Daily Archives: December 19, 2020

Treasury yields were little changed on Friday as leaders on Capitol Hill scrambled to put the finishing touches on a U.S. stimulus deal.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was flat at 0.926%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond also held steady at 1.671%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Congress on Thursday appeared to draw closer to reaching an agreement over a coronavirus aid package, with both major parties citing progress.

Lawmakers have run short on time to pass government funding and a pandemic rescue package before federal funding lapses at 12:01 a.m. ET on Saturday.

On the data front, third-quarter currency account balance data will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, with leading index figures for November scheduled to follow slightly later in the session.

There are no major U.S. Treasury auctions scheduled on Friday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar rose just over 0.2% against a basket of currencies to trade at 90.001 on Friday, marginally above a more than two-year low.

The U.S. dollar index is down 1.28% week-to-date, on pace for its fourth negative week in five.

CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.

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Treasury yields are flat as investors monitor progress over fiscal stimulus - CNBC

The 2013 animated film The Croods, about a cave family in a fictional prehistoric era, was pretty enjoyable, made a decent amount of money and even got an Oscar nomination. It wasnt surprising that DreamWorks Animation decided to greenlight a sequel.

That it took seven years to do so is, but The Croods: A New Age got caught up in a crazy cycle of corporate acquisitions, director changes and shifting priorities. It was even flat out canceled at one point. And this all happened pre-pandemic. By the time it was released at Thanksgiving, it couldnt be seen in states (like Illinois) where theaters had to close.

The Croods: A New Age: 2.5 out of 4

But its certainly a lot of drama for a silly animated sequel thats neither terribly special nor all bad. Directing duties transferred from Chris Sanders and Kirk DeMicco to first-time director Joel Crawford. This time around we meet up with the Crood clan Grug (voice of Nicolas Cage), Ugga (Catherine Keener), Gran (Cloris Leachman), Eep (Emma Stone) and her boyfriend Guy (Ryan Reynolds) on the search for a new place to live, somewhere they dreamily refer to as Tomorrow.

And they do stumble upon a Tomorrow of sorts: a walled-in community with farming, tools and comforts, things that are wholly foreign to the rag-tag survivalist cave family. All of this progress is thanks to the not-so-subtly named Bettermans Hope (Leslie Mann), Phil (Peter Dinklage) and their daughter Dawn (Kelly Marie Tran).

The Bettermans look, to put it bluntly, like modern urban hipsters on vacation in Indonesia. With mom in a tasteful shift dress and turquoise jewelry and dad with a man-bun, sandals and an open shirt, it seemed like we were about to discover that this isnt prehistoric times at all and maybe the Croods had been living in some deranged social experiment to mimic the conditions of primitive peoples. Dont worry, they arent. Its simply that this fantastical prehistoric society has gotten even more cartoonish and over-the-top.

These two families do not mesh together particularly well, with one valuing privacy, tidiness and progress and the other being, well, crude. You can already guess the misunderstandings, the hurt feelings and where it all eventually ends up, and its a journey with a good heart. Some kids might even take some comfort in relating more to one family or another, or, as Dawn discovers, wanting what the other family has.

There is some clear imagination and talent behind this world, although the aesthetic wont be for everyone. The Bettermans home is colorful and imaginative and will no doubt be a visual feast for youngsters, especially the gadget-curious and treehouse fans. And there are some genuinely funny moments, and a bit with punch monkeys that will likely produce giggles and then, depending, a follow-up conversation about punching.

It might not be as novel as the first, but its essentially harmless, if a little chaotic, fun for kids and doesnt need to be anything more than that.

Originally posted here:

The Croods: A New Age: Progress passes by the cave family in OK sequel - Chicago Sun-Times

A shorter version of this column has been published byAxios.

There is a lot to be very worried about when it comes to vaccine hesitancy, but there are also reasons to be optimistic. The shares of hesitant groups that appear totally dug in are relatively modest for a new vaccine people have not seen administered safely in their communities, and many of the reasons people are reluctant to get vaccinated are remediable if they get more information from sources they trust.

