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Uber, Lyft making record profits as consumers pay high prices

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Uber and Lyft are boasting record profits as both companies say they are aggressively recruiting drivers to fill a void created by the pandemic.

Since the pandemic, rideshare costs have exploded across the country. Uber and Lyft — the two largest rideshare companies in the United States that are responsible for 90% of the market — say many drivers left the platform early in the pandemic due to concerns about the risk of contracting COVID-19. Others shifted to food delivery, which some considered a safer alternative because there’s less human contact.

Those driver shortages have led to surging costs per ride and increased wait times, the companies said.

But despite those challenges, both Uber and Lyft recently recorded their best financial performances as the companies report a new increase in drivers — and riders.

Lyft CEO Logan Green said the company’s revenue increased 73% compared with the same time period in 2020, while Uber’s revenue increased 67%.

While many office workers continue to work from home, others who are returning to the office and previously used public transit have shifted to ridesharing to limit contact with others.

Lyft reported an increase of 2 million more riders during the third quarter, and Uber CFO Nelson Chai said as of October, Uber has recovered about 85% of its pre-pandemic business.

On airport rides, Uber has recovered 67% of its business, Chai said. Air travel, which was decimated by the pandemic, has started to return, as the third quarter of 2021 saw the most daily passengers since 2019. The demand for rides also has increased among those venturing out for dining and entertainment.

Along with that rising demand, Lyft reported a 45% increase in drivers compared with the same period last year, while Uber said it has increased its drivers by 65% since January. Both Uber and Lyft have created driver incentive programs to attract and retain drivers.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Thursday that the company is bouncing back faster than other transportation providers in spite of increased costs for consumers using rideshare services.

“We have come back from the pandemic faster than almost any other mode of transportation despite higher pricing,” Khosrowshahi said during a quarterly earnings call. “Now, we don’t necessarily want that to be a permanent fixture, but I do think with the increased cost of labor, and frankly inflation and the increased cost of everything, I do think that prices are going to be up on a year on year basis, and as a marketplace we get a take of that.”

While the companies both previously had said they expected ride costs to drop by the end of the year, the price increases are holding steady. Rakuten Intelligence, a company that collects and analyzes e-commerce data, said in a study of credit card receipts that costs were up 40% compared with pre-pandemic costs.

Both Uber and Lyft posted record third quarter profits, which started July 1 and ended Sept. 30. On Nov. 2, Lyft posted an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) profit of $67.3 million. In the previous quarter, April 1 through June 30, Lyft posted an adjusted EBITDA of $23.8 million, its first profit. Uber recorded its first adjusted EBITDA profit of $8 million, up from a second-quarter loss of $507 million.

Both Uber and Lyft project increased profits in the fourth quarter.

Customers are still adjusting to the price increases and wait times. In San Francisco, Mary Ann Jones, who runs a nonprofit social services agency less than a half mile from Uber’s headquarters, told ABC News her rideshare expenses have increased dramatically.

“I’m paying significantly more to get where I need to go,” said Jones, who is walking when possible rather than hailing rides. “The surges are ridiculous.”

Jones said she’s had to pay as much as $40 to travel two miles.

Despite returning business and driver increases, drivers say the funds are not trickling down to them.

The rideshare companies, however, say driver earnings are approaching peak levels.

“Driver earnings remain near all time highs due to increased utilization,” Khosrowshahi said during the Nov. 4 earnings call.

ABC-TV comedy inspired by Alanis Morissette’s life in development

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

While some of the things that Alanis Morissette has experienced in her career seem like no laughing matter, she’s teaming with ABC to develop a comedy based on her life, Deadline reports.

Alanis is serving as an executive producer for the show, which called Relatable, and she’ll also write original music for it. The show focuses on a 40-something married woman with three kids who spent her early years as a rock star famous for her “anthems of female rage and teen angst” — sound like anyone you know? The comedy will apparently arise from her inability to get her children to listen to her.

