Raphael Stevens

[The stream is slated to start at 3:00 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if you do not see a player above at that time.]White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona are set to hold a news conference Wednesday afternoon.The briefing comes after the Biden administration announced earlier Wednesday that $10 billion from the recently passed coronavirus relief package will be directed to Covid-19 testing for schools in an effort to speed up the return to in-person learning across the country.The money will go toward screening and diagnostic testing to teachers, staff and students. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to give the funding to states by April, the administration said.The administration previously announced $650 million in funding for testing in K-8 schools. The president has urged states to vaccinate all teachers and school staff in America by the end of March.Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.  More

A student gives her coronavirus COVID-19 swab to Dr. Helenann Civian, the principal of South Boston Catholic Academy in Boston on Jan. 19, 2021. Pool testing means an entire classroom of students puts their swabs in the same cup and it’s tested as one sample, making it faster/cheaper.Suzanne Kreiter | Boston Globe | Getty ImagesThe Biden administration is pouring $10 billion from the recently passed stimulus package into Covid-19 testing for schools in an effort to hasten the return to in-person learning across the country.The goal is “to help get schools open in the remaining months of this school year,” the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday. The funding is set to go out to states from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by April, the administration said.The money will be used to provide diagnostic tests to symptomatic teachers, staff and students, as well as those who don’t have symptoms but might have been exposed to an infectious person. The funding will also be deployed to ensure schools can conduct “serial screening testing” to identify infectious teachers, staff and students who don’t have symptoms.President Joe Biden has made safely reopening the nation’s schools for in-person learning a focus of his first 100 days in office. Data from Burbio, a service that tracks school opening plans, recently reported that almost half of K-12 students are already learning in person five days a week, and another 30% are attending school in person at least part of the time.The Biden administration previously announced $650 million in funding for testing in K-8 schools and he has challenged states to vaccinate all teachers and school staff in the country by the end of March. Biden’s focus on and investment in testing stands in contrast to the Trump administration, which downplayed the need to ramp up availability of testing across the country.”COVID-19 testing is critical to saving lives and restoring economic activity,” said Norris Cochran, acting HHS secretary. “As part of the Biden Administration’s National Strategy, HHS will continue to expand our capacity to get testing to the individuals and the places that need it most, so we can prevent transmission of the virus and defeat the pandemic.”The administration also announced that it will invest $2.25 billion in Covid-19 testing for high-risk and underserved populations, including racial and ethnic minority groups and people living in rural areas. HHS said it’s the CDC’s largest investment yet to specifically address pandemic-related health disparities.On top of the funding, the administration said the CDC is crafting new guidance “for how to use screening testing to identify, track, and mitigate asymptomatic transmission.” The administration said the guidance will include a breakdown of the various kinds of Covid-19 tests and how to most strategically deploy them. More

A Giant Eagle Inc. Market District supermarket stands in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019.Allison Ferrand | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAt the start of 2020, Giant Eagle kicked off a company-wide mission to phase out all single-use plastic bags. The Pittsburgh-based grocery chain stopped offering thin, throwaway bags at the checkout area in roughly 40 stores. It posted signs in parking lots reminding shoppers to bring reusable bags and offered discounts for those who did.The efforts cut down on 20 million single-use plastic bags, the company said, which can litter parks, get stuck in trees or wind up in landfills.But in mid-March, the coronavirus pandemic hit. Shoppers piled food, soap and toilet paper into carts. Giant Eagle installed plexiglass screens near cashiers, labeled one-way aisles to encourage social distancing, and returned plastic bags to all stores, requesting customers keep reusable ones at home.”We fully recognized we took a step back — as did other retailers,” said Dan Donovan, the company’s senior director of corporate communications and a member of the team advancing the grocer’s environmental efforts. He said safety took priority as employees and customers worried about Covid and scientists sought to better understand how the virus spread.Similar patterns have played out across the country. The pandemic not only disrupted the daily rhythm of work, school and life. It complicated efforts for