Four groups jump out from our new KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor project as vaccine hesitant: Republicans and rural Americans the Trump base, parroting the presidents COVID denialism; Black adults, and essential workers. In every case more members of each group says they will get the vaccine than say they will not. The shares who are currently hesitant range from 42% for Republicans to 33% for essential workers.

Those are still big numbers, but it appears they can be reduced with more information. For example, 71% of Black adults who are now hesitant say its because they are worried about side effects. Once they learn they are mild and confirm that as people are vaccinated they may worry less. The same is true for the 50% of vaccine-hesitant Black adults who worry that they will actually get COVID from the vaccine, another top concern.

25% of Republicans currently say they will definitely not get the vaccine. But that leaves three quarters of Republicans who may get the vaccine under various circumstances: 28% of Republicans say they will get it as soon as possible; 33% want to wait and see; and 10% say they will get it only if its required.

Among essential workers a group that is a particularly important target of vaccination efforts because of their high risk of exposure to the virus 28% say they will get the vaccine as soon as they can and 36% want to wait and see; another 14% say theyll only get it if required for work or other activities, and 18% say they definitely will not get vaccinated. Hesitant essential workers have a variety of worries: Half (51%) are worried about side effects, and a similar percentage dont trust the government to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective (50%).

There could be setbacks if there are adverse events that receive wide press coverage that spook already apprehensive groups and these will have to be managed well by public health leaders. States will also need to allocate vaccine supply equitably to inner city and rural areas and assure distribution in those areas that is accessible for traditionally underserved populations. Distrust of government and institutions in communities of color will remain a real barrier.

It will take effective messaging and information efforts utilizing credible messengers and digital communications techniques to reach these different groups, targeting their different worries about the vaccine. No one message or single messenger is likely to be effective. If those efforts are funded and implemented it does appear that real progress can be made to reduce hesitancy among the most resistant groups.

Link:

Real Progress Is Possible On Vaccine Hesitancy - Kaiser Family Foundation

European stocks made significant gains on Wednesday, as the European Union reported progress toward a post-Brexit trade deal.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 SXXP, -0.35% rose 0.8%, the German DAX DAX, -0.27% was 1.5% up, while the U.K.s FTSE 100 UKX, -0.33% also enjoyed gains, as it rose 0.9%.

Across the Atlantic, signs of progress over a new U.S. coronavirus stimulus package also buoyed investors. A bipartisan group of lawmakers unveiled a new proposal earlier this week and a group of Democratic and Republican leaders met face-to-face on Tuesday night a move welcomed in the markets. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the group had agreed lawmakers should not leave Washington for the holiday break without a deal on coronavirus aid and fiscal 2021 government funding.

Investors are also patiently awaiting an update from the Federal Reserve on its bond-buying program, after U.S. retail sales fell 1.1% in November economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.4% decline.

Read: U.S. stocks flatline on decision day for Fed and fiscal stimulus

The pound GBPUSD, -0.38% continued its climb, rising 0.3% to $1.3496 briefly hitting a two-year high after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said there was a path to an agreement now. She added that the U.K. and EU had found a way forward on most issues, but the discussion on fisheries was still very difficult, according to the Twitter TWTR, +2.27% account of EU spokesman Daniel Ferrie. U.K. and EU leaders had promised to go the extra mile on Sunday and extend talks into this week. A deal must be agreed and ratified by Dec. 31 to avoid a no-deal scenario.

European markets have opened higher this morning buoyed by the twin prospect of a U.S. stimulus deal coming to pass alongside the prospect of a U.K.-EU trade deal, with the only unknown as to which one might get agreed first, said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

As Germany entered a new lockdown on Wednesday, there were some encouraging signs for Europes largest economy in the form of economic data. The closely-followed flash composite purchasing managers index climbed to 52.5 a two-month high.

Decembers flash PMI reassuringly showed that German economy still on a relatively stable platform, at least up until the middle of the month. However, the impending harder lockdown threatens to put pay to some of the resilience we have seen so far, with more sectors set to be impacted by the new tougher virus containment measures, said IHS Markit associate director Phil Smith.

