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$15 Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty But Cost Jobs, CBO Says : NPR

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would increase wages for at least 17 million people, but also put 1.4 million Americans out of work, according to a study by the Congressional Budget Office released on Monday.

A phase-in of a $15 minimum wage would also lift some 900,000 out of poverty, according to the nonpartisan CBO. This higher federal minimum could raise wages for an additional 10 million workers who would otherwise make sightly above that wage rate, the study found.

Potential job losses were estimated to affect 0.9 percent of workers, the CBO wrote, adding: "Young, less educated people would account for a disproportionate share of those reductions in employment."
SVGZ Graphic: lt2025

A New Pickup Truck Emoji Is Headed to Your Smartphone in 2020

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A New Pickup Truck Emoji Is Headed to Your Smartphone in 2020

n the middle of last year, Ford Motor Company introduced the idea of a pickup truck emoji. The Detroit automaker even proposed its own design, petitioning the United Consortium for its addition to the list of approved emojis for 2020. Now, it looks like these requests have been granted more or less as a generic pickup joins 116 other new emoticons in the forthcoming update.

This clearly isn't the world's most pressing issue, but at least everyone's cars won't be lumped together as a small blue crossover anymore. Instead, truck fans will soon be able to select the little red regular-cab to show their affinity for pickups or, perhaps, to just get their point across a little more clearly.

Emojipedia released the OK'd design this week, showcasing a universal two-door that's not quite the same as Ford's initially suggested creation.
Map: Green Mountain National Forest North

Goats and Soda : NPR

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Why Did COVID-19 Cases Dramatically Decline In India? : Goats and Soda : NPR

Last September, India was confirming nearly 100,000 new coronavirus cases a day. It was on track to overtake the United States to become the country with the highest reported COVID-19 caseload in the world. Hospitals were full. The Indian economy nosedived into an unprecedented recession.

But four months later, India's coronavirus numbers have plummeted. Late last month, on Jan. 26, the country's Health Ministry confirmed a record low of about 9,100 new daily cases — in a country of nearly 1.4 billion people. It was India's lowest daily tally in eight months. On Monday, India confirmed about 11,000 cases.