Despite traffic coming to a screeching halt in 2020, the United States recorded 8% more traffic deaths than in 2019

42,060 people died in car accidents in the US. When controlling for the quantity of driving, the roads were 24% more fatal in 2020

Americans drove 13% fewer miles, yet it was the deadliest year since 2007

Experts say the cause was more fat and reckless driving on relatively uncrowded roads, combined with increased drug and alcohol abuse

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that he will not step down after 3 women accused him of sexual harassment

Cuomo, who is in his third term, said, “I wasn’t elected by politicians. I was elected by the people of the state of New York. I’m not going to resign”

The 3 aides made various allegations against him, including that he asked to play strip poker, made inappropriate comments, and gave one a kiss

Cuomo said that he "learned an important lesson," and understands his mistakes. The state attorney general is now investigating him

President Biden announced that he expects all Americans will have access to the Covid vaccine by May

This comes after the approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and an announcement that J&J would partner with its competitor Merck to produce more shots

Before, Biden had said he expected total shot availability by July

"Today’s announcements are a huge step in our effort to beat this pandemic," he said

Large chains in Texas are going to continue requiring patrons to wear masks, despite the Governor's ending of all mask mandates

Earlier this week, Governor Greg Abbott announced the "100%" opening of Texas. President Biden called the decision a "big mistake"

Starbucks, Hyatt Hotels, CVS, and Target have all announced that they will be keeping mask mandates in place

All state Covid restrictions will end by March 10. Since September, businesses have operated at up to 75% capacity, with a statewide mask mandate

Exxon Mobil, one of the world's largest fossil fuel companies, announced that it is launching a branch dedicated to capturing and storing carbon

Exxon has been heavily criticized for its contributions to climate change and seen as resistant to climate change concerns

Until now Exxon has maintained that investing in carbon-capture tech, which removes fossil fuel-produced carbon from the atmosphere, has not made economic sense

Yesterday, Exxon said that they expect the carbon capture market to hit $2T by 2040, and that carbon capture will become to most cost-effective way to reduce emissions

Almost exactly 1 year after lockdowns began, Lyft announced that the last week of February was their best since then

Ridesharing companies like Lyft and Uber have been crushed by the pandemic, as social events and office work came to a halt

While Uber has benefited from its role in the food delivery space with Uber Eats, Lyft hasn't had the same cushion

Even so, Uber's stock is up 60% over the last year, and Lyft's is up 50%

Yesterday, Instagram announced a new group-streaming feature called "live rooms," which will allow groups of up to 4 to live-stream together

The move is seen as a response to Clubhouse's growing popularity. On Clubhouse, groups of users can hold public conversations, which their followers can join

Beyond Clubhouse, celebrities and politicians have taken to group streaming on YouTube and Twitch during the pandemic

"We hope that doubling up on Live will open up more creative opportunities - start a talk show, host a jam session or co-create with other artists," Insta said in a statement

Last week, stocks dropped as investors moved to safer assets

That trend was reversed yesterday, with US markets having their best day in about 9 months

With an economic rebound on the horizon, investors are facing uncertainty about how to respond

Many stocks have benefited from low interest rates over the last year. With low interest rates, stocks are relatively more attractive than leaving money in bonds or banks

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced a new plan to have companies create cities and run them on cryptocurrencies

Sisolak has dubbed these cities “Innovation Zones," where companies would use the newest tech to run everything from the schools to the government

The zones would require companies to invest $1B over 10 years and acquire 50,000 acres of connected uninhabited land

“Companies can collaborate on a future together that would make Nevada not just a national but global leader in Blockchain technology," Sisolak said

Last week was Bitcoin's worst since March, with It dropping over 9% after hitting an all-time high of $58k last Sunday

The crypto continued to fall over the weekend, bottoming out at $43.2k last night

Appearing to drive the dip was a broader sell-off of assets, including stocks and bonds

Elon Musk's statement last week that the price of Bitcoin seemed "high" may have also played a role

ByteDance has settled for $92M over allegations that TikTok illegally collected teenage users' data

The accusers alleged that TikTok wrongly took personal information from minors, including face scans

There were 21 class action law suits filed against TikTok representing teens across the United States

The attorneys had alleged that TikTok collected children's data to target advertising and content in a way that was illegal

The GameStop saga isn't quite over, with the stock jumping over 100% yesterday

Driving the jump was a shake-up at the company. On Tuesday, GameStop announced that the company's CFO was resigning

Trading of the stock was stopped yesterday after it jumped 103.9%. After the market closed, it jumped another 83%

GameStop is reportedly replacing its CFO with someone with a tech background in an attempt to boost the struggling company's online sales

At the company's annual shareholder meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook said they have acquired about 100 companies over the last 6 years

At that rate, Apple has been acquiring companies every 3 to 4 weeks on average since 2014

Cook said the acquisitions are generally to acquire talent and tech, which it often then incorporates into Apple products

Apple's notable acquisitions include companies like Beats Headphones and Shazam, the music identification app

