These are the top maybe-not headlines from the past 36-hours presented by The Conversation Project from raw engagement data from our social media to the headlines posted over the past day.
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The 8 topics that our followers ranked as the most conversational are:
VAPING-RELATED LUNG TRANSPLANT PERFORMED AT DETROIT HOSPITAL
Doctors at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit have performed a double lung transplant on a man whose lungs were damaged from vaping. No other details of the transplant were released Monday, but a news conference has been scheduled for Tuesday. The patient has asked his medical team to share photographs and an update to warn others about vaping. More than 2,000 Americans who vape have gotten sick since March, many of them teenagers and young adults, and at least 40 people have died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week announced a breakthrough into the cause of a vaping illness outbreak, identifying a chemical compound as a “very strong culprit.” Vitamin E acetate previously was found in liquid from electronic cigarettes and other vaping devices used by many who got sick and only recently has been used as a vaping fluid thickener.
[SOURCE: cnbc.com]
AMAZON LAUNCHING A NEW GROCERY STORE TO COMPETE WITH WHOLE FOODS
An Amazon-branded grocery store will launch in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Woodland Hills in 2020, CNET reports. Amazon said the store would be different from Whole Foods and would not compete against Whole Foods, although it did not clarify what the store’s name or price range would be or what food products it would carry. The store will feature conventional checkout and won’t use Amazon Go cashierless technology, Amazon told CNET. A job posting describes the store as “Amazon’s first grocery store.” The company is hiring for a full-time “zone leader” managing an in-store zone with a starting pay rate of $16.90 per hour, according to the listing. The online shopping giant purchased Whole Foods in 2017 for $13 billion but remains a relatively small player in the grocery business. It recently removed a $15 monthly fee for Amazon Fresh grocery delivery in a bid to undercut rival Walmart, which currently commands the lion’s share of the nation’s grocery market.
[SOURCE: cbsnews.com]
JAMES LE MESURIER, WHITE HELMETS CO-FOUNDER, DISCOVERED DEAD IN TURKEY
Mr Le Mesurier’s body was found at about 04:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on the street near his home and office in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district on the European side of the city. He was found with fractures to his head and legs, Turkish media say, and is believed to have fallen from his balcony. Mr Le Mesurier set up the Mayday Rescue emergency response group, which helped train White Helmets volunteers. Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a director of the Doctors Under Fire campaign group and a friend of Mr Le Mesurier, said: “It’s absolutely tragic. He was one of the few people who have made a humanitarian footprint in Syria.” Mr de Bretton-Gordon said the White Helmets had a very “strong structure” and their work would continue. But he said Mr Le Mesurier’s death had left a “hole to fill”. The cause of death is not known. Turkey has launched an investigation.
[SOURCE: bbc.com]
FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR CAUSES SCENE WHEN SHE NAMES ALLEGED WHISTLEBLOWER ON AIR
Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway caused a scene on Sunday morning when she purposely named the alleged whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, seemingly breaking the network’s policy of identifying the person. Amid a concerted effort by Trump’s allies to publicly out the whistleblower who filed the complaint about Trump’s infamous July 25 call with the Ukrainian president, right-wing media outlets have touted an online report purportedly sharing the identity of the person. Mainstream media outlets and social media platforms, meanwhile, have refrained from spreading the person’s name. Fox News had reportedly also instructed its employees to not name the alleged whistleblower. CNN reported that the network had instructed staffers that it had not “independently confirmed [the] name or identification of the anonymous whistleblower.” Additionally, a network executive informed production staffers to “NOT fulfill any video or graphic requests” surrounding the whistleblower’s identity.