The characters, according to Deadline, are “fictional and non-biographical,” though Alanis’ life will “loosely inform” the show.

A documentary on Alanis will also air later this month on HBO, though the singer has publicly denounced the film.

Ticket sales for Billy Joel’s Houston show put on hold following Astroworld concert disaster

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Billy Joel announced last week that tickets for his show on September 23, 2022, at Houston’s Minute Maid Park would go on sale this Friday. However, those plans have now been put on hold following the tragedy at this weekend’s Astroworld festival, which left eight people dead and hundreds more injured.

“Out of respect for the Houston community after the events at Astroworld on Friday, organizers for the upcoming Billy Joel concert scheduled for Minute Maid Park in Houston…announced they are delaying the on sale until further notice,” reads a statement on Billy’s website. “Organizers will provide an update shortly on when ticket sales will begin.”

On Friday night in Houston, the Astroworld festival, organized by and featuring rap superstar Travis Scott, ended in disaster when the crowd of 50,000 surged forward; many fans were crushed or trampled and multiple people collapsed.

The concert’s promoter reportedly agreed to halt the show, but Scott continued to play. Two concertgoers have already filed lawsuits in the festival’s aftermath as of early Monday.

Scott has said he’ll pay funeral costs for the victims, and will provide refunds for anyone who bought tickets to the event. He described himself as “absolutely devastated” by the tragedy, and said he is “working closely with everybody to get to the bottom of this.”

France returning 26 looted treasures back to Benin

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(PARIS) — Twenty-six looted royal treasures will return to their country of origin this week after nearly 130 years of French ownership, as debate continues over repatriating artifacts.

The pieces were looted following the war fought by France against the Kingdom of Dahomey, a former African kingdom situated in the south of present-day Benin, during the height of French colonialism in Africa.

On Nov. 17, 1892, French troops took over a palace in the city of Abomey, causing King Béhanzin to flee, leaving behind a set of royal objects the French took.

The works — including carved wooden doors, royal thrones and statues — had been on display in French museums since 1900. They will be returned to Benin in the course of the week.

French President Emmanuel Macron formalized the return of the looted treasures during a ceremony at the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum in Paris, where the pieces have been held since 2003, in late October, citing the need to “give African youth back access to their heritage.”

Macron is expected to meet Benin’s President Patrice Talon on Nov. 9 to sign the transfer treaty, allowing the works to be transported to Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin, and be shown to the public there.

The exhibition of looted treasures has been a cause for debate for many hundreds of years. Centuries ago, Greek statesman Polybius exhorted the victors of the future “not to make the calamities of others the adornment of their homeland.”

Today, the debate over the restitution of artifacts looted during colonization is in full swing. Just last month, a University of Cambridge college returned one of the artifacts looted by British soldiers known as a Benin Bronze to Nigeria.

Benin authorities had repeatedly demanded the return of the national treasures from France without success. In 2016, the French government refused Benin’s requests, arguing that France was also attached to the circulation and protection of heritage and was not legally obligated to return the pieces.

But in November 2018, Macron announced the decision to return 26 pieces of the treasure of Abomey. The process to get to this point since then has included a cycle of conferences and an exhibit in Paris.

The works, including a prestigious royal chair of Yoruba kings adorned by two floors of sculpted and painted figures, were on display at the Quai Branly Museum for the final time last month before making their journey home.

According to the museum, this farewell exhibition was “highly successful,” with over 15,000 visitors in one week. Following their return to Benin, the precious objects will be integrated into the Museum of the Epic of the Amazons and the Kings of Danhomè that is being built in in Abomey.

Benin’s Foreign Minister Aurelien Agbenonci rejoiced that “France and Benin are showing the world an example of museum and heritage cooperation through this restitution.”

But critics of restitution argue that decisions like this are a “Pandora’s box” that could lead to the emptying of European museums.