However, Germanys Ifo Institute cut its 2021 economic growth forecast for the country from 5.1% to 4.2%, it said on Wednesday.

European banks were in the spotlight, as the European Central Bank lifted a ban on dividend payments but maintained restrictions on payouts. French bank BNP Paribas BNP, -1.09% fell 2.3% and Dutch bank ABN Amro ABN, -1.70% slipped 1.4%.

Shares of Altice Europe ATC, soared 23%, as the French telecom and cable group said its billionaire founder Patrick Drahi raised his offer to take the company private to 5.35 per share from 4.11.

Excerpt from:

European stocks rise on Brexit progress and U.S. stimulus hopes - MarketWatch

PARSONS, W.Va. The announcement that Virgin would be building the certification center for its new hyperloop technology came to the area back in October. While construction may still be months and months away, staff with the company explained that theyre already looking to support its new home.

Hyperloop is really focused on being a positive part of the community and working together to make the certification center a success for the locals, the state, and then globally, said Project Development Lead Kelsey Kirby.

With that in mind, Kirby spoke at the regular meeting of the Tucker County Commission on Wednesday to talk about what the new project has to offer the county and the wider region. Commission President Lowell Moore said hes looking forward to many new jobs in the area.

After theyre up and running, I think a lot of it will be in the engineering department, but West Virginia is going to do a lot too. The colleges and West Virginia University, I think that will draw in a lot of our students from them, and I think itll make employment for them to where they can stay in West Virginia rather than go out of state, said Moore.

And thats a goal that many people share around the state. Kirby is a West Virginia native herself. She said the new facility would go a long way towards helping students see the different career paths available to them without leaving their home state.

We are very excited about the opportunity that hyperloop presents to the young people really excited about STEM. And so certainly one of the things thats a personal passion and one of many of the engineers on the hyperloop team is to share that excitement around science and education, said Kirby.

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Virgin Hyperloop and Tucker County Commission discusses the benefits and progress of the project - WBOY.com

To say Ive been anticipating Cyberpunk 2077 would be a gross understatement. I vividly remember watching the very first teaser trailer eight years ago in 2012, my curiosity brimming. Eight years later, here we are. Welcome to Part One of our review in progress.

As we wrote last week, we will not be crunching to get our review out quickly. We are taking a review in progress approach where youll see several of these articles, culminating in a final verdict. Additionally, look forward to a technical analysis of Cyberpunk 2077 wherein Ill dive into the groundbreaking ray tracing technology implemented in the game. This review in progress will specifically discuss my impressions of the open world, Night City, and some thoughts on the PC functionality.

First, I would be remiss if I did not discuss the bugs. You dont need to look far to see just how buggy Cyberpunk 2077 is in its current state. Indeed, our own Managing Editor, Bradford, wrote up an editorial with his thoughts on the whole release fiasco.

I sympathize with those afflicted by the bugs. I really do. Spending your hard-earned money on a product you were anticipating for eight years, only to have that product be completely borked, is simply unacceptable. CDPR have even acknowledged this.

That being said, I would be completely dishonest if I did not mention that I simply have not encountered any bugs. I realize that sounds crass, but its the honest truth. For whatever reason, my experience has been bug-free. Ive encountered only two issues after more than 20 hours of play. One is a texture streaming issue on a billboard which I encountered once.

The other involves the sound of my footsteps not triggering when I first load into the game. This is remedied by simply loading that save again which takes no more than five seconds while running on my M.2 NVME. This second issue is incredibly fleeting, yet still worth bringing up. But to say this is anywhere near on par with the more egregious bugs people have experienced would be wholly inaccurate and drive a false equivalence. At worst, these issues are mild annoyances and nowhere near the scale and impact of the reported bugs.

