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:
PRELIMINARY 5.7-MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE STRIKES 10 MILES EAST OF SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
A 5.7 magnitude earthquake struck just outside Salt Lake City early Wednesday, knocking out the state’s coronavirus hotline, according to the governor. A temporary COVID-19 information line was set up at 1-844-442-5224. A temporary COVID-19 Information Line is available at 1-844-442-5224. Please use this number if you have questions about COVID-19 until further notice. This was the state’s largest earthquake since 1992, according to Utah Emergency Management. There are no reports of injuries, but the Salt Lake City Airport was temporarily knocked out of operation, officials said.
[SOURCE: abcnews.go.com]
OPRAH WINFREY DENIES FAR-RIGHT CONSPIRACY THEORY SHE HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING
Oprah Winfrey has been forced to deny rumours that she has been arrested for sex trafficking after fake news reports emerged online. The presenter’s name has been trending on Twitter since the seemingly baseless rumours began, and now Winfrey has reassured fans she is just “sanitising and self distancing with the rest of the world” amid the coronavirus pandemic. An unverified post that appeared to spark the rumour claimed Winfrey’s house in Boca Raton, Florida, had been raided by the authorities. MailOnline reports the claim is linked to the QAnon, a conspiracy theory claiming there is a “deep state” working against Donald Trump. A producer on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, Andy Lassner, was among those who tried to point out the post was false when it went viral, saying: “The staggering amount of people believing a 100 per cent fake story about Oprah doesn’t make me feel good about the chances of society continuing.”
[SOURCE: independent.co.uk]
VANESSA HUDGENS RESPONDS TO BACKLASH OVER CORONAVIRUS DEATH COMMENTS
Vanessa Hudgens took to Instagram Stories on Tuesday afternoon to clarify comments she made during an Instagram Live clip a day earlier that went viral, with many accusing the actress and singer of not taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously enough. During Monday’s video, Hudgens, who is looking directly at the camera, responds to shutdown orders that some — including President Donald Trump — have said could last as long as July or August. “Um, yeah, ’til July sounds like a bunch of bullshit,” she said of a potential quarantine to her 38.4 million followers. “I’m sorry, but like, it’s a virus, I get it, like, I respect it, but at the same time, I’m like, even if everybody gets it, like yeah, people are going to die, which is terrible but like, inevitable?” The 31-year-old then seemed to backtrack a bit, adding, “I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this right now?” Hudgens has been busy on the platform in recent days, posting everything from makeup and hair looks (“Lockdown vibes,” she wrote) and calling on her followers to donate to causes such as Feeding America. “Let’s help each other out rather than freaking the fuck out. Kk?” she posted three days ago. But it was the comments from the Instagram Live clip that immediately caught fire with followers and other social media users, who were quick to call Hudgens out for not being sensitive enough to the global crisis. Journalist and influencer Yashar Ali was among the most high-profile Twitter users who posted the clip and challenged her on her comments: “What a horrible and heartless message for you to share with the younger people who look up to you.”
[SOURCE: hollywoodreporter.com]
AMANDA BYNES ANNOUNCES SHE’S PREGNANT WITH FIRST BABY
Amanda Bynes and Paul Michael are expecting a baby. ET has learned that Bynes is pregnant with her first child. Amid conflicting reports regarding the status of her relationship with Michael, Bynes took to Instagram Tuesday evening to share a photo of her sonogram. “Baby on board!” Bynes wrote alongside the ultrasound image. Michael took to Instagram on Tuesday as well to reveal the pregnancy news. He shared a snapshot of himself and Bynes — which the actress previously shared earlier this week — along with another photo of the sonogram. “Baby in the making,” Michael captioned the pair of pics. The baby news comes just over a week after it was reported that Bynes and Michael had called it quits just three week after announcing their engagement. Bynes also deleted every photo she’d posted of herself and Michael from her Instagram account. One day later, Bynes confused fans when she shared a new photo of the pair, which she captioned, “My Love.” Many of Bynes’ fans and followers were left confused by the new post, and what it means for the pair’s relationship.