According to some experts, the scale of colonial spoliations in Africa is considerable.

“Statistically, I think we can say by adding up the inventories of African national museums, which hover around 3,000 or 5,000 when they are large collections, that 90 to 95% of African heritage is outside the continent in major museums,” Alain Godonou, director of the museums program at the National Heritage and Tourism Development Agency of Benin, said at a 2007 UNESCO Forum on Memory and Universality.

In order to proceed with the transfer of the Benin artworks, a new law was passed by France’s Parliament in December 2020 to make it legal to return cultural artifacts seen as properties of the French state.

Bénédicte Savoy, whose research helped lead to this restitution, highlighted the international resonance of the decision, comparing it to “the fall of the Berlin wall” as he hopes for similar reflections in other European museums.

“This restitution is a major event in the history of the 21st century,” Savoy told ABC News. “Its importance cannot be underestimated.”

Yet, others are downplaying France’s move, suspecting more delaying tactics on other artifacts.

Congolese activist Mwazulu Diyabanza told ABC News, “We are awaiting a declaration of principles whereby France and its Western counterparts will recognize the crimes committed and return without any form of trial everything they have stolen and forcibly taken.”

He added, “It is not up to the thief, the prevaricator, and the dealer to decide when and how much of the works to be returned.”

Director Patty Jenkins’ schedule grounds ‘Star Wars’ movie ‘Rogue Squadron’

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Like New York’s JFK airport at rush hour, it’s too busy for the pilots of Rogue Squadron to take off. Wonder Woman series director Patty Jenkins‘ schedule has reportedly scrubbed the Star Wars story from Disney’s release slate, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s not known what the conflict was, the trade points out; Jenkins is reportedly involved in a movie about Cleopatra, and a third Wonder Woman film is in the works as well.

As previously reported, the exploits of the elite Rebel Alliance pilots were seen in a book series, and in video games.

Jenkins’ involvement was announced at a Disney Investors Day event in 2020; the filmmaker appeared in a short film in which she called the project a tribute to her late father, who was a fighter pilot.

The film would have been the next big-screen Star Wars project for Disney-owned Lucasfilm since 2019’s Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, and would have made Jenkins the first female to direct a big-screen Star Wars film.

On the small screen, female directors including Deborah Chow and Bryce Dallas Howard have called the shots on episodes of The Mandalorian; Chow, a veteran of Breaking Bad and other acclaimed series, also directed another Disney+ Star Wars show, the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Astroworld Festival timeline: How the tragedy unfolded

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(HOUSTON) — It took just minutes for a crowd of concertgoers to transform into a deadly melee that killed several people during the Astroworld music festival.

Rapper Travis Scott, the founder of the festival, which is named after his 2018 album, continued to perform as multiple people in the audience suffered medical emergencies.

Eight people died in the chaos after the crowd, filled with 50,000 people, rushed toward the stage during Scott’s set. Dozens more were transported to the hospital with injuries.

Scott has a history of inciting crowds at performances and was charged for it twice in recent years.

Here is how the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival unfolded:

Aug. 1, 2015

Scott was arrested on charges of inciting a crowd to jump barriers at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine, according to officials.

May 13, 2017

Scott was arrested in Rogers, Arkansas, after prompting fans at the Walmart Music Pavilion to breach barricades and overrun security. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and paid a fine.

Nov. 17, 2018

The inaugural Astroworld Festival took place in Scott’s hometown of Houston at the 350-acre NRG Park.

Nov. 9, 2019

A “similar incident” to the crowd surge took place at the 2019 festival, when fans breached barricades, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told reporters over the weekend. Nearly 100 extra event security personnel were added for this year’s event, Hidalgo said.

Oct. 26

Scott announced the lineup for the 2021 Astroworld Festival, which included performances by Young Thug, SZA, Lil Baby, Earth, Wind & Fire, Master P and 21 Savage.