retailers to reduce use of non-recyclable plastics, from grocery bags to plastic forks. It also inspired behavior changes that fueled greater consumption of packaging as more people shopped online, bought disposable protective gear like masks and gloves and gravitated toward bagged or wrapped produce and other grocery items at the store.One year later, single-use plastics remain a ubiquitous part of retail — even as major players like Walmart, Target, Kroger and CVS Health pledge to transition to more sustainable alternatives.”For many of us, the pandemic has changed our relationship with single-use plastic in uncomfortable ways,” said John Hocevar, oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA, an environmental nonprofit organization. “The new types of useless plastic packaging piling up in our homes and filling our trash cans are leading many people — including policymakers and corporate executives — to think more about reuse.”Plastic is a major driver of climate change worldwide. Though companies that produce and sell plastic tout recycling as a solution, less than 10% of American plastic waste is recycled. Research also shows the U.S. generates more plastic waste than any other country in the world.There’s the science of what we’re learning and then there’s the feelings and the emotions and the fears of people, regardless of the science in some instances.Dan DonovanGiant Eagle spokesmanHard-fought plastic bag bans were rolled back or suspended early in the health crisis. Maine and Oregon postponed statewide bans. California Gov. Gavin Newsom suspended a ban in his state that had been in effect since 2016. And in New York, Covid-19 cases spiked soon after the state’s ban of single-use plastic bags went into effect on March 1 — delaying enforcement for about seven months and slowing efforts to change deep-seated habits.Covid-19 also galvanized efforts by plastic lobbying groups to contest and overturn the bans.Consulting firm Wood Mackenzie estimated that U.S. demand for flexible packaging, most of which is single-use plastic, increased by 4% to 5% compared with the year prior following the panic buying of the early Covid lockdowns. The firm expects demand to grow by 4.5% annually over the next five years.”These companies should be putting plans in motion now on what a world beyond single-use plastics will look like,” Hocevar said. “The pandemic cannot be an excuse that worsens another public health crisis.”A worker behind a partial protective plastic screen and wearing a mask and gloves as she checks out a customer at the Presidente Supermarket on April 13, 2020 in Miami, Florida.Joe Raedle | Getty Images’Get back on the roadmap’Over the past year, public health officials have debunked fears that Covid-19 is spreading through contaminated surfaces. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the virus is transmitted primarily from person to person. More than 125 health experts have issued guidance on how reusables can be used safely during the pandemic.New York began enforcing the plastic bag ban in the fall. Some retailers, like Giant Eagle, say they want to resume sustainability efforts. Others, including Amazon-owned Whole Foods and Texas grocer H-E-B, are bringing back food bars where customers serve themselves instead of picking from pre-packaged plastic containers.Donovan said Giant Eagle wants to “get back on the roadmap that we had projected to be on more than a year ago.” By early summer, if not sooner, the grocer will remove single-use plastic bags from some stores again and plans to expand that to all 470 locations over time in order to fulfill a commitment to phase them out entirely by 2025.But first, Donovan said Giant Eagle must win over shoppers — a potentially tougher sell after a year that may have ingrained germ-consciousness. When the company surveyed customers in the fall, 60% said they did not feel safe bringing reusable bags or seeing other customers bring them in.”There’s the science of what we’re learning and then there’s the feelings and the emotions and the fears of people, regardless of the science in some instances,” said Donovan, who added the company would potentially incentivize customers with discounts on groceries or fuel at its gas stations.When it reopens cafes and hot bars, it’s also considering how to eliminate other plastics like straws or utensils. And it is working with manufacturers on more sustainable packaging for private label products.It wants to make a fast-growing part of its business more eco-friendly, too. Online orders quadrupled during the height of the pandemic and have leveled off, but at double the pre-pandemic rate, he said. It plans to offer shoppers an option to get all paper bags — instead of plastic — when they retrieve groceries by curbside pickup or have them delivered.Nate Faust was inspired to start his new company, Olive, after seeing the huge amount of cardboard and other packaging in the trash in his neighborhood.A wake-up call About a dozen retailers including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dollar General and Kroger have signed on to an initiative called Beyond the Bag that’s run by the innovation arm of an investment firm, Closed Loop Partners. Walmart, Target and CVS Health are founding members and contributed $5 million each.Kate Daly, managing director at