Week of September 21st, 2020

When your work is a gig instead of a job, you have fewer protections and benefits.

It’s a very silly (but sober!) edition of our Friday happy hour.

Plus: California’s gas ban, piped-in crowd noise in sports and the history of voter suppression in the United States.

Faux fan sounds can cue viewers to pay attention when they’re not completely focused on the game.

Insiders say the ban just accelerates the inevitable.

How will the world’s most populous country and its worst polluter get there?

For many of those who have now gone months without a paycheck or unemployment, things are dire.

President Trump’s recent unwillingness to comment on a peaceful transfer of power has constitutional experts and stock market strategists worried. Uncertainty tends to mean market volatility. Plus, how local businesses that depend on the economy of college sports are faring.

While lobster fishermen are surviving the pandemic summer thanks to direct sales and better than expected pricing, wholesalers and dealers are struggling.

Some of what we’re seeing might be making up for a spring in which people were stuck at home and not buying.

Economists often look to previous elections to model upcoming ones, but 2020 continues to break the mold.

People who go to sporting events at Texas A&M University usually spend more than $120 million a year.

We take a closer look at the “FinCEN Files” with one of the reporters that first got ahold of the documents. Plus, work on a new COVID-19 relief package in the House. And, a powerful Vatican official abruptly resigns.

The European Union is set to appeal Apple’s $15 billion tax bill ruling. Harley-Davidson has decided to end its manufacturing operations in India. The Olympics will go ahead but in a simplified form.

BuzzFeed senior Investigative reporter Jason Leopold talks about how and why banks have allegedly let trillions of ill-gotten money pass through their hands without taking action.

But disinformation from genuine users could be more important than foreign fake accounts.

“Normal” wasn’t so great either.

The Trump administration and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill want to change the way companies like Facebook handle problematic user posts.

More actors and crews are returning to work as production ramps up with new rules and protocols in place to keep coronavirus from spreading on sets.

One woman’s smile becomes a marker of poverty that feels impossible to escape.

Plus: free speech online, socially distanced Fashion Week and Hollywood’s comeback.

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine Wilkinson, co-editors of “All We Can Save,” want us to think differently about climate change and how to solve it.

On the runway: couture face masks, comfy clothes and home decor.

An aide familiar with the leadership discussions said the new bill would total about $2.4 trillion and is likely to contain additional relief for the airline and restaurant sectors.

Not being able to change crews on these ships is a problem for the health and safety of workers, as well as a pretty good way to clog up supply chains.

Tourism is one of Thailand’s most important industries, but it’s been hard-hit by COVID-19. A Thai tour operator describes how things are going.

We graphed (and explained) economic issues from health care coverage to median income to mortgage delinquencies.

The number of nuclear plants running everywhere on Earth is at the lowest point in three decades. Why? Plus, pleas for Congress to do more in terms of coronavirus relief. And, a status update on auto industry reopenings in Mexico.

Jobless claims have held steady at just over 800,000 in recent weeks.

The board will be able to reverse decisions to remove content from Facebook and Instagram. Plus, a ban on the sale of new gasoline-powered cars in California within 15 years. And, you know hybrid cars. What about hybrid offices?

As the auto industry reopens, unions say they are concerned about working conditions in plants.

One expert says the state may need to improve its electric grid, while manufacturers bring down prices and pick up battery production.

The next Brexit deadline is looming and it’s making businesses jittery, again. The growth of suburban work-from-home spaces. Australia’s second-biggest bank is fined more than $900 million for breaches of money-laundering laws.

Some companies are opening up office spaces in areas closer to where their employees live.

Amazon controls nearly half of the market; Oracle has less than 3%.

That’s the short answer to a bunch of our listener questions on this edition of Whadda Ya Wanna Know Wednesday.

Money is pouring in to help previously incarcerated Floridians pay off fines and fees. Plus: homeschooling, the FinCEN Files, airline bailouts and PPP fraud.

Legal challenges to the fees continue, but they’re not likely to succeed before Election Day.

Government resources can’t keep up with transactions banks flag as fishy.

Some parents, fearing COVID-19 outbreaks at reopened schools, are opting out of the traditional education system.

The industry is warning of a massive wave of layoffs if lawmakers don’t extend funding before Oct. 1.

Climbing changed Emily Taylor’s life. Now she’s trying to change climbing.