In our group of friends, I along with one other started the game on the Nomad lifepath. We both havent encountered any bugs. Bradford began his lifepath as a Corpo and has experienced virtually all the bugs. Initially, we hypothesized that the frequency of bugs may be tied to lifepath, but this was quickly quashed when Bradfords Stadia playthrough began as a Nomad and he experienced a few bugs there.

At this point, I honestly do not know why my experience has been bug-free. This isnt to say that this will continue. But as of this writing, after more than 20 hours of play, I simply havent experienced any bugs. And it would be dishonest of me not to explain that in a review. I must stress: this review is reflective of my specific experience on my PC. At the end of the day, while I must acknowledge the state of the game at large, I cannot review the experience of others.

From a technical and visual standpoint, I had pretty high expectations for Cyberpunk 2077. People who know me well will tell you that its quite difficult to impress me when it comes to visuals and graphics. Cyberpunk 2077 has completely surpassed those high expectations.

The sense of scale in Cyberpunk 2077 is truly awe inspiring. I have played many open world city games, the most prominent being GTA V and the more recent Watch Dogs titles. However, as impressive as those cities were for the time they released, they didnt blow me away, not even Watch Dogs Legion with its admittedly impressive ray tracing.

Cyberpunk 2077s Night City is the single most immersive city I have ever experienced. There are many factors which drive this immersion. For one, the sheer sense of scale in Cyberpunk 2077 is unlike anything Ive experienced before. The world design team have done an incredible job rendering the city in all its physical might. The buildings shoot far up into the Californian sky as they leer over you.

But even here, its not the same three or four building assets used over and over again. Virtually every space in Night City appears bespoke. That means the towering buildings arent all just monoliths of glass and steel, rather theyre all different shapes interconnecting with each other through walkways, railways, bridges, and more.

This scale extends to street level. On PC, the streets are packed with people and vehicles. There is so much movement everywhere. Streets are littered with heaps of trash, walls are plastered with graffiti, neon signage is everywhere.

Night City is not so much about detail outright as it is about density of that detail. I have never seen anything like this ever before. Cyberpunk 2077s world has the detail and intricacy of more linear game like The Last of Us 2 but implemented for an entire city. To test this, I often find myself walking into back alleys which are clearly off the beaten path. But even here, this density of detail persists. Its truly mind boggling.

The first person perspective helps tremendously in this regard (for the record, I prefer first person to third person). And in Cyberpunk 2077, it is used as a powerful tool to help sell the scale and immersion. For example, when I stand on the street any street I can see the dense crowd and cars in my immediate foreground.

However, theres a layer above that if you simply look up which includes street lights and neon signage. And theres a layer above that with perhaps a rail line or two with even more signage. And theres a layer above that providing the canopy of the building tops along with any aerial vehicles flying overhead.

And then theres the audio. The audio design is exemplary. When paired with the visual density, the ambient sounds of the city, crowds, vehicles, and plethora of ads calling out to you combine to comprehensively trick your brain into believing that you are physically in Night City. This effect is compounded when you get to a naturally dense area like a market. Its glorious.

For this reason, I find myself walking everywhere in Cyberpunk 2077. Apart from those quests which necessitate a car ride, I walk to my destination simply to absorb the world and truly live in it. I really do feel like a citizen. So powerful is this immersion that when I stop playing for the night, I often need a minute to simply decompress. This sounds like hyperbole, but I assure you its not. I am so thoroughly enthralled by Cyberpunk 2077s world. When you pair all this with ray tracing and HDR, the end result is, quite simply, stunning. Cyberpunk 2077 is truly a masterpiece of world design.

As for my gameplay, I rolled a Nomad focusing primarily on stealth and hacking. So far, this is proving to be quite a powerful combination. I tend to play stealth in any game I can so Im happy to see that type of gameplay encouraged in Cyberpunk 2077. If I can avoid direct conflict/combat, I will. Note, this isnt the best stealth Ive experienced in games. But its far from the worst. CD Projekt RED have made sure to provide plenty of options for each encounter to suit the multiple play styles out there. And for me, thats sneaking my way through, hacking people to make them more vulnerable, disabling camera systems, and the like.

