 2020
TODAY IS…
    GORGEOUS GRANDMA DAY – ‘Gorgeous Grandmas’ might sound more like a web-
     search for lonely grandpas, but today is all about celebrating beautiful women ‘of a certain
     age’, whether they’re grandmas or not.
    NATIONAL VANILLA ICE CREAM DAY – Whether you think it’s totally boring or the
     perfect flavor, raise a spoon to some vanilla ice cream today! (At least it’s not a vegetable!)
    ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF AMY WINEHOUSE – Find a couple of trees,
     string up a hammock, and try your best not to fall out. Did you know…Hammocks have been
     around for thousands of years. It’s thought they were invented in Central America as a way
     of keeping people from being eaten by bugs, snakes and other creepy crawlers. It wasn’t
     until the 1700s when Europeans figured out they could be used for napping when you really
     should be mowing the lawn.

BIRTHDAYS:

    DANIEL RADCLIFFE, 31 – Actor. Someone tell Hagrid to bake another cake! The star of
     ‘Harry Potter’ turns 31.
    SAUL HUDSON, AKA ’SLASH’ – Rocker. Better known as “Slash!” from Guns N’
     Roses. His stupid hat turns 38.
    WOODY HARRELSON, 59 – Emmy Award-winning Actor. He’s still arguably TV’s best
     bartender, thanks to his starring role on ‘Cheers.’
    DAVID DOBRIK, 24 – YouTube Star. The social media personality is known for causing
     all sorts of mischief.

TRENDING/ODD:

ROGUE MEATBALL RUINS COLLEGE EXAM (00:26)
Note to self: If you're gonna eat during your finals exam, make sure it's not a meatball sub. 'Cause
apparently, those things can go rogue. A college junior says she was taking her economy final online
when a meatball rolled out of her sandwich, plopped onto the keyboard and exited her exam. She
tweeted about it, and protested to the University of Georgia…who bought it, and is letting her re-take
the exam. They recommended she take the test 'after dinner'.

NFL REQUIRING ALL FANS TO WEAR A MASK NEXT SEASON (00:24)
If you plan on going to an NFL game this fall (and fans are still allowed in), bring a mask. The league
says fans will be required to wear a face-covering the entire time they're in the stadium. That
probably won't include when you're stuffing your face with 30-dollar nachos or drowning your
sorrows in a beer (sorry Jets fans). It's still unclear if any fans at all will be allowed into stadiums.
Already the Giants and Jets have announced they'll play without spectators next season.

NFL ALLOWING SOCIAL JUSTICE PROTEST STICKERS ON HELMETS (00:17)
The NFL is planning to allow social justice decals on the back of helmets. The league says it's gonna
allow players to wear the names or initials of victims of racism or police violence next season. Some
players wanted to wear those names on their jerseys instead of their own, but the NFL shut that idea
down.

STATE FAIR KEEPS BUTTER SCULPTURE COMPETITION FROM MELTING (00:26)
The Minnesota state fair might be cancelled, but they're still gonna have all those butter statues for
you to marvel and drool over. Instead of having competitors carve em in refrigerated tents, they'll be
doing it all on Facebook this year. Yeah, I know, it's not as good, but what else is there to watch?
Carving members of the Royal family out of a 90-pound block of butter has been an annual tradition
since 1965, and they're certainly not gonna stop now.

COLORADO BANS BOOZE AFTER 10PM TO CURB COVID OUTBREAK (00:17)
Colorado's got a plan to help control their spike in COVID cases. Instead of locking things down
again, they're just gonna make bars and restaurants stop selling booze earlier. They're seeing more
young adults getting the virus, and think stopping late night boozing will help. Last call is now at
10pm.

CHUBBY TOURISTS - VENICE'S GONDOLA WEIGHT PROBLEM (00:18)
In Venice, you may wanna cut back on the vino and pasta while there. They're adjusting the number
of people allowed on a gondola ride. Heftier tourists are the problem. Maximum passengers per
gondola will go from 14 to 12. Can't weigh people before they get on, so limiting the number of
people is the "gondoliers" best option.

HAWAII IN THE PATH OF HURRICANE (00:15)
Uh-oh! Hawaii might be getting some very nasty weather. The island is in the path of the season's
first Pacific hurricane. 'Douglass' is churning off the coast of Mexico, but could lash Hawaii by the
weekend, with landfall expected late Sunday or early Monday.

SOCCER FANS SOCIAL DISTANCE USING CONSTRUCTION CRANES (00:14)
Now this is how you social distance! In Poland, a bunch of soccer fans used cranes, tall ones,
outside the Motor Lublin stadium to watch their favorite team. Going viral are the photos of the
cranes side-by-side, each looking like boxed-seating in the sky.