[SOURCE: msn.com]
UBER AND LYFT SUSPEND SHARED RIDE OPTIONS TO LIMIT CORONAVIRUS SPREAD
Uber has suspended its shared ‘Uber Pool’ class of rides, the company announced on Tuesday. The Uber Pool option would match up to three passengers together in one vehicle based on their destination, and Uber said in a statement from Uber Rides and Platform Vice President Andrew Macdonald that the company’s “goal is to help flatten the curve on community spread in the cities we serve” through suspension of the service. Lyft also announced later on Tuesday that it would be “pausing all shared ride options” across all markets where it offers them for the same reason. This applies in the U.S. and Canada for now, and the company is evaluating enacting similar measures in other countries where pooled rides are an option. Meanwhile, regular Uber on-demand rides for individual bookings, as well a Uber Eats delivery services, will still be operating as before. Uber did institute a new persistent in-app message for its ride-hailing app for riders, however, labelled “Flatten the Curve” and advising users to “travel only if necessary,” and to “exercise caution for your safety and the safety of our community.” Uber also announced that its Uber Eats program will waive the delivery fee for local restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, as well as allowing requests for food to be left at the doorstep by delivery couriers. It’s also committing to deliver over 300,000 meals to healthcare workers and first responders working on the front line of the epidemic. In addition to these measures, Uber is also offering financial assistance to drivers on its platform that are infected by COVID-19 and put into quarantine by a public health authority, with a a payment structure based on the average earning of the driver over the past six months.
[SOURCE: techcrunch.com]
OPM CHIEF DALE CABANISS ABRUPTLY RESIGNS
Dale Cabaniss, the director of the government’s Office of Personnel Management, resigned abruptly on Tuesday, effective immediately. Cabaniss stepped down because of, what two people familiar with the matter said, was poor treatment from the 29-year-old head of the Presidential Personnel Office, John McEntee, and a powerful appointee at OPM, Paul Dans, the new White House liaison and senior adviser to the director of OPM. The departure casts a cloud of uncertainty over the federal workforce as it struggles to decide how to handle the coronavirus outbreak, with growing questions about the Trump administration’s decision to keep most government offices open and how it is handling remote work.
[SOURCE: politico.com]
KATY PERRY WINS REVERSAL OF ‘DARK HORSE’ COPYRIGHT VERDICT
A federal judge has handed a big win to Katy Perry, overturning a copyright infringement verdict regarding her hit song “Dark Horse.” Judge Christina A. Snyder issued a ruling on Tuesday vacating the jury’s verdict, finding that the short musical phrase at issue is not original enough to warrant copyright protection. The jury had found last July that “Dark Horse” included an eight-note ostinato that was stolen from “Joyful Noise,” a song by the Christian rapper Flame. The jury awarded $2.8 million in damages. Snyder found that the jury’s verdict was not supported by the weight of the evidence in the case. Snyder drew on the testimony of the plaintiff’s expert witness, musicologist Todd Decker, in coming to her conclusion that the jury got it wrong. Christine Lepera, the lead defense attorney at the trial, praised the judge’s ruling. The decision is the second piece of good news in as many weeks for music labels and major acts, which have felt besieged by frivolous copyright litigation over the last few years. Last Monday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict finding that Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” did not infringe on an earlier song by the band Spirit. Flame, whose legal name is Marcus Gray, will still be able to appeal Snyder’s ruling to the 9th Circuit.
[SOURCE: variety.com]
THREE UTAH COUNTY PROSECUTORS RESIGNED AFTER A DEFENSE ATTORNEY PAID FOR THEIR UTAH JAZZ TICKETS
Three Utah County prosecutors resigned recently in the middle of a misconduct investigation involving allegations they received inappropriate gifts from a defense attorney. Deputy Utah County attorneys Craig Johnson, Chase Hansen and Pona Sitake were accused of going to a Utah Jazz game with defense attorney Dennis Pawelek with tickets that the defense attorney paid for, according to a report obtained recently by The Salt Lake Tribune. The tickets were in the lower bowl, and were estimated to be worth hundreds of dollars. There was a separate human resources investigation involving Sitake, who was investigated last fall for a sexual harassment complaint alleging he took photos of women in court and shared them in a group message where men debated whether they were attractive. Utah County Attorney David Leavitt confirmed Thursday that the prosecutors resigned in early February as his office was conducting a HR investigation into their attendance at the Dec. 4 Jazz game against the Los Angeles Lakers. He said he also referred the case to the Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office to review whether any laws were broken. Leavitt said in a criminal justice system that heavily relies on plea deals instead of jury trials, it is an inherent conflict of interest for prosecutors to receive anything of value from their courtroom opponents.
[SOURCE: sltrib.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 the past day.
A full weeks’ data (from Friday to Friday) is compiled, weighed, and sorted to produce the content for the Weekly Wrap-Up 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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