However, for those instances where weapons are drawn, Ive found the gunplay to be competent. Again, its not as kinetic as DOOM, but Im not expecting that. DOOM is a first person shooter. Therefore, it follows that its key mechanic, gunplay, absolutely must be unimpeachable. Cyberpunk 2077 is not a first person shooter. Its an RPG. And for an RPG, Ive found its gunplay to be satisfying. Personally, Im focusing primarily on suppressed pistols and sniper rifles.

A quick note, this section will not be my usual comprehensive tech analysis. That will be a separate article and video so stay tuned. Instead, I will discuss the broader observations and annoyances Ive had with the PC controls and overall options.

Lets begin with the graphics menu. CDPR have done a good job exposing a host of several options. In fact, there are multiple different options just for shadows. I appreciate this granularity as it allows us, PC gamers, to tune the experience to our liking. Additionally, each post process option is broken out. As you can see, I loathe film grain, lens flares, and chromatic aberration. Thankfully, CDPR allows me to disable all of these independently.

However, its not all perfect. For example, youll notice there is no antialiasing setting. Cyberpunk 2077 employs TAA, or temporal antialiasing. Given the various graphical techniques leveraged by a modern game engine for handling lighting, shading, and the like, TAA is the only real antialiasing solution competent enough to treat the image.

But in Cyberpunk 2077, there is no way to disable antialiasing. In fact, you cant even select which type of TAA youd prefer. While I understand why TAA is required, it would still be nice to choose the strength of that TAA in this options menu. Im a PC gamer. Expose all the options to me and let me decide what to adjust.

Additionally, the accessibility settings overall are lacking when compared to other games like The Last of Us Part 2 and Watch Dogs Legion. Its inexcusable for arguably the biggest game of the generation to sorely lack comprehensive accessibility options. This issue is compounded when Cyberpunk 2077s launch state brought on epilepsy triggers.

Key bindings are limited to a single binding per command. Again, for a studio which has gone to great lengths positioning the PC version as the premiere version of the game, a lack of secondary key bindings is inexcusable. Moreover, the keyboard controls feel unfinished. For example, I could not find a walk toggle option. I am constantly jogging. In order to move slowly, when following a character during a story moment for example, I have to keep tapping W to inch forward. But if you tap WASD too quickly, youll dodge. It seems the only option you have to move slowly is to crouch. What? Why? WHY?!

Mouse settings fare a tad better by providing independent sliders for sensitivities. But here again, these fall short. There are no options for mouse acceleration, nor any options to select input like Raw Mouse Input. Come on, CD Projekt RED.

As I mentioned at the top, you can look forward to a tech analysis where Ill deep dive into the ray tracing implementation in Cyberpunk 2077. Theres quite a lot to cover simply because CD Projekt RED have seemingly thrown in the kitchen sink when it comes to packing this game with bleeding edge technology.

Look forward to an article and, like my Assassins Creed Valhalla analysis, a video where you can see the ray traced glory for yourselves. Trust me when I say that Cyberpunk 2077 goes so far beyond the ray tracing in the recently released Watch Dogs Legion. Its simply the best looking game I have ever seen.

Following this tech analysis, Ill have a second review in progress where Ill discuss the various systems of the game, the progression, skills, perks, attributes, and more. After that, well have a final verdict on our hands summarizing the game as a whole.

Stay tuned. Thanks for your patience. We have a lot more Cyberpunk 2077 coverage coming your way.

Read more:

Cyberpunk 2077 PC Review In Progress: Part One - MMORPG.com

Brian Mac Grory, MB BCh BAO, has won the American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association's 2020 Stroke Progress and Innovation Award (first place) for his research examining treatment for central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO), a rare type of stroke affecting the eye. The study performed by Mac Grory and colleagues found that clot-busting medications, if given within 4.5 hours after the eye stroke, improved the chances of vision recovery for patients with CRAO. This research, published July in Stroke, offers the best observational evidence for treating CRAO with thrombolysis that is currently available.