the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop, noted many of those retailers wrote checks and joined the consortium during the global crisis.”It was a clear indication that none of our corporate partners are putting a pause on sustainability,” she said.However, environmental groups have argued that corporate initiatives to reduce and recycle plastic waste have been insufficient, especially as plastic manufacturers increase production. Environmental advocates are pushing for legislative measures including the passage of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.”Big brands have been making promises on recycled content for decades, yet the pollution crisis worsens daily,” Hocevar said. “It is time to end the greenwashing and take real steps to end our reliance on polluting single-use plastics.”Daly acknowledged that the pandemic has had its setbacks, but said it has also opened people’s eyes to the need for sustainability. As people spent more time at home, they saw their trash pile up with individual food wrappers or discarded bubble wrap from online deliveries, she said. Companies saw the vulnerability of global supply chains, and heard calls for action from activist shareholders, politicians and consumers.”We need to take the burden off of customers and not expect them to be the innovators and entrepreneurs, but rather to offer them a diversity of options that are cost-efficient, inclusive and accessible and also the most sustainable,” she said. “That’s what customers are expecting and increasingly demanding.”Last month, Beyond the Bag announced nine winners of a challenge to come up with alternatives to single-use bags — from compostable bags made with seaweed to a kiosk that allows customers to borrow and return reusable bags.Daly said shoppers may see retailers testing some of those approaches in stores as early as this year.Even outside of grocery stores, entrepreneurs see the desire for sustainability as a business opportunity that can generate profits, along with goodwill and a healthier planet.Nate Faust sold his previous company, Jet.com, to Walmart for $3.3 billion. He co-founded the start-up with Marc Lore, who recently left the big-box retailer after leading its e-commerce strategy. Now, Faust has started a company aimed at reducing packaging.Faust said the idea was born out of his own frustration, after seeing the amount of discarded boxes in his New Jersey neighborhood.His new start-up, Olive, consolidates apparel purchases across brands and drops them at customers’ doors in a reusable tote. It also aims to cut back on fuel and pollution by delivering orders once a week rather than numerous times per day or week. Customers can return items in the same tote.”More and more consumers do care about the environment,” he said. “It’s not about making a trade. That’s actually how they live their lives. As younger generations became a larger portion of consumer spending, that will become the feature in and of itself.” More

Starbucks plans to start testing Cold Pressed Espresso in some cafes by the end of the year as consumers increasingly stick to cold drinks for their caffeine jolt.The drink was already available in Starbucks’ upscale Reserve locations. Cold beverages, which are favored by younger customers, have played a crucial role in growing the chain’s same-store sales in recent years. In the last three years, consumers have spent more than $1 billion on Starbucks’ cold drinks.”More than 50% of the beverages that we sell at Starbucks are cold,” CEO Kevin Johnson told CNBC’s Kate Rogers in an interview on “Halftime Report” on Wednesday.Johnson predicted that after the pandemic subsides, consumers will be looking for more social interaction, which will bring them back to Starbucks cafes to buy their cold drinks. But they’ll also likely still be using drive-thru lanes or mobile ordering to pick up their coffee.The company is also gearing up to open one of its first sustainable roasting plants in China next year. With $150 million earmarked for it, the project is the company’s largest investment outside of the United States and its first in Asia.”It’s this one thing that we’re doing to not only reduce our carbon footprint, ultimately to get to net zero, but ultimately to store more carbon than we emit,” Johnson said. “That’s our long-term agenda, and we’re committed to that.”Shares of Starbucks have risen 86% over the last year, giving it a market value of $129 billion. While the company’s sales have been battered by the pandemic, its recovery in the U.S. and China are happening faster than expected. Next quarter, Starbucks is forecasting U.S. same-store sales growth of 5% to 10%, and Chinese same-store sales are expected to almost double. More

