Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some really important stories to share with you right now. Here’s what’s going on.
Google’s monopoly may be coming to an end, President Joe Biden and the governor of Florida put politics aside ahead of a major hurricane expected to devastate parts of the state, and Oregon may change the way voters choose their candidates.
Also, there’s another nationwide food recall you need to know about, and a serious challenge for the housing industry means fewer homes will be built in the future.
DOJ Considers Breaking Up Google
This follows a ruling earlier this year, which found that the tech giant violated antitrust laws by maintaining an illegal monopoly over the online search market and the search text ads market.The landmark ruling in August stemmed from a 2020 lawsuit filed against Google by the DOJ and a coalition of state attorneys general. It accused Google of engaging in anti-competitive practices by establishing exclusive contracts with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers.
You should know that those contracts, which officials said were worth billions, ensured Google remained the default search engine on devices from Apple and Samsung, which effectively forced competitors to find alternative ways to reach users.
In a 32-page court ruling this week, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the DOJ presented a series of solutions, targeted at reshaping how Americans find information on the internet and giving Google’s competitors more room to grow.
So you know, possible fixes could include getting Google to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, since the DOJ says that Google’s unlawful conduct has been going on for more than 10 years using a variety of self-reinforcing tactics.
Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs called the DOJ’s proposals “radical changes” that would affect numerous industries and products and have significant unintended consequences for consumers and businesses.
The company has vowed to appeal the judge’s ruling and says it will respond in detail to the DOJ’s ultimate proposals when it makes its case in court next year.
Biden Rebuffs Claims Against Florida Governor
President Joe Biden says that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has been “cooperative” with the federal government. His comment earlier this week follows Vice President Kamala Harris’s accusation that DeSantis did not answer her phone call ahead of the hurricane.So you know, on Monday, Harris told reporters that DeSantis was being “utterly irresponsible” by not speaking with her in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which made landfall in Florida last month.
In response, DeSantis said that he was unaware that Harris attempted to contact him. He went on to say that he’s worked on hurricanes under both Biden and former President Donald Trump. He also said that she’s never called him regarding any of the storms they’ve had since she’s been vice president and that the vice president isn’t part of the chain of command for storm assistance.
Meanwhile, Biden said that DeSantis has received everything that he needs from the White House, along with his personal phone number if DeSantis needs to reach him directly.
With Hurricane Helene, Biden said, there may have been a rough start in some places; but every governor from Florida to North Carolina “has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this team is doing,” the president said.
DeSantis agreed, saying the federal government has provided all the resources needed to deal with the storm.
One final note. Milton is expected to put hundreds of miles of coastline within the storm-surge danger zone, and the area placed under hurricane warnings is home to more than 9.3 million residents.
Oregon Faces Ranked-Choice Ballot
A yes vote for Measure 117 means voters would not just select their favorite candidate in future elections, but also select their second, third, and fourth favorites. It’s called ranked-choice voting and proponents of ranked-choice voting say it provides better representation because winners are said to have a broad base of voter support, even if they weren’t a voter’s first choice. Critics say that ranked-choice voting is complicated, costly, hard for voters to understand, and inhibits voter participation and leads to ballot errors.Like most other states, Oregonians currently use plurality voting, where candidates do not need a majority to win.
However, in ranked-choice voting elections, voters rank candidates from their most to least preferred. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes in the first round, vote counting moves to round two. The candidate with the least number of first-choice votes is removed, and their ballots are reallocated to the candidate who was the second choice on those ballots. The process continues until a candidate achieves a majority.
So you know, should Measure 117 pass, Oregonians would use ranked-choice voting to select the president, U.S. senators, and congressional representatives, as well as statewide executive positions including governor, secretary of state, treasurer, and attorney general. The law would also authorize cities, counties, school districts, and other jurisdictions to use ranked-choice voting for local elections if they choose.
One final note. Because Oregon voters are unfamiliar with ranked-choice voting, Measure 117, should it pass, would allow four years for election officials to educate the public before it takes effect in 2028.
Nearly 10 Million Pounds of Meat Recalled
According to the federal government’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, Oklahoma-based BrucePac is pulling meat items across the country due to concerns they may be contaminated with the listeria monocytogenes bacteria.Just under 10 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry are being recalled, according to a statement issued by the Food Safety and Inspection Service yesterday.
You should know that food contaminated with listeria can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns.
So you know, the possibly contaminated products were manufactured between June 19 and Oct. 8. They were shipped to distributors and other establishments, eventually ending up at restaurants and institutions throughout the country. BrucePac advises customers to throw away those products or return them to the place of purchase.
By the way, the contamination risk was discovered after the Food Safety and Inspection Service conducted routine testing of BrucePac products and found that these items tested positive for listeria monocytogenes.
Interesting to note, multiple firms have pulled their products from the market due to listeria fears in recent months. This past July, Virginia-based Boar’s Head Provisions recalled 200,000 pounds of liverwurst and other deli meats, and later recalled an additional 7 million pounds of products.
That same month, Al-Safa pulled more than 2,000 pounds of imported frozen ready-to-eat chicken products, also over listeria contamination concerns.
New Reality Strikes America’s Housing Industry
There are already serious costs surrounding construction, including high interest and insurance rates, but now, contractors say there’s a serious lack of skilled construction workers and specialty trade contractors. That includes plumbers, welders, electricians, and HVAC technicians.So, as the nation continues to need more affordable housing, the rush is on to find skilled tradespeople to help meet the nation’s building needs.
You should know that, according to data used by the Home Builders Institute, we’ll reach a nationwide deficit of 1.5 million homes in the second part of this decade.
However, Paul Flynn, director of workforce development for the National Electrical Contractors Association, says answers solving the skilled worker deficit are hard to find, calling it the million-dollar question.
He points to weather as another factor in some parts of the country, since major weather events, like hurricanes, require electrical contractors, and with so few available, priorities dictate their attention away from new home builders. Flynn says they’re competing with everyone for workers right now and he’s never seen anything like this in his career.
As a result, he says that the building industry has to slow down expectations of meeting the needs of Americans desperate for more affordable housing.
So you know, according to the National Association of Home Builder’s economic outlook, the average annual number of occupational openings in construction is around 723,000 a year. Any increase in available workers will depend on the younger generation’s interest in filling the gap for retiring specialty contractors.
Interesting to note, due to the combined shortage of skilled workers and people expected to enter the job market in 3 years, the National Electrical Contractors Association is reaching out to immigrants. A third of construction trade workers were foreign-born in 2022, and Flynn says they’re making efforts to rebuild the immigrant workforce in the electrical contractor industry.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Thursday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
*(Don’t forget the News Brief Motto): We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from fitness guru Jack LaLanne, who said: “Your health account, your bank account, they’re the same thing. The more you put in, the more you can take out. Exercise is king and nutrition is queen. Together you have a kingdom.”
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program was written today by Sharon Reardon.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your Thursday, and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of The Epoch Times News Brief. For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