This award is a fitting recognition for Dr. Mac Grorys research, which answers a critically important question on an underrecognized and undertreated medical condition, said Department Chair Richard OBrien, MD, PhD. This study has the potential to change medical practice worldwide.

CRAO causes sudden blindness in one eye and at present there is no available treatment. Clot busting thrombolytic therapy was one potential option, but until now there was no evidence that this therapy could be effective. CRAO is also rare, making up less than 1% of all strokes, compounding the difficulty of studying it effectively.

Mac Grory and Matthew Schrag, MD, PhD, from Vanderbilt Universitys School of Medicine pooled data from multiple studies performed in the USA, Germany, France and Australia in which patients with CRAO were given a clot-busting medication and analyzed the results. The resulting article, Intravenous Fibrinolysis for Central Retinal Artery Occlusion, was published in Stroke, the top journal in the field of vascular neurology. Other key figures in the study included Sven Poli, MD, (Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tubingen, Germany), Martin Spitzer, MD, PhD, (University Hospital Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany), Max Nedelmann, MD (Sana Regio Klinikum, Pinneberg, Germany), Benoit Guillon, MD (CHU de Nantes, Nantes, France), Celia Chen, MD, and Andrew Lee, MD, (both from Flinders University Medical Center, Adelaide, Australia), David Greer, MD, (Boston University School of Medicine), Karen Furie, MD, MPH, (Brown University) and Patrick Lavin, MD (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine).

Mac Grory will build on the findings of this study with his work in the forthcoming Duke Eye Stroke Center, which will aid in the treatment of this CRAO and other forms of strokes that affect vision. This multidisciplinary center will feature national experts in neurology as well as neuro-ophthalmology, hyperbaric medicine, interventional radiology, and emergency medicine, and other fields.

The Stroke Progress and Innovation Award recognizes research that encourages new paths, new methods and new ways of thinking and awards a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place each year. It is open to all research published in Stroke. The award will be presented at the International Stroke Conference in March 2021. Read more about other recipients of the award here.

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Mac Grory wins AHA/ASA 2020 Stroke Progress and Innovation Award - Duke Department of Neurology

CAIROWith hundreds of women flooding social media in recent months with accusations of sexual harassment and assault, a growing #MeToo movement is taking Egypt by storm. Their online testimonials have garnered massive public support and prompted reforms to the countrys sexual harassment laws, like granting anonymity to victims and witnesses in sexual assault cases. More broadly, they are challenging the culture of victim-blaming that is often associated with sexual harassment and assault in Egypt.

Activists are hoping to build on this momentum in a country where gender-based violence has become all too common. After the Arab Spring protests in 2011 again brought the issue of sexual harassment to light, a United Nations survey in 2013 found that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women respondents said they had experienced sexual harassment, while 96.5 percent said they had experienced sexual harassment in the form of touching. ...

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Egypts #MeToo Activists See Progress, but the Road Ahead Is Long - World Politics Review

Lower Manhattan

While New York City real estate has significantly improved its carbon footprint over the past10 years, its progress is slowing, jeopardizing the city's emissions target, which it views as critical to avoid climate disaster.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the citys large and midsized buildings fell over 22% since 2010, mainly due to the increased use of cleaner electricity and steam, according to a new Urban Green Council report this week. However, the rate of improvement has slowed over time, posing a barrier for the city to reach its goalofan80% pollutant decrease from 2005.

This report is a monument to our citys progress and a call to action for us to work harder and faster to lower harmful emissions, Mark Chambers, director of Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office of Sustainability, said in a release.

The 50,000 large and midsized buildings included in the report total5% of buildings in the city and contribute over a third of itsoverall emissions. These also make up half of the citys building emissions, which have gone down 8% over the past decade, according to the Urban Green Council.

This 10-year data set not only guides NYCs climate approach, it can inform decisions in other cities so we can get to a low carbon future faster, Urban Green Council CEO John Mandyck said.