CRIME

DUMB WOMAN TRIED HIRING KILLER THROUGH FAKE ‘HITMAN’ WEBSITE (00:28)
If you can't stand your spouse but hate a messy divorce, you should know: the website ‘rent-a-
hitman-dot-com’ isn't real. A Michigan woman didn't know that, and allegedly tried hiring someone to
kill her husband. The site looks totally legit and even has fake testimonials and even claims to be
"100 percent HIPPA compliant. The site's owner says she filled out a joke form that seemed pretty
real, so he called the cops and they set up a sting. She's now charged with solicitation to commit
murder.

HEALTH/SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

CORONAVIRUS MUTATION MAKES IT SPREAD FASTER (00:21)
Researchers at the University of Birmingham believe a new coronavirus mutation makes the virus
spread faster. They say this particular virus (which is currently causing trouble in England and
Europe) contains proteins that latch onto our body's cells faster and multiplies more quickly than the
strain that came from Wuhan. Scientists say while it could make more people sick, it's not any more
deadly than the original strain.

CALIFORNIA - HIGHEST NUMBER OF VIRUS CASES (00:15)
Move over New York, California now tops the list of most confirmed coronavirus cases. California
has more than 409-thousand cases, and nearly 70 percent of them are people under 49. Florida
comes in third with its case count. New York still leads in deaths.

STUDY: COVID ANTIBODIES FADE? (00:19)
A lot of talk about antibodies, but are they the be-all and end-all? Researchers say surviving the
coronavirus and having the antibodies doesn't mean a lifetime of immunity. Doctors are finding the
antibodies may last only a few months in people who had mild symptoms. The experts say a vaccine
could offer longer lasting protection.

YOUR MONEY/SHOPPING
STUDY: SPOILED FRUIT IS COSTING US THIS MUCH A YEAR (00:26)
QUICK! Check your fridge! Bet you've got some rotting fruit in there. A new study finds the average
American throws out 520 bucks worth of spoiled fruit every year. That's about 10 bucks every week!
The research, by the Washington Red Raspberry Commission (whatever the heck that is) also finds
7-in-10 of us shoulda really eaten that fruit - that's how many admit they're not eating enough of it.
And a quarter of Americans say the pandemic has got us stocking up on more frozen fruit.

STUDY: JD POWER RANKS CARS WITH MOST ‘APEAL’ (00:22)
Most of those car ranking studies point out all the bad stuff, but JD Power has just put out a report
that has nothing to do with quality. Their ‘APEAL’ study gauges cars the way 14 year old boys do:
which one's look the coolest. Tesla came in tops, even beating out second place Porsche. Lincoln
and Cadillac were also up there (which tells us they asked some dads, too). Of the 'regular Joe'
brands, the Dodge Challenger and Ram 1500 won.

AMAZON ROLLS OUT MORE DELIVERY ROBOTS (00:25)

Amazon is gonna start rolling out more delivery robots, because who wants to actually let another
human that close to their house?! The things are gonna start popping up in Georgia and Tennessee.
They're already being used in Washington and California. If you haven’t seen 'em yet, they kinda
look like blue coolers on wheels. They come right to your door, and can only be opened with a
phone code, so no one else steals your shipment of fake eyelashes.

FEARING ‘CRAZIES’, LOWE’S WON’T MAKE STAFF ENFORCE MASK RULE (00:22)
There's so many idiots out there freaking out about wearing a mask that Lowe's has just decided
they're not gonna make their staff enforce the store's mask rule. They're worried about employee
safety, with so many video examples of people refusing to wear a mask and then getting violent.
Lowe's says it's not worth the trouble. But they're still asking shoppers to put one on for God's sake!

MEN'S WEARHOUSE AND JOS. A. BANK STORE CLOSINGS (00:19)
First Brooks Brothers, now Men's Wearhouse and Joseph A. Bank are closing five hundred stores.
It's not like a lot of guys are wearing suits right now, so maybe it's no big surprise that suit-and-tie
stores might not survive the pandemic. The company that owns 'Men's Wearhouse' missed a big
loan payment recently and it could mean bankruptcy soon.

CEO'S STILL GET BIG BONUSES WITH BANKRUPTCIES (00:22)
Money experts say all these stores filing for bankruptcy are making COVID an excuse for bad
management. And many of the CEOs are still getting big bonuses. JC Penney, GNC, and Hertz all
paid out millions in executive bonuses just days before filing for Chapter 11. The business reason
behind it? The management team needs to be taken care of while going through difficult bankruptcy
proceedings. Sure.