Friday

Around 9:30 p.m.: The crowd “began to compress toward the front of the stage,” Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told reporters.

San Antonio resident Fatima Munoz, 21, described a “domino effect” that took place: “I had fell right on the floor, and that’s when everybody started tumbling down, and I tried so hard to get up,” she said on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here.” “There’s just too much people like on me, like those legit dog pile on me. I was on the floor. Nobody helped. I tried screaming for my life. I tried screaming for help.”

Scott continued his set. In the middle of his performance, Scott stood and told the crowd, “Somebody passed out right here,” an Apple Music livestream of the event showed.

Some 300 people were treated by medical personnel on site, authorities said. Another 25 were transported to the hospital.

Saturday

The remainder of the festival was canceled.

Scott released a statement on Instagram, saying he was “absolutely devastated by what took place” the night before.

The first lawsuit against Scott was filed in Harris County, Texas.

Thirteen people remained in the hospital, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said.

Sunday

Kylie Jenner posted to her Instagram story that Scott was not aware of any fatalities and would have not continued performing had he known.

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner had previously expressed concerns when he met with Scott and his head of security to discuss the main event, Finner said in a statement.

Monday

Scott announced he will provide full refunds for all attendees who bought tickets to Astroworld and that he will not perform at the Day N Vegas Festival this upcoming weekend, sources said.

The FBI is providing “some forms of technical assistance” to investigators in Houston, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Monday at a Department of Justice news conference when asked by ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas whether the bureau was involved.

Identities of all of the victims were released. A prayer vigil for the victims was held at the Annunciation Catholic Church in Houston.

ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Jenna Harrison, Bill Hutchinson, Alexander Mallin and Stephanie Wash contributed to this report.

Matt Damon to give the “gift of time” this season through his non-profit Water.org and Stella Artois

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Matt Damon and his non-profit Water.org have teamed up with brewing company Stella Artois for a holiday campaign looking to “give the gift of time” to women struggling for the basic necessity of clean water.

The campaign highlights that 771 million people live without access to safe water, and very often women are the ones bearing the brunt, spending countless hours a year searching for and carrying water for their families.

The charity the Oscar winner co-founded “has positively transformed more than 38 million lives around the world with access to safe water or sanitation,” and with some holiday gifts from the Anheuser-Busch-owned brand, you can help spread the wealth.

This holiday season, every Stella Artois product you purchase will provide at lease one month of safe water to a person in the developing world, the campaign’s organizers promise. Additionally, the purchase of one of the Water.org’s branded chalices will fund at least five years’ worth of safe water for one person in need.

Damon is also featured in a spot highlighting the initiative.

“When I think about the holidays, what comes to mind is time with family and friends,” the Last Duel star said in a statement. “This campaign with Stella Artois is about giving women around the world time back. This is one of the many reasons I think the work we do is so important. Creating time for family is what access to safe water at home can do.”

Harris heads to Paris to soothe tensions with French after ‘submarine snub’

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(PARIS) — Vice President Kamala Harris is set to travel to France late Monday, a high-profile visit following President Joe Biden’s efforts to soothe tensions with America’s oldest ally in the wake of controversy over a nuclear submarine deal that Biden described as “clumsy.”

Harris is scheduled to have a one-on-one meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. She will also participate in two international summits, and attend ceremonial events on Nov. 11 to mark Veterans Day in the U.S. and Armistice Day in France, observing the end of World War I. The trip will be Harris’s third venture outside of the U.S. as vice president, giving her the diplomatic opportunities often afforded to vice presidents, but scarce her tenure thus far due to the pandemic.

“This visit from the vice president really signals the strength of our alliances as our nations work together to advance prosperity, security and stability,” a senior administration official said on a call with reporters ahead of the trip.

The visit comes nearly two months after the U.S. rolled out a partnership with Australia to share nuclear submarine technology, leading Australia to cancel a $65-million submarine order with the French. With French officials, including Macron, seemingly blindsided by the deal, the French ambassador was temporarily recalled from Washington.