New laws enacted to help propel a decrease in emissions seem to have had a positive impact on new construction, according to Urban Green Council. Among multifamily properties, which make up a huge portion of the buildings included in the report, those builtafter2010 use half theenergyofbuildings 10 years old or more.

In addition to energy codes that went into place in 2010, the commercial industry was forced to pivot on energy use in 2019, when the city passed the Climate Mobilization Act, which imposed strict emission limits for large and midsized buildings.

New York is faring better than the rest of the world in terms of environmental mitigation efforts in buildings, a buildings and construction report released by the United Nations this week shows. Emissions hit a new record last year, increasing the gap between its current emissions and international goals by the middle of the century.

Rising emissions in the buildings and construction sector emphasize the urgent need for a triple strategy to aggressively reduce energy demand in the built environment, decarbonize the power sector and implement materials strategies that reduce lifecycle carbon emissions, Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, said ina release on the global findings.

See the rest here:

NYC Buildings Reduced Emissions By 22% Over The Past Decade, But Progress Has Slowed - Bisnow

Yahoo Finances Julie Hyman, Myles Udland, Brian Sozzi, and Jessica Smith speak with Senator Jeanne Shaheen about the COVID-19 pandemic and stimulus progress.

MYLES UDLAND: As our viewers know, we have been following the progress-- or lack thereof-- on conversations down in Washington, DC to get an additional stimulus bill passed by the end of this year. And joining us now to talk more about this issue is Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire. We're also joined by Yahoo Finance's Jessica Smith.

And Senator Shaheen, I'd love to begin the conversation by just outlining, in your view, from your vantage point, where we are today with just two weeks left in the year?

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Well, I think we're way overdue to provide real relief to the people of this country, those who are about to lose their unemployment the day after Christmas. We know 12 million people are in that category. Those small businesses that are worried about-- particularly restaurants and hospitality businesses that are worried about how they're going to get through the winter-- we had a small business hearing last week, and 25% of our small businesses have closed since the pandemic began. They need additional relief.

We have hospitals that are in financial distress. We have-- we need more help to distribute this vaccine. We need to help states and local communities that are on the front lines. And so, this help is way overdue. And I'm very proud to have been part of a bipartisan group to have put together a bill that we gave at the beginning of this week to leadership-- both majority Leader McConnell and Democratic Leader Schumer. I understand they're working from the broad outlines that we provided, but it is time now to put aside our differences and to get this help that people need.

JESSICA SMITH: Thanks, Senator. Jessica Smith here. We have heard a lot this morning about Senator Toomey's demands that the Bill bar the Fed from restarting its emergency lending programs. What do you think about that demand, and does this potentially derail the talks at this point?

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JEANNE SHAHEEN: Well, it shouldn't. Senator Toomey should be willing to accept a provision that said this can work through the-- as long as COVID is-- the pandemic lasts. I mean, that was part of the reason that the emergency authorities were put in, to address emergencies. This is an emergency. Let's allow this to continue. It's not acceptable that Senator Toomey's problem is that he doesn't like Janet Yellen. Well, you know, that's-- there's a time and a place to talk about that. He'll have a vote on the Senate floor about whether he wants to approve her, but we need to make sure that the authorities are there to deal with this emergency.

That's one of the problems with the current administration. They have not dealt with this pandemic, and provided the urgency that they should have provided.

JULIE HYMAN: Senator, it's Julie here. Gosh, we have had this conversation about so many different things over the past several years, haven't we? Where it gets down to the wire.

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Right.

JULIE HYMAN: And then Congress eventually manages to pull this out. Can we expect anything different in the next four years? I mean, is this just how things are going to be in Congress forever, that you have a very tight, between the two parties, and this always happens?

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Well, I think there's something very different that's happening now, and that is that we had a bipartisan group, an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. We started with eight of us and we added to our ranks, that said, it is time to see action out of Congress, to provide help for those people who need it as the result of this pandemic. We started working right after the election. We worked until Monday, and we turned over to leadership on the Democratic and Republican side, actual written language. We consulted with the committees within the Senate about when there were questions. We compromised on so many issues to provide real help for people.