LIFE/FAMILY
WANNA GET AWAY? BERMUDA SAYS COME LIVE HERE! (00:26)
The pandemic has crushed the travel and tourism industry everywhere, but it's especially bad for
tropical islands that rely on visitors. In response, Bermuda is offering a one-year residence to
foreigners who wanna make the British territory their home while they work or study. A residence
certificate costs just under 300-bucks. Bermuda is hoping to boost economic activity by welcoming
longer stays and have folks spend money at restaurants, hotels and other businesses.

HOLY TRAGEDY! 13 NUNS DIE OF THE CORONAVIRUS (00:22)
Thirteen nuns at a Roman Catholic convent in Michigan have died of COVID-19 complications since
the outbreak began. The nuns ranged in age from 69 to 99, and included teachers and an author.
One of the sisters say the pandemic first hit two people on the first floor of the convent, but once it hit
the second floor - it went through like wildfire. Seventeen nuns who ALSO got the virus have
survived.

POLL: WILL NORMAL LIFE RETURN? (00:21)
Remember 2019? Wishing you could go back to the way things were? A new survey finds 75-
percent of us fear life will never get back to normal. Nearly 60-percent say they're afraid of returning
to a shared workplace. Nobody wants Susie coughing on them! Close to 40-percent are worried
about putting their family in jeopardy by returning to the office. Hazmat suit anyone?

ENTERTAINMENT

HOMELESS BLUE JAYS CAN’T CATCH A BREAK (00:22)
Today is the start of the MLB season, but the Toronto Blue Jays are still looking for a new home
stadium. They're not allowed to play in Canada and had made a deal to share Pittsburg's Pirates'
PNC Park, but the state of Pennsylvania said no, citing health concerns. The Jays are now trying to
share a stadium with the Baltimore Orioles. Worst case, they could play in Buffalo's Triple-A ballpark.

KIM KARDASHIAN BREAKS SILENCE ABOUT KANYE’S MENTAL HEALTH (00:24)
For the first time ever, Kim Kardashian is talking about her husband’s struggles with bipolar disorder.
She says she finally decided to talk 'because of the stigma of mental health', but really it's probably
because Kanye publicly accused her of trying to have him committed - and then deleted a tweet that
said he wanted to divorce her. Kim says even family 'can't compel an adult to get help' and called
Kanye 'brilliant but complicated'.

CANCELED SPORTS COULD COST COLLEGES BILLIONS (00:22)
Some of the country's biggest college sports programs stand to lose up to 150-million dollars this fall.
Travel and games are a big part of the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences. Can't do that during a
pandemic, no matter how bad it hurts the wallet. Experts say football programs will see the hardest
financial hit, with billions lost. Can't wait to see how much tuition goes up now!

WEEKEND / “ICYMI”
HARD SELTZER BRAND CREATES FACE MASKS WITH FLAPS FOR STRAWS
(00:25)
Back in May, the Crook & Marker hard seltzer brand posted a mock-up on Instagram of a face mask
with a hole that fits a straw. Even though it was a joke, followers went crazy and begged the
company to make drinking masks a reality. So the small beverage company created the TasteMask,
a limited-edition face mask with a flap for a straw. The masks cost $14.99 and all proceeds are going
to help service-industry workers affected by the pandemic. Cheers!

AUTOMAKERS ENDING SUBCOMPACT CAR PRODUCTION (00:25)
Say goodbye to the small car. Several automakers have announced that they’re discontinuing their
subcompact model cars. GM will end production on the Chevrolet Sonic, Toyota is giving up the
Yaris, and Ford said ‘party over’ for the Fiesta. Subcompact sales dropped fifty percent this year
over the same time last year. Buyers are now leaning toward small SUVs. They have the same
length as subcompact cars, but a greater height.

NEW BOOK CLAIMS NYC ACCENT WAS A SIGN OF HIGH CLASS (00:26)
Hard to believe that the New York accent was once considered posh and a sign of high class. A new
book out this week (called You Talking To Me? The Unruly History of New York English') claims that
until a hundred years ago, the rough-sounding, 'R'-dropping, 'Noo Yawk' accent was described as
being 'full of money', and was so desired by the rich, that some of them faked it. The book says that
by the 1920s, the accent was more associated with immigrants and tough-guys, and the rich decided
to sound British instead.
Fuhgetaboutit!

SNL PLANNING ‘LIVE FROM NEW YORK’ RETURN (00:24)

NBC wants 'SNL' back in-studio and 'Live, from New York' next season. There's word producers are
planning for Saturday Night Live to return to 30 Rock for the show's 46th season in the fall. But it
might be without a live audience. The show produced several 'at home' episodes in the spring.
NBC's Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon returned to the studio last week - with a new set and socially
distanced crew - but no audience.

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