England’s Jack Grealish during the UEFA Nations League match at Wembley Stadium, LondonCarl Recine/PA Images via Getty ImagesEngland’s No 1 shirt is Jordan Pickford’s to lose — but now ruled out of this round of internationals and with Nick Pope and Dean Henderson providing stiff competition, the Everton goalkeeper’s injury may open the door to them.Pickford has been a key figure under Southgate, his composure and passing range vital to the manager’s preference for playing out from the back. But his performances have come under scrutiny this season and he was forced out of Everton’s 2-1 loss to Burnley on Saturday after landing awkwardly on his right side.Pope has enjoyed another strong campaign with Burnley, keeping nine clean sheets, while Henderson has impressed since coming into the Manchester United team in place of David de Gea, conceding only once in his last seven appearances. West Brom’s Sam Johnstone, meanwhile, is on standby if Pickford is unavailable.Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher expects Southgate to persist with Pickford at this summer’s European Championship, but he feels it’s Henderson, rather than Pope, who is most likely to take his place in the long-term.”I think Nick Pope would find it very difficult to ever become a regular for England because he plays for Burnley”, said Carragher on Monday Night Football last week.”I don’t mean any disrespect to Sean Dyche or the club, but certainly the way they play and the way Gareth Southgate wants to play are completely different.””If Henderson is playing for Manchester United week-in, week-out, playing Champions League football at the top level where the pressure is as high as possible, I think it gives him a great opportunity — maybe after this tournament, because I think Pickford will keep his place for that.””Going forward into next season, if Henderson is the Manchester United goalkeeper, I think it’s very difficult not to pick him for England.”Resurgent Shaw in line for recallIn defense, the biggest talking point is Luke Shaw’s likely return to the squad. The 25-year-old has only made two England appearances during Southgate’s tenure and has not featured since their 2-1 loss to Spain in the Nations League in September 2018.He has been outstanding for Manchester United this season, however, providing considerable attacking threat from left-back and impressing defensively too.With Ben Chilwell struggling for playing time at Chelsea, there could be an opening for Shaw not just in Southgate’s squad but in his starting line-up.Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville feels he’s England’s best left-back and expects Southgate to reward his fine form this season.”He’s been outstanding this season for United,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. “A Luke Shaw who is fit, physically good and confident is the best left-back in the country, in my opinion.””Gareth Southgate will be watching him intently, thinking, ‘I know Luke Shaw, I’ve seen him before’.””He had almost given up on him, but you can’t give up on him now. Southgate is staring right at him and thinking, ‘that is the best performing English left-back in the country at the moment’.””Everything is right for Luke Shaw because he is an amazing talent. Physically he’s good, he’s got a good height about him, and maybe it’s deceiving people at home that he’s actually very good in the air, and he can play at left-side center-back.”Neville likened Shaw’s return to form to that of Manchester City’s John Stones, another player likely to return to the England fold for the upcoming fixtures, but insists the next challenge for both of them is to produce consistency on a long-term basis.Read more stories from Sky SportsMichail Antonio: West Ham striker chooses Jamaica over EnglandMan Utd trio Paul Pogba, Edinson Cavani and Donny van de Beek back for AC Milan Europa League tieTommy Fury interview: How Tyson Fury’s brother has ditched Love Island infamy to prove himself – ‘I don’t want freebies'”Both are having the best periods of their careers, but they’ve got to do it year in, year out for us to start to trust that this is really the breakthrough and the moment when they go from potential, to letting you down a little bit, to realizing that potential and being brilliant players over two or three seasons.”Bellingham in frame for another senior chanceJude Bellingham became England’s third-youngest senior player behind only Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott when he came off the bench during November’s 3-0 win over the Republic of Ireland.The teenager, 17 years and 137 days old at the time, is now in line for another call-up — providing there are no Covid-related issues around traveling from Germany — having been omitted from the latest U21 squad.His move from Birmingham City to Borussia Dortmund last summer has worked out well, with the German side happy to give him plenty of playing time in central midfield and the youngster producing eye-catching performances in return. So far, he has made 21 Bundesliga appearances and provided three assists.There is plenty of competition in England’s midfield, of course, but with Jordan Henderson injured and Harry Winks having fallen out of favor at Tottenham, Bellingham may find his route into the team is a little clearer for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.Jesse Lingard is another player pushing to be involved in midfield — albeit in a more advanced role than Bellingham.The 28-year-old was previously a Southgate favorite and impressed during England’s run to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. He lost his place in the squad when he fell out of favor at Manchester United but his outstanding form on loan at West Ham is sure to have put him back in Southgate’s thoughts.Lingard’s West Ham team-mate Declan Rice, meanwhile, will hope to boost his starting credentials at the base of the midfield in Henderson’s absence. Like Lingard, the 22-year-old has shone for the high-flying Hammers lately.Jude