And we said to each other that this is the way it should work. We should be able to work together to address the urgent needs of the American people. And we are not going to stop with this. I question whether we would be in this position, when whether the leadership would have resumed negotiations without the work of this bipartisan group. So I think we will continue to talk and to try and work together to get things done, to try and move leadership and so many people within this process who are just way too partisan and aren't willing to compromise to get things done.

JESSICA SMITH: Senator, your bipartisan group that you worked on was not able to come to an agreement on the two most contentious issues, the state and local aid, and liability protections. So is there any chance at this point that that is going to be resolved next year when lawmakers have not been able to figure this out for six-plus months at this point?

JEANNE SHAHEEN: I think we will continue to work on that. And the fact is, there's a lot of help in this COVID relief package that we put together-- the bipartisan group-- and that I think much of what we put in there is continuing under the leadership negotiations that can provide help to state and local governments, help for housing, rental assistance, help for food, so much support for nutrition programs, help for distributing the vaccines that are real costs to states right now, and help for schools. There's this big support for K through 12 education and higher education.

So there are a number of things in this bill, even though we weren't able to get support for state and local governments, that should provide help for communities, and certainly, for those people who need help.

JESSICA SMITH: Leadership right now is talking about a stimulus check in the range of $600. Do you think that's going to be enough to satisfy lawmakers like Senator Sanders and Senator Hawley who have pushed for $1,200 checks?

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Well I'm not sure we can always satisfy the people who are at either extremes ideologically, but hopefully, we can satisfy those people who understand that most legislation is a compromise and we've got to get there, and we don't have any more time to mess around now. It's time to get this deal done. The American people have been waiting for months, and it's getting too-- it's getting late. They need help. Our small businesses need help. Our hospitals need help, and they need it now.

JULIE HYMAN: Senator, I think a lot of Americans would definitely agree with that sentiment. I want to look a little bit forward to the seating of the next Congress, the next administration. And I know you're enmeshed in these negotiations right now, but what do you think Congress's first priority is going to be, and should be, as you get underway in 2021?

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Well, I think it is what President-elect Biden has identified. We've got to address this pandemic. We are not going to be able to get our economy back, get our lives back to normal, until we've gotten control of the coronavirus. We have very good news this week with the Pfizer vaccine beginning to be distributed and it looks like the FDA, today, is going to approve the Moderna vaccine. So I'm getting those vaccines out, getting people vaccinated, making sure that they get distributed everywhere they're needed, is really critical. I think that is job number one.

I think job number two is going to be to continue to provide help for those people who are suffering. To get our economy back, we need a stimulus package. What we're talking about now is not stimulus. What it-- it's emergency relief. But we need we need to look at how we can inject help into the economy. I think we need a major infrastructure package that would include, as part of it, making a commitment to get broadband to every household in America. Because what we've seen from this pandemic is the disparities that exist because we have some people who have access to high-speed internet, and some people who don't. And in 21st-century America, that defines opportunities.

And Senator, just finally, you touched on it a bit there, but I just wanted to ask about the-- any hope you have that the incoming administration might be more constructive on national messaging around the pandemic, and if you are more hopeful now about what the next year might look like then you may have been a few months back?

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Oh, I am much more hopeful. And I think as President-elect Biden has said, and has modeled, mask-wearing, social distancing, trying to avoid super-spreader events, handwashing, following CDC guidelines, and focusing on the science. And it's very disappointing that we are where we are with over 300,000 Americans who have tragically died, that we have over 17 million Americans who have gotten the coronavirus. And it didn't have to be this way. It's disappointing that this pandemic has been politicized. I expect that to end when Joe Biden takes office.

MYLES UDLAND: All right, Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire. Senator, thank you so much for taking some time--

JEANNE SHAHEEN: Nice to talk with you.

MYLES UDLAND: --to talk with us. Have a great new year.

JEANNE SHAHEEN: You too.

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Stimulus progress: 'we're way overdue to provide real relief to the people of this country': Sen. Shaheen - Yahoo Finance