Getting that debt pardoned is a rigorous process right now. Some want to simply excuse loans under $150,000.

The IRS is sending out letters to millions of Americans who don’t typically file federal income tax returns.

It only calls for modest tweaks to the private long-term care insurance market.

The biggest factor is entrepreneurship, where inequities resulted in a $13 trillion loss.

A colossal number: $16 trillion over 20 years, due to racism in the U.S., according to a new study by Citigroup. Plus, the strength of spenders in this economy. And, fixing how we pay for long-term health care.

The announcement fell short of what investors were expecting.

Models can be especially helpful to national parties looking at where to allocate funds.

The Economist has two new forecasting models out Wednesday morning that will attempt to do just that. Plus, what’s caused Tesla’s stock to collapse. And, how Texas is trying to make it easier for some to avoid surprise medical bills.

A law passed in 2019 requires insurers and medical providers to settle payment disputes among themselves. It covers people with state-regulated plans.

The European Union is set to detail new, mandatory measures on managing migration. Australia reveals encouraging manufacturing data. How the craft beer industry is faring during the coronavirus pandemic.

Algorithms and computer vision can help people narrow choices when looking to buy a home.

Are the fires getting closer to where we live? Or are we living closer to the wildfires?

The thing is, it’s cheaper for retailers when you shop in-store.

The GOP wanted increased funds for aid programs to farmers, but opponents said similar aid has gone to big corporations at the expense of smaller farms in the past.

The wildly popular video-sharing app may be the beginning of a new era in Chinese tech.

Additional aid for farmers almost derailed the deal. Plus: TikTok, Quibi and the looming holiday shopping season.

The streamer aimed directly at millennials launched in the pandemic with much fanfare. Now it may be on the block. Any buyers?

The Trump administration is threatening to pull federal funding from the cities, which it says “have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities.”

The pandemic makes it harder. Plus, whether recent stock market gains can be attributed to faith in a COVID-19 vaccine, a preview of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s week in Washington, an update on political fundraising and Tesla’s new car batteries.

The law is meant to demand that when banks take deposits from a particular area, they also make loans there.

The pandemic has limited access to information about how to vote and what the issues are.

Peanut farmers are busy with U.S. consumption at an all-time high. Plus, the Fed looks to update the rules that ensure lower-income Americans get access to loans. And, Trump revisits the issue of social media companies with state attorneys general.

Some campaign fundraising websites saw a spike in donations after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

At home, Americans are eating a lot of peanuts. Consumption is at an all-time high.

Inside the economic fallout in the U.K. and Spain. Plus, the EU’s top court upholds France’s right to block repeated short-term property rentals. And, Clothes designer Erdem Moralioglu describes his fully digital London Fashion Week show.

The federal government has spent billions to digitize records, but sharing those records is still challenging.

BuzzFeed News published a bombshell financial investigation over the weekend. Today, we’ll start digging into what it means.

Antiquated software and a glitchy ID-verification system are among the issues that prompted the state to stop accepting new applications for two weeks.

What Oracle and Walmart (?) gets out of the deal. Plus: wildfires, meat prices and COVID-19’s impacts along racial lines in Chicago.

With the largest wildfires in history ablaze, advocates say its time to fight fire with fire.

It’s about data.

Production levels are back to normal, but there’s more meat than the industry can push through the supply chain.

Luxury camping companies are seeing a spike in profits as vacationers look for an alternative to flying and hotels.

Family members of one Black 32-year-old woman who died say they are concerned about the lack of communication from the hospital before her death.

A conversation with Gilda R. Daniels, author of “Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America.”

With congressional divisions deepening and Senate attention on the Supreme Court, it’s unlikely that we see a new COVID-19 relief package before the election. Also, Nikola’s executive chairman resigns. And, a state-by-state look at unemployment rates.

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was expected to vote to uphold the ACA.

States that rely heavily on the in-person service sector are still facing high unemployment, while farm states are seeing lower jobless rates.

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves a legacy of rulings that defined many crucial areas of American life, including economic issues. Plus, evidence of a sweeping dirty money scandal among global banks. And, the latest on TikTok.

Leaked documents reveal that criminals allegedly used a number of global banks to move about $2 trillion of dirty money around the world. Indian farmers protest new legislation which could end minimum support prices for certain crops.

Enrollment is up around 50% since last year at some companies, as more parents look for at-home schooling.