Bellingham of England warms up prior to the UEFA Nations League group stage match between England and Iceland at Wembley Stadium on November 18, 2020 in London, England.Michael Regan/Getty ImagesSouthgate has goalscoring optionsA look at this season’s Premier League scoring charts highlights the attacking depth available to Southgate. There are six English players among the top 10 highest scorers in the division and a total of nine who have netted nine or more goals.Two of them are unavailable in Jamie Vardy, who has retired from international duty, and Callum Wilson, who has been sidelined by a knee injury, but — in order of Premier League goals scored this season — Southgate can still call on Harry Kane, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Patrick Bamford, Ollie Watkins, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Harvey Barnes.There is also Jadon Sancho, who has hit 12 goals for Dortmund this season, and others such as Danny Ings, Tammy Abraham and Michail Antonio who will also hope to be in the manager’s thinking.Southgate can’t pick them all, of course — even with attacking midfielders Jack Grealish and James Maddison expected to be unavailable — but he’ll make his choices knowing there is plenty of talent in reserve – and knowing that plenty can change between now and this summer’s Euros.What do the stats say?As Southgate prepares to name his squad, we’ve compiled an England XI from the stats-based Sky Sports Power Rankings this season — and there are some surprise selections.In goal, Burnley stopper Pope earns a starting berth between the sticks ahead of current England No 1 Pickford, according to the stats.Five defenders from the Manchester clubs rank among the top seven in the Power Rankings — but Everton’s Michael Keane and West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell force their way into the XI.Keane narrowly edges Stones, who pays the price for playing fewer minutes than the Everton center-back, but Cresswell secures his place at left-back ahead of Shaw — boosted by his seven league assists.The stats present a new-look midfield, with Southampton workhorse James Ward-Prowse claiming a starting berth in the middle, either side of Mount and Leicester playmaker Maddison.There is growing fluidity in wide midfield and forward roles and Foxes starlet Barnes is on the periphery of selection in both areas, while Rice narrowly trails Ward-Prowse for the holding role.Up front, Kane and Grealish rank as England’s top-performers this season, guaranteeing themselves places in our XI, with Rashford claiming the final slot down the right flank — ahead of Sterling.Our stats-based XI is limited to Premier League players but if we took into account other leagues, Rangers trio James Tavernier, Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent would all make the side based on their performances in the Scottish Premiership this season.Elsewhere, Brentford striker Ivan Toney would earn a seat on the England bench as understudy for Kane thanks to his eye-catching performances in the Championship, while Jadon Sancho would join him among the substitutes, his dip in form at Borussia Dortmund this season costing him a place in the starting line-up. More

The BMW Tower photographed in Munich, Germany, on March 6, 2021.Anne Czichos | iStock Editorial | Getty ImagesThe BMW Group has no plans to manufacture in-house electric car batteries, with the German automotive giant’s CEO telling CNBC that his firm had a robust network of suppliers to meet its demands.”We have strong contracts with various battery manufacturers from China, from Korea, also from Europe, and that is a very strong network,” Oliver Zipse said.”They will supply us with enough batteries for our ramp up for the next couple of years,” he added. “And for us, there’s no necessity to go into our own production.”Zipse’s comments come shortly after German rival Volkswagen Group said it was aiming to establish several “gigafactories” in Europe by the end of the decade.”Together with partners, we want to have a total of six cell factories up and running in Europe by 2030,” Thomas Schmall, CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, said in a statement issued Monday. This move, he added, would guarantee “security of supply.”On issues connected to the supply of semiconductors — which has affected a number of companies — BMW’s Zipse explained that, so far, the company had not experienced any production interruptions connected to chip shortages.”Our forecast is of course cautious, we do not exclude (that) … there might be some volume interruptions in the near and short term, but we have to see,” he said.”We have a very strict management of our suppliers and we … ordered our set of chips very early last year already,” he added. “And our general position is that we expect that our orders … will be delivered.”Zipse was speaking on the same day BMW said it would have approximately 12 fully electric models on the road by 2023. In addition, it wants fully electric vehicles to account for at least 50% of global deliveries by the year 2030.For 2021, BMW said its automotive segment was “forecast to record a solid year-on-year increase in deliveries to customers worldwide.” Its earnings before interest and taxes margin is expected to be between 6% and 8%.Shares of BMW were up by around 4.81% on Wednesday. More