Daily Digest for January 19 & Recommended Weekend Reads

We scour 100+ sources so you don't have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more - all packaged in a 5-minute read below.
 

Amazon Reveals HQ2 Shortlist.
Amazon announced 20 cities as potential homes for the company's planned second US headquarters, narrowing the list from 238 proposals. The shortlist includes the largest metro areas (New York City, Chicago, Dallas) and up-and-coming tech hubs (Raleigh, Austin, Nashville). In addition to tax breaks and incentives, criteria included metro areas of over one million people, room to grow, and the ability to attract top tech talent (see where US tech talent is located). Whoever lands HQ2 will see a projected $5B in direct investment from the company, with at least 50,000 new jobs created. See the full list, and for some added color check out this recent profile (paywall) of Amazon Founder - and world's richest person - Jeff Bezos.

Government Shutdown Hangs on Senate Vote.
The US Senate will need to vote on a short-term spending bill today in order to avoid a federal government shutdown after the House passed a bill to fund operations through February 16th. To pass a spending bill the GOP will need 60 votes - meaning it will need to woo at least 9 Democrats given its 51-49 majority. Spending bills usually offer the minority party a chance to gain at least one major concession - in this case the GOP was planning on offering an extension of the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which would be hard for Democrats to turn down and prevent a demand for making the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (aka "dreamers") permanent. President Trump threw a curve ball yesterday, saying CHIP should not be attached to a short-term spending bill, dimming the chances of a Senate agreement. While it sounds bad, here's what actually happens during a shutdown. 

US Women Waiting Longer to Have Children
A new study showed that while the US fertility rate continues a downward trend, more women are having children later in life. The data, from Pew Research, revealed that women are delaying motherhood through their early twenties, with the share of women ages 40 to 44 who are mothers rising from 80% to 86% over the past decade. A dramatic increase was seen in women with post-graduate degrees with children, rising from 65% to 80%. The overall fertility rate - the number of births per 1,000 women - dropped by about 1% between 2015 and 2016 (though there are different ways to measure fertility).
 

> New Queen B: Cardi B passes Beyonce as first woman with five songs in Top 10 of Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart (More)
> Michael Douglas accused of sexual harassment by former employee (More)
> LeBron James, Stephen Curry lead NBA All-Star Game voting & will serve as captains; Rest of starters revealed (More)
 

> Scientists inch closer to "holy grail" of cancer screening, cheap blood test detects eight common cancers between 70% and 98% efficacy rate (More)
> Gold nanoparticles and DNA combine to make structures that can bend light, may have use in cloaking devices (More)
> NASA says long-term warming trend continued in 2017, average temps were 1.68 degrees above 1951-1980 mean (More)
 

> IBM revenues increase for the first time in 23 quarters, beats Wall Street estimates (More)
> US jobless claims - new Americans filing for unemployment - fall to lowest in 45 years (More)
> Facebook adds first African-American Board Member, former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault (More)
 

> Supreme Court puts temporary hold on lower court order to redraw NC congressional map over too much gerrymandering (More)
> India successfully tests nuclear-capable ballistic missile, most of Europe and Asia within range (More)
> California couple who shackled 13 children to beds charged with child abuse and torture, face life in prison (More)

ESPN | John Barr and Dan Murphy. How Larry Nassar - accused of sexually abusing over 140 women as the USA Gymnastics team doctor - was surrounded by enabling adults, including the leadership of Michigan State University. (Read)

Editor's Note: Check out The Ringer's look at Nassar for a second read on the story.
 

How Did it All Go Wrong at Uber?

Is Everything We Think We Know About Depression Wrong?

Britain appoints a new minister of loneliness to tackle the "sad reality of modern life".
See the top Netflix shows by state.

The Situation (of MTV's Jersey Shore fame) pleads guilty to tax fraud, faces up to 15 years.

Nintendo's new accessories are made out of cardboard.

Amazing art installation captures the flow of time with 100,000 paper cut-outs.

Doggos: WWII hero dog that attacked machine-gun nest gets posthumous medal.

Prince William comes to terms with baldness, buzzes hair. 

Clickbait: Fed up with the living, Irish woman marries 300-year-old pirate ghost (legally). 

Historybook: Robert E. Lee born (1807); HBD Edgar Allan Poe (1809); HBD Dolly Parton (1946); Iran hostage crisis ends as 52 Americans are released after 444 days (1981).

"STORMS MAKE TREES TAKE DEEPER ROOTS."
-Dolly Parton
 

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