You’ve made it! It’s Friday. Here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Syria civil war
There’s not a single building left intact. And smoke is still rising, even though fighting stopped several days earlier. CNN’s Fred Pleitgen took a drive through Aleppo where a tenuous ceasefire holds. He saw a boy hauling tree branches because his parents wanted to make a proper dinner for the family now that they didn’t have to fear shelling. It’s a must-read. Elsewhere, 75,000 people are trapped in a refugee camp on the Jordan-Syria border.
2. North Pole
Bad news, polar bears and polar bear lovers (ie all of us): Ice levels at the North Pole have shrunk to their second lowest level ever. The arctic ice shrinks every spring and summer because, duh, it gets warmer, but it’s alarming how much the ice shrunk this year given the mild season. The implications could be huge since the arctic ice works as the planet’s thermostat.
3. Campaign 2016
We could talk about Hillary Clinton’s return to the trail, or how Ivanka Trump cut off a Cosmo reporter. Or the backlash from Donald Trump Jr.’s “gas chamber” remark. Or how the birther controversy is still a thing. What we really should be talking about is how, when it comes to candidates, the American people care about things the rest of the world definitely does not. Great read on that here.
4. UNC rape case
The woman who accused a University of North Carolina football player of raping her in February was on CNN Thursday to talk about the aftermath of reporting the incident. According to alleged victim Delaney Robinson, police asked her inappropriate questions like “Did you even say no?” and “How many men have you slept with?” She called the process, and the demeanor of authorities handling the case “infuriating” and “disgusting.”
5. Pipeline spill
If you’re on the East coast and notice your gas prices suddenly spike, here’s why: A section of a major gas pipeline which runs from Houston to New York is still closed after a spill last Friday. It may not get back up and running until next week, which could leave suppliers dry. In fact, the governors of Alabama and Georgia have already declared states of emergency.
Breakfast Browse
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
It SOUNDED like a good idea.
Apparently a four-day workweek can be hazardous to your health? Boo!
More options
A new program could allow people to use food stamps to grocery shop online.
What’s for Lunch
Here’s what’s happening later today and this weekend.
Today
CNN Health profiles Huntington, WV – America’s heroin capital, where 1 out of 10 babies is born addicted.
“Snowden” opens. Verdict: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance: Terrific. Rest of the movie: Slightly better-than-average.
Saturday
It’s the 5th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. Yes, it fizzled, but we’ll have a piece looking at the rise of radical protests since then.
Sunday
It’s Emmy time, and ‘The Americans’ may finally win big.
And finally…
Life is art, art is life
This isn’t a painting — it’s a pair of movement artists performing a truly moving piece of dance. (Click to view)