[SOURCE: thedailybeast.com]
WHITE WOMAN BODY SLAMMED IN POPEYES PARKING LOT AFTER CALLING EMPLOYEES N-WORD
The incident took place at a Popeyes restaurant in Columbia, Tennessee. According to witnesses, the woman was attempting to dispute a charge on her bill, leading to a heated argument. Several workers asked her to leave the establishment, but before she left, the woman reportedly called the employees “n****rs.” She was then followed to the parking lot by several employees, including a man who picked her up and threw her down on the pavement. The exchange and the altercation was caught on video. In the footage, a man off-camera can be heard saying, “You in the wrong place saying the n-word.” Per the police, the alleged attacker is a 29-year-old man named Deriance Hughes. Hughes is currently facing aggravated assault charges. The woman’s attorney told the local ABC-affiliate that his client’s words don’t justify Hughes’ response. He claims that the attack caused the woman to suffer nine fractures, including a broken knee and six broken ribs. “If she said something that she regrets, it doesn’t give a grown man the right to chase her into the parking lot as she is trying to leave the store, and body slam a 55-year-old grandmother down on the concrete,” her attorney said.
[SOURCE: complex.com]
DON CHERRY, CANADIAN SPORTS BROADCASTER, STEPS DOWN AFTER ON-AIR REMARKS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS
Sportsnet announced Monday the “Hockey Night in Canada” personality stepped down after making “divisive” remarks about immigrants not wearing red poppy pins to honor Canadian soldiers for Remembrance Day, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Cherry’s comments were made during a broadcast Saturday during his weekly Coach’s Corner segment, CBC reported. His complaint came about because he said he rarely saw people he believed to be immigrants wearing red poppy pins. “You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said, CBC reported. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.” The red poppy was the native plant along the Western Front during World War I, according to the Canadian War Museum’s website. The Great War Veterans’ Association adopted the poppy as a symbol of remembrance in 1921. The pin is won on the left side, close to the heart as a symbol of the sacrifice of soldiers, the museum’s website said. Sportsnet President Bart Yabsley said in a statement sports should bring people together, not divide them.
[SOURCE: cnn.com]
GRAMMY WINNING RAPPER CHAMILLIONAIRE LAUNCHES $100,000 COMPETITION FOR MINORITY-FOUNDED START-UPS
Grammy-award winning rapper and investor Hakeem “Chamillionaire” Seriki announced Monday on “Squawk Alley” that he and hip hop artist E-40 will invest $100,000 in a minority or woman founded start-up company. “Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, but it’s even harder for minority and women led companies,” Seriki said. “These people are solving new and unique problems and I think the only thing in their way is capital.” Seriki was an early Lyft investor and remains bullish on the stock, while holding investments in more than 40 start-up companies. He previously invested in Ring (acquired by Amazon), Cruise (acquired by GM) and Maker Studios (acquired by Disney). But this competition comes as part of the investor-slash-rapper’s larger push to bring awareness to a demographic of start-ups that he said have been historically underrepresented in the investment world. Seriki highlighted the demographic divide in the venture capital landscape, citing a cultural trickle-down of funding from white male investors to white male led companies.
[SOURCE: cnbc.com]
OFF-DUTY RICHMOND OFFICER SHOOTS AND KILLS MAN IN VALLEJO; DISPATCHER AUDIO OBTAINED
The shooting occurred around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, near the Valero gas station and JJ’s Fish and Chicken at Fairgrounds and Sereno Drives. Several area residents told reporters that they heard six to seven shots. A law enforcement source — as well as several onlookers and social media postings — identified the deceased man as Eric Reason, 38, a Vallejo resident. Police say more than one gun was recovered at the site of the shooting. The officer was identified as Virgil Thomas, a Richmond police sergeant who works on patrol. The shooting followed some kind of confrontation between Reason and the officer, according to police and several onlookers. Reason was known as a local rapper who went by the stage name “Cheddaman,” and appeared on a song alongside popular California rapper Mac Mall on the compilation album 2009 “Country Club Crest: 3 C’s Down.” Relatives told KTVU and NBC that Reason was a father of six, who was working in construction.
[SOURCE: mercurynews.com]
Eight Things To Talk About uses the raw engagement data from the social media engagement from The Conversation Project to generate the top-ranking headlines over the course of a weekend.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Wrap-Up Show with J Cleveland Payne, published every Saturday as a podcast available at ThisIsTheConversation.com or wherever your favorite podcasts are found.
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