Tesla stock fell 8.6% on Monday in its worst day since September, wiping over $15B off Elon Musk's net worth. The stock fell from $781 to $652 between Friday and Tuesday morning

Tesla stock surged over 700% last year and an additional 25% to start 2021, but lost nearly all of this year's gains on Monday

Musk's net worth peaked at $210B in January, at which point he surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world's richest person

Since then, Musk and Bezos have been trading spots at the top of the rich list

Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr, head of the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation, has said that Jeep "does not honor us by having our name plastered on a car"

“I think we’re in a day and age in this country where it’s time for both corporations and team sports to retire the use of Native American names, images, and mascots," Hoskin said

This is the first time the tribe has asked for Jeep to change the name since the vehicle launched in the 1970s

A Jeep spokesperson said that the car celebrates "Native American people for their nobility, prowess and pride”, and didn't comment on if they company would change the name

Amazon is set to pay up to $1B per year to secure exclusive rights to Thursday night NFL games beginning in 2023

The games would be available only on local TV in the teams' markets, and on Amazon streaming

Amazon has been aggressively trying to enter the sports streaming market, and has been streaming some Thursday night games in conjunction with Fox

Fox, NBC, and CBS are all set to resign contracts with the NFL, too. They are each expected to pay about $2B a season over the next decade, up from roughly $1B today

How do you win 7 Super Bowls? Only one player in history claims 7 rings (nobody has even 6), and it's Tom Brady. We just got another glimpse into his mentality that has taken him to 7

Brady reportedly called the Bucs QBs coach just hours after leaving the Bucs postgame party on Super Bowl Monday to talk about next season

The coach, Clyde Christensen, recalls Brady saying, "I was just sitting here thinking, and I think we can really be better next year. I think we’re going to be a better team"

Brady was already thinking about his eighth ring just hours after winning his seventh. He thinks the Bucs will have the horses to do so

Alabama's athletic director Greg Byrne announced the Crimson Tide's plan to have full-capacity home football games this fall

The SEC paved the way for all major football conferences to compete this past fall during the Covid-stricken season

Bama's home stadium, Bryant-Denny, has a capacity of 101,821. They plan to fill every seat this year

Their biggest home game is against the LSU Tigers on November 6. Good luck finding an empty seat for that one!

A report by the Wall Street Journal has shown that pandemic lockdowns have led to a dramatic dip in some countries' birth rates, worsening many countries already low birth rates

Demographers had to wait until at least January (9 months after lockdowns began) to begin analyzing the impact on birth rates

In December, France, Hungary, Japan, and Belgium all saw near 10% drops in births, relative to the year before

Italy was worst hit, recording a 21.6% drop in births. In 2020, the country saw twice as many deaths as births

The WHO has called off a report about the origins of the coronavirus amid criticism that it isn't properly investigating China's role in the outbreak

Yesterday, 24 scientists from the US and Europe published a letter criticizing the WHO for failing to sufficiently investigate the virus' origins. A WHO team visited China last month, but had limited access to data and viral research sites

The US has been pushing China to release more data about early Covid infections, and asking the WHO for more transparency in its research

Meanwhile, China has asked the WHO to investigate the US, alleging that the virus started there and arrived in Wuhan via frozen food

2 of the world's largest travel markets - the EU and China - announced that they are enacting vaccine passports

The EU expects the plan to kick in within 3 months; China's timeline isn't clear. Travelers will have to show proof of vaccination or provide a negative Covid test result

The IATA, which governs international air travel, will soon release an app where travelers can upload and verify proof of their vaccinations

The US hasn't yet said if it will enact a similar plan

Iowa resident Bradley Jon Matheny was convicted on Wednesday on seven counts of postage meter stamp forgery and three counts of export violations

Matheny operated an eBay retail business called "Mathenys" and manipulated the postal system to cut his costs

He forged stamps on 28,000 packages costing the United States Postal Office $250,000 -- his fraud could come at a price of 65 years in prison and a $2.5M fine

Matheny managed to trick the postal office for so many years by dropping off packages minutes before the post office closed

Caroline Rose Giuliani, the 32-year-old daughter of Rudy Giuliani, loves having threesomes and made this known in the pages of the Vanity Fair

Caroline now identifies as pansexual and came to better understand her sexuality through having sex with couples she met online

A graduate of Harvard and current filmmaker, Caroline seeks to remove the stigma surrounding mental health and sexuality. She herself has battled depression and anxiety most of her life

She has long been known to differ from her father's politics and voted for Biden. She disapproved of Rudy's role as President Trump's lawyer and friend

Nickelodeon is moving forward with a SpongeBob spinoff series centered on Patrick Star called "The Patrick Star Show"

The new show will debut this summer with 13 episodes and feature a young Patrick Star who lives at home with his family and starts his own TV show

Although SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, and Sandy will make guest appearances, the show will introduce new characters including Patrick's family members

Bill Fagerbakke, the longtime voice for the world's most beloved pink starfish, will continue to play Patrick