President Biden, sitting down with Macron on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Rome, said publicly that U.S. handling of the submarine deal “was clumsy.”

“It was not done with a lot of grace,” Biden admitted. “I was under the impression certain things had happened that hadn’t happened. And uh, but uh, I want to make it clear. France is an extremely, extremely valued partner.”

Now, Harris will continue to drive home that message, attending a dinner at Elysee Palace in addition to the bilateral meeting with Macron.

Administration officials would not say on a briefing call with reporters whether a lower-level official would have gone on this trip if it were not for the rift between Macron and the U.S. over the “submarine snub.”

“I don’t have a crystal ball here. I’m not going to play the ‘what if’ game,” a senior administration official said. “There are things that happened three months ago that I would not have predicted three months before that, but I can tell you as the vice president is looking forward to this trip. This trip is extremely important.”

In addition to sitting down with Macron one-on-one, Harris will participate in the Paris Peace Forum, focusing on global health in a post-pandemic world, and she’ll attend the Libya Conference, meeting with 20 heads of state to encourage an end to violence in Libya and open democratic elections on Dec. 24.

While in Paris, Harris will also mark Armistice Day in France and Veterans Day in the U.S. by visiting Surenes, an American World War I military cemetery in France. On the day of arrival, Harris will visit the Institute Pasteur to see the work of French scientists combatting COVID-19. That visit will be particularly special, given Harris’s mother conducted breast cancer research at the institute in the 1980s.

The Libya Conference promises to be especially thorny. Co-hosted by Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the conference is meant to acknowledge that after a tough decade after the fall of Qaddafi, civil war and violence, an election offers hope, a senior administration official said. European leaders are especially invested in creating the conditions for peace in Libya, in order to stem the tide of migrants to the European mainland.

“The vice president thinks it’s important for the United States to be at that table. And to lend our support for legitimate and effective elections that lead to international consensus on not just having these legitimate, effective elections, but bringing into power a government that Libya wants and getting the foreign forces out of the country. So that’s why she’s going to be there with that important message from the United States,” a senior administration official said.

The second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, will also travel to Paris, and participate in independent events focused on gender equality, sports diplomacy, and educational exchanges.

Jan. 6 committee subpoenas senior Trump aides, 2020 campaign manager

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Monday issued six new subpoenas to senior Trump campaign officials and advisers, including campaign manager Bill Stepien and spokesman Jason Miller.

The panel also subpoenaed conservative attorney John Eastman for records and documents. According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s recent book, he aggressively lobbied Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results from his ceremonial post in the House on Jan. 6 — when he presided over the counting of electoral votes.

The committee also subpoenaed former national security adviser Michael Flynn, one of the prominent voices around Trump after the election who publicly called on the president to take drastic actions to overturn the results.

The panel has asked all six individuals to turn over records by Nov. 23 and appear for depositions between Dec. 3 and Dec. 13.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Elton John is now the oldest person ever to top the Australian charts

November 8, 2021 by WDNY Radio

After topping the charts in this native Britain, Elton John’s “Cold Heart” — his collaboration with Dua Lipa and Australia’s Pnau — has now hit number one in Australia, and it’s earned him yet another chart record.

As Billboard notes, Elton is now, at 74 years and seven months, the oldest person ever to top the official Australian singles chart. The previous record-holder was Paul McCartney, who was 72 when he hit number one with the 2015 song “FourFiveSeconds,” a collaboration with Rihanna and Kanye West.

“Cold Heart” is also Elton’s first number-one in Australia since 1997’s “Something About the Way You Look Tonight”/”Candle in the Wind 1997.” He’s had three there overall. Meanwhile, it’s Dua’s first Australian number one, and the first for Pnau as well.

“Cold Heart” is from Elton’s album The Lockdown Sessions, which features collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and other artists.

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